Is Regieleki viable in Gen 9 Ubers / AG?

Question

I've been thinking that it could possibly have a niche in these two formats, because it is the fastest Mon in Ubers and AG in the unboosted speed tiers, so it could revenge kill things, and it has Rapid Spin (plus possibly HDB). However, it's still pretty frail, and its only "coverage" options outside of Tera Blast + A Tera Type (which requires you to use your Tera) are Ancient Power, Acrobatics, or Normal moves. Regieleki is also not the strongest thing around, as 100 Special Attack is decent, but possibly not good enough to revenge kill things, which could be bad especially considering that most stuff is pretty bulky in Ubers / AG. A detailed analysis on Regieleki in Ubers and AG would be ideal.

Comments

You'll probably get a better answer if you wait a few weeks for the metagame to settle down.

---

Okay, I'm willing to wait.

---

https://www.smogon.com/stats/2023-06/gen9ubers-1630.txt

Answer 1

This is a slightly biased answer, but I'm going to provide a through explanation how I feel that Regieleki IS
viable, but somewhat underwhelming if not considering tera typing.

Regieleki possesses strong electric stab, while being one of the best, if not the best pivot in the game due to its sheer speed. However, one common trait of some Pokemon in the Ubers/AG metagame puts Eleki completely at risk. That is its over-reliance on its stabs.

Eleki has no other moves to provide coverage except tera blast. With defensive titans like Eternatus, the ever so prominent rapid spinner and offensive ones like Miraidon in the metagame, Regieleki can have a hard time trying to break through these staples of the metagame, meaning, if has to waste the team's one singular tera, to change its tera typing to ice and to give it an edge over some Pokemon.

This, however, is able to be reversed with careful teambuilding. Many players do not choose to have Regieleki as one of their cores in a team, but with checks towards the common answers to regieleki(answers: miraidon, eternatus, groudon, amoonguss, big tusky [he got 2 very large horns]), Regieleki is able to perform favorably.

In conclusion after all that rambling and random fancy words, Regieleki is a pretty nice Pokemon, as it can volt switch out of most targets and run. But this is only accomplished with careful teambuilding and blah blah blah hyper offense.

Comments

I feel that this question cannot be completely analyzed until Smogon drops its June Ubers usage stats. Also, you’re neglecting to mention its mediocre 100 SpA, 80/50/50 defenses, and the fact that hazards exist while removal is almost non-existent.

---

Being able to pivot out of every attack is already one of the redeeming qualities, who ever thought regieleki would live a single hit? Not me lol

also 100 spatk is nothing when you get that 2.25x electric stab

(my big tusky casually driving an uber)

---

Does that mean your argument is that, only through building a team specifically centered around removing Regieleki’s checks, Regieleki can succeed? A Pokémon only able to succeed in a very specific situation such as this is usually not worth the hassle.