Doubles Sylveon

Approved by Lolk

sylveon.gif


Overview
########

Sylveon's Pixilate ability coupled with its access to Hyper Voice makes it a formidable special attacker in Doubles. Its typing and good special bulk give Sylveon several switch-in opportunities, but unfortunately, its movepool is quite bare, forcing it to basically solely rely on its STAB attacks in order to deal damage. Its Speed is also pretty low, making it relatively easy to revenge kill outside of Trick Room. Stronger physical attackers can target its weak Defense and muscle past it.

Choice Specs
########
name: Choice Specs
move 1: Hyper Voice
move 2: Moonblast
move 3: Hidden Power Ground / Hidden Power Fire
move 4: Psyshock / Shadow Ball
ability: Pixilate
item: Choice Specs
evs: 56 HP / 200 Def / 252 SpA
nature: Quiet

Moves
========

Hyper Voice is the main STAB attack because of the immediate damage it deals to both foes. Moonblast can be used to bypass Wide Guard and deal more damage to individual threats. Hidden Power Ground is used to surprise Pokemon that resist Fairy, mainly Heatran; however, without Hidden Power Fire, Escavalier and Ferrothorn wall Sylveon. Psyshock hits Poison-types such as Amoonguss harder than Hidden Power Ground. Shadow Ball is to hit Aegislash, a common switch-in to Sylveon, harder than Hidden Power Ground or Hidden Power Fire.

Set Details
========

56 EVs in HP and 200 EVs in Defense give Sylveon enough bulk to take some physical moves such as Mega Kangaskhan's Return and Bisharp's Iron Head. Choice Specs gives Sylveon a massive power boost. Sylveon mainly relies on its STAB moves to deal damage anyway, so it won't suffer much from the inability to switch moves. Life Orb can be used to give Sylveon a boost in power without forcing it into one specific move undesirable to be locked into, such as Hyper Voice versus an opposing Wide Guard strategy. Pixie Plate can be used to fake a Choice Specs set while still boosting its power (Sylveon doesn't really use anything but its STAB moves anyway). If Choice Specs is not used, Protect is an option over coverage moves.


Usage Tips
========

Sylveon's sole focus with this set is to deal as much damage as quickly as possible, so care must be taken to send it in at the right time. It has a lot of special bulk, so it can be switched in against special attacks quite easily. Once in, simply use Hyper Voice to apply offensive pressure to the opponent's team and deal lots of damage. Be careful, as Sylveon is sure to move last against most offensive Pokemon with its low Speed, meaning it will have to take a few hits. Moonblast is mainly for Wide Guard users; most of the time, Hyper Voice is the better option because of its power and reliability.


Team Options
========

This set is reliant on team support, but can still easily tear through teams that lack solid counters to Fairy-types; as such, Pokemon that can remove those counters are really important. Ground-types are awesome partners because they hit almost all Pokemon that resist Fairy hard. Heatran, Landorus, and Shaymin-S are cool because they can provide Ground-type coverage that won't end up hitting Sylveon as well. Follow Me/Rage Powder support helps Sylveon's sweep with Hyper Voice or Moonblast, as does Fake Out support. Landorus-T, Scrafty, and Hitmontop provide Intimidate support. Speed control is extremely useful to help cover for Sylveon's low Speed; Trick Room pairs extremely well with this set, so Cresselia is great, as it also provides Helping Hand support, which makes Sylveon's attacks even more powerful. If Sylveon has Trick Room support, it should run 0 Speed IVs and a Quiet nature.


Other Options
########

Sylveon has few other offensive options, but it does have an extensive support movepool. Calm Mind is the only other option for offensive Sylveon. Choice Scarf is a gimmick, but on such a set, maximum Speed investment should be used.


Checks & Counters
########

**Type Advantage**: Fire-, Poison-, and Steel-types all wall Sylveon easily, as it is generally locked into Hyper Voice. Steel-types such as Scizor, Aegislash, and Bisharp can easily OHKO Sylveon before it attacks. Charizard and Talonflame get a special mention, as Sylveon cannot hit them with a super effective coverage move due to their immunity to Hidden Power Ground. Charizard has the bulk to sponge two Hyper Voices and retaliate with sun-boosted STAB attacks. Unfortunately, Talonflame is easily 2HKOed by Hyper Voice, so it is a shaky check. Heatran can sponge anything from Sylveon but Hidden Power Ground.

**Faster Pokemon**: Most offensive Pokemon can outspeed Sylveon, so they have plenty of time to attack it. Physical attackers can aim for its weaker physical bulk and gradually wear it down. Physical threats such as Mega Kangaskhan, Talonflame, and Life Orb Bisharp shine in this category, as all of them can hit Sylveon's weaker Defense hard.

**Utility**: Wide Guard blocks Hyper Voice, Sylveon's main STAB move. Good Wide Guard users include Aegislash, Aerodactyl, and Hitmontop. Pokemon such as Amoonguss, Breloom, and Venusaur can put Sylveon to sleep.
 
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Offer some sort of speedier set in comments for Tailwind teams. For example, 80 Speed EVs lets it outrun 110s, or 124 for 120s (dunno if this is ORAS yet or not).

And be specific that if not running Tailwind, that 0- investment is best for when facing Trick Room, even if you're not using it yourself. The only other relevant benchmark that might make you not run 0- would be if it failed to outrun paralyzed things, but it does (even outrunning Deoxys-A).

Look at your descriptions in "moves" and "set details" and make sure it actually matches what's on the set. Hyper Beam is no longer there, etc. A lot isn't consistent.

IMO Shadow Ball should be slashed with Psyshock not Moonblast. Poisons aside from Amoonguss are not common (and you have little business staying in on shroom.) Having a STAB to hit Wide Guard Fairy weaks is more important and shouldn't be optional.

Way too much talk about Hyper Beam in general.

Potentially add a CM set, though I'm not sure what's optimal as I think I've only used it on one team and personally didn't like it.

(PS not QC so nothing here is mandatory)
 
Removed all points regarding Hyper Beam, added the CM set in OO, and regarding its speed, I think it is a great solution vs Trick Room, so I added only 16 in Speed, to outrun Tyranitar (ty qsns), no more. Added Other Options and Check & Counters.
Thank you for the check srk1214.
 
see
Max HP is not the optimal defensive investment for a Pokemon with high base HP and low base Def. According to the Defensive EV Applet, 100 HP / 156 Def gives Sylveon the best overall bulk.

I want to suggest 56 HP / 200 Def, though. This allows Sylveon to survive Kangaskhan's Return. This spread even gives Sylveon ~68% chance to survive an unboosted Iron Head from Bisharp. Incidentally, Timid Mega Gengar's Sludge Bomb just misses an OHKO even with this spread. If you think that's too circumstantial, go with the spread that the Defensive EV applet produced above.

52+ Atk Parental Bond Mega Kangaskhan Return vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Sylveon: 378-445 (95.9 - 112.9%) -- 75% chance to OHKO
252+ Atk Bisharp Iron Head vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Sylveon: 396-468 (100.5 - 118.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 SpA Mega Gengar Sludge Bomb vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Sylveon: 288-342 (73 - 86.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

vs

252+ Atk Parental Bond Mega Kangaskhan Return vs. 56 HP / 200 Def Sylveon: 292-343 (84.6 - 99.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Bisharp Iron Head vs. 56 HP / 200 Def Sylveon: 306-362 (88.6 - 104.9%) -- 31.3% chance to OHKO
252 SpA Mega Gengar Sludge Bomb vs. 56 HP / 0 SpD Sylveon: 288-342 (83.4 - 99.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

tl;dr 56 HP / 200 Def shows notable improvement in tanking physical hits while still remaining specially bulky enough to tank a fuckin super-effective STAB Sludge Bomb coming off of 170 base SpA x_x
from the previous attempt at a sylveon analysis that died.

56/200 is a great bulk investment and I'm not sure what 16 speed is doing, other than helping to avoid rock slide flinches from min speed TTar (who if it's 0 speed, is possibly running negative investment anyway (to ensure Sand vs Politoeds, etc).

Use 0 speed and Quiet, not Modest and 16. It's just not worth it.
 
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sylveon.gif


Overview
########

Sylveon's Pixilate ability coupled with its access to Pixilate Hyper Voice makes it a formidiable special attacker in Doubles. Sylveon has several switch in opportunities with thanks to its typing and good special bulk. Unfortunately, its movepool is quite bare, forcing it to basically solely rely on its STAB attacks in order to deal damage. Its Speed is pretty low, making it relatively easy to revenge kill outside of Trick Room. Stronger physical attackers can hit it in its weak Defense and muscle past it.

Choice Specs
########
name: Choice Specs
move 1: Hyper Voice
move 2: Moonblast
move 3: Hidden Power Ground / Hidden Power Fire
move 4: Psyshock / Shadow Ball
ability: Pixilate
item: Choice Specs
evs: 56 HP / 200 Def / 252 SpA
nature: Quiet

Moves
========

Hyper Voice is the main STAB attack because of the immediate damage it deals to both opponents foes. Moonblast can be used to bypass Wide Guard, and it can deal more damage to individual threats. Hidden Power Ground to surprise Pokemon that resist Fairy resists, mainly Heatran. Without Hidden Power Fire, Escavalier and Ferrothorn walls Sylveon. Psyshock to hits Poison-types such as Amoonguss a bit harder than Hidden Power Ground. Shadow Ball is to hit Aegislash, a common switch-(hyphen)in to Sylveon, harder than Hidden Power Ground or and Hidden Power Fire.

Set Details
========

56 EVs in HP and 220 EVs in Defense gives it give Milotic enough bulk to take some physical moves such as Return Mega Kangaskhan's Return and or Bisharp's Iron Head. Choice Specs gives Sylveon a massive power boost. All it really has to deal damage are its Sylveon mainly relies on its STAB moves to deal damange anyway, so it won't suffer much from the inability to switch moves. Life Orb can also be used to give Sylveon a boost in power without forcing it into one specific move undesirable to be locked into, such as Hyper Voice versus an opposing Wide Guard strategy. Pixie Plate can be used to fake a Choice Specs set while still boosting its power (and Sylveon doesn't really use anything but its STAB moves anyway). If Choice Specs is not used the above two items are used, Protect is an option over coverage moves.


Usage Tips
========

Sylveon's sole focus with this set is to deal as much damage possible as quickly as possible, so care must be taken to send it in at the right time. It has a lot of special bulk, so it can be switched in against special attacks quite easily. Once in, simply use Hyper Voice to add offensive pressure to the opponent's team and deal lots of damage. Be careful, since as Sylveon's low Speed is sure to make it go move last against most offensive Pokemon, so it will have to take a few hits. The second slot STABs are Moonblast is mainly for Wide Guard users; most of the time, Hyper Voice is the better option because of its power and reliability.


Team Options
========

This set is reliant on partner team support, but can also still easily tear through teams that lack solid counters to Fairy-types counters,; (SC) as such, Pokemon that can partners to remove those counters are really important. (add period) such as Ground-types are awesome partners because they hit almost all Pokemon that resist Fairy Fairy-type resists hard. Heatran, Landorus-I, and Shaymin-S are cool because they can provide Ground-type coverage that won't end up hitting Sylveon as well. Follow Me/Rage Powder support helps Sylveon's sweep with Hyper Voice or with Moon Blast Moonblast, as does Fake Out support helps too. Landorus-T, Scrafty, and Hitmontop, Mega Kangaskhan, all of those bar Mega Kangaskhan also provide Intimidate support. (Why did you list Mega Kangaskhan if it doesn't provide Intimidate support?) Speed control is extremely useful to help cover for Sylveon's low Speed,; (SC) Trick Room pairs extremely well with this set, use Quiet + 0 IVs if you choose to do so, so Cresselia is great, (AC) as it provides not only Trick Room support but also provides Helping Hand support, (AC) which makes to make Sylveon's attacks even more powerful. If Sylveon has Trick Room support, it should run 0 Speed IVs and a Quiet nature.


Other Options
########

Sylveon has few other offensive options, but it does have an extensive support movepool. Calm Mind is the only other option to for offensive Sylveon. Helping Hand can be used to support ally sweepers. (You say it has an "extensive support movepool" but only list Helping Hand. If that's the only viable option, remove the support movepool part of the first sentence.) Same with Support, Helping Hand give support to sweepers. Choice Scarf is gimmick, if it is choice scarf it ineed speed investment max speed. While Choice Scarf is a gimmick, max Speed investment should be used alongside it.

Checks & Counters
########
**Type Advantage**: Fire-, Poison-, and Steel-types all wall Sylveon easily, (AC) as it is generally locked into Hyper Voice. Steel-types such as Scizor, Aegislash, and Bisharp can easily OHKO it Sylveon before it attacks. Charizard and Talonflame get a special mention, (AC) as they cannot be hit super effectively Sylveon cannot hit them with a super effective coverage move due to their immunity to HP Hidden Power Ground. Charizard has the bulk to sponge two Hyper Voices and retaliate with sun-boosted STAB attacks. Unfortunately, Talonflame is easily 2HKOd by Hyper Voice, (AC) so it is a shaky check. Heatran can sponge anything from Sylveon but HP Hidden Power Ground.

**Faster Pokemon**: Sylveon is outsped by Most offensive Pokemon can outspeed Sylveon, so they have giving them plenty of time to hit attack it. Physical attackers can aim at for its weaker physical bulk side and gradually wear it down. Physical threats such as Mega Kangaskhan, Talonflame, and Life Orb Bisharp shine in this category, such as Mega Kangaskhan, Talonflame, Life Orb Bisharp, (AC) as all of them all of which can hit its Sylveon's weaker Defense hard.

**Utility**: Wide Guard blocks Hyper Voice, (remove extra space) Sylveon's main STAB move. Good Wide Guard users include Aegislash, Aerodactyl, and Hitmontop. Sylveon is also vulnerable to Sleep from Pokemon such as Amoonguss, Breloom, and Venusaur can put Sylveon to sleep.
contrib_gp.png

GP 1/2
 
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Deletions
Additions / Corrections
Comments

Overview
########

Sylveon's Pixilate ability coupled with its access to Hyper Voice makes it a formidable special attacker in Doubles. Sylveon has several switch in opportunities thanks to Its typing and good special bulk give Sylveon several switch-in opportunities, but unfortunately, its movepool is quite bare, forcing it to basically solely rely on its STAB attacks in order to deal damage. Its Speed is also pretty low, making it relatively easy to revenge kill outside of Trick Room. Stronger physical attackers can hit it in target its weak Defense and muscle past it.

Choice Specs
########
name: Choice Specs
move 1: Hyper Voice
move 2: Moonblast
move 3: Hidden Power Ground / Hidden Power Fire
move 4: Psyshock / Shadow Ball
ability: Pixilate
item: Choice Specs
evs: 56 HP / 200 Def / 252 SpA
nature: Quiet

Moves
========

Hyper Voice is the main STAB attack because of the immediate damage it deals to both foes. Moonblast can be used to bypass Wide Guard, (remove comma) and it can deal more damage to individual threats. Hidden Power Ground is used to surprise Pokemon that resist Fairy, mainly Heatran; however, without Hidden Power Fire, Escavalier and Ferrothorn wall Sylveon. Psyshock hits Poison-types such as Amoonguss harder than Hidden Power Ground. Shadow Ball is to hit Aegislash, a common switch-in to Sylveon, harder than Hidden Power Ground and or Hidden Power Fire.

Set Details
========

56 EVs in HP and 200 EVs in Defense (space) give Milotic Sylveon (I don't know if this is what you meant; please go through this part again) enough bulk to take some physical moves such as Mega Kangaskhan's Return and Bisharp's Iron Head. Choice Specs gives Sylveon a massive power boost. Sylveon mainly relies on its STAB moves to deal damage anyway, so it won't suffer much from the inability to switch moves. Life Orb can be used to give Sylveon a boost in power without forcing it into one specific move undesirable to be locked into, such as Hyper Voice versus an opposing Wide Guard strategy. Pixie Plate can be used to fake a Choice Specs set while still boosting its power (and Sylveon doesn't really use anything but its STAB moves anyway). If Choice Specs is not used, Protect is an option over coverage moves.


Usage Tips
========

Sylveon's sole focus with this set is to deal as much damage as quickly as possible, so care must be taken to send it in at the right time. It has a lot of special bulk, so it can be switched in against special attacks quite easily. Once in, simply use Hyper Voice to add apply offensive pressure to the opponent's team and deal lots of damage. Be careful, as Sylveon's low Speed is sure to make it move last against most offensive Pokemon with its low Speed, so meaning it will have to take a few hits. Moonblast is mainly for Wide Guard users; most of the time, Hyper Voice is the better option because of its power and reliability.


Team Options
========

This set is reliant on team support, but can still easily tear through teams that lack solid counters to Fairy-types; as such, Pokemon that can remove those counters are really important. Ground-types are awesome partners because they hit almost all Pokemon that resist Fairy hard. Heatran, Landorus, and Shaymin-S are cool because they can provide Ground-type coverage that won't end up hitting Sylveon as well. Follow Me/Rage Powder support helps Sylveon's sweep with Hyper Voice or Moonblast, as does Fake Out support. Landorus-T, Scrafty, and Hitmontop, Mega Kangaskhan, provide Intimidate support. Speed control is extremely useful to help cover for Sylveon's low Speed; Trick Room pairs extremely well with this set, so Cresselia is great, as it provides not only Trick Room support but also provides Helping Hand support, which makes Sylveon's attacks even more powerful. If Sylveon has Trick Room support, it should run 0 Speed IVs and a Quiet nature.


Other Options
########

Sylveon has few other offensive options, but it does have an extensive support movepool. Calm Mind is the only other option for offensive Sylveon. Hwhile Choice Scarf is a gimmick, but on such a set, maximum Speed investment should be used alongside it.


Checks & Counters
########

**Type Advantage**: Fire-, Poison-, and Steel-types all wall Sylveon easily, as it is generally locked into Hyper Voice. Steel-types such as Scizor, Aegislash, and Bisharp can easily OHKO Sylveon before it attacks. Charizard and Talonflame get a special mention, as Sylveon cannot hit them with a super effective coverage move due to their immunity to Hidden Power Ground. Charizard has the bulk to sponge two Hyper Voices and retaliate with sun-boosted STAB attacks. Unfortunately, Talonflame is easily 2HKOed by Hyper Voice, so it is a shaky check. Heatran can sponge anything from Sylveon but Hidden Power Ground.

**Faster Pokemon**: Most offensive Pokemon can outspeed Sylveon, so they have plenty of time to (space) attack it. Physical attackers can aim for its weaker physical bulk and gradually wear it down. Physical threats such as Mega Kangaskhan, Talonflame, and Life Orb Bisharp shine in this category, as all of them can hit Sylveon's weaker Defense hard.

**Utility**: Wide Guard blocks Hyper Voice, Sylveon's main STAB move. Good Wide Guard users include Aegislash, Aerodactyl, and Hitmontop. Pokemon such as Amoonguss, Breloom, and Venusaur can put Sylveon to sleep.

Please address my comment under 'Set Details'.

contrib_gp.png


GP 2 / 2
 
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