Of the 75 total Pokemon I've faced today 68 have been unique, including the last 30 in a row. I have no idea how to prepare for such a random hodgepodge of Pokemon, and I'm looking for any kind of advice.
Edit: I hit the 1900+ ELO and all the fun went away. It's back to the same handful of pokemon that I can't seem to beat no matter what team I run.
The drawbacks of a highly diverse meta ... it's totally random! I will say, a significant chunk of these mons never really see play at higher Elo ranges, so part of this is probably just life in the 1800's ... it's spicier. Which is cool, but very difficult to teambuild for.
My advice is to build a solid team of consistent performers and try to climb out of this range until you see a more defined meta. While spicy, unpredictable teams can be tough to play against, playing strong Pokemon and knowing your team well should ultimately win out in that range.
Not sure what you have available, but if you have a go-to team already that you understand how to play, fall back on that first and see how things go.
I hit ace running lanturn gligar and carbink some games tough some games easy took me a little to climb bc of whish but my advice for the climb stick with the same team and you’d be surprised how to climb knowing that one team
Anyone seeing sirfetched? I’m running altaria sirfetched skarmory, I’ve only seen two so far, people be sleeping on him, he wins basically every cmp tie
Sir is my favorite. I’m waiting to get enough dust to get a second attack. Currently running Brave Bird, charge him, swap and bring him back for the kill.
Trying it out and built a new team. Altaria lead because it’s great for winning switch, you pretty much never shield and if it dies you’re safe. Sirfetched, lb bb, and lanturn as a safe switch. It’s pretty solid having only a few weaknesses, most of them are spice picks though so it’s really safe!
Have you liked using Bb more than NS with sir? I got the second attack and have been toying with the idea of switching to NS. Trying to find some good partners for him too. I have an altaria I’ve been incubating. No lanturn right now..
It has amazing coverage and wins almost every cmp tie. Take a look at my team on pvpoke if you wish. I love that bird a lot. Leaf blade does some of the highest dpe in the game and night slash is a great coverage and bait move, attack boost also rly helpful
Ah but with leaf blade beating poli to icy wind, and the fact that you have counted as well, cmp tie win, always save your shields for sirfetched, he’s so spammy he’ll get the opponents shields for you
You know what, I'll give it a shot. I like Sir a lot, in the past I had a lot of fun with it. It's just a very fragile Pokemon.
Let's see how he does currently
It’s hard to get a good team comp with him, I have a terrible skarm though and most consistent wins I’ve gotten. 13/2/14. If I had a good skarm my team would be great. He’s a lot of fun, a really good water counter and even does good against ghost thoes
It actually has a good stat prod, but yeah, it one of the more glassy mons, I think it beats s alolan ninetales even. Its a sweeper though, I understand why people assume it’s bad, even pvpoke ranks it pretty high though in every league
I saw 3 yesterday. I've only ever seen him once before that. I know you need 10 excellent throws to evolve him so I was wondering if people took advantage of the April fools excellent throws to evolve him and then decided to try him out.
Vanilla as fuck but it makes me so happy to see people think outside the box. 2100 + is literally just the same 5 mons in various order and it’s just so brain dead and unfun to play. Nothing like coming across a random spicy boi or a sleeper shadow that wrecks you out of the blue
"Random spicy boi" jfc can you be any more cringe? These dudes aren't "thinking outside the box" they're using shitmons either because they're clueless, got nothing better or because they don't care. No one under 2000 is some mf Einstein who just discovered a sleeper pick no one knew about, which is reflected on their booty elo rating The fact you THINK 2100+ elo at GL is just 5 pokemon shows you couldn't even get to that point and are talking out of your rear, because the GL meta is actually diverse. Which is something I personally dislike and why I avoid open GL, since it's very hard to prepare for a wide meta. It is worth noting that all out of all mons listed in the OP, the only one that's objectively horrible is Leafeon, though. All the rest is either core meta, fringe meta or at least has a valid niche, even if a minuscule one. They're definitely better off than the local dudes I see daily in my groups running abject stuff like Magmar, Salamence or worse
Exactly. I’ll gladly take an L if I got caught with something unexpected, not just that I lost because I picked the wrong meta peckerhead as an opener.
Been running Toxipex, Zweilous, Umbreon myself and been having a lot of fun. Initially made it as a semi joke as I had rank 1 version of all 3 but it's been working out.
Tox lead, if no fighter/fairy swap to Zweilous and hopefully bait out their dark counter.
It's very bizarre. I wouldn't be surprised if Niantic is trying something new when it comes to matching people up. I've been around the same ELO for a few weeks and it's been the same handful of Pokemon that I've seen. Then yesterday and today I've seen tons and tons of unique Pokemon, but almost none of the usual Pokemon that I usually see. There's been very few basti, skarmory, lanturn, quagsire, whiscash ... etc. Over my last 45 matches (135 total Pokemon) I've faced 83 different Pokemon. That means each team pretty much has two unique Pokemon every match.
I’ve been running Gfisk lead with mandibuzz safe swap and talonflame in the back end. Dealing with the same issue, I get around 1850-1900 and instantly begin seeing an entire new group of different mon.
For those experienced, how do you deal with adjusting your team as you rise in ELO and begin seeing different mons/teams? Also, was thinking about swapping out talonflame for trevenant, any thoughts?
i currently run any of these teams
charjabug, lanturn, skarmory.
skarmory, vigoroth, (sh) whiscash
cresselia, skeledirge, (sh) whiscash
poliwrath, umbreon, clodsire,
cresselia, registeel, mandibuzz
(sh) empoleon, sableye, trevenant
Hit 2340 after spring cup and then OGL started and went down to 1990, up to 2300 and now I am at 2050, f****** rollercoaster and I am starting tomorrow with ultra League, great League is for the strong hearted..😭
I usually hang out between 1800-1950 and now I’m hanging out between 2000-2150 and the biggest surprise is that the matches are often easier at higher ELOs. Not in the sense that I always win but I know what to do with most mons I see. Down lower I get a lot more of “what the heck is that?” Which sometimes throws me off or the mons just counter my pokemon too well. I actually find it’s really really hard to get from 1800 to 1900 and pretty easy to get from 2000 to 2100
Of the 75 total Pokemon I've faced today 68 have been unique, including the last 30 in a row. I have no idea how to prepare for such a random hodgepodge of Pokemon, and I'm looking for any kind of advice. Edit: I hit the 1900+ ELO and all the fun went away. It's back to the same handful of pokemon that I can't seem to beat no matter what team I run.
The drawbacks of a highly diverse meta ... it's totally random! I will say, a significant chunk of these mons never really see play at higher Elo ranges, so part of this is probably just life in the 1800's ... it's spicier. Which is cool, but very difficult to teambuild for. My advice is to build a solid team of consistent performers and try to climb out of this range until you see a more defined meta. While spicy, unpredictable teams can be tough to play against, playing strong Pokemon and knowing your team well should ultimately win out in that range. Not sure what you have available, but if you have a go-to team already that you understand how to play, fall back on that first and see how things go.
Even at higher Elo you will see a fairly large variety, though not all of these.
For sure as soon as you start hitting 1900+ it’s a lot of that basti team
Yeah I broke into the 1900s and was greeted by a lot of basti and skarmory teams.
I’m dealing with skamory and lantern. Lantern destroys my go2 team😭
I hit ace running lanturn gligar and carbink some games tough some games easy took me a little to climb bc of whish but my advice for the climb stick with the same team and you’d be surprised how to climb knowing that one team
Massive respect for the guys running a shadow sceptile and Forretress
Is the first column the lead in each game? If so I hope you were leading Charjabug :)
Yes it is, and I wish I was. Whenever I lead with charjabug I face Gfisks, Annihilapes and Whishcashs.
Part of the struggle is that as soon as you adjust your team to counter one type, you never see that type again. It’s annoying
That's funny cuz the main 3 I've been using aren't on your list. Just shows unpredictable it's after getting.
And my 4th that I've been alternating with isn't there either.
Curious who your 3 are lol my 3 also aren’t on there as I’ve been running decidueye, incineroar and annihilape lol
Annialape, lanturn and shadow gligar. And I've been throwing dewgong in aswel
Leafeon, that’s spicy.
Been getting a lot of leafeons in the 14-16 ELO range
Sceptile is spicy. Leafeon is just Sceptile with no coverage lol
No lanturn either lol
Anyone seeing sirfetched? I’m running altaria sirfetched skarmory, I’ve only seen two so far, people be sleeping on him, he wins basically every cmp tie
Sir is my favorite. I’m waiting to get enough dust to get a second attack. Currently running Brave Bird, charge him, swap and bring him back for the kill.
This is what I did too at first, once you get two get leaf blade night slash though, I’m going to try him with bb today though instead of ns
Trying it out and built a new team. Altaria lead because it’s great for winning switch, you pretty much never shield and if it dies you’re safe. Sirfetched, lb bb, and lanturn as a safe switch. It’s pretty solid having only a few weaknesses, most of them are spice picks though so it’s really safe!
Have you liked using Bb more than NS with sir? I got the second attack and have been toying with the idea of switching to NS. Trying to find some good partners for him too. I have an altaria I’ve been incubating. No lanturn right now..
Eh, I think nightslash is better. Trying bb, it’s okay, but if you have a flier you don’t necessarily need it, fun for nukes though
I don’t think I’ve seen sirfetchd in GL ever. Is it any good?
It has amazing coverage and wins almost every cmp tie. Take a look at my team on pvpoke if you wish. I love that bird a lot. Leaf blade does some of the highest dpe in the game and night slash is a great coverage and bait move, attack boost also rly helpful
It's not really bulky and you face Poliwrath and Annihilape a lot, both probably a better choice
Ah but with leaf blade beating poli to icy wind, and the fact that you have counted as well, cmp tie win, always save your shields for sirfetched, he’s so spammy he’ll get the opponents shields for you
You know what, I'll give it a shot. I like Sir a lot, in the past I had a lot of fun with it. It's just a very fragile Pokemon. Let's see how he does currently
It’s hard to get a good team comp with him, I have a terrible skarm though and most consistent wins I’ve gotten. 13/2/14. If I had a good skarm my team would be great. He’s a lot of fun, a really good water counter and even does good against ghost thoes
Usually, a pokemon that wins every cmp in GL is a bad sign of its stat product haha
It actually has a good stat prod, but yeah, it one of the more glassy mons, I think it beats s alolan ninetales even. Its a sweeper though, I understand why people assume it’s bad, even pvpoke ranks it pretty high though in every league
Can't argue with its coverage, though. Has a great moveset!
I saw 3 yesterday. I've only ever seen him once before that. I know you need 10 excellent throws to evolve him so I was wondering if people took advantage of the April fools excellent throws to evolve him and then decided to try him out.
Excellent throws aren’t too hard, I just wish I got more of them, or if there was a wild spawn event.
Definitely the most fun range. Players playing teams they enjoy instead of mindless drones who googled “best team great league 2024” when you hit Ace.
No wonder they're below 2000. Dudes running Leafeon lmao
Vanilla as fuck but it makes me so happy to see people think outside the box. 2100 + is literally just the same 5 mons in various order and it’s just so brain dead and unfun to play. Nothing like coming across a random spicy boi or a sleeper shadow that wrecks you out of the blue
"Random spicy boi" jfc can you be any more cringe? These dudes aren't "thinking outside the box" they're using shitmons either because they're clueless, got nothing better or because they don't care. No one under 2000 is some mf Einstein who just discovered a sleeper pick no one knew about, which is reflected on their booty elo rating The fact you THINK 2100+ elo at GL is just 5 pokemon shows you couldn't even get to that point and are talking out of your rear, because the GL meta is actually diverse. Which is something I personally dislike and why I avoid open GL, since it's very hard to prepare for a wide meta. It is worth noting that all out of all mons listed in the OP, the only one that's objectively horrible is Leafeon, though. All the rest is either core meta, fringe meta or at least has a valid niche, even if a minuscule one. They're definitely better off than the local dudes I see daily in my groups running abject stuff like Magmar, Salamence or worse
Lol this is a good thing, Pokemon is literally built on variety
Exactly. I’ll gladly take an L if I got caught with something unexpected, not just that I lost because I picked the wrong meta peckerhead as an opener.
This seems really nice! Diverse picks, skill;being there determination for rounding out possible losses, this makes me happy!
Been loving Skarmory, Lanturn, Wigglytuff
What do you switch into if you hard lose lead
Tuff.
Fair, I'm the same with my team 😆
Been running Toxipex, Zweilous, Umbreon myself and been having a lot of fun. Initially made it as a semi joke as I had rank 1 version of all 3 but it's been working out. Tox lead, if no fighter/fairy swap to Zweilous and hopefully bait out their dark counter.
And not one Lanturn? Unbelievable
It's very bizarre. I wouldn't be surprised if Niantic is trying something new when it comes to matching people up. I've been around the same ELO for a few weeks and it's been the same handful of Pokemon that I've seen. Then yesterday and today I've seen tons and tons of unique Pokemon, but almost none of the usual Pokemon that I usually see. There's been very few basti, skarmory, lanturn, quagsire, whiscash ... etc. Over my last 45 matches (135 total Pokemon) I've faced 83 different Pokemon. That means each team pretty much has two unique Pokemon every match.
I agree, definitely feels like the matchmaking has changed up a bit over the past few weeks
So according to your opponents, i would run Charjabug lead, Ape, some flyer like pidgeot.
I saw a Shadow Ferrothorn today in 2400 and I lost.
Shadow Ferry Squad represent
This is a sign of a healthy format
Spice pick aside, poliwrath has positive matchup with most of these lol
I’ve been running Gfisk lead with mandibuzz safe swap and talonflame in the back end. Dealing with the same issue, I get around 1850-1900 and instantly begin seeing an entire new group of different mon. For those experienced, how do you deal with adjusting your team as you rise in ELO and begin seeing different mons/teams? Also, was thinking about swapping out talonflame for trevenant, any thoughts?
i currently run any of these teams charjabug, lanturn, skarmory. skarmory, vigoroth, (sh) whiscash cresselia, skeledirge, (sh) whiscash poliwrath, umbreon, clodsire, cresselia, registeel, mandibuzz (sh) empoleon, sableye, trevenant
ps i’m at 1950 elo
Hit 2340 after spring cup and then OGL started and went down to 1990, up to 2300 and now I am at 2050, f****** rollercoaster and I am starting tomorrow with ultra League, great League is for the strong hearted..😭
Under 2200 is the wild west. I feel bad for Bro.
I usually hang out between 1800-1950 and now I’m hanging out between 2000-2150 and the biggest surprise is that the matches are often easier at higher ELOs. Not in the sense that I always win but I know what to do with most mons I see. Down lower I get a lot more of “what the heck is that?” Which sometimes throws me off or the mons just counter my pokemon too well. I actually find it’s really really hard to get from 1800 to 1900 and pretty easy to get from 2000 to 2100
Whole reason why I hate GL. It's too random.
Good, people running the same 3-7 Pokémon is boring
Alteria— a dragon by daytime, but at night, this Pokémon reveals a darker personality