Gimmicks and Their Role in the OU Metagame

[Groudon ex]

Tornadus @ Leftovers
Trait: Prankster
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Substitute
- Swagger
- Hurricane
- Focus Blast

When played correctly (and with a little luck), this Tornadus set is perhaps one of the most infuriating things you'll ever come across, almost on par with Liepard. The key difference here of course is that while this set also utilises confusion hax, it manages to be threatening on its own without having to totally rely on haxxing your opponent. The idea is that you use Substitute on a predicted switch, then use Swagger on their check. You can then keep using Substitute with priority until they inevitably succumb to confusion, which gives you the opportunity to get another attack in for free. Thanks to Substitute, you get a safety net if Swagger fails. With this set, you can theoretically beat absolutely anything, although it still constitutes a gimmick as it can occasionally backfire if you give an attack boost to something like Lum DDNite. Still, this set has incredible potential as a wall-breaker and a sweeper.

 

[Jukain]

Speaking of Swagger:

Liepard @ Leftovers
Trait: Prankster
EVs: 148 HP / 68 Def / 68 SpD / 224 Spe
Timid Nature
- Substitute
- Swagger
- Foul Play
- Thunder Wave

Fuck this thing. Seriously, unless you play like an utter god, SOMETHING is going to get crippled and annoyed to death. Swagger boosts the opponent's attack -- Foul Play capitalizes on that. Everything not Steel-type just dies. Substitute blocks stray attacks hit through confusion. Thunder Wave is I guess for that parafusion, but that's not why it's so scary -- paralyzing your Scarfer or sweeper can literally mean gg. You have to tread around carefully whenever you fight this thing. Fortunately, it is frail so you can KO it with a lot of common stuff -- unfortunately by that time the damage is often already done.

I'm hyping this a bit over much perhaps, but it's really strong and annoying. It's about as gimmicky as gimmicky gets -- being very luck-reliant -- but the possibility of completely crippling and/or KOing a Pokemon or two is undeniably good.

 

[termi]

Might as well post my Latias set that I posted at The Next Best Thing, since it fits the bill of uncommon scarfer like a glove.

Latias (F) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Levitate
Nature: Timid
EV's: 252 SpA/4 SpD/252 Spe

- Draco Meteor
- Surf/Psyshock/HP Fire
- Trick
- Healing Wish

Generally speaking, Latios would be the better scarfer because his offensive presence is simply bigger, but Latias can still perform a scarf set in her own way by being able to both revenge kill and support the team. Draco Meteor is her strongest STAB and therefor the best option. The second attack depends on preference: Surf provides coverage by nailing pesky Heatrans, Psyshock gets close to OHKOing Keldeo and Terrakion (although it should be noted that these two only go down to it when they're already dented) and HP Fire surprises incoming Scizors, Ferrothorns, Skarmories and Forretresses. HP Fire is the least desirable of these choices, though, because you need to run 30 speed IVs to use it, meaning you'll now speed tie with Jolly Cloyster at +2. Also, the aforementioned 4 Pokémon hate it when they get a Choice Scarf tricked onto them, meaning Trick can cripple incoming Ferrothorns well enough. Trick is also a great tool for when the scarf isn't necessary anyways because everything that can outspeed Latias is gone already or wasn't there to begin with. Healing Wish is where Latias separates herself from her brother, though, because in exchange for offensive presence, she can sacrifice herself to restore a crippled team member to full health in exchange for her life. This makes her a great tool late-game, because once you don't need your revenge killing Latias anymore, she can Trick her scarf onto whatever switches in, then go out with a Healing Wish in order to let one of your crippled team members clean the rest of the opponent's team, making her quite unpredictable.

 

[Usatoday]

^Sorry if I'm dense, but I don't get why this Volc is a gimmick... because of the Passho Berry? Seems pretty cool anyway, and Passho is not standard and clever. It doesn't feel like a "gimmick" to me.

Well if memory serves me passho berry is mainly to set up on the likes of expert belt keldeo and then proceed to ohko it with a +1 giga drain or even on a defensive rotom wash it works pretty decently actually. I guess it classified as a gimmick because it serves one purpose and one purpose only to get rid of keldeo or rotom wash.
@ Jellicent it also gets giga drain which I feel would be better for that set.

 

[Jukain]

yeah, scarf latias is good, mainly because healing wish is so clutch -- you can literally pull up a match out of nothing with it. unfortunately, it's even weaker than scarf latios and has the same issue of being easily pursuit trapped, though healing wish does somewhat help mitigate that. the main issue I have with scarf latis in general is that they're too easily killed, too easily trapped, and too easily taken advantage of (read: set up on) once they are at -2. I won't deny their niche in being able to utterly destroy venusaur, and latias is more reliable in that role than latios due to its greater bulk. despite this, I avoid using either of them with a scarf unless I absolutely have to for a sun weakness or whatever. outrunning salac-boosted terrakion is pretty nice too I guess.

the archive is all updated btw

 

[MikeDawg]

@Homeslice

There is a choice specs Jellicent on site which you may want to check out.

More importantly though, Jellicent has access to Energy Ball, which is superior to Hidden Power Grass.

We all know what happens when Jellicent uses energy ball, though...

HP Grass is probably for the best

Well if memory serves me passho berry is mainly to set up on the likes of expert belt keldeo and then proceed to ohko it with a +1 giga drain or even on a defensive rotom wash it works pretty decently actually. I guess it classified as a gimmick because it serves one purpose and one purpose only to get rid of keldeo or rotom wash.
@ Jellicent it also gets giga drain which I feel would be better for that set.

It doesn't serve just one purpose, though. It sweeps just like any other volc set, it just happens to now be able to take on water types.

 

[Jukain]

@MikeDawg @Homeslice @Scarfwynaut Jellicent gets Giga Drain, which is infinitely superior to both HP Grass and Energy Ball.

 

[Kingler]

@Homeslice

There is a choice specs Jellicent on site which you may want to check out.

More importantly though, Jellicent has access to Energy Ball, which is superior to Hidden Power Grass.

I believe it gets access to giga drain, which is even better than the 2 mentioned. No "gimmick" sets as of now but I have a pretty neat lead hydreigon set:

Hydreigon @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 232 Spd / 24 HP / 252 SAtk
Timid Nature
- Taunt
- U-turn
- Draco Meteor
- Fire Blast

Now this is a bit of a weird set. This works best on voltturn because of the things it does for voltturn. Voltturn abhors hazards; custap leads and ferrothorn in particular are extremely annoying. That's where this comes in. You send it as a lead against a custap skarm and your opponent thinks you're dumb sending your wallbreaker out so early. But then you taunt it and force it out. By predicting that, you use u-turn. Later on your SR can break skarm's sturdy.
The EVs allow me to outspeed max speed base 95's(haxorus imo is too irrelevant in OU) and rest in bulk and hit hard. The item is leftovers but any preferred item such as dragon gem can be used.

 

[Jukain]

Interesting, @Kingler12345. I can see that set being awesome to stop Custap mons in their tracks. Taunt + Fire Blast destroys Forretress and Skarmory, while Draco Meteor is just powerful and U-turn gives you an advantage to scout and retain momentum.

Leftovers is just bad though on something as offensive as that -- Life Orb, Expert Belt, and Dragon Gem appeal to me. Superpower is a neat option for nailing Tyranitar and Heatran, so I think it's at least worth mentioning. No Ferrothorn/Skarmory in its right mind will stay in on Hydreigon (with the exception of Custap Skarm) Draco does over half to Forretress and you can just U-turn out afterwards. I'd say Taunt + Draco + U-turn will harm Forretress enough.

This next thing used to be more gimmicky, but it's become more common as the metagame has evolved. Originally used by Taylor in the DW era, I give you SashTar:

Tyranitar @ Focus Sash
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Pursuit
- Superpower
- Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge

This is my favorite Tyranitar set if I don't need the whole reliable Pursuit trapper thing. Usually it leads and sets up Stealth Rock, which is great. It still has Pursuit, which gives it mid-game utility -- I won't always lead with it, especially if I have a Starmie or Forretress, as it can still be good mid-game. Stone Edge is powerful. Now, Superpower could be replaced by Fire Blast, but I like hitting opposing Tyranitar, Ferrothorn, and Kyurem-B (fuck Stone Edge accuracy, really) hard and reliably. Jolly + max Speed makes Tyranitar really fast, or at least faster than opponents may suspect. It's a great way to fit Stealth Rock on your sand team without using a sucky non-Choice bulky variant or something.

 

[MikeDawg]

Tornadus @ Leftovers
Trait: Prankster
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Substitute
- Swagger
- Hurricane
- Focus Blast

When played correctly (and with a little luck), this Tornadus set is perhaps one of the most infuriating things you'll ever come across, almost on par with Liepard. The key difference here of course is that while this set also utilises confusion hax, it manages to be threatening on its own without having to totally rely on haxxing your opponent. The idea is that you use Substitute on a predicted switch, then use Swagger on their check. You can then keep using Substitute with priority until they inevitably succumb to confusion, which gives you the opportunity to get another attack in for free. Thanks to Substitute, you get a safety net if Swagger fails. With this set, you can theoretically beat absolutely anything, although it still constitutes a gimmick as it can occasionally backfire if you give an attack boost to something like Lum DDNite. Still, this set has incredible potential as a wall-breaker and a sweeper.

I tried this out, and it was fun.

But I have the absolute worst ladder luck ever (and anybody who denies it is wrong) so I frequently finding myself not getting confusehax, and fblast missing and them critting subs, etc.

So while it works sometimes, it is awful for the ladder because it completely lacks consistency

 

[PDC]

Use Low Kick > Superpower on that set imo. Superpower lowers your stats and at what cost? Low Kick does the same amount too 2 of the three Pokemon mentioned above as Superpower, and overall it is just the better option. Ferrothorn is the only exception, and it hasn't really made a difference too many times for me at all considering I almost always run Fire Blast. Sure I guess you could hit a stray Jirachi or Keldeo with it once and awhile, but I feel that over all the times I have used it Low Kick has just been completely superior in every aspect. SashTar is definitely a cool Pokemon which isn't really too much of a gimmick anymore, and it definitely drives a lot of teams under pressure quickly.

 

[Kingler]

Interesting, @Kingler12345. I can see that set being awesome to stop Custap mons in their tracks. Taunt + Fire Blast destroys Forretress and Skarmory, while Draco Meteor is just powerful and U-turn gives you an advantage to scout and retain momentum.

Leftovers is just bad though on something as offensive as that -- Life Orb, Expert Belt, and Dragon Gem appeal to me. Superpower is a neat option for nailing Tyranitar and Heatran, so I think it's at least worth mentioning. No Ferrothorn/Skarmory in its right mind will stay in on Hydreigon (with the exception of Custap Skarm) Draco does over half to Forretress and you can just U-turn out afterwards. I'd say Taunt + Draco + U-turn will harm Forretress enough.

This next thing used to be more gimmicky, but it's become more common as the metagame has evolved. Originally used by Taylor in the DW era, I give you SashTar:

Tyranitar @ Focus Sash
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Pursuit
- Superpower
- Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge

This is my favorite Tyranitar set if I don't need the whole reliable Pursuit trapper thing. Usually it leads and sets up Stealth Rock, which is great. It still has Pursuit, which gives it mid-game utility -- I won't always lead with it, especially if I have a Starmie or Forretress, as it can still be good mid-game. Stone Edge is powerful. Now, Superpower could be replaced by Fire Blast, but I like hitting opposing Tyranitar, Ferrothorn, and Kyurem-B (fuck Stone Edge accuracy, really) hard and reliably. Jolly + max Speed makes Tyranitar really fast, or at least faster than opponents may suspect. It's a great way to fit Stealth Rock on your sand team without using a sucky non-Choice bulky variant or something.

The set is meant to beat forry and skarm leads outright. I don't think superpower will have much utility as all hydreigon needs to do is stop custapmons and gain momentum. Otherwise it might double as a wallbreaker or general special attacker. Leftovers is there simply because of his decent bulk and immunity to spikes, making it almost invulnerable to entry hazards. The thing I might otherwise use is dragon gem, that will be fun. Life orb simply doesn't put its bulk to use. You should definitely use that set on voltturn. I will post another gimmick set if possible later.

 

[Matthew]

Are we really posting sets rather than discussing gimmicks as they are? I don't understand it. You're just posting sets and maybe (on occasion) improving the sets. How is this a discussion on how gimmicks are used in the metagame?

Talk about HP Fire Forretress. Talk about Terrakion with HP Ice to beat Landorus-T. I mean, judging from the thread, it's just PC++. No one is doing this. Let's talk about how actual gimmicks (and I mean actual gimmicks, not weird pokemon to use) help win battles.

I use Breloom without Spore. Instead of that I use Rock Tomb to fuck over Volcarona and Dragonite. Instead I'm seeing a thread filled of (sorry) but not useful pokemon sets. Swagger Tornadus? You're not using Foul Play. What's the honest point of that? Hydreigon with Taunt and U-Turn? There's nothing gimmick about that. That's probably what's called: a smart idea.

You don't want thing setting up on you when you're Hydreigon and you can easily swap out with U-Turn.

Sash Tyranitar has been around since DPP. Except it just had more moves and was less essential to a team because weather wars weren't a thing.

Healing Wish Latias? There are better pokes (and better moves) to use on Latias for that exact reason. I'd rather pick a pokemon with a better defense see: Jirachi, Cressila (Lunar Dance is pretty much the same).

The Liepierd set is actually pretty decent. Won't comment on that

that's just on this page. Why don't we talk about things that are actually useful (re: HP Fire Forretress to beat Ferrothorn and HP Ice Terrakion). yes these are pokemon which actually have a use in OU, but these subtle move changes make them gimmicks entirely.

Regardless of my rant: Rock Tomb Breloom is my favorite gimmick. Fucks up Volcarona and Dragonite on the switch-in. Lowering speed is a plus too so I can hit with Bullet Seed or another Rock Tomb real easily. All I have to do is sacrifice Spore and that's honestly not a big deal.

 

[Kingler]

Are we really posting sets rather than discussing gimmicks as they are? I don't understand it. You're just posting sets and maybe (on occasion) improving the sets. How is this a discussion on how gimmicks are used in the metagame?

Talk about HP Fire Forretress. Talk about Terrakion with HP Ice to beat Landorus-T. I mean, judging from the thread, it's just PC++. No one is doing this. Let's talk about how actual gimmicks (and I mean actual gimmicks, not weird pokemon to use) help win battles.

I use Breloom without Spore. Instead of that I use Rock Tomb to fuck over Volcarona and Dragonite. Instead I'm seeing a thread filled of (sorry) but not useful pokemon sets. Swagger Tornadus? You're not using Foul Play. What's the honest point of that? Hydreigon with Taunt and U-Turn? There's nothing gimmick about that. That's probably what's called: a smart idea.

You don't want thing setting up on you when you're Hydreigon and you can easily swap out with U-Turn.

Sash Tyranitar has been around since DPP. Except it just had more moves and was less essential to a team because weather wars weren't a thing.

Healing Wish Latias? There are better pokes (and better moves) to use on Latias for that exact reason. I'd rather pick a pokemon with a better defense see: Jirachi, Cressila (Lunar Dance is pretty much the same).

The Liepierd set is actually pretty decent. Won't comment on that

that's just on this page. Why don't we talk about things that are actually useful (re: HP Fire Forretress to beat Ferrothorn and HP Ice Terrakion). yes these are pokemon which actually have a use in OU, but these subtle move changes make them gimmicks entirely.

Regardless of my rant: Rock Tomb Breloom is my favorite gimmick. Fucks up Volcarona and Dragonite on the switch-in. Lowering speed is a plus too so I can hit with Bullet Seed or another Rock Tomb real easily. All I have to do is sacrifice Spore and that's honestly not a big deal.

I'm not exactly sure how exactly a gimmick is defined, and i specifically wrote in my hydreigon set that I wasn't sure whether it was a gimmick. By that logic one could argue that rock tomb breloom is simply a change to breloom's moveset. Anyways, rock tomb breloom sounds fun, should try it out sometime.

 

[Spinda]

Are we really posting sets rather than discussing gimmicks as they are? I don't understand it. You're just posting sets and maybe (on occasion) improving the sets. How is this a discussion on how gimmicks are used in the metagame?

Talk about HP Fire Forretress. Talk about Terrakion with HP Ice to beat Landorus-T. I mean, judging from the thread, it's just PC++. No one is doing this. Let's talk about how actual gimmicks (and I mean actual gimmicks, not weird pokemon to use) help win battles.

I use Breloom without Spore. Instead of that I use Rock Tomb to fuck over Volcarona and Dragonite. Instead I'm seeing a thread filled of (sorry) but not useful pokemon sets. Swagger Tornadus? You're not using Foul Play. What's the honest point of that? Hydreigon with Taunt and U-Turn? There's nothing gimmick about that. That's probably what's called: a smart idea.

You don't want thing setting up on you when you're Hydreigon and you can easily swap out with U-Turn.

Sash Tyranitar has been around since DPP. Except it just had more moves and was less essential to a team because weather wars weren't a thing.

Healing Wish Latias? There are better pokes (and better moves) to use on Latias for that exact reason. I'd rather pick a pokemon with a better defense see: Jirachi, Cressila (Lunar Dance is pretty much the same).

The Liepierd set is actually pretty decent. Won't comment on that

that's just on this page. Why don't we talk about things that are actually useful (re: HP Fire Forretress to beat Ferrothorn and HP Ice Terrakion). yes these are pokemon which actually have a use in OU, but these subtle move changes make them gimmicks entirely.

Regardless of my rant: Rock Tomb Breloom is my favorite gimmick. Fucks up Volcarona and Dragonite on the switch-in. Lowering speed is a plus too so I can hit with Bullet Seed or another Rock Tomb real easily. All I have to do is sacrifice Spore and that's honestly not a big deal.

I've used rock tomb breloom before ( Bullet Seed/Mach Punch/Rock Tomb/Spore ), do you really think it's worth using over spore? The only thing I can think of that gets hit by rock tomb and would switch in or set up on breloom ( before it's used spore, which you don't even have ) I can think of is xatu.
Also, could you explain the difference between a gimmick and a smart idea? Cuz I don't get how rock tomb breloom is any more gimmicky than anything else, if anything I'd just call it a smart idea.
The sets honestly speak for themselves, it's hard to really discuss.
Healing Wish is actually a really good move on Latias, as it is on any poke. It can turn games around, and I'd dare say choice latias hardly needs that 4th slot anyway. It seems infinitely more useful than using hp fire forretress to beat ferrothorn considering ferrothorn is a huge set-up bait for forretress anyway, especially when ferrothorn has leech seed and you're taking iron barbs damage every time you spin that away, and you're only doing about 30% with hp fire ( 15 in rain? ), not to mention it being absolutely worthless to anything not 4x fire weak. ( Not like forry has severe 4MSS anyway, right? )

 

[Halcyon.]

Are we really posting sets rather than discussing gimmicks as they are? I don't understand it. You're just posting sets and maybe (on occasion) improving the sets. How is this a discussion on how gimmicks are used in the metagame?

Talk about HP Fire Forretress. Talk about Terrakion with HP Ice to beat Landorus-T. I mean, judging from the thread, it's just PC++. No one is doing this. Let's talk about how actual gimmicks (and I mean actual gimmicks, not weird pokemon to use) help win battles.

I use Breloom without Spore. Instead of that I use Rock Tomb to fuck over Volcarona and Dragonite. Instead I'm seeing a thread filled of (sorry) but not useful pokemon sets. Swagger Tornadus? You're not using Foul Play. What's the honest point of that? Hydreigon with Taunt and U-Turn? There's nothing gimmick about that. That's probably what's called: a smart idea.

You don't want thing setting up on you when you're Hydreigon and you can easily swap out with U-Turn.

Sash Tyranitar has been around since DPP. Except it just had more moves and was less essential to a team because weather wars weren't a thing.

Healing Wish Latias? There are better pokes (and better moves) to use on Latias for that exact reason. I'd rather pick a pokemon with a better defense see: Jirachi, Cressila (Lunar Dance is pretty much the same).

The Liepierd set is actually pretty decent. Won't comment on that

that's just on this page. Why don't we talk about things that are actually useful (re: HP Fire Forretress to beat Ferrothorn and HP Ice Terrakion). yes these are pokemon which actually have a use in OU, but these subtle move changes make them gimmicks entirely.

Regardless of my rant: Rock Tomb Breloom is my favorite gimmick. Fucks up Volcarona and Dragonite on the switch-in. Lowering speed is a plus too so I can hit with Bullet Seed or another Rock Tomb real easily. All I have to do is sacrifice Spore and that's honestly not a big deal.

I actually used Rock Tomb on Breloom when Technician was first released, but honestly, I found it to be inferior to Stone Edge pretty quickly. Yes, the speed drop is cool, and it can help you catch Volcarona on the switch, but I don't think Volcarona should be switching in to you anyway, and Stone Edge accomplishes the same thing, while also having more base power and the same accuracy (and a higher critical hit ratio, but that doesn't really matter). The only things it can really catch off guard would be Dragonite and Lati@s, but Low Sweep does the same thing and doesn't have the shaky accuracy. My favorite move to use on Breloom is Focus Punch, but that's moving away from gimmick and towards standard nowadays. Focus Punch lets you beat Skarmory, Dragonite after Rocks, Salamence, Latios, Latias, and do about half to Celebi.

I also want to comment on Latias, because I think the main reason you use Latias with Healing Wish is that it's the fastest Healing Wish out there. Yes, Scarf Jirachi is a great user of Healing Wish (probably my favorite), but Healing Wish on Latias does have its advantages. Namely Scarf Latias can Healing Wish before any other Pokémon has the chance to attack, whereas a weakened Jirachi might die to Scarf Terrakion or Keldeo before it has a chance to heal a teammate.

HP Fire on Forretress sounds interesting, but I've always preferred HP Ice. It lets you do considerable damage to Dragon types locked into Outrage, or those that may try to set up on Forretress. It also lets you spin and damage Landorus-T. HP Fire sounds cool, but at the same time, it won't do much to Ferrothorn in the rain, which is where you'll see him the most anyway. Still, it's probably a nice surprise for anyone who thinks they can set up hazards on Forretress.

 

[ShootingStarmie]

I really don't like the idea of HP fire Forretress. Ferrothorn is seen way too commonly on Rain teams for me to pick HP fire > HP ice. Even out of Rain, Forre doesn't beat Ferrothorn, as with Leach Seed and Protect, and Forretress' terrible SpAtk, you're not doing too much damage to the Ferrothorn. Yeah I guess it beats Scizor? But who's leaving a Scizor in on Forretress anyway? HP ice is a much better option for Forretress imo. Yeah I know this is a gimmicky thread, but there's a line where a gimmicks just outclassed by other options, and HP fire crosses this line imo.

 

[Goutland]

Kinda wondering the same thing as the above posters, how DO you define a gimmick? How do you differentiate between a good gimmick and a bad gimmick? @Matthew, apparently you think taunt Hydreigon isn't a gimmick because it's a good idea, even though it's uncommon. So if I get what you're saying, a viable, yet uncommon set does not fit the description of a gimmick. Yet your example of rock tomb Breloom pretty much fits the same description. I agree that you could consider hp fire Forretress and hp ice Terrakion gimmicks, but where do you draw the line? Does it need to have less utility or higher risk/reward than a standard set (such as dropping spore for coverage on Breloom) to be considered a gimmick? It seems like by your logic, a gimmick is pretty much bad by default because of how you define it. But I'd like to hear what you have to say about this; I don't want to put words in your mouth.

I wasn't going to post anything because I think my gimmicks are bad, but since I'm already here I might as well. Here's two gimmicks I used on the team I got reqs with for the Lando suspect test (included that last bit so you don't assume I'm ladder trash using stupid sets):

Tyranitar @ Custap Berry
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 152 Atk / 252 HP / 104 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Pursuit
- Stone Edge
- Low Kick
- Stealth Rock

I don't know where I got the idea of using custap berry exactly, but I needed Ttar to by my SR supporter, so I really couldn't afford to be choiced. I know some people use scarf + rocks on mons like Jirachi and Garchomp, but it's really not ideal for Ttar because it's slow and has exploitable weaknesses. Lum and chople are decent options, as you can still bluff choice, but after setting up rocks idk who's still going to think you're choiced. And then there's leftovers, which is an option that should never be used imo. So I went with custap for shits and giggles. And it turned out to not be that bad. The custap really comes in handy against spike stacking hyper offense teams, as you can manipulate your hp by switching in and out. I always thought it was hilarious when I did this against things like +2 Volcarona and scarf Mence which would have caused me trouble me otherwise. The sdef is there so I can switch into specs Latios and take two draco meteors or have a decent shot at living 2 surfs, guaranteeing the trap even if they stay in due to the custap. I chose low kick > superpower in that slot because it still hits a good amount of targets for max damage (Terrakion, Ferrothorn, Lucario), and there's no attack drop to force you out. I guess this isn't a terrible gimmick since it can beat specs Latios reliably without having to guess between crunch and pursuit, but it's still not really the best. It can also help you beat Starmie, but you need way too much investment to be able to take two life orb hydros.

Torterra @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Overgrow
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 HP
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Wood Hammer
- Stone Edge
- Superpower

LOL don't use this. It's terrible, but I used it anyway. I got the idea from an old smogcast and thought it would be fun to troll with. And it was. Jolly scarf Torterra hits the same speed as Durant unboosted (base 109), so it also speed ties with hp fire Gengar/Latios. Which means, you can outspeed unboosted Terrakion and Keldeo among other fast things. But it'll never outspeed any real scarfers, ever. STAB wood hammer is powerful, but outside of that Torterra is really underwhelming in OU. Don't use this unless you're trolling on the ladder like I was.

So those are my shitty gimmicks I've been successful with.

BTW I was curious about how much hp fire Forry could do to Ferrothorn, so I ran the calcs and wasn't very impressed :|
0 SpAtk Forretress Hidden Power Fire vs 252 HP/168 SpDef Ferrothorn: 29.55% - 35.23% (4-5 hits to KO)
0 SpAtk Forretress Hidden Power Fire vs 252 HP/168 SpDef Ferrothorn: 44.32% - 52.27% (3 hits to KO) even in sun... meh.

 

[G-Von]

I've been wanting to participate in this thread for a while but couldn't remember any real gimmicks I used to run. I know for sure there were some sets I had used that were far from the consensus of standard but many of them were just straight up lower tier pokemon. There is one OU pokemon that I recall using that no analysis has ever mentioned so here it is.

Haxorus@Focus Sash
Trait: Mold Breaker
EV's: 252 Attack/252 Speed/4 Def
Jolly/Adamant Nature
-Dragon Dance
-Outrage
-Earthquake
-Reversal

Since Haxorus isn't very bulky, it will be facing many possible OHKO's from powerful attacks. To guarantee survival at full health, Focus Sash is used to nab a Dragon Dance. After doing so, Hax can now lay down the law by spamming any powerful move it wants. Outrage obviously hits things retardedly hard and EQ hits even the Levitate users that normally do not fear ground moves. The crux of this set is being able to use a 200 base power fighting move at will without any drawbacks in the name of Reversal. At +1, Hax literally cannot be countered. It is able to get through the likes of Skarmory and Forretress without even needing SR on the field; that's something no other Haxorus would be able to do with the same boost. Of course there are many ways of getting around this Haxorus, which in include entry hazards, status, priority moves, multi-hit moves, sand, hail, and faster choice scarfers. Also, if extremely bulky pokemon or Intimidate users are at 100%, than they can stomach a neutral hit and either faze hax out or straight up kill him after his focus sash has been broken. Of course, all sash users are worried about this so the goal is to eliminate all these possibilities to allow haxorus to sweep.

 

[Matthew]

A gimmick is something like Giga Punch (that was supposed to be a bad joke).

Here's how things are:
gimmicks are generally things you're running that catch your opponent off guard on a good pokemon, or at least that's how I see them. We can discuss if that's true later. HP Fire Forretress shouldn't be run. But it has a use of hurting Ferrothorn in sun if you use it right. I'd consider using an underused pokemon that has some merit (such as our favorite Dark/Dragon) to be using an uncommon threat.

I suppose if I am to try to define a gimmick I would say it is:
A pokemon who is commonly used but is relying upon a one-time use set.

if that makes sense

 

[Goutland]

Respectable definition, thank you.

I thought of a cool one earlier and decided to test it out on the ladder, and it's not too shabby. It's netted a few surprise kills against its main intended target and still has some use outside of that one poke.

Tentacruel @ Black Sludge
Trait: Rain Dish
EVs: 100 Spd / 252 HP / 156 Def or 252 HP / 236 Def / 20 Spe
Timid Nature or Bold
- Scald
- Hidden Power [Psychic]
- Toxic Spikes / Toxic
- Rapid Spin

I've noticed more Toxicroak on the ladder recently, and I don't know if it's just to counter Pony + Dinosaur or just a random increase, but I thought of a cool counter. Tentacruel is normally setup bait for Toxicroak, usually only carrying scald and rarely ice beam, but with HP psychic the tables have completely been turned (unless Toxicroak has earthquake for some odd reason). Exploiting Toxicroak's 4x weakness to psychic, Tentacruel can now deal a huge amount of damage to Toxicroak with no investment, and a decent chunk to fighting types such as Breloom, Keldeo, and Conkeldurr (without giving it the guts boost too).

The first EV spread I provided is a custom one I made to outspeed jolly Mamoswine, which subsequently lets you outspeed adamant Toxicroak and jolly Breloom. You can choose to ignore it and use the standard bulky spread if you'd like, as the loss in bulk is very noticeable.

Calcs:
0 SpAtk Tentacruel Hidden Power Psychic vs 0 HP/0 SpDef Toxicroak: 78.18% - 92.51% (2 hits to KO)
0 SpAtk Tentacruel Hidden Power Psychic vs 0 HP/0 SpDef Breloom: 48.28% - 57.47% (2-3 hits to KO)
0 SpAtk Tentacruel Hidden Power Psychic vs 0 HP/0 SpDef Keldeo: 28.48% - 34.06% (3-4 hits to KO)
0 SpAtk Tentacruel Hidden Power Psychic vs 252 HP/0 SpDef Conkeldurr: 28.99% - 34.3% (3-4 hits to KO) (watch out for sheer force T-punch)

With hp psychic you don't have to rely on the scald burn for Breloom and Keldeo, but scald is often the better option anyway just in case they want to switch out. Shows how stupid scald is, but I'll save that for another time. ;)

 

[Snou]

Well! I love use gimmick sets and low tier pokemon in OU. Why? A great part of players don't know sets different to the standards. Now i show you some set that i use and it works. Well....

KING (Slowking) (F) @ Choice Specs
Trait: Regenerator
EVs: 240 HP / 252 SAtk / 16 Spd
Modest Nature
- Trick
- Fire Blast
- Surf
- Psyshock

That set is dangerous. Slowking is very bulky. For this reason it is difficult to knock him out with a single move. The trait that dream world provides enables it to last even more. It has excellent switch-in, especially on pokemon as keldeo or some bulky water and, supported by some hazardz(for example SR + a layer of spikes) he can do 2hko to ferrothorn. Ice beam ohko the stupid dragons which thinks they can setup on Slowking with their dances. Fire blast is a good choice for ohko ferrothorn( under the rain too) and do serious damage on Celebi in wless. Surf is the main STAB. Under the rain it can ohko jirachi and do 2ohko to rotom-w and others bulkywater. It is 3hko on ferrothorn, but 2 ohko with SR+ a layer of spikes. Psychic is the second STAB and kills Amoonguss, toxicroak and bulky water too. The evs spread to outspeed pokemon with the same speed(like other Sloking/slowbro, amoonguss or Ferrothorn) and max Spatk for amazing damages. The others 240 evs in Hp for more staying power and bulkyness.

MALEFIC (Chandelure) (M) @ Expert Belt
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature
- Fire Blast
- Flame Charge
- Shadow Ball
- Hidden Power [Ground] / Ice

That chandelure.... is powerful. Why? >400 spatk for wonderful damages. The unique problem is that speed... but it have Flame Charge who boost its speed and is very very powah. Killed the main counters( dragons and ttar, if you use hp ground, heatran and ttar if you use hp ice) this chandelure win battling alone lol. Supported by a trio with hp ice it can work perfectly. Modest because it can't anyway outspeed scarf pokemon with timid nature, but with modest nature he can ohko Gliscor and Landorus-T with fire blast(if u use hp ice) and ho heatran with hp ground. If you use sr+ 1 layer of spikes ttar is 2ohko and do a lots of kills. Shadow ball is ohko to jellicent and latias/latios/gengar and others, fire blast kill all the pokemon weak to fire. Flame charge for speed and the hp ground for tran, ice for lando and gliscor sure ohko and for dnite. Flash fire can boost the power of this chandelabrum. He can survive to a EQ of sash trio and kill him with flame charge+sball and break all the sunny teams without eq saur/nature power sawsbuck. Very, very dangerous.

 

[Jukain]

SnowCristal!:

Specs Slowking is good. It murders quite a few things while retaining a good amount of bulk. I really don't think it's a gimmick though, being very consistent and not at all relying or even really using surprise factor. It's not very destructive when your opponent doesn't know the set. It's, as what Matthew said, a "good idea". Despite is, your set can be exponentially improved. First of all, you forgo Trick -- one of the reasons that Specs Slowking is even viable in the first place. What are you using Ice Beam for? The amount of things you nail on the switch-in is very small, and you again lose Trick! Psychic instead of Psyshock...why? Psyshock does so much more to the blobs while nailing Keldeo and even boosted Latias (harder than Ice Beam at least). Replace Ice Beam with Trick and Psychic with Psyshock. I've used Specs Slowking a lot, and even wrote the analysis for it, but your build is not optimal in my experience.

I wish Flame Charge Chandelure worked -- I really do -- but it doesn't. It's not even fast enough to avoid most Scarfers after a boost and has an insane amount of trouble procuring one. You have like Steel-types to set up on, and even then with hazards damage Jirachi and Heatran (requires no special condition) can beat it. It's KOed by so much, and has no protection with Flame Charge, unlike with Substitute. You'll have better luck with Substitute and Choice Scarf, and even then, it seems like such a waste of your sun Fire-type when Volcarona, Darmanitan, and Victini exist.

I want to now steer the discussion to a tournaments vs. ladder play one. How does each outlet of play affect the viability of gimmicks? These are the questions to answer.

 

[haunter]

Well! I love use gimmick sets and low tier pokemon in OU. Why? A great part of players don't know sets different to the standards. Now i show you some set that i use and it works. Well....

KING (Slowking) (F) @ Choice Specs
Trait: Regenerator
EVs: 240 HP / 252 SAtk / 16 Spd
Modest Nature
- Ice Beam
- Fire Blast
- Surf
- Psychic

That set is dangerous. Slowking is very bulky. For this reason it is difficult to knock him out with a single move. The trait that dream world provides enables it to last even more. It has excellent switch-in, especially on pokemon as keldeo or some bulky water and, supported by some hazardz(for example SR + a layer of spikes) he can do 2hko to ferrothorn. Ice beam ohko the stupid dragons which thinks they can setup on Slowking with their dances. Fire blast is a good choice for ohko ferrothorn( under the rain too) and do serious damage on Celebi in wless. Surf is the main STAB. Under the rain it can ohko jirachi and do 2ohko to rotom-w and others bulkywater. It is 3hko on ferrothorn, but 2 ohko with SR+ a layer of spikes. Psychic is the second STAB and kills Amoonguss, toxicroak and bulky water too. The evs spread to outspeed pokemon with the same speed(like other Sloking/slowbro, amoonguss or Ferrothorn) and max Spatk for amazing damages. The others 240 evs in Hp for more staying power and bulkyness.

MALEFIC (Chandelure) (M) @ Expert Belt
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature
- Fire Blast
- Flame Charge
- Shadow Ball
- Hidden Power [Ground] / Ice

That chandelure.... is powerful. Why? >400 spatk for wonderful damages. The unique problem is that speed... but it have Flame Charge who boost its speed and is very very powah. Killed the main counters( dragons and ttar, if you use hp ground, heatran and ttar if you use hp ice) this chandelure win battling alone lol. Supported by a trio with hp ice it can work perfectly. Modest because it can't anyway outspeed scarf pokemon with timid nature, but with modest nature he can ohko Gliscor and Landorus-T with fire blast(if u use hp ice) and ho heatran with hp ground. If you use sr+ 1 layer of spikes ttar is 2ohko and do a lots of kills. Shadow ball is ohko to jellicent and latias/latios/gengar and others, fire blast kill all the pokemon weak to fire. Flame charge for speed and the hp ground for tran, ice for lando and gliscor sure ohko and for dnite. Flash fire can boost the power of this chandelabrum. He can survive to a EQ of sash trio and kill him with flame charge+sball and break all the sunny teams without eq saur/nature power sawsbuck. Very, very dangerous.

Having seen that Slowking in action (you're probably the guy who beat ginganinja with specs Slowking and Amoongus) I can attest that it's definitely a threat in the right hands. The only letdown of using it in OU is its abysmal speed and the fact that it happens to be weak to both u-turn and volt switch, especially considering how common these moves are.

As for Chandelure, I think hp fighting should definitely get a mention, allowing Chandy to get past one of its most common counters, Tyranitar. CB TTar is easily OHKO'd after SR. It might also function as a lure for TTar. You can bluff a scarf set using fire blast, and obliterate TTar when it switches in to pursuit you to death.

 

[Snou]

SnowCristal!:

Specs Slowking is good. It murders quite a few things while retaining a good amount of bulk. I really don't think it's a gimmick though, being very consistent and not at all relying or even really using surprise factor. It's not very destructive when your opponent doesn't know the set. It's, as what Matthew said, a "good idea". Despite is, your set can be exponentially improved. First of all, you forgo Trick -- one of the reasons that Specs Slowking is even viable in the first place. What are you using Ice Beam for? The amount of things you nail on the switch-in is very small, and you again lose Trick! Psychic instead of Psyshock...why? Psyshock does so much more to the blobs while nailing Keldeo and even boosted Latias (harder than Ice Beam at least). Replace Ice Beam with Trick and Psychic with Psyshock. I've used Specs Slowking a lot, and even wrote the analysis for it, but your build is not optimal in my experience.

I wish Flame Charge Chandelure worked -- I really do -- but it doesn't. It's not even fast enough to avoid most Scarfers after a boost and has an insane amount of trouble procuring one. You have like Steel-types to set up on, and even then with hazards damage Jirachi and Heatran (requires no special condition) can beat it. It's KOed by so much, and has no protection with Flame Charge, unlike with Substitute. You'll have better luck with Substitute and Choice Scarf, and even then, it seems like such a waste of your sun Fire-type when Volcarona, Darmanitan, and Victini exist.

I want to now steer the discussion to a tournaments vs. ladder play one. How does each outlet of play affect the viability of gimmicks? These are the questions to answer.

Thx =)