Project Research Projects - Bloodmoon

[UT]

SV AAA Research Projects
approved by LordBox | hosted by UT | OP Heavily stolen from SV PU Research Week by gulch which was partly stolen from SV UU Research Week by BigFatMantis

Welcome to SV AAA's Research Project! We'll be doing regular investigations into SV AAA Pokemon or Abilities! The goal of this thread is to explore Pokemon that have niches, especially ones in the middle of the VR, and more thoroughly explore them to see how they really fare in the metagame. We will also consider exploring higher ranked Pokemon that are primarily known for one or two abilities without those abilities. Here's a breakdown of how this will work.

In this project, participants research suggested Pokemon or abilities and then share their experience. Please keep the following in mind:
​

• Be open-minded! Some options will naturally be better than others, but don't immediately dismiss something as terrible!​
• Feel free to theorymon early on in the research period, but make it clear you're doing so. Later on in the period you will be expected to back up your findings with evidence.​
• Just because an analysis has been done for a Pokemon doesn't mean there isn't more to explore. Think outside the box!​
• What sets work well with this mon / ability? What weaknesses does it have? What teammates go well with it? What archetypes does it fit on?​

Each project, there will be a new tag given for participants to use on the AAA ladder. The player with the highest ranking on their research alt at the end of each week will be added to this thread's Hall of Fame! Insightful comments on another user's post are also highly encouraged. Discuss your findings with others! This discussion also does not have to be limited to this thread; you are encouraged to discuss the Pokemon being researched in the OM room on Pokemon Showdown, the OM Discord, and the Viability Rankings Thread. Saving and posting of replays is heavily encouraged, as they are often the best way to provide substantial backing to your claims.

To sign up, make a post with the Pokemon or set(s) you will be researching and the ladder alt you will be using. For example, my signup post could look like this:

RWTalon UT
Talonflame

Signups can be as late as you'd like, but in most cases the project will still end on when I say so but let's start with two weeks.

When documenting your experiences, questions to ask yourself and answer in your post include: How useful are these Pokemon or abilities in SV AAA? What niche(s) do they fill? What gives them trouble? What advantages or disadvantages do they have compared to other Pokemon? How do they fit into the metagame?

HALL OF FAME

 

[UT]

Our first project is Cocaine Bear! With its good physical bulk, strong special attack (and signature move), reliable recovery, setup, and priority, it is a flexible mon with a wide range of options.

What sets can it use? Which ones have you found success with? What teammates go well with it? Is this just a potential mon that isn't actually good? Let's find out!

This project's ladder prefix is BMAAA, and whoever has the highest alt on <t:1757944800:F> will get added to the hall of fame and a prize determined entirely by my mood that day (please include a few replays here to prove you're using Bloodmoon).

Happy laddering and projecting!

 

[porcupine21]

Looks cool as hell!!!
Ladder alt: BMAAA Babarbichi
set running: Pixilate/Galvanize

 

[UT]

BMAAA Talon

I want to be checking out how to build around Calm Mind sets (mostly Fluffy or Water Absorb) and offensive sets (thinking Adapt or Tinted: 252+ SpA Choice Specs Adaptability Ursaluna-Bloodmoon Blood Moon vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Assault Vest Manaphy: 344-406 (85.1 - 100.4%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO)

 

[GlalieGoesBoom]

BMAAA Glalie

Flame body bright powder
(Dland + Moonlight?)

 

[GlalieGoesBoom]

imo the ability should always either fluffy or water absorb to reduce ur bad mus, zama and manaphy respectively, while dmg amp abilities arent rly needed on cm sets, as it makes u worse at fishing. However, its impossible to run a good set while also not getting completely walled by ee ghosts

 

[UT]

Ladies and Gentleman, we got one.

Seriously though help me optimize this team; I don't think it's good per se but it is funny.

Also fififlutters QT Glory if you don't post your Bloodmoom teams I will; I can be the bridge between discord and the forums.

 

[fififlutters]

Hi, people are asking me for Bloodmoon teams, so whilst I have not actually built in a while, I will provide:

https://pokepast.es/a544282efb2bd026
https://pokepast.es/281fc2ccae985a90

yap

Unaware BM Ursa is a mon I've used fairly extensively since the Ceruledge metagame. Whilst it wasn't the first ability I'd tried to use BM Ursa with, it was the one that ultimately made me consider BM Ursa a mainstay of my own. It originally existed as a counter to SD Ceruledge on balance teams, where they had been struggling for answers that weren't WBB Corv. However, whilst that might have been the initial reason for its usage, it soon proved on a laddering session that it was more than just that - it turns BM Ursa into a blanket checking machine. In addition, it really highlighted how Unaware is at its best when used by tanks rather than walls. Admittedly, given where Unaware has thrived in the past, it's mostly been on very bulky teams, where those Pokemon can afford to do nothing with their turns. I had previously used Unaware Cresselia as a hyper offense blanket check before moving to BM Ursa, and whilst at first they seemed somewhat similar in concept, the two were leaps apart, in part because BM Ursa could actually do something in a situation where it is 2HKOd. Since then, I've continued to try to incorporate it into my fat teams, where it competes continually with Regenerator Ting-Lu for the ground slot.

These two teams are the most recent examples of teams I've built with BM Ursa. BM Ursa primarily acts as a reserve check, being able to stomach hits from Roaring Moon, Kingambit, Great Tusk, Gleam Gholdengo, etc where other mons cannot. It also acts as "speed control" in a way, where it deals with otherwise dangerous setup like Hadron Moth, Press Zama, other NP Ghold and Garchomp in a pinch. In general, this mon plays quite differently depending on the type of team that you're facing. I tend to use it as a progress maker where most teams will not tend to have a wincon that I need to keep it in reserve for, where it acts as a difficult to stop threat in the midgame, usually claiming important pivots in the process, like regen waters.

BM Ursa wishes it could use Blood Moon more easily in this metagame, I have to say. EE Ghold being very common is probably the most infuriating thing about using this mon, as it prevents you from easily using the move that allows you to more effectively act as a general blanket check, meaning that building with this mon can be kind of a dilemma. IMO Unaware gets the most value out of any variant in an instance where you are walled by EE Ghold, as its defensive utility tends to be more
broad than with any other variant. However, Unaware BM Ursa is also one of the better answers to runaway setup Ghold, which makes for a bit of a dilemma.

Surprisingly, in terms of on paper matchups, you don't lose a huge amount of matchups by moving to Moonblast - the primary ones you drop are Solar Beam Moltres and Weather Ball Zapdos (arguably PSea Zapdos as a whole sometimes...) - but you do lose that instant power that makes BM Ursa so much more dangerous. It makes for a very frustrating feeling when using this mon sometimes, it genuinely pops off in many matchups, but it's kneecapped so hard by its STAB combination having a double immunity that's arguably the face of the format. Perhaps were it not for that, then more offensive variants like Fluffy and Beads of Ruin would be much more intimidating, rather than being written off in a literal sense by unfortunate circumstance. However, I do genuinely believe that even with these issues being chronic for this mon, it still finds a niche as bulky setup that no alternative options even come close to.