Overview
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- The most nostalgic of all DPPt Pokemon.
- Decent 80/79/79 bulk paired with Intimidate and pure Electric-typing
- Very high 120 base Attack
- Usable 95 base Special Attack
- Shallow offensive movepool
- Status Orbs used for the Guts set eat away at its natural bulk
- Rather slow
- Faces heavy competition from other Electric-types in the tier such as Electivire, who are faster and hit equally as hard.
Offensive Pivot
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name: Offensive Pivot
move 1: Thunderbolt
move 2: Volt Switch
move 3: Superpower
move 4: Hidden Power [Fire] / Hidden Power [Grass]
change set order to 1.tbolt 2.sp 3.hp 4. vs (/ signal beam)
ability: Intimidate
item: Life Orb / Leftovers
evs: 4 Atk / 252 SAtk / 252 Spe
nature: Rash
/ naive
Moves
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- Thunderbolt is used for it's sheer power, being able to OHKO 252 HP Feraligatr, and 2HKO many Physical walls trying to switch-in.
- Volt Switch is used to keep up offensive momentum when predicting the opponent to switch into a non ground-type
- Superpower gives it a strong options against pokemon like Audino, Lickilicky, Probopass, and SDef Ferroseed.
- Hidden Power Fire can 2HKO standard defensive Vileplume, and pick off Ferroseed after a Thunderbolt if the Ferroseed is physically defensive.
- Hidden Power Grass can be used to hit pokemon that are immune to Volt Switch, such as Seismitoed and Sandslash. Only consider HP Grass if you have other options to deal with Ferroseed, though.
- i always run signal beam on this thing because it allows you to bop mesprit and ludicolo for significant damage. it also gives you coverage on other psychic and pure grass types in the tier. naturally its slashed behind volt switch as you can just predict and vs out instead. up to you if you want to put it on main set, i'm cool with it either way.
Set Details
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- Max speed is used to outspeed almost all variants of unboosted Feraligatr, as this sets main goal is to act as an offensive check to Feraligatr with Intimidate.
- Intimidate is used to lessen the damage taken from a Feraligatr on the switch, and to encourage the opponent to switch out. It's also useful for switching into Flying-type attacks from Swellow, Dodrio, and Archeops.
- Life Orb is used to ensure the OHKO on all variants of Feraligatr, as without Life Orb you need a lot of prior damage. Leftovers can be used, however, if you want to keep Luxray alive longer as Life Orb damage + attacks add up quickly.
mention that naive gives you the ability to speed tie with other base +nature base 70s like samurott and ludi. It also allows you to outrun neutral 80s like kabutops and mesprit.
Usage Tips
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- This whole set is designed as an offensive check to Feraligatr, so use it as such. change this to something regarding intimidate as a niche over electivire, theres plenty of other offensive electric types to check gatr and others, so give the reader reason to use this one.
- When the opponent switches into Feraligatr, immediately switch into Luxray, as it can get off an Intimidate even before a potential Substitute. Mention this for all physical attacking sub users.
- Intimidate is generally a useful ability to have, if there's a physical attacker that's threatening to sweep, you can use Luxray as death-fodder to get off an Intimidate. mention intimidate juggling by switching out to less useful members.
- Try to predict Vileplume / Seismitoed switch-ins to the best of your ability and hit them with HP Fire / Grass. mention that you can always just click volt switch if the opponent has obv switch ins. you can vs to get out of a lux vs plume situation, and def toad takes like 75% min from hp grass so predicting isn't that crucial.
Team Options
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- Things such as Pyroar, Typhlosion, Golurk; really any pokemon that appreciates Feraligatr taken care of. jesus christ was gatr on like 100% of teams when this was written lol. change this to say offensive pokemon weak to offensive water types like gatr and rott.
- Audino, as it can heal Luxray back with Wishes and switch-in on many special attacks aimed at Luxray; as well as Luxray supporting Audino with Intimidates on physical attackers.
- Pokemon that can take hits from common switchins like Seismitoad, Golurk, and other Grass-types; Vileplume does this job well. "other grass types" lol you didnt list any, maybe change this to say pokemon that can deal with grass type switch ins as you volt switch out (offensive fire types again work well) stuff like archeops rotom-s vivillon etc
powerful fire and water type attackers in general pair well with this thing as it gets rid of seismitoad, lures in plume and other grasses, and in general breaks down walls, so maybe make a general mention of some good teamates that appreciate those qualities.
Guts
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name: Guts
move 1: Facade
move 2: Wild Charge
move 3: Superpower
move 4: Quick Attack / Crunch
crunch > quick attack
ability: Guts
item: Toxic Orb
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
nature: Adamant
/ jolly
Moves
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- Facade is strongest move on this set, and is useful for not having to take recoil damage from Wild Charge vs neutral hits. It also hits Grass- and Ground-types harder than Ice Fang.
- Wild Charge is the STAB move on this set, doing absolutely insane damage to anything that doesn't resist it.
- Superpower is one of Luxray's best coverage moves, and is used to hit pokemon such as Audino, and Lickilicky to avoid massive recoil, and Steel-types like Ferroseed and Probopass.
- Quick Attack can be used as a form of priority, allowing for situational revenge killing, and finishing off weakened pokemon.
- Crunch is an option if you're worried about Rotom and Golurk walling the set. crunch provides best overall super effective coverage as well, its also nice for wearing down bulky psychics like uxie musharna and mesprit
Set Details
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- Adamant nature is used to hit as hard as possible, as Luxray is meant to break down walls.
- Fire Fang is unnecessary, as Superpower already hits most Steel-types just as hard. just mention it in oo, cut this
- Toxic Orb is used over Flame Orb as it's unlikely that Luxray will be staying in for more than 4 turns at a time, which is the threshold at which Toxic Orb will have done more overall damage than Flame Orb. Therefore, to limit damage on ourselves, Toxic Orb is the preferred option.
jolly outspeeds same stuff as naive does above so it deserves a mention, although it leaves a considerable drop in power.
mention that this faces heavy competition from zangoose as a guts attacker, its best niche over it is not being weak to mach punch from gurdurr and being able to get past qwilfish easier so talk about those as benefits. I think those are enough to warrant a set especially considering the surprise factor a guts set can bring, but i'd definitely bring this up.
Usage Tips
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- Try to bring it in on something it forces to switch-out, giving it a free turn to activate its status orb.. specific examples of matchups would be cool
- Avoid switching it into attacks, as between Wild Charge and Toxic Orb it already takes a lot of residual damage. mention that slow u-turns volt switches and baton passes that you bring up in TO can get luxray in easily and also activate its orb
- Predicting Ground- or Grass-types coming in and using Facade over Wild Charge is crucial, as Luxray only has limited time alive on the battlefield - every turn has to count. idk how relevant this is as facade is stronger anyways, so you'd already be clicking it. maybe change this to include crunch on ghost types or w.e maybe certain KOs wild charge can achieve that facade cant too (obv they need to be weak to elec)
Team Options
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- Slow Volt Switch / Baton Pass users are very helpful, as they can give Luxray a safe switch-in to activate its status orb. Pokemon that can do this include Probopass and Musharna.
- Sticky Web support could be used, aiding Luxray with it's sweep by lessening the damage it needs to take before attacking. doesnt even mention the speed. smh richard.
- Healing Wish Mespirit, as it can literally give Luxray two chances at sweeping.
- Pokemon that can switch into Ground-type attacks aimed at Luxray, such as Pelipper or Tangela.
- zangoose, they share similar checks and counters and goose appreciates having them worn down
- hazard control gives luxray more turns to attack, mention defog / rapid spinners
- hazard support helps lux get off a ton of damage on opps, so crustle qwil etc would be good partners
Other Options
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- Defensive with Resttalk / Baby Doll eyes lol what. cool that it gets that.
- Choice Band
- Choice Scarf
- Electric Terrain lol.
Checks & Counters
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**Bulky Ground-types** Pokemon such as Seismitoad and Golurk can switch in relatively safely to any attack Luxray wants to throw at it, and threaten to KO back with their STAB.
they gotta watch out for hp grass doe.
**Bulky Grass-types** Pokemon such as Vileplume, and Tangela can switch into most attacks and shrug off the hit rather unscathed. They can then threaten it offensively, or stall out Luxray to rack up Status Orb damage.
some appreciate facade / hp fire more than others. gourgeist should get mention for taking negligible damage from all coverage options.
**Faster Ground-types** Pokemon such as Offensive Sandslash can switch-in on a predicted STAB attack and threaten to KO the next turn.
rotom only has to watch out for crunch, and can 2hko with shadow ball
pretty much anything faster for the guts set, and anything faster with special attacks for the pivot. maybe combine those to just fast attackers and combine bulky and fast ground types into one.