OU: Strategy Fairy-Type Influence in OU

Scattered mind

Scattered mind

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Hey everyone, I want to talk about the Fairy type in OU. This is the biggest change in the game after Mega evolution. Their first obvious impact on the metagame was the downfall of the Dragon types mainly Hydreigon and Haxorus. Less noticeable is how they made Fighting types less common (Might be the reason behind the major fall of Mega Gallade?). Dark types on the other hand got even better in the metagame despite the introducing of the Fairy type mainly thanks to the boost of Knock Off and the nerf of Steel types not being resisted anymore by Dark types.
Also, they made steel types much better-Mainly Heatran Scizor and even Bisharp.

Now here is an interesting thing: check out the list of the most viable Fairy types in OU right now:

Mega Altaria
Clefable
Azumarill
Klefki
Mega Gardevoir
Mega Diancie
Togekiss
Sylveon

And the main Fairy type moves:

Moonblast
Play Rough
Pixilated Hyper Voice/ Return

As you can see, That is not a very long list. With only 8 viable Fairy types which 3 of them takes up the Mega slot and only 2 physical attackers, it is hard to to think how much this type effects the metagame. In addition, many Pokemon that has gained from the introduce of the Fairy types like Heatran Gengar Scizor and Excadrill were already good last gen. Pokemon that suppose to be hindered by their type advantage like Keldeo Latias and Mega Loppuny still manages to prevail in OU.
And if you think about it, The reason for the fall of Hydreigon and Haxorus might be explained in a completely different way which is the fact that you better use Lati@s for Defog or Garchomp because it simply faster.
Another big issue is the possible Fairy moves. Not much but thats ok, I'm talking more about how non-Fairy types barely has that type coverage as an option. We don't even have Hidden Power Fairy so if you want a Fairy move on your team for coverage you are forced a lot of times to save a spot for a Fairy Pokemon which takes place instead of many other better options. Especially when you are looking for a physically offensive Pokemon- You have to pick either Azumarill or Mega Altaria and if you already have a Mega and a Water type, you are in a problem.
 
"Only" 8 viable Fairies isn't very accurate. The OU list has between 60 and 70 mons. Fairy is actually among the types with the highest representation there. Sure, the problem with Fairy moves being almost exclusively on Fairy types exists, but it's not like a Fairy harms your team. Fairies are good both offensively and defensively, typewise at least.

Defensively, they are completely immune to Dragon and they also resist Fighting, formerly two of the most (if not the two most) powerful offensive types in OU, and have a resistance to Dark, which has become very common now that everyone and their mother carries Knock Off. And I say Knock Off because Dark types didn't exactly rise in usage, despite the Steel nerf, because of Fairy dominance. Bisharp went from UU to OU, but did so because of Defog and the fact that it could beat the majority of its users; plus, it's part Steel so it can deal with Fairies easily. Tyranitar is probably the best mixed tank in OU and got a Mega, so that saved it from becoming victim to Fairies. Mega Gyarados is just absurdly powerful and versatile, while Mega Sableye is the face of stall. That makes for a pretty short list of five mons (I'll count the Tyranitar forms separately, since both are viable, but not Sableye cos it wouldn't have been OU if not for its Mega), three less than the Fairies (but with the same amount that take up the Mega slot) and all of them have a ton of redeeming qualities that allow them to neglect their Fairy weakness. UU on the other hand has Pokemon like Hydreigon, Mandibuzz Umbreon, Honchkrow and Mega Absol and only has three Fairies (Whimsicott, Slurpuff and Florges), two of which are defensively oriented. The Dark types have a much easier time there, and Pokemon with good qualities (Hydreigon is a very strong attacker, Mandibuzz is among the few Defog users that can beat Bisharp, Umbreon has a very good support movepool) reside there cos they can't make the cut into OU, where Fairies are much more prominent.

Fairies are pretty strong offensively as well, beating the aforementioned common types (Dragon and Fighting) as well as Dark and being walled by Fire, Steel and Poison. And while Steel is also everywhere, Fire is uncommon as a type in OU (4 mons, two of which are the MegaZards, with X being part Dragon, one being Heatran which is also Steel and the other Talonflame which is rarely a good switch into a Fairy move since it will still hurt it) and only walls Fairy without being super effective against it and Poison is practically non-existent.

In fact, Fairy is so good as a type that it alone became the reason for a mon's rise to OU. Clefable is the most notable example. It was RU in BW, and suddenly skyrocketed in XY and ORAS OU, where it currently resides between the A+ and S tiers of viability, putting it into the top 5 or 10 mons in OU. Sylveon is another example of this. Look at its stats. It's basically similar to Vaporeon there. Similar physical bulk, the same SpA attack stat, except their HP and SpD stats are switched, giving Sylveon a slightly higher special bulk and a slightly lower physical. Yet Sylveon climbed in OU while Vaporeon dropped to UU. Sure, the rain nerf is relevant to Vaporeon's drop, but its other ability Water Absorb is still good and its support movepool remains the same. But Sylveon's rise? It's at least partly due to its Fairy typing.

There is no shortage of Fairies in OU, and rarely any problems in including one in your team (except, of course, that I will laugh at you). The impact they have made is obvious and noticeable. Fairy is a great type, and if you think about it, the fact that its offensive coverage is allowed almost exclusively to those who are part Fairy makes these mons even more coveted and viable. It made bad mons good, it made good mons better. And it's currently everywhere. Their extremely negative influence may not have completely reshaped the metagame, but it's shifted its balance in many ways.
 
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Yes you are right, however, I still think that a list of 8 viable Fairy Pokemon with 3 Mega and only 2 physically Pokemon is really short. Mainly because the fact that the Fairy moves are almost exclusive to Fairy types.
Lets take the Dark type you have mentioned: We have Hydreigon, Bisharp, Mandibuzz, Mega Gyarados, Tyranitar, Mega Tyranitar, Crawdaunt, Weavile and Mega Sablye. But unlike Fairy types, If you need Dark coverage/ Knock Off/ Pursuit/Foul Play, you also have: Heatran, Scizor, Landorus, Thundurus, Tornadus-T, Gliscor, Amoongus and more.
Take another type that seems to be even less common than Fairies: Electric. What do we have? Mega Manectric, Rotom-W, Raikou, Magnezone, Thundurus and Zapdos. Thats 6 unless you count Mega Ampharos too. Still, If you need Electric type coverage you also have: Mega Charizard, Latios, Keldeo, Kyurem-B, Dragonite and more.
You need a Fairy coverage? Like Moonblast or Play Rough? You have only 8 viable options- all Fairies. Thats it.
This makes Fairy move to be always predictable. Because well, what Fairy Pokemon won't use a Fairy move? ( ex Klefki ).

I'm not saying that the Fairy Pokemon didn't affect the metagame. That would make me blind to the reality (specially since 2 of the S ranked Pokemon atm are fairies). I'm talking about the Fairy type itself that could do a lot more ( damage or good things it depends ) to the metagame. Imagine things like Mega Manectric with Moonblast or Mega Lopunny with Play Rough.

Hidden Power Fairy is another thing.. I wonder how this alone could affect the metagame ( if at all)?
 
The spread of Fairy moves being so limited relieves me to be honest. If it got an even larger spread and stuff like Moonblast started to appear on stuff other than Fairies there's a good chance that especially Fighting types will go extinct. Then again, while Fairy is a pretty strong type, as coverage it's not that great. HP Fairy would probably stay unused if it existed.
 
scattered mind said:
Imagine things like Mega Manectric with Moonblast or Mega Lopunny with Play Rough.
Click to expand...

I don't think this is that good of an example. Ice-type coverage is more important for those two to nail Gliscor, Landorus(-T), and Venusaur in Lopunny's case while still hitting Dragon-types. Lopunny can maybe sacrifice a move, but certainly not Manectric.

Fairy-type's representation is actually quite good in OU, as Chaos Jackal pointed out. Certainly better than Poison, which only has two (four if you count in BL, five if you throw in Dragalge).

Side note almost related: My personal opinion is that type coverage availability is great right now in terms of what's for you to select. I've never once built a team with thinking that there should be some sort of perfect type representation; I just go out and build what I think has synergy. Often I have doubled on a weakness to my team or just forgone hitting a specific type simply because the other intangibles still carried me to the goal. Hell, I used to run DragMag till the end of gen 5 with nothing but one Pokemon not being a drag or a mag. In competitive Pokemon and other games, you really can't worry about trivial things like design and logic dictating how you compete. That's for the casual fan to weigh on. All that matters in competing is winning and the resources that can effectively take you to that goal.

(edit: forgot lopunny's return does more to venusaur hehe)
 
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Yeah Mega Manectric is not a very good example, the only good thing about it would be pretty much this:

252 SpA Mega Manectric Hidden Power Ice vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Latios: 124-148 (41.4 - 49.4%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252 SpA Mega Manectric Moonblast vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Latios: 196-232 (65.5 - 77.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

And even then it won't be that good as Latios OHKO it with Draco.

But in terms of coverage you mean that Fairy outside of being on Fairy type Pokemon would not prevail? ( I am not talking about design and logic here btw this is completely coming from competitive thinking of how Fairy type moves could affect the OU metagame right now if they were available to other Pokemon like Focus Blast Knock Off and U-Turn ) .
 
Yeah, that's what both him and me meant. Fairy as coverage isn't that good, similar to how Dragon as coverage wasn't that good. The selling point of Fairy offense, as with Dragon offense, isn't the number of super effective hits it gets, but the number of unresisted. When looking for coverage though, you want to hit certain types. But why use Fairy coverage when you can use Ice, for example?
 
Chaos Jackal said:
Yeah, that's what both him and me meant. Fairy as coverage isn't that good, similar to how Dragon as coverage wasn't that good. The selling point of Fairy offense, as with Dragon offense, isn't the number of super effective hits it gets, but the number of unresisted. When looking for coverage though, you want to hit certain types. But why use Fairy coverage when you can use Ice, for example?
Click to expand...

Exactly.

Thought it would be important to note that what is happening to Fairy-type is essentially the opposite of what's happening to Ice-type; great type coverage for attacking, but piss poor for actually taking attacks. Ice moves are thus used by Pokemon that aren't even Ice for the available coverage. Fairy-type moves, even if they were available to more Pokemon, would not see this occur unless it needs that coverage and has no other option. Fairy on the other hand is great defensively because of its immunities, resistances, uncommon weaknesses, and neutrality to Stealth Rock. Ice has no such advantage defensively and instead finds itself to three very common attacking types.
 
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Yeah I'v done some calcs and Fairy as coverage isn't good. I like the interesting comparison you did with the Ice type :)
I think that in order for Fairy to be good on other Pokemon, new moves with utility should be made. Like Knock Off has the ability to remove items and U-turn makes you to gain momentum.
 
Chaos Jackal said:
Yeah, that's what both him and me meant. Fairy as coverage isn't that good, similar to how Dragon as coverage wasn't that good. The selling point of Fairy offense, as with Dragon offense, isn't the number of super effective hits it gets, but the number of unresisted. When looking for coverage though, you want to hit certain types. But why use Fairy coverage when you can use Ice, for example?
Click to expand...

Although Dragon type will never be a good coverage move because it only hits super effectively other Dragons while Fairy hits super effectively 3 different types making it potentially a great coverage for the future if new and old Pokemon with the type combination of Dragon/Fighting/Dark will get viable in OU.
 
I know some would disagree but I feel the Fairy type was pushed way too hard. Sure I know its new and they want it to do well but I feel the type is overpowered. Reason feel this way is because their only weaknesses are not very common. I feel if Fairy were also weak to Fire type moves, it would be less powerful since fire is a pretty common attack type. This would help lots for VGC as well where fairies pretty much go unchallenged.
 
Steel type is a very common type. Mega Metagross Scizor Bisharp Excadrill Heatran and Ferrothorn are all over the place.
Poison is lacking in OU but there are Gengar and Mega Venusaur..
However , Fairy type is indeed one of the best defensive types in the game. Yet I would not consider them overpowered.
 
scattered mind said:
Steel type is a very common type. Mega Metagross Scizor Bisharp Excadrill Heatran and Ferrothorn are all over the place.
Poison is lacking in OU but there are Gengar and Mega Venusaur..
However , Fairy type is indeed one of the best defensive types in the game. Yet I would not consider them overpowered.
Click to expand...

We need to realize the game was balanced (if you can call it that) for VGC, not singles. Fairy pokemon crate over-centralization just to deal with the type because of how powerful they are. There aren't any steel types on my team and I feel I shouldn't have to build a very specific team to deal with the type or give up my mega slot.

In VGC, not sure if you play it but seeing a Sylveon on a team is almost an auto loss if its backed by fake out support. Now I can deal with the type but steel isn't as common as you think it may be. I just think the type needs a nerf and that should be done by giving them a weakness to fire as well.

You may know something I don't however.
 
crystal_pidgeot said:
We need to realize the game was balanced (if you can call it that) for VGC, not singles. Fairy pokemon crate over-centralization just to deal with the type because of how powerful they are. There aren't any steel types on my team and I feel I shouldn't have to build a very specific team to deal with the type or give up my mega slot.

In VGC, not sure if you play it but seeing a Sylveon on a team is almost an auto loss if its backed by fake out support. Now I can deal with the type but steel isn't as common as you think it may be. I just think the type needs a nerf and that should be done by giving them a weakness to fire as well.

You may know something I don't however.
Click to expand...

This thread is about OU only. Not VGC. :) In OU , Steel types are everywhere and they are not everywhere because of fairies, They are everywhere because they are very good.
Anyway, consider any thread in the OU competitive play forum to be only about the OU metagame and not the VGC.
 
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