Simisage [QC 0/3]

[slayerx725232]

It's a Grass Monkey, what more can you ask of it?

(Gif courtesy of xzern)​

Overview
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• Has great base stats in both offenses.
• Boasts a great base Speed.
• Able to combat a variety of threats in the tier due to having a niche as a mixed attacker.
• Has a moderately wide movepool to accommodate it's dual attack.
• Is moderately frail.
• Does not have the best choice of abilities.

Mixed Attacker
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name: Mixed Attacker
move 1: Leaf Storm
move 2: Knock Off
move 3: Focus Blast / Superpower
move 4: Giga Drain
ability: Overgrow
item: Life Orb
evs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
nature: Naive

Moves
========

• Leaf Storm is a hard-hitting STAB move that is able to heavily damage anything that doesn't resist it (Audino exempt of course).
• Knock Off is a great move, allowing Simisage to cripple opposing Pokemon as well as OKHO certain Ghost-type Pokemon such as Mismagius.
• Focus Blast is a powerful Fighting-type move that allows Simisage to 2HKO Pokemon such as Ferroseed without taking Iron Barbs damage. However, Superpower allows Simisage to deal with more specially defensive Pokemon such as Audino, putting it in the range of a Leaf Storm or another Superpower every hit. Superpower also has a better chance to OHKO Probopass than Focus Blast, making it a nice option to have against specially oriented walls.
• Giga Drain is a secondary STAB move that does not drop Special Attack while allowing Simisage to mitigate its health lost from Life Orb recoil.

Set Details
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• 252 EVs in Special Attack allow for Simisage to hit hard with its special attacking arsenal.
• Another 252 EVs are put into Speed alongside a Naive nature, to boost the already-high Speed of Simisage without being detrimental to its Attack.
• A Life Orb works best with a mixed attacking Simisage, boosting the power of all of the attacks it uses.

Usage Tips
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• Simisage should be used sparingly, due to the loss of HP from Life Orb recoil, so be sure to only switch it in when it is safe to do so.
• Play smartly around defensive walls such as Audino and Ferroseed, as they can cost a turn of Life Orb recoil quite easily due to predictions.

Team Options
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• Insert stereotypical phrase found in literally every analysis about how a Stealth Rocker is vitally essential to ensuring that Simisage has a niche in the tier. But in all honesty, Simisage has two main weaknesses, being Flying- and Fire-type, and a great Pokemon that resists both of those while being able to take them out effectively for Simisage is Carracosta. The fact that Carracosta can carry Stealth Rock is just a bonus.
• Simisage can work as a great mixed attacker on a Hyper Offense team, but requires the use of a powerful Specs Pokemon to help it take down the greatest of threats. Magmortar and Typhlosion are both very strong Pokemon to use Choice Specs that are known for whittling down Pokemon. This leaves way for Simisage to either revenge KO with its arsenal of attacks.
• A Wish passing Pokemon helps compensate from the lack of ensured health Simisage can recover from Giga Drain, especially when factoring in the recoil from Life Orb. Audino is a great Wish passer as it possesses great bulk, something Simisage can take advantage of while Simisage can help dispose of many offensive Pokemon that threaten Audino.

Other Options
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• Simisage typically only really works well with either a Choice Item or a Life Orb, and has very few other sets that work for it, however you can run a physical Life Orb set with Hone Claws, Seed Bomb, and two other filler moves.
• Another choice for a mixed set is having Work Up on Simisage, though the main downside to this is that Simisage relies on the movepool coverage when dealing with a mixed set.

Checks & Counters
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• **Fast / Scarfed Fire-types**: Supposing that the Simisage set you are running is not Scarfed, a Scarfed Typhlosion can easily come in and proceed to obliterate Simisage in a single hit, without having a chance to retaliate. Pyroar and Magmortar also fulfill this role easily, being able to either outspeed Simisage whether naturally or with the use of a Scarf, and proceed to OHKO it in turn with any Fire-type STAB move.
• **Flying-types**: Many Flying-types, especially those with a faster natural Speed are easily able to counter Simisage. Two main examples are Brave Bird Swellow, as it outspeeds and OHKOs Simisage, regardless of if it is Guts-boosted or not, and itemless Acrobatics Archeops, since it is also capable of outspeeding and OHKOing Simisage.
• **Dual Walls**: Again, dependent on the set run, the opponent having a variety of walls renders both normal sets useless, as well as the mixed set. Simisage is not quite a wall breaking Pokemon, but mainly designed as a speedy revenge killer that is not capable of taking hits. Weezing and Vileplume both easily wall Simisage, especially on the physical side, as they both resist most of the moves carried by Simisage and are able to hit it back hard with a STAB Poison-type move. Flareon works as a wall to the special set as it is able to tank all hits in the movepool, even surviving Hidden Power Rock with around 50% HP left.
• **Spiritomb**: Simisage's Scarf / Life Orb set isn't able to combat Spiritomb very well, as Spiritomb can wall the special side of the sets, burn Simisage so that the physical side is worthless, and proceed to either set up on Simisage or dispose of it.

Nasty Plot Set

Here in case QC says is a go:

Nasty Plot Sweeper
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name: Nasty Plot Sweeper
move 1: Nasty Plot
move 2: Leaf Storm / Giga Drain / Energy Ball
move 3: Focus Blast
move 4: Hidden Power Rock
ability: Overgrow
item: Life Orb
evs: 4 HP / 252 SpAtt / 252 Spe
nature: Timid


Moves
========

• Nasty Plot is for setting up and having the potential to sweep teams that are unprepared.
• Leaf Storm and Giga Drain are dependent on the damage factor you want, whether or not you want your Special Attack to drop, and the potential for Health regain. Energy Ball can be used as a mediation move with a base power in between the two, with no main side effect asides from the potential Special Defense drop. However, despite which move is used, they are all powerful STAB moves.
• Focus Blast is for the Steel-type Pokemon that wall Simisage such as Probopass and Klinklang, and is also a nice a nice counter to bulky Normal-type Pokemon, such as Audino.
• Hidden Power Rock is to cover four of the five weaknesses Simisage has, being Bug-, Fire-, Flying-, and Ice-types.

Set Details
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• 252 EVs in Special Attack makes Simisage a threat that can easily decimate many Pokemon after a single Nasty Plot.
• With 252 Speed EVs and a Timid nature, Simisage is extremely fast and able to outspeed a large portion of the tier.
• 4 Health EVs are there solely due to the fact that it has no other place to be invested, but does help keep Simisage alive longer, if only barely.
• The Life Orb is, as expected, to ensure that the largest portions of damage are dealt, without the hassle of being locked into a move via Choice Item.

Usage Tips
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• As common sense would dictate, use Simisage sparingly as it is on a timer thanks to Life Orb and the recoil it deals. Use common sense to avoid an early faint on Simisage, and have the potential to sweep.
• Nasty Plot is a great move to have in order to play mind games with the opponent, as one misplay can be the difference between a sweep or not. Act accordingly to the situation, and adapt the opposing play style to maximize Simisage's usefulness in a battle.

Team Options
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• Pairing Simisage up with either bulky Pokemon or those that pair well against it's weaknesses is the best course of action. For example, Seismatoad is a relatively bulky Pokemon that is not weak to anything super effective against Simisage, which means it can freely switch in to prevent Simisage from taking unnecessary damage. Meanwhile, Seimsatoad's one weakness to Grass-type is something that doesn't phase Simisage, making it a dual relationship.
• Seeing as Simisage has moderately low bulk, and will be taking massive recoil damage from Life Orb, having a Pokemon that can safely pass Wishes to Simisage is vastly appreciated. Audino fits this instance well as it has decent bulk, and has the ability to both pass Wish to Simisage and remove any hazardous statuses with the use of Heal Bell.

 

[slayerx725232]

Well then, this thing is more or less ready for QC. Try not to ruckus me too hard, still kinda learning the ropes of Simisage myself? Anyways, time to tag three random QC members imotbh.
Montsegur Soulgazer TheCanadianWifier (Dun hurt meh for tagging you pls)

 

[Lord Alphose]

-Energy Ball deserves a mention, as it does more damage than Giga Drain but doesn't have the same bloody Special Attack drop as Leaf Storm.
Checks and Counters -
- Mention other Pokemon in Fire-types. Pyroar and Magmortar both wreck this thing.
**Flying-types**: Swellow outspeeds and OHKOs, itemless Archeops Acrobatics outspeeds and OHKOs, Rotom-S outspeeds and OHKOs, Scyther outspeed(barely) and OHKOs.
- Mentions specific Pokemon in Dual Walls. Vileplume and Weezing do a great job of walling Simisage. Flareon does a good job of taking on the special sets, even those with HP Rock.

 

[Berry Juice]

You should use Atk/SpA when referring to the Attack/Special Attack EVs(e.g. 252 Atk instead of 252 Att)
:)

 

[slayerx725232]

You should use Atk/SpA when referring to the Attack/Special Attack EVs(e.g. 252 Atk instead of 252 Att)
:)

Oh my, forgot all about that. Thanks for that catch friend.

 

[ryan]

slayerx725232, I'd be lying if I said I had extensive experience with Simisage in XY, but I have some doubts about both Choice Band and Scarf. I think the best set Simisage could run would be something like:

name: Mixed Attacker
move 1: Leaf Storm
move 2: Knock Off
move 3: Focus Blast / Superpower
move 4: Giga Drain
ability: Overgrow
item: Life Orb
evs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
nature: Naive

I tried toying with the EVs to find a cool spread, but I didn't find much. Leaf Storm is a nuke, Knock Off is the best move in the game, and Giga Drain is a reliable STAB that helps compensate for Life Orb recoil, which makes it better than Energy Ball. Focus Blast hits Ferroseed really hard, while Superpower hits Audino (and probably some other stuff) harder.

I don't think anything else would be worth running. Mixed Scarf and Choice Band both sound awful sounding to be honest. Nasty Plot is a niche that Simisage has over every other Grass-type in NU, but with its terrible bulk, I'd probably never use it. Lilligant's coverage is inferior, but Quiver Dance is a superior setup move and Sleep Powder + better bulk makes it much easier to set up with it. I would prefer Nasty Plot be a heavy mention in Other Options.

 

[Ares]

this was dropped as well.