Generation V introduced the move Round, obviously intended for Doubles/Triples play. It is a 60 BP, fully accurate special-type Normal attack. When one pokemon on your team uses it, all others who selected Round that turn will move immediately after that pokemon (similar to After You) and perform their attack with 120 BP instead of 60.
Now, After You could potentially be a potent effect in doubles (allowing a slow, fully invested bulky attacker to get the drop on faster opponents)...except nothing fast gets it, rendering it near useless. The only possible use is something with After You and, say, Role Play (Clefable gets both) using Role Play on a Prankster pokemon, but this starts to get far too convoluted to be practical. Round, however, is learned by nigh everything, but it only produces the effect if your second attacker is also using Round.
Which brings us to the second problem: As an attacking move, Round sucks. Normal is a shoddy attacking type, and the list of high Special Attack Normal-types is: Porygon-Z, Meloetta, then...Pyroar. While Meloetta is solid thanks to high versatility and additional options outside of Round, Porygon-Z lacks other STABs and often likes Choice sets to compensate for this (and Choice-locked Round is a bad place to be) and Pyroar is, well, Pyroar. These issues have made Round close to unusable due to the ease with which it is countered and the shockingly low pool of viable STAB users, leading to it being much more efficient to simply max SpA/Spe on a regular attacker in order to gain the speed advantage, even at the cost of a bit of bulk.
Two abilities have changed all this, though: Pixielate and Refrigerate. Aerilate not so much since Mega Pinsir's SpA is terrible, but I guess you could give it a go for shock value. With these abilities, Sylveon, Mega Gardevoir, and Aurorus can all score not only STAB on Round, but an additional +30% damage thanks to the conversion effect of these abilities. Additionally, these three pokemon are all highly effective bulky attackers, with Sylveon sporting solid 95/65/130 defensive bulk and 110 SpA, Aurorus sitting at 123/72/92 with just under 100 SpA, and Gardevoir having the somewhat physical-weak 68/65/135 but with an incredible 165 SpA.
Giving any of them access to a base power 156 STAB attack, effectively a typed Hyper Beamlike attack with full accuracy and no recharge turn, and with the speed of a much faster ally Pokemon, is incredibly dangerous. Doubly so since their impressive bulk allows them to potentially survive the hit from any remaining opponents to do it again next turn.
Effective Round allies fall into two categories: Fast with good SpA so they can deal decent damage with their wimpy Round, or fast and bulky so they can live through attempted reprisals to support further Rounding. Additional qualities may include a high Attack stat and/or wide support movepool to allow the pokemon to perform other roles when Round combo is not an option (Round attackers should also have access to these additional options, since banking everything on the one strategy is a risky maneuver). To illustrate these points, I have prepared two prototype Round sets for Mega Aerodactyl and Auroros (Fossil buddies!) to make use of:
Aerodactyl @ Aerodactylite
Nature: Jolly
Ability: Unnerve
EVs: 252 HP/252+ Spe/4 Atk
Moveset:
Protect
Round
Rock Slide / Stone Edge
Tailwind / Taunt / Other support option
Mega Aerodactyl's uninvested Attack is solid, meaning Rock Slide can dent opponents in addition to the flinching. Stone Edge instead allows for high single-target damage. Protect is a solid move in doubles, doubly so since Mega Evolution boosts Aerodactyl's defenses quite considerably. Tailwind support may be needed to counter opposing Tailwind support and generally provides a backup strategy, while Taunt shuts down slower support users (and prevents Trick Room). Unnerve is the only useful ability available and can potentially foil predicted resist berries or Sitrus.
Aurorus @ Assault Vest
Nature: Modest
Ability: Refrigerate
EVs: 132 HP/124 Def/252+ SpA
Moveset:
Round
Nature Power / Blizzard
Charge Beam / Discharge / Thunderbolt / Thunder
Mirror Coat / Dark Pulse / Flash Cannon / Psychic
Auroros's maximally invested SpA reaches 326, easily solid enough for our purposes. The given defensive EV split provides the best mixed bulk balance, but can be varied to achieve a desired level of heavier bulk on one side (the nature may also be tweaked if desired). Assault Vest complements the lack of good support options and provides solid additional bulk, although it can be swapped out for an item to boost attacks further if desired (in which case Protect is a nice option for the fourth slot). The second slot holds Ice STAB of choice, Nature Power becomes Refrigerate-boosted Tri Attack dealing more damage than an Ice Beam would, while Blizzard double hits and works better if hail is expected. The third slot rounds out BoltBeam coverage, with the choice based on team and preference: Charge Beam offers more Round power, Discharge is useful if teammate immunity or Protect is expected, Thunderbolt is the solid, reliable option, and Thunder is good on rain teams. Finally, the last slot holds additional coverage of choice depending on what opponents your team needs to hit, or Mirror Coat for an option that takes advantage of Aurorus's high AssVest special bulk and high HP to unexpectedly sponge special hits and KO the attacker.
So, do these new factors make Round worth slotting onto a team as a side option or even entire team focus, or is the strategy still too gimmicky and easily disrupted to succeed?
Now, After You could potentially be a potent effect in doubles (allowing a slow, fully invested bulky attacker to get the drop on faster opponents)...except nothing fast gets it, rendering it near useless. The only possible use is something with After You and, say, Role Play (Clefable gets both) using Role Play on a Prankster pokemon, but this starts to get far too convoluted to be practical. Round, however, is learned by nigh everything, but it only produces the effect if your second attacker is also using Round.
Which brings us to the second problem: As an attacking move, Round sucks. Normal is a shoddy attacking type, and the list of high Special Attack Normal-types is: Porygon-Z, Meloetta, then...Pyroar. While Meloetta is solid thanks to high versatility and additional options outside of Round, Porygon-Z lacks other STABs and often likes Choice sets to compensate for this (and Choice-locked Round is a bad place to be) and Pyroar is, well, Pyroar. These issues have made Round close to unusable due to the ease with which it is countered and the shockingly low pool of viable STAB users, leading to it being much more efficient to simply max SpA/Spe on a regular attacker in order to gain the speed advantage, even at the cost of a bit of bulk.
Two abilities have changed all this, though: Pixielate and Refrigerate. Aerilate not so much since Mega Pinsir's SpA is terrible, but I guess you could give it a go for shock value. With these abilities, Sylveon, Mega Gardevoir, and Aurorus can all score not only STAB on Round, but an additional +30% damage thanks to the conversion effect of these abilities. Additionally, these three pokemon are all highly effective bulky attackers, with Sylveon sporting solid 95/65/130 defensive bulk and 110 SpA, Aurorus sitting at 123/72/92 with just under 100 SpA, and Gardevoir having the somewhat physical-weak 68/65/135 but with an incredible 165 SpA.
Giving any of them access to a base power 156 STAB attack, effectively a typed Hyper Beamlike attack with full accuracy and no recharge turn, and with the speed of a much faster ally Pokemon, is incredibly dangerous. Doubly so since their impressive bulk allows them to potentially survive the hit from any remaining opponents to do it again next turn.
Effective Round allies fall into two categories: Fast with good SpA so they can deal decent damage with their wimpy Round, or fast and bulky so they can live through attempted reprisals to support further Rounding. Additional qualities may include a high Attack stat and/or wide support movepool to allow the pokemon to perform other roles when Round combo is not an option (Round attackers should also have access to these additional options, since banking everything on the one strategy is a risky maneuver). To illustrate these points, I have prepared two prototype Round sets for Mega Aerodactyl and Auroros (Fossil buddies!) to make use of:
Aerodactyl @ Aerodactylite
Nature: Jolly
Ability: Unnerve
EVs: 252 HP/252+ Spe/4 Atk
Moveset:
Protect
Round
Rock Slide / Stone Edge
Tailwind / Taunt / Other support option
Mega Aerodactyl's uninvested Attack is solid, meaning Rock Slide can dent opponents in addition to the flinching. Stone Edge instead allows for high single-target damage. Protect is a solid move in doubles, doubly so since Mega Evolution boosts Aerodactyl's defenses quite considerably. Tailwind support may be needed to counter opposing Tailwind support and generally provides a backup strategy, while Taunt shuts down slower support users (and prevents Trick Room). Unnerve is the only useful ability available and can potentially foil predicted resist berries or Sitrus.
Aurorus @ Assault Vest
Nature: Modest
Ability: Refrigerate
EVs: 132 HP/124 Def/252+ SpA
Moveset:
Round
Nature Power / Blizzard
Charge Beam / Discharge / Thunderbolt / Thunder
Mirror Coat / Dark Pulse / Flash Cannon / Psychic
Auroros's maximally invested SpA reaches 326, easily solid enough for our purposes. The given defensive EV split provides the best mixed bulk balance, but can be varied to achieve a desired level of heavier bulk on one side (the nature may also be tweaked if desired). Assault Vest complements the lack of good support options and provides solid additional bulk, although it can be swapped out for an item to boost attacks further if desired (in which case Protect is a nice option for the fourth slot). The second slot holds Ice STAB of choice, Nature Power becomes Refrigerate-boosted Tri Attack dealing more damage than an Ice Beam would, while Blizzard double hits and works better if hail is expected. The third slot rounds out BoltBeam coverage, with the choice based on team and preference: Charge Beam offers more Round power, Discharge is useful if teammate immunity or Protect is expected, Thunderbolt is the solid, reliable option, and Thunder is good on rain teams. Finally, the last slot holds additional coverage of choice depending on what opponents your team needs to hit, or Mirror Coat for an option that takes advantage of Aurorus's high AssVest special bulk and high HP to unexpectedly sponge special hits and KO the attacker.
So, do these new factors make Round worth slotting onto a team as a side option or even entire team focus, or is the strategy still too gimmicky and easily disrupted to succeed?
