Genesect Discussion Thread

[Takaki]

Genesect has been out for a month now so I think it is a good time to begin general discussion on him here. Although we are yet to truly gauge his power, it is pretty certain that he is going to revolutionize the OU game. Feel free discuss using, supporting and checking him here. I'll post some of my thoughts.

The obvious Genesect set is the choice scarf set:

Genesect @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Download
EVs: 8 Atk / 248 SAtk / 252 Spd
Hasty Nature
- U-turn
- Flamethrower
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Beam

Although this set is decent and definitely has merit as the best general revenge killer in the game, It doesn't abuse many of Genesect's other great traits and many people throw this set on teams without understanding Genesect fully. HP Ground could be run here to lure in Heatran on Sun teams but there are definitely better options.

Genesect @ Life Orb
Trait: Download
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 Spd / 252 Spd
Hasty Nature
- U-turn
- Flamethrower
- Thunderbolt/ Bug Buzz
- Ice Beam

This set really shows off Genesect's full potential as an incredible late game sweeper with unrivaled coverage.

I would add the all out attacker set but I think that is pretty obvious.

Genesect @ Choice Band
Trait: Download
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Naughty Nature
- U-turn
- Zen Headbutt/ Iron Head
- Flamethrower/ Thunderbolt/
- Ice Beam/ Explosion/ Quick Attack

This set looks outclassed by Scizor but all I'm going to say is 837 Attack U-Turns with Special attacking options. Zenn Headbutt can be better than Iron Head to target specific switch ins.

Genesect @ Life Orb
Ability: Download
EVs: x Atk/ x SpA / 252 Spe
Nature: Lonely/Naughty
~ Claw Sharpen
~ Zap-Cannon
~ Blizzard
~ X-Scissor

Finally we have the ultimate stall breaker in OU. This thing is useless in many games but it beats stall literally on its own. It is far from Genesect's best set but against one specific play style, it is brutally scary.

The obvious best check to every Genesect set is Shed Shell Heatran and you pretty much have to run it nowadays.

 

[Ghetsis-Dennis]

Genesect has access to Rock Polish, so perhaps that'll fix its speed issue and possibily use Techno Buster Water as one of the moves for its third slot.

 

[Takaki]

Techno Buster is an awful move. Because you have to lose your item to run it, HP Water is actually better than Techno Buster water lol

 

[Ghetsis-Dennis]

Techno Buster is an awful move. Because you have to lose your item to run it, HP Water is actually better than Techno Buster water lol

How so? Techno Buster Water is 10 points stronger than HP Water. That's why there's Rock Polish to fix the issue of tape items.

 

[Iteru]

Techno Buster is an awful move. Because you have to lose your item to run it, HP Water is actually better than Techno Buster water lol

How so? Techno Buster Water is 10 points stronger than HP Water. That's why there's Rock Polish to fix the issue of tape items.

The boost from Life Orb makes HP Water more powerful than Techno Buster Water. That and Life Orb boosts all the other moves too.

Besides, what are the benefits to Genesect having a Water move in terms of coverage?

 

[Ghetsis-Dennis]

Techno Buster is an awful move. Because you have to lose your item to run it, HP Water is actually better than Techno Buster water lol

How so? Techno Buster Water is 10 points stronger than HP Water. That's why there's Rock Polish to fix the issue of tape items.

The boost from Life Orb makes HP Water more powerful than Techno Buster Water. That and Life Orb boosts all the other moves too.

Besides, what are the benefits to Genesect having a Water move in terms of coverage?

Fire, which is its only weakness and the one of the few types that wall him.

 

[Affinity]

Genesect is one tough opponent. I've seen the Life Orb set and damn, it's deadly. With decent Speed and excellent Special Attack, as well as access to all elemental beams, hardly anything can stand against it. There's Heatran though, who's immune to Flamethrower and quad-resists Ice Beam and U-Turn (although U-Turn allows it to scout). I don't think even a Modest Specs Thunderbolt would gurantee an OHKO, though it would still deal decent damage. If it were to run HP, I suggest Ground based on what I just said, I didn't do calculations, but x4 damage on Heatran should be a clean 2HKO. But then again, I'm not quite sure.

 

[Takaki]

Life Orb HP Ground nets a 1HKO on Heatran but that is really all it checks. In my opinion it isn't worth running as one can just U-Turn out as it switches in and go to Dugtrio.

 

[Iteru]

Fire, which is its only weakness and the one of the few types that wall him.

As Takaki said, HP Ground OHKOs. Also consider this, what else does Water hit super effectively: Ground, Rock. Ice Beam covers Ground already and HP Ground hits Rocks, Fire and Electric types. So a Water move is inferior when you want to maximise your coverage, and as for Air Ballooners, you just break it with U-turn and switch to a counter.

 

[Ghetsis-Dennis]

Fire, which is its only weakness and the one of the few types that wall him.

As Takaki said, HP Ground OHKOs. Also consider this, what else does Water hit super effectively: Ground, Rock. Ice Beam covers Ground already and HP Ground hits Rocks, Fire and Electric types. So a Water move is inferior when you want to maximise your coverage, and as for Air Ballooners, you just break it with U-turn and switch to a counter.

But there is the chance that the opponent will switch out the Air Ballooner by the time Genesect uses U-Turn.

 

[Iteru]

But there is the chance that the opponent will switch out the Air Ballooner by the time Genesect uses U-Turn.

Then their switch in gets hit by U-turn and you switch in a counter to the new Pokémon. Win-win.

 

[Synthesis]

Ebelt Genesect is great at bluffing Scarf and can net two KOs quite often if you play your cards right.

 

[SharKing]

I encountered a Rock Polish Genesect, and that thing is deadly; I had to play mind games with it to get Donphan in on a Thunderbolt, allowing it to heal off Stealth Rock with Leftovers (thereby re-activating Sturdy for Ice Beam), then kill it with Fire Fang. Without Donphan, I would have been a goner.

Modest / Life Orb or Expert Belt / Download
4 HP / 252 Sp. Attack / 252 Speed
- Rock Polish
- Bug Buzz / Flamethrower / Hidden Power Ground
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt

NOTE: The EV spread I put is just automatic. You can put a certain amount of Speed EVs there to hit a specific benchmark at +2, then dump the rest in HP for bulk.

This thing can really catch someone off-guard. Most people expect the Choice Scarf set, so as they switch, you can set up with Rock Polish. From there, you can fully abuse Genesect's godly coverage; this set works especially well if you get +1 to Sp. Attack from Download. Ice Beam and Thunderbolt are there for the infamous BoltBeam combination; after all, both moves hit many things in OU for super-effective damage. Bug Buzz is STAB, but Bug isn't too useful in OU. Flamethrower can kill Steel-types like Magnezone and Ferrothorn, and it's especially deadly in the sun, though rain will weaken it. HP Ground doesn't need to worry about rain, and it still hits many Steel-types, especially Magnezone and Heatran (assuming you popped its Balloon).

EDIT: I did some calculations, and I personally recommend 140 HP / 252 Sp. Attack / 116 Speed. This will put Genesect at 263 Speed; after a Rock Polish, it goes up to 526, allowing it to outpace Choice Scarf Latios (525).

 

[Takaki]

@SharKing; Rock Polish Genesect is deadly against hyper offense teams but against balance and stall it is just dead weight. Generally it is outclassed by other sets who can actually deal substantial damage on a consistent basis.
@Iteru; @Ghetsis-Dennis; I don't think HP Ground is really necessary on any of Genesects sets because one can merely bring him in on something he checks, force them to switch to Heatran as he is the only thing which takes neutral damage from all of Genesects moves, Genesect breaks the balloon with U-turn and then Dugtrio comes in to trap and kill.

 

[Iteru]

I don't think HP Ground is that useful either, but was more arguing it had uses above HP Water.

 

[Synthesis]

It reminds me of Thundurus-T in the sense that very little can stay in on it and even their counters aren't great against them.