Pinsir

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[OVERVIEW]
- Access to Aerilate, Sword's Dance and a very high Attack Value make it a very powerful Physical Sweeper in conjunction with Return/Frustration/Facade/Thrash in its movepool.
- Powerful STAB Quick Attack gives it very capable Priority.
- SM's new Mega-Evolution mechanics lets it benefit from its new improved Speed when it switches in, vastly improving its viability and survivability against Pokémon which would have previously outsped.
- Decent bulk allows it to set up even against non-STAB super-effective attacks, despite its low HP.
- Powerful counter to Grass, Flying, and Bug-types like Mega-Beedrill, Mega-Venusaur, Necturna, Tapu Bulu, Aurumoth, Mega-Heracross, and Mega-Gallade, while others, like Hoopa-U, Mega-Lopunny, Colossoil, Tomohawk, and Kerfluffle, Mega-Medicham, or Keldeo do not appreciate Mega-Pinsir's ability to hurt them without being able to OHKO in return, especially once set-up.
- Ground Immunity to lets it switch into spammed Earthquake or Bulldozes, giving it a free set up unless the opponent also has Rock Coverage; although it should watch out for bulky Ground-types lacking a weakness to Fighting, Ground, or Flying (like Zygarde).
- Improved usage of Malaconda and Arghonaut really benefit.

- Narrow move pool limits ability to be "splashed" into many teams.
- Base form lacks utility that cannot be covered elsewhere.
- Massive weakness to Stealth Rocks, especially once Mega-evolved virtually necessitates Rapid Spinner and/or healing.
- Vulnerabilities to common types such Electric, Ice and Rock.
- The reduction in Aerilate's power boost slightly reduces the offensive potential of Mega-Pinsir.
- Takes Mega Slot for the team, and its base form is near useless in the meta - including Pinsir on your team is essentially telegraphing immediately that you have Mega Pinsir, and no other Mega on your team, reducing the amount of scouting that your opponent has to do.

[SET]
name: Frustration
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Frustration
move 3: Quick Attack
move 4: Choice of Coverage; Close Combat/Earthquake/Stone Edge
item: Pinsirite
ability: Hyper Cutter
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
- Truly frightening levels of damage are available after a Swords Dance
- Aerilate Frustration (see Usage Tips) provide the one of the most powerful physical Flying type attack in the game.
- Quick Attack provides a capable STAB Boosted Priority attack
- The coverage move is variable and can be suited to try and fill whatever hole you may have; Close Combat brings the pain on Rock/Dark/Steel-types like Tyranitar (and its Mega), Voodoom, Ferrothorn or Colossoil, Earthquake covers Heatran, Crucibelle (non-Mega, non-Scarf variants) and Mega-Mawile, and can also be used to deter Tapu Koko from switching in (either overtly, or through being kept hidden). Stone Edge provides the niche for trying to lure in Zapdos or Thundurus
- Close Combat and Earthquake should be your typical go-to; many opponents getting OHKO'd by X-Scissor or Stone Edge are also getting OHKO'd by Frustration

Set Details
========
- Jolly lets Mega-Pinsir tie with other base-105 Pokemon, like Fidgit. With access to Swords Dance, Adamant is less necessary; there is very little between the overlap of needing Adamant to OHKO where Jolly would not have sufficed.
- Max Attack and Speed EV's are there to allow it to do as much damage as possible and at least be able to match speed with other base-105's after mega-evolution.
- The base ability is usually up to personal preference - Pinsir isn't good enough prior to mega-evolution to warrant being used for the purposes of racking up some Moxie stacks especially when it already has access to Swords Dance; you may be able to try and grab a stack of Moxie with a Quick Attack against a weak opponent though - while Hyper Cutter only works should it be switched in on the same turn that an Intimidate user like Gyarados gets switched in. Mold Breaker isn't worthwhile as you do not wish to be dealing damage in your base form.

Usage Tips
========
- Low Happiness Frustration used over Return means that a Choice Scarf'd Ditto cannot be used to Check Pinsir. Any reference to Frustration in th can however be replaced with Return given the ease of raising Happiness as opposed to lowering it/keeping it low, and is otherwise up to your preference.
- Once Stealth Rocks have been removed, Pinsir can set up with just a single Sword's Dance - which often enough to OHKO other powerful attackers, or use that bulk to set up against some coverage moves
- As a niche, running Earthquake over Superpower can let you bait out Tapu Koko and OHKO it if you can predict a switch, while allowing it to hit Steel and Fire-types like Heatran and Mega-Mawile (although Air Balloon on Heatran will result in a OHKO), and can 2HKO Fidgit (although is a Speed tie, and Reflect hits it hard), while Stone Edge can be used to OHKO even defensive Zapdos (Thundurus however outspeeds Mega-Pinsir).

Team Options
========
The biggest threat to Pinsir is the presence of Stealth Rocks - when Mega Evolved, it takes a hefty 50% damage, and lacks recovery; it cannot even benefit from passive recovery like Leftovers (as a Mega) or Grassy Terrain (as a Flying-type). A Spinner or Defogger is a clear advantage - Excadrill, Kitsunoh both have useful Resist/Immunity; Excadrill has the niche of covering the Electric and Rock weaknesses, while Kistunoh also helps counter the popular Poison, Ice and Flying Coverage. Malaconda also provides a decent partnership, but has several similar weaknesses with Flying, Fire and Ice, because it brings Drought - which can help offset Pinsir's weakness from weather chip damage.

Without healing, the longevity of Pinsir is severely limited - a poorly timed Toxic can really cripple a budding sweep, especially if you've taken chip damage; a Cleric to remove status effects, and/or Wish from Kitsunoh or Alomomola, or a Z-Parting Shot allows possible multiple chances at a sweep, as well as reducing the penalty from mistiming switching into stealth rocks.

Without a cleric/healbot, another Status Absorber could work wonders - Kerfluffle, Malaconda running Chesto-Resto, Guts Colossoil or Naviathan can all provide that in a pinch.

With its limited offensive move set, it really struggles with Thundurus and Zapdos without running Stone Edge - Garchomp, Tapu Koko, Greninja, Chansey, Kyurem-B, Tyranitar, or Nihilego all provide various positives/negatives to be included in order to counter these two pokemon, and assist with Pinsir's ability to hurt the various individuals which don't fall within the narrow band of Pinsir's super-effective coverage.

Tailwind can be used to try and cut down those who try and get the drop on Mega-Pinsir by virtue of Choice Scarfs or by simply being faster - if you're wanting to act as a lure to Zapdos, having a Tailwind in your party will do wonders.

Usage Tips
========

Mega-Pinsir's role rarely deviates from switching in at a safe moment, setting up a Swords Dance, and then just doing as much damage as possible before it drops - typically later in the game once the Entry Hazard war has been decided, and there are less counters to Pinsir. Alternatively, Mega-Pinsir can also be available as a Suicide lead to take out Fidgit, Necturna, or use him bait out Tapu Koko, Zapdos, or Mega-Mawile, and hit them with Super-effective coverage, although this strategy works better when there is some form of healing elsewhere in the team, and have the ability to regain momentum when Mega-Pinsir has to switch out.

Any individual relying on Ground (except for Zygarde), Fighting or Grass-type to deal damage (obviously after entry hazards are removed) - which are either resisted 4x or have flat out immunity to are excellent points at which Mega-Pinsir can swap in. Prior to Mega-Pinsir's Mega-evolution, the same types are resisted, although to a lesser extent; the lower bulk and reduced resistance makes Pinsir switching in to attacks less attractive.

Team Options
========
Having a Rapid Spinner or Defog is something that Pinsir virtually requires - Excadrill and Kitsunoh covering a few holes in Pinsir's defenses. Entry Hazards in general need to be removed from Pinsir's operational theatre, as does some way of countering chip damage.

Having some form of healing can help provide further longevity to Mega-Pinsir; Wish using Clefable, Kitsunoh, or Jirachi can provide it at any stage, as can Healing Wish/Lunar Dance, or if your team is lacking a Z-move user, Z-Parting Shot or Memento not only reduce enemy attacking stats, but completely heal Pinsir to full health.

Tailwind/Sticky Web Support; Fidgit and/or Necturna can provide either; Sticky Web is susceptible to being spun away/defogged, while Tailwind is only a short duration, but it allows Mega-Pinsir to outspeed pokemon that would otherwise threaten it.


[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
========
Mega-Pinsir doesn't need to function as a sweeper, instead acting as early game pressure, being able to hit common hazard-setters with ease and avoid the damage caused by Stealth Rocks and the like by simply already being in play before they take place. A Kitsunoh, Cresselia, or other Wish, Healing Wish, or Z-Parting Shot user will work wonders with Mega-Pinsir, to allow them to be used more than once in a battle.

For ease of reference, any mention of Frustration can use Return in place of it - although Frustration means that Mirror Move, Scarf-Ditto and similar moves which attempt to use your own moves against you will be reduced to BP1, rather than 102. It's a niche benefit, but every little helps.

Thrash - It comes at the risk of locking yourself into using it, further lowering any flexibility Pinsir may have, but Thrash is nonetheless a very powerful move.

Double-Edge; While providing a large uptick in attack power with Aerilate, the recoil does add up quickly, and is additionally limiting in that it's a legacy move tutor available from Gen III; this renders Quick Attack and Feint illegal as they were not available as an egg move for Pinsir until Gen IV.

Facade; As an alternative to Frustration/Return, Facade can be used to absorb a predicted Toxic, and then switched out later in the battle. Although the damage over time can begin to hurt, the doubling of damage outstrips Frustration, Thrash and Double-Edge, as well as allowing Pinsir to then absorb status.

Feint; Feint can be used instead of Quick Attack, as Feint does not make Contact, and has a +2 Priority rather than +1; Tangrowth, Landorus-T, Tomohawk, and Ferrothorn are all sometimes seen with Rocky Helmets, and can cause a fair bit of chip damage. Feint bypasses that, but the damage is low. It's also worth mentioning that despite the possible niche of having Moxie, the fact that Pinsir has such a poor baseline before Mega-evolution makes it nigh-untenable or reliable enough to try and ensure that Pinsir gets the final hit (requiring the Pokémon listed to have sub-8% HP remaining) in order to get a +1 to Attack. It would be better to just bite the chip damage and get a guaranteed KO.

Checks and Counters
========
Stealth Rocks; Even among the huge Rock-type weakness, Stealth Rocks are the prime weakness of Pinsir. Within CAP, it can be tempting to risk not running a Spinner or Defogger, simply because there are so many possible Spinners/Defoggers, it may be tempting to NOT actually use entry hazards. With Pinsir taking 25%-50% (depending on when they Mega-evolve) of its HP by switching into Stealth Rocks, it's just not sustainable to leave him in, drastically cutting Mega-Pinsir's ability to sweep.

Rock-types; Mega-Crucibelle outspeeds and OHKO's with Head Smash, and resists Aerilate-Quick Attack. Stratagem similarly puts a lot of hurt out with Ancient Power and being fast enough to outspeed Mega-Pinsir.

Electric-types; Tapu Koko, Zapdos, Krilowatt, Kyurem-B and Thundurus are defining threats to Mega-Pinsir, able to OHKO it. However, Pinsir can attempt to bait them out with Earthquake or Stone Edge, but attempting to counter one or the other leaves you susceptible to other.

Zygarde; With Thousand Arrows being spammed almost constantly, and with a wide variety of viable sets and a hefty bulk, Zygarde can simply just out-damage Mega-Pinsir, or bulk up with Coil and be behind a sub - Mega Pinsir lacks an Ice type move to deal the damage needed.

Phazers; In particular, Skarmory and Hippowdon both have access to the ability to force out Mega-Pinsir, can withstand +2 Frustration, can layer entry hazards and heal off damage caused by over the course of the game.

Status Effects; Despite having access to Facade, 105 Speed is not enough for Mega-Pinsir to be blasé about risking getting Paralysed, and as a physical attacker, the Burn is crippling. Lacking the ability to heal, Toxic leaves Mega-Pinsir running against the clock.
 
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So I wondered why I'd not recieved feedback on this, turned out I'd not posted it. :/

Anything obvious I've missed? Should leave out? Ta.
 

snake

is a Community Leaderis a Top CAP Contributoris a Contributor to Smogon
CAP Co-Leader
A few things need to happen before this goes to QC.

Pinsir's only set should be this:

name: Swords Dance
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Frustration
move 3: Quick Attack
move 4: Earthquake / Close Combat
item: Pinsirite
ability: Hyper Cutter
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe

Earthquake is before Close Combat because Cyclohm and Magearna are slightly more relevant than Celesteela and Skarmory. The Façade set doesn't do anything different, so you need to delete it.

Double-Edge, Feint, Façade, and Stone Edge deserve OO. X-Scissor shouldn't appear on the analysis, as a super effective X-Scissor doesn't even hit harder than a neutral Aerilate Return.

A few things I noticed are references to other gens like lack of Talonflame or Aerilate nerf. These shouldn't appear in the analysis. This needs to be isolated in Gen 7, so just talk about how Aerilate is a good ability that powers up Normal-type moves. Also, the analysis contains phrases like "very very important to mention" and refers to Pokemon by their nicknames; analyses need to be concise and shouldn't confuse a reader. In general, the analysis has some very circular language as well.

I'd like to see a lot of this cleaned up before you put this into QC. I'd be happy to help clean up the analysis with you if you'd like. I want this analysis to be yours and have your own diction in it, but it needs to meet a certain standard of prose for it to be a "good" analysis. If you want to do a ppad with me, just let me know.
 
Life has just moved very quickly this week, literally taken a new FIFO job and have had to organise a lot of things. Will come back to this in the middle of next week when it has calmed down somewhat. Cheers for patience/sorry for any disruption.
 

snake

is a Community Leaderis a Top CAP Contributoris a Contributor to Smogon
CAP Co-Leader
Hi Hesh, I know it's been a long time since you've probably looked at this. Are you still interested in completing it?
 
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