[Overview]
<p>Ursaring is a very threatening Pokemon, using status—something that would normally cripple other Pokemon for the entirety of the battle— (I dont think the sentence in the &mdash really needs to be there, as A.) There is Heal Bell, so its false to assume that Pokemon by status will always be that way for the rest of the match, and B.) Is it really necessary? It's like a Pokemon using its slowness as an advantage, and I doubt that it will be that shocking to readers.) to its advantage with two abilities that benefit from it: Guts and Quick Feet. Guts boosts Ursaring's already massive Attack to sky-high levels, allowing it to at the very least, dent the entire tier. at the very least. Quick Feet, on the other hand, fixes Ursaring's Speed issues and allows it to immediately become one of the scariest late-game sweepers in NU. Ursaring also has a good movepool to work with that allows it to get past Ghost-, Rock-, and Steel-types, something that not many other Normal-types in the tier can do. However, Ursaring is let down by its typing, as it becomes an easy target for the being easy pickings for the numerous Fighting-types running around NU. It also has a big problem with struggles to maintain longevity, as the status orbs that Ursaring tends to hold chip its life away ever so painfully,; this combined with its only above-average bulk means that Ursaring won't be sticking around for too long. It also faces stiff competition from Swellow and Zangoose, two other Normal-types that also use status to their advantage. It does, although, have the advantage of being faster (with Quick Feet) than Zangoose;, (AC) and it is more powerful than Swellow (with Guts), while also having considerably more bulk. Ursaring also has a better movepool than both either of them.</p>
[SET]
name: Quick Feet
move 1: Facade
move 2: Earthquake
move 3: Crunch
move 4: Swords Dance / Protect
item: Toxic Orb
ability: Quick Feet
nature: Jolly
evs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Say hello to Quick Feet Ursaring, one of the best late-game sweeper available to in the NU tier. This is Ursaring's easiest set to use, and it doesn't compromise effectiveness to achieve said task. Quick Feet fixes Ursaring's disastrous base 55 base Speed in the matter of a turn, letting Ursaring match up to some of the most common threats, such as non-Choice Scarf Jynx and Primeape. Although this set mainly focuses on Speed, Ursaring still hits like a truck hits very hard thanks to its gigantic base 130 Attack. Do note that Ursaring will still be outsped by common Choice Scarf users, such as Rotom-F and Sawk.</p>
<p>Facade is the STAB of choice, (AC) as it reaches a whopping 140 Base Power after Toxic Orb is activated, effectively being Ursaring's strongest attacking move that doesn't have any setbacks. Earthquake hits the Rock- and Steel-types that resist Facade, (RC) and as well as also hits hitting Metang for super effective damage, a task something that no other move on this set accomplishes. It should be noted though, that despite being super effective on against Electric-type Pokemon, Earthquake will not hit them as hard as Facade, making the latter the primary option. Crunch is used in the third moveslot because of its ability to hit Ghost-types that are immune to Ursaring's every other moves, such as Misdreavus, Haunter, and Drifblim, super effectively. Much like Earthquake though, a neutral Facade is always stronger than a super effective Crunch, so it should only be used on Ghost-type Pokemon. (I added all the stuff from the 1st paragraph from AC to here; read the explanation below. I won't make this all blue, because you need to see the changes I've made.) The last moveslot is up for grabs with Swords Dance or Protect as the moves of choice. Swords Dance is an excellent move, (AC) as it turns Ursaring into a terrifying sweeper, and it can find opportunities to set (space)up on weak attackers, (AC) such as Lickilicky, Garbodor, and Seismitoad. However, the combination of Toxic Orb recoil and taking weak attacks will greatly shorten Ursaring's sweep lifespan. Protect is another the alternative option, as it guarantees the activation of Toxic Orb, letting Ursaring act as a pseudo-revenge killer; Protect also turns Ursaring into a good scout for Choice-locked Pokemon.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>The last slot is up for grabs with Swords Dance or Protect as the moves of choice. Swords Dance is an excellent move as it turns Ursaring into a terrifying sweeper, and it can find opportunities to setup on weak attackers such as Lickilicky, Garbodor, and Seismitoad. However, the combination of Toxic Orb recoil and taking weak attacks will greatly shorten Ursaring's sweep. Protect is another option, as it guarantees the activation of Toxic Orb, letting Ursaring act as a pseudo-revenge killer; Protect also turns Ursaring into a good scout for Choice-locked Pokemon.</p> (This is still explaining Ursaring's moveset, so all of this should be in Set Comments, not AC.)
<p>The EVs are self explanatory, however, the nature is not; the reason Jolly is chosen over Adamant is because Jolly allows Ursaring to outspeed everything up to positive-natured base 105s Speed Pokemon. Toxic Orb is the status orb of choice here, as Quick Feet doesn't negate the 50% Attack drop that Flame Orb causes. Close Combat can be used in place of Earthquake, as it is more powerful and hits Dark-, Normal-, and Ice-type Pokemon harder than Facade, (RC) while also getting a super effective hit on Rock- and Steel-types, just like Earthquake. However, the power difference really isn't notable, and having Ursaring's defenses dropped by a stage every time Close Combat is used makes it very susceptible to revenge killers. As far as partners go, Ursaring fits well with mostly every Pokemon, however it really likes appreciates the Encore support Wynaut provides, as it gives Ursaring a free turn to set up Swords Dance. Gothorita can trap and remove several common physical walls such as Alomomola, Weezing, and to a lesser extent, Tangela. This variant of Ursaring appreciates entry hazard support more than any other, as they help unboosted Ursaring net some specific KOs on Pokemon, such as guaranteeing a 2HKO on Misdreavus with Crunch. The best Pokemon for this job would be Poison-types such as Scolipede and Garbodor, as they resist Fighting-type attacks. Golurk is another great entry hazard-setter because it's immune to Ursaring's Fighting-type weakness attacks. (This happened quite often in this analysis, so imma explain it here: Golurk isn't immune to Ursaring's Fighting-type weakness. It's immune to Fighting-type attacks. Ursaring's weakness to Fighting-types is more of an attribute than a thing, and Golurk can't switch in or attack that. Hopefully that explanation makes sense ^^; ) Ursaring also likes the company of revenge killers and hard-hitting tanks on its side of the field team, as they can take care of opposing revenge killers.</p>
[SET]
name: Guts
move 1: Facade
move 2: Earthquake
move 3: Crunch
move 4: Protect / Swords Dance
item: Toxic Orb
ability: Guts
nature: Adamant / Jolly
evs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Guts Ursaring is a very hard-hitting attacker, demolishing everything in its way with the combination of a massive Attack and a pitch-perfect movepool. Facade is the choice of STAB, (AC) as it gains reaches a whopping 140 Base Power after Toxic Orb is activated, however, be careful when spamming it, as Rock- and Steel-types resist it. Don't fret though, as Earthquake is here to remedy that problem can hit the Rock- and Steel-types that resist Facade, easily scoring a 2HKO on Regirock and Metang after Stealth Rock, two of the most common Rock- and Steel-types, and one of the easiest entry hazard to set up, respectively. Ghost-type Pokemon are the only Pokemon that take no damage from the might of Facade, and some of them more popular Ghost-types of NU take nothing from Earthquake either! That's why Crunch is used to make sure Ursaring's dream of raging through a village aren't ruined by said village's ghost stories, Because of this, Crunch is very useful against them, (AC) as Crunch it handily scores a super effective hit on every Ghost-type found in Ursaring's homeland; although Crunch should only be used for this purpose, as it's power is outclassed by Facade, even when laying a super effective hit on Pokemon such as the Psychic-type. Protect is the main option to occupy Ursaring's last moveslot, as it will guarantee the activation of Ursaring's Toxic Orb while protecting it from taking a hit; this could potentially be life-saving, (AC) as Ursaring won't have to take that extra hit before proceeding to destroy the opponent with it's newly polished increased Attack stat. Swords Dance is a lesser option here, as Guts Ursaring doesn't need its provided power, and Ursaring's low Speed lowers the chance of an effective sweep. However, a +2 Guts-boosted Ursaring's Facade will KO everything in its way, and resists and immunity issues will be taken care of by Earthquake and Crunch, respectively. Swords Dance will also punish Protect users, such as Alomomola, from trying to stall Ursaring out.</p>(This paragraph has a lot of fluff in it, so I'll explain it down here. Firstly, don't use spam or any varient of it in analyses; it's looked down upon. Secondly, I moved the Rock- and Ground-type mention next to EQ, because I think they should know that they resist Facade by now. The SR being the easiest to set up is, while true, has no purpose in your statement, I don't think it really means anything that is worth explaining. Next, I think you are over-hyping some of the stuff you write; it's sort of tacky to talk about the villagers and ghost stories; let's get to the point. You don't need to say that Crunch is SE against Psychic-types; while we ARE trying to be as descriptive as possible for beginners, this should be common knowledge.)
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>An Adamant nature is preferred because of the sheer damage output it provides, although but a Jolly nature can be used to outrun standard Misdreavus so Ursaring can 2HKO it with Crunch before it does the same with Foul Play. Flame Orb seems like a better choice on paper, but in reality, you'll find Ursaring getting threatened forced out (after a KO, (AC) that is) very often, so Toxic Orb is the preferred choice. (I feel that forced conveys the situation better than threatened would.) Close Combat can be used in place of Earthquake to hit the same targets while getting a stronger hit on Dark-, Ice-, and Normal-types. However, it lowers Ursaring's defenses afterwards, making it more susceptible to revenge killers. Furthermore, Ursaring will also miss out on 2HKOing Metang, which will then become a threat.</p>
<p>Partners to this set are very similar to those of the Quick Feet variant. Wynaut can trap opposing Pokemon into harmless moves for Ursaring to set up on with Swords Dance. Trick Room setters are also excellent teammates, as this Ursaring fits well on Trick Room teams, making Duosion and Musharna great partners. Furthermore, Ursaring can come in on Ghost-types that most Trick Room setters despise, and in return, they can come in on Ursaring's Fighting-type weakness attacks. If you are using Ursaring on a Trick Room team, then this EV spread is recommended: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD with a Brave nature. Similarly, just providing Ursaring with paralysis support lets it shred teams apart. Entry hazard-setters are also highly appreciated, as with them, Ursaring can net a few KOs that it wouldn't be able to otherwise, such as a 2HKO on Regirock. Golurk is the best for this job, as it can come in on Ursaring's Fighting-types weakness and sets up Stealth Rock as they switch out. (I'd remove the 'as they switch out' part, because you can't always assume they will. Yes, a Sawk or Primeape locked in CC will most likely switch out, but if they weren't locked in? What if you overpredicted and Sawk really used Ice Punch, which can 2HKO iirc? I don't think you can assume they will ALWAYS switch out.) Scolipede and Garbodor also work wonders, as they resist Fighting-type attacks and can set up Spikes. Revenge killers are also very nice, as this Ursaring is very slow and needs hard-hitting attackers, such as Kadabra and Sawk, removed before attempting to wallbreak. Likewise, Pokemon that appreciate walls such as Probopass and Alomomola removed will make for great partners, as this set functions more as a wallbreaker than as a sweeper.</p>
[SET]
name: SubSD
move 1: Substitute
move 2: Swords Dance
move 3: Return
move 4: Earthquake
item: Leftovers
ability: Guts
nature: Adamant
evs: 248 HP / 124 Atk / 52 Def / 84 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>This set might seem inferior to SubBU Braviary at first, but a closer look exposes that Ursaring is equally as good as it, if not better. The reason lies behind Ursaring's better typing, access to Swords Dance, a reliable way to hit Rock- and Steel-types, and the ability to switch into status and benefit from it, unlike Braviary, who is crippled instead. Substitute is a no-brainer on this set, as it protects Ursaring from revenge killers, defeating them to open up a late-game sweep. Swords Dance boosts Ursaring's already massive Attack to terrifying levels, even without maximum investment. Return is used over Facade because this Ursaring doesn't (and shouldn't) hold a status orb, (RC); therefore, (AC) Facade is situational and will almost always be weaker than Return. Earthquake hits Rock- and Steel-types hard, providing crucial coverage, and it also does decent damage to Golurk, easily 2HKOing it. easily 2HKOes Golurk.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>The listed EVs allow Ursaring to set up on Alomomola, as it Ursaring outspeeds it, never has its Substitutes broken by Waterfall, and can 2HKO with Return after a boost. An alternate spread of 248 HP / 172 Def / 84 Spe can be used to make sure that Miltank or Lickilicky's Body Slams never break Ursaring's Substitutes, but it then finds itself having trouble breaking past walls. You can also use 124 SpD EVs to make sure Tangela doesn't break Ursaring's Substitutes with Giga Drain, but this isn't recommended because Tangela is a much rarer sight than Alomomola.</p>
<p>A status orb can be used over Leftovers to activate Guts, but the combined damage of Substitute, the status orb, and weak hits repeated attacks (whether it's weak or string, it will wear down Ursaring's regardless, so I think we could go a bit more broad on that.) will quickly finish Ursaring off; this is why Leftovers is recommended, as it provides recovery instead. Crunch can be used over Earthquake in the last slot to actually be able to hit Ghost-types such as Drifblim, Haunter, and Misdreavus. This isn't recommended though, as it Crunch isn't as strong as Earthquake, and Ursaring will then be walled by Steel-types, which are usually harder to take care of with team support. Likewise, Close Combat can be used as a stronger alternative to Earthquake, (RC); however, the nasty defense drops it brings are hindering, (RC) and is contradictory to the bulk this set has. Close Combat really only hits Levitate Bronzor harder, which is non-existent, unlike Golurk and Metang, who are potent threats in today's metagame. When it comes to partners, Pursuit trappers are the best, as they eliminate Ghost-types, Pokemon that this set can't handle. Skuntank is the best Pursuit trapper in the tier, although but it really doesn't offer much typing synergy with Ursaring. Entry hazard-setters are very useful, as this set can't 2HKO Alomomola or Tangela without them, even after a boost. Wynaut can Encore-trap trap opponents with Encore for to allow Ursaring to set up on. Lastly, a revenge killer (or a hard-hitting tank) (While this is subjective, I think those two could go together; the hard-hitter mention doesn't really need to be an afterthought.) is useful to handle the rare sight of two revenge killers on the opposing team.</p>
[Other Options]
<p>Belly Drum can be used alongside Quick Feet to make Ursaring an insanely powerful and decently fast attacker, (RC); although, it's very rare that Ursaring will be able to survive a hit afterwards, and even if it does, Toxic Orb recoil will take it out. Ursaring also has access to many more offensive moves, (AC) such as the elemental punches, Gunk Shot, Seed Bomb, Shadow Claw, and Stone Edge; however, they are outclassed as the options above have more coverage or power (or both). A SubPunch set can be considered, but it's hard to set up, and; Close Combat is almost always better for a Fighting-type move, and the SubSD set utilizes Substitute better. Bulk Up is another boosting move that Ursaring has access to, (RC); however, Swords Dance is preferred because Ursaring likes the immediate power provided by it. Much like many other Pokemon, Ursaring can use the RestTalk strategy, and while combining this with Guts or Quick Feet might seem good on paper, it is too gimmicky and hard to pull off in practice, (AC) as Ursaring will almost never survive the three turns of sleep;. plus In addition, the guessing game RestTalk brings can be hard to play with a Ghost-type on the opponent's team.</p>
[Checks and Counters]
<p>There are a quite a few ways to defeat Ursaring, (RC); although, (AC) it ultimately comes down to what set it's using. Alomomola and Tangela can deal with the Quick Feet set well, as they aren't weak to any of its moves, (RC) and can strike it down with their STABs. They can even use Protect Ursaring as setup bait to heal with Wish or Synthesis, respectively. Be wary though, as Alomomola is setup bait for the SubSD set, and the Guts variant defeats them both. Foul Play Misdreavus does excellent against Quick Feet Ursaring, as it Misdreavus only gets 3HKOed by Crunch, and it will almost always 2HKO back after Stealth Rock. Regirock also does a decent job against Quick Feet Ursaring, as it doesn't take too much from Earthquake (3HKO at best), (RC) and can hit it hard with its Rock-type STAB. Revenge killing the Quick Feet variant might be hard because it outspeeds the majority of the unboosted metagame, although the other sets will be outsped by any decently fast threats. Beware though, as most Pokemon can't OHKO Ursaring, while and it can OHKO most of them back. Kadabra is a common exception;: it outspeeds any Ursaring variant, and thanks to Focus Sash, it survives a hit from Ursaring, 2HKOing it with its Psychic-type STAB. Choice Scarf Primeape and Sawk are also great answers, as they outspeed and OHKO Ursaring with Close Combat. If Ursaring has successfully gotten a Substitute up, something is almost always going down, as an Ursaring with Substitute up is near impossible to revenge kill. If all else fails, just try to bank on the residual damage that status orbs, alongside and entry hazards set on Ursaring's side, provide to take it down.</p>