![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kjorteoPokePosts without making the obligatory metal lyric title just be Avantasia again: 3 0
(I would be very interested in seeing the "which bands got quoted how many times" stats after this entire run is done but they have to be the eventual winners. Hell, they have the honor of being the only band so far from whom I drew the titles for two different entries from the same song--at 3:35 and 1:47, respectively.)
When we recruited Gmork, I said that that should be the last special aside new recruit bio/intro entry for now. I was wrong. Like, the plan really was just to get those four newcomers--Badgertwo, Rock Biter, Priscilla, Gmork--and those four plus the people who were already there were going to be our Kanto team. That really was the plan. I left the door cracked ajar by using weasel words like "should" only because, you know, who knows? Maybe something unforeseen will happen, maybe I'll end up with an "oops I totally forgot I was going to pick up one of these mons too" realization, maybe I'll just happen across a mon that... actually you know what, I like this mon, let's use them.
So it is with our unexpected fifth Kanto newcomer out of four. Perhaps fittingly for an unexpected arrival whom we were not exactly planning to welcome, meet a lonely outcast, another example of a dark heart not necessarily being an evil one, yet one who struggles to find acceptance due to that perception. Someone whose quest to find someone who loves and accepts them started with none other than us.
So. Absol.
First off, let me just say that this is the DeviantArtest Pokemon ever designed, and I mean that in the most affectionate "I'm actually down with this though" sort of way. What makes me say that? Well, consider:
Basically what I'm saying here is that Absol is actually the only Pokemon where not only is every Absol an impossibly rare Shiny (who is somehow seen by the rest of its tribe as cursed or deformed or otherwise All Of The Other Reindeered for being so) but every single Shiny Absol is actually a completely different design, like Spinda except instead of just spots/markings it's a full suite of hair colors and Hot Topic outfits. If any two Shiny Absol who look too similar to each other should ever cross paths, they will feud loudly and publicly about the "copying" and fight to the death. (The winner doesn't mind leaving badly scarred because that just plays into the aesthetic even more.) None of this is true but I really want it to be.
Anyway, I've never actually used an Absol before, which is kind of surprising since apparently it's both a powerful and a popular Pokemon. You can tell it's powerful because it has 130 base Attack and that is never a base stat to sneeze at. You can tell it's popular because Sidney of the Hoenn Elite Four has one, and while no one in HG/SS does on the first run through, Elite Four Karen acquires one for her postgame rematch. Also, it has a Mega Evolution, which usually, most of the time is an honor that only gets bestowed on mons who were already popular and just looking for a way to expand their options in the meta, rather than one of the weak unused types who got a new evolution as their last desperate chance to become relevant. This is why there are two Mega Mewtwo and Mega Charizard options (each) versus zero Mega Luvdiscs (ever.)
So Absol is good apparently and has some buzz, or at least did back in Gen 3 and 4, but we just... missed out, I guess? However, one night, we were grinding and levelbuilding Gmork and noticed that it happened to be Wednesday, which is Hoenn Sound Day, and the place we were leveling Gmork in happened to have wild Absol if Hoenn Sound is playing. And like... sure, why not? I mean, that sounds like a neat collector's piece at the very least. If I kept a Dunsparce in the "ehh it's neat- and cool-looking I guess" wing of the back-bench collection trophies box, there's a case to be made for Absol, surely.
Instead, after browsing Bulbapedia to look up stats/moveset ideas/etc., I very belatedly (yeah I know the word has apparently been out since gen 3 but I'm slow on the uptake okay) realized that this is like... actually a pretty good mon? Again, 130 Attack is always great; combining Atk and SpA into "this mon's primary offensive stat, whichever is higher" for simplicity, that puts it on par with Omnihunter, Oracle, Badgertwo, and Rock Biter, all of whom have "hits like a truck and you die instantly" reputations. It's actually a whole 30 points higher than Priscilla, whose 100 base Attack was enough to do this. And unlike, say, Gen IV Flareon, it backs that Attack stat up with an excellent pool of moves ready to take advantage. (I can't imagine how rough the pre-Physical/Special split in Gen III must have been for an Attack-prioritizing Dark Type, but wow was Gen IV kind to its overall toolbox.)
Much like... a lot of our team at this point (most notably Oracle and Rock Biter, at the very least,) the catch for such a beastly attack is a relatively awful speed. It even has the same problem Oracle does (which Rock Biter mercifully does not due to much more beneficial typing) that, for a mon who's slow enough that it usually will be going second, it really does not have the HP or Def/SpD to be letting its enemies get free hits on it. Slow glass cannons are not usually a good combination.
On the other hand, it learns Sucker Punch, which was already technically the highest-power Quick Attack-like priority move in the game (at the cost of only working if your opponent was planning on attacking into it with a damage-dealing move,) and gets STAB on top of that. Absol almost doesn't need speed; it just needs its enemies to not be wasting their turns on status/setup moves, which they usually don't in PvE.
If one wants a less gimmicky Dark STAB, it also learns Night Slash, which pairs with Super Luck (Absol has Super Luck, by the way) and a possible Scope Lens or something for an "approximately all of the crits" build.
Also, because 130 Attack just isn't enough, it learns Swords Dance because of fucking course it does. (The only drawback, of course, is will your incredibly squishy yet slow sparkledog have the time to set up.)
As far as coverage goes... let's see. As a pure Dark type, defensively, its biggest incoming "uh oh, this thing could Super Effective me" threats are Fighting and Bug. You can remember the former because Psychic/Fighting/Dark are part of a trio meant to rock-paper-scissors counter each other, and you can remember the latter because... uh... okay why the fuck is Dark weak to Bug. (Many many thanks to... whichever one of you it was in the comments a long ass time ago, like long enough I don't remember who said it, back in the pre-hiatus written LP days somewhere, that said they remember that because of Kamen Rider.) Meanwhile, offensively, Dark's biggest "uh oh, my Dark moves are Not Every Effective on them" walls are... Dark (Dark is one of the 7 out of 15 types in the series that resists itself,) Fighting, and Steel.
Of these, a Fighting move would take care of Dark and Steel, a Psychic or Flying move would take care of Fighting, and a Fire, Flying, or Rock move would take care of Bug.
What are Absol's options in these regards?
Fighting: Superpower and that's... basically it, unless you want to settle for Rock Smash (no one ever wants to settle for Rock Smash unless you're a dedicated field HM user.) At least Superpower is really good, though; if it only gets one viable Fighting move, there are much much worse and less viable Fighting moves it could be stuck with. Really, Superpower's only drawback is the way it decreases stats when you use it, and that can be managed by 1) this presumably only being a special-case emergency sort of thing rather than a bread and butter move, and 2) Swords Dance.
Psychic: Not expecting much here because we're talking a pure Dark type, for the same reason I wouldn't expect Blastoise to have access to a good selection of Fire moves. Let alone physical Psychic moves, which are almost (not quite, Gen IV made some exceptions, but still almost) an oxymoron. So yeah, predictably, Absol's only Psyc... wait. Wait what. Excuse me. Okay, hold on, Absol learns Psycho Cut by level and can be tutored Zen Headbutt. WELL OKAY THEN. So Psycho Cut is probably the better option despite 10 less power due to more PP, more accuracy, and a high critical ratio (so it benefits from the Super Luck build the same way Night Slash does,) but it comes very late in Absol's leveling and Zen Headbutt can be acquired now.
Flying: Aerial Ace, which is a hilarious mental image but also kind of bad, especially given the existence of the aforementioned Psychic options. Basically the only argument to be made here is if you want to cover Fighting and Bug in the same move. Otherwise....
Fire: ... Okay Absol has nothing here. I mean, Flamethrower and Fire Blast, but nothing physical.
Rock: Rock Slide and Stone Edge, for all your "do you want the more powerful move or the more accurate one" needs.
Of course, given that Absol also has two great Dark STABs and Swords Dance, there isn't a whole lot of room for all these coverage options. Narrowing this moveset down to four is going to be the trick.
Night Slash/Sucker Punch
(Sucker Punch/Night Slash so this set has both?)/Superpower?
Zen Headbutt for now, Psycho Cut as soon as we can get it
Swords Dance/(One of the other options from slot 2 if Absol can't set up?)
As for our Absol, I feel like a large part of her backstory and characterization already comes pre-written, but I will add that she's a girl with a Gentle nature and that plays into that. uwu And since we're talking a female Pokemon whose whole thing is trying to warn people about disasters and stuff and being scorned instead of listened to, she makes a fairly obvious Cassandra.
The question, of course, is what our plans are for her, since there originally weren't any. Second-stringer? Primary party? She kind of takes up a lot of the same lane as Gmork and Nimbly (which was my favorite Nick at Nite-era Robin Williams sitcom) but there are themed gyms and such (ahem, hi Sabrina) where being able to load up and have as many examples of that particular niche as you can on the same team is actually ideal. For day to day use, I still foresee Gmork being our main Dark Type if There Can Only Be One, but who knows? I'm hesitant to call Cassandra a second-stringer because she's already starting out with quite a lot of promise. Let's give the girl a chance, at the very least. After all she's been through, she deserves someone giving her one.
I also imagine her having a somewhat frosty (ehehehe) relationship with Oracle at least at first, simply due to sheer "oh sure, when he gives prophecies people listen and revere him but when I do it I'm blamed for all the calamities and hit with a broom and driven out of town" bitterness. Not Oracle's fault, of course, but, you know, broken hearts can be prickly before they heal. That may make things awkward for her team standing in general, given Oracle's (ahem) closeness to Her Imperial Majesty. On the other hand, while she's trying to get all those feeling sorted out, she probably at least has a friend, ally, and kindred spirit of sorts in Gmork. Dark Types who just wants to be loved, they probably get each other, you know?
(I would be very interested in seeing the "which bands got quoted how many times" stats after this entire run is done but they have to be the eventual winners. Hell, they have the honor of being the only band so far from whom I drew the titles for two different entries from the same song--at 3:35 and 1:47, respectively.)
When we recruited Gmork, I said that that should be the last special aside new recruit bio/intro entry for now. I was wrong. Like, the plan really was just to get those four newcomers--Badgertwo, Rock Biter, Priscilla, Gmork--and those four plus the people who were already there were going to be our Kanto team. That really was the plan. I left the door cracked ajar by using weasel words like "should" only because, you know, who knows? Maybe something unforeseen will happen, maybe I'll end up with an "oops I totally forgot I was going to pick up one of these mons too" realization, maybe I'll just happen across a mon that... actually you know what, I like this mon, let's use them.
So it is with our unexpected fifth Kanto newcomer out of four. Perhaps fittingly for an unexpected arrival whom we were not exactly planning to welcome, meet a lonely outcast, another example of a dark heart not necessarily being an evil one, yet one who struggles to find acceptance due to that perception. Someone whose quest to find someone who loves and accepts them started with none other than us.
So. Absol.
First off, let me just say that this is the DeviantArtest Pokemon ever designed, and I mean that in the most affectionate "I'm actually down with this though" sort of way. What makes me say that? Well, consider:
- It's a quadrupedal "feral"-style dog/cat-looking thing
- It's the biggest case of taking your OC's personal tragic backstory and somehow pop-culturally applying it to the entire species since Cubone.
- Said tragic backstory involves being an edgy-looking gloomy angst-muffin Dark Type who is actually secretly good and pure of heart and tries to help people, but people misunderstand and blame it for the calamities it's trying to warn and save people from, leading to it being wrongfully persecuted and rejected. Nevertheless, it still tries, even if people hate it. uwu
- Have you fucking seen its Mega Evolution
Basically what I'm saying here is that Absol is actually the only Pokemon where not only is every Absol an impossibly rare Shiny (who is somehow seen by the rest of its tribe as cursed or deformed or otherwise All Of The Other Reindeered for being so) but every single Shiny Absol is actually a completely different design, like Spinda except instead of just spots/markings it's a full suite of hair colors and Hot Topic outfits. If any two Shiny Absol who look too similar to each other should ever cross paths, they will feud loudly and publicly about the "copying" and fight to the death. (The winner doesn't mind leaving badly scarred because that just plays into the aesthetic even more.) None of this is true but I really want it to be.
Anyway, I've never actually used an Absol before, which is kind of surprising since apparently it's both a powerful and a popular Pokemon. You can tell it's powerful because it has 130 base Attack and that is never a base stat to sneeze at. You can tell it's popular because Sidney of the Hoenn Elite Four has one, and while no one in HG/SS does on the first run through, Elite Four Karen acquires one for her postgame rematch. Also, it has a Mega Evolution, which usually, most of the time is an honor that only gets bestowed on mons who were already popular and just looking for a way to expand their options in the meta, rather than one of the weak unused types who got a new evolution as their last desperate chance to become relevant. This is why there are two Mega Mewtwo and Mega Charizard options (each) versus zero Mega Luvdiscs (ever.)
So Absol is good apparently and has some buzz, or at least did back in Gen 3 and 4, but we just... missed out, I guess? However, one night, we were grinding and levelbuilding Gmork and noticed that it happened to be Wednesday, which is Hoenn Sound Day, and the place we were leveling Gmork in happened to have wild Absol if Hoenn Sound is playing. And like... sure, why not? I mean, that sounds like a neat collector's piece at the very least. If I kept a Dunsparce in the "ehh it's neat- and cool-looking I guess" wing of the back-bench collection trophies box, there's a case to be made for Absol, surely.
Instead, after browsing Bulbapedia to look up stats/moveset ideas/etc., I very belatedly (yeah I know the word has apparently been out since gen 3 but I'm slow on the uptake okay) realized that this is like... actually a pretty good mon? Again, 130 Attack is always great; combining Atk and SpA into "this mon's primary offensive stat, whichever is higher" for simplicity, that puts it on par with Omnihunter, Oracle, Badgertwo, and Rock Biter, all of whom have "hits like a truck and you die instantly" reputations. It's actually a whole 30 points higher than Priscilla, whose 100 base Attack was enough to do this. And unlike, say, Gen IV Flareon, it backs that Attack stat up with an excellent pool of moves ready to take advantage. (I can't imagine how rough the pre-Physical/Special split in Gen III must have been for an Attack-prioritizing Dark Type, but wow was Gen IV kind to its overall toolbox.)
Much like... a lot of our team at this point (most notably Oracle and Rock Biter, at the very least,) the catch for such a beastly attack is a relatively awful speed. It even has the same problem Oracle does (which Rock Biter mercifully does not due to much more beneficial typing) that, for a mon who's slow enough that it usually will be going second, it really does not have the HP or Def/SpD to be letting its enemies get free hits on it. Slow glass cannons are not usually a good combination.
On the other hand, it learns Sucker Punch, which was already technically the highest-power Quick Attack-like priority move in the game (at the cost of only working if your opponent was planning on attacking into it with a damage-dealing move,) and gets STAB on top of that. Absol almost doesn't need speed; it just needs its enemies to not be wasting their turns on status/setup moves, which they usually don't in PvE.
If one wants a less gimmicky Dark STAB, it also learns Night Slash, which pairs with Super Luck (Absol has Super Luck, by the way) and a possible Scope Lens or something for an "approximately all of the crits" build.
Also, because 130 Attack just isn't enough, it learns Swords Dance because of fucking course it does. (The only drawback, of course, is will your incredibly squishy yet slow sparkledog have the time to set up.)
As far as coverage goes... let's see. As a pure Dark type, defensively, its biggest incoming "uh oh, this thing could Super Effective me" threats are Fighting and Bug. You can remember the former because Psychic/Fighting/Dark are part of a trio meant to rock-paper-scissors counter each other, and you can remember the latter because... uh... okay why the fuck is Dark weak to Bug. (Many many thanks to... whichever one of you it was in the comments a long ass time ago, like long enough I don't remember who said it, back in the pre-hiatus written LP days somewhere, that said they remember that because of Kamen Rider.) Meanwhile, offensively, Dark's biggest "uh oh, my Dark moves are Not Every Effective on them" walls are... Dark (Dark is one of the 7 out of 15 types in the series that resists itself,) Fighting, and Steel.
Of these, a Fighting move would take care of Dark and Steel, a Psychic or Flying move would take care of Fighting, and a Fire, Flying, or Rock move would take care of Bug.
What are Absol's options in these regards?
Fighting: Superpower and that's... basically it, unless you want to settle for Rock Smash (no one ever wants to settle for Rock Smash unless you're a dedicated field HM user.) At least Superpower is really good, though; if it only gets one viable Fighting move, there are much much worse and less viable Fighting moves it could be stuck with. Really, Superpower's only drawback is the way it decreases stats when you use it, and that can be managed by 1) this presumably only being a special-case emergency sort of thing rather than a bread and butter move, and 2) Swords Dance.
Psychic: Not expecting much here because we're talking a pure Dark type, for the same reason I wouldn't expect Blastoise to have access to a good selection of Fire moves. Let alone physical Psychic moves, which are almost (not quite, Gen IV made some exceptions, but still almost) an oxymoron. So yeah, predictably, Absol's only Psyc... wait. Wait what. Excuse me. Okay, hold on, Absol learns Psycho Cut by level and can be tutored Zen Headbutt. WELL OKAY THEN. So Psycho Cut is probably the better option despite 10 less power due to more PP, more accuracy, and a high critical ratio (so it benefits from the Super Luck build the same way Night Slash does,) but it comes very late in Absol's leveling and Zen Headbutt can be acquired now.
Flying: Aerial Ace, which is a hilarious mental image but also kind of bad, especially given the existence of the aforementioned Psychic options. Basically the only argument to be made here is if you want to cover Fighting and Bug in the same move. Otherwise....
Fire: ... Okay Absol has nothing here. I mean, Flamethrower and Fire Blast, but nothing physical.
Rock: Rock Slide and Stone Edge, for all your "do you want the more powerful move or the more accurate one" needs.
Of course, given that Absol also has two great Dark STABs and Swords Dance, there isn't a whole lot of room for all these coverage options. Narrowing this moveset down to four is going to be the trick.
Night Slash/Sucker Punch
(Sucker Punch/Night Slash so this set has both?)/Superpower?
Zen Headbutt for now, Psycho Cut as soon as we can get it
Swords Dance/(One of the other options from slot 2 if Absol can't set up?)
As for our Absol, I feel like a large part of her backstory and characterization already comes pre-written, but I will add that she's a girl with a Gentle nature and that plays into that. uwu And since we're talking a female Pokemon whose whole thing is trying to warn people about disasters and stuff and being scorned instead of listened to, she makes a fairly obvious Cassandra.
The question, of course, is what our plans are for her, since there originally weren't any. Second-stringer? Primary party? She kind of takes up a lot of the same lane as Gmork and Nimbly (which was my favorite Nick at Nite-era Robin Williams sitcom) but there are themed gyms and such (ahem, hi Sabrina) where being able to load up and have as many examples of that particular niche as you can on the same team is actually ideal. For day to day use, I still foresee Gmork being our main Dark Type if There Can Only Be One, but who knows? I'm hesitant to call Cassandra a second-stringer because she's already starting out with quite a lot of promise. Let's give the girl a chance, at the very least. After all she's been through, she deserves someone giving her one.
I also imagine her having a somewhat frosty (ehehehe) relationship with Oracle at least at first, simply due to sheer "oh sure, when he gives prophecies people listen and revere him but when I do it I'm blamed for all the calamities and hit with a broom and driven out of town" bitterness. Not Oracle's fault, of course, but, you know, broken hearts can be prickly before they heal. That may make things awkward for her team standing in general, given Oracle's (ahem) closeness to Her Imperial Majesty. On the other hand, while she's trying to get all those feeling sorted out, she probably at least has a friend, ally, and kindred spirit of sorts in Gmork. Dark Types who just wants to be loved, they probably get each other, you know?
no subject
Date: 2022-06-02 11:46 am (UTC)-Fluffy? Check.
-Big fluffy wings? Check in Mega.
-Long fluffy tail? ...Ehhh.
Still, yeah. The popularity is definitely warranted, it seems.
no subject
Date: 2022-06-02 12:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-06-02 07:18 pm (UTC)Oh god you're right.
no subject
Date: 2022-06-02 10:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-06-03 05:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-06-03 07:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-06-03 08:58 am (UTC)"I'm you. I'm your shadow."
no subject
Date: 2022-06-02 12:40 pm (UTC)Oh god Scope Lens Absol I had completely forgot about that.
Welcome to Crit City now you have an edgy goth girl who is sweet and friendly contrary to her appearance but has crippling social anxiety and goes around punching things so hard they explode and then feels bad about it and whose very appearance heralds disaster this is just Vash the Stampede but a goth dog girl.
Edit: I feel like there's some potential dynamic here between Cassandra the antisocial bubblegum goth waif and Priscilla the hyperactive living natural disaster and I can't quite decide whether it'd be antagonistic or "holy fuck that's cool" and I swear this is the exact plot of an idol anime
no subject
Date: 2022-06-02 01:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-06-02 01:24 pm (UTC)Okay so apparently searching Priscilla x Cassandra got me zero Breakfast Club results but lots of stories of an Elvis Presley impersonator marrying a Priscilla Presley impersonator so I will consider this pairing officially Dumb Enough For Me
no subject
Date: 2022-06-02 01:40 pm (UTC)Edit: And yeah, that reference had nothing to do with their names since they're usually referred to by their archetypes instead. Uh, I just looked this up and apparently The Princess is Claire Standish and The Basket Case is Allison Reynolds but I would not have remembered that without looking it up. But nah that was more just, you mentioning Cassandra and Priscilla's chemistry got me thinking of said archetypes more than anything else.
no subject
Date: 2022-06-02 02:28 pm (UTC)Wait this is just yandere x dandere what am I doing this is Yukino x Haruka holy shit I'm all the way back at Mai-HiME again what year is it? omg im so sorry
no subject
Date: 2022-06-02 03:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-06-02 03:10 pm (UTC)Is she the normal one?
IS THIS LAGRANGE
WHY DOES EVERYTHING I TOUCH TURN INTO A POLYCULE WHAT IS MY LIFE
edit: I apologize for turning your pokemon LP into weird shipping debate
again
no subject
Date: 2022-06-02 03:25 pm (UTC)Anyway if this is Lagrange then the music would be suspiciously FM-synth-y for a Famicom game wait wrong Lagrange
(God I wish I was good at FM synth or like, knew how to get good at FM synth)
I'm going to assume that anything steady would have to be a polycule because there is no way Priscilla would be the "settle down and be monogamous with someone" type; she's way too much into the swinger end of being a party girl.
no subject
Date: 2022-06-02 03:26 pm (UTC)Priscilla: Like, today?
Cassandra: ... ... ... *silently judging*"
no subject
Date: 2022-06-02 03:33 pm (UTC)god that show was wild
no subject
Date: 2022-06-02 03:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-06-02 03:39 pm (UTC)Celine: Obviously, but Cassandra is very isolated and sad and full of rejection issues; she needs that slow burn dethawing to get past all her walls and guardedness and complexes and whatnot before she's ready for that.
no subject
Date: 2022-06-02 10:57 pm (UTC)my crippling weakness
girls mending each other's deep personal issues
who told you
no subject
Date: 2022-06-03 05:46 am (UTC)Priscilla: Wild and wildly promiscuous party girl by day, has this more long-term dedicated therapist-girlfriend project she's working on by night. If there's one thing she cannot abide, it's looking up from the dance floor and seeing those sad wallflowers hanging out in the corner thinking they don't belong here. Not if she can help.
Cassandra: Slowly learning to partake in the world after having been All if the Other Reindeer'd out of it her entire life, suddenly hanging out with this free-spirit Flygon who seems to have VIP connections for every club in Johto and (inexplicably, in Cassandra's eyes) wants her to come with. Can these experiences help her address all that internalized rejection and teach her that she really does deserve love too, or is it all too much, too fast?
Make them not Pokemon and this really is some anime based on a sanitized version of a yuri VN, isn't itno subject
Date: 2022-06-03 07:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-06-02 12:58 pm (UTC)The only real practical alternative I can see to a Scope Lens would be running a Choice Scarf set to deal with Absol's atrocious speed, which would look something like Night Slash|Psycho Cut|Superpower and whatever the heck fourth thing you like. Sucker Punch might be a bad choice if Absol can't consistently OHKO things with it but then again that attack stat is fucking beastly. Smogon's only suggestion of Pursuit usually doesn't play well with PvE because trainers and gym leaders rarely seem to switch and are rarely predictable about it.
Other than that, the Scope Lens build is pretty much just a choice between taking only one Dark type attack and Superpower or just having two Dark attacks and Psycho Cut for backup. If you had Baton Pass then a Scope Lens Absol could be an absolutely beastly nuke for dealing with any Ace that puts up a fight for the rest of the team, but there's nobody on your team who could learn both Baton Pass AND Swords Dance and still provide useful damage of their own.
I'd say see how her stats turn out as she grows and if her speed really is in the toilet just ditch Swords Dance entirely.
no subject
Date: 2022-06-02 01:19 pm (UTC)... Granted, these are "by Absol standards" numbers but still. The real problem is that she's made of glass (especially with a -Def Nature) so she'd better be able to sweep after that one Swords Dance at most, but that's still some freakish offensive output she's got going for her there.
And yeah, the only time I've ever seen a PvE trainer switch mons on us is when Bugsy's Scyther blew us the fuck up with a freakishly hard-hitting STAB U-Turn, and something tells me getting his Scyther out of there wasn't the primary reason he did that.
That said, I have never been a fan of Choice items just because the "but one move though :(" part has always intimidated the heck out of me, and a Scope Lens build with Night Slash and Psycho Cut (plus Super Luck) seems fine to us anyway.
... man, who does learn Baton Pass (and/or Nasty Plot) and Swords Dance while remaining offensively useful in their own right? I don't have plans to expand the team any further at this point, but I mean I didn't have plans to expand the team further before Cassandra fell into our lap anyway so I can't promise anything anymore.
no subject
Date: 2022-06-02 01:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-06-02 01:27 pm (UTC)Sara: Hey, she has
Magical LeafEnergy Ball and don't you remember those "Well I guess she can like, brute force whittle this thing down over the next few--" *Magical Leaf fucking OHKOs the thing* "--um. O_O" clips? Don't mess with the 'Press. So yeah, like, even she can still blow things up even if that's not usually supposed to be her primary objective.no subject
Date: 2022-06-02 01:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-06-02 01:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-06-03 08:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-06-03 06:07 am (UTC)Being a wild encounter who came to us at 21, her starting moveset was Taunt/Quick Attack/Razor Wind/Pursuit which is pretty much all garbage meant to be overwritten as soon as we can. Because they're Battle Frontier Tutor moves, we can (and just did) already give her Sucker Punch/Zen Headbutt/Superpower right now, before she even begins her training. She could also start with Swords Dance from a TM to complete an at least somewhat more final-looking set of four, but since she learns it by level at 25 and that's only like four levels away, we can just grind a bit and level her up for it and save the 4,000 Game Corner Coins.
The long therm goal is to get her Psycho Cut to replace Zen Headbutt and Night Slash to... either replace Sucker Punch or slot in next to it in a kind of versatility/OR&PB setup, depending on what the rest of the set is looking like. Unfortunately, the only way to get those is by level and those come at like 52 and 60, so she's going to be making do with what she has in the meantime for probably a while.
On the other hand, if we want to make room for Sucker Punch+The Other Dark STAB That Eventually Will Be Night Slash, then she does pick up Bite at 28, which is definitely a "move you learn at lower levels so you can replace it with a better one when you level up more" move but it's... not awful and could at least keep the slot warm.
In that case, we'd be looking at something like Sucker Punch/Bite/Zen Headbutt/Swords Dance/Superpower (pick any four of these five) within a few levels, with plans to upgrade to Sucker Punch/Night Slash/Psycho Cut/Swords Dance/Superpower (pick any four of these five) later on.
no subject
Date: 2022-06-02 01:26 pm (UTC)I promise you I put exactly 1/16th of the thought you did into ANY of what I did, though. Don't use me as inspiration for anything.
no subject
Date: 2022-06-02 01:30 pm (UTC)If anything, this is a lesson in how I can overthink and overanalyze things like I want to be Xanatos when I grow up and still end up almost exactly where you already were anyway.
no subject
Date: 2022-06-02 07:28 pm (UTC)This is where you use your metacognitive skills to analyze how much your analysis is or isn't helping and increase or reduce the amount of effort you put in accordingly.
… right?
no subject
Date: 2022-06-02 09:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-06-02 11:02 pm (UTC)*expression of 'this is exactly what I expected'*
*departs*