Attract Discussion: Is it even useable?

[Dragontamer]

Attract on sweepers is mostly useless. You use up a moveslot on what is at best an unreliable move, and you'll probably need that moveslot for type coverage.

Question: Does attract wear off after some time like confusion?

The strange thing about attract is that it has 100% accuracy, while at the same time is unreliable. Compare this to sing or OHKO attacks which have 55% or lower accuracy. Where as Sing or OHKO waste on the average 1 or 2 turns in battle, you will _never_ waste a turn with attract under normal conditions. (IE: no double team, etc. etc.)

When the situation comes forth, attract is very reliable (as in, you won't waste turns). But it is unreliable in the sense that there are some battles that it isn't worth even having on your team.

And no. Attract does NOT wear off. You must switch out. It is the bane of baton-passing teams as you baton-pass attract to your next pokemon :-/

 

[Captain Awesome]

Togekiss @ Leftovers/Bright Powder
Timid Nature
EVs: I dunno, maybe a tankish spread.
Ability: Serene Grace
-Thunder Wave
-Swagger
-Attract
-Air Slash

Demonkiss. Umbreon should pass Mean Looks to it for it to work. T Wave + Confusion + Attract + 60% Chance of a flinch = 11.25% Chance of doing anything. Bright Powder just in case something like this goes down:

Yes! I'm not paralyzed!
Yes, I'm not confused!
Yes, I'm not infatuated!
Yes, I didn't flinch!
Crap, my Thunder Bolt missed...

But it only makes it about 9.80% chance of attacking.

 

[Dragontamer]

Togekiss @ Leftovers/Bright Powder
Timid Nature
EVs: I dunno, maybe a tankish spread.
Ability: Serene Grace
-Thunder Wave
-Swagger
-Attract
-Air Slash

Demonkiss. Umbreon should pass Mean Looks to it for it to work. T Wave + Confusion + Attract + 60% Chance of a flinch = 11.25% Chance of doing anything. Bright Powder just in case something like this goes down:

Yes! I'm not paralyzed!
Yes, I'm not confused!
Yes, I'm not infatuated!
Yes, I didn't flinch!
Crap, my Thunder Bolt missed...

I would go along the lines of:

Togekiss @ Leftovers/Bright Powder
Timid Nature
EVs: I dunno, maybe a tankish spread.
Ability: Serene Grace
-Nasty Plot
-Attract
-Air Slash
-Aura Sphere

Togekiss is probably too slow for this strategy, and doesn't have agility. Nonetheless, by utilizing Nasty Plot while their pokemon is trapped, you set yourself up for a slow-sweep.

That way, you don't need mean-look passed down. Attract works best if Togekiss is faster than the opponent.

Strategy goes as follows:

1. Togekiss uses Attract.
* Opponent is attracted to Togekiss (50% of the time)

2. Togekiss uses Nasty Plot
* Opponent switches out.

3. Togekiss pwns with Air Slash and Aura Sphere, both dishing out the same damage after STAB.

On the other 50% of the time:
1. Togekiss uses Attract.
* Opponent hits Togekiss

2. Togekiss uses Nasty Plot
* Opponent switches out.

3. Togekiss pwns with Air Slash and Aura Sphere, both dishing out the same damage after STAB.

So in this case, you've got an injured Togekiss. This means that if the opponent can OHKO Togekiss, do NOT attract. Instead, switch out at the beginning.

I'd say that enumerates all the possibilities with this strategy... now we just need to find a faster pokemon, or a stronger pokemon with Dragon Dance...

How about:

TyraniWTF?
---------
Tyranitar @ Bright Powder
----
- Attract
- Dragon Dance
- Physical attack
- Physical attack

Yes. T-Tar learns attract. Considering that T-Tar is slow, I'd assume that it would go second here...

1. Opponent attacks T-Tar
* T-Tar uses Attract

2. Opponent switches out
* T-Tar Dragon Dances

3. T-Tar Sweeps.

This set is general enough to work with all Dragon Dancers (T-Tar, Dragonite, Garchomp, Gyarados, even Charizard). Yes, they all can potentially learn attract. So we've got a lot of pokemon to consider here.

Attract is not necessary if you switch into a Blissey.

 

[Drab Emordnilap]

The thing someone mentioned about how the two big special walls, Blissey and Crescelia, are always female, is the first big boost attract has gotten in a long time, I think. This warrants further discussion.

 

[sanjay120]

Dragontamer, Togekiss has Thunder Wave to help with the low speed.

 

[Dragontamer]

Dragontamer, Togekiss has Thunder Wave to help with the low speed.

It does not help if you are aiming for the sweep. A sweep by definition locks out the opponent completely. Wasting a single turn to thunder wave the opponent instead of simply using air slash or aura sphere removes the point if you are going to OHKO them anyway. (With 90 BP each after STAB, and 120 base special attack and 1 or 2 Nasty Plots, I'd assume that Togekiss can OHKO quite a few pokemon, and Attract to take out Blissey, its mortal enemy and to help set it up).

And second, Attract gives much more room for Togekiss to Nasty Plot up. With 50% chance of doing nothing instead of paralysis's 25%, you get more done in a single turn. I'm thinking Thunder-Wave will still be standard on Togekiss, I'm just musing on this alternative strategy.

Again, I think 2 Dragon Dances would much better suit the strategy instead. The most risky one seems to be a Belly-Drum Linoone who can benefit from Belly-Drum alone due to gluttony + salac berry and STAB Extreme Speed. The advantage from a Belly-Drum Linoone is that it can satisfy the requirements of Belly Drum in 1 turn, without wasting any turns on a substitute... over the more standard and more powerful BellyZard.

 

[Hypnotist]

The thing someone mentioned about how the two big special walls, Blissey and Crescelia, are always female, is the first big boost attract has gotten in a long time, I think. This warrants further discussion.

Yes, I've thought about this for quite some times and realized that Blissey was always female so why not Attract? Though I figured not all teams have Blissey and stuff. I did make a Luxray Rivalry set which involved the Choice Scarf and everything though. Now if only Rivalry where a stat boosting move like Speed Boost. >.< Ah well.

Though, the idea of mixing Rivalry and Attract caught my attention more and I find it quite interesting. :) Though not on Luxray, because it's still pretty slow, unless it has Quick Moves and stuff. But yeah, on Nidoking and Nidoqueen.