Reuniclus sucks
VIRUS
[OVERVIEW]
* A high Special Attack stat combined with access to Calm Mind makes Reuniclus a solid, non-passive Calm Mind user.
* It puts defensively inclined balance teams under heavy pressure once its checks have been removed.
* Access to reliable recovery allows Reuniclus to check foes repeatedly and to set up multiple boosts consistently.
* Magic Guard makes Reuniclus very difficult to wear down due to its immunity to Stealth Rock, Spikes, and Toxic damage.
* Good bulk in conjunction with resistances to a handful of dangerous types such as Psychic and Fighting means it can comfortably take various weak or resisted hits, such as Choice item Tapu Lele's Psyshock and Choice Scarf Garchomp's Earthquake, well.
* That said, while its typing offers these resistances, it often undermines said resistances due to the two most common Fighting-type Pokemon (Pheromosa and Buzzwole) being part Bug-type and due to its ability to check Psychic-types either being dependent on them locking themselves out of certain moves or simply not holding up due to coverage or utility moves like Shadow Ball or Taunt.
* It is weak to two other dangerous types in Ghost and Dark, with the former allowing Alolan Marowak to heavily pressure Reuniclus's team and the latter leaving it vulnerable to Pursuit and Knock Off. This hurts its defensive utility even further.
* It is extremely slow, meaning that it will almost always take a hit before it can attack.
[SET]
name: Calm Mind
move 1: Calm Mind
move 2: Psyshock
move 3: Focus Blast / Shadow Ball
move 4: Recover
item: Leftovers
ability: Magic Guard
nature: Bold
evs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
ivs: 0 Atk
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
* Calm Mind boosts Reuniclus's Special Attack and Special Defense stats, allowing it to be a solid wincon versus balance.
* Psyshock receives a STAB boost and hits on the physical defense, allowing Reuniclus to win Calm Mind wars.
* Focus Blast hits Dark- and Steel-types, but it has difficulty breaking through bulky Psychic-types such as Jirachi, Slowbro, and Bronzong and leaves Reuniclus with no way of damaging Mega Sableye.
* Shadow Ball hits bulky Psychic-types such as Mega Metagross and Jirachi hard and allows it to win one-on-one versus Mega Sableye, but it then is walled by Dark-types, leaving Reuniclus with no way to circumvent its opponent's attempts to switch into Pokemon like Tyranitar, Bisharp, and Weavile.
* Recover provides reliable recovery, allowing Reuniclus to check foes repeatedly. It also helps Reuniclus accumulate a large number of boosts.
Set Details
========
* Magic Guard prevents Reuniclus from taking any passive damage, meaning that it doesn't care about Stealth Rock or Spikes and is not vulnerable to Toxic, a move that a number of other Calm Mind users despise.
* 4 Speed EVs let it outpace uninvested Slowbro, which allows Reuniclus to hit it hard with Shadow Ball before it can initiate a Calm Mind war.
* Full HP and Defense investment maximizes Reuniclus's physical bulk, making it as hard to take down as possible once it has started boosting up and allowing it to avoid the 2HKO from Mega Metagross's Meteor Mash.
* Leftovers recovers a little of Reuniclus's health every turn, allowing it to check what it checks with higher consistency.
* Running 0 Attack IVs allows Reuniclus to minimize the damage it takes from Foul Play, which is especially important alongside Shadow Ball to make winning versus Mega Sableye one-on-one significantly easier.
Usage Tips
========
* Set up Calm Mind versus passive Pokemon and other Pokemon that cannot deal much damage to Reuniclus. Do not set up if your opponent has a Pursuit user such as Tyranitar or Weavile in the back.
* Alternate between Calm Mind and Recover until Reuniclus has enough boosts to secure a clean sweep.
* If Reuniclus lacks Focus Blast, double switch if you expect a Pursuit trapper to switch into Reuniclus. If Reuniclus carries Focus Blast, only click it if eliminating the trapper is totally necessary or if missing doesn't matter much due to the team matchup. Make sure to catch them as they switch in, as all Dark-type Pursuit trappers have the capacity to either OHKO or severely dent Reuniclus.
* Do not set up Calm Mind until all checks have been eliminated.
* Switch in versus Pokemon that Reuniclus checks such as Choice Scarf Terrakion and versus passive Pokemon that it can take advantage of such as Ferrothorn and Amoonguss.
Team Options
========
* Dugtrio takes off pressure from Pokemon like Tyranitar and is capable of eliminating specially defensive Jirachi variants due to its high Speed. It also traps and eliminates Unaware Clefable.
* Magnezone traps and eliminates Mega Scizor, which poses a major threat to Reuniclus.
* Fighting-types like Buzzwole, Keldeo, Terrakion, and Pheromosa are capable of pressuring Dark-types, which threaten Reuniclus.
* Pursuit users such as Tyranitar are able to trap and eliminate Psychic-types that give Reuniclus a headache.
* Wallbreakers such as Buzzwole, Mega Metagross, and Greninja are able to help reduce the number of boosts required for a clean sweep and can help weaken Pokemon that check Reuniclus.
* Pokemon such as Tapu Lele and Latios are able to help overwhelm stops to Reuniclus.
* Pokemon that heavily pressure offense, such as Pheromosa, Choice Scarf Nihilego, and Swords Dance + Rock Polish Landorus-T, are able to make up for the difficulty Reuniclus has setting up versus more offensively inclined builds.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
* A set with maximum Special Attack investment, Life Orb, and a moveset of Trick Room / Psyshock / Focus Blast / Shadow Ball does a number on offensive teams, but it faces competition from Pokemon like Magearna and isn't as consistent as the listed set.
* Colbur Berry allows Reuniclus to surprise Dark-types without needing to catch them as they switch in, but it doesn't like losing Leftovers much.
* A variation on the Calm Mind set with fully invested Special Attack has noticeably more offensive presence unboosted, but it doesn't get multiple boosts as consistently against physical attackers and is mostly outclassed by faster offensive Calm Mind users such as Mega Alakazam due to its low Speed stat.
* Signal Beam is an option to hit Dark- and Psychic-types in one slot and to deal more damage to Hoopa-U, but it needs to hit Hoopa-U on the switch and the power drop over Focus Blast versus other targets is not worthwhile, dealing a maximum of around 30% to uninvested Tyranitar variants at +0 and failing to OHKO Weavile even at +1.
* Grass Knot can hit Quagsire, but beyond this it doesn't hit much that Reuniclus's usual coverage options don't already deal with.
* Toxic allows Reuniclus to break through all three Unaware users, but it doesn't enjoy sacrificing the coverage to deal with these.
* Electrium Z alongside Thunder allows Reuniclus to win versus Tapu Fini and Pyukumuku while being a a generally nice option for pressuring Water-types, Celesteela, and Skarmory. That said, it involves sacrificing Leftovers and coverage against Dark- or Psychic-types to do so—which isn't usually ideal.
* A pivot set with Regenerator is a valid option that takes advantage of Reuniclus's solid all-around bulk, but this job is generally done better by other Regenerator users such as Slowbro, Tangrowth, and Amoonguss.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Dark-types**: Tyranitar is faster, takes little from anything other than Focus Blast, and either OHKOes with Crunch or traps Reuniclus with Pursuit. Weavile is faster and threatens with Knock Off. Bisharp is faster and OHKOes with Knock Off. Hoopa-U fears nothing barring the extremely rare Signal Beam, outpaces Reuniclus, and either OHKOes Reuniclus with Dark Pulse or Hyperspace Fury or severely dents one of its teammates.
**Bug-types*: Buzzwole and Pheromosa both outpace and deal very heavy damage to Reuniclus with Lunge, Leech Life, U-turn, or Bug Buzz; granted, neither can switch directly into Reuniclus. Mega Scizor can use Reuniclus as setup bait and threatens with STAB U-turn.
**Ghost-types**: Alolan Marowak outpaces Reuniclus and can put heavy pressure on it and its teammates with the threat of Shadow Bone. Gengar outpaces and deals heavy damage with Shadow Ball, putting Reuniclus into range of being KOed by one of Gengar's teammates, but Life Orb variants cannot win directly if Reuniclus has set up to +1 or more whereas Choice Scarf variants fail to OHKO unboosted Reuniclus and lose one-on-one if Reuniclus has boosted to +1 before it comes out and is healthy.
**Unaware Users**: Unaware users ignore Reuniclus's boosts, which results in Reuniclus having a hard time breaking through them. Variants of Clefable and Quagsire win one-on-one if they carry Calm Mind or Curse, respectively, whereas Pyukumuku can set up Curse in front of Reuniclus and Baton Pass to a teammate, potentially costing the Reuniclus user the game. Variants of Clefable and Quagsire that lack setup moves are still capable of stalling Reuniclus out of a significant amount of PP.
VIRUS
[OVERVIEW]
* A high Special Attack stat combined with access to Calm Mind makes Reuniclus a solid, non-passive Calm Mind user.
* It puts defensively inclined balance teams under heavy pressure once its checks have been removed.
* Access to reliable recovery allows Reuniclus to check foes repeatedly and to set up multiple boosts consistently.
* Magic Guard makes Reuniclus very difficult to wear down due to its immunity to Stealth Rock, Spikes, and Toxic damage.
* Good bulk in conjunction with resistances to a handful of dangerous types such as Psychic and Fighting means it can comfortably take various weak or resisted hits, such as Choice item Tapu Lele's Psyshock and Choice Scarf Garchomp's Earthquake, well.
* That said, while its typing offers these resistances, it often undermines said resistances due to the two most common Fighting-type Pokemon (Pheromosa and Buzzwole) being part Bug-type and due to its ability to check Psychic-types either being dependent on them locking themselves out of certain moves or simply not holding up due to coverage or utility moves like Shadow Ball or Taunt.
* It is weak to two other dangerous types in Ghost and Dark, with the former allowing Alolan Marowak to heavily pressure Reuniclus's team and the latter leaving it vulnerable to Pursuit and Knock Off. This hurts its defensive utility even further.
* It is extremely slow, meaning that it will almost always take a hit before it can attack.
[SET]
name: Calm Mind
move 1: Calm Mind
move 2: Psyshock
move 3: Focus Blast / Shadow Ball
move 4: Recover
item: Leftovers
ability: Magic Guard
nature: Bold
evs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
ivs: 0 Atk
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
* Calm Mind boosts Reuniclus's Special Attack and Special Defense stats, allowing it to be a solid wincon versus balance.
* Psyshock receives a STAB boost and hits on the physical defense, allowing Reuniclus to win Calm Mind wars.
* Focus Blast hits Dark- and Steel-types, but it has difficulty breaking through bulky Psychic-types such as Jirachi, Slowbro, and Bronzong and leaves Reuniclus with no way of damaging Mega Sableye.
* Shadow Ball hits bulky Psychic-types such as Mega Metagross and Jirachi hard and allows it to win one-on-one versus Mega Sableye, but it then is walled by Dark-types, leaving Reuniclus with no way to circumvent its opponent's attempts to switch into Pokemon like Tyranitar, Bisharp, and Weavile.
* Recover provides reliable recovery, allowing Reuniclus to check foes repeatedly. It also helps Reuniclus accumulate a large number of boosts.
Set Details
========
* Magic Guard prevents Reuniclus from taking any passive damage, meaning that it doesn't care about Stealth Rock or Spikes and is not vulnerable to Toxic, a move that a number of other Calm Mind users despise.
* 4 Speed EVs let it outpace uninvested Slowbro, which allows Reuniclus to hit it hard with Shadow Ball before it can initiate a Calm Mind war.
* Full HP and Defense investment maximizes Reuniclus's physical bulk, making it as hard to take down as possible once it has started boosting up and allowing it to avoid the 2HKO from Mega Metagross's Meteor Mash.
* Leftovers recovers a little of Reuniclus's health every turn, allowing it to check what it checks with higher consistency.
* Running 0 Attack IVs allows Reuniclus to minimize the damage it takes from Foul Play, which is especially important alongside Shadow Ball to make winning versus Mega Sableye one-on-one significantly easier.
Usage Tips
========
* Set up Calm Mind versus passive Pokemon and other Pokemon that cannot deal much damage to Reuniclus. Do not set up if your opponent has a Pursuit user such as Tyranitar or Weavile in the back.
* Alternate between Calm Mind and Recover until Reuniclus has enough boosts to secure a clean sweep.
* If Reuniclus lacks Focus Blast, double switch if you expect a Pursuit trapper to switch into Reuniclus. If Reuniclus carries Focus Blast, only click it if eliminating the trapper is totally necessary or if missing doesn't matter much due to the team matchup. Make sure to catch them as they switch in, as all Dark-type Pursuit trappers have the capacity to either OHKO or severely dent Reuniclus.
* Do not set up Calm Mind until all checks have been eliminated.
* Switch in versus Pokemon that Reuniclus checks such as Choice Scarf Terrakion and versus passive Pokemon that it can take advantage of such as Ferrothorn and Amoonguss.
Team Options
========
* Dugtrio takes off pressure from Pokemon like Tyranitar and is capable of eliminating specially defensive Jirachi variants due to its high Speed. It also traps and eliminates Unaware Clefable.
* Magnezone traps and eliminates Mega Scizor, which poses a major threat to Reuniclus.
* Fighting-types like Buzzwole, Keldeo, Terrakion, and Pheromosa are capable of pressuring Dark-types, which threaten Reuniclus.
* Pursuit users such as Tyranitar are able to trap and eliminate Psychic-types that give Reuniclus a headache.
* Wallbreakers such as Buzzwole, Mega Metagross, and Greninja are able to help reduce the number of boosts required for a clean sweep and can help weaken Pokemon that check Reuniclus.
* Pokemon such as Tapu Lele and Latios are able to help overwhelm stops to Reuniclus.
* Pokemon that heavily pressure offense, such as Pheromosa, Choice Scarf Nihilego, and Swords Dance + Rock Polish Landorus-T, are able to make up for the difficulty Reuniclus has setting up versus more offensively inclined builds.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
* A set with maximum Special Attack investment, Life Orb, and a moveset of Trick Room / Psyshock / Focus Blast / Shadow Ball does a number on offensive teams, but it faces competition from Pokemon like Magearna and isn't as consistent as the listed set.
* Colbur Berry allows Reuniclus to surprise Dark-types without needing to catch them as they switch in, but it doesn't like losing Leftovers much.
* A variation on the Calm Mind set with fully invested Special Attack has noticeably more offensive presence unboosted, but it doesn't get multiple boosts as consistently against physical attackers and is mostly outclassed by faster offensive Calm Mind users such as Mega Alakazam due to its low Speed stat.
* Signal Beam is an option to hit Dark- and Psychic-types in one slot and to deal more damage to Hoopa-U, but it needs to hit Hoopa-U on the switch and the power drop over Focus Blast versus other targets is not worthwhile, dealing a maximum of around 30% to uninvested Tyranitar variants at +0 and failing to OHKO Weavile even at +1.
* Grass Knot can hit Quagsire, but beyond this it doesn't hit much that Reuniclus's usual coverage options don't already deal with.
* Toxic allows Reuniclus to break through all three Unaware users, but it doesn't enjoy sacrificing the coverage to deal with these.
* Electrium Z alongside Thunder allows Reuniclus to win versus Tapu Fini and Pyukumuku while being a a generally nice option for pressuring Water-types, Celesteela, and Skarmory. That said, it involves sacrificing Leftovers and coverage against Dark- or Psychic-types to do so—which isn't usually ideal.
* A pivot set with Regenerator is a valid option that takes advantage of Reuniclus's solid all-around bulk, but this job is generally done better by other Regenerator users such as Slowbro, Tangrowth, and Amoonguss.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Dark-types**: Tyranitar is faster, takes little from anything other than Focus Blast, and either OHKOes with Crunch or traps Reuniclus with Pursuit. Weavile is faster and threatens with Knock Off. Bisharp is faster and OHKOes with Knock Off. Hoopa-U fears nothing barring the extremely rare Signal Beam, outpaces Reuniclus, and either OHKOes Reuniclus with Dark Pulse or Hyperspace Fury or severely dents one of its teammates.
**Bug-types*: Buzzwole and Pheromosa both outpace and deal very heavy damage to Reuniclus with Lunge, Leech Life, U-turn, or Bug Buzz; granted, neither can switch directly into Reuniclus. Mega Scizor can use Reuniclus as setup bait and threatens with STAB U-turn.
**Ghost-types**: Alolan Marowak outpaces Reuniclus and can put heavy pressure on it and its teammates with the threat of Shadow Bone. Gengar outpaces and deals heavy damage with Shadow Ball, putting Reuniclus into range of being KOed by one of Gengar's teammates, but Life Orb variants cannot win directly if Reuniclus has set up to +1 or more whereas Choice Scarf variants fail to OHKO unboosted Reuniclus and lose one-on-one if Reuniclus has boosted to +1 before it comes out and is healthy.
**Unaware Users**: Unaware users ignore Reuniclus's boosts, which results in Reuniclus having a hard time breaking through them. Variants of Clefable and Quagsire win one-on-one if they carry Calm Mind or Curse, respectively, whereas Pyukumuku can set up Curse in front of Reuniclus and Baton Pass to a teammate, potentially costing the Reuniclus user the game. Variants of Clefable and Quagsire that lack setup moves are still capable of stalling Reuniclus out of a significant amount of PP.
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