I prefer Choice Items for hit and run pokes, and Life Orb for versatile ones who can defeat many common pokémon and are likely to stay in for a long time. I prefer Expert Belt for pokes like Starmie, with decent defenses, who don't like the recoil damage (and it makes your opponent think it's choiced, which may lead to another KO).
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Life Orb vs Choice items
- Thread starter BadBoy08
- Start date
Depends....
On a *very* bulky pokemon - people may prefer Life Orb, as it will be harder for other people too kill them.
On a *very* fragile Pokemon - people may prefer Life Orb, so you can freely choose your next move. Or some people may prefer Choice Band / Scarf / Spectators, for the bigger damage boost (30% extra iirc), but are locked into one move.
(EXAMPLE of why Choice Band / Scarf / Spectators are bad in some cases: Last pokemon for you, you're locked into a move the opponent is immune to the move that you are locked into. And he can freely choose what move he wants, and any move he choses can "one-hit knock out you".)
On a *very* bulky pokemon - people may prefer Life Orb, as it will be harder for other people too kill them.
On a *very* fragile Pokemon - people may prefer Life Orb, so you can freely choose your next move. Or some people may prefer Choice Band / Scarf / Spectators, for the bigger damage boost (30% extra iirc), but are locked into one move.
(EXAMPLE of why Choice Band / Scarf / Spectators are bad in some cases: Last pokemon for you, you're locked into a move the opponent is immune to the move that you are locked into. And he can freely choose what move he wants, and any move he choses can "one-hit knock out you".)
but my venomoth is frail so wouldnt it be best to stick with choice specs for a one hit wonder move because I've used him alot in matches against my friends and he usally racks up 1 kill before he gets reveged killed. Also if he doesn't kill the pokemon he's facing he gets killed that turn. So like i stated before wouldn't it be good to get the sp. atk boost and go all out or just stick with LO vesitility.
In that situation, you're best off with Choice Specs, since the versatility won't matter if Venomoth only gets one chance to attack.
If a pokemon is using Outrage and has no boosting moves, Choice Band is usually better than Life Orb. What I'd like is something that works like LO but increases speed.
Fixed. On a side note, I would like to say that I don't think Choice Scarf figures into this discussion at all, as a 1.5x speed boost is such a significant advantage that is often worth sacrificing flexibility. Also, as Life Orb is not related to speed boosts, the two aren't really comparable.