This is a simple set up; just Swords Dance and hammer everything you can with Night Slash. Sucker Punch helps to compensate for Absol's average Speed, but Super Luck and Night Slash's high critical hit ratio makes it potentially a lot more powerful. In the third slot, you can choose Psycho Cut, which hammers most Fighting-types and also boasts a high critical hit rate to work with his ability. Fire Blast will prevent Skarmory and Steelix switching in freely, easily 2HKOing the former with a Lonely nature and the latter with an added Expert Belt or Life Orb boost. It also OHKOs both Scizor and Forretress. Heracross is likely 2HKOed and the 2HKO is guaranteed if you use Expert Belt or Life Orb. In the final moveslot, you have X-Scissor to cover the Dark-types that wall you otherwise. You can also use Rock Smash. That's right—Rock Smash. Before you start laughing (oh, too late?) take a look at the calculations in the section below. While X-Scissor will do the same damage as Rock Smash against common Dark-types like Tyranitar, Houndoom, and Weavile, it doesn't have the useful 50% chance of a Defense drop. Rock Smash will also be Absol's best move against Aggron, Bastiodon, and Probopass, and the Defense drops can help against the likes of Skarmory if you're not using Fire Blast. While it won't do much in the way of damage, you can send in another physical Pokémon and they may be unable to handle its attacks. This can prove useful as your opponent may be forced to switch his or her physical wall out. Scope Lens works with Super Luck and his high critical hit rate moves like Night Slash, Expert Belt provides him with a little more power, and Life Orb gives even more of an offensive kick, but at the expense of 10% of his HP per attack. Rock Smash Calculations (Max Attack, Adamant Absol)Tyranitar with 6 HP/0 Defense EVs Tyranitar takes 53–62%. After a Swords Dance it is an easy OHKO. So that's the best case scenario for Absol. The worst case scenario is Tyranitar having max HP. 252 HP/0 Defense EVs Tyranitar takes 45–52%. Again, you've got possible Defense drops, a critical hit or boosting item to make up the slack. After a Swords Dance, Tyranitar takes 88–100% without a boosting item. Expert Belt or Life Orb will guarantee the kill. Weavile with 6 HP/0 Defense EVs Weavile takes 96–100%. That's BEFORE a Swords Dance, which is good as you can't afford to stay in on Weavile unless it's paralyzed. An item boost guarantees the OHKO. Houndoom with 6 HP/0 Defense EVs Houndoom takes 58–68%, a guaranteed 2HKO, and an obvious OHKO after a Swords Dance or with a critical hit. However, you should switch out of Houndoom, since he's faster and can OHKO with his Fire moves or burn you with Will-O-Wisp, but he only gets to switch in once.
Like as in the previous set, you simply boost Absol's Attack with Swords Dance and attempt a sweep. Unlike the sweeping version of this set, getting walled with this set isn't as much of a problem. Simply pass the Attack boost to a counter. Taunt prevents Absol being phazed and Psycho Cut provides type coverage. Substitute gives Absol something beneficial to pass to special attackers and protects him against attacks, hopefully giving him time to set up a Swords Dance. Rock Smash is still viable for more type coverage, but generally you should be Baton Passing out instead of using a relatively weak move. You could throw a Salac Berry on Absol if you're using Substitute and try to pass the Speed boost and a Swords Dance on.
What do you do with a Pokémon that has an excellent Attack stat and average Speed? You put a Choice Scarf on it, of course. Choice Scarf gives Absol a better opportunity to do more damage thanks to the welcome Speed boost. Stone Edge works well with Super Luck and hammers Flying-types, allowing for the possibility of revenge killing a Gyarados or Salamence. Absol's Pursuit is almost as powerful as Tyranitar's and easily destroys most Ghosts and Psychics should they switch. The cool thing about Pursuit on Absol is that 12.5% of the time, it will score a critical hit, OHKOing certain enemies who would otherwise survive the hit. Me First is somewhat gimmicky, but can work well in a few situations. You do have the potential to OHKO the likes of Garchomp and Salamence by throwing Outrage and Draco Meteor back at them. Hitting Lucario with a boosted Aura Sphere or Close Combat could also be a nasty surprise.
This set is slower, but more powerful, than the Choice Scarf set. Sucker Punch is a great option over Night Slash to make up for Absol's poor Speed, but doesn't have the high critical hit ratio. The drop in Speed from the Choice Scarf set makes Absol more vulnerable, but he will do a lot of damage during the few turns he's around.
Absol is one of only a handful of Pokémon that can Baton Pass Mean Look/Spider Web. It may prove difficult to pull off given how slow and fragile Absol is, but it has the potential to really screw over your opponent. The ideal scenario is getting off a successful pass against a Choice locked Fighting attack while you send in a Calm Mind Mismagius, Swords Dancing Gliscor or Dragon Dancing Salamence/Gyarados. Taunt prevents any attempts to phaze away Mean Look, while Psycho Cut and Rock Smash provide type coverage. Umbreon is a much sturdier Pokémon for this role, but Absol's Speed gives him a slight advantage in some cases. Obviously, Absol is far superior in terms of direct attacking too.
Cripple opponents with burns and paralysis. Psycho Cut is highly recommended over X-Scissor/Rock Smash or any other attack to destroy Heracross and other Guts abusing Fighters, like Machamp and Hariyama. Dark-types like Tyranitar and Weavile are covered with Will-O-Wisp; both will hate having their Attack lowered.
This set is just more fun with Baton Pass. This time you're boosting Absol's special stats and passing them to an appropriate sweeper, like Salamence or Nidoking. Hidden Power Fighting gives you some cover for Dark-types, but Thunderbolt hurts common phazers like Skarmory and Suicune. Taunt will prevent Absol being phazed or statused, giving him time to set up more boosts or get off a successful pass. Other OptionsAbsol has plenty of special attacking options, so a Choice Specs set is a possibility. However, its only real benefit over a Choice Band set is the ability to OHKO certain Steel-types with Fire Blast. Zen Headbutt has more power than Psycho Cut, but the latter's higher critical hit rate and better accuracy more than make up for the slight power drop. Absol is one of the seemingly random Pokémon that learns Wish from an old NYPC event, but he isn't really sturdy enough to use it effectively. If you do want to use Wish, bear in mind it is illegal with all of Absol's egg moves, including Baton Pass and Mean Look. Perish Song can annoy a Baton Pass team. Don't be tempted to use it on a Mean Look set, as Absol has no sleep moves and isn't sturdy enough to stall out a trapped Pokémon. Snatch can steal assorted goodies like Roost, Wish, Recover, Substitute, or various stat-boosting moves from opponents trying to protect against Sucker Punch. Magic Coat reflects status, but is a somewhat gimmicky option. EVsAlways max Attack for sweeping sets. After that, set your Speed. Although it's not as much of a concern if you're using Sucker Punch, you'll need Speed for those Pokémon you'll be hitting with your other attacks. 270 (Jolly/Hasty, 216 EVs) beats Adamant Heracross and Toxicroak (at which point, you might as well max your Speed up to 273), 252 (Hasty, 176 EVs) outruns max Speed Scizor, 244 (Adamant/Lonely, 232 EVs) beats Jolly Tyranitar and Adamant Breloom and 230 (Adamant/Lonely, 176 EVs) makes Absol faster than Adamant Scizor and beats Adamant Tyranitar by several points. Any remaining EVs can go in HP, or Special Attack if you're using Fire Blast. You can use some HP EVs for the Double Status or Calm Mind sets. 196 EVs hits 320 to allow for optimal Leftovers recovery, or you can go down to 304 or 288 if you want more Speed or offensive power. OpinionBad news first: Absol has rather average Speed and terrible defenses. While these are his only real negative points (the lack of strong Fighting attack also hurts somewhat), they cannot be easily dismissed and must be taken into consideration when using him. A slow, bulky Pokémon with U-turn can help to get Absol in unscathed (Vespiquen springs to mind, who also benefits from STAB), since even weak neutral attacks can 2HKO him. On the positive side, this generation gave Absol a vast array of new weapons to add to his already impressive arsenal. With his new Super Luck ability and no less than three high critical hit moves he has the potential to hand out some serious physical punishment. CountersMost Steel-types do well against Absol. If he lacks Fire Blast, then Forretress, Scizor, Skarmory, and Steelix can all beat him with little difficulty. Heatran survives Rock Smash and easily OHKOs Absol, and Absol may risk giving him a free boost with Fire Blast or Will-O-Wisp. Registeel is also a fine choice as he takes little damage from Fire Blast and can easily 2HKO with Superpower or Hammer Arm. Regirock can survive a critical hit from Night Slash (even after a Swords Dance) if you focus his EVs in Defense and will OHKO with Superpower or Hammer Arm. Battle Armor Drapion is an excellent counter. He nullifies Super Luck, resists Night Slash and is immune to Psycho Cut. Other Battle Armor/Shell Armor Pokémon like Cloyster and Armaldo also work well thanks to their high Defense, although neither will be too fond of taking a Stone Edge after a Swords Dance. Generally, anything with a Dark resist and a decently powered neutral attack will defeat Absol. His defenses are poor and can't stand up to most hits for long. Fighting-types with Mach Punch can be a problem—if they get in unscathed—since they can finish off Absol before he gets a chance to attack. Hitmontop works well here, since he has Intimidate to soften the blow as he switches in or Technician to boost Mach Punch's power. |
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