[DISCUSSION] A Fire-type Entry Hazard? - Competitive Pokémon Speculation

[0kamii]

 

Hey, everybody! It's 0kamii, and I apologize for the click-baitish title, but this is something about which I was really curious.

So anyone that plays competitive pokémon knows about entry hazards. Easily one of the most defining moments in Singles-play was when Gen 4 introduced Stealth Rocks. We also have entry hazards like Toxic Spikes, regular Spikes, and Sticky Web. Of these, only Stealth Rocks calculates the subsequent damage based on type. If you're 4x weak to Rock-type, you lose 1/2 of your mon's health. You can find the other calculations here. I don't think it's a stretch to say that entry hazards were important to the evolution of competitive Singles, especially in OU. Now, I'm an admitted noob to the OU scene, heck, my last OU team had a Band-Mudsdale on it. So I was wondering what you all think a damaging Fire-type entry hazard would do to the OU meta?

 

A Fire-type Entry Hazard? - Competitive Pokémon Speculation

 

So, there's already a semi-entry hazard-esque thing going on with Fire Pledge and Grass Pledge, in that it creates a Sea of Fire that damages all non-Fire-types on the field for 1/8 of their HP at the end of each turn for 5 turns. Our former world champ, Wolfey, even made a whole team around this idea. You can watch the video here. What wondering is, if this entry hazard was implimented, and operated the same way that Stealth Rocks does, how would that alter the OU meta? According to Pikalytics, the most used pokémon in the Sinlges meta right now are Landorus-T, Magerana, Heatran, Tapu Koko, Clefable, Zygarde, among others. Not of these mons are 4x weak to Fire-type, and only one is x2 weak to it. The reason for my interest in this topic is because of the mons that ARE weak to Fire-type.

 

 

 

Yes, I know there's more, but I think y'alls get the picture. Some of these mons, including Ferrothorn and Kartana, are some of the most used mons in the OU meta. I can only imagine how much they'd be crippled if they lost 1/2 their HP on switching in. In case you guys don't know, there aren't many mons in the top tiers of OU that take 1/2 damage from Stealth Rocks, and that's because handicapping a mon like that before anyone makes a move can utterly cripple a pokémon.

Kartana, already frail as is, would have 1/2 of its HP stripped before launching a single attack, and Ferrothorn's bulk looks a lot less scary if it's only sitting at 50%. Not only that, but Mega Scizor would probably fall out of use as well. STAB Bullet Punch coupled with Technician is scary, but if Scizor can be previously damaged, that switched back in, it's going down without much of a fight. Obviously, I don't know how the meta would shift, nor which mons would eventually take their places. If Poison-types can get rid of Toxic Spikes, then I imagine a Fire-type can get rid of this Fire-type entry hazard. Heatran, already sitting pretty as the third most used mon in the OU meta, probably wouldn't move. But I have a feeling that Magearna and the other mons shown above would undergo a bit of an identity crisis. Similar to the way Charizard got neutered by Stealth Rocks, this Fire-type entry hazard could cut down on OU's more frightening mons.

We really should come up with a name for this thing. I can't keep calling it 'Fire-type entry hazard'. For now, let's go with 'Singing Embers,' or something. (That's singe, not sing.)

Not much of a Monday post on Tuesday, I know. Also, I apologize for constatly dancing around the "Does Your Personality Affect Your Play Style?" post. I'm working on it. Even if you don't have any way of guessing how Singing Embers would affect the OU meta, feel free to let me know which kinds of entry hazards YOU want to see included in upcoming pokémon games. I do want to see more in Gen 8, and this is just one of the many ways I see the meta gradually evolving. Thanks for reading my post, everyone. If you haven't don't forget to stop by Amethyst 0mega's latest giveaway, and I will see you all Friday!

Thanks so much for reading, everyone! Battle onwards, friends!

- 0kamii

[dmann]

There is if the Fire Type entry hazard worked on things like Ferrothorn, it would be another method to break one of the scary things they come with as standard: Sturdy. The same for the metal bird.

[PerchPond]

Would the damage from such an entry hazard be reduced by rain?

[AverageJoe]

I was thinkinging they could implement something like the white hot spikes from BTD5. It could burn, as I had imagined it but doing damage could also be cool. I feel as if the hazards are not my favorite thing implemented in the metagame today but it could be cool.

[Black Waterfall]

@0kamii Another possibility is a Fire-type entry hazard that inflicts BRN upon switch in — I can already imagine an animation where the move's user throws lava on the opponent's field. Flying-type Pokemon would be immune to that as usual, so this move could work pretty much like Toxic Spikes: to remove the move's effect the opponent could either use Rapid Spin or switch a Fire-type Pokemon in to absorb the lava (maybe we could include one Electric-type entry hazard that inflicts PRZ as well.)

This should help balancing the issue with types in the metagame, I guess.

In my opinion, the metagame should be as fair as possible with all eighteen types (I was told that this was one of the main reasons why they introduced the Fairy-type in Gen VI), but the ugly truth is that what we see instead is SR dictating what types are inferior...