Probopass* [WIP]

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There is an OU Analysis Probopass, but I think it can be re-worked for Ubers, and since I invented / came up with the original Probopass thread, I think it's fit that I do it...

[Overview]

<p> The use of Probopass in Ubers is to bring down the powerful offense oriented Choice and sweeper enemies. Straight-forward offense coming from Kyogre, Groudon, Rayquaza, Palkia, Choiced Pokemon like Heracross, Scizor, etc. is exactly what Probopass can handle, taking away the need to predict when to use Magic Coat over Pain Split. Unlike Level 1 Aron, whom cannot handle entry hazards, Trick/Knock-off, Hail, hurt Ghosts, or use Magic Coat, Probopass is able to withstand all of these additional hurdles, with the only cost coming from Substitute and Taunt standing in his way, the latter of which is bounced back by Magic Coat with good prediction, and both of which are prevented if you choose Taunt in the 4th moveslot (on the foe's switch-in). Furthermore, immunity to Toxic/Sandstorm, going first in/against Trick Room teams, the infrequency of entry hazards, and Hail being less common in Ubers allow this set to function even better in Ubers than OU and UU.</p>

<p> With this is mind, using Probopass on a stall team, with Toxic Spikes, possibly Sandstorm, along with Rapid Spin support, can allow Probopass to outstall major threats like Choice Scarf Kyogre with ease, while also having the feasibility to take on boosting sweepers like Rayquaza and Kabutops. This of course is made possible by the upgrade to Sturdy, acting like a Focus Sash, while Pain Split acts as a means of recovery, basically healing Probopass the same turn it is used, so it can stall turn after turn, all the while cutting down the foes HP by 50% which is further secured by Sandstream negating Leftovers recovery on walls like Blissey. The advantage here, lies with the higher HP of most Uber Pokemon, which means Probopass can bring foes down to lower HP percentages than in OU and UU, and closer to the amount necessary to be finished off by residual Toxic Spikes and/or Sandstream damage. Additionally, for foes like Rayquaza whom are immune to Sandstorm and Toxic Spikes, Life Orb makes Probopass' Level 2 Pain Stall set even more viable as once Rayquaza hits 10% or less and attacks, it will KO itself.</p>

[SET]
Name: Level 2 Pain Stall
Move 1: Pain Split
Move 2: Magic Coat
Move 3: Protect
Move 4: Torment / Taunt
Item: Leftovers
EVs: 252 Spe
IVs: 31 Spe
Nature: Hasty
Ability: Sturdy

[Set Comments]

<p>To begin: 0 HP investment gets 14 HP, making 1 layer of Spikes / W-o-w / Leech Seed deal 1 damage (not 2), the same as resisted Stealth Rocks... Since Leftovers heals 1 HP, and Protect stalls for another 1 HP, Probopass can heal off 2 layers of Spikes, or 1 layer of Spikes + Stealth Rocks damage, provided it switches in safely to begin with (such as after Encoring a non-damaging attack, or into say Toxic). Protect also functions to heal if Probopass comes in to revenge kill, healing before the next turn. Max Speed investment and a Hasty Nature are used to allow Probopass to out speed non-invested enemy Probopass, Level 1 Smeargle, and Level 1 Aron.</p>

<p>The moves are just as important as the EV and IV spread, as they are the glue that allow Probopass to function. The first 3 are very important and straight forward, as Protect not only scouts but heals when Pain Split cannot, and Magic Coat works against Taunt, Stealth Rock, Leech Seed, and Roar coming from the likes of Mewtwo, Nattorei, and Lugia. Keep in mind Magic Coat allows Probopass to out stall Wobbufett, as it bounces back Encore, and lets Probopass lead against Deoxys-S' entry hazards/Taunt, and Darkrai's Dark Void. The final move comes down to the type of threats you feel you can outpredict. Torment works especially well against Choiced foes that switch into Probopass, especially in Tandem with Protect; even causing U-turn users like Scizor to be left with Struggle as an alternative (provided you Torment on their entrance, then Protect). Torment also works against 3 attack move sweepers such as Rayquaza, leaving them forced to attack at least every other turn, and can be used to send in a teammate on a move that wont hurt them (say Tormenting Fire Blast to send in Scarf *Ice Punch* Jirachi the following turn; turning ordinary teammates into guaranteed checks/revenge killers). Of course, it also eases prediction, allowing you to Pain Split them with ease. </p>

<p>Speaking of Dragons like Rayquaza, they will be careful not to use Dragon type attacks versus Probopass, for Outrage can easily be used against them, giving you free turns to Pain Split and leave them confused (or switch to a counter), while Draco Meteor will simply lower their Special Attack while Pain Split lowers their HP. All in all, Probopass' stalling abilities, makes Dragon moves baring Dragon Claw or Dragon Pulse much less viable.</p>

<p>Taunt, of course, also has its benefits, as it prevents Substitute, and means you wont have to bother with Magic Coat, freeing you to safely stall with Pain Split, or at least Pain Split the foe as they switch out, essentially cutting their HP in half, and accruing entry hazard damage. Taunt also works for 3 turns, which is long enough to stop a set-up, switch to a counter, and prevent status or recovery moves like a Chansey's Toxic or Wish. Of course, the issue with both Torment and Taunt is they must be used on the foes' switch-in, or the turn before the move is used, since Probopass is definitely going last unless Trick Room is in effect.</p>

[Additional Comments]

<p>As entry hazards affect this set, in both having them and getting rid of them on your side of the field, it is important for Probopass to switch into entry hazards it can handle (2 levels of Spikes, or 1 level of Spikes and Stealth Rock), and to do so on a non-damaging attack, or after a slow U-turn, Volt Change, or Baton Pass. Remember Protect is used for healing, and scouting, but it can also give your foe a free turn, so predicting your foe's moves, double switching, or using Encore support is essential to Sturdy's success; however, using Wish or Leech Seed lets Probopass enter an attack (assuming no entry hazards) because Sturdy will be refreshed; in fact, Leech Seed allows Probopass to skip Pain Split altogether, as Leech Seed is doing all the healing turn after turn while Probopass can use Taunt / Torment, and Magic Coat to stall out the foe, and force a switch. </p>

[Team Options]

<p>Rapid Spin support and entry hazards are a must for this set to succeed, yet they are not too much to ask for as this set is intended for use on stall teams (which include this regardless). Toxic Spikes is essential in aiding Pain Split to bring down foes quickly, while Rapid Spin means Probopass doesn't need to use Protect as often, and aids the rest of the team's survivability. For this reason, Forretress is recommended, especially since it packs a valuable defensive Steel typing to absorb Dragon attacks, and bears an immunity to Sandstream which has become common, even in Ubers, due to Tyranitar, Garchomp, and Doryuzu gaining usage in Gen V. Spikes and Stealth Rocks can also be used, but Stealth Rocks is arguably better for another teammate to use since it is more distributed. Tyranitar, who sets up Sandstorm, aids in taking Fire attacks aimed at Forretress, and handles common Ghost types like Shandera, Giratina-(o), and Arceus' Ghost form who block Rapid Spin. Additionally, a powerful Pursuit user is another plus to taking advantage of forced switches.</p>

<p>To further aid your team, a Steel-trapper like Wobbufett, [Dreamworld] Shandera, or Magnezone, should be used to handle common threats like Dialga, Jirachi, and Scizor, as they are the bane to this type of team, being immune to or resistant to Sandstream, Toxic Spikes, and Stealth Rocks. To aid further in the viability of the stall team, packing a defensive Wish user like Chansey can prove extremely helpful, as her good HP not only heals most teammates fully, but she can spread status and stall with Toxic and Protect, hitting foes that Levitate or Fly over Toxic Spikes such as Lugia and Latias.</p>

<p>Since the entry hazards and weather are in your favor, as well as the removal of Steels, and the aid of Wish support are added, it is important to have a sweeper to clean up the weakened foes. Common sweepers like Choice Scarf Garchomp come to mind as the combination of speed, power, good dual typing, and even Sand Veil all work in favor of your team. Other sweepers, including Rayquaza spring to mind, as even though Air Lock removes residual damage from Sandstream, it can prove useful against Rain sweepers like Kabutops, especially if Tyranitar has been KOed. Also, Rayquaza's key immunity and resistances to Ground and the common Water, Grass, Fighting, and Fire Attacks make Rayquaza an easy switch-in and immediate threat, backed further by powerful priority in ExtremeSpeed. Another take on sweepers is perhaps to use a more defensive approach, as after all, a sweeper on a stall team is allowed to take hits, build up power, and take its time as entry hazard and weather damage accumulates; Calm Mind Arceus, Lugia, Giratina, and Bulk-up Dialga spring to mind.</p>

<p>Other optional support comes in the form of slow Baton Pass, U-turn, and Volt Change coming from Scizor, the aforementioned Forretress, etc. as they provide safe switch-ins if a foe is attacking. Leech Seed, Encore, and /or Safeguard. With Leech Seed (i.e. SubSeed Shaymin-S, a sweeper/staller) doing the healing, Pain Split can be skipped, making Taunt more viable on Probopass, and Protect really begins to shine. Encore and Safeguard from Pokemon like Wobbufett allow Probopass to come in safely, as the threats of W-o-w (Giratina), Hypnosis (Mew), and Thunderwave (Groudon) are removed, while Probopass can enter and force multiple switches. Ghost-types can provide Rapid Spin support for a team, especially ones with a reliable recovery such as Calm Mind Ghost Arceus whom can also function as a defensive sweeper while able to take on Fighting attacks aimed at Chansey or Tyranitar. *This can all be done with a team of say Lead Forretress, Pursuit Tyranitar, Probopass, Ghost-Arceus, standard Wobbufett, and Wish Chansey.</p>

[Optional Changes]

<p>A Level 100 Defensive Spread of 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD, with a Bold Nature might be usable on a Sandstorm team thanks to Pain Split's recovery, and Sandstream's boost to Special Defense, (oh and the fact Probopass is Steel). With this spread Probopass achieves 324 HP, 427 Def, 505 Special Defense, and with a set of Pain Split, Magic Coat, Thunderwave, and Taunt, Probopass could be a decent supporter, slowing down foes and bouncing back their entry hazards. Taunt of course could be used for preventing set-ups such as Calm Mind Latias, but Probopass' other support options in Gravity (Dugtrio teammate), Torment (against Choiced foe), or even Volt Change could prove useful in getting a teammate in on an unsuspecting foe.</p>

[Counters]

<p> Shaymin-S can counter Probopass with Leech Seed behind a Substitute to block Magic Coat (unless it switches into Taunt), or with Air Slash thanks to the 60% flinch rate. Jirachi with Iron Head serves a similar way to counter Probopass, however, Choiced versions need to beware of Torment, which can cause a Struggle every other turn. Ho-oh can also counter Probopass thanks to Sacred Fire's 50% burn rate, which cannot be Magic Coated, but it has to watch out for Toxic, or perhaps Torment and Stealth Rocks on Choiced versions. Taunt + Pursuit users like Tyranitar can confuse you if they can outpredict you with Taunt (forcing Probopass to Struggle the turn after it is used) when you Pain Split, and then Pursuit you as you switch; even if Magic Coat can bounce back Taunt and make Pain Split prediction easy, their Pursuit can trap you into Pain Splitting, thus relying on accumulating Toxic Spikes damage. Any Mold Breaker Pokemon, Multi-hit moves, faster Substitutes (although you can still Protect/Torment for stall), Dragon Tail/Overhead Throw, or Zekrom/Reshiram can bypass Sturdy, or Pain Split altogether. (However the teammates who trap these common users like Wobbafett trapping Choice Zekrom/Reshiram and revenge killing them can make it easy for Probopass to switch in after they are eliminated). *[It is important to keep in mind that Stealth Rocks, Sandstorm and Toxic damage can accumulate on foes that try to switch in, also Torment + Protect ruins Choiced foes, while Taunt can make Pain Split easy to use, thus Probopass can use the right tools to stall out even some of its counters].*</p>

[Dreamworld]

<p>It is not too hard for Pokemon like Shandera to trap and out predict Probopass (W-o-w on Pain Split, Attack on Magic Coat), especially since they are immune W-o-w (unlike Giratina-o), but Probopass can still Taunt or Toxic on the switch in, and use Protect to make predictions easier. Nevertheless, this isn't a problem if you can bait it and double switch to Tyranitar packing Pursuit. If one wanted to make Probopass able to hurt at least a little, the Dreamworld ability "Sand Power" will make its STAB Flash Cannon 160 power, STAB Power Gem 140 power, Earth Power 120 power, max Special Defense = 657, and heal with Pain Split to make use of its low base 60 HP. Perhaps the best use of Sand Power is for it to be used with Block, Substitute, Pain Split, Rollout, so it can trap, and quickly build Rollout's damage which due to STAB and Sand Power starts at 60 base power and doubles per successive hit. </p>

*Please Edit; ONLY A ROUGH DRAFT
 

Jibaku

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Several counters you missed: Zekrom/Reshiram (or any Mold Breaker mons, as a matter of fact), Dragon Tail, faster Subs in general, multihit moves (though rare).

I'll read through the analysis later but so far...it doesn't...seem...so...appealing...
 

Engineer Pikachu

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Some quick nitpicks:
- If Tyranitar Taunts you while you attempt to Pain Split, it will display something like "Probopass can't use Pain Split after the Taunt!" instead of an auto-struggle.
- Wobbuffet is spelled Wobbuffet, not Wobbafett.
-
and Magic Coat works against Taunt, Stealth Rock, Leech Seed, and Roar coming from the likes of Mewtwo, Nattorei, and Lugia and respectably.
You may want to omit the "and respectably".

In the third paragraph of Team Options, don't capitalize "Immunity" and "Extreme Speed" should be "ExtremeSpeed".
 
Edited in suggestions, fixed some grammer, and added/removed certain items.

Please look over and offer new suggestions; I realize it's long, but for a set like this, an in-depth analysis is necessary for a set like this to be successfully used in battle.
 
Couple of nitpicks:
-Shouldn't its IVs be 0 HP, 0 Def, 0 Sp.Def? I think that everyone assumes to use 31 speed IV.
-Skymin doesn't need to be behind a sub to leech seed away as it is part grass-type which is immune to leech seed. This means that any leech seeder can beat Probopass, but walls won't want to, because they'll lose a load of HP.
-Since you do talk about a lv100 Probopass in your comments, it would make sense to include a lv100 set that can abuse sand power (or, more likely, drop all reference to lv100 as it is pretty bad in Ubers)

Minor GP:
In the last paragraph: "especially if they themselves are Immune to the status" --> 'especially if they are also immune to the status'

Reason:
'They themselves' is redundant to the point of being grammatically incorrect (or at least harshly discouraged) and immune should not be capitalized as it is a common noun.

The whole dream world section is clunky in wording, so try reading it aloud to hear what I mean and see if you can simplify it.
 
Response:
-They are ALL 0, since they have not been mentioned, while Speed has been mentioned to specifically stand out as an invested stat. The first sentence in the analysis specifically mentions that the HP is set to 0. However, to avoid confusion, I will add a note that it is intentional to only invest in Speed. As for IVs, I wanted it to be clear that all the Speed EVs and IVs together are required to out speed the Level 1 Smeargle, Level 1 Aron, and at least speed-tie foe Level 2 Probopass; 0 HP IVs are also needed to get the magic number [14] for HP.

-Shaymin-S (grammatically correct competitive term used to describe the Pokemon "Skymin"), does need Substitute to prevent Magic Coat from bouncing back Leech Seed. As a Grass-type, it will have 0 effect on Shaymin-S when Magic Coat is used (unlike say Smeargle), but it will still prevent Leech Seed from activating on Probopass nevertheless (just as Magic Coat can bounce back Toxic or W-o-w on a Poison/Steel/Immunity, or Fire/Water Veil, Leaf Guard, Safeguard, etc. foes; protecting itself while not affecting the foe). So to prevent Magic Coat, guarantee Leech Seed, and ensure Probopass cannot stop it (aside from Protect+Torment, or Taunt), Shaymin-S will require Leech Seed. Also, unless a Pokemon has a Substitute or uses Taunt, Leech Seed can always be Magic Coated as it has a Level 4 priority.
 
I know that Skymin is Shaymin-S, but we all know what I'm talking about when I say 'Skymin.' Substitute won't block magic coat from activating (I'm not sure where you're getting that from), the leech seed will be sent right back to Skymin as long as magic coat doesn't fail from taunt. If you mean that skymin needs to have substitute so that it can't get pain-split, then that's a different story.
 
After a long hiatus I make a return...

I know that Skymin is Shaymin-S, but we all know what I'm talking about when I say 'Skymin.' Substitute won't block magic coat from activating (I'm not sure where you're getting that from), the leech seed will be sent right back to Skymin as long as magic coat doesn't fail from taunt. If you mean that skymin needs to have substitute so that it can't get pain-split, then that's a different story.

You are correct, I must have been having a bad day.

*Fixed the above mispelling and grammer checks that were pointed out.

Any other suggestions regarding this set?
 
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