Don't Use That, Use This (Singles)

[MQJinx]

Don't Use That, Use This
approved by the Battle Spot moderators
OP stolen from Magnemite

The Battle Spot Singles ladder is a whacked-up ladder filled with low-ladder players using outclassed or unviable Pokémon or sets such as Air Slash Charizard, non-Huge Power Azumarill, and Cute Charm Lopunny. This thread strives to end these trends by explaining why these Pokémon or sets are bad or outclassed and which Pokémon or sets can do better in what the other sets try to do.

Here's an example of what to do:

Don't use this:

Charizard @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Fire Blast
- Solar Beam
- Dragon Pulse
- Air Slash

Why it's bad:: It may be tempting to new players to try to run Air Slash on a Mega Charizard Y set for STAB and some neutral coverage. However, due to Drought, Charizard does not care a single bit about neutral coverage since a neutral Fire Blast in the sun actually hits harder than a 2x effective Air Slash. The only things that are hit harder with Air Slash than Fire Blast are Poliwrath, Thick Fat Hariyama, Thick Fat Azumarill, Infernape, Kingdra, Blaziken, and Flash Fire users, the former four having no relevancy or just being very rare in BS Singles, and Kingdra only being used in rain.

Use this instead:

Charizard @ Charizardite Y
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Fire Blast
- Solar Beam
- Dragon Pulse
- Focus Blast / Earthquake

Why it's better: The moves being listed provide far more coverage than Air Slash could ever dream of. Focus Blast allows you to smack Heatran and Tyranitar, while Earthquake plows through Blaziken, Heatran, Tyranitar, and Chandelure more reliably. In conclusion, these two moves all have some purpose of using them, unlike Air Slash. Even Roost is a better option for its reliable recovery.

RULES:

-Generally, you should post about an unviable or outclassed Pokémon if it receives more usage than viable Pokémon, while you should post about sets used by the Pokémon if they show up in the usage statistics of the month before you create your post, or if you frequently see these sets whenever you are on the ladder. Try to make sure what you're posting is relevant, so no Unown.

-Avoid posting about viable Pokemon no matter the rank, as they have some use, even when the use is on a few select teams.

-Avoid posting about dissimilar roles, for example Rotom-W does not outclass Slowbro because their functions are different: Rotom-W is meant to be a scarfed or bulky pivot, whle Slowbro is meant to be a wall or a Calm Mind user. An exception can be made if you include a Pokemon whose set is unviable or outclassed and mention the viable set and also what other Pokemon can fulfill the outclassed set's role better.

-Don't just bash certain Pokémon, this is meant to be an educational thread.

-Keep discussion civil, this thread will be moderated tightly.

 

[GateCreeper]

Wow, this thread has been dead for a while. I'll post a simple one so we could maybe get this moving.
Don't use this:

Talonflame @ Choice Band
Ability: Gale Wings
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Brave Bird
- Flare Blitz
- U-turn
- Steel Wing

Why it's terribad: I saw this so often in the early X&Y metagame, and it irked me so much. It does not add any additional coverage for Talonflame at all, save for two pokes, one of which is irrelevant to Battle Spot and is not seen that much at all (Archeops) and the other can just outspeed you and OHKO you anyways (Aerodactyl). Talonflame shouldn't be fighting a rock type anyways because it will most likely lose to a rock type's typical high defense stat, so you should just U-Turn out instead. Your stabs also do more than a 2x Steel Wing, and Steel Wing is definitely a move you don't want to be Choiced into, considering how weak it is. And lol to the people who think a defense boost will mean anything. Just don't use Steel Wing Talonflame people, it's not that great.

Instead, use this:

Talonflame @ Choice Band
Ability: Gale Wings
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Brave Bird
- Flare Blitz
- U-turn
- Tailwind / Will-O-Wisp / Roost

Why it's better: Talonflame running a move to support its team (or itself) is way more useful than Steel Wing. Tailwind is a nice last resort move to use when you know Talonflame is going to faint and a pokemon with doubled speed can finish up the job that Talonflame couldn't do on its own. Will-O-Wisp hammers physical switch-ins to Talonflame badly (Tyranitar, Rhyperior, etc), neutering their ability to check Talonflame. Roost is a nice choice to use if you think Talonflame could use more health before switching out, or you can even PP stall with it. A bunch of supportive moves can go in the last slot that I didn't mention (Taunt, Sleep Talk). Even though the last moveslot for Talonflame is generally a filler move, Steel Wing is not one of them.

 

[Theorymon]

Shame this thread hasn't gotten more activity. I think part of it might be because Battle Spot statistics usually tend to be pretty good represenations of the mon like 90% of the time. To liven this thread up a bit, I got a bit of a proposal!

Why don't we focus on OU / Uber (for the mons that are banned from OU) sets that don't work well in 3v3? I think this could work out, since a lot of people who want to get into battle spot often use standard OU sets when they start, only to find out that 3v3 has some idiosyncrasies that make them not so good! I'll give a quick easy example.

Don't use this

Excadrill @ Leftovers
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Rapid Spin
- Stealth Rock

Why it doesn't work out: In a metagame where stuff like Talonflame and Charizard are great, and where teams are sometimes forced to bench their Ghost-types, Rapid Spin may seem awesome to a newer player. However, 3v3 is much faster paced than OU, so using a sort of defensive Pokemon with the sole purpose of getting rid of Stealth Rock will usually give your team a not so useful deadweight, since every turn counts here! And most of all, plenty of teams will actually not use Stealth Rock, making Rapid Spin totally useless!

Instead, use this

Excadrill @ Air Balloon / Assault Vest / Focus Sash
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Rock Slide
- Horn Drill / Swords Dance

Why this works out better: In 3v3, you want to do as much damage as you possibly can within the short game. Losing out on defensive investment is a bummer in some cases, but Air Balloon protects you from Earthquakes, Vest lets you get the jump on Mega Gengar and defensive Rotom-W, and Focus Sash lets you survive crazy stuff. Whats really cool here though is Horn Drill. There's no OHKO clause in this metagame, so you can terrorize defensive switch-ins like Hippowdon with a 30% chance to lose! Swords Dance on the other hand, is a more reliable buster of weakened defensive teams. You can also use Stealth Rock if you aren't use vest.

 

[hobbert]

Love the new idea theorymon ! this is exactly what I was coming here for. I've always been a singles OU player and the sex has very limited BSS entries so this is perfect

There are children on these forums!

Whoops didn't catch that! The dex* damn you auto correct

 

[NOVED]

Love the new idea theorymon ! this is exactly what I was coming here for. I've always been a singles OU player and the sex has very limited BSS entries so this is perfect

There are children on these forums!