Play Rough is better, yeah. Only Klefki, Mawile, and Drapion resist Dark + Fairy, and mawile and klefki are hit by fire blast.
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Pokémon Absol
- Thread starter Adamant Zoroark
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Doesn't Drapion take Neutral from Fairy? Dark is weak to Fairy, and it is Poison/Dark, so even though Poison resists, it balances out, right?
Oh, you're right. Forgot about that. Only Klefki and Mawile, then.
God I'm derping a lot today.
Will there be a reason to run both? I feel like running Superpower and Ice Beam or Play Rough and Fireblast have different merits entirely, although Superpower is definitely better than Play Rough. That 90% accuracy is VERY disappointing on something as fragile as Absol.
Superpower is inferior to Play Rough because Fairies resist Dark + Fighting and most are specially defensive, so 4 spa fire blast/ice beam won't do much.
Not when it misses twice in a row... Maybe this game just doesn't want me to use Absol ever. It never misses when I use it with Azumarill, but I get jipped horribly by fucking blind Absol.
Ice Beam hits Togekiss hard, tho. But not hard enough to justify it. Fire Blast is nice though, and rounds out his coverage.
Ice Beam hits Togekiss hard, tho. But not hard enough to justify it. Fire Blast is nice though, and rounds out his coverage.
Well, Play Rough is better when the RNG is acting as it should be.
The Attack drop from Superpower is even more disappointing than 90% accuracy, though. At least I'd say so. Going from "Able to OHKO Scizor with +2 Sucker Punch" to "Not able to OHKO Scizor because now I'm only +1" sucks. Play Rough is still sufficient for covering Dark-types (except Tyranitar, who is hit harder by Superpower.) Plus, Dark + Fairy provides superior coverage to Dark + Fighting and Play Rough can at least damage Fairy-types:
+2 252 Atk Mega Absol Play Rough vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Sylveon: 205-242 (52 - 61.4%)
So you at least have a snowball's chance in hell at breaking through Sylveon if you're using SD Mega Absol, granted you weaken Sylveon enough. Will you actually manage to weaken it so much? Maybe, maybe not. Still, you're doing better against Fairy-types than you are with Superpower, and getting similar coverage. I wouldn't use Superpower on SD Mega Absol since 1) Attack drop sucks when you're trying to sweep, 2) +2 252 Atk Mega Absol Sucker Punch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Heatran: 277-327 (85.7 - 101.2%), +2 252 Atk Mega Absol Play Rough vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Tyranitar: 402-474 (99.5 - 117.3%), so you don't really need Superpower anyway, 3) Play Rough allows you to stand a chance against Fairies if you weaken them enough, as it's really Absol's only way of hitting them. But even if you don't have Play Rough, you should be fine as long as you're running Pokemon that can handle Fairies (Scizor, Gengar, etc.) but if all else fails... Maybe, just maybe, you can take down weakened Fairies. Also, hitting Dragons without having to use Sucker Punch is pretty awesome.
However, use of Superpower is still justifiable on other sets as it's your best option against Tyranitar and Heatran, especially when you have no boosts.
Yeah, I wish it had 100% too. But at least it's been treating me better than Air Slash (95% accuracy missing 3 out of 4).
Hopefully Pokémon Z will give us some usable physical Fairy moves (and make Mega-Absol Dark/Fairy, I'm kind of surprised there was no type change).
I've been playing with MegaAbsol a little and I thought it was downright underwhelming without SD. The Absol I used was:
Absol @ Absolite
Naive - Justified / Magic Guard
252 Atk / 6 SpA / 252 Spe
~Play Rough
~Sucker Punch
~Night Slash
~Fire Blast
I found the results really disappointing and I feel like it really needs SD to be effective. This set doesn't get rid of the things it should get rid of and it get's KOd in return. Using SD will probably ensure that Fire Blast won't be on the set which let's you miss out the opportunity to hit steels good.
Absol @ Absolite
Naive - Justified / Magic Guard
252 Atk / 6 SpA / 252 Spe
~Play Rough
~Sucker Punch
~Night Slash
~Fire Blast
I found the results really disappointing and I feel like it really needs SD to be effective. This set doesn't get rid of the things it should get rid of and it get's KOd in return. Using SD will probably ensure that Fire Blast won't be on the set which let's you miss out the opportunity to hit steels good.
I'd rather drop Night Slash... I never found it that useful since Sucker Punch is such an easy prediction on Absol. Unless you're up against Swords Dance Aegislash or something stupid like that. But you'd probably be better fire blasting that anyway.
Well, Play Rough is also illegal on a Snatch set. Which I think will probe to be one of Absol's most useful moves.
I use something like Velits' set, but just a couple differences.
After playing with him a lot, I now deem him underrated.
Absol @ Absolite
Ability: Super Luck
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Jolly Nature
- Taunt
- Sucker Punch
- Play Rough
- Fire Blast
He's a lead/anti-lead; the only thing he doesn't curbstomp is Klefki, who can guarantee a screen and threaten with Play Rough if it has it, and survives a couple Fire Blasts (but note that I don't invest at all). Fire Blast is really just for Ferrothorn because I don't need any other options.
After playing with him a lot, I now deem him underrated.
Absol @ Absolite
Ability: Super Luck
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Jolly Nature
- Taunt
- Sucker Punch
- Play Rough
- Fire Blast
He's a lead/anti-lead; the only thing he doesn't curbstomp is Klefki, who can guarantee a screen and threaten with Play Rough if it has it, and survives a couple Fire Blasts (but note that I don't invest at all). Fire Blast is really just for Ferrothorn because I don't need any other options.
Why would you give absol night slash when it learns knock off??? more PP, higher power (in 99.9% of cases, and it's only very slightly weaker in that 0.1%), and an awesome effect
I feel like Absol's best role is as an anti-lead / late-game cleaner. He can even fill both of these roles in the same team. Simply lead off with him if your opponent has things like Smeargle or Klefki then withdraw and clean up later. Absol is really too frail to rely on a Swords Dance to set up and sweep, imo.
Absol only gets Knock Off before gen 6, so it's incompatible with Play Rough (a gen 6 egg move and an important coverage option).
After using my bred/trained Absol for quite a while, in-game, I got absolutely sick of the abysmal accuracy on Play Rough and Fire Blast (90% accuracy move, misses three times in a row). I traded out Swords Dance for Hone Claws. Even the +1 Boost to accuracy seems to make both 100% accurate. Could someone run some calcs and tell me what important KOs I lose by not running Swords Dance, before I try it out in competitive?
+1 252 Atk Mega Absol Sucker Punch vs. 248 HP / 0 Def Scizor: 219-258 (63.8 - 75.2%)
+2 252 Atk Mega Absol Sucker Punch vs. 248 HP / 0 Def Scizor: 291-343 (84.8 - 100%)
That alone should discourage anyone from running Hone Claws. Definitely more you miss out on (e.g. You go from "Guaranteed with any prior damage" to "Not even guaranteed with SR" against 252/0 Tyranitar with Play Rough, go from "Decent chance at OHKOing with Stealth Rock" to "Can't even KO with Stealth Rock" against 0/0 Heatran with Sucker Punch) but making it harder for yourself to eliminate Scizor is unacceptable. Just use Swords Dance. There are luck elements in Pokemon and sometimes, it's just better to deal with them.
For me mega-absol is a good late game sweeper. Is it me or does absol Always need protect to mega evolve? (I loved baiting out Blaziken's HJK when it was still OU. Good times.)
I prefer using an all-out attacker set. I could never find a turn to SD up when either any attack could OHKO me or the opponent can switch into something that can take a hit and kill with priority. I absolutely need superpower to handle T-tar heatran and bisharp.
On a different note, has any one have any problems when facing a bisharp without superpower? Max attack and + nature absol's play rough only does 42.2-50% and an uninvested fire blast does 76-90.1% to a standard bisharp. The calc says bisharp's low kick can't OHKO in return, but I have my doubts since weight based moves were kind of glitched in the calc at the start of 5th gen.
(Unless absol actually can survive a fighting move for once.)
I prefer using an all-out attacker set. I could never find a turn to SD up when either any attack could OHKO me or the opponent can switch into something that can take a hit and kill with priority. I absolutely need superpower to handle T-tar heatran and bisharp.
On a different note, has any one have any problems when facing a bisharp without superpower? Max attack and + nature absol's play rough only does 42.2-50% and an uninvested fire blast does 76-90.1% to a standard bisharp. The calc says bisharp's low kick can't OHKO in return, but I have my doubts since weight based moves were kind of glitched in the calc at the start of 5th gen.
(Unless absol actually can survive a fighting move for once.)
I want to run what seems to be the standard Mega Evolution set at this point. That is to say:
Absol @ Absolite
252 Atk / 252 Speed / 4 SpAtk
Play Rough
Sucker Punch
Swords Dance
Fire Blast
However, I would prefer to run Jolly over Naive. I know Absol's Special Defense is pathetic either way, but I would prefer not to lower it any farther if I can help it. With that being said, is there any major drawback for Fire Blast if I run Jolly over Naive?
Absol @ Absolite
252 Atk / 252 Speed / 4 SpAtk
Play Rough
Sucker Punch
Swords Dance
Fire Blast
However, I would prefer to run Jolly over Naive. I know Absol's Special Defense is pathetic either way, but I would prefer not to lower it any farther if I can help it. With that being said, is there any major drawback for Fire Blast if I run Jolly over Naive?
You won't be able to nail Steel types as efficiently as with Naughty and 242 on SpAtk. I've always felt Absol works much better as a batton pass recipient when using a set like this, obviously forgoing Swords Dance for Night Slash. Mega-Absol doesn't have the bulk to reliably boost, meaning that most defensive mons other than Seismic Toss/Night Shade users are going to leave a huge mark or outright OHKO if you misspredict.
I'm just curious if there's any point to invest anything into Sp.A aside from the 4 leftover points. Would it open up any meaningful KOs, or should I just go with 252/252 Atk/Spe?
I would think that investing anything significant into Special Attack would be pointless. You're already achieving OHKO's and 2HKO's on important Steel types with no SpAtk investment, and any drop in either Attack or Speed would be devastating to Absol's sweeping potential.
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Yeah, after skimming around and seeing some calculations involving Scizor I realized my mistake. Still gonna run Naive though lol
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