Out of the Pokémon listed, Grimmsnarl is the one I think I’ve seen most used in singles. It’s definitely a bit uncommon but you’ll occasionally see people go for double screens and parting shot.
Yeah as other people said, Grimmsnarl is still relevant in higher tiers because of prankster + dual screens + parting shot being an incredible lead in hyper offense teams. It definitely dropped since last gen but it's still a decent pokemon.
You're mostly right about speed control in Smogon, however Tailwind, Trick Room, and Sticky Web do see occasional use in the format, but usually this is relegated to the lower tiers.
Speed control in singles can be done teamwise too, but using para spam and sticky web Both aren't overtly common , but they are well used TR is niche tho, while tailwind is almost nonexistent
The wording seemed a bit unclear to me, so to clarify, Armor Tail only stops foes from using priority moves against your team. Your side can still use priority as much as they want
I wouldn't call Dragon Dance and Flame Charge speed control. I would use priority and Booster Energy speed as examples instead. Let's say you're facing a +2 SpA Darkrai, but it's at 25% HP. Speed control can finish it off. Sticky Web, Trick Room, and Tailwind can also be speed control, but having to maintain them in single battles that generally last more turns makes them less reliable.
love the vid ❤ fake out isn’t really useless in singles. just like jn doubles, it breaks sashes and sturdy, so very useful if you’re powerful/set up, and outspeed. not always applicable, but still.
@@JackLeighton-uh6slmega medicham could also use it because it actually did some meaningful damage (and helped patch the speed issue in Gen 6 before they changed the mega speech mechanics)
Those abilities aren’t common enough to justify wasting 25% of your moveset. The only time fake out has seen legitimate usage in singles was to activated your mega stone. So how megas worked in Gen 6 was as soon as you activated your stone you’d receive all the changes such as a new typing, ability, or stat buffs, except for speed. For the first turn you’d retain your original speed stat, so you could use fake out on the turn you activated your mega to get around this weird quirk. An example of this was mega Lopunny
I do think most of these takes make sense. Maybe for a video with Pokemon good in singles and doubles, you could mention the move set differences too. Rillaboom is a good example, playing differently in singles than doubles, but still is really good in both
Indeedee is occasionally used as the Psychic Terrain setter on Psyspam teams. More common before Hisuian Samurott came around, but blocking priority was a big deal as you’d have multiple setup Pokémon with a focus sash and then used boosted Stored Power and Expanding Force. Grimmsnarl was sometimes used also before Alolatales, for the same reasons it’s used in VGC.
The better Pokémon in this list in singles would be Incineroar and Grummsnarl Now, not as dominant as in VGC, Incineroar still is a decent Fire type in places like NU. It can be a defensive pivot with Intimidate Parting Shot, and STAB Knock Off is always great, or it can also become a sweeper itself with Swords Dance and Trailblaze. It's not stellar, but has some degree of value. And Grimmsnarl is probably the best screen setter besides Alolan Ninetales, so it DEFINITELY sees legitimate niche uses in OU from time to time, as well as in the lower tiers where it's allowed.
Grimmsnarl has been covered plenty, so I'll be picky and say that Intimidate and Prankster are far from useless in singles, even if they're not as good as they are in doubles. Prankster is particularly valuable in the lead metagame, letting you get off entry hazards or screens before you can be stopped, or stopping your opponent yourself with taunt. And while Intimidate is hitting half as many pokemon and doesnt help a teammate, but it does give your pokemon bulk and can give you tempo if used right, as your opponent's attacker has to either muscle through the stat drop or switch out
Don't judge a book by it's cover man. Incineroar may be NU but in Gen 7 he was the undisputed king of the tier. Gen 8 he rose to RU and while he's not the king he's still a top 5 mon in Gen 9 NU. Grimsnarl also while NU does see usage in the higher tiers even Ubers because he is a reliable screen setter so yeah both of these are good in singles just not in a crazy high power level.
Unlike Trick Room or Tailwind, Reflect and Light Screen (or just Aurora Veil) do come in handy in singles for giving truly frail mons an extra turn or two (whether to set up speed and attack or just all-out attack) and making burly attacking mons like Protosynthesis Attack Roaring Moon feel like raid bosses, making an impossible task like spending three turns on Dragon Dance possible. In part this is because of Light Clay - you already mentioned that it makes these last forever in Doubles, but eight turns is still enough in Singles. Grimmsnarl is a particularly good screener because it's hard to prevent at least one from going up, but also it can then get an ally onto the field while softening up incoming damage more with Parting Shot (which is the same thing it does in VGC). Still, I'd push back on the other commenters saying Grimmsnarl is "good" in the context of OU/UU - it's a niche that Grimmsnarl is the best at and always something to be aware of, but if Grimmsnarl Screens is one of the best teams in the format, it's more likely that there's some broken threat(s) that's going to get kicked to Ubers.
Another reason Incineroar isn’t so good in Singles revolves around it’s typing, which is worse relative to VGC due to Stealth Rock being on practically every team. Being weak to the move and being unable to heal reliably does not agree with its pivot heavy playstyle, so it’s essentially forced to run Heavy Duty Boots for as much longevity as possible.
I see a bunch of people mentioning Grimmsnarl being decent in singles, but very few mentioning that Gholdengo blocks Defog, thus protecting your screens. Ghold is needed on most HOs due to Good As Gold and its great stats and typing, so I feel this ought to be mentioned
Articuno won in doubles using sheer cold and snow cloak to help it, both of which are banned in singles where articuno is considered to be a bad pokemon (untiered)
The grimmsnarl segment is quite wrong, grimmsnarl is better when the offensive mons are better It's better in ubers than it is in uu or ou It's lack of usage isn't due to defog, it's due to how more defensive teams can stall out dual screens And alolan ninetales is a bit better
UPDATE: I somehow forgot Rillaboom and Ting-Lu (and to a lesser extent Zapdos and T-Tar), so can you love ❤️ this comment again? Pokémon that are good in both: Landorus-T Rillaboom Urshifu Ursaluna Raging Bolt Kingambit (if I’m not mistaken at the three recent regulations) Ogerpon Heatran H-Arcanine (if UU still qualifies) Chien-Pao Flutter Mane Iron Bundle Iron Hands (if UU(BL) still qualifies) Pelipper? Torkoal? Ting-Lu Volcarona? Zapdos? Tyranitar? (UU now and I don’t if it’s doing too well in E or F, same with the mon above)
Urshifu, Chien-Pao, and Flutter Mane are all banned in OU, so it might be technically correct, if you're going to include those your list would be way longer if you want to be consistent
Shit, how did I forget Rillaboom and Zapdos? (especially the former lmao) Maybe Tyranitar too? (Don’t know if it’s doing too hot Reg G or even F for that matter, and yet, I know it dropped to UU too which I still don’t know if qualifies)
armor tail is simply worse than psychic terrain in singles because, while in doubles armor tail protects farigiraf's allies, in singles it only protects itself so it can't be used to protect allies who would exploit not being able to be hit with priority moves.
not sure about gen 9 but in gen 8 grimmsnarl was used a decent bit in OU. I think in this video you underestimate how good screens are in singles. Light clay was banned in UU down because of how toxic screen set up was. I also want to say that Queenly Majesty variant abilities can be useful in singles, but all of the pokemon that have that ability can easily be outsped even without priority, and because there isn't a fast partner on the field, there's no one to take advantage of it. If we saw a QM variant on an actually fast pokemon I think it'd be pretty good. ITs also good to note that half the mons you listed have prankster, and that's not a coincidence. Prankster is honestly a toxic abiltiy on some pokemon and it shows how good it is that in makes Whimiscott and murkrow viable when they have absolutely awful stats.
Really good points you made. I don’t play singles at all, so naturally I will make some mistakes in my reasonings so I appreciate the correction. I’m working on a new video that follows up on Grimmsnarl and some other Pokèmon a bit.
Incineroar may not be the best but with terra it can helps its type and it can take a hit. It has access to both drain punch and leech life for healing.
I will say the only thing I disagree with. Whimsicott also gets chlorophyll and has access to growth. If you set Sun you can just get a free +2 boost to your offenses. Because of the speed you get from chlorophyll you can invest in its bulk while investing in its sp atk. Just saying.
@@UnchainedPandoran If they ever make the mistake of making a Trick Room setting ability, that is going to go crazy in singles. And they should give it to Shuckle.
The reason Trick Room doesn't get used much in singles is because it only lasts 5 turns. Setting it up and switching out to a slow attacker wastes 2 of those turns. Calyrex Ice is an exception in Ubers because it still gets value out of thkse turns and can set up for itself
I was gonna yell about Grims... Wtf Whismy is on here too? Its trash now but it has seen some success in singles But Grimmy has always been nice and still has a small niche in OU after all the dlc
The last 3 is just repeating the same points again and again lol. And its not even that true because Grimmsnarl is a low tier but he gets used plenty in the higher tiers just not enough to place
Prankster is still a busted ability in singles, but its only on lackluster mons, and it isn't as broken as it is in doubles. In doubles it provides legitimacy to so pokemon who have terrible stats and very little going for them.
That is why incineroar and Tornadus i feel are never as good as people say people are talking doubles. That being said they dont suck. They are pretty strong they suck compared to thier potential. Stats above 530 with great movepool's . Suck is strong can we change wording please. Probably still stuck with Suck Shorthand for awhile. Stupid Shorthand in titles. Plenty of people get scared off by a title being improper phrasing.
Out of the Pokémon listed, Grimmsnarl is the one I think I’ve seen most used in singles. It’s definitely a bit uncommon but you’ll occasionally see people go for double screens and parting shot.
i remember it being very common in BSS near the beginning of sword and shield
You can never go wrong with prankster screens
@@coffeemug1012I saw it even a decent amount late Sword/Shield. Hell, I even used it a bit then
I remember seeing it a lot in ubers (double screens HO)
Yeah, and Whimiscott. It’s mostly an unreliable gimmick in Singles but it can be good in more cases than Incineroar and base Tornadus.
Yeah as other people said, Grimmsnarl is still relevant in higher tiers because of prankster + dual screens + parting shot being an incredible lead in hyper offense teams. It definitely dropped since last gen but it's still a decent pokemon.
Grimmsnarl is the only one I disagree with, since he has the same gameplan of setting screens in singles and enables sweepers by doing so
Grimmsnarl even gets used in ubers lol
Grimsnarls amazing, fantastic type, a bit low in defese but nothing light screen cant help
@@BananaR777And it gets Bulk Up!
Alolatales stole its job once it came back tho
You're mostly right about speed control in Smogon, however Tailwind, Trick Room, and Sticky Web do see occasional use in the format, but usually this is relegated to the lower tiers.
There was a freezai video where he used trickroom giraferig to get the fastest win in Smogon premier league history in only ten turns
Sticky web has a legitimate niche in OU on a particular HO team. The rest is true, even if TR has seen use in SPL on a Hat set.
Sticky web is way more common than tr which itself is a lot more common than tailwind
Sticky Web teams are a thing in Ubers.
Skillhunter is on point
Speed control in singles can be done teamwise too, but using para spam and sticky web
Both aren't overtly common , but they are well used
TR is niche tho, while tailwind is almost nonexistent
The wording seemed a bit unclear to me, so to clarify, Armor Tail only stops foes from using priority moves against your team. Your side can still use priority as much as they want
Correct
I wouldn't call Dragon Dance and Flame Charge speed control. I would use priority and Booster Energy speed as examples instead. Let's say you're facing a +2 SpA Darkrai, but it's at 25% HP. Speed control can finish it off. Sticky Web, Trick Room, and Tailwind can also be speed control, but having to maintain them in single battles that generally last more turns makes them less reliable.
love the vid ❤ fake out isn’t really useless in singles. just like jn doubles, it breaks sashes and sturdy, so very useful if you’re powerful/set up, and outspeed. not always applicable, but still.
ehh its kinda useless. The only notable users in high tiers have been some mega sableye sets, and of course mega lopunny, along with niche leads.
There’s also use in burning turns for passive damage to accumulate or halting a free turn of a field condition.
@@JackLeighton-uh6slmega medicham could also use it because it actually did some meaningful damage (and helped patch the speed issue in Gen 6 before they changed the mega speech mechanics)
Those abilities aren’t common enough to justify wasting 25% of your moveset. The only time fake out has seen legitimate usage in singles was to activated your mega stone. So how megas worked in Gen 6 was as soon as you activated your stone you’d receive all the changes such as a new typing, ability, or stat buffs, except for speed. For the first turn you’d retain your original speed stat, so you could use fake out on the turn you activated your mega to get around this weird quirk. An example of this was mega Lopunny
I do think most of these takes make sense. Maybe for a video with Pokemon good in singles and doubles, you could mention the move set differences too. Rillaboom is a good example, playing differently in singles than doubles, but still is really good in both
Indeedee is occasionally used as the Psychic Terrain setter on Psyspam teams. More common before Hisuian Samurott came around, but blocking priority was a big deal as you’d have multiple setup Pokémon with a focus sash and then used boosted Stored Power and Expanding Force.
Grimmsnarl was sometimes used also before Alolatales, for the same reasons it’s used in VGC.
Pokémon that are good in singles and doubles
Glimmora: 😈
The better Pokémon in this list in singles would be Incineroar and Grummsnarl
Now, not as dominant as in VGC, Incineroar still is a decent Fire type in places like NU. It can be a defensive pivot with Intimidate Parting Shot, and STAB Knock Off is always great, or it can also become a sweeper itself with Swords Dance and Trailblaze. It's not stellar, but has some degree of value.
And Grimmsnarl is probably the best screen setter besides Alolan Ninetales, so it DEFINITELY sees legitimate niche uses in OU from time to time, as well as in the lower tiers where it's allowed.
Inncineroar is garbage alone
@@darronwilliams4641 Most Pokémon are garbage without teammates
(Cof cof, Tyranitar Theorem, cof cof)
@@genarftheunfuni5227 no lol
Grimmsnarl has been covered plenty, so I'll be picky and say that Intimidate and Prankster are far from useless in singles, even if they're not as good as they are in doubles. Prankster is particularly valuable in the lead metagame, letting you get off entry hazards or screens before you can be stopped, or stopping your opponent yourself with taunt. And while Intimidate is hitting half as many pokemon and doesnt help a teammate, but it does give your pokemon bulk and can give you tempo if used right, as your opponent's attacker has to either muscle through the stat drop or switch out
Don't judge a book by it's cover man. Incineroar may be NU but in Gen 7 he was the undisputed king of the tier. Gen 8 he rose to RU and while he's not the king he's still a top 5 mon in Gen 9 NU. Grimsnarl also while NU does see usage in the higher tiers even Ubers because he is a reliable screen setter so yeah both of these are good in singles just not in a crazy high power level.
Another noteworthy example is Murkrow, who once again, cannot support their teammate due to it being Singles.
Unlike Trick Room or Tailwind, Reflect and Light Screen (or just Aurora Veil) do come in handy in singles for giving truly frail mons an extra turn or two (whether to set up speed and attack or just all-out attack) and making burly attacking mons like Protosynthesis Attack Roaring Moon feel like raid bosses, making an impossible task like spending three turns on Dragon Dance possible. In part this is because of Light Clay - you already mentioned that it makes these last forever in Doubles, but eight turns is still enough in Singles. Grimmsnarl is a particularly good screener because it's hard to prevent at least one from going up, but also it can then get an ally onto the field while softening up incoming damage more with Parting Shot (which is the same thing it does in VGC). Still, I'd push back on the other commenters saying Grimmsnarl is "good" in the context of OU/UU - it's a niche that Grimmsnarl is the best at and always something to be aware of, but if Grimmsnarl Screens is one of the best teams in the format, it's more likely that there's some broken threat(s) that's going to get kicked to Ubers.
Would love to see a vid on Pokémon who are both good in singles and doubles. Great video!
Already working on it!
Another reason Incineroar isn’t so good in Singles revolves around it’s typing, which is worse relative to VGC due to Stealth Rock being on practically every team. Being weak to the move and being unable to heal reliably does not agree with its pivot heavy playstyle, so it’s essentially forced to run Heavy Duty Boots for as much longevity as possible.
thunder wave spam and sticky web are very common speed control tatics in singles
I see a bunch of people mentioning Grimmsnarl being decent in singles, but very few mentioning that Gholdengo blocks Defog, thus protecting your screens. Ghold is needed on most HOs due to Good As Gold and its great stats and typing, so I feel this ought to be mentioned
@@benjaminh.5690 it doesn't need to be mentioned because it's not true.
Articuno won in doubles using sheer cold and snow cloak to help it, both of which are banned in singles where articuno is considered to be a bad pokemon (untiered)
Those are not the reasons why it won
The grimmsnarl segment is quite wrong, grimmsnarl is better when the offensive mons are better
It's better in ubers than it is in uu or ou
It's lack of usage isn't due to defog, it's due to how more defensive teams can stall out dual screens
And alolan ninetales is a bit better
Didn’t realize that, thanks for pointing it out
something crazy is that Incineroar was only 5th most used in Day 2 of worlds this year
UPDATE: I somehow forgot Rillaboom and Ting-Lu (and to a lesser extent Zapdos and T-Tar), so can you love ❤️ this comment again?
Pokémon that are good in both:
Landorus-T
Rillaboom
Urshifu
Ursaluna
Raging Bolt
Kingambit (if I’m not mistaken at the three recent regulations)
Ogerpon
Heatran
H-Arcanine (if UU still qualifies)
Chien-Pao
Flutter Mane
Iron Bundle
Iron Hands (if UU(BL) still qualifies)
Pelipper?
Torkoal?
Ting-Lu
Volcarona?
Zapdos?
Tyranitar? (UU now and I don’t if it’s doing too well in E or F, same with the mon above)
Urshifu, Chien-Pao, and Flutter Mane are all banned in OU, so it might be technically correct, if you're going to include those your list would be way longer if you want to be consistent
H-Arcanine is uu so dw about iron hands being uubl
Shit, how did I forget Rillaboom and Zapdos? (especially the former lmao)
Maybe Tyranitar too? (Don’t know if it’s doing too hot Reg G or even F for that matter, and yet, I know it dropped to UU too which I still don’t know if qualifies)
@@goGothitaLOL One Ttar got Top 16 at Worlds (a single restricted format, at that, and Ttar usually falls into obscurity in these).
@@goGothitaLOLLol GOT EEEEEEMMM! Your mark of approval from the creator is GONE FOREVER! Thats what ya get for being greedy and needy kid
I've used incineroar in singles so many times this mon has saved my ass with intimidate and wilo wisp.
Still salty Game freak took Expanding force off of Female Indeedee while buffing Incineroar
9:13 Definitely yes
armor tail is simply worse than psychic terrain in singles because, while in doubles armor tail protects farigiraf's allies, in singles it only protects itself so it can't be used to protect allies who would exploit not being able to be hit with priority moves.
Shiny Whimsicott my beloved
If Farigiraf made it into this list does it mean Tsareena is the singles version of Farigiraf?
Tsareena is okay in singles, but not amazing. What it does well is that it can remove hazards and it is okay on rain teams because of its typing.
@@wwijsmanI know tsareena is alr in singles since it’s ru or smt
Definitely would like to hear about pokemon good in both singles and doubles, especially if their sets/use are quite different.
not sure about gen 9 but in gen 8 grimmsnarl was used a decent bit in OU. I think in this video you underestimate how good screens are in singles. Light clay was banned in UU down because of how toxic screen set up was. I also want to say that Queenly Majesty variant abilities can be useful in singles, but all of the pokemon that have that ability can easily be outsped even without priority, and because there isn't a fast partner on the field, there's no one to take advantage of it. If we saw a QM variant on an actually fast pokemon I think it'd be pretty good.
ITs also good to note that half the mons you listed have prankster, and that's not a coincidence. Prankster is honestly a toxic abiltiy on some pokemon and it shows how good it is that in makes Whimiscott and murkrow viable when they have absolutely awful stats.
Really good points you made. I don’t play singles at all, so naturally I will make some mistakes in my reasonings so I appreciate the correction. I’m working on a new video that follows up on Grimmsnarl and some other Pokèmon a bit.
Love this kind of videos
Best pokemon that are good both in Singles and Doubles
Dondozo could be material for a different kind of video
"Pokemon who perform very differently in singles and doubles"
amoonguss is definitely one that you don’t use in single if you’re not running a trickroom team. Breloom is always better
Incineroar may not be the best but with terra it can helps its type and it can take a hit. It has access to both drain punch and leech life for healing.
If you're not prepared or careful against teams Grimmsnarl in singles you auto lose.
I wonder, if Incineroar gets a regional form, what could it get to make it Uber tier in singles
I will say the only thing I disagree with. Whimsicott also gets chlorophyll and has access to growth. If you set Sun you can just get a free +2 boost to your offenses. Because of the speed you get from chlorophyll you can invest in its bulk while investing in its sp atk. Just saying.
I don’t play competitive but This entire time I assumed tailwind lasted 5 turns come to find out it also didn’t always last 4
Do you make your own graphics for the moves and abilities displayed? If not where do you get them from?
I make all the graphics myself!
@@x_bell1142 nice they are well done!
Don’t forget about stall Whimsicott sets with prankster
(Dis)honorable mentions:
Cresselia
Porygon2
Dusclops
Clefairy (self explanatory)
Politoed (usually preferred over Pelipper)
Tsareena
Gastrodon?
Zamazenta-Crowned
Really any trick room setter struggles in singles. Definitely a thing much more suited for doubles.
@@UnchainedPandoran If they ever make the mistake of making a Trick Room setting ability, that is going to go crazy in singles.
And they should give it to Shuckle.
@@overseerpjoe9477 Yeah lol. Give Shuckle body press while you’re at it.
@@UnchainedPandoran It would be funny I think
Zamazenta-Crowned is still in Ubers, I wouldn't pair it with the other shitmons xd
Time for you to do Pokemons that are the best of both worlds (Singles and Doubles), aka the true measure of the strongest pokemon.
The reason Trick Room doesn't get used much in singles is because it only lasts 5 turns. Setting it up and switching out to a slow attacker wastes 2 of those turns. Calyrex Ice is an exception in Ubers because it still gets value out of thkse turns and can set up for itself
@@theovergoat Technically it’s five turns, which includes the turn you set Trick Room up.
@@skeetermania3202 my bad, mistyped it. Will edit to correct
I was gonna yell about Grims... Wtf Whismy is on here too? Its trash now but it has seen some success in singles
But Grimmy has always been nice and still has a small niche in OU after all the dlc
The last 3 is just repeating the same points again and again lol. And its not even that true because Grimmsnarl is a low tier but he gets used plenty in the higher tiers just not enough to place
Prankster useres are bad in singles, noted ✍️
It isnt bad, just not as good as it is in doubles.
Prankster is still a busted ability in singles, but its only on lackluster mons, and it isn't as broken as it is in doubles. In doubles it provides legitimacy to so pokemon who have terrible stats and very little going for them.
This entire list is just "this is a support pokemon for doubles" 🤦♂️
I mean, yeah? A hard is still a hard hitter. Most dominate offensive mons from VGC are still at least decent in singles
@@doginpillows20 just saying the list is repeating the same points for each mon while presenting it like we dont see the same thing coming.
@@Stickyz fair
Why not just bad pokemon
Regigias falls into that, with the right support it becomes a force to be reckon with.
That is why incineroar and Tornadus i feel are never as good as people say people are talking doubles.
That being said they dont suck. They are pretty strong they suck compared to thier potential.
Stats above 530 with great movepool's . Suck is strong can we change wording please.
Probably still stuck with Suck Shorthand for awhile.
Stupid Shorthand in titles. Plenty of people get scared off by a title being improper phrasing.
9 minutes of listing mid pokemon with insane support movepool/ability