Ubers Xatu

[bigtalk]

[SET]
name: Magic Bounce Pivot
move 1: Psychic
move 2: Heat Wave / Grass Knot
move 3: Teleport
move 4: Roost
item: Leftovers / Rocky Helmet
ability: Magic Bounce
nature: Bold
evs: 252 HP / 164 Def / 92 SpD

[SET COMMENTS]
Thanks to Magic Bounce, Xatu completely shuts down passive entry hazard setters like Ferrothorn, Hippowdon, and Mew. STAB Psychic allows Xatu to pressure Eternatus and Toxapex. Heat Wave hits Steel-types like Ferrothorn, Corviknight, and Zacian-C that resist Psychic, while Grass Knot targets Water-types like Quagsire and Seismitoad. Xatu sets itself apart from Hatterene, the tier's other Magic Bounce user, with its access to recovery in Roost and a key pivoting move in Teleport. Teleport has negative priority, which guarantees that it will go last even against slower foes; the move allows Xatu to bring in a teammate safely while ensuring that entry hazards do not go up. The given EV spread allows Xatu to take two Moonblasts from Ribombee, with the remaining EVs used to maximize physical bulk for threats like Ferrothorn. Rocky Helmet is an option over Leftovers to punish contact attackers like Zamazenta. Note that Mold Breaker Excadrill and Neutralizing Gas Galarian Weezing can bypass Magic Bounce to set their entry hazards against Xatu.

Xatu is a good fit on sun teams with Pokemon like Torkoal, Ninetales, and Charizard, as they really appreciate its ability to keep away entry hazards. Dugtrio and Gothitelle take advantage of Xatu bringing them in safely against their intended targets; Dugtrio in particular removes Tyranitar, a major nuisance to both Xatu and the sun teams it's found on. Wallbreakers like Galarian Darmanitan and Zacian-C also appreciate Xatu acting as a slow pivot.

[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[bigtalk, 466663]]
- Quality checked by: [[Cynara, 224455], [Nayrz, 212134]]
- Grammar checked by: [[deetah, 297659]]

 

[orch]

I can't say that I'm convinced by 2 pivot moves on 1 set. Personally, I use U-turn/Teleport, Wish, Protect, and Night shade on my Xatu. This gives me wish support combined with magic bounce support which is rather useful especially with pivot moves. I feel like having two pivot moves on one set really limits its utility.

 

[bigtalk]

I can't say that I'm convinced by 2 pivot moves on 1 set. Personally, I use U-turn/Teleport, Wish, Protect, and Night shade on my Xatu. This gives me wish support combined with magic bounce support which is rather useful especially with pivot moves. I feel like having two pivot moves on one set really limits its utility.

Its main purpose is to escape Gothitelle without needing to run Shed Shell, other than that yeah it is kind of redundant ig. I don't really know what to put for the last two moves because they're just filler tbh (Roost + Teleport is all you really need) and there's 1000 different options. Any of these can potentially work depending on what type of team it's used on:

• Baton Pass + Calm Mind / Substitute
• Night Shade
• Rain Dance / Sunny Day
• Reflect + Light Screen
• Thunder Wave
• Tailwind / Trick Room
• U-turn
• Wish

 

[bigtalk]

I decided to remove u-turn in favor of wish and get rid of the chinese spread. wish + roost essentially does the same thing as wish + protect though

 

[Cynara]

I've been discussing this in QC, the best application for Xatu is being a defensive Pivot with Magic Bounce and a good partner for Sun teams due to the anti hazard support it provides while pairing nicely with Trappers such as Dugtrio / Gothitelle, and its ability to allow for safe momentum gains due to Teleport. Gothitelle can't taunt it, so if you find yourself trapped in with a Gothitelle it cant stop you from Teleporting, so there is little need for U-turn -- getting your xatu tricked is usually one of the trick targets with the least amount of collateral so outspeeding it with U-turn feels unnecessary.

The set we want to see Xatu written around is the following:
[SET]
name: Magic Bounce Pivot
move 1: Psychic
move 2: Heat Wave / Grass Knot
move 3: Teleport
move 4: Roost
item: Leftovers / Rocky Helmet
ability: Magic Bounce
nature: Bold
evs: 252 HP / 164 Def / 92 SpD

Obviously this set gives Xatu ways to do damage, Night shade is rather passive, Psychic has a good chance to 2HKO 0/0 Eterantus (100% after sr), Heat wave Punishes your general steels like ferro/corviknight, does considerable damage to Zacian-c, etc.Grass Knot is really for waters such as Seismitoad and Quag.

Wish Could receive a mention in the analysis, but it feels hard to cram into the set and justify. I apologise it has taken while for this analysis to receive any feedback, but it took some time to conclude what we wanted to see as an Xatu set. If you have any questions / need any advice writing this you are very welcome to ask in the #analyses channel in the Ubers Discord or simply pm me or reply in this thread, whichever works for you.

Rework the analysis around this set and I will look into stamping as soon as possible.

 

[bigtalk]

I've been discussing this in QC, the best application for Xatu is being a defensive Pivot with Magic Bounce and a good partner for Sun teams due to the anti hazard support it provides while pairing nicely with Trappers such as Dugtrio / Gothitelle, and its ability to allow for safe momentum gains due to Teleport. Gothitelle can't taunt it, so if you find yourself trapped in with a Gothitelle it cant stop you from Teleporting, so there is little need for U-turn -- getting your xatu tricked is usually one of the trick targets with the least amount of collateral so outspeeding it with U-turn feels unnecessary.

The set we want to see Xatu written around is the following:
[SET]
name: Magic Bounce Pivot
move 1: Psychic
move 2: Heat Wave / Grass Knot
move 3: Teleport
move 4: Roost
item: Leftovers / Rocky Helmet
ability: Magic Bounce
nature: Bold
evs: 252 HP / 164 Def / 92 SpD

Obviously this set gives Xatu ways to do damage, Night shade is rather passive, Psychic has a good chance to 2HKO 0/0 Eterantus (100% after sr), Heat wave Punishes your general steels like ferro/corviknight, does considerable damage to Zacian-c, etc.Grass Knot is really for waters such as Seismitoad and Quag.

Wish Could receive a mention in the analysis, but it feels hard to cram into the set and justify. I apologise it has taken while for this analysis to receive any feedback, but it took some time to conclude what we wanted to see as an Xatu set. If you have any questions / need any advice writing this you are very welcome to ask in the #analyses channel in the Ubers Discord or simply pm me or reply in this thread, whichever works for you.

Rework the analysis around this set and I will look into stamping as soon as possible.

This has been done.

 

[Cynara]

Sadly this mon doesnt stand out much from Hatterene, Though this analysis is rather spot on.

QC: 1/2

 

[Nayrz]

xatu is a specialist mon that will probably find different niche uses depending on who uses it but i think this set has the general idea covered.

QC 2/2

 

[deetah]

Perfect, nothing needs to be fixed here. You have my approval

GP 1/1