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What If? - Alternate Timelines (AT #7 - Berries Chuggalong: Stats Submissions)

A little behind but we have yet another tie (I swear y'all do this to me on purpose just to get me to reveal my vote lol) between Ghost/Fighting and Ghost/Fairy and so I will break the tie by revealing my own vote which means that AT Saharaja's typing is...

:spooky plate:Ghost/Fairy:pixie plate:

With that we are onto ability! There was mention of using those turns of invulnerablity to our advantage and I like that approach, so I wanna see what abilities you guys think would help with taking advantage of those turns and/or help us click Shadow Force to begin with. I wanna give this stage the weekend so let's discuss for the next 48-72 hours and then we can get to voting on something :eyes:
 
Poison Heal is potentially stupid for obvious reasons. which is funny.
I also like pressure. Between sub protect and shadow force you can really take away a lot of pp.
Corrosion is a nasty punishing option for possible switch ins such as venomicon or equilibra, but doesn't seem overbearing, given solid switch in options such as Gliscor Garg or Clefable. Toxic really benefits from turns of invulnerability as protox sets on multiple mons have shown before. Shadow force makes this even more potent as you can stack it with protect.
Lastly tough claws functions as a simple boost to this typings physical stabs, that is making the moves even more threatening.
So overall abilities (and later moves) that pair well with protect also are going to pair well with Shadow Force.
P.S. Harvest works as less stupid poison heal alternative.
 
Stakeout or Poison Touch are my picks, yes we still suck against normal type switch-ins, but the former makes us a psuedo Pursuit trapper and the latter means we can still force progress even against physically bulky mons like Ting-Lu or Great Tusk.
 
Building around our turn of invulnerability is the key to making Shadow Force work. The move essentially fits Protect and a 120 BP STAB into one slot, but that single turn of invulnerability is also a turn we're not doing damage, in comparison to just spamming a STAB option twice in a row. I think our approach to an ability should be either to mitigate the downsides of our invulnerable turn or to have passive boosts during said turns.

For that first option, I'd put Unaware forward. During our turn of invulnerability, the opponent has the option to set-up without the fear of taking damage, which can lessen the impact of our powerful stab. Unaware nullifies this risk and prevents us from worrying about our opponent becoming bulkier or stronger once Shadow Force has played out. Unaware is a versatile ability that can benefit us whether we pick a defense or offensive role. Defensively, it allows us to easily switch into setup sweepers and stay in with passive healing like Leftovers, etc. Offensively, combined with our excellent STAB option it can allow us to become a powerful wallbreaker against common set-up walls which otherwise can take advantage of Shadow Force's first turn.

That second option's been pretty thoroughly covered by Amamama, I always immediately thought of Poison Heal and Corossion, both of which favor stally, passive playstyles, and adds additional value to our invulnerability turn. Poison Heal is especially fun as we can essentially have two guaranteed protects in a row.
 
Not to post twice in a row but here’s my flavor submission for AT Chromera!

IMG_5711.png

Beansquawk
Steel/Grass
The Lucky Sprout Pokemon

Based on the tale of Jack and the Beanstalk, combing the beanstalk, the castle, and the lucky hen.

Supporting Material
IMG_5712.png
 
Submitting Merciless!
It combines aspects of several of the abilities that have been brought up, while being a cool option that hasn't seen use in any official capacity.
  • You take advantage of the invulnerability turn to tick poison chip, like with Corrosion
  • You ignore the opponent's potential defensive set-up during your invulnerability turn, like with Unaware
  • You get a nice power boost to your attacks, like with Tough Claws
  • With Toxic Spikes, you can punish switches like with Stakeout or Analytic
With all this power, you solidify Poison and Steel-types as answers, since they both have a positive type matchup and are immune to poison status, and I think that's a good thing.
 
And here is the slate!

Analytic
Stakeout
Poison Heal
Pressure
Corrosion
Tough Claws
Poison Touch
Unaware
Merciless

Reminder that this is a single bold vote! I intentionally left off Moody and Slow Start as the former is a chaotic thing in and of itself and puts strain unnecessarily on the project. The latter feels more like a secondary/flavor ability than a primary one to me and it doesn't do much in terms of allowing us to make progress.

I will give 24 hours for voting and then we will move onto Defining Moves 2 (and potentially flavor voting as well!)
 
And with an overwhelming 8 votes, AT Raja shall be poisoning itself healthily i.e. Poison Heal is the winner!

Now for Defining Moves 2! We know that we have Shadow Force as one of our defining moves, but we need to flesh out the list a bit more and determine what kinda complementary STAB, utility, or coverage moves AT Raja may need. This step won't last for too terribly long so I am thinking 48 hours for this step!
 
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