Is Gothitelle viable in 2020 VGC?

Without Mega Evolution, Shadow Tag Gengar is gone, leaving opponents with the ability to switch out at will.After having a look at mons with shadow tag, I found Gothitelle.She has great defenses and could potentially possess slight offensive pressure.She can fake out, set up trick room and set up screens.

EDIT:This can be both doubles and singles. However, I’m sure Gothitelle offers more pressure in doubles.

Pleaselog inorregisterto add a comment.

I’m case you don’t know what perish trap is, thisYouTube videoexplains it pretty well.

Basically, perish trap employs the move perish song and various trapping effects. Your opponent won’t be able to switch out, so you’ll get 2 free KOs if you can stall it out correctly. Then, you can do it again with your back two Pokémon. If one of your Pokémon is the slowest thing on the field, you’ll win. It’s an interesting style as you technicallydon’t have to do any damage.

In the past, gothitelle was the only good trapper, as wobbuffet is bad and Whirlpool/Fire Spin only target one opponent. However, Mega Gengar was a great perish trap Pokémon, as it had both shadow tag and perish song. That’s obviously gone now, but new things like Sandaconda and Centiskorch’s Gmax Move andGrapploct’s Octolok(Haha, say that 10 times fast) also prevent Pokémon from switching, although Octolok only targets one Pokémon as well. Dugtrio can also trap Pokémon, but generally doesn’t have enough bulk to be effective in perish trap.

Overall, Gothitelle had a niche role as a perish trap staple which has slightly diminished over the years, but can still be very advantageous in getting a good board position.

As to singles, Arena Trap and Shadow Tag are banned in OU because:

Arena Trap removes one of the core aspects of competitive Pokémon—the ability to switch—which makes playing and building around Pokémon that are vulnerable to an Arena Trap user far more difficult.

Obviously this would be the same with Shadow Tag.Source

I’m Ubers, however, it’s not banned, I’d imagine because of more powerful offensive threats able to get rid of it faster. Even still, Gothitelle is up there in usage ranks (around 40th), and is mostly used as a Choice Item + Trick Trapper. (Shadow Tag Gothitelle is also on the top of Showdown’sFeatured Replays- The GetBacker Vs CrashingBoomBang one. Obviously, you should never set hazards in front of a Gothitelle as a majority of them will trick a choice item on you.

Overall, Gothitelle had a niche role in doubles as a perish trap staple which has slightly diminished over the years, but can still be very advantageous in getting a good board position. I’m singles, it’s primarily used to get rid of threats to your sweepers to open up the game in your favor, and (Shadow Tag) was so good that it was banned to Ubers.

I hope that this helps and that there aren’t too many links :)