Perish Song: Underrated PHaze move?

Colonel M

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Since Obi has shown us how demonic a Perish Song Celebi was, I've decided to cram one of my own. When I checked on Serebii on who learns Perish Song, I was quite shocked how some could really pull it off with decent sucess. So before we go on, let's look at out Perish Song users:
  • Jynx
  • Lapras
  • Politoed
  • Smeargle
  • Celebi
  • Altaria
  • Absol
  • Kricketune
  • Arceus
  • Wigglytuff
  • Dewgong
  • Gengar
  • Marowak
  • Azumarril
  • Mismagius
  • Honchkrow
Not bad of a list right? The bolded ones are the Pokemon that can trap. The ones italicized are ones that can Recover in some ways minus Rest (with the exception of Dewgong, as Dewgong has Hydration). Anyways, let's move on. So minus Absol, Kricketune, possibly Wigglytuff, and maybe scratching a couple of others, there can be some demonic Perish Song users on the field.

- Marowak / Azumarril
Imagine, a sweeper that can even scare off the Taunters of the century, or say "Screw You" to a Baton Passer. Marowak and Azumarril qualify in this part. Being able to learn the move, Marowak can set up Swords Dance with little problems, while Azumarril can at least attempt to hurt things on the switch. Remember though Sing & Perish Song are illegal on Marowak, as Sing is an XD move and Perish Song is a bred move. Azumarril gets both Aqua Jet and Perish Song however (but not Perish Song and Superpower).

- Arceus
Now this is what caught my eye. 120 Base Stats across the board, he might be suited to use it. Perish Song could be deadly in Ubers if played correctly. It can make BP Mew weep into tears, and if Mewtwo / Darkrai are caught on the switch, they aren't doing much as far as staying to set up their Calm Minds. Just something that could be useful to try.

- Mismagius / Gengar / Jynx / Honchkrow
Maybe not so much on Honchkrow, but all 4 of these can trap AND use Perish Song. Excluding Honchkrow, they can also put Pokemon to sleep to suffer even longer. Honchkrow can't put anything to sleep, but does have the not - so - great benefit of Roost. Still worthy of mention, this could be the way to scare things like Blissey into hiding.

- Lapras / Politoed / Celebi / Altaria / Arceus / Dewgong / Honchkrow
And the advantage of these guys is that they can recover in some way. Lapras and Politoed sort of rely on random water moves to steal from for Water Absorb. Celebi and Arceus have Recover. Honchkrow and Altaria have Roost. Dewgong has the most reliable recovery ability of all though, thanks to Hydration, and that is RainRest (In other words, resting in the rain). Minus Honchkrow I guess, these guys have decent defenses to pull it off.

- Absol
Really I wouldn't throw this in (thanks Bologo for mentioning this), but it's pretty neat. Being able to Baton Pass the Mean Look AND able to use Perish Song however is a plus though, something that's pretty cool.

- Smeargle
...You get the picture, right? Can do anything. One of those "anythings" would be any of these up top, except he could use it to pass easier against some threats.

So allow me to hear about some opininos about Perish Song. Something viable to put onto many teams, or something that may be a bit niche at times?
 
Just a quick question: if you are trapping them, in what way does that make perish song a phazing move?

Perish trapping can be insanely cheap and annoying for your opponent, much like explosion teams but less flashy.
 
I don't think Marowak/Azu will work because you're saying they should set up. If you use perish song, you as well as the opponent have 2 turns to switch. If you use 1 turn to sword dance and one to perish song, that would leave 1-2 turns to attack?
 
Just a quick question: if you are trapping them, in what way does that make perish song a phazing move?
Not much in reality, but I put it into mention incase people were to suggest it. Though even without trapping, it's something viable to try on Gengar / Jynx / Mismagius I guess.

EDIT: Well, technically in Marowak's case yes. However he could run something like Swords Dance / Perish Song / Stone Edge (or Rock Slide) / Earthquake (or Bonemarang). You don't have to Swords Dance however, it's just something to mention. Azumarril can't setup anyways (unless if it's Belly Drum).
 
Bonemerang + Perish Song Marowak = gg BP team

Perish Song screws it over if they don't go to Mr. Mime, but Mime is physically frail. This means Bonemerang (since it can break a Substitute and then hit, a big plus) is useful.
 
Absol can trap too. In fact he can also baton pass the mean look to something that can take more hits and then you can just switch the receipient out after the Perishtrap's time is almost up.

Dewgong is actually quite nice since it can just Encore the opponent so it can set up the perish song. That's actually two ways of phazing, although Encore is better.

I quite like the Perish Song/Focus Punch combo, although it's really only viable on Marowak and Azumarill.
 
TBH Weavile pretty much rapes all the Perishtrappers, cause at the very least, when they switch, they're dieing to Pursuit. Seeing as how Sleep+Perish Trapping is banned (assuming that rule transfered over from GSCADV), Weavile doesn't really have a problem.

Obi where did you ever think of using PS originally?!?!
 
You forgot Smeargle! It's, like, the one non-Passing thing he can do.

Sleep + PS is a rule I've never heard of, meaning it died in GS.
 
I've seriously never seen that rule in any Adv tournament.

Swords Dancing Marowak using Perish Song sounds almost as counter-intuitive as hitting yourself in the sack. Remember that Perish Song also affects Marowak, so he cannot stay in and take advantage of his +2 Atk.
 
In my opinion, Celebi is the only thing that can use Perish song and actually take hits.
Lapras can, too, but its lacking a viable recovery move. Can someone tell me what Dewgong's defenses, are: I've never thought about looking them up.
 
For the record, Lapras CAN trap. I run a Perishtrapping Lapras on Wifi.

Lapras @ Grip Claw
Calm, 252 HP / 152 Def / 100 Sp.D
Whirlpool
Protect
Rest
Perish Song

It seriously catches people out of fucking nowhere. It's also seen hilarious success on PBR. I went Armor instead of Absorb, though, so I wouldn't get hacked by rogue criticals. Shame about Rest, though.
 
I made a Lapras very similar to that one. Though I discarded it because I didn't like the lack of defenses it seemed to have.
 
I'm wondering why would Arceus use Perish Song when you have Lugia and Giratina for all your phazing needs in 00bers.
 
I always remeber it having Perish Song for some reason. Perhaps I'm mixing it up with absol or thinking about mean look.
You're thinking Absol.

Shine said:
(Insert Lapras moveset here)
Bah, sounds decent on paper, but if they swap to a spinner he can still escape. >_>

Foresty said:
I'm wondering why would Arceus use Perish Song when you have Lugia and Giratina for all your phazing needs in 00bers.
Not everyone uses Giratina for PHazing. Some use the RestTalk varaints. And granted yes Lugia can PHaze... we know that though. What I'm trying to implement is that it is possible to try it.

Mekkah said:
Swords Dancing Marowak using Perish Song sounds almost as counter-intuitive as hitting yourself in the sack. Remember that Perish Song also affects Marowak, so he cannot stay in and take advantage of his +2 Atk.
Good point. Probably wouldn't want to use Swords Dance in that instance... but it's just more of a mention that he COULD possibly dance.

Articanus said:
In my opinion, Celebi is the only thing that can use Perish song and actually take hits.
Lapras can, too, but its lacking a viable recovery move. Can someone tell me what Dewgong's defenses, are: I've never thought about looking them up.
90/80/95. Not the greatest, but it's possible to make use of it.
 
Obi where did you ever think of using PS originally?!?!

I used Perish Song Gengar on my uber stall team in ADV. It was mostly for last-Pokemon stuff and BP teams, I found, so I was considering Celebi for the resistances. I decided against it because Gengar was good at breaking enemy stall teams.

So later on I added Perish Song, Recover, Leech Seed, Psychic Celebi to my OU ADV stall team.
 
perish song isn't a good phazer..

Once its set up , ppl will sweep until its the last count.

You can't sweep in the 2 turns that are left. At best you'll cause some havoc with lucky predictions or because you're facing an incompetent opponent, but your timeframe will usually be too short to really do anything.
 
Bah, sounds decent on paper, but if they swap to a spinner he can still escape. >_>
After the first time, yes, but it's a fantastic way to take out otherwise annoying Walls that are packing heat in both defenses. It actually sounds worse on paper than it does in practice.

Otherwise, there's NO way you'd know to switch to a spinner without outright knowing my team, beforehand. What, is Lapras going to Spike you? Get fucking serious.
 
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