Research Week #2: Smeargle, Drifblim, Vileplume

Texas Cloverleaf

This user has a custom title
is a Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnusis a Smogon Media Contributor Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnus
Building off the last Research Week, were going to be upping the ante this time around, involving irc, the ladder and the forums in research week. Firstly, the need-to-know information.

Research Week looks to investigate Pokemon that have potential in RU, be it in stats, movepool, or supporting their team, to serve as an innovative choice in today's metagame. These are Pokemon that, for the most part, remain relatively untested. I've selected 3 Pokemon I feel, with help from everyone else, could see the rise of new and powerful sets, or the fulfilment of a particular niche. Perhaps the title is a bit of a misnomer; in fact, this installment (and likely future ones) of Research Week will continue as long as the discussion does, and that's where you all come in.

If you have anything to say about any of these Pokemon, please post about them! It doesn't matter if you've used them or have just faced them in battle, anything is fine (but please, do try them). Just be sure to back up your posts with good competitive reasoning!

-Be open-minded, don't just say something is terrible and walk away; at least look into them and see what options they may be able to utilize!
-Feel free to theorymon, but make it clear that you are theorymon'ing. At the end of the week, however, I want discussion to move towards how useful the Pokemon actually are in RU, and what sets are effective on them.
-Just because an analysis has been done for a Pokemon doesn't mean there isn't more to explore; it's quite possible that something might have gone unnoticed or is missing.
-Do not post in this thread complaining about the Pokemon I choose and/or suggesting ones we should do for future weeks. I want discussion to stay on topic about the 3 Pokemon we are "researching". Feel free to VM / PM me these suggestions, but don't expect the next research week to have all the Pokemon you suggested, or any of them.

So, the 3 Pokemon we will be looking at this research week are Drifblim, Smeargle and Vileplume

|
|


How useful are these Pokemon in RU? What sets can they run effectively? What gives them trouble? What advantages do they have over other Pokemon?

Discuss; the discussion that come out of this will surely be illuminating! Don't forget, you're not just limited to this topic to discuss these Pokemon. The #rarelyused irc channel is a perfectly suitable place to discuss them as well. At the end of the discussion period, I hope we can reach a general consensus on how good these Pokemon really are, and that we might find some interesting discoveries.


Alright, now that that's out of the way we can get to the fun part of this. First up, Reasearch Week will now have a duration of roughly two weeks. The reason for this is as follows:

The Research Week Challenge:
  • Users will use one of the research week mons on their team
  • The user with highest ladder ranking at the end of the two week period will get temporary status (hops) in #rarelyused
  • Users will be expected to post their experiences with the pokemon they use
  • If they do not participate in the discussion they will be passed over

The first week of the challenge will be open for initial speculation on how one of the Research Week Pokemon will fare, previous experience with the Pokemon, or even just to say that you will be participating in the ladder challenge and on what alt (mandatory, new alts are required). The second week is where I expect the main discussion to occur and to heat up. This is when you can post battle logs, experiences with your team on the ladder and generally how a Pokemon has worked out for you.

Remember, if you are the top player at the end of the round you will get temporary hops in #rarelyused, which can become permanent depending on your track record. (If you already have hops+ we'll work something out)
 
Smeargle and Vileplume are obviously usable Pokemon as shown by Molk's TR team and SilentVerse's #RUC team. Drifblim looks pretty interesting; I think it has potential. That's why I'm going to try Drifblim in The Research Week Challenge! Alt: Driftblim

Nice idea with the challenges, I think it will promote discussion.

New alt: JoinRUteambats
 

SilentVerse

Into the New World
is a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Community Leader Alumnusis a Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Top Contributor Alumnusis a Smogon Media Contributor Alumnusis a Past SPL Champion
Oh bs why do we need a new alt i'm already like 150 points ahead of everyone else with my Combustion alt that used Vileplume...

Anyway, yeah, I think I've proven that Vileplume is actually really good from the RU Dark Horse challenge, so hopefully lots of people use it for this research week. However, don't just use LO Vileplume all the time though, since support Vileplume is pretty cool and it should also get some use too! I'll probably post more next week / later so you guys can think of some stuff for Vileplume, though imo it's viable sets are Special Attacker, Support, Swords Dance (no i am not kidding; though it's definitely not amazing, it's pretty fun to kill random Clefables and Munchlax's with Drain Punch), or some mixed set. I haven't used the latter two extensively, but you guys should still try them since they might actually be pretty fun to use.

I'm going to agree with Dittocrow though that at this point, Drifblim seems kinda like the odd Pokemon out since both Smeargle and Vileplume have been used well by certain players (and since Texas says I can't use Vileplume lol), so I will use Drifblim for this research week:

Alt: Higher to the Sky
 

November Blue

A universe where hot chips don't exist :(
is a Contributor Alumnus
I realize that this would be thousands of times better in NU, but has anyone tried Rapid Spin Smeargle? The surprise factor could make it easier to get a spin off.

Vileplume is awesome. I tried the support set for a while, and it's great. Toxic Spikes absorption, Moonlight and Giga Drain for recovery, Aromatherapy, Leech Seed, Sleep Powder, good bulk, that powerful Sludge Bomb ...

It pairs well with a bulky Water-type, kinda like Tangrowth does with Slowking. Effect Spore is actually pretty good, because I was using it as a physical wall so it activated all the time. IMO Vileplume is a lot better than people think, I encourage everyone to give it a go.
 
I actually used Drifblim in my first ever RU team, it's quite an effective spinblocker. If you use it right, it can actually attempt a sweep. I used the following set:

Drifblim @ Chesto Berry
Trait: Unburden
EVs: 252 Def / 112 SpA / 144 Spe
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Calm Mind
- Rest
- Shadow Ball
- Thunderbolt

Quite an effective set actually, set up a couple of Calm Minds and become very bulky and reasonably powerful. When you're low on health, Rest, activate Chesto Berry, which gives you a +2 boost in Speed. If you've set up two or more Calm Minds you can now attempt a sweep quite easily.

Might try this with Smeargle and/or Drifblim.
 
I've been testing the UU set for Drifblim in RU (Or very similar at least).
It seems to be working fairly well, has pulled off a few sweeps and has gotten me a few surprise kills with Destiny Bond.

Drifblim (M) @ Flying Gem
Trait: Unburden
EVs: 196 Atk / 204 Def / 108 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Acrobatics
- Substitute
- Will-O-Wisp
- Destiny Bond

My alt: Drifting
 
Drifblim was my main Ghost-type in Pokemon Diamond, and coincidentally, just today, I began playing with a new Drifblim set:

Drifblim
Item: Flame Orb
Ability: Flare Boost
EVs: 232 HP/60 Def/88 Sp. Atk/80 Sp. Def/48 Speed
Nature: Modest
Moves: Hypnosis
Dream Eater
Ominous Wind
Charge Beam*

*may replace with Air Cutter

This is supposed to be a set that can put the opponent to sleep on turn 1. The Flame Orb is activated, and Drifblim can use whatever attack is most appropriate. Dream Eater gives a way to heal from the damage from Flame Orb, Shadow Ball is for STAB, and Charge Beam helps Drifblim to boost its Sp. Atk higher, allowing it to do even more damage.

This is a very unique set, and it would catch competitors off-guard.
 
I've used defensive Vileplume a few times, having access to aromatherapy is nice, she also has reliable recovery. A lot of the time I've found her to be inferior to Meganium in that role and both Lefeon and Tangela/Tangrowth also play the roll of bulky grass very well. Using Moonlight with Chlorophyll Vileplume would be very decent on a sun team however, I vaguely recall Blametruth being rather infamous for a short period of time sweeping with a sunny day Vileplume in 4th gen NU. SD Vileplume is completely worthless in my opinion as Sawsbuck, Tangrowth and Victrebell all do it better. Dream World Lefeon (I don't think this is released, could be wrong) would arguably be superior to all of them with base 95 speed, 110 attack and Leaf Blade.
 
Haha Drifblim is surprisingly good. It's HP stat is amazing and makes up for it's shitty defenses. It's Special Attack stat is decent too, and it has a good support movepool: Baton Pass, Haze, Will-o-Wisp, Memento, Thunder Wave, etc. I'm using it atm as a spin blocker, and it's working pretty good.

Here's a funny log:

Start of turn 24!
Opponent's Manectric used Thunderbolt!
It's super effective!
Drifblim's substitute faded!

Drifblim used Disable!
Opponent's Manectric's Thunderbolt was disabled!

Drifblim restored a little HP using its Leftovers!
Opponent forfeited against Driftblim!

The window was disabled due to one of the players closing the battle window.

GG 8)
 

SilentVerse

Into the New World
is a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Community Leader Alumnusis a Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Top Contributor Alumnusis a Smogon Media Contributor Alumnusis a Past SPL Champion
While I haven't been able to test it as much as I'd like, I'd just like to say that I've been really disappointed in ChestoRest Drifblim. From the battles that I played with it, it really can only be used as a late game sweeper, but it has such little use outside of that because of it's Stealth Rock weakness, lack of Leftovers recovery, and mediocre defenses that it just ends up being difficult to use. This was especially sad since I was attempting to use Drifblim as somewhat of a spinblocker midgame, hoping that it would be able to abuse entry hazards late game while keeping them on the field, but it just didn't really work because of those things. It's even worse because I haven't found Drifblim to be outstanding as a sweeper either, since it's slow before Unburden, and it boosts too slowly to be as amazing as I would like, as Drifblim honestly needs to be at +2 to even consider sweeping unless you're facing an extremely frail hyper offense team, but even then, they might have something that can take a +1 Shadow Ball. I think I'll try it a bit more, but I'll probably end up experimenting with different Drifblim sets since this hasn't bee great so far.
 

jake

underdog of the year
is a Tournament Director Alumnusis a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Team Rater Alumnusis a Senior Staff Member Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Researcher Alumnusis a Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Top Contributor Alumnusis a Smogon Media Contributor Alumnusis a Top Dedicated Tournament Host Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnusis a Past SPL Champion
I've been using hazards Smeargle to a great extent, and I actually have yet to lose a match save a terribly timed d/c when I was about to win. I'm like 100% sure that Smeargle is the best hazards user in the tier. The amount of matches that I've gotten at least a layer of Spikes + SR up as well as Sporing one of their Pokemon is pretty amazing, honestly, and the only way you can ensure that Smeargle doesn't get at least one layer up is to win the Taunt or attack mindgame with Aerodactyl or to use a Lum Berry on something random. It's just fucking incredible, no other words really. Definitely needs more use. :(

Really wished I would have seen this before a couple hours ago (shows how much I pay attention really lol), but I just started an alt under the name of Aemon. brb ousting silentverse as no1

edit: fuck how the hell did sv get so high @___@



uhhh i guess decay helped me out there a bit lol
 
SilentVerse, you should try some sort of Acrobatics Drifblim. Not a whole lot of RU Pokemon can tank a Flight Gem Acrobatics and then risk being outsped and KO'd by Drifblim after they come in. After Drifblim gets the Unburden boost, it can become an effective revenge killer with its good coverage.

The only problem I've had with Drifblim is that it just barely misses out on certain KO's, which is why SR and Spikes is pretty much mandatory for it.
 
Yeah I agree with SilentVerse for the most part. I've used Drifblim as a spinblocker and as a sweeper. I definitely cannot sweep... but the spin blocker is not bad. Most of the time it just dies though due to lack of reliable recovery. It might be better to use dual Ghost, idk. So far I've tested:

CM Chesto Rest: Has too many weaknesses which limits its ability to set up. I rarely got sweeps with this set. It's either too slow before Unburden, or too weak. It's hard to CM and activate Unburden while staying alive. This set is not very good imo.

Flare Boost Sweeper: Since Drifblim is the only one that gets this ability so far, I wanted to test it out. Drifblim has a decent special movepool so I thought it could work. I even tried Thunder Wave to make up for the low speed. To my dismay, this set is not very good. Drifblim dies too quickly from SR and burn damage, and can't get necessary OHKOs and 2HKOs. Overall, I don't recommend this set in RU.

Sub Disable: This is definitely the best set I've used so far. If you run 252 HP/252 Def it's a beast spin blocker/wall. Disable is pretty good too for screwing things over such as Shadow Sneak Gallade or Choiced Electric mons (see my last post :p).
 

SkullCandy

She Bangs The Drums
is a Contributor Alumnus
Currently using Smeargle in conjuction with SD Gallade to sweep, powerful Life Orb users Honchkrow and Sceptile to force switches Swords Dance Sandslash to keep hazards away and Choice Band Scyther to force switches and to revenge. It is working surprisingly well thanks to the great hazards supplied by Smeargle. The set I'm running is Spikes,Stealth Rock,Spore,Magic Coat which is good (although Magic Coat is a bit useless).

I am laddering as we speak (just reached the 200s) and will continue to update as I go.

UPDATE: 87 (1138) and climbing...
 

Texas Cloverleaf

This user has a custom title
is a Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnusis a Smogon Media Contributor Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnus
It's been just over one week since I posted this thread, I'd like for people now to begin/continue posting their sets, explaining their Pokemon and discussing the sets of other users.

In terms of laddering I'm going to require a minimum of a 1200 ranking to be considered for a winner.
 

Texas Cloverleaf

This user has a custom title
is a Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnusis a Smogon Media Contributor Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnus
Alright, so obviously the tier has been reshaped and as such laddering is pointless now, so Zebraiken will be considered the winner, thanks to peaking at #1 on the ladder. If people would post their experiences we can conclude this Research Week as a success.
 
First off, congrats to Zebraiken! I guess I'll sum up my thoughts since I played a ton of matches this week.

Smeargle: I only played a few matches with it. Zebraiken already proved that it's the best hazard user in the tier, so I feel that I don't have to explain :p

Vileplume: I played a lot of matches with SilentVerse's Special Attacker set. I must say that this is a really good Pokemon. It annihilates other Grass-type Pokemon such as Sceptile, Lilligant, and Rotom-C and obviously rapes Water-types. I found that Grass is a really good typing in RU, and Poison also adds a nice resistance to Fighting. I've actually gotten a few sweeps with this thing because Sludge Bomb / Giga Drain OHKOs a ton after Spikes, such as Galvantula, Manectric, Rotom, Entei (with SR and 3 Spikes), Qwilfish, and more. I used Magneton in tandem with Vileplume, because it eliminates Steel-types and checks Mandibuzz, some of the few things that wall Vileplume. Overall, Vileplume is a pretty good Pokemon and should not be underestimated. It has good bulk and high Special Attack which enables it to tank hits and get some important OHKOs. Here's the best set that I used in my opinion:

Vileplume (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Chlorophyll
EVs: 52 HP / 252 SAtk / 204 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Sleep Powder
- Giga Drain
- Sludge Bomb
- Moonlight


Drifblim: I used Drifblim the most out of the three Pokemon this week. I was determined to make a successful team with it. I tested at least 6 different sets with it, including: SubDisable, Flare Boost Sweeper, Chesto Rest, Air Support, Weather Balloon, Physical Wall, Baton Pass, etc. SubDisable was the only set that I had liked, and that was mediocre at best. I thought that Drifblim was garbage, until D4RR3N recommended the Air Support set from UU which I had previously looked over. To my surprise, this is actually a great set! It is a great spinblocker on more offensive-oriented teams because it is really fast after Unburden and hits surprisingly hard with Acrobatics. I could go on and on about why this set is useful, but that'll be in the analysis I'm writing up. Anyways, Drifblim by itself was not really a good spinblocker. It died way too quick because of the Stealth Rock weakness and not being able to KO everything. However, if you combine Drifblim with another Ghost-type, it becomes a great spinblocking combo. Since Claydol left, hazard may become more common so people might resort to Foresight to combat hazards. Having a second Ghost-type will prevent Rapid Spin, and Drifblim can potentially sweep under a few layers of Spikes. The second Ghost I've been using is TR + NP Cofagrigus, which is also great with hazards up. These two form a great combo imo, as you never have to worry about losing SR/Spikes. This set is also effective in combating strong physical attackers such as Feraligatr. Due to Drifblim's decent base 80 speed, it can outspeed a majority of RU Pokemon and burn them. It is also able to take a few hits because of its beast 150 base HP. I also used Drifblim's Destiny Bond as a last resort for taking out Pokemon that threatened my team. This set is really good and definitely viable in the RU tier. Here's the set:

Drifblim (M) @ Flying Gem
Trait: Unburden
EVs: 252 Atk / 88 Def / 168 Spd
Naughty Nature (+Atk, -SDef)
- Acrobatics
- Shadow Ball
- Destiny Bond
- Will-O-Wisp


And if it wasn't obvious, I am now a fan of Drifblim. Big thanks to Texas for hosting the research weeks and making them more exciting ;p
 

SkullCandy

She Bangs The Drums
is a Contributor Alumnus
Zebraiken may have spoken about Smeargle at length but I feel like extrapolating a bit on its complete and utter awesomeness as a Pokemon.

The set that I've been running is this:


Smeargle @ Focus Sash
Ability: Own Tempo
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
-Spore
-Spikes
-Stealth Rock
-Magic Coat

This Smeargle is so good. Not only does it almost always give me Stealth Rock and at least one layer of Spikes (and more than often two, or three) but it also makes up for its lack of attacks by taking a Pokemon out of comisison thanks to Spore. Magic Coat is even better now that people are using Smeargle so much. Many Smeargle use Spore against opposing Smeargle in hopes of winning the Speed tie so Magic Coat puts them to sleep (and I don't think it counts as me putting it to sleep so I can incapacitate another mon. Feel free to correct me on this, I never actually tried to do so because I didn't want ot waste a turn, just in case.) This set worked great with a combination of Life Orb users, SubSeeders and especially Swords Dance Gallade. I cannot make clear how beast Gallade is with extensive hazards support (it's even better now thanks to Claydol, Honchkrow and Sharpedo going off to UU). Smeargle can set up hazards for so many other Pokemon such as DD Feraligatr, SD Sceptile, SD Absol (who is actually really good as it's no longer outclassed by Honchkrow) as well as being a good lead for stall teams.

tl;dr

Any way... I think I'm flogging a dead horse now so I'll wrap this up:

-Smeargle can set up hazards very reliably as well as taking out an opposing Pokemon with Spore.
-Offensive teams benefit hugely from the layers of hazards that Smeargle gets up.
-It's versatility is unmatched; Toxic Spikes can be used for teams with a lot of Special Sweepers, Baton Pass sets are quite good actually (even though I only tested them briefly).

There we go, my thoughts on Smeargle!
 

jake

underdog of the year
is a Tournament Director Alumnusis a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Team Rater Alumnusis a Senior Staff Member Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Researcher Alumnusis a Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Top Contributor Alumnusis a Smogon Media Contributor Alumnusis a Top Dedicated Tournament Host Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnusis a Past SPL Champion
I really wish I spent some more time with the other research mons, haha. :(

Regardless, obviously Smeargle is fantastic. I used the set that SkullCandy posted but with Whirlwind > Magic Coat, since in general I found it far more useful in RU since less things actually use Taunt (and the ones that do, like Aerodactyl, fuck you anyway). Whirlwind also lets you keep a solid advantage against Pokemon like Sub Rotom; like, you don't have to worry about dealing with a Pokemon with several boosts behind a Sub. Smeargle is just incredibly reliable at getting up at least a layer of hazards or two and when you pair it with a decent team capable of forcing switches... well, it stacks quickly and Smeargle definitely makes its presence known. I did play around a little bit with Baton Pass variants, but in general I felt those didn't have the same long-term effects on the match that hazards Smeargle had. I generally think there are better Pokemon for stall teams, as stall usually has to have multiple purposes for all six Pokemon in order to deal with the metagame in the appropriate manner (plus stall generally has a ton of flexibility with hazards users, like Roselia and Qwilfish). Smeargle just sets up hazards, maybe takes a Pokemon out, and then dies, which doesn't help a stall team's goal lol.

Toxic Spikes aren't nearly as useful as Spikes on Smeargle imo, considering the fact that Smeargle only gets one opportunity to set layers and simply switching a Poison-type in will erase two turns of work (which is a lot for Smeargle). But yes, I think everyone cleared up how amazing Smeargle can be. Also yes, Magic Coat'd Spore does count against your Sleep Clause afaik, so you can't Spore something else. The last thing I wanted to say was that I loved people who tried to use Roselia to absorb the sleep - all I had to do was Spore Roselia and then set a layer of hazards while it tried to wake up, then WW it away so the sleep disappears and something takes hazards damage. Some people went through this cycle over and over, switching Rose back in to Spore repeatedly, so I just sent up all my hazards and went to town on them with Spore and Whirlwind. Those matches were my favorite. XD
 

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 1, Guests: 0)

Top