Drifblim (Sub-Petaya Late Game Sweeper)

[NubKnightZ]

http://www.smogon.com/dp/pokemon/drifblim

[SET]
Name: Sub-Petaya
Move 1: Substitute
Move 2: Calm Mind
Move 3: Shadow Ball
Move 4: Thunderbolt / Hidden Power Fighting / Hidden Power Ground
Item: Petaya Berry
Nature: Calm / Bold
EVs: 12 HP / 12 Spe / 252 SpA / 234 SpD
Alternative EV Spread: 12 HP / 12 Spe / 234 SpA / 252 SpD
Ability: Unburden

Why this deserves to be on the Site:
- Not outclassed by other Sub-Petaya sets due to huge amount of Hit Points that allow more Calm Minds
- Substitute eases prediction to prevent Pursuit and Sucker Punches
- Outspeeds all Base 130 Speed Pokemon after Unburden and Petaya Berry, which should be enough considering that it sweeps late game. Is also immune to 5 of the 10 Priority Moves, making revenge-killing harder on Drifllim.
- Hard to wall with exception of Blissey (Thunderbolt for Vaporeon, Suicune, Noctowl and Skarmory, and Shadow Ball for Cresselia)
- Blissey cannot retaliate in any way due to Substitute blocking Status and Drifblim's typing stops Seismic Toss. Calm Mind Blissey will do horrible damage due to Calm Minds and high Hit Points

Additional Comments
- Hidden Power Ground is used for Coverage, due to the fact that Ice, Rock and Electric all hit Drifblim for Super-Effective Damage.
- Hidden Power Fighting is to hit Dark, Steel, Rock and Normal types that wall Shadow Ball
- 12 HP EVs ensure that your HP is divisible by 4 so that get your Petaya Boost and Unburden on 25% HP
- 12 Speed EVs allow you to outspeed all Positive-Natured Base 130s after the Unburden.
- Due to Drifblim's High HP, the Substitute will most likely last at least 1 turn for you to Calm Mind
- Drifblim usually comes in on what seems to be a Choiced Pokemon that is locked onto one of its resistances like Ground, Fight or Normal.

Other Options
Ominous Wind - Can be used instead of Shadow Ball due to the fact that it raises all stats, but the 10% chance of that happening makes it a lesser option.
Baton Pass - If Drifblim is low on HP and won't survive another hit, simply pass all the Calm Minds, Petaya Boosts and Substitutes to the next Pokemon. Generally this would work, but leaving Drifblim with one attack option makes it easily walled. (Ghost against Normal / Electric Against Ground)
Charged Beam - Can also be an option with Baton Pass, but generally Calm Mind and Petaya Berry is enough.

Team-mates and Counters:
- If you are running Baton Pass, another Special Sweeper will benefit nicely from the stat boosts. Pokemon like Heatran who resist Ice, Ghost and Dark while taking neutral damage from Electric and Rock can take hits for Drifblim while being passed tons of stat boosts. Heatran already has a high defenses, so after the passed stats, it will be hard to take down.
- After the Unburden, Petaya and Substitute, Drifblim can be quite hard to stop. Usually it takes two faster Pokemon or two Pokemon with priority moves who can outspeed Drifblim to take it down because it usually has a Substitute with a few Calm Minds. Basicly, people have to rely on a Choice Scarfed Pokemon or Priority to stop this set but usually don't have these requirements during late game.

 

[Chillarmy]

Hard to wall with exception of Blissey

An unboosted Thunderbolt can't 2HKO Vaporeon, allowing it to Wish and Roar Drifblim out with ease, and Crocune has no trouble Calm Minding alongside Drifblim, outpacing, and KOing it with Surf. If you don't run Baton Pass, Tyranitar can walk all over this as well since HP Fighting won't KO after a Calm Mind boost, and can just spam Pursuit while you try to make subs or KO it.

I'm very curious to how Drifblim can't be revenge killed when it doesn't even break 299 Speed after Unburden. Adding on to that, Drifblim's defenses aren't that stellar either, meaning that its Subs can be broken pretty easily. I'm also kind of curious to why you mention Noctowl if this set is meant for OU play >.>

 

[NubKnightZ]

Thats why it's meant for late game. Most pokemon are worn down and the usual revenge-kilers have already been revealed. By late game, you would also know many of the opposing pokemon, and can instead CM on the turn Vaporeon comes in.

Oh and Unburden is +2, not + 1 Speed. So it would jump to 396 Base Speed. I just had Noctowl in mind because I was thinking to see if anything else walled it. And Noctowl just popped up in mind as a Special Wall.

In the case of T-Tar, it can just Calm Mind then continously Substitute down to the Petaya Berry and then hit back with HP Fighting.

 

[Chillarmy]

Yeah, sorry for the mistake regarding Unburden lol.

It just seems like too much work to set up an SR weak Pokemon that doesn't hit that hard without 2-3 boosts, only for it to produce slightly worse results than Lucario or Metagross - two late-game sweepers that don't require much set up due to their typing and access to Swords Dance and Agility, respectively. Heatran, Rotom-A, Jirachi, and Flygon still revenge this thing without much trouble, and all of them are usually alive later in the game. I'd have to carry a spinner so stuff like Tyranitar and Scizor can't fuck Drfiblim over once they manage to break a sub, and something to lure in the Pokemon that can revenge (or wall) it. If I'm going through this much trouble to allow Drifblim to do its job, then why should I be using it over Empoleon, Jolteon, Lucario, Tyranitar, or any of the other late-game sweepers available? The immunities to Extremespeed and Vacuum Wave don't make up for the frail defenses and lack of a quick, reliable method of boosting its offense.

In the case of T-Tar, it can just Calm Mind then continously Substitute down to the Petaya Berry and then hit back with HP Fighting.

So, um, you're Calm Minding while ScarfTar fucks your shit up with an unboosted Pursuit? It does 57.2% - 68%, which KOes after Substitute and SR damage have been accounted for.

 

[NubKnightZ]

Oh, you didn't say specificly which kind of T-tar in the earlier post. I meant non-choiced.

 

[Rising_Dusk]

It is not this easy to create a useful and meaningful SubBerry set. For starters, you need to analyze which sources of residual damage the Pokemon is vulnerable to. Unfortunately for Drifblim, that list is quite long. Drifblim is vulnerable to both sandstorm and hail weather conditions and is taking 25% switching into Stealth Rock. Lastly, and most devastatingly, Drifblim is still relatively slow after the Unburden boost (Only fast enough to beat +nature base 130's) and can be easily revenge killed by Bullet Punch from Scizor (at least you're immune to ExtremeSpeed and Mach Punch). Also, what the user above me suggests is very true too. Many common walls can switch into and stop this set cold, even if it manages to set up perfectly by all rights. Something like Empoleon doesn't have that issue, hits harder at +1, and can actually achieve its Agility boost, whereas Drifblim often will need to Sub first instead of CM due to being so slow.

All in all, this set is ineffective in its sweeping, ineffective in its resilience to residual damage, and ineffective in a situation where it doesn't get the chance to set up. For these reasons, I don't see this getting approved, and I support rejecting it.

 

[ShinyAzelf]

The only SubPetaya set which really works is Empoleon. Like Rising Dusk says, the most common priority move is Scizor's Bullet Punch, and it can easily pick off, and maybe you took out one of your opponent's pokemons. Second, Hail and Sandstorm is gonna wear you down quick.

This set really isn't going to work well.

 

[NightShadow]

What ShinyAzelf and Rising_Dusk said. It really only works on a select few Pokemon. It works on Empoleon because of its MASSIVE amount of resistances and bulk. Also, it is immune to Sandstorm. It cannot easily be taken out by priority, as it has a resistance to Bullet Punch, Ice Shard, Aqua Jet, Fake Out, Extremespeed and Sucker Punch.

 

[Megan_Fox]

Rising Disk summed up my views on this set. Its vulnerability to priority, weather and its lackluster speed all make this set inefficient. Sorry but I'm going to have to reject this.

QC Rejected 1/3

 

[Setsuna]

Several sets that utilized stat-boosting berries to attempt a sweep have been rejected by Quality Control in the past, and I think this one won't be an exception. You can take a look at the Rejected Set Compendium thread in order to read some of these disapproved sets and the reasons why pretty much Empoleon is the only Pokémon that can make good use of this type of strategy.

Apart from this, I think you've put a notable effort in proposing this set, NubKnightZ, and I hope my rejection doesn't discourage you from contributing in the future.

QC Rejected 2/3

 

[Seven Deadly Sins]

Yeah, one of the big things that QC got rid of were the majority of Sub-Berry users. The primary thing to think of when considering a set that is similar to another set is "why do other sets like this work?". Empoleon is the only "viable" SubBerry sweeper in OU for a number of reasons: It resists most priority (espeed, bullet punch, ice shard, aqua jet, shadow sneak), it's immune to Sandstorm, it has tons of Special Attack, and a Torrent-boosted Surf or Hydro Pump hits like an absolute truck. It doesn't need more than one turn to start setting up.

This has none of that going for it unfortunately. Drifblim's Special Attack is, well... nothing special. It resists no priority except for Extremespeed and Mach Punch / Vacuum Wave. It takes much more time to set up for a sweep. It will also eventually die to Sandstorm. Furthermore, Shadow Ball has a major, major immunity, and it's hard for Drifblim to cover that immunity. Unfortunately, for those reasons, this set isn't all that viable in OU.

QC Rejected 3/3

 

[Setsuna]

Don't hesitate to try again in the future. Locking.