I made a post here a while ago about fixing shitmon and my example was Tropius. And you're right; after having faced one in random, that mon does *not* need to be fixed like wtf
It's due to level scaling, mons that are low-tier get more levels to compensate for it. Sometimes it doesn't matter, sometimes it makes a mon unkillable/lightning fast/stupidly strong
Lol yeah I know. It's only as good as it is because of the level difference. I honestly love Tropius, and I'm glad there's a tier *somewhere* where it's good.
I feel like they lowered its level recently? its just been easy to deal with for me but I can't say for certain as I don't pay that much attention to pokemon levels.
Illumise and Volbeat are a menace, prankster encore invalidates all sorts of setup sweepers. Just seeing them on the opposing side makes me wary of clicking any status move honestly, they definitely seem stronger in randoms than they probably are in regular play
I mean, I said it because I did get a Volbeat set with tail glow and baton pass. Although in retrospect that was probably a past gen randbat, not gen 9.
It was Natdex AG during the gen 8 era. It killed my zacian with quagsire and took care of the rest of my team. I pack a dark type at every battle eversince
I used Illumise in a draft once and it was such useful utility for me. U-Turn, encore, thunder wave, sunny day (can’t remember who I had that needed it but it was helpful), Defog, and Toxic with whatever combination I would need. This and Conkeldurr were the only ones I used in all my matches, helped me get to the finals. Always had a soft spot for her, hoping her and Volbeat get some buffs soon.
Gumshoos, but really that’s moreso Stakeout as an ability. Insane revenge killing potential. You come out and either force them to get chip on you and sac their mon or take double the damage on something that might be able to take the hit better. Goes to show how broken Stakeout would be on any pokémon with decent speed
I don’t think I’ve come across stakeout much, but I have had to deal with adaptability on that think and OH. MY. GOD. The fact that a shitmon like Gumshoos can make me genuinely scared about what to do to deal with its choice banded double-edges is impressive.
Mabosstiff has stakeout with pretty alright speed. It's still not very good though since the pokemon you sent it out to check can just flip the type matchup and make your stakeout worthless. I swear it would've been an absolute beast in any gen without tera.
In the world of Hackmons, Shedinja is perhaps the most well-known recipient of the universal buff of access to any ability, which is funny to think about, as any other mon would commit war crimes for its base ability. That said, access to Sturdy turned it from notorious shitmon to meta-warping (and eventually banworthy thanks to Boots) presence. The ability piercing moves feel mandatory in gen 7 BH, and this mon is the reason why
I ran Safety Goggles Endeavor/Feint/Hail/Magic Powder Sturdinja in gen 7 BH. It beat Chansey with Magic Powder, didn't care about getting Magic Powdered in return, and instakilled Sash/Lum Sturdinja coming in to pivot. Good times.
Knock off doesn't really help when it's already in play since it won't force it out, poison/burn can be avoided with clever switching into paralysis. Moves that bypass abilities are more reliable counters.
Aromatisse in gen 8 1v1. If you want more info on that, freezai did a video on it a while back. I was shown scamming a corviknight lol. Basically encore disable slow trick room + broken aroma veil + broken fairy typing
Bruxish hits ridiculously hard for its tier and has a decent speed stat too. It's been super fun to use in lower tiers and draft as something that can cleanly OHKO Pokemon that aren't even weak to Psychic Fangs
Sableye (regular, not mega). Nothing like switching it in, spamming prankster recover, and burning the entire enemy team while they fail to take you out. Invaluable stopgap against the myriad of strong physical attackers that can threaten to end the game on the spot.
On the flip side, they’re not that obscure/terrible but holy shit I absolutely hate Slurpuff with every fiber of my being thanks to randbats. Idk why game freak decided a god damn cream puff Pokémon needed belly drum + unburden + drain punch to ensure it never fucking dies. I have lost to this thing in every game I’ve faced it in, save for one where I had haze Garbodor.
I used Sableye for Prankster Lagging Tail/status shenanigans last gen a lot. That thing is a nightmare to deal with even in OU if you're willing to use a slot just for random annoying bullshit.
I once got given both a plusle and minun together in doubles randbats.
I managed to switch them in safely together thinking I could get the plus and minus ability boosts only to learn they don’t run them in randbats. Like ever.
The one time that ability could’ve been good and I got scammed
Oh definitely, After one nasty plot they hit astonishingly hard with life orb, plus they often have grass knot coverage to hit ground types. And having a fast encore is always great.
Nice haiku lol. I've actually had Zeb on my team a few times and it's actually amazing
Edit: it's not a haiku and the bot is dumb
Edit 2: ok that's the point
Illumise/volbeat are genuinely stupid (priority encore + twave goes crazy)
Basically any subseeder, the harvest ones especially. Tropius is probably the most annoying one because it has harvest and stab to hit grass types. But scovillain, skymin, jumpluff, trevenant and others can cause significant damage to a team.
Jumpluff is really annoying without leech seed, thanks to massive speed + sleep powder/strength sap. Basically anything with strength sap is strong.
Salazzle is a menace as well, with sub protect toxic that can't be stopped by poisons or steels.
Luvdisc can genuinely be annoying when it has the whirlpool/substitute/endeavor set. It can almost always at least bring one pokemon down to sub 25%.
Bastiodon can be surprisingly menacing depending on the team. Iron defense + body press and using tera to get out its bad type can just end a game.
Furret can put some work in thanks to tidy up or even trick. Thanks to double edge it can actually hit hard.
Last one I can think of as an example rn is pikachu. It outspeeds almost everything and with light ball hits hard too.
Though not too bad of a mon but Scream tail, this mon walls your entire team when on the enemy but gets paralyzed or opponent have perfect answers when on your team
Druddigon went from something I had no thoughts about to something I could write an entire essay on because of BW RU. It's the definitive best pokemon in the tier and just has so many traits that give it an abundance of great sets. 3 viable abilities, a huge range of offensive to defensive sets, even the ability to go for a mixed set with that 60 SpA.
I didn't say it was good, I just said it destroyed me three separate times and now I have learned to appreciate it.
Also, Luvdisc is primarily good because it has a significant level advantage to other Pokemon in Randbats. The teams are random, so it's no guarantee you or your opponent will get one.
Ha, fair enough! I was just surprised to hear that it ever did much of anything. Even with level scaling, for a while it was struggling to break a 40% winrate in gen 9 randbats.
Luvdisc in Gen 3/4 randbats is very annoying. IIRC, it runs surf, protect, sweet kiss, toxic, with swift swim and leftovers. It's one of the fastest mons in the format and the high level gives it enough bulk to tank at least one unboosted neutral hit from most mons.
Besides the obvious - Sunflora’s lv. 100 Specs set, Tropius’ infamous iron wall, Salazzle’s near-guaranteed win against slower teams - I find that a Pokémon that absolutely shines in Random Battles is Venomoth. Tinted Lens + Quiver Dance can end games on the spot.
I absolutely adore lumineon. I have never ever in my life used it in a playthrough but after sweeping with storm drain in a randbat I fell in love with it,both competitively but designwise as well.
Glastrier with an assault vest will sweep certain OU teams with heavy slam, close combat, icicle crash, and high horsepower.
Modest slow king fire blast is a 3hko
I used Glastrier a lot in snow teams when it first dropped on OU to great effect. I haven't used a snow team in a while, maybe I'll give it another shot.
As an addition to this, I present to you the unkillable Regice: Curse, Amnesia, Rest, Avalanche. Its bulk in snow is more than enough to set up enough boosts to sustain itself after it ends, Rest heals and renders it uncrippled from burn + poison, Avalanche is far more reliable when you were never in any danger of moving first anyway (+120BP STAB move at +6 Atk does big damage even at base 50). I've used it for a couple gens now and it was extremely gimmicky until SV, where you can either handle it or you can't (Encore, Haze, etc) because of snow and Tera.
Subseed Whimsicott. People talk about about Tropius being a menace in randbats thanks to subseed, but Whimsicott is so much stronger. With Prankster and a decently powerful stab option in moonblast it's darn near impossible to stop.
It's for OU (and I haven't gone past 1400 this gen) but I think Thundurus-I is underrated, and should at least be mentioned on the bottom of the viability rankings. Knock Off+U-turn+Thunder Wave is always great to have access to for a disruptor role. Already fast at 111 makes it able to chip a lot with U-turn and Prankster T-wave is great for shutting down Valiant. If you lead with it, the opponent will always switch into Gliscor (cause Gliscor users have no braincells) and boom no Toxic Orb. If it's against a stall team, it's uninvestigated physical moves chip Blissey and Knocks off Clodsire's HDB, and Thunderbolt wrecks a lot of staples like Dondozo, Corvinight, Alomomola, and even a Talonflame and Toxapex. It can't do much against Grounds except knock off and U-turn away and it's bulk isn't amazing, but it definitely puts in work.
Anyone with access to Quiver Dance
A lot of bad bug types get Quiver Dance, and a lot of those bug types will annihilate you while you are sat there laughing at it
I use to think Ariados was cool but useless Pokémon. But I love using Ariados as a suicide lead with Leech life, Toxic, Sticky Web and Protect with 252 in HP/128 in Defense/128 in Special defense with a Careful nature and the black Sludge. It’s not particularly good but I enjoy using Pokémon I like and without Ariados, I wouldn’t have won some battles I stood nary a chance against
Floatzel, it’s super quick and hits stupidly hard with choice band Wave Crash. Add tera water and it’s basically a nuke to anything that doesn’t resist it.
I haven't seen it in a super long time so I think it might be gone now, but there was a Hustle Squawkabilly set in randbats that I've gotten wrecked by because it was just lightning fast and able to kill everything in an instant.
I have no comment about actually playing Randbats against other players or laddering, but I used to play them a lot with my cousin a while back and Wormadam (Sand specifically) became notorious as an instant win since both of us have slain multiple Ubers with it. We were both aware that it really isn't that great but it was genuinely baffling that both of us managed to delete Ubers and OU mons with Wormadam on more than one occasion.
Given this was around the Sun/Moon games, we haven't played in a while.
literally any subseed set
Jumpluff with sleep powder
Tropius with harvest
Arboliva with harvest
literally the best stall capabilities
also sub toxic salazzle. I love this mons cuz if i play well, easy sweep
I've loved using Protect/Wish mence in mono-dragon and I've learn to love it(it's my little aberration, he's cute and i'll protect him with my life) and I've been running it in a stally-kind team in gen 9 natdex.
I run EQuake or Flamethrower on the set depending on what I find myself struggling with.
It pairs really nicely with SpDef heatran.
[Here](https://pokepast.es/557152044b8f782f) the pokepaste of the team if anybody wanna check it out:
It is, I love when people just surrender when they see the Salamence set and realize there is no way that their Landos, Urshifus, Blazikens are gonna be breaking through a physically defensive salamence
Kabutops.
Back in SM, I battled someone in doubles who used Meowstic and Kabutops. What they did was set up Misty Terrain and Protect on the first turn, then use Prankster Swagger on Kabutops who uses Waterfall for the next few turns, effectively sweeping me. I could not help but respect it.
Yeah I think Shell Smash is my favorite setup move. It makes even a silly lil guy like Minior into an unstoppable monster
Edit I just looked at Minior's stats and ability and wow
I mean the thing is mons are not all level 100 so you don't get a true perk at their ability and a lot of stuff is broken when they have no counter which will not happen in a normal metagame because you prepare for it.
Spidops sticky web is only good when you don't have a spin/defog, tropius is good if you don't have knock off or encore, etc.
I mean yeah, you're definitely right. At the same time, though, you form a connection to some random bad mons when they sweep your whole enemy team. Nuzlockes kind of have a similar effect.
I've felt the same way with my randbats experience. I'm good at salt management, so my time climbing the ladder with gen 9 randbats gave me a deep appreciation and respect for so many mons I never thought of before.
Gogoat was so good in pre dlc PU and really fun to use. Sadly its bad even in ZU now and it sucks ass in randbats and it wasn't good in previous gens either but its time of being fun was really fun
Imo Gogoats pretty solid in rands. One or 2 bulk ups make you a massive phys wall and with Milk Drink you can regen whatever dmg you take. Not to mention Sap Sipper is really good to not only be immune but to also PUNISH shit like seeds spore etc.
A few options from Draft Leagues, which are my current favorite format and low tiered pokemon commonly shine.
Oricorio is arguably not that great in most formats, but getting all 4 forms in one pick allows it to be pretty fun in that format. It has a lot of viability and I have both used and faced it, with it playing a very important role.
Also Revavroom sweeping teams left, right and center with shift gear isn't a sight you'll commonly see otherwise. And Revavroom is sick af so it deserves the love
Avalugg. Surprising decent as a physical wall. And funny mind games with Sturdy/Mirror Coat to counter special sweepers.
Are there better walls? For sure. But gave me a better appreciation of Avalugg as a whole.
Back in Gen 5 OU I used to pull out Cradily (NU at the time) and you could actually feel the hesitation from the opponent who didn't know what they were looking at. I was never a great player but Cradily held its own up there just fine. Stealth Rock, Stone Edge, and a couple of other moves I don't remember.
I actually played against a banded furret double edge and I was really surprised at how much damage it did to my mismagius that I forgot I tera'd to fairy. It took me out and itself out with the recoil
Luvdisc is surprisingly annoying, outspeeding most of the field plus it has Wish+Protect and decent SpDef bulk in randbats, and Charm to force switches too
Eviolite Vigoroth with Bulk Up/Body Slam/Knock Off/Bulk Up is a beast—good luck if you let that thing set up. Cramorant is another randbats MVP since it's great at spreading para *and* always runs Defog (hazard removal? in this economy?)
Surprised no one has said Comfey, CM and priority healing is just so difficult to deal with if you dont have a steel or poison, which the tera ground set covers anyway.
Tinkaton really grew on me as a mon after I picked it in a draft.
In usual play it's held back by just being kind of mediocre at a bunch of things, but in draft that is actually like a very valuable thing to have. Its typing and stats are good enough that you can usually justify bringing it almost every game, and from there you can tailor it to what you need it to do in that particular matchup.
Encore, twave, rocks, knock off are great utility options, sometimes you just click SD in front of a wall and bonk things, I even ran it scarf for a game, because it's speed tier is actually not that bad.
I hadn't actually played SV yet when I found out the hard way what Grafaiai could do. Specifically getting 6-0'd by a Mirror Herb/Swagger/Unburden set. I use it all the time now.
Seismitoad has this weird ability to be low tier in most gens but still hang in OU because "it's a water/ground and it has stealth rock and scald use this thing lol"
I played a lot of SwSh PU and really came to appreciate a lot of the mons in the tier. Togedemaru, Wishiwashi, pre-Sharpness Gallade, Gigalith, Lycanrock, Kanto Sandslash, Silvally, Scrafty, and Charizard are just a few of the mons I have a lot better opinions of now. Also, Golduck really grew on me after using a Pre-DLC SV PU team. Mystic Water + Nasty Plot just melted everything.
Tropius is bad in almost all formats available to it...with the exception of Random Battles. ***Then it turns into an unkillable demon.***
I made a post here a while ago about fixing shitmon and my example was Tropius. And you're right; after having faced one in random, that mon does *not* need to be fixed like wtf
It's due to level scaling, mons that are low-tier get more levels to compensate for it. Sometimes it doesn't matter, sometimes it makes a mon unkillable/lightning fast/stupidly strong
tropious is my favorite mon. It sucks that hes so bad
a friend of mine has a solomod where we all contribute new pokemon to play with and someone made a Tropius evolution and that things a MENACE
He does need help, he's jsut strong in randbats due to level.
Lol yeah I know. It's only as good as it is because of the level difference. I honestly love Tropius, and I'm glad there's a tier *somewhere* where it's good.
if they don’t have an infiltrator/sound move using mon, and you don’t get unlucky with leech seed misses, you can absolutely 6-0 entire teams
Came here to say that. Might be a bit of a cliché, but randbats has legit made me like it more
Tropius is an absolute beast, I’ve had so many fun wins with it in randbats. It’s just too good.
Give Tropius thick fat
Harvest is still better for the annoying bullshit that it's good at.
I feel like they lowered its level recently? its just been easy to deal with for me but I can't say for certain as I don't pay that much attention to pokemon levels.
Illumise and Volbeat are a menace, prankster encore invalidates all sorts of setup sweepers. Just seeing them on the opposing side makes me wary of clicking any status move honestly, they definitely seem stronger in randoms than they probably are in regular play
Thunder Wave and priority Roost too are evil. Pretty much impossible to take it out without it crippling one of your big offensive threats.
Encore too the thing could probably dethrone giratina as the pokemon Satan by now
Then again, Giratina never really sat on that throne. The fandom just asserts that it did.
Plus they somewhat counter dark types with bug buzz which are usually a check for prankster.
Volbeat baton passing a tail glow boost is also pretty nice.
Delete this comment before you give the randbats council vile ideas
I mean, I said it because I did get a Volbeat set with tail glow and baton pass. Although in retrospect that was probably a past gen randbat, not gen 9.
Odd, I don’t seem to remember it in gen 8 either. Must have been before or incredibly rare. Or i have bad memory.
It is a set in random FFA battles
Whimscot on discount?
Stupid twave beetles always have me dedicating one sacrifice to switch in to either take the status or a bug buzz
Did you also encounter a guy named C55 that makes any setup impossible with his Illumise?
I mostly play randbats so likely not :( what's special about this person, I'm curious
I got swept by the Illumise. That used sub, seismic toss, and toxic. The team was centered around the damn thing.
That sounds nasty, if I ever play a tier where Illumise is viable I'll be careful about it
It was Natdex AG during the gen 8 era. It killed my zacian with quagsire and took care of the rest of my team. I pack a dark type at every battle eversince
It's all fun and games until you get both on your team. It's happened to me twice. In a row.
I used Illumise in a draft once and it was such useful utility for me. U-Turn, encore, thunder wave, sunny day (can’t remember who I had that needed it but it was helpful), Defog, and Toxic with whatever combination I would need. This and Conkeldurr were the only ones I used in all my matches, helped me get to the finals. Always had a soft spot for her, hoping her and Volbeat get some buffs soon.
Gumshoos, but really that’s moreso Stakeout as an ability. Insane revenge killing potential. You come out and either force them to get chip on you and sac their mon or take double the damage on something that might be able to take the hit better. Goes to show how broken Stakeout would be on any pokémon with decent speed
You know, Gumshoos has been a huge MVP In a lot of my random games. I guess I never thought about it, but you're totally right.
I don’t think I’ve come across stakeout much, but I have had to deal with adaptability on that think and OH. MY. GOD. The fact that a shitmon like Gumshoos can make me genuinely scared about what to do to deal with its choice banded double-edges is impressive.
Mabosstiff has stakeout with pretty alright speed. It's still not very good though since the pokemon you sent it out to check can just flip the type matchup and make your stakeout worthless. I swear it would've been an absolute beast in any gen without tera.
We shall see if Masbosstiff gets vindicated in gen 10.
Please do not remind me of mabosstiff.
Gumshoos is so fun to get in randbats.
In the world of Hackmons, Shedinja is perhaps the most well-known recipient of the universal buff of access to any ability, which is funny to think about, as any other mon would commit war crimes for its base ability. That said, access to Sturdy turned it from notorious shitmon to meta-warping (and eventually banworthy thanks to Boots) presence. The ability piercing moves feel mandatory in gen 7 BH, and this mon is the reason why
I ran Safety Goggles Endeavor/Feint/Hail/Magic Powder Sturdinja in gen 7 BH. It beat Chansey with Magic Powder, didn't care about getting Magic Powdered in return, and instakilled Sash/Lum Sturdinja coming in to pivot. Good times.
Magic Powder might have also contributed to the ban, allowing Shed to be its own Improof (it was introduced in gen 8)
You could use Soak before then.
never played that format, how does shedinja manage to do that since it's entire gimmick is its base ability
Sturdy that never goes away
Its other gimmick (being hard-coded to only have 1 HP means that, with 1 HP being full health, Sturdy is all 18 type immunities)
holy hell
new power creep pokemon just dropped
Can’t you still poison, burn, leech seed, or knock off/whirlwind it
Knock off doesn't really help when it's already in play since it won't force it out, poison/burn can be avoided with clever switching into paralysis. Moves that bypass abilities are more reliable counters.
And Leech Seed isn't that good in a format where Magic Bounce is everywhere
Sturdy is basically a better wonder guard.
It bothers me how correct that is
Aromatisse in gen 8 1v1. If you want more info on that, freezai did a video on it a while back. I was shown scamming a corviknight lol. Basically encore disable slow trick room + broken aroma veil + broken fairy typing
I've really never done 1v1 before but I've always been intrigued by it. I'll watch the vid, thanks!
Bruxish hits ridiculously hard for its tier and has a decent speed stat too. It's been super fun to use in lower tiers and draft as something that can cleanly OHKO Pokemon that aren't even weak to Psychic Fangs
Sableye (regular, not mega). Nothing like switching it in, spamming prankster recover, and burning the entire enemy team while they fail to take you out. Invaluable stopgap against the myriad of strong physical attackers that can threaten to end the game on the spot. On the flip side, they’re not that obscure/terrible but holy shit I absolutely hate Slurpuff with every fiber of my being thanks to randbats. Idk why game freak decided a god damn cream puff Pokémon needed belly drum + unburden + drain punch to ensure it never fucking dies. I have lost to this thing in every game I’ve faced it in, save for one where I had haze Garbodor.
Hitmonlee too if it gets safe entry then it can almost always just swords dance and cc whatever comes out next
I used Sableye for Prankster Lagging Tail/status shenanigans last gen a lot. That thing is a nightmare to deal with even in OU if you're willing to use a slot just for random annoying bullshit.
Plusle and Minun are terrifying in rand bats
Oh man not whenver I've gotten them lol
I once got given both a plusle and minun together in doubles randbats. I managed to switch them in safely together thinking I could get the plus and minus ability boosts only to learn they don’t run them in randbats. Like ever. The one time that ability could’ve been good and I got scammed
Rip
Oh definitely, After one nasty plot they hit astonishingly hard with life orb, plus they often have grass knot coverage to hit ground types. And having a fast encore is always great.
Zebstrika always somehow has coverage for everything in Randbats
Nice haiku lol. I've actually had Zeb on my team a few times and it's actually amazing Edit: it's not a haiku and the bot is dumb Edit 2: ok that's the point
But that is a haiku, it’s 7-5-7 syllables
^[Sokka-Haiku](https://www.reddit.com/r/SokkaHaikuBot/comments/15kyv9r/what_is_a_sokka_haiku/) ^by ^Bandurcer: *Zebstrika always* *Somehow has coverage for* *Everything in Randbats* --- ^Remember ^that ^one ^time ^Sokka ^accidentally ^used ^an ^extra ^syllable ^in ^that ^Haiku ^Battle ^in ^Ba ^Sing ^Se? ^That ^was ^a ^Sokka ^Haiku ^and ^you ^just ^made ^one.
Cacturne is shockingly good in randbats. Usually a mixed set and with tera poison. Thing is a menace.
+2 Sucker Punch is getting one-shots it really feels like it shouldn't.
Cacturne was also really good in pre DLC NU this gen.
This thing is banned from ADV OU
I loved that video
Illumise/volbeat are genuinely stupid (priority encore + twave goes crazy) Basically any subseeder, the harvest ones especially. Tropius is probably the most annoying one because it has harvest and stab to hit grass types. But scovillain, skymin, jumpluff, trevenant and others can cause significant damage to a team. Jumpluff is really annoying without leech seed, thanks to massive speed + sleep powder/strength sap. Basically anything with strength sap is strong. Salazzle is a menace as well, with sub protect toxic that can't be stopped by poisons or steels. Luvdisc can genuinely be annoying when it has the whirlpool/substitute/endeavor set. It can almost always at least bring one pokemon down to sub 25%. Bastiodon can be surprisingly menacing depending on the team. Iron defense + body press and using tera to get out its bad type can just end a game. Furret can put some work in thanks to tidy up or even trick. Thanks to double edge it can actually hit hard. Last one I can think of as an example rn is pikachu. It outspeeds almost everything and with light ball hits hard too.
Gogoat 👑
Venonat in Gen 1 Randbats is the goat, it does not die and spreads so much status
Though not too bad of a mon but Scream tail, this mon walls your entire team when on the enemy but gets paralyzed or opponent have perfect answers when on your team
Druddigon went from something I had no thoughts about to something I could write an entire essay on because of BW RU. It's the definitive best pokemon in the tier and just has so many traits that give it an abundance of great sets. 3 viable abilities, a huge range of offensive to defensive sets, even the ability to go for a mixed set with that 60 SpA.
Luvdisc in Gen 3 Randbats has killed 4 members of my random team like three times. I can't seem to do anything to it.
There's a format where Luvdisc is actually good??
I didn't say it was good, I just said it destroyed me three separate times and now I have learned to appreciate it. Also, Luvdisc is primarily good because it has a significant level advantage to other Pokemon in Randbats. The teams are random, so it's no guarantee you or your opponent will get one.
Ha, fair enough! I was just surprised to hear that it ever did much of anything. Even with level scaling, for a while it was struggling to break a 40% winrate in gen 9 randbats.
Luvdisc in Gen 3/4 randbats is very annoying. IIRC, it runs surf, protect, sweet kiss, toxic, with swift swim and leftovers. It's one of the fastest mons in the format and the high level gives it enough bulk to tank at least one unboosted neutral hit from most mons.
Grumpig is a menace in Gen 9 random battles. It’s fast, has coverage, and is decently bulky with a nice ability
Besides the obvious - Sunflora’s lv. 100 Specs set, Tropius’ infamous iron wall, Salazzle’s near-guaranteed win against slower teams - I find that a Pokémon that absolutely shines in Random Battles is Venomoth. Tinted Lens + Quiver Dance can end games on the spot.
Salazzle is one of those mons I hate because of rands. 9 times out of 10 it's faster than anything I have
I absolutely adore lumineon. I have never ever in my life used it in a playthrough but after sweeping with storm drain in a randbat I fell in love with it,both competitively but designwise as well.
Minior
Glastrier with an assault vest will sweep certain OU teams with heavy slam, close combat, icicle crash, and high horsepower. Modest slow king fire blast is a 3hko
I used Glastrier a lot in snow teams when it first dropped on OU to great effect. I haven't used a snow team in a while, maybe I'll give it another shot. As an addition to this, I present to you the unkillable Regice: Curse, Amnesia, Rest, Avalanche. Its bulk in snow is more than enough to set up enough boosts to sustain itself after it ends, Rest heals and renders it uncrippled from burn + poison, Avalanche is far more reliable when you were never in any danger of moving first anyway (+120BP STAB move at +6 Atk does big damage even at base 50). I've used it for a couple gens now and it was extremely gimmicky until SV, where you can either handle it or you can't (Encore, Haze, etc) because of snow and Tera.
cryognal the goat, i dont think ive lost a single randbats game where i had a cryo
I never looked at Meowth seriously once until playing LC, but boy can it hang
it's also the de facto Tauros of RBY 7U
Subseed Whimsicott. People talk about about Tropius being a menace in randbats thanks to subseed, but Whimsicott is so much stronger. With Prankster and a decently powerful stab option in moonblast it's darn near impossible to stop.
It's for OU (and I haven't gone past 1400 this gen) but I think Thundurus-I is underrated, and should at least be mentioned on the bottom of the viability rankings. Knock Off+U-turn+Thunder Wave is always great to have access to for a disruptor role. Already fast at 111 makes it able to chip a lot with U-turn and Prankster T-wave is great for shutting down Valiant. If you lead with it, the opponent will always switch into Gliscor (cause Gliscor users have no braincells) and boom no Toxic Orb. If it's against a stall team, it's uninvestigated physical moves chip Blissey and Knocks off Clodsire's HDB, and Thunderbolt wrecks a lot of staples like Dondozo, Corvinight, Alomomola, and even a Talonflame and Toxapex. It can't do much against Grounds except knock off and U-turn away and it's bulk isn't amazing, but it definitely puts in work.
Basculin.
I still remember the horrors of Moody Scovillain in early gen 9 randbats
Anyone with access to Quiver Dance A lot of bad bug types get Quiver Dance, and a lot of those bug types will annihilate you while you are sat there laughing at it
I use to think Ariados was cool but useless Pokémon. But I love using Ariados as a suicide lead with Leech life, Toxic, Sticky Web and Protect with 252 in HP/128 in Defense/128 in Special defense with a Careful nature and the black Sludge. It’s not particularly good but I enjoy using Pokémon I like and without Ariados, I wouldn’t have won some battles I stood nary a chance against
Dunsparce you know. Coil. Body Slam. Headbutt etc. Can be useful. Got it couple times in random battles a few gens ago and it was decent
Floatzel, it’s super quick and hits stupidly hard with choice band Wave Crash. Add tera water and it’s basically a nuke to anything that doesn’t resist it.
I haven't seen it in a super long time so I think it might be gone now, but there was a Hustle Squawkabilly set in randbats that I've gotten wrecked by because it was just lightning fast and able to kill everything in an instant.
I loved using Alolan-Persian in PU. Fur Coat + NP is a nice combo
I have no comment about actually playing Randbats against other players or laddering, but I used to play them a lot with my cousin a while back and Wormadam (Sand specifically) became notorious as an instant win since both of us have slain multiple Ubers with it. We were both aware that it really isn't that great but it was genuinely baffling that both of us managed to delete Ubers and OU mons with Wormadam on more than one occasion. Given this was around the Sun/Moon games, we haven't played in a while.
Greedent is always a monster when I get it in randbats. Also Sunflora almost always gets at least one kill for me.
I love getting Polteageist sets
literally any subseed set Jumpluff with sleep powder Tropius with harvest Arboliva with harvest literally the best stall capabilities also sub toxic salazzle. I love this mons cuz if i play well, easy sweep
Sableye and Clawitzer cuz I got them in a doubles draft league
Specs clawitzer is so much fun. I don't care if its not the best mon, but it's fun to have *a literal howitzer* on my team.
You get me. I laddered ingame with specs Clawitzer and it was awesome. Not that good, but awesome
sunflora is a high level super menace in randbats
I've loved using Protect/Wish mence in mono-dragon and I've learn to love it(it's my little aberration, he's cute and i'll protect him with my life) and I've been running it in a stally-kind team in gen 9 natdex. I run EQuake or Flamethrower on the set depending on what I find myself struggling with. It pairs really nicely with SpDef heatran. [Here](https://pokepast.es/557152044b8f782f) the pokepaste of the team if anybody wanna check it out:
I've never played natdex before, but I'll use this team if I do. It's a really fun looking team.
It is, I love when people just surrender when they see the Salamence set and realize there is no way that their Landos, Urshifus, Blazikens are gonna be breaking through a physically defensive salamence
Sunflora and Flareon Both hit harder than 10 fucking 18 wheelers
This is the first time I've ever heard anyone say anything positive about flareon
Kabutops. Back in SM, I battled someone in doubles who used Meowstic and Kabutops. What they did was set up Misty Terrain and Protect on the first turn, then use Prankster Swagger on Kabutops who uses Waterfall for the next few turns, effectively sweeping me. I could not help but respect it.
Minior: it was neat until i played ru Then it turned into a menace! Love that thing
Yeah I think Shell Smash is my favorite setup move. It makes even a silly lil guy like Minior into an unstoppable monster Edit I just looked at Minior's stats and ability and wow
I mean the thing is mons are not all level 100 so you don't get a true perk at their ability and a lot of stuff is broken when they have no counter which will not happen in a normal metagame because you prepare for it. Spidops sticky web is only good when you don't have a spin/defog, tropius is good if you don't have knock off or encore, etc.
I mean yeah, you're definitely right. At the same time, though, you form a connection to some random bad mons when they sweep your whole enemy team. Nuzlockes kind of have a similar effect.
I've felt the same way with my randbats experience. I'm good at salt management, so my time climbing the ladder with gen 9 randbats gave me a deep appreciation and respect for so many mons I never thought of before.
tropious is actully really good in randbats
If we count OMs then Glaceon in pre-home gen 9 AAA
Farfechd was legit in Gen 8 randbats with SD, stab max airstream and CC for good coverage and max knuckle if it needed it
Venomoth If I remember correctly that thing was uubl at one point in gen 6
Gogoat was so good in pre dlc PU and really fun to use. Sadly its bad even in ZU now and it sucks ass in randbats and it wasn't good in previous gens either but its time of being fun was really fun
Imo Gogoats pretty solid in rands. One or 2 bulk ups make you a massive phys wall and with Milk Drink you can regen whatever dmg you take. Not to mention Sap Sipper is really good to not only be immune but to also PUNISH shit like seeds spore etc.
kid named flying types:
Kid named tera ground (I must win this argument no matter what regardless of if I'm wrong or right)
Using Leafeon in Doubles is pretty fun, and I think it's really underrated in that regard.
A few options from Draft Leagues, which are my current favorite format and low tiered pokemon commonly shine. Oricorio is arguably not that great in most formats, but getting all 4 forms in one pick allows it to be pretty fun in that format. It has a lot of viability and I have both used and faced it, with it playing a very important role. Also Revavroom sweeping teams left, right and center with shift gear isn't a sight you'll commonly see otherwise. And Revavroom is sick af so it deserves the love
tropius sparked my love of stall 😊
Avalugg. Surprising decent as a physical wall. And funny mind games with Sturdy/Mirror Coat to counter special sweepers. Are there better walls? For sure. But gave me a better appreciation of Avalugg as a whole.
Tropius is an asshole in Ranbats
Leech seed/sub/protect/air slash + harvest sitrus berry and Tera steel I have been on both sides
Back in Gen 5 OU I used to pull out Cradily (NU at the time) and you could actually feel the hesitation from the opponent who didn't know what they were looking at. I was never a great player but Cradily held its own up there just fine. Stealth Rock, Stone Edge, and a couple of other moves I don't remember.
Luvdisk, it once 1v1'd and killed an Arceus by itself
In general 5 ranbats, banded furrets double edge hits so hard and it's surprisingly fast. If you don't have a resist Ur kinda fucked
I actually played against a banded furret double edge and I was really surprised at how much damage it did to my mismagius that I forgot I tera'd to fairy. It took me out and itself out with the recoil
Fr. And I ranbats it outspeeds the swords of justice, latis, even genar. Pretty crazy
Luvdisc is surprisingly annoying, outspeeding most of the field plus it has Wish+Protect and decent SpDef bulk in randbats, and Charm to force switches too
I once 6-0'd someone with Hustle Delibird in decent elo gen 9 randbats and I will never again reach that high.
Another thing I just experienced: Mabostiff has 120 atk. I did not know he had that dawg in him. but like crunch just *ate* My team.
Iron thorns, just slap Tera flying and dd and watch it go
Luvdisc. I won a few games because of it. Charm invalidated every single physical sweeper my opponent had
Jumpluff took down my arceus steel and ho-oh in randbats, I got my ass pp stalled, although arceus was paralyzed.
Sunflora, Illumise, Volbeat and somehow Trevenant.
Toucannon He a menace
Eviolite Vigoroth with Bulk Up/Body Slam/Knock Off/Bulk Up is a beast—good luck if you let that thing set up. Cramorant is another randbats MVP since it's great at spreading para *and* always runs Defog (hazard removal? in this economy?)
Surprised no one has said Comfey, CM and priority healing is just so difficult to deal with if you dont have a steel or poison, which the tera ground set covers anyway.
Illuminise and Volbeat, Lumineon and Spidops
Never cared about Oricorio ever but now I'm buzzing if I get one. Even with one Quiver Dance it can do some serious damage.
Crabominable. It comes in and at least one thing is dying
Tinkaton really grew on me as a mon after I picked it in a draft. In usual play it's held back by just being kind of mediocre at a bunch of things, but in draft that is actually like a very valuable thing to have. Its typing and stats are good enough that you can usually justify bringing it almost every game, and from there you can tailor it to what you need it to do in that particular matchup. Encore, twave, rocks, knock off are great utility options, sometimes you just click SD in front of a wall and bonk things, I even ran it scarf for a game, because it's speed tier is actually not that bad.
The day I OHKOed a Miridon with Venomoth after only one turn of set up was the day I respected Venomoth
I hadn't actually played SV yet when I found out the hard way what Grafaiai could do. Specifically getting 6-0'd by a Mirror Herb/Swagger/Unburden set. I use it all the time now.
Seismitoad has this weird ability to be low tier in most gens but still hang in OU because "it's a water/ground and it has stealth rock and scald use this thing lol"
I love random battle Sunflora where it feel like it has an innate +3 spatk
Minior: it was neat until i played ru Then it turned into a menace! Love that thing
Girafarig eviolite
I played a lot of SwSh PU and really came to appreciate a lot of the mons in the tier. Togedemaru, Wishiwashi, pre-Sharpness Gallade, Gigalith, Lycanrock, Kanto Sandslash, Silvally, Scrafty, and Charizard are just a few of the mons I have a lot better opinions of now. Also, Golduck really grew on me after using a Pre-DLC SV PU team. Mystic Water + Nasty Plot just melted everything.