Theorymon Exercises - Week 1

Professor Palutena

Professor Palutena

The Queen
Member
(15:30:55) +Irrelevant: I demand you give Gardevoir Prankster so we can have fun

Hey everyone. This is a new idea of mine that I hope will be lots of fun. You don't need to be a competitive genius to post, but a little bit can help, but it's not needed. You can suggest aesthetic changes as well. Just because this is in the competitive VG forum doesn't mean you have to play competitively to participate. If anyone has an idea for a better name, I'm open for ideas.

Here's how this works. Each week, I'll post a Pokemon that isn't commonly seen in the competitive area. I'll post information about the Pokemon, like its stats, its moves, etc. Then we spend the rest of the week discussing changes that we can make to make this Pokemon better.

Anything is fair grounds to change: typing, stats, moves, ability, height, weight (I don't know why you would), etc. The list goes on and on.

So here is this week's Pokemon: Gardevoir

Spr_5b_282.png


Stats:68 HP / 65 Attack / 65 Defense / 125 Sp. Attack / 115 Sp. Defense / 80 Speed / 518 Total

Notable moves Gardevoir learns:
-Calm Mind
-Psychic
-Hypnosis
-Thunderbolt
-Focus Blast
-Will-o-Wisp
-Thunder Wave
-Destiny Bond
-Disable
-Memento
-Reflect
-Light Screen

On the competitive front, Gardevoir tries to act as a combination of the offensive Alakazam and the defensive Uxie. Its got a solid amount of special attack with decent amounts of Special Defense. With the near unique ability Trace, Gardevoir can copy a bunch of useful abilities, including: Water Absorb, Intimidate, Flash Fire, Unaware and Magic Guard.

However, because the bulky Psychic niche is already filled by: Reuniclus, Lati@s and Jirachi, Gardevoir is forced to run status moves to stand out, which reduces its coverage to only one or two attacks. Not to mention that the Pursuit weakness is very annoying.

To make Gardevoir more viable, the biggest thing that I suggest is getting rid of Telepathy for Magic Bounce. While Trace is still awesome, Porygon2 will always do Trace better than Gardevoir. When compared to Xatu and Espeon, Gardevoir is the bulkiest, albeit the slowest. Its also the only one that can use Will-O-Wisp and Thunder Wave, which is really annoying when you can't stop them.

Another thing would be giving it Recover. While this does somewhat annoy Espeon, as it lacks a 50% recovery move, Espeon is plenty faster than Gardevoir. With Magic Bounce and Recover, I can see the main set being:

Gardevoir @ Leftovers
Bold Nature (I say Bold because there's nothing common in OU that Gardevoir cares about being faster than)
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SAtk
Ability: Magic Bounce
-Recover
-Thunder Wave/Will-O-Wisp
-Psychic/Psyshock
-Reflect/Focus Blast/HP Fire

On a more of a casual note, Gardevoir could also be a Psychic/Ghost type. Because it's said in its PokeDex that it gives its live for its trainer, and it learns a bunch of ghastly moves (Will-O-Wisp, Hex, Grudge, etc), it seems fitting.

So that's basically how this works. Have fun, post lots, discuss anything related to the Pokemon. There's plenty of things that are fair game to discuss. Let's see what we can come up with.
 
This sounds like a pretty cool idea.

Magic Bounce could work, and it would fit in with Gardevoir's ability in SSBB (reflects any projectiles that hits an aura surrounding Gardevoir), so it would make sense too. I think another interesting solution that would make Gardevoir better.

At first you may think either "Uber" or "outclassed by Volcarona" but I believe that there are enough pros and cons of both Volcarona and Gardevoir that both could remain usable. Gardevoir has greater special bulk, is neutrally affected by Stealth Rocks, no 4x weaknesses, and has Trace, all of which make it much easier for it to come in and set up. However, its special attack is lower, and its one STAB isn't a great attacking type. Yes it has BoltBeam coverage in T-Bolt/Icy Wind or the less accurate but more powerful Shadow Ball/Focus Blast combo, but they are unSTABed and combined with Gardevoir's lower special attack (and poor power in the case of Icy Wind) bulky Pokemon such as Ferrothorn should have no problem stopping Gardevoir's sweep. The main set for Quiver Dance Gardevoir would probably be:

Gardevoir @ Leftovers (although Life Orb is usable)
Timid/Modest (not sure what Timid outruns that Modest doesn't, might have to check that later)
EVs: 4 HP/252 SAtk/252 Spe
-Quiver Dance
-Psyshock/Psychic
-2 of Thunderbolt/Icy Wind/Shadow Ball/Signal Beam/Focus Blast/Grass Knot

A more bulky spread could also work (think CM, but the speed helps it sweep easier).

Really, it would depend on the team as to whether Gardevoir or Volcarona is better. Sun team, go with Volcarona. No room for a spinner, go with Gardevoir (in most scenarios). Volcarona would probably remain the greater threat overall because there are no 100% counters to it while there isn't a whole lot Gardevoir could do to specially defensive Jirachi. Honestly, I see Quiver Dance Gardevoir as being a more balanced for the metagame Pokemon that Volcarona, but that's just me.

Quiver Dance would also make sense on Gardevoir because Gardevoir resembles a ballroom dancer.
 
I think you guys are going down the right path with changing up its ability but I think you're going with the wrong ability. Prankster is almost the perfect ability for Gardevoir with its powerful and long list of support abilities. Prankster Light Screen, Reflect, and Memento would make it a powerful (if not the best) supporter for all the offensive teams looking to set up Dragon Dance, Quiver Dance, etc. It also has a myriad of Status condition moves with Thunder Wave, Will-O-Wisp, Hypnosis, Confuse Ray, and, of course, Toxic. It also has pseudo status condition moves such as Destiny Bond, Disable, Encore, and Taunt to shut down other threats using Stat Boosting moves or even a choice item with Disable. It even gets two forms of priority healing with Recover or Wish to support its teammates. And unlike Sableye, it is much bulkier and take withstand that damage even if it misses the move its trying to do. It could even pull off some dangerous offensive sets with its priority Taunt and Calm Mind.
 
Upon the obvious ability change, virtually any Psychic- or Ghost-type can benefit from having Aura Sphere. I could see a set of something like

Gardevoir @ Leftovers
Trait: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 64 Def / 192 Spe (outruns max speed TTar in case of emergency)
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Psychic
- Aura Sphere
- Will-O-Wisp
- Recover

actually being useful. Against something more realistic like Terrakion, CB Stone Edge does (42.35% - 50.29%) damage after a burn, so unless your opponent keeps getting max damage rolls, you can Recover stall since Recover has priority too. (25.29% - 30.00%) is what the same burned Terrakion does with Close Combat. Aura Sphere does (53.25% - 63.16%) back to it, or (79.88% - 94.12%) with a potential damage drop. The EVs are pretty customizable. (I have no idea if max speed Tyranitar is popular, probably not) so you can probably take those EVs and put them in Defense or Special Attack as you wish. The relevant Pokemon you lose to coverage wise are the Psychic-types (Lati@s, Starmie), but you still have great coverage otherwise.

I know it already has Focus Blast, but running that is way to risky for Gardevoir to pull off. You don't want to rely on the RNG against stuff like Tyranitar.

And by the way, giving anything Moody, Quiver Dance, and/or Shell Smash makes them good.
 
Detailed Result:
0 SpAtk Gardevoir Aura Sphere vs 252 HP/120 +1 SpDef Tyranitar: 42.57% - 50.5%
3 hits to KO (with Leftovers)

Possible HP Damage: 172, 172, 176, 176, 180, 180, 184, 184, 188, 188, 192, 192, 196, 196, 200, 204


TTar in the sand will take 3 hits to OHKO (Small possibility 2HKO if no lefties) with given aura sphere. Perhaps we should lower Gardevoir's speed, and increase defense so she'll better be able to take the pursuit when switching or Crunch/SE after Will-O-Wisp?
 
give it wonder guard it never loses then

Prankster Dual Screens Gardevoir would be even better at setting up Reflect/Light Screen than Deoxys-S was. Not only could you throw on dual screens, but you wouldn't have to worry about throwing on Stealth Rock/Spikes, you could instead run a Status move or two, or possibly Wish, or since we can change its moves, we can throw on Recover to make it survive longer.

Gardevoir @Light Clay
Trait: Prankster
The EV's i'm unsure of. Max HP is certain, but how to split the rest I don't know.
Bold nature
~Reflect
~Light Screen
~Taunt/Magic Coat/Toxic/Hypnosis/Will-o-Wisp/Thunder Wave/Destiny Bond/Memento (you get the idea)
~Recover

A support or a Double Status set with Prankster wouldn't be bad either.
Gardevoir @Leftovers
Trait: Prankster
252 HP/64 Def/192 Spe (for the reasons DJ stated above)
~Recover
~Will o Wisp/Thunder Wave/Healing WIsh even just for a gimmick
~Psychic
~Aura Sphere/Focus Blast/HP Fire

If you wanted to, you could even run Wish over recover, and Protect over the last coverage slot.
 
With an extensive list of inaccurate attacks like WoW, Focus Blast and Hypnosis, No Guard could be a very useful ability. Prankster is probably the strongest of the reasonable abilities though.
 
Prankster Will-O-Wisp would be crazy awesome, as would No Guard Focus Blast. Gardevoir is already a decently strong offensive threat, but boosting its defensive capabilities with priority Will-O-Wisp or Reflect would be awesome.

Something like this would probably be standard:

Gardevoir @ Leftovers
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP/ 252 Def / 4 SAtk
Bold Nature
-Reflect/Will-o-Wisp
-Recover
-Psychic
-Focus Blast/Aura Sphere

@Teapot's below post: Not really. I actually meant Prankster Will-o-Wisp. Dunno how I got Focus Blast out of that though. :p
 
Gardevoir @ Leftovers
Trait: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 64 Def / 192 Spe (outruns max speed TTar in case of emergency)
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Psychic
- Aura Sphere
- Will-O-Wisp
- Recover
Click to expand...

Have to remember to optimize your EVs. Timid with 252 HP / 152 Def / 108 Spe gives the same speed but four more points in Defense. Jolly ttar is so rare, that it maybe a waste in defensive potential for a threat that will rarely be seen and perhaps only outspeeding Adamant ttar should be considered.
 
Gardevoir @ Leftovers
Trait: Prankster
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Torment
- Substitute
- Disable
- Encore

IMO, this is a better TormenTran. Torment prevents the opponent from using a move every other turn. Encore locks them into their previous move. This means the opponent will be using Struggle until they switch out or the three turns are up. Substitute blocks status, and it means that the opponent can't use their SE move on you after the sub falls. Disable just further shutsdown the opponent (it would be best to sub first, then disable). Taunt could fit in there to prevent yourself from being taunted, but I don't know what move to drop. Since there's no point in putting EVs in Speed, all EVs are added to its terrible physical defenses. Use it with Hazards since it should force a lot of switches.

I probably explained it bad because I'm tired, but you should get the picture. It looks really great on paper (plus very annoying).
 
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