A Competitive Retyping Format?

[Faylion]

After reading the Comepetitive Retyping on The Smog http://www.smogon.com/smog/issue22/retyping, it thought that if we have all these other formats like CAP and Balanced Hackmons, why dont we have a Retyping Format? We often see amazing and interesting Pokes that fall short merely because of typing. How about we fix all that? We have some amazing thinkers here on Smogon and know the game and its potential like its 2nd nature. I would love to see an official Smogon look of all pokemon and retype them if needed. I am sure Smogon wouldn't make any typing changes that would break a Poke competitively or damage one lore-wise. I really hope this thread catches on if it hasn't been suggested already.

I feel the project should revolve solely on retyping. Don't add extra moves to a Poke because it gives an ulterior motive to the retyping. The typing should fit to pokemon as is.

[Faylion]

I would like to make lore and style clarifications on the pokes already suggested in The Smog retyping articles. I see some of them fitting while others not so.


I - http://www.smogon.com/smog/issue10/retype

Bronzong -> Steel/Ghost

There is nothing lore-wise sticking Bronzong to Psychic typing that Ghost can't do (ie. floating and portals). In addition, its ancient and mysterious lore and style would fit the Ghost typing.

Gengar -> Ghost/Fighting

I personally have no idea why Gengar was given Poison typing. I remember wondering as a kid why Ash had to get a Ghost to beat Sabrina when the Ghosts in the game were actually we to Psychic thanks to its Poison typing. Fighting fits Gengar much better because of its more tangible form as it evolved and that it learns powerful physical moves like Drain Punch and Giga Impact.

Starmie -> Water/Electric

I didn't know how I felt about the change until I looked up its information. I am actually shocked Starmie isn't classified as Water/Electric already. Everything thing about Starmie's descriptions and information elude to Electric. It rainbow colors involving the light wavelengthes, the flickering of its core like a lightbulb, and most interesting, the sending of electrical signals into space. Another O_o to Gamefreak on this one.

Metagross -> Steel/Ground

I don't think I can find a way to get rid of its Psychic typing. So much about revolves arounds its ability to float on command and its extreme intellect.

Yanmega -> Bug/Dragon

I see where he is coming from, but Yanmega doesn't learn any Dragon moves and the only Dragon it can mate with is Flygon which can mate with several Bugs. If anything Flygon should be the candidate for that typing. Dragon Yanmega is a bit too much of a stretch for me.

Staraptor -> Flying/Fighting

Yes please. Only Flying type that can use Close Combat, sounds like a match to me.

Heracross -> Fighting/Rock

I can't stand for this one. Its literally a Bug >.>


II - http://www.smogon.com/smog/issue11/retyping

Claydol -> Ground/Poison

Another typing that just can't happen. It would naturally lose it ability to Levitate.

Alakazam -> Psychic/Ghost

I can see it, but yet another stretch I personally don't feel comfortable with. Sure it can Teleport and learn Shadow Ball, but its too much of a stretch.

Wheezing -> Poison/Electric

Like Starmie, I was unsure until I read the pokemons background. It is stated on Bulbapedia that is has the ability to use the gas particles within to generate heat and electricity, so why not the typing for it.

Mismagius -> Ghost/Dark

I don't see a reason not too. It looks the part and it will benefit from it.

Azumarill -> Water/Fighting

Azumarill begs for this typing. It's ability Huge Power and the powerful Fighting moves it can learn, I am surprised it isn't Fighting already. Even fits evolition-wise as the baby form having Normal typing, it showcases the growth of the pokemon.

Absol -> Dark/Psychic

Absol would appreciate the Psychic typing lore-wise thanks to it keen intellegent and ability to foretell disaster.

Ambipom -> Normal/Dark

A cheeky monkey that can learn Dark moves, sounds like a nice fit.


III - http://www.smogon.com/smog/issue22/retyping

Serperior -> Grass/Dragon

Serperior just begs for a noble typing and what is more noble and majestic than a Dragon typing. It already learns Twister and is tutored Dragon Pulse and Outrage. Give Serperior the love it deserved.

Darmanitan -> Fire/Fighting

If this typing was already in the game, Emboar would be kicked to the curb. This pokemon fits so well with this typing being such a massive Fire physical force. Why hasn't this happened.

Archeops -> Flying/Ground

As amazing as a typing it would be for competitive reason, it just can't fly lore-wise. Every other fossil pokemon Rock typing. Sorry, but I don't feel that can be broken.

Zoroark -> Dark/Ghost

Similar to Alakazam, its a bit of a stretch to add Ghost typing, but it actually would fit for it. Zoroark is the Illusion Fox pokemon and being able to shift itself like that and the spirtual nature of foxes can make the Ghost type work.

Beartic -> Ice/Water

I appreciated the new typing choices made for B/W creating the first Grass/Normal and Flying Mono, but I fell the did Beartic an injustice making him a Ice Monotype rather than just slapping on the Water typing like in the past. It a polar bear that knows Water moves. Just why not?

Cryogonal -> Ice/Steel

I could really see this working. It having the ability to learn Flash Cannon and the samurai look really hints to the very interesting idea of a Ice/Steel type.

Gothitelle -> Psychic/Ground

I see no relevance for this lore-wise, Psychic/Dark however I can. Being able to outlive several trainers and being able to see their trainer's life span would make anything a little darker.

Mienshao -> Fighting/Normal

I totally don't see why they didn't give Mienshao the Normal love they gave Sawsbuck. Mienshao doesn't look like a traditional Fighting type and its moveset would allow the typing.

[Nufleaf]

Bronzong Steel/Ghost looks interesting, with Levitate only have one weakness and he also could surprise with Heatproof.

[Relados]

Golurk - Ghost/Steel. We can rebuild him. We have the technology.

[Darth Missingno.]

Grass-Dragon Sceptile. My original reason for this was flavor-oriented, but getting rid of his Fire weakness and giving him Draco Meteor would be delicious. His blazing Speed would be enough to blow Water-types off the map, and being able to one-shot Dragonite through Multiscale with DM is pretty sweet.

[Cobraroll]

Luxray - Electric/Dark.

It's a carnivore. It's mostly black. It's repeatedly stated to be extremely vicious when fighting. It learns Crunch, Thief and Snarl, and can be bred for Night Slash. And it's an extremely cool 'mon. Being Dark wouldn't help it much competitively, but it would certainly help its reputation.

Garchomp - Dragon/Fighting or Dragon/Dark.

Face it, the only reason why it's Dragon/Ground as of now is to give it a 4X weakness without resorting to the overused Dragon/Flying combination (being able to fly doesn't exactly scream "cave dwelling monster" either).
With either of these types, its ferocity and fighting capabilities would be recognised further. It would lose that sweet Earthquake STAB, and would probably have to go looking for a different primary ability, but it would lose its 4X weakness and gain STAB on... uhhh... Brick Break or Crunch, I guess...
Nah. I guessed Garchomp's secondary type was the subject of many discussions over at GameFreak's before they settled for this.

Conkeldurr - Fighting/Rock

Because concrete. And a scary combination of STABs. Perhaps it would be too similar to Terrakion, which is why I propose:

Terrakion - Ground/Fight

He doesn't have too many rocky attributes, to be honest. And I guess he would enjoy Earthquake STAB while missing out on Stone Edge.

Cloyster - Water/Steel

With its mighty defenses, and zero resemblance to anything icey, Cloyster really deserved the Magnemite treatment when GSC came about. Unfortunately, it stayed Water/Ice, which I guess it learned to appreciate when Icicle Spear was invented, but a Steel retype of Barrage would have done just as well.
A Poison immunity, cancellation of weakness to Grass and Rock, a bunch of new resistances and canonicity of its impenetrability would have made Cloyster slightly better off defensively (the tradeoff would be a Ground weakness). I don't know how the jokes about its resemblance to lady parts would change, though. Is it better to be a steel you-know-what than an ice you-know-what? Anyway, with Shell Smash and that typing, Cloyster would have been the physical tank of the century, taking hits while dishing out loads of pain.


Also, here are Competitive Retyping I and II, for those interested:
I - http://www.smogon.com/smog/issue10/retype
II - http://www.smogon.com/smog/issue11/retyping

[Faylion]

Ty, forgot to attach those to my clarifications. I'll do that now.

Originally Posted by Fat Cobraroll

Also, here are Competitive Retyping I and II, for those interested:
I - http://www.smogon.com/smog/issue10/retype
II - http://www.smogon.com/smog/issue11/retyping

[AC Serprent]

Golurk would appreciate Fighting/Ghost much more than Steel/Ghost. Sure it gets the best defensive typing in the game, but it will sorely miss STAB EQ, while getting a shit offensive typing in return. Meanwhile, Fighting bolsters its defensive typing whilst simultaneously giving it a dangerous and un-resisted STAB combo. Not to mention a stupidly powerful Focus Punch.
As for flavor-wise, Iron Fist.

[Arizona]

Cool ideas. As for Gengar the reasoning for Poison typing is that it is a ball of noxious gas. Like many "modify OU" metagames this appears to be a sub-set of DuskMod, where we already have Flying/Fighting Staraptor and Psychic/Dark Gothitelle, as well as Fire/Dragon Charizard, Poison/Dragon Arbok, Water/Psychic Golduck, Ghost Gengar (planned to be reverted to Ghost/Poison), Normal/Ground Kangaskhan, and Bug/Dark Pinsir.

Grass/Dragon Serperior and Ghost/Steel Golurk (it's a robot after all) are two things that make the most sense to me that DM doesn't have atm. I really, really don't see Ghost/Steel Bronzong. There is something lore-wise stopping it from being a ghost: it doesn't go through walls. Also it looks less like a ghost than any of the current ghosts. It looks like a floating upside-down cylinder thing.

[zyrefredric]

This is the closest thread I could find where I could post this crazy idea of mine, so here goes: How about a new item that brings about a revolution in Pokemon Typing? I introduce to you,

Mutagen
If the Pokemon holding this item does not have a 2nd Type, it gains a 2nd Type same as the type of one of its attacking moves in its current moveset.

The 2nd Type can't be the same as the 1st Type. If the Pokemon already has a 2nd Type, this item will have no effect. If the Pokemon does not have any attacking moves at all, or of a type other than its 1st Type, this item will have no effect. If it has more than one possible type, 2nd Type will be randomized. This change in type occurs immediately after a Pokemon is sent into battle, before receiving any hazard damage or attack. A recalled Pokemon reverts back to its original typing. Hidden Power is considered as a Normal-type move.

Effectively this gives a Pokemon a new 2nd Type as it enters the battle. This means it would have a new STAB to make use of, and a new set of resistances and weaknesses, in exchange for the item slot, which could have been used for arguably better items such as Leftovers or Life Orb. For example:

Haxorus @ Mutagen
Mold Breaker
Adamant
36 HP / 252 Atk / 220 Spe
~ Outrage
~ Aqua Tail
~ Dragon Dance
~ Swords Dance / Brick Break

With this set, Haxorus forgoes a Life Orb in exchange for getting a 2nd Type of Water. This allows him to get a very good secondary STAB (that can be further boosted by rain). Also, its Ice weakness becomes a neutrality, he gets a Steel resistance, and his Water and Fire resistances become doubled (thus only receiving 1/4 damage from these types, very helpful against rain and sun teams). Sure it loses its Grass and Electric resistances, but in exchange, you get a powered-up Double Dancer Kingdra with base 147 Attack. If one decides to drop Swords Dance and use Brick Break instead, you have equal chances of getting a Dragon/Water and Dragon/Fighting, the former having very nice resistances, and the latter having excellent (unresisted?) dual STABs.

We could still have our Grass/Dragon Serperior (Dragon Pulse), and Electric/Dark Luxray (Crunch) with this item, but some Pokemon retypings would prove to be disasters in terms of flavor, such as Fighting/Fire Machamp (Fire Punch) or Water/Bug Samurott (Megahorn). But I'd point out that this thread is all about "A Competitive Retyping Format", not a "A Flavorful Retyping Format" which the recent posts seem to have been all about.

Yes, this item is limited only to Pokemon with no secondary types yet. Yes, you can't get a Grass/Fire Sceptile because the Pokemon's movepool limits the possible retypings it could have. However, the variety this one little item adds to the metagame is tremendous, that with just this, it can very well be its very own submeta (If it's only possible it could be coded into a PS mod). Instead of us just randomly deciding which Pokemon gets what retyping through theorymoning and such, with this item we make discoveries of hidden possible retypings. It would also be good to observe how the dual-typed Pokemon who can't use this item would fare in this scenario.

[Faylion]

Ghastly is. Gengar could pull an Azurill (Normal) becoming Marill (Water) in which then the suggestion above for Azumarill (Water/Fighting)

Originally Posted by Fat Arizona

Cool ideas. As for Gengar the reasoning for Poison typing is that it is a ball of noxious gas.

[Ride The Lightning]

I don't mean to do another shameless plug on another one of your threads, but coincidentally, I have a project I'm working on with similar goals in mind, including the retypings. I recommend checking it out. http://www.smogon.com/forums/group.php?groupid=2110

[Siphai]

Originally Posted by Fat Arizona

Ghost/Steel Golurk (it's a robot after all)

Yeah, a robot made out of clay.

[PureQuestion]

Originally Posted by Fat AC Serprent

Golurk would appreciate Fighting/Ghost much more than Steel/Ghost. Sure it gets the best defensive typing in the game, but it will sorely miss STAB EQ, while getting a shit offensive typing in return. Meanwhile, Fighting bolsters its defensive typing whilst simultaneously giving it a dangerous and un-resisted STAB combo. Not to mention a stupidly powerful Focus Punch.
As for flavor-wise, Iron Fist.

Not to mention STAB on that No Guard Dynamic Punch...