Competitive Crunch #9: Overgrow, Blaze, and Torrent

Hey, guys! Welcome to another late post; this time, it's a segment of Competitive Crunch.

Today, I'll be doing something quick and analyzing the three starter abilities.

First, there's Overgrow.

Overgrow is obtainable by these following Pokemon:

-Bulbasaur and its evolutions
-Chikorita and its evolutions
-Treecko and its evolutions
-Turtwig and its evolutions
-Snivy and its evolutions
-Pansage and Simisage
-Chespin and its evolutions

Overgrow boosts the power of the user's Grass-type attacks by 1.5x when their HP is at one-third or less. (Approximately 33%)

The second of these abilities is Blaze.

Blaze is obtainable by these following Pokemon:

-Charmander and its evolutions
-Cyndaquil and its evolutions
-Torchic and its evolutions
-Chimchar and its evolutions
-Tepig and its evolutions
-Pansear and Simisear
-Fennekin and its evolutions

Blaze boosts the power of the user's Fire-type attacks by 1.5x when their HP is at one-third or less. (Approximately 33%)

The last of these three abilities is Torrent.

Torrent is obtainable by these following Pokemon:

-Squirtle and its evolutions
-Totodile and its evolutions
-Mudkip and its evolutions
-Piplup and its evolutions
-Oshawott and its evolutions
-Panpour and Simipour
-Froakie and its evolutions

Torrent boosts the power of the user's Water-type attacks by 1.5x when their HP is at one-third or less. (Approximately 33%)

In conclusion, these three abilities are pretty much the same and somewhat stupid because you never realize when they activate.

~Credits to Smogon for the data used in this post. THANKS, SMOGON!!!~

That's all for today. Hopefully I can continue to catch up on missed posts. 

Until then, stay awesome!

Competitive Crunch #8: Jirachi Analysis

Hey, guys! Welcome to today's segment of Competitive Crunch! Today, we will be analyzing a very versatile Pokemon in competitive battling, Jirachi.

First, lets analyze the basics.

Jirachi is a Steel/Psychic type Pokemon that was introduced in the third generation of Pokemon.

It was obtainable only through a bonus disc for Pokemon Colosseum or events during the earlier days of Generation Four. (I do have one myself.)

It has 100 Base Stats across the board with a BST of 600, meaning that it is very balanced.

Now it's time for competitive movesets from Smogon.

1. Wish Maker - 

Move 1: Wish

Move 2: Iron Head
Move 3: Thunder Wave/Body Slam
Move 4: Protect/U-turn/Stealth Rock
Ability: Serene Grace
Item: Leftovers
Nature: Careful
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef

2. Para Flinch - 

Move 1: Iron Head
Move 2: Body Slam/Thunder Wave
Move 3: U-turn
Move 4: Zen Headbutt/Ice Punch/Fire Punch
Ability: Serene Grace
Item: Leftovers
Nature: Adamant

EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SDef

3. Sub+Calm Mind - 

Move 1: Substitute

Move 2: Calm Mind

Move 3: Thunder/Thunderbolt

Move 4: Psyshock/Flash Cannon/Water Pulse

4. Choice Scarf -

Move 1: Iron Head

Move 2: Ice Punch

Move 3: U-Turn/Fire Punch

Move 4: Trick/Healing Wisk

5. SUPERACHI -

Move 1: Calm Mind

Move 2: Psychic/Flash Cannon/Psyshock

Move 3: Grass Knot/Thunderbolt

Move 4: Hidden Power Fire/Hidden Power Ground

~Credits to Smogon and Bulbapedia for the data used in this post. THANKS, SMOGON AND BULBAPEDIA!!!~

~Credits to pkparaiso.com for the Jirachi used in this post. THANKS, PKPARAISO!!!~

That's all for today. Hopefully I can continue to catch up on missed posts like the collage that was supposed to be here today. Oh well!

Until then, stay awesome!

Competitive Crunch #8: Reflect and Light Screen

Hey, guys! Welcome to a very late done Competitive Crunch! I've been busy this week so I'll probably be spending the weekend catching up on my missed posts.

Today's topic is Reflect and Light Screen! (Yay?)
Not the most interesting, amazing topic, but Dual Screens, as they are after referred to as, are a very useful asset in competitive play.

Reflect boosts your whole team's physical Defense for 5 turns.
Light Screen does the same for your Special Defense.

The move Brick Break will break the screen and negate the effects of both a Reflect and a Light Screen.
The item Light Clay boosts the longevity of the two screens from 5 turns to 8 turns.

There really are no common users of Dual Screens because Reflect and Light Screen are learned by practically all Pokemon. (Correction: Only 159 Pokemon can...)

~Credits to Smogon for the information used in this post. THANKS, SMOGON!!!~

That's all for today. Hopefully later I'll be catching up on more missed posts.

Until then, stay awesome!

Competitive Crunch #7: Protean, Magician, and Bulletproof!

Hey, guys! Welcome to today's Competitive Crunch segment! Today, I'll be discussing the three Hidden Abilities of the Kalos Starters. Greninja gets Protean, Delphox gets Magician, and Chesnaught gets Bulletproof.

Protean

The ability Protean is usable by Froakie and its evolutions along with Kecleon.
Protean is a very interesting ability that changes typing with the move you use. For example, if Frogadier uses Ice Beam, an Ice-type move, it will turn into an Ice-type until its next move or until it switches out.

Since Greninja and Kecleon get a wide variety of moves, Protean is a very useful and unique ability for them.

Magician

Another unique ability, Magician is only obtainable by Fennekin, Braixen, and Delphox as well as Klefki.
This ability will steal an opponent's item when a move attacks them after they no longer have an item.

If Fennekin doesn't have an item and uses Flamethrower on Munchlax with Leftovers, Fennekin will "magically" take the Munchlax's Leftovers item. (Tada!)

Bulletproof

Bulletproof is another ability introduced in X and Y and is only obtainable by Chespin, Quilladin, and Chesnaught. Bulletproof gives immunities to moves related to balls (Real mature. I know you laughed when you read that), bombs, cannons, throws, etc. You can find the list of moves Bulletproof negates here.

~Credits to Smogon and Bulbapedia for the data used in this post. THANKS, SMOGON AND BULBAPEDIA!!!~

That's all for today. I might end up posting something tomorrow, so be sure to stay around.

Until then, stay awesome!

Competitive Crunch #6: Baton Passing

Hey, guys! Welcome to today's Competitive Crunch, once again with a name not stolen from PIMPNITE.

If you've seen some of my Sweep Saturday battles, you'll notice that I can't just sweep a team with a Pokemon alone because no Pokemon is really powerful enough to destroy all types of Pokemon with ease.

The move Baton Pass gives a simple and fun way to power up your Pokemon and have a laugh when you beat them up with a Goomy. (HAHAHAHAHAHAHA)

Baton Pass will pass any stat boosts or stat de-buffs that the current Pokemon has. For example, if I set up Calm Mind on my Espeon and use Baton Pass to switch into my Goodra, that Goodra will receive the Calm Mind boost that Espeon passed.

Sometimes, it's easy to just set up and sweep, but not all Pokemon get setup moves that can benefit their fighting ability. That's why Baton Pass is such a unique move that can give any Pokemon an edge in battling.

Common Baton Pass Strategies:

1. Speed Boosters

Speed Boost is a great ability that will boost your speed stat every turn. Speed is an important stat for sweeping, especially if you don't have the defenses to take a hit when your opponent moves first.

Common Users: Blaziken, Scolipede, Ninjask

     2.   Spore/Sleep Powder

If you really are determined to set up stats to pass, you could put them to sleep to give you at least one free turn to get stat boosts up.

Common Users: Smeargle, Venomoth

     3.   Smash Pass

Whew, if you REALLY want to get big on stat boost passing, you should try Smash Pass, which is passing Shell Smash, which boosts Attack, Special Attack, and Speed. 

Common Users: Huntail, Smeargle, Gorebyss

     4.   Don't Stop At Just One!

Remember, you can Baton Pass through a team of five Pokemon to eventually pass it to a sweeper. You don't need to just have one boost to pass. Try passing all of the stat boosts!

~Credits to Smogon for the information used in this post. THANKS, SMOGON!!!~

That's all for today. Unfortunately, you won't be seeing something from me tomorrow.

Stay tuned for Thursday's collage. 

Until then, stay awesome!

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Competitive Crunch #4: Prankster

Hey, guys! Welcome back to another Competitive Crunch. Today I'll be discussing an ability that is pretty overpowered known as Prankster.

Prankster is an ability that will cause any non-attacking moves to have a priority level boosted by +1. (Makes the Pokemon go first)

Prankster is found on these Pokemon: Sableye, Whimsicott, Klefki, Liepard, Mega-Banette, Meowstic (Male), Tornadus, Thundurus, Murkrow, Eggsplat, Volbeat, and Illumise.

Common Prankster Strategies:

Whimsicott likes to abuse its priority to set up Substitute, use Leech Seed and Stun Spore to annoy your opponent.

Sableye used Will-O-Wisp to cripple physical attackers and can also use Recover with priority.

Volbeat and Illumise can get off priority Baton Pass, but Volbeat is more useful because it can use Tail Glow to pass.

Klefki can learn many status moves, such as Reflect, Light Screen, and Spikes, and along with Liepard, can abuse Swagger along with Thunder Wave.

Mega-Banette can get off a priority Destiny Bond to take down your opponent with it.

Sorry for the somewhat-short post, but I didn't have much free time today so this is all I could post. Thanks for reading, anyway!

~Credits to Bulbapedia for the information on the ability, Prankster. THANKS, BULBAPEDIA!!!~

~Credits to Smogon for the strategies used (and abused) with Prankster Pokemon. THANKS, SMOGON!!!~

~Credits to pkparaiso.com for this Sableye. THANKS, PKPARAISO!!!~

Competitive Crunch #3: Choice Band/Specs/Scarf

Hey, guys! Welcome back to another segment of Competitive Crunch, with a name that was definitely not stolen by Pimpnite. Today, we are going to talk about probably the most overused items ever in competitive battling known as the Choice Items. Currently, there are three choice items: the Choice Band, the Choice Specs, and the Choice Scarf.

All of the choice items here do the same thing. Once you use your first move, you'll be locked into that move until switching out.

Let's take an example. If I have a Choice Scarf Dragonite with Outrage, Earthquake, Fire Punch, and ExtremeSpeed, and I use Earthquake, I will only be allowed to use Earthquake until I switch back out again to choose a different move to lock myself into. If you've never used these items before, you're probably wondering why anyone would want to have themselves only able to use one move. That's what I'll be explaining next.

Each of the choice items has a specific aspect that will make the three unique from one another.

The Choice Band will lock yourself into the first move you use, while at the same time boosting your Attack stat by 50%!

The Choice Specs will lock yourself into the first move you use, while at the same time boosting your Special Attack stat by 50%.

The most popular of the three is the Choice Scarf, which will lock yourself into the first move you use, while at the same time boosting your Speed stat by 50%.

Strategies to use with Choice Items:

• Use U-Turn and Volt Switch to get quickly out of a situation that would lock you into a battle.
• Don't use set-up moves alongside these items because they will not work.
• Use Pokemon that will need the extra boost to the desired stat and not ones that could use their item slot for a more useful item.
• Use a Pokemon with Trick or Switcheroo to get rid of a choice item and give it away to your opponent.

Common Choice Band threats:

• Weavile
• Talonflame
• Scizor
• Terrakion
• Darmanitan
• Bisharp
• Azumarill

Common Choice Specs threats:

• Chandelure
• Manectric
• Any Rotom form
• Latios/Latias

Common Choice Scarf threats:

• Krookodile
• Victini
• Heracross
• Flygon
• Honchkrow

~Credits to Bulbapedia for the images of the items. THANKS, BULBAPEDIA!!!~

~Credits to Smogon for the data on these items. THANKS, SMOGON!!!~

Competitive Crunch #2: Entry Hazards

Hey, guys! Welcome to another segment of Competitive Crunch! Today, we will be talking about Entry Hazards.

If you don't know what entry hazards do, you will learn now! Entry Hazards do specific damages to Pokemon on the other side of the field as they switch in and out.

The four main entry hazards are as follows:

Spikes: Introduced in GSC. You could only set up one layer of Spikes at a time until DPPt. The spikes would hurt your opponent's Pokemon if they switched in by one-sixteenth of their health. Two layers of Spikes would do one-eighth of their health, and three would do one quarter. Three is the maximum amount of Spikes that can be put onto your opponent's side of the battlefield.

Common Spikes Users: Roserade, Skarmory, Froslass, Ferrothorn, Forretress, Klefki, Greninja

Toxic Spikes: Introduced in DPPt. You could set up one layer of TSpikes (as they are called) to poison your foe in switch-in. Set up a second layer will cause them to be badly poisoned! Two layers of TSpikes is the maximum amount.

Common Toxic Spikes Users: Ferrothorn, Forretress, Roserade, Tentacruel, Drapion, Nidoqueen

Stealth Rock: Introduced in DPPt. This is a very interesting entry hazard. It cannot be layered like the previous two, but does damage that varies with your opponent's type. If the type of Pokemon they switch in is weak to Rock-type moves by 2x, it would do 25% damage on switch-in. If they are weak to Rock-type moves by 4x, it would do 50% damage! Resistance to Rock-type moves will lower the damage percentages for SR (a common abbreviation for Stealth Rock) to do to your opponent.

Common Stealth Rock Users: Aggron, Tyranitar, Forretress, Ferrothorn, Heatran, Skarmory

Sticky Web: The newest entry hazard, introduced in X and Y. It cannot be layered and will lower your opponent's Speed stat on switch-in. It doesn't seem useful at first, but it can be a real life-saver if used with a slow team that can benefit from it.

Common Sticky Web Users: Galvantula, Leavanny, Ariados, Smeargle, Masquerain, Shuckle



How can I get rid of annoying Entry Hazards on my side?

Excellent question! There are a couple of ways to deal with pesky Entry Hazards.

Rapid Spin: A very common counter to hazards. Rapid Spin spins away all entry hazards currently on your side of the field except Sticky Web.

Common Rapid Spin Users: Blastoise, Claydol, Starmie, Forretress, Donphan, Hitmontop, Tentacruel

Defog: A previously useless move has been given some use in X and Y. It will get rid of all entry hazards including Sticky Web, but also gets rid of the entry hazards you've set up! A somewhat tactical move that is commonly used on teams with many Fire and Flying-Types that are weak to Stealth Rock.

Common Defog Users: Mandibuzz, Staraptor, Skarmory, Crobat

Magic Bounce: A fantastic ability to counter Entry Hazards. If this Pokemon is on the battlefield when Entry Hazards are set up, Magic Bounce will bounce them right back at their side of the field. Magic Bounce also bounces back status moves, Leech Seed, and a couple of others, too!

Common Magic Bounce Users: Espeon, Xatu, Mega-Absol

Magic Coat: By far not as common or useful as Magic Bounce, Magic Coat reflects all hazards and status moves back to the other team for one turn. I highly recommend the ability over the move, but I suppose this isn't a bad option.

Common Magic Coat Users: Milotic, Alakazam, Clefable, Porygon-Z


That's all I have to say on today's Competitive Crunch. Thanks for reading!

~Credits to Smogon, Serebii, and Bulbapedia for my information. THANKS, SOURCES!!!~

~Credits to pkparaiso.com for this Heatran. THANKS, PKPARAISO!!!~

Competitive Crunch #1: Eviolite and Assault Vest

Hey, guys! Welcome to a continuation of Strategy Saturday on Tuesdays, now called Competitive Crunch! Today, instead of discussing a strategy involving two moves used together, I decided to do an item analysis on two items introduced in the newer games called Eviolite and Assault Vest. They are both useful defensive items.

Here we have a fantastic picture of the Eviolite. It's an odd item that will boost the holder's Defense and Special Defense by 1.5x only for Pokemon that are not fully evolved.

Once again, we have a great picture of the Assault Vest. It is yet another odd, but useful item that will boost the user's Special Defense by 1.5x, but the user will be unable to use moves that do not do damage.

~Credits to Serebii for the pictures of these items. THANKS, SEREBII!!!~

~Credits to Smogon for the data on these items. THANKS, SMOGON!!!~