CAP 23 CAP 23 - Part 2 - Typing Discussion

Status
Not open for further replies.
Imagine just there is a lando in the opposite team, you wanna trap a mon but you know that the opponent gonna switch into landorus to take the hit. What do you do except switch into an other mate if you are weak to u-turn ? I say lando but it can be rotom-wash, zapdos or whatever else. You just have to be able to trap kill the target, not start to switch in avoiding a pivot because you are weak to one of the most important combo in the game.
The same exact scenario applies in the case you resist U-Turn. Turners aren't clicking their switch move for damage; they're attempting to keep up momentum. Heck, Volkraken's best set is a U-Turn set, and he doesn't even have a playable Attack stat. Typing has absolutely no hold over whether a Pivot will attempt to turn on you, except in the very specific case of Volt Switch against a Ground type. Much of the "we must resist the pivot moves for CAP to work" sentiment I've seen regarding CAP seems completely baffling to me, as it seems to ignore why people use Volt Turn in the first place. If my Rotom-Wash is sitting in front of a Cyclohm, I'm 100% of the time going to click that quad-resisted Volt Switch if I don't think a Ground type is coming in. That's just how pivot moves are. It's just a switch that in some cases is very much less risky.
 
Last edited:
The same exact scenario applies in the case you resist U-Turn. Turners aren't clicking their switch move for damage; they're attempting to keep up momentum. Heck, Volkraken's best set is a U-Turn set, and he doesn't even have a playable Attack stat. Typing has absolutely no hold over whether a Pivot will attempt to turn on you, except in the very specific case of Volt Switch against a Ground type. Much of the "we must resist the pivot moves for CAP to work" sentiment I've seen regarding CAP seems completely baffling to me, as it seems to ignore why people use Volt Turn in the first place. If my Rotom-Wash is sitting in front of a Cyclohm, I'm 100% of the time going to click that quad-resisted Volt Switch if I don't think a Ground type is coming in. That's just how pivot moves are. It's just a switch that in some cases is very much less risky.
The point isn't that low damage is going to stop people from Volt-Turning. It;'s that high damage from Volt-Turn hurts more than normal because we'll be attracting those moves and they put us in a very vulnerable position as we not only lose the trap we wanted (which would happen anyway, unless we're immune to electric and they're sing Volt Switch), but we get significantly dented right before our opponent switches their counter in, making us very vulnerable. That means we either lose the mon before it achieves anything, or it has to retreat, giving our opponent yet another free move and meaning that we have to find yet another opportunity to safely bring in our Cap and use it to trap after it has already been significantly dented, knowing that as a trap move user, it's still going to take more damage before it does its job. Basically, resistance to U-Turn means we lose an opportunity. Weakness to it means we not only lose the opportunity, but are crippled.

EDIT: Admittedly, I do think that Dark has other positives that mean that it could still be worth it if it isn't paired with another typing weak to Volt Switch or U-Turn.
 
Last edited:
Sered said what I thought. We do not want to stop volturn with Cap23, we want that volturn doesnt kill the concept of Cap23. It's not reliable for a trapper which has to get rid of bulky threats to be pressure by the same bulky threats, to the point of switching without decreasing the life of the opponent although it is his role and in losing momentum, because CAP23 takes 75% of his life on an U-turn. We will be the target of pivot moves, to be weak to them is a terrible idea. I keep my position, we have to avoid to be weak to volturn.
 
1) What qualities in a typing compliment the trapping effect? Note that I am referring to the "status" of being trapped and trapping mechanics themselves. I am not asking about powering up individual trapping moves. Feel free to discuss the trapping effect in general and you may use existing Pokemon with trapping moves / abilities if you need to illustrate a point about the overall trapping effect. Do some existing trappers trap well because of their typing and which qualities of their typing are important?

Let's take a look at the two pokemon (that use trapping moves) that were named in the previous discussion: Heatran and Tapu Fini.
Both have a solid defensive typing with useful resistances, which helps them to come in multiple times during the match, giving them more opportunities to trap mons, if they run the move.

2) Do some trappers still seem to function well despite having qualities in their typing that don't fully help their goal? If so, what qualities does the mon have that allow it to overcome their typing? And even if the typing doesn't help with the trapping mechanic, does it still help with providing pressure to help with the "trapping game" of trying to trap something of value? (I originally had this as part of Question 1 but I feel it is worth being separated).

Heatran has good resistances, but also has a hindering 4x weakness to ground, which hurts it quite a bit. But in contrast to Tapu Fini, it has a better Special Attack Stat and a trapping move with high BP. He also can use this weakness as a lure to hit incoming Ground-Types with Grass-Type Attacks of its movepool.

3) Since we lack the ability to "revenge trap" (coming in on a mon after one of yours was KOed, or even double switching) an opponent the way that trapping abilities do, in what ways does this alter our typing's interaction with trapping? (Again, originally part of Question 1 but I split it up)

Lacking the Ability to revenge trap, CAP23 needs to be able to take a hit before trapping, so we can't just use an purely offensive typing. we need to keep our defenses in mind as well, so that our CAP has opportunities to use its trapping move. Of course, since we want to build a rather offensive mon, we can't just go Steel/Fairy and call it a day, our typing must be able to apply offensive pressure.

4) What typings would be awful for a Pokemon using a trapping move? This is essentially a reverse-submission. Which typings you think are very bad for this concept and then try to explain and figure out the qualities that those typings have that hurt the concept.

I think a double weakness is a pretty double-edged sword for this concept. If we don't want to make Heatran 2.0 with having a way to punish the opponent for trying to exploit the weakness, we should probably try to avoid 4x weaknesses.
 

reachzero

the pastor of disaster
is a Senior Staff Member Alumnusis a Top CAP Contributor Alumnusis a Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnus
1) What qualities in a typing compliment the trapping effect? Note that I am referring to the "status" of being trapped and trapping mechanics themselves. I am not asking about powering up individual trapping moves. Feel free to discuss the trapping effect in general and you may use existing Pokemon with trapping moves / abilities if you need to illustrate a point about the overall trapping effect. Do some existing trappers trap well because of their typing and which qualities of their typing are important?

The most important qualities in making the most of a trapping move the Pokemon's abilities to trap the right Pokemon, and then nuke them. Most of the time, the way you'll make sure the right Pokemon switches in is to force it to switch in by nature of the specific high-powered STAB move you're using. Why do Water types switch into Heatran knowing that Bloom Doom could be coming? Simply because high-powered Fire moves really, really hurt, and there aren't a ton of things that can keep taking them. Several people have mentioned Rock as a typing that wouldn't work, for instance, and I vehemently disagree--a typing like, say, Rock/Flying has very specific counters, since there is only a limited number of things that can take repeated Rock attacks, and those things would be what we're looking to trap. I think the best typings for this are the ones that pull the specific Pokemon we want to trap: if you want to trap Grass types, we want to be Ground or Water with coverage to hit Grass types. I actually disagree that we need a heavily defensive typing for this; I think we need at least one STAB that has high-powered attacks that demand specific responses, with special regard for those that use Steel or Ghost as actual coverage.

The most important thing I can say here is this: U-turn and Volt Switch weakness or resistance is irrelevant to the goals of this project. The only way the trapped Pokemon will get of a U-turn or Volt Switch is if the CAP has failed to destroy it, which means this is not a problem as long as CAP is faster and has a strong nuke available. Considering that only a few bulky pivots have a Volt Turn move, Landorus-T, Mega Scizor, Cyclohm and Tomohawk (it does, technically), choosing a typing that can wipe these out is a good goal. Most faster U-turn users, such as Greninja, Tapu Koko and Scarf Volkraken will not want to come in on a powerful attack unless they resist it anyway. In other words, offense is a much better deterrent to Volt Turn than simply resisting them is.

2) Do some trappers still seem to function well despite having qualities in their typing that don't fully help their goal? If so, what qualities does the mon have that allow it to overcome their typing? And even if the typing doesn't help with the trapping mechanic, does it still help with providing pressure to help with the "trapping game" of trying to trap something of value? (I originally had this as part of Question 1 but I feel it is worth being separated).

We really don't have enough examples of successful trapping to make this an informed discussion, since we have *one* successful offensive trapper (Heatran), and it has excellent typing for doing what it intends to do. I'm astonished at the people who are trying to argue that Decidueye is trapper that "functions well" when it is basically never seen in CAP, which is the metagame that is relevant here. Bad typing would be typing that does not produce a primary threat hat must be responded to--there are no trappers that we have that overcome this, but what we have is an extremely small sample size.

3) Since we lack the ability to "revenge trap" (coming in on a mon after one of yours was KOed, or even double switching) an opponent the way that trapping abilities do, in what ways does this alter our typing's interaction with trapping? (Again, originally part of Question 1 but I split it up)

We can't afford to think of our typing as beating the Pokemon we want to trap, we have to think of our typing luring the Pokemon we want to trap. A Dragon type will expect Fairies and Steels to switch in. A Ground type will expect Grass and Flying types to switch in. This means that our primary type should be something strong enough to draw in the Pokemon we actually want. At least one offensive type is pretty important here.

4) What typings would be awful for a Pokemon using a trapping move? This is essentially a reverse-submission. Which typings you think are very bad for this concept and then try to explain and figure out the qualities that those typings have that hurt the concept.

Ghost would be terrible for this, because Spirit Shackle isn't the move we want to be spamming, since either we'll be walled completely or CAP 23 will burst through everything with no counterplay.

Bug would be terrible because every type we could pair it with to hit Flying and Steel types ends up producing a bad combination.

I think almost any other possibilty could be good in a combination--for instance, I think Dark/Flying would do just fine, possessing both offensive and defensive benefits. Psychic would probably be a little tougher.
 

HeaLnDeaL

Let's Keep Fighting
is an Artistis a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a CAP Contributor Alumnus
Alright, this has been a pretty engaging discussion so far. There's been a variety of information discussed and even a few arguments. However, what I have lifted from the discussion so far is that our concept values a typing that has range. Some users have mentioned which ends of the range they think they prefer most while others have, in more elaborate words, talked about needing range itself. This range here refers most specifically to the offensive and defensive capabilities of its typing. How necessary is it for CAP to have a good offensive typing or a good defensive typing have both been said multiple times since the thread has started.

Based on the discussion, chances are we are not looking for a mon that has near-perfect resistances or near-perfect offensive STABs but something a) that has many resistances or at least a few very good resists and b) has at least one good offensive stab in the CAP metagame. In regards to trappers in the current metagame, we have received discussion on Heatran, Tapu Fini, and Dugtrio. I believe all three of these Pokemon match both A and B above; Heatran has many resistances and a very useful Fire STAB, Tapu Fini has many restiances and a very useful Fairy STAB, and Dugtrio has a valuable resist in Electric and has a STAB that plagues many of the ground-weak mons in the metagame. Heatran might have some glaring weaknesses in its typing, but the typing still undeniably has the "range." Range doesn't mean being perfect at one thing. In it's own weird way, the "range" discussed is almost similar to role compression, or at least from a typing perspective. Range also applies to the number of mons we must deal with; we very well likely will have situations where CAP23 will trap something less than ideal. Making the best out of a wide field of potential trap targets requires not being overly weak to a wide variety of mons and the ability to at least somewhat threaten these mons offensively or at the very least not let them sponge us so hard that our offensive efforts are useless. Maybe this is saying we need a jack-of-trades typing. I'm honestly not sure. But that's up for you to decide!

(As an aside, Decidueye was also mentioned a fair bit and he was talked as having "range" as well. His typing itself is maybe harder to analyze but I definitely won't prevent anyone from trying to do so still that wants to).

Obviously Dugtrio is an outlier in that it has a trapping ability and not a trapping move. That said, Dugtrio's Electric immunity transitions into another big topic of discussion so far.

Being able to deal with U-turn and Volt Switch or its common users is a big concern since both moves nullify the effect of trapping. As some people have pointed out, resisting these moves still does not prevent them from being used. Stopping Volt Switch with an immunity can be potentially helpful and achieved with typing, but dissuading the general move U-Turn and all of its users is much more difficult. However, as others have pointed out, being weak to these moves does decrease our ability to come in and try to trap. The logic here seems to be that it might take CAP23 multiple attempts to even successfully trap something of value and thus CAP23 will likely need be on-and-off the field a fair bit and that being weak to pivot moves hurts our ability to come in many times a match. Dealing with U-turn and Volt Switch perhaps isn't about outright stopping these moves (though we could theoretically outright stop one and that is potentially still valid for our typing) but moreso about making sure these moves that nullify our concept don't also rip wholes through CAP23's health in the process.

However, dealing with VoltSwitchers can be done defensively or offensively as reach pointed out above. The problem with dealing with them offensively is that it requires us to outspeed these VoltSwitchers, some of which are quite fast and letting stats decide a problem left by the typing stage could be problematic later on. It also begs the question if we're trying to nuke a switch in in two turns are we really even a trapper or just no different from a powerful mon? But the offensive approach is a possibility to consider.

This is in general the "thing" with the Typing Stage in the CAP process; no matter what we do, the typing stage will leave us with boons and busts and the later stages will have the ability to deal with both. It's a give and take, and I don't want to say that the Typing Stage has to set the concept up to be in tip-top form from here on out. The current trappers we've looked at have some notable typing flaws that other qualities patch up.

And while dealing with VoltSwitchers has been a hot topic, dealing with Ghosts and their ability to nullify trapping was less discussed. Based on the discussion so far, I'm not sure the need to specifically be dealt with in our typing but I am more than happy to see arguments about dealing with ghosts in specific typing submissions.

So, with all of that said, I will now be opening up real typing submissions. I expect any typing submission to have very good reasoning. Addressing the two big concerns above will be things that I will specifically look for in a submission, though additional reasoning is very very much encouraged. I will also keep a very open mind and will re-evaluate things as necessary. I don't want to act too much like a tour-guide here. Rather, I'm the mediator who's trying to keep the concept with a pulse. I will try to ask more questions after I can wrap my head around specific typings.
 
Last edited:

Deck Knight

Blast Off At The Speed Of Light! That's Right!
is a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Top CAP Contributor Alumnusis a Top Smogon Media Contributor Alumnus
I would like to submit Ghost / Dragon

Weaknesses:
Dark, Dragon, Fairy, Ghost, Ice
Resistances: Bug, Fire, Electric, Grass, Poison, Water
Immunities: Normal, Fighting [Trapping]
Hits SE: Ghost, Psychic, Dragon
Resisted By: Normal / Fairy (immune), Steel/Dark
Pros:
Ghost Typing prevents CAP from being revenge Trapped by Dugtrio, and blocks Rapid Spin giving it a support move to switch in on. This also means its partial trapping move effects cannot be removed by an opposing Rapid Spin if it opts for those moves.
Resists both U-turn and Volt Switch, while being neutral to Stealth Rock and not particularly weak to common coverage run by Volt-Turners.
Dragon Typing has access to a number of high powered Z-Moves due to its high Base Power moves with only one resistance and an immunity.
Dragon Typing lures Fairies, which come in two varieties: The ones that are weak to Anchor Shot and the ones for whom Dragon + Ground or Dragon + Fire Coverage will effectively cover. Both Ground and Fire also have high Base Power moves to launch Z-Moves from. *The exception to this is Tapu Fini.*
Both typings are difficult to resist individually, meaning CAP can almost score a neutral STAB hit.

Cons:
Pursuit weakness is not particularly desirable. Knock Off weakness is bad, although since Z-Moves appear to be a core strategy most Knock Off users will hit for the 65 Base Power, not the 97.5.
Relies mostly on neutral breaking hits rather than super-effective STAB hits.
Tapu Fini is problematic both in itself and because Misty Terrain allows Tomohawk to run Nature Power Moonblast.
CAP is, hilariously, super weak to its own STABs so it could be easily revenge killed by Scarfed versions of itself, which don't play well with the trapping mechanic.

Lest anyone think this mandates Spirit Shackle, while that move would be desirable for STAB, this particular typing is friendly to both Spirit Shackle and Anchor Shot by virtue of Fairy's interaction with Dragon. Either move will allow CAP to Trap, but it can go with either STAB or coverage giving it some flexibility against both opponents that "expect" a trapping move and those that would "fear" it.
 

Ignus

Copying deli meat to hard drive
I still don't agree that voltturn resists are important. There's basically two steps for our trapping move to do anything that are required due to the way the mechanics of the game work:
  1. We have to switch in on something we want to trap
  2. We have to use the trapping move
The issue with resisting voltturn Is that we're implicitly saying 'in a 1v1, CAP23 will beat the voltturn user.' This makes performing step 1 on the opponent's voltturner an attractive option. Then, they press u-turn and switch out right as we switch in, changing to something that beats up TrapCAP. We've already failed to make it to step 2! This is why voltturn counters trapping moves.

And for the second argument, that CAP now attracts voltturners, that's correct. But they have to follow the same rules that we did earlier to beat us:
  1. The voltturner has to switch in on us
  2. The voltturner has to use u-turn
That's just how the game naturally flows. Having to switch out when your opponent uses U-turn is why the move is so good in the first place. So when we switch out, just bring something like rocky helmet ferrothorn to chunk the u-turn user by 40% when they use it. There's better options for handling voltturn already in the metagame.

Besides, It's not as if every single pokemon out there is going to have U-turn. We just have to focus on the ones that don't. The last argument that's been brought up, that CAP might end up in situations where it needs to switch in on U-turn, might end up being accurate. But that doesn't help us trap anything. What's the point of the concept if we aren't using the trapping move?

For further reasons why it isn't important to handle voltturn, here's a list of some of the stuff that we COULD trap that can be considered pivots but don't get u-turn:
  • Amoongus
  • Celesteela (technically a wall, but often just uses leech seed and just switches out)
  • Chansey (technically a wall, but still doesn't enjoy not being able to wish pass)
  • Clefable
  • Ferrothorn (see cele)
  • Garchomp (specifically defensive sets)
  • Heatran
  • Skarmory
  • Slowbro
  • Tangrowth
  • Tapu Fini
  • Toxapex
  • Venusaur-M
  • Pyreoak
  • Arghonaut
  • Tomohawk
  • Mollux
If we can't justify a teamslot for something that beats even a few of these without giving it a u-turn resist, I don't know what to say. I legitimately believe that getting past u-turn as a weakness is practically impossible - the mechanics of trapping moves just don't play well with it. It's much more important to be focusing on targets that we CAN trap.
 
Last edited:

LucarioOfLegends

Master Procraster
is a CAP Contributor
Eh, might as well. I will submit Dragon/Flying or vice versa.

Weaknesses: Ice (4x), Rock, Dragon, Fairy
Resistances: Fighting, Fire, Water, Grass (4x), Bug
Immunities: Ground
Hits SE: Dragon, Fighting, Grass, Bug,
Resisted By: Steel, Electric/Fairy

Pros:
  • Great offensive typing and awesome STABs that hit a ton of the metagame neutrally, and could reliably KO most of the bulky mons that we are targeting, such as Tomohawk, Tangrowth, Arghonaut, and Pyroak.
  • Flying type means it avoids grounded hazards such as Toxic Spikes, Spikes, and Sticky Web, which could seriously hamper our trapping ability. Also gets out free against Dugtrio.
  • Dragon type lures in Fairies to trap and KO with Anchor Shot. Its additional Flying typing can also lure in Rock and Ice types such as Mega-Diancie, Crucibelle, Syclant and Stratagem which can be removed the same way. Can use coverage to hit its remaining resists.
  • Resistance to U-turn and neutrality to Volt Switch, giving it great possible survivability.
  • Resistances to common attacking types such as Fire, Fighting, and Water, while also having a great immunity to the ever present Ground type attacks.
  • Can hit common Ghost-types Necturna and Revenankh, which normally stop trapping in general, with a supereffective Flying type move without having to waste a slot on an otherwise situational coverage move.

Cons:
  • Flying typing also gives it an unfortunate weakness to Stealth Rock, which can severely cut into its longevity without proper team support.
  • Can easily have its wings clipped by a 4x weakness to Ice, a common coverage move found in the metagame by a large number of checks and targets alike.
  • Can't really get through Steel types without the proper coverage move(s), as it is the only type that fully resists its STAB and Anchor Shot.
  • Tapu Koko will be a permanent thorn in our side, as it can easily pivot out or threaten us out with HP Ice.

While it certainly requires more support from its teammates and has a significant number of problematic weaknesses, I think this would be a good fit for CAP 23 for its great defensive capabilities and its incredible offensive prowess against most of the targeted Mons for this concept.
 
I've been following along and thinking this over and I think Ground/Steel might be viable. Pardon my noobness in listing pros and cons.

Weaknesses: Fighting, Ground, Fire, Water
Resistances: Rock, Normal, Flying, Bug, Steel, Psychic, Dragon, Fairy
Immunities: Poison, Electric
Hits SE: Rock, Ice, Fairy, Poison
Resisted By: Bug, Grass, Flying, Water

Pros:
  • Good typing to defend against VoltTurn
  • Immunity to poison
  • Immunity to Sandstorm
  • Double resistance against Rock makes Stealth Rock less effective
  • Steel type provides defensive side of CAP23 survival focus
  • Ground type has a good pool of offensive moves
  • No 4x weaknesses
  • Access to both Anchor Shot and Sand Tomb as STAB-trapping

Cons:
  • Bad matchup offensively and defensively against Water
  • Must rely on Steel STAB or coverage moves against Flying
  • Tomohawk?
  • Typing cancels out some of its SE potential
  • Why do people keep saying Anchor Shot is worthless
Summary: It has been suggested thoroughly that CAP23 needs to survive switching in so it can work effectively. Ground/Steel can provide the defensive strength it needs while still keeping an open mind about offensive capabilities. It also is able to work against VoltTurn, poison moves, Stealth Rock, and Sandstorm without worry, making it more effective at getting onto the field when it needs to trap something. It also has two separate options for running a STAB trap, making multiple trapping movesets viable.
 
Last edited:

jas61292

used substitute
is a Community Contributoris a Top CAP Contributoris a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnus
There are definitely a few types that I am interested in, but the first one I want to talk about is Dragon/Fighting.

So, there are a few key things that I am looking for in a typing: 1) A typing with solid defensive and offensive ability such that it is not an easily attractive switch in for pivot Pokemon, 2) a typing with good general coverage and access to strong STAB moves such that the counters it draws for us to trap are somewhat predictable, 3) a typing that can take decent advantage of any of the trapping moves that are options for us to use.

While ultimately a weakness to U-Turn or Volt Switch themselves is not the worst thing if we can keep these Pokemon from being attractive switch ins for other reasons, I do think they are ultimately a huge threat to the concept, which is what point 1 is all about. Point 2, on the other hand, is all about taking advantage of what we do trap. As reachzero said in his recent post, we need to think about what we want to lure in. Heatran works because it is strong enough so you need to bring in those water types regardless of whether or not it could be running Bloom Doom. It is a risk worth taking because of the damage it does otherwise. We want a similar thing here, which requires strong offensive STAB, but also, ideally, a limited variety of checks and counters. That's not to say a limited number, but rather that we should aim to have a large number of them fall into a specific mold that we can take advantage of. Finally, point 3 is all about avoiding the poll jump. We do not know what trapping moves we will be using at this point, and a typing that is only going to work out well with one specific trapping move is not something I think we want at all.

With that said, I think Dragon/Fighting does a very good job at meeting all of those criteria. With regard to my first point, not only does this typing directly resist both pivoting moves, but it also is not a particularly weak to most users of the moves. There are certainly a couple mons of concern, Kitsunoh and Tapu Koko potentially chief among them, but few pivot Pokemon would be especially excited about switching in, and that is the real goal. Offensively, Dragon/Fighting is incredibly solid, hitting almost everything at least neutral except for fairies and Kitsunoh, and whether physical or special, both types have very common moves available of 120 power or more. If we want to make our counters and switch ins predictable so as to take advantage, this typing will certainly do that.

Now, as for my last point, my goal is to have a typing that functions well regardless of trapping moves. If we are to go with one of the weaker Binding moves, we are essentially running with one fewer offensive option, and the offensive coverage of the STABs alone becomes that much more important. The impressive neutral coverage these two types possess would work admirably alongside a weak binding move. Furthermore, residual damage means that our survivability may be even more key. Dragon/Fighting has good number of resistances, including a key Rock resist that, along with the electric and bug resists, can help keep its health up over the course of a battle. If, instead, we were to go with one of the more powerful offensive trapping moves, how the coverage the move provides works out is suddenly incredibly important. Anchor Shot, being Steel type, covers up much of what the STABs miss, nabbing a super effective hit on Fairies. While either of the offensive trapping moves would be weak compared to the STABs we would be packing, Anchor Shot would make switching in far harder for Fairies. It is nearly the perfect complement to the typing in that regard. On the other hand, Spirit Shackle still would provide a decent option as well. It would be the best option for Kitsunoh, and would also be ideal for nailing Jirachi and Tapu Lele. Additionally, by providing value without being the perfect coverage move, it would allow for more Heatran like play, if run along side something like Iron Tail or a Corkscrew Crash off a weaker base. I think though, that regardless of what trapping option we pick, Dragon/Fighting provides us with a base that should be able to take advantage easily.
 
I would like to submit Steel/Dragon

Weaknesses: Fighting, Ground

Resistances: Normal, Flying, Rock, Bug, Steel, Water, Grass, Electric, Psychic

Immune to Poison

Pros:
Resistance to both U-Turn and Volt Switch.
Toxic Immunity.
STAB Anchor shot if we choose to use that as our trapping move.
Only 2 weaknesses and a plethora of resistances.
Several setup moves are reasonable for this typing, ie: Dragon Dance or Shift Gear (not sure if this is the place to mention that, but I thought it was worth a mention)
We get another Dragon/Steel, a cool type combo with only one representative!

Cons:
Rather mediocre offensive STAB Combination, helps to keep it in check from sweeping possibly, or at least make it rely on weaker coverage moves. However, Dragon is still a pretty strong neutral offensive move, even after the introduction of Fairy, and Steel has become more important after the introduction of Fairy.
Dragon as an offensive type either has rather weak moves, or moves that have a significant downside (locking in with Outrage or SpA drops from Draco).
Despite resisting U-Turn, Ground weakness still makes Lando annoying for it.
So so many pokemon have Ground coverage.
No intrinsic ability to deal with Ghosts that are immune to our trapping (though the easiest option that I haven't seen discussed much (probably because it's not typing) is just giving it Pursuit, which is another form of trapping) (I know this also isn't typing but it bears mentioning due to Ghosts being an issue regardless of what we go for for CAP 23)

Edit:
Alright, I'm going to add more context and relation to the talking points to this, sorry mr. HeaLnDeaL

Range doesn't mean being perfect at one thing. In it's own weird way, the "range" discussed is almost similar to role compression, or at least from a typing perspective. Range also applies to the number of mons we must deal with; we very well likely will have situations where CAP23 will trap something less than ideal. Making the best out of a wide field of potential trap targets requires not being overly weak to a wide variety of mons and the ability to at least somewhat threaten these mons offensively or at the very least not let them sponge us so hard that our offensive efforts are useless.

This typing would provide excellent, but not overbearing, range - through its ability to handle almost any offensive type. 2 weaknesses, one of which is very common offensively, leave it pretty hard for many pokemon to hit well, but not impossible. This is assuming of course it has something decent defenses-wise. As for somewhat threatening these mons offensively, Dragon is good neutral coverage, and if they can't really do much to it, it can use setup moves to get around 'mons that it can't hurt very well.

Being able to deal with U-turn and Volt Switch or its common users is a big concern since both moves nullify the effect of trapping.

This typing resists both Bug and Electric, meaning it critically is not weak to the pivoting moves, issue being that, as HeaLnDeaL mentioned, unless it has great speed (or Pursuit?) it can't really hit many commone Volt-Turn pokemon, but being able to take the hits is certainly useful.
 
Last edited:
Submitting Steel/Grass
Weaknesses: Fighting, Fire
Resistances:
Dragon, Electric, Fairy, Grass, Normal, Psychic, Rock, Steel, Water
Immunities: Poison
Hits SE: Ground, Rock(both STABs), Water, Ice, Fairy
Resisted by: Flying, Poison, Bug, Steel(both STABs) Fire (both STABS), Grass, Dragon, Water, Electric

Pros:
  • No weakness to VoltTurn, especially with resisting volt switch
  • Poison immunity
  • Only 2 weaknesses makes it extremely easy to come into attacks
  • Resists all 4 tapus, allowing you to trap them quite easily
  • Typing is a natural counter to Pelliper/Kingdra, allowing you to have a natural rain counter that's somewhat easy to build around
  • Resists Electric and is neutral to ice, allowing you to have a good match up vs BoltBeam dependent pokes
  • Resists Rock and is neutral to ground, allowing you to have a good match up vs EdgeQuake dependent pokes
  • Best Tomo bait ever?
Cons:

  • Bad match up vs common defensive fire and fighting types, such as Mollux, Arghonaut and Pyroak
  • Can't touch steel type walls such as Skarmory without coverage
  • 4x weakness to fire is a detriment to pokes who run BoltBeam+fire coverage such as Zapdos and Mega Manectric

Steel/Grass is an amazing defensive typing, shown by Ferrothorn in OU. A typing that's weak to some of the more common defensive pokes in the tier is somewhat unfortunate, but it does allow you to bait in Tomohawk extremely effectively, a Pokemon that we should be trying to trap. The only major pitfalls to this typing is its 4x weakness to fire, but that's one that can be remedied by teammates, and it makes the common BoltBeam less common in the future to Pokemon that need to pick their coverage, such as Tapu Koko, who can only pick HP Fire or Ice. If this typing were to become reality, I could see it easily paired with Zygarde, as they have amazing neutral coverage together, and their resists work incredibly well together.
Tl;dr, grass/steel is an amazing defensive type shown by Ferrothorn and Kartana in OU, with a plethora of resists and a good match up vs common pokes int he metagame right now.
Edit: This typing has a good matchup with all the viable ghosts atm save revenankh, resisting the secondary STABs of 3 of the Big 4; Mimikyu's Play Rough, Gengar's Sludge Wave, and Necturna's Power Whip/horn leech.
 
Last edited:
submitting Ghost/Ground
Weaknesses: Ghost, Water, Grass, Ice, Dark
Resistances: Poison (1/4x), Rock, Bug
Immunities: Normal, Fighting, Electric
Hits SE: Ghost, Psychic, Electric, Fire, Poison, Rock, Steel
Resisted By: Dark, Normal, Bug, Grass

Pros:
  • Immune to Volt, resists Turn
  • Good Resistance to Poison
  • Resists Stealth Rock
  • Ghost makes you immune to other forms of trapping
  • Good dual STAB hits a lot of Pokemon, both regular and CAP
  • Can use Sand Tomb and Spirit Shackle as STAB trapping moves
Cons:
  • Malaconda and other Ghosts eat it for breakfast
  • Weakness to Pursuit and Knock Off
  • Ice Beam is annoying
  • Tapu Bulu and Tapu Fini are very annoying

feedback is appreciated
 
Here is a typing that allows it to be shib material (if they had wings)

submitting Flying/Ground (keep flying in front to give it **variation**)

Weaknesses: Ice, Water
Resistances: Poison, Fighting, Bug,
Immunities: Ground, Electric
Hits SE: Bug, Electric, Fighting, Fire, Grass, Poison, Rock, Steel
Resisted By: None

Pros:
  • Immunity to volt :D, resists U turn
  • Good resistance to poison
  • Only two weaknesses
  • It's good dual stabs is resisted by nothing and hits 8 types super effectively
  • The typing isn't so good that it will always use the trapping move, as sometimes it can use coverage
  • Hahahah goodbye venu, tomo, all bulky grasses and a bunch of ghost types
Cons:
  • It's rekt by a common coverage move, hp ice/ ice beam
  • Unless it's able to KO Magearna with its ground stab, it just DIES to it.
  • Srsly no one likes ice beam
  • Depending on what it comes out as it might have trouble on Tapu Fini.

Why This Typing is Pro-Concept
All good stuff said above.

It's really pro concept because it tackles most of the bulky mons and walls like tomohawk, revenakh and venusaur. It ticks of the list off having many resistances, good offensive typing and the ability to handle most bulky mons and walls by trapping them so this is a pretty good typing for this concept.

It's typing can take down common ghosts like gengar, necturna, revenakh and gengar whcihc are immune to being trapped It's an extremely great defensive typing, it's two weaknesses are easily remedied by adding coverage or running all the way to a bulky water (the trapped mon can't switch after it's been hit by a trapping move, so it can't double switch)

a cute bonus is it can be a great core with Krillowatt. Krilowatt takes the water and ice moves and slams them while also dealing with Tapu Finii, while this cap can come in o ground moves and demolish the bulky grasses Krillowatt has trouble with like Mega Venusaur.
 
Last edited:
I choose Fairy/Ground as my submission:

Weaknesses: Water, Grass, Ice, Steel
Resistances: Fighting, Bug, Rock, Dark
Immunities: Electric, Dragon
Hits SE: Fire, Electric, Fighting, Poison, Rock, Dragon, Dark, Steel
Resisted By: Fire/Flying, Poison/Flying, Steel/Flying

Pros:
  • Very potent SE and neutral coverage
  • Blocks Volt Switch
  • Only takes 6% damage each time it switches into Rocks
  • Immune to Sandstorm
  • Resists Knock Off; this allows TrapCAP to absorb it for the team if need be, assuming it carries a Z Crystal
  • Access to Sand Tomb as a trapping move
  • Lures in Ferrothorn, Celesteela and Skarmory, which can all be trapped by Magnezone
Cons:
  • Still vulnerable to status; yes, it blocks T-Wave, but Glare from Serperior and Zygarde can still paralyze it
  • Weak against bulky Waters in general
  • Tapu Bulu nerves EQ's damage output with Grassy Surge, making it a pain in the ass to deal with.
  • Kitsunoh and Mega Scizor can strike down TrapCAP with their Steel STABs, and both of these are common U-Turners

...

Fairy/Ground may not be the best defensive typing in the world (it certainly can't hold a candle to the obvious Steel-types), but it applies a lot of offensive pressure whilst maintaining key resistances. Knock Off has always been a bitch to come in on, and Fighting and Dragon both have access to powerful moves that they can use as STAB options. This is where the Fairy-typing comes in handy, with Z-Crystals making it even easier to switch into Knock Off due to their inability to actually be... well, knocked off. The Ground-typing compliments Fairy nicely by not only negating the natural weakness to Poison, a common move to combat Fairies with, but also easing the burden of switching into Rocks and granting an immunity to Thunder Wave and Volt Switch. The only real negligible resistance Fairy/Ground has is the one to Bug; this is because, as NumberCruncher stated earlier, a resistance to Bug doesn't actually stop U-Turn from doing its job, which is to gain momentum on the opposing player and bring in checks safely. An immunity to Electric doesn't allow this for Volt Switch, allowing TrapCAP to still trap users of this move in particular.

With the sheer number of types that Fairy and Ground hit between them super-effectively and the scarcity of type combinations that resist both, this typing frees up moveslots considerably, allowing for TrapCAP to run other utility moves alongside its STABs and its trapping move of choice. That spare move slot can be used to greatly capitalize on whatever TrapCAP had ultimately managed to capture, whether it uses that Pokemon as set-up fodder or recover off any damage that it could possibly do. Alternatively, TrapCAP could slap on an Assault Vest and use its spare move slot for additional coverage; this in turn can grant a useful supplement of special bulk that can potentially aid in switching into moves.

The biggest problem Fairy/Ground will have to deal with is bulky Waters, as a lot of them can Scald burn TrapCAP in retaliation for being trapped. Ice Beam is also not uncommon as a coverage move for Water-type mons, and we can't patch up a Water weakness and an Ice weakness at the same time. Certain Steel-types such as Mega Scizor, Celesteela and Ferrothorn can also be problematic, as with Grass-types in general. This is mostly certainly the case with Tapu Bulu, who cuts down the damage that STAB EQ can inflict with its Grassy Surge and has the defenses to take on a Play Rough. However, TrapCAP can still lure these Pokemon in with its Fairy/Ground typing and remove them from the picture with the appropriate Z-move if their presence is too detrimental for the concept to work.
 
Last edited:
I would like to submit Dark/Ghost

Weakness
: Fairy
Resistances: Poison
Immunities: Normal, Fighting, Psychic
Hits SE: Ghost, Psychic
Resisted by: Dark, Fairy, Fighting

I know it seems strange due to the fact I looked down on dark because of its weakness to U-turn, but I looked more at the positives of Dark and came to the conclusion that a typing that resists U-turn and gives STAB on a trapping move would be paramount, so I came to the conclusion of Dark/Ghost
Pros
  • Immune to Tomohak's Prankster
  • Gives STAB to Spirit Shackle, one of the main choices for a trapping move
  • Takes neutral damage from 13 out of the 18 types available, some of them common types
  • No 4x weakness
  • Dark and Ghost are both strong offensive typings
  • Immune to Tapu Lele's Psychic
  • Resisted by only two types
Cons
  • No resistance to Stealth Rock
  • Is unprotected from all un-Prankster boosted status effects
  • Hits only two types super effectively
 
Last edited:

HeaLnDeaL

Let's Keep Fighting
is an Artistis a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a CAP Contributor Alumnus
I just want to chime in and say that the pros/cons lists are getting a bit distracting to me. This isn't the place to put a few buzzwords together under a few bullets and I would appreciate posts that don't try to address everything in such a quick manner. Maybe it's late and I'm tired, but after reading post after post with just bullet points, its all blurring together and nothing is standing out. You're more than welcome to use a pro-con list as a starting point but I'd appreciate some more though that goes beyond bullets. And while talking about general traits of a typing is helpful, I really want to see people relate it back to the concept. Some of you have done this wonderfully, others just barely relate back to the talking points if at all.
 

IoSonoNeon

The Fallen King
is a Tutoris an Artistis a Tiering Contributor
Guys i would also like to submit Ghost/Dragon since i've been one of the firsts to suggest the dragon type on CAP 23.

Weaknesses: Dark, Dragon, Fairy, Ghost, Ice
Resistances: Bug, Electric, Fire, Grass, Poison, Water
Immunities: Fighting, Normal


Pros:
  • Cant be trapped.
  • Volkraken and Mollux's stabs deals nothing to him and if this mon learns Spirit Shackle, can pretty much trap and threaten them.
  • Has neutral coverage over a lot of the Cap meta (This might be good if it has high offensive stats, and dont forget moves like Outrage, DD, etc...).
  • Might be good to set up against a trapped foe with Dragon dance
Cons:
  • Doesnt deal well with the Tapus (maybe it might come in handy with lele but i dont see this mon to have high offensive stats), (actually mag smashes him too :( )
  • Drops hard to Colossoil and Hoopa-U
I also agree with Deck Knight's opinion of giving him Spirit Shackle (or Anchor Shot to deal with fairies).
 
My favourite is Ghost/Ground which should also have the fact that Ghost STAB chases away other Ghosts which otherwise threaten our concept mentioned. It should also be mentioned that Ground STAB threatens many mon in the Cap metagame (with Ghost helping against Tomohawk and Auramoth, for example) and that immunity to Volt Switch allows us to actually trap Volt Switch users which cannot be done with a mere resistance. (Dark weakness is bit unfortunate, especially with Colosoil out there)

The others mentioned that I also particularly liked are Ground/Steel and Ghost/Dragon.
 
I'd like to throw Psychic / Fighting into the mix.
Weaknesses: Fairy, Flying, Ghost
Resistances: Fighting, Rock
Immunities: None
Hits SE: Dark, Fighting, Ice, Normal, Poison, Rock, Steel
Psychic Resisted By: Psychic (both), Steel, Dark (immune)
Fighting Resisted By: Psychic (both), Bug, Fairy, Flying, Poison, Ghost (immune)

I still think that the use of STAB on a trapping move could be very useful to CAP23, but at the same time I want to address this typing.

Pros
  • Resistance to Stealth Rock to aid long term survival and switching.
  • Resistance to two of the most common attacking types in the game, also aiding in continued survival and with opportunities to switch in.
  • Super-effective STAB against many bulkier Pokemon that we might want to trap, including Tomohawk, Chansey, and Toxapex, as well as being an effective offensive combination in general.
  • Effective typing for luring in Pokemon that we can punish with a trapping move (example: hitting Ghost-types with Spirit Shackle, hitting Fairy-types with Anchor Shot, or even hitting certain Steel-types like Celesteela or Mega Scizor with Fire Spin, if we went in that direction).
  • Super-effective STAB against many common types also achieves the effect of the opponent not sending in a more offensive Pokemon that might be KO'd, like what we have observed with Heatran; the opponent is liable to switch in something that might be in danger just because it might be the only thing that can take the repeated hits.
  • No weaknesses to VoltTurn (or Pursuit).
Cons
  • The lack of a STAB trapping move means that there will be times when attempting to trap will gain very little for the player aside from a (mostly) safe switch on an easy prediction.
  • Weakness against multiple fairly common attacking types (especially Flying) forces more careful play.
  • Difficulty in dealing with some prevalent Steel-types without additional coverage, especially Celesteela, Skarmory, and Mega Scizor.
  • Limited resistances, with only two, and no immunities, the latter of which likely being more important for being able to avoid status than actual attacks.
  • No resistances to VoltTurn (or Pursuit).
(Sorry HeaLnDeaL , I saw your post right as I was about to reply, so I'll try to make it clearer how it relates to the concept down here.)

Basically, the best strength of this typing would allow us to achieve our goal of luring in some of the things that we want to trap, as well as some things that would be punished by the trapping move we actually run (for most of the trapping moves that we could end up choosing). Also, once it achieves a trap, its powerful STAB combination helps it to put it to good use, especially against the types of bulky Pokemon we've established we want to trap.

Looking back at the concept itself, we can use this idea to explore some of the questions that were posed.

(Base) Is there a 'best' way to utilize trapping moves? If so, what playstyle does it most align with?
Trapping moves aren't really effective at trapping unless A) they successfully trap something the trapper can capitalize on or B) they deal a ton of damage anyway. Heatran mostly does B with Magma Storm (well, technically, it accomplishes A via B). What I'm proposing is a way of forcing careful play and counterplay by making the things that want to switch in to CAP23 the same things that it will punish for doing so. We lure something in, trap it, and, ideally, take it out. This would play well with offensive teams, given the fact that we're looking to trap bulky Pokemon, which often interfere with wincons or general attackers.

(Comparison) How do trapping moves compare against trapping abilities? Are there any inherent benefits and disadvantages and if so, what are they?
At the risk of sounding repetitive, trapping moves differ because you lure in what you want to trap before sending the trapper in, while with trapping moves you must do so after. This makes it imperative that we choose a type that tempts the opponent to take such a risk, lest CAP23 fail to trap much of anything and switch over to a purely offensive moveset (sans trap move). The disadvantage of trap moves is, obviously, that they are not guaranteed to trap what you would like to. At the same time, they have the advantage of, and I believe this was covered already, being moves. As such, we can run an ability on CAP23 that compliments trapping and makes it more effective. We need to reap the potential here with typings that maximize the chance the trapping move will hit something of value.
 

nyttyn

From Now On, We'll...
is a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a CAP Contributor Alumnus
gonna go with ghost/fairy

Weaknesses Ghost, Steel
Resistances Bug
Immunities Normal, Fighting, Dragon
Super-effective Against Ghost hits: Ghost, Psychic. Fairy hits: Fighting, Dragon, Dark
Ineffective Against Ghost is resisted by: Dark, Normal (immune). Fairy is resisted by: Fire, Poison, Steel

Strengths
Flexible, powerful STAB options Both Ghost and Fairy are extremely potent STAB types, to the point where it's possible for CAP 23 to only run one of them on a set and have a extra move slot to work with, which ties back to the former desire to allow CAP 23 flexibility. It also provides STAB on Spirit Shackle, sorely needed due to the lack of things it hits for SE and its 80 BP, allowing us to fulfill the concept.

Powerful Immunities There are a lot of fighting moves flying around in the cap metagame, so swapping into those for free is super cool. Dragon is a bit rarer, but there are still some out there.

Not weak to pivots We resist U-turn and aren't weak to the STAB moves of most pivots in the CAP meta, allowing us to face them down without fear of getting struck down.

Few weaknesses over-all We're only weak to other Ghosts (somewhat problematic), and Steel (not really problematic at all).

Dunks Ghosts Ghosts are immune to being trapped, so being able to smack them down (even if we can't safely switch in on them) is nice.

Dunks Tomohawk Tomohawk is prime jerk #1 whom stops all set-up sweepers in their tracks. If we want to be able to explore set-up space with trapping, it's highly ideal that we have the ability to dunk Tomohawk even if he can stop a set-up. Fairy STAB accomplishes this by dunking Tomohawk with 2.5x power moves.

Not weak to Stealth Rock While resisting Stealth Rock would be ideal, taking only 1x damage from it is vastly preferable to taking 2x or even 4x damage from it.

Weaknesses
Few Resistances A lack of resistances means that CAP 23 will be worn down throughout the match, being able to only swap in for free on a few (albeit common) types and will have to compensate for that fact elsewhere.

Weak to Celesteela Sadly we're probably going to lose to Celesteela with this type almost regardless of our stats or movepool since Heavy Slam is a 120 BP 2.5x damage dunk and will almost certainly OHKO CAP 23 or come close, even with Celesteela's relative lack of atk and low to non investment. That being said, it's kind of a fool's errand to beat every pivot/bulky pokemon, and I believe it's acceptable to lose to one whom gets worn down throughout the course of the match anyway due to only having leech seed for recovery.

as we currently have effectively no weight and thus a default of 0, i am assuming heavy slam will hit for 120 bp

Why This Typing is Pro-Concept

To sum up everything that's pro-concept here and not just strengths of the typing: We have a set of two STAB options which both can deal with many bulkier pokemon in the meta by virtue of not running into many, if any resistances between them. Both of these are potent enough on their own right that CAP can run a set without one or the other, which means that while STAB Spirit Shackle is a move CAP 23 is incentive to run, it does not have to run it and can exploit that fact by running only Fairy STAB on some sets. CAP 23 is not weak to volt switch, pursuit, or u-turn with this typing, and in fact resists U-turn. CAP 23 is also not weak to the vast majority of pivots, and is not walled by them. The fact that Fairy dunks Tomohawk allows us the possibility to explore set-up moves, which naturally compliment both trapping and the fear of being trapped. Finally, while this typing is weak to ghosts, it also dunks them, which is a bit of a double edged sword but does mean we don't run into the situation where ghosts can switch in/out for free.
 
Last edited:
As my suggestion, I'd like to propose Ghost/Normal

Weaknesses:
Dark
Resistances: Poison, Bug
Immunities: Normal, Ghost, Fighting
Hits Super Effectively: Psychic, Ghost
Resisted by: Rock, Steel, Ghost, Normal, Dark. Notably, only itself, Tyranitar, and Bisharp resist both.

So this typing does a few things of note.

Pros:
One weakness to three immunities, including both Fighting (pretty common in CAP) and Ghost (a typing that would normally be good against this concept) is something most walls could only dream of.
Speaking of Ghosts, they not only can't touch us, but also have to fear our Ghost STAB, making one of the main ways of stopping the trap completely null and void.
Poison resistance is nice, since many of the Bulky pivots we want to trap are Poison types that like using Sludge Wave or Bomb.
Another heavily bothersome bulky pivot to a Spirit Shackles strategy is Chansey. Thankfully, our Ghost typing means that Chansey can't touch us behind a sub.
Our neutral typing, as mentioned above, is very good. Trying to trap such a diverse cast of pivots makes trying to beat them all with Super Effective STAB pretty impossible. Thus really good neutral STAB is key.
Normal actually has both really good physical moves and very good special moves, meaning that Pokemon that pivot using only one of natural physical or special bulk can be appropriately covered depending on team composition, but not all on the same set. Given that trappers are best on teams that have very specific weaknesses they want gone, having this sort of flexibility while also not opening it up to being able to answer everything on one set and just breaking the game is very much welcomed.
We didn't actually completely take binding moves off the table in typing assessment. CAP actually gets STAB Wrap, which only doesn't work on Ghost types that wouldn't be trapped anyway. Also, as pointed out earlier, we have the best Ghost-countering typing in the game.

Cons:
Even though we have a bunch of good immunities, we have no natural status immunities and our resistances are limited as far as using those two to gain a turn to trap.
It also has a Pursuit weakness, which others have pointed out hurts our ability to gain switch initiative. That said, the only Pokemon in the top 100 used mons in CAP that actually uses Pursuit with any regularity is Colossoil, with only shows up on 31% of Colossoils. So mostly, the threat here is that 31% of Colossoils force us into a 50/50 when we trap it, where half the time we get the Sucker Punch/Pursuit prediction right and successfully trap, and the other times we lose the CAP.
If CAP becomes really good, it could prompt the use of Pursuit Tyrantiar, which resists our STAB and can spam Pursuit with a Choice item.
The final oddity with this typing is that CAP can actually switch into both of its own STAB and can actually block its own trap, forcing a speed tie to decide the victor.

I'd also like to give my support to Ghost or Steel/Dragon or Ground. All four make really good use of our typing for trapping.
 

nv

The Lost Age
is a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnusis a Smogon Media Contributor Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Staff Alumnus
I would like to submit Flying / Steel

Weaknesses: Electric, Fire
Resistances: Bug, Dragon, Fairy, Flying, Grass, Normal, Psychic, Steel
Immunities: Ground, Poison
Hits SE: Bug, Fairy, Fighting, Grass, Ice, Rock
Resisted By: Electric, Steel

Pros:
Flying/Steel provides TrapCAP with a plethora of resistances that it can take advantage of, as it can take on common Pokemon such as Tapu Lele, Landorus-T, Tomohawk, and Chansey, all while being able to trap them and subsequently get rid of them. It also is immune to Toxic, which is a big boon for a trapper as it can't be worn down easily by the walls it wants to trap such as Chansey and Tapu Fini. It is also immune to Ground-type attacks, which is a very good asset to have as most Ground-types, barring Zygarde, have no way to truly get through TrapCAP. This typing also provides potential STAB on Anchor Shot should we give TrapCAP said move. Flying/Steel also provides TrapCAP with a good offensive STAB in Flying, allowing it to nail the Pokemon it may end up trapping such as Amoonguss, Arghonaut, Tangrowth, and Tomohawk. It also has surprisingly decent neutral coverage with just its STABs, only being resisted by Electric- and opposing Steel-types, which helps it to wear down the Pokemon it traps a lot easier since it doesn't have to fear its STAB not hitting what it traps neutrally at the very least.

Cons:
Sadly, this typing does have some downfalls, since not every type combination is perfect. While it has only two weaknesses, they are pretty huge as Fire-types and Electric-types such as Mollux, Pyroak, Plasmanta, and Tapu Koko can get a free switch-in and threaten it out. This typing also leaves TrapCAP susceptible to being paralyzed or burned, hindering its potential offensive capabilities. Another downside to this typing is that it has a hard time dealing with potential pivots such as opposing Steel-types like itself, Celesteela, and Skarmory. While this may or may not be remedied down the line, it is still a thorn in what TrapCAP wants to do.

I also would like to throw my support behind Dragon/Fighting, Flying/Ground, and Steel/Grass. I feel like these three type combos are the best at using the typing to trap specific Pokemon that need to end up being trapped with the first combo luring in Fairies (or Ghosts should it get Spirit Shackle as well as Anchor Shot), the second combo nailing Steel-, Fire-, and Grass-types with its STABs, and the last combo being able to gain STAB on Anchor Shot while also providing an unique set of resistances.
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 1, Guests: 0)

Top