Resource Simple Questions, Simple Answers Thread (read the op before posting a thread)

Calugia said:
Two that come to my mind are Stone Edge and Psycho Cut. Psycho cut has twice the crit chance of zen headbutt in addition to having superior accuracy, but it's base power of 10 fewer makes a huge difference in use. Stone Edge, on the other hand, is another move where I suspect the high crit chance impacts how often players use it, as it is the most-used move I can think of which only has an effective power of 80 by your calculation.
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Stone Edge just happens to be the only powerful, common Rock STAB. ZenButt nabs critical KO benchmarks for a Medicham and Gallade, which also factors in. Crits and a chance of Flinch kinda offset I guess?

The calculation I posted was a rule of thumb nothing exists in a vacuum. KOes, PP, accessibility all matter.
 
Kamen Galaxy said:
Is AOA Mew usable, and if so, any sets for it?
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AoA would be extremely niche and I wouldn't call it even fringely viable. Mew's niche in OU hinges on the status moves in its movepool - recovery, hazards, taunt, status, double boosting. You could try a specs or scarf set, but you'll find the power from base 100 SpA severely lacking, even with a specs boost.

As far as history goes, Mew only has a single AoA set on the smogdex, in R/S Uber (Choice Band Explosion and coverage back when Explosion was busted and Mew was the only Uber that learned Explosion)
 
Calugia said:
Two that come to my mind are Stone Edge and Psycho Cut. Psycho cut has twice the crit chance of zen headbutt in addition to having superior accuracy, but it's base power of 10 fewer makes a huge difference in use. Stone Edge, on the other hand, is another move where I suspect the high crit chance impacts how often players use it, as it is the most-used move I can think of which only has an effective power of 80 by your calculation.
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I'm a little late to answering this question, but as CelticPride said, everything is in a vacuum - there is no guaranteed right answer every time. Typically, you have to look at the metagames themselves and ask yourself "does my current set (with a weaker move like flamethrower) fail to get any OHKOs or 2HKOs on relevant / common targets that a stronger move could get me?" Obviously if the stronger, less accurate move doesn't give enough of a power boost to turn most 3HKOs into 2HKOs or 2HKOs into OHKOs, then it generally isn't worth the risk. But again, that is a generality that could likely be justified one way or the other anytime
 
Are there any creative Gengar sets floating around? The 3-attack + Taunt set is kind of basic and gets worn down easily by hazards. I understand that with the ability nerf Gengar received SubDisable is basically dead in the water, but there has to be something better than "generic coverage sweeper" out there.
 
Kakimori said:
Are there any creative Gengar sets floating around? The 3-attack + Taunt set is kind of basic and gets worn down easily by hazards. I understand that with the ability nerf Gengar received SubDisable is basically dead in the water, but there has to be something better than "generic coverage sweeper" out there.
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Metronome is a cool item on it to blast past stuff like Celesteela and Toxapex that you usually spam Shadow Ball multiple time versus. Most defensive techs don't work due to its crappy bulk and lack of super useful resistances/communities (hence why SubDisable and SubSplit are so poor). I suppose if you're talking about move options that it can run Destiny Bond, Substitute, or Will-O-Wisp to screw with Sucker Punch users, Knock Off to cripple AV Magearna on offensive sets, and Z Thunder (or Thunderbolt) to smack Celesteela/Toxapex.
 
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Kamen Galaxy said:
Is AOA Mew usable, and if so, any sets for it?
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It’s pretty bad for the most part, but Omari P uses AV Mew with Ice Beam/Earth Power/Fire Blast/Psychic or something along those lines as somewhat of a lure for random threats and pick apart offensive teams for its coverage. I guess you could also run a physically based set with like Low Kick/Gunk Shot and other lure moves, but that seems really bad. If you wanna use an offensive Mew set that doesn't suck, then I recommend using an Nasty Plot set with Mewnium Z to have a super powerful nuke and fairly effective balance breaker that can come in clutch late game vs offensive teams as well.
 
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LeNorm said:
Should Blacephalon run Timid or Naive/Hasty if running Explosion on the Choice Scarf set? The analysis doesn't mention either, but when it doesn't run negative attack, it guarantees a OHKO on Volcarona, whereas with Timid its got a 46% chance to OHKO. But is the loss of bulk worth it, normally?
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The loss of bulk worths it, because it is fragile af even with neutral defense nature, so Hasty is the prefered one
 
Kakimori said:
Are there any creative Gengar sets floating around? The 3-attack + Taunt set is kind of basic and gets worn down easily by hazards. I understand that with the ability nerf Gengar received SubDisable is basically dead in the water, but there has to be something better than "generic coverage sweeper" out there.
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Gengar @ Ghostium Z
Ability: Cursed Body
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hex
- Will-O-Wisp
- Sludge Wave
- Focus Blast

This set is pretty cool, especially when paired with other status. Z-Hex has the same BP as Z-Shadow Ball, letting you still have a nuke like the semi-standard Z set, but you can pair it with status and bluff Choice effectively here, too. I've built a couple teams around it -- generally bulkier builds meant to spread status and progressively weaken the opponent -- and they have had decent levels of success.
 
Finchinator said:
Gengar @ Ghostium Z
Ability: Cursed Body
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hex
- Will-O-Wisp
- Sludge Wave
- Focus Blast

This set is pretty cool, especially when paired with other status. Z-Hex has the same BP as Z-Shadow Ball, letting you still have a nuke like the semi-standard Z set, but you can pair it with status and bluff Choice effectively here, too. I've built a couple teams around it -- generally bulkier builds meant to spread status and progressively weaken the opponent -- and they have had decent levels of success.
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I like it; I've been running the same thing with Shadow Ball over Will-O-Wisp so I can have immediate power as well as taking advantage of a status'd enemy when possible. I think the real problem is that Gengar really misses Black Sludge, but since (a) no Levitate and (b) Fairies have effectively removed Fighting types from the game (and Lopunny is a whore) Gengar can't reliably switch into shit or waste opponent turns while recovering anymore. Even if you run Taunt, Toxapex can fuck you up if it Scalds the turn you Taunt.

My old style of Gengar revolved around bringing him in multiple times throughout a match, but the aforementioned problems have stifled his diversity. I've been thinking about a WoW set so I'll give yours a try (currently running PlagueScor to spread Toxic).

EDIT: I wonder if some kind of Pain Split set would be viable, but this isn't the Gengar theorycraft thread so I'll leave it at that.
 
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Scuba Diver said:
After using LO Mamo I wanted to bring back LO Hoopa-U, can anyone recommend me a set?
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That's not that great of an idea considering how Hoopa is usually able to take a couple of weak special moves because of its good special bulk but when equipped with a LO it gets worn down too fast. I don't think LO Hoopa acomplishes anything zmove Hoopa doesnt, which runs Nasty Plot / Dark Pulse / Psyshock / Focus Blast with a Fightinium Z, this set has the flexibility of a non choice Hoopa with Nasty Plot to take advantage of switches and just obliterate defensive cores. AoP takes care of annoying mons like Tyranitar Magearna etc. If you insist on using LO you should prolly use a 4 Atks set with maybe HP Ice as last move for Lando
 
Finchinator said:
Gengar @ Ghostium Z
Ability: Cursed Body
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hex
- Will-O-Wisp
- Sludge Wave
- Focus Blast
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What 2HKOs or OHKOs can Gengar achieve when running Sludge Wave over Sludge Bomb? Or is the poison chance just completely irrelevant even if it was a 1BP difference?
 
13_luckynumber said:
Sludge wave is useful so that the occasional bullet proof Chesnaught, kommo-o dont wall Gengar
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Chesnaught is completely irrelevant in OU and kommo-o from what I can tell is also quite horrible, and in the case of both, you're more thank likely going to wisp them then proceed to hit them with hex. The reasoning as to why wave>bomb is probably due to the slight power increase; from memory there doesn't seem to be any common scenario in which the actual base power of wave matters over bomb, but you'd generally want it due to the extra increase of power over the increased poison percentage as you already have will-o-wisp to cripple most of gengar's switchins, and as Finchinator stated, most of his builds with the gengar set have other pokemon which can support it by spreading status and help whittle opposing pokemon.
 
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Eden. said:
Chesnaught is completely irrelevant in OU and kommo-o from what I can tell is also quite horrible, and in the case of both, you're more thank likely going to wisp them then proceed to hit them with hex. The reasoning as to why wave>bomb is probably due to the slight power increase; from memory there doesn't seem to be any common scenario in which the actual base power of wave matters over bomb, but you'd generally want it due to the extra increase of power over the increased poison percentage as you already have will-o-wisp to cripple most of gengar's switchins.
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I assume it's also because there's a bunch of switch-ins that this set cannot beat that you'd want to burn much more than poison (say, Tyranitar).

Sludge Wave having a third of Bomb's poison chance reduces the possibilities of inflicting the wrong status.
 
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LzzzR said:
What 2HKOs or OHKOs can Gengar achieve when running Sludge Wave over Sludge Bomb? Or is the poison chance just completely irrelevant even if it was a 1BP difference?
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252 SpA Gengar Sludge Wave vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Tapu Lele: 276-326 (98.2 - 116%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO
252 SpA Gengar Sludge Bomb vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Tapu Lele: 260-308 (92.5 - 109.6%) -- 56.3% chance to OHKO

252 SpA Gengar Sludge Bomb vs. 0 HP / 0- SpD Greninja: 217-256 (76.1 - 89.8%) -- 18.8% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
252 SpA Gengar Sludge Wave vs. 0 HP / 0- SpD Greninja: 229-271 (80.3 - 95%) -- 50% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock

252 SpA Gengar Sludge Wave vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Azumarill: 374-444 (92.8 - 110.1%) -- 56.3% chance to OHKO (Whirlpool set)
252 SpA Gengar Sludge Bomb vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Azumarill: 356-420 (88.3 - 104.2%) -- 25% chance to OHKO

Also comes into play vs AV Bulu if it runs +SDef as then Sludge Bomb can fail to kill, but that isn't particularly common and should not be used, so yea.

To explain a bit more, I have other means of spreading Toxic on the team I use it with (Toxapex and another Toxic user), I prefer to burn most likely switch-ins to Gengar if I want to status them at all (also, some are Steel types, which obviously does not help), and the damage output being higher never hurts when you're using an offensive Pokemon and the move cannot miss. I am sure that Sludge Bomb would also be fine on this set, too, if you feel it fits your team better, however.
 
What hard-counters M-Pinsir, Hawlucha, Kartana, and M-Scizor besides Zapdos?

Also are there any places around here I can bump heads with a decently high-ranked player (1700+) about teambuilding other than making a full RMT?
 
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Kakimori said:
What hard-counters M-Pinsir, Hawlucha, Kartana, and M-Scizor besides Zapdos?

Also are there any places around here I can bump heads with a decently high-ranked player (1700+) about teambuilding other than making a full RMT?
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Can't think of any good but Skarmory to some extent, Scarf Lando with defense investment and HP Fire, full def Salamence, Rotom Heat or Bronzong maybe? But whats wrong with Zapdos?
 
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