Kabutops (QC 0/3)

[Leer]

Kabutops

Overview
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• Kabutops fairs well as a Rapid Spinner
• It can set up SD with relative ease
• Typing fits well with Stealth Rock-weak Pokemon
• Faces competition from Hitmonlee, however, Kabutops can provide defensive synergy, which Hitmonlee can not do

Offensive Rapid Spin
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name: Offensive Rapid Spin
move 1: Rapid Spin
move 2: Stone Edge
move 3: Knock Off
move 4: Aqua Jet
ability: Weak Armor
item: Life Orb
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
nature: Adamant

Moves
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• Rapid Spin is the main feature of this set
• Stone Edge is hard hitting STAB
  
• Knock Off hits Spinblockers such as Doublade and Mega Banette that switch in on Kabutops
  
• Aqua Jet is priority, which lets Kabutops hit faster targets

Set Details
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• Weak Armor gives Kabutops a much needed speed boost, allowing it to pull off a fast Rapid Spin or possibly sweep.
• The given EVs make Kabutops fast and strong
• Adamant and Life ensure max damage
• Swift Swim can be used in rain to let Kabutops outspeed the entire tier

Usage Tips
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• Hitting spinblockers with Knock Off on the switch can help to 2HKO
• Make sure to recover momentum lost in when Rapid Spinning

Team Options
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• Kabutops has great synergy with fire types Moltres and Fletchinder have great synergy outside of Electric types, and Emboar and Delphox pair well with Delphox outside of a shared Ground weakness, which Kabutops tends to keep in check with water STAB. They can eliminate Grass types that give Kabutops trouble, and Kabutops can Spin rocks away to keep the healthy

Swords Dance
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name: Swords Dance
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Stone Edge
move 3: Low Kick
move 4: Aqua Jet
ability: Weak Armor
item: Life Orb
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
nature: Adamant / Jolly

Moves
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• Swords Dance lets Kabutops get to +2 and sweep
• Stone Edge and Low Kick provide good coverage for Tops
• Aqua Jet is good priority that allows Kabutops to stay in against faster mons and continue its sweep
• Knock Off can also be used, as this set tends to bait Spinblockers

Set Details
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• Weak Armor allows Kabutops to turn physical hits into speed boosts, which can allow it to sweep against faster threats
• The given EVs make Kabutops fast and strong
  
• Life Orb gives Kabutops a noticeable amount of power, however a Lum Berry can be used to set up on walls
• Adamant ensures more power, however a Jolly nature can be used to outspeed certain Pokemon
• Swift Swim can be used with rain to let Kabutops outspeed the entire tier and sweep at +2.

Usage Tips
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• Sweeping is a whole lot easier when checks and counters are gone
• Coming in on something Kabutops beats can allow you to set up Swords Dance

Team Options
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• Fire types such as Moltres and Delphox can eliminate Grass types that get in the way of Kabutop's sweep
• Bulky waters such as Slowking, Seismitoed, and Gastrodon give Kabutops trouble, so Pokemon like Jolteon, Rotom-C, and Shiftry can help Kabutops by KOing them.
• Kabutops works well on Sticky Webs teams, where its mid-Speed tier and high Attack+boosting move allow it to outspeed and sweep

Assault Vest
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name: Assault Vest
move 1: Stone Edge / Waterfall
move 2: Knock Off
move 3: Aqua Jet
move 4: Rapid Spin
ability: Battle Armor
item: Assault Vest
evs: 96 HP / 252 Atk / 160 Spe
nature: Adamant

Moves
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Set Details
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Usage Tips
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Team Options
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Other Options
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• Kabutops can run Stealth Rock as a more utility Pokemon
• Waterfall is a stronger Water STAB than Aqua Jet
• Flail is a nice Gimmick that can be paired with Endure

Checks & Counters
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**Grass types** Amoonguss, Rotom-C, Gourgeist, Virizion, Tangrowth, and others can take advantage of Kabutops's 4x weakness to Grass

**Fighting types** Cobalion and Virizion can KO or set up Swords Dances, Gurdurr can KO or Bulk Up, Hitmontop can bulk a hit with Intimidate and KO, and Himonlee can force Tops out with a Mach Punch

**Gastrodon and Seismitoed** Kabutops has trouble hitting these too with their high physical bulk, and is hit back by their ground STABs

**Doublade** Doublade can completely wall both sets, being able to block spins and absorb all of Tops's attacks, including Knock Off

 

[Leer]

Ready for checks

if there is a term for johning in C&C i have done it​

 

[g]

Waterfall in OO to hit Rhyperior and stuff.
Also Alomomola is not the best of counters to the SD set which can simply boost on the switch and then go for the 2hko. Meaning that Kabutops roughly has a 50% chance to win (hitting 2 stone edges+not get burned). Gastrodon and Seismitoad are much better counters as they can kill back actually. Also add tangrowht to grass types :)

 

[Molk]

Agreeing with galbia that Waterfall needs at least a large mention in OO (larger than the current one at least), i'll leave it up to the rest of QC if it should be mentioned in moves or even slashed.

Doublade should definitely get a mention in checks and counters as a hard check. It can stop Kabu's Rapid Spin, is immune to Low Kick, resists Stone Edge, and takes Aqua Jet/Waterfall really easily thanks to its amazing physical bulk. Kabutops has to hit it with Knock Off on the switch to really threaten the Sword.

Gastrodon and Seismitoad could definitely warrant mentions in checks and counters too as galbia mentioned, and i believe that there should be a section dedicated to Fighting-types there too.

Cobalion, Virizion, Hitmotop, and the occasional Gurdurr all match up incredibly well against Kabutops and easily force it out/set up all over it, and even the frail Hitmonlee can force it out with the threat of a fast Mach Punch in a pinch.

 

[Molk]

yo Leer, how's this going?

 

[Leer]

yo Leer, how's this going?

About to get back from vacation (an hour out now), I plan on doing this when I get home

 

[Molk]

alrighty, just checking in =).

 

[Pearl]

what i'm about to mention is common knowledge which was also referred above, but doublade needs its own section on counters and checks, as it blocks rapid spin and single handily defeats the current swords dance set you have in there

battle armor needs to be mentioned more overall, maybe even over weak armor, due to the later's inconsistently and undesirability to have under some circumstances.

stone edge hits meganette harder than knock off, the later is solely used for doublade, since kabutops asks for doublade switch ins pretty much every time it's up against a team /w it. with that in mind, mention how kabutops pairs up well with pokemon that benefit from having doublade weakened, such as cobalion and virizion.

waterfall needs bigger mentions all around the analysis. slash it with stone edge on offensive spin

now, onto the most important things:

swords dance set needs to be reworked. it's a respectable sweeper outside of rain, but under rain is when it shines the brightest: it gets the firepower to win against doublade without having to recur to knock off (+2 waterfall under rain is almost a ohko), it outruns everything on offense and destroys even the biggest defensive behemoths on stall (ohkos amoonguss, does around 80% to mola, ohkos cress after sr), and is a beast in general. with that in mind, i'd make the set look like this:

Swords Dance
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name: Swords Dance
move 1: Waterfall
move 2: Stone Edge
move 3: Aqua Jet
move 4: Swords Dance
ability: Swift Swim
item: Life Orb
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
nature: Adamant

with huge mentions everywhere of rain partners (both setters and abusers, and how kabutops can pave the way for something like qwilfish or ludicolo to clean up), although you obviously also need to mention its uses outside of rain, but in general, i think you didn't stress it enough on the current set.

finally, make this a set too:

Assault Vest
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name: Assault Vest
move 1: Stone Edge / Waterfall
move 2: Knock Off
move 3: Aqua Jet
move 4: Rapid Spin
ability: Battle Armor
item: Assault Vest
evs: 96 HP / 252 Atk / 160 Spe
nature: Adamant

this one's sort of a current trend, and holds balance and offense teams alike as a moltres/exploud check, rapid spinner and doublade lure. evs guarantee that you are able to outrun exploud and knock off its choice specs before it mauls you, although you can probably do 252 hp and 96 atk too, not sure actually, up for rest of qc team to decide. rest of the moves are self explanatory.

flail could get an oo mention, since its a pretty cool gimmick, as kabutops gets both endure and priority for the likes of fletchinder.

+2 252+ Atk Kabutops Flail (200 BP) vs. 252 HP / 160+ Def Amoonguss: 436-513 (100.9 - 118.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO <- power

i think this is all, but even if it isn't i can check on it tomorrow cause i'm tired rn

peace n_n

 

[Leer]

updated except:
can i get more feedback on the SD set? spirit said (iirc) that it doesn't need a rain set, only a mention of SS in set details, and imo a Swift Swim SD set and a regular SD set seem pretty different. About 80% of the time I use SD Tops I'm not running rain, so I'm not tooooooo sure about that set. If you ask me rain SD and regular SD should be two different sets, but what do you guys think?

And I haven't tested the AV set so I don't know what to put, but I'll come back with some results on that soon!

 

[Pearl]

updated except:
can i get more feedback on the SD set? spirit said (iirc) that it doesn't need a rain set, only a mention of SS in set details, and imo a Swift Swim SD set and a regular SD set seem pretty different. About 80% of the time I use SD Tops I'm not running rain, so I'm not tooooooo sure about that set. If you ask me rain SD and regular SD should be two different sets, but what do you guys think?

well, i'm speaking as someone who's used sd kabutops under rain intensively, both on the ladder and against better players, so my opinion might be really biased towards it. either way, you should tone down low kick's mentions even if rest of qc doesn't like the idea of having a (mostly) rain based swords dance, since waterfall hits a lot of low kick's targets for a similar effect and doesn't leave you defenseless against doublade

And I haven't tested the AV set so I don't know what to put, but I'll come back with some results on that soon!

feel free to test it then, it's a really neat set :] and we can always help you with it too, since a lot of us (spirit and i, molk has seen it in action i guess) have experience with it

 

[Molk]

leer dropped this

locking!