Illumise (Update)

So here, I'm updating Illumise, whose set seems to be quite old. Not the best Pokemon, I know, but is usable.

Changes:
- Removed Choice Specs set, as it's completely outclassed by Venomoth
- Encore is now primary choice on Baton Passing set
- Added Encore to Support set
- LO replaces Salac Berry on sweeper set



http://www.smogon.com/dp/pokemon/illumise

[Overview]

<p>While Illumise appears terrible on paper, she does have a few perks that allow her to compete in UU; her biggest advantage is Tinted Lens, which allows any resisted attacks to hit for neutral damage. While it appears that Illumise is outclassed by Venomoth, her superior movepool, which includes moves such as Encore, Wish, and Baton Pass, allows her to differentiate herself from her moth cousin. Given some team support, Illumise could be a reasonable alternative to some of the other Pokemon running around UU; just don't expect anything amazing out of her.</p>

[SET]
name: Tinted Sweeper
move 1: Bug Buzz
move 2: Thunderbolt
move 3: Hidden Power Ice / Hidden Power Ground
move 4: Encore / Baton Pass
item: Life Orb / Choice Specs
ability: Tinted Lens
nature: Timid
evs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

<p>Bug Buzz is Illumise's main STAB move, and hits most Pokemon reasonably hard, while Thunderbolt allows Illumise to hit Moltres, who resists Bug Buzz even with Tinted Lens, and Milotic for more damage. Hidden Power Ice is Illumise's most powerful attack against Altaria, while Hidden Power Ground lets Illumise hit Toxicroak and Registeel for super effective damage. The final move depends on what item Illumise is using; if Life Orb is being utilized, Encore can be used to shut down stat-boosters, while Baton Pass should be used in conjunction with Choice Specs to scout switch-ins.</p>

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

<p>Charge Beam is a decent alternative in the last slot, having a 63% chance (factoring in accuracy) to grab a free Special Attack boost while allowing Illumise to finish off a weakened opponent in the process. Roost is another option in the final slot, enabling Illumise to recover lost health, but she generally doesn't have the time to do so. U-turn is also an option over Baton Pass for scouting purposes.</p>

<p>Chansey and Registeel completely wall Illumise. Moltres (as long as it avoids Thunderbolt) and specially defensive Arcanine can take a hit and roast Illumise to a crisp with their powerful STAB Fire-type attacks. Due to this, Dugtrio is a fantastic teammate thanks to his ability to trap and remove most of Illumise's counters. Rapid Spinners are great parters since they can remove Stealth Rock, allowing Illumise to switch in much more easily. Bulky Water-types, such as Milotic and Slowking, are also wonderful as they are excellent switch-ins to the Fire-types who threaten Illumise. For this reason, Blastoise gives you the best of both worlds, as it can switch into Fire-type attacks and use Rapid Spin to clear away Stealth Rock. Hitmontop and Donphan can switch into Rock-type attacks aimed at Illumise, then spin away Stealth Rock.</p>

[SET]
name: Baton Pass
move 1: Bug Buzz
move 2: Substitute
move 3: Baton Pass
move 4: Encore
item: Leftovers
ability: Tinted Lens
nature: Timid
evs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

<p>This set takes advantage of Illumise's access to Encore and ability to pass Substitutes to her teammates. Illumise can switch into supporting moves such as Wish or Recover, use Encore, and then pass a Substitute to a teammate. Bug Buzz prevents Illumise from being rendered completely useless by Taunt, allowing her to dish out at least some form of damage.</p>

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

<p>Charge Beam can replace Substitute if you wish to utilize Illumise's ability to Baton Pass Special Attack boosts. If you want Illumise to become a pure Baton Passer, Bug Buzz can also be replaced. Wish is also an option to pass to Illumise's recipient. It should be noted that Growth is illegal with Baton Pass. The EVs used are so Illumise has maximum bulk while being as fast as possible.</p>

<p>Due to Illumise's crippling Stealth Rock weakness, Rapid Spin support is highly recommended. Blastoise is a fantasic Rapid Spinner who resists Fire-type attacks and can reliably spin away Stealth Rock; additionally, it can even pull off a Rapid Spin against Ghost-types thanks to Foresight. Hitmontop and Donphan can do the same, though these Pokemon resist Rock-type attacks, not Fire. As for recipients, virtually any Pokemon that synergizes well with Illumise works just fine. Feraligatr, Rhyperior, and Toxicroak are all excellent Pokemon who can use the protection of Substitute to set up.</p>


[Team Options]

<p>Illumise appreciates Rapid Spin support, as it allows her to switch in much more easily without the fear of having her health stripped by Stealth Rock. Blastoise, Hitmontop, and Donphan are all excellent Rapid Spinners who synergize well with Illumise. Dugtrio is a fantanstic teammate for the sweeper set, as he can trap and remove Chansey and Registeel, two of Illumise's biggest counters. Pokemon that can switch into Illumise's weaknesses also make good teammates. Milotic, Slowking, and Slowbro can switch into Fire-type attacks, while Rhyperior can take both Rock- and Flying-type attacks. Finally, offensive Illumise appreciates entry hazards to chip down the opponent's health when sweeping. Omastar can switch into Fire-type attacks and set up all three types of entry hazards. Cloyster can set up Spikes and Toxic Spikes, while using Rapid Spin to clear away Stealth Rock.</p>

[Optional Changes]

<p>Illumise has a decent movepool, so a few other options can be considered. Growth is useful on the special sweeper set to boost Illumise's Special Attack. Illumise has access to many modes of recovery, namely Roost and Moonlight, as well as Wish, but her lack of bulk really prevents her from abusing these to their fullest potential. If you feel like taking a chance, Silver Wind can replace Bug Buzz on the Baton Pass set, as it has a 10% chance of passing a +1 boost in every stat to the recipient.</p>

[Counters]

<p>Essentially, a Pokemon who has a good Special Defense stat and is not weak to any of Illumise's attacks can be considered a counter. Chansey and Registeel completely wall Illumise, while specially defensive Arcanine can switch in without too much hassle and roast Illumise to a crisp with Flare Blitz. Altaria is can switch in, Roost off any damage taken, and proceed to set up Dragon Dance. Toxicroak resists Bug Buzz and can set up on Illumise should she lack Hidden Power Ground. Illumise is also easily revenge killed; Pokemon such as Scyther, Houndoom, and Moltres can all outspeed and OHKO Illumise with their STAB moves.</p>

Before I test these sets: Are all of these sets actually viable? I mean just from a theorymon standpoint Illumise sucks, and now you're trying to pull off sets that Venomoth purely outclasses (minus the first set).

I'll test the first set for now.

The first set seems quite usable, although it does require a bit of team support for it to work. To be honest, the other sets are probably outclassed by something else.

I think you should remove Focus Sash as a viable item. Stealth Rock is a common battle condition and your Focus sash is useless unless you continually rapid spin. (I'd it's not worth the effort just for one pokemon)

Few notes:
Charge beam on something as frail as Illumise is a big no-no. You need Growth for it's reliability. (besides, you'll be hitting for peanuts anyway, and totally defeats the purpose of even using Illumise)

yeah illumise sucks i keep asking myself why im not using a sweeper that is actually good in its spot

not very powerful + middling speed + frail as hell

it doesn't help that my growth + bp backup strategy is illegal -.-

big frowning koffing veto stamp goes here

I agree with whistle.

Too weak. It seems that most of the time I Encored an attack, used Growth, and die. Or Encored, attacked, and die (mostly to Milotic). SR weak doesn't help either.

OK, I'm moving this out of L/O because I feel Illumise still deserves to get an update, but probably not with all 3 sets.

I'm thinking the Baton Pass set if anything, as Illumise has access to Encore, Growth, and a nice Speed stat of 85.

Opinions?

^Only problem is, as whistle pointed out, Growth + Baton Pass is illegal. Honestly, leave the SpA Boost passing to Volbeat, who gets goddamn Tail Glow and the same ammount of Bulk :/

Well shit that sucks.

Well, like I said, there has to be something salvageable here.

I was thinking something like this:

[SET]
name: Wish + Baton Pass
move 1: Wish
move 2: Encore
move 3: Baton Pass
move 4: Bug Buzz / Charge Beam
item: Leftovers
nature: Timid
ability: Tinted Lens
evs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe

Illumise sucks, so let's just get over it:

name: Tinted Sweeper
move 1: Bug Buzz
move 2: Thunderbolt
move 3: Encore / Baton Pass
move 4: Hidden Power Ice / Hidden Power Ground
item: Life Orb / Choice Specs
ability: Tinted Lens
nature: Timid
evs: 252 SpA / 4 Def / 252 Spe

Fucking fearsome. Hit everything in sight with unresisted Bug Buzz (except for 4x resists), Thunderbolt owns them Moltres and Milotics, Encore shuts down stat boosters and gets you free attacks every now and then; Baton Pass for scouting on choiced sets. HP Ice for Altaria / Ground for Toxicroack. Timid because Illumise's only decent stat is Speed.

name: Baton Pass
move 1: Bug Buzz
move 2: Substitute
move 3: Baton Pass
move 4: Encore
item: Leftovers
ability: Tinted Lens
nature: Timid
evs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spe

Scare something like a level 20 Turtwig out and get your Sub or just Encore a Recover from Milotic or SR from Registeel and Sub on the switch. From there, Baton Pass and hope for the best. Bug Buzz for haters.

Remove Support, Illumises defenses are like Folgorio's. Approved with those changes.

Yeah, agreeing with Bluewind. Charge Beam probably has some situational use, like for KOing low health Pokemon for a boost chance, so I would be okay with a mention of it in AC / OC. Growth not so much, though. QC Approved 2/2. Disregard my previous rejection because we're doing sets for all Pokemon even if they are outclassed.

Okay, I'm on holidays at the moment so I can't really do much at the moment, so I've just quoted what Bluewind wrote down and shall start writing this later. Thanks for the approvals guys.

Oh, don't forget to add Wish to AC of the Baton Pass set (maybe even a slash?). It could be used over Substitute as Illumise is going to have a tough time setting one up properly anyway and Wish is always cool.

Also, don't forget to remove Growth from the Overview.

Writeup is up, didn't write much, but there really isn't much to write about, lol.

Ready for GP checks.

Red is remove
Blue is edit

Oh, didn't realise this was here. Thanks Komodo, changes applied.

GP CHECK 2/2

additions
removals



illumise got dominated by gamefreak

Thanks Snorlaxe, changes applied. This is done.

Done and done

Uploaded