VGC 2015 Analysis Discussion Thread

OP shamelessly taken from Memoric's DUO thread, and I approved this myself


This thread will be primarily for discussion of making a change to an uploaded analysis, making a case for a Pokemon to have an analysis, and possibly giving a Pokemon a revamp. You may also ask questions about analysis here. This may include the following:
  • Possibly adding or updating a set
  • Changing or adding slashes to moves
  • Revamping an analysis to fit the metagame more
As long as what you're going to say entails something about the analysis themselves, you should probably post here!

When making a case for a Pokemon that's not listed in the reservations thread, make sure that it's: a) not horrible; b) isn't actually outclassed c) actually has a decent enough use. There will be times that we miss on a Pokemon in the reservations thread. If you think a Pokemon is worth it, post here! But make sure to have some backing to your claims.

Note: This is not the thread for reserving analyses! Go to this thread instead. Also, talks about analyses still being written up should go to their respective threads (If you're making a suggestion to Kangaskhan and it's still being written up, post in its thread)!

Added more specially defensive spread to set details for Amoonguss
Added Tailwind to OO for Volcarona
Changed Ludicolo spread
Changed move order in LO Ludicolo set
Changed stuff regarding Clefable's moves and set comments
 
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Ludicolo
This analysis is showing its age. In particular, I really don't like the EV spread on the Assault Vest set. Having enough Speed to outpace Choice Scarf Landorus-T, and enough Special Attack to KO bulky Mega Salamence and Landorus-T are both very important for Ludicolo to do its job. MajorBowman's spread of 156 HP / 52 Def / 156 SpA / 4 SpD / 140 Spe accomplishes exactly that, and would therefore be my recommendation. Defensively, the Special Defense EVs make Choice Specs Sylveon's Hyper Voice a 3HKO, and the remaining EVs are invested into Defense. The mention of a spread that outspeeds Choice Scarf Garchomp in Set Details is totally irrelevent and should be removed as well.
 

DaAwesomeDude1

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Mfw I was going to ask if I can make a thread like this too :^(

But hey it doesn't matter. I do have quite a few gripes about some analysis, with my biggest one being the current Amoonguss spread. 252 / 252 was pretty nice back in early ORAS when everyone and their mothers were using Mega Metagross and physical Mega Salamence, but now that people have realized that Mega Gardevoir is clearly the best Mega in the tier (I'm joking about that lol), we should have an updated spread to reflect that. I suggest using amr97's spread of 188 HP / 164 Def / 156 SpD with a Sassy Nature, which gives it a high chance to live Modest Mega Gardevoir's Psychic, and always lives Timid Mega Salamence's Hyper Voice. You can easily tank Metagross's Zen Headbutt if you pair Amoonguss with an Intimidate user anyways so I don't think it's too big of a deal to invest more into Special Defense.

Secondly, we should add a Special set to Mega Salamence and make that the primary set and then move mixed to OO. Reasons should be pretty clear on this; I find all out Dragon Dance to be much more potent than Mixed, considering it can still single handedly sweep unprepared teams. Mixed is kind of a watered down version trying to accomplish both but is mediocre at it.

Third, Rotom-W desperately needs an updated spread. I unfortunately don't have any good spreads on me (I've mainly been using shrop05's 252 HP / 124 Def / 76 SpA / 36 SpD / 20 Spe with a Calm Nature, but I'll let QC talk that over). I'd delete the part about chesto resto Rotom and slash T-wave behind WoW.

Finally, this is more of a personal opinion but I really feel that we should have an offensive Mega Venusaur set rather than Defensive. Defensive Mega Venusaur is the biggest momentum killer, like it just sits there and does nothing. Regardless of spread, Mega Venusaur already hard walls Rain, so we don't need a defensive spread for that. Defensive Mega Venusaur also, despite living hits like Psychic from Garde, can't do anything back since it's so weak. Offensive or bust imo. Also Sun Sweeper set should really be the primary set for Venusaur.

That's all I can find right now so if I find more, I'll be sure to hit ya'll up lol. Really glad this thread was made though cause I was about to ask for a few revamps haha.
 
But hey it doesn't matter. I do have quite a few gripes about some analysis, with my biggest one being the current Amoonguss spread. 252 / 252 was pretty nice back in early ORAS when everyone and their mothers were using Mega Metagross and physical Mega Salamence, but now that people have realized that Mega Gardevoir is clearly the best Mega in the tier (I'm joking about that lol), we should have an updated spread to reflect that. I suggest using amr97's spread of 188 HP / 164 Def / 156 SpD with a Sassy Nature, which gives it a high chance to live Modest Mega Gardevoir's Psychic, and always lives Timid Mega Salamence's Hyper Voice. You can easily tank Metagross's Zen Headbutt if you pair Amoonguss with an Intimidate user anyways so I don't think it's too big of a deal to invest more into Special Defense.
I think for as long as Rocky Helmet remains the premier item for Amoonguss, its EV spread should reflect and compliment this by remaining more physically defensive. It's certainly more representative of the average opponent, with 76.1% of Amoonguss on the Battle Spot Doubles ladder currently being either Relaxed or Bold. The real life metagame obviously differs slightly, which is apparent from the Worlds Top 8 having more of a 50:50 split between the two but, no matter the enviroment, Mega Kangaskhan is always going to have the bigger target on its back. I'd certainly be in favor of the above Sassy spread being listed as a viable alternative in Set Details however.

Secondly, we should add a Special set to Mega Salamence and make that the primary set and then move mixed to OO. Reasons should be pretty clear on this; I find all out Dragon Dance to be much more potent than Mixed, considering it can still single handedly sweep unprepared teams. Mixed is kind of a watered down version trying to accomplish both but is mediocre at it.
One of the strengths of Mega Salamence is the variety of sets it can run, so I feel like we should be making an effort to support those options rather than pushing them to OO. As for a fully Special set: I think it's viable, but I really wouldn't call it Mega Salamence's best set. Has it seen any real life success outside of the original Japan Sand? I know a lot of western adaptations of the team have opted for Mixed sets to replace it entirely (for example...). I think the mixed set is one of Mega Salamence's strongest options personally as, unlike the Dragon Dance set, it's more splashable, and has seen more consistant success throughout the entire season.

Third, Rotom-W desperately needs an updated spread. I unfortunately don't have any good spreads on me (I've mainly been using shrop05's 252 HP / 124 Def / 76 SpA / 36 SpD / 20 Spe with a Calm Nature, but I'll let QC talk that over). I'd delete the part about chesto resto Rotom and slash T-wave behind WoW.
I agree. I think a spread that outspeeds neutral-natured base 70s like Bisharp is worth consideration here too (such as in the previously linked team). Rotom's optimal spread is somewhat team dependant however, which is why I'm hesitant to give a wholehearted recommendation.

Finally, this is more of a personal opinion but I really feel that we should have an offensive Mega Venusaur set rather than Defensive. Defensive Mega Venusaur is the biggest momentum killer, like it just sits there and does nothing. Regardless of spread, Mega Venusaur already hard walls Rain, so we don't need a defensive spread for that. Defensive Mega Venusaur also, despite living hits like Psychic from Garde, can't do anything back since it's so weak. Offensive or bust imo. Also Sun Sweeper set should really be the primary set for Venusaur.
I'm mixed here as it goes against my previous experience with Mega Venusaur, although that may just be a difference in playstyle. I think Mega Venusaur is best treated as a win condition, similar to Ferrothorn, where you aim to knock out its threats as quickly as possible and then bring it out in the late game in a 'checkmate' scenario. For that reason, I think Leech Seed is by far the best option for Move #3 as that, combined with the bulky EV spread, is what allows Mega Venusaur to close out games; even winning out against multiple foes on its own.
 
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Ludicolo
This analysis is showing its age. In particular, I really don't like the EV spread on the Assault Vest set. Having enough Speed to outpace Choice Scarf Landorus-T, and enough Special Attack to KO bulky Mega Salamence and Landorus-T are both very important for Ludicolo to do its job. MajorBowman's spread of 156 HP / 52 Def / 156 SpA / 4 SpD / 140 Spe accomplishes exactly that, and would therefore be my recommendation. Defensively, the Special Defense EVs make Choice Specs Sylveon's Hyper Voice a 3HKO, and the remaining EVs are invested into Defense. The mention of a spread that outspeeds Choice Scarf Garchomp in Set Details is totally irrelevent and should be removed as well.
Yeah the quality of that analysis overall is not that great. The EV spread is as you say too defensive, and stuff like team options and usage tips are really thin in terms of just amounts of text.

Mfw I was going to ask if I can make a thread like this too :^(

But hey it doesn't matter. I do have quite a few gripes about some analysis, with my biggest one being the current Amoonguss spread. 252 / 252 was pretty nice back in early ORAS when everyone and their mothers were using Mega Metagross and physical Mega Salamence, but now that people have realized that Mega Gardevoir is clearly the best Mega in the tier (I'm joking about that lol), we should have an updated spread to reflect that. I suggest using amr97's spread of 188 HP / 164 Def / 156 SpD with a Sassy Nature, which gives it a high chance to live Modest Mega Gardevoir's Psychic, and always lives Timid Mega Salamence's Hyper Voice. You can easily tank Metagross's Zen Headbutt if you pair Amoonguss with an Intimidate user anyways so I don't think it's too big of a deal to invest more into Special Defense.

Secondly, we should add a Special set to Mega Salamence and make that the primary set and then move mixed to OO. Reasons should be pretty clear on this; I find all out Dragon Dance to be much more potent than Mixed, considering it can still single handedly sweep unprepared teams. Mixed is kind of a watered down version trying to accomplish both but is mediocre at it.

Third, Rotom-W desperately needs an updated spread. I unfortunately don't have any good spreads on me (I've mainly been using shrop05's 252 HP / 124 Def / 76 SpA / 36 SpD / 20 Spe with a Calm Nature, but I'll let QC talk that over). I'd delete the part about chesto resto Rotom and slash T-wave behind WoW.

Finally, this is more of a personal opinion but I really feel that we should have an offensive Mega Venusaur set rather than Defensive. Defensive Mega Venusaur is the biggest momentum killer, like it just sits there and does nothing. Regardless of spread, Mega Venusaur already hard walls Rain, so we don't need a defensive spread for that. Defensive Mega Venusaur also, despite living hits like Psychic from Garde, can't do anything back since it's so weak. Offensive or bust imo. Also Sun Sweeper set should really be the primary set for Venusaur.

That's all I can find right now so if I find more, I'll be sure to hit ya'll up lol. Really glad this thread was made though cause I was about to ask for a few revamps haha.
mfw I've been wanting this for months and just had to do it when I thought of it

Regarding Amoonguss I still think phys def should be the main spread for the reasons carbonific said, but yeah that spread will definetly find its way into set details. For Salamence I have to say I agree more with Carbonific, but I'll certainly think about if some sets need change there, cause Mence has really changed throughout the year.

Yeah Chesto+resto is garbage imo, I'll also try to find a better spread and also list tons of options for variations of EV spreads. Also need to give shoutouts to my beastly Life Orb offensive set in OO. As for Venusaur I really don't know, I think M-Venu is garbage anyways tbh regardless of the set.

I'll get some of this stuff into the dex in a few days I think
 

Mishimono

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One thing I think maybe should be changed is the Entei analysis. I think using a bulkier Entei would probably be better more like Alexander Kuhn's of EVs: 244 HP / 116 Atk / 12 Def / 12 SpD / 124 Spe or something along the lines of that.
 
One thing I think maybe should be changed is the Entei analysis. I think using a bulkier Entei would probably be better more like Alexander Kuhn's of EVs: 244 HP / 116 Atk / 12 Def / 12 SpD / 124 Spe or something along the lines of that.
Mind giving a link to a report or just explaining what the EV spread accomplishes? I'm not opposed to changing the EV spread on Entei though. Also that spread is almost just as bulky as the one we have now, which has 252 HP, but this one has more Speed and less Attack.

On a side note I've made a changelog in the OP to keep track of what has been changed, so far I've mentioned the SpDef Amoonguss spread and mentioned Tailwind in OO for Volcarona, I'll get to more stuff soon

Edit: Also did the Ludicolo spread
 
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Mishimono

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Mind giving a link to a report or just explaining what the EV spread accomplishes? I'm not opposed to changing the EV spread on Entei though. Also that spread is almost just as bulky as the one we have now, which has 252 HP, but this one has more Speed and less Attack.

On a side note I've made a changelog in the OP to keep track of what has been changed, so far I've mentioned the SpDef Amoonguss spread and mentioned Tailwind in OO for Volcarona, I'll get to more stuff soon

Edit: Also did the Ludicolo spread
Lol Looking at that spread you are right for Entei Report: http://nuggetbridge.com/reports/dis...c-regional-top-4-national-top-64-team-report/ Well maybe you could use a bit more speed on Entei I don't know.
 
Gastrodon (Edit: This is now done)
I think a Sitrus Berry set should be added as the main set, and the current set renamed to 'Offensive'. The analysis was written at a time when Expert Belt Gastrodon was the only set that had seen any success at real life events, but as the season has progressed this has changed. To put things into perspective of where things stand now: only 16.8% of Gastrodon are Expert Belt on the Battle Spot doubles ladder. I have plenty of experience with a bulkier Gastrodon, and have a good EV spread, so I'd be willing to write it myself.

Charizard
I think it's worth moving the mention of Mega Charizard X from Other Options to its own set. Wolfe Glick's 12th place finish at the World Championships, and its numerous excellent Regionals placements prove that it's more than just a best-of-one gimmick as a Charizard Y bluff. If nothing else, there are certainly more niche Pokemon that have gotten analyses at this point.
 
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Mishimono

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Here are a list of some sort of niche mons that could still use an analysis: Sableye, Mienshao, Nidoking, Nidoqueen, Reuniclus, Escavalier, Rhydon, Dragalgae, Cradily.
 

Jio

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On the topic of Ludicolo, I brought this up to Ksh13 on IRC and I really think the LO Ludicolo set wants Protect > Fake Out. As someone who has used Life Orb Ludicolo at events before you definitely want Protect to shield yourself against priority Thunder Waves and Brave Birds. Ludicolo is a vital member to a HO Rain team and Fake Out just loses momentum for it and gives the opponent a chance to KO or cripple it.
 
Milotic - Maranga Berry has become a very popular item for Milotic and it isn't mentioned at all in the analysis. I think Assault Vest should be moved down to Other Options, and Maranga Berry slashed on the main set.

Aegislash - Perhaps mention the one attack set in Other Options? It's usually Shadow Ball, Wide Guard, Substitute, and King's Shield. You drop the coverage you don't need for both of two moves which are hard to choose between.

Landorus-T - Assault Vest should just become its own set. It's arguably the best Landorus set right now, and it's not recieving the attention it deserves in being slapped onto the end of the Physical Attacker set.

Thundurus - Small change, but I think Swagger should be slashed beside Hidden Power Ice as well as Taunt. Sometimes you just don't need the coverage as much as you want both Taunt and Swagger. I feel like the EV spread could use an update too, but there still hasn't been much consensus on what the best spread is so far.

Azumarill - Assault Vest isn't mentioned in the analysis, but it's something that I think deserves its own set at this point. It works pretty well as a pivot as Azumarill has good defensive stats, and resistances to common attacks.

EDIT:
Conkeldurr - The use of a 14/15 Speed IV should be mentioned to underspeed Aegislash by one point as it allows Conkeldurr to OHKO it with Knock Off after it's changed to Blade forme.
 
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Ok, Clefable:

Current set is Bold, 252 HP, 108 Def, 28 Sp. Atk, 116 Sp. def, 4 Speed.
Mentions in the EV details you could run 36 Sp. Atk to OHKO Scarf Landog with Ice Beam. 12 Speed outruns Bisharp after Icy Wind; why in all of fuck this is relevent is beyond me and shouldn't even be mentioned.
Spread is completely inefficient; Calm with 244 HP / 188 Def / 36 SpA / 36 SpD / 4 Spe hits the same defensive benchmarks (MegaKhan's Adamant DE doesn't OHKO, 252+ Aegislash Flash Cannon fails to 2HKO even with Rocky Helmet over Sitrus Berry) with enough Sp. Atk to OHKO Scarf Landog with Ice Beam.
244 HP also optimizes Sitrus Berry recovery (HP/4 equals a whole number, plus one. 200/4=50, so 201).

edit: Magic Guard + Flame Orb also gets you a status sponge with Follow Me, not sure if it's worth a mention. Trick makes it 10x funnier.
 
Ok, Clefable:

Current set is Bold, 252 HP, 108 Def, 28 Sp. Atk, 116 Sp. def, 4 Speed.
Mentions in the EV details you could run 36 Sp. Atk to OHKO Scarf Landog with Ice Beam. 12 Speed outruns Bisharp after Icy Wind; why in all of fuck this is relevent is beyond me and shouldn't even be mentioned.
Spread is completely inefficient; Calm with 244 HP / 188 Def / 36 SpA / 36 SpD / 4 Spe hits the same defensive benchmarks (MegaKhan's Adamant DE doesn't OHKO, 252+ Aegislash Flash Cannon fails to 2HKO even with Rocky Helmet over Sitrus Berry) with enough Sp. Atk to OHKO Scarf Landog with Ice Beam.
244 HP also optimizes Sitrus Berry recovery (HP/4 equals a whole number, plus one. 200/4=50, so 201).

edit: Magic Guard + Flame Orb also gets you a status sponge with Follow Me, not sure if it's worth a mention. Trick makes it 10x funnier.
I totally agree with regards to the Icy Wind mention, no idea why that's there.

I think you did your Aegislash calc with it in Shield forme. Aegislash's Flash Cannon is always a 2HKO even with maximum Special Defense investment:

252+ SpA Aegislash-Blade Flash Cannon vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Clefable: 132-156 (65.3 - 77.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Sitrus Berry recovery

I think you're also misunderstanding Sitrus Berry numbers. 252 EVs actually results in a better HP stat because it's divisible by two and therefore Sitrus Berry is proc'd when Clefable is hit by Super Fang. I understand you were considering that Pokemon truncates recovery, which is why a 4n (not 4n+1) number of HP can be more efficient, but 202 HP and 201 HP both recover 50 points from Sitrus Berry in this case.

I agree with bumping the Special Attack EVs on the main set to 36 to guarentee the KO on Landorus-T though; there's no reason to rely on a roll. The spread I'd personally advocate for is Bold with 252 HP / 148 Def / 36 SpA / 68 SpD / 4 Spe. It survives Aegislash's Flash Cannon, and has the remaining EVs invested into Defense to tank physical hits as effectively as possible. It's quite similar to what we saw early in the season from Angel Miranda.

I don't think Flame Orb should get a mention. It might have been viable in Gen 5, but now we have Safety Goggles if you want to block Spore.
 
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I totally agree with regards to the Icy Wind mention, no idea why that's there.

I think you did your Aegislash calc with it in Shield forme. Aegislash's Flash Cannon is always a 2HKO even with maximum Special Defense investment:

252+ SpA Aegislash-Blade Flash Cannon vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Clefable: 132-156 (65.3 - 77.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Sitrus Berry recovery

I think you're also misunderstanding Sitrus Berry numbers. 252 EVs actually results in a better HP stat because it's divisible by four and therefore Sitrus Berry is proc'd when Clefable is hit by Super Fang. I understand you were considering that Pokemon truncates recovery, which is why a 4n (not 4n+1) number of HP can be more efficient, but bear in mind that 202 and 201 HP both recover 50 points of HP in this case.

I agree with bumping the Special Attack EVs on the main set to 36 to guarentee the KO on Landorus-T though; there's no reason to rely on a roll. The spread I'd personally advocate for is Bold with 252 HP / 148 Def / 36 SpA / 68 SpD / 4 Spe. It survives Aegislash's Flash Cannon, and has the remaining EVs invested into Defense to tank physical hits as effectively as possible. It's quite similar to what we saw early in the season from Angel Miranda.

I don't think Flame Orb should get a mention. It might have been viable in Gen 5, but now we have Safety Goggles if you want to block Spore.
Oops on Aegislash. I took that out of the onsite analysis (without actually confirming) which would, by extension, be wrong: "The listed EVs allow Clefable to survive Adamant Mega Kangaskhan's Double Edge and makes fully invested Modest Aegislash's Flash Cannon a 3HKO." So if nothing else that needs fixing.

Oh, Super Fang, that's the thing on my list I forgot. Yes, I know both situations recover 50 HP lol. Bold spead looks fine; Calm one I posted was kinda hasty but accomplishes the same as the onsite spread with less EVs. Also 252 HP is divisible by 2, not 4. 202/4=50.5; 202/2=101 :P

Flame Orb stops not just Spore, but also Thunder Wave. Speed drop is moot yes, but full paralysis stops Follow Me just like any other move. It's 90% shit either way.

tl;dr on the spread: mine's a more efficient variant of the onsite one; I like yours better though.
 
Refering to the new Smeargle-analysis (http://www.smogon.com/dex/xy/pokemon/smeargle/vgc15/)

- Moody is a bad ability and if you seriously want to play Smeargle you actually should use Own Tempo which helps against taunt-less Swagger Thundurus as well
- The EV-Spread isn't really usefull as against other Kangaskhan you lead Lopunny (faster FO) or Intimidate to make sure Smeargle survives at least one turn and puts Kang to sleep (and most Kangaskhan will Return Smeargle imo)
Moreover you want to have 252 HP on Smeargle because HP is the only stat that doesn't change when transforming
- This leads to the next point: Last slot should have Transform and at least slashed, because the most common way to play Smeargle is KangSmeargle with Transform and Power Up-Punch (putting opponents to sleep, boosting and then transforming)
Also Follow Me isn't always necessary, you can put Tailwind, Wide Guard or Trick Room here. Fake Out is a waste most of the times as mostly you lead Smeargle next to a FO-user (that should make sure you can dark void freely/without getting ko'd)
- In generell I miss the fact that KangSmeargle (with Transform!) is the most common way to play Smeargle; the other common way to play it is with Lopunny + Tauros or Krookodile and Circle Throw, which also should be slashed on the Transform slot
- Scizor shouldn't be a Team Option as it is not important in VGC 15 at all ... Kangaskhan and Lopunny are nearly the only Pokémon which match with Smeargle very good

=> The moveset should be:
Smeargle @ Focus Sash
Ability: Own Tempo
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Dark Void
- Spiky Shield (/ King's Shield)
- Transform / Circle Throw
- Follow Me / Tailwind

- Trick Room, Wide Guard and all those things are just options and get to use on the last slot mostly
 
I get the impression you just glanced at the Season 13 Battle Spot usage stats and are objecting to anything that doesn't conform to them (usage =/= viability). But I'll indulge:

- Moody is a bad ability and if you seriously want to play Smeargle you actually should use Own Tempo which helps against taunt-less Swagger Thundurus as well
As far as I'm aware, every team featuring Smeargle that's succeeded at a real life event has run Moody. A single Speed boost can easily win you the game as it's difficult to stop a +2 Dark Void, and a Defense boost allows Smeargle to survive even a Jolly Mega Kangaskhan's Double-Edge. Evasion and Accuracy boosts are also valuable for obvious reasons. Between Fake Out from a partner, Focus Sash, Dark Void sleeps, and Spiky Shield, you get plenty of opportunities to rack up boosts, making it more consistent than it at first appears. So to say that Moody is a bad ability is simply not true. The majority of the time Swagger will also not be the opponent's best answer to Smeargle, making Own Tempo less important. Thundurus will usually prefer to Taunt and hope Smeargle isn't carrying Mental Herb (statistically a 10% chance, against the 50% chance of confusion not working) as you implied, but a double-target/spread moves are likely to do the trick better; which Moody better helps against. I'm not saying that Own Tempo doesn't have merit, because it does, but I agree with the decision that Moody be the main ability on the set.

- The EV-Spread isn't really usefull as against other Kangaskhan you lead Lopunny (faster FO) or Intimidate to make sure Smeargle survives at least one turn and puts Kang to sleep (and most Kangaskhan will Return Smeargle imo)
Moreover you want to have 252 HP on Smeargle because HP is the only stat that doesn't change when transforming
Using 252 HP with Transform is mentioned in Other Options. Investing heavily into Defense is common for Focus Sash users because of Kangaskhan being the only Pokemon that it's likely to matter against.

- This leads to the next point: Last slot should have Transform and at least slashed, because the most common way to play Smeargle is KangSmeargle with Transform and Power Up-Punch (putting opponents to sleep, boosting and then transforming
Transform wasn't added to the main set because it's very team specific. It pretty much only works with Kangaskhan or another setup sweeper (like Mega Salamence, as seen at Worlds). The set aims to be useful to as many teams as possible, and I think the current two slashes for Move 4 accomplish that. Transform is mentioned in Other Options, where the aforementioned Mega Kangaskhan and Mega Salamence are recommended, so it's not like the reader isn't being made aware of it regardless.

Also Follow Me isn't always necessary, you can put Tailwind, Wide Guard or Trick Room here. Fake Out is a waste most of the times as mostly you lead Smeargle next to a FO-user (that should make sure you can dark void freely/without getting ko'd)
Follow Me isn't completely mandatory, but it's really darn good. I'll make the same point here as I did about Transform, in that a Smeargle set with Follow Me is far more likely to be useful to the majority of teams.

- In generell I miss the fact that KangSmeargle (with Transform!) is the most common way to play Smeargle; the other common way to play it is with Lopunny + Tauros or Krookodile and Circle Throw, which also should be slashed on the Transform slot
Smeargle + Tauros/Krookodile was talked about in the QC process and was removed. It's very gimmicky and isn't going to perform well at anything that isn't a premier challenge. Markus Stadter, a worlds-calibur German VGC player, has talked about the strategy at length on both his YouTube channel and Twitter and despite himself and his friend having used it, he still calls it how it is: a gimmick. Gimmicks shouldn't be advocated unless they're the only way a Pokemon is competitively useful, which is not true in Smeargle's case.

- Scizor shouldn't be a Team Option as it is not important in VGC 15 at all ... Kangaskhan and Lopunny are nearly the only Pokémon which match with Smeargle very good
Scizor isn't exactly the first thing that comes to mind for a Smeargle partner for me personally, but I think the point was more that Smeargle should be paired with setup sweepers in general.
 
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Mamoswine
I think the Choice Scarf set's nature should be changed from Adamant to Jolly; Mamoswine can't outspeed Choice Scarf Landorus-T without a Speed boosting nature.
 
Okay so sorry for being kinda lazy with this, but I did a few things at least. Changed the move order on the LO ludicolo set, Fixed the Icy Wind stuff on Clefable, as well as adding heal pulse which was supposed to be on the set but wasn't, although it was still commented in moves. Stuff regarding new sets will probably not be done atm, as we are currently kinda in a limbo between VGC 15 and 16 in terms of VGC C&C and won't start writing tons of new sets, this will probably be dealt with later though when VGC 15 gets moved to being Battle Spot Doubles analyses.
 

P Squared

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I think this is the right place for this?

So I'm looking at Excadrill's VGC15 set:

[SET]
name: Mold Breaker
move 1: Earthquake
move 2: Rock Slide
move 3: Iron Head / Swords Dance
move 4: Protect
item: Life Orb / Focus Sash
ability: Mold Breaker
nature: Adamant / Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

And Set Details says this:

The 4 EVs in Special Defense [implied "instead of HP" here] keep Excadrill's HP odd; this ensures it takes less damage from Life Orb.
Does it really? According to the PS teambuilder, level 50 Excadrill's uninvested HP is 185. Adding those EVs to HP would make it 186. So it'd take 18 HP of LO recoil regardless. Same goes for level 100 ftr, with 361 HP vs 362 HP. Have I overlooked something?

I realize this is super minor and irrelevant anyways, but it's really annoying how many of the onsite analyses say incorrect things when it comes to EV spreads and "Stealth Rock numbers" / "Life Orb numbers", and it'd be nice if we could start fixing this in QC/GP.
 
A Pokemon's HP should be 10n-1 if it wants to take less damage from Life Orb, so the analysis is wrong in that respect. If Excadrill's stats are plugged into the overall bulk calculator (Click), the last 4 EVs should in fact be distributed into Defense as a result of its base Defense being significantly lower than its base HP.
 

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