Reuniclus

[Bombkirby]

Tricking Reuniclus a Scarf is the best way to beat it IMO. Not only does it become useless once it's tricked, it also is turned into setup fodder so that's worth kudos.

Thats how I deal with it, with my Brozong who happens to 4x resist Psychic and knows Trick. But realistically speaking, not everyone packs trick though.

Some one should make a list of all the sure fire ways to kill a Reuniclus. Then we can rationalize why some people think its cheap beyond reason, and why some don't think it is. If a bunch of the methods are rather easy and reasonable to pull off, I think its safe to say people are over reacting. However, if all the methods are gimmicky/uncommon then yeah....hmmm.

 

[Funen1]

Also Psychock is arguably better than Psychic because it allows you to win CM wars.

Bad idea considering that quite a few Fighting-types (of which countering them is one of Reuniclus' main jobs) have good/great Defense and mediocre Special Defense at best, unless you've built up any prior boosts. Made even worse when they have Bulk Up, making it like a pseudo-CM war.

A Breloom could also counter Reuniclus assuming it has no status ailments already. Just switch in on a predicted CM and Spore since your faster. Then proceed to Sub and slowly break it down with Seed Bomb. If it switches out, you still have a Sub and can Focus Punch something to oblivion. Reuniclus being asleep also means that it's practically dead weight for the rest of the match due to the new sleep mechanics.

The definition of a counter (as opposed to a check) is being able to switch in on any of the opponent's moves and immediately be able to threaten it, correct? If so, Psychic makes it unsafe for Breloom to come in outside of prediction (which you assume above) or right after one of your Pokemon gets KO'd. But if the Reuniclus user really suspects you'll Spore on the first turn, he could switch out first thing and let something else absorb the Sleep, then switch right back in and pound away at your Subs with Psychic.

Like Dracolosse said, Tricking a Choice item onto Reuniclus works much better, since his most effective sets require setup moves of some kind. And just like many other Pokemon, Reuniclus can be flat-out overpowered by opponents that have already boosted their (Special) Attack, and with his very low speed it's not like he can come in after a kill and save the day.

What else can defeat Reuniclus obviously depends on the set.
- On the CM set, Focus Blast against a Specially-bulky Scizor is almost always a 3HKO even at +1. If he switches in on the first CM, he can SD once and pound away. Taunt users (of which most of them are bound to be faster) keep him from setting up at all, while bulky phazers can blow him away to give a setup-sweeper a better chance at killing him later.
- TR Reuniclus gets walled by the standard Chansey/Blissey since he normally doesn't carry Recover and can't boost his power/defenses.
- Any other sets risk losing valuable coverage or survivability, so they're nowhere near as destructive as the first two.

 

[Phadunk]

I'm trying to choose which path to go down for Reuniclus..

a Bold CMing set, or a Modest set. What really is the standard, if there is one.

 

[Kindrindra]

I'm trying to choose which path to go down for Reuniclus..

a Bold CMing set, or a Modest set. What really is the standard, if there is one.

To my knowledge, CM Sets typically run Bold, whereas TR Sets typically run Modest.

 

[NDenizen]

TR Reuniclus won't be walled by Chansey/Blissey if it packs Psyshock. It usually can't KO either, but that means constantly using Softboiled until PP Stall or a Crit. Of course Psyshock fails to neutrally KO a ton of things, so it's less used.

And whilst Calm Mind and Trick Room are usually not seen together, I did try it once with Focus Blast and Psyshock covering both sides of the defensive spectrum. It was brutally effective in some scenarios, but in others the loss of HP Fire really became clear. Trick Room has surprise factor enough, when Calm Mind is thrown in as well, it really throws people off.

 

[Phadunk]

After reading this thread and looking at the current metagame, we have a lot to figure out with this little guy. Mainly as a lot of reason to own him, are ruined if/when Trick Room is up. But he's definitely not as super amazing and hard to beat as first thought. Sadly enough. I myself am trying to figure out the best set/ev spread to run for my Trick Room team.

 

[AccidentalGreed]

Amazing how Reuniclus was considered broken by many people months ago, and the metagame has adapted highly to it. This just goes to show we need to give things some time to settle (like the Shell Smash period).

 

[CanadiEntei]

GameFAQs posters are freaking out over something called:

Burnclust

I assume, as do some posters there at GameFAQs, that this "Burnclust" spoken of is based on...

Reuniclus @ Flame Orb
Magic Guard
EV'd somehow
-Trick

Is this true? Or is Burnclust (?) something else?

 

[DetroitLolcat]

I think it's just a fail Gamefaqs meme.

Gamefaqs is pretty cool though.

 

[Dracolosse]

OK so let's list the ways you can beat CM versions of Reuniclus :

-Strong STAB Super Effective Physical attacks. Megahorns (Heracross/Escavalier), Crunch (Tyranitar), Bug Bite or U-Turn (Scizor)...
-Tricking a Choice Item (Gengar, Latios, Starmie, Metagross...)
-STAB or Banded Explosions (Metagross, Snorlax, Lickilicky)
-Not letting it set up : Taunt (Skarmory, Mew, Gliscor, Gyarados, Azelf....)
-Unaware Quagsire can wear it down
-Spiritomb and Sableye

Can anyone think of anything else?

 

[min min]

Taunt Deoxys-D. Taunt Jellicent. CM Latias.

EDIT: With Roar.

 

[Dark Prince Raven]

After reading this thread and looking at the current metagame, we have a lot to figure out with this little guy. Mainly as a lot of reason to own him, are ruined if/when Trick Room is up. But he's definitely not as super amazing and hard to beat as first thought. Sadly enough. I myself am trying to figure out the best set/ev spread to run for my Trick Room team.

I just run a max hp max SpA Quiet one holding Life Orb.

 

[min min]

What about non-Quiet Reuniclus or something between the speed bracket of 30-40, then you could tank Conkeldurr's Paybacks and still outspeed and KO Slowbro with Shadow Ball even before you set up Trick Room, after Trick Room those are reversed...

or some other convoluted speed bracket that allows you the same with Ferrothorn?

 

[lmitchell0012]

OK so let's list the ways you can beat CM versions of Reuniclus :

-Strong STAB Super Effective Physical attacks. Megahorns (Heracross/Escavalier), Crunch (Tyranitar), Bug Bite or U-Turn (Scizor)...
-Tricking a Choice Item (Gengar, Latios, Starmie, Metagross...)
-STAB or Banded Explosions (Metagross, Snorlax, Lickilicky)
-Not letting it set up : Taunt (Skarmory, Mew, Gliscor, Gyarados, Azelf....)
-Unaware Quagsire can wear it down
-Spiritomb and Sableye

Can anyone think of anything else?

Metagross doesn't get the STAB boost with explosion...

 

[ZoroarkFTW]

CM Latios is bad because it can be easily taken out by a physical priority move, like Scizor with Bullet Punch, and a Reuniclus or Espeon can easily 2HKO with Psyshock, because the opponent would be expeting a move like Psychic or Focus Blast from those pokes that wouldn't do crap to a Latios.

 

[Lady Shinki]

Metagross doesn't get the STAB boost with explosion...

It does say BANDED OR STAB. Band explosion from metagross does (93.63% - 110.38%) to 252/252 bold, so I'd say it's a pretty solid way to get rid of it.

Also, here's a new set idea:

Reuniclus @ Leftovers
252 HP/252 Def/4 SpDef
Bold / Magic Guard

Psychic
Acid Armor
Recover
Calm Mind

Taunt bait, countered by other boosting Psychic types, hard countered by any Dark type, but one of the most tenacious setups I've ever seen/used. If your opponent doesn't have a boosting attacker that can stat up alongside this guy (or something like Gengar that can quickly hit its weaker special defense with STAB super effective hits), your opponent is finished. Trick can be spotted coming from a mile away, so pair this up with something fun like ScarfTar or other pursuiters like Drapion who can survive a Focus Blast and outspeed non-scarfed psychics/ghosts (in fact, Drapion is probably the single best thing to pair up with this set since it can provide Toxic Spikes support to beat out Sableye and Chansey/Blissey while having the bulk to tank hits from stuff like Gengar) Here's some calcs that show how awesome this thing is though, and all calcs are at +2 defense:

CB Scizor U-turn: (38.68% - 45.75%)
CBTar Crunch: (45.28% - 53.77%)
CB Escavalier Megahorn: (67.92% - 80.66%)
CB Rampardos Head Smash: (49.06% - 58.02%)
CB Haxorus Outrage (rivalry+): (45.28% - 53.30%)
CB Lickilicky Explosion: (51.65% - 60.85%)

These are the most powerful physical attacks in the game, and they can all be tanked and recovered off assuming that you don't get haxed, i.e.

Turn 1: You bring reuniclus in fresh off of a death, and your opponent switches out as you use Iron Defense.
Turn 2: They attack as you use Iron Defense again.
Turn 3: They futilely continue to attack as you Recover off the damage and then start to stat up with Calm Mind at +4 Def.

 

[133k]

Metagross doesn't get the STAB boost with explosion...

I think he meant Banded Metagross.

EDIT: Ninja'd by 6 seconds...

 

[AccidentalGreed]

It does say BANDED OR STAB. Band explosion from metagross does (93.63% - 110.38%) to 252/252 bold, so I'd say it's a pretty solid way to get rid of it.

Also, here's a new set idea:

Reuniclus @ Leftovers
252 HP/252 Def/4 SpDef
Bold / Magic Guard

Psychic
Acid Armor
Recover
Calm Mind

Taunt bait, countered by other boosting Psychic types, hard countered by any Dark type, but one of the most tenacious setups I've ever seen/used. If your opponent doesn't have a boosting attacker that can stat up alongside this guy (or something like Gengar that can quickly hit its weaker special defense with STAB super effective hits), your opponent is finished. Trick can be spotted coming from a mile away, so pair this up with something fun like ScarfTar or other pursuiters like Drapion who can survive a Focus Blast and outspeed non-scarfed psychics/ghosts (in fact, Drapion is probably the single best thing to pair up with this set since it can provide Toxic Spikes support to beat out Sableye and Chansey/Blissey while having the bulk to tank hits from stuff like Gengar) Here's some calcs that show how awesome this thing is though, and all calcs are at +2 defense:

CB Scizor U-turn: (38.68% - 45.75%)
CBTar Crunch: (45.28% - 53.77%)
CB Escavalier Megahorn: (67.92% - 80.66%)
CB Rampardos Head Smash: (49.06% - 58.02%)
CB Haxorus Outrage (rivalry+): (45.28% - 53.30%)
CB Lickilicky Explosion: (51.65% - 60.85%)

These are the most powerful physical attacks in the game, and they can all be tanked and recovered off assuming that you don't get haxed, i.e.

Turn 1: You bring reuniclus in fresh off of a death, and your opponent switches out as you use Iron Defense.
Turn 2: They attack as you use Iron Defense again.
Turn 3: They futilely continue to attack as you Recover off the damage and then start to stat up with Calm Mind at +4 Def.

Honestly, if you're going this route, you might as well use Barrier + Rest + Stored Power Musharna, who can pretty much set up on Reuniclus, too.

 

[133k]

Honestly, if you're going this route, you might as well use Barrier + Rest + Stored Power Musharna, who can pretty much set up on Reuniclus, too.

Except that'd be weaker and would lack reliable recovery.

 

[AccidentalGreed]

Except that'd be weaker and would lack reliable recovery.

I suppose, but Acid Armor Reuniclus is a rather unorthrodox strategy. +6 Stored Power is rather threatening in its own way when it comes to defensive boosting Musharna.

On the other hand, setting up successfully on Special Attacks is the key for both Pokemon.

 

[133k]

I suppose, but Acid Armor Reuniclus is a rather unorthrodox strategy. +6 Stored Power is rather threatening in its own way when it comes to defensive boosting Musharna.

On the other hand, setting up successfully on Special Attacks is the key for both Pokemon.

I see what you're saying, but a I think a Reuniclus Psychic off of a +6 spA does more damage than an un-boosted base (200 something, right?) attack. Unless you used Calm Mind in conjunction with Barrier, that is.

 

[NijaSkills]

I think that is the point. With Barrier, it would only hit 140 BP at +6 Def, so the +6/+6/+6 Def/SpAtk/SpDef (380 BP) is far more threatening.

 

[Lady Shinki]

Reuniclus has Magic Guard+Recover over Musharna. Musharna has a little bit better bulk, and Stored Power is a much better attack for bulky boosting like this, but Reuniclus can't be stalled out by Toxic and isn't attack fodder during turns when Musharna would be stuck sleeping. Even with defensive boosting, Musharna can be 3hko'ed by a decently-powered super effective move, which means that it can't keep its boosting going, whereas Reuniclus can alternate between Recover and AA/CM.

 

[lmitchell0012]

All the counters mentioned above worked pretty well, but I think we can all agree that spiritomb is by far the best counter to this thing. It's immune to psychic and focus blast (two of it's most common move), so the only thing it really has to fear is shadow ball, which doesn't even do that much if you invest in special defense.

 

[Daenym]

How hard does Spiritomb hit, though? Enough to KO through a couple of CM boosts? Or, on the physical side, with a Ghost move or Sucker Punch (which leaves you open to it CMing more). This assumes Reun has Shadow Ball/HP Fire/something, obviously.