Pokémon Starmie

Eve

Eve

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:ss/starmie:
Starmie

Type: Water / Psychic
Base Stats: 60 HP / 75 Atk / 85 Def / 100 SpA / 85 SpD / 115 Spe
Abilities: Illuminate | Natural Cure | Analytic (H)

Level Up Moves:
- [01] Rapid Spin
- [01] Minimize
- [01] Swift
- [01] Psybeam
- [01] Brine
- [01] Light Screen
- [01] Power Gem
- [01] Psychic
- [01] Surf
- [01] Recover
- [01] Cosmic Power
- [01] Hydro Pump
- [01] Tackle
- [01] Harden
- [01] Water Gun
- [01] Confuse Ray

TMs:
- [TM08] Hyper Beam
- [TM09] Giga Impact
- [TM14] Thunder Wave
- [TM17] Light Screen
- [TM18] Reflect
- [TM21] Rest
- [TM24] Snore
- [TM25] Protect
- [TM27] Icy Wind
- [TM33] Rain Dance
- [TM35] Hail
- [TM36] Whirlpool
- [TM39] Facade
- [TM40] Swift
- [TM45] Dive
- [TM55] Brine
- [TM64] Avalanche
- [TM69] Psycho Cut
- [TM70] Trick Room
- [TM71] Wonder Room
- [TM76] Round

TRs:
- [TR03] Hydro Pump
- [TR04] Surf
- [TR05] Ice Beam
- [TR06] Blizzard
- [TR08] Thunderbolt
- [TR09] Thunder
- [TR11] Psychic
- [TR12] Agility
- [TR16] Waterfall
- [TR19] Tri Attack
- [TR20] Substitute
- [TR25] Psyshock
- [TR26] Endure
- [TR27] Sleep Talk
- [TR38] Trick
- [TR40] Skill Swap
- [TR44] Cosmic Power
- [TR52] Gyro Ball
- [TR63] Power Gem
- [TR70] Flash Cannon
- [TR77] Grass Knot
- [TR83] Ally Switch
- [TR84] Scald
- [TR92] Dazzling Gleam

Isle of Armor Move Tutor:
- Flip Turn
- Expanding Force
- Meteor Beam

Transfer Only Moves:
- Attract
- Bubble Beam
- Confide
- Curse
- Double Team
- Double-Edge
- Dream Eater
- Gravity
- Headbutt
- Mimic
- Pain Split
- Psych Up
- Recycle
- Reflect Type
- Rollout
- Skull Bash
- Spotlight
- Swagger
- Take Down
- Teleport
- Toxic
- Twister
- Water Pulse
- Zap Cannon

[Newly Obtainable Moves]
- Agility
- Expanding Force
- Flip Turn
- Headbutt
- Meteor Beam
- Psybeam
- Psycho Cut
- Teleport (mechanics changed)

[Notable Moves]
- Rapid Spin
- Hydro Pump
- Scald
- Surf
- Psyshock
- Psychic
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Beam
- Dazzling Gleam
- Thunder Wave
- Toxic
- Recover
- Teleport
- Reflect
- Light Screen
- Flip Turn
- Trick
- Agility
- Pain Split
- Cosmic Power
- Reflect Type
- Toxic

[Pros]

- Starmie's high Speed makes it a good revenge killer for threatening Pokemon like Terrakion and a decent offensive user of Rapid Spin, able to clear hazards before the opponent can stop it. Rapid Spin's Speed boost also lets it avoid revenge killing attempts from scarfers and faster Pokemon like Dragapult and Zeraora in a pinch.
- Starmie's STAB and Analytic let it threaten most of the metagame decently well when equipped with a Life Orb, able to perform feats like 2HKOing Clefable on switch-in with Psyshock after factoring in Protect, and its amazing coverage movepool let it take on would-be answers like Hydreigon. Its STAB also lets it pressure hazard setters like Hippowdon, Excadrill, and Kommo-o, increasing its effectiveness as a spinner.
- Starmie can alternatively act as a status sponge with Natural Cure, which is valuable when most other offensive Pokemon get worn down quickly or crippled by paralysis.
- Using Recover lets it easily stay healthy over the course of a battle against more passive teams, exerting an offensive presence for the duration of the game.

[Cons]

- Starmie is dominated by Ferrothorn and Chansey, being unable to significantly harm them in any way. As they are both premier hazard options this greatly affects Starmie's viability as a removal option, often making the use of other removers preferable.
- While it does have access to Recover, Starmie is quite frail. This means switching it in to use Rapid Spin or throw out attacks can prove difficult against offensive teams.
- Starmie's Special Attack is slightly lacking and it has no good way to boost it. In a pure offensive role, this leaves it mostly outclassed by Alakazam.
- Starmie's longevity if not running Recover is extremely lacking, as Life Orb is needed in order to break through the majority of defensive Pokemon and this adds up alongside hazard damage. This is another point in the Magic Guard-wielding Alakazam's favor, despite its lower bulk.

[Potential Movesets]
lifeorb.png
Offensive Spinner
Starmie @ Life Orb
Ability: Analytic
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hydro Pump
- Psyshock / Psychic
- Dazzling Gleam / Recover / Ice Beam / Thunderbolt
- Rapid Spin

A very similar set to the one it used in Gen 7 UU, with its main goal being to keep the opponent's hazards off while also checking offensive powerhouses like Terrakion. Psyshock is usually the better Psychic STAB move as it lets Starmie notably break Clefable, but Psychic's higher raw damage can prove useful. Dazzling Gleam OHKOs Urshifu, Hydreigon, and Kommo-o. Recover lets you perform more consistently throughout the game. Ice Beam is an alternative option to let you at least leave a small dent in Ferrothorn. Thunderbolt 2HKOs Slowbro, which can be useful if your team struggles to break it.

leftovers.png
Utility Spinner
Starmie @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Toxic / Dazzling Gleam
- Rapid Spin
- Recover

Another throwback to Gen 7, this set aims to reliably remove hazards throughout a game while staying healthy and compensating for its passivity by spreading status. The investment in HP lets it potentially switch in on Pokemon it pressures, like Hippowdon, Urshifu-Rapid-Flow, and Keldeo, and lets it easily shrug off most attacks from defensive Pokemon. Dazzling Gleam is an option once again to help handle Urshifu, Hydreigon, Kommo-o, and also Keldeo, making full use of its great Speed tier to help check several prominent Pokemon.

choicespecs.png
Choice Specs
Starmie @ Choice Specs
Ability: Analytic
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Psyshock
- Ice Beam / Trick
- Flip Turn / Trick

This set, on the other hand, is definitely not a throwback. With its newly gained momentum tool in Flip Turn, Choice Specs Starmie is now a much less ridiculous concept, and this provides it a distinct offensive niche over similar Pokemon like Alakazam. While this set is especially potent versus offense, Analytic makes its attacks punishing to switch in on for even bulky teams- for example, Hydro Pump has favorable odds to 2HKO specially defensive Clefable on switch-in and Analytic boosted Psyshock does 40% minimum to Chansey. Ice Beam lets you at least damage Ferrothorn and OHKOs Hydreigon. Either Ice Beam or Flip Turn can also be exchanged for Trick, which allows you to permanently ruin Ferrothorn or another defensive Pokemon.



While I don't expect this Pokemon to make a massive splash and it will most likely become a star performer in UU, I hope this analytic overview helps illuminate Starmie's hidden potential in OU! Feel free to share your own shocking sets, or provide some scalding hot takes on the ones I provided. :)
 
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I think that Natural Cure is better than Analytic because it is more consistent even on the Choice Specs set, in particular when you have to get rid of paralysis that ruins on of your biggest positive trait.

Maybe a set with Focus Sash could be nice with a Pain Split coming from that 115 Spe tier.

Although Starmie doesn't hit that hard, I think that this star will have for sure a niche ad a Rapid Spin user with Flip Turn to keep the momentum.
The Choice Specs anf the Life Orb set is nice, but I think it is done better by other SpA-focused pokèmons.
 
nameless90 said:
I think that Natural Cure is better than Analytic because it is more consistent even on the Choice Specs set, in particular when you have to get rid of paralysis that ruins on of your biggest positive trait.
Click to expand...
Analytic is better for offensive Starmie as it punishes otherwise safe switches much more heavily, increasing Starmie's effectiveness as both a revenge killer (pressuring your opponent to stay in) and as a breaker (dealing greater damage to bulky pokemon switching in, which is relevant in many cases). Paralysis isn't common enough to offset this advantage.

edit: the rest
nameless90 said:
Maybe a set with Focus Sash could be nice with a Pain Split coming from that 115 Spe tier.

Although Starmie doesn't hit that hard, I think that this star will have for sure a niche ad a Rapid Spin user with Flip Turn to keep the momentum.
The Choice Specs anf the Life Orb set is nice, but I think it is done better by other SpA-focused pokèmons.
Click to expand...
Pain Split is definitely a neat option considering how low Starmie's base HP is- you can do some serious draining to opponents like Ferrothorn with it. It can be unreliable at times though.

Life Orb isn't outclassed by other special attackers as they don't have Rapid Spin (a very important role) and Choice Specs isn't outclassed as they don't have Starmie's STAB, Trick, or Flip Turn.
 
nameless90 said:
I think that Natural Cure is better than Analytic because it is more consistent even on the Choice Specs set, in particular when you have to get rid of paralysis that ruins on of your biggest positive trait.

Maybe a set with Focus Sash could be nice with a Pain Split coming from that 115 Spe tier.

Although Starmie doesn't hit that hard, I think that this star will have for sure a niche ad a Rapid Spin user with Flip Turn to keep the momentum.
The Choice Specs anf the Life Orb set is nice, but I think it is done better by other SpA-focused pokèmons.
Click to expand...
Analytic works on switches, meaning that should you want to switch in your check, it would be forced to take the equivalent, of 2 Life orb of whatever attack was about to hit it. for example
252 SpA Life Orb Starmie Hydro Pump vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Clefable: 212-251 (53.8 - 63.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery. This is a significant amount, and in addition to rapid spin boosting speed, this mon has potential to be a real offensive menace. This isnt even mentioning its insane move pool which can make this an extremely rewarding pokemon if you can get predictions correct.


I suspect this might also see use with timbs on some kind of recover rapid spin teleport set, as it also gets to take advantage of natural cure in that way.
 
What are some other viable options for Starmie outside of the ones mentioned? I want to start playing this post-DLC metagame (and one of the first mons I want to try out is Starmie - old yet gold!).
 
What is other people’s opinion on running Modest variants of Starmie?
With Rapid Spin’s Buff, and how much slower the Metagame is, a lack of Pursuit, I think it can get away with being Modest for Offensive sets.
Sure, this means that Starmie is outpaced by Terrakion, Scolipede, Gengar (especially bad), and Meinshao without a boost from Rapid Spin, but those Pokemon don’t like a Psychic or Psyshock either.
 
Cuddly said:
What is other people’s opinion on running Modest variants of Starmie?
With Rapid Spin’s Buff, and how much slower the Metagame is, a lack of Pursuit, I think it can get away with being Modest for Offensive sets.
Sure, this means that Starmie is outpaced by Terrakion, Scolipede, Gengar (especially bad), and Meinshao without a boost from Rapid Spin, but those Pokemon don’t like a Psychic or Psyshock either.
Click to expand...
Modest Starmie is horrible. Its speed stat is too valuable, and a Starmie that is slower than Gengar and Keldeo is totally worthless.
 
MrHands said:
As much as I want to say yes, no not really. Just running Life Orb and BoltBeam+ STABs has almost as much damage output.
Click to expand...

A Sp.Atk Boost has more damage output. 50% extra damage vs 30% is really big. You're left with the loss of a valuable move though. It'd be picked purely for the element of surprise as plenty of counters to Starmie may not be expecting to deal with a Meteor Beam to the face. Like Volcarona could survive a Surf/Hyrdro Pump and easily KO with Bug Buzz, but a surprise Meteor Beam could lead to a devastating unexpected loss of a healthy set-up sweeper and then they have to deal with a +1 Starmie.

It's an option but at the loss of a lot of consistency. BoltBeam+STABs is the perfect moveset and Meteor Beam set forces you to remove one of those powerful moves in exchange for a move that has only one shot of doing it's job. If you screw up with LO set, or mispredict, you can switch and try again. But once you use your herb, that's it. And it's not like you have unburden to make it doubly worth the sacrifice.
 
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Cuddly said:
What is other people’s opinion on running Modest variants of Starmie?
With Rapid Spin’s Buff, and how much slower the Metagame is, a lack of Pursuit, I think it can get away with being Modest for Offensive sets.
Sure, this means that Starmie is outpaced by Terrakion, Scolipede, Gengar (especially bad), and Meinshao without a boost from Rapid Spin, but those Pokemon don’t like a Psychic or Psyshock either.
Click to expand...

yeah like martin said, giving up that speed is just too valuable especially since pokemon like Terrakion and Gengar are great choice scarfers which will outspeed modest starmie even after a spin. it'll also get outran by scarf magnezone if running modest, which doesn't happen with timid
 
Specs Starmie @ Hydro Psychic Trick Ice/Spin is surprisingly effective, it hits insanely hard with Analytic, only main problem for it is Ferrothorn but you're usually pretty well off if you can get it tricked. It's good for crippling Cinderace that rely on Sucker to hit it too
 
Eve said:
Starmie's high Speed makes it a good revenge killer for threatening Pokemon like Terrakion and a decent offensive user of Rapid Spin, able to clear hazards before the opponent can stop it. Rapid Spin's Speed boost also lets it avoid revenge killing attempts from scarfers and faster Pokemon like Dragapult and Zeraora in a pinch.
Click to expand...
I feel Urshifu-Rapid Strike should be included with Terrakion on the threats Starmie can revenge kill. It resists both of Urshifu’s STAB and can OHKO with Psychic.

252+ SpA Life Orb Starmie Psychic vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Urshifu-Rapid-Strike: 530-624 (155.4 - 182.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO
 
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