[Overview]
<p>Upon first inspecting Linoone, a couple of choice words come to mind:plain and boring. It sports rather unimpressive stats, the most noteworthy being his nimble base 100 Speed. Not unlike most of his other Normal-type brethren, Linoone possesses a plentiful movepool, but lacks the tools to properly abuse it. However, Linoone is in fact a true diamond in the rough for two reasons: Belly Drum and ExtremeSpeed. Having the ability to skyrocket his Attack to four times its original level, combined with what is arguably the best priority move in the game, Linoone is more than capable of completely dismantling teams that lack a sturdy defensive pivot or physical wall. However, this is where Linoone’s mediocre stats come back to haunt him. His general lack of bulk leaves him at quite the disadvantage when attempting to set up. Nonetheless, Linoone is quite the potent threat with the right team support, and should not be overlooked.</p>
[SET]
name: Belly Drummah
move 1: Belly Drum
move 2: ExtremeSpeed
move 3: Shadow Claw
move 4: Seed Bomb
item: Sitrus Berry / Silk Scarf
Ability: Pickup
Nature: Jolly
evs: 40 HP / 252 Atk / 216 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>As it stands, this is best set available to Linoone. Belly Drum quickly shoots his measly 239 Attack up to a dangerous 956 in a single turn. Moreover, ExtremeSpeed, in addition to receiving a STAB boost, also grants Linoone the ability to essentially be immune to revenge killing. This is due to the fact ExtremeSpeed not only has priority over common attacks, but also other priority attacks, which eliminates all conventional methods of revenge killing him. Though the remaining two moves appear to be fillers, they cover some rather large blind spots; Shadow Claw grants Linoone a means of hitting Ghost-types, who are immune to ExtremeSpeed. Moreover, Seed Bomb allows Linoone to hit Rock-types, whose natural physical bulk and resistance to ExtremeSpeed would otherwise allow them to wall Linoone. The choice of item is a matter of personal preference. Sitrus Berry allows a bit more leeway when setting up, and grants Linoone a greater chance of surviving long enough to abuse his Belly Drum boost. Silk Scarf, while being harder to set up with, offers a notably more powerful ExtremeSpeed.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>The given EV spread maximize Linoone’s offensive prowess, and provides enough Speed to outspeed Haunter. However, a solid Pursuit user can easily deal with the aforementioned Ghost-type, making any Speed investment basically obsolete. If you do have a Pursuit user on your team, you should shift Linoone's Speed EVs to HP, and give him and Adamant nature. As far as item choice is concerned, Lum Berry is also fairly viable, though it lacks the utility of Sitrus Berry and the power of Silk Scarf</p>
<p>If there is one thing that you should worry about when using Linoone, it’s teammates. Securing two safe turns for Linoone (the turn he switches in, and the turn he tries to Belly Drum) is the best thing you can do for him. This means dual screens, SubPassing, Memento, and slow U-turns and Volt Switches are all viable, as well as anything that can get Linoone to safely set up. For example, Gardevoir makes a stellar partner for Linoone, being able to set up dual screens, Memento a foe into a weakened state, and even burn them if need be with Will-O-Wisp. Moreover, Musharna is capable of setting up screens for Linoone, in addition to abusing its enormous bulk and low Speed to Baton Pass to Linoone at about the speed of an overweight Snorlax, sometimes even with a huge Substitute to boot.Though rare, Steel-types wall Linoone to Pallet Town and back, so a Pokemon capable of dealing with them, preferably a Fire-type, is recommended.</p>
[Other Options]
<p>To be perfectly frank, you could probably go ahead and skip over this section. Though Linoone does in fact have an expansive movepool, he lacks anything of real competitive weight beyond what has already been mentioned. He does possess Dig and Rock Smash, which offer solid coverage, but with incredibly offsetting cons. Dig takes two turns to execute, allowing the opponent a free turn to switch in a check, the most notable being Haunter. Rock Smash, on the other hand, is way too weak to use seriously, and fails to OHKO a huge slew of relevant Rock- and Steel-types. Linoone was graced with Pursuit, but the use of this move is dubious at best, as most Ghost-types are going to be switching into Linoone as opposed to switching out of him. Flail is also interesting, as Linoone is already decreasing his health, though dropping any of his current moves would instantly leave him susceptible to another threat. Tickle, despite being an utterly adorable option, holds little value on such a frail Pokemon. Lastly there are Trick and Switcheroo. Though these two moves are almost always grounds for a Choice set of some kind, there is simply no pragmatic purpose for them. There are better Pokemon for this task, and wasting such a gift in Belly Drum + ExtremeSpeed that was granted to Linoone is simply a crime.</p>
[Checks and Counters]
<p>Due to the nature of Linoone, most conventional counters have dissipated, with the best method stopping him being hitting him with a powerful attack before he can set up. However, Steel-types remain Linoone’s greatest adversary, and can easily stand up to almost any attack Linoone can muster. Moreover, though most Linoone possess Seed Bomb, Unaware Quagsire remains a stoic check, being able to take at least one Seed Bomb and retort with an Earthquake.</p>
<p>Upon first inspecting Linoone, a couple of choice words come to mind:plain and boring. It sports rather unimpressive stats, the most noteworthy being his nimble base 100 Speed. Not unlike most of his other Normal-type brethren, Linoone possesses a plentiful movepool, but lacks the tools to properly abuse it. However, Linoone is in fact a true diamond in the rough for two reasons: Belly Drum and ExtremeSpeed. Having the ability to skyrocket his Attack to four times its original level, combined with what is arguably the best priority move in the game, Linoone is more than capable of completely dismantling teams that lack a sturdy defensive pivot or physical wall. However, this is where Linoone’s mediocre stats come back to haunt him. His general lack of bulk leaves him at quite the disadvantage when attempting to set up. Nonetheless, Linoone is quite the potent threat with the right team support, and should not be overlooked.</p>
[SET]
name: Belly Drummah
move 1: Belly Drum
move 2: ExtremeSpeed
move 3: Shadow Claw
move 4: Seed Bomb
item: Sitrus Berry / Silk Scarf
Ability: Pickup
Nature: Jolly
evs: 40 HP / 252 Atk / 216 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>As it stands, this is best set available to Linoone. Belly Drum quickly shoots his measly 239 Attack up to a dangerous 956 in a single turn. Moreover, ExtremeSpeed, in addition to receiving a STAB boost, also grants Linoone the ability to essentially be immune to revenge killing. This is due to the fact ExtremeSpeed not only has priority over common attacks, but also other priority attacks, which eliminates all conventional methods of revenge killing him. Though the remaining two moves appear to be fillers, they cover some rather large blind spots; Shadow Claw grants Linoone a means of hitting Ghost-types, who are immune to ExtremeSpeed. Moreover, Seed Bomb allows Linoone to hit Rock-types, whose natural physical bulk and resistance to ExtremeSpeed would otherwise allow them to wall Linoone. The choice of item is a matter of personal preference. Sitrus Berry allows a bit more leeway when setting up, and grants Linoone a greater chance of surviving long enough to abuse his Belly Drum boost. Silk Scarf, while being harder to set up with, offers a notably more powerful ExtremeSpeed.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>The given EV spread maximize Linoone’s offensive prowess, and provides enough Speed to outspeed Haunter. However, a solid Pursuit user can easily deal with the aforementioned Ghost-type, making any Speed investment basically obsolete. If you do have a Pursuit user on your team, you should shift Linoone's Speed EVs to HP, and give him and Adamant nature. As far as item choice is concerned, Lum Berry is also fairly viable, though it lacks the utility of Sitrus Berry and the power of Silk Scarf</p>
<p>If there is one thing that you should worry about when using Linoone, it’s teammates. Securing two safe turns for Linoone (the turn he switches in, and the turn he tries to Belly Drum) is the best thing you can do for him. This means dual screens, SubPassing, Memento, and slow U-turns and Volt Switches are all viable, as well as anything that can get Linoone to safely set up. For example, Gardevoir makes a stellar partner for Linoone, being able to set up dual screens, Memento a foe into a weakened state, and even burn them if need be with Will-O-Wisp. Moreover, Musharna is capable of setting up screens for Linoone, in addition to abusing its enormous bulk and low Speed to Baton Pass to Linoone at about the speed of an overweight Snorlax, sometimes even with a huge Substitute to boot.Though rare, Steel-types wall Linoone to Pallet Town and back, so a Pokemon capable of dealing with them, preferably a Fire-type, is recommended.</p>
[Other Options]
<p>To be perfectly frank, you could probably go ahead and skip over this section. Though Linoone does in fact have an expansive movepool, he lacks anything of real competitive weight beyond what has already been mentioned. He does possess Dig and Rock Smash, which offer solid coverage, but with incredibly offsetting cons. Dig takes two turns to execute, allowing the opponent a free turn to switch in a check, the most notable being Haunter. Rock Smash, on the other hand, is way too weak to use seriously, and fails to OHKO a huge slew of relevant Rock- and Steel-types. Linoone was graced with Pursuit, but the use of this move is dubious at best, as most Ghost-types are going to be switching into Linoone as opposed to switching out of him. Flail is also interesting, as Linoone is already decreasing his health, though dropping any of his current moves would instantly leave him susceptible to another threat. Tickle, despite being an utterly adorable option, holds little value on such a frail Pokemon. Lastly there are Trick and Switcheroo. Though these two moves are almost always grounds for a Choice set of some kind, there is simply no pragmatic purpose for them. There are better Pokemon for this task, and wasting such a gift in Belly Drum + ExtremeSpeed that was granted to Linoone is simply a crime.</p>
[Checks and Counters]
<p>Due to the nature of Linoone, most conventional counters have dissipated, with the best method stopping him being hitting him with a powerful attack before he can set up. However, Steel-types remain Linoone’s greatest adversary, and can easily stand up to almost any attack Linoone can muster. Moreover, though most Linoone possess Seed Bomb, Unaware Quagsire remains a stoic check, being able to take at least one Seed Bomb and retort with an Earthquake.</p>
