Beartic [QC 3/3] [GP 2/2]

Komodo

Huff
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[Overview]

<p>Although its abilities are somewhat limited, Beartic is surprisingly good at what it does. Beartic's Attack stat is decent enough to abuse, and its defenses are passable as well. Furthermore, Beartic's movepool provides it with perfect type coverage; combined with its decent STAB, it can seriously dent the opponent's team. Mono-Ice typing is relatively poor, leaving Beartic vulnerable to Stealth Rock and many common attacking types. Beartic's Speed is nothing to write home about either; sitting at a pitiful base 50 Speed, Beartic is hard-pressed to sweep, and very prone to revenge killing. Beartic doesn't have a lot going for it, but if you'd like to rock the bearded yeti, you'll earn some serious cool points.</p>

[SET]
name: SubPunch
move 1: Substitute
move 2: Focus Punch
move 3: Icicle Crash
move 4: Night Slash
item: Leftovers
nature: Adamant
evs: 172 HP / 252 Atk / 84 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

<p>This is probably the only reason to run Beartic over other offensive Ice-types. The idea is to switch into a weaker attacker, force a switch, set up a Substitute, and fire off powerful attacks. Focus Punch destroys common special walls, easily OHKOing Cryogonal and Munchlax with residual damage. Icicle Crash provides respectable coverage alongside Focus Punch, and the additional STAB boost makes it extremely powerful. Night Slash can net a 2HKO on Slowking, and hits Uxie harder than Icicle Crash.</p>

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

<p>84 Speed EVs allow Beartic to outspeed Clefable and Weezing before they can status it, maximum Attack helps it deal as much damage as possible, and the remaining EVs are placed into HP for additional bulk. Avalanche is a decent alternative considering Beartic's low Speed, though its inconsistency is rather offsetting. Bulldoze can be used to hit Qwilfish, but it's rather situational and a waste of a moveslot. Bulk Up can be used to boost its Attack and brazen up his Substitutes a bit, but Beartic is better off attacking. Toxic is also viable to cripple Pokemon like Uxie and Slowking, but again, it's a waste of a moveslot most of the time.</p>

<p>Poliwrath is an excellent partner as it can switch into Beartic's weaknesses and threaten Fire- and Rock-types with its STAB. Sceptile is another great partner as it can break through bulky Water-types that get in Beartic's way. Claydol and Sandslash can switch into physical sweepers, set up Stealth Rock, and spin away entry hazards. Though not entirely frail, Beartic's defenses aren't anything special, so dual screens is always a nice boon for him, allowing him to keep his Substitutes up and switch in easier.</p>

[Other Options]

<p>A pure offensive set is viable, but as Beartic is rather slow and lacks priority, it's pretty difficult to pull off. Rest and Sleep Talk can be used alongside Bulk Up to form a mono-attacking set, but due to its Ice typing, it's fairly difficult to set up. Stone Edge can be used to hit Fire-types super effectively, but it doesn't provide any additional coverage outside of that. Taunt and Encore slow the opponent down, but Beartic is too slow to use them effectively. Finally, Beartic's special movepool isn't too shabby, but coming off a base 70 Special Attack, it won't be dealing tons of damage.</p>

[Checks and Counters]

<p>On a defensive front, the biggest Beartic counters are bulky Water-types, such as Qwilfish and Slowking, that resist Beartic's STAB and have the potential to burn it via Scald or set up hazards all over him. Physically defensive Pokemon such as Uxie and Cofagrigus can set up on it, but unfortunately they can't deal a lot of damage in return. Poliwrath can switch into Icicle Crash or Night Slash and threaten Beartic with its STAB Fighting moves, but it can't switch into Focus Punch without taking a serious amount of damage. Dusknoir and Spiritomb are immune to Focus Punch, take little damage from Icicle Crash, and have access to Will-O-Wisp to burn Beartic. Moltres can switch into any of Beartic's attacks bar Stone Edge and blast it with powerful Fire-type moves, but it must beware of Stealth Rock on the field. Klinklang can switch into Ice-type attacks and hit Beartic with Gear Grind, but it needs to watch out for Focus Punch. Crustle and Armaldo can take a hit and muscle their way through Beartic with Rock Blast, while Fighting-types can smash Beartic's beard with their brute force. Beartic isn't the most powerful Pokemon in the tier, and it isn't difficult to counter; just avoid Focus Punch and you'll have no problem taking it out.</p>

[Dream World]

<p>Swift Swim gives Beartic potential as a rain sweeper, but it's still slow even with doubled Speed. Regardless, it's more useful than Snow Cloak as there are no permanent hail-inducers in the tier.<p>
 

AccidentalGreed

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It might be worth noting that Beartic is the only viable offensive user of Icicle Crash in RU, so it can't be compared to Mamoswine here. It might be worth adding, or at least mentioning, Choice sets (252 HP/252 Atk for Band, 252 Atk / 252 Spe for Scarf), since Beartic needs the Speed/Power to crush threats without the set up.
 
It might be worth noting that Beartic is the only viable offensive user of Icicle Crash in RU, so it can't be compared to Mamoswine here. It might be worth adding, or at least mentioning, Choice sets (252 HP/252 Atk for Band, 252 Atk / 252 Spe for Scarf), since Beartic needs the Speed/Power to crush threats without the set up.
Ayte, I'll toss that in there somewhere. I have yet to test Choiced Beartic (probably going to get on that some time today), but I would imagine that a CB set would be fairly effective, if only because the sheer amount of Slowking/Qwilfish/Uxie switch-ins to him is insane :P CS I'm a little less sure of, but I suppose it's worth looking into nonetheless. Thanks :)

Avalanche should be mentioned somewhere, even if it's just OO, imo, because Beartic is so slow.
Derp, I would forget something so blatantly obvious. Ayte, added
 
Mmk, after doing a bit of testing around, I would say that a CB set is pretty damn viable as far as Beartic goes. It's a bit troublesome to switch him in, but he hits like a ton of bricks when he does, and it can actually dispatch Slowking/Uxie and Qwilfish fairly well with Night Slash and Bulldoze, respectively. CS on the other hand seems rather subpar, and usually doesn't offer anything of value to him. But I dunno, any input would help.
 
Spe, not Spd

Also, be more specific. Explain what teammates are good to beat uxie or slowking or qwilfish. Also, surely there must be more to his oo than that. Even if nothing is viable, still tell what he gets and explain why it's not viable. Vanilluxe has a larger oo than that, and he gets like 10 usable moves.
 

Oglemi

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Mention that basically any Water-type (Haze Qwilfish, Poliwrath, Slowking, Omastar, Kabutops, Feraligatr) just downright dgaf about Beartic most of the time if he isn't behind a Sub (and even then most still don't like Poliwrath) since Night Slash does shit nothing to them save for Slowking, and you can't get a Focus Punch off when you're not behind a Sub.

idk, I actually found Beartic pretty frail and rather underwhelming even with dual screen support, so I'd definitely make a strong mention of that.



QC APPROVED 1/3
 
Alrighty, will do. I was actually rather disappointed in his bulk when testing him, kinda a shame :/ Ah well, thanks for the check
 
Stone Edge is probably better than Bulldoze for the last Choice Band option, since as you mentioned Qwilfish doesn't really care about it anyway and Entei is taking a lot more from Stone Edge. When I used Choice Band pretty much the only move I used was Superpower anyway. Avalanche might deserve OO mention as secondary stab (i.e. not in place of Icicle Drop) since it's not exactly far fetched that you might underspeed everything.
 
I've discussed with Windsong and we decided you should:

  • Icicle Crash should be the only slash on the SubPunch set so move Ice Punch to AC
  • Night Slash should be the only move on the 4th slot
  • Move Bulk Up and mention Toxic in AC
  • Move the All Out Attacker to OO

After this,

QC APPROVED 2/3
 

Windsong

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We need to just start posting the IRC logs, Zdrup. =p

Make the changes Zdrup and I talked about.

QC APPROVED 3/3
 

Honko

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Actually, hold off on writing this for now. It needs to go through QC again now that hail is banned, and tbh I doubt it deserves an analysis at all.
 

Komodo

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There isn't a lot to say about Beartic, and a lot of this was tweaked from the skeleton, but have fun GP team.
 

Andy Snype

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[Overview]

<p>Although its abilities are somewhat limited, Beartic is surprisingly good at what it does. Beartic's Attack stat is decent enough to abuse, and its defenses are passable as well. Furthermore, Beartic's movepool provides it with perfect type coverage; combined with its decent STAB, it can seriously dent the opponent's team. Mono-Ice typing is relatively poor, leaving Beartic vulnerable to Stealth Rock, and many common attacking types. Beartic's Speed is nothing to write home about, either; sitting at a pitiful base 50 Speed, Beartic is hard pressed to sweep, and very prone to revenge killing. Beartic doesn't have a lot going for it, but if you'd like to rock the bearded yeti, you'll earn some serious cool points.</p>

[SET]
name: SubPunch
move 1: Substitute
move 2: Focus Punch
move 3: Icicle Crash
move 4: Night Slash
item: Leftovers
nature: Adamant
evs: 172 HP / 252 Atk / 84 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

<p>This is probably the only reason to run Beartic over other offensive Ice-types. The idea is to switch into a resisted attack, force a switch, set up a Substitute, and fire off powerful attacks. Focus Punch destroys common special walls, easily OHKOing Cryogonal and Munchlax with residual damage. Icicle Crash provides respectable coverage alongside Focus Punch, and the additional STAB boost makes it extremely powerful. Night Slash can net a 2HKO on Slowking and hits Uxie harder than Icicle Crash.</p>

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

<p>84 Speed EVs allow Beartic to outspeed Clefable and Weezing before they can status it, maximum Attack helps it deal as much damage as possible, and the remaining EVs are placed into HP for additional bulk. Avalanche is a decent alternative considering Beartic's low Speed, though it's inconsistency is rather offsetting. Bulldoze can be used to hit Qwilfish, but it's rather situational and a waste of a moveslot. Bulk Up can be used to boost its Attack and brazen up his Subs a bit, but Beartic is usually better off attacking. in most cases. Toxic is also viable to cripple Pokemon like Uxie and Slowking, but again, it's a waste of a moveslot.</p>

<p>Poliwrath is an excellent partner as it can switch into Beartic's weaknesses and threaten Fire- and Rock-types with its STAB. Sceptile is another great partner as it can break through bulky Water-types that get in Beartic's way. Claydol and Sandslash can switch into physical sweepers, set up Stealth Rock, and spin away entry hazards. Though not entirely frail, Beartic's defenses aren't anything special, so dual screens is always a nice boon for him, allowing him to keep his Subs up and switch in easier.</p>

[Other Options]

<p>A pure offensive set is viable, but as is Beartic is rather slow and it lacks priority, it's pretty difficult to pull off. Rest and Sleep Talk can be used alongside Bulk Up to form a mono-attacking set, but due to its Ice typing, it's fairly difficult to set up. Stone Edge can be used to hit Fire-types super effectively, but it doesn't provide any additional coverage outside of that. Taunt and Encore can be used to slow the opponent down, but Beartic is too slow to use them effectively. Finally, Beartic's special movepool isn't too shabby, but coming off a base 70 Special Attack, it won't be dealing tons of damage.</p>

[Checks and Counters]

<p>On a defensive front, the biggest Beartic counters are bulky Water-types, such as Qwilfish and Slowking, that resist Beartic's STAB as well as burning him via Scald or setting up hazards all over him. Physically defensive Pokemon such as Uxie and Cofagrigus can set up on it, but unfortunately they can't do a lot in return. Poliwrath can switch into Icicle Crash or Night Slash and threaten Beartic with its STAB Fighting moves, but it can't switch into Focus Punch without taking a serious amount of damage. Dusknoir and Spiritomb are immune to Focus Punch, take little damage from Icicle Crash, and have access to Will-O-Wisp to burn Beartic. Moltres can switch into any of Beartic's attacks bar Stone Edge and blast it with powerful Fire-type moves, but it must beware of Stealth Rock on the field. Klinklang can switch into Ice-type attacks and hit Beartic with Gear Grind, but it needs to watch out for Focus Punch. Crustle and Armaldo can take a hit and muscle their way through Beartic with Rock Blast, while Fighting-types can smash Beartic's beard with their brute force. Beartic isn't the most powerful Pokemon in the tier, and it isn't difficult to counter; just avoid Focus Punch and you'll have no problem taking it out.</p>

[Dream World]

<p>Swift Swim gives Beartic potential as a rain sweeper, but it's still slow even with doubled Speed. Regardless, it's more useful than Snow Cloak as there are no permanent hail-inducers in the tier.<p>


GP Approved (1/2)
 

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