DP Xatu

[Colonel M]

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

This thread is a continuation of the Status Shifter proposed by Perfection (who is banned). I've tested it with at least enough success to think it should be included if only for the NU environment at best and decent for UU.

[SET]
name: Status Shifter
move 1: Psycho Shift
move 2: Night Shade
move 3: Rest
move 4: Sleep Talk
item: Flame Orb
ability: Early Bird
nature: Bold
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Xatu is an interesting counter to many things when using this set. The real advantages here is having Early Bird as well as Psycho Shift for Xatu's movepool. Using Psycho Shift will swap the status with your opponent's; which your main goal is to at least burn them. Using Rest and Sleep Talk are also useful. Thanks to Early Bird you'll only stay asleep for a single turn while taking a 66% chance to either inflict 100 damage to the opponent or put them to sleep for a single turn. After that simply rinse and repeat the process.</p>

<p>Psychic / Flying has many weaknesses; however, there are nifty resistances tied in with it. If Hitmontop lacks Stone Edge, Xatu is an impressive counter to him. Even Pokemon such as Muk won't enjoy the Attack cut from the burn status. Despite that you must be cautious as to what the opponent is using as boosted Special Attacks that are super effective can still be a nuisance to Xatu.</p>

<p>Keep in mind that this strategy has a few problems against Fire-types and walls that at least have recovery. Fire-types aren't even fazed by the burn, as they simply absorb the status like nothing happened at all. Walls with Recover or Rest and Sleep Talk also give this Xatu issues when beating them one on one. Unfortunately this set has a lot of problems in UU, although it can work wonders in the NU metagame.</p>

 

[Havak]

Don't forget to link to the original page on-site ;)

 

[Colonel M]

So used to Platinum forgot about them. Thanks Havak.

 

[jumpluff]

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

This thread is a continuation of the Status Shifter proposed by Perfection (who is banned). I've tested it with at least enough success to think it should be included if only for the NU environment at best and decent for UU.

[SET]
name: Stauts Shifter
move 1: Psycho Shift
move 2: Night Shade
move 3: Rest
move 4: Sleep Talk
item: Flame Orb
ability: Early Bird
nature: Bold
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Xatu is an interesting counter to many things when using this set. The real advantages here is having Early Bird as well as Psycho Shift for Xatu's movepool. Using Psycho Shift will swap the status with your opponent's; your main goal is to at least burn them. Using Rest and Sleep Talk are also useful. Thanks to Early Bird you'll only stay asleep for a single turn while taking a 66% chance to either inflict 100 damage to the opponent or put them to sleep for a single turn. After that simply rinse and repeat the process.</p>

<p>Psychic / Flying has many weaknesses; however, there are nifty resistances tied in with it. If Hitmontop lacks Stone Edge, Xatu is an impressive counter to him. Even Pokemon such as Muk won't enjoy the Attack cut from the burn status. Despite that you must be cautious as to what the opponent is using, as boosted special attacks that are super effective can still be a nuisance to Xatu.</p>

<p>Keep in mind that this strategy has a few problems against Fire-types and walls that at least have recovery. Fire-types aren't even fazed by the burn, as they simply absorb the status like nothing happened at all. Walls with Recover or Rest and Sleep Talk also give this Xatu issues when beating them one on one. Unfortunately this set has a lot of problems in UU, although it can work wonders in the NU metagame.</p>

 

[Colonel M]

Man whenever I see Misaki post here it makes me feel dumber because I missed some of that stuff... (Just kidding by the way. I appreciate your help.)

Anyways, fixed.

 

[LonelyNess]

I don't see what Psycho Shift has over Trick other than being able to burn things multiple times. And that is highly unlikely considering they're not going to allow more than one of their Pokemon to take the burn. Plus, Trick gets RID of the Burn orb meaning you're not constantly taking Burn damage after you presumably Rest.

IMO, Trick > Psycho Shift

 

[Colonel M]

I'd be inclined to agree... if Xatu had Natural Cure like Celebi or Magic Guard like Clefable. Sadly Xatu lacks both of these and its probably better to at least use Psycho Shift as even if they allow the Pokemon to be burned you can at least burn more things once they come in. Obviously this is better for NU. I'm still open to hear on this as like I've said before its a set that I think barely passes being added because seriously Xatu can't do much else.

 

[LonelyNess]

But this is with the assumption that Rest / Sleep talk remain on the set. With Rest, after you burn yourself / trick it away, you can get rid of the status and be a general wall (and perhaps steal some more items away from opponent's while you're at it)​

 

[Colonel M]

And then Sleep Talk uses Trick again. I'm telling you its a very risky strategy within itself. If you accidentally Trick a Choice Item, especially in your Sleep, then you're in trouble. I'll say if you can test it and for some reason you see that its better than Psycho Shift then I'll add it. But I would seriously like some logs (and perhaps one or two people) to back up this statement.

 

[Umbreon Dan]

How is it possible that nobody's yet noticed that the set is called Stauts Shifter?
:P

 

[Colonel M]

Yeah yeah I got it.

 

[Colonel M]

So seriously, I need to know if to add this or not. I'd like a little more discussion from it personally. LonelyNess might've given a reason for Trick (albiet it should be discussed in Platinum updates); however, I'm not ready to exactly drop either Trick nor Psycho Shift off yet. So UU players in particular feel free to voice on this. I won't go as far as updating this until I have a little more confirmation.

 

[Farewell]

I recently tried this set, and I must say one thing of note:

If your opponent currently has a status, they are not affected by Psycho Shift.

So if your Opponent uses Rest for example, you cannot Psycho Shift your Burn to them.



Another note: If you Psycho Shift, they are expected to take the full 2-5 Turns of sleep, the amount of turns is not reduced by Xatu's 1 turn of sleep, nor is it reduced by Xatu's Early Bird trait.

 

[ODDish]

Having recently included Xatu in a "lower end" UU team I've been running, I'm more convinced than ever that it really cannot compete effectively in the current UU environment, and so I would not even try to run this set there.

In NU ... well I'd still be more inclined to play to Xatu's "strengths", leave this sort of thing to something sturdier (Noctowl), and would worry about the potential free Flash Fire boosts for Flareon, but who knows it might work there.

 

[Farewell]

It could work in the lower tiers, if not for Night Shade killing all the low base HP Pokemon.


Psycho Shift doesn't boost Flash Fire, it isn't a fire move, just like Tricking Flame Orb doesn't boost Flash Fire since Trick is Psychic.

Same for Synchronize just incase someone suggests using Xatu's other ability.

 

[Colonel M]

Er... so I guess Other Options material might be best for this? Agree / disagree and why.

 

[Venom]

I fucked around with this set while laddering in the UU ladder, and I can say it didn't do well at all, so Other Options should be alright for this.

 

[Farewell]

We could simply wait and see what happens when a NU tier is built, and then decide if Xatu's set is viable there...

Or at least say in the introduction or in the conclusion:

"You should to only use this set in the Never Used tier due to Xatu having much better things to do in the UU tier (Wish Pass), and due to Xatu's lackluster Defenses. Nevertheless, don't hesitate to try this set out for yourself, as you will certainly catch a few opponents by surprise."

 

[Colonel M]

I'll make this as an "Other Option" instead. I think to write it in is simple but here's the sentence:

"Xatu has the capability of using Psycho Shift, Rest, and Sleep Talk on the same set. With this strategy Xatu can pass status with Psycho Shift and Burn Orbm and then Rest off the damage. Noctowl is superior to this strategy, however, due to having better defenses."

?

 

[Havak]

Yeah, that's fine.

 

[Imran]

Noctowl is superior in using this strategy, however, due to having better defenses."

You make is sound like Noctowl is above this strategy, but it is not, it is better at utilising it.

 

[Colonel M]

This has been added so... dun dun dun?

 

[User 12783]

I agree with this being Other Options material at best, just like Cresselia. It is a bit too gimmicky and it really doesn't work well on the UU ladder.

 

[umbarsc]

Well, has anyone used any other Xatu set successfully in UU? If every single Xatu set performs "meh" to poor in the current UU tier, then I think this is as viable as any Xatu set.

 

[ODDish]

Having recently included Xatu in a "lower end" UU team I've been running, I'm more convinced than ever that it really cannot compete effectively in the current UU environment ...

As I said earlier ...