Alright everyone, this is poised to be the last of the moveset updates.
I will give additional reasoning on these changes since I'm pretty set-in-stone about this.
+Sets Added
+Updated Pending Moves: -Growth, -Fiery Dance, -Parting Shot, -Rapid Spin, -Thunder Punch
+Updated Banned Moves: Growth, Parting Shot, Rapid Spin, Lumina Crash, Heat Crash, U-Turn
+Moonlight now replaces Morning Sun, which has been removed as it's not needed
+Changed sets to include Volt Switch > Parting Shot. Both are pivot moves whose secondary effect can be helpful, but aren't the main focus of the slot: the general goal of the set remains the same.
+Did the above with Moonlight > Strength Sap as needed.
+Brambane released from blacklist on parole
+Updated Approved Moves: Fiery Dance, Flamethrower, Flare Blitz, Lava Plume, Moonblast, Psychic, Psyshock, Wild Charge, Zen Headbutt, -Morning Sun
+Updated Pending Moves: -Growth, -Fiery Dance, -Parting Shot, -Rapid Spin, -Thunder Punch
+Updated Banned Moves: Growth, Parting Shot, Rapid Spin, Lumina Crash, Heat Crash, U-Turn
+Moonlight now replaces Morning Sun, which has been removed as it's not needed
+Changed sets to include Volt Switch > Parting Shot. Both are pivot moves whose secondary effect can be helpful, but aren't the main focus of the slot: the general goal of the set remains the same.
+Did the above with Moonlight > Strength Sap as needed.
+Brambane released from blacklist on parole
I will give additional reasoning on these changes since I'm pretty set-in-stone about this.
- Fiery Dance was a tougher choice, it is technically not signature, even if a stretch given the two Pokemon that have it are Volcarona and a Pokemon heavily associated with/apparently is Volcarona. Regardless, the move is just a weaker, soundless Torch Song, and Torch Song was banned due to conflicts with Bitter Blade, and feeling sorta like "here's another dumb strong move for our low-stat CAP." 50% is still high, but not consistent, and that's the deciding factor.
- The rest of the approved moves are just Electric/Psychic coverage we may as well have, and two STABs that shouldn't hurt to add.
- A lot was added to the banned moves section:
- Growth giving +2 to both offenses might be a tad much right now, even if conditional.
- Parting Shot contributes to movepool bloat, we have Volt Switch which is perfectly fine. None of the Grounds in the metagame really want to try and block Volt from us, so having a second option to pivot is rather silly. U-Turn got axed for the same reason.
- Pixilate Rapid Spin is neat, but ultimately I doubt this works on the mon, and would just be giving it unique utility for the sake of it.
- Heat Crash feels disingenuous to the mon as we know it, and realistically Flare Blitz/Bitter Blade is more valuable. We have no obligation to abide to flavor rules and have our weight "make sense," but just because we can do something, doesn't mean we should, and I'd rather just ignore weight as a whole.
- Nuzzle doesn't really work for me at the moment, if we're going defensive we probably prefer Burn, and likely don't want to be using a move that activates Stamina or any other on-contact effects.
- Lumina Crash would be our second signature, and if I had any say in the matter, our third signature, which is ridiculous. I'm really only letting Fiery Dance slide because I am not sure how productive it is. Lumina Crash is Psychic coverage that halves the opponent's Special Defense, on a mon that clicks Fairy-type Boomburst.
- A couple moves that were unnecessary/too weak to justify are gone. They aren't in banned because they aren't problematic.
- There's a couple sets around that feel justifiable, but aren't really introducing anything new for me to feel they are worth including. A set being approved or not has no effect on running such a set—or one similar to it—so long as the moves you need are available. The most important aspect of the stage is compiling our release movepool.
