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Pokemon Battle Strategies: Umbreon, Zoroark And Magmortar.

13
Posts
12
Years
  • Seen Oct 14, 2012
Welcome to the first Pokemon Battle Strategies Featuring:

Umbreon: The Moonlight Pokemon!
Zoroark: The Illusion Fox Pokemon!
Magmortar: The Blast Pokemon!


Before we get started, however, I'd like to explain how this is going to work. I will be making a thread featuring 3 Non-Uber Pokemon with detailed strategies on how to use them effectively in battle. I will be Making a new thread with 3 more every Friday. Also, do not bump up old threads. If you need to see older ones, there will be a link at the bottom of the thread which will show the next and previous one. You may request a pokemon for me to "Review" by Following the instructions on my profile. Now that that's out of the way, lets begin!

1st up, Umbreon!

Base Stats
95 Hp
65 Atk
110 Def
60 SAtk
130 SDef
65 Spd

Blue: Excellent (125+)
Green: Good (100 - 120)
Orange: Average (70 - 95)
Red: Below Average (65 and Below)

Umbreon is a very good wall for the fact that it has 300+ Max stats in both defenses, and is arguably the best baton passer in the game. With a little know how and some patience, Umbreon could easily become your star player and the center point of your teams.

As a mixed Wall

Payback is a...
-Payback
-Moonlight / Wish
-Curse
-Heal Bell / Taunt
Item Attached: Leftovers
Ability: Synchronize
EV's and Nature: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SDef
Sassy Nature (+SDef, -Spd)

Curse is Umbreon's only real way of dealing some damage, and it really can do a lot if it sets up. Curse boosts Umbreon's Attack and Defence but lowers Speed(As if you really need it), which works really well with its already high Special Defence. Payback is the best Dark attack for Umbreon to use. It gets STAB and doubles in power if Umbreon is hit before it is used, which is likely to happen considering Umbreon's low Speed thanks to Curse. Moonlight is a quick way of restoring 50% of Umbreon's health in one turn, but has low PP and is ruined by rain and sandstorm. This makes Wish an acceptable option, although the one turn delay could lead to Umbreon's demise. Heal Bell means Umbreon doesn't have to worry about status of any kind, so it can fight through Toxic or burn. Taunt is a nice substitute for heal bell because it assures you your opponent's next move will be switching or an attack.

As A Support

Batoneon
-Yawn
-Mean look
-Work up
-Baton Pass
Item Attached: Leftovers
Ability: Synchronize
EV's and Nature: 252 HP / 144 Def / 112 SDef
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)

This one should be fairly obvious and devastating in battle if used right. The strategy here is to use Mean Look to trap your opponent in battle, put it to sleep with Yawn, use Work Up (Raises Attack and Special Attack) and Baton pass to your best sweeper. Be careful however, sleep is only guaranteed for 2 turns and if your foe uses Substitute it will block Yawn this strategy becomes much harder since Umbreon has no attacks.

Next, Zoroark!

Base Stats
60 Hp
105 Atk
60 Def
120 SAtk
60 SDef
105 Spd

Blue: Excellent (125+)
Green: Good (100 - 120)
Orange: Average (70 - 95)
Red: Below Average (65 and Below)

You may have heard that using Zoroark in a battle is extremely fun. Well, that's completely true. It's ability, Illusion (Which makes Zoroark appear as the Pokemon you have in your last party slot until it takes damage [Direct or Indirect]), make Zoroark can be an amazing physical sweeper with high attack, special attack and speed. However, Zoroark generally does best when EV's are only used in one attack stat. Remember, Zoroark's Defenses are extremely frail so don't expect it to live through much.

As a Special Sweeper

Glass Cannon
-Dark Pulse / Night Daze
-Extrasensory
-Flamethrower
-Focus Blast
Attached Item: Life Orb
Ability: Illusion
Ev's and Nature: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd / 4 Hp
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)

With this Zoroark, you're going to want to put a psychic type in your last party slot in hopes you opponent will use a dark or ghost move which isn't very effective. Dark pulse is a 120 power attack when you factor in STAB which is a great move that has nice coverage in general. Night Daze is a little more powerful but slightly less accurate so Dark pulse is more reliable. Extrasensory is for Fighting types which dare to challenge you and can even OHKO a Machamp! Flamethrower is for hard to hit Steel types. Focus blast is to destroy Blisseys before they can even use substitute!

Substitute Gimmick
-Substitute
-U-Turn
-(Optional)
-(Optional)
Item Attached: (Optional)
Ability: Illusion
Ev's and Nature: 252 Speed / 114 Atk / 138 HP
Hasty Nature (+Spd, -Def)

This Zoroark is for advanced players and is very difficult to us effectively. The strategy here is to use substitute and constantly switch pokemon to keep them guessing. In order to use this effectively, you must build a team around substitute and switching out. If you're not in a species clause match, I suggest using 1 or 2 other Zoroarks for maximum effect whilst also using fighting resistant pokemon. This isn't a very good strategy but I felt that it was worth a mention.

Phyiscal Sweeping Zoroark

Sucker Punch Trap
-Night Slash
-Sucker Punch
-Swords Dance
-Aerial Ace
Item Attached: Life Orb / Focus Sash
Ability: Illusion
Ev's and Nature: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 Hp
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)

If you MUST have a physical Zoroark, then this is your best bet. I still recommend a special Zoroark because it just works better with his ability. Night slash gets 115 power including STAB and, of course, good type coverage. Swords Dance raises Atk by two stages which can really be essential to OHKO an entire team. After you use Swords Dance, the opponent is most likely to use an attack to stop you from setting up, which is where Sucker Punch shines. With 120 power after factoring STAB, this is one of your biggest assets, but requires moderate to excellent prediction skills. Aerial Ace is to take care of Fighting types which will most definitely OHKO Zoroark. As for items, Life orb can be used to increase your sweeping potential but Focus sash can be used to survive at least two hits which may help set up swords dance without being KO'd.

Last but not least, Magmortar!

Base Stats
75 Hp
95 Atk
67 Def
125 SAtk
95 SDef
83 Spd

Blue: Excellent (125+)
Green: Good (100 - 120)
Orange: Average (70 - 95)
Red: Below Average (65 and Below)

Magmortar is a very underrated pokemon in my opinion. It may not have the raw speed of Infernape, but it does have something that very few fire types have:Thunderbolt. Yes, this seperates him from the rest and gives him excellent type coverage making him a very effective Special Sweeper (Which is about all he's good for.) He has average stats around the board giving him moderate sweeping potential.

Special Sweeping

One Trick Pony
-Flamethrower / Fire Blast
-Thunderbolt
-Focus Blast
-Hidden Power (Grass / Ice)
Item Attached: Life Orb
Ability: Flame Body
Ev's and Nature: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd / 4 Hp
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)

This is the best moveset you'll find on this thing. Seriously. While it has a limited move pool, it doesn't really need many because of the shining Gems floating in it. Fire Blast has 180 power after factoring STAB. However, because of it's unreliable accuracy, you might want to go with Flamethrower which comes up to 147.5 (Roughly) power after factoring STAB. Thunderbolt obviously takes care of most water types. Focus Blast destroys rock types which may carry Earthquake. Hidden Power Grass takes care of Swampert while Ice takes care of Dragon Types (Both will destroy ground types).

Post any Variations / Questions / Criticism / Comments you have!
 
Last edited:

PlatinumDude

Nyeh?
12,964
Posts
13
Years
Like I said in the old Zoroark thread, the current physical Zoroark set you have is walled by Steel Pokemon:
-Swords Dance
-Sucker Punch
-Low Sweep
-Flamethrower
Nature Naugthy/Naive
EVs: 252 Atk4 SAtk/252 Spe
Item: Life Orb

Forgot to mention this in the last thread, but the reason why SD Zoroark isn't seen with Aerial Ace is because it's weak and outside of severely damaging Fighting Pokemon like Infernape, Virizion, Conkeldurr, Breloom, Toxicroak and Heracross, it has little utility outside of that. Not all Zoroark sets (like the SD set) are meant to sweep by themselves; that's what you have your other Pokemon for: to weaken or kill Zoroark's counters before Zoroark can come in safely to sweep.

I said Low Sweep and Flamethrower because: while the former has the same BP as Aerial Ace, it's Zoroark's only physical option against Steel Pokemon and Steels are an uncommon sight. Flamethrower is there for Steels that aren't weak to Low Sweep and to hit Ferrothorn harder and without activating Iron Barbs.
 
17,133
Posts
12
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  • Age 33
  • Seen Jan 12, 2024
To my knowledge, the CBC has not seen a list of Pokemon and new / inventive strategies to work them. It's pretty unconventional to see something like this being posted.. But I think you have something neat here. Even if these movesets are not "new", I think this is a great thing for newer members in the case that they are interested in using Zoroark / Umbreon / Magmortar.

But I think you should consider an alternate moveset for Umbreon entirely. I'd like to throw a Defensive Supporter role out here.

Umbreon @ Leftovers
Synchronize
252 HP / 92 Special Defense / 164 Speed
Careful [+Special Defense; -Special Attack]
- Payback
- Wish
- Protect
- Toxic / Mean Look

Because Umbreon is so limited in its ability to do damage, something like Toxic can be devastating to opposing sweepers. Wish will provide support to Umbreon and the team. And Protect brings the set together, allowing Umbreon to stall for Toxic Damage, Leftover recovery, and absorb the hits while Wish is in effect. The EVs are distributed to capitalize on longevity and Umbreon's wicked Special Defense, and put a little bit into Speed. Payback is just making sure Umbreon isn't Taunt bait. Mean Look is mentioned because Umbreon is probably the only Pokemon who can use it competitively. But it ties into the Wish/Protect/Toxic routine. If you're against a Pokemon that Umbreon can set up against, than you can Mean Look Wish and Switch all in a matter of four turns. The key to this is making sure it's a safe environment.

And also, a ResTalk set. This set more or less speaks for itself. However, with access to a reliable recovery move, it's a little silly, but it can work.

Umbreon @ Leftovers
Synchronize
252 HP / 4 Attack / 252 Special Defense
Careful [+Special Defense; -Special Attack]
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Curse
- Payback

So, yeah, that's all I got. xD;
Good job on all this! It seems like you put in a lot of effort and we always like to see that. :D
 
13
Posts
12
Years
  • Seen Oct 14, 2012
@PlatinumDude, I see what you're saying about low sweep but with no EV's in SAtk, you'd be lucky to to take out 1/3 of their heath with flamethrower. U-Turn would be a better option so you could remove him from battle and switch to a pokemon that is better suited for a steel type. Especially since almost any steel type in the game can OHKO him with earthquake.

@Alexial, I also knew about the toxic stalling Umbreon but there are much better toxic stallers. Especially since that umbreon will be utterly walled by a steel type and has no way to safely escape. If you want to Toxic stall, get a... wait. Hmm... I'll just put that pokemon in my next Pokemon Battling Strategies Muahahahahahaha!
 
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