[QC 0/3] KYUREM-BLACK

[aki0s]

[OVERVIEW]

• Kyurem-Black is a versatile mixed-physical threat in the Balanced Hackmons USUM metagame.
• Its Ice/Dragon typing allows it to deal good damage to key walls in the metagame such as Giratina and Zygarde-Ultimate.
• Its typing however renders it weak to common hazards
• While Kyurem has good offensive stats of 170 attack and 120 special attack, it's subpar base speed of 95 renders it over-reliant on priority against other offensive threats and faster teams

[SET]
name: Refrigerate
move 1: Extreme Speed / Frustration
move 2: Boomburst
move 3: V-create
move 4: Fake Out / Stealth Rock / Sunsteel Strike
item: Never-Melt Ice / Life orb / Expert Belt
ability: Refrigerate
nature: Naughty
evs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========

• Extreme Speed is a good priority move that becomes an ice type as a result of refrigerate, it lets you abuse Kyurem-Black's 170 attack stat best and pick off non-dazzling shell-smasher's that have been weakened
• Frustration provides Kyurem-Black with a stronger, more abusable physical stab that deals good damage to most things in the meta - while giving you a peace of mind as you do not have to worry about anti-priority abilities
• Boomburst is a good special move to abuse refrigerate with; it lets Kyurem-Black muscle through fur-coat physical walls
• V-Create is good coverage that beats common non-flash fire steels such as Registeel, Aegislash, Celesteela, etc
• Fake out is good to chip pokemon into e-speed range, however it is risky to use if you think your opponent may have an anti-priority ability
• Stealth rock is a good option on Kyurem-Black as it discourages common magic-bounce pokemon such as Giratina, Audino and Registeel - this allows you to ensure you can get Stealth Rock up against most teams.
• Sunsteel Strike allows you to take care of Sturdy Shedinja, which would other wise wall you, and deal good damage to common fairies such as Audino or Xerneas.

Set Details
========

• A naughty nature maximizes Kyruem-Black's offensive stats and allows it to deal as much physical damage as possible while preserving the special damage stat. Speed is not valued as much on Kyurem-Black as its speed is subpar to begin with.
• Never-melt Ice boosts all your ice type attacks by 1.2x and doesn't provide recoil - letting you deal damage over a longer period than life orb
• Life orb gives your pokemon's attacks an extra 1.3x damage at the expense of 10% of your HP everytime you attack; it is good, but limits the lifetime of kyurem-b, it is not recommended without proper team support such as darkinium-z parting shot as Kyurem-B is already weak to common hazards
• Expert Belt gives your Kyurem-Black better matchups with coverage options and increases the chance of ohko's against some common walls after hazards; it is good, but never-melt ice and life orb out class it as it relies on the pokemon coming in to be weak to the move you are using

Usage Tips
========

• It is recommended to always use Kyurem-Black with a slow pivot such as Flash-Fire Registeel or Regenerator Kyogre-Primal as it cannot directly switch in to many things and its inherent slow speed limits its options
• This Kyurem-Black should be used as an early to mid game breaker or a late game cleaner with e-speed
• Kyurem-B requires more careful manouvering that other -ate pokemon due to its subpar speed and poor defensive typing, it is recommended to only switch it in against scouted sets - especially if it plays an important offensive role on your team

Team Options
========

• Poison Heal Regigigas pairs well with Kyurem-Black as Kyurem black weakens or take cares of its common switch ins, ex: Giratina, Zygarde-C, Non-Flash Fire Aegislash, etc
• Mold-Breaker and / or adaptibility M-Gengar pair well with Kyurem-Black as they help weaken common walls for kyurem-black such as regenerator or unaware Primal Kyogre, flash-fire steel type pokemon, M-Audino or Sturdy Shendinja
• Regenerator Primal Kyogre makes a good improof to Kyurem-Black as it takes next to no damage from any of its moves and can easily clear any hazards the opposing impostered Kyurem-Black would set
• Flash Fire Steels such as Registeel, Aegislash or Solgaleo make good improofs to Kyurem-Black as they take next to no damage from its coverage moves and can easily pivot out or trap it
• Any offensive variant of M-Diancie pairs well with Kyurem-Black as they both threaten similar threats and Diancie can switch into dragon coverage for Kyurem
• A reliable defog user such as Giratina will benefit Kyurem greatly as it helps negate the weakness to Stealth Rocks to a certain extent

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

• Tough Claws Kyurem-Black is a good alternative to refrigerate, however it is not as reliable against all matchups as refrigerate and struggles against bulky fur-coat pokemon - it also lacks good priority to make up for Kyurem's slow speed
• Skill-Link Kyurem-Black is a good alternative to Refrigerate Kyurem-Black as its specialized nature renders most bulky teams useless, especially if run with kings rock, it does however require specialized improofs and is unable to deal with Sturdy Shedinja - lack of strong priority also hurts it

Checks and Counters
===================

• Faster offensive threats such as Pixilate M-Diancie can easily outspeed Kyurem-Black and OHKO it with stab
• Defensive walls such as Regenerator / Unaware / Poison Heal Primal Kyogre or Flash Fire steels can wall most variants of Kyurem Black ad infinitum.
• Dazzling or Queenly Majesty pokemon can take advantage of Kyurem-Black's overt reliance on Extreme Speed and set up in its face - this can lead to your team losing
• If you can't get stealth rocks up, or don't have sunsteel strike - Sturdy Shedinja will wall Kyurem-Black ad infinitum
• Fur Coat Chansey can wall Refrigerate Kyurem-Black quite easily

[It's still rough around the edge grammar and spelling wise; I will edit it at a later stage. For now, please point out any glaring problems or any additions that should be made. I chose to limit Kyurem-Black to Refrigerate as its other sets, while good, are not as reliable as refrigerate. If you think I should include any other set, please let me know.]

 

[Lotus]

Overview can cover two other things - Kyurem-B being an -ate user that isn't walled by Flash Fire Celesteela, but also an -ate user at the bottom of -ate food chain.

Bolt Strike may be worth considering - Primal Kyogre and Mega Gyarados effortlessly wall this set otherwise. Precipice Blades obviously lacks damage output to drastically weaken Steel-types but it deals with rarer Pokemon like Flash Fire Aegislash.

Moves can emphasize Frustration being able to 2HKO Mega Audino with Never-Melt Ice and having significantly more PP than Extreme Speed. Boomburst kinda does the same thing but considerable portion of the ladder uses Soundproof maud.

Usage Tips can go over importance of keeping the field clean of hazards - Kyurem-B will have to come in to revenge kill quite often and Stealth Rock taking away a quarter of its health is going to suck.

Teammates can mention defensive partners that can check -ate users that Kyurem-B cannot contend with. Checks to Water-types may also be worth noting. Wallbreakers like Mega Mewtwo Y (in addition to things like Mega Gengar you already have) can be added, as they appreciate anti-offense traits from Kyurem-B.

Other Options can include interesting things. King's Shield to bean on other -ate users may be one of them.

Well-written!

 

[MAMP]

| overview
this needs to be fleshed out a bit more. talk about how kyu-bs high attacking stats and ice STAB make it the best user of refrigerate, and briefly summarise what the refrigerate set does (revenge kills things, breaks walls etc). this is its main niche, so its important to put it in the overview.

dont like the use of the word 'versatile' in the first dot point bc it implies that kyu-b has a lot of sets, which is untrue

reword this second point, just say something like 'ice is a good offensive typing and hits a lot of common pokemon super effectively, like giratina'

rather than 'common hazards', just say stealth rock. maybe expand this into a point about kyub being generally weak to a lot of common attacking types

try to avoid just saying what its stats are, theyre already on the page

make mention of the fact that kyub faces a lot of competition in its role from mega ray and diancie, and that most of its sets besides refrigerate are largely outclassed

| refrigerate set
i dont really think frustration should be slashed with extreme speed bc kyu-b without espeed is not a good set. perhaps slash it with boomburst or on the last slot

mention particularly that extreme speed hits ray super effectively and that it picks off all sorts of weakened opponents, not just shell smashers

boomburst is kyu-bs strongest option against most neutral targets, not just fur coat mons. notably it 2hkos mega audino and is a chance to ohko tina

slash precipice blades and bolt strike with v-create

note that there a few mons that kyub cant reliably revenge kill without fake out

in set details: you dont have to explain literally what the item does, instead explain why its worth using. also in this section try to avoid vague phrasing like 'it is good', that doesn't really help people much.

kyub doesnt need a +speed nature bc its main stab is a priority move and the things it would want to use its coverage moves on are usually slower than it anyway, not because 'its speed is subpar to begin with'.

i dont think lo kyub necessarily needs z-parting shot support. say that its appreciated, but your current wording implies that lo kyub is bad without it, which i dont think is true. also mention that life orb boosts the power of your coverage moves where never-melt ice does not, eg v-create guarantees ohko on registeel, bolt strike ohkos pogre

if expert belt is outclassed by never-melt ice and life orb, why is it on the analysis? move this to oo imo

in usage tips, again i dont think that you should always pair kyub with slow pivots. it appreciates the support, but it doesnt 100% need it like this dot point implies

note here also that espeed only has 8 pp and should be preserved in longer matchups

its also important to scout prio blocking abilities with kyub, mention this in usage tips

like dmdw said, mention here that you should try and prioritise keeping hazards off to keep kyub healthy

in team options: these analyses are targeted at players without much/any metagame experience, they don't necessarily know what an imposter proof is or why its important. briefly explain this before explaining what pokemon can be used for imposter proofing (just say something simple like 'if imposter chansey switches in against kyub, its important to have an answer to it')

not sure i agree with the point about poison heal regigigas, as kyub doesnt actually help it much against tina and zyg (kyub struggles to switch into them and they can just switch out) and aegi isnt really a gigas counter. perhaps instead mention that kyub helps to weaken steel types like registeel for gigas

not sure what you mean by saying that diancie and kyub 'threaten similar threats', can you elaborate a bit on this?

| other options
mention alternative options for the -ate set here, like king's shield, shell smash, close combat, rapid spin and uturn

explain more about what tough claws actually does, what moves it uses and what its niche is. in this case youd say that tough claws hits a bit harder but cant go mixed and lacks refrigerate's strong priority and is often outclassed by mons like mega ray

again, explain what the skill link set does ie what moves it runs, what its advantages are over the refrigerate set. i dont think skill link 'renders most bulky teams useless', i think this is massively overselling it

| checks and counters
this section is supposed to be structured in a specific way, check the analysis guidelines

rather than listing all of pogres sets, just say that kyub struggles against ice resists but mention that it can get by them with the right coverage

imposter should definitely be mentioned here, thats one of kyubs biggest weaknesses

'this can lead to your team losing' seems a bit overly dramatic

qc 1/3