Huntail

5/5/14

by Richard

Huntail

Overview

Often considered the less viable evolution of Clamperl, Huntail is still quite usable in NU due to its access to Shell Smash. Although its counterpart, Gorebyss (who has more power), and Carracosta (who has better Defense, HP, and the ability Solid Rock) are arguably better at using Shell Smash, it is still a great weapon for Huntail. And plus, Huntail, just looks awesome. I mean, who wouldn’t want a vicious eel Pokemon?

Abilities

Swift Swim: Swift Swim is necessary because of Huntail’s dire base 55 speed. So that means that you pretty much have to run Huntail on a rain team. Swift Swim makes Huntail’s speed a nice base 110, allowing it to outspeed many more Pokemon than it did before.

Dream World: Water Veil: Unless you really have a grudge against Will-o-Wisp, this ability is far less superior to Swift Swim.

Base Stats

HP: 55

Attack: 104

Defense: 105

Special Attack: 94

Special Defense: 75

Speed: 55

Movesets

Shell Smash

• Shell Smash
• Waterfall
• Ice Beam
• Return/Crunch
• Ability: Swift Swim
• Item: White Herb/Life Orb/Muscle Band
• Nature: Naïve (+Spe -SpD) or Hasty (+Spe -Def)
• EVs: 252 Atk/252 Spe/4 HP

Shell Smash is what makes Huntail competitively viable. You double your Attack, Special Attack, and Speed, while lowering your Defense and Special Defense by one stage each. The White Herb will restore these losses if you choose to use it. Waterfall is your go-to Water move and has a chance to flinch. Ice Beam is a special move, but Huntail’s base 94 Special Attack is definitely usable, especially after Shell Smash. Ice Fang’s base 65 power just doesn’t cut it here. Return and Crunch both hit different things hard. With Return, you get perfect neutral coverage outside of Empoleon and Jellicent and 102 base power, while Crunch hits Psychics, and Ghosts, but fails to hit Water/(Fighting/Dark/Fairy), whose main threats are Mega-Gyrados, Greninja, and Azumarill and only 80 base power. The reason Baton Pass isn’t on here is that it is illegal with Shell Smash in RU and NU, but it is legal in UU and above (although Huntail isn’t as good  at passing Shell Smash as Gorebyss). As for the other items, Life Orb gives a 30% boost to every attack, but takes 10% of your health in recoil, while the Muscle Band adds 10% damage to physical attacks with no recoil. Make sure that you are running this set (and pretty much all of them) with a rain supporter like Ludicolo. The nature for this set is interesting. Since you have Ice Beam, you don’t want to have a Jolly nature, which will take away Special Attack, so go with Naïve or Hasty, which will cut one of your defenses instead. You could go with +Atk -Def/SpD, but if Huntail gets caught out of rain, he will not be as fast.

Choice Band

• Waterfall
• Ice Fang
• Return
• Crunch
• Ability: Swift Swim
• Item: Choice Band
• Nature: Jolly (+Spe -SpA)
• EVs: 252 Atk/252 Spe/4 HP

This set looks a lot like the last one, just without Shell Smash and with Ice Fang, not Ice Beam. Waterfall is a great attack. Ice Fang slightly passes Ice Beam due to the Choice Band being present. Without Shell Smash, you can put on both Crunch and Return for completely perfect neutral coverage. The Choice Band set is not as powerful as the Shell Smash set, but prevents the risk of getting taken out in the first turn. You could run Adamant (+Atk -SpA), but again, more speed is important if rain ends.

Defensive

• Iron Defense/Barrier
• Waterfall
• Rain Dance
• Baton Pass/Refresh/Toxic/Protect/Ice Beam
• Ability: Swift Swim
• Item: Leftovers/Damp Rock
• Nature: Careful (+SpD -SpA)
• EVs: 252 HP/252 SpD/4 Def  OR  252 HP/180 SpD/72 Def

Huntail has a decent Defense stat and  support movepool, so try this one out. Iron Defense and Barrier both double your defense, only the latter one is an egg move. Waterfall is your go-to attack as usual. Rain Dance can support other members of your team with Swift Swim/Dry Skin/ Rain Dish etc. The last slot has plenty of options. Baton Pass can pass your defense boost to a teammate. Refresh can get rid of status. Toxic is always great. So is Protect. Ice Beam gives extra coverage. You could also get rid of Rain Dance and do a Toxic/Protect combo. As for the item, Leftovers restores health and Damp Rock makes rain last 8 turns instead of 5. A careful nature will boost you low Special Defense at the cost of Special Attack, which is of no concern unless you are using Ice Beam. The first EV spread maxes out your Special Defense, which is recommended. The second spread I made up. The numbers have no significance, but it’s an idea if you want to go more even in defenses before boosts.

Other Options (Heading 3)

• ResTalk + Lum Berry. If you have a bulky enough build, you could maybe pull this off.
• Sucker Punch is a great move, but is only available from Move Tutors in Platinum, HeartGold, and SoulSilver.
• Super Fang from a Move Tutor in Black and White 2 could be great on  a bulky build.
• Aqua Ring can go on a bulky set, but is Egg Move only.
• Confuse Ray is always fun, but is also an Egg Move.
• Body Slam (yet another Egg Move) is weaker than Return, but can paralyze.
• Whirlpool, Clamp, and Bind can all trap, but are relatively inaccurate, each having 85 accuracy.
• You can use a Focus Sash on the Shell Smash set to guarantee another turn.

Follow-Up

Huntail has great moves, but lacks the stats to pull off a very effective strategy. He is often overshadowed by his more powerful counterpart, Gorebyss, who is more effective at setting up Shell Smash. Additionally, his plain Water typing and low Special Defense makes him easy to kill with moves like Thunderbolt and Giga Drain. If he is under rain and can set up a Shell Smash, though, Huntail has the potential to pull off a massive sweep.

Banette

November 18th, 2013

by Richard

Banette

The Marionette Pokémon

Overview

Oh, Banette, how unrecognized you were, until you got a MEGA-EVOLUTION! Personally, I think Banette is one of the coolest Ghost types around. It is physical, which is weird for a Ghost. It’s mega evolution has the highest attack of any Ghost, and even its regular form is only outdone my Aegislash, Golurk, and the Ghost legendaries. But it falls short in every other stat in regular form and they are only decent in Mega form. Nonetheless, Banette is a fun Pokémon to use.

Abilities

Insomnia: You can’t fall asleep. Useful to counteract Spore,  I guess, but not that useful.

Frisk: Reveals your opponent’s item. More useful than Insomnia, but still not that useful.

Dream World Cursed Body: When your opponent makes contact, there is a 30% chance that the move used will be disabled. The most useful ability so far, it can give you an edge on whoever took out Banette (because Banette likely won’t survive most attacks).

Mega Evolution: Prankster: All status category move get +1 priority. This is very useful because Banette has a dire speed, and priority to moves like Destiny Bond, Trick, Will-o-wisp, Thunder Wave, and others make this ability great.

Base Stats

Mega Evolution in parentheses

HP: 64 (64)

Attack: 115 (165)

Defense: 65 (75)

Special Attack: 83 (93)

Special Defense: 63 (83)

Speed: 65 (75)

Total: 455 (555)

Movesets

Physical

• Sucker Punch
• Shadow Sneak/Shadow Claw/Phantom Force
• Will-o-Wisp/Thunder Wave/Toxic
• Hex/Protect
• Ability: Cursed Body/Prankster
• Item: Spell Tag/Muscle Band/Banettite/Other

This set isn’t really meant to defeat other things, more like put a big hole in them. Sucker Punch gets priority, which is needed for Banette, and so does Shadow Sneak. Shadow Claw doesn’t get priority, but it has 70 base power. Phantom Force is a new move and basically a weaker version of Shadow Force, but gets 90 base power and always hits. This is an Egg Move only though. Will-o-wisp, Thunder Wave, and Toxic are all great status moves. (I would prefer Will-o-Wisp because it is signature to Banette, but use whatever is best for your team.) Hex got a boost from last gen with 65 instead of 50 base power, and this doubles when attacking an opponent with a status condition, so 130 base power. Yes, it is a Special Attack, but that power is undeniably high. You could also use Protect to stall for burn or poison damage.

Support

• Will-o-wisp/Toxic/Thunder Wave
• Another support move
• Shadow Sneak/Shadow Claw/Hex
• Sucker Punch/Another support move
• Ability: Cursed Body -> Prankster
• Item: Banettite

Banette has a multitude of support attacks. Prankster is a necessity for this set. Use Will-o-wisp, Toxic, or Thunder Wave for status effect. Shadow Sneak gets priority, Shadow Punch gets more power, and Hex can be extremely powerful. You need to have an attack so you don’t get stuck in Taunt. Sucker Punch is can be put in the last slot if you want more coverage. Banette’s support movepool is pretty big. You can use Curse, Spite, Embargo, Snatch, Grudge, Taunt, Protect, Torment, Rest, Attract, Psych Up, Swagger, Substitute, Confuse Ray, Destiny Bond, Trick Room, and several others. Banette can even set up Sunny Day and Rain Dance! The sad thing is that Banette doesn’t have the stats to back up a defensive strategy, but I guess it’s worth a shot.

Sleep Talk?

• Rest
• Sleep Talk
• Shadow Claw/Phantom Force
• Sucker Punch/Gunk Shot/Return/Knock Off
• Ability: Cursed Body -> Prankster
• Item: Banettite

This set is sort of a gimmick, but I hope it works. Like the last set, Mega-Banette is a must. Pick an attack to use the first turn, then when you have less HP, use Rest. Since it is a status category move, it gets priority. Then use Sleep Talk, which is also a status category move, and hopefully Banette uses the right attack, you do have a 50% chance, though so that’s pretty good. Shadow Claw or Phantom Force is your go to Ghost move here. Since Sleep Talk gets priority, Shadow Sneak has no use here. Sucker Punch is a priority attack, but is a good move for Banette. Gunk Shot, for some reason, is a physical move, and has 120 base power, but only 80 accuracy, Return can be a powerful normal type move and Knock Off can screw up enemy strategies. This is a pretty wacky strategy and it sure opens up Banette’s options outside of priority moves, but I’m not entirely sure if it works. This is just and idea.

Other Options

• Calm Mind can go on a special set with Shadow Ball, Thunderbolt, Dark Pulse, Dazzling Gleam and/or Psychic, but Banette was made for attack.
• If you are playing Gen V without Mega-Banette, Thief is an option over Knock Off, as Knock Off had way less power last gen and Thief steals items instead of knocking it off.
• Banette can get Pursuit as an Egg Move.
• Telekinesis can make it easier for Gunk Shot to hit.
• Foul Play is an interesting Dark type move.
• Pain Split can work with Focus Sash

Follow-Up

Banette had been defeated and forgotten until X and Y with its Mega-Evolution. It’s new ability, Prankster, is terrific, and makes it much better and 165 base attack is amazing. Although it still lacks in most other stats, it is so much better than before. I truly hope Banette does well competitively as it is such a cool Pokémon.