January usage stats and USUM tier changes

Smogon has finally released the usage stats and updated tiers for the USUM as of January. Some of these may be a bit surprising such as Mega Charizard Y falling all the way to UU and Mandibuzz falling down to RU. The biggest takeaway from all of this is Landorus-Therian sitting above a 50% usage rate. That is absurd. Here is a link to the entire thread.

Notable OU usage stats:



Tier changes:

Necrozma moved from BL3 to RU
Ribombee moved from BL3 to RU
Qwilfish moved from PU to NU
Kingdra moved from OU to UU
Mandibuzz moved from UU to RU
Spiritomb moved from NU to PU
Stakataka moved from OU to UU
Lucario moved from BL2 to UU
Heliolisk moved from RU to NU
Venusaur moved from RU to NU
Charizard-Mega-Y moved from OU to UU
Blastoise-Mega moved from UU to RU
Sandslash-Alola moved from NU to PU
Manaphy moved from OU to UU
Marowak-Alola moved from OU to UU
Torkoal moved from RU to NU
Klinklang moved from BL4 to NU
Lycanroc-Dusk moved from OU to UU
Dragonite moved from OU to UU
Silvally-Steel moved from PU to NU
Ninetales-Alola moved from OU to UU
Smeargle moved from RU to NU
Claydol moved from NU to PU
Rotom-Mow moved from NU to RU
Medicham moved from BL4 to NU
Yanmega moved from BL3 to RU
Seismitoad moved from NU to UU
Kommo-o moved from RU to UU
Gengar moved from OU to UU
Rotom-Wash moved from UU to OU
Aurorus moved from NU to PU
Dugtrio moved from RU to NU

What are your opinions on all of this?

Should be noted that Zard Y, Manaphy and Dragonite ended up in BL, rather than UU.

I sorta expected Stakataka to drop as well, because it was pretty hyped up at first due to having powerful Gyro Balls, but it ultimately falls thanks to the current state of the meta. I expect to see it dropping to RU even, and then eventually find its final resting place in BL2 if UU isn't kind to it either (I haven't played a lot of UU so I can't give a proper informed judgement). I expect to see TR being a really common playstyle in UU as Alolan Marowak fell down to said tier as well.

Gengar falling is somewhat not surprising as well, especially considering the changes that have occurred over the game shift. While it can be assumed it's because of the loss of Levitate, bear in mind that Gengar's still remained OU despite the apparent nerf, so this can't be the reason. I have a feeling this has been caused by the rise of Toxapex and the power creep - Blacephalon seems to be taking his place as a special attacking ghost, as he hits harder despite suffering from being stuck in a crowded speed tier, yet this can be remedied with a scarf. Dugtrio's drop isn't surprising either. Since Arena Trap's ban he's been falling like rain through the tiers, largely thanks to the fact that better Ground-types exist, namely Zygarde-10% in RU and Mamoswine in UU, for example.

But 52% Lando usage, holy crap - that's twice the usage we've seen since it was last recorded. This cat has clearly stood the test of time, and I can see him being a mainstay for the rest of the gen, and the next gen for that matter unless something usurps him from the throne.

Lando-T has basically become the Primal Groudon of OU lol

What made Rotom-W rise back into OU though?

Nah said:

What made Rotom-W rise back into OU though?

Click to expand...

I have a feeling this was less more people using it in said tier, and more of the mon getting banned from UU. From what it seems, it was getting pretty overcentralising and people were forced to bring weird checks such as Seismitoad (it rose to UU because of Rotom-W!) just to deal with it. This makes sense when you realise some mons have been banned from tiers as a result of similar catalysts (for example, Mega Kangaskhan and Greninja).

Even after this, Gliscor will probably be on the way out next. Despite the stiff competition from Lando-T, it's still viable in OU despite being tiered below, and the loss of Rotom will probably result in Gliscor becoming a massive threat as there isn't much in the tier to deal with it.

Nah said:

Lando-T has basically become the Primal Groudon of OU lol

What made Rotom-W rise back into OU though?

Click to expand...

Rotom-W rose to OU beacause of its Typing + Ability giving only one weakness which is grass on top of this USUM gave it Defog making it much more useful.
and its pecent usage of course.

Part of me wishes Landorus-Therian would undergo suspect testing. That sounds better in theory than in actual practice due to a large number of mons that could potentially run rampant if it were to be banned.

fwiw I don't think Landorus is necessarily broken or anything but wow has it become the definition of centralization. We might be dealing with this dominance for generations to come.

Not really happy about Aloan Ninetails being back in UU. Everyone is going to be using a veil team again, it quickly gets old.

People will just use Auroras and Alolan Sandslash can just set it up though in UU. Anyways seems people just want to use different pokemon and methods.

Nobody bothers with Auroras and Alolan Sandslash, even with veil they aren't worth using in UU.

When Alolan Ninetails gets into UU the entire tier centralizes around it. Thankfully the ban came faster this time.