Online Competitive Pokemon Battle Showdown Happy Fun Times

[Princess Ana]

Originally Posted by Myles Fowl II

He has Drain Punch too.

...why are you running Brick Break and Drain Punch

>Talon

Have to agree, its won't even connect for me. Expect DDoS scares.

[Heather]

Yeah it happened to me once already. The match i just posted worked fine though.

Blaze: In case Drain Punch would be wasted because Poison Heal. Of course, I fail to predict ceratin things, like what happened in that match, but Poison Heal does plenty for me.

[Princess Ana]

...Surely it doesn't matter since they both have the same power and you could use that moveslot on something far better.

[Heather]

It's also there for Screenbusting.

[Princess Ana]

Are screens even that common anymore? Like the only time I saw them was on Trashki.

[Heather]

Team was made with Tyson on it when they were prevalent. While SwaggerPlay is gone, I'm surprised at how people have abandoned DoubleScreen as a strat because of it.

[Sparkbeat]

Swagplay being banned has little to do with the lack of Screens in the meta. It's more of the fact that HO is much harder to play, and is pretty uncommon due to stuff like Bird and the fact it's become difficult to make a team that can handle every common defensive core. In addition, hazard lead HO is more common than Screens, so it isn't even the most common/popular in its own element.

[Cloneblazer12]

Theyre still redundant, Myles

[Talon87]

Screens haven't been abandoned because of SwagPlay being banned. Screens were already being abandoned in Gen 5 and have continued to fall out of favor in Gen 6. I've already forgotten the main reasons for their fall from grace in Gen 5, but I can easily tell you why they've plummeted in usage in Gen 6: Defog. Defog not only removes entry hazards from both sides of the field: it also removes screens. Since many teams run Defog now instead of Rapid Spin, that makes screens as a strategy that much less viable in Gen 6 than in Gen 5 or previous generations.

The thing is, screens would probably still work at the lower levels of the tier. When I deposited Galvantula for Dual Screens Jirachi last year, my rank in OU shot up by a full 300 points and stayed there. I hit a second brick wall in the form of "TROLOLOL SMOGON COOKIE CUTTER ÜBERS, JR. " teams, like a genie, a Terrakion, a Latios, etc, but the screens were potent enough to give my fragile wall breakers the much-needed defenses they needed to stay around longer and smash up more walls before dying. I would run the set again but for the fact that Choice Scarf Jirachi is too important as a Chansey/Blissey ruiner and as a revenge killer against things that are weak to either Ice or Steel. That and of course the fact that everyone and his mother seems to run Defog.

[Heather]

I just correlated the two because I always saw double Screens on Klefki, which was famous for Swaggerplay.

[Cloneblazer12]

Originally Posted by Cloneblazer12

Theyre still redundant, Myles

[Talon87]

Espeon, Bronzong, Uxie (RU), and Cresselia are some popular examples of Dual Screens users in the Gen 5 metagame. Jirachi is an incredibly, incredibly versatile Pokémon; and while its Dual Screens set never proved as popular with the general public as some of its other sets did, Jirachi was nonetheless an incredibly potent user of the set. As proven to me by UPN's very own Stlbk!

Screens are a good crutch for fragile teams that sorely need the defensive padding. The only things holding them back from being an excellent crutch are their short lifespans and the fact that they can be undone by certain moves. Eight turns goes by a lot faster than you'd think, and it's more like seven turns since one of the "eight" turns is the very turn you set the screen up. The fact that moves like Brick Break (Gens III-VI) and Defog (Gen VI) can dismantle them or abilities like Infiltrator (Gen VI) can bypass them completely does not help matters.

[Typhlosion157]

Does anybody run a Weakness Policy Tyranitar? I was wondering.

[Cloneblazer12]

No, because TTar is too slow to use it. Also fighting attacks.

[KamenAeons]

If you can get rid of those with Fighting Moves, and let TTar DDance, it gets pretty scary taking +3 Stone Edges and Pursuits to the face.

[Typhlosion157]

The 'slow' doesn't matter much anyway. It can tank a +2 Vaccum Wave from a Lucario.

[Talon87]

Dusknoir the Ice Type (Random Battle; 26 turns)

Definitely worth watching if you're amused by hax.

Spoiler: show

Goodness me. My team consisted of:

• Mega Houndoom
• Suicune
• Hitmonlee
• Dusknoir
• Glalie
• Magmortar

His team consisted of:

• Rotom-Mow
• Tyranitar
• Archeops
• Unown
• Electivire
• Thundurus

As you can see, his Rock types posed a very real risk to my team's most probable win conditions (Mega Houndoom, Magmortar, Glalie); and once Suicune fell and Hitmonlee had taken as much damage as he had, things did not look good for my side.

Enter Dusknoir. I send him out desperately as he's good on the physically defensive side of things and I hope for a miracle. And boy do I get one.

• Since Rotom is in Mow form, he's weak to one of my only two attacks: Ice Punch.
• I get a huge freeze off on Unown, allowing me to set up another round of Trick Room.
• I get a second nice freeze off on Electivire. While the earlier freeze had already lent me quite a bit of momentum, this second freeze all but ensured I had won the match.

Dusknoir more or less won this match for me, taking it from 5-5 to 5-3 (and de facto it was more like 4-5 to 4-2) at which time my opponent forfeit.

I felt bad for the guy and was planning to console him once the match ended, but since he left abruptly I wasn't able to do that. Oh well. ^^; Sometimes it's best not to console people after the match anyways. Rubs salt in their wounds, even if that's not your intent.

[Cloneblazer12]

Originally Posted by Typhlosion157

The 'slow' doesn't matter much anyway. It can tank a +2 Vaccum Wave from a Lucario.

What about Aura Sphere? It doesn't matter because Lucario is naturally faster than Tyranitar.

[Shuckle]

Originally Posted by Cloneblazer12

What about Aura Sphere? It doesn't matter because Lucario is naturally faster than Tyranitar.

Yes but at that point you're running against someone who uses Aura Sphere on Lucario and you should have won by then.

[Princess Ana]

Aura Sphere Lucario is somewhat legit though.

[Cloneblazer12]

Originally Posted by Shuckle

Yes but at that point you're running against someone who uses Aura Sphere on Lucario and you should have won by then.

>Implying Aura Sphere Lucario is bad

[Shuckle]

>implying Lucario is fast enough to make Aura Sphere a better choice than Vacuum Wave

Most people run Physical with Bullet Punch and that sexy Extremespeed; I really enjoy Special purely for headcanon reasons. But if you're sacrificing priority in order to get 20 more power and guaranteed accuracy, you're going to be sacrificing your doggie.

[Cloneblazer12]

Originally Posted by blazeVA

Aura Sphere Lucario is somewhat legit though.

[Heather]

Aura sphere is one way to blast the crap out of MegaAggron.

[Jerichi]

Originally Posted by blazeVA

Are screens even that common anymore? Like the only time I saw them was on Trashki.

Screens are niche-y, even in VGC where Screens are much, much more viable as a playstyle. I ran a Dual Screen M-Meow and saw it maybe one other time across 50 or so battles.