While messing around reading the Serebii lists of Pokemons' max stats, I noticed something interesting... Azelf, one of my all time favorite Pokemon, has the same base attack as Gyarados and Heracross, with higher base speed. Amazed that nobody had tried to act on this before, I immediately got to work, building a team around this incredible attack stat (base 383) and tweaking the team until it began to pick up wins... plenty of wins. In fact, just today I won a game where SuperZelf was my last Pokemon, and he KOed a weakened Cressy and T-tar with one hit each from U-turn. But empty bragging is nothing... after a few weeks of experimentation, I give you... CHOICE BAND AZELF. Important stuff is bolded.
Nature
The only real choice here is between Adamant and Jolly. Looking at the top 100 Base Speed stats, running Jolly only allows you to outrun Infernape and Garchomp as opposed to Adamant, and those pokemon need to run at the least a +Speed nature and some serious EVs, which is possible but not particularly likely. In any case SuperZelf won't be staying in on them for the most part, anyway. So, Adamant it is.
EVs
The EV spread for this set is variable, and I admit that I haven't been able to fully test it. Max Speed is important, as you beat a really large 22 Pokemon Speed tier in the form of the 328'ers, which includes Salamence, Jirachi, Staraptor, Celebi, Zapdos, Ninetales, and Charizard. If, however, you don't think you'll be racing these pokemon, entirely possible, the next important Pokemon is Vire/Yanmega/Gliscor/Uxie at 317. In any case, I reccomend running at least 318 Speed.
As for Attack... max it, or at least have 180 or so. You want as much power as possible behind your attacks, because Azelf's movepool is sadly limited. Simple as that.
Depending on how much you invest in Speed and Attack, you may have some EVs left over to put into Special Attack to make a mixed set, but more on that later...
Moveset
This is where things get hard. Azelf's physical movepool:
Natural Gift (impractible with Choice Band)
Last Resort (see last note, although a one move SuperZelf may be possible)
Explosion (handy in a pinch but hard to use with CB)
Return/Frustration
Iron Tail
Facade (see above notes)
Fling (...)
Payback
U-turn
It's rather ...limited. Natural Gift, Facade, Fling, Last Resort, and Explosion are in varying degrees unuseable. In addition to that, Payback has lower BP than U-turn (70 vs 50) and only hits Ghosts better, although that can be important. So the following set arises:
Return
U-turn
Payback/Iron Tail
Explosion
Return and U-turn are your main attacking moves, Payback is for coverage although you likely won't ever get its doubled power effect due to SuperZelf's high Speed and fragility. Iron Tail is an option, because although it has low BP, accuracy, and bad typing, it has a 30% chance to lower enemy Defense. I know I said Explosion is hard to use, but timed right you can often get a KO from it.
Strategy
SuperZelf plays a bit like ChainChomp, in that you keep him a secret on the first switch. Switch in on an ineffective attack, healing move, switch, etc... I don't think I need to tell you how to create openings for your Pokemon. Anyway, once he's in, use U-turn to check out your opponent's reaction. Does he have Blissey? Does he stay in? Just note what he does. Next time, you have a choice- if his Azelf counter is weak to Bug like some are, you can just use U-turn again for plenty of damage. Otherwise, select the move you think will hit hardest. Return does the most raw damage outside of SE U-turn, Payback hits ghosts that otherwise wall you, Iron Tail hits Rock types that resist Return, and Explosion kills stuff. I generally find myself U-turning a lot, because it's a surprisingly strong move and is also bascially a free switch. Note: because you are U-turning a lot, and also because you get some easier KOs with residual damage, Stealth Rock support, both laying and spinning, is valuble, although if you have a choice laying is probably more important.
What about that Mixed Set?
I mentioned this a while back. You can replace one of the above moves with one of Azelf's bajillion Special moves with a modest EV investment, which lets you bring your type coverage beyond mediocre, with something like Return/U-turn/Iron Tail/Flamethrower, although you are costing yourself power or speed.
Now for the stuff you all love: DAMAGE CALCS
I will be doing ones just for U-trun and Return, at least to start. If people want more I can add more. All calcs assume 252 Attack EVs for Azelf and 31 IVs in everything.
Let's start with the usual Azelf counters, direct from the analysis...
U-turn vs Max Def Max HP +Nature Blissey- 31.23% - 36.69%
Return vs Max Def Max HP +Nature Blissey- 45.38% - 53.36%
Hmm, not so good with U-turn but a 3HKO with Return... hardly ideal. But if we move to the more realistic 148 HP spread...
U-turn vs Max Def 148 HP +Nature Blissey- 32.41% - 38.08%
Return vs Max Def 148 HP +Nature Blissey- 47.09% - 55.38%
Slightly better, although still not great, just missing a possible 2HKO with Return. However, although SuperZelf can't damage the Big Bliss as much as we would like, that's a respectable amount of damage, and with Stealth Rock damage, you have a chance to 2HKO in both Return situations. And with U-Turn, the ability to switch in a Blissey counter to a Bliss at less than 70% (potentially more like 60%-65% with SR) is still a good deal.
U-turn vs Max Def Max HP +Nature Cresselia- 35.59% - 41.89%
Return vs Max Def Max HP +Nature Cresselia- 25.68% - 30.18%
Ugh, arguably even worse than Blissey. Note that U-turn does more damage. For the sake of these two pokemon, I reccomend carrying a physical Pokemon with a Dark move, like Tyranitar, who can some in on these two pogeys and threaten them with a KO from that U-turn damage. Fear not, the good stuff is coming soon.
U-Turn vs No Def Max HP Neutral Nature Tyranitar- 56.44% - 66.34%
Return vs No Def Max HP Neutral Nature Tyranitar- 20.54% - 24.01%
U-Turn beasts Tyranitar, with a guaranteed 2HKO assuming what is probably a best case scenario for T-tar. This means if T-tar is switched into you, or if you switch into a Pursuit or something, and there's some good residual damage, you can KO him. Not easy, but possible and very desireable. Note Return is worthless against him.
U-Turn vs No Def 80 HP Neutral Nature Houndoom- 68.49% - 80.39%
Return vs No Def 80 HP Neutral Nature Houndoom- 99.36% - 117.04%
So much for the big secret Azelf counter. This is assuming double the reccomended HP for Houndoom and a neutral nature as opposed to Mild, which is negative. With standard EVs and nature you can OHKO him with Return and probably U-turn as well.
U-Turn vs No Def Max HP Neutral Nature Spiritomb- 38.16% - 44.74%
(immune to return)
Cool, although not amazingly useful due to something of a lack of Spiritombs. Still, a good way to damage a hard to hurt Pokemon.
U-Turn vs 76 Def Max HP Neutral Nature Dusknoir- 13.95% - 16.33%
(immune to return)
Blargh, painful. Not really any significant damage at all. More on this later.
Now for some other Pokemon you may run into-
U-Turn vs No Def No HP Neutral Nature Salamence- 22.36% - 26.28%
Return vs No Def No HP Neutral Nature Salamence- 64.95% - 76.44%
Cool beans. If you hit him on a switch in or something with Return, you can 2HKO assuming 1 normal hit and 1 Intimidated hit. Possible OHKO with Stealth Rock and no Intimidate.
U-Turn vs No Def No HP Neutral Nature Garchomp- 36.13% - 42.30%
Return vs No Def No HP Neutral Nature Garchomp- 52.38% - 61.62%
Still good, although due to Chompy's better defenses not as good as Mence, but without the Intimidate problem. Guaranteed 2HKO with Return assuming no lefties (lol), so if you can hit him on the switch, you can outspeed nonScarf versions and KO on the next turn.
U-Turn vs No Def No HP Neutral Nature Heracross- 25.91% - 30.56%
Return vs No Def No HP Neutral Nature Heracross- 75.42% - 88.70%
This is just to illustrate how Heracross won't be able to switch in easily. With SR you can OHKO with Return.
U-Turn vs No Def No HP Neutral Nature Weavile- 124.20% - 146.26%
Return vs No Def No HP Neutral Nature Weavile- 90.39% - 106.41%
Mwahahahaha, don't switch Weavile into SuperZelf. Guaranteed OHKO with U-turn and with Return if SR is down. Excellent for people considering trying to counter with Night Slash or Pursuit.
Conclusions, or tl;dr
I didn't do THAT many damage calcs, but you get the basic idea. To summarize-
- With Stealth Rocks down, lots of attacks become OHKOs instead of 2HKOs and such. Have SR down, always, with this set.
- Relatedly, having a spin blocker like Dusknoir is valuble to keep them down.
- This Azelf IS NOT A SWEEPER! The use of it is to get in, inflict a lot of damage with one or two attacks, then get out.
- Accordingly, include a Pokemon on your team that counter the Pokemon this set has trouble with- Crunch Tyranitar functions admirably.
- The power in this set comes from 2 things: strong attacks from Return and SE U-turn, and the element of surprise. Don't try to sweep with it, or flaunt it.
Support-
As I've mentioned, this set runs much better with Stealth Rock. However, that isn't the only thing that supprts SuperZelf well. Here are some suggestions from myself and others-
*Tyranitar. Makes a great counter to Cresselia, who walls this set somewhat, and also a few others like Blissey, Dusknoir, and pals.
*Dugtrio. See one of those guys you have trouble with? U-Turn to Dugtrio whenever you want, and their counter will now be trapped and ripe for killing, via STAB EQ, Sucker Punch, or whatever. Beware Ice Beam, obviously.
*Weavile. Yes, the old Azelf counter, who this set counters, actually makes a great partner, with STAB Pursuit and all its usual toys to wreak havoc on the Blissey Gang.
Notice that all of these are Pursuit users, hint hint.
As long as you use the set correctly, and give it some team support, it is very deadly, for racking up damage every time it comes in. However, I'm sure I've missed stuff: point out errors, stuff you feel I should add, basic set flaws, etc. That isn't to say you should be overly critical without trying it out, though- I've been using this as my Shoddy team and I am significantly above 50% wins.
Thanks for reading.
Nature
The only real choice here is between Adamant and Jolly. Looking at the top 100 Base Speed stats, running Jolly only allows you to outrun Infernape and Garchomp as opposed to Adamant, and those pokemon need to run at the least a +Speed nature and some serious EVs, which is possible but not particularly likely. In any case SuperZelf won't be staying in on them for the most part, anyway. So, Adamant it is.
EVs
The EV spread for this set is variable, and I admit that I haven't been able to fully test it. Max Speed is important, as you beat a really large 22 Pokemon Speed tier in the form of the 328'ers, which includes Salamence, Jirachi, Staraptor, Celebi, Zapdos, Ninetales, and Charizard. If, however, you don't think you'll be racing these pokemon, entirely possible, the next important Pokemon is Vire/Yanmega/Gliscor/Uxie at 317. In any case, I reccomend running at least 318 Speed.
As for Attack... max it, or at least have 180 or so. You want as much power as possible behind your attacks, because Azelf's movepool is sadly limited. Simple as that.
Depending on how much you invest in Speed and Attack, you may have some EVs left over to put into Special Attack to make a mixed set, but more on that later...
Moveset
This is where things get hard. Azelf's physical movepool:
Natural Gift (impractible with Choice Band)
Last Resort (see last note, although a one move SuperZelf may be possible)
Explosion (handy in a pinch but hard to use with CB)
Return/Frustration
Iron Tail
Facade (see above notes)
Fling (...)
Payback
U-turn
It's rather ...limited. Natural Gift, Facade, Fling, Last Resort, and Explosion are in varying degrees unuseable. In addition to that, Payback has lower BP than U-turn (70 vs 50) and only hits Ghosts better, although that can be important. So the following set arises:
Return
U-turn
Payback/Iron Tail
Explosion
Return and U-turn are your main attacking moves, Payback is for coverage although you likely won't ever get its doubled power effect due to SuperZelf's high Speed and fragility. Iron Tail is an option, because although it has low BP, accuracy, and bad typing, it has a 30% chance to lower enemy Defense. I know I said Explosion is hard to use, but timed right you can often get a KO from it.
Strategy
SuperZelf plays a bit like ChainChomp, in that you keep him a secret on the first switch. Switch in on an ineffective attack, healing move, switch, etc... I don't think I need to tell you how to create openings for your Pokemon. Anyway, once he's in, use U-turn to check out your opponent's reaction. Does he have Blissey? Does he stay in? Just note what he does. Next time, you have a choice- if his Azelf counter is weak to Bug like some are, you can just use U-turn again for plenty of damage. Otherwise, select the move you think will hit hardest. Return does the most raw damage outside of SE U-turn, Payback hits ghosts that otherwise wall you, Iron Tail hits Rock types that resist Return, and Explosion kills stuff. I generally find myself U-turning a lot, because it's a surprisingly strong move and is also bascially a free switch. Note: because you are U-turning a lot, and also because you get some easier KOs with residual damage, Stealth Rock support, both laying and spinning, is valuble, although if you have a choice laying is probably more important.
What about that Mixed Set?
I mentioned this a while back. You can replace one of the above moves with one of Azelf's bajillion Special moves with a modest EV investment, which lets you bring your type coverage beyond mediocre, with something like Return/U-turn/Iron Tail/Flamethrower, although you are costing yourself power or speed.
Now for the stuff you all love: DAMAGE CALCS
I will be doing ones just for U-trun and Return, at least to start. If people want more I can add more. All calcs assume 252 Attack EVs for Azelf and 31 IVs in everything.
Let's start with the usual Azelf counters, direct from the analysis...
U-turn vs Max Def Max HP +Nature Blissey- 31.23% - 36.69%
Return vs Max Def Max HP +Nature Blissey- 45.38% - 53.36%
Hmm, not so good with U-turn but a 3HKO with Return... hardly ideal. But if we move to the more realistic 148 HP spread...
U-turn vs Max Def 148 HP +Nature Blissey- 32.41% - 38.08%
Return vs Max Def 148 HP +Nature Blissey- 47.09% - 55.38%
Slightly better, although still not great, just missing a possible 2HKO with Return. However, although SuperZelf can't damage the Big Bliss as much as we would like, that's a respectable amount of damage, and with Stealth Rock damage, you have a chance to 2HKO in both Return situations. And with U-Turn, the ability to switch in a Blissey counter to a Bliss at less than 70% (potentially more like 60%-65% with SR) is still a good deal.
U-turn vs Max Def Max HP +Nature Cresselia- 35.59% - 41.89%
Return vs Max Def Max HP +Nature Cresselia- 25.68% - 30.18%
Ugh, arguably even worse than Blissey. Note that U-turn does more damage. For the sake of these two pokemon, I reccomend carrying a physical Pokemon with a Dark move, like Tyranitar, who can some in on these two pogeys and threaten them with a KO from that U-turn damage. Fear not, the good stuff is coming soon.
U-Turn vs No Def Max HP Neutral Nature Tyranitar- 56.44% - 66.34%
Return vs No Def Max HP Neutral Nature Tyranitar- 20.54% - 24.01%
U-Turn beasts Tyranitar, with a guaranteed 2HKO assuming what is probably a best case scenario for T-tar. This means if T-tar is switched into you, or if you switch into a Pursuit or something, and there's some good residual damage, you can KO him. Not easy, but possible and very desireable. Note Return is worthless against him.
U-Turn vs No Def 80 HP Neutral Nature Houndoom- 68.49% - 80.39%
Return vs No Def 80 HP Neutral Nature Houndoom- 99.36% - 117.04%
So much for the big secret Azelf counter. This is assuming double the reccomended HP for Houndoom and a neutral nature as opposed to Mild, which is negative. With standard EVs and nature you can OHKO him with Return and probably U-turn as well.
U-Turn vs No Def Max HP Neutral Nature Spiritomb- 38.16% - 44.74%
(immune to return)
Cool, although not amazingly useful due to something of a lack of Spiritombs. Still, a good way to damage a hard to hurt Pokemon.
U-Turn vs 76 Def Max HP Neutral Nature Dusknoir- 13.95% - 16.33%
(immune to return)
Blargh, painful. Not really any significant damage at all. More on this later.
Now for some other Pokemon you may run into-
U-Turn vs No Def No HP Neutral Nature Salamence- 22.36% - 26.28%
Return vs No Def No HP Neutral Nature Salamence- 64.95% - 76.44%
Cool beans. If you hit him on a switch in or something with Return, you can 2HKO assuming 1 normal hit and 1 Intimidated hit. Possible OHKO with Stealth Rock and no Intimidate.
U-Turn vs No Def No HP Neutral Nature Garchomp- 36.13% - 42.30%
Return vs No Def No HP Neutral Nature Garchomp- 52.38% - 61.62%
Still good, although due to Chompy's better defenses not as good as Mence, but without the Intimidate problem. Guaranteed 2HKO with Return assuming no lefties (lol), so if you can hit him on the switch, you can outspeed nonScarf versions and KO on the next turn.
U-Turn vs No Def No HP Neutral Nature Heracross- 25.91% - 30.56%
Return vs No Def No HP Neutral Nature Heracross- 75.42% - 88.70%
This is just to illustrate how Heracross won't be able to switch in easily. With SR you can OHKO with Return.
U-Turn vs No Def No HP Neutral Nature Weavile- 124.20% - 146.26%
Return vs No Def No HP Neutral Nature Weavile- 90.39% - 106.41%
Mwahahahaha, don't switch Weavile into SuperZelf. Guaranteed OHKO with U-turn and with Return if SR is down. Excellent for people considering trying to counter with Night Slash or Pursuit.
Conclusions, or tl;dr
I didn't do THAT many damage calcs, but you get the basic idea. To summarize-
- With Stealth Rocks down, lots of attacks become OHKOs instead of 2HKOs and such. Have SR down, always, with this set.
- Relatedly, having a spin blocker like Dusknoir is valuble to keep them down.
- This Azelf IS NOT A SWEEPER! The use of it is to get in, inflict a lot of damage with one or two attacks, then get out.
- Accordingly, include a Pokemon on your team that counter the Pokemon this set has trouble with- Crunch Tyranitar functions admirably.
- The power in this set comes from 2 things: strong attacks from Return and SE U-turn, and the element of surprise. Don't try to sweep with it, or flaunt it.
Support-
As I've mentioned, this set runs much better with Stealth Rock. However, that isn't the only thing that supprts SuperZelf well. Here are some suggestions from myself and others-
*Tyranitar. Makes a great counter to Cresselia, who walls this set somewhat, and also a few others like Blissey, Dusknoir, and pals.
*Dugtrio. See one of those guys you have trouble with? U-Turn to Dugtrio whenever you want, and their counter will now be trapped and ripe for killing, via STAB EQ, Sucker Punch, or whatever. Beware Ice Beam, obviously.
*Weavile. Yes, the old Azelf counter, who this set counters, actually makes a great partner, with STAB Pursuit and all its usual toys to wreak havoc on the Blissey Gang.
Notice that all of these are Pursuit users, hint hint.
As long as you use the set correctly, and give it some team support, it is very deadly, for racking up damage every time it comes in. However, I'm sure I've missed stuff: point out errors, stuff you feel I should add, basic set flaws, etc. That isn't to say you should be overly critical without trying it out, though- I've been using this as my Shoddy team and I am significantly above 50% wins.
Thanks for reading.
