Sunday, April 5, 2015

A question for LC players

Why would Aipom use Fury Swipes over Return? I was about to have a go at Serebii's PotW for suggesting that, but further research shows that Fury Swipes is in fact standard. We're talking about 90 power and 80 accuracy vs. 102 power and 100 accuracy here. Or is breaking through subs, sashes and Sturdy that important? And if so, why is PotW advertising its raw power instead ("Fury Swipes is Aipom's strongest STAB" were the words used)?

8 comments:

  1. I did a small test with Smogon's damage calculator comparing Minccino's Tail Slap to its Return, just looking at the base damage of each hit. A base return on an Aipom will do between 9-12 per hit, Tail slap will do either 3 or 4 damage per strike, meaning between 15 and 20 damage total.

    Translating that to Aipom and Fury Swipes, bearing in mind it's a weaker move but with Aipom's higher attach, the numbers for it's Fury Swipes roughly match Minccino's tail slap. Aipom's return does between 16 and 19 damage, so while it's close, the mathematics does suggest that Aipom's fury swipes IS slightly stronger than Aipom's return in little cup.

    The reason I had to do it this way is because Smogon's damage calculator doesn't have Fury Swipes as a move option. The calculator is more designed for level 100 pokemon and stronger, more common moves in the OU environment.

    I think this is a weird effect of the lower stats that pokemon in LC have. With each pokemon at level 5, the damage difference between weaker moves and stronger moves isn't as large as it would be at level 100 due to the lower offensive and defensive stats of the pokemon in the metagame.

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    1. As an addition, while I was doing this research I saw a new metagame on Showdown, though I'm probably late to the party. It's "ON (No mega)" where Mega Evolutions are banned. What do people think of this idea?

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  2. I just use Double Hit for breaking Subs and stuff with Ambipom. Still gets the Technician boost, so I believe it's stronger than Return (105 over both hits to 102). Stronger than Fury Swipes, anyway. Thing is that most Sturdy Pokemon resist Normal anyway, so may as well get the most power out of it. Return is for 100 accuracy...

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    1. This was about Aipom in LC...

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    2. Right. Aipom gets the sucky Ability in order for Ambipom to get the good one. In which case...I have no idea...

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    3. Yes, I forgot a simple thing like how Aipom doesn't get Technician. I don't know if that's worse than some of what they claim...

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    4. It gets Skill Link, though, which boosts Fury Swipes better.

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    5. It mentions the Normal Gem on Serebii. Maybe that also has something to do with it. Personally, I'd be pragmatic and use Return as well, but that's just me...

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