Battle Center Discussion #5 - Unloved Items of Gen V

[Synthesis]

Battle Center Discussion #5 - Unloved Items of Gen V

Hey guys, and welcome to the belated fifth instalment of the BCD - the Battle Center's weekly discussion thread for different aspects of the Metagame. New topics will generally be posted every Wednesday whenever I'm not busy, ranging from Pokemon, to moves, abilities, strategies and more. At the end of the week, the old thread will be unstickied, but people are still free to post in it, and a new one will take its place. If you have any suggestions for future discussion topics, post in the thread or PM a Battle Center Moderator.

This week's discussion topic is the many interesting items brought in Gen V that see little use. Air Balloon, Rugged Helmet, Eject Button, Cell Battery and Absorb Bulb seem like they could really have uses, although most of these are rarely used. Life Orb, Lefties and Choice items are quite predictable nowadays and won't make your Pokemon stand out.
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[Takaki]

Most of the new items suit double battles best. Eject Button can be used on Hitmontop for double Intimidate and Fake out. Absolb Bulb is also great in doubles rain.

I'd say that Air Balloon will really struggle because it is mostly now used as a gimmick to soft counter certain threats (Such as using Tyranitar as a pseudo Gluscor counter). Overall, I think even Shed Shell Heatran outclasses Air Balloon now.

 

[Fabled]

I think they could have released a few more items that negate a move like the Air Balloon, and for more of the types, then they would find more use as a whole, and become more than a niche item on a few specific mons.

I really like Rocky Helmet, I've seen it used interestingly, and I've played it before on stally mons who have their own healing, like Leech Seed, Aqua Ring, or Recover, and don't /need/ to rely on Leftovers for it's crucial bit of healing. It really helps to rack up the damage, and basically provides a more offensive option to stalling. The fact that it's physical only is a litle downfall, but that's easily countered with some prediction. I've found it works well with a stalling Whimsicott I've played with. I ran it with Leech Seed, Light Screen, Substitute, and Encore, with the Rocky Helmet, and it managed to do a lot of damage to the enemy team, simply because it laughed at special attacks, and physical attacks had some damage reflected back. It could theoretically work on Pokemon like Blissey took, who take special attacks easily, and are always targetted by physical moves.

I think that items like Leftovers, Life Orb, and the Choice items outclass these new items simply because of their overall usability. They all work really well on most Pokemon, and against most Pokemon. The newer items are niche items, and would be more used if you were building a specific team to counter another team etc, but not used as much in general. The general usability and the fact that they work in more situations than niche items makes them more usable in regular competitive play, IMO.

 

[Plumbum]

I've had some nasty situations before, like having to take 45% damage just to hit an enemy Ferrothorn (Rocky Helmet, Iron Barbs, Sandstorm, Life Orb), and I've seen some guys use Rocky Helmet on Skarmory to tick tock up some residual damage on a U-Turn Scizor. It's not a great item, but Rocky Helmet is at least viable.

Air Balloon should not be used to make soft counters, it should be used to get switch-ins for free (as I have also found out quite painfully). What does Heatran want to escape being trapped by anyway by using Shed Shell? Scarf Chandelure can only 3HKO specially defensive Heatran with Max SpA investment, Modest Nature and HP Fighting, whilst Heatran can 2HKO back with Earth Power and anyone who tries to trap Heatran with Magnezone really needs to be tested for mental disease.

 

[Fabled]

What does Heatran want to escape being trapped by anyway by using Shed Shell?

Arena Trap Dugtrio for one, it does make its appearance every now and then.

 

[Synthesis]

What does Heatran want to escape being trapped by anyway by using Shed Shell?

Arena Trap Dugtrio for one, it does make its appearance every now and then.

But that isn't a problem since his point is that Heatran would be running Air Balloon. It beats Banded Dugtrio, and all Dugtrio provided Lava Plume burns.

 

[Lord Clowncrete]

What does Heatran want to escape being trapped by anyway by using Shed Shell?

Arena Trap Dugtrio for one, it does make its appearance every now and then.

But that isn't a problem since his point is that Heatran would be running Air Balloon. It beats Banded Dugtrio, and all Dugtrio provided Lava Plume burns.

What prevents an opponent from breaking your balloon by sacrificing a mon and then switching in duggy and killing tran? Using balloon tran is risky, imo. Especially if Heatran is the only thing between a clean Venusaur/ Volcarona sweep.

 

[Plumbum]

Wow I'm getting quoted a lot in this thread >.>

I'd still say Air Baloon is better if only for Venusaur/Volcarona's propensity to carry Earthquake/Hidden Power Ground respectively. Shed Shell has a very, very niche usage in preventing a KO by one not particularly common trapper whilst Air Balloon has more general usage.

 

[Takaki]

Shed Shell Tran is really one of the only ways to consistently beat GeneSun cores whilst Air Balloon is very easy to outpredict

 

[Lord Clowncrete]

Wow I'm getting quoted a lot in this thread >.>

I'd still say Air Baloon is better if only for Venusaur/Volcarona's propensity to carry Earthquake/Hidden Power Ground respectively. Shed Shell has a very, very niche usage in preventing a KO by one not particularly common trapper whilst Air Balloon has more general usage.

tbh, no. The main reason to even pack a Heatran is to counter sun teams. Majority sun teams carry a trapper to get rid of t-tar/heatran/problematic Pokemon like Chansey. If you get trapped by a dugtrio and lose tran and it becomes almost impossible to counter venusaur and Volcy.(yes, they are that deadly)

As Takaki said, Balloon tran can do nothing against a genesect + duggy core. Or any Pokemon which lures out Tran, uses u-turn and gets out to duggy.

 

[Data-Roxas]

What disappoints me about absorb bulb and cell battery is that abilities have priority over them. How interesting would it be to have a poke with a stat boosting immunity, and absorb bulb/cell battery to give you another stat boost? For instance, Storm Drain Gastro could get a +2 spatk boost off of a move, and retaliate off of a spatk stat of about 4-500. Or, there's also examples like Electivire, where you'd get the equivalent of a DDance boost off of a well-timed switch.

 

[Faye Scarlet]

What disappoints me about absorb bulb and cell battery is that abilities have priority over them. How interesting would it be to have a poke with a stat boosting immunity, and absorb bulb/cell battery to give you another stat boost? For instance, Storm Drain Gastro could get a +2 spatk boost off of a move, and retaliate off of a spatk stat of about 4-500. Or, there's also examples like Electivire, where you'd get the equivalent of a DDance boost off of a well-timed switch.

D8 You mean...you mean Cell Battery and Motor Drive won't stack up? Ah fudge monkeys, there goes anything positive I had to say about Cell Battery.

That said, I like the Air Balloon, if only because how cute the mental image is. Imagine a big-bad Giratina or Zekrom floating lazily through the air with a balloon. x3 Too cute. In competitive battle, though, it's mostly a hope-you-get-lucky item.