Poison feels like a very subpar type to check Ninetales due to Extrasensory being a very common move on Ninetales, and Skuntank's lack of recovery means it will take very few attacks to bring Skuntank into KO range. Also really don't think we need more potent pivots in the meta, so this Skuntank ultimately ends up being an (unnecessary) hard counter to Dugtrio while only being a shaky check to Tales. Crobat, on the other hand, scares me due the great defensive typing and a 90 Base Attack LO Magic Guard Brave Bird alongside Earthquake for virtually perfect coverage. Both of the subs will not make it to the voting phase at the moment, really making sure that this slate makes the mostly stable metagame better instead of introducing more destabilizing factors.Skuntank
Roles:
Special Wall, Hazard Control, Screens Setter, Defensive Pivot
Type:
View attachment 218293View attachment 218294
Abilities:
Levitate | Natural Cure | Sticky Hold
Stat Distribution:
103/66/71/93/101/64 (500 BST)
Movepool Additions:
Parting Shot, Light Screen, Reflect
Movepool Removals:
Explosion, Night Slash, Dark Pulse, Pursuit
Justification:
While Dugtrio-A and Ninetales are at the top of their class, in comes Skuntank to ruin them both. Access to a Poison and Fire typing that resists both of Ninetales' STABS and packing the possibility of Levitate giving Dugtrio-A a case of the "Gotta run Stone Edge now i guess" means that it will constantly be able to support its team members by type advantage alone. It is both immune to Toxic/Toxic Spikes and Will-o-Wisp, meaning that it can stay happy and healthy, and if it gets Paralyzed, Natural cure can come save the day. However, one of the better reasons to use Natural Cure is the benefit of Rest + Natural Cure switchouts. it's added moves, Parting Shot giving its partners safer switch ins, Light Screen and Reflect introduce the first Screen Setter in the tier. Skuntank's prime role is to be bulky enough to give support to it's teammates.
252 SpA Ninetales Fire Blast vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Skuntank: 75-88 (18.2 - 21.4%) -- possible 7HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Ninetales Extrasensory vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Skuntank: 146-172 (35.6 - 41.9%) -- 85.4% chance to 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Ninetales Extrasensory vs. 252 HP / 252 SpD Skuntank: 114-136 (27.8 - 33.1%) -- 85.8% chance to 4HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 Atk Dugtrio-Alola Iron Head vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Skuntank: 67-80 (16.3 - 19.5%) -- possible 7HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 Atk Dugtrio-Alola Stone Edge vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Skuntank: 226-266 (55.1 - 64.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
Crobat
Roles:
Physical Tank, Phaser, Hazard Removal
Type:
View attachment 218296View attachment 218297
Abilities:
Scrappy | Magic Guard | Unnerve
Stat Distribution:
100/90/100/60/65/80 (495 BST)
Movepool Additions:
Glare, Earthquake, All of Crobat's Removed Flying Moves, Mirror Move
Movepool Removals:
Poison Fang, Sludge Bomb, Cross Poison
Justification:
Making it so that it has a better defensive typing, and better offensive moves means that Crobat is no longer a stick in the mud. Glare + Phasing is great for allowing Crobat to just wreck status havoc.
Good stuff. No good poison STAB on Crobat is still sad but with Knock Off it wouldn't run it anyways.
Pokemon: Rhyperior
Roles: Special Wall, Hazard Setter (Stealth Rock), Defensive Pivot
Type: Fire/Water
Abilities: Flame Body / Solid Rock / Sap Sipper
Stat Distribution: 95/110/65/65/110/60 (505 BST)
Movepool Additions: Flare Blitz, Liquidation (not sure if I should add recovery)
Justification: Rhyperior is a solid counter to Ninetales, taking little damage from its STABs and even being immune to Grass coverage thanks to Sap Sipper (although this is inferior to Solid Rock). It can hit Wailord with Stone Edge since it also outspeeds it, but it finds it harder to damage Ludicolo due to the latter's Thick Fat. Additionally, while Fire/Water is a good defensive typing, it leaves it vulnerable to mons like Rotom and Galvantula; its low Defense and Speed also makes it beat by most physical attackers like Dugtrio-Alola, Pupitar, and Purugly.
Pokemon: Crobat
Roles: Physical Wall, Hazard Control (Defog), Defensive Pivot
Type: Poison/Fighting
Abilities: Levitate / Magic Guard
Stat Distribution: 110/90/80/60/65/80
Movepool Additions: Knock Off
Justification: With Levitate, Crobat now is an effective check to Dugtrio-Alola and Pupitar, and with Knock Off, mons like Heracross, Rotom, and Farfetch'd are no longer easy switch-ins. With some Defense siphoned into Attack, Crobat is made much less passive, although that hurts its ability to wall mons like Type:Null or Purugly.
This looks like a hard counter to Rotom-Mow- Is that really something we need in the meta right now? None of the other resistances are notable for Crobat as all other physical attackers hit it just as hard as they did before except for Farfetch'd, which also doesn't really need another potent counter with the sniper nerf. Also we don't really need more pivoting moves. Feels like an overall negative impact for the meta, making Crobat splashable in exchange for further hurting Rotom-Mow and Farfetch'd. On the fence about bringing this to vote.
Name of the Pokemon: Crobat
Role(s): Physical Wall, Defensive Pivot, Hazard Control
Type: Poison/Dark
Abilities: Big Pecks / Magic Guard
Stat Distribution: 110 / 70 / 100 / 60 / 65 / 80 (No changes)
Movepool Additions: Knock Off, U-Turn
Movepool Removals: N/A
Justification: Very conservative changes, but I do think that the 3 changes here do enough to make Crobat worth running on some teams. Croat's Fighting-typing really hurt it more than it helped as it had Magic Guard to ignore Rocks anyway, only gave it an okay resistance to Knock Off and Foul Play, and gave it crippling weaknesses to Hurricane, Brave Bird, and Extrasensory. With a Poison/Dark-typing, Crobat retains its Dark resistance while becoming neutral to Flying and immune to Psychic. It differentiates itself from the other Dark-types in the tier as Umbreon is more of a Special Attacker and better at spreading poison, Purugly is offensive, while Crobat comes in as a full blown physical wall and hazard control with a hazard immunity. Knock Off is given as STAB while letting it annoy a lot of the best offensive Pokemon in the tier, being able to Knock Off Scarfs and Farfetch'd's Stick. Adding back U-Turn makes Crobat a better pivot and less of a momentum drain
Already approved Lampent, Crobat is interesting- All of the moves feel fine outside of maybe Spikes- With Crobat already easily beating Dugtrio with Grassy Surge I fear that Dugtrio could be hurt an unreasonable amount by the introduction of this Crobat to the meta, and usage significantly drop due to Crobat providing Spikes. Removing Spikes (and possibly Glare just cuz para is annoying but w/e) would warm me up to this concept. Uncontested Grassy Terrain could also generally prove unnecessarily problematic to the viability of our Ground-types. On the fence for this atmLudicolo: Give Both
Farfetch'd: Replace Sniper with Big Pecks
Ninetales: Remove Power Gem
Lampent ( no Eviolite )
Roles: Special Wall, Hazard Removal
Type:
Abilities: Levitate
Stat Distribution: 80 / 100 / 70 / 70 / 110 / 60 | BST: 490
Movepool Additions: Fusion Bolt, Thunderbolt, Volt Switch, Thunder Wave, Fire Punch, Iron Head, Morning Sun, Rapid Spin
Movepool Removals: Will-O-Wisp, Hex, Curse
Justification: Walls Ninetales rather handily due to Fire resistance and good SpD. Lives SR, +2 Twinkle Tackle, and +2 Moonblast factoring in two turns of Leftovers. 2HKOes with uninvested Fusion Bolt. Spins against Dugtrio, and threatens the tier's Ghost types. With regards to Water types, it should fare great agaisnt Wailord, has a balanced matchup against Rotom-W, and does not so well against Ludicolo. With regards to Steel types, it fares well against Dugtrio and Magearna, okay against Malamar depending on the set, and is 2HKOed by Type: Null.
Name of the Pokemon: Crobat
Role(s): Physical Wall, Defensive Pivot, Hazard Removal, Cleric, Stallbreaker
Type: Poison/Fighting
Abilities: Rough Skin / Magic Guard | Grassy Surge (HA)
Stat Distribution: 110 / 70 / 100 / 60 / 65 / 80 (No changes)
Movepool Additions: Spikes, Glare, Parting Shot, Rapid Spin, Knock Off, Nature's Madness, Healing Wish
Justification: Crobat was intended to have a wierd typing, but be viable by having a great support movepool. Unfortunately, it didn't quite have the support movepool to make that work, its ability does very little for a type that already is immune to poison and resistant to Stealth Rock, and it had too few defensive matchups to come in all that much. With Grassy Surge it can wall Pupitar and Dugtrio, with Spikes it can make every switch-in worth something, and with Knock Off and Nature's Madness it doesn't give Ghost types free switches anymore. Crobat is now a solid team supporter and not such a momentum sink.
Remove U-Turn on the bat (further encroaches on Farf) and we're good, as for Heatmor it's also fine.
Name of the Pokemon: Crobat
Role(s): Physical Wall, Defensive Pivot, Hazard Removal
Type: Poison/Flying
Abilities: Big Pecks / Magic Guard
Stat Distribution: 110 / 70 / 80 / 60 / 65 / 100 (Swapped Speed and Defense)
Movepool Additions: Poison Jab, U-Turn
Movepool Removals: N/A
Justification: Crobat gaining the Poison Flying typing unironically does big things for its viability. It firstly improves its matchup versus the entirety of the Big Three, being an effective switchin into Dugtrio to clear away its hazards, sheds its flying type weakness, actually allowing it to go head to head with Farfetch'd and at least gives it a Fairy resist on Ninetales's Moonblast (for whatever it's worth). The flying typing also is a huge bump in terms of its passiveness, with a recoil free 120 BP STAB attack on a potent attacking type, and U-turn allowing it to pivot out of troublesome matches. Poison Jab is also another attempt at addressing the issue of passiveness. With these changes Crobat should be able to have a better grasp on the metagame.
Name of the Pokemon: Heatmor
Role(s): Special Wall, Defensive Pivot, Hazard Control
Type: Fire/Normal
Abilities: Flash Fire / Gluttony / Long Reach
Stat Distribution: 84 / 97 / 77 / 63 / 107 / 60 BST: 488
Movepool Additions: Roar, Recover, Rapid Spin, Stealth Rock
Movepool Removals: Superpower, Sucker Punch, Thunder Punch, Giga Drain, Fire Lash
Justification: Heatmor brings to the meta a specially defensive tank that can go toe to toe with big metagame threats like Magearna, Hercacross and especially Ninetales with its unique defensive typing. Heatmor dodges the 2hko from +2 Twinkle Tackle into Moonblast from the devastating Nasty Plot Ninetales variant currently strangling the metagame. Stealth Rock and Rapid spin finally give it splashability as the team's dedicated hazard removal or SR setter.
It's a WIP rn but that Rotom-Fan looks stupidly busted. Magic Guard maybe ok, but Sacred Fire? RIP potential physical checks like Pupitar. Also LO wallbreaker sets would just be everywhere with limited checks (Wailord just gets Pain Split spammed on it, Rotom-Wash is the only decent check that gets worn down quickly. Pupitar gets burned and has to hope for Shed Skin to come thru in the clutch. Busted ass STAB combo with such power atm)
Name of the Pokemon: Rotom-Fan
Role(s): Special Wall
Type: Flying/Fire
Abilities: Magic Guard / Air Lock
Stat Distribution: 50/105/97/50/127/76 (505)
Movepool Additions: Sacred Fire, Drill Peck, Earthquake, Rapid Spin
Movepool Removals: Volt Switch, Thunderbolt, Discharge, Thunder
Justification: Lil Ho-oh (WIP)
Pokemon: Crobat
Roles: Offensive Pivot, Hazard Control (Defog),
Type: Ice/Fighting
Abilities: Magic Guard / Infiltrator / Intimidate
Stat Distribution: 110/84/70/60/65/96 (485) (+14 Atk, -30 Def, +16 Spe)
Movepool Additions: Low Sweep, Icicle Crash, U-Turn
Movepool Removals: Brave Bird, Storm Throw
Justification: These changes are pretty... out there, and not what Brodaha originally intended at all. On the other hand, I aimed to give it a truly unique niche. Part-Fighting Crobat lives on.
- For every special attacker, there's like double the viable physical attackers. Intimidate Crobat annoys them all, including opponent Crobat.
- Can't switch into Farfetch'd at all, but revenge kills it flawlessly, outspeeding and OHKO'ing. Farfetch'd can run Scarf but so can you.
- Low Sweep's Speed drop lets Crobat win the 1v1 against Alolan Dugtrio, if Duggy's not running Defense EVs.
- Destroys Torterra.
- Intimidate and Low Sweep boost the viability of Mixed Contrary Malamar, who can retaliate with Superpower or Flash Cannon, and can take at least 2 hits from Crobat (depending on investment and how many Def stat boost Malamar has), while guaranteed 2HKO'ing Crobat. Other Malamar sets also beat Crobat.
- Magic Guard opens up Defog as an option. Circle Throw is still there as an option also.
- Weak to many offensive threats such as Ninetales and Purugly who can outspeed it
- Gets hard walled by Rotom-Wash and Wailord. Loses to some variants of base Rotom as well.
- There's only one Ice type and it's special, take this opportunity to add a mighty glacier.
Crobat is fine if somewhat encroaching on the all-powerful prankster Rotom niche (just kidding). Rotom-Heat looks like a subpar Ninetales check with the lack of recovery and susceptibility Solar Beam after a few hits or some rocks chip. Not sure if water is really the best type to pair with it here, pure fire feels more sturdy against Tales in the long run. Maybe shift that extra 10 attack into special defense if you want to keep it as a sturdy counter, or give it a more consistent form of recovery. We already have 3 bulky waters, after all. Rotom-Heat as it stands would not be approved.
Name of the Pokemon: Crobat
Role(s): Stallbreaker, Mixed Wall, Hazard Control, Defensive pivot
Type: Poison / Flying
Abilities: Infiltrator, Inner Focus | Prankster
Stat Distribution: 85/90/90/75/80/80 | 500
Movepool Additions: U-turn
Movepool Removal: Haze
Justification: Crobat can fit in most team thanks to its access to a wide movepool and great stats. It is a very good Defoger for offensive team that don't want to rely on the passive Wailord and thanks to Taunt+Toxic immunity it can act as a great stallbreaker. Its defensive stats are a bit lower than the average wall because Prankster Roost would be to good with normal stats.
Defensive Pivot
Crobat @ Black Sludge
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Defog
- Roost
- Brave Bird
- U-turn
Stallbreaker
Crobat @ Black Sludge
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Taunt
- Roost
- Brave Bird
- Toxic / Defog
Name of the Pokemon: Rotom Heat
Role(s): Mixed Wall, Hazard Control, Defensive pivot, Offensive Pivot
Type: Fire / Water
Abilities: Levitate
Stat Distribution: 50/60/97/85/117/96 | 505
Movepool Additions: Scald, Hydro Pump, Surf, Aqua Jet, Waterfall, Flare Blitz, Flamethrower, Fire Blast, Magma Storm
Justification: Rotom-Heat is a great pivot thanks to Volt-Switch with Water STAB threatening Ground types. It can also spread status with Scald, WoW ans TWave, and Defog. Also, thanks to its typing ans ability, Rotom Heat is a great check to Ninetales ans Dugtrio, two of the best Pokemon in CSM. However it has rather low offensive stats and it lacks reliable recovery while being weak to SR.
Defensive Pivot
Rotom-Heat @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
- Defog
- Pain Split
- Scald
- Volt Switch
Offensive Defog
Rotom Heat @ Leftovers
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Defog
- Magma Storm
- Scald
- Volt Switch
Blatantly overpowered- this has by far the highest BST in the meta, is unnecessarily fast, and has a significant power boost due to boomburst. Punk Rock doesn't exist in gen 8 either. Not getting to the voting phase in this state.
Name of the Pokemon: Crobat
Role(s): Defensive Pivot
Type: Poison / Flying
Abilities: Aftermath, Anticipation, Punk Rock (HA)
Stat Distribution: 110/88/78/88/88/136
Movepool Additions: Boomburst, Glare, Wish, Heal Bell, Acid Armor, Spikes, Whirlwind, Twister
Justification: A rather defensive pivot that wish passes, sets traps, and para spams. 110/78/88 defenses are quite decent, along with Aftermath and Anticipation, which both fit the bat dynamic.
Auto hazard-clear on switch in is way too good for any team to pass up on, yet it's still not a good ninetales check in the slightest due to the dragon typing leaving it vulnerable to boosted Moonblasts. Also not gonna make it due to just not fitting the concept of ninetales counter in the slightest, and instead occupying the unneeded niche of supreme hazard removal.
Name of the Pokemon: Turtonator
Role(s): Dedicated Wall, Lead
Type: Fire / Dragon
Abilities: Unaware, Iron Barbs, Smog Vacuum (HA)
Ability Description: Upon switch-in, absorbs all battlefield effects and heals for 50% max HP if procc'd. Still affected by hazards.
Stat Distribution: 78/36/120/105/98/20
Movepool Additions: Scald, Fire Lash, Stealth Rock, Lava Plume, Beak Blast, Recover, Refresh, Clear Smog, Rapid Spin, Defog
Justification: Turtonator now is a potent defensive powerhouse that can be an effective wall, lead, and need be it, an attacker. Unaware and Iron Barbs makes him a fantastic physical wall. Smog Vacuum can loosen the need for a defogger since Turtonator has great defensive typing on his own. As a nerf, his attack has been nerfed to the point of unusability, so he cannot utilize his strong physical movepool. His speed has been nerfed so Shell Smash is pretty unusable.
You can find the link under "Spreadsheet:" in the original post, but here it is: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1GNLvQsM1F6pw1JS7IA6IyrgME1iJ4M0UWLrieGSPQuU/edit?usp=sharing
had to do it em
Pokemon: Rotom-Heat
Roles: Special Wall, Defensive Pivot, Mixed Wall, Hazards, Hazard Control, Weather (Sand)
Type:
Abilities: Levitate / Flame Body | Sand Stream
Stat Distribution: 50 / 50 / 97 / 105 / 127 / 76 (505 BST)
Movepool Additions: Recover, Fire Pledge, Stealth Rock, Power Gem
Movepool Removals: Will-O-Wisp, Thunder, Thunderbolt, Discharge, Volt Switch, Overheat
Justification: I'm gonna be thorough for the justification on this one: Here's what Rotom-Heat does for Clean Slate Micro:
- Hard counters Ninetales with the otherwise-inferior Sand Stream set (pack a pinch berry), while having enough weakness overlap with the main sand abuse, Pupitar, to dissuade pairing the 2 without specific team support. Same goes for Dugtrio-Alola, who will now be able to explore Sand Force sets at the cost of more weakness overlap.
- The more consistent Levitate set still checks Ninetales very well (a +2 Solar Beam or Shattered Psych could still prove potent against it), defogs against Dugtrio and Heracross consistently while defogging against any Torterra that isn't packing Head Smash (may encourage usage of more offensive Torterra sets).
- Introduces another Stealth Rock setter into the meta, further easing teambuilding by compressing hazard control and hazards into one slot. However, this leaves only 1 attack for Rotom-Heat to utilize, with Power Gem being needed to beat Ninetales but making Rotom-Heat Dugtrio fodder. Rotom will likely run dual STABs with either Rocks or Defog.
- Loss of Will-O-Wisp, and any other way to spread burn, leaves Rotom-Heat easily exploited by physical attacks such as Type:Null due to Rotom-Heats deceptively mediocre 50/97 physical bulk.
- No pivoting moves means Rotom-Heat doesn't add to the already potent volt-turn archetype, better fitting onto balance and bulky offense. Has little merit to be used on offense compared to dugtrio and ninetales for the role of rocker and fire attacker, respectively. Weaker STABs than Ninetales makes it not as strong as ninetales in spite of the 5 more special attack.
- Indirectly buffs Rotom-Wash and Ludicolo as Water-types compared to Wailord due to Wailord's weakness to Power Gem.
- You could probably run a funny meme Specs set, and Scarf is undoubtedly usable.
- Vote for it because it is a Rotom
Ludicolo gains Rapid Spin
Name of the Pokemon: Crobat
Role(s): Physical Wall, Defensive Pivot, Hazard Removal, Cleric, Stallbreaker
Type: Poison/Fighting
Abilities: Big Pecks / Magic Guard | Scrappy (HA)
Stat Distribution: 110 / 70 / 100 / 60 / 65 / 80 (No changes)
Movepool Additions: Parting Shot, Knock Off, Healing Wish, Wish, Aromatherapy, Topsy Turvy
Justification: Scrappy boosts Circle Throw and Super Fang into actually useful tools, letting it stallbreak effectively with Circle Throw / Super Fang / Taunt. Knock Off and Parting Shot are just very useful to have, and it gets some other toys as well. Its matchup against Ghosts is now a decent one. Life Orb sets will appreciate Knock Off and could also run Healing Wish in order to provide an actual niche.
Mostly, yeah
