Pokemon of the Week #16: Latias

Princess Bri · Nov 27th, 2012, 1:01:39 AM

Picture by Yelsha41!

As Superpowerdude lost interest in hosting this, he graciously allowed me too! Thanks!

As you can tell by the title, I am hosting the "Pokemon of the Week" for OU. You may have seen the UU, RU and NU varaints of this project. The aim of this project is to help newer OU players recognize viable Pokemon and sets, in order to aid them when team building. This is done by exploring and discussing a new OU Pokemon each week. If you are unsure what to discuss, here are some good guidelines;

The Pokemon's place in the metagame
Some viable sets of the Pokemon. Creative sets are highly encouraged, but no gimmicks please.
Share your experiences with the Pokemon.

Pokemon of the Week #8: Mamoswine

Pokemon of the Week #9: Reuniclus

Pokemon of the Week #10: Jirachi

Pokemon of the Week #11: Scizor

Pokemon of the Week #12: Tyranitar

Pokemon of the Week #13: Ninetales

Pokemon of the Week #14 and #15: Kyurem and Kyurem-B

Latias

Type: Dragon / Psychic
Base Stats: 80 HP / 80 Atk / 90 Def / 110 SpA / 130 SpD / 110 Spe
Abilities: Levitate

Notable Moves:
- Calm Mind
- Dragon Pulse
- Draco Meteor
- Roost
- Recover
- Reflect
- Light Screen
- Healing Wish
- Psyshock
- Grass Knot
- Thunderbolt
- Surf
- Reflect Type
- Roar
- Wish

BW2 has drastically changed many player's thoughts on Latias. In BW1 if one wanted a Life Orb'd Lati@s they'd immediate use her brother, Latios; however, BW2's releases in abilities and Pokemon changed this. Keldeo, Special Landorus, Breloom, etc. now being released has made Latias a much more prominent figurehead in OU. With its unique typing coupled with fantastic Special bulk and great Special Attack, Latias is a powerhouse. Although she may be weaker than her brother, she comes with more bulk and a cool move in Healing Wish. Healing Wish gives you another sweeper on your team a second life, and can be gamechanging.

Discuss this new Pokemon of the Week!

Date of the Next Pokemon of the Week: 2.14.12

SapphSabre777 · Nov 27th, 2012, 1:05:15 AM

Who needs Snow Cloak when you have Thick Fat? Mamoswine is an awesome Pokemon that everyone should try out (especially Banded).

To me, it is one of the best, if not the best check/counter for most of the dragons in OU.

Asek · Nov 27th, 2012, 1:43:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fat SapphSabre777

Who needs Snow Cloak when you have Thick Fat? Mamoswine is an awesome Pokemon that everyone should try out (especially Banded).

To me, it is one of the best, if not the best check/counter for most of the dragons in OU.

Band on mamoswine is not a very good item imo. I always preferred life orb, as being locked into earthquake is very easy to punish with all the levitating pokemon in OU. For that matter, being locked into one of your ice move is an invitation for the biggest sweeper in OU ATM in RP gene to come in, set up and then beat up your team. I shouldn't have to mention being locked into one of the coverage moves is less than opportune. Life Orb stops that from happening, and the recoil isn't really a big deal tbh, as you will obviously keep mamoswine healthy if you need it to check the opponents team sweeper. The rise of breloom and RP Landorus-I has also put mamoswine into a favorable condition, as mamoswine handily checks all variants of breloom if it carries icicle spear, and RP Lando-I is just another addition to the sweepers beaten by mamoswine. Rain is still as usual the thing stopping mamoswine from being a really dominant threat. Less than impressive Special defense with mamoswines weakness to the ubiquitous scald makes picking it off relatively easy, or at the least get it burnt and made useless any way. Not to mention the superpowered water attacks that are also found on the likes of starmie and keldeo that stop him from coming in and having an impact. Ferrothorn also happens to check variants that don't carry Superpower. It does handily check Tornadus-T and most tentacruel, so it has some uses here, but its hard to get it to work when in that situation.

Mamoswine is great to have against the other weathers though. It can reliably revenge a lot of sun sweepers, and can make his prescence felt. He beats most variants of Tyranitar as well as not having many problems with hippowdon. Both hail and sand don't really have generic teams, so its no gurantee he'll be great here, but he usually does a very good job against both team types. We all know hes pretty awesome against standard dragmag teams, so I won't go into that :0.

Superpowerdude · Nov 27th, 2012, 1:48:41 AM

agreeing with Asek i believe the most effective set is the Life Orb set as Asek said you can't afford to be locked into Earthqauke with all the Levitate and Flying-type pokemon common in OU such as the therians, the latis and Rotom-W. Being locked into a 40 base power Ice Shard is also not to good because your opponent can send in their Steel-type and get up entry hazards as your forced to switch. Mamoswines ability to be able to check a wide array of OU pokemon like the Tornadus-T, Landorus-T, Landorus, Thunderous-T, Salamence, Dragonite, etc makes Mamoswine a very easy fit to offensive teams.

I am sure you will do well in the PotW Princess Bri thanks for taking over :)

gengarsnemisis · Nov 27th, 2012, 2:33:28 AM

Mamoswine @ Focus Sash
Trait: Thick FAt
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Endeavor
- Ice Shard
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock

This set doesn't get much love these days compared to the LO set but I still love this set as it can do so much for your team. It can actually easily set up SR and is great for more offensive teams who don't want to loze momentum with mons' such as forry. Also endeavor is sweet because it can often nab a cheap kill, often times against something threatning. Also can revenge kill (obviously) Ice Shard is great for revenging dragons/flyers of course.

CTC · Nov 27th, 2012, 3:39:54 AM

This thing has like no offensive switchins and can 2hko the entire balanced to offensive metagame which is why the 285 speed benchmark is thrown around so often. I have used mamo extensively from fourth gen to early bw 2, but I found that it did the most work in bw1. Even though all the other threats got frailer, rotom got fatter. Moreover, water moves and hurricanes and close combats are being thrown everywhere. Though mamo still is a huge opener and does massive damage aiding the win condition, it is a liability for terrakion and gene setting up. As Bri mentioned in th op, mamoswine still comes with a myriad benefits, but I think it'll shine brighter when gene is banned.
Adamant life orb set is the best, with earthquake, ice shard, superpower, and icicle spear.
A set with 64 hp and chople/rindo could lure kill terrakion and rp gene as well.

Edit: since this thing kills so many pokes and hardly has switchins, a sub 3 attacks set is also viable to ease prediction. However, this comes at the price of not being able to hit rotom wash. I'm definitely looking forward to testing out sub lefties

YoYoNerd · Nov 27th, 2012, 4:08:04 AM

Mamerswine is probably one of the best Pokes around right now. Anti meta as hell and a great addition to a lot of offensive and defensive cores. Earthquake > Ice Shard kills off Scizor and Genesect, while Icicle Spear hits hard on almost anything, even being able to break Skarmory under extremely lucky circumstances.

Running Life Orb with Shard, Spear, Quake, and Superpower makes him near unstoppable in a lot of situations. Be sure to lay your rocks down because he won't be able to OHKO a lot of stuff with Ice Shard without Rocks.

The only stuff that really walls him is Skarm and Bronzong (and intimidate Gyara), even Rotom-W doesn't like switching into a Superpower or two. Pair him up with a bulky water which also remedies his Water weakness, and he absorbs all the Electric moves. Meanwhile, bulky waters get Skarm and Bronzong out of the way. I'd suggest a Gyarados, having tested it myself.

It's a great revenge killer, he can take hits, 2HKO and OHKO a lot of the metagame, lay Rocks if you want, and generally kick ass.

Good poke.

ala · Nov 27th, 2012, 5:02:13 AM

Posted this set in the Anti-Metagame thread, might as well post it here too.

Mamoswine @ Life Orb
Trait: Thick Fat
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Ice Shard
- Icicle Spear/Icicle Crash
- Superpower

A couple of things; if you can afford to have another member on your team put down Stealth Rock, it gives you another slot for extra coverage. The main attacking move is obviously Earthquake since it has no drawbacks. Ice Shard is pretty obvious as well. Icicle Spear is interesting and I use it over Icicle Crash because of stuff like Sub/Roost Dragonite who thinks it can just Dragon Tail Mamoswine away. I rarely use it other than against something like Hippowdon but if you don't fear Sub/Roost Dragonite (or Zapdos) then Crash is probably the better option. For the last slot I chose Superpower which hits a good amount of stuff for a lot of damage, including Rotom-W, Balloon Heatran and Ferrothorn.

You may have noticed that I use Jolly as well. This is mainly to beat Breloom. On the ladder I ran into a couple of Jolly Breloom who outspeed Adamant Mamoswine and KO with Mach Punch. My team was a little weak to Breloom so I switched to Jolly and I find it works much better for me. Some may miss the raw power of Adamant but for that particular team Jolly is superior. I also outspeed any Heatran which is pretty useful.

**Tobes** · Nov 27th, 2012, 5:35:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fat gengarsnemisis

Mamoswine @ Focus Sash
Trait: Thick FAt
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Endeavor
- Ice Shard
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock

This set doesn't get much love these days compared to the LO set but I still love this set as it can do so much for your team. It can actually easily set up SR and is great for more offensive teams who don't want to loze momentum with mons' such as forry. Also endeavor is sweet because it can often nab a cheap kill, often times against something threatning. Also can revenge kill (obviously) Ice Shard is great for revenging dragons/flyers of course.

I got a lot of mileage out of this set during the Garchomp test. While it appears unassuming and rarely can keep a sash intact around mid-game or so, its ability to remove problematic threats can be invaluable. For example, it is one of the best full-stops to a Baton Pass team. They never use hazards themselves, so your Sash in ensured to be functional. All it takes is keeping constant pressure on them so that they never have a Substitute intact. Then when they finally feel confident they have enough boosts to sweep your team, let them go to Espeon. Let Espeon kill something if necessary, then bring Mamoswine in. Stored Power brings you down to 1 HP, Endeavor responds in kind to Espeon. Espeon now goes up to 6% from Lefties, then gets sniped by Ice Shard. For a playstyle that's so annoying to play against, being able to consistently auto-win against it is a lovely thing.

The set does have flaws though. Endeavor is mostly worthless if Mamoswine can't activate its Sash or get into really low range. It also doesn't match up well against most leads, which is bad for a set reliant on Focus Sash. You lose out against Deoxys-D, against Genesect, against Cloyster (can't even pull your FEAR shenaningans against it), etc. You do have the nice ability to beat lead Terrakions that go for the Close Combat though. Unless they run Quick Attack. Which they don't, but I kind of want to see an increase of that since it's cool for sniping things like Dugtrio and Breloom (Breloom lives Jolly Close Combat most of the time). But sadly it is really really hard to deviate from CC / Stone Edge / Stealth Rock / Taunt because it's just so effective.

Tangent aside, Rapid Spin support is useful for this set. Starmie's probably the most intuitive option since it can take on things like Keldeo without too much trouble. It also invites Volt Switches which can give Mamoswine a free switch-in if you handle it right. Forretress is another option, since you can do things like use Gyro Ball on Gengars that switch in recklessly, which makes Endeavor much much more effective. You can also lay down Spikes to complement Stealth Rock, Toxic Spikes to let Endeavor kill most things without a follow-up Ice Shard, or Volt Switch to rack up hazard damage and wear down Jellicent (who, unlike Gengar, is not that difficult for Sash Mamoswine to muscle through with some prior damage).

It's a neat set, I recommend giving it a shot.

Chou Toshio · Nov 27th, 2012, 5:56:20 AM

honestly, the sash set is a lot harder to get through than the LO set imo. I've always had more trouble beating the sash ones. That's because Mamoswine's coverage + priority is so useful that it's just very hard to get around without losing something and letting it get up rocks. It's kind of like Dugtrio in that there are a lot of pokes that can survive a hit (in this case ice shard instead of trio's weak eq) and OHKO, but very few can break the sash without being 2HKO'd before taking it down.

Gary2346 · Nov 27th, 2012, 6:38:44 AM

I love Mamoswine, but at the same time I hate it. Every time I build a team it seems that Mamoswine is always the biggest threat to my team. With Thick Fat, not even Air Balloon Heatran can check Mamoswine anymore. That STAB EQ and priority Ice Shard is seriously an extreme nuisance, and it seems that taking Mamoswine into consideration when building a team is crucial due to it's massive devastation it can cause to teams.

Asek · Nov 28th, 2012, 5:02:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fat CTC

The thing is any good Bp player would just sub on a potentially threatening poke to scout. It only takes 18% Hp, and with the boosts they most likely would have accumulated that is hardly a thing. Being unable to hit rotom hard also sucks, as most bulky waters just status you first. If they don't see life orb everyone assumes sash so they usually try to do very little damage to it initially, rendering endeavor useless. That's just my opinion on sashdeavor.

If I didn't see Life Orb on a mamoswine I would instead assume it was either a Choice Band or a Expert Belt before Focus Sash came to mind. If he isn't leading with it I usually cross Focus sash off, and the strategy is very effective if you play your cards right. Agreeing however that if you haven't gotten rid of the Baton Pass teams SubPasser that they will try get their sweeper behind a substitute once they've accumulated the boosts, not only for something random but also to protect from an unlucky crit.

Also as ala said Jolly Mamoswine is great, and I almost always use it for a few more reasons then jolly breloom. Adamant Lucario and Toxicroak are both 2 key threats that jolly mamo also happens to outspeed, as well as out speeding opposing adamant mamo and speed tying with opposing jolly mamo. I have never noticed myself missing the extra power, as the targets that mamo was being used for were still being handily taken care of, and it added a few more pokemon that it beats to its list, so it was definitely worth the switch.

Princess Bri · Nov 28th, 2012, 7:37:17 AM

I would never assume a Mamoswine was expert belted. I've seen Thunder wave RotomW gaining a lot of popularity meaning that they often Hydro Pump Mamo down to its sash and it dies.

Dark Fallen Angel · Nov 28th, 2012, 8:55:01 AM

I would like to know if someone is using Stone Edge, outside non-Scarfed sets. Stone Edge seems like a bad move, but it gives Mamoswine coverage on Gyarados and Volcarona, two threats that shouldn't be ignored. However, it has very little use outside of this. My team has little trouble with those Pokémon, so I am using Superpower.

I would also like to know some of the best partners for Mamoswine. Its amount of weakness and mediocre defenses are annoying. They always ruin my defensive synergy, and I generally only use Mamoswine when my team is very weak to things like Dragonite. Also, even with Thick Fat, it's actually hard for Mamoswine to survive many Fire-type attacks, especially when they are boosted by the sun, due to the aforementioned mediocre defenses.

alexwolf · Nov 28th, 2012, 11:10:39 AM

I don't like Focus Sash Endeavor Mamo at all, and i am very happy when i see it in the opposing team. If you can understand that it is the Sash set you can easily beat it with minimal casualties, and finding out it is the Sash set is usually easy. When i see an offensive team with Mamo as the only possible SR user (the other pokes will either be unable to learn it or don't usually carry it), this means that Mamo will more often than not be the Lead set. So just WoW it with Rotom-W and then kill with Hydro Pump, Leech Seed it with Ferrothorn and then OHKO it with Gyro Ball / Power Whip, or Toxic it with Poltitoed and then kill it with Scald. And the reason i love seeing this Mamo variant is because Xatu actually walls it and prevents SR from going up.

Rayquaza_ · Nov 28th, 2012, 2:15:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fat alexwolf

I don't like Focus Sash Endeavor Mamo at all, and i am very happy when it see it in the opposing team. If you can understand that it is the Sash set you can easily beat it with minimal casualties, and finding out it is the Sash set is usually easy. When i see an offensive team with Mamo as the only possible SR user (the other pokes will either be unable to learn it or don't usually carry it), this means that Mamo will more often than not be the Lead set. So just WoW it with Rotom-W and then kill with Hydro Pump, Leech Seed it with Ferrothorn and then OHKO it with Gyro Ball / Power Whip, or Toxic it with Poltitoed and then kill it with Scald. And the reason i love seeing this Mamo variant is because Xatu actually walls it and prevents SR from going up.

You're assuming that the Mamo user is an idiot. Protip: the opponent can see your mons with team preview, too.
If you're running a high risk-high reward set like Sash lead Mamo, you'll obviously understand what stops it cold (like the pokemon you mentioned) and pair it with something that can take them out.
You don't have to lead with it just so you can set SR on turn 1 if you see it's obviously not a good idea. This is true for any designed lead with entry hazards.

Milos · Nov 28th, 2012, 2:35:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fat Dark Fallen Angel

I would like to know if someone is using Stone Edge, outside non-Scarfed sets. Stone Edge seems like a bad move, but it gives Mamoswine coverage on Gyarados and Volcarona, two threats that shouldn't be ignored. However, it has very little use outside of this. My team has little trouble with those Pokémon, so I am using Superpower.

I would also like to know some of the best partners for Mamoswine. Its amount of weakness and mediocre defenses are annoying. They always ruin my defensive synergy, and I generally only use Mamoswine when my team is very weak to things like Dragonite. Also, even with Thick Fat, it's actually hard for Mamoswine to survive many Fire-type attacks, especially when they are boosted by the sun, due to the aforementioned mediocre defenses.

Latias is an excellent partner for Mamoswine. It resists Water, Fire, and Fighting, meaning she makes an excellent switch in to things that threaten Mamo, such as Keldeo or Rotom-W. Keldeo won't like taking a Psyshock and neither will SpD Rotom. Ferrothorn/Bronzong do kind of wall them both though (unless Latias is using Hidden Power Fire, but even then, they are both usually under the rain) so Magnezone naturally fits well with the LatiSwine combo.

Btw, Timid 252 SpA Heatran Flamethrower vs 6 HP Thick Fat Mamoswine:

...

So unless you're in sun, you won't be KO'd by any offensive variant using Flamethrower.

alexwolf · Nov 28th, 2012, 2:56:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fat Rayquaza_

You're assuming that the Mamo user is an idiot. Protip: the opponent can see your mons with team preview, too.
If you're running a high risk-high reward set like Sash lead Mamo, you'll obviously understand what stops it cold (like the pokemon you mentioned) and pair it with something that can take them out.
You don't have to lead with it just so you can set SR on turn 1 if you see it's obviously not a good idea. This is true for any designed lead with entry hazards.

You didn't get my point. From the moment you see Mamo in Team Preview you are usually able to tell if it the lead set or not due to reasons i already mentioned. And once you know that it is the lead set it is very easy to kill it, and it is very easy to wall it as it doesn't hit hard.

iiZqHD · Nov 28th, 2012, 3:17:45 PM

My thoughts,
Mamoswine is amazing. My personal favorite set is

Mamoswine @ Life Orb
Trait: Thick Fat
EV's: 252 Atk / 252 HP / 4 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Ice Shard
- Earthquake
- Icicle Crash
- Stone Edge / Stealth Rocks

This set is purely offensive and in my experience one of the best sets. With it ice shard delivering a whopping hit, can easily OHKO most dragons, save for Dragonite with Multi Scale unless you use rocks. Given rocks or any other hazards, mamoswine, can be a great sweeper

Electrolyte · Nov 28th, 2012, 3:57:23 PM

Mamo is definitely a threat to behold; it just counters so many pokemon that a team meaning to succeed can not be built without an answer to this guy. Dragons being so powerful and popular has definitely made Mamoswine have it's tusks full.

I agree with alexwolf that the Sash set is definitely a tricky one to use and an easy one to counter. If you get hazards up, it's fairly easy to handle since Mamoswine is a very hit and run type of pokemon. Break the sash with status or hazards, and then just use a semi powerful SE move to take it out.

A cool partner for Mamoswine could definitely be Venusaur, who likes Heatran and Dragons gone. It can take fighting and water hits for Mamo, and dispose of bulky water types that can stop a Mamosweep. Mamo can also deal with dugtrio pretty well because of it's bulk, which helps keep Venusaur's Sun up. If you haven't tried Sun Mamo yet, you definitely should.

**dragonuser** · Nov 28th, 2012, 8:04:16 PM

Focus Sash Endeavor Mamoswine is definitely my favorite Mamoswine set in this metagame. It is a reliable hazard layer, and is almost always guaranteed to take a Pokemon down with it. Sure it lacks the power of CB or LO, but it makes up for it in utility.

Anyways, Mamoswine is pretty great as a whole in this metagame. It is a pretty great offensive check to Dragon-Types, which never hurts, and also does pretty well vs the Therians. Like CTC said Rotom-W is probably one of this guys biggest enemys atm. But aside from that and a few other Pokemon this guy has the chance to hit the entire metagame really hard and definitely not be overlooked.

Princess Bri · Nov 28th, 2012, 8:52:53 PM

I've always found Life Orb to be the ideal item, although it usually takes me a while to find what Mamoswine set fits well on my team. What is everyones' opinion on Scarf Mamoswine?

Lady Alex · Nov 28th, 2012, 9:27:10 PM

Scarf Mamoswine's niche is too narrow for it to be worth using imo. Most of the things that are faster than it that it cares to hit are revenged by Ice Shard, anyway. The few instances where I can see Scarf being somewhat worth using were if you desperately needed a way to check a full health SD Garchomp/Lati twins or a CM Jirachi who had gotten a couple boosts and threatened to ko Mamoswine with a Rain boosted Water Pulse. I usually stick with the Sash Endeavor or LO sets when I use it.

RaikouLover · Nov 29th, 2012, 3:15:19 PM

I always found Mamo to be a bit Overrated because his resistances are so bad he is tough to get in other than revenge.

Still, Adamant Life Orb hits like a TRUCK. What is the point of Jolly, again?

Lady Alex · Nov 29th, 2012, 3:16:39 PM

It let's you outspeed neutral nature base 90s.

Nov 27th, 2012, 1:05:15 AM	#2
SapphSabre777 Join Date: Aug 2012 Posts: 48 USA	Who needs Snow Cloak when you have Thick Fat? Mamoswine is an awesome Pokemon that everyone should try out (especially Banded). To me, it is one of the best, if not the best check/counter for most of the dragons in OU. __________________ ~~~~ -Uses hacks IVs to 30/31 Wild Pokemon Modifier Infinite Items Pokemon are caught non-legitly (random locations, caught with MBs)

Nov 27th, 2012, 1:48:41 AM	#4
Superpowerdude A Join Date: Mar 2012 Posts: 914 Australia Mentor	agreeing with Asek i believe the most effective set is the Life Orb set as Asek said you can't afford to be locked into Earthqauke with all the Levitate and Flying-type pokemon common in OU such as the therians, the latis and Rotom-W. Being locked into a 40 base power Ice Shard is also not to good because your opponent can send in their Steel-type and get up entry hazards as your forced to switch. Mamoswines ability to be able to check a wide array of OU pokemon like the Tornadus-T, Landorus-T, Landorus, Thunderous-T, Salamence, Dragonite, etc makes Mamoswine a very easy fit to offensive teams. I am sure you will do well in the PotW Princess Bri thanks for taking over :) __________________ #ratemyteam \| Smog Work\| Rater Of the Week \| RMT \| Dogbirds Join #dogbirds on irc!!!

Nov 27th, 2012, 2:33:28 AM	#5
gengarsnemisis Join Date: Dec 2011 Posts: 126	Mamoswine @ Focus Sash Trait: Thick FAt EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe Adamant Nature - Endeavor - Ice Shard - Earthquake - Stealth Rock This set doesn't get much love these days compared to the LO set but I still love this set as it can do so much for your team. It can actually easily set up SR and is great for more offensive teams who don't want to loze momentum with mons' such as forry. Also endeavor is sweet because it can often nab a cheap kill, often times against something threatning. Also can revenge kill (obviously) Ice Shard is great for revenging dragons/flyers of course. __________________ PS name- uberscape Last edited by gengarsnemisis; Nov 27th, 2012 at 2:57:36 AM.

Nov 27th, 2012, 3:39:54 AM	#6
CTC Join Date: Oct 2012 Posts: 136 IDM	This thing has like no offensive switchins and can 2hko the entire balanced to offensive metagame which is why the 285 speed benchmark is thrown around so often. I have used mamo extensively from fourth gen to early bw 2, but I found that it did the most work in bw1. Even though all the other threats got frailer, rotom got fatter. Moreover, water moves and hurricanes and close combats are being thrown everywhere. Though mamo still is a huge opener and does massive damage aiding the win condition, it is a liability for terrakion and gene setting up. As Bri mentioned in th op, mamoswine still comes with a myriad benefits, but I think it'll shine brighter when gene is banned. Adamant life orb set is the best, with earthquake, ice shard, superpower, and icicle spear. A set with 64 hp and chople/rindo could lure kill terrakion and rp gene as well. Edit: since this thing kills so many pokes and hardly has switchins, a sub 3 attacks set is also viable to ease prediction. However, this comes at the price of not being able to hit rotom wash. I'm definitely looking forward to testing out sub lefties __________________ Check out my joint RMT:The Art of Peer Pressure Peaked #1 Beta Feel free to VM/PM me for rates or collabs

Nov 28th, 2012, 3:17:45 PM	#19
iiZqHD Join Date: Jul 2012 Posts: 36 In that castle in the sky	My thoughts, Mamoswine is amazing. My personal favorite set is Mamoswine @ Life Orb Trait: Thick Fat EV's: 252 Atk / 252 HP / 4 Spe Adamant Nature - Ice Shard - Earthquake - Icicle Crash - Stone Edge / Stealth Rocks This set is purely offensive and in my experience one of the best sets. With it ice shard delivering a whopping hit, can easily OHKO most dragons, save for Dragonite with Multi Scale unless you use rocks. Given rocks or any other hazards, mamoswine, can be a great sweeper __________________ Y O U T U B E \| T W I T T E R \| T U M B L R Checkout My channel, I do PS battles!

Nov 27th, 2012, 1:01:39 AM	#1
Princess Bri COME FORTH Join Date: Feb 2012 Posts: 1,073	Pokemon of the Week #16: Latias Picture by Yelsha41! As Superpowerdude lost interest in hosting this, he graciously allowed me too! Thanks! As you can tell by the title, I am hosting the "Pokemon of the Week" for OU. You may have seen the UU, RU and NU varaints of this project. The aim of this project is to help newer OU players recognize viable Pokemon and sets, in order to aid them when team building. This is done by exploring and discussing a new OU Pokemon each week. If you are unsure what to discuss, here are some good guidelines; The Pokemon's place in the metagame Some viable sets of the Pokemon. Creative sets are highly encouraged, but no gimmicks please. Share your experiences with the Pokemon. Pokemon of the Week #8: Mamoswine Mamoswine Type: Ice / Ground Base Stats: 110 HP / 130 Atk / 80 Def / 70 SpA / 60 SpD / 80 Spe Abilities: Oblivious / Snow Cloak / Thick Fat Notable Moves: - Ice Shard - Earthquake - Icicle Spear - Icicle Crash - Endeavor - Stone Edge - Substitute - Curse - Superpower - Stealth Rock With the introduction of Thick Fat in BW2, Mamoswine's Dream Word ability, Mamoswine is now better than ever! Although Mamoswine's Snow Cloak was banned recently, it still is a greats Pokemon. Its Ice Shard picks off common Genies and Dragons, and its Earthquake is pretty scary! The introduction of the new Therian formes with Black and White 2 made Mamoswine an even better option for many teams, especially ones needs a revenge-killer for the common Therians. It's such a hard Pokemon to check, even with something that resists Ice Shard. If you can predict your opponent correctly as they switch in an Ice Shard resist, Starmie for example, while you Earthquake, goodbye Starmie! Pokemon of the Week #9: Reuniclus Reuniclus Type: Psychic Base Stats: 110 HP / 65 Atk / 75 Def / 125 SpA / 85 SpD / 30 Spe Abilities: Overcoat / Magic Coat / Regenerator Notable Moves: - Psychic - Psyshock - Focus Blast - Calm Mind - Recover - Trick Room - Shadow Ball - Trick Whether Reuniclus is breaking stall, a playstyle that has gained popularity with the banning of Genesect, with Calm Mind or destroying balanced and Hyper Offensive teams alike with a Trick Room set, this fetus is a lot more fearsome than its teletubby-esque sprite may suggest. Even though its typing is sub-par, its incredible ability, decent bulk, and amazing special attack make up for it. Tyranitar and Scizor are still common as ever, but even with such common checks and counters Reuniclus still manages to be a devastating threat in the BW2 OU metagame. What sets do you prefer and what kind of teams do they work in for you? How have you utilized Reuniclus? Pokemon of the Week #10: Jirachi Jirachi Type: Steel / Psychic Base Stats: 100 HP / 100 Atk / 100 Def / 100 SpA / 100 SpD / 100 Spe Abilities: Serene Grace Notable Moves: - Iron Head - Body Slam - Stealth Rock - Thunder - Thunder Wave - Wish - Water Pulse - Calm Mind - Substitute - Fire Punch - Flash Cannon - Psyshock - Trick - U-turn - Ice Punch - ThunderPunch - Grass Knot The biggest haxer in OU is now the Pokemon of the Week! Jirachi is one of the most versatile Pokemon in the tier, and it performs all of its sets wonderfully. Its infamous Body Slam and Iron Head ParaFlinch combination coupled with Serene Grace makes it a formidable Special Wall, whilst it's a fantastic sweeper as well, especially in rain, utilizing moves like Thunder(bolt) and Water Pulse. Jirachi can even perform a Scarf set well. Instead of revenge killing its enemies.. well.. it haxes them. Pokemon of the Week #11: Scizor Scizor Type: Bug / Steel Base Stats: 70 HP / 130 Atk / 100 Def / 55 SpA / 80 SpD / 65 Spe Abilities: Swarm \| Technician Notable Moves: - U-turn - Bullet Punch - Superpower - Bug Bite - Swords Dance - Pursuit - Quick Attack - Iron Head With the banning of its fellow (good) iron bug, Genesect, Scizor can finally retake the stage as one of the premiere offensive Steels in OU. While Scizor's base stats, 500 overall, may seem underwhelming, its true boon is found in its ability and STAB's. A Steel-type STAB may seem underwhelming, but boosted by Technician and a massive 130 base attack, it actually is one of the most easily spammed moves in OU. U-turn is really makes Scizor what it is, however. It's a STAB that has a good base power and gives you momentum with good coverage, sign me up! Additionally, both these STAB's are walled by steels which it has Superpower for. Swords Dance makes it an effective set-up sweeper while a Choice Band makes it a great scout. Scizor is easily strongthf. Pokemon of the Week #12: Tyranitar Tyranitar Type: Rock / Dark Base Stats: 100 HP / 134 Atk / 110 Def / 95 SpA / 100 SpD / 65 Spe Abilities: Sand Stream \| Unnerve Notable Moves: - Stealth Rock - Stone Edge - Crunch - Pursuit - Superpower - Fire Blast - Ice Beam - Thunder Wave - Dragon Tail - Earthquake - Rock Slide - Aqua Tail - Thunderbolt Having been one of the most gamechanging Pokemon of all time, the original weather inducer will be our new Pokemon of the Week! With Gen4 giving us Hippowdon and Gen5 giving us Ninetales and Politoed, Tyranitar has lost some of its original shine; however, it still has a few cool niches. First of all, it is easily one of the best Lati@S counters in the game. Sandstorm with its Rock-typing gives it another 50 base SpDef in Sand; one thing that shouldn't be overlooked. Additionally, Tyranitar tanks special hits much better than Hippowdon, making it more fit for this Specially-based metagame. Even though rain has taken over, is Tyranitar still good? Let's explore this Pokemon of the Week! Pokemon of the Week #13: Ninetales Ninetales Type: Fire Base Stats: 73 HP / 76 Atk / 75 Def / 81 SpA / 100 SpD / 100 Spe Abilities: Drought \| Flash Fire Notable Moves: - Sunny Day - Flamethower - Fire Blast - SolarBeam - Energy Ball - Will-O-Wisp - Hidden Power - Hypnosis - Nasty Plot - Roar - Substitute - Pain Split - Rest Ninetales is the Pokemon of the Week #13! Ninetales is simply terrible. It would be down in the depths of NU if it weren't for the fact that it's the only pokemon, other than its pre-evolution, that can setup permanent sun in OU. Can we find any use out of this seemingly useless kyuubi? Pokemon of the Week #14 and #15: Kyurem and Kyurem-B and Kyurem & Kyurem-B Gray = Kyurem only and Brown = Kyurem-B only Type: Dragon / Ice Base Stats: 125 HP / 130 Atk / 90 Def / 130 SpA / 90 SpD / 95 Spe Base Stats: 125 HP / 170 Atk / 100 Def / 120 SpA / 90 SpD / 95 Spe Abilities: Pressure Abilities: Teravolt Notable Moves: - Ice Beam - Dragon Pulse - Draco Meteor - Outrage - Fusion Bolt - Earth Power - Hone Claws - Dragon Tail - Focus Blast - Roost With the release of BW came the release of Kyurem-B, Kyurem's new forme. Although it was Uber originally, suspect testing determined that it is OU material. With its huge 170 base attack, great 120 base special attack, and great bulky couple with Roost, it is definitely a great Pokemon. Kyurem is no slouch either. Its ability, Pressure, allows it to SubRoost stall better than Kyurem-B, but Kyurem-B has Teravolt. Kyurem has lost a lot of luster due to Kyurem-B's unbanning, but is it worse? Latias Type: Dragon / Psychic Base Stats: 80 HP / 80 Atk / 90 Def / 110 SpA / 130 SpD / 110 Spe Abilities: Levitate Notable Moves: - Calm Mind - Dragon Pulse - Draco Meteor - Roost - Recover - Reflect - Light Screen - Healing Wish - Psyshock - Grass Knot - Thunderbolt - Surf - Reflect Type - Roar - Wish BW2 has drastically changed many player's thoughts on Latias. In BW1 if one wanted a Life Orb'd Lati@s they'd immediate use her brother, Latios; however, BW2's releases in abilities and Pokemon changed this. Keldeo, Special Landorus, Breloom, etc. now being released has made Latias a much more prominent figurehead in OU. With its unique typing coupled with fantastic Special bulk and great Special Attack, Latias is a powerhouse. Although she may be weaker than her brother, she comes with more bulk and a cool move in Healing Wish. Healing Wish gives you another sweeper on your team a second life, and can be gamechanging. Discuss this new Pokemon of the Week! Date of the Next Pokemon of the Week: 2.14.12 __________________ Last edited by Princess Bri; Feb 7th, 2013 at 4:48:41 PM.

Nov 27th, 2012, 4:08:04 AM	#7
YoYoNerd Join Date: Oct 2012 Posts: 5	Mamerswine is probably one of the best Pokes around right now. Anti meta as hell and a great addition to a lot of offensive and defensive cores. Earthquake > Ice Shard kills off Scizor and Genesect, while Icicle Spear hits hard on almost anything, even being able to break Skarmory under extremely lucky circumstances. Running Life Orb with Shard, Spear, Quake, and Superpower makes him near unstoppable in a lot of situations. Be sure to lay your rocks down because he won't be able to OHKO a lot of stuff with Ice Shard without Rocks. The only stuff that really walls him is Skarm and Bronzong (and intimidate Gyara), even Rotom-W doesn't like switching into a Superpower or two. Pair him up with a bulky water which also remedies his Water weakness, and he absorbs all the Electric moves. Meanwhile, bulky waters get Skarm and Bronzong out of the way. I'd suggest a Gyarados, having tested it myself. It's a great revenge killer, he can take hits, 2HKO and OHKO a lot of the metagame, lay Rocks if you want, and generally kick ass. Good poke.

Nov 27th, 2012, 5:02:13 AM	#8
ala a Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 3,967 mercinary	Posted this set in the Anti-Metagame thread, might as well post it here too. Mamoswine @ Life Orb Trait: Thick Fat EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd Jolly Nature - Earthquake - Ice Shard - Icicle Spear/Icicle Crash - Superpower A couple of things; if you can afford to have another member on your team put down Stealth Rock, it gives you another slot for extra coverage. The main attacking move is obviously Earthquake since it has no drawbacks. Ice Shard is pretty obvious as well. Icicle Spear is interesting and I use it over Icicle Crash because of stuff like Sub/Roost Dragonite who thinks it can just Dragon Tail Mamoswine away. I rarely use it other than against something like Hippowdon but if you don't fear Sub/Roost Dragonite (or Zapdos) then Crash is probably the better option. For the last slot I chose Superpower which hits a good amount of stuff for a lot of damage, including Rotom-W, Balloon Heatran and Ferrothorn. You may have noticed that I use Jolly as well. This is mainly to beat Breloom. On the ladder I ran into a couple of Jolly Breloom who outspeed Adamant Mamoswine and KO with Mach Punch. My team was a little weak to Breloom so I switched to Jolly and I find it works much better for me. Some may miss the raw power of Adamant but for that particular team Jolly is superior. I also outspeed any Heatran which is pretty useful.

Nov 27th, 2012, 5:56:20 AM	#10
Chou Toshio Hmmm... A name for the plan... Join Date: Aug 2007 Posts: 6,946 Sea Forest	honestly, the sash set is a lot harder to get through than the LO set imo. I've always had more trouble beating the sash ones. That's because Mamoswine's coverage + priority is so useful that it's just very hard to get around without losing something and letting it get up rocks. It's kind of like Dugtrio in that there are a lot of pokes that can survive a hit (in this case ice shard instead of trio's weak eq) and OHKO, but very few can break the sash without being 2HKO'd before taking it down. __________________ "Hmmm... a name for this plan..."

Nov 27th, 2012, 6:38:44 AM	#11
Gary2346 Join Date: Aug 2011 Posts: 426 Hooters	I love Mamoswine, but at the same time I hate it. Every time I build a team it seems that Mamoswine is always the biggest threat to my team. With Thick Fat, not even Air Balloon Heatran can check Mamoswine anymore. That STAB EQ and priority Ice Shard is seriously an extreme nuisance, and it seems that taking Mamoswine into consideration when building a team is crucial due to it's massive devastation it can cause to teams. __________________ PM or VM me for an OU RMT Rate! Check out my YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/TheGary2346 It's still in the works, but you get the point.

Nov 28th, 2012, 7:37:17 AM	#13
Princess Bri COME FORTH Join Date: Feb 2012 Posts: 1,073	I would never assume a Mamoswine was expert belted. I've seen Thunder wave RotomW gaining a lot of popularity meaning that they often Hydro Pump Mamo down to its sash and it dies. __________________

Nov 28th, 2012, 8:55:01 AM	#14
Dark Fallen Angel No, I do not speak German, but I wish I could. Join Date: May 2012 Posts: 775 ON A GIRL ROOM :3 :3 :3	I would like to know if someone is using Stone Edge, outside non-Scarfed sets. Stone Edge seems like a bad move, but it gives Mamoswine coverage on Gyarados and Volcarona, two threats that shouldn't be ignored. However, it has very little use outside of this. My team has little trouble with those Pokémon, so I am using Superpower. I would also like to know some of the best partners for Mamoswine. Its amount of weakness and mediocre defenses are annoying. They always ruin my defensive synergy, and I generally only use Mamoswine when my team is very weak to things like Dragonite. Also, even with Thick Fat, it's actually hard for Mamoswine to survive many Fire-type attacks, especially when they are boosted by the sun, due to the aforementioned mediocre defenses. __________________ I am a 18 year old guy that lives on Brazil. I have my own desires and goals, for example, I plan to become a voice actor. I also plan to become a mangaka.

Nov 28th, 2012, 11:10:39 AM	#15
alexwolf King of Conquerors Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 3,633 Greece	I don't like Focus Sash Endeavor Mamo at all, and i am very happy when i see it in the opposing team. If you can understand that it is the Sash set you can easily beat it with minimal casualties, and finding out it is the Sash set is usually easy. When i see an offensive team with Mamo as the only possible SR user (the other pokes will either be unable to learn it or don't usually carry it), this means that Mamo will more often than not be the Lead set. So just WoW it with Rotom-W and then kill with Hydro Pump, Leech Seed it with Ferrothorn and then OHKO it with Gyro Ball / Power Whip, or Toxic it with Poltitoed and then kill it with Scald. And the reason i love seeing this Mamo variant is because Xatu actually walls it and prevents SR from going up. __________________ Part of the OU QC team, message me for a check! Last edited by alexwolf; Nov 28th, 2012 at 8:17:51 PM.

Nov 28th, 2012, 3:57:23 PM	#20
Electrolyte Cause you keep me coming back for more Join Date: Jul 2012 Posts: 1,055 And I feel a little better than I did before Mentor	Mamo is definitely a threat to behold; it just counters so many pokemon that a team meaning to succeed can not be built without an answer to this guy. Dragons being so powerful and popular has definitely made Mamoswine have it's tusks full. I agree with alexwolf that the Sash set is definitely a tricky one to use and an easy one to counter. If you get hazards up, it's fairly easy to handle since Mamoswine is a very hit and run type of pokemon. Break the sash with status or hazards, and then just use a semi powerful SE move to take it out. A cool partner for Mamoswine could definitely be Venusaur, who likes Heatran and Dragons gone. It can take fighting and water hits for Mamo, and dispose of bulky water types that can stop a Mamosweep. Mamo can also deal with dugtrio pretty well because of it's bulk, which helps keep Venusaur's Sun up. If you haven't tried Sun Mamo yet, you definitely should. __________________ Stuff (Click!): l l l l l l l l l l VM me for an OU / LC team rate! MURKBRO MAFIA

Nov 28th, 2012, 8:04:16 PM	#21
dragonuser If our love is tragedy, why are you my remedy? Moderator Join Date: Jun 2011 Posts: 1,289 Mentor	Focus Sash Endeavor Mamoswine is definitely my favorite Mamoswine set in this metagame. It is a reliable hazard layer, and is almost always guaranteed to take a Pokemon down with it. Sure it lacks the power of CB or LO, but it makes up for it in utility. Anyways, Mamoswine is pretty great as a whole in this metagame. It is a pretty great offensive check to Dragon-Types, which never hurts, and also does pretty well vs the Therians. Like CTC said Rotom-W is probably one of this guys biggest enemys atm. But aside from that and a few other Pokemon this guy has the chance to hit the entire metagame really hard and definitely not be overlooked. __________________

Nov 28th, 2012, 8:52:53 PM	#22
Princess Bri COME FORTH Join Date: Feb 2012 Posts: 1,073	I've always found Life Orb to be the ideal item, although it usually takes me a while to find what Mamoswine set fits well on my team. What is everyones' opinion on Scarf Mamoswine? __________________

Nov 28th, 2012, 9:27:10 PM	#23
Lady Alex So, I dashed all over the mansion, and I re-killed them; they were pretty alive when I found them Join Date: Aug 2010 Posts: 418 Stuck between a Stealth Rock and a hard place	Scarf Mamoswine's niche is too narrow for it to be worth using imo. Most of the things that are faster than it that it cares to hit are revenged by Ice Shard, anyway. The few instances where I can see Scarf being somewhat worth using were if you desperately needed a way to check a full health SD Garchomp/Lati twins or a CM Jirachi who had gotten a couple boosts and threatened to ko Mamoswine with a Rain boosted Water Pulse. I usually stick with the Sash Endeavor or LO sets when I use it. __________________

Nov 29th, 2012, 3:15:19 PM	#24
RaikouLover Join Date: Aug 2006 Posts: 2,430	I always found Mamo to be a bit Overrated because his resistances are so bad he is tough to get in other than revenge. Still, Adamant Life Orb hits like a TRUCK. What is the point of Jolly, again? __________________ ImStillGood (Salamence) (M) @ Life Orb Trait: Intimidate EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd Rash Nature (+SAtk, -SDef) Draco Meteor / Flamethrower / Brick Break / Roost

Nov 29th, 2012, 3:16:39 PM	#25
Lady Alex So, I dashed all over the mansion, and I re-killed them; they were pretty alive when I found them Join Date: Aug 2010 Posts: 418 Stuck between a Stealth Rock and a hard place	It let's you outspeed neutral nature base 90s. __________________