Absol (Full Revamp) +

[Eo Ut Mortus]

<p>UU: Battle Armor Drapion makes an excellent counter to Absol. Drapion resists Sucker Punch while having an immunity to Psycho Cut. The only concern Drapion should have is a Swords Danced Superpower and most Drapion should be able to survive the impact.

I think Battle Armor should be omitted. In order to stand a chance against Absol, Drapion MUST outrun it, not take a hit from it. Drapion can survive a Superpower, but for it to do so, it must sacrifice too much attack to kill Absol.

+2 Adamant Absol's Life Orb Superpower vs Max HP / Max Def Impish Drapion: 251 - 296 (72.97% - 86.05%)
The same Drapion's X-Scissor against Absol: 160 - 190 (59.04% - 70.11%)

Offensive Drapions fare better, assuming said Drapion switches into a Swords Dance rather than a Superpower, although the Drapion must carry X-Scissor or Brick Break for a sure KO. Poison Jab and Cross Poison are probably going to KO, but you're dancing with the devil.

VS. min/min Absol
Adamant Max Attack Life Orb Drapion X-Scissor: 292 - 344 (107.75% - 126.94%)
Jolly Max Attack Life Orb Drapion X-Scissor: 268 - 316 (98.89% - 116.61%)
Adamant Max Attack Life Orb Drapion Brick Break: 274 - 324 (101.11% - 119.56%)
Adamant Max Attack Life Orb Drapion Poison Jab: (80.81% - 95.20%)
Adamant Max Attack Choice Band Drapion Poison Jab: (93.36% - 109.96%)

And it is of absolute necessity to OHKO.

VS. min/min Drapion
Adamant Absol's Life Orb Superpower: 173 - 204 (61.57% - 72.60%)
+2 Adamant Absol's Life Orb Superpower: 344 - 405 (122.42% - 144.13%)

The defensive Fighters (Intimidate Hitmontop, Poliwrath) take around 80% from +2 Superpower, making them easy to dispose of in the later game. The same goes for the likes of Weezing and Night Slash.

Hitmontop takes a +1 Superpower thanks to Intimidate. Speaking of which, I think that Intimidate Hitmontop should be listed as the prime counter to Absol.

vs Max HP / Max Def Impish Hitmontop
+1 Adamant Absol's Life Orb Superpower: 208 - 245 (68.42% - 80.59%)
+1 Adamant Absol's Life Orb Psycho Cut : 244 - 288 (80.26% - 94.74%)

-1 Adamant Absol's Life Orb Psycho Cut : 110 - 130 (36.18% - 42.76%)
-1 Adamant Absol's Choice Band Psycho Cut: 124 - 148 (40.79% - 48.68%)

vs Min HP / Min Def Absol
Min Atk Impish Hitmontop's Close Combat: 374 - 444 (138.01% - 163.84%)
Min Atk Impish Hitmontop's (no technician) Mach Punch on Absol: 126 - 150 (46.49% - 55.35%)

My two cents.

 

[Colonel M]

Alright. Hitomtop is the first counter for UU. Also fixed the Swords Dance set a little bit and put Night Slash as the first option.

Wow, I never knew Absol has only a few counters when all of its sets are considered. The Swords Dance set is pretty scary, but even the Mixed Set is rather difficult to handle.

 

[yokie]

I recommend adding a note in the Counters section for the SD set about taking advantage of Superpower's -1 Atk/Def drop with prediction. Something like this:

"A mispredicted Superpower is often overlooked in how much it hurts SD Absol. Switching a fighting resist like Weezing into a predicted Superpower will downgrade Absol's threat. Superpower's -1 Atk drop is significant by reducing crucial OHKOs to 2HKOs and 2HKOs to pitiful 3HKOs. Use Absol's best Platinum addition, Superpower, against it by forcing Attack drops. Absol's mispredicted hits will add up quickly with the LO recoil. Of course, this can backfire, because your opponent can outpredict your switches and use Swords Dance instead of Superpower.

 

[Colonel M]

I could mention it in Absol's "downfalls" near the end of the counters section. That's probably the best place to put it.

(And I know my grammar ain't perfect).

 

[Colloquy]

Heh, I always use Psycho Cut on my Absol for the quick kills on the Poison-type walls that always switch in, like Nidoqueen and Weezing. I understand the merit in having Night Slash to use when the opponent switches, but it just seems like Psycho Cut comes in handy more in a Poison-type filled metagame.

 

[Colonel M]

Heh, I always use Psycho Cut on my Absol for the quick kills on the Poison-type walls that always switch in, like Nidoqueen and Weezing. I understand the merit in having Night Slash to use when the opponent switches, but it just seems like Psycho Cut comes in handy more in a Poison-type filled metagame.

I see what you mean, which is the reason why Psycho Cut is still a good option IMO. The abundance of Poison-types make it noteworthy (the Fighting-types at the moment are moot since most of them are faster than Absol anyway in UU or have Mach Punch).

 

[Everstone]

Just wanted to say that Super Luck and Counter on Absol cannot coexist, as Counter is a 3rd gen only tutor move for it.

 

[urza220]

[SET]
name: Swords Dance

<p>While Fighting-types such as Hitmontop are viable threats against Absol, a Life Orbed Swords Dance Sucker Punch will do 64 – 75% damage to a 304 HP / 226 Def Hitmontop without Intimidate. In other words, you can take down a weakened Hitmontop provided that you Swords Dance on the switch and follow-up with Sucker Punch. If the recoil from Life Orb is unappealing, Scope Lens is the best alternative. It pairs well with Super Luck to boost its critical hit ratio up to 12.5% of the time before using Night Slash or Psycho Cut. Fire Blast with a neutral or even a negative nature makes a good alternative to Psycho Cut. In OU, it 2HKOes Skarmory, and Steelix in UU.</p>

The standard critical hit chance is 6.25%, so Super Luck brings it up to 12.5%. Using a Scope Lens boosts it to 25% before using a high CH chance move, which makes the odds 50%.