Although Plasmanta might not be a Water-type, it still would like a pool. A movepool, that is!
that was horrible but I don't care
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Please post only your votes in this thread. Do not respond to other posts, or your posts will be moderated and you may be warned. You are allowed to say whatever you like in relation to your vote at the bottom of your post, but please do not look to begin a discussion. Keep those comments to #cap on IRC.
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P3DS
Elite Lord Sigma
NumberCruncher
HeaLnDeaL
capefeather
Korski
Tsaeb XIII
Dragonblaze052
Ignus
Here are their movepools! Also make sure to read the thread for important discussion!
Concept:
Type: Electric/Poison
Abilities: Storm Drain / (Insomnia/Vital Spirit)
Stats: 60 HP / 57 Atk / 119 Def / 131 SpA / 98 SpD / 100 Spe
Leadership Team:
Pwnemon- Topic Leader
ginganinja - Ability Leader
srk1214 - Typing Leader
alexwolf - Movepool Leader
that was horrible but I don't care
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Please post only your votes in this thread. Do not respond to other posts, or your posts will be moderated and you may be warned. You are allowed to say whatever you like in relation to your vote at the bottom of your post, but please do not look to begin a discussion. Keep those comments to #cap on IRC.
IMPORTANT: When voting, use only the submitter's name! The list of possible votes include:Here it is, movepool voting! The last competitive piece of our first-of-gen-6 CAP! Vote wisely!
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New!: All competitive polls will consist of two rounds of ranked voting (24 hours each). In the first round, the preliminary ranking of candidates by PBV will be decided. The top 3 (or 4 in the case of a tie for 3rd place) will move on to the second round of ranked voting. The Policy Review discussion that lead to this change is here.
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This will be a Preferential Block Vote (PBV) (a form of Instant Runoff Voting which re-runs the counting, each time removing the previously top-ranked candidate in order to determine the 2nd most preferred, 3rd most preferred, etc.), the details of which are outlined here and here. This is a ranked vote: order does matter! You can upvote your favourites and downvote your least favourites. You may choose to rank as many or as few options as you like, but we encourage you to rank as many options as possible to ensure your preferences are taken into account.
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Please post only your votes in this thread. Do not respond to other posts, or your posts will be moderated and you may be warned. You are allowed to say whatever you like in relation to your vote at the bottom of your post, but please do not look to begin a discussion. Keep those comments to #cap on IRC.
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P3DS
Elite Lord Sigma
NumberCruncher
HeaLnDeaL
capefeather
Korski
Tsaeb XIII
Dragonblaze052
Ignus
Here are their movepools! Also make sure to read the thread for important discussion!
Final Submission
OK, so here is my first thoughts on my move choices:
Required
- Plasmanta looks like a very cunning pokemon, due to that smirk on one of the original designs, and the fact that quite a few marine animals are quite intelligen. This fact lead me to believe that the duo of Plasmanta and Mega Gyarados would clearly be a brains and brawn duo. This said, I have added a few techy moves to Plasmanta, so to show it is pretty smart. Generally these moves occur in the smart category of contest battles too. Some moves to reflect this are type changing moves. I've included: reflect type and camouflage in my move pool.
- Bioluminescence is quite clear, since I have chosen quite a few light based moves. Also, this could indicate some sort of psychic abilities, so there are a few of these in there too.
- For my choice of egg groups, Water 1 came as my first choice. Water 1 includes pokemon such as Mantine, Kingdra, Stunfisk and Dragalge. They are all aquatic and have similarities, IMO, to Plasmanta. Also, a lot of the egg moves I looked at have at least one user in this egg group. My 2nd is between dragon, flying and amorphous. With it's majesti appearance, it fits both the graceful flying group (manta rays are deemed birds of the sea) and the impressive dragon type, whilst amorphous is usually another option with water and poison types for egg groups. In the end, dragon was the one for me.
Repeat (level up only)
Restricted
= Equivalent
Start: Screech, Eerie Impulse, Charge, Leer, Poison Sting
Lv 3: Poison Sting
Lv 5: Feint Attack
Lv7: Thunder Shock
Lv 10: Smokescreen
Lv 13: Poison Jab
Lv 16: Glare
Lv 21: Parabolic Charge
Lv 24: Encore
Lv 27: Mud Shot
Lv 31: Discharge
Lv 35: Defog
Lv 39: Scary Face
Lv 41: Switcheroo
Lv 43: Cross Poison
Lv 48: Sludge Wave
Lv 51: Wring Out
TM No.
6: Toxic
9: Venoshock
10: Hidden Power
12: Taunt
15: Hyper Beam
17: Protect
21: Frustration =
24: Thunderbolt
25: Thunder
27: Return =
29: Psychic
32: Double Team
34: Sludge Wave
36: Sludge Bomb
42: Facade
44: Rest
45: Attract
48: Round
62: Acrobatics
63: Embargo
68: Giga Impact
70: Flash
73: Thunder Wave
84: Poison Jab
87: Swagger
88: Sleep Talk
90: Substitute
91: Flash Cannon
99: Dazzling Gleam
100: Confide
HM01: Cut
Egg groups: Water 1/Dragon
Topsy-Turvy (from malamar line)
Reflect type (Chain Breed: Tentacruel -> Omanyte -> CAP 19)
Clear Smog (Chain Breed: Koffing/Weezing -> Shellos -> CAP 19)
Confuse Ray (from mantine and lapras)
Camouflage (from Stunfisk and Skrelp lines)
Tickle (from Omanyte line)
Venom Drench (Chain Breed: Seviper -> Skrelp -> CAP 19)
Disable (from slowpoke line)
Move Stats:
Total: 57, with 27 being restricted
Justifications:
My key themes were around Dragalge, Stunfisk and general electric types. Flavor wise I added aspects from dark types like Malamar, due to the tricky, dark, mind game style plays I would expect a smart Pokemon to exploit. Overall, it is meant to have tools to take you down, but be tricky behind it, causing mind games that could potentially be fatal.
Level up: The early levels has a quite dark theme about Plasmanta. It has a lot of tricks to play around with, such as Screech and Eerie Impulse, to assist in aiding Plasmanta. With Screech, it puts the foes at the choice of KOing Plasmanta, but letting Gyarados get a free KO, or switching and not letting it. Eerie impulse is mainly flavor, but is pretty useful to nerf electric types for Gyarados. I chose Poison Sting and Leer for early level moves, as they were the ones that suited it the best flavor wise (The sting ray's main weapon of choice is it's tail, and that is like a sting). Glare is pretty nice for ground switch ins, due to the fact that it hits ground types and paralyses them. Smokescreen and scary face are flavor. Parabolic Charge is nice to give it some recovery, whilst Encore is nice for water type moves (and Disable is nasty with it). Mud Shot gives us a tool vs heatran and co if needed. You get Defog, for hazards, Scary Face for some speed control, Cross Poison and Sludge Wave for poison STABs and even Switcheroo, for the off chance you want a choiced set. Wring Out and Power Whip are mainly flavor, with the whip like tail of Plasmanta, but they do have some cool uses. Wring Out can get a pretty nice 121 BP, special, normal type attack off, if the opponent is fresh on the field, letting it deal some good strong neutral damage. Flavor wise, you can see it using it's tail a lot, which would be how it wrings the pokemon out. Although it would be overlooked, timid LO Wring Out can deal ~61% min to a physically defensive quagsire, a huge threat for Plasmanta.
TMs: I actually put these on last, so that is the reason I have so few compared to other submissions. You have the main ones like return, toxic and hidden power. You have the standard thunderolt and sludge bomb, which is common on pokemon of the respective types, and then added thunder and sludge wave to give it other options. With it's dark like appeal, I gave it psychic and embargo, to give it something for amoonguss (psychic) and to null items (which can be useful). Venoshock is cool on poison types, and has a niche with venom drench, due to both being affected by poison status. Taunt stops setup. Dazzling gleam, flash and flash cannon are flavor on the bioluminescence side of Plasmanta. Acrobatics is the fact it is quite nimble, and as manta rays are seen as birds in the sea.
Egg moves: I wanted this to be more of a mind game than most. I left out haze in return for topsy-turvy. This is a little trickier to play, but the reward is huge. Take for instance a quiver dance volcarona (We have already mega evolved gyarados) and it has boosted. Topsy-turvy would put them at a disadvantage rather than at a blank slate. I added some type control too. Camouflage is due to sting rays having brilliant camouflage, and to disguise themselves against unsuspecting prey. It can be useful to really annoy stuff like landorus, by removing it's ground weakness, in return for no STABs on sludge wave and thunderbolt, but does get STAB on wring out. Reflect type is pretty much the same boat, but it can be devastating. Confuse ray can give us some Parafusion hax, but you mainly want to be attacking. Clear smog is another variant on haze, so it's alright to level the stats out. Venom drench can be devastating to many foes if they are poisoned. That -2 in att, satt and speed will wreck any sweeper, however, they need to be poisoned first, and the lack of toxic spikes means you use toxic, or a toxic spikes setter too. Tickle is cool. -1 att and defense gives an opportunity for gyarados. It then gives the question: Damage gyarados and sacrifice my pokemon here and bring in a counter, or switch out to counter, and go from there.
Overall, a fun, yet tricky pokemon to play with.
Final Submission
Level Up Moves: I drew upon both the CAP's typing and the behavior of real manta rays to put together the level up move set. Among other behaviors, manta rays are known for breaching and other acrobatic feats, so I added a few flavor moves to represent that (e.g. Bounce). On a side note, I have no idea why Spark is considered a restricted move.
TM and HMs: In addition to carrying on the themes from the level up moves, I decided to put a bit more emphasis on the bioluminescent patterns with certain moves (e.g. Flash, Dazzling Gleam) as well as fill in some important missing moves (e.g. Sludge Bomb/Wave). I also threw in Fly because the mental image of a flying manta ray raining down electricity and Mega Gyarados missiles upon its hapless foes was too funny and awesome to ignore.
Egg Groups: The closest evolutionary relatives to rays and skates are sharks. As such, I chose the two egg groups of Mantine and Sharpedo: Water 1 and Water 2, respectively.
Egg Moves: Here, I elected to add some Water-type moves, as those fit the two egg groups as well as the CAP itself. I also added a few useful support moves (i.e. Defog, Clear Smog) that fit the CAP in terms of flavor as well as typing.
Key
*: Restricted Move
!: Repeated Move
=: Equivalent Move
--: Tackle
--: Leer
06: Thunder Shock
09: Acid
12: Charge
16: Thunder Wave*
21: Spark*
26: Sludge
32: Wing Attack
38: Parabolic Charge
44: Take Down
51: Discharge*
58: Bounce*
66: Thunder*
Restricted: 5
Total: 14
TM06: Toxic*
TM09: Venoshock
TM10: Hidden Power*
TM12: Taunt*
TM15: Hyper Beam
TM17: Protect*
TM21: Frustration*
TM24: Thunderbolt*
TM25: Thunder!
TM27: Return=
TM29: Psychic*
TM32: Double Team
TM34: Sludge Wave*
TM36: Sludge Bomb*
TM40: Aerial Ace
TM41: Torment
TM42: Facade*
TM44: Rest*
TM45: Attract
TM48: Round
TM51: Steel Wing
TM62: Acrobatics*
TM68: Giga Impact
TM70: Flash
TM73: Thunder Wave!
TM87: Swagger
TM88: Sleep Talk*
TM90: Substitute*
TM91: Flash Cannon*
TM93: Wild Charge*
TM99: Dazzling Gleam*
TM100: Confide
HM02: Fly
Restricted: 22
Total: 45
Egg Groups: Water 1/Water 2
Air Slash* (Mantine/Masquerain/Wingull/Pelipper/Ducklett/Swanna)
Aqua Jet* (Psyduck/Golduck/countless others)
Clear Smog* (Psyduck/Golduck/Horsea/Seadra/Kingdra/Wailmer/Wailord)
Defog* (Ducklett/Swanna)
Eerie Impulse (Lanturn/Wooper/Quagsire/Stunfisk)
Ion Deluge (Chinchou/Lanturn)
Poison Tail (Skrelp/Dragalge)
Signal Beam* (Remoraid/Octillery/countless others)
Venom Drench (Skrelp/Dragalge)
Water Pulse (Wingull/Pelipper/countless others)
Restricted: 27
Total: 55
EDIT: Removed Charge Beam.
Final Submission
* = Restricted
(RP) = Repeated
Start: Parabolic Charge (Through Move Relearner)
Start: Splash
Start: Bubble
Start: Poison Sting
Start: Leer
Level 5: Leer (RP)
Level 8: Acid
Level 12: Thundershock
Level 16: Flash
Level 22: Sludge
Level 26: Defog *
Level 34: Poison Tail
Level 39: Scary Face
Level 45: Clear Smog *
Level 49: Aqua Tail *
Level 54: Discharge *
Level 58: Thunder Wave *
Level 63: Signal Beam *
TM06: Toxic *
TM07: Hail
TM09: Venoshock
TM10: Hidden Power *
TM12: Taunt (RP)
TM15: Hyper Beam
TM17: Protect *
TM18: Rain Dance *
TM21: Frustration *
TM24: Thunderbolt *
TM25: Thunder *
TM27: Return (Pseudo RP)
TM32: Double Team
TM34: Sludge Bomb *
TM36: Sludge Wave *
TM42: Facade *
TM44: Rest *
TM45: Attract
TM48: Round
TM51: Steel Wing
TM68: Giga Impact
TM70: Flash (RP)
TM73: Thunder Wave *
TM75: Swords Dance *
TM84: Poison Jab *
TM88: Sleep Talk *
TM87: Swagger
TM90: Substitute *
TM93: Wild Charge *
TM99: Dazzling Gleam *
TM100: Confide
HM01: Cut
HM06: Dive
Egg groups: Water 1
Psybeam (From Mantyke family)
Air Slash * (From Mantyke and Ducklett family)
Camouflage (From Stunfisk and Inkay family)
Extrasensory * (From Greninja)
Wring Out (From Kabuto and Remoraid family)
That gives us 51 moves, 25 of which are restricted if I'm not mistaken. We have a decent blend of flavor moves and competitive moves. We have a decent, but not overwhelming, assortment of special moves. This is a moveset that gives CAP enough utility to be worth running without being an answer-or-die Pokemon. Either Air Slash or Extrasensory would have worked against Grass/Poison types and Fighting types that generally keep Gyarados down, but I decided to give it both so it could adjust if the format adjusted to it. Parabolic Charge keeps it from getting just chipped out, while also netting no advantage against our designated counters. Signal Beam helps our match-up against Electric-move wielding Psychics. Clear Smog over Haze because it's more flavorful and keeps damage on the opponent so the opponent doesn't try to PP stall you with Stat buff moves.
Final Submission
Summary of my Submission
Key Non-Attacking Moves: Encore, Taunt, Haze, Thunder Wave, Rain Dance. No Defog.
Key STAB Moves: Thunderbolt, Thunder, Discharge, Sludge Bomb, Sludge Wave.
Key Coverage Moves: Psychic/Psyshock, Dazzling Gleam, Signal Beam, Flash Cannon. No Dark Pulse/Shadow Ball/Air Slash.
Key Flavor Moves: Parabolic Charge, Ion Deluge, Eerie Impulse = Uncommon Electric Moves to match the unusual type/species of our CAPmon. Aqua Tail, Water Pulse, and Splash for aquatic species flavor. And in general a fair amount of flavorful poison moves.
Level Up Moves (3-3-4 pattern up to Lv 29, 4-5-4-5 pattern after Lv 29)
-- Poison Sting
-- Thunder Shock
-- Supersonic
06 Poison Sting –R-
06 Thunder Shock –R-
09 Supersonic –R-
12 Acid
16 Encore *
19 Thunder Wave *
22 Clear Smog *
26 Ion Deluge
29 Poison Tail
33 Aqua Tail *
38 Parabolic Charge
42 Psywave
47 Discharge
51 Cross Poison *
56 Swagger
60 Thunder *
64 Eerie Impulse
Competitive Moves: Encore, Thunder Wave, Clear Smog, Discharge
-Encore is twofold; it can lock the opponent into a move that Gyarados resists, and it can dissuade the opponent from not taking CAP19 seriously and using it as set up fodder.
-Thunder Wave is a standard move for Electric types. It also potentially cripples speedy threats and helps turn them into something manageable by Gyarados.
-Clear Smog, like Haze, removes stat buffs that the opponent might have netted.
-Discharge is a weaker Thunderbolt with higher paralysis chance, obviously.
Egg Moves (Water 1 / Water 2 )
Haze *
Signal Beam *
Splash
Wide Guard
Shock Wave
Water Pulse
(As a side note, all of these moves can be obtained through breeding with either Mantine or Gyarados, though some obviously can come from multiple sources.)
Competitive Moves: Haze, Signal Beam, Water Pulse
-Haze removes stat buffs. Luckily, CAP19 really has no conceivably usable stat boosting moves itself, meaning it won’t mind having its stats reset as well.
-Signal Beam provides bioluminescence flavor while giving Bug type coverage.
252 SpA Life Orb Plasmanta Signal Beam vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Latios: 198-234 (65.5 - 77.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
(198, 200, 203, 205, 208, 211, 211, 213, 216, 218, 221, 224, 226, 229, 231, 234)
252 SpA Life Orb Plasmanta Signal Beam vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Alakazam: 224-265 (88.8 - 105.1%) -- 31.3% chance to OHKO
(224, 226, 229, 231, 234, 237, 239, 242, 244, 247, 250, 252, 255, 257, 260, 265)
252 SpA Life Orb Plasmanta Signal Beam vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Dark Type Greninja: 283-335 (98.9 - 117.1%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO
(283, 286, 291, 294, 296, 302, 304, 307, 309, 315, 317, 320, 325, 328, 330, 335)
Here, Signal Beam is only stronger than Dazzling Gleam against pure psychic types like Alakazam, and it’s much more likely that Alakazam will survive the hit than not if he’s tanking one for whatever reason… I, in part, did NOT choose to include Shadow Ball because of it's greater damage to pure Psychic types (not to mention that 20% Sp Def drop could be devastating if we get lucky).
-Water Pulse isn’t super competitive, but it gives us weak water coverage without using HP. Essentially, the only time I see this being useful is with Rain support.
TMs/HMs
TM03: Psyshock *
TM06: Toxic *
TM09: Venoshock
TM10: Hidden Power
TM12: Taunt *
TM15: Hyper Beam
TM17: Protect *
TM18: Rain Dance *
TM21: Frustration *
TM24: Thunderbolt *
TM25: Thunder * -R-
TM27: Return *
TM29: Psychic *
TM32: Double Team
TM34: Sludge Wave *
TM36: Sludge Bomb *
TM42: Façade *
TM44: Rest *
TM45: Attract
TM48: Round
TM68: Giga Impact
TM73: Thunder Wave * -R-
TM87: Swagger –R-
TM88: Sleep Talk *
TM90: Substitute *
TM91: Flash Cannon *
TM93: Wild Charge *
TM99: Dazzling Gleam *
TM100: Confide
HM01: Cut
Competitive Moves: Psyshock, Taunt, Rain Dance, Thunderbolt, Thunder, Psychic, Sludge Wave, Sludge Bomb, Thunder Wave, Flash Cannon, Dazzling Gleam
Psyshock/Psychic: Without Bounce, Mega Gyarados struggles with Mega Venusaur. Psyshock and Psychic come in to help remedy this.
252 SpA Life Orb Plasmanta Psychic vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Mega Venusaur: 221-260 (60.7 - 71.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
(221, 224, 226, 229, 231, 234, 237, 239, 242, 244, 247, 250, 252, 255, 257, 260)
252 SpA Plasmanta Psychic vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Mega Venusaur: 170-200 (46.7 - 54.9%) -- 69.5% chance to 2HKO
(170, 172, 174, 176, 178, 180, 182, 184, 186, 188, 190, 192, 194, 196, 198, 200)
252 SpA Life Orb Plasmanta Psychic vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Garchomp: 147-174 (41.1 - 48.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
(147, 149, 151, 152, 155, 156, 157, 160, 161, 162, 165, 166, 168, 170, 172, 174)
252 SpA Life Orb Plasmanta Psychic vs. 0 HP / 0- SpD Landorus: 173-204 (54.2 - 63.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
(173, 175, 177, 179, 181, 183, 185, 187, 190, 191, 194, 195, 198, 199, 201, 204)
252 SpA Life Orb Plasmanta Psychic vs. 244 HP / 192+ SpD Gliscor: 118-140 (33.5 - 39.7%) -- 99.6% chance to 4HKO after Poison Heal
(118, 120, 121, 123, 125, 126, 127, 129, 130, 131, 133, 134, 135, 136, 138, 140)
252 SpA Life Orb Plasmanta Psychic vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Excadrill: 91-108 (25.2 - 29.9%) -- guaranteed 4HKO
(91, 92, 94, 95, 95, 96, 97, 99, 100, 101, 101, 103, 104, 105, 107, 108)
So basically I've taken calcs from our threats list and picked the mons that Psychic would actually outdamage our STABs, and I added Mega Venu in as something we actually want to threaten. As you can see, Psychic really doesn’t do a whole lot to the Ground types that we’ve been worrying about killing. The only one that psychic gets a reliable over 50% damage against is Landorus, which definitely outspeeds anyway and will cleanly OHKO so no real worries there. The justification for Psyshock is that it does less damage to all of these threats.
So, in conclusion, I think Psychic/Psyshock help us beat a valuable foes (Mega Venu) while keeping our threat list intact.
Taunt: Prevents hazards and a horde of other things Gyarados would rather avoid taking.
Rain Dance: Boosts Gyarados’s STAB, makes Thunder viable.
Thunderbolt: Primary electric STAB and required move. Not much else to say since every other submission must have this move.
Thunder:
252 SpA Life Orb Plasmanta Thunder vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD MUTISCALE BROKEN Dragonite: 235-278 (72.7 - 86%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
(235, 238, 242, 243, 247, 250, 253, 255, 257, 261, 263, 266, 269, 273, 274, 278)
252 SpA Life Orb Plasmanta Thunder vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Multiscale Intact Dragonite: 118-139 (36.5 - 43%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
(118, 119, 121, 122, 123, 125, 127, 127, 129, 131, 131, 133, 135, 136, 137, 139)
252 SpA Plasmanta Thunder vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Dragonite: 181-214 (56 - 66.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
(181, 183, 186, 187, 190, 192, 195, 196, 198, 201, 202, 205, 207, 210, 211, 214)
Here we have some calcs against Dragon Dance Dragonite. Basically, Dragonite only has to worry about switching into thunder rocks are up. If rocks aren’t up, than Dragonite can revenge kill by either coming in safely, dragon dancing while taking damage, and then outspeeding and OHKOing with Earthquake. Alternatively, he could just get smacked with a Thunder, and then just OHKO with Earthquake and not Dragon Dancing (which might be useful if wishing to avoid parahax or something).
I think there’s very much some good news here though. We want Dragonite to be somewhat of a threat (he’s on our threats list), but I don’t think we want to leave his multiscale intact, because then it’s harder for Mega Gyarados to deal will. Thunderbolt helps with this, but clearly Thunder does it a bit better.
252 SpA Life Orb Plasmanta Thunder vs. 248 HP / 100 SpD Mega Scizor: 212-251 (61.8 - 73.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
(212, 214, 218, 220, 222, 226, 227, 230, 231, 235, 238, 239, 243, 246, 247, 251)
252 SpA Life Orb Plasmanta Thunderbolt vs. 248 HP / 100 SpD Mega Scizor: 175-207 (51 - 60.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
(175, 177, 179, 181, 183, 185, 187, 188, 191, 192, 195, 196, 199, 200, 203, 207)
With a life orb attached, both Thunder and Thunderbolt will be a 2HKO on Scizor, so there’s not a ton of harm with Thunder on this end either.
Sludge Wave/Sludge Bomb: These moves were already assumed when doing damage calcs for my stat submission. They let us kill fairies but won’t allow us to KO a fully healthy Alakazam.
Thunder Wave: Standard move for Electric types. It also potentially cripples speedy threats and helps turn them into something manageable by Gyarados.
Flash Cannon: Not a super powerful move with its only use really being able to hit Rock and Ice types. Our neutral STAB does almost as much as a super effective Flash Cannon. Overall, this is a move that isn’t super useful, but it included for flavor.
252 SpA Life Orb Plasmanta Flash Cannon vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Mega Tyranitar in Sand: 133-156 (39 - 45.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
(133, 133, 135, 135, 138, 140, 140, 143, 143, 146, 148, 148, 151, 151, 153, 156)
So yeah, Flash Cannon isn’t helping us break any major threats anytime soon, which is to be expected.
Dazzling Gleam: This is sort of in the same boat at Flash Cannon, but is potentially more useful. Maybe.
252 SpA Life Orb Plasmanta Dazzling Gleam vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Mega Tyranitar in Sand: 133-156 (39 - 45.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
(133, 133, 135, 135, 138, 140, 140, 143, 143, 146, 148, 148, 151, 151, 153, 156).
252 SpA Life Orb Plasmanta Dazzling Gleam vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Latios: 211-250 (69.8 - 82.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
(211, 213, 216, 218, 221, 224, 226, 229, 231, 234, 237, 239, 242, 244, 247, 250)
252 SpA Life Orb Plasmanta Dazzling Gleam vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Keldeo: 250-294 (77.3 - 91%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
(250, 252, 255, 257, 260, 263, 265, 268, 273, 276, 278, 281, 283, 286, 289, 294)
252 SpA Life Orb Plasmanta Dazzling Gleam vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Terrakion: 250-296 (77.3 - 91.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
(250, 255, 257, 260, 263, 265, 268, 270, 276, 278, 281, 283, 286, 289, 291, 296)
252 SpA Life Orb Plasmanta Dazzling Gleam vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Multiscale Dragonite: 114-135 (35.2 - 41.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
(114, 116, 117, 118, 120, 121, 122, 123, 125, 126, 127, 129, 130, 131, 133, 135)
Essentially this move allows us to hit Dragons harder than Flash Cannon. It does similar damage as Thunder does, which means a well-played Dragonite should still beat Plasmanta.
* = RM
-R- = Repeated Move
RMs: 25
Total Moves: 50
Coverage Options: Signal Beam, Psychic/Psyshock, Flash Cannon, Dazzling Gleam, and... Water Pulse? Of these, Psychic is the only one with solid competitive justification to be used on an actual moveset, and the other coverage options might not be used too much in actual play. See above for calcs.
Edit: Added in damage calcs.
Edit 2: Made Final.
So hey, this is my first movepool submission since... wow, Aurumoth. Guys should have picked it imo! Haha, nah, what's past is past. Here's my movepool submission for our electric ray Pokemon!
Final Submission
Aerial Ace
Confuse Ray
Haze
Headbutt
Hyper Beam
Pin Missile
Poison Sting
Poison Tail
Psybeam
Psychic
Rock Slide
Rock Tomb
Safeguard
Scary Face
Signal Beam
Sludge Wave
Spark
Sunny Day
Supersonic
Take Down
Taunt
Thunder Shock
Twister
Water Pulse
Wild Charge
So to explain what I mean by "specifically chosen moves": Some of you may know that I like picking moves based on their relations to other moves insofar as they appear in similar Pokemon's movepools. What I'm basically doing is three things. First, for each ability that CAP 19 has (I'm counting both sleep immunity abilities here, to make things easier), I find the common moves between all Pokemon with that ability. Second, for each type (i.e. Electric and Poison), I find the common moves between all Pokemon that have that type as well as the Water type or one of the Water egg groups. Finally, I find the set of Pokemon who share typing or ability with CAP 19, and when I pick a move, I select the subset that has that move and see which moves they share. Thus, from CAP 19's competitive properties and the list above, I have generated this movepool submission.
Some people may remember that, when I did this in Generation V, I restricted my searches to Generation V Pokemon. Part of the reason for this was so I wouldn't have to account for pathological cases, but another reason was that in-game BW was initially restricted to Generation V Pokemon. I decided not to do that here, mostly because Kalos has a mix of old and new Pokemon, so it doesn't make as much sense to restrict to Generation VI Pokemon for flavour purposes. I guess I could have tried to pick out the Kalos natives, but eh, too lazy at that point... Instead I simply took Tynamo out of my "similar Pokemon" group.
I'll explain these moves in the sections in which they appear.
! RM
* Repeated move00 Water Pulse
!00 Pin Missile
00 Psybeam
00 Poison Sting
00 Thunder Shock
00 Supersonic
!00 Thunder Wave
*04 Supersonic
*08 Thunder Wave
12 Confuse Ray
14 Poison Tail
!16 Spark
!19 Signal Beam
23 Endure
!28 Wild Charge
32 Scary Face
36 Twister
!38 Discharge
!46 Sludge Bomb
!48 Thunder
Moves: 18
RMs: 8
This is mostly a remix of Mantine's movepool, with a bit of Dragalge and Lanturn thrown in. Poison-types tend to have Bug-type moves, so CAP 19 has Pin Missile instead of Bullet Seed. Another distinguishing feature is that, instead of relying on pure physical force like Mantine's Tackle + Headbutt + Take Down trifecta and Wing Attack, CAP 19 uses electrified tackles (i.e. Spark + Wild Charge) and its venomous stingers (i.e. Poison Sting + Poison Tail). CAP 19 shares its reliance on confusion with Mantine, though CAP 19 mostly prefers paralysis over flinching.
One major theme is that CAP 19 is less interested in defensive tactics than Mantine is. There is no Wide Guard (Endure is there instead), no Agility (using Scary Face instead), and no Aqua Ring (Twister and Discharge are used instead of Air Slash and Aqua Ring). There are somewhat precedent-based reasons for this. Nothing similar to CAP 19 has Wide Guard, and I considered having Quick Guard instead but Croagunk is the only similar Pokemon with it. Agility is obviously disallowed, and everything with Aqua Ring is a Water-type. By the way, if you're wondering why there are hardly any Water-type moves in this movepool submission, this rationale is why.
The most notable competitive move on this list is Signal Beam. It does a bit more than Sludge Bomb against Lati@s, to the point of a guaranteed 2HKO on Latios without any boost or prior damage: 252 SpA CAP 19 Signal Beam vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Latios: 152-180 (50.3 - 59.6%)
(Also I know Thunder tends to be animated as summoning a bolt from the sky, but it doesn't have to be like that if we take the anime into account. I don't know, I guess I just feel like I'd have to wreck the pattern of the movepool to realistically replace it with Zap Cannon or something...)!06 Toxic
09 Venoshock
!10 Hidden Power
11 Sunny Day
!12 Taunt
15 Hyper Beam
!17 Protect
!18 Rain Dance
20 Safeguard
21 Frustration
!24 Thunderbolt
*25 Thunder
!27 Return
!29 Psychic
32 Double Team
!34 Sludge Wave
*36 Sludge Bomb
39 Rock Tomb
40 Aerial Ace
!42 Facade
!44 Rest
45 Attract
46 Thief
48 Round
68 Giga Impact
70 Flash
*73 Thunder Wave
!80 Rock Slide
87 Swagger
!88 Sleep Talk
!90 Substitute
*93 Wild Charge
100 Confide
Moves: 29
RMs: 14
Unfortunately, CAP 19 doesn't get Surf or Waterfall, because the former is banned. Maybe we should have picked Golurkyourself's creepy worm thing... Anyway, the notable competitive moves here are Taunt and Psychic. Psychic is basically there for Amoonguss; I guess it isn't terribly important, but it does help for CAP 19 variants without a Life Orb. Taunt is really pro-concept and I bet every good submission is going to have it. Safeguard is also here, though practically speaking, it will probably be shafted in favour of Taunt in team building. There are also some Rock/Ground-type moves and Aerial Ace, based on the fact that Mantine learns them (but not Acrobatics because CAP 19 isn't actually a Flying-type).Haze
Headbutt
Mud-Slap
Shock Wave
Snore
Take Down
Moves: 6
RMs: 0
I actually have no idea of how the illegalities would play out here, but the egg group is sufficient for implementation and there's only maybe one competitively important move here. That move is Haze, which could come in handy if the opponent is setting up something big so that Gyarados doesn't have to feel useless... So basically there's Headbutt and Take Down available as "normal" versions of Shock / Wild Charge, Mud-Slap because apparently everything with Vital Spirit has Mud-Slap, Snore because it's a fairly common move, and Shock Wave because most Electric-type sea creatures have it.
Total moves: 53
Total RMs: 22
A notable exclusion is Defog. I know this might cost me votes, but I don't see any pressing need for this thing. Again, we're not doing "Perfect Mate" and people already carry Lati@s and/or Excadrill and/or whatever else for hazard control. While Dragon Dance users especially appreciate this, it's just a generically good thing to have. Plus, Defog isn't even good flavour. Practically everything with Defog is a Flying-type, the exceptions being Seedot and a bunch of old Pokemon that get it from a Generation IV HM. CAP 19 should stick to its concept job.
So yeah, rate and subscribe.
Final Submission
Hello everyone I’m going to jump in quick with a last-second submission because I like making these movepools so why not. I’ve been following along with this project and I like what I see so far; this CAP ended up being pretty straightforward in terms of function (as opposed to its wildly nebulous purpose), so there will be no massive intro or competitive justification here. Basically, this movepool provides all the right STABs, Psychic-type moves and Hidden Power for targeted coverage, and then the move-disrupting Disable/Encore/Taunt trifecta and Thunder Wave/Toxic for 4th moveslots. There were highly focused discussions on Allowed/Disallowed moves, so most of these movepools will perform the exact same way. So, I put a lot more effort into the flavor here, which is by far the most fun part about these things, than I did on competitive concerns.
Moving on, in this movepool my aim was to emphasize Plasmanta’s intelligent traits and its dual “hidden typings” in Psychic and Water (I will not even dwell on the flavor disaster of disallowing Surf). I get the Psychic vibe from the art design’s geometric and symmetrical elements (circles, general symmetry and order, etc.), the Poke’s piercing, red glare, and from its dramatically low Attack stat in stark contrast to its foreboding physical size. As a stingray, its Water-type influences should be obvious. Essentially, I envision Plasmanta’s behavior to be more along the lines of a cranial and highly intelligent manipulator than a brutish and instinctual predator (like Gyarados).
(20 moves, 6 RMs)
0 - Psywave
0 - Pin Missile
0 - Ion Deluge
0 - Tackle
0 - Water Gun
0 - Tail Whip
0 - Thunder Shock
3 - Tail Whip
7 - Thunder Shock
12 - Water Pulse
15 - Eerie Impulse
19 - Disable
25 - Poison Tail
28 - Shock Wave
32 - Toxic
39 - Venoshock
42 - Imprison
46 - Taunt
54 - Cross Poison
57 - Wild Charge
61 - Venom Drench
70 - Zap Cannon
Like others, I went straight to Mantine for my initial Level-Up influences and then tweaked everything (Psywave over Psybeam, Pin Missile over Bullet Seed/Signal Beam, Water Gun/Pulse over Bubble/Beam, similar low-level attack progressions). Some themes here are waves (Psywave, Shock Wave), shocks (Thunder Shock, Shock Wave, Venoshock, Zap Cannon), and mysterious mental acuity (Ion Deluge, Eerie Impulse, Disable, Imprison, Taunt). Its physical traits are represented through Tail Whip/Poison Tail for the Tail stingers (obv), Pin Missile/Cross Poison/Venom Drench for the fin barbs, and Wild Charge for a late-level Electric Tackle. These elements fall secondary, however, to its Special and mental powers that take up the bulk of the list. All Electric moves here come from Plasmanta itself, as in no calling on the skies for Thunderbolts and Thunders due to it being a marine creature. All Poison moves rely on physical poisoning through contact, as in no gas or acid or ink or oil-based moves, which I don’t think fit the biology of this design.
The LU list is sort of custom-tailored for an Electric/Water-type pre-evolution, as I put in Water Gun and Water Pulse early in the list and held off on Poison moves until L25 (or L32 if you can imagine the prevo learning Poison Tail without evolving into a Poison-type). This I think would be highly justified considering in-game precedent and obvious Water-type design elements, including Primary Ability. I’ve also intentionally designed the progression to be frustrating to train in-game, as I imagine the Plasmanta family’s intelligence and manipulative tendencies to be a major roadblock to human-Poke relationships: many attacks are learned at later levels than other Pokemon, the learning pattern stretches out over time (3-4-5-3-4-6-3-4-7…), and the Pokemon never learns any reliable attacks naturally (they are either low-powered, low accuracy, or launched from its low Atk stat). A competitively useable Plasmanta needs to be overcome by machine learning or bred to perform in battle, which I think fits neatly into the personality of the art design.(Water 1 Group; 5 moves, 3 RMs)
Clear Smog - Gastrodon, Golduck, Kingdra
Encore - Azumarill, Dewgong, Golduck, Politoed, Poliwrath, Quagsire, Walrein
Extrasensory - Greninja
Mind Reader - Greninja, Masquerain, Politoed, Poliwrath
Water Sport - Alomomola, Azumarill, Bibarel, Clawitzer, Dewgong, Empoleon, Feraligatr, Floatzel, Golduck, Greninja, Ludicolo, Manaphy, Mantine, Masquerain, Milotic, Pelipper, Politoed, Poliwrath, Relicanth, Swanna, Walrein
The Egg list is mostly just a continuation of themes from the Level-Up list. Clear Smog is a competitively useful option and I wanted this CAP to have access to it so I put it here in Egg so as to not mess up the flavor of the LU pool. Encore, Extrasensory, and Mind Reader play into the Poke’s manipulative/Psychic tendencies (also Mind Reader —> Zap Cannon you’re welcome), while the Water 1 Egg Group and Water Sport I feel are necessary to fulfill Plasmanta’s Water-type obligations. Like last time, I kept the Egg pool down to just 5 moves as Gen. VI Pokemon don’t go above 7 unless they evolve from Eevee and the average is around 5.(35 moves, 22 RMs)
TM03 - Psyshock
TM06 - Toxic
TM09 - Venoshock
TM10 - Hidden Power
TM12 - Taunt
TM15 - Hyper Beam
TM17 - Protect
TM18 - Rain Dance
TM20 - Safeguard
TM21 - Frustration
TM24 - Thunderbolt
TM25 - Thunder
TM27 - Return
TM29 - Psychic
TM32 - Double Team
TM34 - Sludge Wave
TM36 - Sludge Bomb
TM42 - Facade
TM44 - Rest
TM45 - Attract
TM48 - Round
TM49 - Echoed Voice
TM54 - False Swipe
TM56 - Fling
TM68 - Giga Impact
TM70 - Flash
TM73 - Thunder Wave
TM84 - Poison Jab
TM87 - Swagger
TM88 - Sleep Talk
TM90 - Substitute
TM93 - Wild Charge
TM99 - Dazzling Gleam
TM100 - Confide
HM05 - Waterfall
And here lies the bulk of Plasmanta’s offensive options: Thunder/bolt, Sludge Wave/Bomb, and Hidden Power, along with Thunder Wave and Substitute for generic useful moves. The CAP picks up its third and fourth Psychic-type attacks here in Psyshock and Psychic, and an additional Water-type attack in Waterfall to fill out those themes in this learnset. I also added Dazzling Gleam here because I felt it was good flavor for an electric and/or bioluminescent Special-attacking sea creature. The rest is required stuff or insignificant and obvious flavor additions.(57 moves, 27 RMs)
Special Attacking RMs (9):
Dazzling Gleam
Extrasensory
Hidden Power
Psychic
Psyshock
Sludge Bomb
Sludge Wave
Thunder
Thunderbolt
Physical Attacking RMs (7):
Cross Poison
Facade
Frustration / Return
Pin Missile
Poison Jab
Waterfall
Wild Charge
Non-Attacking RMs (11):
Clear Smog
Disable
Encore
Protect
Rain Dance
Rest
Sleep Talk
Substitute
Taunt
Thunder Wave
Toxic
Final Submission
Bold = RM
Italic = Repeated
Underlined = Move copy/Outclassed RM
Start - Signal Beam
Start - Pin Missile
Start - Confusion
Start - Water Gun
Start - Psybeam
4 - Poison Gas
7 - Thundershock
12 - Haze
13 - Poison Sting
18 - Clear Smog
21 - Poison Jab
23 - Discharge
27 - Thunderbolt
31 - Toxic
35 - Water Pulse
39 - Sludge Wave
43 - Psychic
46 - Thunder
48 - Signal Beam
51 - Gunk Shot
The major Pokemon I considered from a flavour point of view for this movepool are Mantine and Malamar. Mantine is an obvious choice, given the ray similarities. Malamar is, perhaps, not quite so obvious. Looking at the list of Pokemon introduced in Gen VI, Malamar stood out because of it's similarity as a dual-typed, non-Water aquatic Pokemon.
From a structural point of view, it is convenient that Mantine and Malamar learn their moves at very similar levels; each level Mantine learns a move is within one level either side of a move learnt by Malamar. They both learn 20 moves by level up in total, although Mantine has 2 more Level 1 moves than Malamar. The biggest obstacle to using these two as models for my level up movepool was the low level at which they learn their final move (49 for Mantine, 48 for Malamar). This isn't as surprising when noting that their BSTs are both ~100 less than Plasmanta, but could have presented an obstacle for the flavour of a Pokemon with a BST as high as Plasmanta, particularly when comparing with its nearest BST counterpart with a standard movepool, Archeops (finishes at 61). However, excluding legendaries, Mega Evolutions, stone evolutions and Volcarona (because it's an outlier relative to most movepools), the next closest counterpart to Plasmanta is Gyarados, whose movepool has a reasonably comparable structure to Mantine and Malamar, and continues the aquatic theme as a bonus. Gyarados caps out at level 47, with a BST only 25 below Plasmanta. I decided to use Malamar over Mantine for the base structure due to the improved generational proximity, while also knowing that matching Malamar's movepool gives a near match to Mantine anyway. Given that Plasmanta lacks a signature move, I omitted the level 15 move completely and moved it to level 51 to give the movepool a slightly higher ceiling.
Having based the movepool on Malamar, I used comparable attacks, just with shifted types - Psychic became Poison, Dark became Electric, Fighting coverage became Bug, Normal coverage became Psychic and Flying coverage became Water (the only exception was the Normal type Swagger being replaced by Haze instead of a Psychic type support move). Poison type Pokemon often have Bug moves, and Water was sort of a given, hence those two substitutions, while Psychic was an important coverage type and fits the design well. Malamar's movepool is rather offensively inclined, which fits the direction we've taken Plasmanta nicely, and means the level up movepool actually does a bit of work competitively.
As an aside for future stages, if we end up giving Plasmanta a prevo, I'd love to take inspiration from Malamar there as well and have a non-conventional means of evolution. Given the concept, it would be too perfect to not have the evolution method involve being KO'd.
TM03 - Psyshock
TM06 - Toxic
TM09 - Venoshock
TM10 - Hidden Power
TM11 - Sunny Day
TM12 - Taunt
TM15 - Hyper Beam
TM17 - Protect
TM18 - Rain Dance
TM20 - Safeguard
TM21 - Frustration
TM24 - Thunderbolt
TM25 - Thunder
TM27 - Return
TM29 - Psychic
TM32 - Double Team
TM34 - Sludge Wave
TM36 - Sludge Bomb
TM40 - Aerial Ace
TM42 - Facade
TM44 - Rest
TM46 - Thief
TM45 - Attract
TM48 - Round
TM60 - Quash
TM63 - Embargo
TM68 - Giga Impact
TM70 - Flash
TM73 - Thunder Wave
TM84 - Poison Jab
TM87 - Swagger
TM88 - Sleep Talk
TM90 - Substitute
TM93 - Wild Charge
TM100 - Confide
HM01 - Cut
Most of these are fairly self explanatory. Anything that was in the level up pool that is also a TM gets repeated here. All the compulsory TMs are in as well. Competitively, Taunt and Safeguard are the most notable inclusions here, as well as the addition of Sludge Bomb as an alternative STAB. Flash is in as obligatory Electric type flavour, the weather moves are in because they'll have little relevance competitively and are on most Electric types, Aerial Ace is in because of move-move correlation with Air Slash. I've also added in a few Dark type flavour moves since they fit the slightly mysterious aspect of the design. This list is rather short relative to most Pokemon but, due to flavour and Allowed move restrictions, I think it's the best fitting list available.
Egg Group: Water 1/Water 2 (same as Malamar)
- Camouflage (e.g. Malamar)
- Aqua Tail (e.g. Gyarados)
- Air Slash (e.g. Mantine)
- Spark (e.g. Lanturn)
- Poison Tail (e.g. Dragalge)
Competitively, the most notable move is Air Slash. Otherwise, it's mostly flavour here - Camouflage to parallel Malamar, a couple of tail moves to fit the aquatic, poisonous stingray tail design, and Spark because of Electric flavour.
STAB:
- Thunderbolt
- Discharge
- Thunder
- Spark*
- Wild Charge*
- Sludge Bomb
- Sludge Wave
- Poison Jab*
- Gunk Shot*
- Clear Smog
Coverage:
- Hidden Power
- Psychic
- Psyshock
- Signal Beam
- Air Slash
- Aqua Tail*
- Return*
- Frustration*
- Facade*
Non-Attacking:
- Taunt
- Haze
- Thunder Wave
- Toxic
- Substitute
- Protect
- Rain Dance
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
Total: 27 (1 move copy)
I've gone fairly heavy handed with the STAB options - I see no reason not to include them, and they should be the bread and butter of the sets people are running anyway. Coverage I've tried to restrict so that nothing on our threat list is interfered with. Psychic type coverage gives us an option for Venasuar and Amoonguss, with Air Slash offering more niche coverage for handling other Grass types. Signal Beam offers useful coverage against the Latis, without offering the amazing neutral coverage of Dark, Ghost, Fairy or Dragon. I'll add calcs later if I get time, but earlier discussions have already covered the merits of these moves in depth anyway. This movepool doesn't greatly distinguish itself from others on the attacking side.
As for non-attacking moves, I really don't want players using Plasmanta being encouraged to run a support set, so the options are fairly targeted. Taunt and Haze are the most important two options - Taunt stops Pokemon switching in and setting up if they're slower than Plasmanta (as well as controlling status Pokemon, although the non-RM Safeguard is another option there), while Haze prevents faster switch-ins from accumulating boosts. I believe that having Haze removes the need for Encore. Encore could be used to trap an opposing Pokemon into a setup move - if this is done to stop a Pokemon setting up on Plasmanta, it could have used Haze instead. Once the Pokemon is trapped, Plasmanta is encouraged to switch out and let something else set up - this is counter concept. On the other hand, it could be used to trap a Pokemon into an attacking move. If this move threatens Plasmanta, it either doesn't get a chance to Encore if outsped, or it can force the opponent to reuse a move to KO it, denying the opponent the choice of whether to KO or not. Encore creates too many counter concept situations, and I'm strongly against its inclusion on the movepool. Anything pro-concept that Encore can do, Haze does as well. I've also omitted Defog, as I believe this is a distraction from the role Plasmanta should be taking. It is these two omissions that most distinguish my movepool competitively, and will probably be the major reason why people would/wouldn't vote for it.
(Moves marked with an asterisk are present for flavour or because they're required, but are unlikely to see significant competitive use)
- Discharge
- Spark
- Thunder
- Thunderbolt
- Thundershock
- Thunder Wave
- Wild Charge
- Clear Smog
- Gunk Shot
- Poison Gas
- Poison Jab
- Poison Sting
- Poison Tail
- Sludge Bomb
- Sludge Wave
- Toxic
- Venoshock
- Confusion
- Psychic
- Psybeam
- Psyshock
- Aerial Ace
- Air Slash
- Pin Missile
- Signal Beam
- Aqua Tail
- Rain Dance
- Water Gun
- Water Pulse
- Embargo
- Quash
- Thief
- Attract
- Camouflage
- Confide
- Cut
- Double Team
- Facade
- Flash
- Frustration
- Giga Impact
- Hidden Power
- Protect
- Return
- Rest
- Round
- Safeguard
- Sleep Talk
- Substitute
- Swagger
- Taunt
- Haze
- Sunny Day
Total Moves: 53
Total Restricted Moves: 27 (1 move copy)
Also, Korski (and anyone else who has used Bubblebeam that I've missed), Bubblebeam is Water coverage greater than 60 BP, and thus illegal.
Final Submission
RMs: 24
Total Moves: 53
Bold = RM
Underlined = Repeat
Start: Spark
Start: Poison Gas
5: Tackle
8: Smog
13: Shock Wave
18: Venom Drench
22: Bounce
24: Rage
30: Hex
33: Thunder Wave
37: Poison Tail
40: Spite
45: Air Slash
48: Slam
50: Haze
55: Discharge
57: Acid
60: Sludge
03: Psyshock
06: Toxic
09: Venoshock
10: Hidden Power
11: Sunny Day
12: Taunt
15: Hyper Beam
17: Protect
18: Rain Dance
20: Safeguard
21: Frustration
24: Thunderbolt
25: Thunder
27: Return
32: Double Team
34: Sludge Wave
36: Sludge Bomb
42: Facade
44: Rest
45: Attract
48: Round
60: Quash
68: Giga Impact
70: Flash
73: Thunder Wave
78: Bulldoze
87: Swagger
88: Sleep Talk
90: Substitute
96: Nature Power
99: Dazzling Gleam
100: Confide
Defog (Drifblim, Lumineon)
Clear Smog (Weezing, Castform, Wailord, Gastrodon)
Gunk Shot (Swallot, Octillery, Muk)
Fell Stinger (Qwilphish)
A fairly conservative movepool; the only real coverage is Air Slash, Psyshock and Dazzling Gleam. There's a bit more to work with on the non-attacking side with Defog, Clear Smog, Taunt and status moves.
CAP 19 So Far...Final Submission
RMs: 23
Total Moves: 49
Key:
Bold = RM
Underlined = Repeat
Level up pool:
Level Learned | Move Name
Start | Sludge Wave (repeated in TMs)
Start | Thunder Wave (repeated in TMs)
Start | Leer
Start | Acid
Start | Charge
4 | Charge
8 | Leer
11 | Acid
14 | Focus Energy
18 | Poison Tail
23 | Spark (useless physical move)
26 | Sludge
30 | Shock Wave
40 | Venoshock
48 | Thunder (repeated in TMs)
57 | Venom Drench
63 | Thunderbolt (repeated in TMs)
Based closely off Kingdra (who has a quite close BST and only learns specially attacking moves through level up), This movepool in part tries to tell a story. Notice that literally no attacking electric moves are learned until level 23 - representing the fact that Plasmanta doesn't use electricity to attack until it figures out it can do it on accident by literally ramming an enemy while electrified. This is followed by it refining it's poisonous hunting skills at 26, and then finally figuring out how to shoot electricity in to it's opponent at level 30. Eventually, our favorite manta ray even figures out how to poison it's own poison at level 40, and learns that "more electricity is better" at level 48. The final two moves just come from Plasmanta learning to spew more poison to drench it's opponent and figuring out how to actually aim it's electricity.
Despite the fact that it has a high special attack, which can be associated with a high intelligence, I chose the route of a long-range predator. This is because poison and electricity don't naturally connotate a high intelligence or mystic powers, meaning Plasmanta is treated in this movepool as closer to the intelligence of a heat-seeking rocket launcher then a manipulative almost-human creature.
Competitively, there's close to nothing important here. Plasmanta has a straightforward mind and therefore only learns straightforward attacking STABs and Debuffing moves. Venom Drench is included as an option for the player to not make Plasmanta setup bait. Everything important will either come in HMs and TMs, or from egg moves.
LET'S TALK TMS!
TM no. | Move Name
06 | Toxic
09 | Venoshock
10 | Hidden Power
12 | Taunt
15 | Hyper Beam
17 | Protect
18 | Rain Dance
20 | Safeguard
21 | Frustration (Repeat of Return)
24 | Thunderbolt (Repeated in level up)
25 | Thunder (Repeated in level up)
27 | Return (Repeat of Frustration)
29 | Psychic
30 | Shadow Ball (read end stuff for justification)
32 | Double Team
34 | Sludge Wave (Repeated in level up)
36 | Sludge Bomb
41 | Torment
42 | Facade
44 | Rest
45 | Attract
48 | Round
60 | Quash
68 | Giga Impact
70 | Flash
73 | Thunder Wave (Repeated in level up)
84 | Poison Jab
87 | Swagger
88 | Sleep Talk
90 | Substitute
93 | Wild Charge
100 | Confide
Hey, notice anything interesting on this part of the movepool? Like how it almost utterly lacks coverage moves? This is intentional. Coverage is something I would preferably avoid: We've already banned water, grass, ice, fire, ground, AND fighting moves; and with good reason: 131 special attack is already enough to break through our checks. Shadow Ball and Psychic are the only moves that don't effect our predetermined checks but that still help towards other Pokemon such as Mega-Venu, who always is in the way for Gyara, and L@tios, who can situationally hit our sweeper depending on the coverage it's carrying.
On the non-competitive end, TMs can be likened to 'taught' behaviors; Protect, Rest, and Taunt are not things you would ever see a wild Plasmanta do. If it were wild, it's thoughts would be limited to shoot electricity, shoot poison, and stop the moving things from moving. This is shown through the TMs I chose in this section: All manipulative, mindgame-y moves come from the trainer, not the Pokemon.
More on why I didn't include Dark Pulse:
Did you know that there are only three Evolution chains that are both electric type and learn dark pulse?
They are:
Thundurus (Evil Genie)
Rotom (Evil Lightbulb)
Heliosk (Conceptually confused lightning lizard)
Does a stingray, that hunts UNDER WATER where IT'S DARK ENOUGH ALREADY need to shoot pulses of darkness? No.
Water 1 and Monster Groups:
Encore
Disable
Clear Smog
Defog
Water Pulse
Splash
Water Gun
Metronome (If there was ever a reason to vote for my movepool, here it is)
The most important thing to note here is that Defog, with these egg groups, is illegal with practically any sort of other utility counter I could block. Taunt and Torment, which are TMs, can't be stopped by egg move restriction.
The reason I chose to place these restrictions on defog where really just to help push Plasmanta away from a Utility Counter role. While Defog does help our sweeper do it's job, It's an extremely powerful move on a Pokemon who doesn't have the typing of a standard Defogger; and while CAP already lacks any sort of recovery in the first place which makes it unlikely to ever have a place as a purely utility Mon, I tried to limit it's ability to completely chew on stall teams.
The above no longer applies, and, after thinking about it more, I've decided to utterly remove Defog. Not only does it not apply very well as a flavor move, but it's relatively unnecessary for CAP to have; Most of it's support to our sweeper comes directly from it's STABs and ability to handle things that would ordinarily shut down our sweeper.
#strikethroughs for days
Readding defog as it was brought up in IRC that not only does defog help keep our sweeper healthy, but it also allows for CAP to better bait out many of the SR users we can have our sweeper set up on, as your opponent will want to reapply Stealth rock as quickly as possible.
Uncompetitively, I treated egg moves as an extension of the TM's 'learned behavior' theme. However, unlike the TM section, the moves chosen were mainly related to the environment around Plasmanta. A Plasmanta born of pokemon who live closer to water are generally going to be closer to a water type, and therefore can learn to be closer to a water type then a regular Plasmanta.
IGNUSMOVEPOOL2014
Concept:
Yilx said:Name: Einherjar ~Acta Est Fabula~
Description: A Pokemon that dissuades your opponent from fainting it, or can even leave it's presence on the field felt even after it faints.
Justification: When a Pokemon faints, it's usually thought of as the battle having gotten down to a 5-6. However, we've yet to discover if a Pokemon can leave a lasting impression on the battle even after having fainted; be it through moves like Healing Wish and Destiny Bond, placing hazards that the opponent can't remove as their removal has been taken care of, or by leaving an opponent's key member weakened and/or taken out.
Questions To Be Answered:
- How can a Pokemon leave a long-lasting effect on the rest of the battle with just it's moves?
- How the hell is it different from simply ramming a sacrificial martyr into your opponent's team and hoping it punches holes in it?
- Building on the previous question, is it possible to build this Pokemon as a defensive threat rather than a "Glass Cannon"?
- Is it even possible for a Pokemon to leave a lasting effect on on the battle, even after it faints?
- Could changing your opponent's way of thinking even be plausible? From, "I need to take CAP X out!", to, "Damn, if I take CAP X out, I'll be in trouble...!"
Abilities: Storm Drain / (Insomnia/Vital Spirit)
Stats: 60 HP / 57 Atk / 119 Def / 131 SpA / 98 SpD / 100 Spe
Leadership Team:
Pwnemon- Topic Leader
ginganinja - Ability Leader
srk1214 - Typing Leader
alexwolf - Movepool Leader
