1v1 Weakness Policy Diancie [QC 2/2] [GP 1/1]

[bern]

[SET]
Weakness Policy (Diancie) @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 248 HP / 124 Atk / 12 Def / 124 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Diamond Storm
- Play Rough / Moonblast
- Trick Room
- Encore

[SET COMMENTS]
* Diancie's typing and access to Encore let it find a niche in the 1v1 metagame as a bulky attacker that matches up well against several of the tier's Fighting- and Dark-type Pokemon, such as Iron Valiant and Hoopa-U.
* Diamond Storm hits Pokemon like Volcarona and Kyurem.
* Both Play Rough and Moonblast can threaten Dragon- and Dark-type Pokemon like Haxorus, Raging Bolt, and Hoopa-U, with the former threatening Hoopa-U a lot more and the latter being more helpful against Raging Bolt.
* Trick Room is incredibly useful for Diancie, as it enables the use of a fast Encore after the first turn of the battle, which locks several stall and setup Pokemon, like Alolan Ninetales and Espathra, into using only one of their moves.
* The Special Defense EVs are enough to let Diancie survive two Thunderbolts from Special Attack Booster Energy Raging Bolt, while the Attack EVs allow it to OHKO most Hoopa-U with Play Rough. Finally, the Defense EVs allow Diancie to survive two Choice Band Spirit Breaks from Jolly Iron Valiant.
* Diancie can also run an EV spread of 252 HP / 16 Atk / 240 Def with a Relaxed nature, which gives it the best odds to survive a Choice Band Flower Trick from Adamant Meowscarada.
* Since Diancie tends to struggle with Steel- and Grass-type Pokemon like Iron Crown and Ogerpon-W, Fire-type teammates like Volcanion can be useful.

[SET CREDITS]
Set(s) by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/murm.520168/

Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/bern.563650/

Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/pqs.425798/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/bea.481149/

Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/igiveuponaname.593115/

 

[pqs]

AMQC
Add Remove Comment

Copyedit

[SET]
Weakness Policy (Diancie) @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 248 HP 252 HP / 132 Def / 124 SpD (this spread is missing 4 EVs)
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Diamond Storm
- Play Rough
- Trick Room
- Encore

[SET COMMENTS]
* Diancie's typing and access to Encore let it find a niche in the 1v1 metagame as a bulky attacker that matches up well into several of the tier's Fighting- and Dark-type Pokemon, such as Iron Valiant and Hoopa-U.
* Diamond Storm, while also being capable of raising Diancie's Defense, works to hit Pokemon like Volcarona and Kyurem. (I would mention a matchup where Diamond Storm defense raise could be relevant; if there is literally none, I would drop that part.)
* Play Rough helps against the Dragon-type Pokemon in the tier, such as Raging Bolt (this is a matter of semantics, but 252 HP Raging Bolt actually tanks 2 Play Roughs from Diancie and 3HKOs with Tbolt, so I personally wouldn't mark PR as a reliable win for Diancie, especially given that 252 HP is what PS defaults to.. Maybe slash Moonblast as it has much better odds?) and Haxorus.
* Trick Room is incredibly useful for Diancie, as it helps it use a fast Encore after the first turn of the battle. (Maybe merge this line and the next saying TR + Encore helps Diancie lock set-up mons like ... so that Diancie can chip them down with its STABS?)
* Encore locks several stall and setup Pokemon, like Alolan Ninetales, Sylveon, (idk what set-up move sylveon would click when you just lose if it clicks hvoice into beam) and Espathra, into using only one of their moves.
* The EVs are enough to survive 2 Thunderbolts from Special Attack Booster Energy Raging Bolt, as well as with the remaining EVs giving Diancie the best possible chance to survive 2 Choice Band Spirit Breaks from Jolly Iron Valiant. (that 0.4% chance of Spirit Break 2HKOing is brutal.)
* Diancie can also run an EV spread of 252 HP / 16 Atk / 240 Def with a Relaxed nature, which is enough to live a Choice Band Flower Trick from Jolly Meowscarada. (252 Atk Choice Band Meowscarada Flower Trick vs. 252 HP / 240+ Def Diancie on a critical hit: 252-296 (82.8 - 97.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO: huh? You don't need this much)
* Since Diancie tends to struggle with Steel- and Grass-type Pokemon like Iron Crown and Ogerpon-W, Fire-type teammates like Volcanion can be useful.

[SET CREDITS]
Set(s) by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/murm.520168/

Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/bern.563650/

Quality checked by:
[insert user link]

Grammar checked by:
[insert user link]

 

[bern]

i qc'd with all the changes that bea asked for, will add her as a QCer i think, but i want for pqs to check this again to 2/2 this and send to gp.

 

[bern]

approved

GP Team

 

[igiveuponaname]

add remove comment

1/1
GP Team done

Copyedit

[SET]
Weakness Policy (Diancie) @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 248 HP / 124 Atk / 12 Def / 124 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Diamond Storm
- Play Rough / Moonblast
- Trick Room
- Encore

[SET COMMENTS]
* Diancie's typing and access to Encore let it find a niche in the 1v1 metagame as a bulky attacker that matches up well into against several of the tier's Fighting- and Dark-type Pokemon, such as Iron Valiant and Hoopa-U.
* Diamond Storm works to hit hits Pokemon like Volcarona and Kyurem.
* Both Play Rough and Moonblast are Fairy-type STAB attacks that (dex info/filler) can threaten Dragon- and Dark-type Pokemon like Haxorus, Raging Bolt, and Hoopa-U, with the former threatening Hoopa-U a lot more and the latter being more helpful against Raging Bolt.
* Trick Room is incredibly useful for Diancie, as it helps it enables the (rewording slightly to remove any ambiguity surrounding the second "it") use of a fast Encore after the first turn of the battle, which locks several stall and setup Pokemon, like Alolan Ninetales and Espathra, into using only one of their moves.
* The Special Defense EVs (the other examples specify which stat the EVs are invested into so doing so here as well) are enough to let Diancie survive two Thunderbolts from Special Attack Booster Energy Raging Bolt, as well as while the enough Attack EVs allow it to OHKO most Hoopa-U with Play Rough. Finally, the Defense EVs allows allow Diancie to survive two Choice Band Spirit Breaks from Jolly Iron Valiant.
* Diancie can also run an EV spread of 252 HP / 16 Atk / 240 Def with a Relaxed nature, which gives it the best odds to survive a Choice Band Flower Trick from Adamant Meowscarada.
* Since Diancie tends to struggle with Steel- and Grass-type Pokemon like Iron Crown and Ogerpon-W, Fire-type teammates like Volcanion can be useful.

[SET CREDITS]
Set(s) by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/murm.520168/

Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/bern.563650/

Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/pqs.425798/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/bea.481149/

Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/igiveuponaname.593115/

 

[bern]

there may be some extra edits regarding the alternative spread, but this is done and updated for now!