Linoone (Update)


http://www.smogon.com/dp/pokemon/linoone

[Overview]

<p>Linoone is truly a blessed Pokemon. What would otherwise be a run-of-the-mill, throwaway Normal-type rodent along the likes of Raticate and Furret has access to a one-turn, game-ending sweep setup. Belly Drum turns the mild-mannered mustelid into a pillar of hellfire, a screaming Harrier jet, a towering tornado of fury wielding 1048 Attack, 405 Speed, and an 80 Base Power, STAB priority attack. Packing Linoone gives you a deadly secret weapon for when your enemy shows a moment of weakness, and once its presence is known, Linoone becomes a powerful psychological threat that will have your opponent on his toes the entire match. Adding in team support makes Linoone a fairly reliable late-game sweeper. If you have an opportunistic, high-risk high-reward playstyle, Linoone may be for you.</p>

<p>Beware, however, that Linoone is extremely frail and unforgiving; improper scouting, or a single mistake in prediction, will quickly turn Linoone into a dead weight.</p>

[SET]
name: Belly Drum
move 1: Belly Drum
move 2: ExtremeSpeed
move 3: Seed Bomb
move 4: Return / Shadow Claw
item: Salac Berry
nature: Adamant
evs: 132 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 120 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

<p>Linoone possesses a holy trinity of sweeping power: Belly Drum, STAB ExtremeSpeed, and Gluttony. These three elements combine to form the ultimate one-turn setup. After a Belly Drum, Linoone's shabby Attack stat of 262 skyrockets to an amazing 1048, ready for immediate sweepage. At the same time, Gluttony activates its Salac Berry, sending its Speed stat from 270 (136 EVs) to 405, outspeeding everything up to neutral-natured Pokemon with a Choice Scarf and base 85 Speed. Linoone can then proceed to sweep with ExtremeSpeed, a STAB 80 Base Power priority move that essentially ensures that the flipped-out polecat will almost never be struck before it can hit, and likely KO its opponent. Seed Bomb is the second attack in Linoone's sweeping arsenal, KOing many of the Rock-types that resist ExtremeSpeed, as well as doing a hefty number on bulky Water- and Ground-types. Assuming maximum defensive investment, Slowbro, Milotic, Claydol, Omastar, Quagsire, Cloyster, Rhyperior, Sandslash, Relicanth, and Gastrodon will all survive a +6 ExtremeSpeed, but will all fall to +6 Seed Bomb after Stealth Rock. Despite its large movepool, Linoone has very few usable offensive options. After ExtremeSpeed and Seed Bomb, those options boil down to the two in the last moveslot. Shadow Claw is for Ghost-types, and will OHKO any Ghost-type in UU, bar Spiritomb and Sableye, without fail (Stealth Rock is needed for an OHKO on Dusclops). Return, however, may prove more useful in the long run.</p>

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

<p>Return may seem like redundant coverage with ExtremeSpeed, allowing you to be walled by many more opponents, but consider the following; there are five Ghost-types in UU that +6 Shadow Claw can OHKO but +6 Seed Bomb cannot. These are Drifblim, Dusclops, Mismagius, max Defense Rotom, and Shedinja. Drifblim and Dusclops, while not unseen, are rare. Drifblim is often used as a lead in UU and will probably have Substituted down to 25% of its health (easily KO range) by the time Linoone is on the scene. Bold Rotom is also a rare sight - offensive variations are much more common and are all KOed by Seed Bomb. Shedinja is the rarest of all, and though lacking Shadow Claw will leave you completely walled by Shedinja, even with Shadow Claw most will either kill you after Focus Sash activates, or with a Sucker Punch. This is, of course, assuming there is no Stealth Rock on the field, which renders Shedinja useless anyway. Return, meanwhile, rivaling in power practically any Explosion found in UU, will ensure a few KOs that ExtremeSpeed cannot. Max Defense Weezing, Nidoqueen, Torterra, Uxie, and Drapion are all OHKOed by +6 Return after Stealth Rock damage, while ExtremeSpeed (or Shadow Claw vs. Uxie) will fail to KO in each case by a small margin. Return also has a 65% chance of 2HKOing a 252 HP / 4 Def neutral-natured Registeel holding Leftovers and taking Stealth Rock damage. Finally, after possibly taking an Intimidate or two, the added power of Return will be welcome.</p>

<p>Steel-type Pokemon are the one thing Linoone absolutely cannot sweep through, as they resist Linoone's STAB attacks as well as Seed Bomb. Two attack options - Dig and Rock Smash - were available in the past as Linoone's only super effective attacks against the Steel-types, but neither is recommended over the listed attacks. Dig is nearly useless; not only is it easy to avoid and fails to OHKO Steelix, but Steelix and Registeel usually carry Earthquake, which will hit you underground. Rock Smash is generally a waste of a moveslot, considering a 2x super effective Rock Smash has only 80 Base Power, and a resisted STAB Return has 76.5 Base Power. Seed Bomb hits Steelix with 80 Base Power as well. The only Steel-types that Rock Smash is able to hit for decent damage are the three Rock / Steel-types (Bastiodon, Probopass, and Aggron), which, except for Aggron, are rarely seen.</p>

<p>It therefore falls upon Linoone's teammates to remove its counters if Linoone hopes to sweep. Before firing off a Belly Drum, scouting for opposing Steelix, Registeel, and Spiritomb is wise. Shuckle, Cradily, and Armaldo are not as common nor as perfect of counters, but can all pose problems for Linoone as well. These sweep-stopping Pokemon should be eliminated, or else brought within KO range, before Linoone Belly Drums. Assuming Stealth Rock is in play, Linoone will always KO these counters if they are taken down to a certain hit point percentage first:</p>

<ul class="damage_calculation">
<li>+6 Seed Bomb vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Impish Steelix - 35.6% - 41.8%</li>
<li>+6 Return vs. 252 HP / 252 Def Impish Registeel - 36% - 42.6%</li>
<li>+6 Return vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Careful Registeel - 47% - 55.2%</li>
<li>+6 Seed Bomb vs. 252 HP / 252 Def Bold Spiritomb - 57.2% - 67.4%</li>
<li>+6 Seed Bomb vs. 252 HP / 240 Def Careful Cradily - 55.1% - 64.9%</li>
<li>+6 Seed Bomb vs. 244 HP / 252 Def Impish Armaldo - 52% - 61.4%</li>
<li>+6 Seed Bomb vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Jolly Aggron - 54.1% - 63.3%</li></ul>

<p>Keeping these Pokemon in mind, a team packing Linoone would do well to carry Pokemon who can handle Linoone's counters. Powerful wallbreakers such as mixed Blaziken, Swords Dance Pinsir, and Choice Specs Typhlosion can soften these counters enough for Linoone to sweep, if not KOing them outright. Also, as with any setup sweeper, lures and trappers make Linoone's life much easier. Mismagius, Scyther, and Swellow are all terrific lures that can coax your opponent's Linoone counter early. Dugtrio and Magneton are fairly efficient at eliminating the Steel-types that give Linoone nightmares, especially when paired with lures. Dual Screen users such as Uxie and Mespirit can help soften blows that Linoone might take whilst setting up, thus making its job easier.</p>

<p>If you are worried about outspeeding certain Choice Scarf Pokemon (such as Venusaur and Rotom), a Jolly nature is optional. However, you will miss out on many crucial OHKOs if you do this, namely Slowbro, who is always OHKOed if Stealth Rock is in play, with a high chance of OHKOing without Stealth Rock. A Jolly nature will cause you to only OHKO with Stealth Rock set up. A different EV spread of 36 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 216 Spe with a Jolly nature can be used to guarantee the ability to outspeed certain other Pokemon; however, there is a noticeable lack in power. Finally, Memento Gastrodon is one of the easiest ways to guarantee a successful set up. Gastrodon has access to three extremely helpful support moves: Block, Memento, and Yawn.</p>

[SET]
name: Choice Band
move 1: ExtremeSpeed
move 2: Shadow Claw
move 3: Seed Bomb
move 4: Switcheroo / Return
item: Choice Band
nature: Adamant
evs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

<p>Linoone can use its reputation as a Belly Drummer to run a surprise Choice Band set. While weaker than most Choice Band users, Linoone does have its advantages. First and foremost, it poses a psychological threat. Feigning a Belly Drum set, it intimidates many weakened sweepers into attacking instead of switching out, and many tottering walls will give up the chance to recover damage in order to get a hit off on Linoone. Second, it is the only user of STAB ExtremeSpeed in UU, which by all accounts is a powerful and reliable priority attack, even on a Pokemon with a pathetic 70 base Attack. Third, it has access to Switcheroo (as well as its identical twin Trick), which it can use to foil many of its counters. Steelix, Registeel, and Spiritomb, the three best Belly Drum Linoone switch-ins in UU, are all crippled by receiving a Choice Band, unless they are already holding one, which is a rare sight for the former two. With an Adamant nature, Linoone reaches a decent 393 attack. ExtremeSpeed is Linoone's primary attack, allowing it to put a huge dent on fragile sweepers which outspeed Linoone, such as Swellow and Alakazam. As mentioned before, Shadow Claw is Linoone's only way of dealing with Ghost-types, whilst without Seed Bomb, the badger has no chance taking on the likes of Rhyperior and Omastar. Although Switcheroo is the preferred move for the fourth moveslot, Return can net a lot of OHKOs and 2HKOs that ExtremeSpeed cannot, namely cleanly landing a fatality on Dugtrio and Swellow, as well as 2HKOing Life Orb Milotic.</p>

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

<p>The layout of the EVs is quite simple, allowing Linoone to outspeed as many threats as possible while at the same time maximizing its Attack. A Jolly nature is optional if you are worried about needing to outspeed opponents that resist ExtremeSpeed, in which case Return is the STAB move that you should use. Rock Smash is an alternative to hit Pokemon such as Aggron super effectively, but has no use outside of that, seeing as a neutral ExtremeSpeed is more powerful than a super effective Rock Smash. Entry hazards are a must here, as Linoone is typically only able to do 50% to bulky Pokemon with ExtremeSpeed. Because sweepers typically carry Life Orb, the combination of residual damage plus the damage done from entry hazards adds up to allow Linoone to revenge kill with minimal losses.</p>

[Other Options]

<p>Linoone has a fairly decent special movepool which includes even Ice Beam and Thunderbolt, but Linoone is unable to take advantage of it with its middling Special Attack stat. If you want a high-powered move, Linoone can learn Gunk Shot, but with the poor coverage it gets with it, coupled with the low accuracy, it is generally not a viable option. A gimmick set with Belly Drum and Last Resort can be fun, dealing a ridiculous amount of damage to most enemies. Physically Defensive Weezing takes 117.7% - 138.6% from a boosted Adamant Last Resort, and Cloyster with maximum Defense investment takes 95.7% - 112.8%, a clean OHKO with Stealth Rock. Pursuit is another option; however, with Linoone's poor base Attack, it won't be netting many kills apart from the rare Ghost-type that is locked into a Ghost-type move and needs to switch out. As tanks that wall Linoone such as Steelix and Registeel are bound to switch into its attacks, Super Fang can rob them of half of their current health, which is by far the best amount of damage Linoone will be able to inflict on them.</p>

[Checks and Counters]

<p>The best way to counter Linoone is to prevent it from setting up a Belly Drum. If there are no screens in play, almost any STAB attack along with Stealth Rock will deal more than 50% damage to Linoone. If screens are in play, it takes a fairly powerful STAB or Fighting-type attack from a sweeper or tank to deal the appropriate damage, although this is still not hard to do. Taking out a screen-shielded Linoone after eating a Memento takes powerful Fighting-type STAB from the likes of Hitmonlee, Hitmontop, Primeape, or Medicham. Many support moves are also viable ways to halt Linoone's setup, and are unaffected by screens or Memento: Encore, Trick, burn, sleep, Haze, and phazing moves can all put Linoone on the sidelines for the rest of the match by making it waste its Belly Drum.</p>

<p>Once Linoone has used Belly Drum, it still has several solid counters. Steelix is undoubtedly the best counter: with an Impish nature and 0 Def EVs, it is 3HKOed at best by Seed Bomb, and can KO Linoone with Earthquake or Gyro Ball, or phaze it away with Roar. Spiritomb is also an excellent counter, being immune to Linoone's STAB, 2HKOed by Seed Bomb and able to strike back first with its own priority STAB Sucker Punch, or burn Linoone with Will-O-Wisp. Registeel counters Linoone well, as long as it has Defense EVs or doesn't switch into Return; however, 0 Atk Registeel needs Explosion to put 50% HP Linoone down, as Iron Head will not KO. Shuckle almost always survives 2 Seed Bombs, even with Stealth Rock in play, but cannot do much back besides Toxic. Choice Scarf Mismagius and Timid Choice Scarf Rotom can both switch in on any Normal-type attack, outspeed the incoming Seed Bomb or Shadow Claw, and KO Linoone with Hidden Power Fighting or STAB Thunderbolt.</p>

<p>Without Shadow Claw, Linoone cannot OHKO the aforementioned Ghost-types (Dusclops, Bold Rotom, Mismagius, Drifblim, and Shedinja), which in turn can usually manage to KO, or at least burn, Linoone. Without Return, physically bulky Pokemon such as Tangrowth, Torterra, Torkoal, Gligar, and Weezing can survive a hit from Linoone if they are running max HP and Def. The same goes for physically bulky Pokemon weak to Grass-type attacks, such as Slowbro, Sandslash, Cloyster, and all Rock-types, provided Linoone lacks Seed Bomb. Linoone needs Stealth Rock in play to get many key OHKOs; without it, almost any bulky Pokemon with max Defense will be able to survive a single +6 hit at full health, as will any Pokemon with Focus Sash.</p>

<p>Some battle conditions can prevent or hamper a Linoone's sweep. Toxic Spikes (either one or two layers) are the most harmful, limiting the number of turns for which Linoone can sweep after a Belly Drum to 3, or 2 if Linoone switches in mid-turn. Stealth Rock and Spikes hamper Linoone's ability to take hits on the turn it uses Belly Drum. Sandstorm and hail don't cut sweeps short quite like poison does, but can finish off a damaged Linoone. Reflect on the defender's side reduces Linoone's attacking power by 50%, enough to halt its sweep.</p>

<p>If you carry a Pokemon with Intimidate, you can sap Linoone's Attack until it is unable to KO your Pokemon. At +5 Attack (after one Intimidate), Linoone fails to OHKO many walls, such as the aforementioned max Defense Uxie, Weezing, and Slowbro, sometimes even with Stealth Rock in play. Offensive teams lacking a wall may have to sacrifice a Pokemon or two in order to harass Linoone with multiple Intimidates. Other abilities such as Static, Flame Body, Rough Skin, and Aftermath can, with a little luck, disable or finish off Linoone in a pinch.</p>
 
I'm sorry that I'm being pretty blunt here but there is a obvious quality and quantity drop when I'm looking at the on-site Linoone Analysis compared to your current one. You're updating it after all, so there's no need to write from scratch if what's online is already pretty good already. You're better off using the on-site text, reformatting the text to new Smogon Standards: Overview, Set 1, Set Comments, (Team Options and Additional Comments), Team Options, Optional Changes, and finally Counters. After you've done that you should update the analysis to keep in line with new metagame trends (Lee's Block/Yawn/Memento Gastrodon is Linoone's best partner by far)

EDIT: Also Choice Band Linoone (70 base attack) is just sad... Belly Drum Linoone is like 100 times scarier. I would be really relieved if I faced a Linoone and gave it a free turn just to find out it was a CBer. Shift it to Other Options.

Updates to new metagame... (Remove Shaymin, Crobat, Honchkrow... Change Rhydon to Rhyperior... Add in new helpful teammates like Dugtrio for Steels, Gastrodon...)
 

shrang

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Yeah, I hope this is still WIP, because it is really lacking substance and correct formatting.

EDIT: Also Choice Band Linoone (70 base attack) is just sad... Belly Drum Linoone is like 100 times scarier. I would be really relieved if I faced a Linoone and gave it a free turn just to find out it was a CBer. Shift it to Other Options.
CB Linoone is actually not bad. While Belly Drum is a lot scarier, it doesn't mean CB is bad (kind of like how Psycho Killer Mewtwo makes all of his other sets look mediocre in 5th gen). Belly Drum is something you probably devote a whole team to, while CB is more of something you can stick on a team and get it to work. STAB Extremespeed (even with Base 70 Attack) is always cool (I think Arceus and Smeargle are the only ones who get it IIRC), and it is especially cool when you can Trick the CB onto potential Belly Drum counters like Steelix and cripple them. I'd say deslash Return, since the only reason to use CB Linoone is because of Extremespeed (Use Tauros, Kangaskhan and the myriad of other Normal CBers if you're using Return).

I would also suggest just making Linoone's EV spread something like 36 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 216 Spe with a Jolly nature to outspeed the fastest Ghost-type Choice Scarfer in Haunter that Linoone can outspeed (which you can't kill with Extremespeed). 36 HP is so Linoone's HP is divisible by 2, which means you can get Salac Berry activated with half HP.
 

jrp

Banned deucer.
I wrote this when I was half asleep, it;s just an outline so far, getting in just basic information. I'll fix the evs and stuff
 

Bluewind

GIVE EO WARSTORY
is a Top Contributor Alumnus
Linoone should just go back to its old Adamant spread to be honest. Yeah, you'll miss on outspeeding Choice Scarf Rotom (Haunter is just pretty much non-existant), but you'll miss hitting things like Slowbro, Registeel, Regirock and so on. Might not sound too important, but Linoone gets (IIRC) an almost guaranteed OHKO on Slowbro with SR, and has a decent chance of OHKOing it without SR down; while with Jolly it never OHKOes without SR and has a pretty high chance of not beating it even with SR down. IMO, leave that Jolly spread to AC and go back to the Adamant one.

name: Choice Band
move 1: ExtremeSpeed
move 2: Shadow Claw
move 3: Seed Bomb
move 4: Switcheroo / Return
item: Choice Band
nature: Adamant
evs: 4 HP / 252 Atk /252 Spe

Linoone's Attack is quite pathetic, but it has enough attributes to net him a CB set of his own (mainly Espeed and Trick). Espeed is pretty much a must or you'll just be using an inferior Kanghaskan / Tauros. Switcheroo is the main slash because it's unique and is Linoone's only way of touching Steel-types, but Return can be used. Jolly can get a mention in AC for Rotom, Jolly Arcanine, and Sucker Punch Houndoom; but the power will be missed. Outside of this, approved.

PS: Also, it's Salac not Salec ._.
 
EDIT:nvm thought he was talking about CB linoone

there aren't really much things in uu/nu with base 100 speed...maybe lower the speed evs to 216 to outspeed positive base 95s and put the leftovers in hp/defenses?
 

supermarth64

Here I stand in the light of day
is a Contributor Alumnus
He meant at +6 with Seed Bomb, which does 87.3% - 103% if Adamant and 79.7% - 93.9% if Jolly.
 

jrp

Banned deucer.
I run 252 attack 252 speed 4 hp for the most part on a choice band set for the most part. This guy needs all the offensive investment he can get, since he doesn't exactly have a stellar attack stat.

I go with adamant on the Band set, since extremespeed is generally the main attacking option, but it's main use is to revenge kill weakened sweepers. The main reason I'm thinking of a band set is because it can do a decent job of running one. The issue is that linoone loses a TON of offensive ability after it loses the band, to an almost useless extent. You want to try to get a life orb with switcheroo, if you can. It's not reliable though.
 

jrp

Banned deucer.
well, as far as I can see, this is finished, formatting aside. I've invariably forgotten something though, so if you see anything glaringly obvious that I've missed, feel free to point it out
 
I'm sorry I have to post this again, but someone's gotta say it. You say this is finished, formatting aside. Have you taken a look at the current onsite Linoone analysis? I'm sure you have, but look one more time. Because in my opinion, it is an excellent analysis for a unique Pokemon. One only has to compare your Overview vs this writer's Opinion, to see the difference of quality and quantity. The points he brought up like Linoone's psychological advantage, and the descriptions of a Harrier jet... I'm not saying that you're a lousy writer, but the previous writer was just damn good unfortunately for you.

Earlier on I advised you to use the onsite text as your analysis and just update it with neccessary changes. I think that's still possible, and I again strongly urge you to do that.
 

Oglemi

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What YaM said. Basically just copy/paste from what's onsite and make the necessary QC changes in the writing.

Thanks for pointing that out YaM.
 
Sorry to sound like an ass but I have to agree with YaM. Steinhauser's analysis is one of the best that exist; I myself was inspired to build my first serious team around Linoone because of it. I would suggest leaving most of the analysis as it is, but there're lots of things to mention thanks to metagame changes. Examples: Timid Scarf Rotom, priority Tomb, removing Honchkrow, removing Crobat, removing 252/252 Impish Registeel that nobody runs now (everyone is 252/252+ in SpD), etc.
 

Bluewind

GIVE EO WARSTORY
is a Top Contributor Alumnus
As I said, you should have gone back to the old spread. Anyways, I'd like to discuss the change on Linoone's Speed EVs to enough to beat Swellow after Salac only and leave the rest to AC. I skimmed the UU Speed tier list and there seems to be nothing you'll miss on outspeeding. Neutral base 85 scarfers are pretty much non-existant, especially the neutral nature part; not to mention the only one that comes to mind is Toxicroack... who never uses Scarf. The only Pokemon that could remotely trouble you is Quick Attack Scarf Blaziken (lol), so let me know if there are any complaints (maybe som scarfer you can't OHKO with Espeed). Or maybe enough Speed for RP Perior / Regirock if they try to setup alongside you or something (120 Speed EVs)...
 

jrp

Banned deucer.
Since people have been nagging me about it, I just used the old Belly Drum set from the site, and removed all mentions of Pokemon who are no longer in UU (Honchkrow, ect).
I'll get on the writing part now.
One thing that's been bothering me, does it matter if I use Switcharoo/trick in the analysis? I've been slightly curious about the options
 

Bluewind

GIVE EO WARSTORY
is a Top Contributor Alumnus
Well, because people don't seem interested in arguing Linoone on the Linoone thread give it 120 Speed, 4 Def and 132 HP instead.
 

jrp

Banned deucer.
Changed the EV's to that spread. It's basically written up, just need to fix some things and add <p> tags
 

Oglemi

Borf
is a Top Contributoris a Tournament Director Alumnusis a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Researcher Alumnusis a Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Top Smogon Media Contributor Alumnusis an Administrator Alumnusis a Top Dedicated Tournament Host Alumnus
OK I'm going to break this down for you very thoroughly and if you don't comply I'm just going to give the OP to someone else, so listen up.

1. You c/p'ed the Belly Drum set from onsite good. Now please place the AC tag after the third paragraph of the set.

2. Combine the first 3 paragraphs into one big paragraph.

3. Combine the fourth and fifth paragraphs into one.

4. Don't forget to add <p> tags before and </p> tags after every single paragraph.

5. For damage calcs, they need to look exactly like this. Just c/p what I have here:

<ul class="damage_calculation">
<li>+6 Seed Bomb vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Impish Steelix - 35.6% - 41.8%</li>
<li>+6 Return vs. 252 HP / 252 Def Impish Registeel - 36% - 42.6%</li>
<li>+6 Return vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Careful Registeel - 47% - 55.2%</li>
<li>+6 Seed Bomb vs. 252 HP / 252 Def Bold Spiritomb - 57.2% - 67.4%</li>
<li>+6 Seed Bomb vs. 252 HP / 240 Def Careful Cradily - 55.1% - 64.9%</li>
<li>+6 Seed Bomb vs. 244 HP / 252 Def Impish Armaldo - 52% - 61.4%</li>

<p>Insert new paragraph here.</p>

6. Be sure there's a space after the damage calcs and the next paragraph like I have above.

7. Please use this as the Overview, it's much more creative than yours, to put it bluntly.

<p>Linoone is truly a blessed Pokemon. What would otherwise be a run-of-the-mill, throwaway Normal-type rodent in the ranks of Raticate and Furret has access to a one-turn, game-ending sweep setup. Belly Drum turns the mild-mannered mustelid into a pillar of hellfire, a screaming Harrier jet, a towering tornado of fury wielding 1048 Attack, 405 Speed, and an 80 Base Power, STAB priority attack. Packing Linoone gives you a deadly secret weapon for when your enemy shows a moment of weakness, and once its presence is known, Linoone becomes a powerful psychological threat that will have your opponent on his toes the entire match. Adding in team support makes Linoone a fairly reliable late-game sweeper. If you have an opportunistic, high-risk-high-reward play style, Linoone may be for you. Beware, however, that Linoone is extremely frail and unforgiving - improper scouting, or a single mistake in prediction, will quickly turn Linoone into a dead weight.</p>

8. For the last three sections the order is:

[Team Options]

[Optional Changes]

[Counters]

9. Please use this as the Team Options section:

<p>Belly Drum Linoone is an extremely dangerous sweeper, needing only one turn of setup to turn a game on its head. However, getting that crucial turn to set up, and then surviving it, is no easy task. Linoone has paper-thin 78/61/61 defenses - most Pokemon can easily hit it for more than 50% damage, and the opponents that cannot (weak walls like Blastoise and Registeel) can status or phaze Linoone as it Belly Drums. That said, there are many exploitable opportunities that can allow Linoone the free turn it so desires.</p>

<p>Dual screen + Memento is perhaps the best and most reliable option. In UU, only Uxie, Gardevoir, and Magcargo can learn all three of Reflect, Light Screen, and Memento. Uxie does particularly well at this task as it has excellent defenses, decent Speed, and can Yawn (the merits of which are discussed below). Dual screen + Memento essentially reduces the opponent to 25% of its attacking power, meaning an opponent would have to be able to deal 200% damage to Linoone in normal conditions to KO it after it Belly Drums. Behind both dual screens and against a Memento-sapped opponent, only STAB Close Combats and Superpowers, powerful Brick Breaks, and Explosions can hope to KO Linoone after it gets its Belly Drum off. To give an example of the shielding power of dual screens + Memento, consider the following heavy hitters:</p>

<li>-2 Modest 252 SpA Choice Specs Typhlosion Eruption (150 base power) vs. 116 HP / 4 SpD Linoone behind Light Screen: 40.8% - 48.16%</li>
<li>-2 Adamant 252 Atk Leftovers Rhyperior vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Linoone behind Reflect: 24.2% - 28.6%</li>

<p>Simply dual screening without Memento may allow Linoone to get off a Belly Drum against a weaker attacker, but beware, as many offensive Pokemon have no trouble dealing over 50% even from behind screens. Yawn is an excellent way to snag a free Belly Drumming opportunity. If the Yawner faints (from a Yawned enemy's attack or its own Memento) or uses a slow U-turn on the turn the opponent falls asleep, Linoone gets in for free against a sleeping Pokemon. Encore from something like Clefable, Lopunny, Jumpluff, or Shuckle works wonders if the opponent is locked into a harmless move and refuses to switch out. Never Belly Drum on Encored Substitute, however, as the opponent will stall out the Encore and finish you off from behind its Sub more often than not. Stealth Rock is important for many key OHKOs, including Slowbro and Uxie, as well as anything holding a Focus Sash. In the same vein, a spinner on your team will remove the entry hazards that make Linoone more vulnerable. Without a spinner, make sure you at least carry a grounded Poison-type to remove Toxic Spikes.</p>

<p>Alongside its obvious role as a central end-game sweeper, Linoone can be worth its weight in gold without ever even Belly Drumming, instead harassing an opponent's play style through sheer intimidation. Facing the constant threat of a Linoone setup, your opponent will be forced to play very conservatively, which you can use to your advantage. Encore users become more potent, especially if they can spread status, like Clefable and Jumpluff - your opponent will not leave an Encored Pokemon in, allowing you to status another of his teammates. Choiced attacks will be chosen much more cautiously. Using Linoone as a lead is a great way to keep early Stealth Rock and Spikes off the field, as any attempt to set up will be deterred by the risk of Belly Drum.</p>

10. Use this as the Counters section:

<p>The best way to counter Linoone is to prevent it from setting up a Belly Drum. If there are no screens in play, almost any STAB attack along with Stealth Rock will deal more than 50% damage to Linoone. If screens are in play, it takes a fairly powerful STAB or Fighting attack from a sweeper or tank to deal the appropriate damage, although this is still not hard to do. Taking out a screen-shielded Linoone after eating a Memento takes serious Fighting STAB from the likes of Hitmonlee, Hitmontop, Primeape, or Medicham. Many support moves are also viable ways to halt Linoone's setup, and are unaffected by screens or Memento: Encore, Trick, burn, sleep, Haze, and phazing moves can all put Linoone on the sidelines for the rest of the match by making it waste its Belly Drum.</p>

<p>Once Linoone has drummed, it still has several solid counters. Steelix is undoubtedly the best counter: with Impish and 0 Def EVs, it is 3HKOed at best by Seed Bomb, and can KO Linoone with Earthquake or Gyro Ball or phaze it away with Roar. Spiritomb is also an excellent counter, since it is immune to Linoone's STAB, 2HKOed by Seed Bomb and can strike back first with its own priority STAB Sucker Punch or burn it with Will-O-Wisp. Registeel counters Linoone well, as long as it has Def EVs or doesn't switch into Return; however, 0 Atk Registeel needs Explosion to put 50% HP Linoone down, as Iron Head will not KO. Shuckle almost always survives 2 Seed Bombs, even with SR in play, but cannot do much back besides Toxic. Scarf Mismagius and Timid Scarf Rotom can both switch in on any Normal attack, outspeed the incoming Seed Bomb or Shadow Claw, and KO with Hidden Power Fighting or STAB Thunderbolt.</p>

<p>Without Shadow Claw, Linoone cannot OHKO the aforementioned ghosts (Dusclops, Bold Rotom, Drifblim, and Shedinja), which in turn can usually manage to KO, or at least burn, Linoone. Without Return, bulky Pokemon like Tangrowth, Torterra, Torkoal, Gligar, and Weezing can survive a hit from Linoone if they are running max HP and Def. The same goes for bulky Grass weaknesses like Slowbro, Sandslash, Cloyster, and all Rock-types, if Linoone lacks Seed Bomb. Linoone needs Stealth Rock in play to get many key OHKOs; without it, almost any bulky Pokémon with max Defense will be able to survive a single +6 hit at full health, as will any Pokémon with Focus Sash.</p>

<p>Some battle conditions can prevent or hamper a Linoone's sweep. Toxic Spikes (either one or two layers) are the most harmful, limiting Linoone's maximum sweeping turns after a Belly Drum to 3, or 2 if Linoone switches in mid-turn. Stealth Rock and Spikes hamper Linoone's ability to take hits on its Belly Drumming turn. Sandstorm and hail don't cut sweeps short quite like poison does, but it can finish off a damaged Linoone. Reflect on the defender's side reduces Linoone's attacking power by 50%, enough to halt its sweep.</p>

<p>If you carry a Pokémon with Intimidate, you can sap Linoone's Attack until it is unable to KO your Pokemon. At +5 Attack (after one Intimidate), Linoone fails to OHKO many walls, such as the aforementioned max Defense Uxie, Weezing, and Slowbro, sometimes even with Stealth Rock in play. Offensive teams lacking a wall may have to sacrifice a Pokémon or two in order to harass Linoone with multiple Intimidates. Other abilities like Static, Flame Body, Rough Skin, and Aftermath can, with a little luck, disable or finish off Linoone in a pinch.</p>

11. You will have to expand upon the CB set, including what Linoone can't KO, who are good teammates, who hard-counters CB Linoone and who can counter those counters, etc.

Yeah.
 

Honko

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Make sure to mention Block+Memento Gastrodon as a teammate.

Edit: Also replace the mention of Trapinch with Dugtrio.
 
OK there were some things missing from the previous version of the Linoone analysis that needs to be updated:

1. The damage calculations don't assume SR in play. Also, since the nature of the damage calculations have changed, you need to reword the sentence "Assuming Stealth Rock is in play, Linoone will always KO these counters if they are taken down to a certain hit point percentage first:"

2. Aggron got much more popular after receiving Head Smash, which was after this analysis was originally written. Please add a damage calculation for Aggron (these EVs are for the popular Choice Band and Rock Polish set:
<li>+6 Seed Bomb vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Jolly Aggron - 54.1% - 63.3%</li>
Reword stuff pertaining to Aggron...
The only Steels that Rock Smash is able to hit for decent damage are the three Rock- and Steel-types (Bastiodon, Probopass, and Aggron), which except for Aggron, are rarely seen.

It therefore falls upon Linoone's teammates to remove its counters if Linoone hopes to sweep. Before firing off a Belly Drum, scouting for opposing Steelix, Registeel, Aggron, and Spiritomb is wise.
Also add Aggron to Counters...

3. For the paragraph after damage calcs, mention Dugtrio alongside Magneton and Trapinch to trap Steels. Also talk about all these Trappers in Team Options.

4. For Team Options, the first paragraph is okay, but the new and most reliable method to set up a Linoone is Memento Gastrodon, so you should devote an entire paragraph to Gastrodon and how it works (for more info go http://www.smogon.com/forums/showthread.php?t=76477), and insert it after the first paragraph of Team Options.
 

Oglemi

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OK this post is going to be a little big too, so PLEASE be sure to do EVERYTHING I list here.

1. Place the [ADDITIONAL COMMENTS] tag below the first paragraph of the Belly Drum set.

2. Add the mention of Memento Gastrodon in this paragraph, like this:

<p>Keeping these Pokemon in mind, a team packing Linoone would do well to carry Pokémon who can handle Linoone's counters. Powerful wall breakers like mixed Blaziken, Swords Dance Pinsir, and Specs Typhlosion can soften these counters enough for Linoone to sweep, if not fainting them outright. Also, like any setup sweeper, lures and trappers make Linoone's life much easier. Mismagius, Scyther, and Swellow are all terrific lures that can coax your opponent's Linoone counter early. Trapinch and Magneton are fairly efficient at eliminating the Steels that give Linoone nightmares, especially when paired with lures. Finally, Memento Gastrodon is one of the easiest ways to guarantee a successful set up. Gastrodon has access to three extremely helpful support moves, Block, Memento and Yawn.</p>

3. You have to add more info to the CB set. Here are some tips to help you think of more to add: Type out some Pokemon that Linoone has trouble against, and then think of good teammates for Linoone to counter those opposing Pokemon. What can't Linoone OHKO? What can outspeed Linoone and revenge kill it? Is there status that might hinder Linoone? You might want to add some damage calcs to demonstrate CB Linoone's power. For a really good example of how a set like this is written, please look at shrang's Choice Specs Altaria write-up. It is phenomonal, and it is even a choice set like CB Linoone.

4. For consistencie's sake and so the GP team doesn't have to do it, PLEASE make sure that all instances of Pokemon are without the accent on the e. So, delete any of these é, and replace them with a regular e.

5. Please take a look at the Grammar Standards page and fix any mistakes you might see in your analysis.

6. Please delete this floating sentence in the Belly Drum:

<p>It therefore falls upon Linoone's teammates to remove its counters if Linoone hopes to sweep. Before firing off a Belly Drum, scouting for opposing Steelix, Registeel, Aggron, and Spiritomb is wise.</p>

7. Do all of this, and we'll be one step closer to getting this ready for GP checks.
 

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