Name: Martyr
General Description: A Pokémon that hampers itself in order to detriment the opposing team.
Justification: In OU, we have a few Pokémon
similar to this concept, although many of these Pokémon aren't very well used. Psycho Shift Sigilyph, Flame Orb Milotic, Shell Smash Contrary Power Split Shuckle, even Iron Ball Trick users to an extent. But how can a Pokémon with traits such as these influence the team on a large scale basis?
Questions to be Answered:
- Can a Pokémon that harms, but not sacrifices, itself for the good of the team be competitively viable?
- What self-destroying moves can be beneficial to the team?
- Can a Pokémon be designed to harm itself but actually last on the battlefield?
- Are moves such as Ghost-type Curse and Pain Split competitively viable on Pokémon with movesets that serve other functions?
Explanation: Now, one very key understanding about this concept - it's not aiming towards a "use Memento to hurt a Pokémon," "use Healing Wish to help your team," or even "Explode on everything." More exactly, the concept aims to create a bulkier Pokémon able to self-harm for the benefit of the team. A Pokémon that simply explodes to take out a threat does not satisfy being truly beneficial in the long run, although if the group decides it is, I'm all for it. That sounds a lot like the "Sacrifice" Pokémon, however. Same goes for a Pokémon killing itself to heal a teammate, as these are very circumstantial. But what if a Pokémon could be created to just
harm itself and then pass the pain? Maybe a recoil-Pain Split Pokémon, maybe a Contrary-stat boosting (dropping)-Heart Swap Pokémon? Or maybe a Pokémon that functions better spreading status when it itself is statused, similar to a Sigilyph?
Quark mentioned it in a later post, but I'll actually bring it up, since it is a really good example - Curse. It can force switches, destroy stalling Pokémon and walls, and cripple set-up sweepers. If we do go with Curse as an idea, consider this to be a new and improved Dusclops, or something along the sorts. Possibly more of a stalling version rather than an Eviolite-dependent trapper.