Pyroar@Shell Bell/Leftovers
Ability: Rivalry
EVs: Undecided, ideally max HP
Nature: Timid or Modest
- Entrainment
- Noble Roar
- Hyper Voice
- Fire Blast/Flamethrower
I need some help with this set.
First off, I know. Pyroar wasn't blessed with the best of stats (not even a decent movepool gamefreak wtf) but I did want to try to see how to put Noble Roar, a move unique to the Pyroar line, to work.
Noble Roar lowers the opponent's Atk and Sp.Atk by 1 stage, meaning you'd expect Pyroar to be a defensive pokemon. Unfortunately, that isn't the case, but it does have something to assist it further, and that's Entrainment. By passing the ability onto an opponent of the same gender, Rivalry will cause the opponent to have their Atk and Sp.Atk lowered by 25%. In all other cases, Pyroar will be using Rivalry to boost its own Sp.Atk, letting Pyroar play an offensive attacker one on end, and a tank on the other. For this reason, its preferred item is Shell Bell, although Leftovers is just as viable. See, Shell Bell is the item of choice for the fact that, even with Leftovers, Pyroar won't be able to wall certain pokemon this way (ie Tyranitar, Talonflame, Azumarill needs to have taken a Noble Roar drop and Rivalry's stat reducing effect is in play) so instead of letting Pyroar sit there and drool, it should be swapped out.
Now, it may be a lost cause, but I am interested in hearing the opinions of everyone here. Pokemon Showdown's calculator doesn't factor in Rivalry boosts or drops, so having the actual numbers is a bit hard to come by. And I'm aware the Entrainment strat will only work half the time due to gender ratio, but the idea was that Pyroar could punch holes and wall at the drop of a hat this way.
I might bring in some calcs later to try and prove Pyroar can do things. Doubt it, though.
No Lave Plume or Inferno makes defensive Pyroar very sad
EDIT: It's not working out. Ironically, a straight up defensive Pyroar works loads better than I thought.
Pyroar@Leftovers
Ability: Rivalry
EVs: 252 HP/252 Def/4 Sp.Def
Nature: Bold
-Entrainment
-Noble Roar
-Will-o-wisp
-Snarl/Fire Spin
It still uses the Entrainment strat from the above set, but it uses the move defensively, not offensively. Removing an ability like Huge Power and Guts allows Pyroar to wall endlessly, even with a weak as hell 72 Def stat. Noble Roar scores an Atk and Sp.Atk drop and is safe against mixed attackers, while Will-o-wisp cripples physical attackers even harder. Guts pokemon are not to be feared thanks to Entrainment. And Snarl is an offensive attack that can bypass Taunt and weakens special attackers should they come about. Since this set is less effective against physical attackers, Fire Spin is another viable option to trap opponents once they realize they're not hurting Pyroar.
I have calcs.
164 Atk Choice Band Azumarill Waterfall vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Pyroar: 168-200 (44.6 - 53.1%) -- 0.4% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
These are the calcs simulating the effect of a Rivalry stat reduction induced by Entrainment, lowering Azumarill's Atk to 175 from 218. EVs, IVs, and Base stats were fiddled with to get this result.
And these are the calcs of Entrainment passing along a Rivalry Boost.
212+ Atk Choice Band Azumarill Waterfall vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Pyroar: 264-312 (70.2 - 82.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
Azumarill ain't such hot Grimer without its precious Huge Power boost (it doesn't OHKO but that does a lot of damage shh)
In the event that Entrainment gives the opponent an Atk boost, Will-o-wisp is a much better idea.
252+ Atk Choice Band Huge Power burned Azumarill Waterfall vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Pyroar: 211-249 (56.1 - 66.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
Entrainment Rivalry works best when the genders are opposite, and if the opponent has an attack boosting ability. If they are the same, Will-o-wisp works better for surviving the initial hit.
0 Atk Garchomp Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Pyroar: 234-276 (62.2 - 73.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery (Rivalry drop)
252 Atk burned Garchomp Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Pyroar: 144-171 (38.2 - 45.4%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
Now, here's a fun one. Standard Conkeldurr doesn't OHKO with Drain Punch.
252+ Atk Conkeldurr Drain Punch vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Pyroar: 254-300 (67.5 - 79.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
Let's use Entrainment, and let's say it's the opposite sex.
0+ Atk Conkeldurr Drain Punch vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Pyroar: 204-240 (54.2 - 63.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery (IVs lowered to simulate Rivalry drop)
Still a 2HKO, but now that it doesn't have Guts, let's Burn it.
0+ Atk burned Conkeldurr Drain Punch vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Pyroar: 102-120 (27.1 - 31.9%) -- 38.3% chance to 4HKO after Leftovers recovery
Of course, Pyroar would be dead by now, but this is an extreme case. Of, Entrainment and Burns, I mean.
This works far more ideally in a team that takes advantage of gender. Even if Pyroar goes down, if it passed along Rivalry, the teammate coming in can benefit by sharing the gender of Pyroar, and keeping the opponent crippled with Rivalry and not whatever ability they had. Something like Shadow Tag Gothitelle can be a real pain because now it can set up and can't be stopped. But this is hyperbole.
Actually, this whole post is hyperbole.
...
Sorry for going overboard with the calcs and stuff. I really wanted to make Pyroar work. :'<
Still though, interesting stuff ;D
