Aaaaand we're back! After a hiatus caused by lack of interest we've decided to make the process on our end easier behind the scenes and lo' and behold, we got a lot more interest this week!
Now who are we researching on our first week back? Well wouldn't you like to know? Pay us 499 Pokedollars for this issue of Pokemon Researchers Global...
After careful consideration (and lack of funding) we've been (legally) forced to release the research for free.
This week we researched the Bellamon! How'd it go?? Let's find out!
Heatranator:
Whimsicott is a very interesting pokemon. If you looked at its stat spread, it is just underwhelming besides from that speed stat. However, whimsicott has a lot more under the hood, such as the amazing fairy typing and a large variety of utility moves.
Choice Specs: This is probably Whimsicotts best set. While its damage ouput against defense is underwhelming, against offense, this is a literal godsend, as it cleans them up incredibly easily. There is not much for these teams that can take stab moonblast, and the few things that can are either given a choice specs (arcanine and such are completely ruined by this) or are u-turn victims. Prankster switcheroo also meant that boosted sweepers were stopped in there tracks, though infiltrator can be nice to get around sub Pokemon. Stab energy ball also means Milotic can never take your attacks. Even against defense, switcheroo can cripple a wall incredibly easily. You do want psychic for poison types, but that is def droppable. By far its best set, this something that distinguishes itself from the other Pokemon in the tier nicely.
Subseed: The nicher of the viable Whimsicott sets, subseed can still be infuriating if the opponent doesn't have skunk, air slash shaymin or a taunt pokemon. Whimsicott can threaten out a wide variety of Pokemon with the threat of encore or a moonblast against the multiple fairy weaks in the tier. From here, it can easily set up a substitue and precede to stall the ever loving hell out of a lot of attacker with the recovery leech seed+leftovers provides. If this Pokemon does encounter something that stops its shenanigans though, its pretty much deadweight. It can also struggle a decent bit against more offensive teams that don't let it get a sub up. And it also requires pivoting to get in safely, since its hates getting knocked off or statused. Specific, but under the right circumstances, it works wonders.
Boots pivot: Not going to talk about this set much, its outclassed by specs. Prankster encore is nice, but specs damage is too good to let go. Not taking hazard chip is cool, but not worth the loss in damage, and subseed makes up for it by being a bastard to face.
In conclusion:
Whimsicott isn't a great Pokemon by any means. Its low damage output is a real sticking point to it, especially if you drops choice specs. However, it does have a niche in the tier as a fast attacker that can be quite annoying to pin down if you don't have incredibly specific Pokemon. Florges and Shaymin are by far the better overall pokemon, but Whimsicott can still carve out its own niche in the tier.
Elo change: Can't remember the exact number, but it went from 1330s to 1380s when testing whimsicott.
Gradings:
Offensively: C
Defensively: B-
Utility: B+
Overall: B-
Here are the main two teams I used (I ended up deleting the boots pivot team since it didn't work)
https://pokepast.es/85b873636fe303e0
https://pokepast.es/91f33718b95f1d18
Me:
Whimsicott really really doesn't fit the way I like to play the game. However after abandoning the notion of using it as a support mon or a leech spammer I've had decent results with it.
Specs Whims is what convinced me, that this mon has a niche in the tier, albeit a small one. I believe the others used a prankster u-turn + trick variant for extra utility. I did not and decided to go for an all out attacking version including infiltrator to get past subs and screens. Moonblast, energy ball, shadow ball, psychic. Moonblasy and Eball obviously for stab, which hits a lot of threats like Milo and the plethora of dark types for super effective damage. Shadow Ball for the psychics like espeon and guno, and psychic for threats like venu or tera poison wo-chien. Now specs whims will lost likely never one-shot a target, but it will always do an uncomfortable amount of damage to just about everything. The speed tier and typing also allows it to click moves more freely and almost guarantee damage against anything not named Salazzle or Helectrode. Now against the fire/poison matchups you need a bulky mon to cover for it. The partner I found (thanks to heatranator) that worked the best was Coalossal. On their own both mon are lackluster and not really usable on many teams, but together they damn near perfectly cover for each other's weaknesses. I'd go as far as to say that both mons come as a kind of package deal that elevates each piece to higher heights.
Now enough offense glazing and let's talk about the other set I tried. Prankster subseed whims. Honestly annoying once upon a time, but ends up feeling lackluster now since most teams have either espeon, wo-chien, or venusaur which almost entirely nullifies this strat and makes you switch out. I personally had no real success with this, but this might be a skill issue.
The acc I used for my Whims research started at around 1150 and ended in the 1320s.
I wouldn't necessarily recommend using whims outright, as it isn't really an easy mon to pilot and bring, but I'd encourage you to try a whims + coal/any rock type core for your teams!
Grades:
Offensive: B-
Defensive: C+
Utility: B+
Overall: B
Olly:
Whimsicott is your budget shaymin & florges offensively & if role compression is what you desire it does this job very nicely, obtains a nice speed tier to revenge non scarfed fighters (and can usually revenge anyway unless flarebitz redbull etc) & can gain momentum on milotic. I do believe the specs set has a place in the tier, I tried a subseed boots set as well as a prankster encore/u-turn/stun spore set, however I find it too frail and that mons like salazzle fill this role much more effectively, I usually found myself incapable of doing anything but u-turning away or leech-seeding and dying as so much of the tier has coverage or can break subs as whimsi has such a low HP stat. Whimsicott hits a really good amount of the tier for supereffective damage & can cripple common switchins (like slowbro) with trick - I tended to run u-turn, moonblast, energyball & trick although did experiment with shadow ball but found its use cases lacking over the momentum gathered by u-turn. I used prankster on the specs set, although infiltrator can be useful the ability for a prankster switcheroo to 'rescue' the occasional game against a set-up sweeper was invaluable and so I decided to stick with it, if you are piloting a more defensively solid team I would totally understand an infiltrator set as it can hard check some fairly common sub/screen mons. I found specs whimsi to best used on balance teams as something to help break through milo & punish bulky switchins as well as generate momentum with u-turn to bring in hard hitting threats (such as red-bull which I frequently used alongside it). I'd say its main issues are the teams I used it on always felt spikes weak as whimsicoot is already very very difficult to bring in more than once or twice due to how frail it is, so the teams using it I felt, unless specficially built around its weakness & to play a bulky slow style, needed to provide enough offensive pressure to build on the momentum that whimsi tended to build.
I think I started around 1100 and ended mid 1300s - this was a few days ago however.
Grades:
Offensive C+
Defensive C
Utility B+
Overall B-
Sychillz:
At first glance, Whimsicott’s stat spread doesn’t inspire much . Outside of its Really good base 116 Speed, it’s largely underwhelming, especially on the offensive or defensive ends. But Whimsicott isn’t a Pokemon you judge by stats
Because it has none higher then 100 its real power lies in its disruptive potential, typing, and Diffculty your opponent will have attmepting to understand your full set. With a great defensive typing in Fairy and a toolkit loaded with utility, Whimsicott proves itself a Pokémon From the Game Pokémon and one That is Like Slightly better than Sneasel H
In Terms of sets choice specs is the number 1. 116 Speed allows gives you a jump on all viable pokemon Not named salzzle or choice scarf and moonblasts Great base 95 Power Lets you Push kos on Even Resists
that lack Recovery Being faster then typical fast mon Also allows you t o pick off faster frailer threats with little issue Problem arrise when the threat has any Sdef As even with a chocie specs base 77 Special attack will alwyas let you down Leaving choice specs Very liable to be baited in terad on and then set up on by
better pokemon but the set remains the easiest to slot on to teams
Another good set ive found is 3 attacks encore bye dropping speed evs to Creep pawmot Putting the rest in defense allows for you to be a decent pawmot check not taking anything over 30% from any of his moves and easily able to force him out Running leech seed over encore also provides utility and recovery.
Whimsicott is far from a dominant force in PU, and it suffers from its low base stats outside of Speed. But with smart team building and role compression, it finds a valuable niche a Specs wallbreaker or as a frustrating tool. Florges and Shaymin may outclass it in raw stats and bulk, but Whimsicott’s Speed, typing, and ability to cripple walls and check common threats like Pawmot give it unique utility. It’s not splashable, but when it hits it hits
Grades:
Offensive: C
Defensive: B+
Utility: A-
Overall: B-
Well well well! Seems like overall we'd agree that Whims is a niche pick that has value, but isn't as splashable as one would desire. The overall score it averaged out to was a
B-. We'd encourage you to test it out for yourself, but don't expect it to carry you every game!
And with that this week's research is done! Next week we'll have another prankster mon to report about:
If you wanna join and are interested in researching this mon hmu on disc at
.corvy!
But for now, bye bye!
Amoonguss
Porygon2
Altaria
Bellibolt
Scrafty
