Status: Ready for GP checking
This has been a rather awkward analysis, since I didn't bring a computer on holiday, so after a few attempts at doing it bit by bit at internet cafes (and many thoroughly annoying accidental window closures and pressing of the 'back' button) I wrote the whole thing out on paper and am now attempting to copy out in my free evenings. Please bear with me while I try to get it done.
Initial additions:
(Heysup)
(Bluewind)
(uragg)
(Snorlaxe)
http://www.smogon.com/dp/pokemon/electabuzz
-----------------------------------------------------------------
[Overview]
<p>Electabuzz, a highly popular Underused Pokemon in RSE, received both a blessing and a curse in the transition to the DPP metagame - while it struggles to regain its old popularity in the Underused tier, it was blessed with an evolution, Electivire, who ascended the ranks into Overused. Pokemon who Electabuzz once dominated entirely and Pokemon who didn't exist in RSE now compete with Electabuzz for a spot on a team, and Electabuzz simply does not have enough going for it to merit its old popularity. The most notable of the Pokemon who have crept out from Electabuzz's old shadow is Manectric, who is now blessed with an extended movepool and is almost always a far more usable choice. Despite this, Electabuzz is still a reasonably good mixed sweeper, and unlike Manectric, it is still able to defeat Chansey one-on-one. Though certainly not the best, it is definitely not the worst at its job and occupies its own unique niche in the metagame.</p>
[SET]
name: Life Orb
move 1: Thunderbolt
move 2: Hidden Power Grass / Hidden Power Ice
move 3: Cross Chop / Focus Blast
move 4: Psychic / Substitute
item: Life Orb
nature: Hasty
evs: 4 Atk / 252 SAtk / 252 Spe
ivs: 29 HP
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>What sets Electabuzz apart from the crowd is its excellent Speed, which coupled with its acceptable offensive stats makes it an effective mixed late-game cleaner. Thunderbolt is the STAB move of choice, with good neutral coverage as well as useful super effective coverage on bulky Water-types. For the second moveslot, a Hidden Power of your choice can be employed in order to hit certain targets. With Hidden Power Grass, you can hit Pokemon who are immune to Electabuzz's STAB, such as Rhyperior, Lanturn, and Quagsire, super effectively, usually making it the best choice. Hidden Power Ice, on the other hand, achieves much more general coverage, with the combination of Thunderbolt + Hidden Power Ice hitting almost every Pokemon in the game for neutral damage.</p>
<p>Electabuzz suffers from being perpetually compared to Manectric on all counts since they share the same ability, same typing, same Speed, and similar movepools, though Manectric has slightly higher Special Attack to Electabuzz's slightly higher Attack. While Manectric is certainly more a more accomplished special sweeper, Electabuzz has a number of moves that give it an advantage in certain situations. The most notable of these is Cross Chop, which with minimal investment 2HKOes standard 252 Defense Calm Chansey, who is the most prominent special sponge in UU and Manectric's greatest nemesis. If you run Hidden Power Ice, however, it may be worth your while to run Focus Blast, a stronger special attack that can OHKO Steelix and offensive Rhyperior. In the last slot, Psychic is necessary if you chose Hidden Power Grass in order to strike Venusaur, who otherwise walls Electabuzz. If you chose any other Hidden Power, then Substitute is an excellent choice to allow Electabuzz to scout, ease prediction on the switch, and avoid status afflictions.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>If you don't like Cross Chop's accuracy, there are a number of alternatives available. Focus Punch pairs well with Substitute and can OHKO Calm Chansey after Stealth Rock damage and 2HKO 252 HP Registeel, but is useless if you don't have a Substitute up. Low Kick is stronger against Registeel but fails to 2HKO Chansey. Toxic is also an option to increase residual damage on walls such as Donphan and Uxie, making them more easily worn down over time. Charge Beam can be used in the hope that it will grant Electabuzz a Special Attack boost. Hidden Power Fire is also an option, as it provides coverage against Steelix and Grass-types. The EVs are fairly straightforward sweeping EVs, while a 29 HP IV is advised to allow a maximum of 11 uses of Life Orb rather than 10.</p>
[Team Options]
<p>Entry hazards are indescribably important when running Electabuzz, since it often lacks the necessary power to deal with the bulkier Pokemon of Underused. Spikes and Stealth Rock damage go a long way in granting Electabuzz those crucial OHKOs and 2HKOs before it can be harmed. It is also advisable that you have a way of making sure that your entry hazards stay on the field, be it by spinblockers, such as Spiritomb, or by a reliable way of removing such commonly used Rapid Spin users like Hitmontop and Donphan. Other important support tactics for aiding Electabuzz include Wish support, as Electabuzz will often find itself very low on health through weaker attacks and passive damage.</p>
<p>It is necessary to weaken Electabuzz's common responses, most notably Registeel and Steelix (if you lack Hidden Power Fire or Focus Blast), if you want it to clean up. If they lack Shed Shell, both can be trapped by Magneton and Dugtrio. However, you must be wary, as Earthquake and Iron Head from either will do significant damage to Magneton and Dugtrio, respectively. For a more general response, a bulky Water-type is your best shot at taking down Steelix and other Ground-types, and a strong Fire- or Fighting-type can deal with Registeel. Lacking Hidden Power Fire, Ice, or Psychic leaves Electabuzz vulnerable to Venusaur, so Registeel can be a useful ally to deal with it and other specially-oriented threats. However, using Registeel with Electabuzz comes at the expense of creating a large Ground-type weakness for your team.</p>
<p>Another useful partner to consider is Venusaur itself, whose STAB moves gain super effective coverage on Ground- and Grass-types, the most common types in UU that resist Electabuzz's STAB. Venusaur is also useful for taking care of such foes as Donphan, Tangrowth, Lanturn, and Quagsire, since all of them give Electabuzz trouble depending on what Hidden Power it is running. Other Pokemon to watch out for include those who have very high defensive stats and no weaknesses to the moves Electabuzz commonly carries. This overall category is serviced adequately by wallbreakers; Absol and Drapion both have STAB Night Slash and Pursuit to deal with the Psychic- and Ghost-types while Blaziken's powerful Fire Blast will weaken Uxie and Arcanine. Weezing makes for another good partner as it is a fairly solid stop to most Grass-, Fighting-, and Ground-types, while also having excellent defensive synergy with Registeel.</p>
[Optional Changes]
<p>On the special side, Discharge and Thunder are both alternatives to Thunderbolt as the STAB move of choice, with Discharge having lower raw power than Thunderbolt but a higher paralysis chance, and Thunder having more power, less accuracy, and the same paralysis chance as Discharge. Neither is wholly reliable, however, so Thunderbolt is usually the best choice. Focus Blast is another notable option for its ability to OHKO Steelix, but its low accuracy is a massive turn-off. Other moves that have some utility are those that catch some of the lesser seen special walls off-guard: Signal Beam hits Hypno, Uxie, and Grumpig for slightly more damage than a neutral Thunderbolt would.</p>
<p>On the physical side, one can employ a SubPunch strategy with Substitute and Focus Punch, allowing Electabuzz to 2HKO Registeel and OHKO Chansey. The only other physical moves of note, aside from Return, are the elemental punches. Each may be used as a coverage move or as an alternative to Hidden Power in certain situations. Toxic allows Electabuzz to hit bulky Pokemon such as Uxie and Spiritomb on the switch-in. Charge Beam can boost Electabuzz's Special Attack, but Charge Beam Electabuzz is pretty much entirely outclassed by Manectric. Lastly, Screech can allow Electabuzz to OHKO Chansey with Cross Chop.</p>
<p>Electabuzz's most indispensable asset is undoubtedly its Speed, and so it is almost always profitable to invest as much as possible in it. 252 Speed EVs and a Naive nature allows Electabuzz to outpace Timid 252 Speed Hidden Power Fighting Mismagius and tie with other positive-natured base 105s such as Scyther and Manectric. If you wish to invest more in other stats, 216 Speed EVs and a Naive nature allows Electabuzz to beat positive-natured base 100s such as Typhlosion. Next in order of importance are its offensive stats. The majority of EVs should be invested in the attacking stat you are focusing on, while you can divert some EVs to the other if you wish. When going mixed, remember that the most prominent special wall, Chansey, is 2HKOed by Cross Chop without any investment, and the most prominent physical wall, Steelix, is 2HKOed by Focus Blast without investment. Thus, not many EVs are needed to bypass common threats to solo stat sweepers. The more Electabuzz invests in its main attacking stat the better, for it is nowhere near as strong as some other popular mixed sweepers. Lastly, your HP stat should end in a 9 if you use Life Orb to minimize recoil damage.</p>
[Counters]
<p>Registeel is almost a complete stop to Electabuzz, easily shrugging off anything Electabuzz has to throw at it thanks to its titanic defenses. The best Electabuzz can muster is Cross Chop, which is not even guaranteed to 3HKO specially defensive variants. Steelix is more or less in the same boat, though it fears Hidden Power Fire and Focus Blast. Earthquake from Registeel or Steelix easily puts away Electabuzz for good. Uxie has great defensive stats as well, taking little damage from Signal Beam or Thunderbolt and hitting back with Thunder Wave or STAB Psychic. Rotom resists nearly everything from a standard mixed Electabuzz and can use STAB Shadow Ball, Thunder Wave, or Will-O-Wisp to cripple physical variants.</p>
<p>Ground- and Grass-types are immune to or resist Electabuzz's STAB attacks, and while they are often at risk of being hit by a super effective Hidden Power, those who are bulky enough to withstand one or two onslaughts make decent checks. Tangrowth and Donphan have high Defense and can take Ice Punch from physical Electabuzz, while specially defensive Venusaur can brush off Hidden Power Ice or Fire with Synthesis and hit back with its STAB moves. A special mention goes to Claydol, who resists all three entry hazards and has decent defensive stats, Rapid Spin, and STAB Earthquake. If Electabuzz lacks Hidden Power Grass, it is easily countered by Lanturn and Gastrodon.</p>
<p>Hypno and Grumpig both have high Special Defense and resist Cross Chop, making them excellent counters to Electabuzz. Keep in mind that Electabuzz is quite frail and easily revenge-killed, though there are not many Pokemon who are faster than it who are commonly used in UU. Swellow can revenge with Facade, but cannot risk switching into Thunderbolt. A special mention goes to Dugtrio, who is faster and can trap Electabuzz and kill it with STAB Earthquake.</p>
-----------------------------------------------------
Post-critique changes:
This has been a rather awkward analysis, since I didn't bring a computer on holiday, so after a few attempts at doing it bit by bit at internet cafes (and many thoroughly annoying accidental window closures and pressing of the 'back' button) I wrote the whole thing out on paper and am now attempting to copy out in my free evenings. Please bear with me while I try to get it done.
Initial additions:
- Wrote Special and Physical mix sets as preliminary options; more pending
- Wrote Team Options
- Wrote OO, EV, Counters and Opinion sections
http://www.smogon.com/dp/pokemon/electabuzz
-----------------------------------------------------------------
[Overview]
<p>Electabuzz, a highly popular Underused Pokemon in RSE, received both a blessing and a curse in the transition to the DPP metagame - while it struggles to regain its old popularity in the Underused tier, it was blessed with an evolution, Electivire, who ascended the ranks into Overused. Pokemon who Electabuzz once dominated entirely and Pokemon who didn't exist in RSE now compete with Electabuzz for a spot on a team, and Electabuzz simply does not have enough going for it to merit its old popularity. The most notable of the Pokemon who have crept out from Electabuzz's old shadow is Manectric, who is now blessed with an extended movepool and is almost always a far more usable choice. Despite this, Electabuzz is still a reasonably good mixed sweeper, and unlike Manectric, it is still able to defeat Chansey one-on-one. Though certainly not the best, it is definitely not the worst at its job and occupies its own unique niche in the metagame.</p>
[SET]
name: Life Orb
move 1: Thunderbolt
move 2: Hidden Power Grass / Hidden Power Ice
move 3: Cross Chop / Focus Blast
move 4: Psychic / Substitute
item: Life Orb
nature: Hasty
evs: 4 Atk / 252 SAtk / 252 Spe
ivs: 29 HP
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>What sets Electabuzz apart from the crowd is its excellent Speed, which coupled with its acceptable offensive stats makes it an effective mixed late-game cleaner. Thunderbolt is the STAB move of choice, with good neutral coverage as well as useful super effective coverage on bulky Water-types. For the second moveslot, a Hidden Power of your choice can be employed in order to hit certain targets. With Hidden Power Grass, you can hit Pokemon who are immune to Electabuzz's STAB, such as Rhyperior, Lanturn, and Quagsire, super effectively, usually making it the best choice. Hidden Power Ice, on the other hand, achieves much more general coverage, with the combination of Thunderbolt + Hidden Power Ice hitting almost every Pokemon in the game for neutral damage.</p>
<p>Electabuzz suffers from being perpetually compared to Manectric on all counts since they share the same ability, same typing, same Speed, and similar movepools, though Manectric has slightly higher Special Attack to Electabuzz's slightly higher Attack. While Manectric is certainly more a more accomplished special sweeper, Electabuzz has a number of moves that give it an advantage in certain situations. The most notable of these is Cross Chop, which with minimal investment 2HKOes standard 252 Defense Calm Chansey, who is the most prominent special sponge in UU and Manectric's greatest nemesis. If you run Hidden Power Ice, however, it may be worth your while to run Focus Blast, a stronger special attack that can OHKO Steelix and offensive Rhyperior. In the last slot, Psychic is necessary if you chose Hidden Power Grass in order to strike Venusaur, who otherwise walls Electabuzz. If you chose any other Hidden Power, then Substitute is an excellent choice to allow Electabuzz to scout, ease prediction on the switch, and avoid status afflictions.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>If you don't like Cross Chop's accuracy, there are a number of alternatives available. Focus Punch pairs well with Substitute and can OHKO Calm Chansey after Stealth Rock damage and 2HKO 252 HP Registeel, but is useless if you don't have a Substitute up. Low Kick is stronger against Registeel but fails to 2HKO Chansey. Toxic is also an option to increase residual damage on walls such as Donphan and Uxie, making them more easily worn down over time. Charge Beam can be used in the hope that it will grant Electabuzz a Special Attack boost. Hidden Power Fire is also an option, as it provides coverage against Steelix and Grass-types. The EVs are fairly straightforward sweeping EVs, while a 29 HP IV is advised to allow a maximum of 11 uses of Life Orb rather than 10.</p>
[Team Options]
<p>Entry hazards are indescribably important when running Electabuzz, since it often lacks the necessary power to deal with the bulkier Pokemon of Underused. Spikes and Stealth Rock damage go a long way in granting Electabuzz those crucial OHKOs and 2HKOs before it can be harmed. It is also advisable that you have a way of making sure that your entry hazards stay on the field, be it by spinblockers, such as Spiritomb, or by a reliable way of removing such commonly used Rapid Spin users like Hitmontop and Donphan. Other important support tactics for aiding Electabuzz include Wish support, as Electabuzz will often find itself very low on health through weaker attacks and passive damage.</p>
<p>It is necessary to weaken Electabuzz's common responses, most notably Registeel and Steelix (if you lack Hidden Power Fire or Focus Blast), if you want it to clean up. If they lack Shed Shell, both can be trapped by Magneton and Dugtrio. However, you must be wary, as Earthquake and Iron Head from either will do significant damage to Magneton and Dugtrio, respectively. For a more general response, a bulky Water-type is your best shot at taking down Steelix and other Ground-types, and a strong Fire- or Fighting-type can deal with Registeel. Lacking Hidden Power Fire, Ice, or Psychic leaves Electabuzz vulnerable to Venusaur, so Registeel can be a useful ally to deal with it and other specially-oriented threats. However, using Registeel with Electabuzz comes at the expense of creating a large Ground-type weakness for your team.</p>
<p>Another useful partner to consider is Venusaur itself, whose STAB moves gain super effective coverage on Ground- and Grass-types, the most common types in UU that resist Electabuzz's STAB. Venusaur is also useful for taking care of such foes as Donphan, Tangrowth, Lanturn, and Quagsire, since all of them give Electabuzz trouble depending on what Hidden Power it is running. Other Pokemon to watch out for include those who have very high defensive stats and no weaknesses to the moves Electabuzz commonly carries. This overall category is serviced adequately by wallbreakers; Absol and Drapion both have STAB Night Slash and Pursuit to deal with the Psychic- and Ghost-types while Blaziken's powerful Fire Blast will weaken Uxie and Arcanine. Weezing makes for another good partner as it is a fairly solid stop to most Grass-, Fighting-, and Ground-types, while also having excellent defensive synergy with Registeel.</p>
[Optional Changes]
<p>On the special side, Discharge and Thunder are both alternatives to Thunderbolt as the STAB move of choice, with Discharge having lower raw power than Thunderbolt but a higher paralysis chance, and Thunder having more power, less accuracy, and the same paralysis chance as Discharge. Neither is wholly reliable, however, so Thunderbolt is usually the best choice. Focus Blast is another notable option for its ability to OHKO Steelix, but its low accuracy is a massive turn-off. Other moves that have some utility are those that catch some of the lesser seen special walls off-guard: Signal Beam hits Hypno, Uxie, and Grumpig for slightly more damage than a neutral Thunderbolt would.</p>
<p>On the physical side, one can employ a SubPunch strategy with Substitute and Focus Punch, allowing Electabuzz to 2HKO Registeel and OHKO Chansey. The only other physical moves of note, aside from Return, are the elemental punches. Each may be used as a coverage move or as an alternative to Hidden Power in certain situations. Toxic allows Electabuzz to hit bulky Pokemon such as Uxie and Spiritomb on the switch-in. Charge Beam can boost Electabuzz's Special Attack, but Charge Beam Electabuzz is pretty much entirely outclassed by Manectric. Lastly, Screech can allow Electabuzz to OHKO Chansey with Cross Chop.</p>
<p>Electabuzz's most indispensable asset is undoubtedly its Speed, and so it is almost always profitable to invest as much as possible in it. 252 Speed EVs and a Naive nature allows Electabuzz to outpace Timid 252 Speed Hidden Power Fighting Mismagius and tie with other positive-natured base 105s such as Scyther and Manectric. If you wish to invest more in other stats, 216 Speed EVs and a Naive nature allows Electabuzz to beat positive-natured base 100s such as Typhlosion. Next in order of importance are its offensive stats. The majority of EVs should be invested in the attacking stat you are focusing on, while you can divert some EVs to the other if you wish. When going mixed, remember that the most prominent special wall, Chansey, is 2HKOed by Cross Chop without any investment, and the most prominent physical wall, Steelix, is 2HKOed by Focus Blast without investment. Thus, not many EVs are needed to bypass common threats to solo stat sweepers. The more Electabuzz invests in its main attacking stat the better, for it is nowhere near as strong as some other popular mixed sweepers. Lastly, your HP stat should end in a 9 if you use Life Orb to minimize recoil damage.</p>
[Counters]
<p>Registeel is almost a complete stop to Electabuzz, easily shrugging off anything Electabuzz has to throw at it thanks to its titanic defenses. The best Electabuzz can muster is Cross Chop, which is not even guaranteed to 3HKO specially defensive variants. Steelix is more or less in the same boat, though it fears Hidden Power Fire and Focus Blast. Earthquake from Registeel or Steelix easily puts away Electabuzz for good. Uxie has great defensive stats as well, taking little damage from Signal Beam or Thunderbolt and hitting back with Thunder Wave or STAB Psychic. Rotom resists nearly everything from a standard mixed Electabuzz and can use STAB Shadow Ball, Thunder Wave, or Will-O-Wisp to cripple physical variants.</p>
<p>Ground- and Grass-types are immune to or resist Electabuzz's STAB attacks, and while they are often at risk of being hit by a super effective Hidden Power, those who are bulky enough to withstand one or two onslaughts make decent checks. Tangrowth and Donphan have high Defense and can take Ice Punch from physical Electabuzz, while specially defensive Venusaur can brush off Hidden Power Ice or Fire with Synthesis and hit back with its STAB moves. A special mention goes to Claydol, who resists all three entry hazards and has decent defensive stats, Rapid Spin, and STAB Earthquake. If Electabuzz lacks Hidden Power Grass, it is easily countered by Lanturn and Gastrodon.</p>
<p>Hypno and Grumpig both have high Special Defense and resist Cross Chop, making them excellent counters to Electabuzz. Keep in mind that Electabuzz is quite frail and easily revenge-killed, though there are not many Pokemon who are faster than it who are commonly used in UU. Swellow can revenge with Facade, but cannot risk switching into Thunderbolt. A special mention goes to Dugtrio, who is faster and can trap Electabuzz and kill it with STAB Earthquake.</p>
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Post-critique changes:
- Grammar check 1, thanks to Xia.
- Grammar check 2, thanks to Legacy Raider
- Removed references to Honchkrow and Roserade
- Added references to Raikou and Cresselia
- Removed Physically Based Mix
- Updated to reflect new format
- Removed references to Raikou and Cresselia
- Moved to Quality Control
- Shuffled moves on Mixed Sweeper
- GP Grammar Prose Check 1, thanks to uragg
- GP Grammar Prose Check 2, thanks to Snorlaxe
