Friday, June 20, 2014

Confirmed: Mega Sableye sucks

Magic Bounce? REALLY? I mean, sure, it's a great ability and all, but we're talking about a Pokémon with a BST of 480 and no held item slot. Xatu almost has the same BST, but has a held item slot, not to mention Espeon and Mega Absol. Good thing Prankster already made Sableye quite usable... man, they really screwed up on this one. It's almost certain that Primal Kyogre and Groudon will get all-new abilities at this point, so while we're introducing some, they really should've gone with a Speed Boost variant that boosts defenses, or something like that. Not Magic Bounce, as good as it is!

Edit: A few more points to consider: Sableye can't switch into non-attacking moves the first time around, whereas Espeon and Xatu get this ability out of the box. This easily offsets any kind of mind game advantage you might have, especially since Prankster Sableye has priority Taunt, which shuts down the same things Magic Bounce does. In addition, I can't imagine Mega Sableye getting powerful enough offensively to go with anything other than Foul Play or Knock Off, especially since its LOWER attack stat is getting the most significant boost. And sure, it seems like it's going to have considerable defense, but rather low HP will force you to max it out to get any kind of reasonable bulk. Add to that the single solitary resistance to Poison to back up those immunities to Normal, Psychic and Fighting, and you get a Pokémon that's relatively easy to hit with strong neutral attacks, not to mention that weakness to Fairy. Also, did I mention no Leftovers? I think I did. Mega Sableye gets no Leftovers.

However, I've seen someone suggest that since Mega Sableye and Mega Diancie both had a gem-based flavor, they might both get the same ability. Today was a crushing disappointment, but if you're not salivating at the possibility of Magic Bounce Mega Diancie, what's wrong with you?

15 comments:

  1. I think it's too soon to write off Mega Sableye. We don't know the exact base stat spread yet, all we know is that it's getting boosts to its Defence and Special Attack but a drop in speed. Now. let's look at the overall bulk of the current Magic Bounce users.

    Espeon: 65, 60, 95 Defences. It's very frail on the physical side and pursuit will very easily break it down. Has a healing move which is nerfed by most weather.
    Xatu: 65, 70, 70 Defences. Okay, marginally better physical defence but worse special defence. A slightly better type but still Pursuit weak. It does get roost though
    Mega Absol: 65, 60, 60 Defences. Complete glass cannon. While it isn't pursuit weak it's still very vulnerable to quick, strong attacks AND it takes up a Mega Slot
    And for comparison sake, here are non-mega Sableye's defences.
    Sableye: 50, 75, 65: The highest physical defence but compromised by a low HP stat.

    The point is that we don't have a good, physically defensive Magic Bounce user yet. Mega Sableye could easily. Not to mention Sableye likely has a better type than all the other Magic Bounce users. It isn't pursuit weak like Espeon and Xatu, it isn't Fighting weak like Absol and it has a very good support movepool. Mega Sableye could end up being a very good check to Conkledurr. That increase to Special Attack could make it a slow and bulky user of Nasty Plot as well

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I disagree. Apparently its speed is going to go down, so let's assume it gets +20 At, +40 Def, +40 SpA, +20 SpD, -20 Speed (+\- 10 BST here and there). That leaves it at 50/105/85 defenses with no resistances unless you care about poison, and 95/105/30 offenses. Is it the most defensive of the magic bounce users? Sure, but with its low HP it's not surviving too many hits anyway. Add in the lack of held item like leftovers or hell anything and it is crippled. Its mediocre defense stats and SHIT speed will rule out Nasty Plot absolutely as it will take two attacks before it touches anything Specially (as it stands, it still will prefer Foul Play, and possibly either shadow sneak or sucker punch). It can't set up. Sure it will get some use, but I predict 90% of people will ultimately stick with Prankster Sableye without mega-stone (other 10% mostly of people trying it out). PLUS, using Mega-Sableye means no other mega-evolution can be used. Is this thing REALLY worth losing a mega over? I personally think not.

      Delete
    2. Remember, Poison type moves have gone up in use with the introduction of the Fairy type. Venusaur carries Sludge Bomb and Garchomp carries Poison Jab to deal with them sometimes. And it has two Immunities,, to Psychic and Fighting. That latter one is useful in checking Conkledurr. Sableye also gets Recover, which increases its survivability and Recover can't be stopped by Taunt due to Magic Bounce unless your name is Mega Gyarados. And pokemon with low HP but high defence are still bulky enough to take hits. Sableye's immunity to Seismic Toss is also very helpful and makes it a perfect switch in to Chansey, providing it's Mega Evolved by then. I still wouldn't call Mega Sableye useless.

      Delete
    3. Garchomp almost never uses Poison Jab (Iron Head is better if anything, but STAB EQ is almost as effective without using a move slot), and Venusaur can use Grass moves. Gengar can still hit hard with Shadow Ball even if it will likely be KO'd first. Yes it has nice immunities but takes neutral damage from all else and with no HP and no leftovers it's going to be 2-3KO'd very easily by any strong pokemon or be stuck using Recover every turn until a crit hit takes it out. Also keep in mind, without Prankster it's going last to Recover now instead of first. Conkeldurr has other counters that are better as does Chansey. It has roles sure, but enough to use a pokemon slot and be the sole mega evolution? I'm not seeing it. Prankster Sableye will be much more used in the end once novelty runs out.

      Delete
  2. The most interesting thing about this is that there is potential for mind games here. Prankster Sableye is perhaps more useful, but people may be more hesitant to use status against it with the possibility of mega evolution. Then again, I think Prankster Sableye often uses Taunt, so maybe few people would use status anyway. It definitely sucks, though. There wasn't much that Gamefreak could do without creating a new ability.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The advantage you mentioned is offset by the fact that it CANNOT switch into non-attacking moves the first time around, whereas Espeon and Xatu can do so with impunity.

      Delete
  3. If Mega Diancie does get Magic Bounce and it doesn't get banned to Ubers, I'm so using one on my team. Even though I know very well it sucks, I used a Carbink in my in-game main storyline team and I kinda grew fond of the little guy. So... looking forward to using an upgraded version of it which is actually good.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Another farce, courtesy of Troll Freak. The only stat spread that could save this thing is a Shucklesque spread (The extra HP'd help compared to Shuckle), but nope. SpAtk boost!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Does this mean you think that mega mawile sucks as well?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Are you being serious? I can't tell if you're being serious right now. I mean, look at Mawile's ability. HUGE FRIKKIN' POWER. THAT's the kind of ability you'd expect out of a Pokémon with 480 BST and no item slot. Not that Magic Bounce bullshit.

      Delete
    2. *Absol. Does this mean you think mega *ABSOL sucks. This was my mistake. Mega Absol is the only other mega with magic bounce (I think). Sure Absol' s attack stat is good but getting good STAB dark moves can be a challenge. I wasn't referring to Mega Mawhile, oh sorry, Mawile. There is a reason that's one of the most anticipated megas.

      Delete
    3. But don't think I assume Mega Absol is bad, looks pretty solid besides defense

      Delete
    4. The difference is that Absol in its base form has stats that are MUCH higher than Sableye's, so Mega Absol's stats has stats that are really close to legendary trio territory. (That, and Magic Bounce combos really well with the strongest Sucker Punch in the game.) Mega Sableye's stats, on the other hand, aren't even high-end compared to some of the better non-legendaries, and that's before you factor in the fact that it has no held item.

      Delete
    5. Isn't Sableye used for prankster in competitive play?

      Delete
    6. Oh, it absolutely is. That's the only major use it'll have even after ORAS is out, though.

      Delete