Little Cup: Big World

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Little Cup: Big World; The guide of Little Cup
Topic Started: Jul 14 2009, 08:09 PM (296 Views)
Gen. Empoleon	Jul 14 2009, 08:09 PM Post #1
Posts: 21 Group: Cooks Member #331 Joined: Apr 18, 2009	This is the Little Cup guide that Vader and I have finished. This could not have been completed without the help of SBC or some of the guides that we have taken for use in the guide. Vader is still doing the set comments, those will be finished (hopefully) by today or tomorrow. Yeah, read away ----------------------------------------------------------- Introduction Little Cup was spawned in Pokémon Stadium 2. The idea was that you bred to achieve the perfect baby Pokémon to battle. It was later reintroduced for Advance, and now Little Cup is back for the 4th Generation. The metagame is generally faster-paced than the standard OU metagame which results in a speed-centered environment where Pokémon rely on their resistances and immunities to counter the opponent's team and from there, execute their own team's strategy. Rules •Only Pokémon hatched from eggs are eligible. •Eligible Pokémon must be able to evolve, and be the first in an evolution chain. •All Pokémon used MUST be at Level 5. •Sleep Clause is ON. •Self-KO Clause is ON •Evasion Clause is ON •OHKO Clause is ON •Species Clause is ON •Item Clause is OFF •The attacks SonicBoom and Dragon Rage are banned •The item DeepSeaTooth is banned •A Pokémon’s attacks must be limited those that can be legitimately learnt by the Pokémon at Level 5 Item Clause In the earlier stages of Little Cup, it was thought necessary that Item Clause should be in effect, the main reason being the propensity of players to put the item Focus Sash on multiple Pokémon and allow the Pokémon to survive what should be an OHKO and perhaps kill its counter. Since then, there has been a shift of thinking and Item Clause is widely thought to be unneeded. One of the main reasons for this is the prominence of Stealth Rock, which when laid early will nullify Focus Sash unless it is removed by Rapid Spin. Furthermore, D/P brought Little Cup two new auto-weather inducers in the form of Snover and Hippopotas and so a Focus Sash user will die at the end of the turn should it use its item and take damage from hail or the sandstorm. Finally, the addition of Life Orb means that the typical Focus Sash users, frail but fast Pokémon, are forced to give up the extra damage output afforded by Life Orb over the ability to potential survive a hit that would normally kill it. Banned Pokémon •Scyther - A moveset consisting of Swords Dance, Aerial Ace, Quick Attack and Brick Break is almost unstoppable in Little Cup, with no Pokémon in Little Cup able to resist that attack combination. Both Aerial Ace and Quick Attack have their power boosted by 50% due to Technician, the latter attack is vital in stopping Pokémon using Choice Scarf to outspeed it or in stopping slower users of priority attacks. Scyther's pedigree is enhanced by the sheer power of its Base Stats, boasting both the second highest Attack stat, base 110, and the second highest Speed stat, base 105. •Sneasel - Sneasel can run a similar moveset to Scyther consisting of Swords Dance, Ice Shard, Bite and Brick Break and be equally difficult to stop. Also akin to Scyther, it boasts a priority attack and an attack combination that no Pokémon resists. With a 95 base Attack stat and the highest unboosted Speed in Little Cup with a base stat of 115 makes Sneasel all the harder to stop. •Yanma - Already in one of the highest Speed tiers, Yanma's Speed Boost ability means that after two turns it will outspeed virtually everything. From there it can wreak havoc with STAB Air Slash or STAB Bug Buzz from a respectable Special Attack stat or simply put to sleep anything it can't kill with Hypnosis. •Tangela - With Sunny Day in effect, Tangela becomes an offensive juggernaut. Its Chlorophyll ability can take its Speed stat to 30 and it can power through anything not resistant to Grass-type attacks with SolarBeam from a 100 base Special Attack stat, who not even Munchlax can stand up to when factoring Life Orb in. Hidden Power Fire and AncientPower provide it with good type coverage or it can take the option of putting its counters to sleep with Sleep Powder. Moreover, Tangela's bulky defensive nature -- in particular its 115 base Defense stat -- makes it even harder to take down. •Meditite - Pure Power transforms Meditite into a very potent threat, reaching 28 Attack with no item boosts, not even Cranidos and its 125 base Attack stat can match that. Hi Jump Kick, Psycho Cut and Ice Punch gives it all the coverage it needs, and such is the power of Hi Jump Kick is that with Life Orb it can OHKO Bronzor, arguably the best defensive Pokémon in Little Cup, who is not even weak to it. Alternatively, Choice Scarf can be used to remedy its average speed stat and make it difficult to revenge kill. Though it is very possible that Meditite will be tested again in the future. •Murkrow - Murkrow was allowed in Little Cup for longer than the rest of the banned Pokémon but in the end it was deemed that its ability to sweep through multiple members of a team without any set-up pushed it over the banned threshold. Sucker Punch really makes Murkrow difficult to take on, bypassing the speed hierarchy with an 80 Base Power STAB attack with priority running off 91 base Speed (i.e. the second highest speed tier aside excluding Sneasel and Scyther). Pluck complements Sucker Punch and runs off its 85 Base Attack, and hits any Pokémon carrying a berry, such as the Oran Berry favored by walls, for 120 Base Power (180 Base Power after STAB), disabling and consuming the berry in the process. Dark Pulse hits many physical walls, such as Gligar, and Koffing for plentiful damage and has a 20% flinch rate. Murkrow also has access to Hidden Power, Heat Wave, Calm Mind and Pursuit. Murkrow was not unstoppable but was deemed too powerful and was also a clear centralizing force. DeepSeaTooth Clamperl is not banned but the DeepSeaTooth item is. DeepSeaTooth can give Clamperl up to 36 Special Attack, more than a Modest Choice Specs Abra, whilst still retaining freedom to switch attacks. Surf, Ice Beam and Hidden Power [Electric] or Hidden Power [Grass] provide good coverage and not even Munchlax, the Pokémon widely considered to be the best Special wall in Little Cup, can switch in on Surf, being 2HKOed even taking Oran Berry into account. Its low speed is a problem but if it is Baton Passed an Agility then it will be incredibly dominant over an opponent's team. Without DeepSeaTooth however, Clamperl is much more manageable. Eligible Pokémon RBY Pokémon •Bulbasaur •Charmander •Squirtle •Caterpie •Weedle •Pidgey •Ratatta •Spearow •Ekans •Sandshrew •Nidoran M •Nidoran F •Vulpix •Zubat •Oddish •Paras •Venonat •Diglett •Meowth •Psyduck •Mankey •Growlithe •Poliwag •Abra •Machop •Bellsprout •Tentacool •Geodude •Ponyta •Slowpoke •Magnemite •Doduo •Seel •Grimer •Shellder •Gastly •Onix •Drowzee •Krabby •Voltorb •Exeggcute •Cubone •Lickitung •Koffing •Rhyhorn •Horsea •Goldeen •Staryu •Magikarp •Eevee •Porygon •Omanyte •Kabuto •Dratini GSC Pokémon •Chikorita •Cyndaquil •Totodile •Sentret •Hoothoot •Ledyba •Spinarak •Chinchou •Pichu •Cleffa •Igglybuff •Togepi •Natu •Mareep •Hoppip •Aipom •Sunkern •Wooper •Misdreavus •Pineco •Gligar •Snubbull •Teddiursa •Slugma •Swinub •Remoraid •Houndour •Phanpy •Tyrogue •Smoochum •Elekid •Magby •Larvitar RSE Pokémon •Treecko •Torchic •Mudkip •Poochyena •Zigzagoon •Wurmple •Lotad •Seedot •Taillow •Wingull •Ralts •Surskit •Shroomish •Slakoth •Nincada •Whismur •Makuhita •Azurill •Skitty •Aron •Nosepass •Electrike •Gulpin •Carvanha •Wailmer •Numel •Spoink •Trapinch •Cacnea •Swablu •Barboach •Corphish •Baltoy •Lileep •Anorith •Feebas •Shuppet •Duskull •Wynaut •Snorunt •Spheal •Clamperl •Bagon •Beldum D/P Pokémon •Tufting •Chi char •Popup •Starkly •Bid of •Cricketed •Sphinx •Bedew •Cranidos •Sheldon •Barmy •Combed •Baize •Cherubim •Shells •Dillon •Binary •Gamow •Shingling •Stinky •Bronzor •Bossley •Mime Jr. •Happily •Giblet •Munchlax •Roil •Hippopotas •Scorpio •Croaking •Fin neon •Man tyke •Snover Move Legality - Credit to Mr. Happy for the research Since Little Cup is played with Level 5 Pokémon there can be discrepancies with Level 100 play in the OU metagame with regards to what moves certain Pokémon can or cannot learn at that level. It is important to check whether or not certain Pokémon can legitimately learn the move(s) at Level 5 since it is forbidden to use moves that cannot be learnt by the Pokémon by said level. This section will guide you through the ways in which certain moves and move combinations are illegal. Note that impossible breeding combinations such as Hypnosis + Nasty Plot Zubat are already assumed illegal. Genderless Pokémon Genderless Pokémon lack the ability to breed unless it is with a Ditto. Thus, they do not have egg moves and lack the ability to pass on level-up moves to their offspring. As a consequence, genderless Pokémon in Little Cup cannot have any level-up move that is learned beyond Level 5. Take for example a Porygon. Its staple move is Tri Attack. However, it learns it at a higher level than 5, and is genderless. Thus, Tri Attack Porygon is illegal at Level 5. Bronzor is in the same boat: its evolution, Bronzong is often seen with Hypnosis, which Bronzor learns at Level 7 and thus is illegal in Little Cup. D/P Introduced Moves Moves, both egg and level-up, that were introduced in the fourth generation moves, and are learned after Level 5, are illegal together with third generation Move Tutor moves. For example, Body Slam + Fire Fang Houndour is illegal, since Fire Fang is learned after level 5, and is thus not compatible with Body Slam, a 3rd generation move tutor attack. Third Generation Move Tutor / Other Game Special Moves These moves are illegal together with any move introduced in D/P that is an egg move or is learned after Level 5. An example of this would be Body Slam (third generation tutor move) + Cross Chop (egg move) Elekid. They are also illegal with any new ability introduced in D/P, since the ability change only occurs during evolution. For example, Pickup Meowth with Double-edge is legal, but Technician Double-edge Meowth is not. Little Cup Pokémon that can use a move that comes from Pokémon XD and are caught in that game at a level higher than 5 are illegal with that move. In the event they are able to use it, it will be illegal together with any egg or level-up move. Special moves from Pokémon Box eggs are illegal with any level-up or egg move, as they come from a pre-made egg that hatches at Level 5. This is the reason why Belly Drum + ExtremeSpeed Zigzagoon is illegal; as ExtremeSpeed comes from an egg from Pokémon Box, and it hatches at Level 5. For Belly Drum to be available to that Zigzagoon, it would be needed for two Linoone with Belly Drum to breed, but that egg cannot hatch with ExtremeSpeed. Event Moves Event moves are illegal together with any Egg Move or Level-up move learned after Level 5. If said event took place in D/P, they are also illegal with any 3rd generation move. EV Distribution in Little Cup - Credit to Mr. Happy for the research Code: Little Cup is a metagame that is played at Level 5. As such, the stats are calculated in a different way. Pokémon at Level 5 need different types of EV spreads than Level 100 ones. This guide will attempt to explain how to achieve the maximum potential of the 510 EV points you have at your disposal. At level 5, there is not a huge gap when comparing very similar Base Stats. Take for an example: if we compare a Hippotas's (base 72) and Goldeen's (base 67) Attacks at level 100 with maximum EV investment in both, we can see that Hippotas beats Goldeen by 10 points (243 against 233). But if we take those same Pokémon and set them to Level 5, we can see that they both have 16 Attack. Why is that? Wasn't Hippotas stronger than Goldeen? And why do a Level 5 Jolly Buizel and Jolly Magby, with Base Speeds of 85 and 83 respectively, tie in max Speed (both 19)? This happens because EVs affect stats differently at Level 5, and some Base Stat numbers max out with fewer EVs than others. Continuing with our previous example, we can see that: -Hippotas has a Base 72 Attack and maxes out with 180 EVs, the final stat is 16. -Growlithe has a base 70 Attack and maxes out with 196 EVs, the final stat is 16. -Turtwig has a base 68 Attack and maxes out with 212 EVs, the final stat is 16. -Goldeen has a base 67 Attack and maxes out with 220 EVs, the final stat is 16. -Koffing has a base 65 Attack and maxes out with 236 EVs, the final stat is 16. -Stunky has a base 63 Attack and maxes out with 252 EVs, the final stat is 16. -Snover has a base 62 Attack and maxes out with 180 EVs, the final stat is 15. We can observe a pattern here. Turtwig and Goldeen have a 1 BS point of difference between them, and they max out the stat with 8 EVs of difference. Koffing and Stunky have a BS difference of 2, and max out by a difference of 16 EVs. Yet, it seems their Base Stats all belong to a certain group of Base Stat numbers where the stat maxes are 16 with a neutral nature. Except for Snover, Snover only hits 15 Attack, and it needs 180 EVs to reach it. What we can conclude from here is that we can organize Base Stats at level 5 by 'Stat Ranges'. A Stat Range is comprised of a range of Base Stat numbers which are able to be maxed out to the same stat number but require a different amount of EVs to do so. Stat Ranges start on a Base Stat number which ends in 3, and finish with a Base Stat number which ends in 2. So, an example Stat Range would be: 63 (Stunky / 252 Evs) 64 65 (Koffing / 236 Evs) 66 67 (Goldeen / 220) 68 (Turtwig / 212 Evs) 69 70 (Growlithe / 196 Evs) 71 72 (Hippotas / 180 Evs) All these Base Stat numbers max out at 16 with a neutral nature. We can confirm that ONLY these numbers belong to this range, since a Pokémon with a Base 62 Attack (Snover) at level 5 with a neutral nature only reaches 15 Attack (thus, 62 belongs to the range below); in a similar way, a Pokémon with Base 73 Speed, at level 5 and with a neutral nature maxes out at 17 Attack (thus, 93 belongs to the range above). We can then conclude that as the Base Stat nears the next range, it needs less and less EVs to max out. On the other hand, the nearer the number is to the previous range, the more EVs it needs to max out. This amount of EVs needed to gain stats is directly related to the last digit of the Base Stat number. Table of EVs required for Stat gains This table will tell you how many EVs you need to raise a stat a certain number of points. It all depends on what digit the Base Stat ends in. If the Base Stat number ends in # then - x/y/z EVs are required for 1/2/3/4 stat point gain: 3 - 12/92/172/252 EVs 4 - 4/84/164/244 EVs 5 - 76/156/236 EVs 6 - 68/148/228 EVs 7 - 60/140/220 EVs 8 - 52/132/212 EVs 9 - 44/124/204 EVs 0 - 36/116/196 EVs 1 - 28/108/188 EVs 2 - 20/100/180 EVs Note that these numbers not only apply to Speed; they apply to all stats. This means that the absolute minimum number of EVs to max a stat will be 180, and this will only happen if your Base stat's last digit is a two. This means that investing more than 180 Evs in Rattata's Speed (Base 72), Snover's Attack (Base 62) or Hippopotas's Special Defense (Base 42) will not get you any more points, and leaves some "spare" EVs once you have invested in your main two stats. On the other hand, the absolute maximum of EVs you will need to max a stat is 252, IF your Base Stat's last digit is a three. Magby's Speed (base 83), Corphish's HP (base 43) and Shuppet's Special Attack need the full 252 EVs to max out, however they have the advantage that your first stat point will only need 4 EVs. Stat Ranges A list of the Stat Ranges at Level 5 follows. This table will quickly tell you which number will reach your Pokémon once EVs are adjusted, depending on the Base Stat range it belongs to. --- RANGE 1: Stat maxes at 10 with a neutral nature, at 11 with a positive nature; HP maxes at 20 Base 5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12 RANGE 2: Stat maxes at 11 with a neutral nature, at 12 with a positive nature; HP maxes at 21 Base 13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22 RANGE 3: Stat maxes at 12 with a neutral nature, at 13 with a positive nature; HP maxes at 22 Base 23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30,31,32 RANGE 4: Stat maxes at 13 with a neutral nature, at 14 with a positive nature; HP maxes at 23 Base 33,34,35,36,37,38,39,40,41,42 RANGE 5: Stat maxes at 14 with a neutral nature, at 15 with a positive nature; HP maxes at 24 Base 43,44,45,46,47,48,49,50,51,52 RANGE 5: Stat maxes at 15 with a neutral nature, at 16 with a positive nature; HP maxes at 25 Base 53,54,55,56,57,58,59,60,61,62 RANGE 6: Stat maxes at 16 with a neutral nature, at 17 with a positive nature; HP maxes at 26 Base 63,64,65,66,67,68,69,70,71,72 RANGE 7: Stat maxes at 17 with a neutral nature, at 18 with a positive nature; HP maxes at 27 Base 73,74,75,76,77,78,79,80,81,82 RANGE 8: Stat maxes at 18 with a neutral nature, at 19 with a positive nature; HP maxes at 28 Base 83,84,85,86,87,88,89,90,91,92 RANGE 9: Stat maxes at 19 with a neutral nature, at 20 with a positive nature; HP maxes at 29 Base 93,94,95,96,97,98,99,100,101,102 RANGE 10: Stat maxes at 20 with a neutral nature, at 21 with a positive nature; HP maxes at 30 Base 103,104,105,106,107,108,109,110,111,112 RANGE 11: Stat maxes at 21 with a neutral nature, at 22 with a positive nature; HP maxes at 31 Base 113,114,115,116,117,118,119,120,121,122 RANGE 12: Stat maxes at 22 with a neutral nature, at 23 with a positive nature; HP maxes at 32 Base 123,124,125,126,127,128,129,130,131,132 RANGE 13: Stat maxes at 23 with a neutral nature, at 24 with a positive nature; HP maxes at 33 Base 133,134,135 RANGE 14: Nonexistant for Little Cup, no eligible Pokémon with a Base Stat between 143 and 152 RANGE 15: Stat maxes at 25 with a neutral nature, at 26 with a positive nature Base 160 Range 1 starts at 5, the lowest Base Stat for a Pokémon allowed in Little Cup (Happiny’s Attack / Munchlax’s Speed) Range 13 ends at 135, the highest Base Stat number of its range before entering the next (Munchlax's HP) Range 15 only includes Onix's Defense (160), as no other numbers enter this range. It is also the highest base stat of any Little Cup Pokémon. Demonstration To apply all this to a practical example, let's EV a Lv5 Totodile. We want it to be a physical sweeper, so we will maximize Attack and Speed, and if possible, dump the remaining EVs into HP or the defenses. Totodile's Base Stats are 50 HP / 65 Atk / 64 Def / 44 SpA / 48 SpD / 43 Spe Its Attack is Base 65, so it falls under Range 6. We will use a Jolly nature, so Attack will max out at 16. Since 65 ends in 5, according to the table its Attack will max at 236 EVs. So far our spread is 236Atk. The Speed sits at Base 43. This is Range 5, so it will reach 15. It ends with 3, so we need 252 EVs to max it. The spread is now 236Atk / 252 Spe. We have 22 EVs remaining now. To gain a point in another stat, we need said stat to end in 2, 3 or 4. HP and the defenses end in 0/4/8, respectively. This means that you can get an extra 1 point in Def for 12 EVs. The spread is now 236Atk / 12 Def / 252 Spe We now have 10 remaining but we can't get a single point with them so they will go to waste. Now take a Lv. 5 Cyndaquil. We'll make this a Mixed Sweeper, with mainly Special attacks. Cyndaquil's Base Stats are 39 HP / 52 Atk / 43 Def / 60 SpA / 50 SpD / 65 Spe. Using a Naive nature, we see that the Speed is in Range 6, giving us 17 Speed. Special Attack belongs to Range 5, maxing out at 15. 65 ends in 5, so we'll make use of 236 EVs. The spread is 236 Spe. SpA ends in 0, so we'll have to invest 196 EVs to get to the maximum. This leaves us with 196SpA / 236Spe with 78 EVs remaining. We can gain a stat point more if one of the other base stats end in a 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0, 1 or 2. On our priority list, Attack is next. Fortunately, Attack's Base Stat ends in 2, so we only need 20 EVs to up it 1 point, but we don't have enough EVs for two points. The spread is now 20Atk / 196SpA / 236Spe with 58 EVs remaining. We can still gain a point if a Base Stat ends in 8, 9, 0, 1, 2, 3 or 4. Both HP and Def fit into this, HP is more important so we will do it first. It ends in 9, so we need 44 EVs, Making the Spread 44 HP / 20 Atk / 196 SpA / 236 Spe. Now there is only 14 evs left but maybe we can still squeeze one more point out of them. Def ends with 3 so it only needs 12 to get that extra point, we have just enough! Since we won't be able to up the other stats we are left with a final spread of 44 HP / 20 Atk / 12 Def / 196 SpA / 236 Spe. On these two examples, we first maximized the two most important stats and then checked if there was a way to extract some juice from the leftover EVs, thus maximizing the points gained from the EVs, you may not think that it is important for just one or two points but look at the differences between the spreads we just made and quick and easy 252/252 spreads: Totodile: 21/16/12/9/11/15 21/16/13/9/11/15 It may not look much different, but with spread 2 you will take every Physical attack 8% better, is that worth a few seconds of your time? Cyndaquil 20/11/10/15/9/17 21/12/11/15/9/17 Quite an obvious change here, 9% more Physical offence (almost as much as nature boost!), and it takes Special hits 5% better but Physical hits 15.5% better. That will significantly help Cyndaquil in quite a few situations. Hidden Power If you ever need to change the IVs of a Pokémon for Hidden Power purposes, make sure you add 4 EVs for each IV you subtract. To make this clear: Say you want to give our Cyndaquil Hidden Power Grass 70. You need an Attack and Special Attack IV of 30. We were left with only 2 EVs going to waste on the previous spread, so we'll have to reduce defense (or HP, but HP is more important in this instance) to make up for it. Use them to fix the attacking Stats. Changing the spread to 44HP / 24Atk / 200SpA / 236Spe should leave Cyndaquil's more important stats intact. Use this guide as a reference when EVing Pokémon for Little Cup to find the best possible spreads, and also to know whether your Pokémon will outrun, tie or go after a certain opponent. Stat Formula If anyone wants it here is the formula to work out the any stat at level 5: For HP (((2 x Base + IV + (EV / 4)) x 5 / 100 + 10) If the stat is not HP: ((((2 x Base + IV + (EV / 4)) x 5 / 100 + 5) x Nature) Base = The base stat for that Pokémon. EVs = The number of EVs invested in that stat. IVs = The IV for that stat (normally 31). Nature = 1 if the nature is neutral for that stat, 1.1 if it is boosting and 0.9 if it is hindering. Round down the answer to the nearest whole number, and if the stat is HP simply add 10 points to the end result. Some fun facts about stats at Lv. 5: 80 EVs = 1 Stat point 1 Base stat Point = 8 EVs 1 IV = 4 EVs Standards This section is quick sample of common Pokémon and their likely movesets. It is important to remember that this list is not exhaustive and you will likely encounter Pokémon not listed here and so it is recommended that you read the full list of eligible Pokémon. Notable Walls Bronzor @ Oran Berry / Shed Shell Levitate 220 HP / 4 Atk / 68 Def / 148 SpD IVs: 0 Spe Relaxed ~ Stealth Rock ~ Gyro Ball ~ Earthquake ~ Reflect / Light Screen Bronzor is the most prominent defensive Pokémon in Little Cup thanks to its wide array of resistances coupled with two further immunities. This allows it to take on powerful threats on both sides of the spectrum, such as Teddiursa, Gligar, Larvitar and Abra. Bronzor plays in a similar fashion to Bronzong in the OU metagame, being an equally reliable Stealth Rock user as its evolution. Hypnosis is absent as Bronzor is genderless and it thus cannot learn it at Level 5. In its place, either Reflect or Light Screen can be used for team support. Shed Shell is a viable option on Bronzor, as Magnet Rise allows Magnemite to beat it one on one. Chinchou @ Oran Berry / Shed Shell Volt Absorb 156 HP / 52 Def / 228 SpD / 60 Spe Calm ~ Surf ~ Thunderbolt ~ Thunderwave ~ Confuse Ray Although Chinchou's 75 HP / 38 Def / 56 SpD defensive stats may seem lacking, its resistances certainly are not; Chinchou enjoys resistances to Water, Ice and Fire as well as healing 25% should an Electric attack be directed at it. These are common attack types used by special attackers which makes Chinchou worthy of a slot in your team should you want extra protection from the likes of Porygon, Houndour, Staryu and others. Surf and Thunderbolt takes advantage of Chinchou's unique dual-STAB to provide good type coverage (as such an Agility sweeper set is very viable) and in addition, Chinchou can make use of Parafusion to slow your opponent's momentum. Chinchou is very vulnerable to Diglett and so again, Shed Shell is an option. Perhaps the greatest tribute to Chinchou is the fact that many Water and Fire types carry Hidden Power Grass. Gligar @ Oran Berry Sand Veil 236 HP / 236 Def Impish ~ Earthquake ~ Roost ~ Stealth Rock ~ Stone Edge / Taunt Gligar makes an almost impervious physical wall with 105 base Defense and access to Roost. Consequently, Gligar is one of the best users of Stealth Rock as well as being a great switch into Fighting-type attacks but must be wary of Ice Punch, which both Mankey and Machop have access to. Despite this, it is one of the best switches into Cranidos, Larvitar, Rhyhorn and Croagunk. Mantyke @ Oran Berry Water Absorb 236 HP / 36 Def / 40 SpA / 196 SpD Calm ~ Surf ~ Ice Beam ~ Hidden Power Grass ~ Protect / Haze Whilst generally less common than Chinchou, Mantyke has a few advantages over its fellow special wall. Firstly, Mantyke has no fear of being trapped by Diglett and secondly, Mantyke boasts a huge 120 base special defense, meaning that it gets 24 HP and 23 Special Defense with these EVs. Its raw defensive stats allows it to negate most special threats that do not carry Thunderbolt and it has a useful niche in stopping Water-types and Fire-types that tend to use Hidden Power Grass for the more common Chinchou. The moveset is rather self-explanatory with the three damage-dealing attacks given to maximize type coverage whilst in the last slot, Protect can scout for a random Electric move whereas Haze can help with dealing with Croagunk and other stat boosters. Munchlax @ Oran Berry / Chesto Berry Thick Fat 76 HP / 156 Atk / 236 SpD Careful / Sassy ~ Return ~ Earthquake ~ Pursuit ~ Fire Punch / Fire Blast / Rest Munchlax is a top tier Little Cup Pokémon, being both an offensive juggernaut as well as an effective special wall. Munchlax's massive 135 base HP and 85 base Special Defense turns it into a one-stop counter for all but the most powerful special attackers with Thick Fat only serving to further emphasize its credentials. On the offensive side of things, Munchlax's Return from 85 base Attack is one of the most powerful physical moves around and in combination with Earthquake, a fire-type attack of choice and Pursuit for Gastly and Misdreavus, Munchlax achieves perfect coverage. With regards to item choice, Munchlax's massive HP means that an Oran Berry heals around 30% of maximum HP and so the option of Rest and Chesto Berry is very viable. Shieldon @ Oran Berry / Shed Shell Sturdy 196 HP / 132 Def / 20 SpA / 132 SpD Relaxed / Sassy ~ Stealth Rock ~ Ice Beam ~ Thunderbolt / Flamethrower ~ Magnet Rise Shieldon is an extremely useful wall in Little Cup, being the best counter available to mixed Dragon Dance Dratini. Stealth Rock is rarer in Little Cup than in the normal OU metagame and Shieldon's multiple resistances allows it to make good use of it. Magnet Rise allows it to escape the grasps of its nemesis Diglett as well as being able to avoid Earthquakes from common Pokémon like Munchlax and Bronzor. Ice Beam is listed to hit Dratini and Gible for super effective damage. Thunderbolt hits water-types and forms part of the BoltBeam combination whereas Flamethrower hits steels. Shed Shell can be used to keep Shieldon safe from Magnemite should you opt against Flamethrower. Finally, it is worth noting that Shieldon's already excellent 88 base Special Defense (higher than Munchlax's for instance) allows it to become an excellent special wall in sand, when paired with Hippopotas. Koffing @ Oran Berry Levitate 196 HP / 236 Def / 36 SpA Relaxed ~ Taunt ~ Sludge Bomb ~ Flamethrower / Thunderbolt ~ Explosion / Pain Split / Will-o-Wisp Koffing boats 95 base Defense and a typing that makes it the best fighting-type counter in the metagame. Taunt is useful for stopping sweepers using it as set-up bait. Sludge Bomb and Flamethrower provide good coverage, and the latter will hit Dry Skin Croagunk for super effective damage, although it could be replaced by Thunderbolt. Most Koffing tend to explode after they have finished their job although there are alternatives, should you want Koffing to stick around longer. Hippopotas @ Oran Berry Sand Stream 212 HP / 20 Atk / 212 Def / 20 SpD / 20 Spe Impish ~ Stealth Rock ~ Earthquake ~ Rock Slide ~ Slack Off / Yawn Hippopotas is one of the elite band of Pokémon in the metagame that can set up Stealth Rock reliably and is also one of two physical walls -- the other being Gligar -- that has access to a reliable recovery move. With these EVs, Hippopotas generates 26 HP and 18 Defense which combined with its Ground typing allows it to be an effective counter to Cranidos, Larvitar and Rhyhorn amongst others. Despite this, Hippopotas's premier attraction is its Sand Stream trait which makes it essential for sandstorm-based teams. Common Sweepers Dratini @ Life Orb Shed Skin 84 Atk / 196 SpA / 196 Spe IVs: 0 HP Rash ~ Dragon Dance ~ Outrage ~ Fire Blast ~ Draco Meteor The Mixed-Dancer Dratini is one of the most potentially destructive sweepers in the metagame. After one Dragon Dance, Dratini will reach the magical 21 speed mark which allows it to outpace all Pokémon without a speed boost (with the exception of the banned Sneasel and Scyther). A +1 Life Orbed Outrage will tear through anything without a gargantuan Defense stat that isn't of the Steel type and most Pokémon that can withstand Outrage will get roasted by Draco Meteor. For example, Gligar (with Max HP / Max Def+) which takes around 70% on average from a boosted Outrage, has a chance of being OHKOed by Draco Meteor and is OHKOed on average with Stealth Rock down. Fire Blast is almost the perfect move to round off the set, being another high base power move and completing the Dragon/Fire attacking combination which is unresisted. The most common Steel type, Bronzor, takes around 90% damage from Fire Blast. Shieldon (particularly in the sand) is the only Pokémon that can reliably take on and beat Dratini, although smart playing to lure out Outrage or Draco Meteor will help immensely when trying to stop it. However, do not be intimidated by Dratini, it is relatively slow before a Dragon Dance at 14 speed, so you can usually hit it hard before it sets up. It is also quite easily revenge killed with any moderately fast Pokémon with Choice Scarf and is weak to Ice Shard. Note: The 0 HP is to lower its HP stat to 19, meaning that Life Orb recoil is 1 HP or approximately 5% instead of taking twice that amount. Gligar @ Oran Berry / Yache Berry Sand Veil 236 Atk / 236 Spe Jolly ~ Swords Dance ~ Earthquake ~ Stone Edge / Aqua Tail ~ Quick Attack / Brick Break / Baton Pass Gligar can also function as a semi-bulky Swords Dancer and a very good one at that. Its defenses, typing and Oran Berry mean that a Swords Dance, or even two, is not hard to come by, after which it can hit very hard, OHKOing common Pokémon like Munchlax with Earthquake and dealing upwards of 80% damage to even Hippopotas, a physical wall. All this comes off the back of a speed stat of 19, which places it in the second highest bracket of unboosted speeds. Stone Edge hits Flying-types but Aqua Tail has the bonus of OHKOing outright opposing Gligar and Hippopotas after a Swords Dance With regards to the last slot, Quick Attack is useful for preventing revenge-kills whilst Brick Break is Gligar's best chance of beating Bronzor (it will nullify Reflect). Baton Pass can be used to bail out if Gligar faces a Pokémon it cannot beat with Buizel in particular making a good recipient of Swords Dance due to its complementary typing and access to priority attacks. Gligar @ Life Orb Sand Veil 156 HP/ 236 Atk / 76 Spe Adamant ~ Agility ~ Earthquake ~ Stone Edge / Aqua Tail ~ Brick Break / Roost / Baton Pass Agility Gligar functions more as a cleaner rather than a brute attacker like the Swords Dancer. Before an Agility, Gligar has a respectable 16 speed which in the space of one turn doubles into 32 speed, at which point you outspeed all Pokémon, even with Choice Scarf. Even without Swords Dance, a STAB Life Orbed Earthquake from 18 Attack is not to be underestimated; the same Hippopotas mentioned in the Swords Dance set comments, takes over 60% on average from Earthquake and the same Munchlax takes 87% on average. Stone Edge or Aqua Tail again, supplements Earthquake's coverage. In the last slot, Roost can help to preserve Gligar, taking advantage of the more defensive EV spread and recovering off Life Orb recoil. Gligar can also make a potent Agility-passer with Baton Pass an ever credible option. This set has more troubles with traditional Gligar counters such as Bronzor and bulky Grass- and Water-types but also punishes opponent's who rely on revenge killers such as Elekid or Choice Scarfers to beat Gligar. Misdreavus @ Oran Berry / Salac Berry / Life Orb Levitate 240 SpA / 240 Spe Timid ~ Calm Mind ~ Shadow Ball ~ Hidden Power Fighting / Thunderbolt ~ Destiny Bond / Substitute Misdreavus is a top-tier Little Cup Pokémon. Its three immunities - all of which are common types - allow it to come in often unscathed and its 19 speed stat means it will more often that not attack first. Misdreavus is most commonly seen as Calm Mind user and with just two attacks, it can gain complete type coverage. Its STAB Shadow Ball will hit hard after a Calm Mind and Thunderbolt hit Mantyke and other Waters whilst Hidden Power Fighting helps it beat Munchlax rather easily. Despite Misdreavus's offensive nature, Oran Berry is a good item choice for it as after a Calm Mind, Misdreavus will have 22 HP / 22 SpDef defenses and can function as a special wall of sorts. Salac Berry on the other hand, works well with Substitute and allows Misdreavus to outspeed most scarfers after a boost. Croagunk @ Life Orb / Focus Sash Dry Skin 108 Atk / 188 SpA / 198 Spe Rash ~ Nasty Plot ~ Vacuum Wave ~ Sludge Bomb / Dark Pulse ~ Sucker Punch / Cross Chop Houndour @ Life Orb / Focus Sash / Shed Shell Flash Fire 200 SpA / 40 SpD / 244 Spe Timid ~ Nasty Plot ~ Flamethrower / Fire Blast ~ Dark Pulse ~ Hidden Power Fighting Teddiursa @ Toxic Orb Quick Feet 116 HP / 196 Atk / 196 Spe Jolly ~ Protect ~ Facade ~ Crunch ~ Close Combat Teddiursa owes its potency to its Quick Feet ability, which allows it to reach the famed 21 speed mark should it be inflicted with status. On the first turn, you should use Protect to activate the Toxic Orb. From there, Teddiursa can decimate opponents with its STAB 140 base power Facade running off 17 Attack. Crunch hits Ghost-types whilst Close Combat hammers Rock- and Steel-types. Of Pokémon of those two types, only Bronzor and defensively EVed Onix and Rhyhorn can survive a Close Combat. Teddiursa is rather vulnerable to being revenge-killed, so Choice Scarf Diglett makes a useful partner as you can pick off bulky Rock-types and also slower Choice Scarfers that would normally try to end Teddiursa's sweep. Larvitar @ Toxic Orb Guts 36 HP / 244 Atk / 188 Spe Jolly ~ Dragon Dance ~ Earthquake ~ Stone Edge ~ Superpower / Protect After one Dragon Dance, this Larvitar is able to reach 36 Attack and 21 Speed and is ready to wreak havoc onto opposing teams with dual-STAB on Earthquake and Stone Edge. Superpower is a great option for hitting Bronzor, who is the main adversary of this set, dealing an estimate of 76% damage after a Dragon Dance. In its place, Protect can be used to safely activate Guts if you do not have the time to use Dragon Dance to further boost your power. Toxic Orb is the recommended item as it deals less damage to Larvitar in the first few turns of the battle than a Flame Orb induced burn. Rhyhorn @ Life Orb / Oran Berry Rock Head / Lightningrod 236 Atk / 236 Spe Adamant / Jolly ~ Rock Polish ~ Earthquake ~ Stone Edge ~ Megahorn / Fire Fang Abra @ Choice Specs Synchronize 240 SpA / 200 Spe Modest / Timid ~ Psychic ~ Hidden Power Fire ~ Signal Beam ~ Energy Ball Staryu @ Life Orb Natural Cure 200 SpA / 236 Spe Timid ~ Surf / Hydro Pump ~ Ice Beam ~ Thunderbolt ~ Hidden Power Grass Staryu is one of the best late-game cleaners, in part due to it reaching 19 speed and not being weak to any priority moves but also due to its fantastic type coverage these 4 attacks afford it. Surf will 2HKO or threaten to OHKO to anything that doesn't resist it and that does not have significant investment in special defense and is usually superior to Hydro Pump due to its better accuracy, although the raw power of the latter is not to be underestimated; Staryu deals at least 50% to Munchlax. Staryu, unlike most other Water-types, has the ability to make use of Electric- and Grass-type attacks on the same set; Thunderbolt will OHKO Mantyke whilst Chinchou takes in the region of 70% from Hidden Power Grass. Porygon @ Life Orb / Oran Berry Download 120 Def / 240 SpA / 80 SpD IVs: 30 Def / 30 SpA / 30 SpD / 2 Spe Quiet ~ Trick Room ~ Ice Beam ~ Thunderbolt ~ Hidden Power Fighting Gastly @ Life Orb / Leftovers / Wide Lens Levitate 116 HP / 196 SpA / 196 Spe Timid / Naive ~ Hypnosis ~ Shadow Ball ~ Thunderbolt / Hidden Power Fighting ~ Explosion / Substitute Buizel @ Life Orb Swift Swim 236 Atk / 36 SpD / 236 Spe Jolly ~ Bulk Up ~ Aqua Jet ~ Waterfall ~ Return Buizel can take advantage of the defensive prowess of the pure Water typing to squeeze in some Bulk Ups to aid a sweep. It can set up easily on physical Water-types as well as weak physical-based walls like Bronzor and then use Waterfall and Return to gain perfect coverage. Aqua Jet seals the deal in a way, making Buizel tough to stop with its speed stat of 19 and good defensive typing combining with STAB priority to limit the number of effective revenge killers. Elekid @ Life Orb / Petaya Berry Static 176 Atk / 80 SpA / 236 Spe IVs: 3 HP / 30 Atk / 30 SpA Mild / Hasty ~ Thunderbolt ~ Ice Punch ~ Cross Chop / Focus Punch ~ Hidden Power Grass / Substitute Magby @ Expert Belt / Shed Shell Flame Body 236 Atk / 252 Spe Hasty ~ Flare Blitz ~ Cross Chop ~ ThunderPunch ~ Hidden Power Grass / Hidden Power Ice / Overheat Magby can make good use of a physical-based set thanks to its ability to reach the 19 Speed tier and formidable Attack. Flare Blitz slams hard into anything that doesn't resist it and has the added bonus of OHKOing Bronzor, a prominent wall. Cross Chop dismantles any Munchlax silly enough to flaunt Thick Fat and has a chance to OHKO offensive Rhyhorn as well as any Rock-types less defensive than it. ThunderPunch will keep the Water-types at bay. In the last slot, Hidden Power Grass is usually the best option to ensure an OHKO on defensive Rhyhorn, Onix and other Rock/Ground types in addition to deterring Chinchou whereas Hidden Power Ice is a clean OHKO on Gligar. Overheat is alternative attack against Fire weak Pokémon which deals huge damage without the recoil damage of Flare Blitz. Expert Belt is chosen over Life Orb due to the propensity for Flare Blitz recoil to combine with a Stealth Rock weakness to result in residual damage building up quickly. Shed Shell can be used to punish teams reliant on stopping it with Diglett. Edited by Gen. Empoleon**, Jul 14 2009, 08:11 PM.
Posts: 21 Group: Cooks Member #331 Joined: Apr 18, 2009	Light it up man


Gen. Empoleon	Jul 14 2009, 08:10 PM Post #2
Posts: 21 Group: Cooks Member #331 Joined: Apr 18, 2009	Revenge Killers Mankey @ Choice Scarf Vital Spirit 36 HP / 200 Atk / 240 Spe Jolly ~ Close Combat ~ Ice Punch ~ Punishment ~ U-turn Psyduck @ Choice Scarf Cloud Nine 24 Atk / 240 SpA / 236 Spe Naive ~ Surf ~ Ice Beam ~ Hidden Power Grass ~ Cross Chop Carvanha @ Choice Scarf Rough Skin 36 Atk / 236 SpA / 236 Spe Naive / Rash ~ Aqua Jet ~ Surf ~ Ice Beam ~ Crunch Diglett @ Choice Scarf / Life Orb / Focus Sash Arena Trap 36 HP / 236 Atk / 236 Spe Lonely / Hasty ~ Earthquake ~ Sucker Punch ~ Hidden Power Ice ~ Pursuit / Shadow Claw / Aerial Ace Cranidos @ Choice Scarf Mold Breaker 236 Atk / 36 SpA / 212 Spe Naughty ~ Stone Edge / Head Smash ~ Earthquake ~ Ice Beam ~ Superpower / Pursuit / Zen Headbutt Useful Leads Meowth @ Focus Sash / Life Orb Technician 236 Atk / 76 Def / 196 Spe IVs: 0 HP Jolly ~ Hypnosis ~ Fake Out ~ U-turn ~ Bite / Return Meowth functions as a useful lead as well as a potent revenge killer later on in the match. Technician boosts Fake Out to 60 base power, which combined with STAB and Life Orb will put a sizeable dent into any opposing lead that doesn't resist Normal. Should the opponent be wary of this tactic and switch in a suitable Pokémon to sponge the Fake Out, Meowth can then proceed to Hypnosis the next switch in and U-turn out, without having taken damage from the opponent. Bite is Technician boosted and hits Ghost-types whilst Return is the most reliable damage-inflicting attack that Meowth possesses. Meowth's high speed is what makes it able to make full use of this set, reaching 19 speed which only Elekid, Diglett and Voltorb can beat without a speed boost. Note: The 0 HP IV reduces Meowth's HP stat to 19 and so reduces Life Orb recoil. Chimchar @ Focus Sash Blaze 84 HP / 4 Def / 212 SpA / 4 SpD / 188 Spe Timid ~ Flamethrower ~ U-turn ~ Taunt / Fake Out / Protect ~ Stealth Rock Chimchar is one of the better options for stopping set up leads. Immediately, that STAB Flamethrower frightens Bronzor and Gligar. Taunt can be used to stop Stealth Rock leads and Baton Passers, although Fake Out can be used in conjunction in U-turn in a similar way that Meowth does but Chimchar is inferior in that respect as Meowth has 19 speed stat compared to Chimchar's 16 and Meowth's Fake Out base power is over twice as high as Chimchar's. Chimchar can use Protect in the same slot to help scout the opponent's next move and safeguard itself from Meowth and other Fake Out users. Chimchar does have some advantages over similar leads, primarily its ability to set up Stealth Rock but also its oft-overlooked Blaze trait which works well with Focus Sash. For example, Chimchar can survive a Diglett Earthquake with Focus Sash and then OHKO back with a Blaze-boosted Flamethrower. Ponyta @ Wide Lens Flash Fire 236 Atk / 76 Def / 196 Spe Jolly ~ Hypnosis ~ Will-o-Wisp ~ Flare Blitz ~ Return Drifloon @ Wide Lens / Petaya Berry Unburden 196 HP / 4 Def / 36 SpA / 4 SpD / 196 Spe Timid ~ Hypnosis ~ Substitute ~ Baton Pass ~ Shadow Ball Offensive Threat List Code: Staryu Water 45 Atk / 70 SpA / 85 Spe Fast and hits with good type coverage. A Life Orbed Surf will OHKO or 2HKO most Pokémon that it hits neutral with Stealth Rock down, and Thunderbolt and Ice Beam hits the majority of Pokémon that Surf cannot. Dratini Dragon 64 Atk / 50 SpA / 50 Spe Can boost its mediocre speed with Dragon Dance and gets Outrage, which is resisted by very few , to take advantage of its heightened attack. Draco Meteor is another powerful STAB move that it gains, along with Fire Blast which can combine with a STAB move to make a combination that hits every Little Cup Pokémon at least neutral. Elekid Electric 63 Atk / 65 SpA / 95 Spe It has access to a diverse movepool, including Thunderbolt, ThunderPunch, Ice Punch, Psychic Cross Chop and Fire Punch which when coupled with its high speed, enables it to use a Mixed Set effectively. Gligar Ground/Flying 75 Atk / 35 SpA / 85 Spe With its high defenses, Gligar is often able to find time to boost its already credible attack with Swords Dance and it can then sweep using a combination of Earthquake and Stone Edge and has the option of Baton Passing its Attack boosts to an ally as well as being able to Baton Pass Agility boosts. Abra Psychic 20 Atk / 105 SpA / 90 Spe A Choice Specs Psychic will OHKO most Pokémon in Little Cup, and the threat it poses is enhanced by his high speed which ties with the likes of Elekid, Magby, Misdreavus and Staryu amongst others. Gastly Ghost/Poison 35 Atk / 100 SpA / 80 Spe Shadow Ball, Thunderbolt and Hidden Power [Fighting] provides excellent coverage off its high Special Attack and Speed. Life Orb or Choice Specs enable it to OHKO or 2HKO most Pokémon with Shadow Ball, and can also use Hypnosis, Will-o-Wisp and Explosion to beat some of its counters. Cranidos Rock 125 Atk / 30 SpA / 58 Spe It is able to fire STAB Stone Edges and Head Smashes off the same base Attack as Heracross. Mold Breaker means Gastly and Bronzor do not enjoy immunity to Earthquake and it can remedy its modest speed with Choice Scarf or Rock Polish. Misdreavus Ghost 60 Atk / 85 SpA / 85 Spe Three immunities allow it switch in repeatedly, coupled with good Speed and Special Attack. Notable moves include Calm Mind, Shadow Ball, Thunderbolt, Will-o-Wisp and Taunt. Magby Fire 75 Atk / 70 SpA / 83 Spe Similar to Elekid, in regards to his high Attack, Special Attack and Speed. Also akin to Elekid, this is combined with a great movepool, which notably includes Fire Punch, Flare Blitz and Flamethrower as STAB moves as well as Focus Punch, Psychic, Cross Chop and ThunderPunch. Teddiursa Normal 80 Atk / 50 SpA / 40 Spe Once inflicted with status, via a Toxic Orb often, Teddiursa outspeeds all non-scarf Pokémon with the exception of the banned Sneasel and Scyther. At this point, it can attempt to sweep with a combination of a STAB 140 power Facade, Close Combat and Crunch, a combination that no Pokémon in Little Cup resists. Houndour Dark/Fire 60 Atk / 80 SpA / 65 Spe With respectable, if not spectacular, Special Attack and Speed, Houndour can make good use of Nasty Plot to power up its STAB Flamethrower or Fire Blast and Dark Pulse which few Pokémon resist in tandem. It also can use STAB Pursuit on the physical side, to punish fleeing victims, making a Choice Scarf set very useful. Flash Fire is another thing to take into consideration. Kabuto Rock/Water 80 Atk / 55 SpA / 55 Spe Swift Swim allows it outrun most of the metagame, provided with some Speed EVs, in the rain. It can then sweep with its almost unresisted dual STAB. Has access to a priority move in the form of Aqua Jet to outspeed other priority users. Rhyhorn Ground/Rock 85 Atk / 30 SpA / 25 Spe Gains STAB on two high powered moves in Stone Edge and Earthquake which provide good coverage in Little Cup and run off its high Attack. Megahorn and Fire Fang can be used to supplement its STAB moves. A common strategy is to use Rock Polish on it, which doubles its poor speed after one use, and makes Rhyhorn into a deadly sweeper. Mankey Fighting 80 Atk / 35 SpA / 70 Spe It has access to Close Combat, Elemental punches (illegal with the aforementioned Close Combat) and a wide array of physical moves running off its high Attack as well as access to U-Turn to scout switches. Often seen making use of Choice Scarf. It can also gain immunity to Sleep thanks to Vital Spirit. Carvanha Water/Dark 90 Atk / 65 SpA / 65 Spe Can attack with a combination of STAB moves which are resisted by few together with the option of Physical moves such as Crunch, Waterfall, Aqua Jet and Ice Fang which run off its great Attack or Special moves such as Surf, Ice Beam and Dark Pulse which run off its lower but still respectable Special Attack. Often uses Choice Scarf to boost its slightly lacking Speed. Munchlax Normal 85 Atk / 40 SpA / 5 Spe A STAB Return from his large attack threatens to OHKO or 2HKO most Pokémon that it hits for neutral. For those who resist Return, Munchlax gets access to Earthquake, Pursuit, Focus Punch, Zen Headbutt as well as Fire Blast to hit Bronzor for SE damage. Especially dangerous under Trick Room conditions. Diglett Ground 55 Atk / 35 SpA / 95 Spe Not a direct threat a such, but a good battler will be wary of its ability to trap Pokémon at will and pick them off. Choice Scarf allows it to outspeed almost everything whilst Earthquake, Sucker Punch, Rock Slide, Pursuit and Aerial Ace are common moves can be boosted by Choice Band and Life Orb, making use of its high speed. Even an unboosted Earthquake will do over 50% to most Pokémon. Omanyte Rock/Water 40 Atk / 90 SpA / 35 Spe Swift Swim and a high Special Attack makes Omanyte a potent threat in the rain. With Life Orb, anything that doesn't resist Water is OHKOed by Surf, bar Munchlax who is 2HKOed, in conjunction in Surf, a STABbed AncientPower and also Ice Beam can be used for good coverage. Gible Dragon/Ground 70 Atk / 40 SpA / 42 Spe Poses a threat due STAB on Earthquake and Outrage coming off its relatively high attack, and when equipped in a Choice Band, these moves will OHKO the vast majority that do not resist it. It is only held back by its poor speed, which can be cured to an extent by a Choice Scarf. A STAB Draco Meteor can also threaten opponents. Porygon Normal 60 Atk / 85 SpA / 40 Spe Its already high Special Attack can be boosted spontaneously by Download and whilst it lacks a reliable STAB Special Move, Ice Beam, Thunderbolt, Shadow Ball and Hidden Power [Fighting] provides more than enough coverage between them. It can also threaten on the physical side, with STAB Return, should Download boost its Attack. Often carries Trick Room, to reverse the detrimental effect of its low Speed. Croagunk Poison/Fighting 61 Atk / 61 SpA / 50 Spe The main danger it poses is through a combination of Nasty Plot and STAB Vacuum Wave complemented by STAB Sludge Bomb and often Dark Pulse. However, with respectable attacking stats on both side of the spectrum and with Cross Chop, a choice of physical priority moves in addition to X-Scissor and Rock Slide, Croagunk can also pose a significant threat on the physical side. Speed Tiers Tier – 0 Base 113,114,115,116,117,118,119,120,121,122 Stat maxes at 22 with a neutral nature, at 23 with a positive nature +1: 33 +2: 44 Positive nature +1: 34.5 Positive nature +2: 46 Tier – 1 Base 103,104,105,106,107,108,109,110,111,112 Stat maxes at 20 with a neutral nature, at 21 with a positive nature +1: 30 +2: 40 Positive nature +1: 31.5 Positive nature +2: 44 Tier-2 Base 93,94,95,96,97,98,99,100,101,102 Stat maxes at 19 with a neutral nature, at 20 with a positive nature +1: 28.5 +2: 38 Positive +1: 30 Positive +2: 40 Tier – 3 Base 83,84,85,86,87,88,89,90,91,92 Stat maxes at 18 with a neutral nature, at 19 with a positive nature +1: 27 +2: 36 Positive nature +1: 28.5 Positive nature +2: 38 Tier – 4 Base 73,74,75,76,77,78,79,80,81,82 Stat maxes at 17 with a neutral nature, at 18 with a positive nature +1: 25.5 +2: 34 Positive nature +1: 27 Positive nature +2: 36 Tier – 5 Base 63,64,65,66,67,68,69,70,71,72 Stat maxes at 16 with a neutral nature, at 17 with a positive nature +1: 24 +2: 32 Positive nature +1: 25.5 Positive nature +2: 34 Tier – 6 Base 53,54,55,56,57,58,59,60,61,62 Stat maxes at 15 with a neutral nature, at 16 with a positive nature +1: 22.5 +2: 30 Positive nature +1: 24 Positive nature +2: 32 Tier – 7 Base 43,44,45,46,47,48,49,50,51,52 Stat maxes at 14 with a neutral nature, at 15 with a positive nature +1: 21 +2: 28 Positive nature +1: 22.5 Positive nature +2: 30 Tier – 8 Base 33,34,35,36,37,38,39,40,41,42 Stat maxes at 13 with a neutral nature, at 14 with a positive nature +1: 19.5 +2: 26 Positive nature +1: 21 Positive nature +2: 28 Tier – 9 Base 23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30,31,32 Stat maxes at 12 with a neutral nature, at 13 with a positive nature +1: 18 +2: 24 Positive nature +1: 19.5 Positive nature +2: 26 Tier – 10 Base 13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22 Stat maxes at 11 with a neutral nature, at 12 with a positive nature +1: 16.5 +2: 22 Positive nature +1: 18 Positive nature +2: 24 Tier – 11 Base 5, 6,7,8,9,10,11,12 Stat maxes at 10 with a neutral nature, at 11 with a positive nature +1: 15 +2: 20 Positive nature +1: 16.5 Positive nature +2: 22 Item Analysis - Credit to HeYsUp and Cooper for writing this section Just like in OU, there are specific items in Little Cup which are more useful than others. It is very important to know when to use a specific item over another one is better in such a fast paced metagame, and it is vital to know when an item is going to hurt you, rather than help you. The Most Effective Items in Little Cup In alphabetical order. Choice Band / Choice Specs - Little Cup is all about power and speed. It's highly unlikely that you'll ever see a Pokémon last more than three turns on the field without some kind of stat boost, and you'll almost never see a stall war. Choice Band and Choice Specs are staples on a lot of common leads and sweepers, usually those that are fast enough to not worry about getting out sped. Bulky Pokémon who can take hits can also effectively use Choice Specs or Choice Band. Pokémon such as Kabuto are often used with Choice Band as well due to power increase for its priority attack. Choice Scarf - Choice Scarf is possibly the most common item in the metagame. The ability to increase your Speed 50% is incredibly useful, as anything that normally maxes out at 14 Speed has the potential to outspeed every single Pokémon not wearing a Choice Scarf (the highest obtainable un-boosted Speed is 20). Starters, sweepers, and revenge killers are notorious for using Choice Scarves, and usually the only way to beat a Choice Scarf user is with priority, a Focus Sash, or simply by a faster Choice Scarf user. Cranidos and Remoraid (with Hustle) make great Choice Scarf users with their monstrous Attack stats and mediocre Speed. Pokémon such as Magby are used with Choice Scarves to revenge kill Pokémon in the rain or sun, and slower Choice Scarf users. Damp Rock / Heat Rock / Light Clay - Little Cup is fast-paced enough that by the time you use Rain Dance/Sunny Day and switch to a sweeper, only three turns are left and it's easy for your opponent to stall you out. As such, an extra three turns is incredibly useful, giving you a total of six. Light Clay is similar, because with both screens many Pokémon such as Gligar can set up and sweep or pass quite easily due to natural bulk, but only get 3 turns without Light Clay. Light Clay is often used with Pokémon such as Natu, or even on the odd Abra. All of these items are quite common on Bronzor. Focus Sash - A great Little Cup item that pops up quite often. In OU it is used on frail but powerful Pokémon like Rampardos that could manage to get a Rock Polish in. In LC, it's abused by similar Pokémon, but for the purpose of killing fast Pokémon, but still used to get the set-up move most of the time. There are much more Pokémon in LC than OU that resemble Rampardos's characteristics, such as Dratini. This item is also used by Pokémon such as Diglett to revenge kill Pokémon using Choice Scarf. Pokémon can also use Focus Sash to lead, and pretty much any Pokémon can be a usable lead as long as it has a Focus Sash, though Pokémon who have a decent attack stat, and are fast or have priority generally do it better than others, because they beat other Focus Sash leads. This allows the Pokémon to survive a hit and KO back. Beware of Stealth Rock, which is becoming very common to break the Focus Sashes of Pokémon so that they can't successfully revenge kill sweepers. Liechi / Petaya / Salac Berry - The "pinch" berries are used mainly for those Pokémon with outstanding Attack (or Special Attack) / Speed, but which lack the stat to use the naturally strong stat with. A good example would be Substitute + Petaya Drifloon, which not only appreciates the boost to its mediocre Special Attack, but gets an added kick from Unburden. Misdreavus uses Salac Berry so that it can outspeed most Choice Scarf users and sweep with a couple Calm Minds under its belt. Life Orb – is often used on sweepers, for the purpose of maximizing type coverage. The Pokémon that use Life Orb are generally fast, strong, have great coverage, or have a powerful priority move to make revenge killing quite difficult. The most common pure attacking sweepers with Life Orb are Elekid, followed by Magby. The mixed priority sweepers who use Life Orb effectively as well include Houndour and Croagunk. This item is as popular as Choice Scarf, due to the one of the best ways of countering a Choice Scarf Pokémon, is with a Life Orb boosted priority attack. Lum Berry - Little Cup is slightly more diversified in it's metagame than OU is; that is, you'll see a lot more weather teams, and slightly more Trick Room teams. Because some of the common LC leads use Hypnosis or a lesser status move, teams that rely on set-up will often lead with a Lum Berry Pokémon to ensure they get the turn they need. Leads like Houndour are also common with Lum Berry because of their ability to trap and KO Gastly, another common lead. Pokémon that lead with an Agility, followed by Baton Pass strategy (such as Aipom) are also commonly found using Lum Berry. Oran Berry - The other most common item in LC. If you can't think of a good item to put on your Pokémon, use Oran Berry. While 10 HP was next to nothing in standard, for many LC Pokémon, 10 HP is 50% of their health. Oran Berry is generally seen on walls, stat-uppers, and utility Pokémon. Toxic / Flame Orb - Pokémon that use the ability Guts or Quick Feet can take advantage of status orbs, because it will increase their Attack or Speed respectively, giving an advantage of a Choice Band or Choice Scarf, but with the ability to change attacks, and use an 140 base power Facade. Pokémon such as Taillow and Teddiursa use these items effectively. Flame Orb does not work with Quick Feet well though, as it still reduces the Attack of the Pokémon. Shroomish can also use the Toxic Orb with its Poison Heal ability. Items that are good in OU but not in Little Cup Leftovers - Due to the fact that Leftovers heal only a relatively small percentage of your health per turn, it would take 5-10 turns for the majority of Pokémon to achieve the healing powers that one Oran Berry will have in a single use. Therefore, Oran Berry is a much better choice in Little Cup. There are a few exceptions, though. One exception to this is Munchlax with Protect, as it can out heal an Oran Berry after 4 or 5 turns, which is easy to do with Protect. Another is Sub-Seed Pokémon, who out heal Oran in around two turns with Leech Seed + Leftovers + Protect. Expert Belt - Generally used on Pokémon that doesn’t like taking recoil damage. Since the only Pokémon that rely on having lots of type coverage are fast sweepers that don't like getting hit anyway, some Life Orb recoil doesn't affect them as badly. Also, with 19 HP, Pokémon only lose about 6% of their health, which isn't nearly as much of an impact in LC than 10% in standard is. To summarize, Life Orb is always better than Expert Belt. The Right Item for your Pokémon With the diverse metagame of Little Cup and all the strategies that can be used effectively, it can be difficult to decide what the correct item to assign your Pokémon is. This section will breakdown some general guidelines regarding the qualities a specific Pokémon should have for each item. Choice Band or Choice Specs Fast Speed, Priority or bulky Defenses- With the 1.5x multiplier effect to attack stats, it's unlikely that more than a few specific Pokémon will be able to switch into a boosted attack without taking at least 50%. To be able to hit on the switch and deliver the finishing blow the next turn without sustaining heavy damage yourself would be highly beneficial. As such, slower Pokémon are generally better for using these items. On the contrary, Pokémon with defenses such as Munchlax or Bronzor can use these items quite well, since they can take a couple of attacks while taking out a few Pokémon with a boosted attack. Pokémon with priority can also be used with these items to remedy any Speed problems for Pokémon such as Kabuto. Excellent Type Coverage - A diverse moveset, while not a strict requirement, would be useful for a Choice Band or Choice Specs user. Look at the metagame and decide what the most prevalent threats are. Gligar, Bronzor, and Misdreavus are staples on almost every team, so having to rely on Earthquake as your only powerhouse attack would not be your best bet. Having at least three damaging moves of different types that cover the weaknesses of each other, while also using a priority attack in the last slot is advised Choice Scarf 14 Unboosted Speed - This is extremely important when considering using a Choice Scarf. Choice Scarf gives a multiplier boost of 1.5x to Speed, so to outspeed any non-Choice Scarf Pokémon would require an unboosted 14 (141.5=21). Destructive Power - Choice Scarf Pokémon will generally want pretty high attack stats and a versatile movepool. Apply the principals for the other Choice items, but instead reverse (Special) Attack and Speed. Pokémon such as Cranidos or Remoraid have very high Attack stats, but are too slow to really use it. This is where Choice Scarf comes in, it allows these Pokémon to boost their Speed and use their hard hitting attacks while outspeeding almost every Pokémon in the metagame, except for those faster Pokémon such as Magby who also use Choice Scarf to revenge kill threats like the previously mentioned Cranidos. Life Orb* High Attack Stat(s) - As you probably could have guessed, Life Orb is used by either powerful mixed attackers, late game sweepers, and Pokémon with powerful priority attacks. Elekid is an excellent example, being strong and fast enough to do serious damage, but having low enough defenses and HP that it would not feel comfortable if a counter switched in. As such, it needs a varied movepool. Pokémon like Houndour use this well, because it can take out all slower Pokémon with a Life Orb boosted Fire Blast, and take out the frail faster Pokémon with a Life Orb boosted Sucker Punch. 19 HP - The mechanics of Life Orb take away 10% of your health with each successful attack, but the damage is rounded down. So 10% of 20 HP is 2 HP per turn, but 10% of 19 is only 1.9. This is rounded down, so you only take 1 point of damage. Good Life Orb users are generally the ones that can manipulate their health to hit that magic number. This is not required, however, it just allows certain Pokémon to keep their health higher, and being less vulnerable to revenge killers. Focus Sash A Good set-up Pokémon - Pokémon that run Focus Sash should be those that are too frail to reliably increase their stats. However, after the boost, frail stats shouldn't matter, as they should in theory be able to sweep. Think of Cranidos or Dratini. They have horrible HP and defenses, but high attack (or move power) and decent speed. After a Rock Polish or Agility, it should be able to reliably sweep any team, barring priority attacks. This can also include Pokémon that lead, who want to use Stealth Rock first, and then live to contribute to the battle later. Revenge Killing Power - Pokémon that are not either a set-up Pokémon with frail defenses, or a Counter / Mirror Coat user, need to have this aspect to take advantage of a Focus Sash. Pokémon that have trapping abilities, such as Diglett or Trapinch, trapping moves, such as Pursuit are good with Focus Sash to make sure your opponent will not switch out. Your Pokémon can also be slower, but this means it needs to hit hard, because it only has one chance to KO your opponents Pokémon. Sending a Pokémon equipped with Focus Sash will often put your opponent between a rock and a hard place. On one hand, your opponent would switch out, and have to take two attacks from your Pokémon, and on the other hand, if they stay in, they lose their Pokémon. Counter / Mirror Coat - Counter or Mirror Coat is not a requirement for a Focus Sash user, but it is an excellent strategy. The idea is to bring the Pokémon with Focus Sash into a Pokémon that will easily knock it out. The opposing Pokémon should attack, you survive, and reflect the attack right back. This is rather gimmicky, however, and makes your Pokémon rather useless after it hopefully takes out one Pokémon. Pokémon can also generally lead quite well with a Pokémon equipped with Focus Sash. It allows a Pokémon to nearly always beat another Pokémon without Focus Sash, but there are no requirements for this. Generally faster Pokémon, or Pokémon with priority will do this better, however, due to beating other lead Pokémon carrying a Focus Sash. Oran Berry* There isn’t any specific requirements for an Oran Berry user. Usually the item is put on walls to add to their staying power, but this isn't necessary one bit. I personally run a Belly Drum Poliwag with an Oran Berry to heal the damage. Just keep several things in mind about the item itself: Pluck / Bug Bite- Many Pokémon such as Natu and Paras carry the attack Pluck or Bug Bite (respectively) to deal with the bulky Pokémon who switch in with Oran Berry. This is something to keep in mind when switching Bronzor into any of these two Pokémon. Lum Berry Requires a turn of set-up - To require a Lum Berry, the Pokémon in question should have an objective that can only be stopped by status. Usually it will lead, and will lead for a reason. That reason should be what the team depends on. If it's a Baton Pass team, the Lum Berry user should be the one who starts off the chain. If it's a Rain Dance team, the Lum Berry carrier will use Rain Dance, while not having to worry about opposing Gastly who may try to put them to sleep before setting up. Note that Gligar and Bronzor are generally the best Pokémon for these jobs, and usually carry Lum Berry to fend off Hypnosis while they set up. Liechi / Petaya / Salac Berry As with Oran Berry, beware of Pluck. The last thing Doduo needs is more Speed. Lacks a Necessary Stat - The "pinch Berries," as they are called, are a bit trickier to use than other items: not only do you not get their effect right away, you have to be very low of health for them to activate. For the downsides to be worth it, your Pokémon has to have a need for a particular stat. Something like Belly Drum Poliwag is a good example. One hit, a Belly Drum, and your berry will activate. The boost will make you faster than anything without high Speed and a Choice Scarf. And with the Attack increase from Belly Drum, you'll be a force to be reckoned with. Damp Rock / Heat Rock / Light Clay have been omitted merely because there are many Pokémon who can use it, because the only requirement is to be able to use Sunny Day or Rain Dance, or Reflect and Light Screen. Toxic / Flame Orb have been omitted because there are only a handful of Pokémon who can use them, and they are quite obvious (Pokémon with the ability "Quick Feet", "Guts", or "Poison Heal"(Toxic Orb only)). Common Mistakes Regarding Items Why Oran Berry over Sitrus Berry? Sitrus Berry is a better choice when playing competitive OU, because 25% recovery is much more useful than a measly 10 HP. But, in Little Cup, 10 HP will always be more than what 25% would give you. For Sitrus Berry to be as effective as Oran, you'd need a Pokémon with 40 HP, of which there are none. Common Strategies – Beat Up section thanks to Deck Knight When it comes to Little Cup, there are a handful of strategies that are effective. Immunity, weather, Trick Room, and beat up teams are the most common and the most effective kinds of teams in the metagame. Immunity teams are teams that run off of coming in on resisted or immune attacks. A common example is bringing a Paras, Croagunk or Poliwag in on a Wailmer’s Water Spout, a very deadly move in Little Cup. Pokémon with levitate are also very common on immunity teams, as they can switch in on an Earthquake, and in most cases, cause the opposing Pokémon to switch out. A common example is bringing a Paras or Crogunk in on a Wailmer’s Water Spout, a very deadly move in Little Cup.. There are a total of nine immunities in Little Cup: Electric-, Fighting-, Psychic-, Water-, Fire-, Ghost-, Electric-, Normal-, and Ground-type attacks can all be absorbed for nothing, the best immunity team in Little Cup has eight of the nine immunities. These kinds of teams do not come without fault, though, Elekid, Misdreavus and Diglett all cause issues. Elekid and Misdreavus have unresisted type coverage, making them extremely hard to switch into and counter. Diglett can remove key members of your team thanks to its ability, Arena Trap, which locks in your Pokémon to get hit with a STAB Earthquake. Field effect teams were very common strategies in Little Cup, but the advent of them has died out. By rule of thumb, rain teams are the best field effect teams in Little Cup, Trick Room comes next followed by sun teams, sandstorm teams are only run if you decide to run stall, and hail is rarely seen ever. Rain teams are commonly lead by a Voltorb lead, who sets up rain extremely fast and then obtains a 100% accurate STAB Thunder. Bronzor is also very common as it has no weaknesses under rain, and can also help the rain abusers by setting up Stealth Rock. As for the common rain abusers, Kabuto, Omanyte, Buizel, Mantyke, Chinchou and Crogunk are seen on almost all rain teams. Kabuto is the main rain sweeper, with Rock Slide, Aqua Jet, Waterfall and Return boasting unresisted coverage and STAB boosted priority, which is a god send in Little Cup. Omanyte, Mantyke, and Chinchou are very deadly special sweepers in rain, as they can abuse STAB boosted Hydro Pump, which almost forces people to carry immunities in their team. Chinchou is especially dangerous as it can also carry STAB Thunder in the rain, making it extremely hard to switch in. Croagunk is deadly in the rain as, with Dry Skin, Croagunk will heal damage taken from it using Life Orb, making it get the boost practically for free. When it comes to countering rain teams, there are few options. Croagunk, Chinchou, and Munchlax are the main answer to counter the team. Though Croagunk and Chinchou are both commonly used on rain teams, they both can come in on the boosted Water-type attacks and threaten the sweepers away with either priority attacks in Croagunk’s case, or STAB Electroc-type attacks in Chinchou’s case. Munchlax is mainly just extremely bulky enough to sustain a hit from a sweeper or two, and hit back with anyone of its moves, though it is important that special sweepers can smash through Munchlax with their STAB Hydro Pump. Trick Room comes with a few more set up Pokémon than most other field effect based teams. Porygon, Shuppet, Duskull, Gastly, Bronzor, Smoochum, and Slowpoke are all very good at setting up Trick Room for other Pokémon. Gastly sets up Trick Room and then explodes, while Shuppet can set it up and use Destiny Bond to remove another Pokémon from play, at the cost of itself. Smoochum can use Fake Out to remove Focus Sash off of lead Pokémon and then set up Trick Room. Porygon can set up Trick Room well, and attempt to sweep while under the effective of it as well; Slowpoke, on the other hand, can set up Trick Room and then sweep rather easily while it is up. Bronzor plays the same under Trick Room than it does rain; it can help set up Stealth Rock and Trick Room, and if things get dicey, then it can Explode. When it comes to abusing Trick Room, there are a handful of Pokémon which have the raw enough power to abuse it fully. Mixed Porygon, Lickitung, Krabby, Cubone, Munchlax, and Cranidos are the most common sweepers to use under the effects of Trick Room. Porygon, if you are not using it to set up, can use Download and hit everything in Little Cup for massive damage with Return, Thunderbolt, Ice Beam and Shadow Ball. Munchlax is one of the slowest Pokémon in the metagame, and can abuse its high base Attack stat along with its wide variety of moves to “put the hurt” on almost anything that switches in. Cranidos has the very important ability, Mold Breaker, which causes any ability to not do what it is supposed to do, and because of this Cranidos can hit Pokémon with the Levitate ability with a powerful Earthquake and hit Flying-types with STAB Head Smash. Cubone comes with its unique item, Thick Club, which boosts its Attack stat extremely high. When given the moves Earthquake, Fire Punch and Rock Slide Cubone can 2HKO everything, unless it is also given Swords Dance, in that case everything turns but Duskull into an OHKO. Lickitung runs a mixed set much like our friend, Porygon, but unlike Porygon Lickitung has a bit more bulk and a bit less Attack, but the thing Lickitung carries over Porygon is the ability to both use Swords Dance and Selfdestruct. . Krabby is an excellent physical attacker as it carries unresisted type coverage thanks to Return and STAB Crab Hammer, it can also become even more potent thanks to Swords Dance. Sunny Day is the third most used field effect in the Little Cup metagame, but it is still a very effective strategy. The main problem with Sunny Day teams is that it is difficult to find effective Pokémon that can set it up throughout a game, so getting a fast sweep with the few sweepers you have is key. Koffing, Stunky and Diglett are very good Sunny Day set up Pokémon. Diglett comes in as a lead, being able to Protect a Fake Out while setting down Stealth Rock and setting up Sunny Day. Koffing and Stunky both run the same kind of idea, they set up Sunny Day and then Explode on a Pokémon to give their sweepers a free switch in. The sweepers in sun are very obvious, Oddish, Bellsprout, Exeggcute, Ponyta, Hoppip and Houndour. Oddish, Bellsprout and Exeggcute all get Sleep Powder, which they can fire off quickly due to Chlorophyll, and they also get a no charge Solar Beam. If given Hidden Power Fire to any of the Grass-type sweepers then Bronzor will no longer stand in your way of an effective sweep, which can easily come in on the STAB Grass-type attacks. Bellsprout is also a physical sweeper due to it getting Swords Dance and the priority move, Sucker Punch, which can help beat Ghost-type Pokémon when the sun is not shining. Houndour is an effective Choice Scarf Pokémon in the sun, as his STAB Fire-type attacks get a boost, making even resisted hits being taken for neutral damage. Ponyta can run a similar set in the sun, but doesn’t need Choice Scarf due to it already being extremely fast by itself. When it comes to countering sun it becomes pretty easy, Houndour and Munchlax are pretty much “true counters” as they can take whatever the Pokémon throw at them, and hit back with moves of their own. If Houndour is given Substitute with either Hidden Power Fighting or Ground then not even opposing Houndour can stop it. Munchlax can shrug off most of the attacks that are thrown at it, and can hit back with STAB Return or Fire Punch. Sandstorm teams are the least likely field effect team you will find, mostly since it has to do with stall. Stall teams are very difficult to pull off in Little Cup as it is such an offensive metagame, finding time to set down spikes, and force your opponent to switch enough to cause residual damage. Obviously when making a stall teams based around sand, having a Hippopotas lead which can set up Stealth Rock and also start the sandstorm is key. Duskull is also a staple in sand storm stall teams, one of the only Pokémon which can be called a counter to both Gligar and Misdreavus as it can hit Gligar with Ice Beam or Will-o-Wisp and can make Misdreavus a lot easier to counter due to Shadow Sneak. Munchlax can also be brought in due to it being one of the bulkiest Pokémon in Little Cup, and as a back up Misdreavus counter if somehow Duskull cannot survive the match. Spikes, as we all know, is key in a stall team, and in Little Cup there is no exception to that. Omanyte and Pineco are the common Pokémon which set down spikes. The advantage Omanyte brings is that it is not weak to Stealth Rock, but the disadvantage it brings is that it can not use Rapid Spin. Pineco is the exact opposite, it is weak to Stealth Rock, but it can also use Rapid Spin to remove it from the field. The choice is obviously up to you and the team you build. Bronzor is another staple in stall teams, having a vast amount of resistances, and helping counter both Gligar and Elekid if they are both being extremely annoying. As for the final Pokémon on stall teams, Lileep can stall like no other Pokémon in sandstorm. With Stockpile, Recover and Toxic Lileep can stall out teams with little to no threat to itself. Though, being careful of Swords Dance Gligar could help in the long run as Lileep will not be able to stand the boosted hits too well. Counters to stall teams would be Substitute Calm Mind Misdreavus, which can set up in the face of almost any of the Pokémon, besides Duskull and KO. Diglett also gives stall teams issues as it can trap important members of the team and OHKO them with STAB Earthquake. Beat Up is at best a gimmick in most other metagames. Even with the huge attack scores of Slaking, Rampardos, and Metagross, Beat Up fails to score useful KO's on most Pokémon. In Little Cup, things are different. While the average defense of an OU Pokémon rests in the mid 80's, Little Cup's average defense is substantially lower. Meanwhile, several Pokémon in Little Cup have huge Base Attack scores. Three factors make Beat Up a dangerous strategy: 1. At Lv. 5, Multi-Hit attacks have much greater power than their theoretical combined Base Power. Thus, six 10 Base Power attacks deal more damage than one 60 Base Power attack. This is also true at Lv. 100, but at Lv.5 the effect is much more pronounced. 2. Beat Up destroys Substitutes with ease, making their use ineffective at curbing damage. 3. Because Beat Up does not factor in actual stats; Bulky Scarfers may employ Beat Up and still deal immense damage. Beat Up is a high-risk, high-reward strategy. Pros of Beat Up: - Early Game it does extreme damage, KOing many fragile sweepers. - Pits Base Attack vs. Base Defense, and is thus unaffected by EVs. - Dark type is rarely resisted, and most Pokémon that resist have poor Base Defense. - Viable options in Beat Up teams can employ numerous effective strategies outside of Beat Up. Cons of Beat Up: - Beat Up reveals the Pokémon on your team (unless you nickname them!) - Beat Up is ineffective late game - Beat Up requires you to build your entire team around maximizing its damage. Beat Up basics: Note: This testing was done on Shoddy Battle. In Game confirmation may not yield these results. Beat Up compares the Base Attack of each your Pokémon to the Base Defense of each of your opponent’s Pokémon in order to calculate damage. Beat Up operates as a 10 Base Power Attack by each Pokémon on your team that is not fainted or statused (burn, paralysis, poison, etc.). Therefore it is best to use it early in a match before an opponent can set up their strategy. Beat Up IS affected by: - STAB on the User (not team members) - Items that boost physical damage. (Muscle Band, Dread Plate, Life Orb) - Dark Resist Berry on Ghost or Psychic types. Beat Up IS NOT affected by: - Your Attack Score - Opponent's Defense Score - Attack or Defense boosts (including Burn) - Items or abilities that increase Attack Stat (Choice Band) Special Preparations before using a Beat Up team: A Beat Up Team requires substantially more preparation than other teams, at least if you want to maximize your advantages. 1. Nickname all your Pokémon: You can use either crafty names like Bidoof and Ditto to throw your opponent off, or just use anything short. Either way, only your other Pokémon’s nicknames are revealed. They'll probably still figure out Cranidos, because it does the most damage and is staple, but everything else has multiple viable Pokémon in the 80-85 Base Attack range. 2. Place your highest Base Attack Pokémon in the last 3 Pokémon slots: Beat Up attacks in the order you have your team built from left to right. If your opponent has a Substitute, you don't want to waste your strongest Beat Up attacks destroying it, but want them to hit directly. Building a Beat Up team: Because a Beat Up team is most effective early game, You only need one Pokémon with Beat Up. You can choose to carry two, but more is not recommended. Mankey is especially useful for a backup Beat Up user if you scouted Hypnosis last turn, and suspect their lead is Scarfed. Beating Beat Up: In order to counter Beat Up, you need to have a good lead. Several methods qualify as effective against Beat Up: 1. Pokémon with High Base Defense. Beat Up will not KO these Pokémon. 2. Fake Out leads/priority centered teams 3. Fast Hypnosis. Be aware that a miss with Hypnosis can mean a KO 4. Brute force. Your lead must be able to KO the Beat Up Pokémon. Having multiple Pokémon with Oran Berry and a priority move is also effective, as long as they have enough Base Defense to survive the initial assault. If you suspect your opponent has Beat Up on their lead, do not under any circumstances switch to a fragile sweeper. Focus Sash may save them but once. Final Notes: Although it is not optimal for damage, Beat Up Pokémon may employ a Focus Sash to get a second Beat Up in. If they manage to Beat Up unharmed the first time, the momentum from the KO's may be an insurmountable obstacle. Beat Up is a hyper-offensive strategy that employs teams almost exclusively of fragile sweepers and bulky sweepers. Because Beat Up can easily 2HKO any Pokémon without Oran Berry to restore health (including Gligar), the earliest moves of the match are the most vital to success. Mitigating Losses and Revenge Killing If you have ever played a competitive game of Pokémon, then you should realize that knowing when to sacrifice a Pokémon to allow another one of your Pokémon to revenge kill is key to victory. It is a tough decision, on the other hand, to know when it is acceptable to sacrifice one of your own Pokémon to allow another one of yours to come in for a revenge kill. It is ok to lose a Pokémon which has already done what its main goal is, or if it will allow a sweeper of yours a free switch in and finish the game. Does it sound complicated? Well we can break it down: if you are carrying one Gligar counter, on a Gligar weak team, then why would you sacrifice it? Gligar is a very common Pokémon and chances are that your opponent will have one on their team. So most likely losing your lead, or another Pokémon, is going to be more helpful to your team and increase your chances of winning the match. When it comes to sacrificing to try to sweep you have to ask yourself a few questions: -Have a seen all of my opponents team -Have I weakened the majority of their team / is it weak to a common move If you answered no to either of these questions then chances are the removing a Pokémon of yours to a revenge kill is just going to cause an “eye for an eye” which doesn’t put you in a better advantage at all. Most people say that “it is easy to revenge kill” while that is completely true, it should be noted that it is difficult to revenge kill extremely well, while making sure you don’t lose anything of importance and your opponent loses the game or a key member of their team. Closing Words Little Cup is a metagame that is dominated by hyper offensive playing, revenge killing and priority moves. In a game where anyone can win even if you are down three Pokémon. If you are looking to try a new metagame filled with excitement and new strategies, then give Little Cup a try.
Posts: 21 Group: Cooks Member #331 Joined: Apr 18, 2009	Light it up man


bahohns	Jul 15 2009, 06:23 AM Post #3
Posts: 231 Group: Members Member #326 Joined: Apr 15, 2009	Impressive when skimmed. I will read the rest when I finally return home from Normandy. Good work.



Beefy	Jul 15 2009, 07:35 AM Post #4
Troll on Dougs and be trolled Posts: 427 Group: Members Member #65 Joined: Jun 27, 2008	It's a lot to read but I found a few errors. I'll do a full readthrough and post back with quoted errors when I have more time. I'd just suggest you read through it again and maybe see some of the errors I'm seeing. Manly what I'm talking about is the sets. All the sets should have set comments and there are too many, the less useful stuff should be taken off like Larvitar, also some of the set comments are wack. Like it says under the Missy set that the most common Misdreavus is Calm Mind, which is a lie. Also Aipom deserves a spot on the leads section. As do Diglett and Snover, I mean who uses lead Ponyta and Driftloon. Like a said more indepth post later. But nice job guys
	Credit to P.bus for all my artsy stuff


Gen. Empoleon	Jul 15 2009, 12:51 PM Post #5
Posts: 21 Group: Cooks Member #331 Joined: Apr 18, 2009	Quote: Vader is still doing the set comments, those will be finished (hopefully) by today or tomorrow. Yeah, read away That section has a lot of errors, yeah. But also it is the only one which is still being worked on. Everything will look fine in the end, sheesh it's like you guys have 0 faith in me
Posts: 21 Group: Cooks Member #331 Joined: Apr 18, 2009	Light it up man


Vader	Jul 15 2009, 04:57 PM Post #6
HALLO I AM A VADER Posts: 303 Group: Site Staff Member #56 Joined: Jun 26, 2008	i wouldn't let you silly fuckers down :) Standards This is quick sample of common Pokemon and their likely movesets. It is important to remember that this list is not exhaustive and you will likely encounter Pokemon not listed here and so it is recommended that you read the full list of eligible Pokemon. Notable Walls Bronzor @ Oran Berry / Shed Shell Levitate 220 HP / 4 Atk / 68 Def / 148 SpD IVs: 0 Spe Relaxed ~ Stealth Rock ~ Gyro Ball ~ Earthquake ~ Reflect / Light Screen Bronzor is the most prominent defensive Pokemon in Little Cup thanks to its wide array of resistances coupled with two further immunities. This allows it to take on powerful threats on both sides of the spectrum, such as Teddiursa, Gligar, Larvitar and Abra. Bronzor plays in a similar fashion to Bronzong in the OverUsed metagame, being an equally reliable Stealth Rock user as its evolution. Hypnosis is absent as Bronzor is genderless and it thus cannot learn it at Level 5. In its place, either Reflect or Light Screen can be used for team support. Shed Shell is a viable option on Bronzor, as Magnet Rise allows Magnemite to beat it one on one. Chinchou @ Oran Berry / Shed Shell Volt Absorb 156 HP / 52 Def / 228 SpD / 60 Spe Calm ~ Surf ~ Thunderbolt ~ Thunderwave ~ Confuse Ray Although Chinchou's 75 HP / 38 Def / 56 SpD defensive stats may seem lacking, its resistances certainly are not; Chinchou enjoys resistances to Water, Ice and Fire as well as healing 25% should an Electric attack be directed at it. These are common attack types used by special attackers which makes Chinchou worthy of a slot in your team should you want extra protection from the likes of Porygon, Houndour, Staryu and others. Surf and Thunderbolt takes advantage of Chinchou's unique dual-STAB to provide good type coverage (as such an Agility sweeper set is very viable) and in addition, Chinchou can make use of Parafusion to slow your opponent's momentum. Chinchou is very vulnerable to Diglett and so again, Shed Shell is an option. Perhaps the greatest tribute to Chinchou is the fact that many Water and Fire types carry Hidden Power Grass. Gligar @ Oran Berry Sand Veil 236 HP / 236 Def Impish ~ Earthquake ~ Roost ~ Stealth Rock ~ Stone Edge / Taunt Gligar makes an almost impervious physical wall with 105 base Defense and access to Roost. Consequently, Gligar is one of the best users of Stealth Rock as well as being a great switch into Fighting-type attacks but must be wary of Ice Punch, which both Mankey and Machop have access to. Despite this, it is one of the best switches into Cranidos, Larvitar, Rhyhorn and Croagunk. Mantyke @ Oran Berry Water Absorb 236 HP / 36 Def / 40 SpA / 196 SpD Calm ~ Surf ~ Ice Beam ~ Hidden Power Grass ~ Protect / Haze Whilst generally less common than Chinchou, Mantyke has a few advantages over its fellow special wall. Firstly, Mantyke has no fear of being trapped by Diglett and secondly, Mantyke boasts a huge 120 base special defense, meaning that it gets 24 HP and 23 Special Defense with these EVs. Its raw defensive stats allows it to negate most special threats that do not carry Thunderbolt and it has a useful niche in stopping Water-types and Fire-types that tend to use Hidden Power Grass for the more common Chinchou. The moveset is rather self-explanatory with the three damage-dealing attacks given to maximize type coverage whilst in the last slot, Protect can scout for a random Electric move whereas Haze can help with dealing with Croagunk and other stat boosters. Munchlax @ Oran Berry / Leftovers / Chesto Berry Thick Fat 76 HP / 156 Atk / 236 SpD Careful / Sassy ~ Return ~ Earthquake / Seed Bomb ~ Pursuit ~ Fire Punch/ Protect / Fire Blast / Rest Munchlax is a top tier Little Cup pokemon, being both an offensive juggernaut as well as an effective special wall. Munchlax's massive 135 base HP and 85 base Special Defense turns it into a one-stop counter for all but the most powerful special attackers with Thick Fat only serving to further emphasize its credentials. On the offensive side of things, Munchlax's Return from 85 base Attack is one of the most powerful physical moves around and in combination with Earthquake, a fire-type attack of choice and Pursuit for Gastly and Misdreavus, Munchlax achieves perfect coverage. With regards to item choice, Munchlax's massive HP means that an Oran Berry heals around 30% of maximum HP and so the option of Rest and Chesto Berry is very viable. Leftovers restores 2 HP on Munchlax, making it a viable option when compared with other Little Cup Pokemon. If one can stall out five turns with Munchlax (not a difficult task against most Special Sweepers when using Protect), then it will achieve the same healing as an Oran Berry, Shieldon @ Oran Berry / Shed Shell Sturdy 196 HP / 132 Def / 20 SpA / 132 SpD Relaxed / Sassy ~ Stealth Rock ~ Ice Beam ~ Thunderbolt / Flamethrower ~ Magnet Rise Shieldon is an extremely useful wall in Little Cup, being the best counter available to mixed Dragon Dance Dratini. Stealth Rock is rarer in Little Cup than in the normal OverUsed metagame and Shieldon's multiple resistances allows it to make good use of it. Magnet Rise allows it to escape the grasps of its nemesis Diglett as well as being able to avoid Earthquakes from common Pokemon like Munchlax and Bronzor. Ice Beam is listed to hit Dratini and Gible for super effective damage. Thunderbolt hits water-types and forms part of the BoltBeam combination whereas Flamethrower hits steels. Shed Shell can be used to keep Shieldon safe from Magnemite should you opt against Flamethrower. Finally, it is worth noting that Shieldon's already excellent 88 base Special Defense (higher than Munchlax's for instance) allows it to become an excellent special wall in sand, when paired with Hippopotas. Koffing @ Oran Berry Levitate 196 HP / 236 Def / 36 SpA Relaxed ~ Taunt ~ Sludge Bomb ~ Flamethrower / Thunderbolt ~ Explosion / Pain Split / Will-o-Wisp Koffing boats 95 base Defense and a typing that makes it the best fighting-type counter in the metagame. Taunt is useful for stopping sweepers using it as set-up bait. Sludge Bomb and Flamethrower provide good coverage, and the latter will hit Dry Skin Croagunk for super effective damage, although it could be replaced by Thunderbolt. Most Koffing tend to explode after they have finished their job although there are alternatives, should you want Koffing to stick around longer. Hippopotas @ Oran Berry Sand Stream 212 HP / 20 Atk / 212 Def / 20 SpD / 20 Spe Impish ~ Stealth Rock ~ Earthquake ~ Rock Slide ~ Slack Off / Yawn Hippopotas is one of the elite band of Pokemon in the metagame that can set up Stealth Rock reliably and is also one of two physical walls -- the other being Gligar -- that has access to a reliable recovery move. With these EVs, Hippopotas generates 26 HP and 18 Defense which combined with its Ground typing allows it to be an effective counter to Cranidos, Larvitar and Rhyhorn amongst others. Despite this, Hippopotas's premier attraction is its Sand Stream trait which makes it essential for sandstorm-based teams. Common Sweepers Dratini @ Life Orb Shed Skin 84 Atk / 196 SpA / 196 Spe IVs: 0 HP Rash ~ Dragon Dance ~ Outrage ~ Fire Blast ~ Draco Meteor/Waterfall The Mixed-Dancer Dratini is one of the most potentially destructive sweepers in the metagame. After one Dragon Dance, Dratini will reach the magical 21 speed mark which allows it to outpace all Pokemon without a speed boost (with the exception of the banned Sneasel and Scyther). A +1 Life Orbed Outrage will tear through anything without a gargantuan Defense stat that isn't of the Steel type and most Pokemon that can withstand Outrage will get roasted by Draco Meteor. For example, Gligar (with Max HP / Max Def+) which takes around 70% on average from a boosted Outrage, has a chance of being OHKOed by Draco Meteor and is OHKOed on average with Stealth Rock down. Fire Blast is almost the perfect move to round off the set, being another high base power move and completing the Dragon/Fire attacking combination which is unresisted. The most common Steel type, Bronzor, takes around 90% damage from Fire Blast. Shieldon (particularly in the sand) is the only Pokemon that can reliably take on and beat Dratini, although smart playing to lure out Outrage or Draco Meteor will help immensely when trying to stop it. Waterfall can also prove problematic due to Shieldon’s Rock-type. However, do not be intimidated by Dratini, it is relatively slow before a Dragon Dance at 14 speed, so you can usually hit it hard before it sets up. It is also quite easily revenge killed with any moderately fast Pokemon with Choice Scarf and is weak to Ice Shard. Note: The 0 HP is to lower its HP stat to 19, meaning that Life Orb recoil is 1 HP or approximately 5% instead of taking twice that amount. Gligar @ Oran Berry / Yache Berry Sand Veil 236 Atk / 236 Spe Jolly ~ Swords Dance ~ Earthquake ~ Stone Edge / Aqua Tail ~ Quick Attack / Brick Break / Baton Pass Gligar can also function as a semi-bulky Swords Dancer and a very good one at that. Its defenses, typing and Oran Berry mean that a Swords Dance, or even two, is not hard to come by, after which it can hit very hard, OHKOing common Pokemon like Munchlax with Earthquake and dealing upwards of 80% damage to even Hippopotas, a physical wall. All this comes off the back of a speed stat of 19, which places it in the second highest bracket of unboosted speeds. Stone Edge hits Flying-types but Aqua Tail has the bonus of OHKOing outright opposing Gligar and Hippopotas after a Swords Dance With regards to the last slot, Quick Attack is useful for preventing revenge-kills whilst Brick Break is Gligar's best chance of beating Bronzor (it will nullify Reflect). Baton Pass can be used to bail out if Gligar faces a Pokemon it cannot beat with Buizel in particular making a good recipient of Swords Dance due to its complementary typing and access to priority attacks. Gligar @ Life Orb Sand Veil 156 HP/ 236 Atk / 76 Spe Adamant ~ Agility ~ Earthquake ~ Stone Edge / Aqua Tail ~ Brick Break / Roost / Baton Pass Agility Gligar functions more as a cleaner rather than a brute attacker like the Swords Dancer. Before an Agility, Gligar has a respectable 16 speed which in the space of one turn doubles into 32 speed, at which point you outspeed all Pokemon, even with Choice Scarf. Even without Swords Dance, a STAB Life Orbed Earthquake from 18 Attack is not to be underestimated; the same Hippopotas mentioned in the Swords Dance set comments, takes over 60% on average from Earthquake and the same Munchlax takes 87% on average. Stone Edge or Aqua Tail again, supplements Earthquake's coverage. In the last slot, Roost can help to preserve Gligar, taking advantage of the more defensive EV spread and recovering off Life Orb recoil. Gligar can also make a potent Agility-passer with Baton Pass an ever credible option. This set has more troubles with traditional Gligar counters such as Bronzor and bulky Grass- and Water-types but also punishes opponent's who rely on revenge killers such as Elekid or Choice Scarfers to beat Gligar. Misdreavus @ Oran Berry / Salac Berry / Life Orb Levitate 240 SpA / 240 Spe Timid ~ Calm Mind ~ Shadow Ball ~ Hidden Power Fighting / Thunderbolt ~ Destiny Bond / Substitute Misdreavus is a top-tier Little Cup Pokemon. Its three immunities - all of which are common types - allow it to come in often unscathed and its 19 speed stat means it will more often that not attack first. Misdreavus is most commonly seen as Calm Mind user and with just two attacks, it can gain complete type coverage. Its STAB Shadow Ball will hit hard after a Calm Mind and Thunderbolt hit Mantyke and other Waters whilst Hidden Power Fighting helps it beat Munchlax rather easily. Despite Misdreavus's offensive nature, Oran Berry is a good item choice for it as after a Calm Mind, Misdreavus will have 22 HP / 22 SpDef defenses and can function as a special wall of sorts. Salac Berry on the other hand, works well with Substitute and allows Misdreavus to outspeed most scarfers after a boost. Misdreavus @ Oran Berry / Life Orb Levitate 240 SpA / 240 Spe Hasty ~ Shadow Ball ~ Hidden Power Fighting ~ Substitute ~ Shadow Sneak Misdreavus can also make use of a Sub-abusing set. With a Substitute up, Misdreavus is extremely difficult to take down, due to its high number of immunities and ability to stall out Sucker Punch. Shadow Ball and Hidden Power Fighting let it hit everything neutral, while Shadow Sneak allows it to effectively finish off sashed Pokemon as well as scarfed Pokemon that have the audacity to try and scape by with two or three HP left after Shadow Ball. Because Munchlax and Elekid both fail to defeat this set one-on-one, it is considered one of the most effective in the game. Croagunk @ Life Orb / Focus Sash Dry Skin 108 Atk / 188 SpA / 198 Spe Rash ~ Nasty Plot / Fake Out ~ Vacuum Wave ~ Ice Punch / Dark Pulse ~ Cross Chop/Sucker Punch Croagunk has the right stat values in the right areas, allowing it to effectively make use of the majority of its EVs, making it an excellent mixed attacker. Croagunk’s access to Priority is also impressive, allowing it to ignore its subpar speed in many circumstances. With Platinum, it gained access to Ice Punch, allowing it to deal with Gligar switch-ins quite handily. Its ability to hit Ghosts and Gligar at the same time eliminates the need for Sucker Punch or Dark Pulse on a given set, letting it have access to a powerful STAB Cross Chop, which will OHKO threats such as Munchlax, Porygon and Lickitung. That Vacuum Wave could not easily deal with. Houndour @ Life Orb / Choice Scarf / Focus Sash / Shed Shell Flash Fire 200 SpA / 40 SpD / 244 Spe Timid ~ Nasty Plot ~ Flamethrower / Fire Blast ~ Dark Pulse ~ Hidden Power Ground/Fighting Teddiursa @ Toxic Orb Quick Feet 116 HP / 196 Atk / 196 Spe Jolly ~ Protect ~ Facade ~ Crunch ~ Close Combat Teddiursa owes its potency to its Quick Feet ability, which allows it to reach the famed 21 speed mark should it be inflicted with status. On the first turn, you should use Protect to activate the Toxic Orb. From there, Teddiursa can decimate opponents with its STAB 140 base power Facade running off 17 Attack. Crunch hits Ghost-types whilst Close Combat hammers Rock- and Steel-types. Of Pokemon of those two types, only Bronzor and defensively EVed Onix and Rhyhorn can survive a Close Combat. Teddiursa is rather vulnerable to being revenge-killed, so Choice Scarf Diglett makes a useful partner as you can pick off bulky Rock-types and also slower Choice Scarfers that would normally try to end Teddiursa's sweep. Larvitar @ Toxic Orb Guts 36 HP / 244 Atk / 188 Spe Jolly ~ Dragon Dance ~ Earthquake ~ Stone Edge ~ Superpower / Protect After one Dragon Dance, this Larvitar is able to reach 36 Attack and 21 Speed and is ready to wreak havoc onto opposing teams with dual-STAB on Earthquake and Stone Edge. Superpower is a great option for hitting Bronzor, who is the main adversary of this set, dealing an estimate of 76% damage after a Dragon Dance. In its place, Protect can be used to safely activate Guts if you do not have the time to use Dragon Dance to further boost your power. Toxic Orb is the recommended item as it deals less damage to Larvitar in the first few turns of the battle than a Flame Orb induced burn. Rhyhorn @ Life Orb / Oran Berry Rock Head / Lightningrod 236 Atk / 236 Spe Adamant / Jolly ~ Rock Polish ~ Earthquake ~ Stone Edge ~ Megahorn / Fire Fang Rhyhorn is a bulky and powerful Pokemon, hindered only by its speed and weakness to Priority. At least one of these, however, is easily rectified due to Little Cup’s low stat values. After a Rock Polish, Rhyhorn easily outspeeds all non-Scarfed Pokemon and can deal a hefty blow to many of them with its nearly-unresisted dual STAB. Megahorn allows it to hit Bronzor (the only LC Pokemon to resist Rock/Ground) neutrally, while providing overall excellent coverage. Fire Fang hits Bronzor at 10 more BP, but loses out in BP more often than not. Abra @ Choice Specs Synchronize 240 SpA / 200 Spe Modest / Timid ~ Psychic ~ Hidden Power Fire ~ Signal Beam ~ Energy Ball Abra with Choice Specs has been compared to Specs Deoxys-F in Ubers: If you do not predict perfectly, you will lose at least one Pokemon every time. Munchlax is 2HKO’d through Oran by Psychic. Hidden Power Fire 2HKOs Bronzor. Signal Beam OHKOs Houndour. Energy Ball OHKOs Chinchou. Abra’s main fault is that once it has killed a Pokemon, it is vulnerable to literally any Pursuit. It also does not handle priority well due to its paper defenses. Staryu @ Life Orb Natural Cure 200 SpA / 236 Spe Timid ~ Surf ~ Ice Beam ~ Thunderbolt ~ Hidden Power Grass Staryu is one of the best late-game cleaners, in part due to it reaching 19 speed and not being weak to any priority moves but also due to its fantastic type coverage these 4 attacks afford it. Surf will 2HKO or threaten to OHKO to anything that doesn't resist it and that does not have significant investment in special defense. Staryu, unlike most other Water-types, has the ability to make use of Electric- and Grass-type attacks on the same set; Thunderbolt will OHKO Mantyke whilst Chinchou takes in the region of 70% from Hidden Power Grass. Porygon @ Oran Berry / Life Orb Download 120 Def / 240 SpA / 80 SpD IVs: 30 Def / 30 SpA / 30 SpD / 2 Spe Quiet ~ Trick Room ~ Ice Beam ~ Thunderbolt ~ Shadow Ball / Hidden Power Fighting Porygon under Trick Room is a fearsome force. Unfortunately, due to its genderlessness, it does not have access to its level-up moves, which include the valuable Tri Attack and Recover. However, its movepool and stats still contain the necessary elements for a bulky TR set-up sweeper. With a Download boost, Bolt/Beam and Shadow Ball, Porygon can very easily sweep entire teams if they are unprepared. With an Oran Berry, Porygon is able to survive and set-up, letting it or a team-mate sweep. Gastly @ Choice Scarf / Leftovers Levitate 116 HP / 196 SpA / 196 Spe Timid / Naive ~ Sludge Bomb ~ Shadow Ball ~ Energy Ball / Thunderbolt / Hidden Power Fighting ~ Hypnosis / Explosion / Substitute Gastly is outclassed by Misdreavus in most areas. However, in the area of Scarfing, Gastly is far superior. With access to the powerful STAB Sludge Bomb and three immunities, Gastly is able to come in on many threats and hit them hard. Notably, Gastly using Sludge Bomb can beat Munchlax one-on-one provided the Munchlax is carrying Leftovers and not Oran Berry. Shadow Ball provides generic STAB and a means of hitting Bronzor, while Energy Ball allows Gastly to OHKO Chinchou and non-specially defensive Hippopotas. Hypnosis lets it cripple most opposing Pokemon, while Explosion allows it to OHKO Munchlax. If one opts for Substitute, then Gastly can carry leftovers to allow it an additional sub. Buizel @ Life Orb Swift Swim 236 Atk / 36 SpD / 236 Spe Jolly ~ Bulk Up ~ Aqua Jet ~ Waterfall ~ Return Buizel can take advantage of the defensive prowess of the pure Water typing to squeeze in some Bulk Ups to aid a sweep. It can set up easily on physical Water-types as well as weak physical-based walls like Bronzor and then use Waterfall and Return to gain perfect coverage. Aqua Jet seals the deal in a way, making Buizel tough to stop with its speed stat of 19 and good defensive typing combining with STAB priority to limit the number of effective revenge killers. Elekid @ Life Orb Static 252 Atk / 236 Spe IVs: 0 HP Mild / Hasty ~ Thunderpunch ~ Ice Punch ~ Cross Chop ~ Quick Attack Physical Elekid is among the most fearsome sweepers in the game. With nearly unparalleled coverage and 20 Speed, it tears through unprepared teams. Ice Punch OHKOs Gligar, Cross Chop OHKOs all but the most physically defensive Munchlax and hits Chinchou hard. Quick Attack allows Elekid to beat Sucker Punchers and finish off sashed Pokemon or weakened Scarfers. Thunderpunch hits everything else hard. Elekid @ Life Orb / Petaya Berry Static 176 Atk / 80 SpA / 236 Spe IVs: 3 HP / 30 Atk / 30 SpA Hasty / Mild ~ Thunderbolt ~ Ice Punch ~ Cross Chop / Focus Punch ~ Hidden Power Grass / Substitute Elekid can also use a mixed set quite effectively. Thunderbolt’s higher BP lets it hit harder on myriad threats. Ice Punch, again, beats Gligar while Cross Chop deals with pesky Munchlax. Hidden Power Grass offers Elekid another option for dealing with Chinchou. Substitute lets Elekid beat Sucker Punchers and punish them with a powerful Focus Punch. If Elekid can get the Petaya boost and maintain its sub, it can be nearly unstoppable. Magby @ Expert Belt / Shed Shell Flame Body 236 Atk / 252 Spe Hasty ~ Flare Blitz ~ Cross Chop ~ ThunderPunch ~ Hidden Power Grass / Hidden Power Ice / Overheat Magby can make good use of a physical-based set thanks to its ability to reach the 19 Speed tier and formidable Attack. Flare Blitz slams hard into anything that doesn't resist it and has the added bonus of OHKOing Bronzor, a prominent wall. Cross Chop dismantles any Munchlax silly enough to flaunt Thick Fat and has a chance to OHKO offensive Rhyhorn as well as any Rock-types less defensive than it. ThunderPunch will keep the Water-types at bay. In the last slot, Hidden Power Grass is usually the best option to ensure an OHKO on defensive Rhyhorn, Onix and other Rock/Ground types in addition to deterring Chinchou whereas Hidden Power Ice is a clean OHKO on Gligar. Overheat is alternative attack against Fire weak Pokemon which deals huge damage without the recoil damage of Flare Blitz. Expert Belt is chosen over Life Orb due to the propensity for Flare Blitz recoil to combine with a Stealth Rock weakness to result in residual damage building up quickly. Shed Shell can be used to punish teams reliant on stopping it with Diglett. Revenge Killers Mankey @ Choice Scarf Vital Spirit 36 HP / 200 Atk / 240 Spe Jolly ~ Close Combat ~ Ice Punch ~ Punishment ~ U-turn Mankey’s high speed and attack combined with its access to power STAB makes it an ideal Choice Scarf user. The most common use of Scarf Mankey is as a revenge killer. Its STAB Close Combat is both extremely fast and powerful, 2HKOing many Pokemon. U-Turn lets Mankey repeatedly bring in a suitable check to whatever Pokemon the opponent brings in to beat Mankey. Ice Punch is for Gligar, Punishment for Ghosts. Psyduck @ Choice Scarf Cloud Nine 24 Atk / 240 SpA / 236 Spe Naive ~ Surf ~ Ice Beam ~ Hidden Power Grass ~ Cross Chop Psyduck’s ability to nullify weather makes it an ideal switch-in to Sunny Day sweepers, coming in for free on Solarbeam and OHKOing with Ice Beam. With a Scarf it is able to outspeed all non-Scarfed Pokemon. Surf hits most things hard, while Ice Beam deals with Grassers and Gligar. Hidden Power Grass is for Chinchou, while Cross Chop is for Munchlax. Carvanha @ Life Orb / Choice Scarf / Focus Sash Rough Skin 36 Atk / 236 SpA / 236 Spe IVs: 0 HP (if Life Orb) Naive / Rash ~ Aqua Jet ~ Hydro Pump / Surf / Zen Headbutt ~ Ice Beam / Zen Headbutt ~ Crunch Carvanha’s massive offensive stats allow it to be a potent sweeper. STAB Hydro Pump and Crunch rip holes in virtually everything. Aqua Jet 2HKOs Gligar and hits everything that doesn’t resist it hard. Ice Beam hits Gligar and Grasses. Zen Headbutt allows Carvanha to beat its biggest counter, Croagunk, on the switch-in. LO boosts Carvanha’s offensive power, while Scarf lets it outspeed most threats. Sash is a one-off, usually to Zen Headbutt Croagunk. Diglett @ Choice Scarf / Focus Sash / Life Orb Arena Trap 36 HP / 236 Atk / 236 Spe Lonely / Hasty ~ Earthquake ~ Sucker Punch ~ Hidden Power Ice ~ Pursuit / Shadow Claw / Aerial Ace Diglett is among the best Revenge Killers in the game. Arena Trap allows it to prevent a weakened foe from fleeing. STAB Earthquake allows it to hit almost every Pokemon for 50% or more. Hidden Power Ice does away with Gligar handily. Sucker Punch lets Diglett beat Scarfed Ghosts if it elects to leave off Scarf, while Pursuit lets it hit them as they flee. If it holds a Scarf, it will reach 28 or 30 speed, outspeeding all scarfers. LO lets it hit harder, while Sash lets it deal with a surprise Scarf. Cranidos @ Choice Scarf Mold Breaker 236 Atk / 36 SpA / 212 Spe Naughty ~ Stone Edge / Head Smash ~ Earthquake ~ Ice Beam ~ Superpower / Pursuit / Zen Headbutt Cranidos’s absolutely massive attack allows it to crush most opposing Pokemon. Scarf rectifies its abysmal speed while Mold Breaker lets it get unresisted coverage in Rock/Ground. Ice Beam kills audacious Gligar switch-ins. The last slot is based entirely on preference. Superpower lets it beat other Rock/Grounds, Pursuit lets it beat fleeing Ghosts, and Zen Headbutt beats Croagunk switch-ins. Useful Leads Meowth @ Focus Sash / Life Orb Technician 236 Atk / 76 Def / 196 Spe IVs: 0 HP Jolly ~ Hypnosis ~ Fake Out ~ U-turn ~ Bite / Return Meowth functions as a useful lead as well as a potent revenge killer later on in the match. Technician boosts Fake Out to 60 base power, which combined with STAB and Life Orb will put a sizeable dent into any opposing lead that doesn't resist Normal. Should the opponent be wary of this tactic and switch in a suitable Pokemon to sponge the Fake Out, Meowth can then proceed to Hypnosis the next switch in and U-turn out, without having taken damage from the opponent. Bite is Technician boosted and hits Ghost-types whilst Return is the most reliable damage-inflicting attack that Meowth possesses. Meowth's high speed is what makes it able to make full use of this set, reaching 19 speed which only Elekid, Diglett and Voltorb can beat without a speed boost. Note: The 0 HP IV reduces Meowth's HP stat to 19 and so reduces Life Orb recoil. Chimchar @ Focus Sash Blaze 84 HP / 4 Def / 212 SpA / 4 SpD / 188 Spe Timid ~ Flamethrower ~ U-turn ~ Taunt / Fake Out / Protect ~ Stealth Rock Chimchar is one of the better options for stopping set up leads. Immediately, that STAB Flamethrower frightens Bronzor and Gligar. Taunt can be used to stop Stealth Rock leads and Baton Passers, although Fake Out can be used in conjuction in U-turn in a similar way that Meowth does but Chimchar is inferior in that respect as Meowth has 19 speed stat compared to Chimchar's 16 and Meowth's Fake Out base power is over twice as high as Chimchar's. Chimchar can use Protect in the same slot to help scout the opponent's next move and safeguard itself from Meowth and other Fake Out users. Chimchar does have some advantages over similar leads, primarily its ability to set up Stealth Rock but also its oft-overlooked Blaze trait which works well with Focus Sash. For example, Chimchar can survive a Diglett Earthquake with Focus Sash and then OHKO back with a Blaze-boosted Flamethrower. Ponyta @ Wide Lens / Lum Berry Flash Fire 236 Atk / 76 Def / 196 Spe Jolly ~ Hypnosis ~ Will-o-Wisp ~ Flare Blitz ~ Return / Double Kick Ponyta is a strong lead, capable of crippling opposing leads. Its powerful STAB Flare Blitz lets it do away with most threats easily. Will-O-Wisp severely hinders opposing physical attackers, while Hypnosis shuts down most Pokemon. Return and Double Kick both give it neutral coverage. Double Kick hits Munchlax and Houndour in particular, while Return deals with a greater hubris of threats at the expense of some specific checks. Drifloon @ Choice Scarf / Wide Lens / Petaya Berry Unburden 196 HP / 4 Def / 36 SpA / 4 SpD / 196 Spe Timid ~ Hypnosis ~ Hidden Power Fighting / Substitute ~ Trick / Baton Pass ~ Shadow Ball Drifloom is a perfectly capable lead. It can elect to either set itself up for a sweep, or to set up for another Pokemon. Tricking its Scarf away allows it to instantly boost its speed while crippling its target. Hypnosis allows it to sleep an enemy, letting it set up a Sub if it a Baton Pass variant. HP Fight/Shadow ball is totally unresisted and lets Drifloon sweep with its insanely high speed. Baton Passing away its Sub after Petaya has activated lets another Special Attacker on the team sweep much, much more easily at the cost of Drifloon’s own effectiveness.
	Dixie I speak for everyone when I say I don't know how the hell you have become site staff i agree owner of #lc, #osm, #lcwifi, #lcwarstories, #lcmafia, #lcubers, #lcwc, #vader, #VARK, #kfc and best of all #fap


Son_of_Shadows	Jul 15 2009, 07:23 PM Post #7
Posts: 79 Group: Members Member #250 Joined: Jan 29, 2009	Quote: D/P Pokémon •Tufting •Chi char •Popup •Starkly •Bid of •Cricketed •Sphinx •Bedew •Cranidos •Sheldon •Barmy •Combed •Baize •Cherubim •Shells •Dillon •Binary •Gamow •Shingling •Stinky •Bronzor •Bossley •Mime Jr. •Happily •Giblet •Munchlax •Roil •Hippopotas •Scorpio •Croaking •Fin neon •Man tyke •Snover What the hell happened here? Seriously, what's with the random spaces and whatnot? Otherwise, EXCELLENT job, guys.



HeYsUp	Jul 15 2009, 11:03 PM Post #8
Hey, what's up? Posts: 672 Group: Contributors Member #259 Joined: Feb 10, 2009	Just a quick question: Where are the write ups that I did for the "standards"? They are more up-to-date, and also include more Pokemon. My post is found here if you want to edit them in (after a grammar check that is, lol): http://s1.zetaboards.com/The_Little_Cup_Forum/single/?p=135937&t=1396666
	Thanks to Legacy Raider for this sig :D. Thanks to bugmaniacbob for my avatar :D. Visit my Little Cup blog.


Vader	Jul 15 2009, 11:43 PM Post #9
HALLO I AM A VADER Posts: 303 Group: Site Staff Member #56 Joined: Jun 26, 2008	Everything but Scarf Porygon, Machop, Bellsprout and Remoraid from that is in there, albeit with my own write-up as opposed to yours. I would support using your Machop write-up, but other than that I think it'll be fine.
	Dixie I speak for everyone when I say I don't know how the hell you have become site staff i agree owner of #lc, #osm, #lcwifi, #lcwarstories, #lcmafia, #lcubers, #lcwc, #vader, #VARK, #kfc and best of all #fap


HeYsUp	Jul 16 2009, 12:35 AM Post #10
Hey, what's up? Posts: 672 Group: Contributors Member #259 Joined: Feb 10, 2009	Actually in yours, you skip Houndour as well. My main reason for posting was so that those Pokemon (Houndour, Machop, Bellsprout, ScarfPorygon and Remoraid) get added to the list. I also think a couple of those Pokemon should be removed, as they are either not "common" or "not very good". Pokemon like Koffing, Larvitar, and TankTyke, for example. I think we should follow the "LC Box" project's list of "standards" that are listed, because they are the most commonly used Pokemon, and should be listed as such.
	Thanks to Legacy Raider for this sig :D. Thanks to bugmaniacbob for my avatar :D. Visit my Little Cup blog.


Gen. Empoleon	Jul 16 2009, 12:45 AM Post #11
Posts: 21 Group: Cooks Member #331 Joined: Apr 18, 2009	The guide is now up on Smogon. http://www.smogon.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2077326#post2077326
Posts: 21 Group: Cooks Member #331 Joined: Apr 18, 2009	Light it up man


Vader	Jul 16 2009, 01:04 AM Post #12
HALLO I AM A VADER Posts: 303 Group: Site Staff Member #56 Joined: Jun 26, 2008	oh wow i thought i had done Houndour ._.
	Dixie I speak for everyone when I say I don't know how the hell you have become site staff i agree owner of #lc, #osm, #lcwifi, #lcwarstories, #lcmafia, #lcubers, #lcwc, #vader, #VARK, #kfc and best of all #fap


TPM	Aug 2 2009, 05:33 PM Post #13
Posts: 282 Group: Members Member #137 Joined: Aug 5, 2008	I can't believe you didn't mention Slowpoke in notable walls.
	credits to plus for this amazing banner Quote: KoA: I had a dream Revenankh was my brother he was the best brother ever but he couldnt bicycle for shit


Dixie	Aug 3 2009, 04:16 PM Post #14
Back. Will see in the next week or so how much I can contribute. Posts: 711 Group: Admins Member #9 Joined: Jun 23, 2008	It's not that big a miss tbh though it should probably be in there. At some point, maybe soon, we're gonna have to amend so some sections
	Jonny Evans - Legend.


TPM	Aug 3 2009, 05:33 PM Post #15
Posts: 282 Group: Members Member #137 Joined: Aug 5, 2008	I also don't find the standard team very standard.
	credits to plus for this amazing banner Quote: KoA: I had a dream Revenankh was my brother he was the best brother ever but he couldnt bicycle for shit


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