Community POTW #13

[Serebii]

Reno's busy writing the last one so here's the next one

This week we'll be doing Absol, the Pokémon who appears whenever disaster is coming.

http://www.serebii.net/pokedex-bw/359.shtml

 

[TimmahX]

Absol is my favorite pokemon from 3rd generation, so I'm more than happy to write for his 5th generation article.

Traits

Pressure: Though Absol isn't defensively minded, having access to Will-O-Wisp, Thunder Wave, Toxic, Baton Pass, Perish Song, Swords Dance, Hone Claws, Mean Look, Curse, Substitute, Taunt, and Calm Mind means that he could pull off a support set if it weren't for his iffy 75 base speed and bad defenses. In the rare circumstances that a support Absol were to be used, Pressure would be a nice trait for it.

Super Luck: Boosts critical hit chances by one level. The normal critical hit rate is 6.25%. Super Luck boosts this rate to 12.5%. So Sucker Punch, Payback and Pursuit now have a 12.5% CHR (I'm abbreviating it from now on, Critical Hit Rate).

Here's where it adds up. Next, try it with Stone Edge, Psycho Cut, Shadow Claw, Slash, and Night Slash. One more stage up brings you to 25% (1/4) CHR. Equip Scope Lens or Razor Claw, and now you're at 33.3% CHR (1/3). Theoretically, you can go for a 50% (1/2) CHR with Focus Energy, but I wouldn't advise it. Basically, this trait is phenominal on any set, but especially so if you carry Stone Edge, Psycho Cut and/or Night Slash. Shadow Claw and Slash were listed, but Night Slash is superior to it due to STAB and similar coverage and Slash doesn't score any Super Effectives.

Justified: Raises attack by one level (x1.5) if hit by a Dark Attack, but doesn't give an immunity like other abilities of this nature (EX: Sap Sipper). Usually, Absol should run this or Super Luck.

Lucky Absol
Super Luck, Scope Lens, Jolly
252 Attack, 252 Speed, 4 HP
- Night Slash
- Psycho Cut
- Stone Edge
- Megahorn

Night Slash is your standard STAB Attack, with a nice 33.3% CHR. Stone Edge and Psycho Cut add coverage, especially against Flying and Fighting types. Megahorn keeps other Dark types out of the picture, but has a lower CHR than the other three moves.

Dancing Fist/Claws
Justified, Life Orb, Adamant
252 Attack, 252 Speed, 4 HP
- Sucker Punch
- Stone Edge
- Megahorn
- Swords Dance

Justified and Swords Dance lets you start off with a huge power boost if you get a perfect switch in. Sucker Punch has STAB and priority, which lets it wreck almost anything. Stone Edge and Megahorn provide coverage.

Status Absol
Justified, Leftovers, Jolly
252 Attack, 252 Speed, 4 HP
- Sucker Punch
- Stone Edge
- Will-O-Wisp / Thunder Wave /Toxic
- Megahorn / Protect / Substitute

This seems like an awkward set, but it is indeed fairly viable. Will-O-Wisp makes up for Absol's lackluster Defense, Thunder Wave for it's Speed, and Toxic takes care of bulky waters/grasses. Sucker Punch and Stone Edge are standard issue. Megahorn does the same ol' coverage, Protect and Substitute stall Burn/Poison damage.

Passer Disaster
Justified, Leftovers, Jolly
252 HP, 252 Speed, 4 Attack
- Sucker Punch
- Swords Dance / Hone Claws / Calm Mind / Taunt / Perish Song / Curse/ Substitute
- Swords Dance / Hone Claws / Calm Mind / Taunt / Perish Song / Curse/ Substitute
- Baton Pass

You can do a lot with a a Baton Pass Absol, but it's just so darn frail that it's hard to keep it in play long enough to follow through. But in an attempt to make this work, here we go. Sucker Punch is your main attack. Baton Pass hands off your boosts. Here's your options list:

- Swords Dance gives +2 Attack.
- Hone Claws gives +1 Attack and Accuracy, which isn't as good as SD.
- Calm Mind gives +1 SpAttack and SpDefense, which has it's uses.
- Taunt stops set ups and phasing.
- Perish Song is an interesting suicide bomb move that works well with ML.
- Curse gives +1 Attack and Defense, but -1 Speed.
- Substitute lets you pass a mini-wall to your teammate, but Absol doesn't make big substitutes.

 

[Jessie_James]

Yay Absol <3

 

[jespoke]

On the first day, one person makes something that can be copy-pasted to make the most of the section... Good job!

 

[ASB]

Awesome! Let's start with the Absol that I EV trained in Platinum (one of my first EV'd pokemon. Memories...)

Absol@Razor Claw
Jolly
Super Luck
252 Atk/252 Spe/4 HP
Night Slash
Shadow Claw
Psycho Cut
Stone Edge

Hooray for gimmicks!

Would Hone Claws and Stone Edge be a good idea?
If only it could boost its speed somehow...

On the first day, one person makes something that can be copy-pasted to make the most of the section... Good job!

Happens every time... Heck, it's not a bad thing. Still funny tho.

 

[MudkipsAreAwesome]

Oohh yea. Here's the lead Absolute I made for my Dark Mono team.

Very Uncommon Lead
Absol @ Focus Sash
Adamant
Super Luck
252 Atk / 252 spd / 4 HP
Night Slash
Magic Coat
Sucker Punch
Thunder Wave / Swords Dance

It works okay. Night Slash to abuse Super Luck, Magic Coat for BAM! Owned. Sucker Punch because Absol is quite slow, Thunder Wave to (hopefully) screw up switch ins and Swords Dance to make Absol dangerous with Sucker Punch, dealing 50~55% dmg on Machamps, (Not that people stay in on Machamp, but just saying.

And here's a nice Ghost Check variant I thought up on the spot.

What the heck this beast is wrecking my team!
Absol @ Focus Sash
Super Luck / Justified
Adamant/Jolly
4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
-Sucker Punch
-Swords Dance
-Pursuit
-Zen Headbutt/Psycho Cut

Sucker Punch as a reliable STAB move. Which is boosted to incredible levels after a Swords Dance, which you are perfectly capable of doing with that sash of yours. Pursuit to kill ghosts who you think will run away from you. And Zen Headbutt to murder slower fighting types whom you hate. Psycho Cut to try for a Crit. This set can murder Chandelures and Gengar, sometimes Jellicent as well, but you'll have all the time in the world to Swords Dance in Jellicent's face.




As you can see I'm addicted to sashes as much as Mudkips. They give you a second chance at life and let's the opponent say "What!? The heck..." , then get murdered by Sucker Punch.

 

[I-am-the-peel]

Urgh... So many better and more wanted sets that could be done this week, there are pokemon that are used more than others and pokemon sets that a lot of people want. Despite what most of you say, a voting process would be very benefical and a good way to attract more people into becoming members.

 

[Meowmeow]

It's not Eelektross and that makes me sad.

I did not expect Absol to get chosen. I was expecting Conkeldurr, Breloom, Chandelure, or Eelektross. But hey, this metagame looks like it's going to based on power. Absol's got plenty of it.

Okay, now onto the task at hand.
Pros: 130 attack. Super Luck. Sucker Punch. Movepool in general. Swords Dance.

Cons: Fragile. 75 speed. Lack of speed boosting move (although it has Sucker Punch). And type. With Hi Jump Kick powered up, much stronger attackers, and the common Fighting types smashing things, getting Absol onto the field will be very tough. Not only that, Bug types have upgrades. Scolipede, Accelgor, Galvantula, Durant, and Volcarona are dangerous new enemies. I know there is a lot of stuff written for Cons, but base speed of 70 is a huge problem in any way you look at it.

Okay, time for some move sets.

With the Scarf, I'm as fast as a Ninja!
Ability: Super Luck
Nature: Jolly/Adamant
EVs: 252 Attack and Speed, 4 HP
@: Choice Scarf

-Night Slash
-Psycho Cut
-Stone Edge
-Pursuit/Superpower/Fire Blast

Very straightforward. Night Slash is STAB. Psycho Cut hits Fighting types. Stone Edge hits Bugs and has awesome coverage. Pursuit is to hit things that want to run, Superpower is the physical way to smash Steels, and Fire Blast if you have specific hates of Skarmory, Forretress, Scizor, Bronzong, Durant, and Ferrothorn. Better go with Jolly because otherwise speed will be tough. If you are feeling lucky, go Adamant.


Band Disaster
Ability: Super Luck
Nature: Jolly/Adamant
EVs: 252 Attack and Speed, 4 HP
@: Choice Band

-Sucker Punch
-Psycho Cut
-Stone Edge
-Superpower/Night Slash/Pursuit

This is all about power. Not too difficult to figure that out.

Dance of Disaster
Ability: Super Luck
Nature: Jolly
EVs: 252 Attack and Speed, 4 HP
@: Life Orb/Leftovers

-Swords Dance
-Sucker Punch/Night Slash
-Psycho Cut
-Stone Edge/Superpower

Again, pretty obvious.

Just a Specs-ulation
Ability: Super Luck/Pressure
Nature: Modest
EVs: 252 Special Attack and Speed, 4 HP
@: Choice Specs

-Dark Pulse
-Ice Beam
-Thunderbolt
-Flamethrower/Fire Blast

The gimmick Special Attacker.

What's Your Status?
Ability: Super Luck
Nature: Jolly
EVs: 252 HP and Speed, 4 Attack
@: Red Card/Focus Sash

-Thunder Wave/Toxic
-Will-o-Wisp/Toxic
-Protect/Taunt
-Night Slash/Taunt

From the obvious to the odd. The idea is to spread status. The Red Card is a fun little gimmick that can work in your favor. Taunt encourages this to happen, if you want. Otherwise, use Focus Sash. Night Slash is an option off you get Taunted. It should be noted that if you are using the Red Card, entry hazards will make this set even better.

Counters and Checks
Scizor has the bulk and power to switch in and OHKO Absol. Breloom has access to Technician boosted Mach Punch, which is pure devastation upon Absol. Lucario with Justified can switch into Night Slash and Close Combat Absol. The traditional Physical Walls of Skarmory, Forretress, and Ferrothorn can absorb Absol's attacks and lay Toxic. The above mentioned Bug Types are a great route to take, but be aware of Stone Edge.

Other Options
Megahorn has power, but pointless coverage with Absol's other attacks
Aerial Ace is worthless when you have Psycho Cut, which is all around better. However, Aerial Ace hits both of Absol's weaknesses. Only useful if Absol had Technician.
Substitute is not for Absol. Move on.
Hex could be used on the Status set, since power is doubled. Better go with STAB.
Hone Claws is only helpful to Stone Edge. Stick with Swords Dance.
Protect and Detect can be used to abuse Pressure.
Absol is too slow and fragile to use Baton Pass, but it can pass Charge Beam boosts, Swords Dance, Hone Claws, and Mean Look.
Speaking of Mean Look, you could pair it with Perish Song. Wrong Pokemon to do it with though.

Critique me please!

 

[Kraleck]

Countering Absol
-Anything with Shell/Battle Armor Ability scoffs at Super Luck Absol. Immunity to criticals is a thorn in Absol's paw. Except for Marowak, all of the Battle Armor Pokemon can carry X-Scissor. Crustle, Escavalier, and Kingler can bear the brunt of Absol's non-critical-hit offense and, similarly, use X-Scissor to rip Absol apart.
-Many Sturdy Pokemon can take a potential KO hit from and give a guaranteed KO hit to Absol. Crustle (see the above comment), Donphan (with Ice Shard to revenge KO), anything with Explosion, and Sawk are major threats
-Justified Arcanine, Gallade, and Lucario can screw with Absol's STAB and all can send a Close Combat to broadside Absol. It's kinda funny that Absol can counter other Absol quite well, with good prediction.
-Faster Pokemon (and there are plenty) can (and likely do) carry Bug and/or Fighting Moves.

 

[TheAwesomeOne]

So basically any fast Fighting-Bug type will KO Absol.
So Scyther, Primeape, Hitmonlee and Blaziken are your best bets (4th Gen)
I am not too sure about 5th Gen because I haven't found any Tiers for that yet.

 

[Lucario At Service]

Justified: Raises attack by one level (x1.5) if hit by a Dark Attack, and gives Absol an immunity to something it already resists.

Does "Justified" really give immunity to Dark type moves. But based on the info on bulbapedia, "Justified" doesn't give immunity like "Sap Sipper" or "Lightningrod" does.

http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Justified_(ability)

 

[jstiglich]

Counters
Try Hearacross,
Helooo!

 

[pottsy]

not a competitive set but one that i find very useful is very simple
Absol pressure
false swipe
thunder wave
mean look
taunt

great for capturing most pokemon in the game, especially the roaming pokemon who can be baited into battling with mean look. thunder wave provides an obvious status ailment and false swipe leaves 1 hp, and despite its low base power, set with absol's high attack stat can still dish out damage on even a high leveled legendary. taunt keeps the likes of a mewtwo with recover from dragging on the battle.

again, this isn't a competitive set but i just wanted to participate and found this setup to be rather useful

 

[JJtheporcupine]

I thought of an idea for protect-detect toxic and attract which fails epicly because the pro-det doesn't work...

Absol-utley irritating
Impish/Quiet
Leftovers
Pressure
Toxic/Will-o-wisp
Protect/Detect/Substitute
Attract/Baton Pass
Shadow claw/Night slash

Toxic pairs well with protect for stalling and so does Will-o-wisp and Substitute. Pressure slowly depletes their PP. Attract can also be a good Toxic staller but Baton Pass can get you out of there to swap for a more effective pokemon. Shadow Claw and Night Slashare good moves but night slash is a better option due to its STAB coverage.

 

[Absol 4ever]

protect-detect toxic worked fine on my yanma on diamond, have they changed it in 5th gen then?

 

[TheAwesomeOne]

Absol@Life Orb
Adamant
4 HP, 252 Att, 252 SpA
Justified
-Night Slash
-Shadow Claw
-Psycho Cut
-Swords Dance/Stone Edge/Return

 

[multi-scale]

mach punch conkeldurr makes absol cry. the musketeers can switch in on a dark move and fire off a STAB fighting attack. gallade can also switch in and use close combat.

 

[Nijaskills]

Has anyone confirmed that Justified gives an immunity? I know that the simulators aren't always accurate, but they don't give you the immunity, just the boost when it hits, and that's a strange mistake to make (i.e. one would arbitrarily assume that, like herbivore, lightningrod, and storm drain, it gives an immunity as well as a boost, so why would they put it otherwise?)

Edit: I checked. It doesn't get an immunity. The attack hits, does damage, then your attack raises.

 

[Pokeman Man]

Absol-utely Disastrous
- Sucker Punch
- Psycho Cut
- Superpower
- Thunder Wave / Will-O-Wisp / Stone Edge / Night Slash
Item attached: Razor Claw
Ability: Super Luck
EVs and Nature:
4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant (+Atk, -Sp. Atk) / Jolly (+Spd, -Sp. Atk)

I bet everyone has already posted this anyway but.. it must be that great, must it?

Anyway, it's pretty obvious, Sucker Punch for STAB, priority, and scary attack dominates most Pokemon that don't resist it. Psycho Cut is for Fighting types. Superpower gets great coverage with Sucker Punch, hitting Darks, Rocks, and Steels. Only downside is the Attack drop..so you might not want to throw that around a lot if you don't need to. The last move is a filler. You could use Thunder Wave to cripple other opponents since Absol is unfortunately very slow, but Stone Edge is a great move too, benefiting from a 33% chance of a critical hit. Will-O-Wisp also screws up physical attackers. Night Slash is also usable because people could be expecting a Sucker Punch and set up or something like that.

Choose your disaster
- Sucker Punch / Night Slash
- Psycho Cut
- Superpower
- Megahorn / Stone Edge
Item Attached: Choice Band / Choice Scarf
Ability: Super Luck
EVs and Nature:
4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant (+Atk, -Sp. Atk) / Jolly (+Spd, -Sp. Atk)

Depending on your Choice item, choose your STAB. Sucker Punch is for Choice Band, Night Slash for Scarf. Psycho Cut is always a must for Fighting types. Superpower is for Rocks, Steels, and Darks. Since you'll be switching a lot because you're Choiced, the Attack drop won't matter. Megahorn is for Darks if you don't want the Attack drop, but Stone Edge gets that nice critical hit chance. You should probably run Adamant with Choice Scarf, and Jolly with Choice Band.

 

[The3DOstrich]

Absol has a potential to run an anti-lead set, as access to Taunt, Magic Coat and Sucker Punch seems vaible.

Anti just a disaterous lead?
- Taunt / Magic Coat
- Sucker Punch
- Superpower
- Will-O-Wisp / Thunder Wave / Toxic / Pursuit
Item Attached: Focus Sash / Lum Berry / Life Orb
Ability: Super Luck / Pressure
EVs and Nature:
4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant (+Atk, -Sp. Atk) / Jolly (+Spd, -Sp. Atk)

Its not too bad when faced with a slower lead. Taunt to prevent a set up, or Magic Coat to bounce away hazards. Since they are forced to attack, Sucker Punch lets you hit them hard, while Superpower gives great coverage. The last slot lets Absol choose a status move or simply Pursuit the fleeing lead. Focus Sash lets Absol live one hit considering how frail he is, while Lum Berry cures him of any status. Life Orb is there for extra power.