Pokémon Pyukumuku - The Biggest Surprise?

Professor Palutena

The Queen
Member
375px-771Pyukumuku.png

Type: Water
Abilities: Innards Out / Unaware
Stats: 55 HP / 60 Atk / 130 Def / 30 SpA / 130 SpD / 5 Spe

Innards Out: When this Pokemon is knocked out, the attacker receives damage equal to the HP that Pyukumuku was at before it was knocked out (as a number, not a percent).

Useful Moves: Baton Pass, Recover, Curse, Soak, Toxic, Memento, Light Screen, Reflect, Psych Up, Counter, Rain Dance

Holy crap PP, what are you doing? There's no way this thing could be any good with those stats and that movepool!

I've been playing with this thing for a bit, and it's actually a lot better than I think people give it credit for. As a defensive Pokemon, it actually punishes you for attacking it due to Innards Out. This means that it isn't as passive as it may seem and it boasts an excellent, albeit narrow, movepool that lets it do exactly what it needs to do.

What needs to be understood about Pyukumuku is that it forces a lot of switches. People are terrified of Innards Out, as it's basically Final Gambit as an ability, so they switch. This gives Pyuku a lot of synergy with hazard setters.

Most of the time, you'll be using Recover and Baton Pass. Recover keeps you healthy and maximizes the HP lost with Innards Out, which is fitting because it's designed to take hits. The slowest Baton Pass helps bring in attackers like Pheromosa or any other frail Pokemon, and you get switch advantage like you would with U-Turn.

Everything else it gets allows it to fit into the team roles you need.
  • It can go Reflect + Light Screen if you need additional support for frail Pokemon. Run Light Clay with it.
  • It can take Curse and Baton Pass it to some sweepers.
  • Toxic is its only form of damage dealing.
  • Soak allows you to Toxic any Steel-type switchins (notably Aegislash, who 4HKOs you after Soak, so you can Toxic it)
  • Memento + Darkinium-Z allow you to fully heal up a sweeper and give them a second change at sweeping, especially when the foe's attack stats plummet
  • Counter is interesting as this Pokemon is supposed to take hits. Don't run Fightinium-Z with it though.
  • Psych Up keeps it from being total setup bait, especially with Baton Pass in its arsenal. This is especially useful with Unaware.
  • Rain Dance is useful for rain teams that need extra support for Pelipper

Seriously, try it out! It's so much fun to use and no one sees it coming. Its support has actually won me games.

The set:

Pyukumuku @ Leftovers
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
Ability: Innards Out
- Recover
- Baton Pass
- Toxic / Reflect
- Soak / Light Screen / Memento / Curse / Psych Up / Memento / Counter / Rain Dance

If you want more evidence, I encourage you to watch this video from pokeaim.
 
I had a feeling from the start that this thing is not what it looks like. I love the set with Memento+DarkiumZ, at least on paper. I guess Heal Block can be its counter move?
 
No one runs Heal Block in OU.

The Soak set is actually my favorite. The number of times I've poisoned Ferros, Heatrans and Toxapexs makes it so worth it.
 
This thing sounds like such a troll, and the Pokémon you can attract! This mystical sea pickle sure is curious
 
Surprisingly, this thing Wins against rain if you can get Tapu Koko off the field, just by absorbing attacks, poisoning them, and spamming recover.
 
Surprisingly, this thing Wins against rain if you can get Tapu Koko off the field, just by absorbing attacks, poisoning them, and spamming recover.
Or use it to get Tapu Koko off the field :p

Unless people start running Koko with HP investment, switching Pyuku into a Thunderbolt will kill Koko.
 
I'm not seeing the point of Innards Out when Unaware is available. This thing is bulky enough to where you're only going to let this thing get OHKO'd if you sandbag it, which seems improper for a defensive Pokemon. For example, all of these assume the stat spread of 252 HP / 252 Def+:

CB Azumarill Play Rough: 50.9% - 60.5%
M-Charizard-Y Solar Beam: 58.5% - 69.4%
M-Diancie Moonblast: 50.9% - 60.1%
CB Dragonite Outrage: 63% - 74.5%
Life Orb Gengar Sludge Wave: 51.2% - 60.8%
Mega-Heracross Close Combat: 50.6% - 50.9%
CB Kyurem-B Fusion Bolt: 84% - 99.3%
LO Latios Draco Meteor: 70% - 83.1%

Mixed and non-LO Thundurus also miss out on the OHKO with Thunderbolt. For giggles, Staraptor only does 99% with Final Gambit.

Unaware sets look good in lower tiers. There's not a lot that can muscle through those defenses without some sort of boost. Other Unaware users like Quagsire will still be effective for not being as passive, but this thing blows them all out of the water with better bulk.

tldr: ability with consistant results > ability that forces you to sandbag it for results
 
Going for Unaware takes a whole different strategy, isn't it? What set is recommended for it? Also, I remember something about Unaware being nerfed. Does that affect anything that one should consider before adding it to their team ?
 
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