Other Creative / Underrated Sets Thread (Read the thread, NO SHITTY GIMMICKS)

[Rotosect]

I wanted to post this set in the Avalugg thread but apparently mentioning "Avalugg" and "Assault Vest" in the same sentence is forbidden there.

Avalugg @ Assault Vest
Sturdy
252 HP/ 252 SpDef/ 4 Def
Careful nature
-Avalanche
-Earthquake
-Crunch/Rapid Spin
-Mirror Coat/Rapid Spin

The point of this set is to bait and eliminate common Avalugg checks, in other words special attackers.
These cals should speak for themselves...

4 SpA Heatran Lava Plume vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Assault Vest Avalugg: 164-194 (41.6 - 49.2%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

252 SpA Gengar Focus Blast vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Assault Vest Avalugg: 196-232 (49.7 - 58.8%) -- 99.6% chance to 2HKO

252 SpA Life Orb Greninja Hydro Pump vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Assault Vest Avalugg: 149-177 (37.8 - 44.9%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

4 SpA Rotom-H Overheat vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Assault Vest Avalugg: 218-260 (55.3 - 65.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252 SpA Rotom-H Overheat vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Assault Vest Avalugg: 276-326 (70 - 82.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

4 SpA Rotom-W Hydro Pump vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Assault Vest Avalugg: 93-111 (23.6 - 28.1%) -- 89.4% chance to 4HKO

252 SpA Mega Manectric Flamethrower vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Assault Vest Avalugg: 152-180 (38.5 - 45.6%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

+1 252 SpA Genesect Flamethrower vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Assault Vest Avalugg: 208-246 (52.7 - 62.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252 SpA Life Orb Hydreigon Focus Blast vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Assault Vest Avalugg: 250-294 (63.4 - 74.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

As you can see Avalugg is capable of surviving powerful special attacks and hit back with its physical attacks or Mirror Coat for a clean OHKO.
Of course this set needs quite a bit of support, namely hazards removal if you're not running Rapid Spin, Heal Bell/Aromatherapy and Wish.
The latter two can be provided by specially bulky clerics such as Florges and Chansey, while for the former, assuming you're not running RS on Avalugg, you can pair it with Starmie or Tentacruel, who cover most of its weaknesses.

 

[BlaBlaBloid]

^
This is a great set, and it's great because avalugg has the same SDEF stat as conkeldurr, and we know AV conk works. Also, it can utilize avalugg's massive attack.

 

[aVocado]

Avalugg needs Recover. Assault Vest removes Recover. :/

AV Conk is good because of it's immediate power, ability to cripple lots of Pokemon thanks to Knock Off, and the fact that it's a great non-sleep status absorber thanks to Guts. All that paired with somewhat reliable recovery in Drain Punch. Avalugg has none of those, it's just.. there. And it can be worn down by repeated special hits. The only way it can threaten special attackers is with Mirror Coat, and it's easily stalled out by burn or toxic, unlike Conkeldurr. They're not even comparable.

 

[Rotosect]

Avalugg needs Recover. Assault Vest removes Recover. :/

AV Conk is good because of it's immediate power, ability to cripple lots of Pokemon thanks to Knock Off, and the fact that it's a great non-sleep status absorber thanks to Guts. All that paired with somewhat reliable recovery in Drain Punch. Avalugg has none of those, it's just.. there. And it can be worn down by repeated special hits. The only way it can threaten special attackers is with Mirror Coat, and it's easily stalled out by burn or toxic, unlike Conkeldurr. They're not even comparable.

Not true. Mirror Coat is there just for Rotom-W but the other common special attackers have low defense and Avalugg has impressive coverage with Avalanche, EQ and Crunch.
As I said the whole point of that set is to bait special attackers so it plays vastly different form standard Avalugg sets.
Being able to bait and defeat specially defensive Heatran one-on-one is pretty damn impressive if you ask me and I'm sure many teams appreciate its removal.
Conk is beaten by bulky physical attackers like Skarmory and Landorus-T and isn't baiting special attackers anytime soon, unlike Avalugg, so they shouldn't be compared. If you look at that list, how many of those special attackers are actually switching into Conk?
As for the loss of Recover and vulnerability to status, I mentioned that it should be paired with a Cleric to offset those.

 

[aVocado]

Hmm, I'm kind of interested now, never really thought of it working as a lure, can you provide some convincing calcs on what it can do rather than what it can tank?

Also, Conkeldurr beats non-BB Skarmory 1on1 most of the time, as it can wear it down with Drain Punch, forcing it to use Roost and causing Drain Punch to do double the damage thanks to losing flying type, etc. And it definitely beats Landorus-T with Ice Punch.

 

[AOPSUser]

Hmm, I'm kind of interested now, never really thought of it working as a lure, can you provide some convincing calcs on what it can do rather than what it can tank?

He did post calcs. The problem, however, is that it's only good for that one use, since afterwards it won't even be able to tank physical attacks. If you want to use a lure Mirror Coat set with Avalugg, use Sturdy with Rapid Spin or Defog support, as that usually works better.

 

[Ogami]

Those calcs are pretty impressive for avalugg. The problem is you remove any recovery it had to make up for the awful typing and sr weakness. This would need heavy support. Oh and it needs slow volt-turning since it shouldn't be switching in to too much. Something else would have to reliably keep rocks off, and a wish passer would be necessary for it do anything more than once. Could be decent, but it looks like a whole team would have to be built around it. Then again, if we're not building teams around certain pokemon then what are we doing? I could definitely see it getting surprise kills, but I'm not sure if what it brings to the table is worth how much support it needs.

Here's a build I've been having a good amount of success with on a bulky offensive team:

Thundurus@Expert Belt
[Defiant]
EVs: 252 Att / 4 S.Att / 252 Spe Naive
-Wild Charge
-Knock Off
-Superpower
-Hidden Power Ice

Physical Thundurus. Everyone expects the thunderwave. This is when you smack whatever is gonna eat it for big damage, often crippling with knock off. These moves feel like two pairs with excellent coverage. Wild Charge/ HP Ice forms boltbeam coverage, and hits all of the 4x ice weak dudes for an ohko after rocks that would otherwise wall this set. Garchomp, Mega Chomp and 252 Hp Dragonite are the only ones with the chance to survive after rocks, with the rest dying no matter what. The other set of moves are actually used more frequently. Knock Off/Superpower form the excellent fighting/dark coverage. While everyone and their mom knows about knock off, it's something else coming from a Thundurus, who lures in a lot of special walls only to smack with a knock off. It ohko's Latios, and has a chance to on Latias. Trevenant, who thought he could eat a hidden power dies, and knock off + superpower are a 2hko on blissey/chansey. Do I even have to mention what happens to Tyranitar? Oh and you never miss with your fighting coverage, which i've found Thundurus uses just as often if not more than stab. While Stab is always useful, I find that the threat of it, especially before the opponent knows i'm physical, is just as key to playing Thundurus as actually using it. Everyone dances around Thunderbolt,Hp Ice, Thunderwave which gives a lot of opportunities to cause pain.

Expert Belt was chosen because Thundurus is hitting for SE damage 90% of the time. I tried life orb, but the rocks weakness + wild charge recoil made him too suicidal. Assault Vest was something I tossed around, but Thundurus really needs the damage boost to net the ohko's it counts on.

And then there's defiant. I saw this and knew I had to try a thundurus set with it. Wild Charge/Knock Off make you dynamite against every defogger, and with the power boost you can muscle past defensive scizor. In fact, Thundurus is well positioned against practically every spinnner too (good thing starmie is on the outs, kinda sad actually), but of course there's no power boost to go on sweeping. This is nice though if protecting rocks is a priority. Note: Thundurus does not need to prey on defoggers to be great in a match, it's just another aspect to how it can play. Where defiant is really nice is as insurance against intimidate users. This really helps take down mega gyarados with intimidate as the first ability.

What I've found most effective about him, is that even when people realize he's physical, his typing with stab, defiant, and ability to use HP Ice effectively, make it really hard to wall by most common physical walls. Thundurus is also a pretty efficient late game cleaner with that excellent speed tier. This may change when scarfers re-enter the meta in a big way, but for now I've been happy with his ability to clean up the mess my team leaves behind.

Edit: Just realized something. For anyone that wanted E Belt Electivire to be good like I once did, this thing makes Electivire really sad. It does everything Electivire wanted to do. Hit for surprising damage with great coverage with a semi-useful ability. Only now the ability isn't telegraphed, and neither is the coverage, with a much better typing and speed tier.

 

[Boondocker]

Hey guys, this is my first post, can you please point out anything wrong with it?

View attachment 6444
Conkeldurr @ Assault Vest
Guts
EVS: 252 HP 252 ATK 4 SDEF
Adamant Nature
-Knock Off
-Drain Punch
-Mach Punch
-Ice Punch

Slash Poison Jab in there with Mach Punch. Poison Jab lets you get passed fairies whom otherwise wall you, as well as poison walls like Hippo, Slowbro, Sableye, etc which is invaluable. Mach Punch isnt needed on all teams anyways, especially ones with Ditto, Quagsire, or Mega Banette.

Alternate spreads are 252Hp/252Def/4SpD or 252Hp/252SpD/4Def

 

[Ogami]

If you're going to run a special defensive investment on Conk I would suggest 232 S.Def / 24 Hp / 252 Att Adamant. This leaves your defense one point higher, giving genesect the special attack boost. Late in the game this might be a problem if Conk is too low on health, but early/midgame genesect is not going to stay in on you anyways and this minimizes the damage. This also helps against physical variants of Genesect which conk would have a harder time dealing with, while it's bulk with an AV is naturally good at fighting the special variants.

 

[BlaBlaBloid]

Slash Poison Jab in there with Mach Punch. Poison Jab lets you get passed fairies whom otherwise wall you, as well as poison walls like Hippo, Slowbro, Sableye, etc which is invaluable. Mach Punch isnt needed on all teams anyways, especially ones with Ditto, Quagsire, or Mega Banette.

Alternate spreads are 252Hp/252Def/4SpD or 252Hp/252SpD/4Def

This has a few flaws. Poison jab is only good against grass and fairy. Conk loves priority. Almost nobody uses mega banette or ditto, and quagsire gets completely wrecked by any grass type. Fairies aren't even an issue if you run genesect, aegislash, or basically anything with steel STAB or coverage. Hippowdon can be smashed by ice punch.

 

[DarkyPwnz]

I came up with a pretty interesting twist to the standard Hydreigon sets, and that is to use Charge Beam.

Hydreigon @ Wide Lens
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 Spd / 6 HP / 252 SAtk
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Dark Pulse
- Charge Beam
- Fire Blast

Wide Lens gives Fire Blast a much better 93% accuracy, along with 99% on both Draco Meteor and Charge Beam, which is basically a 90% reduction in their miss rate. Charge Beam puts Hydreigon's natural bulk into use; you hit weakened targets and anything that doesn't deal meaningful damage with it to boost your Special Attack. Dark Pulse is your powerful and reliable STAB with decent neutral coverage especially after a boost or two. Fire Blast is always scary when it connects, and it doesn't get any better after Charge Beams do their magic. And finally, Draco Meteor is your kill button, as it is almost certain to get a kill on anything not Steel or Fairy at +1 or above.

Basically, avoid fairies and fight moves, and you'll be fine. Charge Beam having only a 70% chance kind of reduces its viability but with how accurate it is and how much damage potential it adds, it is an interesting move in Hydreigon's arsenal.

 

[Ogami]

I don't know about wide lens, but with a life orb and assuming you snag the boost, charge beam lets you 2hko togekiss and azumarill after rocks. Those are two pretty regular switches into hydra, and you're not instantly revenged when you have a +1 or +2 boost on your hands. Definitely something hydreigon users should consider imo.

 

[DarkyPwnz]

It nearly ensures that neither move ever misses, so I'd say the reliability is very helpful. Life Orb compromises your natural bulk anyway.

 

[Ogami]

I don't know, not 2hko'ing those things seems like more of a problem to me, as they are common, and take advantage of the turn you give them very well . Charge beam is doing crap damage the first time it's used. Maybe Expert Belt so you don't get the recoil?

 

[Boondocker]

This has a few flaws. Poison jab is only good against grass and fairy. Conk loves priority. Almost nobody uses mega banette or ditto, and quagsire gets completely wrecked by any grass type. Fairies aren't even an issue if you run genesect, aegislash, or basically anything with steel STAB or coverage. Hippowdon can be smashed by ice punch.

Yes, but i just prefer to be able to threaten just about anything with Conk. Switching out of a fairy means they can get a wish off and heal their Genesect/Ageislash/Scizor counter. The poison chance (the same chance Scald has to burn) really helps break through stuff that can recover. And if by smash you mean tickle, then yes, Ice Punch smashes Hippo.

 

[imaloony80]

Diggersby @Choice Scarf
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 252 Att / 252 Spe / 4 HP
Adamant Nature
- U-Turn
- Return
- Earthquake
- Wild Charge/Hammer Arm/Stone Edge/Bounce

Poor Diggersby, this beast of an arm-eared Rabbit was poised to be the talk of the town... only to be shouldered out of the mix by Mega Medicham, Mega Mawile, and a newly buffed Azumarill. So, with those Huge/Pure Power options, why even consider Diggersby? I see people trying to run him as a Choice Bander, a Life Orber, or a bulky Lefties 'mon, but that's the wrong way to go about it: Considering he's the only Huge Power user in the game who gets a switch-out move in U-Turn, I find that he makes an excellent scarfer.
With max speed EVs and a choice Scarf, Diggersby hits a nice 382 speed; enough to beat a max speed Greninja! Off of that speed it can make a bomb turn 1 with a U-Turn coming off an effective 464 attack stat! On top of that, it gets some high power STABs that none of the other huge power users can claim in Return and EQ, allowing it a place as a fantastic revenge killer. Lastly, to cap it off, Diggersby has a fantastic selection of coverage moves with Wild Charge, Hammer Arm, Stone Edge, and Bounce. Personally, I like to run Wild Charge to catch those snarky flying types on the switch, but that's just me.

 

[AOPSUser]

Diggersby @Choice Scarf
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 252 Att / 252 Spe / 4 HP
Adamant Nature
- U-Turn
- Return
- Earthquake
- Wild Charge/Hammer Arm/Stone Edge/Bounce

Poor Diggersby, this beast of an arm-eared Rabbit was poised to be the talk of the town... only to be shouldered out of the mix by Mega Medicham, Mega Mawile, and a newly buffed Azumarill. So, with those Huge/Pure Power options, why even consider Diggersby? I see people trying to run him as a Choice Bander, a Life Orber, or a bulky Lefties 'mon, but that's the wrong way to go about it: Considering he's the only Huge Power user in the game who gets a switch-out move in U-Turn, I find that he makes an excellent scarfer.
With max speed EVs and a choice Scarf, Diggersby hits a nice 382 speed; enough to beat a max speed Greninja! Off of that speed it can make a bomb turn 1 with a U-Turn coming off an effective 464 attack stat! On top of that, it gets some high power STABs that none of the other huge power users can claim in Return and EQ, allowing it a place as a fantastic revenge killer. Lastly, to cap it off, Diggersby has a fantastic selection of coverage moves with Wild Charge, Hammer Arm, Stone Edge, and Bounce. Personally, I like to run Wild Charge to catch those snarky flying types on the switch, but that's just me.

Scarf is actually probably the most common Diggersby variant lol, and I'd really go as far as to say that it's the most effective.

 

[MudcrabDL]

So, let's talk about Lanturn. Sharing the same type as Rotom-W, it's very hard to find a niche for the noble anglerfish, except for one: to use a different Rotom form like Rotom H or M. Rotom and Lanturn have some lovely synergy, with Lanturn inviting Earthquakes and Rotom's levitate, they make a surprisingly potent volt switch team, and Lanturns typing is still very nice to have.

Lanturn Choice Specs
Modest
252hp/252sp.att/4sp.def

Scald
Volt Switch
Dazzling Gleam/Discharge
Ice Beam/Discharge

This set hits surprisingly hard and ends up being a lot bulkier than one would expect on the special side, particularly with the gen 6 nerf to many special attacks. Scald and Volt Switch are practically mandatory, that burn chance helps cripple switch ins, while volt switch lets you get the hell out of dodge. Dazzling Gleam and Ice Beam serve as great coverage moves, both hitting several pokemon 4x effectively. Either could be switched for discharge as a secondary crippling move, but I like the coverage options more, even if dazzling gleam is a bit redundant for dragons with ice beam,those fighting and dark hits are still usually worth it (also screw scrafty). The set relies on predicting, as you have little hope of outspeeding a switch in: either slam ground types with scald or ice beam rather than volt switch, as that rather screws with your momentum.

 

[imaloony80]

Scarf is actually probably the most common Diggersby variant lol, and I'd really go as far as to say that it's the most effective.

Yeah, but the set is underrated because Diggersby is underrated; hardly anyone uses him because they'd rather just used Azumarill. I put it out there just to state that he's worth using for that set.

 

[Ogami]

Saying people just rather use Azumarill is being a little too dismissive about why that is. Azumarill has better bulk, but much more importantly, an extremely useful typing. Water/Fairy is a far better typing than normal/ground. Azumarill beats Diggersby at the bulky wallbreaker/set up sweeper, and Diggersby's stabs are terrible ones to be locked into, making other pokemon with better speed much more desirable scarfers. And you can scream u-turn all you want, but you're going to have to click moves other than that at some point, and everything else diggersby has is laughably easy to take advantage of when it's choice locked

 

[imaloony80]

Saying people just rather use Azumarill is being a little too dismissive about why that is. Azumarill has better bulk, but much more importantly, an extremely useful typing. Water/Fairy is a far better typing than normal/ground. Azumarill beats Diggersby at the bulky wallbreaker/set up sweeper, and Diggersby's stabs are terrible ones to be locked into, making other pokemon with better speed much more desirable scarfers. And you can scream u-turn all you want, but you're going to have to click moves other than that at some point, and everything else diggersby has is laughably easy to take advantage of when it's choice locked

You seem to be mistaking me for saying "OMG DIGGERSBY IS THE BEST WAY BETTER THAN AZUMARILL". What I'm saying is that Azumarill is getting a thousand roses thrown at his feet because of his buffs and Diggersby is being ignored when he's still a good pokemon. Not as good as Azumarill to be sure, but certainly worth using. No, that set is not an end-all Scarfer, but he hits harder than a lot of other scarfers, which makes him a good revenge killer. It's true that his STABs are bad to be locked into, but it's a tradeoff for them having such a high BP.
Again, this thread is for underrated 'mons, and Diggersby fits that bill. Diggersby is not going to be destroying the scene in OU anytime soon like Azumarill already is, but I see a strong future for him in UU.

 

[JEFLIV]

Kingdra @ Scope Lens
Ability: Sniper
Nature: Jolly
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spe
Focus Energy
Outrage
Iron Head
Waterfall
This set requires an incredible amount of setup and support to work properly, but when it does, there is almost nothing that can stop it. After a Focus Energy, Kingdra gets a 100% critical hit rate with the Scope Lens, and with Sniper this means that it can bypass all stat boosts and get 2.25x damage on every attack. I find that this set benefits greatly from Baton Pass because of Kingdra's imperfect base 85 Speed. After Scolipede hits it up with a Swords Dance/Speed Boost Pass, Kingdra only needs to take two hits to switch in and Focus Energy. Major problems with this set:
-Weather leads (Hail and Sand) prevent Scolipede's Sash from working and throw the boosts into the balance
-Burns halve Kingdra's damage output, allowing some Pokemon to potentially survive its attacks, as well as giving it a definite lifespan
-There is a lot out there that can 2HKO Kingdra, because of its average 75/95/95 defenses
-Without a boost to Speed, Kingdra can't take out as many Pokemon, as it can't take much damage from super-effective hits without fainting.
Thoughts?

 

[PokemonMasterDebater]

Snip

The only thing that is making that set work is the Baton Pass support, and without it, this set is inferior to the special attacking Critdra sets. Outrage and Waterfall are weaker than Draco Meteor and Hydro Pump, and Outrage has a terrible side effect that makes it nearly unusable, unless you can OHKO everything that resists it. Iron Head offers worse coverage than HP Fire, because it doesn't hit anything that resists your STABs for SE damage except Whimsicott, which is irrelevant anyway. IMO, this set requires very specific support, and I don't think it is generally worth while.

 

[JEFLIV]

The only thing that is making that set work is the Baton Pass support, and without it, this set is inferior to the special attacking Critdra sets. Outrage and Waterfall are weaker than Draco Meteor and Hydro Pump, and Outrage has a terrible side effect that makes it nearly unusable, unless you can OHKO everything that resists it. Iron Head offers worse coverage than HP Fire, because it doesn't hit anything that resists your STABs for SE damage except Whimsicott, which is irrelevant anyway. IMO, this set requires very specific support, and I don't think it is generally worth while.

Fair enough. I was thinking about a special set, but I needed the Speed support, and nothing with Speed Boost gets Nasty Plot.

 

[PokemonMasterDebater]

Fair enough. I was thinking about a special set, but I needed the Speed support, and nothing with Speed Boost gets Nasty Plot.

Sticky Web can work for special sets. Alternatively Venomoth and Smeagle can BP Quiver Dance, and put something to sleep in the process.