Hello Hat Lovers!

This week we’ll be looking at Noivern. Noivern a Flying/Dragon type from generation six (not to be confused with the ever popular Dragon/Flying typing we’ve seen before.) Noivern screams “niche Pokemon,” from its lower base stats to its interesting move pool to its useful Abilities.

Noivern hasn’t seen a lot of play this season, players have been flocking to the ever-popular Salamence. If you try to use Noivern like a Salamence you’re going to be disappointed with your results. However, Noivern has a bunch of neat moves that separate it from its fellow Dragons, giving it a supporting role rather then an offensive one.

Abilities:

Noivern’s Abilities are Frisk, Infiltrator and Telepathy.

Frisk is the preferred Ability, revealing both your opponent’s items whenever Noivern is sent out. This alerts you to potential Choice Scarf, Focus Sash, Berries, etc. This can give you a ton of knowledge about your opponent’s Pokemon before the first turn begins.

Infiltrator is another solid Ability. With this Noivern can attack through Substitutes. This situation isn’t common enough to warrant its use, unfortunately.

Telepathy is an option if your team has moves that hit your own partners, such as Discharge or Boom Burst.

Base Stats:

Noivern’s base stats are: 85 HP, 70 Attack, 80 Defence, 97 Special Attack, 80 Special Defence, and 123 Speed. As we can see Noivern is much faster then the other Dragons, but lacks the power or defences that they posses.

Attacks:

Draco Meteor is the goto Dragon move, dealing respectable damage even from Noivern’s base 97 special attack. Other notable attacks include: Flamethrower, Boom Burst, Psychic, Dark Pulse, Focus Blast and Hurricane. Another damaging attack Noivern gets is Super Fang, which deals 50% of the target’s current HP as damage. This rounds down so it won’t trigger the Sitrus Berry of a Pokemon with a full, even HP stat.

Noivern also gets Tailwind, Taunt and Switcheroo. Tailwind makes Noivern a great support Pokemon bringing some rare speed control to the game. Taunt shuts down Pokemon such as Amoonguss. Switcheroo allows Noivern to give a Pokemon a Choice item while taking their item.

Sets:

Unlike last week’s Lucario, Noivern can only use a handful of sets effectively.

Support Noivern
Noivern @ Focus Sash
Ability: Frisk
EVs: 5 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
– Draco Meteor
– Super Fang
– Tailwind
– Protect

This Noivern brings Tailwind support to the team. Draco Meteor and Focus Sash allows Noivern to beat Garchomp and Salamence as well as deal solid damage to most Pokemon. Super Fang deals half of the target’s current HP as damage making it much easier for Noivern’s partner to KO it.

Choice Specs
Noivern @ Choice Specs
Ability: Frisk
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 HP
Timid / Modest Nature
– Draco Meteor
– Flamethrower
– Hurricane / Boomburst
– Switcheroo

With Choice Specs Noivern hits harder than Scarf Salamence. Flamethrower will hurt Steel types. Hurricane is a power Flying STAB, but its accuracy is terrible outside of rain so I wouldn’t advise it for most teams. Boomburst deals decent spread damage but you must be wary of your partner. Switcheroo passes Choice Specs to a Pokemon that won’t want them, and can be devastating if pulled off.

Teammates:

Like all Dragon types, Noivern appreciates having Steel type partners that can switch into an incoming Fairy, Dragon, Ice, or Rock attack. Aegislash, Bisharp, Mawile, and Ferrothorn are suitable choices. All of these Pokemon will like having Noivern switch into Ground, Fire, and Fighting moves for them.

Out of these four Pokemon Bisharp is the only one that can take full advantage of Tailwind. Noivern’s Super Fang followed up by an Assurance from Bisharp will be able to KO most Pokemon in the format. Finally, Bisharp will be able to OHKO Fairy types that give Noivern trouble.

Counters:

Tyranitar can tank anything Noivern throw at it and return KO with Ice Beam, and Sand will remove the Focus Sash. Fairy types are immune to its Dragon moves and threaten a Moonblast/Play Rough/Dazzling Gleam. Steel types can wall sets lacking Flamethrower. All of these Pokemon need to be wary of taking a Super Fang + partner attack, so you’ll need to rely on some prediction.

Aerodactyl can out speed it and 2HKO with Rock Slide while having a flinch chance on both of your Pokemon. It can also match Tailwinds with you.

Once Noivern has used Draco Meteor it’s Special Attack will be lowered and almost anything will be able to tank a couple hits from it and KO back.

Conclusion

Noivern is an interesting Pokemon that thrives from specific scenarios. It can deal with other Dragons, provide Tailwind support, and help other Pokemon nab KOs on bulky Pokemon. Yet its still outclassed by its peers in the offensive department and doesn’t share the popularity that its brethren do.

When putting Noivern on a team, you need to acknowledge what it can do that the other Dragons can’t, and capitalize on it.

Credit goes to Tomycase of NewGrounds

Hello Hat Lovers!

This week we’ll be looking at Lucario. Lucario is a Fighting/Steel type from generation four. Lucario is one of the mascot Pokemon from generation 4, getting its own movie and a spot in Super Smash Bros Brawl.

Lucario hasn’t been a viable Pokemon for VGC in the past seasons; this can be attributed to its average speed and poor defences. This has all changed in generation six, Lucario has been given a Mega Evolution that boosts its speed and offensive power. Lucario also gains some viability as a Pokemon that can out speed and OHKO Kangaskhan with ease.

Abilities:
Lucario has three abilities: Inner Focus, Steadfast, and Justified. Mega Lucario’s ability is Adaptability, which boosts Mega Lucario’s same type attack bonus (STAB) from 1.5x to 2x.

Inner Focus prevents flinching, rendering Fake Out useless against it and preventing random Rock Slides from ruining your day. Steadfast boosts your speed when you flinch, allowing you to most likely go first on the following turn. Both abilities are useful but I would always chose Inner Focus to prevent the opponent from ruining a turn for me.

The final ability is Justified, which increases Lucario’s attack stat by one stage whenever it is hit by a Dark type attack. Because Lucario isn’t going to be the target of any Dark type attacks due to its typing you’ll either need to switch it in on a Dark move targeting another Pokemon or use a move like Beat Up on your own Lucario.

Mega Lucario has Adaptability, making its Fighting and Steel moves far stronger than usual. Close Combat will smash holes in teams and Bullet Punch will be able to OHKO frail Pokemon.

Base Stats:
Lucario has the following base stats: 70 HP, 110 Attack, 70 Defence, 115 Special Attack, 70 Special Defence, and 90 Speed. Having high attack and special attack allows Lucario to use both physical and special sets effectively. 90 speed allows you to speed tie with Kangaskhan on the turn it Mega Evolves and out speed everything with less than base 90 speed. Faster Pokemon will out speed you unless you use a Choice Scarf. Lucario’s low defences make it quite frail, although it’s typing gives it a plethora of resistances so it can at least survive one of those.

Mega Lucario has base 70 HP, 145 Attack, 88 Defence, 140 Special Attack, 70 Special Defence, and 112 Speed. The massive buff to both offensive stats along with Adaptability make Mega Lucario far stronger then its base form. 112 Speed puts Lucario comfortably above most of the metagame, allowing it to get the jump on Pokemon such as Mega Kangaskhan, Charizard, and Garchomp. The 88 Defence increases Mega Lucario’s survivability slightly. It can be trained to survive an Earthquake or a Power-Up-Punch, but don’t expect much from it.

Attacks:
Lucario has a myriad of options for both physical, special, and supporting sets.

For physical moves we have Close Combat, Bullet Punch, Rock Slide, Crunch and Extreme Speed.

For special moves we have Aura Sphere, Flash Cannon, Hidden Power Ice, and Vacuum Wave.

Other moves Lucario learns are Follow Me, Quick Guard, Feint, Swords Dance, Nasty Plot, Heal Pulse, and Final Gambit.

Lucario learns other moves that are usable, but they’re incredibly niche and probably not worth it.

Sets:

The amount of sets Lucario can use is greater then most Pokemon in VGC due to its vast move pool and equal stat distribution amongst it’s offensive stats.

Mega Lucario (Physical)
Lucario @ Lucarionite
Ability: Inner Focus
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 4 SDef / 244 Spd
Jolly Nature
– Close Combat
– Bullet Punch
– Swords Dance / Rock Slide / Crunch / Extreme Speed
– Protect

Since Mega Lucario’s base attack is higher then its special attack and Close Combat is stronger than Aura Sphere it makes sense to pick physical Lucario. 244 Speed puts Lucario above base 110 Pokemon after Mega Evolving, although you lose against other 252 speed Mega Lucario, so you may chose a 252 / 252 spread if you’d like. Theres also the option of dropping down to 180 speed, which puts you just above Garchomp but below base 105 and 110 Pokemon. This would allow you to invest into bulk but due to Close Combat lowering your defences I wouldn’t bother.

Close Combat smashes anything that doesn’t resist it. Bullet Punch takes care of frail Fairy types and gives Lucario a priority move. Swords Dance will boost Lucario’s attack to terrifying levels and if you can set it up safely it’ll put a ton of pressure on the opponent. Rock Slide beats Mega Charizard-Y, unless they invest in a massive amount of bulk. Crunch gives Lucario a way to deal with Ghost types. Extreme Speed is good for niche situations like getting a finishing blow off and a Pokemon with a priority move, dodging a Sucker Punch when you’re low on HP and getting a hit off a Pokemon before an opposing Rage Powder / Follow Me activates.

Mega Lucario (Special)
Lucario @ Lucarionite
Ability: Inner Focus
Level: 50
EVs: 68 HP / 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 180 Spd
Timid Nature
– Aura Sphere
– Flash Cannon
– Nasty Plot / Vacuum Wave / Dark Pulse / Hidden Power Ice
– Protect

Because of how popular Intimidate and Will-O-Wisp are special Mega Lucario is also viable for VGC. Aura Sphere nets a OHKO on fast Kangaskhan, but not on bulky Kangaskhan. Flash Cannon OHKO’s Gardevoir. Like Swords Dance on the physical set, Nasty Plot boosts Lucario’s special attack by 2 stages, making it a huge threat if pulled off. Vacuum Wave Gives Lucario a priority move. Dark Pulse serves the same purpose as Crunch did on the physical set. Hidden Power Ice is an option but it doesn’t get the OHKO on Garchomp so I don’t consider it to be worth a slot.

Since this Lucario doesn’t lower it’s defences with Close Combat I’ve given it 180 speed to just put it above Garchomp and put the rest into bulk and give it a higher chance of surviving Garchomp’s Earthquake.

Lucario (Anti-Kangaskhan)
Lucario @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Inner Focus
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature
– Close Combat
– Bullet Punch / Flash Cannon
– Rock Slide
– Crunch

This set has one simple goal: KO Mega Kangaskhan right off the bat. Close Combat OHKO’s 4 HP / 0 Def Kangaskhan 100% of the time and has a 75% chance to OHKO 252 HP / 0 Def Kangaskhan. The rest of the moves provide coverage.

Scarf Lucario can also use Final Gambit, although you’ll need to move your attack EVs into HP and lose the ability to OHKO Mega Kangaskhan. Staraptor is the best user of Final Gambit in the VGC 2014 ruleset, but with Lucario it’ll be a surprise.

Lucario (Follow Me)
Lucario @ Sitrus Berry / Leftover / Lum Berry
Ability: Inner Focus
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 140 Def / 116 SDef
Calm Nature
– Follow Me
– Aura Sphere
– Feint / Quick Guard / Heal Pulse / Protect / Final Gambit
– Feint / Quick Guard / Heal Pulse / Protect / Final Gambit

Admittedly I’ve never used a Follow Me Lucario and don’t consider it to be a great user of the move, I wouldn’t be covering all the bases if I didn’t mention it.  Follow Me isn’t a move most expect when they see Lucario, so you might be able to catch your opponent off guard. Aura Sphere still deals decent damage without investment and gives you a chance if Lucario is your last Pokemon. Quick Guard, Feint, and Heal Pulse all support your partner. Since you have a full HP investment Final Gambit is an option if you use it right off the bat.

The above spread allows Lucario to survive Fire Blast from Salamence and Tyranitar, Heat Wave from Chandelure, Earthquake from Garchomp, and Power-Up-Punch from Kangaskhan. The choice of item depends on what the rest of the team needs. Sitrus is ideal but plenty of Pokemon are happy to have a Sitrus Berry to hold.


Teammates:

Lucario works well with Dragon/Flying types such as Salamence or Noivern, as they can switch into the others weaknesses. Gyarados also works well with it. Intimidate support will allow Lucario to survive Garchomp’s Earthquake for sure. If you’re using Swords Dance or Nasty Plot it would be good to have a Pokemon that helps it set up like a Fake Out user or Amoonguss.

Lucario appreciates partners that can deal with Dragon types like Garchomp and Salamence. Scarf Gardevoir can deal with these threats, as can your own Scarf Salamence. Most Lucario will want a partner that can KO Aegislash and Gengar if they don’t carry a Dark move of their own.

Mega Lucario isn’t one of those Mega Pokemon that you want to bring to every battle. Because of this it works well on double Mega teams. Keep this in mind as you build a team with Lucario. If your team has a Mega you don’t always want to bring or you have a lot of trouble with Kangaskhan Lucario makes for a great alternate Mega. Having Lucario on a team with another potential Mega gives your opponent a lot to think about in team preview.

Counters:

Salamence is a fantastic counter to Lucario, being able to switch into an attack from it, out speed it and OHKO it with Fire Blast. Amoonguss is able to redirect and withstand most attacks from Lucario. Aegislash can wall most sets so long as they don’t use a Dark/Ghost move. Garchomp out speeds regular Lucario and can still survive a hit from Mega Lucario and retaliate with Earthquake. Talonflame can also out speed and KO Lucario, however it can’t take a hit from Lucario at all.

If you’ve been keeping up with the metagame you’ll notice that all the Pokemon I listed are very common to see. This is why Lucario hasn’t seen as much play as it could.

Conclusion

Its interesting to note that in Smogon’s singles format (which might as well be the only one that exists) Mega Lucario has been banned because it is considered nigh uncounterable. In doubles Lucario is certainly a threat but it can be dealt with because you have two Pokemon out at once and at least one of them should be able to deal with it.

I probably wouldn’t even consider Lucario if it weren’t for Kangaskhan, but having a Pokemon on your team that beats the most popular Mega in the metagame is a godsend for most teams. I always see players struggling to beat the behemoth and Lucario is the second Pokemon I recommend to them (the first being Aegislash)

I hope you’ve been enjoying the series so far and if you want to see your favourite Pokemon featured next week let us know!

~Max

“It likes to attack from above. A maneuver that is difficult to defend against.” LLLadies?

Intro

Hawlucha is the one, the only, Flying/Fighting type! This people were clamouring for a Flying/Fighting type for the impressive coverage the dual STAB brings. With both, the most relevant Pokemon I can
think of that resists both is Aegislash then Zapdos, and after that the list runs dry (Rotom-Fan?). So given that information, Hawlucha has some big shoes to fill and a reasonable capacity to do so.
gives it a fair number of awkward weaknesses, like Electric, Ice (we’re already off to a bad start), Flying, Psychic and Fairy. In return, it resists Grass, Fighting, Bug and Dark, and is immune to Ground. Not a great tradeoff in my opinion, but before this gen

Abilities:

Hawlucha gets access to 3 Abilities, Limber, Unburden and Mold Breaker. Initially… I’d be hard pressed to find a reason to use Limber but you’ll see it has its purposes. Both Unburden and Mold Breaker are traditionally viable Abilities for a ‘mon to have. Unfortunately, Hawlucha has nothing that takes advantage of Mold Breaker (i.e. it doesn’t get Ground moves to use against Levitate Pokemon), so that plan is mostly scrapped. That leaves us with Unburden! A fine choice.

If your Hawlucha isn’t holding a consumable item, Limber is actually the next best option. It’s also useful considering Hawlucha’s speed is its greatest asset.

Base Stats:

78 / 92 / 75 / 74 / 63 / 118

Okay, so after you’ve seen Hawlucha’s stats you can start to understand why not many people are already using it. That and the weaknesses. But Talonflame gets away with an even lower base 81 attack, commonly running Life Orb or Choice Band. Talonflame’s greatest advantage is its Priority Brave Bird giving it the edge in speed. But! Hawlucha has a more powerful STAB in Sky Attack. Sure it’s a one time use, whereas Talonflame can usually launch two base 120 attacks in a game, but Talonflame doesn’t get access to Fighting moves. You know what does? Staraptor with Close Combat. Oh, and it has much higher attack, Intimidate, and still has access to Brave Bird.

Admittedly, Hawlucha’s middling stats leave it in between a rock and a hard place. It faces stiff competition from one of the most-used mons in VGC, and another bird that sees a fair bit of play for niche purposes Hawlucha shares. Hawlucha’s speed gives it an advantage over Staraptor, allowing a speedy Choice Band set. Adamant Hawlucha hits 170 speed, just enough to outspeed 252+ Garchomp. Jolly is useful to outspeed Pokemon in the 105-115 speed tier, and Adamant Talonflame if it’s using Flare Blitz. Not to mention outspeeding stuff like Scarfed 252+ TTar and Manectric (non-Mega speed).

Admittedly, Tomohawk looked pretty cool..

That said, if Hawlucha is going to have an advantage over Talonflame or Staraptor, it’s got to come from a versatile movepool.

Moves:

Boy does Hawlucha have a crap-ton of viable moves! Most come from its level-up as well, so you can tell Pokemon really tried to make this thing versatile as its niche. Though a lot of these moves don’t seem like they’re likely to be used, I can think of unique sets for each of them where they really shine. As such, I’ll be splitting them up into their purposes, and maybe add a note as to why they’re worth considering on Hawlucha. I’ll go over what sets I’d use them on later.

Setup

Because of Hawlucha’s ability to disrupt, you can sometimes catch an opponent switching out to prevent being Encored, or Protecting to avoid a Sky Drop or Taunt. As such, Hawlucha may find an opportunity in the first couple turns of the game to set up. Listed below are moves that each have their own purpose.

Hone Claws
– The accuracy boost is nice for High Jump Kick and Rock Slide
Swords Dance
– Unadulterated power
Entrainment
– A niche specific to Hawlucha. Entrainment can give Mold Breaker to a partner like Garchomp for Earthquake abuse, and is an ideal user as it has ground immunity. You can also rob Mawile and Kangaskhan of their powerful Abilities, though you might as well just hit the Kangaskhan if you’ve got the chance.

Disruption

Hawlucha has so many viable Disruptive moves that it’s really up to you to decide what works best for your team. Below, I’ve ranked these moves by potential for use on any set. As such, in the sets I list below, if it says “Disruption” as a moveslot, any of the moves listed here could be viable, but I would look to the higher-ranked options first for whatever your team needs.

I… I don’t even know…

Highly Useful

Encore
Quick Guard
Taunt
Sky Drop

Useful

U-Turn
Low Sweep
– For speed control like Icy Wind. Also offers 100% accurate STAB fighting move to avoid relying on High Jump Kick, which is especially handy in the face of Protect.

Niche Useful

Fling
– A pseudo-Fake Out while consuming its item for Unburden. Quite good! But not widely applicable.

Feather Dance (Hawlucha is too frail)
Swagger
Entrainment

Damage Output

High Jump Kick
Sky Attack
Acrobatics
Rock Slide
Stone Edge

Other/Niche

Protect/Detect
Endeavor
Roost
Ally Switch

Sets:

Sky Attack
Jolly/Adamant @ Power Herb
4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
– Sky Attack
– High Jump Kick
– Rock Slide / Disruption
– Detect / Disruption

I think this is a textbook example of Pokemon pre-packaging something they want people to try out. You’ll find this Hawlucha in the Battle Maison, and it’s not like it’s bad… But the only advantage this set boasts over the Attacker set below is the single use of Sky Attack which boosts your speed, at the cost of reduced damage from your other moves. If you opt for an Adamant nature, you’ll be able to get away with it, as Adamant Hawlucha still outspeeds Garchomp, and hits hard enough to KO Charizard with Rock Slide. But this Hawlucha will only KO Mega Kangaskhan 50% of the time with High Jump Kick, or more accurately, 45% of the time accounting for misses. I’m not a fan.

Attacker
Jolly/Adamant @ Life Orb/Choice Band
Limber
4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
– High Jump Kick
– Rock Slide
– Disruption/Stone Edge
– Protect/Sky Drop

With the Life Orb boost, Jolly Rock Slide will OHKO any Mega Charizard Y, whereas unboosted you fall short with only a 43.8% chance against 252 HP Charizard-Y. Jolly boosted High Jump Kick will OHKO 252 HP Mega Kangaskhan with room to spare, while it has 0% chance unboosted. If you want the speed advantage that Jolly brings, then you’ll want the boost to get through.

After that, any disruption move is useful for the Life Orb set. The move to choose would largely depend on your team and potential partners. With a Choice Band, Stone Edge is an option to avoid Wide Guard shenanigans. Sky Drop is another useful move for Hawlucha with either item, and a banded Sky Drop can deal >75% to Amoonguss while removing it from the field for a turn.

I can haz King’s Rock?

Fling
Jolly @ King’s Rock/Razor Fang
Unburden
252 Atk / 252 Spd
– Fling
– Encore
– Setup / Disruption
– High Jump Kick / Acrobatics / Quick Guard / Protect

This set is just brimming with possibilities. By having access to Fling, you can effectively Fake Out an opponent on any turn of your choosing as long as you’re faster. The possibility of being flinched in the middle of a battle is not something most players prepare for. In a Best-of-3 scenario, the threat of Encore can punish players that Protect against Fling. And with the threat of Encore you can set up a Hone Claws or Swords Dance to threaten big damage with High Jump Kick. The lack of protect in that moveset is alleviated by Fling.

The third move could also be a Disruption move such as Sky Drop, Taunt or Low Sweep. All are useful for their own reasons. Sky Drop is just generally great disruption coming from a fast user like Hawlucha. Taunt is also a niche use which could be quite handy against Amoonguss. If you’re worried about Rage Powder, you can Taunt Amoonguss turn 1, then Encore it turn 2 to completely cripple it. Taunt is also useful to prevent the usual suspects (e.g. Will-o-Wisp, Spore). Low Sweep gets a nod here as a way to punish a Pokemon switching-in by reducing its speed by one stage and dealing a bit of damage.

Finally, High Jump Kick is Hawlucha’s most powerful non-conditional move, and takes advantage of Hone Claws. Acrobatics can also work on this set after you use Fling, but requires a Fling before it’s useful. Quick Guard is a niche move that can always be considered depending on your partner. In this instance, Quick Guard is also useful to protect yourself from priority moves or Pranksters attempting to bypass your quick Encore. Protect is just a standard and good option.

The only other use of Fling this Hawlucha can run is with Hard Stone. Hard Stone gives Fling base 100 damage which will OHKO Mega Gengar, but that’s probably its best use. Hard Stone also allows you to run Rock Slide and KO M-Charizard Y without using up Life Orb or Choice Band on your team. That said… King’s Rock is better 99% of the time.

Endeavor
Jolly @Focus Sash
Unburden
252 Atk / 252 Spd
IV’s: 0 HP, 0 Def, 0 SDef
– Disruption / Sky Drop
– Endeavor
– Quick Guard
– Disruption / Protect

This set is a more dedicated support set that doesn’t concern itself as much with damage output. The idea here is to threaten disruption via Sky Drop (or something else like Encore) as your primary purpose. After you go down to 1 HP, you receive the Unburden boost and threaten a very fast Endeavor to 1 HP. This is Hawlucha’s way of saying “I’m going down swinging.” Because after Unburden Hawlucha will be so fast, this set partners very well with spread move partners like Rock Slide, Earthquake or Heat Wave users, even if they’re scarfed (e.g. Garchomp, Mamoswine, Chandelure).

Quick Guard is a staple on this set as you bait priority moves like nobody’s business at 1 HP. Being able to protect yourself from them, and also offer protection for a (scarfed) partner is just a better use of a moveslot. Both of my above examples (Mamoswine and Chandy) want protection from Aqua Jets and Sucker Punches. Hawlucha can always run Protect if you have no reason to protect your partner on that turn, but I wouldn’t want to drop Quick Guard from the set to do it.

Is this really the best entrainment animation the internet has to offer?

Entrainment
Jolly @ King’s Rock
Mold Breaker
4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
– Entrainment
– Fling
– Disruption / High Jump Kick
– Disruption / Protect / Quick Guard

This set is very much a niche concept. The idea is to use Hawlucha for the purpose of giving Mold Breaker to the the opponent’s Rotom-A or other Levitate user, and Earthquake with Pokemon like Garchomp.

My theoretical Garchomp partner might run Swords Dance instead of a move like Dragon Claw or Rock Slide, taking advantage of Hawlucha’s Fling or threat of Encore forcing switches (or both). A +2 Garchomp with Mold Breaker will be doing whatever it wants to whoever it wants, barring Scarf users. You can also use Quick Guard here to protect Garchomp or Mamoswine from incoming priority (e.g. Ice Shard, Aqua Jet). Dragon Dance users like Mega Tyranitar are also worth noting as a potential partner.

You can also Entrain Mold Breaker onto your partner if you think it’s worth it. Or you can rob opposing Pokemon of their useful abilities. This is a much more niche use of the move, but getting rid of Huge Power on Mawile or Azumarill is a neat play. Additionally, you can get rid of Lightningrod from Raichu, Manectric or Rhydon and free your partner for use of Electric moves. Watching an opponent kill their own Telepathy Gardevoir with Earthquake is an invigorating rush. As Kangaskhan isn’t OHKO’d by Jolly High Jump Kick without a boost, Entrainment can also remove Parental Bond. But HJK still does 83-99%, so getting the damage on will almost always be more worthwhile.

Quick Guard is useful to protect yourself from the usual suspects, but also from Prankster users that might Burn or Charm you.

Teammates:

I’ve alluded to potential teammates throughout this article, but here they are stated more concretely.

With access to Quick Guard, Hawlucha can protect partners from Sucker Punch from Kangaskhan/Mawile or Brave Bird from Talonflame. Scarfed Pokemon like Gardevoir really don’t want to face either, and mons like Amoonguss and M-Vensuar don’t want to deal with Talonflame.

I agree with everything you say

Outside that, one of Hawlucha’s greatest assets is being one of the fastest non-Prankster Encore users in the format (Alakazam and Accelgor are both faster, but what kind of scrubs would want to use them?). Okay… so that’s really not that impressive I guess. But a fast Encore is nonetheless a great mind game to play with. Tony Cheung recently won Washington Regionals with a Raichu/Gengar team. Hawlucha could function very similarly to Raichu, but with more versatile support, the potential for real damage, and a slower “Fake Out” in the form of Fling. With the advantage that you can Flinch them on any turn, not just the first.

Hawlucha also reminds me of Mienshao in a lot of ways. So it can definitely replace Mienshao to bring a team moves like Sky Drop and Encore.

Hawlucha can be added as a check to Mega Kangaskhan. As a fast Pokemon capable of OHKO’ing the parent-child combo, it’s worth consideration. I wouldn’t call it a counter because of its frailty, but it resists Dark so Sucker Punch won’t be finishing you off. It also gets Encore to Encore their Fake Out (or failed Sucker Punch), or the Protect that they used to avoid High Jump Kick.

Counters:

Aegislash is a big pain to deal with, as you may notice my Hawlucha sets don’t really run… anything… that can deal with it. Jokingly… Hard Stone Fling BARELY OHKO’s 252 HP Aegislash-Blade. Now, you can Encore their King’s Shield or Substitute, but that requires support to force them to King’s Shield/Substitute.

So outside of Aegislash, what else beats Hawlucha? Well, as a support Pokemon it’s not really straight-up “countered.” But a lot of things can deal with Hawlucha. In the same way, Hawlucha isn’t trying to beat them. It’s trying to support a partner that can beat them.

Conclusion

With a litany of neat niche moves like Encore, Sky Drop, Taunt, Quick Guard, and Fling, Hawlucha has a lot it can bring to a team. It also offers a powerful High Jump Kick, capable of removing Kangaskhan’s from the field. Though its base attack is lower than most threats, its impressive speed lets you run an Adamant nature if desired, which is the same as a Jolly Pokemon with a base 106 Attack stat and 103 Speed.

So if you’re playing around with Encore or need a versatile Pokemon that your team can abuse, Try out Hawlucha. There’s a lot more to this thing than meets the eye!

Cheers,
Mark

Hello Hat Lovers!

Today we’ll be starting the weekly series Pokemon of the Week. The previous Charizard and Aegislash articles have been retroactively made a part of the series so our first official article shall be the third in the series.

The first Pokemon for the official series is Bisharp. Bisharp is a Dark/Steel type introduced in generation five. Bisharp is known for two things: It’s ability Defiant and Sucker Punch. Bisharp’s name has often been noted as similar to a Bishop from Chess, which is fitting because Bisharp makes the game more like a chess match with all the prediction it brings to the match.

Ability
Bisharp has three abilities, Defiant, Pressure, and Inner Focus. The only ability Bisharp should ever consider is Defiant. Defiant is the main selling point of Bisharp as a Pokemon. If Bisharp’s stats are lowered by an opponent its attack is boosted by two stages. This means Intimidate gives Bisharp a +1 boost to attack instead of a -1 drop. Defiant will make Salamence and other Intimidate users think twice about leading against a team with Bisharp.

Attacks
The most important attack for Bisharp is Sucker Punch. Sucker Punch is a base 80 Dark type priority move that only works if the target was using a damaging move that turn. With Bisharp’s fantastic attack stat it will be able to KO the fast and frail Pokemon before they can attack back.

Iron Head is the standard Steel STAB move for Bisharp. It deals great damage against Gardevoir and Tyranitar, as well as Pokemon that resist Dark.

From here another Dark move is often used so Bisharp doesn’t need to rely on Sucker Punch as its only Dark move. Night Slash has been the standard in the past, with 70 base power and a heightened critical hit rate.

Another move that’s been seeing a rise in popularity lately is Assurance. Assurance has a base power of 60 but if the target has taken damage already Assurance deals double damage. Between the initial damage that triggered Assurance the effective base 120 damage Bisharp will be able to finish off most opponents.

Protect is a standard move for VGC that Bisharp should carry. Another option to use either alongside or instead of Protect is Quick Guard, which blocks all priority moves targeting either of your Pokemon. This allows Bisharp to block opposing Sucker Punch and Brave Bird, as well as shut down any Prankster Pokemon trying to ruin your day with Swagger.

Bisharp @ Life Orb
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
– Sucker Punch
– Iron Head
– Assurance / Quick Guard
– Protect / Quick Guard

This is what I consider to be the standard way to play Bisharp. Life Orb boosts your damage output to help Sucker Punch pick up important KOs on Pokemon such as Salamence, as well as make Assurance an even greater threat. 252 Attack should be used on every Bisharp. I’ve opted for 252 speed to get the jump on Rotom, Tyranitar, and Gardevoir (barring Choice Scarf sets for these Pokemon.) The last 4 went into HP for no special reason.

Depending on the teammates you pair Bisharp with you may need to lower its speed so that they can attack first and give Assurance full power.

One neat idea employed by Wolfe Glick of Eggy Emporium was to use an HP IV of 29 and 0 HP EVs to reach an HP of 139. This reduced Life Orb damage by 1 so his Bisharp would have more HP in the long run. While this idea is clever I think its a bit excessive and wouldn’t bother breeding for it. I doubt the extra recoil makes the difference in the long run.

Bisharp @ Choice Band
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
– Sucker Punch
– Iron Head
– Assurance
– Sleep Talk

With Bisharp’s massive attack stat and strong priority move Choice Band makes a lot of sense. Sleep Talk has taken the place of Protect to help deal with Dark Void and Spore.

Bisharp @ Focus Sash
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
– Sucker Punch
– Iron Head
– Swords Dance
– Protect

Teammates
Because of Defiant Bisharp punishes Intimidate users, so a team full of physical attackers is a good place for it. With a Defiant boost Bisharp OHKOs Salamence with Sucker Punch, giving its partner safety from the scarfed menace.

If you’re using Assurance then you’ll benefit from having faster Pokemon with spread moves such as Charizard or Scarf Chandelure with Heat Wave, and Garchomp or Salamence with Rock Slide. Assurance is a great move but you don’t want to get caught double targeting a Pokemon using Protect.

Bisharp also works well with Pokemon that don’t enjoy facing Sucker Punch or Talonflame if it carries Quick Guard. Being able to shut down any Prankster is a godsend, and prevents the opponent from going Swagger GG against you.

For the Swords Dance set you’ll want partners that can help Bisharp set up, such as Kangaskhan with Fake Out or Greninja with Mat Block.

Counters
Pokemon that can out speed Bisharp and aren’t OHKO’d by Sucker Punch can keep it in check. Bisharp will have a hard time pulling its weight when staring down a Garchomp, unless its partner can deal with it. Kangaskhan can tank a Sucker Punch and KO back with Power-Up-Punch. Scarf Tyranitar isn’t afraid of Sucker Punch at all and can OHKO with Fire Blast.

Rage Powder and Follow Me prevent Sucker Punch from working properly, but most users are slow and must be wary of Assurance.

Rotom-H is a great answer to Bisharp, able to burn it or OHKO with Overheat. Caution must be used as Rotom-H will be KO’d by Assurance after taking chip damage earlier in the turn.

Conclusion

Bisharp is a strong force in the metagame, however if played incorrectly it will be dead weight on a team. It can’t just be slapped onto a team and expected to preform well, it needs to be thought about in relation to each member of the team, from which threats it covers for its teammates to the threats that its teammates will need to cover themselves, as well as the effects of having Defiant in team preview.

If you liked the series or want to see your favourite Pokemon featured next week let us know!

~Max