Liepard
[Overview]
<p>One thing that catches your eye immediately after one look at Liepard's stats is that lime green bar amongst a plethora of reds and oranges: Liepard's blazing base 106 Speed stat. With this, Liepard occupies the position of NU's second fastest Dark-type, losing only to Sneasel. Combined with a fantastic typing and extensive support movepool, along with access to boosting moves such as Nasty Plot and the ability Prankster, Liepard becomes a very underrated threat. Liepard also has two other great abilities in Limber and Unburden, allowing it to function in a variety of roles. Base 88 Special Attack, which seems mediocre at best, is quite threatening when used in conjunction with Nasty Plot; however, here is where Liepard's seemingly impressive résumé comes to a screeching halt. Paper-thin 64 / 50 / 50 defenses make Liepard unable to take any strong attack it doesn't resist. Liepard also lacks any reliable recovery outside of Rest, meaning it will have trouble supporting the team for long periods of time. Fellow Dark-types Absol, Cacturne, and even Mightyena outclass Liepard offensively due to higher attacking stats. However, while its stats may not make it look the part, Liepard is a versatile Pokemon that is able to fill many positions and should be considered when building your team.</p>
[SET]
name: Nasty Plot Sweeper
move 1: Nasty Plot
move 2: Encore / Taunt
move 3: Dark Pulse
move 4: Hidden Power Fighting
item: Life Orb / Leftovers
ability: Prankster
nature: Modest
evs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>While Liepard's mediocre base 88 Special Attack may not seem appealing at first, a single Nasty Plot boost raises Liepard's Special Attack to a whopping 604, from which point Liepard has no trouble sweeping. Running Prankster is the best choice for this set, as Liepard can squeeze in a Nasty Plot before Murkrow Taunts it, winning the Prankster priority war thanks to its higher speed. With Encore, Liepard can also switch into a weather sweeper or other set-up sweepers, lock them into their set up move, and then proceed to set up and sweep, getting at least one guaranteed boost while the opponent switches out. Taunt can also be used for similar reasons, but Encore is preferred due to the almost guaranteed switch.</p>
<p>Dark Pulse is the primary STAB move in this set, with a solid 80 Base Power and, as an added bonus, a 20% flinch rate. Hidden Power Fighting is used to hit Steel-types which otherwise wall Liepard and put an end to its fun. Also, with Dark Pulse and Hidden Power Fighting, Liepard has perfect coverage in NU, hitting every Pokemon for at least neutral damage.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>Prankster is the best ability to run on this set, but Limber can also be used, as Liepard outspeeds a lot of NU, and therefore some might argue that having an immunity to paralysis is much more useful than Prankster priority. The EVs for this set are pretty straightforward; maximize Special Attack to make the most out of Liepard's base 88 Special Attack, max out Speed, and dump the rest in HP. Running Modest to have Liepard hit harder is the best idea, as making the most out of mediocre base 88 offenses is essential. However, if you are worried about getting outsped, you can run Timid, but that is generally frowned upon, as Liepard's attacks won't be as strong.</p>
<p>Liepard greatly appreciates hazard support; having Stealth Rock and, if possible, Spikes, will give Liepard an easier time taking out threats such as Regice after Stealth Rock. Running Life Orb gives you a nice power boost, but Liepard is frail as is, so you can run Leftovers instead if you don’t like Life Orb's recoil. Thanks to its typing, Emboar makes a good offensive partner that can take out Steel-types quickly. Liepard is immune to Emboar's Psychic weakness, giving the two of them good synergy. Another good teammate is Golurk; it resists everything Liepard is weak to and can keep the momentum going.</p>
[SET]
name: Weather Supporter
move 1: Sunny Day / Rain Dance
move 2: Thunder Wave
move 3: Encore / Taunt
move 4: U-turn
item: Heat Rock / Damp Rock
ability: Prankster
nature: Sassy
evs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
ivs: 0 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Prankster is arguably the best ability Liepard has; the +1 priority on Liepard's extensive support movepool makes Liepard a great choice for setting up weather and crippling opponents. Liepard is the fastest Pokemon in NU with access to Prankster, and it abuses this well. Liepard can lock an opponent, such as Shell Smash Gorebyss, into a set up move with Encore. It can also run Taunt if you don't want to risk a bad prediction situation, but Encore is preferred. Thunder Wave is used to cripple sweepers, and is also there to nullify other threats. With three-fourths of this set's moves at +1 priority, Liepard needs no Speed EVs. In fact, it is running a negative speed nature and IV spread to abuse its last move, U-turn, to its full extent. Liepard will almost always go last when using U-turn, allowing its replacement to get a free switch-in while also dealing a bit of damage. However, if you are worried about Liepard getting hurt, you can switch out normally to something that can take the hit.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>Liepard may not be the best option for weather support on your team. Volbeat, a fellow Prankster user, has access not only to weather moves, but the highly coveted Tail Glow, which it can Baton Pass. However, with Volbeat comes a lower Speed, a weaker typing, and a crippling weakness to Stealth Rock, which makes Liepard a better choice in that respect.</p>
<p>The given EVs make Liepard as specially bulky as possible. Special Defense is maxed out, as Liepard will be switching into and mostly dealing with Ghost- and Psychic-type Pokemon, who are primarily specially based attackers. That being said, Liepard is devastatingly frail, even with maximum HP investment, so if you mispredicted and let your opponent set up, Liepard is pretty much dead even after Thunder Wave, as any strong STAB move, when boosted, is an almost guaranteed OHKO.</p>
<p>Good teammates are entirely dependent on the type of weather you are using. For sun, Chlorophyll sweepers like Vileplume and Exeggutor are good options, as well as Solar Power Charizard, while for rain, Swift Swim users like Beartic and Mantyke are good options. Ghost-types such as Misdreavus cover all of Liepard's weaknesses, so they are good choices to use as well.</p>
[Other Options]
<p>Liepard is a really versatile pokemon, filling a variety of roles. However, lacking Baton Pass, it cannot pass Nasty Plot boosts, or anything else for that matter. With its high Speed, a Choice item set looks good, but a poor attacking movepool squashes this idea. Liepard can try to utilize one of its other abilities, Unburden, with a Dark Gem-boosted Dark Pulse, to hit for decent damage. However, this gets rid of Prankster, which is best suited for Liepard due to its extensive support movepool. An extremely annoying Prankster set Liepard can run is one with Thunder Wave, Swagger, Foul Play, and either Substitute or Encore, using it to stop momentum and screw up special attackers, with Foul Play there to check physical attackers. For sweeping, Liepard can use Hone Claws and Sucker Punch to go the physical route, but is usually better off with Nasty Plot. Foul Play is a strong STAB move that can punish the likes of Armaldo, Braviary, and Beartic. Liepard has a very good support movepool, though; it can run Yawn to force switches, Fake Tears to help an incoming sweep, or Knock Off to render Eviolite Pokemon useless, though it should be noted that Liepard gets no Prankster priority on Knock Off.</p>
[Checks and Counters]
<p>Liepard is by no means unbeatable. Pokemon faster than Liepard, such as Tauros, Electrode, Cinccino, and Swellow, can outspeed and proceed to OHKO it, though they risk being hit by Thunder Wave. Liepard will also get wrecked by any Fighting-type, namely Gurdurr and Sawk, who will OHKO or 2HKO Liepard with Close Combat or Drain Punch. Liepard also takes super effective damage from Armaldo's STAB X-Scissor. While Liepard is not specifically weak to any hazards, it is vulnerable to all of them, and this can be used against it. Specific walls to Liepard include Probopass, Bastiodon, Regirock, Regice, and Lickilicky, due to their massive bulk and ability to take a super effective Hidden Power Fighting.</p>