As far as VGC sets are concerned, I think Rhyperior is probably one of the rising stars in the VGC scene, especially Trick Room variants. This series of regionals events in the US showed how powerful Rhyperior is as a Trick Room sweeper as well as handling most of the meta like Double Genie. Rhyperior has two great abilities to chose from and both have their advantages. Lighting Rod give Rhyperior utility as it can redirect Electric attacks like Thunder Wave and Thunder Bolt away from partners like Charizard Y or Salamence. Given how common Thundurus is Lighting Rod can pretty much protect Rhyperior partners from prankster Thunder Wave, practically shutting down the electric genie. Solid Rock is an interesting ability to run especially for Weakness Policy Rhyperior as it reduces the super effective damage by 25%. Rhyperior already has a ton of weaknesses so coupled with this ability, and a Weakness Policy, Rhyperior becomes a powerful Trick Room sweeper with STABs on two of the most used spread damages in Earthquake and Rock Slide. Rhyperior isn't even a slouch when it comes with attacks as it practically has one of the best movepools with access to the Elemental Punches, Megahorn, Crunch, Drill Run, Hammer Arm, etc. I honestly think the WP set slightly better since Rhyperior already threatens Electric Pokemon with its Ground/Rock STABS so I'll leave a sample Rhyperior set here.
Bane (Rhyperior) (M) @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Solid Rock
Level: 50
EVs: 68 HP / 252 Atk / 188 SpD
Adamant Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
– Rock Slide
– Drill Run / Ice Punch / Hammer Arm
– Earthquake
– Protect
(Jun 4, 2015, 01:12 AM)Black117 Wrote: As far as VGC sets are concerned, I think Rhyperior is probably one of the rising stars in the VGC scene, especially Trick Room variants. This series of regionals events in the US showed how powerful Rhyperior is as a Trick Room sweeper as well as handling most of the meta like Double Genie. Rhyperior has two great abilities to chose from and both have their advantages. Lighting Rod give Rhyperior utility as it can redirect Electric attacks like Thunder Wave and Thunder Bolt away from partners like Charizard Y or Salamence. Given how common Thundurus is Lighting Rod can pretty much protect Rhyperior partners from prankster Thunder Wave, practically shutting down the electric genie. Solid Rock is an interesting ability to run especially for Weakness Policy Rhyperior as it reduces the super effective damage by 25%. Rhyperior already has a ton of weaknesses so coupled with this ability, and a Weakness Policy, Rhyperior becomes a powerful Trick Room sweeper with STABs on two of the most used spread damages in Earthquake and Rock Slide. Rhyperior isn't even a slouch when it comes with attacks as it practically has one of the best movepools with access to the Elemental Punches, Megahorn, Crunch, Drill Run, Hammer Arm, etc. I honestly think the WP set slightly better since Rhyperior already threatens Electric Pokemon with its Ground/Rock STABS so I'll leave a sample Rhyperior set here.
Bane (Rhyperior) (M) @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Solid Rock
Level: 50
EVs: 68 HP / 252 Atk / 188 SpD
Adamant Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
– Rock Slide
– Drill Run / Ice Punch / Hammer Arm
– Earthquake
– Protect
I saw that too! I didn't expect it to do that much work, but it did. Another one that I wasn't expecting was Clefairy. Witht the mix of eviolite and Freind Guard, putting it next to a Cresselia was a near unstoppable combination. If you want to look closer into Clefairy, Naitre did a writeup for it HERE.
In terms of this years VGC, there has been an uprising of several new threats since the start of the Spring season. Mega Kangaskhan, Landorus-T, Sylveon, Amoonguss and all these other Pokemon have made their mark as the thorn in the sides of most amateur to advanced VGC players. What I was thinking was to use Espeon in VGC as a support Pokemon.
Psychic to combat threats such as the stallions, Thundurus, Amoonguss and pretty much everything in its speed range that takes a Psychic but not too well. I should emphasize that it is more of a means of chip damage than for offense meaning with Espeon's superior speed over most of the Pokemon in the format, you can cut the health of the opposing Pokemon then have your main means of offense finish it off. This strategy is to combat bulky Sitrus Berry holders barring Cresselia, Mandibuzz and Musharna.
Detect is obviously for evading attacks. Chose this over Protect because of the rare imprison Pokemon and the animation looks cooler kappaHD
Skill Swap pretty much allows you to steal the abilities from Pokemon like Kangaskhan, Thundurus, Arcanine and Sylveon, rendering them nearly useless. Not to mention that since Espeon is so fast, you can do this before the opponent attacks in most cases.
Magic Room is really a move I have been looking into for a while. It caught my interest in the fact that it prevents all items from working so things like Landorus-T choice scarfed Rock Slide spam, Aegislash's inconvenient Weakness Policy that burdens you with 50/50 situations, Sylveon's overpowered Choice Specs Hyper Voice and Focus Sash from being major threats to a laughing stock. I'm still not 100% fixed on using this move seeing as how Knock Off has a more offensive impact but I still have it under consideration.
To finish it, the highlight of using Espeon was that Amoonguss can't spore it, Thundurus can't Thunder Wave it and nothing can Taunt it. That's right, Espeon's Magic Bounce ignores all status and just throws them back in your face
In terms of this years VGC, there has been an uprising of several new threats since the start of the Spring season. Mega Kangaskhan, Landorus-T, Sylveon, Amoonguss and all these other Pokemon have made their mark as the thorn in the sides of most amateur to advanced VGC players. What I was thinking was to use Espeon in VGC as a support Pokemon.
Psychic to combat threats such as the stallions, Thundurus, Amoonguss and pretty much everything in its speed range that takes a Psychic but not too well. I should emphasize that it is more of a means of chip damage than for offense meaning with Espeon's superior speed over most of the Pokemon in the format, you can cut the health of the opposing Pokemon then have your main means of offense finish it off. This strategy is to combat bulky Sitrus Berry holders barring Cresselia, Mandibuzz and Musharna.
Detect is obviously for evading attacks. Chose this over Protect because of the rare imprison Pokemon and the animation looks cooler kappaHD
Skill Swap pretty much allows you to steal the abilities from Pokemon like Kangaskhan, Thundurus, Arcanine and Sylveon, rendering them nearly useless. Not to mention that since Espeon is so fast, you can do this before the opponent attacks in most cases.
Magic Room is really a move I have been looking into for a while. It caught my interest in the fact that it prevents all items from working so things like Landorus-T choice scarfed Rock Slide spam, Aegislash's inconvenient Weakness Policy that burdens you with 50/50 situations, Sylveon's overpowered Choice Specs Hyper Voice and Focus Sash from being major threats to a laughing stock. I'm still not 100% fixed on using this move seeing as how Knock Off has a more offensive impact but I still have it under consideration.
To finish it, the highlight of using Espeon was that Amoonguss can't spore it, Thundurus can't Thunder Wave it and nothing can Taunt it. That's right, Espeon's Magic Bounce ignores all status and just throws them back in your face
What do you guys thing?
I think this is really interesting, given that when you see an Espeon you automatically think offensive Life Orb or Scarf. This could be a nice turnabound on the opponent. I personally Have NEVER seen an Imprison team, so I would run Protect, only because it has more PP and Protect can be used a lot in stall situations. I really like the Magic Room flow, and this build might see some success in VGC! :D
Pokemon Sets With Potential
