Priority moves - Necessity?

PWNstar!

Yo.

I hope a discussion forums out of this; Are Prioty moves really necessary on a team?

Reason is, I want to change my Physical wall from Donphan to Skarmory or Forretress. I would have done this switch a LONG Time ago but My 2 wanted walls lacks priority moves. Is this really a big deal?

Discuss.
 
Priority moves are extremely important if you don't have an easy way of stopping a certain pokemon once it's set-up.

Eg. A 6 Dragon Danced Gyarados can still sweep a team when it's at 10% health, but one swift priority move will kill it, therefore stopping the sweep.

If you already have phazers and such, then they're not that much of a necessity, but a lot of pokemon do try to set up, and phazing moves always go last, so a priority move is a lot better IMO since it actually kills the pokemon instead of just letting it come back out later on.
 
I was wondering, how viable is to have a physical priority move on a purely special Pokémon (like Shadow Sneak on Gardevoir, for example)?
 
Depends on what you're trying to hit.
In gardevoir's case, she suffers greatly from 4ss, so I wouldn't give her a random priority move.

Overall priority moves are really nasty, but the ones you really want are things that hit 4x, or the obvious extremespeed, because even though you get priority, that means in every other situation it's a base 40 bp, or 60 with STAB.
 
Personally, I like having at least one priority move. (I can hardly count the number of times Ice Shard has saved my ass) Especially with Garchomp being so common.

Priority moves are most useful for giving a slower Pokémon with a high attack stat a chance to do quick damage. (KO/pick off weakened opponents in some cases)
 
Ice Shard has saved me so many times that I don't think I'll ever run a team without at least one priority move again. Having that move on a relatively bulky poke is even better, because then you have the option to stop set ups without sacrificing a poke. Switching into that substitute/calm minding anything and lay waste to it.

So I would keep at least one priority move unless you feel confident that other pokes on your team can stop set ups like DDancing TTar, sub-seeders and the like.
 
It's not too much of a loss on a wall, but it's nice to have at least one sweeper with a priority move (just in case).

For example, a Weavile weak team doesn't have a problem when Lucario has Vacuum Wave.
 
But Lucario is a Weavile counter in himself to a large extent, so the team wouldn't be Weavile weak to begin with. Or if it was, then Vacuum Wave still allows it to revenge kill and stuff, or just hit your counter on the switch.

But most things that can Mach Punch and such will resist Weavile quite well anyway while things with Ice Shard never stand a chance.
 
I would have said no until I started using a Mach Punch Hitmonchan on Shoddy. Mach Punch has a base power of 40 but is STAB'd and then boosted by Iron Fist. It has done wonders against Weavile, T-Tar, and Lucario who all think they can get away without taking a major hit first. This has saved me way too many times.
 
are priority moves useful? yes. Are they an absolute necessity? no. As long as your team is built well, it's not needed on every team.

I don't have a priority move on my main team and it has done quite well without one. Not once during my battles have I ever wished that I had a priority move because my team is such that the situation never arises.

My team doesn't allow anything to set up but if something does manage to do so for whatever reason, then a scarf user is usually sufficient to outspeed and ko it before it can sweep. Garchomp usually does this quite well in OU. As a result, most of my teams have a scarf user rather than a priority move. This included BL/UU as well.

The only thing you have to watch out for is DD users. The key is to have a counter to the common ones like ttar/gyara etc and force them to switch out after they DD or stay in and die.
 
EDIT: woops, wrong tab. Was supposed to be on ask a simple question.

Also, CB/LO Mamoswine has been insanely useful, only priority move on my team.
 
I always like to pack a priority move on a bulky pokemon like metagross. Dangerous sweepers like DD tyranitar are no huge problem if you have a SE priority move. Priority moves are THE reason Endrevvers and sets like focus sash rampardos don't work. I see no reason not to take advantage of them.
 
priority moves are a necessity. ice shard on donphan has helped me out so many times. they are important because they can fuck up sashes and stop sweepers.
 
I wouldn't go so far as to say that priority moves are "necessary", especially when you have a bunch of factors to stop set-up Pokemon at low HP. They are still darn useful to have, though, to pick off some weak stuff near the end of the game.
 
No one has mentioned Sub-Salac Reversalers, like Medicham and Heracross, who like to go down to 1HP. Priority moves really are a necessity against them.
 
Priority moves are not "neccesary", but they can really come in handy. The other reason I like them which nobody else has said is that if I know I'm going to lose a pokemon, I can at least leave a nice little dent in the foe first before I go.
 
Neccesary...hmm, no.

Incredibly useful? Definately.

The team I use at the moment has no Sandstorm, no Hail and no forms of Spikes. So I often find myself breaking out Mach Punch or Shadow Sneak to stop an opponent in it's stride.

In theory, a really fast Choice Scarfer could do the job nearly as well though.
 
They are usually unnecessary I find, provided that you have good phazing support, and either Hippowdon/Tyranitar/Abomasnow, or a reliable Stealth Rock user. That way, set ups do not become a problem, and Sashers/Reversalers are messed. There are some scenarios when exceptions are made, such as SubReversal Lucario in Sandstorm, but that's to be expected. It really depends on the team.
 
really is quite nice to have a priority move. donphan's in every standard team that i make because i ticks so many of those boxes. priority move, rapid spinner, spiker... amazing. imo ice shard is the best priority move there is too. stops scarfchomp.
 
After using a priority move, I can say it's incredibly useful on slower pokemon just for the fact that it can pick a faster pokemon off. Even then, it's good insurance on a fast pokemon (like Weavile) to defend against DDmence, Scarfchomp. I wouldn't say it's a neccesity, but it's incredibly useful, and can be the difference between a loss and a win.
 
Sandstorm ruins sash and endureversalers. Stealth rock ruins sash and subreversalers.

I use both which is probably why I have never needed a priority move ever. Although I can see if you don't have these, a priority move would save your ass many times. But I'd sooner add ttar and sr to my team than try to fit in a pokemon with a priority move I don't need. Somehow ttar finds its way onto most of my ou teams anyway because I love how it destroys cress with CBpursuit whether it switches out or not.

Stuff like rock polish sash rampardos, endureversal lucario, subsalac bellyzard never threaten my team. Scarfchomp is still faster than all of them after they boost speed and they would never sweep more than 1 pokemon. If worst comes to worst, gliscor can take a hit from lucario/rampardos and kill it.
 
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