Ninjask (Choice Band)

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Tomahawk

Tomahawk

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Status: Waiting for QC Approval

[SET]
name: Choice Band
move 1: Aerial Ace
move 2: X-Scissor / Dig / Return
move 3: Night Slash / Dig / Return
move 4: U-Turn / Baton Pass
item: Choice Band
nature: Adamant
evs: 252 Atk, 252 Speed, 4 Def

Why this set deserves to be on-site:
  • Ninjask is often thought of as a Baton Passer. This set takes advantage of that.
  • With a Choice Band attached, Ninjask reaches 459 Attack and 404 Speed.

Additional comments:
  • Aerial Ace is for STAB and Flying is a good attacking type.
  • X-Scissor is your secondary STAB, however you can use another attack if you don't want to use X-Scissor and U-Turn on the same set.
  • Dig is an option for Steels, but it's very risky as they can switch to a Levitater or a Flying-Type Pokémon.
  • Return is a good option because of its high BP.
  • U-Turn and Baton Pass are for scouting. U-Turn is the preferred option because of your high Atk and STAB, but you can use Baton Pass if you can come in on a Bug-Type move or a Ground-Type move to give your next Pokémon a Speed Boost.
  • With the EVs given you can come in on AgiliGross and ScarfTran. If you don't care about Speed because of Speed Boost, you can use an alternate EV spread: 136 HP / 80 Def / 40 SpD / 252 Atk.

Teammates:
  • Heatran is a great teammate, especially when you have Baton Pass. Ninjask can come in on Earthquake and Earth Power, and Heatran can come in on Fire-Type moves. Also, if you switch in Ninjask on a Ground-Type attack aimed at Heatran, you can switch to Ninjask, and get a Speed Boost. Now, use Baton Pass to scout and give Heatran a much appreciated Speed Boost.
  • Tyranitar can also be used as a great teammate for the same reason as Heatran.
  • Rapid Spin support is very important, so you don't lose half your health when you switch in.
 
I don't think Dig should be included anywhere in this analysis..at all. What does it accomplish besides giving the opponent a free turn to switch out their Pokemon to an appropriate counter?
In the teammates section, include that Ninjask enjoys Rapid Spin support to its 4x weakness to Stealth Rock with some examples.
I never used this so cant say whether its viable or not but wouldn't it net the same kills roughly with Life orb? Also you have the advantage of not being locked into one move. If it is possible could you provide some calcs proving this sets worth?
 
Forgive me if I'm wrong, but at one point I think there was a Choice Band set on-site. Maybe it was Gen 3, but I'm too lazy to look. I think Sword's Dance with Life Orb (as Somalia mentioned) would be much better. It can attack immediately (unless it's facing a Choice Scarf Aerodactyl or something) or can set up Sword's Dance if you switch it in on a wall. Still, this thing gets beaten by phazers, who will switch in when they (mis) predict a Baton Pass (Hippowdon comes to mind). If you insist on mono-attacking, I think you have the right idea with U-turn.
 
I really can't see this set working. Ninjask's attacking move pool is rather bad; aerial ace and the rest of the moves you listed offer redundant and resisted coverage. Additionally, they are also very weak (Dig, Night Slash, Aerial Ace). Not only is the coverage limited, but since you're running CB, your locked into your weak move (Bar U-Turn) giving your opponent many set up opportunities (isn't very hard to do since all of its attacks are resists by a fair amount of Pokemon). Ninjask's attack is below average as well, 90 base attack is hardly anything special. Not to mention Ninjask's base 61/45/50 defenses are horrid, all it takes is one attack to take it down and that's not even factoring its 4x stealth rock weakness which means it loses 1/2 of its health upon switching in. It's typing is also bad defensively. This set simply isn't worth it IMO and lacks the one niche that Ninjask has: Baton Passing stat boosts. Sorry, but I'm going to have to reject this.

QC Rejected 1/3
 
The fact that Dig or Return is on the set already dismisses any real potential it could have.

The only reason really to use this set is to spam U-Turns, as the power of the other attacks isn't enough for continued uses. You might as well be using a Scarf on another Pokemon.

I'd much rather use a Life Orb (even without Swords Dance), which could at least give me the option to switch away with U-Turn after killing an opposing Pokemon with another move.
 
Ninjask has several characteristics that prevent him from being a good Choice Bander. For one, the moves Ninjask can run on a CB set (Aerial Ace and X-Scissor) offer horrible coverage. They won't be dishing out any significant damage seeing as both moves are relatively weak (even with a CB). In addition to being weak, Ninjask's STAB moves are resisted by various Pokemon that reside in OU. This means that Ninjask is prone to being set-up on (like many other CBers), which could put the rest of your team members in jeopardy.

What really hurts Ninjask, though, is his susceptibility to Stealth Rock, bad typing, and lack of durability. Losing half of your health upon switch-in, dying to virtually any attack, as well as vulnerability to most forms of priority is a huge drawback. If you're going to use Ninjask, you should be taking advantage of what sets him apart from other 'mons: Baton Pass + Speed Boost. So yeah, basically said what Megan_Fox said in his post, :p
 
The combination of its massive Stealth Rock weakness and movepool really hurts it. Bug- and Flying-type attacks are among the easiest to resist. You'll end up doing little damage and switching out to take half of its health when you come back in. As some people have already stated, the best way to use Ninjask is a Baton Passer because it doesn't have the right move support to be a good sweeper.
 
I personally support creative sets. But, I'm sorry to say this is just a bad gimmick for all the reasons mentioned above (Megan, Bloo, and KG).

Just use Scizor.
 
Lol @ CB dig. Yeah, ninjask has horrible coverage. What does this set have over Scizor? Bullet Punch is way better than speed boost anyway. At least Scizor
 
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