Viable typings:
Following the Camomons survey results (will be fully discussed on the Camomons thread soon), 42.1% of respondents think Annihilape should be banned and almost all of you, 94.7%, are open to a tiering action about the monkey. The Camomons council therefore decided to take advantage of the ladder to suspect it!
Last weeks, the Camomons council banned many mons (10 to be exact) through 2 ban slates involving quick bans. We chose this approach in order to get rid of the most problematic elements as soon as possible to achieve a preliminary balanced state and let you try the ladder in the best conditons. However, while we're thinking the biggest part of our job in the balancing process of this new generation has been done, our work isn't over. Nevertheless, we now decided to work with the community thanks to this opportunity to get a ladder for the whole month of February.
Annihilape was a well known figure in OU terrorizing the metagame thanks to both Rage Fist and terastallization that led it to be banned. In Camomons, Annihilape is theoretically even scarier with more typings. However, Camomons has banned terastallization (or implemented terastal clause) removing this crucial element that made it banned from OU. You can therefore build solid gameplans depending on the typing and don't be scared to see it gone by a sudden typing change making your revenge killing impossible for instance. Annihilape also becomes somehow more predictable considering it will be (almost) all the time Ghost to get the STAB on Rage Fist which is an element inseparable from its power.
Rage Fist is indeed the main element, paired with Annihilape's amazing bulk of 110/80/90, potentially pushing it over the edge. Any hit Annihilape takes increases Rage Fist's power by 50 (up to 350). Given how powerful Ghost is offensively, I let you imagine how devastating it can be.
252 SpA Choice Specs
Dragapult Shadow Ball vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD
Annihilape: 254-300 (59.9 - 70.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Choice Specs
Dragapult Hydro Pump vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD
Annihilape: 174-205 (41 - 48.3%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Choice Specs
Iron Valiant Moonblast vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD
Annihilape: 338-402 (79.7 - 94.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Choice Specs
252 SpA Choice Specs
To support Rage Fist, Annihilape uses most of the time Drain Punch (base typing) to get a near perfect coverage really hard to switch into. Moreover, Drain Punch provides to Annihilape some recovery which is great to stay on the field and boost Rage Fist or be sufficiently high in HP to prevent revenge killing. However, if we should avoid hitting Annihilape directly, what's about using status or any kind of passive damages?
Well, Annihilape gets Substitute to prevent that but it doesn't help boosting Rage Fist damages. In fact, it has a better option with Taunt. Taunt prevents any non-offensive moves protecting Annihilape from being burned by Will-O-Wisp or poisoned by Toxic It also prevents pivoting through Chilly Reception or phazing with Whirlwind for instance. Annihilape can therefore easily take advantage of passive walls to boost Rage Fist and put you in a difficult situation because staying will only make Rage Fist stronger (defensive mon hit like a fly for Annhilape) and switching on an offensive mon can be dangerous depending on Rage Fist current power.
Finally, Bulk Up is the last tool on its arsenal making it hard to break on the physical side while getting stronger and this even while you avoid hitting it to not boost Rage Fist.
It's possible to get rid of Drain Punch for something like Earthquake preserving a good offensive and defensive combination with more immediate power. Facade can be used to counter other Annihilape (but not only) on some Rest-talk sets. We've also seen some Grass, Dark and Poison variant.
On another side, Annihilape feels somehow inconsistent because the most common variant,
Annihilape also tends to work versus quite passive teams but can be a burden against really offensive playstyle such as rain, sun or screens HO because it requires passiviy and some turns to really start breaking.
Overall, if Camomons offers new possibilities for Annihilape, none are really better than its base typing and are absolutely not comparable to what terastallization provided to it in SV OU. Camomons also creates new counterplay with the possibility to use typing such as
How (Suspect Details):
During a Suspect test, each player must climb the ladder until they've acquired the GXE necessary to participate in the voting. Primarily, everyone that participates needs to make an alt account following these guidelines:
- Every game must be played on the official Pokemon Showdown! site and on a new account (creation date no earlier than today, February 14th) with "CMRF" [Nick]"--for example, I could create one called "CMRF Torkoal TR hater" to ladder with. Having the prefix at the beginning of your alt name is mandatory, AKA not in the middle (e.g. Ponch CMRF lake) and not at the end (e.g. Euphonos CMRF#). Please do not attempt to impersonate other users, as this may lead to an infraction.
- To qualify for voting, your alt must play a minimum of 25 games, and you must have a minimum GXE of 75.
- Annihilape will be allowed on the ladder during the suspect.
- The suspect test will go for two weeks and end on Monday, February 27th (10:59 pm GMT +1).
- When posting proof of meeting reqs, feel free to use this thread as a means to disseminate topical opinions regarding whether or not Annihilape should be banned (Optional)
- It is mandatory to provide proof of ownership of the alt account as well. (Post a picture of your reqs with your smogon name featured).
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