3v3 Singles Metagame Discussion Thread [The Pentagon is back!!]

What are you doing here? You're the doubles person! The only change I'd make to the set is Pickpocket>Pressure. Both abilities suck, but Pressure is completely useless on something so frail that isn't using Substitute, while Pickpocket can get you an item if the foe takes you to your sash w/ a contact move(at least that's what I read somewhere,) though it's obviously not gonna work on Megas, so, like I said, really limited use. Better than Pressure though.

Wow, just checked the usage stats on the PGL and they're quite a bit different. Pretty surprised less than half of Blaziken's go mega. Maybe it's a cart thing-I've barely ever seen non mega Blaziken on PS.
Dabbling. I'm already good at the black magic of doubles, why not toy around with the "switch until you physically cannot switch anymore" blue magics of singles? :P
Yeah it was kind of a "which one sucks slightly less?" situation. Still trying to revamp my Char-Y squad, and figure out a Singles team to try out instead of the occasional "pick 6 random things and YOLO" strategy.

That said, what kind of set would Gothitelle run in Singles? The things it does in Doubles simply would not function in Singles, but Shadow Tag + decent stats are still pretty strong. I'm thinking something like:

Gothitelle @ Leftovers / Rocky Helmet / Chesto Berry
<bulky spread>
Ability: Shadow Tag

- Psychic
- Thunder Wave
- Heal Bell / Calm Mind
- Rest

or, a dickish TrickScarf set?
 
Dabbling. I'm already good at the black magic of doubles, why not toy around with the "switch until you physically cannot switch anymore" blue magics of singles? :P
Yeah it was kind of a "which one sucks slightly less?" situation. Still trying to revamp my Char-Y squad, and figure out a Singles team to try out instead of the occasional "pick 6 random things and YOLO" strategy.

That said, what kind of set would Gothitelle run in Singles? The things it does in Doubles simply would not function in Singles, but Shadow Tag + decent stats are still pretty strong. I'm thinking something like:

Gothitelle @ Leftovers / Rocky Helmet / Chesto Berry
<bulky spread>
Ability: Shadow Tag

- Psychic
- Thunder Wave
- Heal Bell / Calm Mind
- Rest

or, a dickish TrickScarf set?
Looking at the stats, it's either Bold or Calm, always with Lefties, Calm Mind and Rest. it often sets Trick Room. Given how even the stat percentages are (100, 80, 20 etc) and its' details on partners etc, I would imagine it sees very little usage.

I could imagine you doing some damage with that set as a lesser Cress I think.
 

Demantoid

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Dabbling. I'm already good at the black magic of doubles, why not toy around with the "switch until you physically cannot switch anymore" blue magics of singles? :P
Yeah it was kind of a "which one sucks slightly less?" situation. Still trying to revamp my Char-Y squad, and figure out a Singles team to try out instead of the occasional "pick 6 random things and YOLO" strategy.

That said, what kind of set would Gothitelle run in Singles? The things it does in Doubles simply would not function in Singles, but Shadow Tag + decent stats are still pretty strong. I'm thinking something like:

Gothitelle @ Leftovers / Rocky Helmet / Chesto Berry
<bulky spread>
Ability: Shadow Tag

- Psychic
- Thunder Wave
- Heal Bell / Calm Mind
- Rest

or, a dickish TrickScarf set?
Last season it was usually the TrickScarf set. There used to be a really popular Gengar/Goth double Shadow Tag core but I can't tell you much about it since I didn't play singles much then. The main set last season seems to be Trick/Calm Mind/Psychic/Rest. Some of them also had Double Team those people must really hate their opponents. There was also a less popular Wobbuffet and Gothitelle where you could encore opponents into a set up move with Wobbuffet switch to Goth and Trick it a Scarf.
 
There was also a less popular Wobbuffet and Gothitelle where you could encore opponents into a set up move with Wobbuffet switch to Goth and Trick it a Scarf.
I always did like Wobby, but that sounds just dickish and two pure Psychic mons might be a bit painful on weaknesses; special based Dark types especially. TrickScarf would just be Timid and an offensive spread, or a max HP / Speed 'bulky and fast' spread (similar to how Latias runs)?
I'm not cruel enough to run Double Team though, Attract + Glare + Rock Slide (female) Arbok combined with Dynamicpunch + Attract + Rock Slide (male) Machamp was the epitome of my troll tolerance. It was only on Free Battle, ok?
Never run that btw people will never forgive you. Raikou sucks though, immune to Glare AND Attract.
 
The only change I'd make to the set is Pickpocket>Pressure. Both abilities suck, but Pressure is completely useless on something so frail that isn't using Substitute, while Pickpocket can get you an item if the foe takes you to your sash w/ a contact move(at least that's what I read somewhere,) though it's obviously not gonna work on Megas, so, like I said, really limited use. Better than Pressure though.
Pressure is generally the better ability for Weavile, as it's an ability that announces itself based on each Pokemon's Speed stat. You can use it to scout for a foe's potential Choice Scarf by seeing if it activates after the opponent's ability if they're also using one that announces itself. This would allow you to stay in and KO Landorus-T (who commonly holds a Choice Scarf) if you saw that Pressure activated first, for example, since it has Intimidate. Pickpocket may also steal an undesirable item such as Choice Specs or Black Sludge, making it less consistant.
 
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Never would have thought about that, good thinking. I don't use Weavile, but I might someday so it's nice to know that I won't have to go looking for an HA one.
 

Psynergy

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A little surprised by the drop in Landorus-T usage, last season it was 8th and now it's suddenly dropped from top 12. In contrast Azumarill went from 19th to 15th and Sylveon jumped a bit too, from 29th to 23rd. Normally I'd wonder how much of that could be attributed to the lack of pentagon last season but I'm not seeing anything that would've directly affected those changes. Interesting stuff nonetheless.
 
Does Double Team see significant use on anything? It's just funny, there's some hype over Minimize users(not much, but a little,) yet Double Team is a little better.

"Minimize's PP changed from 20 to 10. The moves Stomp, Steamroller, Body Slam, Dragon Rush, Flying Press, and Phantom Force will now never miss and their base power is doubled when used against the Minimize user." From Bulbapedia. The entry for Double Team just says it raises evasion one stage.

EDIT: Figured it out, Minimize raises Evasion two stages-cause that's not OP at all, so it's way better despite the few disadvantages. Still, few things get Minimize while most everything gets Double Team, so is Double Team reasonable on something like Reuniclus w/ a Flame Orb or Sigilyph?
 
Does Double Team see significant use on anything? It's just funny, there's some hype over Minimize users(not much, but a little,) yet Double Team is a little better.

"Minimize's PP changed from 20 to 10. The moves Stomp, Steamroller, Body Slam, Dragon Rush, Flying Press, and Phantom Force will now never miss and their base power is doubled when used against the Minimize user." From Bulbapedia. The entry for Double Team just says it raises evasion one stage.

EDIT: Figured it out, Minimize raises Evasion two stages-cause that's not OP at all, so it's way better despite the few disadvantages. Still, few things get Minimize while most everything gets Double Team, so is Double Team reasonable on something like Reuniclus w/ a Flame Orb or Sigilyph?
Double Team is just a really slow move, it takes a good amount of turns until it starts to actually become useful and that can potentially be taken advantage of pretty easily.
 

cant say

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Since evasion relies on luck, you need to tilt the odds in your favour as quickly as possible, which is why Minimize is way better than Double Team. Minimize isn't even that good of a strategy, it is just annoying when it finally works for your opponent, so if Double Team is worse than that, then, well I hope you get the picture.

And no, neither of those would be any good. Sigilpyh would be better off just tanking hits with Cosmic Power than trying to avoid them, and Reuniclus is way too slow. And don't even bother thinking about Swoobat, Simple may sound appealing but he's too slow and frail to pull it off...
 
Since evasion relies on luck, you need to tilt the odds in your favour as quickly as possible, which is why Minimize is way better than Double Team. Minimize isn't even that good of a strategy, it is just annoying when it finally works for your opponent, so if Double Team is worse than that, then, well I hope you get the picture.

And no, neither of those would be any good. Sigilpyh would be better off just tanking hits with Cosmic Power than trying to avoid them, and Reuniclus is way too slow. And don't even bother thinking about Swoobat, Simple may sound appealing but he's too slow and frail to pull it off...
Swoobat^^ Oh that thing. Really I feel bad for it. So Sogilyph is viable in BSS? It's not ranked and I don't see it very often, but I can definitely vouch for it. I understand why Double Team is a no go-really I wouldn't have asked if I knew Minimize was +2 and DT was +1 beforehand, but since I did all that work researching them...lol. Minimize is obnoxious, part of the reason I used to use an AV Chandelure / Clear Smog. Has anyone seen a Bulk Up Blaziken that Baton Passes to a Minimize Clefable? At first I had no idea what the person was doing, but then I saw Minimize. That was obnoxious, couldn't do anything about it. Ofc, if I had my AV Chandelure...that thing really isn't bad, lots of defensive investment lets you live some crazy attacks, and Suicune and them lose their boosts.
 
Swoobat^^ Oh that thing. Really I feel bad for it. So Sogilyph is viable in BSS? It's not ranked and I don't see it very often, but I can definitely vouch for it. I understand why Double Team is a no go-really I wouldn't have asked if I knew Minimize was +2 and DT was +1 beforehand, but since I did all that work researching them...lol. Minimize is obnoxious, part of the reason I used to use an AV Chandelure / Clear Smog. Has anyone seen a Bulk Up Blaziken that Baton Passes to a Minimize Clefable? At first I had no idea what the person was doing, but then I saw Minimize. That was obnoxious, couldn't do anything about it. Ofc, if I had my AV Chandelure...that thing really isn't bad, lots of defensive investment lets you live some crazy attacks, and Suicune and them lose their boosts.
Yeah i've seen bulk up BP blaziken a few times. Its a pretty cool set. It can BP to a lot of potential pokemon tbh. Clefable is definitely a devastating one, even on it's own clef can win games but with all those boosts it can be pretty insane. Mega Kang is another scary recipient as well for obvious reasons.
 
Yeah, I'd prefer BulkPass to Passing SD boosts. Another thing I'm wondering about is Snatch. Never seen it used, but it seems like a really interesting move, not exactly sure what'd use it best, will think on it. Has anyone else seen Snatch before?

EDIT: The two that look best to me are Mandibuzz(opponents may think they need to stack SD boosts to get past it, but end up w/ a +2 Mandivpbuzz on their hands. Can maybe go over Roost if need be, since you can Snatch the opponent's recovery,) and Scolipede(since its best as a Baton Pass user, Snatch can increase the possible kinds of boosts you can get, so instead of just running SD or Iron Defense for a specialized boost, you might snatch the foe's Calm Mind.) Not sure if either of those are any good though.
 
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Yeah, I'd prefer BulkPass to Passing SD boosts. Another thing I'm wondering about is Snatch. Never seen it used, but it seems like a really interesting move, not exactly sure what'd use it best, will think on it. Has anyone else seen Snatch before?

EDIT: The two that look best to me are Mandibuzz(opponents may think they need to stack SD boosts to get past it, but end up w/ a +2 Mandivpbuzz on their hands. Can maybe go over Roost if need be, since you can Snatch the opponent's recovery,) and Scolipede(since its best as a Baton Pass user, Snatch can increase the possible kinds of boosts you can get, so instead of just running SD or Iron Defense for a specialized boost, you might snatch the foe's Calm Mind.) Not sure if either of those are any good though.
I think mandibuzz would rather be using Foul Play in that scenario. Snatch is just incredibly situational.
 
Yeah, I'd prefer BulkPass to Passing SD boosts. Another thing I'm wondering about is Snatch. Never seen it used, but it seems like a really interesting move, not exactly sure what'd use it best, will think on it. Has anyone else seen Snatch before?

EDIT: The two that look best to me are Mandibuzz(opponents may think they need to stack SD boosts to get past it, but end up w/ a +2 Mandivpbuzz on their hands. Can maybe go over Roost if need be, since you can Snatch the opponent's recovery,) and Scolipede(since its best as a Baton Pass user, Snatch can increase the possible kinds of boosts you can get, so instead of just running SD or Iron Defense for a specialized boost, you might snatch the foe's Calm Mind.) Not sure if either of those are any good though.
Mandibuzz has Whirlwind, why attempt to steal it when you can remove it + rack hazard damage + randomly force something in that hates mandy? Snatch is a thing in Triples, but any other meta is "lolno".
Swords Dance, introduce them to STAB Foul Play. Calm Mind, offset with Snarl or Whirlwind.
 

cant say

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Swoobat^^ Oh that thing. Really I feel bad for it. So Sogilyph is viable in BSS? It's not ranked and I don't see it very often, but I can definitely vouch for it.
I never said Sigilyph was viable, just that it has better things to do than try and Double Team.
 

ethan06

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Having used Sigilyph a little bit, it struggles to find a niche when the Cosmic Power set is slow to set up and vulnerable to crits, and an offensive Life Orb set is generally too slow to do meaningful damage to most things and only sets itself apart from Alakazam with Ice Beam and Heat Wave... There's not much else it can do well, and Psychic/Flying typing is vulnerable to a bunch of common things that Sigilyph can't really touch like Thundurus and Aegislash so it's not really that viable at all :/

e: lol post 666
 
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I never said Sigilyph was viable, just that it has better things to do than try and Double Team.
I supposed I just assumed cause I figured you'd just say Sigilyph is unviable rather than say what it should do instead if you didn't think it's viable. I've had some trouble w/ Magic Guard + Flame Orb w/ the moves Stored Power, Roost, and Psycho Shift. But it is very limited due to only having Psychic coverage, anything highly resistant to Psychic that doesn't fear getting burned is golden vs Sigilyph. Mega Sableye and Reuniclus come to mind.

Also, how are defensive boosting moves that do not also raise an attacking stat viewed? Stuff like Iron Defense on Mandibuzz, Acid Armor Goodra and Reuniclus, and even Barrier (Mega) Swampert.
 
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cant say

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Wasn't sure where to post this but a post on Nuggetbridge claims to have written a program for the better battle spot rankings (can't tell since I'm on mobile). It is in a link in one of the first few paragraphs.

http://nuggetbridge.com/forums/topic/22136-more-recent-thorough-battle-spot-rankings/#comment-258916
Yeah I actually found this the other day and tried playing with it to get the Singles stats but I wasn't smart enough. The thing is though, it isn't a live thing, and you'd have to run the script every time you wanna get data, which afaik takes a a fair amount of time. Probably the reason why nouthuca only does it once every season on his Twitter, and Antar with the PS stats...

If anyone who is actually good with that stuff wants to take a swing at it I found the GitHub http://jake-white.github.io/Pokemon-HTTP-Requests/ we could also approach the guy and see if he could modify it for us lol. Then get someone to host it and pretty it up a bit. It would be a great resource.
 
I got it to work for Singles, sort of at least. On my PC (Windows 10) Python apparently doesn't like unicode characters such as the male/female symbols for Nidoran, and I had to modify the code that orders the Pokémon slightly so that it wouldn't create an infinite loop.

First of all I took the code from https://github.com/Ferretsroq/Pokemon-HTTP-Requests The repo cant say linked was modified by someone else to include more features, I didn't notice that until I was already tweaking the original code. Anyway, the code is likely mostly the same. That modified version has a live website that does display the special season rankings http://jake-white.github.io/Battlespotspecial/

In theory all you have to change is lines 22 AND 64 where it says "battleType=5", change it to "battleType=1". On line 182 I had to add " and lowestNumber < numberOfRankedPokemon" after the condition that's originally there to prevent the infinite loop from happening.

After running it it creates a whole bunch of folders and files in the Data folder. If you run the script make sure to delete that folder first, as it can't seem to overwrite files that are already there.

I'm not going to promise anything, but I'll see if I can get some kind of page up and running with the usage statistics some time soon.
 

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