Battle Spot Singles Role Compendium

Bronzong should be added under Trick Room setters (It's #121 in usage and 71.8% use TR) and possibly stealth rocks.
Will bring this up for discussion in the discord, amongst a few other things

Edit: Aegislash added to every section of pivots. Bronzong added to TR setters. Mega-Glalie added to Unviable / Gimmicky megas.
 
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um,
i'm new to BSS and competitive in general, even if i've been here a while, but may i ask
is there a reason why there's no cleaner section? I'm assuming it's because of the 3v3 format but mons such as Megapedo and Koko are some good examples, I would think.
Also this is more bc i really like it but i feel like Megapedo is underrated, as Strong Jaw lets it wallbreak and clean, making it decent role compression, so i would suggest moving it to wallbreakers
like i said i'm still new and don't have the best knowledge about competitive battling in general, so take my suggestions with a grain of salt
 

cant say

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um,
i'm new to BSS and competitive in general, even if i've been here a while, but may i ask
is there a reason why there's no cleaner section? I'm assuming it's because of the 3v3 format but mons such as Megapedo and Koko are some good examples, I would think.
Also this is more bc i really like it but i feel like Megapedo is underrated, as Strong Jaw lets it wallbreak and clean, making it decent role compression, so i would suggest moving it to wallbreakers
like i said i'm still new and don't have the best knowledge about competitive battling in general, so take my suggestions with a grain of salt
"Cleaning" isn't really a role, almost anything can clean up a match depending on the matchup and how much damage you've inflicted on your opponent's team, so if we added that section it would probably end up being incredibly bloated. As for Sharpedo, it's already a really niche mega option anyway, so if we added the cleaner section I'm not sure if it would get added.

Anyway I've got my own suggestion dogknees - Pinsir should probably get moved up to niche megas, especially after this happened: http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7battlespotsingles-566108867
 
I think there should be more than one game to use as evidence for moving pinsir up.
In general I'd agree with you but Mega Pinsir has some niches as shown for example in the replay as it is able to break through some popular Cores (for example Venu+Celesteela+Porygon2, Venu+Heatran, Bulu+Heatran) and it checks some big threats (for example Blaziken and Kangaskhan) and that is a niche imo. The Pokemon Pinsir is outclassed by in most cases is MMence but it can't fulfill these roles (apart from kinda checking Kangaskhan and breaking through Venu+Tran). Furthermore Pinsir can also be pretty threatening in general which prevents it from being not viable. This would lead me to the conclusion that it is a niche Mega Pokemon and should be "ranked" so.
 
Time to hopefully get the ball rolling and discuss some possible changes!​

Pyukumuku: Remove from Poisonium Z, remove from baton pass users. Agree.

I've been thinking about this recently and feel like it should be removed (despite me only adding it in a couple of weeks ago). It was a thing in pre-pokebank but has dropped off immensely since bank was released, and has generally tough competition with other baton pass users such as Blaziken and Eevee with Evoboost (which in itself is also not as frequent, but still a lot more so than Pyukumuku pass).

Mega-Pinsir: Remove from unviable / gimmicky megas and add to niche megas. Abstaining for now.
While it's not a popular mega, the argument could be put forward that it holds a niche in the current metagame, being a setup sweeper that can break a lot of bulky Pokemon including Cresselia, Celesteela, Heatran, Ferrothorn, Mega-Venusaur, Porygon2 and more. STAB Flying-type Quick Attack is also a really nice thing to have. However given the crippling rocks weakness it harnesses coupled with the Aerialate nerf as well as extremely difficult competition with other mega Pokemon, notably Mega-Salamence, makes it difficult to tell where this one sits.

Anyone is welcome to give an opinion and contest against what somebody thinks, but please try to keep it civil and in a controlled manner. Thanks all!​
 

chemcoop

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I would definitely argue that Mega-Pinsir belongs in the niche megas category. As you saw in the replay, balance/stall teams have a lot of trouble stopping M-Pinsir. Most Pokemon on these types of teams do not have the power to stop it from setting up a Swords Dance and proceeding to punch holes through a more defensively oriented team. Yes, it is far inferior to Mega Mence in terms of raw damage output, longevity and bulk, lack of mixed sets, and speed; however, it does provide anti-Blaziken options with Feint/Quick Attack and access to Close Combat allows it to punch through stuff like SpD Cele and Def P2 that can give Mence some trouble.
Also, as 4lexander3 mentioned, Pinsir just wins vs. Bulu/Tran cores and most M-Venu cores. I'm including some calcs as food for thought about Pinsir's niche role as a balance/stall breaker mega.
+2 252 Atk Aerilate Mega Pinsir Quick Attack vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Mega Gengar: 112-133 (82.9 - 98.5%) -- 68.8% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
252 Atk Mega Pinsir Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Tyranitar: 212-252 (102.4 - 121.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 Atk Aerilate Mega Pinsir Quick Attack vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Blaziken: 126-150 (81.2 - 96.7%) -- 56.3% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
+2 252 Atk Mega Pinsir Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Chansey: 402-474 (112.6 - 132.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 252 Atk Mega Pinsir Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Skarmory: 89-105 (51.7 - 61%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
252 Atk Aerilate Mega Pinsir Return vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Mega Venusaur: 150-176 (80.2 - 94.1%) -- 43.8% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
+2 252 Atk Mega Pinsir Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Celesteela: 151-178 (74 - 87.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+2 252 Atk Mega Pinsir Close Combat vs. 244 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Porygon2: 160-190 (83.7 - 99.4%) -- 75% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
252 Atk Aerilate Mega Pinsir Return vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Tapu Bulu: 212-252 (119.7 - 142.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 Atk Mega Pinsir Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Heatran: 148-176 (74.7 - 88.8%) -- 12.5% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
+2 252 Atk Aerilate Mega Pinsir Return vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Toxapex: 127-151 (80.8 - 96.1%) -- 56.3% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock

It might seem like a bit of an odd assortment of calcs, but I think they are fairly representative of what one could expect to see on balance/stall teams. Notice how just a bit of prior chip damage allows M-Pinsir to blast through these bulky cores! In my game against jmal98, my gameplan after seeing his three was simply to bring everything down to about 70%, get Pinsir in for free, boost, and win. It may not be the greatest mega in the world, but it doesn't deserve "poo emoji" rank among the megas. Leave that for Mega Garchomp and Mega Audino!
 

DragonWhale

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I don't see how 90% of those things give Pinsir a niche that Mence doesn't have.

- Mence doesn't lose against a lot of Venu and Bulu-Tran(lol) cores.
- A lot of Pokemon who can't stop Pinsir from setting up a SD can stop Mence from setting up DD. In most cases Mence can even brute force its way through the defensive switchins you mentioned without setting up.

  • +1 252 Atk Aerilate Mega Salamence Double-Edge vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Mega Gengar: 238-282 (176.2 - 208.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO without rocks
  • 252+ Atk Mega Salamence Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Tyranitar: 92-110 (44.4 - 53.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock, since apparently we can use Stealth Rock in our argument.
  • 252+ Atk Mega Salamence Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Blaziken: 180-214 (116.1 - 138%) -- guaranteed OHKO. The only issue is the 20% that has HP Ice, and even with HP Ice it needs LO. Pinsir needs SR to have a chance to OHKO, or get the 50-50 right against Protect (which is the same with Mence).
  • 252+ Atk Aerilate Mega Salamence Double-Edge vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Chansey: 189-223 (52.9 - 62.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
  • 0- SpA Mega Salamence Fire Blast vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Skarmory: 116-138 (67.4 - 80.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery. Doesn't need any investment and can have a -SpA nature.
  • 252+ Atk Aerilate Mega Salamence Double-Edge vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Mega Venusaur: 186-218 (99.4 - 116.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
  • 252+ Atk Aerilate Mega Salamence Double-Edge vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Celesteela: 71-84 (34.8 - 41.1%) -- 68.8% chance to 3HKO after Leftovers recovery. Pinsir is better against this only if it has CC.
  • 252+ Atk Aerilate Mega Salamence Double-Edge vs. 244 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Porygon2: 76-90 (39.7 - 47.1%) -- 34% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock. This is the other one besides Celesteela and only with CC.
  • 252+ Atk Aerilate Mega Salamence Double-Edge vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Tapu Bulu: 258-306 (145.7 - 172.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO
  • 252+ Atk Mega Salamence Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Heatran: 256-304 (129.2 - 153.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO
  • 252+ Atk Mega Salamence Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Toxapex: 74-88 (47.1 - 56%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Black Sludge recovery

- The only thing Pinsir has over Mence is against Celesteela and P2, and that requires it to have CC over EQ. Not having EQ makes Pinsir useless in a lot of matchups and is therefore a really big opportunity cost.

Taking this into account I don't think Pinsir should go up.
 

chemcoop

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Not going to lie, I didn't realize how impressive a lot of those Mence calcs are. However:
- You're not leaving Mence in vs. stuff like TTar so that 2HKO calc doesn't matter unless you're hitting the TTar with EQ upon switch-in or it is already at half health.
- I disagree on the lack of EQ making Pinsir useless in most matchups. Mawile/Aegislash/CharX are the only things in the top 30 in usage (and that are slower than Pinsir) that necessitate EQ over CC, and even then Return only does ~8% less than EQ against CharX.
- I think the other niche missed in the argument above is the ability to lock down boosted sweepers like Blaziken and Volcarona with priority as long as they've taken a bit of chip which is reasonable imo. Salamence loses to the 20% of HP Ice Blazikens and the roughly 30% of HP Ice Volcarona that are already speed boosted. Heck, Salamence loses to +1 Firium Volc unless it's running some bulk or is at full health (+1 252+ SpA Volcarona Inferno Overdrive (185 BP) vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Mega Salamence: 145-171 (84.7 - 100%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO). Knocking out faster things that survived on Sash or a small amount of HP can also be pretty clutch.
- Pinsir doesn't suffer from recoil damage which can slow or stop Mence's sweep opportunities. Roosting with Mence costs momentum, something that is essential in 3v3 format.
 
I'm still torn, personally. I see a niche in Mega-Pinsir as Chemcoop has pointed out, though I don't really know whether it's enough to warrant the use of Mega-Pinsir in a regular BSS battle environment. The niche with Mega-Pinsir has can be patched up by the other 5 members of your team rather easily, though at the same time this is still technically enough of a niche to make it worth noting.

The same argument applies for Mega-Steelix. While it is outclassed by Mega-Mawile for the most part, it does have its own little benefits which can make it worth using, as does Mega-Pinsir over Mega-Salamence. I'm going to quote Hulavuta here;
Steelix is definitely outclassed by Mawile for the most part. but that's what it does. it's listed in niche megas, tr is its only niche. so even though you wanna choose mawile most of the time, might as well mention it there. mawile is better but it's an option. the format doesn't really make claims on what to use, only what can be used
If we go by this, Mega-Pinsir deserves a mention. Going to wait for more opinions though!
 

DragonWhale

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- Defensive TTars switch-in to salamence all the time unless the TTar users have a free sack, so the calc is not as far-fetched. It's not like this format has a million switchins against a defensive tyranitar anyway.
- Mawile/Aegislash/Metagross are three primary Pokemon that completely invalidate EQ-less Pinsir. Hell, it's no surprise more people choose to run EQ (80%) compared to CC (20%). The only issue is, ofc, it just becomes a salamence that trades usefulness for a priority move.
- Ok, but Pinsir loses to 100% of variants of both pokemon if they are at full health, so this isn't really a plus for either side.
- Double-Edge recoil is such a non-issue if you compare it to the damage you deal to your opponent's team. Mence dies to recoil after knocking two pokemon out? Big deal. Meanwhile Return/Frustration misses out on KOes that DE mence can get, which also stops its sweeping potential.
- Using roost on mence is not a momentum drag at all lol. You heal 50% on a monster that is capable of sweeping and halve damage from three types at the same time. Next turn, you still have the threat ready to destroy the opponent. Where's the lost momentum exactly?
 
DragonWhale, you are right with your arguments but still, we don't want to rank Pinsir as "good" mega or what it is called and I think we can all agree that it is outclassed by Mega-Mence in 85% of the cases.
But it IS a niche Pokemon. To me a niche Pokemon needs to have something that sets it apart from other Pokemon even if it is outclassed by one and it has to be good apart from the niche (but of course it is not as good as the Pokemon it is outclassed by).These facts are given.
So what is the niche of Pinsir?
1. Swords Dance Aerilate: Swords Dance can give Pinsir a super huge boost in only one turn. Together with Pinsirs pretty cool speed (Point 2) it can nuke stuff which makes it a fantastic Wallbreaker in my opinion.
2. Pretty good Speed, Defense and Attack: Pinsir has 105 Speed, 155 Attack and a pretty good Defensive stat iirc. This means it outspeeds lots of Pokemon (Garchomp, Nihilego, CharY, Xard, Kang, Thundi-T directly come to my mind), it has a higher Atk stat than MMence (I know, Mence is often run Adamant and Pinsir is almost always Jolly so that Mence has more Atk but that is up to the user) and it can set up a SD pretty easy.
3. Typing: One big flaw Mence has is it's common 4x Ice-Weakness. If you don't want another 4x Ice-Weakness, you can chose Pinsir (Yes, it also has a bad 4x Weakness but most times Pinsir only comes in in the normal form to sweep and so it takes one time 25% SR damage).
4. Close Combat: Pinsir has CC and MMence hasn't. Enough said?
5. Aerilate Priority: This is probably the biggest point for Pinsir. Flying-Type Priority is pretty good. It can kill a lot of weakened Mons but also stuff like Blaziken, Volcarona and uh... Blaziken aaaand... Volcarona! Yeah okay, I can't think of more atm but it is early in the morning so be patient with me. But if your team needs a revengekiller with priority because your Pokemon miss out some KOes you can take Pinsir and I'm pretty sure there are more Pokemon Quick Attack (or Feint for faster Priority and the ability to break protect) can pick up.
6. Design: Serious, Mega-Mence looks garbage! What are these wings?! And why does it put it's front legs in this seatbelt?! Mega Pinsir looks way more badass ;)

Yeah, these are probably the most common reasons why you would choose Pinsir over Salamence, so it's niches and now rank this Pokemon as niche because it has some niches and we can end this discussion! :)
 
DragonWhale, you are right with your arguments but still, we don't want to rank Pinsir as "good" mega or what it is called and I think we can all agree that it is outclassed by Mega-Mence in 85% of the cases.
But it IS a niche Pokemon. To me a niche Pokemon needs to have something that sets it apart from other Pokemon even if it is outclassed by one and it has to be good apart from the niche (but of course it is not as good as the Pokemon it is outclassed by).These facts are given.
So what is the niche of Pinsir?
1. Swords Dance Aerilate: Swords Dance can give Pinsir a super huge boost in only one turn. Together with Pinsirs pretty cool speed (Point 2) it can nuke stuff which makes it a fantastic Wallbreaker in my opinion.
2. Pretty good Speed, Defense and Attack: Pinsir has 105 Speed, 155 Attack and a pretty good Defensive stat iirc. This means it outspeeds lots of Pokemon (Garchomp, Nihilego, CharY, Xard, Kang, Thundi-T directly come to my mind), it has a higher Atk stat than MMence (I know, Mence is often run Adamant and Pinsir is almost always Jolly so that Mence has more Atk but that is up to the user) and it can set up a SD pretty easy.
3. Typing: One big flaw Mence has is it's common 4x Ice-Weakness. If you don't want another 4x Ice-Weakness, you can chose Pinsir (Yes, it also has a bad 4x Weakness but most times Pinsir only comes in in the normal form to sweep and so it takes one time 25% SR damage).
4. Close Combat: Pinsir has CC and MMence hasn't. Enough said?
5. Aerilate Priority: This is probably the biggest point for Pinsir. Flying-Type Priority is pretty good. It can kill a lot of weakened Mons but also stuff like Blaziken, Volcarona and uh... Blaziken aaaand... Volcarona! Yeah okay, I can't think of more atm but it is early in the morning so be patient with me. But if your team needs a revengekiller with priority because your Pokemon miss out some KOes you can take Pinsir and I'm pretty sure there are more Pokemon Quick Attack (or Feint for faster Priority and the ability to break protect) can pick up.
6. Design: Serious, Mega-Mence looks garbage! What are these wings?! And why does it put it's front legs in this seatbelt?! Mega Pinsir looks way more badass ;)

Yeah, these are probably the most common reasons why you would choose Pinsir over Salamence, so it's niches and now rank this Pokemon as niche because it has some niches and we can end this discussion! :)
You've mentioned a lot of good stuff about Mega-Pinsir itself, but only a select few apply to it having a nice.
1. Swords Dance Aerilate: Swords Dance can give Pinsir a super huge boost in only one turn. Together with Pinsirs pretty cool speed (Point 2) it can nuke stuff which makes it a fantastic Wallbreaker in my opinion.
True, but what niche does it have over mence? Dragon dance performs the same role for mence as swords dance foes for pinsir
2. Pretty good Speed, Defense and Attack: Pinsir has 105 Speed, 155 Attack and a pretty good Defensive stat iirc. This means it outspeeds lots of Pokemon (Garchomp, Nihilego, CharY, Xard, Kang, Thundi-T directly come to my mind), it has a higher Atk stat than MMence (I know, Mence is often run Adamant and Pinsir is almost always Jolly so that Mence has more Atk but that is up to the user) and it can set up a SD pretty easy.
Mence has 120 speed, 145 attack, and higher defensive stats than pinsir (bar spd which is the same). And as you mentioned, mence gets to run adamant, so this point doesn't really help your case either
3. Typing: One big flaw Mence has is it's common 4x Ice-Weakness. If you don't want another 4x Ice-Weakness, you can chose Pinsir (Yes, it also has a bad 4x Weakness but most times Pinsir only comes in in the normal form to sweep and so it takes one time 25% SR damage).
While this is a niche not being 4x weak to ice, you become 4x weak to rocks in the process which makes you even more pressured by stealth rock, which is everywhere now. Mence at the very least can roost and hold some longevity, something which pinsir can't do at all. In addition to this, you're easily checked by common scarf pokemon that run rock coverage, notably garchomp / landorus / excadrill. Mence at +1 can beat all these threats, outspeed garchomp to ohko and living stone edge from lando as well as rock slide from excadrill. So i wouldn't really see this as much of a niche when the typing actually makes things even worse for pinsir
4. Close Combat: Pinsir has CC and MMence hasn't. Enough said?
That's nice, but mence can still hit everything that pinsir does, even without close combat
5. Aerilate Priority: This is probably the biggest point for Pinsir. Flying-Type Priority is pretty good. It can kill a lot of weakened Mons but also stuff like Blaziken, Volcarona and uh... Blaziken aaaand... Volcarona! Yeah okay, I can't think of more atm but it is early in the morning so be patient with me. But if your team needs a revengekiller with priority because your Pokemon miss out some KOes you can take Pinsir and I'm pretty sure there are more Pokemon Quick Attack (or Feint for faster Priority and the ability to break protect) can pick up.
Mfw your biggest point only works when the threats are weakened... probably a situation which won't happen much :/ Both Blaziken and Volcarona are pretty much only brought in to check stuff, so it's extremely difficult to weaken them. You'd need hazards of some sort to bring out pinsir's niche it feels like
6. Design: Serious, Mega-Mence looks garbage! What are these wings?! And why does it put it's front legs in this seatbelt?! Mega Pinsir looks way more badass ;)
DUUUUDE, Mega-Pinsir looks like an overgrown bug you'd see on a can of bug spray. Mence looks way more badass
 
I'm too lazy to quote it all ^^"

SD: Imo the niche here is that Pinsir gains more Atk in one turn so that you become way more threatening for walls (you outspeed them anyway) than with Dragon Dance.

Stats: This point was just added to provide the aspect that it is good outside of it's niche which makes it viable to bring to other battles.

Typing: Okay, thats true but still: Would you use MMence on a team with for example Landog and Tapu Bulu or so? (first mons that came to my mind with 2* and 4* ice weakness) For sure you need to pressure the common SRers enough so that they can't get them up and you should have good rockswitchins but if your team can provide this better than dealing with ice types Pinsir probably is the better choice.

CC: And what about Balloon Heatran? Yeah, Mence can hit everything Pinsir hits with CC but sometimes you just need to hit a few Pokemon and only fighting can hit them all very hard but you want an Aerilate Pokemon.

Aerilate Priority: But it HAS Priority. Sometimes you just need some priority and if your team can't afford it so far... And yes, it might need some chip (don't know the exact calcs atm) but this is something you need to plan and you can always get some chip if you want to (Sandstorm, Priority, Hazard, Z-Move vs Blazikens Protect or attacking Volc on setup turn).

Design:
Hey, I got a new Pokemon! It is super strong and can sweep whole teams on its own!
Cool, how does it look?
Variant A: Like a flat Croissant with seatbelts! Safety first, Kids!
Variant B: Like a monstrous, fearsome Bug you just want to run away from if you see it in real life!
 

cant say

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Why are we arguing for Pinsir vs Salamence? Salamence will always be better, which is why it's in the 'viable megas' section. Moving Pinsir up to 'niche' doesn't affect Salamence's placement, and Pinsir's niche has been explained itt. Instead, why not look at the things currently in 'niche' and use the criteria those got in with to move Pinsir up. I'm not going to go into it too much, but I at least see Pinsir being more niche than Steelix (or Medicham even though it isn't even legal yet lol), yet it's grouped with things like Pidgeot, Absol, and Blastoise.

True, but what niche does it have over mence? Dragon dance performs the same role for mence as swords dance foes for pinsir
I think the point 4lexander3 made about SD vs DD is a good one which got interpretted wrong by dogknees. One turn of SD allows jolly Pinsir to do more damage with Return than adamant Salamence can with Double-Edge after a DD:

+2 252 Atk Aerilate Mega Pinsir Return vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Hippowdon: 153-180 (71.1 - 83.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

+1 252+ Atk Aerilate Mega Salamence Double-Edge vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Hippowdon: 141-166 (65.5 - 77.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

(Hippo chosen as example, neither want to fight it tbh)

So as far as wallbreaking goes, Pinsir outclasses Salamence which I think gives it a legitimate niche in the metagame.

While this is a niche not being 4x weak to ice, you become 4x weak to rocks in the process which makes you even more pressured by stealth rock, which is everywhere now. Mence at the very least can roost and hold some longevity, something which pinsir can't do at all. In addition to this, you're easily checked by common scarf pokemon that run rock coverage, notably garchomp / landorus / excadrill. Mence at +1 can beat all these threats, outspeed garchomp to ohko and living stone edge from lando as well as rock slide from excadrill. So i wouldn't really see this as much of a niche when the typing actually makes things even worse for pinsir
this seems like an unfair criticism, and please don't try and overstate the prevalence of stealth rock. Of the top 13 Pokemon that have stealth rock in their usage stats, not a single one has it over 55% usage.

As for the rocks weakness, why is this applied to Pinsir and its 'niche' but doesn't cripple Charizard or Volcarona? Both of which are premier threats in the meta.

That's nice, but mence can still hit everything that pinsir does, even without close combat
252 Atk Mega Pinsir Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Tyranitar: 212-252 (102.4 - 121.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO
This is a legit niche over Mence, who cannot OHKO Ttar and gets KOed back by Ice Beam.

+2 252 Atk Mega Pinsir Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Ferrothorn: 186-220 (102.7 - 121.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO
one turn of setup = dead Ferro, Salamence cannot do the same after one DD.

Not to mention Celesteela and Skamory, two Pokemon DD Mence hates seeing but CC Pinsir can hit hard.

Mfw your biggest point only works when the threats are weakened... probably a situation which won't happen much
Huh? Blaziken often hits stuff with Flare Blitz, which gives enough recoil on its own (not to mention Life Orb) for Pinsir to KO with Quick Attack. Volc hates Stealth Rock. Getting residual damage on stuff for your cleaner to finish off is a major wincon in a lot of battles, so I don't see how that works against Pinsir.

Both Blaziken and Volcarona are pretty much only brought in to check stuff, so it's extremely difficult to weaken them.
Uh no, they're brought as the main sweepers in their teams. All teams have a physdef and/or SpDef tank for things like this, that get chip damage on them, which Pinsir (or any other Pokemon) then cleans up.

You'd need hazards of some sort to bring out pinsir's niche it feels like.
I disagree with this, however you could say the same thing for a lot of the megas. For example, Mawile (and Steelix) needs Trick Room to function properly, yet it's in the 'Viable' section. Yeah Mawile can do some damage outside of TR, but Pinsir can also hurt stuff without rocks. Even if Pinsir does need rocks (it doesnt), the majority of offensive teams / teams that feature a set up sweeper have a rocks setter just to break sashes anyway.

Honestly, I don't know how this turned into such a big thing. tl;dr: Pinsir has a niche and should be moved up. This isn't the VR thread where we're saying how good that niche is lol.
 
i'm not sure on MAero and MBlastoise being nonviable / gimmicky. The first one is a pretty valuable tool for stall teams, checking alone threats such as MGengar and MCHarX/Y, the second one instead, despite being quite unpopular, still appears in some 2000+ points teams (for example i'm in front of 4 teams with over 2100 points right now, that have megastoise in them)

So imo they should be put in niche. I'm not 100% sure of this, so i'd like to know other opinions about it
 
I don't think that MAero should be ranked up but I am open for arguments :)
Blastoise could be "ranked up".
I will not add my reasons for this so far because maybe we are all on the same opinion :)
 
Mega Heracross:
Physical Wallbreaker, Setup-Sweeper (SD), TR Abuser

Snorlax: Phaser (Whirlwind)

Cloyster: Waterium Z (Hydro Pump (it has more usage than Razor Shell))

And maybe we could add some Normalium Z Mons like Kartana and Cloyster but I don't know how high their usage is atm.
 
Mega Heracross:
Physical Wallbreaker, Setup-Sweeper (SD), TR Abuser

Snorlax: Phaser (Whirlwind)

Cloyster: Waterium Z (Hydro Pump (it has more usage than Razor Shell))

And maybe we could add some Normalium Z Mons like Kartana and Cloyster but I don't know how high their usage is atm.
Totally forgot to add it in under anything other than available megas, thanks lmao. Not sure about snorlax but I'll do some research, some, same deal with cloyster
 
Snorlax is the best phaser tbh. With Whirlwind + Yawn it can just stack up sooo much SR damage. It has a good defensive typing and with 252 HP / 236+ Def / 20 SpD it can take 2 Modest Lele Psychics or even an 252+ Atk Blaziken Hjk. With the Chip dmg made by Snorlax and the sleep it probably "made" a Sweeper like Salamence, Gyarados, Gengar and so on can sweep the weakened team.
Furthermore I just realised Xard isn't listed at Will-O-Wisp Abusers.
 
Changes;
  • Added Snorlax to phasers due to whirlwind
  • Removed Pyukumuku from poisonium-z users and baton pass
  • Added Scolipede to speed passers
 
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