Project The PU Theorymon Project [Week eighteen: Meganium]

[Twix]

MegaGallade He'd already predicting my win this week

( +Dark Type )
Luxray @ Choice Band
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Crunch
- Wild Charge
- Superpower / Pursuit
- Volt Switch

Ah Luxray, a cool ass Pokemon from Gen 4, which doesn't get much love in competitive battling. This is a common idea surrounding Luxray; the addition of the Dark-typing. This typing would ultimately make it much better in the tier and allow it to take on bulky Ghost-types (u suck misdreavus) as well as being able to trap Psychic-types with Pursuit.

Justification: Luxray is based on a sort of mischievous LionDogSpark and always has a menacing grin and it just fits with a Dark-type. Pursuit was added as a predator does to a prey in the wild, and that's basically it.

 

[tmacbalanced]

Luxray @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Quick Feet
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature or Jolly Nature
- Facade
- Wild Charge / Fire Fang / Ice Fang
- Crunch
- Volt Switch / Wild Charge
Always wanted to see a fast Luxray & with Quick Feet it'll make it one of the fastest pokemon in PU. Luxray has an excellent attack stat so, with quick feet, it'll have awesome speed too. This won't be broken at all as it's movepool isn't that great. Can also be worn down by hazards & still needs a turn or a safe switch in order for the toxic orb to activate.
I'm running Adamant nature as with quick feet Luxray's speed will rise to 358, which is enough for it to outspeed max base 113 speed pokemon. With Jolly nature, it reaches 393 speed & outspeeds max base 129 speed pokemon.

 

[MZ]

Luxray is meant to be a stallbreaker in this meta but, with it's stats, perhaps it could be a nice mixed attacker. Though, it's movepool isn't the greatest, maybe it can improved by my own imagination like a child wanting more.

Luxray @ Life Orb Electric & Dark
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 116 Atk / 216 SpA / 176 Spe or 335 Attack / 280 Special Attack / 220 Speed
Lonely Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Ice Beam
- Crunch
- Volt Switch
Everything points to this pokemon looking like it should have dark typing, it's design, the fact that it knows the move "crunch", etc. That part is easy enough to understand, the flare blitz/ice beam part might not be so understandable though. Electricity is essentially made of hot & cold particles creating friction, also when something gets electrocuted it either catches fire or has extreme burn marks. Darkness is often associated with "hell" in which is told to be extremely fiery. Darkness is also associated with "death" which is told be very cold. Pretty cheeky of me, eh?
Aside from that though, here are some random calcs:
216 SpA Life Orb Luxray Volt Switch vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Simipour: 338-400 (116.1 - 137.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO
116+ Atk Life Orb Luxray Crunch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Mr. Mime: 226-266 (102.2 - 120.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO
216 SpA Life Orb Luxray Ice Beam vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Simisage: 291-343 (100 - 117.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO
216 SpA Life Orb Luxray Volt Switch vs. 192 HP / 0 SpD Poliwrath: 257-304 (69.6 - 82.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
The EV spread may look weird yet, it might work. I gave Luxray 176 EVs in speed so that it can outspeed a good amount of the slow meta. I gave it "lonely" nature so that it's special defense doesn't get lowered & the lowering of the defense can easily be fixed with it's ability "intimidate". I chose "volt switch" over "thunderbolt" as it's STAB as "thunderbolt" doesn't do that much more & "volt switch" is great for momentum & even if a ground type comes in on the predicted "volt switch", Luxray still has "ice beam" to hit the incoming ground type.
216 SpA Life Orb Luxray Ice Beam vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Torterra: 458-541 (138.3 - 163.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO
This Luxray can even take on Pawniard:
116+ Atk Life Orb Luxray Flare Blitz vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Eviolite Pawniard: 283-335 (122.5 - 145%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ Atk Pawniard Sucker Punch vs. 0 HP / 0- Def Luxray: 72-86 (23.9 - 28.5%) -- 97.3% chance to 4HKO
(Luxray would be left with around 115 HP after hitting with Flare Blitz)
And here's the calc for if Pawniard gets the "defiant" boost off of "intimidate":
+1 252+ Atk Pawniard Sucker Punch vs. 0 HP / 0- Def Luxray: 109-129 (36.2 - 42.8%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
(Luxray would be left with around 76 HP after hitting with Flare Blitz)
This set is by know means "broken" either, as fast hard hitting pokemon or pokemon like, Machoke, can knock it out rather easily. I feel this set would bring Luxray to A- rank.

sorry, SD luxray was bad enough but I'm not taking "hot and cold particles", especially since that would be stupidly unique to it as an electric type (raichu doesnt get blizzard or flamethrower, why should lux). dark is fine, blitz and beam are too far.

 

[mael]

Luxray @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Guts
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature or Jolly Nature
- Facade
- Wild Charge / Superpower / Thunderfang / Fire Fang
- Crunch / Ice Fang
- Agility

a lot of the electric types (almost all) get agility, even if some of them are slower and look slower than luxray is. I mean look at this beast, it's waiting to start racing and get faster and faster!!! I don't think this would change a lot about luxrays viability or make a powerful endgame sweeper, because it's going to kill itself off way too often, but it surely adds another option to luxrays pool of sets.

also all the talk about the dark typing seems pretty justified to me, i like that idea.

 

[MaroGod]

( Dark-Type)

Luxray @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Strong Jaw
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature / Adamant Nature
- Crunch
- Thunder Fang
- Ice Fang
- Volt Switch / Parting Shot

Changes: 3 changes if it isnt ok despite my words for it understandable i shall make the quick edit of Parting Shot upon seeing any objections :)

Dark typing just fits it look at it it screams DARK TYPE. Ive always wanted strong jaw Luxray since it seems so fitting with its ridiculous attack stat plus the fact its a GODDAMN LION you would think it has a strong jaw and if you wanna get technical an adult african lion has a bite of 691 PSI (POWERFUL). Also i decided to give it parting shot now i know parting shot is a voiced threat..And all Luxray gotta do....Look a mon in the eye...growl AND THAT MON HAS PISSED ITSELF lowering its Spa and Att BOOM

Competitive Use:
Strong Jaw gives Crunch,Thunder Fang a +1 boost basically :) combined with STAB boost this makes for a potent combo while Ice Fang becomes a semi stab thanks to Strong Jaw. To top it all off i gave it a final pick of either volt switch or parting shot both being great pivot moves V-Switch puts on more damage while Parting Shot would lower Att and Spa by 1. A simple 252 Att/4 Spa-Spd/252 Spe spread seems nice enough with either Jolly/Adamant. Lastly this monster could abuse CB,LO or what i decided to go for the Choice Scarf boosting its Speed but locking it in a move this works well for a revenge killing monster which can also pivot easily with its picks :). meow :3

 

[MegaGallade]

Ah, screw it.

Luxray @ Life Orb
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Rash Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Superpower / Psycho Cut
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Volt Switch

All of Luxray's dex entries state its ability to see through hiding places. Thus, Infiltrator is the perfect fit, since the ability of ignoring substitutes etc. and instead finding/damaging the foe behind them seems very accurate, also allowing Luxray to completely ignore all substitute shenanigans within the tier, such as from Simipour or Klinklang. Psycho Cut was chosen since this Pokemon can learn Night Slash, a similar move that requires similar capabilities, and don't tell me Luxray's eyes don't look like it's slightly... well... Psycho. This also allows Luxray to decently hit Roselia super-effectively, which would wall this set otherwise.

Also, I'm just too hipster for dark-type Luxray.

 

[MZ]

Shit I'm late
vote pls

 

[Grim]

Mael oo

 

[Raiza]

mael

 

[T.I.A.]

Mael

 

[Twix]

mael

 

[letterman4]

Twix/BenOhver

 

[DnB]

mael

 

[RawMelon]

Twix

 

[MZ]

The winner is Mael!

Our next subject is Wobbuffet! You have 5 days to post

​

 

[Twix]

I'm about to drop some cancer:

Wobbuffet @ Leftovers
Ability: Telepathy
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpD
Bold Nature
- Block
- Encore
- Counter
- Mirror Coat

Wobbuffet has been living in a realm where its only actual niche is taken away. The addition of Block would still give Wobbufett some trapping powers, but at the cost of having to set it up itself and taking damage or status to do so.

Justification: As stated by Wobbuffet's Pokedex Entry from X, "It hates light and shock. If attacked, it inflates its body to build up its counterstrike." While this can be interpreted in many ways, the inflation of its body could stand for it blocking its opponents in. As stated in various Pokedex entries from earlier generations, "In order to conceal its black tail, it lives in a dark cave and only moves about at night." This quote shows that Wobbufett live in caves, and the expansion of its body shown earlier, can make it seem that it can Block its foes in with its inflated body.

 

[Raiza]

Wobbuffet @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpD
Bold Nature
- Infestation
- Encore
- Counter
- Mirror Coat

As most of you will already know, one of the most effective ways of dealing with Wobbuffet is inflicting a status such as poison or burn to it and watch it slowly get worn down, so I thought Magic Guard could've been a good replacement for an useless ability such as Telepathy, making Wobbuffet immune to all residual damage, which can come in hand also against entry hazards. Along with Magic Guard, I decided Infestation could've been another decent addition to this set, as it blocked another common way to deal with Wobbuffet, switching mindlessly, also it hits Ghost-types, can't be stopped by Taunt, and deals some passive damage, so definitely worth using over Block. With this ability and Infestation, unless the opponent carries a Taunt user, they will be forced to attack Wobbuffet to deal with it, and foes will become easy targets for Counter or Mirror Coat.

How is Wobbuffet getting these: Some Psychic-types in PU such as Duosion and Kadabra, already carry this ability, which is already common on other Psychic-types too such as Sigilyph, so I thought Wobbuffet could get it, also because Wobbuffet is very protective especially when referring to its tail.
Talking about Infestation, a lot of Pokemon already get it without a particular motivation, though I'll also cite the biology of Wobbuffet which says ''Wobbuffet is usually a docile Pokémon that will never attack first. However, when it is attacked, it will inflate its body and initiate a counterstrike.'' I thought this passive-aggressive attitude reflects a lot the attitude that bugs, take, therefore another justification towards the use of a Bug-type move such as Infestation.

 

[MaroGod]

Wobbuffet @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 Def / 252 SpD / 4 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Wish
- Encore
- Counter
- Mirror Coat

Reasoning:
Wobbuffet has always been known to simply "bounce" back damage its taken to the opponent so why not entry hazards or status conditions? Magic Bounce is an ability which does just that and is given to a hand full of pokemon most being known as very smart,cunning or devious Wobbuffet (although not at first glance) is a patient and devious pokemon it states in many Pokedex entries "To keep its pitch-black tail hidden, it lives quietly in the darkness. It is never first to attack." Wobbuffet know they cant attack first so they wait wanting to strike back with there Counter or Mirror Coat attacks. I also decided to give it Wish My reasoning for this is the time old tale ;) that the tail is actually the pokemon not the body or "Punching Bag" as its refereed to and what would that tail want? It would Wish for safety.

Competitive Use:
I gave it Magic Bounce so it can still get affected by status (Scald,Sludge Bomb,T-spikes ect) this way its still able to counter Toxic,WoW and Thunder Wave but still have a way of being statused and not completely ignoring it. Magic Bounce also counters many hazard setters in the tier from Venipede/Whirlipede to Quilladin and the ever popular Roselia with Magic Bounce Wobbuffet becomes a counter to these mons. I also gave it Wish which on first glance seems crazy considering its base 190 HP stat means almost every single pokemon gets full recovery and allows it to recover chip damage. But thats what Wobbuffet is. The ultimate stop to hazard stacking teams and a god to stall teams. with its HP being so high all evs are given to its measly defenses making it an all around brick wall. it has the obvious Counter/Mirror Coat combo so it isnt completely defenseless to attacks and Encore to stop it from getting set up on.

 

[Anty]

Wobbuffet @ Custap Berry
Ability: Arena Trap
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpD
Bold Nature
- Destiny Bond
- Encore
- Counter
- Mirror Coat
I know there are flavoural problems but i am sure that Arena Trap would make Wobb one of the best Pokémon in the PU Metagame! From looking at what other people say, Wobb's main problem is opposing Pokémon switching out to avoid Mirror Coats and Counters, but Arena Trap prevents this. Encore would let it lock the foe into a status move which the user can then switch out into another Pokémon and set up (for example, a Ninetales could set up on a Will-o-Wisp!).

I don't think this would be broken as I use a similar set in OU all the time and Bird-types can also escape.

If you need more reasoning, it gets Shadow Tag which shows it can trap opposing Pokémon, and there is as much flavour for that than there is for Arena Trap.

 

[Deej Dy]

Wobbuffet @ Leftovers
Ability: Unaware
Happiness: 0
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Bold Nature
- Recover
- Encore
- Counter
- Mirror Coat

I introduce to you, Quagsire 2.0 .50. Now Wobbuffett has reliable recovery and isn't completely ruined by setup moves, making it viable once again. However, its lack of trapping potential and susceptibility to status would still likely keep it PU.

 

[Svalkenaeres]

Wobbuffet @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spd
- Baton Pass
- Encore
- Counter
- Mirror Coat

"Wobbuffet is very protective of its tail, to the point where it will suddenly turn uncharacteristically aggressive if the tail is attacked."

So we can guess that Intimidate is not that illogic, preventing the attack of his tail. Baton Pass also seems logic, most of the psychic mons gets the move, like Musharna.

Intimidate + Slow pass is really a benediction for set-up sweeper. He can also Encore and then pass. BP Intimidate wobbuffet would be really interesting as a pivot for set-up offense.

 

[MZ]

ok u can vote now
I'm doing raiza

 

[Dundies]

marogodd

 

[Dr Ciel]

MaroGod

 

[T.I.A.]

Marogof