I believe you're missing out on DISCHARGE SPAM. That's how you use Lightningrod in Doubles.
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Doubles Theorymon XY
- Thread starter Celever
- Start date
I'll give my opinions
1. Mega Sceptile: Mega Sceptile is a little underwhelming. It doesn't have much use for its ability, and I don't think it'll have enough bulk to support with Lightning Rod. I'm just hoping that a buff in SpA, buff in speed (outspeed skymin at least if it doesn't already), and Draco Meteor will be enough to save it. Nevertheless, it will still be walled by at least some steel types. It can work as a Rotom-W or Thundurus counter but I'm not sure it'll do great.
2. Mega Swampert: Mega Swampert is clearly the best new Mega Evolution. It's not hard to see why.as Swift Swim brings up one of Swampert's flaw, speed, and making it better. It'll probably get attacking stat boosts to about 105 each and its Speed will rise to about 75. Its defenses will get better as well. A set of Muddy Water, Protect, Earth Power/EQ, and Ice Beam will work wonders. Swampert will be a huge threat in this meta.
3. Mega Diance: Not much is known about this pokemon; however it looks interesting. About 165 SDef and Def with TR will make a good support mon. Its attack stats will also be high, around 115, so attacking with Diamond Storm and Moonblast might not be a bad idea. Whie it does get walled by Steels, this pokemon has potential to be amazing. It also also has an unknown abilty. Let's hope it's not Clear Body.
Thanks for sharing Darkmalice :)
1. Mega Sceptile: Mega Sceptile is a little underwhelming. It doesn't have much use for its ability, and I don't think it'll have enough bulk to support with Lightning Rod. I'm just hoping that a buff in SpA, buff in speed (outspeed skymin at least if it doesn't already), and Draco Meteor will be enough to save it. Nevertheless, it will still be walled by at least some steel types. It can work as a Rotom-W or Thundurus counter but I'm not sure it'll do great.
2. Mega Swampert: Mega Swampert is clearly the best new Mega Evolution. It's not hard to see why.as Swift Swim brings up one of Swampert's flaw, speed, and making it better. It'll probably get attacking stat boosts to about 105 each and its Speed will rise to about 75. Its defenses will get better as well. A set of Muddy Water, Protect, Earth Power/EQ, and Ice Beam will work wonders. Swampert will be a huge threat in this meta.
3. Mega Diance: Not much is known about this pokemon; however it looks interesting. About 165 SDef and Def with TR will make a good support mon. Its attack stats will also be high, around 115, so attacking with Diamond Storm and Moonblast might not be a bad idea. Whie it does get walled by Steels, this pokemon has potential to be amazing. It also also has an unknown abilty. Let's hope it's not Clear Body.
Thanks for sharing Darkmalice :)
What if Mega Pokemon got a 5th moveslot?
Obviously this is unlikely as fuck but I think it would have a super interesting effect on the metagame. I was prompted to ask this whilst QC checking Pwnemon's Scizor analysis and I noticed how restricting not having that extra coverage option can be. Upon further thought, I extended this principal to Mega Kangaskhan. This was a Pokemon we decided not to ban, one of the reasons being that it could not deviate from it's original set without becoming worse off for it. With 5 moveslots this becomes a whole new story, Kangaskhan has a bunch of tools at its disposal ripe and ready to fuck over your typical counters. Kangaskhan can now comfortably afford to run Substitute to capitalise on predicted switches or Ice Punch to dunk the likes of Landorus-T.
So, feel free to discuss 5 Moveslot Mega sets and stuff :>
Obviously this is unlikely as fuck but I think it would have a super interesting effect on the metagame. I was prompted to ask this whilst QC checking Pwnemon's Scizor analysis and I noticed how restricting not having that extra coverage option can be. Upon further thought, I extended this principal to Mega Kangaskhan. This was a Pokemon we decided not to ban, one of the reasons being that it could not deviate from it's original set without becoming worse off for it. With 5 moveslots this becomes a whole new story, Kangaskhan has a bunch of tools at its disposal ripe and ready to fuck over your typical counters. Kangaskhan can now comfortably afford to run Substitute to capitalise on predicted switches or Ice Punch to dunk the likes of Landorus-T.
So, feel free to discuss 5 Moveslot Mega sets and stuff :>
Stratos
Banned deucer.
fuck totem im going to talk about mega swampert and mega sceptile some more
As much as I hate to shit on the Mega Swampert hype train, i'm really not too impressed by it atm. Rain has three main problems: grass, dragon, and water, and Mega Swampert's STABs, unlike Ludicolo's and Kingdra's, help with breaking none of these. If he winds up with ridiculous Attack (like, say, 165), then it could be worth using him anyways for his ridiculous sheer statistics and just using the rest of your team to patch rain's holes, but i'm not sure, even though he'll probably get high usage, if he's the pokemon rain needs to stop suffering from ridiculous matchup issues. either way he is bad news for kabutops
mega sceptile seems interesting. I'm assuming a decent SpA boost here, but nothing absurd. A blazing fast Dragon-type that is immune to paralysis sounds interesting, but I fail to see how he won't be outclassed by Latios (not even mega latios, just straight up LO Latios). Latios has a far better defensive typing (doesn't throw away resistance to fire), has more power and superior coverage, and doesn't take up your mega slot, all while not losing *too* much in the speed tier department (im assuming mega sceptile can outspeed literally anything relevant, but latios only loses to a couple Pokemon itself). If only grass complemented dragon better but I really couldn't think of a worse secondary STAB if i tried.
Of course, this is from the chronic pessimist who said that Mega Charizard Y was probably going to be mediocre so take this shit with a grain of salt. I tend to underestimate the effect of stat boosts with making these things not suck. But yeah from what i've seen, i'm remaining calm and cautious. Predicting A- to B rank for Swampert, and B to C rank for Sceptile.
As much as I hate to shit on the Mega Swampert hype train, i'm really not too impressed by it atm. Rain has three main problems: grass, dragon, and water, and Mega Swampert's STABs, unlike Ludicolo's and Kingdra's, help with breaking none of these. If he winds up with ridiculous Attack (like, say, 165), then it could be worth using him anyways for his ridiculous sheer statistics and just using the rest of your team to patch rain's holes, but i'm not sure, even though he'll probably get high usage, if he's the pokemon rain needs to stop suffering from ridiculous matchup issues. either way he is bad news for kabutops
mega sceptile seems interesting. I'm assuming a decent SpA boost here, but nothing absurd. A blazing fast Dragon-type that is immune to paralysis sounds interesting, but I fail to see how he won't be outclassed by Latios (not even mega latios, just straight up LO Latios). Latios has a far better defensive typing (doesn't throw away resistance to fire), has more power and superior coverage, and doesn't take up your mega slot, all while not losing *too* much in the speed tier department (im assuming mega sceptile can outspeed literally anything relevant, but latios only loses to a couple Pokemon itself). If only grass complemented dragon better but I really couldn't think of a worse secondary STAB if i tried.
Of course, this is from the chronic pessimist who said that Mega Charizard Y was probably going to be mediocre so take this shit with a grain of salt. I tend to underestimate the effect of stat boosts with making these things not suck. But yeah from what i've seen, i'm remaining calm and cautious. Predicting A- to B rank for Swampert, and B to C rank for Sceptile.
While this is true, Ice Punch can still hits thing like Latios and Amoonguss (should you stay in who knows why) for solid damage. It is also immune to paralysis and only packs one weakness, which is nice. Considering its safe to say it will probably pack solid defenses, I'd say it has a good chance to be pretty potent in the metagame. It also gets Wide Guard, tho I doubt a Poke built around doing heavy damage in rain will want to waste a slot on a support move.
I'm not very hopeful for Sceptile really. Since it will probably be specially based and its special coverage movepool is basically STABs, unreliable Focus Blast, and Hidden Power, I don't see much reason to use it (who would use something that can only hope to hit common threats like Heatran through Focus Blast when they could pick a Mega like Kanga or Mawile instead?). However, if it gets a boost to both attacking sides (or only physical though I doubt that'll happen), it could be worth using as EQ, Drain Punch, and Rock Slide are all decent coverage options and STAB Leaf Storm could deal with things like Landorus-T and Rotom-W.Chronic Pessimist said:
Knowing my theorymoning abilities, Swampert will probably end up being trash and Sceptile will be really good, though x_x
I agree with many people that Lightning Rod isn't so great for Sceptile as an individual Pokemon. I feel the best thing about it getting Lightning Rod is what Lightning Rod can provide for the team. It is a great team support ability. Previously it belonged to Pokemon who are difficult to use like Rhyperior, Rhydon, and Manetric. Mega Sceptile would be easily better than them on individual merit. Many Pokemon would love Lightning Rod support, like Water-types who normally only have two weaknesses, and we all know that mono-weakness Pokemon are difficult to OHKO with even decent defensive stats. Suicune, Azumarill, Tornadus, Weakness Policy Aegislash (with Lightning Rod support, only Water-type moves hit it for neutral damage). And of course Gyarados base form really appreciates it, and could easily abuse it to set up a DD. Someone brought up that Electroweb bypasses it, which concerns the most common Electric-type Rotom-W, but Electroweb deals little damage and it's not that common either, so it's a minor fallback. Also, whilst Rotom-W can still use Hydro Pump and WoW, Sceptile easily outspeeds and OHKOs standard Rotom-W with Leaf Storm; Mega Sceptile would, by extension, be an even better counter to Rotom-W, probably the best in the game. It's also helpful against another prominent threat, Thundurus, and of course Thunder Wave. Pair Mega Sceptile with Bisharp, and you have both an answer to Thunder Wave and an answer to Icy Wind respectively (take that Cresselia!). In reality, Lightning Rod helps any Pokemon who doesn't like Thunder Wave and who doesn't resist the Electric-type - Thundurus, Thundurus-T, and Zapdos can all hit pretty hard with their Electric-STAB. Rain teams, eat your heart out. Oh, and by coincidence:
And for those who question Sceptile's movepool and bulk, it could use Substitute as the third moveslot option in order to prolong its time on the battlefield which would mean longer Lightning Rod support. It should have the Speed to abuse Sub well. And it can (assumingly) hit hard behind the Sub too; Dragon Pulse has good neutral coverage, and Giga Drain can restore the Sub HP lost or Energy Ball for more power. Sceptile's focal point will probably be Lightning Rod; it's blistering Speed and Special Attack is secondary - we already have the combination both for a Grass-type (Shaymin-S) and Dragon-type (Latios, or Scarfed Dragons in generally), but Lightning Rod plus its stats is what would make Mega Sceptile a strong abuser of Lightning Rod. Mega Sceptile would still be a decent Pokemon without Lightning Rod, but considering the potential team support gained from Lightning Rod, it may appear a lot less mediocre.
Mega Sceptile can also check bulky-Water types, Dragon-types, and Grass-types for rain teams (Spore immunity and assumingly outspeeding Shaymin-S for Grass-types).Pwnemon said:
And for those who question Sceptile's movepool and bulk, it could use Substitute as the third moveslot option in order to prolong its time on the battlefield which would mean longer Lightning Rod support. It should have the Speed to abuse Sub well. And it can (assumingly) hit hard behind the Sub too; Dragon Pulse has good neutral coverage, and Giga Drain can restore the Sub HP lost or Energy Ball for more power. Sceptile's focal point will probably be Lightning Rod; it's blistering Speed and Special Attack is secondary - we already have the combination both for a Grass-type (Shaymin-S) and Dragon-type (Latios, or Scarfed Dragons in generally), but Lightning Rod plus its stats is what would make Mega Sceptile a strong abuser of Lightning Rod. Mega Sceptile would still be a decent Pokemon without Lightning Rod, but considering the potential team support gained from Lightning Rod, it may appear a lot less mediocre.
Because I'm bored I'll discuss this topic.
Like you said this'll be great for Kanga. You described Ice Punch and Supstitute. I also think Protect can be nice. I personally like Protect as Kanga can dodge double targetting and burns. This could extend to the point where Kangaskhan could be banned. More options are Fire Punch, Crunch and more.
Mega Scizor will like this change. It can run Superpower to nail Steels, Knock Off for some coverage and general utility, Roostu for recovery and more.
I could go on, but the main point is that this idea adds versatality to the meta. Would be counters are no longer counters. Interesting idea, and I want to find out wat new things could happen.