Other Creative / Underrated Sets Thread (Read the thread, NO SHITTY GIMMICKS)

[Penguxn]

I don't really get why Metagross is now in UU, but I've used this set on so many teams and time after time it's proven useful on my OU teams.

Metagross @ Leftovers
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 36 hp / 204 atk / 36 def / 56 sp.def / 176 spe
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -Sp. Atk)
- Ice Punch
- Earthquake
- Agility
- Iron Head/Meteor Mash

First off, Metagross has some all around amazing base stats (135attack, 130 defense) with nice typing. Clear Body is nice for the annoying U-turn users spam switching into a Poke with Intimidate. The Steel/Psychic typing allows for Metagross to be immune to Toxic, toxic spikes, and anything poison of the like. The trick behind this Metagross is to switch in at a safe time, get an agility in, and then be able to do your own thing. After a +2 to speed, Metagross is able to easily take out threats such as Heatran with Earthquake. Surprisingly I have not seen a single other Metagross with Ice Punch yet. It has helped me with so many Dragonites, Garchomps, etc - I always OHKO them. Ice Punch is a vital move for counters. Finally, you have your choice of Iron Head or Meteor Mash. I have been using MM most of the time, but the attack boost seems to be rare (the whole point of me using the move) and the 85% accuracy is a little bit frustrating at times. I figured Iron Head can be a nice alternative with its 100 accuracy as well as 30% flinch, and still able to get STAB, so I have been running Iron Head with it recently.

Let me know what you guys think :-) I think Metagross is going to shoot right back into OU or Ubers once the new games come out and its mega form is released. Mega Metagross is going to be one of the next biggest threats.

 

[StairFall]

StairFall

I'd suggest you to give Roost to Kyu-B in place of Blizzard. It has low HP and that Kyurem-B is more of a stallish pokèmon than an attacker one, so Roost can be rly useful to recover your HP. I used a similiar set of Kyurem in a BW2 team and it worked pretty nice (although it was "normal" Kyurem because of Pressure which allowed me to stall better opponent's PPs), nothing else to add anyway, even if I have never tried a similiar set in XY even if it looks cool, so nice job. Try Kyurem-N too anyway, it can be rly helpful with Pressure.

I've tried roost before, It's definitely usable. You get more bulk, you don't have to invest in SPA or run a negative speed nature letting you outspeed Zapdos, you can put a little more EVs in either attack or defense if you like, you can even run life orb if you'd like since you can offset the recoil. Only problem is you're now totally walled by fairies. Thinking back on it though blizzard isn't helping you get past gardevoir, spdef clefable, azumarill or even some Diancie variants so I guess it doesn't really matter.

As for Kyurem B versus N? Black has both a more powerful Dtail and slightly more physical bulk, and comes with the ability to force a lot of switches prior to revealing your set. Kyurem really only has pressure going for it, but since you're using dragon tail to force switches the only things you're going to be stalling out are 8 pp moves Terrakion's close combat and stone edge. Teravolt doesn't have a lot of utility, but it has just enough little perks to be considered usable in my opinion. You get to hit Quagsire for huge damage and use him as set up bait for instance.

 

[Prinz]

Pressure is useful to PP stall almost any bulky pokèmon and thats extremely helpful against stall teams. Also the Kyurem set worked well in early BW2 because there werent any fairy-type mons that could completely wall it, so in XY that set loses a lot of its power (mostly because it was a set great against stall teams but hello now stall teams can have their own fairy-type mon in clefable or in the less common sylveon and granbull so that set is definitely a way worse than it was in the past

 

[StairFall]

Pressure is useful to PP stall almost any bulky pokèmon and thats extremely helpful against stall teams. Also the Kyurem set worked well in early BW2 because there werent any fairy-type mons that could completely wall it, so in XY that set loses a lot of its power (mostly because it was a set great against stall teams but hello now stall teams can have their own fairy-type mon in clefable or in the less common sylveon and granbull so that set is definitely a way worse than it was in the past

Yeah, it's still largely a work in progress and definitely less usable than it was in 5th generation. It's great against stall since most stall teams I've seen often only run 1 fairy, if any at all and often have few moves that break your sub in one hit outside of doublade or the aforementioned fairies, but it is like I said potential dead weight against heavy offense teams. I've done my best to address all its shortcomings in the context of the new generation, but I think stall's popularity at the higher end of the ladder warrant that it at least be experimented with. Fairies with the exception of Mawile, magic gaurd Clefable (most stall teams I believe use unaware) and Togekiss could be stalled out with subroost if you lay down T-spikes I guess, but yeah you're better off running like M-scizor or something to kill fairies.

Pressure is great for PP stalling things like Skarmory's brave bird or Doublade's Gyro Ball, but I still prefer Kyube over Normal Kyurem simply for the additional power and bulk. Pressure is honestly a lot better but I still prefer Kyube on a personal level. Also the alternate EV spread if you're using roost should be 56hp/38atk/112def/252spdef/44spe Careful to outspeed no speed Zapdos and Mew.

 

[Prinz]

Yay thats a good EV spread I guess. Also I think that there isnt a better Kyurem for that job, its just up to personal preferences.

 

[WideTomato]

I don't really get why Metagross is now in UU, but I've used this set on so many teams and time after time it's proven useful on my OU teams.

Metagross @ Leftovers
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 36 hp / 204 atk / 36 def / 56 sp.def / 176 spe
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -Sp. Atk)
- Ice Punch
- Earthquake
- Agility
- Iron Head/Meteor Mash

First off, Metagross has some all around amazing base stats (135attack, 130 defense) with nice typing. Clear Body is nice for the annoying U-turn users spam switching into a Poke with Intimidate. The Steel/Psychic typing allows for Metagross to be immune to Toxic, toxic spikes, and anything poison of the like. The trick behind this Metagross is to switch in at a safe time, get an agility in, and then be able to do your own thing. After a +2 to speed, Metagross is able to easily take out threats such as Heatran with Earthquake. Surprisingly I have not seen a single other Metagross with Ice Punch yet. It has helped me with so many Dragonites, Garchomps, etc - I always OHKO them. Ice Punch is a vital move for counters. Finally, you have your choice of Iron Head or Meteor Mash. I have been using MM most of the time, but the attack boost seems to be rare (the whole point of me using the move) and the 85% accuracy is a little bit frustrating at times. I figured Iron Head can be a nice alternative with its 100 accuracy as well as 30% flinch, and still able to get STAB, so I have been running Iron Head with it recently.

Let me know what you guys think :-) I think Metagross is going to shoot right back into OU or Ubers once the new games come out and its mega form is released. Mega Metagross is going to be one of the next biggest threats.

What exactly is the investment good for? I would personally go with max attack, enough speed to outspeed the most important threats and then dumb the rest in hp

 

[StairFall]

I don't really get why Metagross is now in UU, but I've used this set on so many teams and time after time it's proven useful on my OU teams.

Metagross @ Leftovers
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 36 hp / 204 atk / 36 def / 56 sp.def / 176 spe
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -Sp. Atk)
- Ice Punch
- Earthquake
- Agility
- Iron Head/Meteor Mash

First off, Metagross has some all around amazing base stats (135attack, 130 defense) with nice typing. Clear Body is nice for the annoying U-turn users spam switching into a Poke with Intimidate. The Steel/Psychic typing allows for Metagross to be immune to Toxic, toxic spikes, and anything poison of the like. The trick behind this Metagross is to switch in at a safe time, get an agility in, and then be able to do your own thing. After a +2 to speed, Metagross is able to easily take out threats such as Heatran with Earthquake. Surprisingly I have not seen a single other Metagross with Ice Punch yet. It has helped me with so many Dragonites, Garchomps, etc - I always OHKO them. Ice Punch is a vital move for counters. Finally, you have your choice of Iron Head or Meteor Mash. I have been using MM most of the time, but the attack boost seems to be rare (the whole point of me using the move) and the 85% accuracy is a little bit frustrating at times. I figured Iron Head can be a nice alternative with its 100 accuracy as well as 30% flinch, and still able to get STAB, so I have been running Iron Head with it recently.

Let me know what you guys think :-) I think Metagross is going to shoot right back into OU or Ubers once the new games come out and its mega form is released. Mega Metagross is going to be one of the next biggest threats.

Metagross has 1 extremely obvious flaw over all the other popular offensive sweepers in the tier, It has crap power. It has 135 attack sure, but it has to rely on relatively low BP attacks, a poor attacking type STAB, and it has no boosting move to make it stronger. It has moderately good coverage ruined by the fact that neutral coverage isn't good enough and it absolutely needs super effective hits to muscle through most pokemon that resist meteor mash. Ice punch isn't breaking through skarmory and EQ isn't beating Ferrothorn anytime soon. Your variation here doesn't even have full attack or Life Orb, further undercutting it's power.

I can see what you're sort of going for here, an extremely fast and bulky pokemon to combat very frail heavy offense teams, but you're probably better off running a bulky swords dance priority user like Talon Flame or M-scizor.

 

[Karpi]

Metagross has 1 extremely obvious flaw over all the other popular offensive sweepers in the tier, It has crap power. It has 135 attack sure, but it has to rely on relatively low BP attacks, a poor attacking type STAB, and it has no boosting move to make it stronger. It has moderately good coverage ruined by the fact that neutral coverage isn't good enough and it absolutely needs super effective hits to muscle through most pokemon that resist meteor mash. Ice punch isn't breaking through skarmory and EQ isn't beating Ferrothorn anytime soon. Your variation here doesn't even have full attack or Life Orb, further undercutting it's power.

I can see what you're sort of going for here, an extremely fast and bulky pokemon to combat very frail heavy offense teams, but you're probably better off running a bulky swords dance priority user like Talon Flame or M-scizor.

I agree. I was going to respond that my stall team has two absolutely hard counters for this (Skarmory and Restalk Gyarados), which is more than I have for most threats. It just doesn't have the power to smash through the things it needs to. In fact, in 4th gen when this did occasionally show up, it had Thunderpunch slashed onto all of the move slots because those neutral hits just weren't good enough.

Penguxn

 

[Gloating]

Not sure if this has been posted before but what do you guys think about this Mega Zard X set? I haven't tested it that much and not sure what the ideal EV spread would be but the idea is to get past usual checks and counters like Tyranitar, Landorus-T and Azumarill it's also a cool bulky status spreader in general and checks things like Thundurus, Zapdos and Mega Manectric:

Charizard @ Charizardite X
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 144 HP / 252 Atk / 112 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Roost
- Will-O-Wisp
- Dragon Claw

Of course it's walled by stuff like Heatran, Clefable but they are not on every team so..

 

[Prinz]

Your set doesnt look bad, it lacks coverage move and needs lot of support but it looks nice overall, TBH i havent tried ever a similiar set so I can't tell more how it can work in practice, but on paper it seems nice

Also, Im gonna post another Char-X set, a more offensive oriented one:

Charizard (M) @ Charizardite X
Trait: Blaze
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Tailwind
- Flare Blitz
- Outrage

Sword Dance + Tailwind is a pseudo double boost core and that's incredible helpful, because you can decide whenever you use SD and whenever you use Tailwind, it rly depends on opponent's team of course, if he's using a more stallish team, then you go with SD, if he's using an HO team you go with Tailwind. Flare Blitz is the fire STAB and I don't think I have to explain why it's there, Outrage is prefered in place of Dragon Claw because of the more damages it does in general on HOs and because it 2HKOs Quagsire which is something that Dragon Claw can't do and that's incredibly useful when facing stall because their main answer to Char-X is Quagsire itself. That Charizard-X set can be paired with another dragon types like DDragonite which appreciate a lot the job it does at removing / weakening pokèmon like Quagsire, Hippowdon and other bulky mons, it also can be paired with things like Azumarill and Clefable, everyone knows that dragon types are rly good when combined with fairy types. Another underrated supporter for this Char-X it's Memento Latios that can provide both Defog and Memento support in order to give more chances to Char-X to setup. Definitely a set I suggest you to try out, it's rly underrated and can do well against both stall and HO teams with the right support.

 

[.TM87]

Your set doesnt look bad, it lacks coverage move and needs lot of support but it looks nice overall, TBH i havent tried ever a similiar set so I can't tell more how it can work in practice, but on paper it seems nice

Also, Im gonna post another Char-X set, a more offensive oriented one:

Charizard (M) @ Charizardite X
Trait: Blaze
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Tailwind
- Flare Blitz
- Outrage

Sword Dance + Tailwind is a pseudo double boost core and that's incredible helpful, because you can decide whenever you use SD and whenever you use Tailwind, it rly depends on opponent's team of course, if he's using a more stallish team, then you go with SD, if he's using an HO team you go with Tailwind. Flare Blitz is the fire STAB and I don't think I have to explain why it's there, Outrage is prefered in place of Dragon Claw because of the more damages it does in general on HOs and because it 2HKOs Quagsire which is something that Dragon Claw can't do and that's incredibly useful when facing stall because their main answer to Char-X is Quagsire itself. That Charizard-X set can be paired with another dragon types like DDragonite which appreciate a lot the job it does at removing / weakening pokèmon like Quagsire, Hippowdon and other bulky mons, it also can be paired with things like Azumarill and Clefable, everyone knows that dragon types are rly good when combined with fairy types. Another underrated supporter for this Char-X it's Memento Latios that can provide both Defog and Memento support in order to give more chances to Char-X to setup. Definitely a set I suggest you to try out, it's rly underrated and can do well against both stall and HO teams with the right support.

Why don't I just use DD Twice?
If you're going for Tailwind, have somebody else do it for Zard X.

You could use that Moveslot for Roost or EQ, imo.

 

[Prinz]

Because this is the thread where underrated sets should be posted, and Dragon Dance Char-X is the "standard" so it shouldnt belong with this thread. Also, Tailwind gives an immediate +2 in Speed and thats rly useful when you're facing HO teams, since you can't rly setup 2 DDs against them (and 1 DD isnt enough, because choice scarf users like Garchomp will revenge-kill you after you get 1 kill, or force you out if you are using Dragon Claw). Against HOs you just click Tailwind and process to have 3 free turns to hit as hard as possible opponent's team, you rly dont need to boost your attack to kill things like Greninja, Garchomp, Keldeo and Thundurus when you have 2 120 base power moves boosted by both STAB and Tough Claws. You don't need much Roost cus thats a very offensive set, that has very poor staying power anyway cus no investiment in defenses and you use EQ just to hit Heatran, that takes lot of damages by +2 Outrage anyway: +2 252+ Atk Tough Claws Mega Charizard X Outrage vs. 248 HP / 0 Def Heatran: 273-321 (70.9 - 83.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery so its kinda useless as well.

 

[Albacore]

Why don't I just use DD Twice?
If you're going for Tailwind, have somebody else do it for Zard X.

You could use that Moveslot for Roost or EQ, imo.

The idea behind this set is that you use Tailwind vs Offense (to stop stuff like Scarf Garchomp and Sand Rush Excadrill from revenge killing you) and SD vs Stall (to basically tear through everything, even Quagsire is 2HKO'd by Ourtage). You aren't really supposed to use both in the same match, rather, you can pick whether you want to SD or Tailwind depending on matchup.

 

[dadoux]

Because this is the thread where underrated sets should be posted, and Dragon Dance Char-X is the "standard" so it shouldnt belong with this thread. Also, Tailwind gives an immediate +2 in Speed and thats rly useful when you're facing HO teams, since you can't rly setup 2 DDs against them (and 1 DD isnt enough, because choice scarf users like Garchomp will revenge-kill you after you get 1 kill, or force you out if you are using Dragon Claw). Against HOs you just click Tailwind and process to have 3 free turns to hit as hard as possible opponent's team, you rly dont need to boost your attack to kill things like Greninja, Garchomp, Keldeo and Thundurus when you have 2 120 base power moves boosted by both STAB and Tough Claws. You don't need much Roost cus thats a very offensive set, that has very poor staying power anyway cus no investiment in defenses and you use EQ just to hit Heatran, that takes lot of damages by +2 Outrage anyway: +2 252+ Atk Tough Claws Mega Charizard X Outrage vs. 248 HP / 0 Def Heatran: 273-321 (70.9 - 83.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery so its kinda useless as well.

Outrage 2HKOs Quagsire where Dragon claw doesn't, that's the main reason imo because being locked sucks
252+ Atk Tough Claws Mega Charizard X Dragon Claw vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Quagsire: 153-180 (38.8 - 45.6%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
252+ Atk Tough Claws Mega Charizard X Outrage vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Quagsire: 229-271 (58.1 - 68.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

 

[Eievui-Nymphia]

In the first WCOP that are posted in Victory Road, the usert @YOUsucke won with this Latias' set:
-Roost
-Ice Beam
-Hidden Power fighting
-Substitute.

I'm aware that a Lati@s without Psychic STAB is completely viable, but neither Psychic nor Dragon STAB at all.

I think that this set is viable because ths useris very experi8enced and has the right support around it. I think that this set of Latias are unviable in 99% of the team.

This is the replay, for people who are interested.
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-ou-13926

If I found weird sets again, I will post again.

 

[dadoux]

It's not because someone used it at a WCOP that it makes this set good. This set is garbage. Latias lose his main utility in defog, not even healing wish. I don't think of any mon who takes more damage from ice beam than dragon pulse besides spD gliscor who can't even touch you behind a sub.

The thread is made for sets who are as / more effective than the standard ones, and this one is really lacking, it's just a funny gimmick but it's bad and won't work against a lot of teams.

 

[Jukain]

lol that latias

adam's latias set was for a very specific usage case on his team where he could already run spin and was relying on latias for a lot of things like thundurus, charizard y, keldeo, and landorus. it was accompanied by a very bulky spread with spd to more reliable handles these threats like thundurus. he needed it not to be pursuit trapped by bisharp, which sub + hp fighting basically ensures. ice beam is nice coverage to ohko landorus and deal significant damage to thundurus, with other pretty useful coverage. that set was really only effective in that one scenario where adam used it, it's generally pretty mediocre. destiny device used a version of this set (subroost psyshock hp fighting) in the wcop finals which is, imo, better, and i've actually used myself on one of my teams, but it's not a very good set overall.

 

[hey yal]

time for a #shitset

Pinsir @ Pinsirite
Ability: Hyper Cutter
Happiness: 0
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Substitute
- Frustration
- Quick Attack
- Earthquake

this is just a random set i made up but i think it works well. i use sub pinsir bcuz in 6/10 of the games i play, i don't use sd. sub's use is to absorb status from stall and sub also has a niche of not getting revenge killed that easily. It's an alternative to sd but it's kinda shit

 

[Cowtao]

Heatran @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Flash Fire
Happiness: 255
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature (+SpA, -Atk)
-Flash Cannon
-Overheat
-Fire Blast / Flamethrower
-Earth Power

ScarfTran has slowly been getting popularity around OU Tourny play and in the OU Ladder. The genius of this set is it's rarity compared to the Sp. Def set, leaving many opportunities to surprise the opponent and tear holes in teams. Overheat hits like a truck to nearly anything that is neutral towards Fire such as Gliscor, Zapdos, and Garchomp. Flash Cannon and Earth Power serve as coverage with Flash Cannon being a secondary STAB to use against Fairies and Rock types such as Terrakion and Tyranitar. Earth Power is useful against other Heatran and gives more neutral coverage across the board for Heatran to tear holes into teams. Fire Blast serves as a backup for when Heatran can attempt to sweep. Flamethrower is weaker but provides more accuracy. A special mention is Stone Edge which can take care of Charizard-Y, Volcarona, and Talonflame; But it is largely overshadowed by Earth Power.

EDIT: Some replays.
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-154410379
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-154416690

 

[Prinz]

I wouldn't call Scarf Heatran "creative" and "underrated" because in the last months it was used rly much (especially because of CBB's RMT). However, Stone Edge / Arcient Power is generally a better option than Fire Blast / Flamethrower, you shouldn't worry about the fact that you often have to switch out after an Overheat because of the -2 in SAtk because you have to do the same because of the Choice Scarf. Also Stone Edge / Arcient Power are rly helpful against mons like Char-Y or Talon, that can switch relatively easy on your Heatran as of now (especially the first one).

 

[dadoux]

I'd rather use stone edge / earth power / flash cannon / fire blast or FT, overheat and flash cannon are not really good to spam with it and scarftran is pretty good late game.

 

[Prinz]

I don't agree that fact that Flash Cannon isn't good to spam. Its an extremely good move, being able to OHKO Terrakion, 2HKO Clefable, Latios after Stealth Rock damage and even Garchomp has a good chance be 2HKO'd by Flash Cannon after Stealth Rock damage, to let imagine you how strong it's.

 

[dadoux]

Yeah yeah i know, but late game the steel type is not the greatest coverage you could have, being at -2 is not really good, even if you have to switch anyway. It's not bad but i'd rather spam a fire move.

 

[Cowtao]

I wouldn't call Scarf Heatran "creative" and "underrated" because in the last months it was used rly much (especially because of CBB's RMT). However, Stone Edge / Arcient Power is generally a better option than Fire Blast / Flamethrower, you shouldn't worry about the fact that you often have to switch out after an Overheat because of the -2 in SAtk because you have to do the same because of the Choice Scarf. Also Stone Edge / Arcient Power are rly helpful against mons like Char-Y or Talon, that can switch relatively easy on your Heatran as of now (especially the first one).

I don't want to sound like a broken record, but again; it's rare compared to it's Sp. Def set. Unfortunately I don't have evidence to prove it because there aren't any statistics towards sets for specific pokemon. Yet. >>; I like the idea behind Stone Edge / Ancient Power, but it restricts you to a move that won't be very helpful outside of said threats. Heatran can even OHKO Volcarona, Talonflame, and Charizard-Y after rocks with Overheat.

 

[Prinz]

I'll agree with you on the creative part, but it's underrated compared to it's more often seen Sp. Def set. Unfortunately I don't have evidence to prove it because there aren't any statistics towards sets for specific pokemon. Yet. >>; I like the idea behind Stone Edge / Ancient Power, but it restricts you to a move that won't be very helpful outside of said threats. Heatran can even OHKO Volcarona, Talonflame, and Charizard-Y after rocks with Overheat.

What you said it's true, but when you are playing against Char-Y, Talonflame and the more uncommon Volcarona, you are assuming that they will have Defog / Rapid Spin support and so Stealth Rock will be mostly likely out of the game and that's why Stone Edge and Arcient Power are cool moves to have in order to hit these mons.