Community POTW #154

[Serebii]

Time for the next Pokémon of the Week and this week we're continuing spooky season

It's Spectrier!

Spectrier #897 - Serebii.net Pokédex

Spectrier Pokémon Serebii.net Pokédex providing all details on moves, stats, abilities, evolution data and locations for Pokémon Sword & Shield

www.serebii.net

 

[Divine Retribution]

At a glance, you might expect Spectrier to be a pretty scary Pokemon, with its 145 base Sp. Atk, 130 base Speed, and spammable Ghost STAB, and it probably would be were it not for one major caveat; Calyrex-S exists and does almost everything Spectrier does, but better. There's almost no reason to use Spectrier over Calyrex-S with two notable exceptions.

The first is using Spectrier in conjunction with Calyrex-S; Calyrex-S is considered an alternate form of Calyrex, not Spectrier, so species clause does not forbid the use of both on the same team. Together they can be used to form a pretty scary Ghost-spam core that can wear down an opposing team's Ghost resists, but there are other Ghosts that generally fulfill that niche better, such as Blacephalon, Marshadow, and Lunala.

The other small niche is that Spectrier's pure Ghost typing can allow it to lure in defensive Yveltal, Burn it with Will-O-Wisp, and then use it as set-up bait. This plan falls apart if Yveltal has any dark move besides Foul Play, and can't touch anything that can handle boosted Ghost-type moves (such as Blissey and Arceus-Normal), but it's something... I guess.

In reality you're almost always better off using Calyrex-S over Spectrier.

 

[XaelOstigian]

Shadow Stead
Ability: Grim Neigh
Item: Life Orb
Nature: Timid
EVs: (HP 4) (Sp. Attack 252) (Speed 252)

Moves:
Nasty Plot
Shadow Ball
Dark Pulse
Will-O-Wisp/Disable/Hyper Beam

Set Details:
Lacking Calyrex does not do this dark horse any favors no thanks to the shallow movepool it has compared to its sibling. Just set up Nasty Plot, spam Shadow Ball, and Dark Pulse is for the Normal types. Last move is honestly up to you. Will-O-Wisp has some utility options I guess, Disable could be used to troll under the right circumstances, and Hyper Beam could be run on Dynamax sets as an option for hitting Dark types for at least neutral damage. Honestly your best strategy is to just try and get a snowball effect with Grim Neigh and hope you just sweep your opponent's whole team.

 

[Bittercold]

At a glance, you might expect Spectrier to be a pretty scary Pokemon, with its 145 base Sp. Atk, 130 base Speed, and spammable Ghost STAB, and it probably would be were it not for one major caveat; Calyrex-S exists and does almost everything Spectrier does, but better. There's almost no reason to use Spectrier over Calyrex-S with two notable exceptions.

The first is using Spectrier in conjunction with Calyrex-S; Calyrex-S is considered an alternate form of Calyrex, not Spectrier, so species clause does not forbid the use of both on the same team. Together they can be used to form a pretty scary Ghost-spam core that can wear down an opposing team's Ghost resists, but there are other Ghosts that generally fulfill that niche better, such as Blacephalon, Marshadow, and Lunala.

The other small niche is that Spectrier's pure Ghost typing can allow it to lure in defensive Yveltal, Burn it with Will-O-Wisp, and then use it as set-up bait. This plan falls apart if Yveltal has any dark move besides Foul Play, and can't touch anything that can handle boosted Ghost-type moves (such as Blissey and Arceus-Normal), but it's something... I guess.

In reality you're almost always better off using Calyrex-S over Spectrier.

But the big difference between Spectrier and Shadow rider Calyrex is that S-Calyrex is a restricted legendary, and Spectrier is not. So it's not always best to use S-Calyrex over Spectrier, if you're playing in a format that doesn't allow retracted legendary, or you have already used your two restricted spots on your team.

 

[Mestorn]

At first glance, Spectrier is very similar to Blacephelon and Gengar being a frail and fast Ghost type with overwhelming destructive power. What seperates Spectrier is its Speed and HP. 130 Speed is amazingly fast, with few being able to outspeed it reliably (and none of them want to switch in) while Base 100 HP means that Spectrier is surprisingly durable for a Pokémon of its niche despite its defenses saying otherwise.

These two factors are what has caused Spectrier to rampage out of control. Counterplay is limited, between Spectrier's amazing Speed, overwhelming power, and Ghost typing that not only leaves few answers to its STAB, but grants very important immunities giving Spectrier opportunities to switch in and setup as the opponent switches out. Wait setup? Yeah this monster gets bloody Nasty Plot and Calm Mind on top of its Special Attack Moxie ability Grim Neigh.

The only saving grace against Spectrier is that its movepool is shallower than a kiddy pool. After Ghost STAB and the incredibly redundant Dark Pulse, you are seriously considering options like Mud Shot and Hyper Beam. So Normal and Dark types that resist its STAB are very potent. Blissey, Chansey and Umbreon sit on Spectrier all day -even a +6 Hyper Beam fails to do more than 45%. Ignore this. I grabbed the wrong level when looking at damage calculations for Spectrier. A +6 Spectrier's Hyper Beam does 76.1 - 89.6% to Max HP/4 SDEF Blissey, Guaranteed to OHKO Umbreon, and 63.8 - 75.2% to Max HP/4 SDEF Eviolite Chansey

Additionally in unrestricted formats, Spectrier is outclassed by Calyrex Shadow Rider in every meaningful way.