Re-approved by in the hills and drampa's grandpa | Banner by Swiffix | Concept credit goes to Nitro Indigo
Are there any Pokémon you wish were better offensively, but most of their good moves run off their lower attacking stat? Well, wish no more! In Category Swap, all physical moves are special, and all special moves are physical. Stats still work the same; for example, Salazzle’s Nasty Plot still boosts its base 111 special attack, but now it’s better at using Flare Blitz than Fire Blast.
Banlist
Standard OMs, Sleep Clause Mod
Koraidon, Miraidon, Arceus (all formes), Calyrex (both formes), Zacian (both formes), Zamazenta-Crowned, Dialga (both formes), Palkia (both formes), Giratina (both formes), Magearna, Mewtwo, Rayquaza, Groudon, Kyogre, Regieleki, Chi-Yu, Landorus-I, Spectrier, Darkrai, Iron Valiant
Indigo Disk DLC Additions [NEW]
Deoxys-Attack, Deoxys-Base, Ho-oh, Kyurem-Black, Kyurem-White, Lunala, Necrozma-Dawn-Wings, Necrozma-Dusk-Mane, Reshiram, Solgaleo, Zekrom
- Arena Trap
- Shadow Tag
- Moody
- Baton Pass
- Draco Meteor
- Last Respects
- Overheat
- Shed Tail
- King's Rock
- Razor Fang
Strategy
A lot of Pokémon gain coverage options, or can finally take advantage of their STAB… while others lose them. Defensive Pokémon and mixed attackers stay mostly the same.
Note: The teambuilder automatically sets a Pokémon’s attack IV to 0 if it knows no physical moves. Since it doesn’t take Category Swap’s mechanics into account, be sure to check your Pokémon’s IVs before entering battles.
- TBA!
Gyarados @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Hurricane
- Thunderbolt / Thunder
- Dragon Dance
Out of the sample sets in the original thread’s first post, Gyarados is the only one who returns. Hydro Pump is much stronger than Waterfall, and Hurricane is slightly more reliable than Bounce. Use Thunder if you have rain support; use Thunderbolt otherwise.
Roaring Moon @ Booster Energy / Life Orb
Ability: Protosynthesis
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Flamethrower / Fire Blast
- Dark Pulse
- Dragon Pulse
Roaring Moon’s only physical Fire move is Fire Fang, so it can take even more advantage of the sun with its more powerful special Fire moves. With this stat spread, Protosynthesis boosts its attack, but 370 speed + Dragon Dance is nothing to sneeze at. If you’re not too worried about coverage, you could replace one of its attacks with U-Turn. It also learns Hurricane and Hydro Pump, so it could have a niche on rain teams.
Dragapult @ Choice Band
Ability: Infiltrator
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Pulse
- Shadow Ball
- Hydro Pump
- U-turn
Dragapult can now abuse its great special movepool with its higher stat.
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Hurricane
- Thunderbolt / Thunder
- Dragon Dance
Out of the sample sets in the original thread’s first post, Gyarados is the only one who returns. Hydro Pump is much stronger than Waterfall, and Hurricane is slightly more reliable than Bounce. Use Thunder if you have rain support; use Thunderbolt otherwise.
Roaring Moon @ Booster Energy / Life Orb
Ability: Protosynthesis
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Flamethrower / Fire Blast
- Dark Pulse
- Dragon Pulse
Roaring Moon’s only physical Fire move is Fire Fang, so it can take even more advantage of the sun with its more powerful special Fire moves. With this stat spread, Protosynthesis boosts its attack, but 370 speed + Dragon Dance is nothing to sneeze at. If you’re not too worried about coverage, you could replace one of its attacks with U-Turn. It also learns Hurricane and Hydro Pump, so it could have a niche on rain teams.
Dragapult @ Choice Band
Ability: Infiltrator
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Pulse
- Shadow Ball
- Hydro Pump
- U-turn
Dragapult can now abuse its great special movepool with its higher stat.
Q&A
Do Body Press and Foul Play work the same as usual?
Body Press does, because it substitutes the user's attacking stat for its defense in its damage calculation, but Foul Play now uses the target's special attack. In both cases, they also use the target’s special defense like all formerly-physical moves.
How does Psyshock work?
Psyshock would still calculate damage based on the target’s defense, so there’s no point in using it over any other special-now-physical Psychic move.
What triggers Counter and Mirror Coat?
Those moves check if the opponent used a move tagged as physical or special. Since all damaging moves’ tags are swapped around in this meta, Counter would reflect special-now-physical moves, while Mirror Coat would reflect physical-now-special moves.
Which moves make contact?
Whether a move makes contact or not is independent of whether it's physical or special, so moves that make contact under normal circumstances will still do so here. However, since most contact moves are physical in standard play, this means that Rocky Helmet will punish special attackers more in this meta.
What about burn and confusion?
Burn halves the power of moves that are now physical, while confusion damage is still physical.
How does Tera Blast work?
The same as usual; it becomes the category that corresponds to the higher attack stat. When terastallized, Tera Blast is physical.
Resources
Playability
Gen 9 Category Swap is currently not playable as a ladder on any Showdown server, but you can challenge someone to a match with this command:
/challenge gen9anythinggoes @@@ Standard OMs, Sleep Clause Mod, Category Swap Mod, -Arena Trap, -Moody, -Shadow Tag, -King's Rock, -Razor Fang, -Baton Pass, -Draco Meteor, -Overheat, -Last Respects, -Shed Tail, -Miraidon, -Koraidon, -Arceus, -Calyrex-Shadow, -Calyrex-Ice, -Zacian, -Zacian-Crowned, -Zamazenta-Crowned, -Dialga, -Dialga-Origin, -Palkia, -Palkia-Origin, -Giratina, -Giratina-Origin, -Magearna, -Mewtwo, -Rayquaza, -Groudon, -Kyogre, -Regieleki, -Chi-Yu, -Landorus-base, -Spectrier, -Darkrai, -Iron valiant, -Deoxys-Attack, -Deoxys-Base, -Ho-oh, -Kyurem-Black, -Kyurem-White, -Lunala, -Necrozma-Dawn-Wings, -Necrozma-Dusk-Mane, -Reshiram, -Solgaleo, -Zekrom
Council
zastra
Tea Guzzler
Velcroc
kenn
Changelog
DATE | UPDATE |
---|---|
10/11/2023 | |
13/11/2023 | |
19/11/2023 | |
17/12/2023 |
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