Sandz mentioned he wanted someone to write up swagger liepard seperately, so here it is :).
[SET]
name: Swag
move 1: Substitute
move 2: Swagger
move 3: Foul Play
move 4: Encore / Thunder Wave
item: Leftovers
ability: Prankster
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 HP / 68 SpD / 184 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Swagger Liepard has gained quite the reputation among the competitive community, earning the title of one of the most annoying Pokemon in the game, and looking at the set, it's not hard to see why. Between Swagger's confusion, Prankster, Substitute, and the unique effect of Foul Play, Swagger Liepard can turn an entire game around with just a bit of luck. Thanks to Prankster, Liepard's Swagger can induce confusion before the opponent can even move, giving them a 50% chance of damaging themselves instead of Liepard. It also boosts the opponent's Attack stat significantly, which not only makes the opponent do that much more to themselves if they are hit in confusion, but also boosts the damage output of Foul Play, which uses the opponent's current Attack stat to calculate damage. Substitute gives Liepard a way to block status conditions that the opponent might use to try and cripple Liepard, while giving it a nifty cushion against opposing attacking moves as well, functioning as a fail-safe in case the confused Pokemon manages to hit Liepard. Encore allows Liepard to cripple Pokemon trying to set up entry hazards or boosts on Liepard, locking them into the same move for a set amount of turns; this is especially useful in giving Liepard opportunities to set up another Substitute. It also creates setup opportunities for Liepard's teammates. Alternatively, Thunder Wave can be used to form the parafusion combination with Swagger, making it even harder for the opponent to hit Liepard and crippling faster and/or setup opponents such as Accelgor, Sceptile, and Lilligant. Lastly, despite the luck-based nature of Swagger Liepard, the set actually has quite a bit of utility outside of haxing opponents to oblivion. A fast Foul Play does a boatload to Pokemon with high Attack stats, such as Druddigon, Medicham, Choiced Entei locked into a move besides ExtremeSpeed, and Gallade.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>The given EV spread allows Liepard to outspeed everything up to maximum Speed Sigilyph and use Foul Play before the opponent can move, while the rest of the EVs are placed into Liepard's HP and Special Defense to help it take weak hits. Because Liepard is manually boosting the opponent's Attack stat with Swagger, it'll often end up dying to physical Attacks, so investing in Special Defense is more worthwhile. Liepard's only offensive move, Foul Play, relies on the opponent's Attack stat to do damage, so the lack of Attack EVs doesn't hurt its damage output. Alternatively, Liepard can run max Speed to outpace everything up to maximum Speed Scyther, but Scyther isn't incredibly common in RU so the extra Speed usually isn't needed.</p>
<p>Liepard forces a lot of switches between Swagger, Thunder Wave, Encore, and Foul Play, so entry hazards work exceptionally well with Liepard, punishing the opponent for their repeated switching. In particular, Qwilfish makes a good teammate for Liepard, as it is able to switch in on and set up Spikes and Toxic Spikes on many of the Pokemon the Liepard struggles with, most notably Entei, who can use ExtremeSpeed to hit Liepard before it can pull off a Swagger. Qwilfish also absorbs Toxic Spikes for Liepard, preventing opponents from putting it on a timer, and it can use Intimidate to soften the hit from a boosted threat in case they get past Liepard's confusion.</p>
<p>Steelix is often an issue for Swagger Liepard, being completely immune to Thunder Wave and having enough physical bulk to take Liepard's Foul Play with ease even at +6 Attack; therefore, Pokemon that can switch in on and beat Steelix are excellent teammates for Liepard. Moltres does a great job of taking out Steelix, being completely immune to Earthquake, resisting Gyro Ball, and KOing Steelix in return with a powerful Flamethrower. Bulky Water-types such as Slowking and Alomomola make great checks to Steelix as well, taking its attacks with ease and retaliating with their STAB attacks. Alomomola even has the bonus of being able to pass its gigantic Wishes to Liepard, ensuring it can survive for as long as possible. Lastly, Liepard can't stand the presence of Cinccino, who only fears Thunder Wave from Liepard and can break its Substitutes with Tail Slap. Bulky Steel-types, such as Steelix, Ferroseed, Klinklang, and Escavalier, do a great job of handling Cinccino; Ferroseed even heavily punishes the chinchilla for using Tail Slap with Iron Barbs. Ghost-types such as Spiritomb, Misdreavus, and Rotom are good checks to Cinccino as well, being completely immune to Tail Slap and burning Cinccino in return.</p>
[SET]
name: Swag
move 1: Substitute
move 2: Swagger
move 3: Foul Play
move 4: Encore / Thunder Wave
item: Leftovers
ability: Prankster
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 HP / 68 SpD / 184 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Swagger Liepard has gained quite the reputation among the competitive community, earning the title of one of the most annoying Pokemon in the game, and looking at the set, it's not hard to see why. Between Swagger's confusion, Prankster, Substitute, and the unique effect of Foul Play, Swagger Liepard can turn an entire game around with just a bit of luck. Thanks to Prankster, Liepard's Swagger can induce confusion before the opponent can even move, giving them a 50% chance of damaging themselves instead of Liepard. It also boosts the opponent's Attack stat significantly, which not only makes the opponent do that much more to themselves if they are hit in confusion, but also boosts the damage output of Foul Play, which uses the opponent's current Attack stat to calculate damage. Substitute gives Liepard a way to block status conditions that the opponent might use to try and cripple Liepard, while giving it a nifty cushion against opposing attacking moves as well, functioning as a fail-safe in case the confused Pokemon manages to hit Liepard. Encore allows Liepard to cripple Pokemon trying to set up entry hazards or boosts on Liepard, locking them into the same move for a set amount of turns; this is especially useful in giving Liepard opportunities to set up another Substitute. It also creates setup opportunities for Liepard's teammates. Alternatively, Thunder Wave can be used to form the parafusion combination with Swagger, making it even harder for the opponent to hit Liepard and crippling faster and/or setup opponents such as Accelgor, Sceptile, and Lilligant. Lastly, despite the luck-based nature of Swagger Liepard, the set actually has quite a bit of utility outside of haxing opponents to oblivion. A fast Foul Play does a boatload to Pokemon with high Attack stats, such as Druddigon, Medicham, Choiced Entei locked into a move besides ExtremeSpeed, and Gallade.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>The given EV spread allows Liepard to outspeed everything up to maximum Speed Sigilyph and use Foul Play before the opponent can move, while the rest of the EVs are placed into Liepard's HP and Special Defense to help it take weak hits. Because Liepard is manually boosting the opponent's Attack stat with Swagger, it'll often end up dying to physical Attacks, so investing in Special Defense is more worthwhile. Liepard's only offensive move, Foul Play, relies on the opponent's Attack stat to do damage, so the lack of Attack EVs doesn't hurt its damage output. Alternatively, Liepard can run max Speed to outpace everything up to maximum Speed Scyther, but Scyther isn't incredibly common in RU so the extra Speed usually isn't needed.</p>
<p>Liepard forces a lot of switches between Swagger, Thunder Wave, Encore, and Foul Play, so entry hazards work exceptionally well with Liepard, punishing the opponent for their repeated switching. In particular, Qwilfish makes a good teammate for Liepard, as it is able to switch in on and set up Spikes and Toxic Spikes on many of the Pokemon the Liepard struggles with, most notably Entei, who can use ExtremeSpeed to hit Liepard before it can pull off a Swagger. Qwilfish also absorbs Toxic Spikes for Liepard, preventing opponents from putting it on a timer, and it can use Intimidate to soften the hit from a boosted threat in case they get past Liepard's confusion.</p>
<p>Steelix is often an issue for Swagger Liepard, being completely immune to Thunder Wave and having enough physical bulk to take Liepard's Foul Play with ease even at +6 Attack; therefore, Pokemon that can switch in on and beat Steelix are excellent teammates for Liepard. Moltres does a great job of taking out Steelix, being completely immune to Earthquake, resisting Gyro Ball, and KOing Steelix in return with a powerful Flamethrower. Bulky Water-types such as Slowking and Alomomola make great checks to Steelix as well, taking its attacks with ease and retaliating with their STAB attacks. Alomomola even has the bonus of being able to pass its gigantic Wishes to Liepard, ensuring it can survive for as long as possible. Lastly, Liepard can't stand the presence of Cinccino, who only fears Thunder Wave from Liepard and can break its Substitutes with Tail Slap. Bulky Steel-types, such as Steelix, Ferroseed, Klinklang, and Escavalier, do a great job of handling Cinccino; Ferroseed even heavily punishes the chinchilla for using Tail Slap with Iron Barbs. Ghost-types such as Spiritomb, Misdreavus, and Rotom are good checks to Cinccino as well, being completely immune to Tail Slap and burning Cinccino in return.</p>
[SET COMMENTS]
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
- Liepard's best set, even if it's luck reliant
- Can turn an entire game around if you get lucky
- Swagger confuses the opponent, giving them a 50% chance to hit themselves, leaving you unharmed, and also boosts the opponent's Attack stat significantly, boosting Foul Play's damage output
- Prankster Substitute cushions Liepard from Swagger boosted attacks and also gives it a temporary status immunity when set up, Liepard can fish for confusion by repeatedly using Substitute too
- Thunder Wave works with swagger to create the parafusion combo, making it even harder for the opponent to actually hit Liepard, also lets it cripple faster opponents such as +1 Lilligant
- Encore messes up any Pokemon trying to set up hazards or boosts on Liepard for whatever reason, works well with Substitute
- This set has utility outside of haxing the opponent too! a fastFoul Play is great for picking off things like CB Druddigon and Gallade, Encore is great for stopping set up Pokemon, and Prankster Thunder Wave lets Liepard spread paralysis pretty easily.
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
- Speed Evs let Liepard outpace and Foul Play everything up to Sigilyph, the fastest common, unboosted Pokemon in the tier that Liepard can hope to outspeed. The rest of the evs are placed into Liepard's Hp and special defense to help it take some weaker hits, and investing anywhere else is pointless because Liepard relies on Foul Play for offense regardless.
- More Speed can be run to outpace and Foul Play Scyther
- Liepard forces a lot of switches between its combination of Swagger and Thunder Wave, so entry hazards work especially well with Liepard.
- Smeargle, Qwilfish, Crustle, Omastar, Ferroseed, Druddigon, Golurk, and Roselia are good hazard setters to pair with Liepard
- Liepard also appreciates a Pokemon that can get past opposing Steelix, as its immune to Thunder Wave, and doesn't take that much damage from confusion or Foul Play.
- Moltres is great at taking out Steelix, resisting Gyro Ball, being immune to Earthquake, and OHKOing Steelix in Return. Bulky Water-types such as Slowking and Alomomola help out against Steelix too, Alomomola can even heal Liepard with wish
- A way to beat Cinccino is also important for Liepard, as it can outpace Liepard and break its substitute
- Steel-types such as Steelix, Ferroseed, Escavalier, and Klinklang can wall Cinccino, Ferroseed even has iron barbs to punish it for using Tail Slap. Bulky Ghost-types such as Spiritomb, Misdreavus, and Rotom do a good job against Cinccino too.
- otherwise, swagger Liepard is pretty self sufficient
