Battle Stadium Regulation C Analysis Discussion And Updates

[Theorymon]

Analyses for Battle Stadium Singles Regulation C has started! As usual, post in this thread for feedback. Want something added, or think something is out of date? Post in here!

I'll also be posting in this thread whenever major stuff is updated!

 

[Theorymon]

Time for stuff to launch, and with it, I've updated 4 Pokemon to take Regulation C into account! And just so I don't repeat this, all of them have mentions of the Treasures of Ruins somewhere!

Flutter Mane

- As requested for eons, Flutter Mane now has several different bulky EV spreads in its first set! Because there's a lot of different approaches, they're actually divided into EV spreads that get Speed Boosts from Protosynthesis, and ones that don't.

- Choice Scarf has been slashed in, since its nice for bulkier spreads that can't afford to rely on Booster Energy.

Dragonite

- Choice Band now has bulkier EV spreads in addition to the fast one.

- Tera Poison is given a mention on the Trapper set as a niche way to deal with Toxic Spikes.

- Weakness Policy is now mentioned on defensive Dragon Dance.

- Defensive Dragon Dance has different EV spreads than last series.

- Bold / Impish are now the main natures on Encore Trapper Dragonite.

Iron Bundle

- Substitute has been moved out of Other Options because of the Sucker Punch stuff flying around, Taunt is now in Other Options.

Baxcalibur

- The first bullet point now mentions what makes Baxcalibur different from Chien-Pao.

 

[Theorymon]

I updated 5 more Pokemon! Gotta take a short nap, but I think I should be able to pump these out faster as I start going through the more simple Pokemon!

Gholdengo

- Made Tera Fairy mentioned more due to the Sucker Punch resistance

- I removed Assault Vest, its a super rare set and competition for holding Assault Vest is fierce. If anyone wants it added back though, let me know!

- I added a new bulky Nasty Plot spread that can survive two Icicle Crashes from Sash Chien-Pao after Tera.

- I made Tera Water a much more prominent mention, blame Chi-Yu lol

Magnezone

- I made the main spread max HP / max SpA / 4 Spe because AV is often its big item now. I do still mention faster spreads though!

- I slash in Mirror Coat now

- I mention Tera Ground for smacking Iron Moth and Magnezone.

Iron Valiant

- Shadow Ball is no longer a required slash in mixed, due to Skeledirge's falling usage.

Garganacl

I bring up Tera Poison for Tspikes Absorbing and the Fighting / Fairy resists.

Azumarill

- I added Tera Electric for it hitting Dondozo / Toxapex / Iron Bundle / Corviknight

- I got rid of Ice Spinner, I think Azumarill should make sure it can one shot Iron Bundle!

 

[Theorymon]

I updated 5 more Pokemon!

Dondozo

- Added a new EV spread that takes on Tera Electric Baxcalibur better while still having some SpD bulk, plus added a bullet about Leftovers numbers.

-Added Earthquake to the first set, I think its worth bringing up for hitting Magnezone among other things.

- Added an EV spread for AV that avoids a 2HKO from Choice Specs Chi-Yu Dark Pulse

- Made Tera Grass the headliner on OHKO and Curse again, blame the Breloom resurgence and Wo-Chien lol

Dragapult

- I made Dragon Dance an other options mention on the physical attacker and removed the DD set, it felt redundant especially when DD Dragapult has been having a rough time lately.

- I added Tera Steel to the offensive sets, its about time we covered Tera Steel + Tera Blast lol.

- I made Tera Ghost for special a bit less hyped due to the Ruins.

Corviknight

- Due to the ruins, Body Press is now the primary offensive move slash-in. I also slash Brave Bird in with Taunt because being totally walled by ghosts is miserable lol, especially when Chien-Pao Teraing into Ghost is not impossible.

- I slash Safety Goggles in because of Breloom rising back up + Amoonguss.

- I bring up Pressure messing with Ruination's PP

- A lot more Tera Water being brought up for the Ice and Fire resist being relevant.

- I massively de-emphasized the whole "Espathra BP" aspects of Bulk Up Corviknight, because Ting-Lu really messed with that playstyle.

Breloom

- Tera Grass is now in because if you get 3 hits, it OHKOs Chien-Pao through Focus Sash. Thank god Chien-Pao doesn't get Icicle Spear lol. Loaded Dice can do this too if you Tera Fire!

- Tera Ground is now just a mention, and Tera Rock got added as a mention too.

Amoonguss

- Tera Water is now the primary Tera on both sets because of the ruins.

- The pivot set is now the first set.

- Snythesis no longer has a slash in next to it anymore on the 2nd set.

- Sludge Bomb is now in both sets because of better chip damage vs Chi-Yu and breaking Wo-Chien subs.

* Stomping Tantrum and Hex are now Other Options mentions.

 

[zapper22001]

Iron Valiant has somewhat fallen off in Regulation C, but there was a popular EV spread over the previous two months which should be considered for the mixed attacker Focus Sash set.

Naive
12 HP / 228 Atk / 84 Def / 36 SpAtk / 148 Spe

The defensive investment gives you a really high chance of surviving 4 hits of Icicle Spear + Ice Shard from Baxcalibur or 5 hits of Icicle Spear.

252+ Atk Baxcalibur Icicle Spear (4 hits) vs. 12 HP / 84 Def Iron Valiant: 100-124 (66.2 - 82.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Baxcalibur Ice Shard vs. 12 HP / 84 Def Iron Valiant: 42-49 (27.8 - 32.4%) -- guaranteed 4HKO
252+ Atk Baxcalibur Icicle Spear (5 hits) vs. 12 HP / 84 Def Iron Valiant: 125-155 (82.7 - 102.6%) -- approx. 6.3% chance to OHKO

You have enough Atk investment to KO back unless Baxcalibur is bulky or you force out the Tera.
228 Atk Iron Valiant Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Baxcalibur: 218-258 (98.1 - 116.2%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO

You have enough SpAtk to 2HKO bulkier Dragonites through Multiscale:
36 SpA Iron Valiant Moonblast vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Multiscale Dragonite: 66-78 (33.3 - 39.3%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
36 SpA Iron Valiant Moonblast vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Dragonite: 132-156 (66.6 - 78.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Finally you hit a Speed stat of 170 which is just enough to outrun Garchomp.

 

[Theorymon]

Iron Valiant has somewhat fallen off in Regulation C, but there was a popular EV spread over the previous two months which should be considered for the mixed attacker Focus Sash set.

Naive
12 HP / 228 Atk / 84 Def / 36 SpAtk / 148 Spe

The defensive investment gives you a really high chance of surviving 4 hits of Icicle Spear + Ice Shard from Baxcalibur or 5 hits of Icicle Spear.

252+ Atk Baxcalibur Icicle Spear (4 hits) vs. 12 HP / 84 Def Iron Valiant: 100-124 (66.2 - 82.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Baxcalibur Ice Shard vs. 12 HP / 84 Def Iron Valiant: 42-49 (27.8 - 32.4%) -- guaranteed 4HKO
252+ Atk Baxcalibur Icicle Spear (5 hits) vs. 12 HP / 84 Def Iron Valiant: 125-155 (82.7 - 102.6%) -- approx. 6.3% chance to OHKO

You have enough Atk investment to KO back unless Baxcalibur is bulky or you force out the Tera.
228 Atk Iron Valiant Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Baxcalibur: 218-258 (98.1 - 116.2%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO

You have enough SpAtk to 2HKO bulkier Dragonites through Multiscale:
36 SpA Iron Valiant Moonblast vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Multiscale Dragonite: 66-78 (33.3 - 39.3%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
36 SpA Iron Valiant Moonblast vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Dragonite: 132-156 (66.6 - 78.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Finally you hit a Speed stat of 170 which is just enough to outrun Garchomp.

This has now been added onsite!

 

[Omastar68]

It's much less good now(the Mon, not specifically the set,) but for dragapult I have seen mixed. It can be good imo, where I might wall one or the other I perhaps no longer do cause mixed. I don't have evs or even nature for it, but something to maybe addm I double-checked and the strat dex bss has no mixed set(s.)

 

[Photon]

Made a significant update to the Armarouge set to bring it into Regulation C. Usage data below is per HOME.

• Mentioned Chien-Pao and Wo-Chien as targets for Armor Cannon.
• Mentioned Chi-Yu and Roaring Moon as targets for Aura Sphere.
• Added Tera Grass: Currently sits at 40.2% usage which makes it the most popular Tera Type.
• Added Tera Fairy: More niche but its more popular than Tera Fighting as a Dark-type resistance.
• Added Abilities section: While Weak Armor is definitely the most popular, Flash Fire still has a little over 30% usage. This is likely because it pairs well with the Tera Grass typing mentioned above, but its combination with Tera Fairy or Fighting also gives unique counterplay to Chi-Yu.

 

[Theorymon]

Made a significant update to the Armarouge set to bring it into Regulation C. Usage data below is per HOME.

• Mentioned Chien-Pao and Wo-Chien as targets for Armor Cannon.
• Mentioned Chi-Yu and Roaring Moon as targets for Aura Sphere.
• Added Tera Grass: Currently sits at 40.2% usage which makes it the most popular Tera Type.
• Added Tera Fairy: More niche but its more popular than Tera Fighting as a Dark-type resistance.
• Added Abilities section: While Weak Armor is definitely the most popular, Flash Fire still has a little over 30% usage. This is likely because it pairs well with the Tera Grass typing mentioned above, but its combination with Tera Fairy or Fighting also gives unique counterplay to Chi-Yu.

In addition to these, I added an offensive set! While Amarouge isn't common, due to Chi-Yu, there's been a "bulky" Flash Fire set running around that tends to mess with Chi-Yu once it Teras. The Sash set is still the prime set, but there's been enough variation that I think a 2nd set was needed, especially since I think those sets are where the majority of Flash Fires are coming from (though I HAVE seen Flash Fire on sash)

As for mons in generall... There's been a LOT of updates, like we're almost at 40 mons having sets for Regulation C! I'm gonna keep focusing on updating them but, later I'll go over the stuff that had major EV changes if anyone wants! If you want to see them now though, I would say a lot of the bulkier stuff like Great Tusk and Annihilape have new EV spreads!

 

[Omastar68]

On Ting-Lu I just saw AV w/ Tera Blast AND Heavy Slam. I think dropping the dark move can be ok. Gholdengo and Ceruledge are weak to ground, Flutter, Annihilape, and Mimi are neutral to dark, and Psychics are rare(more so that are weak to dark.) I guess you hit Dragapult for more, but their use is down.

 

[Photon]

Big set of revisions on the Bulkarona set, so posting here:

• Made several grammar fixes.
• Fixed multiple "outspeed Iron Bundle" remarks to indicate that its after a Quiver Dance (+1 Speed.)
• Multiple places talked about redistributing 12 EV's; it should be 8 EV's unless starting from zero (which the spreads are not.) Put it in the calculator just to make sure I wasn't missing anything. Corrected instances of redistributing 12 EV's to indicate 8 EV's instead.
• Made it a little clearer whether a calc takes Sitrus Berry into account or not.
• The Iron Valiant spread at the end was missing 16 EV's. Iron Valiant spread has had 16 EV's added into Defense. Feel free to correct this if something different was intended.

 

[Photon]

I've updated Rotom-H and Cloyster for Regulation C:

Rotom-H:

• Moved Choice Attacker set to the top, as it is overwhelmingly the higher usage set at this point per HOME item statistics.
• Added Discharge as an "Other Option" to the Choice Attacker set, as it currently sits a little over 20% usage.
• Updated Tera Types to Reg C standards.

Cloyster:

• Added bullet for Adamant versus Jolly nature comparison.
• Updated Tera Types to Reg C standards and rearranged/added types to reflect recent usage statistics.
• Added note to indicate that Cloyster normally needs a Shell Smash before its Ice Shard outruns other priority.

 

[Photon]

I've completed another round of dex updates. Updates are based on HOME data and Rotoportal team reports:

Blissey (Reg C Update:)

• Adjusted moves and slashes, in particular prioritizing Shadow Ball over Tera Blast. It is easily the most preferred option at this point, with Tera Blast usage substantially lower.
• Flame Orb is now the top recommended Fling item.
• Added Tera Dependency Bullet and Tera Fire. Tera Fire is in response to Chi-Yu, and is Blissey's most popular type for blocking its best Fire-type attacks, particularly Specs Tera Fire ones.
• Added Covert Cloak as an item choice, as it is now the most popular in terms of usage. Despite this, I opted to keep it as the secondary choice as Leftovers is the more "splashable" item so to speak; QC, feel free to direct on this one.
• Added EV Spread section, as Blissey has two types of spreads and now appears to favor sets that favor Special Defense over Defense.
• NEW SET ADDED - Bulky Offense: So apparently Expert Belt Chansey has started making the rounds, and several new offensive options have surged in usage.

Arcanine:

• Minor move/slashing adjustments.
• Updated EV Spread with a recent Season 5 spread. Click here to see the originating report.
• NEW SET ADDED - Offensive: Choice Band and Assault Vest sit around a combined 25% usage, and I have found at least one Choice Band set on a ranked team. Data supports this being a set that is gaining some traction. The EV Spread is a Season 5 spread pulled from a Rotoportal report. Click here to see the originating report.

Arboliva:

• Adjusted moves/slashes and rewrote Tera Blast's description to better reflect recent trends.
• Added Tera Electric to Tera Types.
  • Tera Types and by extension EV Spreads might need a pass at some point. For example, Tera Ground and Tera Grass have extremely low usage but they both have relevant calcs listed in the EV spreads section. If any QC people have any suggestions about whether to change or leave it, I'd be happy to hear it.

 

[Photon]

Ruh-roh, Raggy. I had the audacity to touch the queen supreme Flutter Mane, so I should probably note the changes here:

Flutter Mane:

• Psyshock is now slashed with Mystical Fire. Calm Mind is now slashed in for the fourth moveslot. STABs + Psyshock + Calm Mind is a Booster Energy set that has become a trend for winning the mirror match. You can see it utilized in several top placing Season 5 teams here, here and here, and that list is not exhaustive. This influenced several other changes as well:
  • Psyshock and Power Gem have been separated into their own bullets.
  • Calm Mind bullet has been added.
  • Volcarona matchup has been mentioned, since it is another big motivator for using Psyshock to get around the Special Defense boosting.
• Kept "Other Options" but implied the higher usage rate of Charm sets. Taunt and Thunder Wave are still interesting in their own right but their usage is not well-reflected in data. Though in hindsight... I'm not actually sure I should've added that, so I certainly wouldn't be offended if you removed that little blurb.
• Slight rearrangement of Tera Types based on usage data.
• Fixed ordering of "EV Spreads" and "Tera Types" section.

Hippowdon (Reg C Update:)

• Adjusted main set details slightly.
• Rewrote starting summary bullet to highlight distinguishing attributes compared to Ting-Lu.
• Added Sand Stream bullet, highlighting its usefulness for breaking Focus Sash and Multiscale.
• Reworded Slack Off bullet. If its going to be a main slash, I'm of the opinion it should be written in a more positive tone to highlight where it works as opposed to the other way around.
• Moved Rock Tomb to "Other Options."
• Added Tera Dependency bullet; removed Tera Grass and added Tera Water in its place.
• Modified several matchup references to reflect more recent trends.
• Sidenote: there are several different EV spreads floating around now for this thing, but I couldn't settle on which ones were worth putting in, if any. A lot of them seem specialized. This may be worth revisiting in greater detail.

I may do more updates today, but I wanted to post the Flutter Mane changes with some degree of promptness.

 

[Photon]

Can you tell I'm enjoying myself? Do you regret setting me loose on the Dex yet?

Chien-Pao:

I noticed that Tera Fairy hadn't made its way into the Dex yet, so I decided to do some research. I know the original hype was over the Rocky Helmet set on the #1 ranked team, but it turns out there are some other sweet applications for it. As part of that, there is a juicy EV spread (seen here and here) that I've added as part of the "Tera Fairy" update. With that out of the way:

• Adjusted third slash to prioritize Sucker Punch as the highest usage move.
• Added Tera Fairy and adjusted ordering of Tera Types to better reflect usage.
• Rewrote Tera Dependency bullet to reflect different prioritizations for different Tera types.
• Added new EV spread for Adamant nature Chien-Pao; added "EV Spreads" section to explain different EV spreads.

Iron Hands:

Major set adjustments based on HOME usage data and Season 5 reports. The most common AV set is physical STABS + EQ + Volt Switch (examples are here, here and here,) and a particular EV spread was routinely seen with AV sets as well (examples include the first two listed earlier, as well as here.) Using that as a baseline, I made several changes:

• Third moveslot slashes adjusted to reflect coverage options. Earthquake is prioritized as the highest usage coverage option.
• Fourth moveslot slashes adjusted to reflect utility options. Volt Switch is prioritized as the highest usage utility option.
• Removed Close Combat from the set. It is out of the top 10 in terms of move usage and I cannot find a single report where it is used.
• Added new main EV spread; added "EV Spreads" section to explain different EV spreads. Personally, I think the max / max spread is still worth keeping. I saw at least one report still using it, at least.
• Added Grass Tera and adjusted ordering of Tera Types to better reflect usage. Removed Fire Tera due to extremely low usage and to balance out the number of Tera Types from the previous addition.

 

[Photon]

A conversation on Discord actually got me thinking: do we need to consider splitting Chien-Pao into two sets? I’m thinking Sash/LO and Choice Attacker. The applications and Tera usages look distinct enough to warrant separating.

 

[Photon]

All right, I went ahead and did it:

Chien-Pao:

I pushed an update that splits the Tera Types into two sections: one for Focus Sash and Life Orb, and another for Choice Band. After doing some more research, I think this is warranted. There are meaningful offensive Tera calcs that apply to Choice Band sets that do not apply to Focus Sash and Life Orb, and I think that this is an elegant way of handling that that doesn't involve having two separate sets with lots of similarities. I'm taking some initiative here, so if we need to refine this a bit further let me know. For now though, here are the suggested changes:

• Split Tera Types into separate sections by items.
  • Original Tera Types section is now for Focus Sash and Life Orb. Removed Tera Fairy from this section.
  • Added Tera Types section for Choice Band. Moved Tera Fairy here and wrote section-specific bullets for Tera Dark and Tera Ice with relevant calcs.
• Updated EV Spreads section to indicate item preference or lack thereof.

 

[Photon]

Brought some lesser used mons into the Reg C category. HOME data used is from Season 6 only; report data is a combination of Season 5 and Season 6:

Tinkaton (Reg C Update:)

This one I've been eyeing for awhile, but for as high as its usage is (top 40) I barely see it and it has very little high-level representation. While its sets are somewhat self-explanatory, the problem is that they were decidedly tooled towards Reg B matchups and that made them feel quite outdated. There was some discussion on what to do with them, and in the end I made the decision to consolidate the two sets into a single "Offensive Support" set.

While I think there is value in having two distinct sets, Tinkaton has the same problem Chien-Pao had: the lines between these different sets have blurred considerably. Gigaton Hammer has been above or around 80% usage for months now, and limited report data combined with HOME nature usage seems to indicate that spreads are gravtitating towards simple max spreads. The point is that the differences between a Stealth Rock set and a more offensive set is very small in terms of build details, so for the time being I think that simply combining them is the most appropriate option.

With that being said, I tried to avoid significant rewrites and patched together a lot of what was in both sets. While a lot has changed, I will highlight the major tweaks alongside appropriate additions that were made for Reg C:

• Changed main spread to a simple max offensive spread, though I note that some Speed can be sacrificed if running Jolly.
• Change Tera Fire to Tera Water; Added Tera Fairy, Tera Ground and Tera Steel. Tera usage is really evenly split for this thing, so I did my best to try and determine what each is supposed to do.
• Changed original Careful EV spread to outspeed paralyzed Choice Scarf Chi-Yu. I did this by moving 16 Defense EVs to Speed, which did not affect the main Dragonite calculation listed.

Hydreigon (Reg C Update:)

While Hydreigon data is also somewhat sparse, there is clearer differentiation for its sets. I have kept all three and have made specific modifications as necessary:

• Removed Tera Fairy (3.6% usage, ranked 6th) from all sets and effectively replaced it with Tera Poison (17.4% usage, ranked 2nd.) This accomplishes the same main purpose of a Fighting-type resistance and blocking Great Tusk, and Tera Poison is what is supported by HOME usage data.
• Removed Tera Dark from all sets except for "HARBRINGER." Tera Dark is at an abysmally low 1.8% usage, which is likely because of the Treasures of Ruin making Dark Pulse spam a lot harder to do. I left it on the Choice item set though, as that is where it would make the most sense.
• While Tera Fire is very low in usage (7.5%,) it is still the third most used and as such has been retained in all sets.
• "HARBRINGER" changes:
  • Modified move slashes to better reflect recent trends. In particular, Flash Cannon usage is very high and the changes made help to reflect that. Fire Blast has also been added.
  • Added a comparison for Flamethrower and Fire Blast.
• "Versatile Attacker" changes (this is the big one. Reports used are here, here, here and here:)
  • Modified move slashes to better reflect report data. In particular, high-level sets are focused on Nasty Plot boosting and some form of disruption either through Taunt or Substitute.
  • Removed Thunder Wave from the slashes. It is very low usage now but it has been retained for the Stealth Rock set where I think it fits better.
  • Added references to Wo-Chien, as SubPlot / Taunt sets are a strong isolated check to it.
• "Stealth Rock" changes:
  • Prioritized Focus Sash over Leftovers for items. They are very close in usage, but based on the reports my guess is that Leftovers is more common on the SubPlot / Offensive Taunt sets.
  • This set has been mostly left alone otherwise, barring the set-wide Tera changes. Stealth Rock is very rare, but this set stands out enough on its own and is written in a tone that makes it more indifferent to the current regulation, if that makes any sense. I don't see a reason to get rid of it.

I made a lot of changes, so please feel free to point out if I missed something.

 

[Omastar68]

Hi. My 3 analyses have been sitting there for some time, is it ok to ask that they get looked at? This thread is seen more than an individual analysis page, so it seems a good spot to ask.

Edit: jolly orthworm is only 0.1%. I'd lose that set on the dex, though it was probably smart to suggest at the time. Not much else by usage, maybe put EQ ahead of heavy spam.

 

[Photon]

Some more updates. For Ting-Lu in particular, I used Season 5 and Season 6 reports, isolating Assault Vest Ting-Lu variants only:

Ting-Lu (Assault Vest:)

• Modified slashes on moveset. Heavy Slam is pretty much a given on AV sets these days. Dark STABs are both below 10% usage (don't know combined usage sadly as Throat Chop isn't top 10) and have practically no representation in high-level reports. Slashes have been adjusted to reflect this.
• Tera types:
  • Removed Tera Ground and Tera Grass. Tera Ground has only 3% usage and Tera Grass is even lower. No high level report representation.
  • Updated Tera Electric bullet. This is now a common response to defensive use of Tera Flying and Tera Water to get around Earthquake, in particular targeting Gholdengo.
  • Reordered Tera types. Inferred the new order from reports and HOME data usage. Fairy, Electric and Steel appear to be the most common AV Tera types for providing both strong offensive and defensive benefits, while Water and Poison appear to be more fringe uses for defense only.

Umbreon (Reg C Update:)

• Updated/added several matchup references to relevant Reg C matchups.
• Updated Tera types to reflect recent usage trends. Removed Tera Steel. Tera Fairy and Tera Poison are the top two by far. Tera Ghost also has decent usage, but if I'm being honest I'm not entirely sure why. I can't find a single report ever that uses Tera Ghost Umbreon, so it might be a lower ladder thing.
• Reworded Wish + Protect bullet. I've been trying to be more conscious of keeping the author's original wording, but this one was a bit awkward and a bit of a "run-on," so I tried to clean it up a little.
• Added an Item Section. Removed Sitrus Berry. Sitrus Berry usage is painfully low (under 5%) and doesn't fit Umbreon's role anymore.
• Miscellaneous grammatical/formatting fixes.

 

[Omastar68]

Last I checked the plurality of Espathra were Bold, not Timid. Timid is a fine slash, but Bold should at least be an option on the 2nd set. Which should really be the 1st set cause usage.

EDIT: would slash modest in on blissey, cause usage. I think Chansey is more for Bold sets, cause Eviolite. Blissey seems to capitalize on SpD mostly, w/ 7ish % more Modest than Bold.

 

[Photon]

Last I checked the plurality of Espathra were Bold, not Timid. Timid is a fine slash, but Bold should at least be an option on the 2nd set. Which should really be the 1st set cause usage.

EDIT: would slash modest in on blissey, cause usage. I think Chansey is more for Bold sets, cause Eviolite. Blissey seems to capitalize on SpD mostly, w/ 7ish % more Modest than Bold.

Noted on the Espathra nature. Bold should be in there somewhere. The Espathra sets still need to be updated for Reg C, which I'll probably take a look at here in the next couple of days.

Modest on Blissey I think is a trend for the instant offense set. Calm Mind sets prioritize the defensive natures for pivoting and since Calm Mind can patch up the Special Attack when needed.

On that note, with Reg D quickly approaching, my plan is to pause set writing (besides the one set I still need to wrap up in GP, of course, but I'm not at my dual screen setup right now :P,) and try to finish moving most of the "BSS Series 1/2" stragglers over into the new format. It'll help if only to finish the transition, though I'm sure some Reg C trends will still carry over and be useful to have on site.

This morning I finished up Clodsire, who actually had quite a few changes that I will explain below:

Clodsire (Reg C Update:)

• Changed name of set from "Support" to "Special Wall." Changed overview flavor text. I think this is a necessary change because Clodsire isn't really used as a pure support anymore. Its a very common defensive-style wincon now, so the new set name helps reflect that. I also highlighted it as a special alternative to Dondozo and Skeledirge as opposed to just stating it lacks physical bulk, which again is kind of misleading in the current meta as physical bulk is often not supposed to be its thing anyway.
• Removed Low Kick and Amnesia. Simply not being used with any consistency. Low Kick in particular to get around Hydreigon is not relevant to the current meta.
• Added Curse bullet. Added "Other Options" section with Stockpile and Rock Tomb.
  • Curse is a frequent sight on higher level teams and has usage on par with Stealth Rock.
  • Stockpile is far less common but is worth mentioning as it appears to be used on more defensive team archetypes.
  • Rock Tomb is the interesting one here. Its nowhere to be seen in HOME data usage, but diving into reports I saw it on three different top 100 teams (here, here and here.) It definitely appears to a high ladder trend for not getting walled by certain Gholdengo sets and such, so it definitely is worth putting on here in some capacity.
• Adjustments to "Tera Types" section.
  • Added "Tera Dependency" bullet. Adjusted ordering to reflect HOME usage data.
  • Removed Tera Flying, Tera Steel and Tera Fairy. Usage no longer supports them.
  • Added Tera Water, Tera Fire and Tera Electric. Tera descriptions for these should be fairly self explanatory. Tera Electric is another usage rate outlier here but, like Rock Tomb, has a lot of high-level representation.
  • Added note to Tera Dark regarding Psyshock usage. Felt this should be pointed out somewhere considering the surge of usage its seen with Flutter Mane. A bit of a roundabout way of doing it, so feel free to suggest a better alternative.
• Added "Items" section. Added Covert Cloak. Covert Cloak has decent HOME usage and is seen in a lot of high level reports.
• Adjustment to Water Absorb bullet. Another change to reflect the walling aspect of Clodsire.

Also, Umbreon still needs its "BSS Series 1/2" sets archived.

 

[Photon]

More progress:

Espathra (Reg C Update:)

• Moved Calm Mind set to the top. Before Reg C, there was a lot more gravitation towards pure offense sets at the higher level. Since Reg B is where the lion's share of report data comes from right now, this is more or less what I'm forced to go off of. In fact, the Offense set that has no write-up is probably more popular than Baton Pass too. I may go ahead and put something together for it, because its omission does feel a little egregious in light of meta contexts.
• "Calm Mind" changes:
  • Tera Blast is favored over Dazzling Gleam in the slashes. Dazzling Gleam bullet updated to be a comparison between the two.
  • Added Roost bullet. Usage remains high and is on par with Substitute.
  • Updated EV Spread and modified description bullet. Many S4 teams were running 12 Speed EVs; with or without Timid, it outruns Jolly Scarf Garchomp after two turns.
  • Tera Types:
    • Added Tera Dependency bullet.
    • Updated matchup references to relevant Reg C ones.
    • Converted Tera Dark into Tera Normal. Tera Normal is far more supported by usage now and fills a similar role of stopping Shadow Sneak and the like.
  • Added Items section. Added Lum Berry as an item option.
• "Speed Passer" changes:
  • Updated matchup references and Baton Pass info bullet to better reflect Reg C trends.
  • Converted description bullet in Tera Types to Tera Dependency bullet.
  • Not as many changes here, since Baton Pass has been very niche even compared to offensive sets. Tera Ghost, for example, is quite outdated and not supported by HOME usage data, but until Espathra has more recent data trends to go off of I've opted to keep most of the set's original flavor intact.

Pawmot (Reg C Update:)

• Updated matchup references to relevant Reg C ones.
• Prioritized Nuzzle more in the move slashes. Based off of HOME usage.
• Prioritized Focus Sash as the main item choice. Based off of HOME usage.
• Added Tera Dependency bullet.
• Fixed ordering of sections to reflect standard set ordering.

 

[Photon]

Not as many changes for this one, but more so just reordering and repurposing a lot of what was already there. A lot of what is left at this point is stuff with sparse data for Reg C, so I'm having to comb back into some earlier seasons to corroborate things. At any rate:

Quaquaval (Reg C Update:)

• Moved Moxie Sweeper to the top of the sets. Focus Sash is overwhelmingly the top item in HOME usage, which is associated with this set.
• "Moxie Sweeper" changes:
  • Moveset changes:
    • Added Aqua Jet to slashes ahead of Ice Spinner. The last two seasons show this as the third most popular move over Ice Spinner.
    • Added "Other Options" section. Added Wave Crash to "Other Options." Something of a gut call on my part based on what little supporting data it has, but that's why it's in "Other Options."
    • Removed Roost from slashes. Moved descriptive bullet to "Other Options." Its usage is sub 20%, so I'm opting to de-emphasize it here since it is most likely a lot of that usage is for "Bulky" sets.
  • Tera Type changes:
    • Added Tera Dependency bullet.
    • Added Tera Steel.
    • Removed Tera Grass and Tera Fire. Usage data does not support it. Tera Fire had a lone S4 report it was used in for the purpose of blocking Fairy-type attacks, but Tera Steel was just added for that purpose.
  • Item changes:
    • Emphasized Focus Sash as main item choice.
    • Added Assault Vest. It is the second most used item per HOME data and this is the only set it would fit on. I suspect it may be a more low ladder trend so I took my shot at trying to justify its inclusion.
    • Changed Life Orb to Mystic Water. Mystic Water is slightly higher than Life Orb in usage, but it also has some reports backing up its use as well. Decided to drop Life Orb altogether in favor of this.
• "Bulky" changes:
  • Tera Types:
    • Added Tera Dependency bullet.
    • Rearranged Tera Type ordering. I chose not to remove any of the Tera Types even if HOME usage indicated otherwise. As the less popular set, its another instance of having to wait until more recent trends can be properly identified.
  • Added Leftovers as an item choice. Leftovers is above Rocky Helmet and Covert Cloak in usage, even if not by much.
  • Modified Hydreigon EV spread to instead survive Timid Flutter Mane's Moonblast. Removed reference to Kingambit matchup. In providing a more relevant calc, I moved some Defense to Special Defense. As for the Kingambit calc, can someone advise on that one? Its oddly specific and when I put it into the calculator, Quaquaval was well off of the 2HKO.

 

[Photon]

One more for today: Orthworm! This is an interesting one. Despite having very low usage, this thing has snuck onto a few different high-ranking teams over Seasons 5 and 6. Still not a lot of data to go off, but its better than some of the others I've been working with. With that in mind, I actually ended up changing the tone of the IronPress set a fair amount to more accurately reflect how its role has subtly changed in recent seasons.

There is actually quite a bit of overlap between the IronPress and Support sets as well, but unlike other sets I didn't have to do a lot of matchup updates to make it sound right for Reg C. Because the Support set has a couple unique details as well, both sets have been kept.

There is some more nitty gritty, but I'll get into that below:

Orthworm (Reg C Update:)

• "IronPress" changes:
  • Moveset:
    • Iron Head is prioritized over Heavy Slam in the slashes. Since a big selling point of Orthworm is to win against Dragonite and company in the back, Iron Head is usually the call (if running a Steel-type move in the first place, but I'll get to that below.)
    • Shed Tail and Rest are prioritized more in the slashes. Shed Tail is one of the major selling points of Orthworm, even on IronPress. Rest is used in two of the team reports from the search above because, again, it helps stall out physical threats that can't otherwise get through Orthworm.
    • Deemphasized Chesto Berry as an option with Rest. Chesto has extremely low usage and the two reports mentioned above employ Rocky Helmet, which is what allows them to get away with running only Body Press into something like Dragonite. Chesto isn't strictly necessary because Orthworm can usually get away with two turns of sleep in those walling scenarios.
    • Added Stealth Rock to "Other Options." The other report of the three did use Stealth Rock as part of IronPress, and it is the fourth most used move. Adding it to "Other Options" seems fair.
  • Added some new Reg C matchups to descriptions.
  • Items:
    • Rearranged item slashes based on data. Removed Chesto Berry.
    • Updated Sitrus Berry bullet. While Sitrus Berry can give you two uses of Shed Tail (which remains noted,) its more important purpose is healing back into Shed Tail range after a hit. This is actually mentioned in the Support set, so I'm adding it here as well.
    • Added Rocky Helmet as an item choice.
  • Added Tera Dependency bullet.
  • Added bullet for physically defensive spread in "EV Spreads."
• "Shed Tail Support" changes:
  • Modified Spikes bullet. Based on usage, it can be inferred that someone would probably drop offensive coverage before they dropped Shed Tail.
  • Added some new Reg C matchups to descriptions.
  • Converted Tera overview bullet to Tera Dependency bullet.