Well put it made me understand Signal Beams purpose.
~Star Fox
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Signal Beam or Shadow Ball (Alakazam)
- Thread starter OneGlance
- Start date
~Star Fox
hmm, well in terms of super effective coverage, 3, ghost hits two. In terms of non effective, bug is non effective on 5 types, while ghost is only non effective on 3
Why would you run BP on a (semi)BoltBeam set (unless you have a berry)?
Use both, of course.
I'd personally run Signal beam/Psychic/Focus Blast/Trick
Shadow ball may provide nice extra power and a chance of a special defence drop, but Signal Beam hits Celetar and dark types without compromising accuracy with no chance of over predicting while Psychic and Focus blast cover just about everything else.
Shadow ball may provide nice extra power and a chance of a special defence drop, but Signal Beam hits Celetar and dark types without compromising accuracy with no chance of over predicting while Psychic and Focus blast cover just about everything else.
Agreeing with Legacy Raider, they both give perfect type coverage. Signal Beam is useful for Darks because you don't want to risk the miss of Focus Blast with a frail Alakazam. STAB Psychic and a Super-effective Shadow Ball are only different by 10 BP so you might as well have Signal Beam for a more accurate way to hurt Darks and you still have a good move for Psychics, especially Celebi. Also, you don't have worry about over-predicting.
Honestly, I prefer Psychic / HP Fire / Focus Blast / Grass Knot (maybe Charge Beam or Trick somewhere). Signal Beam and Focus Blast get mixed coverage but being able to hit steels is crucial, and so does Shadow Ball and Psychic (like against Gengar). So I'd just drop them both (SB and SB) for some more elemental coverage against Scizor switch ins and Gyarados or Swampert.
I am well aware of the type chart.
Yes if you had Focus Blast and had to choose between Shadow Ball or Signal Beam for your one other attack, Shadow Ball is usually the best bet. However, you have Psychic on Alakazam, and that's your main attack. "Hitting everything neutral" really doesn't matter when Psychic will hit the neutral stuff harder. What you really want is the best coverage on things you can't hit at least neutral with Psychic (unless you have a move that gives a specific KO against a problem Pokemon).
Signal Beam > Shadow ball
But it depends a lot in what your team needs more ^^
But it depends a lot in what your team needs more ^^
One great reason to use Signal Beam over Shadow Ball is to make it harder for Alakazam to be doomed by a Tyranitar and Weavile switch-in followed by Pursuit. This is like why Specs Starmie may use Grass Knot over Psychic.
Psychic already 2HKOs all the ghosts except Spiritomb, that was already covered. Shadow Ball is for hitting Psychic resists, such as other Psychic types.
Signal Beam hits Dark and Psychic.
Shadow Ball hits Ghost and Psychic.
Psychic destroys all the Ghosts already.
Therefore, Shadow Ball is not needed. Signal Beam is better because it eases prediction, and helps against Pursuit users.
Signal Beam hits Dark and Psychic.
Shadow Ball hits Ghost and Psychic.
Psychic destroys all the Ghosts already.
Therefore, Shadow Ball is not needed. Signal Beam is better because it eases prediction, and helps against Pursuit users.
Yeah, let's worry about the non STAB pursuits as opposed to the STAB pursuit users. Specs Shadow Ball doesn't even OHKO a min/min Gallade ffs.
So you can dry-BP out of all the million things in this game that stomp Jolteon into the ground. Shadow Ball + Signal Beam is largely redundant coverage, whereas a dry BP gives you some utility.
I think Signal Beam is the better choice overall due to you not having to worry as much about switch-ins on things immune to it that think they can setup on you which makes you better in out-prediction. But there are definitely more valuable choices to fill a slot with like Calm Mind or if you're feeling risky, Focus Blast.
signal beam is better because since it hits darks you can use something more reliable to hit steels such as hp fire or ground, this is especially true for all out attacking sets, or choice sets
EDIT: just read all this junk about neutrality, if your wanting to hit neutral use psyhic :\
EDIT: just read all this junk about neutrality, if your wanting to hit neutral use psyhic :\
Personally, I say Signal Beam is superior to Shadow Ball on Alakazam. Despite the lower base power, it has better accuracy, and unlike Shadow Ball, nothing is immune to it. Also, the OHKO on Celebi is important.
umm what, they both have 100 accuracy :\
Sorry about that. When I said Signal Beam had superior accuracy, I was thinking of Focus Blast for a second...
Alakazam is fragile, so why recommend a move that misses 30% of the time and leaves it wide open for a KO? Signal Beam is a superior option on 'Zam.