Enchanted Items [Now Multibility]

Kingdra
Sniper / Super Luck
That's no different from scope lens Kingdra in OU, which isn't really that good :w

Edit: I think Druddigon should be higher, prankster + mold breaker taunt gives you pretty much a guaranteed turn 1 stealth rocks whilst preventing opposing rocks from going up.

Reasoning: Every team that wants a rock setter in EI, wants one with mold breaker imo. Setting rocks on yourself due to an unexpected magic bounce can really turn the game against you. Mold Breaker + Prankster + Rocks + Taunt is the best way to prevent opposing rocks at the same time, and Drudiggon is the only mon that can get this combination.

Some other good choices for a Mold Breaker rock setter are Heatran, Skarmory and Mew. (I'm pretty sure Druddigon is best at it.)

Edit2: Prankster Mold Breaker Glare is also a good way to shut down many opposing sweepers in mid- to lategame that lack priority of their own. Think of Druddigon as a combination of lead Azelf and a Klefki that can paralyze Ground types.
 
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I guess if you really want to run something with Drizzle alongside it, then it would be slightly better because of the passive healing, but taking more from fire attacks seems strictly worse to me as well.
 
Dry skin on mons over water absorb is normally for beating primsea users, since it gains passive healing and a good immunity. Landy-t also is immune to Thunder which is a nice plus for this use.
 
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/enchanteditems-402948488

I found a top gimmick: Magnet Pull Maractus. Basically a free win against teams with Ferrothorn, completely useless otherwise.
Obviously this isn't viable at all because of no-funaware, but I thought this was pretty funny.
This Maractus is weak to pokemon with Unaware... Or Prankster Haze...
Yeah, you have guaranted Ferrothorn, but if oponent have pokemon against set-up sweaper, this set will also fail against him.

Still - this pokemon can win with any team with Ferrothorn AND wihout anti set up sweaper pokemon.

But even when this pokemon isn't top tier problem for this metagame - I must say this replay makes me happy. I like replays, where pokemon from lower tier won battle with OU and Ubers pokemons. :)
 
Drapion @ Starf Berry
Ability: Battle Armor
EVs: 248 HP / 112 Def / 148 Spe
Impish Nature
- Acupressure
- Knock Off
- Taunt
- Rest

If you want acupressure gimmicks then surely Drapion does it the best. It's not immune to leech seed, doesn't get synthesis and gets trolled by mb steels but it easily traps and sets up on most variants of skarm and ferro (the only notable steels it traps lol). 148 speed allows it to outspeed max speed moldy skarm (which i have seen before believe it or not) but if you don't care about that then just go max/max
What does that Maractus do against my prim thunder wave ferro? It loses alot of healing and can be revenged by my team.
evasion + defense boosts will make it quite difficult to revenge sans a few untimely para's
 
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(...)

evasion + defense boosts will make it quite difficult to revenge sans a few untimely para's
The trick is gaining that stats first before Ferrothorn will beat this pokemon after paralysing AND knocking out.
While Gyro Ball will not deal more damage, reduced by 25% healing on move with 8 pp's and 25% chance to lose turn means Maractus will have big problem dealing with that Ferrothorn.

Also - Curse set... they might be really dangerous for Maractus, because Gyro Ball here gain incredible boost (Maractus can boost speed even more, what in that machup makes this pokemon much worst because of Gyro Ball... and Curse boost... while Paralysis seems to be not the best way to boost damage from this move...). Sometimes Ferrothorn can run Toxic as well...

And now we have that RNG element... in theory Maractus will be able to avoid paralysis in every turn AFTER boost in Evasion. If oponent will have incredible bad luck, that CAN happen... but chance is really, REALLY low for it...
Because Accupresure is the only move allowed by Smogon what can boost evasion, AND chance for boosting evasion is like 1/7 chance every turn (a little bigger if maxed any stat), it's even less posible for Maractus to avoid all Thunder Waves from Ferrothorn. It's only posible to do it IF Maractus gain in first turn boost for evasion AND OLNY in that case. In the same turn, after boost, Ferrothorn need to miss that Thunder Wave.
I just check Bulbapedia... Chance for miss fully accurate move after +2 evasion on target in six generation is like 2/5. Chance for first boost from accupresure for evasion is like 1/7.
Chance for miss Thunder Wave after first turn of boosting evasion from accupresure in first generation will be like 2/35...
It's between 5-6% for it. You can check calculator and check exacly number if you want.
And it's just first turn... you still need to use Accupresure a lot more times for having potencial to sweap... for maximalize stats - 20 more times, because you already have +2 for evasion (if lucky).
Also... you need to avoid next 20 thunder waves to save your speed for next pokemons what potencialy could stop your sweap... Or put Substitute... but this will cost you coverage move...

In big shortcut: Thunderwave = big problem for Maractus in nearly every time.
 
Asking if anyone besides me runs glaciate victini as it 2kos dragonite and bulks a +1 flying espeed at full health. it usually beats dnites that leave them selves in and helps break regen landy-t after chip damage.
 
I'm now collecting Sample teams. Many have been asking and I don't have enough teams I'm bad. So If you have a team you want to share, PM me on Smogon with the team and I'll add it to the samples! Explain the team a little and generally follow sample team etiquette.

Description
Importable
Fame and Glory
 
I've been really enjoying this meta since I discovered it about a week ago and I thought I would share something that I've found to be worth using.




Tinted Lens Volcanion

I've been using this on my Sand Stream Excadrill team and it has been a vital asset in almost all matches. Tinted Lens lets Volcanion bait in and smack many bulky Pokemon that a lot of sweepers struggle with, primarily bulky Water-types such as Rotom-W and Slowbro. These Pokemon usually feel comfortable switching into Volcanion's powerful STAB moves, but with Tinted Lens it is able to surprise the opponent and put huge dents in them so a sweeper can break past them later on.

Volcanion @ Pamtre Berry
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest/Timid Nature
- Steam Eruption
- Fire Blast
- Earth Power
- Slude Bomb/Hidden Power [Ice]

This is the set I use. Steam Eruption and Fire Blast are both STAB moves with high base power, both of them having a nice chance to burn which adds to Volcanion's ability to wear down opposing Pokemon. I personally use a Modest nature for more power to help with Regenerator mons, but a Timid nature can be used to outspeed notably Adamant Dragonite, Diggersby, (Mega)Gyarados, Mega Scizor and Tyranitar (outside of sand), and max speed Swampert in addition to speed tying with other max speed base 70s. Earth Power is mainly to hit Desoland Heatran and other Volcanion. For the last slot, Sludge Bomb can be used to hit Fairy-types such as Clefable whereas HP Ice can be used to hit 4x Ice weaks such as Dragonite and Garchomp.

Some interesting calcs, using a Modest nature:

252+ SpA Tinted Lens Volcanion Steam Eruption vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Rotom-W: 186-220 (61.3 - 72.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252+ SpA Tinted Lens Volcanion Steam Eruption vs. 252 HP / 24 SpD Slowbro: 230-272 (58.3 - 69%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252+ SpA Tinted Lens Volcanion Fire Blast vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Quagsire: 278-328 (70.5 - 83.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252+ SpA Tinted Lens Volcanion Fire Blast vs. 240 HP / 0 SpD Swampert: 216-254 (53.8 - 63.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
- Need a Modest Nature to 2HKO, not that it's very common

252+ SpA Tinted Lens Volcanion Steam Eruption vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Latios: 182-216 (60.8 - 72.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
- Volcanion doesn't outspeed, but Latios can't switch in twice without healing

252+ SpA Tinted Lens Volcanion Steam Eruption vs. 252 HP / 168 SpD Ferrothorn: 150-178 (42.6 - 50.5%) -- 44.1% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock
252+ SpA Tinted Lens Volcanion Steam Eruption vs. 252 HP / 168 SpD Ferrothorn: 150-178 (42.6 - 50.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and burn damage
252+ SpA Tinted Lens Volcanion Steam Eruption vs. 252 HP / 168 SpD Ferrothorn in Heavy Rain: 226-266 (64.2 - 75.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
- Flash Fire and Primsea Ferrothorn, the former is only 2HKO'ed 100% of the time if you get a burn on either of your Steam Eruptions

252+ SpA Tinted Lens Volcanion Steam Eruption vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Suicune: 174-206 (43 - 50.9%) -- 98.4% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock
- So close... Again solid 2HKO if you burn

252+ SpA Tinted Lens Volcanion Steam Eruption vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Keldeo: 216-254 (66.8 - 78.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252+ SpA Tinted Lens Volcanion Steam Eruption vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Dragonite: 198-234 (61.3 - 72.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
- Doesn't quite KO on the switch but now Dragonite can't set up without being 2HKO'ed. HP Ice does KO, though.

252+ SpA Tinted Lens Volcanion Steam Eruption vs. 172 HP / 0 SpD Azumarill: 236-280 (61.4 - 72.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252+ SpA Tinted Lens Volcanion Fire Blast vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Talonflame: 268-316 (90.2 - 106.3%) -- 37.5% chance to OHKO
- Can no longer switch in on a Fire-type move, solidly OKHO'ed if Desoland


As you can see, Tinted Lens lets Volcanion 2HKO many Pokemon that it was previously unable to. Bulky Water-types switching in expecting a resisted attack are now faced with being 2HKO'ed if they don't switch. This puts the momentum heavily in your favour. In addition, Volcanion can switch into Water-types due to its normal ability Water Absorb and get a surprise kill when they take 60-70% instead of 30%.

I keep forgetting to save replays of it in action, so this is all I've got at the moment:
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/enchanteditems-403639581
Sorry it's kind of low-ladder (I was at 1346, my opponent 1055) but I think it shows Volcanion's effectiveness in KOing Slowbro and surprising Serperior. It also shows the matchup vs Latios when I try to sac Volcanion near the end.

However, this Volcanion is not without its flaws. It is quite slow, even with a Timid Nature, which leaves it prone to being revenge killed by the likes of Porygon-Z, Landorus-T, Gengar and Sand Rush Tyranitar, to name but a few. It is also vulnerable to both Harsh Sun and Heavy Rain which each negate one of its STAB attacks. The boosted speed of the users of these weathers allow them to switch in to the attack they are immune to or after another Pokemon has fainted and KO Volcanion with powerful Grass- or Rock-type moves (of Chlorophyll Venusaur and Victreebell, and Swift Swim Kabutops, respectively). In this meta, lots of Pokemon often carry super-effective Electric-type moves in conjunction with either Protean or No Guard, a problem which Volcanion's Lightning Rod/Motor Drive counterparts do not struggle with.

Despite this, I still firmly believe that Tinted Lens Volcanion deserves a place on the Viability Rankings, possibly even a rise from B+ to A- rank (not that there is much of a difference/it really matters). I haven't really posted much on Smogon before, so I hope this is okay :)
 
I've been using Tinted Lens on Analytic Magnezone and it's crazy how much damage non-effective hits do to a switch in. Tinted Lens is underrated for sure, especially on Pokemon with a shallow movepool.
Yeah, sorry my post is a bit long - I guess I got carried away and it turned out to be more than I thought...

But I agree on Tinted Lens being a powerful ability and I think almost any offensive Pokemon will benefit from it. However, as you said, I think that it helps Pokemon with a smaller movepool such as Volcanion and Magnezone more, as those with a larger one would much prefer to use abilities like Protean. It is interesting to notice that the dividing line between these characteristics often falls with speed, for example the Tinted Lens users Volcanion and Magnezone are both fairly slow, but the Protean users Porygon-Z and Gengar are, by different amounts, faster. Another factor that makes Pokemon more suited to Tinted Lens is their STAB combination. In the case of Volcanion, both it's STAB attacks are resisted by both Water- and Dragon-types which means that these Pokemon usually like to switch in on it. In this respect, Tinted Lens is useful on a wallbreaker so it can more easily wear down during the match. On the flip side however, Tinted Lens could also be used on Pokemon with a poor STAB combination that don't have a move slot to cover the type that resists its STABs, such as Calm Mind Latios.

I guess this turned out kind of long again, but I felt I had to do something else with my post than just agreeing with you...
 
250px-474Porygon-Z.png


Suspect 1.3 A Conversion to Ubers?

Porygon-Z gains access to the deadly combination of Adaptability + Protean, meaning any move out of its gigantic pool becomes immensely powerful. It can ditch its horrid offensive typing for a far more temping Bolt Beam combination, or unresisted Ghost + Fighting! The problem lies in its unpredictability. While pokemon usually rely on their stabs, giving them a certain degree of predictability, Porygon-Z doesn't have too. Porygon-Z could easily follow the metagames attempt to adapt to it, when people started relying on Umbreon HP fighting quickly become popular and when Meloetta was ran Nasty Plot rose in popularity. This adaptability makes sure that regardless of what people ran, Porygon-Z will always be able to stay one step ahead. With the coverage it has Porygon-Z will always render Stall immensely difficult to handle.

Now, Enchanted items isn't going to be eligible until after the release of Sun and Moon. And when that happens the ban list is reset bar poster Legendaries, Mewtwo, Ho-oh, Lugia, Groudon, Kyogre, Rayquaza, Palkia, Dialga, Giratina, Darkrai, Reshiram, Zekrom, Yveltal and Xerneas. That's what I remember atleast. However... We don't know what a metagame without Porygon-Z will look like. And I'd like to indulge in this unique possibility.

So Porygon-Z will be suspected differently, it will be banned during the suspect so people can indulge in the possibility of slower builds.

The suspect will last for 3 days, until the 26th of July, around Midnight Central European Time Zone. For Porygon-Z to be banned by then there needs to be atleast a 60% Majority. To vote you have to reach top 15 on the ladder, or you must have previously reached top 15 during a previous suspect. The following automatically qualify to vote as they have already reached the requirements



When you post try to answer the following questions:

1. How has the metagame changed with Porygon-Z gone?

2. Is this change positive?

3. Is Porygon-Z the problem?

Post in the thread with your decision!

Thank you and good luck!



The Immortal
 
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Ariados @ Mail
Ability: Swarm/Prankster
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Toxic/Shadow Sneak
- Sucker Punch
- Sticky Web
- Substitute
This set is so dumb but I think I have an idea here. Basically it is a suicide lead that sets up sticky web, toxic and potentially revenge kills. I wonder if there is another pokemon that can pull this off better.

Masquerain @ Mail
Ability: Intimidate/Prankster
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
- Quiver Dance
- Sticky Web
- Baton Pass
- Bug Buzz/Substitute/Defog/Haze/Stun Spore/Roost/Toxic

Leavanny @ Mail
Ability: Overcoat/Prankster
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Impish Nature
- Swords Dance
- Sticky Web
- Baton Pass
- X-Scissor/Substitute/Agility/Leaf Blade/Toxic/Synthesis
 
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Ariados @ Mail
Ability: Swarm/Prankster
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Toxic/Shadow Sneak
- Sucker Punch
- Sticky Web
- Substitute
This set is so dumb but I think I have an idea here. Basically it is a suicide lead that sets up sticky web, toxic and potentially revenge kills. I wonder if there is another pokemon that can pull this off better.
Personally I don't see any reason to use Ariados over Galvantula. It's slow, frail, has 4 weaknesses when Galva has 2, and doesn't hit as hard as the Electric Spider does with 322 Sp.Atk at max + Modest Nature. It is nice to have Priority but I don't think Ariados is able to pull it off with 186 Attack. Swarm as ability doesn't give you anything since there's no Bug-Type attacks mentioned in your set. (Also edit your posts in future to avoid double posting! :))
 
Personally I don't see any reason to use Ariados over Galvantula. It's slow, frail, has 4 weaknesses when Galva has 2, and doesn't hit as hard as the Electric Spider does with 322 Sp.Atk at max + Modest Nature. It is nice to have Priority but I don't think Ariados is able to pull it off with 186 Attack. Swarm as ability doesn't give you anything since there's no Bug-Type attacks mentioned in your set. (Also edit your posts in future to avoid double posting! :))
You have a good point there and swarm was just left there by default.
 
Also if you run Galvantula, it has enough speed to potentially use mold breaker, over prankster, to get past magic bounce users that otherwise beats it and ariados.
 
Porygon-Z Suspect thoughts

1. How has the metagame changed with Porygon-Z gone?

Offense teams have gained diversity and, to my surprise, seem to have reduced their reliance on priority. I'm not sure if this is about not needing priority to deal with Porygon-Z or about the fact that you can't just break stall with a single Pokemon and so can't invest so heavily in anti-offense tools -which priority mostly is an anti-offense tool. Its use against stall is basically limited to potentially bypassing key Prankster 'mons, and even then Prankster is, in Enchanted Items, not limited to comparatively fragile Pokemon, and so Magic Bounce is usually a better answer to Prankster in EI than priority, because EI Pranksters can easily be bulky enough (Especially taking into account the potential for resistance) to shrug off stuff like Dragonite's +1 Aerilated Extreme Speed and hit it with Will O Wisp or whatever anyway. Whatever the case, offense seems to be more interesting overall.

Stall, meanwhile, is no longer single-handedly invalidated by a single Pokemon. This is 100% good.

Another consequence is that I'm suddenly seeing other Protean abusers. When Porygon-Z was on the scene, 99% of the time I saw Protean, it was Porygon-Z. The handful of exceptions I saw were Dragonite instead. No real diversity there. Now I'm seeing other Protean Pokemon, and I don't think the meta is going to center on a single specific Protean abuser as the best Protean abuser, because I don't think there is a single best abuser anymore.

I'm also seeing a slight increase in the diversity/commonality of special attackers in general, I think, but I'm less certain of this one.

2. Is this change positive?

Yes.

3. Is Porygon-Z the problem?

Yes. With Porygon-Z banned, there are still stallbreakers that can give my team enough trouble to let the enemy win -but it's healthy, not "lol you lose half your team to one Pokemon pretty much no matter what you do." Other Protean abusers, even mixed attackers like Azelf, are just not on the level of Porygon-Z's capacity to output tremendous damage without boosting and then throwing in boosting to get a series of OHKOs if it wants. A Protean ban might leave Porygon-Z balanced -the only equivalent boost in firepower for Special attacks is Flare Boost (Well, and Analytic, but Porygon-Z is trying to go first), and Porygon-Z can't readily arrange to get the Burn it needs for that- but I feel very clear that in EI it's Porygon-Z that's the issue, not Protean.

Ghoul King's vote: Keep Porygon-Z banned.
 
Unrelated to the pz suspect:

Stall vs. Stall or Stall vs. Balance has a problem in EI. The format has very good users of Regenerator, and so if neither team has a way of sweeping the other and both have good mons with that ability, battles can easily become unending. Neither player will have to use pp, and it can become very hard to pressure a team over time without actually sweeping. Situations can occur where if one player does anything but switch, they just create a disadvantage for themselves.

Unending Regen vs. Regen matchups are already a problem on other parts of the simulator, but not as frequent because the users aren't as good. In EI, it is disturbingy easy to build teams that are very hard to pressure into even using their recovery moves at all.
 
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I've got a couple weird sets that have worked pretty well for me.

Swalot @ Mail
Ability: Liquid Ooze/Prankster
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 SpD (for Gunk Shot/Earthquake) or 4 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpD (if running Pain Split)
IVs: 0 Spd
Brave Nature or Sassy Nature
- Destiny Bond
- Encore
- Gunk Shot/Infestation
- Earthquake/Pain Split/Curse/Yawn

Swalot is a pretty forgotten pokemon, but he has an excellent movepool, and is one of the only Pokemon with both Destiny Bond and Encore to run with Prankster.

Gardevoir and Cacturne can run similar sets, but Swalot is by far the bulkiest and has the best defensive type out of the three.


Parasect @ Thick Club
Ability: Dry Skin/Primordial Sea
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Substitute
- Spore
- Leech Seed
- X-Scissor/Toxic/Aromatherapy

This set would be much better if it weren't for all the Gale Wings and Aerilate Pokemon running around, but still performs admirably. PrimSea removes his crippling Fire weakness and gives him recovery alongside Leech Seed.
 
Unrelated to the pz suspect:

Stall vs. Stall or Stall vs. Balance has a problem in EI. The format has very good users of Regenerator, and so if neither team has a way of sweeping the other and both have good mons with that ability, battles can easily become unending. Neither player will have to use pp, and it can become very hard to pressure a team over time without actually sweeping. Situations can occur where if one player does anything but switch, they just create a disadvantage for themselves.

Unending Regen vs. Regen matchups are already a problem on other parts of the simulator, but not as frequent because the users aren't as good. In EI, it is disturbingy easy to build teams that are very hard to pressure into even using their recovery moves at all.
I'm going to add to that that even offense teams can create this problem. Landorus-Therian+Rotom-Wash is a popular Regenerator core on offensive teams that can be really difficult for stall and balance teams to break, especially due to their volturn making it very difficult to actually have a threat to them in front of them. Since they both ignore ground-bound hazards, even Spikes stacking isn't capable of killing the core once the enemy's hazard removal is dead, not without something like Gravity supporting it. The fact that Rotom-Wash can drop Burns on things can make it difficult for even offense teams to output the kind of pressure necessary to break the core, depending on what they're team makeup is like.

I'm not sure what's a solution, though. Restricting Regenerator to 1 copy a team would address this, but I worry that it's a case of the solution being worse than the problem.
 
Regen is fun to play against on balance or offence but it becomes very annoying on stall. Though honestly stall does not need regen to be long lasting, or annoying, with all the other good options it has.
 

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