Usage and tier predictions in generation six

[wolf]

Any Pokemon that you think will rise or drop in usage? Be sure to keep the Uber and NU predictions in their respective threads.

Gengar and Starmie have been OU for every single gen, but I feel like that may change now. For Gengar, we may see a rapid increase in usage because of its MEvo and the Steel-type nerf, which will most likely result in a ban if we look at things in a gen 5 state of mind. On the other hand, Starmie has competition with Mega Blastoise who happens to better in almost every way aside from the lower Speed and lack of Thunderbolt or Psychic STAB. Add onto the popularity of stuff like Assault Vest trappers (Tyranitar and Scizor) and the introduction of Sticky Web, things aren't looking too good for fragile ol' Starmie. Still, Rapid Spin is a very important move (even more so this gen), so it'll be interesting to see how it pans out for the fastest spinner around (sans Excadrill in sand).

 

[Ársa]

Greninja becomes the fastest spinner around now, doesn't it? And for slightly less bulk, it gets Dark STAB for the increased number of ghosts we'll be seeing this gen, alongside Protean being an obvious winner. Between Blastoise-M, Greninja and the defog buff, Starmie usage is probably gonna drop quite significantly.

Edit: So, despite the talk I've been hearing on Smogon, I actually cannot find anywhere that says Greninja actually gets rapid spin. Unless I'm going blind.

As for Gengar, would something similar happen as with the Lati@s twins, whereby the item (Gengarite) is banned for OU play? As for moving-on-up, I think Speed Boost Blaziken will be skipping a tier and going straight to Uber.

 

[PlatinumDude]

Greninja becomes the fastest spinner around now, doesn't it? And for slightly less bulk, it gets Dark STAB for the increased number of ghosts we'll be seeing this gen, alongside Protean being an obvious winner. Between Blastoise-M, Greninja and the defog buff, Starmie usage is probably gonna drop quite significantly.

As for Gengar, would something similar happen as with the Lati@s twins, whereby the item (Gengarite) is banned for OU play? As for moving-on-up, I think Speed Boost Blaziken will be skipping a tier and going straight to Uber.

Greninja CAN'T learn Rapid Spin. It's been debunked in Smogon and it's been tried-and-true that it can't even learn the move.

Speaking of Greninja, I can see it working well in OU, despite the lack of Rapid Spin, because of its Protean ability allowing it to essentially gain STAB on all its moves.

 

[Pokedra]

Protean Greninja is good but so overrated, it doesn't actually hit as hard as it should. However the ability to switch up typing and boost basically all its moves with STAB goodness plus good offensive typing and 123 Speed ensures he'll be OU in my mind.

Also I don't think Mega-Gengar is broken, insanely good yes but it's still very fragile and doesn't hit as hard as it should. Plus trapping a scarf user and getting revenge killed is never cool.