How a One-Hit-KO Move took over Competitive Pokemon

For the first time EVER, a One-Hit-KO Move is dominating competitive Pokemon - here's how it happened.

#Pokemon #ScarletViolet #WolfeyVGC

[cjeatswater]

If you think about it, 30% is the same as a focus blast miss, so it is actually 100%.

[Coolbowser]

When the phrase "If it's not 100% accurate, it's 50% accurate", actually benefits a move... 😳

[CasHanover]

The hyper beam comparison is actually really good here. It's basically similar to using hyper beam but on your rest turn you have a 30% chance to just kill an opponent because

[dm]

The confounding factor here is that EV is not as simple as "expected damage" - dealing 100% is more than twice as good as dealing 50%, because an opposing Pokemon at 50% is still fully operational and gets extra turns to do stuff to you. This is especially true for Ruination, which can't actually deal the second 50%, so if your ally can't finish them it's at least a 3HKO. If you're relying on a 90% accuracy move for a 3HKO, that's not much different in EV to going for 3 Fissures. But with the Fissure route, you have the huge upside of having a 49% chance of KOing in 1 or 2 turns, and 64% of the time, Fissure is equal to or better than a Ruination 3HKO. In the 34% of the time where it's worse, it might be MUCH worse, but losing by a little is the same as losing by a lot. And in a tournament environment especially where the prizes are very top-heavy, it's often better to be high-variance.

So I think it makes sense that Fissure is popular despite being, in a pure "expected damage" sense, significantly worse than Ruination. The match strategy checks out.

[BakufuDifu]

Landing two OHKO moves has the same odds of a double rock slide flinch. So the odds are roughly 50/50

[evazwerg]

Kinda crazy what all has to come together so that Fissure is viable on Ting-Lu and not just a gimmick:
1. has to be insanely defensive
2. has to have Stomping Tantrum so even when Fissure misses clicking Fissure is not just a waste
3. has to be offensive enough so that Stomping Tantrum is actually worth it
4. has to be viable with AV
5. doesn't have a strong movepool with AV so that you have the slot for Fissure
6. the meta doesn't have a lot of strong ground immunities making Fissure and Stomping Tantrum better

And even with all of that Fissure is already becoming less popular

[joelmccray]

It’s so crazy how vgc and smogon OU are like two seperate universes that continue to deviate more and more.

[legithuman]

the thing that makes fissure stomping tantrum so good is that missing fissure then using stomping tantrum is equal to using stomping tantrum twice.

[neoapollo]

"Lets see what the best player of all time thinks about Fissure" and then its a clip of Wolfey was just simply amazing

[mic]

Yeah i think Ting-lu has the best stat spread in the entire game.
For normal legendaries they usually have a lot of wasted stats such as moderate speed and high both offensive stats. (aka lots of wasted stats)
There's almost no stat wasted here on Ting-lu (low sp atk, low speed), and it has ridiculous defensive stats and ridiculous ability.
Also apparently they give him OHKO move and move that can cut opponent's hp by half directly .

[RTGame]

From talking to others at the international, a lot of respect was shown specifically towards players who did NOT run Fissure on their Ting Lu. I feel like the move should be banned myself and I'm honestly surprised 1HKO moves are still a thing in legal play haha. It's just really not fun to play against

[RoyalPear]

great vid! and congrats on 1m subs man!

[Kasaaz]

I don't think I realized how much I appreciate the... visual consistency of the way that Wolfe's videos present information over this whole generation so far. Whether it be the way that moves or abilities are shown or the fonts and such, whoever did the graphic design for all the elements across all these videos deserves a raise!

[LynnK]

I thought ohko moves weren't a big deal until I ran into a max spef and max hp substitute dondozo that knocked out my dondozo check with a fissure on turn 2. It's not broken, It's just super unfun to lose to

[Kanbei]

Sierra's face at 10:29 is priceless, as though she can tell what's about to happen 😂

[d.johnson]

You're focused on the raw numbers of theory, but one thing you don't mention - that you know as a top competitive player is pivotal - is the mind games and threat, and the meta around that. The meta around not playing against Wolfie's team, but playing against Wolfie-type players. From watching your videos and analysis, you are very responsive to threats and risk on the field and minimizing them (you've expressed similar responses to Venusaur/Sleep Powder). And that makes Fissure powerful against YOU.

While Fissure might be a 30% chance to hit for them, Wolfie-types are not going to play like it's 30% accuracy since they are risk-averse. Wolfie-types are going to play like it's 90% accurate since they don't want to leave their fate to chance. This is going to cause Wolfie-types to take less statistically optimal paths just to mitigate that risk, which can actually swing the statistical tradeoff back in their opponent's favor, and makes them more predictable allowing their opponent to make stronger hard-reads against them. They're playing what's super effective against you because you're the meta.

[urdadnow]

in yugioh (and other games), an idea exists called a "win more" card. it's a card that sounds really strong - and it is - but by the time you can play it, you were almost certainly already going to win. fissure, to me, feels like the reciprocal of that idea. it's a lose less card. it takes positions that are objectively losing/lost positions, and converts them into a win 30% of the time.

a loss is a loss so it doesn't really matter if you lose by 1 pokemon or 3. fissure being able to convert a lost position into a winnable one, even 30% of the time, is better than a move that would put you in a still-losing-but-by-less position imo.

[GlitchxCity]

OHKO moves are so fun to use with the suspense that you'll either lose terribly, or win by sheer luck. It's always a banger with OHKO moves

[fangx]

I feel like the Fissure into Stomping Tantrum > Protect becomes a mindgame at least. Like you fissure, they expect ST so they protect and then you can force a free swap, or fissure again to ST the round after. Im sure there is some viable skill expression without relying on the RNG.

[RisingEagle]

The "But don't just take it from me, let's see what the best player of all time thinks about Fissure" part at the end of the video (10:23) got me 😂😂