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Single Rates - READ THE FIRST POST

Onyx Tanuki

Ma! There's a weird 'nuki in the yahd!
545.gif


Scolipede @Leftovers
Ability: Speed Boost
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 236 HP / 60 Atk / 40 Def / 172 Spe

Swords Dance
Earthquake
Poison Jab
Rock Slide / Protect

The speed EV's given allow Scolipede to outspeed threats such as Mega Charizard X, Dragonite, Gyarados, and Togekiss. However, it still can't outspeed things like Talonflame, Espeon, and the typical set for Mega Charizard Y, unless it uses Protect first turn to get the Speed Boost raise. 36 EVs in Attack are enough to OHKO Heatran and 2HKO Bisharp. Honestly, I'm not sure if this is a good set or not. I know that Mega Charizard Y is a problem, but I plan on using Assault Vest Goodra with this guy. What do you think? Anything I should change? Should I use Rock Slide or Protect?​

Aside from the defensive EVs that's pretty much standard I think. I think they typically go for just straight 252s. As for which move is better, that's up in the air; Rock Slide gives you great coverage with Earthquake, but Protect ensures at least one turn of Speed Boost. I guess it really depends on your team; if you have a lot of things that can handle something that's faster than Scolipede it may be better to use Rock Slide; that way he switches out if the opponent is faster, stays in and attacks on slower opponents, and Swords Dances on opponents that would more than likely run away from him. If most of your team is fairly slow as it is, you may want to give up that coverage for Protect, maybe even trade Poison Jab out for X-Scissor to make up for it.
 

sheerioxo

Member
Thank you for your input! I really appreciate it. :) I'm thinking of keeping Rock Slide from the advice you've given me. However, I still think I will keep Poison Jab. It would work well against Pokemon like Gardevoir, Clefable, and Venusaur.
 

Lord Fighting

Bank Ball Collector
I want to train a Bisharp but I don't know how viable it is without knock off. I ws thinking:

Bisharp @Life orb
Defiant
Iron Head
Sucker Punch
Low sweep/ brick break
Psycho cut
Adamant
252/252 Atk + Speed 4HP

How viable is this set? It's meant to be an all out attacker and to hit hard with defiant boosted sucker punch.
 

Lt. BLEU™

Top Class Lieutenant
I want to train a Bisharp but I don't know how viable it is without knock off. I ws thinking:

Bisharp @Life orb
Defiant
Iron Head
Sucker Punch
Low sweep/ brick break
Psycho cut
Adamant
252/252 Atk + Speed 4HP

How viable is this set? It's meant to be an all out attacker and to hit hard with defiant boosted sucker punch.

I don't know why Psycho cut? Replace that with Knock out and that makes Bisharp a boss

This is the set that I used. Hit's very, very hard.
Logan (Bisharp) (M) @ Black Glasses
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Sucker Punch
- Knock Off
- Pursuit
- Iron Head
 

Lord Fighting

Bank Ball Collector
I don't know why Psycho cut? Replace that with Knock out and that makes Bisharp a boss

This is the set that I used. Hit's very, very hard.
Logan (Bisharp) (M) @ Black Glasses
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Sucker Punch
- Knock Off
- Pursuit
- Iron Head

Like I said, it was meant to be a non transfer move set. You play PS too much to know about what moves are transfer moves :p
Definitely do not want pursuit on that. You don't need 3 dark moves.
 

Lt. BLEU™

Top Class Lieutenant
Like I said, it was meant to be a non transfer move set. You play PS too much to know about what moves are transfer moves :p
Definitely do not want pursuit on that. You don't need 3 dark moves.

Pursuit is indeed very much needed. You can take down almost any switching out Pokemon. Like A Espeon or Gengar etc are for sure going to switch out and when that happens, you can pursuit kill them.
 
Like I said, it was meant to be a non transfer move set. You play PS too much to know about what moves are transfer moves :p
Definitely do not want pursuit on that. You don't need 3 dark moves.

Pursuit is one of the main selling points of Bisharp lol. Getting rid of the Latis and Gengar, as well as getting chip damage on Pokemon switching out is very useful. 3 Dark moves on Bisharp is pretty much the standard. The set is:

Bisharp @ Black Glasses / Life Orb
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Sucker Punch
- Pursuit
- Knock Off
- Iron Head

You /could/ go for Swords Dance or Low Kick over Pursuit, but thats only if you have the Latis handled. Low Kick should only be used if you have problems with Tyranitar or opposing Bisharp.
 
lmao HE JUST SAID he can't use Knock Off.

Bisharp works just fine without Knock Off, just run the set they're telling you to run but with Night Slash->Knock Off. Won't be as good, but is still effective. You can also run Swords Dance->Pursuit if the Latis aren't an issue to your team.
 

Rocxidi

The Jim Reaper
Knock Off is too predictable. Mega Charizard Y always switches in for some reason...

Bisharp @ Life Orb / Black Glasses
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Iron Head
- Low Sweep / Brick Break
- Sucker Punch

Sucker Punch is what makes Bisharp bae. One of the best priority moves in the game, dealing massive damage on Bisharp, Sucker Punch makes Bisharp an amazing sweeper. Swords Dance is there because Defiant isn't reliable, and the rest of the moves are for perfect coverage.
 

Onyx Tanuki

Ma! There's a weird 'nuki in the yahd!
vanilluxe.gif

Vanilluxe @ Sitrus Berry/Leftovers/Weakness Policy/Assault Vest
Weak Armor
Lonely
248 HP, 252 Att, 8 SpAtt
- Ice Shard
- Freeze-Dry
- Icicle Spear/Return
- Autotomize/Hidden Power [Ground/Rock/Fire]

I know, it's a bit unconventional, but bear with me here. Vanilluxe actually has very usable Att and semi-decent Speed. However, its Physical movepool is sorely lacking and its SpAtt is better, making it more common as a Special attacker. However, I feel it has potential as a mixed attacker. I went with Ice Shard for priority to finish off weakened pokemon as well as get in some damage as a last effort, while Freeze-Dry not only acts as Special damage but also can hit Water types and the ever-feared Water/Ground types. The third move is for hitting hard; Icicle Spear doesn't help Vanilluxe's coverage at all but is able to break Substitutes, while Return is solid for taking on many things Ice can't hit. For the last slot, Autotomize boosts Vanilluxe's Speed enough that it can hit first against most unboosted threats, while Hidden Power allows it to hit two of the three types that would normally wall it super-effectively depending on the chosen type (Ground beats Fire and Steel, Rock beats Ice and Fire, Fire beats Ice and Steel). The item depends on your strategy: Leftovers and Sitrus work better with Autotomize, allowing you to get your +2 boost, possibly +3 if your opponent attacks with a move you survive, giving you a good shot of sweeping anything that isn't Ice-resistant, and giving you the potential to get more Weak Armor boosts when you've healed up, while Assault Vest lets Vanilluxe without Autotomize act as something of a special wall as well and Weakness Policy lets it switch into a low-power weakness move to get +2 Att/SpAtt and +1 Speed from Weak Armor and give it a chance of sweeping.

The downsides of this type of set, unfortunately, are fairly clear. If you run Icicle Spear and Autotomize, thanks to it having nothing but Ice moves, it'll be walled by Fire, Steel, Ice, and specially-defensive Water types. Return helps with coverage, but even then the set becomes hard-walled by Steel. If it's not running Autotomize, it relies on getting hit to gain Speed, which makes it particularly susceptible to fast pokemon with decent bulk, and without Speed investment it'll be outsped unless it survives to +2. There's also the fact that its Ice typing is not good defensively, and while that benefits Weakness Policy, if you switch in on the wrong opponent you could find yourself OHKOed before the Speed buff even comes to matter. Keep this away from anything that can learn Rock Blast BTW, as most things would be able to kill it off within three or four hits max due to Weak Armor triggering on each hit.
 

Shinjick

semi pro trainer
[/QUOTE]The downsides of this type of set, unfortunately, are fairly clear. If you run Icicle Spear and Autotomize, thanks to it having nothing but Ice moves, it'll be walled by Fire, Steel, Ice, and specially-defensive Water types. [/QUOTE]

your running freeze-dry even vs some decent water special defensive pokemon woulden't the stab supereffective move still do some fair damage? I don't really have any specially defensive pokemon come to mind so maybe pm me afew examples since I honestly can't think of any who'd come out nearly unaffected by it

last question since it has pretty much all ice moves woulden't an ice boosting item be ideal over weakness policy? since you get a boost without needing to wait on being hit by a weakness first and it stays on you even if you have been forced out for some reason tho guessing that would be unlikely but still a question is a question

if I'm wrong then its all good just thought I'd ask
 
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Onyx Tanuki

Ma! There's a weird 'nuki in the yahd!
The downsides of this type of set, unfortunately, are fairly clear. If you run Icicle Spear and Autotomize, thanks to it having nothing but Ice moves, it'll be walled by Fire, Steel, Ice, and specially-defensive Water types.

your running freeze-dry even vs some decent water special defensive pokemon woulden't the stab supereffective move still do some fair damage? I don't really have any specially defensive pokemon come to mind so maybe pm me afew examples since I honestly can't think of any who'd come out nearly unaffected by it

last question since it has pretty much all ice moves woulden't an ice boosting item be ideal over weakness policy? since you get a boost without needing to wait on being hit by a weakness first and it stays on you even if you have been forced out for some reason tho guessing that would be unlikely but still a question is a question

if I'm wrong then its all good just thought I'd ask

I actually was thinking of Nevermelt Ice, and that'd work for a set that chooses Icicle Spear over Return. And now that you mention it, a lot of Water type pokemon that are strong on the Special defense side are of a typing that'd make Freeze-Dry 4x super-effective. There's plenty of Water pokemon that can still take a Freeze-Dry due to exceptional bulk and/or typing that'd make it neutral on them: Tentacruel, Wailord, Empoleon, Mega Blastoise, Mega Gyarados, Vaporeon, Slowbro and Slowking, Suicune, Milotic, Rotom-Wash, Lapras, Dewgong, Walrein, and Manaphy could all likely take a hit from Freeze-Dry. Thankfully I typically play NU tier so a good chunk of that list is removed, and things like Mantine or Ludicolo that could normally switch in and eat Ice attacks easily enough would be wrecked by Freeze-Dry.

Doing the math on it, it may well be worth it to give this guy a Nevermelt Ice. While the boost isn't as good as a Weakness Policy buff, it's semi-permanent, where Weakness Policy's buff will go away if the opponent hits with Clear Smog, Haze, or a phasing move like Whirlwind or Dragon Tail. With it, Icicle Spear also outdamages Return unless it's hitting something Ice-resistant or Icicle Spear only its twice.

Also, taking a second look at breeding, it may not be possible to get both Autotomize and Ice Shard onto it, and if that's the case, I'm stuck with either Return or Hidden Power to handle coverage, and can only rely on Weak Armor boosts for speed.
 

Mdawg33

New Member
Super Sweeper Sceptile

Sceptile Petaya Berry Ability Unburden EV: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe Modest Nature
Energy Ball
Dragon Pulse
Focus Blast
Endure

Is this sceptile a viable special sweeper? It is definitely fast enough but I think it's a bit too weak. What do you guys think?
 

Lt. BLEU™

Top Class Lieutenant
Sceptile Petaya Berry Ability Unburden EV: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe Modest Nature
Energy Ball
Dragon Pulse
Focus Blast
Endure

Is this sceptile a viable special sweeper? It is definitely fast enough but I think it's a bit too weak. What do you guys think?

A few things here and there.
Maybe replace the Petaya Berry with a Life orb. Endure isn't important as you're going to be attacking mostly first due to high speed so add coverage for weaknesses. HP rock(Against Flying). HP Ice(Flying and grass) or HP Fire. Also, Berries are rarely used so rather keep Overgrow to get more boost during the lower health phase of your Pokemon. Replace Energy ball with Giga drain to keep your health up. You could also keep HP ice to counter dragons and maybe use a sub or leaf storm.

Suggestions based on the set from Smogon.
 

Onyx Tanuki

Ma! There's a weird 'nuki in the yahd!
Sceptile Petaya Berry Ability Unburden EV: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe Modest Nature
Energy Ball
Dragon Pulse
Focus Blast
Endure

Is this sceptile a viable special sweeper? It is definitely fast enough but I think it's a bit too weak. What do you guys think?

I agree with Lt. Bleu, a Petaya Berry set, while viable, isn't necessarily going to be the best option. It relies on your opponent attacking you, and if they don't use an offensive move, you've not only wasted a turn on Endure, but may end up OHKOed if you try and fail to use Endure next turn, or if you miss your next attack, or if your attack isn't strong enough to OHKO. Your best option IMO is to use Hidden Power, most likely Fire so you can hit Aegislash and Whimsicott for SE damage and Togekiss for neutral, though you could go for Flying or Rock to give you better super-effective coverage. If you do that, you could pop a Gem of the Hidden Power's type on it, or just Grass Gem to give Energy Ball an extra kick as well as trigger Unburden.

Another option might be to utilize Leaf Storm and White Herb. This'll guarantee not only a powerful Grass attack first turn, but you also recover the lost SpAtt as well as get Unburden to kick in.

----------

I'm a little torn between two sets for Lapras, and I need help deciding.

Lapras @ Assault Vest
Water Absorb
Modest
248 HP, 252 SpAtt, 8 SpDef
- Freeze-Dry
- Brine/Surf
- Psychic
- Signal Beam/Hidden Power [Ground]

Bulky special Lapras. Pretty simple stuff here, it utilizes Lapras's natural bulk. Although it gets Thunderbolt, I skipped out because Freeze-Dry covers Water, and because it's an Ice move it already hits Flying types, and due to STAB it'll hit harder than Thunderbolt as well. I wasn't sure whether to go for Brine or Surf, since the former is more powerful if I've already softened up a good portion of the opponent's team, while the latter is better against threats that haven't had the opportunity to take damage yet. Probably Surf would be better unless I'm running a hazard-heavy team. The rest adds coverage, with Psychic handling Fighting and Poison, Signal Beam covering Dark and Psychic, and HP Ground hitting Steel and Poison. Assault Vest helps Lapras survive a decent chunk of special hits without it having to invest much in SpDef.

Lapras @ Life Orb
Water Absorb
Adamant
252 Att, 4 Def, 252 Speed
- Dragon Dance
- Ice Shard
- Waterfall
- Drill Run

DD Lapras. Its only physical ice moves are Ice Shard and Avalanche, so I unfortunately can't run Avalanche with this set. In its place I put Drill Run to give Lapras some coverage against Steel and Poison types. Life Orb maximizes damage while still allowing it to set up. Not too much else I can say about it :p

Lapras @ Leftovers
Water Absorb
Brave
248 HP, 252 Att, 8 Def
- Curse
- Ice Shard
- Waterfall
- Avalanche

Cursepras. This one goes in the exact opposite direction as DD Lapras, trying to keep its Speed minimized to allow it better use of Avalanche, improving its physical beef instead. Leftovers keeps it alive to set up longer, since with this set I'd be relying on it to survive hits more than dealing them out. It could also work well with a Trick Room team, again owing to its minimized Speed.

What do you guys think would work best?
 
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Goodra Item: White herb
Ability: Hydration
Modest
252 HP/ 252 Def/ 4 Sp.Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Rain Dance
- Rest
- Toxic

Goodra serves as my stallbreaker with toxic included to disrupt walls.
I decided to go with a rest + hydration set to give goodra some healing and a way to deal with status
Since goodra allready has enormous Special Defense I decided to invest in physical defense instead and HP to max out goodra durability.
Last but not least we have draco meteor to prevent goodra from becoming taunt bait and with white herb goodra can fire it off twice without worry.

Well that's it.
 

Onyx Tanuki

Ma! There's a weird 'nuki in the yahd!
Goodra Item: White herb
Ability: Hydration
Modest
252 HP/ 252 Def/ 4 Sp.Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Rain Dance
- Rest
- Toxic

Goodra serves as my stallbreaker with toxic included to disrupt walls.
I decided to go with a rest + hydration set to give goodra some healing and a way to deal with status
Since goodra allready has enormous Special Defense I decided to invest in physical defense instead and HP to max out goodra durability.
Last but not least we have draco meteor to prevent goodra from becoming taunt bait and with white herb goodra can fire it off twice without worry.

Well that's it.

Not too shabby a set. However, Hydration really isn't necessary unless you really want to guarantee you wake up faster from Rest, since Rest itself takes care of any other status. Goodra's also not the ideal thing to use White Herb with; I'd much prefer to take a cut in power by going with Dragon Pulse than give up Leftovers, and since White Herb only works once, you could lose it taking a stat cut you weren't expecting to (like a drop from a Shadow Ball or switching into a Sticky Web). This set is clearly meant for longevity, so you can't afford to end up at -6 SpAtt when you haven't invested in it. If you keep Hydration/Rest, Damp Rock might be a good option as well, but if you choose to drop Hydration, you could either trade Rain Dance for any coverage move or swap Rest out for Muddy Water (which would be buffed by Rain Dance).
 

Kitt Geekazaru

Infernape Trainer
Goodra Item: White herb
Ability: Hydration
Modest
252 HP/ 252 Def/ 4 Sp.Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Rain Dance
- Rest
- Toxic

Goodra serves as my stallbreaker with toxic included to disrupt walls.
I decided to go with a rest + hydration set to give goodra some healing and a way to deal with status
Since goodra allready has enormous Special Defense I decided to invest in physical defense instead and HP to max out goodra durability.
Last but not least we have draco meteor to prevent goodra from becoming taunt bait and with white herb goodra can fire it off twice without worry.

Well that's it.
I agree with many of Onyx Tanuki's points, but the Rain Dance/Hydration/Rest combo is used by Manaphy very well. I agree, change to Dragon Pulse, but because of HydraRest leftovers seems unnecessary. You could have Damp Rock, or even Kee/Maranga berry to boost a defense stat.
 

Onyx Tanuki

Ma! There's a weird 'nuki in the yahd!
I agree with many of Onyx Tanuki's points, but the Rain Dance/Hydration/Rest combo is used by Manaphy very well. I agree, change to Dragon Pulse, but because of HydraRest leftovers seems unnecessary. You could have Damp Rock, or even Kee/Maranga berry to boost a defense stat.

Makes sense to me. I think Manaphy can pull it off a bit better though thanks to two factors: access to Tail Glow and its STAB. With the exception of Volcanion (whenever it gets released) and maybe Palkia, I think most Ubers pokemon are at most 2HKOed by a +3 Rain-boosted Surf, and this is coming from a BL pokemon. Goodra, on the other hand, is gonna be walled by most of the OU/UU Fairies (Florges and SpDef Diancie in particular), even if it does have room for an extra coverage move, since a lot of them are specially defensive, and its coverage move won't be running off of STAB; it could do 35% at best to fully special bulk Florges or 28% to 4 SpDef Assault Vest Florges with Sludge Wave and 41% to fully special bulk Diancie or 32% to Assault Vest Diancie with Muddy Water, while Florges' Moonblast can hit for 41% to 60%, and Diancie's can hit for 38% to 56%, depending on build and luck with min-max. I'm not saying Manaphy is without its counters and checks (again, Volcanion's gonna be a major stop if it doesn't have Energy Ball, and a fair number of pokemon it can't really safely switch in on), nor that Rain Dance/Rest/Hydration is a bad thing for Goodra (as long as your opponent isn't packing Fairy or Steel types you can hit anything at least neutrally with Dragon Pulse), just that Goodra's a bit easier to switch in on IMO.

Then again, as mentioned above, Manaphy is set in a slightly higher tier, so there's more things it'll potentially face versus what Goodra can.

kadabra.gif
alakazam.gif

Kadabra/Alakazam @ Black Sludge/Sticky Barb
Magic Guard
Timid
4 HP/Def/SpDef, 252 SpAtt, 252 Speed
- Trick
- Psychic/Psyshock
- Energy Ball/Shadow Ball/Dazzling Gleam/Knock Off
- Energy Ball/Shadow Ball/Dazzling Gleam/Knock Off

A slight twist on the classic Alakazam set. Typically you'd see this moveset on a Choice item Alakazam, allowing it to Trick its Choice item onto something like Chansey or Alomomola to keep it from being able to reliably heal the party, or with Specs, lock a physically-based opponent into a move. This version takes a bit more advantage of Magic Guard to cripple things that rely on their staying power by trading out their item for something that'll constantly damage them. While less crippling to Clerics, this can be used to hinder Assault Vest and Eviolite users considerably. Sticky Barb is the more reliable of the two, since it can damage Poison types, but you'll also have to be careful you don't hit that pokemon with a contact attack from something that's had its item Knocked Off.

Trick is, of course, to trade the damage item off, and Psychic/Psyshock for STAB depending on whether you have a lot of physical attackers on you team. From there you can go with Energy Ball, Shadow Ball, or Dazzling Gleam for additional coverage in the other two slots, depending on what you need most on your team. Knock Off is also an option if you're holding Sticky Barb, allowing Alakazam to ensure the opponent gets the Sticky Barb if you don't expect him to be able to OHKO with an attack and he has no other options open besides being foddered off.

You'll note that I set this up for either Kadabra or Alakazam. It depends on the tier you're running this set in; Alakazam is UU and up, I believe, and anything lower you'll need to default to Kadabra. The two are virtually identical in terms of use, only differing in Kadabra losing a little SpAtt and Speed. Essentially, you'll just be using Kadabra anywhere Alakazam is banned from.

kangaskhan.gif

Kangaskhan @ Leftovers
Scrappy
Adamant
212 HP, 252 Att, 44 Speed
- Return
- Substitute
- Wish
- Drain Punch/Power-Up Punch/Earthquake/Sucker Punch/Roar

Kangaskhan, even without its Mega Stone, is a pretty solid defensive pokemon, and this version is built to capitalize on its bulkiness. Return is STAB, of course, Substitute to block status and soak up hits, Wish for direct healing. Its HP is just high enough that with 212 EVs it can create Subs that a single Seismic Toss can't break, so you could take a few HP EVs out to beef up its Speed, or you could just go with 252 HP so it has a little extra padding. Scrappy ensures that even without Sucker Punch, Kanga isn't walled against most Ghosts.

Its final moveslot is pretty free, so there's a lot of things that would go there. Drain Punch covers Rock and Steel types, as well as providing a means to heal if Kanga gets Taunted. PuP beefs its offenses up while providing the same coverage. Earthquake provides the same anti-Rock/Steel coverage, but trades a secondary effect for power (and thankfully, the only Rock/Flying type in the NU tier, Archeops, has little enough bulk that a Return is going to eat through its resistance). Sucker Punch is good if you want to ensure the opponent is punished for attacking you directly while you wait for a Wish to drop. Roar covers you against setups and things that Substitute. Obviously these aren't your only options, and since this set runs Wish you have to keep in mind that you can't run an Egg Move on it, but these IMO are the best options. If you wish you could run Aqua Tail, Crunch, or an elemental punch for different types of coverage as your team requires. Even Seismic Toss is an option if you wanna be able to hit low HP defensive Ghosts like Dusclops, Dusknoir, or Spiritomb hard, or just want to bypass Defense. Seriously, be creative here.
 
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Lord Fighting

Bank Ball Collector
142.gif

Aerodactyl @Aerodactylite
Tough Claws
-Rock Slide
-Roost
-Crunch
-Aerial Ace/ An elemental fang/ E.Q
Jolly
252/252 Spd + Atk 4 HP

So I want to create a fast attacking mega aerodactyl set but I'm unsure on what moves to have on it. I don't know what Pokemon is struggles to beat the most so certain moves may be replaced in order for more coverage. What's a normal set for this guy?
 
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