Piloswine (UU Analysis)

Status: needs QC approval/checks

I need to work completely from scratch here, however Piloswine is quite interesting pokemon to use. Great attacking STAB combination, solid bulk (on physical side) and good immunity to electric gives him few opportiunities to switch in and do his job. But to be honest this isn't easy pokemon to use (especially lead set need really good predictions to make it work), however with some of them he does his job. In other words, full revamp is here. Maybe this QC reviev is a bit long in some places, however if it'll be accepted by QC members, I'll make future analyses as concise as possible.


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

[SET]
name: Lead
move 1: Stealth Rock
move 2: Earthquake
move 3: Ice Shard
move 4: Endeavor / Protect
item: Focus Sash
ability: Snow Cloak
nature: Jolly
evs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
IVs: 0 HP / 0 Def / 0 SpD (optional change, for now not taken into account, it's here to make Endeavor as effective as possible)

Why this set deserves to be on site:
- It may act as a solid Stealth Rock user, which is also quite offensive and thanks to unique STAB Ice Shard may come in later and revenge kill some dangerous sweepers like Torterra, Altaria, Swellow or Sceptile. It's quite interesting choice for offensive teams, which needs SR on field and hate pokemon, who sits and can't threaten opposite teams with offensive power. Good 100 base attack helps here alot (as good as Tauros one). Also opponent struggles to attack Piloswine in fear of Endeavor, so setting up rocks isn't that hard.

Additional comments:
- It's really important to say, that using this set requires really good prediction, however results may be really satisfying if you play it right.
- In best case scenario you set up Stealth Rock and cripple one pokemon with Endeavor. Also small bonus in immunity to both Hail/Sandstorm is nice, helping to keep your Focus Sash intact (but Snover and Hippotas aren't that popular, but it's still a bonus).
- Those EVs are really simple and yet they're most effective. You're fast enough to outspeed some slower leads like Omastar or Rhyperior and cripple/attack them with right moves. Also Piloswine needs as much speed as possible, as he really is slow.
- In last slot there are two slashes, however both of them have some uses. Endeavor is first option and with good prediction one pokemon is rendered almost useless. Protect is mainly for Fake Out leads like Monferno or Ambipom, which otherwise would be too hard to beat.

Teammates and Counters:
- This lead has troubles with Monferno and Ambipom (if you lack Protect) as they may Fake Out and finish you off with their STAB moves. Also you unfortunately can't beat sleeping leads, so something to absorb sleep is nice to have. Kabutops may finish you off with Waterfall/Stone Edge + Aqua Jet, however he'll pay high price with only 1 HP left and he can't prevent you from setting up rocks (however lucky Waterfall flinch may ruin it). Also you can't hurt Uxie and Mesprit, however they also can't seriously dent you without Grass Knot and Piloswine doesn't mind Trick, so Stealth Rock here is almost guarranteed. Rhyperior is also troublesome opponent, as you can't 2OHKO it with Earthquake (small chance with Adamant though), however it risks being hit by Endeavor, so it needs to watch out.
- Good teammates are those, which counters mentioned earlier pokemon. When you lack protect, Registeel is decent switch into Ambipom easily absorbing Fake Out and may cripple it with T-Wave. Rhyperior is also good option here, however doubling your water and grass weakness may be troublesome. Weezing is another good option, especially RestTalk ones, making him nice sleeping leads check. The same may be said about Milotic and Poliwrath, which check all earlier mentioned pokemon except Mesprit with Grass Knot.

[SET]
name: Physical Attacker
move 1: Earthquake
move 2: Ice Shard
move 3: Stone Edge
move 4: Ice Fang / Toxic
item: Choice Band / Life Orb
ability: Snow Cloak
nature: Jolly / Adamant
evs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe

Why this set deserves to be on site:
- Good power, mainly with Choice Band makes it solid physical attacker, especially against slower teams and it's the best user of STAB Ice Shard in UU, as it's slightly more powerfull then Sneasel and it's a bit easier to switch in. STAB Ice Shard alone makes it good revenge killer against many UU sweepers like Swellow (OHKO with Life Orb + SR), RP Torterra (OHKO with Life Orb + SR 74% of time), Sceptile (OHKO with SR + Choice Band) and Altaria (OHKO with Life Orb even without SR). Also Piloswine has the strongest STAB Ice Fang in UU. With Choice Band and Adamant nature you 2OHKO defensive Milotic with Earthquake + SR 100% of time and you outspeed it by... 1 point when it uses max/max bold. It also looks the same with Tangrowth, when you use Ice Fang + Choice Band. In other words most things are OHKOed or 2OHKOed by Piloswine, especially with Choice Band.

Additional comments:
- Paralysis support recommended (if you use Life orb). Piloswine is slow, so to help him spreading it is really important.
- Spikes and Toxic Spikes support is really appreciated, especially with Life Orb. I may even say that with Life Orb it's extremely important to have them as they secure some important 2OHKOs for example on Tangrowth or Milotic. Also Sandstorm/Hail support is nice to have, especially that negating Leftovers healing is quite helpfull, but not required, especially when few teams would hate it.
- When using Choice Band, using bulkier teammates is extremely important, as many things unfortunately may set-up on choiced Earthquakes or Ice Fangs. Not recommended on frailer teams. With Life Orb they're also important, but not that much like with Choice Band.
- Jolly is recommended nature, as you outspeed most walls and you really need to outspeed defensive Milotics no matter what.
- Never threat this guy as a sweeper, it's too slow for this. However as a cleaner/revenge killer (Ice Shard) or mid-game attacker it's quite interesting. Possibility of bulkier spread, as he has decent bulk on physical side (100/80) to make it work. Any ideas here are really appreciated.

Teammates and Counters:
- Main counters are Slowbro, Weezing, Uxie, Mesprit and Miltank. Without Ice Fang and Choice Band Donphan, Tangrowth and Leafeon also counters Piloswine. Good partners are bulky waters like Milotic, Slowbro, Slowking or Mantine, which also likes Piloswine's immunity to electric attacks. Houndoom may switch on them and use free turn to set-up (except Slowbro, Donphan, Earthquake Tangrowth and Miltank). Drapion/Skuntank also check them except Miltank and mainly for Miltank Hariyama works wonders, especially when it can absorb rock and fire attacks aimed on Piloswine.

[SET]
name: Mixed Attacker
move 1: Earthquake
move 2: Ice Shard
move 3: Ice Beam
move 4: Stone Edge / Toxic
item: Life Orb
ability: Snow Cloak
nature: Naughty
evs: 252 Atk / 176 Spe / 80 SpA

Why this set deserves to be on site:
- Has good surprise factor and it doesn't rely on it. It's also easier to use, as you may even use for example Earthquake at first and if you meet physical wall like Tangrowth or Leafeon, you hit harder then with Ice Fang (enough to OHKO) making it a bit easier to predict. Also Rhyperior doesn't enjoy taking STAB Ice Beams (only without Sandstorm), which is another selling point for this set. STAB Ice Beam and Ice Shard are main things, which makes Piloswine unique and not outclassed by other attackers of this type.
- Unfortunately it's slower then physical attacker, but it's fast enough to outspeed Adamant Rhyperior, probably the most dangerous switch against you and your team. In other words it keeps necessary speed and still keeps his attacking power.

Additional comments:
- Still appreciates SR, however it has advantage of not relying on other entry hazards like Spikes/Toxic Spikes as much as physical attacker making it a bit easier to use.
- This set also can't sweep like physical one, however it works a bit like wall-breaker, making it different then other attacking set.
- Still revenge kill dangerous sweepers like Sceptile, Altaria, Swellow and Torterra like physical set thanks to Ice Shard and keeps good attacking power on physical spectrum.
- As mentioned earlier, it works a bit like a wall-breaker, making it easier to fit into offensive teams then pure physical set. And STAB priority for those kind of teams is really appreciated, so Piloswine works here alot.

Teammates and Counters:
- Counters are similar to those from physical set, however some checks like Leafeon, Rhyperior, Donphan and Tangrowth risks much more, as Ice Beam dents them quite hard. Partners are the same, and on offensive side pokemon like Feraligatr really appreciate elimination of Tangrowth and Leafeon, making his job much easier and Piloswine easily absorb electric weakness of Feraligatr (watch out on grass attacks though). Also Swellow is good partner, as Rhyperior and Donphan are things, which it hates and also has electric weakness, which Piloswine may absorb.

EDIT: I guess that sacrifying Piloswine's bulk to pull off Endeavor maybe isn't worth it after all, so for now I don't mention it as a main option. But if someone think that it's a good idea after all, I'll take it back here.

I'm a bit sceptical on the attacking set, since it's Speed is way too low and it's not actually going to hit THAT hard. STAB Ice Shard is nice, though. Anyway, I wouldn't bother with the 0 HP/0 Def/0 SpD crap for the Endeavor lead, since the extra defense would actually help out in more situations than if you didn't have it in there. I mean come on, Piloswine's actually pretty bulky physically, I'd much prefer to take lighter physical hit from Ambipom or something and kill it with EQ rather than get my 1 HP Endeavor off (If you're up against Mesprit or something, you'd prefer to go for the Endeavor straight away, since it's likely to get you down to 1 HP regardless of your defenses).

The lead set needs Endeavor or it is outclassed by Donphan (STAB Ice Shard really doesn't matter). The physical attacker set at least has ice fang to differentiate itself and get past Tangrowth. Jolly should be primary option on that one, no Milotic should ever run less than 200 SPE.

I really have the feeling Piloswine's Ice Fang, STAB on Ice Shard and 20 more HP do not their own set over Donphan's 40 extra Atk, 72 Defense, arguably better typing (Ice sucks in a defensive mon, and doesn't allow it to come in on things like Registeel) and access to Spin. Added to that, because Piloswine needs to run Jolly due to the reasons mentioned by Flare Blitz, it reaches an underwhelming stat of 299 Atk (a Life Orbed Ice Fang, for example, deals nippy 35.64% - 42.08% to Tangrowth). Finally, there's Rhyperior, who lacks the extra speed and priority but makes a much better overall attacker. Of course these are just some initial thoughts as I myself have never used this set, so I think leaving this here is enough for now while QC staff does its thing.

I think the physical attacker should be approached in a different way, since as the above posters have pointed out, Piloswine struggles to avoid being outclassed. I think the one main thing that's being overlooked is that Piloswine has STAB Ice Beam, and it's main wall would be Tangrowth or Leafeon. With 252 Atk / 176 Spe / 80 SpA Naughty, it outspeeds Adamant Rhyperior, does 85.1% - 101% to max HP Tangrowth and 84.4% - 99.4% to max HP Leafeon. It can easily knock out these walls, still beat Torterra with Ice Shard (no need for Naive), and deal monstrous damage with Earthquake.

Of course a better spread could be made, but I just think the attacking set should be approached this way.

Thank you for your answers everyone, and I noted your changes.

a) Changed main nature to Jolly for physical attacker.
b) Mentioned Spikes. They help alot, achieving some 2OHKOes, especially with Jolly Life Orb (Tangrowth is now in range of 2OHKO from Ice Fang, it's similar with defensive Milotic with Earthquake). However I noted your opinions on this set, as even with Life Orb I felt that I need hit most targets on switch anyway, making this set quite hard to use, if your predictions are off. Toxic Spikes are also good idea as pokemon, which may absorb it (Poison types + Steels) are afraid of STAB Earthquake and most Piloswine switches are not immune to it.
c) I swear that I thought of trying to use Ice Beam on Piloswine to surprise many physical switches (or Blizzard, but being forced to use Snover is really troublesome for most teams), but I had problems with EVs here. Your EVs spread looks promising Heysup, I like it ;). I added your set to analysis, as I played few matches with it and it was quite decent (but my UU rating right now is low, so opponents weren't that good), but if Physical attacker won't pass through QC members, I'll delete it and leave only Mixed Attacker set. But I need to say it was easier to use then pure physical set, which is good bonus and didn't need entry hazards as much, which is even better news.
d) Delected all slashes on Lead set and leaved only Endeavor and Protect, as otherwise Donphan would outclass it. Protect only for fake out leads, if you really can't handle them.

Bump. I would love to hear more opinions, I appreciate them alot ;).

I'll wait on adding this into the Update thread since there is major skepticism with it. My eye is on this though.

Not a big fan of the physical attacking set. Its main selling point - STAB priority in Ice Shard - is just set-up bait. It's still very weak, even with Choice Band boost. That aside, it lacks power in general. So I'm going to reject that set.

Have yet to test the other sets, but I want to note several things.

Lead: Doesn't seem to fare that well against other leads. Ambipom beats you (with Silk Scarf, Fake Out + Return usually KOes, Life Orb makes it a guaranteed KO, and with 0 Def/HP IVs, you are definitely KOed regardless). Uxie can just U-Turn. Mesprit can just 2HKO you (so you have to predict whether it Grass Knots or sets up Stealth Rock, and Stealth Rock / Endeavor accordingly)

Mixed Attacker: As with the physical attacker, lacks power. Hitting Leafeon and Tangrowth doesn't seem worthwhile when you still struggle against bulky Waters, Venusaur, and fast and reasonably bulky threats.

Lead: Doesn't seem to fare that well against other leads. Ambipom beats you (with Silk Scarf, Fake Out + Return usually KOes, Life Orb makes it a guaranteed KO, and with 0 Def/HP IVs, you are definitely KOed regardless). Uxie can just U-Turn. Mesprit can just 2HKO you (so you have to predict whether it Grass Knots or sets up Stealth Rock, and Stealth Rock / Endeavor accordingly)

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That's why I posted Protect as an option, but I still think it's not worth it as you may always find decent switch into Ambipom on your team. About Uxie - true, I won't argue with this, however it won't set-up SR, which is ironically good news for you. About Mesprit - also true, but as I said this set needs really good predictions to make it work. High risk, high reward.

Anyway, it's a bump. About attacking sets - power isn't that horrible, but I found that switching in makes it really hard to use, maybe even too hard. In other words - more opinions please ;).

I think Avalanche deserves a spot on the lead set (which I'd honestly bulk up) and physical attacker. It will easily deal with U-turners and basically any lead that attacks you straight up. The bulk will help you with Ambipom and whatnot, while Avalanche will hit whoever Mesprit / Uxie U-turn to with a 120 BP STAB attack.

I think it is important to note that before Piloswine ever evolved, it was regarded as one of the worst ground types in the game. Sure it has STAB Ice Shard, but that cannot save it from its many weaknesses to fire, grass, water, and fighting which are very common in UU, as well as its neutrality to Stealth Rock. Piloswine's ground typing only allows it to have an immunity to electric, although that type is very uncommon in UU due to the fact that there are very few viable electric types there, so it can't find many times to switch in. Because of these things the attacking set cannot counter the Pokemon it promises to counter effectively. The lead set is somewhat gimmicky, as all it can do is set up stealth rock and wait for the opposing Pokemon to bring it down to 1 HP so it can attempt to endeavor despite its low speed. However, I tried using Swinub in the lead position in OU as a joke and it worked pretty well, to my surprise. That's why I won't give up on the lead set; although the attacking set I'm not sure about.

I think Avalanche deserves a spot on the lead set (which I'd honestly bulk up) and physical attacker. It will easily deal with U-turners and basically any lead that attacks you straight up. The bulk will help you with Ambipom and whatnot, while Avalanche will hit whoever Mesprit / Uxie U-turn to with a 120 BP STAB attack.

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Well the problem with adding bulk to this Piloswine is that even with 252 HP EVs Ambipom may still beat you with Life Orb Fake Out + Return (you must be EXTREMELY unlucky to get 2OHKOed to be honest, as Ambi needs to hit twice for max damage, but when you try to save EVs 240 EVs are enough, maybe even 230). However I agree that those HP EVs won't make much difference, as many stuff still can still hit hard enough to maximize Endeavor power and at least right now you can handle Ambipom one on one. Avalanche is good idea, but I see one problem - where should I slash it in ? Ice Shard is a must, SR I guess to and without Earthquake you can't take on leads like Omastar or Kabutops, which is really important. And without Endeavor this lead isn't as threatening. Anyway I need to search for bulkier EVs on lead.]

BTW I'm leaning towards deleting offensive sets myself, as I agree with one thing - Piloswine doesn't struggle with power, but with switching in. I needed to support it a bit too much to make it work on at least decent level. But I'll wait a bit more - if someone else will reject it, I won't argue with this.

I know this hasn't been worked on for a while, but I do have some comments. First, you need to make an Overview, and discuss in it why someone should use Piloswine at all. Some of its advantages are good Attack and HP stats (the latter is ruined by its horrible typing), as well as a decent Physical movepool. An Other Options section is also needed. Additionally, I think that Snover should be mentioned as a Teammate to the Attacker sets, as Snow Cloak allows Piloswine to have a chance at evading an enemy move, which could turn the tide in a battle. Finally, I think that the order of the sets (if all three survive QC) should be in the following order: Physical Attacker, Mixed Attacker, Lead. I hope my comments helped!

EDIT: In Other Options (when you write it), you should mention that Piloswine has Stealth Rock, Roar, and Dual Screens as support options (while also mentioning the fact that Piloswine's horrible typing and bad defensive stats make it unsuited to support), Amnesia to boost its dismal Special Defense, and Curse for boosting its Attack and Defense.

I'm taking over Piloswine for Garganator, since Hypno and Dusclops are in the GP stage. This thread can be locked.

Done. If Gargantor has a reason, PM me.