Stakataka [QC 0/2]

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QC #1 - ???
QC #2 - ???
GP #1 - ???
GP #2 - ???
[OVERVIEW]
  • Stakataka is one of the most threatening Trick Room sweepers in the tier.
  • It can set-up it's very own Trick Room with the ideal support and demolish offensive arcehtypes with full-powered Gyro Balls.
  • An astronomical physical bulk nearly makes up for it's poor typing which allows it to set up Trick Room against the likes of Marshadow with a Chople Berry, Landorus-T with Intimidate or Grassy Terrain support, and numerous other physical attackers such as Mega Salamence, Mega Metagross, and Mega Scizor.
  • Stakataka's low Speed also makes is nearly impossible to outrun under Trick Room, allowing it to outspeed the likes of Amoonguss, Hoopa-U, and Diancie.
  • Beast Boost is a great ability, providing Attack boosts which may let it rampage easier through faster teams or Defense boost let's it avoid crucial OHKO's such as Earthquake from Landorus-T or Close Combat from Marshadow.

  • Unfortunately, Stakataka is rather one-dimentional, relying too much on Trick Room to suceed, so if it's opponents manages to prevent Trick Room with Taunt, Fake Out, Spore, or anything similar, Stakataka is having a tough time.
  • It's poor Special bulk also doesn't enable it to set up Trick Room on notable Special Attackers such as Mega Gengar, Tapu Koko, and Volcanion.
  • Stakataka also mandates a considerable amount of support as it often struggles to reliably set up Trick Room on it's own.
[SET]
name: Trick Room
move 1: Trick Room
move 2: Gyro Ball
move 3: Rock Slide / Stone Edge
move 4: Protect / Ally Switch / Wide Guard
item: Chople Berry / Shuca Berry
ability: Beast Boost
nature: Brave
evs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
ivs: 0 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
  • Trick Room is key to Stakataka's niche, as it enables the Ultra Beast to outspeed the entire metagame from a couple of turns.
  • Gyro Ball hits devastatingly hard, achieving OHKOs on Marshadow, Tyranitar and Tapu Koko, while having a big chance to OHKO Hoopa-U and Mega Salamence as well (disconsidering Intimidate). The move also 2HKOes Tapu Fini, Landorus-T, and Zygarde.
  • Rock Slide acts as a secondary STAB hitting the likes of Zapdos and Amoonguss strongly enough, specially after a couple of Attack boosts.
  • Alternaively Stone Edge can be used instead to 2HKO Amoonguss and have a better shot against Celesteela and Mega Scizor.
  • Ally Switch allows Stakataka swap places with it's partners, creating mind games that may help Trick Room go up.
  • Protect allows Stakataka not to take damage when a partner sets up Trick Room or for an ally to take down a threat to Stakataka such as Marshadow or Pelipper.
  • Wide Guard, on the other hand, provides a way to block spread moves such as Heat Wave from Mega Charizard Y or Heatran and Muddy Water from Kingdra or Tapu Fini.
  • Finally, Stomping Tantrum can be used in either the third or last slot to give Stakataka a better matchup against Aegislash, Mega Metagross and Heatran.
Set Details
========
  • A Brave nature is prefered to provide Defense boosts from Beast Boost, making Stakataka a more reliable setter of Trick Room, notably enabling it to avoid the OHKO from uninvested Landorus-T's spread Earthquake when compared to it's Lonely counterpart.
  • However, a Lonely nature and 15 Def IVs along with 252 Atk EVs make it so Stakataka's Attack and Defense stats are identical, providing Attack raises from Beast Boost, this spread should be used in conjuction with a Rockium Z or a Life Orb.
  • Chople Berry is the prefered item, allowing Stakataka to set up Trick Room on Marshadow.
  • However Shuca Berry is an option to better handle Ground-types such as Landorus-T and Zygarde.
  • Rockium Z can be used with Stone Edge and the Lonely spread as it enables Stakataka a powerful move that often nabs it a KO on Pokémon such as standard Amoonguss or weakened Celesteela, giving it a coveted Attack raise.
  • Alternatively, Life Orb can be used if the Z slot is already taken.
Usage Tips
========
  • In most cases, Stakataka's goal is to set up Trick Room for it and it's partners to sweep.
  • Therefore, it is often important to make use of redirection, Fake Out, Wide Guard, or Ally switch from Stakataka's ally to help it get it up, as oftentimes, an opponent double-targetting Stakataka will likely knock it out.
  • Having another Trick Room setter on field also mitigates this, as the opponent can only double target one of them, creating some mind games.
  • Similarly, punishing the opponent from double-targetting Stakataka is also nice, with a partner weilding strong offensive presence and by using Protect on Stakataka.
  • Finally, Tricking the opponent into thinking they'll KO Stakataka by switching into a Intimidate Pokémon to dissuade Ground- or Fighting-type moves is also a great strategy.
  • Aganst Taunt users such as Mega Gengar, Tapu Koko, Tapu Lele, and Whimsicott, it might be a smart idea simply to Gyro Ball them as they Taunt Stakataka.
  • Under Trick Room, though, it's important to always give Stakataka the KO instead of it's ally, if possible, in order to trigger Beast Boost.
Team Options
========
  • Pairing Stakataka with another Trick Room setter is a great idea, this is true because Stakataka isn't the most reliable setter out there. Necrozma deals with most of the Steel-types that annoy Stakataka with Earth Power and Heat Wave, but the likes of Hoopa-U, Mega Gardevoir and Mew are great options as well.
  • Intimidate users such as Scrafty, which also provides Fake Out support, Landorus-T, and Mega Salamence help Stakataka take moves it's weak to and set up Trick Room more reliably.
  • Mew also helps Stakataka out with Fake Out and can possibly Transform into it if Trick Room is up.
  • In a similar vein, Tapu Bulu provides Grassy Terrain which is very nice for weakening Earthquake from the likes of Landorus-T and Excadrill and deals with some Steel-types with Superpower.
  • Amoonguss is also a nice partner because not only is it a redirector for Fighting-type moves such as Marshadow's Close Combat, but it also is deadly under Trick Room with Spore support.
  • Overall, other slow attackers such as Mega Camerupt, Torkoal, and Mega Abomasnow really appreciate the Trick Room provided by Stakataka.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
  • Weakness Policy can be used with Intimidate support to make Stakataka infintely more threatening, however it may be very unreliable to trigger it, as most Fighting- or Ground-type moves often OHKO it thanks to it's 4x weakness whereas Water-type moves are mostly special and OHKO it as well.
  • Superpower is an option for Stakataka to better handle Ferrothorn and Kartana, but Stomping Tantrum covers Steel-types such as Aegislash and Mega Metagross much better.
Checks and Counters
===================

**Trick Room countermeasures**: Double-targetting Stakataka and using Taunt or Fake Out on it often means it will fail to set up Trick Room and therefore won't put as much work.

**Steel-types**: Stakataka often lacks Ground- or Fighting-type coverage for Ally Switch or Wide Guard, making Aegislash and Mega Metagross capable of taking a hit and hevily damaging Stakataka lacking Stomping Tantrum, whereas Ferrothorn and Kartana take on Stakataka lacking Superpower.

**Fighting-types and Fighting-type coverage**: Marshadow, Superpower Doexys-A, Scrafty, and Superpower Tapu Bulu all 2HKO Stakataka through Chople Berry and OHKO it otherwise.

**Ground-types and Ground-type coverage**: Landorus-T, Stomping Tantrum Mega Metagross, Mega Swampert, and Excadrill can either OHKO or heavily damage Stakataka and all 2HKO through Shuca Berry.

**Water-types**: As most Water-types resist Gyro Ball, Stakataka often has some trouble getting past the likes of Mega Swampert, Kingdra, and Politoed. And they all threaten Stakataka with their STAB super-effective moves.
 
Last edited:
amcheck
  • [Set] Move 4 HP anywhere to take less from residual damage
  • [Set] Fourth Slot should be Protect / Ally Switch / Wide Guard
  • [Set] Dont use Lonely 15 Def with Chople Berry because it'll make you look silly. Main set should've normal ivs and Chople as main item with LO slashed on with option to run Lonely 15 Def on set details
    • 252 Atk Life Orb Marshadow Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 0- Def Chople Berry Stakataka: 296-351 (90.7 - 107.6%) -- 43.8% chance to OHKO
  • [Set Details] I should say nothing about this, but mention Z-Stone Edge has good chance to OHKO 240 HP / 80 Def Amoonguss OwO
  • [Usage Tips] Mention that you can take advantage from double targetting since you have Protect now
  • [Team Options] Mention slow attackers, its always good partner for Trick Room setters
  • [Team Options] Fake Out support prevent Stakataka from being hit by its major weakness or double targetted and let is set Trick Room more safely
  • [Checks & Counters] Resisting Gyro and able to hit super effective make it worth to add **Water-types** tag
 
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GenOne

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Nice work.

I see you already implemented most of Heliodor's amcheck, which is good because I would've asked you to anyways :)

That said, I want to quickly note a few things about it:
  • Heliodor's point about using Chople Berry with a Lonely nature is valid, and might be worth a brief mention after you talk about the Lonely set in Set Details, but I wouldn't go as far as to say "don't use it with a Lonely Nature" It still lets you take a Close Combat reliably if you're able to switch in an Intimidate user like Scrafty or Landorus-T.
  • The Amoonguss benchmark is useful info, as you can reliably KO it if it has incurred a bit of chip damage. However, it's a 50/50 coinflip to score a clean OHKO, and if you lose that coinflip, you pop Amoonguss's pinch berry and get spored which really sucks.
    252+ Atk Stakataka Continental Crush (180 BP) vs. 240 HP / 80 Def Amoonguss: 391-462 (91.1 - 107.6%) -- 50% chance to OHKO
Please address the above, as well as the following for QC 1/2:

Overview
  • The lede sentence / bullet should be tweaked just a bit, to say something along the lines of "Stakataka is one of the most offensive Trick Room setters in the tier, rivaled only by Hoopa-U." One of the main draws to using Stakataka is role compression: it can set up Trick Room, but also serve as a potent sweeper once when Trick Room is set up.
  • For the fourth bullet about Stakataka's low Speed, just say it has the lowest base Speed stat in the metagame.
  • Delete the bullet about Beast Boost - it's just describing what the ability does, which is considered to be common knowledge. You already talk about the pros/cons of Brave vs. Lonely in the Set Details, and that's sufficient.
  • Stakataka isn't really that one-dimensional, although it certainly flourishes the most inside of Trick Room. Some people have run Stakataka without using Trick Room at all; its Wide Guard and Ally Switch utility make it usable without Trick Room. That said, its subpar defensive typing and Special Defense stat do leave it in a lot of bad matchups when Trick Room isn't set (as you mentioned in your next bullet).
  • Mention that Stakataka faces some competition from Diancie as an offensive Rock-type setter. Stakataka's rock-bottom speed and sheer power with Gyro Ball make it better suited to sniping down Pokemon under Trick Room. On the other hand, Diancie has slightly better defensive typing and bulk to reliably set Trick Room, and it prefers to soften up both opposing foes with its Diamond Storm spread coverage. When building a Trick Room team, it's worth carefully considering whether Stakataka or Diancie is a better fit, since they both serve comparable roles yet fill different niches.
Set
  • Change the name to "Trick Room Attacker" or something like that
  • Shuffle around the move order so Trick Room is 3rd, after Gyro Ball and Stone Edge / Rock Slide
  • Put Stone Edge ahead of Rock Slide in the slash order. Rock Slide is good on Lonely sets because if you net two KOs, you get two attack boosts. Otherwise though, Stakataka just wants to snipe stuff down, and Gyro Ball + Stone Edge lets it.
  • Speaking of Rock Slide, the bullet on this move needs to be reworked a bit. Hitting targets "strongly enough" is a bit subjective, and not really informative. The main draw of Rock Slide is spread coverage to soften up foes. You also have two 30% chances to flinch a target, which can be useful given that Stakataka underspeeds all of its targets and moves first under Trick Room.
  • Stone Edge is a good move to inflict big damage on targets that are too slow to care about Gyro Ball, such as Amoonguss and Abomasnow. It's also just great for sniping down Fire-types, Electric-types, and other Pokemon that resist Steel-type moves.
Usage Tips
  • I'd honestly say Stakataka's main goal is to sweep under Trick Room. It's a powerful TR sweeper and a somewhat shakey setter given its myriad of weaknesses.
  • For this reason, I would suggest that Stakataka is better reserved for later in the game. If you lead with Stakataka, it's easy for your opponent to pressure it or tame it down with Intimidate support, but if Stakataka already has sweeping momentum under Trick Room, it is usually easy enough to position it to reset Trick Room once it expires (or, in the case of a semiroom team, it's usually better to soften up the foe outside of Trick Room first then set Trick Room when you find yourself in a favorable position).
Other Options
  • Weakness Policy should be lower down in this list. When you do talk about WP, mention that you can use Tapu Bulu and/or Torkoal to set Grassy Terrain and Drought respectively, which mitigate the damage Stakataka takes from the super-effective moves that it wants to get a WP boost from.
  • Safety Goggles is usable to ignore Amoonguss's Spore and Rage Powder
  • Although less ideal, Stakataka is usable without Trick Room in its moveset. A supportive set along the lines of Gyro Ball, Stone Edge, Ally Switch and Wide Guard allows it to serve as both a utility and offensive Trick Room check for non-Trick Room teams
Checks and Counters
  • Remove the **Trick Room countermeasures** tag - it's more or less common knowledge that Taunt and Fake Out are used to stop TR setters.
  • The next two tags can just say **Fighting-types** and **Ground-types** respectively. Those tags imply that both STAB and non-STAB attacks are being discussed.
  • **Intimidate** should absolutely be a tag here. While Stakataka is a huge threat at full power, it becomes much more manageable at -1 attack.
 

GenOne

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Exploudit you still wanting to do this or should I reassign? It's been over a month, and this is a pretty important Pokemon in our current metagame.
 
GenOne - I'm really sorry, been really busy these last couple of weeks, and I was planning to finish this soon, but unfortunately I'll be unable to as I won't have access to my laptop for two weeks or so... So yeah, please reassign this :(
 

GenOne

DOU main. GMT-7. PS!: GenOne
is a Community Contributoris a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Top Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnus
GenOne - I'm really sorry, been really busy these last couple of weeks, and I was planning to finish this soon, but unfortunately I'll be unable to as I won't have access to my laptop for two weeks or so... So yeah, please reassign this :(
Ok no worries, thanks for letting me know. I'll just take it over - your work won't go to waste since this was already close to QC 1/2 :)
 
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