Moveset Ideas Thread

[PokePoindexter]

Come up with ideas for potential Competitive Battling sets here. Here's one of mine:

Polarice:
236 HP/128 Sp. Atk/146 Def (Bold)
Item: Dairy Incense/Leftovers
Ability: Thick Fat
*Ice Beam
*Slack Off/Rest
*Roar/Hail
*Roar/Hail/Surf/Hidden Power [Fire/Psychic]

409 HP, 288 Special Attack, and 282 Defense give Polarice some impressive tank-cannon capabilities.

Ice Beam is the obvious STAB move, and 288 Sp. Atk is just enough to land an easy OHKO on Malistril and Destado, and also OH-2KO’s Wolvine, Tellure, Brontogon (on the off-chance it’s used past the UU tier, and depending on the investment in Special Defense), and, when used in OU, also gets a likely 2KO on both Nimbolt and Khaphix.

Slack Off with the Dairy Incense heals 60% of your health (which can be a vital help in the long run), but the Leftovers can still do nicely too. Rest could be used as well if you really need it, but most Pokemon already have enough trouble taking out Polarice that any hindrance to Polarice’s ability to attack can hurt it.

Roar can blow away anyone Polarice doesn’t like (such as Leoracle, Raiger, Ferrian, Arowana, etc.). Hail also works nicely due to Polarice being one of only three Pokemon capable of doing much in that tier (alongside Frostorm and the occasional Wolfrost).

The fourth move is pretty much other power options to cover Pokemon who don’t take too big a hit from Ice Beam. Surf hits Ninetales, Kunaiga, Kelvoyant, and Coroona (among others) for super-effective hits, making Polarice quite a bear for Fire-types to deal with (Yes, it’s a pun), as well as scaring the wits out of Leoracle. Overall, I’d recommend this over any of the HP’s, simply because it can plaster a Leoracle when given half a chance. No other move does that nearly as effectively.

HP Fire can do some hurt to Ferrian, Scizor, Wolfrost, and OHKO’s Forretress, but there will still be some nice damage done with this turnout to everyone else.

HP Psychic, on the other hand, gets a 4x effective hit on Illumbra, and also hits normal damage on Water-types who wall everything else.

Had Surf not been available, I would’ve mentioned HP Ground here, but the only other thing it gets a super-effective hit on is Arowana, and that can be 2KO’ed easily by Ice Beam, which is more efficient anyway.

[ImmunityBow]

Anti-Weather / Utility Eaglair:

Eaglair@Leftovers
Jolly: 252 HP, other EVs set as desired
Aerodynamic
Calm Wind
Drill Peck / Dive Bomb
Featherdance
Return / Steel Wing / Windwhistle

Unique to the starter birds, Eaglair possesses fairly decent defenses as well as enormous speed with Aerodynamic. It is capable of outspeeding unboosted Ninjask with enough investment. This particularly suits Eaglair's role as anti-weather, as it can easily outspeed Chlorophyll and Swift Swim abusers, or at least force them to run many extra EVs. Drill Peck and Dive Bomb are a matter of preference, power or reliability, and take out most Chlorophyll grass types. Return is also a good STAB option, though if you want coverage on Rock-types then Steel Wing might be a better option. Featherdance helps with the Attack heavy Eclipse Abyssus teams. If you end up switching in on Abyssus itself or Harskrow, Featherdance may be your only chance to force a switch and give you a free Calm Wind, though Windwhistle, if you have it, will do the same. Calm Wind will give you a five turn reprieve to set up upon the weather team such that they can no longer work.

[PokePoindexter]

Smeargle
252 Spd/152 HP/104 Def (Jolly)
Item: Salac Berry
*Cosmic Power/Calm Mind/Dragon Dance
*Endure
*Spore
*Baton Pass

Use Endure to "brace" yourself, activate the Salac Boost, and then use Spore to put them to sleep. Chances are they'll switch out unless they have Sleep Talk, so you're free to set up stat boosters for yourself (I use Cosmic Power on my Emerald team), then Baton Pass them to anyone else on your team.

[SilentSentinel]

Rain Lead/ Wall Nimbolt
252 HP/252 Def/4 SDef (Not sure if these are best)
Item: Sacred Veil
Nature: Lonely
Wish
Protect
Windwhistle/Thunder/Reflect
Thunder Wave/Thunder/Reflect

Nimbolt is the ultimate Rain Lead, with its ability allowing for instant set up of rain. Sacred Veil is the essential hold item, lengthening your rain to 8 turns, which allows your sweepers to stay on te field longer. Using Wish and Protect is Nimbolt's best healing option, since you don't suffer the sleep penalties of Rest. The other slots can be filled by a variety of moves. Winwhistle and Thunder Wave can give switch-ins headaches with a parafusion combo. Thunder provides a good STAB, although you won't get a lot of KOs with only 80 base SAtk. A neutral nature Thunder can 2HKO neutral nature Eaglair with no SDef investment, which is one of your biggest threats. Overload is another option if you're planning to get in and out quickly, and has a small chance of being able to OHKO an Eaglair. Reflect can be used to boost Nimbolt's mediocre defense. A Lonely Nature can help get its defense up as well, allowing for many switch ins throughout the battle.

[PokePoindexter]

Nimbolt doesn't need the Sacred Veil for two reasons:
1) Drizzle summons eternal rain until someone changes the weather.
2) The Sacred Veil doesn't lengthen Rain at all--it lengthens Light Screen, Reflect, and Water Wall.
I'd also use either a Modest or Bold nature; Lonely is +Atk (completely unnecessary), -Def (much more useful).
Also, if Nimbolt's going to switch out a lot, I'd just use Overload for the extra damage.

Putting that aside:
Phantern
252 Def/188 Sp. Def/68 Sp. Atk (Bold)
Item: Leftovers
Ability: Insomnia
*Will-O-Wisp
*Ingrain
*Substitute
*Shadow Ball

This could be a truly irritating Double Wall in UU, rivaling Wailord in usefulness with better Defenses. Set up a Substitute, then use Ingrain and Leftovers to recover the lost HP over just two turns. WOW'ing opponents will reduce damage from Physical attacks, which, with his pitiful Defense, needs to be masked at every possible cost--Bold nature and maximum Defense are always mandatory additions to this team. Shadow Ball is listed as an extra STAB option; Phantern can attack to some degree, and a SB can still get a OHKO on Phantasomo, as well as a potential 2KO on Espeon.

Start with a Bold nature, and max out the Defense. Spread the rest of the EV's over Sp. Atk and Sp. Def, depending on how much you want to use Phantern as a Wall vs. a Sweeper.

[ImmunityBow]

I would possibly replace Shadow Ball or Will-O-Wisp with Protect, and if you replace Will-O-Wisp, you might feel like replacing Shadow Ball with Leech Seed if available too.

Reason? If you invest enough HP EVs to have HP divisible by 16, then with Ingrain, it takes two turns to regain 25% HP, which is enough to run Substitute, Protect, Substitute, Protect over and over again. After 16 turns against Leftovers or 8 turns without, Leech Seed or Will-O-Wisp will kill an enemy. Cinders from an ally plus Leech Seed can aid in the process even further.

[PokePoindexter]

^Tellure and Ninetales can totally shut that strategy down with Imprison.

[SilentSentinel]

Oh, right. I had sacred veil totally confused with Damp Rock. I guess I misread the nature chart too somehow. Oh well, you may as well do leftovers then.

And you could partener Phantern with a Shadow Ball running Kelvoyant unless Ninetales is running Umbrage. Serberine and choice scarf Tagati are faster than both of them, and both have great attack.

[ImmunityBow]

No Choice Scarf in Topaz either :/

Not that I'll miss the surprise factor that seems to saturate 4th gen like water.

[SilentSentinel]

Are all the choice items out?

[ImmunityBow]

Choice Band is still in.

[PokePoindexter]

Wolvine
252 Atk/252 Spd/4 Def (Adamant/Jolly)
Item: Focus Band
Ability: Night Vision
*Nightfall
*Crunch
*Aerial Ace
*Brick Break

Wolvine actually makes a pretty good asset to Nightfall teams, since he has the NV ability and can use his Attack pretty well. Nightfall obviously activates the NV ability, and Aerial Ace is good for hitting the other Fighting-type oddities who give all Dark-types problems. Crunch also gets a Pseudo-STAB from the Nightfall Boost, and Brick Break gets regular STAB either way.

The downside to this set is he really only works as being "a piece of the puzzle" that comprises a Nightfall team, so you'll probably be switching out periodically, especially if he comes in contact with someone like Skarmory or Gryphonic (or Eaglair). I'd mention Benengil too, but he's probably not going to be a Standard the way things look thus far.

If you're on a 2-on-2 battle with Abyssus on your team, I'd replace Nightfall with something else, maybe Leaf Blade for an extra STAB move.

[SilentSentinel]

I knew that at least one of the choice items got introduced in 3rd gen. That was kinda unfair to special attackers.

[ImmunityBow]

My take on Wolvine is different from yours:

Wolvine @ Leftovers / Salac Berry
Night Vision
Leaf Blade / Swords Dance / Bulk Up
Sky Uppercut
Crunch
Grasswhistle

You've got Night Vision! Just pair with Abyssus, and use the stronger less accurate moves with your perfect accuracy! Sky Uppercut and Crunch are resisted together by no one, Leaf Blade is for STAB, especially on bulky waters but boosting might be better. Grasswhistle is a perfect accuracy sleep (!) during the night, and helps you set up.

It wasn't unfair at all to have Choice Band only during 3rd Gen. Just look at the moves they had that were the most easily accessible and powerful reliable moves of the type:

Special:
Thunderbolt/Ice Beam/Flamethrower - 95 BP
Psychic/Surf - 90 BP
Crunch - 80 BP

Physical:
Brick Break/Rock Slide - 75 BP
Silver Wind/Aerial Ace - 60 BP
Steel Wing - 70 BP
Shadow Ball - 80 BP
Earthquake - 100 BP (big exception)

On average special attacks are both stronger and more accessible! Choice Band was an excellent balancing mechanism and wasn't broken because of the lock, too. Physical attackers actually got STRONGER over 4th gen, with access to more coverage, and powerful Physical moves than they'd ever had before.

[Mediocrity_Incarnate]

Smogon has a new damage calculator. It takes a while to get used to but its very detailed and you can use fakemon in it.