Post-Game Utility-mon Sets

[Dragontamer]

I didn't see a thread for this, but I'd like to know what people are using as in-game Utility-mon. This isn't for "beating the game", but for making life easier somehow. A good Utility-mon can get multiple post-game jobs done at once. Some Utility-mon may be used for extremely specific purposes. That is fine. Feel free to talk about your Damp Golduck set you used to catch high-chain Geodudes. Just be sure to note why the set exists in the text somewhere.

Smeargle is always a good choice, but give an idea of how difficult it is to obtain the specific Smeargle moves. If you wanted a hypothetical Imprison / Explosion set for some reason, keep in mind how difficult the setup is for that.

Furthermore, please note Egg Moves, Pokebank, Rare-item Requirements (ex: Dawn Stone or Shiny Stones) and Hidden-ability. Give a good idea of the Pokemon's rarity and how difficult it is to obtain. Here are a few examples:

Butterfree @ No Item
CompoundEyes
----------
Sleep Powder
Thief
Bug Buzz
Psychic

This Butterfree uses CompoundEyes + Sleep Powder to make catching easier, but also serves as a CompoundEyes pokemon to increase the chance of items. CompoundEyes + Thief is the fastest combination for looking for rare items (like Marowak's Bone Club).

Easily grabbed from Route 1 early game, Butterfree can serve as a good Utility-mon throughout the game.

Gallade (Dawn Stone and Pokebank)
-------
Hypnosis
Mean Look (Egg Move)
False Swipe
Psycho Cut

Gallade will be a great Utility-Mon when transfers are opened up. Psycho Cut provides a good-sized 20 PP and good amounts of damage. Still, the Dawn Stone requirement, the Egg Move, AND Pokebank means this is going to be a difficult `mon to get in practice.

Umbreon @ Leftovers
Synchronize
-----------
Mean Look
Baton Pass
Yawn (Egg Move) / Taunt
Dark Pulse

Eevee is available early on as early as Route 4 and Route 6. Umbreon doesn't serve as the ideal Synchronize Pokemon to mass-catch and raise (Abra is more ideal for the "Fainted Lead Synchronize" trick). But the "Trapping" with Mean Look and Baton Pass provides an easy way to catch those Abras.

Yawn is unfortunately an Egg Move, but reliable sleep aids in catching very much. Still, you can get a good set without breeding using the Taunt TM, which is useful for stopping wild-pokemon from using recovery moves.

Golduck
Damp
--------
Soak
Waterfall
Surf
Yawn (Egg Move)

For those who want to catch a high-chain Alolan-Geodude (all the explosions), Damp Golduck is a good option. Soak is always useful for making Ghost-types weak against False Swipe. So the `mon isn't quite dead-weight in other situations... but Tapu Fini and Araquanid have more utility as Soak users.

 

[Mr. Querty]

Smeargle, despite having poor stats, can use it's movepool to do near anything utility based with a high enough level. My favorite set is the pokemon catcher.

Smeargle @ Normalium-Z
Technician
----
False Swipe
Spore
Soak
Entrainment/Shore-Up/Attack Move/Taunt/Boosting Move/Heal Block

The first three slots are pretty self explanatory. False Swipe may be a weak move, but with full attack investment, STAB, and a Technician boost, it gets the job done. Normalium Z allows it to give you a one-time attacking move to kill any reinforcements. Spore gives 100% sleep, invaluable for captures. Soak removes the immunity Ghost and Grass types have to False Swipe and Spore, as well as any STAB they have. The last slot is filler, Entrainment allows you to test abilities and get past things like Vital Spirit and Insomnia, Shore-Up/Boosting Move both work to keep Smeargle alive despite it's lackluster stats, Attack Move allows you to knock out pesky reinforcements, Taunt and Heal Block can both prevent the opponent from healing.

 

[CTNC]

Smeargle, despite having poor stats, can use it's movepool to do near anything utility based with a high enough level. My favorite set is the pokemon catcher.

Smeargle @ Normalium-Z
Technician
----
False Swipe
Spore
Soak
Entrainment/Shore-Up/Attack Move/Taunt/Boosting Move/Heal Block

That looks nice, but what if you want to chain?

Smeargle @ Fairy Plate
Technician
----
False Swipe
Spore/Thunder Wave/Hypnosis
Entertainment
Draining Kiss

The status move is slashed because you might because the opponent may be a Type that's immune to the other. Hypnosis is if you want to go for both and don't like changing. Draining Kiss is the attacking move because its boosted by Technician and heals 75% of the damage dealt. Entertainment is for knowing what ability the opponent has so you know if you should catch it or not.

Edit: The intent of the status move is to status the Pokemon with its Hidden Ability so that it wont call for any more help.

 

[Dragontamer]

That looks nice, but what if you want to chain?

Smeargle @ Fairy Plate
Technician
----
False Swipe
Spore/Thunder Wave/Hypnosis
Entertainment
Draining Kiss

The status move is slashed because you might because the opponent may be a Type that's immune to the other. Hypnosis is if you want to go for both and don't like changing. Draining Kiss is the attacking move because its boosted by Technician and heals 75% of the damage dealt. Entertainment is for knowing what ability the opponent has so you know if you should catch it or not.

Without Intimidate / Pressure, I'm not sure if this is the optimal SOS set.

While SOS chaining, you actually don't ever want to use Status (that ends the chain). Entrainment / Worry Seed / Skill Swap are useful for checking for hidden-abilities. But you still probably want a dedicated SOS-calling Pokemon to up the chances.

Weavile
Pressure (+SOS Battle)
---
False Swipe
Whatever
Whatever
Whatever

Weavile is the only False Swiper with Intimidate or Pressure. Unfortunately, Pressure will lead to PP-stalling your chain, but its probably the fastest we've got until Pokebank comes out. When you hit chain 30+, that's when you switch back to Smeargle and start checking abilities. Until then, you wanna just KO as many of the reinforcements as possible.

---------

Pokebank will bring Skill Swap + Pressure Dusknoir, which is probably the best we'll get for checking abilities after Pokebank.

 

[hotdogturtle]

Weavile is the only False Swiper with Intimidate or Pressure.

Absol also gets it, and is much easier to obtain ingame. If you're just going for a long chain, you want moves with as much PP as possible (if you're a high enough level, it doesn't matter if they're weak). Once Pokebank comes out, we can get better False Swipers who have Intimidate/Unnerve instead of Pressure.

Absol is also good for EV training your other Pokemon using Exp Share. Pressure doesn't matter since you never need to do more than 7 (or 14) KOs per battle.

 

[Siggu]

I've been using Weavile for my SOS chains. Works fine thanks to sheer power :P

Against fairly low level mons, a single False Swipe and they get to 1 HP.

(At least better than Kartana. Suggestion: Don't use Ultra Beasts for chaining. I learnt it the hard way)

 

[CTNC]

Without Intimidate / Pressure, I'm not sure if this is the optimal SOS set.

While SOS chaining, you actually don't ever want to use Status (that ends the chain). Entrainment / Worry Seed / Skill Swap are useful for checking for hidden-abilities. But you still probably want a dedicated SOS-calling Pokemon to up the chances.

I forgot to mention that the intent of the status move was to status the Pokemon with the Hidden Ability. Thanks for pointing that out.

By the way, why are Intimidate and Pressure recommended for ability checking?

 

[Siggu]

By the way, why are Intimidate and Pressure recommended for ability checking?

It's not for Ability Checking, but Intimidate and Pressure increase the likelyhood of a SOS Call.

What I'm not sure is if it stacks with Adrenaline Orb.

 

[hypno28]

It's not for Ability Checking, but Intimidate and Pressure increase the likelyhood of a SOS Call.

What I'm not sure is if it stacks with Adrenaline Orb.

Yeah. The fact that you can't use multiple Adrenaline Orbs makes me strongly suspect that they do not.

 

[LightningLord2]

Do not use Thunder Wave as a paralysis move on Smeargle - use Glare instead:

-It has 30 base PP rather than 20, which, while only of limited use, can be quite handy if you get into a lot of battles.
-It's 100% accurate, compared to Thunder Wave's 90% accuracy.
-It's not an Electric-Type move, meaning that abilities such as Volt Absorb do not block it - same with Ground-Types.

 

[Carrier]

Hm, what's the added utility in having False Swipe on your designated chainer? I see the minor efficiency gained, but surely it's a bit limiting, especially for most 'Mons. Having one false swipe done by another Pokemon and swapping in your more niche 'Mon seems better in some cases, considering you're only really going to False Swipe the first on your chain.
That being said, a Weavile set like this might be optimal:
Weavile
Pressure (+SOS Battle)
---
False Swipe
Thief
Bite (or other high PP Move)
Ice Shard

Pressure cycles out enemies fast, Thief can grab items if necessary and compete with Butterfree as it may kill the enemy outright, Bite for a relatively strong move w/ high PP to chain and Ice Shard for a STAB move that hits first, if you're having priority annoyances.

 

[Jibaku]

Something I've been running recently is Strength Sap Smeargle for catching legendaries. If you're a perfectionist with resets, you want to get 0 Atk IV on special attackers to reduce Foul Play/confusion damage (you can bottlecap it if you need that 31 later anyways), and Strength Sap makes it possible to check for that before catching.

 

[Dragontamer]

It's not for Ability Checking, but Intimidate and Pressure increase the likelyhood of a SOS Call.

What I'm not sure is if it stacks with Adrenaline Orb.

If I'm remembering my statistics correctly... its a two proportion Z-Test to find out: http://stattrek.com/hypothesis-test/difference-in-proportions.aspx
Specifically, a one-tailed test.

Hm, what's the added utility in having False Swipe on your designated chainer?

Nothing aside from the slight efficiency gain. I'm not seeing a better chaining `mon however until Pokebank. After Pokebank, I think Skill Swap + Pressure Dusknoir will be more useful (even without False Swipe). I'm not 100% sure on the mechanics of Intimidate / Pressure. More testing is required. I dunno if it needs to be a "first" pokemon, if it stacks with Adrenaline Orb or anything.

I guess because of the PP-stall issue, you may want to go for an Intimidate user instead. (Odor Sleuth Arcanine for the False-Swipe support?). But more testing to know Adrenaline Orb / Pressure mechanics is going to be helpful in any case.

 

[Gokuzbu]

Talonflame isn't very special anymore now that fly isn't an HM. Any Magby will do just fine. Also not needing an HM slave anymore means Bibarel is useless now lol. Tapu Koko is built in useful for catching things. Nature's Madness is great, along with Mean Look, Thief, False Swipe, Thunder Wave. He also outspeeds everything.

 

[Carrier]

With TMs abolished, the only real important jobs are going to be synchronizer (Abra), designated chainer (meaning anything with access to Pressure or Intimidate or Unnerve to boost SOS call rates) and something with access to Damp, probably Parasect because of the added utility of Leech Life, Spore, and False Swipe. Beyond that, if necessary a speed checker if 0IV speed is beneficial for Gyro Ball and/or Strength Sap Smeargle as mentioned earlier for 0IV attack checks for legendaries. Don't think there are any roles to fulfill past that.

I guess technically a ghost to prevent certain Pokemon like Beldum from suiciding (Decidueye works fine) as well as various tailor-made Pokemon for thieving items also work. For Razor Claws, I suggest Mimikyu; it actually can't be hurt due to it being immune to dragon and normal, and it learns thief.

 

[Dragontamer]

Hmmm... It looks like the "best" non-Pokebank pickup user seems to be Meowth right now (uggghhhhh).

Anyone else got an opinion on that? Anyone got a better strategy than 6x Meowths for the Destiny Knot / Shiny Stone / Leftovers?

 

[Carrier]

Destiny Knot can be brute-forced by losing 48 times at Battle Royal; each loss nets 1 BP. I've heard triple explosion teams like Geodude, Graveller, Golem are a good way to go for this.

Leftovers are a 100% item on wild Munchlax; finding one and thieving or SOS Chaining thief and ending with a capture seems a good way to go. I think they're a 10% spawn near your house on Route 1, but that's still faster than Pickup, especially factoring in the training.

You're still in trouble with Shiny Stones; the only other way to get them that I know of is Poke Pelago, which is RNG.

 

[DHR-107]

I'm using a Parasect with:

Spore
Stun Spore
False Swipe
Thief

Ability of either Dry Skin or Damp (which is the HA). Damp can help with those annoying geodudes I guess? You want to avoid Effect Spore if you want it for chaining because of the poison chance :(

As a generic catching/item grabbing mon. Nothing special, but it works. Spore is useful for catching things, but Stun Spore is there so I can stop SOS chains when I want too, otherwise you can get stuck in loops sometimes. Sometimes Spore is annoying because Sleep isn't perma, and a Mon can wake up, attack and then call in an SOS at just the wrong time.

 

[Stellar]

Hmmm... It looks like the "best" non-Pokebank pickup user seems to be Meowth right now (uggghhhhh).

Anyone else got an opinion on that? Anyone got a better strategy than 6x Meowths for the Destiny Knot / Shiny Stone / Leftovers?

You can't Pick Up Shiny Stone in SM. The only stones you can pick up are Sun and Moon.
Destiny Knot is also extremely rare... like extremely. I got one Destiny Knot in the process of raising 5 Meowth from 1 to 100.

 

[Caramel Prisoner]

Good topic!

I thought I'd post my Catching Utility Smeargle build:

Smeargle
Item: Metronome
Nature: Adamant
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 HP / 252 ATK / 4 SPE

Glare
False Swipe
Soak
Entrainment

I use Glare over Spore because Paralysis stays active once inflicted, permanently preventing SOS calls. For that reason I use 252 HP EVs instead of max Speed, since my Smeargle needs to take more hits, and Paralysis coupled with its decent base Speed is enough to outspeed most things anyway. Soak is there to be able to paralyze Electrics and False Swipe Ghosts (and do more damage to Steels and Rocks). Entrainment is used to suppress Limber and other troubling abilities. I tried Gastro Acid too, which doesn't give the opponent a potentially useful ability, but I find Entrainment is more useful because it also works to scout for hidden abilities, something Gastro Acid can't do. I use a Metronome to consistently boost False Swipe's damage for bulky things. Normalium Z can be used instead for a one time 150 BP move (with STAB).

 

[Mr. Querty]

Good topic!

I thought I'd post my Catching Utility Smeargle build:

Smeargle
Item: Metronome
Nature: Adamant
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 HP / 252 ATK / 4 SPE

Glare
False Swipe
Soak
Entrainment

I use Glare over Spore because Paralysis stays active once inflicted, permanently preventing SOS calls. For that reason I use 252 HP EVs instead of max Speed, since my Smeargle needs to take more hits, and Paralysis coupled with its decent base Speed is enough to outspeed most things anyway. Soak is there to be able to paralyze Electrics and False Swipe Ghosts (and do more damage to Steels and Rocks). Entrainment is used to suppress Limber and other troubling abilities. I tried Gastro Acid too, which doesn't give the opponent a potentially useful ability, but I find Entrainment is more useful because it also works to scout for hidden abilities, something Gastro Acid can't do. I use a Metronome to consistently boost False Swipe's damage for bulky things. Normalium Z can be used instead for a one time 150 BP move (with STAB).

Just a little improvement, but you can use Worry Seed rather than Entrainment if you are worried about foes with Technician, as Insomnia checks for abilities and gives them a useless one (considering they would be paralyzed).

Probably going to shift to using something like this, as while sleep brings a higher catch rate, it is incredibly annoying having foes constantly call for reinforcements, forcing me to switch. 1HP and Paralyzed is good enough for most foes.

As a sidenote, don't use a designated chainer with Pressure, as it will drain the weakened mon's PP away twice as fast, forcing it to struggle early and potentially break the chain.

 

[Caramel Prisoner]

Just a little improvement, but you can use Worry Seed rather than Entrainment if you are worried about foes with Technician, as Insomnia checks for abilities and gives them a useless one (considering they would be paralyzed).

Probably going to shift to using something like this, as while sleep brings a higher catch rate, it is incredibly annoying having foes constantly call for reinforcements, forcing me to switch. 1HP and Paralyzed is good enough for most foes.

As a sidenote, don't use a designated chainer with Pressure, as it will drain the weakened mon's PP away twice as fast, forcing it to struggle early and potentially break the chain.

Good point, I hadn't thought of that. As for Sleep providing a higher catch rate, that one's news to me aswell. How significant is the difference?

 

[DHR-107]

Good point, I hadn't thought of that. As for Sleep providing a higher catch rate, that one's news to me aswell. How significant is the difference?

2.5 for sleep and freeze, 1.5 for paralyze, poison, or burn, and 1 otherwise I believe is the current bonuses for the Catch Rate modifiers. It's a decent difference, but as other have said, Sleep isn't permanent and nor is Freezing (not that there is a move which induces freezing thank god). Sleep > Para and those are the only two worth using.

 

[Dragontamer]

There's a lot of SOS-chaining pokemon with quirks that you need to be aware of.

I was chaining Murkrows (breeding partner for a Mandibuzz + Foul Play), and much to my annoyance, Murkrows know Mean Look and Taunt. Over the SOS chain, they will use those two attacks. A Shell-bell on your Smeargle and Designated Chainer would help (or maybe U-Turn or Baton Pass). Other issues include Pancham / Pangoro Circle Throw, Low-chain Pokemon like Scyther or Sharpedo (just... low SOS Rates suck), Ditto (just don't switch in Magnezone like a dumb dumb).

As a sidenote, don't use a designated chainer with Pressure, as it will drain the weakened mon's PP away twice as fast, forcing it to struggle early and potentially break the chain.

I definitely count the PP of the opposing pokemon, as well as the chain. Whenever the opponent has less than 10 turns left, I KO it and start chaining off a new Pokemon. Beldum's 15PP Takedown was a special case however (Uggghhhh). I suggest that anybody who wants to chain a Beldum for a Metagross get a designated Alolan-Marowak / False Swipe, and definitely keep track of the 15 PP of the wild Pokemon.

 

[TimG57867]

SOS Chaining Riolu:

Gengar @ Whatever lol
Nature: Anything that doesn't lower Special Attack
Shadow Ball
Night Shade
Focus Blast
Toxic

Since it's a Ghost type Gengar will be immune to any offensive moves Riolu is packing, including Final Gambit which will make Riolu KO itself which you don't want. Shadow Ball is the go-to for knocking out Riolu and Lucario. Night Shade is a set HP attack that you can use to safely weaken Riolu in place of False Swipe. The last 2 slots are for dealing with the annoying Chansey that'll spring up. Toxic won't miss on Gengar and offers consistent damage while Focus Blast can help you hurry things along.

PS: I think Decidueye works better but I didn't choose him and this a good alternative if you don't want False Swipe on your Decidueye.