Competitive Battling Discussion Of The Week 22
- Thread starter PG24
- Start date
Ooh, tough question. There are some that are quite close in terms of threat level, so I'm going to list some.
Choice Band Terrakion stands out as a huge threat. With its nearly unresisted STAB combination, it easily plows through weakened teams. Its very difficult to catch without strong priority, like Bullet Punch Scizor or Mach Punch Conkeldurr. Its one of the greatest finishers I've ever seen.
There's also Rock Polish Landorus, which is crazy powerful in a sandstorm, and its definitely a reason to run Skarmory on your team. After a Rock Polish, its faster than Excadrill was, and Sand Power boosted Earthquakes are nothing to scoff at.
Finally, I find Offensive Quiver Dance Volcarona to be a rather large threat, especially in the sun. In a nutshell, your counter depends solely on what type of Hidden Power it has. Like Terrakion though, priority is its downfall, with CB Scizor doing about 40% with Bullet Punch. This moth, along with Dragonite, is one of the biggest reasons to have Stealth Rock on your team.
And hey, notice how all three of these guys are near staples on weather teams. hmm...
Choice Band Terrakion stands out as a huge threat. With its nearly unresisted STAB combination, it easily plows through weakened teams. Its very difficult to catch without strong priority, like Bullet Punch Scizor or Mach Punch Conkeldurr. Its one of the greatest finishers I've ever seen.
There's also Rock Polish Landorus, which is crazy powerful in a sandstorm, and its definitely a reason to run Skarmory on your team. After a Rock Polish, its faster than Excadrill was, and Sand Power boosted Earthquakes are nothing to scoff at.
Finally, I find Offensive Quiver Dance Volcarona to be a rather large threat, especially in the sun. In a nutshell, your counter depends solely on what type of Hidden Power it has. Like Terrakion though, priority is its downfall, with CB Scizor doing about 40% with Bullet Punch. This moth, along with Dragonite, is one of the biggest reasons to have Stealth Rock on your team.
And hey, notice how all three of these guys are near staples on weather teams. hmm...
The pokemon that I have had the hardest time taking down is Volcarona. After a Quiver dance, you can't kill it with a special attacker anymore so you have to switch, and by then it's at +2 speed special defence and special attack and it just eats your team. The only saving grace is the fact that there is always a hole in its coverage, as it needs HP ground to kill Terrakion and Heatran, but it needs HP rock to hit pokemon like Salamence and Gyarados. However this is still only a small problem and if it is running Fire Dance it can still break though some of these resistances.
Dragonite.
Need I say more? I will just because I'll get warned for spam if I don't.
Step 1: Use magnezone to kill Ferrothorn, Forretress, and/or Skarmory
Step 2: Set up Dragon Dance while multiscale or lum berry activates
Step 3: outrage GG?
Step 4: profit!!
Dragonite is one of the hardest threats to take down. Any dragonite-user should have Rapid Spin somewhere on their team, which will make it excessively hard to OHKO it, because Multiscale will almost always be in play. Not even Hidden Power Ice or Ice Beam will be able to KO unless its either Specs or STAB. Lum Berry is annoying too because when you think Rotom W can Will o Wisp it, and you might get out with 1 Pokémon left, your opponent says "lol" and kills you.
And then there's Choice Band.
Multiscale active while Outrage literally 2HKO's the metagame, minus Skarmory, Bronzong, (insert magnezone here) and physically defensive Ferrothorn, who is 3HKO'd. Extreemspeed can be used to pick off and revenge kill things from 40%+, depending on how good the defenses are. And then when you expect one of these two, turns out your Dragonite is actually Mixnite with Fire Blast, that KO's your steel switch-in. (assuming magnezone hasn't already.) Dragonite is versatile, and wicked hard to kill, virtually impossible to OHKO. Oh, and he's got Roost, so he can activate multiscale multiple times. I'd also like to throw in the fact that Dragonite resists both Sun and Rain. He can set up on sun with impunity, and abuse rain with Thunder and Hurricane. I find him to be the biggest thread today.
Need I say more? I will just because I'll get warned for spam if I don't.
Step 1: Use magnezone to kill Ferrothorn, Forretress, and/or Skarmory
Step 2: Set up Dragon Dance while multiscale or lum berry activates
Step 3: outrage GG?
Step 4: profit!!
Dragonite is one of the hardest threats to take down. Any dragonite-user should have Rapid Spin somewhere on their team, which will make it excessively hard to OHKO it, because Multiscale will almost always be in play. Not even Hidden Power Ice or Ice Beam will be able to KO unless its either Specs or STAB. Lum Berry is annoying too because when you think Rotom W can Will o Wisp it, and you might get out with 1 Pokémon left, your opponent says "lol" and kills you.
And then there's Choice Band.
Starboard Driger said:
Multiscale active while Outrage literally 2HKO's the metagame, minus Skarmory, Bronzong, (insert magnezone here) and physically defensive Ferrothorn, who is 3HKO'd. Extreemspeed can be used to pick off and revenge kill things from 40%+, depending on how good the defenses are. And then when you expect one of these two, turns out your Dragonite is actually Mixnite with Fire Blast, that KO's your steel switch-in. (assuming magnezone hasn't already.) Dragonite is versatile, and wicked hard to kill, virtually impossible to OHKO. Oh, and he's got Roost, so he can activate multiscale multiple times. I'd also like to throw in the fact that Dragonite resists both Sun and Rain. He can set up on sun with impunity, and abuse rain with Thunder and Hurricane. I find him to be the biggest thread today.
Definitely Volcarona in the sun. Since I currently use it on my team (I know I've faced some of you with it already) I know just how hard it is to counter. I've been in situations where I have two weakened Pokemon left, just Volcarona and something else while the other team has 6 strong with mostly full health. All it took was one Quiver Dance, which is one of the best boosting moves in the game, and the fiery moth plowed through other team with ease (Sorry PMJ and Peachy, I know that happened to you). Countering it is nearly impossible without a select few pokes that even then have a difficult time. The ultimate special walls, Blissey and Eviolite Chansey go down without a chance after a Quiver Dance and a few Fiery Dance boosts.
Honorable mention goes to DD Dragonite and Haxorus. After a Dragon Dance, Dragonite can rip through teams. Haxorus basically does the same thing, and with the Choice Band set it doesn't even need to set up before it starts destroying teams with it's ridiculously overpowered Outrage.
Honorable mention goes to DD Dragonite and Haxorus. After a Dragon Dance, Dragonite can rip through teams. Haxorus basically does the same thing, and with the Choice Band set it doesn't even need to set up before it starts destroying teams with it's ridiculously overpowered Outrage.
Yes, like many have said, I'm seeing a lot of Dragontite and Volcarona sweeps on PO. If they have weather or even a sub to support them, you're going to have a tough time getting rid of them without losing vital team members. These two Pokemon are really hurt by hazards, so maybe the fact that they've become bigger threats has to do with the recent banning of Deoxys-S, a premiere hazard creator. Also, the fact that they are banned in our No Hazards tournament also hints at the fact at how good they've become without a solid hazards setter. Of course, there are Pokemon who can still set up SR, Spikes, and T-Spikes, but it's a lot harder now since DD and Quiver Dance Volcarona can outspeed those Pokemon before they can get them up.
If you are playing an offensive team, I find Starmie tends to be a problem. With its 115 Speed it can outpace nearly everything in the metagame. Its special attack is quite powerful as well. Due to the nature of many offensive Pokemon being frail, this Pokemon should be covered well by yoru team.
Dragonite and Volcarona I have to agree with. Either can really crush teams once they get 1-2 boosts in. Dragonite is worse since it has recovery available.
Dragonite and Volcarona I have to agree with. Either can really crush teams once they get 1-2 boosts in. Dragonite is worse since it has recovery available.
Gastrodon and Volcanrola make my team cry... I just use my d nite against others...
Anything with choice band kills me also. I set up, and then boom! Just like that I am dead. Especially choiced Tornadus, it totally abuses its power.
Volcanrola has already been explained.
Gastordon just makes my grass guys go crie in the corner.
Anything with choice band kills me also. I set up, and then boom! Just like that I am dead. Especially choiced Tornadus, it totally abuses its power.
Volcanrola has already been explained.
Gastordon just makes my grass guys go crie in the corner.
As dangerous as Volcarona can be; I find Terrakion to be a bigger threat. The only real ways to make sure it dies are Azumaril's or Scizor's CB priority attacks. If it's a DoubleDancer, your chances at outspeeding and killing it are out the window. If it's SD or CB, it'll destroy Gliscor, Nidoqueen, Claydol, and Slowbro with Stone Edge or X-scissor. Conk can 2HKO, but it gets 2HKO'd back.