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Published on December 25th, 2014 | by Scott

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An Early VGC 2015 Metagame Overview: 50 Pokémon to Prepare For

VGC 2015’s rules have finally been announced. Players, I imagine, are now scrambling to figure out what teams and Pokémon they’d like to try first and to figure out what their opponents are likely to be using. While it’s certainly still far too early in the VGC 2015 season to pinpoint exclusively and exactly what Pokémon players are likely to see in a tournament, now that basically the whole Pokédex is back and available again I’m sure a lot of players are having a hard time narrowing down which Pokémon they need to focus their strategies against. This article is designed to help players isolate the big guns in a similar, but less complete vein to last year’s VGC 2014 Metagame Overview. Since we’re much earlier in the season than we were for 2014’s article and the format is much deeper this year, expect this article to include a smaller portion of what’s available than last year’s did. I think there are probably about 150 Pokémon that are perfectly competitive choices without being overly niche in VGC 2015, which is far beyond a realistic scope for an article like this. I drew the line for this article at 50 — this should, at least, help players get their teeth wet a little.

Stats about items and moves will be pulled from the Pokémon Global Link’s Double Battle ladder statistics, which uses the same format as VGC 2015. Expect these percentages to get dated quickly if you aren’t reading this article the moment its published, but the common attacks and items themselves won’t change much. I will probably editorialize some sections a little bit more than I did last year as the data collected is from so early in the format this time that I suspect it is not as likely to paint a picture that will be very helpful in the coming months on its own. As far as the Pokémon listed here, I will take a look at the top Pokémon on Global Link, the top Pokémon on similar simulator ladders, and some other Pokémon I think are particularly relevant for whatever reason. I will probably stick to the simulator usage statistics as closely as possible after the top 15 or so Pokémon that have made the top 12 listing on Global Link since the rules were announced.

Consider everything in this resource to be listed in rough order of importance. The Pokémon are listed largely in descending order of their popularity. Within each section, the most common moves and builds of the Pokémon in question will be listed first. Pokémon that are almost guaranteed to Mega Evolve will be listed with their Mega picture only, Pokémon that are almost always guaranteed not to Mega Evolve to will only be shown in their normal form, and both pictures will be shown when Pokémon are commonly seen both with and without their Mega Stones. I will include all moves, Natures, and items used more frequently than 10% of the time on the Battle Spot stats, with occasional additions when I think something is particularly noteworthy. As the Global Link stats are updated weekly and this article is not, expect the numbers to vary if you check the source. You can click the Pokémon’s name in the title of any section to be taken to a list of articles and teams on Nugget Bridge that include it.

You probably want to read this article over multiple sittings or to check as you run into Pokémon instead of trying to digest it all at once. Think of this piece more as a reference sheet for reviewing the most common VGC Pokémon than a single article. Thanks to Firestorm, the metagame overview is actually navigable this time and you can click Pokémon below to go directly to their section.

The following Pokémon will be included in this article:

• Kangaskhan
• Landorus
• Talonflame
• Aegislash
• Salamence
• Sylveon
• Wash Rotom
• Bisharp
• Amoonguss
• Hydreigon
• Garchomp
• Gengar
• Charizard
• Mawile
• Zapdos
• Heatran
• Thundurus
• Cresselia
• Ludicolo
• Azumarill
• Terrakion
• Politoed
• Whimsicott
• Metagross
• Milotic
• Arcanine
• Tyranitar
• Togekiss
• Raichu
• Gyarados
• Gardevoir
• Suicune
• Camerupt
• Heat Rotom
• Mamoswine
• Conkeldurr
• Breloom
• Swampert
• Gothitelle
• Hitmontop
• Volcarona
• Scrafty
• Greninja
• Latios
• Blastoise
• Excadrill
• Manectric
• Smeargle
• Lucario
• Weavile

Kangaskhan

Base stats: 105 HP / 95 -> 125 Atk / 80 -> 100 Def / 40 -> 60 SAtk / 80 -> 100 SDef / 90 -> 100 Spd

Probability of Mega Evolving: 100%. Kangaskhan would still be in the Safari Zone without mega stones.

Typing: Normal

Key Moves: Fake Out (85.1%), Sucker Punch (62.2%), Double-Edge (58.1%), Low Kick (50.4%), Return (32.1%), Ice Punch (24.6%), Protect (24.3%), Power-Up Punch (22%), Drain Punch (9.4%), Hammer Arm (6.3%), Fire Punch (?%)

Common Items: Kangaskhanite (97.2%)

• The most common Pokémon overall on Battle Spot as well as the most common Mega on Showdown!, Kangaskhan continues to be the Pokémon the VGC format is most centralized around at most levels of competition in 2015.
• I’m not sure I’m buying Double-Edge over Return or Low Kick over Power-Up Punch as the standard choices moving forward, but Kangaskhan can now take immediate coverage and power instead of the longer term sweeping potential of Power-Up Punch if it chooses. Personally, I think that removes most of what made Kangaskhan feel best-in-format for most of last year, but its power with only attacking moves is still considerable and it now gives Kangaskhan’s opponents something new to worry about.
• While we were spared the wrath of Seismic Toss Mega Kangaskhan thanks to the pentagon rule, Kangaskhan did get Low Kick, Ice Punch, Drain Punch, and Fire Punch from ORAS. Low Kick becomes its Fighting-type attack with the best combination of accuracy and power in exchange for Power-Up Punch’s setup potential, with Low Kick synergizes most with aggressive Double-Edge sets. Ice Punch is sort of a weak coverage move even with so many Dragons, but the threat of it and Fire Punch adds some extra fear early in matches. One random Elemental Punch when its opponent isn’t expecting it can easily become a KO for Kangaskhan, so now players will have to be even more cautious against it.
• Kangaskhan has been predominantly Jolly (68.1%) with a touch of Adamant (28.7%) so far. I’m sure the mirror is a lot of the reason for this, but with more Mega Pokémon faster than Mega Kangaskhan in the game now I wouldn’t be surprised to see more players begin to opt for the power of Adamant.
• The metagame in the format at this point is focused on countering physical Megas like Kangaskhan, Mawile, and some Salamence. This article’s list of 50 Pokémon contains 8 Pokémon with Intimidate, 4 that often carry Will-O-Wisp, and a variety of other Pokémon that are popular because they otherwise check Kangaskhan such as Aegislash, Garchomp, Terrakion, and Lucario. In spite of that centralization, Kangaskhan has been effective early in ORAS, but we all saw what too much focus on it can do as it flamed out in the 2014 World Championships.
• Kangaskhan is frequently paired with Milotic or Bisharp early in VGC 2015 in order to deter Intimidate.

Landorus

Base stats: 89 HP / 145 Atk / 90 Def / 105 SAtk / 80 SDef / 91 Spd (Therian)

Typing: Ground / Flying

Key Moves: Earthquake (97.9%), Rock Slide (96.5%), Superpower (71%), U-turn (68.7%), Knock Off (36.5%), Protect (14.7%), Stone Edge (4.4%), Explosion (2.9%)

Common Items: Choice Scarf (60.6%), Assault Vest (21.4%), Focus Sash (8.3%), Choice Band (2.5%), Yache Berry (2.5%)

• A dominating force in VGC 2013, Landorus is still a very good Pokémon in 2015. It doesn’t feel like it has quite the impact it once had thanks to an increase in Pokémon that can knock it out with neutral attacks, Competitive Milotic, and an increase in the use of Wide Guard, but it should still stay one of the format’s more common Pokémon.
• Landorus is primarily used to provide chip damage, spread Intimidate with the help of U-turn, and then come in late in the game to help finish off weakened opponents.
• Choice Scarf is by far the most common item on Landorus and Adamant (70.3%) is by far the most common Nature as a result. Choice Scarf Landorus can spread Intimidate and U-turn out with safety and can always roll the dice for fast Rock Slide flinches in losing games.
• Assault Vest is something I expect to see gain more traction over the course of the year, in a similar way to how Careful Choice Band surged toward the end of 2013. In close, defensive games, Landorus tends to be at its best with more balanced offense and defense so that it can stay on the field and take a few hits occasionally.
• Landorus’s coverage moves are far more important in 2015 than they were in 2013. While Earthquake and U-turn need to be on every set, Landorus has some options for the other slots. Rock Slide gives it the fast flinch potential and a safe way to hit both opponents, Superpower allows Landorus to swat the omnipresent Kangaskhan fairly easily, Stone Edge does the same to Mega Charizard even while Intimidated, and Knock Off is really problematic for many teams now that it has been buffed. Even Explosion can be a strong filler choice with a Ghost-type teammate or a team full of Protects, though it’s much harder to justify fitting Explosion on a moveset now than in 2013.

Talonflame

Base stats: 78 HP / 81 Atk / 71 Def / 74 SAtk / 69 SDef / 126 Spd

Typing: Fire / Flying

Key Moves: Brave Bird (98.8%), Flare Blitz (81.2%), Tailwind (45.3%), Protect (41.9%), Quick Guard (28.3%), U-Turn (28.1%), Taunt (21.3%), Will-O-Wisp (14.5%), Sleep Talk (12.7%), Overheat (9.5%)

Common Items: Life Orb (36.3%), Choice Band (30.4%), Sharp Beak + Sky Plate (16.2%)

• Click “Brave Bird”

• Talonflame has some of the game’s best immediate offensive power in spite of only having 81 base Attack. Having two STAB 120 power moves means that it is going to do a lot of damage when it hits, and with Gale Wings it’s at least going to hit once per game. However, since it often carries Life Orb and both of those STABs have natural recoil, it also tends to do quite a lot of damage to itself. It’s one of the format’s riskier Pokémon and something many experienced players didn’t expect to succeed last year, but then there it was winning Worlds.
• Talonflame can actually do some neat things with mixed sets using Overheat, sometimes also featuring Tailwind, but it hasn’t seemed popular so far in 2015. Brave Bird is still required on every set, but it really can do more than grabbing Choice Band or Life Orb and clicking Flare Blitz, Brave Bird, and maybe U-turn if its trainer is feeling really crazy.
• As with last year, Talonflame’s Nature is normally Adamant (66%). Naive and Naughty only combine for 7.2% in spite of probably being the best choice for Life Orb sets. Come on, guys!
• Talonflame’s massive popularity so far is not something I expect to stick to the same degree it did last year once players start making teams with stronger defensive cores. With that said, many of us said the same thing last year, and we saw how that turned out…
• One thing that may hurt Talonflame’s usage this year is the Tailwind tutor. Now that there are options for Tailwind other than Talonflame and Aerodactyl, and now that Icy Wind and Trick Room have distribution on better Pokémon, Talonflame really will be selected mostly to click the Brave Bird button. I’m not confident that’ll be enough to keep it on serious teams this year.

Aegislash

Base stats: Shield Forme: 60 HP / 50 Atk / 150 Def / 50 SAtk / 150 SDef / 60 Spd
Blade Forme: 60 HP / 150 Atk /50 Def / 150 SAtk / 50 SDef / 60 Spd

Typing: Ghost / Steel

Key Moves: Shadow Ball (95.3%), King’s Shield (94.6%), Flash Cannon (80.4%), Wide Guard (48.8%), Substitute (26.1%), Shadow Sneak (25.1%), Sacred Sword (12.8%)

Common Items: Weakness Policy (40.4%), Leftovers (31.1%), Life Orb (11%)

• Aegislash continues to be strong for many of the same reasons it was strong in 2014. It still has Kangaskhan and Mawile to counter, Stance Change still lets it trade more effectively than most other Pokémon, and it has solid typing.
• Weakness Policy may really be the most common item now. It was always popular among more casual players and the super serious crowd seems to be embracing it more after Weakness Policy Aegislash top cut Worlds twice, albeit without the Shadow Sneak often seen on Battle Spot. The addition of Mega Salamence even helps improve Weakness Policy, as it doesn’t do nearly enough to get an OHKO and +2 Shadow Ball on Mega Salamence’s lower Special Defense takes out uninvested Mega Salamence in a single blow.
• Shadow Ball, King’s Shield, and Flash Cannon are on basically every set now. Substitute has actually been a lot less common than Wide Guard in the last slot thanks to Sylveon, with Shadow Sneak shockingly staying even with Substitute.
• Wide Guard is much more common than in VGC 2014 thanks to the omnipresent Therian Landorus and Sylveon, among other common spread move users like Charizard, Zapdos, and Terrakion. As the best user of Wide Guard, Aegislash has somehow become even more valuable than it was in 2014.
• Aegislash is almost always Quiet (58%) or Modest (32.5%), as the big boost on Blade Forme’s 150 base Special Attack allows it to knock out many targets in fewer attacks than it would need with another Nature. Modest vs. Quiet becomes a decision about the advantages of attacking before other Pokémon to get a KO before the opposition can move or normally moving last and not risking being hit in Blade Forme.

Salamence

Base stats: 95 HP / 135 -> 145 Atk / 80 -> 130 Def / 110 -> 120 SAtk / 80 -> 90 SDef / 100 -> 120 Spd

Probability of Mega Evolving: Almost guaranteed on Battle Spot right now, but likely to wind up closer to 50/50.

Typing: Dragon / Flying

Key Moves: Protect (86.1%), Draco Meteor (61.6%), Hyper Voice (51.8%), Fire Blast (42.5%), Double-Edge (27.4%), Flamethrower (17.9%), Earthquake (16.8%), Dragon Dance (15.2%), Dragon Claw (13.8%), Dragon Pulse (13.7%)

Common Items: Salamencite (88.2%), Choice Scarf (5.8%), Life Orb (1.5%), Choice Specs (1.4%), Haban Berry (1.2%)

• There is a big gap between what will make Salamence one of the best Pokémon in VGC 2015 and the story the above stats tell, so take them with a grain of salt for a moment. The stats are reflective of players experimenting right now.
• Salamence is a very difficult Pokémon to face down because it can run about six sets well. Mega Salamence can use a physical, special or mixed moveset effectively, with the physical set having the option to run Dragon Dance. Normal Salamence can run a fast offensive set with Choice Scarf, a standard offensive set with Life Orb or Choice Specs, or a defensive set with Haban Berry or even Focus Sash. It is often not obvious what Salamence will do on team preview. Salamence is a tricky opponent, particularly in best-of-one and game one scenarios.
• As far as Mega Salamence goes, there’s a huge preference toward special sets right now. I would expect this to balance out more in the future and Double-Edge or Return to wind up on a lot of movesets. The Special focus helps Salamence get around the barrage of Intimidate and Will-O-Wisp floating around right now, but the unboosted damage of special Mega Salamence is underwhelming for a Mega.
• The Dragon Dance set is pretty interesting and plays similarly to Mega Tyranitar, though I think the set is tougher to pull off for Salamence. Without a STAB physical spread move like Tyranitar’s Rock Slide, Salamence is forced to obliterate single targets instead, which makes it tougher to avoid getting outplayed by Protect or simply getting knocked out by the Pokémon Salamence isn’t targeting. Even with redirection, the Dragon Dance ends up needing its team to invest a lot of moves into a Salamence sweep, but Salamence does wind up with nearly the best reasonably attainable single target damage in the format when the Dragon Dance set works.
• Normal Salamence changes little from 2013 (rather than 2014) beyond Intimidate being much more valuable now. Most of the best Pokémon are physical attackers like in 2014, so it’s worth trying to fit Salamence on a team for Intimidate. The drawback is that it is again very tough to find holes for Salamence to attack in like in 2013 because of the focus on countering Dragons, the greater amount of Speed control, and the greater amount of faster enemy Dragon-types in VGC 2015 compared to 2014.
• Salamence right now is most commonly Timid (38.2%), followed by Modest (19.8%), Adamant (14.5%), Jolly (10.2%), and Naive (9.8%). It’s hard to say what will become the consensus for mixed sets as Salamence really wants to use all of its stats. Even for the simpler sets going for one damage type, not using a Speed-boosting Nature limits Salamence’s ability to function as a non-Mega on two Mega teams.

Sylveon

Base stats: 95 HP / 65 Atk / 65 Def / 110 SAtk / 130 SDef / 60 Spd

Typing: Fairy

Key Moves: Hyper Voice (99.9%), Shadow Ball (60.0%), Psyshock (56.4%), Hidden Power (39.8%), Protect (33.1%), Quick Attack (25.7%), Hyper Beam (23.6%), Moonblast (19.8%), Sleep Talk (14.1%), Helping Hand (8.4%)

Common Items: Choice Specs (63.4%), Pixie Plate (16.9%), Life Orb (10.1%), Sitrus Berry (3.6%)

• Hyper Voice is the move Sylveon will be using nine turns out of ten. Sylveon is the only Pokémon on the 2015 version of this list that was available in 2014 but was not on the 2014 version, and Hyper Voice is the sole reason. It went from below average in a weaker format to one of the best Pokémon in a deeper format. Hyper Voice is so good that Pixie Plate is Sylveon’s second most common item because it’s typically just going to use Hyper Voice every turn anyway, and when it doesn’t it may be using the Pixie Plate-friendly Quick Attack, Hyper Beam, or Moonblast instead to get around Wide Guard.
• Shadow Ball covers Aegislash (and risks setting off its Weakness Policy), who is pretty problematic for Sylveon because of Wide Guard and Flash Cannon. Psyshock hits the Poison-types that resist Hyper Voice supereffectively, though in many cases a teammate attacking instead is probably more effective. Hidden Power is normally Ground-type and helps counter Fire-, Poison-, and Steel-type Pokémon, particularly Heatran. Quick Attack does pretty terrible neutral damage, but allows Sylveon to get a trickle of extra damage to faster targets when it would otherwise be knocked out and chunks Hydreigon. Sleep Talk lets Sylveon keep screaming even while asleep.
• Since Sylveon is basically just going to use Hyper Voice anyway, Choice Specs is obvious, making its damage truly ridiculous for something that doesn’t have to set up at all. Life Orb allows for Protect while not reducing power too significantly. Pixie Plate reduces the damage of coverage moves significantly, but doesn’t sacrifice Sylveon’s durability at all and still adds damage to Hyper Voice.
• Sylveon’s weak Defense and Speed and mediocre HP make it vulnerable to strong neutral physical attacks, but even only getting one Hyper Voice off on two targets that don’t resist it often means Sylveon traded a health bar worth of damage for its own.
• Sylveon is almost always Modest (88.1%) to optimize damage, sometimes opting for Quiet (8.9%) with Trick Room.

Wash Rotom

Base stats: 50 HP / 65 Atk / 107 Def / 105 SAtk / 107 SDef / 86 Spd

Typing: Electric / Water

Key Moves: Hydro Pump (98.6%), Thunderbolt (89.5%), Will-O-Wisp (69.8%), Protect (64.0%), Volt Switch (23.3%), Hidden Power (13.3%)

Common Items: Sitrus Berry (65.9%), Choice Specs (12.8%)

• Wash Rotom is a Pokémon that is simple but effective. It nearly always runs Hydro Pump, Thunderbolt, Will-O-Wisp, and Protect. It uses its excellent typing to spread burns on physical attackers and damage popular Pokémon weak to its STAB-boosted attacks.
• Landorus is particularly vulnerable to Wash Rotom and is essentially forced to U-turn out any time it is on the field, which is a particularly valuable trait with Landorus on nearly every team right now.
• As in 2014, Will-O-Wisp helps cover Mega Kangaskhan and Mawile, as well as new challengers Mega Salamence and Mega Metagross.
• In addition to the previously mentioned Pokémon, Rotom’s typing also helps it deals with a number of common Pokémon especially well such as Milotic, Arcanine, Politoed, Talonflame, and Heatran.
• Wash Rotom is most frequently Modest (54.6%), but sometimes leans toward one of its defenses with Bold (23.3%) or Calm (17.7%).
• While not what it was in 2012, the rare Choice Specs Wash Rotom does leave the laundry room occasionally, typically using Volt Switch, Hydro Pump, Hidden Power Ice, and Thunderbolt or Thunder.

Bisharp

Base stats: 65 HP / 125 Atk / 100 Def / 60 SAtk / 70 SDef / 70 Spd

Typing: Dark / Steel

Key Moves: Iron Head (99.4%), Sucker Punch (98.4%), Protect (96.3%), Knock Off (84.8%), Assurance (8.4%), Low Kick (4.1%)

Common Items: Life Orb (56.2%), Focus Sash (34%)

• That weird Pokémon only Sejun used before Pachirisu stole its spotlight, Bisharp has now risen to prominence and become one of the most common Pokémon thanks to Intimidate’s popularity and regaining Knock Off from the ORAS tutors.
• Knock Off gives Bisharp a 97 BP 100% accurate STAB attack as long as it is attacking Pokémon holding items that aren’t Mega Stones, with the added bonus of removing those items. With Bisharp’s solid Attack stat, a Knock Off often takes targets low enough that Sucker Punch would finish them off, allowing Bisharp to pin them and prevent them from attacking.
• Bisharp is particularly dangerous against Pokémon trying to set Trick Room, as nearly all of them are weak to one of its STAB attacks and they typically hold a vital item like Sitrus Berry or Eviolite for Bisharp to remove.
• Bisharp does need to be careful with Mega Pokémon, particularly those that resist Steel, as Knock Off can never get its damage boost against them.
• Iron Head’s Steel-type coverage is now more valuable than in 2014 with Pokémon like Togekiss and Sylveon entering the fray.
• Bisharp is nearly always Adamant (95.6%). Life Orb lets it maximize its damage while still being able to switch moves to take advantage of Sucker Punch’s pressure, while holding Focus Sash means Bisharp can normally survive at least one hit and stay on the field.

Amoonguss

Base stats: 114 HP / 85 Atk / 70 Def / 85 SAtk / 80 SDef / 30 Spd

Typing: Grass / Poison

Key Moves: Rage Powder (99.3%), Spore (99.0%), Giga Drain (89.6%), Protect (84.2%), Sludge Bomb (11%)

Common Items: Rocky Helmet (60.2%), Black Sludge (17.9%), Sitrus Berry (3.3%)

• While not the game’s most interesting redirective Pokémon, Amoonguss is likely the most stable. It reliably helps frailer attackers get more attacks off than they otherwise would and can provide pressure without having to deal damage through Spore.
• Another way Amoonguss can do damage without having decent attack scores is Rocky Helmet, which makes it one of the more annoying Pokémon for Kangaskhan to face down. Against other Pokémon, Sitrus Berry is the de facto best item, which makes the meager 3.3% usage very strange. When Rocky Helmet isn’t needed Black Sludge keeps Amoonguss item clause friendly if it has a teammate that needs the Sitrus more, such as Cresselia or Togekiss.
• Rage Powder, Spore, protect, and one of Giga Drain and Sludge Bomb are really the extent of what Amoonguss can do it. It is simple and effective.
• While the existence of another powerful Flying-type Pokémon in Mega Salamence reduces Amoonguss’ value somewhat, it’s still one of the game’s premier redirective Pokémon. The ability to resist Hyper Voice and put Sylveon to sleep will keep Amoonguss on teams, though interestingly Sylveon and the Flying-type Pokémon haven’t led to a shift from Giga Drain to Sludge Bomb yet.
• Relaxed (38.1%) and Sassy (26.6%) are the most common Natures, enabling Amoonguss to help counter Trick Room teams. The Speed-neutral Bold (25.3%) is nearly as popular, however.

Hydreigon

Base stats: 92 HP / 105 Atk / 90 Def / 125 SAtk / 90 SDef / 98 Spd

Typing: Dragon / Dark

Key Moves: Dark Pulse (99.8%), Draco Meteor (92.5%), Earth Power (50.6%), Flamethrower (40.5%), Fire Blast (33.5%), Protect (27.3%), Dragon Pulse (14.7%), Focus Blast (13.5%)

Common Items: Choice Specs (39.7%), Choice Scarf (29.2%), Life Orb (17.9%)

• A Pokémon that typically hides in the shadows for the first half of the season before returning to dominate around Worlds as Pokémon’s equivalent of Corki, Hydreigon is starting early this year, hovering around 10th to 11th in Battle Spot usage and 12th on weighted Showdown! statistics.
• Hydreigon faces a lot of danger in this format as the slowest viable Dragon and as easy Sylveon fodder, but it can crank out some of the best special damage from a non-Mega in the format and it feeds easily on Aegislash, Metagross, Cresselia, and a number of neutral targets.
• Hydreigon needs Dark Pulse and Draco Meteor, with Flamethrower or Fire Blast and Earth Power being its best coverage moves.
• Choice Specs is deservedly the most common item, giving Hydreigon a chance to KO Cresselia and Aegislash that aren’t trained to survive max power Dark Pulse and giving Draco Meteor the ability to KO many neutral targets. Choice Scarf is sometimes used to outrun Garchomp Latios, and Salamence, though wise enemy Dragons will often scout the Choice Scarf with Protect. Life Orb gets some of the benefit of Choice Specs while allowing Hydreigon to Protect, though it loses many of Choice Specs’ KOs and needs chip damage or Helping Hand to make up for it.
• Modest is by far the most common Nature at 88.5%, which is to be expected as Hydreigon is the Dragon focused more on power than Speed.

Garchomp

Base stats: 108 HP / 130 -> 170 Atk / 95 -> 115 Def / 80 -> 120 SAtk / 85 -> 95 SDef / 102 -> 92 Spd

Probability of Mega Evolving: Oh, honey… though it wound up being better than totally nonviable last year.

Typing: Dragon / Ground

Key Moves: Earthquake (98.7%), Dragon Claw (88.5%), Rock Slide (86.6%), Protect (78.7%), Swords Dance (5.5%), Substitute (?%)

Common Items: Focus Sash (25.5%), Lum Berry (20.1%), Rocky Helmet (13.9%), Life Orb (10.9%), Garchompite (5.5%)

• I’m going to be honest here: the only team I ever saw Garchomp on I liked in 2013 was a team that also had Therian Landorus on it. While Garchomp isn’t completely outclassed because its Speed gets it over that giant base 100 group instead of below it, players should make sure they have a good reason for using it over Landorus now that the format’s best Ground-type has returned.
• The item distribution leads me to believe that the players using Garchomp enough for it to make the top 12 on Battle Spot aren’t completely sure how to use it, either. It did finally fall out this week, however. Merry Christmas, Garchomp.
• With Jolly Nature (88.7%) and Life Orb, Garchomp is still able to outrun and chunk most of the format’s strongest Pokémon, though it now has to be careful around Latios and Mega Salamence. To me, that’s why you use it now, and throwing Substitute on there Nikolai-style is probably worth consideration, as well. Otherwise, Earthquake, Dragon Claw, Rock Slide, and Protect gets it done.
• Lum Berry is an option with Will-O-Wisp being pretty popular, but Garchomp really isn’t in a good place to try to play defensively in a metagame with so much Intimidate, Mega Salamence, Milotic, and Cresselia. Even Wide Guard from Aegislash being so much more popular than it was in 2014 is a big problem for Garchomp.

Gengar

Base stats: 60 HP / 65 Atk / 60 -> 80 Def / 130 -> 170 SAtk / 75 -> 95 SDef / 110 -> 130 Spd

Probability of Mega Evolving: Typically unlikely unless one or more of Whimsicott, Liepard, Raichu, Gothitelle, or Politoed are present, but it’s currently more likely to be Mega than not on Battle Spot.

Typing: Ghost / Poison

Key Moves: Shadow Ball (94.3%), Protect (81%), Sludge Bomb (55.6%), Will-O-Wisp (40.3%), Disable (28.3%), Icy Wind (25.6%), Perish Song (17%), Taunt (12.1%), Substitute (8.6%)

Common Items: Gengarite (53.9%), Focus Sash (41.3%)

• Finishing just inside the top 12 on Pokémon Global Link last week, Gengar is achieving a level of popularity early in 2015 it never enjoyed in 2014. The biggest reason for the increase in Gengar’s popularity has been Mega Gengar’s synergy with Whimsicott, who offers more with its Prankster Encore than Liepard did for many teams. Gengar also gets Icy Wind now, which isn’t a fantastic upgrade, but it is appearing relatively often.
• Once primarily an offensive Pokémon, Gengar has truly become a tricky Ghost in Generation 6. Normal Gengar holds Focus Sash and uses Will-O-Wisp and usually Taunt (though apparently not usually on Battle Spot) to disrupt foes. It is particularly effective against Mega Kangaskhan, who typically can’t hit it effectively and is greatly inhibited by burn. Icy Wind is also an option for this sort of Gengar now.
• Mega Gengar can do a number of things, but it typically either supports Perish Trap or tries to set up Disable + Encore. On Perish Trap it is the only Pokémon in the game that can Perish Song and Shadow Tag on its own, so its tends to focus mostly on setting up and surviving for three turns while its teammates defend it. It can use any combination of Shadow Ball, Will-O-Wisp, Substitute, and Disable on top of Protect, with Shadow Ball being more valuable than it may seem due to other Ghost-types not being trappable by Shadow Tag. Gengar is typically supported by Pokémon like Politoed, Amoonguss, Azumarill, and Gothitelle on Perish Trap teams.
• Mega Gengar can also do mean things without singing at you, typically involving its own Disable and a teammate’s Encore. All of Whimsicott, Liepard, and Raichu can use fast Encores combined with Mega Gengar’s Disable to trap targets and force them to Struggle. It uses similar moves to the previous Mega Gengar, except that now Perish Song is rarely the best option and Disable is mandatory.
• 91% of Gengar are Timid, which is by far the best Nature for both Mega and non-Mega Gengar. All Gengar sets tend to need to get their support moves off as quickly as possible, either to burn the target before it attacks or to Disable it and prevent it from attacking completely.

Charizard

Base stats: Mega Charizard Y: 78 HP / 84->104 Atk / 78 Def / 109->159 SAtk / 85->115 SDef / 100 Spd
Mega Charizard X: 78 HP / 84->130 Atk / 78->111 Def / 109->130 SAtk / 85 SDef / 100 Spd

Probability of Mega Evolving: Guaranteed. Y is the big threat, X shows up very rarely as a rogue aiming to benefit from misplays by players who don’t expect it.

Typing: Fire / Flying (Charizard, Mega Charizard Y), Fire / Dragon (Mega Charizard X)

Key Moves: Protect (96.1%), Heat Wave (93.6%), Solar Beam (85.2%), Overheat (39%), Flamethrower (14.9%), Fire Pledge (13.8%), Focus Blast (13.4%), Air Slash (12.6%), Tailwind (4.3%)

Common Items: Charizardite Y (97.1%), Charizardite X (2%)

• While Kangaskhan and Mawile were the two most dominant Megas in 2014 and Gyarados won the big prize, Charizard was certainly the third member of the VGC 2014 Mega power trio. While Salamence and possibly Metagross will likely be expanding that group to at least a quartet this year, Charizard seems poised to stay a relevant factor in 2015’s metagame. Drought is an extremely powerful ability and 159 Special Attack is completely absurd, even for a Mega.
• Charizard’s movepool is a lot less exciting. Protect, Heat Wave, and Solar Beam are basically mandatory. Overheat seems like filler, but being able to burst down a single target and make full use of Charizard’s crazy power is very valuable, especially early in games when Charizard can easily switch out to reset its Special Attack. The other attacks are pretty lackluster. Tailwind may be a viable option for some teams, and Substitute looked decent at US Nationals.
• Charizard is most commonly Modest (53%), which is hard to give up with that juicy 159 base Special Attack to multiply. Modest Charizard tends to be built a little more defensively, since it knows it is going to be outrun by threats in its Speed range. Timid is less common (43.7%) and generally ends up being some good ole 4/252/252 BY FIRE BE PURGED nonsense.
• The nearly irrelevant Mega Charizard X typically runs Dragon Dance, Flare Blitz, Dragon Claw, and Protect with an Adamant Nature. It often only takes one mistake from an opponent trying to play around Charizard Y for X to get in a very advantageous position. In spite of still managing to win a National title in Italy last year, X is much weaker in best-of-three play. If it was as good when people were expecting to see it, its usage would be higher and reflect that strength.

Mawile

Base stats: 50 HP / 85 -> 105 Atk / 85 -> 125 Def / 55 SAtk / 55 -> 95 SDef / 50 Spd

Probability of Mega Evolving: Don’t expect the 0.1% of people with Life Orb.

Typing: Steel / Fairy

Key Moves: Play Rough (94.2%), Sucker Punch (90.4%), Protect (80.7%), Iron Head (72.5%), Rock Slide (33.1%), Fire Fang (10.6%), Knock Off (10.2%)

Common Items: Mawilite (99.9%)

• Mawile deserves to be higher up on this year’s list, especially considering it was last year’s best Pokémon, but after three weeks of watching the stats it has never cracked the top 12. It has a positive matchup with the big new Mega in Mega Salamence and can supereffectively Sucker Punch other big newbie Mega Metagross. It even gets Cresselia back to use Trick Room for it and make its low Speed less of a detriment. The only new Megas that are likely to create significant added trouble for Mawile are Swampert and Camerupt.
• Mawile is another Pokémon that changes little from VGC 2014. It spreads Intimidate until it is time to Mega Evolve, then uses one of the game’s most ridiculous Attack stats and good typing to devastate the opponent. The combination of its typing, Ability, and movepool make it one of the game’s better optimized competitive Pokémon.
• Play Rough, Sucker Punch, Protect, and Iron Head are nearly guaranteed moves for all Mawile. Rock Slide gives it a spread option and a better way to knock out Talonflame and Charizard, which is useful mostly on Trick Room teams. Fire Fang and Knock Off are a little too niche to really be worth using, though Knock Off is the strongest attack Mawile can use on most enemy Trick Room setters.
• Expect Mawile to be used similarly to how it was late in 2014. It can work well as a Trick Room sweeper that isn’t helpless outside of Trick Room or on most standard teams as a lategame sweeper, where it’s less likely to Mega Evolve immediately and more likely to play around with its Intimidate until it’s ready to clean up.
• 60.3% of Mawile are Adamant while 33.2% are Brave, essentially showing you how many Mawile were on Trick Room teams. A bold 5% of players are still hoping Ray will notice them for using Careful.

Zapdos

Base stats: 90 HP / 90 Atk / 85 Def / 125 SAtk / 90 SDef / 100 Spd

Typing: Electric / Flying

Key Moves: Thunderbolt (90.5%), Heat Wave (69.5%), Hidden Power (67.3%), Roost (48.3%), Tailwind (47.5%), Protect (24.5%), Thunder Wave (14.5%), Volt Switch (12%), Discharge (10.1%)

Common Items: Sitrus Berry (26.7%), Rocky Helmet (16.2%), Safety Goggles (10%), Life Orb (9.1%)

• While Zapdos struggled to stay popular in 2013 after the inclusion of Therian Thundurus, it’s been by far the more popular option so far in 2015, staying in the top 12 of Battle Spot Doubles until last week’s update. While I’m sure some of that popularity can be tied to availability, Zapdos does bring a couple tricks Thundurus doesn’t near the top of its common moves in Heat Wave and Tailwind. One of the main advantages of Thundurus in the past was its immunity to Thunder Wave, which Zapdos now also has thanks to the changes in XY.
• Now that Zapdos is both immune to Paralysis and able to learn Tailwind, Zapdos is a pretty solid Pokémon for providing Tailwind support for its teammates. It can dish out damage itself in Tailwind or Volt Switch out to a sweeper to avoid wasting momentum, and it has solid bulk to survive the setup.
• Electric is a pretty good offensive type this year because of Talonflame, Politoed, and Milotic. With Hidden Power Ice and Heat Wave also available, Zapdos can threaten a huge chunk of the metagame with supereffective damage if it is willing to dedicate three moveslots to attacks.
• Zapdos is most commonly Modest (49.8%), which makes sense, since Special Attack is Zapdos’ highest stat by far. Timid (19%), Bold (17.5%), and Calm (13%) all have respectable usage, as well, with Timid hopefully belonging to Zapdos opting out of Tailwind.
• There are a decent variety of items so far, with Sitrus Berry likely being the best if it is available. Safety Goggles’ value will depend a lot on how popular Amoonguss ends up being, and with Heat Wave Zapdos can hit it a lot harder than it could in 2014. Surprisingly, the classic Choice Specs is all the way down at 5.1%, though that is one set that perhaps Therian Thundurus really does do better.

Heatran

Base stats: 91 HP / 90 Atk / 106 Def / 130 SAtk / 106 SDef / 77 Spd

Typing: Fire / Steel

Key Moves: Protect (88.9%), Heat Wave (85.1%), Earth Power (84.9%), Flash Cannon (42.7%), Substitute (33.1%), Overheat (12.6%), Hidden Power (10.8%), Fire Blast (9.9%)

Common Items: Leftovers (33.4%), Air Balloon (25.7%), Shuca Berry (8.3%), Life Orb (7.4%), Choice Specs (7.1%)

• Heatran has lost Eruption, Fire Gem, and resistances to Ghost and Dark since 2013, but it’s still one of the game’s better Fire-types and is primed to see a bunch of use again. It does excellently against most Dragons, Mawile, Amoonguss, and Sylveon (as long as it can avoid Hidden Power Ground). Heatran does have much more competition for a spot on teams from Pokémon like Heat Rotom, Arcanine, and Volcarona this year now that Fire is actually a desirable type and Heatran isn’t just the Steel-type with a Special Attack score, however.
• Players seem a little lost on Heatran’s fourth standard move now that Eruption is gone. Flash Cannon seems like a strange answer in the context of 2013, but it does get a STAB boost. Given that it is now Heatran’s best attack against some big Pokémon like Sylveon, Tyranitar, and Togekiss, its use makes sense after all. Substitute still seems like the best conventional option, but Flash Cannon and Overheat are almost all there is for viable alternatives if Substitute isn’t desired beyond using something strange like Hidden Power Ice.
• I’m a lot less convinced that Air Balloon is an item that any Pokémon should be using in a serious match. I would expect the balloon to be phased out once people figure out what they’re doing. Heatran does seem to lack a go-to item if the Substitute set isn’t being used for Leftovers now, however. Shuca Berry should definitely be getting used where most of those Air Balloons are, at the very least.
• Heatran’s most common Natures are the three conventional special attacker Natures, as would be expected. Modest (48.4%) and Timid (42.1%) are used with similar frequency, while Quiet (8.9%) accounts for most of the remainder. Quiet is way down from 2013, which isn’t very surprising thanks to Heatran losing Eruption and Mega Camerupt taking the role slow Heatran used to occupy.

Thundurus

Base stats: 79 HP / 115 Atk / 70 Def / 125 SAtk / 80 SDef / 111 Spd (Incarnate)

Typing: Electric / Flying

Key Moves: Thunderbolt (95.3%), Taunt (85.3%), Thunder Wave (84.6%), Hidden Power (63.1%), Protect (33%), Swagger (17.8%)

Common Items: Sitrus Berry (49.1%), Life Orb (18.9%)

• While Thundurus took a bunch of little hits that will tone it down with the removal of Gems, Thunder Wave no longer working on Electric-type Pokémon, and the reduction in power of Hidden Power, it’s still a very strong Pokémon with a movepool full of aces.
• Incarnate Thundurus has to have the least interesting Global Link page I’ve ever seen, with only six moves and two items over 10%. Bizarrely, even though one of those items is Life Orb, only two attacks are seen above. Such is the strength of Thundurus’ utility that even the offensive sets are opting for Thundurus’ powerful support moves. The complete lack of Substitute is pretty strange, however, given that it works fairly well with both supportive sets and more offensive ones.
• Thundurus offers some of the game’s most reliable Speed control in Prankster Thunder Wave backed up by decent stats. Thunder Wave makes it much easier to defeat Pokémon relying on their Speed to avoid being hit, such as Mega Salamence, on top of ruining strategies involving Tailwind or Speed Boost. Paralysis’ 1/4 chance to stop a Pokémon from moving combined with Swagger can also lead to targets winding up in a situation where it’s more like they won’t be able to attack than that they will.
• Prankster Taunt is one thing that really sets Thundurus apart from similar Pokémon. While players tend to remember it more for its Swagger antics(IS BAD BOY), the fast Taunt lets Thundurus shut down many of the cheesier strategies that frustrate players just as well as it executes them.
• Thundurus isn’t typically used for its offense, but losing Electric Gem (and even Flying Gem with the old Hidden Power) really hurt the option to use Thundurus to put out some pressure while supporting its team. Sitrus Berry is now almost completely mandatory on the typical defensive Thundurus set featuring Thunderbolt, Thunder Wave, and two of Taunt, Swagger, Protect, and Hidden Power. Hidden Power Ice is the most common of those moves, enabling Thundurus to do damage to Ground-type Pokémon, especially to Landorus, and to chunk Dragons. Leftovers seems like it should be a third item here, particularly if Substitute gets involved.
• Thundurus typically uses Timid Nature (48.4%), enabling it to … Taunt faster … and … still not outrun Landorus with Hidden Power Ice, because Landorus normally has Choice Scarf? Timid and max Speed does allow Thundurus to go before most Dragons and fire off Hidden Power Ice, only falling below Mega Salamence. Unless it’s holding something like Life Orb where Timid is reasonable, advanced players typically use a defensive Nature on Thundurus and avoid investing so much in Speed. Bold Thundurus is showing up around 19.3% of the time right now, with 26% of players trying to figure out what the deal is with Calm Thundurus. While Calm was deservedly the more common Nature in 2013’s Dragon Gem Draco Meteor-filled metagame, I’m curious if Bold won’t reclaim its throne with how much more physically-based 2015 seems to be.

Cresselia

Base stats: 120 HP / 70 Atk / 120 Def / 75 SAtk / 130 SDef / 85 Spd

Typing: Psychic

Key Moves: Helping Hand (67.5%), Trick Room (58.6%), Ice Beam (56.2%), Psychic (55.5%), Icy Wind (38.9%), Moonlight (17.3%), Thunder Wave (16.2%), Psyshock (15.9%), Skill Swap (14.2%), Sunny Day (10.8%), Swagger (?%), Safeguard (?%)

Common Items: Sitrus Berry (35.9%), Rocky Helmet (29.9%), Mental Herb (9.3%), Leftovers (8.6%)

• Perhaps the best designed conventional support Pokémon in VGC history, Cresselia remains one of the safer Pokémon in 2015 in spite of a mild dip in power this year due to the buff to Knock Off, the addition of some new counters like Aegislash, and the power creep of many Megas making it less invulnerable than it once was.
• A big part of Cresselia’s power comes from the fact it is probably the best user of two of the four main Speed control moves, and for a bonus it has access to a third. Cresselia is almost always the best choice for Trick Room barring situations where another Pokémon brings a very specific combination of desired traits, and Cresselia is by far the best Pokémon with access to Icy Wind, as well. Cresselia also has access to Thunder Wave, though it can’t spread it quite as easily as Thundurus can. Like Thundurus, it isn’t unheard of to see it use Thunder Wave along with Swagger to disrupt opponents.
• Cresselia’s biggest weakness is that its offensive stats are among the worst of any high-end competitive Pokémon. It tends to create relatively little pressure unless it can hit supereffective Ice Beams or Psychics. As a result, it can wind up wasting a spot on the field against neutral targets. One way Cresselia gets around this is through Helping Hand, since 50% of its partner’s damage is usually more than Cresselia would do on its own. I think being used a little over 2/3 of the time is about right for Helping Hand’s power, but it has always been most popular in Japan, which probably accounts for most of the stats on Global Link right now. I’d expect to see less of it in the West.
• Cresselia has a handful of interesting support moves that it can use on top of a Speed control move and one or two of Psychic/Psyshock and Ice Beam. Moonlight is pretty bizarre in the context of 2013 but extremely annoying next to Mega Charizard Y and its Drought. Skill Swap was popularized by Wolfe Glick in the 2012 World Championships and is normally used with Heatran, but it has a variety of disruptive uses beyond helping Heatran in the hands of a resourceful player and is among the most fun moves in the game. Sunny Day also helps support Heatran and now Mega Camerupt, who is frequently seen with Cresselia. The old Swagger-teammate-holding-Lum-Berry thing seems to have died off a little with Metagross getting weaker and wanting to hold Metagrossite, but it’s something that may see a resurgence as it is the best excuse to carry an item that stops Dark Void. Safeguard is rarely seen, but it stops many other support Pokémon cold, especially Amoonguss.
• Sitrus Berry is by far the best item on Cresselia, restoring a huge chunk of HP from something that is pretty difficult to whittle down to begin with. I would have expected to see Leftovers over Rocky Helmet, which seems to be second on almost every defensive Pokémon right now for some reason, but Cresselia is a Pokémon that can easily make physical attackers eat three hits from the Rocky Helmet without too much trouble. Rocky Helmet would be pretty funny with Moonlight next to Mega Charizard Y, I imagine…
• Cresselia is most commonly Bold (43.8%), which makes some sense in spite of Cresselia having a higher base Special Defense in this physically-based metagame, especially with so many Rocky Helmets being used. The classic Sassy (20.5%) is the second most common Nature, with Relaxed (14.1%) in third. Strangely, the two Speed-reducing Natures add up to only about 20% less than the amount of Cresselia running Trick Room. The last common Nature is Calm, clocking in at 12.9%.

Ludicolo

Base stats: 80 HP / 70 Atk / 70 Def / 90 SAtk / 100 SDef / 70 Spd

Typing: Water / Grass

Key Moves: Fake Out (91.4%), Giga Drain (89.3%), Ice Beam (88.7%), Scald (60.7%), Hydro Pump (34.5%), Protect (17%), Energy Ball (10.4%)

Common Items: Assault Vest (61.7%), Life Orb (11.3%)

• Once just a weaker alternative to Kingdra for Swift Swim with better coverage, mostly because of the addition of Assault Vest Ludicolo has become one of the better Pokémon in VGC. It provides a support attack that still works through Assault Vest in Fake Out, maintains its excellent coverage, and has strong enough natural Special Defense and HP to hang around against Pokémon who only have special attacks for several turns.
• Ludicolo typically uses Fake Out, Ice Beam, Scald, and Giga Drain with its Assault Vest. It fits well on most teams, it slows down enemy Rain teams very well, and it causes problems for most common Pokémon because it can hit so many of them supereffectively. Ludicolo struggles a little against teams full of physical attackers if they aren’t Intimidated, and really doesn’t want to be led against Kangaskhan, but it is otherwise a Pokémon with a lot of positive matchups.
• Ludicolo has also supplanted Kingdra as the main sweeper on Rain teams. Unlike Kingdra, Ludicolo is still a good Pokémon in matchups where a Rain mode isn’t going to work, so it is selected over it for flexibility, as well as due to Kingdra being weakened significantly by the introduction of the Fairy type. It sometimes uses Life Orb instead of Assault Vest on Rain depending on how hard its team wants to commit to Rain, and can switch Scald to Hydro Pump (and rarely even Giga Drain to Energy Ball) for even more power.
• Modest Nature is selected for Ludicolo 91.8% of the time, as Calm is unnecessary with the Assault Vest and its low Defense is normally better improved through training rather than through Nature. Speaking of training, Ludicolo typically has big chunks of HP invested, as its HP tends to be the limiting factor in most of its defensive calculations due to how ridiculous its Special Defense stat gets after Assault Vest.

Azumarill

Base stats: 100 HP / 50 Atk / 80 Def / 60 SAtk / 80 SDef / 50 Spd

Typing: Water / Fairy

Key Moves: Aqua Jet (92.6%), Play Rough (91.6%), Protect (57.3%), Waterfall (42.2%), Belly Drum (37%), Superpower (33.8%), Knock Off (13.2%), Perish Song (10.5%)

Common Items: Sitrus Berry (57.4%), Assault Vest (20.9%), Choice Band (8.3%)

• Azumarill ends up with a 2015 format slightly more favorable to it than 2014’s format. It is helped by the increase in Water-type Pokémon like Milotic and Suicune it walls and the introduction of Fire-type Pokémon that it actually beats cleanly thanks to realistic options existing beyond Talonflame and Heat Rotom. There’s also still some special Dragons for Azumarill to exploit, though it has to be a little more careful around Salamence than it used to and Latios hits Azumarill noticeably harder than special Salamence did last year.
• Azumarill also benefits from the metagame focusing on other targets instead of it. Its trademark Belly Drum set is no longer one of the first priorities to deal with when teambuilding, so more teams are likely to find they don’t have a very appropriate counter to Azumarill next to Pokémon like Kangaskhan, Amoonguss, or Togekiss. The Belly Drum set is completed by Sitrus Berry, Protect, Aqua Jet, and Play Rough.
• Assault Vest and Choice Band both work pretty well on Azumarill. It has the bulk to take a couple of hits, and has decent coverage with Play Rough, Aqua Jet and/or Waterfall, Superpower, and potentially Knock Off giving it solid variety.
• One last trick Azumarill has up its sleeve is Perish Song. Perish Trap teams typically select Azumarill as one of the team’s last members. Azumarill’s low Speed allows it to underspeed most other Pokémon and win ties when every Pokémon remaining goes down to Perish Song. Additionally, its typing and HP make it difficult to quickly remove before Perish Song expires.
• 84.7% of Azumarill are Adamant, with players looking to get every point of attack out of Huge Power (and potentially Belly Drum) possible. Brave is sometimes seen on Trick Room teams, while Sassy or Relaxed make more sense for Perish Song teams.

Terrakion

Base stats: 91 HP / 129 Atk / 90 Def / 72 SAtk / 90 SDef / 108 Spd

Typing: Rock / Fighting

Key Moves: Rock Slide (96.6%), Close Combat (88%), Protect (86.4%), Quick Guard (43.3%), Earthquake (28.5%), Sacred Sword (14.8%), Taunt (14.2%)

Common Items: Lum Berry (33.5%), Focus Sash (31.9%), Life Orb (16.8%), Choice Scarf (7.7%)

• In spite of an incredibly shallow movepool for a Legendary Pokémon, Terrakion is once again a good option this year due to having STAB on two of the game’s best offensive types. It may be able to take a step up into that range of truly great VGC Pokémon this year depending on how the metagame settles, as it also has a really fantastic matchup with both Mega Kangaskhan and Mega Charizard Y, two of the game’s more important Megas. The addition of two important Steel-types that aren’t actually weak to Fighting in Aegislash and Mega Mawile will slow it down a little, but Terrakion is in a good spot this year.
• Terrakion basically always uses Rock Slide, Close Combat, and Protect, but there isn’t a standout fourth move. Quick Guard is solid in generation 6, stopping Prankster, Azumarill Aqua Jet, and Sucker Punches from Kangaskhan and Mawile aimed at its teammates. Taunt potentially eases the Aegislash matchup, though the hit Terrakion has to take to get the Taunt off may not be worth it, and it’s not like Terrakion wants to stay in to Taunt Cresselia or Wash Rotom, either.
• One other thing that hurts Terrakion is the loss of Fighting Gem, which makes its item situation a little underwhelming. Lum Berry isn’t very exciting, but helps with the barrage of Will-O-Wisps, makes Terrakion an extremely hard counter to Kangaskhan+Smeargle duos, and lets it smash Thundurus without being paralyzed. Focus Sash is a classic item and it ensures Terrakion will at least survive one attack, but wastes Terrakion’s above average defensive stats. Life Orb is a bold offensive option, while Choice Scarf allows it to outrun the new Pokémon that outspeed it at the cost of flexibility and having to deal with not being able to Protect against Pokémon like Landorus and Cresselia constantly.
• Terrakion is almost exclusively Jolly (92.4%), which isn’t much of a decision given how important it is for it to get over base 100s. The only real reason to pick Adamant is Choice Scarf.

Politoed

Base stats: 90 HP / 75 Atk / 75 Def / 90 SAtk / 100 SDef / 70 Spd

Typing: Water

Key Moves: Ice Beam (79%), Scald (74.6%), Protect (62.8%), Hydro Pump (32.5%), Helping Hand (28.4%), Surf (26.5%), Rain Dance (24.8%), Perish Song (24.7%), Encore (15.8%), Icy Wind (8.9%)

Common Items: Sitrus Berry (32.3%), Choice Scarf (27.7%), Eject Button (14.5%)

• After a year of being without its tutor moves, Politoed is back to full power. Already bolstered by Ludicolo being radically improved in 2014, Politoed now regains access to Helping Hand and Icy Wind, allowing it function is a true support Pokémon again. Even last year, where it almost had to be a mediocre Choice Scarf user to be successful, Rain won a lot of major tournaments. With Politoed buffed, Rain will again be an important strategy to counter in 2015.
• Politoed has a wider variety of Swift Swim friends than ever before. Ludicolo is still the best generalist option, working well in or out of rain. Kingdra is a little underwhelming in a world with Fairy-types but is available, and now there’s even a strong Mega with Swift Swim in Mega Swampert. Stacking a team with all of them is likely to make Politoed win or lose hard (and against good players, it’s mostly going to lose), but the variety in potential teammates gives Politoed teams much more flexibility than in 2013 or even 2014.
• With its movepool restored, Sitrus Berry is again Politoed’s most common item. Typically it uses Scald, Ice Beam or Icy Wind, Protect, and one of Helping Hand, Rain Dance, Perish Song, and Encore. Helping Hand’s usage seems awfully low right now; I would expect it to spike above the others once people adjust to 2015.
• Choice Scarf is still there for Politoed that don’t trust their teammates and want to try to get their own KOs. It ended up winning a couple National tournaments last year, so it’s strong in its own right. Outside of Ice Beam, the move options for Choice Scarf are pretty terrible, however, to the point I’ve seen people use all three viable Water-type moves.
• Politoed can also veer away from the more offensive Rain and help Pokémon like Mega Gengar and Gothitelle play the Perish Trap game. It has Perish Song and Encore to offer Perish Trap teams, and is often seen with Eject Button or Leftovers instead of Sitrus Berry (which is normally reserved for Azumarill or Gothitelle).
• With Choice Scarf, Politoed typically runs Modest (32%) or Timid (21%) Natures. All other Politoed are typically better off with Bold (20%) or Calm (19.4%), bar Perish Song Politoed considering a Speed-reducing Nature. The stats would indicate a decent amount of Modest Sitrus Berry Politoed at this point, however.

Whimsicott

Base stats: 60 HP / 67 Atk / 85 Def / 77 SAtk / 75 SDef / 116 Spd

Typing: Grass / Fairy

Key Moves: Encore (83.6%), Tailwind (59.7%), Protect (44.4%), Taunt (30.1%), Beat Up (25.7%), Moonblast (24.3%)

Common Items: Focus Sash (60.7%)

• I will never understand why someone thought Prankster Encore was something that would make Pokémon a better game, but Whimsicott’s trademark trick (well, shared with Liepard) is almost enough to make it worth using on its own. Whimsicott is now even more dangerous in Generation 6 with new teammates like Mega Gengar and new Fairy/Grass typing.
• Whimsicott is nearly always Timid (83.6%), which is almost mandatory so that it can outrun Timid Thundurus and attack before it Taunts. Whimsicott can even Taunt Thundurus first as a result.
• Tailwind allows Whimsicott to set up its friends to get some damage out while the opponent is restricted by the fear of Encore and more likely to try to KO Whimsicott instead of its partner. If it survives using Tailwind, it becomes particularly effective because Protecting in front of Whimsicott to stall Tailwind will be met with an easy Encore.
• Fake Tears is pretty silly, but it enables Whimsicott to indirectly do damage by essentially being a better Helping Hand that only works with Special Attackers. Moonblast allows it to do some piddly direct damage, while Beat Up mostly lets it perform even more cheese by boosting a friendly Terrakion’s Attack through Justified.
• The only item seen on more than 10% of Whimsicott is Focus Sash, which makes it much harder for opponents simply to fire a supereffective attack at Whimsicott and remove the threat of Encore. Mental Herb was basically tied for 2nd at 8.5%, but it seems like a probable fallback if Tyranitar or other Whimsicott become too popular.

Metagross

Base stats: 80 HP / 135 -> 145 Atk / 130 -> 150 Def / 95 -> 105 SAtk / 90 -> 110 SDef / 70 -> 110 Spd

Probability of Mega Evolving: Almost 3 in 4 are Megas at present. Numbers may drop as novelty wears off.

Typing: Steel / Psychic

Key Moves: Zen Headbutt (82.3%), Protect (63.1%), Meteor Mash (62.4%), Ice Punch (57.4%), Bullet Punch (44.9%), Iron Head (27.1%), Earthquake (25.9%), Hammer Arm (17.5%)

Common Items: Metagrossite (73.7%), Assault Vest (8%), Choice Band (5.1%), Lum Berry (3.6%)

• The premier Steel-type Pokémon for 2012-2013, Metagross has fallen off pretty significantly in generation 6 thanks to Steel losing a couple of resistances, Meteor Mash getting nerfed, Fire becoming a relevant type, and Mega Mawile and Aegislash existing. Normal Metagross is still a pretty solid Pokémon, but the new Mega Metagross is the way most people are trying to get it back on the field right now. Base 110 Speed does get it over some key Pokémon like Terrakion and basically every relevant Mega except Salamence, though raw Speed is a little less important this year with all the Speed control back.
• Mega Metagross is a very interesting Pokémon. It doesn’t have the following fellow newbie Mega Salamence does yet, but it has a lot of power with 145 Attack and Tough Claws, solid Speed, and unlike Salamence it can function very well without an item. As teams mature, Metagross may find itself on more teams as a secondary Mega. Clear Body is also a spectacularly good ability for a Mega Evolving physical Pokémon, allowing it to be led into Intimidate before it Mega Evolves at no cost.
• Metagross’s movepool hasn’t changed much beyond Iron Head becoming a very competitive alternative to the nerfed Meteor Mash. Zen Headbutt gives it a Psychic STAB option that is now useful mostly for hitting for neutral damage on Water-, Electric-, and Fire-types rather than actually hitting anything supereffectively, while the last slot is typically occupied by Ice Punch for coverage, Bullet Punch for priority, or Hammer Arm because Metagross’ trainer is particularly sick of Mega Kangaskhan.
• Choice Band and Assault Vest are the most common items for non-Mega Metagross. Both allow it to pick up a fourth attack, with Bullet Punch almost always included as one of the two fillers.
• Lum Berry Swagger seems to have disappeared so far this year in favor of simpler setups using Megas, but Metagross remains one of the better options to carry Lum Berry and the temporary Dark Void immunity it provides.
• Metagross is fairly evenly Adamant (49.6%) and Jolly (48.2%). Jolly is necessary for Mega Metagross to outspeed Jolly/Timid base 100s, but Adamant gives it significantly more power. It’s an interesting decision, as at 110 there isn’t really anything else Jolly gets Metagross over other than Mega Lucario sacrificing its own Speed with Adamant, Terrakion, base 100s like Charizard and Kangaskhan, and Garchomp. Adamant is much more cleanly the best Nature for normal Metagross, so it’s probably actually more like 67% of Mega Metagross are Jolly and almost all normal Metagross are Adamant.

Milotic

Base stats: 95 HP / 60 Atk / 79 Def / 100 SAtk / 125 SDef / 81 Spd

Typing: Water

Key Moves: Scald (91.6%), Ice Beam (63.6%), Icy Wind (53.8%), Protect (50.1%), Recover (46.5%), Mirror Coat (27.4%), Hydro Pump (13.4%)

Common Items: Leftovers (27.4%), Sitrus Berry (26.4%), Assault Vest (19.8%)

• The Ability Competitive takes Milotic from completely unused to nearly part of THE BIG SIX. Nearly every team has at least one Intimidate Pokémon and many have two, so Milotic tends to find itself on a lot of teams that don’t want to use Bisharp but do want to deter Intimidate for big physical attackers like Kangaskhan, Mawile, Landorus, and Salamence.
• Unlike Bisharp, Milotic isn’t going to start taking out neutral targets in a single blow after Intimidate, even though it gets two levels of boost off Intimidates to Defiant Bisharp’s one. However, also unlike Bisharp, Milotic is pretty difficult to KO, so a +2 Special Attack Milotic can create a lot of pressure on the field and deter Intimidate for several turns.
• 95 HP and 125 Special Defense makes for pretty immense special bulk. If Milotic’s weaker physical defense is supported by the very Intimidate it is used to counter, it winds up with impressive staying power, particularly if Recover gets involved.
• Milotic’s bulk is increased by all of its most common items. Leftovers being more common than Sitrus Berry is a little strange, but with teams getting more defensive again many teams have more than one Pokémon that would like Sitrus Berry. Milotic does have the bulk to survive long enough for the sustained healing of Leftovers to match Sitrus’s big burst of healing during some games.
• Icy Wind, when selected, enables Milotic to accomplish more than it would with direct attacks in many games where it does not get the Competitive boost to turn on the offense by allowing it to lower the opposition’s Speed to support its teammates. Ice Beam is selected beside it with surprising frequency because of how popular Dragon-types and Landorus are, as Icy Wind doesn’t allow Milotic to threaten an instant KO on most of those Pokémon.
• While Mirror Coat is a really risky move and its presence in the stats at all is indicative of Milotic’s underwhelming movepool, its naturally high Special Defense allows it to survive most special attacks safely. With the similarly common Assault Vest, even boosted supereffective attacks tend not to KO Milotic from full health.
• Milotic is typically Modest (46.7%) to try to squeak out a little more damage, but Bold (36.7%) is also common to improve its weaker Defense.

Arcanine

Base stats: 90 HP / 110 Atk / 80 Def / 100 SAtk / 80 SDef / 95 Spd

Typing: Fire

Key Moves: Extreme Speed (60.0%), Flare Blitz (53.5%), Protect (52.4%), Close Combat (48.2%), Will-O-Wisp (47.1%), Snarl (42.5%), Flamethrower (24%), Wild Charge (18.3%), Morning Sun (16.5%), Heat Wave (15.5%), Overheat (?%), Helping Hand (?%)

Common Items: Life Orb (25.2%), Rocky Helmet (20%), Leftovers (18.8%), Choice Band (12.9%), Sitrus Berry (8%)

• A Pokémon that has been below par competitively for the entirety of the Pokémon franchise’s existence, Arcanine is finally a solid Pokémon in VGC 2015 thanks to Fire becoming a better defensive type in Generation 6 than in the past, Will-O-Wisp’s accuracy being increased, and Intimidate somehow becoming even more important.
• While players seem to agree Arcanine is solid, the lack of consensus on both moves and items would indicate players are still trying to figure out exactly how to best utilize Arcanine. This is partially because Arcanine can effectively play either offense or defense.
• Offensive Arcanine typically runs Adamant Nature (45.3% of all Arcanine), which likely accounts for all of the Choice Bands and nearly all of the Life Orbs. Flare Blitz, Extreme Speed, Close Combat, and potentially Wild Charge round out a surprisingly varied moveset for a quadruped animal-like Pokémon without having to sink to biting moves.
• Typically, I expect to see Arcanine run a more defensive set, where slowing down the opposition’s offense is the focus. On top of Intimidate, Arcanine can use both Will-O-Wisp and Snarl to weaken the opposition, and it even has Morning Sun for reliable healing. It is strange to see Sitrus Berry so low, but Arcanine may be able to last long enough to pull Leftovers off and free up the more valuable Sitrus Berry for a teammate. Defensive Arcanine variants can use a huge variety of Natures, but Timid (23.2%) and Bold (14.1%) are most prevalent presently.
• Support Arcanine can get away with any of the Fire-type attacks (and probably doesn’t have room for a second for coverage), but I was a little surprised to see Overheat hasn’t made the stats yet. Getting one big hit out of your support Pokémon is something the more defensive Volcarona sets have shown us is valuable in past years. Helping Hand is also available if Arcanine wants to be a more offensive support.

Tyranitar

Base stats: 100 HP / 134->164 Atk / 110->150 Def / 95 SAtk / 100 ->120 SDef / 61->71 Spd

Probability of Mega Evolving: Only about one in five, though I’d expect it turn into more like 50/50 from experienced players quickly.

Typing: Rock / Dark

Key Moves: Rock Slide (90.7%), Crunch (74.2%), Protect (50.4%), Ice Punch (35.4%), Low Kick (26.8%), Dragon Dance (17.3%), Earthquake (15.7%), Ice Beam (15.4%), Superpower (13%), Dark Pulse (12.6%)

Common Items: Choice Scarf (30.5%), Tyranitarite (17.5%), Weakness Policy (10.2%)

• Tyranitar is a Pokémon that has proven to be incredibly adaptable. With solid stats an an excellent movepool, it seems that there’s always a way to make Tyranitar one of the game’s better Pokémon. Sandstream effectively giving it a higher base stat total than any other non-Mega certainly doesn’t hurt things, either.
• Tyranitar’s most common build is Choice Scarf right now, which can be either physical or special. It does need to be Jolly (44.6%) or Timid (3.6%) to get over some big threats like Garchomp. Both sets tend to run Rock Slide, Ice Beam or Ice Punch, Crunch or Dark Pulse, and a mystery move that is typically Low Kick, Superpower, Fire Blast, or Stone Edge. The Choice Scarf version has more trouble in 2015 now that Choice Scarf Landorus is so common and can easily outrun Tyranitar and KO it with Superpower.
• Mega Tyranitar is typically used for Dragon Dance with support from Pokémon like Amoonguss. STAB Rock Slide off of 164 Attack is very difficult to deal with after a Dragon Dance, and Mega Tyranitar is just quick enough that it can normally get away with being Adamant. Crunch and Protect traditionally fill out the set, though it has more choices now that its Fighting-type attacks are available again.
• The remaining Tyranitar are kind of all over the place right now. Weakness Policy was gaining traction again toward the end of 2014, but it is definitely one of those things that stops working once people know it is there and it has little chance of winning a Regional tournament or higher as a result. Tyranitar can get away with a variety of defensive items and even mixed sets if it desires. Going into the season, Tyranitar will again probably need to find a way to reinvent itself to fit better in the 2015 format’s metagame.
• Jolly (44.6%) is Tyranitar’s most common Nature, which likely accounts for most of the Choice Scarf sets, followed by Adamant (28.5%), which likely accounts for most of the Tyranitarite. The third most common Nature isn’t one of the Special Attack-boosting Natures, but Brave (9.2%), showing trainers are trying to return Tyranitar to its Trick Room roots. Modest (6%), Timid (3.6%) and Quiet (3.4%) only combine for 13%, which would have been expected in 2013, but is strange to see now given that most of the problems that forced Tyranitar off of physical sets in 2014 haven’t gone away.

Togekiss

Base stats: 85 HP / 50 Atk / 95 Def / 120 SAtk / 115 SDef / 80 Spd

Typing: Fairy / Flying

Key Moves: Air Slash (85.4%), Follow Me (74.5%), Dazzling Gleam (68.3%), Tailwind (31.3%), Protect (22%), Fire Blast (16.3%), Thunder Wave (16.2%), Flamethrower (15.7%), Aura Sphere (14.9%), Heat Wave (13.1%)

Common Items: Sitrus Berry (32%), Rocky Helmet (22.5%), Choice Scarf (14.8%), Choice Specs (9%)

• At least by usage, Togekiss was kind of the best of a second tier of support Pokémon in 2013, finding itself outshone by Cresselia, Thundurus, and Amoonguss, but standing above the rest. Togekiss has improved significantly in 2015 thanks to replacing its partial Normal-typing with Fairy. It now has a double resistance to Fighting, resistance to Dark, and full immunity to Dragon instead of neutrality to all of them at the cost of a weakness to Steel, which vastly improves its typing matchup with much of the metagame.
• Togekiss may now be the best Pokémon in the game at pure redirection with its Follow Me. It also has the option of providing Speed control with Tailwind or Thunder Wave. Thanks to Serene Grace, it also offers a unique support function with Air Slash having a 60% chance to flinch targets it hits.
• Being a Fairy-type instead of a Normal-type also greatly improves Togekiss’ offense. Dazzling Gleam does decent spread damage to the format’s many Dragon-, Dark-, and Fighting-types. Togekiss also carries a Fire-type attack almost half the time, though that information is a little diluted in the stats because the usage is split over three moves.
• Typically Togekiss uses Sitrus Berry to absorb as many attacks as possible with Follow Me or to set Tailwind up safely, but Rocky Helmet has also been pretty popular. I’d imagine that comes half from there only being one Sitrus Berry to go around and half to guarantee extra damage on Pokémon like Kangaskhan in a similar vein to Rocky Helmet Amoonguss.
• While the Follow Me set is Togekiss’ best use, both Choice Scarf and Choice Specs see some use, aiming to surprise players expecting the normal set. Togekiss can pull off the Choice sets surprisingly well now due to its excellent base 120 Special Attack and its new STAB-boosted Fairy-type attack Dazzling Gleam. Aura Sphere is sometimes selected as a fourth attack on the Choice sets due to covering a handful of dual-type Pokémon like Heatran a little better than the other moves.
• Togekiss’s most common Nature is actually Modest (31.9%), which makes sense for the Choice sets, but is a little surprising otherwise for a Pokémon with a primarily defensive function. Bold finishes second at 29.3%, with Timid third at 20.5%, probably belonging to Togekiss without a Speed control move trying to get the jump for Air Slash. In spite of boosting Togekiss’ highest defensive stat, Calm doesn’t show up until fourth at 15%.

Raichu

Base stats: 60 HP / 90 Atk / 55 Def / 90 SAtk / 80 SDef / 110 Spd

Typing: Electric

Key Moves: Fake Out (98.3%), Encore (84.1%), Thunderbolt (72.7%), Protect (43.7%), Hidden Power (18.8%), Feint (17.2%), Nuzzle (15.4%), Grass Knot (14.5%)

Common Items: Focus Sash (62.9%), Air Balloon (15.9%)

• While Raichu is a Pokémon I really want to write something positive about as the evolution of the franchise’s mascot, the truth is that Raichu is a really annoying Pokémon in VGC. The only meaningful change for Raichu since 2013 was gaining 10 base Speed, but that was enough to make it a pretty strong niche support option in 2014. It has maintained a relevant amount of use so far in 2015.
• Raichu has a similar kit to Liepard and Whimsicott, except instead of using Prankster for its support moves it has to rely on its Speed. The trade-off for this is that it gets Lightningrod, which allows it to passively protect its teammates from Thunder Waves, as well as protect Pokémon like Azumarill and Talonflame from Electric-type attacks.
• Raichu most frequently uses Fake Out, Encore, Thunderbolt, and Protect to try to keep its Lightningrod on the field as long as possible and protect its teammates. It also has some interesting niche alternatives that can be used mostly in place of Protect, such as Hidden Power Ice, Feint, Nuzzle, and Helping Hand.
• Focus Sash is typically Raichu’s best item by far, as it definitely isn’t going to survive any physical attacks without it. Air Balloon is used to “counter” Landorus and Garchomp’s Earthquake, but it is ultimately not something that should be on a serious team.
• Raichu needs a Speed-boosting Nature to outrun Garchomp, Terrakion, and the base 100s, so Timid (82%), Jolly (11.2%), and Naive (6.4%) are predictably the only common Natures.

Gyarados

Base stats: 95 HP / 125 Atk -> 155 Atk / 79->109 Def / 60->70 SAtk / 100 -> 130 SDef / 81 Spd

Typing: Water / Flying -> Water / Dark

Probability of Mega Evolving: Only about 1 in 4, unless there is an Electric-type rodent on the team.

Key Moves: Waterfall (87.7%), Protect (55.4%), Earthquake (42.1%), Dragon Dance (41.2%), Ice Fang (37.8%), Taunt (37.1%), Thunder Wave (31.4%), Stone Edge (18.3%), Crunch (10.5%)

Common Items: Gyaradosite (27.6%), Rocky Helmet (18.7%), Lum Berry (16.2%), Sitrus Berry (15%)

• Gyarados is a strange Pokémon in the sense it can do a lot of things pretty well, but isn’t really amazing at anything. It has a couple of great supportive moves and Intimidate, but it’s hard to find situations where Gyarados is really the best option to support a team. It is one of the few viable users of Dragon Dance in VGC, but Mega Salamence and both normal and Mega Tyranitar tend to be selected first for that role. Gyarados is a generally powerful Pokémon, but it just doesn’t stand out much in spite of being the Mega that won it all in 2014.
• Mega Gyarados actually got a new trick in Crunch this year, giving a Gyarados two strong STAB attacks at the same time for the first time ever. Only about 2/5 of Mega Gyarados are choosing to use it right now, however. As Mega Gyarados typically run Dragon Dance, having Earthquake as the second attack on top of Waterfall vastly increases its sweeping potential compared to Crunch. At least the option is there!
• Support Gyarados typically uses Waterfall, Protect, and two of Taunt, Thunder Wave, and a coverage move like Ice Fang or Stone Edge. Gyarados is one of the game’s safer Taunt users, though it is also slower than most other users of Taunt.
• Non-Mega Gyarados is bizarrely using Rocky Helmet most frequently right now, which seems like it is one of the most common items on almost everything right now. Lum Berry works well for Dragon Dancing regular Gyarados trying to avoid Thunder Wave and Will-O-Wisp, while Sitrus Berry is probably the best choice for support Gyarados when it is available.
• Gyarados is most commonly Adamant (46.3%), which is a solid choice for any set. Jolly (31.9%) is the second most common Nature, while Impish (15.3%) is sometimes used for support sets.

Gardevoir

Base stats: 68 HP / 65->85 Atk / 65->65 Def / 125->165 SAtk / 115->135 SDef / 80->100 Spd

Probability of Mega Evolving: Now Mega Evolves about 2/3 of the time thanks to Hyper Voice.

Typing: Psychic / Fairy

Key Moves: Protect (69%), Hyper Voice (68.2%), Psychic (59.6%), Moonblast (24.2%), Psyshock (23%), Dazzling Gleam (18.9%), Shadow Ball (17.4%), Icy Wind (14%), Trick Room (13.6%), Imprison (13.3%)

Common Items: Gardevoirite (68.2%), Choice Scarf (16.8%)

• One of XY’s weakest Megas, Mega Gardevoir is suddenly very formidable in ORAS thanks to gaining Pixilate Hyper Voice off of 165 base Special Attack. Gardevoir is still extremely physically frail, which is worrisome with several physical attackers above the 100 base Speed benchmark and with a decent amount of physical priority in the format. If Gardevoir can get off a few Hyper Voices off, however, it can absolutely devastate teams. Similar to Mega Blastoise, Gardevoir is a Mega that really needs to be protected, but it is capable of sweeping enemy teams on its own if it gets adequate support.
• Mega Gardevoir doesn’t have a deep offensive movepool, but it also doesn’t really need it. Hyper Voice and Protect are by far the moves it uses most commonly, with a Psychic move to remove Poison-types and then one of Shadow Ball for Aegislash or a utility move. As far as potential utility options, Imprison Hyper Voice makes enemy Sylveon pretty useless, while Trick Room or Icy Wind can allow Gardevoir to give some rare support from the Mega slot.
• The only other common Gardevoir set is Choice Scarf. Choice Scarf Gardevoir can outrun and nuke unsuspecting Dragons, but I think the odds of that actually succeeding tend to be pretty low against competent opponents, even with Mega Gardevoir now being the expected set. It’s not a coincidence that Sejun used it with Gothitelle to win Worlds: for Choice Scarf Gardevoir to be a major player, it needs some help from its team to actually catch the things it wants to KO. With Choice Scarf, Gardevoir normally uses Psychic or Psyshock, Moonblast, Dazzling Gleam, and Shadow Ball.
• Gardevoir is most commonly Modest (73.2%), which optimizes its power. On the Choice Scarf set this is relatively safe, but for Mega Gardevoir it comes at the risk of staying slower than the base 100 crowd even after Mega Evolving. 17.4% of Gardevoir go for Timid to at least play for those ties instead.

Suicune

Base stats: 100 HP / 75 Atk / 115 Def / 90 SAtk / 115 SDef / 85 Spd

Typing: Water

Key Moves: Scald (96.8%), Ice Beam (76.8%), Tailwind (74.8%), Snarl (54%), Protect (34.8%), Icy Wind (17.6%), Rest (13.3%), Calm Mind (13.2%)

Common Items: Sitrus Berry (35.9%), Rocky Helmet (30.9%), Chesto Berry (12.6%), Leftovers (12.2%)

• While Suicune was kind of always one of those Pokémon that was considered to be pretty good but rarely actually seen in tournaments, it continues to have significant potential. It has excellent defensive stats and a solid support movepool, only faltering with its mediocre Special Attack and shallow offensive movepool. There’s some extra competition from Water-type Pokémon this year with Milotic and Ludicolo improving so much from 2013, but Suicune has some unique niches with its defenses, Calm Mind, Snarl, and being a pure Water-type Pokémon with access to Tailwind.
• Suicune has access to three great ways to control the field. It is one of the few Pokémon that aren’t part Flying-type to get Tailwind, which allows it to boost the Speed of midspeed teammates that would normally share weaknesses with a Tailwind user. Like most Water-type Pokémon, Suicune can also use Icy Wind to slow down the opposition instead, which was more popular in 2013. Suicune also gets access to the relatively rare Snarl, one of the only ways of inhibiting the damage of enemy Special Attacking Pokémon.
• One of Suicune’s tricks — and one that it used in two of its three appearances in Nugget Bridge reports during generation five — is Calm Mind. While Calm Mind doesn’t quite make it has no weak the way it did in the old days, Suicune with a Calm Mind or two becomes nearly impervious to Special Attacks and finally dish out some decent damage of its own. Calm Mind can punish players who ignore Suicune because they expect it to focus on support.
• Suicune is traditionally seen with a Sitrus Berry or Leftovers. Chesto Berry is usable with Rest, typically on a Calm Mind set that forgoes Protect. Rocky Helmet is a new addition, but with Suicune’s bulk it can certainly make most physical attackers take at least a couple hits from it, compensating for some of its weak innate offense. Staying on the field longer through a healing item to use more support moves or Calm Mind is probably more valuable, however.
• Bold (53%) is Suicune’s most common Nature right now, which makes sense, given that Defense is its highest stat and it has two ways to reduce its incoming special damage with Snarl and Calm Mind. Modest (26.1%) is the next most common Nature, enabling Suicune to put out a little more damage in spite of its mediocre base Special Attack, with most remaining Suicune stacking Special Defense with Calm (13.5%).

Camerupt

Base stats: 70 HP / 100 -> 120 Atk / 70 -> 100 Def / 105 -> 145 SAtk / 75 -> 105 SDef / 40 -> 20 Spd

Probability of Mega Evolving: Be honest: did you even remember Camerupt was a Pokémon before it could Mega Evolve?

Typing: Fire / Ground

Key Moves: Earth Power (99.7%), Protect (96.8%), Heat Wave (82%), Eruption (39.5%), Hidden Power (20.6%), Ancient Power 18%), Rock Slide (14.5%), Fire Blast (7.2%)

Common Items: Cameruptite (99.6%)

• Camerupt is one of the more interesting of the Megas that probably aren’t among the top group. It’s not something that is strong enough to survive the game centralizing around it like Mawile, Kangaskhan, Charizard, or Salamence, but it has some of the best immediate power of any Pokémon available and can tear through teams that aren’t prepared for it. Mega Camerupt requires support from Trick Room to be effective and really likes Sunny Day or Helping Hand on top of that, which causes it to need a little too much support to be as consistent as the top Mega Pokémon.
• Mega Camerupt has taken the role Quiet Eruption Heatran previously occupied on teams in 2013. It is much better suited to this offensively than Heatran because of its lower Speed, Sheer Force, and STAB on Earth Power. This comes at a cost of somewhat inferior defensive typing, since Camerupt’s Electric immunity isn’t as good as Heatran’s resistance to Dragon. Camerupt’s weaker defensive typing restricts it to needing Trick Room to be effective instead of functioning fairly well outside of it the way Heatran does.
• Camerupt is basically guaranteed to be carrying Earth Power and Protect, but it has some decisions to make from there. Eruption is relatively popular, but outside of its improved accuracy it doesn’t offer much over Heat Wave. If Camerupt is missing basically any HP at all, Heat Wave outdamages Eruption because of Sheer Force. For players who don’t want Eruption, the best options are probably Hidden Power Ice to cover Dragons, particularly Salamence, or Fire Blast for a massive burst of single target damage. Ancient Power and Rock Slide are options mostly to damage Charizard and Talonflame effectively, but without STAB on Rock there aren’t many other situations where it wouldn’t be better for Camerupt to just spam Heat Wave instead.
• At least it isn’t Torkoal.
• Camerupt nearly always chooses to be Quiet (91.4%), as it is really only effective as a Trick Room Pokémon and normally wants to be as slow as possible. Perhaps some of the remaining Modest (7.9%) Camerupt are using some sort of antic where it is useful for Camerupt to outspeed the Pokémon providing Trick Room for it.

Heat Rotom

Base stats: 50 HP / 65 Atk / 107 Def / 105 SAtk / 107 SDef / 86 Spd

Typing: Electric / Fire

Key Moves: Overheat (100%), Thunderbolt (87.7%), Protect (66.5%), Will-O-Wisp (49.1%), Hidden Power (29.2%), Volt Switch (20%), Discharge (11.8%), Trick (10.5%), Thunder Wave (8.9%)

Common Items: Sitrus Berry (36%), Leftovers (13%), Choice Specs (11.5%), Choice Scarf (9.6%)

• No longer thrown on teams by default due to being the only viable non-Mega Fire-type available that could take a hit in a world where Fire was really strong in VGC 2014, Rotom’s kitchen-friendly Forme has seen a significant drop in use in 2015. Its unique typing is still solid, and there are some teams where it will still be the best choice for players, but with competition from Arcanine, Heatran, Entei, and Camerupt it’ll be less common this year.
• Rotom is most often used for defensive sets. Like its Wash Forme, Rotom’s Heat Forme is one of the game’s safer Pokémon for spreading Will-O-Wisp. Overheat, Thunderbolt, and Protect typically round out the set.
• This is the best Rotom Forme at using offensive sets. Choice Specs and Choice Scarf are common enough to be worth considering, and even Life Orb is a solid item. Hidden Power Ice typically joins Thunderbolt and Overheat on these sets, along with one of Trick, Volt Switch, or Discharge.
• Heat Rotom is most commonly Modest (69.2%) Nature, allowing it to pick up some KOs with Overheat it might not otherwise and synergizing well with Choice sets. As with many Pokémon, its Defense-boosting option, Bold (13.5%), is the next most popular in this format. A few Rotom are still going Calm (10.2%), perhaps to survive boosted Draco Meteors.

Mamoswine

Base stats: 110 HP / 130 Atk / 80 Def / 70 SAtk / 70 SDef / 80 Spd

Typing: Ice / Ground

Key Moves: Earthquake (99.3%), Ice Shard (65.5%), Icicle Crash (59.6%), Rock Slide (53.7%), Icicle Spear (45.5%), Protect (42.5%), Superpower (19%)

Common Items: Choice Scarf (43.5%), Life Orb (31.3%), Focus Sash (12.5%)

• While Mamoswine didn’t have too large of an impact in 2014, it was a world champion in 2013. A big part of the reason for that was Mamoswine’s ability to deal with some of the Ice-weak Pokémon that are being reintroduced this year, so Mamoswine might be able to rebound a little. It doesn’t gain or lose much with ORAS otherwise, though its partner in crime on Arash’s winning team, Defiant Tornadus, isn’t legal. At least Rotom is a little less common now!
• Mamoswine is most commonly seen using Choice Scarf, the set it won Worlds with. This allows it to outspeed and KO Pokémon like Landorus, Salamence, and Thundurus. Landorus runs Choice Scarf much more frequently than it did in 2013, however, which limits Mamoswine’s ability to actually KO it before it U-turns. Mamoswine can at least train to survive Landorus Superpower and KO it back if it stays in, but the metagame fit isn’t quite as good now as it was late in 2013. Earthquake and Icicle Crash or Icicle Spear are mandatory on the Choice Scarf set, with the second Ice-type STAB, Superpower, Ice Shard, and Rock Slide competing for the last slots depending on what Mamoswine’s trainer wants to cover.
• When not holding Choice Scarf Mamoswine runs Life Orb or Focus Sash, which both function similarly to each other. Typically for both sets Mamoswine uses Earthquake, Ice Shard, Icicle Crash or Icicle Spear, and Protect. It has some issues getting attacks off because of its middling Speed, but it often only requires one of of its main attacks to put targets in KO range of Ice Shard with Mamoswine’s solid power and excellent offensive typing. Without Choice Scarf, Mamoswine really needs support from some Speed control moves or redirection, but it has some of the game’s better offensive potential if it gets to attack. With Life Orb Mamoswine does truly impressive damage but is more difficult to keep alive, while with Focus Sash it’s a little easier to preserve but loses several OHKOs outright and maintains fewer OHKOs after Intimidate.
• Over half of all Mamoswine are Adamant (56.4%) Natured, which is pretty mandatory for Choice Scarf to actually do damage, as well as a decent option for the other sets because of Ice Shard circumventing Speed issues somewhat. Jolly (39.4%) allows the Mamoswine using Focus Sash or Life Orb to actually outrun some of the other Pokémon in the middle Speed tiers and hopefully get KOs before it is hit.

Conkeldurr

Base stats: 105 HP / 140 Atk / 95 Def / 55 SAtk / 65 SDef / 45 Spd

Typing: Fighting

Key Moves: Mach Punch (90.7%), Drain Punch (88.1%), Knock Off (73.3%), Ice Punch (66.8%), Protect (18%), Rock Slide (13.72%), Stone Edge (12.2%), Poison Jab (10.1%), Hammer Arm (9.1%)

Common Items: Assault Vest (65.4%), Life Orb (16.8%), Sitrus Berry (7.4%)

• Conkeldurr is one of the most historically successful Pokémon of the fifth generation, winning Worlds in both 2011 and 2013. Conkeldurr fell off hard in 2014, however, suffering from Trick Room not being very strong and the loss of Ice Punch and Knock Off. Regaining the now-useful Knock Off, Ice Punch, and better Trick Room teammates has made Conkeldurr relevant again.
• Unlike in 2013, when Conkeldurr didn’t really become a premier Pokémon until after Iron Fist was released, most of the players on Battle Spot are actually using Guts (60%) now instead. With so much Will-O-Wisp Guts may be the better play, though Iron Fist Conkeldurr can benefit a little from players being timid about burning it as a result.
• Conkeldurr now typically uses Assault Vest along with its Guts to become a very difficult Pokémon to remove from the field. It has solid natural physical bulk, so with Assault Vest patching up its Special Defense and Guts preventing its damage from being destroyed by burns, it is a very stable Pokémon. Assault Vest Pokémon tend to be strongest when they can offer some utility in spite of being forced to only use attacking moves. Conkeldurr can now do so through Knock Off’s item removal, a move that also helps it out against Aegislash a little. Mach Punch is another neat trick, with Drain Punch serving as the final mandatory move and playing off the set’s bulk. Ice Punch, a Rock-type attack, or Poison Jab can all fill the set depending on what needs to be covered, though Ice Punch is the best option in most situations.
• Iron Fist is still a plenty viable ability. As in 2013, Iron Fist Conkeldurr can grab a Life Orb (or even something like Safety Goggles), Hammer Arm, Ice Punch, Mach Punch, and Protect and dish out some truly outrageous damage with its massive Attack stat. The Iron Fist version of Conkeldurr needs Trick Room support much more than the Assault Vest version because it needs to stay away from the barrage of burns in VGC 2015, but it’s also the variant more likely to sweep teams.
• With its massive Attack stat, there is little choice but to use an Attack-boosting Nature on Conkeldurr. 76% of players do this with Adamant, while 20.4% use Brave instead to exploit or counter Trick Room.

Breloom

Base stats: 60 HP / 130 Atk / 80 Def / 60 SAtk / 60 SDef / 70 Spd

Typing: Grass / Fighting

Key Moves: Bullet Seed (95.7%), Spore (92.9%), Mach Punch (87%), Protect (77.2%), Rock Tomb (25.5%), Superpower (11.9%)

Common Items: Focus Sash (75%), Choice Scarf (12.3%), Iron Ball (6.6%)

• The other of the two viable Spore-using Pokémon, Breloom dishes out pretty solid damage with Technician and offers solid support with Spore at the cost of having terrible defenses and mediocre Speed. It can be difficult to actually get many turns with Breloom, especially since its low Speed can’t really be supported with the Spore-blocking Thunder Wave or Trick Room, which it’s a little too fast for. Breloom can have  a massive impact on a game if it gets to attack a few times, but especially with there being so many more useful Fire-type Pokémon in 2015, Talonflame in particular, it is difficult for it to actually get those attacks off.
• Breloom has among the least varied statistics pages of any Pokémon. It basically always uses Bullet Seed, Spore, Mach Punch, Protect, and Focus Sash. If it can’t instantly KO something, or if something it can KO is likely to switch, it has Spore available. Otherwise, Bullet Seed and Mach Punch are there to dish out some damage. Breloom is a Pokémon that tends to require a lot of support, particularly redirection, or a distraction from a high value target like Kangaskhan to actually get those attacks off. Focus Sash allows it to take one hit, though it is a Pokémon that draws a lot of double targets.
• I don’t think I’ve seen a Choice Scarf Breloom in my life, but 12% is common enough that I guess it should be considered. Without the ability to Protect or a Focus Sash it somehow gets even frailer, but at least it can actually outrun things to Spore them.
• A little over half of Breloom opt for Jolly (58.5%) Natures, hoping to get Spore off before being turned into salad. A bold 34.5 are not actually Bold but instead Adamant, trading safety for damage output and serving as the only real option for the users of Choice Scarf. While not high enough that I’d normally mention it, the remaining 7% are all Brave and likely holding those Iron Balls. Apparently Breloom is a little out of season and trying to dress up as Amoonguss for Halloween.

Swampert

Base stats: 100 HP / 110 -> 150 Atk / 90 -> 110 Def / 85 -> 95 SAtk / 90 -> 110 SDef / 60 -> 70 Spd

Probability of Mega Evolving: 4 in 5 right now, which should probably actually be even higher when you remove people trying to play with in-game teams.

Typing: Water / Ground

Key Moves: Waterfall (88.8%), Protect (81.9%), Earthquake (80.3%), Ice Punch (69.3%), Rock Slide (27.4%), Wide Guard (12.6%)

Common Items: Swampertite (80.6%)

• I remember thinking it was pretty cool that a couple Spanish players in the 2012 World Championships made Swampert work, and with a Mega Forme now Swampert should be even better in 2015. Swampert is now one of the sturdier Megas, has a cool unique trick with Swift Swim, and a really respectable Attack stat thanks to its beastly muscles. However, its middling Speed is a problem in a game with so much Will-O-Wisp, the Intimidates the more popular physical Megas have forced into the metagame impair Swampert significantly, and Swampert’s offensive typing is pretty mediocre. Swampert can be strong in a perfect situation, but it’s always going to be a Ludicolo fad or a couple unexpected Grass-type attacks away from dropping from rogue hero to goat.
• Weaknesses aside, Swampert should settle nicely into that second tier of Megas that are consistently playable without ever dominating the format. Swampert is most commonly used alongside Politoed because of its Swift Swim right now, which tends to create a lot of redundant typing, especially since Ludicolo is also often used with them, but the three combine for a lot of power. While a touch slow, Swampert does function reasonably well without Swift Swim against most teams, so it does offer some flexibility to Rain teams during team preview in a similar way as Ludicolo.
• Waterfall and Protect are almost mandatory, and Earthquake is keeping up with them in usage so far, leaving Ice Punch and Rock Slide fighting for the last slot. Being able to smash Dragons is always helpful, so I would imagine Ice Punch will stay the more common final move. Rock Slide is probably particularly worth considering on Politoed teams, as it gives Swampert a way to deal with Charizard on the turn it weakens Waterfall with Drought. Rock Slide also has some great flinch potential with Swift Swim, though the impact of it being a spread move is lower with STAB Earthquake also likely to be on the set. Wide Guard is a fantastic move in this format, but typically utility moves are best left for non-Megas, especially since one of the best users of spread moves, Charizard, is likely to Solar Beam Swampert if it Wide Guards.
• Nearly all Swampert are Adamant (74.1%), maximizing its damage by boosting its highest base stat. A handful of Swampert use Jolly (9.6%) and Brave (7%).

Gothitelle

Base stats: 70 HP / 55 Atk / 95 Def / 95 SAtk / 110 SDef / 65 Spd

Typing: Psychic

Key Moves: Protect (84.5%), Trick Room (82%), Psychic (63.2%), Psyshock (29.8%), Helping Hand (26.8%), Heal Pulse (24.5%), Reflect (20.1%), Tickle (12.8%), Charm (10.3%)

Common Items: Sitrus Berry (69.7%), Leftovers (13.2%)

• One of those Pokémon that stays useful only because of its Ability, Shadow Tag Gothitelle is a Pokémon that offers its team a lot of control at the expense of Gothitelle not being as individually powerful as otherwise similar Pokémon like Cresselia. Gothitelle does regain Helping Hand this year, vastly increasing its offensive contribution outside of Trick Room, though Trick Room is still used on it almost exclusively. Gothitelle wasn’t very popular in 2013 outside of teams based around Shadow Tag and a gimmick because of how much frailer it was than its alternatives, It’ll be interesting to see if Gothitelle fades back into obscurity or if Shadow Tag is worth it to players now considering how dominant Gothitelle was late in 2014.
• Protect, Trick Room, Psychic or Psyshock, and a second support move round out Gothitelle’s moveset nearly all of the time right now. Helping Hand may be the best support move in the game, but Charm and Tickle are both really amazing with Shadow Tag and can effectively end games early if Gothitelle can trap and weaken the right targets. Heal Pulse is really fun but a little gimmicky on teams that don’t rely on something like Perish Song considering how strong the alternatives are.
• Due to the focus on Shadow Tag, Gothitelle is a Pokémon that requires a little more planning to use well and to counter than most other Pokémon. Much of the Gothitelle matchup is one player trying to wear down Gothitelle while the other tries to get unavoidable KOs with Gothitelle’s partner due to Shadow Tag preventing switching. As a result, Gothitelle can work well both inside Trick Room, where it is harder to set up KOs for its partners but easier to chain them, or out of Trick Room, where it is easier to get a Speed advantage and KO a single target but harder to sweep the field.
• In addition to working with more standard teams, Gothitelle is an excellent Pokémon for synergizing with some of VGC’s nastier tricks. It is a common member of Perish Trap teams due to being the only viable non-Mega Pokémon with Shadow Tag (well, Gothitelle and its preevolution Gothorita), and it functions nicely with Encore/Disable shenanigans as well. Reflect tends to make its appearances on this sort of team, as Gothitelle rarely has room for it otherwise.
• Gothitelle is most commonly Sassy (55.2%), making it one of the few Pokémon where the most common Nature boosting Defense, Relaxed (15.5%), isn’t even close. Calm (14.5%) is actually nearly as popular as Relaxed is, with Bold (13%) being the final common Nature.

Hitmontop

Base stats: 50 HP / 95 Atk / 95 Def / 35 SAtk / 110 SDef / 70 Spd

Typing: Fighting

Key Moves: Fake Out (97%), Close Combat (88.5%), Wide Guard (66.5%), Quick Guard (46.5%), Feint (32.1%), Helping Hand (22.1%), Detect (13.9%), Stone Edge (12.5%)

Common Items: Eject Button (22.7%), Sitrus Berry (18.7%), Lum Berry (17.5%), Black Belt (11.1%)

• Once the key to half of 2013’s newbie-friendly strategies, Hitmontop has fallen a long way in 2015. It lost both Fighting Gem and Sucker Punch, vastly reducing its offensive power. It also gained a new weakness to Fairy, was hurt by both new competition using Intimidate in Arcanine and opposition countering Intimidate in Milotic, hurt by the introduction of two powerful new Flying-type attackers in Mega Salamence and Talonflame, and now it even has to compete with Mega Kangaskhan and the vastly improved Ludicolo when Fake Out is desired for teams. Hitmontop does bring some cool tricks like both Wide and Quick Guard, Helping Hand, and Feint, but it feels pretty gutted this generation. Even the shift toward more physical Pokémon hurts Hitmontop, giving it fewer opportunities to use its highest base stat with its 110 Special Defense.
• The ghost of Hitmontop still needs Fake Out and Close Combat to even resemble its corporeal self, with its remaining slots typically dedicated to support moves. Access to Helping Hand really helps Hitmontop avoid becoming a dead spot on the field with Fighting Gem gone and more teams having an extra Fighting-type resistance now with a Fairy-type. Wide Guard is a fantastic move right now and is probably the main reason to use Hitmontop, though Sylveon can still Moonblast Hitmontop, so there’s a prediction game involved. Quick Guard is neat with all the priority around and it can save Hitmontop from Talonflame for a while, but it probably isn’t as practical as the other moves for most teams. Feint is also an extremely strong move for offensive teams, particularly those that create predictable Protects through moves like Tailwind.
• Hitmontop’s item statistics are just a mess with Fighting Gem gone. Eject Button, the most common item, lets Hitmontop flee to Intimidate and Fake Out a second time, which is pretty annoying, but not necessarily something I’d think of as super powerful. Sitrus Berry and Lum Berry increase Hitmontop’s staying power, with the latter helping to preserve its offensive power as it definitely isn’t going to be OHKOing Rotom or Arcanine before it gets burned. Black Belt is a pretty poor choice on something that is mostly a support Pokémon, but at least it boosts the only real attack available.
• Hitmontop is most frequently Adamant (61.8%), which allows it to dish out pretty respectable damage with Close Combat. The remaining Careful (26.5%) Hitmontop have perhaps opted to avoid “respectable” and focus on supporting teammates that output “good” damage instead.

Volcarona

Base stats: 85 HP / 60 Atk / 65 Def / 135 SAtk / 105 SDef / 100 Spd

Typing: Fire / Bug

Key Moves: Bug Buzz (77.7%), Heat Wave (65.7%), Quiver Dance (50.2%), Protect (41.1%), Rage Powder (31%), Giga Drain (25.2%), Hidden Power (21.5%), Tailwind (17.9%), Fire Blast (14.4%), Flamethrower (13.3%), Will-O-Wisp (?%)

Common Items: Rocky Helmet (19.3%), Life Orb (13.9%), Lum Berry (13.7%), Focus Sash (12.2%), Sitrus Berry (11.9%), Choice Scarf (11.5%)

• Volcarona is a Pokémon I would consider to be one of the better designs in VGC. It can run a handful of sets effectively, but none of them are overwhelming. It has really great offensive typing, but it comes at the cost of some big weaknesses to Rock and Flying. It’s a Pokémon I think is underplayed at this point in the season, but it has enough options that I think it should be coming back here. Like Hitmontop, it doesn’t enjoy Mega Salamence or Talonflame existing much, but at least picking up a resistance to Fairy balances things out for the moth.
• The most interesting Volcarona set right now may actually be the one that has changed the most since 2013: Rage Powder. Flame Body, once a nearly useless ability, is actually really strong with all the physical attackers flying around now. If Kangaskhan wants to target it, it has to take two 30% chances at burning itself, in addition to potentially losing 1/3 of its health to Rocky Helmet. Even when Adamant, Kangaskhan can’t KO defensively trained Bold Volcarona with Return. Even when Bold, Volcarona needs very little investment (52) to OHKO even Mawile as bulky as Ray’s Regionals Mawile with Overheat. Losing Fire/Bug Gem hurts the offensive pressure from Rage Powder Volcarona a little, but Rocky Helmet may be more format-appropriate anyway.
• Quiver Dance still exists! Given Volcarona’s excellent natural Special Attack, Special Defense, and Speed, gaining a level in all of three stats makes it extremely powerful if it can be kept away from physical attacks. It’s a little harder to do that successfully in 2015 than in 2013 with so many more physical Pokémon, but the damage output is still crazy. Quiver Dance sets typically go with Lum Berry to stop Thunder Wave or Focus Sash so that Volcarona is basically guaranteed to get a Quiver Dance off next to a Fake Out Pokémon.
• Volcarona can also run a plainer offensive set with Life Orb or Choice Scarf. While it doesn’t have amazing fantastic coverage, Bug Buzz, Heat Wave, Hidden Power Ice or Ground, Giga Drain, or Fire Blast are typically good enough thanks to Volcarona’s STABs being so strong. Tailwind is also a niche option for Life Orb or even for Rage Powder Volcarona.
• 43.4% of Volcarona are Modest, the Nature best suited for Choice Scarf and Quiver Dancing Volcarona. Timid is next at 26.3%, which synergizes particularly well with Life Orb and allows Speed ties with other base 100s like Mega Kangaskhan.. Finally, Bold Volcarona the dream clocks in at a respectable 22%, soon to rise to 220%.

Scrafty

Base stats: 65 HP / 90 Atk / 115 Def / 45 SAtk / 115 SDef / 58 Spd

Typing: Dark / Fighting

Key Moves: Fake Out (93.9%), Drain Punch (86.8%), Crunch (48.4%), Knock Off (42.8%), Protect (33.5%), Ice Punch (28.2%), Quick Guard (15.6%), Hi Jump Kick (10.3%)

Common Items: Lum Berry (21.1%), Assault Vest (19.2%), Eject Button (14.7%), Leftovers (11.7%), Sitrus Berry (9.6%), Rocky Helmet (7.5%)

• Once Hitmontop’s more defensive, less popular cousin, Scrafty may now be the better Pokémon, since now Hitmontop doesn’t do any damage either. Scrafty is in some ways now the more aggressive alternative, featuring higher defensive stats but a more offensive movepool featuring Knock Off, Crunch, and Ice Punch instead of Hitmontop’s Wide Guard, Helping Hand, and Feint. I don’t think either of them are among the format’s premier Fighting-types, but Scrafty is still a viable Pokémon for teams looking for Intimidate, particularly for teams aiming to play a slower tempo. Like with Hitmontop, the influx of Flying- and Fairy-type Pokémon, as well as all of the Intimidate and Will-O-Wisp, have really reduced the potential impact of Scrafty in the current metagame.
• Scrafty most commonly uses a defensive item like Lum Berry, Leftovers, or Sitrus Berry with Fake Out, Drain Punch, Crunch or Knock Off, and Protect, though Protect is sometimes dropped for Quick Guard or another attack. Scrafty is pretty sturdy, so it can get off its fair share of Knock Offs to disrupt the enemy after getting in an early Fake Out and Intimidate. Like Hitmontop, it can also spread Intimidates more with Eject Button, though it’s likely to get its Knock Off interrupted by doing so due to its low Speed, which isn’t always a good trade for Scrafty.
• The other option for Scrafty is for it to do its best impression of Conkeldurr with Assault Vest. Without Guts, it’s very prone to being burned, and the extra weaknesses from Scrafty’s partial Dark typing make it easier to KO than Conkeldurr. Fake Out and Intimidate make Scrafty’s version of the set much more supportive than Conkeldurr’s however, and with STAB on Knock Off Scrafty gets some extra damage with it compared to Conkeldurr in spite of Scrafty’s much lower Attack.
• Adamant (51.7%) is the most common Nature for Scrafty, with fellow Attack-booster Brave third at 15.8%. Second is Careful (20.3%), the only common Nature that boosts one of Scrafty’s highest stats.

Greninja

Base stats: 72 HP / 95 Atk / 67 Def / 103 SAtk / 71 SDef / 122 Spd

Typing: Water / Dark

Key Moves: Ice Beam (83.4%), Protect (50.5%), Dark Pulse (48.3%), Gunk Shot (44.3%), Low Kick (34.8%), Grass Knot (22.4%), Hydro Pump (20.6%), Scald (20%, Rock Slide (17.6%), Mat Block (14.8%)

Common Items: Life Orb (48.5%), Focus Sash (27%), Expert Belt (10%), Choice Scarf (9.9%)

• Greninja has to be the silliest competitive Pokémon ever. While its presence in singles has become a little… suspect… because of its wall-breaking ability, in VGC it is a very risky, frail, and high-damage Pokémon. It was typically favored by newer players in VGC 2014, except in the post-ORAS version of VGC 2014, where it was favored by people who wanted to win without working very hard. In the context of the more defensive 2015 format, Greninja is probably not going to be a top tier threat, but if it can get a couple unresisted attacks off it’s very capable of trading better than 1-for-1 because of Protean giving it STAB on everything. Plus, Greninja is just fun to use. There’s not many plays in VGC like changing Greninja’s type with Protean to survive an attack that would otherwise have KOd it.
• Greninja can use either Life Orb or Expert Belt for some added damage to pick up KOs, or Focus Sash to be able to survive a hit. The offensive items tend to be a little stronger, since if you predict well with them you’re going to KO whatever you’re targeting before you get hit anyway. With that said, Focus Sash is definitely safer if you’re having a hard time anticipating your opponent’s moves. Greninja can use any of its high BP attacks well thanks to Protean, with the moves above largely being listed in order of how strong their offensive typing is. One of Greninja’s strengths is that it can pick up a coverage move to help its team if it doesn’t have coverage with a particular type, so experiment with it. Ice Beam for Dragons and Landorus, Dark Pulse for Aegislash and Cresselia, and Gunk Shot for Sylveon drive the three most common attacks right now, with Low Kick for Kangaskhan being the next most common. Protect is only used about half the time, but I would strongly suggest it since Greninja applies a lot of pressure that its opponents will definitely try to react to.
• It’s fast, it’s fun!
• Greninja’s most common Natures all increase its Speed, allowing it to activate Protean and attack before its opponents. In fact, Greninja’s common Natures are every Speed-increase Nature: Timid (41.2%), Naive (30.4%), Hasty (11.3%), and Jolly (10.2%).

Latios

Base stats: 80 HP / 90 -> 130 Atk / 80 -> 100 Def / 130 -> 160 SAtk / 110 -> 120 SDef / 110 Spd

Probability of Mega Evolving: Poor stat distribution means there’s usually better uses of both Mega Evolution and Latios. About one in four Latios currently Mega Evolve.

Typing: Dragon / Psychic

Key Moves: Draco Meteor (85.1%), Psychic (55.6%), Protect (32.8%), Psyshock (32.5%), Ice Beam (31%), Thunderbolt (20.3%), Tailwind (18.8%), Shadow Ball (14.6%), Light Screen (14.1%), Dragon Pulse (11.4%)

Common Items: Latiosite (22.9%), Focus Sash (17.6%), Choice Specs (15%), Choice Scarf (13.8%), Life Orb (11.2%)

• Popular in the past for being the fastest Dragon, Latios’ plans have hit a kink as it is, well, no longer the fastest Dragon. Choice Scarf Hydreigon and Salamence are more common than ever and Mega Salamence existing at all makes things a lot trickier for Latios. That’s without mentioning the loss of Dragon Gem,which was by far the most common item for Latios in the West in 2013. Latios is still one of the fastest viable Pokémon in the format, but with its strengths reduced its weaknesses are more pronounced. While Latios has better coverage than most Dragons, it lacks a Fire-type attack stronger than Hidden Power, which is a big problem this year. Psychic is also just not a very good STAB any longer with so few Fighting-type Pokémon around, and Dragon also got worse thanks to Fairy-types existing. Latios’ Mega Forme is also almost never used, which isn’t too surprising, since it got a weaker stat spread than Latias’ did.
• It’s too early in the season for Hydreigon to reclaim the Iron Throne, so it should be Latios’ time to shine.
• Latios can still prey on non-Scarf Hydreigon, Garchomp, Salamence, and Terrakion pretty effectively, and it does a decent chunk of damage to most of the field. Many slower Pokémon like Aegislash and Sylveon can easily KO it back, however, so it needs a lot more support than it used to — particularly support in the form of Helping Hand to vastly increase the damage threshold it can KO opponents at to avoid taking a return hit. Choice Specs can also help a lot with this, though it also makes Latios much more dangerous to play.
• Draco Meteor and Psychic or Psyshock are a given, but things get murky from there. Protect should really be at 100% for all non-Choice Latios, as failing to scout a Choice Scarf from Hydreigon or Salamence will result in Latios’ game ending prematurely. The last slot has a bunch of mediocre coverage options — Thunderbolt for… Gyarados?, Ice Beam for Landorus, Energy Ball for Swampert, Shadow Ball for Aegislash — but all of them are a little niche for common use. Tailwind gives Latios some support potential if it isn’t Choiced, though it’s difficult enough to get free turns for Latios without spending one to set up.
• When not using a Choice item, Latiosite or Life Orb are by far the strongest items. Life Orb was pretty popular in 2012-13 in Japan, and frankly I think it was stronger than Dragon Gem even in 2013 once most players realized they needed to EV to survive Dragon Gem Meteors to begin with. With Dragon Gem gone, I’m surprised more people haven’t adjusted to it as the default item yet.
• Latios is overwhelmingly Timid (91.4%), with Timid’s Speed boost allowing Latios to capitalize on its base Speed being higher than the non-Mega Dragons.

Blastoise

Base stats: 79 HP / 83 -> 103 Atk / 100 -> 120 Def / 85 -> 135 SAtk / 105 -> 115 SDef / 78 Spd

Typing: Water

Probability of Mega Evolving: Blastoisinite is the only thing keeping it out of your PC.

Key Moves: Protect (79.5%), Aura Sphere (77.9%), Water Spout (76.1%), Ice Beam (46.5%), Dark Pulse (33.6%), Dragon Pulse (27%), Fake Out (20.1%), Water Pulse (19.5%)

Common Items: Blastoisinite (96.1%)

• On this list almost exclusively because of its weighted top 20 usage on the Showdown’s ladder, Blastoise still has one of the better and more reliable special spread attacks. It is still just as reliant on having support from Follow Me, Rage Powder, or some form of Speed control as ever to actually use that spread damage, however. Blastoise is one of the less consistent viable mega Pokémon as a result of the support it needs, but having a powerful, reliable spread move like Water Spout on your Mega can be worth the required support.
• Blastoise nearly always uses Protect, Aura Sphere, and Water Spout, with the last move being Ice Beam for Dragons (better) or Dark Pulse for Aegislash (crazy). Dragon Pulse does slightly more damage to Dragons that aren’t 4x weak to Ice than Ice Beam, but results in an overall loss of coverage.
• The Blastoise on Battle Spot are almost exclusively Modest (80.6%), but given that nearly all of the competitive Blastoise in VGC 2014 were Timid (9.3%), I would take that with a grain of salt. More interesting are the Quiet Blastoise (9.7%), showing that at least someone somewhere is trying it in Trick Room instead of Camerupt for some reason.
• The metagame early in the format seems to be built around an Intimidate and anti-Intimidate arms race, so there’s certainly some merit to using special-based Mega Pokémon right now. With 120 Defense, Blastoise is able to win the one-on-one with Mega Salamence fairly easily, though it typically loses to Mega Kangaskhan over two turns in that duel.

Excadrill

Base stats: 100 HP / 135 Atk / 60 Def / 50 SAtk / 65 SDef / 88 Spd

Typing: Steel / Ground

Key Moves: Rock Slide (90.4%), Iron Head (90.1%), Earthquake (70.1%), Protect (69.2%), Drill Run (46.7%), Magnet Rise (?%)

Common Items: Life Orb (45%), Choice Scarf (23.8%), Focus Sash (19.5%)

• Excadrill is a strange Pokémon. It has unique typing, a horrible movepool, good STABs, good attack, and stats that are otherwise OK but not optimized especially well. However, Excadrill is just good enough that it has a couple of classic pairings centered around it. One uses Sand Rush to combine with Sandstream Tyranitar, while the other uses Mold Breaker and combines with redirection from Togekiss. As long as Excadrill can be given the support to let it actually attack, it has proven to be an effective Pokémon in both 2012 and 2013. Now that Steel is actually a useful STAB in 2015, it should get a little better.
• While many people look at Excadrill and expect it to be paired with Tyranitar to abuse Sand Rush (41.2%), it’s actually Randy-mode Mold Breaker that’s been more popular so far at 57.6%. With Tyranitar not seeming to be as strong as it was in 2013, it makes sense Excadrill has adapted. There are still plenty of Levitating Pokémon to Earthquake.
• With such a shallow movepool, there is little deviation in Excadrill’s build. Without Ground Gem, it basically has to go Life Orb or Focus Sash on a standard set unless you want to go crazy with Choice Band. Rock Slide, Iron Head, and Earthquake or Drill Run are basically necessary, though Magnet Rise won a couple tournaments in 2013.
• While Choice Band has been more popular traditionally than Choice Scarf, Excadrill can certainly pull off the Choice Scarf look. Adamant Mold Breaker Choice Scarf Earthquake irritates a lot of teams that are using Levitate to counter Ground-type Pokémon, though Excadrill must be careful not to give away its Scarf with its Ability activation message. For Excadrill not looking to carry two Ground-type attacks, Protect can instead be replaced by some fantastic attacks like Horn Drill (8.8%!) and X-Scissor on Choice sets.
• Excadrill is nearly always Adamant (82.1%), with a hint of Jolly (17.9%). Excadrill is fast enough that the Speed does help from Jolly, but it’s just slow enough that since Jolly is outrun by the base 90s and 100s anyway (and because it so frequently supported by Pokémon like Tyrantiar and Togekiss) getting the extra damage is often worth the loss in Speed.

Manectric

Base stats: 70 HP / 75 Atk / 60 -> 80 Def / 105 -> 135 SAtk / 60 -> 80 SDef / 105 -> 135 Spd

Probability of Mega Evolving: Nearly guaranteed, though it often delays its Mega Evolving and can function reasonably as a non-Mega on teams with two Megas.

Typing: Electric

Key Moves: Protect (84.8%), Hidden Power (83.5%), Thunderbolt (58.6%), Overheat (55.3%), Volt Switch (59.8%), Flamethrower (32.3%), Thunder (14.9%), Snarl (3.8%)

Common Items: Manectricite (85.3%)

• While not part of the top group of Megas, Manectric is a very strong Pokémon and probably wound up a little undervalued late in 2014. It can function effectively as a non-Mega when needed thanks to Lightningrod, which will be in much higher demand in 2015 thanks to the return of Thundurus. Functioning as a second Mega will probably be necessary for Manectric now, as with an increased pool of top Megas it’s going to be harder for players to justify building around it exclusively. Manectric is in the competition with Landorus for the best Pokémon in the game at spreading Intimidate thanks to Volt Switch, and it even gets the unique ability to Intimidate after switches happen on the turn it Mega Evolves. Manectric’s weakness is its frailty, so it must play very defensively with Protect and Volt Switch most of the time.
• Manectric has a limited movepool, but thanks to being one of the only Electric-type Pokémon with access to Flamethrower and Overheat it has what it needs. Protect and Volt Switch are pretty integral to Manectric being the Intimidate spreading monster it was born to be, while Overheat or Flamethrower and Hidden Power Ice give it the coverage it would choose over basically anything else. Snarl is used very infrequently, but can make Manectric extremely annoying combined with Intimidate.
• Volt Switch is sometimes replaced by a stronger Electric-type attack so Manectric can focus on offense, though at that point I’d wonder why a stronger Mega wasn’t selected instead of Manectric.
• Speed is important to Manectric, so it nearly always goes Timid (82.4%) even though it hurts some of its XHKOs. Modest (15.5%) is selected infrequently to add power.

Smeargle

Base stats: 55 HP / 20 Atk / 35 Def / 20 SAtk / 45 SDef / 75 Spd

Typing: Normal

Key Moves: Dark Void (98.8%), Follow Me (50.3%), Transform (43.2%), Spiky Shield (40.6%), King’s Shield (37.6%), Sheer Cold (23.5%), Fake Out (20.1%), Wide Guard (11.4%), Tailwind (11%)

Common Items: Focus Sash (70.2%), Choice Scarf (13.6), Mental Herb (12.7%)

• Forget Pokémon that are used only for their Abilities, Smeargle is used only for one move! While many players were hoping to see Dark Void get banned this year, it didn’t have especially impressive tournament results in 2014 due to so few players choosing to play it, so it seems to be here to stay. It is pretty telling that while Smeargle can learn literally every move in the game, Dark Void is still appearing at a 99% clip, even on Battle Spot. Smeargle’s frailty is even easier to exploit in 2015 than it was in 2014, and the addition of more Prankster Taunt users may offer relief to some teams, but underprepared teams will continue to fall the Dark Voiding menace.
• Smeargle is most commonly paired with Kangaskhan, as Fake Out makes it easy for Smeargle to Dark Void or Tailwind. Tailwind in that scenario best illustrates the difficulty of playing against Smeargle: Dark Void forces most teams to play very predictably. If you double Protect to stop Fake Out, Smeargle can get a free Tailwind as you do, allowing it to threaten an even easier Dark Void on turn 2 and freeing Kangaskhan up to Power-Up Punch. This goes all the way to team preview as well — even if you have a great counter to Smeargle, the Smeargle player doesn’t need to bring it. Smeargle creates more pressure and forces more predictable plays than any other Pokémon in the format because of Dark Void.
• Smeargle usually grabs Focus Sash, Follow Me, and one of Spiky Shield and King’s Shield to go with Dark Void. King’s Shield not blocking status moves and especially Taunt is a big drawback, but the double Attack lower can really mess with players who try to rush Smeargle down before Dark Void hits. Follow Me lets Smeargle continue to support in situations where it can’t use Dark Void by redirecting attacks away from its teammates. While Smeargle is much more frail than traditional users of Follow Me, it can take two hits with Focus Sash and prevent things like Sucker Punch and Will-O-Wisp from hitting more important Pokémon. The last slot is a grab bag, with Transform (usually used on its Kangaskhan partner) and Tailwind being the ones I think are actually most commonly seen.
• While Focus Sash is by far the most common item choice, Choice Scarf is occasionally seen, throwing a wrench into the plans of teams who planned on stopping Smeargle by outrunning it. The high probability of Smeargle being OHKOd with Choice Scarf makes it not an especially powerful set, but the threat of Choice Scarf compounds the problems Smeargle creates as yet another way that standard solutions to Smeargle can fail.
• Smeargle typically wants to be max Speed even with Choice Scarf, since it isn’t going to do any damage anyway. As a result, Jolly (51.8%) and Timid (30.3%) are the most common Natures. No other Nature really has a noteworthy amount of usage.

Lucario

Base stats: 70 HP / 110 -> 145 Atk / 70 -> 88 Def / 115 -> 140 SAtk / 70 SDef / 90 -> 112 Spd

Probability of Mega Evolving: About 50/50, with higher odds of holding the Mega Stone in high level play and a greater chance of not using it when it’s there.

Typing: Steel / Fighting

Key Moves: Close Combat (59.6%), Protect (56.9%), Follow Me (38.8%), Bullet Punch (34.7%), Rock Slide (23.8%), Flash Cannon (24.5%) Aura Sphere (23.1%), Vacuum Wave (15.2%), Final Gambit (14.9%), Extreme Speed (14%), Substitute (?%)

Common Items: Lucarionite (51.7%), Focus Sash (16.8%), Choice Scarf (14.8%)

• Originally one of those Pokémon that appeared on Wi-Fi tournament teams from players that didn’t really know what they were doing yet, Lucario is now actually one of the game’s better Pokémon. I don’t think any Pokémon functions as well as a secondary Mega than Lucario does, as Mega Lucario can get by on two attacks fairly easily to free up a spot for Follow Me. Jeudy Azzarelli put an exclamation point on this line of thought by getting to the finals of last year’s World Championships with a Mega Lucario team that also featured Mega Charizard Y, and I think that team had a lot to teach players about how to play in Worlds in generation 6. Mega Lucario itself still counters Kangaskhan nicely and does strong neutral damage to most targets.
• Mega Lucario can go special or physical, with Close Combat and Bullet Punch or Aura Sphere and Flash Cannon. After adding Protect, there is a lot of flexibility for the last move. Early in 2014 we often saw attacks, with some experienced players trying Substitute later in the year and the Follow Me set showing it was probably the best choice on teams using more than one Mega at Worlds.
• Normal Lucario is still playable and has some tricks of its own. One of Lucario’s other cool moves is Final Gambit, which can net some surprise KOs against opponents playing defensively to play around an expected Mega Lucario. Since supportive Lucario would have wanted to train its HP to take more hits with Follow Me anyway, Final Gambit is pretty easy to throw on. As with Follow Me Mega Lucario, the Final Gambit / Follow Me normal Lucario had a big standout performance last summer that showed its value, this time from Simon Yip at US Nationals.
• 15% of Lucario using Choice Scarf makes it something worth looking out for if seen on team preview, but Lucario is a strange Pokémon to Scarf. It doesn’t have fantastic offensive typing or a massive Attack score. What it can do is use Choice Scarf Final Gambit, which is certainly capable of getting some cheap KOs, as well as use Inner Focus to outrun Kangaskhan, block Fake Out, and then Close Combat it like Sawk can. Close Combat, Rock Slide, Final Gambit, and one of Follow Me, Bullet Punch, and Extreme Speed wind up being the set for physical Choice Scarf Lucario most of the time.
• Lucario is most frequently Jolly because of some other Pokémon near its Speed stats before and after Mega Evolution, including Kangaskhan, Thundurus, Terrakion, and other Lucario. Adamant is sometimes used for more power and is always used with Choice Scarf. Timid (15.9%), Naive (6.9%), and Modest (4.4%) occasionally appear for specially-based Lucario.

Weavile

Base stats: 70 HP / 120 Atk / 65 Def / 45 SAtk / 85 SDef / 125 Spd

Typing: Dark / Ice

Key Moves: Fake Out (95.3%), Knock Off (85.8%), Icicle Crash (57.1%), Low Kick (54.2%), Ice Shard (31.1%), Ice Punch (24%), Protect (13.5%), Beat Up (12.1%)

Common Items: Focus Sash (69.1%), Life Orb (18.3%)

• Like Lucario, Weavile is a Pokémon that would have gone under the category “badstuffs” for most experienced players during generation 5. Unlike Lucario, it didn’t improve that much with generation 6. However, due to Dark-type being better STAB than it used to be, Ice-type staying amazing, and Knock Off being vastly buffed, Weavile now shows up so frequently on Battle Spot that I had to include it on this list.
• Weavile’s main tricks are Fake Out and being the fastest user of STAB Knock Off in the format. With 120 Attack, its Knock Off actually does a lot of damage. If it can get a Fake Out and a couple of Knock Offs off with the help of a partner and its Focus Sash before it faints, it has probably traded well enough that it was worth using. Icicle Crash lets it smear the format’s many Ice-weak Pokémon, Low Kick can do the same for Kangaskhan (though even with Life Orb it can’t OHKO), Ice Shard gives it an excellent priority move if its Speed isn’t going to be enough to let it move before it faints, and Beat Up lets it turn Terrakion into a monster.
• Focus Sash is almost always used on Weavile to allow it to take two hits, ensuring that it will at least survive until towards the end of turn 2 in most scenarios. Knock Off or Icicle Crash + an attack from its partner creates a lot of pressure against most Pokémon in the format, so unlike in 2013, Weavile is actually plenty capable of staying on the field longer than that.
• A Pokémon famed for its Speed, Weavile is predominantly Jolly (93.7%) by one of the biggest margins on this list. Adamant only manages 5.6%.

About the Author

Scott started playing VGC in 2011. He finished 17th at US Nationals, then lost in the final round of 2011 Worlds LCQ. He finished 10th in the 2012 World Championships and qualified for Worlds again in 2013 after going into US Nationals second in CP. Instead of playing, he commentated at US Nationals and the World Championships in 2013 and 2014. Follow him on Twitter @NBNostrom!

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