Singles Victim of the Week [Current Victim: Landorus-T] ~ VOTING ~

Im going for PPB cause whimsicott is one of few pokemon with reliable recovery in substitute + leech seed that doesnt fear getting stalled out by suicune and prankster encore makes suicune very predictable.
 
So many cool nominations this week. I'm giving my vote to NOVED. Voting for DragonWhale or Montsegur was so tempting though, why must you conflict me with such cool and unique choices (>_<)
 

Hulavuta

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umm Idk what creeper nominated but Ill go for Creeper3971 anyway xD
Let's not go for joke votes here dude...if you're just kidding about not knowing his set (although you might wanna make it a little more obvious) then that's all well and good, but let's not turn this into a thing where we just vote for our friends every round. Vote for what you truly think is the best set.
 
SimicCombine
Closest thing to bulky specs Rotom-W (no time otherwise Id write it up) which I believe is the best thing for suicune among many other things. imo the best Rotom-W set
But ya scarf rotom-w still has elec stab and it can cripple passive mons with choice item
 

cant say

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Thread Necromancy Activate!

Congratulations to DragonWhale who won this week with his Mega Charizard X nomination! Who would have thought a Fire-type would be the best answer to a bulky Water? As if I didn't get any votes with Breloom tho ;_;

For the next victim we're gonna stick with the defensive theme and go to an old school XY classic that is still a great check to many Battle Spot Singles threats. We're going to be discussing which Pokemon handle Zapdos! Sporting great coverage between its Electric STAB, Heat Wave and Hidden Power [Ice], solid defensive typing and stats backed by reliable recovery in Roost, and the ability to pivot out of the opponents check with Volt Switch makes Zapdos a troublesome Pokemon for unprepared teams!

 

ethan06

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Reserving Mamoswine, the simplest and the best n.n


Mamoswine @ Life Orb / Choice Band
Ability: Thick Fat
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Ice Shard
- Icicle Spear
- Knock Off / Rock Tomb

Choice Band Mamoswine is a pretty straightforward and smashy way to deal with Zapdos. Between Thick Fat and its Ground typing, Mamoswine is immune to Thunder Wave and takes neutral damage at best from Zapdos' attacks. Meanwhile, Mamoswine can outspeed and 2HKO the defensive variant with Icicle Spear, even if it only gets two hits both times. The move choice in the fourth slot is ultimately down to preference: Rock Tomb and Knock Off afford you two different ways of punishing a switch-in, with one slowing the opponent down and the other removing their item. Mamoswine also has a positive matchup against many other metagame threats, such as Raikou, Mega Manectric, Garchomp, Thundurus, Hydreigon and Tyrantrum, mostly thanks to its powerful item-boosted Ice Shard, which enables it to pick off most weakened threats.

252 Atk Choice Band Mamoswine Icicle Spear (2 hits) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Zapdos: 108-132 (54.8 - 67%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ SpA Zapdos Heat Wave vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Thick Fat Mamoswine: 66-78 (35.6 - 42.1%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

edit: slashed Life Orb because I've been testing it and the freedom of move choice is very attractive and I haven't noticed the power drop yet :]
 
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Dragalge @ Choice Specs
Ability: Adaptability
Level: 50
EVs: 196 HP / 252 SpA / 60 Spe
Modest Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Sludge Wave
- Focus Blast
- Scald

Dragalge can take any hit that Zapdos throws at it (even Modest Specs! If you face people who are into weird stuff like that) and OHKO it back with a Draco (use Sludge Wave if you actually think you're fighting a Specially Defensive set to get a safe 2HKO). Dragalge is pretty useful in the metagame as well, beating things that lack special bulk to not get OHKO'd and the ability to beat it efficiently (Mega Venusaur, Breloom, Mega Manectric), so you're not essentially "wasting" a team member by using it. The EVs and moveset can be tweaked to your heart's desire, Dragalge has a lot of options, and that's just the set I use. Also, its design and typing are both pretty badass, so try this poke out if you have problems with the Lightning Bird.



252+ SpA Choice Specs Adaptability Dragalge Draco Meteor vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Zapdos: 216-256 (109.6 - 129.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO
0 SpA Zapdos Hidden Power Ice vs. 196 HP / 0 SpD Dragalge: 46-56 (27.8 - 33.9%) -- 0.2% chance to 3HKO


252+ SpA Choice Specs Adaptability Dragalge Draco Meteor vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Zapdos: 154-182 (78.1 - 92.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ SpA Choice Specs Adaptability Dragalge Sludge Wave vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Zapdos: 112-134 (56.8 - 68%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ SpA Choice Specs Zapdos Hidden Power Ice vs. 196 HP / 0 SpD Dragalge: 92-110 (55.7 - 66.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
 


Tyranitar @ Leftovers
Level: 50
Ability: Sand Stream
Evs: 252 HP/ 156 Defense/ 100 Special Defense
Adamant Nature
-Stone Edge
-Crunch
-Earthquake
-Fire Blast/Ice Beam

Take a step back and let's all look at this magnificent Pokemon we have right here, Tyranitar! When taking a look at the common Zapdos we see a bit of a bulkier set, in most cases running HP and defensive EVs; making it hard for some pokemon such as Talonflame, Salamence, and Ferrothorn to take off damage while at the same time having to deal with roost and even a rocky helm. Aside from the defensiveness, Zapdos also comes packing some very useful moves with its 125 Sp.Attack. However its moveset is very limited in terms of variety between good attacking type moves. By this I mean practically most attacking sets will always run Heat Wave, Thunderbolt, and/or Hidden Power Ice (Maybe Extrasensory and definetly not signal beam-Its other higher based attack.) So with that taken into note, I decided to choose Tyranitar as my nomination! A strong Stone Edge STAB mixed up with high invested HP with a bit of Special Defense and resistance to Zapdos' fire and thunder attacks, this suits the spot very well n_n

Damage Calcs

Defensive Zapdos Bold Nature +10 def/-10 attack

68 SpA Zapdos Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 100 SpD Tyranitar in Sand: 40-48 (19.3 - 23.1%) -- possible 6HKO after Leftovers recovery

68 SpA Zapdos Heat Wave vs. 252 HP / 100 SpD Tyranitar in Sand: 14-17 (6.7 - 8.2%) -- possibly the worst move ever

68 SpA Zapdos Hidden Power Ice vs. 252 HP / 100 SpD Tyranitar in Sand: 18-22 (8.6 - 10.6%) -- possibly the worst move ever


Tyranitar
0+ Atk Tyranitar Stone Edge vs. 252 HP / 168 Def Zapdos: 152-182 (77.1 - 92.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after sandstorm damage and Leftovers recovery
Life Orb variant:
0+ Atk Life Orb Tyranitar Stone Edge vs. 252 HP / 168 Def Zapdos: 198-237 (100.5 - 120.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO

-For if you're still wondering how much a fully invested modest Zapdos will do-
252+ SpA Zapdos Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 100 SpD Tyranitar in Sand: 51-60 (24.6 - 28.9%) -- guaranteed 5HKO after Leftovers recovery

252+ SpA Zapdos Heat Wave vs. 252 HP / 100 SpD Tyranitar in Sand: 17-21 (8.2 - 10.1%) -- possibly the worst move ever

252+ SpA Zapdos Hidden Power Ice vs. 252 HP / 100 SpD Tyranitar in Sand: 22-27 (10.6 - 13%) -- possibly the worst move ever

252+ SpA Zapdos Signal Beam vs. 252 HP / 100 SpD Tyranitar in Sand: 56-68 (27 - 32.8%) -- 72% chance to 4HKO after Leftovers recovery (The last bit of hope)
 
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Hulavuta

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That's a great set PikachuCandyツ, one option is to actually use Assault Vest rather than Leftovers, since you're only using attacks. Thunderbolt is still a 6HKO either way, but the cool thing about Assault Vest is it allows you to invest in Attack as you won't need to invest much in Special Defense. Stone Edge will still only be a 2HKO on Physically Defensive Zapdos, so for the purposes of Zapdos it doesn't make a whole lot of difference, but in general it can be a set that handles Zapdos and is more general to the whole metagame, for example it is able to beat Cresselia more easily. It also handles offensive Zapdos a tiny little better by making the 5HKO only a possible 5HKO.

If you wanted to go really overboard you could use Assault Vest with Special Defense investment, turning it into a 7HKO...but yeah that's probably not necessary; I think 5 turns to take care of Zapdos is usually enough!
 


Reuniclus @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
Nature: Calm
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpD / 4 SpA
- Psychic
- Focus Blast
- Recover
- Calm Mind

Calm mind reuniclus doesnt care about toxic (magic guard ability negates any passive damage, also life orb damage) or other damage from zapdos as it can calm mind and recover until both special attack and special defense is plus 6. After that use recover one more time to have almost max hp when you ohko zapdos with +6 life orb psychic. It doesnt mind zapdos ability pressure cause it only needs to hit one time with his main attack move psychic. Focus blast hits steel or dark types like ferrothorn (and you dont care about his leech seed because of magic guard) or an incoming greninja if you predict it. Good luck doing anything against this reuniclus with a zapdos, and good luck for all other special attackers after you used zapdos as setup-bait!

Calcs:
252+ SpA Zapdos Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Reuniclus: 67-79 (30.8 - 36.4%) -- 57.3% chance to 3HKO
This is for max offensive (but noone runs that anyways) zapdos, without any calm minds up, this means reuniclus can safely switch in and reck from there. So this reuniclus is a safe counter to zapdos, cause even if zapdos switches out, you use recover.

+6 4 SpA Life Orb Reuniclus Psychic vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Zapdos: 247-292 (125.3 - 148.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO
And as you can see it can 100% knock out max special invested zapdos in one shot with +6 psychic.

252+ SpA Zapdos Thunderbolt vs. +6 252 HP / 252+ SpD Reuniclus: 16-21 (7.3 - 9.6%) -- possibly the worst move ever
The most damage zapdos can do after six calm minds is this!
 
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DragonWhale

It's not a misplay, it's RNG manipulation
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Espeon @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Bounce
Timid Nature
- Psychic
- Calm Mind
- Morning Sun
- Dazzling Gleam
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spe

Just your average anti-Prankster Espeon turns out to be a great counter to Zapdos. Not only does it help your other teammates from getting Toxic'd (because nobody would spam Toxic when there's a potential Espeon in the back), it can turn Zapdos into setup fodder.

4 SpA Zapdos Thunderbolt vs. +1 252 HP / 0 SpD Espeon: 43-52 (25 - 30.2%) -- 1.1% chance to 4HKO after Leftovers recovery

Thanks to Morning Sun, Espeon can set up without much problem, bar unlucky paralysis and critical hits happening. You can even replace Psychic with Stored Power if you want to be cheeky.
 
Yeah, I posted this earlier for Blaziken-Mega. But i'll do it again due to relevance!
I present to you guys Mega Latias!

Latias-Mega @ Latiasite
Ability: Levitate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 36 Def / 12 SpA / 12 SpD / 196 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Psyshock/Psychic
- Draco Meteor/Substitute
- Roost

Calcs:
Zapdos vs Latias-Mega

68 SpA Zapdos Hidden Power Ice vs. 252 HP / 12 SpD Mega Latias: 42-50 (22.4 - 26.7%) -- 15.2% chance to 4HKO
WORST CASE SCENARIO 252+ SpA Choice Specs Zapdos Hidden Power Ice vs. 252 HP / 12 SpD Mega Latias: 78-92 (41.7 - 49.1%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

Draco Meteor is there to quickly snipe Garchomps or other Dragons so you can safely set up or use your other mons weak to various Dragons safely and not have to worry about such Dragons especially since you have a faster spatt Dragon with you. Dragon Pulse fails to ohko due to the investment without setting up which will make Garchomp or other Dragons KO you before you can do much in return. If you don't like using Draco on this set, feel free to use Substitute as you can freely setup (and pretty much never die) vs many Mons and the mons that are immune or resist Psychic are not mons M-Latias should be dealing with to begin with! ex: Tyranitar, Bisharp, Aegislash, Heatran, Scizor

EDIT: Speed EVs let you outspeed Garchomp and as a result all sub-102 base mons. No need to Speed tie Gengar or Lati or outspeed Terrakion as M-Latias can take down Gengar after tanking a Shadow Ball (which is mostly Mega base 130 anyway), and tank anything Terrakion wants to do. Specs Latios is troublesome but still not worth extra investment imo
 
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Altari @ Altarianite
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
Modest Nature
- Hyper Voice
- Fire Blast
- Draco Meteor
- Roost

Mega Altaria is a nice check to Zapdos, having a nice typing that resists both Tbolt and Heat wave. I decided to run the special Altaria set because Zapdos is commonly physically defensive, so that way you can beat Zapdos without having to set up. Mainly want to continue hitting Zapdos with Hyper Voice so you dont lose special attack with Draco. And Fire blast is just there for coverage vs steels. Altaria is only a check cause you don't want it to switch in on an HP Ice. Just standard stuff that keeps Zapdos in check, nothing too fancy. Roost is also nice incase you get Para'd for a couple of turns i suppose

calcs:
252+ SpA Pixilate Mega Altaria Hyper Voice vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Zapdos: 204-241 (53.1 - 62.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
68 SpA Zapdos Hidden Power Ice vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Mega Altaria: 108-128 (36.9 - 43.8%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
 


Charizard @ Charizardite X
Ability: Blaze
EVs 252 Atk / 76 SpD / 180 Spe
Nature: Adamant
- Swords Dance
- Flare Blitz
- Dragon Claw
- Roost

Guess I'll just give it a try. Well I decided to go for a different route kind of. Mega Charizard X is part Fire / Dragon making it 4x resistant to Heat Wave and resists Thunderbolt / Discharge. With these resistances, Mega Charizard X can set up once and take control of the battle. It can really use Zapdos as a setup fodder and OHKO it back with its STAB Flare Blitz at +2. Dragon Claw will be only a chance to 3HKO Zapdos. Even Hidden Power Ice wouldn't do much to Mega Charizard X. Even though the little Special Defense investment isn't really needed, it is used for Mega Charizard X to take Special Attacks better.

Calcs:

Mega Charizard X
  • 252+ Atk Tough Claws Mega Charizard X Flare Blitz vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Zapdos: 229-271 (59.6 - 70.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
  • +2 252+ Atk Tough Claws Mega Charizard X Flare Blitz vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Zapdos: 459-541 (119.5 - 140.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO
  • +2 252+ Atk Tough Claws Mega Charizard X Dragon Claw vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Zapdos: 304-358 (79.1 - 93.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
Zapdos
  • 68 SpA Zapdos Hidden Power Ice vs. 0 HP / 76 SpD Mega Charizard X: 58-69 (19.5 - 23.2%) -- possible 5HKO
  • 68 SpA Zapdos Thunderbolt vs. 0 HP / 76 SpD Mega Charizard X: 65-77 (21.8 - 25.9%) -- 2.2% chance to 4HKO
  • 68 SpA Zapdos Heat Wave vs. 0 HP / 76 SpD Mega Charizard X: 23-27 (7.7 - 9%) -- possibly the worst move ever
 

Probopass @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 108 SpA / 148 SpD
Modest Nature
- Power Gem
- Volt Switch
- Toxic
- Protect

Takes zapdos attacks while dishin out super effective power gem. Can toxic protect stall to avoid zapdos roosting away when you power gem. Can volt switch for momentum too. Also has a moustache

4 SpA Zapdos Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 148 SpD Probopass: 40-48 (23.9 - 28.7%) -- possible 5HKO after Leftovers recovery

252+ SpA Choice Specs Zapdos Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 148 SpD Probopass: 78-93 (46.7 - 55.6%) -- 18% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
^^ doesnt 2hko after protecting and getting lefties

108+ SpA Probopass Power Gem vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Zapdos: 102-120 (51.7 - 60.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

108+ SpA Probopass Power Gem vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Zapdos: 68-84 (34.5 - 42.6%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
 

cant say

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OK this is way overdue. I may as well post a set too so here goes:


Blissey @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Natural Cure
252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Toxic
- Soft Boiled
- Aromatherapy
- Flamethrower / Seismic Toss

Blissey can take any special attack that Zapdos can throw at it by virtue of her enormous special bulk. In fact she has so much you may as well (and walls Zapdos so well as a result) that you can still use the physically defensive spread. You don't have to worry about Zapdos' Toxic (and Thunder Wave) since Aromatherapy heals that off, as well as any status your teammates may have. Natural Cure adds to this by curing any Toxic they try to get off before bringing in a check, so you don't have to try and use Aromatherapy in front of them.

Rocky Helmet is use to try to get some residual damage on physical attackers that switch in for Zapdos, which when combined with Toxic and Softboiled allow for you to slowly whittle their health down. A cool thing is that it allows you to take on non-Swords Dance Aegislash who carry Sacred Sword (a huge thorn in Chansey / Blissey's side since they wall every set and don't care about Minimize). It takes 6 hits to kill something with Rocky Helmet recoil, and standard Aegislash hits you for 47-56% so if you spam Softboiled you should be able to whittle it down. Flamethrower can catch Blade-forme off guard and bop it for over half of its HP, so you can beat it after 3 rounds of stalling with Softboiled. Flamethrower can also be used to hit Ferrothorn which is also handy. You could run Serene Grace with Flamethrower to try to burn physical attackers, giving you an easier time against them, but Natural Cure is usually better.

Wow way to go off topic there, lol. I just thought I'd post something different!

  • 0 SpA Zapdos Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Blissey: 48-57 (13.2 - 15.7%) -- possibly the worst move ever
  • 252+ SpA Zapdos Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Blissey: 64-76 (17.6 - 20.9%) -- possible 7HKO after Leftovers recovery


So yeah, Blissey deals with Zapdos so well that I tried to make it also deal with one of it's checks...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Anyway, onto the votes! (they're all on this page, just scroll up). A new thing we're gonna do is that you have to give a brief reasoning as to why you like the set you're voting for. You don't have to write an essay or anything, it's just cool to hear feedback!

ethan06 - Mamoswine
Creeper3971 - Dragalge
PikachuCandyツ - Tyranitar
freekhoorn - Reuniclus
DragonWhale - Espeon
GroudonEmpire - Mega Latias
xastify - Mega Altaria
Lucina09 - Mega Charizard X
NOVED - Probopass
cant say - Blissey

this was a great two weeks guys, lots of great nominations :)

I'm voting for DragonWhale because I really like the look of Espeon. Being able to avoid all of Zapdos' annoying status moves and being backed by nice special bulk allows it to use Zapdos as set up fodder (it's also super cute).
 
Voting Lucina09 because mega Charizard X boosted with swords dance utterly destroys Zapdos without a doubt, as well as still being resistant to its two most common attacks (Electric and Fire). It's also an amazing sweeper in the metagame and reks stall.
 

ethan06

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freekhoorn

Mostly because I like Reuniclus more than Espeon (sorry DragonWhale ;_;). Also, it has a far nicer matchup against Heatran and Ferrothorn, two common Zapdos partners, than Espeon does thanks to Focus Blast, and has more immediate power thanks to the Life Orb. Neither of them can hit Aegislash, but I feel like Reuniclus could better tank its hits and set up on it, while also potentially being slower and therefore able to hit it in Blade Forme with a boosted Psychic.
 

DragonWhale

It's not a misplay, it's RNG manipulation
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freekhoorn because it's like mine but can deal with more things lol
 
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Im going for Creeper3971 because that dragalge is both really offensive, it can ohko zapdos at full hp and also defensive, because it can even live a super effective attack from a choice specs (who runs that anyway) fully invested zapdos.
 

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