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Azelf @ Focus Sash
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Atk/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Naive nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- Stealth Rock
- Psychic
- Explosion
- Fire Blast
This set uses Azelf's Speed and Focus Sash to help win out against many common leads. It OHKOs Gengar (outspeeding non Choice Scarf variants and surviving Choice Scarf variant's attacks with Focus Sash) with Psychic, OHKOs non bulky Gyarados with Explosion (and always gets a Stealth Rock off), and 2HKOs Bronzong with Fire Blast. It also has the ability to OHKO Roserade and Infernape with Psychic (though beware that both often run Focus Sash when leading), and Ninjask with Fire Blast.
Fire Blast is preferred for its chance to OHKO Weavile and Yanmega, but Taunt can be used to ensure that slower leads, such as Bronzong, Hippowdon, and Swampert, never set up Stealth Rock. All 252 Special Attack EVs aren't necessary, and can be transferred to Attack to allow Explosion to do as much as possible. However, going below 321 Special Attack is not recommended, as this is the minimum amount required to 2HKO the typical 338 HP / 330 SpD Bronzong with Leftovers 75% of the time.
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Salamence (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 232 Atk/252 Spd/24 SAtk
Naughty nature (+Atk, -SDef)
- Dragon Dance
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Fire Blast
The Dragon Dance set is one of Salamence's most dangerous options and is incredibly effective at sweeping towards the end of a match or breaking the mid-game wide open. Salamence is reasonably sturdy and sports a number of key resistances, including immunity to Ground-type attacks, so it should have no problem finding an opportunity to use Dragon Dance. STAB Outrage is extremely powerful and thus a fairly obvious choice; after a single Dragon Dance and with Life Orb, it is capable of at worst 2HKOing almost every Pokemon available in the OU tier, including the Steel-types that resist it. Earthquake complements Outrage well, covering most Steel-types such as Heatran and Metagross that resist Dragon; it also provides a good attacking option when Salamence isn't ready to use Outrage, such as during the beginning of a game. Fire Blast handles the very defensive Steel-types that Earthquake doesn't affect significantly, such as Skarmory and Forretress, and OHKOs Scizor; Stone Edge doesn't do nearly as much against Skarmory, but will OHKO the standard physically defensive Zapdos and offensive Gyarados (taking Intimidate into account) after a Dragon Dance. Dragon Claw is a perfectly usable option in the final slot for a secondary STAB in situations where you prefer to not lock yourself into Outrage. If you opt for Dragon Claw, it is suggested that you couple Salamence with Magnezone support to eliminate bulkier Steel-types.
The nature and EVs given are for use with Fire Blast. The small Special Attack investment allows Salamence, with its respectable base 110 Special Attack, to always OHKO a full health maximum HP, minimum Special Defense Impish Skarmory. If one elects to use Stone Edge or Dragon Claw, a 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe spread with an Adamant or Jolly nature will suffice. The choice between the Attack-boosting and the Speed-boosting nature depends partially on personal preference. The Attack-boosting nature is recommended if the set contains Stone Edge so Salamence can OHKO physically defensive Zapdos after a Dragon Dance, but the Speed-boosting nature often proves helpful with Fire Blast. While it may seem that Salamence would have more than enough Speed to sweep effectively after a Dragon Dance, a Speed-boosting nature prevents the possibility that Pokemon like Modest Choice Scarf Gengar, Timid Choice Scarf Roserade, and Jolly Choice Scarf Lucario might stand in its way. Additionally, a Speed-boosting nature ensures that Salamence ties with Zapdos, Jirachi, Celebi, and even other Salamence at worst.
Life Orb is the preferred item because its 30% power boost offers Salamence the opportunity to OHKO many Pokemon it otherwise wouldn't be able to, such as Zapdos and Gyarados. However, it offers no defensive properties, and even detracts from Salamence's HP every time it attacks; as such, Yache Berry and Lum Berry are options for more conservative players. Yache Berry will let Salamence survive most unSTABed Ice attacks, but unlike its Swords Dancing Dragon counterpart Garchomp, Salamence has Dragon Dance, whose Speed-boosting effect lessens the danger from faster Pokemon with Ice attacks; however, Yache Berry is still helpful against Ice Shard users like Mamoswine, bulky Water-types that won't be OHKOed by Outrage, and extremely fast Pokemon that will outrun Salamence even after a Dragon Dance. Lum Berry is another useful defensive item that will heal Salamence if it inadvertently is paralyzed, burned, or put to sleep.
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Scizor (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 HP/252 Atk/4 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Bullet Punch
- Brick Break
- X-Scissor
Scizor is without a doubt one of the most lethal physical attackers in the game. Sporting 130 base Attack, Technician and Swords Dance with priority moves such as Bullet Punch and Quick Attack to accompany them. With all of this backed up by Life Orb, Scizor is going to be dealing a lot of damage.
The basic idea is to Swords Dance as early as possible, giving Scizor a sky high Attack stat. Bullet Punch would normally be used to pick off faster, frail enemies such as Azelf and Gengar (who are both easily OHKOed after a Swords Dance). However, due to the immense power of Bullet Punch after taking into account STAB, Technician, Swords Dance, and Life Orb, you'll find yourself using it as your main attack. Just to demonstrate the power behind Bullet Punch, even a maximum HP and Defense Gliscor is 2HKO'd by Bullet Punch after Stealth Rock damage (even if it's holding Leftovers). Brick Break allows you to damage Steel-types that resist Bullet Punch, and break any screens set up by your opponent. While Superpower will lower your Attack and Defense, it does boast a 2HKO on Skarmory after a Swords Dance, and an OHKO on a Heatran with minimal HP and Defense investment; something that Brick Break cannot do. X-Scissor is your other STAB attack, simply because it's one of the more powerful moves Scizor knows and is your best bet against bulky Water-types such as Suicune and Vaporeon. However, if you'd prefer the ability to recover HP, Roost is the better choice. Quick Attack does more damage to the likes of Infernape, Zapdos, Starmie, and Jolteon, all of which are faster than Scizor. Quick Attack will also do as much damage as X-Scissor to Gyarados if you're unable to outspeed it.
Max Attack is used so Scizor can do as much damage as possible, while the 32 HP EVs will allow 11 uses of Life Orb, instead of the usual ten (provided you have no damage sustained already). 224 Speed EVs hits a 222 Speed stat, allowing you to outspeed a maximum Speed, neutral nature Tyranitar. So if you don't have a Swords Dance, you can still KO Tyranitar with Brick Break. If you're not worried about outspeeding much, feel free to move all the Speed EVs into HP instead. Life Orb is suggested for the extra power, but Leftovers is a fine choice if you'd like to keep Scizor alive longer (if you're not using Roost).
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Lucario (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 252 Atk/4 Def/252 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Extremespeed
- Crunch
With a 1-turn setup, a 120 base power STAB attack, and the strongest priority move available, Swords Dance Lucario is arguably the best late game sweeper in OU. Excellent typing, well-distributed stats, and an unpredictable movepool only make Lucario even more difficult to face down. After a Swords Dance, even Skarmory and Bronzong are easily exterminated with one Close Combat, assuming Stealth Rock damage and an Adamant nature. ExtremeSpeed is just as vital to Lucario's sweeping prowess as Close Combat, as most of the Pokemon faster than Lucario are frail enough to be OHKOd by ExtremeSpeed after a Swords Dance.
The final move is the most difficult one to choose from. If bulky Ghost- and Psychic-types are of concern, Crunch is the best option; if Flying-types are giving Lucario the blues, Stone Edge or Ice Punch are the best options. Stone Edge hits many Flying-types, but only manages neutral damage on Gliscor, one of Lucario's better counters if it does not carry an Ice-type move. Ice Punch hits Salamence stronger than Stone Edge does and is 4x super effective on Gliscor; however, you can only manage neutral damage on Gyarados, who is popular enough that you'll want to reconsider only neutral damage on the behemoth. Unfortunately, both Stone Edge and Ice Punch miss out on beating Ghost- and Psychic-types super effectively. Bullet Punch can replace ExtremeSpeed to hit Ghost-types and Pokemon that resist Normal, yet are faster than Lucario, such as Aerodactyl and Gengar.
Whether you choose an Adamant or Jolly nature depends on your team. Foregoing the Adamant nature makes Lucario miss some of the important OHKOes against Skarmory and Donphan, but a Jolly nature is far superior against offensive teams, which often run not only neutral natured base 100 Speed Pokemon but also Lucario, and being able to at least Speed tie can be game breaking. When using Ice Punch, Jolly makes a better option, as it allows Lucario to outpace neutral Speed natured Zapdos, Salamence, and Gliscor and follow up with OHKOs from a Swords Danced Ice Punch.
To show how powerful this set is, here are some calculations against many defensive Pokemon after a single Swords Dance. These calculations are assuming an Adamant nature.
Damage Calculations
Close Combat vs. max HP / Def Skarmory 84.4% - 99.7%
Close Combat vs. max HP / Def Bronzong: 95.2% - 100% (67% chance to OHKO)
Close Combat vs. max HP / Def Hippowdon: 75.7% - 89.3%
Close Combat vs. max HP / Def Forretress: 79.7% - 93.8%
Close Combat vs. max HP / Def Donphan: 82.0% - 96.9%
Crunch vs. max HP / Def Cresselia: 63.5% - 74.8%
Crunch vs. max HP Cresselia: 85.1% - 100% (2.6% chance to OHKO)
Crunch vs. max HP / Def Dusknoir: 88.4% - 100% (21% chance to OHKO)
Crunch vs. max HP / Def Celebi: 78.7% - 93.1%
Crunch vs. max HP / Def Rotom - Appliance: 100.0%
---
Cresselia (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP/252 Def/4 SAtk
Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Reflect
- Moonlight
- Ice Beam
- Thunder Wave
Reflect and Thunder Wave are both problematic for most of Cresselia's counters. Reflect halves physical damage and essentially neuters the threat of Pursuit, while Thunder Wave paralyses speedy Pokemon such as Weavile and Houndoom. Cresselia is one of the few Pokemon who can directly take Salamence on, so Ice Beam is a standard attack. Even with Cresselia's inept offensive capabilities she is still able to OHKO 4 HP / 0 SpD Salamence with Ice Beam after Stealth Rock damage, while Salamence only has a small chance to 2HKO with a Life Orb boosted Outrage with Stealth Rock and Leftovers factored in. It also means Cresselia is pretty certain to OHKO Salamence that may have taken 20% damage from two Life Orb attacks. Charge Beam is Cresselia's best option against Water-types, in particular Gyarados; and the potential Special Attack boost is always welcome. Psychic helps against Infernape and Heracross, but paralysing the former with Thunder Wave is usually enough to eliminate it as a threat.
It should be noted that sandstorm will especially ruin this Cresselia, cutting its Moonlight recovery to 25% per use. Thus, Rest is an option; although this should only be used when paired with a Cleric. Blissey is an excellent choice for this job to sponge the special attacks Cresselia cannot while Cresselia can take on the physical threats Blissey cannot, in particular Fighting-types.
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Blissey (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 Def/80 SAtk/176 SDef
Calm nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Wish
- Protect
- Ice Beam
- Toxic
The #1 special wall in the game has had to reinvent herself slightly to keep up with DPP's new special threats. The general idea is to switch in, use Wish and then Protect to directly mirror the effects of Softboiled, except that you can waste more turns for PP stalling and Toxic damage. Alternately, you could use Wish preemptively (with more than half of your HP intact, even at full health) then using the next turn to attack, thus doing damage to them and healing yourself.
The Wish / Protect combination is all the more appealing on Blissey in DP thanks in large to the popularity of Choice item users. The silver lining to this set resides in the fantastic safety net Protect casts over Blissey. At any point over around 50% HP, WishBliss will not be threatened by Choice-boosted Pursuit from Pokémon like Tyranitar, Weavile and Heracross simply because of Protect. She can Protect heads-up to see if they used Pursuit, intending to deal a heavy blow to a switching Blissey.
If they use Pursuit, Blissey will be Protected and can stay in and Wish the next turn while taking a 40 base power Pursuit assured to do less than 35% to her (assuming the threat stays in, which it may not), then follow up with Protect the subsequent turn to guarantee the 50% HP recovery. If they attack straight up with one of their powerful STAB moves, you're more than free to switch out to the appropriate counter with which your team should be equipped anyway. This matchup becomes even more attractive when you factor in the possibility that the above Pursuit threats could likely have switched into a Wish in the first place.
Remember though, this strategy, like most, can be used against you if you rely too heavily upon it. Consider a Tyranitar heads-up against a Blissey that used Wish on the switch. Tyranitar uses Crunch as Blissey Protects, and then switches out of the full health Blissey to which it no longer poses such a large threat. But later, when Tyranitar is heads-up against the same Blissey, it uses a dangerous Dragon Dance as Blissey Protects, assuming that Tyranitar was of the Choice Band variety. This is just something to keep in mind. Anyway, if you want to ensure Blissey stays alive longer, be it to pass Wishes or to endure as a special wall, you can run Softboiled over Protect.
The reason to use Softboiled over the very useful Protect is primarily an issue of PP. Wish only has 16 PP, so if you are involved in a long, drawn-out stall war, Wish can get worn down as you try to heal your teammates and yourself with the one move. If you have Softboiled, you can heal yourself with that and rely on Wish to heal everyone else. Another disadvantage of Protect is that with Wish + Protect as your only method of healing, a special attacker could hit Blissey as it switches in, then go to a big threat like Tyranitar as Blissey uses Wish. If Blissey stays in to get healed, it risks letting Tyranitar get in some Dragon Dances. If Blissey switches out, then it hasn't gained any HP. This cycle can continue throughout the battle, thus preventing you from ever healing your Blissey, and thus opening you up to a potential special sweep. Softboiled has another minor benefit. If you are using Blissey in Hail or a Sandstorm, then Blissey will die to the weather if you are knocked to 6.25% HP or below. If you Wish on that turn, you won't have time to Protect next turn to heal yourself, whereas if you Softboiled you are safe. Softboiled also reduces the threat of a Pokemon setting up on you.
Toxic is a great move here regardless of whether you choose Protect or Softboiled. Either way, you have two moves to use that aid in stalling. As you're sitting around healing yourself, you won't really be doing anything aside from PP stalling. If you hit them with Toxic first, then they are losing HP while you stall with recovery moves. Toxic is a good move even if you have Toxic Spikes down, as Toxic is this Blissey's only chance to take down Togekiss. It also helps to hit threats like Gyarados on the switch.
For the attack, Flamethrower is probably Blissey's best bet. You definitely want the ability to hit Gengar, so Flamethrower, Ice Beam, or Thunderbolt would be your choices for an attack. Flamethrower hits nearly every Pokemon that's immune to Toxic super effectively. It also helps cover Heracross somewhat, who may want to come in on Toxic to abuse Guts. However, you obviously cannot hit Heatran with Flamethrower and Toxic. You could, however, PP stall Heatran out of its Fire move or Wish and switch to something that can take it on. Ice Beam helps cover Mixed Salamence (the Choice Specs version isn't going to get through Blissey regardless) and keeps Dugtrio away, assuming you can't hit them with Toxic. Thunderbolt stops Gyarados from setting up on you and still hits Skarmory and other Steels for moderate damage.
If you want, you could lose Toxic or Protect / Softboiled for another attack.
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Azelf @ Focus Sash
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Atk/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Naive nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- Stealth Rock
- Psychic
- Explosion
- Fire Blast
This set uses Azelf's Speed and Focus Sash to help win out against many common leads. It OHKOs Gengar (outspeeding non Choice Scarf variants and surviving Choice Scarf variant's attacks with Focus Sash) with Psychic, OHKOs non bulky Gyarados with Explosion (and always gets a Stealth Rock off), and 2HKOs Bronzong with Fire Blast. It also has the ability to OHKO Roserade and Infernape with Psychic (though beware that both often run Focus Sash when leading), and Ninjask with Fire Blast.
Fire Blast is preferred for its chance to OHKO Weavile and Yanmega, but Taunt can be used to ensure that slower leads, such as Bronzong, Hippowdon, and Swampert, never set up Stealth Rock. All 252 Special Attack EVs aren't necessary, and can be transferred to Attack to allow Explosion to do as much as possible. However, going below 321 Special Attack is not recommended, as this is the minimum amount required to 2HKO the typical 338 HP / 330 SpD Bronzong with Leftovers 75% of the time.
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Salamence (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 232 Atk/252 Spd/24 SAtk
Naughty nature (+Atk, -SDef)
- Dragon Dance
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Fire Blast
The Dragon Dance set is one of Salamence's most dangerous options and is incredibly effective at sweeping towards the end of a match or breaking the mid-game wide open. Salamence is reasonably sturdy and sports a number of key resistances, including immunity to Ground-type attacks, so it should have no problem finding an opportunity to use Dragon Dance. STAB Outrage is extremely powerful and thus a fairly obvious choice; after a single Dragon Dance and with Life Orb, it is capable of at worst 2HKOing almost every Pokemon available in the OU tier, including the Steel-types that resist it. Earthquake complements Outrage well, covering most Steel-types such as Heatran and Metagross that resist Dragon; it also provides a good attacking option when Salamence isn't ready to use Outrage, such as during the beginning of a game. Fire Blast handles the very defensive Steel-types that Earthquake doesn't affect significantly, such as Skarmory and Forretress, and OHKOs Scizor; Stone Edge doesn't do nearly as much against Skarmory, but will OHKO the standard physically defensive Zapdos and offensive Gyarados (taking Intimidate into account) after a Dragon Dance. Dragon Claw is a perfectly usable option in the final slot for a secondary STAB in situations where you prefer to not lock yourself into Outrage. If you opt for Dragon Claw, it is suggested that you couple Salamence with Magnezone support to eliminate bulkier Steel-types.
The nature and EVs given are for use with Fire Blast. The small Special Attack investment allows Salamence, with its respectable base 110 Special Attack, to always OHKO a full health maximum HP, minimum Special Defense Impish Skarmory. If one elects to use Stone Edge or Dragon Claw, a 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe spread with an Adamant or Jolly nature will suffice. The choice between the Attack-boosting and the Speed-boosting nature depends partially on personal preference. The Attack-boosting nature is recommended if the set contains Stone Edge so Salamence can OHKO physically defensive Zapdos after a Dragon Dance, but the Speed-boosting nature often proves helpful with Fire Blast. While it may seem that Salamence would have more than enough Speed to sweep effectively after a Dragon Dance, a Speed-boosting nature prevents the possibility that Pokemon like Modest Choice Scarf Gengar, Timid Choice Scarf Roserade, and Jolly Choice Scarf Lucario might stand in its way. Additionally, a Speed-boosting nature ensures that Salamence ties with Zapdos, Jirachi, Celebi, and even other Salamence at worst.
Life Orb is the preferred item because its 30% power boost offers Salamence the opportunity to OHKO many Pokemon it otherwise wouldn't be able to, such as Zapdos and Gyarados. However, it offers no defensive properties, and even detracts from Salamence's HP every time it attacks; as such, Yache Berry and Lum Berry are options for more conservative players. Yache Berry will let Salamence survive most unSTABed Ice attacks, but unlike its Swords Dancing Dragon counterpart Garchomp, Salamence has Dragon Dance, whose Speed-boosting effect lessens the danger from faster Pokemon with Ice attacks; however, Yache Berry is still helpful against Ice Shard users like Mamoswine, bulky Water-types that won't be OHKOed by Outrage, and extremely fast Pokemon that will outrun Salamence even after a Dragon Dance. Lum Berry is another useful defensive item that will heal Salamence if it inadvertently is paralyzed, burned, or put to sleep.
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Scizor (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 HP/252 Atk/4 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Bullet Punch
- Brick Break
- X-Scissor
Scizor is without a doubt one of the most lethal physical attackers in the game. Sporting 130 base Attack, Technician and Swords Dance with priority moves such as Bullet Punch and Quick Attack to accompany them. With all of this backed up by Life Orb, Scizor is going to be dealing a lot of damage.
The basic idea is to Swords Dance as early as possible, giving Scizor a sky high Attack stat. Bullet Punch would normally be used to pick off faster, frail enemies such as Azelf and Gengar (who are both easily OHKOed after a Swords Dance). However, due to the immense power of Bullet Punch after taking into account STAB, Technician, Swords Dance, and Life Orb, you'll find yourself using it as your main attack. Just to demonstrate the power behind Bullet Punch, even a maximum HP and Defense Gliscor is 2HKO'd by Bullet Punch after Stealth Rock damage (even if it's holding Leftovers). Brick Break allows you to damage Steel-types that resist Bullet Punch, and break any screens set up by your opponent. While Superpower will lower your Attack and Defense, it does boast a 2HKO on Skarmory after a Swords Dance, and an OHKO on a Heatran with minimal HP and Defense investment; something that Brick Break cannot do. X-Scissor is your other STAB attack, simply because it's one of the more powerful moves Scizor knows and is your best bet against bulky Water-types such as Suicune and Vaporeon. However, if you'd prefer the ability to recover HP, Roost is the better choice. Quick Attack does more damage to the likes of Infernape, Zapdos, Starmie, and Jolteon, all of which are faster than Scizor. Quick Attack will also do as much damage as X-Scissor to Gyarados if you're unable to outspeed it.
Max Attack is used so Scizor can do as much damage as possible, while the 32 HP EVs will allow 11 uses of Life Orb, instead of the usual ten (provided you have no damage sustained already). 224 Speed EVs hits a 222 Speed stat, allowing you to outspeed a maximum Speed, neutral nature Tyranitar. So if you don't have a Swords Dance, you can still KO Tyranitar with Brick Break. If you're not worried about outspeeding much, feel free to move all the Speed EVs into HP instead. Life Orb is suggested for the extra power, but Leftovers is a fine choice if you'd like to keep Scizor alive longer (if you're not using Roost).
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Lucario (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 252 Atk/4 Def/252 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Extremespeed
- Crunch
With a 1-turn setup, a 120 base power STAB attack, and the strongest priority move available, Swords Dance Lucario is arguably the best late game sweeper in OU. Excellent typing, well-distributed stats, and an unpredictable movepool only make Lucario even more difficult to face down. After a Swords Dance, even Skarmory and Bronzong are easily exterminated with one Close Combat, assuming Stealth Rock damage and an Adamant nature. ExtremeSpeed is just as vital to Lucario's sweeping prowess as Close Combat, as most of the Pokemon faster than Lucario are frail enough to be OHKOd by ExtremeSpeed after a Swords Dance.
The final move is the most difficult one to choose from. If bulky Ghost- and Psychic-types are of concern, Crunch is the best option; if Flying-types are giving Lucario the blues, Stone Edge or Ice Punch are the best options. Stone Edge hits many Flying-types, but only manages neutral damage on Gliscor, one of Lucario's better counters if it does not carry an Ice-type move. Ice Punch hits Salamence stronger than Stone Edge does and is 4x super effective on Gliscor; however, you can only manage neutral damage on Gyarados, who is popular enough that you'll want to reconsider only neutral damage on the behemoth. Unfortunately, both Stone Edge and Ice Punch miss out on beating Ghost- and Psychic-types super effectively. Bullet Punch can replace ExtremeSpeed to hit Ghost-types and Pokemon that resist Normal, yet are faster than Lucario, such as Aerodactyl and Gengar.
Whether you choose an Adamant or Jolly nature depends on your team. Foregoing the Adamant nature makes Lucario miss some of the important OHKOes against Skarmory and Donphan, but a Jolly nature is far superior against offensive teams, which often run not only neutral natured base 100 Speed Pokemon but also Lucario, and being able to at least Speed tie can be game breaking. When using Ice Punch, Jolly makes a better option, as it allows Lucario to outpace neutral Speed natured Zapdos, Salamence, and Gliscor and follow up with OHKOs from a Swords Danced Ice Punch.
To show how powerful this set is, here are some calculations against many defensive Pokemon after a single Swords Dance. These calculations are assuming an Adamant nature.
Damage Calculations
Close Combat vs. max HP / Def Skarmory 84.4% - 99.7%
Close Combat vs. max HP / Def Bronzong: 95.2% - 100% (67% chance to OHKO)
Close Combat vs. max HP / Def Hippowdon: 75.7% - 89.3%
Close Combat vs. max HP / Def Forretress: 79.7% - 93.8%
Close Combat vs. max HP / Def Donphan: 82.0% - 96.9%
Crunch vs. max HP / Def Cresselia: 63.5% - 74.8%
Crunch vs. max HP Cresselia: 85.1% - 100% (2.6% chance to OHKO)
Crunch vs. max HP / Def Dusknoir: 88.4% - 100% (21% chance to OHKO)
Crunch vs. max HP / Def Celebi: 78.7% - 93.1%
Crunch vs. max HP / Def Rotom - Appliance: 100.0%
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Cresselia (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP/252 Def/4 SAtk
Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Reflect
- Moonlight
- Ice Beam
- Thunder Wave
Reflect and Thunder Wave are both problematic for most of Cresselia's counters. Reflect halves physical damage and essentially neuters the threat of Pursuit, while Thunder Wave paralyses speedy Pokemon such as Weavile and Houndoom. Cresselia is one of the few Pokemon who can directly take Salamence on, so Ice Beam is a standard attack. Even with Cresselia's inept offensive capabilities she is still able to OHKO 4 HP / 0 SpD Salamence with Ice Beam after Stealth Rock damage, while Salamence only has a small chance to 2HKO with a Life Orb boosted Outrage with Stealth Rock and Leftovers factored in. It also means Cresselia is pretty certain to OHKO Salamence that may have taken 20% damage from two Life Orb attacks. Charge Beam is Cresselia's best option against Water-types, in particular Gyarados; and the potential Special Attack boost is always welcome. Psychic helps against Infernape and Heracross, but paralysing the former with Thunder Wave is usually enough to eliminate it as a threat.
It should be noted that sandstorm will especially ruin this Cresselia, cutting its Moonlight recovery to 25% per use. Thus, Rest is an option; although this should only be used when paired with a Cleric. Blissey is an excellent choice for this job to sponge the special attacks Cresselia cannot while Cresselia can take on the physical threats Blissey cannot, in particular Fighting-types.
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Blissey (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 Def/80 SAtk/176 SDef
Calm nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Wish
- Protect
- Ice Beam
- Toxic
The #1 special wall in the game has had to reinvent herself slightly to keep up with DPP's new special threats. The general idea is to switch in, use Wish and then Protect to directly mirror the effects of Softboiled, except that you can waste more turns for PP stalling and Toxic damage. Alternately, you could use Wish preemptively (with more than half of your HP intact, even at full health) then using the next turn to attack, thus doing damage to them and healing yourself.
The Wish / Protect combination is all the more appealing on Blissey in DP thanks in large to the popularity of Choice item users. The silver lining to this set resides in the fantastic safety net Protect casts over Blissey. At any point over around 50% HP, WishBliss will not be threatened by Choice-boosted Pursuit from Pokémon like Tyranitar, Weavile and Heracross simply because of Protect. She can Protect heads-up to see if they used Pursuit, intending to deal a heavy blow to a switching Blissey.
If they use Pursuit, Blissey will be Protected and can stay in and Wish the next turn while taking a 40 base power Pursuit assured to do less than 35% to her (assuming the threat stays in, which it may not), then follow up with Protect the subsequent turn to guarantee the 50% HP recovery. If they attack straight up with one of their powerful STAB moves, you're more than free to switch out to the appropriate counter with which your team should be equipped anyway. This matchup becomes even more attractive when you factor in the possibility that the above Pursuit threats could likely have switched into a Wish in the first place.
Remember though, this strategy, like most, can be used against you if you rely too heavily upon it. Consider a Tyranitar heads-up against a Blissey that used Wish on the switch. Tyranitar uses Crunch as Blissey Protects, and then switches out of the full health Blissey to which it no longer poses such a large threat. But later, when Tyranitar is heads-up against the same Blissey, it uses a dangerous Dragon Dance as Blissey Protects, assuming that Tyranitar was of the Choice Band variety. This is just something to keep in mind. Anyway, if you want to ensure Blissey stays alive longer, be it to pass Wishes or to endure as a special wall, you can run Softboiled over Protect.
The reason to use Softboiled over the very useful Protect is primarily an issue of PP. Wish only has 16 PP, so if you are involved in a long, drawn-out stall war, Wish can get worn down as you try to heal your teammates and yourself with the one move. If you have Softboiled, you can heal yourself with that and rely on Wish to heal everyone else. Another disadvantage of Protect is that with Wish + Protect as your only method of healing, a special attacker could hit Blissey as it switches in, then go to a big threat like Tyranitar as Blissey uses Wish. If Blissey stays in to get healed, it risks letting Tyranitar get in some Dragon Dances. If Blissey switches out, then it hasn't gained any HP. This cycle can continue throughout the battle, thus preventing you from ever healing your Blissey, and thus opening you up to a potential special sweep. Softboiled has another minor benefit. If you are using Blissey in Hail or a Sandstorm, then Blissey will die to the weather if you are knocked to 6.25% HP or below. If you Wish on that turn, you won't have time to Protect next turn to heal yourself, whereas if you Softboiled you are safe. Softboiled also reduces the threat of a Pokemon setting up on you.
Toxic is a great move here regardless of whether you choose Protect or Softboiled. Either way, you have two moves to use that aid in stalling. As you're sitting around healing yourself, you won't really be doing anything aside from PP stalling. If you hit them with Toxic first, then they are losing HP while you stall with recovery moves. Toxic is a good move even if you have Toxic Spikes down, as Toxic is this Blissey's only chance to take down Togekiss. It also helps to hit threats like Gyarados on the switch.
For the attack, Flamethrower is probably Blissey's best bet. You definitely want the ability to hit Gengar, so Flamethrower, Ice Beam, or Thunderbolt would be your choices for an attack. Flamethrower hits nearly every Pokemon that's immune to Toxic super effectively. It also helps cover Heracross somewhat, who may want to come in on Toxic to abuse Guts. However, you obviously cannot hit Heatran with Flamethrower and Toxic. You could, however, PP stall Heatran out of its Fire move or Wish and switch to something that can take it on. Ice Beam helps cover Mixed Salamence (the Choice Specs version isn't going to get through Blissey regardless) and keeps Dugtrio away, assuming you can't hit them with Toxic. Thunderbolt stops Gyarados from setting up on you and still hits Skarmory and other Steels for moderate damage.
If you want, you could lose Toxic or Protect / Softboiled for another attack.
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