Ah, sorry about the long delay guys. Been busy.
Some things that I did:
1) Did team options
2) Added Seismic Toss onto the WishBliss set
3) Made CMBliss Ubers based
4) Removed CharmBliss
The last two I did as I looked at the stats for the past 4 months and found that they were used less than 5% of the time on all Blissey sets (combined). In my opinion, CharmBliss isn't viable in Standard or Ubers, and CMBliss is a liability in Standard (although good in Ubers). If I get an overwhelming outcry against the decision, I'll include CharmBliss and add OU team options to CMBliss.
If you see anything missing, just let me know and I'll add it. If you regularly play Ubers and find something wrong with the CMBliss counters and partners, give suggestions and I'll add it (I'm not spot on with Ubers). Without further adieu:
http://www.smogon.com/dp/pokemon/blissey
[SET]
name: WishBliss
move 1: Wish
move 2: Protect / Softboiled
move 3: Seismic Toss / Flamethrower
move 4: Toxic
item: Leftovers
ability: Natural Cure
nature: Calm
evs: 80 HP / 252 Def / 176 SpD
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>The #1 special wall in the game has had to reinvent itself slightly to keep up with DPP's new special threats. The general idea is to switch in, use Wish and then Protect to mimic the effects of Softboiled. The advantages are that Protect allows you to waste more turns for PP stalling and Toxic damage, and Wish can be passed to other members of your team. Additionally, Wish can be used preemptively (with more than half of your HP intact, even at full health), allowing Blissey to attack on the next turn without having to worry about losing a large chunk of health.</p>
<p>The Wish / Protect combination is all the more appealing on Blissey in DPP thanks to the popularity of Choice item users. The silver lining to this set resides in the fantastic safety net Protect casts over Blissey. At any point over around 50% HP, WishBliss will not be threatened by Choice-boosted Pursuit from Pokémon like Tyranitar, Scizor, and Heracross simply because of Protect. Blissey can use Protect to scout the foe's attack, and then either switch or stay in depending on what attack the opponent is locked into.</p>
<p>If your opponent use Pursuit, Blissey will be Protected and can stay in and Wish the next turn while taking a 40 base power Pursuit assured to do less than 35% to her (assuming the threat stays in, which it may not), then follow up with Protect on the subsequent turn to guarantee the 50% HP recovery. If they attack straight up with one of their powerful STAB moves, you're more than free to switch out to the appropriate counter with which your team should be equipped anyway. This matchup becomes even more attractive when you factor in the possibility that the above Pursuit threats could likely have switched into a Wish in the first place.</p>
<p>Remember though, this strategy, like most, can be used against you if you rely too heavily upon it. Consider a Tyranitar heads-up against a Blissey that used Wish on the switch. Tyranitar uses Crunch as Blissey Protects, and then switches out of the full health Blissey to which it no longer poses such a large threat. But later, when Tyranitar is heads-up against the same Blissey, it uses a dangerous Dragon Dance as Blissey Protects, assuming that Tyranitar was of the Choice Band variety. There are a number of Pokémon who can play similar tricks (e.g. Swords Dance Scizor, Mixed Salamence), so it is important to keep this in mind when using Protect.</p>
<p>Although it may seem strange to use two healing moves on the same set, Softboiled has a number of advantages over Protect, not the least of which is PP stalling. Wish only has 16 PP, so if you are involved in a long, drawn-out stall battle, Wish can get worn down as you try to heal both Blissey and its teammates with only one move. If Blissey also has Softboiled, it can heal itself with that and rely on Wish to heal its teammates. Another disadvantage of Protect is that with Wish + Protect as Blissey's only method of healing, a special attacker could hit Blissey as it switches in, then go to a big threat like Tyranitar as Blissey uses Wish. If Blissey stays in to get healed, it risks letting Tyranitar use Dragon Dance. If Blissey switches out, then it hasn't gained any HP. This cycle can continue throughout the battle, thus preventing you from ever healing your Blissey and potentially opening you up to a special sweep. Softboiled has another minor benefit: if you are using Blissey in Hail or a Sandstorm, then Blissey will be KOed by the weather if it is knocked below 6.25% HP. If it uses Wish on that turn, Blissey will be knocked out by the foul weather before it gets a chance to heal itself.</p>
<p>Toxic is a great move on this set regardless of whether you choose Protect or Softboiled: either way, you have two moves to use that aid in stalling. As you are sitting around healing yourself, you will not really be doing anything aside from PP stalling. If you hit your foe with Toxic first, then they will be losing HP while you stall with recovery moves. Toxic is a good move even if you have Toxic Spikes down, as Toxic is this Blissey's only chance to take down Togekiss. It also helps to hit threats like Gyarados on the switch.</p>
<p>For the attack, either Flamethrower or Seismic Toss work. Seismic Toss is the preferred move, as it hits almost everything for constant damage (barring Ghosts). Flamethrower does have the unique capability of providing more damage than Seismic Toss to Steel switch-ins, as well as hitting Ghosts and Celebi harder. It does do noticeably less damage to Tyranitar and Swampert, both common switch-ins, and does less damage than Seismic Toss to Pokemon who are neutral to Fire. On stall, Seismic Toss is the preferred move, as it provides a constant stream of damage. </p>
<p>The EV's are designed to maximize Blissey's defenses. 176 SpD allow Blissey to be bulky enough on the special side to avoid 2HKOes from the likes of an Aura Sphere from Choice Specs Lucario and Focus Blast from Choice Specs Gengar. 252 Def EV's are a necessity on all Blissey sets, allowing it to take weak physical attacks. The rest are leftover EV's, which do just fine in HP. If using Flamethrower, the HP EV's may be moved to SpA to provide more damage.</p>
<p>Obviously, Blissey is a perfect choice for a team that has a thorn for special attacks. Even powerful, Super Effective moves, such as Aura Sphere from Choice Specs Lucario or a Focus Blast from a Choice Specs Gengar, can only muster 3HKO’s at best. As such, any team that needs a dedicated Special wall should consider Blissey. Bulky sweepers that draw special moves, such as Gyarados, work well with Blissey, as she can take the deadly special attacks aimed at them. Conversely, these sweepers are bulky enough to take a physical attack originally aimed at Blissey, especially Gyarados who’s Intimidate and part Flying typing allows it to switch in and take Fighting moves and the omnipresent Earthquake easily. Frailer sweepers generally form less synergy with Blissey, as the sweepers have trouble switching in, as they generally can’t take physical attacks aimed at Blissey. </p>
<p>Blissey can be paired with defensive Pokemon as well. The ever-popular defensive combo “SkarmBliss” is tantamount to Blissey’s capability to be paired with other defensive Pokemon. As stated before, the “SkarmBliss” combination is with Skarmory. Skarmory takes the powerful physical attacks aimed at Blissey, while Blissey takes the special attacks aimed at Skarmory that would normally hurt it significantly. Gliscor and defensive Gyarados can provide similar synergy; bulky Waters are generally brought in to deal with Gliscor using Surf and Ice Beam, while Electric moves like Hidden Power Electric and Thunderbolt are generally used against Gyarados. Blissey takes these moves like a champ, while the aforementioned Pokemon take Fighting moves, which the resist, Earthquake, which they’re immune to, or any other strong physical move very well. </p>
<p>Though Blissey is a force to deal with on the special side, she is noticeably weak against physical moves. Tyranitar can come in and immediately threaten with powerful STABs in Crunch and Stone Edge; it only has to worry about being Poisoned from Toxic. Machamp can come in on any of Blissey’s attacks, thanks to its natural bulk and Guts ability, and pose a threat from STAB Fighting moves and a high base Attack stat. If the Blissey set has Ice Beam, Lucario, Scizor, and Metagross can come in and threaten Blissey with their powerful STAB moves as well, while not fearing Toxic. If the set has Flamethrower, most Salamence sets, excluding SpecsMence, can threaten Blissey as well. Additionally, due to Blissey’s nature as an exclusive special wall, she is prone to being “set-up” fodder, where stat boosting moves are used in order to pose a threat to the team at large. For the former mentioned, Rotom-h can be a sufficient counter, as it is either immune or resists their STAB moves, and only fears a +2 Crunch from an Adamant Life Orb Lucario; Overheat provides extreme damage to any of them. Bulky Waters can alleviate weaknesses to Salamence and the like; if the set is a mono-physical attacker, such as DDMence, then an appropriate physical wall, like Skarmory may be used.</p>
[SET]
name: Cleric
move 1: Aromatherapy
move 2: Seismic Toss
move 3: Thunder Wave / Toxic
move 4: Softboiled
item: Leftovers
ability: Natural Cure
nature: Calm
evs: 40 HP / 252 Def / 216 SpD
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>The idea behind this set is fairly straightforward: switch in on a special attacker, relieve your team of any status ailments, and switch right back out in the face of the physical threat which will likely replace the harmless special attacker.</p>
<p>The EV's listed are similar to the previous set. 252 Def is a must, as always. However, this set runs 216 SpD, a bit more than the above set, to maximize SpD. This will also assure that Blissey is never 2HKOed by a Flash Fire boosted Fire Blast from a Choice Specs Heatran. The rest is dumped into HP.
<p>The fast-paced nature of competitive DPP play makes the use of the Cleric Blissey a potential liability, so exercise extreme caution in its use. If one of your Pokémon is afflicted with status and you send out Blissey, it is somewhat predictable that you will use Aromatherapy, giving a physical sweeper a free switch-in, so Seismic Toss, Thunder Wave, or Toxic is often a better move to use on the switch.</p>
<p>Since you are using Seismic Toss, use Thunder Wave to cripple Gengar and Rotom-A and have another Pokemon come in and threaten them. Be wary that numerous Gengar and Rotom-A sets do run Substitute, essentially giving them one free turn to attack your counter.</p>
<p>As noted above, the Cleric set is somewhat of a liability, especially since Aromatherapy becomes a predictable move once revealed. More of a concern is bulky physical sweepers that do not fear Thunder Wave and do not take serious damage from Seismic Toss. Gengar and Rotom-A are both immune to Seismic Toss, and only fear Thunder Wave. They can, however, run Substitute sets to avoid statuses and/or potential counters. Gengar can 2HKO Blissey with Focus Punch behind a Substitute, while Rotom-A can use Charge Beam to boost its Special Attack to levels where 2HKOes are possible with Thunderbolt. Of course, this set has other counters as well. If at full health, Scizor, Metagross and Machamp can easily come in, caring little about being paralyzed and being hit by Seismic Toss, and immediately threaten Blissey with powerful super effective or STAB moves. Swampert can also come in, being immune to Thunder Wave, and also threaten with its STAB moves.</p>
<p>However, the Cleric set is an incredible asset to have on a stall team, where having a status in the long run becomes very detrimental. Blissey can use Aromatherapy to alleviate status and allow stall teams to last longer, while being an important special wall to boot. The set is less effective on offensive and balanced teams, as it provides the opponent a chance to “set-up” with another Pokemon.</p>
<p>Cleric Blissey works especially well with other defensive, stall based Pokemon. Hippowdon is such an example. It can easily soak up damage from a strong physical attacker and heal it off with Slack Off. Gliscor and defensive Gyarados can also be good pairs; Gliscor only fears Ice Beam from Swampert, while Gyarados tries to avoid Stone Edge from Machamp, though Intimidate helps to alleviate most of the pain from that move. Skarmory is also another very good partner, and has the added benefit of using Spikes or phazing for a stall team.</p>
[SET]
name: Diverse Blissey
move 1: Ice Beam
move 2: Thunderbolt / Seismic Toss
move 3: Thunder Wave / Sing / Toxic
move 4: Softboiled
item: Leftovers
ability: Natural Cure
nature: Bold
evs: 148 HP / 252 Def / 108 SpA
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>This is the Blissey to use if you want to spread status around and not be limited in your attacking options. You can spread any one of three statuses and still have your attacking duo of choice. Any of Flamethrower, Thunderbolt, Ice Beam, Seismic Toss, Hidden Power Ground, and even Grass Knot can be used in the first two slots, depending on what you want your Blissey to threaten/counter.</p>
<p>If you use Thunder Wave, you will almost certainly want to use Ice Beam with it. You hit all those Ground-types that think they can safely ignore your chosen status, such as Gliscor, Hippowdon, and friends.</p>
<p>Sing makes it harder for many of the Pokémon that feel Blissey is mere "set-up fodder" to come in safely, making Blissey somewhat of a threat, which is always a good thing. If you use Sing, it would be useful to raise your Speed a bit to be faster than enemy Blissey so you can Sing before they heal themselves or their team.</p>
<p>This set plays similar to Wish Blissey in terms of counters and pairings. However, with the ability to have 2 attacking moves, counters have less of a chance getting in. Ice Beam staves Salamence from freely switching in, while the second option provides a more stable move for attacking. Thunderbolt makes Skarmory think twice about switching in, but still leaves you vulnerable from bulky sweepers switching in, taking minimum damage from the move. Seismic Toss provides decent damage and can wear down a sweeper trying to get a free switch in, but leaves you noticeably weak to Ghost types switching in.</p>
<p>Ultimately, the strategy remains the same as any other Blissey set. Bulky physical sweepers who don’t take very much from Blissey’s attacks remain the best counters to Blissey. Steel types, such as Scizor and Metagross are good, as they resist Ice Beam and can be bulky enough that Thunderbolt deals only moderate damage. Tyranitar can come in with similar effect, especially since the Special Defense boost from Sand Stream is beneficial. Swampert can come in on Thunderbolt, which it is immune to, and pose a threat. Machamp is also a decent counter, being bulky enough to take anything that Blissey shells out. The same pairings as the other Blissey sets work equally as well here. Gliscor and defensive built Gyarados are able to take attacks that would normally be thrown at Blissey. Skarmory can also take the powerful physical attacks from the aforementioned counters to Blissey. </p>
[SET]
name: CMBliss
move 1: Calm Mind
move 2: Ice Beam
move 3: Thunder
move 4: Softboiled
item: Leftovers
nature: Bold / Modest
evs: 4 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpD
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>This set utilizes the ever-popular "Boltbeam" combination in conjunction with Calm Mind and a recovery move to pose a considerable threat to anyone who isn't expecting it. Serene Grace works fantastically with this particular set, as a 20% chance of freezing or paralysis is great, but Natural Cure is still helpful to rid Blissey of status, Toxic poison in particular. You'll probably want to Calm Mind just once before launching an attack, though, since you may have the benefit of Serene Grace on your side and you won't be able to Calm Mind up as easily as something like Suicune and its fantastic initial defenses.</p>
<p>Bold and Modest are both good choices. Modest gives you extra power, especially in conjunction with Calm Mind, very useful when there are sturdy Pokemon Specially in Ubers.After you Calm Mind a few times, however, the increased Defense of Bold will pay off more, so the question of Bold vs. Modest is really a question of how many Calm Minds you think you'll be able to get in before you are forced to attack. In fact, you can even lower your Special Attack even more and invest in HP EVs if you want even more physical survivability.</p>
<p>Calm Mind Blissey has troubles setting up in OU. The presence of strong physical sweepers and other strong Pokemon on the physical side makes it risky to use Calm Mind, as your opponent might in fact switch into a physical sweeper who is faster than Blissey (which are a lot of sweepers), essentially making the Calm Mind useless as Blissey now has to switch out. In Ubers, however, where special sweepers are preeminent, Calm Mind Blissey has a chance to shine. Blissey can come in on a strong special attack and Calm Mind up, only fearing physical attacks, of course. </p>
<p>Due to Blissey’s abysmal Speed, essentially anything faster and able to put a dent in Blissey using physical attacks is considered a counter. Any of the prominent physical or mixed sweepers in Ubers will be able to counter Calm Mind Blissey. Virtually any sweeper can come in when Blissey Calm Minds; she becomes dangerous when she has used Calm Mind one or two times, and is now ready to launch off attacks. Luckily, Blissey can be scared off before that point. Scizor and Metagross are perhaps the best counters to use. These Pokemon are bulky enough to take a hit from Blissey and deal significant damage, especially in the case of Scizor as it can pack Superpower. Both of the aforementioned are resistant to Ice Beam, and usually have a bulky build in Ubers, allowing them to take Thunder. Groudon and Garchomp are also possible counters. They too do not fear Thunder, due to an immunity to the typing. Ice Beam is of particular concern though, as it will OHKO Garchomp and cause serous damage to Groudon. It is also important to note to make sure that Blissey has sustained some damage before switching into Garchomp as it fails to OHKO Blissey at close to full or full HP, while she OHKO’s Garchomp with Ice Beam after a CM. Forretress can also come in on this set and set up Spikes, as it sports the useful resistances that Scizor has. </p>
<p>Lugia is a decent counter for all of the aforementioned Pokemon. It only has to fear Pursuit from either Scizor or Metagross, or Stone Edge from Garchomp or Groudon. Otherwise, Lugia takes their other attacks with ease and can easily Roost off the damage, while responding with either Whirlwind or Ice Beam. Skarmory and Forretress can also help wall opposing physical threats, with their large base Defense. They both can help to lay down entry hazards, and Skarmory can Whirlwind to phase. A Groudon of your can also help, as with its large base Defense and decent HP, it can comfortably take most physical attacks, barring strong Ice moves. </p>
[Other Options]
<p>Grass Knot might seem like a great pairing with Flamethrower on the Calm Mind set until you realize that most of its targets are either beaten just as well (or better) by Thunderbolt or are too threatening to let you Calm Mind up against them (Tyranitar). In the case of Tyranitar, you are better off just spamming Serene Grace Flamethrower at it when it switches in and hoping for a burn. Focus Blast can do fatal damage to Weavile and surprise an incoming Lucario and Tyranitar, but the accuracy is not very reliable. Hidden Power Flying hurts Fighting-types trying to switch in, particularly Heracross and Infernape. As mentioned previously, Hidden Power Ground is another good attack when paired with Flamethrower, as it hits Infernape and Heatran, primarily, but also wears down guys like Tentacruel. It also does enough damage to break Jolteon's Substitute.</p>
<p>Counter may work, especially against Pokémon like Weavile and Tyranitar who think you're switching and are using a Pursuit that will in actuality only have 40 base power, which will do a paltry 34% maximum from Tyranitar and 29% max from Weavile but will OHKO both. At the very least (min damage from Choice Band, 339 Attack Jolly Weavile), Blissey takes 169 HP damage, which will still OHKO Weavile (201 min damage will OHKO standard 405 max Attack Tyranitar).</p>
<p>Blissey learns Stealth Rock, but she generally has much better things to do with her time and moveslots. In Uber play, Icy Wind can be used to drop the Speed of certain trouble Pokémon. It lets you Toxic Safeguard Latias and Latios, as well as Taunt Mewtwo. You can also hit some threats on the switch, letting them be countered easier. Blissey makes good use of Charge Beam with Softboiled and two other special attacks as a more diverse version of the Calm Minder. You can use Snatch to counter enemy stat-up Pokémon.</p>
[Team Options]
<p>Blissey is definitely the best special wall in the game. As such, she is perfect for any team that has a thorn in its side for special moves. Though she can wall on the special side indefinitely, she is noticeably weak versus physical attacks. Pokemon that can take strong physical attacks are very good options to pair with Blissey, forming a strong defensive core. Skarmory is a very good choice and a member of the legendary SkarmBliss defensive core. Skarmory can take a multitude of physical attacks aimed at it comfortably and Roost off the damage. Blissey can take the power special moves, such as Flamethrower and Thunderbolt, that teams often pack to deal with Skarmory. Other walls that can take physical attacks, such as Hippowdon and Cresselia, also form nice synergy with Blissey. Gliscor can also work well with Blissey, being immune to the ever present Earthquake, resistant to Fighting moves, and soaking up physical moves in general. </p>
<p>Bulkier Pokemon can also work well with Blissey. Swampert works well, as it can tank physical attacks and often draws special based Grass moves. Bulkier Gyarados is a good match, also taking Ground and Fighting moves like a champ and lowering the attack of an opposing Pokemon with Intimidate. It also commonly draws special base Electric moves, perfect for Blissey; the only worry is Stone Edge. Rotom-h can also take Fighting and Ground moves like a champ.</p>
<p>In Ubers, physically defensive Pokemon, such as Skarmory, Groudon, Lugia, and Forretress, work well with Blissey as strong physical attacks are used in the attempt to eliminate Blissey. Skarmory and Groudon have to worry about mixed sets, where Thunder and Ice Beam are used. Lugia only worries about Stone Edge and Pursuit. </p>
[EV's]
<p>Blissey needs 252 Defense EVs, always. You may think "But Blissey is supposed to be taking special hits, not physical, so why all the Defense EVs?". The reason for this is that you get over double the ability to take physical hits by maxing your Defense EVs. This is a huge increase. In fact, 252 Defense Blissey takes neutral physical hits about as well as 252 HP Scizor or Spiritomb. It's nice to be able to take weaker physical hits and do what you need to do.</p>
<p>Most sets will want a Calm nature. The Special Defense EVs given on the Wish Blissey set lets you survive even a critical hit Choice Specs Modest Lucario Aura Sphere, and you are 3HKOed by non-critical hit Aura Spheres. This is probably the Special Defense level most people will want. It still guarantees a 3HKO from Choice Specs Gengar Focus Blast. Modest Choice Specs Heatran with Flash Fire activated also has to roll absolute max damage twice (less than a .066% chance, so negligible compared to the chance to get a critical hit) to 2HKO Blissey, otherwise it's a 3HKO with Leftovers. Nasty Plot Adaptability Porygon-Z Hyper Beam with Life Orb does less than 80% max. The EVs given on the "Cleric" set adds more Special Defense at the cost of Special Attack. This is the most Special Defense most Blissey should use in OU.</p>
<p>The Diverse Blissey's EVs are there mostly to show what a lot of people still use. This is primarily a hold-over from ADV, when Blissey didn't need any EVs to wall special attacks.</p>
<p>You can use any of the EV spreads on any of the Pokémon. The Calm Mind set is unique—you should probably only use that spread on that set. You most likely will not need to focus on Special Defense as much for the Calm Mind Blissey because it boosts its Special Defense with Calm Mind. You also don't need to put as much Special Defense on the Charm Blissey thanks to Light Screen helping out there, which is why it's significantly less bulky.</p>
<p>In all of ADV and in early DP, the instinct of most top players is to max Defense, and use a Bold nature, relying on Blissey's high base HP and Special Defense to take special hits. The level of special threats has risen in DP, however, to the point where this is not the best way to go.</p>
<p>The following examples may seem extreme, but many people rely on Blissey to take nearly all of their special attacks, meaning it needs to be able to stand up to a massive beating. If Blissey invests in Special Defense, it is 3HKOed by Choice Specs Lucario Aura Sphere, instead of 2HKOed. Gengar can 2HKO a Blissey that doesn't invest in Special Defense with Focus Blast if Stealth Rock is down or if there is a Sandstorm going, both of which are incredibly easy to do. Choice Specs Flash Fire Heatran using Fire Blast will often 2HKO Blissey even without ancillary damage if it has no Special Defense EVs, while investing in them with Calm means it never will. In extreme cases, Calm Blissey can stall out certain bulky attackers that Calm Mind up and abuse Rest, running them out of attacks in place of directly fainting them.</p>
<p>The primary danger of this is that Blissey is vulnerable to be 2HKOed by Choice Band Adamant Dugtrio. However, Blissey can stall it out of PP with Wish + Protect or Toxic + recovery, or it can stop Dugtrio with Counter or a powerful Ice Beam. When you consider that many Dugtrio run Life Orb so they can't be a victim of a powerful Pursuit as easily, and nearly all Dugtrio are Jolly to be faster than Infernape, this reason begins to hold even less water.</p>
[Opinion]
<p>She's still the absolute best special wall in the game, hands down. In a metagame where special threats loom at every corner, there is only one Pokémon that can be relied upon to consistently wall special attacks. Snorlax has to deal with the lack of an instant recovery move and Rest if it wants to stay alive, opening the door for threats both physical and special to switch in. Cresselia is the next best general wall, but the weakness to Gengar's Shadow Ball instead of an immunity paired with lower stats and having to choose between Rest or Moonlight for healing means Cresselia isn't nearly as good at pure walling. Blissey is a Pokémon that will always, always be a welcome addition to any team, and is basically the only option that covers so many special threats at once. Neither of the other aforementioned Pokémon come even close to Blissey's ability to take hits. If you "hate Blissey" that's one thing, but please do not pretend there are many viable, one-Pokémon options that can replace her. She's that good.</p>
[Counters]
<p>Machamp can switch into any Blissey with impunity, as Guts variants welcome a boost Attack boost by way of Thunder Wave and Machamp with Rest / Sleep Talk do not care either way even if they are No Guard variants. Heracross is in a similar boat as Machamp, except it doesn't like paralysis nearly as much. On the flip side, Electivire can switch into Blissey very easily, hoping for a Thunder Wave to activate Motor Drive. It can then hit Blissey with Cross Chop for high damage.</p>
<p>Scizor can take advantage of Blissey without Flamethrower and use her as set-up bait. Lucario can also take advantage of Blissey, but in addition to Flamethrower, Lucario also minds Thunder Wave a lot more than Scizor. If Lucario is a special version, it has a shot at 2HKOing those Blissey that don't invest in Special Defense.</p>
<p>Snorlax also doesn't care about being paralyzed, nor does Metagross really, and both can hit Blissey hard with either STAB attacks or Pursuit. Some variants of Tyranitar do care about status, but otherwise can switch into Blissey very easily and scare the hell out of her with the notion of "will I Crunch or will I Pursuit?" or, alternately, it can Taunt if it's a Dragon Dance variant. Rhyperior is immune to Thunder Wave, and with the Sandstorm Special Defense boost paired with its high HP and Solid Rock, it doesn't take much damage from Ice Beam, either.</p>
<p>Dugtrio's going to have a harder time switching into her in DP thanks to the strong slant towards Ice Beam, and if it is using Life Orb and not Choice Band, it will only do 40-47% to Blissey with Earthquake. Nevertheless, it can trap and destroy her if she's weakened.</p>
<p>Life Orb Salamence 2HKOes Blissey with Brick Break or Outrage, which can be a deadly surprise for a Blissey thinking it's switching into Choice Specs Salamence.</p>
<p>Togekiss can Nasty Plot up and doesn't take enough damage from anything Blissey does. The only hope Blissey has is to use Toxic and try to just stall it until it dies or use Thunder Wave and bring in a powerful physical attacker like Tyranitar. Toxic fails to the rare Baton Pass Togekiss, who can Nasty Plot up and then go to something like Lucario, Life Orb Gengar, or Infernape and put the hurt on Blissey and then sweep the rest of your team.</p>
<p>Celebi can use Leech Seed to let just about anything you can't OHKO stall you indefinitely thanks to the massive HP drain. Alternately, it can Calm Mind up and then Baton Pass out to another threat, much like Togekiss.</p>
<p>Dusknoir and Spiritomb don't really care about Thunder Wave or any of Blissey's attacks. They can Pain Split to heal off any damage while severely hurting Blissey. Both have access to powerful physical attacks. If Blissey uses Toxic, they still aren't lost, as many Dusknoir and Spiritomb have Rest. Mismagius doesn't want to be statused, but it can use Substitute and Calm Mind to nullify the threat of status and your special attacks. Similarly, Rotom-A can protect itself from status with Substitute, and Charge Beam up to +6 Special Attack to 2HKO Blissey with Thunderbolt or Hidden Power Fighting.</p>
<p>In fact, most Pokémon without a 4x weakness and average Special Defense can beat Blissey just by using Rest and stalling out the PP of her moves. In a similar manner, Skarmory can come in on any Blissey without Thunderbolt or Flamethrower, set up Spikes, Roost off the damage, and then use Whirlwind to shuffle around your team. Using Pain Split on anything will heal them massive amounts of HP and seriously cut Blissey's HP.</p>
<p>The multitude of Pokémon that can learn Trick, including prominent special attackers such as Gengar, the Rotom formes, and Togekiss, among others, can use Blissey as a target. Being a slow wall, Blissey really does not like being Tricked on items like Choice Scarf, Choice Specs, Choice Band, or even Black Sludge.</p>
<p>In Ubers, Garchomp can take on those versions without Ice Beam easily, as it's threatened only by a burn from Flamethrower or the slow effects of Toxic. Groudon is quite similar as well, and takes less damage from Ice Beam than Garchomp does. Much like in OU, Metagross and Scizor can easily come in on Ice Beam, and threaten with powerful physical attacks. They only have to worry about the rare Flamethrower.</p>
------
That is it, didn't change anything drastically. If you want something added or removed, just let me know and I'll see what can be done. Enjoy :)
Some things that I did:
1) Did team options
2) Added Seismic Toss onto the WishBliss set
3) Made CMBliss Ubers based
4) Removed CharmBliss
The last two I did as I looked at the stats for the past 4 months and found that they were used less than 5% of the time on all Blissey sets (combined). In my opinion, CharmBliss isn't viable in Standard or Ubers, and CMBliss is a liability in Standard (although good in Ubers). If I get an overwhelming outcry against the decision, I'll include CharmBliss and add OU team options to CMBliss.
If you see anything missing, just let me know and I'll add it. If you regularly play Ubers and find something wrong with the CMBliss counters and partners, give suggestions and I'll add it (I'm not spot on with Ubers). Without further adieu:
http://www.smogon.com/dp/pokemon/blissey
[SET]
name: WishBliss
move 1: Wish
move 2: Protect / Softboiled
move 3: Seismic Toss / Flamethrower
move 4: Toxic
item: Leftovers
ability: Natural Cure
nature: Calm
evs: 80 HP / 252 Def / 176 SpD
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>The #1 special wall in the game has had to reinvent itself slightly to keep up with DPP's new special threats. The general idea is to switch in, use Wish and then Protect to mimic the effects of Softboiled. The advantages are that Protect allows you to waste more turns for PP stalling and Toxic damage, and Wish can be passed to other members of your team. Additionally, Wish can be used preemptively (with more than half of your HP intact, even at full health), allowing Blissey to attack on the next turn without having to worry about losing a large chunk of health.</p>
<p>The Wish / Protect combination is all the more appealing on Blissey in DPP thanks to the popularity of Choice item users. The silver lining to this set resides in the fantastic safety net Protect casts over Blissey. At any point over around 50% HP, WishBliss will not be threatened by Choice-boosted Pursuit from Pokémon like Tyranitar, Scizor, and Heracross simply because of Protect. Blissey can use Protect to scout the foe's attack, and then either switch or stay in depending on what attack the opponent is locked into.</p>
<p>If your opponent use Pursuit, Blissey will be Protected and can stay in and Wish the next turn while taking a 40 base power Pursuit assured to do less than 35% to her (assuming the threat stays in, which it may not), then follow up with Protect on the subsequent turn to guarantee the 50% HP recovery. If they attack straight up with one of their powerful STAB moves, you're more than free to switch out to the appropriate counter with which your team should be equipped anyway. This matchup becomes even more attractive when you factor in the possibility that the above Pursuit threats could likely have switched into a Wish in the first place.</p>
<p>Remember though, this strategy, like most, can be used against you if you rely too heavily upon it. Consider a Tyranitar heads-up against a Blissey that used Wish on the switch. Tyranitar uses Crunch as Blissey Protects, and then switches out of the full health Blissey to which it no longer poses such a large threat. But later, when Tyranitar is heads-up against the same Blissey, it uses a dangerous Dragon Dance as Blissey Protects, assuming that Tyranitar was of the Choice Band variety. There are a number of Pokémon who can play similar tricks (e.g. Swords Dance Scizor, Mixed Salamence), so it is important to keep this in mind when using Protect.</p>
<p>Although it may seem strange to use two healing moves on the same set, Softboiled has a number of advantages over Protect, not the least of which is PP stalling. Wish only has 16 PP, so if you are involved in a long, drawn-out stall battle, Wish can get worn down as you try to heal both Blissey and its teammates with only one move. If Blissey also has Softboiled, it can heal itself with that and rely on Wish to heal its teammates. Another disadvantage of Protect is that with Wish + Protect as Blissey's only method of healing, a special attacker could hit Blissey as it switches in, then go to a big threat like Tyranitar as Blissey uses Wish. If Blissey stays in to get healed, it risks letting Tyranitar use Dragon Dance. If Blissey switches out, then it hasn't gained any HP. This cycle can continue throughout the battle, thus preventing you from ever healing your Blissey and potentially opening you up to a special sweep. Softboiled has another minor benefit: if you are using Blissey in Hail or a Sandstorm, then Blissey will be KOed by the weather if it is knocked below 6.25% HP. If it uses Wish on that turn, Blissey will be knocked out by the foul weather before it gets a chance to heal itself.</p>
<p>Toxic is a great move on this set regardless of whether you choose Protect or Softboiled: either way, you have two moves to use that aid in stalling. As you are sitting around healing yourself, you will not really be doing anything aside from PP stalling. If you hit your foe with Toxic first, then they will be losing HP while you stall with recovery moves. Toxic is a good move even if you have Toxic Spikes down, as Toxic is this Blissey's only chance to take down Togekiss. It also helps to hit threats like Gyarados on the switch.</p>
<p>For the attack, either Flamethrower or Seismic Toss work. Seismic Toss is the preferred move, as it hits almost everything for constant damage (barring Ghosts). Flamethrower does have the unique capability of providing more damage than Seismic Toss to Steel switch-ins, as well as hitting Ghosts and Celebi harder. It does do noticeably less damage to Tyranitar and Swampert, both common switch-ins, and does less damage than Seismic Toss to Pokemon who are neutral to Fire. On stall, Seismic Toss is the preferred move, as it provides a constant stream of damage. </p>
<p>The EV's are designed to maximize Blissey's defenses. 176 SpD allow Blissey to be bulky enough on the special side to avoid 2HKOes from the likes of an Aura Sphere from Choice Specs Lucario and Focus Blast from Choice Specs Gengar. 252 Def EV's are a necessity on all Blissey sets, allowing it to take weak physical attacks. The rest are leftover EV's, which do just fine in HP. If using Flamethrower, the HP EV's may be moved to SpA to provide more damage.</p>
<p>Obviously, Blissey is a perfect choice for a team that has a thorn for special attacks. Even powerful, Super Effective moves, such as Aura Sphere from Choice Specs Lucario or a Focus Blast from a Choice Specs Gengar, can only muster 3HKO’s at best. As such, any team that needs a dedicated Special wall should consider Blissey. Bulky sweepers that draw special moves, such as Gyarados, work well with Blissey, as she can take the deadly special attacks aimed at them. Conversely, these sweepers are bulky enough to take a physical attack originally aimed at Blissey, especially Gyarados who’s Intimidate and part Flying typing allows it to switch in and take Fighting moves and the omnipresent Earthquake easily. Frailer sweepers generally form less synergy with Blissey, as the sweepers have trouble switching in, as they generally can’t take physical attacks aimed at Blissey. </p>
<p>Blissey can be paired with defensive Pokemon as well. The ever-popular defensive combo “SkarmBliss” is tantamount to Blissey’s capability to be paired with other defensive Pokemon. As stated before, the “SkarmBliss” combination is with Skarmory. Skarmory takes the powerful physical attacks aimed at Blissey, while Blissey takes the special attacks aimed at Skarmory that would normally hurt it significantly. Gliscor and defensive Gyarados can provide similar synergy; bulky Waters are generally brought in to deal with Gliscor using Surf and Ice Beam, while Electric moves like Hidden Power Electric and Thunderbolt are generally used against Gyarados. Blissey takes these moves like a champ, while the aforementioned Pokemon take Fighting moves, which the resist, Earthquake, which they’re immune to, or any other strong physical move very well. </p>
<p>Though Blissey is a force to deal with on the special side, she is noticeably weak against physical moves. Tyranitar can come in and immediately threaten with powerful STABs in Crunch and Stone Edge; it only has to worry about being Poisoned from Toxic. Machamp can come in on any of Blissey’s attacks, thanks to its natural bulk and Guts ability, and pose a threat from STAB Fighting moves and a high base Attack stat. If the Blissey set has Ice Beam, Lucario, Scizor, and Metagross can come in and threaten Blissey with their powerful STAB moves as well, while not fearing Toxic. If the set has Flamethrower, most Salamence sets, excluding SpecsMence, can threaten Blissey as well. Additionally, due to Blissey’s nature as an exclusive special wall, she is prone to being “set-up” fodder, where stat boosting moves are used in order to pose a threat to the team at large. For the former mentioned, Rotom-h can be a sufficient counter, as it is either immune or resists their STAB moves, and only fears a +2 Crunch from an Adamant Life Orb Lucario; Overheat provides extreme damage to any of them. Bulky Waters can alleviate weaknesses to Salamence and the like; if the set is a mono-physical attacker, such as DDMence, then an appropriate physical wall, like Skarmory may be used.</p>
[SET]
name: Cleric
move 1: Aromatherapy
move 2: Seismic Toss
move 3: Thunder Wave / Toxic
move 4: Softboiled
item: Leftovers
ability: Natural Cure
nature: Calm
evs: 40 HP / 252 Def / 216 SpD
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>The idea behind this set is fairly straightforward: switch in on a special attacker, relieve your team of any status ailments, and switch right back out in the face of the physical threat which will likely replace the harmless special attacker.</p>
<p>The EV's listed are similar to the previous set. 252 Def is a must, as always. However, this set runs 216 SpD, a bit more than the above set, to maximize SpD. This will also assure that Blissey is never 2HKOed by a Flash Fire boosted Fire Blast from a Choice Specs Heatran. The rest is dumped into HP.
<p>The fast-paced nature of competitive DPP play makes the use of the Cleric Blissey a potential liability, so exercise extreme caution in its use. If one of your Pokémon is afflicted with status and you send out Blissey, it is somewhat predictable that you will use Aromatherapy, giving a physical sweeper a free switch-in, so Seismic Toss, Thunder Wave, or Toxic is often a better move to use on the switch.</p>
<p>Since you are using Seismic Toss, use Thunder Wave to cripple Gengar and Rotom-A and have another Pokemon come in and threaten them. Be wary that numerous Gengar and Rotom-A sets do run Substitute, essentially giving them one free turn to attack your counter.</p>
<p>As noted above, the Cleric set is somewhat of a liability, especially since Aromatherapy becomes a predictable move once revealed. More of a concern is bulky physical sweepers that do not fear Thunder Wave and do not take serious damage from Seismic Toss. Gengar and Rotom-A are both immune to Seismic Toss, and only fear Thunder Wave. They can, however, run Substitute sets to avoid statuses and/or potential counters. Gengar can 2HKO Blissey with Focus Punch behind a Substitute, while Rotom-A can use Charge Beam to boost its Special Attack to levels where 2HKOes are possible with Thunderbolt. Of course, this set has other counters as well. If at full health, Scizor, Metagross and Machamp can easily come in, caring little about being paralyzed and being hit by Seismic Toss, and immediately threaten Blissey with powerful super effective or STAB moves. Swampert can also come in, being immune to Thunder Wave, and also threaten with its STAB moves.</p>
<p>However, the Cleric set is an incredible asset to have on a stall team, where having a status in the long run becomes very detrimental. Blissey can use Aromatherapy to alleviate status and allow stall teams to last longer, while being an important special wall to boot. The set is less effective on offensive and balanced teams, as it provides the opponent a chance to “set-up” with another Pokemon.</p>
<p>Cleric Blissey works especially well with other defensive, stall based Pokemon. Hippowdon is such an example. It can easily soak up damage from a strong physical attacker and heal it off with Slack Off. Gliscor and defensive Gyarados can also be good pairs; Gliscor only fears Ice Beam from Swampert, while Gyarados tries to avoid Stone Edge from Machamp, though Intimidate helps to alleviate most of the pain from that move. Skarmory is also another very good partner, and has the added benefit of using Spikes or phazing for a stall team.</p>
[SET]
name: Diverse Blissey
move 1: Ice Beam
move 2: Thunderbolt / Seismic Toss
move 3: Thunder Wave / Sing / Toxic
move 4: Softboiled
item: Leftovers
ability: Natural Cure
nature: Bold
evs: 148 HP / 252 Def / 108 SpA
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>This is the Blissey to use if you want to spread status around and not be limited in your attacking options. You can spread any one of three statuses and still have your attacking duo of choice. Any of Flamethrower, Thunderbolt, Ice Beam, Seismic Toss, Hidden Power Ground, and even Grass Knot can be used in the first two slots, depending on what you want your Blissey to threaten/counter.</p>
<p>If you use Thunder Wave, you will almost certainly want to use Ice Beam with it. You hit all those Ground-types that think they can safely ignore your chosen status, such as Gliscor, Hippowdon, and friends.</p>
<p>Sing makes it harder for many of the Pokémon that feel Blissey is mere "set-up fodder" to come in safely, making Blissey somewhat of a threat, which is always a good thing. If you use Sing, it would be useful to raise your Speed a bit to be faster than enemy Blissey so you can Sing before they heal themselves or their team.</p>
<p>This set plays similar to Wish Blissey in terms of counters and pairings. However, with the ability to have 2 attacking moves, counters have less of a chance getting in. Ice Beam staves Salamence from freely switching in, while the second option provides a more stable move for attacking. Thunderbolt makes Skarmory think twice about switching in, but still leaves you vulnerable from bulky sweepers switching in, taking minimum damage from the move. Seismic Toss provides decent damage and can wear down a sweeper trying to get a free switch in, but leaves you noticeably weak to Ghost types switching in.</p>
<p>Ultimately, the strategy remains the same as any other Blissey set. Bulky physical sweepers who don’t take very much from Blissey’s attacks remain the best counters to Blissey. Steel types, such as Scizor and Metagross are good, as they resist Ice Beam and can be bulky enough that Thunderbolt deals only moderate damage. Tyranitar can come in with similar effect, especially since the Special Defense boost from Sand Stream is beneficial. Swampert can come in on Thunderbolt, which it is immune to, and pose a threat. Machamp is also a decent counter, being bulky enough to take anything that Blissey shells out. The same pairings as the other Blissey sets work equally as well here. Gliscor and defensive built Gyarados are able to take attacks that would normally be thrown at Blissey. Skarmory can also take the powerful physical attacks from the aforementioned counters to Blissey. </p>
[SET]
name: CMBliss
move 1: Calm Mind
move 2: Ice Beam
move 3: Thunder
move 4: Softboiled
item: Leftovers
nature: Bold / Modest
evs: 4 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpD
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>This set utilizes the ever-popular "Boltbeam" combination in conjunction with Calm Mind and a recovery move to pose a considerable threat to anyone who isn't expecting it. Serene Grace works fantastically with this particular set, as a 20% chance of freezing or paralysis is great, but Natural Cure is still helpful to rid Blissey of status, Toxic poison in particular. You'll probably want to Calm Mind just once before launching an attack, though, since you may have the benefit of Serene Grace on your side and you won't be able to Calm Mind up as easily as something like Suicune and its fantastic initial defenses.</p>
<p>Bold and Modest are both good choices. Modest gives you extra power, especially in conjunction with Calm Mind, very useful when there are sturdy Pokemon Specially in Ubers.After you Calm Mind a few times, however, the increased Defense of Bold will pay off more, so the question of Bold vs. Modest is really a question of how many Calm Minds you think you'll be able to get in before you are forced to attack. In fact, you can even lower your Special Attack even more and invest in HP EVs if you want even more physical survivability.</p>
<p>Calm Mind Blissey has troubles setting up in OU. The presence of strong physical sweepers and other strong Pokemon on the physical side makes it risky to use Calm Mind, as your opponent might in fact switch into a physical sweeper who is faster than Blissey (which are a lot of sweepers), essentially making the Calm Mind useless as Blissey now has to switch out. In Ubers, however, where special sweepers are preeminent, Calm Mind Blissey has a chance to shine. Blissey can come in on a strong special attack and Calm Mind up, only fearing physical attacks, of course. </p>
<p>Due to Blissey’s abysmal Speed, essentially anything faster and able to put a dent in Blissey using physical attacks is considered a counter. Any of the prominent physical or mixed sweepers in Ubers will be able to counter Calm Mind Blissey. Virtually any sweeper can come in when Blissey Calm Minds; she becomes dangerous when she has used Calm Mind one or two times, and is now ready to launch off attacks. Luckily, Blissey can be scared off before that point. Scizor and Metagross are perhaps the best counters to use. These Pokemon are bulky enough to take a hit from Blissey and deal significant damage, especially in the case of Scizor as it can pack Superpower. Both of the aforementioned are resistant to Ice Beam, and usually have a bulky build in Ubers, allowing them to take Thunder. Groudon and Garchomp are also possible counters. They too do not fear Thunder, due to an immunity to the typing. Ice Beam is of particular concern though, as it will OHKO Garchomp and cause serous damage to Groudon. It is also important to note to make sure that Blissey has sustained some damage before switching into Garchomp as it fails to OHKO Blissey at close to full or full HP, while she OHKO’s Garchomp with Ice Beam after a CM. Forretress can also come in on this set and set up Spikes, as it sports the useful resistances that Scizor has. </p>
<p>Lugia is a decent counter for all of the aforementioned Pokemon. It only has to fear Pursuit from either Scizor or Metagross, or Stone Edge from Garchomp or Groudon. Otherwise, Lugia takes their other attacks with ease and can easily Roost off the damage, while responding with either Whirlwind or Ice Beam. Skarmory and Forretress can also help wall opposing physical threats, with their large base Defense. They both can help to lay down entry hazards, and Skarmory can Whirlwind to phase. A Groudon of your can also help, as with its large base Defense and decent HP, it can comfortably take most physical attacks, barring strong Ice moves. </p>
[Other Options]
<p>Grass Knot might seem like a great pairing with Flamethrower on the Calm Mind set until you realize that most of its targets are either beaten just as well (or better) by Thunderbolt or are too threatening to let you Calm Mind up against them (Tyranitar). In the case of Tyranitar, you are better off just spamming Serene Grace Flamethrower at it when it switches in and hoping for a burn. Focus Blast can do fatal damage to Weavile and surprise an incoming Lucario and Tyranitar, but the accuracy is not very reliable. Hidden Power Flying hurts Fighting-types trying to switch in, particularly Heracross and Infernape. As mentioned previously, Hidden Power Ground is another good attack when paired with Flamethrower, as it hits Infernape and Heatran, primarily, but also wears down guys like Tentacruel. It also does enough damage to break Jolteon's Substitute.</p>
<p>Counter may work, especially against Pokémon like Weavile and Tyranitar who think you're switching and are using a Pursuit that will in actuality only have 40 base power, which will do a paltry 34% maximum from Tyranitar and 29% max from Weavile but will OHKO both. At the very least (min damage from Choice Band, 339 Attack Jolly Weavile), Blissey takes 169 HP damage, which will still OHKO Weavile (201 min damage will OHKO standard 405 max Attack Tyranitar).</p>
<p>Blissey learns Stealth Rock, but she generally has much better things to do with her time and moveslots. In Uber play, Icy Wind can be used to drop the Speed of certain trouble Pokémon. It lets you Toxic Safeguard Latias and Latios, as well as Taunt Mewtwo. You can also hit some threats on the switch, letting them be countered easier. Blissey makes good use of Charge Beam with Softboiled and two other special attacks as a more diverse version of the Calm Minder. You can use Snatch to counter enemy stat-up Pokémon.</p>
[Team Options]
<p>Blissey is definitely the best special wall in the game. As such, she is perfect for any team that has a thorn in its side for special moves. Though she can wall on the special side indefinitely, she is noticeably weak versus physical attacks. Pokemon that can take strong physical attacks are very good options to pair with Blissey, forming a strong defensive core. Skarmory is a very good choice and a member of the legendary SkarmBliss defensive core. Skarmory can take a multitude of physical attacks aimed at it comfortably and Roost off the damage. Blissey can take the power special moves, such as Flamethrower and Thunderbolt, that teams often pack to deal with Skarmory. Other walls that can take physical attacks, such as Hippowdon and Cresselia, also form nice synergy with Blissey. Gliscor can also work well with Blissey, being immune to the ever present Earthquake, resistant to Fighting moves, and soaking up physical moves in general. </p>
<p>Bulkier Pokemon can also work well with Blissey. Swampert works well, as it can tank physical attacks and often draws special based Grass moves. Bulkier Gyarados is a good match, also taking Ground and Fighting moves like a champ and lowering the attack of an opposing Pokemon with Intimidate. It also commonly draws special base Electric moves, perfect for Blissey; the only worry is Stone Edge. Rotom-h can also take Fighting and Ground moves like a champ.</p>
<p>In Ubers, physically defensive Pokemon, such as Skarmory, Groudon, Lugia, and Forretress, work well with Blissey as strong physical attacks are used in the attempt to eliminate Blissey. Skarmory and Groudon have to worry about mixed sets, where Thunder and Ice Beam are used. Lugia only worries about Stone Edge and Pursuit. </p>
[EV's]
<p>Blissey needs 252 Defense EVs, always. You may think "But Blissey is supposed to be taking special hits, not physical, so why all the Defense EVs?". The reason for this is that you get over double the ability to take physical hits by maxing your Defense EVs. This is a huge increase. In fact, 252 Defense Blissey takes neutral physical hits about as well as 252 HP Scizor or Spiritomb. It's nice to be able to take weaker physical hits and do what you need to do.</p>
<p>Most sets will want a Calm nature. The Special Defense EVs given on the Wish Blissey set lets you survive even a critical hit Choice Specs Modest Lucario Aura Sphere, and you are 3HKOed by non-critical hit Aura Spheres. This is probably the Special Defense level most people will want. It still guarantees a 3HKO from Choice Specs Gengar Focus Blast. Modest Choice Specs Heatran with Flash Fire activated also has to roll absolute max damage twice (less than a .066% chance, so negligible compared to the chance to get a critical hit) to 2HKO Blissey, otherwise it's a 3HKO with Leftovers. Nasty Plot Adaptability Porygon-Z Hyper Beam with Life Orb does less than 80% max. The EVs given on the "Cleric" set adds more Special Defense at the cost of Special Attack. This is the most Special Defense most Blissey should use in OU.</p>
<p>The Diverse Blissey's EVs are there mostly to show what a lot of people still use. This is primarily a hold-over from ADV, when Blissey didn't need any EVs to wall special attacks.</p>
<p>You can use any of the EV spreads on any of the Pokémon. The Calm Mind set is unique—you should probably only use that spread on that set. You most likely will not need to focus on Special Defense as much for the Calm Mind Blissey because it boosts its Special Defense with Calm Mind. You also don't need to put as much Special Defense on the Charm Blissey thanks to Light Screen helping out there, which is why it's significantly less bulky.</p>
<p>In all of ADV and in early DP, the instinct of most top players is to max Defense, and use a Bold nature, relying on Blissey's high base HP and Special Defense to take special hits. The level of special threats has risen in DP, however, to the point where this is not the best way to go.</p>
<p>The following examples may seem extreme, but many people rely on Blissey to take nearly all of their special attacks, meaning it needs to be able to stand up to a massive beating. If Blissey invests in Special Defense, it is 3HKOed by Choice Specs Lucario Aura Sphere, instead of 2HKOed. Gengar can 2HKO a Blissey that doesn't invest in Special Defense with Focus Blast if Stealth Rock is down or if there is a Sandstorm going, both of which are incredibly easy to do. Choice Specs Flash Fire Heatran using Fire Blast will often 2HKO Blissey even without ancillary damage if it has no Special Defense EVs, while investing in them with Calm means it never will. In extreme cases, Calm Blissey can stall out certain bulky attackers that Calm Mind up and abuse Rest, running them out of attacks in place of directly fainting them.</p>
<p>The primary danger of this is that Blissey is vulnerable to be 2HKOed by Choice Band Adamant Dugtrio. However, Blissey can stall it out of PP with Wish + Protect or Toxic + recovery, or it can stop Dugtrio with Counter or a powerful Ice Beam. When you consider that many Dugtrio run Life Orb so they can't be a victim of a powerful Pursuit as easily, and nearly all Dugtrio are Jolly to be faster than Infernape, this reason begins to hold even less water.</p>
[Opinion]
<p>She's still the absolute best special wall in the game, hands down. In a metagame where special threats loom at every corner, there is only one Pokémon that can be relied upon to consistently wall special attacks. Snorlax has to deal with the lack of an instant recovery move and Rest if it wants to stay alive, opening the door for threats both physical and special to switch in. Cresselia is the next best general wall, but the weakness to Gengar's Shadow Ball instead of an immunity paired with lower stats and having to choose between Rest or Moonlight for healing means Cresselia isn't nearly as good at pure walling. Blissey is a Pokémon that will always, always be a welcome addition to any team, and is basically the only option that covers so many special threats at once. Neither of the other aforementioned Pokémon come even close to Blissey's ability to take hits. If you "hate Blissey" that's one thing, but please do not pretend there are many viable, one-Pokémon options that can replace her. She's that good.</p>
[Counters]
<p>Machamp can switch into any Blissey with impunity, as Guts variants welcome a boost Attack boost by way of Thunder Wave and Machamp with Rest / Sleep Talk do not care either way even if they are No Guard variants. Heracross is in a similar boat as Machamp, except it doesn't like paralysis nearly as much. On the flip side, Electivire can switch into Blissey very easily, hoping for a Thunder Wave to activate Motor Drive. It can then hit Blissey with Cross Chop for high damage.</p>
<p>Scizor can take advantage of Blissey without Flamethrower and use her as set-up bait. Lucario can also take advantage of Blissey, but in addition to Flamethrower, Lucario also minds Thunder Wave a lot more than Scizor. If Lucario is a special version, it has a shot at 2HKOing those Blissey that don't invest in Special Defense.</p>
<p>Snorlax also doesn't care about being paralyzed, nor does Metagross really, and both can hit Blissey hard with either STAB attacks or Pursuit. Some variants of Tyranitar do care about status, but otherwise can switch into Blissey very easily and scare the hell out of her with the notion of "will I Crunch or will I Pursuit?" or, alternately, it can Taunt if it's a Dragon Dance variant. Rhyperior is immune to Thunder Wave, and with the Sandstorm Special Defense boost paired with its high HP and Solid Rock, it doesn't take much damage from Ice Beam, either.</p>
<p>Dugtrio's going to have a harder time switching into her in DP thanks to the strong slant towards Ice Beam, and if it is using Life Orb and not Choice Band, it will only do 40-47% to Blissey with Earthquake. Nevertheless, it can trap and destroy her if she's weakened.</p>
<p>Life Orb Salamence 2HKOes Blissey with Brick Break or Outrage, which can be a deadly surprise for a Blissey thinking it's switching into Choice Specs Salamence.</p>
<p>Togekiss can Nasty Plot up and doesn't take enough damage from anything Blissey does. The only hope Blissey has is to use Toxic and try to just stall it until it dies or use Thunder Wave and bring in a powerful physical attacker like Tyranitar. Toxic fails to the rare Baton Pass Togekiss, who can Nasty Plot up and then go to something like Lucario, Life Orb Gengar, or Infernape and put the hurt on Blissey and then sweep the rest of your team.</p>
<p>Celebi can use Leech Seed to let just about anything you can't OHKO stall you indefinitely thanks to the massive HP drain. Alternately, it can Calm Mind up and then Baton Pass out to another threat, much like Togekiss.</p>
<p>Dusknoir and Spiritomb don't really care about Thunder Wave or any of Blissey's attacks. They can Pain Split to heal off any damage while severely hurting Blissey. Both have access to powerful physical attacks. If Blissey uses Toxic, they still aren't lost, as many Dusknoir and Spiritomb have Rest. Mismagius doesn't want to be statused, but it can use Substitute and Calm Mind to nullify the threat of status and your special attacks. Similarly, Rotom-A can protect itself from status with Substitute, and Charge Beam up to +6 Special Attack to 2HKO Blissey with Thunderbolt or Hidden Power Fighting.</p>
<p>In fact, most Pokémon without a 4x weakness and average Special Defense can beat Blissey just by using Rest and stalling out the PP of her moves. In a similar manner, Skarmory can come in on any Blissey without Thunderbolt or Flamethrower, set up Spikes, Roost off the damage, and then use Whirlwind to shuffle around your team. Using Pain Split on anything will heal them massive amounts of HP and seriously cut Blissey's HP.</p>
<p>The multitude of Pokémon that can learn Trick, including prominent special attackers such as Gengar, the Rotom formes, and Togekiss, among others, can use Blissey as a target. Being a slow wall, Blissey really does not like being Tricked on items like Choice Scarf, Choice Specs, Choice Band, or even Black Sludge.</p>
<p>In Ubers, Garchomp can take on those versions without Ice Beam easily, as it's threatened only by a burn from Flamethrower or the slow effects of Toxic. Groudon is quite similar as well, and takes less damage from Ice Beam than Garchomp does. Much like in OU, Metagross and Scizor can easily come in on Ice Beam, and threaten with powerful physical attacks. They only have to worry about the rare Flamethrower.</p>
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That is it, didn't change anything drastically. If you want something added or removed, just let me know and I'll see what can be done. Enjoy :)
