BSS SV Series 1 Salamence (Choice Item)

[Theorymon]

The 2nd most feared Salamence set from early gen 4 is back!

[SET]
name: Specsmence Returns
move 1: Draco Meteor
move 2: Hurricane
move 3: Flamethrower / Fire Blast
move 4: Tera Blast / Hydro Pump
item: Choice Specs / Choice Scarf
ability: Intimidate
nature: Timid
evs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
tera type: Fairy / Steel / Flying

[SET COMMENTS]

* Salamence finds a niche for itself among other Dragon-types due to outspeeding Hydreigon, the most prominent special attacking Dragon-type. It also has a useful typing that provides a handy Fissure immunity, and it has an incredible ability in Intimidate.

* Hurricane's accuracy may not be very reliable, but the sheer damage output makes it worth it.

* Air Slash is much weaker than Hurricane, but the more reliable accuracy and flinch chance make it a reasonable alternative. It becomes especially attractive if using Tera Flying.

* If not using Tera Fairy, Hydro Pump is a reasonable choice that deals massive damage to Hippowdon and Fire-types without risking Draco Meteor.

Tera Types
========

* **Fairy**: Not only does Tera Fairy give Salamence an edge against many Dragon-types, but it also pairs extremely well with Intimidate, transforming Salamence into an effective hit-and-run threat.

* **Steel**: Tera Steel comes in handy against Dragon- and Fairy-types alike, though the added weaknesses to Ground and Fighting make it less effective at taking physical hits with Intimidate.

* **Flying**: Air Slash becomes much easier to justify with Tera Flying, and if you're willing to risk it, Hurricane can be used to become almost impossible to wall with Choice Specs.

* **Fire**: Tera Fire doesn't offer as much defensive utility, but the powerful STAB attacks come in handy against Steel-types like Corviknight.

* **Dragon**: Tera Dragon trades defensive advantages for an extremely powerful Draco Meteor that catches defensive foes like Dondozo by surprise.

Items
========

* **Choice Specs**: With Salamence already standing at a decent Speed tier, it can get away with Choice Specs, making it extremely difficult to wall outside of using Blissey.

* **Choice Scarf**: Choice Scarf trades wallbreaking power for the ability to get the jump on major offensive threats, such as Dragapult, Meowscarada, and Garchomp.

* **Life Orb**: Life Orb provides more flexibility than Choice items, but the recoil makes it less effective at hit-and-run attacks with Draco Meteor.

[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Theorymon, 29010]]
- Quality checked by: [[DerpySuX, 528485]]
- Grammar checked by: [[Sulo, 528036]]

 

[DerpySuX]

Croissant Dragon

 

[Theorymon]

This is now ready for a QC check! Two things of note:

- I mentioned Life Orb. I realize thats a bit silly for what's basically a choiced set, but it exists.

- That name... IDK if GP will let me get away with it since it isn't just Choice Specs, but I'd love to keep it because it actually has a lot of history with Smogon and competitive mons. It's a reference to a very notorious, early gen 4 Specs Salamence set that this set is very similar to. Frankly, I'm shocked this gen made it relevant again LOL

 

[DerpySuX]

If you wanna mention life orb (which I have seen so it’s totally valid), you could just rename the set to “special attacker” or something. Seems like a simple enough workaround. Anyway onto the check.

Air Slash should have a slash in (haha funne), while it’s considerably weaker than Hurricane, a flying tera will mostly remedy this, and in return you get much more consistent, spammable STAB, the flinch chance can also be quite annoying. Similarly, a flying tera should be mentioned, as the boost to its STAB can really make a difference, if you’re still ballsy enough to use hurricane with it, mence can be extremely difficult to switch in to.

I would mention that salamence’s main distinctive quality in this role is that it outspeeds Hydreigon, as it is a pretty relevant mon, and this quality is the main reason special mence has been gaining traction, despite its inferior power.

Otherwise, very solid. QC APPROVED

 

[Theorymon]

Implement the checks! I think "Specialmence" is a good back up plan if GP wants me to change names, but I'll keep Specsmence if I can get away with it, if only for its pretty notable historical value as a name :P. I also made Tera Flying the main slash in over Fire (but I still kept the Fire text), mainly because having more than 3 tera types slashed in looks pretty awkward in the dex.

Anyways, This is now ready for a GP check!

GP Team

 

[Sulo]

add remove comment
ac = add comma, rc = remove comma

HIM

[SET]
name: Specsmence Returns
move 1: Draco Meteor
move 2: Hurricane
move 3: Flamethrower / Fire Blast
move 4: Tera Blast / Hydro Pump
item: Choice Specs / Choice Scarf
ability: Intimidate
nature: Timid
evs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
tera type: Fairy / Steel / Flying

[SET COMMENTS]

* Salamence finds a niche for itself among other Dragon-types due to outspeeding Hydreigon, the most prominent special attacking Dragon-type. The classic special attacking Salamence has found its place in a crowded field of Dragons, thanks to outspeeding Hydreigon, the most prominent special attacking Dragon. Salamence It also has a useful typing that provides a handy Fissure immunity, and it has an incredible ability in Intimidate.

* Hurricane's accuracy may not be very reliable, but the sheer damage output makes it worth it.

* Air Slash is much weaker than Hurricane, but the more reliable accuracy and flinch chance make it a reasonable alternative. It becomes especially attractive if using Tera Flying.

* If not using Tera Fairy, Hydro Pump is a reasonable choice (rc) that deals for dealing massive damage to Hippowdon and Fire-types without risking Draco Meteor.

Tera Types
========

* **Fairy**: Not only does Tera Fairy give Salamence an edge against many Dragon-types, but it also pairs extremely well with Intimidate, transforming Salamence into an effective hit-and-run threat.

* **Steel**: Tera Steel comes in handy against Dragon- and Fairy-types (added hyphens) alike, though the added weaknesses to Ground and Fighting less effective at taking physical hits with Intimidate. Ground and Fighting weakness is a bit awkward for tanking physical hits with Intimidate.

* **Flying**: Air Slash becomes much easier to justify with Tera Flying, and if you're willing to risk it, Hurricane can be used to become becomes almost impossible to wall with Choice Specs.

* **Fire**: Tera Fire doesn't offer as much defensive utility, but the powerful STAB attacks come in handy against Steel-types like Corviknight.

* **Dragon**: Tera Dragon trades defensive advantages for an extremely powerful Draco Meteor that catches defensive foes like Dondozo by surprise.

Items
========

* **Choice Specs**: With Salamence already standing at a decent Speed tier, it can get away with Choice Specs, making it extremely difficult to wall outside of using Blissey.

* **Choice Scarf**: Choice Scarf trades wallbreaking (removed space) power for the ability to get the jump getting the jump on major offensive threats, such as Dragapult, Meowscarada, and Garchomp.

* **Life Orb**: Life Orb provides more flexibility than Choice choice items, but the recoil makes it less effective at hit-and-run attacks with Draco Meteor.

[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Theorymon, 29010]]
- Quality checked by: [[DerpySuX, 528485]]
- Grammar checked by: [[Sulo, 528036]]

GP Team done

 

[Theorymon]

Wow that got checked almost a fast as the firestorm of controversy that erupted when Salamence got banned in gen 4 LOL, thanks for such a speedy check!

Time for Specsmence to grace the sight ONCE AGAIN!