Metagame Inheritance

For the people asking, Throh uses a defensive PH set to become a niche Protean answer. I think I remember Intimidate from Staraptor on it last gen (Roost+Defog+CC+U-Turn), but I haven't seen any Throh this gen anyways so I guess it's nbd.

I'm pretty hesitant to run Comfey!Magearna -- lack of initial power aside, relying on a priority move means that PsySurge Alakazam can troll it hard, when otherwise Magearna would function as a great 'zam check.
 
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Dunfan

formerly Dunsparce Fanboy
Some mons are on the VR because they have niche, but may i ask what is the niche of Sawsbuck exactly? And why was it included in the VR?
Sawsbuck is just plain bad from what i can see : mediocre offensive typing, bad bulk, the fact that Sudowoodo gives Double Edge/Wood Hammer + Rock Head doesnt change the fact that anyone should ever use this, unless i'm missing something.
 

Lcass4919

The Xatu Warrior
For the people asking, Throh uses a defensive PH set to become a niche Protean answer. I think I remember Intimidate from Staraptor on it last gen (Roost+Defog+CC+U-Turn), but I haven't seen any Throh this gen anyways so I guess it's nbd.

I'm pretty hesitant to run Comfey!Magearna -- lack of initial power aside, relying on a priority move means that PsySurge Alakazam can troll it hard, when otherwise Magearna would function as a great 'zam check.
you can run grassy terrain as your fourth move to gimp psyterrainers...kinda a niche choice, but tbh, i never really use the fourth move, and the EQ resistance can be really handy at times. alongside the lefties recovery it grants mag. or you can just run dazzling gleam. again, i only ever use draining kiss, calm mind, and synthesis, so the fourth move can easily be anything you want. also draining kiss albeit doesnt hit SUPER hard is still a REALLY scary move with priority on 130 attack. it recovers 75% of hp, which for a mon like magearna, is really hard to take down magearna after it gets a calm mind out. it can eventually start to outstall non-stab super effective moves just because draining kiss lets it recover enough hp to both 2hko the enemy, meanwhile also letting you safely heal up enough to tank the other hit. late game, once your mons are weakened, its incredibly hard to stop. considering +3 priority outpaces everything in the meta, and not to forget this is a recovery move that heals 75% of hp. and magearna itself has a REALLY amazing typing.

to set your mind at ease on its power:
252+ SpA Pixie Plate Magearna Draining Kiss vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Pinsir-Mega: 118-139 (43.5 - 51.2%) -- 8.2% chance to 2HKO
+1 252+ SpA Pixie Plate Magearna Draining Kiss vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Mew: 162-192 (47.5 - 56.3%) -- 25.8% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery(33.3 - 39.5% recovered via draining kiss assuming 252 hp ev's)
not many sweepers hit mews sexy 100/100 bulk, and magearna again, checks enough stuff that setting up to +1 is much easier then it looks. hell, getting to +2 is usually no sweat in my games, but thats a bit unrealistic. im just showing calcs that prove that magearna's draining kiss is actually much stronger then you would initially think. and it is definitely a set you shouldn't ignore just because 50 base power is really lacking. not to mention magearna recovers 1/3rd of her hp each time for both of these mons.

fun fact: albeit you would have to be crazy to do this, as a little note about magearna, is that she can actually set up to +1 vs pinsir's earthquake, hit it with draining kiss, and tank the next eq potentially(50% chance) and lets magearna 2hko it safely and synthesis up safely the next time it gets a chance too since triage has the highest priority of almost every relevant move lmao. its a unlikely scenario, but it shows you just how scary draining kiss can be. so imagine if magearna was already at +1 when pinsir comes in, only to realize the mon beforehand had to leave it at under 60% in hopes to actually beat it 1v1. which means THAT mon magearna switched into KNOWING IT COULD SET UP required to deal over 60% with a move, knowing draining kiss recovers more hp the harder its able to hit. its a really weird scenario, but it plays out rather often.

magearna's ONLY issue is bulky resists who deal strong damaging EQ's or flare blitzes. otherwise magearna EVENTUALLY breaks past them. its a flaw, but honestly, the mon's it beats reliably 1v1 late game is really scary.
 
Okay, so the rule where you're NOT allowed to do two of the same pokemon inheritances? You guys don't have that rule enforced in the engine in Showdown, as seen from the two Kabutops inheritances here https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7inheritance-691318474
I'm not sure what the Tyranitar's full moveset was, but from the moves it revealed it is entirely possible that it was a Carracosta set, and it is showing Kabutops since Knock and Stone Edge are compatible with both.
 

drampa's grandpa

cannonball
is a Community Contributoris a Community Leader Alumnus
Trubbish (Cresselia) @ Leppa Berry
Ability: Sticky Hold
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Recycle
- Rest
- Haze
- Infestation

This is a set that I've seen a couple times theorized in the om room. I can't take credit for creating it, but I most recently saw GummyPotato post it.
[00:04:40] Mengy: @drampas@~@grandpa: reeeeee I posted in chat the set you shared
[00:04:43] Mengy: I claim half credit
One half credit to Clefable

It's basically a completely cancerous stall-killer designed to PP stall opposing stall. Because stall usually lacks the raw power to break this (and with more optimized evs it would probably be even harder) it can just PP stall opposing stallmons to death.

Sticky Hold prevents the Leppa being knocked off, Haze prevents set-up, Infestation stops regen spam from creating an endless battle by forcing them to burn U-Turn PP or take damage and also does some damage mostly through the passive effect, and Rest cures both HP and status.

Counters include:
Not being stall and hitting it hard
Trick / Switcheroo I guess not
FASTER Taunt
Quick clarification, not that it's particularly relevant, but Sticky Hold renders you immune to Trick. Taunt is the easy answer anyways
[00:14:57] GummyTomato❄: drampas@~@grandpa if ur faster than the taunt user cant u still spam recycle

Why did I post this? Because I hate this set and I want people to be prepared for it. If you run Taunt it will be forced to Infest and then can't really hurt your team.
 
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Ivy

resident enigma
is a Forum Moderatoris a Community Contributoris a Smogon Discord Contributor
Trubbish (Cresselia) @ Leppa Berry
Ability: Sticky Hold
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Recycle
- Rest
- Haze
- Infestation

This is a set that I've seen a couple times theorized in the om room. I can't take credit for creating it, but I most recently saw GummyPotato post it.
It's basically a completely cancerous stall-killer designed to PP stall opposing stall. Because stall usually lacks the raw power to break this (and with more optimized evs it would probably be even harder) it can just PP stall opposing stallmons to death.

Sticky Hold prevents the Leppa being knocked off, Haze prevents set-up, Infestation stops regen spam from creating an endless battle by forcing them to burn U-Turn PP or take damage and also does some damage mostly through the passive effect, and Rest cures both HP and status.

Counters include:
Not being stall and hitting it hard
Trick / Switcheroo
Taunt

Why did I post this? Because I hate this set and I want people to be prepared for it. If you run Taunt it will be forced to Infest and then can't really hurt your team.
Quick clarification, not that it's particularly relevant, but Sticky Hold renders you immune to Trick. Taunt is the easy answer anyways
 

Jrsmash9

jrsmash that timer
Trubbish (Cresselia) @ Leppa Berry
Ability: Sticky Hold
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Recycle
- Rest
- Haze
- Infestation

This is a set that I've seen a couple times theorized in the om room. I can't take credit for creating it, but I most recently saw GummyPotato post it.
[00:04:40] Mengy: @drampas@~@grandpa: reeeeee I posted in chat the set you shared
[00:04:43] Mengy: I claim half credit
One half credit to Clefable

It's basically a completely cancerous stall-killer designed to PP stall opposing stall. Because stall usually lacks the raw power to break this (and with more optimized evs it would probably be even harder) it can just PP stall opposing stallmons to death.

Sticky Hold prevents the Leppa being knocked off, Haze prevents set-up, Infestation stops regen spam from creating an endless battle by forcing them to burn U-Turn PP or take damage and also does some damage mostly through the passive effect, and Rest cures both HP and status.

Counters include:
Not being stall and hitting it hard
Trick / Switcheroo I guess not
FASTER Taunt

[00:14:57] GummyTomato❄: drampas@~@grandpa if ur faster than the taunt user cant u still spam recycle

Why did I post this? Because I hate this set and I want people to be prepared for it. If you run Taunt it will be forced to Infest and then can't really hurt your team.
Another way to beat it is to have a leppa mon urself so that you activate it after they do and you will win the through the endless battle clause.
 

Lcass4919

The Xatu Warrior
Another way to beat it is to have a leppa mon urself so that you activate it after they do and you will win the through the endless battle clause.
endless battle clause forces a draw in all scenarios so its not really an effective way to "win" per se.
 

Jrsmash9

jrsmash that timer
endless battle clause forces a draw in all scenarios so its not really an effective way to "win" per se.
No it doesn't, whoever activates leppa first loses and the other person wins when they both do not lose pp after a certain number of turn. Trust me I know this I used to have this team to abuse the leppa berry.
 

Lcass4919

The Xatu Warrior
No it doesn't, whoever activates leppa first loses and the other person wins when they both do not lose pp after a certain number of turn. Trust me I know this I used to have this team to abuse the leppa berry.
you SURE thats the case? i cant imagine they would create seperate "endless battle clause" mechanics for each variant. ive activated endless battle clause recently(a week ago iirc) and it resulted in a draw, given i didnt use the leppa strat(switch spamming forces endless battle clause too), so maybe it IS coded differently depending on each seperate case.
 

Jrsmash9

jrsmash that timer
you SURE thats the case? i cant imagine they would create seperate "endless battle clause" mechanics for each variant. ive activated endless battle clause recently(a week ago iirc) and it resulted in a draw, given i didnt use the leppa strat(switch spamming forces endless battle clause too), so maybe it IS coded differently depending on each seperate case.
Yes how did you activate the endless battle clause? If it was because you passed 1000 or 2000 turns then it would be a draw, but I'm not sure if they implemented that yet. If it was from a leppa berry then whoever started with the leppa berry loses, and if both players have a leppa berry then whoevers pokemon became stale first.
 

Lcass4919

The Xatu Warrior
Yes how did you activate the endless battle clause? If it was because you passed 1000 or 2000 turns then it would be a draw, but I'm not sure if they implemented that yet. If it was from a leppa berry then whoever started with the leppa berry loses, and if both players have a leppa berry then whoevers pokemon became stale first.
god i cant remember for the life of me how i activated it...neither of us had leppa im sure of that. it was vs abyssal bot too...since he couldnt do anything he kept switch stalling, and i ended up doing it too, and it ended up in a draw...man i wish i saved the replay... well until someone else magically has a replay of this in effect, im just going to have to say i imagined it. i tried to replicate it, but failed. so maybe its a ROM thing only or something... so until someone else gives more definitive proof, im just going to have to say i must have imagined it or something.
 
Guess who doesn't have anything else to do aside noming Gumshoos as a donor for Escavalier?

Gumshoos (Escavalier) @ Choice Band
Ability: Stakeout / Adaptability
EVs: 252 Hp / 252 Atk / 4 Hp
Adamant / Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe (in case you're using it at a Trick Room team)
- U-Turn
- Iron Head
- Fire Punch / Earthquake
- Ice Punch / Thunder Punch
Some of you already know that Joey used this set at his inheritance video. I've seem some of these at ladder and it's surprisingly hard to switch-into (well, its a mon with 135 Atk and access to Stakeout and Adaptability). Gumshoos provides it a really decent movepool to abuse, with coverage options as Earthquake or the Elemental punches and STAB U-Turn, which makes Escavalier a really dangerous slow pivot to deal with.
 
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Breloom (Cresselia) @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 252 HP / 6 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
- Spore
- Leech Seed
- Seismic Toss
- Protect

Might not be the best Cress set but it's certainly my favorite. Sleep + Leech Seed is extremely frustrating for offensive teams. Cress is also tanky enough that very few thing can set up on this reliably. Most who try just end up dying to Leech Seed/Seismic Toss.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7inheritance-689299316
Only replay I could really find. Even though it was a loss, it shows how annoying cress can be.
 

Lcass4919

The Xatu Warrior
Guess who doesn't have anything else to do aside noming Gumshoos as a donor for Escavalier?

Gumshoos (Escavalier) @ Choice Band
Ability: Stakeout / Adaptability
EVs: 252 Hp / 252 Atk / 4 Hp
Adamant / Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe (in case you're using it at a Trick Room team)
- U-Turn
- Iron Head
- Fire Punch / Earthquake
- Ice Punch / Thunder Punch
Some of you already know that Joey used this set at his inheritance video. I've seem some of these at ladder and it's surprisingly hard to switch-into (well, its a mon with 135 Atk and access to Stakeout and Adaptability). Gumshoos provides it a really decent movepool to abuse, with coverage options as Earthquake or the Elemental punches and STAB U-Turn, which makes Escavalier a really dangerous slow pivot to deal with.
tbh, this set would be so much better if it had access to gyro ball. stakeout boosted iron head is only SLIGHTLY stronger then non-ability gyro ball.

something a bit memey-er you could try would be this:
Darumaka (Escavalier) @ Choice Band
Ability: Hustle
EVs: 252 Hp / 252 Atk / 4 Hp
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- U-Turn
- Gyro Ball
- Flare Blitz
- Superpower
obviously the downside for this is the miss chances, but the power it brings over stakeout/adapt is worth it imo. gyroball has ~1.5x more power then stakeout boosted iron head, likewise with flare blitz, so i think the 20% chance to miss is worth the extra power this set gives.
 

drampa's grandpa

cannonball
is a Community Contributoris a Community Leader Alumnus
Two things!
First, my unofficial set compendium that I've been working on is.... not complete!

Here is the set compendium, and here is the to-do list I made (if it looks familiar, hint, its based on the new viability rankings). There are probably a lot of sets on the compendium I haven't crossed off the To-Do List yet because I was doing it pretty haphazardly at first, but I'll burn that bridge when I get to it.

Why am I telling you guys this? Because I want help. I'm lazy, and frankly, there are a lot of Pokemon and sets in this meta. If you'd like to help let me know not by saying it in this thread I don't want to fill this thread with this but on PS! or via message on here. If you're interested check the hide tag below to see what I'm looking for.
After typing this all out I realized this might be a bit too much for some people, so feel free to just, you know, talk to me about this.

What I'm looking for is as follows.
1) People to make sets for the compendium.
2) People to quality check sets for the compendium (including mine :)).

Sounds simple enough right? However sets should follow these basic quality guidelines.
-Sets should be viable
-Sets should not be outclassed
-Sets should be 'standard' i.e. one of the more common sets*
-Sets should be optimized
-Sets should be different enough from other sets to justify separation**

If you don't know a Pokemon well enough to know what it usually runs then you probably shouldn't reserve it.

I think that's all. Sorry if I sound like incredibly pretentious rn :X

WAIT THAT IS NOT ALL BAD DRAMPA Finished sets can be given to me by pastebin or pokepaste. I would prefer if you avoided editing directly into the document but if you have a large preference for that it works.

*Because of the enormous number of potential sets in Inheritance there are a lot more sets that put in work than can possibly be a common sight. The point of this resource is not to cover every possible variation of a Pokemon but rather to provide sets that are common sights in the metagame. Rarer memes sets, viable as they may be, are better used by people who know the metagame better and are either using them to counteract specific threats or are bored enough to try to do something like use Crobat in bh(cough Flint cough) for the element of surprise and as such I deem it better to keep this resource to a manageable level of sets.

**If two sets are very similar, like Terrakion!Malamar and Terrakion!Spinda, then they should be put together.


FirstSecond (even thought I typed it out first), I thought I'd post a couple more sets that I've been toying with.

@

Glalie-Mega @ Glalitite
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Boomburst
- Return / Double Edge
- Earthquake

This set serves as a mixed Dragon Dance sweeper. It can also work with Altaria-Mega. It's not that complicated to use, its just a departure from all the dedicated physical espeeders / special boombursters that attempts to meld the best of both worlds. It works well to lure in pokemon such as Buzzwole that think you're physical or Chansey that think you're special (careful with Chansey, 252 Atk Refrigerate Glalie-Mega Double-Edge vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Chansey: 295-348 (41.9 - 49.5%) -- 85.9% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock)

Because this set has no priority it's vulnerable to being outsped by scarfers, killed by opposing priority. It needs teammates that can take on opposing Unaware Cresselia, Suicune, and levitating steels.

Second Set

@

Xurkitree @ Life Orb
Ability: Protean
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature / Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Water Shuriken
- Dark Pulse
- Ice Beam
- Hydro Pump / Hidden Power [Grass] / U-Turn / Spikes

252 SpA Life Orb Xurkitree Nature Power vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Mew: 140-166 (41 - 48.6%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252 SpA Life Orb Protean Xurkitree Water Shuriken (15 BP) (4 hits) vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Mew: 160-192 (46.9 - 56.3%) -- approx. 89.5% chance to 2HKO

At 4 hits or more this is the most powerful special priority outside of STAB nature power from Drampa or Porygon-Z. With proper prediction this is very difficult to switch into. Unfortunately there are a couple Pokemon that can, namely Chansey and a couple common Regenvesters like Magearna and Muk-Alola.

252 SpA Life Orb Protean Xurkitree Hydro Pump vs. 248 HP / 252+ SpD Assault Vest Muk-Alola: 140-165 (33.8 - 39.9%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252 SpA Life Orb Protean Xurkitree Hydro Pump vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Assault Vest Magearna: 129-152 (35.4 - 41.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252 SpA Life Orb Protean Xurkitree Hydro Pump vs ah who am i kidding it does nothing to Chansey

I ran this on a rain team and while the team as a whole wasn't up to snuff and got trashed this Pokemon impressed me as a good addition.
In the last slot I recommend Hydro Pump to help break things with your absurd SpA but Hidden Power Grass can be run for Tapu Fini, U-Turn for momentum and lolChipXurkHasBadStatsOtherThanSpa, or Spikes to abuse the switches this thing forces. A final option is a Z-Happy Hour set, which I haven't tried but seems... not terrible, buffing Xurk's SpA to insane(r) levels and letting it actually like, live hits and outspeed things.
 
Let's give some credit to my name =^]
or

Scrafty (Tyranitar) @ Rockium Z / Tyranitarite / Choice Band
Ability: Moxie / Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant / Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance / Basically anything else
- Head Smash / Stone Edge
- Knock Off
- Earthquake / Fire Punch
A similar set (i suppose) to the set that made Nihilego (i think somebody overhyped too much Head Smash/Knock/BB when we already had this) a """"viable"""" Ttar donor, but this one has access to Dragon Dance and much more coverage options as the Elemental Punches, Edgequake (in case you hate dying coz Head Smash recoil) and Knock Off. It also provides a cool replacement for Beast Boost on Moxie, and Intimidate in case you're using the mega for more speed.
 
Hey!

Here is a bulky offensive team.

Have fun!


Mawile @ Mawilite
Ability: Justified
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Drain Punch
- Extreme Speed
- Bullet Punch
- Swords Dance

Stakataka @ Assault Vest
Ability: Protean
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Drain Punch
- Knock Off
- Shadow Sneak
- Fake Out

Cresselia @ Light Clay
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 HP / 40 Def / 216 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- U-turn
- Roost
- Reflect
- Light Screen

Keldeo @ Assault Vest
Ability: Mega Launcher
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Water Pulse
- Aura Sphere
- Dark Pulse
- Dragon Pulse

Registeel @ Leftovers
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 216 Def / 40 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Night Shade
- Toxic
- Roost
- Haze

Terrakion @ Fightinium Z
Ability: Adaptability
EVs: 208 HP / 252 Atk / 48 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Superpower
- Rock Slide
- Knock Off
- Dragon Dance
 
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I am running a Choice scarf Nihilego with Nidoking's ability sheer force timid nature
Thunderbolt
Sludge Wave
Fire Blast
Ice Beam

Also using a leftovers Celesteela with Dhelmise's ability steelworker Adamant nature
Anchor shot
Earthquake
Synthesis
Rapid Spin
 
Alright, so I think I found a set that seems to be completely un-counterable. There isn't much of an answer Megazard X when allowing it to inherit from Victini. The Tough Claws bonus plus STAB makes the power of V-Create go to 351, which is mind-boggling. Ran with sun and sticky web support, this number jumps to 526, which seems to OHKO all sets that include Cresselia. With Zard's superb typing and coverage in the also-awesome Bolt Strike to counter Suicune, I think it's something that may be a little breaking to the meta and I've been seeing it quite often. https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7inheritance-694337706
 

Yung Dramps

awesome gaming

Let's discuss Azurill.

Azurill is currently banned as a donor due to one thing, and one thing only: Its ability Huge Power. Makes sense, right?

Well, when you have such an amazing offensive ability, you obviously need a good physical movepool to complement it. What does Azurill get?

Waterfall
Knock Off
Return/Frustration
Double-Edge
Iron Tail
Natural Gift
Bounce

Yup, that's it. The fact I had to list Natural Gift as a "good physical move" shows how bad Azurill's physical movepool is. But that's not all. Azurill is missing two key moves that make its evolutions unmanageable: Aqua Jet and Belly Drum. This means that not only does it not have any priority, but it also has zero way to boost its physical Attack: not even status z-moves can help it.

However, once I started to investigate further and create some potential example sets, I found a few mons that could be problematic if they were to inherit from Azurill.


Ambipom @ Life Orb / Choice Band
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Double-Edge
- Return
- Knock Off
- Iron Tail


Weavile @ Life Orb / Choice Band
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Knock Off
- Return
- Double-Edge
- Iron Tail


Greninja (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Knock Off
- Waterfall
- Return
- Iron Tail

These pokemon gain a large amount of Attack thanks to HP and have some strong STABs in spite of the mediocre coverage, as well as being very fast. Despite this, these Pokemon are not impossible to check. Due to their frailty, they can be checked by faster threats like Mega Alakazam, Tapu Koko, Aerodactyl, Mega Beedrill and Mega Lopunny, as well as Espeeders like Bewear and Mega Pinsir. In addition, they can be checked defensively by Mega Aggron (It's good, trust me), Ferrothorn, Persian-A Buzzwole and Registeel. Weavile and Greninja can be specifically defensively checked by Suicune, Toxapex and Tapu Fini, while Ambipom can be checked by Celesteela, Dhelmise and Mega Mawile, as well as having to predict switch-ins from Scarf Chandelure.

Finally, as stunning as it may seem, unbanning Azurill as a donor could actually have some healthy effects on the meta. Right now, there is a lot of frustration and controversy surrounding stall in the meta, and unbanning Azurill could make that playstyle much easier to handle while not completely invalidating it, for as shown earlier, it still has checks like Persian-A inheritors and Celesteela.

At risk of getting I flamed and berated I encourage people to discuss this further. Could Azurill work as a donor in Inheritance without being broken? Could it help solve some issues in the metagame?
 

Dunfan

formerly Dunsparce Fanboy

Let's discuss Azurill.

Azurill is currently banned as a donor due to one thing, and one thing only: Its ability Huge Power. Makes sense, right?

Well, when you have such an amazing offensive ability, you obviously need a good physical movepool to complement it. What does Azurill get?

Waterfall
Knock Off
Return/Frustration
Double-Edge
Iron Tail
Natural Gift
Bounce

Yup, that's it. The fact I had to list Natural Gift as a "good physical move" shows how bad Azurill's physical movepool is. But that's not all. Azurill is missing two key moves that make its evolutions unmanageable: Aqua Jet and Belly Drum. This means that not only does it not have any priority, but it also has zero way to boost its physical Attack: not even status z-moves can help it.

However, once I started to investigate further and create some potential example sets, I found a few mons that could be problematic if they were to inherit from Azurill.


Ambipom @ Life Orb / Choice Band
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Double-Edge
- Return
- Knock Off
- Iron Tail


Weavile @ Life Orb / Choice Band
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Knock Off
- Return
- Double-Edge
- Iron Tail


Greninja (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Knock Off
- Waterfall
- Return
- Iron Tail

These pokemon gain a large amount of Attack thanks to HP and have some strong STABs in spite of the mediocre coverage, as well as being very fast. Despite this, these Pokemon are not impossible to check. Due to their frailty, they can be checked by faster threats like Mega Alakazam, Tapu Koko, Aerodactyl, Mega Beedrill and Mega Lopunny, as well as Espeeders like Bewear and Mega Pinsir. In addition, they can be checked defensively by Mega Aggron (It's good, trust me), Ferrothorn, Persian-A Buzzwole and Registeel. Weavile and Greninja can be specifically defensively checked by Suicune, Toxapex and Tapu Fini, while Ambipom can be checked by Celesteela, Dhelmise and Mega Mawile, as well as having to predict switch-ins from Scarf Chandelure.

Finally, as stunning as it may seem, unbanning Azurill as a donor could actually have some healthy effects on the meta. Right now, there is a lot of frustration and controversy surrounding stall in the meta, and unbanning Azurill could make that playstyle much easier to handle while not completely invalidating it, for as shown earlier, it still has checks like Persian-A inheritors and Celesteela.

At risk of getting I flamed and berated I encourage people to discuss this further. Could Azurill work as a donor in Inheritance without being broken? Could it help solve some issues in the metagame?
Thing is, it would need a complex unban to avoid making an overly long banlist... and well, Smogon doesn't really like that.
I mean, wouldn't something like "bans: Huge Power (unless the donor is Azurill)" look kind of weird?

Anyway, since we're on the subject of bans, i also have two ideas to talk about:
  • Change the donor clause to allow inheriting from two mons of the same evolutionary line if they have different abilities.
    The actual donor clause, while there's a logic behind it, is in my humble opinion kind of flawed. For example, it allows stuff like double Protean Greninja + Kecleon (i'm not talking about how unhealthy it could be about the meta, just the fact that this clause's purpose was to encourage diversity) while it doesn't allow stuff like Sand Stream Tyranitar + Guts Larvitar on the same team.
  • Allow banned donor abilities on the original mon. (if the ability doesn't infrige OU clauses of course)
    I'm mainly thinking about Ditto for that one. While the Imposter ban on stuff like Chansey sure is a good thing, Ditto lost its unique niche for no apparent reason.
Please note that those are just ideas and i'm not making a big post about this since i just want to have it discussed.
 

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