Discussion on the merits and demerits of Pain Split in the context of Forretress and Rotom-A.
Although the changes wrought by the HGSS metagame update were definitely not on the level of those of Platinum, there are certainly new, somewhat useful moves that it brought, including Aqua Jet for Feraligatr, Bug Bite for Scizor, and others. But what interests me is the addition of Pain Split to Forretress' and Rotom-A's movepools.
Note: In the poll, Spikes, Rapid Spin, and Payback are assumed as a required part of the set.
Forry:
Forretress used to suffer somewhat as a Spikes because it had no means of recovery outside Rest, which in this metagame needs to be backed either by Aromatherapy or Sleep Talk. The addition of Pain Split lets it gain potentially up to ~40% of its health back in a turn in common battle conditions, which can make it easier to get up 3 layers of Spikes.
To maximize the potential of Pain Split, I suppose you need to go up against an opponent incapable of dealing over ~30% to you in a single turn. A Lead Metagross (barring Explosion) is a good example of this. You switch in on the Meteor Mash (~31% counting SR), and set up a layer of Spikes, taking the Earthquake for 25%. At this point, you are vulnerable to a 2HKO by Earthquake, so you use Pain Split, and you recover back to ~60-65% health, which lets you Spike or Spin further. In the event that your opponent switches out, you Pain Split a healthy foe anyways, recovering to about the same amount of health.
Does it negate the need for Wish support?
No one in their right mind would call Pain Split fully reliable. Handy, maybe, but not reliable. Ever hit an opponent low on HP? Because of concerns like these, I would argue that you still need Wish support from Blissey, although the pressure to Wishpass is eased somewhat.
Is it worth the opportunity cost?
The current standard for Forretress is
Forretress (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP/6 Def/252 SDef
Impish nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Spikes
- Toxic Spikes
- Rapid Spin
- Payback
---
Forretress is quite a sturdy (no pun intended) Spiker, but it is quite difficult to get up all 5 layers and spin. So I'm arguing that Pain Split has a rather low opportunity cost, because Forretress rarely realizes the full potential presented by this set in common battle conditions without judicious Wish support, and even then, it is difficult. Pain Split can help ensure that quite a few layers go up. So I would put it over Toxic Spikes, which should be used on less sturdy Spikers because it takes less turns.
The role of Toxic Spikes can be relegated to another Pokemon. In OU, the only viable defensive* Toxic Spikers are Tentacruel and arguably Nidoqueen (sorry, Drapion). The only viable defensive Spikers are Skarmory and Forretress, and it is generally considered inadvisable to have both of them on the same stall team. Nidoqueen can counter Lucario and phaze, while Tentacruel can counter Infernape and Heatran (IMO, Haze as a means to stall out Crocune with Blissey to help is underrated, but let's not go there).
*Yeah, this is mainly about stall teams. On offensive teams, use Roserade/Smeargle/Froslass.
I haven't tested Pain Split on Rotom, but I guess it would work a lot like it did on Dusknoir. Not sure about how useful it is, because it's been a while since I used poor Dusky.
So what do you think about Pain Split? Useful? Gimmicky? Has mtr12 lost his marbles?
Although the changes wrought by the HGSS metagame update were definitely not on the level of those of Platinum, there are certainly new, somewhat useful moves that it brought, including Aqua Jet for Feraligatr, Bug Bite for Scizor, and others. But what interests me is the addition of Pain Split to Forretress' and Rotom-A's movepools.
Note: In the poll, Spikes, Rapid Spin, and Payback are assumed as a required part of the set.
Forry:
Forretress used to suffer somewhat as a Spikes because it had no means of recovery outside Rest, which in this metagame needs to be backed either by Aromatherapy or Sleep Talk. The addition of Pain Split lets it gain potentially up to ~40% of its health back in a turn in common battle conditions, which can make it easier to get up 3 layers of Spikes.
To maximize the potential of Pain Split, I suppose you need to go up against an opponent incapable of dealing over ~30% to you in a single turn. A Lead Metagross (barring Explosion) is a good example of this. You switch in on the Meteor Mash (~31% counting SR), and set up a layer of Spikes, taking the Earthquake for 25%. At this point, you are vulnerable to a 2HKO by Earthquake, so you use Pain Split, and you recover back to ~60-65% health, which lets you Spike or Spin further. In the event that your opponent switches out, you Pain Split a healthy foe anyways, recovering to about the same amount of health.
Does it negate the need for Wish support?
No one in their right mind would call Pain Split fully reliable. Handy, maybe, but not reliable. Ever hit an opponent low on HP? Because of concerns like these, I would argue that you still need Wish support from Blissey, although the pressure to Wishpass is eased somewhat.
Is it worth the opportunity cost?
The current standard for Forretress is
Forretress (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP/6 Def/252 SDef
Impish nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Spikes
- Toxic Spikes
- Rapid Spin
- Payback
---
Forretress is quite a sturdy (no pun intended) Spiker, but it is quite difficult to get up all 5 layers and spin. So I'm arguing that Pain Split has a rather low opportunity cost, because Forretress rarely realizes the full potential presented by this set in common battle conditions without judicious Wish support, and even then, it is difficult. Pain Split can help ensure that quite a few layers go up. So I would put it over Toxic Spikes, which should be used on less sturdy Spikers because it takes less turns.
The role of Toxic Spikes can be relegated to another Pokemon. In OU, the only viable defensive* Toxic Spikers are Tentacruel and arguably Nidoqueen (sorry, Drapion). The only viable defensive Spikers are Skarmory and Forretress, and it is generally considered inadvisable to have both of them on the same stall team. Nidoqueen can counter Lucario and phaze, while Tentacruel can counter Infernape and Heatran (IMO, Haze as a means to stall out Crocune with Blissey to help is underrated, but let's not go there).
*Yeah, this is mainly about stall teams. On offensive teams, use Roserade/Smeargle/Froslass.
I haven't tested Pain Split on Rotom, but I guess it would work a lot like it did on Dusknoir. Not sure about how useful it is, because it's been a while since I used poor Dusky.
So what do you think about Pain Split? Useful? Gimmicky? Has mtr12 lost his marbles?