status: GP 2/2
most of this was written with gendered pronouns so that's what I'm using, whatever. please do grammar checks with explicit changes (show all the original text that you delete in red).
http://www.smogon.com/dp/pokemon/monferno
Monferno has no true "offensive" sets approved (and I am doubtful about the NP set's prospects). It seems a bit silly to talk about counters to offensive Monferno and to talk about Grass Knot and Close Combat and potential Hidden Power Rock if there is no set with those attacks. but at the same time, that seems like the most logical way to do this, since otherwise the last three sections will just repeat the set comments for the Lead set and that's just silly. so I wrote OC/TO/Counters as if Monferno had real sets, in case someone wants to use NP or SD or whatever.
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[Overview]
<p>At first glance, Monferno may appear to be outclassed by Blaziken due to his lower defenses and attacking stats. However, this NFE Pokemon has a few tricks up his sleeve that give him a niche in UU battles, such as access to Stealth Rock, Nasty Plot, and a unique base Speed of 81. The most important note to keep in mind is never to play Monferno like Blaziken—otherwise, you will just end up with an inferior Pokemon. However, if you make the most of Monferno's unique traits, he can be an effective sweeper or supporter.</p>
[SET]
name: Lead
move 1: Stealth Rock
move 2: Endeavor
move 3: Fire Blast
move 4: Taunt / Vacuum Wave
nature: Hasty
item: Focus Sash
IVs: 0 HP / 0 Def / 0 SpD
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>This set is designed to set up an early Stealth Rock while putting heavy offensive pressure on the opponent's lead as well. While suicide leads are generally less effective in UU than in OU due to the slower nature of the metagame, Monferno sets himself apart from traditional suicide leads through his access to Endeavor. Endeavor sets the opponent's HP equal to Monferno's, so he can use it to bring bulky Pokemon like Uxie and Milotic down to 1 HP before he is KOed. Fire Blast is a standard STAB attack that lets Monferno deal damage before his Focus Sash is broken, or even finish off Endeavored Pokemon who decide to use a support move instead of an attacking one. Finally, Taunt is the primary option in the last slot since it can prevent leads like Omastar from setting up any hazards. However, Vacuum Wave lets Monferno KO faster Focus Sash leads after they are hit by Endeavor.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>Monferno is not designed to survive past the first few turns of a battle, so not much traditional team support is needed. However, carrying a Pokemon who can easily switch into Ambipom is a good idea since lead Ambipom handily beats Monferno. Also, this lead fits best on offensive teams, since they can make the most of the early pressure made possible by Monferno's sacrifice.</p>
<p>Other than Ambipom, dangerous leads include Snover and Hippopotas. Since they automatically induce damaging weather, Monferno won't be able to successfully Endeavor against them. Snover is problematic than Hippopotas since he is 4x weak to Fire Blast and usually doesn't carry an attack effective against Monferno, but his hail will still prevent Monferno from using his Focus Sash against one of Snover's teammates. If using Shoddy Battle, Monferno's Focus Sash will not save him against multi-hit moves due to a glitch in how Focus Sash interacts with them. This means Cloyster, Rhyperior, and Armaldo with Rock Blast (the common multi-hit attack used competitively) may OHKO Monferno through his Focus Sash when they should not be able to. Finally, the most reliable method of dealing with Endeavor leads is to switch to a Ghost-type who can outspeed and KO Monferno before he can use another move. If you suspect your opponent might be planning to switch to a Pokemon like Spiritomb (with Shadow Sneak or Sucker Punch) or Rotom (who is naturally faster than Monferno), you can select Fire Blast instead of Endeavor, which stings quite a bit when Blaze is activated (it OHKOes offensive Rotom, for example).</p>
<p>To have the best chance of activating Monferno's Focus Sash, 0 IVs are used in HP, Defense, and Special Defense. Only 504 EVs are used since placing the remaining 4 EVs in one of Monferno's defenses or HP would be counterproductive, while giving them to Attack would be pointless. A Hasty nature is preferred over a Naïve nature since many of Monferno's resistances are commonly physical attacks, so lowering its Defense means a wider range of attacks will deal fatal damage.</p>
[Team Options]
<p>Good teammates for the Lead set are not really teammates in the traditional sense, as they should be Pokemon who derive utility from Monferno's sacrifice rather than ones who can back up Monferno. However, if you choose to run a sweeper Monferno, there are some good partners to keep in mind.</p>
<p>Defensive Fire- and Water-type Pokemon are usually the largest threats to a Monferno sweep, depending on your specific set. Using lures such as Passho Berry Houndoom, Passho Berry/Occa Berry Explosion Steelix, or Curse + Explosion Registeel can eliminate these problem Pokemon. The best way to combat Fire- and Water- type Pokemon is a Fire/Water/Grass core of your own. Venusaur, Sceptile, and Leafeon are good offensive Grass-type Pokemon to use against bulky Waters. To an extent, Leafeon can lure defensive Fire-type Pokemon and take them out with a Swords Dance-boosted Double-Edge. An Azumarill or Kabutops of your own can be very helpful to combat opposing Fire-types as well.</p>
<p>As a sweeper, Monferno naturally loves Stealth Rock to help him get KOs against defensive Pokemon. If you also use a spinblocker, Stealth Rock can be an important component of your contingency plan against opposing Fire-types. Spikes support is also great for weakening opposing walls, but Toxic Spikes won't do anything particularly effective for Monferno—if the opposing Pokemon is out on the field long enough to feel the effects of Toxic Spikes, chances are he has already KOed the frail Monferno.</p>
[Optional Changes]
<p>Since Monferno's bulk is essentially nonexistent, its sets should place all EVs in Attack, Special Attack, or Speed. Max Speed is usually the best choice to outpace the abundant base 80s, such as Blaziken, Venusaur, and Kabutops. If going mixed, a Special Defense-decreasing nature rather than a Defense-decreasing nature is usually a better idea, since the majority of priority attacks are physical.</p>
<p>Monferno has access to both Swords Dance and Nasty Plot, but both of those sets are hard to pull off due to Monferno's frailty and relatively low power when compared to similar UU sweepers. Blaziken is usually a more effective user of Swords Dance due to its much higher Attack stat, but Blaziken doesn't have access to Nasty Plot. Nasty Plot Monferno is a rather nasty stall killer, as a +2 Life Orb Grass Knot has a good chance to OHKO Milotic after Stealth Rock damage, and many other common stall Pokemon will fall to either Fire Blast or Close Combat. However, Monferno faces stiff competition from fellow Nasty Plotting Fire-types Houndoom and Ninetales.</p>
<p>Much like its big brother, Infernape, Monferno can try to run a mixed set that takes advantage of Close Combat to OHKO Chansey. Unlike Infernape, Monferno is often too weak to KO even Pokemon who are weak to its attacks. Monferno has access to both Vacuum Wave and Mach Punch, but it is usually hard to fit these attacks on a sweeping set.</p>
[Counters]
<p>Defensive Arcanine is usually the best Monferno counter; he has Intimidate to buffer Close Combat, a resistance to both Fire Blast and Grass Knot, and Morning Sun to abuse Life Orb recoil against mixed Monferno. Monferno is so frail that ExtremeSpeed or Flare Blitz will usually KO him after one round of Life Orb recoil and Stealth Rock. As long as Moltres can avoid switching into Hidden Power Rock, it can outpace Monferno and OHKO with a STAB Air Slash.</p>
<p>Milotic is a good counter for most physical and mixed Monferno. She should beware of Nasty Plot versions, though, as they deal 84.5% - 99.7% with boosted Grass Knot. Slowking is a more reliable counter than Milotic due to his higher special bulk and Fighting-type resistance. Slowbro is also a good counter to Monferno, somewhat ironically—while special Blaziken has no problems smashing through Slowbro but cannot break Milotic, special Monferno usually has no problems with Milotic but cannot beat full health Slowbro. This is because Blaziken must resort to the 70 Base Power Hidden Power against Milotic, while Monferno is able to use the 100 Base Power Grass Knot. Against Slowbro, however, Grass Knot only has 80 Base Power, so Monferno's lower Special Attack comes back to bite him.</p>
most of this was written with gendered pronouns so that's what I'm using, whatever. please do grammar checks with explicit changes (show all the original text that you delete in red).
http://www.smogon.com/dp/pokemon/monferno
Monferno has no true "offensive" sets approved (and I am doubtful about the NP set's prospects). It seems a bit silly to talk about counters to offensive Monferno and to talk about Grass Knot and Close Combat and potential Hidden Power Rock if there is no set with those attacks. but at the same time, that seems like the most logical way to do this, since otherwise the last three sections will just repeat the set comments for the Lead set and that's just silly. so I wrote OC/TO/Counters as if Monferno had real sets, in case someone wants to use NP or SD or whatever.
---
[Overview]
<p>At first glance, Monferno may appear to be outclassed by Blaziken due to his lower defenses and attacking stats. However, this NFE Pokemon has a few tricks up his sleeve that give him a niche in UU battles, such as access to Stealth Rock, Nasty Plot, and a unique base Speed of 81. The most important note to keep in mind is never to play Monferno like Blaziken—otherwise, you will just end up with an inferior Pokemon. However, if you make the most of Monferno's unique traits, he can be an effective sweeper or supporter.</p>
[SET]
name: Lead
move 1: Stealth Rock
move 2: Endeavor
move 3: Fire Blast
move 4: Taunt / Vacuum Wave
nature: Hasty
item: Focus Sash
IVs: 0 HP / 0 Def / 0 SpD
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>This set is designed to set up an early Stealth Rock while putting heavy offensive pressure on the opponent's lead as well. While suicide leads are generally less effective in UU than in OU due to the slower nature of the metagame, Monferno sets himself apart from traditional suicide leads through his access to Endeavor. Endeavor sets the opponent's HP equal to Monferno's, so he can use it to bring bulky Pokemon like Uxie and Milotic down to 1 HP before he is KOed. Fire Blast is a standard STAB attack that lets Monferno deal damage before his Focus Sash is broken, or even finish off Endeavored Pokemon who decide to use a support move instead of an attacking one. Finally, Taunt is the primary option in the last slot since it can prevent leads like Omastar from setting up any hazards. However, Vacuum Wave lets Monferno KO faster Focus Sash leads after they are hit by Endeavor.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>Monferno is not designed to survive past the first few turns of a battle, so not much traditional team support is needed. However, carrying a Pokemon who can easily switch into Ambipom is a good idea since lead Ambipom handily beats Monferno. Also, this lead fits best on offensive teams, since they can make the most of the early pressure made possible by Monferno's sacrifice.</p>
<p>Other than Ambipom, dangerous leads include Snover and Hippopotas. Since they automatically induce damaging weather, Monferno won't be able to successfully Endeavor against them. Snover is problematic than Hippopotas since he is 4x weak to Fire Blast and usually doesn't carry an attack effective against Monferno, but his hail will still prevent Monferno from using his Focus Sash against one of Snover's teammates. If using Shoddy Battle, Monferno's Focus Sash will not save him against multi-hit moves due to a glitch in how Focus Sash interacts with them. This means Cloyster, Rhyperior, and Armaldo with Rock Blast (the common multi-hit attack used competitively) may OHKO Monferno through his Focus Sash when they should not be able to. Finally, the most reliable method of dealing with Endeavor leads is to switch to a Ghost-type who can outspeed and KO Monferno before he can use another move. If you suspect your opponent might be planning to switch to a Pokemon like Spiritomb (with Shadow Sneak or Sucker Punch) or Rotom (who is naturally faster than Monferno), you can select Fire Blast instead of Endeavor, which stings quite a bit when Blaze is activated (it OHKOes offensive Rotom, for example).</p>
<p>To have the best chance of activating Monferno's Focus Sash, 0 IVs are used in HP, Defense, and Special Defense. Only 504 EVs are used since placing the remaining 4 EVs in one of Monferno's defenses or HP would be counterproductive, while giving them to Attack would be pointless. A Hasty nature is preferred over a Naïve nature since many of Monferno's resistances are commonly physical attacks, so lowering its Defense means a wider range of attacks will deal fatal damage.</p>
[Team Options]
<p>Good teammates for the Lead set are not really teammates in the traditional sense, as they should be Pokemon who derive utility from Monferno's sacrifice rather than ones who can back up Monferno. However, if you choose to run a sweeper Monferno, there are some good partners to keep in mind.</p>
<p>Defensive Fire- and Water-type Pokemon are usually the largest threats to a Monferno sweep, depending on your specific set. Using lures such as Passho Berry Houndoom, Passho Berry/Occa Berry Explosion Steelix, or Curse + Explosion Registeel can eliminate these problem Pokemon. The best way to combat Fire- and Water- type Pokemon is a Fire/Water/Grass core of your own. Venusaur, Sceptile, and Leafeon are good offensive Grass-type Pokemon to use against bulky Waters. To an extent, Leafeon can lure defensive Fire-type Pokemon and take them out with a Swords Dance-boosted Double-Edge. An Azumarill or Kabutops of your own can be very helpful to combat opposing Fire-types as well.</p>
<p>As a sweeper, Monferno naturally loves Stealth Rock to help him get KOs against defensive Pokemon. If you also use a spinblocker, Stealth Rock can be an important component of your contingency plan against opposing Fire-types. Spikes support is also great for weakening opposing walls, but Toxic Spikes won't do anything particularly effective for Monferno—if the opposing Pokemon is out on the field long enough to feel the effects of Toxic Spikes, chances are he has already KOed the frail Monferno.</p>
[Optional Changes]
<p>Since Monferno's bulk is essentially nonexistent, its sets should place all EVs in Attack, Special Attack, or Speed. Max Speed is usually the best choice to outpace the abundant base 80s, such as Blaziken, Venusaur, and Kabutops. If going mixed, a Special Defense-decreasing nature rather than a Defense-decreasing nature is usually a better idea, since the majority of priority attacks are physical.</p>
<p>Monferno has access to both Swords Dance and Nasty Plot, but both of those sets are hard to pull off due to Monferno's frailty and relatively low power when compared to similar UU sweepers. Blaziken is usually a more effective user of Swords Dance due to its much higher Attack stat, but Blaziken doesn't have access to Nasty Plot. Nasty Plot Monferno is a rather nasty stall killer, as a +2 Life Orb Grass Knot has a good chance to OHKO Milotic after Stealth Rock damage, and many other common stall Pokemon will fall to either Fire Blast or Close Combat. However, Monferno faces stiff competition from fellow Nasty Plotting Fire-types Houndoom and Ninetales.</p>
<p>Much like its big brother, Infernape, Monferno can try to run a mixed set that takes advantage of Close Combat to OHKO Chansey. Unlike Infernape, Monferno is often too weak to KO even Pokemon who are weak to its attacks. Monferno has access to both Vacuum Wave and Mach Punch, but it is usually hard to fit these attacks on a sweeping set.</p>
[Counters]
<p>Defensive Arcanine is usually the best Monferno counter; he has Intimidate to buffer Close Combat, a resistance to both Fire Blast and Grass Knot, and Morning Sun to abuse Life Orb recoil against mixed Monferno. Monferno is so frail that ExtremeSpeed or Flare Blitz will usually KO him after one round of Life Orb recoil and Stealth Rock. As long as Moltres can avoid switching into Hidden Power Rock, it can outpace Monferno and OHKO with a STAB Air Slash.</p>
<p>Milotic is a good counter for most physical and mixed Monferno. She should beware of Nasty Plot versions, though, as they deal 84.5% - 99.7% with boosted Grass Knot. Slowking is a more reliable counter than Milotic due to his higher special bulk and Fighting-type resistance. Slowbro is also a good counter to Monferno, somewhat ironically—while special Blaziken has no problems smashing through Slowbro but cannot break Milotic, special Monferno usually has no problems with Milotic but cannot beat full health Slowbro. This is because Blaziken must resort to the 70 Base Power Hidden Power against Milotic, while Monferno is able to use the 100 Base Power Grass Knot. Against Slowbro, however, Grass Knot only has 80 Base Power, so Monferno's lower Special Attack comes back to bite him.</p>
