★ 1v1 Suspect #1 - Annihilape

[clerica]

Thanks rosa for helping find a song
​

As mentioned previously with the Spore and Yawn ban, 1v1's first suspect of the new generation will be Annihilape! With some time for the meta to settle since the Scream Tail ban, Annihilape has shown itself to be quite the threat, especially in the builder. With solid bulk and access to tools like Encore, Counter, Taunt, Bulk Up, and Rage Fist Annihilape is incredibly difficult to counter in a single team slot. Specially defensive sets can help cover mons such as Chi-Yu and while most Flutter Manes while physically defensive sets can take care of Chien-Pao and Meowscarada. Roseli Berry to help take care of fairies such as Azumarill and Sylveon. Anything that might try and set up on Annihilape such as Dondozo or Corviknight risk being falling victim to Encore or Taunt, and attacking mons could very well find themselves losing to Counter or Weakness Policy sets. On top of this it has the ability Defiant, which while not nearly as powerful as the abilities seen on other banned pokemon like Mimikyu and Dragonite, does make Annihilape more challenging to deal with when it comes to Intimidate users like Arcanine or potential stat drops from moves like Moonblast or Liquidation. With all of these tools, Annihilape has some kind of answer for almost anything, and while some counters such as Reflect Weakness Policy Gholdengo and Choice Specs Salamence do exist, the majority of its answers are checks that end up losing to one of it sets.

That being said, Annihilape does have its flaws. While it has plenty of tools at its disposal, it can only run a few of them on each set. There is no Annihilape that can beat Chien-Pao and Chi-Yu in one set. Annihilape can do a lot on paper, but in practice there is only so much it can do in one set which makes it feel inconsistent at times. There are also a few more niche ways to try and work around Annihilape with sets like Mental Herb Sableye and some lower ranked flying types like Choice Band Talonflame and Iron Jugulis.

For this suspect test, we will be using the regular 1v1 ladder, so you must create a new account that begins with 1APE to qualify. Annihilape will be legal on the ladder. The Deadline for the Annihilape Suspect is Thursday, January 5th, 11:59 PM EST (GMT -5)

This suspect shall be reusing the sliding scale system from the prior suspects, being:

Minimum Games Needed

GXE	Minimum Games
75	50
75.3	49
75.6	48
75.9	47
76.2	46
76.5	45
76.8	44
77.1	43
77.4	42
77.7	41
78	40
78.3	39
78.6	38
78.9	37
79.2	36
79.5	35

The way this works is that the minimum game requirement is reduced by 1 game for every 0.3 GXE you have above 75 GXE, down to a minimum of 35 games with a GXE of 79.5 or above, with the absolute minimum GXE requirement being 75%, with at least 50 games played.

As always the normal rules of suspect tests apply. Disallowed behaviors include things like boosting other accounts, attempting to vote with multiple accounts, intentionally losing against suspect participants, coercing an opponent to lose, playing games in a voice call, sharing accounts, and trading/buying/selling/giving away suspect ladder accounts. Cheating will not be tolerated and anyone caught cheating will be disqualified and potentially infracted.

You must use a fresh account registered after the posting of this thread for your reqs. This alt must begin with 1APE, e.g. 1APE smely

Additionally, we will be implementing a procedure used by other tiers where suspect reqs will be verified by the 1v1 Tier Leaders / subforum moderators. With this in mind:

• DO NOT LOAD UP MORE GAMES AFTER GETTING REQS UNTIL YOU HAVE BEEN VERIFIED!
• Once verified, your post will be edited with you being notified of the verification.
• If you load up more games before being verified and end up losing your qualifying GXE, your post will be deleted and you will have to qualify again.

If you have achieved the voting requirements, CLICK HERE.

When posting in this thread, please keep in mind these rules:
1. No one liners or uninformed posts
2. No discussion on other potential suspects or the suspect process
3. Be respectful

Your post will be deleted and possibly infracted if you fail to follow them. Have fun!

Also tagging Kris to implement the suspect (and Sleep Powder ban) please!

 

[delemon]

I have made a list of ape counters

Annihilape counters (long)

Taunt and win the mirror
Mental herb fuck you deddd you lied to me it doesnt win
You need weakness policy
Mental herb ig
Moonblast
Be warry of counter

Wisp hex Gg

This mon is kinda epic

This is the worst mon in the tier.
Has to be specs
mental herb is funny and wins

 

[DMPancake]

This might lose + it's bad

Vivillon loses to Annihilape if you click Sleep Powder on Vital Spirit ape (but sleep will be banned soon, so Vivillon will be bad soon), or if you suspect Vital Spirit, lose the 50/50 on ape clicking encore vs rage fist. if they encore your quiver dance it's over, if they rage fist on your hurricane you have a max 68.8% chance to lose instantly. Otherwise you win.

That is to say, you have to outplay your opponent very heavily and ape just has to mash buttons.

 

[delemon]

Vivillon loses to Annihilape if you click Sleep Powder on Vital Spirit ape (but sleep will be banned soon, so Vivillon will be bad soon), or if you suspect Vital Spirit, lose the 50/50 on ape clicking encore vs rage fist. if they encore your quiver dance it's over, if they rage fist on your hurricane you have a max 68.8% chance to lose instantly. Otherwise you win.

That is to say, you have to outplay your opponent very heavily and ape just has to mash buttons.

ye i thought so just not sure if vital spirit is real post yawn

 

[fruan]

It is impossible for mental herb dondozo to beat taunt counter annihilape. Edit: Tom1535 taunt literally wins every scenario.

 

[deddd]

wp wisp skele can also just win v all ape btw
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen91v1-1756249280-sugcd5f9rhclpfsvcm4dwnm38wl4y46pw
can live double rfist from most ape and tsong into boosted hex always wins
252+ Atk Annihilape Rage Fist vs. 192 HP / 252+ Def Skeledirge: 356-420 (89.6 - 105.7%) -- 37.5% chance to OHKO(this is 150 bp rfist and max atk ape isnt real trust me)

set

Skeledirge @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Unaware
Tera Type: Fire
EVs: 192 HP / 248 Def / 68 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 30 Spe
- Will-O-Wisp
- Torch Song
- Hex
- Blast Burn
meow bulk spatk dump for nonband dozo odds w burn and crash recoil

0 Atk burned Dondozo Wave Crash vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Skeledirge: 93-111 (22.5 - 26.9%) -- 34% chance to 4HKO

no slack off costs you the cb dozo mu kinda but blast burn allows u to ko meow w/o needing blaze
also cb dozo should run water veil for dirge anyway imo
252+ Atk Choice Band Gale Wings Talonflame Brave Bird vs. 192 HP / 252+ Def Skeledirge: 169-201 (42.5 - 50.6%) -- 2% chance to 2HKO
68 SpA Skeledirge Hex (65 BP) vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Talonflame: 109-130 (36.7 - 43.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
68 SpA Skeledirge Blast Burn vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Talonflame: 126-148 (42.4 - 49.8%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
still fine into cb talon(hex bburn kills after recoil)

anyways the other thing is that ape has serious oppurtunity cost which makes it kinda hard to click sometimes
hate advocating for setguessing but in a centralized meta i think its much easier

-while stallbreaker(taunt counter) ape gains the dondozo and corviknight mus, it also loses hard to chi yu, flutter, sylv, and even iron bundle
- stallbreaker ape not having a fighting move also has made me lose to maushold multiple times during the suspect bruh

-roseli gives u fairy insurance but standard set gets rolled by chi yu and also loses to wisp, this set also loses to dozo, non wp wisp skele if you drop taunt

-spdef wp just loses to flutter, great tusk, meow, and other physical attackers that no longer fear counter

mon can also just be dead weight at some previews

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen91v1-1752894509
here stallbreaker ape does win v arc, but so does dondozo and dozo can also beat non tbolt giraf while ape has no hope of beating giraf or bundle so my only clicks are av chi yu into bundle/giraf and dozo into arc

 

[fake tom numbers]

was gonna make a huge post but man this mon doesn't deserve it

draft of the post (kinda sad)

Annihilape @ Roseli Berry
Ability: Vital Spirit
EVs: 124 HP / 116 Atk / 252 SpD / 16 Spe
Careful Nature
- Counter
- Gunk Shot
- Rage Fist
- Drain Punch / Low Sweep / Close Combat
L sd exists
L cm -> shadow ball wins
L wisp wins
W there's like 15 different things that can happen (trick, leech seed, protect, play rough) + sub overgrow sets exist but those suck so I'll be generous and give le win to ape
L curse exists
L reflect np exists
L bu exists
W ish wp bundle sets exist but those are bad so ape takes le win
L wp exists (do not use this mon btw it sucks)
L somehow??? wp ruination -> eq wins

yeah ape is annoying to check in the builder but if you have used ape once you're in a setguessing hell against mons like chi yu, meowscarada, dondozo, iron hands, etc. Other stuff like wp sylv, reflect gholdengo, and sableye (this mon is good now) are some easy counters you could slap on to a team, and to beat some mons you need some obscure item/move to beat them. Using this mon is such a pain and it isn't worth using imo

It is impossible for mental herb dondozo to beat taunt counter annihilape.

ape has to 50-50 between Band and Curse sets

tl;dr #swaggodForTierLeader

 

[Thy_Leige]

I have made a list of ape counters

Annihilape counters (long)

Taunt and win the mirror
Mental herb fuck you deddd you lied to me it doesnt win
You need weakness policy
Mental herb ig
Moonblast
Be warry of counter

Wisp hex Gg

This mon is kinda epic

This is the worst mon in the tier.
Has to be specs

I have found Gallade to be able to outspeed and reliably take it out with sharpness psycho cut.

 

[recti]

hah hatred

hatred back

owned

 

[Itchy]

Annihilape remains unbanned, ty to everyone who participated in the suspect process