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plaza athénée
Overview
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Misdreavus is one of the most versatile Pokemon in Little Cup. It may seem that the Knock Off buff and Hidden Power nerf hurt this queen of Little Cup, but a few factors contribute to it still being one of the best Pokemon in Little Cup. The Ghost STAB boost increased the viability of offensive sets, and also lessened Misdreavus' reliability on Hidden Power Fighting. Also, it deals solidly with some of the top threats in the metagame thanks to its bulk and movepool.
Nasty Plot
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name: Nasty Plot Attacker
move 1: Nasty Plot
move 2: Shadow Ball
move 3: Dazzling Gleam / Hidden Power [Fighting]
move 4: Destiny Bond / Will-o-Wisp / Substitute
ability: Levitate
item: Eviolite / Berry Juice
evs: 236 SpA / 36 SpD / 236 Spe
nature: Timid
Moves
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name: Choiced Attacker
move 1: Trick
move 2: Shadow Ball
move 3: Dazzling Gleam
move 4: Nasty Plot
ability: Levitate
item: Choice Specs / Choice Scarf
evs: 236 SpA / 36 SpD / 236 Spe
nature: Timid
Moves
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Bulky Support
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name: Bulky Support
move 1: Shadow Ball
move 2: Will-o-Wisp
move 3: Taunt / Substitute
move 4: Dazzling Gleam
ability: Levitate
item: Berry Juice
evs: 36 HP / 236 SpA / 236 Spe
nature: Timid
Moves
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Misdreavus is one of the most versatile Pokemon in Little Cup. It may seem that the Knock Off buff and Hidden Power nerf hurt this queen of Little Cup, but a few factors contribute to it still being one of the best Pokemon in Little Cup. The Ghost STAB boost increased the viability of offensive sets, and also lessened Misdreavus' reliability on Hidden Power Fighting. Also, it deals solidly with some of the top threats in the metagame thanks to its bulk and movepool.
Nasty Plot
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name: Nasty Plot Attacker
move 1: Nasty Plot
move 2: Shadow Ball
move 3: Dazzling Gleam / Hidden Power [Fighting]
move 4: Destiny Bond / Will-o-Wisp / Substitute
ability: Levitate
item: Eviolite / Berry Juice
evs: 236 SpA / 36 SpD / 236 Spe
nature: Timid
Moves
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- Nasty Plot is the obvious boosting move, allows Misdreavus' already high Special Attack to skyrocket.
- Shadow Ball is the obvious STAB move, OHKOs an incredible amount of Pokemon at +2 and is blessed with the arguably best offensive type in Little Cup
- Dazzling Gleam is the new released move for Misdreavus, and notably OHKOs Scraggy, once the bane of Misdreavus, while still hitting Vullaby super effectively and Pawniard neutrally.
- Hidden Power Fighting is still one of the best options for Misdreavus, notably dealing with Pawniard without boosting, and it can also 2HKO Porygon, a very common Misdreavus answer.
- Destiny Bond is nowadays the optimal move for Misdreavus to run, as it prevents Carvanha from setting up on Misdreavus, and also can pick off Pawniards and disincentivize Sucker Punch.
- Will-o-Wisp is very notable in the current metagame, due to it burning the omnipresent physical attackers of Little Cup and essentially taking them out of the game.
- Substitute is also a worthy move, allowing Missy set-up on status spreading Pokemon and avoiding Pawniard's Sucker Punch
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- EVs are standard max/max with the extra point thrown in Special Defense
- Run 240 SpA / 240 Spe if you are using HP Fighting
- Eviolite grants Misdreavus even greater bulk, giving it excellent bulk to set up with.
- Berry Juice is also great to set up on resisted hits or weaker ones, and gain back to full health.
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- Simply bring in Misdreavus on any Pokemon unable to touch it, then notch a Nasty Plot in order to begin smashing in the opponent.
- Early game, you can simply spam Will-o-Wisp in order to cripple the opponent, then set up Nasty Plot later.
- With Eviolite, Misdreavus does best mid to late game cleaning.
- With Berry Juice, Misdreavus is best used as an early to mid game wallbreaker. Substitute is recommended mostly to be used with Berry Juice.
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- Fighting types partner this set well, as Misdreavus despises bulky Normal Pokemon like Porygon and Munchlax, who as such fear Fighting types.
- Scarf Pokemon and Speed Boosters partner this well offensively as well, as they can clean after Misdreavus rips holes through the opponent's team.
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name: Choiced Attacker
move 1: Trick
move 2: Shadow Ball
move 3: Dazzling Gleam
move 4: Nasty Plot
ability: Levitate
item: Choice Specs / Choice Scarf
evs: 236 SpA / 36 SpD / 236 Spe
nature: Timid
Moves
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- Trick is the key move of the choiced sets; it cripples any Pokemon of your choice after you deem the choice item's utility being done. This allows it generally to cripple the opponent's best answer to Misdreavus.
- Shadow Ball is the main powerful STAB, and is a great move to spam while choiced in XY.
- Dazzling Gleam is the optimal complimentary move to Shadow Ball, allowing the scarf sets to revenged Scraggy, and also garners great coverage along with Shadow Ball.
- Nasty Plot may seem unusual on a choiced Pokemon, but one of the best utilities is Tricking your Specs/Scarf and cripple the opponent's Misdreavus counter, then sweeping with Nasty Plot
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- EVs are standard max/max with the extra point thrown in Special Defense
- Choice Specs grants a decent amount of initial power, but generally is a more crippling item for walls to hold.
- Choice Scarf has more utility, as it can actually revenge sweepers, and generally will Trick its Scarf later, if ever. It is a great choice for a revenge killer.
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- If using Choice Specs, scout your opponent's answers to Misdreavus. Around mid game, you can trick that answer and then set up and attempt a sweep if the conditions are right.
- If you are using the Choice Scarf set, analyze your opponent's team to see how useful it will be. Generally, do not Trick this early in the game like the Specs set; wait nearer to the end game to Trick the Scarf and set up to sweep.
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- This set generally tries to open its own set up opportunities through the use of Trick, but it appreciates Fighting support for stuff like Pawniard and Porygon that can pose problems as well.
Bulky Support
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name: Bulky Support
move 1: Shadow Ball
move 2: Will-o-Wisp
move 3: Taunt / Substitute
move 4: Dazzling Gleam
ability: Levitate
item: Berry Juice
evs: 36 HP / 236 SpA / 236 Spe
nature: Timid
Moves
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- Shadow Ball is the main STAB, standard fare with a consistent damage output.
- Will-o-Wisp is very important on this set, oriented towards distributing burns. Burn is extremely notable in the current metagame, making this a necessity.
- Taunt has always been one of the best moves when used correctly. Misdreavus can outspeed and Taunt every single Smasher in LC. It can also defeat defensive Pokemon and hazard Pokemon through this.
- Substitute can be used instead in order to avoid Sucker Punch and Knock Off from Pokemon such as Pawniard.
- Dazzling Gleam, Misdreavus' new move, has better neutral coverage with Ghost and notably OHKOs Scraggy.
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- EVs are standard due to the fact that Misdreavus has solid enough natural bulk, and the 19 speed tier is very valuable.
- Berry Juice is the item of choice due to the fact Misdreavus has no reliable recovery, making the full HP restoring very valuable.
- Thunderbolt is an option in the last slot to hit Waters hard, but they are often not relevant enough to warrant its use.
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- Misdreavus should generally just burn switch ins early game and try to cripple the entire team to simplify the life of another Pokemon.
- This set functions well as a lead due to both Taunt and Will-o-Wisp, as well as it having a generally good matchup with most Pokemon.
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- This Misdreavus is an excellent partner to many Dark types, most notably Pawniard, as Will-o-Wisp allows Pawniard to set up much better.
- It also functions as a solid enough Meditite counter for teams that need it, while being glue generally.
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- Misdreavus can run a Calm Mind set in order to beat specific stalls, but the set is generally too slow to be effective.
- In terms of individual move options, Misdreavus can run Icy Wind to slow down switch ins, though it is generally too weak
- Heal Bell is an option on the bulky support set in order to be an offensive cleric.
- Taunt is an option on all the offensive Misdreavus sets, but Substitute is generally a better option.
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- Misdreavus can have different counters depending on moveset.
- If Misdreavus isn't carrying Hidden Power Fighting, Porygon, Lickitung, and bulky Normal types of the sort all counter it.
- If Misdreavus is carrying Hidden Power Fighting over Dazzling Gleam, Vullaby becomes a great counter.
- Misdreavus is checked by Pawniard if it isn't running Hidden Power Fighting.
- It is also checked by Murkrow regardless of its moveset, although Hidden Power Fighting Misdreavus is more countered by Murkrow.
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