Blaziken has been added to the list of Ubers by Smogon

[Vgfian]

It is the first starter to reach the Uber tier.

Originally Posted by Uber

Arceus
Blaziken
Darkrai
Deoxys-A
Deoxys
Dialga
Garchomp
Giratina
Giratina-O
Groudon
Ho-Oh
Kyogre
Lugia
Manaphy
Mewtwo
Palkia
Rayquaza
Reshiram
Shaymin-S
Zekrom
The Combination of the Abilities Drizzle and Swift Swim

Blaziken (B/W) - Smogon University



So what're your thoughts on this?

[Marilink]

This was actually a month or two ago, but it is pretty interesting.

Basically, the only reason it's Uber is because of Speed Boost. I mean, yeah, it's a fantastic pokemon even without it, but Speed Boost just took it that one extra step to make it too good.

[heh]

dream world abilities broke alot of pokemon. for instance if the ability "moody" wasn't banned, they would have had to ban bidoof of all things because moody is just that overpowered

[Cravdraa]

I don't really get what the big deal is, but then again, I tend to play with a special set of house rules with my friends, so our metagame is significantly different from the standard.

[Marilink]

^With Moody or with Blaziken?

[CaptHayfever]

So is Wob above Uber tier now?

And remember, "I'm-a Charizard, number, well, six."

[Cravdraa]

Blaziken.
Moody is just annoying.
Blaziken just hits fast and hard but so do a lot of other pokes. Even if it hits a little faster and harder than most doesn't mean that it's broken. Even without delving into the special rules I play with, there are tons of ways to deal with it.

[Vgfian]

^^Actually no, he's BL now

And Salamence is now OU. (Yay)

Any other changes you guys might find interesting/want to discuss?

[Marilink]

Originally Posted by Cravdraa

Blaziken.
Moody is just annoying.
Blaziken just hits fast and hard but so do a lot of other pokes. Even if it hits a little faster and harder than most doesn't mean that it's broken. Even without delving into the special rules I play with, there are tons of ways to deal with it.

After two turns, Blaziken becomes impossible to outspeed without priority. In addition to that, he can usually get good enough coverage to OHKO just about anything that would be able to use priority. If you set Blaziken up, he can sweep entire teams without even thinking about it.

[Vgfian]

This brings up another question, should ALL Blazikens be banned from OU and lower or should just the Speed Boosters?

[Marilink]

Only Speed Boosters are banned.

[Jeff F]

Of the speed boosters only blaziken was sent to uber mainly because of its stats even though it could get hit by an aqua jet. Sharpedo, the other speed booster, wasn't sent to uber since it has poor defense and weak to the common mach punch especially from a certain technician pokemon hitmontop.

[heh]

Originally Posted by CaptHayfever

So is Wob above Uber tier now?

And remember, "I'm-a Charizard, number, well, six."

wobbuffet is unfortunately no longer broken. rip.

most pokemans are so strong now that there is actually less ubers then generation 4. salamence and... whats his name, land shark aren't banned anymore, along with lati@s, deoxys-s and deoxys-d, and mew.

[Marilink]

^Garchomp.

[Valigarmander]

Does Blaziken even post here anymore?

[Vgfian]

Garchomp is still Uber. ^^^

[Cravdraa]

Originally Posted by Marilink

After two turns, Blaziken becomes impossible to outspeed without priority. In addition to that, he can usually get good enough coverage to OHKO just about anything that would be able to use priority. If you set Blaziken up, he can sweep entire teams without even thinking about it.

Status and item tricking can instantly remove any chance it has of being a threat. With a good number of pranksters floating around that are garrentied to get the job done.

It has a hard time performing in the rain.

While it's gimicky, Trickroom users laugh in his face.

Priority users are a threat, especially anything carrying aqua jet because they're usually bulky water types that could survive an attack from it anyway.

Pokes packing focus sash or sturdy can revenge kill it unless it has a sash of it's own, (in which case it has a hard time OHKOing stuff since it's not boosting it's attack)

Ghost types can make it suicide with high jumpkick and bulky ghosts can counter it. Anything with protect can also cause it to suicide.

Several pokes outright counter it, but they aren't needed because of all the options listed above.

It's a nasty poke, no doubt about it. But it's hardly a threat that needs to be banned. To top it off, since you can see your opponent's pokemon ahead of time, it's easy to plan ahead to make sure you've got something to deal with it when it comes into play. You don't even have to go out of your way to carry a counter because any decent team is going to be carrying one of the above anyway unless your "strategy" is to carry 6 sweepers and hope for the best.

But hey, I dont really care. I pretty much never use their rules anyway. I just think anyone who doesn't plan for something that outspeeds them and hits hard is kinda a joke.

[heh]

Originally Posted by Cravdraa

Status and item tricking can instantly remove any chance it has of being a threat. With a good number of pranksters floating around that are garrentied to get the job done.

tricking choice X will still get your pokeman killed, tricking other items will still leave it able do plenty of damage.

It has a hard time performing in the rain.

it was typically ran on sun teams which make this less of an issue, hi jump kick can still take out water types.

While it's gimicky, Trickroom users laugh in his face.

true, but you can't just throw trick room onto any team. Its not going to come out in trick room.

Priority users are a threat, especially anything carrying aqua jet because they're usually bulky water types that could survive an attack from it anyway.

blaziken was typically run with sun and/or reflect\lightscreen support which reduces the water jet threat quite a bit. bulky waters are not going to survive swords dance + life orb HJK/stone edge/shadow claw without support sorry.

also you can switch.

Pokes packing focus sash or sturdy can revenge kill it unless it has a sash of it's own, (in which case it has a hard time OHKOing stuff since it's not boosting it's attack)

your not always going to have a focus sash pokemon, plus if you switch into the wrong move your dead next turn.

Ghost types can make it suicide with high jumpkick and bulky ghosts can counter it. Anything with protect can also cause it to suicide.

HJK can never kill you, its capped at half-hp damage. also it won't always have flare blitz + HJK, stone edge and shadow claw are used often

Several pokes outright counter it, but they aren't needed because of all the options listed above.

slowbro and quagsire, not exactly common picks. also they can still be 2HKO by HJK.

It's a nasty poke, no doubt about it. But it's hardly a threat that needs to be banned. To top it off, since you can see your opponent's pokemon ahead of time, it's easy to plan ahead to make sure you've got something to deal with it when it comes into play. You don't even have to go out of your way to carry a counter because any decent team is going to be carrying one of the above anyway unless your "strategy" is to carry 6 sweepers and hope for the best.

But hey, I dont really care. I pretty much never use their rules anyway. I just think anyone who doesn't plan for something that outspeeds them and hits hard is kinda a joke.

its debatable if it really needed banned when your gonna keep salamence/landlos/lati@s in, but he was definitely pushing it. And if you want a true counter you do have to go out of the way, the entire point of banning him is thats its difficult to kill it without losing too much in return. unless you have slowbro or a trick room team. the combination of speedboost/protect/swords dance lets it set up so fast and so safely that its really really hard to stop (plus it typically had sun/screens support), and also allows it to switch out and lose its bonus without it being too big of a deal.

he doesn't have to be mewtwo or kyrogue to get banned.

[Marilink]

Originally Posted by heh

kyrogue

[Cravdraa]

And thus you prove my point TG. If it were any one of those things, you'd have an arguement, but the fact is you'd have to have all of them be in effect at the same time for it to be a legit threat.

And don't pull that crap with "Oh, well clearly it's already been set up with a reflect/lightscreen." because in that case, clearly I've also got a reflect/lightscreen set up and it wan't a threat to begin with. Also two cottonguards, and a BP bellydrum. Damn they were stupid sending out

You missed a few pokes that counter it too.

You know what my strategy is when I see a blaziken online? I send in the emolga I keep on my team for the hell of it. It either runs away or gets OHKO'd when it fails to KO the emolga because of focus sash. And then I sweep their team with the goddamn emolga. (no, seriously, it's actually happened a few times. I don't get it either. It's just an emolga. )

edit: to be clear, like I said, it's really not any of my concern. I don't play in that community anyway. All I know is that I've fought plenty of speedboost blazikens, I've never specificly packed a counter and I don't think I've ever lost to one. I just see it, check my roster of whatever the heck I've got on my team at the moment and throw out any old thing that can stop it. There are dozens of other pokes and strategies that worry me more, and honestly I'm not even that good. All I know is from personal experience, I've never seen it as anything more than a temporary problem that will be dealt with shortly.