DP Absol

[Serv]

Analysis: http://www.smogon.com/dp/pokemon/absol

[SET]
name: Anti-Lead
move 1: Taunt
move 2: Counter
move 3: Sucker Punch
move 4: Night Slash / Magic Coat
item: Focus Sash
ability: Pressure
nature: Hasty
evs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

<p>This set makes a decent Anti-Lead with the moves Taunt + Counter. Taunt basically shuts down walls from laying down their entry hazards, while Counter takes care of most Fighting-types looking to end Absol as soon as possible, with Sucker Punch picking them off should they survive the blow. The last slot is up for grabs really between Night Slash, Pursuit and Magic Coat. Night Slash is a good STAB attack to have in case opponents smarten up and try to stall on Sucker Punch's low PP, Pursuit on the other hand deals a hefty amount of damage to most leads fleeing from Absol, while Magic Coat is a bit more gimmicky but provides an excellent answer to all those fast sleepers like Jumpluff or even Butterfree.</p>

<p>EVs are a bit straight forward. Max Speed allows Absol to reach 273; just barely outspeeding neutral max base 85s. With Focus Sash basically guarding you from all direct damage, the practical thing to do is to invest all the remaining EVs into maximizing Attack, to add as much damage possible to the attacks you've chosen to carry. The remaining EVs are dumped into HP for good measure.</p>

Feel free to critique as you see fit (I'll get back to it as soon as I can I promise just need to run for now). Thanks have a nice day ^^.

To anyone who originally saw the set it runs Jolly but after thinking about it for a while Hasty might not a bad choice seeing as it'll power up Counter a little.

 

[Jimbo]

EVs are a bit straight forward. Max Speed allows Absol to reach 273; just barely outspeeding neutral max base 85s.

Just fixing some puncuation. is "base 85s" shorthand? I've never seen it used before.

This set makes a decent Anti-Lead with the moves Taunt + Counter, which basically shuts down walls from laying down their entry hazards, while Counter takes care of most Fighting type looking to end Absol as soon as possible, with Sucker Punch picking them off should they survive the blow.

With Focus Sash basically guarding you from all direct damage the next thing to do is to invest all the remaining EVs in to maximizing Attack to add as much damage possible to the attacks you've chosen to carry, and finally the remainding EVs are to be dumped into HP.

Both of these sentences are bad run-ons. I would try to split them up a bit.

I like this set, I've always been fond of Anti-leads.

 

[Serv]

I've rephrased it hopefully a little less run-onish? Thanks Jimbo422 ^^.

 

[Umbreon Dan]

<p>EVs are a bit straight forward. Max Speed allows Absol to reach 273; just barely outspeeding neutral max base 85s. With Focus Sash basically guarding you from all direct damage, the practical thing to do is to invest all the remaining EVs into maximizing Attack, to add as much damage possible to the attacks you've chosen to carry. The remaining EVs are dumped into HP for good measure.</p>

Apart from that sentence, looks good. I understand that that sentence was wrecked when you fixed it's run-onish-ness.

 

[Serv]

Thanks Umbreon Dan. All fixed.

 

[Umbreon Dan]

Is this intended for UU only? Because I've found that Absol is too slow to pull this off in OU. Azelf can set up before being Taunted and then usually just switches, while Infernape like to use Fake Out, forcing a switching since Sucker Punch barely touches them while Close Combat is an easy KO. It works well against Bronzong, but they aren't as common as they used to be.

 

[Metric]

This is a good set and I've faced it a few times and if I hadn't seen the analysis beforehand, I would have probably lost to it.

I think Pursuit should be in the 4th moveslot as an option, it allows you to catch those leads that don't want to deal with Absol as they switch out, and would be effective on this set.

 

[Serv]

Added in the set comments thanks Metric.

 

[Metric]

No prob, just two changes in bold:

move 4: Night Slash / Pursuit / Magic Coat

Night Slash is a good STAB attack to have in case opponents smarten up and try to stall on Sucker Punch's low PP, Pursuit on the other hand deals a hefty amount of damage to most leads fleeing from Absol,

 

[Serv]

I intentionally left out Pursuit from the move options (to avoid too many slashes). Thanks have a nice day ^^.

 

[Caelum]

This is a quality set.

Anyway, ready for my comments to be the most unlikely scenario imaginable Servant?

Let's hypothetically say you are up against a lead Choice Band Wailord running maximum HP (yeah, shut up, I know Wailord should run Defense but you never know with some users!) well, when you are hit with Waterfall it will do 271 HP in damage (you hold on because of the Focus Sash) and you counter it. However, 271 x 2 = 542, whereas maximum HP Wailord is 544. However, if you run 8 HP EVs instead this will put you at 273 HP, meaning you'll be left with 272 HP and 272 x 2 = 544!

Honestly, that is the most nitpicky thing I could have possibly posted but it's something I actually did when I was testing this out so yeah, 4 EVs seemed so minor that you mine as well was my thought... call me crazy and just ignore if you want, maybe I shouldn't have posted lol :).

As a side note though, you could mention that with Absol's HP you can OHKO everything in UU with Counter excluding maximum HP Wailord (assuming you don't make my changes).

 

[Serv]

Practically I wouldn't move away any of those Atk/Speed EVs as you'll be KOing next turn with Sucker Punch (Choice Banded so it is forced to attack).

Thanks have a nice day ^^.

 

[Syberia]

Won't they usually just throw out a Water Spout anyways?

 

[Havak]

Wailord is so unlikely to ever use max HP I don't think it's worth mentioning lol

Wailord could do with a re-write now though actually...

I haven't checked the latest stats for Wailord, so I'm not sure if Syberia is correct in saying they'll just use Water Spout.

Good set though :)

 

[Cynthia]

Lol @ Max HP, Choice Band Wailord.

Anyway this set should work fine as an anti-lead. It can beat almost anything, but it's very prediction heavy.

 

[Caelum]

I saw it when I was testing this don't give me crap lol.

Try replacing Butterfree with a more common sleeper like Venusaur or Persian.

 

[Syberia]

| Wailord    | Item         | Choice Scarf     |    79.1 |
| Wailord    | Item         | Life Orb         |     7.5 |
| Wailord    | Item         | Other (5)        | <   5.2 |
| Wailord    | Nature       | Modest           |    42.5 |
| Wailord    | Nature       | Timid            |    19.4 |
| Wailord    | Nature       | Other (6)        | <   9.7 |
| Wailord    | HP EV        | None             |    82.8 |
| Wailord    | HP EV        | Other (2)        | <   6.7 |
| Wailord    | HP EV        | Max              |     6.7 |
| Wailord    | Attack EV    | None             |    82.8 |
| Wailord    | Attack EV    | Very Low (<50)   |     8.2 |
| Wailord    | Attack EV    | Other (3)        | <   6.0 |
| Wailord    | Move         | Earthquake       |    40.7 |
| Wailord    | Move         | Selfdestruct     |    40.1 |
| Wailord    | Move         | Ice Beam         |    39.0 |
| Wailord    | Move         | Water Spout      |    38.7 |
| Wailord    | Move         | Waterfall        |    34.7 |
| Wailord    | Move         | Curse            |    31.9 |
| Wailord    | Move         | Rest             |    28.2 |

All these statistics point to the fact that you will almost never be facing a max-HP CB Wailord. If they're using Waterfall, they're most likely using Curse. Maybe the 3% that have Waterfall but not Curse have CB?

 

[Jimbo]

Oh god Havak please don't re-write Wailord ;_; I've been working on it for the past week, but I can't do reserves so I've been hoping no one mentions it :p

And yea, there is a rare CB Wailord, it's just not that good :/

 

[Havak]

I wasn't going to re-write it, I haven't used a Wailord for ages lol.

 

[Caelum]

I never claimed it was common, I just would personally do it because it's only 4 EVs lol. You guys are odd.

I'll load this in 24 hours if Servant doesn't.

 

[Syberia]

Well if it's Choice Banded, it's a non-issue because it'll die to Sucker Punch next turn anyways. Though it's one of those things that's so nitpicky that it doesn't matter one way or the other.

 

[Serv]

Loaded onto the SCMS. Thanks have a nice day ^^.

 

[AdamKing]

Analysis: http://www.smogon.com/dp/pokemon/absol

[SET]
name: Anti-Lead
move 1: Taunt
move 2: Counter
move 3: Sucker Punch
move 4: Magic Coat
item: Focus Sash
ability: Super Luck
nature: Hasty
evs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe max sped

[SET COMMENTS]

<p>This set makes a decent Anti-Lead with the moves Taunt + Counter. Taunt basically shuts down walls from laying down their entry hazards, while Counter takes care of most Fighting-types looking to end Absol as soon as possible, with Sucker Punch picking them off should they survive the blow. The last slot is up for grabs really between Night Slash, Pursuit and Magic Coat. Night Slash is a good STAB attack to have in case opponents smarten up and try to stall on Sucker Punch's low PP, Pursuit on the other hand deals a hefty amount of damage to most leads fleeing from Absol, while Magic Coat is a bit more gimmicky but provides an excellent answer to all those fast sleepers like Jumpluff or even Butterfree.</p>

<p>EVs are a bit straight forward. Max Speed allows Absol to reach 273; just barely outspeeding neutral max base 85s. With Focus Sash basically guarding you from all direct damage, the practical thing to do is to invest all the remaining EVs into maximizing Attack, to add as much damage possible to the attacks you've chosen to carry. The remaining EVs are dumped into HP for good measure.</p>

Feel free to critique as you see fit (I'll get back to it as soon as I can I promise just need to run for now). Thanks have a nice day ^^.

To anyone who originally saw the set it runs Jolly but after thinking about it for a while Hasty might not a bad choice seeing as it'll power up Counter a little.

 

[Umbreon Dan]

<p>EVs are a bit straight forward. Max Speed allows...</p>

I'm not sure if this is the right topic anymore... but isn't straightforward one word?

 

[Caelum]

This is technically on-site so this usually won't be the place to mention it; however, all small corrections are appreciated Umbreon Dan (welcome to Smogon btw). I'm going to go change it right now.

If you find any small changes / corrections / errors you want to make known feel free to bring them up in this small changes thread.

http://www.smogon.com/forums/showthread.php?t=30691