Darmanitan (Full Revamp) [QC 0/3]

Darmanitan


[Overview]

• Offensive behemoth
• 140 base Attack + Sheer Force + STAB Flare Blitz = strongth
• Good Scarfer that can hit hard and utilize U-turn
• Abundance of bulky Waters hurts it
• Weak to Stealth Rock
• Usually kills itself before it can do too much damage

[SET]
name: Choice Scarf
move 1: Flare Blitz
move 2: U-turn
move 3: Rock Slide / Earthquake
move 4: Superpower / Fire Punch
item: Choice Scarf
ability: Sheer Force
nature: Adamant
evs: 24 HP / 252 Atk / 232 Spe


[SET COMMENTS]

• Choice Scarf make Darmanitan an effective revenge killer
• Increases sub-par speed
• Flare Blitz decimates almst everything
• U-turn scouts as well as hitting Slowbro harder than anything else
• Rock Slide gets Sheer Force boost, making it hit about as hard as Earthquake on Fire-types
• It also picks up crucial coverage on Rotom-H, while hitting Togekiss, Crobat, and Zapdos without killing yourself due to recoil
• Earthquake still hits Nidoqueen and Nidoking
• Superpower hits Porygon2 and Snorlax, while also hitting bulky Waters hardder than anything else

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

• Spread outspeeds Adamant Scarf Krookodile and below, as well as +2 Modest Empoleon
• Jolly outruns Adamant Scarf Flygon and Victini, Jolly Scarf Krookodile, and Timid +2 Empoleon
• Hammer Arm has the same base power over two turns as Superpower, and more after three turns
• Stone Edge is slightly more powerful than Rock Slide, but has lower accuracy and no flinch chance
• Slowbro takes little from U-turn and can use Slack Off or switch out to regain health
• Roserade is an excellent teammate, since it can put Slowbro to sleep, dispose of it with Leaf Storm or Giga Drain, and set up Spikes
• Wish support is required, as Darmanitan deals large amounts of damage to itself; Umbreon and Xatu can provide it
• Spin support is also recommended; Hitmontop and Blastoise are good choices
• Sun makes Darmanitan 2HKO almost everything in the tier with Flare Blitz alone

[SET]
name: Physical Attacker
move 1: Flare Blitz
move 2: Rock Slide / Earthquake
move 3: Superpower
move 4: U-turn
item: Life Orb / Choice Band
ability: Sheer Force
nature: Jolly / Adamant
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe


[SET COMMENTS]

• Flare Blitz hits retardedly hard with either Life Orb or Choice Band
• Can bluff a Scarf set
• Rock Slide gets better coverage than Earthquake, while also getting a Sheer Force boost
• Earthquake is still slightly more powerful and more reliable, but loses out on some coverage
• Superpower hits bulky Waters harder than anything else, as well as Snorlax and Porygon2
• U-turn keeps up offensive momentum and hits Slowbro harder than anything else

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

• Jolly outspeeds Heracross, Krookodile, Kingdra, Roserade, and Rotom-H, as well as speed-tying Houndoom and Yanmega
• Adamant can be used for more power
• Life Orb is preferred since Flare Blitz and Rock Slide give no Life Orb recoil with the ability to switch moves
• Choice Band hits slightly harder
• Fire Punch is an alternative to avoid large amounts of recoil, but the drop in power is tremendous
• Bulky Waters give Darmanitan trouble, especially Slowbro
• Roserade is a great partner to get rid of them
• A bulky Water of your own is a good teammate, namely Swampert, since they can get rid of Flash Fire Pokemon such as Houndoom and Arcanine, leaving Darmanitan free to spam Flare Blitz
• Wish support is mandatory; Umbreon or Xatu are good choices
• Blastiose and Hitmontop provide Rapid Spin
• With Sunny Day support, Choice Band Flare Blitz 2HKOes 4/0 Kingdra

[SET]
name: SubPunch
move 1: Substitute
move 2: Focus Punch
move 3: Fire Punch
move 4: Encore / Rock Slide
item: Leftovers
ability: Sheer Force
nature: Jolly
evs: 212 HP / 112 Atk / 184 Spe


[SET COMMENTS]

• Focus Punch is extremely powerful
• Substitute not only ensures that Focus Punch will hit, it also blocks status
• Fire Punch hits resists like Nidoqueen, Crobat, and Roserade with no recoil
• Encore allows Darmanitan to set up on non-threatening moves, such as status when it's already behind a Substitute
• Rock Slide gets coverage on Flying-types that aren't hit hard enough by Fire Punch

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

• EVs allow Darmanitan to create 101 HP Substitutes, and outspeed Heracross, Nidoking, and Rotom-H
• Leftovers is for longevity, and running a Life Orb is counter-productive
• Flare Blitz is suicidal on a set with Substitute
• Fist Plate may be used instead to boost the power of Focus Punch without recoil
• Chandelure is immune to both Focus Punch and Fire Punch, but dies to Rock Slide
• Houndoom is a good teammate to get rid of Chandelure
• Roserade is as always a great partner to get rid of bulky Waters
• Wish support is not as necessary, but Rapid Spin is mandatory
• Hitmontop and Blastoise are good spinners

[Other Options]

• Wide support movepool consisting of Taunt, Toxic, Will-O-Wisp, and Yawn
• Gets Bulk Up, and also gets both Rest and Sleep Talk, meaning a mono-attacking set could be viable
• Belly Drum
• Gyro Ball and Payback would be viable if Darmanitan was slower (pray for a Curse move tutor in the third game)
• Darmanitan-Z is gimmicky, but has things in its movepool including Fire Blast, Focus Blast, Grass Knot, and Psychic

[Checks and Counters]

• Slowbro is the number one counter, taking only 50% from Choice Band U-turn and easily recovering it
• Other bulky Waters like Suicune, Milotic, Blastoise, and Swampert are good ways to deal with Darmanitan
• Flash Fire Pokemon such as Arcanine and Houndoom are immune to Flare Blitz
• Chandelure is also immune to Superpower and Focus Punch
• Kingdra 4x resists Flare Blitz, but is 2HKOed by a Life orb Superpower
• Choice Scarf Flygon outspeeds even the Scarf set, and OHKOs with Earthquake
• Azumarill OHKOes with Choice Band Aqua Jet
• Rhyperior can take a Superpower due to Solid Rock and KO with either Earthquake or Rock Slide
• While Darmanitan is very threatening, most of the time it will kill itslef due to recoil; putting out a Pokemon with high HP such as Snorlax causes problems for it

Honestly, the bulk given by 24 HP EVs is going to come in handy much less often than the opportunity to Speed-tie with other Darmanitan, so I would just max it out and put the last 4 EVs in SpD. As for teammates, I see you mentioned Roserade, but really Shaymin makes a much better partner to this set, since it can come into Slowbro much more easily due to not fearing Psyshock.

Other than that, I would probably just put the SubPunch set in OO, because it just doesn't do well in practice imo.

Good skeleton otherwise.

This is the second time you've done this. Just like in the previous case, I don't think Darmanitan needs a revamp. I'm not trying to get on your case or anything, but its the simple truth. Revamps should only be made if the current onsite set is noticeably outdated.

Straw Hat Luffy said:

This is the second time you've done this. Just like in the previous case, I don't think Darmanitan needs a revamp. I'm not trying to get on your case or anything, but its the simple truth. Revamps should only be made if the current onsite set is noticeably outdated.

Click to expand...

The first time was completely unnecessary, I agree. Looking back on it, I'm not even sure why I did it.

However, Darmanitan was on the priority list, so I did it. While it's totally QC's call whether this gets approved or not, there are some subtle changes that I feel should be made. The main thing is that Rock Slide is superior to Earthquake. I also think that Swampert should get a mention not only as a teammate for getting rid of Arcanine and Houndoom, but also in the Checks and Counters section. The smallest thing is that for only 8 more Speed EVs in the SubPunch set, you can outspeed Rotom-H before it uses Volt Switch and switches out to something like Chandelure. Once again, these are all subject to QC input.

Rock Slide isn't even superior to Earthquake, the coverage gained is on flying types irrelevant since Flare Blitz hits harder than SE Rock Slide. Houndoom & Arcanine don't even post a threat to Darmanitan whatsover. (They're also uncommon) Earthquake is vital for getting good damage on the likes of Rhyperior without ruining your stats in the process; simply relying on Superpower to deal with fire resists won't cut it.

Again, I don't want to be a stick in the mud, but I don't think a full revamp is even necessary since its pretty to edit those tiny mentions (like 8 EVs, Swampert as a check etc) into the onsite analysis.

I went ahead and changed the EV spread for the on-site SubPunch set and added a sentence about Swampert in checks and counters. In the future, this would be better suited for the small subjective changes thread rather than a full revamp.