- [OVERVIEW]
- Absol has great offensive stats and typing which, coupled with its great movepool, allows it to be a great sweeper or a pure wallbreaker that can revenge kill many pokemon such as Jynx, Mesprit, and Alolan Raichu.
- It also can swords dance safely on prankster users such as Sableye do to the prankster nerf in Sun and Moon.
- Sucker punch allows Absol to bypass its average speed and hit faster attackers such as Stoutland, Masquerain, and Rotom-F.
- All the positives end there, as Absol struggles to switch in and setup with its frail defenses. Dark types like Sableye, Alolan Persian, and Shiftry outclassed Absol in certain aspect, Sableye being to spinblock and stallbreak; Shiftry having a higher base speed and also sword dance with a smaller movepool; and Alolan Persian being a great pivot.
- Overall Absol should be use to its strengths as a wallbreaker and sweeper and is a great pokemon to use on your team in PU.
[SET]
name: Swords Dance
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Sucker Punch
move 3: Knock Off
move 4: Iron Tail
item: Life Orb
ability: Justified
nature: Adamant/Jolly
evs: 252 Atk/ 4 Def / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
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- Swords Dance allows Absol to raise its attack to great levels so it can threaten to ohko almost every non-defensive pokemon in the tier.
- Knock Off is always a great move on Absol as it allows Absol to wallbreak early and remove opponents items and reveal if they have Z-Crystals or not.
- Sucker Punch provides a strong priority STAB move that picks off weakened teams before or after a swords dance boost.
- Iron tail is Absol's main coverage as without it, Absol isn't able to hit Fairy-types super effectively.
- Superpower hits Dark-types harder than iron tail but iron tail is generally more useful than superpower since +2 knock off already does a huge damage to the tier including Dark-types like Sableye, Shiftry, and Pawniard.
Set Details
========
- Maximum Attack and Speed EVs are optimal for Absol's offensive potential.
- An Adamant nature is best suited for as hard as possible while still outspeeding Hasty Abomasnow and other threats.
- A Jolly nature can be use to outspeed pokemon such as Modest Mesprit, Adamant Pinsir and other threats to Absol.
- Iron tail threatens most Fairy-types
- Sucker Punch and Knock Off allow Absol to be a strong wallbreaker and revenge killer.
Usage Tips
========
- Absol is frail pokemon so it should never been switch in directly unless its a passive threat or via volturn.
- Status should be accounted for as it combination with life orb recoil can wear down Absol quickly.
- In the early game, Absol should use Knock Off to wallbreak as it is a powerful STAB move that removes items from opponent's team and scouts for Z-Move users.
- Absol can swords dance on predicted switches to hit the next pokemon with a strong STAB move or coverage move.
- Swords Dance can also be used to clean weakened teams with Sucker Punch once all its threats are gone.
Team Options
========
- Fighting-type checks like Mesprit and Arbok are good partners because they deal with priority Mach Punch and other Fighting-types that check Absol.
- Fairy-type answers such as Muk and Aggron are great partners for Absol as they can come in and take advantage of the fairy types it baits in.
- Fire-types like Monferno, Charizard, Magmortar all are good partners for Absol because they also wall most Fairy types along with Bug-types that come in on Absol.
- Hazard support from Crustle, Mesprit, and other hazard setters guarantee ohkoes on +2 Knock Off and Sucker Punch.
- Finally, strong special wallbreakers like choice specs Chatot and choice specs Mesprit help wear down pesky physical walls like Weezing and checks like Poliwrath.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
- A special set may seem like a good idea but its is outclassed by other special Dark-types in the tier and usually more underwhelming than the physical set.
- Darkinium-Z is useful for a one time nuke but life orb is generally better in the long run.
- Psycho Cut could be used to hit bulkier fighting type particularly Poliwrath harder than a Knock Off or Sucker Punch would but is useless outside of that niche.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Fairy-types**: They resist Absol's stab and can ohko it with their stab but they have to avoid iron tail coverage or be faster than Absol.
**Faster strong attackers**: strong attacks from pokemon like chatot and floatzel can ohko Absol in one hit due to Absol's very poor defenses. Some will need to take a strong sucker punch before removing Absol which can be crucial later in the match.
**Poliwrath**: Poliwrath counters Absol without play rough or psycho cut as Poliwrath resist everything and ohkoes back.
**Fighting types and super effective coverage**: most fighting types in the tier ohko Absol with priority fighting moves and just threaten it in general. Pokemon with super effective coverage can often also ohko Absol do to its frailness in general.
**hazards and status**: hazards and status damage compile and often remove Absol's usefulness in the battle. Burn and paralysis in general completely ruins Absol's usefulness in battle.
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