Masquerain

[PokéMontage]

The reason Nidoking makes such a good recipient is because of the incredible coverage it has compared to other potential recipients. Very few things can boast such power and coverage together. Another plus is that status can't really hinder its sweep either since it's immune to Toxic and Thunder Wave and doesn't care about Burn all that much. Oh, and one last thing... recoil-less Life Orb boost.

Anyway, if you're going to choose Masquerain, abuse Hydro Pump. Then pick either Ice Beam, Air Slash, or Bug Buzz as your second attack. That's all there is to say really.

 

[elchupo]

The reason Nidoking makes such a good recipient is because of the incredible coverage it has compared to other potential recipients. Very few things can boast such power and coverage together. Another plus is that status can't really hinder its sweep either since it's immune to Toxic and Thunder Wave and doesn't care about Burn all that much. Oh, and one last thing... recoil-less Life Orb boost.

Anyway, if you're going to choose Masquerain, abuse Hydro Pump. Then pick either Ice Beam, Air Slash, or Bug Buzz as your second attack. That's all there is to say really.

I know, he is an excellent Baton Pass receiver, but I was only making the point that in the traditional sense, Venomoth isn't outclassed by Nidoking at sweeping, since Nidoking isn't technically a "sweeper" (for the reasons I mentioned).

Anyway, I second the abusing Hydro Pump motion. Especially in Rain. As someone mentioned, Rain actually covers some of Masquerain's weaknesses (Fire) and most Rain teams have a dedicated Electric absorber (Zapdos most commonly), as well as having several Water Pokemon that resist Ice, leaving Masquerain with only two exploitable weaknesses. That should surely give Masquerain an easier time of setting up a few Quiver Dances, after which Rain boosted Hydro Pump should hurt, a lot.

What are the merits of choosing Ice Beam over STAB Air Slash? Bug+ Water+ Flying gets better coverage than Bug+Water+Ice, and doesn't really hit anything for SE damage that Air Slash won't.

 

[No Luck Involved]

I don't think Masquerain should really be thought of as a Quiver Dancing Sweeper because Venomoth can do anything it can do but better. However Masquerain can be a useful team player with Intimidate to support the team and decent special bulk with access to Roost and Intimidate to buff up its Defence. Passing Quiver Dances is a bonus and access to Air Slash is useful especially in RU. 4x SR weakness really hurts though so Masquerain kinda struggles in both roles. It will probably prefer NU as its home where it can shine out of the shadow of Venomoth.

 

[PokéMontage]

I know, he is an excellent Baton Pass receiver, but I was only making the point that in the traditional sense, Venomoth isn't outclassed by Nidoking at sweeping, since Nidoking isn't technically a "sweeper" (for the reasons I mentioned).

The point is that if you had to choose between letting Venomoth sweep with its own boosts or having it pass those boosts to Nidoking, it's probably better to give them to Nidoking. That's not to say that Venomoth can't do some sweeping of its own; it's just that Nidoking is better at it. It's MUCH more powerful and hits many more things super effectively.

What are the merits of choosing Ice Beam over STAB Air Slash? Bug+ Water+ Flying gets better coverage than Bug+Water+Ice, and doesn't really hit anything for SE damage that Air Slash won't.

I dunno, maybe you're scared to death of Altaria.

I'm not sure if I would use 3 attacks over Baton Pass anyway. I'd prefer being able to get out of a potentially bad situation (which will be common considering you're using Masquerain) while not having my boosts go to waste.

 

[Farewell]

Masquerain needs -

Bug Buzz / Ice Beam, Hydro Pump, Baton Pass, Quiver Dance

as its move set to

have any use in RU.

 

[KillerFrancium]

Masquerain @ Choice Scarf
252 Sp.Atk, 252 Speed, 4 HP
Big Buzz
Ice Beam
Shadow Ball
Hydro Pump

Gets good coverage, hits hard, it sweeps entire teams.

 

[King John]

I'm actually sad that Masquerain doesn't have the power for OU, since I like it. It has a good amount of options, and it just can't use them because it's either outclassed in the role or it just doesn't have the stats to use them. If you all remember though, Venomoth was kind of in the same boat before it got Quiver Dance, so let's hope that Masquerain gets something good in the near future.

 

[Hamme Van]

Masquerain @ Choice Scarf
252 Sp.Atk, 252 Speed, 4 HP
Big Buzz
Ice Beam
Shadow Ball
Hydro Pump

Gets good coverage, hits hard, it sweeps entire teams.

Could you please submit some calcs or logs to back up your previous statement? Saying that something sweeps entire teams is a pretty big stretch on its own, and you just applied that to a Masquerain. It's not that I don't doubt you , I would just like to see some proof.

 

[Marche Radiuju]

That's the joke. It doesn't sweep any teams that don't have crippling 4x weaknesses everywhere, because it's a 4x SR weak bug with disgusting defenses that's never been better than any other Bug/Flying type.

Sure Masquerain can be good in some circumstances, but where is it better to have Intimidate and Hydro Pump instead of only 2x weak to SR and better stats/movepool/ability all around? Venomoth is everything Masquerain wants to be. That's all.

 

[Matticus Maximus]

Hydro Pump and Intimidate are Masquerain's unique points. *yawns* Whoop de doo. I would say that it has potential in the rain, with the basic removal of a Fire weakness and a boost for Hydro Pump, but there still is the glaring Electric weakness. And with Thunder's accuracy boost in rain, Masquerain won't live long to do much. All he can really do is be a Quiver Passer or a lackluster sweeper in NU. Unless he gets something fantastic in the next games, it seems we have another mediocre omnipresent Bug/Flying Pokemon.