Research Week ORAS Edition [Week 11] - Won by Euphonos

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Kink

it's a thug life ¨̮
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shout-out to my Mazz for being the OG-OP
Hello, Underused!

Professor Kink here to present to you Week 11 of the ORAS edition of Research Week!


Keep the following things in mind during every Research Week:
  • Be open-minded, don't just say something is terrible and walk away; look at its stats and typing and think something up!
  • Feel free to theorymon early in the research period, but make it clear you're doing so. Later in the period though, you will be expected to back up your posts with hard evidence like logs, actual sets, perhaps even teams.
  • Just because an analysis has been done for a Pokemon doesn't mean there isn't more to explore; it's very likely that something has gone unnoticed.
  • Do not post in this thread complaining about the Pokemon or movesets I choose and / or suggesting ones we should do for future weeks. Feel free to VM / PM me these suggestions, but don't expect me to always listen to you.
A few things to clarify:
  • Sign-ups can be as late as you want, but the week will end on Sunday.
  • Early period means the first three days of the Research Week, so let's keep the theorymoning to a minimum after this period. The late period refers to the last four days of the research week, where raw evidence and discussion should become the basis of the thread.
  • The prizes for Research Week have been decided; winning a Research Week will grant you half-ops on our IRC channel, #xyuu. Don't forget, participation in projects like Research Week help towards earning the Community Contributor badge!
  • I'm implementing a mandatory discussion in order to be considered as a winner of Research Week. If you do not post one somewhat-coherent post that describes the Pokemon that you're using, their roles, and their niche in the metagame, you will be disqualified from winning this week. Please post about your experiences no matter if you think you've got a chance to win or not.
  • Finally, I'd like to implore you to all please remember to post and save your replays. Often, these replays are the most informative sources of information about RW Pokemon - you can write a full two paragraphs about the role of a Pokemon, but often that can all be summed up with a video and an explanation of it.


This Week's ORAS Selection
Piloswine
Ability:
Evs:
Nature
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Pinsir
Ability:
Evs:
Nature
-
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Granbull
Ability:
Evs:
Nature
-
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How useful are these Pokemon in XYUU? What gives them trouble?
What advantages do they have over other Pokemon?
How well do they work in the metagame?

If you have anything to say about any of these Pokemon, please post about them! Remember, discussion is not limited to this topic, you are encouraged to talk about these Pokemon in #xyuu and the Viability Ranking Thread as well.
In order to participate you must do the following:
  • Post here with a fresh alt and the name(s) of the Pokemon you will be using.
  • Use at least one of the Pokemon being researched.
  • Post your experiences with the Pokemon you're using, participate in the discussion!
  • Post logs of this Pokemon in action against other teams - don't just tell us, show us
  • The winner of the challenge will be the person who has the highest peak ladder ranking on the Pokemon Showdown UU ladder on the alt they registered.
  • PLEASE post your updated rank with your updated analysis, otherwise you will not win.
 
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Using the god known as piloswine
Alt: Serp for UU
Didn't really ladder much I'm somewhere in the 1200s but w/e


Pilogod (Piloswine) @ Eviolite
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Def
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Ice Shard
- Icicle Spear/Icicle Crash
- Earthquake


So for Rw i picked out piloswine and used it as a Tanky stealth rock lead. I actually found it unexpectedly awesome; it has great bulk,checks dragon spam, has priority, and defeats most opening leads. Piloswine can take hits and ko common leads like Nidoqueen, Infernape and Azelf. It can set up stealth rocks with relative ease as well. Furthermore, if you chose to use defensive investement in Piloswine, it vastly improves its already impressive bulk. In fact, with 252 defense evs, Pilowsine ONLY gets 3hkoes by scarfed Darminatian and can reko with earthquake. It can even take hits from entei but unfortunately the burn risk is too high. Priority ice shard is useful in cleaning up weakened foes and hitting dragons
But, its not all god for piloswine. Piloswine gets worn down easily and not having lefties hurts it a lot. I woul really recommend cleric support with it. Also, many bulky waters counter piloswine. It also becomes weak if its eviolite gets knocked off.
Overall, I've found Piloswine as a good Stealth rock lead that counters many opposing leads and also adds as a dragon counter after it switches or lead roles are done

252+ Atk Piloswine Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Nidoqueen: 338-398 (105.2 - 123.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO

252+ Atk Piloswine Ice Shard vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Salamence: 288-340 (87 - 102.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock

252+ Atk Piloswine Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Empoleon: 332-392 (89.2 - 105.3%) -- 68.8% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock

252+ Atk Piloswine Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Infernape: 396-468 (135.1 - 159.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO

252+ Atk Piloswine Icicle Crash vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Azelf: 171-202 (58.5 - 69.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock

252+ Atk Piloswine Icicle Crash vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Hydreigon: 278-330 (85.5 - 101.5%) -- 81.3% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock

252+ Atk Piloswine Icicle Crash vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Haxorus: 278-330 (94.5 - 112.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
 
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Pak

vortex
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A bit late but my alt is Specs Lileep and I'll be using piloswine.

Piloswine @ Eviolite
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Ice Shard
- Icicle Spear
- Stealth Rock

I decided to use Piloswine as a lead and physical wall. Piloswine's main job is to set up stealth rock to cripple the opposing team. It also has decent physical bulk that is boosted 1.5x by its eviolite. Some physical threats that this pokemon effectively walls, and is capable of dealing massive damage to, include Mega Aerodactyl, Salamence, Crobat, Entei, Mega Beedrill, etc. While Entei can hit Piloswine with STAB SE sacred fire, Piloswine's thick fat, natural bulk, and eviolite immensely reduce the damage received. Besides bulk, another useful trait of Piloswine is the access to STAB priority ice shard to hit things like Salamence or Hydreigon. Earthquake and icicle spear are just filler STAB moves that could be replaced with moves like toxic or roar.

252 Atk Tough Claws Mega Aerodactyl Aqua Tail vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Piloswine: 150-178 (37.1 - 44%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252 Atk Salamence Iron Tail vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Piloswine: 124-148 (30.6 - 36.6%) -- 65% chance to 3HKO
0 SpA Salamence Fire Blast vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Eviolite Thick Fat Piloswine: 88-104 (21.7 - 25.7%) -- 0.9% chance to 4HKO
80 Atk Crobat Brave Bird vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Piloswine: 72-85 (17.8 - 21%) -- possible 5HKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Entei Sacred Fire vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Thick Fat Piloswine: 138-164 (34.1 - 40.5%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252 Atk Adaptability Mega Beedrill U-turn vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Piloswine: 96-114 (23.7 - 28.2%) -- 92.8% chance to 4HKO

Team: http://pastebin.com/DvcSAe2r
Piloswine's role on the team is basically to sponge physical hits and get up rocks. While it does wall many physical threats, fighting types like Heracross, Machamp, and Mienshao all can nearly OHKO this pokemon. Also, UU is a tier of bulky water types like Swampert, Suicune, Empoleon, Tentacruel, etc. that Piloswine that can all deal heavy damage to Piloswine with STAB scald and potentially burn it. While burned, Piloswine's offensive presence is completely neutralized. Piloswine was basically a mediocre stealth rock lead as I would be in a bad position if my opponent led with a special attacker or fighting type. The main reason this team did so well is basically because I built it around Serperior.

upload_2015-3-1_22-4-19.png
 
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Euphonos

inanod ng mga luha; damdamin ay lumaya.
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Hello, everyone~ =)

Darkseid (Granbull) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 192 HP / 64 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Thunder Wave
- Heal Bell
- Play Rough
- Earthquake

I was experimenting a lot of teams with Fairy-type Pokemon in them as they are very integral to sponging Dragon attacks with ease. Here I am, finding hidden gems behind these Fairy-type Pokemon; be Whimsicott, Florges, Mega Audino, and hell, even Granbull.

Granbull is actually the first Fairy-type Pokemon I have ever experienced with large success; don't get me wrong, Florges was way too overrated for a Fairy in the Underused tier. The reason behind Granbull's addition to the team is the ability Intimidate which softens up most Physical attacks as if it were butter, hence being one of the successful Mega Aerodactyl and Mega Sharpedo checks and one of the better Heracross and Krookodile counters. Of course, Granbull lacked a form of recovery it needs sans Rest; there's someone who can manage to resolve this issue, and it is no other than his Intimidating partner, Wish Salamence. They both answer almost all Physical attacks due to the formation of the Dual Intimidate Core.

For the record, this team has Mega Ampharos since its inception (it's used in Showdown thanks to Salamence being suspected at that time), but because Salamence finally dropped to UU and due to the Grass-types bearing pain to this team, I'd give Mega Sceptile a try.

Doomsday (Shedinja) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Wonder Guard
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
IVs: 0 Def
- Swords Dance
- Protect
- Shadow Sneak
- X-Scissor

Green Arrow (Sceptile) @ Sceptilite
Ability: Overgrow
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Leaf Storm
- Giga Drain
- Dragon Pulse
- Hidden Power [Fire]

Nightwing (Salamence) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 216 HP / 40 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Wish
- Protect
- Dragon Tail
- Defog

Solomon Grundy (Snorlax) @ Leftovers
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 208 HP / 124 Def / 176 SpD
Careful Nature
- Curse
- Rest
- Body Slam
- Crunch

Aquaman (Empoleon) @ Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
EVs: 240 HP / 252 SpD / 16 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Defog
- Scald
- Roar

Darkseid (Granbull) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 192 HP / 64 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Thunder Wave
- Heal Bell
- Play Rough
- Earthquake






Replays are within this post.
 
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When I first thought of how Piloswine was going to be usable, I almost immediatly noticed how well it fares in this metagame agains some of the top tier threats. Piloswine is able to beat 3/4 of the defogers and spinners in the tier 1v1, including Mega Aerodactyl, Mega Pidgeot, Crobat, Donphan, and Tentacruel, along with being able to check giant threats like Salamence and Hydreigon.

Piloswine @ Eviolite
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 252 HP / 132 Def / 124 SpD
Impish Nature
- Icicle Spear
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Ice Shard

The Evs allow Piloswine to survive 2 hurricanes from Mega Pidgeot 100% of the time, while still maximizing its physical bulk. Icicle Spear is run to break subs and focus sashes.


Piloswine makes an amazing core with Mega Beedril, as it is able to beat mons that it struggles with, like Crobat or Mega Aerodactyl. While playing with it, I never felt that it was too passive, and was never dead weight as I always wanted it late game to beat a Salamence or Crobat. On the downside, Piloswine has no form of reliable recovery, and running rest/talk would hinder the amont of moves you can run. It is easily beaten by Forretress and other bulky mons that can beat its coverage. If piloswine was statused, it would just die too quickly because of the lack of lefties. Knock off can easily get rid of Piloswines eviolite, leaving it unable to take most hits.

Overall I think Piloswine is extremly underated in this metagame, and definatly is viable.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uususpecttest-214088419 Altough it didn't do much work this match, it was able to take 2 hits from the Mega Pidgeot and allow me to get up my rocks.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uususpecttest-214091045 Piloswine is able to severly weaken the defoger in crobat, and clean up late game thanks to some weird plays on the opponents part.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uususpecttest-214610601 Notice again Piloswine is able to beat the defoger, which allows me to start hazard stacking my way to vicotry.
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uususpecttest-214857923 After watching me choke 3 games in a row while i was 14 elo behind catching up to him, me and Soren Valenheart had a match that displays my massive weakness to snorlax. Althought I did lose, this again shows piloswine beating the (first) defoger, and letting me have a chance vs Shedinja.


 
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Donphantastic

I'm Donny P. (W)
is a Tiering Contributor
Despite the fact that I did not get to play as much as I wanted too, I still feel Piloswine was a good recommendation due to the fact that it is a severely under rated mon in the tier. This pokemon has a niche in countering all forms of physical salamence while still being able to tank hits from powerhouses such as entei/darm/queen ko back or get up rocks. The combination of offensive presence and defensive utility make piloswine a good pokemon for the tier.
 
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