Rowan
The professor?
[Overview]
<p>Drifloon appears to be outclassed by other offensive Flying- and Ghost-types, particularly Murkrow and Misdreavus, because of its low offensive stats. However, Drifloon can create a niche for itself with the combination of Unburden and Flying Gem, doubling its Speed and powering its main STAB, Acrobatics, at the same time. Although its typing allows it to switch into common Fighting- and Ground-type attacks, Drifloon is rather frail without an Eviolite. In addition, with its weakness to Stealth Rock and priority moves such as Sucker Punch and Ice Shard, Drifloon's life span is limited.</p>
[SET]
name: Acrofloon (Acrobatics)
move 1: Acrobatics
move 2: Shadow Ball
move 3: Substitute
move 4: Destiny Bond / Hypnosis / Disable
item: Flying Gem
ability: Unburden
nature: Naughty / Naive
evs: 196 Atk / 116 SpA / 196 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Thanks to Unburden, once Drifloon has used its Flying Gem, it instantly becomes one of the fastest Pokemon in the tier, tying with Sand Rush Drilbur. With the abundance of Fighting-types in Little Cup, Drifloon has plenty of opportunities to use Acrobatics, which will have an incredible Base Power of 247 when factoring in STAB and the Flying Gem boost. Shadow Ball is Drifloon's secondary STAB, offering good neutral coverage with Acrobatics and hitting Ghost- and Psychic-type threats, such as the extremely common Misdreavus and Abra, super effectively. Substitute is extremely useful for Drifloon, as it allows Drifloon to avoid Sucker Punch and status moves which would otherwise cripple it.</p>
<p>The final moveslot is up for grabs, as all three moves allow Drifloon to cripple its counters. Destiny Bond is a useful way to remove offensive threats, such as Magnemite and Chinchou, who can shrug off Drifloon's attacks and KO back with their super effective Electric-type moves. However, Destiny Bond isn't as useful against defensive threats such as Porygon or Lileep, as they can avoid Destiny Bond with Recover and easily stall Drifloon out if sandstorm or hail is up. Hypnosis is a lot less situational than Destiny Bond, but is less reliable due to its 60% accuracy. Finally, Disable is an option that goes well with Substitute. It can potentially allow Drifloon to beat Pokemon that only have one attack to hit Drifloon with, such as Shadow Ball from Porygon or Misdreavus. It can also cripple Choice Scarf Magnemite, bypass Sucker Punch users such as Murkrow and Stunky, and stop Lileep and Porygon from using Recover.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>A Naive nature can be used to outspeed Adamant Drilbur or Speed tie with Jolly Drilbur in sand. A Naughty nature is better in most situations though, as it gives Acrobatics a bit of extra power and still allows Drifloon to Speed tie with Adamant Sand Rush Drilbur. Drifloon has a relatively wide movepool; there are a plethora of other options that can be used on this set. Hidden Power Fire, Hidden Power Fighting, or Hidden Power Ground can all be used to hit Steel-types, the choice depends on who you want to hit harder; Ferroseed is dealt with by Hidden Power Fire, Pawniard is taken down by Hidden Power Fighting, and Magnemite is destroyed by Hidden Power Ground. Due to Little Cup EV mechanics, if you are going to use Hidden Power, you will need to add 4 EVs onto each stat that has been lowered to 30 IVs. However, Drifloon already uses the full 508 EVs, so the best solution is to use 40 Special Attack EVs, 36 HP EVs and 8 EVs in each defense. Thunderbolt is another move that can find a place on this set, hitting Murkrow and Omanyte for super effective damage. Status moves besides Hypnosis are also viable; Will-O-Wisp can cripple Murkrow, Pawniard, Stunky, and other physical attackers, whilst Toxic allows Drifloon to cripple Lileep and Porygon.</p>
<p>Because of Drifloon's fantastic ability to remove its own counters, Pokemon that share similar counters can make good teammates. Misdreavus and Murkrow can both be used in tandem with Drifloon if it manages to take down a Pokemon that threatens them. Fighting-types make exceptional partners to Drifloon due to their ability to beat Steel-, Dark-, and Rock-types. They can also switch into Porygon with ease. Magnemite is another Pokemon that works well with Drifloon, as it can check Murkrow and remove Steel-types from the game. Entry hazard support is also appreciated, as Drifloon isn't the strongest sweeper. Ferroseed and Lileep can both fulfill this role, and they both have the ability to wall Chinchou, who Drifloon finds troublesome. Finally, Rapid Spin support from Staryu or Drilbur is useful due to Drifloon's Stealth Rock weakness.</p>
[Other Options]
<p>A set with Substitute, Calm Mind, and an Oran Berry can be used to set up and activate Unburden instead, but it is very difficult to pull off due to Drifloon's frailness and lack of power, even at +1 Special Attack. This set could also be used in conjunction with Baton Pass to support a sweeper or as part of a Baton Pass chain. Sucker Punch can be used to move before opposing priority users, but Drifloon is already fast enough, and the coverage is redundant with its Ghost-type STAB. Thunder Wave is another viable status move, but again, this is often unnecessary with Unburden. Weather Ball is always an option if you're using Drifloon with Snover, although be mindful that this has legality issues with Destiny Bond. Charge Beam can be used if you want to raise Drifloon's Special Attack, but its low Base Power is unappealing. Finally, Memento is an interesting option if Drifloon is severely weakened and you want to give another teammate set-up opportunities.</p>
[Checks and Counters]
<p>Drifloon is often difficult to fully counter due to Destiny Bond, Hypnosis, and Disable, but there are many Pokemon that Drifloon struggles against. Many bulky Pokemon with access to reliable recovery, such as Lileep, Porygon, and Hippopotas, take very little from Drifloon's attacks and can stall it out with ease. Steel-types such as Magnemite resist both of Drifloon's STABs and can easily defeat it due to its abysmal defenses. Chinchou is another Pokemon that can hit Drifloon with a super effective attack and has enough special bulk to shrug off Shadow Ball. Dark-types with Sucker Punch, such as Murkrow, Stunky, Houndour, and Pawniard, are a massive pain to Drifloon and can often cause mind games with Substitute and Destiny Bond. Pawniard's secondary Steel typing makes it particularly effective, as Drifloon has no chance of breaking through it with its STAB moves. Tirtouga, Omanyte, and Shellder can all set up on Drifloon without fearing anything but Hypnosis. Tirtouga and Shellder in particular can use priority attacks to outspeed Drifloon. Snover is another notable user of priority that deals a minimum of 54% to Drifloon with Ice Shard.</p>
<p>Drifloon appears to be outclassed by other offensive Flying- and Ghost-types, particularly Murkrow and Misdreavus, because of its low offensive stats. However, Drifloon can create a niche for itself with the combination of Unburden and Flying Gem, doubling its Speed and powering its main STAB, Acrobatics, at the same time. Although its typing allows it to switch into common Fighting- and Ground-type attacks, Drifloon is rather frail without an Eviolite. In addition, with its weakness to Stealth Rock and priority moves such as Sucker Punch and Ice Shard, Drifloon's life span is limited.</p>
[SET]
name: Acrofloon (Acrobatics)
move 1: Acrobatics
move 2: Shadow Ball
move 3: Substitute
move 4: Destiny Bond / Hypnosis / Disable
item: Flying Gem
ability: Unburden
nature: Naughty / Naive
evs: 196 Atk / 116 SpA / 196 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Thanks to Unburden, once Drifloon has used its Flying Gem, it instantly becomes one of the fastest Pokemon in the tier, tying with Sand Rush Drilbur. With the abundance of Fighting-types in Little Cup, Drifloon has plenty of opportunities to use Acrobatics, which will have an incredible Base Power of 247 when factoring in STAB and the Flying Gem boost. Shadow Ball is Drifloon's secondary STAB, offering good neutral coverage with Acrobatics and hitting Ghost- and Psychic-type threats, such as the extremely common Misdreavus and Abra, super effectively. Substitute is extremely useful for Drifloon, as it allows Drifloon to avoid Sucker Punch and status moves which would otherwise cripple it.</p>
<p>The final moveslot is up for grabs, as all three moves allow Drifloon to cripple its counters. Destiny Bond is a useful way to remove offensive threats, such as Magnemite and Chinchou, who can shrug off Drifloon's attacks and KO back with their super effective Electric-type moves. However, Destiny Bond isn't as useful against defensive threats such as Porygon or Lileep, as they can avoid Destiny Bond with Recover and easily stall Drifloon out if sandstorm or hail is up. Hypnosis is a lot less situational than Destiny Bond, but is less reliable due to its 60% accuracy. Finally, Disable is an option that goes well with Substitute. It can potentially allow Drifloon to beat Pokemon that only have one attack to hit Drifloon with, such as Shadow Ball from Porygon or Misdreavus. It can also cripple Choice Scarf Magnemite, bypass Sucker Punch users such as Murkrow and Stunky, and stop Lileep and Porygon from using Recover.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>A Naive nature can be used to outspeed Adamant Drilbur or Speed tie with Jolly Drilbur in sand. A Naughty nature is better in most situations though, as it gives Acrobatics a bit of extra power and still allows Drifloon to Speed tie with Adamant Sand Rush Drilbur. Drifloon has a relatively wide movepool; there are a plethora of other options that can be used on this set. Hidden Power Fire, Hidden Power Fighting, or Hidden Power Ground can all be used to hit Steel-types, the choice depends on who you want to hit harder; Ferroseed is dealt with by Hidden Power Fire, Pawniard is taken down by Hidden Power Fighting, and Magnemite is destroyed by Hidden Power Ground. Due to Little Cup EV mechanics, if you are going to use Hidden Power, you will need to add 4 EVs onto each stat that has been lowered to 30 IVs. However, Drifloon already uses the full 508 EVs, so the best solution is to use 40 Special Attack EVs, 36 HP EVs and 8 EVs in each defense. Thunderbolt is another move that can find a place on this set, hitting Murkrow and Omanyte for super effective damage. Status moves besides Hypnosis are also viable; Will-O-Wisp can cripple Murkrow, Pawniard, Stunky, and other physical attackers, whilst Toxic allows Drifloon to cripple Lileep and Porygon.</p>
<p>Because of Drifloon's fantastic ability to remove its own counters, Pokemon that share similar counters can make good teammates. Misdreavus and Murkrow can both be used in tandem with Drifloon if it manages to take down a Pokemon that threatens them. Fighting-types make exceptional partners to Drifloon due to their ability to beat Steel-, Dark-, and Rock-types. They can also switch into Porygon with ease. Magnemite is another Pokemon that works well with Drifloon, as it can check Murkrow and remove Steel-types from the game. Entry hazard support is also appreciated, as Drifloon isn't the strongest sweeper. Ferroseed and Lileep can both fulfill this role, and they both have the ability to wall Chinchou, who Drifloon finds troublesome. Finally, Rapid Spin support from Staryu or Drilbur is useful due to Drifloon's Stealth Rock weakness.</p>
[Other Options]
<p>A set with Substitute, Calm Mind, and an Oran Berry can be used to set up and activate Unburden instead, but it is very difficult to pull off due to Drifloon's frailness and lack of power, even at +1 Special Attack. This set could also be used in conjunction with Baton Pass to support a sweeper or as part of a Baton Pass chain. Sucker Punch can be used to move before opposing priority users, but Drifloon is already fast enough, and the coverage is redundant with its Ghost-type STAB. Thunder Wave is another viable status move, but again, this is often unnecessary with Unburden. Weather Ball is always an option if you're using Drifloon with Snover, although be mindful that this has legality issues with Destiny Bond. Charge Beam can be used if you want to raise Drifloon's Special Attack, but its low Base Power is unappealing. Finally, Memento is an interesting option if Drifloon is severely weakened and you want to give another teammate set-up opportunities.</p>
[Checks and Counters]
<p>Drifloon is often difficult to fully counter due to Destiny Bond, Hypnosis, and Disable, but there are many Pokemon that Drifloon struggles against. Many bulky Pokemon with access to reliable recovery, such as Lileep, Porygon, and Hippopotas, take very little from Drifloon's attacks and can stall it out with ease. Steel-types such as Magnemite resist both of Drifloon's STABs and can easily defeat it due to its abysmal defenses. Chinchou is another Pokemon that can hit Drifloon with a super effective attack and has enough special bulk to shrug off Shadow Ball. Dark-types with Sucker Punch, such as Murkrow, Stunky, Houndour, and Pawniard, are a massive pain to Drifloon and can often cause mind games with Substitute and Destiny Bond. Pawniard's secondary Steel typing makes it particularly effective, as Drifloon has no chance of breaking through it with its STAB moves. Tirtouga, Omanyte, and Shellder can all set up on Drifloon without fearing anything but Hypnosis. Tirtouga and Shellder in particular can use priority attacks to outspeed Drifloon. Snover is another notable user of priority that deals a minimum of 54% to Drifloon with Ice Shard.</p>
Okay, I'm removing SubCM, because it's not bulky or powerful enough to pull off and it needs 2 boosts to be decent, which it's not gonna get against a decent player
[Overview]
-Seems to be outclassed by Missy/Krow
-Unburden gives it a cool niche with Acrobatics+gem
-very frail without eviolite
-it's typing allows it to switch into common fighting and ground attacks
[SET]
name: Acrofloon (Acrobatics)
move 1: Acrobatics
move 2: Shadow Ball
move 3: Substitute
move 4: Destiny Bond / Hypnosis / Disable
item: Flying Gem
ability: Unburden
nature: Naughty / Naive
evs: 196 Atk / 116 SpA / 196 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
-Unburden + Flying Gem doubles its speed making it outspeed pretty much everything.
-Has lots of opportunity to set up on fighting types
-Acrobatics smashes things especially on its first use
-Shadow Ball is secondary STAB ~ Good coverage
-Substitute allows Drifloon to avoid sucker punch which would otherwise mess with it.
-Last slot helps it get past/remove its would-be counters
-Destiny Bond makes it a good way to remove things like mag/pawniard etc...
-but Destiny Bond is less useful against the more bulky opponents with access to recovery - especially in weather as it can be stalled out.
-Hypnosis can take a potential counter out of the game.
-Sub + Disable has fantastic synergy and can cripple sucker punch users, or scarf magnemite, or disabling recover/slack off/roost
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
EVs are just max attack+speed then rest in SpA-nothing unusual here
-Naughty vs. Naive - Naive beats Adamant Drilbur in sand and ties with jolly.
-Lots of other moveslot options:
-Hidden Power Fire/Fight/Ground hits steel types like pawniard, Ferroseed, Magnemite
-Thunderbolt can hit Murkrow
-If you're using Hidden Power, EVs need to be taken from SpA and put into defenses
-most hidden powers are too weak and its best sticking with hypnosis to remove its counters
-Will-o-wisp can be used to cripple murkrow and other physical attackers
-Toxic really annoys Lileep or Porygon who can counter Floon quite well.
Team options:
-Destiny Bond lets Drifloon take out many of Murkrow's or Missy's counters allowing them to sweep later on.
-Hates steel-types and Lileep so fighting types or magnemite can make good partners
-fighting types also beat dark types and porygon, who counter this set
-Chinchou can usually take a hit and beat floon - ferro and lileep can counter chinchou and setup hazards which floon appreciates
-rapid spin support is appreciated because Stealth Rock is annoying.
[Other Options]
-SubCM set but it isn't bulky or strong enough.
-Calm Mind could also be used in conjunction with Baton Pass
-Sucker punch is cool priority but Drifloon is fast anyway and the coverage is redundant with its STAB
-Status moves - will-o-wisp, toxic and thunder wave are all viable
-Weather Ball if you're running Snover but it is illegal with DBond
-Charge Beam is okay but it's too weak
-Memento
[Checks and Counters]
-Destiny Bond makes it difficult to fully counter as Drifloon is almost guaranteed a kill
-Drifloon can't do anything to Lileep or Porygon
-Drifloon is relatively weak so lots of other bulky mons -even Hippo will be able to stall it out
-Steel types beat it
-Chinchou beats it
-Sucker Punch users give it trouble (murkrow, pawniard, stunky etc)
-Tirtouga/omanyte/shellder can set up
-Other priority particularly from Snover, tirt + shellder
[Overview]
-Seems to be outclassed by Missy/Krow
-Unburden gives it a cool niche with Acrobatics+gem
-very frail without eviolite
-it's typing allows it to switch into common fighting and ground attacks
[SET]
name: Acrofloon (Acrobatics)
move 1: Acrobatics
move 2: Shadow Ball
move 3: Substitute
move 4: Destiny Bond / Hypnosis / Disable
item: Flying Gem
ability: Unburden
nature: Naughty / Naive
evs: 196 Atk / 116 SpA / 196 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
-Unburden + Flying Gem doubles its speed making it outspeed pretty much everything.
-Has lots of opportunity to set up on fighting types
-Acrobatics smashes things especially on its first use
-Shadow Ball is secondary STAB ~ Good coverage
-Substitute allows Drifloon to avoid sucker punch which would otherwise mess with it.
-Last slot helps it get past/remove its would-be counters
-Destiny Bond makes it a good way to remove things like mag/pawniard etc...
-but Destiny Bond is less useful against the more bulky opponents with access to recovery - especially in weather as it can be stalled out.
-Hypnosis can take a potential counter out of the game.
-Sub + Disable has fantastic synergy and can cripple sucker punch users, or scarf magnemite, or disabling recover/slack off/roost
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
EVs are just max attack+speed then rest in SpA-nothing unusual here
-Naughty vs. Naive - Naive beats Adamant Drilbur in sand and ties with jolly.
-Lots of other moveslot options:
-Hidden Power Fire/Fight/Ground hits steel types like pawniard, Ferroseed, Magnemite
-Thunderbolt can hit Murkrow
-If you're using Hidden Power, EVs need to be taken from SpA and put into defenses
-most hidden powers are too weak and its best sticking with hypnosis to remove its counters
-Will-o-wisp can be used to cripple murkrow and other physical attackers
-Toxic really annoys Lileep or Porygon who can counter Floon quite well.
Team options:
-Destiny Bond lets Drifloon take out many of Murkrow's or Missy's counters allowing them to sweep later on.
-Hates steel-types and Lileep so fighting types or magnemite can make good partners
-fighting types also beat dark types and porygon, who counter this set
-Chinchou can usually take a hit and beat floon - ferro and lileep can counter chinchou and setup hazards which floon appreciates
-rapid spin support is appreciated because Stealth Rock is annoying.
[Other Options]
-SubCM set but it isn't bulky or strong enough.
-Calm Mind could also be used in conjunction with Baton Pass
-Sucker punch is cool priority but Drifloon is fast anyway and the coverage is redundant with its STAB
-Status moves - will-o-wisp, toxic and thunder wave are all viable
-Weather Ball if you're running Snover but it is illegal with DBond
-Charge Beam is okay but it's too weak
-Memento
[Checks and Counters]
-Destiny Bond makes it difficult to fully counter as Drifloon is almost guaranteed a kill
-Drifloon can't do anything to Lileep or Porygon
-Drifloon is relatively weak so lots of other bulky mons -even Hippo will be able to stall it out
-Steel types beat it
-Chinchou beats it
-Sucker Punch users give it trouble (murkrow, pawniard, stunky etc)
-Tirtouga/omanyte/shellder can set up
-Other priority particularly from Snover, tirt + shellder
Last edited: