Almost Any Ability ORAS

[Throbulator36]

I want to dispute the Weavile (and Cube if this unbreaks it) ban in favor of a refrigerate ban. I'm gonna start by comparing it to Aerilate.
Aerilate was banned because it had a broken pokemon that dealt with (almost) all forms of offense because of aerilate and one that dealt with (almost) all forms of stall with Aerilate (Dragonite and Noivern respectively).
Aerilate turned the powerful and common return into a stronger move of a much better type.

Two pokemon were banned because of refrigerate. One that dealt with (almost) all forms of offense and one that dealt with (almost) all forms of Stall with refrigerate (Weavile and Cube respectively)
Refrigerate turned the powerful and common return into a stronger move of a much better type.

Ice and Flying are about as strong in the current metagame as each other hitting common stall and offense mons SE-ly.

You can slap Refrigerate on (practically) all E-Speed mons to defeat most offensive pokemon (just like you could with aerilate).
You can slap refrigerate on other strong ice types (such as Kyurem, Jynx, and Mamoswine) to make really powerful wall breakers (similar to aerilate).

 

[Klang]

I want to dispute the Weavile (and Cube if this unbreaks it) ban in favor of a refrigerate ban. I'm gonna start by comparing it to Aerilate.
Aerilate was banned because it had a broken pokemon that dealt with (almost) all forms of offense because of aerilate and one that dealt with (almost) all forms of stall with Aerilate (Dragonite and Noivern respectively).
Aerilate turned the powerful and common return into a stronger move of a much better type.

Two pokemon were banned because of refrigerate. One that dealt with (almost) all forms of offense and one that dealt with (almost) all forms of Stall with refrigerate (Weavile and Cube respectively)
Refrigerate turned the powerful and common return into a stronger move of a much better type.

Ice and Flying are about as strong in the current metagame as each other hitting common stall and offense mons SE-ly.

You can slap Refrigerate on (practically) all E-Speed mons to defeat most offensive pokemon (just like you could with aerilate).
You can slap refrigerate on other strong ice types (such as Kyurem, Jynx, and Mamoswine) to make really powerful wall breakers (similar to aerilate).

The flaw in your argument lies in the fact that Kyurem-B was not banned because of solely Refridgerate. It was broken with practically anything with those giant offensive stats. (Protean, Tinted Lens oh god Tinted Lens O_o)

Weavile was the only Pokemon broken with Refridgerate, hence a Refridgerate ban is not needed.

 

[motherlove]

And no pokemon get stab Espeed refrigirate. Or stab boomburst refrigirate while outspeeding everything

I didn't check the old AAA page before posting this. It might have some use on a trick room team, not that anyone runs those (do they?). It seems strange that something with that many moves can be walled completely by anything, but I will admit it doesn't have much bulk, even with a vest.

Wait for AAA UU, maybe it will happen some day

 

[Halliday]

To do my analysis on the changes:

Aegislash: Mostly a boon to stall, as the only way it has good offenses is through the stance change set, in which case there are better pokemon out there to run similar sets (through protean, ect...)

Deoxys D: Takes a lot of roles from cresselia as a supporter, doesn't really do much more though, other than helping stall keep up hazards easier through it's great stats and movepool.

Deoxys S: A huge boon to offensive teams, it lets them get hazards down fast and easily, (or dual screens if that's how you role), and set up your wall breakers / sweepers

Mega Mawile: Another hit to stall, but not as big of one, Mega Mawile is able to help break down the walls of AAA but is somewhat outclassed by stronger attackers (through adaptability and so on).

I may be completely wrong due to inexperience with AAA, but I know a bit about the meta, and that seems to be the biggest form the changes take. With the advent of Deo-S, hyper offense becomes much more viable, as it is able to use easy, quick hazards to bring down the stronger walls of AAA, as well as MMawile / Genesect / Aegi to help wall break. Given the already strong Sheer Force / Protean / Adaptability wall breakers, this is a nice change for the tier.

 

[Throbulator36]

To do my analysis on the changes:

Aegislash: Mostly a boon to stall, as the only way it has good offenses is through the stance change set, in which case there are better pokemon out there to run similar sets (through protean, ect...)

Deoxys D: Takes a lot of roles from cresselia as a supporter, doesn't really do much more though, other than helping stall keep up hazards easier through it's great stats and movepool.

Deoxys S: A huge boon to offensive teams, it lets them get hazards down fast and easily, (or dual screens if that's how you role), and set up your wall breakers / sweepers

Mega Mawile: Another hit to stall, but not as big of one, Mega Mawile is able to help break down the walls of AAA but is somewhat outclassed by stronger attackers (through adaptability and so on).

I may be completely wrong due to inexperience with AAA, but I know a bit about the meta, and that seems to be the biggest form the changes take. With the advent of Deo-S, hyper offense becomes much more viable, as it is able to use easy, quick hazards to bring down the stronger walls of AAA, as well as MMawile / Genesect / Aegi to help wall break. Given the already strong Sheer Force / Protean / Adaptability wall breakers, this is a nice change for the tier.

prankster shuckle and forre already brought fast hazards.

 

[xJownage]

prankster shuckle and forre already brought fast hazards.

with zero offensive presence btw...

I have played around with a Crit Hydra and it isn't bad. Just wanted you to know that if you want to run a dedicated crit set then Super Luck>Sniper.

why is super luck better? isint the boost to crits more useful??

 

[Throbulator36]

with zero offensive presence btw...

Forretress has a decent attack stat and gyro ball and earthquake

 

[OLD GREGG (im back baby)]

with zero offensive presence btw...



why is super luck better? isint the boost to crits more useful??

Sniper increases the damage of critical hits.
Super luck increases the critical hit ratio.
So it is really a trade off, do you want a for sure critical hit or a possible critical hit that hurts a lot?
With focus energy on the set Sniper would be better.
For something that does not learn focus energy then Super Luck + Scope Lens would be the way to go, I think.

 

[xJownage]

Forretress has a decent attack stat and gyro ball and earthquake

base 90 isint very good btw...and it doesny have the mixed stats or the coverage to be a real threat in comparison. its attacks are slow, and it does not have the coverage and utility deo-s has. no knock off, no nuke psycho boost, no ice beam to antilead dragons, no taunt to prevent opposing hazards and no room for mold breaker to beat magic bounce. Yeah, deo-s pretty thoroughly outclasses forre for hyper offensive and offensive teams...on balance the typing and defense makes it debateable, but offense doesnt really give a shit.

also hydrei apparently learns focus energy, so it appears that it should use sniper.

 

[motherlove]

focus energy + scope lens = 50% chance to nail a crit
focus energy + scope lens + super luck = 100% chance to nail a crit

-252 SpA Sniper Hydreigon Draco Meteor vs. 4 HP / 252 SpD Blissey on a critical hit: 298-352 (45.7 - 53.9%) -- 95.3% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery. 25% chance to nail 2 crits
-252 SpA Hydreigon Draco Meteor vs. 4 HP / 252 SpD Blissey on a critical hit: 199-235 (30.5 - 36%) -- 50.4% chance to 3HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery

-252 SpA Sniper Hydreigon Draco Meteor vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Suicune on a critical hit: 414-487 (102.4 - 120.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO. 50% chance to nail a crit
252 SpA Hydreigon Draco Meteor vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Suicune on a critical hit: 276-325 (68.3 - 80.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery

-252 SpA Sniper Hydreigon Dark Pulse vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Mew on a critical hit: 414-489 (102.4 - 121%) -- guaranteed OHKO. 50% chance to nail a crit
-252 SpA Hydreigon Dark Pulse vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Mew on a critical hit: 276-326 (68.3 - 80.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery

If you're lucky, go for sniper.

 

[xJownage]

http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/696959-pokemon-x/67911220

multiple sources have confirmed this, as has the critdra set.

 

[anhlong1122]

Just want to ask why Archeops is banned? It still have that paper thin defense right?

 

[Grim]

I just battled against someone with a Prankster Smeargle: http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/almostanyability-161485187

Am I just stupid and is it getting tested or is this an error?

 

[OLD GREGG (im back baby)]

Anhlong1122 Archeops is banned mostly due to magic guard + life orb head smash or Rock Head Head Smash sets....not positive which one but they both sound broken with that huge attack stat and no defeatist.

 

[Throbulator36]

Anhlong1122 Archeops is banned mostly due to magic guard + life orb head smash or Rock Head Head Smash sets....not positive which one but they both sound broken with that huge attack stat and no defeatist.

It is easily defeated by SR+priority of almost any kind

 

[yikes]

It is easily defeated by SR+priority of almost any kind

>SR
>Magic Guard

 

[Throbulator36]

>SR
>Magic Guard

I was referring to complex banning like we did with sturdinja and BPass smeargle.

 

[motherlove]

http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/696959-pokemon-x/67911220

multiple sources have confirmed this, as has the critdra set.

Yeah, focus energy got buffed to +2, my bad

I just battled against someone with a Prankster Smeargle: http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/almostanyability-161485187

Am I just stupid and is it getting tested or is this an error?

I think smeargle + baton pass is banned. Op hasn't been updated yet.

Unbanning archeops will change the meta imo. But I think it could happen

 

[Klang]

Figured I'd share some of the stuff I'm messing with:

Heracross @ Life Orb
Ability: Tough Claws
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Close Combat
- Megahorn
- Knock Off
- Stone Edge

Tough claws Heracross makes its mega look like a complete sissy in the realm of damage output really. While I won't post a ton of calcs for half the walls in the metagame to show it, I'll just drop this one for people unfamiliar with the berserk-like damage it causes: 252+ Atk Life Orb Tough Claws Heracross Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Suicune: 238-281 (58.9 - 69.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

Yeah, you're certainly not getting away with using raw bulk to wall this guy. While I initially used (and recommended) adaptability on this set, tough claws gives the exact same bonus to both of its STAB moves in addition to Knock Off, which is something I overlooked.

After some experimentation I came to the conclusion that an LO + 4 attacks set was the way to go with this guy, band coming in a close second. While I initially used swords dance, Heracross can pretty much 2HKO everything it can't OHKO, and I figured the move slot would work far better with a coverage move.

Speaking of coverage moves, did you know 3 types resist both of Heracross' STABs? Yeah, coverage is pretty important on this guy. Tough Claws Knock Off murders ghosts, while Stone Edge will usually deal with your average pure or near pure defensive flying type (AKA Zapdos). While it sadly hasn't got anything for fairies, fairies are really uncommon in this metagame, and even when they do show their face their bulk still lacks somewhat. Max defense Sylveon still takes up to 51% from CC/Megahorn, for example.


Anyway, on to the next!

Suicune @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Roar
- Air Slash
- Toxic

Not exactly what I would call an uncommon Pokemon, though it has fallen from grace recently. Regardless, I don't think I've ever seen anyone abuse Regenerator on this, which is odd since in my opinion it's one of its best abilities it can abuse. With Regenerator, it gains the ability to stand up to almost every Refridgerate wallbreaker (252+ Atk Choice Band Mamoswine Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Suicune: 177-208 (43.8 - 51.4%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery is the worst possible scenario, but then EQ is easy to switch into with something else) in addition to gaining the ability to scout which move the otherwise dangerous Choice Specs Keldeo locks itself into. Also, it's one of the few physically defensive Regenerators with access to roar, which can be absolutely lifesaving for stall.

Air slash is just kind of something I threw in there for lack of a better move, though the ability to threaten things like Breloom and Keldeo head-on can be very useful at times. It can be interchanged with something like Ice Beam or Tailwind, and it makes very little difference on the set really.

 

[Zewwok]

You could use Extrasensory over Air Slash, small power and accuracy boost and it still hits the intended targets. Doesn't hit Breloom as hard though, so preference I guess.

 

[w0rd]

I've been having a lot of fun with DeoSharp style teams in the new meta.

Mold Breaker Deoxys + a Ghost type + a Defiant/Competitive user + 3 miscellaneous sweepers/wall breakers is highly effective and can tear through most common team archetypes with ease.

Also Blazikenite seems to still be legal on the ladder.

 

[OLD GREGG (im back baby)]

I've ran a team with Competitive Zard Y and Mold Breaker Shuckle awhile ago and at +2 Zard Y is just nasty.

 

[w0rd]

Here are some of my favourite sets to use lately:

Thundurus @ Life Orb
Ability: Refrigerate
Happiness: 0
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Knock Off
- Frustration
- Superpower
- Thunderbolt / Volt Switch

Refrigerate Thundurus has always been good, but in the post-Weavile meta it really shines. Frustration + Thunderbolt effectively gives you mixed BoltBeam coverage. Thanks to its great coverage and power most defensive pokemon are 2HKOed (the fact that people tend to send in their special walls in on Thundurus also helps) and its good speed tier lets you outspeed and OHKO a lot of big offensive threats (such as Keldeo and Gengar).

Mamoswine @ Life Orb
Ability: Adaptability
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Ice Shard
- Icicle Spear / Icicle Crash
- Superpower

Mamoswine seems to be a great anti-meta pokemon in almost everything and AAA is no exception. The banded Refrigerate set seems to be more popular but I prefer Adaptability. 200 BP Earthquakes (from base 130 attack) destroy just about anything that wants to switch in and any Flying types hoping to dodge it are getting smacked by a powerful Ice STAB. Superpower hits levitating steel types, but Knock Off and Stealth Rocks are also good options (I don't think any Magic Bounce pokemon really want to switch in on this). With Sticky Web support Mamoswine becomes even more deadly.

 

[Grim]

So is there any way for stall to deal with Poison Heal Suicune without PP stalling? xD

Only thing I can think of is Unaware Suicune setting up on the opponent's Suicune.

 

[Pikachuun]

So is there any way for stall to deal with Poison Heal Suicune without PP stalling? xD

Only thing I can think of is Unaware Suicune setting up on the opponent's Suicune.

Try a Protean abuser with a strong Electric type move like Victini or maybe Arcanine. Dragonite also 2HKO's with protean Thunderpunch; that's what Lance uses, and it works well. Unaware Celebi is also an exceptional way to deal with it; I use it myself. There's probably more.