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SPOILERS! Zeraora
- Thread starter Nexus
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It is released. But it's illegal as there's no way to get one as of yet.
Gamefreak seems to enjoy making dumb typings on Pokémon that are obviousky that type:
>Pinsir. Has 6 Bug-type moves, 13 Fighting-type moves, and one Flying-type move (HP Flying). Fighting mega to battle equally with Mega Heracross? Lol nope, let's change Normal → Flying and add Flying-type
>Stakataka. Bricks sticking together thanks to some magic force, with eyes, hollow inside, creepy af, perfect Rock/Ghost. Lol nope, let's send a Bastiodon in the space and see what happens.
>Lunala. Emblem of night, darkness, maybe a Psychic/Dark legendary? LOL NOPE, let's make it 4x to Dark even if it lives in the fucking darkness!
Bonus:
>Luxray. Can see through anything, design looks like a Pokémon version of Sonic the Hedgehog's Shadow. Lol nope, just Electric, deal with it.
So yeah, GF likes to play poorly on typings, or it's sadistic and wants us to suffer from this thing. Zeraora would have been perfect for Electric/Fighting, but no let's make it a Thundurus-T that can die from EQ. Lacking access to Ice Punch when tutor moves return is just add insult to injury.
Looking forward to seeing Zeraora's release. I think the very attractive speed tier could make it function as a good revenge killer. Just a shame that it seems like Plasma Fists Bonus effect doesn't come in to play often with how rare pure normal types are in OU.
The seemingly low movepool left a lot to be desired for me at first, but the STAB is nice, Close Combat and Fire Punch helps against steel types like Stakataka, Ferrothorn and Scizor, and the decent special attack stat coupled with HP Ice gives it means of dealing with the quartet of ground types 4x weak to Ice that is Garchomp, Gliscor, Lando-T and Zygarde (though a lot of mons can already do that)
The seemingly low movepool left a lot to be desired for me at first, but the STAB is nice, Close Combat and Fire Punch helps against steel types like Stakataka, Ferrothorn and Scizor, and the decent special attack stat coupled with HP Ice gives it means of dealing with the quartet of ground types 4x weak to Ice that is Garchomp, Gliscor, Lando-T and Zygarde (though a lot of mons can already do that)
I can't love enough the fact that Adamant Scarf Landorus-T hits 421 Spe after the Scarf boost, and unboosted Jolly Zeraora hits 423 Spe.
It definitely has some pretty amazing speed, but that's all I see good really. It's sig move is curious as it would make Return into a powerful physical stab, but if I'm reading this right, it'd also turn enemy Normal attacks to Electric? Depending on the match-up, that could be fairly good, but that's a lot of predictable setup considering the real lack of coverage.
The effects of Plasma Fists only last until the end of the turn, so it would not give this thing STAB Return. Even if it did, Return is only 2 points stronger than Plasma Fists, so it wouldn't be worth using both on the same set.
So it's basically a "Use this if you think your opponent is going to use a Normal move". Okay, that's really dumb.
No, you're going to be using it regardless, because it's powerful STAB. If your opponent is dumb enough to 1) have a Normal-type move and 2) use it against this thing, then that's entirely on them.
Well, yeah. I was meaning really the effect being dumb. The power is great for a 15 PP move.
What about having the chance of turning a possibly-killing Double-Edge/Hyper Voice into a Sitrus Berry?
A thing nobody is thinking about is that this move can negate Aerilate/Pixilate; turning them from base Normal to Electric is wonderful, as it can wall Specs Sylveon, MegaSalamence, MegaPinsir, and is annoying for MegaGardevoir (even though a Psychic can remove Zeraora). Not to mention the fact that it can stand against Koko (exploiting its Terrain too), Thundurus, and other Electric-types such as non-HP Ground Magnezone.
Speaking of which, does -ates come before Plasma Fists' effect (types will be changed according to their effect), or that is the other way around (-ates are disregarded and will always be electric)?
This is however sorta niche I suppose. The best way to abuse this is probably against normal type Pokemon that relies on normal STAB such as Mega Khan as far as I'm aware of especially after the power up punch nerf, and things that are overly reliant on -ates such as Mega Glalie which is basically a meme bomb more than anything. Mega Salamence will just quake or Claw Zerora which the latter will not want to stand in front of it whatsoever, Mega Pinsir will never try using a flying type attack in front of an electric type Pokemon which will kill it regardless, and the best it can do is probably just negating hyper voice reliant things. Not saying it is worthless but it's very situational to the point that you'd probably just spam it as a STAB with this as the icing of the cake.
As far as I know, -ate Abilities change the move's type when the Pokémon uses a Normal-type move, they don't change typing prior to moving; example is a Normal-type Z Move used by an -ate user. The Z move will be Breakneck Blitz, and ignores the -ate ability (otherwise Normalium/Fairium Z Sylveon will be everywhere).
So I must think and assume that Plasma Fists works similarly, and changes the typing from Normal → Electric if it moves before the -ate user, effectively negating the -ate ability.
That's so super niche though and a lot of -ate users either have ways around it or know Zeraora's only gimmick. Also while that is a good thing that Zeraora is good against -ate abilities, Zeraora does not wall M.Salamences that run Dragon Dance nor would a M.Salamence or M.Pinsir use their Normal moves anyway against an Electric type that already resists Flying. M.Salamence usually runs EQ for this very reason. I can see Specs Sylveon getting walled, but that's really it. As you said, M.Gardevoir doesn't even need Pixilate to beat it.
Edit: Because people like numbers
252+ Atk Salamence-Mega Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Zeraora: 328-388 (103.4 - 122.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ Atk Salamence Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Zeraora: 312-368 (98.4 - 116%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO
252 Atk Zeraora Plasma Fists vs. 44 HP / 0 Def Salamence-Mega: 118-139 (34.5 - 40.6%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252 Atk Zeraora Plasma Fists vs. 44 HP / 0 Def Salamence: 178-210 (52 - 61.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Zeraora Plasma Fists vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Pinsir-Mega: 252-296 (92.9 - 109.2%) -- 56.3% chance to OHKO
252 Atk Pinsir-Mega Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Zeraora: 316-372 (99.6 - 117.3%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO
252+ Atk Salamence Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Zeraora: 312-368 (98.4 - 116%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO
252 Atk Zeraora Plasma Fists vs. 44 HP / 0 Def Salamence-Mega: 118-139 (34.5 - 40.6%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252 Atk Zeraora Plasma Fists vs. 44 HP / 0 Def Salamence: 178-210 (52 - 61.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Zeraora Plasma Fists vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Pinsir-Mega: 252-296 (92.9 - 109.2%) -- 56.3% chance to OHKO
252 Atk Pinsir-Mega Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Zeraora: 316-372 (99.6 - 117.3%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO
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Here's some more movesets:
Zeraora @ Electrium Z / Firium Z
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Bulk Up
- Plasma Fists
- Close Combat
- Fire Punch / Knock Off
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Bulk Up
- Plasma Fists
- Close Combat
- Fire Punch / Knock Off
Zeraora @ Electrium Z / Fightinium Z
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Calm Mind
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power Ice
- Focus Blast / Grass Knot / Taunt
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Calm Mind
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power Ice
- Focus Blast / Grass Knot / Taunt
Zeraora @ Choice Specs
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power Ice / Grass Knot
- Focus Blast
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power Ice / Grass Knot
- Focus Blast
Zeraora @ Choice Band
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Plasma Fists
- Close Combat
- Fire Punch
- Knock Off / Volt Switch
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Plasma Fists
- Close Combat
- Fire Punch
- Knock Off / Volt Switch
Zeraora @ Leftovers / Liechi Berry
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 12 HP / 244 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Substitute
- Bulk Up
- Plasma Fists
- Drain Punch / Fire Punch
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 12 HP / 244 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Substitute
- Bulk Up
- Plasma Fists
- Drain Punch / Fire Punch
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Hot damn sexy, it's rare to find a fast Electric-type with a dedicated Choice Band option.
Its STAB is stronger than Wild Charge, with no recoil, and doesn't miss, so it's quite spammable; not to consider it comes from a 112 Atk + Choice Band.
Close Combat demolishes Rock/Normal/Steel/Ice/Dark-types such as Tyranitar, Heatran on switch, Weavile, Mega Kangaskhan etc. because of the Band; Fire Punch nails Ferrothorn and Kartana better than CC (75x4 > 120x2, and doesn't reduce defenses), and roasts both Forretress and the Grass-types resisting Plasma Fists; for last moveslot, I prefer Knock Off since it rounds off coverage even more, whereas Volt Switch lets Zeraora escape bad matchups.
Quite a good set indeed!
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