April24 is by far one of the most innovated months out there. On the surface you'd assume it is a stall meta, but a better characterization of April24 could only describe it as a Bulky filled with a diverse amount of viable play styles in Balance, Offense, and Semi Stall. By far the standout Pokemon of April24 is Alomomola with it supporting pretty much everything with Wish Support. People would notoriously level down Alomomola from reasonable levels to 99 to 98, and some would even reach ridiculous levels like 96 just to win the Flip Turn speed tie. April24 is liked for it's exceptionally long games and the depth in each one from positioning breakers, and trading. Breakers that can effectively pressure Alomomola like Cobalion & Gengar are important to have on your team to break past the opposing defensive core.

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April was a highly divisive meta due to its long-paced battles and primarily consisting of balance teams, however it also gained something of a cult following unlike most other metas due to its uniqueness.

April was infamously dominated by Alomomola, the fish which kept Wishing and Flip Turning to heal its teammates repeatedly. Thanks to its great physical bulk, it is often credited with preventing most of the physical attackers such as Lokix, Alolan Dugtrio and Stoutland from making much progress and healing in their face. It also made a great partner with its specially defensive Regenerating partner John Slowking who made an incredibly obnoxious core to break through. However, it notably was highly weak to many special attackers such as Gengar, Manectric, Slowking and even Charizard who could break it. Furthermore, some physical attackers could break it such as Swords Dance Lokix, Coballion and Decidueye, yet it was still undoubtedly a premier wall in April.

Its partner in crime Slowking was also a top mon who often ran a choice specs set to annihilate everything with only Tinkaton and opposing Slowking to withstand it. It also ran an obnoxious pivot set which was, similarly to Alomomola, very difficult to break past and was often the primary reason for Iron Defence Coballion not taking a game.

Coballion was another top mon who was often the main win condition (and reason for April games ever ending) thanks to its devastating Swords Dance and Iron Defence sets that could take advantage of passive mons such as Alomomola, Tinkaton, Altaria or mons it walled like Lokix and Decidueye. Once it came out in the late game it became increasingly difficult to stop getting out of control, however Gengar provided a solid answer to it notably.

Gengar was a very versatile mon with some choosing to run offensive sets with life orb or Choice Specs, and others running disruptive sets with focus sash alongside encore which proved an annoyance to many defensive and set up mons.

Forming the defensive backbone of the tier was the primary special defence check, Tinkaton, who was one of the only solid answers to Gengar and was able to make great process of it with either setting rocks or knocking the boots of the opposing team, enabling its teammates to actually begin to break through the annoying waters. Similarly, Hippowdon was a great physically defensive rock setter who provided a great answer to Lokix and was able to spam poison a large amount of mons freely.

Lokix itself was unique in that despite it being a frail physical attacker, it could threaten both Alomomola & Slowking with a Swords Dance set with Life Orb, Silver Powder, or Heavy-Duty-Boots, and with Sucker Punch priority it could threaten Gengar that tried to revenge kill it, however it notably needed to have Coballion gone for it to make much progress.

Decidueye and Altaria were the primary hazard removal options, with Decidueye having an incredibly deadly offensive typing in the water infested meta (which was also notably lacking ghost resists), and Altaria being the most consistent Gengar and Charizard answer thanks to its reliable recovery.

Many other mons also had an important role such as Drampa who was a deadly Calm Mind sweeper, Tentacruel for having a solid defensive typing while Spinning hazards away, Coalossal for answering Lokix with flame body and removing hazards with Rapid Spin, or for cleaning up late games with Weakness Policy + Steam Engine, Charizard as an alternative offensive Defogger, and Rabsca. Though Rabsca didn’t see much exploration during April24’s run, it did see use and even win a game in the finals of that month, being used as a Crit-Me-Not sweeper with Iron Defense and Calm mind alongside Stored Power. If given more exploration, Rabsca may have been given more time to shine in the meta.

Written by Belle

Grammer Checked by Qbking

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/challenge gen9nationaldex35pokes @@@ -All Pokemon, +lokix, +sandslash-alola, +altaria, +gengar, +drampa, +dugtrio-alola, +stoutland, +golisopod, +abomasnow, +frosmoth, +fezandipiti, +golduck, +vespiquen, +decidueye, +charizard, +hippowdon, +rabsca, +coalossal, +houndstone, +leafeon, +glaceon, +slowking, +manectric, +alomomola, +accelgor, +mismagius, +dachsbun, +tentacruel, +sandslash, +tinkaton, +roserade, +sableye, +palossand, +cobalion, +garbodor

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