Community POTW #053

[Serebii]

Time for the next Pokémon of the Week and our final for the USUM tie in.

This week it's a 3 for the price of 1!

It's Lycanroc!

https://www.serebii.net/pokedex-sm/745.shtml

 

[Sceptile Leaf Blade]

Lycanroc-Dusk @ Normalium Z
Adamant nature
Ability: Tough Claws
252 Attack, 196 Speed, 60 HP
-Happy Hour
-Stone Edge
-Drill Run
-Fire Fang / Zen Headbutt / Iron Head

Z-Happy Hour gives Lycanroc a +1 to all its stats, making it more viable. Max attack makes it hit extra hard, and 196 speed EVs allow it to outrun Adamant Scarf Garchomp at +1. Stone Edge is STAB, Drill Run is ground coverage that gets a Tough Claws boost to hit the likes of Toxapex, Tapu Koko, Aegislash, and Heatran, and the final move is coverage. Fire Fang is exclusive to the Ultra-Sun version but covers Ferrothorn, Kartana, and Celesteela, Zen Headbutt covers fighting types like Buzzwole, and Iron Head covers fairy types. Alternatively, Thunder Fang is an option exclusive to Ultra-Moon that covers Gyarados, Tapu Fini, and also Celesteela. One thing you could do with this set is Baton Pass a Focus Energy to it, or Fling a Lansat Berry to it. With that Stone Edge and Drill Run will always crit. Truth be told, you can put a lot of things in that last slot. Accelerock is an option if you want priority (and also gets Tough Claws boost), Crunch is there if you want Dark coverage for some reason (I guess it hits Latios and Slowbro hard, Aegislash and Gengar are already covered by Drill Run), Protect is an option for doubles, and Roar can also be used to stop Trick Room and Extreme Evoboost.

Max speed EVs are also an option, it outruns Timid Scarf Tapu Lele at +1 if said Tapu Lele also runs max speed. Either way, pick a speed tier and invest the rest into HP to increase bulk.

Happy Hour is what sets Dusk Lycanroc above Midday Lycanroc. It hits a bit harder, but normally Midday is faster so it outruns the likes of Gengar and Kartana, which Dusk can't do. On the other hand, Dusk hits significantly harder with that Tough Claws boost, especially after Happy Hour.

 

[TheIceCream]

Lycanroc is a pretty decent Pokemon. It has pretty interesting stats, a good movepool and is overall, pretty ok. Also, I love all of their designs, and the fact they got a new z move and alternative form. Did every other gen 7 pokemon get that? No. Lycanroc is awesome.

Positives:
+ 115 Attack in Midday/Midnight and 117 on the Dusk form is certainly useale
+ 112 Speed on Midday and 110 Speed on Dusk is great also
+ All of them have at least 1 good ability
+ Splintered Stormshards can remove terrain, certainly a useful side effect
+ Great movepool
+ Did I mention they all had great designs?

Negatives:
- Rock Typing is pretty meh defensively, 5 weaknesses does sting a fair bit
- 75/65/65 bulk for Midday/Dusk is almost non-existent, Midnight does slightly help this with 85/75/75 but it isn't much better
- With the added bulk on Midnight means its speed is worse. 82 isn't bad but it is outsped by a lot of pokemon
- 55 Sp Attack is pretty terrible although Lycanroc's special movepool is non-existent so, whatever
- Try evolving into Dusk Lycanroc in moon without changing the timer. Good Luck

Abilities:
Keen Eye (Midday and Midnight): Is known for being pretty useless. So, next!
Sand Rush (Midday) Pretty awesome, although there are better Sand Rush users e.g. Excadrill
Vital Spirit (Midnight) An alright ability but Midnight Lycanroc does prefer its hidden ability
Tough Claws (Dusk) Its only ability but as seen with Mega Metagross, it's pretty amazing! It boosts so many of its moves.
Steadfast (Midday Hidden) Nah. +1 Speed for flinching sounds ok, but just stick with Sand Rush if you want more speed.
No Guard (Midnight Hidden) Pretty good with moves such as Stone Edge which are known for having bad accuracy, and possible Iron Tail or Zen headbutt too

Counters: All of them get countered by around the same thing. Bulky waters, bulky grounds, fighting types, you name it. With bad bulk, it isn't that hard to counter Lycanroc.

 

[Mestorn]

Lycanroc's Midnight form is regarded by most to be the worst of the Lycanroc forms -Losing 30 pts in base speed for a +10 in HP, DEF and SDEF may make it somewhat bulkier compared to its copatriots, but it is still frail by today's standards thus losing that fantastic base speed for essentially nothing. However, the new tools from USUM give it a far more expansive movepool than its brothers and possessing No Guard gives it a degreee of reliability with the Notoriously fickle Rock STABs.

Howl at Midnight
Lycanroc-Midnight
Adamant
Ability: No Guard
Item: Choice Scarf
-Stone Edge
-Iron Tail
-Zen Headbutt
-Fire Punch/Thunder Punch
EVs: 4 HP/252 ATK/252 Speed

Revenge Sweeping Lycanroc. While it is still being prone to be outsped, Midnight Lycanroc's better defenses make it slightly less vulnerable to priority and revenge hits. No Guard Pairs well with Stone Edge, making it a truly reliable STAB. Iron Tail and Zen Headbutt become more reliable coverage options under No Guard and are able to hit popular Fairy and Fighting types. Fire Punch provides valuable coverage against opposing Steel and Grass types (Ferroseed, Exeggutor, Dugtrio-Alola, Trevenaunt) while Thunder Punch gives you an option for Water types (Gorebyss, Huntail, Kabutops, Carracosta, etc).

Other Options
-Normalium Z+Happy Hour -If Own Tempo Rockruff can evolve into any Lycanroc form, this definitely would be an amazing strategy for any Lycanroc.
-Sucker Punch -Lycanroc-Midnight's final self remedy to speed. However, it can be played around.
-Brick Break -Lycanroc's reliable Fighting coverage option
-Reversal -The Midnight form's exclusive level up move. While powerful at low health, the only way you have to get down there reliably is via Substitute and are still vulnerable to faster pokémon and priority moves.
-Vital Spirit -If you are not running Zen Headbutt or Iron Tail, Vital Spirit may seem like an attractive choice for catching Z-Hypnosis and Spore users off guard. However, every Spore user not named Smeargle or Parasect will destroy Lycanroc-Midnight, and most Z-Hypnosis users will outspeed after the boost and dispatch Lycanroc with their STAB. That being said, Z-Hypnosis users counter No Guard Lycanroc Midnight HARD, so it is not entirely without merit.

 

[Sceptile Leaf Blade]

I don't think you can get Happy Hour on Midnight Lycanroc, I'm pretty sure it's exclusive to the Own Tempo Rockruff.

 

[GeeGee]

Lycanroc-Midday

Pros:
+115/55/112 offenses hit hard and fast
+Unique Priority move in Accelerock, allowing for revenge kills on Volcarona and Megazard-Y
+Thanks to USUM Move tutors, gets a new plethora of coverage moves in Drill Run, Iron Tail, and a few others
+All 3 forms have a Special Z-move that removes terrain effects, and hits like a bus at the same time
+Good ability in sand rush allows it to sweep under a sandstorm

Cons:
-75/65/65 bulk is pretty bad, and a Mono-rock typing doesnt help it either
-most of its abilities either suck or are simply situational
-Suffers from 4-moveslot syndrome, as it has to run both stone edge for power and accelerock for priority, leaving only 2 free slots

Abilities
Keen Eye: Prevents accuracy drops. Pretty useless, and doesnt hold a candle to sand rush.
Sand rush: Doubles speed under sandstorm. Doubling Lycanroc's already fast speed allows it to invest its EV's more freely, as long as it still has enough speed to outspeed faster key threats.
Steadfast: Increases speed when it flinches. Seems like a decent ability to counter fake out, but fake out isn't really used in singles, and Lycanroc sees no play in VGC.

Sets

Set up and Sweep
Item: Rockium-Z/Lycanium-Z
Nature: Jolly/Adamant
Ev's: 252Atk/4Def/252Spe
Ability: Sand Rush
-Swords dance/Rock polish
-Stone edge
-Accelerock
-Drill run/Brick Break/Fire Fang

Access to both swords dance and rock polish allow some flexibility in Lycanrocs nature and playstyle. With swords dance it can break down walls with its powerful Z-moves, and with rock polish it can outspeed key threats and reduce the chance of being revenge killed. Stone edge is the main damage move and turns into Splintered stormshards or Continental crush. Accelerock revenge kills weakened targets. The final moveslot is coverage, mainly for dealing with steel types that otherwise wall Lycanroc. Fire Fang can clean up Kartana and Ferrothorn, Drill run hits Heatran and Magnezone, and Brick Break hits Tyranitar and Bisharp.

Other options: Crunch, Sucker punch, Thunder fang, Stealth rock, Zen headbutt, Iron head, Iron Tail
Sucker punch is an alternate priority move, but it has barely any more power than Stab Accelerock. Crunch is solid dark-coverage. Thunder fang is notable because it gets a 50% boost under electric terrain, something to keep in mind when bulding a team with Tapu koko. Iron head and iron tail hit fairies like Mega Diance and Tapu Lele, and Zen headbutt for fighting types.

Lycanroc-Midnight

Pros:
+Stronger coverage moves than Midday or Dusk with Thunder punch, Fire Punch, Outrage, and even...throat chop?
+Better bulk at 85/75/75
+Great ability in No Guard for perfect accuracy Stone edges and Iron Tails

Cons:
-115/55/82 speed sucks, and the increase in bulk isn't even significant
-Loses out on Drill run and accelerock, and instead gets...counter? Lame
-Its other abilities are actually worse than Midday form's

Abilities
Keen Eye: Still useless on this form
Vital Spirit: Cannot fall asleep with this ability. Yeah pretty situational, but considering amoongus will probably be seen in VGC 2018, and that means spore, this might get some usage
No Guard: All attacks used by and against this pokemon have 100% accuracy. This means perfect stone edges, but thats about it. Still the best ability it has though.

Sets

Bulk Up
Item: Rockium-Z/Lycanium-Z
Nature: Adamant
Ev's: 252Hp/252Atk/4Def
Ability: No Guard
-Bulk up
-Stone edge
-Sucker Punch
-Fire Punch/Brick Break

Thanks to Midnight form's (slightly) better bulk, and lower speed, instead of utilizing a rock-polish or swords dance set, it can use bulk up to increase its, well, bulk. Stone edge your main stab, and will never miss thanks to No Guard. Sucker punch is the priority, but if power is more important then Crunch should be used. Fire Punch is stronger than fire fang, and hits steel types. Brick break can be used to hit other rocks and dark types.

Other options: Crunch, Outrage, Thunder punch, Iron head, Iron tail, Zen Headbutt
Thunder punch also gets boosted in electric terrain and is stronger than thunder fang. Lycanroc-Midday and its dusk form both get outrage, which can surprise your opponent if they should bring any dragon types to play. Iron tail also gets perfect accuracy from No Guard, making it a stronger pick than Iron Head.

Dusk Form

Pros:
+117/55/110 combined with tough claws gives dusk form some serious wall-breaking potential
+Fantastic ability in tough claws, giving it a free life-orb boost on most of its moves
+Great coverage from both Midday and Midnight forms, including Accelerock, Drill run and Outrage

Cons:
-Trading 2 speed for 2 attack isn't worth it, cause now it falls into the crowded 110 speed tier and must win speed ties
-It keeps Midday form's lesser 75/65/65 bulk
-Tough claws doesn't affect stone edge or Splintered storm shards, Lycanroc's best damaging moves
-Event only, so if you don't have internet access it sucks to be you

Ability
Tough claws: The perfect ability Lycanroc has been waiting for. Boosting its contact moves by 33% means this thing cannot be taken lightly, or something will get smashed by boosted Drill runs and Accelerocks.

Sets

Swords Dance
Item: Life Orb/Lycanium-Z
Nature: Jolly
Ev's: 252Atk/4Def/252 Spe
Ability: Tough Claws
-Swords Dance
-Stone edge
-Drill Run
-Fire Fang/Brick Break/Accelerock

Swords dance + tough claws makes this doggo hit like a bus. +2 Splintered stormshards can demolish some of the bulkiest walls in OU. Heres some calculations I definitely didn't rip off someone else:

+2 252 Atk Lycanroc Splintered Stormshards (190 BP) vs. 252 HP / 132+ Def Celesteela: 450-529 (113 - 132.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 252 Atk Lycanroc Splintered Stormshards (190 BP) vs. 252 HP / 192+ Def Toxapex: 319-376 (104.9 - 123.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 252 Atk Lycanroc Splintered Stormshards (190 BP) vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Skarmory: 327-385 (98.1 - 115.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
+2 252 Atk Lycanroc Splintered Stormshards vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Venusaur-Mega: 358-423 (98.6 - 116.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock

Drill run and Fire fang also offer fantastic coverage against steel, rock, electric, grass, ice and poison types in the tier. Brick break can hit Tyranitar, and Accelerock is great for revenge killing.

Other Options: Iron head/tail, crunch, thunder fang, Zen headbutt, Sucker punch, Outrage, Z-Celebrate.

Z-celebrate is exclusive to the Own-tempo rockruff and Lycanroc-Dusk form, and it boosts all of it's stats by one stage each. This basically combines bulk up with quiver dance, and can allow Lycanroc to bolster its offenses and defenses at the same time. However, it takes up the Z-move slot as well as a move slot, and considering Lycanroc suffers from 4- moveslot syndrome, it really comes off as a more gimmicky set than a legit one. that being said, even at +1 attack Lycanroc still hits relatively hard.

Z-Celebrate
Item: Normalium-Z
Nature: Jolly
Ev's: 252Atk/4Def/252Spe
Ability: Tough Claws
-Celebrate
-Stone edge
-Fire Fang
-Drill Run

+1 252 Atk Lycanroc Stone Edge vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Landorus-Therian: 247-292 (77.4 - 91.5%) -- 31.3% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
252 Atk Tough Claws Lycanroc Fire Fang vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Kartana: 272-324 (105 - 125%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Even without the celebrate boost, Fire Fang picks up a OHKO on Kartana without significant investment into physical bulk.

 

[Sceptile Leaf Blade]

I wouldn't say Keen Eye is completely useless on Midday, although it is very niche. With Keen Eye Lycanroc can check Alolan Muk if Muk sets up Minimize a couple of times and simply go for heavy hits with Drill Run. It can also check Minimize Drifblim with Stone Edge. Unfortunately for Lycanroc Minimize is hardly ever worth it due to all the evasion nerfs over the generations, it's often just not worth the time to set up or the moveslot, and there are better checks out there for Minimize:

252 Atk Choice Band Lycanroc-Midday Drill Run vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Muk-Alola: 158-188 (74.5 - 88.6%) -- 99.6% chance to 2HKO after Gluttony Figy Berry recovery
252 Atk Choice Band Lycanroc-Midday Stone Edge vs. 4 HP / 252 Def Drifblim: 294-348 (130 - 153.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO

252 Atk Garchomp Dragon Rush vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Minimize Muk-Alola: 218-258 (102.8 - 121.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 Atk Garchomp Dragon Rush vs. 4 HP / 252 Def Minimize Drifblim: 216-254 (95.4 - 112.2%) -- 68.8% chance to OHKO

 

[AS358/2]

Doubles/VGC:
With a new Z-move that removes terrain and an expanded movepool from move tutors, Lycanroc finally has the tools to be viable in VCG ... at least in last years format. With Sand Rush Midday Lycanroc can work with sand teams to outspeed the entire unboosted game to leave a dent or gamble with rock slide flinches. Unfortunately, the return of the national dex format means options like Landourus will be available, meaning outside the high speed rockslides in sand, it doesn't really have an edge any more. If only it had gotten these options last game, but alas it's chance in the spotlight is gone.

Lycanroc-Middady
Jolly/Adamant Nature
252 Attack, 252 Speed, 4 hp
Ability: Sand Rush
Item: Lycanium Z
Stone Edge
Accelerock/Rock Slide
Protect
Iron Head/Drill Run

Stone Edge is a hard hitting single target move and allows Lycanroc to access Splintered Stormshards to remove terrain. Useful since under sand, Lycanroc outspeeds all non scarfed Tapus (and 3 of the 4 unscarfed outside of it).

Accelerock and Rock Slide are alternate rock moves, accelerock for priority and rock slide for spread damage/flinches.

Protect is arguably the best move in doubles, helping absorb attacks while scouting opponents moves.

Drill Run and Iron Head are Lycanroc's best coverage options for coverage. Iron head works in conjunction with Lycanium Z to improve matchups against Tapu Lele and Bulu, while Drill Run can hit Koko and more non-Tapu targets

EV spread maximizes attack and speed. Jolly makes you less reliant on sand to outspeed stuff, but Adamant gets a little more damage.

Other options/partners for doubles:
If not running sand, you can run this same set with Dusk Lycanroc, but the lack of speed from sand rush makes it harder to use.
Thunder Fang, Fire Fang, and Zen Headbutt can hit specific threats but have little use otherwise.

If running Midday with sand rush, a sand stream user becomes very useful. Tyranitar has always been reliable, but Gigalith is also an option as the combination provides the option to either go for speed or trick room. Note that either of these partners stacks weaknesses that you'll need to cover.