Pokémon Alolan Raticate

[readytolose]

Name: Raticate (Alola Form)

Type: Dark / Normal

Abilities:
Gluttony: The Pokemon consumes a held Berry earlier than it normally would.
Hustle: The Pokemon's Attack is multiplied by 1.5, but the accuracy of its physical attacks is multiplied by 0.8.
Thick Fat: The Pokemon takes half damage from Ice and Fire moves.

Stats: 75 HP / 71 Attack / 70 Defense / 40 Special Attack / 80 Special Defense / 77 Speed

Moves:
- Scary Face
- Swords Dance
- Tackle
- Tail Whip
- Quick Attack
- Focus Energy
4 Quick Attack
7 Focus Energy
10 Bite
13 Pursuit
16 Hyper Fang
19 Assurance
24 Crunch
29 Sucker Punch
34 Super Fang
39 Double-Edge
44 Endeavor
TM05 Roar
TM06 Toxic
TM08 Bulk Up
TM09 Venoshock
TM10 Hidden Power
TM11 Sunny Day
TM12 Taunt
TM13 Ice Beam
TM14 Blizzard
TM15 Hyper Beam
TM17 Protect
TM18 Rain Dance
TM21 Frustration
TM27 Return
TM30 Shadow Ball
TM32 Double Team
TM34 Sludge Wave
TM36 Sludge Bomb
TM41 Torment
TM42 Facade
TM44 Rest
TM45 Attract
TM46 Thief
TM48 Round
TM60 Quash
TM63 Embargo
TM65 Shadow Claw
TM68 Giga Impact
TM75 Swords Dance
TM86 Grass Knot
TM87 Swagger
TM88 Sleep Talk
TM89 U-turn
TM90 Substitute
TM95 Snarl
TM97 Dark Pulse
TM100 Confide
Egg Snatch
Egg Stockpile
Egg Swallow
Egg Switcheroo
Egg Reversal
Egg Counter
Egg Fury Swipes
Egg Uproar
Egg Me First
Egg Revenge
Egg Final Gambit

Analysis: Raticate has never been the greatest Pokemon to use in a competitive sense due to its low stats and mediocre typing, but it could carve out a niche in the lower tiers as a Guts user with priority. In Sun and Moon Guts is even better, with burn damage being nerfed to 1/16th HP per turn, but this is not regular Raticate we're talking about. This is Alolan Raticate, which eschews Guts and a decent Attack stat for Gluttony, Thick Fat, higher defenses, and a secondary Dark typing. With its main set taken away, how will Alolan Raticate thrive? Well..... Let's find out.

Sets:

Bustle:
Raticate-Alola @ Life Orb
Ability: Hustle
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Sucker Punch
- Swords Dance
- Return
- Crunch

Alolan Raticate's movepool lends it to a Swords Dance set, making good use of STAB Sucker Punch to clean up weakened threats. Even with the nerf, it's still a powerful priority attack that can really hurt. Return and Crunch are your main STAB attacks, and they actually have pretty good neutral coverage, only missing out on the handful of Rock and Steel types that resist Dark. Alolan Raticate has no real coverage options to mention: unlike regular Raticate it lacks Flame Wheel, and its only Fighting moves are very situational. Quick Attack is usable as a secondary priority against things that resist Dark, but it only outdamages not very effective Sucker Punch by a small margin. U-turn is usable for pivoting against defensive Pokemon early in a game, while also hitting Dark types super effectively.

Speed Ratcer:
Raticate-Alola @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Hustle
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Crunch
- Return
- U-turn
- Switcheroo/Final Gambit

With Hustle boosting Attack and Choice Scarf boosting Speed, Alolan Raticate can become a decent revenge killer 80% of the time. Crunch and Return are your main STAB attacks and have pretty okay neutral coverage as previously mentioned. U-turn is an excellent move for any Scarf user, letting Alolan Raticate pivot out and get momentum, although it's not as risk-free as it is on most Scarfers due to the miss chance. The last move is your best choice against walls: either Switcheroo to neutralize them or Final Gambit to take a big chunk of their health.

Thicc Rat:
Raticate-Alola @ Leftovers
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Taunt
- Super Fang
- Crunch
- U-turn

With Thick Fat and moderately better bulk and resistances, it can attempt to stallbreak. Taunt prevents defensive Pokemon from healing while Super Fang wears them down enough that Crunch can kill them. U-turn is a filler move that lets it pivot out if need be, but it can be replaced by something like Bulk Up.

Conclusion: It's mostly worse than regular Raticate and doesn't have the great stats or movepool to function as an offensive Pokemon. Normally to make the most out of a Pokemon with low stats, minmaxing is required, but GameFreak did the exact opposite here. There's no doubt that this will end up in PU, but when it's there, will it be able to carve out a place for itself as a Dark type? STAB Hustle boosted Sucker Punch hits pretty hard, so it may well succeed.

 

[zferolie]

I am leaning towards the first one. Swords dance with her slightly better bulk is nice, ould let it get at least 1 off before dieing, then quick attack and Sucker punch will do some massive damage with Hustle.

How is hyper fang on her, or is it best on only the bulky set?

 

[Poultry Lord]

I feel like it should work better than its standard counterpart because it gets Dark STAB and is bulkier overall. Hustle is better than Gluttony and Thick Fat imo, I doubt anyone would be willing to debate me on this. Alolan Raticate doesn't seem like the type that can stall or do anything defensive, and Gluttony is just meh, none of the berries that work with it particularly stand out to me. With perfect EVs, IVs, and a beneficial nature, Hustle can take Alolan Raticate's 265 attack and turn it into 397, albeit at the expense of accuracy. In comparison, Bisharp has 383 attack, slightly less than Hustle-boosted Alolan Raticate. Alolan Raticate's role will probably resemble a drunken Bisharp in that it strikes slightly harder but misses more often, which I think is more of a title than whatever standard Raticate has to his name. Swords Dance + STAB Sucker Punch will be a staple, Return is also promising, a 102 BP move with STAB isn't to be laughed at. I'll give Alolan Raticate credit for one thing; Dark/Normal could be better for the offensive than Dark/Steel even though it is clearly inferior on the defensive(then again I don't know the prevalence of Ice/Rock/Fairy in the PU metagame). I guess it's cool that you can switch him into a Psychic, Ghost, or Dark move without fearing too much damage or any damage at all. Basically has Stone Edge accuracy at all times though which is not good.

EDIT: Apparently people don't want to talk about Alolan Raticate. Imagine my shock

 

[STEELDRAGON]

Raticate-A @ Choice Band
Ability: Hustle
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Double-Edge
- Crunch/Sucker Punch
- Pursuit
- Quick Attack/Switcheroo/U-Turn

Raticate-A hits most things to a pulp. With a equivalent to more than base 130 attack it can do horrendous damage to most pokemon. It gets good neutral coverage with dark and normal moves and even gets some priorty moves. Sucker punch can revenge kill a lot of faster pokemon and pursuit can put certain pokemon in a checkmate position. For certain pokemon that it cant really touch such as mawile it can cripple it with Switcheroo or pivot out to the appropriate pokemon.

 

[Colonel M]

Swords Dance should really use Sucker Punch and Quick Attack. This way you're not getting gamed into situations where a mon can almost be finished off but decides to mind game you.

But the Swords Dance set and Thick Fat sets are undeniably for lower tiers only. That's where Raticate belongs IMO. Still the Dark-typing is a weird blessing since it retains its Normal STABs too.

 

[Tazonite]

If Ambipom's Fake Out has taught me anything, then I think I would likely say Hustle STAB Sucker Punch won't be enough.
It could be. It's a really big wait and see.
If even regular Raticate sucks and is outclassed by the other Normal types, I have no doubts Alolan Raticate will end up being at least overshadowed in favor of other members of both of its types.

 

[zCheshrye]

that mon just sucks to be honest losing 10 points of attack and speed that thing it needs life orb to be honest

 

[L0rdL33t]

Alas, if only it were bulkier. A super fang user with Immunity to psychic and ghost and resistance to fire and ice could be annoying.

 

[Laughing X-Naut]

The BST ceiling imposed by regular Raticate is not doing a bulky variant any favors... nor is the double weakness and relatively few resistances. Its main draw over its cousin is STAB Dark attacks; at least it kept one of the good abilities.

 

[eworm]

In-game, I often used Z-Focus Energy to boost my crit ratio and cancel the Hustle accuracy drop.
But that's not for competitive. Competitively, it's gonna be bad. I still love it a lot, but it's gonna be bad.

 

[jdcomix]

This thing is surprisingly good. I've seen people run life orb+swords dance+sucker punch and wreck entire teams

 

[Poultry Lord]

This thing is surprisingly good. I've seen people run life orb+swords dance+sucker punch and wreck entire teams

Have it on video or replay? I figured that 393 Attack(higher than Bisharp's) + Swords Dance + Life Orb + Sucker Punch would be good enough in at least some circumstances.

 

[Pushinguplilacs]

I'm intrigued by this thing as a PU player, but I don't dare run it in the current Fauxubers suspect testing hell we call OU rn. We'll see how it fairs though. Even in PU I'm not sure how far Dark/normal stab will take you. There's really not that many psychic types or ghosts going around, but the combo isn't really resisted by many top threats in the (gen 6) tier either, so I could see it getting use. I mean threatening and destroying Dusknoir/clops and gourgeist is a big boon in itself.

 

[Mysterin]

Raticate-Alola @ Leftovers
Ability: Thick Fat / Hustle
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Bulk Up
- Crunch
- Rest
- Sleep Talk

At best, it's an RU/NU version of Snorlax. I don't know whether or not I like Hustle or Thick Fat more.

 

[zCheshrye]

Raticate-Alola @ Leftovers
Ability: Thick Fat / Hustle
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Bulk Up
- Crunch
- Rest
- Sleep Talk

At best, it's an RU/NU version of Snorlax. I don't know whether or not I like Hustle or Thick Fat more.

Its probally gonna be pu since regular raticate is pu because its stat are lower than the regular raticate.

 

[Lazyboy0337]

I'd say the best Biggie Cheese can do is a Yolo set of Choice Band/Hustle. Thick Fat is nice but doesn't help it survive since it's bulk is poor anyways, and it'll be a waste to abuse that high power Sucker Punch.

 

[viol and bass]

Its probally gonna be pu since regular raticate is pu because its stat are lower than the regular raticate.

You can look at it that way, or you can take into account the fact that it's bulkier, hits harder with Hustle, and has a near-unresisted STAB combo. PU would surprise me.

 

[Zé Capáu]

You can look at it that way, or you can take into account the fact that it's bulkier, hits harder with Hustle, and has a near-unresisted STAB combo. PU would surprise me.

Nowadays, people's mentality be like...

"If it's not OU then it's PU!"

 

[zCheshrye]

You can look at it that way, or you can take into account the fact that it's bulkier, hits harder with Hustle, and has a near-unresisted STAB combo. PU would surprise me.

but the problem with hustle is it can miss tho so u have take that into account.

 

[pubby]

You can look at it that way, or you can take into account the fact that it's bulkier, hits harder with Hustle, and has a near-unresisted STAB combo. PU would surprise me.

That's what they said about Zweilous, and Zweilous isn't even good in PU.

 

[viol and bass]

That's what they said about Zweilous, and Zweilous isn't even good in PU.

Yeah, that's fair. A bit more speed and the addition of Sucker Punch goes a long way, but I suppose the comparison is valid.

 

[tegrof19]

Nowadays, people's mentality be like...

"If it's not OU then it's PU!"

wait you're telling me this isn't true?

 

[mertyville]

But what can this thing do with this below average attack stat? Besides with his secondary stat, it doesn't even hit harder than regular Raticate and that thing is meh in PU. Even its bulk isn't decent and its speed is just below average.
Why would anyone run this?

 

[DrPumpkinz]

But what can this thing do with this below average attack stat? Besides with his secondary stat, it doesn't even hit harder than regular Raticate and that thing is meh in PU. Even its bulk isn't decent and its speed is just below average.
Why would anyone run this?

Regular Raticate has to wait a turn for his Flame Orb to activate. Alolan Raticate doesn't have to wait for Hustle to boost his power, and since he doesn't need a Flame Orb, he can boost his power with a Choice Band or Life Orb. He also has a very strong priority move in STAB Sucker Punch.

 

[mertyville]

Regular Raticate has to wait a turn for his Flame Orb to activate. Alolan Raticate doesn't have to wait for Hustle to boost his power, and since he doesn't need a Flame Orb, he can boost his power with a Choice Band or Life Orb. He also has a very strong priority move in STAB Sucker Punch.

Regular Raticate has Hustle as its hidden ability.