Monotype Type Analysis

[BlackSchwan]

4th Type: Bug
Whenever someone mentions Bug type Pokemon the first thing you think of is crippling Stealth Rock weakness and the fact that it is one of the most resisted types in the game. However this type has much more to it than that. It is currently the third most used type in the tier and with outstanding Pokemon, it can take on most types with the exception of some one sided matches. It is a fairly offensive type both with potent special/physical attackers but not many, if any notable walls. However Flying and Steel are both in the top 5 most used types in the meta at the present moment which is bad news for Bug users. But all is not lost. Psychic and Dark are two other types that are played quite a lot and Bug monotypes have a clear and distinct advantage over them.

Bug has many viable Pokemon to choose from. On the special side there is the Volcarona who is arguably the best user of Quiver Dance in the entire game, Genesect which can be utterly devastating with a Scarf and Download boost, Galvantula for Sticky Webs and Electric STAB for Flying and Water types. But Bug's physical mons are just as good, if not better. With physical threats like CB and Mega Scizor, Mega Pinsir, Scarf Moxie and Mega Heracross and LO Scolipede. With a combination of these mons thrown in with tanks such as Shuckle and Forretress, Bug can be a very viable HO type.

Now getting rid of hazards on any Bug team is one of the most essential things that you need to focus on. This allows Pokemon such as Volcarona, Mega Pinsir and Yanmega to switch in without any fear of losing 50% of their health before they can actually do anything. Now there are a couple of ways to keep hazards away on a Bug team and they are all very viable. These options are Rapid Spin on both Forretress and Armaldo, and Defog on Scizor. These Pokemon are all fairly ideal for the task ( With Forretress and Scizor being neutral to Stealth Rocks) however be cautious when switching Forretress into hazards as they will break Sturdy which can leave you high and dry if you rely on Sturdy/Counter or Cutsap/Explosion to check certain mons. Armaldo also has a weakness to Stealth Rocks so wisely choose when to send it in

Even though Bug is one of the most resisted types in the game, its combination of offensive STAB combinations and pressure through repetitive force can be enough to break down other cores making it easy for QD Volc or Scarf MoxieCross to sweep. This can make it a formidable foe to face regardless of whatever type is being used against it and if you're not careful or being too cavalier, it will beat you.

 

[InfernapeTropius11]

Now getting rid of hazards on any Bug team is one of the most essential things that you need to focus on. This allows Pokemon such as Volcarona, Mega Pinsir and Yanmega to switch in without any fear of losing 50% of their health before they can actually do anything. Now there are a couple of ways to keep hazards away on a Bug team and they are all very viable. These options are Rapid Spin on both Forretress and Armaldo, and Defog on Scizor. These Pokemon are all fairly ideal for the task (being neutral to Stealth Rocks) however be cautious when switching Forretress into hazards as they will break Sturdy which can leave you high and dry if you rely on Sturdy/Counter or Cutsap/Explosion to check certain mons.

Great post! Just one thing: Armaldo is weak to rocks :P

 

[BlackSchwan]

Cheers InfernapeTropius11, all taken care of

 

[Snaquaza]

Sorry for the delay! Have had some stuff this week.

The next type will be Dark. Dark is a threatening offensive type, with great moves such as Sucker Punch and Pursuit. Additionally they got a great buff in Knock Off this gen. They also get good walls like Sableye-Mega, Tyranitar and Mandibuzz, but they're hindered by common shared weaknesses. How does Dark get over its flaws and how does it function in the metagame?

 

[DEG]

From the depth of hell arise the Dark type, as we soon say Dark people think about Stall and some offense featuring Mandibuzz, Tyranitar, Sableye, Hydreigon, Greninja and Bisharp but that's just a mask, the hidden face of Dark shall be revealed here.
In fact Dark has many other incredible warriors notably Crawdaunt and Honchkrow which are an amazing offensive pressure for Dark Teams.

Dark has access to great special attackers such as Zoroark, Greninja and Hydreigon:

• Zoroark, thanks to it ability impostor it can hide it's true identity (for a turn ofc), it is better to let it wear a wall's mask so it can force a switch out while gaining a sneak attack, moves such as which can help against fighting types, Dark Pulse for that monstrous STAB, Sucker Punch to deal damage to faster opponents and flamethrower for coverage, other options such as Focus Blast and Night Daze could be used. Being one of the least used special attacker on Dark doesn't mean it's bad it helps dark against fighting and bugs which gives a hard time to dark teams.
• Greninja, smogon frog with STAB anything gives dark that amazing coverage it needs rotating from water, dark, psychic, grass, ice typing Greninja is a monster in the battle field, for Dark the needed moves are Surf, Extrasensory, Grass Knot and Ice Beam for a perfect coverage that helps dark against the teams that threatens it such as fighting, flying, ground.
• Hydreigon, steel slayer dragon with an extremely amazing coverage against steel it has earned that name thanks to it access to earthpower, flamethrower, draco meteor, dark pulse, focus blast, Hydreigon is a beast for dark with that good speed base and amazing Special attack and with a Life Orb nothing not called fairy wants to eat an attack from that dragon.

Let's forget the special attackers and take a look at the Physical Attackers that bless dark which notably are: Bisharp, Crawdaunt and Honchkrow.

• Bisharp, fairy slayer in the house. You just can't make a dark team without Bisharp it has great typing and attack which becomes scary when paired with walls such as Mandibuzz and Tyranitar. Having access to Steel and Iron STAB and Sword Dance Bisharp destroys most things. Did I forget to mention Defiant? Oh? You want to drop Bisharp stats with King Shield or Sticky Webs? I pity you, with Defiant bisharp can have a free attack boost and who cares if it's slowed down due to sticky webs, Sucker Punch saves the day, other moves that Bisharp must have are obviously Knock Off and Iron Head.
• Crawdaunt, demon based crab which have a high base attack and combined with adaptability, Crabhammer, Knock Off, Aqua Jet and boosting moves literally asks you to scream ''WHERE'S YOUR SWITCH IN NOW?'' (Keldeo, Azumarill).
• Honchkrow, based under used bird, great ability combined with a good speed base and typing which helps dark against fighting and bug, it is best used with scarf or life orb , with heatwave if you can predict a skarmory or ferrothorn, Super Power which is a fighting coverage, brave bird main stab, and sucker punch.

What about Walls? Tyranitar, Mandibuzz, Sableye.

• Mega Tyranitar/Tyranitar, based rock wall, which serves as a ''Godzillous'' Special wall (geddit? hahaha! I should work on jokes.) It has the power to add Stealth Rock to the field, with fireblast it can take on skarmory which is a common defogger for flying and ferrothorn which annoying if you don't have Hydreigon, Stone edge is present for that hot STAB move but let's pray it hits before talking about the damage it does to flying, fire and bug. And the final moves is something like Pursuit/Thunder-Wave/Earthquake which are great on Tyranitar.
• Mandibuzz, cute vulture, cuteness comes with bulk. With amazing Defensive and HP stats this bird stops any physical attackers coming at it, one of the rare answer for breloom present on dark. Combined with Rocky Helmet and Foul play it shuts down most Physical presence.
• Sableye/Mega Sableye, demon incarnated, this thing is just a nightmare for fighting mono, thanks to priority will-o-wisp and it's mega form can just sweep dark easily, bulk+calm mind+immunity to fighting.

Against what types does dark perform the worse?
Well I'd say Fairy, Water, Figting, Bug in order:

• Fairy: Nothing on dark is able to take a hit from fairy Pokemon, you only have to go full offense to beat fairy. Mandibuzz helps against Azumarill, Tyranitar can do some damage to gardevoir/sylveon/diancie mega but can't beat them. Bisharp is one of the rare answer that dark has against fairy alongside with Gunkshot greninja, and Mr.Krabs Crawdaunt late game sweep with crabhammer seeing as fairy most fairy pokemon are slow and get outsped by jolly crawdaunt.
• Water: One of the hardest neutral matchup, facing fighting and fairy with bulky pokemon protecting them isn't an easy job to dark as they fail to perfom good against bulky water types such as Suicine or Pokemon that resists it STAB such as Keldeo and Azumarill which can easily destroy dark (psst SUB CM Keldeo is gg)
• Fighting, not as scary as Water and Fairy but it's still a bad matchup for dark, seeing it has the type advantage, your best friends against fighting are sableye and mandibuzz (and scarf extracensory Greninja). Sableye with it's ability to cripple physical offense and Mandibuzz to wall physical pressure it doesn't take lot of effort for dark to destroy physical attackers. What is really scary is Infernape with Stealth rock which weakens Mandibuzz on switchout, breloom spore, rock tomb, mach punch deals lot of damages for dark, and Guts Conkeldurr which absorb a Will o Wisp and eats dark beasts (Nasty plot lucario is gg so is sub cm keldeo). Honchkrow can help against Fighting also.
• Bug: Having a rock typing in the team helps dark against bugs, specially when there's mandibuzz and sableye to absorb fighting attacks. Stealth rocks on the field and offensive pressure to avoid spinning make bugs a not so hard matchup against dark. The threats on bugs are Mega Pinsir and Volcarona which can destroy dark ALONE if setup. Here again Honchkrow might be a great help, so is Crawdaunt with the aquajet shenanigans.

Against what types does dark perform the best?

Most would say against it's type advantage but that's false, psychic gives a hard time for dark thanks to Mega Gardevoir/Mega Medicham. Dark Performs the best against Fire, Ice, Rock and Normal.

These types are weak to Rock which Tyranitar brings to live in Stealth Rocks and amazing bulk (fire, ice) adding to that the Scary Water attackers by Greninja and Crawdaunt which scares Fire and Rock. Plus the Knock Off (hehe) which destroys the Normal Eviolite Core specially if the dark user has Crawdaunt+Bisharp.

Pokemon that threatens Dark:
Some pokemon really scares Dark notably Keldeo, Azumarill, Mega Altaria and Mega Gardevoir.

Keldeo: Amazing typing that threatens dark, force out a lot of dark pokemon such as Crawdaunt and Bisharp, Specs Hydro Pump and Secret Sword deals a lot of damage to dark, and the Sub Cm set destroys dark.

Azumarill: Bulk+Water/Fairy typing? No thanks. Isn't scared of dark walls thanks to the typing and forces out lot of dark pokemon when at full health such as Crawdaunt, Bisharp, Tyranitar...

Mega Altaria: Dragon Dance+Frustration=GG if Sableye is dead, even tho it tears holes through dark.

Mega Gardevoir: Pixalate Hypervoice and a good speed tier. No thanks.

WILL-O-WISP BULKY CHARIZARD X DESERVES A MENTION. This Pokemon alone can punch holes through dark, burns everything and lives tons of hits.

Let's not forget other threats such as Mega Diancie, Volcarona and Mega Pinsir.

Snaquaza since I wrote all that can I have my kidnapped child back? ;-;

 

[vanderlylic]

Would it be too late to discuss the changes Greninja leaving the metagame will have on Dark?

Personally I think on of the cool things about Dark it is two has pokemon that are neutral all of it's weaknesses and only have one weakness overall: namely Skuntank and Drapion, the Dark/Poison mons. Unfortunately, the stats are pretty bad defensively, 103/67/61 and 70/110/75 respectively; if only they were merged into one pokemon that had 103/110/75. That being said, Drapion still does get some usage, 7.34% and can work okay with Battle Armour AV set with a spread Jolly:252/0/0/0/188/68 that is used 12.5% or Black Sludge with Careful:248/0/0/0/216/44 used 12.0% or even an Adamant:248/252/0/0/8/0 used 10.5% in the March statistics (http://monotypeps.weebly.com/sprite-gallery.html)

 

[Alexis Breeze]

no update on this? It's been two weeks...

 

[InfernapeTropius11]

no update on this? It's been two weeks...

Snaquaza is probably just busy. He runs like 10 other threads, is a moderator in the OMs room on PS, he owns the Aqua server, and has stuff going on irl. Sometimes he might also leave it open if he's trying to get more people to respond to it. Snaq WILL update it eventually, just be patient.

 

[Snaquaza]

Actually I'm waiting on BlackSchwan to end this week!

 

[BlackSchwan]

Yeah I've been having a few troubles with my computer over the last few weeks so it's made it hard. There's no way I'm typing it out on my phone either. Hopefully I'll get a chance over the next week and a half to smash it outdo we can move onto the next type