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Are scarf defoggers (like Lando-t and Kart) good enough hazard control on offense? (Bulky offense)

And are they also good in balance as well if you dont have any mons that are weak to rocks?
 
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What are the most reliable ways of dealing with pex? sets to either trap, lure on reliably beat pex to let something in the back sweep
The best way to consistently deal with Toxapex are, in my opinion, Mega Alakazam, Tapu Lele, and Mega Latios. Although the latter isn't used as much, they're relatively unbothered by anything Toxapex can throw at them, though Toxic can be annoying in the long run. Other Pokemon like Tapu Koko and Reuniclus are also really good at dealing with Toxapex. (depends on creep in Reuniclus' case)
 
What are the most reliable ways of dealing with pex? sets to either trap, lure on reliably beat pex to let something in the back sweep
the thing is that nothing really traps pex except heatran and whirlpool fini but whirlpool fini is a bit bad and pex probably shouldn’t switch into a magma storm like that. as for luring the only real lure is z-dig gren but since that set is getting more and more common you can expect people to scout with celesteela or smth. the most consistent alternative is just having smth that takes advantage of pex and doesnt really mind anything it does. examples include reuniclus tapu fini manaphy in rain and lo zam (LOOOOL). breakers that can ohko it like lele and medi (if you know its not payapa) can also help but like u dont want em to get toxiced. just have smth in your team that switches into pex, really.

e: alas sniped :(
 
How popular (if at all) is Mega Mawile with both thunder punch and swords dance? I can see how often either move is used in the stats database, but there's nothing on the conjunction of moves. Is swords dance usually just used with play rough, sucker punch, and knock off?
 

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How popular (if at all) is Mega Mawile with both thunder punch and swords dance? I can see how often either move is used in the stats database, but there's nothing on the conjunction of moves. Is swords dance usually just used with play rough, sucker punch, and knock off?
SD Knock is more common, but SD Tpunch is very viable. It’s sort of like a backslash type of option in analysis terms, I suppose.
 
To add onto the above, you'll see Thunder Punch more on teams that want the immediate pressure on Toxapex, because, while Swords Dance + Knock Off can take care of Toxapex, it often requires patient play, whereas with Thunder Punch, Mega Mawile can play a lot more aggressively against Toxapex.
 
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How popular (if at all) is Mega Mawile with both thunder punch and swords dance? I can see how often either move is used in the stats database, but there's nothing on the conjunction of moves. Is swords dance usually just used with play rough, sucker punch, and knock off?
Thunder Punch also helps on Matchups like Tornadus-T, Celesteela, Tapu Fini and Moltres (a very rare one, but still helps).
Switchin into another topic, the reason of the Lati twins' fall was the increment of bulky Steel types, right?
 
Was Flame Body Heatran ever released? I feel like my Heatrans are getting hit by more physical moves than fire moves per game on average...
 
Was Flame Body Heatran ever released? I feel like my Heatrans are getting hit by more physical moves than fire moves per game on average...
Apart from Flame Body being unreleased, that is perfectly fine. Flash Fire is mostly meant to be a deterrent, rather than something you can consistently take advantage of. Heatran won't find itself absorbing many Fire-type attacks as its mere existence discourages using those moves.

And besides... an immunity to a type it's neutral to is more valuable than a chance to burn. Especially when Flash Fire turns it into a Steel-type Pokémon that is immune to the #1 way to deal with Steel-types (most OU-viable Steel-types are interestingly not weak to Fighting and a few aren't weak to Ground, but only one isn't weak to Fire).
 
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When using non-Sableye stall, how does one deal with Ferrothorn well? The first to come to mind is Zapdos, since pressure stalls out spikes, and heat wave threatens it out. But when Ferrothorn gets a free turn, it can leech seed on the switch, switch into a check, and really nibble away at your health. Gliscor at least avoids a net loss in hp, but it can't stall out spikes or threaten it out. Grass types like Tsareena and Lurantis are immune to leech seed, but they can't do much back. The former is also susceptible to iron barbs whenever it spins, and the latter can't stall out spikes. Lastly, I can think of Xatu, but outside of checking Ferrothorn, it doesn't seem to do much.

I find Ferrothorn to be the biggest thorn (haha) in my side when try Venusaur stall, but i like using Venusaur for the checks it compresses in one slot (Mega Mawile, Kartana, Mega Gyarados, Tapu Bulu, etc.).
 
When using non-Sableye stall, how does one deal with Ferrothorn well? The first to come to mind is Zapdos, since pressure stalls out spikes, and heat wave threatens it out. But when Ferrothorn gets a free turn, it can leech seed on the switch, switch into a check, and really nibble away at your health. Gliscor at least avoids a net loss in hp, but it can't stall out spikes or threaten it out. Grass types like Tsareena and Lurantis are immune to leech seed, but they can't do much back. The former is also susceptible to iron barbs whenever it spins, and the latter can't stall out spikes. Lastly, I can think of Xatu, but outside of checking Ferrothorn, it doesn't seem to do much.

I find Ferrothorn to be the biggest thorn (haha) in my side when try Venusaur stall, but i like using Venusaur for the checks it compresses in one slot (Mega Mawile, Kartana, Mega Gyarados, Tapu Bulu, etc.).
Zapdos and Moltres are your best options.
 
Apart from Flame Body being unreleased, that is perfectly fine. Flash Fire is mostly meant to be a deterrent, rather than something you can consistently take advantage of. Heatran won't find itself absorbing many Fire-type attacks as its mere existence discourages using those moves.

And besides... an immunity to a type it's neutral to is more valuable than a chance to burn. Especially when Flash Fire turns it into a Steel-type Pokémon that is immune to the #1 way to deal with Steel-types (most OU-viable Steel-types are interestingly not weak to Fighting and a few aren't weak to Ground, but only one isn't weak to Fire).
This is getting into some theorymonning stuff, which I know is pretty discouraged, but if Heatran ends up receiving the option to run Flame Body it doesn't completely invalidate Flash Fire. One could argue that it's a pretty slight buff to Heatran's overall utility as instead of just being a deterrent for Fire moves courtesy of Flash Fire it ends up acting as a huge deterrent for stray Knock Offs and U-Turns by virtue of Flame Body in addition to the existing utility of the Flash Fire variants.

It's good in the same sense as Protean vs. Battle Bond is: until your opponent knows precisely what your Heatran's ability is you have to basically treat it as if it has both Flash Fire and Flame Body. It doesn't have quite the same effectiveness as Protean or Battle Bond, but it's a far, far more ambiguous ability than that on the mon that literally reveals its ability the first turn it attacks. In that sense I feel like you're massively underestimating just how powerful the ability to punish a stray U-Turn or Knock Off is.
 
should a pokemon run 252 hp with leftovers and 248 without?
Depends on your Pokemon! Your HP stat should be divisible by 16 for maximum defensive capabilities, but it really depends on what your team is. Here's a link to a comprehensive guide to HP stats. <~ it is somewhat old but should be sufficient!

E: changed the guide
 

Merritt

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should a pokemon run 252 hp with leftovers and 248 without?
I'm going to say no.

Leftovers heal 1/16th (6.25%) of the user's HP per turn, rounded down, so it'd be possible that going to 252 HP EVs instead of 248 will let it heal 1 more HP per turn, for example if you went from 319 to 320 HP. However, even in cases where that jump doesn't occur, it does not hurt to put in the extra HP EVs with regards to Leftovers alone - it won't make Leftovers heal less or anything.

248 HP EVs is usually used in the cases of Stealth Rock weaknesses, some Substitutes, or Belly Drum, where you want to have an HP number that is/is not divisible by 2 or 4 depending on the circumstances (for example, you might want an odd amount of HP on Charizard so it can switch in on Stealth Rock twice, or you want an even amount of HP on Linoone so it can immediately trigger its Berry after using Belly Drum).
 

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