Smeargle (FEARgle) lead
lv. 1 0 speed IVs
Own Tempo brave focus sash
Spore
Endeavor
Trick Room
Dragon rage
This set works a lot like a FEAR set, but with some key differences that give it much more utility than a normal FEAR pokemon. Trick Room guarentees the first hit against everything, and this speed setup lowers it's speed from 6 to 5 in the event of other level 1's (rare, but as it has no cost to smeargle, there is no reason not to go for the lowest possible speed). Being a lead, it comes in before entry hazards can ruin it.
The strategy is to use trick room to gain priority first turn, or spore against priority users and pokemon that probably don't hold a lum/chesto berry. Or in the event of a tyranitar, use endeavor to bring it down to 1 hp before the sandstorm makes smeargle useless. The next attack is very situational. If still at full health, use spore to incapacitate whatever is out or endeavor if the opponent probably has a lum/chesto berry. If the opponent is incapacitated by spore with trick room out, you endeavor. Then dragon rage guarentees a kill against almost every pokemon in the game, as even if smeargle is at full health leftovers recovery + smeargle's 12 HP is less than 40 for anything other than Chansey and Blissey, and will kill those two if Smeargle did it's endeavor at 1 health.
In this situation, the two most common possibilities are:
1 - you KO'd the opponents lead with one turn of trick room left, enabling you to spore the switch-in, trick room again, and at least get one endeavor in if not also another dragon rage, and if you are really lucky, spore and endeavor a third pokemon
or 2 - the opponent's lead is asleep, his switch in is KO'd, and you have one turn on trick room left to bring the opponent's next pokemon down to 1 hp.
While this set seems like a complete glass cannon that is easily wrecked, it is guarenteed to do a lot of damage even if this ideal situation does not play out, provided proper prediction. Should an opponent have something to stop smeargle, that pokemon will either be at 1 hp or if it's a ghost, put to sleep if predicted correctly. The only things that truely counter this are jirachi leads 60% of the time that they use iron head as a first attack due to iron head flinch and hypnosis leads 60% of the time they use hypnosis. However, these are the only two complete counters I have encountered with this set, and in both cases Smeargle can beat both it's counters 40% of the time. If a lead is know to run taunt, it can be endeavored first turn and then dragon raged due to focus sash protection. Machamp is also a tough pokemon for smeargle because lum berry is common and it runs substitute, but because of own tempo, dynamic punch will not stop an endeavor, and endeavor kills substitutes in one hit.
This set does very poorly against Tyranitar and abomasnow, due to residual damage, and at best will reduce both to 1 hp, while at worst, a bad trick room or more commonly dragon rage will lead to sandstorm taking out smeargle's last hp while doing nothing to Tyranitar. It will also most likely need rapid spin support if it's switched out and is made useless if it is forced to leave the battle with less than full health, or forced to enter with entry hazards. However, it is fairly destructive for a glass cannon, as the most common bad scenarios will, with good prediction, leave an opponent with either a sleep condition, 1 hp, or both. This smeargle finds a good place on Trick room teams, but it uses up most its trick room turns, and will often benefit more from a team mate's trick room than provide support for a team mate, as this makes smeargle able to re-enter the battle even without full health. It is common for trick room to run out on this smeargle, and any support that this smeargle provides will be minimal.
This smeargle benefits greatly from team mates with priority moves and can lay entry hazards, as it is common for an opponent to be left with a pokemon at 1 hp which is either swiched out and thus can be easily KO'd by entry hazards, or stays in and thus having priority minimizes any potential risk.
Naturally, EVs are irrelivant to the performance of this set, and sketch can be taught via move tutor.
lv. 1 0 speed IVs
Own Tempo brave focus sash
Spore
Endeavor
Trick Room
Dragon rage
This set works a lot like a FEAR set, but with some key differences that give it much more utility than a normal FEAR pokemon. Trick Room guarentees the first hit against everything, and this speed setup lowers it's speed from 6 to 5 in the event of other level 1's (rare, but as it has no cost to smeargle, there is no reason not to go for the lowest possible speed). Being a lead, it comes in before entry hazards can ruin it.
The strategy is to use trick room to gain priority first turn, or spore against priority users and pokemon that probably don't hold a lum/chesto berry. Or in the event of a tyranitar, use endeavor to bring it down to 1 hp before the sandstorm makes smeargle useless. The next attack is very situational. If still at full health, use spore to incapacitate whatever is out or endeavor if the opponent probably has a lum/chesto berry. If the opponent is incapacitated by spore with trick room out, you endeavor. Then dragon rage guarentees a kill against almost every pokemon in the game, as even if smeargle is at full health leftovers recovery + smeargle's 12 HP is less than 40 for anything other than Chansey and Blissey, and will kill those two if Smeargle did it's endeavor at 1 health.
In this situation, the two most common possibilities are:
1 - you KO'd the opponents lead with one turn of trick room left, enabling you to spore the switch-in, trick room again, and at least get one endeavor in if not also another dragon rage, and if you are really lucky, spore and endeavor a third pokemon
or 2 - the opponent's lead is asleep, his switch in is KO'd, and you have one turn on trick room left to bring the opponent's next pokemon down to 1 hp.
While this set seems like a complete glass cannon that is easily wrecked, it is guarenteed to do a lot of damage even if this ideal situation does not play out, provided proper prediction. Should an opponent have something to stop smeargle, that pokemon will either be at 1 hp or if it's a ghost, put to sleep if predicted correctly. The only things that truely counter this are jirachi leads 60% of the time that they use iron head as a first attack due to iron head flinch and hypnosis leads 60% of the time they use hypnosis. However, these are the only two complete counters I have encountered with this set, and in both cases Smeargle can beat both it's counters 40% of the time. If a lead is know to run taunt, it can be endeavored first turn and then dragon raged due to focus sash protection. Machamp is also a tough pokemon for smeargle because lum berry is common and it runs substitute, but because of own tempo, dynamic punch will not stop an endeavor, and endeavor kills substitutes in one hit.
This set does very poorly against Tyranitar and abomasnow, due to residual damage, and at best will reduce both to 1 hp, while at worst, a bad trick room or more commonly dragon rage will lead to sandstorm taking out smeargle's last hp while doing nothing to Tyranitar. It will also most likely need rapid spin support if it's switched out and is made useless if it is forced to leave the battle with less than full health, or forced to enter with entry hazards. However, it is fairly destructive for a glass cannon, as the most common bad scenarios will, with good prediction, leave an opponent with either a sleep condition, 1 hp, or both. This smeargle finds a good place on Trick room teams, but it uses up most its trick room turns, and will often benefit more from a team mate's trick room than provide support for a team mate, as this makes smeargle able to re-enter the battle even without full health. It is common for trick room to run out on this smeargle, and any support that this smeargle provides will be minimal.
This smeargle benefits greatly from team mates with priority moves and can lay entry hazards, as it is common for an opponent to be left with a pokemon at 1 hp which is either swiched out and thus can be easily KO'd by entry hazards, or stays in and thus having priority minimizes any potential risk.
Naturally, EVs are irrelivant to the performance of this set, and sketch can be taught via move tutor.
