Starmie (Analytic Tank) [QC 0/3]

DrunkDemon

First attempt at a set, hopefully this is a good one.

QC Approvals (0/3):
GP Approvals (0/2):
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Hey Spongebob, what do you want to do today?

[SET]
name: Analytic Tank
move 1: Cosmic Power
move 2: Hydro Pump / Surf / Ice Beam
move 3: Thunderbolt / Thunder
move 4: Recover / Ice Beam
item: Life Orb / Leftovers
ability: Analytic
nature: Quiet
evs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
ivs: 0 Spe

Why this set deserves to be on-site:

  • Unlike other Starmie sets, which are hit-and-run style, this set is much more defensive.
  • In a meta-game dominated by fast, fragile sweepers and revenge killers, Analytic stands out as a great ability to defeat them.
  • Analytic is often an overlooked ability on Starmie due to it's fragile stat distribution. However, Starmie has two things that make it viable defensively. One is it's decent defensive typing; the other is Cosmic Power. Cosmic Power boosts it's defenses significantly, making it a viable tank.
  • It's high base speed can be compensated for with a negative nature and 0 Speed IVs.
  • With a boost from Analytic and a Life Orb, Starmie has slightly more power than Timid Choice Specs Latios!
  • The major drawback to Analytic is Starmie's new-found vulnerability to status, but this can be compensated for.

Additional Comments:

  • This set is specifically for destroying faster, offensive opponents. Trying to breaking through walls is generally a bad idea, as Starmie will often end up with a status infliction.
  • The best time to set up Cosmic Powers is once the opponent's defensive core has been weakened (or if one never existed in the first place), and any Toxic users are down / can't switch in.
  • The Analytic boost is gained against any Pokemon faster than neutral, uninvested base 85's.
  • Cosmic Power is the crux of the set. Hydro Pump and Thunderbolt are the main attacking options, but Hydro Pump can be replaced with Surf for better accuracy, or Ice Beam for BoltBeam coverage. Ice Beam can also be used in place of Recover, but this significantly reduces Starmie's durability. Thunder is viable in place of Thunderbolt if Starmie is being used in Rain.
  • Leftovers can be used instead of a Life Orb, but the power drop is noticeable, and Recover heals off the damage anyway. May be preferable if Ice beam is used over Recover.
  • The EVs, IVs, and nature maximize it's attack, while increasing it's bulk and minimizing it's speed.
  • A notable feature of Starmie is it's ability to take on the common fighting types in the tier, most notably Terrakion.

Teammates and Counters:

  • Starmie loves Drizzle Politoed, as it's rain powers up Starmie's STAB and gives Thunder perfect accuracy.
  • This set is designed to counter Offensive Pokemon, and has trouble getting through dedicated walls; this makes a wall/stall-breaker an effective partner. Breloom is a good choice, as they cover each other's weaknesses pretty well, and both appreciate rain support. Breloom also hits Tyranitar, Scizor, and Ferrothorn hard, both of which are major pains for Starmie.
  • Magnezone traps troublesome steel types like Ferrothorn and Scizor. Fire types in general are good for eliminating Steels, although this is better if Starmie isn't on a Rain team. Fighting types are also good for this, and can function effectively in Rain.
  • Without Natural Cure, Starmie hates Toxic. This makes a cleric, such as Blissey or Chansey, very appealing. Keep in mind, Chansey appreciates Rain more than Blissey, as it's vulnerable to Sandstorm.
  • Toxic Spikes can mess Starmie up pretty badly. A Rapid Spinner or grounded Poison type can remove / absorb Toxic Spikes, respectively. Tentacruel appreciates Rain and absorbs Toxic Spikes + Rapid Spins. Forretress and Donphan may be good choices too, depending on the team.
  • Burns and Poison can be helpful if Starmie needs to Recover stall. The Blissey and Chansey are good Toxic users, and can provide cleric support, as mentioned above. Heatran, Jellicent, or any bulky Water-type can Burn opponents.
 
Sorry bit this set seems awful... You're too slow to outslow slow threats, you'll die first to fast threats and your coverage blows. Any grass beats this as does anything that can hit starmie super effectively. It also doesn't help Starmie's weak to both Volt Switch AND U-turn. Just doesn't seem viable.
 
I am pretty sceptical about how useful this set actually is. Starmie is weak to alot of common pokemon that will do alot of damage even at a +1, the two biggest threats being tyranitar and scizor. This starmie also cant even really be considered a rain stall killer because even at +1 ferrothorn power whip is going to be doing alot. Now I guess a person could argue that every defensive booster has it's weaknesses, but tyranitar(especially)/scizor are two of the main trappers/threats for starmie and I feel that any defensive boosting starmie needs to be able to beat them(which this one doesnt seem to be able to do). Starmie also needs its impressive speed to survive imo. Starmies value comes from its ability to outspeed everything and hit really hard. I really like the power this set has, but I just dont think its worth the tradeoff. Anyways I just feel that starmie's defenses are too low to sport this set. Perhaps if you showed some logs of this set doing well I would be a little less sceptical, but I feel like there are better cosmic power boosters out there.
 
First thing's first, have you even tested this set?

First attempt at a set, hopefully this is a good one.
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Please do not "attempt" a set and hope it's a good one. Write an analysis BECAUSE it's a good set.

Like I've said in many other sets, this is another of those sets that give make the Pokemon do something that it's simply not designed to do. Starmie is designed to be a fast attacker (and Rapid Spinner), not a defending tank. This is the same thing as giving Gengar bulk and telling it to be a defensive spin blocker. It just doesn't happen.

Even at +1, Starmie is still killed by pretty much everything, and with zero speed, you're pretty much outsped by everything. I'm sorry, but this set is just bad. I know this is your first analysis, so I don't want to be too harsh on you, but since it IS your first analysis, let me give you some advice: Do not write analyses for the sake of writing analyses. Write them up because they deserve an analysis, write up an analysis because you have used something extensively and performs well. There's a reason why the music industry is horrible nowadays, because people write songs for the sake of writing songs and making money, not for the sake of expressing their art and expressing something that genuinely needs to be expressed. Same thing here. Please do not write analyses for the sake of writing analyses and getting recognition, write analyses because they reflect a good set / Pokemon, and that they genuinely need to be written.
 
O.k, this set is kinda cool since it flat out 2KOs Blissey (and Chansey after Stealth Rock) with Rain factored in, however, the set itself does not mesh very well. On the one hand, you are clearly trying to "tank" with Cosmic Power, but on the other hand you have Life Orb which can wear you down very quickly.

The problem however, with this Starmie, is that its stats are quite frail. On one hand, you need to be as slow as possible to abuse analytic, but on the other hand, you need to be fast enough to set up as many cosmic powers as you can to avoid the OHKO from quite a lot of threats.

The set itself struggles to tank through the match, when its very vulnerable to Toxic which pretty much screws you over and its not abusing Starmies best asset, its high speed stat, which lets it revenge and kill foes from most of the metagame. Basically, the power this set brings is just awesome, however you lack the defences to pull it off, leaving you vulnerable to quite a lot of things.

EDIT, yea thanks Tomahawk
 
Starmie doesn't have the bulk or low speed to pull an Analytic set off. You will still get walled by many Pokemon and you will still be killed even with a defense boost. Starmie should stick to it's usual fast, offensive role and Rapid Spin capabilities.
 
ginganinja said:
O.k, this set is kinda cool since it flat out 2KOs Blissey (and Chansey after Stealth Rock) with Rain factored in
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Just gonna say that this isn't true; even with a Quiet nature and 0 Speed IVs Starmie outspeeds Blissey and as such doesn't get the Analytic boost meaning that it doesn't 2HKO.
 
Yeah, no, I don't see this set being effective at all for all the reasons everyone has already mentioned (no point in reiterating them but let's just say I agree with those above).

I would like to point out how trolly Gamefreak is giving Analytic to such a fast Pokemon. Might as well have given it Traunt for all the use it is to it.
 
Couldn't analytic be potentinally useful on other starmie sets to get the power boost on a forced switch?

Natural cure is nice especially for switching into scalds, but a 33% power boost when the opponent switches sounds really nice.
 
Possibly, but I would personally prefer Natural Cure because of the many Pokemon you would now be wary of switching into. In no particular order here are some reasons why I think Natural Cure, which many Pokemon would love to have, is better. Sub Toxic Gliscor, Toxic Spikes, Scald burns like you say, Lava Plume/Toxic from Heatran,random paralysis, Jellicent Will-O-Wisp/Toxic and defensive Politoed Toxic. In general, the free switches Starmie has are no longer available which means Analytic is probably more trouble than it is worth.
 
Tomahawk9 said:
Just gonna say that this isn't true; even with a Quiet nature and 0 Speed IVs Starmie outspeeds Blissey and as such doesn't get the Analytic boost meaning that it doesn't 2HKO.
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Modest Starmie with LO in rain does 87,307%-102,764% with 2 Hydro Pumps, the first boosted by Analytic, while the second not. So after SR, you have quite a big chance to ohko!

But yeah this set doesn't seem good, because Starmie is not bulky at all, even with max HP, and it needs to outspeed things in order to be effective.
 
I'm just going to quote the Other Option from Starmie's analysis

Strategy Dex said:
As far as alternative abilities are concerned, Natural Cure is Starmie's only useful ability. Starmie is far too quick to be a noteworthy user of Analytic, and it is not even worth using as a gimmick.
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Speed is Starmie's biggest asset. Taking out Speed is not a good idea for a little bit of oomph.

QC Rejected #2
 
I must say that I haven't really tested this, but just from thinking about it for a bit, it seems to me that Analytic is not that bad an ability for Starmie. I think people are just getting totally the wrong idea about it.

Think about it this way: If starmie is faster than the opponent, it will get to hit the opponent one extra time, more or less without exception. If Starmie is slower, it will only hit 30% harder. In absolutely no way is this worth it. Making Starmie deliberately slow is an incredibly bad idea even when running analytic. The advantage of Analytic is largely to be found on the switch, and also against any opponents that may be faster than Starmie anyway.

A Life Orb or Choice Specs Analytic Starmie is a very, very difficult Pokemon to switch into, especially in the rain. Even Blissey is a long way from being safe. Is Analytic superior to Natural Cure? Absolutely not, but it is completely different. Therefore, it might be worth testing Analytic a bit on the existing starmie sets, changing very little (I might be a bit more inclined to use Modest, but that's it), and consider adding an AC mention for Analytic.
 
I agree that an Analytic Starmie with the standard spread and set may pose a deadly threat, especially to common switch-ins like Ferrothorn and Blissey in the rain.
 
if someone wants to update a current starmie set with some honorable analytic mentions they can but for now this analytic tank set is going in the bin
 
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