|
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Chlorophyll
- Speed doubles in sun.
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Sap Sipper
- Grants immunity to Grass-type moves and boosts Attack by 1 stage when hit by a Grass-type move.
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Serene Grace
- This Pokemon's secondary effect chances are doubled.
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Level 5 Statistics (see level 5, 50, 100)
|
Min- |
Min |
Max |
Max+ |
| HP |
60
|
- |
22 |
25 |
- |
| Atk |
60
|
10 |
12 |
15 |
16 |
| Def |
50
|
9 |
11 |
14 |
15 |
| SpA |
40
|
9 |
10 |
13 |
14 |
| SpD |
50
|
9 |
11 |
14 |
15 |
| Spe |
75
|
12 |
14 |
17 |
18 |
Overview
Although by no means great in Little Cup, Deerling is salvageable due to its unique typing and stats. Deerling reaches 17 Speed and 16 Attack with an Adamant nature, more than enough to dent common Pokemon such as Staryu. Access to Baton Pass as well as Work Up, Agility, and Substitute make Deerling a potent user of Baton Pass, which is supplemented by its unique typing and surprising bulk. Sap Sipper is a cool ability for Deerling, as it allows it to switch in on Spore from Shroomish or Giga Drain from Lileep and get an Attack boost that it can immediately Baton Pass away or use for itself. Deerling also has a pretty good physical movepool, with coverage options such as Nature Power and Jump Kick, along with STAB Return and Seed Bomb. If Vulpix were not banned, Deerling would truly be a threat to be reckoned with, but as things stand now, Deerling is an average Pokemon with just enough of a niche to function in Little Cup.
Deerling is able to run a good Choice Scarf set due to its solid coverage. Deerling reaches 25 Speed with an Adamant nature, enough to outrun every unboosted Pokemon in the metagame, as well as prominent Choice Scarf users, such as Snover and Chinchou. A resistance to Water-type attacks allows Deerling to take on Chinchou and Staryu quite well, as it only fears the rare Ice Beam or Scald burn. Return is capable of 2HKOing Mienfoo and Axew, and is also a good attack to throw around if the opponent's Ghost-type is defeated. Double-Edge is a stronger alternative that is capable of OHKOing Choice Scarf Mienfoo on the switch. Seed Bomb is a reliable STAB move that can hit Water- and Ground-types super effectively, giving Deerling a way to hurt Staryu, Frillish, and Drilbur. Jump Kick allows Deerling to hit Scraggy, Snover, and Ferroseed super effectively, as well as giving it an attack to hit other Normal-types hard. Nature Power is slightly more useful in the last moveslot in order to hit Croagunk super effectively, as well as Fire-types such as Ponyta and Houndour. Nature Power also has the unique ability of ignoring Sucker Punch, which allows Deerling to revenge kill boosted Pawniard easily. Wild Charge is also useful to hit Flying-types such as Murkrow and Drifloon super effectively. It is worth noting that without Wild Charge, Drifloon can switch in for free, as it will fear none of Deerling's attacks.
Team Options & Additional Comments >>>
Adamant is the preferred nature in order to maximize Deerling's otherwise unimpressive Attack, reaching a moderately impressive 16, enough to harm most Pokemon. Sap Sipper is the ability of choice because it gives Deerling an Attack boost if it switches into a Grass-type move, as well as immunity to them. Water-types make great teammates for Deerling as they can absorb Fire-type attacks from the likes of Larvesta and Ponyta. Chinchou and Staryu are arguably the best at this, as they can offer supplementary support in Heal Bell and Rapid Spin, respectively. Stealth Rock support from Dwebble allows Deerling to easily muscle its way past counters such as the previously mentioned Larvesta, as its it is easily defeated on the switch-in thanks to the rocks stripping half of its health. Frillish is also a great teammate because its unique typing allows it to take on both Fire- and Fighting-types, something most other Pokemon cannot accomplish. Fighting-types such as Croagunk and Timburr are huge issues for Deerling, so Murkrow is a great teammate because it can defeat Fighting-types easily with Brave Bird.
Access to Agility and Work Up allow Deerling to carve itself a niche with Baton Pass. Deerling's Grass typing allows it to set up on common Water-types such as Staryu and Chinchou easily. Agility is particularly easy to Baton Pass because Deerling hits an amazing 36 Speed after a boost, outspeeding every common Pokemon. Despite what would seem like a crippling weakness to Fighting-types, Deerling has enough bulk to survive three Mach Punches from Timburr, as well as Fake Out + Drain Punch from standard Mienfoo, allowing it to escape with ease. Seed Bomb is used in the last slot in order to get around Taunt, as well as hit Water-types. Substitute can be used if you want to focus purely on Baton Pass.
Team Options & Additional Comments >>>
Deerling can run more Attack and Speed to strengthen the power of Seed Bomb, as it can reach 20 Attack after a Work Up if running a Jolly nature. Strong, slow sweepers such as Cranidos, Cubone, and Pawniard enjoy the Speed boost from Agility in order to let them outspeed many of their counters. Fast Pokemon such as Elekid enjoy having a Work Up boost, as they are fast but often lack the power to threaten teams. Timburr is a huge threat to this set, as Drain Punch does major damage to Deerling. In order to combat it, Pokemon that take very little from Fighting-type attacks, such as Natu and Frillish, are recommended as partners.
Other Options
Deerling has access to Chlorophyll, and can sweep quite effectively when the sun is blazing. Deerling lacks Swords Dance, which is a key part of what makes its evolution effective. Instead, Deerling has access to Work Up to boost its Attack to respectable levels, often enough to sweep. However, the lack of a Drought user in Little Cup means that a sweeper set would need a lot of support to work. Deerling can act as a cleric due to its access to Aromatherapy, but is generally poor at this due to its only average bulk. A SubSeed set can be used well, but Deerling's weaknesses to Fighting-type attacks, as well as the presence of Snover, generally means that it will not accomplish much. Deerling has a wide support movepool, with attacks such as Thunder Wave, Sunny Day, and Reflect at its disposal. However, a support Pokemon weak to Fighting-type attacks is terrible in Little Cup. Cottonee has a wider support movepool, higher defenses, as well as Prankster, effectively outclassing Deerling at any kind of defensive role. A bulky set that uses Thunder Wave alongside offensive attacks is viable, but generally outclassed by Grass-types that aren't weak to Fighting types such as Shroomish and Foongus. They also have access to Spore, which leaves Deerling's Speed as its only advantage. Deerling could possibly run a set utilizing Work Up and Synthesis, but will not pull off a sweep very often due to its recovery being gimped by Hippopotas and Snover, as well as the presence of Mienfoo and Timburr as cornerstones in the metagame.
Checks and Counters
Fighting-types are far and away the best counters to Deerling. Eviolite Mienfoo can tank any move that Deerling has and retaliate with Drain Punch, recovering HP in the process. Timburr can set up on Deerling with ease, as well as outright defeat it with Mach Punch. Croagunk must be wary of Nature Power, but can use the combination of Fake Out and Vacuum Wave to defeat Deerling. Fire-types such as Larvesta and Ponyta can threaten Deerling with Flare Blitz and Will-O-Wisp, though Ponyta must look out for Nature Power. The Baton Pass set is easily defeated by Pokemon with Taunt. Murkrow and Cottonee both resist Seed Bomb and have Prankster Taunt to stop Deerling in its tracks. Ghost-types such as Misdreavus and Drifloon can switch in with ease and retaliate with Hidden Power Fighting and Acrobatics, respectively. Their presence also makes Jump Kick a very risky move for Deerling to use. Bronzor is a great counter because it resists every move Deerling carries except for Jump Kick and Wild Charge, and can weaken Deerling slowly with Psychic.
