Rarely Used (RU) Tier

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GtM said:
Is Slaking at all viable in this tier? Cofagrigus is a commonly used wall, and a Slaking with a Lum Berry, Pursuit and Night Slash could easily finish off a weakened Cofagrigus, and subsequently wreak havoc on the opponent's team with Return since it now (hopefully) has Mummy instead of Truant. Not sure if it's worth using...
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Going through all that trouble just to get your hands on an only mediocre sweeper isn't worth it in my opinion.
 
Also, you really can't depend on Cofagrigus being on a team. In fact, its only on 5.7% of all teams in this tier. If you are confident you'll run into Cofagrigus go ahead. However, a good thing about Slaking is that you are able to withdraw it during the Truant turn. If you can keep entry hazards away, it makes for an excellent revenge killer with a Scarf, and hits like 25 trucks with a Band.
 
I wouldn't use something that depends on its setup fodder only appearing about 5.7% of the time.

And it is at least nice that the Truant turn allows switching. If it didn't, though, Giga Impact would suddenly be viable, XD. Of course, Retaliate's definitely powerful enough, coming from that Herculean Attack stat and STAB.

But if you ask me, Slaking's best as either a Choice Band wrecking ball wallbreaker or a Choice Scarf revenge killer.
 
Xephyr said:
Going through all that trouble just to get your hands on an only mediocre sweeper isn't worth it in my opinion.
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While Slaking is difficult to setup, he's far from mediocre once Truant has been de-activated. 160/95/100 attacking stats are insane, and 150/100/65 defenses means that he's not being hit hard that often. CB Jolly Return 2HKO's Max/Max Bold Cresselia with rocks. He outspeeds SpecsLens Yanmega. A set like Return/Rock Slide/Earthquake/Pursuit could be an amazing revenge killer (with a Scarf he outspeeds a +1 Sharpedo) dismantling many common threats even without the MummyKing strategy (which can be used for a sweeper set). Slaking = Awesome = Hard to utilize properly.
 
<__<

You can deactivate Truant with your own Cofagrigus and making sure that your Slaking knows Pursuit. It puts reliance on your foe though, hopefully they won't switch out the turn you use Mean Look (which wastes a move slot), that their most effective move against Cofagrigus makes contact and that they don't obliterate Slaking when it comes out. A risky strategy but highly effective.

Also from what I've been hearing, majority of RU is those that use Special Attack. You could also pull this off by giving your Cofagrigus an Escape Button but that makes things even riskier.

I've tried this out in OU and it works amazingly as a mid game sweeper. I'll be sure to try this out in UU and RU soon enough.
 
Anyone here tried out sword dance Absol in the tier, I was theorymoning some damage calculations and it was very interesting to say the least. You may think Honchkorow totally out classes Absol with it's secondary stab Brave bird but Absol does have something honchkorw would kill for, SWORD DANCE.

[SET]
name: Sword dance
move 1: Sword dance
move 2: Sucker Punch
move 3: Night Slash
move 4: Super Power
item: Life Orb
ability: Super Luck
nature: Adamant / Jolly
evs: 4 HP / 252 Att / 252 Spe

This set should be relatively straight forward, set up and sweep/attack

From this point forward is just theory using the generation 4 damage calculator, I've probably did some mistakes somewhere here, but it's more to show you what Absol can do, Obviously though, Substitute shuts down absol and you'd need a team mate to break the opponent's sub to allow Absol the opportunity to hit back.

I'm using Jolly Absol for all my calculations

The Top 5 RU Pokemon
| 1 | Yanmega | 10837 | 19.5064 |

Standard Yanmega has either zero or 4 EVs in HP

Absol Suckerpunch before Sword dance vs Yanmega = 61.5% - 72.6% (OHKO after rocks)

Absol Suckerpunch after Sword dance vs Yanmega = 122.3% - 144.3%

| 2 | Cresselia | 9271 | 16.6877 |

Standard Cresselia has Max HP and Max Def Bold Nature

Absol Night Slash before Sword dance vs Cresselia = 42.3% - 50.5%

Absol Night Slash after Sword dance vs Cresselia = 85.1% - 100.5%

Wow what a wall.

| 3 | Honchkrow | 8350 | 15.0299 |

Standard Honchkrow has either zero or 4 EVs in HP

Absol Superpower before Sword dance vs Honchkrow = 83.9% - 98.8% (OHKO after Rocks) Adamant Absol would OHKO Honchkrow without rocks but Honchkrow would out speed Absol.

I probably don't need a calculation after a sword dance since it's obvious OHKO

| 4 | Sharpedo | 8213 | 14.7833 |

Standard Sharpedo has zero investment in bulk

Absol Suckerpunch before Sword dance vs Sharpedo = 61.2% - 72.2%

Absol Suckerpunch after Sword dance vs Sharpedo = 122.8% - 144.5%

| 5 | Blastoise | 8206 | 14.7707 |

These calculations assume SpD blastoise Max HP and 4 EVs in Def

Absol Night Slash before Sword dance vs Blastoise = 41.4% - 48.9%

Absol Night Slash before Sword dance vs Blastoise = 82% - 97% (wow a small chance of being OHKO after rocks)

although assuming blastoise comes in on the revenge it'll have the chance to either burn you with scald or Dragontail you out but still pretty nice damage output.

Now Physical Bulky Blastoise with MAX HP and Max Def with Relaxed Nature

Absol Night Slash before Sword dance vs Blastoise = 59.1% - 69.9%

Sorry at this point I got bored of typing this post but I did find some interesting things with the damage calculator, I'm never good with it and I tend to for get things like boost and EVs and stuff.

I'm gonna try out Absol when the Servers comes back and see how far it gets.
 
Benny in a Jet said:
Slaking = Awesome = Hard to utilize properly.
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= Unviable.
And I'm interested in trying out Absol, but it seems like Absol getting a Swords Dance up is... unlikely, at best. How often do you actually get to +2? After all, there are plenty of pokemon that are great on paper but don't actually perform in-battle. (Gen 4 Rhyperior, anyone?)

EDIT: Aren't Yanmega and Sharpedo going to UU anyways?
 
you could probably switch absol into Cresselia (16.6877 ) without a flame orb, Clyadol (10.6361) and Uxie (8.2115) without u-turn.

Woodchuck said:
EDIT: Aren't Yanmega and Sharpedo going to UU anyways?
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I dunno about Sharpedo but Yanmega is staying in RU until it gets banned
 
Sharpedo and Yanmega aren't going anywhere according to the stats.

@ Kniteowl: Can we see what sort of damage Absol does to more of the physical walls in the tier. Rhydon, Tangela, Quagsire, Gligar, Poliwrath, Hariyama etc; those are the Pokemon that will judge Absol's sweeping ability so it would be interesting to see what kind of dent Absol leaves in them.
 
+2 LO Jolly 252 Atk Absol does 69.57%-82.13% to 252/252 Eviolite Impish Rhydon with Superpower

+2 LO Jolly 252 Atk Absol does 39.52%-46.71% to 252/252 Max Def Eviolite Tangela with Night Slash

+2 LO Jolly 252 Atk Absol does 45.53%-53.46% to 252/252 Max Def Hariyama with Superpower

So ya Cuts through Rhydon in two turns while Tangela tanks the hits after a Swords Dance

I am using Max HP/Max Def for all the calculations with a +Def Nature
 
For Slaking, perhaps you could run Escape Button Cofagrigus? Switch into the predicted contact attack, kick Cofagrigus out immediately for Slaking, who can then Pursuit the daylights out of the poor enemy?
 
TM13IceBeam said:
For Slaking, perhaps you could run Escape Button Cofagrigus? Switch into the predicted contact attack, kick Cofagrigus out immediately for Slaking, who can then Pursuit the daylights out of the poor enemy?
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Has anyone tried this yet? This has been talked about a lot but I would love to hear some real experiences of using this strategy.
 
All Calculations are done with Max HP and Max Defense with a +Def Nature and Absol is +2 LO

Unaware Quagsire is dealt 30.46-35.79 if Absol uses Night Slash

Eviolite Gligar is dealt 41.62-49.4 if Absol uses Night Slash

Poliwrath is dealt 44.27-52.08 if Absol uses Super Power
 
Thanks for the calculations Wrave. Absol looks decent after an SD, but needs to take a hit to get through a wall and leaves it vulnerable to revenging. Sucker Punch helps it here but isn't the most reliable. A more pressing issue is, as Woodchuck mentioned, when is Absol going to get the opportunity to set up an SD? Psycho Cut seems like a good choice to get through Fighting types but I still think it probably isn't good enough to be a force in RU :( As long as Moxie Honchkrow is here anyway...
 
I played 4th Gen NU a bit, and most Absols were Choiced anyway. I don't see why it should change in 5th gen honestly. Sure you lose out on a little power, but you become a lot more reliable with either Choice item. Also, in defense of the epic disaster guy, he DOES have the strongest priority move in the game...
 
It was NU until the end IIRC. If it wasn't, then I'm just remembering wrong and they were almost all Choiced in UU battles, which I played as well.
 
@ Wrave,

What is the standard evolite Rhydon set anyway?

I always figured the standard Rhyperior set was generally max HP and Att adamant, although I personally run max HP and Sp-def with Careful nature to tanks hits that aren't Water or grass.

I personally cannot see Rhydon Running max HP and Def with Impish nature, possibly to counter Honchkrow although I can see Rhydon more likely to run max HP and Att similar to Rhyperior, although I could be wrong.

+2 Att Absol Jolly vs Evolite Rhydon with Max HP (no EVs in Def and Adamant nature) = 93.2% - 110.1%

+2 Att Absol Jolly vs Rhyperior with Max HP (no EVs in Def and Adamant nature) = 93.5% - 110.1%

Tha damage is similar... maybe my calculations are wrong.

The is generally forgotten but Night slash has a high crit chance combined with Super luck to increase the chance of getting crits Absol is more likely to give you crits although the ability is unreliable, I reckon it's still worth mentioning.

So thinking you can switch into your physical wall like tangela or gligar safely isn't always the case. Unless crits are calculated differently, do crits still ignore boost like sword dance?

Sorry I don't know all the mechanics in pokemon.

EDIT: absol also gets Zen Headbutt, hits 10BP harder then Psycho Cut but at 90% accuracy, it does around 90.7% - 106.9% to Max HP & Def with Impish Nature Hariyama after absol gets a sword dance, it's an option I guess.

It also gets X-scissor and Megahorn for tangela, but who runs Bug moves on Absol anyway? lol

Interestingly enough Absol gets bounce from Gen 4 move tutor, it could hit both tangela and and fighting types but that move is asking for trouble, just switching into something else that resist it.
 
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