Competitive use of Plates

Vemane

Recently I have considered the value of "plates". With a 1.5 boost to an attacking type with no penalty, in theory it appears that they can be quite viable.


For example:
You have a banded azu
The band gives all of your attacks a 1.5 boost, making you quite the powerhouse
Aqua Jet/waterfall (being the main moves being used) will easily ko, let's say, a doryuzu. But what if a ferrothorn switches in? you have to switch, he sets up, etc. it's a big mess in general

But what if it was given a splash plate which would pseudo-band aqua jet and waterfall and then allow for more coverage?

It provides less power in all of your moves, thus giving less coverage, but when you are locked into a choice move, your coverage is far smaller
 
Choice Band gives you a 1.5 boost to your Attack stat, not your moves. And the plates dont give you a 1.5 boost to your moes its much lower (like 1.2, or something like that). Plate are only useful on things like Arceus and... thats almost it.
 
In DW OU, SDTechniLoom is quite good with fist plate. The power decrease compared to LO is most definitely apparent but it's nice to bluff items. During the time of Chandy, it was just fucking awesome.
 
Plates are pretty good on pokemon that want to feign Choice sets but don't have the super-effective coverage to use Expert Belt well. For example, Haxorus makes pretty good use of Draco Plate for boosting the power of its most useful moves without any repercussions, and using Dual Chop or Dragon Claw to scout as the opponent switches in something vulnerable to Earthquake is pretty neat. Likewise, Scizor uses iron Plate occasionally to feign a CB set with Bullet Punch and then uses stuff like U-Turn or SD to foil its checks.
 
First off, it raises the power by 1.2 times, so that’s why they are rarely used. For example, I will used your own Azumarill example:

Choice Band Azumarill Aqua Jet to Excadrill: 99.45% - 117.68% (92.3% chance to 1HKO)
Splash Plate Azumarill Aqua Jet to Excadrill: 79.56% - 94.48%

As you can see this is a significant power drop between the 2.

I am not totally putting down the elemental plates though, they work great for pokemon that need to switch moves, but don't mind a power drop, for example in the past I used a sharp beak Tornadus, the .1 damage difference did rarely matter between it and life orb, and I got all the KOs I needed with it with my other moves, but without life orb recoil. So if you often find yourself with a life orb using the same move over and over again, but need to switch occasionally (so choice band/specs isn't an options) then try out the plates.
 
yeah, that power drop is pretty significant, i really dont think that plates are very viable at least imo.
 
Scarfwynaut said:
First off, it raises the power by 1.2 times, so that’s why they are rarely used. For example, I will used your own Azumarill example:

Choice Band Azumarill Aqua Jet to Excadrill: 99.45% - 117.68% (92.3% chance to 1HKO)
Splash Plate Azumarill Aqua Jet to Excadrill: 79.56% - 94.48%

As you can see this is a significant power drop between the 2.

I am not totally putting down the elemental plates though, they work great for pokemon that need to switch moves, but don't mind a power drop, for example in the past I used a sharp beak Tornadus, the .1 damage difference did rarely matter between it and life orb, and I got all the KOs I needed with it with my other moves, but without life orb recoil. So if you often find yourself with a life orb using the same move over and over again, but need to switch occasionally (so choice band/specs isn't an options) then try out the plates.
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I see. I wasn't aware that it was 1.2 rather than 1.5.

Expert belt would work better in that case.

/nevermind
 
I agree with Lordkira and GTM though. It is great tactic to bluff choice Items to nab an easy hit or KO. So its not completely useless. I think non-acrobat Archeops uses Stone Plate as well.
 
Scarfwynaut said:
I am not totally putting down the elemental plates though, they work great for pokemon that need to switch moves, but don't mind a power drop, for example in the past I used a sharp beak Tornadus, the .1 damage difference did rarely matter between it and life orb, and I got all the KOs I needed with it with my other moves, but without life orb recoil. So if you often find yourself with a life orb using the same move over and over again, but need to switch occasionally (so choice band/specs isn't an options) then try out the plates.
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This is definitely a great point though. An example for me would be Technician Hitmontop as I end up spamming Mach Punch/Close Combat more often than not and the extra .1 from Life Orb is negligible seeing as I need all the HP I can get from Hitmontop. It has worked great on him. All purpose sweepers definitely want bands/Expert Belt/Life Orb though.
 
Speaking objectively on the situation I find plates to be of highly effective use competitively, because after you've thrown one at the head of your opponent you can use the shards as shrapnel or fasten a shiv out of the residue.
 
Plates are useful on certain Pokemon. Especially SR weak pokes. I use an Icicle Plate on Mamoswine sometimes.
 
i think the topic starter confused the plates with the gems which do give a 1.5X boost but only once.
 
The way I see it that dragon types(as a generalisation) benefit most from a plate than other types, the reason being dragon being a good offensive STAB due to having one resistance, and only being SE against other dragons doesn't warrant an expert belt, since most of the time you'll be using your STAB anyway. eg. DD latios, outrage/draco mence. Either way, it depends on what poke you're running, clearly the regular latios set benefits from EB as well as something else like hydregion.
 
Yea, I use Draco Plate quite often. I use it on my mixed DD Salamence to boost both Draco Meteor and Outrage, but found that with SR, Sandstorm and Life Orb, it died way too quickly. Draco Plate gives a similar boost for Salamence's spamming moves while helping it live slightly longer.
 
Plates are definiatly useful! For example, my Typhlosion is the Standard Eruption/FB/HP Electric set. Usually, i use a Choice Specs/Scarf set, but i find that the problem with them is that being locked onto Eruption does not help, especially when Typhlosion get's a health drop or is up against a Heatran or other FF abusers. Naturally, the best idea would be to switch out, but since your opponnent suspects that, it is a much better idea to stay in, actually holding a Flare(?) Plate, so you can take those Heatrans by surprise with a Focus Blast, or zap some water types with HP electric! So mostly, it's a bluffing item.
 
How is expert belt better in the case I am spamming stab hurricanes? Expert belt only works if my moves are super effective, the flying type is a great nuetral coverage attack, but it only hits grass, bug, and fighting types super effectively.
 
jewels are incredible in battle subway for fast pokemon looking to hit something for essentially a one turn choiced boost, but afterwards have the option to switch attack.

in competitive play the held items identity is better kept hidden if you can help it, and switching out is never too far away.
 
Actually, the little items are better than plates since some random could potentially trick and fling the plates for a lot of damage, while tricking and flinging an item like Mysticwater or Blackglasses only do 10 damage. It's gimmicky, but hey! No harm trying!
 
Trick AND Fling? Does anything actually use that combination, or are you just derping, min min? :P
 
JT Swift said:
Trick AND Fling? Does anything actually use that combination, or are you just derping, min min? :P
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It's the same reason you use 0 atk IVs on your Espeon: every once in a while it randomly can help, even though you are damn sure it never will.
 
They have a small amount of use, but I don't really see the point in a large-scale discussion about them when they shouldn't be used as primary item choices. Sure they have some use in Subway because of the item clause, but there is almost definitely a better choice of an item in competitive play. For your Azumarill - Ferrothorn example, you could also use a Life Orb or Expert Belt to a similar effect while doing even more damage to Ferrothorn

R_N said:
consumables refill between subway matches, iirc
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I figured this went without saying but yeah
 
It is important to point the factor to lure the opponent you are using a Choice item instead(specially Scarf), specially on pokemon that usually carry these items.

Xpert-belt is better to Electivire or the like, for example Starmie(but in this case, I consider Life Orb better)
 
I remember using a Silk Scarf Ambipom last gen in UU (and Persian in NU).That said, I'd probably consider it on certain frail support Pokemon.
 
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