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

Any counters to trick room carbink? With sturdy and mental herb, it provides certain trick room, unless you do something absurdly niche like imprison plus trick room. If you're running hyper offense, mons like alolan marowak just sweep half your team before trick room is expired (which can be brought back very easily. Since they know what mon you have out, they can switch to a mon that walls it and can set up trick room).

Not saying it's broken, but I must be missing something. Taunt runs the risk of a wasted turn, when they have mental herb. priority is often to weak for trick room sweepers because they can afford to invest in bulk. Am I just suppose to not run hyper offense? Do I need protect to stall it out?
Don't let it set up Trick room: Put up hazards (unless it's a lead). Mold breaker excadrill also works (breaks past sturdy). Mold breaker excadrill isn't that bad, it gets stealth rock and rapid spin in one pokemon, as well as being an emergency check to many threats if focus sash is intact.
 
What would be a good spread for Ferrothorn?
Looking to check both Double Dance Landorus and Ash Greninja
Standard Ferro (252/80/168) counters ash ninja locked into a move other than dark pulse. Ferro can't check double dance lando no matter what it tries:

+2 252+ Atk Earth Plate Landorus-Therian Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Ferrothorn: 277-327 (78.6 - 92.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery


question for someone who's privy to council matters: is duggy on the table for discussion (suspect)? I'm not asking if it will be suspected, just if it's on council's radar, because it's on everyone else's.
 

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Standard Ferro (252/80/168) counters ash ninja locked into a move other than dark pulse. Ferro can't check double dance lando no matter what it tries:

+2 252+ Atk Earth Plate Landorus-Therian Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Ferrothorn: 277-327 (78.6 - 92.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
ah ok well thanks anyway

EDIT: not that it matters but most double dance lando these days run jolly + flyinium z or rockium z instead of earth plate
 
I've begun my ladder trek in Gen 7 OU Pokebank and have had good success but I noticed that I have 2 move users. Namely Rockium Landorus and Shift Gear Magearna. I ain't trusting Stone Miss for a second so Landorus's Rockium is here to stay. But I wonder if my Shift Gear Magearna would be better off running Air Balloon. I'd lose a no-drawback (but one time) nuke, but I'd gain switch in opportunities, be safer from Arena Tap, and have a stronger answer to Garchomp among other things. But just like Steelium it's a one time use.
 
Other than Fissure Machamp which obviously can't have No Guard, are there any other previously unobtainable moves or move/ability combinations that gen 1 transfer opened up? Is there a list somewhere? Sorry, I know this probably isn't OU-relevant.
 
Other than Fissure Machamp which obviously can't have No Guard, are there any other previously unobtainable moves or move/ability combinations that gen 1 transfer opened up? Is there a list somewhere? Sorry, I know this probably isn't OU-relevant.
Off the top of my head:

  • Body Slam Sheer Force Tauros
  • Counter Magic Guard Alakazam
  • Reflect + Whirlwind Static Zapdos
  • Reflect Aftermath Electrode (fastest dual screener that isn't Deoxys-Speed. Also gets Taunt and a suicide move.)
  • Tri Attack Competitive Wigglytuff
  • Tri Attack + Psywave + Reflect Healer Chansey (rip)
  • Seismic Toss + Bubble Beam Unaware Clefable
  • Some random things get Bubble Beam
  • Lots of things get Reflect
  • Egg Bomb Mew
So no, nothing OU relevant really.
 
What are some must-have Pokemon for rain offense teams besides the obvious Pelipper and Swift Swimmers? It seems that my team's matchups tend to be lopsided in either a good or bad way depending on the opponent. Steel and Grass Pokemon could benefit from the reduction in Fire damage, but which ones are best for an offense team, I have no idea.
 
On top of Steel types, Scizor and Kartana fit well on Rain Offense. If your Mega Slot is free, don't forget Metagross. Also consider Zone as a trapper.
Notice that you can benefit from Hurricane users on the special side.
 
What are some must-have Pokemon for rain offense teams besides the obvious Pelipper and Swift Swimmers? It seems that my team's matchups tend to be lopsided in either a good or bad way depending on the opponent. Steel and Grass Pokemon could benefit from the reduction in Fire damage, but which ones are best for an offense team, I have no idea.
Good intuition about grass/steel types: along with bug/steel it's the combination that rain helps defensively the most. The composition of your team is up to you to an extent; rain has much more room to breathe thanks mostly to pelipper. consider that you'll want to keep Pelipper and your swift swimmer alive long enough to maybe go through a couple of rain cycles. You need stealth rock; Excadrill is a nice choice because it's immune to electric and takes the common coverage attacks that most electric types use to hit Ground types very well. Mold breaker is a great ability. It seems very odd indeed but mold breaker scarf rocks exca is sort of cool for rain offense. Ferrothorn is a more orthodox rocks setter and really appreciates the rain; access to spikes is fantastic and it allows you to scout move sets a bit more comfortably if necessary. It can also run other utility moves like knock off; it's very important to have knock off on something (or somethings) specifically for two mons that can really mess with you: Chansey and Scarf Pheromosa.

That kind of brings me to something pretty important: a powerful wallbreaker that can function outside of rain is a very good inclusion. You can get pretty creative here but absurdly powerful, pretty fast mons go here: Specs Ash Greninja is great for this and can also pivot although it stacks another grass weakness and you need to get a KO for it to be useful. It's disgusting in rain though and doesn't necessarily need be activated: its presence will deter sacking which is usually a good move for offense teams playing against rain. Kartana is a great option because it has problems damaging fire types and can take out opposing bulky waters. Buzzswole works a lot like M-Heracross did. Lele or Koko work here too and yay Koko can pivot.

That's something that comes up a lot: rain offense depends heavily on the user's ability to manipulate momentum and maximize usable rain turns while minimizing the amount of blind switching. U-Turn and Volt Switch are great for momentum: a slow U-Turn allows you to protect your swimmer while chipping the target. This is why Mega Scizor is a fantastic rain mega. Tornadus-T is often seen on rain teams as it's fast enough to use Specs and can still pivot with U-turn. a 100% accurate STAB Specs hurricane is nice. There are many others.

Consider that your opponent's mons resisting water is not terribly important, especially if you're using Specs Omastar or Specs Kingdra. Look to cover mons that are immune to water or the few that can stomach rain boosted attacks: Gastrodon, Volcanion, Chansey, Alomomola, Tapu Fini, Ferrothorn, Amoong, Mega-Venusaur are all potential impediments that can severely dent Kingdra/Omastar/Kabutops/Seismitoad. Fortunately, most of these can be worn down by repeated hydro pumps + SR + knock off. Opposing weather is annoying but frankly TTar/hippo aren't as prominent and you'll probably account for both in the course of building your team.

Sorry for the long post: rain's a lot of fun to build (and I didn't really cover that much) but like every other type of team the best way is to build a lot of teams.

Hope this helped.
 
Does Nihilego prefer Hidden Power Fire or Ice on the Choice Scarf set?

I know Fire is for Ferrothorn, Scizor, and Kartana. It can also be nice for weakened offensive steel types like Lucario, Magnezone. and Excadrill. Since Genesect is gone, has fire lost most of its use?

I know Ice is for Landorus-T, Garchomp, Salamence, Dragonite, Zygarde.

Which overall has more utility? Since I use Wallbreaker Tapu Lele with Hidden Power Fire, Hidden Power Ice seemed like a natural choice.
 
Does Nihilego prefer Hidden Power Fire or Ice on the Choice Scarf set?

I know Fire is for Ferrothorn, Scizor, and Kartana. It can also be nice for weakened offensive steel types like Lucario, Magnezone. and Excadrill. Since Genesect is gone, has fire lost most of its use?

I know Ice is for Landorus-T, Garchomp, Salamence, Dragonite, Zygarde.

Which overall has more utility? Since I use Wallbreaker Tapu Lele with Hidden Power Fire, Hidden Power Ice seemed like a natural choice.
If you have HP Fire on Lele, go to HP Ice for Nihilego, it's the first choice in most sets, especially the Lead. Keep in mind that the only HP that OHKO something on Nihilego is HP Ice, and it's on the Specs set. HP only 2HKO in other cases.
 
If you have HP Fire on Lele, go to HP Ice for Nihilego, it's the first choice in most sets, especially the Lead. Keep in mind that the only HP that OHKO something on Nihilego is HP Ice, and it's on the Specs set. HP only 2HKO in other cases.
I'm using the Scarf set, though 8/10 I find myself clicking Power Gem, then 2/10, I'll click on Thunder to decimate a Greninja or something.
 
I've been reading that there are some megas currently unavailable in SM. Those that mean you can't transfer the pokemon with a stone from ORAS w/pokebank?
 
What happened to Bisharp? I'm sure the introduction of all the tapus, the downfall of many 'mons he beats like Jirachi, Latios and Starmie, plus the speed creep made his life quite miserable, but I just don't see the full frame when it comes to his offensive capabilities. Just for an example: the Metagross + Lele core that everybody is using right now isn't 100% safe from Bisharp. While the odds of sucess are greatly in the favor of the other player, all it takes to survive an EQ is 32 HP EVs, while 2HKOing Metagross back with Knock Off + SP, assuming no Life Orb. Lele straight up dies for Iron Head, and if AV, this happens:

252+ SpA Choice Specs Tapu Lele Moonblast vs. 32 HP / 0 SpD Assault Vest Bisharp: 229-270 (82 - 96.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Again, with absolutely minimum investiment.

Not to theorymon or anything, but I just don't get why Bisharp is doing so bad right now.
 
I know some megas are unreleased but just wanted to confirm/deny if Zard-Y was available for OU rn. It says banned, so I'm assuming it's not, but just double checking.
Shouldn't be unavailable, it was banned from UU a few weeks ago though, so that might be why it's saying that.
 
What happened to Bisharp? I'm sure the introduction of all the tapus, the downfall of many 'mons he beats like Jirachi, Latios and Starmie, plus the speed creep made his life quite miserable, but I just don't see the full frame when it comes to his offensive capabilities. Just for an example: the Metagross + Lele core that everybody is using right now isn't 100% safe from Bisharp. While the odds of sucess are greatly in the favor of the other player, all it takes to survive an EQ is 32 HP EVs, while 2HKOing Metagross back with Knock Off + SP, assuming no Life Orb. Lele straight up dies for Iron Head, and if AV, this happens:

252+ SpA Choice Specs Tapu Lele Moonblast vs. 32 HP / 0 SpD Assault Vest Bisharp: 229-270 (82 - 96.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Again, with absolutely minimum investiment.

Not to theorymon or anything, but I just don't get why Bisharp is doing so bad right now.
Shouldn't be unavailable, it was banned from UU a few weeks ago though, so that might be why it's saying that.
Showdown's lists were organized based on the pre-bank OU, and haven't been uptated yet. Everything not avaliable on SM is "Banned" on the list, but usable in pratice
 
In my opinion, the biggest problem with bisharp is that its low speed causes problems. Tapu Lele everywhere means that sucker punch gets blocked all the time. It's not all that bad (B+), same rank as serperior, terrakion, toxapex, and chansey. Being a steel type that does not resist fairy is probably an issue for Bisharp as well.
 
What are some good hail team Pokemon, besides the obvious Ice types? I imagine anything that can use Blizzard or benefit from dual screens could work, but which are the best for covering the many weaknesses of the Ice type? Keep in mind that I mostly play Battle Spot 3 vs 3 and 4 vs 4 Doubles.
 
What are some good hail team Pokemon, besides the obvious Ice types? I imagine anything that can use Blizzard or benefit from dual screens could work, but which are the best for covering the many weaknesses of the Ice type? Keep in mind that I mostly play Battle Spot 3 vs 3 and 4 vs 4 Doubles.
Pokémon with Magic Guard and Overcoat can benefit from the Aurora Veil without being pelted by hail.
 

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