Spiritomb [4F]

[cim]

Mostly posting what I have because once it's on Smogon I'm more motivated to do it.

[SET]
name: Monotomb
move 1: Calm Mind
move 2: Dark Pulse
move 3: Rest
move 4: Sleep Talk
item: Leftovers
nature: Bold
evs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD

[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Taking advantage of its good physical defense and lack of weaknesses, this Spiritomb can come in on weakened or crippled attackers in the late game and set up a Calm Mind sweep. Rest gives Spiritomb recovery and Sleep Talk allows it to continue statting up or attacking when asleep, turning Spiritomb into a very sturdy, reliable tank. The strategy for this set is simple. Scout your opponent's team for strong attackers that can 2HKO Spiritomb, cripple or KO them, then send in Spiritomb on a weak attacker and start racking up Calm Minds. Once suitably boosted, attack with a powered-up STAB Dark Pulse. Dark Pulse is used over Shadow Ball because some Pokemon are immune to Shadow Ball; unfortunately Dark Pulse's flinch rate largely goes to waste on Spiritomb.</p>

<p>Spiritomb largely works on its own, but appreciates burn and paralysis support from its teammates. This support is very useful in shutting down the Pokemon that can reliably stop Spiritomb. Thunder Wave or Zap Cannon Registeel makes a good lure for Blaziken and can paralyze or Earthquake on the switch, crippling or KOing the otherwise huge threat. Other Pokemon with Thunder Wave or Will-o-wisp such as Arcanine can also work. Screen support (Reflect in particular) helps ease Spiritomb's set-up. Pretty much nothing can 2HKO Spiritomb through Reflect, so packing an Uxie or Torterra to set up Screens is a good idea. Uxie is a particularly good choice because it can counter Blaziken and learns Thunder Wave to further support Spiritomb.</p>

<p>Spiritomb can be phazed out by Pokemon like Hariyama, so saving him for a last Pokemon situation is recommended.</p>

[Wowtomb]

[Rest-Talk]

[Generic Support]

[Other Options]
Nasty Plot
Hypnosis
Choice Band

[Team Options]

[Opinion]

[Counters]
<p>Physical attackers with strong STAB attacks, or extremely strong Special attackers can break through Mono-Spiritomb. Absol and Honchkrow, physical Blaziken, and the occasional Toxicroak can all potentially break through Spiritomb's defenses; they also all resist Dark, causing him problems. All of them with the exception of Blaziken are beaten by the WoW variant.</p>

 

[Heysup]

Uxie is a particularly good choice because it can counter Blaziken and learns Thunder Wave to further support Spiritomb.

I don't think this is very accurate:

Fire Blast vs (max/min) Uxie: 56.21% - 66.38%

Thats a 2HKO.

I think you should put something like Altaria, Slowking, or Hariyama in its place because they are likely the 3 best Blaziken counters.

 

[Lemmiwinks MkII]

Bear in mind though that only physical Blaziken sets like CB and Swords Dance are threatening to Spiritomb, as a Spiritomb at full health isn't too threatened by a mix Blaziken switch-in. Then again, Uxie isn't the best of counters for those variants either so you're spot on in that regard. Altaria and Hariyama are indeed better partners because they can easily sponge those physical STAB attacks and PHaze on setup attempts. Slowking I'm less sure about, but if it is EV'd enough in Defense to avoid being 2HKO'd by CB STAB attacks and survive a full-powered +2 Reversal then it works adequately too I suppose.

 

[Heysup]

Bear in mind though that only physical Blaziken sets like CB and Swords Dance are threatening to Spiritomb, as a Spiritomb at full health isn't too threatened by a mix Blaziken switch-in.

Well as long as mixed Blaziken doesn't switch-in on a Calm Mind it is very threatening. A Fire Blast still hurts it (60% max) after +1 too.

 

[Lemmiwinks MkII]

Well as long as mixed Blaziken doesn't switch-in on a Calm Mind it is very threatening. A Fire Blast still hurts it (60% max) after +1 too.

Point being that Calm Mind is by far the most likely move that Spiritomb will be using on the switch with a free turn, making mix Blaziken a poor choice for switching in and much less of a threat than a boosting physical variant.

 

[Heysup]

Point being that Calm Mind is by far the most likely move that Spiritomb will be using on the switch with a free turn, making mix Blaziken a poor choice for switching in and much less of a threat than a boosting physical variant.

Valid point. Blaziken is just a "generally good" switch-in to Spiritomb I guess, even though it can't always beat Calm Mind variants.

 

[KnightoftheWind]

You should mention Miltank & Kangaskhan in Counters, as they can use Scrappy and a Fighting attack to hit Spiritomb super-effectively.

 

[cim]

Do they actually counter Spiritomb, though? They have the cool gimmick of "It's super effective!" appearing, but Miltank doesn't run Fighting attacks and has lowish Special Defense, for example.

I'll just put whatever is a Blaziken counter in there, I don't care as long as it doesn't suck. I just thought of Uxie as it's faster than Blaziken (which makes him a counter silly)

 

[Legacy Raider]

Chris what's the status on this? Spiritomb is quite an important UU Pokemon and this revamp has remained untouched for some time. Do you plan on finishing it or would you like to give it up to someone else?