Stratagem

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DarkSlay

DarkSlay

Guess who's back? Na na na! *breakdances*
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QC: 0/2
GP: 0/1

Overview
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+ 130 Speed is blistering fast. Wow. Not much, if anything, can out-speed it without help.
+ 120 Special Attack is extremely formidable.
+ Movepool is enormous. Offensive options are plentiful, some decent support options.
+ Signature move in Paleo Wave is excellent, can hinder physical threats when switching in.
+ Two great abilities in Levitate and Technician, both can be used and abused.
- Mono-Rock is not great defensive typing, weak to many common threats.
- Defensive stats are below average, although not horrid.
- Weak to common priority moves such as Aqua Jet, Bullet Punch and Mach Punch.
- One-dimensional, as it relies on its Special Attack for big damage. Can be walled by certain threats.

Life Orb Attacker
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name: Life Orb Attacker
move 1: Paleo Wave
move 2: Earth Power
move 3: Fire Blast
move 4: Energy Ball
ability: Levitate
item: Life Orb
nature: Timid
evs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe

Moves
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- Paleo Wave is your STAB option and dishes out major damage. Can also lower Attack by one stage.
- Earth Power is for Heatran and Mollux, whom often run heavy SpD investment, as well as Krilowatt and Cyclohm.
- Fire Blast is for Steels that resist Rock, as well as Grass-types like Necturna, Malaconda, and Ferrothorn.
- Energy Ball nails bulky Water- and Ground-types for huge damage, most notably Colossoil, Mega Gyarados, Arghonaut and Rotom-W.

Set Details
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- Max Speed and Timid nature is fast.
- Max SpA investment for that excellent offensive presence.
- Life Orb allows it to hit as hard as possible while taking advantage of its expansive coverage.
- Levitate opens up opportunities for Stratagem to build synergy with its teammates.

Usage Tips
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- Levitate affords it the ability to switch into Ground attacks, as well as avoid Spikes damage, so take advantage of that.
- Thanks to its awesome movepool and speed, it's very easy to throw out moves and recover quickly if a mistake is made.
- Life Orb recoil diminishes its HP very quickly, so a hit-and-run strategy is very effective when using Stratagem. The less hits it takes, the better.
- Can be used as a great cleaner and revenger even without a Scarf.
- Priority is the number one issue with Stratagem, so beware of strong priority moves. Switch out.

Team Options
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- Stratagem is a great stand-alone Pokemon. Can plug into a wide variety of offensive team types.
- Weaknesses to Fighting, Water, Grass and Steel make Necturna (Sticky Web!), Mega Venusaur and Mollux decent Pokemon to pair with it. Can also mess around with common switch-ins to Stratagem.
- Offensive partners include the likes of Talonflame, Aegislash and Krilowatt. It can team up with a wide variety of offensive partners, however.

Technician
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name: Technician
move 1: Ancient Power
move 2: Fire Blast
move 3: Earth Power / Energy Ball
move 4: Hidden Power Flying / Vacuum Wave
ability: Technician
item: Life Orb / Choice Specs
nature: Timid
evs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe

Moves
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- Ancient Power is boosted to 90 BP by Technician. Also has a 10% chance of increasing all stats. Watch out for low PP.
- Fire Blast " ".
- Earth Power " ".
- Energy Ball " ".
- Hidden Power Flying is boosted to 90 BP by Technician. This allows it to get past Mega Venusaur, Tomohawk, Arghonaut and other threats.
- Vacuum Wave gets a decent Tech boost to 60 BP and can be used as priority to nail revenge killers and avoid most Sucker Punch users.

Set Details
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- Max Speed and Timid nature is fast.
- Max SpA investment for that excellent offensive presence.
- Life Orb allows it to hit as hard as possible while taking advantage of its expansive coverage.
- Alternatively, Choice Specs is a decent option for this set, as it focuses on maximum damage output at the cost of flexibility.
- Technician is used to provide maximum damage potential for its STAB attack and specific coverage moves.

Usage Tips
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- Not too much different than the Levitate set in how it plays, but simply has higher damage output and can get past certain Pokemon the Levitate set cannot.
- Should use this set specifically for Hidden Power's coverage.
- Choice Specs is a good compliment with Technician, enabling Ancient Power to deal as much damage as possible without recoil. Scores useful KO's (SpD Heatran with Earth Power, Tomohawk after SR, etc.).
- If Choice Specs, must take care since you'll be locked into a move until you switch.
- Loss of Levitate results in a vulnerability to Spikes damage and less opportunities to switch in, so keep that in mind! Trades momentum for power gains.

Team Options
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- Again, this is a great stand-alone Pokemon.
- Plays much differently with its teammates than the Levitate set. Can't switch in on Ground moves for Aegislash and Mollux, for example.
- Still appreciates support from Pokemon who resist its weaknesses like Necturna and Venusaur.
- Now further appreciates Pokemon like Tomohawk and Skarmory.
- Offensive tandem with Talonflame just as powerful, if not moreso.
- Does lose out on potential/popular offensive partners with this build.

Other Options
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- Giga Drain can be used instead of Energy Ball for health recovery. However, notably less powerful.
- Hidden Power Ice for Garchomp and Landorus. Can be used for both sets.
- Trick is nice for Choice Specs sets, cripples normal switch-ins like Chansey, AV Colossoil.
- Calm Mind viable, very strong and can take some Special hits. However, often can't afford to take a hit from a free switch-in.
- Choice Scarf is an option, fastest revenge killer in the meta. However, often doesn't need the Speed and noticeably less strong.

Checks & Counters
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**Specially Defensive Bulk**: Chansey, Sylveon, Malaconda (kind of).

**Assault Vest Users**: Colossoil, Azumarill, Arghonaut, Conkeldurr

**Priority Attacks**: Aqua Jet, Mach Punch, Bullet Punch.

**Super Effective Moves**: Most SE moves kill it, lacks good bulk.
 
The one thing I just can't get over is how there is not a single mention to Focus Sash. As a relatively frail sweeper, Focus Sash is very useful in a variety of situations. I've seen Focus Sash Strategem stop my Cawmodore sweep many times. Furthermore, it's very clearly the most used item on Strategem when looking at the usage statistics.
 
Well... in my opinion, that is because focus sash is really bad item for it. No SR immunity makes it completely useless in the vast majority of situations, and half the time, it lacks a spikes immunity as well. And it is far from a good check to things like Cawmodore, as well. There are so many more things that can counter or revenge it very well without needing to sacrifice 99% of their health and their item slot. The fact that Focus Sash has been the most, or at least one of the most used items on Stratagem for the past few years is honestly one of the most baffling things to me about usage stats of the metagame.
 
jas61292 said:
No SR immunity makes it completely useless in the vast majority of situations, and half the time, it lacks a spikes immunity as well.
Click to expand...

The only time Focus Sash should even be considered is with Levitate, as it does have some sort of hazards immunity. Whether as a lead where there's no chance of SR being out yet, or as part of a team with hazards removal support, I think Focus Sash is a usable item. Getting in that extra hit before being KOed is an extremely useful advantage. I agree that it flat out does not belong on Technician sets, however. At the very least, Focus Sash really needs an OO mention. People use it a lot, and it is situationally useful.
 
Though sets like life orb and choice specs can dish out a lot more damage, I have to disagree with jas when he said focus sash on stratagem is bad. It has a slightly different niche as it can be a suicude rocks lead that can still deal a lot of damage before dying. Or, late game, you can sweep a team with no special walls. This has happened to me a couple times before, and with stratagem's popularity increasing after the creation of volkraken, teams are having to deal with it as a threat. Yes, it has no resistance to hazards, but most teams run some sort of bulky spinner or defogger, mainly colossoil or skarmory, respectively, and removing the rocks is not normally a problem, though it is worth noting. If the sash is up, you can also take one priority move while sweeping, which can sometimes win you the game. Of course, there will be times when you wish you had the specs or LO to deal more damage, but this is just an example.

I would also say that stealth rocks is extremely important in this meta, with huge threats like mega pinsir and talonflame running around; and having the ability to set up rocks, whatever part of the game to stall these threats, can help you win games.

Also, Hp psychic seems to be another choice because it can hit poison types as well, though flying and psychic hit essentially the same threats of tomohawk, etc.
 
I'd personally change the HP IVs to 29. This allows you to get one more LO hit than using perfect IVs. With that, move the 4 HP EVs into a defense stat, so you don't have an even hp number
 
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