The 5th Gen Gimmick Team: Assist + Dragon Tail

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Many of you who have tried the new 5th gen game using pokemononline's server have likely faced a team consisting mainly of Reparudasu spamming Assist and Dragon Tailing a team repeatedly. The strategy has been mentioned in several other topics, and I hope to promote discussion regarding counters and potentially optimizing a team based around this gimmick.

For those who have yet to hear about this strategy, it mainly involves the move Assist, which randomly chooses ANY move any member of your team, dead or alive, has. There are a few exceptions to this, but Dragon Tail (Power: 60 Accuracy: 90) is NOT one of them. Dragon Tail is in the same low priority bracket as Roar and Whirlwind, but when paired with Assist the low priority is ignored. In fact, using a Reparudasu allows for its DW ability, Mischievous Heart, to give Assist priority. One could also add entry hazards, but this decreases the reliability of Assist to give you Dragon Tail.

Though MH Reparudasu is not released, it is in the data and sometime in the future this team can be a reality. As far as pokemononline's beta which includes Dream World abilities, this team is a reality.

This team is ultimately a gimmick, from testing it simply seems more likely to lose than to win, but it's managed to beat a few offensive teams, with particular success against non-Sandstorm weather teams. Even if it's a gimmick, it can be improved...
The Multiple Assist Team - As will be discussed later, there are many counters to an Assist Team, but many of them are "soft". A multiple assist team runs several pokemon who can use the move Assist, but because of that limitation none of the 6 pokemon can have an "assist-able" move. I'm not sure whether item clause will be commonly implemented in 5th gen metagame, but I'm playing it safe and implementing here.

The Star of the Show:

#510 - Reparudasu - Wide Lens
Ability: Mischievous Heart - Nature: Jolly - Max Atk/Spd EVs
-Assist
-Covet
-Protect

It's job is the spam Assist, the Wide Lens is there to give it 99% accuracy Dragon Tail, which is basically a hit. If a team lacks any counters at all, this guy should sweep 5 pokemon on their team. That above case is pretty rare.


Dragon Tail Sources:

#445 - Garchomp - Rugged Helmet
Ability: Rough Skin - Nature: Adamant - Max Atk/HP EVs (Perhaps also run Defense EVs)
-Dragon Tail
-Protect

Or...


#621 - Kurimugan - Rugged Helmet

Ability: Rough Skin - Nature: Adamant - Max Atk/HP EVs (Perhaps also run Defense EVs)
-Dragon Tail
-Protect

When I tried the team, I found using one was best. Rugged Helmet with Rough Skin lets you switch into people using Extremespeed, along with potentially other contact moves. A strong STAB Dragon Tail can help kill the "last pokemon" of the enemy team, good Defensive EVs can ensure you can hit people with a few Dragon Tails. Garchomp has better stats, but Kurimugan is more likely to survive with its better Defensive Typing (that Ground typing doesn't help much without any STABs...).


Other Assist Users:
Not necessarily needed... but there are a few other standout assist users.

#509 - Choroneko - Leftovers
Ability: Mischievous Heart - Nature: Jolly - Max Atk/Spd EVs
-Assist
-Covet
-Protect


You can run Wide Lens w/o Item Clause to have a weaker Reparudasu. Leftovers lets you wall Sandstorm Teams, but you'll be throwing around very risky 90% Dragon Tails at a really low attack.

Others don't stand out as much, but can be useful in a pinch...
Infernape - Choice Scarf/Band
-Assist
-Counter
-Protect

Weavile - Choice Scarf/Band
-Assist
-Protect
-Counter

Depending on your build or EV Spread, they can serve as emergency Assist users, but they operate at 90% accuracy and die to priority moves like it's nobody's business. They serve multiple utility roles, Counter can work to throw back Extremespeeds if you run a bulkier build... they also die pretty quickly, so if you need a safe switch in they can serve as potential suiciders. Finally, at the end they can try to kill off the last remaining pokemon with their very high-attack Dragon Tails, though obviously Garchomp and Kurimugan do this job much better.


Handling the Final Pokemon:

#235 - Smeargle - Focus Sash
Ability: Doesn't Matter (Inconsistent for fun times!) - Nature: Doesn't Matter - EVs - Max Spd, otherwise, doesn't matter.
-Destiny Bond
-Dragon Tail
-Protect

Spam Destiny Bond, kill the last pokemon. There's really no safe way to do this. If their final pokemon lacks any setup moves and runs only attack moves just keep Spamming Destiny Bond and you'll die, taking them with you. If you want to waste another slot, you can try using a Choice-Scarf Tricker as well.

Other Options:
Ursaring - Ability: Quick Feet - Toxic Orb
-Covet
-Focus Punch
-Protect

STAB Covet... possible.

-A metronome spamming pokemon, potentially. Togekiss can be a Choice-Tricker, then spam Metronome.


Personally I ran the Repardasu, Choroneko, Infernape, Weavile, Kurimugan and Smeargle.


Single Cat Strategy

#510 - Reparudasu - Leftovers
Ability: Mischievous Heart - Nature: Jolly - Max Atk/Spd EVs
-Assist
-Claw Sharpen
-2 Utility Moves (Rain Dance, Substitute, Taunt, Encore? Plenty of options)

In my opinion a much riskier strategy. Idea is that with Leftovers you can successfully ignore your biggest counter - Sandstorm Teams (which are all the rage). Behind a Substitute you don't have to worry about priority stun spore... but plenty of other things can stop you. Extremespeed, Contact moves... Basic strategy is to Assist until you force a switch to something you think you can take a hit from, potentially. Claw Sharpen, then proceed to sweep away. Your team's Assists are neutered in that they can potentially Claw Sharpen. I haven't tried a single cat strategy yet.


COUNTERS
-Erufunn will SubSeed you to death... well, Erufunn can do alot of things to absolutely screw you over. It's a pretty hard counter.
-Extremespeed users is a near-aboslute death kneel for this team, but you can actually reliably damage them with Rugged Helmet pokemon. However, generally speaking you'll lose teammembers (if not the whole team) trying to deal with an Extremespeed User. Fast Priority users, such as Ice Shard Weavile, serve a similar purpose as counters. Ice Shard Weavile also doesn't have to worry about eating a Helmet recoil.
-SandStream. Places your entire operation on a timer of sorts, with the exception of a Leftovers running Assist spammer (who now only has 90 accuracy Dragon Tail). Sandstream users tend to resist attempts at Dragon Tailing with bulk. You could potentially throw the Fighting-Type Dragon Tail variant on Smeargle, but it's risky with the presence of Ghosts. A potential variant of the Assist team could include a Drought/Drizzle pokemon to clear the weather if a Streamer is killed (probably only via the Fighting attack).
-Contact Effects - Flame Body, Cursed Body, Static, Poison Barbs, Mummy... they are somewhat luck dependent, but can cripple your current Assist user or otherwise place its life on a timer. Regeneration can potentially be bad too (never faced one though). Iron Barbs, Rough Skin and/or Rugged Helmet also suck tremendously for you.
-Choice Scarf Ditto - They'll Assist first... but then again, they could get really unlucky.
-The Final Pokemon. A pure non-set up sweeper or a Choiced pokemon will die fast to Destiny-Bond Smeargle. A rest-talker will also likely die to Smeargle, and of course a STAB Dragon Tail can rip open the enemy team. A pokemon with a set up move that has more PP than Destiny Bond can basically outlast Smeargle then kill it. If you manage to kill the the rest of the enemy team while leaving most of your pokemon intact, the last pokemon is usually beatable.
-Walls can waste your PP, but what generally happens is that Walls end up as the last pokemon on the opponent's team.
-ANOTHER assist team. Gambling time...


I don't mean for this to be a rate-my-team or the like, I provided an example, and IMO the essential parts of an Assist Team. What opinions exist on how viable an Assist team set is? Even within the limited confines of moves that aren't selected by Assist, would an Assist team have any place within a viable metagame? Thoughts?
 
I have used this team, and I find it best to have your dragon tail user be choice banded, because if their last pokemon is a steel type or extremley defensive, you need all the power you can get.
 

breh

強いだね
Extremespeed. 'Nuff said.

However, I do admit that it has great problems in that it's a move that's far from common...

On the flipside, Wonder Guard Shedinja or Cradily could be used. Anything with ingrain works too.

Out of curiosity, can assist actually call Dragon Tail or not?
 
Its a pretty good strategy, but once something faster that can revenge kill it comes in, there's going to be a problem. I do see this working though. Nice strategy!
 

breh

強いだね
Desukan.

Mummy ends this strat as long as a faster Pokemon than Leperasudu is alive.
Just switch.. it's not like Leperdasu is the only one on the team lol

Also, it may be impossible to kill the last pokemon if it's a ghost type... Desukan and Dusknoir/clops especially, as they can just spam W-o-w on all of your pokemon and there are no moves that assist can't call that hit ghost types other than Mirror Coat.
 

cookie

my wish like everyone else is to be seen
is a Senior Staff Member Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnusis a Smogon Media Contributor Alumnus
Even better: run a bunch of dragon tail/roar/whirlwind users and have a couple pokes set up spikes+stealth rock
 

Atticus

Atticus
is a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnuswon the 10th Official Smogon Tournamentdefeated the Smogon Frontieris a Two-Time Past SPL Champion
Even better: run a bunch of dragon tail/roar/whirlwind users and have a couple pokes set up spikes+stealth rock
the problem with that is that you can assist spikes/sr which messes up your strategy, its a real shame assist works on dead pokes :(
 
I faced one of these teams on PO today. When I finally figured his strat out I switched Tar in to start SS. To minimize damage, I switched in my Swampert into the Dragon Tail every time (doing mostly lol damage every time). He died in 16 or so turns
 
I played against a team where every single pokemon was doing this assist + dragon tail thing. Switching in Nattorei/Rugged Helmet every turn was a great counter!
 
This strategy is completely destroyed by several things. One would be any pokemon with Suction Cup as an ability, of which Cradily will be very popular on sandstorm teams. Another would be any priority, such as Breloom's Technician Mach Punch. The final key would be having a pokemon with Red Card equipped to counter this strategy, as the pokemon which hits the pokemon with Red Card is required to switch, and one turn is plenty of time to set up a counter.
 
Leperadasu, its pre-evo, Weavile, Persian, Infernape, and Garchomp w/ Dragon Tail is probably the most efficient way of doing this.

The Leperadasu shouldn't lead and should be Scarfed Jolly in order to outspeed other priority moves in case you come across one. Persian and Garchomp are your main physical attackers if you come across Nattorei w/ Rugged Helm or a Wobbuffet (Garchomp does quite a bit to Wobb). The rest are just fast.

Sticking a Wide Lens on everything that DOESN'T have Mischevious Heart is a good idea. Running Jolly on everything is nice (Although Persian and Chomp prefer Adamant).
 
This strategy is completely destroyed by several things. One would be any pokemon with Suction Cup as an ability, of which Cradily will be very popular on sandstorm teams. Another would be any priority, such as Breloom's Technician Mach Punch. The final key would be having a pokemon with Red Card equipped to counter this strategy, as the pokemon which hits the pokemon with Red Card is required to switch, and one turn is plenty of time to set up a counter.
Actually, with mischievous heart, the opponent would need to beat out the Reparudasu in speed in order to be faster with a priority move. And I'm pretty sure Breloom can't beat out a jolly, max speed EV 106 base speed Pokémon with +1 assist. Well, unless it's scarfed and Reparudasu isn't, which sounds somewhat plausible I think.

Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong there.
 
Priority works exactly the same; it's the tiers that have changed.

Here's how things work with Mischievious Heart:

+6: Helping Hand
+5: Magic Coat, Snatch
+4: Detect, Endure, Follow Me, Protect
+3: None
+2: None
+1: Stat up/down moves (Nasty Plot, Agility, Cotton Guard, Calm Mind, Fake Tears, etc.)
Support/Status moves (Aromatherapy, Baton Pass, Encore, Leech Seed, Taunt, Screens, Thunder Wave, etc.)
Recovery moves (Recover, Rest, etc.)
Weather moves
Field Effects: Gravity, Tailwind, etc.
Substitute
Sleep Talk (?)
Trick/Switcheroo
0: None
-1: None
-2: None
-3: None
-4: Counter, Mirror Coat (?)
-5: Roar/Whirlwind
-6: Trick Room, Wonder Room, Magic Room
 
I had experimented with dragon tail earlier. Check this out:

Skarmory @ Shed Shell
Ability- Sturdy
Nature- Impish
Ev's- 252 HP/252 DEF/6 SPEED
Moves- Brave Bird, Roost, Spikes, Stealth Rock

Zuruzugin @ Leftovers
Ability- Intimidate
Nature- Impish
EV's- 252 HP/252 DEF/6 ATK
Moves- High jump kick, Payback, Fake Out, Dragon Tail

Gyarados @ Leftovers
Ability- Intimidate
Nature- Impish
EV's- 252 HP/52 SPEED/206 DEF
Moves- Waterfall, Dragon Tail, Taunt, Thunder Wave

Ok, excuse the uncreative ev's for a minute. The increased threat of offensive in the new generation makes intimidate really stand out, so with dual intimidate, you can actually try to wall things more effectively. Simply set up your hazards and then spam the hell out of dragon tail. Between Skarmory/Zuruzugin/Gyarados, you have a nice little defensive core that can cover all the big physical attack types.

It is a bit less gimmicky than using assist, but there sure isn't much surprise factor to it.
 
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