[OVERVIEW]
Hypno is perfectly equipped for the role of supporter with a vast array of status moves, screens, and disruptive options at its disposal. Its great Special Defense stat also allows it to perform the role of special wall, and its pure Psychic typing leaves it with few exploitable weaknesses and a useful resistance to Psychic. However, while its attacking options leave little to be desired, it has relatively low attacking stats, meaning that one must be patient when trying to actually KO Pokemon with Hypno as opposed to crippling them for a teammate.
[SET]
name: Supporter
move 1: Thunder Wave / Hypnosis
move 2: Psychic / Seismic Toss
move 3: Light Screen / Reflect
move 4: Rest
item: Leftovers
[SET COMMENTS]
Set Description
=========
Hypno is highly effective at setting up opportunities for its team with this set. Thunder Wave is very useful for slowing down the enemy team and reducing their chances of attacking. The opponent will usually try to contain the spread of paralysis to a few Pokemon, usually RestTalk users. Once they are paralyzed, Hypno can proceed to set up a screen and then switch out to a Pokemon that will then often have an easy setup opportunity. Hypnosis can also be used to disrupt Ground-type Pokemon that might think they can switch into Thunder Wave; however, it is less effective against RestTalk users than Thunder Wave. Psychic is the preferred attacking option in most cases, especially alongside Thunder Wave, to prevent Nidoqueen from coming in freely. However, having Psychic as Hypno's sole attacking option leaves it without an option for hitting opposing Psychic-type Pokemon such as Mr. Mime and Girafarig, which can cause problems through their use of Baton Pass. Thus, Seismic Toss can be used to stop them from taking too much advantage of Hypno. Rest is the usual fourth move so that a weakened Hypno can recover its health, and Hypno's screens and paralysis can assist in ensuring it can then wake up again.
Team Options
========
As a supporter, Hypno is an excellent choice for teams that have at least a couple of setup sweepers, such as Scyther, Pinsir, Sandslash, Kabutops, and Victreebel. It can also work with Pokemon like Growth or Belly Drum Politoed, Curse Granbull, and Gyarados. Hypno's paralysis support can be taken advantage of by Substitute users such as Sandslash and Pikachu and can also work effectively with Swagger users, including Pokemon like Gyarados and Dodrio. Finally, Baton Pass users like Girafarig can take advantage of Hypno's screens and paralysis support to find opportunities to set up and get recipients like Quagsire and Poliwrath in safely.
[SET]
name: Sleep Talking Wall
move 1: Psychic
move 2: Seismic Toss / Thunder Wave
move 3: Rest
move 4: Sleep Talk
item: Leftovers
[SET COMMENTS]
Set Description
=========
Hypno is one of the most resilient Pokemon in the tier, and its lack of relevant weaknesses and solid neutral coverage make it an ideal status absorber and RestTalk user. Psychic is used to ensure it can hit Haunter and so that Nidoqueen can't simply spam Earthquake against it, and Seismic Toss is typically chosen for its stable and consistent damage output. Thunder Wave can be chosen over Seismic Toss to make Hypno more of an immediate threat to Pokemon like Scyther and Jumpluff, but it comes at the cost of coverage against Pokemon like Mr. Mime and Magneton. This set is difficult to take down without using Explosion or setting up a physical attacker, and it is great at chipping sweepers down as they switch in. It makes a fantastic check to Pokemon that can otherwise be difficult to check due to their coverage, such as Electabuzz, Mr. Mime, Gyarados, and opposing RestTalk users like Slowbro and Slowking.
Team Options
========
The main draw to using Hypno for this role over Slowbro or Slowking is its lack of an Electric weakness, so it works best on teams that need an answer to threats like Mr. Mime, Kadabra, and Electabuzz. It is much worse off against Granbull and slightly worse off against Nidoqueen than Slowbro, so it is a good idea to pair it with solid answers to these; Omastar, Haunter, and Magneton are good checks to Granbull, while Gligar and RestTalk Granbull can handle Nidoqueen. Jumpluff is a good teammate for its ability to counter setup with Encore and spread status, particularly against Bug-types such as Scyther and Pinsir that may try to take advantage of Hypno's relatively low damage output. In general, most kinds of teams enjoy Hypno's presence due to the widespread use of status moves in the metagame and Hypno's ability to absorb them for its team.
[SET]
name: Curse Sleep Talk
move 1: Curse
move 2: Body Slam
move 3: Rest
move 4: Sleep Talk
item: Leftovers
[SET COMMENTS]
Set Description
=========
This set takes advantage of Hypno's high Special Defense to boost up with Curse and attempt to sweep the opposing team. Early-game, Hypno is unlikely to find an opportunity to set up due to the likely presence of Pokemon like Curse Granbull, Omastar, and Haunter on the opposing team. However, later in the game, as the opposing team gets worn down, the opponent may not have any remaining options to deal with this set, as it has relatively few reliable counters. Body Slam is the best attacking option because it can be used throughout the game to potentially paralyze any Pokemon that might try to take advantage of Hypno's low initial damage output. One of the key benefits of using this set is that Hypno will eventually beat enemy RestTalk users such as Slowbro and opposing Hypno through Curse. Against these and many other foes, Hypno can also do a reasonable job of its usual roles of special wall and status absorber despite not having a reliable source of damage. Additionally, Nidoqueen can struggle to wear it down because it is difficult to force out once it has Defense boosts, especially with RestTalk keeping it healthy.
Team Options
========
This Hypno set is relatively easy to wall and beat with the right Pokemon, such as Omastar, which is not even 4HKOed by +6 Attack Hypno. It is therefore a good idea to ensure other offensive measures are present on one's team, such as Spikes from Qwilfish, which can help to wear down Pokemon that have an advantage over Hypno, such as Piloswine. Of absolutely critical importance is that this set is accompanied by a reliable answer to Curse Granbull, which easily sets up against this set and will virtually always beat it. Omastar is the most reliable Granbull counter, but Haunter and Magneton will also suffice. Hypno will also require support to deal with Bug-types such as Scyther and Pinsir, especially if they have Hidden Power Bug; Jumpluff and Gyarados are useful choices in this regard. Fire Blast Nidoqueen can also cover Hidden Power Bug variants of these two reasonably well, as they cannot have Hidden Power Ground on the same set. Defensive Electric-types such as Ampharos and Magneton can potentially threaten Hypno with their very powerful Thunders, so it is also a good idea to use Hypno alongside Ground-types such as Nidoqueen and Piloswine.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Hypno has no shortage of options and can utilize many of them effectively; in particular, the third and fourth moves on the supporter set are quite flexible. It learns all three of the elemental punches, and they are all at least somewhat useful. Fire Punch hits Magneton for respectable damage and also hits Pokemon like Scyther, Pinsir, and Bellossom a bit harder than Psychic. Ice Punch maintains this super effective coverage against Scyther and Bellossom and also hits Jumpluff and Gligar hard. On top of this, it has a low chance to freeze the foe, which can be useful for breaking stalemates against opposing special walls. Thunder Punch can be used to do a bit more damage to Slowbro. However, it should be noted that all of these moves have low-Base Power, and Hypno has relatively low Special Attack, so keep expectations low when using them. Hypno learns both Swagger and Flash, which are particularly effective when combined with paralysis. Reducing the foe's chance to attack will force the opponent to switch or risk allowing a more dangerous Pokemon free setup. This forced switch will give Hypno an opportunity to paralyze an additional Pokemon. When used in conjunction with Hypnosis, Nightmare can also be used in a somewhat similar manner to try to force the opponent to take status with something other than a status absorber. Disable can also be used to eliminate an attack from the foe's options, but has poor accuracy and requires the foe to have used the attack previously.
Some additional status moves Hypno has at its disposal are Zap Cannon and Toxic. Both of these are great when they aren't expected, but they are a little unreliable due to accuracy and how common status absorbers are. Counter is also an option that works when the opponent does not see it coming. It has the potential to surprise KO major threats like Scyther, Granbull, and Kabutops, but it requires Hypno to take a heavy hit in exchange and can very easily backfire.
Checks and Counters
=============
**Scyther and Pinsir**: Scyther and Pinsir can use their powerful STAB Hidden Power Bug to quickly eliminate Hypno, although neither wants to take status.
**Granbull**: Curse Granbull can take anything Hypno can throw at it and easily overcome it with powerful STAB attacks. Heal Bell Granbull can also cure any status Hypno has inflicted.
**Chansey**: Chansey can take any of Hypno's usual attacks barring Hypnosis and cure its team of status afflictions with Heal Bell. It can also threaten Hypno with Present.
**RestTalk Users**: Hypno has no way to threaten RestTalk users such as Slowbro, Slowking, Ampharos, Blastoise, and opposing Hypno, and they can attempt to PP stall it. However, supporter Hypno can take advantage of their passivity to set up an opportunity for a teammate, and Curse Hypno will beat them in the long run barring Ampharos, which can potentially beat Hypno with its powerful Thunders.
**Bulky Ground-types**: Bulky Ground-types like Piloswine and Quagsire are immune to Thunder Wave and can beat Hypno with their STAB Earthquake, although if they lack Rest, they can easily get worn down if Spikes are up, and they are vulnerable to Hypnosis if they lack Sleep Talk.
**Other Strong Physical Attackers**: Strong physical attackers can target Hypno's middling Defense stat and overcome it with their STAB attacks. Sandslash can switch into Thunder Wave and set up Swords Dance, and +2 Earthquake will easily 2HKO Hypno. Dodrio can do a huge amount of damage to Hypno with STAB Double-Edge, potentially 2HKOing if it has Pink Bow. If it has RestTalk, it is also in a better position to take status from Hypno.
**Omastar, Magneton, and Haunter**: Curse RestTalk Hypno struggles to get past these three Pokemon, doing no damage at all to Haunter, failing to 4HKO Omastar with +6 Body Slam, and potentially getting 3HKOed by Magneton's Thunder. Other Hypno variants will have a good matchup against Omastar and Haunter but may struggle to contain Magneton.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Earthworm, 15210]]
- Quality checked by: [[Diophantine, 370164], [Century Express, 234737]]
- Grammar checked by: [[Oglemi, 40358], [Rabia, 336073]]
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