11-16-200905:59 AM
The next lesson in becoming a better battler is knowing the metagame. Metagame is what pokemon are commonly used and their movesets. In this article I will do my best to describe the metagame for underused, overused, and ubers. I don't ever play never used and since so few pepole do, it will not be covered. I don't battle doubles very often either, thus I can't provide an accurate metagame for it.
In the underused metagame, you will see a lot of priority moves. They are very common and should not be overlooked when choosing moves for your pokemon. Finishing off that last little HP can make all the difference. The tiers on smogon just recently had some changes to them. Raikou is now in the underused tier. Expect to see a lot of him. The most common set I see is calm mind, substitue, thunderbolt, hidden power grass. Raikou is among the fastest of all pokemon and has a pretty high special attack to use its moves well. Azumarill is also fairly common. With its ability huge power, it can put a big dent in your pokemon. Registeel and Milotic are common tanks. Registeel is harder to deal with unless you have a pokemon that knows taunt or haze. Clefable is also a solid wall and usually posseses Cosmic Power. Surprisingly, Scythers aren't that common although they are good.
In the overused tier, you will see a much different metagame. Due to the vast number of pokemon allowed, it is very wide spread. Many pokemon will lead with stealth rock. You start to see teams built around weather which is something you don't normally see in the underused tier. Sand Storm is much more common as a weather condition because of the benefits it provides which includes renduring endure reversal pokemon helpless. There are also more pokemon that benefit from it than hail. Rain isn't seen as much simply because there is no pokemon allowed in this tier that can summon rain upon being brought into battle. The same also holds true for Sunny day. Scizors are a very common sight and will posses Bullet punch 95% of the time. If you aren't prepared, it can really decimate your team. Gyrados is fairly common and is one of the best dragon dance users. Blissey and Skarmory are the most common walls you will see. Sometimes you will run into Cresselia or Suicune. Azelf is a very common pokemon especially used as a lead. Heatrans are also seen on occasion, often times with choice scarf.
The ubers tier is also vastly different. Stealth Rock is not present as much as it was in the other two tiers simply because of the damage output these pokemon have. You will find a fair number of teams that revolve around the weather. If you aren't set up to counter it, you will have a tough time beating them. Choice Scarf Kyogres are very tough to get rid of. Darkrai is a beast to deal with. It outruns many of the unscarfed pokemon and will normally use Dark Void right away to put you to sleep. Having Lum Berry can help otherwise you will need something that outruns it naturally or with a scarf. Latios and Latias are hard to deal with simply because Soul Dew pumps up there special attack and special defense. They max out at 350 speed. Mewtwo is hard to deal with because it outruns every pokemon that isn't scarfed except ninjask, deoxys, and Electrode. Sometimes they run Choice Specs to inflict massive damage to you. Deoxys commonly possesses Extreme Speed. It can be helpful to put it with thunder or thuderbolt to deal with Kyogre.
In the underused metagame, you will see a lot of priority moves. They are very common and should not be overlooked when choosing moves for your pokemon. Finishing off that last little HP can make all the difference. The tiers on smogon just recently had some changes to them. Raikou is now in the underused tier. Expect to see a lot of him. The most common set I see is calm mind, substitue, thunderbolt, hidden power grass. Raikou is among the fastest of all pokemon and has a pretty high special attack to use its moves well. Azumarill is also fairly common. With its ability huge power, it can put a big dent in your pokemon. Registeel and Milotic are common tanks. Registeel is harder to deal with unless you have a pokemon that knows taunt or haze. Clefable is also a solid wall and usually posseses Cosmic Power. Surprisingly, Scythers aren't that common although they are good.
In the overused tier, you will see a much different metagame. Due to the vast number of pokemon allowed, it is very wide spread. Many pokemon will lead with stealth rock. You start to see teams built around weather which is something you don't normally see in the underused tier. Sand Storm is much more common as a weather condition because of the benefits it provides which includes renduring endure reversal pokemon helpless. There are also more pokemon that benefit from it than hail. Rain isn't seen as much simply because there is no pokemon allowed in this tier that can summon rain upon being brought into battle. The same also holds true for Sunny day. Scizors are a very common sight and will posses Bullet punch 95% of the time. If you aren't prepared, it can really decimate your team. Gyrados is fairly common and is one of the best dragon dance users. Blissey and Skarmory are the most common walls you will see. Sometimes you will run into Cresselia or Suicune. Azelf is a very common pokemon especially used as a lead. Heatrans are also seen on occasion, often times with choice scarf.
The ubers tier is also vastly different. Stealth Rock is not present as much as it was in the other two tiers simply because of the damage output these pokemon have. You will find a fair number of teams that revolve around the weather. If you aren't set up to counter it, you will have a tough time beating them. Choice Scarf Kyogres are very tough to get rid of. Darkrai is a beast to deal with. It outruns many of the unscarfed pokemon and will normally use Dark Void right away to put you to sleep. Having Lum Berry can help otherwise you will need something that outruns it naturally or with a scarf. Latios and Latias are hard to deal with simply because Soul Dew pumps up there special attack and special defense. They max out at 350 speed. Mewtwo is hard to deal with because it outruns every pokemon that isn't scarfed except ninjask, deoxys, and Electrode. Sometimes they run Choice Specs to inflict massive damage to you. Deoxys commonly possesses Extreme Speed. It can be helpful to put it with thunder or thuderbolt to deal with Kyogre.