Author Topic: Competitor's Corner  (Read 1643 times)

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Offline Earth Traveler

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Competitor's Corner
« on: June 05, 2013, 16:11 »
Hi there!
This is my new pseudo-blog where I attempt to issue competitive battling advice in the form of analyzing Pokemon and offering up movesets. I might throw in some random analyses of other stuff too. Anyway, I'll try to analyze something new at least 3 times a week. Feel free to inject your opinion, make suggestions, or rant about how terrible my last post was.
Here goes...
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Venusaur - Grass/Poison type
Abilities: Overgrow, Chlorophyll
Base Stats
HP - 80
Atk - 82
Def - 83
SpA - 100
SpD - 100
Spd - 80

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Sun Sweeper
@Life Orb
Ability: Chlorophyll
Nature: Modest
EVs: 4/0/0/252/0/252
Moves:
-Solarbeam
-Sludge Bomb
-HP Fire/HP Psychic
-Sunny Day/Growth/Synthesis
Solarbeam is obvious on this set, a 120 BP STAB attack running off base 100 SpA.  Sludge Bomb gets STAB and is a special attack, as well as a 30% Poison rate (regular Poison, unfortunately) and it gives Venusaur a way to get by enemy Grass-types. The Hidden Power is a somewhat tough decision: HP Psychic has a shot at OHKOing Gengar without a critical hit, whereas HP Fire allows Venusaur to not get completely walled by Steel-types, and as such will be the weapon of choice. The fourth move is really filler; Sunny Day restarts strong sun, Growth juices up Venusaur's Special Attack, and Synthesis restores health lost by Life Orb recoil.

Annoyer
@Black Sludge/Leftovers
Ability: Overgrow
Nature: Bold
EVs: 100/0/200/8/200/0
Moves:
-Giga Drain
-Sleep Powder
-Toxic
-Leech Seed
This set is for the more adventurous among you. Lead with Sleep Powder, then either seed the sleeping Pokemon/switch-in or use Toxic to cripple the switch-in. Use Giga Drain to replenish health in tandem with Leech Seed. The hold item depends on how adventurous you feel: Black Sludge can harm your opponent potentially, but can also harm you potentially, whereas Leftovers can't harm you or your opponent.
-----------------------------------------
Other options

Uhhh... You can change the Hidden Power type to Bug to get past Psychic-types, I guess. You can try running some sort of physically attacking set, but base 82 Attack will only get you so far, so it's really just a gimmick. You could throw your opponent for a loop and run Sleep Powder on the sweeper set I guess, too.
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Counters

All versions of Venusaur lacking HP Fire will get completely walled by Steel-types. All versions of Venusar period get walled by special walls such as Blissey. Choice Banded Heracross will OHKO Sun Sweeper Venusaur with Megahorn 100% of the time. Also threatening the Sun Sweeper are weather-changers such as Politoed and Abomasnow. Major threats to the Annoyer include anything with Sap Sipper, like Tauros or Sawsbuck.
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Final Rating

4.5/5 stars

For all those counters to Venusaur, it is still, if used correctly, a very good Pokemon, so don't hesitate to stick it on your sun team or annoyer team.

Offline Earth Traveler

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Re: Competitor's Corner
« Reply #1 on: June 07, 2013, 16:12 »
Now's the time for my next post... after nobody commented on my first one, suspiciously, as if they were trying to drive me away because that analysis sucked (oh wait, it did).
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Slaking - Normal                Medicham - Psychic/Fighting
Ability: Truant                  Abilities: Pure Power, Telepathy
Base Stats:                      Base Stats:
HP - 150                         HP - 60
Atk - 160                        Atk - 60
Def - 100                        Def - 75
SpA - 95                         SpA - 60
SpD - 65                         SpD - 75
Spd - 100                        Spd - 80

Slaking is one of my favorite Pokemon (which explains why I lose more than I win) because it's strong and lazy, like me. So lazy, in fact, that it has to rest every other turn, which neutralizes its great strength. So what's a poor, ability-crippled Pokemon to do? Why, get into a double battle, get its ability changed to the best in the game, and start murdering things.

------------------------------
Swap 'n' Sweep
Slaking:       @Life Orb    Nature: Jolly    EVs: 4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spd
Medicham:   @Choice Scarf  Nature: Jolly            EVs: 252 HP/4 Def/252 Spd
                 Ability: Pure Power
Slaking's Moves
-Earthquake
-Night Slash
-Return
-Fire Punch

Medicham's Moves
-Skill Swap
-3 more moves if you want

Simple strategy: Medicham uses Skill Swap on Slaking to give it Pure Power, then tell your opponent, "Good luck," because they'll need it to stop an 838 Attack behemoth with base 100 Speed and base 150 HP. Earthquake annihilates Rock- and Steel-types, Night Slash tears Ghosts apart, Body Slam's just a good STAB move, and Fire Punch will destroy Skarmory. To add to your fun, after Skill Swapping Pure Power on to Slaking and Truant on to Medicham, you can dump Truant off on your opponent.

Other Options

You can, uh, change Slaking to Regigigas or Medicham to Gengar or Alakazam, I guess...

Counters

If you can get Pure Power on to Slaking, you've pretty much already won, so in getting it on to is where you'll likely be stopped. Prankster/Aerodactyl Taunts will shut this combo down, which means you'll have to switch out and try to Taunt the Taunter. Also, Medicham could get KO'd (an extremely unlikely event) if your opponent leads with Aerodactyl and Jolteon.

Final Rating

4 out of 5 stars

Gets marked down for being difficult to pull off, but extremely effective once it does get pulled off.
« Last Edit: June 10, 2013, 16:09 by OHKOMaster »

Offline Earth Traveler

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Re: Competitor's Corner
« Reply #2 on: June 10, 2013, 16:45 »
Time for another addition of Competitor's Corner. Today's victim (in light of Richard's last article and sympathy of it): Flareon. :'(
--------------------------------------
Flareon
HP - 65
Atk - 130
Def - 60
SpA - 95
SpD - 110
Spd - 65

Flareon must've done something pretty bad just before the release of RBY, because I think they decided to then to give him a crappy movepool and take 50 base points off half his stats. Anyway, I'll try to save this unfortunate, lost soul from the clutches of Nintendo.
---------------------------------
Physical Attacker 
@Life Orb
Ability: Flash Fire
Nature: Hasty
EVs: 4/252/0/0/0/252
Moves:
-Overheat
-Iron Tail
-Superpower
-Quick Attack
If you can somehow find a way to bring Flareon in safely (on a Fire attack or following a KO), do so and proceed to use Overheat off that respectable base 95 SpA and destroy your only STAB move. After you're done with that, Flareon has a few more lousy options. Iron Tail hits Rock-types upside the head 75% of the time, Superpower does the same thing with better accuracy (and it hits Steel-types super-effectively after Overheat's been destroyed), and Quick Attack can be used to actually outrun something and maybe surprise KO it.

Other Options

WHAT other options? You can try running a support movepool with Wish, Protect, and some other stuff, but base 65 HP and 60 Def undermine that great 110 Special Def, so it's not very viable. You can use Fire Fang over Overheat and actually use it multiple times, but Overheat has more power to start and a surprise factor, and Flareon needs every advantage it can get. But feel free to use Fire Fang anyway.

Counters

Slowbro, Slowking, Tentacruel, Gyarados, Starmie, and Jellicent (and many others) completely wall Flareon and can deal serious damage back. Golurk has to watch out for Overheat but can come in afterwards and OHKO Flareon easily with Earthquake. If Flareon eats a Toxic, that in itself is a counter with base 65 HP. I'll stop right here, because I want this section to end eventually.

Final Rating

2.5 out of 5 stars

Bonus points for sticking it out in the face of adversity, but the thing is just simply not that good. Deplore yourselves, Nintendo! And get this thing Guts!
« Last Edit: June 10, 2013, 16:48 by OHKOMaster »

Offline Earth Traveler

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Re: Competitor's Corner
« Reply #3 on: June 15, 2013, 19:50 »
It's time for another analysis. Why? Because I said so, that's why. Today's victim: the Gyaravire combo. :ohmy:
-----------------------------
Gyarados          Electivire
HP - 95            HP - 75
Atk - 125         Atk - 123
Def - 79           Def - 67
SpA - 60          SpA - 95
SpD - 100         SpD - 85
Spd - 81           Spd - 95

This strategy looked good on paper (send out Gyarados to draw an Electric attack, then send in Electivire to absorb it and get it a Speed boost), but opponents started getting free KOs off this combo so it fell into disuse. But can it be saved?
-------------------
Gyarados:   @Leftovers       Nature: Jolly       EVs: 4/252/0/0/0/252
Electivire:   @Life Orb          Nature: Jolly       EVs: 4/252/0/0/0/252
Gyarados' Moves
-Waterfall
-Earthquake
-Dragon Dance
-Thunder Wave/Stone Edge

Electivire's Moves
-Wild Charge
-Ice Punch
-Cross Chop/Brick Break
-Earthquake

Usually, if your opponent is good at prediction, this strategy falls apart on the switch to Electivire, during which your opponent will bring in a Dugtrio, etc. and scare out Electivire with the threat of an OHKO, and Rock Slide/Stone Edge will dish out heavy damage to Gyarados if he switches back in. Only this time, you predict that switch on the turn when you'd usually switch, and either use Dragon Dance or Waterfall (or Earthquake, I suppose). Then after you either boost or get a KO, your opponent will ACTUALLY use an Electric-move to get rid of the threat of Gyarados, allowing you set up an Electivire sweep. Or, alternatively, they won't and you score another KO or boost and pull a Gyarados sweep.

Other Options

Stop reading this.

Counters

Getting out-predicted is the biggest threat to this strategy, as it will either lead to your opponent getting a cheap KO (i.e. Gyarados getting zapped) or the strategy getting disabled.

Final Rating

3.25 out of 5 stars

Marked down for being somewhat difficult to pull off, but effective when it does get pulled off.

Offline f3raligatr

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Re: Competitor's Corner
« Reply #4 on: June 15, 2013, 20:32 »
From my own experiences, the biggest problem with the Gyaravire combination is Electivire itself. Really cool Pokémon, solid coverage, but it's got so many problems with it that it makes it so hard to use, especially as you're carrying this Pokémon with the idea of gaining a Speed boost from a well-predicted Electric attack, something that seems a lot of work for somebody like Electivire who isn't that brilliant to begin with.

Electivire's biggest problems are it's speed and it's defences along with the fact that it's a pure Electric type. Had it been Electric/Fighting, forget about it, would've been so much better. But Electivire as a pure Electric Pokémon just cannot offer you anything that Raikou or Jolteon can't on the Special front, only as a physical sweeper (apparently Luxray or Eelektross are the next best?) but a pure Electric physical sweeper isn't too fantastic. And like you say, if your opponent is smart and switches in their counter for an Electric Pokémon in, your entire strategy is exposed and it makes it so much harder to pull it off the next time. Not to mention that Electivire can't take many Rock moves, the ones that Gyarados are commonly pelted with, so it's not really a partner it can switch into that easily. It used to be paired alongside Garchomp as the trio covered each other's weaknesses really well, actually, back at the start of Generation IV.. although a lack of decent physical STAB (Spark was it's best move) really hurt poor 'vire.

In short, my own opinion (if it counts for anything) is that the Electivire/Gyarados is just too big a risk for too little a return. It's a shame the Cell Battery has to have taken damage from an Electric move for it to activate, otherwise a free Dragon Dance for Electivire switching in would have been so much better for the strategy. Your best opinion with both is to use them separately without the Motor Drive activation in mind, but it's there if you're 100% certain you can get in 'vire in on that Electric move, and that it's counters have already sustained some damage so that it can hit hard with it's superb coverage.

09-07-2013 & 12-08-2013
beyond the suffering you've known
i hope you find your way
may you never be broken again