Art is a BANG!
[Overview]
<p>Smeargle is one of the most curious and interesting Pokemon in UU. At first sight, its abysmal stats may make you wonder why anyone would ever use Smeargle. That question is answered by Smeargle's ability to learn literally any move in the game, which gives it a plethora of options and makes it incredibly difficult to counter. With a little skill, it can catch opponents completely by surprise. However, with miniscule Attack and Special Attack stats, Smeargle is often limited to using passive, non-attacking moves, leaving it vulnerable to Taunt. With its horrible defensive stats, almost any attack can OHKO or 2HKO Smeargle, and it won't be outspeeding much of the metagame either. At times, you may even wonder if you started the match with a score of 6-5! Despite this, by playing carefully and intelligently, Smeargle can become a blessing for your team.</p>
[SET]
name: Baton Pass
move 1: Shell Smash / Quiver Dance / Shift Gear
move 2: Baton Pass
move 3: Spore
move 4: Substitute / Ingrain
item: White Herb / Focus Sash
ability: Own Tempo
nature: Jolly
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Def / 252 Spe
[Set Comments]
<p>Despite its horrible stats, Smeargle's ability to learn every single boosting move in the game makes it a great user of Baton Pass. The most dangerous boosting move on this set is Shell Smash, a godly move that doubles Smeargle's (and its recipient's) offensive stats and Speed. This is very useful to have on offensive teams, which can use the boosts to smash through the opponent's team. Shell Smash is also a great boon to mixed attackers, since they would otherwise require two boosting moves to increase both offensive stats. However, Shell Smash also lowers Smeargle's Defense and Special Defense stat by one stage, so it is forced to use White Herb to remedy this. Smeargle may choose to pass on Quiver Dance or Shift Gear instead; each move is more specialized towards special and physical attacks, respectively, but they do not have the drawback of Shell Smash's stat drops.</p>
<p>The real ace in the hole for this set, however, is Spore. Smeargle is the only Pokemon who can use both Baton Pass and a one-hundred percent accurate sleep move, which makes it very troublesome for opponents to deal with. Spore not only gives Smeargle time to set up, but also gives its receiver a major advantage and cripples the foe's team. Substitute is recommended on the last moveslot since it blocks troublesome status conditions and helps Smeargle to survive attacks. However, all Baton Pass teams fear moves such as Roar and Whirlwind, which completely removes all of Smeargle's and its reciever's boosts. Ingrain will prevent this nightmare from happening, but keep in mind that it will prevent you from manually switching Smeargle and its recipient out, so it may become a liability if you make a mistake during the match.</p>
[Additional Comments]
<p>Given Smeargle's poor stats, the only investment that matters is Speed. Since all of the moves listed on the first moveslot increase the user's Speed, Smeargle can outspeed several Pokemon after a boost. With Shell Smash and Shift Gear, Smeargle hits 546 Speed, and with Quiver Dance, it reaches 410 Speed, outspeeding positively natured Pokemon with a base Speed of 130, notably Crobat and Aerodactyl. This means that Smeargle can Baton Pass the boosts before it is Taunted. The rest of the EVs are dumped into Defense to help Smeargle survive an attack, although the odds are against it.</p>
<p>In addition to the three boosting moves, there are more alternative moves that Smeargle could pass on. For example, special sweepers would greatly appreciate receiving a +3 boost in Special Attack from Tail Glow, while bulky physical attackers may enjoy the boosts received from Coil. For a more defensive route, Smeargle can pass Cosmic Power or Cotton Guard to recipients. On the fourth moveslot, Smeargle may wish to run Taunt in order to prevent Pokemon from phazing it out, or better yet, run Magic Coat to punish Pokemon who attempt to do so.</p>
<p>Toxic Spikes can be very detrimental to Smeargle and its reciever, so it is recommended to have either a Pokemon who can use Rapid Spin, such as Hitmontop or Donphan, or a grounded Poison-type, such as Roserade, Nidoqueen, or Nidoking. These Pokemon can also set up their own entry hazards to help the receiver sweep. Nidoking itself can act as a good receiver since it has a wide special movepool and its Sheer Force ability stops recoil from Life Orb. Fast Pokemon with Taunt, such as Aerodactyl, are very dangerous to Smeargle as they can completely shut it down. One way to combat them is by having Magic Bounce Xatu, who will bounce back Taunt (as well as entry hazards and other phazing moves) back at them. Smeargle itself can run Magic Coat to stop Taunt.</p>
[SET]
name: Spikes
move 1: Spikes
move 2: Spore
move 3: Magic Coat
move 4: Stealth Rock / Endeavor
item: Focus Sash
ability: Own Tempo
nature: Jolly
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Def / 252 Spe
[Set Comments]
<p>Despite being relatively slow, Smeargle's access to Spore makes it a reliable suicide spiker. This set is quite simple to use; simply send out Smeargle as your lead Pokemon, use Spore on the foe (Focus Sash should prevent Smeargle from becoming knocked out on the first turn) and proceed to set up as many layers of Spikes as possible. However, if another Pokemon uses Taunt or a status move on Smeargle, then Smeargle will almost always be forced to switch out. To remedy this, Magic Coat is listed to punish such Pokemon. Smeargle may also have time to set up additional hazards, such as Stealth Rock, as well. This reduces the need of having another Pokemon to set up Stealth Rock on your team, and with two different entry hazards on the foe's side, Smeargle's offensive teammates will have a field day. However, after using Spore and setting up a few layers of Spikes, Smeargle becomes a liability to your team. In order to maximize its usefulness, you may wish to use Endeavor over Stealth Rock on the fourth moveslot instead.</p>
[Additional Comments]
<p>Maximum Speed is used on this Smeargle to ensure that it can outspeed as many Pokemon as possible. Since this set is not carrying any offensive moves, it would be silly to invest EVs in Attack or Special Attack, so the remaining EVs go to Defense and HP. Do note that, although this set works great as a lead, it should never be brought out as a lead if you see that your opponent has either Abomasnow or Xatu on Team Preview. Abomasnow's ability to summon hail will render Smeargle's Focus Sash useless, while Xatu can easily reflect Smeargle's attacks back at it with Magic Bounce.</p>
<p>Spikes Smeargle can fit on just about any team, but it is best appreciated on heavy offense or bulky offense teams, who can net important OHKOs and 2HKOs with Spikes damage. However, this set must have a spinblocker to ensure that the foe does not use a Pokemon with Rapid Spin to eliminate your precious entry hazards. Golurk and Spiritomb are two very good options, as in addition to being bulky, the two can use their good offensive stats to threaten foes. If you wish to use an even bulkier spinblocker, then Eviolite Dusclops is your Pokemon. However, it must be noted that both Dusclops and Smeargle are completely shut down by Taunt. Smeargle also has a ton of alternate moves it can use on the fourth moveslot of this set. For example, you can run Toxic Spikes along with Spikes to destroy walls, Encore to prevent Smeargle from becoming set up bait, or Taunt to prevent Pokemon from phazing Smeargle out with Roar or Whirlwind.</p>
[Other Options]
<p>Smeargle can literally use any and all sets that you can think of. Unfortunately, its horrible stats prevent it from doing most of them effectively. All viable alternative moves that the Baton Pass and Spikes set could pull off are already listed under Additional Comments. Other Pokemon will often outclass Smeargle for the role of a certain set. For example, Smeargle could run a dual screen set, and while access to Spore gives it an advantage, Pokemon like Uxie and Cresselia have much more bulk, and therefore do the job better. You are free to experiment by coming up with your own sets, but the two sets listed above are usually the best way to go.</p>
[Checks and Counters]
<p>With its frail defenses, just about any Pokemon can OHKO or 2HKO Smeargle. However, almost every single Smeargle set you will encounter will use Spore, which can be detrimental to your team and is tricky to get around. One solution is to have a Pokemon who can use Taunt and is faster than Smeargle, such as Aerodactyl and Crobat. Taunt not only prevents Smeargle from using Spore, it also forces the painter out since it rarely carries an attacking move. Priority attacks can also screw Smeargle over. Hitmontop and Ambipom can destroy Smeargle's Focus Sash with Fake Out and then use a priority move for the kill. A more specialized solution would be to use Pokemon that do not mind Spore, such as RestTalkers or Pokemon with the Insomnia ability, such as Honchkrow. Otherwise, you need to sacrifice your least valuable Pokemon to take the sleep and then send out another teammate to knock out Smeargle. The Baton Pass set can be stopped by Pokemon who can use Haze, such as Crobat or Milotic. Quagsire's Unaware ability allows it to ignore the boost Smeargle passes to its recipient, and phaze them out with Yawn or Toxic.<p>
