Pokemon: Pidgeot
Typing:Flying
Abilities: Keen Eye / Tangled Feet /
Wings of Victory
Custom Ability: Wings of Victory: When a Pokémon with Wings of Victory enters battle, it receives a 10% additive increase to the power of its moves for each
foe Pokémon that is fainted.
Stats: [83] / [
100] / [75] / [
50] / [70] / [
112]
Movepool Changes: Moves removed: Toxic. Moves added: Close Combat, Acrobatics.
What was Pidgeot designed to be? Pidgeot is a first route bird that you can catch right after you get Pokeball. Unlike the first route rodent (who you will most likely replace), this is a Pokemon that is supposed to be with you from the beginning, to the end of the game. Its like your second starter and in Kanto games, even the champion /rival has one. Its a Pokemon that grows with you and will prove useful during the whole game. Even if the are better Flying Mons in Kanto, by the time you get them, your bird already has much more level and often its not worth. But what happens when you finish the game and want to replicate your in-game team on Pokemon Showdown? You quickly discover that Pidgeot without Megaevolution sucks and its outclassed hard by almost all the birds.
So, first thing I did here was comparing the BST of Pidgeot with all other 3 stage birds (Staraptor, Unfezant, Talonflame, Toucannon and Corviknight). Most of them have between 480 and 490 BST, with Talonflame having the highest (499) and Pidgeot having the lowest (479). I wanted Pidgeot to not surpass Talonflame, but everyone else, so 490 looked right. I also wanted to optimize the Stats, but not too much, so 20 points went from Special Attack to Physical one. The new 11 points went all to Speed. Pidgeot is still slower than its Mega used to be, but it does outspeed most of Kanto Meta.
I also saw that in Kanto there are 4 Normal/Flying birds. To differentiate from the rest, Pidgeot now has pure Flying type. It fits for him, since he is now the fastest bird due to flying high. Pidgeot loses the Ghost immunity but gains resistance to Fight, which can be useful for when Machamp gets improved. The lose of Normal STAB is not so good however.
Now, 100 Attack is not low, but not high either. This is not enough for a bird that champions have. So, how we can make it better? I looked at Kingambit, who in SV OU is one of the best Mons due to the exclusive ability that rewards poor plays (losing Mons) and decided to go the opposite way:
Pidgeot's ability rewards good plays. Kingambit is an evil Mon that enjoys seeing dead friends that trusted him, Pidgeot is a good Mon that likes seeing enemies down (and friends alive, though this doesn,t do anything for this ability, its just Pidgeot's character). Pidgeot is better when the match already goes well and makes harder for the opponent to recover from the disadvantage. It is much more balanced and skill based than Kingambit.
Only remaining things were the movepool changes. In my ideal world, Toxic is a low distribution move, so Pidgeot doesn,t have. This also fits with Pidgeot being a
good Mon, it only uses honest tactics to win. In the anime Pidgeot recklessly charges to the enemy, which looks close enough to Close Combat, so it gets it. Finally, this is Pidgeot animation in Pokemon Emerald:
It resembles Acrobatics, so that is another new Move for Pidgeot to have.
Pidgeot is a physical late game cleaner. It can appear mid-game, but before the opponent hasn,t lost Mons yet, the damage output isn,t too high, after all base Attack is just 100. Movepool is not wide, but enough for at least 5 sets:
1. Band. Obvious one.
2. Scarf. Better vs offensive teams.
3. 3 Attacks + Roost.
4. Work Up + Roost + Close Combat (Brave Bird is of course the move to have in all 4 mentioned sets). This set has flexibility in item, could be Boots, Life Orb, Lefties or some Berry.
5. Curse + Acrobatics with White Herb as item. Sacrifices some power, but avoids recoil and gets physical bulk.
Electric types and physical walls are the enemies for Pidgeot. In early game, Rock types like Rhydon will also easily stop this bird and of course, burns and paralysis completely ruin it. The best counterplay however, its not losing Mons, so that Pidgeot sticks with mid base 100 Attack.
Pokemon: Beedrill
Typing: Bug-Poison
Abilities: Swarm / Sniper / Adaptability
Stats: [65] / [
120] / [40] / [
15] / [80] / [
110]
Movepool Changes: No changes.
This is just discount Mega Beedrill (he got half of Mega Beedrill Stat boost, but the full Special Attack nerf) that gets to use Choice Band Adaptability U-Turn. Very strong Mon, but weak to hazards, Rocky Helmet and Steel/Ghost/Poison Mons. It being just a little slower than Pidgeot is a coincidence, but even if half of Mega Speed boost would have surpassed Pidgeot, I would have changed the Stat to not allow it to happen. After all, the natural order of things is Birds eating bugs.
Will post Onix another day.
Pokemon: Onix
Typing: Rock-Ground
Abilities: Sturdy / Roch Head /
Rock Eater
Custom Ability: Rock Eater. Provides immunity to Rock Moves. If hit by one, random Stat (Accuracy and Evasion excluded) gets +1 boost. If a Pokemon with this ability enters the field while there are Stealth Rock on its side, it removes Stealth Rock and gets a boost in every Stat except Accuracy and Evasion.
Stats: [
75] / [
90] / [
120] / [
55] / [
65] / [
80]
Movepool Changes: Moves added: Coil.
Onix is an example of a high variance Mon that will only be useful due to the ability. Outside of defense, it has mediocre Stats and despite a good STAB Combination, won,t be doing damage except with Coil or Dragon Dance, still being easy to stop. However, if the opponent comits the mistake of setting Stealth Rock, the omniboost that provides to Onix on switch-in means it will be outspeeding almost the whole Meta, tanking almost everything (except x4 weaknesses) and dealing very high damage if apart from the omniboost it also gets to use Coil.
Onix allows Pokemon weak to Stealth Rock to shine without the need of Boots, since it disuades setting Rocks and also removes them on switch-in. Funnily enough, both Pidgeot and Beedrill are examples of such Mons.
Pidgeot (Flamigo)
Beedrill (Lokix)
Onix (Klawf)
Seadra (Wugtrio)
Dodrio (Bombirdier)
Wigglytuff (Dachsbun)