I believe Pain Split is far better than Counter as anti-chip damage, as it will always put the opponent in an Innards Out OHKO situation.
It's a great idea, but only works with Custap Berry, and only against things without priority. (Not that most people will think they
need to use priority against a Pyukumuku...) That being said, this thing's tankiness combined with recover make it really easy to hit the 1/4th HP margin. You can switch it in against any hit that does less than 1/2 of its health or more than 3/4ths, (but not OHKO it unless they have base 86 health or lower and no investment) and you can bring it in after a KO/with a slow BP against any amount of damage, provided you use recover turn 1.
Technically speaking, this thing would counter (suicide kills count as countering, right?) anything with base 86 uninvested health or less, and check anything that has more health that can't OHKO it.
An Unaware Pokémon with Psych Up and slow Baton Pass actually sounds like a fun idea. Switch it in on a set up sweeper that cannot 2-hit K.O. unboosted, copy its stats and then pass them to a faster team mate.
I considered Swagger+Psych Up, but discarded the idea when I remembered Swagger was banned.
That's actually really gross. Combine it with Z-Purify and other support moves for consistency and he may outclass Imposter Ditto in lower tiers.
No, I think you're the one missing my point. Yeah, they will think twice before going for the OHKO on it, but so what? What's the punishment for doing so? Where's the loss of momentum?
Anyone who gets greedy and boost all their up to +6 are in for a ride, I'll give you that, but usually most things only need to be around +2/3 to clean things up with super effective hits, usually barely missing out the OHKO with neutral moves (specially on bulky stuff), which is exactly what anyone needs to get past Innards Out. Counter is so incredibly situational and predictable on it that it is barely even relevant. I suppose Pyukumuku could threaten its opponents with the fact that it could hard switch into an attack and be purposefully taken out, but is that gimmicky really worth a teamslot? I do like the novelty of it, but it just won't work imo.
Use it as a Support mon when practical, switch it in to do an Imposter Ditto's job easier. It has
some niche at least, especially in the higher tiers.
+1 252+ Atk Mega Rayquaza Dragon Ascent vs. 252 HP / 0- Def Abomasnow: 409-483 (130.2 - 153.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Mega Rayquaza Dragon Ascent vs. 252 HP / 0- Def Abomasnow: 409-483 (130.2 - 153.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 Atk Life Orb Mega Rayquaza Dragon Ascent vs. 252 HP / 0- Def Abomasnow: 324-382 (103.1 - 121.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO
Unless Rayquaza starts running HP EVs for some reason, the Gentle Jaboca set can take it out. If Pyukumuku can make Mega Rayquaza start taking HP EVs, I would say it's not useless, but I guess time will tell how much people troll with it.
Then there's the Custap set, which can end sweeps with surprise priority Pain Splits.
That gives it with about 5 good sets:
Pyukumuku@Jaboca Berry
Ability: Innards Out
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Sp. Def / 4 Spe
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Def
Gentle (+Sp. Def -Def)
Toxic
Recover
Substitute/Light Screen/Safeguard/Taunt
Baton Pass/Light Screen
Pyukumuku@Rowap Berry
Ability: Innards Out
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Sp. Def
Lax (+Def -Sp. Def)
Toxic
Recover
Substitute/Reflect/Safeguard/Taunt
Baton Pass/Reflect
Two sets that work the same way. A generalist support against physical/special damage and a suicide switch-in against set up sweepers of the other variety. The berries let them Innards-out KO pokemon up to 109 base HP, uninvested.
Pyukumuku@Custap Berry
Ability: Innards Out
EVs: 252 HP / Customizable defenses for specific threats
IVs: 0 Atk / Customizable defenses for specific threats
Impish/Careful/Lax/Gentle/Hasty/Naive
Toxic
Recover
Taunt/Protect/Light Screen/Reflect/Counter
Pain Split
Works much the same way as the above, but doesn't waste tons of momentum recovering in order to maintain its function. It's more versatile, but somewhat more finnicky. You can only suicide-switch in against things with base 86 uninvested, but you can also switch it in, have it tank the first hit, then priority pain split to trick things into killing it. Recover lets you bring it in against something that would do >50% but <75% damage and let them whittle you down to the Custap margin, but it can't switch into that. Taunt prevents it from being set-up fodder for spike setters or >86 base uninvested sweepers immune to Toxic, as well as letting you taunt on a switch, preventing Pyukumuku from being countered by something it would have otherwise get taunted or poisoned by. Toxic is mandatory for being the only thing it can threaten people with. Protect lets it Toxic-stall switch-ins that do >50% health, (For when you bring it in against things that do <50% of its health, letting it otherwise recover-stall them to death.) though you might lose out on some momentum if you can't predict a switch, or have to switch out yourself to preserve the Custap Berry. Finally, if you really don't like Taunt, Counter is an option to retaliate, netting unexpected KOs and helping you Toxic stall, while either screen could help your team with less prediction.
Pyukumuku@Leftovers
Ability: Unaware
EVs: 252 HP / Customizable defenses for specific threats
IVs: 0 Atk
Impish/Careful
Toxic
Recover
Taunt/Protect/Light Screen/Reflect/Baton Pass/Counter
Taunt/Protect/Light Screen/Reflect/Baton Pass/Counter
Quagsire V2
Pyukumuku@Z-Stone/Sitrus Berry/Leftovers
Ability: Unaware
EVs: 252 HP / Nyeh
IVs: 0 Atk
Impish/Careful
Purify/Toxic
Recover
Psych Up
Baton Pass
A shame Purify is too awful to use for its intended purpose. Still, unaware Psych Up+Baton Pass is nice. Purify lets it baton pass some boosts when there are no setup sweepers, (or attempt to baton pass later in the game) while Toxic lets it threaten the setup-sweepers it copies if they don't carry taunt, (which they seldom have the moveslots for) and gives an edge to Pyukumuku's recipient if it can't be outright stalled. If running Toxic, Sitrus Berry is probably ideal since it won't be staying in for long, but Leftovers makes it better at outright stalling things that can't threaten it. Throw in swagger for Anything Goes.
Neat mon, nicely trollish.