The Smeargle Moveset Factory

[Dragon Tamer Ed]

Ah, Smeargle. Such an underpowered pokemon, barely used because of its abysmal stats. But I think being able to learn every move in the game must give it some potential, along with the addition of the Focus Sash, which will allow it to survive long enough to actually do something. So I did some thinking, and made some very different movesets for Smeargle. And these are only trials. Give me a role a pokemon can play, and I will give Smeargle a moveset for performing that task:

1) Physical Sweeper:
Smeargle@Focus Sash
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 252 Atk, 252 Spd, 6 HP
-Spore
-Swords Dance
-Return/Flail
-Night Slash/Agility
The idea here is obvious. Spore, Power up, and Sweep. The choices are up to you. Max Power Return will give a solid base 104 but if you're sure you'll get hit while powering up, use Flail. Base 300 power + 3 SDs = Pain, even on Smeargle. The last slot...Night Slash hits Ghosts for more type coverage, but you can use Agility if you fear faster foes. 1 Agility should be enough to outrun most things.

2) Special Sweeper:
Smeargle@Focus Sash
Nature: Modest
EVs: 252 SAtk, 252 Spd, 6 HP
-Spore
-Tail Glow/Nasty Plot
-Judgement/Hyper Voice/Swift
-Dark Pulse/Agiliy
Basically the same basic idea as the physical set. Judgement because it's the best Special move Smeargle can use. However since it is not currently possible to obtain, you'll probably have to use Hyper Voice, or Swift on a technician Smeargle.

3) Cheap Sweeper:
Smeargle@Focus Sash
Nature: Jolly or Timid
EVs: 252 Spd, the rest into Def & SDef
-Spore
-Agility/Recover
-Lock-On/Mind Reader
-Sheer Cold
Obvious. Sheer Cold over the others because it has no immunities.

4) Perish Smeargle:
Smeargle@Focus Sash
Nature: Jolly or Timid
EVs: 252 Spd, the rest into Def & SDef
-Spore
-Agility/Recover
-Mean Look/Spider Web
-Perish Song
Fairly obvious.

5) Counter Smeargle:
Smeargle@Focus Sash
Nature: Any -Spd nature
EVs: 252 HP, Rest into Def and SDef
-Metal Burst
-Recover
-Spore
-*Filler*
Let the foe hit you, Burst, then Spore the next guy and Recover. Rinse and repeat.

6) Tank:
Smeargle@Focus Sash
Nature: Bold or Calm or Careful or Impish
EVs: Put 'em all into Defences and HP
-Spore
-Cosmic Power/Defend Order
-Recover
-Confuse Ray/Toxic
Spore, boost Defences, and Recover on the brink of death. Toxic or Confuse Ray to actually do some damage.

7) My Fave:
Smeargle@Focus Sash
Nature: Any -Spd nature
EVs: Put 'em into the Atk stats, away from Speed or Defences
-Endeavor
-Aqua Jet
-Spore
-Recover
What I like about this set over the others is that it actually benefits from Smeargle's fragility, and even a Lv1 Smeargle can KO anything with it if successful. The reason for the nature is because you have to be slower than your opponent to pull this off. Let the opponent wallop you down to 1 HP and hopefully you will have used Endeavor. Next turn, use your First-Strike move and watch them die. Spore and Recover are a way of preparing to do it again, though hard to get back to full health, it can work.

And that's what I've got so far. But as I've said above, Give me a role a pokemon can play, and I will give Smeargle a moveset for performing that task.

 

[sims796]

Ok, how about annoyer? Can you do that?

 

[c_dog]

um, I don't see how these would work. a balanced team would have a first-strike move like extreme speed, quick attack, mach punch, fakeout, etc., not to mention some would have pseudohazers with roar/whirlwind. this may work in game but I wouldn't expect this to work against real people.

 

[sims796]

I know. He said "give me a role" so I did. Just wanted to know if it could be done. Well, can you make it a team clergy (with maybe Aromatherapy)?

 

[aragornbird]

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Most of these sets WON'T work.

1) Physical Sweeper:
Smeargle@Focus Sash
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 252 Atk, 252 Spd, 6 HP
-Spore
-Swords Dance
-Return/Flail
-Night Slash/Agility

No one is going to let you Swords Dance more than once. People won't stick around with a sleeping Pokemon hoping it will wake up. And instead of Swords Dancing, just Belly Drum and use Extremspeed and replace that Focus Sash with something like Brightpowder.

2) Special Sweeper:
Smeargle@Focus Sash
Nature: Modest
EVs: 252 SAtk, 252 Spd, 6 HP
-Spore
-Tail Glow/Nasty Plot
-Judgement/Hyper Voice/Swift
-Dark Pulse/Agiliy

This fails even more than the Physical sweeper, since there's no such thing as a special Belly Drum and Blissey walls this set totally, doesn't mind Spore since it has Natural Cure, and can just paralyze you wit Thunder Wave.

3) Cheap Sweeper:
Smeargle@Focus Sash
Nature: Jolly or Timid
EVs: 252 Spd, the rest into Def & SDef
-Spore
-Agility/Recover
-Lock-On/Mind Reader
-Sheer Cold

Agility is useless and so is Recover when everything kills you in one hit anyways. Without Mean Look/Block, the opponent will just switch out.

4) Perish Smeargle:
Smeargle@Focus Sash
Nature: Jolly or Timid
EVs: 252 Spd, the rest into Def & SDef
-Spore
-Agility/Recover
-Mean Look/Spider Web
-Perish Song

Where is Protect? Again, Agility is useless and so is Recover.

5) Counter Smeargle:
Smeargle@Focus Sash
Nature: Any -Spd nature
EVs: 252 HP, Rest into Def and SDef
-Metal Burst
-Recover
-Spore
-*Filler*

Filler should be Taunt. Otherwise the enemy will just use indirect moves or stat boost. Recover is useless. It only Recovers half of your health while just about everything will do more damage than you can recover. Put something like Encore for annoyance.

6) Tank:
Smeargle@Focus Sash
Nature: Bold or Calm or Careful or Impish
EVs: Put 'em all into Defences and HP
-Spore
-Cosmic Power/Defend Order
-Recover
-Confuse Ray/Toxic
This fails even more than the sweeping sets, since it can't even attack at all.

Smeargle's defenses, like its offenses, are crap so even if you do get a defense boost, you'll still be KOed easily. And a Smeargle without a +Spd nature is pretty slow, so fast sweepers will just bypass Focus Sash by hitting you twice and killing you.

Confuse Ray is a crap status move. It does not deal continuous damage (like Burn or Poison), does not lower any stats (like Burn or Paralysis), does not disable an opponent (like Sleep or Freeze) and is easily cured by switching out.

Relying on Toxic is a really bad idea. It's resisted by so many things - Steels, Poisons, Pokemon with Immunity, Breloom with Poison Heal etc. Anything with Natural Cure, Heal Bell, Aromatherapy, or Rest can easily heal themselves. Anything with the Guts ability would LOVE to get Poisoned since you are basically powering them up. Anything with Taunt or Substitute can not only block Toxic but also ruin this whole moveset.

7) My Fave:
Smeargle@Focus Sash
Nature: Any -Spd nature
EVs: Put 'em into the Atk stats, away from Speed or Defences
-Endeavor
-Aqua Jet
-Spore
-Recover

You're doing it wrong.

This is the REAL Endeavor Smeargle:

Smeargle @Salac Berry
Jolly Nature
EVs: 252 Spd
-Endeavor
-Endure
-Spore
-Dragon Rage

Endure an attack and get Salac to activate. Put the opponent to sleep, Endeavor, and then Dragon Rage. Dragon Rage ensures that nothing is immune to you (if you use Aqua Jet, you won't be able to defeat anything with Water Absorb).

By being faster than the opponent, you'll be able to kill off more Pokemon than if you were slower.

You're making Smeargle sound like some legendary Pokemon with 100 in every stat. But Nintendo isn't stupid. They purposely gave Smeargle crap stats in everything except Speed, so that even though it can learn every move, it can only use a few of those moves effectively.

Also, I can't believe you forgot two of the most commonly used Smeargles: Belly Drum Passing Smeargle and Baton Pass Chain Smeargle.

Belly Drum Passing

Smeargle @Salac Berry
Jolly Nature
EVs: 252 Spd, make sure your HP is divisible by 4
-Spore
-Substitute
-Belly Drum
-Baton Pass

Use the moves in that order. You MUST have an HP number divisible by 4 for this to work, since Belly Drum and Substitute take away exactly 75% health and Salac activates as soon as you hit 25%.


Baton Pass Chain

Smeargle @Leftovers
EVs: 252 HP
-Spore
-Ingrain
-Baton Pass
-Mean Look/Block/Substitute

This only works if you Baton Pass defense and speed to Smeargle. Don't try to have Smeargle stat boost by itself, because it can't pull it off.
The main reason to use this set is Ingrain. In a Baton Pass chain, the two moves you want LEAST to encounter are Roar and Whirlwind (phazing moves basically). Ingrain prevents opponents from phazing you out.
Use Mean Look or Block only if Umbreon isn't a part of your BP chain. Otherwise, use Substitute to block status/critical hits.

Oh, and sims796, annoyers don't work in competitive battling and Smeargle is too frail to be a cleric.


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[Dragon Tamer Ed]

I never said the sets were super-powerful. I just said it was possible for Smeargle to fill most team roles. Not effectively, but it can still be done. It's the best you can get out of him. And though your Endeavor set would probably work better than mine, Palette Punch & Vacuum Blade are First-strike moves with no immunities. So they could be used instead of Dragon Rage. No Immunities was what I was aiming for, I just forgot about Water Absorb, as it's rarely useful. Nobody would use a water attack on anything with it anyway, except Quagsire.

And yes, sims, while Smeargle could serve as a Cleric, he wouldn't make a very good one. You'd only get one use at best.

 

[sims796]

What a shame. Smeargle could be such an amazing pokemon if it only had, at least, decent stats. (I'd settle for just 65 base att & def). Guess they just had to balance it out.

 

[MKDS_PoKE]

Smeargle doesn't have much potential. Possibly a BP'er though.