Other Options for Common Pokemon

[tofucocoa]

If you read/write analyses, you probably know about the Other Options section. there's stuff like thunder on basically any electric-type for rain teams, choice scarf on pokemon like terrakion and specific resist berries such as shuca or occa berries.

what i'd like to know is if anyone actually uses these to any success. this isn't another 'unique movesets' thread, but rather one that explores some lesser used options on common pokemon that have probably crossed everyone's minds at some point but aren't generally used. if possible, i would like anyone who posts their set to frame their uncommon move choice by providing the team or at least a description of that team. for example, was thunder the best move for your rain team and did you miss not being as accurate outside of rain? did that scarf terrakion actually nab KOes on talonflame/skymin or other scarfers such as ttar? the general question you should answer should be "did this move improve my team's consistency?". i'm curious to see how these options are used effectively and what kind of teams use them, and maybe it'll help you as well to 'expect the unexpected' on team preview.

 

[youngjake93]

Ice Punch Kangaskhan on a team weak to Intimidate that isn't running Bisharp is so sweet. OHKOs Lando-T from -1, the only thing to worry about is Scarf U-turn/Superpower/Explosion.
Likewise, bulky Double Edge/Drain Punch Kangaskhan can OHKO many things trying to switch in on Jolly Fake Out. Kanga kind of has a lot of pretty consistent options that aren't utilized too much. You can really tweak it to fit your team more than you'd think.

 

[BlankZero]

Shuca Berry on any Heatran without Sub makes your Heatran an absolute god. Living Lando-T EQ and killing it with HP Ice is so incredible and is so efficient for killing opposing Heatran as well. I'd recommend it since everyone and their mom and grandma is running Tran currently.

 

[Pocket]

Whenever I have a team weak to status afflictions, I use Safeguard on my Follow Me Togekiss or Follow Me Jirachi. I usually add enough Speed EVs on Togekiss to be faster than most Rotom-W and enough Speed EVs on Jirachi to be faster than Jolly Breloom. Having that insurance against Will-O-Wisp, Spore, and bullshit hax chances from Heat Wave, Scald, or Discharge is priceless.

On my sand team, for instance, I use Safeguard Togekiss to prevent Rotom-W from burning my Garchomp or Amoonguss from sporing my Aegislash, etc. In another team I have Safeguard Jirachi, which cures Kyurem-B from CB Outrage confusion (it never really came to play, though, so I can't confirm if this actually happens or not) and cockblocks Breloom.

Another move I'd like to point out is Substitute. I know a lot of players use Substitute on standard Pokemon to net some nasty edge. Darkmalice has been using Substitute LO Terrakion to deadly effect, and supposedly Biosci used Substitute Landorus-T. Zach used a Substitute Latios vs Biosci; although the move did not come into play in their game, it's a legit counter-measure to Bisharp's Sucker Punch.

 

[Stratos]

I have to agree with Pocket that Substitute is viable on virtually any attacker that doesn't desperately need three move coverage. If it can force a switch, it can sub on the switch, and then it can be a much more threatening Pokemon because it's resistant to one-shots. We've seen sub in SPL on things like Mawile, Thundurus, Kyurem-B used to great effect because they turn offensive pokemon that otherwise check into easy kills.

Another thing I want to talk about is Cresselia. Honestly, i think there should be an entire article on how to fit your cress to your team because just a couple standard spreads doesn't cut it. The weirdest Cress I believe I've ever made was 224 HP / 144 SpA / 140 Spe Modest @ Expert Belt Trick Room | Ice Beam | HP Fighting | Safeguard, but it's far from the only non-standard cress I've run. The calcs were as follows:

-outspeeds 252 bisharp and ohkoes with hp fight
-2hkoes latios with ice beam
-26% min to heatran (breaks subs)
-outspeeds amoonguss/252 loom/the fastest washers and safeguards on them

Basically it was my full tr team's utility setter meant to work without having to set trick room asap, because any team that needs to TR asap is shitty. It works for the specific team, but i wouldnt recommend anyone ripping it.

The basic goal when making a cresselia spread is to make a catch-all: something that with its good neutral bulk can provide an answer to everything your team can't answer, while also not opening new holes by being setup bait. I prefer an offensive cress for this reason. Defensive cress is too often setup bait, especially for the aforementioned Sub pokemon, though i guess it could work on otherwise highly offensive teams; that just isnt my style. So yeah, uh, customize your cress to your team's needs kiddies

 

[Pocket]

I really dig that Cresselia spread - the set manifests how important customization is in Doubles, not simply going with the bog standard shits. It's worth noting that your Cresselia manages to OHKO max HP Landorus-T (not Biosci's Sp Def CB Lando-T, though) and min HP Garchomp, too, with Ice Beam.

Unfortunately Cresselia is a clunky mon when you want to use it offensively. For instance, Jolly Breloom will still outpace your Cresselia and put something to sleep before it can set up a Safeguard. I guess you can run 232 Speed EVs, but then that takes away a lot from its bulk, which IDK if you're too keen on sacrificing.