Xatu [QC 2/3]

[Wanka]

[OVERVIEW]

• poor defenses and HP, mediocre when invested
• Good ability in magic bounce to prevent mons like forretress and swampert from setting up hazards on you. This really helps balance teams stay healthier and perform to their highest potential.
• Typing allows it to check most fighting types
• makes for a decent pivot with access to u-turn
• access to thunder wave to help cripple offensive threats
• Decent speed tier to help it out speed some key threats when invested
• fairly poor special power even when invested and paired with a life orb
• not the greatest typing both offensively and defensively
• Not the most reliable source of hazard control just on its own

[SET]
name: Physically Defensive
move 1: Night Shade/Psychic
move 2: U-Turn
move 3: Thunder Wave/Toxic
Move 4: Roost
ability: Magic Bounce
item: rocky helmet/leftovers
nature: bold
evs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========

• Psychic, reliable STAB move to help weaken physical walls along with rocky helmet.
• Night Shade provides consistent damage as non invested psychics wont be doing to much damage to opposing teams
• U-turn, momentum grabber that allows xatu to pivot on fighting types like mienshao and heracross locked into a fighting STAB.
• Thunder Wave, cripples any wall that tries to come in on xatu or offensive threats like cobalion and non special salamence who cant OHKO it.
• Roost, reliable recovery move to come in on hits and regain its hp back to sustain its longevity.
• Psyshock, another STAB move to hit mons like florges, blissey, and snorlax for better damage.
• Toxic Hits some of the mons that T-Wave doesn't like krookodile and swampert to help wear them down.

Set Details
========

• The evs in physical bulk let it come in on physical mons that can't overwhelm it like cobalion who cant ohko even at +2 or crobat. Xatu can proceed to cripple them next turn.
• 8 speed evs to outspeed defensive arcanines and defensive roserades creeping base 95's.
• Magic bounce makes your opponent think twice about trying to get up hazards and bounces them back keeping your pokemon healthier.
• Rocky helmet helps wear down physical pokemon making them more easily revenge killed. Rocky helmet also provides nice chip damage to punish mons who would be u turning out on xatu like mienshao, crobat, and infernape.
• Leftovers gives it passive recovery which helps it out with its SR weakness.

Usage Tips
========

• Fits well on momentum grabbing teams that like the magic bounce support or balance to thrive off the T-Wave support to cripple threats to cores and the magic bounce support to keep your team healthy.
• Try and catch threats with a T-Wave who think they are safe to try and come in like hydreigon and aerodactyl.
• Be a pest with it, roosting on paras and weakening pokemon with rocky helmet can be an annoyance for your opponent.
• taking your momentum with u-turn is always really nice to pull off and keep up the pressure.
• send it in against mons like forretress and mega aggron who cannot really hurt you all that much. These situations give you a chance to bounce back hazards.
• Do not be too reckless with trying to bounce back hazards as mons like krookodile and nidoqueen can proceed to just ohko you.

Team Options
========

• A bulky steel type like empoleon pairs nicely to help check the special threats to xatu like pidegot, hydreigon, and kyurem.
• Any cleric goes nicely with xatu as it does not like status in the form of scald burns and sludge bomb poisons. Mons like florges, blissey, and granbull are all solid options
• Pairing xatu with a strong wall breaker is 100% a good idea as with it's ability to pivot with u-turn, you can have chances to bring in powerful breakers to smash away at teams.
• Even though you can bounce back hazards there are times where you will not always block SR so hazard removal pairs well with xatu to keep it healthy.
• With xatu's ability to force out some passive mons, hazard support goes quite nicely with it to put as much pressure on opposing teams as possible. Spikers like roserade and qwilfish are good options along with rockers like swampert, blissey, forretress, cobalion, and krookodile.

[SET]
name: Offensive
Move 1: psychic/psyshock
Move 2: grass knot
Move 3: heat wave
Move 4: dazzling gleam/Roost/U-Turn
ability: Magic bounce
item: Life Orb/Colbur berry
nature: Timid
evs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========

• Psychic, a reliable hard hitting stab that hits on the special side to do more damage to mons like swampert, cobalion, gligar, and suicune.
• Psyshock, a reliable hard hitting stab that hits on the physical side to do more damage to mons like goodra, florges, blissey and snorlax.
• Grass knot, coverage move that hits bulky waters and can get KO's on a mon like swampert
• Heat wave, coverage move to deal massive amounts of damage to steels like aggron, forretress, and cobalion
• Dazzling gleam, coverage move that can hit dark types and dragon types who think they are safe like krookodile, hydreigon on a switch, and tyrantrum
• Roost, reliable recovery move to sustain longevity and heal off LO damage if needed.
• With xatu's wide coverage it can force out mons like forretress and swampert who fear a potential grass knot or a heat wave. U-turn provides nice momentum to gain on these mons who cant get up hazards on you and fear xatu's coverage.

Set Details
========

• Max speed evs along with timid to outspeed some key wall breakers like krookodile and lucario.
• Max special attack evs to pack as much of a punch as possible and wall break easier.
• Life orb to add as much power as possible and help it get a couple of KO's like gleam on tyrantrum and heat wave on lucario.
• Colbur berry to take a potential knock off from mons like absol, mega beedrill, and machamp. Helps it take a crunch from a mon like sharpedo or a dark pulse from a hydreigon and hit them back with a dazzling gleam.
• Magic bounce to make opposing mons think twice about getting up hazards. Lets xatu switch in on opposing rockers and threaten them with its coverage and STAB moves.

Usage Tips
========

• Bring in on more passive rockers like forretress or regular swampert who cant deal mass amounts of damage to you. Proceed to threaten them with a coverage move. This can be a pain for more defensive builds that will struggle to get their hazards up and deal with xatu's hits.
• Fits well on offensive minded teams where it prides itself off of dealing as much damage as possible to cores and getting occasional lures with its coverage moves.
• Still try not to be too reckless when trying to come in on hazards as xatu is extremely frail and can be ohko'd by mons like krook or nido. A mon like aggron can deal massive damage to it on a switch as well.

Team Options
========

• Spike stackers like tentacruel and roserade go well with xatu to really put pressure on opposing walls with the residual damage and make them less capable of walling xatu.
• Stealth rockers like donphan and swampert provide good support for a wall breaker xatu set. You could also go with some offensive rockers like krookodile, cobalion, and mega swampert to have less passive builds and still keep the pressure up. Donphan also provides spin support to keep xatu healthy, letting it get in more which is nice.
• Having a late game cleaner like mega sharpedo can pair well with life orb xatu. A mon like sharpedo can thrive off of xatu's hole punching ability.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

• Wish could be used as an option for healing xatu or other team members.
• Duel screens could be used to help a set up sweeper or just give support to a team in general.
• Calm mind along with stored power is an option, but it's is difficult to pull off due to lack of bulk and not having good enough speed to cover for it.
• Tailwind support could be used as a mon to boost speed and then pivot out. It competes with the likes of whimsicott however who is a far better mon for it.
• Can act as a TR setter for OTR builds, but once again faces competition with a mon like slowking.

Checks And Counters
===================

** Powerful Attackers**: Even when invested, Xatu's bulk is not anything too special so pokemon like entei and feraligatr can easily overwhelm it and take it out. Xatu folds to just about any special wallbreaker out there as well like pidgeot, mix mence, and hydreigon.

**Super effective hits**: Any mon like hydreigon, chandelure, mega aero, mega blastoise, and volt switchers like helio and rotom that has the tools to take advantage of xatu's poor typing and can threaten out xatu with a super effective hit will 100% do so even if they are para'd.

**Bulky set up sweepers**: Mons like snorlax, reuniclus and suicune do not mind a T-Wave at all as they either have access to rest or are slow to begin with. They can just use xatu as set up bait.

**Empoleon and Mega Aero**: Empoleon does not care about anything that xatu wants to do to it and can either spam rocks are scald it to death. Mega aero threatens it out 100% of the time and must be wary of T-Wave.

 

[Wanka]

Ready For QC.

 

[Kreme]

Not QC, so just some thoughts but you should probably mention Electric-types in C&C considering they can hit Xatu for super effective damage with their STAB attacks and are immune to Thunder Wave. I would probably change the Overwhelming Physical Wallbreakers section to Wallbreakers, since wallbreakers in general pretty much overwhelm Xatu, physical or special. Dark-types, Ghost-types, Ice-types and Rock-types should probably also get C&C sections considering they can bop Xatu with super effective STAB attacks, although Dark-types can be mentioned for being able to Pursuit trap it and be immune to its Psychic-type STAB attacks, and you should mention how they all get crippled by Thunder Wave should they get sections. I think entry hazard removal should get a place in Team Options, as Xatu isn't going to like coming in on Stealth Rock repeatedly should they be set. I would mention in Usage Tips to send it in against entry hazard setters that cannot beat it (i.e Forretress), as it can bounce back those entry hazards. I'd probably also mention Bullky Setup Sweepers in C&C, since they aren't threatened by Xatu and can use it as setup bait. I would also mention Wish, Dual Screens, Calm Mind and Haze in Other Options.

 

[Wanka]

Not QC, so just some thoughts but you should probably mention Electric-types in C&C considering they can hit Xatu for super effective damage with their STAB attacks and are immune to Thunder Wave. I would probably change the Overwhelming Physical Wallbreakers section to Wallbreakers, since wallbreakers in general pretty much overwhelm Xatu, physical or special. Dark-types, Ghost-types, Ice-types and Rock-types should probably also get C&C sections considering they can bop Xatu with super effective STAB attacks, although Dark-types can be mentioned for being able to Pursuit trap it and be immune to its Psychic-type STAB attacks, and you should mention how they all get crippled by Thunder Wave should they get sections. I think entry hazard removal should get a place in Team Options, as Xatu isn't going to like coming in on Stealth Rock repeatedly should they be set. I would mention in Usage Tips to send it in against entry hazard setters that cannot beat it (i.e Forretress), as it can bounce back those entry hazards. I'd probably also mention Bullky Setup Sweepers in C&C, since they aren't threatened by Xatu and can use it as setup bait. I would also mention Wish, Dual Screens, Calm Mind and Haze in Other Options.

Xatu gets haze? O_O

I was hesitant at first to put all of those types in at first because they are potentially popped with a thunder wave, but they still acts as checks none the less so I implemented them along with the addition to team options and usage options.

 

[dodmen]

What you have looks really good so far. I agree with everything Kreme said except the thing about Haze, Xatu really doesn't have room for that and it's better off just uturning out into an actual phazer. Seems like just a waste of a moveslot seeing as you'll lose eventually to stuff like CurseLax and Suicune anyway.

I do think an offensive set should be added, as Xatu has pretty good coverage and sits in a decent speed tier especially since it outspeeds Krookodile, a huge thorn in the side for most Psychic types and hazard controllers. Something like this:

Xatu @ Life Orb / Colbur Berry
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic / Psyshock
- Heat Wave
- Grass Knot
- Dazzling Gleam / Roost

with U-turn mentioned in Moves. No Ice Beam for Aero unfortunately :(. What sets it apart from other offensive Psychic types (basically Azelf) is its ability to deter Stealth Rock from more defensive stuff like Swampert obviously, but also its secondary typing which gives it a nice U-turn neutrality. And unlike the other set, it can actually beat tons of Stealth Rock setters (or at least do heavy damage to them before dying) - examples are Krookodile, Nidoqueen, Swampert, Cobalion, and Forry.

Mega Aero should specifically be mentioned in its appropriate section in Checks and Counters, as should Empoleon which doesn't care about anything it does and basically has no reason not to just spam Rocks if Xatu comes in on them the first time.

 

[Wanka]

What you have looks really good so far. I agree with everything Kreme said except the thing about Haze, Xatu really doesn't have room for that and it's better off just uturning out into an actual phazer. Seems like just a waste of a moveslot seeing as you'll lose eventually to stuff like CurseLax and Suicune anyway.

I do think an offensive set should be added, as Xatu has pretty good coverage and sits in a decent speed tier especially since it outspeeds Krookodile, a huge thorn in the side for most Psychic types and hazard controllers. Something like this:

Xatu @ Life Orb / Colbur Berry
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Psychic / Psyshock
- Heat Wave
- Grass Knot
- Dazzling Gleam / Roost

with U-turn mentioned in Moves. No Ice Beam for Aero unfortunately :(. What sets it apart from other offensive Psychic types (basically Azelf) is its ability to deter Stealth Rock from more defensive stuff like Swampert obviously, but also its secondary typing which gives it a nice U-turn neutrality. And unlike the other set, it can actually beat tons of Stealth Rock setters (or at least do heavy damage to them before dying) - examples are Krookodile, Nidoqueen, Swampert, Cobalion, and Forry.

Mega Aero should specifically be mentioned in its appropriate section in Checks and Counters, as should Empoleon which doesn't care about anything it does and basically has no reason not to just spam Rocks if Xatu comes in on them the first time.

Implemented. Also should I take grass knot and heat wave out of OO since they are in a main set now?

 

[Wanka]

If anyone has any ideas for other potential usage tips and team options for xatu's LO attacker set, a suggestion would be much appreciated. From the team I've been using the LO xatu on, sharpedo and lucario have been the only real standout team members that go well with it along with the hazards. If you can think of any other mons that would go well with that set, feel free to say so.

I'm also considering putting florges in C&C as both of xatu's sets get walled by it and florges can proceed to wish pass all day on it.

 

[Kink]

First set should be Psyshock then Psychic.

Second set, Life Orb, in team options, specifically mention which mons pair up well with Xatu (Donphan, Tenta). Remove U-turn from the set, just mention it in the moves.

GP is gonna wreck this over. You'll save yourself a lot of editing time if you do a preliminary grammar sweep, but this is not mandatory for your QC Check.

After this is implemented, 1/3

 

[Wanka]

First set should be Psyshock then Psychic.

Second set, Life Orb, in team options, specifically mention which mons pair up well with Xatu (Donphan, Tenta). Remove U-turn from the set, just mention it in the moves.

GP is gonna wreck this over. You'll save yourself a lot of editing time if you do a preliminary grammar sweep, but this is not mandatory for your QC Check.

After this is implemented, 1/3

updated the team options for the second set, switched the slashes in the first set, and removed u turn from the set and kept in in moves. And yea im going to clean it all up once I get the write up going.

 

[Bouff]

Actually, I think the first set should have Night Shade / Psychic in the first slot; realistically, Night Shade is the most consistent damage you're gonna get with this set, and even though it's STAB Psychic isn't gonna be doing too much anyway, also with this change move Psyshock to just a mention in moves.

I think there are a lot of other things that need to go over, I'll kinda list them as I go -

Overview;

- You should emphasize more on Magic Bounce, because it's kind of the only reason you're using Xatu in the first place. You don't need to explain the mechanics of it, though. What you should be doing is talking about how it prevents defensive mons like Pert, Forre, etc. from getting up hazards, which is a huge boon for balanced teams if you ask me.
- Talking about Xatu's negatives is also something you should be doing, like how its typing is mediocre both offensively and defensively, how its weak af offensively, how its bulk isn't the best, etc. On its own, it's not exactly the most reliable way to deal with hazards, seeing how popular mons like Krook are right now.

Moves;

- I already went over this, but you really need to improve your writing style, ik you said you'd fix it in write up but if you're unsure you can take a look at other analyses for reference
- Toxic could also be slashed with Thunder Wave, since this way you're actually wearing down things like pert before it scald burns and then spams eq as you roost

Set Details;

- Mention how Rocky Helmet punishes U-turn users

Usage Tips;

- Your T-wave section should be changed to something saying how you should try and catch threats like Mega Aero and Hydrei with it; you shouldn't be putting so much emphasis on it either, because as it stands you're making it seem as if Thunder Wave is the main reason to use Xatu
- Also mention that you shouldn't switch it recklessly on SR users, because Krook, Nido, Aggron, etc. are all annoying as shit for it

Team Options;

- I don't really like how you use "luring" in this part, especially in the Steel-type section where you make it sound like Xatu is a fool-proof answer to things like Hera, Mien, Champ, etc. when in reality if played right they shit all over it, so just remove that sentence entirely lol
- The fire-spam part could probably be more generalized, changing it into a wallbreaker section is fine
- Mention cleric support, seeing as how much Xatu hates scald burns (or the sludge bomb psn too i guess). Florges, Blissey, Granbull, etc. are all fine for this
- Mention hazard support as well, seeing as how Xatu forces out a lot of passive mons, it can be really annoying for balanced teams when paired with Spikes. Qwilfish, Blissey, Roserade, Swampert are all pretty good choices.


I'll cover the LO set and the OO later, but in C&C you really should just group all the type-sections that Xatu is weak to into one section, being super effective attackers. also i feel like cm stored power might get a mention in OO but sigilyph does it better too so idk. dodmen IronBullet93 thoughts?

 

[Wanka]

Actually, I think the first set should have Night Shade / Psychic in the first slot; realistically, Night Shade is the most consistent damage you're gonna get with this set, and even though it's STAB Psychic isn't gonna be doing too much anyway, also with this change move Psyshock to just a mention in moves.

I think there are a lot of other things that need to go over, I'll kinda list them as I go -

Overview;

- You should emphasize more on Magic Bounce, because it's kind of the only reason you're using Xatu in the first place. You don't need to explain the mechanics of it, though. What you should be doing is talking about how it prevents defensive mons like Pert, Forre, etc. from getting up hazards, which is a huge boon for balanced teams if you ask me.
- Talking about Xatu's negatives is also something you should be doing, like how its typing is mediocre both offensively and defensively, how its weak af offensively, how its bulk isn't the best, etc. On its own, it's not exactly the most reliable way to deal with hazards, seeing how popular mons like Krook are right now.

Moves;

- I already went over this, but you really need to improve your writing style, ik you said you'd fix it in write up but if you're unsure you can take a look at other analyses for reference
- Toxic could also be slashed with Thunder Wave, since this way you're actually wearing down things like pert before it scald burns and then spams eq as you roost

Set Details;

- Mention how Rocky Helmet punishes U-turn users

Usage Tips;

- Your T-wave section should be changed to something saying how you should try and catch threats like Mega Aero and Hydrei with it; you shouldn't be putting so much emphasis on it either, because as it stands you're making it seem as if Thunder Wave is the main reason to use Xatu
- Also mention that you shouldn't switch it recklessly on SR users, because Krook, Nido, Aggron, etc. are all annoying as shit for it

Team Options;

- I don't really like how you use "luring" in this part, especially in the Steel-type section where you make it sound like Xatu is a fool-proof answer to things like Hera, Mien, Champ, etc. when in reality if played right they shit all over it, so just remove that sentence entirely lol
- The fire-spam part could probably be more generalized, changing it into a wallbreaker section is fine
- Mention cleric support, seeing as how much Xatu hates scald burns (or the sludge bomb psn too i guess). Florges, Blissey, Granbull, etc. are all fine for this
- Mention hazard support as well, seeing as how Xatu forces out a lot of passive mons, it can be really annoying for balanced teams when paired with Spikes. Qwilfish, Blissey, Roserade, Swampert are all pretty good choices.


I'll cover the LO set and the OO later, but in C&C you really should just group all the type-sections that Xatu is weak to into one section, being super effective attackers. also i feel like cm stored power might get a mention in OO but sigilyph does it better too so idk. dodmen IronBullet93 thoughts?

I did my best to cover all of that.

 

[IronBullet]

Okay so like Bouff said you really need to work on your writing style, for example simply saying that Psychic is a reliable hard hitting stab that hits on the special side and Psyshock is a reliable hard hitting stab that hits on the physical side doesn't cut it. You need to state the circumstances under which you would use one over the other and what advantages each one has. There are also a lot of grammatical errors, make sure you do fix them up properly when you write it to save the GP team some work.

• Stored Power worth a mention in OO, nothing more. Xatu just doesn't have to speed or bulk to pull it off.

C&C needs some work:

• Wallbreakers and fast special attackers can be combined into one and simply named "Powerful Attackers", as really even with investment Xatu's bulk is nothing to write home about and it will be 2HKOed by just about any decently powered neutral hit.
• "Super effective attackers" should be renamed "Super effective hits" and you need to provide examples of Pokemon that carry such moves.
• Mega Aerodactyl detests status and doesn't like coming in on LO Psychics, so it doesn't deserve a separate mention. It comes under "Super effective hits" anyway.

Other Options looks fine, again just make sure to correct your grammar when you write it up.

Life Orb set:

• Mention how it can be a headache especially for more defensive teams that will struggle to set hazards up with Xatu around, and can also have trouble dealing with Xatu's decent power and coverage.
• Mention how Donphan also provides Rapid Spin support, which allows Xatu to switch in more freely.
• Again be sure to fix your grammar when writing up. Phrases such as "a viable sweeper" don't really make much sense.

I'll give you a check and you can start writing it up once everything above has been implemented :)

 

[Wanka]

Okay so like Bouff said you really need to work on your writing style, for example simply saying that Psychic is a reliable hard hitting stab that hits on the special side and Psyshock is a reliable hard hitting stab that hits on the physical side doesn't cut it. You need to state the circumstances under which you would use one over the other and what advantages each one has. There are also a lot of grammatical errors, make sure you do fix them up properly when you write it to save the GP team some work.

• Stored Power worth a mention in OO, nothing more. Xatu just doesn't have to speed or bulk to pull it off.

C&C needs some work:

• Wallbreakers and fast special attackers can be combined into one and simply named "Powerful Attackers", as really even with investment Xatu's bulk is nothing to write home about and it will be 2HKOed by just about any decently powered neutral hit.
• "Super effective attackers" should be renamed "Super effective hits" and you need to provide examples of Pokemon that carry such moves.
• Mega Aerodactyl detests status and doesn't like coming in on LO Psychics, so it doesn't deserve a separate mention. It comes under "Super effective hits" anyway.

Other Options looks fine, again just make sure to correct your grammar when you write it up.

Life Orb set:

• Mention how it can be a headache especially for more defensive teams that will struggle to set hazards up with Xatu around, and can also have trouble dealing with Xatu's decent power and coverage.
• Mention how Donphan also provides Rapid Spin support, which allows Xatu to switch in more freely.
• Again be sure to fix your grammar when writing up. Phrases such as "a viable sweeper" don't really make much sense.

I'll give you a check and you can start writing it up once everything above has been implemented :)

I think I got everything. I took out the viable sweeper sentence completely because it just sounded stupid and did not make much sense anyways.

 

[IronBullet]

• Remove Grounds from C&C I think, they lose to the Life Orb set and Night Shade or Toxic still hurt them from the defensive set.
• Remove Heracross from the overview, Megahorn decimates it lol. Just mention that its typing allows it to check most Fighting types.
• Most of the content is okay but make sure you improve on your writing style and grammar when you write this up please.

QC 2/3

 

[Wanka]

Im going to get this write up done dw. Im dealing with a lot of shit in the monotype community rn and i've just been really damn busy

 

[Ununhexium]

This isn't absolutely critical but can you rename LO attacker just offensive because you have colbur berry slashed as an item

 

[Bouff]

progress on this iWanka?

 

[Wanka]

I've started looking for people to take the thread from me because I simply just have no time at all to do it Bouffalant

I have a lot of stuff I've been handling on other servers and If any of the QC team wants to take it they can because I haven't had any luck finding someone to give the thread to anyways.

 

[Bouff]

aight iWanka, I guess I'll take it since I've used Xatu n stuff. will lock this n get tha thread up in the meantime