Diancie

[Mazz]

[OVERVIEW]

• Entry hazard support in the form of Stealth Rock, in conjunction with Fairy- and Rock-typing, is the biggest selling point to Diancie.
• Trades the attacking prowess of Rhyperior and its 4x weakness to Grass- and Water-type attacks for higher SpD and clerical support.
• Fairy typing allows Diancie to be thrown at Dragon-type threats, specifically Hydreigon and Latias, with relative impunity. Must be weary of stray Steel-type coverage on the former however.
• Dual Rock typing mitigates weaknesses to Poison-types: the Z-Heal Bell set can actually go toe-to-toe with Muk-Alola and Life Orb Gengar and come out on top.
• Shallow HP stat diminishes Diancie's impressive defensive stats and holds it back from being a top-tier wall.
• Scizor is a prominent threat in the current metagame and poses an incredible threat with its STAB Bullet Punch.
• Still weak to common attacking types, specifically Water- and Ground-type attacks.
• Lacks reliable recovery outside of Z-Heal Bell; quickly worn out by entry hazard and chip damage.

[SET]
name: Support
move 1: Stealth Rock
move 2: Moonblast
move 3: Diamond Storm / Toxic
move 4: Heal Bell
item: Leftovers / Normalium-Z
ability: Clear Body
nature: Sassy / Calm
evs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========

• Stealth Rock supplies its teammates with entry hazard support, gradually weakening the opposition every switch-in.
• Moonblast functions as reliable STAB, hitting Dragon- and Fighting-types for serious damage.
• Diamond Storm provides STAB coverage on Poison- and Fire-types that would otherwise switch in on Moonblast for free. Devastates the specially attacking Flying-types Diancie is generally used to dispatch, namely Togekiss, Tornadus, and Mega-Pidgeot. Also gives Diancie something to chip Scizor with before switching out.
• Toxic is one of the few things in Diancie's arsenal that allows it to threaten Suicune, Mega-Slowbro, and other bulky Water-types. Without it, Diancie becomes setup bait for such Pokemon. Toxic also gives Diancie something to perturb Hippowdon with, which would otherwise be unfazed by Diancie.
• Heal Bell provies teammates with cleric support, alleviating status conditions that may be impeding a sweep.
• Scizor is such a threat that carrying Hidden Power Fire is worth considering in order to nail it on the switch-in.

Set Details
========

• EVs maximize HP and SpD so that it can be thrown mercilessly at common special attackers and be able to set Stealth Rock possibly more than once per game.
• Sassy nature prevents Diancie's Atk from being lowered, maximizing how much an uninvested Diamond Storm will do to opposing threats. If opting to use Toxic, a Calm nature is preferred.
• Leftovers give residual recovery, but Normalium-Z gives Diancie a one-time use full recovery and cannot be knocked off. Z-Heal Bell allows Diancie to beat common Poison-types where Leftovers will not.

Usage Tips
========

• With such special bulk and typing, Diancie can be thrown at a plethora of specially-attacking threats in order to find opportunities to lay Stealth Rock. Common threats like Hydreigon, Latias, Togekiss, and Mega-Pidgeot will struggle to break through Diancie before it beats them.
• If opting for Toxic, Diancie will force those threats out more often than not, and an opportunity to cripple an opposing check will present itself.
• Worth noting that the defensive boosts associated with Diamond Storm can allow Diancie to beat physical threats that lack super effective STAB, such as Mega-Aerodactyl, but do not allow it to beat threats like Scizor or Swords Dance Gliscor.
• Keep Diancie away from Steel-types like they were the plague. Diancie has no way of breaking through them unless it's packing Hidden Power Fire and will quickly find itself KO'd by their STAB moves.

Team Options
========

• Magneton gets a big shoutout here for being able to trap chipped Steel-types and threaten most bulky Water-types.
• Sweepers, such as Serperior, which have reason to be wary of the collection of threats Diancie is intended to switch in on pair well with Diancie as they work well together in order to dispatch each others checks without compounding weaknesses.
• Pokemon capable of sponging physical attacks aimed at Diancie's lesser defensive stat, namely Alomomola or Suicune, form an effective defensive core capable of repeatedly switching in on a myriad of threats. Grass-type threats, specifically opposing Serperior and Rotom-C, still pressure the duo effectively well however.
• Ground-type resists are worthwhile partners as well; Togekiss fits the bill and can supply Diancie with wish support similar to Alomomola.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

• There's some utility to Choice Specs on Diancie: a boosted Power Gem is enough to cleanly 2HKO non-Specially Defensive Scizor and it has the movepool to not find itself reliant on Hidden Power for coverage. Being Pursuit-resistant is a boon as well for when Diancie needs to pivot out, but it's run-of-the-mill Base 100 SpA won't allow it to deliver crushing blows and will usually be outclassed by other Choice Specs users.
• A RestTalk set with Calm Mind and Moonblast works, but it doesn't fully patch up Diancie's severe weakness to Steel-type threats and will be stopped cold by opposing Scizor, Mega-Aggron, and Cobalion.
• Trick Room?

Checks and Counters
===================

• Steel-types: super-effective STAB will traditionally punish Diancie's uninvested Def stat and generally OHKO the Jewel Pokemon.
• Water-types: tend to be generally bulky and only need to be wary of Toxic. Can set up on Diancie and threaten back with STAB. Empoleon gets a special mention here since it fits into both categories and fears literally nothing but a Specs-boosted Earth Power.

NEED TO FINISH:
-Checks and counters
-Flush out Team Options

 

[Mazz]

I'm planning on finishing this on Monday. Sorry I haven't been actively working on it.

Also, waiting to see what the decision on M-Diancie is. It's inclusion to UU would substantially invalidate this set.

 

[Nuked]

Do you still have interest in finishing this? It doesn't seem like you have too much left to finish, so just let us know if you still have interest in completing this.