Spurred by the heart of innovation
and stealing concepts of others, I am here to introduce the most criminal, absolutely diabolical, SINISTER COMPLETELY EVIL THING THAT I'VE EVER SEEN.
standing here (Shroodle) @ Eviolite
Ability: Prankster
Level: 5
Tera Type: Poison / Dark / Fighting
EVs: 36 HP / 236 Atk / 236 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Copycat
- Gunk Shot
- Knock Off / Tera Blast
- Swords Dance
This set is exactly what it looks like, a gimmick, but what's behind this gimmick is an absolutely lethal monster whose only prerequisite for killing everything in front of you use getting rid of Pawniard.
With Eviolite, Shroodle goes from a mon who gets OHKO'd by a stray breeze like it does on rain setups to a genuinely reasonable bulk mon who comes with the convenient trait of having 18 speed. Freeing yourself from the constraints of Rain Dance or Sunny Day, or even Parting Shot allows you to truly flex the creative muscles of the funny tongue mon... and thus it appears.
Copycat.
Remember this move? It's the move that you only remember exists because A) Clefairy almost always comes with it at levels it's caught at in most Pokemon games, or B) You found the 2 remaining Riolu players huffing their copium in the corner. It's a frankly awful move, even with how Riolu uses it, as a sort of diet revenge killer. But, to flex our artistic muscles within our brain, we must click the boost button. With a single Swords Dance, Shroodle's respectable Attack stat, extremely powerful STAB Gunk Shot and coverage of Knock Off will annihilate almost everything in front of you, with Tera Blast Fighting providing the utility of specifically killing Pawniard extremely hard. Tera Dark gives you a way to tank a Girafarig hit, while Tera Poison gives you the strongest STAB possible.
Shroodle has 3 MASSIVE benefits compared to SD Riolu in this respect:
- Players who see Shroodle will almost exclusively expect a utility set, or expect the meme Mirror Herb Swagger set if you're low ladder.
- 18 Speed is infinitely more helpful than 16 speed, notably beating a massive number of mons (and the few who are faster don't want to eat a Copycat Gunk Shot.)
- Knock Off, which lets you harass even defensive answers like Fuecoco or Pawniard before setting up late-game, and doesn't give your opponent a hint on what set you are.
If you really hate Pawniard, you can run a lure set with Tera Blast Fighting or explore other options, but personally you're probably just better off trapping it with Maggy, Diglett, or baiting it with a Tera on Girafarig, your own Pawniard, killing with Croagunk, etcetcetc.
Of note is that Diglett is an absolute problem, as is most Sucker Punch users who are faster than you like Scarf Scorbunny, since they will interrupt your Copycat chain. You will have to guess right several times in a row to not instantly lose, BUT it's better than being a non-Copycat Shroodle and just getting OHKO'd!
LAST THING TO NOTE: Team synergy and neat counterplay! If you're a based memelord who is utterly confident in their strategies, Copycat Shroodle with HP investment can Final Gambit into whatever's in front of you if you just knocked out a mon with Final Gambit! (or your opponent's final gambit, for that matter!) If your opponent just used Brave Bird with Quaxly and is low HP, send in Shroodle and Copycat to ignore its +1 Speed from the Rapid Spin it surely got off! If Nymble tries pivoting out of you and sends in Girafarig,
send them to fucking kingdom come with a priority Swords Dance boosted U-Turn!
and most importantly, just have fun with it!
You want calcs? You want replays?
You got it!
+2 236 Atk Shroodle Gunk Shot vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Eviolite Girafarig: 22-27 (95.6 - 117.3%) -- 75% chance to OHKO
+2 236 Atk Shroodle Gunk Shot vs. 140 HP / 124 Def Eviolite Unaware Fuecoco: 10-13 (40 - 52%) -- 9% chance to 2HKO
+2 236 Atk Shroodle Gunk Shot vs. 0 HP / 36 Def Eviolite Tera Flying Pawniard: 19-24 (90.4 - 114.2%) -- 81.3% chance to OHKO
+2 236 Atk Shroodle Gunk Shot vs. 76 HP / 156+ Def Eviolite Quaxly: 19-24 (82.6 - 104.3%) -- 81.3% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
+2 236 Atk Shroodle Gunk Shot vs. 140 HP / 124 Def Unaware Fuecoco: 15-18 (60 - 72%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+2 236 Atk Shroodle Gunk Shot vs. 36 HP / 156 Def Eviolite Toedscool: 24-28 (114.2 - 133.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 236 Atk Shroodle Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 116 HP / 180+ Def Eviolite Mareanie: 10-12 (43.4 - 52.1%) -- 80.9% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock
+2 236 Atk Shroodle Knock Off vs. 0 HP / 36 Def Pawniard: 5-6 (23.8 - 28.5%) -- 93.8% chance to 4HKO (and this is why we kill pawn early)