Drifloon (Analysis)

[iss]

FLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON

:D

#10!

http://veekun.com/dex/pokemon/drifloon

Overview:

-At first glance Drifloon looks horrible
-However Unburden is a very cool ability
-Drifloon also gets Calm Mind to boost its low Special Attack
-Has the same counters as other ghosts

[SET]
name: Calm Mind
move 1: Calm Mind
move 2: Shadow Ball
move 3: Hidden Power Fighting
move 4: Substitute / Thunderbolt
item: Berry Juice
ability: Unburden
nature: Modest
evs: 116 HP / 8 Def / 200 SpA / 8 SpD / 120 Spe

Set Comments:

-Great late-game sweeper
-Substitute down to Unburden while setting up Calm Minds
-Has 24 Special Attack and 32 Speed after one Calm Mind and Unburden
-Shadow Ball is a great STAB attack
-Hidden Power Fighting has perfect neutral coverage with Shadow Ball
-Substitute makes getting down to Unburden and getting CMs easier

Additional Comments:

-Thunderbolt can be used over Substitute to hit Water- types and Stunky harder
-EVs give max Special Attack and give Drifloon good bulk while retaining 16 Speed
-Modest gives Drifloon’s bad Special Attack a boost

[SET]
name: Late-Game Cleaner
move 1: Substitute
move 2: Shadow Ball
move 3: Hidden Power Fighting
move 4: Thunderbolt / Calm Mind
item: Petaya Berry
nature: Modest
ability: Unburden
evs: 196 HP / 8 Def / 200 SpA / 8 SpD / 40 Spe

Set Comments:

-Has an easier set-up at the cost of bulk
-Reaches 24 Special Attack and 32 Speed after a Petaya Berry boost and Unburden
-Shadow Ball is a strong STAB attack
-Hidden Power Fighting has perfect neutral coverage with Shadow Ball
-Thunderbolt is more useful on this set to kill bulky Waters and Stunky

Additional Comments:


-Calm Mind can be used to obtain additional boosts if the opportunity arises
-EVs are the same as the first set
-Modest is used for the power- it has enough Speed to outspeed all Scarfers (barring Scyther and Sneasel) after an Unburden boost anyways

Team Options:

-Entry hazard support is helpful to assist Drifloon in its sweep
-Wynaut helps Drifloon set up
-A Fighting- type is helpful to remove Munchlax

Optional Changes:

-Drifloon could be used in a double-ghost team with access to Hypnosis and Explosion to disable its counters
-Baton Pass can pass away Calm Mind boosts
-Charge Beam can be used but is usually inferior to Calm Mind
-Hidden Power Ground can be used to hit Stunky but will leave a gaping hole in Drifloon’s coverage
-Will-o-wisp and Thunder Wave can be used on a status set
-Destiny Bond can be used with Focus Sash and Unburden for a free kill

Counters:

-Munchlax and Stunky wall Drifloon pretty well while retaliating with Pursuit, Crunch, Sucker Punch, or Ice Punch
-Faster Scarfers can beat it
-Preventing it from getting Calm Mind boosts is key
-Priority takes out the Late-Game Cleaner easily

Dream World:

-Heat Rampage could be interesting with Flame Orb, but getting an Unburden boost would be very difficult

 

[iss]

This is done.

 

[Nails]

Monmen counters your listed sets it if it switches into a sub or a cm (priority encore), it needs to be mentioned in counters (buneary counters it too with a faster encore, but it has less use in other areas... though switching in on a move and setting up a sub/agility pass on an encored sub/cm/shadow ball is admittedly dangerous).

The lack of explosion on any sets is really bad, it destroys most if not all of its counters, clearing the way for a gastly (or missy now that i think about it, it isn't banned now) sweep, or anything else that hates munchlax too.

Thunder/Weather Ball/Rain Dance/Sub with unburden @berry juice gives it a niche on a rain dance team, sub down to bj, rain dance, hit hard with weather ball/thunder at +2 speed, and leave some rain up for another sweeper (also a good place for explosion, as munchy is a good counter to that set, and you can set up 3 free turns of rain while luring out and killing Munchlax).

Lastly, hypnosis should be OO imo, because it's a usable move at least and isn't currently mentioned.

 

[eric the espeon]

HypnoBoom really deserves it's own set, especially with Berry Juice around. Bring it in against the right Pokemon (anything slower without a powerful SE attack, anything locked into one of it's many immunities), Sub up or sleep off the bat, usually have at least two chances to sleep them (over two turns Hypnosis will hit at least once 84% of the time) sub/wear them down as they sleep. Does not like Munchlax or other normals much, but you still can either blow them up or sleep then switch since few can KO and it outspeeds most of them.

"At first glance Drifloon looks horrible"
Lovely HP, passable SpA, amazing type, brilliant movepool, one of the best abilities in LC? At first glance it's pretty cool.. And you need to mention it's bulk/awesome type more.

"Has the same counters as other ghosts"
no.. it can beat all the standard ghost counters with the hypnoboom set. And give a weakened Munchlax a run for it's money with the CM/Juice set.

"Modest gives Drifloon’s bad Special Attack a boost"
15/16 SpA is by no means bad. It's not brilliant, but it's solid.

 

[Heysup]

I agree with eric in most regards.

However, you should definitely point out the fact that Drifloon's Flying-typing makes it much less of a viable switch in for many Pokemon, and it has way more weaknesses that the Levitate Ghosts don't have. This is especially evident with Missy, who also has good bulk but lacks the weaknesses to Electric-, Ice-, and Rock-typing. It really doesn't give much more benefit, besides 4x resisting Scyther's U-turn (which is a huge perk, obviously, and should be mentioned).