Persian

Persian profits immensely from the Substitute mechanics in Stadium OU, which give it a degree of safety against the threat of Thunder Wave. With the strongest Slash in the game in addition to special coverage in Bubble Beam and Thunderbolt, Persian is well-equipped for dealing with Pokemon like weakened Tauros, Cloyster, Rhydon, and Reflect Chansey. Persian is also extremely fast, outrunning Tauros and boasting a 19% critical hit rate, giving it strong revenge killing utility and notable volatility. Because of this, when paired with Tauros, Persian forms a strong Normal-type attacking core that can be difficult for teams to stop.

However, Persian should never be used over Tauros—only alongside it—and for good reason: its power is simply inferior. While Slash itself is very strong, Persian itself isn't, making it still struggle against bulkier Pokemon like Snorlax. Persian's special coverage deals middling damage to most targets, meaning it is very reliant on Slash; Tauros possesses Earthquake and Blizzard, allowing it to muscle past Gengar and Exeggutor, respectively. In fact, seeing Gengar in Team Preview often makes Persian dead weight for a majority of the game, forcing its teammates to remove it before it can make any progress. Like many fast Pokemon in the tier, Persian is ruined by paralysis as well, leading to it being forced out if it can't KO Thunder Wave users before they paralyze it. Paralysis also exposes its awful fragilty: critical hits from tier staples like Tauros, Alakazam, and Rhydon can outright OHKO it. Persian also competes with Kangaskhan as a "second Tauros", the latter possessing 101 HP Substitutes and superior bulk to better contest Chansey and Snorlax, as well as Earthquake to fight Gengar. However, Persian's Speed and Slash access give it much better qualities as a revenge killer, providing it with a strong niche in the metagame.