Topic: Unsuspected, "unviable" Niche Pokémon of the Day

[the bread dragon]

i hate this.

[SirBlaziken]

Cool story bro.

I actually like shedinja, it's just frustrating as hell to use.

[SaRo|Rapidash]

Hmm, I'd never considered baton passing a sub to shedinja, but I guess it makes a lot of sense, especially if you used it tandem with like Focus Sash to give you three lives basically

[Delicious_Scout]

What? What.

__________

Today, because trolling Richard/Dick is necessary, the Pokémon that will be covered is Drapion.

Spiderscorp, Spiderscorp, it does everything MetaSprite can do.

Let me be honest with you: Drapion is one of the most specialised Pokémon that have ever graced competitive lands. This does not mean great effectiveness, though, because, even with well-rounded stats and a great typing in Poison/Dark, Drapion is too specific for most teams; they are almost always better off using another thing for offence, physical defence, hazard setting, and stall breaking. However, if given a chance, or THE chance, Drapion can become the most valuable player of one's team by multi-tasking efficiently. Add to the forumula great abilities in Battle Armor, Sniper, and the non-so-brilliant Keen Eye, and Drapion is ready to rumble with stats like these:

Drapion

HP: 70 | Attack: 90 | Defence: 110 | Special Attack: 60 | Special Defence: 75 | Speed: 95

Depending on the team, Drapion can and should addapt to their needs, but generally they do not tend to deviate a lot from this if it is used in OU:



What is a friend?

Drapion @ Black Sludge
Impish/Careful Nature (+Def/SpD, -SpA)
EV: 252 HP/Split between two defences
Ability: Battle Armor

Toxic Spikes
Taunt/Whirlwind
Knock Off
Earthquake/Rock Slide

Before starting, Black Sludge and Assault Vest are used for different reasons. If you want a physically defensive Toxic Spiker, then Black Sludge is the obvious choice. But the use of Assault Vest is not so evident, as Drapion has somewhat lacking power taking into account the moves it learns and its base 90 Attack. In those cases, think of Drapion as Gengar's counter, a Pokémon that usually screws up most teams. It can also lure Ground Types and non-Mega Evolved Venusaurs to hit them hard with Ice Fang, or Steel Types to end them with Fire Fang, although Drapion needs maximum power to achieve some 2HKOs without Stealth Rock or Spikes in the field.

Black Sludge's set is easy to explain: deliver the Toxic Spikes while avoiding them to be removed. Drapion, thankfully, has the stats and movepool to achieve such a task. With Taunt, Drapion can prevent Defoggers to blow them away, while Whirlpool, due to Drapion's notable bulk, can be used to Poison or Toxic more opponents, as well as dragging favourable matches for Drapion. In case of an unfavourable match (or a Pokémon weak to Dark), Knock Off should be used to easily help your team in case of having to switch out or to effectively terminate the opponent. In the last slot, both Earthquake and Rock Slide are acceptable options; Earthauqke hits Excadrill, a common Rapid Spinner, while Rock Slide should damage Flying Types that carry Defog; Latios, on the other hand, due to Levitate and its typing, will hate to switch into Knock Off.

If you are gutsy enough, 76, 204, and 240 EV in Speed are the benchmarks to superate if one wants to outspeed Gliscor's most common sets. Doing so might result in a great result if Gliscor does not use Protect, because Drapion can then proceed to Knock Off Gliscor's Toxic Orb, thus being the latter in a very tight situation. Taunting or attacking it with Ice Fang next are great options if it decides to stay in.



Drapion Strike: Luring Offensive

Drapion @ Assault Vest
Adamant Nature (+Att, -SpA)
EV: 248 HP/252 Att/8 SpD
Ability: Battle Armor

Poison Jab
Fire Fang/Ice Fang/Rock Slide
Knock Off
Earthquake/Ice Fang/Fire Fang

This set requires a lot of effort and prediction, and even more coordination than the previous set, but its reward is greater if played as it is supposed to: surprise factor. This would be a gimmick if Drapion had no moves or enough Attack, but this is not the case, and due to the h4xy nature of the attacks, Drapion can be even harder to take down.

Poison Jab is the main attacking move, and it also has a healthy chance (30%) of poisoning the enemy, which really helps Drapion due to its not-so-stellar offensive stats. Because that move can attract Steel-Types, especially Ferrothorn and Scizor, Fire Fang can be used. If Flying, Dragon and Ground Types are your concern, Ice Fang should do the trick, while Rock Slide is worht of mention because it gets rid of Talonflame, Mega Charizard Y, and Mega pinsir, not to say it his Flying types with more power. Knock Off is the second STAB, and it hits decently hard whilst it also supports the team. The last slot is quite hard to decide; in this case, Earthquake is preferred over the other options due to its great coverage and damage output, but in case you want to cover more specific threats, Fire Fang and Ice Fang are decent options, but having two base 65 Power attacks might be a letdown. If Ice Fang has been chosen before, Rock Slide can be present, but the overall damage output will be low.

As with the other set, more Speed can be included, but beware because this set has less bulk than the other one; you are risking yourself being OHKOed by Excadrill's Earthquake. Talking about Earthquake, Ground is Drapion's only weakness, it resists Poison, Grass, Ghost, and Dark (although the latter two are a bit redundant), and it is immune to Psychic. Use this information to your advantage while switching into, for example, Grass Knot Greninja if your health is high enough.

Drapion, the gigantic scorpion Pokémon. Often forgotten, Drapion should not be underestimated due to anything; if it works, you will pay the consequences.

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So, what do you think about Drapion? Why do you think it is so specific? Will Drapion be anyone's favourite Pokémon? More in the next user-article!

[SirBlaziken]

Drapion is a textbook of the phrase, jack of all trades, master of none. I like it a lot, but as much as I used to (because aegislash and chandelure, which are both ghost and awesome as well).

I may have to try this.

[E.C.A.M.B.S.]

For every article, is the set that you introduce first the one that you prefer slightly more?

[SirBlaziken]

^I'm thinking that the first one listed is the one he thinks is more practical.

[Spriter]

Drapion's a pretty good physically defensive Pokémon, definitely not a jack-of-all-trades - Mew is way worse when it comes to that. Special Defensive is also quite solid, but maybe not in OU. In RU it is quite solid.

Good article(s) though, well done

[Delicious_Scout]

No, I write them in the following manner: I first list the "politically correct" sets, and later I move on to the "what" one. Talking about "what"…

__________

Today, one of the most "what" users of our glorious website is going to be written about. And that member whose gender changes constantly is… Bread/Chris(t).

Credits? In Roviet Sussia, Pokémon gives credit to this sprite!

Bread is one of those members whose presence in the forums is obscure yet highly recognisable. He leaves, in fact, both physycally and virtually, traces of blood and rainbows. However, no one has been able to follow his trails, so it is unknown where he currently is. Nonetheless, one thing is sure; his IP is sexy, and so are his typing (Electric/Steel) and stats:

Bread

HP: 85 | Attack:  135 | Defence: 92 | Special Attack:  145 | Special Defence: 90 | Speed: 133

Daddy, would you like some set-sages?



Sense? What is that?

Bread @ Strange Souvenir
Quirky Nature (+Random, -Capitalism)
EV: 72 HP/112 Att/8 Def/44 SpA/56 SpD/216 Spe
Ability: Defiant

Metronome
Splash
Swagger/Celebrate
Torment

"Simple goal, simple moves: win by chance using NU Pokémon and obscure moves". That was Bread's motto until Ash stole his line. "New times, new strategies" is his current saying, and this set capitalises on that: by using a combination of Metronome and three more moves, Bread can literally have a different battle every time he steps on the battlefied. Splash, Swagger (If not banned)/Celebrate, and Torment are mainly fillers, but are part of Bread's personality. The Nature, then, is a must with those moves, and the EV are like these because they look swaggie. Moreover, Defiant because they must obey you. The Strange Souvenir is chosen as his object because it represents how weird and interesting Bread is.



ur mom

Bread @ Quick Claw
Hasty Nature (+xXxSniping360, -Spark)
EV: 248 HP/128 Att/128 SpA/4 Spe
Ability: Stall

Zap Cannon/Swagger
Flash Cannon/Swagger
Focus Blast/Swagger
Stone Edge/Swagger

Bread's natural hunting area is the chat, where he can pull off a 360 no scope headshot on anyone within the chat borders. Because of this, low-accuracy moves are a clear choice for Bread; Zap Cannon, Focus Blast, and Stone Edge are all top choices, and Flash Cannon is chosen because of cannons. If you think you lack swag, 420, or aim, substitute any move in favour of Swagger. The nature is Hasty and the ability Stall to give these n00bs some advantage, but because of this, Bread is forced to carry a Quick Claw. Of course, the EV are the maximum to endure opponent n00b's comments, bullets, and so on; 128 in both Attacking stats give those scrubs a chance at surviving if you body-shoot them (unlikely) and more are not required because Headshots already do enough damage to rek them. 4 Speed are for the lulz.



Where's Wallessa?

Bread @ Destiny Knot
Adamant Nature (+Love, -Life)
EV: 252 Att/4 Def/252 Spe
Ability: Keen Eye

Odor Sleuth
Teleport
Bind/Swagger
Destiny Bond

Yes, our Bread might be a very unpredictable battler and a swaggie sniper, but he also needs love. In fact, he once kept away from his beloved madame a period of one month; it might not seem an eternity, but they did not communicate to each other via electronic devices.

Until Bread was fed up of his forced loneliness.

Bread, then, grabbed an Adamant nature, a maximised physical damage output (the typical 252 Att/4 Def/252 Spe spread), and a Destiny Knot to begin his quest for his damsel. "What did he do?", you might be wondering. Knowing Bread, you should already suppose it: he used Olor Sleuth to follow her to her love lair. Confused by her divine smell, he got dizzy and, while talking to a by-passing wizard when he was triping, Bread learnt how to use Teleport. Nevertheless, Bread forgot what was going on because the wizard invited him afterwards to his tripping party. One month and sixty-nine hours later, Bread got the brilliant idea to use Teleport for the first time without knowing how it worked; he got in Tokyo, then Tokyo again, New Zealand, Gabe Newell's restroom, Nicole's home, and, finally, where he was supposed to go: his darling's home. They met again, hugged, kissed each other, shared swag, and decided to make it a serious relationship for once; Bind was then used, although some affirm that Bread's Swagger was enough to turn her into his b****. Later on, when they entered each other's impregnable castle by the force of their will and arms, magic happened: the stoned wizard popped in unannounced: his intention was to go to Mordor to ask a risk-free security to Sauron, but the wizard felt that his trip and Bread's swag were more important, so he used Destiny Bond on the couple… and now they are known as the "Sandvich". Good thing he had "Keen Eye"…

like dis if u cri evrytiem

Bread, the "what-the" user. Del's main competitor in swag and reks, Bread is proven to be excellent in many fields, thus underestimating him will cost you your dignity and self-esteem.

__________

So, what do you think about Bread? 2OP4u? Is OP a fa****? Will he ever made sense to non-swaggie people? Next for Monday!

Schedule? What is a schedule?

[SirBlaziken]

I have no idea what that was. I don't even.....

[Spriter]

Wow, brilliant xD

Uh, bread is now the secondary source of the most confusing article done so far. Fun.

[Kerou 犠牲]

you know you want to

[E.C.A.M.B.S.]

Is Vigoroth worth doing?

[SirBlaziken]

Cover Ninetales out of pity (it's PU now).

[Delicious_Scout]

Is Vigoroth worth doing?

Nichts da. There are plenty of Normal Physical attackers. If you want to exploit the fact it can use Eviolite or Vital Spirit, go ahead.

Cover Ninetales out of pity (it's PU now).

That would oblige me to cover Infernape (HA!). Moreover, Drought is illegal in PU; in fact, the only tiers in which Drought is allowed are Über and OU, what would make Ninetales with Drought strictly OU. I will consider it, though.

you know you want to

Ehm… nope. Choice it and you are fine. NOT like today's Pokémon, which is loathed by Jamie.

__________

Today, one of the most gangsta birds is about to be present in this article, and this can not be any other than… Honchkrow.

MetaSprite and Honchkrow recommend you to soak milk every dang day.

Ah, Honchkrow; trust me when I say that in case you are unable to outspeed Honchkrow and use a status-type recovery move while in low health you are likely going to have a lot of problems. In the reign of offensive birds, none is as versatily-offensive as Honchkrow; just take a look at its stats to find out why:

Honchkrow

HP: 100 | Attack: 125 | Defence: 52 | Special Attack: 105 | Special Defence: 52 | Speed: 71

Unlike Talonflame and Staraptor, Honchkrow can actually make use of its Special Attack if needed, and the fun does not end here: along Insomnia and Superluck, two adequate abilities, Honchkrow can as well have access to Moxie, turning any KO by direct damage (damaging, non-status attack, therefore, Toxic or any other status caused by a damaging move) into a +1 in Attack. This, coming from base 125 Attack, is a nightmare to face. Add to the forumla a Life Orb, a Priority (STAB) Attack in Sucker Punch, a trapping move in Pursuit, and Honchkrow is ready to break most walls, and even sweep if given the chance.

Keep in mind that most sets can be modified move-wise, and this is the most common one:



Snoop Birdd

Honchkrow @ Life Orb
Adamant/Naughty Nature (+Att, -SpA/SpD)
EV: 252 Att/4 SpD (4 SpA if using Naughty)/252 Spe
Ability: Moxie

Sucker Punch
Brave Bird
Pursuit/Heat Wave/Hidden Power Ice/Superpower/Roost
Pursuit/Heat Wave/Hidden Power Ice/Superpower/Substitute

"Damage, destroy, defeat". And this is Honchkrow used by a berserker. Yes, this Pokémon can use an all-out attacker set consisting Sucker Punch for revenge killing and putting pressure on the enemy, Brave Bird for general mayhem, Pursuit to play very strong mindgames with Sucker Punch, and either Superpower, Hidden Power Ice, or Heat Wave for Steel types, although Superpower does take care of Tyranitar and hits Rotom-W for neutral damage; Heat Wave, instead, provides a useful means of defeating these Pokémon that heavily invest in physical defence. Hidden Power Ice, however, easily 2HKOs many Dragons, Landorus, and Gliscor, and in case of wanting to OHKO them after Stealth Rock damage, 184 EV in SpA can be used.

There is a more defensive yet surprisingly efficient way to play with Honchkrow, though. By changing any of the moves from the third for Roost, Honchkrow gains the ability to recover health everytime it causes a switch; this is extremely useful in case Life Orb recoil might seem fatal when Honchkrow has accumulated a large sum of boosts. After Roost, any of the moves from the fourth slot can be used, but Substitute now has a chance to shine: if Honchkrow can successfully avoid a status attack with Substitute and then force a switch, Roost and Substitute will have worked perfectly, and Honckrow can then proceed to use any attack; Sucker Punch is a great asset behind a Substitute because most Pokémon are forced to attack the Substitute, whilst Brave Bird is highly damaging. If desired, Substitute can be used with Pursuit in case a wall or a Pokémon carrying only status is forced to switch.

The EV are the ones for the usual sweeper: hit sa hard and fast as possible. In Honckrow's case it could not be truer; Bisharp and Breelom are stuck at base 70 Speed. Keep in mind, though, that Bisharp is only weak to Heat Wave and most Breloom are Jolly-natured (unless they are Specially Defensive, case in which Honchkrow seldom loses). If these threats are not of your concern, Mega Venusaur comes to mind: 96 EV in Speed are enough to outspeed the 20 EV variants, and if you think they should not be that fast, 76 EV are sufficient. The rest can go into bulk or Special Attack if one decides to carry Heat Wave or Hidden Power Ice. Talking about Special Attack, Honchkrow should always try to have a higher Special Defence (unless going mixed, Honckrow prefers to survive against priority hits); extra Defence would mean that the Porygon line could get a favourable Download boost its Special Attack.

Honchkrow, the gangsta Pokémon. It might not cut a horse head and place it in your blanket, but its Brave Bird and Sucker Punch hit hard enough to.

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No, Wailord is not coming yet.