[OVERVIEW]
* Minior's access to Shell Smash, Acrobatics, and nice offensive stats in Core forme gives rise to a sweeping role.
* Immunity to status in Meteor forme helps prevent it from being crippled while setting up.
* It has quite a usable coverage movepool at its disposal, which slightly increases its versatility.
* Its defenses are rather lackluster, even in Meteor forme, and its typing is less than optimal defensively.
* The forme it takes on is dependent entirely upon HP, which is hard to control on the player's part.
* It is weak to common priority moves, and, being unprotected by Psychic Terrain, it is not too difficult to revenge kill.
[SET]
name: Shell Smash Sweeper
move 1: Shell Smash
move 2: Acrobatics
move 3: Stone Edge
move 4: Earthquake
item: White Herb
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
* Shell Smash gives tremendous boosts to Minior's offensive stats, though at the cost of its defenses.
* +2 Acrobatics after White Herb is consumed deals considerable damage to anything that does not resist it.
* Stone Edge is a strong secondary STAB move that hits Celesteela and Rotom-W harder than any of its other Rock-type moves.
* Earthquake provides solid coverage against foes that Minior's STAB moves don't hit.
Set Details
========
* 252 Attack EVs ensure Minior hits everything as hard as it can, and its Attack is augmented even further after a Shell Smash.
* 252 EVs in Speed and a Jolly nature will let Minior outspeed Pheromosa and Choice Scarf Landorus-T, Tapu Lele, and Excadrill after a Shell Smash, all in Meteor forme.
* A spread of 172 HP / 84 Spe could be run in order to outspeed everything up to and including neutral-natured Volcanion before a Shell Smash and Thundurus afterward, and the HP allows Minior to survive Adamant Landorus-T's Stone Edge and Celesteela's Heavy Slam in Meteor forme.
* Focus Sash is useful if you want Minior to survive a strong hit, get into Core forme, and hit back harder. This, however, makes it harder to properly control, as it must ensure its Focus Sash will break to get the full power from Acrobatics.
* Substitute is also an option to consider over Stone Edge; while not adding to Minior's coverage, it allows Minior to chip down right into its Core forme after Stealth Rock damage while keeping a pseudo-immunity to status.
Usage Tips
========
* This is meant to be a late-game sweeper, taking care of the opposing team once it gets a chance to set up and everything has been weakened to an extent.
* Try to get rid of its checks and counters before sending it out, but if they're sufficiently weakened, Minior can still clean them up after setting up.
* Given its frailty and Stealth Rock weakness, do not try to send this set in too early, or its cleaning abilities will be greatly compromised.
Team Options
========
* Steel-types like Magnezone, Metagross, and Excadrill help cover its Rock- and Ice-type weaknesses. Magnezone is especially useful for getting rid of Mega Scizor, a major threat to its sweep, along with other Steel-types like Celesteela, Skarmory, and Ferrothorn.
* Physically defensive Rotom-W is a great teammate, resisting Ice-type and Electric-type moves and helping stop common priority users like Mega Metagross and Mamoswine.
* Apart from Rotom-W, other blanket checks to Electric- and Water-types are appreciated, like Amoonguss, Ferrothorn, and Mega Venusaur.
* As Minior is meant to OHKO everything that's left, Stealth Rock setters like Mamoswine are almost a necessity.
* Memento from Dugtrio or Aurora Veil from Alolan Ninetales are options to consider if you want a way to lower the opposing team's offensive power to make it easier for Minior to set up and sweep.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
* Minior can run a suicide lead set with Stealth Rock, but it is generally outclassed by Pokemon like Aerodactyl and Azelf.
* Double-Edge could be used if you want to knock Minior into Core forme rather than having your opponent do it for you. If Minior is faster than the opponent's Pokemon, however, it may end up having to take a hit with lowered defenses, which is not something you'd want it to do.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Priority**: Priority attacks are relatively common, and Ice Shard, Bullet Punch, and Aqua Jet are all super effective against Minior. Minior cannot be protected by Psychic Terrain, so these priority attacks are all capable of deterring Minior after it has been weakened.
**Speed**: Fast Pokemon that can outspeed a boosted Minior while it is still in Meteor forme, such as Pheromosa and Choice Scarf Tapu Lele, Excadrill, and Garchomp, can all hit back with a strong move and potentially end a sweep before it has even begun.
**Bulky Steel-types**: Skarmory, Celesteela, and Mega Scizor do not appreciate taking repeated hits from a boosted Minior; however, they can set up and/or stall out a few turns of the sweep and, in the case of the latter two, possibly retaliate with their respective hard-hitting Steel-type moves.
**Bulky Water-types**: Gastrodon, physically defensive Rotom-W, and Azumarill can all safely switch in as Minior Shell Smashes, take a hit, and retaliate with a Water-type move.
**Physically Defensive Pokemon**: Hippowdon, Rotom-W, and Ferrothorn are capable of taking even its strongest hits and either phazing it out or retaliating with an OHKO of their own. Quagsire just ignores all of its boosts, and Landorus-T lowers Minior's Attack and threatens with a Stone Edge of its own.
**Stealth Rock**: While Minior appreciates anything that can get it closer to Core forme, Stealth Rock is still going to take out a large portion of its HP, and this can put it into range of an OHKO it might have otherwise avoided.
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