Exploud (BW2 Revamp) [QC 0/3]

[Asbestospoison]

muh trumpets

[Overview]

• Great Special Attack
• STAB Hypervoice
• Scrappy, so no ghosts ruin his day
• Can take care of physical walls such as Weezing, Bastiodon, Misdreavus, Larion, Alomomola, Torkoal, etc.
• Decent Movepool
• Great on Baton Pass and Trick Room teams
• Crap speed
• bad defenses

[SET]
name: Wallbreaker
move 1: Hyper Voice
move 2: Surf
move 3: Fire Blast
move 4: Focus Blast / Ice Beam
item: Choice Specs / Life Orb
ability: Scrappy
nature: Timid
evs: 64 HP / 252 SpA / 192 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

• Uses great SpA to hit walls for massive damage
• Scrappy means even ghost-types aren't safe from STAB Hyper Voice
• Surf hits Rock- and Ground-types harder
• Overheat hits steel-, grass-, and Ice-types hardest
• Focus Blast is mainly for Normal-types, dark-types, and lapras, but ice beam can be used to hit Altaria
• Choice Specs provide more power, life orb can be used for freedom to switch moves but power drop is highly noticable, missing out on KO's on Ludicolo, Machoke, Sawk (needs spikes for specs KO on switch-in), Misdreavus (if SR is up can KO on switch-in), and others.
• EVs allow Exploud to outspeed neutral-natured base 70s such as ludicolo (outside of rain, obviously), along with some pokemon such as Flareon, seismitoad (again, w/o rain), and Lapras. SpA is maxed out FOR MAXIMUM POWER and the rest is put in health to slightly increase bulk.

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

• Fire Blast could be replaced with Overheat if you don't mind the SpA drop.
• Good teammates are ones that appreciate the removal of physical walls, so pokemon like Primape, Golurk, and Samurott are good choices. Fighting-types such as Sawk enjoy the removal of physical walls such as misdreavus and weezing.
• Misdreavus is another good partner, as it can switch in on fighting-type attacks aimed at Exploud, and can burn them. Misdreavus can also spinblock, so that spikes and SR aren't taken away.
• Exploud really apreciates entry hazards to score some extra kills. Spikes is arguably more useful thank SR, as it lets Exploud score KO's on Golurk, Bastiodon, Alomomola, and others on the switch in. SR is still useful for taking out Misdreavus and Torkoal. Scoliopede and Roselia are good Spikers, while bulky pokemon such as Golurk and Seismitoad are good for setting up SR. Scoliopede in particular appreciates Exploud's wallbreaking skills.

[Other Options]

• Fairly decent movepool, with stuff like Shadow Ball, Extrasensory, Solarbeam, but options listed are usually the best.
• Expert Belt could be used to bluff choice, but the power drop is highly noticable
• Soundproof gives it a great place on baton pass teams, as it can't be stopped by roar or perish song, but otherwise Exploud really doesn't have to worry about these moves.
• Taunt can be used to stop pokemon from setting up on Exploud
• Also great on Trick Room teams as he can break the walls that they generally have trouble with.

[Checks and Counters]

• Fast, strong pokemon such as Primeape, Braviary, and Jynx can easily revenge kill it.
• Fighting-types in general are great counters, although they can't always switch in easily.
• If using Focus Blast, Specs Altaria can counter, if using Ice beam, Lapras, Lickilicky and Miltank can stop Exploud cold.

 

[Vert]

Why use Overheat when you get Fire Blast?

So I'd say Hammer Arm is better than Focus Blast:

- Accuracy
- Hits almost everything in NU harder bar Regirock which you'd rather hit with surf
- Speed isn't a problem because Exploud is already really slow

In OO, some of that imformation to go to AC

AC Soundproof, it helps against Roar + Perish Song and opposing Hyper Voices, both which are common in NU, and this is a good time to talk about Shadow Ball as well

Choice Specs should be slashed over LO in my opinion because being able to switch moves is definitely better with that amazing coverage

Mention how Exploud is useful for defeating spinblockers

OO Choice band, Return hits harder and Earthquake has could coverage when using Scrappy

AC Tailwind

Spikes gets this thing so many 2 + OHKOs, you won't believe it ex. Altaria, Lickilicky, I'll mention more later

Overview

bad defenses

say that its "crap" speed is compounded with these average defenses, through experience the given EVs in your set actually makes it kind of bulky, I've used it through experience

 

[Asbestospoison]

Why use Overheat when you get Fire Blast?
Because it has moar powerz, better accuracy, and Exploud shouldn't be staying in long anyways. I did mention Fire Blast in AC, I might slash it once I think about it some more, I haven't actually done calcs to see if there's a notable difference yet.
So I'd say Hammer Arm is better than Focus Blast:

- Accuracy
- Hits almost everything in NU harder bar Regirock which you'd rather hit with surf
- Speed isn't a problem because Exploud is already really slow
I'll look over this more when I have the time, it does seem like it could be a better option.
In OO, some of that imformation to go to AC

AC Soundproof, it helps against Roar + Perish Song and opposing Hyper Voices, both which are common in NU, and this is a good time to talk about Shadow Ball as well
Nah, Scrappy is generally the preferred ability IMO. You really have no reason to fear those moves unless you're on a baton pass team, which was in OO, and being able to hit ghosts with STAB (hence why no Shadow Ball, which means Exploud loses a coverage move), is a huge boon. Also, I really can't think of any NU users of Hyper Voice other than opposing Exploud and Chatot, neither of which are huge threats.
Choice Specs should be slashed over LO in my opinion because being able to switch moves is definitely better with that amazing coverage
It is slashed, unless you meant that LO should be the primary slash. I mentioned why in the Analysis, it scores some nice KO's.
Mention how Exploud is useful for defeating spinblockers
It really isn't. While exploud can kill many ghosts (iirc Golurk can be OHKO'd after spikes, and Misdreavus 2HKO'd after SR) Skuntank is much better and Exploud's primary job is wallbreaking.
OO Choice band, Return hits harder and Earthquake has could coverage when using Scrappy
Earthquake is not at all affected by Scrappy. Are you thinking of mold breaker maybe? Anyways, it's Physical moveset is worse than it's special, it would have to use the elemental punches for coverage. Specs can take advantage of stuff like Overheat and Surf, there's really no reason to run band imo.
AC Tailwind
I might, except tailwind doesn't have much use in singles. Also exploud can't learn it, unless showdown is lying to me.
Spikes gets this thing so many 2 + OHKOs, you won't believe it ex. Altaria, Lickilicky, I'll mention more later
I mentioned that in the analysis!


say that its "crap" speed is compounded with these average defenses, through experience the given EVs in your set actually makes it kind of bulky, I've used it through experience
I wouldn't call 63 def average, and they kind of undermine it's HP stat (hence why I put the evs in it). Exploud can't really take a hit too well, at least not from powerful attackers.

Thanks for taking the time to look at the analysis, comments are in red! Feel free to argue with me on any of them!

 

[Vert]

I think you should not skim through these comments and say stuff, but read thoroughly with some logic.

Overheat causes a -2 SpA drop at the end of the turn, and Fire Blast sacrifices 5% accuracy for consistency. Why would you use Overheat for the extra power when it gets no notable 2 or OHKOs? Fire is an excellent offensive typing in NU, as it hits the majority of the tier. Grass and Bug-types are common in NU, Ice as well, and the consistency is even more useful on an LO Set where if you have to use a different coverage move later on, you will be dead weight which could cost you some games.

Scrappy may help on hitting ghost-types, but for LO, soundproof gets enough usage to be put in OO. I'm not going to bug you with this because it is already mentioned.

Being locked in one move is dead-weight and many pokemon can set-up on its coverage moves. Lif orb can let you switch moves which is more important in my opinion. since the set is meant for wallbreaking, the pokemon you've meantioned are "2HKOed" with LO too, (Machoke is only 2HKOed with Choice Specs, and LO has 66.1% chance to 2HKO, Sawk has Sturdy, Ludicolo-- nvm)

Tailwind Support I mean

CB is viable (EQ is coverage move)

 

[WhiteDMist]

Taunt deserves an OO mention, stopping most SR setters and then striking them with Surf and Focus Blast. I agree that Exploud should be using Fire Blast simply because it really doesn't like switching out if it doesn't have to, especially in a metagame where Spikes are so popular. For SR teammates, I would also switch out Miltank for Golem and Seismitoad to prevent doubling up weaknesses and to interrupt Volt Switch users from simply switching out to a counter/check. You should probably add a few more viable teammates as well. Mention that Sawk in particular loves how Exploud can severely cripple Misdreavus, Weezing, and Golbat with Hyper Voice; in exchange Sawk demolishes most special walls from Exploud (who has only above average attacking power at best). Paralysis support from the likes of Musharna and Liepard are very beneficial to make the most of Exploud's offensive prowess. Tailwind support probably isn't worth a mention, it doesn't last long enough and you get about 2 turns at best. Honestly, Soundproof at best should be in OO, but emphasize that Exploud doesn't really care about Roar or Perish Song (the two most common sound-based moves).

 

[Asbestospoison]

Moved Overheat to OO and replaced it w/ Fire Blast after some consideration. IMO Choice Band really isn't even worth a mention, since Exploud's special movepool is much better and Kanga has most of the same moves and more, plus better attack and speed. And tailwind really isn't that great in singles, doubly so in NU.

 

[marilli]

Time to clear some backlogs!

About the fighting type move of choice: Focus Blast, Hammer Arm, or Low Kick. The fighting type coverage is used on two occasions: on frailer (and therefore faster than Exploud, most likely) Pokemon not weak enough to get OHKOed by Hyper Voice, and trying to hit those heavy-duty special walls like Lickilicky and Regice.

For the first, Hammer Arm was the most reliable move, pretty similar to Low Kick, then Focus Blast way behind. For those relatively frail mons aiming for that OHKO, the slight power difference between that Hammer arm and Focus Blast (focus blast is a little stronger) didn't matter at all. The consistency was the only thing at hand. The only scenario that really was catered towards Focus Blast was against Carracosta. For Low Kick's shaky Base Power, it actually didn't matter too much: against lightweight Fighting-weak pokemon, like Rotom-F and Mawile, there were other moves to choose from.

For wallbreaking purposes, Focus Blast did have that slight shot at 2HKOing Max SpD Lickilicky even if he protects next turn, so if your team really wanted that, that was available. However, that was pretty low chance for the above average rolls + 2 hitting, so it was nothing worth relying on. Hammer arm still 2HKOed Licki without that protect, so it's not like you have no counterplay! Other than that, Hammer arm / Low Kick functioned fine. Looking up Low Kick base damage is really a pain, not going to lie, but the only really wallbreaker Low Kick has less than 100 BP is Miltank. Rest of the special walls have 100 / 120 base power when hit by them, so the additional accuracy makes it /slightly/ superior. It misses out on Miltank, but Miltank also happens to be the only special wall that you can't really outspeed after that speed drop, too, so either way you get screwed over!

Both scenarios concerned, I think Hammer Arm / Low Kick are both superior choices over Focus Blast. I guess if you're concerned, you can put one in the main slash, then discuss the alternative fighting-type coverage options in OO or AC or something, and note stuff like never using Choice Specs Hammer Arm or something because that's just weak stuff, and without Life Orb Hammer Arm cannot 2HKO Licky and other special walls.

Pros for Focus Blast:

• Hits Carracosta
• Hits most things very, very slightly harder, if it ends up hitting!
• Doesn't lower speed
• Compatible with Choice Specs

Pros for Hammer Arm:

• Misses a lot less
• Most "consistent" of the three
• Good enough damage for special walls
• Lowers speed, but this keeps it faster than stuff like Lickilicky so it can safely outspeed on the second hit.

Pros for Low Kick:

• Never misses.
• Doesn't lower speed
• Good enough damage on tanky special walls

Well that's way too long to talk about something pretty simple but you get my gist.

Next up, I think LO should be given the first slash instead of choice specs. If you think Choice Specs should be give the first slash, go more than "it hits harder." Tell us if there's any OHKOs I get with specs, or any 2HKOs I get with specs. Otherwise, Life Orb fits better with Exploud's coverage. Not to mention, there are more faster and destructive things that could spam a single STAB move with Choice Specs, hell, like a Chatot or even Girafarig! Well we could go further but let's not because we won't get to the end of it if we talk about outclassing. At least, Hammer Arm needs to go with Life Orb, or it doesn't pack enough punch to 2HKO the important targets. Because this accuracy issue (and having to hit twice) is a big deal, I think the superiority of Hammer Arm / Low Kick is enough to make LO the superior choice.

Also make sure to emphasize this thing does kind of suck. No reason to make it too rosey for this never used fellow because he kind of deserves it.

 

[tennisace]

-you still mention overheat in the first set with fire blast in AC, those should be switched.

-you need to mention what kills entry hazards allow exploud to get if there are any specific ones, otherwise don't mention it in the analysis

-saying its good on tr teams should be in AC when you mention good partners, not oo

-other good partners are ones that can take on fighting-types, like musharna and gardevoir.

 

[Raseri]

This is being reassigned. If anyone wants to take it over, please VM me. Thanks for taking it this far, Asbestospoison.