A lead Pokemon which I have developed mostly for Trick Room teams, Pesknoir is my own creation which I have not read or heard about anywhere else here or on a few other sites which I have checked. While he works best for a Trick Room team, he can also be effective as a lead for any team if used properly. I think it may be one of the best leads for some teams, especially those with at least one slow Pokemon who can benefit from Trick Room, and I'd like to share him with you! And so, without further ado, I introduce to you:
"Pesknoir" by MoFro
Dusknoir @ Lum Berry
Sassy nature*, Pressure
EVs: 252 HP, 156 Def, 100 SpDef
- Trick Room
- Taunt
- Destiny Bond
- Night Shade/Focus Punch/Pain Split
* You may also use a Relaxed nature and swap the EVs for Def and SpDef if you are interested in a slightly more physically resistant variant, but my analysis assumes you are using the nature and spread I have listed above.
A few have already had the misfortune of meeting my Pesknoir in battle. He's such a jerk! Most people are expecting to see your standard Dusknoir, with stuff like Will-o-Wisp, Pain Split and elemental punches, but Pesknoir breaks the mold and your opponent's morale at the same time. First, Trick Room to make sure you go first against most things, and disappoint sleep leads like Gengar and Bronzong with a Lum Berry. After the first turn you should have a good idea of whether or not they will switch or continue to attack you, and if the next attack is going to be lethal, go for Destiny Bond for an instant 5 - 5 match (and a very upset opponent). Otherwise, Taunt to prevent any other status attacks or to keep yourself from being Taunted.
As long as the Trick Room is up, you can Night Shade any switches that come out to deal damage to your opponents, then Taunt or Destiny Bond them to keep them nervous and PP stall, or just take them out. Try to restore Trick Room on switches and on Pokemon you've already Destiny Bond/Taunted if it runs out. As a precaution, use Taunt or Destiny Bond on turns when Trick Room is about to run out, in case the opponent switches in a threat who can defeat you before being able to restore the Trick Room, because if you are KO'd before you use a different move, Destiny Bond will take them down as well (very useful since Trick Room is guaranteed to go last). Also, take the opportunity to switch into one of the deadlier forces on the team if it's there. Even if Pesknoir doesn't succeed in his kamikaze tactics, you'll still hopefully have shuffled the opponent's team around enough that you'll know a little more about what you're up against, which is still a victory in and of itself.
Night Shade is my strongest recommendation since it is not based at all on your attack stats, freeing up the EVs for a totally defensive build to help you stall. Night Shade has obvious trouble with Normal types, so Blissey can be a major problem (not like Night Shade would be very effective against Blissey anyway), but then again, you can Taunt and Destiny Bond her until she manages to take you down with an Ice Beam or run away, or switch into a Taunted Blissey with a physical attacker without fear of Sing or Thunder Wave if you play it smart. Watch out not to let a sweeper like Porygon-Z or Infernape switch in and start to set up - Taunt them the first chance you get. Also be wary of 101 HP Substitutes - you can also stop these with a well-placed Taunt (by the way, Taunt works even if your opponent has a Substitute, so you can stop SubSeeders even if they do get a Sub out).
If you're feeling lucky and want to catch Weaviles and Tyranitars on the switch in with a OHKO, you can go with Focus Punch, but once your opponent knows your tricks they're probably going to stay in and keep attacking you to prevent Focus Punch from being successful (I know this from experience, lol). It's really great to use on switches, but don't expect it to do any crippling damage to anything it's not super-effective against since Pesknoir doesn't have the best Attack around (you may wish to drop the 100 SpDef EVs into Attack if you do use Focus Punch).
Pain Split is another damage option in case you want to live forever while your opponent is afraid to finish you off, but it can be Taunted leaving you helpless if you're not careful, and it will never actually KO your opponent's Pokemon, meaning Destiny Bond is your only shot at a KO without help from other Pokemon on your team.
Only a few things can OHKO Pesknoir given the spread above, and they all rely on STAB and a Choice item: things like Choice Band Crunch from a TTar, Choice Specs Shadow Ball from a Gengar (Mismagius can also with a small chance if you dont have perfect HP/SpDef IVs), and some extremes like Choice Head Smash from Rampardos, so as long as you steer clear of those things, Pesknoir can be very effective. A Turn 1 Taunt can be a mess, so watch out for Gyarados leads and be prepared to deal with them, although Pesknoir spooks some of them with the prospect of ThunderPunch (but not a lot).
The only other thing that can stop him is flinch hax, so be wary of things like Jirachi's Zen Headbutt, Gyarados and its Waterfall, and the rare but annoying and super-effective CB Ambipom using Astonish. Priority moves like Ice Shard can also be trouble if you're in critical health (these attacks will do no more than 40-50 HP damage even with STAB though), so try to anticipate attackers like that with a Destiny Bond as soon as you can before you're taken out. Also, be very careful to stop any status afflicting attacks once your Lum Berry is used, since sources of indirect damage are the most likely things to take Pesknoir down without costing your opponent a Pokemon.
Another thing worth noting is that the PP of attacks like Trick Room and Destiny Bond are rather limited, so if you intend to use Pesknoir in a tournament setting, it is a very good idea to use some PP Up/Max to increase the number of times you can use them. Also, Pressure will affect you strongly, so also be careful not to be PP stalled in return, since this can end badly.
If your opponents feel like they cannot fool you into allowing them a chance to take out Pesknoir, they will often put out the weakened Pokemon that means the least to them and allow you to Destiny Bond kill them. Sometimes too, if they have not used your Lum Berry yet, they will desperately try to Sleep you in order to have a chance to defeat you, even if their Sleep user is weak. If you're brave, try to anticipate when this will happen and really disappoint your opponents when you defeat them with Night Shade and still have Destiny Bond ready to go.
While I am a bit of a Trick Room fanatic, if you're not so inclined, you can replace it with something like Will-o-Wisp or Toxic to take advantage of the switches you will likely be forcing with the combination of Taunt and Destiny Bond, or you could opt for another of the attacking options I've listed, or an elemental punch if you hate Gyarados or dragons (although Intimidate seriously hampers Pesknoir's ability to do any meaningful damage, even with a 4x effective attack). Without Trick Room though, beware of speedy attackers switching in when you're off-guard and sweeping you before you have a chance to act against them with Taunt or Destiny Bond.
Please offer your opinions and criticisms! I'd love to be able to make Pesknoir better, and I wouldn't post about it (and reveal one of my team's secret weapons) without hoping to hear some things I hadn't heard before to help improve. Also, if you ever use the strategy, I'd love it if you credited me. *wink*
- MoFro
"Pesknoir" by MoFro
Dusknoir @ Lum Berry
Sassy nature*, Pressure
EVs: 252 HP, 156 Def, 100 SpDef
- Trick Room
- Taunt
- Destiny Bond
- Night Shade/Focus Punch/Pain Split
* You may also use a Relaxed nature and swap the EVs for Def and SpDef if you are interested in a slightly more physically resistant variant, but my analysis assumes you are using the nature and spread I have listed above.
A few have already had the misfortune of meeting my Pesknoir in battle. He's such a jerk! Most people are expecting to see your standard Dusknoir, with stuff like Will-o-Wisp, Pain Split and elemental punches, but Pesknoir breaks the mold and your opponent's morale at the same time. First, Trick Room to make sure you go first against most things, and disappoint sleep leads like Gengar and Bronzong with a Lum Berry. After the first turn you should have a good idea of whether or not they will switch or continue to attack you, and if the next attack is going to be lethal, go for Destiny Bond for an instant 5 - 5 match (and a very upset opponent). Otherwise, Taunt to prevent any other status attacks or to keep yourself from being Taunted.
As long as the Trick Room is up, you can Night Shade any switches that come out to deal damage to your opponents, then Taunt or Destiny Bond them to keep them nervous and PP stall, or just take them out. Try to restore Trick Room on switches and on Pokemon you've already Destiny Bond/Taunted if it runs out. As a precaution, use Taunt or Destiny Bond on turns when Trick Room is about to run out, in case the opponent switches in a threat who can defeat you before being able to restore the Trick Room, because if you are KO'd before you use a different move, Destiny Bond will take them down as well (very useful since Trick Room is guaranteed to go last). Also, take the opportunity to switch into one of the deadlier forces on the team if it's there. Even if Pesknoir doesn't succeed in his kamikaze tactics, you'll still hopefully have shuffled the opponent's team around enough that you'll know a little more about what you're up against, which is still a victory in and of itself.
Night Shade is my strongest recommendation since it is not based at all on your attack stats, freeing up the EVs for a totally defensive build to help you stall. Night Shade has obvious trouble with Normal types, so Blissey can be a major problem (not like Night Shade would be very effective against Blissey anyway), but then again, you can Taunt and Destiny Bond her until she manages to take you down with an Ice Beam or run away, or switch into a Taunted Blissey with a physical attacker without fear of Sing or Thunder Wave if you play it smart. Watch out not to let a sweeper like Porygon-Z or Infernape switch in and start to set up - Taunt them the first chance you get. Also be wary of 101 HP Substitutes - you can also stop these with a well-placed Taunt (by the way, Taunt works even if your opponent has a Substitute, so you can stop SubSeeders even if they do get a Sub out).
If you're feeling lucky and want to catch Weaviles and Tyranitars on the switch in with a OHKO, you can go with Focus Punch, but once your opponent knows your tricks they're probably going to stay in and keep attacking you to prevent Focus Punch from being successful (I know this from experience, lol). It's really great to use on switches, but don't expect it to do any crippling damage to anything it's not super-effective against since Pesknoir doesn't have the best Attack around (you may wish to drop the 100 SpDef EVs into Attack if you do use Focus Punch).
Pain Split is another damage option in case you want to live forever while your opponent is afraid to finish you off, but it can be Taunted leaving you helpless if you're not careful, and it will never actually KO your opponent's Pokemon, meaning Destiny Bond is your only shot at a KO without help from other Pokemon on your team.
Only a few things can OHKO Pesknoir given the spread above, and they all rely on STAB and a Choice item: things like Choice Band Crunch from a TTar, Choice Specs Shadow Ball from a Gengar (Mismagius can also with a small chance if you dont have perfect HP/SpDef IVs), and some extremes like Choice Head Smash from Rampardos, so as long as you steer clear of those things, Pesknoir can be very effective. A Turn 1 Taunt can be a mess, so watch out for Gyarados leads and be prepared to deal with them, although Pesknoir spooks some of them with the prospect of ThunderPunch (but not a lot).
The only other thing that can stop him is flinch hax, so be wary of things like Jirachi's Zen Headbutt, Gyarados and its Waterfall, and the rare but annoying and super-effective CB Ambipom using Astonish. Priority moves like Ice Shard can also be trouble if you're in critical health (these attacks will do no more than 40-50 HP damage even with STAB though), so try to anticipate attackers like that with a Destiny Bond as soon as you can before you're taken out. Also, be very careful to stop any status afflicting attacks once your Lum Berry is used, since sources of indirect damage are the most likely things to take Pesknoir down without costing your opponent a Pokemon.
Another thing worth noting is that the PP of attacks like Trick Room and Destiny Bond are rather limited, so if you intend to use Pesknoir in a tournament setting, it is a very good idea to use some PP Up/Max to increase the number of times you can use them. Also, Pressure will affect you strongly, so also be careful not to be PP stalled in return, since this can end badly.
If your opponents feel like they cannot fool you into allowing them a chance to take out Pesknoir, they will often put out the weakened Pokemon that means the least to them and allow you to Destiny Bond kill them. Sometimes too, if they have not used your Lum Berry yet, they will desperately try to Sleep you in order to have a chance to defeat you, even if their Sleep user is weak. If you're brave, try to anticipate when this will happen and really disappoint your opponents when you defeat them with Night Shade and still have Destiny Bond ready to go.
While I am a bit of a Trick Room fanatic, if you're not so inclined, you can replace it with something like Will-o-Wisp or Toxic to take advantage of the switches you will likely be forcing with the combination of Taunt and Destiny Bond, or you could opt for another of the attacking options I've listed, or an elemental punch if you hate Gyarados or dragons (although Intimidate seriously hampers Pesknoir's ability to do any meaningful damage, even with a 4x effective attack). Without Trick Room though, beware of speedy attackers switching in when you're off-guard and sweeping you before you have a chance to act against them with Taunt or Destiny Bond.
Please offer your opinions and criticisms! I'd love to be able to make Pesknoir better, and I wouldn't post about it (and reveal one of my team's secret weapons) without hoping to hear some things I hadn't heard before to help improve. Also, if you ever use the strategy, I'd love it if you credited me. *wink*
- MoFro
