Pokémon Appletun

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MattL

MattL

I have discovered a truly remarkable CT which this box is t-
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Base Stats:
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Level Up Moves:
- [00] Headbutt
- [01] Headbutt
- [01] Recycle
- [01] Withdraw
- [01] Astonish
- [01] Growth
- [01] Sweet Scent
- [04] Curse
- [08] Stomp
- [12] Leech Seed
- [16] Protect
- [20] Bullet Seed
- [24] Recover
- [28] Apple Acid
- [32] Body Slam
- [36] Iron Defense
- [40] Dragon Pulse
- [44] Energy Ball
TMs:
- [TM08] Hyper Beam
- [TM09] Giga Impact
- [TM11] Solar Beam
- [TM17] Light Screen
- [TM18] Reflect
- [TM19] Safeguard
- [TM21] Rest
- [TM24] Snore
- [TM25] Protect
- [TM28] Giga Drain
- [TM31] Attract
- [TM34] Sunny Day
- [TM39] Facade
- [TM50] Bullet Seed
- [TM57] Payback
- [TM76] Round
- [TM81] Bulldoze
TRs:
- [TR01] Body Slam
- [TR10] Earthquake
- [TR17] Amnesia
- [TR20] Substitute
- [TR24] Outrage
- [TR26] Endure
- [TR27] Sleep Talk
- [TR39] Superpower
- [TR46] Iron Defense
- [TR52] Gyro Ball
- [TR59] Seed Bomb
- [TR62] Dragon Pulse
- [TR65] Energy Ball
- [TR77] Grass Knot
- [TR79] Heavy Slam
- [TR94] High Horsepower
- [TR99] Body Press
Pre-Evolution (Egg) Moves:
- Sucker Punch
- Rollout
- Defense Curl
Notable Moves:
- Apple Acid (
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| 80 BP | 100% Accuracy | 10 PP (16 max) | 100% chance to lower the opponent's Special Defense by 1 stage)
- Leech Seed
- Recycle
- Recover
- Draco Meteor / Dragon Pulse
- Body Press (
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| 80 BP | 100% Accuracy | 10 PP (16 max) | Uses user's Defense stat in the damage calculation)
- Giga Drain (Energy Ball / Grass Knot)
- Seed Bomb
- Curse / Amnesia / Iron Defense
- Reflect / Light Screen
- Outrage / Earthquake / Superpower / Sucker Punch / Gyro Ball

Pros:
- Good natural bulk, augmented by it almost always having heavy HP investment
- Many methods of restoring its HP
- Unique defensive typing grants it 3 quad-resistances (
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), a resistance to
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, and if running Thick Fat, effectively a resistance to
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- New signature ability Ripen allows it to gain double the effects from berries
- Multiple ways of boosting its bulk

Cons:
- Despite a solid Special Attack stat, really only has Grass- and Dragon-type attacks to choose from on the special side, which do not provide good offensive coverage
- Extremely slow
- While not weak to Stealth Rock, still overall pretty susceptible to hazards. Although it doesn't mind Sticky Web, Appletun is very crippled by Toxic Spikes
- Many weaknesses, some of which are common attacking types
- Somewhat passive with no way of inflicting status aside from Body Slam

Dyanamax / Gigantamax Potential
- Appletun's G-Max Sweetness is a Grass move that heals the status condition of allies (this is different from Heal Bell, which heals party Pokemon). It is not more powerful than Max Overgrowth, and is thus inferior as Max Overgrowth summons the helpful Grassy Terrain
- Because of Appletun's abysmal Speed, it will almost always be heavily invested in its already-high HP, meaning its Max form will be extremely bulky
- Although it has several different types of Physical moves, its Attack stat is mediocre and it doesn't get STAB on most of them
- Grassy Terrain-boosted, STAB Max Overgrow is strong, but Grass is a poor offensive type
- Overall, while Max Appletun has potential, I would say that there are better options to use your Max on. Most of Appletun's sets are defensive, and with status moves such as Recover, Recycle, and Leech Seed becoming Max Guard, using your Max on Appletun would be mostly a waste

----- Potential Movesets -----

Defensive Thick Fat
Appletun @ Leftovers
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Apple Acid
- Leech Seed
- Recover
- Draco Meteor

This set is one of the most reliable counters to Fishious Rend spam, as Appletun 4x resists it and OHKOs back with Draco Meteor, even with no investment. However, the Appletun switch in is somewhat obvious so be careful about Ice Fang or Outrage. In general, this is a standard defensive set that helps complete a defensive core due to Appletun's bulk and set of resistances. There really isn't room for variation in this moveset, as Dragon Pulse isn't a guaranteed KO on Dravovish, and the other 3 moves are nearly mandatory as well. Body Press could be used to not be walled by Steel-types, but then your overall damage output is reduced, especially if you're not running fully physically defensive.

Recycle + Heal Berry
Appletun @ Sitrus Berry / Aguav Berry
Ability: Ripen
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Recycle
- Apple Acid
- Leech Seed
- Draco Meteor

The new Ripen ability makes it so the Sitrus Berry heals half of Appletun's health when it falls below half of its max HP. The Aguav Berry is a higher risk, higher reward alternative, healing two-thirds of Appletun's health when it falls under 25% of its max HP (unfortunately the Aguav Berry family was nerfed from healing half to healing a third in this generation). This set should liberally use Recycle in order to have continual access to this amazing source of recovery. Leech Seed is preferred because even though the berry provides lots of recovery, further recovery and the chip damage is appreciated. Due to this set being fully invested in Defense, Body Press has acceptable power and helps against Steel-types, though Draco Meteor has solid power even without investment. Depending on what you need Appletun to switch in to, you could make Appletun specially defensive instead. However, then Body Press would be weak, so in that case you would probably want to replace it with something like Draco Meteor or Earthquake (use a -Speed nature if running EQ). 8 Speed EVs are just to creep other base 30s.

Subseed
Appletun @ Leftovers
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Substitute
- Leech Seed
- Giga Drain
- Draco Meteor / Protect

Although Appletun is slow, its typing and bulk can afford it opportunities to set up a substitute against Pokemon it forces out or that can't even break its sub. There isn't really room for Recycle; Leftovers and Thick Fat are superior for this set. As this set doesn't have as much recovery as the others and you need health to create substitutes, Giga Drain is probably the preferred STAB move here for a little extra recovery.

Curse
Appletun @ Leftovers
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Curse
- Seed Bomb
- Body Press
- Recover

With this spread and Curse, Appletun quickly becomes very bulky on both sides. Recover is obligatory and so is Body Press for coverage. Unfortunately, this set is extremely susceptible to Toxic, Burn, and Flying-types, and Appletun's Attack is only mediocre. Against the right teams it could prove tough to deal with but this set could be deadweight versus others.

Offensive Tank
Appletun @ Leftovers
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Apple Acid
- Draco Meteor
- Leech Seed / Body Press
- Recover

None of the sets I've posted so far really utilize Appletun's solid Special Attack, so here's one. I suppose if you were to Max Appletun, this would be the set you do it with, though I do not recommend putting Appletun on your team with the intention of it being the Pokemon you usually Max. This set also makes the best use of Apple Acid's effect of always lowering your opponent's Special Defense.

Nice Meme
Appletun @ Salac Berry / Starf Berry / Petaya Berry
no, stop. do not do this. unless you're going for the memes, then go for it

Overall Thoughts

Although Appleton has a lot of sets, I don't think any of them are particularly amazing. I can see Appletun having some niches in OU, but my prediction is that it will end up being very high in the Viability Rankings of a lower tier. Its bulk, amazing sources of recovery, and many quad-resistances do it favors, but I think it's ultimately a little too passive in such a fast-paced, powerful metagame. It would be great if it got more viable coverage options. However, Appletun definitely seems like a type of Pokemon most people don't consider at the top of their minds, resulting in some teams having a tough time dealing with it.

As far as weakness-reducing berries (Yache, Coba, etc.), I'm thinking they won't be as effective, even though Ripen would double their effects. If you want to continually use them throughout the battle, it takes too many turns to recycle the berry and recover. If you just wanted to use it as a one-time buffer, you would probably have to take out the threat that turn. The reason is because Appletun is so slow that even if you're able to survive the attack due to the berry, they would most likely be able to outspeed and knock you out on the following turn. This is an issue because Appletun probably won't be able to take out whatever is attacking you.

Overall, it seems most likely that Appletun will become a defensive staple in a lower tier due to all of its positive qualities, while filling niches in OU from time to time.
 
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I think Appletun's success in SS OU will in large part depend on what Dynamax forms become meta, since it isn't a good user of the mechanic.

However, this thing is surprisingly bulky with Thick Fat, and access to Leech Seed+Recover while being immune to Leech Seed itself can make this a pain to take down.

The movepool is a let down, especially from the special side, but there's still quite a bit of potential with this thing IMO. 4x resists to Grass and Water and Electric are quite useful since HP Ice isn't a thing anymore.
 
I think Body Press is largely dependent on what threats Appletun has to check in the metagame. For most cases, I'd opt for some form of Dragon STAB as a secondary option, like Draco Meteor. It pairs especially well with Apple Acid and can turn some 3HKOs to 2HKOs.

Appletun @ Leftovers
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 Spe
Bold Nature
- Substitute
- Leech Seed
- Giga Drain/Apple Acid
- Protect/Draco Meteor
 
eaglehawk said:
I think Body Press is largely dependent on what threats Appletun has to check in the metagame. For most cases, I'd opt for some form of Dragon STAB as a secondary option, like Draco Meteor. It pairs especially well with Apple Acid and can turn some 3HKOs to 2HKOs.

Appletun @ Leftovers
Ability: Thick Fat
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 Spe
Bold Nature
- Substitute
- Leech Seed
- Giga Drain/Apple Acid
- Protect/Draco Meteor
Click to expand...

Dragon STAB is a good shout actually, it hits most Grass types that are immune to Leech Seed and also the only ‘mons with Sap Sipper are Dragon types, so there’s super effective damage there.
 
Apple Pie? More like APPLE DIE!
Seriously love this thing and its sibling Flapple. I kinda want to run both of them, but we all know we can only pick one.
 
Revelation said:
Dragon STAB is a good shout actually, it hits most Grass types that are immune to Leech Seed and also the only ‘mons with Sap Sipper are Dragon types, so there’s super effective damage there.
Click to expand...

I think Dragon STAB is worth for hitting grass types that are immune to Leech. It nukes Drampa but I wouldn't depend on it to beat Goodra necessarily.

0 SpA Appletun Draco Meteor vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Goodra: 198-234 (61.6 - 72.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
0 SpA Appletun Draco Meteor vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Assault Vest Goodra: 134-158 (41.7 - 49.2%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

Then again, we don't know how present Goodra is going to be for Appletun either, so there's a lot up in the air.
 
I have heard that supposedly, Ripen doubles the effects of Leftovers healing as well as Berries, and if that’s true, it’s kind of big for Appletun.

EDIT: I reread the post in question where I got this info from, and apparently Ripen triggers when Leftovers are eaten, but... doesn’t do anything? How bizarre...
 
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TheTraininator said:
I have heard that supposedly, Ripen doubles the effects of Leftovers healing as well as Berries, and if that’s true, it’s kind of big for Appletun.

EDIT: I reread the post in question where I got this info from, and apparently Ripen triggers when Leftovers are eaten, but... doesn’t do anything? How bizarre...
Click to expand...

Yep, tested ingame that ripen does not change the 1/16 recovery rate and that leftovers are not prevented by unnerve despite triggering the ripen ability on use.

As much as that's a loss, thick fat would still have been very hard to pass up for the kind of set that wants leftovers recovery.
 
Sceats said:
Yep, tested ingame that ripen does not change the 1/16 recovery rate and that leftovers are not prevented by unnerve despite triggering the ripen ability on use.

As much as that's a loss, thick fat would still have been very hard to pass up for the kind of set that wants leftovers recovery.
Click to expand...

That's actually so unfortunate. It's arguably worse than poison heal if it were true, but I would have been willing to try it out. I do agree though that Thick Fat is very hard to pass up especially because Appletun is good defensively because of how many quad resistances it has.
 
Just wanted to chime in as a developer and appletun fan.

MattL said:
This interesting berry makes it so if you get hit by a physical attack, your opponent loses 1/8 of their health, which would now be 1/4 due to Ripen.
Click to expand...

This isn't implemented on showdown at this time, since we don't know if this is true. I plan to test In-Game tommorow hopefully since I have a ripen appletun on my team.
 
I've really been enjoying Appletun so far, it provides probably the best answer to barraskewda atm as they don't seem to be carrying ice fang and actually beats dmax bounce with giga drain + berry (which is the main reason I'm using sitrus ripen over recover + thick fat), although it's left easy to finish off. It's surprisingly adaptable for a defensive mon, picking between body press and draco depending on what you answer better elsewhere (I'd assume draco is the best option in general, so DD Dragapult doesn't set up on you). While it will ultimately be dependent on the meta, as all somewhat niche defensive mons are, I think it will be reasonably relevant in the meta going forward, even if it doesn't stay OU by usage.
 
Appletun has a very interesting niche in stall believe it or not. It serves a purpose similar to Ferrothorn, utilizing amazing defensive typing to stand in the way of opponents, but supplies different resistances and is less passive which gives Appletun its own niche. Apple Acid is a unique tool for stall to chip down tankier opponents at the loss of hazards that Ferrothorn can provide.
I'm still experimenting with Appletun, but as a defensive Dragon type and a fire resistant Grass type, it has a unique niche that makes it distinct from Ferrothorn
 
Shouldn't Sitrus be the ideal berry for Ripen sets?

While the healing provided would be lower than the confusion pinch berries, it has a more generous activation range, and it can actually reach a higher potential HP (Sitrus can potentially heal Appletun to 100% HP, while other pinch berries can only heal up to 89.6%)
 
I’m pretty sure it’s been confirmed that Ripen doubles the Leftovers recovery. Multiple people have tested it. It heals 1/8th total HP instead of 1/16th
 
Marzbar said:
I’m pretty sure it’s been confirmed that Ripen doubles the Leftovers recovery. Multiple people have tested it. It heals 1/8th total HP instead of 1/16th
Click to expand...
Siggu said:
I have a Flapple with Ripen and Leftovers and it never recovered more than 10% HP. It triggers a message but the result is not different.
Click to expand...
Research indicates its the message only for leftovers, doesn't actually buff healing.
 
It would need heat wave and mythical fire to reduce oponents special attack and to take care of other pokemon
Weird that they didn't give it selfdestruct, explode and that fire/ghost exploding move here if you all know what I mean.
Would be funny strategy against overpowered oponents,

Love Thick Fat, rescues it and all grass/dragons till now.

some poison coverage taking poisoned apples? maybe that healing move that removes poison from oponet?
 
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MattL said:
Chip Damage
Appletun @ Jaboca Berry
Ability: Ripen
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Recycle
- Apple Acid
- Leech Seed
- Recover

This interesting berry makes it so if you get hit by a physical attack, your opponent loses 1/8 of their health, which would now be 1/4 due to Ripen. That's actually quite a bit, and due to Appletun's bulk and means of recovery, with Recycle it could potentially utilize this multiple times throughout the battle if played correctly (barring poor matchups). Unfortunately, recovering and recycling the berry takes multiple turns, so this set is kind of gimmicky but I wanted to include it anyway. Both Leech Seed and Recover are necessary as your berry doesn't restore your health and you have no Leftovers. If you're running a specially defensive Appletun, you would want to use the Rowap Berry instead.
Click to expand...
After further research this is not possible. You cannot get Rowap/Jaboca berries in SWSH from what I can tell.
 
That's too bad. Before writing the set, I even went into Kaphotic's item pastebin and checked that both the Jaboca and Rowap Berries were listed there, and they were so I figured that implied that they were possible to be in the game (as opposed to "this move cannot be used. it's recommended it's forgotten"). Oh well. I removed it from the OP. If it turns out that it is possible to get those berries into the game I'll add it back.
 
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