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VGC 18 Mega Lopunny

Adamant Zoroark

catchy catchphrase
is a Contributor Alumnus
428-m.png


QC: Darkmalice / Carbonific
GP: The Dutch Plumberjack

[OVERVIEW]

* Thanks to Scrappy, Mega Lopunny boasts the almost unique ability to use Fake Out against Ghost-type Pokemon like Mega Gengar and Mimikyu, breaking the latter's Disguise for free, as well as granting it unresisted STAB coverage. Furthermore, aside from Ludicolo in rain and Alolan Raichu in Electric Terrain, Mega Lopunny has the fastest Fake Out in the format, making it an extremely reliable user of the move.
* It also has additional support capacity in Encore and Fake Tears, allowing it to lock opposing Pokemon into an undesirable move and lower an enemy's Special Defense for an ally.
* Mega Lopunny also boasts the ability to heavily damage Incineroar, OHKOing it if unaffected by Intimidate and taking a massive chunk of health even after Intimidate, giving it a niche as a Fake Out user that can pressure it.
* However, all things considered, Mega Lopunny has very few options for its moveset, making it very predictable.
* Additionally, it has mediocre bulk and relatively low damage output for a Mega Evolution, making it hard to justify the opportunity cost involved with using it as a team's Mega Evolution; if a team wishes to have it, that team must be able to capitalize on its ability to provide disruption support while simultaneously pressuring Pokemon like Incineroar, Snorlax, and Tyranitar.

[SET]
name: Fake Out Support
move 1: Fake Out
move 2: Return
move 3: High Jump Kick
move 4: Encore / After You / Fake Tears
item: Lopunnite
ability: Limber
nature: Jolly
evs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

* Fake Out is Mega Lopunny's essential support move, enabling it to assist its ally by stopping a foe from moving for the first turn it's out.
* Return is the attack that Mega Lopunny will be using under most circumstances, as it does solid damage risk-free.
* High Jump Kick, while risky due to causing a loss of half its health if it misses or lands into Protect, enables Mega Lopunny to handle Incineroar, Kartana, Snorlax, and Tyranitar, the former two of which do not mind the other Fighting-type coverage options Mega Lopunny has, such as Low Kick.
* Encore allows Mega Lopunny to lock a foe into moves like Protect and Substitute, punishing opponents for playing passively. Additionally, Encore allows Mega Lopunny to punish opponents for attempting to use Protect to avoid Fake Out or High Jump Kick.
* After You allows Mega Lopunny to take advantage of its high Speed stat to allow a slower ally like Tapu Fini or Celesteela to move sooner.
* Fake Tears drops a foe's Special Defense by two stages; although Mega Lopunny does not benefit directly from this, this allows it to support a teammate, for example by potentially turning Zapdos's Thunderbolt against Tapu Fini from a 2HKO into an OHKO.
* Mega Lopunny may use Ice Punch in order to secure more damage against Landorus-T and Mega Salamence, although this is extremely situational, as Mega Lopunny still loses one-on-one against both of them.
* Although base Lopunny's ability will not matter in most cases, Limber is the best one to pick; as it prevents Lopunny from being paralyzed, it may have some situational usefulness prior to Mega Evolving.
* A simple EV spread of 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe will suffice for Mega Lopunny; its bulk is too mediocre for defensive investment to be likely to make a difference, and it needs all of the power and speed it can get its hands on.
* A Jolly nature is chosen because it allows Mega Lopunny to outspeed Tapu Koko, Mega Salamence, and +1 Mega Tyranitar.
* Mega Lopunny's disruption tactics with Fake Out and Encore make it easier for Pokemon like Tapu Fini and Volcarona to set up Calm Mind and Quiver Dance, respectively, and for Pokemon like Zapdos to set up Tailwind, making these Pokemon excellent teammates. Additionally, Tapu Fini and Zapdos match up well against Landorus-T and Mega Salamence, two Pokemon that Mega Lopunny hates facing.
* Should Mega Lopunny opt for After You, slow Pokemon that stand to benefit the most from it make for excellent partners; Snorlax and Celesteela are good examples.
* Strong special attackers like Tapu Koko, Volcarona, and Zapdos benefit from Mega Lopunny running Fake Tears, as this support allows them to more easily break through Pokemon like Calm Mind Tapu Fini and Misty or Psychic Seed Celesteela.
* Thanks to Mega Lopunny checking Pokemon like Kartana, Incineroar, and Tyranitar, Tapu Lele makes for a very solid partner, albeit counterintuitively given the fact that Psychic Terrain conflicts with Fake Out.
 
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This write-up is strong

Thoughts:
  • that team must be able to capitalize on the niche provided by it.
    You should elaborate on what this niche is - this is currently quite vague
  • In Overview, following from your point on Scrappy enabling Fake Out against Ghost-types in the overview, mention that it's a reliable at providing Fake Out support because of this and that it's the fastest user of Fake Out other than Ludicolo in rain.
  • In Overview, Mega Lopunny actually OHKOs Incineroar without Intimidate; could briefly mention that after you mention that it heavily damages Incineroar even after Intimidate
  • Mention that Encore can also punish foes who Protect to avoid Fake Out or Hi Jump Kick
  • Other good allies include Volcarona (benefits from Fake Out to set up QD, benefits from Fake Tears, and benefits from Lopunny checking Incineroar and Ttar) and Tapu Lele (despite Psychic Terrain gelling poorly with Fake Out, Lopunny checks many Pokemon that threaten Lele including Kartana, Incineroar and Tyranitar)
 
Looks good. You should still mention Tapu Lele. Part of my reason for mentioning it is that Lele is Lopunny's most common partner on both PGL and Showdown, but I don't expect that to go in the analysis - mainly just Lele as partner and brief reason why.

Anyways I like the analysis and the choices for the moveslots, so QC 1/2.
 
Looks good. You should still mention Tapu Lele. Part of my reason for mentioning it is that Lele is Lopunny's most common partner on both PGL and Showdown, but I don't expect that to go in the analysis - mainly just Lele as partner and brief reason why.

Anyways I like the analysis and the choices for the moveslots, so QC 1/2.

Yeah I forgot about that one while I was implementing the check (I'm a bit sleepy and my job didn't help that); I agree with the reasoning behind mentioning it (from both posts) even though I wouldn't personally pair the two up

Anyway, thanks!
 
Possibly worth mentioning Aegislash as a solid partner? Similar to Aegi + Kang, it greatly appreciates Lopunny's ability to pressure TTar and Incineroar, and can take advantage of Fake Out, Encore and Fake Tears to set up subs and fire off its powerful special attacks safely. It can also switch in on and threaten many of Lopunny's bad matchups without much hassle.
 
Pokemon with a strong spread move like Torkoal or Blastoise benefit more from After You and i don't think Celesteela will benefit too much from it.
 
Pokemon with a strong spread move like Torkoal or Blastoise benefit more from After You and i don't think Celesteela will benefit too much from it.

1) Neither of these Pokemon were mentioned because neither of them are particularly good (Torkoal is ranked lower than M-Lop on the VR and base Blastoise isn't even ranked at all) and if someone is using Torkoal, they are far more likely to opt for Lilligant for After You support if they want that
2) Celesteela does benefit from After You, actually, here are some examples: Hitting a Tapu with Heavy Slam, hitting Pheromosa with Acrobatics; both of these examples would otherwise be taking out Lopunny or Celesteela before it gets a chance to even move
3) As long as the examples given can be filed under the reason to use the move for support (in this case, the Pokemon is slow) and the Pokemon are relevant to the metagame, then it's fine; the reason Celesteela, Snorlax, and (in move comments) Tapu Fini are mentioned as beneficiaries is because these are the most relevant slow/slowish Pokemon in VGC18
 
1) Neither of these Pokemon were mentioned because neither of them are particularly good (Torkoal is ranked lower than M-Lop on the VR and base Blastoise isn't even ranked at all) and if someone is using Torkoal, they are far more likely to opt for Lilligant for After You support if they want that
2) Celesteela does benefit from After You, actually, here are some examples: Hitting a Tapu with Heavy Slam, hitting Pheromosa with Acrobatics; both of these examples would otherwise be taking out Lopunny or Celesteela before it gets a chance to even move
3) As long as the examples given can be filed under the reason to use the move for support (in this case, the Pokemon is slow) and the Pokemon are relevant to the metagame, then it's fine; the reason Celesteela, Snorlax, and (in move comments) Tapu Fini are mentioned as beneficiaries is because these are the most relevant slow/slowish Pokemon in VGC18
1) Yes, I agree that Torkoal and Blastoise aren't that good in this meta... however, one big difference between Lilligant and Lopunny is simply that Lopunny gets Fake Out.
2) If the target (let's say the Tapu you're hitting with Heavy Slam) protects, you will be wasting a turn and the other teammate can get a free turn to either set up or deal heavy damage...
3) I agree with the statement (about using slow Pokemon as beneficiaries of After You). However, said beneficiaries should be able to dish out massive damage reliably too so I'm not sure about Celesteela and Tapu Fini being direct After You beneficiaries... (if the position of the game requires, it is still possible to do so)
 
I'm not fussed over Celesteela remaining or Torkoal being added. Remember that MLopunny does have good power itself; After You is used for either the coverage of its teammate (Celesteela, though not usually a good recipient of After You, can be used for Heavy Slam and Acrobatics super-effective coverage alongside netting a Beast Boost - Fini was mentioned in an earlier line too which can coverage alongside decent power too with Specs or a CM boost alongisde coverage) or for insane power (Snorlax). This is reflected briefly enough in the example. Torkoal's not common and not particularly good, but not enough for me to deny it as an example particularly when we already have a more common and viable alternative too.

But big no to Mega Blastoise since you can't use it alongside Mega Lopunny!
 
I'm not fussed over Celesteela remaining or Torkoal being added. Remember that MLopunny does have good power itself; After You is used for either the coverage of its teammate (Celesteela, though not usually a good recipient of After You, can be used for Heavy Slam and Acrobatics super-effective coverage alongside netting a Beast Boost - Fini was mentioned in an earlier line too which can coverage alongside decent power too with Specs or a CM boost alongisde coverage) or for insane power (Snorlax). This is reflected briefly enough in the example. Torkoal's not common and not particularly good, but not enough for me to deny it as an example particularly when we already have a more common and viable alternative too.

But big no to Mega Blastoise since you can't use it alongside Mega Lopunny!
I meant normal Blastoise... Speaking of Beast Boost, Stakataka can also be a good recipent of After You as it is slow and can also set Trick Room if the team needs it. If Lopunny cannot do damage and Stakataka is threatened with a KO, After You + Trick Room is a fun tech so that a Trick Room abuser can come in for free and sweep. Torkoal is outclassed by MCamerupt, but it can control weather and not be OHKOed by water type moves. I think even though its not that common in the meta, it should be a Pokemon to consider if you're running After You...
* Lopunny should ideally Mega Evolve as soon as possible, as it has no reason to stay in its base form.
About Mega Evolving, sometimes it would be unwise to Mega Evolve Lopunny on the first turn as without the Fighting type, Lopunny can survive Fairy type moves like Tapu Fini's Moonblast or Gardevoir's Hyper Voice. (The same goes for Psychic and Flying type moves, but Fairy type moves are more common and you need 140HP EVs to survive Modest Tapu Lele's Psychic in Psychic Terrain)
 
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I meant normal Blastoise... Speaking of Beast Boost, Stakataka can also be a good recipent of After You as it is slow and can also set Trick Room if the team needs it. If Lopunny cannot do damage and Stakataka is threatened with a KO, After You + Trick Room is a fun tech so that a Trick Room abuser can come in for free and sweep. Torkoal is outclassed by MCamerupt, but it can control weather and not be OHKOed by water type moves. I think even though its not that common in the meta, it should be a Pokemon to consider if you're running After You...

This sums my opinion well:

3) As long as the examples given can be filed under the reason to use the move for support (in this case, the Pokemon is slow) and the Pokemon are relevant to the metagame, then it's fine; the reason Celesteela, Snorlax, and (in move comments) Tapu Fini are mentioned as beneficiaries is because these are the most relevant slow/slowish Pokemon in VGC18

NO to Blastoise. It has zero relevance in VGC.

MLopunny is terrible under Trick Room thanks to its high Speed.

About Mega Evolving, sometimes it would be unwise to Mega Evolve Lopunny on the first turn as without the Fighting type, Lopunny can survive Fairy type moves like Tapu Fini's Moonblast or Gardevoir's Hyper Voice. (The same goes for Psychic and Flying type moves, but Fairy type moves are more common and you need 140HP EVs to survive Modest Tapu Lele's Psychic in Psychic Terrain)

Lopunny can Fake Out said threats and hits like a wet noodle without Mega Evolving. I rather switch out than remain on field in non-mega form; it it may even be better off fainting than remaining non-Mega. Scenarios in which you don't Mega Evolve immediately are extremely rare. 140 HP EVs to survive something in base form are definitely not worth the loss in offence.
 
This sums my opinion well:



NO to Blastoise. It has zero relevance in VGC.

MLopunny is terrible under Trick Room thanks to its high Speed.



Lopunny can Fake Out said threats and hits like a wet noodle without Mega Evolving. I rather switch out than remain on field in non-mega form; it it may even be better off fainting than remaining non-Mega. Scenarios in which you don't Mega Evolve immediately are extremely rare. 140 HP EVs to survive something in base form are definitely not worth the loss in offence.
It all depends on the situation sometimes... if you need Lopunny to survive, then don't mega evolve, but if you do, then do...
I just mentioned Blastoise as a Water Spout user. It's bad imo too lol
There are fast Pokemon in Trick Room teams and Lopunny isn't supposed to abuse it, just support the team to set it up/After You KO mons if Trick Room isn't the play.
 
Red = Deletion, (RC) = Remove Comma, (RS) = Remove Semicolon, Blue = Addition, (AC) = Add Comma, (AS) = Add Semicolon, Green = Comments
428-m.png


QC: Darkmalice / Carbonific
GP:

[OVERVIEW]

* Thanks to Scrappy, Mega Lopunny boasts the almost unique ability to use Fake Out against Ghost-type Pokemon like Mega Gengar and Mimikyu, breaking the latter's Disguise for free,(RC) as well as granting it unresisted STAB coverage. Furthermore, aside from Ludicolo in rain and Alolan Raichu in Electric Terrain, Mega Lopunny has the fastest Fake Out in the format, making it an extremely reliable user of the move.
* It also has additional support capacity in Encore and Fake Tears, allowing it to lock opponents into its attacks and lower an enemy's Special Defense for an ally, respectively.
* Mega Lopunny also boasts the ability to heavily damage Incineroar, OHKOing it if unaffected by Intimidate and taking a massive chunk of health even after Intimidate, giving it a niche as a Fake Out user that can pressure Incineroar.
* All things considered, Mega Lopunny has very few options for its moveset, making it very predictable.
* Additionally, it has mediocre bulk and relatively low damage output for a Mega Evolution, making it hard to justify the opportunity cost involved with using it as a team's Mega Evolution; if a team wishes to have it, that team must be able to capitalize on its ability to provide disruption support while simultaneously pressuring Pokemon like Incineroar, Snorlax, and Tyranitar.

[SET]
name: Fake Out Support
move 1: Fake Out
move 2: Return
move 3: High Jump Kick
move 4: Encore / After You / Fake Tears
item: Lopunnite
ability: Limber
nature: Jolly
evs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

* Fake Out is Mega Lopunny's essential support move, enabling it to assist its ally by stopping a foe from moving for the first turn it's out.
* Return is the attack that Mega Lopunny will be using under most circumstances,(RC) as it does solid damage risk-free.
* While High Jump Kick is ,(RC) while risky due to causing a loss of half its health if it misses or lands into Protect, it enables Mega Lopunny to handle Incineroar, Kartana, Snorlax, and Tyranitar,(RC) that the former two of which do not mind the other Fighting-type coverage options Mega Lopunny has, such as Low Kick. ("Due to" statements are weird since they have to have a noun on both sides of the statement (the noun on the right directly affects the noun on the left), and the noun on the left was outside of the subordinate clause; I opted to add the noun into the clause to keep the sentence structure as similar to the original as possible (even if it means having to add a subject after the subordinate clause) and remove the verb 'causing' since the 'due to' statement already implies the cause, although you can change the "due to" statement to something else if you would rather have 'High Jump Kick' be separate. I also changed the wording after the list of mons to simplify the sentence and make a long sentence sound more succinct.)
* Encore allows Mega Lopunny to lock a foe into moves like Protect and Substitute, punishing opponents for playing passively. Additionally, Encore allows Mega Lopunny to punish opponents for attempting to use Protect to avoid Fake Out or High Jump Kick.
* After You allows Mega Lopunny to take advantage of its high Speed stat to allow a slower ally like Tapu Fini or Celesteela to move sooner.
* Fake Tears drops a foe's Special Defense by two stages;(RS),(AC) and,(AC) although Mega Lopunny does not benefit directly from this, this allows it to support a teammate;(AS) for example,(AC) by turning it turns Zapdos's Thunderbolt against Tapu Fini from a 2HKO into an OHKO, depending on the EV spreads of each party involved. (While the semicolon is grammatically correct, the first sentence is rather short, so a semicolon there can halt the flow of the section. I also wanted to reformat the last part of the section into its own statement, and a semicolon fit better there. Making it into its own sentence connected with a semicolon allowed me to change it from past tense to present tense to match the rest of the paragraph and helped me to improve the readability of this section overall. This is the most subjective change in this check, so feel free to not implement it if you truthfully liked how it sounded before c:)
* Mega Lopunny may use Ice Punch in order to secure more damage against Landorus-T and Mega Salamence, although this is extremely situational as Mega Lopunny still loses one-on-one against both of them.
* Although base Lopunny's ability will not matter in most cases, Limber is the best one to pick; as it prevents Lopunny from being paralyzed, it may have some situational usefulness prior to Mega Evolving.
* A simple EV spread of 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe will suffice for Mega Lopunny; its bulk is too mediocre for defensive investment to be likely to make a difference,(AC) and it needs all of the power and speed it can get its hands on. (I removed words here as it made the sentence more complex and wordy than it needed to be, and that can lower its readability overall; the former removal also had an unsure tone for a point that can stand on its own (mediocre bulk wouldn't make a difference with defensive investment). The 'and' needs a comma before it as what follows is a complete sentence.)
* A Jolly nature is chosen as it allows Mega Lopunny to outspeed Tapu Koko, Mega Salamence, and +1 Mega Tyranitar.
* Mega Lopunny's disruption tactics with Fake Out and Encore makes it easier for Pokemon like Tapu Fini and Volcarona to set up Calm Mind and Quiver Dance, respectively, and for Pokemon like Zapdos to set up Tailwind, making these Pokemon excellent teammates. Additionally, Tapu Fini and Zapdos match up well against Landorus-T and Mega Salamence, two Pokemon that Mega Lopunny hates facing.
* Should Mega Lopunny opt for After You, slow Pokemon that stand to benefit the most from it make for excellent partners;(RS),(AC) Snorlax and Celesteela are being good examples. (These are two rather small sentences that would benefit from being directly combined into one sentence. You've also been using semicolons a lot in statements prior, and this change helps to add some variety to your sentence structure.)
* Strong special attackers like Tapu Koko, Volcarona, and Zapdos benefit from Mega Lopunny running Fake Tears,(RC) as this support allows them to more easily break through Pokemon like Calm Mind Tapu Fini and Misty or Psychic Seed Celesteela.
* Thanks to Mega Lopunny checking Pokemon like Kartana, Incineroar, and Tyranitar, Tapu Lele makes for a very solid partner, albeit counterintuitively counter-intuitively,(AC) given the fact that Psychic Terrain conflicts with Fake Out.
 
Gweebis thanks! I’m going to wait for a GP team member to go over and stamp your check before implementing it, just to make sure they agree with the edits. It looks good, though
 
remove add / fix (comments); (AC=add comma; RC=remove comma; SC=semicolon)
GP 1/1
[OVERVIEW]

* Thanks to Scrappy, Mega Lopunny boasts the almost unique ability to use Fake Out against Ghost-type Pokemon like Mega Gengar and Mimikyu, breaking the latter's Disguise for free, as well as granting it unresisted STAB coverage. Furthermore, aside from Ludicolo in rain and Alolan Raichu in Electric Terrain, Mega Lopunny has the fastest Fake Out in the format, making it an extremely reliable user of the move.
* It also has additional support capacity in Encore and Fake Tears, allowing it to lock opponents opposing Pokemon into its attacks an undesirable move and lower an enemy's Special Defense for an ally, respectively.
* Mega Lopunny also boasts the ability to heavily damage Incineroar, OHKOing it if unaffected by Intimidate and taking a massive chunk of health even after Intimidate, giving it a niche as a Fake Out user that can pressure Incineroar it.
* However, All things considered, Mega Lopunny has very few options for its moveset, making it very predictable.
* Additionally, it has mediocre bulk and relatively low damage output for a Mega Evolution, making it hard to justify the opportunity cost involved with using it as a team's Mega Evolution; if a team wishes to have it, that team must be able to capitalize on its ability to provide disruption support while simultaneously pressuring Pokemon like Incineroar, Snorlax, and Tyranitar.

[SET]
name: Fake Out Support
move 1: Fake Out
move 2: Return
move 3: High Jump Kick
move 4: Encore / After You / Fake Tears
item: Lopunnite
ability: Limber
nature: Jolly
evs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

* Fake Out is Mega Lopunny's essential support move, enabling it to assist its ally by stopping a foe from moving for the first turn it's out.
* Return is the attack that Mega Lopunny will be using under most circumstances, as it does solid damage risk-free.
* High Jump Kick, while risky due to causing a loss of half its health if it misses or lands into Protect, enables Mega Lopunny to handle Incineroar, Kartana, Snorlax, and Tyranitar, the former two of which do not mind the other Fighting-type coverage options Mega Lopunny has, such as Low Kick.
* Encore allows Mega Lopunny to lock a foe into moves like Protect and Substitute, punishing opponents for playing passively. Additionally, Encore allows Mega Lopunny to punish opponents for attempting to use Protect to avoid Fake Out or High Jump Kick.
* After You allows Mega Lopunny to take advantage of its high Speed stat to allow a slower ally like Tapu Fini or Celesteela to move sooner.
* Fake Tears drops a foe's Special Defense by two stages; although Mega Lopunny does not benefit directly from this, this allows it to support a teammate, for example by potentially turning Zapdos's Thunderbolt against Tapu Fini from a 2HKO into an OHKO, depending on the EV spreads of each party involved.
* Mega Lopunny may use Ice Punch in order to secure more damage against Landorus-T and Mega Salamence, although this is extremely situational, (AC) as Mega Lopunny still loses one-on-one against both of them.
* Although base Lopunny's ability will not matter in most cases, Limber is the best one to pick; as it prevents Lopunny from being paralyzed, it may have some situational usefulness prior to Mega Evolving.
* A simple EV spread of 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe will suffice for Mega Lopunny; its bulk is too mediocre for defensive investment to be likely to make a difference, (AC) and it needs all of the power and speed it can get its hands on.
* A Jolly nature is chosen as because it allows Mega Lopunny to outspeed Tapu Koko, Mega Salamence, and +1 Mega Tyranitar.
* Mega Lopunny's disruption tactics with Fake Out and Encore makes make it easier for Pokemon like Tapu Fini and Volcarona to set up Calm Mind and Quiver Dance, respectively, and for Pokemon like Zapdos to set up Tailwind, making these Pokemon excellent teammates. Additionally, Tapu Fini and Zapdos match up well against Landorus-T and Mega Salamence, two Pokemon that Mega Lopunny hates facing.
* Should Mega Lopunny opt for After You, slow Pokemon that stand to benefit the most from it make for excellent partners; Snorlax and Celesteela are good examples.
* Strong special attackers like Tapu Koko, Volcarona, and Zapdos benefit from Mega Lopunny running Fake Tears, as this support allows them to more easily break through Pokemon like Calm Mind Tapu Fini and Misty or Psychic Seed Celesteela.
* Thanks to Mega Lopunny checking Pokemon like Kartana, Incineroar, and Tyranitar, Tapu Lele makes for a very solid partner, albeit counterintuitively given the fact that Psychic Terrain conflicts with Fake Out.
 
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