Gen 6 Metagame Predictions

[Richard and Blaziken]

The nerf to Hidden Power is annoying, but it's only used on Pokemon that have a 4x weakness to a type, so that's still all it'll be used for. A less competitive option than it has ever been, but special attackers with shallow movepools still need it to cover certain threats.

[SirBlaziken]

Hey, I'm using Aeguslash with

Leftovers
Stance Switch
Adament
Evs: 252 hp 252 Atk  4 SpD

Shadow Claw
King's Shield
Sacred Sword
Iron head



May switch SC with shadow sneak

[Spriter]

All sound moves apparently hit through Substitute. Exploud is too good now xD

[SirBlaziken]

Well then.

Boom Burst now needs a nerf.

[quack98]

Small tip, Blaze: Aegilslash in my experience works better with -Speed nature and 0 IVs, as you only want him to take hits in shield form. It  works like this:

Kings Shield (SS)
They attack, you don't get hurt (SS)
----
They attack, you take minor damage (SS)
You attack (BS)
---
Kings shield (SS)

You see, you never take much damage.

[Liam]

Well then.

Boom Burst now needs a nerf.

No, no it doesn't. It's distribution is pitiful and it doesn't hit anything for super effective. Noivern doesn't even get STAB on it and Exploud is crap.

[SirBlaziken]

/

Small tip, Blaze: Aegilslash in my experience works better with -Speed nature and 0 IVs, as you only want him to take hits in shield form. It  works like this:

Kings Shield (SS)
They attack, you don't get hurt (SS)
----
They attack, you take minor damage (SS)
You attack (BS)
---
Kings shield (SS)

You see, you never take much damage.

At least spell it right.

Also, I know what I'm doing, although it may work.

[quack98]

You do realise you spell Aegislash wrong everytime, right? xD
You also spelled Adamant wrong.
And it's stance change, not stance switch.

But anyway, Back to the actual topic, I think Boomburst will send Exploud up to RU and maybe UU

[SirBlaziken]

I thought Exploud was NU.

Meh.

[quack98]

Currently, yeah. But that's because they've left the gen V tiers as they are for now. But once they work it out properly, I think he might make it to RU and possibly UU depending on just how powerful a 210 BP move with only two resists (both of which he can cover with Focus Blast) will be...

[Liam]

Considering that this generation's UU will be home to some of last generations less used OU Pokémon, Exploud in UU is just not going to happen. Never. He's still stupidly slow and gets destroyed by any fighting move. Boomburst is hardly going to see him rocket from miserable usage in NU all the way to UU. RU on a good day, but even then I'm not 100% sold.

Apparently Talonflame is absolutely monstrous with his hidden ability, with priority acrobatics or brave bird able rip through unprepared teams. His sheer strength means than even his checks aren't completely safe, but this is still early days, so watch this space.

[quack98]

Problem with Talonflame is his attack isn't so great; Only base 80. Of course, it learns swords dance to remedy this, but many weaknesses (including a 4x weakness to Rock) doesn't help it's case!

I think it might be OU, but it depends what he can actually hurt. Obviously if OU happens to have a lot of flying resists in, he'll probably slip down to UU (where we'll end up with another Mienshao: Absurdly powerful in UU, but doesn't quite cut OU)

[Richard and Blaziken]

Considering that this generation's UU will be home to some of last generations less used OU Pokémon, Exploud in UU is just not going to happen. Never. He's still stupidly slow and gets destroyed by any fighting move. Boomburst is hardly going to see him rocket from miserable usage in NU all the way to UU. RU on a good day, but even then I'm not 100% sold.

Apparently Talonflame is absolutely monstrous with his hidden ability, with priority acrobatics or brave bird able rip through unprepared teams. His sheer strength means than even his checks aren't completely safe, but this is still early days, so watch this space.

Talonflame's only got base 81 Attack, I can't imagine it's too big a threat. Heatran laughs it away, bulky Waters don't care about it, it's walled by Rock types, Stealth Rock rips it in half, forcing it to Roost upon entry... I can't imagine this will be used in OU too much at all. I don't even think it's as good as Staraptor, to be honest.

[Liam]

Talonflame has a lot of things that set him apart from Staraptor. First of all, his offensive typing is very dangerous and does cause a lot of switches, giving him a turns to set up with moves like Swords dance or Bulk up (neither of which Staraptor have). He is in a unique speed tier which allows him to get past base 125s, or go adamant and invest enough to get past base 110s. You shouldn't underestimate his ability either, because it allows him to revenge a lot of Pokémon very easily (choice band priority brave birds hit like trucks, priority flying gem acrobatics (with swords dance) also hit like trucks). The only time you can switch in safely into +2 Talonflame is when it is setting up, otherwise you'll be taking at least 50% health, unless you're a dedicated counter.

Talonflame has wil-o-wisp too which is fun (and can't be burned that way in return). Also priority roost.

I really like the look of Talonflame, it's early days but wherever I go (apart from here lol) all I can see is very high praise for him.

I will concede that at first he may seem quite underwhelming and his stealth rock weakness is a bummer, but to say he's a worse version of Staraptor is not right.

[Richard and Blaziken]

That all sounds nice in theory, but dedicated counters aren't hard to accidentally have if you just have a Rock type that isn't weak to U-Turn.