Life Orb. Hype?

Lou Cypher

Might be just me but am I right in saying that Life Orb usage is getting insanely popular? I myself use Life Orb for a few reasons...
1 - I always back up my team with Wish support, which really helps Orbers out in the end.
2 - I'm not TOO hot on prediction. Life Orb is a lot easier to use as opposed to Choice Band/Specs.
3 - I like mixed sweepers. For them, the Orb is a godsend.
While those 3 factors are all good and well, Life Orb sees a lot more usage lately. It makes prediction harder as ever since you can't just switch in on a Choice'd move since the opposition can freely switch moves. Furthermore, in a lot of cases that damage difference doesn't seem to make THAT big of a difference (Not looking at Dugtrio here for the record as he NEEDS the band).
So is Life Orb a bit overhyped lately, or is it due to more players like me (aka less experienced less predictoin players), or was it just undervalued earlier on?
 
I don't think Life Orb has ever been undervalued, just the Choice Items may have been overvalued. Especially Choice Band.

The main plus is that they can run mixed with better results, but also that they can set up if need be (Nasty Plot or whatever).

And I agree, Wish support helps Life Orbers out so much that its almost necessary for them to succeed.
 
Life Orb is the item of predictions. Things like Mixmence, "Dragonbomb" lol and Darkrai needs a user with good prediction to work very well
 
It's good on some things, and weak on others. Alot of people seem to think they can make a mixed attacker out of anything as long as they slap a life orb on it. Some things are too frail and/or slow to use it with.

I've been messing around with the orb on my formerly choice-banded aerodactyl and it's been working nicely. My weavile has met with some orb success, too.
 
Life Orb I don't like much except on pokemon that hit so hard they don't care about only 2x resistances.

The LO damage really racks up quick if your opponent is having a good prediction day and I'd rather not have to constantly reach for that Wish.
 
Life Orb is a GREAT item, period. There are few times that the orb is outshone by choice items; For example, on something slow and somewhat bulky. Mamoswine is a good example of something that uses Band better than orb. Faster sweepers, especially ones capable of mixed sets, run orb much better, especially with some wish-port.
 
I'd say it's an extremely helpful item for some pokemon (namely mixed sweepers), and a decent enough option for some others. It really fills the "Non-choice item for pokemon that are too frail to use leftovers" void well.
 
It's an awesome item, especially if attacks can be boosted with stat ups or baton pass. choice items are as good though and are extremely useful for hit and run =]
on the whole I like choice items better
 
LO is a good item indeed and IMO is better than choice items most of the time. The ability to get a boost and not get locked on a single attack is really it's main selling point and the ability to stat boost while equipped with it is also a nice bonus. All in all LO is a great item
 
Lfie Orb is extraordinarily overrated, mostly because the defensive abilities of a lot of attackers are extraordinarily underrated. Most of the time I feel better off with Leftovers, to give me more switch-in opportunities.
 
Leftovers I believe a lot will agree with me is the best item in the game as it can be used by anything. LO is overrated I know but it still is a good item. The only thing wrong here is that everyone thinks they can make a mix set with an LO, I used a chain-mence a while back and it ran leftovers and still did pretty good.
 
I prefer Choice items to Life Orb unless it's sweeper that uses stat boosters. Choice items are much better than Life Orb in most situations as long as you can predict. I think people don't like Choice items because they're not using them correctly. A Choice Pokemon isn't going to have a clean sweep most of the time, but with prediction it takes out your opponent's team one by one.
 
LO>all choice items excluding Scarf. the ability to stat up with LO and still keep your versatility is it's main advantage over other choice items if you ask me. A .2 boost is easily compensated with a stat-boosting moves such as SD.
 
Except some pokemon don't have the time/defense to use the stat up moves. Some pokemon can't even learn stat up moves.
 
I've never liked Life Orb that much. It just hurts the durability of Pokemon, and I like to keep my switch-in options open.

9/10 I'll use a Choice item over Life Orb, and probably 7/10 I'll use Leftovers over Life Orb.
 
@GonE:Needless to say choice items would be better suited for them. So I guess it's all based on opinion and on the pokemon themselves.
 
It depends on the pokemon. Expert belt is awesome for Electivire or Gengar, life orb is awesome for infernape. That said, I seldom use a life orb because I seldom use pokemon that commonly use life orbs, except my gengar who I like expert belt on for the sake of being able to survive a hit from a wall.
 
Life orb is alright, I've just had some unfortunate experiences with it, like having my Life Orb Aerodactyl as the last pokemon when it could easily destroy the remainder of their team, but it only had 20% left...All in all, I like Choice items a lot better, but they come with the risk of screwing you over as the last pokemon too.
 
first of all, I really like life orb.

On another note though, there is also the annoying point of revealing to an opponent exactly what you're running on the pokemon because of that little damage.

It's situational, but when weavile or infernape are finishing off weakened pokemon that they could kill regardless of item, it's nice to keep the opponent guessing . . . is it holding choice band? skarf? focus sash? I guess in opposite though, if the pokemon DOESN'T take damage, they know it doesn't have life orb . . .
 
The_Rider said:
LO>all choice items excluding Scarf. the ability to stat up with LO and still keep your versatility is it's main advantage over other choice items if you ask me. A .2 boost is easily compensated with a stat-boosting moves such as SD.
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Life Orb is only better if you're going to stat boost and you play that completely different than a Choice item Pokemon. Life Orb and Choice items aren't really comparable unless you're running a full attacking set on the Life Orb Pokemon, in which case Choice Band/Specs/Scarf is usually better if you can predict.
 
I consider myself a pretty good predictor, but Life Orb isn't all about that anyways (though it helps). It's because it DOES make that big of a difference. Not as much as say, Choice Band, but the difference between Orb and CB isn't big enough to make me switch to CB.

Worth it.
 
Truth be told when you really look at it deeply and think choice items and LO are actually two rather different almost uncomparable things. Sure they both give extra power to your pokemon but aside from that they function very differently. Personally I use neither LO or any choice item. I am adept at predicting it's just that I am not too fond of either items.
 
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