Community POTW #034

[Rocxidi]

I've been writing the POTW on and off for about two years now and I never knew that.

Wait, so YOU'RE the one who didn't mention that Infiltrator Topsy-Turvy on Malamar could DESTROY Baton Pass teams? Lol

Also, don't mention Feint next Sunday, let's keep it a secret...

 

[What does the Dephox say?]

Wait, so YOU'RE the one who didn't mention that Infiltrator Topsy-Turvy on Malamar could DESTROY Baton Pass teams? Lol

Well yeah because that set is terrible. I would use Mightyena long before I used Infiltrator Topsy-Turvy Malamar.

Also, don't mention Feint next Sunday, let's keep it a secret...

Literally the only thing it would hit is Talonflame, and it needs Stealth Rocks and a Swords Dance to actually take it out. Unless you're talking about Doubles / Triples. Regardless I'm not writing it this week. That's up to Jesusfreak. Up to him if he wants to put it in.

 

[Rocxidi]

Lol, allright!

Moxie Mightyena for Ubers?

 

[jesusfreak94]

Okay, so I'm kind of at a loss for set names. Anyone else have some good ideas for puns, references, stuff like that?

Also yeah, I'm putting Feint in, but probably just Other Options since it's only really useful for beating Talonflame's Brave Bird and Dragonite's Extremespeed.

 

[Rocxidi]

I nicknamed my Pinsir "Megasus" because of this song:

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BfBmUEJuccA
(get lyrics lol)

RELEASE THE MEGASUS!

 

[Ironthunder]

I don't think Mega Pinsir's that viable. 4x weak to SR hurts it massively, especially as it's so widespread these days... Plus, it isn't massively quick iirc, so it's often outsped. Plus, the guy's hard countered by an old trick of Stone Edge or Rock Slide. Although, Smack Down actually hurts more, due to it removing the Flying type, and therefore the STAB on most of its decent moves.

 

[jesusfreak94]

I don't think Mega Pinsir's that viable. 4x weak to SR hurts it massively, especially as it's so widespread these days... Plus, it isn't massively quick iirc, so it's often outsped. Plus, the guy's hard countered by an old trick of Stone Edge or Rock Slide. Although, Smack Down actually hurts more, due to it removing the Flying type, and therefore the STAB on most of its decent moves.

Have you ever used it before? Mega Pinsir is one of the most dangerous offensive Pokemon in OU, lol. Stealth Rock weakness isn't that much of a problem when you really only need to come in once or twice before you're ready to sweep most of the time, and it's not that hard to remove Stealth Rock for those couple of switch-ins. Excadrill is a fantastic spinner as it is, and there are quite a few viable Defoggers you can use to ensure that Stealth Rock is off the field. Chances are that you'll be able to fit at least one of those onto your team. It's also not that slow. Base 105 Spe beats the vast majority of the unboosted metagame, and Quick Attack handles a lot of faster Pokemon. Stone Edge and other Rock moves don't "hard counter" Mega Pinsir because moves can't switch in and take hits, lol. It's a lot harder to actually hit Mega Pinsir with something like Stone Edge because it's so unbelievably powerful after a Swords Dance boost that you'll probably die to a +2 Return or Earthquake before you get the chance. Even if you're faster, Quick Attack still does a lot to pretty much any offensive Pokemon that doesn't resist it, so there's a good chance that it'll sweep right past your revenge killer late-game if it has been weakened a little.

 

[Ironthunder]

I've seen Mega Pinsir in action, it rarely gets your mentioned sweeps. Either it gets oneshotted, or it gets torn apart during the setup. Both when I use it, and when I fight it. Simple. Also, the number of quick attack spamming Mega Pinsirs... It's predictable.

 

[The Imposter]

I've seen Mega Pinsir in action, it rarely gets your mentioned sweeps. Either it gets oneshotted, or it gets torn apart during the setup. Both when I use it, and when I fight it. Simple. Also, the number of quick attack spamming Mega Pinsirs... It's predictable.

Predictablity isn't always bad, especially in the case of such a powerful Pokemon as Mega Pinsir. Most offensive teams crumble to Mega Pinsir when Thundurus or Talonflame goes down, and stall teams are pretty much wrecked.

Mega Pinsir's best brought in on something that it forces out (which tbh is about half the metagame) because pretty much nothing can switch into a Return or Earthquake from it. Once the opposing team's one, maybe two reliable Mega Pinsir counters are crippled, Pinsir pretty much rampages through the opponent's team.

Mega Pinsir is fairly dependent on team matchup, I will concede that, but once you can bring it in safely it's a menace that should not be underestimated.

 

[jesusfreak94]

I've seen Mega Pinsir in action, it rarely gets your mentioned sweeps. Either it gets oneshotted, or it gets torn apart during the setup. Both when I use it, and when I fight it. Simple. Also, the number of quick attack spamming Mega Pinsirs... It's predictable.

If it gets torn apart during setup then it means the player tried bringing it in on something it can't set up against, which is their fault and not Pinsir's. And again, it's easy to sit here and talk about it getting "oneshotted," but it's a lot harder in practice when it outruns and KOs most of the metagame at +2 and smashes so many faster things with Quick Attack so that you never get a chance to attack in the first place. I honestly don't know how you've rarely ever seen this thing sweep. I've have swept with it and been swept by it plenty of times, and I'm not even that active anymore. Also, who cares if Quick Attack is predictable? If the only faster Pokemon you have left at the end of the game are Gengar and Keldeo and the rest are KOed by a +2 Return or Earthquake (not really that hard to do), no amount of "prediction" is going to save you from a Pinsir sweep.

 

[What does the Dephox say?]

One tried setting up on my Clefable. Mistake. Fire punch ended it in one hit while it SDed.

Clefable Fire Punch vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Mega Pinsir: 70-84 (25.8 - 30.9%)

What.

 

[Silvershark]

Although, Smack Down actually hurts more, due to it removing the Flying type, and therefore the STAB on most of its decent moves.

I'm almost certain that's not how Smack Down works. It doesn't remove flying typing, it just removes any immunity to ground type attacks.

 

[Rocxidi]

I've seen Mega Pinsir in action, it rarely gets your mentioned sweeps. Either it gets oneshotted, or it gets torn apart during the setup. Both when I use it, and when I fight it. Simple. Also, the number of quick attack spamming Mega Pinsirs... It's predictable.

Those people are using it wrong. Honestly, as soon as Pinsir gets a Swords Dance, it's pretty much gg. Unless a physical wall is present. One of the things that people don't have in mind is that Pinsir has 5 teammates. Seriously. If people started using teammates wisely (ie wallbreakers, spinners, clerics) Pinsir will sweep. Yes, Pinsir performs well on its own, but having synergy in your team involving Pinsir will allow it to wreak havoc. It's not just, "send it in, megaevolve, swords dance, sweep". It's much more complicated.

Also, mega-evolving Pinsir first turn is a big no no most of the time.

 

[sonnytapman]

Much of what I wanted to say has already been said, so I'm throwing this out there:

Feint is good on M-Pinsir
Fury Attack makes for good wallbreaking
Quick attack is pointless when you have Feint
If flail gets stab bonuses (I don't think it does), then your opponent isn't surviving that.

 

[KillerDraco]

Feint is good on M-Pinsir

It's decent. Unless the opponent is Talonflame, Dragonite, or something using Protect, Quick Attack accomplishes the same end result but with more power.

Fury Attack makes for good wallbreaking

Not really, no. Fury Attack is outdamaged by Return even at max power. I think you mean Fury Attack would be useful for breaking substitutes/sturdy/focus sash, but the low damage and unreliability makes it gimmicky.

Quick attack is pointless when you have Feint

Quick Attack has more power, and the only time Feint's better priority is significant is vs. Talonflame, maybe Thundurus (although using Feint on Thundurus is pointless), Dragonite's Extreme Speed, and something using Protect. Every other noteworthy priority user tends to be slower than Mega Pinsir. Protect isn't common enough in singles to warrant feint, and Talonflame will still give Mega Pinsir problems. Feint can be an option but it's not outright better than Quick Attack.

If flail gets stab bonuses (I don't think it does), then your opponent isn't surviving that.

You need less than 10% HP for Flail to outdamage Return. More often than not, Return is better than it.

 

[Rocxidi]

Does Feint work against King's Shield?

 

[The Imposter]

Does Feint work against King's Shield?

I think so, but it's not like a 39 BP Flying move is going to do anything against a 60/150 Steel type. Fein'ts main use is outspeeding Talonflame's Brave Bird and other fast priority; the breaking through Protect is a minor point in Singles.

 

[Rocxidi]

I think so, but it's not like a 39 BP Flying move is going to do anything against a 60/150 Steel type. Fein'ts main use is outspeeding Talonflame's Brave Bird and other fast priority; the breaking through Protect is a minor point in Singles.

I kno know, just worth mentioning it ignores the King's Shield drop

 

[jesusfreak94]

To be honest, I'd still rather just spam Earthquake against Aegislash rather than try to hit it with Feint as it uses King's Shield. Worst case scenario, you just don't do any damage for a turn, and at least you don't run the risk of mispredicting the King's Shield and giving your opponent a free turn to slam you with Shadow Ball or something as you hit them for pitiful damage.

 

[gamer_legend]

Pinsir is just about the purest form of a Generation I pokemon you could ever come across. In it's normal form it's a very strong pure bug type with an awesome albeit sort of predictable move-pool (Earthquake, Stone Edge, Sword Dance and X-Scissor) with nasty attack power and decent speed to back it. Unfortunately for me looking at it's Mega Form actually for me at least makes it harder to use because there are so many better options out there with much much stronger and wider movepools but it has an amazing attack stat which no-one's walking away from without a scratch but it's speed is sort of on the borderline of viable and not viable.

It's 4 abilities though are all pretty awesome starting with Hyper Cutter which prevents intimidate users which wouldn't be a problem except most of them like Salamance, Gyarados and Arcanine all have a type advantage over it.

Mold Breaker is probably going to be the preferred choice as it makes most of the Pokemon resistant to Pinsir's attacks and effects (especially levitate users) vulnerable to what is a very powerful movepool.

Moxie for me seems to be a choice of either that or sword dance if your going for a sweeper strategy though personally I'd pick this because I would want to hit hard without leaving Pinsir around for an attack it likely won't survive.

Aerialate for me is a weird one as I've not actually seen it in action but it just seems like a wasted ability on Pinsir who's typing seems to match it but movepool doesn't.

I'd pick the normal over the mega 9/10 times when using Pinsir.