Welcome to Smogon! Take a moment to read the Introduction to Smogon for a run-down on everything Smogon, and make sure you take some time to read the global rules.
This will probably be the single most important stage of CAP 2. I say that because stats in general make or break a Pokemon, but for a Pokemon as theoretically volatile as CAP 2, it could easily carry CAP 2 into brokendom or UU. For this reason, I am going to keep this open for a good amount of time, on the order of 2-3 days, maybe more, until every submission I'm thinking of slating has properly justified everything and convinced me that it is a good plan.
The limits I've put in place, as seen above, are fairly high across the board. My justification for those limits can be found here. I do not expect the best submissions to ride all of the limits to the top! Take note that unlike CAP 1, I am choosing to limit the overall BSR of CAP 2. This will likely be the limiting factor in your stat spreads, as it should be. It is very easy stat-wise to make a CAP that rides all of the other limits with a BSR of 380, which is just too high. I want to force stat spread designers to make sacrifices and choose what they think are the most important parts for CAP 2. I have these limits high to encourage diversity, because I believe that CAP 2 has the potential to succeed in a number of ways. I do not believe that it should be a behemoth of OU set to unseat Dragonite, Tyranitar, or Ferrothorn. Keep that in mind.
As a stat designer myself, I have been crafting a theoretical stat spread that I am using as a comparison for the others. For comparison, my stat spread—which I will of course not be submitting—has a PT and ST on the order of 155 and not 165. It also has a PS on the order of 170 and an SS that does ride the 150 limit. I have also crafted other variants that have different derived BSR statistics that I feel would be equally as successful, so do what you need to do to get what you feel needs to be there in there. Also, don't be afraid of BSTs. I recognize better than most that a 600 BST can be misleading. There is such a thing as BST optimization, where one can achieve high BSRs with low BSTs; the opposite is also true, however, and very fair BSRs can be achieved with BSTs on the order of a pseudo-legend at 600 (Dusknoir syndrome). Keep this in mind, and expect me to provide feedback along the way to keep you on track with what is fair and what isn't.
For the record, and just to say it now: BSR ABUSE WILL NOT BE TOLERATED AND WILL NOT BE SLATED!
BSR abuse is doing things like 150 HP and 70 Def/SpD to create a theoretical optimum with the limits that you have. If you cannot justify your stats legitimately and have not proven that you aren't just making the best stats within the limits, you will not get slated. Don't forget that!
A spreadsheet for calculating the biases can be found here. The formulas themselves can be found here. Do not use the BSR calculator on-site, as it is designed for DPP BSR. You need Microsoft Excel 2007 in order to open the file itself. If you don't have Microsoft Excel, you should buy it. Just kidding! You don't actually need it (but you should really get it anyway), since you can upload the .xlsx file into Google docs and it will still allow you to do all of the calculations. You can also do the calculations manually using the formulas or ask your friends to calculate things for you if you want. Either way, you need to have the BSR values listed correctly in your submission or it will be ignored for slate.
Description: A Pokemon that learns Sketch, once, and everything that goes along with that.
Justification:
In terms of uniqueness, I think that few existing Pokemon can match DPP Smeargle, an otherwise laughably worthless Pokemon trolling OU with access to every trick in the book (or at least 4 of them) but also affecting the metagame greatly by becoming a top threat in the lead metagame. This Pokemon will borrow some of that uniqueness by learning the move Sketch and thus having access to ONE surprise/strategic/gutshot bonus move to supplement its pre-existing movepool. Being otherwise competently built (read: usable stats), this Poke could be a top threat or specialist for reasons we can't even predict yet.
Questions To Be Answered:
How will a Poke that has access to any one move out of all the moves in the game affect common battling tactics, namely prediction, scouting, and switching?
Which Sketch moves will become most common on this Poke's best sets? Does Sketchmon's success rely on hiding that secret Sketch move until just the right moment or can it succeed with predictably powerful moves like Spore, Spikes, Hurricane, Shell Smash, etc.?
Does this unique and powerful access to moves need to be counterbalanced elsewhere in the Pokemon's design? If so, then to what degree?
What kind of impact can Sketchmon have on teambuilding in terms of being able to patch holes with common utility moves like Rapid Spin or Toxic Spikes?
Explanation: The key here is that we have a lot of freedom to construct a unique Pokemon while staying within the confines of the concept. Typing, stats, abilities, and even most of the movepool are completely fair game so long as the Poke learns Sketch only once along the way and that we keep that in mind during previous steps. Now, this doesn't mean the CAP process will be directionless; Rising Dusk is pretty well organized and good at keeping discussions focused, and the concept itself has firm grounding in Smeargle's precedent. What's really being studied with this concept is movepool diversity and effectiveness, so it should have the most effect on the movepool process, where movepool creators will have to carefully balance their Sketchmon's actual movepool with the possibility of adding any one other move to the list. In terms of the metagame, there is no doubt in my mind that throwing a wildcard like this into the mix will strongly affect the metagame.
ODB: 1.8067 (slightly biased towards offense)
PSB: 4.7507 (slighty biased towards physical)
Overview:
Speed:
112 Speed is the same as Scolipede and outspeeds Tornadus (with nature) and +Spe Haxorus (without nature), but not Starmie/Whimsicott/Scarftar/etc. It lets CAP2 Spore very quickly, or boost its defenses with Coil or Quiver Dance very quickly. About the only thing it isn't useful for is Trick Room.
Notes on Speed:
No Investment: 260.
This outspeeds all non-natured Base 80 Pokemon, even with 252 Investment. At +1 this outspeeds all Pokemon except natured Base 130s. At +2 this outspeeds Deoxys-S.
16 EVs: 264.
At +1 Spe, this outruns all Pokemon with Base 130 Spe or less, regardless of nature.
100 EVs: 285.
This outspeeds all natured Base-80 Pokemon.
160 EVs: 300.
At +1 Spe this outspeeds Timid Scarf Rotom-A and all Base 100 Scarfers with non-speed boosting natures.
252 EVs: 323.
This outspeeds +Spe Haxorus (322), but not +Spe Hydreigon (324) or Eruption Scarftran. (343)
252 EVs + Nature: 355.
This outspeeds Tornadus, Eruption Scarftran, and Base 110s, even with a speed lowering Hidden Power. It is still slower than Base 115s and Scarf Tyranitar.
Analysis:
As you can see, this Speed is perfect for a multitude of purposes, and it still allows Hydreigon to be an effective check. CAP2 needs full investment in Special Attack to pull anything useful out of it, and the nature really gives it the power boost it needs. But by having a +SpA Nature, +Spe Hydreigon can then swoop in and easily revenge kill a Tail Glow CAP2.
Offenses:
96 Atk is the closest you can get to 100 within the limit set by speed, and with powerful stat boosters like Swords Dance, Shell Smash, Shift Gear, and Coil, its got just enough firepower to get those KOs.
68 Special Attack allows for a potent Tail Glow, Quiver Dance, or Shell Smash without being overpowering. 112 Speed goes quite far to allowing CAP2 to get the drop on foes, but even after a Tail Glow it's SpA (when +Spe) is 587. This is obviously powerful, but considering it's after a +3 boost, it's quite manageable.
Defenses:
This CAP more or less balances out its ability to use extremely powerful stat boosters with the ability to be revenged a bit more easily by the powerful Physical priority the CAP is weak to. To be sure, 103/79 is not terrible, but its hardly optimized to the limit either. It hovers just above the "good" area of the chart.
On Special Defense, CAP2 is a little bit stronger, being just a shade less specially bulky than Volcarona (hits BSR 165). This buffs the defensive aspect of Quiver Dance and gives a Coil set more Special Defense to work with, increasing the importance of getting a defensive boost in.
On HP specifically, there are a lot of Grass types that use Leech Seed and a lot of Ghosts that use Pain Split. I don't really want those strategies to define CAP 2, I'd rather give Sketch the limelight, and 103 HP makes Final Gambit a viable possibility. Maxing out at 410 HP. Having a higher HP also diminishes the value of healing moves slightly, as each single point in HP is not as guarded from damage as a low HP/High defenses spread would be. That said, draining strategies will still be fairly effective since the general bulk is still there.
Why 547?
Because it's a Prime Number, of course! In all seriousness, this places it directly between Togekiss and Volcarona stat-wise, meaning it is sturdy and fairly versatile but by no means perfect.
Other fun facts: All my odd numbers are prime, while all my even numbers are divisible by 4!
Offensive Calculations:
Assumptions:
The most difficult part of CAP 2 will be deciding what its coverage movepool will be outside of STAB and Sketch, e.g. those moves CAP 2 will always have access to. For this exercise I will assume that CAP2 has access to Horn Leech, Leaf Blade, Wood Hammer/Power Whip, Shadow Claw, Brick Break, and Cross Chop as physical attacks. For special attacks, Leaf Storm, Energy Ball, Grass Knot, Giga Drain, Shadow Ball, and Hex are assumed along with Hidden Power and Sketch.
Rather than going through exhaustive lists of spreads for each boosting move, I will instead do a brief sketch (heh) of each boosting move and where it fits in.
Booster EV Overview:
This section lists each booster and the EV investments CAP 2 will take to use one, and likely nature types.
Shift Gear: Atk and HP, Adamant.
Swords Dance/Belly Drum: Atk and Spe, Jolly.
Coil: SpD, HP, Some Atk/Def/Spe, Careful.
Tail Glow: SpA and Spe, Timid.
Quiver Dance: SpA and Def, Bold or Modest.
Shell Smash: Atk and SpA, Naughty/Rash.
Potential Non-Boosting Moves:
I don't want this whole post to get lost in a dissertation on boosts, but lets face it, the offer a lot of offensive versatility. Here are a few moves that might be selected in absence of a booster:
Spore: Fast Sleep is coming back. It works with Hex on a Special Attacking set, where Grass mercifully has Leaf Storm to status, gun, and run.
Sacred Fire: Since CAP2 is physically biased, Sacred Fire is a nice coverage move that works off its higher attack stat, and the fact CAP2 has a decent speed means you might be able to burn opponents quickly.
Spikes/Stealth Rock/Toxic Spikes: As a Pokemon immune to Rapid Spin, CAP2 could set up hazards very quickly and its general bulk would make it difficult to get around. Watch out for Pursuit though.
Fiery Dance: Provides decent coverage, and I guess it does count as a boosting move of sorts. It has still competition with Tail Glow and QD being so powerful, but then, they don't offer 80 BP Fire coverage.
Magma Storm: It's Fire Blast except it can trap an oncoming switch. Excellent for keeping spinners around or securing a switch. Or roasting Scizor to a crisp.
Perish Song: Make that final gift worthwhile. A fast Perish Song can certainly put an opponent's sweeper on a timer or force a switch.
Eruption/Water Spout: These seem silly at first, but considering how well they synergize with weather, and the potential to combine with Giga Drain, these could come in handy. 150 Weather booster BAP is nothing to laugh at, even off a mediocre SpA.
Final Gambit: With 103 Base HP, CAP2 can be an excellent suicide Pokemon, being able to guarantee its HP in damage to any foe and having the speed to pull it off before being hit.
I'm sure there are others that would be more strategy specific, like Blizzard on a Hail team, but by now you see the point.
Booster Summaries:
Swords Dance: at 112 Spe, CAP2 is fast enough to pull off a Swords Dance set. After a Swords Dance with Max Atk and a +Spe Nature, CAP2 has 582 Atk and 355 Speed.
With Life Orb attached at +2, Potential OHKOs (max 100%) for Power Whip:
Hippowdon (Physical Wall) (420 HP / 368 Def - 126.19 - 149.04%) [Super-effective]
Nidoqueen (OU Toxic Spikes Support) (384 HP / 300 Def - 84.37 - 100%) [Neutral]
Tornadus (Rain Abuser) (299 HP / 176 Def - 92.3 - 109.03%) [Resist]
Analysis: Swords Dance is an all out offensive set that will mandate all EVs in offenses. This leaves it quite open to priority attacks and Scarved Pokemon, especially Scarf Tyranitar, which always OHKOs with Crunch. I've assumed good nuetral coverage here, and Power Whip/Shadow Claw/Cross Chop is very appealing in combination with Coil. It still needs some level of hazard support, but its bases are generally covered.
Coil: Coil affords more nuanced EVs and allows the CAP to invest in defenses. While some speed may be desirable to outspeed a given team target, in general it operates much more in line with a slow, bulky offense Pokemon.
Item: Leftovers
Nature: Careful
Assumed EVs: 88 HP / 48 Atk / 24 Def / 248 SpD / 100 Spe Careful
Stats: 369 HP / 240 Atk / 188 Def / 154 SpA / 303 SpD / 285 Spe After One Coil: 360 Atk / 282 Def
+1 Leftovers Damage Calculations:
Begins netting 2HKOs (min 50%) at:
Power Whip:
Hippowdon (Physical Wall) (420 HP / 368 Def - 60 - 70.47%) [Super-effective]
Blissey (Wish Support) (714 HP / 130 Def - 49.57 - 58.4%) [Neutral]
Tentacruel (Toxic Spikes) (364 HP / 248 Def - 51.09 - 60.43%) [Neutral]
Galvantula (OU Life Orb) (282 HP / 156 Def - 52.12 - 61.7%) [Resist]
Analysis: Coil is much slower going, but it can use Horn Leech more effectively (if granted the attack) and build up to a sweep. These EVs are by no means set in stone and can be played around with, but they offer a glimpse into the potential power of the set. Horn Leech/Shadow Claw/Brick Break is very safe, though a stronger Fighting move might be indicated. Cross Chop has accuracy and PP issues, but Hammer Arm or Jump Kick might be interesting in its place.
Tail Glow: CAP2's Base Special Attack is so low because Tail Glow is an absolutely monstrous move on a Pokemon with 112 Base Speed. Thus a Tail Glow set will require maximum EV investment in Special Attack to be effective, especially with a speed boosting nature. After a Tail Glow, CAP 2 will have 587 SpA and 355 Spe. If you can manage to get a second Tail Glow in, CAP2's Maximum Special Attack (+6) is 940.
With Life Orb at +3, potential OHKOs (max at 100%) for:
Giga Drain:
Tyranitar (Choice Scarf) [SS] (342 HP / 354 SpD) 101.75 - 119.88% [Super-effective]
Milotic (OU RestTalk) (394 HP / 319 SpD) 97.96 - 115.73% [Super-effective]
Scrafty (Dragon Dance) (272 HP / 266 SpD - 85.29 - 100.73%) [Neutral]
Gliscor (Swords Dance) (354 HP / 186 SpD - 93.5 - 110.16%) [Neutral]
Staraptor (Choice Band) (311 HP / 136 SpD - 72.34 - 85.2%) [Resist]
Tyranitar (Standard) [SS] (404 HP / 468 SpD - 65.84 - 77.72%) [SE under SS]
Grass Knot (selected targets):
[120] Tyranitar (Specially Defensive) [SS] (404 HP /492 SpD) 99.5 - 117.32% [Super-effective]
[120] Gyarados (RestTalk) Grass Knot (394 HP / 237 SpD) 105.32 - 124.11% [Neutral]
[100] Machamp (OU Attacking Lead) (381 HP / 210 SpD) 102.36 - 120.47% [Neutral]
[100] Kingdra (OU ChestoRest Dragon Dance) (327 HP / 236 SpD - 106.42 - 125.07%) [Neutral]
[80] Quagsire (OU Curse) [Unaware] (394 HP / 251 SpD) 106.59 - 125.88% [Super-Effective 4x]
[80] Nidoking (OU Special Attacker) (303 HP / 186 SpD - 116.83 - 137.29%) [Neutral]
[80] Tentacruel (Toxic Spikes) (364 HP / 276 SpD - 65.1 - 76.92%) [Neutral]
[60] Vaporeon (Wish Support) (463 / 228 HP - 93.3 - 110.15%) [Super-effective]
[60] Politoed (Defensive) (384 HP / 287 SpD - 107.81 - 127.08%) [Super-effective]
[60] Gastrodon (Tank) Grass Knot (426 HP / 289 SpD - 160.56 - 189.67%) [Super-effective 4x]
Shadow Ball:
Dusclops (OU Defensive) [Eviolite] (284 HP / 561 SpD - 83.09 - 97.88%) [Super-effective]
Jirachi (Choice Scarf) (341 HP / 236 SpD - 81.52 - 96.18% [Neutral]
Volcarona (Offensive Quiver Dance) (311 HP / 247 SpD) 85.2 - 100.64% [Neutral]
Dragonite (Offensive Dragon Dance) (323 HP /237 SpD) 85.75 - 101.23% [Neutral]
Conkeldurr (Bulk Up) (381 HP / 200 SpD - 86.08 - 101.57%) [Neutral]
Zoroark (OU All-Out Attacker) (261 HP / 140 SpD - 89.27 - 105.36%) [Resist]
Hidden Power (selected targets):
[4x Fighting] Tyranitar (Standard) [SS] (404 HP / 468 SpD - 81.18 - 96.03%)
[4x Ground] Heatran (Specially Defensive) (385 HP / 300 SpD) -116.06 - 136.78%)
[4x Ice] Dragonite (Bulky Dragon Dance) [Multiscale] (386 HP / 236 SpD - 84.97 - 100.51%)
[4x Fire] Scizor (Choice Band) (343 HP / 196 SpD - 228.57 - 269.38%)
[4x Fire] Ferrothorn (Standard) (352 HP / 310 SpD - 140.9 - 165.9%)
[2x Fighting] Heatran (Specially Defensive) (375 HP / 300 SpD) 58.03 - 68.39%
[2x Fighting] Ferrothorn (Standard) (352 HP / 310 SpD - 70.45 - 82.95%)
[2x Ground] Tyranitar (Standard) [SS] (404 HP / 468 SpD - 40.59 - 48.01%)
[2x Ground/Fire] Jirachi (Specially Defensive) (404 HP / 321 SpD - 58.91 - 69.8%)
[2x Ground] Heatran (Offensive) (323 HP / 249 SpD - 95.35 - 112.69%)
[2x Ground/Fire] Jirachi (Choice Scarf) (341 HP / 236 Def - 95.6 - 112.6%)
[2x Fire] Skarmory (Specially Defensive) (334 HP / 257 SpD - 89.22 - 105.38%)
[2x Fighting/Ice] Hydreigon (Choice Specs) (341 HP / 216 SpD - 103.81 - 122.58%
[Neutral Ice/Fighting] Skarmory (Specially Defensive) (334 HP / 257 SpD - 44.61 - 52.69%)
[Neutral Ice/Fighting] Skarmory (Physically Defensive) (334 HP / 176 SpD - 65.26 - 76.94% )
[Neutral Fighting] Jirachi (Choice Scarf) (341 HP / 236 Def - 47.8 - 56.3%)
[Neutral Fighting] Scizor (Choice Band) (343 HP / 196 SpD - 57.14 - 67.05%)
*It should be noted that Hidden Power fails to OHKO anything merely neutral to it in OU with Life Orb at +3, with the exceptions of Staraptor, Mienshao, Dugtrio, and Durant.
Analysis: While powerful, the Tail Glow set generally needs hazard support to get a lot of KOs, and it still has particular difficulties with Specially Defensive variants of Jirachi and Heatran (and Skarmory to an extent). Stealth Rock is basically required for it to score the Shadow Ball KO it needs against Dragonite by removing its Multiscale. Otherwise as you can see above, Hidden Power can effectively counter one or two threats, but is either lacking power (Nature can fix this, but again, that opens it up to Max Spe +Spe Hydreigon Dark Pulse/Crunch) or needs a second use. Tyranitar is also troublesome for the set, as although Grass Knot can dispose of even the bulkiest version of Tyranitar, it's variable power makes it much more difficult to use in sweeping. [An unlisted alternative that would alleviate many problems is to use Tail Glow with Leaf Storm. Highly counterintuitive, but potentially effective as the net of a Tail Glow/Leaf Storm sequence is +1 SpA.]
Quiver Dance: The other Bulky Set. Much like Tail Glow, in order to be effective CAP2 will need some investment in Special Attack to pull this off, but fortunately Quiver Dance can fix the speed problem while building off bulk.
Item: Leftovers
Nature: Modest
Assumed EVs: 32 HP / 208 Def / 252 SpA / 16 Spe Careful
Stats: 355 HP / 205 Atk / 234 Def / 258 SpA / 214 SpD / 264 Spe After One Quiver Dance: 387 SpA / 321 SpD / 396 Spe
+1 Leftovers Calculations:
Begins netting 2HKOs (begins at 50%) at:
Giga Drain:
Tyranitar (Choice Scarf) [SS] (342 HP / 354 SpD - 47.36 - 56.14%) [Super-effectice]
Nidoking (OU Special Attacker) (303 HP / 186 SpD - 50.16 - 59.4%) [Neutral]
WIP.
Shadow Ball:
Hidden Power:
Defensive Calculations:
No Investment: Offensive boosters like Swords Dance and Tail Glow will have these defensive calculations:
I will edit in descriptions later but i need to get these up while i have access to the BSR calculator. don't worry the descriptions will be up by tonight
OKAY DESCRIPTIONS HERE WE GO
The goal of this stat spread from the start was to make as many sets potent as possible while making as few broken as possible. In this manner my spreads aim to allow for the following sets: Coil, Tail Glow, SD, QD, LO Mixed Cleaner, Support, maybe some niche sets.
It will be difficult to explain the logic behind this set by breaking it into cute little categories by stat for the same reason it's fucking impossible to explain classical Chinese politics without mentioning isolationism so bear with me.
I felt that 109 Speed struck a good chord between Tail Glow and Quiver Dance so that both were entirely viable: While Tail Glow is nigh on impossible to wall, it can be beaten with high Speed. Conversely, Quiver Dance allows CAP2 to outspeed the notable threats Gengar, Tornadus, Starmie, Scarfdreigon, ScarfKiss, ScarfTar and ScarfTran keeping the Tail Glow set in check. In exchange, you can actually defeat it Defensively without running Tran or Hydreigon.
Defensive and Support wise, the speed allows CAP2 to outspeed basically all other Defensive Pokemon, such as Cobalion, Jirachi, or Mew. This means it can be a bulky booster to beat your other bulky boosters or can even pull something a little funky and run a fast Coil set with surprising effectiveness, able to grab a couple boosts.
The ATK stat is maxed out with speed because with every calc I ran (LO cleaner, SD, Gear Shift) was surprisingly weak so I gave it as much help as I could. A Gear Shift set is probably something you won't often find yourself running if you pick this spread - It's viable yeah but I couldn't find a way to make it work. SD functions the same way as Tail Glow in relation to Gear Shift.
The SpA stat was chosen not to max out (it did though lol) the Special Sweepiness, but to make sure a Tail Glow set could still be beaten by its counters. As such, Dragonite is KO'd by Shadow Ball after Tail Glow BUT only if rocks are up. Further, Neutral 4/0 Hydreigon can survive a +3 Leaf Storm and KO back with Dark Pulse. CalmRachi survives +3 HP Fire, as does SpD Skarm. I think those are all the calcs I ran in that department.
Physical Defense was an easy question: What can be OHKOed by LO Mamo/Weavile at 4/0 after a Shell Smash with no prior damage? That was how I kept it in check. Further, this allows all sets that do not run Def investment to be raped by all common Sucker Punches or CB Scizor BP. However, these aren't wussy defenses. When invested, Coiled, or Cotton Guarded he can take a beating.
Special Defense was similarly decided by a single calc: 252 Timid Hydreigon Dark Pulse vs 4/0 Timid CAP2. This was to ensure that Hydreigon would remain a threat, as well as Heatran However, I am very open to considering raising one or both defenses as they seem pretty low right now.
I tried to keep HP and both Defenses pretty close to each other to maximize spread customization, CAP2 should be nothing if not tailorable to fit to your team and I aimed to do just that. Remember my idea for this submission was to make as many roles viable as possible while none were broken and I think I did just that.
First stat submission and I hope you guys like it!
DEFENSIVE CALCS:
0N Skarmory BB vs 4/0 CAP2: 88.5 - 100% = OHKO after Rocks
252+ CB Scizor BP vs 4/0 CAP2: 66.3 - 77.8% = Always a 2HKO
252+ CB Scizor BP vs 4/0 -1 CAP2: 99.0 - 100% = OHKO after ANYTHING
252+ LO Mamo Ice Shard vs 4/0 CAP2: 77.2 - 91.0% = Can OHKO after Rocks
252+ LO Mamo Ice Shard vs 4/0 -1 CAP2: 100% = Always an OHKO
252+ LO Weavile Ice Shard vs 4/0 CAP2: 73.1 - 85.9 = Always a 2HKO
252+ LO Weavile Ice Shard vs 4/0 -1 CAP2: 100% = Always an OHKO
252+ Dragonite Fire Punch vs 4/0 CAP2: 75.3 - 88.8% = Can OHKO after Rocks
SP. DEFENSIVE CALCS:
252+ Scarf Hydreigon Dark Pulse vs 4/0 CAP2: 99.0 -100% = OHKO after ANYTHING
0N Heatran Lava Plume vs 4/0 CAP2: 76.9 - 90.3 = Can OHKO after Rocks
252N Heatran Flamethrower vs 4/0 CAP2: 100% = lol
0N Togekiss Air Slash vs 4/0 CAP2: 68.3% - 80.4% - Solid 2HKO
As you can see, my spread makes CAP2 far from invincible, all the checks he wanted to be KO'd by can. However,
DEFENSIVE CALCS:
252N ScarfTar Crunch vs 252/252+ CAP2: 62.8 - 74.1%: Not even an OHKO after two turns of Sand Stream and Stealth Rock with no Leftovers Recovery
252N ScarfTar Crunch vs 252/4N +3 CAP2: 37.4 - 43.9%: Damage? What "Damage?"
One of my primary concerns was the utility of HP-comparing moves like Pain Split and Wish. To that end, I raised HP to skew towards Wish and therefore team support. Higher HP counts favor moves such as recoil attacks, Wish, and Final Gambit over Leech Seed or Pain Split, while still allowing moves such as Horn Leech and Giga Drain to restore a respectable portion of health. A set for CAP2 that invests in HP will likely focus on its defensive abilities anyway, diminishing the need for Pain Split even further. The HP count also helps soak recoil damage from moves such as Head Smash and Flare Blitz, but not so much as, say, Snorlax can. Bulky sets can focus on hazards, act a as a status platform, or even set up a field condition such as Tailwind.
As for the Calcs, I decided that I needed a revenge killer that could not switch in directly into an attack - better for CAP 2 to keep the foe guessing until it's done its job at least once. So, after a Shell Smash, 4/0 CAP 2 takes 101.74 - 120.34% from CB Mamoswine's Ice Shard. The same Mamoswine deals 88.95 - 104.65% with Life Orb, which OHKOs after rocks or Spikes. CAP 2 can conceivably take EVs from either offenses or HP to survive these Ice Shards and OHKO back with STAB Grass moves - except that these spreads lose notable KOs when taking EVs from offense, while if the EVs are taken from Speed then CAP 2 starts dropping speed tiers, starting by losing to Scarf Musketeers and creating a Speed tie to Chlorophyll Venusaur. These stats are carefully picked to force Shell Smash CAP2 to run maximum offenses with only 4 HP for bulk, or else accept new checks in exchange for the ones it is trying to survive and KO.
Calculation Analysis
A Jolly 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe Shell Smash CAP 2 has 406 HP, 341 (682) Attack, and 287 (574) Speed. It would deal 43.69 - 51.61% to standard Specs Hydreigon. As soon as it starts reeling in Attack EVs, standard offensive Hydreigon starts eluding the 2HKO (41.41 - 49.07%) with Seed Bomb after rocks. (As does Intimidate Staraptor, who takes 39.87 - 47.26%.) As soon as CAP 2 switches to away Speed-boosting nature (dropping to 522 Speed), it becomes outsped and OHKO'd by Choice Scarf Latios' Draco Meteor. If it starts pulling from Speed EVs, it is suddenly outsped by Scarf Durant (522), Scarf Musketeers (518), Scarf Zoroark (508), and so on. Note that CAP 2's absolute top speed, 574, ties with Scarf Weavile. Weavile's unboosted Ice Punch deals 108.72 - 129.06% to -1 Def CAP 2, so as soon as Speed EVs are dropped CAP 2 is instantly beaten by a Weavile switch-in on the Shell Smash or on the revenge kill. Even 252 HP CAP 2 takes 92.11 - 109.35% from that attack after a Shell Smash, so it can only hope to beat Scarf Weavile by Speed tieing.
At the same time, investing in CAP 2's bulk makes it very difficult to break. It's very difficult to give calculations on such moves as Spikes, Spore, or Baton Pass, but demonstrations of CAP 2's bulk can illustrate the utility of a supportive or defensive set. Physically defensive CAP 2 survives a +1 LO Salamence Outrage (73.89 - 87.19%) and Choice Specs Politoed's Ice Beam (73.39 - 86.69%) after rocks, while Specially defensive CAP 2 survives Choice Specs Zoroark's Dark Pulse (71.42 - 84.72%), Specs Yanmega's Air Slash (72.41 - 85.71%), and Bulky Dragonite's Hurricane (69.95 - 82.75%). CAP 2's defensive spread of 101/91/87 puts controls on (but does not neuter) Shell Smash, and still allows defensive sets to thrive. I believe that's exactly what we want to see in CAP 2's defenses.
Raw Speed (81)
It was important to me that CAP2 sit at 81 Speed - the other stats you see here are tailored to allow this speed. Outspeeding Dragonite and friends was an important benchmark from the start, but sitting at under 85 Speed opens a lot of viable checks for various sets, allowing us to rest easier about CAP2's versatility. For example, Timid Nidoking could come in on the coverage of several offensive sets, and the status of some defensive sets, and pummel CAP2 with Fire Blast or Ice Beam (or even Sludge Wave). Other notable Pokémon sitting just above 81 Speed are Heracross, Lucario, Haxorus, Rotom-A, and Gliscor, who can all switch into one of its STABs and threaten most sets. (Movepool permitting, of course - this doesn't set the counters list in stone!) A slower CAP2 is still nearly impossible to counter - it does have Sketch, after all - but it is much easier to check known sets with a lower Speed. As an aside, 81 Speed is still very fast for a defensive Pokémon, and this would give CAP2 the fastest Spore available.
Calculation Analysis 198 - 0 Evs (Beats neutral 80s and ties with Gyarados and 128 Vaporeon) 230 - 128 Evs (Beats 252 Scizor) 237 - 156 Evs (Beats 252+ Scrafty) 261 - 252 EVs (Beats neutral base 80s and 252 Heatran. Outsped by 252+ Politoed and Breloom) 287 - 252+ EVs (Beats all base 80s and ties with 252+ Gyarados) 391 - 252 EVs +1 (Outspeeds 252 Dragonite and 252+ Weavile. Outsped by 252+ Scarf Politoed and 252+ Base 130s) 430 - 252+ EVs +1 (Outspeeds 252+ Accelgor and 252+ Scarf Heatran, as well as 252+ Shell Smash Gorebyss) 518 - 244 Evs +2 (Outspeeds 252+ Chlorophyll Venusaur that carry Hidden Power Fire) 522 - 252 EVs +2 (Outspeeds 252+ Scarf Musketeers. Outsped by 252+ Scarf Latios and 252 Scarf Weavile) 574 - 252+ EVs +2 (Ties with 252+ Scarf Weavile)
The speed stat of 81 very neatly demands that CAP 2 run 252 Speed boosted in order to succeed with an offensive set - being outsped by Scarf Weavile at +2 or Scarf Heatran at +2 can ruin any potential sweep. At the same time, bulkier sets can outspeed threats such as 24 Spe Breloom and Hitmontop and either set up or cripple the foe. CAP 2 is very capable of changing its Speed Tier at a moment's notice, but giving it a middling starting speed allows several threats to switch in confidently. The fierce competition at CAP 2's maximum +2 Speed also helps balance out offensive boosting options.
Physical Offense (Atk & Spe)
CAP2 has relatively average Attack for OU, but with access to Sketch CAP2 can forge extremely powerful physical sets. STAB Wood Hammer or Shadow Force can help patch a powerful Choice Band or Choice Scarf set together, as can a coverage move like V-Create, Hi Jump Kick, or Bolt Strike. I originally had 125 Attack, but I lowered it by a point at a time until CAP 2 could no longer OHKO Physically Defensive Skarmory with +6 (Belly Drum) Shadow Claw after rocks.
The boosting sets all feel the effect of middling speed. Gear Shift focuses on overcoming the speed, skipping an entire bracket of revenge killers but struggling against key walls. Belly Drum breaks these same walls, but is easily revenged by several foes that outspeed. Coil can achieve setup on several notable foes, and is more difficult to revenge kill, but faces difficulty in actually sweeping. Swords Dance finds a use as a safer option to Shell Smash, and Belly Drum - trading defensive security for less killing power or less speed, respectively. SD is likely outclassed by Gear Shift, but that can't be known for total certainty at this time.
Calculation Analysis
First thing of note is that 121 Attack isn't bad on its own - Choice Band CAP2 OHKOs Scarf Tyranitar instantly with Seed Bomb without outside assistance. Wood Hammer (Sketched or no) OHKOs Offensive Gyarados lacking Intimidate - an impressive feat by any means. Sketched +1 V-Create with a neutral nature can OHKO Wish + Calm Mind Jirachi, Defensive Celebi, and annoying missed KOs like ChestoRest Volcarona, but is otherwise matches STAB Wood Hammer or Power Whip in general damage output, and likely won't be available on boosting sets.
At higher levels, though, 121 Attack really starts to shine. +2 neutral CAP 2 boasts a powerful 782 Attack stat, which it can put to work by 2HKO'ing Swords Dance Gliscor with Seed Bomb - something it could not guarantee with 120 base Attack. Other notable OHKO's include Swords Dance Toxicroak and Offensive Nidoking, which are both nice things to be safe from.
Shell Smash would seem be the single most offensive approach to attacking CAP 2, but it is not. That lies in Belly Drum; and +6 Attack CAP 2 is a literal force of nature. OHKOs include SubSeed Venusaur, Dual Screens Bronzong, and Choice Band Staraptor, even after Intimidate. However, even at 1500 Attack with a boosting nature, even 4/0 Hydreigon survives Seed Bomb, taking 83.12 - 97.85%. Any Heatran variety comfortably switches into Belly Drum CAP 2 and sometimes takes less than 60% from Shadow Claw. In addition, if CAP 2 is given Horn Leech, Belly Drum becomes one of its most powerful bulky offensive sets, draining HP from foes as they desperately scramble to KO it before it sucks them dry.
Given the above, I feel that 121 Attack sits CAP 2 comfortably between being too strong after a boost, and not having enough firepower to KO necessary threats.
Special Offense (SpA & Spe)
81 Base Speed bites even harder on the Special side. The inability to outspeed 100+ Scarfers after a single Quiver Dance forces any such set to run bulk over speed. Tail Glow is very powerful, and has no bulk trade-off, but can be outspeed and revenged. Tail Glow can forego the Base 80 Speed tier to run bulk, and has more incentive to do so since 100 is out of its reach. This makes the special boosting sets more manageable without becoming obsolete.
Calculation Analysis
CAP 2's Special Attack score, 97, is a well-known value and has its basis in a very usable Pokémon: Galvantula. Sporting a less-than-stellar base Special Attack, Galvantula yet achieves distinction as a Special sweeper with a high-powered reliable STAB, an excellent supporting STAB and coverage options, and enviable Speed. When working CAP 2's Special stats, I decided to start with 97 and work from there, but now having seen the calculations and lists of what is and is not KO'd, I saw no reason to change it.
Directly mimicing Galvatula's success is the Choice Specs set, falling back on a 120 Base Power STAB to muscle through anything it faces. In CAP 2's case, this move is Sketched Seed Flare, and it scores amazing OHKOs on threats such as Offensive Nidoking (100.33 - 118.15%), Offensive Zoroark (138.54 - 162.97%), and even 2HKO's Specially Defensive Tyranitar during Sandstorm (56.93 - 67.32%), not even needing the Special Defense drop. (Ironically, Choice Specs CAP 2 Hidden Power Fire 70 exactly OHKOs Offensive Galvantula [100 - 118.43%] which is irrelevant but amusing given the above introduction.) These calculations also apply to Quiver Dance variants of CAP 2.
Reaching higher, CAP 2 can also employ Shell Smash specially. Equipped with Life Orb and a doubled Special Attack stat, CAP 2 can threaten Hydreigon with a 2HKO with either Energy Ball or Shadow Ball, but only barely. If Quiver Dance was used to reach +2 Special Attack instead, Hydreigon struggles to KO with Dark Pulse or Fire Blast while CAP 2 etches out a 2HKO after rocks. CAP 2's Hidden Power picks up menace at this level of boosting, OHKO'ing Physically Defensive Skarmory before it Brave Birds in return. CAP 2 can also leverage boosted Physical moves against foes such as Blissey, demanding that it be walled by typing rather than raw bulk.
CAP 2's most frightening Special boosting option is easily Tail Glow - CAP 2 threatens to OHKO Dragon Dance Scrafty with +3 Energy Ball, and can boast an OHKO on Supportive Cressalia with +3 Shadow Ball. If CAP 2's STAB Balls aren't your thing, +3 Giga Drain gives incentive to run HP Evs over Speed and become the definition of Bulky Offense, recovering lost health with each powerful attack. Offensive Hydreigon still takes only 41.71 - 49.38% from +3 Giga Drain, however, denying it recovery of more health and destroying it with STAB Dark Pulse.
Conclusion
I had no intention of actually trolling Dusk with prime numbers in my spread (despite my words in IRC and elsewhere, heh), but in this submission, every stat point serves a purpose. I honestly believe that every individual stat is the best stat CAP 2 can have for its concept, and that any other choice would shortsell us on learning the most about the versatility of Sketch.
I find it deeply amusing that the character count of this submission (the box at the top of the post notwithstanding) is 75,359. This figure ends in 359, the National Pokédex listing of Absol, my favorite Pokémon.
Anything not listed is 2HKO'd with Rocks or better, or does not frequent the OU tier
The purpose of my stat spread isn't to let Sketchmon to easily sweep with the aid of a boosting move, and it's not to let Sketchmon tank as many hits as the limits will allow. While Sketchmon can do these things, it will require significant EV investment with this stat spread. This means that Sketchmon can be tailored to tank hits from certain Pokemon or OHKO/2HKO certain Pokemon, but you cannot do both effectively. In my opinion, high stats are not necessary for Sketchmon; I believe that lower stats will make Sketchmon easier to control, while still being effective. As I show in the below sections, Sketchmon is able to do many things if you EV it right, but it cannot do everything I list at once. It becomes a choice.
Offenses
I'll start by justifying the easiest stat, which is Speed. Out of the five biggest threats identified in the Threats Discussion, the fastest one is Hydreigon. 72 Speed forces Sketchmon to run a +Spe nature in order to outspeed Choice Scarf Hydreigon after Gear Shift, which guarantees that Sketchmon will have to detract from its bulk or offensive capabilities. 72 Speed also guarantees that Sketchmon cannot outspeed other variants of Hydreigon without boosting its own Speed. Moreover, 72 Speed guarantees that Sketchmon will never be able to outspeed +Spe Heatran without boosting its own Speed, and it will have to run 208 Speed EVs and a +Spe nature to outspeed Modest Heatran, again forcing it to sacrifice bulk.
Onto offenses. 80 SpA nearly guarantees that LO HP Ground against 4 SpD Heatran cannot OHKO without hazards unless you run +SpA. Without LO, however, you will never be able to OHKO Heatran, even with Stealth Rock. Jirachi isn't even a 2HKO for max SpA LO Shadow Ball, and Specially Defensive Skarmory with Leftovers is never 2HKOed by max SpA LO Hidden Power; Skarmory is a 2HKO with SR, but that chance fades away should Sketchmon not choose to run max SpA. Overall, Sketchmon needs maximum investment in SpA in order for it to have a chance to dent some of its weaker threats, and even with max SpA, Sketchmon struggles against some other ones.
On the physical side, 119 Atk is enough to OHKO Standard Ferrothorn with max Atk and LO Sacred Fire. Calculations show, however, that close to maximum investment and a Life Orb is necessary for this to happen. It also nabs an OHKO against Virizion, which is cool, I guess. Max Atk LO Power Whip also OHKOes Standard (248/252+) Vaporeon, as well as being able to OHKO the most bulky Suicune about 90% of the time with rocks. Power Whip also OHKOes Standard Tyranitar. Despite these OHKOes, however, Sketchmon still fails against its designated threats. Max Atk LO Shadow Claw fails to 4HKO Offensive Heatran on average, and never 2HKOes bulkier variants of Jirachi such as the Wish Passing Jirachi. Max Atk LO Power Whip cannot 2HKO Standard Hydreigon without rocks, who OHKOes back with Fire Blast; this also means that +2 Sketchmon can OHKO with rocks. Sketchmon is able to dole out heavy damage with its Grass and Ghost STABs, although it misses out on most of these nifty KOs if it doesn't fully invest into Attack. Moreover, Life Orb is nearly a necessity, further forcing Sketchmon to sacrifice.
Defenses
Defensively, 79 HP is a decent number. Lower than average for bulky Pokemon, Sketchmon can utilize Leech Seed along with this low HP stat for maximum effectiveness; a good reference here is Ferrothorn, who has a base HP stat of 74. Its defenses may seem arbitrary, but there's a method to my madness here. 79 HP and 89 SpD make it such that Sketchmon is always OHKOed by Standard Hydreigon's Fire Blast, Bulky Heatran's Flamethrower, and Rain Dragonite's Hurricane. Volcarona is a funny thing here; Sketchmon is never OHKO'd by Fiery Dance from Bulky Volcarona, but it falls to Fire Blast or Standard Volcarona's Fiery Dance. On the Physical side, 87 Def along with its HP stat means that Skarmory can OHKO with Brave Bird after Stealth Rock is applied. Furthermore, Iron Head + Fire Punch from Jirachi is guaranteed to KO unless Sketchmon runs Leftovers; the combination deals 105.00% at a minimum, though, so it's almost guaranteed to KO either way.
On the flip side, 79/87/89 defenses aren't actually so shabby--it's actually roughly equal to 85/85/85 defenses, except that it's actually easier to invest in bulk due to the slightly lower HP stat. With no investment, Sketchmon still poses a threat to Pokemon such as Latios; it is never OHKOed by LO Hidden Power Fire, and can always OHKO back with Shadow Claw. Sketchmon can also OHKO 252/0 or 252/4 Latias about 75% of the time with Shadow Claw while never being 2HKOed by it. This bulk also allows Sketchmon to take a couple random Ice Beams from Water-types that Sketchmon switches in on, which I imagine will happen quite often.
Although Sketchmon doesn't seem to have that much Physical defense, it's enough to survive a max Attack Dragonite's Fire Punch or a Bulky Dragonite's +1 Dragon Claw. This bulk would allow it to survive the hit even with rocks in play and either boost its speed to outspeed and kill (assuming no ExtremeSpeed) or use whatever other move it had in its arsenal. Even so, it's still low enough such that Skarmory poses a heavy threat to Sketchmon; a Brave Bird from Skarmory with no investment is enough to KO after Stealth Rock and Spikes, which is common considering the fact that it is Skarmory. In general, most STAB Fire/Flying moves will KO Sketchmon, but that's only to be expected. While these defenses may not be as sturdy as one might envision them, 79/87/89 does what it needs to do.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Sketchmon can be tailored to do many different things. It can be used to crush opponents with its superior Attack, which lends itself more choices (Sacred Fire for coverage or Shift Gear to nab more KOs). Sketchmon can also be used as a Special Attacker in order to surprise some of its weaker threats, namely Dragonite and Heatran, with LO and customized Hidden Power; with Quiver Dance, Sketchmon can also outspeed Hydreigon and take reduced damage from Fire Blast. Aside from its physical capabilities, though, Sketchmon is also defensive enough so that it doesn't fall over to a gust of wind; the assumed Leech Seed helps a ton here, especially with its low HP stat.
In general, a choice is to be made when making an EV spread with Sketchmon. You can either choose to go Physically Offensive or Specially Offensive, each with its boons listed above, but that almost guarantees that one of these threats will be able to stop you. If you choose to go defensively, you won't be KOed by these threats as easily but you won't be able to OHKO or 2HKO some other Pokemon, either.
Calculations
vs Heatran
252 SpA LO HP Ground v 0/4 Heatran: 259 Atk vs 249 Def & 323 HP (70 Base Power): 272 - 324 (84.21% - 100.31%) - 2.56% OHKO
252 SpA HP Ground v 0/4 Heatran: 259 Atk vs 249 Def & 323 HP (70 Base Power): 212 - 252 (65.63% - 78.02%) - 0.00% OHKO w/ SR vs Jirachi
Max SpA LO Shadow Ball v 0/0 Jirachi: 284 Atk vs 236 Def & 341 HP (80 Base Power): 135 - 159 (39.59% - 46.63%) - 0.00% 2HKO
Max SpA +2 LO Shadow Ball v 0/0 Jirachi: 568 Atk vs 236 Def & 341 HP (80 Base Power): 268 - 316 (78.59% - 92.67%) - 0.00% OHKO; 0.00% OHKO w/ SR vs Skarmory
Max SpA LO HP Fire v Specially Defensive (252/232+) Skarmory: 284 Atk vs 251 Def & 334 HP (70 Base Power): 148 - 176 (44.31% - 52.69%) - 0.00% 2HKO; 100% 2HKO w/ SR
252 SpA LO HP Fire v Specially Defensive (252/232+) Skarmory: 254 Atk vs 251 Def & 334 HP (70 Base Power): 134 - 158 (40.12% - 47.31%) - 34.98% 2HKO w/ SR
Max SpA HP Fire v Specially Defensive Skarmory: 284 Atk vs 251 Def & 334 HP (70 Base Power): 114 - 136 (34.13% - 40.72%) - 0.00% 2HKO w/ SR vs Ferrothorn
Max Atk LO Sacred Fire v Standard (252/88+) Ferrothorn: 370 Atk vs 352 Def & 352 HP (100 Base Power): 396 - 468 (112.50% - 132.95%) - OHKO
Max Atk Sacred Fire v Standard (252/88+) Ferrothorn: 370 Atk vs 352 Def & 352 HP (100 Base Power): 304 - 360 (86.36% - 102.27%) - 15.38% OHKO; 46.15% OHKO w/ SR
252 Atk LO Sacred Fire v Standard Ferrothorn: 337 Atk vs 352 Def & 352 HP (100 Base Power): 360 - 424 (102.27% - 120.45%) - OHKO vs Virizion
Max Atk LO Sacred Fire v 4/0 Virizion: 370 Atk vs 180 Def & 324 HP (100 Base Power): 384 - 452 (118.52% - 139.51%) - OHKO
252 Atk LO Sacred Fire v 4/0 Virizion: 337 Atk vs 180 Def & 324 HP (100 Base Power): 350 - 412 (108.02% - 127.16%) - OHKO
Max Atk Sacred Fire v 4/0 Virizion: 370 Atk vs 180 Def & 324 HP (100 Base Power): 294 - 348 (90.74% - 107.41%) - 41.03% OHKO; 79.49% OHKO w/ SR vs Vaporeon Max Atk LO Power Whip v 248/252+ Vaporeon: 370 Atk vs 240 Def & 463 HP (120 Base Power): 518 - 612 (111.88% - 132.18%) - OHKO
Max Atk Power Whip v 248/252+ Vaporeon: 370 Atk vs 240 Def & 463 HP (120 Base Power): 398 - 470 (85.96% - 101.51%) - 7.69% OHKO; 87.18% OHKO w/ SR
Max Atk LO Seed Bomb v 248/252+ Vaporeon: 370 Atk vs 240 Def & 463 HP (80 Base Power): 344 - 408 (74.30% - 88.12%) - 0.00% OHKO; 2.56% OHKO w/ SR vs Suicune Max Atk LO Power Whip v 252/252+ Suicune (CroCune): 370 Atk vs 361 Def & 404 HP (120 Base Power): 344 - 408 (85.15% - 100.99%) - 2.56% OHKO; 87.18% OHKO w/ SR vs Tyranitar Max Atk LO Power Whip v Standard (252/0) Tyranitar: 370 Atk vs 256 Def & 404 HP (120 Base Power): 486 - 572 (120.30% - 141.58%) - OHKO
Max Atk Power Whip v Standard Tyranitar: 370 Atk vs 256 Def & 404 HP (120 Base Power): 372 - 440 (92.08% - 108.91%) - 53.85% OHKO; OHKO w/ SR vs Hydreigon Max Atk LO Power Whip v 4/0 Hydreigon: 370 Atk vs 216 Def & 326 HP (120 Base Power): 144 - 169 (44.17% - 51.84%) - 9.60% 2HKO; 2HKO w/ SR
Max Atk +2 LO Power Whip v 4/0 Hydreigon: 740 Atk vs 216 Def & 326 HP (120 Base Power): 287 - 338 (88.04% - 103.68%) - 20.51% OHKO; OHKO w/ SR
vs Hydreigon Max SpA Expert Belt Fire Blast v 4/0 Sketchmon: 383 Atk vs 214 Def & 300 HP (120 Base Power): 369 - 436 (123.00% - 145.33%) - OHKO
Max SpA Fire Blast v 4/0 Sketchmon: 383 Atk vs 214 Def & 300 HP (120 Base Power): 308 - 364 (102.67% - 121.33%) - OHKO vs Heatran 252 SpA Flamethrower v 4/0 Sketchmon: 359 Atk vs 214 Def & 300 HP (100 Base Power): 360 - 426 (120.00% - 142.00%) - OHKO
0 SpA Flamethrower v 4/0 Sketchmon: 296 Atk vs 214 Def & 300 HP (100 Base Power): 300 - 354 (100.00% - 118.00%) - OHKO
0 SpA Lava Plume v 4/0 Sketchmon: 296 Atk vs 214 Def & 300 HP (80 Base Power): 236 - 282 (78.67% - 94.00%) - 41.03% OHKO w/ SR vs Dragonite Max Atk Fire Punch v 4/0 Sketchmon: 403 Atk vs 210 Def & 300 HP (80 Base Power): 220 - 260 (73.33% - 86.67%) - 0.00% OHKO w/ SR 44+ Atk +1 Dragon Claw v 4/0 Sketchmon: 519 Atk vs 210 Def & 300 HP (80 Base Power): 213 - 252 (71.00% - 84.00%) - 0.00% OHKO w/ SR
Max Atk +1 Dragon Claw v 4/0 Sketchmon: 607 Atk vs 210 Def & 300 HP (80 Base Power): 249 - 294 (83.00% - 98.00%) - 0.00% OHKO; 66.67% OHKO w/SR
Max SpA Hurricane v 4/0 Sketchmon: 328 Atk vs 214 Def & 300 HP (120 Base Power): 396 - 468 (132.00% - 156.00%) - OHKO vs Volcarona Offensive (252 SpA) LO Fiery Dance v 4/0 Sketchmon: 369 Atk vs 214 Def & 300 HP (80 Base Power): 386 - 456 (128.67% - 152.00%) - OHKO
Bulky (0 SpA) Fiery Dance v 4/0 Sketchmon: 306 Atk vs 214 Def & 300 HP (80 Base Power): 248 - 294 (82.67% - 98.00%) - 0.00% OHKO
Offensive +1 LO Bug Buzz v 4/0 Sketchmon: 553 Atk vs 214 Def & 300 HP (90 Base Power): 325 - 384 (108.33% - 128.00%) - OHKO
Bulky (0 SpA) +1 Bug Buzz v 4/0 Sketchmon: 459 Atk vs 214 Def & 300 HP (90 Base Power): 208 - 246 (69.33% - 82.00%) - 0.00% OHKO w/ SR vs Skarmory 0 Atk Brave Bird v 4/0 Sketchmon: 196 Atk vs 210 Def & 300 HP (120 Base Power): 242 - 288 (80.67% - 96.00%) - 53.85% OHKO w/ Spikes I; OHKO w/ Spikes I + SR or Spikes III vs Jirachi 252 Atk Iron Head v 4/0 Sketchmon: 299 Atk vs 210 Def & 300 HP (80 Base Power): 123 - 145 (41.00% - 48.33%) - 0.00% 2HKO; 65.55% 2HKO w/ SR; 3HKO 252 Atk Fire Punch v 4/0 Sketchmon: 299 Atk vs 210 Def & 300 HP (80 Base Power): 164 - 194 (54.67% - 64.67%) - 2HKO
252 Atk Iron Head + Fire Punch v 4/0 Sketchmon: 299 Atk vs 210 Def & 300 HP: 287 - 339 (95.67% - 113.00%) - 66.67% combo OHKO; combo OHKO w/ SR vs Latios 252 SpA LO HP Fire v 4/0 Sketchmon: 359 Atk vs 214 Def & 300 HP (70 Base Power): 224 - 264 (74.67% - 88.00%) - 0.00% OHKO; 2.56% OHKO w/ SR 252 SpA +1 Dragon Pulse v 4/0 Sketchmon: 538 Atk vs 214 Def & 300 HP (90 Base Power): 247 - 292 (82.33% - 97.33%) - 0.00% OHKO; 58.97% OHKO w/ SR
vs Vaporeon 0 SpA Ice Beam v 4/0 Sketchmon: 256 Atk vs 214 Def & 300 HP (100 Base Power): 176 - 208 (58.67% - 69.33%) - 2HKO vs Suicune
Max SpA Ice Beam v 4/0 Sketchmon: 306 Atk vs 214 Def & 300 HP (100 Base Power): 210 - 248 (70.00% - 82.67%) - 2HKO
CroCune (0 SpA) Ice Beam v 4/0 Sketchmon: 216 Atk vs 214 Def & 300 HP (100 Base Power): 148 - 176 (49.33% - 58.67%) - 66.34% 2HKO w/ Leftovers; 2HKO vs Scizor
Max Atk Tech CB Bullet Punch v 4/0 Sketchmon: 591 Atk vs 210 Def & 300 HP (60 Base Power): 181 - 214 (60.33% - 71.33%) - 2HKO Max Atk Tech CB Bullet Punch v -1 4/0 Sketchmon: 591 Atk vs 140 Def & 300 HP (60 Base Power): 271 - 321 (90.33% - 107.00%) - OHKO w/ SR; 41.03% OHKO
I'm going to reiterate some key points here. This spread is weaker in terms of special offense and general bulk than most other spreads. However, this spread allows Sketchmon to do many things it wants to do; you can heavily dent your checks by running a surprising special set even without the high SpA stat, you can switch in on some other Pokemon and set-up/smite them with powerful physical moves, such as STAB Power Whip or even Shadow Claw. The Speed stat, while relatively low, encourages some boosters that boost speed while not being completely inferior to those that don't. The bulk of Sketchmon forces it to be much more careful, which I think is a good thing for this CAP.
Speed
From the checks and counters section, it has become apparent that we want Sketchy to lose to Hydregion but not to Dragonite, I chose a speed stat of 95 so that Sketchy sans boosts can outspeed Dragonite but not Hydregion. With a stat of 95, Sketchy outspeeds every single pokemon in the game with a speed plus nature and a +1 under his belt (Gear Shift?).
Defenses/Health Points
The combination of HP and Defense allows Sketchy to be reasonably bulky if he chooses (if one wanted to devote to one side, they could have a Defense/Special Defence of 317/344 to go along with an HP of 354) while still dying to Choice Band Scizor's Bullet Punch after Shell Smash.
Attacks
Knowing the advantages of Special Boosting moves in comparison to their Physical counterparts, (i'd take Quiver Dance over Gear Shift any day) I decided to give Sketchy more attack on the Physical side. An Attack stat of 105 allows Sketchy to devote its Sketch move to either a boosting physical move OR a coverage move (Sacred Fire, Bolt Strike, etc) and achieve relative success. A Special Attack stat of 85 may seem a bit low, (it maxes out at 295) but it is more than enough when we factor in the acsess to Quiver Dance/Tail Glow.
EDIT: Up until this point, the Calculated stats (everything that is not a base stat) was off. I am glad to say that they have been corrected. Furthermore, with the corrected values, the Special Tankiness of my pokemon was illegal. I've lowered the special defense of my stats and slightly boosted the special attack to compensate.
Offensive Calcs
Assuming 252 attack and a boosting nature with a moveset consisting of Hi Jump Kick (sketched), Seed Bomb, and Shadow Claw. Important OHKO's w/o Life Orb
I think Engineer Pikachu is on track most of anyone right now. Other BSTs of 536, 557, 565, 578, etc, as have been suggested so far, just feel overall too high for my taste. Remember, this CAP can run a faster Spore than Breloom or Quiver Dance without Volcarona's massive Stealth Rock problem, or or or...
In my opinion, the CAP's final BST should place it well towards the bottom of OU. I quite like Engineer Pikachu's spread and his explanation, though I still prefer the 81 speed of LouisCyphre and others to EP's 73 speed.
I think BST is a bit overrated in this particular instance; Dusk summarizes my feelings on the matter very concisely in the OP.
I'm not comfortable with a speed above 95 or so, personally. Boosts come too easily to that to be worried about what it outspeeds at +1 - if CAP2 is investing in speed with intent to outspeed and KO other threats, then it is using Gear Shift or Shell Smash, and we should be worried about +2. Quiver Dance doesn't crux on starting Speed as it does on initial bulk.
Ok, this is my first time trying this, so play nice!
HP: 93
Atk: 120
Def: 100
SpA: 95
SpD: 95
Spe: 84
PT: 168
ST: 159
PS: 174
SS: 142
HP:
I wanted to give a more even defensive spread so instead of making the defenses individually higher, I just made HP pretty decent.
Atk and Spe:
I didn`t want this CAP to have to high a speed, because then it could just spore to it`s hearts content. Instead, I opted for an average-low speed, but a higher attack in order to give it the same physical-sweepiness.
Def and SpD:
I really just wanted to make sure that CAP2 could take hits well enough from both ends of the spectrum, and that it wasn`t too biased to one side.
SpA:
I wanted to make sure that the special attack was still usable, ala Venomoth, if it still wanted to go the quiver dance route, and that it is still a perfectly viable option and gives CAP2 a bit more unpredictability.
Offense-Defense Balance (ODB): -3.4036 (Slightly Biased towards Defense)
Physical-Special Balance (PSB): 2.0961 (Slightly Biased towards Physical)
Explanations and Comments
I think the first thing that stands out here is that this spread almost doesn't care about the limits, as every stat rating here comes very short of the limit besides Physical Tankiness, which I though needed to ride the limit. It has moderate Speed and decent bulk all around. I didn't want to tailor this Pokemon to outspeed specific mons per se, but I did give this Pokemon the potential to mix its Speed and bulk to have great effect in the meta.
Speed
Speed is arguably the most important stat in OU, so I'm going to go into detail here. 80 I felt is a pretty above-average number here, as it's able to outspeed virtually every wall (and potentially disrupt or set up on them) and every non-Ninetales Weather starter. However, outspeeding Ninetales isn't important because this CAP is fire-weak and this spread has only Good Special Tankiness to take Sun-boosted Flamethrowers. Sketchmon, however, can outspeed defensive Politoed without any investment, so it can feel free to invest in bulk instead. 80 also puts it just under Gyarados, who I feel should be able to stop this Pokemon pretty well if they're in a one-on-one situation. Heatran, a common Special wall, can still be taken out by Earthquake or Earth Power or whatever.
I think 80 (I'm tempted to push it to 81) might be the perfect Speed for this CAP because I think anything lower will not be viableenough, as you get outsped by Dragonite, who's simply too common in OU to be able to beat this CAP so easily. 80 Speed will give CAP the ability to outspeed Adamant Dragonite 100% of the time with a boosting nature and 164 EVs and tie with all Adamant Dragonite with a neutral nature and 252 EVs. You also outspeed Adamant Gyarados with a boosting nature and 172 EVs. You could always forego a boosting move and just use a 4 attacks set as a "utility counter" of sorts, kind of like Jirachi.
Offenses
Shell Smash. This thing can go nuts with Shell Smash, especially for its ability to go mixed because of the 93/103 offenses. However, it doesn't look like Sketchster can get through Skarmory with Shell Smash, which is nice because it provides a solid counter to an easily breakable set. I think Shell Smash should be one of its flagship sets, so I wanted to give it offenses comparable to Cloyster (a common sweeper) but with more Special Attack to make it pose more of a threat with its probably lower powered moves. I don't want this Pokemon too fast that it can abuse something like Tail Glow and go on a Special Attacking rampage, so that's why the offenses are higher than the Speed.
Quiver Dance: CAP2, in my opinion, could make a great Quiver Dance sweeper because of it's great Physical bulk. Though it's not as powerful as Volcarona, its 72/115 Physical Defense gives it a real edge, and 103 Special Attack is not bad at all. 80 Speed is nice because it outspeeds the whole metagame with two boosts, and this guy will be pretty impossible to OHKO after one Dance. I would expect for a Quiver Dance set to be used more than a Shell Smash one.
Shift Gear: This could be interesting, as this set might want to run a mixed Shift Gear set to break Physical walls like Skarmory. 93 Attack isn't very spectacular, but an Adamant Max Attack CAP2 would still get a respectable 313 Attack, and a Jolly one would get 285. If the opponent's skarmory is gone, I could see a Shift Gear sweeper be really impressive.
Defenses
I wanted to go Specially Defensive at first, but when the official limits came out I experimented with the calculator and came to like a more physically defensive CAP. This guy has such great typing that it won't worry about most Special attacks like Surf, Scald, and Thunderbolt, while still not being able to come in and say "fuck you Ice Beam I have 255 SDEF so gg GG!" Physical Defense gives it the ability to take Scizor's attacks but not able to take Hydreigon's. This buffs it a bit, as Scizor doesn't become as viable a revenge killer if it's in KO range from one of CAP2's attacks.
relatively low HP and higher Defenses make it a better Leech Seed abuser!
Leech Seed could be pretty brutal here, but I'm not sure what would make it better than Ferrothorn. I guess the ability to run a mixed attacking+SubSeed is pretty devastating, or maybe a Quiver Dance+SubSeed+Shadow Ball set?? Or a ShiftGear+SubSeed+Leafblade set?? This spread gives it a lot of defensive emphasis, and the bulk so resisted hits will probably not break its Substitutes.
Spore: 80 Speed is plenty for Spore. You get 259 Speed (max neutral) or 284 Speed (max positive). We know that Breloom can abuse Spore with much worse defenses and a lot worse Speed, so I wouldn't think this is a problem here. However, a Spore+SubSeed set would be better for this CAP as it doesn't have the stellar offenses that Breloom has, and Spore will probably make it forego a boosting move unless we give it Work Up or something, but Spore+Work Up isn't very potent. All in all, I think this set would make CAP2 pick between Offense and Support, which balances it out a little more. Remember, the opponent has no idea whether to expect a Quiver Dance Sweeper or a Spore Abuser!
Numbers
Speed:
No Investment: 196
Outspeeds walls like Specially Defensive Heatran, Skarmory, and weather starters that are not Ninetales.
12 EVs:
Outspeeds Jolteon and other Base 130s at +2. This allows Sketchy to invest in mixed offenses if it's okay with losing to Scarfers.
32 EVs:
Outspeeds Wobbuffet with a negative nature (if you're into that shit; you'll probably just kill it anyway).
196 EVs:
Outspeeds max Speed Tyranitar with a neutral nature.
200 EVs:
Outspeeds positive base 115s like Starmie with one boost (assuming neutral nature CAP2)
212 EVs:
Outruns Scarfed Politoed at +1 and Scarfed Landorus at +2.
232 EVs:
Beats Deoxys-S at +2 with a neutral nature. I would think this might be the standard sweeper set.
Full Investment: 284
Outspeeds the entire metagame at +2. This allows Scarfers to check it if its Speed is +1, but can still beat out some Scarfers like Scarftar and Scarftran (do people use this?). This Pokemon will have to run a +Speed boosting nature to outspeed Scarfed Base 108s at +2. Even with a non-boosting nature it beats out anything slower.
Dusk said in a later post that the best way to balance out a Smash set is to make it vulnerable to Physical priority attacks. Though that may be true, how much Physical Tankiness we give it will not be very relevant, as Shell Smash already lowers Defense (unless you're using White Herb, in which you simply lose a ton of power). I think the best way to balance out a Shell Smash is to give it a mediocre Speed that will not beat the best Scarfers without a boosting nature and average enough offenses that it will not sweep without one. Shell Smash is not that threatening on this Pokemon, as its typing already makes it Skarmory food. Even with extra Fighting coverage (if we give it Close COmbat or Brick Break or something), it's still not getting through the tin bird. That's why maxing Physical Tankiness is okay. Also, we don't want this Pokemon to be a "come here Scizor please Bullet Punch me! or a Look, Tyranitar, I'll die to a 40 Power Pursuit!" Pokemon, so it's important to give it enough Defense to weather attacks like that at full health.
A Special Smash set is stopped by Blissey instead of Skarmory unless it has Physical Fighting coverage on the side. However, if the set is Smash+Close Combat+ Energy Ball+ Shadow Ball, remember that your only STABs are 80 Power and you cannot OHKO 248 HP Scizor with a Naive CAP2's Close Combat with White Herb. Shell Smash on this guy is tough, but it's not going to beat the entire metagame.
ODB: 0.9337 (slightly biased towards offense)
PSB: 0.1571 (slightly biased towards physical)
The absolute most important parts of this spread are the speed and that special tankiness--I believe that 76 is absolutely the most optimal speed for CAP2. This number is perfect for two reasons: it allows CAP2 to outspeed the Pokemon it absolutely must outspeed, namely Politoed, while underspeeding the Pokemon that should prove to be its #1 nemesis, Heatran. Relatively slow speed is much better for this concept than is fast speed, in order for CAP2 to not simply abuse Swords Dance or Tail Glow every single time. Base 76 is also an excellent speed number in that it allows CAP2 to hit 263 as a speed number with several EVs to spare--263 is the most important speed number for mid-range speed Pokemon in BW OU for several reasons. With no speed boosts, 263 allows a Pokemon to outspeed max speed +nature base 70s like Specs Politoed. In fact, base 76 means CAP2 could even go up to 270 if so desired, to beat Modest Nidoking. However, 263 is important in that a Pokemon with +2 speed at 263 reaches 526, fast enough to outspeed absolutely every remotely common Choice Scarf user, as well as Deoxys-e. The true magic of base 76 speed comes in terms of what it does for Quiver Dance CAP2: at +1, CAP2 is fast enough to outspeed base 130, which is to say, all unboosted Pokemon that are remotely commonly used, but still slow enough to be checked by many Choice Scarf users, such as Heatran and Darmanitan. Rotom-w is hard countered by CAP2, so its speed tier is not as important as it could otherwise have been.
My spread's defenses are inspired by Latios; it would allow Scizor, especially Choice Band Scizor, to check CAP2's boosting sets, while remaining as bulky as allowed on the special side to best take Surfs and Thunders.
The offenses are designed to balance the power of the physical non-stat up and special (and presumably mixed in the case of Shell Smash) stat-up sets; near-max allowed physical sweepiness means that CAP2 will be able to hit very hard with no set-up, while 81 is a number calculated to allow Heatran the best chance to soft counter all sets, and hard counter virtually all boosting sets (for the calcs as to why this is the case, Engineer Pikachu spelled it out rather nicely).
Edit: UltiMario, your PS is illegally high, the limit is 175.
Edit #2, important: After some discussion in #cap and running some additional calculations, I've been convinced that the SpA can't be as low as 81 and expect to be competitive with the physical sets. As a result, I've bumped SpA up to 91.
ODB: 1.57 (slightly biased towards offense)
PSB: 6 (moderately biased towards physical)
Reasoning
I find that this set fills what sketch needs to be, Jack of all trades, master of none. Got to drop something to make something.
Speed
The most important aspect of this spread, base 96 speed, puts CAP2 just above Darmanitan's speed, allowing you to outspeed it with nearly full investment, and removing it as a large threat to the Quiver Dance set. Also enough to outspeed everything after a Shell Smash.
Offense
To Start off, base 80 SpA does stand out as a bit of a let down, but it's to assure that the insane Bulk and great speed after a Quiver Dance aren't matched with the offenses to actually wreck everything. Frailer sweepers Like Darmanitan can be taken out by a +1 LO Shadow Ball with SR or Spikes Support, While Bulkier targets may require a second Quiver Dance to even get by. This lower attack stat also allows Tyranitar to be a great check for the Butterfly Dance set, as Crunches will at least 2HKO with uninvested Defense, while only HP Fighting can supply enough power to bring down Ttar, which means Flying types, Bronzong, Ferrothorn, Forretress, and Scizor become particularly hard to bring down for the butterfly Dance set.
Base 105 Attack is significantly more substantial, especially with Wood Hammer, allowing CAP2 to rip through the frailer parts of the metagame after a Shell Smash or Gear Shift, and is enough to break through any walls that take Super Effective Damage from its attacks without much hassle. It still functions as a "jack of all trades, master of none" as this isn't quite enough ripping power to break through popular walls such as Chansey, Skarmory, or Ferrothorn without significant damage before hand. Even Skarm and Ferro can take HP Fires and hit back with Brave Bird/Whirlwind or Gyro Ball for a lot of damage as long as it's not Life Orb, in which SpD Skarm can even take that. Of course, CAP2 simply falls to these threats in Rain with the Shell Smash Variant. And, of course, Wood Hammer has enough power to keep TTars out of your hair.
Bulk 95/95/94 Defenses are definitely enough to get the job done. That's a good 394 HP with a potential 317 Def or 315 SpD for Max on either side. 0 SpD at +1 hits 336 SpD, which is certainly more than Bulky enough to tank hits for a successful Quiver Dance sweep. Assuming no HP, a Shell Smash brings CAP2 down to 331/150/149 Defenses, in which a strong or supereffective hit is going to really, really hurt, or likely KO.
Physical Tankiness: 133.11 (Good)
Special Tankiness: 148.98 (Good)
Physical Sweepiness: 174.89 (Very Good)
Special Sweepiness: 145.47 (Good)
Offensive/Defensive Bias: 3.71 (Slightly biased towards Offense)
Physical/Special Bias: 1.98 (Slightly biased towards Physical)
Base Stat Rating: 332.57 (Very Good)
Base Stat Total: 550
I chose to give CAP offensive stats similar to Flygon, largely because I always believed that Flygon had the perfect stats for abusing a plethora of boosting moves but never could seem to get any good ones, not even Dragon Dance. Now with access to every boosting move in the game, stats like these can be given a chance to shine, offensively. I tweaked them upwards to better mesh with the high-powered OU metagame and to fit the stat limits. At the same time, these stats don’t require boosting moves to function, opening the CAP up to more opportunities to explore bulky tank sets, quick anti-stall sets with Rapid Spin or Taunt (spinblocker!), Choice Scarf/Band sets, etc, while still posing a moderate offensive threat.
In terms of the boosting moves, I believe these stats are tailored well to the whole list of the best moves and balances them against each other.
Quiver Dance: CAP gets useful boosts to its good SpD and Spe stats, but the low 85 SpA will need 2 or more boosts to pose a significant threat (so long as all the Steel types and Blissey/Chansey are gone). It also must be aware of its exploitable 80 Def stat, meaning a bulkier boosting set may be more effective than an all-out offensive one.
Tail Glow: CAP boosts only its mediocre SpA while retaining its (for 5th gen.) average Speed. Still, it’s probably CAP’s best shot at going full-boosting-offense; however, even at +6 with 252 EVs and a Life Orb, CAP will be unable to overpower a healthy Heatran unless it carries a Hidden Power specifically for it, and of course anything faster can threaten with a SE or powerful physical attack. Again, a bulky defensive EV spread may give CAP more time to get that crucial second Tail Glow in so it can 2HKO almost the entire metagame.
Shell Smash: This is the big move everyone’s scared of, but with underwhelming physical STABs, +2 Atk won’t punch through OU’s Steels or major walls at all (most things get punched through, though, so sweeping is an option), and the +2 SpA runs into huge problems if you’re only using Hidden Power. Conveniently (or inconveniently), CB Scizor’s Bullet Punch does 90.7% - 106.8% (KO w/SR) to 4/0 CAP after Shell Smash and 60.2% - 70.7% (2HKO) before, which I believe is a trait people are looking for.
Shift Gear: Physical boosting CAP has the Speed to hit 598 after a Shift Gear with an Adamant nature, enough to outspeed Scarfed base-130s and Deoxys-S, which is good and gives physical CAP a more immediate presence with its higher attacking stat.
Coil: CAP has pretty good Special bulk, so boosting its lower Defense and its higher Atk stats could couple nicely into a bulky boosting set that can also function as a defensively mixed tank.
General: Boosting CAP will always have to deal with the Steel-types that wall its STAB attacks, which is a limitation in and of itself. Other limitations will come with the stat spread; in this case it will most often be its lower Def stat or its unimpressive SpA stat needing more than one boost to sweep. Further limitations will be the movepool (presumably), where the boosting moves themselves will severely limit the kind of coverage boosting CAP will have access to. That’s not to say that boosting CAP is ineffective; the calcs show that in several instances, CAP will be able to do significant damage with the proper team support, like any other boosting OU sweeper.
The Speed stat is perfectly balanced for the metagame and for the concept, imo. I understand the desire to not outspeed Hydreigon, but I guess that between all the defensive Steels and all the offensive powerhouses with SE moves giving the CAP trouble, being able to get a hit on Hydreigon first (resisted STABs, remember) is worth all the gains that 100 Spe can make. Due to the higher Speed of the 5th gen. metagame, 100 Spe can still be a relatively fast stat without forcing the user to try and outrun everything else there is with every set. That is to say, one could just as well invest fully in Speed as he/she could not invest at all and not feel like it’s wasted potential (think like how Jirachi is versatile in terms of EV investment). Running a physical or even mixed Choice Scarf set with a Sketched coverage move could catch a bunch of potential counters off-guard, and the high Speed would most likely come in handy should CAP’s user be utilizing something like Spikes or Spore (get over it) as the Sketched move. Compared to our threats, defensively-invested CAP will be outsped by offensive Heatran, Hydreigon, and Dragonite while max Speed will let CAP outrun all three, with all that wiggle room in the middle. Considering Speed-boosting moves like Quiver Dance, a player could go with 112 EVs to outrun all un-Scarfed base 130 Pokemon at +1, or go full-investment to outrun Scarf Hydreigon or tie with Scarfed base 100s, or anything in-between.
When choosing the defensive stats, I wanted to unbalance Defense and Special Defense, largely to give a consistent weak-spot for the boosting moves but also to foster an attitude of going for the physical attacks when battling CAP. Most of the defensive Pokemon that will give CAP trouble attack off of their physical stat (Skarmory, Ferrothorn, Jirachi, non-Rain Dragonite, Bronzong), making it riskier for CAP to stay in when these threats surface. It also makes physical priority an added tool for opponents and makes its glaring Pursuit weakness glow even brighter. What this may or may not accomplish is theoretically giving CAP a boost to its Specially Defensive tanking ability, which is still quite good without being "great," as players could consistently try to take advantage of CAP's lower stat and go for Special attacks second. Or if they do go for Special attacks, they'll have a harder time getting through due to the naturally higher bulk. tl;dr I'd like people to send in Scizor or Skarmory to respond to CAP before they send in Volcarona or Infernape. I think this could put CAP and its team into more advantageous situations more often (when considering double-switching and the like).
Overall, the defensive stats suggest something thick but not "defensive" like a wall or a tank is defensive. The defensive stats are more like Machamp or Hydreigon: they are the backbone of an offensive Pokemon. You don't have to pump 252 EVs into HP for every set to get the most out of higher defensive stats, but 252 HP EVs will allow CAP to tank hits slightly better than Machamp, while only 4 EVs will allow CAP to tank hits slightly worse than Hydreigon. I think those two Pokemon are excellent benchmarks for the kind of bulk we've been talking about for the concept, imo.
Please use Honko's absolutely brilliantcalculators for a complete list of calculations when using this spread. I will also supply the importable data for Doug's calculator, which could prove helpful. I will put a few relevant calculations in this post only. When reading the stats, take careful note as the stat stages progress to see what it takes to put one of these opponents down. For the offensive calculations, I have put CAP's most effective move against that particular foe first and the second-most effective afterward, a feature of Honko's calculator that I really like as it highlights where there holes in CAP's multi-attack coverage are and which foes are able to limit offensive CAP in that way (like battling SubDisable Gengar or when choosing a Hidden Power to defeat Heatran or Scizor, for example). In my opinion, these calcs don't get out of hand at all until you get that second Tail Glow in and you use a Life Orb and you chose the right Hidden Power for your opponent's team and the opponent somehow hasn't done anything about that yet. Other than that, they make sweeper Sketchmon at this stage seem effective, not broken.
Note: In order to track the offensive capabilities of this spread as it boosts, a good thing to do is to see how the damage taken from each foe increases each stage and to what degree (2HKOs become OHKOs w/SR, etc.). This will give you a better picture of where boosting CAP needs to be in common battle situations in order to defeat a particular foe (remember, even one boost is hard to grab sometimes, and CAP will only have access to 3/4 of the moves used for the calculations, if that, so pay attention to the "second-best" move also).
So with the coverage options I gave to the theoretical CAP here, you can see that physical-boosting CAP will be running into trouble against Scizor, Skarmory, Heatran, Jirachi, and Ferrothorn (whose Gyro Ball will sting after a Shift Gear or especially Shell Smash). The damage output at +2 with the Life Orb is what a sweeper or cleaner will be looking for, so whether CAP needs a plan to spend two turns setting up or it uses Swords Dance/Shell Smash to get the instant boosts, it will still need to get those defensive Steels and priority users out of the way first. At +0 (for instances when a non-stat-boosting move is Sketched), CAP does respectable damage with its STABs; it can OHKO both of Latios and Choice Politoed, more if you factor in Stealth Rock or other passive damage. Physical coverage moves like Sacred Fire or Icicle Crash can more than earn their Sketch slots without the option to boost stats or Spore something.
Okay so obviously Blissey is a full stop to Special-boosting CAP unless it runs both of Tail Glow and Hidden Power-Fighting (a way to prevent Toxic will help, too, as it's really Blissey's only option beyond Wish stalling), but that goes without saying. From the calcs, it is clear that Spec-boost CAP will have a very tough choice between Hidden Powers, basically choosing which opponents will cause it problems and which ones it can catch off-guard (Hydreigon/Heatran/Tyranitar vs. Scizor/Skarmory/Jirachi). As intended, these calcs look awful for an offensive Pokemon at +0, with the really good sweeper damage coming at the +2 and +3 stages with the Life Orb and the silly damage coming at +6 (for lulz). This will make CAP have to choose again between something like Quiver Dance, where the Speed Boost could prove vital to gaining additional boosts enough to sweep, or something like Tail Glow, where CAP goes right for the 1-turn setup for big damage output while accepting the fact that it will get the first hit on fewer occasions AND that there are still ways to get around its sweep defensively. The Life Orb required to accomplish this damage will also open it up to priority revenging down the line.
The lesson here is that there is simply no way to save yourself from either Offensive Heatran's or Volcarona's Fire Blast, no matter what you do, and that the 4/0 EV spread opens offensive CAP up to big damage. Investing the full 252 EVs in HP gives CAP the bulk it needs to tank hits and attain multiple boosts or whatever else it has to do, even if it's just tank the hit. But that, in turn, means sacrificing either Speed or power.
I took a more balanced approach to the stat spread simply because of how many unknowns still exist and will exist down the road for this CAP. The offenses are balanced and the defenses are balanced both against one another and against the metagame. Altogether, the "bulky offense" idea here resembles Hydreigon more than it does Scrafty, the latter of which I think is too limiting a build when it comes to all the Sketch options out there. The biggest distinction this spread will likely make is with its Speed, which I will once again argue is well-balanced in this metagame: fast enough to make offense a real option with its average/below average attacking stats, yet not so much faster than the rest of the metagame that it must always fully invest in Speed to be successful.
They're ratings based on combined stats - It takes both HP and Defense to survive physical hits, so both of those stats are used to find Physical Tankiness. Make sense?
They're ratings based on combined stats - It takes both HP and Defense to survive physical hits, so both of those stats are used to find Physical Tankiness. Make sense?
There's been a lot of talk of making this a "Jack of all Trades, master of none" Pokemon. So, what better way to do that than to give it equal base stats? 90 base in everything makes it pretty good at everything, while at the same time not excelling at anything in particular. On the offense, it can take advantage of boosting moves, but without them it's not *that* much of a threat. On the defense, it's comparable to Swampert, a solid but not unbreakable Pokemon. 90 base speed is just a good place to be. Faster than Heatran and base 80s, but slower than Hydreigon and base 100s.
Now, you may be asking yourselves, why such a peculiar stat spread? Or, perhaps you replaced the word "peculiar" with "idiotic". Well, I had very definite reasons for picking each of the stats, or combination of stats, that I did, and shall now demonstrate:
Defensive
On the defensive side, we have solid 130/70/70 stats. For comparison, 130/70/70 stats give roughly the same overall defensive capabilities as 90/90/90, which is generally accepted as being fairly "bulky". For reference's sake:
Code:
Jolly 252 Atk Armaldo LO Stone Edge v 130/70/70 (No investment): 69.1% - 81.5%
Jolly 252 Atk Armaldo LO Stone Edge v 90/90/90 (No investment): 70.4% - 83.2%
The reason I did not push these stats to their very limits is because a) I'd prefer if there was, in fact, some incentive towards investing in defensive stats, which can be made by a) making the defensive stats lower and b) making Sketchy vulnerable to attack otherwise. Since HP investment is not strictly necessary, mixed defensive sets are relatively usable, especially since you have extra EVs to push up Attack. I'd like to think that there's a lot of variety in what you can feasibly do with this spread, but I suppose that's true of most of the spreads here.
The big thing I want to draw your attention to is the high HP stat, which I am certain you will have noticed. Why is this here? Well, I have several very good reasons for including it, despite having to minimise Sketchy's other defensive stats to do so. We have here a Pokemon with the potential to be good at anything it does. Just because it is primarily a bulky attacker, doesn't mean that that is all it should be good for. I mean, look at Gyarados, for example. A bulky attacker that can turn supporter if its team needs it to. We have potential here for almost limitless variety, so why restrict ourselves to a single role, or even a single set? Coverage and STAB are not all that Sketch is good for, after all.
Thus, we find a need to differentiate Sketchy from Smeargle, should it want to be a supporter. And what better way than Wish? It doesn't even need to be a core supporting set - Wish is a great move on nearly any Pokemon with a high HP stat, and support of that nature is valuable to offensive partners. Hence the high HP stat - by using it, we can make use of Wish and moves like it more effectively. This is placing a lot of faith in the movepool, of course, to make a support or semi-support set viable. But the option is always there for us.
The other thing that I really want a high HP stat for is something that I have been very interested in for a long time: Transform. As I am sure you are aware, Transform copies all the opponent's stats, except for HP, and essential characteristics. Now, Smeargle, Ditto, and Mew are the only ones currently capable of using Transform, and let's be honest, all of them suck at using it. But if a Pokemon with a high HP stat got Transform - as Sketchy can do - then what will happen? I would love to find this out, but "Pokemon with Transform" is a pretty poor concept, as far as concepts go. So then, here we have the opportunity to add a totally new dimension to Sketchy - a move which will almost always give it the advantage over the switch-in. But more than that, we have the opportunity to really explore the limits of Sketch's potential, and what it is capable of doing for its user. Such an experiment would be fascinating, no doubt.
Offensive
The big deal for this CAP, imo, is its offensive ability. We don't want to overpower it and we don't want to underpower it. Having said that, it's kind of difficult to know where to begin when we have a Pokemon with basically limitless offensive potential in its movepool, not to mention that it has pretty damn solid defensive stats to work off as well.
Let's start with the offensive side. Now, I believe that a number of people would prefer to skew the offensive stats towards one side - there's nothing bad about that, but I would prefer to keep them more or less the same for a number of reasons. Firstly we have the sheer scope available to us in the form of offensive moves - on the physical side we have such beauties as Power Whip for STAB, while giving us stuff like Sacred Fire, V-create, Bolt Strike, and the like for coverage. On the special side, we can have Seed Flare for STAB and Blue Flare for coverage, alongside standard stuff like Shadow Ball.
So, immediately we see we have a lot to work with. I'd rather not prejudice either side for the moment, and let the players decide which side they'd rather attack with, so equal offensive stats it is for me. The second reason for this is because it becomes easier to feasibly create a mixed set based on either side without having to cut off one to serve the other, as it were. Typically mixed sets require high stats in one side and high-power moves on the other to be effective - since we can go either way on Sketchy, equal offensive stats are a nice thing to have.
Now, as for the stats themselves - 110/100 gives us the same physical power as Arcanine and Swampert, and the same special power as Shaymin and Starmie, for comparison's sake. The difference is, of course, that none of the above have access to any boosting moves - or at least, certainly none like Quiver Dance, Tail Glow, Swords Dance, or Shell Smash. For this reason, though I am tempted to push it further, I would prefer that they remained about average and relied on its switching ability, decent defensive stats and high-power moves to present the bulk of its offensive threat - after all, Lucario is a potent threat even with its low-ish offensive stats. On the special side, Base 100 is by no means bad, and will give us a good opportunity (I keep saying this don't I) to look at Sketch from the perspective of something that has a prerogative to choose well, rather than something that just needs an extra move. Or something.
But on to the Speed. I surmise that this will be an area of great contention. Eventually I went with base 85 in order to beat out Heatran, Dragonite, Togekiss, and Gyarados, while tying with Heracross and the like, which should be sufficient for our purposes. Personally, I feel that being outrun as well as outgunned by the #1 Pokemon in OU is a bad move, and at least this way we at least have a chance to beat it with Hidden Power Ice or whatever. In addition, you can beat out Chlorophyll Venusaur after a Shell Smash, and importantly you can beat base 130s after a +1 Speed boost (such as from Quiver Dance or Choice Scarf). As for what can outrun Sketchy, it's basically "everything fast" plus specially defensive Grass-types (Shaymin, Celebi, Roserade) and the Rotom-formes (Rotom-H in particular).
Was going to post a stat spread but bugmaniacbob's spread is basically a better and more justified version of mine, so I'll just vouch for his instead. :p I like how the high HP stat is actually a key factor in how CAP2 can use certain support moves like Wish and Transform (and even recoil moves like Wood Hammer) instead of a just a gimmick or stat manipulating device. It gives CAP2 more opportunity to try out defensive or unconventional sets with its Sketch move, which only strengthens the concept of using Sketch in a number of varied different ways.
As you might have noticed, the Attack stat I’ve chosen actually hits the physical sweepiness limit (I’m so glad that the limit was a rounded number... >_>). Part of the reason for this is that the higher speed of my spread skews its physical sweepiness quite deceptively – the number of specific problem pokemon outsped at base 91 is quite small (see SPEED section below). A pokemon with 120/81 physical offenses is probably a better physical sweeper in BW OU than a pokemon with 110/91 physical offenses, despite having lower physical sweepiness. Because of the general futility of physical boosting moves on a Grass/Ghost pokemon, we need high Attack in order to deal damage outright, and a stat of 110 nets you most of the KO’s an all-out attacker requires, and makes the large quantity of physical sketch moves available viable; you don’t have any trouble OHKO’ing standard Ttar with LO Power Whip, for example, or standard Metagross with LO V-Create. You’re still going to have problems with very bulky mons (252 HP Heatran only falls to ground moves, and Dragonite is easily withstanding that Icicle Crash with Multiscale) but generally, if you choose a powerful physical move that’s super effective against a certain pokemon, you’re going to be able to KO that pokemon with a standard LO set. The unfortunate base power of Shadow Claw does mean missing out on a lot of Kos against Psychic and Ghosts, but it’s the best I can do with the limit set – Shadow Claw does better with Choice Band, and, if we get a weak physical boosting move in the base moveset, more possibilities are opened for this guy.
Special Sweepiness is fairly low, but we can still make some good use of Tail Glow and Quiver Dance (thanks to its bulk). Bulky Tail Glow sweepers are only really stopped by faster, more powerful attackers, and the various mons that wall them cannot do much in return – should CAP2 somehow get to +6, most of the metagame can be OHKO’d with a moveset of Hidden Power Fighting/Fire / Shadow Ball / Giga Drain. It should be noted, however, that with the base power of its moves and its low special attack and speed, special boosting sets are probably less worthwhile – bulky sets with optimal support with the ability to boost multiple times can be devastating, however. Quiver Dancers gain the ability to outspeed and KO various threats, but are walled more easily. Lower special sweepiness also prevents mixed shell smash threats.
BULK
I’ve focused on more or less maximising special tankiness with this spread, simply because I think it has more potential with more special bulk. The main pokemon that threaten CAP2 on the special side are generally powerful enough to deal with higher special bulk (Heatran and Hydreigon are hard counters), and higher special bulk actually makes up for sub-100 speed to an extent (see the SPEED section below). Physical tankiness is notably lower than special tankiness, but can certainly be very high with investment. One thing that lower uninvested physical bulk here provides is a vulnerability to three specific pokemon; Scizor, Mamoswine, and Weavile. After a Shell Smash, Scizor can check non-HP Fire variants very well, resisting STABs and neutral to HP Fighting, and easily KO’ing with banded Bullet Punch after two rounds of LO recoil. Choice Band Mamo and Weavile outright OHKO after Shell Smash with Ice Shard. All three are also able to easily 2HKO uninvested Quiver Dance variants with Priority, with Scizor acting as an outright counter. Quiver Dance is prevented from becoming too strong with lower physical bulk, and bulky QD sets force large Defence investment.
One thing you might have noticed about my spread that is fairly unique is its higher HP. Whilst I understand concerns about high HP, what I like about it is that it forces us to tailor defences more specifically, depending on the role we want it to take on – something with high HP, when invested with 252/252 HP/SpD, has less physical tankiness than something with the same BSR but low HP, when given the same investment. It should also be noted that the effects of defence changes are slightly more noticeable on pokemon with higher HP – it will be easier to kill after a shell smash, and harder to kill after a Coil, for example, than something with low HP – which I think is particularly relevant for something with so many boosting moves. However, the differences I’ve described are not actually hugely significant overall; they’re just nice, slight side-effects I think suit the CAP. I know some people want like the king of all subseeders for some reason, but we already have a good enough subseeding niche with Sketch (Sacred Fire / Spore) and its Ghost typing that I don’t think we really need to be tailoring it specifically for that. When it comes to Pain Split (and whether or not we even give it Pain Split is an argument for another day), I have to say that I feel we would probably prefer to Sketch reliable recovery, and I don’t really want a base 50 HP wonder, because giving that Pain Split really helps it out more than we probably should. Also, the ability to make 101 HP subs is irrelevant because our Ghost typing gives us both an immunity to Seismic Toss and an inherent type advantage against all common Night Shade users.
SPEED
91 speed was a fairly difficult decision to make, but I’ll explain the reasoning here. Outspeeding base 80s is a pretty big deal if we decide to go offensive, because some of the most relevant pokemon that threaten us are at or just below this baseline, such as Dragonite, Mamoswine, Togekiss, Chandelure and Heatran. By running maximum speed and the relevant move, CAP2 can potentially beat any of these pokemon 1 on 1, which would be effectively impossible if it were slower; a speed higher than base 80 greatly reduces our 100% counter list, and is the only way we can truly abuse Sketch’s unpredictability. Underspeeding these guys means Sketch is pigeonholed more often, as offensive sets are significantly more ineffective without a speed boost.
Whilst 81 speed is, therefore, the most important benchmark, the tie with Gyarados being less relevant as he almost exclusively boosts his speed and the victor in the matchup is dependent on both movesets, I decided to hit 91. True, the difference between 80 speed and 100 speed is more of a crack in the pavement than a wide crevasse – most of the pokemon within either do not threaten CAP2 (Rotom-W, Roserade) or beat it most of the time despite their speed (Hydreigon, certain Toxicroak) – but 91 offers many distinct advantages. With 91 speed, we can, if we choose to, act as a true counter to Lucario – whilst a banded Crunch would certainly be a surprising KO, CAP2’s immunity to Close Combat and all of Lucario’s priority attacks means an easy switch into one of these moves, along with Swords Dance or Nasty Plot, and, with 110 base attack, an ability to actually OHKO Lucario through reflect with LO V-Create. An ability to outspeed Heracross is significant for similar reasons, although Megahorn does hurt. 91 speed is also pivotal because of what it underspeeds; Hydreigon, though outsped if Modest, will always be able to check CAP2. Even Quiver Dance falls to the Scarf set, although slower Hydreigon can always be beaten with prior damage. Nothing short of a Close Combat is getting you through Hydreigon, an attack that must be performed on the switch. A significant number of scarfers also reside between 91-100 (Haxorus, Darmanitan Krookodile), allowing +1 speed sets to be revenged by common revenge killers. As a final, slightly obvious note, base 91 allows us to outspeed every common wall with zero investment except for Gliscor and Tentacruel, who we can defeat anyway depending on the set, allowing slower, bulkier, wall-breaking sets to function well. Whilst 91 increases the amount of mons we outspeed at minimal investment, we are still forced to go with maximum speed investment if we want to be an effective attacker; with this spread, you need a speed boosting nature in order to outspeed max-speed base 80s, which you wouldn't need at base 92 or 95.
Underspeeding all those 100+ mons is detrimental to CAP2 to an extent, but of course, there needs to be a limit somewhere. One thing that can be said about the most potent fastmons is that they are often fast special attackers – Latios, Starmie, Gengar, Celebi and CM Virizion are some of the most used pokemon at 100+ speed – allowing us to sponge attacks with good ST and specially-defensive typing, and hit back on the (often weaker) defense stat with our high attack. I don’t think our ability to abuse our unpredictability is compromised by having sub-100 speed. However, it should be noted that Infernape, Salamence, Tornadus, Volcarona and Zoroark are generally going to be difficult pokemon for CAP2, so its up to you to decide whether or not that’s a bad thing. There’s also the problem of Sub Disable Gengar, but its inability to switch into Ghost-Type attacks makes it less of a threat.
CALCS
goddam I hate doing cacs. Probs won't finish. If something is obviously weaker than something that is KO'd it's obviously gonna be KO'd.
(All are movepool assumptions are assumptions, of course, and individual moves don’t need to be given to CAP2 at all if my spread wins.)
The most effective EVs are 8 HP / 252 SpA / 248+ Spe @ Life Orb, 8 HP / 252 SpA / 248+ Spe @ Leftovers, and 76 HP / 252 SpA / 176+ Spe @ Leftovers (outspeeds 252+ Spe base 81s). In all cases, Special Attack is given 252 EVs and a neutral nature, and either Leftovers or Life Orb is held.
Calcs involve Giga Drain, Energy Ball, Leaf Storm, Shadow Ball, HP Fire and HP Fighting.
252 SpA +3 Leaf Storm @ LO:
This is probably one of the main attractions for faster sets, and utilises Tail Glow in a wallbreaking fashion. +3 Life Orb Leaf Storm hits like an absolute truck, but is worn down very easily and easily outsped, and getting to the stage where you can actually pull off a +3 Leaf Storm is still very difficult. Remember, after a Tail Glow and a Leaf Storm, we are still at 418 SpA! (This attack basically kills anything that isn’t immune or 4x resistant, but remember, if it does less than ~90% and the opponent is faster and has recovery, or if it does less than ~60% and the opponent is slower and has recovery or can KO back, winning is generally impossible thanks to the -2 drop)
Notable kills:
vs 252 HP / 4 Def Blissey = 132.07 - 155.6%
vs 4HP Latios = 187.41 - 220.52%
vs 252 HP Latias = 134.34 - 158.24%
vs 4HP Virizion = 169.13 - 199.07%
vs 252 HP / 224+ SpD Jirachi = 111.63 - 131.43%
vs 4HP Hydreigon = 205.82 - 242.02%
vs 252 HP / 176+ SpD @ Eviolite Dusclops: 182.04 - 214.43%
vs 4 HP Heatran = 90.09 - 105.88% (OHKO with SR)
vs 248 HP Scizor = 107.58 - 126.82%
vs 252 HP / 232+ SpD Skarmory = 84.43 - 99.1% (Easy 2HKO)
vs 4SpD Volcarona = 94.21 - 110.93%
vs 252 HP / 136+ SpD Roserade = 72.53 - 85.49% (Easy 2HKO)
vs 252 HP Salamence = 93.65 - 110.4%
Survivors:
vs Herbivore Bouffalant = 0%
vs 4 SpD Multiscale Dragonite = 47.36 - 55.72% (OHKO with SR)
vs 252 HP / 252+ SpD Mutiscale Dragonite = 28.49 - 33.67% (2HKO with SR)
vs 248 HP / 100+ SpD Heatran = 54.66 - 64.5%
vs 252 HP / 168 SpD Ferrothorn = 66.19 - 78.12%
vs 224 HP / 8 SpD Volcarona = 79.56 - 93.46% (OHKO with SR)
vs 252 HP / 216+ SpD Altaria = 64.12 - 75.42%
252 SpA +3 Energy Ball @ LO
If we decide Leaf Storm is too powerful, Energy Ball is the next best thing after the conditional Solarbeam. It is much weaker, but still extremely potent. 2HKOs are more set in stone thanks to the lack of a -2 drop as well. Remember, using Tail Glow, then going for a 2HKO takes three whole turns – making room for that is extremely difficult
Notable Kills:
vs 252 HP / 4SpD Blissey = 75.77 - 89.21% (2HKO, Blissey cannot kill in return)
vs 4HP Latios = 106.95 - 126.15%
vs 252 HP Latias = 76.92 - 90.65% (2HKO, cannot win thanks to Shadow Ball)
vs vs 252 HP / 224+ SpD Jirachi = 63.86 – 75% (2HKO, Jirachi cannot kill in return)
vs 4HP Virizion = 96.91 - 114.19%
Survivors:
vs Herbivore Bouffalant = 0%
vs 4 SpD Multiscale Dragonite: 26.93 - 31.88% (2HKO after SR)
vs 252 HP Multiscale Dragonite: 22.53 - 26.68% (can sometimes 2HKO with SR)
vs 252 HP / 252+ SpD Mutiscale Dragonite = 16.32 - 19.43% (Cannot 2HKO even with SR)
vs 248 HP / 100+ SpD Heatran = 31.34 - 36.78%
vs 252 HP / 168 SpD Ferrothorn = 37.78 - 44.6%
vs 4 HP Heatran = 37.76 - 44.53%
vs 224 HP / 8 SpD Volcarona = 45.5 - 53.4% (sometimes KO’d with SR)
vs 4SpD Volcarona = 53.69 - 63.34% (OHKO with SR)
vs 248 HP Scizor = 61.51 - 72.59%
252 SpA +3 Giga Drain @ Leftovers
Bulky sets love Giga Drain, and it isn’t much less potent than Energy Ball.
Notable Kills:
vs 4 Hp Hydreigon: 84.66 - 100% (kill with SR)
Survivors:
vs Herbivore Bouffalant = 0%
vs 4 SpD Multiscale Dragonite = 19.19 - 22.6%
vs 252 HP / 252+ SpD Mutiscale Dragonite = 11.65 - 13.73%
vs 248 HP / 100+ SpD Heatran = 22.53 - 26.68%
vs 252 HP / 168 SpD Ferrothorn = 27.27 - 32.1%
vs 4 HP Heatran = 37.15 - 43.65%
vs 224 HP / 8 SpD Volcarona = 32.69 - 38.69%
vs 4SpD Volcarona = 38.9 - 45.65%
vs 248 HP Scizor = 44.31 - 52.18%
vs 4HP Latias = 77.15 - 91.05%
vs 192 HP / 52 SpD Venusaur = 34.38 - 40.4%
vs 252 HP / 4SpD Blissey = 54.62 - 64.28%
252 SpA +3 Shadow Ball @ LO
vs Herbivore Bouffalant = 0%
vs Blissey = 0%
I guess my general justification for this spread is that it absolutely enhances the ability to make extensive and varied use of the sketch option. The proportional distribution of the stats, combined with typing, means physical attacking spreads are as viable as specially offensive spreads, which in turn are just as viable as support or defensive or boosting spreads. The pivotal numbers in speed and offenses, as well as bulk, means that if you absolutely want to defeat a certain pokemon with CAP2, there's likely a spread and a moveset that can do it - if you're running that powerful SE move, and the correct speed, bulk and item,then you're going to generally be victorious in the matchups you've enigneered it to win. There are exceptions that are going to generally be beating you, as I've outlined, but but it mostly holds true. There are always going to be a ton of hard counters for this guy, and some will be hard counters to almost every set (Hydreigon, Jirachi, Heatran, Togekiss) - the fact that the hard counters change depending on the set being run is what I'm trying to get across with the spread.
Other than my own spread, I think LouisCyphre’s is on the right track. What an awful collection of 1’s and 7’s, though... It’s almost offensive. I also quite like reachzero's.
EDIT: My bulk is almost identical to Reuniclus, would you look at that...
ODB: 4.2704 (slightly biased towards offense)
PSB: -0.8128 (slightly biased towards special)
Brief Summary:
Speed: 96 speed is trolled by Haxorus, Hydreigon, and base 100s, so it won't be able to go all in on sweeping without a boosting move (probably from sketch), paralysis support, or a choice item. With this Speed stat, CAP 2 will have to make a significant choice between better coverage and boosting with its Sketch move.
This was the highest speed I felt I could use without favoring Shell Smash, Tail Glow, Quiver Dance, etc. over all other strategies. The speed is high enough to outspeed most walls yet slow enough that it can't just outspeed and OHKO every sweeper on the planet.
Offensive: The offensive stats are a little low but equal at 87, allowing CAP 2 to go physical or special, whatever it prefers. However, they're a little low to make CAP 2 a credible threat without boosting or a choice item. I wanted to leave CAP 2 multiple options as to how it plays on offense, instead of painting it into "YOU MUST ATTACK PHYSICALLY" like Terrakion or "YOU MUST ATTACK SPECIALLY" like Starmie.
Defensive: The defensive stats are also equal, at 100 each. They are meant to give CAP 2 significant tanking ability without making it a flat out wall. I reinforced this with the low HP stat, which makes it difficult for CAP 2 to stall. Since stalling is not bulky offense, I felt comfortable with the change. The defensive stats give CAP 2 enough bulk to set up, but also enough to survive revenge kills once set up.
Well I don't want to sound rude or anything, but it's confusing to me when people post spreads that have equal offensive stats and then say 'this is so it is equally good at physical and special offense', especially when they actually post the BSRs alongside them. If you're trying to create equal offenses, why are you ignoring the fact that your offensive BSRs are different? Why are you even calculating the BSRs if you're just ignoring them? Also, offensive potential takes into consideration the available moves as well. You have to think about the power and viability of its STABs and boosting moves before you can say 'this has equal offenses'. Posting 90s across the board kinda just shows how little you've thought about it. A spread like LouisCyphre's, mine, or even reachzero's (whose base stats are really far apart), come closer to 'even offenses' than 90/90. DetroitLolcat's spread is skewed more towards special attacking than mine is towards physical attacking.
Justifications: First of all, I wanted something with 85 speed so that it could outspeed Dragonite with the right nature but still come in well behind Hydreigon. Also its not a troll speed that many people are suggesting. I don't mind funky numbers in all non-Speed stats, but for speed it just feels cheater-ish to me. Secondly, I wanted significantly higher physical defense than special defense. While this may have not been the general consensus in the thread, I think that Physical defense will go a lot further the Special defense on CAP2 due to its various weaknesses to ice and fire. In order to make there be a significant divide between the two stats, I needed low HP, which is also canonly nice as many ghosts have very low HP stats. 70 isn't tiny, but its still pretty small. Offensively, I knew this would have problems from the physical side, but 115 Atk is better than Lucario but this thing has better defenses. As for Special Attack, I figured that if this thing is going special, it likely has Tail Glow or Quiver Dance, so the low SpA is pretty solid. Offensively, its similar to a faster Swampert. Defensively it is similar to Gliscor, but with more SpD. O
