Competitive Single Rates - READ FIRST POST

[Shining Fire]

Ok, so I got that event dream world Croagunk, and the first thing I thought of was how to utilize its ability. So, I came up with this.

Toxicroak @ Black Sludge
Ability: Poison Hand
EVs: 252HP/100Def/156SDef
Nature: Jolly (+Spd, -SAtk)
-Fake Out
-Bullet Punch
-Protect
-Drain Punch

With its ability, it has 20% chance to poison its opponent on contact. My plan is to abuse priority and poison them as fast as possible and then stall them out. Fake Out is my start, flinching them and said chance to poison. Bullet Punch also uses priority to get in an attack. Protect is there to stall the poison, of course. Drain Punch is a filler but also works to restore my HP.

here's how I get the egg moves Drain Punch, Bullet Punch, & Fake Out:
Hitmonchan(4th gen, Bullet Punch, Fake Out,)> Machop(4th gen, Drain Punch)> Croagunk(DW, breed for female & nature)>DW Toxicroak with Fake Out, Bullet Punch, and Drain Punch.

[Black Murder Heavangelon]

Since I have so much free time, I decided to go on with the next ability in line.

Air Lock/Cloud Nine

When 3rd Gen came around, it brought a new mechanic to the metagame with abilities. These abilities gave certain pokemon a more defining name for themselves, such as Wobbuffet and Shedinja, and revolutionized the game as we knew it.

Auto Weather became a prominent part of the game, as 3rd Gen started with Groudon and Kyogre, the infamous Ubers known for their weather, and Tyranitar, who started the Sandstorm metagame one Gen at a time. Of course, an antiweather ability was made to balance out this metagame of autoweather, twisting battles in a fort of weather vs weather vs anti weather. There was just one problem.

No, several problems.

Only Golduck had Cloud Nine back then, and Rayquaza was banned to Ubers.

Weather got better as more abilities were made for it and Cloud Nine saw little distribution. Golduck was still the only Cloud Nine user in 4th Gen and as a consequence, weather was rampant in 4th gen. Weather is even more common now with Ninetales and Politoed getting auto weather abilities, but at least Cloud Nine finally got more distribution through Dream World.

To use Cloud Nine is to impede weather. You want to use it to stop the opponent from benefiting from weather or at least stop a sweep. If your pokemon can stay in and be a nuisance to your opponent, it's doing its job. Be careful, though, as Speed junkies usually have coverage for pokemon like Cloud Nine users.

Rayquaza@Persim Berry/Leftovers
Hasty - 252 Spe/252 Atk/4 Sp.Atk
-Substitute
-Dragon Dance
-Outrage/Dragon Claw
-Flamethrower/Fire Blast

Rayquaza. You wall breaker you.

Rayquaza is really dangerous for his ability to pose an immediate threat, made even worse with boosting moves in Swords Dance and Dragon Dance. The problem is, Rayquaza is frail for an Uber as neutral hits can wear him down. Substitute is rarely seen on Rayquazas, but they make it very difficult to revenge kill him. Plus, Sub gives Rayquaza some lasting power to block out weather, making it even more viable.

Dragon Dance is your boosting move of choice as it boosts your already lethal STAB and mediocre Speed. Outrage is your strongest hitting Dragon attack and the confusion will be cured by Persim Berry, whereas Sub blocks every other status. Flamethrower and Fire Blast are for the Steels that resist Outrage, leaving only Heatran to tank the hits. Leftovers are optimal, but be careful of overusing Outrage as it'll kill him more than the opponent will, especially if you have SR on your field. Dragon Claw is an option, but it's hard to give up Outrage over it.

Abuse weather as much as you can by switching in on Solarbeams and Thunders, the former of which is unlikely, but an unexpected Power Herb tends to shorten Kyogres lifespan. Air Lock means your HP won't be depleted by Sand and Hail, and switching in on a choiced move gives you all the set up time in the world. Ice Shard users are KOd by Flamethrower, provided you have a Sub up before that, but you're vulnerable if the next pokemon has Ice Shard again.

Getting Rayquaza in means you have to weaken an opponent beforehand. Memento Jumpluff can do this well if the Sun is out, or Encore and Light Screen Whimsicott against Rain.

Golduck@Choice Scarf
Modest - 112 Spe/252 Sp.Atk/144 Sp.Def
-Hydro Pump
-Ice Beam/Blizzard
-Hidden Power Grass
-Signal Beam/Focus Blast

Golduck is the fastest Cloud Nine user available, bar Rayquaza. As such, slapping a Choice Scarf on him to revenge kill in weather makes him surprisingly efficient. 112 Speed on a Modest Nature is all he needs to outspeed even Max Speed Jumpluff. As Cloud Nine negates Chlorophyl, Golduck outspeeds all weather teams barring Floatzel, who can't hit Golduck back as hard as he can. Hydro Pump is your most powerful Water STAB and Ice Beam hits Grass Types. You can opt for Blizzard for the most damage possible, but it's less accurate and you really don't want to miss. HP Grass is his only attack against Water Types and it can bone Swampert and Gastrodon. Signal Beam is another option for Grass types and Psychics, but Focus Blast is also useful against Ice types in Hail teams and Steel types and Ferrothorn.

Having switchins ready for Golduck is necessary to make him useful. Sap Sipper users and Motor Drive pokemon with Air Balloon can cover him when he needs to retreat.

Altaria@Leftovers
Calm - 252 HP/252 Sp.Def/4 Sp.Atk
-Toxic
-Roost
-Protect/Cotton Guard
-Dragon Breath/Dragon Pulse/Flamethrower/Fire Blast/Refresh

Unlike Golduck, Altaria is not very well suited to facing off with Hail teams due to a glaring x4 Ice weakness. Even with Max/Max spreads, Altaria is going to get hurt. So find someone else to counter hail for you.

Altaria, however, can stall Sun teams like it's no one else's business. Resisting Grass and Fire moves, Altaria can sit there and laugh at you. as you're trying to break her. Toxic wears down opponents and switchins hoping to KO her, and Roost and Refresh help you stay in healthy no matter what. Protect can scout for potential Ice attacks your opponent might have, while Cotton Guard bolsters your Defense sky high, making you more resilient thanks to the nature and EVs. Dragon Breath is mostly for spreading paralysis in the same vein as Body Slam, but Dragon Pulse is a more reliable STAB for damage. Flamethrower and Fire Blast are for Steels you can wall.

Altaria is very easy to switch in, thanks to resistances and a Ground immunity. Watch out for Ice attacks though, and if you can Cotton Guard before the opponent brings out the Stone Edge, you're in the clear.

Lickilicky@Leftovers
Brave/Sassy - 252 Sp.Def/252 Atk/4 HP
-Curse/Disable
-Return/Body Slam/Chip Away
-Power Whip/Hammer Arm/Rock Slide
-Flamethrower/Rock Slide/Hammer Arm

Lickilicky. Poor guy has always been either looked over or looked at oddly. It's mostly because he doesn't have a solid set for him, but fortunately it's easy to sculpt out a niche for him. The problem is differentiating him form other pokemon who can do its job. At least no one can block weather like he does.

Being slow sucks. Being slow and using Disable is fun. Going first in a Trick Room and then doubling the pain of your opponents is squeezing the joy out of your opponent's misery. But for variety's sake, this set can be used without Trick Room. Curse is an option to cover the stats that his EVs miss, and can be rewritten if you want to focus on utilizing Curse. Return is your STAB of choice, hitting for max power (Double-edge is illegal with Cloud Nine) while Body Slam can spread paralysis if you need it for your teammates. Chip Away is odd but it helps you bypass Defense boosts such as Whimsicott's Cotton Guard, although you have Flamethrower for that. Power Whip smacks the Water types in Rain teams although Return can hit just as hard. Hammer Arm is for Rock Types who resist your other attacks, while Rock Slide is for Chandelure who otherwise walls you.

Lickilicky's multitude of a movepool must be abused whenever using him. As he is one of the few Normal types with decent bulk who can mix well (does any other pokemon have that combination?), he can trump weather teams lacking a Fighting type. Toxicroak ruins him in Rain teams, though, but that is if he comes in before he Curses. Otherwise, Lickilicky can just Disable him.


Lickitung@Eviolite
Sassy - 252 HP/252 Sp.Def/4 Def
-Knock Off
-Dragon Tail
-Rest
-Sleep Talk

A bit different from the Curse set, but Lickitung is the only Cloud Nine user with Knock Off, ruining your opponent's entire game. And with his ability to shuffle teams, he can remove problematic threats before they come to surface, such as Oran berries and Eviolites. Dragon Tail shuffles, and Rest and Sleep Talk combine to make Lickitung the most annoying Cloud Nine wall in the game. Provided you have Entry Hazards up, Lickitung will be incredibly annoying to face.

This set is just as viable in OU and UU. Watch out for Fighting types, though, as Curse renders him unable to force these threats out one on one.

Swablu and Psyduck operate similarly to their evolved counterparts in LC. So they are already covered.


But can it be better?

Most definitely. Cloud Nine and Air Lock suffer from only temporarily quashing weather for as long as the user stays in. And it could see more distribution, easily.

In a game full of weather freaks, Cloud Nine needs to see some use on pokemon with great resistances or Speed. As the Golduck set above posted, geat Speed and resistances make for a fantastic antiweather pokemon, and if weather is only going to evolve further the more gens we get, Cloud Nine needs to step up its game more in a similar vein.

If its effect were to be changed, it would need to cancel out weather completely upon switching in. As Drought and Drizzle make auto permanent Sun and Rain respectively, Cloud Nine should cancel it out entirely upon switching in. But this change can go either two ways.

Like how autoweather abilities works, a pokemon should be able to switch back in and set up permaSun or Rain. This brings up more emphasis on the switching game, putting even more emphasis on entry hazards as it is now.

Or, Cloud Nine can permanently block out weather and prevent it from coming back, which is more useful and more realistic considering Rayquaza invented it. This also keeps Lickitung from being obsolete. However, for this to be balanced out, the Cloud Nine distribution would need to be low to keep the metagame fair as it is, since autoweather is rare yet iconic.

The ability can go either way to improve. Should weather continue to grow next gen, so should Cloud Nine to counter it.


That covers antiweather in Cloud Nine. Tonight, I'm doing Analytic.

[Eaglehawk]

Since I have so much free time, I decided to go on with the next ability in line.

Air Lock/Cloud Nine

When 3rd Gen came around, it brought a new mechanic to the metagame with abilities. These abilities gave certain pokemon a more defining name for themselves, such as Wobbuffet and Shedinja, and revolutionized the game as we knew it.

Auto Weather became a prominent part of the game, as 3rd Gen started with Groudon and Kyogre, the infamous Ubers known for their weather, and Tyranitar, who started the Sandstorm metagame one Gen at a time. Of course, an antiweather ability was made to balance out this metagame of autoweather, twisting battles in a fort of weather vs weather vs anti weather. There was just one problem.

No, several problems.

Only Golduck had Cloud Nine back then, and Rayquaza was banned to Ubers.

Weather got better as more abilities were made for it and Cloud Nine saw little distribution. Golduck was still the only Cloud Nine user in 4th Gen and as a consequence, weather was rampant in 4th gen. Weather is even more common now with Ninetales and Politoed getting auto weather abilities, but at least Cloud Nine finally got more distribution through Dream World.

To use Cloud Nine is to impede weather. You want to use it to stop the opponent from benefiting from weather or at least stop a sweep. If your pokemon can stay in and be a nuisance to your opponent, it's doing its job. Be careful, though, as Speed junkies usually have coverage for pokemon like Cloud Nine users.

Rayquaza@Persim Berry/Leftovers
Hasty - 252 Spe/252 Atk/4 Sp.Atk
-Substitute
-Dragon Dance
-Outrage/Dragon Claw
-Flamethrower/Fire Blast

Rayquaza. You wall breaker you.

Rayquaza is really dangerous for his ability to pose an immediate threat, made even worse with boosting moves in Swords Dance and Dragon Dance. The problem is, Rayquaza is frail for an Uber as neutral hits can wear him down. Substitute is rarely seen on Rayquazas, but they make it very difficult to revenge kill him. Plus, Sub gives Rayquaza some lasting power to block out weather, making it even more viable.

Dragon Dance is your boosting move of choice as it boosts your already lethal STAB and mediocre Speed. Outrage is your strongest hitting Dragon attack and the confusion will be cured by Persim Berry, whereas Sub blocks every other status. Flamethrower and Fire Blast are for the Steels that resist Outrage, leaving only Heatran to tank the hits. Leftovers are optimal, but be careful of overusing Outrage as it'll kill him more than the opponent will, especially if you have SR on your field. Dragon Claw is an option, but it's hard to give up Outrage over it.

Abuse weather as much as you can by switching in on Solarbeams and Thunders, the former of which is unlikely, but an unexpected Power Herb tends to shorten Kyogres lifespan. Air Lock means your HP won't be depleted by Sand and Hail, and switching in on a choiced move gives you all the set up time in the world. Ice Shard users are KOd by Flamethrower, provided you have a Sub up before that, but you're vulnerable if the next pokemon has Ice Shard again.

Getting Rayquaza in means you have to weaken an opponent beforehand. Memento Jumpluff can do this well if the Sun is out, or Encore and Light Screen Whimsicott against Rain.

Golduck@Choice Scarf
Modest - 112 Spe/252 Sp.Atk/144 Sp.Def
-Hydro Pump
-Ice Beam/Blizzard
-Hidden Power Grass
-Signal Beam/Focus Blast

Golduck is the fastest Cloud Nine user available, bar Rayquaza. As such, slapping a Choice Scarf on him to revenge kill in weather makes him surprisingly efficient. 112 Speed on a Modest Nature is all he needs to outspeed even Max Speed Jumpluff. As Cloud Nine negates Chlorophyl, Golduck outspeeds all weather teams barring Floatzel, who can't hit Golduck back as hard as he can. Hydro Pump is your most powerful Water STAB and Ice Beam hits Grass Types. You can opt for Blizzard for the most damage possible, but it's less accurate and you really don't want to miss. HP Grass is his only attack against Water Types and it can bone Swampert and Gastrodon. Signal Beam is another option for Grass types and Psychics, but Focus Blast is also useful against Ice types in Hail teams and Steel types and Ferrothorn.

Having switchins ready for Golduck is necessary to make him useful. Sap Sipper users and Motor Drive pokemon with Air Balloon can cover him when he needs to retreat.

Altaria@Leftovers
Calm - 252 HP/252 Sp.Def/4 Sp.Atk
-Toxic
-Roost
-Protect/Cotton Guard
-Dragon Breath/Dragon Pulse/Flamethrower/Fire Blast/Refresh

Unlike Golduck, Altaria is not very well suited to facing off with Hail teams due to a glaring x4 Ice weakness. Even with Max/Max spreads, Altaria is going to get hurt. So find someone else to counter hail for you.

Altaria, however, can stall Sun teams like it's no one else's business. Resisting Grass and Fire moves, Altaria can sit there and laugh at you. as you're trying to break her. Toxic wears down opponents and switchins hoping to KO her, and Roost and Refresh help you stay in healthy no matter what. Protect can scout for potential Ice attacks your opponent might have, while Cotton Guard bolsters your Defense sky high, making you more resilient thanks to the nature and EVs. Dragon Breath is mostly for spreading paralysis in the same vein as Body Slam, but Dragon Pulse is a more reliable STAB for damage. Flamethrower and Fire Blast are for Steels you can wall.

Altaria is very easy to switch in, thanks to resistances and a Ground immunity. Watch out for Ice attacks though, and if you can Cotton Guard before the opponent brings out the Stone Edge, you're in the clear.

Lickilicky@Leftovers
Brave/Sassy - 252 Sp.Def/252 Atk/4 HP
-Curse/Disable
-Return/Body Slam/Chip Away
-Power Whip/Hammer Arm/Rock Slide
-Flamethrower/Rock Slide/Hammer Arm

Lickilicky. Poor guy has always been either looked over or looked at oddly. It's mostly because he doesn't have a solid set for him, but fortunately it's easy to sculpt out a niche for him. The problem is differentiating him form other pokemon who can do its job. At least no one can block weather like he does.

Being slow sucks. Being slow and using Disable is fun. Going first in a Trick Room and then doubling the pain of your opponents is squeezing the joy out of your opponent's misery. But for variety's sake, this set can be used without Trick Room. Curse is an option to cover the stats that his EVs miss, and can be rewritten if you want to focus on utilizing Curse. Return is your STAB of choice, hitting for max power (Double-edge is illegal with Cloud Nine) while Body Slam can spread paralysis if you need it for your teammates. Chip Away is odd but it helps you bypass Defense boosts such as Whimsicott's Cotton Guard, although you have Flamethrower for that. Power Whip smacks the Water types in Rain teams although Return can hit just as hard. Hammer Arm is for Rock Types who resist your other attacks, while Rock Slide is for Chandelure who otherwise walls you.

Lickilicky's multitude of a movepool must be abused whenever using him. As he is one of the few Normal types with decent bulk who can mix well (does any other pokemon have that combination?), he can trump weather teams lacking a Fighting type. Toxicroak ruins him in Rain teams, though, but that is if he comes in before he Curses. Otherwise, Lickilicky can just Disable him.


Lickitung@Eviolite
Sassy - 252 HP/252 Sp.Def/4 Def
-Knock Off
-Dragon Tail
-Rest
-Sleep Talk

A bit different from the Curse set, but Lickitung is the only Cloud Nine user with Knock Off, ruining your opponent's entire game. And with his ability to shuffle teams, he can remove problematic threats before they come to surface, such as Oran berries and Eviolites. Dragon Tail shuffles, and Rest and Sleep Talk combine to make Lickitung the most annoying Cloud Nine wall in the game. Provided you have Entry Hazards up, Lickitung will be incredibly annoying to face.

This set is just as viable in OU and UU. Watch out for Fighting types, though, as Curse renders him unable to force these threats out one on one.

Swablu and Psyduck operate similarly to their evolved counterparts in LC. So they are already covered.


But can it be better?

Most definitely. Cloud Nine and Air Lock suffer from only temporarily quashing weather for as long as the user stays in. And it could see more distribution, easily.

In a game full of weather freaks, Cloud Nine needs to see some use on pokemon with great resistances or Speed. As the Golduck set above posted, geat Speed and resistances make for a fantastic antiweather pokemon, and if weather is only going to evolve further the more gens we get, Cloud Nine needs to step up its game more in a similar vein.

If its effect were to be changed, it would need to cancel out weather completely upon switching in. As Drought and Drizzle make auto permanent Sun and Rain respectively, Cloud Nine should cancel it out entirely upon switching in. But this change can go either two ways.

Like how autoweather abilities works, a pokemon should be able to switch back in and set up permaSun or Rain. This brings up more emphasis on the switching game, putting even more emphasis on entry hazards as it is now.

Or, Cloud Nine can permanently block out weather and prevent it from coming back, which is more useful and more realistic considering Rayquaza invented it. This also keeps Lickitung from being obsolete. However, for this to be balanced out, the Cloud Nine distribution would need to be low to keep the metagame fair as it is, since autoweather is rare yet iconic.

The ability can go either way to improve. Should weather continue to grow next gen, so should Cloud Nine to counter it.


That covers antiweather in Cloud Nine. Tonight, I'm doing Analytic.

For your Golduck set, I would recommend a 4 HP/252 SPATT/252 SPE spread to maximized Golduck's offensive capabilities. I'll also recommend Expert Belt so Golduck to better KO the weather leads in OU. Plus, it makes a decent wallbreaker, hurting things like Quag, Ferro, Jelli, and Gastro pretty badly.

As a general tip, if you're going to make something bulky, always invest in HP first, then go on to Defenses. Finally, if you have any leftover EVs, you can put them into your offensive stats. In LickiLicky's case, you don't really need the EVs in attack, and should instead capitalize in bulk, as Licki relies on his bulk to boost his attack. I would recommend a Relaxed nature (+Def, -Spe) for it as Speed is an irrelevant factor to it.

Your Altaria set is okay, but I really recommend the use of Physical attacks over Special attacks, and Dragon Dance over Toxic. Now you'll have a double boost, using the defense boost from CG to boost safely.

[mario_fan]

You can use this EV spread. At worse you'll tie with other Whimsis. Actually, you should ensure that opposing Whimsicott is taken out BEFORE you send in yours. Once you set up TR, opposing Whimsicott is useless since Trick Room sweepers hit very hard and its taunt is a dead weight since they don't spend TR turns setting up.

240 Def / 252 SPDef / 16 Speed

fewer in def because whimsi's def is already higher. This Whimsi can take quite a number of medium to high powered hits.

You will NEVER be able to operate whimsi effectively if you invest in Speed just to outspeed Thundurus. Whimsi is easily be taken out with SE HP ice anyway. Don't even leave it in!

Seeing as most people would expect a Whimsi to taunt first, they would most likely attack it outright to take it out before it can put up a "supposed" substitute, since nearly all (except quoted above) run substitute, and things can go downhill if it succeeds in putting one up.

My guess is that your strategy in mid game would be like this:
1 Come in on a predicted setup move
2 Encore it
3 Setup Trick Room
4 Switch to TR Sweeper Counter
5 Take it out/ PHaze it while it is locked into Encore, wasting its setup PPs and racking up entry hazard damage

Unless the opponent switches in part 2, in which you can still setup Trick Room anyway.

As for nature - Bold, since less EVs are there you can increase the def with this nature.

What's your team like?

My team is going to be (haven't breed it yet) a 3:3 ghost monotype team with the ghosts being chandelure cofagrigus and golurk

Golurk@choice band
Iron Fist
Brave (+Atk -Spe) (0 speed IVs)
Evs: 252 Hp 252 Atk 4 Def
Shadow punch
Hammer Arm
Earthquake
Gyro ball/Stone Edge/Rock Slide

Its a simple set, max health max Attack. With trick room it can out speed and OHKO a tyranitar with a hammer arm, if it doesn't miss. Shadow Punch and Earthquake for STAB ( and iron fist for shadow punch). With minimal speed gyro ball can deal reasonable amount of damage to fast pokemon but stone edge and rock slide give this set better type coverage. With rock slide being more accurate.

[floatzel98]

can someone help me with this set.

Dragonair (M) @ Eviolite
Trait: Shed Skin
EVs: 168 Atk / 100 SDef / 240 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Dragon Dance
- Outrage
- Waterfall
- ExtremeSpeed

i don't know what item, it should have and the ev's or the moves. i want it to kind of be a bulky sweeper. any suggestions?

[Pichu47]

^My only question is...why? Why would you want to use a dragonair? Use something like dragonite. If this is for the lower tiers(aka, NU) this could work. I am not an expert on eviolite though so i'm not sure what's best for the ev's.

[floatzel98]

oh yeah it is for lower tiers, NU

[AttaK]

I'm still working on my team....

Servine @ None
Ability: Overgrow
EVs: 50 Atk / 51 Def / 48 spd
Sassy nature
- Tackle
- Leaf tornado
- Vine whip
- slam

Leader of the team. He's on level 28. Against water types he is SUPER powerful.

Liepard @ None
Ability: Unburden
EVs: 52 Atk / 32 Def / 62 Spd
Quirky nature
-Pursuit
- Fury swipes
- Assist
- Fake out

She is on level 25 and is mean to be the speed demon on my team. She is really helpful with her speed. Her type is also very helpful too.

Whirlipede @ Poison Barb
Ability: Swarm
EVs: 37 Atk / 52 Def / 34 Spd
Mild nature
- Poison tail
- Screech
- Pursuit
- Bug bite

Whirlipede is meant to be the powerhouse of my team. She is on level 25. Its wide variety of moves such as poison tail, pursuit, and bug bite are VERY helpful.

Archen @ None
Ability: Defeatist
EVs: 67 Atk / 27 Def / 41 Spd
Mild nature
- Pluck
- AncientPower
- Agility
- Quick guard

Archen is meant to be speedy and also helpful against other types. I mainly used it because I needed a flying type.

[floatzel98]

first, this is an in-game team and you posted it in the wrong place.
secondly, whats up with the ev's?

[Black Murder Heavangelon]

Analytic

This is a strange ability to have come around in 5th Gen. Analytic works like Payback, in that if you go last, your attacks power up. It's different in that the boost is 30% but it works for both stats, meaning any pokemon can use it.

Unfortunately, someone skimped on the distribution as it isn't on many slow and bulky pokemon. To make use of Analytic is to make use of a pokemon's bulk and/or low speed, but you can play some Tricks and games in utilizing Analytic the best you can.


Porygon2@Eviolite
Relaxed - 252 HP/100 Def/156 Sp.Def
-RestRecover
-Sleep TalkSubstitute
-Charge Beam
-Ice Beam

As one of the bulkiest users of Analytic, and being pretty slow altogether, Porygon2 makes for the best user of Analytic. It's hard to gives up his other abilities for Analytic, such as Trace for switchin opportunities, but those kinds of abilities give Porygon2 better opportunities to set up whereas this Porygon2 is more concerned about beating up opponents one on one.

The EV spread is to even out his defenses while giving him maximum bulk. Combined with Eviolite and the ResTalk set, he'll be pretty hard to take down. Charge Beam is your Electric attack of choice as it gives you all the Sp.Atk boost you need without the added effect of causing Paralysis, making it the best attack on this set. Ice Beam gives you coverage against Ground and Grass types who can otherwise wall you no matter how many boosts you got.

OOPS I forgot that Sleep Talk is Illegal with Analytic on Porygon2 SILLY ME. Just run Recover and Substitute for a similar but less efficient ResTalk set I am not going over this again.

Porygon2 possesses immediate bulk, but it's still difficult to switch him in, especially in a metagame full of Fighting types. Send Porygon2 in on an opponent that cannot do much in return and start stacking up Charge Beam boosts. Once you get enough, no one can stop Porgyon2, except maybe CB Fighting types.


Magnezone@Air Balloon
Modest/Quiet - 252 Sp.Atk/252 HP/4 Def
-Substitute/Protect
-Hidden Power Fire/Hidden Power Ground
-Thunderbolt
-Volt Switch/Protect

Scouting Magnezone. Handy as a lead. You can also feign Magnet Pull or Sturdy. Analyzing how your opponent reacts to Magnezone can tell you a lot about their pokemon (Hey, I think that's how Analytic works for the pokemon doh ho ho).

Substitute can block status and allow you to scout for attacks while Protect can ward off Fake Out users wanting to break Sturdy. HP Fire or Ground hits the Steels that fear the Magnezone, Fire hits Ferrothorn and Ground hits other Magnezone. Thunderbolt is your standard STAB attack. Volt Switch is another scouting move if you happen upon a threat too fast for your Magnezone to handle. Analytic will boost your attacks against faster threats like Lucario and Hydreigon and, when behind a sub, can give you the most damage possible before switching out.

The point of Magnezone with Analytic is to moderate the speed of your opponent. When they're slow but powerful, Volt Switch to an appropriate team mate. When against faster opponents, Protect scouts them out. As Magnezone is known to switch in on Steels types, this should be abused to give Magnezone an edge when he needs to use Substitute for easier prediction.


Starmie@Focus Sash/Wide Lens
Quiet - 252 Sp.Atk/252 HP/4 Def
-Hydro Pump
-Thunderbolt
-Ice Beam/Blizzard
-Grass Knot/Psyshock

Starmie is the fastest wielder of Analytic. So why would you want to use one? Well, this Starmie set is for Trick Room and it allows you to hit both ends of the speed spectrum. Slow and bulky pokemon will outrun Starmie in Trick Room, activating Analytic, and when it goes away, Starmie can easily finish them off. Fast pokemon are usually frail, so the Analytic boost won't be needed to take them out. This makes Starmie plenty felxible for Trick Room teams having trouble against opposing slow pokemon.

Hydro Pump is your strongest STAB of choice, which is boosted further with Analytic. Wide Lens makes up for the accuracy somewhat, but if the accuracy is still off for you, you can run Surf and Focus Sash. Thunderbolt is for extra coverage and Ice Beam/Blizzard is for the Grass types that resist it. Grass Knot is for opposing Waters like Gastrodon who resist all of your attacks while Psyshock is your only attack for Blissey and Chansey, and other special walls.

Starmie lacks a priority move for emergencies, so be cautious against opposing priority users like Honchkrow.


Watchog@Iron Ball
Adamant - 252 Atk/252 HP/4 Def
-Fling
-Revenge/Low Kick
-Return
-Confuse Ray

Ugh. Watchog. It's a headache for me.It's not a bad pokemon per se but it's really hard to find a workable set for it. Gamefreak messed up removing the efficiency of the Mean Look + Baton Pass combo, which it just so happened to learn naturally. But whatever...

Analytic Fling with an Iron Ball is going to hurt like hell. That's its main selling point with Analytic. Even as a oneshot attack, Watchog won't be able to live to see the rest of the battle, but it helps to have done the most damage possible in one turn. Revenge also works with Analytic, but don't expect it to survive the attack. Low Kick is an option since the heaviest opponents are usually slower. Return is Normal STAB. Confuse Ray might give you some leverage against opponents, especially faster ones.

You're best bet for living and repeatedly abusing Analytic boosts is to use Confuse Ray and pray that they miss you. But don't count on it. Sheesh, Watchog is probably the weakest of the regional rodents, and this is coming from a guy who uses Corsola and Roselia competitively. :U


Beheeyem@Colbur Berry/Leftovers
Quiet/Sassy - 252 Sp.Atk/252 HP/4 Sp.Def
-Psyshock
-Hidden Power Fighting
-Shadow Ball
-Energy Ball/Thunderbolt/Disable/Recover

Beheeyem is perhaps the slowest user of Analytic, although it doesn't make him the best. He suffers against physical attackers so he should only be used against Special walls. Psyshock eats special walls like Blissey and Mantine. HP Fighting is for the Steels and Dark types that resist your STAB. Shadow Ball covers Ghosts. Energy Ball and Thunderbolt can hit other types effectively, while Disable can remove an attack that troubles you from play for your next pokemon. Recover gives you some staying power against special attackers, but your slow speed will make it hard for you to be successful.

The Colbur Berry is a one time resist against Dark attacks, which are commonly used over Ghost attacks since Dark hits all types at least effectively. It also helps you survive a Pursuit that you can Disable to escape from. If your Beheeyem dies too often, however, you can opt for Leftovers instead.

But can it be better?

Like you need to dwell on this one. Analytic can be loads better. It suffers from poor distribution and bad choices of pokemon that can use them as not only are they not fit to use Analytic, but they already have better abilities to use. What's worse is that even if it did see better distribution, a lot of pokemon would rather have a better ability and some of the already slower pokemon would rather keep their old abilities. A pokemon like Metagross would adore Analytic, though, but to salvage some justification for using the ability, the user needs priority attacks, which Metagross has.

If Analytic could be any better, it needs to work like Payback back in Gen 4. When a pokemon switched out, Payback activated and still dealt double the damage. If Analytic could boost in power when an opponent switches out, it's practicality would sky rocket as the pokemon who already have it are already threatening enough and frequently face switchins to check them. It would make the metagame more focused on prediction switches, indefinitely.


That's it for Analytic, guys. Tonight, I'm doing Anger Point.

[ChaosBlizzard]

Starmie @ Leftovers
Nature: Jolly
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Speed / 4 Atk
-Rapid Spin
-Recover
-Thunder Wave / Toxic
-[Filler support move] / Protect

A pretty unorthodox way of running Starmie (physically based support), but I think it could have merit. The sole attacking move on the set is Rapid Spin, which does technically keep it from being Taunt bait, but it functions practically as a support move like the rest of the set. Recover/Lefties/252HP keeps it healthy for a long time so it can keep up support, and Natural Cure fixes status. The Jolly nature over Timid lowers its Special Attack, but in this case it isn't using it and it actually is using its Attack, so this is the superior option. It is mostly designed to spread status depending on what your team would benefit from the most. The last slot can go to any of a number of support moves, including Reflect, Light Screen, Trick Room, Rain Dance, Gravity, Cosmic Power and Reflect Type. Thoughts?

[Dragin990]

Tell me how this mixed lucario looks.

@LifeOrb
nat: hasty/naive
252spatk/252spd/4atk
steadfast
moves:
- psychic
- ice punch
- aura sphere
- work up/???/???

[Triple Z]

Starmie @ Leftovers
Nature: Jolly
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Speed / 4 Atk
-Rapid Spin
-Recover
-Thunder Wave / Toxic
-[Filler support move] / Protect

A pretty unorthodox way of running Starmie (physically based support), but I think it could have merit. The sole attacking move on the set is Rapid Spin, which does technically keep it from being Taunt bait, but it functions practically as a support move like the rest of the set. Recover/Lefties/252HP keeps it healthy for a long time so it can keep up support, and Natural Cure fixes status. The Jolly nature over Timid lowers its Special Attack, but in this case it isn't using it and it actually is using its Attack, so this is the superior option. It is mostly designed to spread status depending on what your team would benefit from the most. The last slot can go to any of a number of support moves, including Reflect, Light Screen, Trick Room, Rain Dance, Gravity, Cosmic Power and Reflect Type. Thoughts?

Starmie really isn't bulky enough to be an effective supporter. Rapid Spin/BoltBeam/Surf and a sweeper's EV spread works best

Tell me how this mixed lucario looks.

@LifeOrb
nat: hasty/naive
252spatk/252spd/4atk
steadfast
moves:
- psychic
- ice punch
- aura sphere
- work up/???/???

I'd go with a mild/naughty nature, a scarf and then a moveset like Aura Sphere, HP Ice, Earthquake, Close Combat

[Eaglehawk]

can someone help me with this set.

Dragonair (M) @ Eviolite
Trait: Shed Skin
EVs: 168 Atk / 100 SDef / 240 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Dragon Dance
- Outrage
- Waterfall
- ExtremeSpeed

i don't know what item, it should have and the ev's or the moves. i want it to kind of be a bulky sweeper. any suggestions?

You might want to make it a bulky Dragon Dance set. Max out its HP, and invest some into both defenses, then the rest into speed. Now considering you have Shed Skin, you can try running Rest over ExtremeSpeed.

[ObeyMudkips]

I thought of an idea for Onix outside of the Little Cup Tier.

Onix @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy | Impish Nature
EVs: 4 Attack | 252 Defense | 252 Speed
Rest | Sleep Talk | Dragon Tail | Roar

The idea here is for this Onix to be partnered with a Pokemon such as Ferrothorn (Garbodor in lower tiers) who could legitimately learn at least one of the entry hazards, Toxic Spikes, Spikes, and Stealth Rock. Use that Pokemon to set up as many layers of hazards as you can before it faints. If that Pokemon is able to set up at least one layer of any hazard before it does faint, you are ready to put Onix into the battle. So when Onix gets into the battle you could do one of two things

1) If the opposing Pokemon has a base speed faster than 70 and is a Special Attacker, use Rest right away. Assuming none of the opposing team's hazards have been set up, you should be able to survive the blow with 1 HP thanks to your ability, Sturdy.

2) Attack with Roar or Dragon Tail (whichever is more appropriate for the situation) and let the Pokemon that replaces it suffer from the entry hazards you set up earlier.

At one point, you're going to have to use Rest. When you do you use Rest, you have a 66.6% chance of hitting the opposing Pokemon with a phazing move. That will send them into more entry hazards eventually whittling down their HP. Now, you're probably wondering about this set's weaknesses.

1) Any Pokemon with a base speed faster than 70 that can attack specially. This is because Onix only has 70 base speed and has a horrible special defense of 45.

2) Any Pokemon that can learn Rapid Spin. Without the entry hazards, Onix is useless.

3) Water and Grass moves in general. This is because Onix has a 4x weakness to them.

4) The move Taunt. This will shutdown Onix as his only attacking move is Dragon Tail.


But with its weaknesses, this set has its partners.

1) A lead Pokemon, with entry hazards such as Garbodor or Ferrothorn.

2) A Spinblocker (Ghost Type) so the opponent can't Rapid Spin all of your hazards away. Examples include Cofagrigus.

3) Not required but a Pokemon with Magic Bounce so you can reflect entry hazards and Taunt.

[Pichu47]

^It doesn't work that well because it is outclassed, but if you were to run one, make the ev's 252 hp 252 spD, change roar to stealth rocks, make nature careful and run in the sand.

[ObeyMudkips]

^It doesn't work that well because it is outclassed, but if you were to run one, make the ev's 252 hp 252 spD, change roar to stealth rocks, make nature careful and run in the sand.

I'm not sure how that would work because even with max special defense it's still only 207.
But the rest is good.

[Pichu47]

^But when you run it in sandstorm, it will make it 1.5 times better.

[Black Murder Heavangelon]

Anger Point

An ability that maxes out your Attack stat if you take a critical hit. Like a critical hit in the first place, this ability needs a lot of luck to work out, for taking a critical hit and living it. Unfortunately, the users of this ability are not too bulky in that one wrong switchin can spell doom for your pokemon.

To best abuse Anger Point is to use it as a counter to Super Luck. Thankfully, all users of Anger Point and Super Luck can be found in the same tier (Except maybe Krookodile and Togekiss I'm out of the loop here) so a confrontation between these two pokemon is likely. It's best to switch in on a resisted move to get the boost, which takes a lot of luck. But if you can turn an opponents luck against them, Anger Point will have served you well.


Tauros@Leftovers
Impish - 252 Def/252 HP/4 Atk or 4 Spe
-Substitute
-Pursuit/Rock Slide
-Return
-Wild Charge/Earthquake

Tauros is the fastest user of Anger Point and also happens to be the bulkiest. Intimidate makes it better for Tauros to switch in, especially with that EV spread, but your plan is to come in and expect a critical hit so the maximum bulk is necessary.

Anger Point activates behind a Substitute, bringing up your Attack stat safely. And you better hope it happens so that the boost makes up for the EVs. Pursuit lets you deal some damage to Ghosts which Tauros just loves switching into. But if you'd rather set up a Sub as they switch or attack, Rock Slide can replace Pursuit. Return is your standard Normal STAB. Wild Charge is preferred if you want to run Pursuit, so that you can hit Skarmory. But Earthquake is suggested if you want to run Rock Slide along with it.

You can run 120 HP EVs so that you can make 4 Subs, but you lose out on a lot of bulk. If you find yourself shooting for a fourth Substitute more often, feel free to move the EVs to Speed.


Primeape@Salac Berry
Jolly - 200 HP/252 Spe/56 Atk
-Substitute
-Close Combat
-Fire Punch
-Rock Slide/Stone Edge

Primeape is fast, but not as bulky as Tauros, as if. Therefore, this set focuses on getting Subs up quickly and pray that you get that critical hit in. The HP EVs let you make 4 Subs, 4 chances to get that Anger Point boost. Close Combat, Fire Punch, and Rock Slide give you the invincible Fighting Fire Rock combo. If your HP whittles down to Salac berry activation, You can outspeed a wide majority of the metagame. You're vulnerable to priority, however, but provided you have the Sub up before you meet any, you're unstoppable.

The classic SubSalac strategy seems to mend really well with the idea of Anger Point. It's really hard to pull off, but if you succeed, you can start your sweep.


Camerupt@Leftovers
Jolly - 252 Spe/252 Atk/4 Def
-Substitute
-Flame Charge/Rock Polish
-Earthquake
-Rock Slide

Notice a trend here? Yes. All of these sets have Substitute. It's necessary. As Anger Point still activates behind a Sub, it is the key to your pokemon taking a crit and living. Get used to it.

Of all of the Anger Point users, only Camerupt gets Rock Polish and Flame Charge, a Fire physical STAB that boosts his speed as he uses it. Perfect for using with Anger Point, as you can become fast enough to nab a Substitute before taking a fatal blow, like a critical hit maybe? Earthquake is your other Ground STAB. And Rock Slide rounds up the coverage with the unresisted Fire Ground Rock combo. Camerupt needs no HP EVs here as, oddly enough, he can make 4 Subs without any investments. If you want some bulk, however, 160 HP EVs adds bulk and still lets you off with 4 Subs.

What's vital in this set is his need to get the Flame Charge boosts. He needs at least two to start outrunning stuff, but only one Rock Polish to get some blistering speed. STAB or quick speed. It's up to you. If you can get either happening, you're in the clear.


Poor Krookodile. He's really missing out on Anger Point. He has the most HP of the Anger Point users, but lacks any way to boost his speed up. If you want an Anger Point set with Krookodile, you can make a similar SubSalac set as seen on Primeape, with Earthquake, Crunch, and Rock Slide for your moves. Because the sets are TOO similar, Krookodile is excluded from this ability breakdown.


Mankey performs similar to Primeape utilizing an Anger Point set, and is the only pokemon that can utilize it in LC (Numel gets Own Tempo and Sandile is slower, and it's already been established that they would have similar sets).


But can it be better?

Anger Point is good as it is. A real answer would be that there are no way to improve its effectiveness. It's a dead end ability.

The other way it could be improved is with better distribution. If it somehow got on a bulky pokemon, like one that can boost its Defenses and has access to Drain Punch (oh dear god) it can see some notable use.


That's it for Anger Point. Tomorrow, I'm doing Arena Trap (lolz).

[ChaosBlizzard]

Gyarados @ Leftovers
Nature: Jolly
Ability: Moxie
EVs: 252 Attack / 252 Speed / 4 HP
-Dragon Dance
-Waterfall
-Ice Fang
-Earthquake

Gyarados is literally as old as dirt in the Pokemon world, so everyone knows how he works. Choice sets aside, there are basically two kinds of Gyarados: Bulky DD or Offensive DD. At this point, everyone had figured out how to beat the two sets; this set tries to combine the good things from those two DD variations, while removing the things people find to counter it.

The Offensive DD Gyarados frequently stops its own sweep by getting itself within revenge killing range from residual Life Orb damage. Throw a wall at it, wait for it to dwindle its own HP down to <25%, and then Ice Shard or Extremespeed it. This set goes the exact opposite route and trades the power of LO (which honestly becomes negligible after Moxie kicks in) for the recovery of Leftovers. Gyarados continually gets more and more healthy as he sweeps, while still maintaining high power.

The Bulky DD set has the problem of having good special bulk, but no physical bulk, and not great special bulk. The Bulky DD requires more DDs than the offensive one, so while he's still trying to set up, Zapdos, Conkeldurr or Tyranitar can come in and force him out, if not outright KO him. This set maintains the offensive power of the Offensive DD to require less DDs for an effective sweep. This mostly comes thanks to Moxie; the Bulky DD set runs Intimidate, which helps for setup, but requires more setup to be useful. With a single +1 to Speed from DD, Gyarados has all he needs to gain the majority of his Attack boosts from Moxie instead of further DDs.

Three rookie Gyarados mistakes that are common to both of the sets are (1) Using Adamant instead of Jolly, (2) Using Bounce over EQ, and (3) Using Stone Edge over Ice Fang.

(1) Adamant Gyarados gains some power, but is outsped by a significant number of counters that do not outspeed Jolly. Most of the Gyarados sweeps I've stopped have been because I outsped thanks to the Gyarados not having Jolly. This set runs Jolly to prevent that.

(2) Bounce is useful to counter Fighting types, but as much as you'd like to, you shouldn't be switching Gyarados into Fighting this generation anyway. Most Fighting-types pack Stone Edge to counter Gyarados anyway, so if you try to switch into Fighting to start your sweep, you're going to be in for a rude awakening. You have to take out Fighting after you've got your DDs and Moxie boosts, at which point you can just opt for Waterfall or Earthquake. Earthquake, conversely, is even more important to counter the likes of Ferrothorn and other Steels who wall the set. Basically, Bounce has lessened in significance over the generational shift, while Earthquake has gained significance. This set runs EQ over Bounce.

(3) Stone Edge hits harder, and hits Flying-types, but Ice Fang hits pretty hard too, and not only also hits Flying-types, but also Grass and Dragon, who take laughable damage from his other moves. Basically, Ice Fang hits weaker, but it covers the same stuff as Stone Edge and more.

* * *

I've been doing my research on Gyarados; I wanted to make one that maintained both the power of the Offensive DD set, the survivability of the Bulky DD set, and also spiked out of many of the common counters and rookie mistakes. Obviously there are still things that can cripple him, status while he is setting up being foremost on that list. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

tl;dr derp Gyarados