Resource ORAS OU Simple Questions, Simple Answers (Read the OP First!)

[Alphanex20]

I've been planning on using a Chesnaught on my team as of late--more specifically as my way to handle physical water types. It's physically defensive (albeit a bit speedy), like most of them are, but mainly I've been wondering if I should opt for WH on it. The moveset is Drain Punch/Taunt/Spiky Shield/Leech Seed.

For the speed investment, if I'm running WH I'd be fast enough to outspeed Jolly Azumarill (WH picks off the BellyJet versions after they have boosted, along with doing just under 40% to 252/252+ MegaBro, to put it in perspective). With Taunt, i'd cut it down to outpace Cressellia (it's the standard one listed for UU in the strategydex) and Taunt it to shut it down (also outspeeds CroCrune, FWIW). WH also keeps Sheer Force Gatr in check (though to be fair there isn't anything on my team it can get a free DD on, all my walls have solid ways of hitting it or phazing it).

I mainly want Taunt for Ferrothorn of all things. Reason being, I do not want Ferro Spike-Stacking in my face (which is all it can do to Chesnaught). Yes I have a Defogger on the same team (Empoleon to be exact, which is why I'm not running Spikes Chesnaught), but it can't beat Ferro 1v1. Meanwhile Drain Punch does a maximum of just under 40% to the standard variant and hits me with recoil. Is Taunt worth it? Or is there something else I'm forgetting?

 

[boltsandbombers]

I've been planning on using a Chesnaught on my team as of late--more specifically as my way to handle physical water types. It's physically defensive (albeit a bit speedy), like most of them are, but mainly I've been wondering if I should opt for WH on it. The moveset is Drain Punch/Taunt/Spiky Shield/Leech Seed.

For the speed investment, if I'm running WH I'd be fast enough to outspeed Jolly Azumarill (WH picks off the BellyJet versions after they have boosted, along with doing just under 40% to 252/252+ MegaBro, to put it in perspective). With Taunt, i'd cut it down to outpace Cressellia (it's the standard one listed for UU in the strategydex) and Taunt it to shut it down (also outspeeds CroCrune, FWIW). WH also keeps Sheer Force Gatr in check (though to be fair there isn't anything on my team it can get a free DD on, all my walls have solid ways of hitting it or phazing it).

I mainly want Taunt for Ferrothorn of all things. Reason being, I do not want Ferro Spike-Stacking in my face (which is all it can do to Chesnaught). Yes I have a Defogger on the same team (Empoleon to be exact, which is why I'm not running Spikes Chesnaught), but it can't beat Ferro 1v1. Meanwhile Drain Punch does a maximum of just under 40% to the standard variant and hits me with recoil. Is Taunt worth it? Or is there something else I'm forgetting?

Chesnaught really just is not worth using without Spikes. Its a really good Spikers setter overall and it checks some stealth rockers (hippo and landot) and beating excadrill easily. If you want to run Taunt, thats fine. While it does prevent ferro from spike stacking, there arent that many other super important targets that I know of where Taunt is useful. I strongly feel (and I've heard others say this as well) that Spikes is a necessity on Chesnuaght. For your particular team, it may be a good idea to run Starmie or Tentacruel over Empoleon. And yes, Wood Hammer + enough speed for Azumarill (your choice whether for adamant or jolly variants, the latter very rare but still) is a solid option if your team is weak to belly drum azumarill. Imo Spikes and Drain punch are the only necessary moves, and from there you have spiky shield, super fang, leech seed, wood hammer, rock slide, etc to choose from.
Hope this helped.

 

[Kurona]

Does M-Latias pair well at all with Scizor, Sableye or Slowbro?

 

[GnralLao]

What's M-Aerodactyl's best spread for an AoA set?

 

[DarkNostalgia]

A spread of 248 Atk | 44 Def | 216 Spe let's Aerodactyl shrug off two Choice Band Talonflame's Brave Bird, not factoring in Stealth Rock, while outspeeding Mega Sceptile, Mega Beedrill and anything slower. HOWEVER for this metagame, just run a simple 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe set would suffice, seeing as Choice Band Talonflame really isn't that prominent, and speed tying with Mega Alakazam is really important.

 

[Alphanex20]

Chesnaught really just is not worth using without Spikes. Its a really good Spikers setter overall and it checks some stealth rockers (hippo and landot) and beating excadrill easily. If you want to run Taunt, thats fine. While it does prevent ferro from spike stacking, there arent that many other super important targets that I know of where Taunt is useful. I strongly feel (and I've heard others say this as well) that Spikes is a necessity on Chesnuaght. For your particular team, it may be a good idea to run Starmie or Tentacruel over Empoleon. And yes, Wood Hammer + enough speed for Azumarill (your choice whether for adamant or jolly variants, the latter very rare but still) is a solid option if your team is weak to belly drum azumarill. Imo Spikes and Drain punch are the only necessary moves, and from there you have spiky shield, super fang, leech seed, wood hammer, rock slide, etc to choose from.
Hope this helped.

Excellent point, the only reason I'm using Empoleon over Starmie/Tentacruel is because the team is built around a Scizor-Latias core and one thing I saw to wreck it was Swift Swimmers (Empoleon handles Kingdra and Omastar, while Chesnaught with or without WH beats Kabutops and M-Swampert; Ches also stops M-Gyara). I've used Spikes Chesnaught, but with a defogger it's sort of redundant (I think?). I am thinking of dropping Spiky Shield and just using a Spikes Chesnaught, but with Taunt over Spikes (Taunt, I found, also is nice for beating CroCune, Chansey, and other Chesnaughts, along with making predictions easier).

I'd probably lean towards tenta among the two you suggested, since it beats CM + Fire Clefable (That Empoleon carries Flash Cannon for that and M-Altaria).

 

[Force Majeure]

Does M-Latias pair well at all with Scizor, Sableye or Slowbro?

Scizor, yes to the point that it's a very prominent choice for a teammate. The defensive synergy is great, a slow U-Turn is nice to scout switches. It also deters Fairies to an extent. Slowbro can be used as a teammate. It stacks some weaknesses, but this doesn't really matter quite as much in the context of an entire team where you have four other slots. It seems like it might be a decent pairing because you have great mixed bulk, oodles of recovery, and decent offensive presence between both Bro and Latias. I'm can't really speak to Sableye as I don't use it often.

 

[phil1308]

I was wondering after getting reqs if I could still do more battles I already took a screenshot of my coil at 2702 and I have a win ratio of around 70 percent or plus but worry if I do more battles that it might go down and I would lose my chance to vote. If anyone knows especially one of the moderators just let me know if I can still continue battles. Thanks.

 

[Tressed]

I was wondering after getting reqs if I could still do more battles I already took a screenshot of my coil at 2702 and I have a win ratio of around 70 percent or plus but worry if I do more battles that it might go down and I would lose my chance to vote. If anyone knows especially one of the moderators just let me know if I can still continue battles. Thanks.

If you have a screenshot, it doesn't matter if your ranking goes down after that.

 

[AM]

I was wondering after getting reqs if I could still do more battles I already took a screenshot of my coil at 2702 and I have a win ratio of around 70 percent or plus but worry if I do more battles that it might go down and I would lose my chance to vote. If anyone knows especially one of the moderators just let me know if I can still continue battles. Thanks.

As long as the screenshot shows that you have 2700 coil and 2:1 W/L ratio when you upload it you should be fine.

 

[phil1308]

Awesome guys thanks a bunch Ill definitely do some more battles then.

 

[astroshagger]

What have you guys found to be the overall best pre-mevo ability for special attacking altaria? I realize the true answer is team dependent, just wondering if you guys have grown to prefer one over the other in the majority of cases?

Was running cloud nine but I'm not so sure of it now considering altaria doesn't really do anything to char y and rain teams are few and far between

 

[AM]

What have you guys found to be the overall best pre-mevo ability for special attacking altaria? I realize the true answer is team dependent, just wondering if you guys have grown to prefer one over the other in the majority of cases?

Was running cloud nine but I'm not so sure of it now considering altaria doesn't really do anything to char y and rain teams are few and far between

I personally run Natural Cure on my Altarias now. I find being a status absorber prior to evolution trumps the very specific asset of deterring weather effects when you more or less should have some sort of way to handle the abusers of said weather effects.

 

[asdfCookie]

What have you guys found to be the overall best pre-mevo ability for special attacking altaria? I realize the true answer is team dependent, just wondering if you guys have grown to prefer one over the other in the majority of cases?

Was running cloud nine but I'm not so sure of it now considering altaria doesn't really do anything to char y and rain teams are few and far between

Cloud nine is mostly useful to revenge adamant Excadrill under sand.

 

[Azureaper]

I notice for Pokemon such as Gallade (physical psychic types), Zen Headbutt is usually a recommended STAB attack. Many of these Pokemon also get Psycho Cut as an attack.
What KOs do these Pokemon miss out on using Psycho Cut instead of Zen Headbutt? Is the shaky accuracy, which can easily cost you the match, worth that extra base 10 power?

 

[Kurona]

I notice for Pokemon such as Gallade (physical psychic types), Zen Headbutt is usually a recommended STAB attack. Many of these Pokemon also get Psycho Cut as an attack.
What KOs do these Pokemon miss out on using Psycho Cut instead of Zen Headbutt? Is the shaky accuracy, which can easily cost you the match, worth that extra base 10 power?

It's generally a smaller version of the "Fire Blast vs Flamethrower" argument. Zen Headbutt is recommended because of course more power; more power is always good and 90 accuracy generally isn't worth worrying about. If you're really worried about missing then Psycho Cut is a legitimate option (also, it sounds cooler).

 

[Kingler]

yeah the power rise from psycho cut -> zhb as irrelevant as it looks is actually quite noticeable in practice, not sure what 2HKOs it gains though. The flinch chance, while gimmicky and silly to rely upon, also prevents opponents from Toxic stalling you easily I guess?

 

[Celticpride]

I notice for Pokemon such as Gallade (physical psychic types), Zen Headbutt is usually a recommended STAB attack. Many of these Pokemon also get Psycho Cut as an attack.
What KOs do these Pokemon miss out on using Psycho Cut instead of Zen Headbutt? Is the shaky accuracy, which can easily cost you the match, worth that extra base 10 power?

Generally multiplying the BP by the accuracy gives you a solid indicator. For example:

Flamethrower: 90 × 1.00 = 90
Fire Blast: 110 × .85 = 93.5

So Fire Blast deals more damage over a large sample size (100+ attacks).

Psycho Cut: 70 × 1.00 = 70
Zen Headbutt: 80 × .90 = 72

So again, ZHeadbutt deals more damage than the more accurate attack, even accounting for misses. However, look at something like Ice Beam and Blizzard:

Ice Beam: 90 × 1.00 = 90
Blizzard: 110 ×. 70 = 77

So Ice Beam deals more damage over a large sample size. More of a rule of thumb but that's the answer to most "why is x move used more than y move when x is less accurate and there are no significant secondary effects for either move" questions.

 

[JungleB]

Generally multiplying the BP by the accuracy gives you a solid indicator. For example:

Flamethrower: 90 × 1.00 = 90
Fire Blast: 110 × .85 = 93.5

So Fire Blast deals more damage over a large sample size (100+ attacks).

Psycho Cut: 70 × 1.00 = 70
Zen Headbutt: 80 × .90 = 72

So again, ZHeadbutt deals more damage than the more accurate attack, even accounting for misses. However, look at something like Ice Beam and Blizzard:

Ice Beam: 90 × 1.00 = 90
Blizzard: 110 ×. 70 = 77

So Ice Beam deals more damage over a large sample size. More of a rule of thumb but that's the answer to most "why is x move used more than y move when x is less accurate and there are no significant secondary effects for either move" questions.

One thing to point out about Zen Headbutt VS Psycho Cut is that Psycho Cut has a higher crit rate, so that will have to be taken into account as well.

 

[Force Majeure]

One thing to point out about Zen Headbutt VS Psycho Cut is that Psycho Cut has a higher crit rate, so that will have to be taken into account as well.

Zen Headbutt also has a flinch chance; the prevailing line of thought is that M-Gallade/Cham (who get psycho cut and zen headbutt) are fast enough that the 30% flinch chance is marginally better than the 2/15 (maybe? I'm not sure) chance to get 1.5x damage from a crit.

 

[iamQmai]

This is probably going to sound like a stupid question.. But why do so many people use Psyshock over Psychic when they don't run Calm Mind? is the 10BP drop really worth hitting Chansey and Blissey? Considering I see many more physically defensive pokemon as it's currently a physical metagame (although it seems to be going more special orientated) and surely that will only hinder Psyshock even more?

 

[Azureaper]

This is probably going to sound like a stupid question.. But why do so many people use Psyshock over Psychic when they don't run Calm Mind?

A lot of Pokemon who run Psyshock (I'm currently thinking of Latios) can be walled on the special side. Psyshock helps to alleviate this.

 

[NinetyNineNo]

I'm running a support (Cleric/Wishpass) Clefable, but I've found it's mostly redundant and doesn't carry its weight. I want to switch it out for an offensive non-mega Fairy: what's a good option? A different Clefable set, and if so, which one? Or another Pokemon entirely?

 

[SketchUp]

I'm running a support (Cleric/Wishpass) Clefable, but I've found it's mostly redundant and doesn't carry its weight. I want to switch it out for an offensive non-mega Fairy: what's a good option? A different Clefable set, and if so, which one? Or another Pokemon entirely?

Offensive Clefable (LO 3 Atks + Softboiled) is pretty underrated and you can easily adapt the coverage moves to your team. Calm Mind is also a good set but it is more of a bulky setup sweeper than an offensive fairy. If you want something with immediate power LO Clefable is a better option than CM Clefable.
Other offensive non-mega offensive fairies are Azumarill, Togekiss (Nasty Plot) Specs Sylveon and Scarf Gardevoir.

 

[NinetyNineNo]

How would you EV the LO + 3 attacks set?