[SET]
name: Choice Specs Wallbreaker
move 1: Overheat
move 2: Fire Blast
move 3: Shadow Ball
move 4: Knock Off
item: Choice Specs
ability: Beast Boost
nature: Timid
evs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Blacephalon's great STAB combination and high power makes it a very dangerous wallbreaker. It excels at forcing KOs against several common defensive cores, as it is extremely threatening to cores relying on Tapu Fini and Landorus-T to create defensive buffer while also being difficult for other defensive Pokemon, such as Ferrothorn, Mega Scizor, and Heatran, to confidently switch into. It also sits at a nice speed tier that lets it outrun and revenge kill some offensive threats, including Garchomp, Mega Medicham, and Tapu Lele. However, Blacephalon's frailty and poor defensive profile make it difficult to get into battle at times, and it's very easy for the likes of Weavile and Tyranitar to Pursuit trap it, although Weavile can't switch in confidently. Overheat is a nuke that is capable of titanic feats of strength; it can OHKO Gliscor and 2HKO Garchomp and Hydreigon after minimal chip while doing enormous damage to frailer resists such as Ash-Greninja and Mega Charizard Y. Fire Blast can also 2HKO Hydreigon and Garchomp and can be used for more reliable damage that doesn't lower Blacephalon's Special Attack after use. Knock Off is a good midground that can annoy certain defensive Pokemon such as Toxapex and Gastrodon. Most crucially, it can remove Chansey's Eviolite, which can allow Blacephalon to 2HKO it with Fire Blast after Stealth Rock damage. Flamethrower can be considered over Fire Blast for more consistency, but the drop in power leads to Blacephalon losing damage onto threats like Hydreigon and Knocked Chansey. Choice Specs is the preferred item for the increase in power; this is complemented very nicely by Blacephalon's highly spammable STAB moves. Timid is required in order to outrun Garchomp, Hydreigon, and Mega Medicham.
Blacephalon fits well on fast paced teams that appreciate it forcing meaningful progress against most meta builds. Blacephalon is quite difficult to get into battle safely, so pivoting support is highly valuable. Landorus-T, Mega Lopunny, Mega Scizor, and Tapu Koko can all offer this support; Tapu Koko is especially nice, as it can bait in Ferrothorn, while Mega Lopunny can force in Gliscor or Clefable for Blacephalon to prey on. Hazard removal is also appreciated due to Blacephalon's Stealth Rock weakness; removal options such as Tapu Fini, Landorus-T, and Rotom-W are therefore useful for it. Blacephalon is highly vulnerable to being pursuit trapped. This can be very difficult to prevent, as both Weavile and Tyranitar can safely come in either after Blacephalon has picked up a kill or being pivoted in after Blacephalon has already fired off an attack. Consider having ways of abusing these Pokemon; Options such as Heatran, Calm Mind Clefable, Ash-Greninja, and Kartana can punish these Pokemon by forcing further KOs after they have successfully trapped Blacephalon.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Hidden Power Grass can be considered to do huge damage to Gastrodon as well as chipping Tyranitar, but it doesn't hit much else and Tyranitar will still trap you unless it has been chipped beforehand. Trick can be crippling to defensive Pokemon like Blissey, Toxapex, and Chansey, but Knock Off achieves similar results and allows Blacephalon to keep its Choice Specs. Hypnosis can also be considered to surprise Tyranitar as it switches in and potentially give Blacephalon defense against being trapped, but its unreliable and doesn't do much else. A Choice Scarf set can be considered as a revenge killer that can abuse Beast Boost to get more powerful, but Blacephalon's STAB combination is not exceedingly difficult to pivot around when not powered up by Choice Specs, and it can generally be revenge killed either with bulky Water-types or priority from Mega Lopunny and Mega Mawile. A Calm Mind set with EVs tuned to get Beast Boost to boost Speed can be used as a sweeper; such a set can also consider Z Solar Beam to surprise Tyranitar. Unfortunately, this Blacephalon doesn't hit hard enough even when boosted to consistently sweep teams.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Dark-types**: Tyranitar is by far the best counter to Blacephalon, as it safely switches into every move it has except for the rare Hidden Power Grass or Hypnosis and easily Pursuit traps it. Weavile Pursuit traps it as well, although it cannot safely switch in. Hydreigon can't safely switch into Blacephalon's Fire-STAB, but its resistance to Shadow Ball and access to Roost makes it a great check. Mega Gyarados can also check it, although it can't safely switch in without Mega Evolving.
**Dragon-types**: Kommo-o is immune to Shadow Ball and defensive variants can take Overheat if necessary. Other Dragon-types like Garchomp, Mega Latias, Mega Latios, and Hydreigon can't switch in safely but are capable of revenge killing Blacephalon.
**Specially Defensive Pokemon**: Certain Special Walls, such as Toxapex, Blissey, Chansey, and Gastrodon are capable of scouting what move Blacephalon is using and can respond accordingly; however, both Toxapex and Gastrodon can be put into 2HKO range of Shadow Ball after minimal chip, and both Chansey and Blissey fear Knock Off.
**Revenge Killing**: Most faster Pokemon can't safely switch into Blacephalon, however threats such as Mega Lopunny, Ash-Greninja, Kartana, and Mega Diancie can revenge kill it. Additionally, priority from Bisharp, Mega Mawile, and Urshifu-RS can take care of Blacephalon due to its minimal bulk.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[username1, userid1]]
- Quality checked by: [[username1, userid1], [username2, userid2]]
- Grammar checked by: [[username1, userid1]]
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