
The weather Nerf has definitely affected Starmie for the worst. Not being able to rely on a 100% accurate thunder from constant rain as well as a boosted surf or Hydro Pump severely hurts Starmie's attacking potential. Also with Greninja being a faster water sweeper, combined with protean to help its durability by switching types prior to an attack makes Starmie a much less favorable as an attacker in comparison to Greninja. The Hydro Pump nerf has also hurt Starmie, making it hard to justify running hydro pump over surf in most cases. The Defog buff also hurts Starmie use as a rapid spinner. The increase in bulky pokemon has also hurt Starmie, combining the nerf in Starmie's attacking power makes it even worse.
Even with this Starmie still stands as the best rapid spin support in the game, and with entry hazards being even more prevalent then ever before Starmie will still be in high demand. Even though Defog eliminates more then rapid spin, defog also has the potential to hurt entry hazards that you have set up. So if your team sets up entry hazards as well rapid spin is a better choice over defog. Even though some Mega pokemon now out speed Starmie, Starmie does not take up a mega slot on your team, and the fact some pokemon need a mega evo just to compete with Starmie's speed shows how great Starmie's speed still remains. Natural cure also gives Starmie a special Niche as a status absorber. Starmie can also put up double screens quick and easy. With access to thunder wave, Toxic and confuse ray it makes Starmie a great choice for a status inflicter. Last but not least Starmie still stands as one of the best revenge killers in the game and can wreak havoc in the end game.
Even though this gen us definitely a downfall for Starmie, I don't see Starmie Falling from OU. Even in the stall and bulk infested meta of Gold and Silver Starmie remained in OU. Starmie still has the utility, move pool and stats to compete in OU, though Starmie may not be as powerful as he was in the last gen, Starmie will still be a force to be reckoned with.
Potential Movesets
BaitMie
Item: Choice Scarf
Ability: Analytic
Nature: Timid
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
- Hydro Pump / Surf
- Rapid Spin
- Trick
- Psyshock / Thunderbolt / Ice Beam
At first look many would glide right over this move set and think it makes no sense. Before you do that let me explain. The basic Premise of this set is to force people to switch out their current pokemon and use Starmie to bait out walls that would usually counter Starmie. With the heavily defense oriented shift this gen has taken and all the ghost pokemon this is not that hard to find a candidate for this. Not just that but with Choice Scarf Starmie can also come in and grant you a surprise revenge kill against pokemon who expect to be fast then Starmie ( Thunderbolt to Greninja, Ice Beam to Novian and Dragon dance boosted pokemon ). Going to go into a much more detailed analysis now :P
Lets start off with Analytic (Raises the power of all moves by 30% if the wielder moves last). Most know of Starmie Speed and power, and start off by switching out their current pokemon. T-tar would get rip up from a 30%-40% boosted Hydro Pump even after the Nerf, then Starmie would get to hit T-tar first again for a double Hydro Pump. Have yet to do the damage calcs but I would believe this would take out the non-spD oriented T-tars. Hydro Pump Also severely damages other pursuit uses such as Scizor, and a Scizor that is not specialized in SpD will be 2HKO'd in most cases by this. Aegislash is Also servely Damaged by A 30%-40% Boosted Hydro Pump.
Psyshock is also a nice move to hit Ghost Types as well as the SpD walls. Mega-Gar would take heavy damage and I am pretty sure OHKO in most cases from a 30%-40% boosted Psyshock. Even if it didn't this brings me to the choice scarf possibility over life orb.
Choice Scarf, this would allow Starmie to do 2 very nice things. One it would allow it to out speed threats that are faster than it that attempted to switch into it thinking they could take a hit then out speed it for an easy kill. Mega-Aero, Jolteon, Greninja all fall into this category. The thing is, none of them can survive a 30% boosted hydro pump followed by a second hydro pump. Jolteon and Gengar cannot even withstand the double Psyshock. You have 4 of Starmie's counters taken care of right there. That leads me to trick, Special Walls and walls are running around every where and the thing is they all would be rendered almost useless with a choice scarf. With all the Walls running around it in this gen it should not be hard to find a great candidate to send choice scarf over to in exchange for some tasty leftovers. Now you have neutered an opponents wall that would have checked or countered Starmie and made Starmie more durable. If yoru using Life orb thunderbolt or ice beam will do you more good then trick.
Rapid Spin, why not Rapid spin? with all the defense oriented teams relying on passive damage having a nice spinner is awesome. Which makes it even easier to bait out those annoying spin blockers and rip into them with an analytic boosted attack.
Basically this set makes it so there is no guaranteed way for your opponent to make a correct choice on how to deal with your Starmie. Do they switch to a faster sweeper? but if its faster because of choice scarf the sweeper may not survive the boosted attacks followed by another hit. If I try to pursuit trap it with a pursuit trapper, can the pursuit trapper survive a double hit? Do I switch to a spin blocker? but my spin blocker could get ripped apart by a boosted psyshock or hydro pump. Do I send out my wall? or is starmie going to trick it and make it useless for the rest of the game? The only sure fire way to defend against this set is a sucker punch. So if your team doesn't have a sucker puncher this move set is going to cost you a lot to go up against.
Putting your opponent in this kind of position where they have no clue what the right move to make is, and just have to guess basically is just what any player strides for. This set allows Starmie to use the defensive oriented shift to its advantage rather then being a disadvantage for it.
Life Orb Analytic ( Move set and Analysis Created by Shroomisaur) (CURRENTLY FAVORED MOVESET)
Item: Life Orb
Ability: Analytic
Nature: Timid
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
- Rapid Spin
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Psyshock / Thunderbolt
Rapid Spin is Starmie's biggest asset, allowing it to support your team by removing hazards. One of Starmie's biggest advantages over other common users of Rapid Spin is that it can defeat every spinblocker in the game with the correct coverage move. Even the most defensive Ghost-types cannot safely switch into an Analytic, Life Orb boosted attack.
STAB Hydro Pump is Starmie's strongest option and deals heavy damage to the ever-present Aegislash. Ice Beam is also a must-have attack, as it deals with the other new spinblockers, Gourgeist and Trevenant, on top of old threats such as Garchomp. The final slot is a tossup between Psyshock and Thunderbolt, but Psyshock is currently the better option because it is Starmie's only way to deal solid damage to Mega Venusaur and Blissey/Chansey, as well as guarantee an OHKO on Roserade. Thunderbolt can KO Gyarados, but it will be more useful once Jellicent is released post-Pokebank.
EDIT: a few more calcs to illustrate Psyshock's usefulness:
252 SpA Life Orb Starmie Ice Beam vs. 252 HP / 136+ SpD Roserade: 164-195 (50.61 - 60.18%) -- 86.33% chance to 2HKO
252 SpA Life Orb Starmie Psyshock vs. 252 HP / 120 Def Roserade: 382-452 (117.9 - 139.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 SpA Life Orb Starmie Psyshock vs. 4 HP / 252 Def Blissey: 281-331 (43.09 - 50.76%) -- 59.77% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock
252 SpA Life Orb Starmie Ice Beam vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Thick Fat Venusaur: 91-109 (25 - 29.94%)
252 SpA Life Orb Starmie Psyshock vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Mega Venusaur: 179-213 (49.17 - 58.51%) -- 98.05% chance to 2HKO
Offensive Rapid Spinner
Item: Life Orb / Leftovers
Nature: Timid
Ability: Analytic / Natural Cure
Evs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Moves
- Surf / Hydro Pump
- Thunderbolt / Psyshock
- Ice Beam
- Rapid Spin
Bulky Rapid Spinner
Item: Leftovers
Nature: Timid
Ability: Natural Cure
Evs: 248 HP / 32 Def / 4 SpA / 224 Spe
Iv: 0 Atk
Moves
- Rapid Spin
- Scald
- Ice Beam / Thunderbolt / Psyshock
- Recover
As of right now I see no reason to change the set up from the gen V Bulky Rapid Spinner. To be fair if a Bulky Rapid spinner is what you need Megatouise is definitely better
Choice Specs
Item: Choice Specs
Nature: Timid
Ability: Natural Cure
Evs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Moves
- Rapid Spin / Ice Beam
- Psyshock
- Thunderbolt
- Surf / Hydro Pump
Choice Scarf
Item: Choice Scarf
Nature: Timid
Ability: Natural Cure
Evs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Moves
- Ice Beam
- Rapid Spin
- Thunderbolt / Psyshock
- Surf / Hydro Pump
Rapid Screens
Item: Leftovers
Nature: Timid
Ability: Natural Cure
Evs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Moves
- Rapid Spin
- Light Screen / Reflect
- Scald
- Recover / Thunder Wave / Confuse Ray
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