Resource Simple Questions, Simple Answers Thread (read the op before posting a thread)

[TPP]

Are there any defensive steel types who doesnt fear being trapped by magnezone? I used to run celesteela and now use ferro, but both are easily handed by zone.

It depends on the situation and the sets, but Heatran, Excadrill, Magearna with Focus Blast can sometimes manage against Magnezone.

Heatran can't be KO'd easily, but Scarf Magnezone can trap and KO a weakened Heatran with Thunderbolt/Volt Switch. A paralyzed Heatran will also get KO'd by a Magnezone with a Z move or Specs if it's in range. Excadrill doesn't get 1HKO'd by HP Fire immediately, but Scarf HP Fire can do a lot and outspeed and KO if Excadrill is in range. Magearna like Heatran, has a lot of bulk and can't be KO'd too easily, especially AV sets, which can tank a hit and Volt Switch out. Focus Blast or HP Fire Magearna or even Z Fleur Cannon can hit back pretty hard, so again, Magearna needs to be in KO range, but it can threaten back and will outspeed and 1HKO with Focus Blast or do a lot with Z Fleur Cannon if it's an offensive set with max speed.

So in the end, Magnezone can win/lose depending on the health remaining for the opposing Steel-type, but there are indeed some that aren't immediately threatened by Magnezone as other steels like Scizor, Ferrothorn and Scizor are.

 

[NylaTheWolf]

I heard some people say that you can figure out what kind of set a certain Pokemon-such as Magearna-is running, or at least narrow it down, by looking at the rest of the team.

How exactly do you do that? Like, what would be my thought process in order to figure it out?

 

[TPP]

I heard some people say that you can figure out what kind of set a certain Pokemon-such as Magearna-is running, or at least narrow it down, by looking at the rest of the team.

How exactly do you do that? Like, what would be my thought process in order to figure it out?

There's a lot of things to consider, such as potential Stealth Rock users, Choice Scarf mons, Z move users, Defog users and it's basically like being able to break down the team structure based on how you think it was built. Knowing common sets, switch ins and general roles each mon has is required, but from there it's not too difficult.

If you want an example, we can take a look at the Medicham sample team, which consists of:

Medicham / Greninja / Rotom-Wash / Lando-T / Magearna / Kartana

We know Medicham is the mega so we already have one down. Looking at the team, Landorus is the only Stealth Rock user, so we can go ahead and assume it has Stealth Rock and probably isn't Choice Scarf. Rotom-Wash or Kartana are the only other Defog users, so we can guess one of them has it. If you consider how the team's switch ins to Ash Greninja are Rotom and Magearna, you might be safe in assuming it's AV Magearna because of how Rotom-Wash can't single handedly check Ash Greninja by itself, but with an AV Magearna, together they can handle it much better. In this case, it's more of a required bulky pivot that the team needs in order to improve the matchup against faster special attackers like Ash Greninja and Alakazam. Finally, if you know which mons commonly use Choice Scarf, you'll know that Lando-T, Kartana and Protean Greninja in that order could be scarf. However, we know Landorus is the Stealth Rock user and most likely isn't scarf. From there we could guess either Greninja has it, or Kartana. One of the three could also be a Z move user. From there you can learn or further deduce what set they might have after a few turns with things like move choices (Protean Greninja vs. Ash Greninja, SD Kartana vs. Choice Band/Scarf Kartana), damage output (Choice Specs and Choice Band vs. Choice Scarf), and so on.

Specific coverage moves are hard to nail down since mons like Shift Gear Magearna and Protean Greninja have a decent amount of viable moves they can choose, but as for identifying the opposing sets in general or trying to break down the opposing team, the above paragraph should help out a little. However, do keep in mind that there will always be times/turns where you won't 100% have an idea as to what the entire set is until the opponent reveals everything. There are lots of mons that have fairly large movepools and lots of options they can run, and they tend to be the most difficult to narrow down, so don't fret if you can't guess everything from the start.

Sorry for the long response, but I hope this helps answer your question :)

 

[Sayuze]

There's a lot of things to consider, such as potential Stealth Rock users, Choice Scarf mons, Z move users, Defog users and it's basically like being able to break down the team structure based on how you think it was built. Knowing common sets, switch ins and general roles each mon has is required, but from there it's not too difficult.

If you want an example, we can take a look at the Medicham sample team, which consists of:

Medicham / Greninja / Rotom-Wash / Lando-T / Magearna / Kartana

We know Medicham is the mega so we already have one down. Looking at the team, Landorus is the only Stealth Rock user, so we can go ahead and assume it has Stealth Rock and probably isn't Choice Scarf. Rotom-Wash or Kartana are the only other Defog users, so we can guess one of them has it. If you consider how the team's switch ins to Ash Greninja are Rotom and Magearna, you might be safe in assuming it's AV Magearna because of how Rotom-Wash can't single handedly check Ash Greninja by itself, but with an AV Magearna, together they can handle it much better. In this case, it's more of a required bulky pivot that the team needs in order to improve the matchup against faster special attackers like Ash Greninja and Alakazam. Finally, if you know which mons commonly use Choice Scarf, you'll know that Lando-T, Kartana and Protean Greninja in that order could be scarf. However, we know Landorus is the Stealth Rock user and most likely isn't scarf. From there we could guess either Greninja has it, or Kartana. One of the three could also be a Z move user. From there you can learn or further deduce what set they might have after a few turns with things like move choices (Protean Greninja vs. Ash Greninja, SD Kartana vs. Choice Band/Scarf Kartana), damage output (Choice Specs and Choice Band vs. Choice Scarf), and so on.

Specific coverage moves are hard to nail down since mons like Shift Gear Magearna and Protean Greninja have a decent amount of viable moves they can choose, but as for identifying the opposing sets in general or trying to break down the opposing team, the above paragraph should help out a little. However, do keep in mind that there will always be times/turns where you won't 100% have an idea as to what the entire set is until the opponent reveals everything. There are lots of mons that have fairly large movepools and lots of options they can run, and they tend to be the most difficult to narrow down, so don't fret if you can't guess everything from the start.

Sorry for the long response, but I hope this helps answer your question :)

to add onto this if your opponent is using a magma storm heatran with what looks to be an offensive magearna, you can make an assumption that it's double dance with fleur/focus as tran lures in toxapex, traps it, and then DD focus fleur will have a much easier time sweeping. that’s just one example and the best way to make these assumptions is to get a better feel by playing more

 

[chooryu]

How do I get into tournaments and such?

 

[Colonel M]

How do I get into tournaments and such?

All you have to do is sign up.

Some team tournaments will scout for specific players, so don't be too surprised on not being able to join those yet.

Play some of the individuals in the tournament forums or here if there are any that have opening sign-ups!

 

[SaveMeJebus]

Is there a reason why some attacks do more damage to certain ev spreads than they do to others?

Here's an example of what I'm talking about.

0 SpA Toxapex Scald vs. 96 HP / 36 SpD Hawlucha: 72-85 (22.4 - 26.4%) -- 16.9% chance to 4HKO

0 SpA Toxapex Scald vs. 120 HP / 20 SpD Hawlucha: 75-88 (22.9 - 26.9%) -- 37% chance to 4HKO

252 SpA Choice Specs Greninja-Ash Water Shuriken (20 BP) (3 hits) vs. 96 HP / 36 SpD Hawlucha: 174-207 (54.2 - 64.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252 SpA Choice Specs Greninja-Ash Water Shuriken (20 BP) (3 hits) vs. 120 HP / 20 SpD Hawlucha: 174-210 (53.2 - 64.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

As you can see, these two different spreads take different amounts of damage depending on the move, taking less in certain situations and more in others. Even though it's only a slight difference, it just doesn't make sense to me

 

[Jordy]

That's how EVs and EV distribution work. On a more serious note, it's because the calcs for multi-hit moves work slightly different from normal 1 hit moves.

 

[Vengeance417]

Is there a reason why some attacks do more damage to certain ev spreads than they do to others?

Here's an example of what I'm talking about.

0 SpA Toxapex Scald vs. 96 HP / 36 SpD Hawlucha: 72-85 (22.4 - 26.4%) -- 16.9% chance to 4HKO

0 SpA Toxapex Scald vs. 120 HP / 20 SpD Hawlucha: 75-88 (22.9 - 26.9%) -- 37% chance to 4HKO

252 SpA Choice Specs Greninja-Ash Water Shuriken (20 BP) (3 hits) vs. 96 HP / 36 SpD Hawlucha: 174-207 (54.2 - 64.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252 SpA Choice Specs Greninja-Ash Water Shuriken (20 BP) (3 hits) vs. 120 HP / 20 SpD Hawlucha: 174-210 (53.2 - 64.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

As you can see, these two different spreads take different amounts of damage depending on the move, taking less in certain situations and more in others. Even though it's only a slight difference, it just doesn't make sense to me

It depends on the stats of the defending Pokemon in question. In this case, we have Hawlucha. Its HP stat is 78 and its Special Defense is 63. Because you're taking that small amount of Special Defense investment, the lower stat, and putting it into its HP, the higher stat, the Special bulk becomes worse off since investing in that lower stat yields higher returns than investing in the higher, slightly less necessary one (in Hawlucha's case, that is).

This is why some Pokemon with extremely high HP stats but lower Defense/Special Defense stats, such as Guzzlord (NU/PU) and Giratina-O (Ubers), almost never invest in HP because they're better off investing in their defensive stats instead. If they were to maximize their HP, they wouldn't be able to tank hits as well.

 

[Knuckstrike]

It's indeed the multi-hit move thing. You'll see that just barely the multi-hit move does 1HP more per hit with less spD investment and that makes it seem like it's a huge improvement with 3 hits, doing 3HP more with the 3 hits combined.

Compare 3 tackles from a weak pokemon to a double-edge. If you do 1HP with a tackle and invest more until you do 2HP of damage, it seems like those 4 EV's improve your tackles by 100%.
3 Tackles (40bp) might go from 1 damage to 2 damage, improving from 3 to 6 damage minimum with the 3 combined.
1 Double-edge (120bp) would go from 5 damage to 6 damage, seemingly improving less from the extra investment.

During the damage calculation process the damage dealt is always rounded down, giving a slight disadvantage to multi-hit moves with the same power as a single-hit attack. If you cross an investment barrier where during a step in the mathy process the damage isn't rounded down anymore (or as much), it might give a sudden rise of multiple HP, one per hit. This makes spD investment work slightly different on a micro scale compared to HP investment against multi-hit.

 

[SaveMeJebus]

It depends on the stats of the defending Pokemon in question. In this case, we have Hawlucha. Its HP stat is 78 and its Special Defense is 63. Because you're taking that small amount of Special Defense investment, the lower stat, and putting it into its HP, the higher stat, the Special bulk becomes worse off since investing in that lower stat yields higher returns than investing in the higher, slightly less necessary one (in Hawlucha's case, that is).

This is why some Pokemon with extremely high HP stats but lower Defense/Special Defense stats, such as Guzzlord (NU/PU) and Giratina-O (Ubers), almost never invest in HP because they're better off investing in their defensive stats instead. If they were to maximize their HP, they wouldn't be able to tank hits as well.

Great answers! With this ev spread I was trying to go for basically what the main ev spread was trying to go for (take a moonblast from uninvested Clef) but at the same time, maximize it's physical defenses with my remaining evs. All it costed me was an extra 8 evs in HP to get the same results as the ev spread in the ou analysis but since HP helps both stats, I wanted to invest in that more.
Did I go about doing this the wrong way?

 

[War Incarnate]

Since I heard that there was a power creep in Gen 7 OU, I was wondering: What is a power creep, how do they start, how can a pokemon in a tier undergoing power creep get affected by it, and weirdly enough, is it possible for a mon to actually benefit from a power creep? Like, for example, Gen 7 OU, in USUM, had gone through a power creep, making once-prevalent mons such as classic Latios bad. I'm wondering how this gen's power creep can make a mon feel less viable or even straight up trash, such as regular Latios.

 

[Ruft]

Since I heard that there was a power creep in Gen 7 OU, I was wondering: What is a power creep, how do they start, how can a pokemon in a tier undergoing power creep get affected by it, and weirdly enough, is it possible for a mon to actually benefit from a power creep? Like, for example, Gen 7 OU, in USUM, had gone through a power creep, making once-prevalent mons such as classic Latios bad. I'm wondering how this gen's power creep can make a mon feel less viable or even straight up trash, such as regular Latios.

Power creep is simply the concept of new Pokémon being introduced that are more powerful than previously existing ones or older Pokémon getting buffed in the form of new abilities or moves, causing players to abandon older unchanged Pokémon in favor of newer, stronger options.
The introduction of the Tapus, Ultra Beasts, Magearna, Ash-Greninja, Pelipper getting Drizzle, Zygarde getting Thousand Arrows, etc. are exemplary of this, causing certain older Pokémon like regular Latios to fade into obscurity.
Older Pokémon can also benefit from power creep if they happen to have a good matchup against these new threats. Think of Avalugg going from being unranked in ORAS to being a viable physical wall in the Zygarde meta. Latios and several other Dragon-types however have suffered under the introduction of new strong Fairy-types like the Tapus and Magearna, among other things.

 

[Dreadfury]

Since I heard that there was a power creep in Gen 7 OU, I was wondering: What is a power creep, how do they start, how can a pokemon in a tier undergoing power creep get affected by it, and weirdly enough, is it possible for a mon to actually benefit from a power creep?

Power Creep is basically when stuff generally gets stronger and as such the meta is defined by a new, heightened power level. This was extremely prominent in Gen 5 where we were introduced to a bunch of stuff with incredible Hidden Abilities like Drizzle Politoed/Drought Ninetales (which were so centralizing on their own that entire abilities needed to be banned because of how easily these two enabled them), Poison Heal Gliscor, Speed Boost Blaziken (which was so good it got banned), Rough Skin Garchomp (tbh this was Power Creep for OU because it actually nerfed Chomp enough to legalize it in OU in the first place), etc., as well as new heavy-hitters like Excadrill and Hydreigon offensively and Ferrothorn on the defensive end. The power levels rose to the point where OU staples in Gen 4 ended up dropping to UU, either because they couldn't do their jobs quite as well as they used to or were outclassed by stuff that could do their jobs better. That's a big reason why Gen 5 UU really closely resembled Gen 4 OU on many fronts: a lot of the stuff that was good in Gen 4 OU was much worse in the more hostile Gen 5 OU environment and as such received less usage.

This is prominent in Gen 6 and especially Gen 7 because of Megas and Z-moves as well as new additions like the Ultra Beasts and the Tapus that have extremely min-maxed stats and can perform specific roles so well that they warp the metagame around them. Pheromosa, during its brief stay in OU, had an enormous amount of offensive potential on both ends of the spectrum, packed Ice Beam for Landorus-T and Zygarde, and had a near-uncontested Speed tier and only had pitiful bulk which let it be prone to revenge killing and tended to limit its Quiver Dance opportunities (though it could still set up on a lot of passive threats). Tapu Lele's Psychic Terrain basically removes priority from the equation for a few turns, which gave Pheromosa that much more time to wreck house against offensive teams. Lele itself was extremely dangerous at the time and further enabled terrifying wallbreakers like Mega Metagross to shatter stuff, since Psychic Terrain's buffs could turn Zen Headbutt 2HKOs into OHKOs and 3HKOs into 2HKOs. This helped give rise to extremely difficult-to-wall offensive cores that used Tapu Lele as a key player in limiting their counterplay, though as it turned out Mega Metagross and Pheromosa were far more problematic on their own than Lele ever was due to their versatility and generally amazing stats and as such were banned.

One of the weirdest examples of Power Creep is probably present in Eviolite Chansey vs. Blissey; once Chansey got Eviolite it was generally bulkier than Blissey and could fulfill the most defensive roles better, while Blissey had to do things outside the box to better differentiate itself from Chansey during its final stint in OU (Calm Mind, something that even remotely resembles an offensive presence on the Special front, etc.). Nowadays Blissey is a UU Stall staple but sees no use in OU because Chansey is literally better. Another interesting example of Power Creep is present in Latios, who went from being Uber in Gen 4 to being one of the Gen 5 OU staples to being quite solid in Gen 6 to being completely and utterly unviable in OU this gen. Its Speed tier isn't what it used to be when stuff is faster than it. Its offensive prowess isn't what it used to be when some stuff is hitting harder while other stuff is bulkier. It's most certainly too strong for UU still, but that's because UU isn't really ready for its levels of power quite yet when Latias already runs a large part of the tier and Latios in that tier is just strictly better.

Power Creep can benefit stuff that is kitted to deal with specialized threats of that nature. One of the most evident examples of Power Creep benefitting something that already existed is present in Tangrowth. In Gens 4 and 5 it was certainly usable but it was more prominent in lower tiers and received much less usage in OU. In Gen 6 Assault Vest became a thing and Assault Vest+Regenerator is a disgustingly good combination as it did a great job at patching up Tangrowth's one truly exploitable weakness and as such it saw some OU use and even rose to OU eventually. In Gen 7 there were more things that Tangrowth could naturally check alongside more things that it could counter with Assault Vest sets, such as Tapu Bulu, pre-ban Zygarde, Kartana, and Ash-Greninja: as a result Tangrowth was one of the most splashable, spammable defensive threats in the entire tier for a time because of just how many new additions to the tier it could beat. Tangrowth combined its amazing physical bulk, coveted and rare Ground and Thousand Arrows resistances, great mixed attacking stats, and excellent attacking movepool with new tools to patch up its lacking Special Defense stat to act as a blanket check to a bunch of the tier's most centralizing forces and it was so good at this role that it rose all the way to A+ on the VR and was on a pretty large number of teams because of how consistent it was at keeping these things in check. Now it's on somewhat of a decline, but it's unlikely Tangrowth will drop to UU this generation because it still has the tools to bounce back from almost any metagame shift. Power Creep would negatively impact Tangrowth if we received a large influx of threats in a later generation that would be able to break through its defenses and hinder its legendary tanking capabilities. Stuff that would be able to more easily 2HKO even Assault Vest and Physically Defensive Tangrowth from full HP, or stuff that would severely hinder its tanking capabilities by just outliving it and its teammates, would contribute to Tangrowth's decline and potentially warrant low enough OU usage that it would drop to UU, and its fate in a Gen 8 or 9 UU would be unclear since it could either be way too good at walling stuff and would be sent to rot in UUBL, the power levels would be just right for Tangrowth to receive a healthy amount of usage, or the power levels would be too much for Tangrowth and it would drop into RU where it can fall under these categories again.

TL;DR: Power Creep is when new stuff does better than old stuff and old stuff falls out of favor, it usually starts at the beginning of a new generation or when new Move Tutor options are added, a mon can be largely unaffected/can improve or adapt/get significantly worse as a result of it, and there are a select few cases like with the aforementioned Tangrowth and Avalugg where Power Creep can turn the old stuff into the gold stuff without directly buffing the mons themselves.

Not saying Avalugg is the gold standard of what a mon should be, by the way. It has many, many, many, many issues. But it's definitely a hell of a lot better in OU than it was last generation.

 

[MANNAT]

Power Creep is basically when stuff generally gets stronger and as such the meta is defined by a new, heightened power level. This was extremely prominent in Gen 5 where we were introduced to a bunch of stuff with incredible Hidden Abilities like Drizzle Politoed/Drought Ninetales (which were so centralizing on their own that entire abilities needed to be banned because of how easily these two enabled them), Poison Heal Gliscor, Speed Boost Blaziken (which was so good it got banned), Rough Skin Garchomp (tbh this was Power Creep for OU because it actually nerfed Chomp enough to legalize it in OU in the first place), etc., as well as new heavy-hitters like Excadrill and Hydreigon offensively and Ferrothorn on the defensive end. The power levels rose to the point where OU staples in Gen 4 ended up dropping to UU, either because they couldn't do their jobs quite as well as they used to or were outclassed by stuff that could do their jobs better. That's a big reason why Gen 5 UU really closely resembled Gen 4 OU on many fronts: a lot of the stuff that was good in Gen 4 OU was much worse in the more hostile Gen 5 OU environment and as such received less usage.

This is prominent in Gen 6 and especially Gen 7 because of Megas and Z-moves as well as new additions like the Ultra Beasts and the Tapus that have extremely min-maxed stats and can perform specific roles so well that they warp the metagame around them. Pheromosa, during its brief stay in OU, had an enormous amount of offensive potential on both ends of the spectrum, packed Ice Beam for Landorus-T and Zygarde, and had a near-uncontested Speed tier and only had pitiful bulk which let it be prone to revenge killing and tended to limit its Quiver Dance opportunities (though it could still set up on a lot of passive threats). Tapu Lele's Psychic Terrain basically removes priority from the equation for a few turns, which gave Pheromosa that much more time to wreck house against offensive teams. Lele itself was extremely dangerous at the time and further enabled terrifying wallbreakers like Mega Metagross to shatter stuff, since Psychic Terrain's buffs could turn Zen Headbutt 2HKOs into OHKOs and 3HKOs into 2HKOs. This helped give rise to extremely difficult-to-wall offensive cores that used Tapu Lele as a key player in limiting their counterplay, though as it turned out Mega Metagross and Pheromosa were far more problematic on their own than Lele ever was due to their versatility and generally amazing stats and as such were banned.

One of the weirdest examples of Power Creep is probably present in Eviolite Chansey vs. Blissey; once Chansey got Eviolite it was generally bulkier than Blissey and could fulfill the most defensive roles better, while Blissey had to do things outside the box to better differentiate itself from Chansey during its final stint in OU (Calm Mind, something that even remotely resembles an offensive presence on the Special front, etc.). Nowadays Blissey is a UU Stall staple but sees no use in OU because Chansey is literally better. Another interesting example of Power Creep is present in Latios, who went from being Uber in Gen 4 to being one of the Gen 5 OU staples to being quite solid in Gen 6 to being completely and utterly unviable in OU this gen. Its Speed tier isn't what it used to be when stuff is faster than it. Its offensive prowess isn't what it used to be when some stuff is hitting harder while other stuff is bulkier. It's most certainly too strong for UU still, but that's because UU isn't really ready for its levels of power quite yet when Latias already runs a large part of the tier and Latios in that tier is just strictly better.

Power Creep can benefit stuff that is kitted to deal with specialized threats of that nature. One of the most evident examples of Power Creep benefitting something that already existed is present in Tangrowth. In Gens 4 and 5 it was certainly usable but it was more prominent in lower tiers and received much less usage in OU. In Gen 6 Assault Vest became a thing and Assault Vest+Regenerator is a disgustingly good combination as it did a great job at patching up Tangrowth's one truly exploitable weakness and as such it saw some OU use and even rose to OU eventually. In Gen 7 there were more things that Tangrowth could naturally check alongside more things that it could counter with Assault Vest sets, such as Tapu Bulu, pre-ban Zygarde, Kartana, and Ash-Greninja: as a result Tangrowth was one of the most splashable, spammable defensive threats in the entire tier for a time because of just how many new additions to the tier it could beat. Tangrowth combined its amazing physical bulk, coveted and rare Ground and Thousand Arrows resistances, great mixed attacking stats, and excellent attacking movepool with new tools to patch up its lacking Special Defense stat to act as a blanket check to a bunch of the tier's most centralizing forces and it was so good at this role that it rose all the way to A+ on the VR and was on a pretty large number of teams because of how consistent it was at keeping these things in check. Now it's on somewhat of a decline, but it's unlikely Tangrowth will drop to UU this generation because it still has the tools to bounce back from almost any metagame shift. Power Creep would negatively impact Tangrowth if we received a large influx of threats in a later generation that would be able to break through its defenses and hinder its legendary tanking capabilities. Stuff that would be able to more easily 2HKO even Assault Vest and Physically Defensive Tangrowth from full HP, or stuff that would severely hinder its tanking capabilities by just outliving it and its teammates, would contribute to Tangrowth's decline and potentially warrant low enough OU usage that it would drop to UU, and its fate in a Gen 8 or 9 UU would be unclear since it could either be way too good at walling stuff and would be sent to rot in UUBL, the power levels would be just right for Tangrowth to receive a healthy amount of usage, or the power levels would be too much for Tangrowth and it would drop into RU where it can fall under these categories again.

TL;DR: Power Creep is when new stuff does better than old stuff and old stuff falls out of favor, it usually starts at the beginning of a new generation or when new Move Tutor options are added, a mon can be largely unaffected/can improve or adapt/get significantly worse as a result of it, and there are a select few cases like with the aforementioned Tangrowth and Avalugg where Power Creep can turn the old stuff into the gold stuff without directly buffing the mons themselves.

Not saying Avalugg is the gold standard of what a mon should be, by the way. It has many, many, many, many issues. But it's definitely a hell of a lot better in OU than it was last generation.

thank you for coming to my ted talk

 

[VCrakeV]

I have a team with Avalugg as a check to SR Lando and Garchomp, with charti berry for continental crush. I was wondering if it might be better to give Avalugg a less situational item, and rely on sturdy to check continental crush.

On one hand, charti berry allows Avalugg to tank a hit and KO back, ensuring rocks don't get up, in the best-case scenario. If the opponent knocks off the berry, or raw stone edges to remove it, you get a great opportunity for an avalanche or toxic.

On the other hand, Avalugg is prone to being worn down without lefties, making it a lesser check to M-Pinsir (CC variants, at least) and Kyurem-black. Leftovers also helps Avalugg remain at sturdy, but this is hard to maintain nonetheless.

So, what seems best?

 

[MANNAT]

I have a team with Avalugg as a check to SR Lando and Garchomp, with charti berry for continental crush. I was wondering if it might be better to give Avalugg a less situational item, and rely on sturdy to check continental crush.

On one hand, charti berry allows Avalugg to tank a hit and KO back, ensuring rocks don't get up, in the best-case scenario. If the opponent knocks off the berry, or raw stone edges to remove it, you get a great opportunity for an avalanche or toxic.

On the other hand, Avalugg is prone to being worn down without lefties, making it a lesser check to M-Pinsir (CC variants, at least) and Kyurem-black. Leftovers also helps Avalugg remain at sturdy, but this is hard to maintain nonetheless.

So, what seems best?

Rocky Helmet is usually better on Avalugg for it's ability to get continuous chip damage on Pokemon like Mega Mawile that normally threaten stall teams while you're using recover against them as they attack, meaning you aren't forced into attacking nearly as much. Leftovers is also a solid item that prevents you from being knocked out of sturdy from sand or misc chip as well, it's just a bit less consistent against specific mons than Rocky Helmet is.

 

[VCrakeV]

Rocky Helmet is usually better on Avalugg for it's ability to get continuous chip damage on Pokemon like Mega Mawile that normally threaten stall teams while you're using recover against them as they attack, meaning you aren't forced into attacking nearly as much. Leftovers is also a solid item that prevents you from being knocked out of sturdy from sand or misc chip as well, it's just a bit less consistent against specific mons than Rocky Helmet is.

I guess it's leftovers, then. I actually have something else for Mawile, as it can SD to break through Avalugg. I find rocky helmet just doesn't help in the matchups I'm using Avalugg for, like Lando, Garchomp, and Kyurem-black (earth power and HP fire do more than fusion bolt). Pinsir takes damage from rocky helmet, but it usually isn't a determining factor (avalanche OHKOs if attacked).

 

[NylaTheWolf]

What is Vincune and what is Crocune?

 

[Katy]

What is Vincune and what is Crocune?

Vincune is the set based around calm mind + substitute with scald and protect - it is able to pp stall and was also used in middle sm / late sm on aurora veil teams whereas crocune is based around rest talk with either leftovers or waterium z as the item. both suicune variants run calm mind but crocune runs unlike vincune rest + sleep talk as its moveslots.
to add onto that crocune is physically defensive bulkier than vincune which has 40 in its special defense.

 

[Lando-San]

Advantage of running Z-giga impact on sand Rush Excadrill over Z-Iron Head?
And why sand becomes so good in the Last time?

 

[Katy]

Advantage of running Z-giga impact on sand Rush Excadrill over Z-Iron Head?
And why sand becomes so good in the Last time?

Z Giga Impact lets it break through things like Zapdos, Rotom Wash and Pelipper. As Iron Head doesn't hit any of these hard enough as they resist it.
Sand became so good because the setters itself are already good at OU and having a name for themselves as sandsetter and also abuser...tyranitar as example can abuse the sand with getting a raise in its special defense.
Abusers like Excadrill and Garchomp-Mega gets powered up, Excadrill with its Speed and Mega-Garchomp gets a boost in Sand Force.
Rain and Sand are the most dominant weathers currently at OU and both are in excellent conditions with good setters and abusers.

 

[SaveMeJebus]

If you were playing a match that was set to private, do you still need the other player's permission to post it?

 

[War Incarnate]

What has caused playstyles such as HO and TR to fall down in popularity and usage?

 

[Finchinator]

What has caused playstyles such as HO and TR to fall down in popularity and usage?

Inconsistency, increased usage of Regenerator and Toxic Spikes, and better alternatives that still fish for MU