Underrated but effective sets in the BW2 overused metagame

[Lavos Spawn]

Originally Posted by Fat Asterat

Vote I guess.

uh if this means we're voting on sets, I gotta go with dragonuser's Breloom that LA used in WCoP, looks beastly especially under BW1 metagame conditions which is when this set was being used

[ThunderBlunder]

Just wanted to note in my post I meant Jirachi and Metagross, Not mamoswine.

[SupremeBeam]

Originally Posted by Fat Lavos Spawn

uh if this means we're voting on sets, I gotta go with dragonuser's Breloom that LA used in WCoP, looks beastly especially under BW1 metagame conditions which is when this set was being used

It says BW2 in the title not BW1. I think all the sets are bad... But If I have to vote I will choose the alakazam cuz at least it attacks and sweeps

[dragonuser]

@Supreme
The set truly shined in BW1, but also performs well in BW2 (admittedly not as well).

Anyways I know its a bit late, but my two cents on Charge Beam Alakazam. I used that set in Wcop, and really found it to be a little bit lackluster. In testing it really only did well vs Rain Teams and even then their Politoed/Starmie had to be heavily weakened, so charge beam would KO, and you weren't always guaranteed the stat boost. It seemed a bit situational to me, and like a lot of potential wasted. This was confirmed when my opponent brought stall, and CM Alakazam would of 6-0d while Charge Beam had trouble getting Alakazam boosts. Charge Beams lack of power and the fact it is so situational makes it a bit inferior to CM in my opinion. I know voting has already started, but I just wanted to share my thoughts/views~~

[ThunderBlunder]

Originally Posted by Fat dragonuser

@Supreme
The set truly shined in BW1, but also performs well in BW2 (admittedly not as well).

Anyways I know its a bit late, but my two cents on Charge Beam Alakazam. I used that set in Wcop, and really found it to be a little bit lackluster. In testing it really only did well vs Rain Teams and even then their Politoed/Starmie had to be heavily weakened, so charge beam would KO, and you weren't always guaranteed the stat boost. It seemed a bit situational to me, and like a lot of potential wasted. This was confirmed when my opponent brought stall, and CM Alakazam would of 6-0d while Charge Beam had trouble getting Alakazam boosts. Charge Beams lack of power and the fact it is so situational makes it a bit inferior to CM in my opinion. I know voting has already started, but I just wanted to share my thoughts/views~~

Charge beam isn't meant to be an attacking move to gain coverage. It's meant to KO a weakened foe and get the plus 1 boost to sweep through the remainder of the team. Alakazam isn't also "only good vs Rain Teams" If it can get plus 1 or plus 2, which is actually very easy, all it needs is Stealth Rocks to start sweeping through the opponent's team as it has a great speed tier, that makes the only way to kill it Revenge Killing. I'd also like to point out that from my OP, Focus Sash is better in my own personal opinion. Life Orb makes you hit like a truck but Sash I've found is better as you can take a hit and retaliate back and plus 1 gives you enough power.

[rairyan]

The boost is unreliable unlike cm which is more reliable

[ThunderBlunder]

Originally Posted by Fat rairyan

The boost is unreliable unlike cm which is more reliable

70% is not that unreliable, and Alakazam is too frail to even get up a CM most of the time unless it's against something such as full stall. It really has no chance to set up a CM against offense

[Dwarf Flark]

Agree and i more matter of luck if you can get those boost.
I vote for Alakazam.

[cvalera12]

Originally Posted by Fat dragonuser

@Supreme
The set truly shined in BW1, but also performs well in BW2 (admittedly not as well).

Anyways I know its a bit late, but my two cents on Charge Beam Alakazam. I used that set in Wcop, and really found it to be a little bit lackluster. In testing it really only did well vs Rain Teams and even then their Politoed/Starmie had to be heavily weakened, so charge beam would KO, and you weren't always guaranteed the stat boost. It seemed a bit situational to me, and like a lot of potential wasted. This was confirmed when my opponent brought stall, and CM Alakazam would of 6-0d while Charge Beam had trouble getting Alakazam boosts. Charge Beams lack of power and the fact it is so situational makes it a bit inferior to CM in my opinion. I know voting has already started, but I just wanted to share my thoughts/views~~

Originally Posted by Fat ThunderBlunder

Charge beam isn't meant to be an attacking move to gain coverage. It's meant to KO a weakened foe and get the plus 1 boost to sweep through the remainder of the team. Alakazam isn't also "only good vs Rain Teams" If it can get plus 1 or plus 2, which is actually very easy, all it needs is Stealth Rocks to start sweeping through the opponent's team as it has a great speed tier, that makes the only way to kill it Revenge Killing. I'd also like to point out that from my OP, Focus Sash is better in my own personal opinion. Life Orb makes you hit like a truck but Sash I've found is better as you can take a hit and retaliate back and plus 1 gives you enough power.

Okay I'd just like to weigh in on the sets above.

1) The Sableye set with CM but no special move? I'm sorry but thats just Useless.
2) The Breloom set sounds good in theory, but breloom is slow and is still weak on its physical side, its best used for sub punching/ drain punch sets IMO, if your using Poison heal atleast. What if I brought anything but Rain? Your set is VERY situational and unfortunately I see little to no merit in it.
3) The Alakazam set in practice is an amazing set, Focus Sash to secure living a hit and life orb to overpower anything slower than it... and not a lot can outspeed. As for the trio of Psychic, Shadow Ball and Focus Blast? Good and to better suit your team I could suggest maybe taking away Shadow Ball for E ball or Grass Knot, although it is very situational for the team your running. CHARGE BEAM makes this set though, with a Base 135 Sp. A stat, your going to hit like a truck. With a 70% CHANCE BOOSTING move in charge beam , you can use it when the opponent is forced out as Zam can revenge kill, and set up a +1 which you can use to sweep the rest of their team provided Zam outspeeds. CB Zam is only really countered by ground types, hence why I say Energy ball/ G knot could be used, but again this is up to how your team is structured in the first place.
4) The Tornadus set is something I've seen before and really isn't new, but that doesn't mean its bad, its very strong imo with a trolling 111 speed. Chances to set up can be minimal as well so it is very situational. Just not impossible. I'd use heat wave or Sub IMO. But thats for another time.

[cvalera12]

I vote Alakazam too.

[APimpNamedSlickback]

GO
ALAKAZAM.

[SBP33]

I vote Alakazam!

[BKC]

Voting Breloom.

[Arcticblast]

Voting for Sableye.

Calm Mind on that set is anything but useless. By the same logic that you use Will-O-Wisp to deal with physical threats, you can use Calm Mind to cushion special hits. Now you take less damage from Tornadus-T, Politoed, Venusaur (assuming it doesn't just put you to sleep), Keldeo, and all of those other Special attackers, and can combine that with WoW+Recover to stall the hell out of even the strongest opponents.

[Asterat]

Congrats to ThunderBlunder for his Alakazam set. It recieved the most votes. Time to start nominating for next week!

[FastFlygon]

Gothitelle @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Shadow Tag
EVs: 252 SAtk / 220 Spd / 36 HP
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Trick
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Psyshock

Gothitelle is already an underrated Pokemon, but this is a little set I came up with to deter Rapid Spinners - 32hp is enough bulk to live 2 consecutive 4spatk Starmie Hydro Pumps and 2HKO with Thunderbolt, while 220+ is just enough speed to outrun it. Psyshock mauls Tentacruel and Foretress falls to HP Fire, although Forretress with enough special defense is not OHKO'd and can Volt Switch out. Otherwise you can get up to all the usual Gothitelle mischief, although you no longer outrun Tornadus-T with the imperfect speed IV even with 252+. I also didn't bother outrunning Alakazam as this set cannot really do anything but Trick it, though you could take a couple of points out of Spatk to make it happen. Anything over 16HP will live the aformentioned 2 Hydro Pumps.

I'm using it with Genesect at the moment since the Ebelt set really mauls things when hazards are down but it's usable on pretty much any team that want to be sure it's not going to constantly get spun. It's not quite as good as Chandy would be since it doesn't block the initial spin but it does still get all the nice Gothitelle tricks like forcing a scarf on Chansey (and potentially KOing with repeated Psyshocks if it locked itself into the wrong move) and picking off weakened wallbreakers without letting them flee.

[RaijueR]

I vote for Alakazam because it reminds me of my SubCharge Meloetta plus its effective on nabbing opponents when they are very low on health and having a high chance to boost special attack when KOing which is way better than Calm mind on Alakazam.

[ThunderBlunder]

Terrakion @ Salac Berry
Trait: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Substitute
- Swords Dance
- Stone Edge
- Close Combat


Oh God what a set. I have been using this thing a lot lately and it interests me why people haven't been using it as much. Terrakion is already an amazing sweeper in the OU tier, and an effective Plus 2 attack boost coupled with a plus 1 Speed boost makes it very hard to defeat Terrakion without Priority. Evs are normal 252/252. Point is to just SD and sweep and get into Salac Berry range via sub. Great partners for this set are ones that eliminate threats such as Scizor/Conkeldurr/Gliscor and Skarmory. E-Belt Genesect does great in this remark, as it bluffs the scarf and can easily dismantle defensive cores for Terrakion to sweep.

Truly an underrated set, and I really hope people use it more as it is imo, one of the BEST sweepers as of now.

[MOET]

Ill vote for Thunder's Terrakion. Got wrecked by one of these things before and its amazing.

[DarkBlazeR]

Sigilyph @ Flame Orb
Trait: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 196 Def / 60 Spd
Bold Nature
- Calm Mind
- Psycho Shift
- Stored Power
- Roost

Don't be fooled by its RU tier placement: Sigilyph is amazing. It can take a lot for a team thanks to its practical-immunity to status and useful resistances (hence a great Breloom counter). Unlike other CM tanks, Sigilyph does not have to worry about being worn down by passive damage, and can also work its way around strong physical attackers by burning them with Psycho Shift. Though Cosmic Power is the standard on this set, I much prefer CM as otherwise Stored Power requires too many boosts to really hurt things, and with the defensive investment + burn, it should be fine taking neutral physical hits. Pair this set with Dugtrio to eliminate Tyranitar/Jirachi/Heatran, and you WILL see results.

[Shurtugal]

Hey! I want to share a Dragonite set I've been using.

@
Trait: Multiscale
Nature: Lonely (+Atk / -Def)
EVs: 176 Atk / 80 SAtk / 252 Spe

~ Dragon Dance
~ Outrage
~ Fire Blast
~ Extreme Speed

This set is godlike. This Dragonite is meant to be a Skarm lure, on the team I was using I struggled to beat Chansey + Skarm + Hazards since Volt-Turn can't really do much to it other than continually take hazard damage. So I ran this set with Fire Blast, which kills the core since FB should KO Skarm even in rain (after SR). The power drop isn't noticeable, and Ferrothorn takes like 51% outside of rain (which is useful since Fire Punch tends to do less) but I will admit hitting Ferro in rain is hard (but so is running Fire Punch, so I don't miss it too much). It still KO's Gene / Sciz in rain since they typically die to any fire attack, and I'm sure the investment helps. The nature is so that Genesect can't OHKO with Ice Beam (+1 Atk > +1 SAtk). It can set up and still easily kill things at +2. The only sad thing is that at +1, even if it ran +Spe, it still can't outpace Scarf Gene.

[EtherDrive]

Golurk @ Passho Berry/Focus Sash
Nature: Adamant
Ability: No Guard
252 HP/ 176 Atk/ 76 SpD/ 4 Def

Stealth Rock
Rock Polish
Dynamic Punch
Earthquake

Entry Hazards + Spin block all in one set, Takes that Hydro Pump like a man, Applies Damages. Love it on my UU team, love it on my OU team.

[ClubbingSealCub]

Originally Posted by Fat EtherDrive

Golurk @ Passho Berry/Focus Sash
Nature: Adamant
Ability: No Guard
252 HP/ 176 Atk/ 76 SpD/ 4 Def

Stealth Rock
Rock Polish
Dynamic Punch
Earthquake

Entry Hazards + Spin block all in one set, Takes that Hydro Pump like a man, Applies Damages. Love it on my UU team, love it on my OU team.

You should consider putting Shadow Punch on there, since the Passho Berry will allow you to always defeat Starmie that want to scare you with a Hydro Pump to spin. Shadow Punch deals min 95% damage with your current spread and Starmie deals max 80% while you have the berry.

[EtherDrive]

I'll probably never live to do that seeing as how turn 1 would just be SR. (that's if they decide to lead with starmie)

[Gimmick]

Introducing!...

Calm Mind Landorus!

Basically, everyone knows that Sheer Force Landorus gained massive popularity ever since its release, almost succeeding its most successful set from BW1:

Originally Posted by Fat September 2012 Statstics

Landorus | Abilties | Sand Force 55.354% | Sheer Force 44.646%

However, something intrigues me with the actual stats of the moves themselves. Calm Mind isn't even on the list of moves. It may seem silly at first to run Calm Mind on a Landorus, but it has so many benefits. Here's the set I used ever since Dream World:

(M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Sheer Force
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 Def
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Calm Mind
- Earth Power
- Focus Blast
- Hidden Power [Ice]


This set is just so amazingly unexpected yet so powerful that people don't realize what happened to them until they lose all 6 Pokemon. Okay maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration, but it's possible. Since Landorus forces so many switches, you can easily use the opportunity to set up a Calm Mind (it really only needs 1 since it's just so fking powerful). It works similarly to the Rock Polish set, but sacrifices speed for power. Whenever one of my teams is weak to stall, this is my go-to guy. Honestly, I don't know a single stall team that has an answer to this. Let's take rainstall for example. Here's a common team that pretty much summarizes rainstall itself:



Alright. So. As you can see, the standard Rock Polish/Substitute Landorus does massive work to this team. However, it can't do a single thing until Chansey goes down. However, with Calm Mind, Landorus almost always beats Chansey. For example: you bring in Landorus on Tentacruel. Obviously, rainstall doesn't want to lose their spinner, so they switch (most likely into Chansey). You Calm Mind on the switch. Now, this is how much a Focus Blast will do to a standard Chansey:
252SpAtk Life Orb +1 Sheer Force Landorus (Neutral) Focus Blast vs 252HP/0SpDef Eviolite Chansey (Neutral): 55% - 65% (390 - 460 HP). Guaranteed 2HKO.
Jesus. Christ. If they Seismic Toss, it's over for them. The only way they have a chance to beat it is to Softboiled stall out Focus Blast, but you can easily set up Calm Minds in the meantime. From there, it destroys the rest of the team if Skarmory's Sturdy has been broken. Of course, this is an example of 1 set of Pokemon, but I can assure you that very few (full) stall teams can handle this.

Okay, so it can break full stall. Not every team is stall, though (obviously). It still has amazing sweeping potential and can easily set up on weak special attackers like Celebi or Tentacruel. Rock Polish is obviously a good set, since it's able to outspeed many of its common threats like Genesect or Stoutland that come in to kill it, but Calm Mind is able to kill those bulkier mons that can live an unboosted Earth Power and retaliate back, such as (for example, there are obviously many) Reuniclus, Politoed, Volcarona, etc. It's unstoppable for many defensive teams, while some offensive ones can find a ton of trouble with it as well. It's also a really fun set to use, simply because it demolishes everything. Everything.