Gen 4 Dusknoir [Uploaded!]

[oiponabys]

[OVERVIEW]

With its pure Ghost typing blocking Rapid Spin, high base 135 defenses, and decent Attack stat, Dusknoir has potential to be a great defensive Pokemon. However, it is completely outclassed by Rotom-A as a defensive Pokemon and spinblocker. Although it has superior defensive stats, Dusknoir suffers from a lack of useful resistances. Above all, Dusknoir has a crippling vulnerability to all entry hazards, which is worsened by its lack of reliable recovery. Rotom-A and more offensive spinblocker Gengar lack reliable recovery too, but they critically are immune to Spikes and Toxic Spikes. This hazards vulnerability means Dusknoir will be quickly worn down and unable to do its job consistently. Dusknoir is also plagued by an awful Speed stat, forcing it to take a hit first before retaliating. These attributes leave it much more vulnerable to offensive pressure than both Rotom-A and Gengar, particularly when facing Tyranitar and Jirachi, premier Pokemon in DPP OU. Dusknoir could try to scrounge up a niche with its good physical coverage and priority, which allow it to damage Tyranitar, Jirachi, and Forretress super effectively without relying on the inaccurate Focus Blast or status with Will-O-Wisp. Such traits, however, generally are not enough to make it worth using in DPP OU.

[SET]
name: Offensive Spinblocker
move 1: Earthquake
move 2: Thunder Punch / Fire Punch
move 3: Ice Punch / Fire Punch
move 4: Shadow Sneak
item: Custap Berry / Expert Belt
ability: Pressure
nature: Adamant
evs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def

[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[oiponabys, 435540]]
- Quality checked by: [[johnnyg2, 57904]]
- Grammar checked by: [[Finland, 517429]]

 

[Cubic Skunk]

quick suggestion. any use of "him/his" should be replaced by "it/its/it's". GP wont allow he/him

 

[johnnyg2]

[OVERVIEW]


With the ability to block Rapid Spin, great defenses and a decent attack, Dusknoir could be seen at first as a great choice for a team. However, while Dusknoir has a slightly higher bulk than the Rotom formes, it is completely outclassed by them. Dusknoir suffers from the lack of a reliable recovery, compounded by its vulnerability to all forms of entry hazards. This means it will be quickly worn down and unable to do its job consistently in the long term. Dusknoir is also plaged by an abysmal speed stat, forcing him to take a hit first before retaliating. These attributes leaves it much more vulnerable to offensive pressure than his Ghost-Electric rival, particularly when facing Tyranitar and Jirachi, the faces of OU. The only way Dusknoir can try to distinguish itself from its competition lies in its physically oriented nature with Earthquake and priority. Such traits however, might not be enough to make it worth using in the OverUsed environment.

[SET]
name: Offensive spinblocker
move 1: Earthquake
move 2: Thunder Punch / Fire Punch
move 3: Ice Punch / Fire Punch
move 4: Shadow Sneak
item: Custap Berry / Expert Belt
ability: Pressure
nature: Adamant
evs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def


[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Thanks to its good bulk and coverage, Dusknoir is able to compress the role of spinblocker and bulky attacker, defeating a fair portion of the metagame in a one versus one. Earthquake is Dusknoir's main damaging tool, forcing Tyranitar, Jirachi and Heatran to sustain significant damage.
Thunder Punch in conjunction with Ice Punch gives Dusknoir access to pseudo-BoltBeam coverage, threatening two of the most common Dragon Dance users in Gyarados and Dragonite. Otherwise, Fire Punch can be chosen for its ability to kill Forretress, Scizor and force burns on defensive Steel-types. Finally, Shadow Sneak is the priority STAB, providing some form of speed control for the team.


Set Details
========
Maximum HP investment takes advantage of its low HP stat, while Attack is maximised to be the least passive possible. The leftover EVs are placed into's Dusknoir's physical defense, as it will mosty deal with physical threats. Custap Berry allows Dusknoir to get a hit off once it has been sufficiently weakened. Expert Belt on the other hand, takes advantage of the set's great super effective coverage to improve damage ranges against a wide variety of threats. In particular, Expert Belt super effective Shadow Sneak gives Dusknoir the option to clean in the late-game once the opposing Psychic and Ghost-types have been weakened.


Usage Tips
========
Dusknoir should be kept healthy to deal with physical threats such as Dragon Dance Gyarados, Dragon Dance Dragonite lacking Life Orb and all out attackers such as Machamp. If such thing isn't needed, the Dusknoir user can take advantage of its Ghost-typing to pivot into STABBed Close Combats and blocking spin attempts. Due to his lack of defense investment, Dusknoir is prey to opposing Tyranitar and should not stay on a predictable Crunch. Once it is on lower thresholds of health, one should use sand and opposing hazards to its advantage and bring Dusknoir in Custap range. When facing defensive teams, Dusknoir's insufficient damage can be a liability and sacrificing its health to cleanely pivot into a teammate is completely fine.



Team Options
========
Dusknoir does not provide a ground immunity like Rotom-A does, therefore it appreciates teammates carrying an Earthquake and Spikes immunity. Gyarados and Dragonite both fit the bill, and appreciate with Dusknoir 's ability to switch into Fighting-type attacks. Thunder Jirachi, Fire Blast coverage and Explosion users are all great lures to prevent Skarmory from taking advantage of Dusknoir and rack up entry hazard damage. Set up sweepers such as offensive Swords Dance Scizor and Dragon Dance Tyranitar are able to pressure the bulky opposition and appreciate Dusknoir's ability to temporarily circumvent their defensive shortcomings.



[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

There are a couple of other moves that Dusknoir has access to. Dusknoir can use Focus Punch, which threatens problematic pokemon such as Tyranitar and Clefable. It is, however, either very prediciton reliant or requires an entire set dedicated to it. Dusknoir can make use of Will o Wisp to cripple a wide array of physical attackers, although this cuts into its coverage. Finally, Dusknoir can support his team with Trick Room and Gravity. However, Dusknoir is outclassed by other setters like Uxie and Bronzong for the former, and Jirachi and Starmie for the latter. Besides, these teams archetypes are rather underwhelming due to having consistency issues.



Checks and Counters
===================

**Residual damage**: Sandstorm, entry hazards and chip damage are all very detrimental to Dusknoir who needs all the health it can get to check what it is supposed to.

**Status** Opposing status worsen significantly Dusknoir's one versus one capabilities. Burn in particular, renders Dusknoir completely useless for the remainder of the battle.

**Pursuit Users**: Tyranitar and the rarer Weavile can come on most of Dusknoir's attacks and either pursuit trap it or kill it with their respective dark STAB move.

**Bulky Physical walls** Dusknoir does not have the firepower of other behemoths of the tier, and pokémon such as Hippowdon and Skarmory can take avantage of Dusknoir to heal up and lay down hazards.


[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[ Oiponabys, 435540 ]]
- Quality checked by: [[, ], [, ]]
- Grammar checked by: [[, ], [, ]]

I am so sorry it took me ages to get to this. Just as a general note, this is really well written. I also think we can classify this as a mini ou analysis, so my QC check is all we need. I have struckthrough changes and italics the changes.

With the ability to block Rapid Spin, great defenses, and a decent attack, Dusknoir could be seen at first as a great choice for a team. With Dusknoir's pure Ghost typing blocking Rapid Spin, high base 135 defenses, and a decent attack, it has potential to be a great defensive Pokemon. However, while Dusknoir has a slightly higher bulk than the Rotom formes, it is completely outclassed by them. Dusknoir suffers from the a lack of a reliable recovery, compounded by its vulnerability to all forms of entry hazards, critical as both the Rotom formes and more offensive spinblocker Gengar are immune to Spikes and Toxic Spikes. This vulnerability means it will be quickly worn down and unable to do its job consistently in the long term. Dusknoir is also plauged by an abysmal speed stat, forcing him to take a hit first before retaliating. These attributes leaves it much more vulnerable to offensive pressure than his Ghost-Electric rival both the Rotom formes and Gengar, particularly when facing Tyranitar and Jirachi, the faces of OU. The only way best way Dusknoir can try to distinguish itself from its competition lies in its physically oriented nature with Earthquake and priority. Such traits, however, might generally are not be enough to make it worth using in the OverUsed environment.

 

[oiponabys]

Changes made

 

[Cubic Skunk]

Amateur qc
struckthrough sections = remove
Italics = my changes
(Bold parentheses) = my explanations on why i made changes
(RC) = remove comma
(AC) = Add comma

[OVERVIEW]


With Dusknoir's its pure Ghost typing blocking Rapid Spin, high base 135 defenses, and a decent aAttack stat, Dusknoir may seem like a great defensive Pokemon at first glance. However, while Dusknoir has a slightly higher bulk than the Rotom formes (I'd move this to the section where it talks about why Dusknoir is outclassed by the Rotom formes), it is completely outclassed by them Rotom-A as a defensive Pokemon and a spinblocker. Although it has greater Defense and Special Defense stats, Dusknoir's abysmal HP stat combined with its suffers from the lack of a reliable recovery(RC) compounded by and its vulnerability to all forms of entry hazards. This means it will be quickly worn down and unable to do its job consistently in the long term, unlike Rotom-A. Dusknoir is also plagued by an abysmal speed stat, forcing him (GP does not allow the use of gender pronouns in analysis's) it to take a hit first before retaliating. These attributes leaves it much more vulnerable to offensive pressure than his its Ghost-Electric rival, particularly when facing Tyranitar and Jirachi, the two of the faces of OU. The only way Dusknoir can try to distinguish itself from its competition lies in its physically oriented nature with Earthquake(AC), good physical coverage moves and priority. Such traits however, might not be ultimately are not enough to make it worth using viable in the OverUsed environment OU (I would say upfront that Dusk is unviable since realistically its never worth using).

[SET]
name: Offensive spinblocker
move 1: Earthquake
move 2: Thunder Punch / Fire Punch
move 3: Ice Punch / Fire Punch
move 4: Shadow Sneak
item: Custap Berry / Expert Belt
ability: Pressure
nature: Adamant
evs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def


[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[ Oiponabys, 435540 ]]
- Quality checked by: [[JohnnyG2 57904], [, ]]
- Grammar checked by: [[, ], [, ]]

Overall good analysis Oipon ;)

 

[Adeleine]

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[OVERVIEW]

With its pure Ghost typing blocking Rapid Spin, high base 135 defenses, and a decent Attack stat, Dusknoir has potential to be a great good defensive Pokemon. However, it is completely outclassed by Rotom-A as a defensive Pokemon and spinblocker. Although it has superior defensive stats, Dusknoir suffers from a lack of reliable recovery and useful resistances. Above all, Dusknoir has a crippling vulnerability to all forms of entry hazards, critical as both entry hazards, which is worsened by its lack of reliable recovery. Rotom-A and more offensive spinblocker Gengar lack reliable recovery too, but they critically are immune to Spikes and Toxic Spikes. This hazards vulnerability means it Dusknoir will be quickly worn down and unable to do its job consistently. Dusknoir is also plagued by an awful speed Speed stat, forcing it to take a hit first before retaliating. These attributes leaves leave it much more vulnerable to offensive pressure than both Rotom-A and Gengar, particularly when facing Tyranitar and Jirachi, premier Pokemon in DPP OU. Dusknoir's main niche is its physically oriented nature with Earthquake, good coverage in the elemental punches, and priority, allowing Dusknoir could try to scrounge up a niche with its good physical coverage and priority, which allow it to damage Tyranitar, Jirachi, and Forretress super effectively without relying on the inaccurate Focus Blast or status with Will-O-Wisp. Such traits, however, generally are not be enough to make it worth using in DPP OU.

[SET]
name: Offensive Spinblocker
move 1: Earthquake
move 2: Thunder Punch / Fire Punch
move 3: Ice Punch / Fire Punch
move 4: Shadow Sneak
item: Custap Berry / Expert Belt
ability: Pressure
nature: Adamant
evs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def

[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[oiponabys, 435540]]
- Quality checked by: [[johnnyg2, 57904]]
- Grammar checked by: [[Finland, 517429]]

1/1
GP Team done