So this thread has been rather inactive, but I want to revive it! I played a lot of this metagame over the past two days, and its totally taken me by surprise. I'm not the biggest fan of 1v1, but 2v2 doubles is a different story. Yes, it can still be match up based in quite a few cases, but the extra Pokemon and the fact that they gotta work together in doubles means that a LOT of matches aren't decided on turn 1. Hell, just choosing an extra Pokemon makes the team preview stage rather exciting, rather than the crapshoot on roids 1v1 is!
Here's what I currently have this season:
Fact is, while this ladder does have some activity issues, this isn't like special season 1 which was stillborn. There's a playerbase for this metagame , and while there are deadzones...
this playbase has enacted some of the most creative insanity I've ever seen in a metagame. In fact, to give you a picture: I lost to a high rated player using a Fletchling! And I don't mean "lol a stupid joke", this player legitimately showed that freaking Fletchling of ALL things is a good, niche choice!
This is a pretty alien metagame that still has a lot of exploring left to do. Just looking at the stats can be confusing when you see crazy stuff like Seismetoad, Accelegor, or Hawlucha in the top 30!
So here's what I'm going to do: Around each day starting today, I will make at least one post covering the major strategies of this metagame. This will not only give you guys something to discuss, but also hopefully in about a week, we can all cobble together a decent, unprofessional primer of sorts for anyone whose curious!
Oh one more thing: You'll notice that a lot of Pokemon have very simple EV spreads, or may even lack concrete set. I'm sure there are plenty of specialized ones, but it might involve some searching in the Japanese community. If you see a simple EV spread, don't take it as gospel, doing some damage calcs may do some good! Feel free to post some too, I'll add them in if they're good!
Strategy: Perish Song
I know what a lot of people think when they hear about these sudden death metagames that lack enough Pokemon to switch: "OH NO PERISH SONG!" Not gonna lie: Perish Song is something you need to prepare for, and its incredibly dangerous in the right hands, since the team with the slowest Pokemon at the end of the turn usually wins the Perish Song War! However, it isn't nearly as unstopable feeling as 1v1. There are Pokemon you can use against it that are actually good outside of checking it, and the added teammate factor adds some extremely interesting Pokemon for Perish Song users! Let's go over the setters first!
The Major Perish Song Setters
Politoed
Politoed @ Iron Ball
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 252 HP / 6 Def / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Perish Song
- Protect
- Bounce / Dive
- Scald / Surf / Curse / Fissure
Politoed being the most common Perish Songer may be a bit surprising at first when Azumarill exists, but as it turns out, setting up the rain can be a huge difference in match ups! Much like the notorious Azumarill of 1v1, Perish Song Politoed is custom built to stall out stuff as long as possible. Bounce is used more often than Dive, just because the chance for paralysis is more valuable than Dive's better damage against a lot of the faster Pokemon. However, for the more borderline Pokemon getting them paralyzed can make you lose, so Dive is a safer alternative,. Scald is a nice general damage move that can burn stuff, while Surf is cool when using Absorb Bulb Ludicolo or Kingdra. Curse may seem rather.. silly, but against mirror matches or slow Pokemon, Curse can be a life saver so Politoed faints last! Finally, Fissure may seem sorta oxymornic since Perish Song kills anyways, but Fissure can really screw over dedicated Perish Song checks like Snorlax or random Throat Chop BS if lady luck is on your side! Note that Curse and Fissure will require gen 2 and 1 transfers respectively, which means they are not legal with Dive.
Oh yeah, Iron Ball may seem silly, but it allows Politoed to underspeed Weakness Policy Tyranitar, which is HUGE against Sand teams! Sadly, you won't be underspeeding Torkoal, a check against some perish song strats. If you want some more versatility at the cost to losing to some popular slow Pokemon, resist berries are still fine options to consider!
Azumarill
Azumarill @ Iron Ball
Ability: Sap Sipper
EVs: 252 HP / 6 Def / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Perish Song
- Protect
- Bounce / Dive
- Scald / Curse / Light Screen
Azumarill @ Iron Ball / Figy Berry
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Perish Song
- Protect
- Play Rough
- Aqua Jet / Dive
The notorious master of Perish Songing is still good here, even if it isn't as common as Politoed! Politoed may have an edge in creating weather, but Azumarill's ace in the hole here is that it's a MUCH slower Pokemon. Thanks to its low Speed, it will actually underspeed Snorlax if its holding an Iron Ball! However, it still can't under speed Torkoal without Curse... Anyways, besides the low Speed, the other big thing here is Sap Sipper, which means Grass-types like Tapu Bulu, Kartana, and Lilligant are gonna get smashed, unlike Politoed!
Otherwise, Azumarill works very similarly to Politoed. You set up Perish Song, use either Bounce or Dive (with Bounce risking paralysis, Dive being safer but having past gen legality issues), and generally try to stall out mons. Unlike Politoed, since Azumarill will usually use Sap Sipper when its Perish Song focused (note that offensive Azumarill is still totally viable!), Scald is... honestly really weak and only good for burning stuff. Curse is still pretty nice, since it can let you severely punish Torkoal that lack it themselves, while Light Screen can give you a bit of extra stalling potential in some cases I guess...
Oh yeah, unlike Politoed who has a bit of trouble with this kind of multitasking, Offensive Azumarill can actually get away with using Perish Song! The Attack investment and lack of Sap Sipper means Azumarill won't be as good at the job in some pretty big ways, but it can work well if you need an offensive water-type to deal with foes such as Incineroar, and want to use Perish Song as a more situational bonus.
Primarina
Primarina @ Iapapa Berry
Ability: Liquid Voice
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 6 SpD
Relaxed / Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Perish Song
- Protect
- Baby-Doll Eyes / Encore / Reflect / Light Screen
- Moonblast / Hyper Voice
Primarina @ Mystic Water / Life Orb
Ability: Liquid Voice
EVs: 252 HP / 6 Def / 252 SpA
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Hyper Voice
- Moonblast
- Hydro Cannon / Encore
- Perish Song
Primarina may seem like an inferior Azumarill in this case, but don't be fooled: It's got some really cool, unique tools to set it apart! Liquid Voice as it turns out, makes Perish Song a water type move. This means if you pair Primarina with a Pokemon that has an ability like Water Absorb, Storm Drain, or Dry Skin.. they aren't affected at all! This can totally screw over the whole "use Slow Pokemon to win" strat in some cases, and also means Primarina isn't as desperate to use Iron Ball like Politoed and Azumarill are! It also has some unique support moves. Baby-Doll Eye's priority can give JUST the needed Attack drops to stall out mons better as an example. Since Primarina lacks any two turn invulnerability moves like Dive or Bounce, Encore can be used to punish slower Pokemon, which is especially effective when you got a water immune ally! Of course, screens can work as decent filler moves too. Even without Special Attack investment, its hard to deny that Primarina has a LOT more offense than the average Perish Song user. Moonblast makes sense as a nice, reliable single target attack, but Hyper Voice's spread attack powers are very worthy of consideration too.
Like ,Primarina is capable of using Perish Song WHILE also being an offensive Pokemon too if that suits your fancy. While not as powerful as Huge Power Azumarill, Primarina makes up for it by being quite an effective spread attacker thanks to that Water-typed Hyper Voice! You can also use Hydro Cannon as a last ditch attack against certain sower Pokemon too if you wish.
Oh yeah, you may notice Round... Primarina also works on a totally different strategy that isn't related to Perish Song, by taking advantage of faster Pokemon using Round so Primarina has a powerful priority attack! We'll cover that in more detail another day, but just know that while Primarina isn't as effective at Round as Proygon-Z and Sylveon, it can make for a nasty surprise with Liepard if your foes don't see it coming!
The more niche Perish Song setters
Gengar
Gengar @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Cursed Body
EVs: 12 HP / 4 Def / 220 SpA / 20 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sludge Bomb
- Shadow Ball
- Perish Song
- Trick / Hidden Power Fire / Destiny Bond / Hypnosis
Gengar isn't too common, but it happens to possibly be the best offensive Perish Song user! A lot of them use Choice Scarf, which ensures that it can blast a lot of Tapus out of the way, making Perish Song more of a side thing when paired with a super slow teammate. The given EV spread allows Gengar to survive Choice Scarf Tapu Koko's Thunderbolt, and OHKO it back with Sludge Bomb. You also got a 62% chance of OHKOing Tapu Lele with it too! Trick is also nice for some disruption vs more supportish Pokemon, but Hidden Power Fire lets you really ruin Kartana's day! Destiny Bond is a pro move if you predict correctly too. Hypnosis, while lame to be locked into, can be a bug out option if you think you lose otherwise.
I should note, a more specialized Perish Song Gengar IS around. I only don't list its set because its really inconsistent what support moves it'll be using, and I havent seen it as much. Generally, they max their HP and carry Trick Room to mess with super slow Pokemon after Perish Song is set up, and will usually have Protect and a specific support move. I've also seen them with a ton of different items, from seeds to mental herbs and anything inbetween!
If we can come to more of a consensus about the best variants, I'll post them here!
Alolan Marowak
Funnily enough, Alolan Marowak does learn Perish Song, but its usually used as a support to other Perish Song users instead of a setter itself! I don't list its set because honestly I've never seen one out there on the ladder with Perish Song, but just keep your guard up if you see this Pokemon without a Perish Song setter!
Mismagius
Mismagius is an alternative to dedicated Perish Song Gengars. It's mostly a bit worse than Gengar, but it does have the excellent Levitate, which is at least nice for forcing Ground-types to use other moves, even if they can still hit Mismagius hard. Also, Mismagius gets Mystical Fire, which can come in handy for making Special Attackers weaker!
Lapras
Lapras is actually the bulkiest option allowed for Trick Rooming, but you don't see it that often since it's cursed with a secondary Ice-typing, which gives it nasty weaknesses to all the Rock- and Figting-type moves flying around to hit Incineroar. That being said, Lapras can run similar sets to Politoed and Azumarill, with a few unique twists, such as having Freeze Dry for opposing Water-types and a better OHKO move in Sheer Cold.
Murkrow
Murkrow @ Mental Herb
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Calm / BoldNature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Perish Song
- Protect
- Quash
- Substitute / Taunt / Torment / Feather Dance / Foul Play
Murkrow has the unique selling point of having Prankster, which means a nice and fast set up, regardless of what stupid fast Pokemon your opponent may have! You'd think that'd make it more common, but this metagame is actually rather hostile to Murkrow for several reason. First of all, due to Prankster, its possible to block Perish Song with Dark-types and Psychic Terrain, so more Pokemon are immune to its madness than others. Secondly, since Eviolite is banned, Murkrow's defenses are absolute garbage, so it won't be living too long! As a result of these problems, if you want to use Murkrow, you should give it a secondary purpose in case your opponent can block its Perish Song. Quash is a pretty great use if you don't have Sableye, but there are plenty of other support options to choose from as well.
The major teammates of Perish Song
We talked about most of the setters, so lets look at the Pokemon that are often paired with these beasts!
Seismitoad
Seismitoad @ King's Rock
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Fling
- Protect
- After You
- Earth Power / Hydro Pump / Sludge Bomb
Seismitoad @ Life Orb
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hydro Pump / Sludge Bomb
- Protect
- After You
- Earth Power / Sludge Bomb
Oh snap, its the other toad bro! Yes, you can use it as a normal offensive swift swimmer just fine, and a lot of people like it more that way since getting Sludge Bomb still gives it an important niche... but we'll focus on the more specalized set above!
So what makes Seismitoad the most common swift swimmer? It has to do with After You. Since Politoed is slow and often use two turn attacks, Seismitoad can use its speed to actually make Politoed go first for the invulnerable turn, but last during the attack. This can screw over anyone who isn't prepared, because they might not be able to get a hit in on Politoed! Any team that can't underspeed Politoed in particular will be in DEEP trouble if they see this!
Going without the Water attack may seem silly, but Earth Power and Sludge Bomb can win you some major match ups. Sludge Bomb can crush the deadly Tapu Bulu (who has EXTREMELY high usage in this metagame!), while Earth Power is effective against Electric-types that want Politoed dead, such as Tapu Koko.
Mimikyu
Mimikyu @ Life Orb / Mental Herb / King's Rock
Ability: Disguise
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant / Brave Nature
- Play Rough
- Trick Room
- Shadow Sneak
- Shadow Claw / Drain Punch / Wood Hammer / Fling
Mimikyu, much like VGC, is a pretty neat Trick Roomer (who for some reason doesn't have a set onsite yet for VGC, oh no!). With Focus Sash banned, Mimikyu is about as reliable of a Trick Roomer you're gonna get, which can really help against slow match-ups! Due to Mimikuium Z being banned though, they tend to use Life Orb. Mental Herb is nice for Taunt though, and you can even use Fling + King's Rock for extra stalling! Due to the sudden death nature of this metagame, you may see more situational attacks such as Drain Punch for Kartana, or Wood Hammer for Water-types as well.
Amoonguss
Amoonguss @ Payapa Berry / Occa Berry / Iapapa Berry
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Sassy / Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Spore
- Rage Powder
- Protect
- Clear Smog / Giga Drain / Sludge Bomb
Amoonguss is well aquainted with the world of doubles, but in this land, it can make a real sick partner for Perish Song! Not only is it insanely slow, but Spore is devestatingly effective against some match ups for stalling! It can even use Rage Powder to make Tapu Koko think twice before being chosen. There's also a certain beauty about getting rid of Curse Boosts with Clear Smog, but Sludge Bomb works well with Payapa Berry vs Tapu Lele. Also, while Regenerator in a metagame where you can't switch may seem beyond silly, this is done so Effect Spore doesn't screw up Spore!
Snorlax
https://www.smogon.com/dex/sm/pokemon/snorlax/vgc17/ (While don't have a vgc 18 analysis up yet, Snorlax is pretty similar setwise regardless!)
It's hard to get a better slow teammate than Snorlax in this format! Snorlax is extremely bulky, can recover fast thanks to Recycle and Gluttony, and it can even use Curse to compete with being the slowest of them all, while boosting its attack for times you don't use it on Perish Song. However, you can also elect to use a Choice Band set, which is much more viable than usual since this metagame is so fast paced. Some Snorlax even use Selfdestruct for similar reasons!
Torkoal
https://www.smogon.com/dex/sm/pokemon/torkoal/vgc17/
Torkoal is run pretty similarly to last year's VGC, except now it can use Earth Power for those pesky Heatran! While it actually isn't used on Perish Song all that much, it can be pretty effective, since it can ruin Tapu Bulu's day, and is so slow not even Iron Ball Azumarill is slower without Curse (which Torkoal also learns lol)! Torkoal itself is the centerpiece of sun in this metagame, and has some strategies associated with that too. Torkoal is also just a damn good Fire-type that functions well under Trick Room with Mimikyu, so its a fine choice on teams with Perish Song modes.
Gigalith
https://www.smogon.com/dex/sm/pokemon/gigalith/vgc17/
If you got a craving for using Excadrill as a sweeper, but want a perish song mode, then Gigalith might make more sense for you than Tyranitar. It functions very similarly to last year's VGC, except a lot of them run Iron Ball to mess with Torkoal.
Alolan Muk
https://www.smogon.com/dex/sm/pokemon/muk-alola/vgc17/
Wow, we sure got a lot of blasts from VGC's pasts coming in to help Perish Song, don't we? While Alolan Muk can be made really slow if you want, the real big selling point is that Alolan Muk puts the fear of Arceus into Tapu Bulu's heart, a Pokemon that is a MASSIVE problem for a lot of Trick Room set ups! It can also use Curse to make itself slower, or you can use the dreaded Minimize to leave luck to Nintendo!
Togedemaru
Togedemaru @ Air Balloon / King's Rock / Salac Berry / Expert Belt / Weakness Policy
Ability: Sturdy / Lightning Rod
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Fake Out
- Encore
- Zing Zap
- Iron Head / Fling / After You / Spiky Shield
Togedemaru is a fairly effective support partner despite its good Speed. First of all, it gets both Fake Out and Encore, which can be a devastating way to punish slower Protect users (especially with a Salac Berry and Sturdy)! It also just so happens to get 2 30% flinching moves for some nasty hax potential. Togedemaru gets two effective abilities too. Sturdy is the most general choice outside of Perish Song, since having Focus Sash like qualities is very desirable in this metagame, but Lightning Rod when paired with the many Water-type Perish Song users can also be an effective way of shutting down Pokemon that lack Discharge! It even gets others support options, such as Fling + King's Rock for extra flinching, and After You to make Politoed or Azumarill stall slower Pokemon pretty hard with their invulnerability moves!
Niche Teammates
Other Slow Pokemon
I could write a gigantic article on all the good slow Pokemon to consider, but at least know that the ones I listed above are NOT the only usable ones! Feel free to talk about other ones, I might add especially good ones to this list!
Other redirection Pokemon
Volcarona and Togekiss are more offensive alternatives to consider over Amoonguss. Unfortunately, neither are all that slow, and Togekiss in particular shares weaknesses with the best Perish Song setters. However, both Volcarona and Togekiss are great at scaring Tapu Bulu, and Togekiss can actually use Rage Powder to direct Grass-type attacks, an especially useful quality against choiced Kartana!
Alolan Marowak
Ok cool, now its in the right spot! You'll usually see Alolan Marowak used as a more offensive alternative to Togedemaru with Azumarill. It's a pretty nice user of Lightning Rod, and it can scare Tapu Bulu as well. Being immune to Fake Out is also quite nice, though note that other Ghost-types can grief it pretty hard.
Water Immune Pokemon
Despite me mentioning this being a selling point of Primarina's Liquid Voice Perish Song, this strategy isnt nearly as common as you'd think with Primarina. The major one seems to be Jellicent, and I imagine that's partly because Jellicent gets some nice tools such as Trick Room. Cradily also seems interesting, since it doesn't share any weaknesses with Primarina. Notice my speculative tone though: As you can see all the way on the top, my team is actually very hostile to Primarina Perish Song strategies, so I almost never saw people send Primarina in with Water Absorbing mons! If someone has more experience with or against this particular strategy, feel free to write something up!
Soundproof Pokemon
You'd think these would be every where with Perish Song being so powerful, but the only one that's even in the top 100 in usage is Kommo-o... I have seen people unsucessfuly try Soundproof stuff before though, mainly Kommo-o and Electrode of all things lol. Of these Pokemon, I'm guessing Kommo-o and Bouffalant have the most potential, but I could be wrong since this strategy was pretty scarce!
Fletchling... wait WHAT?!
Fletchling @ Flame Orb
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Protect
- Fly
- Tailwind
- Taunt
You thought I was joking about Fletchling, but no: this is actually a legitimate thing I've seen some high rated players use, and it in fact, freaking annihilated me the first time I saw it! This is going to take some explaining...
The idea behind Fletchling is that you preferably pair it with a Perish Song user that can use Trick Room (so Gengar or Mismagius), or you use it only when you predict somewhat fastish Pokemon (remember, Fletchling has a base Speed of 62!). Protect should be used on turn one to activate Flame Orb as Perish Song is set, while Fly is used turn two. As long as you aren't facing any priority Pokemon (though this is why Relaxed is used lol), Fletchling will Fly into the air before a single hit lands.
Now this is where the magic starts: Because Fletchling is burned, Gale Wings no longer works. So this means if Fletchling is facing a decently group of Speedy Pokemon, it just wasted enough time to ruin everyone with Perish Song stalling! Honestly I just took the other two moves from the usage stats, because they're clearly filler.
Ok this is a biiit of a gimmick, since a LOT of teams now a days have slow Pokemon to fight off Perish Song, and setting up Trick Room on turn two with Gengar or Mismagius can be rather painful. However, against teams that emphasize Speed, Fletchling FORCES you to use slower Pokemon or face painful death, meaning even after you shockingly lose to Fletchling (like I did the first time!), it being there in team preview ends up forcing your hand later on!
Fletchling is only just one example of the astonishing creativity this metagame seems to bring out in people, which you'll see over the next few days of my posts!
Next time, on Battle Spot Special!
Phew, this was a long one! A lot of Pokemon just go really well with Perish Song specifically. Don't fret, most other days will be much shorter than this one!
You know, we talked a lot about the value of slow Pokemon in this metagame, but there's much more to this format than Perish Song! Next time, we'll focus on what may be the most popular group of gen 7 Pokemon in competitive play, and the strange Pokemon they caused to get into the top 30 in this metagame...
Tomorrow, get ready to look into the Tapus and the magic of their Terrain Seeds!