Battle Spot - Simple Questions and Answers

[ethan06]

Is Chatot any good in singles? It's only #143 in usage, but that's still higher than some things in the viability rankings like Feraligatr, Omastar, and Kabutops.

It has a very strong STAB Boomburst(even a tiny bit stronger than Exploud's,) and another really good move in Chatter, which has a reasonable 65 BP and always causes confusion. Chatot also has some other really nice moves like Heat Wave, Encore, Taunt, and U-Turn.

But on the other hand it's ridiculously frail with 75/45/42 bulk, not much better than Sharpedo and worse than its mega. It's not that fast, and base 92 SpA is only kinda good. It's only ability that'd useful at all, Keen Eye, is also pretty situational and usually gonna do nothing.

You basically said it in that last sentence. I've tried it out a bunch of times and not gotten far with it - it's too weak without Specs and dies without Sash. Boomburst is nice but gets blocked by Gengar and Aegislash, and virtually everything that's even a little bit common in the meta outspeeds and KOs (Kang, Thundurus, Garchomp, Blaziken, Gengar...). Heatran, Rotom and Tyranitar wall it and Chatter doesn't proc confusion enough to justify the low base power. Best to go with Mega Pidgeot if you want something that does the same thing but better.

 

[MagikaripIsOP]

Is Chatot any good in singles? It's only #143 in usage, but that's still higher than some things in the viability rankings like Feraligatr, Omastar, and Kabutops.

It has a very strong STAB Boomburst(even a tiny bit stronger than Exploud's,) and another really good move in Chatter, which has a reasonable 65 BP and always causes confusion. Chatot also has some other really nice moves like Heat Wave, Encore, Taunt, and U-Turn.

But on the other hand it's ridiculously frail with 75/45/42 bulk, not much better than Sharpedo and worse than its mega. It's not that fast, and base 92 SpA is only kinda good. It's only ability that'd useful at all, Keen Eye, is also pretty situational and usually gonna do nothing.

I could see it working nicely with thunder wave support. Nothing close to the top tiers of the meta though

 

[Six Trails]

I'm aware that Mega Latios is useless in OU, but is it considered more viable in BSS due to clearing up a spot for another Life Orb user?

 

[Xander of Nohr]

I'm aware that Mega Latios is useless in OU, but is it considered more viable in BSS due to clearing up a spot for another Life Orb user?

Latios usually isn't even running Life Orb—Choice Specs is the preffered item. Much like in OU, the only real reason to use M-Latios over Latios is if you simply want to, and the PGL usage ranks are backing me up on this: Latiosite is #5, right under Specs, Scarf, LO and, oddly enough, Light Clay. You know it's bad and outclassed when even Screen Latios ( which is still more common than Life Orb the more you know...) is more popular than its mega.

So, all in all, I'd say no.

 

[Hulavuta]

Honestly though, even if it frees up its item for another Pokemon, it's taking up the team's Mega slot which is really bad. Megas are really good in this format and it's really not worth cutting yours in order to use Mega Latios.

If you just wanted to use Mega Latios because you really like it, you can probably get it to work. But unfortunately your team will not be as optimized as it could be.

 

[Omastar68]

After mega evolving Latios still has the same typing, Spe tier, and ability. It's power is less than regular Latios with a boosting item, and it receives a fairly large but mostly useless boost boost to its Atk stat, while bulk is not improved by as much as on most things, namely Latias.

Latias is Ofc very similar and makes for a better mega than Latios because the stat boosts she gets are better. Still, even she's not that great, failing to distinguish herself from her non mega enough to warrant giving up a mega slot in most cases.

 

[cant say]

Latios usually isn't even running Life Orb—Choice Specs is the preffered item. Much like in OU, the only real reason to use M-Latios over Latios is if you simply want to, and the PGL usage ranks are backing me up on this: Latiosite is #5, right under Specs, Scarf, LO and, oddly enough, Light Clay. You know it's bad and outclassed when even Screen Latios ( which is still more common than Life Orb the more you know...) is more popular than its mega.

So, all in all, I'd say no.

Dual Screens + Memento Latios is one of the best set up enablers in the game.

When I say best I mean as good as a dedicated suicide lead goes lol.

 

[WaffleTitan]

Hello! The last time I played battle spot was before I joined smogon. It was also actually the primary reason I joined smogon. Anyway, the question I have: is there still officially an XY battle spot, or is it exclusively ORAS now? Nearly all of my battle ready Pokemon (3 boxes) are on my Pokemon X cartridge and it would really not be optimal for me to transfer them. Also, once gen 7 is released, will the gen 6 battle spot go down or be maintained? Sorry for the potentially trivial questions!

 

[NOVED]

Hello! The last time I played battle spot was before I joined smogon. It was also actually the primary reason I joined smogon. Anyway, the question I have: is there still officially an XY battle spot, or is it exclusively ORAS now? Nearly all of my battle ready Pokemon (3 boxes) are on my Pokemon X cartridge and it would really not be optimal for me to transfer them. Also, once gen 7 is released, will the gen 6 battle spot go down or be maintained? Sorry for the potentially trivial questions!

There is still an XY battle spot but its not nearly as competitive or active as ORAS. And since Gen 7 is also on the 3DS i think we can expect Gen 6 Battle Spot to stay online for quite a while, it just won't be very active compared to the newer Gen, similarly to how XY is now

 

[WaffleTitan]

There is still an XY battle spot but its not nearly as competitive or active as ORAS. And since Gen 7 is also on the 3DS i think we can expect Gen 6 Battle Spot to stay online for quite a while, it just won't be very active compared to the newer Gen, similarly to how XY is now

Ok, thanks! Maybe I'll try to transfer a few over to ORAS if it's a big difference.

 

[cant say]

Ok, thanks! Maybe I'll try to transfer a few over to ORAS if it's a big difference.

I highly recommend you do, XY is fine to play but our focus is on the current ORAS metagame, and we'll obviously shift to S&M when that comes out too. Also, all the Online Competitions are played on ORAS so if you want to play them then you're kinda forced to anyway.

You can also breed a lot easier in ORAS with the way the daycare, "endless bike circle" and IV checker are all in the same place, so if you migrate everything over than you don't really have to play XY again.

 

[Hulavuta]

Hello! The last time I played battle spot was before I joined smogon. It was also actually the primary reason I joined smogon. Anyway, the question I have: is there still officially an XY battle spot, or is it exclusively ORAS now? Nearly all of my battle ready Pokemon (3 boxes) are on my Pokemon X cartridge and it would really not be optimal for me to transfer them. Also, once gen 7 is released, will the gen 6 battle spot go down or be maintained? Sorry for the potentially trivial questions!

Paying 5 dollars for Bank to transfer all your Pokemon wouldn't be a bad investment at all. It'll be a bit difficult getting all the items again in ORAS, but it'd be worth it.

 

[HNA]

I see that Infernape is ranked B in the battle spot viability ranking thread, what is its niche over blaziken exactly ?

 

[Psynergy]

I see that Infernape is ranked B in the battle spot viability ranking thread, what is its niche over blaziken exactly ?

For the most part Blaziken is just better at everything that Infernape can do, for both physical sets and special sets. What gives Infernape a niche is as a Stealth Rock lead mainly. Mach Punch, Stealth Rock, Encore and Endeavor are mainly what sets Infernape apart from Blaziken, so they don't really compete for team slots since their roles are fairly different. There's an Infernape analysis here if you're interested more in the specifics, though frankly I'd say Endeavor is equally as viable as the moves listed in the main set there.

 

[Pyritie]

Has there ever been a battle spot special season or competition with sky battles? I could've sworn we had one at some point, but I know my memory is terrible.

 

[cant say]

Has there ever been a battle spot special season or competition with sky battles? I could've sworn we had one at some point, but I know my memory is terrible.

Nope :(

 

[Yomegami]

Can Mega Metagross afford to drop Zen Headbutt, or is that a mandatory move for it in Battle Spot Singles? Presumably there's a good reason why most Metagross have it, but I'm not quite sure if I understand what that reason is.

 

[Pyritie]

Can Mega Metagross afford to drop Zen Headbutt, or is that a mandatory move for it in Battle Spot Singles? Presumably there's a good reason why most Metagross have it, but I'm not quite sure if I understand what that reason is.

It gives good neutral coverage on a lot of things that resist steel, but it is by no means a requirement.

 

[cant say]

Can Mega Metagross afford to drop Zen Headbutt, or is that a mandatory move for it in Battle Spot Singles? Presumably there's a good reason why most Metagross have it, but I'm not quite sure if I understand what that reason is.

I've run it without Zen Headbutt a lot and it's been fine, but that may be because the rest of my team wasn't beaten by Fighting-types / Rotom-W so it didn't matter.

I had Iron Head / Bullet Punch / Earthquake / Ice Punch

 

[MQJinx]

What are some good teammates for Lapras?

 

[Arco223]

What are some good teammates for Lapras?

Lapras really likes stuff that can take out grass, rock, and fighting types so i have found that it works pretty well with mega salamence since lapras can take on the ice and dragon types that sala isnt too fond of while sala can take on grass and fighting types with aerialate DE/return/facade/whatever and rocks with earthquake

 

[Omastar68]

What are some good teammates for Lapras?

Too add on to to what was said, stuff that's physically bulky and things that can mess with users of sub are good. Sylv eon might be pretty good. Whimsicott shuts down sub users completely if it locks them into a bad move, and has good synergy.

 

[freekhoorn]

252+ SpA Mega Charizard Y Overheat vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Assault Vest Regice in Sun: 122-146 (65.2 - 78%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Wow! Why do noone ever uses regice?

 

[Nelson Tangela]

252+ SpA Mega Charizard Y Overheat vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Assault Vest Regice in Sun: 122-146 (65.2 - 78%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Wow! Why do noone ever uses regice?

- Garchomp hits you on the physical side. You probably can live one attack unless Stone Edge crits or something, but will take alot of damage in the process. If Chomp is Sash, you probably lose and you can't safely switch in. Chomp often runs Stealth Rock.

- Kangaskhan wins.

- Gengar's worst case scenario is forcing a trade with Destiny Bond. Otherwise you lose to Hypnosis + Fail Blast if the Gengar user gets lucky.

- Talonflame hits you on the physical side with a super effective STAB.

- Thundurus could be Nasty Plot Focus Blast or Life Orb Focus Blast. FB Thundurus is not common and Regice probably wins most of the time, but you can't really switch in especially if rocks are up. This is a matchup in Regice's favour though.

- Blaziken. lol

- Salamence. Ice Beam is obviously an OHKO, but Regice won't enjoy Aerilate Double-Edge at all and can't really switch in without risking a 2HKO.

- Mawile. ROFL

- Aegislash. Well...

- Rotom-W. Regice walls it. Rotom walls you. Rotom could trick you though or just use Volt Switch to create momentum. 1vs1 Regice wins, Volt Switch probably screws you in a realistic scenario though.

- Greninja's Low Kick hurts. You can't switch into Low Kick and live another one.

- Cresselia can Toxic the Regice. It can abuse it to Calm Mind. It can heal the damage with Moonlight. You probably lose, since AV Regice can't Toxic it back.

- Suicune wins the long game. It Calm Minds in Regice's face while you waste Thunderbolt PP to Pressure. Rest keeps Cune alive. If it's Toxic Cune... same story.

- Mamoswine doesn't give a shit about anything besides Focus Blast and hits your physical side. It can fish for Fissure kills. Can Superpower you. Can set SR to cripple Regice's bulk or simply hit you with EQ for solid damage.

- Landorus-T. Same story as Mence... Ice Beam is an instant kill, but switching Regice in is not easy, especially if the Lando-T has U-turn...

- Ferrothorn's Gyro Ball would be weak af, but it can still Leech Seed you, hit your weaker defense and Protect to stall and stay alive. It also often runs Stealth Rock. I could see Regice win this with some lucky Focus Blast hits or Hidden Power Fire, but it is hardly a great matchup for Regice.

- Azumarill hits you hard, because it hits you on the physical side. Superpower Azumarill does not give a fuck, but even if it doesn't have Superpower... Waterfall still hurts. Especially if it drums on the Regice switch in..

- Breloom Spores you, then Mach Punches you. It also probably has a Sash to survive Ice Beams from early wake ups...

- Charizard. Just because Max SDef AV Regice lives an Overheat with health to spare, doesn't make this a great matchup. Zard Y still heavily threatens you and Zard X sets up on you and outright kills you... Regice has no business dealing with these, even more so if you don't know what kind of Zard it is yet...

- Porygon2. Neither hits the other for big damage, but Porygon2 could Toxic you or just kill you in ~10 turns while staying alive with Recover. AssVest Regice obviously has no recovery.



These are the 20 most common Battle Spot Singles mons and AssVest Regice does not achieve very much at all against them.

Battle Spot Doubles is even worse. AssVest means no Protect and Rock Slide is the best move in doubles (besides Protect). Double targetting counteracts your insane special bulk too.

 

[cant say]

Assault Vest Lapras and Articuno are way better