Abra

[askaninjask]

Abra​

Abra's got a couple new toys to play with in 5th Gen, namely it's Dream World ability, Magic Guard and a new move, Psycho Shock. Now Abra can sweep more efficiently and even help its team out with Trick Room support.

[B]#63 Abra[/B]
Typing: Psychic
Ability 1: 
   Synchronize
    When statused, the enemy is also statused. Can pass nature to wild Pokémon.
Ability 2: 
   Inner Focus
    Prevents flinching.
Ability 3: (Dream World)
   Magic Guard
    Prevents indirect damage.

HP:  25
Atk: 20
Def: 15
SpA: 105
SpD: 55
Spe: 90

[B]Level-Up Moves:[/B]
Lv1: Teleport

[B]TM Moves:[/B]
TM03 - Psycho Shock
TM04 - Calm Mind
TM06 - Toxic
TM10 - Hidden Power
TM11 - Sunny Day
TM12 - Taunt
TM16 - Light Screen
TM17 - Protect
TM18 - Rain Dance
TM19 - Telekinesis
TM20 - Safeguard
TM21 - Frustration
TM27 - Return
TM29 - Psychic
TM30 - Shadow Ball
TM32 - Double Team
TM33 - Reflect
TM41 - Torment
TM42 - Facade
TM44 - Rest
TM45 - Attract
TM46 - Thief
TM48 - Troll
TM51 - Side Change
TM53 - Energy Ball
TM56 - Fling
TM57 - Charge Beam
TM63 - Embargo
TM70 - Flash
TM73 - Thunder Wave
TM77 - Psych Up
TM85 - Dream Eater
TM86 - Grass Knot
TM87 - Swagger
TM90 - Substitute
TM92 - Trick Room

Psycho Shock: Psychic Special PP: 10 / Power: 80 / Accuracy: 100
Calculates damage with the target's Def stat.

Telekinesis: Psychic Other PP: 15 / Power: - / Accuracy: -
Makes Target easier to hit for 3 turns.

Troll: Normal Special PP: 15 / Power: 60 / Accuracy: 100
Raises Base Power the more Pokemon you have with the attack.

Side Change: Psychic Other PP: 15 / Power: - / Accuracy: -
Switch position with an Ally.

[B]Egg Moves:[/B]
Encore
Barrier
Knock Off
Fire Punch
ThunderPunch
Ice Punch
Power Trick
Guard Swap
Skill Swap
Guard Share

Guard Swap: Psychic Other PP: 10 / Power: - / Accuracy: -
Simultaneously, user adopts opponent's current Defense and Special Defense stat stages,
and opponent adopts user's current Defense and Special Defense stat stages.

Guard Share: Psychic Other PP: 10 / Power: - / Accuracy: -
Averages the user's and target's Def and SpDef.

So, why am I excited about Abra? Well, for starters...

• It gets Psycho Shock, a Special move that target's the opponents physical defense.
  Before Gen 5, Abra's had one and exactly one counter: Munchlax. Now that Abra can pick on his weaker side, not much is going to be able to put a stop this thing from sweeping teams. Since Abra's physical attack is pitiful, this move gives Abra a way to hit hard on both defenses (without even needing to invest EVs in Attack!).
• 19 Speed is as good as ever, if not better.
  Abra has the benefit of being one of the few Pokemon to reach 19 speed with a +Spe nature. With no new LC available Pokemon reaching this tier, 19 speed will be even more of an asset in Generation 5 than it was in Generation 4. Because so many new Pokemon have a maximum Speed stat of 17, Abra could even run Modest to get more power and still outspeed a lot of the metagame.
• Its Dream World ability, Magic Guard.
  Thanks to Magic Guard, Abra can be an awesome support Pokemon if it holds a Focus Sash. With so many slow Pokemon in this Generation, Trick Room will likely be a very viable strategy, and being able to get TR up 100% of the time is a new asset that Abra now has.

A couple of sets I forsee being popular:

Sweeper:
Abra @ Life Orb / Focus Sash
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 236 SpA, 196 Spe
Nature: Timid (+Spe, -Atk)
~ Psychic
~ Psycho Shock
~ Shadow Ball / Signal Beam
~ Hidden Power Fighting / Substitute

Not much is going to be able to take a hit from this. However, depending on your coverage moves, certain Pokemon will likely be able to counter the set (much like Gligar in 4th Gen). If you choose to forgo Hidden Power Fighting, Houndour will take anything you throw at it; if you choose to forgo Signal Beam, or Shadow Ball for Substitute, other Dark-types or Ghost-types could switch in. That being said, it's impossible to tell which moves Abra will have at first, which would make finding a proper switch-in very difficult.

Trick Room support:
Abra @ Focus Sash
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 236 SpA, 196 or 0 Spe
Nature: Timid (+Spe, -Atk)
~ Trick Room
~ Psychic
~ Hidden Power Fighting / Signal Beam / Shadow Ball
~ Psycho Shock / Protect

While Abra is fast, it is also frail, which made it a poor TR setup Pokemon in 4th Generation LC. But with the new addition of Magic Guard, Abra can now switch in after a Pokemon faints and get Trick Room set up 100% of the time. Not to mention it still hits like a truck...

I am pumped to try out Abra this generation. Your thoughts? Are there any cool new sets you think I've missed? Which new Pokemon will do well against Abra? Which won't? Which Pokemon will work well with Abra?

 

[little gk]

While, yes Psycho Shock certainly helps Abra, especially against Pokemon like Munchlax, not a whole lot gave him a boost this generation. The biggest thing going against him has always been his shit defenses, and thats all they are. Nonetheless, Abra will at least still be somewhat popular, especially with newer users who will see that Special Attack stat.

 

[Tortured_Soul]

Why use Abra for TR support? Even if you DO, why use it without lowering its speed? As you said, with FS and Magic Guard, it 'should' always be able to set TR up. Why then render Abra useless? You state yourself that it's one of the faster threats in LC.

 

[Kannon]

Abra @ Focus Sash
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 236 SpA, 196 Spe
Nature: Timid (+Spe, -Atk)
~ Psychic
~ Psycho Shock
~ Signal Beam / Hidden Power Fighting
~ Calm Mind

With this you get an especially good revenge pokemon. You can hit things hard with very few things being able to take your new STAB moves. The crux of this set however, is Calm Mind. With it, you get an especially powerful Abra, and with focus sash still intact via Magic Guard, you can overcome Calm Mind abra's usual counters of priority moves.

 

[askaninjask]

While, yes Psycho Shock certainly helps Abra, especially against Pokemon like Munchlax, not a whole lot gave him a boost this generation. The biggest thing going against him has always been his shit defenses, and thats all they are. Nonetheless, Abra will at least still be somewhat popular, especially with newer users who will see that Special Attack stat.

Well, its defenses have been improved through Magic Guard, as Focus Sash ensures that it will survive a hit.

Why use Abra for TR support? Even if you DO, why use it without lowering its speed? As you said, with FS and Magic Guard, it 'should' always be able to set TR up. Why then render Abra useless? You state yourself that it's one of the faster threats in LC.

Gastly was a great Trick Room setup Pokemon in DPPt, even with a maximum Speed stat of 18. High speed stats allow Abra and Gastly get an attack off before they set up Trick Room, which can be useful, as Trick Room is not always up. Also, one of the downsides of a Trick Room based team is that often a faster Pokemon can sweep once Trick Room wears off. If you are using Abra as your Trick Roomer, you could force switches and set up Trick Room easily.

@Breludicolo: Oops! Totally forgot about that. My bad. Edited.

 

[Sledge]

I personally think that the greatest effect of magic guard abra will be the unbreakable sash. One of Abra's problems is that it is easily killed by so many priority attack such as sucker punch, letting it do squat. Magic Guard ensures that abra will stay alive for at least one hit, letting it do what it does best, wreck things. This also mean Abra will be a top-notch revenge killer. It comes in mid game on something like a boosted aron that just killed one of your pokemon, and it can survive an attack that aron can bring, and then easily KO back with HP Ground.

 

[ShinyAzelf]

Magic Guard is going to be good with Life Orb.

I've never tried Abra out, but I think I will in this generation.

I'm a bit confused about Psycho Shock. Its a special attack but the damage output is based on the opponent's physical defense right?

 

[Tortured_Soul]

Gastly was a great Trick Room setup Pokemon in DPPt, even with a maximum Speed stat of 18. High speed stats allow Abra and Gastly to set up Trick Room quickly, which could be useful in a metagame in which free turns will be hard to come by. Also, one of the downsides of a Trick Room based team is that often a faster Pokemon can sweep once Trick Room wears off. If you are using Abra as your Trick Roomer, you could force switches and set up Trick Room easily.

I understand your point, and admittedly I played virtually no LC in DPPt, however. "Allow Abra to set up Trick Room quickly" seems weird to me. With Magic Guard + FS, you're guaranteed a TR, regardless of speed stat. But that's where the usefullness ends. You said so yourself, you get very few free turns in LC, so where do you see yourself switching Abra into something that can utilize TR? Again, I may not see the full picture considering my lack of knowledge of LC, but it seems like Abra's use would be set up a guaranteed TR, then die quickly so another can utilize the most turns possible. Surely there are better TR users than Abra?

 

[breh]

Gastly was a great Trick Room setup Pokemon in DPPt, even with a maximum Speed stat of 18. High speed stats allow Abra and Gastly to set up Trick Room quickly, which could be useful in a metagame in which free turns will be hard to come by. Also, one of the downsides of a Trick Room based team is that often a faster Pokemon can sweep once Trick Room wears off. If you are using Abra as your Trick Roomer, you could force switches and set up Trick Room easily.

TR has -6 priority.. good luck with that

Yuniran is better for this due to crap speed and better defense

 

[little gk]

Acutally, now that Abra does have Magic Guard it does help a Substitute set, since it can then run a Life Orb. Abra can just force something out, lead Machop maybe, and with full health, sub from there. It could look something like this.

Abra @ Life Orb
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 236 SpA, 196 Spe
Nature: Timid (+Spe, -Atk)
- Substitute
- Hidden Power Fighting
- Psycho Shock
- Signal Beam / Psychic

 

[gonfreecs]

I was hoping it'd get psycho shift so i could do guard share/psycho shift/trick/filler @ flame orb with magic guard. Oh well, i believe zam gets P-shift, so I might be able to use it there.
I'm still really looking forward to what abra can do this gen. I think HP fighting will do a lot better than signal beam thanks to the dark/flying resisting both and houndour and the dark/fighting being weak to it (and a SE attack on the steel/fighting is nice :D)

 

[Heysup]

Abra @ Focus Sash
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 240 SpA / 200 Spe
Nature: Timid (+Spe, -Atk)
- Encore
- Hidden Power Fighting
- Psychic / Psycho Shock
- Shadow Ball

I guess Psycho Shock is ok. I think this will be abra's best set. With Encore and a 100% sash, it will get a lot of time to cause shit for the other team.

 

[Nails]

19 speed and encore is probably it's best set. It can switch into a wisp, encore it... Except the only thing that carries wisp runs shadow sneak... Hmm. The lack of slow subbers/sd/plotters kind of cuts into encores usefulness. It does like psycho shock, but the second hit will always kill it (shellder used icicle spear, ohko thru sash/subs).

Abra is meh this gen too is my conclusion.

 

[Luisv96]

Trick Room set support with timid nature is..... ._. 1 of 2:
-Don´t use Trick Room. Trick Room is for slower pokémon.
-Change nature to Quiet and wait for a pokémon that can´t beat Abra (good luck with this).

 

[Banryu]

I don't understand this. Why Psychic AND Psycho Shock on all the sets? With Psychic's terrible type coverage, I'd think you'd want as many slots for neutral coverage as possible, rather than loading up on STAB moves that get crap coverage. :0 Psychic and Psycho Shock should be slashed on the same slot on all of these, IMO.

 

[ChaosAkita]

I'm thinking

Abra @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 236 SpA, 196 Spe
Nature: Timid (+Spe, -Atk)
~ Psycho Shock
~ Signal Beam
~ Hidden Power Fighting
~ Trick

This gives Abra the best coverage, IMO. The 10 (or 20?) loss in base power from Psychic is well worth the added versatility from Psycho Shock, IMO.

 

[Banryu]

I'm thinking

Abra @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 236 SpA, 196 Spe
Nature: Timid (+Spe, -Atk)
~ Psycho Shock
~ Signal Beam
~ Hidden Power Fighting
~ Trick

This gives Abra the best coverage, IMO. The 10 (or 20?) loss in base power from Psychic is well worth the added versatility from Psycho Shock, IMO.

Fire might be a better HP than Fighting for hitting Bronzor and the iron thorn thing supereffectively... but... not sure if you miss out on coverage from anyone else in the process.

 

[Destiny Warrior]

@Banryu: Shadow Ball, HP Fighting and Psychic cover everything for Abra, so it can use its Psycho Shock to beat Munchlax.

EDIT: 666th post! THE DEVIL IS HEREEEEEEEEEEEEEEE...

 

[Banryu]

Meh, I think Abra would rather have Substitute or something instead of one of the PSychic STABs, so that priority doesn't rape it. :0

Also, all you people putting Signal Beam on your sets, Magic Guard Abra doesn't get Signal Beam. It was a 4th Gen tutor move, and Magic Guard Abra is only obtained in the 5th Gen (obviously). :\

 

[Darkamber8828]

Meh, I think Abra would rather have Substitute or something instead of one of the PSychic STABs, so that priority doesn't rape it.

I don't think that Abra needs two Psychic attacks, but Substitute breaks the Magic-Sash that makes everything tick.

 

[Murkglow]

Encore then. Psycho Shock, Shadow ball, HP Fighting, Encore. Seems decent to me.