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.

Yanmega

June 28th, 2012

by Richard

YANMEGA

The Ogre Darner Pokemon

Overview

I love Yanmega. A great speed stat and a scary special attack stat make Yanmega a huge threat to a lot of Pokemon, but being a Bug/Flying type makes you 4x weak to Stealth Rock, which can set up Yanmega for failure. It has two of the best abilities in the game, though, that help keep him a popular choice in the UU.

Abilities

Speed Boost: Your speed is increased by one stage every turn. This is an awesome ability! Very few Pokemon get this and this will help you outspeed more and more Pokemon every turn. My Yanmega has this ability and it works great.

Tinted Lens: Possibly even better. All “not very effective” moves are doubled in power.  You will be able to hit almost anything hard with this ability. Both of these abilities and so good that either way you will be kicking some butt. But then there is the dream world ability…

Frisk: Only useful for scouting. The other two abilities are far better.

Base Stats

HP: 86

Attack: 76

Defense: 86

Special Attack: 116

Special Defense: 56

Speed: 95

Movesets

Lead Sweeper

• Bug Buzz
• Air Slash
• U-Turn
• Hypnosis/ Hidden Power [Ground]/another special move
• Ability: Tinted Lens/Speed Boost
• Item: You decide

Yanmega makes an amazing lead as it knows U-Turn and is great at using it. Bug Buzz and Air Slash are STAB and great moves. U-Turn is great for scouting and can deal some decent damage, especially if you have Tinted Lens. The last slot could be Hypnosis, which is always an awesome move, Hidden Power [Ground] (even though I don’t believe in using Hidden Power), or another special move, such as Ancient Power, Psychic, or Shadow Ball. As for the ability and the item, you decide. I’m not that good at picking out items, but Choice Specs is an option here. Just don’t use Frisk. Please.

Giga Drain

• Giga Drain
• Bug Buzz
• Air Slash
• U-Turn/Hidden Power [Ground]/AncientPower
• Ability: Tinted Lens/Speed Boost
• Item: Your choice

Giga Drain is GREAT on Yanmega. It kills the Rock, Ground, and Water types better than the two STAB moves. Plus, you’ll get some HP back.  This move is not available in Black and White, so you need to transfer from Gen IV, or trade from Black and White 2 where it is available by move tutor. Bug Buzz and Air Slash are your STABs and the last slot is your choice of U-Turn, Hidden Power [Ground], or AncientPower which is good at taking down Flying and Fire types.

Dream Eater?

• Hypnosis
• Dream Eater
• Bug Buzz
• Air Slash
• Ability: Tinted Lens/Speed Boost
• Item: Your Choice

Just something random that I came up with, so go ahead and experiment on it. Hypnosis is an awesome move on its own and is great for bugging your opponent. Dream Eater is a cool move and gives you some recovery, too. Another option is to switch out when your opponent is asleep to something that will ruin that Pokemon in one hit and fill that slot with a different move, but this set is called Dream Eater for a reason. Then last but not least are Bug Buzz and Air Slash, your reliable STAB moves.

Other Move Options

• Protect to stall for Speed Boost.
• Double Team can drive your opponent nuts, but is banned in most metagames.
• Toxic is a great status move, and works well with Protect
• Sunny Day and Solar Beam could be cool, but not in a sense of temperature.
• Psychic and Shadow Ball are some cool special moves.
• Roost is an option of recovery.

Follow-Up

Yanmega is an awesome lead and a great sweeper, but is pretty frail, especially to Stealth Rocks. His abilities make him unique from other Bug/Flying Pokemon, and no other Pokemon can really completely fill his role. Yanmega really is a frightening Pokemon to battle, because it can be hard to predict.  You’ll see what I mean when you battle one.

PS!!

Send in your recommendations and see a moveset of your favorite Pokemon! Also remember to comment in the box below.

Blastoise

December 20th, 2011

by Richard

BLASTOISE

OVERVIEW

Blastoise is awesome. He’s really bulky in defense and special defense and can use both physical and special fairly well. What really kills him is speed, though. 78 base speed isn’t all that ideal. But Blastoise is awesome anyways.

BASE STATS

HP 79

Attack 83

Defense 100

Special Attack 85

Special Defense 105

Speed 78

ABILITIES

Torrent: When Blastoise’s HP is below 1/3, your Water type attacks are multiplied by 1.5. Pretty nice add-on to STAB.

Rain Dish (Dream World): When it’s raining, Blastoise gets 1/16th of his HP back at the end of every turn. That’s a great add-on to Blastoise’s defenses and will really drive your opponent crazy.

MOVESETS

SWEEPER

• Hydro Pump, Surf
• Earthquake
• Blizzard, Ice Beam
• Rain Dance, Flash Cannon
• Ability: Torrent, Rain Dish
• Item: Damp Rock, Wise Glasses

A combination of awesome moves. Hydro Pump is you main move. You could go with Surf for better accuracy, though. Earthquake is amazing and takes out electrics and steels. Blizzard hits most everything hard and takes out dragons and grass types. Ice beam is an alternative with better accuracy. The last slot is your choice. Rain Dance is good with Hydro Pump and Rain Dish whereas Flash Cannon lets you take care of Ice types. Either way, no single type is resistant. The Damp Rock allows Rain dance  to last 8 turns. The Wise Glasses raise the power of special attacks by 10%.

RAPID SPIN

• Rapid Spin
• Rain Dance
• Toxic
• Hydro Pump, Surf
• Ability: Torrent
• Item: Damp Rock

It’s awesome that Blastoise gets Rapid Spin. Rapid Spin takes out entry hazards. Rain Dance raises the power of Water type moves and makes Thunder always hit. Toxic badly poisons and it hurts more every turn. Hydro Pump or Surf keeps you from being Taunt bait and works well with Rain Dance.

SKULL BASH

• Skull Bash, Iron Defense
• Aqua Tail, Waterfall
• Toxic
• Earthquake, Gyro Ball, Return, Dig, Brick Break, a physical move, Protect
• Ability: Torrent
• Item: Leftovers

Skull Bash is cool. You raise your defense the first turn, then attack the next turn with plenty of power. You could also use Iron Defense to make yourself a physical wall.  Aqua tail is a cool physical water type move, but Waterfall has a more accuracy and a drop in power. Toxic is great for stalling moves like Dig. The last slot is your choice. Earthquake is awesome. Gyro Ball could be awesome with your low speed. Return is another physical move that gets good coverage with water outside of Jellicent and Ferrotron. Dig stalls for Toxic damage. Brick Break is good for a wide range of types. Protect is another option to stall for Toxic damage.

OTHER OPTIONS

• Rest is Blastoise’s only recovery move
• Focus Blast is a cool fighting type move
• Scald can inflict burns
• Hydro Cannon is a better version of Hydro Pump but has even less accuracy and you have to recharge for a turn

STATS

• Sweeper: You want max special attack and max speed or defense.
• Rapid Spin: Max HP and max defense  or special defense.
• Skull Bash: Max attack and max defense or special defense.

FOLLOW-UP

Blastoise is an awesome starter with tons of bulk and plenty of options. Although he is mainly used for spinning, he can be physical and special sweeper and has plenty of other support moves. Blastoise is my personal favorite Kanto starter and is great for in-game use in FireRed and LeafGreen. Blastoise is very special in being a tank. Tons of good moves and an impenetrable wall.

Charizard

October 6th, 2011

by Richard

CHARIZARD

OVERVIEW

Usually a popular choice, Charizard has an immense sp. att. and a pretty good movepool. He has access to about every good fire attack out there and some other cool moves so he has enough to make a few sets.

ABILITIES

Blaze: When HP is lower than 1/3, power of  all Fire type attacks is raised by 1.5. I like it because it gives Charizard a good boost considering his bad defense.

Solar Power: Much, much better. In sunshine, Charizard’s sp. att. is raised by 1.5. That makes his BASE sp.att. to 163.5. 163.5! That is sick. Plus fire type attacks work better in sunshine, so Overheat would be like diving into the center of the sun. I don’t care do the math. Yeah, this is a wall smasher.

BASE STATS

HP 78

Attack 84

Defense 78

Special Attack 109

Special Defense 85

Speed 100

SWEEPIZARD

• Fire Blast, Overheat, Heat Wave
• Sunny Day
• Solarbeam
• Earthquake, Focus Blast
• Ability: Solar Power
• Item: Leftovers

This is a set using Charizard’s best attacks. Fire Blast is a great fire type move. Overheat is better, but then you would be weaker in attacking due to losing 2 sp.att. Heat Wave has less power than Fire Blast, but more accuracy. Sunny Day raises the power of fire type attacks and makes Solarbeam attack faster. Solarbeam takes care of waters, rocks, and grounds. Earthquake takes care of other fires, but Focus Blast hits steel types hard.

PHYSICAL

• Swords Dance
• Earthquake
• Flare Blitz
• Brick Break, Return, Dragon Claw, Shadow Claw, Rock Slide, Dragon Tail
• Ability: Blaze
• Item: ?

Charizard has a lot of physical attacks, but lacks a good attack stat. Swords Dance boosts your attack, which you dreadfully need. Earthquake is an awesome move that Charizard has access to. Flare Blitz is your main move here. Other than that you have lots of options. Brick Break is a cool fighting type move. Return can be really strong. Dragon Claw… is another physical move. Shadow Claw can take out Psychics. Rock Slide is good against flying and fire types, but Earthquake already takes out fires. Dragon Tail can ruin your opponents strategies.

Hmm…

•  Toxic, Will-o-Wisp
• Protect
• Fire Blast
• Earthquake
• Ability: Blaze
• Item: Wide Lens, Zoom Lens

This  is a support set. I’m not sure if it will work, but go ahead and try it out. Toxic deals more damage every turn. Will-o-wisp is another option. Protect stalls for Toxic/Will-o-wisp damage. Fire Blast gets a boost of accuracy from the Wide Lens. Earthquake is awesome. Wide Lens raises your accuracy by 10%, whereas the Zoom Lens raises your accuracy by 20% if you attack second.

OTHER OPTIONS

Hone Claws boost attack and accuracy.

Flame Charge is a good move as it boosts speed.

Fire Spin is a good trapping move.

Inferno burns, but has horrible accuracy.

Air Slash is a special flying type move.

DOUBLE AND TRIPLE BATTLE OPTIONS

Charizard is immune to Earthquake, but gets hit hard by Rock Slide and Surf. He does have Earthquake himself, though, which is nice. He also gets Heat Wave. Flame Burst also hits multiple opponents. Fire Spin can trap. He can burn and poison which works well with Fire Spin. I’d say he’s pretty well off in doubles and triples, but watch out for Rock Slide and Surf.

FOLLOWUP

Charizard is an awesome Pokemon, but he doesn’t get very many special attacks, which is his forte. He has some competition, too, against Ninetales, Volcarona, and Reshiram. But his Dream World ability lets him rock the house. He truly is the king of Fire Type Pokemon.