wraith89

Actually, many people do play Uglymoth right and it always does get to set up. And good players won't let it set up completely, much like how a good player won't let Gyarados set up and tear a whole team apart (though Gyarados is a lot easier to switch in... and I have a lot of trouble with Gyarados sometimes). It's just not everyone runs Hidden Power Ground, though I would say it is the most beneficial so that stuff like Heatran won't wall it (as it resists both of its STAB moves). Though, that leaves it open to something ilke Gyarados or whatever, so Hidden Power Rock could be used for that I guess (and also allowing you to beat opponent Uglymoths), but Heatran comes in a lot easier. I see a lot of HP Ice versions for some reason because they're so afraid of dragons, but that way, Fire pokemon in general (like my Ninetales) just plain out walls it after a while. Uglymoth can't work with just both of its STAB from what I've seen... Hidden Powers of appropriate kinds need to be put in. I've been able to destroy that thing with Ninetales all the time though, but then again, I've been running tricky things like Confuse Ray and Calm Mind and running an incredibly defensive EV spread. But that Uglymoth is something... it's rather scary that I have to come in while it Butterfly Dances. I guess that's what Stealth Rocks are for. This whole new metagame is tricky as things are hitting incredibly hard (that dragon with 147 attack with STAB Outrage and access too DD and SD? Really?) and weather play is becoming very dominant. So today, I'd like to take this time to analyze the other side of the weather, the sun. And today we're here to see the underlooked Fire Pokemon Ninetales, who gained access to Drought, formerly Groudon's exclusive ability which instantly brings in the sun. So what application would sun bring? From previous experiences, we see that sun was a very weak weather, but the sun may bring new tactics that we may not have expected before. I still think rain and sand are still too powerful, but we'll see what the sun can do. Now what about Ninetales? Before Gen V people always saw Ninetales as some average Fire type Pokemon with very average stats and supportive movepool. Likened to fellow Fire Pokemon like Arcanine and Houndoom, she is not nearly as powerful as either of them. Arcanine, as we know, is a very powerful Fire Pokemon with above average speed, great offenses and above average defenses. There were many reasons to use Arcanine, as a powerful sweeper, a defensive tank, a revenge killer, etc. There's no reason to argue with it either, as it had access to Intimidate, a priority move in form of Extremespeed (likened to be its signature move from Gen II), and could even wall Gyarados if you EV it that way (I beat most Gyarados with Arcanine... not all though). Talk about versatile! Houndoom is just scary. He comes in, sets up Nasty Plot and starts firing dual STAB Dark Pulse (Crunch before Gen IV) and Flamethrower/Fire Blasts off that nasty 115 SpA. His defenses are nothing impressive, but this thing hits hard and at least 2HKOs just about any switch ins not named Blissey. Even something like Rapidash has a speed of 105 which is faster than Ninetales's 100 and can still use Hypnosis just like Ninetales. Let's not get into the others like scary wallbreaking Magmortars and Blaziken and Infernape... and the all so versatile Heatran. So what has Ninetales got over the other fires (aside from the fact she learns Flamethrower earlier than the others in game and that she is guaranteed Flash Fire unlike the other Fires with alternate abilities)? Ninetales, as I emphasized many times, was intended to play a supportive role. We have stuff like Confuse Ray, Toxic, Will-o-Wisp, and the risky Hypnosis to cripple opponents and Calm Mind and Nasty Plot to boost your own special attack and special defense, or raise special attack by 2 stages, respectively. In Gen IV she was also able to utilize Magic Coat to bounce stuff like Stealth Rocks and Taunt back at her foes and Pain Split for those bulky Calm Minders along with Substitute. Grudge is always fun if you want to deplete someone's PP, and can turn the tide of the battle. She is definitely not short of support, and with 73/75/100 defenses, she seems frail, but look again. With Will-o-Wisp, she has a chance of "pseudo raising" her physical defense, and her special defense is already quite good. In fact, capitalizing it will allow Ninetales to not even be 3HKOd by defensive Zapdos (impressive?) and Calm Mind can bolster her special defense up. But do us all a favor and don't stay in on a Kyogre's Surf... that's gonna OHKO the poor fox no doubt. As for her offensive movelist... let's make it clear. She is more apt specially than physically(76 physical attack vs 81 special attack), and her only form of physical attack boosting is Howl, which Arcanine could use much better. She has Flare Blitz, Payback, Faint Attack, Dig, Quick Attack... need I go on? I don't believe physical is the way to go here, but if you want something unexpected, go ahead and try it out. Nitro Charge can be used though to boost her already decent speed, but usually you will not find room for it. But specially, Ninetales has some interesting moves. She has Overheat, Fire Blast, Flamethrower, Energy Ball, Solarbeam, Extrasensory, Dark Pulse, and the new Psycho Shock and Evil Eye. Her STAB moves will have to be in one of her moveslots, no question about that. What's a Ninetales without a fire move? It's also worth noting that Energy Ball hits Rock/Ground/Water Pokemon, all of which are Ninetales's weakness. Solarbeam is there for you to take advantage of Drought, but the risk of getting caught by another weather (ab)user is quite harmful and usually not worth running. Extrasensory hits Infernape and Tentacruel and Blaziken while Dark Pulse hits Psychics and Ghosts. Note that Dark Pulse is illegal with Drought. Now what about her newly acquired moves, Psycho Shock and Evil Eye? Psycho Shock is actually a blessing, as it targets the foe's physical defense despite running from her modest special attack. So those Tentacruels who decide to wall you with their awesome special defense? Denied! Say hello to Psycho Shock! You don't even have to run a physical attack usually, I guess, and it certainly helps against those CM wars (barring crits). And Evil Eye provides the same coverage Dark Pulse had. However, its base power turns to 100 if the opponent is in a major status condition, such as paralysis/poison/burn, etc, which Ninetales is certainly well capable of. I guess its only usage is against those Burungels who would switch into Ninetales, but other than that, Evil Eye is better off on something like Tentacruel, where ghosts are more than happy to spinblock. But the option is still there. You also have Calm Mind and Nasty Plot to bolster her modest special attack to higher levels. Ninetales is a true beast if one plays her correctly, and should never be underestimated. Her deceptive beauty and wits will allow her to get her way in many battles... just make sure you trick your opponents and not fall into their traps and Ninetales can work in many ways for you. As for her abilities? Flash Fire is definitely a good ability and will always be, as it grants her immunity to fire attacks and powers her own fire moves. But with this new Dream World thing, Ninetales has a new niche of her own, to cause eternal sunshine and to shine all her glory around. Though Froggy is mostly outclassed by Kyogre in MANY MANY aspects, Ninetales is anything BUT Groudon so there are many reasons to use her over Groudon (though you wouldn't in Uber battling I'd say, but there are SOME people going around saying U N00B NO SUCH THINGS AS 00BURZ because everything is "unbanned" at this point, so... just for the sake of this argument...). Anyhow, what are the practical applications of Sunny Day? Well, for one, you are powering up Fire attacks and reducing water moves to ashes, so benefiting one's STAB moves and reducing a certain weakness is always helpful. It is also helpful to stuff with Chlorophyll and Solar Power users. Things like the new Chlorophyll Venusaur and Solar Power Charizard comes into mind. Also, you can have the sun on your side not just to benefit your own team, but to halt a sweep from coming, even if you're not using a sun team. Say for example a monster Doryuzuu decides to sweep your team in the sand. If the mole is not behind a substitute, you can bring in Ninetales, change the weather into sun, and roast the mole before it can do anything else to you. It's worth noting Ninetales is much faster than the mole and the mole has a weakness to fire, so she is certainly a "check" (but please in God's name do NOT switch in directly into an Earthquake or a Rock Slide, or else you will be sorry). Just as a reference, the Mole can hit a max of 302 speed in Jolly, so if you are planning on revenging the mole, hit above that (I don't believe many people will go Jolly on the mole however, but there are some jerks who do it to troll). Those are just few of the many applications of Drought, but I encourage you to go ahead and make your own use of Drought and see how well it works. Now how about Ninetales as a weather lead? Just don't do it. Wait what? What do you mean don't make her a lead? This is the thing... Ninetales is the fastest weather lead out there. If she is put up first and put up against a Tyranitar, the sand will take precedence and completely ruin your strategy, forcing Ninetales to switch. Same for rain and hail (though Abomasnow would certainly not want to stay on Ninetales anyhow, but hail is still dangerous). So what I would suggest you do with Ninetales is to bring it out later to disrupt the concurrent weather, bringing a lot of tension to the opposing team. Now they will try to bring back the weather to their favor, so play wisely and try to predict what they will do. A Hippowdon/Tyranitar will hate a Will-o-Wisp in their faces (lest it be a specstar or the likes) or straight out hate taking that Energy Ball (though bulky Tyranitars laugh at it usually) and Politoeds hate Toxics and is weak to Energy Ball (but still takes it rather well). Abomasnow will not switch in on Ninetales, but it deals with other Grass Pokemon or bulky waters really well, so be careful with your grass teammates. Keep Ninetales healthy and get entry hazards off and continue to put pressure on your foes (which the tricky fox is well capable of) and you will see what a valuable asset Ninetales is. So the sets I use? Meh, I don't really have many sets for Ninetales, to be honest, as I struggle making sets for her. She is one of those "can do many many things but suffers a 4 moveslot syndrome" victim. But let's see what I have... [animsprite]38[/animsprite] Mary (Ninetales) (F) @ Leftovers Trait: Flash Fire / Drought EVs: 56 HP / 56 Def / 8 SAtk / 136 SDef / 252 Spd (or some other spread... like more special attack) Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk) - Calm Mind/Nasty Plot/Toxic/Will-o-Wisp/Nitro Charge - Substitute/Confuse Ray/Toxic/Will-o-Wisp - Flamethrower/Fire Blast - Energy Ball/Psycho Shock/Hidden Power [Fighting/Ground]/Pain Split Old school Ninetales... you have MANY MANY options. The EVs seem too random? Just make sure you max speed, but give her some bulk and some special attack. If you are running Calm Mind, have Substitute in handy so you can emphasize on her bulk. You can Pain Split along with it and run Flamethrower, BUT that will leave you walled completely by something like Heatran, though you may be able to stall it out by some chance. Or just run a secondary attack, preferably Energy Ball or Psycho Shock to deal with foes you do not like to meet. Energy Ball hits waters and rocks and grounds, most notably Swampert or Hippowdon, while Psycho Shock can beat Tentacruels and Infernapes, but leaves you walled to Tyranitar. Run Hidden Power Fighting to deal with Tars and Heatrans instead, and Ground can deal with both, but I say Tyranitar is a bigger danger, but it's up to your team's needs. You can also go double status and use Toxic and Will-o-Wisp. Confuse Ray for being annoying (and it works, trust me... 50% of the time). Substitute + three attacks also works well. If you are using Nasty Plot, go ahead and make your EVs more offensive... even if it means going lazy with 252 SpA / 6 SpDef / 252 Speed. Nitro Charge is useful if you can force a switch and end up faster than the your foe and destroy them with another move, but I don't believe it is too practical as Ninetales was not meant for that. It's still up there for consideration. Flash Fire vs Drought, it's entirely up to you. Fire immunity or... unleash the power of the sun? As stupid as it seems, I run Calm Mind, Confuse Ray, Energy Ball, and Flamethrower with Flash Fire. Meh, as long as it benefits the team, I suppose I don't care what I run. [sprite]038[/sprite] Hauteclere (Ninetales) (F) @ Leftovers Trait: Drought EVs: 200 HP / 52 Def / 216 SDef / 40 Spd Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk) - Will-O-Wisp - Toxic - Flamethrower - Psycho Shock For your bulky needs. You are not revenging the mole this way though, as many run max speed or something stupid, so use the set above for that... but this thing capitalizes on just annoying your foes. I got the EVs from Smogon, as this allows you to survive three Thunderbolts from Defensive Zapdos (Ninetales IS bulky believe it or not) and you can go ahead and burn stuff or poison stuff. Cripple things and switch out if you know you cannot beat them. Psycho Shock is for Tentacruels and Flamethrower to take advantage of STAB + Sun. It's all fun. 246 speed trolls on those 245ers who just try to beat 244ers who are aiming to beat max speed Jolly Tyranitars... and the rest went to defenses. Playing Ninetales bulky isn't as far fetch'd as it sounds so go ahead and try her out. You can move some of the defense/special defense EVs to speed if you wish. Remember, adamant max speed Moles hit 275 speed. Want to troll on them? Hit 276 or higher (requires a lot more speed EVs then). Unless you run + speed, you will not beat Jolly versions who hit 302 max, so refer to the other set. This one emphasizes on being bulky and having more survivability overall. That's about all. I guess I ranted enough about this fox today. Just be careful of those hard hitting stuff of today's metagame, because things ARE becoming overkill. But what can you expect from designers who try to make newer Pokemon seem better than the rest? Though... I still can't believe they gave two of my favorite Pokemon auto-weather abilities. Sounds too good to be true in my opinion. I guess I'll have to analyze the other guys next.

[hgsssprite]038[/hgsssprite] Don't know if Uglymoth walls Shandera though. Well, maybe after a couple of boosts, yeah, but I've been beating many of them with Shandera's STAB Fire moves. Calm Mind Ninetales allows me to defeat those variants usually, as I wall them and whatnot and hit back with my own fire attack (by the way, I run Flash Fire). Not saying Uglymoth isn't a beast, it truly is. In fact, I've had a few games where I struggled to hit it, but it does have its counters (I suppose Gyarados is one example). If it weren't for SR, Uglymoth would truly be a force to be reckoned with. [hgsssprite]186[/hgsssprite] Now, we can clearly see weather is having a huge impact here. Rain is becoming an incredible beast of a weather. With perma rain brought by Politoed (who is certainly no slouch), rain teams have a much easier time sweeping through stuff with their STAB moves, physical and special. Kingdra is certainly getting much scarier than before as one wouldn't have to worry about the rain running out lest the other guy carries another weather starter. As for Politoed, we're always thinking it's just another boring water type (Politoed sans Drizzle). The only reason why people use Politoed is because of Drizzle. But pretend that it didn't even use that. So how would Politoed be used? The happy froggy has many things going for it, such as decent overall bulk (90/75/100), decent special attack, and average but still usable speed. I guess as a water, we should concentrate on its bulk. Now for its movepool... it has some workable and annoying things, such as Hypnosis, Bounce, Perish Song, Toxic, Swagger and Encore. You can try to pull a Perish Song to force switches, but mind you, it got extended to 4 turns in this generation, so I do not believe it is practical. Hypnosis would work, but that 60% accuracy more often than not really disappoints, but if you must, go ahead and do it. Toxic is certainly good against other leads, particularly Swamperts or other bulky waters. Swagger is just annoying but quite risky. And of course, Encore is an evil move which forces the opponent to use the same move over, forcing them to switch or allowing you to go to a suitable counter. Politoed definitely has a lot of things going for it in terms of support, as it isn't completely lacking. Now what about its offensive movepool? We have Boiling Water, Surf, Hydro Pump, Ice Beam, Focus Blast, and Psychic. In the rain, Surf and Hydro Pump will leave a NICE dent on things that doesn't resist it. 90 SpA isn't unusable, it's quite respectable, and in the rain, it's 1.5x stronger and powered with STAB. Of course, it's the usual power vs accuracy argument. However, I've found more use on Boiling Water. Boiling Water is this generation's water Lava Plume, and it will pseudo raise Politoed's physical defense if you cause a burn on the other guy (lest its a Guts Hera... then prepare to run!). It's still a respectable choice as it also runs STAB and gets powered by rain. I think it's the better choice to run on Froggy here, but it's all up to your team's needs. Boiling Water also thaws you out of those trolly freeze hax. Be warned though, Burn can cause conflict with Toxic on the same set (say you wanted to intoxicate that Lanturn that switches in but you burn it instead)... yeah you get the idea, so Surf and Hydro Pump are still worthwhile choices. Ice Beam is for those Grass types that like to wall Politoed and other stuff like dragons and whatnot. It is a very good move and helps coverage wise. Focus Blast keeps missing but still, hitting Fighting weak Pokemon with Focus Blast can certainly get rid of threats like Tyranitar (who still hates water anyways) and Nattorei (resists water) and hurts Empoleon better than anything else you have. Psychic... well... hai Poliwrath! Works on poisons and fighters or stuff like Guts Roobushin that would otherwise leave a dent. If you want some coverage against other waters, I guess Hidden Power Electric works, but other waters are quite bulky so it's generally not worth using. Yeah, Froggy is full of options, and it shouldn't be ignored as a Pokemon and be "rain set up fodder". It can play as a great bulky water and is a very good support unit and deserves more use overall, be it Drizzler or not (though most people will settle for Drizzle). The set I use? [hgsssprite]186[/hgsssprite] Goryeo (Politoed) (F) @ Leftovers Trait: Drizzle EVs: 252 HP / 176 Def / 76 SDef / 4 Spd Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk) - Substitute - Toxic - Ice Beam - Boil Over I guess I was trying to capitalize on its bulk by giving it respectable 230/280 defenses (though I could go more), and 4 speed just to troll on other leads. However, you usually want weather leads to be slower than other weather leads so that your weather can take precedence. Just keep that in mind. Substitute helps against random statusers (lest they attack first, so I doubt it's ideal), Toxic for general annoyance, Ice Beam for "coverage" and Boil Over for STAB and that nice burn chance, capitalizing that 230 defense. Simple set... but I'm on my way on revising this. I'll probably run Encore or some other generally nastily annoying move. I'd try to emphasize on its bulk so that it can play longer. What Froggy hates is status, like many other bulky waters. Toxic especially cripples it as a "wall" so a status absorber would work the best probably. I guess paralysed Froggy would work well because it cannot be status'd by anything else, though getting fully paralysed at the wrong times IS annoying. I don't normally play this frog as lead though, so Sub does work well for scouting what the other player does. In fact, I generally don't lead with weather starters. It works better for me. So what are good partners for Froggy? Rain abusers seem obvious, such as Kingdra or Ludicolo or Floatzel or Kabutops or Omastar or any of those old guys. There's also Lapras with Hydration which can effectively set up Dragon Dances in the rain and not worry about status, and Rest off any damage done to her after the progress of setting up while being a very bulky monster. I love that thing. Oddly enough, Dragonite makes a great player in the rain. What do I mean? Well, Dragonite is normally thought to be physical, but what about the ridiculous special movepool of his? The old dragon of the past has new tools to play with, namely Hurricane, its new special 120 STAB coming off his base 100 special attack. It may have 70% accuracy, but just like Thunder, its accuracy raises to 100% in rain and has 30% chance of confusion. Not bad I'll say. So I run Hurricane and Thunder in one set, as stuff like 248 HP Scizor takes over 80% damage from it and things neutral to it in general don't like it. Thunder hits bulky waters and particularly Gyarados for super effective damage. In return, Dragonite resists the grass moves aimed at most of these water Pokemon very well and is neutral to electric moves. Its high Special Defense is also very good for sponging electrical assaults from the likes of bulky Zapdos. Speaking of bulky Zapdos, what about him? Doesn't he wall Hurricane and Thunder with his new ability Lightningrod? Why yes it does, but that's why we have Dragon Dance and Outrage. You can set up Dragon Dance on things you force out and with a few investment, Zapdos will have a HIGH chance of being OHKOd by a + 1 LO Outrage after Stealth Rocks damage. Even without SR it's sustaining high damage and it isn't beating Dragonite any time soon. So here is that Dragonite set I used... [hgsssprite]149[/hgsssprite] Josun (Dragonite) (F) @ Life Orb Trait: Multi-Scale EVs: 80 Atk / 232 SAtk / 196 Spd Mild Nature (+SAtk, -Def) - Dragon Dance - Hurricane - Thunder - Outrage 196 Speed hits 245 to troll on most defensive Zapdos and other things that are hitting 244 speed to troll on 243 Jolly max speed Tyranitars, and the 80 Attack (unless I am wrong) OHKOs defensive Zapdos with Outrage after SR and + 1 and leaves many things in pain, and the rest went into Special Attack to maximize Hurricane and Thunder damage. Try it out if you can, as grass moves tend to be obvious and Dragonite can certainly take hits very well. Just beware of Priority Ice Sharders and the likes, but you have waters to deal with that. One thing you may notice is the lack of Roost or Leftovers. If you need to, you can just make this set all special, run Agility instead of Dragon Dance, and put Roost in place of Outrage and run something like Surf to take advantage of the rain or STAB Dragon Pulse to take advantage of dual STABs and adjust your EVs to fit your needs better. It sounds practical, but I have not tried it out yet. I'll start analyzing Ninetales soon.