Battle Center Discussion #7 - Unusual and Underrated Movesets

[Synthesis]

Battle Center Discussion #7 - Unusual and Underrated Movesets

Hey guys, and welcome to the seventh instalment of the BCD - the Battle Center's weekly discussion thread for different aspects of the Metagame. New topics will generally be posted whenever the last one dies down, 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, courtesy of @Takaki ; is underrated and unusual, but still effective, movesets. They can be in any tier, any playstyle, or any Pokemon.

A very annoying Froslass I once battled really caught me off-gaurd. Swagger and Psych Up combined with Snow Cloak hax allowed it to set up and really hurt my team with Ice Shard, Return, hitting myself in confusion and hail damage. Now, obviously it does get walled quite easily and it relies completely on hax, but it was still a very interesting thing to face.
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[SharKing]

I use a Choice Scarf Chandelure, which might sound conventional enough, given the Pokemon, but I got creative with its fourth move; the first three were your copy-paste Fire Blast, Shadow Ball, and Hidden Power Fighting. Now, before BW2 came out and I put Trick on my Chandelure, I saw that Energy Ball wouldn't do it much good at all in the OU environment, so I instead gave it a move that's very unusual for a Choice Scarfer: Will-O-Wisp. Believe it or not, it and some prediction got Chandelure out of quite a few nasty scrapes; with full (or near-full) health, Chandelure can predict the Tyranitar switch-in, burn it with Will-O-Wisp (assuming it hits), and survive its Pursuit as it switches out! It was also great to have a fast Will-O-Wisp to cripple otherwise-dangerous sweepers.

I will grant, however, that Scarf Wisp isn't really solid, what with 75% accuracy and the thought of being locked into a status move that's usually only good against a Pokemon once.

 

[Takaki]

@SharKing;
The problem with scarf wisp is that it is mostly just easier to switch if you predict that specific switch in because will-o-wisp isn't going to be much use versus anything else. Energy Ball or Trick is probably still better because energy ball has a 56% chance to 1HKO choice Rotom-W on the switch with rocks up and outspeed and 2hko any of its other sets.

Smeargle (M) @ Focus Sash
Trait: Own Tempo
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Spore
- Thunder Wave
- Stealth Rock
- Spikes/ Magic Coat.

I guess I may as well post this. This set is very, very scary when combined with some hard hitting attackers such as Choice Band Haxorus who absolutely adore a free turn or an opportunity to move first. The difference between this and other Smeargle stackers- as well as other offensive hazard layers- is access to dual status. Smeargle can spore turn one, Stealth Rock as they switch, Thunderwave as they break the sash and then spike as they go last. This gives you basically a 6v5 match up but with stealth rocks, a layer of spikes, one of them spored and one of them paralysed. The real shock to the set is that they switch to a fast pokemon to take you down (who would likely be able to revenge kill your other sweepers) and then you cripple it, getting hazards up anyway. It gets beaten by Taunt Deoxys-D which is a common lead so if you have nothing to take it down then Magic Coat can be used to beat it. Not that Taunt Deoxys-D is ever a good idea, but people do use it.

 

[Lord Clowncrete]

@SharKing;
The problem with scarf wisp is that it is mostly just easier to switch if you predict that specific switch in because will-o-wisp isn't going to be much use versus anything else. Energy Ball or Trick is probably still better because energy ball has a 56% chance to 1HKO choice Rotom-W on the switch with rocks up and outspeed and 2hko any of its other sets.

Smeargle (M) @ Focus Sash
Trait: Own Tempo
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Spore
- Thunder Wave
- Stealth Rock
- Spikes/ Magic Coat.

I guess I may as well post this. This set is very, very scary when combined with some hard hitting attackers such as Choice Band Haxorus who absolutely adore a free turn or an opportunity to move first. The difference between this and other Smeargle stackers- as well as other offensive hazard layers- is access to dual status. Smeargle can spore turn one, Stealth Rock as they switch, Thunderwave as they break the sash and then spike as they go last. This gives you basically a 6v5 match up but with stealth rocks, a layer of spikes, one of them spored and one of them paralysed. The real shock to the set is that they switch to a fast pokemon to take you down (who would likely be able to revenge kill your other sweepers) and then you cripple it, getting hazards up anyway. It gets beaten by Taunt Deoxys-D which is a common lead so if you have nothing to take it down then Magic Coat can be used to beat it. Not that Taunt Deoxys-D is ever a good idea, but people do use it.

What do you do against magic bounce mons? Taunt Deo-d is pretty popular so magic coat is almost necessary.

I used a Garchomp with Substitute, Sd, Outrage, Eq with salac berry and 252 speed/attack jolly. It worked well when most people relied on stuff like scarf genesect or landorus to revenge kill chomp.

 

[Synthesis]

Lapras (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Water Absorb or Hydration if on a Rain team
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Attack / 252 SDef
Careful

- Curse
- Waterfall/Rest
- Ice Shard/Avalanche
- Rest/Sleep Talk/Roar

Kind of a self-made set after seeing the idea of Curse and Ice Shard Lapras in the Battle Factory in Gen IV. Despite being rarely used even in NU, it can be a great set up sweeper, especially in the lower tiers.

 

[Takaki]

@Lord Clowncrete; I see Magic bouncers in team preview and lead with something else. I usually wait to remove them and then bring Smeargle out to nab a spore. Magic Bounce users are generally only good because of Magic Bounce so my opponent having one mostly just makes it a 5v5 which kind of suits me.

Also, although it is kind of common in BW1 (I have no clue why) Taunt Deoxys-D is absolutely terrible and I have no idea why it would be used over the superior offensive set with Psycho boost and Thunder/HP Fire which is pretty much the best set in the tier right now.

 

[Fabled]

I had a mainly defensive UU team I was trying out, and I ran a kinda unique set on a Mismagius that worked reasonably well for me, but requires a fair bit of prediction.

Mismagius (F) @ Red Card
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 HP / 4 SDef
Timid Nature
- Taunt
- Heal Bell
- Magic Coat
- Destiny Bond

The entire purpose of this set was to act as a support for the Pokemon I had; Alomomola, Cresselia, Zapdos, Shaymin, and Weavile. She would heal status, and shut down any kind of a threat that had set up or was trying to. Taunt was used for pretty obvious reasons, shutting down opposing Pokemon's attempts at stalling or setting up hazards, etc. Heal Bell was to cute status on the aforementioned Pokemon, as most of the team doesn't really appreciate status bar Shaymin, who was my direct status absorber.

Magic Coat was on the team to hit other support Mismagius, who might try to Taunt or WoW my Mismagius, or predict a switch. I also used it to reflect hazards back to the other team, since I didn't have a Pokemon to set any up. Destiny Bond works in the same way the Red Card does, essentially. Mismagius comes in on something that's set up and can break through my walls, and forces them out with Red Card, or subsequently get them to KO themselves with Destiny Bond. It did require a bit of prediction, but I managed to shut down the likes of Darmanitan, Chandelure, and Honchkrow for my team, which made their job with stalling a lot easier, and gave Weavile more breathing room.

 

[Angad]

Protect on Gengar with HP Fire, Shadow Ball, and Focus Blast has been pretty useful for Scizor and Genesect.

 

[Takaki]

@Angad; With that set I always find it hard to fit on a team since its main niche, spinblocking, is almost null with its terrible bulk on the set.

 

[Pikmin1211]

7 Words: Scarf Smeargle with Dark Void in Doubles.

 

[Angad]

@Angad; With that set I always find it hard to fit on a team since its main niche, spinblocking, is almost null with its terrible bulk on the set.

It's pretty specialized for teams that need to cut off momentum from Genesect and Scizor.

 

[Takaki]

@Pikmin1211; It's banned in most metagames that are worth playing.

 

[Lord Clowncrete]

Protect on Gengar with HP Fire, Shadow Ball, and Focus Blast has been pretty useful for Scizor and Genesect.

Alakazam can do this(the luring part) better with protect, hp fire, psychic and focus blast. You can also use it to revenge threats with a sash.

 

[Takaki]

Psychic vs Psyshock on Alakazam because you are picking better damage on the blobs or on stuff like Gliscor.

 

[Lord Clowncrete]

Psychic vs Psyshock on Alakazam because you are picking better damage on the blobs or on stuff like Gliscor.

I would say psyshock is better. It almost 2hkoes Blissey if you go with LO and works well against Terrakion in sandstorm. Although, it still can't touch Chansey:
252 SpA Life Orb Alakazam Psyshock vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Chansey: 231-274 (32.81 - 38.92%) -- 99.9% chance to 3HKO

 

[Takaki]

Yeah same. The problem with him is that he only really comes out once and is only useful in very specific scenarios. Often in games he'll were something down slightly with his aggressively mediocre damage output.

 

[ninfiaVI]

Smeargle (lv.1) no EVs.
Focus Sash
-Dark Void
-Trick Room
-Endeavor
-Magnet Bomb

 

[slate]

mew (?) @ life orb
trait: synchronize
evs: 32 hp / 252 atk / 36 satk / 188 spd
naughty nature (+atk, -sdef)
- swords dance
- sucker punch
- overheat
- superpower

i'm not sure how well this would work now, but i used this as a lure in bw1 to a decent amount of success. it was meant to function as a lure for a myriad of things, mostly bulky steels and specs latios so i could use something stupid like cbmence to bust holes in the opponent's team. the premise of this set is simple enough i guess: set up a swords dance on something that can't really hurt you, then kill the switchin, which is normally fairly easy to do. skarmory gets roasted by overheat, and so does ferro (if i remember correctly, the evs give you a guaranteed ohko on ferrothorn, provided it isn't in the rain). latios gets smacked pretty hard by a sucker punch even without an sd boost, and i think it kills with the sd boost. the last time i used this was almost two years ago, so i can't vouch for its effectiveness in today's metagame, but if you want, you can try it.

one of the most frustrating aspects about this set, for me, was that it had nothing to prevent or deter things like reuniclus and latias from calm minding up on it. it also has absolutely nothing to deal with jellicent (if you see a mew swords dance, like hell are you scalding it first-turn). for this reason, one of the things that i liked to pair it with was a pursuit trapper, either cb scizor or cb tyranitar, to keep mons like that in check which can be the scourge of your team or at the very least intractable to deal with. however, using tyranitar diminishes this mew's longevity more than life orb does. if you for some reason think this still works, you can run dark gem over life orb. you miss out on the ohko with ferrothorn, but you're doing enough damage to it anyways to the point where it isn't going to want to come back in anytime soon. using something like shadow claw or even zen headbutt over overheat could work if you're feeling cool to punish things like reuniclus, but its coverage overlaps a lot with sucker punch and what the heck are you doing you could have fire you are totally crazy

* note that you can certainly use earthquake over superpower. i just liked superpower because mew needs all of the power it can get. let's face it, it's kind of weak. with an average speed stat, a slightly subpar offensive stat, and a mediocre stab in the form of zen headbutt you aren't going to be sweeping teams with this. it requires a bit of maneuvering too: you have to be really careful with sucker punch, as it's one of the most easily exploitable moves in pokemon: if you've already revealed sucker punch and your opponent sends out like thundurus-t or something and you don't know if it's np/agility or not, don't take that risk if you aren't confident that the thundurus isn't choiced. that's why i guess you could use zen headbutt in place of overheat, but overheat is kind of the crux of this set. i think a possible use of this would be in rain to dispatch tyranitar, though you may need to do some retooling. the first thing that came to mind for me was something like swords dance / ice punch / earthquake / sucker punch, though that's probably terrible

in spite of all its limitations, this was actually a somewhat fun set that worked most of the time. mew, even in ou, is unpredictable and has manifold options. while i think baton pass, taunt wow, and this set are the most viable, if you aren't careful against mew it can be dangerous. it has just enough power to take out a mon or two on your opponent's team and is just bulky enough to take some crucial hits... also, curiously enough, i almost always used this set as a lead. mew's goal is just to kill things methodically early-game or damage them to the point where they can't hold up against your sweepers. you don't need it for much more than that. 90% of the time i used it as my lead, 9% of the time i switched it in after something of mine was killed, 1% of the time i sent it in on something dumb, took like 40 from move x, then went for the surprise kill

this set is extremely situational, though. use at your peril.

tl;dr - sd / sucker punch / overheat / superpower mew. worked as a lure for steels and latios. unsure if it still does, but try it if you want.

 

[magikarp ftw]

in the RU tier this Galvantula set is a great wall breaker
Galvantula (m)@ focus sash
traits: swarm
evs: satk 252/spd 252/Hp 4
modest nature
-Agility
-electo ball
-bug buzz
-thunder

this is good in the RU for wall breaking because almost all wall in RU are very slow example: aggron, bastiodon and with one agility it breaks alot of walls also bug buss is there to take out tanglegrowth ( or how you spell it) thunder's is there to take out speedy sweepers in RU such as moltes you can always carry compoundeyes with it if you want for the accurately although i like swarm for the extra power in bug buzz

it not that bad set i've i've swept teams with it

 

[Winterdaze]

I've been really getting into NU battles recently, and this is one of my absolute favourite sets to use there right now.

Samurott (M) @ Lum Berry
Trait: Torrent
EVs: 108 HP / 252 SAtk / 148 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Encore
- Copycat

Copycat might seem gimmicky on paper, but you might be surprised to know it is an incredibly useful move for Samurott in the current meta. This Samurott functions well as a supporting attacker and anti-lead that can blast away Sturdy leads with Hydro Pump and then copy their Stealth Rocks as they switch out. It works as a great Jynx lure, as many players will be tempted to abuse Dry Skin to soak up your powerful Hydro Pumps. Then Lum Berry will let you shrug off the ensuing Lovely Kiss and give her a big smooch in return with Copycat. Encore shuts down slower boosting tanks and Substitute abusers, and you can even copy those boosting moves (especially Calm Minds) or subs if they benefit you.