Articuno question

No because Sheer Cold only has ~30 accuracy and is not enough to make up for Articuno's terrible typing.
 
It would still remain being not-very-used due to the fact that there are some Pokemon that could still counter it. I actually battled one yesterday, and my Skarmory managed to beat it with relative ease.
It would still have to contend with Pokemon such as Heatran, and the omnipresent Stealth Rock, which pretty much kills it.
 
Articuno is a lot better than people give it credit for. A superb support movepool combined with excellent overall stats makes for a great special wall that some Pokemon would be hard pressed to break through.

Articuno gets no use outside of NU because of two big reasons. First, Stealth Rock cleaves its HP in half, which is something no wall wants. Second, Articuno is utterly walled by every Steel-type in the game (Heatran especially).

Still, Articuno is a great Pokemon, and its Stealth Rock weakness shouldn't automatically preclude you from using it. If you can support it well, it won't disappoint you, and I recommend everyone give it a try on their next team.
 
Mind Reader + Sheer Cold would be pretty fun :3

But other than that, Articuno probably won't be seeing much usage in OU or even UU due to the commoness of Stealth Rock. I will agree with PMJ, it is better than it looks, but something always does its job better.
 
...That would be evil. almost as evil as putting Sturdy on a shedinja using the move (I forget the name) that swaps abilities with the target.

Mind Reader+Sheer Cold would be fun too
 
Skill Swap fails when targeting Shedinja. The way to change Shedinja's ability would be to use Simple Beam or Entrainment. (You can Skill Swap Sturdy onto a Pokemon with Entrainment and then use that to give it Sturdy.)
 
ITT I'm surprised to learn that Articuno only has 4 weaknesses

If I were looking for an Ice type Sheer Cold machine, I would probably side with Walrein for the HP recovery in Hail. You have a ~6% chance of all 8 Sheer Cold uses missing with no accuracy/evasion modifiers, so it is more or less a guaranteed kill from a defensive wall and I'm not convinced Mind Reader is required to make it worthwhile (considering it takes up a moveslot). This being the case, you just need to ask which Pokemon has superior lasting power and can thus make the most uses of Sheer Cold, of which I'd probably respond with Walrein. Passive recovery in the form of Ice Body is crucial because a wall needs to focus on lasting power, and HP recovery moves are not preferable if your goal is to spam as many Sheer Cold attacks as you possibly can. I don't think Articuno would find the time to aptly use Sheer Cold, while Walrein can restore ~1/8th of its HP every turn.

That said, I think that Articuno would see more use in the lower tiers, but if we are talking the standard tier of OU then its usage likely wouldn't change much due to Walrein filling the niche of Hail based Sheer Cold spammer. Lapras could function in a Rain team with Hydration (although I'm not sure if that's released or not).
 
Geodude6 said:
I also think Sheer Cold and Mimic + No Guard Machamp would be brutal in a double battle.

That's not possible. The only way to teach Machamp Mimic is in the 3rd Gen from a tutor, and No Guard is a 4th Gen ability.

But could you imagine if you could link moves in the main series like on Mystery Dungeon? Mind Reader+Sheer Cold, OHKO. Give it a Choice Scarf and say Good Game.
 
@Bacon: What about Crowncune? Yeah I know it's Relaxed, but there are sets, especially in VGC, that revolve around Suicune using Sheer Cold. (I actually fell victim to one myself, with 2 of the 4 uses actually hitting.)
 
Pokeplayer44 said:
That's not possible. The only way to teach Machamp Mimic is in the 3rd Gen from a tutor, and No Guard is a 4th Gen ability.

But could you imagine if you could link moves in the main series like on Mystery Dungeon? Mind Reader+Sheer Cold, OHKO. Give it a Choice Scarf and say Good Game.

When you evolve a Pokemon in a 4th gen game, if it has an ability introduced in 4th gen and the Pokemon came from a 3rd gen game, the Pokemon has a 50% chance of switching abilities. That's how people get a Clefable with Softboiled and Magic Guard.
 
Roost and a odd number of HP could make it better if you switch in after a ko to scare the foe into i switch. Then Roost on the switch. Then do whatever Articuno is supposed to do. But other than that... i can't see it being too useful.
 
> successful Articuno usage
> revenge killing using Articuno

pick one
 
PMJ said:
> successful Articuno usage
> revenge killing using Articuno

pick one

I probably worded that wrong... I mean switch in after a KO and scare the foe into switching. Roost on the switch. But then there is Scizor...
 
Geodude6 said:
When you evolve a Pokemon in a 4th gen game, if it has an ability introduced in 4th gen and the Pokemon came from a 3rd gen game, the Pokemon has a 50% chance of switching abilities. That's how people get a Clefable with Softboiled and Magic Guard.

That's so weird. I've never heard of it before, but it sounds legit. And a real pain too considering you only get one shot at teaching Mimic if I'm not mistaken. Would soft-resetting work on that?

Geodude6 said:
Take a look at the attatchment.

That's pretty rude. I've seen that before, by the way. I thought about trying it myself, and mind you Pokemon Online can be wrong. An example is that it says the only way for an Azumarill to know Aqua Jet is Dream World, when it is also an egg move.
 
Pokeplayer44 said:
That's so weird. I've never heard of it before, but it sounds legit. And a real pain too considering you only get one shot at teaching Mimic if I'm not mistaken. Would soft-resetting work on that?


That's pretty rude. I've seen that before, by the way. I thought about trying it myself, and mind you Pokemon Online can be wrong. An example is that it says the only way for an Azumarill to know Aqua Jet is Dream World, when it is also an egg move.


Not really, no.

The Ability is determined by a personality value, given a number between 0 and 255. If a Pokemon has 2 abilities, the 1st one will have the value between 0 and 127, and the 2nd will be 128 and up.

If it had 1 ability and got a 2nd later, the 128-and-up section would convert into the 2nd ability, and this change becomes evident when that Pokemon evolves. Thus if you had a Machop or Machoke with an ability "value" of 128 or higher, then transferred it and then evolved it, it would have No Guard. Strictly speaking, it's a 50-50 chance this could happen.

I can confirm this as fact for myself; I Pal Parked a Horsea from Leafgreen, and when I evolved it to Seadra, it had Sniper instead.
 
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