Creative RBY Sets!

Introduction

Lots of people have the impression that RBY is a very uncreative metagame where there's little you can do outside of the standard that isn't just for the sake of being nonstandard. This is because the established standard sets have been standard for so long and later generations increasingly offer more and more options for a creative player to obtain success from something far out of the ordinary at high levels of play. While RBY certainly does not have the potential for creative sets that later generations do, it nevertheless still has room for varied sets, and occasionally brand new sets appear or a Pokémon that previously seemed to not be worth using at all suddenly has a niche! In this article, I'll cover some creative sets and the stories surrounding them. The final set will be one that was only created in the past couple of months; consider it a treat.

The Sets

Exeggutor

- Hyper Beam
- Psychic
- Sleep Powder / Stun Spore
- Explosion / Stun Spore

Hyper Beam Exeggutor has become quite a popular set to run over the past few months, as many top players have begun to favour it. The purpose of Hyper Beam is to achieve surprise KOs on Pokémon that Exeggutor cannot KO without the use of Explosion; common targets include Chansey, which doesn't need to be paralyzed to be KOed, Jynx, and Alakazam. Thus, Hyper Beam serves a different role to similar moves that Exeggutor has access to such as Double-Edge and Egg Bomb, both of which aim to deal significant damage to these sorts of threats and force them out.

Here are some calcs showing Hyper Beam's effectiveness:

It can be very helpful to avoid having some Pokémon blocking Sleep Powder before Exeggutor has used it successfully, such as a paralyzed Jynx. Chansey is already pressured by the potential use of Explosion, so it's harder to hit, but Hyper Beam is useful against it nevertheless. Using Hyper Beam versus opposing Exeggutor can be helpful for preventing Explosion from taking down both Pokémon.

Exeggutor also doesn't need to worry so much about its Hyper Beam being absorbed by something that can take it, as Rhydon and Golem are scared of Psychic and Mega Drain due to their low Special. Gengar is very afraid of Psychic, too, doesn't force a recharge if it takes a Hyper Beam, and can only do weak damage if it carries Night Shade, although Hypnosis and Explosion are both concerns.

Overall, Hyper Beam Exeggutor is a potent lure that can easily change the game at any time and is fairly low-risk to use. The question is often what to drop from Exeggutor's standard moveset for Hyper Beam; dropping Stun Spore makes Exeggutor less threatening to Tauros late-game, but Stun Spore's existence could be bluffed to eliminate this. Dropping Sleep Powder and Explosion are both difficult choices, but Sleep Powder can often be covered by pairing Exeggutor with Sing Chansey, which nets good targets; however, there's much less point in running Hyper Beam without Sleep Powder. This can still work on very aggressive builds with Sing Chansey, though.

Chansey

- Reflect
- Soft-Boiled
- Seismic Toss
- Thunder Wave

This Chansey variant is popularly known as Raish Chansey, after the user who popularised the set. It's a very defensive set, giving it slightly different matchups to standard Chansey. At the cost of losing to other Chansey unless it gets paralyzed (then, it can win on PP), Raish Chansey can wall Snorlax fairly effectively and is less scared of Lapras when it's paralyzed. Indeed, without critical hits from Tauros or a well-played Explosion, it's very difficult for standard teams to consistently beat Chansey if it gets paralyzed.

One advantage of using Raish Chansey is that once you've revealed Seismic Toss or Reflect, your opponent will be more careful when spreading paralysis, which is always a useful thing. If it gets Reflect up, Chansey can fairly safely wall Rhydon and Golem, although opposing Rock-types have an easier time staying in and fishing for full paralysis and critical hits to break Chansey, but if Chansey isn't paralyzed, the Rock-type will have trouble obtaining a full sweep, as it will difficult for its team to spread paralysis. If you're happy to accept paralysis on your own Alakazam or Starmie, if you have one, they can be used to force Chansey out with Special drops from Psychic; however, having either of these Pokémon paralyzed is very costly. Overall, Raish Chansey is a very potent defensive set that can force you or your opponent to change how you play the match, particularly if you can get it paralyzed.

Slowbro

- Withdraw
- Amnesia
- Rest
- Psychic

This set was brought to life by the user magic9mushroom. The standard set has Thunder Wave over Withdraw and sometimes Surf over Psychic, and is known as Tobybro after its creator; often, this set with Withdraw is referred to as m9m Slowbro. In RBY, since Pokémon have Special rather than Special Attack and Special Defense, Amnesia effectively boosts both Special Attack and Special Defense simultaneously. As this suggests, Slowbro is a sweeper.

While Slowbro is very bulky, its low Speed is an obvious flaw. Tobybro usually remedies this by carrying Thunder Wave alongside Rest, Amnesia, and an attack; however, m9m Slowbro requires a bit more looking after. Similarly to carrying a slow Rock-type as your main sweeper, you need to spread a lot of paralysis for this set to be a sufficient sweeper. The question, of course, is what benefit Withdraw gives to Slowbro. Much like the Iron Defense Mega Slowbro set seen in ORAS OU, m9m Sowbro can become effectively invulnerable both physically and specially in a very short time. Given that one of the more common methods of dealing with Slowbro involves having a Snorlax or Golem use Explosion on it and then KOing it with another physical attacker afterwards, the ability to bolster its defenses is very useful. The other advantage of Withdraw is its huge PP; it dwarfs Thunder Wave's PP by 32, meaning that in Slowbro versus Slowbro scenarios, m9m Slowbro always trumps Tobybro. It's not totally unafraid of other Slowbro either; Ice Beam Slowbro has the advantage over any other Slowbro variant, although that's a very rare set that has issues with other Pokémon.

In terms of partners, m9m Slowbro needs answers to opposing Starmie, Zapdos, Gengar, and the rarer Victreebel, all of which carry super effective attacks and have high base Speeds and thus critical hit rates; Victreebel has Razor Leaf, which will almost always critical hit. Chansey is a great partner because it is able to take all of these Pokémon on, particularly Starmie, apart from the rare Swords Dance Victreebel. Rhydon is also a good partner because it counters Zapdos, can often help beat Gengar, and can absorb Explosion. Starmie and Alakazam make great partners that can lead and easily paralyze opposing Chansey.

Victreebel

- Razor Leaf
- Swords Dance
- Hyper Beam
- Body Slam / Sleep Powder / Stun Spore

Victreebel's a rare sight in RBY; it offers very little synergy, and when it is run, it is often in place of Exeggutor. The standard set is Sleep Powder / Stun Spore / Razor Leaf / Wrap, and this set is designed to bluff the standard, set up Swords Dance when Pokémon such as paralyzed Chansey switch in to absorb status, and then sweep. This Victreebel's advantage over the standard set and Exeggutor is its ability to fire off powerful boosted Normal-type attacks without being bothered by Rock-types thanks to Razor Leaf. Sleep Powder or Stun Spore, if carried, gives Victreebel an option versus Tauros and can be used to help bluff the standard set.

The main benefit of Body Slam instead of a status move is reduced cost of misprediction. While your opponent might bravely switch in an unrevealed Rhydon or Golem into a Hyper Beam and then deal damage in return, allowing Victreebel to be removed with Tauros, with Body Slam you're offered a second shot. You could run Body Slam and no Hyper Beam, but you achieve some notable KOs with Hyper Beam, the most significant being against Chansey. Given the threat of paralysis from Chansey's Thunder Wave, the risk of not being able to KO it is significant.

Here are some calcs:

These should give you an idea of the amount of damage you need to do before you can try to sweep with Victreebel.

Victreebel can't force out many threats, but those that it can include Rhydon, Golem, and paralyzed Starmie. One of the main things Victreebel offers is a check to Slowbro; the ability to switch in after it Rests and 2HKO it with Razor Leaf (or potentially set up Swords Dance if you're brave enough), as well as just generally being threatening to most Pokémon, particularly those that are paralyzed, is the main justification for the teamslot.

The best switch-ins to the standard set are Alakazam, though it can often be put to sleep, and Chansey, particularly when paralyzed, which allows it to block Sleep Powder, as both take little damage from Wrap and Razor Leaf and can threaten Victreebel with paralysis and super effective attacks. Unparalyzed Alakazam is a great answer to Victreebel, but has to beware status moves. The best Victreebel counter, however, is Gengar, so if you intend to use Victreebel (which is usually done without Exeggutor, a great answer for Gengar), having a plan to deal with it is key. Carrying your own Alakazam and a Rhydon or Golem provides you with a lead, potential sleep fodder, and an answer to Gengar once sleep has been inflicted. If you carry Sleep Powder or Stun Spore, you can neuter Gengar so that it's no longer a threat to Earthquake Snorlax or Tauros's potential sweeping and hole-punching. Overall, Victreebel's a very offensive and fairly high-risk option, offering little defensively, but nevertheless, it can be very rewarding if used well.

Snorlax

- Hyper Beam
- Body Slam
- Reflect
- Rest

As I said in the introduction, I'll end the article on a set that's brand new at the time of writing, only created in the past month. The fun of this set is it's a bit of a double bluff; the standard set for Snorlax nowadays, often called Fishlax, is Body Slam / Hyper Beam / Earthquake / Self-Destruct. However, a set that is sometimes used instead of this is Reflect / Rest / Body Slam / Earthquake, called Tanklax. The main difference between Fishlax and Tanklax is that Fishlax sacrifices longevity for greater offensive presence and more KOs; Body Slam + Hyper Beam KOes Chansey, while Earthquake 2HKOes Gengar and also deals consistent damage to Rhydon and Golem. It also can help to avoid Counter, which only counters Normal- and Fighting-type moves in RBY and is most commonly seen on Chansey, but also very rarely on Jynx and potentially Alakazam. Self-Destruct is a useful move for breaking through walls such as Chansey and to deal good final damage when Snorlax cannot survive another hit. Tanklax sacrifices a lot of this potential for damage to stay around longer. Indeed, it can take on paralyzed Tauros fairly reliably.

Now it's time to compare standard Tanklax with Hyper Beam Tanklax. Hyper Beam Tanklax seems to be a Tanklax variant that has more issues than the standard, such as being unable to hit Gengar, being walled by Rhydon and Golem, and being unable to bypass Counter users. These sound like pretty large problems—Earthquake's utility is a lot more obvious than Hyper Beam's, which makes it clearer why Earthquake is considered standard on Tanklax. Hyper Beam is clearly a surprise move; although it might not be obvious, Tanklax is still a functional set when the opponent is reasonably conscious of the possibility that Snorlax possesses it. The question I've yet to answer and will explain now is what utility does Hyper Beam provide?

The extra damage from Hyper Beam as a finishing move can be useful in a variety of situations against nearly any paralyzed Pokémon that's slower than Snorlax, and there are two particularly notable occurrences. Body Slam + Hyper Beam KOes Chansey, but Body Slam alone fails to 2HKO it. Meawhile, noting that Snorlax is a good Pokémon to handle paralyzed Tauros, Snorlax can KO Taurus with two Body Slams and a Hyper Beam, but it can't 3HKO with Body Slam alone.

The ability to finish Tauros off in a healthier state than Snorlax otherwise might, netting a great surprise KO on paralyzed standard Chansey, and a variety of other potentially useful scenarios that come around occasionally in a battle are the reasons to run this Snorlax set. Swapping Hyper Beam out for Earthquake sometimes can help to reduce the predictability of the set, as both variants make for consistent late-game sweepers. Running a team that can spread paralysis early-game and consistently paralyze Tauros is ideal; teams that can spread status like that tend to want late-game sweepers, and while Tauros is the best, Snorlax is a great option, too, and can be incredibly difficult to take down. Raish created this set when he and I built a team, and he's still innovating seriously in this 18-year-old game.

Conclusion

In this article, we've seen a variety of sets achieving different things, from bluffs, double-bluffs, and lures to tanks, sweepers, and walls. Even in a metagame as old as RBY, there is still room to be different and gravitate away from the bog standard fairly often. Perhaps there remains potential, still, for innovation.