Gardevoir (Analysis-Skeleton)

[Overview]
-Outclassed partially by Azelf, Alakazam, Mesprit, but not quite
-Delicate balance between offense and defense may seem off-putting, but has very unique ways to implement it
-Weird Stats
-Trace is conditional, but is very helpful with predictions and switching
-Great movepool for both offense and support
-AMAZING Special Defense, almost tieing with Cresselia
-Freaky Pokedex entries

[SET]
name: Choice
move 1: Psychic / Psyshock
move 2: Thunderbolt
move 3: Hidden Power Ice
move 4: Trick
item: Choice Scarf / Choice Specs
ability: Trace
nature: Timid
evs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
-Perfect offensive coverage with 125 SpA and pseudo-BoltBeam
-Switches in on Special Attacks with ease
-Trick to mess up Eviolite abusers and to lock out supporters

[Additional Comments]
-Psychic does more damage, but Psyshock can reroute damage to Defense, allowing it to effectively destroy Special Walls like Chansey (after a trick)
-It will NEVER outrun Jolly Heracross with Scarf, which is a major letdown
-252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 Def may be used if speed is not an issue (for Choice Specs)
-Modest nature used with above spread will maximize damage
-Works extremely well with adequate prediction and Trace, such as luring out the Arcanine with Escavalier and then switching to Gardevoir

[SET]
name: Calm Mind
move 1: Shadow Ball
move 2: Focus Blast
move 3: Taunt / Psychic
move 4: Calm Mind
item: Life Orb / Leftovers
ability: Trace
nature: Timid
evs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
-With great SpD and Trace, Gardevoir can switch into many things like CC Heracross, Arcanine, Kingdra, and setup
-After one Calm Mind, Gardevoir is free to sweep and destroy
-Shadow Ball + Focus Blast = Unparalled coverage of the tier
-Taunt prevents statuses and healing
-Psychic is a good option for STAB

[Additional Comments]
-Gardevoir only needs 1 Calm Mind to sweep with Max SpA
-Life Orb will hit harder, but Leftovers is acceptable as well
-Hidden Power Fighting is possible replacement of Focus Blast, has lower power but much better accuracy
-Heal Beller and Entry Hazards appreciated, works wonderfully well with Donphan as it can easily switch into a special attack aimed at it

[SET]
name: WishSupport
move 1: Wish
move 2: Protect
move 3: Will-O-Wisp / Thunderwave / Toxic
move 4: Taunt / Encore
item: Leftovers
ability: Trace
nature: Bold
evs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD

[SET COMMENTS]
-Protect + Wish + Protect = STAAAAAAAAALLL
-Able to pass 170 HP Wish to party members
-3 Status conditions? YES!
-Thunderwave to bring opponent's speed into range
-Will-O-Wisp useful for slowing down physical attackers and causing damage
-Taunt can outstall other support/utility Pokemon
-Encore can be used to lock the opponent into a useless move

[Additional Comments]
-Horrible HP and Defenses make this set hard to run, luckily Protect can ward off some critical Pursuits and Fake Outs if need be.
-Taunt requires slightly more speed investment to fire off a Taunt before the opponent does
-A great partner for Heracross that absorbs damage for it and can pass a wish on or finish off the threat

[Other Options]
-Offensively, use Azelf
-Defensively, use Cresselia

[Checks and Counters]
-Pursuit
-Sucker Punch
-Punishment
-Crunch
-Any Physical move with a power of more than 100

[Dream World]
-It gets Telepathy, which is useless outside of Double/Triple Battles

I think the wish support needs some cleaning up. sub should go because protect is better for scouting and with wish. I think thunder wave should be AC insted main option in forth slot, I think it should Will-O-Wisp / Toxic in the third slot because if your stalling you want passif damage each turn. also, in the overview you have espeon which is ban (I think so). also may be mention sub on the calmind set?

Why would you use Calm Mind Gardevoir over something like Mew, Celebi, or even Mesprit? You'll have to make clear what its advantages over them are in the writeup if that set stays.

Be sure to outline Trace in the overview, which in itself, is one reason to use it above some others I suppose.

But I'm sure that a different spread should be used on the CM set. I don't think that much speed would help that much. You should be focusing on general bulk and Defense so you can take those physical hits.

And I'm thinking Disable might be a great move as well when factoring Trace. With all the support options and some Defensive investment, you can probably counter a variety of physical sweepers.

what exactly are you tracing with gardevoir, really?

I'm looking through some threats. There are some good stuff, though it's hard to counter them all in one set obviously (not as easy to hold stuff off with Gardevoir as it is with Porygon2 obviously). A couple examples I was referring to was something like Arcanine, whose primary abilities are turned against him, or Hitmontop, who takes an Intimidate drop too. You can also copy some random weather abusing abilities and the like. Forgot that it isn't OU though, where Trace might be more relevant. I might try it out and see how it plays.

Minor nitpick: Espeon is banned from UU.

Sub added, plus new set made

Encore > Disable, encore locks while disable merely annoys

Trace will be outlined in full with the full analysis, but it's too conditional to be of any use

I said in the reservation thread that I would be rejecting Gardevoir unless a very convincing argument was made for its inclusion. The sets in the OP just further convince me that everything Gardevoir can do is done better by one of the many great psychic-types in the tier. Even by its own merits, Gardevoir is a poor choice for any competitive UU team. Sorry, but it doesn't look like Gardevoir will be receiving a UU analysis at this time.

QC REJECTED 1/3

I concluded that it's very borderline to RU, but certain traits about it can lead to better use than Alakazam and Azelf. For instance, you would NEVER want to switch in with one of those Pokemon, but with 110 SpD (Almost as much as Cresselia), you would be free to switch into the worst of Special threats like Kingdra and setup a Calm Mind or start Choice Sweeping.

However, it loses to Azelf in almost every possible offensive route, and what's more its stats are just awkward to play with. I've seen it used well in conjunction with Heracross to absorb Special hits and support it or alternate sweeping however. If the defense was at least 80, it would be a far better supporter than Cresselia due to the fact it has Hypnosis, Will-O-Wisp, Thunderwave, Toxic, Mean Look, Disable, and sooo many good support moves. And it can set up Dual Screens as well.

If Gardevoir is to be used at all, you should play her to her strengths. Namely, Trace. Without Trace, Gardevoir is an inferior Uxie / Mesprit / Azelf depending on what you want to do with a team.

So if you're going to make a UU set with Gardevoir, you have to make sure that Trace is being used effectively for it to be worth running Gardevoir in the first place. Here's some of the things she can do to UU pokemon with Trace.

• Intimidate Hitmontop and set up on it.
• Either Intimidate Arcanine or wall its Fire attacks.
• Switch in on Chansey with impunity and heal with Pain Split.
• Steal Sheer Force from Nidoking and become Deoxys-A.
• Switch into Celebi to attack and heal status (if you pack a super effective move)
• Lure in Flygon's Earthquake and force it to switch.
• Erm... that's about it.

So if Gardevoir's going to abuse these traits, I'm guessing an offensive Life Orb set is probably the best idea. After all, shecan also come in on random pokemon with immunities like Jolteon etc, not to mention being a decent all-out-attacker in a pinch.

Gardevoir @ Life Orb
Ability: Trace
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature (+Spe, -Atk)
- Psychic
- Shadow Ball
- Focus Blast
- Pain Split / Calm Mind

Basically, if she can get into Nidoking for free, she gets an effective SpA of 465 and can deal some serious damage, especially with her great coverage. Pain Split lets you maul Blissey whilst Calm Mind can be used to further increase your chances of a sweep. You could even make it a Trick Room style set, since Gardevoir can /just/ about become slow enough to sweep certain teams, and appreciates the extra bulk.

I'm not a QC member, but I think this is the only set Gardevoir can run that isn't horribly outclassed by other pokemon.

Focused on 3 sets, and redit some moves and spreads. Gardevoir is really a team player, much like Dugtrio and Uxie, but can do some amazing things all by itself

This has already been QC rejected so there's no point to continue to work on it you know.

SuperJOCKE said:

This has already been QC rejected so there's no point to continue to work on it you know.

Click to expand...

...then why does it say REJECTION (1/3) ?

I don't know. It just works that way.

Gardevoir isn't on the analysis list anymore, and is listed on the "unfit list".

You need 3 rejects to for a set to be rejected.

And you know, off the top of my head Gardevoir is the only Psychic type to learn Wish / Will-O-Wisp, and it gets Trace. I wouldn't list the Choice set and CM set first though because they're plain outdone by Azelf. A support set is probably Gardevoir's best chance to shine.

Why would you use this over any of the other Psychic types? Offensively its outclassed by Zam, Azelf and Mew. Defensively its extremely outclassed by Mew (Gardevoir literally has Wish and Trace, Mew has everything else) Sure trace lets it switch into a few key threats but each and every one of the other psychic types mentioned have better draws. Its low speed doesn't help either.

QC REJECTED (2/3)

Not to mention Uxie is faster, has Levitate, and more support options. Also, Cresselia is better as well...

Either way, Gardevoir is outclassed.

idgi

Cress and Uxie (and Mew) are bulkier, Porygon2 is a better Trace user, Mew and Azelf are better sweepers, so on, so forth. Gardevoir is so outclassed it's not even funny. The only thing it has is Wish, and that's not even that good.

QC REJECTED (3/3)

That's all she wrote, folks.