NU Pokemon of the Week - #4: Miltank

[skylight]

Scarf is great too i think, but like i said, I've only used EBelt so i don't really know much about it

tbh I prefer using the Scarf set and facing the Band one, purely because I play more offensively than defensively now. Band Sawk is great for destroying more defensive but Scarf is scarier for offensive/faster mons, since otherwise Kanga and Goose can't destroy it when it's at full health :'( But yeah, Scarf is definitely useful and while it lacks the power of Band, it makes up for it in usefulness really.

 

[Aasgier]

I have a feeling Choice Band(or Specs for that matter) is generally inferior to Expert Belt. Especially on things that go mixed (Eelektross!) but on physical/special attackers as well, like Sawk and Gardevoir.

In a more ontopic subject, Sawk, well, it has serious issues with the very common Musharna, as well as the less common but still common Misdreavus, and the fast Bug-types - Leavanny and Pinsir - are troublesome for Choice-locked Sawk if they are locked in the wrong move and can KO weakened Sawk.
Leavanny has secondary STAB in the form of Leaf Blade to hit Sawk with, while Pinsir has a Close Combat of its own, both dealing around 65-70% damage.

A variety of other Pokémon can also mess with Sawk, depending on Sawk's moveset and the move it locked itself in.

Summary: Sawk hits hard, but he is quite frail and not that fast, so feel free to abuse that.

 

[Chieliee]

Sorry for the slight delay, but it's time for PotW #3!

Kangaskhan
Type: Normal
Base Stats: 105 HP / 95 Attack / 80 Defense /40 Sp. Attack / 80 Sp. Defense/ 90 Speed
Abilities: Early Bird, Scrappy, Inner Focus

ahhhh the good old kangaroo. Probably the most dangerous normal-type of NU. Stabbed Fake out hurts everything, even your ghosts. Return hits everything like a truck and fake out is cool priority. It's got some cool Fighting moves (Low Kick, Drain Punch, and even Focus Punch) too to take care of rock and steel type mons. Kangaskhan's bulk is quite amazing too, and it reaches an amazing speed tier, outspeeding all the 85/86 base speed mons. Kangaskhan doesn't have to run an attacking set, as it has acces to a ton of support moves, including Wish and Circle Throw.

so yeah discuss this kangaroo. (remember to not post sets or skylight will get mad at me)

 

[TLCJR4LIFE]

There's been a split of people who use either LO Return or SS DE. IMO after testing both SS DE is generally better. Abusing Fake Out is much harder when you are taking nearly as much damage as you are dishing out, and it makes Khan's job so much harder if they have a rock type or Aloma.

I think an under explored option is a bulky set that utilizes Leftovers and Drain Punch while maintaining Khan's priority abuse.

Something along the lines of Fake Out/Return/Sucker Punch/Drain Punch Leftovers Adamant.

EVs would be something to think about but the notable thing about DP Khan is that it lives a surprisingly long time....even with LO. Backed by Lefties it should be quite difficult to deal with given its offensive prescence.

 

[Ashley11]

There's been a split of people who use either LO Return or SS DE. IMO after testing both SS DE is generally better. Abusing Fake Out is much harder when you are taking nearly as much damage as you are dishing out, and it makes Khan's job so much harder if they have a rock type or Aloma.

I think an under explored option is a bulky set that utilizes Leftovers and Drain Punch while maintaining Khan's priority abuse.

Something along the lines of Fake Out/Return/Sucker Punch/Drain Punch Leftovers Adamant.

EVs would be something to think about but the notable thing about DP Khan is that it lives a surprisingly long time....even with LO. Backed by Lefties it should be quite difficult to deal with given its offensive prescence.

I agree that SS DE is much better than LO Return since you get about the same power without the recoil from LO.

As for bulky drain punch Kangashan, thats a nice idea, i might try that one. ^_^

 

[TLCJR4LIFE]

SS DE is actually stronger, the benefit of LO is a stronger Sucker Punch and EQ, but it's questionable if it's actually worth it.

Given Khans speed tier, Sucker Punch is only needed against a few threats and a lot of them can be hit hard by even unboosted Sucker Punch.

I guess you could be really gutsy and use LO DE, but based on my experiences using LO Torterra I pretty much hated it. Youd kill yourself basically doing anything and became extremely weak to Subtitute. Inevitably I went with a Plate on Torterra and a Silk Scarf on Khan.

 

[Five Green]

Ah, Kangaskhan. A very good Pokemon, great attacker and revenge killer, her double priority works wonders against faster treats. To be blunt, she outclasses Ambipom, that is UU, but that's another story...

I think that item choice is the key for her success. Life Orb gives her much-needed power, but cuts greatly her lifespan. Leftovers, on the other hand, restores her HP a bit, but the drop in power is pretty big. :|

 

[Chieliee]

more discussion plz. I literally don't have time at all next week (on an exchange programme) so i'm leaving it to you guys to bring up the discussion. It's not like I did very much tho but if it continues like this, it's pretty useless.

alright anyway, we've decided that to minimize the conflict between potw and nbt, I will take mons for potw that have been taken as nbt already. This is because NBT widens the view on a mon, which makes discussing it in POTW easier, while, the other way around, POTW might be too easy to steal sets from, to use in NBT.

so yeah next potw is:

Miltank
Type: Normal
Stats: 95 HP / 80 Attack / 105 Defense /40 Sp. Attack / 70 Sp. Defense/ 100 Speed
Abilities: Thick Fat, Scrappy, Sap Sipper

bulky fast cow

Miltank has a lot going for it. 105 is impressive, especially when coupled with an above-average 95 HP stat. It gets access to Milk Drink and Heal Bell, making it an amazing physical tank. All of it's three abilities are very useful. With a set of Heal Bell/Milk Drink/Body Slam/Toxic, it becomes capable of dealing with a huge number of physical threats. It's also a decent check to non heal bell Musharna, as it can use Toxic, followed up by Heal Bell.

 

[watashi]

cow is actually pretty cool to use in this metagame since it outruns jynx and primeape and can use heal bell to cure all the status that pokemon like missy and jynx are spreading. the defensive set is bad since it doesn't really accomplish anything but i think a scrappy set with double edge/eq/heal bell/milk drink could be cool since it's fast and is one of the few normal-types that can get past missy.

 

[bobbyvaporeon]

I always felt that Tauros outclasses Moo in a pure offence role, so Miltank is meant to be, as it's name says, a tank.
FLCL's set is very good, as with max HP and the rest in attack and speed, Miltank can take a lot of hits and dish them out. A SubCurse set is viable, but i Much prefer a set of Heal Bell, Milk Drink, Body Slam/Return, and EQ/Curse with max HP and SDef. Overall, Miltank is a very good Pokemon.

 

[WhiteDMist]

What do you guys feel is the best aspect of Miltank to take advantage of in this metagame? I feel that its base 100 Speed gives it something that Kangashkan and Zangoose don't have, while its 95/105/70 defenses gives it something Tauros doesn't have. Then there are its various abilities, which are all pretty good. However, using offensive Sap Sipper leaves you vulnerable to being damaged by many more attacks; using defensive Thick Fat means that Miltank can't really damage Ghost-types at all (unless it runs Punishment). Scrappy means that it has excellent coverage with only 2 moves, but has to compete with Kangashkan who has priority and more power. What is the most effective variation for the current metagame?