Punchshroom
FISHIOUS REND MEGA SHARPEDO
Yo EonX, I get that Absol is a cool mon and all, but S Rank seems a bit much for it.
Oh and btw Drapion happens to be a very solid Absol check, while Hitmontop counters for days @3@.
There's also Sneasel and Drapion in terms of Dark-type competition. Sharpedo and Sneasel pose bigger threats to offense, whereas Houndoom and Drapion are usually more threatening against slower teams; it just doesn't seem like Absol is significantly that much more consistent at threatening most playstyles for me to consider it "the best overall by far", much less be placed in S Rank.Ok, time for the nom I think a lot of you guys have been waiting for:
Absol for S rank: It's no secret that Dark-types kind of dominate the metagame right now. Absol, Houndoom, and Sharpedo are the big 3. Of them, Absol performs the best overall by far. Its base 130 Attack stat is absolutely insane and while Absol was good in BW RU for those who remember that, the Knock Off buff only makes it harder to handle.
Boasting the most powerful Knock Off and Sucker Punch in the tier are certainly points in Absol's favor, especially when most of the tier's faster Dark resists, such as Hitmonlee, Sharpedo, Houndoom, and Sneasel do not take kindly to eating Sucker. However, Absol is also kind of slow for how damn frail it is, so it can be pretty reliant on Sucker Punch at times, especially when the aforementioned Dark resists can all pack priority to circumvent Sucker and blast Absol in the face. Where I feel you're starting to blow things out of proportion is when you start discussing its moves:Sucker Punch and Knock Off should be on just about every Absol set out there. Knock Off is super powerful and is severely denting just about anything that doesn't resist it with a very select few exceptions. (I'll get back to those in a minute) From there, Absol has two moveslots to work with that it can use to mix and match to do what its team needs it to do. So, let's run through those moves real quick just to give you an idea as to how flexible Absol is:
I feel like you're giving a bit too much credit for Absol here. Swords Dance and Superpower are indeed some of Absol's best tools, though Sneasel can also make decent enough use of SD and Low Kick while faring much better against offense without help from SD. Iron Tail is shaky enough to make one consider Poison Jab Drapion in its place (especially since Iron Tail really wants to be paired with SD); while Drapion lacks super strong priority, Poison Jab does strike more targets and Drapion does have the bulk and Speed to find more SD opportunities. Pursuit is especially risky from Absol given its poor bulk and only average Speed; Sneasel's Speed, Houndoom's resists, and Spiritomb's bulk make them seem like better, if not more reliable candidates for this task. The last three moves only make me just want to use other Dark-types in its place, namely Houndoom's Fire STAB, Sneasel's Ice STAB, and even Shiftry's Grass STAB respectively.Swords Dance: Boosting Attack two stages on a Pokemon that's already a powerful force is downright devastating. Sucker Punch virtually OHKOes every offensive mon in the tier at +2 and Knock Off is breaking Alomomola at +2, one of the very few defensive Pokemon that can work its way around Absol without a boost. While extreme frailty and average Speed can sometimes hinder it setting up, this usually only comes into play vs. faster teams, in which case Absol's raw power will be enough to deal with them.
Superpower: This does heavy damage to Mega Steelix and hits most Fighting-types hard enough to KO them. The stat drops suck, but this nulifies Dark- and bulky Steel-type switch-ins in an instant.
Iron Tail: Fairy-types are usually the best answer to Dark-types, but Absol has the ability to run Iron Tail to quickly eliminate or severely damage every Fairy-type in the tier. Iron Tail is especially deadly on a Swords Dance set as Absol can use SD as a Fairy switches in and immediately demolish it with Iron Tail.
Pursuit: This is probably the go-to move to use if you're looking for something other than Swords Dance in Absol's 3rd slot. Pursuit allows it to destroy Pokemon that are fleeing in fear of Sucker Punch or Knock Off. This can be especially useful if you're using it with Scarf Medicham to ensure bulky Ghosts and Psychics are severely weakened or outright removed.
Fire Blast: Really only useful if you're not using Swords Dance and need a stronger hit on Mega Steelix. However, considering it is the best Mega in the tier, that might make it worth using.
Psycho Cut: Useful for beating Amoonguss and Vileplume reliably after a Knock Off switch-in. Considering Amoonguss has Spore and Vileplume has Moonblast, this can be very helpful. And Sucker Punch is no guarantee on Vileplume since it commonly carries Synthesis.
Play Rough: Probably the least useful coverage move Absol might want to use, but it does do very heavy damage to Hariyama and Poliwrath. It doesn't do much outside of this, but considering these two can handle any other attack Absol throws at them, it does have legitimate use.
Absol is certainly versatile, but I don't think Absol manages to utilize every move it has at its disposal, at least not that much more effectively than other Dark-types can (especially with my point above); the fact that Absol lacks secondary STAB, unlike other Dark-types, is a big point against it as well. Like Absol has some other funky moves like Will-O-Wisp and Perish Song at its disposal but you can hardly argue that toys like those are enough to propel Absol in rank when they hardly offer crazy new things when it comes to responding against the numerous offensive Darks in RU. Absol is definitely a very strong Dark-type by RU standards, but considering the measures RU has against Dark-types as it is, I really don't see Absol being placed on the S Rank pedestal above its Dark brethren; A+ definitely seems fine for now.So after looking at these moves, can you think of a Pokemon that might be able to handle every move Absol can utilize? And remember that Absol can run a combination of these coverage moves (tho remember Pursuit and Fire Blast likely won't be used with SD) While Absol is never going to be able to carry all of the moves it needs to take on everything at once, you do have to honor those coverage options and scout to figure out what you need to deal with the Absol variant you're facing. Keep in mind that this is all with one base set (Adamant max /max Life Orb. Jolly doesn't get you anything in terms of Speed) The versatility with one set is amazing. It doesn't need very much support at all to function. It's able to wallbreak and sweep what it chooses to thanks to virtually having two free moveslots. It's very consistent and always pulls its weight so long as the user knows what they're doing. I think that's a sign of an S rank Pokemon.
Oh and btw Drapion happens to be a very solid Absol check, while Hitmontop counters for days @3@.
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