|
-
Limber
- Prevents paralysis.
-
Unburden
- Speed increases when an item is used or lost.
-
Prankster
- Moves that do not deal direct damage have their priority increased by one level.
|
Level 100 Statistics (see level 5, 50, 100)
|
Min- |
Min |
Max |
Max+ |
| HP |
64
|
- |
269 |
332 |
- |
| Atk |
88
|
190 |
212 |
275 |
302 |
| Def |
50
|
122 |
136 |
199 |
218 |
| SpA |
88
|
190 |
212 |
275 |
302 |
| SpD |
50
|
122 |
136 |
199 |
218 |
| Spe |
106
|
223 |
248 |
311 |
342 |
Overview
One thing that catches your eye immediately after one look at Liepard's stats is that lime green bar amongst a plethora of reds and oranges: Liepard's blazing base 106 Speed stat. With this, Liepard occupies the position of NU's second fastest Dark-type, losing only to Sneasel. Combined with a fantastic typing and extensive support movepool, along with access to boosting moves such as Nasty Plot and the ability Prankster, Liepard becomes a very underrated threat. It also has two other great abilities in Limber and Unburden, allowing it to function in a variety of roles. Base 88 Special Attack, which seems mediocre at best, is quite threatening when used in conjunction with Nasty Plot; however, here is where Liepard's seemingly impressive resumé comes to a screeching halt. Paper-thin 64 / 50 / 50 defenses make it unable to take any strong attack it doesn't resist. Liepard also lacks any reliable recovery outside of Rest, meaning it will have trouble supporting the team for long periods of time. Fellow Dark-types Skuntank, Cacturne, and even Mightyena outclass Liepard offensively due to higher attacking stats. However, while its stats may not make it look the part, Liepard is a versatile Pokemon that is able to fill many positions and should be considered when building your team.
At first sight, if you find this Liepard on a rival team, you might think this is at most a gimmicky and ineffective set. After a couple of turns, however, once you see what it can do to your poor unprepared team, you'll start feeling true fear and pain. Foul Play severely damages numerous physical attackers, such as Zangoose, Swellow, and Ursaring, even before they've been hit by Swagger, and Liepard can deal with many NU threats such as Misdreavus, Haunter, Sneasel, and itself. It can also check Psychic-types fairly well, such as Kadabra and Musharna, as long as it can avoid Signal Beam. Thanks to Prankster, Liepard boasts priority Thunder Wave, Swagger, and Substitute, allowing it to play mindgames and cripple the opposing team with relative ease. Special attackers, such as Gardevoir and Ampharos, will generally need either boosted or super effective attacks such as Focus Blast to OHKO it, but others are able to easily dispatch it with their powerful attacks, such as Life Orb Samurott and Rotom-S. At the very least, this set will trouble sweepers and spread paralysis. At its best, with some skill and luck, it will show its true might, sweeping the entirety of unsuspecting teams. It's the only NU Dark-type other than Sneasel that outspeeds Haunter as well as other base 90s such as Zangoose. SubDisable and other non-Choice Scarf variants of Haunter are forces to be reckoned with in NU; thus, outspeeding and 2HKOing is important in order to deal with them before they use Destiny Bond, finishing your Prankster party too early. Although it's weak to Fighting-types, Liepard might not only survive against but deal with Gurdurr and other Fighting-types, tanking Mach Punch from behind a Substitute and proceeding either to defeat them with Foul Play or Substitute stall and wait for confusion damage, should you predict a switch in and use Swagger. It is worth noting that Liepard's Substitute is faster than Mach Punch. You can choose to use Encore instead of Thunder Wave to facilitate Substitute and Swagger setting, making the opponent stuck behind a Substitute or forced into repeating a status move, subsequently granting you free turns.
Team Options & Additional Comments >>>
The suggested EV spread gives a Leftovers number and lets Liepard create five Substitutes from full health, granting even more survivability. It is not recommended to change it, though a bulkier, albeit slower, spread with a Calm nature is viable—however, remember to cover Haunter. Encoring Pokemon into non-damaging moves such as Swords Dance means Liepard can safely set up and potentially KO with Foul Play; at the very least, you have a free turn to either renew your Substitute or Swagger the next switch-in. There aren't many other options for this moveset, with Substitute being necessary for survivability. If you're not using Thunder Wave, Encore is the best option in that slot.
Both Gurdurr and Golurk are good options to partner with Liepard, as they can take out the main threats that would otherwise plague Liepard. Gardevoir is a big threat to Liepard, OHKOing with Focus Blast. Calm Mind Gardevoir will 2HKO with Signal Beam as well. Thus, it's important not to switch into it unless you know it's Choice-locked into Psychic; Liepard is generally a good check at best. If Liepard is using Encore, some Gardevoir variants might be Encored into Substitute, allowing for free turns. Once you manage to switch in and set up against Gardevoir, Foul Play will hit for 67-76% on 4 HP Gardevoir, so with hazard support it can be successfully defeated on the switch-in. Own Tempo Lickilicky is the other main counter to this set, ignoring confusion and gaining a free Attack boost from Swagger. It's best to paralyze it and switch to a Ghost- or Fighting-type that can successfully defeat it. It should be noted that, after Stealth Rock damage, both Duosion and Musharna will 2HKO this Liepard with Signal Beam too, so you should take care if you see these foes in Team Preview. Limber Liepard, whilst not as good, counters this set somewhat effectively thanks to its immunity to paralysis.
While Liepard's mediocre base 88 Special Attack may not seem appealing at first, a single Nasty Plot boost raises Liepard's Special Attack to a whopping 604, from which point Liepard has no trouble sweeping. Running Prankster is the best choice for this set, as it can squeeze in a Nasty Plot before Murkrow Taunts it, winning the Prankster priority war thanks to its higher Speed. With Encore, Liepard can also switch into a weather sweeper or other set-up sweepers, lock them into their set up move, and then proceed to set up and sweep, getting at least one guaranteed boost while the opponent switches out. Taunt can also be used for similar reasons, but Encore is preferred due to the almost guaranteed switch.
Dark Pulse is the primary STAB move in this set, with a solid 80 Base Power and, as an added bonus, a 20% flinch rate. Hidden Power Fighting is used to hit Steel-types which otherwise wall Liepard and put an end to its fun. Also, with Dark Pulse and Hidden Power Fighting, Liepard has perfect coverage in NU, hitting every Pokemon for at least neutral damage.
Team Options & Additional Comments >>>
Prankster is the best ability to run on this set, but Limber can also be used, as it outspeeds a lot of NU, and therefore some might argue that having an immunity to paralysis is much more useful than Prankster priority. The EVs for this set are pretty straightforward; maximize Special Attack to make the most out of Liepard's base 88 Special Attack, max out Speed, and dump the rest in HP. Running Modest to have Liepard hit harder is the best idea, as making the most out of mediocre base 88 offenses is essential. However, if you are worried about getting outsped, you can run Timid, but that is generally frowned upon, as Liepard's attacks won't be as strong.
Liepard greatly appreciates hazard support; having Stealth Rock and, if possible, Spikes, will give it an easier time taking out threats such as Regice after Stealth Rock. Running Life Orb gives Liepard a nice power boost, but it's frail as is, so you can run Leftovers instead if you don't like Life Orb's recoil. Thanks to its typing, Sawk makes a good offensive partner that can take out Steel-types quickly. Liepard is immune to Sawk's Psychic weakness, giving the two of them good synergy. Another good teammate is Golurk; it resists everything Liepard is weak to and can keep the momentum going.
Prankster is arguably the best ability Liepard has; the +1 priority on Liepard's extensive support movepool makes it a great choice for setting up weather and crippling opponents. Liepard is the fastest Pokemon in NU with access to Prankster, and it utilizes this well. It can lock an opponent, such as Shell Smash Gorebyss, into a set up move with Encore. It can also run Taunt if you don't want to risk a bad prediction situation, but Encore is preferred. Thunder Wave is used to cripple sweepers, and is also there to nullify other threats. With three-fourths of this set's moves at +1 priority, Liepard needs no Speed EVs. In fact, it is running a negative Speed nature and IV spread to capitalize on its last move, U-turn, to its fullest extent. Liepard will almost always go last when using U-turn, allowing its replacement to get a free switch-in while also dealing a bit of damage. However, if you are worried about it getting hurt, you can switch out normally to something that can take the hit.
Team Options & Additional Comments >>>
Liepard may not be the best option for weather support on your team. Volbeat, a fellow Prankster user, has access not only to weather moves, but the highly coveted Tail Glow, which it can Baton Pass. However, with Volbeat comes a lower Speed, a weaker typing, and a crippling weakness to Stealth Rock, which makes Liepard a better choice in that respect.
The given EVs make Liepard as specially bulky as possible. Special Defense is maxed out, as Liepard will be switching into and mostly dealing with Ghost- and Psychic-type Pokemon, which are primarily specially based attackers. That being said, Liepard is devastatingly frail, even with maximum HP investment, so if you mispredicted and let your opponent set up, Liepard is pretty much dead even after Thunder Wave, as any strong STAB move, when boosted, is an almost guaranteed OHKO.
Good teammates are entirely dependent on the type of weather you are using. For sun, Chlorophyll sweepers like Vileplume and Exeggutor are good options, as well as Solar Power Charizard, while for rain, Swift Swim users like Beartic and Mantine are good options. Ghost-types such as Misdreavus cover all of Liepard's weaknesses, so they are good choices to use as well.
Other Options
Liepard is a really versatile Pokemon, filling a variety of roles. With its high Speed, a Choice item set looks good, but a poor attacking movepool squashes this idea. Liepard can try to utilize one of its other abilities, Unburden, with a Dark Gem-boosted Dark Pulse, to hit for decent damage. However, this gets rid of Prankster, which is best suited for Liepard due to its extensive support movepool. For sweeping, Liepard can use Hone Claws and Sucker Punch to go the physical route, but is usually better off with Nasty Plot. Foul Play is a strong STAB move that can punish the likes of Armaldo, Braviary, and Beartic. Liepard has a very good support movepool, though; it can run Yawn to force switches, Fake Tears to help an incoming sweep, or Knock Off to render Eviolite Pokemon useless, though it should be noted that Liepard doesn't get Prankster priority on Knock Off.
Checks and Counters
Liepard is by no means unbeatable. Pokemon faster than Liepard, such as Tauros, Electrode, and Swellow, can outspeed and proceed to OHKO it, though they risk being hit by Thunder Wave. Liepard will also get wrecked by any Fighting-type, namely Gurdurr and Sawk, who will OHKO or 2HKO Liepard with Close Combat or Drain Punch. Liepard also takes super effective damage from Armaldo's STAB X-Scissor. While Liepard is not specifically weak to any hazards, it is vulnerable to all of them, and this can be used against it. Specific walls to Liepard include Probopass, Bastiodon, Regirock, Regice, and Lickilicky, due to their massive bulk and ability to take a super effective Hidden Power Fighting.
