Conflict said:
Heracross (M) @ MiracleBerry
- Endure
- Megahorn
- Reversal
- Flail
Eh, Flail just doesn't seem good enough to me. EQ for Gengar on the switch is actually a pretty big deal, and even if it weren't, Seismic Toss would probably be my second option to spook Skarm into actually attacking. Flail only gets Zapdos and doesn't necessarily even 2HKO it unless you use Pink Bow.
I agree with you on MiracleBerry (it's also handy for dodging Thunder para), but it's worth noting that Black Belt vastly improves your chances of OHKOing Steelix (even guaranteeing the OHKO after Spikes damage, although you're probably going to focus more on a reliable spinner than a spiker/spinner with this set) and actually makes OHKOing +1 Snorlax possible.
Conflict said:
Forretress (M) @ Leftovers
- Spikes
- Rapid Spin
- Explosion
- Giga Drain
Never liked this set at all. If you plan to use this without spinblock, you straight-up lose to Starmie and opposing Forry teams. And even for fighting Cloys, Toxic is better. You should be aiming to win the Spikes war long-term anyway, and even short-term, Giga Drain is a 4HKO and only has 8PP, making it very easy to PP stall.
I guess I should post some shit instead of just bashing other people's too, huh. Okay.
Gengar (M) @ Leftovers
-Thunder
-Ice Punch
-Explosion
-Destiny Bond
There's a billion Gengar sets that could be posted. This is one I used last SPL because Dbond is pretty unexpected and can nab some cool KOs, but replacing Explosion with it for your suicide moves misses out on Gengar's Raikou killing abilities, which isn't cool. So, out with the unreliable Hypnosis/Dpunch methods of fighting Tyranitars, and in with Dbond to
literally ensure that, worst-case, you trade with it. Dbond Gar is also the best thing I can think of to take out Ttars for stuff like Fire Blast Lax, particularly on non-Spikes teams.
Miltank (F) @ Leftovers
-Seismic Toss
-Growl
-Milk Drink
-Heal Bell
Nidoking kicked my ass this SPL. Miltank would've been a handy thing to use (I used it in most of my matches the first half of last SPL!) This is a slight modification, with SToss over Bslam (that I didn't even come up with, I think the first I saw it was when Floppy used it 2 SPLs ago, though it probably far predates that). SToss means a sleeping Skarm can't come in to waste Rest turns on you willy-nilly, which can be handy if you're trying to wake up a sleeping Drumlax. It's also handy for ensuring that you can force CurseLax to Rest, for preventing Curse Steelix from just getting free Leftovers on you, and for actually damaging MixTar so you aren't totally at the mercy of DPunch confusion or Crunch SpD drop luck. Oh, and Forry/Cloy no longer set up Spikes as easily. Obviously there's downsides to no Body Slam (Zapdos, Raikou, and Egg come in a lot more easily, stuff like Nidoking and Tentacruel can afford to set up), but overall SToss just lets Miltank do its main jobs better.
Donphan (M) @ Leftovers
-Earthquake
-Rapid Spin
-Toxic
-Encore
In keeping with the Ground spinners trend, Donphan just feels like a way more reliable one to use than Golem. With Encore being a "discovered" move for him, he can actually put a stop to Snorlax setting up and might even beat a last-Poke Lax. Obviously shouldn't be your first answer to Lax or anything, but it definitely helps, and without having to take a big hit unlike Roar sets. It can also screw up stuff like Missy, which it 2HKOs if it can't Protect, so it still can technically check Ptrap even without Roar. Speaking of smashing Missy, he can't be spinblocked, so that's pretty cool, even if he baits Cloyster like a motherfucker. A handy mon for teams that want a reliable answer to Ttar, a second look for Curselax, a reliable Rapid Spinner, and a Thunder immunity, something that I find a lot of my teams would definitely welcome. Oh, and I use Toxic over Rest because it gets Cloys (and Eggs, which is pretty cool), plus Donphan, being a ground, probably isn't getting many opportunities to Rest without Heal Bell support anyway.
Suicune @ Leftovers
-Surf
-Ice Beam
-Mirror Coat
-Rest
Again, not especially new, and more a twist on an old classic (that Borat posted a while ago on PO forums iirc). I kinda didn't like it then because it missed out on both the benefits of Roar
and Sleep Talk, but Ice Beam + Mirror Coat together really do make Suicune really good at screwing with Zapdos. I find that I'm often reluctant to use Suicune because I feel like, while it'll shore me up against a bunch of crap, I kind of waht to use that slot to shore up my Zapdos defenses, too. So in a sense, this set lets me have my cake and eat it too. You still lose to Vap unless you can freeze it while it Growths up, though: a Mirror Coated +5 Surf followed by a Suicune Surf will never 2HKO Vap even
with a crit on the latter, so it's free to go for attacks rather than passively let you try to go for freezes. I guess Toxic is possible over Ice Beam to not be a lump vs. Snorlax and to keep Cloys out, and Roar is possible to be able to actually counter Vap and maybe get some Spikes damage. However, not being able to 3HKO Zapdos means you don't really force the issue with Mirror Coat, which is kind of the point here.
Porygon2 @ Leftovers
-Double-Edge
-Ice Beam
-Thunder Wave
-Recover
So I used this more last SPL than this SPL. It's no longer even new, but because I made a big deal of it then, I may as well post now for those unfamiliar. This is based on a pondering by Borat about how to make Pgon2 good: in this case, ditching Curse for support. It actually works really really well, as the most common Sleep Talkers (Zapdos and Raikou) are both 3HKOed by it, and it hits a lot of other things harder than you'd expect (Skarm is 4HKOed by Ice Beam, as is Snorlax [sometimes], and if you're desperate the Miltank Freeze is always an option). Pgon2 also squares off well against Explosion team threats like Gengar and Exeggutor, so it's really nice for defending against offensive teams and spreading para versus them. Its main weaknesses are giving Cloy an opening and being walled to hell and back by Suicune, and I guess also its tendency to just get Exploded on (not a weakness
per se because whatever else would have been in this slot would have died anyway and might not have even forced the Explosion to begin with, but it is annoying that Pgon2 often doesn't get to do more but be Explosion fodder). Oh, and Normal redundancy, making it difficult to build a team with it.
Ampharos @ Leftovers
-Thunder
-Hidden Power [Ice]
-Reflect
-Light Screen
VIL used this and he doesn't seem to post too much, so I figure I'll spread the word. He may have used Tbolt > Thunder, and possible HP Water over Ice, but it's mostly whatever. The main selling point is Dual Screens in a pure Electric, being able to set up on Raikou while hammering everything else with its attacks. Screens are pretty rare in GSC, so using them with a sweeper can sometimes mean insta-win as you befuddle an unprepared opponent. Amphy's a cool Electric to use if you want a Zapdos wall that supports your team better than Raikou can. It's a shame it's too slow to counter Vap. You probably also shouldn't Rest with it, as you can usually tank Thunders all day anyway, you probably will be dodging other attacks anyway, and you really want to maximize your use of Twave/Reflect/Light Screen/Dpunch to set you apart from Raikou.
You know, there's more I could put here (strange things like 4 attacks hera and Entei, non-novel but underutilized twists on classics like Light Screen Starmie, high-risk dick moves that I was too chicken/polite to use like Sleep Trap Smeargle), but I'm gonna stop for now.
