Molk
Godlike Usmash
Molk's dad in the flesh
[Overview]
<p>While it's a bit too frail to function well in higher tiers, Absol has cemented itself as one of the best Dark-types and overall offensive Pokemon in RU, and it's not hard to see why. Absol is well-known for possessing what is bar none the most powerful priority move in the entire game in the form of its STAB Sucker Punch, and this is what makes it so dangerous in RU, as it makes up for Absol's average Speed stat, revenge kills a slew of threats such as Accelgor, Rotom-C, and Sceptile, and cleans up rather nicely late-game. Outside of this powerful move, Absol happens to be one of the best users of Pursuit in the tier, trapping and eliminating threats such as Slowking, Uxie, Mesprit, and Rotom for its teammates and starting mind games with the opponent in combination with Sucker Punch. Combine these two moves with Swords Dance, a high critical hit ratio thanks to Super Luck, and coverage moves to get past would-be checks such as Tangrowth, Steelix, and Escavalier, and Absol makes for a great offensive Pokemon. Keep in mind, however, that Absol struggles quite a bit with its frailty; most decently powerful moves will 2HKO Absol at worst, making it very hard to switch in and set up a Swords Dance. Absol struggles with Sucker Punch's drawback too, as faster Pokemon with the appropriate moves can force Absol into unfavorable situations and eventually play around it. All in all, despite these setbacks, underestimating Absol is a grave mistake, as one wrong move against it can mean the difference between a win and a loss.</p>
[SET]
name: All-Out Attacker
move 1: Sucker Punch
move 2: Superpower
move 3: Night Slash
move 4: Fire Blast / Pursuit
item: Life Orb / Dread Plate
nature: Naughty / Adamant
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>With a powerful STAB Sucker Punch, good coverage, and the ability to Pursuit trap, an all-out attacker set is a good choice for Absol. With this set, Absol can wallbreak, revenge kill, and clean up late-game rather efficiently, making it a dangerous threat. Of course, Sucker Punch is what makes Absol so good, and it's by far the most important move on this set, ensuring Absol doesn't get outpaced and revenge killed by faster threats and making up for its somewhat low Speed stat. Sucker Punch also gives Absol the ability to revenge kill, taking out threats such as Omastar, Sceptile, and Accelgor with ease before they become dangerous. When Absol doesn't need to rely on Sucker Punch to do serious damage to its opponent, Night Slash is its go to move. As it is only slightly less powerful than Sucker Punch and doesn't rely on the opponent attacking to work, Night Slash is a solid and consistent STAB move. The combination of Super Luck and Night Slash's naturally high critical hit rate is really good to boot, giving Absol a solid 25 percent chance of inflicting a critical hit whenever it uses Night Slash. Superpower rounds of Absol's coverage nicely, hitting Pokemon such as Aggron and actually giving Absol perfect neutral coverage between its STABs and Superpower, as all the Pokemon who resist the combination are locked up in higher tiers. As for the final move, it really depends on what you want Absol to do. Fire Blast gives Absol an extra coverage option that lets it get past certain common checks, including Tangrowth, Steelix, and Escavalier, more easily, 2HKOing all of them at worst. On the other hand, Pursuit makes Absol an effective trapper, letting it remove Psychic- and Ghost-types, such as Slowking and Rotom, that could give Absol's teammates a hard time.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>The given EVs are rather simple; as Absol is quite frail and won't be taking hits well, the EVs are geared to maximize Absol's offensive potential. A Naughty nature should be used whenever Fire Blast is being used for the extra power in exchange for special bulk. However, when running Pursuit, an Adamant nature is better overall. Alternatively, either a Jolly or Naive nature can be used on Absol, decreasing its overall power a little bit but giving Absol the ability to outpace neutral-natured base 80 Speed Pokemon, such as Kabutops and Gallade, and hit them with Sucker Punch before they can use their own priority. Life Orb is the main option to give Absol a small amount of power on all of its moves, but Dread Plate is certainly a viable alternative, as it still gives a similar boost to Absol's Dark-type moves while giving it a bit more longevity by removing Life Orb recoil. Keep in mind that Superpower and Fire Blast are significantly weaker without Life Orb, though. Psycho Cut is a viable option in Absol's fourth moveslot to hit Qwilfish, Poliwrath, and other bulky Fighting-types slightly harder, but Fire Blast and particularly Pursuit generally have more utility overall, especially because of Psycho Cut's somewhat low Base Power.</p>
<p>Because Absol struggles with the various Fighting-types in the tier, such as Poliwrath, Emboar, and the rare Gurdurr, Pokemon that can deal with these threats are naturally good teammates. Slowking is a good example of a Pokemon that can take on Fighting-type Pokemon, pivoting in and out with its Fighting-type resist and Regenerator, while posing an immediate threat with STAB Psyshock. Qwilfish is another good example, using multiple common Fighting-type Pokemon as Spikes fodder, which makes Absol's sweeping job much easier. Other examples of good Fighting-type checks include Uxie, Mesprit, Golurk, and Sigilyph. Due to Absol making a great Pursuit trapper, Pokemon that benefit from this kind of support pair well with Absol. Hitmonlee and Medicham in particular appreciate Absol's Pursuit support, really benefiting from its ability to take out many of their checks and counters, such as Slowking, Rotom, and Uxie, and cleaning up later on in the game when these checks have been weakened or eliminated from the match.</p>
[SET]
name: Swords Dance
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Sucker Punch
move 3: Superpower
move 4: Night Slash
item: Life Orb / Lum Berry
nature: Adamant / Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Although Absol's mediocre bulk makes it somewhat challenging to set up sometimes, Swords Dance is still a viable option on Absol, boosting its really high Attack stat to intimidating levels and taking its infamous Sucker Punch to a whole new level of danger. Of course, outside of Swords Dance, Sucker Punch is still the most important move on Absol and what makes it threatening in the first place between its decently high Base Power and priority. After a Swords Dance, Sucker Punch even has the ability to OHKO frailer Pokemon that resist it, such as Hitmonlee and the rare Primeape, which shows just how strong +2 Absol really is. Once again, Night Slash provides Absol with a more consistent STAB move to use when it doesn't need to rely on Sucker Punch to outpace an opponent, hitting threats such as Slowking and Spiritomb without the risk of them not attacking and attempting to either recover or cripple Absol on the same turn. The critical hit ratio is deadly as well, and a critical hit coming from a +2 Absol can easily OHKO common defensive threats that would be able to take Absol on otherwise, such as Tangrowth and Alomomola. Superpower is used in the last slot to round off Absol's coverage and hit everything that resist Dark-type moves at least neutrally, and although it lowers Absol's Attack stat after using it, it's still a very useful move to have, and Absol can often continue to clean up even after using Superpower if it has used Swords Dance previously. Lastly, try to keep in mind that Absol's frailty makes it somewhat challenging to set up Swords Dance at times, and you will often have to take a risk to get a boost. For example, a good opportunity to try and get a Swords Dance boost is on a forced switch.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>An Adamant nature is used to boost the power of Sucker Punch as much as possible, but a Jolly nature is always a good alternative for the Speed it provides, letting Absol outspeed neutral-natured base 80 Speed Pokemon and tie with max Speed Smeargle in exchange for a small amount of raw power. Life Orb is the main item to maximize Absol's damage output as much as possible; however, Lum Berry is a good choice as well, as it lets Absol set up more easily against status-using Pokemon such as Uxie. Psycho Cut can be used over Night Slash as a third coverage move to hit Poliwrath and Qwilfish a bit harder, but the consistent Dark-type STAB is often missed. Megahorn is in the same boat, hitting Tangrowth significantly harder, but without a consistent Dark-type STAB, Absol struggles against Ghost-types that can play around Sucker Punch, such as Misdreavus and Rotom.</p>
<p>Bulky Fighting-types are quite an annoyance for Absol, as they can take pretty much any hit from Absol; therefore, teammates that can eliminate them are always helpful. Uxie, Mesprit, Slowking, and Spiritomb all perform well against Fighting-type Pokemon, as they resist or are immune to their STAB moves, have the bulk to take pretty much any coverage move from them, and can strike back with a STAB Psychic-type move or a crippling burn in return. Because Absol's frailty often makes it somewhat challenging to set up, dual screens are a good way to make Swords Dance Absol more effective, covering for its mediocre bulk and making it significantly easier for Absol to set up. Uxie is pretty much the best dual screens user in RU and has the raw bulk to set up Reflect, Light Screen, and Stealth Rock multiple times a match, supporting Absol exceptionally well.</p>
[Other Options]
<p>A Choice Scarf set is a viable option on Absol to give it a faster Pursuit and allow it to trap some of the faster Ghost- and Psychic-types more easily, but it's otherwise it's completely inferior to the all-out attacker set, trading Speed for a significant amount of power, the ability to switch moves, and the ability to utilize Sucker Punch effectively. To make matters worse, most of Absol's moves are bad to be locked into due to either a low Base Power or inconsistency. Choice Band Absol is in a similar boat, but doesn't even have a faster Pursuit to work with, making Life Orb and Dread Plate better options almost all the time. Substitute is an option on the Swords Dance set to block status, ease prediction, and possibly get more opportunities to set up a Swords Dance, but keep in mind that Absol misses a consistent Dark-type STAB move sorely, and it hates having to rely on Sucker Punch against Pokemon that either resist or are immune to Superpower and have non-attacking moves. Although Absol's Special Attack stat is somewhat low compared to its Attack stat, it actually has a decent special movepool to work with, including moves such as Thunderbolt and Hidden Power Grass that can be used to nail common checks and counters, such as Poliwrath and Quagsire. Magic Coat is a viable option over Fire Blast and Pursuit to reflect hazards and possible status moves effectively, but keep in mind that Magic Coat is very reliant on prediction and can easily be taken advantage of if you're not careful. Lastly, Absol makes a rather decent Baton Passer, able to pass Swords Dance boosts and Substitute to its teammates, although Absol's frailty often gets in the way of this and makes it harder to pass on the boosts without taking a beating.</p>
[Checks and Counters]
<p>When it comes to beating Absol, Fighting-types are public enemy number one. Poliwrath, Hariyama, Gurdurr, and Emboar in particular can give Absol a lot of trouble, resisting its Dark-type STAB and either having the bulk to take a Superpower or outspeeding and OHKOing before Absol has the chance to strike back. Hitmonchan can trouble Absol by outpacing it by one point and striking it with Mach Punch before Absol can even move. Outside of Fighting-type Pokemon, Alomomola and Quagsire make great checks to Absol, either having the physical bulk to take boosted Night Slashes or completely ignoring potential Swords Dance boosts altogether, all while wearing Absol down with Waterfall and Earthquake, respectively. Tangrowth is in a similar boat to Alomomola and Quagsire, taking pretty much any physical attack from Absol and striking back with a strong Power Whip or Giga Drain, but it's vulnerable to being hit by potential Fire Blasts. Escavalier can take any Dark-type move from Absol and even has the physical bulk to take a Superpower, but cannot take a Fire Blast after Stealth Rock, making it a somewhat shaky check. If all else fails, there are many other ways of defeating Absol that take advantage of its reliance on Sucker Punch to hit faster opponents. For example, faster Pokemon with Substitute can evade Absol's Sucker Punch and set up a Substitute as a cushion, allowing them to KO Absol next turn with no fear. Good examples of Pokemon that can do this include Sceptile, Rotom, Klinklang, and Gallade. Faster Pokemon with Will-O-Wisp or Sleep Powder, such as Rotom, Rotom-C, and Lilligant, can help against Absol as well, forcing it to Sucker Punch and crippling it when it tries to do so. Lastly, faster Pokemon with priority moves, such as Entei with ExtremeSpeed and Zangoose with Quick Attack, can get past Absol through bypassing its Sucker Punch and hitting Absol before it can strike.</p>
- Easily one of the best Dark-types and general offensive Pokemon in the tier
- Powerful STAB Sucker Punch makes up for mediocre Speed and makes Absol a good revenge killer and cleaner, despite being somewhat prediction reliant
- Sucker Punch makes absol especially threatening towards offensive teams that don't have a Dark-type resist or way to play around sucker
- Strong Pursuit lets Absol trap various Ghost- and Psychic-type Pokemon such as Slowking Uxie and Mesprit, although the fraility can be annoying
- SD+Sucker Punch is quite deadly in the right hands
- Can use coverage moves such as Fire Blast to get past normal checks
- very frail, 2HKO'd by almost any move at the very worst
- Super Luck+Night Slash gives Absol a 1 in 4 chance of pulling of a winning crit when it counts, luck based, but still useful
- Sucker Punch can be played around because of the only works on attacking pokemon drawback, making absol as mentioned reliant on prediction
name: All-Out-Attacker
move 1: Sucker Punch
move 2: Superpower
move 3: Night Slash
move 4: Fire Blast / Pursuit
item: Life Orb / Dread Plate
nature: Naughty / Adamant
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
- Probably Absol's best set at the moment, can wallbreak, clean, and revenge kill efficiently
- Sucker Punch is by far the most important move on this set, makes up for Absol's mediocre Speed and provides it with the most powerful priority move in the game bar none. This is what makes Absol so good at what it does.
- Night Slash gives Absol a consisent, non prediction reliant STAB move to use when it doesn't need the priority, especially cool because of the combination of Super Luck and Night Slash's increased Critical hit ratio.
- Superpower hits quite a few Pokemon that resist Dark-type moves, such as Aggron, and actually gets perfect neutral coverage along with Absol's Dark-type STAB, making it that much harder to outright wall
- Fire Blast rounds of Absol's coverage and gives it a useful weapon against many Pokemon that could take on Absol otherwise, such as Steelix, Tangrowth, and Escavalier, 2HKOing them at worst with Life Orb
- Alternatively, Pursuit can be used in the last slot to turn Absol into an effective trapper, supporting its teammates by eliminating their checks and counters when given a free turn to do so.
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
- Evs are rather simple, maximizing Absol's Offensive potential. A Naughty nature should be used when running Fire Blast for the extra power in exchange for special bulk, an Adamant nature works best with Pursuit.
- Alternatively, Absol could run a Jolly or Naive nature, decreasing its overall power a bit but giving it the ability to outpace neutral natured base 80s such as Kabutops and Gallade and the ability to Speed tie with Durant.
- Life Orb is used for the extra overall power and boost on Absol's coverage moves, Dread Plate is a good alternative that boosts Absol's Dark-type moves almost as much as Life Orb would, but doesn't deal any recoil to Absol, keep in mind it doesn't boost Superpower and Fire Blast though
- Psycho Cut is an option in the fourth slot to hit Qwilfish, Poliwrath, and other Bulky Fighting-types a bit harder, but Fire Blast and Pursuit generally have more utility
- Bulky Fighting-type Pokemon such as Poliwrath, Hariyama, Emboar, and the rare Gurdurr give Absol a lot of trouble, and therefore a teammate to handle them are appreciated.
- Slowking, Golurk, Qwilfish, and Sigilyph are good examples of potential checks to Fighting-type Pokemon
- Because Absol makes a good Pursuit user, Pokemon that benefit from that kind of support make good teammates
- Hitmonlee, Hitmonchan, Hariyama Gallade, Emboar, Entei, and Medicham all benefit from Absol's Pursuit support, and with their checks and counters taken out of the match they can pose quite a problem to the opposing team.
[SET]
name: Swords Dance
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Sucker Punch
move 3: Superpower
move 4: Night Slash
item: Life Orb / Lum Berry
nature: Adamant / Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
- Although Absol hits more than hard enough as is, it can still use Swords Dance to buff its Attack up further and make its sucker punch a whole other level of dangerous
- Once again, Sucker Punch is what makes Absol so dangerous, letting it revenge kill, pick off faster foes, and clean up. After a Swords Dance boost, Sucker Punch can even OHKO frailer resists looking to revenge kill absol such as Hitmonlee.
- As with the first set, Night Slash is Absol's best reliable STAB, letting it hit slower threats with its Dark-type STAB without having to predict, once again the high critical hit ratio of Night Slash is really nice too.
- Superpower completes Absol's coverage and lets it hit common Dark-type resists hard, such as Steelix and Aggron, doing over 80% to the former after a Swords Dance
- An Adamant nature maximizes the power of Absol's Sucker Punch, but a Jolly Nature is one again viable for outpacing things like Timid Magneton, Adamant Kabutops, and Adamant Gallade
- Keep in mind that Absol's fraility makes it somewhat challenging to set up a Swords Dance, so you'll have to predict well to get one up safely, thankfully, absol's priority forces enough to switches to make setting up a Swords Dance possible.
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
- Evs are rather simple, maximizing Absol's offensive potential and reducing its reliance on Sucker Punch a bit
- Life Orb is the main item for the extra power it provides, but a Lum Berry is also a perfectly viable option to give Absol a one time immunity to status and a few more set up opportunities against Pokemon that commonly use them.
- Like the All-Out-Attacker set, this set struggles with bulky Fighting-types, so Pokemon that can deal with them are effective teammates
- good examples of these include Slowking, Golurk, Mesprit, Uxie, Sigilyph, and Spiritomb
- Psycho Cut is an option over Night Slash to hit Qwilfish, Poliwrath, and other Bulky Fighting-types a bit harder, Absol loses it reliable STAB move though :/.
- Megahorn can also be used over Night Slash to hit Tangrowth harder, but its somewhat inaccurate and leaves Absol more vulnerable to Ghost-types such as Misdreavus, still a viable option though
- Dual Screens support can help Absol set up more easily, Uxie is a good example of a dual screens Pokemon, the best in the tier in fact
[Other Options]
- Choice Scarf for a faster pursuit but inferior otherwise, weak STAB moves compared to other scarfers, can't use Sucker Punch effectively, and many of Absol's moves are bad to be locked into
- please never use CB absol, ever
- SubSD
- Decent special movepool to work with, and can even use moves like Thunderbolt to nail its common checks such as Poliwrath
- decent support movepool but no bulk to work with
- Magic Coat to bounce back hazards and stop smeargle in its tracks
- Baton Pass to pass substitutes and swords dances
get a mega absol
[Checks and Counters]
- Bulky Fighting-types are public enemy #1, Poliwrath, Hariyama, Gurdurr, and Emboar in particular can cause Absol quite a lot of problems, resisting its dark STAB, and either having the bulk to take a superpower or outspeeding and OHKOing
- Tangrowth works against any set without Fire Blast
- Alomomola and Quagsire do a pretty good job of walling absol, the latter even ignores Swords Dance boosts
- Escavalier can take on sets without Fire Blast decently well
- Durant can revenge kill even +2 Absol pretty easily as long as it doesnt miss
- Faster Pokemon with Substitute, Sleep, Burn, or priority can force Absol into a prediction war if all else fails, good examples of Pokemon that can do this include Kabutops, Entei, Rotom, Lilligant, Sceptile, Rotom-C, other Absol, Gallade, and Klinklang
- Anything faster than Absol that resists Sucker Punch can usually help, even if its not an 100% counter
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