Pokémon Furfrou

[skies]

^The Swag Crew^

Name: Furfrou
Type: Normal
Ability: Fur Coat (Halves damage from Physical moves.)
Base Stats: 75 / 80 / 60 / 65 / 90 / 100-102

Notable Moves (STAB Moves in Italics) :
Baby-Doll Eyes
Cotton Guard
Sucker Punch
Roar
Toxic
Return
Thunder Wave
Sleep Talk
U-Turn
Wild Charge

General Analysis:
Right away, you might be thinking: "Why the hell would anybody use this garbage?!" Don't let its subpar stats and Poodle-like appearance differ you from using this little doggy. It's ability, Fur Coat, makes it an ideal Physical Wall. It can be boosted even further if it opts to run Baby-Doll Eyes or Cotton Guard, giving it's opponent even more trouble on the Physical side. Furfrou's typing is great, with only having one weakness. It can also use an attacking set if it decides to run Assault Vest as well! It gets a plethora of Status moves, while also being able to phase set-up sweepers. U-Turn is great for a slow - but steady - switch in. While it might not see too much usage, it can stall wall many physical attackers lacking an appropriate move.

Potential Moveset:

fuk u physical atackers
Item: Leftovers
Ability: Fur Coat
Nature: Impish
EV's: 252 Defense, 252 HP, 4 Special Defense
Moves: Cotton Guard | U-Turn | Thunder Wave or Toxic or Roar | Return

This set really just gives the middle finger to all Physical attackers. If you lack a Special Attacker and it manages to set up Cotton Guard, it is pretty much gg. U-Turn might seem odd with a boosting set, but it works quite well to escape many threats it cannot beat, while keeping up momentum. The third moveslot is really up to your team's needs. If it has some slower Pokemon that enjoy Paralysis spread - go for Thunder Wave, if your team wants a stally Physical Wall - go for Toxic, and if your team has problems with Set-Up Sweepers - go for Roar. Return is a mandatory STAB move to hit decently on anything that trys to Taunt it. Furfrou + Aegislash + Blissey create a very powerful core, with Blissey + Furfrou handling both sides of the attacking spectrum, Aegislash can take out the Fighting-types that trouble this core, while also Spin-Blocking any hazards you set up.

My Personal Opinion:

Furfrou is probably gonna go overlooked :/ I like it, I see every Pokemon has potential, but Furfrou just has that little extra umph. I can see it being a nice RU Wall, but I don't imagine it getting higher than that sadly.​

 

[Lazybeef]

That ability makes Intimidate look bad. Are you sure it halves damage from ALL physical moves and not just contact moves? In case of the former this guy could actually be somewhat viable. I disagree that it's typing is great, however. Normal doesn't offer any resistances (ghost immunity is nice though) and a fighting weakness is never good for a dedicated physical wall.

 

[skies]

That ability makes Intimidate look bad. Are you sure it halves damage from ALL physical moves and not just contact moves? In case of the former this guy could actually be somewhat viable. I disagree that it's typing is great, however. Normal doesn't offer any resistances (ghost immunity is nice though) and a fighting weakness is never good for a dedicated physical wall.

This is true, and it is too all Physical attacks, and Normal is actually a very nice typing. Just one weakness which can be easily handled by Aegislash or any other Ghost, and while it has no resistances it does get an immunity. I think it is a nice typing, but that is probably just me :?

 

[Pata Hikari]

The ability description specifically says that it halves physical moves.

Physical Fighting types can be handled with Baby Doll Eyes, having their attack dropped and their damage halved isn't going to be doing much. The main problem with Furfrou is that it lacks and sort of recovery outside of Rest. If it just learned Recover or Slack off or heck maybe even Moonlight or Morning Sun it would shift from a decent wall to a great one.

 

[DTC]

Cotton Guard is a pretty bad move. I definitely would not use it on Furfrou.

"If you lack a Special Attacker and it manages to set up Cotton Guard, it is pretty much gg."

Lets say you SOMEHOW removed every single special attacker on the other team. Furfrou would still be vulnerable to status, phazing, Fighting-types, other Pokemon setting up on it, and because it'd take so long for it to kill anything with 0 Attack EV's, and it does not have any recovery, you could even just keep pounding it with physical attacks until it dies. There's a reason you never see defense boosting moves in any standard tier.

Furfrou's viability depends on whether it gets Slack Off or some other recovery move. Return / U-turn / Slack Off / Thunder Wave would be the best set if it gets Slack Off, imo. I cannot see it being very useful if it lacks recovery because even though it has very good Defense, its defensive typing has no resistances besides Ghost, and it would be pretty easy to wear down throughout the match.

 

[Thorhammer]

In "negating" its fighting weakness, it just means it takes those hits as any neutral base 75/60 would. That is not a good place to be.

 

[Thorhammer]

We were including the fact that it had a Focus Sash. Sorry. :)

Focus Sash is not an item you use on a Pokemon with defenses as a selling point. It's an item you use on a Pokemon with no defenses, when it's only expected to only live a couple turns and only needs that turn to perform some key function, and in a scenario where it'll actually hold onto that sash rather than losing it to hazards or weather. In that scenario, you actually expect it to lose all its HP in one hit and activate the Sash, rather than using its defenses to avoid taking much damage from most threats.

Furfrou should never even consider using Focus Sash.

 

[MapleSandwich]

252 SpA Life Orb Gengar Focus Blast vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Furfrou: 372-439 (105.08 - 124.01%) -- guaranteed OHKO

not exactly a good place to be for a supposed "wall" with no recovery, phazing, or hazards that can respond with all the force of a Blissey...

Let's say Garchomp wants to set up and sweep you, and you come in on the Swords Dance.

252 Atk Garchomp Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Furfrou: 160-190 (45.19 - 53.67%) -- 96.09% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock

The +0 is to simulate the effect of Fur Coat, since I (think) halving the effects of your attack will halve the damage of your attack, effectively canceling the Swords Dance. So on top of the rocks damage, you've lost half your health in attempting to (assumably) phaze, since you certainly aren't going to be able to do a damn thing to Garchomp with 0 attack base 80 return. And then the next time Chomp comes in, you respond with...dying miserably. I can't see why you would want to use this to check any physical sweepers at all, let alone fighting types. Your set also seems to disregard the fact that crits exist--no matter how many cotton guards you have set up, a complete lack of recovery means that one crit spells death, +6 or not. I can see it getting some use in the lower tiers maybe..

-2 252+ Atk Choice Band Entei Flare Blitz vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Furfrou: 145-172 (40.96 - 48.58%) -- 16.8% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock

Woops, guess not.

 

[Siggu]

You could have simulated Reflect in order to consider Fur Coat because it's the exact same effect. Halving Attack is not the same as halving damage

252 Atk Choice Band Garchomp Outrage vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Furfrou through Reflect: 144-170 (40.67 - 48.02%) -- 63.67% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock
+2 252 Atk Garchomp Outrage vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Furfrou through Reflect: 192-227 (54.23 - 64.12%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
252+ Atk Choice Band Entei Flare Blitz vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Furfrou through Reflect: 145-171 (40.96 - 48.3%) -- 71.09% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock

 

[Delibird is Amazing]

Compared to other 'completely irrelevant pokémon of its generation', Furfrou is a lot better. It lacks instant recovery, but takes physical hits much better than one would expect, but still not near Tangrowth-like levels

+2 252+ Atk Life Orb Arceus-Normal ExtremeSpeed vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Tangrowth: 218-257 (53.96 - 63.61%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+2 252+ Atk Life Orb Arceus-Normal ExtremeSpeed vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Furfrou through Reflect: 174-205 (49.15 - 57.9%) -- 55.08% chance to 2HKO
nope

+2 extreme killer arceus used because why the hell not

 

[Typhlito]

ehh i dont think so. Think its will end up being a decent wall in nu and (at best) maybe ru but thats it. It has a cool ability but really thats all it has. It doesnt have enough fire power to hit threats its trying to wall back with nor does it have recovery besides rest to keep itself healthy to be able to toxic stall. Its also kind of lacking in the speed department as well. All that just makes it not very good.

 

[kd24]

Ok so I've deleted the posts about breeding, let's focus on the competitive discussion aspect. The ability is nice and being a normal isn't terrible but can we do anything to make up for the lack of recovery? We should try to consider the sets to use that make up for that (hell we really haven't decided on the best set yet at all). Are we just accepting this Pokemon doesn't have any redeeming qualities that make it worth it? If you disagree with that notion, prove it! We've seen some impressive calcs but what can it actually do in the metagame? Anything?

 

[Franklyna]

The biggest hurdle Furfrou faces is its limited movelist with its inability to Taunt, Setup Baton Pass, entry hazards, screen, or reliably heal.
Also, is the stats on the OP correct? Serebii is showing 102 Speed, which is a significance difference in Speed tier; possibly allowing it to run sets which are more susceptible to Taunt.

I was wondering why my low level Furfrou in-game was managing to outspeed 'mon 10 levels above it.

Anyways, I'm a real beginner to battling, but I could see Furfrou having a niche as a fast phaser on hazard stacking teams in the lower tiers. The combination of physical bulk, good speed, Baby Doll Eyes, Thunder Wave, Roar, and U-Turn for momentum can help as a pivot. However, the viability of hazard stacking in gen 5 remains to be seen with the buff to Defog.

From my experiences using this poodle in a couple of mock NU matches with friends, he's real great at forcing physical attackers (and possibly even special attackers if he carries Confide) to switch once hazards are planted.

 

[Celever]

I was wondering why my low level Furfrou in-game was managing to outspeed 'mon 10 levels above it.

Anyways, I'm a real beginner to battling, but I could see Furfrou having a niche as a fast phaser on hazard stacking teams in the lower tiers. The combination of physical bulk, good speed, Baby Doll Eyes, Thunder Wave, Roar, and U-Turn for momentum can help as a pivot. However, the viability of hazard stacking in gen 5 remains to be seen with the buff to Defog.

From my experiences using this poodle in a couple of mock NU matches with friends, he's real great at forcing physical attackers (and possibly even special attackers if he carries Confide) to switch once hazards are planted.

Your post kinda seemed to be centred around fast phazing however phazing has negative priority, meaning that most of the time Furfrou will be outsped anyway.

 

[kd24]

Re: Assault Vest - decent idea but it can't use Rest with it, so you'd have to think of an all physical set

Re: Research questions - this thread is for competitive discussion only, #xyresearch on IRC or posing it in the correct research thread could help answer that (I haven't tested trimming my Furfrou xD)

Re: Speed - It is definitely between 100-102 (TIBOT lists 100, our research thread lists 100-102, and Serebii lists 102). I'll try to confirm which is correct but I'll edit the OP to reflect this change

The biggest hurdle Furfrou faces is its limited movelist with its inability to Taunt, Setup Baton Pass, entry hazards, screen, or reliably heal.
Also, is the stats on the OP correct? Serebii is showing 102 Speed, which is a significance difference in Speed tier; possibly allowing it to run sets which are more susceptible to Taunt.

Yes but is there any way to get past those hurdles? Listing it's downfalls is something we can all do on the top of our heads, but the posts should be based on the consequences of those downfalls: Is this Pokemon useless because of it (and why) or is there anything we can do to make up for its shortcomings (and why)?

 

[ChaoticHeavens]

Seeing how this is one of the easier things to confirm, I can definitively say that the different cuts do nothing to stats. However, it does make it look FABULOUS! Also, putting Furfrou back into the box reverts it to the natural cut.

Franklyna : Why use Baby Doll Eyes over Charm? If they have SD or DD, you are forced to use Roar. Besides for a few niche situations, wouldn't Charm be the superior choice?

 

[JCM.]

Baby Doll Eyes has priority.

 

[MisterBobobo]

Even if the design is too gay, the trait is amazing. Furfrou could be a good Defensive Pivot in the Neverused tier, also a good check to Scolipede and Tyrantrum.

 

[El Coqui]

All i see from this pokemon is an ability that could be better use by Stoutland. Ive used Stout with Intimidate as an NU and it works great! If it were to steal Furfrou's unique ability then Stoutland could go back up to UU.

 

[JayHankEdLyon]

Even if the design is too gay, the trait is amazing. Furfrou could be a good Defensive Pivot in the Neverused tier, also a good check to Scolipede and Tyrantrum.

Homophobia doesn't suit this place, champ in the making.

Note: "this place" may be taken to mean this forum, this site, or this century, which to be fair is a time, not a place, but seriously.

 

[BumblebeeCody]

Yeah this Pokemon is easily NU. I've been using this Pokemon for a while now to see how it fairs out, it can defend against Sword Dance Aeigstupid but do nothing in return. Can't poison it or do much damage. Unaffected by Return since it's normal and U-turn is a huge problem since it does no damage and forces out another Pokemon. Fair enough you can hold Rocky Helmet and have Aegistupid kill itself....which has still yet to happen because my friends Aegistupid holds Leftovers. So if you paralyse it then it won't attack you buy keep gaining health. This Pokemons movepool is terrible. Wasted potential.
Furfrou is good on paper...and then in the bin.

 

[NotSoClutch]

Honestly, this is a great pokemon to use with a serene grace user in lower tiers. The only problem is that dunsparce is the only lower tier user i can think of and it has little to no defensive synergy with furfrou. Basically, I was thinking that I could run thunder wave and u-turn on furfrou and use serene grace flinch hax using assault vest dunsparce. When a special attacking threat comes in, paralyze it with t-wave and u-turn out into assault vest dunsparce. It doesnt really work all that well in upper tn upper tiers, but furfrou and assault vest rachi seem to work well together. There are better options for pokemon though.

 

[Impy]

I want to believe in Furfrou. If it had better attacking stats and a better movepool, it could have been real interesting. I guess we'll have to wait for another pokemon with Fur Coat to see the real potential of its ability.

 

[Aubade]

A toxic stall set is workable. After one cotton guard its virtually immune to physical attacks. Shame Snarl is its only answer to special attackers.

 

[zferolie]

I want to get a shiny of this, and name it after my old Standard Poddle Enzo. I think this guy has a lot of potential as a Physical wall. The Lack of recovery... so what? I have seen other pokemon function just fine without recoveries. And if you really want one, use Chesto Rest. after 1-2 cotton guards it will be untouchable, and then you just rest up. I'm thinking...

Item: Chesto Berry
Cotton Guard
Return
Sucker Punch/Snarl
Rest

Return and Sucker Punch gives you pretty good coverage against most types in the game, except the prankster ghosts. I was thinking Snarl may be a decent option over Sucker punch, making him an even better Tank, but that is all you would be getting out of the move... If you run Sucker punch, got with a Impish nature. If you run snarl, go with a balanced nature since you will be using every stat