Ubers Xatu [QC: 2/2] [GP: 2/2]

[FatFighter2]

[Overview]

Magic Bounce, serviceable bulk, reliable recovery in Roost, and a usable defensive typing allow Xatu to counteract and beat common entry hazard setters in Necrozma-DM and Ferrothorn. Barely staving off Necrozma-DM, the tier's premier Stealth Rock setter, puts it over its Magic Bounce competitors: Hatterene and Espeon. Additionally, Magic Bounce thwarts many common suicide leads such as Shuckle, Slurpuff, and Mew and deters passive Pokemon such as defensive Zygarde, Blissey, and Toxapex from spreading status. Teleport also allows Xatu to safely pivot its hard-hitting teammates in, such as Choice Band Ho-Oh. However, for the Ubers metagame, Xatu's bulk is paper thin, and weaknesses to common offensive types such as Ice, Ghost, Dark, and Electric exacerbate this. It has next to zero defensive utility outside of preventing entry hazards from Necrozma-DM and Ferrothorn, which means that Xatu is hard to fit on teams. Additionally, Xatu is unable to prevent entry hazards from other setters such as Groudon, Landorus-T, and Landorus-I.

[SET]
name: Magic Bounce
move 1: Roost
move 2: Thunder Wave / Toxic
move 3: Teleport
move 4: Night Shade
item: Rocky Helmet / Leftovers
ability: Magic Bounce
nature: Bold
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD

[SET COMMENTS]

Thunder Wave is the most common status move, allowing Xatu to punish common switch-ins such as Calyrex-S, Eternatus, and Marshadow. Toxic can also be used to cripple more passive defensive Pokemon, such as Yveltal, Ho-Oh, and Groudon. Teleport allows Xatu to safely pivot out to its teammates. Finally, Night Shade is Xatu's most reliable attacking option, considering its incredibly mediocre offensive stats by Ubers standards. Xatu requires full investment in defense to safely tank hits from the main Stealth Rock setter, Necrozma-DM, and recover with Roost in order to PP stall its Sunsteel Strike. Rocky Helmet chips it for trying to break through Xatu with Sunsteel Strike. Leftovers is also an option to more easily take hits from Necrozma-DM; however, Rocky Helmet is generally preferred to lessen Xatu's passivity.

Xatu fits on teams that hate Stealth Rock and its most common setter: defensive Necrozma-DM. Xatu's utter lack of defensive utility beyond Magic Bounce makes using Choice Band Ho-Oh nearly mandatory for it to be worthwhile. Otherwise, it's better to use multiple entry hazard removers to patch up any Stealth Rock weakness. Ho-Oh also appreciates Xatu paralyzing defensive Pokemon such as Eternatus and getting it in safely with Teleport. In return, Ho-Oh's wallbreaking ability makes up for Xatu's passivity, and Ho-Oh spreading burns helps with Xatu’s bulk. Because Xatu is unable to stop Stealth Rock from all entry hazard setters, an entry hazard remover such as Defog Yveltal is greatly appreciated. Specially defensive Yveltal also makes for an especially excellent defensive partner, as Xatu is absolutely terrified of Calyrex-S. Xatu also invites opposing Yveltal in, so it appreciates having a Pokemon to absorb Yveltal's Knock Off. Eternatus does a good job in this regard, additionally absorbing Toxic Spikes and acting as a solid Kyogre check.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
====

Foul Play could potentially be used over Night Shade to surprise setup sweepers such as Groudon and Zekrom, as well as catching Calyrex-S off guard. However, Foul Play is a less reliable attacking option against a large portion of the metagame, and it is a contact move. This risks chip damage from Rocky Helmet and Iron Barbs, which Xatu often can't afford to take due to its paltry bulk.

Checks and Counters
====

**Setup Sweepers**: Xatu's immense passivity means that setup sweepers that can avoid its status move can easily use Xatu as setup fodder. Substitute setup sweepers such as Xerneas and Zekrom, Lum Berry users such as Groudon, and sweepers that are immune to Xatu's chosen status, such as Groudon and Zekrom if running Thunder Wave or Meteor Beam Eternatus if running Toxic, are all able to easily exploit Xatu’s presence on the field.

**Less Common Stealth Rock Setters**: Some not as common, but still viable, Stealth Rock setters, such as Groudon, Landorus-T, and Landorus-I, can threaten Xatu with huge damage and prevent it from consistently stopping Stealth Rock. Groudon and Landorus-T's Stone Edge and Landorus-I's Rock Slide all terrify Xatu. Additionally, all three are immune to Thunder Wave. However, because all of these Pokemon lack reliable recovery, in the long term, the Xatu user should be able to keep Stealth Rock off the field.

**Strong Offensive Threats**: Strong offensive threats such as Calyrex-S, Marshadow, and Groudon can all prey on Xatu's weakness-laden typing and lack of bulk to force it out. However, these Pokemon are all terrified of getting statused when trying to switch in. Thus, they can only come in with pivoting or prediction; however, opportunities aren't too difficult to find because Xatu is constantly forced to heal off the damage taken from Necrozma-DM's Sunsteel Strike with Roost.

[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[FatFighter2, 526363]]
- Quality checked by: [[SiTuM, 274590], [Minority, 222996]]
- Grammar checked by: [[Finland, 517429], [dex, 277988]]

 

[SiTuM]

• Xatu is the premier magic bounce user in SS ubers, deterring common entry hazard users such as Necrozma-Dusk Mane and Ferrothorn
• Its serviceable bulk and access to instant recovery in roost allows Xatu to 1v1 the most common stealth rocker in the meta, Necrozma-Dusk Mane

you said the same thing twice

• Magic bounce allows for Xatu to thwart many common suicide leads, such as Shuckle, Slurpuff, Mew, and Froslass

mmh i wouldnt quote froslass here. you lose the 1v1 if you get crit by icy wind and the rare shadow ball destroys xatu

• For the Ubers metagame, Xatu’s bulk is practically paper thin, excasberated by its weakness laden typing giving it weaknesses to common types such as ice, ghost, dark, electric, and rock

rock isn't what i'd call a "common type". the only rock type used mons are ttar and aero + stone edge isn't even that common, groudon being the only worthy mention

in the paragraph section, you could mention that xatu can also go well with something that abuses his switch-ins, so mostly yveltal and eternatus. zacian and darmanitan are the first mons that comes to my mind

i'd mention feather dance as an other moveset option, it allows you to be 100% sure of beating every version of dusk mane, even sd and dd (without stone edge), which is kinda cool. i'm also not sure at all about haze's utility, if my zekrom/groudon counterplay is spamming haze with xatu i'd want to wonder what went wrong in my building

**Necrozma-Dusk Mane**: Xatu can reliably prevent most defensive Necrozma-Dusk Mane from setting stealth rock indefinitely. But, Necrozma-Dusk Mane with knock off can beat Xatu in the long run by pp stalling Xatu’s roost, as the 32 pp knock off, in conjunction with the 8 pp sunsteel strike can easily outdamage Xatu’s 16 roosts. However, Necrozma-Dusk Mane requires multiple interractions for it to pp stall Xatu in the long run, and thus, Xatu being able to prevent hazards, even in the short term, can be immensely valuable to one’s team.

selling xatu as THE dusk mane counter in the first sentence of your analysis, then finishing by saying it doesn't even beat dusk mane correctly sounds off to me. i would remove that

otherwise this seems good, you seemed to grasp correctly the thin utility of xatu in this metagame.

QC 1/2

 

[FatFighter2]

Ty SiTuM, implemented your suggestions. Ready for QC 2/2 now

 

[Minority]

In the overview you say that Xatu's defensive typing is good, but then go on to say its bad and weak to multiple common offensive types. You need to specify that Xatu's defensive typing is merely sufficient for stopping hazard Pokemon X, Y, and Z, and otherwise it's generally easy for Pokemon in Ubers to KO it due to lack of bulk and exploitable weaknesses. Also update the overview into prose.

Magic bounce allows for Xatu to thwart many common suicide leads, such as Shuckle, Slurpuff, and Mew. Magic bounce deters passive pokemon such as defensive Zygarde, Blissey, and Toxapex from spreading status

Combine these as a single point and talk about them first in the overview since Xatu's entire niche is Magic Bounce.

Leftovers is also an option to more easily absorb the hits from Necrozma-Dusk Mane, however, rocky helmet is generally preferred to lessen Xatu’s passivity.

There need to be as concise as possible an explanation as to what "lessen Xatu's passivity" means or why it matters. Substitute this explanation for that phrasing.

Access to teleport allows for Xatu to safely pivot out to its teammates.

You may want to briefly clarify some of the significance of this or why it matters in actual play.

Is there any teammate recommendations beyond Ho-Oh, considering Yveltal is on virtually every team and Eternatus is on most teams? Are there any other specific Pokemon, cores, or team archtypes that benefit from Magic Bounce support? If Xatu is only good for supporting a CB Ho-Oh, then explicitly state that.

For Checks and Counters are there any Pokemon other than Groudon that can set hazards against Xatu?


Implement these points and this will be:

QC: 2/2

 

[FatFighter2]

Ty Minority, changes implemented!

Are there any other specific Pokemon, cores, or team archtypes that benefit from Magic Bounce support?

I believe it really only has a viable niche on CB Ho-oh teams. Ho-oh’s 4x weakness to SR requires overcompensating beyond just using, say, a double defogging core. For another team to use Xatu would just be sacrificing a crucial teamslot that is often needed to check the many dangerous threats lurking in SS Ubers, for a rather minimal gain.

Ready for GC!

 

[TailGlowVM]

AM GP check
add remove comments

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[Overview]

Xatu is the premier Magic Bounce user in SS Ubers, as its serviceable bulk and access to instant recovery in Roost allows Xatu to beat common entry hazard users, such as Necrozma-Dusk Mane Necrozma-DM and Ferrothorn, and prevent their hazards with Magic Bounce. Its defensive typing and bulk allows it to just barely stave off the metagame’s premier Stealth Rock setter, Necrozma-Dusk Mane Necrozma-DM, better than its Magic Bounce competitors, Hatterene and Espeon, so that Xatu can prevent hazards on ones its own team. Additionally, Xatu’s Magic Bounce thwarts many common suicide leads, such as Shuckle, Slurpuff, and Mew, from setting entry hazards, and deters passive pokemon such as defensive Zygarde, Blissey, and Toxapex from spreading status. Access to Teleport also allows Xatu to safely pivot its hard-hitting teammates in, such as CB Choice Band Ho-Oh. However, for the Ubers metagame, Xatu’s bulk is practically paper thin, excasberated exacerbated by its weakness-laden typing giving it weaknesses to common offensive types such as ice, ghost, dark, and electric Ice, Ghost, Dark, and Electric. It has next to zero defensive utility outside of preventing entry hazards from Necrozma-Dusk Mane Necrozma-DM and Ferrothorn, which means that Xatu can be often hard to fit on teams due to its limited utility You just explained this earlier in the sentence. That being said Additionally, Xatu is still unable to prevent entry hazards from other hazard setters such as Groudon, Dialga, and Lando-I Landorus.

[SET]
name: Magic Bounce
move 1: Roost
move 2: Thunder Wave / Toxic
move 3: Teleport
move 4: Night Shade
item: Rocky Helmet / Leftovers
ability: Magic Bounce
nature: Bold
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpDef
IVs: 0 Atk No need for this, Showdown implements it by default when there are no physical attacks.

[SET COMMENTS]

Magic Bounce is the only reason for Xatu’s niche in Ubers, thus, you will never see Xatu without Magic Bounce. Xatu is required to run the maximum physically defensive EV investment in order to safely tank hits from the main Stealth Rock setter its main stealth rocking foe, defensive Necrozma-Dusk Mane Necrozma-DM, and Roost off the damage in order to PP stall Necrozma-Dusk Mane’s its Sunsteel Strikes. Rocky Helmet allows Xatu to force damage onto mainly Necrozma-Dusk Mane Necrozma-DM attempting to break Xatu with Sunsteel Strikes. Leftovers is also an option to more easily absorb the hits from Necrozma-Dusk Mane Necrozma-DM, however, Rocky Helmet is generally preferred to lessen Xatu’s passivity, in particular, to hurt Necrozma-Dusk Mane attempting to break it with sunsteel strike. You explained this in the previous sentence. Thunder Wave is the most common status move of choice, allowing Xatu to punish common switch-ins such as Zacian-H, Calyrex-S, Eternatus, and Kyogre. Toxic can also be used to cripple more passive defensive pokemon, such as Yveltal, Ho-Oh, and Groudon. Access to Teleport allows for Xatu to safely pivot out to its teammates. Finally, Night Shade is Xatu’s most reliable attacking option, considering Xatu’s incredibly mediocre offensive stats by Ubers standards.

Xatu most commonly fits on teams that enjoy its ability to prevent Stealth Rocks from the most common Stealth rocker Rock setter in the tier, defensive Necrozma-Dusk Mane Necrozma-DM. In particular, teams featuring CB Choice Band Ho-Oh often make use of Xatu, as Ho-Oh loves not taking 50% of its health from Stealth Rock every time it switches in from stealth rock. Ho-Oh also appreciates Xatu spreading paralysis on opposing defensive pokemon such as Eternatus, and Xatu’s teleports Teleport to safely get Ho-oh it in. In return, Ho-Oh’s wallbreaking ability makes up for Xatu’s passivity, and Ho-Oh spreading burns is greatly appreciated by Xatu, whose bulk still leaves much to be desired. However, using Xatu outside of teams with Choice Band CB Ho-Oh is discouraged, as its utter lack of defensive utility outside of Magic Bounce means that Xatu is rarely worth the team slot, and it is instead better to use multiple entry hazard removers to patch up any Stealth Rock weakness. Because Xatu is unable to stop Stealth Rocks from all entry hazard setters, a secondary entry hazard remover such as Defog Yveltal is greatly appreciated. Additionally, specially defensive Yveltal makes for an excellent defensive partner, as Xatu is absolutely terrified of opposing Calyrex-S, specially defensive Yveltal also makes for an excellent defensive partner. Xatu also appreciates Yveltal’s defog in case it is unable to prevent stealth rock from going up. You said this two sentences ago. Xatu also invites in opposing Yveltal to threaten Xatu it out, so Xatu appreciates having a Knock off absorber Pokemon to absorb Yveltal’s Knock Off. Eternatus does a good job, (RC) in this regard, while also absorbing the Toxic Spikes and acting as a solid Kyogre check.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
====

Foul Play could potentially be used over Night Shade to surprise setup sweepers such as Groudon and Zekrom, as well as catching Calyrex-S off guard. However, Foul Play is a less reliable attacking option against a large portion of the metagame, and as it is a contact move, it can occur onto Xatu chip damage in the form of Rocky Helmet and Iron Barbs, chip damage it can’t afford to take in many cases, due to its paltry bulk.

Checks and Counters
====

**Setup sweepers**: Xatu’s immense passivity means that setup sweepers that can avoid crippling status from Xatu can easily use Xatu as setup bait. Substitute setup sweepers such as Xerneas and Zekrom, Lum Berry users such as Groudon, and sweepers that are immune to Xatu’s one of Xatu's statuses, such as Groudon, and Zekrom if running thunder wave, and Meteor Beam Eternatus if running toxic, This is to shorten it a bit are all able to easily abuse Xatu’s presence on the field.

**Threatening hazard setters**: Other Some not as common, but still viable Stealth Rock setters, (AC) such as Groudon, Dialga, and Lando-I Landorus, can all threaten Xatu with huge damage and prevent Xatu it from consistently fulfilling its primary role of stopping Stealth Rocks Rock. Groudon’s Stone Edge, Dialga’s Draco Meteor, and Lando-I’s Landorus's Rock Slide all terrify Xatu. Additionally, Groudon and Lando-I Landorus are immune to Xatu’s Thunder Wave, and Dialga is immune to Xatu’s Toxic. It's obvious that Xatu is the one using these moves from the paragraph and the set. However, because all of these stealth rockers Pokemon lack reliable recovery, good play I dislike the vagueness of this, do you mean switching into Night Shade? If so please be more clear can quickly wear down all three of these stealth rockers them.

**Strong offensive threats**: Strong offensive threats such as Calyrex-S, Choice Band Zacian-H, Marshadow, and Kyogre can all prey on Xatu’s weakness-laden typing and lack of bulk to scare Xatu away and pressure one’s own its team. However, these offensive threats are all terrified of getting statused when trying to switch in, in particular, getting paralyzed. Thus, these threats can only come in on a pivot to them or on a prediction, which but it isn’t too difficult to find because of how Xatu is constantly forced to Roost off the damage taken from Necrozma-Dusk Mane’s sunsteel strike. Necrozma-DM's Sunsteel Strike.

[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[FatFighter2, FatFighter2]]
- Quality checked by: [[SiTuM, SiTuM], [Minority, Minority]]

• - Grammar checked by: [[username1, userid1], [username2, userid2]]

 

[Adeleine]

Add/Fix Remove Comment
(AC)/(RC): Add/Remove Comma

Hide

[Overview]

Xatu is the premier Magic Bounce user in SS Ubers, as its serviceable bulk and access to instant recovery in Roost allows Xatu to beat common entry hazard users, such as Necrozma-DM and Ferrothorn, and prevent their hazards with Magic Bounce. Its defensive typing and bulk allows it to just barely stave off the metagame’s premier stealth rock setter, Necrozma-DM, better than its Magic Bounce competitors, Hatterene and Espeon, so that Xatu can prevent hazards on its own team. Additionally, Xatu's magic bounce Magic Bounce, serviceable bulk, instant recovery in Roost, and usable typing allow Xatu to counteract and beat common entry hazard users in Necrozma-DM and Ferrothorn. Barely staving off Necrozma-DM, the tier's premier Stealth Rock setter, puts it over its Magic Bounce competitors, Hatterene and Espeon. Additionally, Magic Bounce thwarts many common suicide leads, such as Shuckle, Slurpuff, and Mew, from setting hazards, and deters passive Pokemon such as defensive Zygarde, Blissey, and Toxapex from spreading status. Access to Teleport also allows Xatu to safely pivot its hard-hitting (added hpyhen) teammates in, such as Choice Band Ho-Oh. However, for the Ubers metagame, Xatu's bulk is practically paper thin, exacerbated by its weakness laden typing giving it and weaknesses to common offensive types such as Ice, Ghost, Dark, and Electric exacerbate this. It has next to zero defensive utility outside of preventing hazards from Necrozma-DM and Ferrothorn, which means that Xatu can be often is hard to fit on teams. Additionally, Xatu is unable to prevent entry hazards from other setters such as Groudon, Landorus-T, and Landorus-I.

[SET]
name: Magic Bounce
move 1: Roost
move 2: Thunder Wave / Toxic
move 3: Teleport
move 4: Night Shade
item: Rocky Helmet / Leftovers
ability: Magic Bounce
nature: Bold
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD

[SET COMMENTS]

Magic Bounce is the only reason for Xatu's niche in Ubers, thus, you will never see Xatu without Magic Bounce. Xatu is required to run maximum physically defensive investment in order to safely tank hits from its main Stealth Rock setter, defensive Necrozma-DM, and Roost off the damage in order to PP stall its Sunsteel Strikes. Rocky Helmet allows Xatu to force damage onto mainly Necrozma-DM attempting to break Xatu with Sunsteel Strike. Leftovers is also an option to more easily absorb hits from Necrozma-Dusk Mane, however, Rocky Helmet is generally preferred to lessen Xatu's passivity. Thunder Wave is the most common status move of choice, allowing Xatu to punish common switch-ins (added hyphen) such as Calyrex-S, Eternatus, and Marshadow. Toxic can also be used to cripple more passive defensive Pokemon, such as Yveltal, Ho-Oh, and Groudon. Access to Teleport allows Xatu to safely pivot out to its teammates. Finally, Night Shade is Xatu's most reliable attacking option, considering Xatu's incredibly mediocre offensive stats by Ubers standards. its incredibly mediocre offenses. Xatu requires full physically defensive investment to safely tank hits from the main Stealth Rock setter, Necrozma-DM, and recover with Roost in order to PP stall its Sunsteel Strike. Rocky Helmet chips it for trying to break through Xatu with Sunsteel Strike. Leftovers is also an option to more easily take hits from Necrozma-DM; however, Rocky Helmet is generally preferred to lessen Xatu's passivity.

Xatu most commonly fits on teams that enjoy its ability to prevent Stealth Rock from the most common Stealth Rock setter in the tier, defensive Necrozma-DM. In particular, teams featuring Choice Band Ho-Oh often make use of Xatu, as Ho-Oh loves not taking 50% of its health every time it switches in. Ho-Oh also appreciates Xatu spreading paralysis on opposing defensive pokemon such as Eternatus, and Xatu's Teleport to safely get it in. fits on teams that hate Stealth Rock and its most common setter, defensive Necrozma-DM. Xatu's utter lack of defensive utility beyond Magic Bounce makes using Choice Band Ho-Oh, which loses 50% of its health switching into Stealth Rock, nearly mandatory for it to be worthwhile. Otherwise, it's better to use multiple entry hazard removers to patch up any Stealth Rock weakness. Ho-Oh also appreciates Xatu paralyzing defensive Pokemon such as Eternatus and getting it in safely with Teleport. In return, Ho-Oh's wallbreaking ability makes up for Xatu's passivity, and Ho-Oh spreading burns is greatly appreciated by Xatu, whose bulk still leaves much to be desired. However, using Xatu outside of teams with Choice Band Ho-Oh is discouraged, as its utter lack of defensive utility outside of Magic Bounce means that Xatu is rarely worth the team slot, and it is instead better to use multiple entry hazard removers to patch up any Stealth Rock weakness. helps with Xatu's poor bulk. Because Xatu is unable to stop Stealth Rock from all entry hazard setters, an entry hazard remover such as Defog Yveltal is greatly appreciated. Additionally, Specially defensive Yveltal also makes for an especially excellent defensive partner, as Xatu is absolutely terrified of opposing Calyrex-S. Xatu also invites in opposing Yveltal in to threaten force it out, so Xatu so it appreciates having a Pokemon to absorb Yveltal's Knock Off. Eternatus does a good job in this regard, while also additionally absorbing Toxic Spikes and acting as a solid Kyogre check.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
====

Foul Play could potentially be used over Night Shade to surprise setup sweepers such as Groudon and Zekrom, as well as catching Calyrex-S off guard. However, Foul Play is a less reliable attacking option against a large portion of the metagame, and as it is a contact move, it can occur onto Xatu chip damage in the form of Rocky Helmet and Iron Barbs, chip damage it can't afford to take in many cases, it is a contact move. This risks chip damage from Rocky Helmet and Iron Barbs, which Xatu often can't afford to take due to its paltry bulk.

Checks and Counters
====

**Setup Sweepers**: Xatu's immense passivity means that setup sweepers that can avoid crippling status from Xatu its crippling status can easily use Xatu as setup bait. Substitute setup sweepers such as Xerneas and Zekrom, Lum Berry users such as Groudon, and sweepers that are immune to one of Xatu's statuses, Xatu's chosen status, such as Groudon and Zekrom if running Thunder Wave, and Wave or Meteor Beam Eternatus if running Toxic, are all able to easily abuse exploit Xatu’s presence on the field.

**Threatening hazard setters**: **Less Common Stealth Rock Setters**: Some not as common, but still viable, (AC) Stealth Rock setters, such as Groudon, Landorus-T, and Landorus-I, (AC) can threaten Xatu with huge damage and prevent it from consistently fulfilling its primary role of stopping Stealth Rock. Groudon and Landorus-T's Stone Edge and Landorus-I's Rock Slide all terrify Xatu. Additionally, all three of these ground types are immune to Thunder Wave. However, because all of these Pokemon lack reliable recovery, in the long term, the Xatu user should be able to keep Stealth Rock off the field.

**Strong Offensive Threats**: Strong offensive threats such as Calyrex-S, Marshadow, and Groudon can all prey on Xatu's weakness-laden typing and lack of bulk to scare Xatu it away and pressure its team. However, these offensive threats are all terrified of getting statused when trying to switch in. Thus, these threats can only come in on a pivot to them or on a prediction, but it isn't they can only come in with pivoting or prediction; however, opportunities aren't too difficult to find because Xatu is constantly forced to Roost heal off the damage taken from Necrozma-DM's Sunsteel Strike with Roost.

[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[FatFighter2, 526363]]
- Quality checked by: [[SiTuM, 274590], [Minority, 222996]] (i added brackets before first bracket and after last bracket)
- Grammar checked by: [[Finland, 517429], [username2, userid2]

1/2

 

[FatFighter2]

a bit late but…implemented

 

[dex]

GP Check
blue = add
red = delete
green = comments

GP Check

[Overview]

Magic Bounce, serviceable bulk, instant reliable recovery in Roost, and a usable defensive typing allow Xatu to counteract and beat common entry hazard users setters in Necrozma-DM and Ferrothorn. Barely staving off Necrozma-DM, the tier's premier Stealth Rock setter, puts it over its Magic Bounce competitors: (comma->colon) Hatterene and Espeon. Additionally, Magic Bounce thwarts many common suicide leads (remove comma) such as Shuckle, Slurpuff, and Mew (remove comma) and deters passive Pokemon such as defensive Zygarde, Blissey, and Toxapex from spreading status. Teleport also allows Xatu to safely pivot its hard-hitting teammates in, such as Choice Band Ho-Oh. However, for the Ubers metagame, Xatu's bulk is paper thin, and weaknesses to common offensive types such as Ice, Ghost, Dark, and Electric exacerbate this. It has next to zero defensive utility outside of preventing entry hazards from Necrozma-DM and Ferrothorn, which means that Xatu is hard to fit on teams. Additionally, Xatu is unable to prevent entry hazards from other setters such as Groudon, Landorus-T, and Landorus-I.

[SET]
name: Magic Bounce
move 1: Roost
move 2: Thunder Wave / Toxic
move 3: Teleport
move 4: Night Shade
item: Rocky Helmet / Leftovers
ability: Magic Bounce
nature: Bold
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD

[SET COMMENTS]

Thunder Wave is the most common status move, allowing Xatu to punish common switch-ins such as Calyrex-S, Eternatus, and Marshadow. Toxic can also be used to cripple more passive defensive Pokemon, such as Yveltal, Ho-Oh, and Groudon. Teleport allows Xatu to safely pivot out to its teammates. Finally, Night Shade is Xatu's most reliable attacking option, considering its incredibly mediocre offense offensive stats by Ubers standards. Xatu requires full physically defensive investment in Defense to safely tank hits from the main Stealth Rock setter, Necrozma-DM, and recover with Roost in order to PP stall its Sunsteel Strike. Rocky Helmet chips it for trying to break through Xatu with Sunsteel Strike. Leftovers is also an option to more easily take hits from Necrozma-DM; however, Rocky Helmet is generally preferred to lessen Xatu's passivity.

Xatu fits on teams that hate Stealth Rock and its most common setter: (comma->colon) defensive Necrozma-DM. Xatu's utter lack of defensive utility beyond Magic Bounce makes using Choice Band Ho-Oh, (remove comma) which loses 50% of its health switching into Stealth Rock, (remove comma) (there isn't really a need to explain this imo, the average reader understands that Stealth Rock does this to a Fire/Flying) nearly mandatory for it to be worthwhile. Otherwise, it's better to use multiple entry hazard removers to patch up any Stealth Rock weakness. Ho-Oh also appreciates Xatu paralyzing defensive Pokemon such as Eternatus and getting it in safely with Teleport. In return, Ho-Oh's wallbreaking ability makes up for Xatu's passivity, and Ho-Oh spreading burns helps with Xatu’s bulk. Because Xatu is unable to stop Stealth Rock from all entry hazard setters, an entry hazard remover such as Defog Yveltal is greatly appreciated. Specially defensive Yveltal also makes for an especialy especially excellent defensive partner, as Xatu is absolutely terrified of Calyrex-S. Xatu also invites opposing Yveltal in to force it out, so it appreciates having a Pokemon to absorb Yveltal's Knock Off. Eternatus does a good job in this regard, additionally absorbing Toxic Spikes and acting as a solid Kyogre check.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
====

Foul Play could potentially be used over Night Shade to surprise setup sweepers such as Groudon and Zekrom, as well as catching Calyrex-S off guard. However, Foul Play is a less reliable attacking option against a large portion of the metagame, and it is a contact move. This risks chip damage from Rocky Helmet and Iron Barbs, which Xatu often can't afford to take due to its paltry bulk.

Checks and Counters
====

**Setup Sweepers**: Xatu's immense passivity means that setup sweepers that can avoid its crippling status move can easily use Xatu as setup bait fodder. Substitute setup sweepers such as Xerneas and Zekrom, Lum Berry users such as Groudon, and sweepers that are immune to Xatu's chosen status, such as Groudon and Zekrom if running Thunder Wave or Meteor Beam Eternatus if running Toxic, are all able to easily exploit Xatu’s presence on the field.

**Less Common Stealth Rock Setters**: Some not as common, but still viable, Stealth Rock setters, such as Groudon, Landorus-T, and Landorus-I, (add comma) can threaten Xatu with huge damage and prevent it from consistently stopping Stealth Rock. Groudon and Landorus-T's Stone Edge and Landorus-I's Rock Slide all terrify Xatu. Additionally, all three are immune to Thunder Wave. However, because all of these Pokemon lack reliable recovery, in the long term, the Xatu user should be able to keep Stealth Rock off the field.

**Strong Offensive Threats**: Strong offensive threats such as Calyrex-S, Marshadow, and Groudon can all prey on Xatu's weakness-laden typing and lack of bulk to scare it away and pressure its team force it out (just as an example, Calyrex-S doesn't exactly "pressure a team" if you have a defensive Yveltal, so I think just "force it out" is better). However, these offensive threats Pokemon are all terrified of getting statused when trying to switch in. Thus, they can only come in with pivoting or prediction; however, opportunities aren't too difficult to find because Xatu is constantly forced to heal off the damage taken from Necrozma-DM's Sunsteel Strike with Roost.

[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[FatFighter2, 526363]]
- Quality checked by: [[SiTuM, 274590], [Minority, 222996]]
- Grammar checked by: [[Finland, 517429], [dex, 277988]]

2/2

 

[FatFighter2]

thanks dex, ready to upload now