Simple Questions & Simple Answers & General Resources (OU Edition) MK II

[BluhBluh]

To go into detail, Pokemon with moves like Dragon Dance or Calm Mind would really like dual screens to survive the first couple of hits for them to set up and counterattack. Especially if the pokemon is fast, but frail, eg Haxorus.

[frogoholic101]

What's the best nature and spread for a SmashPass Gorebyss? The analysis says Calm, but is it outdated at all? Calm seems odd for a pokemon that uses shell smash.

[Manitary]

Why? His main role is baton passing the stat boosts, a defensive nature allows him to take less damage while he's out

[frogoholic101]

It seems odd since after he's used baton pass his defenses decrease.

[ClubbingSealCub]

The main reason to use Gorebyss instead of other SmashPassers is that it can actually pose a threat at +2, at least from my experience.

I would use a Modest, 252Spa/252Spe with Hydro Pump or Surf and Ice Beam as the other 2 moves.

Else, why not use Smeargle instead?

[moonbase]

I'm trying out special defensive politoed. I need the best set for him.

So far I have this.

Politoed
Item: leftovers
Nature: calm

Moves
-scald
-ice beam
-perish song
-toxic

Ev spread
252 special defense
252 hp
4 def

[Kidogo]

The standard defensive toed is scald / toxic / protect / perish song or encore. This is also usually physically defensive, although I guess SpD is viable as well--toed's typing is generally more conducive to physical defensive capabilities. The last two slots are somewhat negotiable--one can run both encore and perish song > protect, or ice beam instead. The thing is, toed will want to poison dragons and stuff, so ice beam, doesn't have that much use. Same with psychic--toxicing keldeo is much better than getting off a weak psychic, and encore/psong deal with sub variants that block toxic.
Also, the 4 extra EVs should be in speed for creeping other toed.

[Scarfwynaut]

What are you using that Politoed for? For example I often use SpD-Politoed on stall teams to "counter" Reuniclus with perish song, so max special defense is a must. Outside of that though there isn't much else though that spD covers that def doesn't. Most if not all of them being shanky checks: Gengar, Volcarona (only to toxic), Tornadus-T, Keldeo (only to toxic), special Landorus, Hydregion. Unless you need to cover one of those, use physically defensive.

I would personally use protect > ice beam, especially if you are "countering" Reuniclus. Use ice beam only if you need to hit dragons desperately with a physically defensive spread, or with a specially defensive spread to hit Hydregion.

[mew420]

Originally Posted by Fat mew420

hello people. just wondering if any of you could suggest team mates for regenerator tangrowth and slowking that might help them function in ou.

okay. tangrowth and slowking have been scrapped.

i'm currently running:
amoongus, slowbro and magma storm/sunny day heatran for a fwg core. roost 3 attack latias, sdef rotom-w and cb scizor.

starting to like the way things are panning out, but am always chasing extra advice.

[TyranitarAbuser]

I would like to know if a Dugtrio and a Gothitelle facing each other are allowed to switch out into another mon.

[BurningMan]

Originally Posted by Fat TyranitarAbuser

I would like to know if a Dugtrio and a Gothitelle facing each other are allowed to switch out into another mon.

no both can't switch out dugtrio traps goth with arena trap and goth traps duggy with shadow tag. I am also pretty sure that two pokemon with Arena trap would also trap each other just as magnetpull pokemon would trap each other (well only if they are steel types). Only two Shadowtag pokemon can switch out of each other wich is to prevent 2 wobbuffets from pp stalling each other.

[Remedy]

Yes, two Arena Trappers trap each other, same goes for Magnet Pull.

[hotcoldyay]

I've been trying to mix and match 4 possible pokes onto my team, but i cant seem to get it right. If i could have 7 slots, great, but i cant just cause its impossible. I, right now, have skarmory (defensive, but have been thinking of going Spdef, probably not), Sdef gastro and sdef heatran. The four pokemon i am trying to decide upon are sdef celebi, cm latias (or possibly some sort of latios), scarf keldeo, and banded tyranitar. They all have their unique perks, but I cant find which would be best for my team. My team is a bit anti-metagame and weatherless, but I've mostly been aiming for a successful weatherless team (bar ttar, who gets the perk of shutting down other weathers to help me). I was thinking of testing on PO immediately, but I wanted to get down the best possible combos and then try it out so i dont have to keep going back to the drawing board every time it doesnt work...

I know tyranitar works with keldeo, so theyre a duo. Latias and celebi seem to overlap, but latios seems to be a good choice for a complete wall breaker. I've also kind of been thinking of scizor, but im not sure if that will work out. Who should I keep on my team?

Edit: ive actually decided on picking ttar and keldeo... The only problem now is picking either latios/latias or celebi (or even scizor). Is this a wise choice? And who should i add in terms of best synergy?

[BlankZero]

Why not just throw something around like Sunny Day on Heatran? Also, you seem a bit on the defensive side, so I'd suggest Latias and Celebi/Jirachi. Jirachi has the added benefit of not being weak to Pursuit.

[lokt]

What team types have the best matchup v.s hippoland teams and sandstall?

[hotcoldyay]

Originally Posted by Fat BlankZero

Why not just throw something around like Sunny Day on Heatran? Also, you seem a bit on the defensive side, so I'd suggest Latias and Celebi/Jirachi. Jirachi has the added benefit of not being weak to Pursuit.

I dont really have a slot that heatran doesnt need. Sr is obvious, roar is for phazing, will o wisp is for crippling phys attackers, and flamethrower is for a boost in power compared to lava plume.

Ive been thinking about those three. My only problem is the psychic typing on celebi and latias. Jirachi would be great, but it really piles up the ground weakenesses on my team, and i have to completely rely on skarmory to absorb ground weaknesses,unless i ditch tyranitar, which means i might have to drop keldeo too. Latias absorbs ground, has great speed, absorbs special hits extremely well, and does great against most walls who think they can wall with impunity, with the only downfall being its physical bulk. Celebi has greater overall bulk, however, has access to perish song, has great synergy with gastrodon and heatran to form a core, and is a reliable check to rain teams, thundurus t, other grass types (breloom) and bulky waters (rotom w). Its hard to really weight the scales, as either could really fit. So all in all, i have no idea O_o

Edit: it just occurred to me: would BU poison heal/CB tech breloom do well here alongside lati@s (latios or latias?)? I was thinking of either adding jirachi or a revenge killer, or scarf jirachi in the last spot.

[BlankZero]

Originally Posted by Fat hotcoldyay

I dont really have a slot that heatran doesnt need. Sr is obvious, roar is for phazing, will o wisp is for crippling phys attackers, and flamethrower is for a boost in power compared to lava plume.

Ive been thinking about those three. My only problem is the psychic typing on celebi and latias. Jirachi would be great, but it really piles up the ground weakenesses on my team, and i have to completely rely on skarmory to absorb ground weaknesses,unless i ditch tyranitar, which means i might have to drop keldeo too. Latias absorbs ground, has great speed, absorbs special hits extremely well, and does great against most walls who think they can wall with impunity, with the only downfall being its physical bulk. Celebi has greater overall bulk, however, has access to perish song, has great synergy with gastrodon and heatran to form a core, and is a reliable check to rain teams, thundurus t, other grass types (breloom) and bulky waters (rotom w). Its hard to really weight the scales, as either could really fit. So all in all, i have no idea O_o

Edit: it just occurred to me: would BU poison heal/CB tech breloom do well here alongside lati@s (latios or latias?)? I was thinking of either adding jirachi or a revenge killer, or scarf jirachi in the last spot.

Give Heatran an Air Balloon.

Scarf Jirachi with Trick/Iron Head/U-turn/XXXXX.

[alkinesthetase]

Is traditional Hyper Offense (Dual Screener + 5 setup sweepers) still viable?

that was not really the "traditional" form of hyper offense anyway. there are some really classic teams that follow that permutation (check the RMT archive for stuff from bw1) but that's not what hyper offense actually means.

anyway that's all semantics. you're better off running suicide spiker deoxys-D than dual screens right now, that's the gist of it

would BU poison heal/CB tech breloom do well here alongside lati@s (latios or latias?)?

don't run bulk up breloom under any circumstances in this meta; that's all i had to add here

[flea]

Just in theory, would y'all think that a Specially Defensive Virizion would be viable in today's meta? Sure, the 4X weakness to Hurricane sucks, but it has that massive base 129 special defense and some of the best resistances available against rain due to its grass typing (it can take hydro pumps like nothing). It also has some viable support/utility moves in Toxic/Screens/Taunt/CM along with having a reasonable offensive presence. I could see it as being kind of a bulkier Celebi that's a little less versatile but still outclasses it in several roles...what do you guys think?

EDIT: Timid Specs Keldeo Hydro Pump in the rain does 34.2-40.4% damage to 252/252+ virizion....still a healthy chunk of course but that's nearing the best that anything can take one of the most vicious attacks in OU

[hotcoldyay]

Originally Posted by Fat BlankZero

Give Heatran an Air Balloon.

Scarf Jirachi with Trick/Iron Head/U-turn/XXXXX.

Oops, i forgot to include that i already gave heatran a balloon. Thanks for reminding me of that.

The only problem i have with scarfrachi is the coverage thats erased if i have to run both u turn and trick. Without u turn, momentum is lost, but with trick, caution is needed due to the fact jirachi really isnt threatening anything without it. Which would be better off if i had to run both punches? If im going to run a specs latios, i feel like two tricks might intercollide or something... I dont have much experience in that since i dont really use revenge killers with trick.

Btw, alongside scarfrachi and techniloom and todays metagame, would it be wiser to run a cm latias or specs/lo latios? If latios, which one?

Originally Posted by Fat alkinesthetase

don't run bulk up breloom under any circumstances in this meta; that's all i had to add here

So would it be wiser to run lo techniloom, sd techiloom, or bulky sd techniloom?

[hotcoldyay]

Originally Posted by Fat lokt

What team types have the best matchup v.s hippoland teams and sandstall?

I dont have much experience with weather, but i would guess rain would be the best. It strengthens water types and takes away the residual damage and the force that gives the sandstorm abusers strength. Im not too sure about sun teams or hail teams, so i dont want to say much about that. I would guess they would also be helpful in removing weather. Chlorophyll users like eggxegutor could threaten hippowdon with a stab grass move like leaf storm if it dares come in. Stoutland can be dealt with through fighting types. I dont know if m right, but ttar could break stall teams with the cb set. Althought, in todays fast paced offensive metagame, im not sufe if truly stall orientated teams are still very viable. Hope this helps.

[alkinesthetase]

would it be wiser to run a cm latias or specs/lo latios?

lati@s and their various sets fill some very different roles. generally latios is an offensive pokemon, latias is either a bulky special check or a mixed-role pivoty mon. which set you should use depends as much on your team as on the way you play. for example i'd probably screw up with LO latias in sand (forget to recover even once and you might be outright screwed)

CM latias - arguably the only one to run right now is subCM. good bulky set that doesn't get worn down as quickly as others but don't expect to do much damage outright with it for most of the game. it exerts relatively little offensive pressure but it's an efficient late game sweeper (substitute lets it set up on a lot of shit).

LO latias - the spread is usually maximum speed (don't run slow latias. don't do it.) with a mixture of satk and HP. it appears a lot in sand as a weather check that can pack a punch when it's needed. reduced bulk + life orb means you will not be able to check keldeo/thundurus-T repeatedly - the damage adds up - but life orb draco meteors mean you definitely aren't a sitting duck in the meantime

scarf/specs latias - i consider these very niche sets that generally don't fit on most teams. healing wish scarf latias is an interesting thing fwiw



as for breloom, it's just that bulk up has no place in this metagame. it was a holdover from BW1, when scarf lando-I/excadrill volt-turn in sand was a top tier team. suffice to say the best "bulky" breloom is poison heal subpunch - idk if this actually works, but it's definitely better than bulk up and i've heard a few good things about it. otherwise just get a techniloom and wreck stuff

[alkinesthetase]

I see. How about setup sweepers?

that's a very broad question, but of course yes, setup sweepers (in general) are still a thing, they're still viable. it's just that i would call dual screens a less useful form of support than the spikes provided by deoxys

[Gary2346]

Is there a certain section of the forum that I can file a complaint against a player or a certain group of players? I've been wanting to call out a few individuals that I feel the need to be watched over due to their foul treatment towards other players, and ostracizing new players for their lack of knowledge, specifically on Showdown and the RMT forums.

[Scarfwynaut]

I would suggest you contact via PM a moderator on smogon or one on showdown.

If the problem ever lies with a moderator, you can go up the chain of command to a super moderator or even an administrator.