KidX Ah sorry. I don't know if what I do will qualify as a standard smogon analysis. I meant more of just going back over everything and trying to distill new ground. These are some of my hunches, based on past thoughts and reexamining what I thought:
1) It may very well be that you simply need a way to megaevolve, though players with experience can talk about their experiences and if banette keeps getting dropped before you get to do anything, or what opportunities they are getting for evolution. Again, this slot seems like *required to do the job* but if players who are getting to actually play, rather than constantly breeding (Yours Truly) can confirm the ability to reliably evolve without priority, then this slot can be freed up.
--This means Protect/Shadow Sneak/Sucker Punch.
---Protect is most reliable, but offers no offensive presence
---sucker punch is the most powerful priority at banette's disposal, but does suffer from lower PP as well as further requiring prediction.
---Shadow sneak is the middle ground, not as strong as sucker punch, but able to be used as simple priority on a now fairly strong offensive typing from a mon with a strong attack stat to make use of it. Which of these that you use can help determine the role of your megabanette.
2) I feel like every banette set needs to run either Destiny Bond or Disable, to utilize mega banette's unique position.
-What these two moves have in common is their ability to force switches. This means that it may be helpful to look at banette through the lens of being a psudeo-hazer, or even a rather unusual pivot. Mega Banette, like Jirachi, has a decent range of potential, but 4mss means that you must decide what your team needs from mega Banette, and to stitch together your poppet accordingly.
-While Labyrinthine did discount Disable in their analysis as something to be done by other pokes, having singular access to priority disable in a world where many teams run at least one choice item can be useful.
--Choiced attackers, those without sufficient coverage, and one-attack mons do not like to be Disabled.
--Destiny Bond threatens a straight trade against all-out or choiced mons, and as for arguments that the opposing mon can simply set up instead, this can create opportunities depending on options.
-It is worth noting that the option that you choose here does dictate what other moves you need to bring your set together.
Continuing.
3) Before discussing banette's movepool and other such things, it's important to understand in what way we can use banette most effectively. Upon consideration, this simplification occurs to me:
-There are 2 major kinds of pokemon:
--Those that wish to stay on the field (sweepers, stalling mons, bulky offensive mons)
--and those that wish to switch as soon as they can, or who wish to switch frequently (hazard-layers, support/disablers, VoltTurn, and annoyances).
MegaBanette is outclassed as a sweeper by other options, and is not particularly bulky. Further, the only recovery move in it's arsenal is pain split (quick notes on pain split: does get priority, which is nice. not yet available to cart players, and should not currently be legal with phantom force). As such, Banette should not be considered as a pokemon that wants to stay out for a slugfest. That's not it's job, and attempting to do so will most likely lead to disappointing results for you, the trainer.
Where Banette has the potential to excel is in the ability to create space or momentum for your team. It's most notable moves, disable, destiny bond, taunt, and status effects, are all moves which ruin your opponent's plans, leading to switches.
My time is running out for now, so I will be more brief for the moment.
-Banette is a poke that looks to megaevolve early, and repeated jump into and out of battle, pranking opposing pokemon and either spooking them off the field so that you yourself can switch, or otherwise take control of the opponent's behavior and thereby manipulate them to your advantage.
-Disable with Priority is useful for being able to cripple and force out choice-mons. In particular, scarf'd and specs mons are vulnerable to banette, as neither of those items empowers the resulting Struggle. Scarfs are frequently worn as the sweepers/mons wearing them do not have priority, so banette completely removes that advantage. In addition, banette is given an extra opportunity to switch in on these mons, as it cannot be Tricked a scarf or specs due to mega stone rules, and creates another free opportunity to switch.
REQUEST INFO: Smogon states that Disable affects "the last move that successfully hit" Does this mean that it ignores the Fighting and Normal moves which do not hurt banette? If so, this can become even more effective for non-choice users with limited coverage.
-Disable users are highly recommended to have pain split or at least will-o-wisp as megaB will be hit by struggle.
-Destiny bond is very powerful, but does have extra requirements. Against Choice, it does force switch like disable or results in a trade.
However, You must know your opponent's mons a bit to use it effectively. Spamming D.Bond on a setup-sweeper is bad.
-D. Bond users want Taunt to stop all manner of set-ups, including enemy taunt.
-D. Bond users also require the ability to go after their opponent, as well as before them. An ordinary attack accomplishes this. Knock off provides a strong first hit and strong utility against non-megas. Shadow Claw is a strong stab, while Pursuit allows you to tag enemies on the switch out. Phantom Force sadly provides too much opportunity to the highly powerful and popular mega-kangaskan, and should not be used presently.
-Remember: switching after your D.Bond or Disable can frequently be a solid option, and may be your regular action depending on move-set and opponent comp. Since you can be fairly certain your opponent will switch, you yourself can predict their switch and use your own. Not as clean as VoltTurn, but still completely legitimate.
All for now. More to come at a later point.
