Competitive Battling Discussion of the Week 29
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Scarf Magneton is kinda cool now, since it revenges Keldeo and Tornadus-T.
SubSalac Terrakion is a monster. Easily Terrakion's best set if I'm being completely honest. Swords Dance is awesome. Avoiding revenge kills and status is also awesome. Being scarf speed and having the ability to switch moves is awesome. Being able to do it all together is just generally awesome.
In general, Latias is pretty awesome in this meta too. It takes Hurricanes pretty well (Specs ones are kinda hard though), and revenges Thundurus-T, while also hitting Landorus-T pretty hard. Latias also rocks as a Keldeo counter, and is pretty much the best one that isn't Amoonguss.
SubSalac Terrakion is a monster. Easily Terrakion's best set if I'm being completely honest. Swords Dance is awesome. Avoiding revenge kills and status is also awesome. Being scarf speed and having the ability to switch moves is awesome. Being able to do it all together is just generally awesome.
In general, Latias is pretty awesome in this meta too. It takes Hurricanes pretty well (Specs ones are kinda hard though), and revenges Thundurus-T, while also hitting Landorus-T pretty hard. Latias also rocks as a Keldeo counter, and is pretty much the best one that isn't Amoonguss.
Kingdra, because Rain is everywhere and if you aren't running Politoed yourself then you get to use Swift Swim with double STAB.
Staraptor has always been underrated as a Choice Band Reckless auto-kill. Flying is the best mono-STAB in the game right now, and Skarmory seems to be less common. Kind of tricky to make the most of, but definitely underrated.
Staraptor has always been underrated as a Choice Band Reckless auto-kill. Flying is the best mono-STAB in the game right now, and Skarmory seems to be less common. Kind of tricky to make the most of, but definitely underrated.
Martini said:Ludicolo So many rain teams, this guy just wrecks them
Kabutops Better than Kingdra, quadruples speed in rain
Your MomMakes a great Keldeo counterI mean Latios
Latios is in no way underrated. Kabutops doesn't get quadruple speed in rain, it gets double speed like every other Pokemon with Swift Swim...
Also, before PMJ, can say it, Ditto. It wrecks any team that gets too greedy with set-up sweepers.
I don't know how I feel about Ditto compaired to a revenge killer with more utility (see: Scizor, Terrakion, Alakazam, Thundurus, Landorus). I don't like a Pokemon that can sometimes be deadweight (see: vs stall, vs CM sweepers that lack Psyshock).
I actually don't know why people are not running Skarmory. Specially defensive versions are a great answer to Tornadus-T and Draco Meteor locked Latios. It can also handle Breloom and Amoonguss very well if something has already been put to sleep.
bacon said:
I actually don't know why people are not running Skarmory. Specially defensive versions are a great answer to Tornadus-T and Draco Meteor locked Latios. It can also handle Breloom and Amoonguss very well if something has already been put to sleep.
PMJ
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> implying I use Ditto to revenge kill
Ditto is probably the best scout in the game. What could be better than instantly knowing all of your opponent's attacks?
I switched him into a Starmie once and saw Thunder Wave, Thunderbolt, Ice Beam, and Rapid Spin. As soon as I saw it I learned that Mamoswine was a free switch-in every single time. Starmie couldn't touch him.
I switched him into Terrakion and saw Quick Attack. That told me he was Banded and I was able to react accordingly.
And not only that, if you have the balls to speed tie, win it, and KO, there's a good chance you can get a second KO because everyone will switch in something that resists whatever move you used to KO with because _everyone_ will think he's scarfed.
Of course, this can backfire too: I switched into Volcarona at +1/1/1, saw Hidden Power and went for the Fire Blast. He won the speed tie and I learned the hard way that he was using HP Rock. X[
The biggest problem is that Ditto has absolutely no synergy with any team. The best you can do is use him to revenge kill, but he fails if the opponent doesn't have a move that hits themselves super effectively.
Ditto is probably the best scout in the game. What could be better than instantly knowing all of your opponent's attacks?
I switched him into a Starmie once and saw Thunder Wave, Thunderbolt, Ice Beam, and Rapid Spin. As soon as I saw it I learned that Mamoswine was a free switch-in every single time. Starmie couldn't touch him.
I switched him into Terrakion and saw Quick Attack. That told me he was Banded and I was able to react accordingly.
And not only that, if you have the balls to speed tie, win it, and KO, there's a good chance you can get a second KO because everyone will switch in something that resists whatever move you used to KO with because _everyone_ will think he's scarfed.
Of course, this can backfire too: I switched into Volcarona at +1/1/1, saw Hidden Power and went for the Fire Blast. He won the speed tie and I learned the hard way that he was using HP Rock. X[
The biggest problem is that Ditto has absolutely no synergy with any team. The best you can do is use him to revenge kill, but he fails if the opponent doesn't have a move that hits themselves super effectively.
Sub DD Kingdra is great right now. With almost every team rain, it can come in and set up a sub. Once the Sub is up it can DD and kill mons for days. Except for Ferrothorn. He walls Kingdra very well.
Given how offensive the meta is right now, I think Ditto is a great play. Offensive teams really struggle against Ditto since it can outspeed most of the team. Coming in while a NP Thundurus is out can end the game for a rain team.
PMJ said:
Yeah, one of the crappy things about Ditto is that it uses your IVs to determine the Hidden Power. Sometimes it might be best to set it something custom such as HP Rock for Volcarona or Thundurus.
One of the things I hate most about Ditto is just locking yourself in to one move. Locking yourself on HP Ice after revenge killing a Thundurus is just asking to get walled or setup on by the incoming Keldeo, Politoed, Ferrothorn, Starmie, etc. Life Orb is a terrible item to run since you're relying on a 50% chance to win or lose the game.
Well, a play style I've been trying out in this new meta game is Hail. Kyurem (reg. Forme) still hits very hard with a 100% accurate Blizzard (and Scarfed, it hits 420 Speed, which is great), and you can try Walrein to stall out for 32 turns. Ice moves in general work against the Therian Formes and Amoonguss. Hail is a cool play style, but it suffers against other weather IMO.
Abomasnow's typing is really good in this metagame, resisting Water, Electric and Ground. Combine that with the arguably best priority move in the game and one of the best offensive typings of the game, AND let him disrupt the weather, you have a decent anti-meta pokemon. I mean, he got a plethora of weaknesses and a bad stat spread, but he's not bad in the meta.
Let's not forget the fact
Don't forgot to weigh the cons before weighing the pros. Abomasnow might have useful resistances, however it also has some of the worst weaknesses in the game. It should only be used for its ability and even then you have to look into the fact that Hail pails compaired to other weathers.
- its Scarf set fails to outrun Tornadus,
- it gets killed by Breloom's Mach Punch.
- it can't take any form of priority for that matter.
- LO Adamant Ice Shard sometimes fails to OHKO Thundurus after SR and will never OHKO Tornadus after SR.
- Hail is a terrible weather to abuse (key word: terrible) and should only be run on balanced teams (and even then those suck).
- it gets no free switchins on anything without taking reasonable amounts of damage. Even a resisted Keldeo's Hydro Pump or Thundurus's Thunder can do hefty damage.
Don't forgot to weigh the cons before weighing the pros. Abomasnow might have useful resistances, however it also has some of the worst weaknesses in the game. It should only be used for its ability and even then you have to look into the fact that Hail pails compaired to other weathers.
Abomasnow's designed to cause a lot of switches. You bring it out through slow U-Turns (like through CB Scizor or Landorus-T). If you're manually switching Abomasnow in, you're doing it wrong (fyi, same applies with Techniloom). Bring it in through something that it scares out, like Gliscor or Landorus, then plan an attack for their counter (cause they aren't staying in). You're not staying in on Breloom (lol Mach Punch gg). You're not staying on on Keldeo (lol secret sword gg). You're not staying on on Thundurus (lol focus blast gg). Abomasnow is like a pivot. Bring it out, scare something out, and then act accordingly. It's never out on the battlefield for long, at least from my experiences with him.
And Abomasnow beats the crud out of rain teams due to that Grass type. Wood Hammer puts lots of stress on Politoed to stay in, and their best switchin to a Wood Hammer (Ferro or Amoonguss) gets teared apart through HP Fire or Blizzard (Mixed Aboma is easily the best due to this).
Abomasnow rocks and needs more love before it starts nabbing your children.
And Abomasnow beats the crud out of rain teams due to that Grass type. Wood Hammer puts lots of stress on Politoed to stay in, and their best switchin to a Wood Hammer (Ferro or Amoonguss) gets teared apart through HP Fire or Blizzard (Mixed Aboma is easily the best due to this).
Abomasnow rocks and needs more love before it starts nabbing your children.
PMJ
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ComfortEagle said:
This is why I use him primarily as a scout. More often than not I will switch him out right after switching him in. If the opponent wants to play dice and boost up while I've got him on the field, he is more than welcome to; I'll take a 50/50 chance at sweeping him outright.
When I made this Ditto in PO it was back when I played DW OU so the one I currently use is holding Shed Shell. It has almost no real utility other than allowing me to switch out of Magnezone, Dugtrio, and Wobbuffet. Any suggestions for an item that won't give away that I'm not scarfed?
