Decidueye as a Physical Attacker

[CunningChandelure]

https://www.pokemon-sunmoon.com/en-us/pokemon/decidueye/

Decidueye is said to have Spirit Shackle as a physical move. We know that Game Freak changed Water Shuriken to match Greninja's preferred attack stat, and that means they might not make the same mistake again of improper signature move creation, so do you think that means that Decidueye will focus on the physical?

 

[CidHazard]

Hopefully... We still don't know the stats. but since the other two's starters stat are super obvious Primarina being special and Incineroar being physical, Decidueye is probably a mixed attacker.

 

[Pyrax]

Either that or a mixed attacker to balance out Incineroar and Primarina. Hopefully accompanied by a movepool that's large and diverse enough to fully take advantage of Decidueye's stats and typing.

I could see this as a possible offensive moveset:

• Spirit Shackle/Shadow Claw (Ghost STAB)
• Steel Wing (Ice/Fairy/Rock coverage)
• Brave Bird (Flying STAB)
• Grass STAB

 

[Hikamaru]

I think Primarina is definitely special. Incineroar I think might be mixed (since we saw Litten having even Attack and Sp. Atk in NicoNico livestream) leaving Decidueye as the physical attacker.

 

[Xerecies]

I don't think so. I think it's going to be a Special Attacking sweeper, but we'll see.

 

[TheKojo]

It will be physical because its attacks focus on physical projectiles. Special moves are more like energy based moves.

 

[Xerecies]

It will be physical because its attacks focus on physical projectiles. Special moves are more like energy based moves.

I thought Ghost types usually were Special Attackers though? Although you are right that its moveset leads us to believe it will be a Physical Attacker.

 

[TheKojo]

I thought Ghost types usually were Special Attackers though? Although you are right that its moveset leads us to believe it will be a Physical Attacker.

There are a decent number of special ghost-types, but there are lot of physical ghost-type moves and ghost was a physical type before the split in gen 4.

 

[Pinkie-Dawn]

Since the majority of bird Pokémon are physical-oriented, it's safe to guess that it will be a physical sweeper (Incineroar being mix and Primarina being special).

I thought Ghost types usually were Special Attackers though? Although you are right that its moveset leads us to believe it will be a Physical Attacker.

All Ghost moves used to be physical-based prior to Gen IV (yes, even Shadow Ball was once physical).

 

[Xerecies]

There are a decent number of special ghost-types, but there are lot of physical ghost-type moves and ghost was a physical type before the split in gen 4.

That's true -- but I always felt it was meant to be the opposite. We can agree to disagree on this if you'd like, as neither of us are right or wrong.

 

[Xerecies]

Since the majority of bird Pokémon are physical-oriented, it's safe to guess that it will be a physical sweeper (Incineroar being mix and Primarina being special).



All Ghost moves used to be physical-based prior to Gen IV (yes, even Shadow Ball was once physical).

I believe that to be because Special-based moves weren't laid out correctly in the first generation, and as they went along and made improvements on the development of other Pokemon, they hadn't yet started to do so on the Ghost types. Which is why later on they did so and not previously.

Like I said to the other poster, we can easily agree to disagree on this.