Pet Mod Mega Revolution

[The Damned]

Huh. That last vote didn't turn out like how I thought it would at all. Congrats to Gyltia and kakaks for winning.

Anyway, these were all tough for completely differing reasons, and I am rather unsatisfied with Pidgeot-Mega and Aerodactyl-Mega's names (and the former's niche), so they may well change later. In the meantime, I'm just going to use ViZar's images since I wasn't aware those ones existed too:

Edit #1

...So I have finally realized through the haze of my pun-based insanity that 140 SpA with more Speed than Tapu Koko would be Very Bad even before the high possibility of Psychic Terrain support, Expanding Force, and pseudo-Sturdy through Sash with Magic Guard. So instead of 45 Atk / 40 Def / 140 SpA / 131 Spe Hocusfocus now has 51 Atk / 46 Def / 137 SpA / 122 Spe. May drop the Speed lower eventually.

Mega being Revolved: Beedrill-Mega
New Pokémon Name: Ambeelance ("ambi-" + "bee" + "lance" while also being a pun on "ambulance")
Stats: 70 HP / 120 Atk / 45 Def / 15 SpA / 84 SpD / 131 Spe [EDIT #1: Now has 120 Atk / 84 SpD / 131 Spe instead of 110 Atk / 100 SpD / 125 Spe.]
Typing:

/

[EDIT #1: As mandated, no longer Bug/Dark and instead Bug/Steel as initially intended now after being reminded Scizor-Mega's replacement is no longer Bug/Steel.]
Abilities: Adaptability / Guts / Sniper (hidden ability)
Movepool Additions: Beat Up, Bullet Punch, Iron Head, Lash Out, Lunge, Memento [EDIT #1: Gained Bullet Punch and Iron Head now that it becomes Steel, lost Memento due to no longer becoming Dark, gained Lunge because it's weird it doesn't have it, and keeps Beat Up and Lash Out for now.]
Niche: A mon that uses Crawdaunt's Attack as a cautionary tale of how much Attack it can actually have without being buzzted while still beeing the strongest user of both Knock Off and Pursuit in the game.* A fast cleaner and pivot-abuser that naturally outspeed all Psychic Surge abusers and all other Terrain setters while having a priority attack to avoiding opposing Sucker Punches, two other somewhat viable abilities, and maintaining at least slightly better special bulk than Scizor even if its Defense is far worse and its Bullet Punch is oddly still weaker--Technician is a hell of a drug.

Lengthy Niche in full (That Is Now Largely Outdated Sadly)

The strongest user of both Knock Off and Pursuit in the game with Adaptability* is the main niche that Ambeelance would have, which seems like a decent niche in addition to being a dumb beater--or should that be "beeter"? ...Sorry. I'll stop--given my anti-Regenerator Mawile-Mega idea lost. It has Speed enough to outpace Greninja and rival Weavile despite the fact that, unlike its canonical Mega form, this version of Beedrill-Mega actually has a decent amount of special bulk which might enable it to actually do hard switch-ins to things in addition to giving an immunity to actual direct attacks rather than "just" Poison and Toxic statuses. Being Dark now also means that it resists both Sucker Punch and opposing Pursuits, so it's not just automatically dead if something with Pursuit that can force it out switches in anymore despite still having hideously low Defense. Being Dark also means it can take full advantage of its new Guts ability now that it's vulnerable to being Poisoned, though that's of course a mixed bag.

It's not all sunshine and roses, however, between having five weaknesses inside of four, becoming less resistant to Grassy Glide and outright neutral (and thus probably dead) to Mach Punch (and Vacuum Wave), and speed ties between Beedrill-Megas really sucking. Granted, almost any type combination for the Revolved Beedrill-Megas is going to result in rather crappy Speed ties, especially with it now taking regular Knock Off damage due to no longer being an actual Mega. Even the Steel/Poison submissions basically see both click Drill Run and flip a coin. Fun times.

(*The strongest Pursuit user thus far in between both canonical power creep and whatever happens with Absol-Mega's replacement.)

Mega being Revolved: Pidgeot-Mega
New Pokémon Name: Pidgeostrophy ("pi(d)geon" + "geostrophic")
Stats: 89 HP / 62 Atk / 85 Def / 100 SpA / 80 SpD / 123 Spe
Typing:

/

Abilities: Overcoat / No Guard / Big Pecks (hidden ability)
Movepool Additions: Dual Wingbeat (not that it will really use it), Hyper Voice, Synchronoise, Weather Ball
Niche: An offensive mon that has the slight edge over Tornadus(-Therian) of being slightly faster (than Greninja), more physically bulky, able to prey on other Flying types better (not named Hawlucha or Mandibuzz) via the forgotten move Synchronoise, and potentially immune to Hail, Sandstorm, and Spore via Overcoat. Granted, Regenerator is such a dumb ability that it would be rather difficult to completely overdo Tornadus-Therian even if I thought it was a good idea without just making another monster. This merely meant to be a feasible alternative that has enough difference to actually be worth using. (The idea of "don't make a broken monster" similarly keeps me from giving this Knock Off and especially Focus Blast despite the temptation. The latter is especially true since even just going up to 74 SpA with Specs on already outdoes Pidgeot-Mega's initial damage output.)

Mega being Revolved: Alakazam-Mega
New Pokémon Name: Hocusfocus (obviously a pun on "hocus pocus" using "focus" instead--how clever)
Stats: 66 HP / 51 Atk / 46 Def / 137 SpA / 108 SpD / 122 Spe
Typing:

Abilities: Trace / Levitate / Magic Guard (hidden ability)
Movepool Additions: Synchronoise (just weird that it doesn't have it already)
Niche: This is mainly meant to do the standard Alakazam things of "be fast special attacker graced with both Magic Guard and the potential to bully past Blissey, Chansey, and Toxapex with STAB Psyshock". Its other two abilities are of course going to be lesser than Magic Guard from that aspect, but both have their uses, with Levitate even letting it switch in more easily in some cases. Levitate somewhat treads upon the same ground as the Lati twins, but given that the official Alakazam-Mega's frail self is clearly floating and doesn't share their Dragon typing or physical bulk, it's probably fine, especially since Hocusfocus has to give up any Psychic Terrain boosts and protection if using Levitate. (It's not like the Lati twins deserve sympathy anyway, really.)

Mega being Revolved: Aerodactyl-Mega
New Pokémon Name: Aeroclawful ("aero-" + "claw" + "awful")
Stats: 85 HP / 110 Atk / 90 Def / 55 SpA / 80 SpD / 125 Spe
Typing:

/

Abilities: Tough Claws / Pressure / Intimidate (hidden ability)
Movepool Additions: Body Press, High Horsepower
Niche: It's always bothered me how physically frail Aerodactyl is, in part because Rock types are so weirdly bad at being defensive despite obviously have been intended to be that back in Gen 1. Even before Psychic types broke everything and forced Dark and Steel types to grace us with their presences, they were still a bit bad that even before Steel added another weakness. So this version of Aerodactyl-Mega tries to go that route instead of (directly) increasing its Attack much since it already got Flying STAB worth a damn in the form of Dual Wingbeat. Most of its new stat boost got dumped into Defense, which benefits the new Body Press and which is bolstered by Intimidate replacing Unnerve's largely worthless self. Being Rock/Flying made me a bit weary of increasing its Special Defense more solely due to getting a boost from Sandstorm already whenever that's up, but its Speed may end up needing to be decreased more than a mere five points. I am unsure just yet. (High Horsepower merely there to get around Grassy Terrain, but may be unnecessary, especially since it benefits from Tough Claws unlike Earthquake, which could be problematic.)

 

[G-Luke]

All of these Megas are traditionally fast, and since our metagame lacks a few naturally fast speed control options, I intend on keeping all of these Pokemon as options for that.

Pidgesoar

Mega being Revolved: Mega Pidgeot
New Pokémon Name: Pidgesoar
Stats: 84 / 70 / 75 / 115 / 70 / 125 [539]
Typing:

Abilities: Keen Eye / Tangled Feet | No Guard
Movepool Additions: Hyper Voice, Thunder, Blizzard, Weather Ball, Terrain Pulse
Niche: Pidgesoar competes with Tornadus-T as a specially offensive Flying type, and while TornT provides much more utility, Focus Blast and Nasty Plot, Pidgesoar sports a slightly higher SpA and Speed tier, BoltBeam coverage, and most importantly No Guard, which allows it to never miss it's Hurricanes, something Torn struggles with.

Wasptox

Mega being Revolved: Mega Beedrill
New Pokémon Name: Wasptox
Stats: 65 / 115 / 45 / 15 / 80 / 145 [465]
Typing:

Abilities: Swarm | Adaptability
Movepool Additions: Gunk Shot, Low Kick
Niche: Making Wasptox inherit its Mega Speed tier was extremely important to me, as in addition to many reasons, part of Megadrill's failure is that while it's blazing fast and strong, it's still crept by a few viable mons, and I think making it the kingpin of speed (outside of cursed Regi) will always ensure that this Pokemon can keep a niche. Also, making it slower than or even as fast as resident STAB U-turn spammer Scibrawl seemed like a death sentence in terms of viability anyways. Elevating it's strongest move from a 80 BP move to a 120 one is also pretty useful for it, as Drill struggled with poor stabs even after the Adapt boost. Finally I added some low impact coverage that didn't make it deadweight (lol) versus any Steel ever, while still not being a universally great move (Corviknight laughs at it for Example). Beedrill having weak but niche coverage for specific threats while packing it's traditional nuke STABs has always been wait Mega Bee is known for imo.

Ayepresto

Mega being Revolved: Mega Alakazam
New Pokémon Name: Ayepresto (Corruption of the magic words Hey Presto)
Stats: 65 / 50 / 49 / 135 / 110 / 121 [539]
Typing:

Abilities: Trace / Synchronise | Magic Guard
Movepool Additions: N/A
Niche: Alakazam is at the pinnacle of strength, but it's just not quite OU material. Ayepresto is here to change that, giving Alakazam some well needed extra bulk, allowing it to have a smidgen more utility in regards to switching in on things. (Similar to Mega Alakazam, which it is bulkier than specially). The extra point in speed is just for lols. Expect it to do what Alakazam can do, but better.

Quartzalcoatlus

Mega being Revolved: Mega Aerodactyl
New Pokémon Name: Quartzalcoatlus (Quartz + Quetzalcoatlus)
Stats: 80 / 113 / 80 / 60 / 75 / 137 [545]
Typing:

Abilities: Rock Head / Pressure | Tough Claws
Movepool Additions: High Horsepower, U-turn
Niche: Quartzalcoatlus is a high speed pivot and potential Dragon Dance sweeper. It clocks in at a respectable 137 base speed, being only outsped by Dragapult and Zeraora atm. HHP offers a great alternate to EQ that is also Tough Claws boosted.

 

[Plague von Karma]

Mega being Revolved: Mega Aerodactyl
New Pokémon Name: Lophodactylus (combination of Lophocratia and Pterodactylus)
Stats: 80/105/75/60/75/140 (+10 Def/Spd)
Typing: Rock/Flying
Abilities: Rock Head / Unnerve | Tough Claws (HA)
Movepool Additions: Drill Peck, U-turn, Submission, Wild Charge
Niche: I'm of the (very common) opinion that Aerodactyl deserves more Flying STAB, but it's deceptively difficult to do, especially here. Acrobatics and Brave Bird also proved a bit too much, so I went with Drill Peck...it works with the spike on the chin, right? I tacked on Submission with the idea of giving Lophodactylus some more recoil-using options, which works with Rock Head and lets it break Steel-types and Blissey more consistently, though I don't think it would be a staple option. Wild Charge is another interesting option that's historically been distributed to Noivern and Arcanine, which gives further incentive to try Rock Head and break Water-types, or use Tough Claws and experience heavy recoil. With the ability to pivot on top of its niche defensive utility, this new evolution becomes nice team support, factoring in its already decent movepool. I've seen some people go the defensive route here, but personally, I'm more inclined to maintain Aerodactyl's identity, which is really what makes this difficult...I'm not entirely sure if I've accidentally created a monster despite keeping stat changes minimal!

 

[G-Luke]

Ok gonna be doing some reviews.

Mega being Revolved: Alakazam
New Pokemon Name: Cauljuring [cauldron + conjuring]
Stats: 70 / 50 / 65 / 115 / 115 / 115
Type: Psychic
Abilities: Trace / Inner Focus | Magic Guard
Movepool Additions: Doom Desire
Niche: Future Sight is highly useful in OU, and so Conjouring takes it up a level with Doom Desire. This lets it pressure Fairy types from coming in, letting it pair well with Dragons. Can still use Future Sight as well, so it can support a wide array of Pokemon.

Not sure why this Pokémon would use Doom Desire over Future Sight, or why this would use Future Sight at all. Honestly seems like a worse Alakazam which isn't an OU staple already.

Beisaster (Mega Beedrill)

Mega being Revolved: Beedrill
New Pokemon Name: Beisaster (Bee + Disaster)
Stats: 70/100/40/100/40/115 [BST:465]
Typing: Bug / Ghost
Abilities: Sniper | Adaptability
Movepool Addition: Bug Buzz, Destiny Bond, Poltergeist, Shadow Ball, Tail Glow
Niche: I could say that Beisaster is a Bug / Ghost Sharpedo without Speed Boost but with higher speed and Adaptability. Both Attack and Special Attack is equal to each other, so both Swords Dance set and Tail Glow set are usable.

Pidgecian (Mega Pidgeot)

Mega being Revolved: Pidgeot
New Pokemon Name: Pidgecian (Pidge [Pidgeot's line] + Magician)
Stats: 88/70/75/105/75/126 [BST:539]
Typing: Psychic / Flying
Abilities: No Guard / Magic Guard | Big Pecks
Movepool Addition: Focus Blast, Psychic, Psyshock, Shadow Ball
Niche: Simple enough, faster and bulkier Flying Alakazam but have the obviously less power output. Other than that, No Guard with Focus Blast and Hurricane is usable too.

Hocusire (Mega Alakazam)

Mega being Revolved: Alakazam
New Pokemon Name: Hocusire (Hocus-Pocus + Desire)
Stats: 75/50/85/110/85/125 [BST:530]
Typing: Psychic / Steel
Abilities: Trace / Forewarn | Magic Guard
Movepool Addition: Flash Cannon, Iron Defense
Niche: Bulkier and faster Alakazam with less damage output + Steel type for more resistance and Flash Cannon STAB. And damage output can be replaced by LO with Magic Guard.

Pterobsidian (Mega Aerodactyl)

Mega being Revolved: Aerodactyl
New Pokemon Name: Pterobsidian (Pterodactyl + Obsidian)
Stats: 80/110/95/70/95/105 [BST:545]
Typing: Rock / Flying
Abilities: Rock Head / Pressure | Tough Claws
Movepool Addition: Accelerock, Head Smash
Niche: Bulkier and hit harder than Aerodactyl but slow. Pterobsidian can be very dangerous with DD Head Smash without anything to counter it.

Edit 1: -20 Attack, +10 Defense, +10 Special Defense to Pterobsidian

Remove Head Smash. That's a move that is too hard to balance on a Pokémon with this level of speed and power.

Mega being Revolved: Beedrill
New Pokémon Name: Wrive (Wrath+Hive)
Stats: 65/130/40/25/80/125
Typing:

,

Abilities: Anger Point, Sniper, Adaptability
Movepool Additions: Leech Life, Lash Out, Dual Wingbeat, Skitter Smack
Niche: This mon follows in MegaDrill's footsteps of being only a decent wallbreaker but a great sweeper. Also, you can hold an item. Works best with webs.

Firstly, it's typing and basic role is in direct competition with Scibrawl (Mega Scizor), so I would not allow it due to them essentially doing the same thing.

Secondly, Adaptability is very tricky to balance. Typings like Bug Poison and Steel Poison can afford the 120+ attack range because these are garbage offensive typings + everyone who used these typings still had the courtesy of limiting themselves from the obvious super versions of the STABs (see Meteor Mash, Gunk Shot, Earthquake for Bug/Ground). Bug / Dark (honestly every Mega Beedrill sub with a part Dark typing) is much more dangerous here because Knock Off is an incredibly potent and near infinitely spammable STAB. Basically what I am saying is one of the typings have to be changed AND the attack has to be lowered, and by how much depends on which typing you keep. Keep Bug and you keep afford more Attack points.

Mega being Revolved: Mega Beedrill
New Pokémon Name: Beetox (Bee + Toxic)
Stats: 65 | 115 | 45 | 45 | 80 | 115 (465)
Typing:

Abilities: Adaptability | Sniper | Poison Touch (HA)
Movepool Additions: Leech Life
Niche: Beetox is a status spreader with Poison Touch in combination with Toxic Spikes, Poison Jab or U-Turn or a fast physical sweeper, which can use Adaptability for a high damage output with SD.

Mega being Revolved: Mega Pidgeot
New Pokémon Name: Pideastroph (Pidgeot + Catastrophe)
Stats: 83 | 75 | 75 | 110 | 75 | 121 (539)
Typing:

Abilities: No Guard | Tangled Feet | Gale Wings (HA)
Movepool Additions: Dual Wingbeat, Terrain Pulse, Weather Ball, Fire Blast, Overheat, Will-O-Wisp, Scorching Sands
Niche: Pideastroph serves as a fast special attacker on Weather, Terrain and Offensive teams. With a 100% move like Will-O-Wisp and Gale Wings Hurricane or Air Slash, it can serve as a utility pivot.

Mega being Revolved: Mega Alakazam
New Pokémon Name: Wisdread (Wisdom + Dread)
Stats: 55 | 120 | 45 | 95 | 95 | 120 (530)
Typing:

Abilities: Trace | Iron Fist | Magic Guard
Movepool Additions: Close Combat, Bulk Up, Swords Dance, Mach Punch, Drain Punch
Niche: Wisdread has great physical power with high speed. Alongside Magic Guard, Life Orb, a secondary Stab and priority, it can blow past many offensive and defensive Pokémon. Its defenses are what hold it back here.

Mega being Revolved: Mega Aerodactyl
New Pokémon Name: Crystactyl (Crystal + Pterodactylus)
Stats: 90 | 110 | 75 | 60 | 75 | 135 (545)
Typing:

Abilities: Rock Head | Solid Rock | Tough Claws (HA)
Movepool Additions: Accelerock, U-Turn
Niche: Crystactyl has high speed with a decent damage output and some cool options like U-Turn, Accelerock and Stealth Rock. Tough Claws give it a needed damage boost while Solid Rock can make a set up easier.

Similar to the first point I addressed above, we already have Medicham and Gallade is coming up very soon, so if you choose to go with physical Alakazam, please do us a favor and opt for a different secondary typing. If you decide to go special and keep Psychic Fighting be careful of just how potent that STAB is with a certain speed tier, especially since it's gonna be a special mon.

Huh. That last vote didn't turn out like how I thought it would at all. Congrats to Gyltia and kakaks for winning.

Anyway, these were all tough for completely differing reasons, and I am rather unsatisfied with Pidgeot-Mega and Aerodactyl-Mega's names (and the former's niche), so they may well change later. In the meantime, I'm just going to use ViZar's images since I wasn't aware those ones existed too:

Edit #1

...So I have finally realized through the haze of my pun-based insanity that 140 SpA with more Speed than Tapu Koko would be Very Bad even before the high possibility of Psychic Terrain support, Expanding Force, and pseudo-Sturdy through Sash with Magic Guard. So instead of 45 Atk / 40 Def / 140 SpA / 131 Spe Hocusfocus now has 51 Atk / 46 Def / 137 SpA / 122 Spe. May drop the Speed lower eventually.

Mega being Revolved: Beedrill-Mega
New Pokémon Name: Ambeelance ("ambi-" + "bee" + "lance" while also being a pun on "ambulance")
Stats: 70 HP / 110 Atk / 45 Def / 15 SpA / 100 SpD / 125 Spe
Typing:

/

Abilities: Adaptability / Guts / Sniper (hidden ability)
Movepool Additions: Beat Up, Lash Out, Memento
Niche: A mon that uses Crawdaunt's Attack as a cautionary tale of how much Attack it can actually have without being buzzted while still beeing the strongest user of both Knock Off and Pursuit in the game.*

Lengthy Niche in full

The strongest user of both Knock Off and Pursuit in the game with Adaptability* is the main niche that Ambeelance would have, which seems like a decent niche in addition to being a dumb beater--or should that be "beeter"? ...Sorry. I'll stop--given my anti-Regenerator Mawile-Mega idea lost. It has Speed enough to outpace Greninja and rival Weavile despite the fact that, unlike its canonical Mega form, this version of Beedrill-Mega actually has a decent amount of special bulk which might enable it to actually do hard switch-ins to things in addition to giving an immunity to actual direct attacks rather than "just" Poison and Toxic statuses. Being Dark now also means that it resists both Sucker Punch and opposing Pursuits, so it's not just automatically dead if something with Pursuit that can force it out switches in anymore despite still having hideously low Defense. Being Dark also means it can take full advantage of its new Guts ability now that it's vulnerable to being Poisoned, though that's of course a mixed bag.

It's not all sunshine and roses, however, between having five weaknesses inside of four, becoming less resistant to Grassy Glide and outright neutral (and thus probably dead) to Mach Punch (and Vacuum Wave), and speed ties between Beedrill-Megas really sucking. Granted, almost any type combination for the Revolved Beedrill-Megas is going to result in rather crappy Speed ties, especially with it now taking regular Knock Off damage due to no longer being an actual Mega. Even the Steel/Poison submissions basically see both click Drill Run and flip a coin. Fun times.

(*The strongest Pursuit user thus far in between both canonical power creep and whatever happens with Absol-Mega's replacement.)

Mega being Revolved: Pidgeot-Mega
New Pokémon Name: Pidgeostrophy ("pi(d)geon" + "geostrophic")
Stats: 89 HP / 62 Atk / 85 Def / 100 SpA / 80 SpD / 123 Spe
Typing:

/

Abilities: Overcoat / No Guard / Big Pecks (hidden ability)
Movepool Additions: Dual Wingbeat (not that it will really use it), Hyper Voice, Synchronoise, Weather Ball
Niche: An offensive mon that has the slight edge over Tornadus(-Therian) of being slightly faster (than Greninja), more physically bulky, able to prey on other Flying types better (not named Hawlucha or Mandibuzz) via the forgotten move Synchronoise, and potentially immune to Hail, Sandstorm, and Spore via Overcoat. Granted, Regenerator is such a dumb ability that it would be rather difficult to completely overdo Tornadus-Therian even if I thought it was a good idea without just making another monster. This merely meant to be a feasible alternative that has enough difference to actually be worth using. (The idea of "don't make a broken monster" similarly keeps me from giving this Knock Off and especially Focus Blast despite the temptation. The latter is especially true since even just going up to 74 SpA with Specs on already outdoes Pidgeot-Mega's initial damage output.)

Mega being Revolved: Alakazam-Mega
New Pokémon Name: Hocusfocus (obviously a pun on "hocus pocus" using "focus" instead--how clever)
Stats: 66 HP / 51 Atk / 46 Def / 137 SpA / 108 SpD / 122 Spe
Typing:

Abilities: Trace / Levitate / Magic Guard (hidden ability)
Movepool Additions: Synchronoise (just weird that it doesn't have it already)
Niche: This is mainly meant to do the standard Alakazam things of "be fast special attacker graced with both Magic Guard and the potential to bully past Blissey, Chansey, and Toxapex with STAB Psyshock". Its other two abilities are of course going to be lesser than Magic Guard from that aspect, but both have their uses, with Levitate even letting it switch in more easily in some cases. Levitate somewhat treads upon the same ground as the Lati twins, but given that the official Alakazam-Mega's frail self is clearly floating and doesn't share their Dragon typing or physical bulk, it's probably fine, especially since Hocusfocus has to give up any Psychic Terrain boosts and protection if using Levitate. (It's not like the Lati twins deserve sympathy anyway, really.)

Mega being Revolved: Aerodactyl-Mega
New Pokémon Name: Aeroclawful ("aero-" + "claw" + "awful")
Stats: 85 HP / 110 Atk / 90 Def / 55 SpA / 80 SpD / 125 Spe
Typing:

/

Abilities: Tough Claws / Pressure / Intimidate (hidden ability)
Movepool Additions: Body Press, High Horsepower
Niche: It's always bothered me how physically frail Aerodactyl is, in part because Rock types are so weirdly bad at being defensive despite obviously have been intended to be that back in Gen 1. Even before Psychic types broke everything and forced Dark and Steel types to grace us with their presences, they were still a bit bad that even before Steel added another weakness. So this version of Aerodactyl-Mega tries to go that route instead of (directly) increasing its Attack much since it already got Flying STAB worth a damn in the form of Dual Wingbeat. Most of its new stat boost got dumped into Defense, which benefits the new Body Press and which is bolstered by Intimidate replacing Unnerve's largely worthless self. Being Rock/Flying made me a bit weary of increasing its Special Defense more solely due to getting a boost from Sandstorm already whenever that's up, but its Speed may end up needing to be decreased more than a mere five points. I am unsure just yet. (High Horsepower merely there to get around Grassy Terrain, but may be unnecessary, especially since it benefits from Tough Claws unlike Earthquake, which could be problematic.)

See the first part of what I said to ChoiceScarfed regarding typing redundancy, but fortunately you were on the right track in the power aspect.


I think everything else seems fine so far, if anyone else has thoughts on these + others I did not go over (including mine), I urge you to share them!

Officially putting out a 48 hour warning here, and with a big update - upon the conclusion of this slate we will be doing another Playtest Tournament. This will be held on Sunday, most likely between the hours of 2 and 5 pm EST (time not finalized) on the https://dragonheaven.herokuapp.com server. Announcing this now to give people PLENTY of time to teambuild and test out teams so we do not run into the issue we had last time. That's all folks!

 

[The Damned]

Noted, G-Luke. I still have the bad habit of thinking all of the Megas that were revolved before I started doing this all kept their original typings, especially since half of them did. Apologies.

Ambeelance has been changed now to the Bug/Steel I was initially considering anyway before I thought "Oh, wait. Scizor-Mega's revolved Mega would just obviate it since it's still Bug/Steel." Ironic. Let me know if the changes are still problematic (even though Guts is slightly worse now), and I'll change it again some time before the deadline is up.

Either way, look forward to the test on Sunday since I should actually be around for it this time. Fingers crossed.

 

[G-Luke]

Voting starts now!

My Votes

: G-Luke, AquaticPanic, The Damned
: Revenge of Depressed Gay, G-Luke, The Dned
: The Damned, Lapzaplerq, G-Luke
: Plague Von Karma, G-Luke, ViZar

 

[Plague von Karma]

: G-Luke, ViZar, The Damned I don't like voting for myself...
: The Damned, G-Luke, Lapzaplerq
: G-Luke, ViZar, Revenge of Depressed Gay
: AquaticPanic, G-Luke, The Damned

 

[ViZar]

Votes

1. AquaticPanic
2. abismal
3. Ema Skye

Votes

1. ViZar
2. Revenge of the Depressed Gay
3. G-Luke

Votes

1. The Damned
2. Revenge of the Depressed Gay
3. Lapzaplerq

Votes

1. Plague von Karma
2. El Cadaver
3. G-Luke

 

[Lapzaplerq]

: G-Luke, The Damned, ViZar
: The Damned, G-Luke, Lapzaplerq
: ViZar, G-Luke, Revenge of Depressed Gay
: AquaticPanic, The Damned, G-Luke

 

[War Incarnate]

: AquaticPanic, The Damned, G-Luke
: The Damned, ViZar, Ema Skye
: Plague Von Karma, ViZar, G-Luke
: ViZar, RODG, ChoiceScarfed

 

[The Damned]

Here are my votes, though I can't help but feel like I'm perhaps overestimating the power of Adaptability First Impression on something that generally wants to hit and run anyway, even if Pursuit tends to murder it. It seems especially hypocritical with the whole "here, have Bullet Punch" approach I used. Oh well.

Beedrill-Mega: G-Luke, abismal, The Damned

Pidgeot-Mega: ViZar, The Damned, G-Luke

Alakazam-Mega: Revenge of Depressed Gay, Lapzaplerq, El Cadaver

Aerodactyle-Mega: Gyltia, Plague von Karma, G-Luke

 

[Ema Skye]

Beedrill: AquaticPanic, TheDamned, Ema Skye
Pidgeot: Ema Skye, ViZar, RODG
Alakazam: El Cadaver, Ema Skye, RODG
Aerodactyl: Plague, Gyltia, ViZar

 

[Gyltia]

The Damned, Ema Skye, G-Luke

G-Luke, Revenge of Depressed Gay, ChoiceScarfed

Revenge of Depressed Gay, The Damned, ViZar

Gyltia, The Damned, ViZar

 

[G-Luke]

Winners!

Mega being Revolved:
New Pokémon Name: Abhornet
Stats: 65 / 120 / 50 / 15 / 80 / 135 [455]
Typing:

Abilities: Adaptability (Sniper)
Movepool Additions: First Impression
Niche: Abhornet is a fast revenge killer. It is intended to work as a Pokémon that comes in after a foe has beaten one of your mons and knock said foe down, by virtue of having a pretty high Speed tier for the meta, alongside hitting hard. Abhornet also takes advantage of the fact that by virtue of being a revenge killer, it will usually be switching in without risking taking damage from an attack, which mitigates its frailty somewhat. It is balanced by the fact that if it misses the kill, it has to take a hit, and its bulk is pretty awful for that. Its STABs, the main source of its power, are also easy to wall, namely with all the defensive Steel Types around (Given despite Abhornet's best efforts, Drill Run usually isn't enough), but also struggling against Poison and Ghost types, as well as OU Staple Landorus.

Mega being Revolved: Mega Pidgeot
New Pokémon Name: Pideastroph (Pidgeot + Catastrophe)
Stats: 83 | 75 | 75 | 110 | 75 | 121 (539)
Typing:

Abilities: No Guard | Tangled Feet | Gale Wings (HA)
Movepool Additions: Dual Wingbeat, Terrain Pulse, Weather Ball, Fire Blast, Overheat, Will-O-Wisp, Scorching Sands
Niche: Pideastroph serves as a fast special attacker on Weather, Terrain and Offensive teams. With a 100% move like Will-O-Wisp and Gale Wings Hurricane or Air Slash, it can serve as a utility pivot.

Mega being Revolved: Alakazam-Mega
New Pokémon Name: Hocusfocus (obviously a pun on "hocus pocus" using "focus" instead--how clever)
Stats: 66 HP / 51 Atk / 46 Def / 137 SpA / 108 SpD / 122 Spe
Typing:

Abilities: Trace / Levitate / Magic Guard (hidden ability)
Movepool Additions: Synchronoise (just weird that it doesn't have it already)
Niche: This is mainly meant to do the standard Alakazam things of "be fast special attacker graced with both Magic Guard and the potential to bully past Blissey, Chansey, and Toxapex with STAB Psyshock". Its other two abilities are of course going to be lesser than Magic Guard from that aspect, but both have their uses, with Levitate even letting it switch in more easily in some cases. Levitate somewhat treads upon the same ground as the Lati twins, but given that the official Alakazam-Mega's frail self is clearly floating and doesn't share their Dragon typing or physical bulk, it's probably fine, especially since Hocusfocus has to give up any Psychic Terrain boosts and protection if using Levitate. (It's not like the Lati twins deserve sympathy anyway, really.)

Mega being Revolved: Mega Aerodactyl
New Pokémon Name: Lophodactylus (combination of Lophocratia and Pterodactylus)
Stats: 80/105/75/60/75/140 (+10 Def/Spd)
Typing: Rock/Flying
Abilities: Rock Head / Unnerve | Tough Claws (HA)
Movepool Additions: Drill Peck, U-turn, Submission, Wild Charge
Niche: I'm of the (very common) opinion that Aerodactyl deserves more Flying STAB, but it's deceptively difficult to do, especially here. Acrobatics and Brave Bird also proved a bit too much, so I went with Drill Peck...it works with the spike on the chin, right? I tacked on Submission with the idea of giving Lophodactylus some more recoil-using options, which works with Rock Head and lets it break Steel-types and Blissey more consistently, though I don't think it would be a staple option. Wild Charge is another interesting option that's historically been distributed to Noivern and Arcanine, which gives further incentive to try Rock Head and break Water-types, or use Tough Claws and experience heavy recoil. With the ability to pivot on top of its niche defensive utility, this new evolution becomes nice team support, factoring in its already decent movepool. I've seen some people go the defensive route here, but personally, I'm more inclined to maintain Aerodactyl's identity, which is really what makes this difficult...I'm not entirely sure if I've accidentally created a monster despite keeping stat changes minimal!

A reminder that we will not be having a next slate yet, and that our playtesting TOUR IS still on for Sunday between the hours of 2 pm and 5 pm EST. Come early, and even if you miss, we will still be online and may host multiple if more people are interested. In the meantime, I'd love for people to give their general thoughts on not only the new additions, but any particular threat that we should look out for in the coming days. Good luck!

 

[The Damned]

Another vote that didn't go all like I expected it to and which gave me the weird realization that outside of Mediscind, I've somehow done all of the Megas that stayed Psychic after being Revolved so far. That's a bit worrying as far as balance goes.

Congrats to AquaticPanic, ViZar, and Plague von Karma for winning the last slate. I have to ask though: since AquaticPanic's Beedrill design did win, doesn't it get to have a third ability since that was technically allowed?

As far as any worries go, besides the above worries with regards to First Impression Beedrill-Mega--now Abhornet--and the new Psychic types maybe being too same-y due to my influence, the only real worries I have are some new moves on the Aerodactyl-Mega that won--namely U-Turn and Wild Charge--and nothing being able to switch into Horrfrost or Humpei without exploding. Those concerns and Triage maybe being too annoying on Nurseheary--my bad if so--are the only things I'm currently worried about, and none of them are too worrying.

I guess we'll see though. I'll try to be around tomorrow even though my sleep schedule got screwed up again today like usual. Sigh. Regardless, I hope the testing goes well.

 

[Gravity Monkey]

Unfortunately, the playtesting tour will have to be postponed to a later date. Stay tuned for more info.

 

[G-Luke]

The playtesting tour will be postponed indefinitely. In the meantime, here is the next slate.

Slate 11: The Last Regular One


Requirements

- All Megas are treated as regular evolutions. Absol-Mega and Lopunny-Mega both have up to +60 bst to distribute. Manectric-Mega has up to +50 bst to distribute, and Gallade-Mega has a maximum of +40 BST to distribute.
- Manectric-Mega must keep its Electric typing; Lopunny-Mega must have at least one of its typings (whether primary or secondary.); Gallade-Mega must remain Psychic / Fighting; Absol-Mega must keep its Dark typing.
- Three abilities max for every Pokémon.

Have fun everyone!

 

[Ema Skye]

Mega being Revolved: Lopunny
New Pokémon Name: Hareier [hare + harrier]
Stats: 75 / 106 / 84 / 54 / 96 / 125 [540 BST]
Typing: Normal / Fighting
Abilities: Scrappy / Reckless | Limber
Movepool Additions: Blaze Kick, Wild Charge, Double Edge
Niche: So Normal + Fighting is kinda Lopunny's thing, so this kinda makes it better, though it doesn't really need much. Scrappy sets, with Gen 8 mechanics, are now immune to Intimidate, so it doesn't have to worry about that with its dual coverage of Frustration + Close Combat. Sets looking to be a bit more reckless have Double Edge and High Jump Kick for STABs, with Wild Charge as a viable coverage move. Going this route unfortunately makes Ghost types quite problematic.

 

[G-Luke]

Mega being Revolved: Lopunny
New Pokémon Name: Hareier [hare + harrier]
Stats: 75 / 126 / 74 / 54 / 76 / 135 [540 BST]
Typing: Normal / Fighting
Abilities: Scrappy / Reckless | Limber
Movepool Additions: Blaze Kick, Wild Charge, Double Edge
Niche: So Normal + Fighting is kinda Lopunny's thing, so this kinda makes it better, though it doesn't really need much. Scrappy sets, with Gen 8 mechanics, are now immune to Intimidate, so it doesn't have to worry about that with its dual coverage of Frustration + Close Combat. Sets looking to be a bit more reckless have Double Edge and High Jump Kick for STABs, with Wild Charge as a viable coverage move. Going this route unfortunately makes Ghost types quite problematic.

Im asking you to nerf this please. No need to min max the mon in an attempt to get it to mirror its Mega's power level, especially since they can hold items.

 

[Gyltia]

Mega being Revolved: Mega Manectric
New Pokémon Name: Veloshock (velocity + shock)
Stats: 70 / 65 / 90 / 110 / 60 / 130 (BST 525)
Typing:

Abilities: Static / Lightning Rod / Intimidate
Movepool Additions: Solar Beam, Will-o-wisp
Niche: Finally, the chance to add another Electric/Fire mon to the roster! To put it bluntly, this typing is just stellar defensively; add to that intimidate and volt switch, and you get an excellent fast pivot that can come in on a lot of threats (which is why I didn’t give it recovery). I also opted against giving it Fire Blast, as I felt it would make it a little too reliable, so it will have to settle with Overheat or Flamethrower. Solar Beam is a nice touch if you want to run it in sun. Though it faces competition from other Electric types of the tier, I definitely think it has a solid niche, while still being easily dealt with by any kind of Earthquake user, and being forced into running boots to have a chance of coming in repeatedly throughout the game.

Mega being Revolved: Mega Absol
New Pokémon Name: Heramity (herald + calamity)
Stats: 65 / 80 / 115 / 100 / 90 / 75 (BST 520)
Typing:

Abilities: Pressure / Super Luck / Magic Bounce
Movepool Additions: Slack Off, Defog, Agility, Stored Power
Niche: I really struggled to think of a way to make Heramity stand out. I originally wanted to give it Fairy typing, but we made so many of those already that it felt overkill. There was also no way it could be better than Mawtale as a physical attacker, so I quickly abandoned that. A fully defensive mon didn’t really work either, because lack of a double typing meant it was outclassed by Mandibuzz and its role overlapped with Sabsidian. So I opted for a sort of hybrid pokemon that takes advantage of Absol’s perfect special movepool, and sets up like Magearna or Tapu Fini would (thanks to Agility + Calm Mind). Magic Bounce is, as always, a great ability for set up and it has good utility outside of that.

Mega being Revolved: Mega Lopunny
New Pokémon Name: Taekwonny (tae kwon do + bunny)
Stats: 65 / 115 / 90 / 54 / 90 / 126 (BST 540)
Typing:

Abilities: Cute Charm / Scrappy / Limber
Movepool Additions: Double-Edge, Thrash
Niche: It do what Megapunny do. Not much depth to this one. I put a lot into Speed to make it stand out from Kylario and Mediscend. Its access to Close Combat makes it a lot more reliable than HJK, and I felt obligated to give it a better normal STAB than Facade.

 

[Ema Skye]

Im asking you to nerf this please. No need to min max the mon in an attempt to get it to mirror its Mega's power level, especially since they can hold items.

Changed it. Is it better? I went for Mienshao's spread but flipped the speed and attack.

 

[shadowpea]

I'm back after a million years



Mega being Revolved: Mega Absol
New Pokémon Name: filler (for now)
Stats: 85/125/95/70/90/60
Typing: Dark/Fairy
Abilities: Magic Bounce / Justified | Intimidate
Movepool Additions: Spirit Break, U-turn, Recover, Wish
Niche: I also had trouble making my sub stand out from other Pokemon, especially Mawtale. In the end, I went with the bulky attacker route that can use SD to break or its decent bulk and recovery to take hits. If Zapdos can get away with being Physdef with only 90/85/90 bulk I don't see why this can't, especially with a good typing, nice support movepool, and two amazing abilities. Low speed is an issue though.

This also gets both Thunder Wave and Will-O-Wisp. Did you know that?

 

[The Damned]

Well, I'm glad to see Mega-Revolution back open even if it happened at a rather inconvenient time for me. Still, I hope everyone involved has been well given, well, everything still going on in general.

Also, yeah, somewhat fittingly Absol is a bit doomed here. The already underwhelming mon gets screwed over extremely hard by the winning Mawile-Mega taking the "obvious" Dark/Fairy typing for it and hitting harder, the winning Scizor-Mega hitting probably as hard while being way faster, and the winning Sableye-Mega having stayed Dark/Ghost in addition to having also keep Magic Bounce. To say nothing of the already existence Dark mons in OU, like Hydreigon, technically Mandibuzz, and especially Weavile. Whoops. (At least Absol doesn't have to worry about Urshifu-Dark anymore and is already faster than Tyranitar.)

So, yeah, Super Luck to everyone else trying to tackle that poor mon.

Mega being Revolved: Manectric-Mega
New Pokémon Name: Lupotning ("lupo" + "lightning")
Stats: 80 HP / 65 Atk / 80 Def / 120 SpA / 65 SpD / 115 Spe
Typing:

/

Abilities: Static / Lightning Rod / Intimidate (hidden ability)
Movepool Additions: Body Press, Flash Cannon, Iron Defense, Iron Head, Steel Beam (since unfortunately all Steel mons get it)
Niche: Basically a faster yet less sure Steel-murdering alternative Electric/Steel type mon compared to the Magnemite family, especially since Manectric already gets Flamethrower and Overheat for some reason. Admittedly I was attempting to aim for being physically bulkier than Magnezone to bolster Intimidate...before being rudely reminded Magnezone has 70 HP and 115 Def bulk. Oops. So Manectric-Mega's stupidly stiff-maned self instead focuses on becoming this somewhat fast mon that's also a slightly more powerful yet frailer alternative to Raikou that gives up Calm Mind to instead get to play hit-and-run far more easily with its innate type defenses and abilities. While I don't feel all that comfortable with giving Steel Beam to something with that this much SpA and more importantly this much Speed, basically every Steel mon gets it unfortunately and Lupotning at least kills itself with no recovery beyond Rest (like basically every other Steel mon that might actually use it not named Jirachi). Finally, Lupotning just laughs at Tapu Koko while using Lightning Rod outside of Nature's Madness or Hidden Power Ground, though you can just bring a Balloon or Shuca Berry when Tapu Koko-hunting if you're paranoid about that latter one.

Mega being Revolved: Absol-Mega
New Pokémon Name: Abyssoil ("abyss" + "soil")
Stats: 70 HP / 125 Atk / 60 Def / 100 SpA / 60 SpD / 110 Spe
Typing:

/

Abilities: Magic Bounce / Unaware / Justified (hidden ability)
Movepool Additions: Drill Run, Earthquake, Earth Power, Nasty Plot, Parting Shot, Spikes
Niche: I wanted to avoid just making "Krookodile but better", but I honestly couldn't even do that directly given how much more bulk Krookodile has compared to Absol's frail self; I would have dump literally all of the Mega boost into HP, Def, and SpD just to break even, which defeats the point. So I instead aimed for an aggressive Spiker as well as aggressive user of Unaware, which also fits with Absol's almost self-destructive flavor. While STAB Darkest Lariat would technically fill a lot of Unaware's niche by itself, with Megas being replaced in this pet mod, STAB Knock Off gets even more viable since it does more initial damage to literally everything holding an item but Silvally; I'm still not giving it Darkest Lariat though. Unaware is also there just because it's rather difficult hard to dig out an actual niche for Absol-Mega's revolved form otherwise for reasons already stated above unfortunately. Ground typing is a bit of stretch, but it fits with Absol's "unfortunate omen of disaster" motif at least as well as enables to switch in more easily with two additional immunities (to Electric attacks and to Sandstorm) in addition to reduced Stealth Rock damage.

Super Luck aside

(Said themes and motif is also why I always found Absol getting Super Luck incredibly cruel, but that's besides the point. Also, it says a lot how boned I think Absol is that I'm willing to give it Nasty Plot and a pivot move, though I'm choosing to go with Parting Shot over U-Turn now despite that being a bit contrary with Unaware just so that it doesn't automatically destroy itself in pivoting Speed ties--just normal Speed ties given its access to Close Combat, Play Rough, and Superpower.)

Mega being Revolved: Lopunny-Mega
New Pokémon Name: Strikony ("strike" + "cony")
Stats: 69 HP / 115 Atk / 85 Def / 54 SpA / 96 SpD / 121 Spe
Typing:

/

Abilities: Scrappy / Klutz / Limber (hidden ability)
Movepool Additions: none
Niche: Despite Lopunny being such an underwhelming pokemon as it is (and hilariously still not getting any use out of Eviolite now if it still uses Klutz), Strikony is clearly meant to just be a rather straightforward fast physical attacker like Lopunny-Mega before it given has the privilege of retaining Scrappy as an ability. Scrappy is so good on it, given it means its STAB coverage is literally unresisted by, that it honestly doesn't need anything else and probably shouldn't get anything, especially a pivot move; Lopunny already has a weirdly great movepool anyway. It's personally a bit annoying that it will have no real reason to use either of the two other abilities it gets to keep now, but at least Klutz might be fun to mess around with from time to time due to randomly getting both that and Switcheroo.

Mega being Revolved: Gallade-Mega
New Pokémon Name: Gallanedge ("gallant" + "edge")
Stats: 78 HP / 130 Atk / 85 Def / 60 SpA / 120 SpD / 85 Spe
Typing:

/

Abilities: Inner Focus / Psychic Surge / Justified (hidden ability)
Movepool Additions: none
Niche: The strongest Psychic physical attacker outside of Ubers (and Metagross...and Medicham), which gets to actually claim that title for go via use of Psychic Surge now that incentivizes using Psychic attacks more over Fighting ones, Gallade was mostly held back by its lack of defenses and speed given what a great movepool it already has. I chose to focus on upping its defensive and support aspects given both the potential power boost of Psychic Surge, which I will end understand if it ends up being too strong, and Mediscend's existence as the faster and stronger yet otherwise far frailer and constrained mon. (I would have to dump at least +21 points into Speed to make it faster than Mediscend anyway, which personally seems...eh.)

With Inner Focus getting a bit of power boost in the form of ignoring Intimidate and having to worry about other opposing Psychic mons that are probably going to be abusing Psychic Surge better than you via Expanding Force (which still hits stupidly hard at 60 SpA with STAB and Psychic Terrain up), I legitimately think that ability would remain a competitive enough option against Psychic Surge to be worth using even if Justified probably (still) wouldn't. Gallanedge at least has the bulk to actually take most neutral Dark Pulses and especially Knock Offs now without just exploding though. Yay.


(P.S. Ugh. It took me way too long to realize I could just "borrow" the sprites straight from Pokemon Showdown dex instead of trying to guess URLs.)

 

[G-Luke]

Can we get some more subs?

 

[Revenge of Depressed Gay]

Mega being Revolved: Mega Absol
New Pokémon Name: Lucesol (Lucifer and Absol)
Stats: 70 / 80 / 120 / 80 / 120 / 55 (BST 525)
Typing:

Abilities: Pressure|Magic Bounce|Justified
Movepool Additions: Roost, Defog, U-Turn, Dual Wingbeat
Niche: Hey you know how Absol has like a really high attack stat, right? You know how it's a glass cannon, right? What if we flipped the script? Now it's a dark/flying mixed wall that is slow as heck. It gets recovery, hazard removal, and U-Turn since pretty much most flying types get those. It also gets dual wingbeat because it would be kind of weird if the mega with giant ass wings didn't get it while clefable did.

Mega being Revolved: Mega Lopunny
New Pokémon Name: Loptacht (Lop + Tachtig which is dutch for 80)
Stats: 90 / 80 / 115 / 55 / 115 / 85 (BST 540)
Typing:

Abilities: Cute Charm / Scrappy / Cursed Body
Movepool Additions: Poltergeist, Wish
Niche: To a lot of people you must be confused, so allow me to explain. The main inspiration for the ghost type and cursed body comes from the god awful fashion trends of the 80s that should stay dead. The fact that Mega Lopunny looks like a jazzercise instructor gave me this idea of let's make it a ghost type to represent those dead trends THAT SHOULD STAY DEAD. Also cursed body because those fashion trends were pretty fucking cursed. Anyway the two big additions are poltergeist and wish because poltergeist is a decent move for ghost types in general and it gets healing wish but not wish for some reason. Also I thought one turn recovery might be a bit much on a normal ghost type.