Backstory:
A few weeks ago I was researching niche mechanics that could see potential use in an ADV Draft environment, and came across documentation stating that Recycle is coded such that "the user regains the item last used by a Pokemon in its current position on the field, even if that Pokemon was not the user". This means that in theory a berry consumed by teammate 1 can be recycled by teammate 2, so long as teammate 2 does not have an item equipped. My first thought was to immediately test out how this interacted with baton pass clause, because technically Recycle is not a "stat boosting" move, so I loaded up a Smeargle with Dragon Dance, Recycle, and Baton Pass, and was very excited to see that it passed the validation checks for Gen 3 OU. I ran some tests to see if my interpretation of the mechanic was correct, and - it was broken on Showdown. After a post to the Bug Reports forum (shoutouts to Scraf for help with tests), and a few days of waiting, I was finally able to test Recycle Pass, and I can confirm that I was right.
Recycle allows for a team to have two sources of stat boosts for Baton Pass chains.
(Replay demonstration 1, Replay Demonstration 2)
I passed this information along to Spreek and Nal , who in turn shared with Johnald and a few others, and after several attempts to create teams that could abuse this, we have all come to the conclusion that it is a very cool mechanic, but at the same time, impractical garbage.
Setup:
The way to set this up is pretty straightforward:
Problems:
While Recycle Pass does not currently seem like a viable strategy, there may be a time when someone smarter than myself is able to unlock its potential and make something truly heinous. Plus given the current discussion surrounding speed pass as a whole, I believe it is worth taking the time to add this new discovery to the conversation.
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Teams attempted:
Forte Gardevoir Lead (My most consistent so far)
Spreek's Volcelebi Adaptation
Forte Metagross Lead
A few weeks ago I was researching niche mechanics that could see potential use in an ADV Draft environment, and came across documentation stating that Recycle is coded such that "the user regains the item last used by a Pokemon in its current position on the field, even if that Pokemon was not the user". This means that in theory a berry consumed by teammate 1 can be recycled by teammate 2, so long as teammate 2 does not have an item equipped. My first thought was to immediately test out how this interacted with baton pass clause, because technically Recycle is not a "stat boosting" move, so I loaded up a Smeargle with Dragon Dance, Recycle, and Baton Pass, and was very excited to see that it passed the validation checks for Gen 3 OU. I ran some tests to see if my interpretation of the mechanic was correct, and - it was broken on Showdown. After a post to the Bug Reports forum (shoutouts to Scraf for help with tests), and a few days of waiting, I was finally able to test Recycle Pass, and I can confirm that I was right.
Recycle allows for a team to have two sources of stat boosts for Baton Pass chains.
(Replay demonstration 1, Replay Demonstration 2)
I passed this information along to Spreek and Nal , who in turn shared with Johnald and a few others, and after several attempts to create teams that could abuse this, we have all come to the conclusion that it is a very cool mechanic, but at the same time, impractical garbage.
Setup:
The way to set this up is pretty straightforward:
- Activate Salac Berry with any non-Smeargle Pokemon without Baton Pass (I have found the most success with Gengar, Gardevoir, and Metagross leads due to their ability to self KO, but this can realistically be any number of things).
- Find a turn for Smeargle to click recycle.
- Activate Smeargle's recycled pinch berry.
- Pass your boosts.
Problems:
- 4 Move Slot Syndrome: The main source of frustration is the difficulty in consistently bringing Smeargle down to 25% with the moveslots available. Recycle and Baton Pass are required moves for Recycle Pass to work, and unfortunately two remaining slots are simply not enough to consistently pull this off. I personally lean towards Spore and Substitute as the last two moves, but you are always able to EV Smeargle to be sent into Salac range from a number of specific targets.
- Sand and Spikes: As with many pinch berry users, Smeargle struggles to safely reach 25% when sand and spikes are active. Fitting removal onto teams that can best abuse Recycle Pass is very difficult and opens free turns for phasers to exploit.
While Recycle Pass does not currently seem like a viable strategy, there may be a time when someone smarter than myself is able to unlock its potential and make something truly heinous. Plus given the current discussion surrounding speed pass as a whole, I believe it is worth taking the time to add this new discovery to the conversation.
-------------------------
Teams attempted:
Forte Gardevoir Lead (My most consistent so far)
Spreek's Volcelebi Adaptation
Forte Metagross Lead
