Defunct CAP Buff 4 - Chromera

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spoo

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This thread serves to outline the context of the CAP being buffed, in terms of its original design intent, historic usage, current usage, and any other factors surrounding the CAP that must be discussed before buffing or changing it in any way. This thread should also include discussion of the important updates this CAP has gotten in terms of the SM-era updates, early Gen 8 updates, and IoA tutor move additions. After discussion of context is concluded, buff submissions and discussion will open.

The leader for this buff process is quziel.

The CAP being discussed is Chromera, whose stats, typing, and ability are listed below.

:chromera:

Typing: Dark / Poison

Abilities: Color Change

Stats: 85 / 85 / 115 / 115 / 100 / 100

Concept:
Name: Defective Ability

Description: This Pokemon manages to work around an ability that is generally considered harmful, and is viable, or even better for it.

Justification: Defective Ability is an Actualization concept; aiming to create a Pokemon that works around, or works with, an ability that would be considered bad on most pokemon.

There is not a single Pokemon ranked above NU that has a generally negative ability; for good reason, while most pokemon gain a benefit from their ability, these Pokemon are held back. Golisopod, the currently highest ranked pokemon with a negative ability is also unique among its brethren in that its movepool is set up to synergize, and benefit from its ability Emergency Exit, with First Impression benefiting heavily from being switched out directly after use. A non-exhaustive list of negative abilities is Color Change, Defeatist, Emergency Exit, Klutz, Normalize, Slow Start, Stall, Truant. These abilities are yet-untouched by CAP, and I believe that exploring them with typings, movepools, and stats specifically meant to work with, and work around their shortcomings can help us to understand more about how abilities interact with CAPs, and how important the ability slot really is. I do not consider a NCA to be a defective ability as it does not specifically have to be planned around.

This concept aims to question how impactful these abilities are when their downsides are specifically planned for, their strengths, if any, are accentuated, and how viable of a CAP we can make with a handicap in the ability stage.

Questions To Be Answered:

  • How much of a drawback is a negative ability? How much should a negative ability be compensated for in the typing, move, and stats stages?
  • Are there some negative abilities that are more suited to exploration in a CAP process? Why or Why not?
  • If a negative ability is chosen for a primary what abilities are suitable for a secondary ability slot? Purely negative ones, or is there a situation where a pokemon would prefer an ability generally thought of as negative?
  • How does typing interact with a negative ability like this; slow start obviously wants a Toxic immunity due to how long it'll stay on the field, but is it needed, do other abilities have strong typing-ability interactions.
  • How can movepool change the impact of a harmful ability? Golisopod shows that it is possible to leverage the early switch out, are other negative abilities something that can be leveraged or minimized with the correct movepool?
  • How much do stats have to compensate for a negative ability, what are the ideal stat spreads for each negative ability?
  • How can we define a "generally harmful ability"? What are some metrics to define it? Are comparisons with neutral abilities helpful?
  • Which abilities can be worked with? Which abilities can only be worked around? Is it better to choose an ability that can be worked with? or only around?

Current Smogdex Set:

:chromera:
Chromera @ Throat Spray
Ability: Color Change
EVs: 252 HP / 60 Def / 24 SpA / 172 Spe
IVs: 0 Atk
Modest Nature
- Calm Mind
- Boomburst
- Dark Pulse
- Recover

I will now handle this over to quziel to make his first post.
 

quziel

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Good Day,

I'd like to list out a bit of context and then jump into questions.

Upon release Chromera was initially ranked B+ due to its stallbreaking sets performing relatively well into some of the bulkier teams around at the time. This was initially because of how it interacted with the bulky waters in the tier, doing relatively well into Slowking-Kanto and Toxapex, while struggling hard into Arghonaut. As well as probably the main factor; people hadn't really figured how to properly exploit it yet. As time went on, the meta shifted, and people learned how to play against it, and it slowly crept down the Viability rankings, until it finally got unranked a few months ago.

Chromera initially was used with either its Taunt + CM set (seen below), or its offensive CM set (also seen below). Thanks to the revival of Arghonaut, and the release of Saharaja, the Taunt + CM set has fully fallen out of use, while a Scarf Final Gambit set (seen below) has risen.

:chromera:
Stallbreaker CM (Chromera) @ Leftovers
Ability: Color Change
EVs: 252 HP / 84 Def / 172 Spe
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Scald / Dark Pulse
- Taunt
- Recover

:chromera:
Offensive CM (Chromera) @ Throat Spray
Ability: Color Change
EVs: 252 HP / 60 Def / 24 SpA / 172 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Boomburst
- Dark Pulse / Scald
- Recover

:chromera:
Choice Scarf Lure (Chromera) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Color Change
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Final Gambit
- Boomburst
- Foul Play
- Scald

--------

I'm going to be keeping the first round of questions really focused on high level elements. What are its issues atm? How do they relate to its design? Please don't suggest any changes at this point, as I'd like to discuss changes in the context of the questions below. If you have a question you want to answer, pick 2/3 here as they're the most important.

Questions:

1) What are Chromera's issues (beyond just the word "Color Change")? How important are all of these issues?

2 a) How does Chromera fit into its current roles?
2 b) Is there a specific role of the above that you think would be best to focus the buff on?
2 c) Is there a specific role not listed above that you think Chromera could excel in?

3) How do its issues relate to its current roles? What limitations do these issues specifically place on how it plays in each of its roles.

4) Do we want to consider either an ability change or ability addition? Chromera was fully focused around Color Change, but just want to answer this now.


----


To clarify a bit 1) is more me asking how color change affects it, eg by removing stab and thus lowering offensive potential, rather than its issue just being "Color Change". We can work with the former, but not the latter.
 
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ausma

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What are Chromera's issues (beyond Color Change)? How important are all of these issues?
Chromera, by nature, is a CAP that is very awkward to really pin down an exact issue for due to how generally bizarre its matchups are. More often than not, we're looking at a Pokemon that excels best into Pokemon that often need several turns before they can actively scare out Chromera or Pokemon that outright are incapable of threatening it due to passivity or not having moves that naturally can one-two punch it with Color Change in mind. With Color Change, it often can be forced out if you hit it with the right sequence of moves, which nearly every team is capable of doing before it can become actively threatening since it can't really threaten much immediately.

To me, a lot of Chromera's issues stem from the fact it really just can't force any switches to give itself more leverage, meaning it has to rely on being able to take hits and having enough turns to boost enough before becoming actively threatening. This issue isn't exactly a problem into more bulky team structures that it naturally finds setup opportunities into, but it does limit its matchups and applications in a really awkward and straining way. Even if it can't be threatened, the issue is further compounded by the fact that a lot of Steel-types are capable of walling it easily, which further limits its cleaning potential and potential applications. From walls like Corviknight that also pack pivoting moves that exploit Color Change this is made even more dire.

How does Chromera fit into its current roles?
Chromera definitely excels best as a setup cleaner, which is a good thing seeing as Chromera was designed around being able to do this. Against brutalized teams, it can really go to town, and it does have the ability to get up one or two boosts before it's at a point where it needs to be able to KO things due to its great bulk, recovery, and its initial typing leveraging a boost or two against most teams. However in my eyes the most you get out of Chromera's setup options are through investment, coverage, and Taunt. As outlined by quziel, its primary niches come in the form of stallbreaking and cleaning which I think it's genuinely good at, but in this regard it's still matchup-dependent and often an endgame Pokemon due to its limited threat potential.

As a Choice Scarf user, it's... fine? Nothing substantial to me, honestly. From my experience it feels more like a Final Gambit bot that also has setup denial with STAB Foul Play, which is certainly fine, but again this is really limited by matchups and can either be useful into certain offenses that pack Swords Dance users like Garchomp or Kartana or just a trade machine. It's often not consistent enough for me to feel comfortable throwing onto teams since I'd rather have speed control that can consistently be threatening, can clean with a powerful STAB, or is capable of making progress. Some examples of these are Choice Scarf Lele/Kartana or Dragapult.

Is there a specific role of the above that you think would be best to focus the buff on?

Is there a specific role not listed above that you think Chromera could excel in?
To be honest, I think both of these options can definitely be played into, but I think leaning into its setup potential is much more conducive and realistic. Chromera's kit is very wide in a way that does allow variance in how you execute its setup (Taunt, coverage, great bulk, EV-friendly stat distribution, etc.), and while this is somewhat insubstantial right now due to its overarching flaws, these traits provide us with a lot of angles to explore making it more consistent at its job. Choice Scarf sets I think would require too much to the point where it could possibly skew setup in a way that isn't intended; while possible, we'd have to also consider the fact that it is, without a doubt, close to being consistently good, which creates some really awkward dynamics in the realm of balance should we choose to delve deeper into the revenge killer avenue.

In terms of other roles, Chromera has the potential to be immediately threatening with its very good Special Attack and superb coverage, which is why I think exploring the avenue of a wallbreaker is very possible. I do think this would require a bit more focus, but this could also be pro-synergy with setup since, as I said, setup is debilitated by not being able to force switches very consistently, which wallbreakers by themselves are very capable of doing. Unlike a revenge killer, it feels like a strong middle ground since it not only is pretty straight forward to explore due to Color Change and its bulk effectively enabling a couple turns at a time to dish damage, but also directly benefits its primary role in a way that I don't feel would be too difficult to balance or strays from its main niche.

How do its issues relate to its current roles? What limitations do these issues specifically place on how it plays in each of its roles.
As I said before, not being able to force switches too consistently really limits how much mileage Chromera can get with setting up at a given time, making it much more matchup focused due to Color Change's ability to exploited by more offensive Pokemon that it can't often threaten without boosts. Obviously it's really solid into structures that can't often break through it fast enough, but since so many Pokemon are naturally capable of doing this (making it vulnerable to Toxic, coverage combos, etc) it needs as many turns as it can get more often than not before it can safely snowball or start cleaning. Steel-types providing such a hard time for it also really limits its applications and ability to do much to the endgame when Steel-types have sufficiently been chipped down. It packing Scald is super nice for Heatran, but that's all that comes to mind.

All of the above can be remedied with enough boosting and under the right conditions, but Choice Scarf is comically limited by not being able to force switches that consistently without either KOing itself or facing a high power physical attacker not resistant to Foul Play. Many revenge killers excel when they are actually able to be threaten the opposing team with a progress-making opportunity, actual power, or a spammable STAB, but Chromera has none of that and as such is really reliant on STAB Foul Play and Final Gambit, the latter of which being its only consistent option to threaten specially-oriented targets.
 
Questions:
1) What are Chromera's issues (beyond just the word "Color Change")? How important are all of these issues?
There are two big flaws aside from just "Color Change" that impact Chromera. The first correlates with Color Change, the second doesn't as much.

The first flaw it has is its pretty weak as a whole. Color Change obviously impacts this, as it will never get to use STAB unless you're running Dark Pulse, which is weak even for a STAB move, and you probably won't get to use STAB on it anyway if you get hit by one attack that isn't Dark. Boomburst is IMO its best attacking move, hits most things neutrally and has a whopping 140 BP, but it's not enough. The rest of its moves are fairly weak in BP, ranging from 80 to 90, which I don't think is ideal for a mon that will almost never have STAB. Relying on Boomburst and Scald burns doesn't work out too well.

Now, if these low BP moves hit more targets, then it wouldn't be as bad. But that brings me to flaw number 2: It doesn't have anything for the Steel type. Even if Chromera didn't have Color Change, I think this would be an still be an issue. Scald is admittedly nice for Heatran and Equilibra, and Thunderbolt hits Corviknight but it doesn't even run it. But it has nothing for Ferrothorn or Melmetal, and since you're probably not running Thunderbolt, Corviknight too, aside from Scald burns. Ferrothorn IMO is the biggest killer, it's considered one of the two best Pokemon on the current CAP Viability Rankings. Ideally you don't want to be completely walled by one of the Top 2 Pokemon in the metagame.

3) How do its issues relate to its current roles? What limitations do these issues specifically place on how it plays in each of its roles.
I'm not super familiar with the Final Gambit set, but regarding the Calm Mind sets, as both flaws I mentioned earlier tie into its offensive potential, naturally this is unfortunate to sets where you boost your offensive prowess. You want your setup sweepers to be able to threaten a good portion of the metagame, and Chromera really doesn't. There are just too many Steel types for it to make much work, and not having STAB is really not something a setup mon wants. Not to mention the added special bulk you get with Calm Mind won't mean as much when you can get hit with Toxic after being attacked with any attack that isn't Poison or Steel.
 

shnowshner

You've Gotta Try
is a Pre-Contributor
1) What are Chromera's issues (beyond just the word "Color Change")? How important are all of these issues?
I think there's 3 major issues with Chromera:
  1. Lack of a stable typing means there's not much you can really take advantage of, but rather the other way around. Dark/Poison has a lot of useful perks (psychic immune, dark that beats fairy, can't be toxic'd, single weakness) that simply go to waste the very moment we take an attack, and said attack is very likely to be something the opponent has planned out to cripple us later. Typing-based matchups are integral to most Pokemon and how they play naturally, so it makes sense that losing said capability is a massive hinderance.
  2. Even beyond losing STAB frequently, Chromera just... isn't threatening. Your best attacking moves are Blizzard, Boomburst, Dark Pulse, Scald, Sludge Bomb, and Thunderbolt. In general you're going to struggle against Steels, and since you're pretty limited on what moves you can pick if running Recover and/or Calm Mind, plenty more holes will start to open against bulky Waters, Poisons, Grounds, etc..
  3. Chromera leans very hard into bulky-setup, but not much else, and when the setup part isn't working, then the mon fails to do anything either. The fact its arguably best set right now is the Scarf Gambit set, something that was in many ways purely accidental when the movepool submitter wanted a move of every type, demonstrates this to a tee. If Chromera had some other things it could do, whether alongside setup or a different avenue entirely, it surely would be in less of a dire state. Think of how other Calm Mind users in the metagame often have various strong sets, like Tapu Fini, Tapu Koko, or Slowking-Galar.
2 a) How does Chromera fit into its current roles?
2 b) Is there a specific role of the above that you think would be best to focus the buff on?
2 c) Is there a specific role not listed above that you think Chromera could excel in?
The first set seems like a good way to do nothing to Argh/Fini/Raja/Pex/Ferro/Clef actually just like a lot of things, Taunt can be annoying for some but its pretty easy to work around and in some cases just flatout doesn't matter.

Throat Spray is a bit more interesting as being able to boost up + use Boomburst at once has some merit in certain MUs, but it struggles with Spray's single-use nature and still being walled by certain mons even with two moves.

The last set is unfortunately not awful, even though it does nothing Chromera was intended to do. It is predictable if you know Final Gambit is a move, but can still be dangerous to switch around and Foul Play letting you deal with a boosted Cawmodore or weakened Dragapult honestly adds good value to a scarfer. Not that this is a good one, but the fact it can do it justifies the use a smidge.

So we have a two fairly non-functional sets and a Scarf set that reminds me of microwaved chicken alfredo in terms of viability. I honestly think that the 1st set is too difficult to justify: mono-attacking setup like this feels super difficult in a meta filled with immunities, Unaware Arghoanut/Clefable, and general heavy Special Defense investment. The third set is too stupid to build off of like ??? As such I feel like making CM+Recover with 2 Attacks the primary focus would be a good way forward.

As for other roles, I don't see why we can't attempt to introduce some sort of wallbreaker/pivot set into the mix. During initial discussion we didn't like the idea of Chromera "ignoring" Color Change, but in reality you can't ignore Color Change: this ability hard defines what Chromera can and cannot switch into. If we wanted this ability to significantly impact Chromera's viability, being a Dark-type that loses to Ghosts on switch-in is enough, to say nothing of its other shortcomings elsewhere.

3) How do its issues relate to its current roles? What limitations do these issues specifically place on how it plays in each of its roles.
Being a Calm Mind user that doesn't threaten switches, or often doesn't threaten while boosted, and needing to run away from Toxic after a turn or two is the biggest problem for the viability of those sets. It's way too difficult to navigate into a potentially winning position compared to safer and more broadly effective options.

The Scarf set meanwhile suffers from lacking any way to threaten slower defensive stuff outside of dying instantly via Final Gambit. Other Scarf users like Blace, Astro, Fini, all have some means of threatening fatter stuff, or crippling them in some long-term way. Exploitability is a huge factor as well: you click Boomburst, Foul Play, or Scald, something dangerous is coming in that you do absolutely nothing against and immediately forfeit that turn to the opponent

In both cases it also has to deal with Color Change messing with its STAB combo or leaving it vulnerable to a stronger hit.


ayo nice work bl team we got this
 
Not super experienced with CAP gameplay although technically a CAPPL winner, but from a design standpoint I recall Chromera's design being entirely based around its ability. I'd imagine to see if its possible to actually make a Pokemon with a bad ability (albeit not quite to the degree of Slow Start or Truant), and still have it find success in a controlled environment like CAP. I think we got our answer, but we're not happy with it? Chromera was made in the image of other failure Pokemon like Archeops and it, to nobody's surprise, became a failure. Now that we've fallen in love with the Pokemon and want to see it succeed, give it some shit that matches thematically like Adaptability or Protean and move on.

All of the questions asked to try to determine appropriate buffs for Chromera won't fix anything when the inherent flaw started all the way from the design stage.
1) What are Chromera's issues (beyond just the word "Color Change")? How important are all of these issues?

2 a) How does Chromera fit into its current roles?
2 b) Is there a specific role of the above that you think would be best to focus the buff on?
2 c) Is there a specific role not listed above that you think Chromera could excel in?

3) How do its issues relate to its current roles? What limitations do these issues specifically place on how it plays in each of its roles.
These issues cannot be identified within reason because Chromera fails to even get to this part of being bad. It's subpar both offensively and defensively because it often never gets a STAB attack despite access to powerful moves, and cannot reliably check things due to its inability to have a consistent type matchup.

The second question (2B) is the most subjective part of this. Color Change by design seems to be a defensive ability to me, although a very bad one. If Chromera could somehow muster up the bulk or movepool to pull off the adaptive, X-Men Darwin type design I'm sure it was intended for, I think that would be ideal. Giving it a ton of high BP moves to compensate because it fails at being defensive despite having a defensive ability just feels like a band-aid solution.
 

Da Pizza Man

Pizza Time
is a Pre-Contributor
1) What are Chromera's issues (beyond Color Change)? How important are all of these issues?
Chromera's biggest issue, and one that trumps Color Change in my opinion, is that it just doesn't force anything out. While I do think it would be fairly easy to say that this just a result of Color Change, I think the issue more lies within the fact that Chromera just doesn't really have either the immediate power or necessary coverage that would really cause it to threaten anything. Right now, Chromera's most reliable attack is Boomburst, and while on paper it's an okay option to act as a psuedo-STAB move that can't really have its power manipulated by Color Change, falls short in practice because Normal is just a bad offensive type and is very easily walled by common Steel-types, and there is nothing in Chromera's movepool that it can really use to remedy this.

Another issue that Chromera has is that it's fairly hard to fit on teams. It's a Dark-type that doesn't function as a switch-in to Ghost-types (Hell it even loses 1v1 against them if they are healthy enough to live a single Dark Pulse), it's a Poison-type that can be crippled by Toxic, it's a pretty big momentum sink, and worst of all it's fairly inconsistent at doing its job. It doesn't help that a lot of the currently more popular bulky special sweepers (Venomicon and Calm Mind Tapu Fini are the ones that come to mind) often just do a better job than Chromera due to just being overall a lot more consistent both offensively and defensively.

2 a) How does Chromera fit into its current roles?
2 b) Is there a specific role of the above that you think would be best to focus the buff on?
Chromera can do a fairly decent job at functioning as a set-up sweeper. Generally, I find that it often finds the most success when going up against bulkier teams and Stall, as that's where Color Change tends to be the least exploitable, and starting off with an immunity to Toxic also helps a bit with this as well. It also does a fairly good job at dealing with teams that have already been weakened, like mentioned by ausma above. However, like I said earlier, it just feels really inconsistent at this job. I think that this should be the role we should focus the buff on, as right now Chromera already has the potential to do well under the right circumstances, it just sort of needs more options that can help iron out what is currently making it fairly inconsistent at doing its job right now.

The other role that Chromera tends to see which I haven't brought up yet is that it has a pretty funny gimmick on Hyper Offense as a Final Gambit user. Because Chromera is a Dark-type (before Color Change), Ghost-types don't really want to switch-into it, so it's sort of free to just use Final Gambit on something and just make the match a 5v5. While I do think that this is a funny interaction, I don't really think this is the option we should take for this buff.

3) How do its issues relate to its current roles? What limitations do these issues specifically place on how it plays in each of its roles.
I sort of already touched on this question a little bit in my answers to the previous questions, but in regards to the Calm Mind set, one issue that I did not already bring up is that it sort of struggles to find opportunities to both switch-in and stay in and start setting up. Color Change is a big part of both of these issues, but I think that again a lot of this just comes down to Chromera's inability to really threaten anything out and give itself a free opportunity to start setting-up.

As for the Final Gambit set, it mostly just boils down to Chromera just not having a whole lot of means of applying any sort of offensive pressure that isn't just screaming "Allahu Akbar". This is again caused by Chromera's overreliance on Boomburst and not really having any way to overcome its shortcomings, but on the Final Gambit set this is made even worse thanks to Chromera having to lock itself into a move and not having any way to increase its damage potential like the Calm Mind set.
 
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spoo

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1) What are Chromera's issues (beyond Color Change)? How important are all of these issues?
Gonna keep this semi brief, but I think Chromera's biggest two issues are broadly 1) it's really hard (or there's little incentive) to put on a team and 2) it's just ineffective at what it intends to do. There are layers within these issues but I think they're the two "bigger picture" flaws we have to address. Chromera has essentially negative defensive utility right now; being a Dark-type that is somehow weak to Ghost is really shit, and means you need to work harder elsewhere to shore up matchups that Chromera's typing in the builder suggests it helps versus. The only things it sort of provides to its team are a Psychic immunity to make offenses safer into Scarf Lele, and the threat of Dark-type STAB making it a decent final Gambit user, but beyond these niches I think Dark/Poison & its interaction with Color Change - and as a result, the amount of structures Chromera can fit on - ultimately means you're at a large setback from the moment you select it in the teambuilder. The second issue I raised is also no secret. Chromera is just really damn weak, and not having reliable STAB or broadly super-effective coverage sets it back far. This directly affects the amount of mons it can come in on and force out, its ability to generate setup turns for itself, and so on. Color Change means that Chromera is on a timer whenever it enters the field - it wants to accomplish as much as possible in the short period before it gets forced out, but it's just bad at doing so. Others have been right to point out how Chromera is walled & taken advantage of by a metric ton of common threats, and I think if we address this while also providing an incentive from within the teambuilder, we'll have succeeded.
 

Brambane

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It is important to note that Chromera is very different from previous buff recipients Miasmaw, Pyroak, and Voodoom. Miasmaw faced a sharp decline due to a massive metagame overhaul with DLC2, Pyroak has basically always been bad since its inception, and Voodoom was duking it out with Malaconda (and Pyroak at the time) for the title of "Worst CAP in the Game." These three were straight up unviable at their worst, a complete deficit to your team and the equivalent of sabotaging your own team structures to fit them. Chromera is no such beast; it is a useable CAP for sure, but not an exceptional one. Part of this is the fact it is an absolute stat ball (more on this later) but it also has a generally okay but fishy gameplan. You basically lure and KO defensive mons with Final Gambit, or you try to play an unbreakable sweeper with CM + Taunt. The Throat Spray set is the odd one out that leans into Boomburst being incredible and a faster option, but still plays pretty fishy hoping the opponent doesn't have something like Dragapult. All useable options, but more "fun and surprising" than reliable.

Before discussing anything else, an important part of Chromera's design process to note is that Color Change was largely selected for its perceived defensive potential. Chromera was not designed to overcome its ability with raw stats or moves ala Regigigas or Slaking; it was designed to leverage its terrible ability in a useful way. There was a lot of mystery behind how defective, or effective, Color Change could be with the right tools, which is part of what Chromera was trying to discover. And the most linear way to do that was to look at the threats in the meta to beat.

The metagame Chromera was built around was dominated by Slowking, Equilibra, and Tomohawk. Slowking's dominance cannot be understated; the Pokemon had a chokehold of the metagame at the time before even OU caught on to its usefulness. Newcomers to CAP for the money tour might not know this, but there was a time when Tomohawk was one of the best CAPs in the format. It was comfortably in A+ rank during Chromera's process. This is largely in part for Rillaboom and offensive Garchomp dominating the metagame. Upon release, Chromera could snipe Garchomp and Lando-T with Ice Beam, but also use its great natural bulk to set up on non-Haze Tomohawk, Equilibra, Slowking, Clefable, defensive Zapdos, and, with Taunt, Toxapex. This gave Chromera real opportunities to snowball out of control with Calm Mind boosts. Defensively, it was also an "okay" answer to Rillaboom. Chromera's typing and stat spread really focused on Rillaboom, since it was perceived as a way to use Color Change advantageously to maintain a Grass-type and Knock Off resist. Granted, Chromera hates switching into U-turn, but being able to stave off the Grassy Glide sweep was still useful defensive utility.

Chromera did have a time where it was a decent pick for the meta. It arrived on the VR at B+, a respectable ranking. It had a decent showing in its Playtest; nothing like the books or camel, but decent! By the time CAPPL rolled around tho, Chromera had fallen off dramatically. OU's influence had reached CAP, and Chromera's previous prey was becoming scarce, replaced by new threats. But just as with Miasmaw, a big part of Chromera's decline has to do with the Pokemon around it changing and being left behind.

Players were getting better at building teams against and playing around the Slowking Future Port teams. Dragapult was always good, but it was really picking up steam with its Specs set. By no coincidence Zeraora was seeing more use as well, making Slowking and Tomohawk much more nervous. Weavile was also sprinting for the top of VR, which was another physical attacker Tomohawk struggled against. With mainstays like Zapdos and now Glowking firmly established, Tomohawk's time in the limelight was ending. And with Tomohawk being pushed out the meta, Landorus-T became the de facto Intimidate user and important answer to Zeraora. And Chromera, who had its Ice coverage removed during PPL due to its ability to obliterate Garchomp as an answer, did not enjoy that. But there was a bigger threat on the rise on the rise that would seal Chromera's fate.

With the rise of the Weavile, Arghonaut went from okay pick to metagame staple. Chromera HATES Arghonaut. It is a phazer it cannot Taunt, it doesn't give a crap about Chromera's boost, and it forced Chromera into suboptimal coverage like Thunder in order to hit it. Players were also getting better at dealing with Chromera; Toxic was picking up in use again on a lot of Pokemon, and changing its typing and hitting it with Toxic was a common and consistent strategy. Chromera would soon drop down to C rank in August 2021, only three months after it hit the VR in May at B+. It would lament there for a while until eventually becoming unranked last February.

The takeaway from Chromera's history is that the Pokemon's design was a little too targeted for the metagame. The Poison-typing made sense to switch into Rillaboom and resist Grassy Glide and get a free switch off of coming into Toxic. The Dark-typing was a response to the prevalence of Knock Off Clefable and Future Sight. And Calm Mind could capitalize on all the slowish Special Attackers in the metagame and synergized with the natural bulk needed to answer Rillaboom. But when the metagame changed, Color Change's faults as a defensive tool became much more visible. Chromera was a bulky Pokemon, a Dark-type nonetheless, that couldn't answer Dragapult. It was horribly weak to pivoting moves, easily exploited by Toxic, and without consistent STAB reliant on Boomburst for immediate damage.

So, to answer the bolded questions at once, the issue Chromera has is it tries to leverage Color Change defensively, which is difficult if not outlandish. Chromera is simply too exploitable by pivots, Arghonaut, and Toxic to maintain a solid presence in the metagame as a slow, snowbally sweeper. The best direction moving forward is probably to abandon Chromera's original mindset of the Calm Mind deathball/"crit-me-not" sweeper. The best role to focus on for the Pokemon is what the Throat Spray Boomburst set tries to accomplish; a faster tempo, more offensive special attacker.

Color Change's defensive potential is very limited, but its offensive interactions with Chromera are much more consistent. Color Change gives the opponent a unique form of counterplay not present elsewhere in the game, the ability to remove a Pokemon STAB's. Unfortunately, while Chromera's STABs on paper are excellent, the reality is the same one we learned with Voodoom: Dark Pulse sucks. If Scald didn't have to deal with stuff like Dragapult and Water immunities rolling you, it would 100% replace Dark Pulse on the Taunt set. This means this interesting application of the ability is mostly unexplored and unused. I think the best direction for us to look at, in keeping spirit with the original Defective Ability concept, is a way to give Chromera relevant STABs that encourage the opponent to proc Color Change ASAP to limit its offensive potential. If we can also still squeeze some defensive use out of Color Change along the way, that's fine too but it shouldn't be the focus.

As a quick little final note, Chromera also does have a coverage issue. Part of its problem is it doesn't have a really good set of coverage to create a good two-move set with Calm Mind and Recover.
 
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Da Pizza Man

Pizza Time
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4) Do we want to consider either an ability change or ability addition? Chromera was fully focused around Color Change, but just want to answer this now.
We absolutely do not do this. Concept integrity is something we should try to preserve whenever possible. Going with a non-detrimental ability absolutely goes against this idea, and in terms of going with a different detrimental ability, and I'm honestly not even sure if I would be okay with going with a different detrimental ability since Color Change is so deeply tied into Chromera's current identity that going with anything else feels like it would just completely change it. Also, while Color Change is obviously not a good ability, I'm honestly not super sure how much other detrimental abilities such as Slow Start and Emergency Exit are really going to help it all that much, as the former just screws over the Final Gambit set and the later just screws over Calm Mind sets.
 

shnowshner

You've Gotta Try
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re: new question

4) Do we want to consider either an ability change or ability addition? Chromera was fully focused around Color Change, but just want to answer this now.
I have though about this and honestly I think only the really, truly awful abilities for Chromera would be worse than Color Change is now. We could definitely keep Color Change but I struggle to think of an Ability between Truant and Illuminate that wouldn't either surpass Color Change in every aspect or be worse entirely.

Even beyond that I feel like Color Change is the sole defining aspect of Chromera and us having an Ability outside of that in any fashion is throwing the concept out the window in a way we don't have to: like if worse comes to worse we abandon the setup role give Mera 125/135 offensive stats and Parting Shot or something that lets it just fire off attacks and pivot, and this still has a lot of times where Color Change impacts how it needs played and the teammates it enjoys being around, problems other mons aren't going to face. Messing up the relationship with its primary, practically signature Ability is not needed here.
 
To answer the current questions, Color Change is what makes Chromera as we know it, so we should continue to work with it, not around. It is a bad ability, but that was the whole point of the concept. Unfortunately, I cannot mention typing changes that have been considered on the Discord quite yet, but they have been discussed.
 

LBN

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1) What are Chromera's issues (beyond Color Change)? How important are all of these issues?

In my eyes, it's biggest issues are it's vulnerability to being crippled, and having a lackluster immediate presence. A solid comparison i'd make is Salazzle. While yes, once it gets a sub and can toxic a whole team down its fairly good at that, it's issue is actually getting that substitute on a forced switch outside of maybe 2 Pokemon in the meta. Chromera functions different, but the issue is the same. Chromera is focused on being a slower moving snowball, in a setting where it simply can't do so. Status spam such as Discharge Zapdos, Scald waters, or things like Toxic, very much hinders it's ability to snowball effectively, and it struggles to fit ways to deal with it such as Substitute. Chromera feels like it has a metric ton of tools but very little capacity to use most of them.

2 a) How does Chromera fit into its current roles?
As a Final Gambit bot, which is realistically its main role as of now, it's acceptable. However, it's sole niche being able to trade itself for something else isn't exactly an ideal situation and should really be avoided at all costs; as it's very much both a copout option, and an arguably unhealthy/terrible design for a Pokemon to have. As for it's calm mind roles, it's ok at the job, when it scopes into it's offensive nature it's a bit better, but the complete inability to do anything to steels is bad, but I don't exactly support trying to fix this with just adding more coverage.

2 b) Is there a specific role of the above that you think would be best to focus the buff on?
Chromera would greatly benefit from having it's attempted design to be completely shifted to help with it's lackluster immediate pressure. Chromera is a unique case. Unlike other buff candidates, Chromera's identity entirely conflicts with what it's originally designed to do. I think a shift of how Chromera does it's job may be in order, as the options to fix this within it's current mold is very, very restricted. It's combination of being a Dark/Poison type, a Special Attacker, and it's Ability all conflict, and going in the simpler direction on all fronts isn't a task that's reasonable with the tools available. Dark Poison lacking a strong attack on the special side is troubling, and leaves us unable to fix things on that front. It's ability cannot be changed, that's off the table entirely as far as I'm concerned, alongside other people who share the same idea. And stats.. while possible, I think making Chromera a bigger stat ball isn't an ideal way to fix this.
 

Garrett

Banned deucer.
I am new to these but I want to be helpful.

1) What are Chromera's issues (beyond just the word "Color Change")? How important are all of these issues?
I personally do not see what it does CONSISTENTLY. The set I've seen the most is Final Gambit because it's surefire, and this does not let its ability shine (which I imagine every concept intends to do). Chromera has the potential to fulfill any one of its goals in offense or defense, but very much relies on the team composition of the opponent. Can something U-Turn on it so it can be Toxic'd the following turn? It feels difficult in the builder to know "hey, I've found something with a clear concept in mind with the ability/moves/EV spread to make it happen" when Color Change adds heavy uncertainty.

Whatever is proceeded with should give us a clear-cut indication of what Chromera can shine as.
My personal ranking for issues is "Determining A Clear Niche" > "Figuring Out Whether Offensive / Defensive Is Smarter" > Anything to do with the ability > Anything to do with movepool or type (i.e. the flavor) I think.

2 a) How does Chromera fit into its current roles?
2 b) Is there a specific role of the above that you think would be best to focus the buff on?
2 c) Is there a specific role not listed above that you think Chromera could excel in?

a) In my opinion, only the Final Gambit one is close.
b) My heart says given its typing and bulk, we could very much transform Chromera into a stallbreaker with or without CM. If I didn't see the ability or know CAP, I would look at the bulk especially and figure it's the SpDef mon for Dragapult or Blacephalon. This would require an ability change, however.
c) Not without significant changes to its current concept, no.

4) Do we want to consider either an ability change or ability addition? Chromera was fully focused around Color Change, but just want to answer this now.
I am in the minority opinion it seems but I would be ok with it. Most likely it would force a significant slashing to the movepool, though (that is, an ability with a clearer idea need not be supported with the many, many options Chromera currently has to do well): I find Chromera to be a jack-of-all-trades but master of none, where the current range of sets sort of masks how difficult of a time the mon has at succeeding to be any one such set. I honestly do not see how Color Change can be easily worked with, especially given how restrictive SS CAP teambuilding can be sometimes.
 

dex

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2 c) Is there a specific role not listed above that you think Chromera could excel in?

Yes. Something I think that was a big miss in Chromera's process was our desire to work "with" Color Change. That was a mistake. Let us instead, in this buff, focus on working around it. What does this mean? Well, we want to minimize Color Change interactions, or at the very least ensure that when they do happen, they are as inconsequential as possible. There is a certain role that I think suits these requirements well: Choice item user. This is represented in the Gambit set, but I think Chromera, with its powerful movepool, can be so much more. This is obviously a large departure from its original design; it was always supposed to be a CM sweeper. Choice item users a) do not take hits very often, meaning that Color Change will not be activated that often and b) are often forced out anyways, again letting Chromera avoid Color Change interactions. So, in order for Chromera to keep Color Change, I think the best course forward would be to focus on offensive Scarf/Specs sets. There are lots of tools available for this at our disposal, including stat buffs, typing changes, and movepool additions (looking at Trick in particular is something that piqued my interest), and I think it is maybe the only way for Chromera to successfully get away with its bad ability.
 

snake

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2 b) Is there a specific role of the above that you think would be best to focus the buff on?
Most other posts have covered my thoughts (we should not give Chromera an alternative to Color Change), but I really want to highlight how important Boomburst is to Chromera’s kit. Boomburst was a relatively late addition to Chromera’s identity during the process, appearing in the movepool stage to give Chromera a strong move to use even after it lost its initial stabs. I’m confident that the CM + Taunt set would use Boomburst as its sole attack if Boomburst could hit Ghost-types. Because it doesn’t, it has to rely on the relatively weaker Dark Pulse to hit the entire meta for at least some damage, which rarely has STAB by the time Chromera is ready to sweep. Thus, since Boomburst has been such a powerful tool for Chromera, I think it makes sense to focus on at least some roles that leverage Boomburst even better.
 

quziel

I am the Scientist now
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Yo, so slightly less than 24 hours have passed, so moving onto the next stage.

-----

Summary

Chromera currently faces issues due to its lacking initial offensive presence, the ease at which it can be forced out, and the difficulty in putting it onto a team.

Its initial offensive presence is tied almost entirely to reasonable offensive stats (115/100), Boomburst, and, in the context of the Scarf set, Final Gambit. Its coverage, while including reasonable options such as Blizzard, Thunderbolt, Scald, and Dark Pulse nonetheless often struggles to threaten SE hits in combination with Boomburst, which limits Chromera's ability to force switches and thus get setup. This is in fact the main drawback of Boomburst; while it is definitely our strongest option, it also cannot hit anything SE, and thus it cannot force switches beyond pure power. Additionally, as noted, we will always struggle to cover all of the steels in the meta, or even most of them. While Scald hits Equilibra and Heatran, it misses Corv, Melm, and Ferro, and the same for our other coverage options.

Defensively, our current typing poses several issues. We are a Dark type that cannot beat Dragapult, and our typing is really tuned to just destroy Rillaboom and not much else. That said, it allows us to be a very rare offensive Tapu Lele check, and the initial lack of weaknesses does help us to secure setup in some cases. Finally, this also means that we stay Poison/Dark upon being hit by Knock Off, which really helps us out vs specifically Knock + Toxic + Haze Toxapex, which legitimately just cannot harm us, although we also cannot harm it barring Taunt + CM sets or Thunderbolt + Blizzard sets.

With respect to our roles, there's a general agreement that more offensively inclined roles are the best way to move forward, but a bit of disagreement on which one is best. I've seen several mentions of Offensive CM being our best way forward, but also that Choiced sets, such as Scarf or Specs, being a reasonable way forward as they can sidestep the longer-term consequences of Color Change, and still interact with it as an Achilles heel.

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Individual Buff Submissions

With that said, I'd like to open the floor to individual buff suggestions.

I'd like to request additional moves (coverage is likely to the main thing here, although any legal move is allowed). I'd also like to note, we aren't going to be accepting any legendary signatures, so even though Jungle Healing is amazing compression for us, we can't give it. Also as a reminder, only suggest moves that exist in gen 8 (rip Revelation Dance).

Also I'd like to request some benchmarks for stat buffs that could provide reasonable power increases, e.g. speed tiers, ranges where we get specific KOs, or even relevant bulk increases.

Finally, I'd like to request individual typings that y'all think may be relevant. I feel that specific type combos could be a bit close to complete buff packages at this point, so please only advocate individual typings.

Don't worry about missing anything atm, as you'll be able to suggest stuff not mentioned here during complete buff packages.

As a reminder, Do not submit buff packages at this point.
 
1) What are Chromera's issues (beyond just the word "Color Change")? How important are all of these issues?

Chromera just doesn't do anything. Color Change isn't even that much of an issue, the issue is that it's mostly an offensive sweeper or tank, which isn't suited to benefit from Color Change. It doesn't have a movepool that actually takes advantage of its stats and make up for its lack of STAB (as Gen 4 Clefable does), it has a pretty bad defensive typing, and it doesn't have the bulk to actually take advantage of Color Change. It's a poorly designed final product that doesn't accomplish its concept.

2 a) How does Chromera fit into its current roles?

Terribly. Losing STAB renders Chromera kind of pointless in an offensive role. Its typing also doesn't do a whole lot as far as resistances go, so it has a difficult time switching into anything useful beyond Shadow Ball. Chromera is a tank that doesn't really tank or threaten anything. It doesn't really do anything its supposed to do well. Even Chromera's role as a Final Gambit user is suboptimal, being at 85 HP. Aurumoth does it way better.

2 b) Is there a specific role of the above that you think would be best to focus the buff on?

Chromera should be taking on a greater defensive role to take full advantage of Color Change. IMO we should be looking towards changing multiple aspects of Chromera, almost an entire rework, to actually make it viable (or even fulfill its concept). Transforming Chromera into a wall still runs into the same issue of a lack of reliable damage, and it still runs into its typing issue.

2 c) Is there a specific role not listed above that you think Chromera could excel in?

No, because I think Chromera is bad at any role right now. Offensively, you are always going to be better off with another Pokemon unless a specific niche (like speed tiers or a capability to check a variety of threats) can be established. Chromera needs a rework before it can excel in any role, including the role it was intended to play.


3) How do its issues relate to its current roles? What limitations do these issues specifically place on how it plays in each of its roles.

Again, Color Change limits Chromera's offensive presence. That's why it's so strange that the community gave it an offensive build and made it into a Calm Mind sweeper. Chromera also lacks a very important asset for a Color Change Pokemon in the form of Revelation Dance, which doesn't exist in Gen 8. We would have to focus on Chromera's damage output if it wants to be a sweeper, meaning it either gets a massive ATK buff or movepool expansions like Fire Blast, Earth Power, Hydro Pump, Moonblast and Meteor Beam need to be considered.

4) Do we want to consider either an ability change or ability addition? Chromera was fully focused around Color Change, but just want to answer this now.

I think another viable Ability addition wouldn't hurt so long as it actually makes Chromera useful and we decide that a complete rework isn't worth fulfilling its concept. Abilities like Trace or Corrosion would be great fits for Chromera as it currently is, as would an immunity ability.

--------

I'd like to request additional moves (coverage is likely to the main thing here, although any legal move is allowed). I'd also like to note, we aren't going to be accepting any legendary signatures, so even though Jungle Healing is amazing compression for us, we can't give it. Also as a reminder, only suggest moves that exist in gen 8 (rip Revelation Dance).


Chromera needs to have stronger coverage options. Fire Blast, Ice Beam, Earth Power, Hydro Pump, Moonblast, Clanging Scales and Meteor Beam should all be considered. Parting Shot is an interesting option that makes the most out of a resistance-focused Chromera typings by minimising damage when pivoting in and out. Healing Wish is an option that compliments Chromera's use of Final Gambit. Night Shade would offer a reliable means of damage if Chromera is given a more defensive build to fulfill a wall role.

Also I'd like to request some benchmarks for stat buffs that could provide reasonable power increases, e.g. speed tiers, ranges where we get specific KOs, or even relevant bulk increases.

Imo the minimum speed tier offensive Chromera builds should reach is 115, so offensive sets aren't broken by Astrolotl. Dragons are a massive weakness for Colour Change users. If Chromera doesn't change its typing, we will also be outspeeding non-Scarfed Blacephelon. If we want Chromera to remain an offensive Pokemon, it's important that it is capable of outspeeding some of the most important Ghost and Dragon types. HP increases for Final Gambit shenanigans is an option i guess, but it seems like a lazy change that isn't relevant to the concept.

Finally, I'd like to request individual typings that y'all think may be relevant. I feel that specific type combos could be a bit close to complete buff packages at this point, so please only advocate individual typings.

Ideally any typing we use is going to be >6 resistances to make the most value out of switching Chromera in. Steel is the natural choice to maximise resistances. I suggest Normal, Fairy and Steel for consideration because they minimize the threat of Color Change's inherent defensive challenges through important type immunities. Water is another interesting option for its resistances, but it lacks an immunity to seize offensive momentum off of. Normal is immune to Shadow Ball and has the added benefit of STAB on Boomburst, making Chromera an effective revenge killer, Fairy is immune to Dragon attacks from Astrolotl and Dragapult, and Steel is both immune to Poison and offers a lot of resistances. Incidentally, those three make for great type combinations between them, with Normal/Steel having 12 resistances, Fairy/Normal being immune to both Dragon and Ghost (lol rip dragapult and pajantom), and Fairy/Steel being arguably the best type combination in the game. I strongly disagree with Quziel's position that a full type change would be a complete buff package, as Chromera has a LOT of problems going for it, especially where its movepool is concerned.

Steel would also be an interesting typing because iron gall ink has been used in Europe for over a millennium.
 
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ausma

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I'd like to suggest the possibility of granting Chromera a Normal-type.

On paper, this seems like a very odd change, however there are a couple very important reasons why I think a Normal-type would benefit Chromera.

1: Boomburst

As mentioned by snake_rattler already, Boomburst is honestly a lot more central to our kit than we may have initially intended, and the simple reason for it is that its base power will always be consistent no matter how our type is manipulated. However, the fact it can't hit anything super effectively, is blanked by Ghost-/Steel-types, and lacks any kind of additional natural damage bonus holds Chromera back a lot.

However, providing Boomburst with a STAB bonus right out the gate addresses arguably its greatest flaw: a lack of consistent, immediate power, by giving a move that has already high BP (and isn't a bad general-purpose option post-Color Change) a game-changing 1.5x bonus. We've already gone heavily in depth about why immediate power is important, but tl;dr providing such a high BP move with a STAB bonus effectively means that Chromera has a spammable option that it can take advantage of and more consistently force switches against offensive Pokemon. Thus, this means it's granted more time to accrue boosts more consistently which is something that setup sets need.

Furthermore, this naturally benefits much more offensively-tuned Choice-locked sets, too. Having such a high BP STAB option effectively means that Chromera has a much more convenient click and isn't always forced to predict to get value, while also granting it natural cleaning power against chipped teams. The latter is essential for a Pokemon that may want to use a Choice Scarf to consistent success. And, of course, its benefits for a Choice Specs or Life Orb set are two fold. On these sets, Color Change acts much more directly as an Achilles' Heel that allows faster offensive checks to respond to a one-two punch. Frankly though, I think this is an honestly good balancing factor, and possibly one that could even help leverage the amount of turns it has to attack specific Pokemon like Tapu Lele or Zapdos at a given time if it wants to hit with a high power STAB Boomburst -> a coverage option or another Boomburst. Color Change will always interact with Chromera; there's no way around that. However here I think it's a genuinely cool interaction that an added Normal-type accentuates.

2: Answering Ghost-types

Color Change means that Chromera is a Dark-type that is beat by Ghost-types, which is arguably one of the biggest reasons Chromera's defensive utility is limited almost solely to Tapu Lele. Because of Color Change and its general lack of consistently applicable immunities (save for Toxic), its ability to make progress, provide important defensive elements for teams to consider running it, and find natural setup opportunities are critically limited.

Having a Ghost-type immunity means that it finally is able to provide something crucial for teams that it embarrassingly couldn't otherwise with a Dark-type: provide an actual answer to Ghost-type moves. Dragapult is probably the most noteworthy example of this interaction, but this also applies to Pajantom and Blacephalon who are both really strong Ghost-types that most teams struggle to find a consistent check for. When compounded with Color Change checking Blacephalon's Fire-type STAB and the fact that it's naturally very bulky, Chromera can provide genuine checks into dangerous offensive Pokemon that are infamous for highly potent neutral coverage. Obviously Color Change sucks into Dragapult's Draco Meteor and Pajantom's Outrage respectively, but both are moves that have extremely easy-follow ups due to their exploitable natures, and Chromera isn't initially weak to either of them.

This solves another problem Chromera has, being that there is no real incentive to consider running it on teams due to lacking important defensive utility because of Color Change effectively mitigating key resistances upon hit. Immunities are especially important on this Pokemon, and I'd argue in the context of a Pokemon like Chromera that needs incentive to run and needs as many turns as possible to set up, packing a Ghost-type immunity is particularly conducive given how difficult the type is to check offensively and how it grants us further setup (and possibly wallbreaking with STAB Boomburst) opportunities.
 

LBN

is a Top Tiering Contributor Alumnus
UPL Champion
I'd also like to open the floodgates to a multitude of separate ideas and changes/tweaks, and have people wade over them. Of these, I'll summarize the what and why, as well as how it'd play into other things. Note, that some changes will take away some options that i think would be either an unhealthy presence, or would make it broken alongside the buffs.

Normal Typing
Pretty much Echoing ausma on this, I find this to be the best beginning course of Action. Ausma already mentioned the reasons so i won't elaborate, but all my main suggestions mainly branch off from this singular buff. Suffice to say im in direct agreement with it.

Give Chromera Swords Dance and tweak it's physical coverage.
This one may sound odd, giving it's more special leaning nature, but stats don't mean everything, as Pokémon like Nidoking speak to. However, my main reasoning for it's suggestion is the complaints of it's setup being too slow, and how it'll play along with it's other sets. Chromera is leaning into a scope of it's remaining issues being Steel-types, and Chromera already holds coverage for them on the other side of the attacking spectrum, in both Fire Fang and Stomping Tantrum. It's also a Knock user with Gunk Shot, threatening Pokémon like Clefable and Tapu Fini and allowing other targets to lose their item instead, a valued trait. Physical Dark-Types are a stacked category with Weavile, CB Tyranitar, Bisharp and Colossoil filling those ranks. However, if this is done in tandem with Ausma's type change suggestion above, it'd be filling a unique niche. Of course, Body Slam is not good enough STAB, and I'd argue for Double-Edge to be added, even if Swords Dance isn't added, for both flavor reasons and competitive reasons. If swords dance is picked, I'd suggest the removal of one of Stomping Tantrum or Fang, as having both severely limits the Pokémon who can actually respond to both offensive sets more than I'd personally like.

Give Chromera Parting Shot / Remove Final Gambit
Adding on to the previous mention of Choiced sets, Parting Shot would be an interesting way to make it a solid choiced pivot on bulky offense teams. While there are a fair amount of Pokemon who pressure steel types, not many of them are capable of pivoting, and Chromera would greatly appreciate being on spike stack balances if it could do this.

..The other elephant in the room I'd like to discuss is well, Final Gambit. Speaking bluntly here, I think this move is a horrible idea of any CAP Pokemon, but this one in particular goes against it's entire design process, of trying to utilize Color Change; that we may as well have given it Deoxys stats and say "can't get hindered if you die in 1", even if this is technically a nerf. I find Chromera is more in need of design changes than buffs so to speak, as it has solid enough foundation to make it work. But Final Gambit goes against it's design so much I'm genuinely surprised it got approved. Regardless of what buffs we decide on, Final Gambit should leave it's kit, regardless of how we change Chromera.

Edit: I just read discord and ppl saying this is only here because they wanted one move per type oh hell naw, to hell with Final Gambit give this thing Counter LMAO
Edit 2: IT HAS REVENGE ALREADY BRO CMONNN
 

Brambane

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is a Contributor Alumnus
1. Normal-typing
I think its pretty general consensus that, aside from Color Change, the defining part of Chromera is its strong Boomburst. Giving the move STAB is the only way we are bolstering Chromera's power out the gate outside of a straight Special Attack buff. This seems like an appropriate project for changing a CAP's type: Chromera's current competitive identity is only loosely tied to its typing and we are not causing any consistency with past generations. If anything, this is like PPL2. Normal also makes a lot of sense for giving Chromera the ever-valuable Ghost immunity, which is better for Color Change. You resist Psychic after switching in with Color Change; you do not resist Ghost lol.

2. Nasty Plot

Faster boosting is better for faster gameplay; this isn't revolutionary and if we want Chromera's offensive presence to improve, Nasty Plot is a natural addition.

3. Trick

I like this alongside either Final Gambit (with the current typing) or a Normal-typing as it pretty much gives Choice Scarf/Specs all the tools it could really want aside from pivoting to operate. I think the Choice item direction makes the most sense; Color Change with STAB Boomburst encourages either a more hit and run or late-game clean direction, which support the Choice items naturally. Trick would make Scarf relevant into stall/fat builds, which otherwise it would probably struggle even with STAB Boomburst.

4. Parting Shot

I don't think this accomplishes much, Boomburst is pretty ridiculous midground anyways. But considering that Scarf Boomburst even with STAB is going to caress something like Corviknight, being able to scout the bird with Parting Shot seems solid. I don't have much opposition to the inclusion of Parting Shot; at worst its an benign inclusion, at best it makes Choice Scarf slightly more consistent and frees up some build-space and in-game decision making. This is not going to be the inclusion that pushes a Normal-type Chromera over the top (if any moves do, it would be Trick or NP.)

As a general note, I think stat buffs aside from Speed are pretty unrequired. Chromera is not nearly as bad as Miasmaw was, a big part of that is it has really solid stats. You could perhaps bolster its Speed past like Venomicon-E for a little more meta relevancy, but the addition of STAB Boomburst or NP is likely enough to take an already usuable Pokemon and make it a viable one.
 
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spoo

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+ Earth Power, + Ice Beam
Chromera has a hard time forcing switches and making progress with CM in part due to its lackluster coverage. This offers a meaningful alternative to Boomburst + Scald/Dark Pulse sets and gives us a better matchup into bulky Grounds and some Poisons/Steels, namely Pex, Tran, and Melmetal. We're still walled by some common mons like Ferro and Argh so I don't think this buff would be sufficient by itself, but giving Chromera coverage that's actually super-effective versus stuff is an improvement in many respects.

+ Overheat
Likewise, this gives Chromera strong offensive coverage and improves its matchups versus Steels in a huge way. Rarely will Chromera be on the field for an extended period of time - Color Change practically ensures that Mera will be forced out quickly, so Overheat tries to accomplish as much as possible in this short duration. Something like BB + Overheat doesn't do great into Heatran, Argh, etc, but we already lose to those mons so beating a bunch of new stuff is going to be worth it.

Nasty Plot > CM
I think CM was mostly given out of the fantasy that we could leverage Color Change defensively as a bulk setup mon. This has been a lot harder to do than we thought, especially as the meta continues to change, so NP leans into a more offensive role and helps compensate for Mera's lack of STAB and generally underwhelming coverage.

+Normal Type
Others have talked about this already, I think it's really good. What's worth pointing out, though, is that Chromera will start running Choiced sets if it becomes a Normal-type and keeps Boomburst. This is the epitome of "work around Color Change, not with it" that we tried to stay away from during Chromera's process. We go from trying to leverage Color Change as a bulky booster into exploring Color Change as an Achilles heel that's a release valve on an otherwise insane wallbreaker. I'm not arguing that this is a good or bad thing, but it's absolutely the direction that this buff moves Chromera in. If we want to make Chromera a Normal-type and keep Boomburst, I'd honestly advocate for removing Calm Mind altogether; Specs, Scarf, and CM sets would all likely be viable which I think would be a huge headache, and Chromera is not so far gone that it needs that magnitude of strength and versatility. This ultimately means that if we want to preserve Chromera as a bulky booster that makes Color Change work for itself as a Normal-type, Boomburst will probably need to go. To me, this type change either leads to Choiced Boomburster or Boomburst-less CM; I'm not picking a side, just explaining how I'm approaching this option.

+Ground Type
Similarly to +Normal, this makes Chromera far, far, easier to put on a team as it would now sport an Electric-immunity and offer a ton of utility even despite Color Change. This also has synergy with other changes like +EP & Ice Beam. Overall I like this type change less than +Normal but I thought I'd still bring it up.

+Switcheroo OR +Parting Shot/Volt Switch
I consider these complementary buffs to other routes that focus on making Mera a Choice user. This gives Chromera a niche over other wallbreakers like Tapu Lele and can help it find a teamslot as a result. I don't think we need both of these options, but either one obviously synergizes nicely with Choice items.

+Speed
105, 110, and 115 all seem like good benchmarks to me. 105 nets us Garchomp, Venom-E, and Pajantom; 110 adds Kart, Ninetales-A, and Specs Blace; 115 pushes us above Astrolotl. Kart is a mon that we could conceivably leverage CC versus, while others like Paj, Blace, Garchomp, and Astro are mons we're currently taken advantage of by and would really like to outspeed. I think Beam + EP coverage would also complement a Speed buff nicely, judging by what's SE vs most of these targets.
 
Want to quickly touch on a move I stumbled across that I think will help out Chromera tremendously in terms of power, better immediate STAB, and helping with Color Change: Night Daze.

Night Daze is an 85 BP, 95% accurate Dark move with a 40% chance to lower the opponent's accuracy. Yes, I know it sounds cheap to rely on accuracy drop fishing, but pressuring Pokemon with increased miss chances is excellent for a Pokemon with Color Change, giving Chromera chances to make progress and even get more set up opportunities by forcing switches. The extra 5 BP also gives Night Daze a little more power for when Chromera loses STAB.

Also not really a big fan of adding a Normal typing to Chromera. spoo explained a lot of my worries pretty well, but I also feel like this idea zeroes in way too much on Boomburst and would end up turning Chromera into a Boomburst machine and not much else. Plus, it doesn't really help with our Steel-type problem, which is one of Chromera's biggest overall problems.
 
Want to quickly touch on a move I stumbled across that I think will help out Chromera tremendously in terms of power, better immediate STAB, and helping with Color Change: Night Daze.

Night Daze is an 85 BP, 95% accurate Dark move with a 40% chance to lower the opponent's accuracy. Yes, I know it sounds cheap to rely on accuracy drop fishing, but pressuring Pokemon with increased miss chances is excellent for a Pokemon with Color Change, giving Chromera chances to make progress and even get more set up opportunities by forcing switches. The extra 5 BP also gives Night Daze a little more power for when Chromera loses STAB.

Also not really a big fan of adding a Normal typing to Chromera. spoo explained a lot of my worries pretty well, but I also feel like this idea zeroes in way too much on Boomburst and would end up turning Chromera into a Boomburst machine and not much else. Plus, it doesn't really help with our Steel-type problem, which is one of Chromera's biggest overall problems.
While I like the idea of giving Chromera a better Dark STAB, I think it's more of a fantasy, and Night Daze wouldn't help it. You say it would help it tremendously in terms of power and STAB, but it's only a 5 base power difference. And a 40% accuracy drop over a 20% flinch chance isn't necessarily better, just cheaper. If the only real value over Dark Pulse is more RNG I don't think it's worth pursuing. I don't even think the accuracy drop would come into play that much, but it does not sound healthy either way.

I also don't see the issue with Chromera being a Boomburst machine, so long that it's viable as one. Natural STAB Boomburst plays into Color Change too. You start out with a very strong attack, but after getting hit it's not quite as strong anymore. I do agree that it doesn't solve the Steel type issue, but I would compare it to Pyroak getting a bulk cut: It doesn't do anything to make it easier to switch into, but it was something that it needed anyway. I'm sure there will be buff packages that use both the Normal type and have Fire coverage or something like that.
 

Concept Everything

Neko no Ensekan
is a Pre-Contributor
Questions:

1) What are Chromera's issues (beyond just the word "Color Change")? How important are all of these issues?

2 a) How does Chromera fit into its current roles?
2 b) Is there a specific role of the above that you think would be best to focus the buff on?
2 c) Is there a specific role not listed above that you think Chromera could excel in?

3) How do its issues relate to its current roles? What limitations do these issues specifically place on how it plays in each of its roles.

4) Do we want to consider either an ability change or ability addition? Chromera was fully focused around Color Change, but just want to answer this now.


----
1.) Chromera’s biggest issue to me is the fact it’s a Jack of all trades, but can’t successfully master any specific set because it suffers severely from the 4 move limitation as many other mons, however in Chromera’s case this is significantly worse due to the fact that it has a wide variety of the best moves in the game, most notably in the status category listed below.

Status: Toxic Spikes, Recover, Taunt, Aromatherapy, Light Screen, Reflect, Toxic, Calm Mind, Protect.

Having a wide variety of moves isn’t a negative impact normally on a Pokémon, a great example of this is Mew or Landorus-Therian, however in Chromera’s case it has a semi-decent BST sitting as 600 similarly to Mew, but it doesn’t do anything in particularly well, it’s bulk is decent but it’s all breaking potential is very low in the tier, especially when you’re being outran by multiple threats in the tier thus not making it possible to control your STAB , it’s only setup move is Calm Mind, this isn’t bad for Chromera but it doesn’t give you the immediate impact or quite enough safety when you use it. A change I would like to see with this is giving Chromera the option to run Defeatist as an additional ability so you are not locked into not being locked out of your stab immediately.

2a). The main role I see Chromera in is a support Pokémon running Rocky Helmet, Recover, Toxic Spikes, Knock Off, and Taunt in a lot of cases, I solemnly see the throat spray variant on ladder, but that is a thing I very rarely see.

2b). The best thing I can see for Chromera is turning it into a wall breaking by redistributing it’s stats, at the moment it is not a whatsoever viable physical attacker. Although it has a great physical and special movepool it is not able to capitalize on these benefits due to having lackluster stats and setup. Color change is not an ability useful for a defensive mon, not being able to control what hits you super effectively is a huge detriment in today’s meta. This makes it so defenses are equivalently much worse, although this also makes your basic moves worse because you cannot control your STAB, the best way of changing Chromera in my opinion is by giving it access to better setup such as Swords Dance, Nasty Plot, and improving its overal star distribution.

2c). If given proper stat distribution and setup, I believe Chromera could become a good mon in the meta and the tier.

3.) At present it’s issues make it not excel in anything in particular, it’s a semi decent tanky Pokémon due to its high BST, but that’s all it has going for it.

4.) Some proposed abilities are the following:

Defeatist - This mon was created to have an unviable ability in the first place, I’m suggesting Defeatist strictly for the ability to have a secondary ability that lets the Pokémon not use color change as it’s primary ability for the main reason that color change is not good on a defensive Pokémon whatsoever.

Mummy - As this Pokémon resembles a sphinx
I believe a good ability it could receive is mummy due to ancient Egypt and it just making sense to me, I believe it would be an interesting change and could potentially turn off other abilities from physical attackers in the tier.

Illusion - Strictly based on mirages in Egypt, as the Pokémon takes clear inspiration from ancient Egypt is would be a nice flavor ability to give.

The last suggestion I have is changing its overall typing to something else, Poison and Dark are good offensive typings, but defensively they’re horrendous, a suggestion I have is Ghost / Normal, I know defensively this typing isn’t very good, but giving it 3 immunities off the bat could be an interesting niche exclusive to Chromera.

I did this on mobile so please excuse any spelling or grammar issues, thanks, open to discuss anything in further detail if anyone has any questions!
 
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