Mega Banette is basically a coin flip. If you have the right moveset, and can predict what your opponent will do, it will usually take out 1-2 mons. However, one wrong move and MBanette can be one shotted without doing anything relevant.
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Pokémon Banette
- Thread starter AccidentalGreed
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Lets see... Only Bisharp and Tyranitar resist you fully with Return, while both of those plus Drapian, Krookodile, and Stuntank resist with Gunk Shot.
Hmm, do I go for the Fairy killer with Gunk Shot, or neutral damage with return...
EDIT: It depends on if I have any moves SE against fairy on my other pokemon.... and I don't beleive I do...
Fair enough, I thought I'd just point that out. But yeah if you're gonna go with return, you'll need a fairy killer probably. However, many faires have defense stats that are so underwhelming, a return may be just as effective
Kind of perplexed about the whole Destiny Bond activation thing. IIRC, if something uses Destiny Bond before the opponent, the user will have to faint in the same turn for it to activate, and if something uses Destiny Bond after the opponent, the opponent will have to KO the user the following turn for it to activate, and since M-Banette has Prankster, it won't be moving after the opponent, won't it?
That is true. I'll probably breed Gunk shot on, and see what does more.
... I just realized. This full set of mine is nothing bu Breeding moves. Thank god for how breeding works now.
Ok, someone seriously needs to update the OP with all these great sets. Anyways, Smogon, I'm surprised no one has mentioned a PP Stall spite set yet, so I will:
Mega Banette (PP Eater)
Item: Banettenite
Ability: Insomnia / Cursed Body (Prankster)
IVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spd
Nature: Impish/ Careful/ Adamant
- Protect
- Spite
- Pain Split/ Destiny Bond/ Taunt
- Substitute/Sucker Punch/Disable/Shadow Sneak
This was MADE for Ubers. Seriously, in a tier where most moves have a PP of 8, a combination of Protect, Substitute, Protect and Spite will screw your opponent. It is up to you if you want to give MBanette an attacking move or taunt to further screw with your opponent,or maybe disable, but Pain Split will be you're only form of recovery so tread carefully. Still haven't tested this set enough to give a more detailed analysis, so feel free to edit, BUT, I take full credit for this :P
Mega Banette (PP Eater)
Item: Banettenite
Ability: Insomnia / Cursed Body (Prankster)
IVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spd
Nature: Impish/ Careful/ Adamant
- Protect
- Spite
- Pain Split/ Destiny Bond/ Taunt
- Substitute/Sucker Punch/Disable/Shadow Sneak
This was MADE for Ubers. Seriously, in a tier where most moves have a PP of 8, a combination of Protect, Substitute, Protect and Spite will screw your opponent. It is up to you if you want to give MBanette an attacking move or taunt to further screw with your opponent,or maybe disable, but Pain Split will be you're only form of recovery so tread carefully. Still haven't tested this set enough to give a more detailed analysis, so feel free to edit, BUT, I take full credit for this :P
So basically here is the idea: you use destiny bond, the opponent most likely won't attack. However, when you use a non-priority move, your opponent will move first usually, so if they attack, they will die because destiny bond is still standing. This is why I think knock off is one of mega banette's best assets, because the opponent is either forced to die, or be crippled due to no item. It's pretty much a lose-lose for them
this set Sounds good in theory, however pokemon with pressure can do this so much better, plus you don't have to waste a mega slot.
Ah, so let's say Mega Banette uses priority Destiny Bond on one turn, and then a Dragonite uses Dragon Dance afterwards in that same turn. On the next turn, would the Destiny Bond from the previous turn still be intact if Mega Banette goes before Dragonite? I always believed that Destiny Bond stays active until the turn it used it is over.
If you use destiny bond, and dragonite uses dragon dance, and then mega Banette goes AFTER dragonite, the destiny bond will be intact for dragonite if he chooses to attack
Long lurker of this thread, first post! Anyway I have tested many times mega Banette in showdown and still remain completely astonished by its low usage in the current OU metagame. I understand that it is a bit more complicated to use comparing it to other mega evolutions but it has a unique role which no other Pokemon can perform (obviously priority destiny bond). My point being is that many people seem to discredit him as a mega evolution due to mere fact that there are "easier megas" which don't require much skill and support such as mega lucario and the now banned mega kangaskhan. Resuming what i have previously said, i don't really thing people are giving mega banette a chance to shine in the current OU metagame, which is a real shame, since it can singlehandedly eliminate many megas which often cause problems (such as mega lucario) by simply using destiny bond.
If you are interested by any chance in knowing which set i use:
Mega Banette
Item: Banettenite
Ability: Frisk
IVs: 252 HP/ 252 Atk / 4 Spd
Nature: Adamant
-Shadow Sneak / Protect
-Shadow claw
-Will-o-Wisp / Thunder Wave
-Destiny bond
The aim of this set is simple: In the first slot i run shadow sneak to revenge kill a weak Pokemon while at the same time ensure that it mega evolves. There are many arguments over also using protect, which is completely viable, but from previous experiences i prefer to run shadow sneak. In the second slot i run my second and main attacking STAB of choice which is shadow claw, which coming from an adamant base 165 attack hits surprisingly hard. In the third slot i use will-o-wisp to cripple physical attackers but you could also run instead thunder wave if you would rather spread paralysi, but i find the first option more useful. In last place we have the all important destiny bond which is in itself self explanatory, as it has allowed me to win many matches without being swept by dangerous sweepers such as mega lucario.
I know this set doesn't bring anything new to the table yet is is so simple and effective, it will definitely keep your opponent guessing every move you make!
Please excuse me if i have bored you with my opinion!
If you are interested by any chance in knowing which set i use:
Mega Banette
Item: Banettenite
Ability: Frisk
IVs: 252 HP/ 252 Atk / 4 Spd
Nature: Adamant
-Shadow Sneak / Protect
-Shadow claw
-Will-o-Wisp / Thunder Wave
-Destiny bond
The aim of this set is simple: In the first slot i run shadow sneak to revenge kill a weak Pokemon while at the same time ensure that it mega evolves. There are many arguments over also using protect, which is completely viable, but from previous experiences i prefer to run shadow sneak. In the second slot i run my second and main attacking STAB of choice which is shadow claw, which coming from an adamant base 165 attack hits surprisingly hard. In the third slot i use will-o-wisp to cripple physical attackers but you could also run instead thunder wave if you would rather spread paralysi, but i find the first option more useful. In last place we have the all important destiny bond which is in itself self explanatory, as it has allowed me to win many matches without being swept by dangerous sweepers such as mega lucario.
I know this set doesn't bring anything new to the table yet is is so simple and effective, it will definitely keep your opponent guessing every move you make!
Please excuse me if i have bored you with my opinion!
Destiny Bond is active until the NEXT move you make (being fast asleep counts as a move). In essense, if you use Destiny Bond before the opponent, the user can faint the same turn, or the next turn (if the opponent goes first next turn), for it to activate. The second half about if something uses Destiny Bond after the oponent is right though. Plus it IS possible for M-Banette to move after the opponent next turn simply by using an attacking move. For that reason, Focus Punch might be a viable move on Banette, hit it to die from Destiny Bond, don't hit it to die from Focus Punch (since the charging step doesn't count as a move).
To put it in examples say Lucario vs MBanette
Cases in which Destiny Bond activates:
Cases in which Destiny Bond does not activate
*naming protect just for example sake
Ah, now it's clear to me. But, yeah, Banette cannot legally learn Focus Punch, so such a strategy isn't as much possible. It looks like Banette can play some mind games with Destiny Bond, however, and with Taunt, your opponent cannot just set up on the DB. Knock Off can also work in tandem with it.
Banette might not be the greatest MEvo out there, but I've used him and it's worked well. With Gengarite banished, Banette is a great Mega option for spinblocking. Prankster works great, as priority Will o wisp neuters physical spinners like Donphan, Excadrill, and Forretres while also giving it respectable bulk. I've been running the following set:
Banette @ Banettetite
Ability: Insomnia
EVs: 252HP/252Atk/4SDef
Adamant Nature
-Shadow Claw
-Sucker Punch
-Will o Wisp
-Destiny Bond
Priority Destiny bond is a must for Mega Banette. Given mega Banette has a ridiculous 165 base attack, Shadow Claw hits hard, and Sucker Punch is a godsend for picking off faster opponents. Priority Will o Wisp somewhat makes up for Banette's lack of physical bulk and hurts most Rapid Spinners. Coming in, spinblocking, and MEvoing puts the opponents on their heels. While it takes up a Mega slot, Banette is a solid option for an OU spinblocker, especially with the banishment of Gengarite. The fact that normal Banette has Insomnia is pretty handy as well.
Banette @ Banettetite
Ability: Insomnia
EVs: 252HP/252Atk/4SDef
Adamant Nature
-Shadow Claw
-Sucker Punch
-Will o Wisp
-Destiny Bond
Priority Destiny bond is a must for Mega Banette. Given mega Banette has a ridiculous 165 base attack, Shadow Claw hits hard, and Sucker Punch is a godsend for picking off faster opponents. Priority Will o Wisp somewhat makes up for Banette's lack of physical bulk and hurts most Rapid Spinners. Coming in, spinblocking, and MEvoing puts the opponents on their heels. While it takes up a Mega slot, Banette is a solid option for an OU spinblocker, especially with the banishment of Gengarite. The fact that normal Banette has Insomnia is pretty handy as well.
Not to mention that it's priority Taunt can also prevent Defogging, a nice plus.
Though, I'd prefer Frisk. If you keep Banette in it's base form to absorb Breloom's Spores, it will outspeed and KO with Bullet Seed.
the fact that if you send out bannette against something that can certainly OHKO it your opponent will ASSUME you are about to mega and use destiny bond can work to your advantage immensely. it can force a switch, or if you know they have a boosting move, can force a boost- just in time for bannette to trick its choice scarf onto it.
Too bad Banette doesn't get Swords Dance. This thing would be an absolute monster with Sub + Swords Dance + Shadow Sneak + Return/Gunk Shot. Sigh, one can only dream. Has anyone tried a more bulky set or spread?
Banette @ Banettite
Insomnia -> Prankster
Impish 252 HP / 160 Def / 96 SpD
-Shadow Sneak / Shadow Claw / Phantom Force
-Destiny Bond
-Substitute
-Pain Split
Banette @ Banettite
Insomnia -> Prankster
Impish 252 HP / 160 Def / 96 SpD
-Shadow Sneak / Shadow Claw / Phantom Force
-Destiny Bond
-Substitute
-Pain Split
^well, on the topic of set-up, while banette does not get swords dance, it does get Snatch, so if you were feeling gutsy or were looking to tighten yourself to a specific counter, you could have destiny bond+snatch instead of taunt and focus banette as a means to completely shut out SD sweepers. Banette's attack is pretty high, so a swords dance with ghostly stab would be roughly as devastating as physical aegislash, though you trade perfect coverage/pure sweeping for a prankster's toolbox.
How about a Trick Room sweeper?
Banette @ Banettite
Insomnia -> Prankster
Brave 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
-Trick Room
-Shadow Claw
-Sucker Punch
-Gunk Shot / Return
Having priority Trick Room is pretty sweet. Once you've got that set up and your counters are gone, you should be able to reverse out-speed almost everything and clean up pretty easily with 165 base attack, max invested.
Banette @ Banettite
Insomnia -> Prankster
Brave 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
-Trick Room
-Shadow Claw
-Sucker Punch
-Gunk Shot / Return
Having priority Trick Room is pretty sweet. Once you've got that set up and your counters are gone, you should be able to reverse out-speed almost everything and clean up pretty easily with 165 base attack, max invested.
Magic Coat Mega-Banette is fun to use against suicide-leads spreading hazards. Priority Magic Bounce on turn you mega and then to ensure no hazards on your side, prankster taunt. Then proceed to eg. knock off (97,5 BP from 165 base attack) the switch. It requires some prediction of course but is helluva fun when you manage to pull of the whole cavalcade of Banette's shenanigans for several turns in the beginning (you can also show prankster destiny bond to something that can't OHKO you so you start playing mind games with them). On best scenario you got sticky web and other hazards on opponent's side, several knocked off items and one (or more if opponent plays carelessly and eg. tries to switch Espeon on taunt while getting brutally OHKOed by knock off) opponent poké down when Banette dies. Also as stated before due to Banettes speed it can pull first Destiny Bond and then proceed to knock off as if opponent attacks on that knock off turn it is most likely guaranteed to get caught on DB while if it doesn't it loses item...
At the moment the set I use looks like this:
- Knock Off
- Magic Coat
- Destiny Bond
- Taunt
Max EVs on HP and either Defense and 4 attack. As you don't want to get randomly one shotted, 165 base attack Knock Off is very threatening even if left uninvested.
E: Magic Bounce is ability while Magic Coat is the move.
At the moment the set I use looks like this:
- Knock Off
- Magic Coat
- Destiny Bond
- Taunt
Max EVs on HP and either Defense and 4 attack. As you don't want to get randomly one shotted, 165 base attack Knock Off is very threatening even if left uninvested.
E: Magic Bounce is ability while Magic Coat is the move.
As of right now it seems as if the best set to run is: Knock Off/STAB move, Thunder Wave/WOW, D-Bond, and Taunt. Large Attack investment, max HP and possibly some bulk and speed to outrun other Mega-Bannette
I'd honestly replace Taunt on any set that uses Magic Coat with Infestation.
Infestation is truly a wonderful move on M-Banette, I find it instills a sense of urgency into your opponent watching their health get chipped away, short of something cheap like a Poison Heal user. The tendency I notice for players is to simply leave things in against Banette and try bait a D-Bond then switch last second.
Infestation just cuts this shit out, you catch them on the switch with it and trap them, thanks to the passive damage they don't get off free and are forced to take the D-Bond if they kill you, alternatively some may choose to try set up and not kill you where you may Taunt or Magic Coat them.
Infestation is truly a wonderful move on M-Banette, I find it instills a sense of urgency into your opponent watching their health get chipped away, short of something cheap like a Poison Heal user. The tendency I notice for players is to simply leave things in against Banette and try bait a D-Bond then switch last second.
Infestation just cuts this shit out, you catch them on the switch with it and trap them, thanks to the passive damage they don't get off free and are forced to take the D-Bond if they kill you, alternatively some may choose to try set up and not kill you where you may Taunt or Magic Coat them.
Interesting thought. What is your set with infest? Can you post?
Banette@Banetteite
Frisk -> Prankster
Careful 204 HP / 244 Def / 40 S.Def / 20 Spd
or
Impish 204 HP / 228 Def / 76 Spd
-Infestation
-Will O Wisp/Taunt
-Destiny Bond
-Knock Off
This will need quite a bit of explanation so you have to bear with me for both EV's and sets, it depends on your team but you can do two configurations of it however the goals are more or less the same.
You have two options for EV spreads here, a Careful spread just gives all round bulk. Rotom-W and most powerful VoltTurners are arguably the worst possible opponent for this kind of set so Careful is if you really want all round bulk. Tthere might be more efficient setups but what I consider important anyway is that offensive Rotom-W fails to 2HKO with a Hydro Pump and barely does 30% with Volt Switch whilst 20 Spd allows you to speed creep M-Scizor to avoid a Bullet Punch before you D-Bond or WoW whichever and also finish off some weakened Heatran's with Knock Off.
Impish set however plays a bit more on M-Banette's strange stat spreads strengths, since you're not getting much out of S.Def here we can afford to invest a bit more in Spd. The new speed investment lets you speed creep weakened Rotoms to finish them off with Knock Off as well as beating everything else previously mentioned. The alternate defensive investment gives you a extremely high chance of Conkeldurr failing to 2HKO with Knock Off, this is quite significant given how it's being spammed everywhere and Conkeldurr being one of the strongest users, it means you will laugh off any non-STAB'd ones. By extension it lets you survive some weaker STAB'd Knock Off's at least once if the occasion rises where it's needed. The previous set also has a chance of Conkeldurr failing to 2HKO but it's quite low.
Now as for the actual set, your goal is to try catch things with Infestation which is the hard part, thing I always realized is the easiest way to deal with Banette or any Prankster is simply switch. With that said the pattern most follow is to wait till the last second to switch whilst trying to do some setup and this is where Infestation always catches them out.
From there you have two options, I personally use a WoW setup since my team appreciates the physical support and it has a pressure effect where combined with Infestation the 25% damage per turn tends to make them make sloppy moves walking into D-Bond or go on the complete defense letting you Knock Off them into submission. What I like with this setup is whilst it has more counters and can get statused. It has more re-usability rather than being a sacrificial lamb since he can score import kills on pivots and come back later with D-Bond to score a 2 for 1 trade.
Taunt's benefits is that whilst as a team player Banette loses utility, on the other hand it becomes the most frightening stallbreaker available. After trapping someone with Infestation, you can simply Taunt them to kill any hopes of a setup or stall and guarantee the D-Bond, with Infestation in effect they have no options.
Alternatively you can also use Magic Coat over Taunt for a chance of free reflected Toxic/Burn and not having to use D-Bond to take them out or some free hazards, but makes the kill less guaranteed and can honestly be unpredictable.
Frisk -> Prankster
Careful 204 HP / 244 Def / 40 S.Def / 20 Spd
or
Impish 204 HP / 228 Def / 76 Spd
-Infestation
-Will O Wisp/Taunt
-Destiny Bond
-Knock Off
This will need quite a bit of explanation so you have to bear with me for both EV's and sets, it depends on your team but you can do two configurations of it however the goals are more or less the same.
You have two options for EV spreads here, a Careful spread just gives all round bulk. Rotom-W and most powerful VoltTurners are arguably the worst possible opponent for this kind of set so Careful is if you really want all round bulk. Tthere might be more efficient setups but what I consider important anyway is that offensive Rotom-W fails to 2HKO with a Hydro Pump and barely does 30% with Volt Switch whilst 20 Spd allows you to speed creep M-Scizor to avoid a Bullet Punch before you D-Bond or WoW whichever and also finish off some weakened Heatran's with Knock Off.
Impish set however plays a bit more on M-Banette's strange stat spreads strengths, since you're not getting much out of S.Def here we can afford to invest a bit more in Spd. The new speed investment lets you speed creep weakened Rotoms to finish them off with Knock Off as well as beating everything else previously mentioned. The alternate defensive investment gives you a extremely high chance of Conkeldurr failing to 2HKO with Knock Off, this is quite significant given how it's being spammed everywhere and Conkeldurr being one of the strongest users, it means you will laugh off any non-STAB'd ones. By extension it lets you survive some weaker STAB'd Knock Off's at least once if the occasion rises where it's needed. The previous set also has a chance of Conkeldurr failing to 2HKO but it's quite low.
Now as for the actual set, your goal is to try catch things with Infestation which is the hard part, thing I always realized is the easiest way to deal with Banette or any Prankster is simply switch. With that said the pattern most follow is to wait till the last second to switch whilst trying to do some setup and this is where Infestation always catches them out.
From there you have two options, I personally use a WoW setup since my team appreciates the physical support and it has a pressure effect where combined with Infestation the 25% damage per turn tends to make them make sloppy moves walking into D-Bond or go on the complete defense letting you Knock Off them into submission. What I like with this setup is whilst it has more counters and can get statused. It has more re-usability rather than being a sacrificial lamb since he can score import kills on pivots and come back later with D-Bond to score a 2 for 1 trade.
Taunt's benefits is that whilst as a team player Banette loses utility, on the other hand it becomes the most frightening stallbreaker available. After trapping someone with Infestation, you can simply Taunt them to kill any hopes of a setup or stall and guarantee the D-Bond, with Infestation in effect they have no options.
Alternatively you can also use Magic Coat over Taunt for a chance of free reflected Toxic/Burn and not having to use D-Bond to take them out or some free hazards, but makes the kill less guaranteed and can honestly be unpredictable.
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