Dark Horse Thread(VGC Edition)

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Something through a little testing has proven to be a potential dark horse is Mega-Gallade. Through its ridiculous Attack, good speed, decent movepool and immunity to Flinches, it carves out a great niche against Mega-Kangaskhan and generally hits hard throughout a battle. I have opted for a more bulky spread which grants Gallade a lot of staying power compared to a standard 252/252 spread.


Gallade (M) @ Galladite
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 HP / 12 Atk / 52 Def / 192 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Ice Punch
- Rock Slide/Zen Headbutt
- Protect

With this spread Mega-Gallade outspeeds everything from Garchomp downwards (so base 102's), the 12 Attack EVs ensure the OHKO on most builds (covers up to 252 HP sets) Mega-Kangaskhan with Close Combat, also securing the OHKO on Landorus-T (2HKO after Intimidate). The HP and Defence EVs allow me to survive a Double-Edge from Kangaskhan (useful if they are under Tailwind) Rock Slide is the third move, mainly for the Charizard's and potential Talonflame switch ins. Zen Headbutt can be used for Mega-Venusaur. Protect is used to guarantee the Mega Evolution, and seen as this is VGC, it is weird not to use Protect. There were some other calcs that influenced the spread, but I can't remember them for the life of me.
 
I've been using a similar set paired with M-Tyranitar, and it's been quite solid so far. His support move pool is ridiculous and can make it very easy to gain momentum right off the bat. Awesome lead, especially in sand.



Not to beat a dead dark horse, but this set is fantastic and filled a hole in my team immediately. Swampert's got mad coverage and his Grass-type weakness has been easy to play around so far, not to mention his immunity to sandstorm prevents any headaches. You're right about all the Will-O-Wisps that he laughs off!

EDIT: Since I wasn't outspeeding much anyway, and had some problems removing Aegislash, I tried out a Quiet nature to force a speed-tie. That surprise 50% chance to let Aegislash attack first and OHKO back with Earth Power has so far proved more useful than a neutral speed nature, at least for my team.
How does the Quiet nature affect its damage output (I mean anything specific you can't kill anymore?)
 
How does the Quiet nature affect its damage output (I mean anything specific you can't kill anymore?)
Power output is the same, I was just tinkering with speed to add him to the "slow side" of my team to better handle Trick Room. I perhaps overcompensated for the terror of Weakness Policy Aegislash by letting him "attack" first and getting the OHKO, but now I've found that just as often he will Shield/Guard/etc. and force me to 2HKO anyway, making my speed tie moot. Thus I've since gone back to Modest myself and added Tailwind support from Talonflame -- with 28 Spd EVs under Tailwind Swampert can threaten non-Scarfed Adamant Lando-T which is pretty nice. 100 Spd EVs outspeed Modest Zard-Y but only Hydro Pump gets the OHKO, and a miss + Solar Beam doesn't seem worth it.

Besides, my Knock Off Ferrothorn (completing FWG core) moves after and KOs Aegislash as long as you predict King's Shield correctly. Aegislash can't even KO back with HP Fire, if that even exists.

To keep the oddity going, I tried to play around with a few weird sets:


Chesnaught @ Rocky Helmet / Leftovers
Ability: Bulletproof
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 252 HP / 148 Atk / 110 Def
- Spiky Shield
- Quick Guard
- Feint / Helping Hand
- Drain Punch / Superpower

EV'd to revenge KO non-bulky Mega-Kangaskhan with Drain Punch (+Helmet damage) or an outright Superpower, if M-Kang wants to touch it. But Chesnaught's support movepool is what surprised me -- Quick Guard screws up Prankster users, Spiky Shield is an anti-physical Protect, and either Feint or Helping Hand can aid your teammate in wreaking havoc. Obviously he's quite slow and has a boatload of weaknesses, but has a few tricks up the ole' sleeve.


Tentacruel @ Sitrus Berry / Shuca Berry
Ability: Clear Body
Nature: Bold
EVs: 140 HP / 252 Def / 116 Spe
- Safeguard
- Swagger / Acid Spray
- Protect
- Icy Wind / Scald

Just struck me as a potentially speedy Safeguard user, either to pair with Swagger on a physical teammate or Acid Spray to pave the way for a special attacker. The EVs allow Tentacruel to outspeed Jolly Breloom while also surviving max damage Bullet Seed (with Sitrus activation). Maximum defense also allow it to survive a super-effective Earthquake from Scarfed Adamant Lando-T and even a +2 Return from max attack Mega-Kangaskhan, but Shuca will be needed to stave off more powerful Lando quakes. The last slot has a few options, namely Icy Wind to provide speed control, though an attack can be run to hit a specific threat, albeit not much harder without offensive investment. Clear Body is useful to negate opposing Icy Winds. Interesting support options for Surfer's Bane.
 
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