Delcatty
-Credits also goes to Ahhhhhh......Clefable. for making the skeleton for this analysis and getting it through QC, before I took over.
[Overview]
<p>Delcatty is just one of those Pokemon with few redeeming qualities over other Pokemon. Delcatty's stats are in the big picture awful, with only its Speed and HP stats being close to decent. Delcatty has a good support movepool, however, with moves such as Wish, Heal Bell, and, most importantly, Thunder Wave. Delcatty's Normalize ability turns Thunder Wave into a Normal-type move, allowing it to hit Ground-types without relying on the rather inaccurate Stun Spore. However, with only this redeeming quality, Delcatty faces stiff competition from the metagame's biggest supporters, such as Lickilicky, Alomomola, Miltank, and even Audino and Togetic. Nevertheless, if your team needs cleric and Wish support, as well as a reliable way to paralyze Ground-types, Delcatty is worth considering.</p>
[SET]
name: Support
move 1: Thunder Wave
move 2: Wish
move 3: Heal Bell
move 4: Return
item: Focus Sash / Leftovers
ability: Normalize
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>This is Delcatty's best way to do any good in battle. With Normalize, Delcatty can paralyze any Ground-type in the tier, making it more reliable than Pokemon such as Amoongus and Vileplume resorting to the inaccurate Stun Spore. Wish and Heal Bell allow Delcatty to serve another purpose, by providing cleric and Wish support to its teammates. Return gives it a way to deal some damage, however little it may be, while avoiding being completely shut down by Taunt.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>As Normalize turns Thunder Wave into a Normal-type move, Ghost-types, such as Misdreavus and Haunter, avoid being paralyzed by Thunder Wave, making Foresight a great option in the last slot, especially if you aren't worried about Taunt. Toxic can also be used over Return if you feel that poisoning certain foes will be more useful than paralyzing them, and is Delcatty's best way to deal with Misdreavus. Focus Sash will secure that Delcatty will paralyze an opponent with Thunder Wave or use either Heal Bell or Wish once. However, Leftovers is useful if you can manage to keep Delcatty alive, restoring health over time. The EVs let Delcatty outspeed as many Pokemon as possible, while maximum HP gives it better overall bulk and bigger Wishes. The remaining 4 EVs can go anywhere, as it doesn't make any big difference anyways. As mentioned, Ghost-types give Delcatty trouble as they are immune to all of its moves bar Toxic, and even then, Haunter is immune to Toxic as well. This makes Dark-types, more notably Absol, great partners to Delcatty, being able to threaten Ghost-types with their Dark-type moves such as Pursuit. Absol also appreciates faster opponents being slowed down by Thunder Wave. Being a Normal-type Pokemon, Delcatty can't deal with Fighting-types. This makes Pokemon such as Misdreavus and Exeggutor great teammates, as they are able to cripple said Fighting-types with Will-O-Wisp or outright KO them. Lastly, pair Delcatty with slow and powerful sweepers, such as Emboar, Rampardos, and Kingler, in need of cleric, Wish, and Thunder Wave support.</p>
[Other Options]
<p>Pretty much every other option Delcatty has at its disposal is either just outclassed or just really bad. If you really struggle to find a spot for a second weather supporter on your weather team, and need a cleric or Wish-passer that can shut down Ground-types, Delcatty can utilize either Sunny Day or Rain Dance in the last slot. Besides Thunder Wave and Toxic, Delcatty has access to another status move in Sing, but its unreliable accuracy is off-putting. If you really, really want to take an offensive approach with Delcatty, use either Calm Mind or Work Up. It has a great special movepool and decent physical moves at disposal, but Delcatty is incredibly weak, so keep that in mind. Also, if you do go on the offensive with Delcatty, use its Dream World ability Wonder Skin instead of Normalize. Delcatty also has access to Baton Pass, which it can use to pass Calm Mind and Work Up boosts to its teammates, but it's highly outclassed by Pokemon such as Togetic and Ninjask in this role.</p>
[Checks and Counters]
<p>As Delcatty has awful defenses and absolutely no offensive presence, it's not hard to counter it. Haunter and Misdreavus completely stop Delcatty, as they are immune to Normalize Thunder Wave and Return, and are able to outright KO or shut it down with Will-O-Wisp and Taunt. While Haunter is immune to Toxic as well due to its Poison typing, Misdreavus can still be hit by it, which can be troublesome. Fighting-types, such as Sawk and Scraggy, are almost equally good answers to Delcatty due to their threatening STAB moves, but they need to be careful of switching in on Thunder Wave. As mentioned above, Taunt shuts down Delcatty completely. Murkrow, Serperior, and Golbat are good examples of fast and bulky Taunt users that can also easily tank repeated weak Returns coming off Delcatty's abysmal Attack stat. Guts and Quick Feet abusers, such as Ursaring, Throh, and Granbull, can come in on Thunder Wave and take advantage of the boost it provides through their respective abilities. Switching in Swellow on Thunder Wave is highly counterproductive though. In the long run, any strong STAB attack from Pokemon such as Absol, Swellow, Exeggutor, or Gorebyss, can easily OHKO Delcatty.</p>
