As I was looking at Fire Pledge's article on Bulbapedia off a whim, I noticed all the Pledge moves got boosted from a weak 50 base power to a somewhat workable 80 this generation. Considering the respective effects of the Pledge combinations-- and apparently the base damage doubles to a hefty 160 base power for a single attack-- can they be used more effectively in competitive Double battles now? Or maybe Triples? I guess maybe it's a bit early to ask, but I wouldn't mind some feedback on the matter either way.
Singles is really where I shine, but base 80 power is certainly usable when compared to the base 90 power Flamethrower, Ice Beam and Energy Ball, with the possibility of extra effects. Just have to make sure you have Pokemon that work well together that can use those moves and that can be hard to do effectively, given that only starters get them.
bare in mind scald does 80 damage as well, so I find its a better choice over water pledge for the burn hax. In that case, they're only really useful for particular teams that use the combo moves
I think the problem with pledge moves is less their BP and more who gets them... I mean, here's your choice:
Kanto starters - all decent choices, but require megas/sun to be effective
Johto Starters - all awful choices, and even so Typhlosion has a better choice in Eruption when in doubles
Hoenn starters - Blaziken is banned, Swampert is physical, Sceptile is a good choice, I guess
Sinnoh Starters - Empoleon and Infernape could work, I guess, Torterra is awful, for the most part
Unova Starters - Erm... Serperior is either not being used or has Contrary released. Samurott is... Well, he's samurott xD And emboar is more physical
Kalos starters - Chesnaught is physical, Greninja is good, Delphox is... Okay, I guess?
So yeah, there's like 6-7 mon that can use it semi-well =/
Quote from: RubyRobin on January 23, 2014, 21:35
Hoenn starters - Blaziken is banned, Swampert is physical, Sceptile is a good choice, I guess
Blaziken is not banned in the Smogon Doubles format. The only Pokémon that are banned are the obvious high stat total legendaries like Arceus, Mewtwo, Kyogre etc.
Quote from: Raphetty on May 08, 2014, 01:39
Blaziken is not banned in the Smogon Doubles format. The only Pokémon that are banned are the obvious high stat total legendaries like Arceus, Mewtwo, Kyogre etc.
Ah, fair enough, but still he's generally a physical attacker and I believe the pledge moves are special, so it still probably isn't the best choice =/
Another thing to note is that they're fairly obvious to spot in team preview. Anyone toting two starters together in a doubles format is basically guaranteed to be trying some pledge team. At least, if I saw that then the possibility would certainly cross my mind. I actually think Mega-Charizard Y plus Chlorophyll Venasaur could definitely work.
Is sub-petaya a viable strategy in doubles? I guess there's a strong chance of the sub being focused by both opposing pokemon, but getting your blaze/torrent/overgrow, and then +1 from the petaya berry and an amazing 160 BP move on top of all of that sounds waayyyy too good. Worth using just for swag points.