winstein's Blogs

When I played PO's servers, it occurred to me how different the environment between that and Smogon is. I realised this when I used a team based on Smogon's NU tier, and I am quite surprised to see a few Pokemon not on Smogon's NU list there (Even then, the Pokemon I encountered are handled well by my team). I will cover some of those differences in a minute, but it's fascinating to see those differences exist. What are some of those changes I noticed? Well, here's a breakdown:

(Note: PO's RU is called LU, but I call it RU here because it's more familiar to the Smogon-goers)

- Kingdra is BL
- Smeargle is BL
- Roserade is BL
- Virizion is UU
- Mew is UU
- Qwilfish is UU
- Medicham is BL2
- Huntail and Gorebyss are BL2 (as opposed to Smogon's Shell Smash + Baton Pass ban)
- Gardevoir is RU
- Absol is RU
- Hippowdon is RU (Note that Sand Stream is banned)
- Ludicolo is RU
- Miltank is RU
- Swellow is RU
- Braviary is RU
- Sawsbuck is BL3
- Tangela is BL3
- Charizard is BL3 (!)
- Bouffalant is NU
- Escavalier is NU
- Klinklang is NU
- Whimsicott is NU
- Quagsire is NU
- Scyther is NU
- Electivire is NU (!!)

Looking at the list, it seems that Sun is a big deal in NU, because two of the banned Pokemon are Sun abusers. I would attribute this to Whimsicott's appearance in NU, ensuring that Sun is up long enough. The lack of Gardevoir in countering Sun's threats must've sealed the deal. Speaking of NU, did you see how different it is from Smogon's? The Pokemon I listed are the main difference between Smogon's and PO's. The birds are out of the tier, which is good news for Grass-types and Fighting-types. Moreover, Miltank's not there either.

Meanwhile, NU got some fallen stars besides Whimsicott. Electivire is the biggest one, considering how it was thought to be a good Pokemon until people ignored it. I initially thought that Magmortar got the short end of the stick between the two, but it appears that Magmortar is much better suited in a higher tier (it's in RU), so I am glad to see that both Pokemon are balanced a bit. I am also surprised to see Escavalier there, since I perceived Bug/Steel to be a brilliant type to have. The lack of coverage must've hurt Escavalier that bad, huh?

Another thing about PO is that because their tiers update every two months, changes are more erratic there, considering how there will be 6 tier shifts per year compared to Smogon's 4 (because it changes once per three months). As such, certain Pokemon exists in PO's tier longer than Smogon's, like Scrafty, Mienshao and Golurk.

In the end, it doesn't really matter, because some of these changes are insignificant, as PO's tiers are not as significant as Smogon's. However, I just thought that the differences between the tiers are interesting enough to mention it, especially Electivire's place in NU.

Thanks for reading.