How to battle with Ludicolo

[ddrox13]

So the VGC set I stole from Nugget Bridge and switched around some EVs and Natures. It's good. TLDR it can tank a Timid Xerneas +2 Moonblast and is stupid-fast in Rain, which Kyogre provides well. Even if it doesn't win the weather war, it can tank a 150bp PDon Eruption in Sun. Oh, and it has Fake Out and this is doubles. Icy Wind provides important speed control. Also walls enemy Kyogre and avoids the OHKO from MMence's Aerialate Hyper Voice, while getting an OHKO on PDon in rain (i.e. Groudon invested in Speed or on a turn where Kyo is switching in). I do need to rework the EVs again tho

+2 252 SpA Fairy Aura Xerneas Moonblast vs. 252 HP / 24+ SpD Assault Vest Ludicolo: 130-154 (69.5 - 82.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
and almost more importantly...
+2 252 SpA Fairy Aura Xerneas Dazzling Gleam vs. 252 HP / 24+ SpD Assault Vest Ludicolo: 82-97 (43.8 - 51.8%) -- 13.3% chance to 2HKO
Meaning there has to be a turn with Xern not attacking Kyogre

Ludicolo has a Grass type to it's advantage as Anti said (Grass/Water/Ice is near-perfect neutral). It does get a ton of competition from the other SS users, and I can't say it's the best one. I CAN say that it functions differently from the other users. Kabutops is physical and has no coverage. Swampert takes up your Mega slot. Omastar would prefer to spam Shell Smash than abusing SS. Don't get me started on Seismatoad.

Kingdra is the obvious outlier here. The only stats Ludicolo has on it are HP and SpDef (allowing avoidance of many close KOes on the VGC set). Ludicolo over King is a very tough sell in Singles, but it does help with some things Kingy is walled by. Focus Miss hits Ferrothorn, and is a luxury that Kingdra doesn't have. Grass moves deal with Azumarill to an extent, which King is again walled by. It's singles use is really in UU, it just deals with the meta better.

Honestly, the real draw for me is the VGC set, especially with perma-weather being a thing and all the Xerneas about to murder anything that even resembles a Dragon (not that Ludicolo is all that much better in the 1v1, it just stalls X so that Kyogre can 2HKO). I'll probably cut it down to just that set.

DRAFT 2:

How to Battle With Ludicolo [VGC 2016]

Welcome to the second edition of "How to battle with [Pokémon]", where I shall explain how you can use an underused – yet cool – Pokémon in a competitive setting, and when and where not to use them.

I may or may not have implied that I would do Quagsire now, but I decided to go with a more... festive option instead.

Today I shall rant about a Pokémon introduced in the 3rd generation to cap off the Lotad evolution line, bearing the utterly epic typing of Grass and Water. Upon hearing an upbeat and cheerful rhythm, the cells in this Pokémon's body become very energetic and active, increasing their power and forcing them to dance. Also, Miror B used four of them. I am, of course, referencing Ludicolo. I will now proceed to explain where, when, why, and how to use it in the official Video Game Championship format for 2016 while using as few terrible .gifs as possible. Let the music play!

Obligatory Term/Abbreviation Dump
For those new to the scene, here are a couple terms and abbreviations I throw around in this post:
SpAtk/SpDef - Special Attack/Defense
PDon, The Don – Primal Groudon
POgre – Primal Kyogre
M-[Pokémon] - Mega [Pokémon]
T(#) - Turn #, i.e. the #th turn of the game

The Subject

Legen... Wait for it... Dary.
Source: John McDevitt and Scott Mitchell, https://www.readysoupcomic.com/

#272 Ludicolo
Species: Carefree
Type: Grass, Water
Abilities: Rain Dish, Swift Swim, Own Tempo (Hidden)
Weaknesses: Flying, Poison, Bug
Evolves from: Lombre (Water Stone)
Height: 1.5 m
Weight: 55 kg
Tier: NU (Usage)
Battle Spot Season 14 (VGC) Usage: 0.594% (174th) [Data taken from the Pokemon Global Link website)

Base Stats (range @ Lv50)
HP: 80 (140-187)
Attack: 70 (67-134)
Defense: 70 (67-134)
SpAtk: 90 (85-165)
SpDef: 100 (94-167)
Speed: 70 (67-134)
Total: 480

Ludicolo's niche in VGC, a meta filled to the brim with Primals, Xerneas, and Fake Out spamming, comes from its great defensive typing and situational access to the fastest Fake Out in the game due to its ability. Its typing leaves it with weaknesses to the very rare Poison and Bug types, and the all too common Flying type. However, it is neutral to Fire, Ground, Ice, and Fairy, and double-resists Water and Steel. Given that those six and Flying are the only type of attacks that you really see in this tier, his is a good thing. It has a passable movepool with access to Fake Out, Icy Wind, Focus Blast, both STABs, and that one move that almost every non-Magikarp Water type in the game gets (Ice Beam). It has relatively low stats; the 100 in SpDef being the only useful one and 70 in Speed being the low point of a sweeper. However, the ability Swift Swim corrects this by doubling its Speed in Rain, and Perma-weather exists through the Primals in VGC. I wonder where I could be going with this?

The Set

Kyogre's New Best Friend!
Ludicolo @ Assault Vest
Ability: Swift Swim
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 116 SpA / 24 SpD / 116 Spe
Calm Nature
- Fake Out
- Scald/Surf/Hydro Pump
- Grass Knot/Focus Blast/Ice Beam
- Icy Wind

Fuhohoho! Assault Vest is the grooviest item in the entire freaking game. It gives an instant +1 to SpDef with the only downside being the inability to use status moves. But let's be honest, why would one use status when one could simply knock their opponents over with Ludicolo's elegant steps?

This set is an adaptation of one I found on the interwebs made by Nugget Bridge user Arch11Heretic. With an Assault Vest and this being VGC, Ludicolo can tank a lot of stuff. With the stated investment, you are guaranteed to survive a +2 Fairy Aura Xerneas' Moonblast or a max power Sun-boosted Eruption from The Don. Sure you can't switch into them, but if Ludicolo is switching into a +2 Xerneas you lost the beat somewhere (probably where you let the Deer God get a Geomancy off).

The 116 Speed EVs put you at 105, which becomes 210 in rain. This is important because some annoying Smeargle like to run Choice Scarf, which caps out at 209 after the adjustment and is just about the fastest thing in this tier (bar rare Scarf users, Post-Geomancy Xerneas, and Timid M-Mewtwo Y).

Fake Out is the 2nd most important attack in this tier (Protect is the 1st). It can only be used on the first turn after the user has switched into battle. It has a low base power, but +3 Priority (faster than Extremespeed, slower than Protect) and a 100% chance to Flinch your opponent. With so many Pokémon using Fake Out, the priority boost is neutralized and who actually gets to use Fake Out comes down to speed. Swift Swim Ludicolo is faster than any other Fake Out user (bar Scarf Liepard or Weavile). This can blow up your opponent's momentum, giving Ludicolo's partner, which is almost always Primal Kyogre, a free attack. Did I forget to mention that having Ludicolo out without Kyogre is a big no-no? Well now I did.

Icy Wind hits both enemies and has a 100% chance to slow them by 1 stage if it hits (95% accuracy). It provides something known as Speed Control. This is important for making things that are annoying to your friendly neighborhood oversized whale (POgre) slower than said friendly neighborhood oversized whale. For our current purpose, this consists of The Don, M-Salamence, and M-Rayquaza. More on this later.

The 2 STAB moves are there because we had a couple free moveslots. Scald KOes most standard PDon if you manage to be able to fight it outside of Desolate Land, as well as a hypothetical 30% chance to burn any target that isn't Fire type, which ends up being more like 56% in practice (based on my battle logs from October-December of last year). Grass Knot has a chance to 2HKO uninvested PDon and 252HP POgre. There are also plenty of moves that can be run in place of either STAB. Hydro Pump can be used to 2HKO uninvested Yveltal and Xerneas (before Geomancy) in rain, but it can miss. Ice Beam kills Dragons and Bats and Genies. Surf hits both enemies, but it also hits your allies, is less powerful due to the power splitting to attack both enemies, and can't Burn.

Other options for Ludicolo include a Choice Specs set, which can surprise your foes with its damage output, but falls just short of many important KOes. Giga Drain helps restore HP, but it isn't powerful enough to restore all that much. Leech Seed and Rain Dish seem like a tempting combo, but that just can't match the tempo of the fast-paced VGC meta.

Citation: Pokémon Anime episode 343 "Go Go Ludicolo!"

Team and Strategy

Primal Kyogre is a must-have partner, as it's Primordial Sea ability quite literally makes it rain and gives Ludicolo something to dance to. As such, many Pokémon that go well with Kyogre go well with Ludicolo. This includes Ferrothorn, M-Rayquaza, Xerneas, and the like. I recommend at least 132 Speed EVs on Modest POgre to outspeed max Speed base 120s and below (M-Rayquaza, M-Salamence) who have been hit with an Icy Wind.

Ludicolo should almost always be used as a lead, and usually in combination with POgre (there are situational exceptions). Fake Out helps many Turn 1 situations. Just avoid Xerneas if it is partnered with something that can stop POgre's rhythm from KOing it on Turn 2 (like a Fake Out user or PDon switch in).

Remember that you can only Fake Out ONE enemy. Ideally, either the one you don't Fake Out will Protect and Kyogre can beat up whoever Ludicolo hit, or POgre just nukes them both with Water Spout or Origin Pulse. I run Calm Mind on my POgre to give it something to do T1 if an obvious PDon switch-in is obvious.

Also, you NEED to know the Priority tiers off the top of your head at a tournament.
The whole list can be found HERE, but these are the ones you really need to know, grouped relative to Fake Out:
Faster than Fake Out (+4 - +8) – Switching, Mega Evolving, Helping Hand, most variations of Protect
Equal Priority to Fake Out (+3) – Endure, Quick/Wide Guard, Crafty Shield
Has Priority, but slower than Fake Out (+1 - +2) – Follow Me and variations, Extreme Speed, Feint, all variations of Quick Attack, Sucker Punch

How Do?

Here is a replay to show you what I meant by some of the more ranty parts of the article.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/vgc2016-352724137
This is a great example of the utility Ludicolo brings to the table, even if there was a meaningful Critical Hit. The best examples are Turn 4, where a Fake Out allows Crobat to KO the enemy Togekiss without The Don interfering, and the use of Icy Wind on Turn 7 (should have been Turn 6, but I'm bad) to ensure that my M-Salamence was faster than the enemy M-Mewtwo Y.
To Use or Not to Use…

Pros:
· Fastest Fake Out in the game under Rain
· Can tank a +2 Fairy Aura Xerneas Moonblast and a ton of other things (as outlined above)
· Icy Wind is pretty good Speed control
· Rain is incredibly popular in VGC anyway, so extra support is often already there
· Grass neutralizes every last one of Water's weaknesses
· That dance
· Doesn't require too much support (basically just POgre)

Cons:
· Can't shut down both enemies simultaneously
· Is a Grass type, and therefore weak to almost everything Flying
· Can avoid getting murdered by Talonflame once with Fake Out, but beyond that…
· Ferrothorn really messes up its rhythm.
· Low end attacking stats and Def
· Heavily prediction-based (but isn't everything?)
· Requires you to win the weather war (i.e. have Rain up), so doesn't like PDon or M-Rayquaza
· Cannot function at ALL without proper team support (basically just POgre)
· Too much groove for the average mortal

Points of Comparison
Here, I'll throw out some common Pokémon that are hypothetically better at doing some of the things Ludicolo does.

· Fake Out Users: M-Kangaskhan, Weavile, Raichu, Smeargle. Weavile and M-Kanga hit incredibly hard, Raichu also has access to Feint to piss off Quick Guard users, and Smeargle is… Smeargle. All of them are slower than Ludicolo in Rain though.
· Swift Swimmers: Kabutops is physical, Kingdra is weak to Fairy; both are frail as heck.
· Speed Controllers: Tailwind users such as Talonflame and Crobat. And Togekiss. And Suicune apparently. And Talonflame. And Gengar somehow gets Icy Wind, so I suppose he goes here too.
· Dancers: lol Ludicolo has best animation in game 11/10 would watch again

TL;DR: If you happen to be running POgre anyway and want to bring some funky freshness and/or a Special Wall with Fake Out to your local VGC event, Ludicolo might be the sombrero wearing pineapple duck for you. If you aren't sure Rain is your groove, make like Miror B. and "ESCAPE!"

So that's it for this segment of "How to battle with [Pokémon]". Check back later for more shenanigans and me coming through on my promise from last article and actually doing Quagsire. Until then, discussion in the comments below is accepted, encouraged, and requested. Direct questions or suggestions for this column as a whole, including suggesting new Pokémon to rant about, to the discussion thread for this column. Until next time, you stay classy PokéCommunity.

 

[ddrox13]

Just an update, I've been a bit distracted but I have most of it done. Should have a draft ready soon

 

[ddrox13]

WE UP BOIS

I'll ned to do formatting if nothing else, but this should be good enough for now

 

[bobandbill]

Quick post - apologies for the delay - AF articles took time and then other stuff happened. I've a document with stuff quoted that i'll share with comments when I have time. But overall the structure is fine. Couple things here and there I may contest/request more info on, otherwise the rest are just typos.

 

[ddrox13]

made some changes zzz

 

[bobandbill]

Read it again for the new additions, which did address a couple things I was going to say! (Also added a couple more minor typos. ;p)

Look, I kinda screwed up and heavily implied in my last article that I would do Quagsire this time, but then I made this VGC team. So on that note…

While it's true that was done, I don't think it matters too much that it needs mention. (We can always edit that mention in the other article out as well). Hence I don't feel this is needed, or at least not in this form (e.g. "While Quagsire was alluded to being featured, we've decided a more festive choice for the second article."

Also, Miror B used 4 of them.

four > 4. (Also side note, I enjoyed the odd reference to Miror B and his quotes.) :)

here are a couple terms and abbreviations I throw around in this post

Add a full stop of colon at the end.

Season 14 VGC Usage: 0.594% (174th)

To clarify, is Season 14 2014, or just the latest literal 'season' of VGC stats in showdown/etc? If the former, 2015 stats would be neat.

comes from it's great defensive typing

its rather than it's (it is).

However, it is neutral to Fire, Ground, Ice, and Fairy and double-resists Water and Steel (which are the only types that matter in VGC).

I'd either remove the bracketed part or replace to say they're more important typings in the game (surely more to it than those two =p).

I'd refrain from colouring Icy Wind and Ice Beam.

It has relatively low stats, the 100 in SpDef being the only useful one and 70 in speed being the low point of a sweeper.

Speed ought to be capitalised.

This set is an adaptation of one I found on the interwebs made by Nugget Bridge user Arch11Heretic.

Any chance you could find a url to the origin of this set to link to?

Sure you can't switch into them, but if Ludicolo is switching into a +2 Xern you lost the beat somewhere.

I'd write out Xerneas in full.

Did I forget to mention that having ludicolo out without Kyogre is a big no-no?

Capitalise Ludicolo.

It provides something known as Speed Control^tm.

Put 'tm' in capitals (TM).

Scald easily KOes The Don if you manage to be able to fight it outside of Desolate Land, as well as a fabulous 70% 30% chance to burn any target

I'd remove the strikethrough'd 70%, even if it's a joke, just to ensure clarity. (Alternatively, reword (...fabulous 30% chance to burn any target - and sometimes it feels like it activates more often than that.)) Nitpick - Scald only just nabs a OHKO on a P-Don when Rayquaza is around to make it neither rain nor shine, assuming Groudon has no SpDef investment.

Hydro Pump can be used for it's nuking power, but it can miss.

its > it's. Does it nab any useful KOs that Scald could not?

Ice Beam kills birds. Focus Blast kills Ferrothorn

I'd like to see more detail (e.g. does FB 2HKO Ferrothorn? What birds are these that Ice Beam kills/how reliably does it do this?

which can surprise your foes with it's damage output,

its > it's.

but that just cant match the tempo of the fast-paced VGC meta

can't.

Primal Kyogre is a must-have partner wise, as it's Primordial Seas ability

its > it's.

As such, many Pokémon that go well with Kyogre (which is basically everything)

The bracketed part is not true, so I'd remove it. =p

Remember that you can only fake out ONE enemy

Fake Out - capitalised.

Here are a few replays to show you what I meant by some of the more ranty parts of the article

Add a full stop at the end.

Neat you have a replay now, that's good to have.

Can tank a +2 Moonblast and a ton of other things (as outlined above)

I'd add that the +1 Moonblast is from Xerneas.

Ferrothorn really messes up it's rhythm.

its > it's.

All of them are slower than Ludicolo in Rain tho.

though > tho.

•Swift Swimmers: Kabutops has the almighty Rock Slide. Moving on.

It's Physical and much more frail than Ludicolo, that may be worth a mention. Other Swift Swimmers also don't have its special bulk and typing.

If you need are running POgre anyway and want to bring some funky freshness to your local VGC event

Start is confusing - maybe something like "If you are running POgre and want to..."?

 

[ddrox13]

Read it again for the new additions, which did address a couple things I was going to say! (Also added a couple more minor typos. ;p) While it's true that was done, I don't think it matters too much that it needs mention. (We can always edit that mention in the other article out as well). Hence I don't feel this is needed, or at least not in this form (e.g. "While Quagsire was alluded to being featured, we've decided a more festive choice for the second article." Eh, fine.

To clarify, is Season 14 2014, or just the latest literal 'season' of VGC stats in showdown/etc? If the former, 2015 stats would be neat. It is Battle Spot Ranked Season 14. Will edit.

I'd either remove the bracketed part or replace to say they're more important typings in the game (surely more to it than those two =p). Meant to imply that the 6 types listed are the most important. I'll reword this next update

I'd refrain from colouring Icy Wind and Ice Beam. I colored all the moves in the first 2 sections in the last article by type, I just haven't gotten around to the other colors

Any chance you could find a url to the origin of this set to link to? Yup, I have the page bookmarked somewhere... I'll add it in next edit

I'd remove the strikethrough'd 70%, even if it's a joke, just to ensure clarity. (Alternatively, reword (...fabulous 30% chance to burn any target - and sometimes it feels like it activates more often than that.)) Nitpick - Scald only just nabs a OHKO on a P-Don when Rayquaza is around to make it neither rain nor shine, assuming Groudon has no SpDef investment. Scald OHKOes 252HP 0SpDef PDon all of the time in neutral weather, but you are correct that it only gets the OHKO on 252SpDef 0HP PDon 40% of the time and 252HP 4SpDef 93% of the time. Specially bulky Don is rarer than you might think in VGC, as it needs to run 252+ Atk and often wants 252 Speed as well. I will adjust this to reflect that data

its > it's. Does it nab any useful KOs that Scald could not?
I'd like to see more detail (e.g. does FB 2HKO Ferrothorn? What birds are these that Ice Beam kills/how reliably does it do this? FB has a 20% chance to 2HKO standard Ferro, I kinda forgot that VGC ferro actually invest in SpDef and this is Lv50. Ice Beam OHKOes Mega Salamence and Crobat and 2HKOes the genies. I'll edit this too

The bracketed part is not true, so I'd remove it. =p EXCEPT THAT IT IS :(

I'd add that the +1 Moonblast is from Xerneas. But let's be honest, what else runs Moonblast in this tier? (will add)

It's Physical and much more frail than Ludicolo, that may be worth a mention. Other Swift Swimmers also don't have its special bulk and typing. That. Yea.

Start is confusing - maybe something like "If you are running POgre and want to..."? Remove the word need because I'm bad

four > 4. (Also side note, I enjoyed the odd reference to Miror B and his quotes.) :)
Add a full stop of colon at the end.
its rather than it's (it is).
I'd write out Xerneas in full.
Capitalise Ludicolo.
Speed ought to be capitalised.
Put 'tm' in capitals (TM).
its > it's.
can't.
its > it's.
Fake Out - capitalised.
Add a full stop at the end.
its > it's.
though > tho.
All will be changed

Thanks for the feedback, I'll update the OP when I get home.

 

[bobandbill]

I colored all the moves in the first 2 sections in the last article by type, I just haven't gotten around to the other colors

Some feedback on the previous article suggested against the colouring of the moves: https://www.pokecommunity.com/posts/9128933

- Less of a comment for the author than for the editors, but the colored moves felt gimmicky to me. They just came off as a bit of an eyesore, and it just felt like unnecessary embellishment to me. The type of the moves is both obvious and unnecessary at the same time anyway.

It makes sense, so I'm currently inclined to go with just bolding move names, rather than bold and colour.

 

[ddrox13]

WE UP

 

[bobandbill]

Alrighty. I'll bug wolf (actually I'll quote notify him) to see what he has to say (he would know more about battles than me). I realise he has some net difficulty recently though.

Are you planning on adding more replays to the article? It currently states 'Here are a few replays' atm.

.

 

[wolf]

Everything looks fine to me. Good job! By the way, shouldn't the title be capitalized like "How to Battle with Ludicolo"?

Grammar checks:

Spoiler:

A lot of words were unnecessarily capitalized, like rain, sun, perma-weather, priority, flinch, Speed control, burn, turn, and critical hit. It's not that important, but it's something to keep in mind when you write the next article.

Welcome to the second edition of "How to battle with [Pokémon]", where I shall explain how you can use an underused - yet cool – Pokémon in a competitive setting, and when and where not to use them.

The two hyphens/dashes have different lengths. Use either — yet cool — or -- yet cool --.

Also, Miror B used four of them.

Miror B. has a period.

Obligatory Term/Abbreviation Dump
For those new to the scene, here are a couple terms and abbreviations I throw around in this post:
SpAtk/SpDef - Special Attack/Defense
PDon, The Don – Primal Groudon
POgre – Primal Kyogre
M-[Pokémon] - Mega [Pokémon]

Add T1 - turn 1, or T# - turn #.

Tier: UU (Banned from RU)

Not "banned" per se, just "unusable in RU and below." Banned implies that it was banned in one of the BLs.

Ludicolo's niche in VGC, a meta filled to the brim with Primals, Xerneas, and Fake Out spamming, comes from its great defensive typing and situational access to the fastest Fake Out in the game due to it's ability.

its ability

Given that those 6 and Flying are the only type of attacks that you really see in this tier, his is a good thing.

its typing is a good thing

It has a passable movepool with access to Fake Out, Icy Wind, Focus Blast, both STABs, and that one move that every non-Magikarp Water type in the game gets (Ice Beam).

Keldeo can't learn Ice Beam. :P There might be others.

It has relatively low stats, the 100 in SpDef being the only useful one and 70 in Speed being the low point of a sweeper.

I'm pretty sure there should be a semicolon after "stats."

However, the ability Swift Swim corrects this by DOUBLING this in Rain, and Perma-weather exists through the Primals in VGC.

Too much "this." doubling its Speed in rain

With the stated investment, you are guaranteed to survive a +2 Fairy Aura Xerneas Moonblast or a max power Sun-boosted Eruption from The Don.

Xerneas' Moonblast

It has a low base power, but +3 Priority (faster than Extremespeed, slower than Protect) and 100% chance to Flinch your opponent.

a 100% chance

With so many Pokémon using Fake Out, the priority boost is neutralized and who actually gets to use Fake Out comes down to speed.

Speed

Swift Swim Ludicolo is faster than any other Fake Out user (bar Scarf Liepard or Weavile). This can blow up your opponent's momentum, giving that Primal Kyogre that you sent out as Ludicolo's partner a free attack.

giving Ludicolo's partner, Primal Kyogre, a free attack

Giga Drain helps restore HP, but isn't powerful enough to restore all that much.

it isn't

Primal Kyogre is a must-have partner wise, as it's Primordial Seas ability quite literally makes it rain and gives Ludicolo something to dance to.

must-have partner, as its Primordial Sea ability

I recommend at least 132 Speed EVs on Modest POgre to outspeed max speed base 120s and below (M-Rayquaza, M-Salamence) who have been hit with an Icy Wind.

max Speed

Just avoid Xerneas if it is partnered with something that can stop POgre's rhythm from KOing it on turn 2 (like a Fake Out user or PDon switch in).

a PDon switch-in

I run Calm Mind on my POgre to give it something to do T1 if obvious PDon switch-in is obvious.

an obvious

The whole list can be found HERE, https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Priority#Generation_VI, but these are the ones you really need to know, grouped relative to Fake Out

Fake Out:

Equal Priority to Fake Out (+3) – Endure, Quick/Wide Guard, Crafty Sheild

Crafty Shield

Has Priority, but slower than Fake Out (+1 - +2) – Follow Me and variations, Extremespeed, Feint, all variations of Quick Attack, Sucker Punch

Extreme Speed

The best examples are turn 4, where a Fake Out allows Crobat to KO the enemy Togekiss without The Don interfering, and the use of Icy Wind on Turn 7 (should have been turn 6, but I'm bad) to ensure that my M-Salamence was faster than the enemy MY-Mewtwo.

M-Mewtwo Y (you used this earlier, might as well stay consistent)

All of them are slower than Ludicolo in Rain tho.

though

Swift Swimmers: Kabutops is physical, Kingdra is weak to Fairy, both are frail as heck.

Kabutops is physical and Kingdra is weak to Fairy; both are frail as heck.

lol Ludicolo has best animation in game 11/10 would watch again

in-game

Until next time, you stay classy PokéCommunity.

"You" is unnecessary.

 

[ddrox13]

Everything looks fine to me. Good job! By the way, shouldn't the title be capitalized like "How to Battle with Ludicolo"? The article title is, I miscapitalized the thread. Oops.

Grammar checks:

Spoiler:

A lot of words were unnecessarily capitalized, like rain, sun, perma-weather, priority, flinch, Speed control, burn, turn, and critical hit. It's not that important, but it's something to keep in mind when you write the next article. leaving for now

The two hyphens/dashes have different lengths. Use either — yet cool — or -- yet cool --. I hate word processors

Miror B. has a period. Meh

Add T1 - turn 1, or T# - turn #. I did mean to add this at some point, thanks for reminding me

Not "banned" per se, just "unusable in RU and below." Banned implies that it was banned in one of the BLs. Smart me is smart and left Froslass' tier. We will be changing that to NU now

its ability Possessives are hard

its typing is a good thing Meh

Keldeo can't learn Ice Beam. :P There might be others. Keldeo, Magikarp, and Rotom-Wash. I was close. And I'm leaving it. I'll add the word "almost" in there. My point stands that only 3 of the 120 Water types (2.5%) don't get Ice Beam.

I'm pretty sure there should be a semicolon after "stats." I dunno, I'll change it

Too much "this." doubling its Speed in rain Meh

Xerneas' Moonblast How I have it is how the damage calcs do, but I guess I should change it

a 100% chance I hate word processors

Speed Meh

giving Ludicolo's partner, Primal Kyogre, a free attack BOOOOORING.

it isn't Meh

must-have partner, as its Primordial Sea ability I honestly thought that was plural

max Speed Meh

a PDon switch-in Meh

an obvious Meh

Fake Out: I hate word processors

Crafty Shield Meh

Extreme Speed Ok, this one USED to be right

M-Mewtwo Y (you used this earlier, might as well stay consistent) Right

though Meh

Kabutops is physical and Kingdra is weak to Fairy; both are frail as heck. I kinda forgot semicolons existed

in-game This one was intentionally misformatted to make fun of the internet. First word is lowercase and the word "the" was left out in multiple places (including the one you mentioned). For reasons.

"You" is unnecessary. It's a movie reference, I'm leaving it

I'll make these changes tomorrow, waaaay to late tonight for this.

 

[ddrox13]

Up

 

[bobandbill]

I haven't yet had another last look (will do over next couple days), but just letting you know that some people (new Daily artists) are working on a cover image for this article as well!

 

[bobandbill]

Alrighty, last round of edits. A couple other battling folks took a quick look through as well so I'd say content is sound. (What is here is just typos/etc).

Still need an excerpt, but that's quick and easy. Also, a cover image has been done! I'll let the artist who made it share it here, but I believe we're suitably covered with that now. :B

I may or may not have implied that I would do Quagsire now, but I decided to go with a more... festive option instead.

Good change here! (Just a comment.)

However, it is neutral to Fire, Ground, Ice, and Fairy and double-resists Water and Steel. Given that those 6 and Flying are the only type of attacks that you really see in this tier, his is a good thing.

I'd add a comma after 'Fairy', and change 6 to six.

Fake Out helps many Turn 1 situations. Just avoid Xerneas if it is partnered with something that can stop POgre's rhythm from KOing it on turn 2 (like a Fake Out user or PDon switch in).

Turn is capitalised in the first sentence but not in the second. There are other instances of this as well, so I'd change them to be all one way or another, not a mixture.

Also, you NEED to know the Priority tiers off the top of your head at a tournament.
The whole list can be found HERE, https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wi...#Generation_VI, but these are the ones you really need to know, grouped relative to Fake Out:

Formatting is a bit weird, and I'd make the url part of the text. E.g.:

Also, you NEED to know the Priority tiers off the top of your head at a tournament. The whole list can be found here, but these are the ones you really need to know, grouped relative to Fake Out:

Here are a few replays to show you what I meant by some of the more ranty parts of the article.

There's only one replay, so change the text here to reflect that.

Tailwind users such as Talonflame and Crobat. And Togekiss. And Suicune apparently. And Talonflame. And Gengar somehow gets Icy Wind, so I suppose he goes here too.

I'd reword so it doesn't sound like you're adding more Pokemon as an afterthought. e.g. "Tailwind users such as Talonflame, Crobat, Togekiss and even Suicune. Gengar also somehow gets Icy Wind."

Direct questions or suggestions for this column as a whole, including suggesting new Pokémon to rant about, to the discussion thread for this column.

'belong in the discussion thread...'. I'd also add a link to said thread in this sentence (again formatted like above suggestions for the priority list). However, I am not so sure that it's bad for comments for the overall series to go in the same comment thread for this article... doesn't hurt I suppose.

After that it's ready to go up! Nice work again, ddrox. =)

 

[Fairy]

The cover image for this article is complete! I hope you like it! :)

Spoiler:

 

[ddrox13]

Alrighty, last round of edits. A couple other battling folks took a quick look through as well so I'd say content is sound. (What is here is just typos/etc).

Still need an excerpt, but that's quick and easy. Also, a cover image has been done! I'll let the artist who made it share it here, but I believe we're suitably covered with that now. :B

Good change here! (Just a comment.)Yaaaaay
I'd add a comma after 'Fairy', and change 6 to six. Oxford Comma ftw (I always use one, not sure what happened here)
Turn is capitalised in the first sentence but not in the second. There are other instances of this as well, so I'd change them to be all one way or another, not a mixture. Changed so that Turn (number) was always capitilized, as it is referencing something specific and therefore proper in my opinion, whereas it is now lowercased whenever it is used in normal text and not followed by a number
Formatting is a bit weird, and I'd make the url part of the text. E.g.:derp

There's only one replay, so change the text here to reflect that.derp
I'd reword so it doesn't sound like you're adding more Pokemon as an afterthought. e.g. "Tailwind users such as Talonflame, Crobat, Togekiss and even Suicune. Gengar also somehow gets Icy Wind."The objective was to make the other ones sound like an afterthought, because they were. Talonflame (which was mentioned twice for extra bonus redundancy) and Crobat make up around 85% of the tailwind uses (in my experience), Togekiss probably another 10%. Suicune was just there because I encountered a tailwind suicune while writing and didn't like it.
'belong in the discussion thread...'. I'd also add a link to said thread in this sentence (again formatted like above suggestions for the priority list). However, I am not so sure that it's bad for comments for the overall series to go in the same comment thread for this article... doesn't hurt I suppose. That was literally copy/pasted from the Frosslass article. And that will be linked once I have a link to link the link to

After that it's ready to go up! Nice work again, ddrox. =)

Done with the changes above, minus the afterthought one because I was making a point.

As for the excerpt: It's the rainy season in VGC, and this groovy pineapple is quite excited. Should you join the fun? Find out now!

Or do something simpler. Or more sane.

The cover image for this article is complete! I hope you like it! :)

Spoiler:

YES

 

[bobandbill]

Fine with the excerpt and it appears you like the cover image. =p Other people took a look as well, so approved! I will try and put this up in my evening. (Or someone else can give it a go). Noting that a url still needs to be chucked in linking to the original discussion thread at the end.