I made what I think is an improvement to the Mono Ghost team. Remember Misdreavus / Duskull / Dusclops, setting up an Evasion Curse-sweeping Dusclops with some support of Twave, Perish Song and Memento?
Well, the trio stays the same, but now it's Misdreavus who gets a chance to sweep. It's the only Calm Mind user that actually OHKOs many Pokémon, and I've learned from 'sweeping' with low Speed and HP depletion that it's not reliable enough; you never know when they do hit Dusclops. I'm very happy not having to rely on Evasion anymore. Lowering the opponent's Evasion to open up a sweep is another story, but relying on your own Evasion to sweep the last two is just terrible. Here's the team,
the bordeaux set details are the one I use in the current version:
Duskull @ Lum Berry / Quick Claw
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 20 Def / 236 SpD
Calm Nature (+SpD, -Atk)
- Protect
- Memento
- Grudge
- Torment / Flash / Destiny Bond
Misdreavus and Duskull have one of the best typing / ability combinations in the game, and specially defensive Duskull is actually really hard to OHKO (but pretty easy to 2HKO because of its low HP); this one in particular is EV-ed to live through Houndoom's Crunch guaranteed, and it also survive non-STAB Shadow Balls (e.g. Snorlax', Metagross'). It usually leads off with Protect, tries to get information about their set and scouts what move it can use best: Memento or Grudge spam. Because Misdreavus can setup against many physical opponents
once they lose their 'effective move', Duskull usually Grudges those and Mementoes special foes with more coverage. This works really well against Normal-types (Shadow Ball) in particular. Grudge always steals their best move against Misdreavus because Duskull and Misdreavus have exactly the same type and Levitate!
Duskull does faint against some moves, though, mainly CB Shadow Ball from Granbull and Dusclops' Shadow Ball. These are the moves that can OHKO it:
| Absol (Absol-2 [353]) | Shadow Ball | 126.7 - 149.6% | guaranteed OHKO |
| Slaking (Slaking-3 [660]) | Shadow Ball | 125.1 - 148% | guaranteed OHKO |
| Granbull (Granbull-4 [665]) | Shadow Ball | 120.4 - 141.7% | guaranteed OHKO |
| Shedinja (Shedinja-Boss [Greta Silver]) | Shadow Ball | 100 - 118.1% | guaranteed OHKO |
| Banette (Banette-2 [343]) | Shadow Ball | 96 - 113.3% | 75% chance to OHKO |
| Medicham (Medicham-4 [662]) | Shadow Ball | 94.4 - 111.8% | 68.8% chance to OHKO |
| Slaking (Slaking-Boss [Spenser Gold]) | Shadow Ball | 90.5 - 107% | 43.8% chance to OHKO |
| Furret (Furret-2 [305]) | Shadow Ball | 88.9 - 105.5% | 37.5% chance to OHKO |
| Armaldo (Armaldo-4 [706]) | Rock Slide | 85.8 - 101.5% | 12.5% chance to OHKO |
| Dusclops (Dusclops-4 [667]) | Shadow Ball | 85 - 100.7% | 6.3% chance to OHKO |
Lum Berry is handy against sleep-inducers, although they're usually too weak to dent Dusclops anyway. Quick Claw can let Duskull use something against the Pokémon it gets OHKOed by, and might let Destiny Bond kill something you really don't want to see. Those CB Shadow Balls are really hard to get around with this team, that's just something I'll have to accept. Going with a more mixed Defensive set or specially defensive set only opens it up to more OHKOs, e.g. all kinds of Overheats and Crunches.
Dusclops @ Chesto Berry
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 204 Def / 52 SpD
Bold Nature (+SpD, -Atk)
- Protect
- Torment
- Curse / Snatch / Memento
- Rest
Dusclops is used as the defensive backup of the team. It can stall Pokémon down to Struggle after Duskull used Memento, can use Torment to reduce even more their ability to hit Misdreavus or to enable itself of being capable of stalling better with Protect. Curse was mainly for Anabel's Latios, who used to set up on my +6 Psychic/Tbolt Misdreavus and could proceed to sweep my team, although Snatch has more uses: it prevents Dragon Dances, Swords Dances, etc, but is hard to use, because they might just attack you. Also, it
doesn't steal Curse, and that's dangerous. Dusclops is defensively oriented to fight against high-attack physicals that have enough coverage to prevent Misdreavus from setting up, i.e. Dodrio and Salamence (Rock Slide / AA / Drill Peck / Steel Wing, etc.), more easily stall out Metagross and eat as many Shadow Balls of the aforementioned threats as possible. The sequence
Protect, tank + Rest, Protect, tank + Rest, tank + sleep, get KO'ed eats 12 Shadow Ball PP and Duskull also ate two or more (including Protect turns), so then they have only 1 Shadow Ball left at best against Misdreavus, which can be stalled with a Substitute. After a Memento from Duskull, Dusclops has no problems stalling on the Special side as well, e.g. against all-coverage mons like Slowking, Lapras, Starmie and the 4-attack Latios. These foes will be setup fodder while they use a really underpowered -2 Struggle against Misdreavus.
Using Memento on Dusclops is another option, especially if they still have too much Atk to the point where Struggle is too dangerous. I began using it when I changed Psychic to HP[Ice] on Misdreavus, reducing the necessity of Curse and still kind of working against boosting opponents, although it puts me on a clock to 'outrace' them with Misdreavus. This is usually accomplished by making good use of Torment and the timing to use Memento.
Misdreavus @ Leftovers:
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 76 HP / 100 Def / 132 SpA / 4 SpD / 196 Spe
Timid Nature (+Spe, -Atk)
IVs: 30 Atk / 30 Def
- Calm Mind
- Substitute
- Psychic / Hidden Power [Ice] (in case of HP[Ice], use 104 Def EVs and 0 SpD EVs)
- Thunderbolt
The most obvious setup sweeper set for Misdreavus. Psychic would be natural to consider over HP[Ice] because of its power, but HP[Ice] gives it so much better coverage. With HP[Ice], the only mons that don't get 2HKOed by Misdreavus can't do much in Return either, except Snorlax: think of Blissey, Regice, Umbreon, Swampert, Registeel and such. As a bonus, you can hit Umbreon without activating Synchronize.
If you use the higher-powered Psychic, then you can't reliably beat stuff like Claydol (Shadow Ball is dangerous) and Anabel's Latios. It still has uses though: sometimes it's nice to actually OHKO Poison and- Fighting types when you can't get to +6 in a pinch, such as Blaziken and Weezing.
My thought process on the Misdreavus EVs are as follows:
- 76 HP EVs bring it to 145 HP, a perfect Leftovers number so it can stall one more move if needed. These HP EVs also make Misdreavus' Sub more sturdy after a few Calm Minds, when facing Special Attackers such as Regice.
- Combined with 100 (104) Def EVs, this lets it always survive Metagross' Shadow Ball (so its MM and Snorlax' SB as well). This is important because they can have Quick Claw AND I might not always KO them. The extra Def EVs also help its Sub stay intact against the more powerful Struggles, possibly after Memento.
- 132 SpA give me 122 SpA; at +6 it 2HKOes bulky Snorlax and OHKOs Metagross with around 40% probability, and most other Pokémon it doesn't OHKO are not scary for me.
- 196 Spe gives it 143 Speed (it's a jump point) outspeeding everything below Pikachu-1. On a more serious note, it outspeeds those 100 base Speed mons that invest 170 in Speed, Alakazam, some Moltres, etc. You could go for the full 252/252 set and tie with other positive-natured base 85's (and outspeed a Houndoom set as a bonus), but I prefer the aforementioned bulk and Houndoom is only dangerous when setting up against it, but then either Grudge or Torment will make sure it has no Crunch.
A sample streak will be uploaded, and I'll finish this writeup with some important threats and how I try to handle them. Also, another thought process involving Haunter will be discussed. Thanks for reading.
