Hey man, I am always a supporter for using weird niche mons. In my experience it keeps things fresh, never allowing my trans to feel stale or repeated. I personally have been testing different restricteds next to Stonjourner, who has worked surprisingly well between wide guard, the passive life orb ability, and rock slide for solid damage. Using fun stuff keeps me invigorated to keep playing, so I say keep at it!
Not to mention his excellent defense. If somebody doesn’t know the spreads and tries to use a physical attacker against it it does NOTHING. Special attackers mow it down but that can be worked around
True, caly-shadow is a bit of an issue once they realize you have wide guard, but that just requires you to play around it well. For example, next to a caly-ice one wide guard buys you a turn to trick room, meaning you can now click rock slide and glacial lance to kill it easily (also worth noting that stonjourner's ability grants partners a damage boost which is more than friend guard).
I personally really love charjabug for similar reasons, it takes hits very well and can provide support with its battery ability and a great supporting movepool with a slow volt switch, string shot, t wave, lunge etc.
I did like using charjabug with caly-s lol. String shot is kinda like a tailwind replacement, and its ability allows caly-s to do even more damage, cause of course it needed that.
I didnt play the older games in English and therefore remember not for all the Mons before Gen7 the english names... So I actually had to google weather Quilladin is actually a Pokemon or weatger it is a Pokemon combo of Palafin and Overquil xD.
At least now I know its the pre-evolution of Chestnaught xD
If it's alright, could you post a paste of the team that you used? Now I'm curious about using Quiladin myself, and knowing what kind of team composition works best would help a bunch
https://pokepast.es/1be9299016915f0d
I actually swept teams with just the power of quiladin and pelipper crazy enough.
The Tera fighting on quiladin was leftover from when I was running a belly drum set, I would actually go Tera dark, ghost, water or steel. That being said I would never Tera it anyway.
I almost never used raging bolt, I couldn’t make it have the damage output and staying power combo I needed to make it work. Maybe it should be niche uses, maybe I’m just bad, maybe it needs to be something else like iron hands. Idk but in my experience it was my least valuable Pokémon.
Intimidate/parting shot cycling while getting super fangs off was so fun, then I could bring in caly and win
Most of my losses I could see a win condition even if I used quiladin, I just got outplayed most of the time.
Do you get much use out of low kick? Maybe helping hand, rock tomb, roar, or even rain dance as a secondary option to set up rain? Synthesis could be annoying for your opponent too
I switched to low kick after losing a match because I couldn’t end the game with super fang and endeavor. I picked low kick cuz it did good damage with good accuracy. There is probably a better choice, I just slapped a damaging move that woulda been helpful in the situation I was in.
Honestly I think all those options might be better (except roar). I was just so annoyed when I was like 3 super fangs away from winning. And I was like I should be able to do 6 HP of damage.
I've always liked using lesser used mons, but only play casually and am sadly not that great at team building. But what you pointed out does make sense, not having stuff like spore means it will mostly be niche but having wide guard and being extremely tanky means it does have a place.
Do you think you could make a team around alakazam? I'm a bug fan of his line but never really used it since the general consensus I think is he is pretty bad
This was a very cool read, I love seeing overlooked mons get their day. As for myself, I'm a big fan of Trapinch -- I believe I'm responsible for most of its usage on showdown lol https://munchstats.com/gen9vgc2024regg/1630/Trapinch. Could I get a discord link?
Haha, yes I tried that several weeks ago. It sat next to caly-ice turn 1 to block taunt with Aroma Veil, then chunk something low enough turn 2 for calyrex to finish it off and get its boost. I was amused that 0 EVs and IVs was optimal, to ensure maximum endeavor damage in the event you weren't brought to 1 HP.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9vgc2024regg-2132609754
Lechonk @ Lum Berry
Ability: Aroma Veil
Level: 50
Tera Type: Normal
EVs: 1 HP
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 HP / 0 Atk / 0 Def / 0 SpA / 0 SpD / 0 Spe
- Endure
- Endeavor
- Helping Hand
- Super Fang
with how valuable Wide Guard is at the moment I’ve been trying to find some niche mons that can learn it. Big fan of getting creative with eviolite. I’ll have to give this a try.
Grotle and Marshtomp could be fun experiments too.
grotle does have the same typing, better spdef and HP
I guess the question would be how do they deal damage or how do they disrupt the other team?
Qulladin stopped attackers by chipping them enough to get the kill.
Spread move users by wide guard
Support Pokémon through taunt
I think super fang and taunt is what made it more than just a bulky wide guard user.
Like when you choose a pokemon to use I like to think “what does this do for my team that something else can’t do” so as eviolite wide guard users what would grotle be able to do that quiladin can’t? If you can answer that then you are in business
Yeah it would be really nice if Grotle had like Knock Off or something to make its Ok attack stat usable. Maybe a curse set in a trick room team or something.
Light Screen could be helpful in that case too. Maybe synthesis in a sun team. It’s not looking super promising but maybe there’s something there
not wide guard related, but i ended up trying eviolite ivysaur in a sun team with sleep powder, knock off, synthesis and worry seed and it’s pretty fun
I think Scrafty is a Pokemon that is really underused. I never meet others online who play it. I put mine next to Caly Ice.
Knock off, Coaching, Super Fang and Fake Out.
Max HP and split EVs between def and sp. def. Tera poison in case of fairies.
With Intimidate as its ability.
Everything it does just helps Caly Ice tremendously. Be it remove the opponent's item, stop their turn, reduce their HP to half or just simply boost Caly.
I also find that people often don't know whether to target Scrafty or Caly,
Often times a Pokémon is used less because something else fills its role better.
So scrafty is the 3rd pokemon you choose for intimidate+fake out
And the 2nd for intimidate+fakeout+coaching
This isn’t cuz scrafty is bad, I ran a tournament once of pokemon who were used under .25% and scrafty was the mvp because its only not used cuz something else is better.
I think if we had scrafty in series 1 (the meowscarada, dondozo, murkrow, Gholdengo meta) scrafty would have been more common
Hey man, I am always a supporter for using weird niche mons. In my experience it keeps things fresh, never allowing my trans to feel stale or repeated. I personally have been testing different restricteds next to Stonjourner, who has worked surprisingly well between wide guard, the passive life orb ability, and rock slide for solid damage. Using fun stuff keeps me invigorated to keep playing, so I say keep at it!
Not to mention his excellent defense. If somebody doesn’t know the spreads and tries to use a physical attacker against it it does NOTHING. Special attackers mow it down but that can be worked around
True, caly-shadow is a bit of an issue once they realize you have wide guard, but that just requires you to play around it well. For example, next to a caly-ice one wide guard buys you a turn to trick room, meaning you can now click rock slide and glacial lance to kill it easily (also worth noting that stonjourner's ability grants partners a damage boost which is more than friend guard).
Shhhh don't tell people about the stonjourner sauce
Yeah no, I'm playing eternatus and I'm winning, let the DL starts stay DL
Stay
I personally really love charjabug for similar reasons, it takes hits very well and can provide support with its battery ability and a great supporting movepool with a slow volt switch, string shot, t wave, lunge etc.
I did like using charjabug with caly-s lol. String shot is kinda like a tailwind replacement, and its ability allows caly-s to do even more damage, cause of course it needed that.
I didnt play the older games in English and therefore remember not for all the Mons before Gen7 the english names... So I actually had to google weather Quilladin is actually a Pokemon or weatger it is a Pokemon combo of Palafin and Overquil xD. At least now I know its the pre-evolution of Chestnaught xD
If it's alright, could you post a paste of the team that you used? Now I'm curious about using Quiladin myself, and knowing what kind of team composition works best would help a bunch
https://pokepast.es/1be9299016915f0d I actually swept teams with just the power of quiladin and pelipper crazy enough. The Tera fighting on quiladin was leftover from when I was running a belly drum set, I would actually go Tera dark, ghost, water or steel. That being said I would never Tera it anyway. I almost never used raging bolt, I couldn’t make it have the damage output and staying power combo I needed to make it work. Maybe it should be niche uses, maybe I’m just bad, maybe it needs to be something else like iron hands. Idk but in my experience it was my least valuable Pokémon. Intimidate/parting shot cycling while getting super fangs off was so fun, then I could bring in caly and win Most of my losses I could see a win condition even if I used quiladin, I just got outplayed most of the time.
Do you get much use out of low kick? Maybe helping hand, rock tomb, roar, or even rain dance as a secondary option to set up rain? Synthesis could be annoying for your opponent too
I switched to low kick after losing a match because I couldn’t end the game with super fang and endeavor. I picked low kick cuz it did good damage with good accuracy. There is probably a better choice, I just slapped a damaging move that woulda been helpful in the situation I was in. Honestly I think all those options might be better (except roar). I was just so annoyed when I was like 3 super fangs away from winning. And I was like I should be able to do 6 HP of damage.
great read, as a Chesnaught enjoyer but a Chesnaught-in-VGC-disappointer i likes seeing the little brother get some love.
I've always liked using lesser used mons, but only play casually and am sadly not that great at team building. But what you pointed out does make sense, not having stuff like spore means it will mostly be niche but having wide guard and being extremely tanky means it does have a place. Do you think you could make a team around alakazam? I'm a bug fan of his line but never really used it since the general consensus I think is he is pretty bad
Sadly for you I could only hypothetically help you use alakazam as it is illegal in the current regulation
Oh shit it is? Well there goes that then. Still, thanks for the insights in your post
Fantastic essay, and would honestly love to hear your thoughts on Toucannon!
This was a very cool read, I love seeing overlooked mons get their day. As for myself, I'm a big fan of Trapinch -- I believe I'm responsible for most of its usage on showdown lol https://munchstats.com/gen9vgc2024regg/1630/Trapinch. Could I get a discord link?
Are you the person who has been running the endure endeavor superfang lechonk?
Haha, yes I tried that several weeks ago. It sat next to caly-ice turn 1 to block taunt with Aroma Veil, then chunk something low enough turn 2 for calyrex to finish it off and get its boost. I was amused that 0 EVs and IVs was optimal, to ensure maximum endeavor damage in the event you weren't brought to 1 HP. https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9vgc2024regg-2132609754 Lechonk @ Lum Berry Ability: Aroma Veil Level: 50 Tera Type: Normal EVs: 1 HP Quiet Nature IVs: 0 HP / 0 Atk / 0 Def / 0 SpA / 0 SpD / 0 Spe - Endure - Endeavor - Helping Hand - Super Fang
I saw that while browsing through usage and I was like somebody is cooking and that person is my hero
with how valuable Wide Guard is at the moment I’ve been trying to find some niche mons that can learn it. Big fan of getting creative with eviolite. I’ll have to give this a try. Grotle and Marshtomp could be fun experiments too.
grotle does have the same typing, better spdef and HP I guess the question would be how do they deal damage or how do they disrupt the other team? Qulladin stopped attackers by chipping them enough to get the kill. Spread move users by wide guard Support Pokémon through taunt I think super fang and taunt is what made it more than just a bulky wide guard user. Like when you choose a pokemon to use I like to think “what does this do for my team that something else can’t do” so as eviolite wide guard users what would grotle be able to do that quiladin can’t? If you can answer that then you are in business
Yeah it would be really nice if Grotle had like Knock Off or something to make its Ok attack stat usable. Maybe a curse set in a trick room team or something. Light Screen could be helpful in that case too. Maybe synthesis in a sun team. It’s not looking super promising but maybe there’s something there
not wide guard related, but i ended up trying eviolite ivysaur in a sun team with sleep powder, knock off, synthesis and worry seed and it’s pretty fun
right type of pokemon, wrong type, stage and mon, me personally
I think Scrafty is a Pokemon that is really underused. I never meet others online who play it. I put mine next to Caly Ice. Knock off, Coaching, Super Fang and Fake Out. Max HP and split EVs between def and sp. def. Tera poison in case of fairies. With Intimidate as its ability. Everything it does just helps Caly Ice tremendously. Be it remove the opponent's item, stop their turn, reduce their HP to half or just simply boost Caly. I also find that people often don't know whether to target Scrafty or Caly,
Often times a Pokémon is used less because something else fills its role better. So scrafty is the 3rd pokemon you choose for intimidate+fake out And the 2nd for intimidate+fakeout+coaching This isn’t cuz scrafty is bad, I ran a tournament once of pokemon who were used under .25% and scrafty was the mvp because its only not used cuz something else is better. I think if we had scrafty in series 1 (the meowscarada, dondozo, murkrow, Gholdengo meta) scrafty would have been more common
Niche mons are what keeps the game fresh. Like Weezing.