Shame That
TAKE IT ALL OR LEAVE IT
Roar Slowking seems kind of meh to me... I think Slowking benefits more from just running Dragon Tail if it wants to phaze and using Heal Bell support from a teammate if you have nothing else to sponge status; that way you can still spread status and recover instantly without being pressured to stay in by Rest. Since many teams run counters built mainly around defeating King, it is often forced to switch out in an attempt for its teammates to kill of the counter. This is what it does best, acting as a defensive pivot, and being forced to switch out while asleep can disrupt the ease of switching it in and statusing / healing up for the rest of the game, which is ultimately Slowking's main job beyond sponging hits.
Hi Jump Kick Emboar... I suppose it could have its merits. You could run a Choice Scarf set and blitz multiple enemies in a row late-game, and you could 2HKO an enemy without worrying about being KOed by a neutral attack that would normally KO you at -1 Defense. Beyond that, consequences are extremely severe when you miss or use it on a Ghost switching in. With Superpower, you never miss and if a Ghost is brought in the worst that happens is you switch out unharmed and they get a free turn. With HJK, you not only leave the opponent untouched on a miss but your health is mutilated, making Wish Support pretty mandatory if you want to keep on the safe side. I understand this is a common issue for HJK, but Emboar at 50% is much easier to revenge for faster scarfers or strong priority users, and if you're running CB it pretty much means any offensive poke that out speeds you (read: common) can pick you off with a neutral, decently strong attack. Not enough of a reason to use it over Superpower IMO; it's designed to decimate things with a strong move then switch out, and Superpower does that just fine 99% of the time!
Baton Pass Drapion looks deadly. Baton Pass is kind of rare in the tier, and even those who can pass boosts are pretty darned frail (Absol, Scyther). Drapion could set up on something like Rotom as it switches out, or something whose attacks it can sponge, then pass out of a counter like Poliwrath into something that could use with an attack bonus. Qwilfish and Sceptile come to mind, as even though Sceptile can run SD itself you could easily bring it into a resisted water attack and proceed with an all-out attacking set to shred the opponent as they attempt to switch into a wall. Even more fun; you could BP a Swords Dance to Hitmonlee and Fake Out for Unburden, then sweep at +2 Atk and Speed! As a side note, Baton Pass could heavily ease on prediction and lure out counters like Rhydon, where you could just bring in Rotom-C or something for easy momentum. I agree, this could probably boost Drapions popularity quite a bit!
Flamethrower / Fire Blast on Mesprit would give it stupidly good coverage, letting it tear stuff like Ferroseed, Magneton and Esca, the latter two of the three often giving Mesprit trouble previously. Furthermore, it could ditch Thunderbolt or Ice Beam on the CM set to have a good shot at beating one of its most lethal counters, tomb:
252 SpA Life Orb Mesprit Fire Blast vs. 248 HP / 8 SpD Spiritomb: 136-161 (44.88 - 53.13%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
Assuming Shadow Sneak doesn't roll absolute max and you don't have SR on your side of the field, you can actually beat Tomb by subbing on the switch and then smacking it with Fire Blast. Aside from the Tomb aspect, you can run BoltBeam + Fire Blast, and deal with everything in the tier at least neutrally barring only Lanturn, letting you wreak havoc at +1 or higher.
Still, Mesprit suffers from Four Moveslot syndrome. In order to run CM it would need to remove one of Psychic STAB, Tbolt, Ice Beam or Fire Blast, either damaging its coverage or removing its lone STAB. Likewise, if it wants to run Fire Blast on Choice it's the same problem, with Trick / U-turn being the Moveslot Fire Blast would go in (which is a shame, because they have great utility). Ditching your Psychic STAB on the CM set also means you're walled to hell and back by the increasingly popular Lanturn, which you could normally 2HKO with Psyshock at +1.
This theorymonning stuff is great fun to put time into while I'm out on my iPad. Keep up the What If's, guys! 8)
Hi Jump Kick Emboar... I suppose it could have its merits. You could run a Choice Scarf set and blitz multiple enemies in a row late-game, and you could 2HKO an enemy without worrying about being KOed by a neutral attack that would normally KO you at -1 Defense. Beyond that, consequences are extremely severe when you miss or use it on a Ghost switching in. With Superpower, you never miss and if a Ghost is brought in the worst that happens is you switch out unharmed and they get a free turn. With HJK, you not only leave the opponent untouched on a miss but your health is mutilated, making Wish Support pretty mandatory if you want to keep on the safe side. I understand this is a common issue for HJK, but Emboar at 50% is much easier to revenge for faster scarfers or strong priority users, and if you're running CB it pretty much means any offensive poke that out speeds you (read: common) can pick you off with a neutral, decently strong attack. Not enough of a reason to use it over Superpower IMO; it's designed to decimate things with a strong move then switch out, and Superpower does that just fine 99% of the time!
Baton Pass Drapion looks deadly. Baton Pass is kind of rare in the tier, and even those who can pass boosts are pretty darned frail (Absol, Scyther). Drapion could set up on something like Rotom as it switches out, or something whose attacks it can sponge, then pass out of a counter like Poliwrath into something that could use with an attack bonus. Qwilfish and Sceptile come to mind, as even though Sceptile can run SD itself you could easily bring it into a resisted water attack and proceed with an all-out attacking set to shred the opponent as they attempt to switch into a wall. Even more fun; you could BP a Swords Dance to Hitmonlee and Fake Out for Unburden, then sweep at +2 Atk and Speed! As a side note, Baton Pass could heavily ease on prediction and lure out counters like Rhydon, where you could just bring in Rotom-C or something for easy momentum. I agree, this could probably boost Drapions popularity quite a bit!
Flamethrower / Fire Blast on Mesprit would give it stupidly good coverage, letting it tear stuff like Ferroseed, Magneton and Esca, the latter two of the three often giving Mesprit trouble previously. Furthermore, it could ditch Thunderbolt or Ice Beam on the CM set to have a good shot at beating one of its most lethal counters, tomb:
252 SpA Life Orb Mesprit Fire Blast vs. 248 HP / 8 SpD Spiritomb: 136-161 (44.88 - 53.13%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
Assuming Shadow Sneak doesn't roll absolute max and you don't have SR on your side of the field, you can actually beat Tomb by subbing on the switch and then smacking it with Fire Blast. Aside from the Tomb aspect, you can run BoltBeam + Fire Blast, and deal with everything in the tier at least neutrally barring only Lanturn, letting you wreak havoc at +1 or higher.
Still, Mesprit suffers from Four Moveslot syndrome. In order to run CM it would need to remove one of Psychic STAB, Tbolt, Ice Beam or Fire Blast, either damaging its coverage or removing its lone STAB. Likewise, if it wants to run Fire Blast on Choice it's the same problem, with Trick / U-turn being the Moveslot Fire Blast would go in (which is a shame, because they have great utility). Ditching your Psychic STAB on the CM set also means you're walled to hell and back by the increasingly popular Lanturn, which you could normally 2HKO with Psyshock at +1.
This theorymonning stuff is great fun to put time into while I'm out on my iPad. Keep up the What If's, guys! 8)