Okay guess we can post typings now. I like the goals put forth by Ununhexium, and I like the options of Water/Steel and Electric/Fairy, but for now I will only propose one.
At the end of the day, this CAP is going to be an offensive Pokemon, so for the purposes of a (presumably bulky/balanced) boosting sweeper, I feel as though a broadly offensive yet targeted defensive typing would be best-suited for this CAP:
Electric / Fairy
2x: Ground, Poison
1x: Fairy, Fire, Ghost, Grass, Ice, Normal, Psychic, Steel, Rock, Water
1/2x: Bug, Dark, Electric, Fighting, Flying
0x: Dragon
Notable STABs: Discharge, Draining Kiss, Fusion Bolt (allowed by nyttyn/mods), Moonblast,
Nuzzle, Parabolic Charge, Play Rough, Thunder Punch, Thunderbolt, Wild Charge
Here is how OU stacks up against this typing, defensively:
Weak to STABs: Altaria-M, Azumarill, Breloom, Charizard-Y, Conkeldurr, Dragonite, Empoleon, Gallade-M, Garchomp, Gyarados, Gyarados-M, Keldeo, Kyurem-B, Latias, Latios, Lopunny-M, Manaphy, Mandibuzz, Sableye-M, Skarmory, Slowbro, Slowbro-M, Starmie, Talonflame, Tyranitar, Tyranitar-M
Neutral to STABs: Bisharp, CAP20, Celebi, Chansey, Charizard-X, Clefable, Diancie-M, Gardevoir-M, Gengar, Gliscor, Gothitelle, Heatran, Hippowdon, Jirachi, Landorus-I, Landorus-T, Mamoswine, Manectric-M, Metagross-M, Mew, Raikou, Rotom-W, Scizor, Scizor-M, Sylveon, Thundurus, Zapdos
Resistant to STABs: Excadrill, Ferrothorn, Magnezone, Venusaur-M
A Few Thoughts:
- Many of the Pokes hit SE by this typing are considered to be OU’s most reliable tanks and walls, notably Azumarill, Conkeldurr, Garchomp, Latias, Manaphy, Sableye-M, Skarmory, Slowbro, Slowbro-M, and Tyranitar. Being able to bypass these typically foolproof answers to offense will give the CAP a niche few other sweepers enjoy.
- This typing gives the CAP an immediately threatening STAB against an large swath of offensive Pokemon, notably Garchomp, Gyarados(-M), Keldeo, Latios, Lopunny-M, and Talonflame, which will deter them from switching in before the opponent knows CAP’s set.
- All of OU’s Dragon Dance and Calm Mind users (barring Clefable and a few outliers like CM Landorus-I/Sylveon), notably Altaria-M, Gyarados(-M), Latias, Latios, Sableye-M, and Slowbro-M, receive SE blows from this typing. This will give the CAP a strong fighting chance in boosting wars.
- With such a large and diverse list of Pokemon weak to these STABs alone, applying enough offensive pressure to force switches and gain free turns to boost should be fairly common, especially before the CAP’s set is revealed or as opponents switch in the wrong checks or counters.
- Fire-type attacks would give the CAP perfect neutral coverage in the tier as well as a SE hit on Bisharp, Celebi, Excadrill, Ferrothorn, Jirachi, Magnezone, Metagross-M, and Scizor(-M), most of whom currently stand as strong checks or even full counters.
- This typing resists Brave Bird, Mach Punch, and Sucker Punch while remaining neutral to Aqua Jet and Bullet Punch, giving the CAP a serious edge against opposing priority attacks as it attempts to sweep.
- This typing resists the bulk of unbearable OU spam moves: Birdspam, Draco Meteor, Knock Off, U-turn, and Volt Switch (maybe we can tackle Scald later).
- The Electric typing grants CAP an immunity to paralysis, which is a great feature for the Dragon Dance set that is unavailable to all other DD users.
- This dual typing also opens up a potentially neat avenue for CM sets to use the HP-draining moves Parabolic Charge and Draining kiss to keep itself healthy as it sets up in lieu of reliable recovery.
- The best answers to this CAP, based only on its intended function as a “less predictable” boosting sweeper and on this typing, would most likely be mixed-defensive Pokemon with advantageous typing (Amoongus, Ferrothorn, Venusaur-M), bulky Ground-types (Excadrill, Gliscor, Landorus-T, Hippowdon), bulky Steel-types (Heatran, Metagross-M, SD Scizor-M), Unaware Clefable, and Status (Burn for DD, Toxic for CM). Naturally, Abilities, Stats, and Movepool will add to and subtract from this list, and ideally CAP’s chosen set will jostle this list around a bit.
The typing is not without its flaws, though:
- The Ground weakness and (presumably) underwhelming initial offensive presence will pull in the omnipresent Landorus-T and Gliscor whenever they are available (I have some ideas about this for later stages but I won’t post them here); this could be an asset or a flaw, too soon to tell. Either way, those two Pokemon especially tend to last quite a while in any Pokemon battle and would require our attention in future stages.
- The Electric typing has pretty poor options for physical offense: Wild Charge and Thunder Punch both have unfortunate drawbacks, yet DD CAP will want one or the other to get through Gengar, Heatran, Metagross-M, Scizor(-M), Skarmory, Slowbro(-M), and Talonflame (assuming no coverage at this point). (Edit: the TL and mods have decided to allow Fusion Bolt for consideration on this CAP, so this point may be less dire than it was originally). CM CAP, on the other hand, will have no such limitations on viable STAB options.
- Most opposing Dragon Dancers commonly run Earthquake, while CM Lati@s always runs Psyshock in order to beat opposing CM users, so most often whichever Poke gets the first boost will win those matchups.
- The typing relies on offensive pressure to force switches (it doesn’t really wall any complete OU movesets by typing alone, barring Skarmory and possibly Raikou), which may or may not run contrary to the desired stat build, although I think that’s only a minor issue unless we give the CAP garbage attacking stats.
