Palkia (QC 0/3)

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[OVERVIEW]

  • Palkia can now use the power of Z-Heal Block to have access to a boosting move to boost its power to new heights, letting it become a fierce wallbreaker. Heal Block itself furthers Palkia's wallbreaking capabilities, letting it block healing on opposing Pokemon as well, and can be used to setup and block healing in the same turn.
  • Palkia offers a solid check to Primal Kyogre as it quad-resists its STAB attack and takes only neutral damage from its common coverage moves of Thunder and Ice Beam.
  • Palkia has a very mediocre speed tier, and while outspeeding a lot of the bulkier Pokemon in the metagame, it can be outsped and killed by many common Pokemon in the Ubers tier.
  • While Palkia can break walls very easily, it is prone to getting worn down by Toxic and allowing it to be revenge killed.

[SET]
name: Z-Heal Block
move 1: Hydro Pump
move 2: Spacial Rend
move 3: Heal Block
move 4: Fire Blast
item: Psychium Z
ability: Pressure
nature: Modest
evs: 4HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========

  • Hydro Pump is Palkia's go-to move for its strength as a wallbreaker, being able to OHKO many common things, such as all max-HP Arceus forms that hit at least neutrally, at +2 after Stealth Rock.
  • Spacial Rend is Palkia's secondary STAB that yields a higher damage output than Dragon Pulse without the crippling stat drops of Draco Meteor.
  • Heal Block stops healing of things that like to recover off damage, such as support Arceus forms or Lugia, but when combined with Psychium Z, it will give Palkia a one time +2 boost to its Special Attack, making it a fearsome wallbreaker.
  • Fire Blast can be used to hit Grass- and Steel-types such as Ferrothorn, which often resist at least one of Palkia's STAB moves. It is also slightly more accurate than Hydro-Pump which makes it a better choice versus Steel-types.

Set Details
========

  • 252 Special Attack and Speed EVs allow Palkia to hit as hard as possible while having a usable speed tier.
  • Modest Nature is optimal to allow Palkia to secure certain crucial KO's, such as maximum HP Arceus forms that take a neutral Hydro Pump at +2.
  • Psychium Z gives Palkia access to Z-Heal Block, which will boost Palkia's Special Attack by two stages.
  • Pressure is a very passive ability that makes foes use PP faster than normal.

Usage Tips
========

  • Palkia is an excellent switch-in to many things in the metagame, such as Kyogre, as Palkia quad-resists Kyogre's Water-type STAB. It can also check many Steel-types such as Solgaleo and Arceus-Steel in the tier, as it resists both of their primary STABs and cannot take a +2 Hydro Pump or Fire Blast.
  • Palkia has trouble versus offensive builds, as it's main niche is stallbreaking and with its mediocre speed tier it and somewhat lackluster defenses it will usually be outsped and killed by more powerful threats.
  • Z-Heal Block should only be set-up at the most opportune times, after all fast Fairy types such as Xerneas and Arceus-Fairy are KO'd or significantly weakened. Dragon Types that are faster than Palkia cannot be ignored either, as it can often force Palkia to switch out after it has wasted it's one-time Z move.
  • Palkia can use Heal-Block on specially defensive walls such as Chansey before switching out, allowing another teammate to finish Chansey off without the problem of it recovering with Soft-Boiled or Wish. Often, if a defensive Pokemon such as Arceus is low enough on health, Palkia can use Z-Heal Block to setup to +2 as well as block the opponent from healing.

Team Options
========

  • Palkia appreciates the support of Fairy-resistant Pokemon, such as Primal Groudon and Arceus-Steel, to help remove Fairy-types so Palkia can sweep.
  • Things that can lure in and paralyze the opposing Fairy-types, such as Glare Zygarde-Complete, can be used to make them slower than Palkia so it can continue its sweep unhindered.
  • Pokemon that can deal with Primal Groudon, such as Arceus-Ground, Zygarde-Complete, and Arceus-Water, are greatly appreciated so Palkia's Hydro Pump does not evaporate on a Primal Groudon switch-in.
  • Fairy-types such as Xerneas and Arceus-Fairy can help deal with opposing Dragon-types who threaten Palkia.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

  • Palkia can possibly run a Substitute set to ease prediction and allow for easier setup, but lacks passive recovery in Leftovers.
  • Thunder can be used to OHKO things like Ho-Oh and Kyogre at +2, but has a potentially crippling accuracy weakness except against Kyogre.
Checks and Counters
===================

**Fairy-types**: Fairy-type Pokemon such as Xerneas and Arceus-Fairy can outspeed and KO Palkia before it has a chance to setup. The presence of either one of these Pokemon make it very difficult for Palkia to become a win-condition throughout the game.

**Primal Groudon**: While a +2 Spacial Rend will do a lot of damage to Primal Groudon, it can often switch into Hydro Pump for free and KO Palkia if Palkia has not set up Z-Heal Block.

**Fast Revenge Killers** Nearly all of the high-damage fast Pokemon in the metagame can comfortably revenge kill Palkia with a bit of prior damage. Palkia tends to get worn-down quickly, so the less damage Palkia takes, the better to avoid being revenge killed.
 
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In OO, how about [item=electrium z, sm]Electrium-Z[/item] off of Thunder? It allows Palkia to consistently beat Primal Kyogre, Arceus Water, and Ho-Oh.

252+ SpA Palkia Gigavolt Havoc (185 BP) vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Kyogre-Primal: 328-386 (81.1 - 95.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO (56.3% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock)
compared to:
252+ SpA Palkia Thunder vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Kyogre-Primal: 194-230 (48 - 56.9%) -- 90.2% chance to 2HKO (guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock)
252+ SpA Palkia Gigavolt Havoc (185 BP) vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Arceus-Water: 420-496 (94.5 - 111.7%) -- 68.8% chance to OHKO (guarenteed OHKO after Stealth Rock)


compared to:


252+ SpA Palkia Thunder vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Arceus-Water: 250-296 (56.3 - 66.6%) -- 49% chance to 2HKO factoring in accuracy

+2 (after Z-Heal Block) 252+ Palkia Thunder vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Arceus-Water: 112.6 - 133.2% -- 70% chance to OHKO after accuracy
252+ SpA Palkia Gigavolt Havoc (185 BP) vs. 248 HP / 52 SpD Ho-Oh: 326-384 (78.5 - 92.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO (guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock)
compared to:
252+ SpA Palkia Thunder vs. 248 HP / 52 SpD Ho-Oh: 194-230 (46.7 - 55.4%) -- 34.4% chance to 2HKO factoring in accuracy (43.75% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock w/ accuracy)


Edit: clarified calcs
Edit #2: expanded scope to include Waterceus and Ho-Oh
Edit #3: expanded more
 
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In OO, how about [item=electrium z, sm]Electrium-Z[/item] off of Thunder? It allows Palkia to consistently beat Primal Kyogre.

252+ SpA Palkia Gigavolt Havoc (185 BP) vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Kyogre-Primal: 328-386 (81.1 - 95.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO and 56.3% to OHKO after Stealth Rock
compared to 252+ SpA Palkia Thunder vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Kyogre-Primal: 194-230 (48 - 56.9%) -- 90.2% chance to 2HKO
Lol what that's guaranteed after rocks
Edit: still don't see how a roll is valuable when it thkos anyway
 
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I think things need to be more in depth across the analysis. Palkia is a mon that so far has been limited to sticky webs usage - Z-move wallbreakers like Marshadow and Lunala have pretty much taken Palkia's role as a "wallbreaker" on balance teams (I say that but it has never truly had one in the first place) so justifying Palkia when all it does is check Kyogre (not even that well considering its matchup against a physical set: 252+ Atk Kyogre-Primal Earthquake vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Palkia: 133-157 (41.3 - 48.7%) -- 77.7% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock) is very difficult. Stress that this is a webs only mon as all it contributes to a team is its offensive abilities and a water sponge.

Team Options should therefore have Sticky Web teammates. None of this Arceus-Steel stuff.

C&C needs a lot of expansion. 3 points isn't gonna cover the amount of soft checks this has. If you feel there isn't much, then see what splitting up and expanding on the already done categories does.

I'm not going to nitpick all the content until the direction of the analysis is fixed, but I do suggest you relook at stuff like usage tips to better accomodate things as its edited.
 
that's cool, i'll just move this back to the shelf then. this won't go against you since its out of your control.
 
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