writing this up for my good friend Keiran
[Overview]
<p>Banette has become used to rejection, having first been rejected by his owner as a normal plush doll, and then by competitive Pokemon players around the world. It is not hard to see why either, as aside from his good Attack, Banette has pitiful stats, meaning that he is often outclassed by other Ghost-types such as Misdreavus. However, luckily for the Marionette Pokemon, he has just the moves he needs to carve out a niche for himself: his abysmal defensive stats and bad Speed combine to make him work as an excellent suicide Trick Room lead. Unfortunately, this is the only role that Banette can viably perform. Despite this, Banette performs it very well, and so it would be unwise to discard Banette as bad.</p>
[SET]
name: Suicide Trick Room
move 1: Trick Room
move 2: Destiny Bond
move 3: Taunt / Will-O-Wisp
move 4: Shadow Claw
item: Focus Sash
ability: Cursed Body / Insomnia
nature: Brave
EVs: 252 Atk
IVs: 0 HP / 0 Def / 0 SpD / 0 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>This set follows a very specific game plan. Basically, Banette should use Trick Room on the first turn, surviving thanks to his Focus Sash, before using Destiny Bond to bring down an opponent with him, leaving you free to switch in a Trick Room sweeper of your choice. Taunt stops Banette's foes from setting up or using a Taunt of their own, letting Banette use Destiny Bond with the assurance that it will not be circumvented by using non-attacking moves. Alternatively, Will-O-Wisp can be used to burn physical attackers, such as Cinccino and Golem, who may try to kill Banette. Will-O-Wisp also burns Absol, who may otherwise try to set up on Banette. Shadow Claw gives Banette an attacking move to prevent him from becoming complete Taunt bait, as well as letting him hit opponents trying to switch around to waste turns of Trick Room. Shadow Claw is chosen over another attacking move such as Shadow Ball due to Banette's excellent base 115 Attack stat, which makes him capable of doing solid damage to the opponent.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>The lack of any IVs in bulk makes sure that Banette is brought down to his Focus Sash as easily as possible, allowing him to gain a kill with Destiny Bond with much more reliability. Running no Speed IVs makes Banette as slow as possible, meaning that once Trick Room is set up he is almost guaranteed to move first; moreover, as Trick Room has negative priority, his slowness won't affect him before it is set up. However, one can forgo minimizing Banette's Speed so as to get a Taunt in before the opponent uses their move. Curse can also be used over Shadow Claw to allow Banette to make an even quicker getaway, stopping the opponent from simply switching around to stall out Trick Room. However, Banette becomes complete Taunt bait when running this, while also losing the ability to butcher Pokemon such as Misdreavus and Mesprit. In addition, Mental Herb can be used over Focus Sash, which stops Skuntank and Misdreavus from Taunting Banette to prevent Trick Room being set up; however, Focus Sash is generally preferable due to the lack of Taunt users in the tier. If Mental Herb is used, it is best to invest in Banette's defenses so that he can survive a hit without the safety net of Focus Sash. There are two viable abilities for Banette to use on this set; Cursed Body can prove useful by disabling a key move, whilst Insomnia means that Banette doesn't fear sleep moves from the likes of Tangela and Jynx. In fact, Insomnia makes Banette an excellent check to Jynx, provided his Focus Sash is still intact.</p>
<p>Teammates for this set should be fairly obvious, as Banette's role focuses around setting up Trick Room for the rest of his team; therefore, Banette should be paired with strong Trick Room abusers. Some great choices include Marowak, Duosion and Rampardos. Gurdurr is also a great candidate, as Banette draws out Normal-types who are immune to his Shadow Claw, whom Gurdurr can smash with his strong STAB Fighting-type attacks. Steel-types share good synergy with Banette, resisting both of his weaknesses; Lairon deserves a special mention as in Trick Room he can take an offensive role and obliterate foes with his powerful recoil-free Head Smash, akin to Aggron in the higher tiers. This set should only be used on dedicated Trick Room teams, and as such other good Trick Room users are a necessity. Given that Banette is a suicide Trick Roomer, he prefers to be paired with more bulky Trick Room users, who are able to set it up multiple times throughout the game. Good Pokemon for this job include Exeggutor, Audino and Beheeyem.</p>
[Other Options]
<p>There isn't much that Banette can do well aside from the listed options, due to his pretty bad movepool. An offensive set consisting of various attacking moves can be utilized, abusing options such as Sucker Punch and Shadow Sneak. A Choice Band set with 3 attacking moves (choose from Shadow Claw, Sucker Punch, Pursuit and Shadow Sneak) can work fine alongside Trick, but other stronger, faster, and bulkier Choice Band users such as Sawk and Braviary generally outclass this set. Banette can use a more defensively oriented set consisting of moves such as Will-O-Wisp and Pain Split, but Misdreavus does this much better due to her far superior bulk. Banette can also act as a status platform, with access to Toxic, Thunder Wave and Will-O-Wisp, but once again Banette's dreadful bulk lets him down. Charge Beam and Calm Mind can be used to boost his Special Attack, but you would be much better off using Drifblim or Misdreavus for this due to Banette's bad Special Attack and frailty. Banette gained access to Cotton Guard through the Dream World, but this is ridiculously gimmicky and even when Banette has boosted his Defense his terrible special bulk will still let him down. Banette can also set up both weathers for his team, but there are many better Pokemon for this job, such as Volbeat and Regirock, who possesses priority and much more bulk, respectively.</p>
[Checks and Counters]
<p>Banette is fairly easy to counter due to being almost entirely one-dimensional. Most Pokemon that carry Taunt easily beat Banette; Persian in particular destroys him as it is immune to Shadow Claw and can Taunt Banette before striking with Bite. Skuntank also works well, as he is able to Taunt and Pursuit Banette to death with ease. Banette hates entry hazards, as they break his Focus Sash and leave him open to being killed; however, the only way he will be affected by them is if he is forced out from the lead position. Multi-hit moves destroy Banette by striking through his Focus Sash; a common carrier of these moves is Cinccino, who can hit Banette very hard with his Technician-boosted attacks. Cinccino is also handily immune to Shadow Claw. Muk can beat Banette easily, with his priority Shadow Sneak hitting Banette before he can Destiny Bond. However, many Trick Room abusers are Psychic-type, meaning that Muk may be forced out the turn after. Ridiculously slow Pokemon such as Camerupt and Gurdurr are slower than Banette, meaning they can either crush him right after he sets up Trick Room without fearing Destiny Bond, or ensure that he doesn't set it up out of fear. Gigalith gets a notable mention due to moving first under Trick Room and potentially packing Rock Blast to break through Banette's Focus Sash.</p>
[Overview]
<p>Banette has become used to rejection, having first been rejected by his owner as a normal plush doll, and then by competitive Pokemon players around the world. It is not hard to see why either, as aside from his good Attack, Banette has pitiful stats, meaning that he is often outclassed by other Ghost-types such as Misdreavus. However, luckily for the Marionette Pokemon, he has just the moves he needs to carve out a niche for himself: his abysmal defensive stats and bad Speed combine to make him work as an excellent suicide Trick Room lead. Unfortunately, this is the only role that Banette can viably perform. Despite this, Banette performs it very well, and so it would be unwise to discard Banette as bad.</p>
[SET]
name: Suicide Trick Room
move 1: Trick Room
move 2: Destiny Bond
move 3: Taunt / Will-O-Wisp
move 4: Shadow Claw
item: Focus Sash
ability: Cursed Body / Insomnia
nature: Brave
EVs: 252 Atk
IVs: 0 HP / 0 Def / 0 SpD / 0 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>This set follows a very specific game plan. Basically, Banette should use Trick Room on the first turn, surviving thanks to his Focus Sash, before using Destiny Bond to bring down an opponent with him, leaving you free to switch in a Trick Room sweeper of your choice. Taunt stops Banette's foes from setting up or using a Taunt of their own, letting Banette use Destiny Bond with the assurance that it will not be circumvented by using non-attacking moves. Alternatively, Will-O-Wisp can be used to burn physical attackers, such as Cinccino and Golem, who may try to kill Banette. Will-O-Wisp also burns Absol, who may otherwise try to set up on Banette. Shadow Claw gives Banette an attacking move to prevent him from becoming complete Taunt bait, as well as letting him hit opponents trying to switch around to waste turns of Trick Room. Shadow Claw is chosen over another attacking move such as Shadow Ball due to Banette's excellent base 115 Attack stat, which makes him capable of doing solid damage to the opponent.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>The lack of any IVs in bulk makes sure that Banette is brought down to his Focus Sash as easily as possible, allowing him to gain a kill with Destiny Bond with much more reliability. Running no Speed IVs makes Banette as slow as possible, meaning that once Trick Room is set up he is almost guaranteed to move first; moreover, as Trick Room has negative priority, his slowness won't affect him before it is set up. However, one can forgo minimizing Banette's Speed so as to get a Taunt in before the opponent uses their move. Curse can also be used over Shadow Claw to allow Banette to make an even quicker getaway, stopping the opponent from simply switching around to stall out Trick Room. However, Banette becomes complete Taunt bait when running this, while also losing the ability to butcher Pokemon such as Misdreavus and Mesprit. In addition, Mental Herb can be used over Focus Sash, which stops Skuntank and Misdreavus from Taunting Banette to prevent Trick Room being set up; however, Focus Sash is generally preferable due to the lack of Taunt users in the tier. If Mental Herb is used, it is best to invest in Banette's defenses so that he can survive a hit without the safety net of Focus Sash. There are two viable abilities for Banette to use on this set; Cursed Body can prove useful by disabling a key move, whilst Insomnia means that Banette doesn't fear sleep moves from the likes of Tangela and Jynx. In fact, Insomnia makes Banette an excellent check to Jynx, provided his Focus Sash is still intact.</p>
<p>Teammates for this set should be fairly obvious, as Banette's role focuses around setting up Trick Room for the rest of his team; therefore, Banette should be paired with strong Trick Room abusers. Some great choices include Marowak, Duosion and Rampardos. Gurdurr is also a great candidate, as Banette draws out Normal-types who are immune to his Shadow Claw, whom Gurdurr can smash with his strong STAB Fighting-type attacks. Steel-types share good synergy with Banette, resisting both of his weaknesses; Lairon deserves a special mention as in Trick Room he can take an offensive role and obliterate foes with his powerful recoil-free Head Smash, akin to Aggron in the higher tiers. This set should only be used on dedicated Trick Room teams, and as such other good Trick Room users are a necessity. Given that Banette is a suicide Trick Roomer, he prefers to be paired with more bulky Trick Room users, who are able to set it up multiple times throughout the game. Good Pokemon for this job include Exeggutor, Audino and Beheeyem.</p>
[Other Options]
<p>There isn't much that Banette can do well aside from the listed options, due to his pretty bad movepool. An offensive set consisting of various attacking moves can be utilized, abusing options such as Sucker Punch and Shadow Sneak. A Choice Band set with 3 attacking moves (choose from Shadow Claw, Sucker Punch, Pursuit and Shadow Sneak) can work fine alongside Trick, but other stronger, faster, and bulkier Choice Band users such as Sawk and Braviary generally outclass this set. Banette can use a more defensively oriented set consisting of moves such as Will-O-Wisp and Pain Split, but Misdreavus does this much better due to her far superior bulk. Banette can also act as a status platform, with access to Toxic, Thunder Wave and Will-O-Wisp, but once again Banette's dreadful bulk lets him down. Charge Beam and Calm Mind can be used to boost his Special Attack, but you would be much better off using Drifblim or Misdreavus for this due to Banette's bad Special Attack and frailty. Banette gained access to Cotton Guard through the Dream World, but this is ridiculously gimmicky and even when Banette has boosted his Defense his terrible special bulk will still let him down. Banette can also set up both weathers for his team, but there are many better Pokemon for this job, such as Volbeat and Regirock, who possesses priority and much more bulk, respectively.</p>
[Checks and Counters]
<p>Banette is fairly easy to counter due to being almost entirely one-dimensional. Most Pokemon that carry Taunt easily beat Banette; Persian in particular destroys him as it is immune to Shadow Claw and can Taunt Banette before striking with Bite. Skuntank also works well, as he is able to Taunt and Pursuit Banette to death with ease. Banette hates entry hazards, as they break his Focus Sash and leave him open to being killed; however, the only way he will be affected by them is if he is forced out from the lead position. Multi-hit moves destroy Banette by striking through his Focus Sash; a common carrier of these moves is Cinccino, who can hit Banette very hard with his Technician-boosted attacks. Cinccino is also handily immune to Shadow Claw. Muk can beat Banette easily, with his priority Shadow Sneak hitting Banette before he can Destiny Bond. However, many Trick Room abusers are Psychic-type, meaning that Muk may be forced out the turn after. Ridiculously slow Pokemon such as Camerupt and Gurdurr are slower than Banette, meaning they can either crush him right after he sets up Trick Room without fearing Destiny Bond, or ensure that he doesn't set it up out of fear. Gigalith gets a notable mention due to moving first under Trick Room and potentially packing Rock Blast to break through Banette's Focus Sash.</p>
