Leer interacts in the following ways with various mechanics:
- Clear Body and Big Pecks stop Leer from working entirely.
- White Herb will block the stat drop, but an Intimidate switch-in could be used to clear White Herb before Leer hits. Using Leer multiple times also works.
- Contrary results in Leer increasing the target's Defense. Clear Smog can remove these boosts.
- Magic Bounce reflects Leer onto Pokémon that are adjacent to Espeon, but it will still hit the other two opponents normally.
- Quick Guard blocks Prankster Leer. The move is only used by Cobalion4, and it has used the move once in battle #440.
- Leer activates Competitive and Defiant. Bisharp4's Sucker Punch is blocked by Quick Guard, and it is not particularly threatening. Competitive Gothitelle and Competitive Milotic can be threatening; it's possible to scout for the ability on Gothitelle, as Frisk is announced and Shadow Tag prevents switching.
- Clear Smog removes Leer Defense drops. It's still worth using it on Lati@s1 and Evasion boosters, among others.
- Wide Guard does not block Leer, despite Leer hitting all opponents. As is usual for the AI, it uses Wide Guard even with none of the Pokémon on the field having moves that it might block.
Leer can be used multiple times to stack Defense drops. With Focus Sash and decent bulk, Meowstic can usually use Leer several times in a battle; tough foes like Suicune or Cresselia are softened into KO range after several Leers, and at -2 or -3, resists also start dying. Leer nulls Defense boosts from Stockpile and Curse and weakens set-up sweepers until they are in KO range for a priority attack. Meowstic does not learn Taunt, but with Leer stacking, it can nearly always contribute and avoids being set-up bait. It can also use Leer while Scizor or Salamence bait with Protect, and Leer again on the next turn so that enemy is at -2 when the sweeper moves. Since the AI does not switch out, Leer's effect is permanent - even if Meowstic or its co-leads die, the enemies have been weakened for the back-ups to KO.
Regirock, Landorus4, Latios2, Latias2, Regice, Mandibuzz4 and Metagross4 are the biggest threats that ignore Leer, and are generally the team's worst match-ups. Against these foes, spamming Leer is still useful to weaken the other two enemies.
Hilariously, Leer also increases the damage that the AI inflicts on its allies with Earthquake and Explosion. Against multiple EQ users, enemy Pokémon often KO each other with the Defense drops. In one battle, the AI's Garchomp4 scored five KOs with a single Earthquake, sweeping the whole field clean.
Sunny Day removes Hail and Sandstorm so that Sturdy and Focus Sash remain intact and Sand Veil/Snow Cloak/Sand Rush are deactivated. Prankster Quick Guard has +4 priority to Fake Out's +3, making it block the move entirely. It also blocks Extremespeed from sniping a weakened Talonflame and priority moves from KOing 1HP Sawk.
147 Speed outspeeds Talonflame by 1. At -1 after Icy Wind has hit both Talonflame and Meowstic, it is still one point faster.
Choice Band on Talonflame is generally an inferior item to Life Orb or Sharp Beak in the Maison. Scizor and Talonflame could even swap their items - but Talonflame needs the extra power of Choice Band to secure KOs after Leer. I initially ran Tailwind, but since the team has three Pokémon with priority moves, a Choice Scarf user, a Pokémon with 120 base Speed, and a Pokémon with base 39 Speed, I never used it and replaced it with U-Turn. Protect is useful in situations where Talonflame can draw in two attacks with Protect to create space before switching out.
A calc:
252+ Atk Choice Band Talonflame Brave Bird vs. -1 0 HP / 0 Def Jolteon: 140-165 (100 - 117.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO
Sawk hits a great Speed tier with Choice Scarf. Sturdy enables it to survive and adds much-needed reliability to a double Choice lead that could backfire horribly. I think it's the best non-Mega option for the slot with Meowstic - Yoshi1777's team which I based this team on used Mega Kangaskhan in a similar spot, which might also work. Meowstic should be EV'd to outspeed Mega Kangaskhan in order to move before Sucker Punch hits if ran alongside it.
Gastrodon is EV'd for mixed bulk with Assault Vest, with an emphasis on Defense due to Gastrodon's lower base Defense and Assault Vest already boosting Special Defense.
In Doubles, Storm Drain stops the AI from using Water moves after its activation. In Triples, the AI's behavior depends on positioning - in short, if Gastrodon is on the left or the right and the enemy is in the center or the right, the AI behaves as if Storm Drain had never been activated. In the other cases, it behaves identically to Doubles and Water attacks stop being used. For details, see
here.
Scizor replaces Aegislash from the previous version of the team. Scizor fits the team a lot better with a stronger priority attack and no EQ weakness.
Mega Salamence is the MVP of the team. It works unexpectedly well with Meowstic, and has massive comeback potential when things don't go well. Aerilate Return is equally powerful to Choice Band Brave Bird. Dragon Dance is rarely used with Leer already boosting physical attacks and its excellent 120 base Speed, but it enables sweeping in some situations.
Ideally, battles will start with Meowstic using either Leer or Fake Out while Talonflame and Sawk KO two enemies. Gastrodon is the common switch option for Talonflame - Sawk's typing isn't too great, and any of the three back-ups might replace it depending on the opposition. Meowstic typically stays in using Leer repeatedly until it dies, unless it gets Taunted. Against Sand Stream/Snow Warning leads, Meowstic clears the skies with Sunny Day; against opposing Fake Out users, Quick Guard is the go-to move.
Gastrodon and Scizor are the preferred switch options - Salamence is sometimes also switched in, but keeping it at full health gets the most out of its enormous Mega stats and it's vulnerable if brought in prior to Mega Evolution. If the leads fail, Gastrodon/Scizor/Salamence have a lot of bulk and can come back from a deficit, especially if the opponents have eaten a Leer.
Sturdy and Focus Sash are troublesome as they prevent securing OHKOs regardless of Leer. Bulky foes that survive an attack even after Leer aren't fun for the leads, though Leer stacking helps.
Calcing whether or not an attack will OHKO the enemy after Leer and moving accordingly is crucial to using the team, as missing KOs will typically result in losing Pokémon and there is no control aside from a single Fake Out user. Misplaying on Turn 1 is likely to result in disaster, as seen in some of the battle videos.
