Life Orb. Hype?

[iruchii]

I think Life Orb works better when you have a wide movepool- for instance, Octillery works awesomely with it after you pass some speed, while if you had a Scarfed Octillery it wouldn't have enough power, and a Specs Octillery wouldn't be fast enough.

I am adept at predicting it's just that I am not too fond of either items.

Out of curiosity, do you use something like 6 Leftovers?

 

[Deck Knight]

I have only used LO sparsely because it is one of the most difficult items to use. I put it on a Subpunching Gengar with mixed results. While LO + Sub + other effects does eat a lot of Gar's HP, even getting in that one bosted Focus Punch and killing Blissey or TTar outright is worth it. I've also used it on Jolteon, and lets just say there is nothing more gratifying that having Chompy switch in to your Thunderbolt only to be immediately OHKO'd by HP Ice.

 

[The_Rider]

no I do not use 6 leftovers

 

[Monkeymascot]

I've also used it on Jolteon, and lets just say there is nothing more gratifying that having Chompy switch in to your Thunderbolt only to be immediately OHKO'd by HP Ice.

You don't need Life Orb for that, you would be able to do that with any item other than Choice items, which Jolteon doesn't really have the movepool to use as effectively as other Pokemon.

 

[Hyra]

You don't need Life Orb for that, you would be able to do that with any item other than Choice items, which Jolteon doesn't really have the movepool to use as effectively as other Pokemon.

I think he meant more the fact that Garchomp can actually survive Jolty's HP Ice without being OHKO'd, unless you have a boost. Yah, Garchomp is that bulky. Anyways, Sub+Life Orb generally isn't too smart, as shown in the Aerodactly analysis. Not as bad as there, but it still takes away 2 turns of attacking.

I generally don't use Life Orb because I prefer Pokemon that can 2HKO their common counters under the right circumstances. Either that, or my attackers aren't meant to use Life Orb. It's more my play style than anything really. Electivire is the only Pokemon I commonly use that is good with a Life Orb.

 

[Judicator]

I always think of the power boost rather than the recoil damage. Plus, the 30% extra is often bridging the gap between 2HKO and OHKO.

 

[nomargu46]

Life Orb is not just hype, it's a very useful item. still, i think it is used way too often on specifically Physical or Special attackers. this item is built for a mixed attacker; it seems like a waste to use it on one-sided pounders.

 

[Deck Knight]

I think he meant more the fact that Garchomp can actually survive Jolty's HP Ice without being OHKO'd, unless you have a boost. Yah, Garchomp is that bulky. Anyways, Sub+Life Orb generally isn't too smart, as shown in the Aerodactly analysis. Not as bad as there, but it still takes away 2 turns of attacking.

I generally don't use Life Orb because I prefer Pokemon that can 2HKO their common counters under the right circumstances. Either that, or my attackers aren't meant to use Life Orb. It's more my play style than anything really. Electivire is the only Pokemon I commonly use that is good with a Life Orb.

There's that and the fact that LO Thunderbolt is ridiculously powerful, and the fact that Jolty can switch into Thunder Wave, Tbolt, or Thunderpunch and be able to use three more LO boosted attacks is a plus. The set itself wasn't what I would call awesome, but Tbolt/HP Ice/Shadowball/QA served reasonably well. Expert Belt doesn't help as much as LO when nobody is going to leave their water or flying type in.

 

[Eyelander]

Meh.
On the other hand, a lot of people tend to see the ability to switch attacks as less important than the fact that LO boosts both attack types. It may seem like a waste, but there are many, many situations when being able to switch attacks on that (insert physical or special attacker) without having to switch out can nab you the win.

 

[WildAce]

Meh.
On the other hand, a lot of people tend to see the ability to switch attacks as less important than the fact that LO boosts both attack types. It may seem like a waste, but there are many, many situations when being able to switch attacks on that (insert physical or special attacker) without having to switch out can nab you the win.

That's pretty much my reason for backing up Life Orb on certain sweepers.

Simple example:
My Weavile Pursuited an Alakazam for the KO.
The opponent sent out a ScarfChomp (yes, I knew it was Scarffed since it outsped another of my PKMN previouslly).
My Weavile simply used Ice Shard for the KO on Garchomp.
Now, if I were Choice Banded, I'd be forced to switch out to something that could potentially be 2HKOed by Chompy.

 

[Shinryu]

Life Orb is nice because it allows attacks to hit harder like Choice Band/Specs and it allows flexability. And it boosts both special and physical attacks, allowing for something like a mixed sweeper to be more viable.

 

[Rubberbandman]

Simple example:
My Weavile Pursuited an Alakazam for the KO.
The opponent sent out a ScarfChomp (yes, I knew it was Scarffed since it outsped another of my PKMN previouslly).
My Weavile simply used Ice Shard for the KO on Garchomp.
Now, if I were Choice Banded, I'd be forced to switch out to something that could potentially be 2HKOed by Chompy.

Not a good example, seeing your opponent would see the life orb damage and send out a physical wall instead of Garchomp because who the fuck would send garchomp out against weavile unless its their last pokemon? =/

I see expert belt doing basicly the same job as life orb, because I doubt you will use a sweeper to ko a pokemon with a neutral move anyways, just 10% power drop for 10% more hp. Life orb only gives you 10 shots (11 with uneven hp) without wish support. The damage stacks up with sandstorm, SR, spikes, ect. so I dont see the reason to constantly use it.

 

[WildAce]

Not a good example, seeing your opponent would see the life orb damage and send out a physical wall instead of Garchomp because who the fuck would send garchomp out against weavile unless its their last pokemon? =/

Most likely, he wasn't expecting Weavile to have Ice Shard.
However, as I look back to it, this WAS a bad example because I had a priority move.

I see expert belt doing basicly the same job as life orb, because I doubt you will use a sweeper to ko a pokemon with a neutral move anyways, just 10% power drop for 10% more hp. Life orb only gives you 10 shots (11 with uneven hp) without wish support. The damage stacks up with sandstorm, SR, spikes, ect. so I dont see the reason to constantly use it.

The way I see it though, fragile sweepers (like Weavile) aren't going to be able to take a hit anyways; so why make an attempt to protect their HP?

 

[The_Rider]

LO works well on pokemon who don't mind the recoil such as Infernape and Weavile. Your opponent was kinda shallow if he didn't expect Ice Shard on Vile. IMO LO users usually work best without weather special exceptions are Garchomp who loves the SS. Expert belt only works on those things you are SE on and usually you'd prefer a boost on those you aren't particularly strong with.

 

[DevilinDenial]

In many ways, Life Orb is overated. People throw it on shit like it's salt. While it can make a SD'd attack a OHKO on x, it can also do the opposite. Last Pokemon Life Orbers is like last Pokemon Choice users. And mispredicting eats away at you like CB EQing Bellyzard. I have high respect for LO, but higher and understandably more respect for Choice.

At the end of the day it's the pokes you're using and preference, and both, like salt, should be used in moderation.

 

[Calciphoce]

Not worth it IMO. You can only get 10 hits in, and you've more than likely already taken damage at the point that you attempt to sweep. Weather/burn/poison doesn't help either. Plus, after a couple of attacks, you can be destroyed by a priority move.

 

[Renkse]

I generally don't use Life Orb because I prefer Pokemon that can 2HKO their common counters under the right circumstances. Either that, or my attackers aren't meant to use Life Orb. It's more my play style than anything really. Electivire is the only Pokemon I commonly use that is good with a Life Orb.

Yeah, I find of the pokemon I've used my Electivire has been the best candidate for Life Orb. Electivire generally isn't sticking around long if it's forced to come out of hiding before its time and its beauty is in its type coverage. I might as well be able to do as much damage as I can while it's in play and choice band just isn't practical on Electivire.

 

[Mekkah]

I personally think Expert Belt beats out Life Orb on Electivire, a 10% power cut in trade for no recoil, which results in both confusion about my item as well as the obvious "not getting worn down" benefit. He hits SE on about everything with just five moves (Electric move, Ice Punch, Earthquake, Cross Chop, Hidden Power Grass) and with the first four he covers about everything except Ghosts and Swampert and a few others.

While Life Orb is great for a pretty good boost (30% is a lot after all), it is also highly likely to ruin the one hit your Weavile, Infernape or Electivire can take sometimes. I believe Weavile can take a Choice Specs Flamethrower from Azelf, but with Life Orb recoil it is going to die after that.

Personally I do use Life Orb Infernape for kicks, and I always consider Life Orb on things that have a way to restore HP quickly - Roost Flygon/Staraptor, Rest/Sleep Talk Heatran, sometimes Recovering Starmie, etcetera. At times it ends up saving my life, at others it's Life Orb that causes me to lose.

In the end I see a lot of threads where people try to make a very good sweeper for as many opposing Pokemon as possible, and they use the only item that gives you a boost on everything (as opposed to Expert Belt or Wisdom Glasses and stuff) that allows you to switch moves and sweep (unlike Choice items), but it really requires more care when used than sometimes described. However, it really is that little extra oomph that makes Chain Chomp so great.

 

[Lemmiwinks MkII]

I believe Weavile can take a Choice Specs Flamethrower from Azelf

Care to explain how?

 

[Renkse]

I personally think Expert Belt beats out Life Orb on Electivire, a 10% power cut in trade for no recoil, which results in both confusion about my item as well as the obvious "not getting worn down" benefit. He hits SE on about everything with just five moves (Electric move, Ice Punch, Earthquake, Cross Chop, Hidden Power Grass) and with the first four he covers about everything except Ghosts and Swampert and a few others.

While Life Orb is great for a pretty good boost (30% is a lot after all), it is also highly likely to ruin the one hit your Weavile, Infernape or Electivire can take sometimes. I believe Weavile can take a Choice Specs Flamethrower from Azelf, but with Life Orb recoil it is going to die after that.

A matter of preference, I guess. I just tend to find Electivire is 9 times out of ten going to be hit by an EQ when it does wind up taking damage (that could just be case of needing to be a bit less reckless with it, though :P ) in which case it's going down, life orb recoil or not. So I might as well get that extra boost while those Hit Points are sitting around doing nothing for me. :P

 

[Dragontamer]

Care to explain how?

Flamethrower Timid Azelf is attack tier 112.95 to 114.65 while Weavile is Sp. Def tier 115.05 :-p Weavile is guarenteed to survive.

But weavile can't survive a specs Azelf flamethrower. I guess he just confused scarf and specs. Don't diss Weavile's Sp. Def now >_>

 

[Blln]

I'm not a huge Life Orb fan.The reason is partly because I don't think any pokemon is completely useless defensively. Like some people have said, pokemon like Weavile and Infernape can often take one neutral Stab attack and live, but that all dissapears with Life Orb. The few times I use Life Orb are with a health resotring move, like a RestStalk Snorlax or something, or with serious Wish / Rapid Spin support.

Life Orb is just really difficult to justify on any pokemon that doesn't resist SR / SS, IMO, because when you look at it, your pokemon is taking like 28% to use that first attack when it's Life Orbed and SS and SR are in play, and SR weak pokemon will be taking like 30+ just to get one attack in.

Actually, now that I think about it I do have a Life Orb use on my old team, and that is a SD / CC / ES / SEdge @ Life Orb Lucario. IMO Lucario makes a good use of Life Orb. 4x resistant to SR, immune to Sandstorm, and prefers it over CB when it comes to stating up.

But I mainly feel Expert Belt > Life Orb on almost anything that uses them instead of Choice Items

 

[TechnoCore]

Flamethrower Timid Azelf is attack tier 112.95 to 114.65 while Weavile is Sp. Def tier 115.05 :-p Weavile is guarenteed to survive.

But weavile can't survive a specs Azelf flamethrower. I guess he just confused scarf and specs. Don't diss Weavile's Sp. Def now >_>

A scarfed Azelf would be modest/rash. Weavile dies anyway.

 

[GonE]

OR Azelf could run timid and leftovers.................

 

[Lee]

I think Expert Belt is superior in most situations. Of course, Pokemon with inferior movepools don't have the luxury of the belt, but Stealth Rock and Sandstorm are almost guaranteed these days, so when you factor in those two, plus the 10% LO recoil, you'll find yourself a Pokemon down quite quickly. It also gives away your item which is always bad. After seeing it, you have an advantage and because of that, I've stalled Life Orbers to death on many occasions as it's generally easy unless your opponent is predicting well.

It's still dangerous as a 30% boost is not to be scoffed at, but seeing people saying it is superior to Choice items depresses me. :(

I think that only mixed attackers should be using it...if a solely physical/special attacker uses it, then they are losing durability (by not taking Leftovers) and power/speed (by not taking a Choice item).