Type Optimisation

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Rest in peace Type Optimization thread, may it rest forever...

Or maybe someone will remember it exists.

Since this voting session went... pretty downhill extremely fast, I'll just go ahead and make a request for the next set of typings.

Steel - Rock
Steel - Ghost
Steel - Water


Steel Rock currently has Aggron, Bastiodon, and Probopass to its name. The latter two are pretty much complete garbage in terms of nearly everything, while Aggron's pretty cool with Rock Polish Head Smash. Although I'm super biased towards Aggron's greatness, he's not exactly... great.

Steel Ghost has Aegislash line, and that's it. If we ignore Aegislash, we don't exactly have anything that really is 'decent' with this typing, and it exists as a slow mixed wall/offensive mon regardless. There's definitely better ways to work with a Ghost type with a good defensive type and the ability to have perfect coverage with a Fighting move.

And then Steel Water has... uh, Empoleon. We could get something better than that around.
 
I'd like to see Dragon, Dragon/Steel, and Dragon/Ghost, the former two actually have no non-Ubers representatives so I think it'll be nice to see what we can do with it, also pure Dragon is a very rare typing and I feel like it would be cool to slate as well :)
 

S. Court

[Takes hits in Spanish]
is a Contributor to Smogonis a Smogon Media Contributor
My suggest would be Fairy, Fairy/Normal and Fairy/Poison

Fairy only has Clefable as a OU choice, and that's because it has some busted abilities (well, it has more than that but you understand) Fairy/Normal only have Wigglytuff and Mega-Audino and none of them are actually good.

Fairy/Poison would be an interesting offensive typing and it'd certainly has some posibilies, I'm sure people can get creative with this typing
 
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G-Luke

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Guys Solar said he will be overseas. So I suggest everyone votes and gives it time.

Ground: Yoahiblaze's Kangaskhan
Ground/Rock: Exploudit's Rampardos
Ground/Fighting: Santendo09's Midnight Lycanroc
 
Okay thanks for your patience! I'm back from overseas now so voting has now finished!

Congrats to Yoshiblaze's Ground Kangaskhan, Exploudit's Ground/Rock Rampardos and Samtendo09's Midnight Lycanroc!

I'll take those suggestions into account on the next slate, but for now here is one that is in the backburner for a while that I really wanted to use now:


Ghost, Ghost/Psychic and Ghost/Normal

Submissions end 10th of October
 
Ok, ma first submission here:

Typing: Ghost/Psychic
Stats:
70 Hp (-10)
110 Atk (+0)
70 Def (+10)
140 SpA (+10)
70 SpD (-60)
110 Spe (+40)
BST: 570 (-10)

Abilities: Magician/Dazzling/Magic Guard (HA)
New Moves: Aura Sphere, Agility
Removed Moves: N/A
Justification/Niche: Well, the only thing that Hoopa lacked was speed and a useful ability, and now has a great speed tier on 110 and 2 great abilities that lets this pokemon inmunities to priority and life orb recoil damage. Oh, and now it has a bit more Special Attack. The bad thing is now it has trash defenses in tamdem with a garbage defensive typing, but that won't stop Hoopa to be a fearsome wallbreaker.

Sample Movesets said:
Wallbreaker:
Hoopa @ Life Orb/Fightinium Z/Ghostium Z
Ability: Magic Guard/Dazzling
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast/Aura Sphere
- Psychic/Psyshock
- Nasty Plot
Specs:
Hoopa @ Choice Specs
Ability: Dazzling
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Shadow Ball
- Psyshock
- Focus Blast/Aura Sphere
- Trick

Typing: Ghost/Normal
Stats:
150 Hp (+0)
60 Atk (-20)
100 Def (+56)
80 SpA (-10)

100 SpD (+46)
80 Spe (+0)
BST: 570 (+72)
Abilities: Levitate/Unaware/Prankster (HA)
New Moves: Tri-Attack, U-Turn, Roost
Removed Moves: Gust
Justification/Niche: The adding of normal typing is because...uhhh, well, i think a balloon is normal enough to give it the normal-type, right? Well, I transformed drifloom from being a garbage mixed attacker to an incredible support and annoying tank. Why? Well, just look that incredibly huge bulk off 150 Hp and 100 Defense and Special defense, incredibly good defensive typing on ghost-normal, cool support and status moves on Haze, Will-O-Wisp and Defog. It also has a reliable recovery option on Roost and 2 great defensive and support abilities on unaware (Haryama-style) and Prankster (F*ck the nerf).
The bad thing is that it lacks too much offensive presence and it can be extremely passive at times, but nevermind, these buffs grants driffblim as a great support 'mon at OU and VGC.



Typing: Ghost
Stats:

100 Hp (+42)
50 Atk (+0)
130 Def (-15)
110 SpA (+15)
130 SpD (+25)
50 Spe (+20)
Abilities: Mommy/Magic Guard (HA)
New Movepool Aditions: Recover, Aura Sphere
Removed Moves: N/A
Justification/Niche: Well, searching what stopped this beatiful creature from being a threat, i found that its lack of initial firepower, hp, Special Defense, recovery and coverage options really pissed off the mommy from being great. Thanks to the buffs, almost every of its problems are solved: now it has a great 110 base Special Attack, viable recovery option on recover, great Hp and overall bulk (it doesn't mind the loss of Defense) and a great coverage option on Aura Sphere. It also has Magic Guard as a HA for the inmunity of LO and toxic :]
Sample Set said:
Trick Room Wallbreaker
Cofagrigus @ Ghostium Z/Life Orb
Ability: Mummy/Magic Guard
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
Quiet Nature
- Shadow Ball
- Nasty Plot
- Aura Sphere
- Trick Room
 
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Pokemon:
Dusknoir
Type: Ghost/Normal
BST: 70/100/125/65/115/45
Abilities: Justified, Technician (Immunity)
New Moves: Quick Attack, Recover, Bulk Up
Removed Moves: None
Justification/Niche: Dusknoir uses its great defensive typing, weak only to Dark and scrappy Fighting moves, to function as a set up sweeper, tank or wall. As a set up sweeper, it can use Bulk Up in combination with Technician-boosted Quick Attack and Shadow Sneak in order to sweep teams without having to worry about its horrible speed, with Recover allowing it to keep on setting up. As a tank, it can use its good bulk and Attack alongside Recover and utility such as Will-O-Wisp to cripple the enemy team while either using Justified to deter Dark types or Immunity to make toxic a non-issue. As a wall, it uses its great bulk and recovery to just generally be an annoying Pokemon, not suffering from the weakness to Toxic many walls have. Dusknoir is definitely a versatile Pokemon and makes great use of its typing.
Sample moveset: nah
 
Really wish I could do Ghost/Psychic Mega Gengar.

Ah well.



Pokemon: Hypno
Type: Psychic/Ghost
BST: 100/113/80/98/125/54
Abilities: Sheer Force/Insomnia Fur Coat
New Moves: Recover, Shadow Sneak, Coil
Justification/Niche: Slow, special Spongy, and a godawful defensive type. Decide if you want physical defense or powerful Special STAB (or Zen Headbutt and elemental Punches) or if you want defenses. I'd give it 3 more speed for stat consistency, but that'd bring its total above 570. NP sets have Psychic, Shadow Ball and Focus Blast, all who abuse Sheer Force quite well, but beware the shit speed. You could also coil your medallion (that's my justification and I'm sticking to it!)

+2 252+ SpA Sheer Force Hypno Focus Blast vs. 248 HP / 8 SpD Eviolite Chansey: 376-444 (53.4 - 63.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Not bad for only 98 SpAtk (Actually I set it to 93 by mistake, so...) and a decent defensive stat spread. 100/80/125 is not shabby at all, and if you choose fur coat because of that fuzzy lion mane, the defenses are through the roof. Add recover for more stall power, and Drain Punch to laugh at any Dark Types.

252+ Atk Bisharp Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 252 HP / 40+ Def Fur Coat Hypno: 336-400 (83.1 - 99%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery.
If he comes in on you to do the Knock Off, he will lose because you Drain Punched for huge returns, and next turn, Sucker Punch won't kill you because you decided to recover. Or you set up a Coil beforehand by swinging that medallion.



Pokemon: Furret
Type: Normal/Ghost
BST: 115/116/89/45/100/105
Abilities: Fluffy/Scrappy Slush Rush
New Moves: Power Whip, Play Rough, Slack Off
Justification/Niche: As if being a better version of Furret isn't enough, as a Racoon slinking into the shadows, this thing is a Coil setter with a great defensive type. Most often, you'll use Fluffy, but Slush Rush could find itself valuable at times. As a Coil Setter, it gets some new coverage to abuse the accuracy increase. Its STABs are respectable, but you'll need something to get past Dark/Rock(or Steel.) And there's Fight moves: Focus Punch, Brick Break, PuP, or perhaps most Coil synergized: Dynamic Punch! After 2 coils, this move has 83 accuracy if you're brave enough to try.

Interestingly, the safest Furret check is... another Furret. That's when you get Scrappy.



Pokemon: Dusknoir
Type: Ghost
BST: 105/115/135/45/135/35
Abilities: Pressure/Iron Fist Thick Fat
New Moves: Drain Punch, Bulk Up, Mach Punch
Justification/Niche: A defensive ghost wall, 115/135/135 is really sturdy, although it's not without problems, namely, without Drain Punch, it has no recovery options.

Other than that, its fat ghost belly means it can Thick Fat, making it a surprisingly good stop to Volcarona even if it gets a QD.

+1 252 SpA Volcarona Fire Blast vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Thick Fat Dusknoir: 108-127 (30.7 - 36.1%) -- 51% chance to 3HKO

Of course, this thing is slow, has no recovery outside of Drain Punch and Lefties.
 
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Pokemon: Stantler
Type: Normal/Ghost
BST: 85(+10)/95/85(+23)/95(+10)/72(+7)/113(+28) (Total 545)
Abilities: Intimidate/Frisk/Sap Sipper
New Moves: Pain Split, Will-o-Wisp, U-Turn
Removed Moves: (optional, if you don't feel it makes sense with new typing)
Justification/Niche: After having used Stantler a lot in the battle tower, I thought I'd give it a spin. The first thing to do was figure out what role it'd suit best. Well Normal/Ghost typing along with Intimidate and Thunder Wave, along with the Will-o-Wisp I'd undoubtedly give it, means that this thing is likely going to be a pivot. This means I'm giving it U-Turn, as well as Pain Split for some sustainability. Now, Stantler's stats are tragically distributed, so even with a 465 BST and useful ability, it's in PU. So we have to fix that. However, its only good Normal STABs are physical, and its only good Ghost STAB is special, so we have to keep in mind the possibility of either a physical or special set when fixing its stats. A general bulk increase is required here so that it can perform its job. 85/85/72 is good physically even uninvested, when coupled with Intimidate. Next, I jacked up its speed so that it could u-turn out of threats like the Latis, Keldeo, Thundurus, and others. Finally, I made its Special attack equal to its Attack, so it could run HP/Speed sets and use both STABs equally well. A LOT of work had to be done on Stantler, compared to other "simple" Pokemon like Articuno and Sandslash.
 
Mimikyu


Stats: 48 / 72 / 72 / 48 / 108 / 108 (456 BST)
Abilities: Disguise
New Moves: Feint, Quick Attack, Spectral Thief
Justification/Niche: At first glance it may seem like actually a downgrade from regular Mimikyu, but the key difference here is access to Spectral Thief, not only is Spectral Thief an amazing move on its own but it makes a deadly combo with Disguise, allowing Mimikyu to steal the boosts of any set up sweeper without Mold Breaker for as long as its Disguise isn't busted. This Pokémon can prove to be an amazing tool for Offensive teams in look for a full stop to set up sweepers. On the other hand though, Mimikyu now is very matchup dependant, while it is a huge annoyance for Offense, it barely scratches Stall or Balance and is overall dependant on other set up sweepers to pull its role off.
 

G-Luke

Sugar, Spice and One For All
is a Community Contributoris a CAP Contributoris a Forum Moderator Alumnus

Cofagrigus

Stats: 88 HP (+30) / 50 Atk / 145 Def / 109 SpA (+14) / 105 SpD / 50 Spe (+20) [BST:547]
Ability: Mummy / [HA: Sturdy]
New Moves: Recover, Aura Sphere, Reflect Type
Justification / Niche: The king of Ghosts himself, Cofagrigus finally gets the tools it needs to dance around OU and nerf the hell outta every contact attacker with the fantastic Mummy. 88/145/105 bulk is great, allowing it to switch in on most physical attackers and heal off the damage with Recover. Aura Sphere gives it well needed Fighting coverage, while Reflect Type allows it to pull cheeky manoeuvres around Pursuit trappers. While nothing like Mummy, Sturdy is always a great ability to have, surviving attacks to cripple, or revengekill sweepers.


Banette

Stats: 74 HP (+10) / 125 Atk (+10) / 75 Def (+10) / 83 SpA / 83 SpD (+20) / 87 Spe (+22) [BST:527]
Abilities: Prankster / Frisk / [HA: Infiltrator]
New Moves: Swords Dance, Quick Attack, Trick-O-Treat
Justification / Niche: Banette always said Normal Ghost typing more than anything else because its just a normal doll that got possessed by a ghost. Offensively Banette is very strong, with STAB Return and Spectral Thief beating everything barring other Banettes. Prankster Swords Dance is a great niche and it can maximize its effectiveness.
 
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Mimikyu


Stats: 48 / 72 / 72 / 48 / 108 / 108 (456 BST)
Abilities: Disguise
New Moves: Feint, Quick Attack, Spectral Thief
Justification/Niche: At first glance it may seem like actually a downgrade from regular Mimikyu, but the key difference here is access to Spectral Thief, not only is Spectral Thief an amazing move on its own but it makes a deadly combo with Disguise, allowing Mimikyu to steal the boosts of any set up sweeper without Mold Breaker for as long as its Disguise isn't busted. This Pokémon can prove to be an amazing tool for Offensive teams in look for a full stop to set up sweepers. On the other hand though, Mimikyu now is very matchup dependant, while it is a huge annoyance for Offense, it barely scratches Stall or Balance and is overall dependant on other set up sweepers to pull its role off.
Spectral Thief is Marshadow's signature move... can it really be shared?

I mean if we can then I got some movepools to improve.
 
Pokemon: Dunsparce
Type: Normal/Ghost
BST: 150/100/90/90/90/50 (570)
Abilities: Serene Grace / Natural Cure / Justified
New Moves: Shadow Bone, Shadow Sneak, Boomburst
Removed Moves:
Justification/Niche: Dunsparce has angel wings, and its stat arrangement fit with what I wanted to do anyway. Due to its excellent stat spread its abilities are largely an afterthought, but they all hold separate niches - Serene Grace allows Dunsparce to more reliably reduce defenses with its Ghost moves, Natural Cure patches up its vulnerability to status (but you'll have to give up any Coil boosts you have on a physical offensive set), and Justified forces opponents to consider whether or not to hit it with its one weakness. Shadow Bone and Shadow Sneak provide Dunsparce with physical Ghost STABs. Boomburst lets Dunsparce run a Special set and generally be scary.
Sample moveset: (optional)

Pokemon:
Type: xx/xx
BST: xx/xx/xx/xx/xx/xx
Abilities: (max of 3)
New Moves: (max of 3)
Removed Moves: (optional, if you don't feel it makes sense with new typing)
Justification/Niche:
Sample moveset: (optional)
 

S. Court

[Takes hits in Spanish]
is a Contributor to Smogonis a Smogon Media Contributor
Ghost Spiritomb
Stats: 100/120/100/90/80/60 (530 BST)
Abilities: Regenerator / Pressure (HA)
New Moves: Parting Shot, Spikes, Thunder Wave
Justification/Niche: Bulky and slow pivot, who can use Parting Shot to bring safely sweepers. Spikes work great because he can put hazards and spinblock them, and now it can use Will-O-Wisp AND Thunder Wave for a dedicated status setter.
Ghost / Psychic Girafarig

Stats: 100/130/80/60/80/120 (570 BST)
Abilities: Pixilate / Defiant / Dazzling (HA)
New Moves: Fake Out, Extreme Speed, Shadow Claw
Justification/Niche: Now with a renovated typing, a great attack and a great speed tier, Girafarig has now some niche, but here is where the abilities come into play to make even better. With Pixilate, Fake Out + Extreme Speed combination can obliterate the dark type Pokemon Girafarig is weak to, add a good overal coverage and work as a pretty potent Revenge Killer. With Defiant it gets a better match-up against Balance teams, getting some necessary attack boosts to bypass some of its checks, but it's vulnerable to priority. And with Dazzling it can be used as a powerful Choice Band/Scarf set which will put a lot of pressure to more offense oriented teams.

Ghost / Normal Meloetta

Stats: 100/70/100/90/90/85 (535 BST)
Abilities: Poison Heal
New Moves: Baneful Bunker, Hex
Removed Moves: Close Combat, Relic Song (Just to avoid form change)
Justification/Niche: Ghost / Normal is a quite interesting defensive typing, and Meloetta can work in a similar way Vincune does, it changes PP stall for Poison Heal and it can use Baneful Bunker instead Protect to punish contact even better, and probably take advantage of Hex. The main idea of this set is to act as a Calm Mind wincon.
 
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G-Luke

Sugar, Spice and One For All
is a Community Contributoris a CAP Contributoris a Forum Moderator Alumnus
Ghost / Psychic Girafarig

Stats: 100/130/80/60/80/120 (570 BST)
Abilities: Pixilate / Defiant / Dazzling (HA)
New Moves: Fake Out, Extreme Speed, Shadow Claw
Justification/Niche: Now with a renovated typing, a great attack and a great speed tier, Girafarig has now some niche, but here is where the abilities come into play to make even better. With Pixilate, Fake Out + Extreme Speed combination can obliterate the dark type Pokemon Girafarig is weak to, add a good overal coverage and work as a pretty potent Revenge Killer. With Defiant it gets a better match-up against Balance teams, getting some necessary attack boosts to bypass some of its checks, but it's vulnerable to priority. And with Dazzling it can be used as a powerful Choice Band/Scarf set whicl will put a lot of pressure to more offense oriented and teams.

Ghost / Normal Meloetta

Stats: 100/70/100/90/90/85 (535 BST)
Abilities: Poison Heal
New Moves: Baneful Bunker, Hex
Removed Moves: Close Combat
Justification/Niche: Ghost / Normal is a quite interesting defensive typing, and Meloetta can work in a similar way Vincune does, it changes PP stall for Poison Heal and it can use Baneful Bunker instead Protect to punish contact even better, and probably take advantage of Hex. The main idea of this set is to act as a Calm Mind wincon.
I had an idea for Ghost / Psychic Girafarig
But it's specially inclined.
 
Italiced notes are ones that I see as most important, ex. Parting Shot for Banette.





Pokemon:
Banette
Type: Ghost
Old Stats: 64 / 115 / 65 / 83 / 63 / 65 (455 BST)
New Stats: 74 (+10) / 135 (+20) / 65 / 113 (+30) / 65 (+2) / 115 (+50) (565 BST)
Abilities: Frisk / Prankster / Sheer Force (HA)
New Moves: Parting Shot, Fire Punch, Ice Beam
Removed Moves: None
Justification/Niche: This is the new ultimate Scout, taking inspiration from current CAP-mon Kitsunoh. Its stats have been given quite a bit of an overhaul, with a +50 to Speed being the most major. Frisk alongside a very fast 115 base Speed allow Banette to quickly check for Z-Crystals, Focus Sashes, and the like, then switch via Parting Shot into a proper answer for the set that's in front of it. A better mixed movepool also helps Banette, with the addition of Fire Punch to deal with Steels that may wall its coverage otherwise and Ice Beam to contest with the modern-day Dragon kings. These two moves also gain a nice buff in the form of access to Sheer Force, allowing it to be a fast mixed offensive threat. Already in its moveset to benefit from this is Gunk Shot, which already was pretty good and now is even better. Prankster is also a possible ability, allowing you to Destiny Bond before Bullet Punches and Aqua Jets come to revenge kill Banette, as well as for priority Will-O-Wisp. However, besides Prankster Parting Shot, a scouting Banette has little use due to a lack of bulk to survive after using a status move.




Pokemon: Absol
Type: Ghost/Normal
Old Stats: 65 / 130 / 60 / 75 / 60 / 75 (465 BST)
New Stats: 75 (+10) / 145 (+15) / 80 (+20) / 75 / 80 (+20) / 103 (+28) (558 BST)
Abilities: Mold Breaker / Adaptability / Magic Guard (HA)
New Moves: Extreme Speed, Close Combat, Roost
Removed Moves: None
Justification/Niche: While Ghost/Normals probably would be nicer if they were bulky in order to use that nice defensive typing, Absol throws this out the window in turn for using the common Normal move STAB that it has alongside its moveset. Ghost/Normal has very few resists, the only ones being Tyranitar and Bisharp (and Pokemon that share this typing), and new access to Close Combat fixes that issue. All three of its abilities are amazing, with Mold Breaker allowing it to more effectively deal with things like Solid Rock, Sturdy, and Disguise; Adaptability helps increase the power of its very potent STAB moves; and Magic Guard gives it an immunity to entry hazards as well as Toxic or Burn damage, among other things. Extreme Speed, though, is the major new toy; A base speed of 103 can tend to get outsped in a meta where Tapu Koko STILL exists, and Choice Scarf can be rampant, so Swords Dance Absol can afford to now run ExtremeSpeed as its sole Normal STAB, allowing it to spam to its heart's content one of, if not the best, priority move in the game. Roost is also added to give sets, if a player chooses, a bit more survivability, especially with the upped bulk that's now just under mediocre for nowadays standards.





Pokemon: Malamar
Type: Ghost/Psychic
Old Stats: 86 / 92 / 88 / 68 / 75 / 73 (482 BST)
New Stats: 116 (+30) / 112 (+20) / 108 (+20) / 58 (-10) / 105 (+30) / 53 (-20) (552 BST)
Abilities: Contrary / Poison Heal / Filter (HA)
New Moves: Shadow Sneak, Close Combat, Recover
Removed Moves: None
Justification/Niche: Welcome to your worst nightmare. I'd have gone with Hoopa's confined form, but my idea was sniped by Gojiratar... almost entirely. So, instead, we have Malamar, who gains practically nothing from this new typing besides 2 immunities and dying even harder to Ghost types. What it gains instead is the incredibly neato abilities in Poison Heal and Filter, one giving it an ability usually restricted to things like Gliscor and Balanced Hackmons, and an ability which... reduces the damage that moves that already OHKO would do to only a 2x overkill, rather than a 8000x overkill. Awesome. Close Combat also gives it a more interesting move to run over Superpower for tanky builds, especially good now with a much better stat set defensively of 116/108/105. Recover also fixes the only final problem Malamar has ever had, that being it has bad survivability without defenses up already.
 
Italiced notes are ones that I see as most important, ex. Parting Shot for Banette.





Pokemon:
Banette
Type: Ghost
Old Stats: 64 / 115 / 65 / 83 / 63 / 65 (455 BST)
New Stats: 74 (+10) / 135 (+20) / 65 / 113 (+30) / 65 (+2) / 115 (+50) (565 BST)
Abilities: Frisk / Prankster / Sheer Force (HA)
New Moves: Parting Shot, Fire Punch, Ice Beam
Removed Moves: None
Justification/Niche: This is the new ultimate Scout, taking inspiration from current CAP-mon Kitsunoh. Its stats have been given quite a bit of an overhaul, with a +50 to Speed being the most major. Frisk alongside a very fast 115 base Speed allow Banette to quickly check for Z-Crystals, Focus Sashes, and the like, then switch via Parting Shot into a proper answer for the set that's in front of it. A better mixed movepool also helps Banette, with the addition of Fire Punch to deal with Steels that may wall its coverage otherwise and Ice Beam to contest with the modern-day Dragon kings. These two moves also gain a nice buff in the form of access to Sheer Force, allowing it to be a fast mixed offensive threat. Already in its moveset to benefit from this is Gunk Shot, which already was pretty good and now is even better. Prankster is also a possible ability, allowing you to Destiny Bond before Bullet Punches and Aqua Jets come to revenge kill Banette, as well as for priority Will-O-Wisp. However, besides Prankster Parting Shot, a scouting Banette has little use due to a lack of bulk to survive after using a status move.




Pokemon: Absol
Type: Ghost/Normal
Old Stats: 65 / 130 / 60 / 75 / 60 / 75 (465 BST)
New Stats: 75 (+10) / 145 (+15) / 80 (+20) / 75 / 80 (+20) / 103 (+28) (558 BST)
Abilities: Mold Breaker / Adaptability / Magic Guard (HA)
New Moves: Extreme Speed, Close Combat, Roost
Removed Moves: None
Justification/Niche: While Ghost/Normals probably would be nicer if they were bulky in order to use that nice defensive typing, Absol throws this out the window in turn for using the common Normal move STAB that it has alongside its moveset. Ghost/Normal has very few resists, the only ones being Tyranitar and Bisharp (and Pokemon that share this typing), and new access to Close Combat fixes that issue. All three of its abilities are amazing, with Mold Breaker allowing it to more effectively deal with things like Solid Rock, Sturdy, and Disguise; Adaptability helps increase the power of its very potent STAB moves; and Magic Guard gives it an immunity to entry hazards as well as Toxic or Burn damage, among other things. Extreme Speed, though, is the major new toy; A base speed of 103 can tend to get outsped in a meta where Tapu Koko STILL exists, and Choice Scarf can be rampant, so Swords Dance Absol can afford to now run ExtremeSpeed as its sole Normal STAB, allowing it to spam to its heart's content one of, if not the best, priority move in the game. Roost is also added to give sets, if a player chooses, a bit more survivability, especially with the upped bulk that's now just under mediocre for nowadays standards.





Pokemon: Malamar
Type: Ghost/Psychic
Old Stats: 86 / 92 / 88 / 68 / 75 / 73 (482 BST)
New Stats: 116 (+30) / 112 (+20) / 108 (+20) / 58 (-10) / 105 (+30) / 53 (-20) (552 BST)
Abilities: Contrary / Poison Heal / Filter (HA)
New Moves: Shadow Sneak, Close Combat, Recover
Removed Moves: None
Justification/Niche: Welcome to your worst nightmare. I'd have gone with Hoopa's confined form, but my idea was sniped by Gojiratar... almost entirely. So, instead, we have Malamar, who gains practically nothing from this new typing besides 2 immunities and dying even harder to Ghost types. What it gains instead is the incredibly neato abilities in Poison Heal and Filter, one giving it an ability usually restricted to things like Gliscor and Balanced Hackmons, and an ability which... reduces the damage that moves that already OHKO would do to only a 2x overkill, rather than a 8000x overkill. Awesome. Close Combat also gives it a more interesting move to run over Superpower for tanky builds, especially good now with a much better stat set defensively of 116/108/105. Recover also fixes the only final problem Malamar has ever had, that being it has bad survivability without defenses up already.
I'm pretty sure people are much more likely to use that Banette as just an attacker/sweeper instead of a scout :P
 
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