Amaura

[Trevenant]

Amaura, the Tundra Pokemon {Amarusu アマルス} #698
Type: Rock / Ice
Abilities: Refrigerate: Increases the power of Normal-type moves by 30%. It then changes those moves to Ice-type.
Snow Warning [UNRELEASED]: Hailstorm blows when the Pokémon enters battle. As of X & Y, this lasts 5 turns.
Stats: 77 / 59 / 50 / 67 / 63 / 46
BST: 362

Introduction:
Amaura is one of those Pokemon who has good abilities, a good movepool, and a good design, but with a horrible typing. The cute little dinosaur can really pack a punch, but has to be very carefully used. It probably won't be a top LC Threat, but it can be lethal. Priority is also Amaura's bain, packing a weakness to all of them except for the uncommon Ice Shard, but, it does get a very useful resistance to Fletchling's Flying priority moves, and only being hit neutrally by two others. Amaura also has a crippling weakness to Stealth Rock, so be careful with that! With every great Pokemon, there are flaws, but Amaura has more trouble than most concurring them.

Notable Moves:
- Ice Beam
- Blizzard
- Return (Refrigerate Boost)
- Ancient Power
- Nature Power (Refrigerate Boost)
- Hyper Beam (Refrigerate Boost)
- Thunderbolt
- Calm Mind
- Roar
- Light Screen
- Reflect
- Rock Polish
- Stone Edge
- Frost Breath
- Dragon Tail
- Dark Pulse
- Discharge
- Mirror Coat

Potential Movesets:
Rock Polish
Amaura @ Berry Juice
Ability: Refrigerate
Level: 5
EVs: 228 Spd / 204 Atk / 76 SAtk
Lonely Nature
- Return
- Rock Polish
- Stone Edge
- Hidden Power [Fire] / Thunderbolt

Amaura makes a very potent user of Rock Polish to patch up it's poor speed. It might seem odd to run a Physical move on
Amaura, but with only seven points in difference, it really doesn't matter. Return hits an amazing 198 Base Power, allowing it to crush anything that doesn't resist Ice-Type moves or has extreme bulk. Stone Edge is a powerful secondary STAB move, that hits the Fire- and Ice-types that resist Return. The final moveslot is up to whatever you prefer really, Hidden Power [Fire] rounds out Amaura's coverage, hitting the Steel-type resists hard, or you have Thunderbolt, hitting Water-type well. If you've got teammates to cover Amaura's weaknesses, it can even choose to run Substitute to allow it to better handle priority.

Amaura has a ton of issues with Priority, being weak to the ever common Bullet Punch, Aqua Jet, and Mach Punch. For this set to work to it's full potential, be sure to kill any Pokemon with these moves - no matter how remote it is (Magby lol). All of these moves will ruin Amaura's sweeping and will make it seem worthless - which it isn't. Berry Juice is almost mandatory, as before a Rock Polish boost, you'll probably be slower, so if Amaura survives, you'll have a +2 Speed Amaura with full HP! This is much better than say a +2 Speed Amaura with 1/2 HP, which you want to avoid. Also, make sure pack a Spinner/Defog user, as Amaura is hit by all entry hazards and is sadly weak to Sneaky Pebbles.

Ultimate Killer (Gimmicky, but CAN be somewhat effective)
Amaura @ Choice Specs
Ability: Refrigerate
Level: 5
EVs: 228 Spd / 204 SAtk / 76 SpD
Mild Nature
- Hyper Beam
- Ancient Power
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Fire]

This set is pretty gimmicky, yet does hit like a truck on steroids. Hyper Beam is frowned on, but with Amaura, it can work. It does hit an astonishing 292 Power. This hits about as hard as Adamant / 252+ / Hustle / Choice Band Rufflet:
252+ Atk Choice Band Hustle Rufflet Brave Bird vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Bronzor: 14-17 (56 - 68%)
252+ SpA Choice Specs Refrigerate Amaura Hyper Beam vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Bronzor: 13-16 (52 - 64%)
All from a cute little dinosaur. The other moves are just coverage, as you will just be using Hyper Beam anyways, unless it is a resist. This set has its gimmick, but it can be useful for smashing one thing, kind of like an Explosion, but you aren't 100% guranteed to faint. The opponent can set up on you, but if you eliminate them before hand, they'll probably just go for the kill. This set isn't the most effective, but it can be used in certain situations.

Choice Scarf (Credit to Sergetank)
Amaura @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Refrigerate
Level: 5
EVs: 36 Def / 224 SpAtk / 12 SpDef / 232 Speed
Timid or Modest Nature
- Nature Power (Tri-Attack)
- Ancient Power
- Thunderbolt / Dark Pulse
- Hidden Power [Fire]

Hits 22 Speed with a scarf with Timid, 21 with Modest. SpAtk becomes 16 or 17, which is powerful enough. Tri-Attack becomes a 117 bp attack without STAB, 175 bp after STAB, which is higher than blizzard and has higher accuracy without needing hail. Also nifty 20% chance to inflict freeze/burn/paralysis. BoltBeam combination is pretty amazing, with Ancient Power slapping fire types hard enough to finish them off when needed. HP Fire can ruin your average Ferroseed's day, while Dark Pulse is only noted because it can hit Honedge harder than HP fire can, as well as hitting steels neutrally (except Bronzor which is hit super effectively, nice).

My Personal Thoughts:
Amaura is the cuter of the two fossils! It isn't useless because of its typing, it gets fairly great coverage with the two STABs! It certainly would be the 'NU' of LC, but I think it has its uses.

 

[Phemeto]

With its pretty terrible speed, do you think it could function as a revenger killer with a choice scarf? With 228 EV, it reaches 14 speed with a neutral nature, or 148 EV with a positive nature. With choice that brings it to 22 which is not a bad place to be at. plus Refrigerate Hyper beam just sounds nasty even with the free turn. Gimmicky of course, but still, who wants to eat one of those? With Snow warning a perfect accuracy blizzard will also pack quite the punch, and basically function like Snovwer.

 

[Trevenant]

With its pretty terrible speed, do you think it could function as a revenger killer with a choice scarf? With 228 EV, it reaches 14 speed with a neutral nature, or 148 EV with a positive nature. With choice that brings it to 22 which is not a bad place to be at. plus Refrigerate Hyper beam just sounds nasty even with the free turn. Gimmicky of course, but still, who wants to eat one of those? With Snow warning a perfect accuracy blizzard will also pack quite the punch, and basically function like Snovwer.

Choice Scarf is nice and all, but after Rock Polish it reaches 28 Speed, and can switch moves. Although the not wasting a turn is pretty cool. And Snow Warning isn't released, we don't know how to get it yet, so I didn't think I should add a set into the OP.

 

[Sergetank]

Since Amaura is weak to every kind of priority except... quick attack, a choice scarf revenge killer is actually quite nice.

Amaura @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Refrigerate
Level: 5
EVs: 36 Def / 224 SpAtk / 12 SpDef / 232 Speed
Timid or Modest Nature
- Nature Power (Tri-Attack)
- Ancient Power
- Thunderbolt / Dark Pulse
- Hidden Power [Fire]

Hits 22 Speed with a scarf with Timid, 21 with Modest. SpAtk becomes 16 or 17, which is powerful enough. Tri-Attack becomes a 117 bp attack without STAB, 175 bp after STAB, which is higher than blizzard and has higher accuracy without needing hail. Also nifty 20% chance to inflict freeze/burn/paralysis. BoltBeam combination is pretty amazing, with Ancient Power slapping fire types hard enough to finish them off when needed. HP Fire can ruin your average Ferroseed's day, while Dark Pulse is only noted because it can hit Honedge harder than HP fire can, as well as hitting steels neutrally (except Bronzor which is hit super effectively, nice).

 

[kingmidas]

Since Amaura is weak to every kind of priority except... quick attack, a choice scarf revenge killer is actually quite nice.

Amaura @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Refrigerate
Level: 5
EVs: 36 Def / 224 SpAtk / 12 SpDef / 232 Speed
Timid or Modest Nature
- Nature Power (Tri-Attack)
- Ancient Power
- Thunderbolt / Dark Pulse
- Hidden Power [Fire]

Hits 22 Speed with a scarf with Timid, 21 with Modest. SpAtk becomes 16 or 17, which is powerful enough. Tri-Attack becomes a 117 bp attack without STAB, 175 bp after STAB, which is higher than blizzard and has higher accuracy without needing hail. Also nifty 20% chance to inflict freeze/burn/paralysis. BoltBeam combination is pretty amazing, with Ancient Power slapping fire types hard enough to finish them off when needed. HP Fire can ruin your average Ferroseed's day, while Dark Pulse is only noted because it can hit Honedge harder than HP fire can, as well as hitting steels neutrally (except Bronzor which is hit super effectively, nice).

This should be one of the sets in the OP, its speed is finally above every unboosted mon in LC since sneasel has been banned. tri-attack getting a stab boost is great and it has good coverage.
Lastly, change the choice specs sets to the same moves as these since its speed is to slow to get off a last resort hyperbeam, like the choice scarf could. Make it LO as well because LC calcs have LO and Choice specs/band doing the same damage 99% percent of the time give or take but its better.

 

[Garchompi]

It should be noted that Amaura's type gives it resistances to Fletching's priority flying-type attacks as well as Extremespeed. Ice Shard resistance is also handy. So it's inaccurate to say that all form of priority is Amaura's bane.

 

[Sergetank]

Oh! You are absolutely right, I completely forgot about Fletchling and Ice Shard. Resisting fletchling's priority acrobatics is a+, thanks for pointing that out.

 

[Trevenant]

Since Amaura is weak to every kind of priority except... quick attack, a choice scarf revenge killer is actually quite nice.

Amaura @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Refrigerate
Level: 5
EVs: 36 Def / 224 SpAtk / 12 SpDef / 232 Speed
Timid or Modest Nature
- Nature Power (Tri-Attack)
- Ancient Power
- Thunderbolt / Dark Pulse
- Hidden Power [Fire]

Hits 22 Speed with a scarf with Timid, 21 with Modest. SpAtk becomes 16 or 17, which is powerful enough. Tri-Attack becomes a 117 bp attack without STAB, 175 bp after STAB, which is higher than blizzard and has higher accuracy without needing hail. Also nifty 20% chance to inflict freeze/burn/paralysis. BoltBeam combination is pretty amazing, with Ancient Power slapping fire types hard enough to finish them off when needed. HP Fire can ruin your average Ferroseed's day, while Dark Pulse is only noted because it can hit Honedge harder than HP fire can, as well as hitting steels neutrally (except Bronzor which is hit super effectively, nice).

Would it be alright for me to directly copy&paste this, or should I write up a new summary?

 

[Sergetank]

Go for it, might want to edit the first line about being weak to every priority to note that it resists Fletchling's Acrobatics as well as Ice Shard though.

 

[Ask Aggron]

why Mild when there is Modest?

 

[Darkamber8828]

Go for it, might want to edit the first line about being weak to every priority to note that it resists Fletchling's Acrobatics as well as Ice Shard though.

And Extremespeed and Fake Out. It's also not weak to Shadow Sneak or Sucker Punch.

 

[tcr]

The problem with amaura, as well as snover, is that meditite exists. Snover was absolutely amazing last gen, but its gone down considerably, because of the intro of new mons to take it on( yanma, meditite). Scarf is probably its only set, specs is gimmicky, and rock polish is only ok. A very good partner for amaura would probably be honedge, being it beats meditite one on one, or slowpoke, as amaura can check tangela and Vulpix, basically counter sun.

And yes, cutest lc mon in existence.

 

[Goddess Briyella]

It should be noted that Amaura counters Murkrow quite well. Not only does Amaura resist Brave Bird, but it also can bypass Sucker Punch with Nature Power, since it is a status move. Nature Power converts to Tri Attack this generation, which is further converted to an Ice-type move with a 1.3x damage boost, courtesy of Refrigerate, so Murkrow stands no chance at all, at least not with the sets that it typically runs.

 

[Heysup]

I've seen some Taunt Murkrow here and there that stop Nature Power.....

 

[The Quasar]

I've seen some Taunt Murkrow here and there that stop Nature Power.....

It's a bug or it should work in this way?

 

[Kappaten]

It's a bug or it should work in this way?

It's correct. Nature Power is a status move, which Taunt prevents.

 

[Goddess Briyella]

I've seen some Taunt Murkrow here and there that stop Nature Power.....

Taunt Murkrow can indeed stop Nature Power but it doesn't do much good, considering Amaura also has STAB Ancient Power with which to nail Murkrow for super effective damage.

 

[Heysup]

Yea but Choice Scarf and the inability to bypass Sucker Punch actually does put Amaura in some danger.

 

[Goddess Briyella]

Yea but Choice Scarf and the inability to bypass Sucker Punch actually does put Amaura in some danger.

236 Atk Life Orb Murkrow Sucker Punch vs. 60 HP / 0 Def Amaura: 19-23 (76 - 92%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

220+ SpA Amaura Ancient Power vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Murkrow: 24-30 (109 - 136.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO

If Taunt Murkrow vs Choice Scarf Amaura ever became a common scenario, these are the ways it could potentially play out. Assuming both Pokemon are at full health (i.e. Amaura comes in on Sucker Punch or as Murkrow also comes in), Amaura wins 100% of the time. Assuming Amaura comes in on Brave Bird, Stealth Rock and/or 3 layers of Spikes (1 layer only gives Sucker Punch a 6.3% chance to OHKO; 2 layers gives Sucker Punch an uncertain 56.3% chance), has prior damage, or any combination of the three, it would become a mind game where whichever mon chooses the wrong move gets killed. If Murkrow goes for Taunt and Amaura goes for Ancient Power in the same turn, Murkrow loses without gaining anything. If Murkrow goes for Sucker Punch and Amaura goes for Nature Power, Murkrow loses without gaining anything. The only way Taunt Murkrow could win against Choice Scarf Amaura outright is if Amaura already has lost around 25% of its health and if Murkrow predicts correctly; it only gets one turn to get it right and it can win if the player using Murkrow selects the right move.

I don't know the spread or item that players use for Taunt Murkrow so I made these calculations assuming Life Orb with the spread of the MixKrow set, as that would be the most offensively threatening to Amaura. If for some reason it runs Eviolite and a bulkier spread, it has a better chance of taking on Choice Scarf Amaura but will miss out on the offensive power it needs to take on more important metagame threats. Here is the calculation of Murkrow's Sucker Punch against Amaura with Eviolite instead of Life Orb (Berry Juice would get it OHKOed completely if holding a Life Orb would) and the same offensive stat (+236 Atk), followed by Amaura's Ancient Power:

236 Atk Murkrow Sucker Punch vs. 60 HP / 0 Def Amaura: 15-18 (60 - 72%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock

220+ SpA Amaura Ancient Power vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Eviolite Murkrow: 14-20 (63.6 - 90.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

This is assuming Murkrow is running Hasty nature for 19 Speed while not taking away from its ability to take special hits. Murkrow without Taunt in this instance would lose if it has any prior damage, and this includes Stealth Rock as well as Brave Bird recoil from hitting Amaura on the switch-in. It's true that Amaura would not survive a Sucker Punch after taking a Brave Bird upon entry, and if Murkrow is at full health and uses Taunt to block Nature Power, it will win in the situation if Amaura goes for Nature Power on the turn Taunt is used, but it has a chance of losing if it uses Ancient Power on this turn instead, as one Sucker Punch will not be enough to kill Amaura off next turn. It's odd that so many Attack EVs would be used on a more defensive set, but nonetheless Murkrow would win most of the time in this situation if it also carries Roost. Thunderbolt from Amaura has the same damage output as Ancient Power.

I haven't seen Taunt Murkrow, but thanks for bringing this up.

 

[Heysup]

I think one of Amuara's selling points is that it can usually switch into Murkrow's Brave Bird and avoid Sucker Punch, lots of Pokemon an switch into Brave Bird and not take a Sucker Punch, which is what would happen to Amaura vs Taunt Krow. Also Stealth Rock makes some of those calcs a little more grim.

 

[apt-get]

Honestly, how many people run taunt krow? This is an unnecessary argument. Unless the opponent is running something like bulky haze krow, it's probably classic Luckrow, Subroost, or LO. Amaura beats Murkrow 99% of the time.

 

[Darkamber8828]

236 Atk Murkrow Sucker Punch vs. 60 HP / 0 Def Amaura: 15-18 (60 - 72%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock

220+ SpA Amaura Ancient Power vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Eviolite Murkrow: 14-20 (63.6 - 90.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

220+ SpA Amaura Ancient Power vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Eviolite Murkrow: 14-20 (63.6 - 90.9%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock

why does only krow get sr lol

 

[Goddess Briyella]

220+ SpA Amaura Ancient Power vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Eviolite Murkrow: 14-20 (63.6 - 90.9%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock

why does only krow get sr lol

Stealth Rock damage was only used in the calculation of the damage to Amaura to emphasize that Murkrow fails to OHKO Amaura even with Stealth Rock up, as Amaura's survival was the thing in question in this scenario. It's a given that Murkrow is weak to both of Amaura's STABs and can't take those hits well, even with Eviolite.