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likes his numbers
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Join Date: Sep 2010
Posts: 2,241
Strong as a Corsola
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Time to make it a Final Submission.
The first instance of any VGM is marked with a *
Level Up Reasoning
For my level up movepool, I wanted to start off with a classic moth Pokemon flavor, but add in a few moves hinting at Aurumoth's angelic origins. So, to start, I began by giving it Tackle, Gust and weak STAB moves, as is typical for this kind of Pokemon. In addition, I threw in Stun Spore as many moths like Pokemon are able to take advantage of powder moves from very early levels. However, when it reaches level 23, things begin to get interesting. As you may know, Aurumoth is based off of a Seraph: a celestial being that has a strong association with fire. Since I already knew that I was going to be including Overheat in its movepool for competitive reasons, I thought it would be a cool idea to throw a bit of this relationship into the level up movepool. However, at the same time, since Flamethrower and Fire Blast had been disallowed, I did not want to give the impression that Aurumoth breathed fire, as if it did, I would be odd not to get those moves. Now, as its in game animation shows, Overheat is much more of a massive release of fire energy than any sort of fire breath, yet I thought that it was way too strong of a move for Aurumoth to get at an early level, or without any previous experience with fire. As such, I decided to give it Flame Wheel somewhat early on in level. Like Overheat, Flame Wheel is more about attacking with fire around you rather than any sort of fire stream, so I thought it would make a good transition to the more powerful move later one.
After level 23, it is mostly standard fare until it gets Overheat. In this time, it grabs a few flavorful boosting moves and STABs of ever increasing usefulness. Now, while I loved the idea of Overheat showing a mastery of fire, I thought that its actual typing of Psychic/Bug was what should take the spotlight for its final few moves. First we have Megahorn, the ultimate Bug-type move, with was shown very well in KoA's animation back in the art stage. Its supreme power is very fitting for such a high level move. However, for its capstone ability, I decided to go with Future Sight, representing it gaining complete mastery over the psychic energy around it, and giving it the ability to even see into the future. For something both based off a holy creature and with a near legendary set of stats, being able to tell the future seems pretty fitting. Interestingly, while I made it the final move mostly for flavor reasons, at 100 power, it is also the most powerful Special move and the most powerful Psychic move it can use.
TM Reasoning
When it comes to flavor in the TM pool, most of the non competitive moves are pretty standard: typical Psychic associated moves like Telekinesis and Psych Up, Bug moves like Struggle Bug, and your normal selection of Hyper Beam, Giga Impact and the like that all fully evolved Pokemon are expected to have. In addition, I threw in Sunny Day, Flame Charge (which is technically a VGM but mostly there for flavor as Agility will generally be better), and SolarBeam for more of that fiery flavor that was present in the level up pool.
Competitively, the TM pool is where most of the coverage options come from. It provides Special coverage of Ice, Electric, and Ghost along with its best Psychic STAB moves and Hidden Power. On the Physical side, you have Ground and Rock moves, as well as a more reliable alternative to Megahorn in X-Scissor. On the non-damaging front, the TM pool provides Aurumoths strongest Physical boosting move: Swords Dance. It also has a few key status moves such as Will-O-Wisp, Light Screen and Reflect.
Tutor Reasoning
If you look at the tutor moves, you can probably tell that everything there, even the VGMs are all about flavor. Signal Beam is generally outclassed by Bug Buzz and Iron Defense is pretty much never used. At the same time though, almost all bugs have access to the former, and many to the latter, so I decided that they both would make nice additions to the movepool. As for the non-VGMs, Bug Bite is a standard for Bug types, as is Electroweb. Electroweb and Icy Wind are also notable for forming a weaker version of the classic boltbeam combo, but with the added effect of both lowering speed. While neither would likely ever be used, it is a cool flavor consideration for it to have both. Finally, the last few moves are gimmicky strategies commonly associated with Psychic types. As far as I know, two of these moves aren't even implemented in PS! as of now, so one couldn't even use these gimmicks, even if they wanted to. However, due to their association with psychic and otherwise mystical or strange Pokemon, I believe they make nice flavor additions for Aurumoth.
Egg (Bug Egg Group)
Bide
Close Combat*
Counter*
Fire Spin
Foresight
Hydro Pump*
Ominous Wind
String Shot
Wish*
9 Moves, 4 VGMs
Illegal Combinations
Code:
Bide + Fire Spin
Bide + Foresight
Bide + Hydro Pump
Bide + Wish
Close Combat + Fire Spin
Close Combat + Foresight
Close Combat + Hydro Pump
Close Combat + Ominous Wind
Close Combat + Wish
Counter + Fire Spin
Counter + Foresight
Counter + Hydro Pump
Fire Spin + Hydro Pump
Fire Spin + Ominous Wind
Fire Spin + Wish
Foresight + Wish
Hydro Pump + Wish
Legal Combinations
Code:
Bide + Close Combat + Counter (Heracross)
Bide + Ominous Wind + String Shot (Ledian)
Counter + Ominous Wind + String Shot + Wish (Illumise)
Fire Spin + Foresight + String Shot (Volcarona)
Foresight + Hydro Pump + Ominous Wind + String Shot (Masquerain)
Egg Move Reasoning
I love Egg moves. So much room for fun non-competitive moves, along with being the best place to put less flavorful competitive ones. On the flavor side there are moves like Foresight and String Shot which, while not the most common moves ever, have plenty of precedent on similar pokemon. Ominous Wind is another fun one as it takes a darker look at things. While the angelic creatures off of which it is based might bring good heavenly things to mind, such creatures are not always there for the benefit of everyone. Whether it be cause of less holy intentions or simply because the creatures it is facing aren't so pure, the presence of a celestial being can certainly be Ominous.
Over on the competitive side of things, the egg movepool provides access to a few of Aurumoth's most important moves: Close Combat and Hydro Pump. These provide some of the best coverage that Aurumoth could ask for, and have other benefits which I will address more specifically later on. In addition, the egg movepool contains Wish and Counter which, while not necessarily as common as the previous moves, each provide their own niche set for Aurumoth to use.
An important thing to note here is that while there are plenty of illegalities as could be expected from the Bug Egg Group, only a few are of any importance, and they are definitely Illegal for a reason. The most important of these is likely Close Combat + Hydro Pump. While on physical and special sets it makes little difference that these are illegal together, it prevents mixed sets from using arguably the best 2 coverage moves it has at the same time. Now, normally this won't be a huge problem, as you usually only need one, but it forces mixed sets to choose which of the few Pokemon it can't help against are more threatening. In addition, both of these moves are individually illegal with Wish. This is another case of forcing the player to make a choice. Wish can help with support, but it comes at the cost of coverage. Now in both these cases, you can easily patch up the missing coverage from the TM pool, but it limits player choices, forcing them to run something that may be slightly less optimal than if everything was available. Thus by choosing one of those routes, they are accepting more risk onto their team.
Competitive Reasoning
Stun Spore: As I have said multiple times since our abilities were decided, while I would like to see No Guard be a viable ability, I do not want to see it be used simply for powerful attacks, since the reason it was chosen as an ability was for the reliability it provides, not the ability to spam powerful moves. That being said, I think Stun Spore is the perfect way to take advantage of this. While Thunder Wave is a widely distributed move, it lacks the ability to Paralyze ground types or Pokemon with Volt Absorb or Lightning Rod. With No Guard, Stun Spore not only has the perfect accuracy of T-Wave, but also can hit and paralyze every single common Pokemon. Only Limber Pokemon who are immune to all paralysis and Sap Sipper pokemon who are essentially non existent in OU are immune. Now you might be wondering though why I gave it Stun Spore and not Glare. While it is true that Glare lacks problems with Sap Sippers, and is more reliable overall, I thought that having the lower accurate move would be more of an incentive to use No Guard, as while 75 is good enough to use without No Guard (as Will-O-Wisp shows), it makes the benefits of going with it more significant. Also, it makes more flavor sense, which is always a plus.
Will-O-Wisp: As with Stun Spore, the main reason I like this move is that while it is accurate enough for its effect to merit using even without No Guard, it provides a reward for those sets that do choose to run it. Additionally, I find the potential of Burning a foe to be of particular interest, as we have the defensive stats to function as a decent physical tank, which is an unusual strategy that would have a good chance of backfiring if not played correctly.
Agility: This is a cool move that, while not incredibly powerful itself, would allow Aurumoth to outspeed and defeat many pokemon that could typically revenge it. In addition, it gives Aurumoth a way to boost its speed when running No Guard and Illusion sets. Now, while it doesn't afford any extra power, I still think it is an interesting alternative to other boosting move. I think forcing Aurumoth to choose either speed or power when deciding on a boosting set is a great form of team building risk that we can inject into this Pokemon.
Tail Glow/Swords Dance: On the other side of things we have the power boosting moves. Among all the boosting moves in this movepool, none are more powerful than Tail Glow. In a single turn, this more boost Aurumoth's Special Attack up to astronomical levels, allowing it to plow through most threats the metagame has to offer. And on the Physical side, while it may not pack quite as much punch, Swords Dance provides more than enough power for sweeping to be worthwhile. I think of particular interest with these moves though is how they interact with the abilities. On the one hand, you could go with Weak Armor and attempt to boost both Speed and power all at once. On the other hand, you could go with Illusion, which can make setting up a breeze for an experienced player. I believe this ability interaction could be one of the most interesting things we could observe with this CAP.
Dual Screens: Now, as some people have brought up, setting up a barrier to make you even more bulky than we already are doesn't seem risky at all. However, that is looking at the moves in isolation. When we look at the situation overall, you can see how these moves would help fulfill the concept. Aurumoth's typing and stats are definitely geared to be more offensive than supporting. Relying on something like it to be your supporter is itself a very big risk to take, as it is liable to be killed off easier than a lot of other support Pokemon. However, using Aurumoth in a supportive role can definitely comes with big rewards. While for some moves like Stun Spore it was the reliability of No Guard, for moves such as Reflect and Light Screen it is Aurumoth's natural power and amazing ability in Illusion that will let it get the free opportunities to take advantage of them. While this concept often seems to lend itself more to offense than anything else, I feel that giving it ways to do things such as this, even when it might not be the best at it, is a great alternative way to go about it.
Overheat: While the movepool as a whole contains plenty of coverage options, none are as powerful as Overheat. Not only is it the strongest option Aurumoth has at its disposal, but it also hits all but one of the OU Pokemon that resists Aurumoth's STABs for super effective damage. Giving it this option will make people choice of movesets more interesting, because, while there are plenty of coverage options it has for Steel types, none are as powerful, or as risky, as Overheat.
Boltbeam: The infamous combo returns once more on Aurumoth, but unlike on many Pokemon who have it, it may not be the best choice of coverage for our bug. With its STABs covering all but a few Steel types, Ice coverage does very little for it, and the coverage of Electric is ever so slightly outclassed by the coverage of Water, as it leaves you vulnerable to Magnezone. However, even if it does not seem like the greatest combo of moves ever, I still see it as important to have access to. On Tail Glow sets where power is not an issue, Ice provides a way to break things like bulky Dragonite. Electric on the other hand provides a reliable alternative to those who want great neutral coverage on special sets without the inaccuracy of Hydro Pump, and is your best special coverage move on mixed sets running Close Combat. Now, as you may have noticed, while I have both Thunderbolt and Thunder, I only included Ice Beam and not Blizzard. The reason for this is the same reason brought up back with Stun Spore. When we decided on No Guard, it was because of the reliability it provided. However, almost no one would ever run Blizzard on a non No Guard set when Ice Beam is an option, and very few would run it even if it was the only Ice coverage move. As such, its inclusion would contribute to No Guard being used simply for power, and not for reliability. However, you then may wonder why I included Thunder. This is because of the way the metagame is shaped. Rain is the dominant force, as anyone could tell you, and as such, Thunder is a perfectly viable move, even on Pokemon that lack No Guard. Since people would have reason to use it even without the guarantee of No Guard, what running No Guard does is make sure you hit even when it isn't raining, or, that is to say, providing reliability to a move that other sets would still consider. Not simply giving more power.
Hydro Pump: Of all the special coverage moves in this movepool, I don't think any is more important than Hydro Pump. With Hydro Pump and its STABs, Aurumoth hits every single Pokemon in OU, and all but 1 Pokemon in the entire non-uber game for neutral or better. In addition, it packs high power so that Aurumoth can still pose a threat even when it has not boosted its SpA. However, the key for me with Hydro Pump is its accuracy. As you probably noticed, Hydro Pump is the only water coverage move that it has, and this is for a good reason. While I have touched on it a few times already, I just want to reiterate again that I personally believe that No Guard should be about reliability, not power. Hydro Pump is the perfect move to bring out this advantage, in my opinion. As is clearly shown by multiple Pokemon in OU, Hydro Pump is reliable enough that it is often worth using over surf, despite its less than perfect accuracy. By including Hydro Pump but not Surf, we provide Aurumoth with a good coverage move that becomes great when paired with No Guard, simply because of the reliability, but at the same time is still very good should you be using another ability.
Physical Coverage: While not quite as diverse as what it boasts on the special side, Aurumoth has a few types of physical coverage moves to choose from in Fighting, Ground and Rock. Fighting is likely the most important of these as it provides Aurumoth with perfect neutral coverage. In addition, its Fighting coverage move, Close Combat, provides the most power of any of the three. In all likelihood, if Aurumoth is running a physical set, this is the first option it will look at. However, that does not make the other options useless. Earthquake provides fantastic coverage as well, missing out of perfect neutral coverage by only a single Pokemon. Not only that, but it grabs super effective hits on Fire and Rock types, both of whom threaten it back with super effective STABs. Rock type moves in Rock Slide and Stone Edge are probably the least useful of the three, but they have their upsides. On a four move physical set, it is probably the best option it has, proving a good compliment to either of the first two coverage types. In addition, it is the best move Aurumoth has on the physical side for hitting flying types such as Dragonite. While it may not see as much use, it can be good for catching an opponent off guard in order to take out a key threat.
Substitute: Of all the moves I had to make a decision on, this was probably the toughest. However, I reached the decision to include it because I almost feel you would be taking a risk simply by running it. While Aurumoth has good neutral coverage with its STABs, there are some key OU threats it cannot handle with STAB alone. Should it choose to run substitute, it will either be forgoing coverage and thus unable to beat some of OU's top Pokemon, or it will have to forgo a boosting or other status move, greatly limiting what it is able to take on. At the same time, I feel it helps make support sets more viable, which, due to its mediocre special bulk and bad defensive typing, are innately risky, even with Substitute.
Key moves that are not included:
Quiver Dance: If you don't already know what my opinion is on this move, read the links. Suffice it to say that Quiver Dance would be the worst possible move for this project, and cannot teach us much, while at the same time has the potential for a failure of concept.
Dragon Dance: Much of what applied to Quiver Dance applies here as well. It is not nearly as bad, and I do not think it would lead to a failure of concept like QD, but I don't think it is necessarily conducive to learning. I don't think we need it successful, so I don't think we should have it there to distract us.
Aura Sphere/Focus Blast: My reasoning on these is very much tied back to what I talked about as far as not including Blizzard. Focus Blast is the kind of move that people do not use ever unless they have no other choice to get the coverage they need. With both of these moves available, people would simply use No Guard to get a more powerful move rather than a more reliable one. And if I only included Focus Blast, it would see use on No Guard sets, but not any other sets, as people would use other coverage types for other abilities, once again meaning No Guard is about power and not reliability. However, with that logic, you might be wondering why I didn't include just Aura Sphere and not Focus Blast. Its true that this would eliminate the problem I have between these two moves, however, it doing so, it would screw up one of the main things I love so much about Hydro Pump. Hydro Pump is arguably the best special coverage move we have, but Aura Sphere would challenge that. It has marginally better neutral coverage, which may be enough to be considered the best move outside of No Guard, which would once again lead to people using No Guard to simply have more power. I know I have driven this point into the ground, and then some, but I consider it incredibly important that we are taking advantage of our abilities in the right way. Reliability was why we chose this ability, and that is what it should be about.
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<Kadew> jas isn't boring
<Kadew> he's excitementally challenged
Last edited by jas61292; Nov 4th, 2012 at 3:10:45 PM.
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