Aaronboyer
Something Worth Fighting For
AM QC: Wrath of Alakazam
QC: MaceMaster / UBERLandon21 / DEG
GP: TDPJ / Electropop
[OVERVIEW]
[OVERVIEW]
In a metagame where Knock Off, Trick, and Switcheroo are nearly irrelevant, Type: Null performs satisfactorily as a bulky tank and PP staller due to Battle Armor and Eviolite. Its absurd bulk allows it to take on several key metagame threats such as Landorus-T, Mega Aggron lacking Taunt, and Greninja. Type: Null also possesses only a single weakness in Fighting, which allows it to take on a larger portion of the metagame. However, its reliance on non-attacking moves allows Pokemon such as Tapu Lele and Mega Gyarados to easily shut Type: Null down with Taunt and defeat it. Furthermore, Type: Null is also susceptible to Fighting-types such as Mega Lopunny and Sawk, as well as Fighting-type coverage such as Focus Blast from Mega Gardevoir and Hoopa-U. Type: Null also has difficulty differentiating itself from other bulky Normal-type tanks such as Snorlax and Chansey, which are not nearly as one-dimensional. Lastly, Type: Null does not have any useful type resistances to complement its stellar bulk, which in practice doesn't make it seem nearly as bulky as it looks on paper.
[SET]
name: PP Staller
move 1: Confide
move 2: Iron Defense
move 3: Rest
move 4: Return
item: Eviolite
ability: Battle Armor
nature: Impish
evs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Confide lowers the foe's Special Attack stat and even goes through the Substitute of Pokemon such as Primarina and Greninja. Iron Defense allows Type: Null to boost its Defense by two stages, easing the matchup against certain physical attackers such as Golem, Choice-locked Garchomp, and physical Hoopa-U. Rest alleviates Type: Null's status and fully restores its health so it can take repeated hits from top-tier threats such as Mega Metagross. Rest also guarantees sleep turns for Type: Null to burn out the PP of opposing Pokemon such as Mega Slowbro. Return, while not very strong due to the lack of Attack investment, prevents Type: Null from being completely shut down by Taunt and Substitute users such as Mega Gyarados and Tapu Lele while also slowly chipping away at Pokemon such as Mega Mawile and Golem that lack reliable recovery options. However, because Type: Null doesn't have Attack investment, Return may not be enough to defeat Taunt users with recovery such as Mew.
Set Details
========
Maximum HP and Defense EVs alongside and Impish nature allow Type: Null to take on a myriad of physical attackers such as Alolan Marowak and Choice Band Garchomp. Because Type: Null is not fully evolved, an Eviolite is equipped to further augment its defensive prowess. Battle Armor prevents Type: Null from being struck with a critical hit to make the foe incapable of overcoming Type: Null's Iron Defense's Defense boosts and Confide's Special Attack drops.
Usage Tips
========
Before selecting Type: Null, consider if the opposing team has any Fighting-types such as Mega Heracross, common Taunt and Substitute users such as Mega Gyarados, wallbreakers such as Porygon-Z, or dedicated PP stallers such as Mega Slowbro that can defeat it. If not, Type: Null should be a relatively safe win. If more than one of the opposing side's Pokemon fit under these parameters, consider picking another Pokemon. If Type: Null is brought in against a physical attacker such as Golem, immediately start boosting with Iron Defense; Confide should only be used if you need to PP stall. If Type: Null is brought in against a special attacker such as Genesect, immediately start lowering its Special Attack stat with Confide; Iron Defense should only be used if you need to PP stall. If Type: Null is against a Pokemon that can potentially be either a physical or special attacker, such as Hoopa-U, determine if the rest of the opposing team is predominantly made up of physical or special attackers, and use your best judgment. Be careful to not use Rest prematurely, as Type: Null may not be able to win the matchup any longer if too many premature uses of Rest are used. Against opposing PP stallers, use Rest as soon as you get attacked so you can get the two free turns of guaranteed sleep. Do not attack the opposing PP staller, as then they would be able to use Rest and get their two free turns of guaranteed sleep.
Team Options
========
Faster Fighting-type checks such as Tapu Lele, Aegislash, and Landorus-T that can dissuade the opponent from sending in Fighting-types make good partners for Type: Null, as scaring the opponent from choosing their Mega Lopunny, Mega Blaziken, or Sawk is crucial for Type: Null to have a good matchup. Teammates such as Tapu Bulu, Mega Diancie, and Mega Metagross that can defeat common Taunt and Substitute users such as Mega Gyarados and Tapu Lele are essential in discouraging the opponent from choosing these threats to face Type: Null. Pokemon that beat common Ghost-types such as Mega Lopunny and Heatran are also incredibly useful.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Metal Sound over Return gives Type: Null 32 additional PP to play with. However, giving up Return would mean that Type: Null would become even more susceptible to Taunt users such as Mega Gyarados, and the high PP of Confide and Iron Defense along with the guaranteed sleep turns of Rest is usually sufficient for PP stalling. Toxic can badly poison the foe and mitigates Type: Null's low offensive presence. However, several Pokemon such as Zygarde-C and Mega Slowbro can alleviate their status in the very same fashion Type: Null does, via Rest. Toxic also has way less PP than all of Type: Null's other moves and leaves it susceptible not only to Taunt but also to Substitute users such as Mega Gyarados and the aforementioned Zygarde-C. A more offensively-oriented set with Swords Dance could be utilized, but Type: Null is exceedingly outclassed as an offensive Swords Dance user by Pokemon such as Aegislash, Landorus-T, and Garchomp. Rock Slide nails Mega Charizard Y, but it is still relatively weak when Type: Null's Attack is uninvested.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Fighting-types**: Fighting-types such as Mega Lopunny, Mega Heracross, Mega Lucario, and Mega Gallade can all blow back Type: Null with either a STAB super effective High Jump Kick or Close Combat. Other Pokemon that carry Fighting-type coverage such as Meloetta, Hoopa-U, and Mega Gardevoir can also defeat Type: Null easily with Focus Blast, respectively.
**Ghost-types**: Ghost-type Pokemon such as Aegislash and Mega Gengar are able to completely wall Type: Null and win the matchup with either Sacred Sword or Focus Blast.
**Bulky Taunt Users**: Pokemon that commonly carry Taunt such as Mega Gyarados, Tapu Lele, and Mew can all restrict Type: Null into only using its weak, uninvested Return.
**Wallbreakers**: Pokemon such as Kartana, Tapu Lele, and Porygon-Z can all break through Type: Null's defenses with their Choice Band- or Specs-boosted STAB attacks. Set up wallbreakers such as Belly Drum Mega Charizard X and Substitute + Swords Dance Kartana also defeat Type: Null handily.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [Aaronboyer, 239454]
- Quality checked by: [MaceMaster, 302951], [UberLandon21, 379544], [DEG, 234355]
- Grammar checked by: [[The Dutch Plumberjack, 232216], [Electrolyte, 148071]]
QC: MaceMaster / UBERLandon21 / DEG
GP: TDPJ / Electropop
[OVERVIEW]
[OVERVIEW]
In a metagame where Knock Off, Trick, and Switcheroo are nearly irrelevant, Type: Null performs satisfactorily as a bulky tank and PP staller due to Battle Armor and Eviolite. Its absurd bulk allows it to take on several key metagame threats such as Landorus-T, Mega Aggron lacking Taunt, and Greninja. Type: Null also possesses only a single weakness in Fighting, which allows it to take on a larger portion of the metagame. However, its reliance on non-attacking moves allows Pokemon such as Tapu Lele and Mega Gyarados to easily shut Type: Null down with Taunt and defeat it. Furthermore, Type: Null is also susceptible to Fighting-types such as Mega Lopunny and Sawk, as well as Fighting-type coverage such as Focus Blast from Mega Gardevoir and Hoopa-U. Type: Null also has difficulty differentiating itself from other bulky Normal-type tanks such as Snorlax and Chansey, which are not nearly as one-dimensional. Lastly, Type: Null does not have any useful type resistances to complement its stellar bulk, which in practice doesn't make it seem nearly as bulky as it looks on paper.
[SET]
name: PP Staller
move 1: Confide
move 2: Iron Defense
move 3: Rest
move 4: Return
item: Eviolite
ability: Battle Armor
nature: Impish
evs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Confide lowers the foe's Special Attack stat and even goes through the Substitute of Pokemon such as Primarina and Greninja. Iron Defense allows Type: Null to boost its Defense by two stages, easing the matchup against certain physical attackers such as Golem, Choice-locked Garchomp, and physical Hoopa-U. Rest alleviates Type: Null's status and fully restores its health so it can take repeated hits from top-tier threats such as Mega Metagross. Rest also guarantees sleep turns for Type: Null to burn out the PP of opposing Pokemon such as Mega Slowbro. Return, while not very strong due to the lack of Attack investment, prevents Type: Null from being completely shut down by Taunt and Substitute users such as Mega Gyarados and Tapu Lele while also slowly chipping away at Pokemon such as Mega Mawile and Golem that lack reliable recovery options. However, because Type: Null doesn't have Attack investment, Return may not be enough to defeat Taunt users with recovery such as Mew.
Set Details
========
Maximum HP and Defense EVs alongside and Impish nature allow Type: Null to take on a myriad of physical attackers such as Alolan Marowak and Choice Band Garchomp. Because Type: Null is not fully evolved, an Eviolite is equipped to further augment its defensive prowess. Battle Armor prevents Type: Null from being struck with a critical hit to make the foe incapable of overcoming Type: Null's Iron Defense's Defense boosts and Confide's Special Attack drops.
Usage Tips
========
Before selecting Type: Null, consider if the opposing team has any Fighting-types such as Mega Heracross, common Taunt and Substitute users such as Mega Gyarados, wallbreakers such as Porygon-Z, or dedicated PP stallers such as Mega Slowbro that can defeat it. If not, Type: Null should be a relatively safe win. If more than one of the opposing side's Pokemon fit under these parameters, consider picking another Pokemon. If Type: Null is brought in against a physical attacker such as Golem, immediately start boosting with Iron Defense; Confide should only be used if you need to PP stall. If Type: Null is brought in against a special attacker such as Genesect, immediately start lowering its Special Attack stat with Confide; Iron Defense should only be used if you need to PP stall. If Type: Null is against a Pokemon that can potentially be either a physical or special attacker, such as Hoopa-U, determine if the rest of the opposing team is predominantly made up of physical or special attackers, and use your best judgment. Be careful to not use Rest prematurely, as Type: Null may not be able to win the matchup any longer if too many premature uses of Rest are used. Against opposing PP stallers, use Rest as soon as you get attacked so you can get the two free turns of guaranteed sleep. Do not attack the opposing PP staller, as then they would be able to use Rest and get their two free turns of guaranteed sleep.
Team Options
========
Faster Fighting-type checks such as Tapu Lele, Aegislash, and Landorus-T that can dissuade the opponent from sending in Fighting-types make good partners for Type: Null, as scaring the opponent from choosing their Mega Lopunny, Mega Blaziken, or Sawk is crucial for Type: Null to have a good matchup. Teammates such as Tapu Bulu, Mega Diancie, and Mega Metagross that can defeat common Taunt and Substitute users such as Mega Gyarados and Tapu Lele are essential in discouraging the opponent from choosing these threats to face Type: Null. Pokemon that beat common Ghost-types such as Mega Lopunny and Heatran are also incredibly useful.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Metal Sound over Return gives Type: Null 32 additional PP to play with. However, giving up Return would mean that Type: Null would become even more susceptible to Taunt users such as Mega Gyarados, and the high PP of Confide and Iron Defense along with the guaranteed sleep turns of Rest is usually sufficient for PP stalling. Toxic can badly poison the foe and mitigates Type: Null's low offensive presence. However, several Pokemon such as Zygarde-C and Mega Slowbro can alleviate their status in the very same fashion Type: Null does, via Rest. Toxic also has way less PP than all of Type: Null's other moves and leaves it susceptible not only to Taunt but also to Substitute users such as Mega Gyarados and the aforementioned Zygarde-C. A more offensively-oriented set with Swords Dance could be utilized, but Type: Null is exceedingly outclassed as an offensive Swords Dance user by Pokemon such as Aegislash, Landorus-T, and Garchomp. Rock Slide nails Mega Charizard Y, but it is still relatively weak when Type: Null's Attack is uninvested.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Fighting-types**: Fighting-types such as Mega Lopunny, Mega Heracross, Mega Lucario, and Mega Gallade can all blow back Type: Null with either a STAB super effective High Jump Kick or Close Combat. Other Pokemon that carry Fighting-type coverage such as Meloetta, Hoopa-U, and Mega Gardevoir can also defeat Type: Null easily with Focus Blast, respectively.
**Ghost-types**: Ghost-type Pokemon such as Aegislash and Mega Gengar are able to completely wall Type: Null and win the matchup with either Sacred Sword or Focus Blast.
**Bulky Taunt Users**: Pokemon that commonly carry Taunt such as Mega Gyarados, Tapu Lele, and Mew can all restrict Type: Null into only using its weak, uninvested Return.
**Wallbreakers**: Pokemon such as Kartana, Tapu Lele, and Porygon-Z can all break through Type: Null's defenses with their Choice Band- or Specs-boosted STAB attacks. Set up wallbreakers such as Belly Drum Mega Charizard X and Substitute + Swords Dance Kartana also defeat Type: Null handily.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [Aaronboyer, 239454]
- Quality checked by: [MaceMaster, 302951], [UberLandon21, 379544], [DEG, 234355]
- Grammar checked by: [[The Dutch Plumberjack, 232216], [Electrolyte, 148071]]
Last edited: