So I was looking at Jumpluff and I noticed Memento. I thought about trying to make a strategy around it, but since I really have no experience with double battles, I decided to just make a single general-purpose pokemon with it, utilizing
Drifloon. Yes, drifloon. Just bear with me.
Drifloon @
Focus Sash
Naive
Unburden
252 Spd, 252 Sp. Atk, 4 Atk
Memento
Stockpile
Skill Swap
Swagger
Okay. so basically, the idea is simply to cripple something with a quick memento. Note that with only base 90 HP, and 34 def/44 sp.def, practically any hit will activate the focus sash, shooting you up to 520 speed, where nothing will be able to outspeed you on the first turn that has not already done so. In other words, even rain dance teams that lead with kyogre and, say, kingdra, can outspeed you with the really fast swift swimmer, but then kyogre will be unable to outspeed you once sash and unburden kicks in, even with max speed and a choice scarf. This ensures that you will only have to take one hit and will then be able to memento something (probably before it attacks, if they activated your sash), making it practically useless for attacking unless switched out.
Now, the great part about this is that you can pair it with a swagger/flatter user slower then 'floon, preferably one immune to fake out if possible, and can swagger/flatter the incoming pokemon, giving it a +2 (sp.) attack boost. A persim berry can be used in order to ignore the confusion. I originally came up with this idea when considering starting with a groudon alongside this, swaggering the spot where 'floon was, hitting an incoming leafeon with leaf guard, who can then proceed to swords dance or synthesis as needed and crush stuff with leaf blade and x-scissor or another move for type coverage.
I also had the idea of using this drifloon in tandem with drifblim and a slower-than-drifloon flatter user, who could flatter the spot where drifloon was, hitting drifblim (holding a persim) as he came in to replace 'floon, who, thanks to flatter+unburden, would reach 568 speed and 558 SpAtk, assuming timid 252/252 spd/SpAtk. This may not be the best idea however, seeing as drifloon and drifblim are the exact same type, meaning any attacks targeted at drifloon that would have hit him SE would also hit drifblim SE, but I think it may work. Clearly it needs testing.
This 'floon would probably work better in 6v6 doubles, since you're sacrificing a pokemon completely, but it might work in 4v4.
Well, tell me what you think, about the drifloon in general and the two listed strategies accompanying it. Feel free to test the 'floon by itself or with one of the accompanying strategies if you like it or think it might work, and feel free to come up with your own strategies and post them. Also note that this strategy can be implemented with Drifblim if you don't use the 'floon + 'blim strategy, but because it is fairly sturdy, it is much more likely to sustain a hit without actually activating the sash, meaning rain dance teams and such could be able to outspeed you and kill you in two hits. Although I suppose this would allow the pokemon meant to take its place a free switch-in and could then be swaggered/flattered, preventing any actual damage to the pokemon meant to stay alive. I don't know. Feel free to comment on this as well.
EDIT: Oh, and also, naive makes your defenses almost even at 104 def/111 sp. def (124/129 if using drifblim).
EDIT 2: Note that the moves listed allow it to function as it does in Regigigas + Drifblim strategy a few pages back (which I included below) if you want, making it a dual-purpose lead in a sense. This would be particularly useful in the 6v6 choose 4 style of play, as you could keep regigigas with you and choose to use it only if you thought it would be helpful, and just use this as the memento floon/blim it was designed for if you don't think Regigigas would work.
EDIT 3: A good flatter-er to use with the flatter + floon + blim strategy could perhaps be Nidoking with flatter/EQ/Sucker Punch/filler. flatter for stat boosting, earthquake for stab that doesn't hit 'blim, sucker punch for ghosts attempting to take down blim, and a filler move for coverage. Optionally, you could also use taunt or swagger as the last move. Taunt can prevent trick room and keeps follow me from working more than once, while swagger can allow you to hit almost anything with a confusion+statup move. hit physical attackers with flatter and special attackers with swagger. you could also use stealth rock or toxic spikes for obvious reasons. You could use roar to prevent stat-upping. you could roar follow me pokes, then roar whatever was meant to set up next turn. helping hand is also an option to boost Drifblim's attack power to sky-high levels. In fact, you could give it a lum berry and make your last pokemon a mixed honckrow with insomnia. If you expect something like dark void from smeargle, you switch in honchkrow @ persim to absorb the flatter, which nidoking will get off thanks to the lum berry. honchkrow could be omsething along the lines of sucker punch/heat wave/hp fighting/icy wind or something like that. Again, something else I could use help with.
Here's the Regigigas + Drifblim strategy I mentioned:
I've been working on this duo for a while and it is finally ready. Here is my contribution:
Regigigas@Lum Berry
Nature: Adamant
Ability: Slow Start
EV Spread: 6 Attack . 252 Defense . 252 Special Defense
-Psych Up
-Rock Slide
-Crush Grip
-Drain Punch
Why are all the EVs in the Defense department? They are there to simply keep Regi alive and provide optimal recovery with Drain Punch. It has an attack stat of nearly 400 and a speed of 236 (without Slow Start) - I will explain the moveset later. It is usually my 3rd Pokemon in play, which is paired with:
Drifblim@Leftovers
Nature: Bold
Ability: Unburden
EV Spread: 252 HP . 129 Defense . 129 Special Defense
-Stockpile
-Skill Swap
-Swagger
-Baton Pass/Shadow Ball/Rest
I start with Drifblim and Togekiss/Clefable. Drifblim Stockpiles away while the other uses Follow Me and then Protect to hopefully fool opponents who aim for Togekiss/Clefable again. The balloon can usually get in 2+ Stockpiles before its fate-ridden partner takes the plunge. Now, insert Regi here.
Strategy: After a few Stockpiles, Drifblim is more than capable of taking a few hits (as is Regigigas). It immediately Skill Swaps while Regigigas copies its defensive boosts with Psych Up (one of its few stat-boosting moves). Then, Drifblim uses Swagger, (which is on several of my pokemon in case it fails) to activate the magic:
Regigigas receives a 2X boost to Attack and recovers from confusion with its Lum Berry. At the same time, it receives a 2X boost to Speed with its new Unburden ability. From here on, Regigigas destroys any wall with Crush Grip and can recover a great deal of HP on Tyranitars and Weaviles with Drain Punch. Finally, Rock Slide is simply amazing. With a speed stat of 472 and an attack stat of almost 780, not much lives - and if it does, it usually flinches.
From here on, Drifblim can Baton Pass to another Sweeper (if it lives), or Rest up for another partner to use Psych Up if Regigigas dies.
It takes a lot of skill and prediction to set this combo off and it took a lot of time to get here, but the results are beyond extreme. You simply have to see it in action to understand its full potential.
Simply put Memento in place of the last move if you wish to do so.
EDIT 4: If you were to utilize a mixed-strategy team, you might end up with the following:
Drifloon (as seen above)
Nidoking (also as seen above)
Drifblim (sweeper-oriented)
-------------------------------- this is the flatter+drifloon+drifblim strategy seen above
Togekiss (follow me and such)
Regigigas (as seen above)
-------------------------------- this is the completion of the Regigigas+Drifblim (which is replaced with floon here) strategy
Honchkrow (as seen above)
-------------------------------- this is the counter to dark void smeargle, and potentially a potent mixed sweeper with a flatter
EDIT 5: Another good thing about my general-purpose floon is that it would be easy to breed for, as all you care about are a +speed nature, preferably naive, and a high speed iv. In fact, the lower the HP/Def/SpDef, the better. This also makes it easy to test. You could even use a plain floon with memento/unburden/sash to test it if you want. It obviously wouldn't be quite as viable, but it would still be a good indicator. Unfortunately, memento is an egg move, which makes it slightly harder, but that's okay. Also, I just checked, and memento/psych up/stockpile/swagger is a legal moveset. I don't really have the time to test this strategy, so if someone would be willing to test it out for me (perhaps BARON9 since he already has a large portion of the team), I would be extremely grateful.
Wow this post is long. Ironic, since this is entirely theorymon and I have no idea if it makes for an effective strategy or not. :D
