Cresselia doesn't actually "Beat" Drapion or Absol with those sets if it is not carrying something like high SpA, Calm Mind, and a super effective move (which I doubt it will be), or simply insane parahax. The trouble with the Reflect / Thunder Wave set is that it doesn't do much more than..well..Reflect and Thunder Wave. It is still a great set though, don't get me wrong. The reason it isn't being used or discussed is that the Calm Mind set is much closer to being broken than that set is.
I used a lead LO Ampharos before. Being able to survive Fake Out+Return with 30% chance of paralizing Ambipom on each attack is cool, and Focus Blast is overkill against Ambipom... or you can also use Discharge for another 30% chance of para.
Paralizing Froslass is priceless. And those water starters aren't going to stay in and probably are going to switch, giving you a free HP Grass against the obvious ground switch. You also outspeed Rhyperior and HP grass it to death. And you survive those powerful Moltres attacks and Discharge it to death...
Unlike Raikou, Ampharos has something against Umbreon as well, 2HKOing it with Focus Blast,
You haven't seen Ampharos because of Raikou(which is way faster and slighty bulkier), so you need to focus on what Ampharos has to offer that Raikou can't. That's probably why i used it on the lead spot.
Things that Ampharos has that Raikou doesn't are:
Focus Blast
Heal Bell
Counter
Punch attacks(Focus Punch...)
Static ability
Possibility of a + sp.atk nature(Raikou NEEDS to beTimid)
Yeah... that pretty much summarizes it. If you don't use one of those, you have a inferior Raikou(just like the Raichu X Electabuzz discussion).
Funnily enough, I was about to toss out an opinion on P-Z.
This is the set I use:
Porygon-Z @ Lum Berry
Ability: Download
EV's: 4 HP/252 SpA/252 Spe
Nature: Timid
Moveset:
- Dark Pulse
- Nasty Plot
- Tri Attack
- HP Fightin
This was mentioned earlier as an antilead. I used it as such for a while before realizing that it doesn't stop Frosslass (Probably the most important antilead job in UU) and put in in the middle of my team as a special sweeper.
My verdict? Porygon-Z is good. Pretty darned good. But not broken. Now, its defenses aren't as bad as popularly held, but it still goes down very quickly. Priority kills the sucker, badly.
I'm not gonna go deep into the numbers, but a few examples: Mixed Priority Blaziken's Vacuum Wave deals 68.2% - 81%. TechniTop Mach Punch deals 98.4% - 115.8%. LO Ambipom Fake Out deals 46.3% - 55%. Anything with priority can force a switch. And priority is rife in UU. Besides, you really can't switch into anything.
I want to put in that priority isn't Porygon-Z's only problem. It's a wallbreaker, but there are pokes like Spiritomb and Registeel that can take the hits and fire back for massive damage.
Again, I'm going to say that P-Z is very good in UU. It's difficult but not impossible to take it down unscathed. But it's got its safe switch-ins, and its defenses suck. Good wallbreaker? Heck yes. But it does not have the speed or the stats to successfully sweep. It's reminds me of the scarfed Rampardos I had on my team - It'll do a lot of damage, but it's not sticking around long.
As an aside, I totally support banning Rain Dance. That's broken in a way that Ray Charles could spot a mile off.
The rest of the team usually can beat them, however. The thing about breaking Cresselia is that you can't attempt it in a vacuum--you have to deal with the rest of Cresselia's team as well, and that means that being paralyzed often means that you are crippled--for instance, switching a non-Lum Drapion into a Thunder Wave means that Swords Dancing will only leave you confronted with a "faster" Rhyperior....effectively neutering Drapion. Part of the problem with dealing with Cresselia is that Pokemon isn't a one-on-one game, and a number of Pokemon that could beat it one on one will very rarely be given an opportunity to do so.
For example, Slowbro does the same thing essentially (checks less threats maybe, but still uses Thunder Wave and is Psychic-type). From an offensive standpoint, I would rather be against Cresselia since it will likely give you a free turn to set up a Pokemon like Absol, Drapion (Taunt SD is necessary imo), Porygon-EZ, Blaziken (non Psychic variants), Houndoom, Raikou, Mismagius, Rhyperior etc where as Slowbro is much more difficult to set up on because of its excellent base SpA and Water-type secondary STAB attack. I also can't outstall its Moonlight with Pressure.
From a defensive standpoint, Cresselia is much better, only weak to Dark, Ghost, and Bug, while also boasting a immunity to Ground. Does this overshadow its lack of offensive stats / good STAB-typing? I don't believe it does, but I could see how some people do.
This is why I think Cresselia is comfortably UU. Defensively: Far superior to almost any other Pokemon, including Slowbro. Offensively: Far shittier than almost any other Pokemon, where as Slowbro has respectable SpA and STAB moves (stops at least 15-20 Pokemon from setting up that Cresselia can't). This balances it out, at least imo.
Just out of curiosity, what are these Pokemon you speak of that can reliably set up on Cresselia? The only ones I can think of in UU are Curse Umbreon, Calm Mind Spiritomb and some weird Encore Clefable that also sets up. But guess what: those guys can set up equally well on Slowbro. Missy and Raikou are 'semi'-reliable, but even than Slowbro is worse off with its weakness to both their STABs and far inferior special defense.
Heysup said:I would rather be against Cresselia since it will likely give you a free turn to set up a Pokemon like Absol, Drapion (Taunt SD is necessary imo), Porygon-EZ, Blazikne (non-psychic variants), Houndoom, Raikou, Mismagius, Rhyperior etc where as Slowbro is much more difficult to set up on because of its excellent base SpA and Water-type secondary STAB attack.
Lemmiwinks MkII said:You also missed out the fact that Cresselia can viably run a SubCM set, which allows for setup on those Seismic Toss / Toxic wielding special walls like Chansey and Registeel without resorting to Rest. [snip]
Was in my post that you quoted -_-:
Raikou and Mismagius have more trouble with Slowbro because they need to get a boost before their Sub can be 2HKOed rather than OHKOed by Slowbro. With Cresselia, only a minor investment is required.
I don't mean to sound snarky, but if you had read the previous posts, you would realize that reachzero was in fact talking about Thunder Wave variants of Cresselia.
You can't compare Slowbro to SubCM Cresselia.
[Stuff about CM Cresselia]
Heysup said:I don't mean to sound snarky, but if you had read the previous posts, you would realize that reachzero was in fact talking about Thunder Wave variants of Cresselia.
You can't compare Slowbro to SubCM Cresselia.
Lemmiwinks MkII said:No, but it is another viable and threatening setup available to Cresselia that you have to be prepared for, whilst still able to fulfill the Slowbro-esque role equally well. A lot of things that easily deal with CM / Moonlight variants are helpless against Cresselia's often unbreakable Substitute. This is an important point whether you think so or not.
Lemmiwinks MkII said:Also, I don't care what set reachzero was talking about. It is Cresselia in general that is the issue at hand, and besides, I believe that Thunder Wave Cress is best off complimented with Reflect and Zen Headbutt. Go figure. I also don't care much for what 'most' people decide to use either.
Ok, that's cool, but I'd prefer if you didn't argue with my post on a completely different issue unrelated to the one I was responding to. Reachzero said how he thinks Cresselia is possibly broken because of Thunder Wave and the fact that Cresselia does have 5 other team members. I was replying to him about Thunder Wave Cresselia being almost = to Thunder Wave Slowbro, and Slowbro being more offensively threatening because of its high SpA and Water STAB. Then you responded to me about....Calm Mind Cresselia beating a fair amount of the examples of Thunder Wave Cresselia counters...do you see what I'm getting at? I did not say anything pertaining to Calm Mind Cresselia because the argument simply does not apply. Calm Mind Cresselia does not support its team like the Thunder Wave variant, which is what I was addressing.
So are you saying that Cresselia is comfortably UU simply because her Thunder Wave set isn't broken? Or are you sticking to the argument presented here, that Cresselia fails to prevent 15-20 Pokemon from setting up offensively? If the latter, you had better back this up with your supposed 15-20 Pokemon, because I have already shown why your previous 8 examples don't work. Cresselia can be built to have just as much physical bulk and special attacking output as Slowbro, and only really needs Psychic and HP Ground to cover just about anything that matters.This is why I think Cresselia is comfortably UU. Defensively: Far superior to almost any other Pokemon, including Slowbro. Offensively: Far shittier than almost any other Pokemon, where as Slowbro has respectable SpA and STAB moves (stops at least 15-20 Pokemon from setting up that Cresselia can't). This balances it out, at least imo.
Second, how does your Cresselia learn Signal Beam, Hidden Power Fighting, Hidden Power Ground, Calm Mind, Substitute, and Moonlight? Again, I'm not arguing about CM Cresselia, but I really don't see your point here. How does Cresselia differ from Pokemon like Raikou who was deemed UU this vote? "It beats these Pokemon with this moveset and those Pokemon with this moveset"
I disagree with the bolded part. A CM Cresselia does not do the same thing Slowbro or Thunder Wave Cresselia does.
So, I've briefly been using rain dance...and if how easy it is to win with a playstyle is an indication of how broken that playstyle is, then I'll say that rain dance is pretty bloody broken. Even with my typically horrendous luck (i.e. misses, multiple full paralysis, crits, the usual) I win most of the time and when I lose it's usually 1-0 or 2-0. Now, this is only over a period of 15 games or so, but still...and this is with a team I threw together in less than 5 minutes, mind you.
The star of the team has definitely been Gorebyss so far. Something funny:
Gorebyss used Surf.
It's not very effective...
Leafeon lost 100% of its health.
So, I've briefly been using rain dance...and if how easy it is to win with a playstyle is an indication of how broken that playstyle is, then I'll say that rain dance is pretty bloody broken. Even with my typically horrendous luck (i.e. misses, multiple full paralysis, crits, the usual) I win most of the time and when I lose it's usually 1-0 or 2-0. Now, this is only over a period of 15 games or so, but still...and this is with a team I threw together in less than 5 minutes, mind you.
The star of the team has definitely been Gorebyss so far. Something funny:
Gorebyss used Surf.
It's not very effective...
Leafeon lost 100% of its health.
Finally someone who wholeheartedly agrees with me. Rain Dance is broken and its "too easy". I've peaked at #2 with a Rain Dance team without difficulty. While it may sound a bit cocky, the point is, I got up to #2 far too easy than I ever would. Like FlareBlitz said, even with hax, you still have a good chance of winning.
Well I don’t think Cresselia is broken for any individual set, it is all about the whole package. If I am arguing such an irrelevant point here, please explain to me what you meant by this:
Lemmiwinks MkII said:So are you saying that Cresselia is comfortably UU simply because her Thunder Wave set isn't broken? Or are you sticking to the argument presented here, that Cresselia fails to prevent 15-20 Pokemon from setting up offensively? If the latter, you had better back this up with your supposed 15-20 Pokemon, because I have already shown why your previous 8 examples don't work. Cresselia can be built to have just as much physical bulk and special attacking output as Slowbro, and only really needs Psychic and HP Ground to cover just about anything that matters.
Lemmiwinks MkII said:Several reasons actually. One is that Cresselia's stat distribution and access to recovery makes it much more versatile than Raikou, to the point where there is no simple solution for dealing with her. Very little can take her out in 1 or 2 hits, and she can be built to last at least as long (often longer) then all her checks and counters. In addition, she has two different but viable and threatening methods of boosting offense, and only a very select few Pokemon (and with a specific moveset) can deal with both without running into trouble. Not so with Raikou, what do the likes of Registeel, Chansey, Umbreon etc care if Raikou is running SubCM or an offensive Life Orb set? And why would Dugtrio care either way? They don't, and that makes Raikou more predictable and manageable.
Lemmiwinks MkII said:No, I am saying that Cresselia can also run a T-Wave + recovery + two attacks set equally well. You use Slowbro if you need the Water / Fire resists and your team has the Grass / Electric weaknesses well covered. Cresselia is better if you want the better mixed wall with less exploitable weaknesses.
Lemmwinks MkII said:No, but it is another viable and threatening setup available to Cresselia that you have to be prepared for, whilst still able to fulfill the Slowbro-esque role equally well.
Anyway, I think you need to explain that bolded statement more and justify why it's true. What constitutes a "whole package"? Every possible set? There are few Pokemon who don't cover every Pokemon with every set. I don't think "Cresselia can use <A Moveset> to beat <XPokemon> but lose to <Y Pokemon>, and it can also use <B moveset> to beat <Y Pokemon> while it now loses to <X Pokemon>" is unique to Cresselia at all.
No you haven't. When did you show my Thunder Wave Cresselia (with only 4 moves...) counters don't work? All I see are my counters losing to a Cresselia with CM / Hidden Power Fighting / Hidden Power Ground / Signal Beam / Psychic / Substitute / Moonlight w/ Timid + Modest nature and 252 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe / etc.
Even a standard CM Cresselia (Moonlight, 2 attacks, Calm Mind, slow) loses to most of those examples, however the point is not that it loses to CM Cresselia, but that it beats Thunder Wave Cresselia, which directly relates to Slowbro's role. In any event, I'm done trying to explain that I was talking about Thunder Wave Cresselia.
If you want me to come up with a list of Pokemon that beat Cresselia most of the time, give me a single set (4 moves, 510 EVs, etc). Otherwise you can just be like "No this variant beats that counter". If that were the case, then Aggron (for example) would be surely broken. It can easily beat Milotic and company with a Head Smash on the switch, even though CB is stopped by Torterra / Rhyperior / Steelix....who are beaten by SubPunch + Magnet Rise...and so on. In fact, this pertains to Raikou even MORE than Cresselia. Sub Calm Mind beats a significant portion of the metagame. Restalk Calm Mind beats Registeel, Chansey, etc. Shuca beats Dugtrio. There are barely any Pokemon that can beat "every" Raikou set.
You are forgetting the increasingly popular Restalk Calm Mind Raikou set, which beats Chansey, Registeel, and Umbreon. They do care if its running SubCM or Restalk. Raikou has more than two viable ways of boosting offense, so is Raikou broken? If Raikou was deemed BL, i would definitely understand Cresselia being deemed BL, but otherwise it just seems inconsistent to me.
And Duggy, as I have pointed out, loses to Shuca and if it switches in on a Sub w/ Entry hazards.
Whilst, to me, implies that it is doing something while it is doing another thing. Again, I could have easily misunderstood that, my mistake if I did.
Honestly, rain isn't that hard to counter. You have things like Registeel who can paralyze things and basically neuter them, and you have things like Milotic who can outstall special rain sweepers. Venusaur can handle rain decently and he's 1 on the UU usage statistics. Would three less turns make that much of a difference? If Damp Rock was gone, I'm assuming the bulkier rain set-ups would run leftovers, which would make them harder remove. Rain isn't too hard to handle if you have the tools to deal with it really, and those tools aren't ridiculously hard to find.
However, I would support testing Damp Rock.