jake
underdog of the year
to add to the above, gastly has been running shadow ball much less frequently in favor of other coverage, notably energy ball (for onix, mudbray, tirt) and psychic (for mienfoo, timburr, foongus). hidden power also consistently takes up a moveslot, and other options like thunderbolt, dazzling gleam (z-dazzling gleam), and sucker punch compete for the last spot. in a world where shadow ball is mostly just nice neutral coverage, gastlys have been flexing their movesets to maximize their effectiveness on any given team, and that means we think about dropping shadow ball for something more useful for that specific team. that's big ups for frillish, since it eats energy ball and thunderbolt way more comfortably than shadow ball. my favorite spread, max sdef, takes just over half from those on average and can recover stall for cursed body to force gastly out.
another calc that i find extremely valuable to advocate for frillish is this one:
236+ SpA Magnemite Volt Switch vs. 236 HP / 76 SpD Eviolite Frillish: 14-18 (56 - 72%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Possible damage amounts: (14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 18)
he eats a modest 20 SpA super effective volt switch off of bj mag and recovers it off at almost no cost. that's amazing. frillish also beats foongus 1v1 if it has cursed body and foongus has already slept something; forcing out the premier water check in the tier is unreal for a water to do. he also actually checks non-hp grass clamperl, something that basically nothing else does (shit like staryu drops to a +2 surf).
the biggest argument against frillish is that it's tough to fit on a team. it doesn't exactly fit into one particular role, and as a slow-ish mon that prefers to not be knocked, it requires partners that are OK with this. that said, it has unreal bulk and wisp is really useful. its bulk is even workable post-knock, especially against physical attackers if it trades that knock for a burn.
B+ sounds good to me for sure
another calc that i find extremely valuable to advocate for frillish is this one:
236+ SpA Magnemite Volt Switch vs. 236 HP / 76 SpD Eviolite Frillish: 14-18 (56 - 72%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Possible damage amounts: (14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 14, 18)
he eats a modest 20 SpA super effective volt switch off of bj mag and recovers it off at almost no cost. that's amazing. frillish also beats foongus 1v1 if it has cursed body and foongus has already slept something; forcing out the premier water check in the tier is unreal for a water to do. he also actually checks non-hp grass clamperl, something that basically nothing else does (shit like staryu drops to a +2 surf).
the biggest argument against frillish is that it's tough to fit on a team. it doesn't exactly fit into one particular role, and as a slow-ish mon that prefers to not be knocked, it requires partners that are OK with this. that said, it has unreal bulk and wisp is really useful. its bulk is even workable post-knock, especially against physical attackers if it trades that knock for a burn.
B+ sounds good to me for sure