CAP 29 - Part 4 - Typing Discussion

[Mx]

CAP 29 so far

It's time to discuss one of the most important decisions for CAP 29, its type! Please follow quziel posts carefully and DO NOT immediately propose type combinations until he says so.

Below is the final post from the Concept Assessment thread:

Thank you everyone for your contributions to both Concept Assessment threads. The 196 posts that we have shared across these two threads has been the most active a concept assessment stage has been since the DPP days! I am proud of the topics we've broached and the questions we've tackled. Let me list a summary of our discussions from across these two threads. As a reminder, this is intended to be the cumulation of our discussions, not something to cling to as law. We may change our minds in the future about how CAP29 should function with Color Change as our knowledge and understanding of this mon evolves. Regardless, here are the generalizations we can make about CAP29 at this time:

Generalizations about CAP29:
Note: These are a list of guidelines about CAP29, not rules. This is the cumulation of the intelligent community consensus from past and current threads. Our opinions as a community may change and differ on some of these specific points. We are not beholden to anything specifically on this list.

• We will treat all ability-shifting moves (e.g. Skill Swap and Entrainment) as banned. Do not debate the use of them for CAP29, nor vote in the upcoming stages with the presumption that they will be allowed. SHSP, the Movepool Leader, may re-open discussion of these moves at a later date, depending on how the rest of CAP29 is built. There is also some nuance between Skill Swap and Entrainment that favors the latter, that we also might consider in the future. But for now, they are considered detrimental to the concept and our communal creation of this CAP; please do not vote in future stages presuming these moves will be allowed.
• Our current operating view is that CAP29 is supposed to work with Color Change, as opposed to in spite of, because anything else would be us circumventing the concept. It may be necessary to work in spite of Color Change in some cases, but ultimately, it's our goal to make sure that CAP29 can optimally take advantage of the unique opportunities Color Change can provide competitively.
• We will treat CAP29 as having solely Color Change as its only ability. We won't presume that it has a flavor ability (NCA) that it can choose over Color Change to circumvent the negatives of this ability. That being said, it is still our goal to make sure that Color Change CAP29 is an appealing option in the teambuilder. We should be asking the question: "Are we working with Color Change enough that it would hypothetically be chosen over NCA?" Tadasuke, the Ability Leader, may re-open discussion of a secondary ability at a later date, depending on how the rest of CAP29 is built.
• This is a compiled list of mons (B- Tier and up) that have at least one set that Color Change has a natural advantage against:

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• This is a compiled list of mons (B- Tier and up) that have at least one set that Color Change has a neutral match-up against:

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• This is a compiled list of mons (B- Tier and up) that have at least one set that Color Change has a natural disadvantage against:

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• In general, we will try to lean into creating strong match-ups against the mons Color Change already has a natural advantage against. We may still look for ways to change some of our Color Change natural disadvantages into neutral or positive match-ups through future stages. But a goal of ours is to give CAP29 the correct tools to at least force out the mons that Color Change already excels against naturally.
• The goal for CAP29's primary role will be to perform as a bulky set-up sweeper in the CAP metagame. How we define bulk within the context of CAP29 and Color Change will be covered during the stat and moveset stages. Furthermore, our set-up move(s) could potentially boost offenses, defenses, or both simultaneously; nothing is currently decided. Finally, CAP29 is not limited to having set-up sweeping being its only role, and any other roles that CAP29 possess in the metagame should not be considered a 'failure' to the project. Color Change is full of unknowns, so it's difficult to predict how exactly CAP29 will even function in the metagame at this point in time. But for now, we can focus on the role of a bulky set-up sweeper and build from there.

At this point, we'll be looking to quziel to lead us through Typing Discussion for CAP29. I'll see you there!

This thread will open after the Typing Leader, quziel, makes his first post.

 

[quziel]

We are now beginning the 4th stage of CAP 29.

In the previous stage we decided broadly on the route we would be pursuing; that of a Bulky Setup Sweeper that work with Color Change as much as possible, while accepting that it may not always be possible to do so. As we are beginning the typing stage I would like to start with 2 days of resource building, which will take the form of the following questions:

----

1) How much does initial typing matter?
a) Should we expect to rely primarily on our initial typing to generate switch-in opportunities, or should we expect to rely on Color Change?
b) Can we expect to attack with STAB? If so can we expect that to be a significant fraction of the attacks we use?

2) What is our relation with self-resistant attacks? How should we prioritize the following interactions and is there room for Initial Immunities:
a) Initial Resist to Color Change Resist
b) Initial Neutrality to Color Change Resist
c) Initial Weakness to Color Change Resist

3) What is our relation to self-weak attacks? How should we prioritize the following interactions:
a) Initial Resist to Color Change Weakness
b) Initial Neutrality to Color Change Weakness
c) Initial Weakness to Color Change Weakness

----

As a reminder typing submissions are not currently open, and we will be conducting initial resource building before we open them.

 

[PsychLantern]

1- I think initial typing is crucial when planning switch-ins. Being able to resist a predicted move is invaluable for it to work both as a Color Change user and a setup sweeper, since it would allow it to effectively switch into the mons the ability would benefit from.

Additionally, I don't think the possibility of a STAB should be left out of question. A lot of moves the mon would switch into could probably be otherwise devasting so being able to use them to the mon's favor sounds like a good idea. Earthquake/EarthPower are moves that comes to mind and could threaten many Pokémon even more if obtaining STAB (such as Heatran and Excadrill).

 

[Gekokeso]

A) Should we expect to rely primarily on our initial typing to generate switch-in opportunities, or should we expect to rely on Color Change?
b) Can we expect to attack with STAB? If so can we expect that to be a significant fraction of the attacks we use?

a) That varies. Our initial typing should be able to provide a good switch in opportunity for our CAP to setup. As I see it, it should either:

• Be specialised to have one type of common moves of weak defensive typings (such as U-turn or ice) to prevent our typing from being instantly changed into something that the opponent can instantly take advantage from. An example would be bug steel retaining its excellent typing after a U-turn.
• Be neutral against a lot of things so color Change can generate a winning position for our CAP.
• Be a type that can switch into a lot of attacks so setup is easier for CAP 29.
• Be a type whose weaknesses can be covered by Color change (such as steel flying having its weaknesses in electric and fire being neutered.)

b) Usually, our STAB shouldn't matter since we are changing types anyways. However, our stab can still be a pretty decent asset in certain opportunities, such as if we kept our typing when switching into a attack of our same type or coming after a sack. For the most part tho, out STAB is pretty irrelevant to the concept

 

[Pipotchi]

1) How much does initial typing matter?
a) Should we expect to rely primarily on our initial typing to generate switch-in opportunities, or should we expect to rely on Color Change?
b) Can we expect to attack with STAB? If so can we expect that to be a significant fraction of the attacks we use?

1) It matters. It determines what we can initially switch into, our initial stab combo and our hazard resilience. But it "matters" from a balance/design perspective also. If we make a pokemon that has a dangerous initial STAB, will it subvert the pokemon into attempting to maintain it ? (thats not a rhetorical question, would be interested to hear what ppl thought)

a) We should be relying on our typing mainly for our switchins. If you rely on Color Change, you are suggesting that you are switching into a neutral and SE hits as a setup sweeper before you get a chance to click a setup move or anything. This doesnt sound like a great idea. Its better to rely on neutral, NVE hits and immunities to come in, especially when you can be a wincon.
b) We can expect to attack with STAB but its not the end of the world if we cant. We might come in on an immunity, a status move, a double, after a KO, or on a pivoting move, all of which would keep our STAB upon switchin. However, if we are going to act as a defensive sweeper, its not unrealistic that we need to click boosting moves more than once before going for the win. That means, in a sweeping scenario, we are likely operating without STAB and this needs to work.
The priority of this typing should lean defensive for me, although there are typings that can offer both defensive and offensive quality. I value the defensive qualities much more (including in the situation of giving up a massive amount of offensive STAB presence) because this mon is just more likely to interact with its typing defensively when performing its pro-concept duties for the reasons just stated.

i will try and crack the other questions later on

 

[Astra]

I don't think we should undermine the importance of keeping STAB just yet. I personally think that if we prioritize being initially resistant to typings that Color Change already resists, we can tie that into maintaining STAB for typing that resist itself. This would also tie into its role as a bulky setup sweeper, being able to switch into attacks it doesn't mind while potentially still keeping STAB in some way. Of course, this wouldn't happen all of the time, but it may help CAP 29 check or counter some of the Pokemon quziel listed better; it just all comes down to what we exactly want.

For example, say that, hypothetically, we want CAP 29 to be good against Rillaboom, specifically its Choice Band set. If we initially resist Grass because we are already part Grass-type, we can switch into its Grassy Glide and take minimal damage while maintaining our Grass typing. Rillaboom would then be forced to switch out, giving us a free turn to set up while also maintaining at least one STAB helping it sweep.

Of course, this matchup specifically is incredibly imperfect (Rillaboom can easily predict the switch and pivot out with U-turn), but the main idea I want to get across is that STAB shouldn't be tossed away or left for scenarios where we can preserve our initial typing. We should definitely keep in mind how we can potentially maintain some sort of STAB if we choose an initial typing that resists itself and if we pick out what Pokemon we want CAP 29 to really capitalize on.

Apologies if this seems a bit messy; it was a little hard to put exactly what I wanted to convey into words. I'll be glad to answer any questions if there's some confusion.

 

[Explosion Badger]

We are now beginning the 4th stage of CAP 29.

In the previous stage we decided broadly on the route we would be pursuing; that of a Bulky Setup Sweeper that work with Color Change as much as possible, while accepting that it may not always be possible to do so. As we are beginning the typing stage I would like to start with 2 days of resource building, which will take the form of the following questions:

----

1) How much does initial typing matter?
a) Should we expect to rely primarily on our initial typing to generate switch-in opportunities, or should we expect to rely on Color Change?
b) Can we expect to attack with STAB? If so can we expect that to be a significant fraction of the attacks we use?

2) What is our relation with self-resistant attacks? How should we prioritize the following interactions and is there room for Initial Immunities:
a) Initial Resist to Color Change Resist
b) Initial Neutrality to Color Change Resist
c) Initial Weakness to Color Change Resist

3) What is our relation to self-weak attacks? How should we prioritize the following interactions:
a) Initial Resist to Color Change Weakness
b) Initial Neutrality to Color Change Weakness
c) Initial Weakness to Color Change Weakness

----

As a reminder typing submissions are not currently open, and we will be conducting initial resource building before we open them.

1. Our initial typing is going to be an incredibly important part of 29's play. since our goal is to force our opponent to switch so that we get a turn to set up, our goal should be focused on how to best achieve that turn. while that turn can come in the form of Color Change itself at times, it's also important to realize that color change won't be able to handle every single matchup that's thrown at us. At the same time however, we also need to actually rely on Color Change, so our primary typing can't simply give us all the resistances that we get from Color Change and Self Resistant typings. While we can't always rely on STAB, there are still ways that we can be able to utilize it, primarily by switching 29 into moves that its primary type is immune to.

2. when it comes to self resisted types, we should avoid resistances for the most part, as the goal of Collor Change is to turn a neutral or super effective hit into a resisted one, though pokemon like rillaboom make that difficult since they can deal ludicrous damage to even neutrally effective opponents. We should also be careful with the types we're weak to, as even despite color changes ability to turn the tides on an opponent, attacks that can deal over 80% to us won't care when they're resisted, as well as attacks that straight up OHKO us.

3. I feel that self-weak typings should stay mostly as either neutral or resisted hits. having an initial weakness to them not only provides us with no benefits, but also doesn't really interact with color change, so they really hold no interest. on the opposite side of the spectrum, being immune to either of the two self-weak types not only limits our potential typings, but also limits our interactions with color change as well, trying to circumvent Color Changes weakness to them. I would avoid the types immune to these self-weak types unless they have other merits that better coincide with color change as a whole.

 

[Amamama]

1) How much does initial typing matter?
a) Should we expect to rely primarily on our initial typing to generate switch-in opportunities, or should we expect to rely on Color Change?
b) Can we expect to attack with STAB? If so can we expect that to be a significant fraction of the attacks we use?

A) Our initial typing will be very important.
A good defensive/offensive typing can provide free turns.
Every bulky Set Up sweeper, thrives on free turns, as it will be increasingly hard to take it down, with every turn it can spend setting up.
This will be no different for 29.

A good initial typing will also ease switches, when we don’t have the luxury of getting in for free.
Here though we will not only have to look at the first switch-in turn, but also how this first turn sets us up to deal with the Pokémon we switch in on, since they will mostly be control of our typing for the next turn(s).
Our initial typing will influence, if and when we get to keep our base type, while switching in on opposing Pokémon.
It will influence how we will deal with residual damage especially entry hazards.

That said Color change will afford us with interesting opportunities, we can leverage to create free turns to gain momentum or set up, mainly through turning a weakness into a neutral or even resisted hit.

B) We should expect to attack with STAB at least some times throughout the game. How often that can happen largely depends on the play of the user.
Obviously safe switches will allow for STAB usage. But throughout a game there are a lot more opportunities to come into play without being damaged.
Predictable recovery, status or hazard control will afford 29 with switches, where it can keep its type.
I think especially absorbing status, could be interesting utility 29 can provide for the team, while having an opportunity to come in with its type untouched.

Forcing switches or passive play, that we can abuse to set up, will be significantly easier in these turns, if we have acces to (a) strong targeted STAB move(s).
Being able to pressure the opponent with boosted damage is valuable even if it won’t be reliable.

2) What is our relation with self-resistant attacks? How should we prioritize the following interactions and is there room for Initial Immunities:
a) Initial Resist to Color Change Resist
b) Initial Neutrality to Color Change Resist
c) Initial Weakness to Color Change Resist

I think having a mix of all of these is fine.

Resisting a self weak typing is going to afford us basically with a consistent resistance, which is a solid base as a defensive “typing” so having a base type that can leverage some of these interactions should be mandatory imo.
That said the biggest strength Color change can offer is in situations, where 29 starts as neutral or even weak to a self resisting type, but resists the same type once it is hit by an attack.
This could mean turning an offensive check into a mon 29 can wall (depending on the opposing mons coverage), which in turn it can leverage to set up. Going even deeper, this could mean turning the best answer to 29 on the opposing team into a set up opportunity, which is something we really should dig into.

3) What is our relation to self-weak attacks? How should we prioritize the following interactions:
a) Initial Resist to Color Change Weakness
b) Initial Neutrality to Color Change Weakness
c) Initial Weakness to Color Change Weakness

Technically we could abuse these interactions, if we had an initial resist to a self weak typing and access to a move of the type we resist.
This would provide us with the niche “Pokémon that resists Ghost or Dragon (the first turn), while having Super Effective STAB against these types, which until now only Mega Altaria ever could provide and would be entirely unique in today’s metagame.
BUT in reality this would mean being a ghost and/or dragon resistant Pokémon, that’s also faster than , which is the best abuser of both of these types atm, while at the same time having unreliable STAB and suboptimal coverage.
Furthermore this would mean being a dark type, carrying a ghost move rather than just running a dark move to hit ghosts and/or being a steel type that may lose to dragon spam.
Additional it requires serious poll jumping, since we’d be required to add moves of these types to actualize this interaction.

I also don’t think any type should be chosen for resisting either ghost or dragon, since that would mean turning a resist into a weakness in one turn, which sucks in team building and in game.
The same goes for being neutral to these types, if less so, especially since a lot of types are neutral to ghost or dragon, so it might be unavoidable.

Otherewise there are three situations were our interactions with these types can be positive or neutral.
1) Our base type shares one of ghost or dragon and adds a second type that resists these types (dragon/steel for example)
This would mean we could always stay neutral to these attacks, which is a net positive for Color Change.
2) We are weak to both or either of these types from the start, which means our relationship with them won’t change for better or worse.
3) We are immune to one or both of these types, which is essentially a net neutral same as the above, since our relationship won’t change as well.

If we initially resist Grass because we are already part Grass-type, we can switch into its Grassy Glide and take minimal damage; afterwards, Color Change will change our typing to pure Grass. Rillaboom would then be forced to switch out, giving us a free turn to set up while also maintaining at least one STAB helping it sweep.

Actually if our base type is part grass, we would retain both our base types, so for this particular scenario a bug/grass or poison/grass would be great as we resist, keep our base type and have SE STAB to force out.

 

[Hakking]

I'm not sure whether it's been mentioned, but typing also interacts with entry hazards. We can always count on our typing affecting our response to hazards, and hazards can detract from our role as a bulky setup sweeper, effectively decreasing our bulk. Perhaps 29's typing should resist or be immune to common hazards. Certainly a hazard-weak type (bug/fire, anyone?) could reduce 29's viability. Typing could also help keep our held item slot open (no HDB).

 

[Gekokeso]

I'm not sure whether it's been mentioned, but typing also interacts with entry hazards. We can always count on our typing affecting our response to hazards, and hazards can detract from our role as a bulky setup sweeper, effectively decreasing our bulk. Perhaps 29's typing should resist or be immune to common hazards. Certainly a hazard-weak type (bug/fire, anyone?) could reduce 29's viability. Typing could also help keep our held item slot open (no HDB).

While I will admit that being weak to hazards would be a death sentence for 29's viability, I wouldn't say that we should be forced to resist hazards. A lot of types are able to offer significant defensive advantages, even when they are neutral to hazards. Even types that would normally be weak to common hazards but are combined with other typings (such as bug ground or fire steel) are able to provide 29 with useful applications. We should definitely be not be weak to hazards, but being neutral to them is fine


2) What is our relation with self-resistant attacks? How should we prioritize the following interactions and is there room for Initial Immunities:

a) Initial Resist to Color Change Resist
b) Initial Neutrality to Color Change Resist
c) Initial Weakness to Color Change Resists

a) As good as our ability to turn neutral hits into resists is, there are mons whose power output is so high that it requires regi levels of bulk to not die to them if hit neutrally by them (

) so leaving resists out of question is a bad idea.
b) Initial neutrality to Color Change Resist will probably be the absolutely most important aspect to decide the typing of 29. This is the interaction that gave Color Change its popularity, so it would be best to build around it, especially as this is the factor of color change that will make 29 a sweeping machine.
c) As dangerous as making 29 weak to self-resistant hits is, it is also a very possible way to build this Mon. Turning weaknesses into resists is great but we will require to either specialize heavily into good stats or movepool in order to survive such strong hits that could otherwise knock us out clean.

 

[sneakyjeans]

1) How much does initial typing matter?
Our initial typing is hugely important. Particularly any decisions we make around immunities, as that completely changes our options for switching in. It will also determine what STAB options we have available to us prior to Color Change or after a strategic switch in. There's also the possibility for status immunity, which could also be critical.

a) Should we expect to rely primarily on our initial typing to generate switch-in opportunities, or should we expect to rely on Color Change?
Initial typing. Color Change could work as a secondary option, but generally I think switching in will be the most difficult part of executing on the set-up sweeper role. I feel without a dedicated slow pivot on the team, CAP 29 won't have a great chance getting in safely. Initial typing with an immunity would be the only way to somewhat reliably get in. We don't want to have to start setting-up at reduced HP.

b) Can we expect to attack with STAB? If so can we expect that to be a significant fraction of the attacks we use?
This is a tricky question to ask, as it depends on how common the CAP 29 STAB is on attacking Pokemon in the meta. Let's say it's something fairly common like Bug with U-Turn, we can say with high confidence that we'll be using our STAB a fair amount because we have a high chance of encountering U-Turn in a match. I think WE decide how often we expect CAP 29 to be attacking with STAB depending on the type we choose, based on options for switch-ins that maintain typing or making our typing something common to the meta. I think we should keep this in mind during the following discussions, and in particular consider choosing a typing that has a high chance of maintaining STAB.


2) What is our relation with self-resistant attacks? How should we prioritize the following interactions and is there room for Initial Immunities:
Going to answer this as one chunk. Our ideal situation is being able to suddenly become tanky from a hit from a self-resist attack from an opponent without another SE attacking option, or to become tanky by our SE move by putting the opponent into a situation where their attacks are ineffective/useless. We should prioritize a typing that incentivizes the opponent into attacking with moves that allow us to have a defensive advantage. This may mean picking a strong offensive typing with key SE weaknesses that turn into resists. I believe a typing that gives us strong STAB options as our base typing without stat decreases (Draco Meteor, etc.) with key SE weaknesses that turn into resists like Water, is our best choice.

I believe having an immunity is important, as it gives us safer switches and a degree more control over our prospective typings, reducing complexity in the process without us losing the core principle of working with CC.

3) What is our relation to self-weak attacks? How should we prioritize the following interactions:
We should be able to threaten some of the Pokemon who would be throwing these at us in order to preserve some sense of effectiveness, which is another reason I believe a strong offensive typing is crucial. If we get a safe switch-in, we should be able to use our STAB attacks to make the opponent reconsider using a self-weak option to remove CAP 29 before there's a chance to attack. I believe if CAP 29 switches in on a self-weak attack, that should be a crippling error.

 

[Jewvia]

I think the answer to 1 depends more on how we look at 2 or 3.

2) What is our relation with self-resistant attacks? How should we prioritize the following interactions and is there room for Initial Immunities:

I think that having an Initial Neutrality to Color Change Resist is a fair case to look at. We will be taking a big hit from the first strike, and then getting scratched by resistant moves afterwards, especially if we are taking a bulky approach. Weaknesses here should be minimal, as they would put some strain on latter stages, necessitating that we need bulk or recovery to survive a SE banded Grassy Glide and its 0.5x effective priority followup, or a SE Fire Lash and its 0.5x effective defense dropped followup. Resistances are fine too, but then we aren't taking advantage of Color Change as well as we could be in my eyes.

I also think initial immunities to these self-resistant moves are not something we want to focus on for this particular concept. It is worth mentioning that the three relevant immunities here are Ground to Electric, Steel to Poison, and Dark to Psychic.

3) What is our relation to self-weak attacks? How should we prioritize the following interactions:

Ghosts and Dragons hurt. This is opposite of question 2, where if we take an SE self-resistant move, we can effectively wall the user or give ourselves some nice room to set up or recover. If we are initially neutral or resistant to a Ghost or Dragon, they're just going to get stronger on the next hit. If we want to play setup, then we need to do one of three things, which we need to consider for both Ghosts and Dragons separately.

1 - Initial Immunity to Self-Effective type. Normal for Ghost or Fairy for Dragon will prevent them from using the Dragon or Ghost spam at all, forcing them to waste turns switching our typing through multiple neutral hits until finally landing on that SE self-effective STAB (effectively giving us 2 free turns), or to switch out and give us just the one free turn.

2 - Ignore it. Chalk it up that Color Change inherently sucks against these typings. The initial Resist or Neutral hit isn't going to matter much when turns 2-KO are all going to be SE STAB moves. A 0.5x effective Shadow Ball followed by two 2x effective Shadow Balls isn't much worse than getting hit by it neutrally to start with.

3 - Abuse it. This means going all in on that one typing with our combo, picking something that is immune or resistant to it as well as the STAB move itself as a reply. This means we would keep our immunity or resistance to it while benefitting from its offensive pressure. There are only 4 combos that can accomplish this, being Ghost/Normal, Ghost/Dark, Dragon/Steel, and Dragon/Fairy.

Looking at these three options, I would prioritize Ignore at least one of them. Trying to be immune to one of them is a good way to turn some naturally awful matchups into something a little safer, but trying to be immune to both means ignoring everything else about the typing stage and just picking Normal/Fairy as the only possibility.

So to look back at question 1...

1) How much does initial typing matter?
a) Should we expect to rely primarily on our initial typing to generate switch-in opportunities, or should we expect to rely on Color Change?
b) Can we expect to attack with STAB? If so can we expect that to be a significant fraction of the attacks we use?

To answer a) it looks to me like outside immunities, Color Change will be helping us out for the long haul. That first hit is just the first hit, and necessitates some bulk depending on neutral or weak we are to it. However, as we are a bulky setup sweeper, I think that being able to survive neutral hits from self-resistant typings is a very safe assumption to be making.

For b), there are only 4 ways we can possibly hit with our Initial STAB.

1 - We switch in after KO/TP. We come in neutrally without any fear of getting hit, and still have our typing when our turn starts. Priority or speed tiers are a concern here of course, as is the opponent's reply such as a status move, switching out, or even just an attack that can change our typing. There are lots of variables, but its not unreasonable to have a STAB here.

2 - We switch in against a non-attacking move. If we come in against a Light Screen, a Toxic, or a Stealth Rocks set, we are not going to be changing type. The next turn is then the same thread of variables as question 1, but now there is one non-attacking move that can be used against us in most cases. If we switch in against a setup move like Belly Drum or Nasty Plot, that's a much scarier threat and I think against those users we are heavily relying on speed tiers and a very specific STAB SE move to deal with them quickly, which might not be feasible.

3 - We switch in against a move the same type as us. Coming in as a Fire/Something against a Flamethrower or a Flying/Something against a Hurricane means that we don't change our typing. This also means we can reply with our own potentially SE STAB right back at them.

4 - We switch in to a typing we are immune to. This is a lot like 2, except the opponent is probably going to switch out immediately. A Choiced Dragapult literally cannot stay in if we are immune to its choice locked stab, allowing us to keep our initial STAB and either use it or just setup with our free turn.

All of these are all still variable cases or niche matchups with a lot more variables involved beyond just "Hey I'm Steel/Ground and resisted your steel attack," an example that would be useless against a number of steels from Corviknight to Equilibra. I do not think we can rely on initial stab for a significant fraction of our attacks, especially if we want to be playing setup. All of these cases are for quick replies to get immediate damage out. The more we set up, the more turns that the enemy has to change our typing. Unless we play 3d chess with our typing and movepool to bring STAB moves for self-resistant or self-neutral typings we are initially weak against, I do not see this as something to reliably look at.

 

[Full_Korbe]

1) How much does initial typing matter?
a) Should we expect to rely primarily on our initial typing to generate switch-in opportunities, or should we expect to rely on Color Change?
b) Can we expect to attack with STAB? If so can we expect that to be a significant fraction of the attacks we use?

That typing matters a lot. We want to not be completely destroyed on our switch. Relying too much on 80/20 for switching make us very passive and prone on being chained by the opponent (except Choice of course). The way I see it, we create switch-in opportunities with our initial typing and we create set-up opportunities with Color Change if that makes sense. Color Change should be what allows us to stay in, to shrug off attempt to force us out but it is our initial typing that will create these opportunities to come in. Also, immunities may be very useful.
Moreover, I suppose hazards come before any Color Change. While maybe not as crucial as before, taking huge damage from hazards can be the difference between resisting a Weakness-into-Resist and dying to it.

As for our STABs, that matters less. We still should expect to use it reasonably often (especially if we opt for a common offensive typing with defensive utility like Water or Fire) but that's probably not going to be our main point of focus and should not be prioritized over giving us opportunities to come in.

2) What is our relation with self-resistant attacks? How should we prioritize the following interactions and is there room for Initial Immunities:
a) Initial Resist to Color Change Resist
b) Initial Neutrality to Color Change Resist
c) Initial Weakness to Color Change Resist

First of all, here are the concerned types: Water, Fire, Grass, Ice, Electric, Psychic, Dark, Steel and Poison. There are some very common types.
Resist into resist are pretty straightforward. I do feel that for the hardest-hitting targets (Rillaboom again but basically any strong Choice users, like Lele) we may want to resist them initially to not feel constrained when it comes to bulk. These are going to be our main switch-in opportunities: we want to force them out and as we can't always rely on offensive pressure (especially in these Resist-to-Resist cases), making them sitting ducks is our best bet.

Weaknesses are just going to be too hard to deal with initially. We need tremendous bulk and investment just in order to not die immediately to CB Rillaboom for example. As I've said before, I feel that concerning our big targets, we want to threaten them immediately and not nearly die on their main STAB.
However, it becomes much more interesting when we consider our interactions to stay in. For example as a non-realistic random example, a 100/90 base Pokemon will full HP investment and weak typing will always survive a Spec TBolt from Tapu Koko from full at +1. Then, we can proceed to recover and use it as set-up bait. This is where Color Change will shine, by denying options to force us out through this kind of brute force. I can see the appeal of a set-up sweeper now as Color Change can absolutely turn the tables on say a Tapu Koko looking to force you out. This is also very relevant in Teleport / U-Turn cases where we are brought full life.

As for immunities, self-resists are not very interesting types to be immune to. We could make a case for being immune to something that we would otherwise be weak to (Ground --> Electric with Water/Flying ; Dark --> Psychic with Poison/Fighting ; Steel --> Poison with Fairy/Grass basically) though.

3) What is our relation to self-weak attacks? How should we prioritize the following interactions:
a) Initial Resist to Color Change Weakness
b) Initial Neutrality to Color Change Weakness
c) Initial Weakness to Color Change Weakness

That's only Ghost and Dragon but there are some very potent types.

Resist to Weakness is very interesting for two reasons:
- It allows CAP29 to be a decent pivot against these attacks, especially against choiced users.
- If we can either resist both attacks (unlikely) or force them out through other means (being faster etc.) then we have just created another switch-in opportunity thanks to our initial typing.

Neutrality -> Weakness and Weakness -> Weakness will be part of Color Change and I don't think we can do much about it. Immunities can come in handy here but we must not use these as a just a generic way to make CAP29 rather than a precise tool to deal with some interesting targets.

 

[shnowshner]

1) How much does initial typing matter?
Yes

Long Answer:

a) Should we expect to rely primarily on our initial typing to generate switch-in opportunities, or should we expect to rely on Color Change?
These feel intertwined to me: we want to rely on our initial typing to switch-in, but also need to make sure the follow-up typing lets us stay in, considering that the goal of CAP29 is primarily a setup sweeper. Not that we can't pivot, as most things do especially on bulkier builds, yet switching into a resisted attack only to be threatened next turn by a SE one is not a good look. Either our initial typing or our CC typing should lean towards resisting our opponent's attack.

Initial typing is definitely at an advantage here simply because we can potentially attack before the opponent does, or perhaps because the opponent is going to switch out after anyway, which voids out the second attack. We can only ever take a second hit after the first, so priority should go to that first hit.

b) Can we expect to attack with STAB? If so can we expect that to be a significant fraction of the attacks we use?
This is hard to define exactly, as there's many ways to get CAP29 onto the field without activating CC, be it slow pivots, predicted status/double/immunity, taking advantage of a locked move of a shared/immune type (from choice items mainly), same-type attacks, or simply switching in after a KO or straight-up leading it. Not all of these are surefire options; the the most common are probably going to be from a teammate's pivot move and anything that's locked into a move which is already our typing or one we are immune to. Gen 8 has made getting Pokemon in safely extremely easy thanks to Teleport and a surge of slow U-Turn/Flip Turn/what have you Turn users, so I don't think getting in is the hard part, but rather, if we can hit first. We don't have any clue on how fast CAP29 is yet, so there's not much use in debating what exactly we can and cannot outpace aside from anything naturally slow that also quite literally doesn't care about Speed (Ferrothorn comes to mind).

There does exist the option of gaining a STAB thanks to Color Change, though that is largely out of our control and requires the opponent to act a certain way. This is something we could build around, however, based on how common a move is or if there are any types of moves we expect to be switching into a lot. So if we expect to take a lot of Ghost moves since that would exploit our ability, perhaps we'd want a Ghost move of our own.

The big concept we need to understand is that the longer CAP29 is on the field, the less likely they are to keep their original STAB combination. For a setup-sweeper that's realistically going to be attacked during setup and then face attempted revenge-kills after, this is especially important. Color Change further incentives the opponent to hit us with a different-type attack ASAP, just so that we can lose at least half of our potential STAB if not all of it.

2) What is our relation with self-resistant attacks? How should we prioritize the following interactions and is there room for Initial Immunities:
a) Initial Resist to Color Change Resist
b) Initial Neutrality to Color Change Resist
c) Initial Weakness to Color Change Resist
Priority should be focused on the B and C case. In terms of tanking hits, case A doesn't really matter. We may as well not changed typing at all. Obviously this is an exaggeration, as the type before may be better/worse for dealing with a specific Pokemon than the one after. In terms of taking the same hit twice, however, it adds nothing. B and C meanwhile actively improve our matchup, with the best outcome being the lauded "80/20" people have been talking about. Being able to turn a type disadvantage to an advantage is something we want to be sure to accomplish, as it is a feature unique to the mechanics of Color Change. The Initial Resist already gives us better odds of survival than the other two options, so to me it makes sense to try and shore up our interactions with Neutral>Resist and Weakness/Resist

As for Immunities to self-resistant attacks, I feel these are helpful in letting CAP29 accomplish its job. Simply put, limiting the opponent's options to hit us optimally lets us get more use out of Color Change. Suppose an opponent had STAB Psychic and Poison damage, and CAP29 had an initial Steel typing. If we were to CC into a Poison type, the opponent could smack us with a SE Psychic. However, our Steel typing means they cannot do so without first using a resisted Psychic, and then would have use a neutral Poison attack just so they can hit us SE with Psychic STAB. This additional turn of having to play around CC, thanks to the initial Immunity, gives us more time to setup.

3) What is our relation to self-weak attacks? How should we prioritize the following interactions:
a) Initial Resist to Color Change Weakness
b) Initial Neutrality to Color Change Weakness
c) Initial Weakness to Color Change Weakness

Dragon and Ghost are both scary outcomes to face, as they do the opposite of the 80/20: the 20/80. Not a flashy way of putting things, but you do die, which blows. Similarly, the priority should change to A and B: if we are already getting hit SE and change typing to also get hit SE, changing type does not really matter. The problem comes from taking hits worse the next turn than we did initially, and unfortunately for us, Dragon and Ghost are two of the least interactive types in the game. Both face only one resistance and one immunity: the rest of the 16 typings get hit for neutral damage or worse. The good news is that they both still face an immunity, and immunities are worth infinite resists in terms of taking damage. It's the same principal that has Tapu Koko run certain sets with the non-STAB non-Terrain Boosted U-Turn instead of Volt Switch, simply because the prospect of facing an immunity is that bad compared to running a substantially weaker, less offensively capable type.

An Immunity to the self-weak types (Dragon and Ghost) would mean that, in order to hit us with such an attack SE, the opponent has to spend more time hitting us with "less effective" moves so they can freely spam Dragon/Ghost moves on us. And the more time they waste not hitting us as hard as possible, the more time we have to do whatever is it CAP29 needs to do, as I had mentioned before.

I would like to echo Jewvia's very insightful post on the subject, as I agree with much of their points.

... If we want to play setup, then we need to do one of three things, which we need to consider for both Ghosts and Dragons separately.

1 - Initial Immunity to Self-Effective type. Normal for Ghost or Fairy for Dragon will prevent them from using the Dragon or Ghost spam at all, forcing them to waste turns switching our typing through multiple neutral hits until finally landing on that SE self-effective STAB (effectively giving us 2 free turns), or to switch out and give us just the one free turn.

2 - Ignore it. Chalk it up that Color Change inherently sucks against these typings. The initial Resist or Neutral hit isn't going to matter much when turns 2-KO are all going to be SE STAB moves. A 0.5x effective Shadow Ball followed by two 2x effective Shadow Balls isn't much worse than getting hit by it neutrally to start with.

3 - Abuse it. This means going all in on that one typing with our combo, picking something that is immune or resistant to it as well as the STAB move itself as a reply. This means we would keep our immunity or resistance to it while benefitting from its offensive pressure. There are only 4 combos that can accomplish this, being Ghost/Normal, Ghost/Dark, Dragon/Steel, and Dragon/Fairy.

This outlines an important consideration we need to make in reference to CAP29: is the match-up against Dragon and/or Ghost worth investing resources against, or is it something we should just admit defeat to? Our choice in typing is going to have a vast effect on our ability to deal with them appropriately, and will also effect our other matchups in the process. Depending on what we value most, tying in a Dragon/Ghost immunity may be stretching the rest of our matchups too thin. I think it might be more worthwhile to improve our matchup with self-resisting moves rather than try to tilt the inherent disadvantage against Dragon/Ghost more in our favor. Our options for the latter are extremely limited in terms of type combinations, while the former leaves us with a ton of room to explore. I think it's best going forward to ensure we can use Color Change to actively keep us in a positive matchup, rather than trying to delay an inevitable "worst case scenario" against the self-effective types. If we can fit such immunities/advantages into CAP29 naturally, great, but I feel dwelling on it too long will leaves us prime to getting ripped open by strong neutral attacks from a lot of powerful threats in the meta right now. You're 80/20 isn't going to matter if the opponent just does 100 instead because we couldn't stomach the hit in the first place.

 

[Kveykva]

Alright so, I'm going to give a bit of forewarning with this to say I'm not nearly as tenured with competitive battling as most everyone else, but I wanted to try throwing in some suggestions to see if any of it sticks.

1) How much does initial typing matter?
The big question, which as stated by Jewvia, is answered by the results of two and three. The initial typing of 29 dictates when and how we can switch in, and if coming in less than safely, what kind of damage we're expecting to soak up before we can set up (both from an offensive attack and hazards if applicable).


2) What is our relation with self-resistant attacks? How should we prioritize the following interactions and is there room for Initial Immunities:
a) Initial Resist to Color Change Resist
b) Initial Neutrality to Color Change Resist
c) Initial Weakness to Color Change Resist
While scenario A isn't too appealing when it comes to the advantage of color change, switching into a self resist that allows us to keep our initial typing for at least another turn is potentially valuable, so I wouldn't disregard that idea just yet.
B and C however are far more interesting to consider; neutrality to resist is clearly the more attractive option and questionably more common, but if our initial typing provides us with the tools to shrug a super effective hit and resist the second well, then that's bait enough to start setting up.
Concerning scenario C, Metric brought up a very interesting point of a typing with a key weakness that results in a self resist turn two.
That said, while there is certainly space for initial immunities, I wouldn't say they're crucial for 29 to fill its role to the best of its ability. Our job as the player is to fully utilize the mon and work with its advantages and disadvantages, which is where knowing the right time for a switch in comes into play.

3) What is our relation to self-weak attacks? How should we prioritize the following interactions:
a) Initial Resist to Color Change Weakness
b) Initial Neutrality to Color Change Weakness
c) Initial Weakness to Color Change Weakness
Ghost and Dragon, I've seen it in just about every post here. And for good reason, they are both types to be reckoned with and fairly common throughout, both as STAB and more rarely as coverage (ghost moreso than dragon).
Scenario C is not something to be trifled with. Perhaps 29 can eat the first hit, but that still more than likely means a 2HKO, and a guaranteed 3HKO, and our entry turns are spent recovering (fearing a sp.def drop from shadow ball, anyone?). Facing off against a self weak should come as a fight we've prepared for with one or two boosts on our side, ideally.
Of course immunities to either of these would make for a perfect counter, but honestly you shouldn't be switching in on them in the first place. A resist for one of these types is best case, as the worst you get away with is that 20/80 shift that changes a 2HKO into a 3 or 4, and that initial 20 could mean one vital bulk up or calm mind that allows you to successfully survive more and more super effective hits.
With scenario B, taking that first neutral hit would be preferably not on a switch but the turn after, where we get that single less-than-free stat boost to bolster our defenses. At that point crits are the only scary thing if we play our cards right.

Returning to question 1)
Initial typing matters quite a bit, as it determines just how many chances 29 will have to switch in and set up effectively. The following parts I'll answer separately
a) Should we expect to rely primarily on our initial typing to generate switch-in opportunities, or should we expect to rely on Color Change?
To kind of parrot shnowshner, initial typing and the color change result both matter. The initial type allows the switch, but that's pointless if the resulting type forces us to retreat; at that point it's senseless chip that could have been avoided. The goal of 29 and the best way to utilize color change is subvert damage or force out threats in order to give ourselves opportunities to set up, both to make up for loss of STAB and add a bit of bulk to better shrug super effective retaliations or combos.
Another factor that plays into our starting type is hazards. Stealth rocks can be detrimental, and while boots are an option, leftovers can mean the difference between a 2 or 3 hit KO. Spikes are spikes, and considering 29 as a bulky sweeper, sticky web isn't the worst. I'm of the opinion we could get away with neutral stealth rock damage, but our biggest threat is toxic spikes when they're around.
b) Can we expect to attack with STAB? If so can we expect that to be a significant fraction of the attacks we use?
This is heavily situational, I feel like. Having STAB gives us the offense to threaten the opponent we would normally have from boosts, if we aren't in a place to set up. Reliability on STAB may also depend on speed tier, but that's a question for another day. I would say yes it's safe to assume we'll have STAB at least part of our time on the field, but it will not be our main source of power.
Something to consider with 29's STAB is its offensive utility; if at least one of our types has access to a threatening STAB, the potential to force a switch becomes very real to mons who don't care as much about self resists or playing type bingo.
Similarly, another thing to consider with STAB is priority; both ours or the opponent's. Having STAB priority negates the need for a couple boosts to reliably deal damage, and revenge killing also generates one more turn of keeping your initial typing. To contrast, opponent's priority negates our typing completely regardless of speed, though to me this feels like less of a problem since we're prepared to deal with missing STAB already. Still, it's something to consider.

I imagine my views are pretty similar to what's already been discussed, but I tried to include a few fresh concepts as well

 

[quziel]

Ok, so the response to these questions has been great, and I'd like to ask a few more:

4) How important is being immune to status?
a) How much value does a Toxic immunity offer in the context of a bulky setup sweeper?
b) How much value does a Burn immunity offer in the context of a bulky setup sweeper?
c) How much value does a Paralysis immunity offer in the context of a bulky setup sweeper?

5) How much should we value keeping our typing by switching into same-type attacks (eg a Water/Ground switching into Earthquake would stay a Water/Ground)?

 

[dex]

4) While I would say it would be nice to be immune to a status that particularly hurts CAP 29, it may not be worth the trouble. For instance, if a Dragapult is reading a switch, it could first Hex, then Will-O-Wisp, permanently crippling CAP 29 if it is physical leaning. Given that we have little control over our typing, our focus should be on what attacks (or more specifically, attackers) we want to be able to come in on safely and stay in on.

4a) If we are going with an immunity, Toxic would most likely be our best option. I believe this because CAP 29 should be able to force out common Toxic users like Swampert or Landorus with coverage, not giving them the free turn to hit with a type-changing attack on a switch and then Toxic the next turn.

4b) Burn is the least important of our concerns. Common Wisp users like Pult will most likely be able to predict a switch and then cripple a physical leaning CAP 29 with a burn. I understand the desire to avoid Scald burns, but very little stops mons like Pex or Slowking from just spamming the move to fish for a burn.

4c) Paralysis would be a nice immunity to have, given that Astrolotl will now be running it quite a lot. That being said, it's more of a "would be nice to have" than anything else, and CAP 29 should not be putting itself in a position to get afflicted with a status that often anyways.

 

[Krazyguy75]

Is there any significant value into status immunity that is instantly removed when hit by any coverage? I guess there’s a tiny bit if we get switched in on KO or tele, but in general we will already have lost any type based immunity on the switch or at most the next turn.

But #5 is a more interesting question, to which my answer is “only if it’s a starting type resistant to itself, common, and overall likely to resist or get switched to other resistant types.” If, as you say, we are water/ground, we actually net negative by staying the same type, as neither water nor ground are resisted by us, and changing to water would benefit us normally. But say we are grass/steel, and suddenly it’s different; in that example we have a double resistance to Rillaboom’s grass type, and keep it, plus 9 other types. Those are the interactions worth focusing on for this, not neutral into neutral interactions.

 

[PsychLantern]

Ok, so the response to these questions has been great, and I'd like to ask a few more:

4) How important is being immune to status?
a) How much value does a Toxic immunity offer in the context of a bulky setup sweeper?
b) How much value does a Burn immunity offer in the context of a bulky setup sweeper?
c) How much value does a Paralysis immunity offer in the context of a bulky setup sweeper?

5) How much should we value keeping our typing by switching into same-type attacks (eg a Water/Ground switching into Earthquake would stay a Water/Ground)?

4- If we want to make a sweeper, I feel like a Burn immunity is the most valuable, since it would keep its attack from being lowered very early on so it can properly sweep.
Paralysis sounds like another very interesting thing to consider due to the possibility of leaving the mon vulnerable so the foe can around its type or perhaps switch a counter in.
Finally, Poison, while something we should definitely be mindful of, doesn't really sound like something we should prioritize resisting. It would definitely be useful, but I don't feel like having its lifespan shortened by toxic poison is as much of an issue as an attack/speed nerf or being fully paralyzed when it comes to a sweeping mon.
Of course, the possibilities of including any of those 3 are more of an ensurance that the Pokémon wouldn't get too debilitated right after swtching in.

 

[StarFalcon555]

I think that the most important status immunity for a bulky set-up sweeper to have is an immunity to Toxic. A Burn immunity could also be important, but it depends on the stat spread; if we go special, we won't have to worry about Burn halving our Attack as much. And bulky Pokémon also tend to be slower, so Paralysis cutting our Speed won't make much of a difference as well. Toxic, however, will severely hamper our longevity and give us less opportunities to set up and sweep. Having an immunity to Toxic means that we don't have to worry about having any of our chances to sweep getting suddenly cut short.

 

[Gerard]

4) How important is being immune to status?

I feel it's important stretch how much we want to be switching into burn-inducing moves, all of Scald, Lava Plume and Scorching Sands have low base power and the former two become resisted hits on following turns, but are gonna be really hard to constantly switch into if we are weak to them. I think Burn is the best effect for us to absorb since we can stay in and set up while not risking any other status, this does force us to be Special, but being able to further use Color Change to set up on Scalds/Fire Moves and weak Scorching Sands is well worth it imo. In contrast we probably want to be immune or at least somewhat resistant to Discharge and Thunder Wave since Paralysis does make us a lot easier to both break through and revenge-kill.

 

[flying moose]

4a
How important are Toxic Spikes in the metagame at the moment? If they have a decent presence, then the ability to be initially immune to them or even absorb them could be huge. If it's mainly just the move Toxic that we have to worry about, then an initial immunity is... certainly something, but far less important. It could delay CAP29's inevitable Toxic doom against these threats, but the doom would still come eventually. That is, we could switch into Toxic for free, setup while they change our type, and setup again or start attacking while they finally set the Toxic. We would still be on the timer, but with this head start, we'd be able to get more accomplished before we bite the dust. This headstart would be lessened if they use an attack on the switchin instead of Toxic, but it would still be something. But generally CAP29 may still prefer to setup in front of other things so it doesn't have to deal with the timer at all, so if our initial typing lacks a Toxic immunity, we won't be quite as good at race-against-time style setup plays, meaning some unideal switchin opportunities will be even less ideal, but for the mons that we are good at switching into that lack Toxic, nothing changes. Since bulky setup is much worse at race-against-time sweeping than pure offensive setup, I think it may be more valuable to have an initial typing that improves our matchup against what we're good against rather than mitigate the clock on something that will still ultimately kill us.

 

[Amamama]

4) How important is being immune to status?
a) How much value does a Toxic immunity offer in the context of a bulky setup sweeper?
b) How much value does a Burn immunity offer in the context of a bulky setup sweeper?
c) How much value does a Paralysis immunity offer in the context of a bulky setup sweeper?

Being immune to status can be very valuable for 29. Statusmoves are one opportunity to switch in while keeping our typing.
Losing that additional opportunity to come in unscathed to getting toxiced, burned or paralyzed isn’t great.
On top of that we can provide our team with Status absorption if necessary, although obviously as a set up sweeper we want to stay unaffected by status as much as possible.
Every Status has the potential to stop a sweep, so having an initial immunity to any of these will at least buy some time to set up without being statused and thus increases our chances of pulling through with a sweep.

A) Starting with a poison immunity would be very valuable for 29. Poison, especially from Toxic, imo is the most detrimental Status for slow set up.
It effectively reduces the turns we can set up or attack and given that we might have to spend two or three turns boosting and/or recovering it would be great abounding this status as much as possibl
B) While burn is the most crippling for a physical sweeper, it would also be the easiest to circumvent, without having to worry about our type changing unfavorably, in just leaning specially offensive, which would only leave the chip damage of burns as an annoyance.
If we want to go physical though, having a burn immunity initially might still be interesting.
C) Most arguments before me have stated, that paralysis will not be as damaging for a bulky set up sweeper.
And I agree, that it is the least reliable at stopping a defensive mon from sweeping and this the least important to keep an eye on.

I want to note that dealing with status can be achieved by other means. Fast subs, berries, Rest or Cleric support are all options that can mitigate the effect of status.

Another thing that seems important, is that an immunity to these status is already inherent in self resisting typings, in Electric, Poison, Steel and Fire, which means we don’t necessarily have to choose between the two, because we can have both with some types.

5) How much should we value keeping our typing by switching into same-type attacks (eg a Water/Ground switching into Earthquake would stay a Water/Ground)?

This can be valuable sometimes.
It depends on which type combinations though.
For switching in on self resisting typings like Rillabooms grassy glide, it would be most interesting, if we had a secondary type, that gives us super effective STAB against Rillaboom and/or additionally resists grass.
For Example Grass/Fire would be a great type for switching in on grassy glide, as we keep our 4x resistance and SE stab against Rillaboom.
On the other hand if we were for example Grass/Electric it would functionally be no different, than any non grass type that resists grass, since we would have no STAB to hit Rillaboom SE and would have to rely on our defensive typing and/or Coverage to force it out.
In the case of neutral hits, as mentioned in the question, it depends on our secondary typing as well. In the mentioned scenario, getting to keep our water STAB on what’s likely a ground type, would certainly be beneficial.
On the other hand if we were to switch into a Scald instead the interaction would be a net negative, as instead of gaining a resist to water, we’d stay neutral to it.

Also note that all of this doesn’t apply to moves that are run as coverage, as the interaction would change.
For example switching in on a Hydreigon Earth Power would not change a water/ground types matchup in any significant way.

Another thing I have noticed, while looking through typical coverage moves for mons on the VR, is, that most coverage moves, that are run, belong to self resisting typings. The exception to this are fighting and ground coverage as well as Uturn.

 

[Jewvia]

I don't have much to add on 4 that hasn't been said by others. Paralysis isn't a death sentence, but it would be nice to have an immunity to it. Burn immunity is nice but it depends on how much we are switching into threats that can inflict burn like Moltres or Slowking. Poison/Toxic is incredibly common, and its universally damaging to our much slower target playstyle.

5) How much should we value keeping our typing by switching into same-type attacks

I think its important to keep in mind. This is an excellent way to be targeting specific self-neutral neutral matchups such as Ground (as in the example), Fairy, Fighting, etc etc. However this depends entirely on how common a move is, and how common the reply is. If we go in as a Steel/Ground to punish steel attacks with an SE STAB Earthquake... More often than not, its not going to work. Some threats like Equilibra are immune to it, while others like Gyro Ball Ferrothorn or even Excadrill may just bully us out anyways if we are relying on that Earthquake. Really, this specific combo just helps with Melmetal and Magearna, which is still nice, but its not as universal as it looks at first glance.

It is 100% important to be looking at, and can be the difference between (picking two obviously bad examples) Ice/Ground that can punish Garchomp with STAB and Ice/Water that doesn't. Its not the top priority or why we should be picking a type, we shouldn't be picking the probably not useful Ice/Ground just because it helps us shut down Garchomp, but if we were seriously looking at that typing combination, the Garchomp shutdown would make it that much more appealing. For a more serious type, replace Garchomp with Fairyspam or Hurricane, or something else entirely. Its valuable if we are keeping STAB to take out something that we are currently neutral or weak to above all. The Rillaboom examples above I am not as much of a fan of, since we are already naturally punishing Rillaboom natively via Color Change.

 

[kjnjkmjk1]

How important are Toxic Spikes in the metagame at the moment?

As far as I'm aware, Toxic Spikes are not particularly prominent, especially in comparison to Stealth Rocks (because Stealth Rocks) and Spikes (because Astrolotl and Ferrothorn, and to a much lesser extent Arghonaut). The only setter who would be willing to run them is Toxapex, and even then it may prefer other tools. The main source of poison is really just Toxic (and poison chances from Gunk Shot/Sludge Bomb, although normal poison is arguably less of a nuisance than bad poison).

To answer one of the questions at hand:
4) How important is being immune to status?
a) How much value does a Toxic immunity offer in the context of a bulky setup sweeper?
b) How much value does a Burn immunity offer in the context of a bulky setup sweeper?
c) How much value does a Paralysis immunity offer in the context of a bulky setup sweeper?
A status immunity built into our typing is a bit finicky, in that it will likely disappear when our typing changes. However, buying ourselves extra time and extra switchins by being able to ignore these statuses and forcing opponents to waste turns opening us up can be decently valuable.
As others have pointed out, Paralysis isn't the biggest hinderance to us. Losing turns to full paralysis sucks, and getting outsped before we can properly set up could be a problem, but us going the bulky route means we don't lean quite as much on outspeeding things to get going. An immunity is certainly nice, but for us I don't think it's so much that we'd go out of our way for one.
The impact of burn really depends on which way we lean, physical or special. If we're special, burn only impacts us by being a constant passive damage source, in which case an immunity would be nice, but not a complete necessity. If we're physical, it becomes a lot more important for us to not get crippled immediately and have to boost ourselves back into relevant power levels. Of course, the fact that setup requires us to stay in means that they have the turns to remove the typing immunity and burn us, but we may be able to accumulate enough boosts to negate the burn and do enough damage.
Toxic is the most damaging status to us, as it prevents us from sticking around for extended periods of time, further shortening our timer (already short from the opponent manipulating our type). flying moose brought up a point that bulky setup is already not great at doing "race-against-time" plays, and we would need to reach a point where we can be good to go by the time the opponent manages to hit the Toxic, which is a bit up in the air without knowing what our method of setting up is. I still do think that buying ourselves an extra turn or two is definitely nice enough that a Toxic immunity is more valuable than the other two statuses, although I'm not sure how objectively valuable it is, even with the added benefit of getting to dodge regular poison.