I have to agree here, almost every single team carries choice items. Common offensive teams have scarf attackers such as manaphy, victini, jirachi etc. It's also run on faketurn teams. Trick Room/weather teams also run choice band/specs for the boost on two attacks. Choice items are given a huge boost because it locks you into two moves instead of one, so a bit of a nerf would be decent.
Tbh, I think it should be limited to 2 scarfs per team. Band and Specs are fine imho, as they are easily revenge by Scarfers, mons under Trick Room, and basically any faster mon due to the power creep. If they have to be included in a general "Choice Item Clause" then I think 2 (or even 3, but max 2 scarfs or something) would be better, as it is a fundamental part of Linked, and I fear that Trick Room may end up too dominant if there is only one choice item allowed per team
Remember that Trick Room teams are the one who will carry Band and Specs if they aren't limited, so I think limiting all choice items are better, because they are kinda overpowered in general.
Sorru if this isn't my responsibility to answer but
Because it's a tie, I assume the suspect isn't finished yet. Will we continue doing the Talon-less tours? We still need some data for talon-less meta.
Can agree with this. It's a really good metagame with all the scarfers around. Though Talonflame does a ton of damage 60-70% so if you chip some damage off and talonflame revenge kills, though it absolutely rapes trick room, which is really neat.
A- ~~> A or A+
Where do I even start with this monster? Bisharp is currently one of the best mons in Linked, hands down. I have no idea why many poeple are choosing not to use him, because it 6-0s or at least 4-0s a ton of teams. Despite being a physical attacker, it has found ways to survive and thrive in the current metagame. If you don't know what I mean, you soon will. Bisharp's best set is Swords Dance + Knock Off/Sucker Punch/Iron Head. We've all known for a long time that strong priority is the best win condition in the meta, and bish has just that. It functions best as a revenge sweeper, so that it gets a free turn to switch in and get the swords dance boost. After one boost, it's extremely difficult to take down. Anything that outspeeds it (mostly scarfers like Gengar and Serperior) simply die to Sucker Punch, making it a potent threat. The Abilities Bisharp has also contributes to its viability. Leading with a hazard setter works wonders on a team with Bisharp, as you can bait out a Defog and immediately receive Defiant boosts. It also has the option of running Inner Focus, a great way to deal with Faketurn. As far as Talonflame goes, it's basically a 50/50. If the Talon goes for a Flare Blitz, you can Sucker Punch it, but if they go for flying moves, you are outsped and 2HKOd. If you predict the Brave Bird link, however, you live one link and can easily OHKO back with SD + Koff. Bisharp should be at least A rank because it's as good as, if not better than, Weavile. Granted it's not blazing fast like Weavile, but it's slightly more powerful and has a better chance of sweeping because of it's stronger priority. And it's most certainly better than Diance-Mega, which shouldn't be in A rank anyway. Bisharp can run Power-Up Punch + Assurance do deal massive damage, but I find that set easier to stop. Either way Bisharp is a great mon that I've been adding to more teams because when you use it, it just works. It's incredible how secure your win is if you keep Bish in the back while removing the few threats it has, like Keldeo and Quagsire. This is a replay I found of a TR team trying to go against Bisharp. Lol.
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/linked-241694602
Small nitpick, but if Klingklang has Clear Body, it won't be affected be the drop from Intimidate, meaning Landorus-T can't switch in safely AT ALL. Another potential set could be Substitute+Shift Gear with a more bulky approach. Klingklang will never have its Sub broken by Smack Down, and can keep setting up Subs. And thanks to its great mono-steel typing, it resists most priority, and can tank hits such as Dragonite's Extreme Speed+Aqua Jet combo. I'm actually pretty excited to test this out on the ladder, and see how it goes!I thought I'd post it here because idk how viable it is. Of course, if choice items are banned, ChoiceBannedBand will not be an option for obvious reasons (replace with one of Life Orb, Metal Coat or Lum Berry - a boosting item is required to net certain KOs, but Lum Berry means that it doesn't get destroyed by Klefki and T-Wave Thundurus), but it still seems cool in theory. I will try it out a little in the future, but for now this is me theorymonning.
Klinklang @ Choice Band
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe / 4 HP
Adamant Nature
- Shift Gear
- Gear Grind
- Return
- Wild Charge
Basically, the principle here is based around Shift Gear being the best non item-reliant boosting move in the game (its effectively a better Dragon Dance). This in conjunction with Klinklang's access to the coveted Gear Grind (the strongest physical Steel-type attack in the game (second strongest Steel-type attack overall, only being beaten by Doom Desire if you factor in both hits) makes it a fearsome physical attacker which, in theory, is very difficult to stop once Quagsire, Ferrothorn etc. are gone and it gets the ball rolling. The other options are just filler to hit Steel-type resistances if you feel that's more important than setting up or to take advantage of forcing stuff like Clefable out.
Uses it as setup fodder. This is probably one of the prime ways of getting Klinklang into a position where it can sweep.
- 252+ Atk Choice Band Klinklang Gear Grind (2 hits) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Clefable: 396-468 (100.5 - 118.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO
Capable of dealing heavy damage to Bisharp, not allowing the latter to switch in on it (guarantees an OHKO at +2 if its switched into SR twice) while also not being reliably KOed by Sucker Punch.
- +2 252+ Atk Choice Band Klinklang Gear Grind (2 hits) vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Bisharp: 224-264 (82.3 - 97%) -- approx. 12.5% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
- +1 252+ Atk Choice Band Klinklang Gear Grind (2 hits) vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Bisharp: 168-198 (61.7 - 72.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
- 252+ Atk Bisharp Sucker Punch vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Klinklang: 124-147 (47.3 - 56.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
Capable of dealing heavy damage to Talonflame, not allowing the latter to switch in on it while not being reliably KOed by Brave Bird+Acrobatics.
- +1 252+ Atk Choice Band Klinklang Gear Grind (2 hits) vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Talonflame: 222-262 (74.7 - 88.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
- +2 252+ Atk Choice Band Klinklang Gear Grind (2 hits) vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Talonflame: 294-348 (98.9 - 117.1%) -- approx. 93.8% chance to OHKO
- 252+ Atk Talonflame Brave Bird + Acrobatics vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Klinklang: 132-157 (50.4 - 59.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Not even PhysDef Landorus-T is capable of switching in on Klinklang.
- 252+ Atk Choice Band Klinklang Gear Grind (2 hits) vs. 56 HP / 0 Def Landorus-T: 246-290 (73.8 - 87%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
- 252+ Atk Choice Band Klinklang Gear Grind (2 hits) vs. 252 HP / 240+ Def Landorus-T: 176-210 (46 - 54.9%) -- approx. 98.8% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
Not even Victini can deal with it. Klinklang outpaces Scarf variants after just one Gear Grind, making switch-in attempts futile.
- +1 252+ Atk Choice Band Klinklang Gear Grind (2 hits) vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Victini: 168-198 (49.2 - 58%) -- approx. 98.8% chance to 2HKO
Just theorymonning this is making me excited :] this sounds so powerful :]
I'm a little confused, does the choice item clause mean only 1 choice item can be used outright? Or does it mean you can only use 1 of EACH choice item (ie 1 scarfed mon and 1 specs mon). I really don't like the idea of using only 1 choice item outright that seems a little overkill imo.
What...
Trick Room isn't that hard to put into play. However, there are better Choice Band users like Azumarill, Rhyperior (with Smack Down + Earthquake).
