Gorebyss (Choice Specs)

[muna]

http://www.smogon.com/dp/pokemon/gorebyss

I have been using this set for three days on my Rain Dance team and this has to be one of the best sets I have ever used. More than half my games have ended in a Gorebyss Sweep. I also wrote the sentence " The first is Gorebyss' ability to take on and defeat every special wall in UU that doesn't resist Water-type moves with an incredibly powerful Hydro Pump. " and based on the damage calcs that I have run it appears to be true. I may be wrong so if I am then I ask anybody who can to correct me.

[SET]
name: Choice Specs
move 1: Hydro Pump
move 2: Ice Beam
move 3: Hidden Power Grass
move 4: Psychic
item: Choice Specs
nature: Modest
evs: 32 HP / 252 SpA / 224 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

<p>With the support of a Rain Dance user, Gorebyss becomes a very frightening force in UU and even in OU play. A Special Attack stat of 359 is no joke no matter what tier you play in. This, along with a Speed stat of 390, make Gorebyss a very deadly Pokemon. While this seems similar to the Life Orb set, it plays differently. The power of a Choice Specs Gorebyss STAB Hydro Pump in the rain cannot be underestimated. It will usually 2HKO a Chansey (and always 2HKO with Stealth Rocks in play). Ice Beam hits Grass- and Dragon-types supereffectively. HP Grass allows you to hurt other Water-types. Meanwhile, Psychic allows you to take out an unsuspecting Toxicroak. </p>

<p>Max Special Attack is a necessity for this set to make the most out of the Choice Specs. 224 Speed EVs allow you to reach 195, allowing you to outspeed many common threats in the rain including Jolly Swellow. The rest of the EVs should go into HP to make the most out of Gorebyss' very acceptable defenses.</P>

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

<p>Rain support is crucial to this set's success. Registeel and Claydol can both set up rain effectively as well as lure out Fire- and Water- attacks respectively which make it easy for Gorebyss to switch in. They can also both pack Explosion to take out a potential threat after using Rain Dance.</p>

<p>At first glance, this may seem like the Life Orb set without the freedom of being able to switch moves, but there are a few key advantages. The first is Gorebyss' ability to take on and defeat every special wall in UU that doesn't resist Water-type moves with an incredibly powerful Hydro Pump. The second advantage is the extra power. Usually, the 20% increase in power gained from using Choice Specs instead of Life Orb is not that noticeable, but due to the 150% boost to Water- moves in he rain as well as the 150% STAB bonus to Hydro Pump make it a much greater increase in power. Gorebyss also has above average defenses for a sweeper and Life Orb recoil can really cut down on the longevity. Removing that allows you to sweep more easily, taking a weak priority attack when you have to.</p>

<p>As when using any set which makes use of a choice item, prediction is necessary. This is especially true as rain lasts for only 5 or 8 turns (depending on rather the Rain Dance user held a Damp Rock) so using a turn to switch out not only gives your opponent a free move, but it also wastes one turn of rain. It is possible to lock yourself onto Hydro Pump against a Pokemon with the ability of Dry Skin or Water Absorb. Two of the most common Pokemon featuring these abilities that can set up on you are SubPunch Poliwrath and Nasty Plot Toxicroak. For this reason, Slowbro, Spiritomb, or Mismagius can be used to counter these threats. It should also be noted that all three of these Pokemon learn Rain Dance as well.</p>

<p>In the rain, the power of Gorebyss' Hydro Pump is nearly unrivaled. On the first time Gorebyss gets sent out, almost always use Hydro Pump. This, while predictable, will still tear through many Pokemon, even if they resist it. This also forces the opponent to show you their Pokemon that resist water so that you can lure them out the next time you send out Gorebyss and hit them super effectively with one of your three coverage attacks, making a Gorebyss sweep almost inevitable.</p>

 

[ScantraxxRootz]

I see a problem with this set though, a really obvious problem! If youre locked into hydro pump, it allowes water absorbers to set up incredibly easily on you. A sub-punch poliwrath for example, or a nasty plot Toxicroak. The life orb set has mch more versatility.

 

[muna]

I see a problem with this set though, a really obvious problem! If youre locked into hydro pump, it allowes water absorbers to set up incredibly easily on you. A sub-punch poliwrath for example, or a nasty plot Toxicroak. The life orb set has mch more versatility.

Water Absorbers obviously give this set problems, but teams should have a check for them. I will add a mention to them in the analysis. If you manage to make them switch out, then can lure them back in and hit them with an attack other than Hydro Pump as they switch in, I have personally used both sets and found much more success with the Choice Specs set.

While this is easily the biggest downfall of the set, the same argument could be made for many other Choice users. That would be like saying that Choice Band Garchomp is unviable in Ubers because it allows Latios to set up. This is a big problem and should not be ignored, but it is a trade off that I have found to be worth it.

 

[ARandomDude]

The more important thing to note is that, because you are using a choice item, you waste a turn of rain just switching out when they bring in their appropraite check.

 

[muna]

The more important thing to note is that, because you are using a choice item, you waste a turn of rain just switching out when they bring in their appropraite check.

Thank you. I added another paragraph to the analysis about this.

 

[Fuzznip]

I'm a bit iffy on this set to be quite honest. I mean, Gorebyss does reach a pretty high Special Attack stat with Choice Specs, but the Choice item itself is what makes this set seem rather lackluster to me.

Life Orb Gorebyss gets the job done as a Rain Dance sweeper better than Choice Specs Gorebyss, simply because it has the freedom of alternating between attacks which Gorebyss really needs to be able to do. I wouldn't want to be locked into use Psychic or Hidden Power Grass at all. I would rather be able to use Surf/Hydro Pump, hit an incoming Toxicroak with Psychic, smack Milotic should it want to wall me, etc. I don't want to waste a valuable turn of rain when I come across a Pokemon I can't harm significantly, such as using Hidden Power Grass on Registeel, Surf on Toxicroak, or maybe Psychic on Drapion. It really is a waste. Rain Dance sweepers need to take full advantage of the rain given to them, and giving Gorebyss a Choice item, who doesn't really have the greatest of type coverage in the first place, is a bit risky.

 

[Heysup]

Fuzznip I think it's worth considering for the sole reason that Specs Hydro Pump will 2HKO Chansey (without resorting to a bullshit move like AT, giving anything remotely bulky a free switch).

 

[Fuzznip]

Well, it's not too hard to do the same with a Life Orb Gorebyss. I mean, it's not too hard to set up Stealth Rock and a layer of Spikes. If Chansey just takes a tiny bit of prior damage, you still have that 2HKO shot.

Anyway, if you're going to be using this set for the sole reason of 2HKOing Chansey, can't you just say that in the OC of Gorebyss' analysis? If it really needs an entire Choice Specs set, then I guess it's fine to have one.

 

[whistle]

just mention specs as an alternative item for sweeper gorebyss... it's the same set lol

 

[Heysup]

Well, it's not too hard to do the same with a Life Orb Gorebyss. I mean, it's not too hard to set up Stealth Rock and a layer of Spikes. If Chansey just takes a tiny bit of prior damage, you still have that 2HKO shot.

Anyway, if you're going to be using this set for the sole reason of 2HKOing Chansey, can't you just say that in the OC of Gorebyss' analysis? If it really needs an entire Choice Specs set, then I guess it's fine to have one.

just mention specs as an alternative item for sweeper gorebyss... it's the same set lol

Derp. Yea, why can't just be slashed? That's forsure the best plan.

 

[muna]

Derp. Yea, why can't just be slashed? That's forsure the best plan.

It plays differently enough that I thought it should have it's own analysis. The Life Orb sets barely mentions water absorbers as big threats to this set and puts less emphasis on prediction - something that this set relies completely on.

 

[Heysup]

It plays differently enough that I thought it should have it's own analysis. The Life Orb sets barely mentions water absorbers as big threats to this set and puts less emphasis on prediction - something that this set relies completely on.

Yea, but why can't it just have a paragraph comparing the two items like every other analysis. Besides, you're making the situation sound as if, well, Specs is just Life Orb that gets owned by Water Absorbers and relies on prediction. Knowing better myself, I would say there could just easily be a paragraph, or even just a sentence like this:

"Specs 2HKOes Chansey with Hydro Pump, but it relies on prediction and gets countered quite easily by Pokemon with the Water Absorb ability."

 

[Fuzznip]

Yeah, based on what you just said, muna, you make it seem like Choice Specs is a harder item to utilize because of the Water Absorb users and huge emphasis on prediction. The only notable thing that Choice Specs accomplishes is a 2HKO against Chansey with Stealth Rock in play, which the Life Orb set can do as well through Stealth Rock + Spikes or if Chansey takes a bit of prior damage. You can simply add in a short sentence about that in the Life Orb set, exactly what Heysup did.

Everything else about this set is pretty much inferior to the Life Orb set.

 

[whistle]

moving to QC; it is largely inferior to the Life Orb set and at most deserves just a mention as an alternative item choice. (note: it has two rejections already)

 

[FlareBlitz]

Going to have to reject this as a separate set, but it definitely needs a separate slash on the main set. I used this extensively during the rain surge, and Specs actually moves up a lot of 2hkos into ohkos (like Slowbro...yes, really) and 3hkos into 2hkos (like on Chansey, Milotic, Blastoise, Azumarill).

 

[franky]

as a cleaner this set is actually not too shabby from testing experience. but lo is heads better than this due to ability to to have freedom on your attack selection. but like i said, lategame specs gory is a very mean sweeper once everything has been scouted. however, lo just adds that ability to switch in on any point of the game and inflict damage on anything switching in.

 

[whistle]

it seems the conclusion is that specs is not bad, but is rather outclassed by life orb most of the time. item slashes are usually reserved for choices that are roughly equivalent to each other in terms of popularity and overall effectiveness. while this set is good "sometimes", it is nowhere near as effective overall as the life orb sweeper, so i didn't slash it.

i did some calcs to verify that the info i put in is true, and here is what i got.

modest choice specs hydro pump in the rain... vs
0/252+ chansey: 47.7% - 56.2% - specs definitely matters for chance to 2hko
252/0 milotic: 46.1% - 54.2% - same as with chansey
252/0 azumarill: 65.5% - 77.4% - life orb 2hkoes as well
252/0 slowbro: 67.2% - 79.4% - life orb 2hkoes as well
252/0 blastoise: 58.4% - 69% - life orb 2hkoes most of the time (50.7% min)
252/0 venusaur: 60.3% - 71.1% - life orb 2hkoes most of the time (52.6% min)

this is what i'm adding to the rain dance set: "Gorebyss can also use Choice Specs in a late-game sweeper role to avoid Life Orb recoil damage. When using Hydro Pump in the rain, Choice Specs ensures a 2HKO on 252 HP Blastoise and Venusaur, while it gives Gorebyss a decent chance to 2HKO Chansey and Bold Milotic with Stealth Rock damage. The item switch comes with the obvious disadvantage of preventing Gorebyss from switching moves, so Pokemon immune to Water, like Toxicroak and Poliwrath, become larger nuisances and should be eliminated before Gorebyss tries to sweep."

moving to the locked analyses forum. if you have something to add to this or think I did something wrong, feel free to PM me.