Name: "Weaponless"
General Description: A pokemon which is able to pose a formidable offensive threat, despite having weak to unusable STAB attacks.
Justification: Many of the new sweepers in generation 5 have access to powerful STAB moves and combinations which allow them to deal huge damage to a multitude of opposing Pokemon, such as Terrakion or Haxorus. This pokemon would ideally be able to pose an offensive threat despite the low BP or lack of its STAB moves. With this concept, we will be able to learn more about how useful STAB typing can be, and how a pokemon can succeed without having the monstrously powerful STAB moves common on most Generation 5 sweepers.
We'd not only learn about which defensive Pokemon are most effective, we'd also learn why: this Pokemon would have to find ways to get around most of them, if not every one (although breaking through everything with one set is probably impossible), and the defending Pokemon's typing, stats, and movepool would come into play. Of course, we'd also learn, probably more, about what makes an offensive Pokemon truly potent. Without relying upon incredibly powerful STAB attacks, coverage becomes incredibly important, as does the ability to easily switch in to set up or attack, or to be able to take hits, through bulk or typing. Finally, we'd be able to understand what makes an offensive Pokemon good against offensive teams, and better understand the difference between Pokemon that are good against offense and those that are good against stall (although that's probably true for any offensive concept).
Questions to be answered:
- Can a sweeper succeed at all without access to powerful STAB moves? Would this concept also make for a good lure or simple utility attacker?
- How can a pokemon best overcome the lack of powerful STAB moves?
- How can this pokemon be made to do well against bulkier or more stallish teams, if at all?
- Since it doesn't take the same amount of power to KO offensively-biased Pokemon, is it relatively trivial for this Pokemon to break through offensive teams, or will the diversity in different offensive styles (including bulky offense) make breaking through offense difficult without the correct tools?
- How much four-moveslot syndrome will this Pokemon have, and how can it get past that? Will it synergize well with any specific partners?
Explanation: In generation 4, examples of pokemon that suffered from this sort of problem are Weavile and Electivire, both of which fell into disuse due to their inability to deal sufficient damage to bulkier pokemon. With this concept, we could give CAP 2 good dual attacking stats, to allow it to hit a variety of pokemon hard, a huge Attack or Special Attack stat (although that's kind of boring), or a way to reliably boost its stats in order to allow it to hit hard enough, despite the low BP of its STAB moves. Excellent coverage is probably a given, but if another way to make the Pokemon powerful is viable, then it's not necessary. STAB moves can be available, but they can't be anywhere near as powerful as Close Combat, for example, since the point is to explore how easily a Pokemon can do damage without just brute forcing the opponent. I can see this concept failing in two opposite directions: 1) the Pokemon isn't powerful enough to break through anything defensive except for a few specific things and it's unusable, or 2) we make everything but STAB attacks too powerful (bulk, attacking stats, etc) and the Pokemon is broken. There's a middle ground, but also room for error on both sides.
Although this pokemon should be styled offensively, to suit the concept, it could also have some bulk, with a few (but not too many) support options such as Wish, to allow it to support its team and not be entirely useless when it's walled due to its lack of power. Physical/Special bias is not important. If given a large enough movepool, the Pokemon could work as a very effective lure, since it could lure any different number of Pokemon, depending upon which moves it chooses. With that also comes the possibility of forming an offensive core with one or two other offensive Pokemon, with this Pokemon luring checks to a partner, while the partners can set up on Pokemon this sweeper won't be able to damage easily. However, since the point is to pose an offensive threat, emphasis should be placed upon the Pokemon's actual sweeping ability, rather than just as a lure, although that shouldn't really be a problem since "just a lure" is incredibly limited. Choice sets could also be interesting; with a probable reliance on coverage without powerful STAB attacks to spam, Life Orb or Expert Belt seems most logical (and Choice the most illogical), but with godly prediction, Choice items might be able to attain certain significant KOs, helping to make up for the loss in power without STAB attacks.
A note: since the emphasis here is on the lack of powerful STAB attacks, this concept is the opposite of Deck Knight's Hyper Offense Specialist, if anything, and aims to learn different things from the execution of the concept.