Banette (Written) [QC 0/2]

Don Honchkrorleone

Happy Qwilfish the nightmare
is a Smogon Discord Contributor Alumnus
Done.
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Banette

[Overview]

<p>Banette is often forgotten because of his common weakness, bad defenses and horrible offensive movepool. However, one must not forget about his biggest niche: The cursed doll is one of, if not, the best Trick Room lead in the metagame, having access to both Insomnia and Frisk, as well as good leading moves named Magic Coat and Destiny Bond, Banette is a solid support for slow pokémon that want a chance to shine. However, some kinds of leads such as Trick leads and flinch leads can cause him trouble, therefore prevent him doing his primary job. Even with all these flaws, Banette is still a good pokémon, and is a must when building a Trick Room team.</p>

[SET]
name: Trick Room Lead
move 1: Trick Room
move 2: Magic Coat
move 3: Destiny Bond
move 4: Shadow Claw / Taunt
Item: Focus Sash
Ability: Insomnia / Frisk
Nature: Brave
Evs: 252 Atk
Ivs: 0 Spe

[Set Comments]
<p>This is Banette's best (and usable) set: a Trick Room Lead. Banette can set up Trick Room early and reliably, because of his immunity to sleep (with Insomnia), immunity to Fake Out and a covetable lead movepool. Trick Room is the essence of this set, prepairing the land to other powerful but slow pokémon sweep. Magic Coat rebounds Taunt from things like Erufuun, Murkrow, Borutorosu and Azelf, forcing them to either attack or switch, as well as reflecting entry hazards and status moves. Destiny Bond works wonderful after Banette set up Trick Room, allowing the puppet to take down the foe with himself if he's KOed. Shadow Claw is here as an attacking option if Banette was hit by Taunt somehow, but Banette can also use Taunt by himrself to force the opponent to attack you and then proceed to Destiny Bond.</p>


[Additional comments]
<p>Insomnia is the preferred ability since you're makes you immune to common sleep, and able to handle some leads such as Smeargle, Yanmega and Rosersde, but you can also use Frisk to scout the opponent's item. The 0 IV in Spe makes Banette hellish slow, and therefore extremely fast under Trick Room. Banette doesn't need Evs in any places bar his Attack, since his main goal is to set up Trick Room and die.</p>

<p>Because of Trick Room, Banette has lots of viable partners.
The slower the sweeper the better, such as Shubarugo, Crimgan, Rhyperior and Marowak. Iron Head Jirachi can counter this set if Banette get flinched. Hippowdon can take Iron Head like it was a Tackle and retaliate with Earthquake or heal itself with Slack Off, making the sand hippo a potent partner to Banette. Hippowdon is also very slow, performing well under Trick Room. Trick leads like Togekiss are also troublesome to this set. Scizor can take the Choice item and spam powerful Bullet Punches. Scizor also fares well under Trick Room because of his relatively low base 65 Speed.</p>

[Team options]

<p>Since the whole strategy is about setting up Trick Room and dying, there are plenty of teammates that can benefit from Banette's Trick Room. The list of potential partners is endless and include Rhyperior, Shubarugo, Octillery, Torterra, Crimgan, Seviper, Rampardos, Snorlax just to name a few. All these pokémon are very slow and powerful, doing wonders under Trick Room. Since Trick Room isn't infinite, other pokémon that can set up Trick Room like Rankurusu and Bronzong are also fantastic teammates. Jirachi lead can Iron Head the cursed puppet back to hell with a potent flinching, as can Rock Slide Aerodactyl. Hippowdon, Torterra and Marowak are formidable Jirachi and Aerodactyl counters, therefore making good Banette partners. </p>

[Optional changes]

<p>Offensively, Banette gets no usable offensive moves aside Shadow Claw. A Choice Band set can hurt coming from 115 base Atk, but the only moves he gets to make a Choice Band set viable are Shadow Claw / Return / Gunk Shot / Trick. Shadow Sneak can revenge kill some frail pokémon that are weak to Ghost, but Shadow Claw is generally better.</p>

<p>While Banette's offensive options are lackluster, he has an awesome support movepool that unfortunately can't be used because of his mediocre defenses. If you doubt, the cursed puppet has Thunder Wave, Will-O-Wisp, Knock Off, Snatch, Torment, Toxic and Icy Wind, all excellent disruptive moves that he cannot use due his incredible frailness. Imprison can prevent the foe from using a move that you also can use, but is very situational and often doesn't justify a moveslot. Calm Mind is plausible and Banette gets a good special movepool, but isn't going to hurt a lot from 83 base SpA, and Banette generally doesn't have time to set up.</p>

[Counters]

<p>Before trying to knock out Banette, one must understand that his only purpose on life is set up Trick Room, so countering Banette requires countering Trick Room.</p>

<p>Jirachi can abuse its 60% flinch rate Iron Head against Banette, but if doesn't flinch, Banette will have his job done. TricK Leads such as Togekiss and Starmie also can cripple Banette unless he used Trick Room in the turn that he got Tricked. Hippowdon, Tyranitar and Abomasnow can attack with their powerful STAB moves for a OHKO Banette because of the weather nullifying Focus Sah. Banette will still be able to set up Trick Room befor dying, however. The best way of getting rid of Banette and preventing him of using Trick Room is with prediction. For example, you can attack with something that Banette will probably use Magic Coat or Taunt against, such as Swampert, Borutorosu or Aerodactyl, or use Taunt from something that Banette will most likely set up Trick Room against, like Heatran, Tyranitar or Alakazam.</p>

[Dream World]

<p>Banette recieved Cursed Body from DW, which can disable the opponent's move if Banette is attacked. This ability is interesting, but a certain immunity to sleep or a check in the foe's item is generally better than an occasional disable.</p>
 
I actually think Frisk is a better move for Bannette as a lead because it helps you scout. I honestly don't see too many sleep leads any more, so Insomnia isn't too usefull. Imprison should also be mentioned in the additional moves, because it can be used well with Taunt. pretty gimmicky, but worth a mention.
other than that, it looks good
 

Don Honchkrorleone

Happy Qwilfish the nightmare
is a Smogon Discord Contributor Alumnus
I actually think Frisk is a better move for Bannette as a lead because it helps you scout. I honestly don't see too many sleep leads any more, so Insomnia isn't too usefull. Imprison should also be mentioned in the additional moves, because it can be used well with Taunt. pretty gimmicky, but worth a mention.
other than that, it looks good
Thanks for the tips, sax king. Yes, I completely forgot about Imprison. And abot Frisk too. I'll add in OP.
 
You can reflect sleep moves with magic coat, so the only reason to use insomnia is to switch into sleep moves, but since banette is supposed to be a suicide lead, it shouldn't be switching in on anything anyway.
 
i dont think hippo is such a good partner, since it ruins your sash. Ok, if you are running it specicifically to beat jirachi, the sash wouldnt be active anyway, since most jirachis set up rocks, but still...
he guarantees that your sash wont work, so you will only be able to set up TR in defensive pokes, who OHKO Banette.
 
I kinda think trick-scarf and trick room would work together, for slower pokes like hippowdon, but idk. just an opinion.
 

His Eminence Lord Poppington II

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However, some leads, especially Trick and flinch leads, can cause him trouble and therefore preventing him doing his primary job.

Minor grammar problem, should be 'therefore prevent him'. Alternatively, the 'and' could be removed and a grammar added after the 'trouble'.
 
Are you sure not having and defenses is good?

With some Defensive investment I'm sure it could survive some attacks that may leave it with enough HP to survive a weaker priority attack (like Ice Shard); perhaps max Defense. This allows it to Destiny Bond the turn after using Trick Room, so it can cause a switch and/or force a the foe to not attack. An Alternative spread with Night Shade and full HP and Defense investment could be used... Night Slash even off 115 wont always leave a dent...
 

Don Honchkrorleone

Happy Qwilfish the nightmare
is a Smogon Discord Contributor Alumnus
Are you sure not having and defenses is good?

With some Defensive investment I'm sure it could survive some attacks that may leave it with enough HP to survive a weaker priority attack (like Ice Shard); perhaps max Defense. This allows it to Destiny Bond the turn after using Trick Room, so it can cause a switch and/or force a the foe to not attack. An Alternative spread with Night Shade and full HP and Defense investment could be used... Night Slash even off 115 wont always leave a dent...
Got your point. Yet I think that he doesn't even needs IVs in Defense since his main objectives are TR and die, some EVs in defense help him srvive some weak priority moves. I'll add in the AC.

Minor grammar problem, should be 'therefore prevent him'. Alternatively, the 'and' could be removed and a grammar added after the 'trouble'.
Thanks. Fixed.
 

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