Nerfmons - Submissions Phase #7

T.I.A.

formerly Ticktock
NERFS


Pokemon: Mega Gardevoir
Typing:
/
[No Change]
New Stats: 68 / 65 / 75 / 125 / 175 / 110 (618)
New Ability: Imsomnia
Added/Removed Moves: None
Justification: Gardevoir actually loses some of its power compared to its base form (no item) in exchange for a ludicrous amount of Special bulk and some Speed. Imsomnia has not much use except that Mega Garde becomes a hard counter to Jynx, but even then it has to be somewhat careful since most Spore-users are physical attackers... and while I put the leftover stats into Defence, 75 defence still sucks.
All-in-all, I wanted the role of Gardevoir and Mega-Gardevoir to be entirely different from each other, and I think that I succeeded.



Pokemon: Keldeo
Typing:
/
[No Change]
New Stats: 83 / 90 / 80 / 129 / 90 / 108 (580)
New Ability: Justified [No Change]
Added/Removed Moves: -Icy Wind, -Scald, -Aqua Jet
Justification: I disagree with TheReptile in that this nerf decides over the future of the other Musketeers. We can always make the four Musketeers entirely different from each other (let's not forget to mention Virizion needs less of a nerf than the other three).
I removed Scald because that is just a bullshit move, and Icy Wind to frustrate it even more on the Special Side. I'm pretty sure we get a ton of things that can switch into Keldeo in the future and even more that can revenge it. I removed Aqua Jet because I don't want it to revenge stuff it has no business to revenge, not to mention that I want Talonflame to remain a solid check to it.


Pokemon: Talonflame
Typing:
/
[No Change]
New Stats: 88 / 81 / 69 / 84 / 71 / 136 (529)
New Ability: Flame Body / Keen Eye / Inner Focus (HA)
Added/Removed Moves: +Energy Ball
Justification: No Gale Wings, so we can take out a lot of stuff. The biggest change is that it can attack on both sides of the Spectrum now, and Energy Ball renders it stupidly annoying to switch into since most Rock-types no longer can. However, none of the Attack stats is that high, both being actually fairly low, so bulky mons that don't mind a Will-O-Wisp to the face can still wall it.


BUFFS


Pokemon: Bastiodon
Typing:
/
[No Change]
New Stats: 87 / 52 / 168 / 138 / 94 / 30 (517)
New Ability: Sturdy / Solid Rock (HA)
Added/Removed Moves: +Power Gem
Justification: Bastiodon never looked like a powerful physical attacker to me, so instead I made this walking fortress attacking from a range, shifting its 2nd-highest stat to Special Attack. Due to that, it has much less SpDef than before, but it gained enough HP to make difference in bulk on the special side much less notable. I gave it 87 HP because I was bored of seeing all the simple 60s and 70s and 80s in this thread and Bastiodon always had pretty random stats.
In between its STAB moves Flash Cannon and Power Gem, and coverage in the form of Thunderbolt, Ice Beam and Flamethrower, it can hit pretty damn hard, especially with maximum investment. It can tank numerous hits as well, but the lack of reliable recovery allows it to be whittled down eventually regardless.
The kept stat values were 168, 138 and 52, as well as 30.


Pokemon: Gigalith
Typing:
[No Change]
New Stats: 85 / 135 / 130 / 50 / 100 / 25 (525)
New Ability: Diamond Armor (makes it immune to Fire-type moves as well as Bulletproof), Sand Force (HA)
Added/Removed Moves: +Recover, +Play Rough, +Diamond Storm, -Explosion
Justification: No Solid Rock, which I originally wanted to give to Gigalith, but instead a souped up Bulletproof that also turns a resistance into a full immunity, giving it a very convenient Will-O-Wisp immunity in the process. Gigalith hits still as hard as it did before, but I shifted some stat points from Special Attack to Special Defence. However, it loses out on Sturdy, so Custap sets are taken out of the equation. It also gains Play Rough to prevent Gurdurr from setting up nilly-willy on it, but Gigalith has trouble to afford the moveslot for it (with Recover, Diamond Storm and Earthquake pretty much being a given) unless you have a different Stealth Rock setter. I originally wanted to give it Zen Headbutt instead of Play Rough, but when I glanced at its prevolutions, I found Play Rough the better fit.

Gigalith is now entirely different from Golem and the numerous other Rock-types that have found their home in NU, whether that is Solrock, Bastiodon or Cradily.
The last thing that I changed is the loss of Explosion; we have other Rock-types to say hello like a bomb, not to mention that Explosion does not really fit with the other changes anyway.


Pokemon: Luxray
Typing:
/

New Stats:
90 / 122 / 92 / 62 / 82 / 72 (520)
New Ability: Rivalry / Intimidate / Strong Jaw (HA) [No Change]
Added/Removed Moves: None
Justification: Much like those before me, I think Luxray is a fine candidate to gain the Dark-type alongside its Electric-typing. However, Luxray looks too honest to me at the same time to use a dirty trick, so I don't give it Sucker Punch. It instead gains Strong Jaw, to boost its coverage moves, like Ice Fang and Crunch, to respectable levels. It can also utilize Intimidate alongside a (rather weak) Volt Switch if it wants to, but its low speed is a bit of a bummer, though I made sure that it outspeeds Samurott given equal investment.
Um, you know that Strong Jaw as it's Hidden Ability means it has a change.
 
Um, you know that Strong Jaw as it's Hidden Ability means it has a change.
Fixed. I was still fixing various typos and grammar errors and other random stuff at any rate.

And don't forget to update your post too considering you copied some of TheReptile's changes.
Copying his layout is fine, I am doing the same, but do not copy his changes. :p
 

T.I.A.

formerly Ticktock
Fixed. I was still fixing various typos and grammar errors and other random stuff at any rate.

And don't forget to update your post too considering you copied some of TheReptile's changes.
Copying his layout is fine, I am doing the same, but do not copy his changes. :p
That first post was just a mistake.
 

Cretacerus

Survivor
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... to be continued:

BUFFS


Pokemon: Gigalith
Typing:
[No Change]
New Stats: 85 / 60 / 130 / 135 / 80 / 25 (515)
New Ability: Sturdy / Sand Stream (HA)
Added/Removed Moves: + Recover, + Giga Drain
Justification: I wanted to keep Gigalith mono Rock-type, while avoiding the route of a generic bulky wall similar to Regirock and Rhydon. Changing Gigalith's formerly useless Hidden Ability Sand Force into Sand Stream gives it a unique and solid niche in the NU metagame, while also enhancing its already respectable bulk. Newly added reliable recovery fits Gigalith's flavor pretty well, and allows it to check powerful physical attackers in the metagame such as Kangaskhan, Fletchinder and Scyther throughout the match, while providing Sand Storm and Stealth Rock support for its team. To further set Gigalith apart from the other Rock-types in NU, it received a swap in its offensive stats, and has now access to a powerful Power Gem, Earth Power and Giga Drain, giving it all the coverage and offensive presence it needs in its role as supporting wall.



Pokemon: Luxray
Typing:
/

New Stats: 80 / 120 / 79 / 95 / 79 / 70 (523) [No Change]
New Ability: Rivalry / Intimidate / Guts (HA) [No Change]
Added/Removed Moves: None
Justification: A lot of people have already suggested the interesting Electric/Dark-typing and Strong Jaw ability that I was originally going for, so this submission will take a slightly different route and play on Luxray's inherent strengths instead. As such, the only change he received was a secondary typing to complement his fearsome Guts set: Guts-boosted STAB 140 BP Facade from Luxray's base 120 Atk stat will certainly hurt a lot and make Luxray an extremely effective wallbreaker, especially since Normal resists and immunities can all be dealt with potential coverage in Superpower and Crunch. Luxray now does not have to rely on the mediocre Wild Charge for a strong STAB move anymore, which makes a huge difference for its already limited longevity. STAB Quick Attack is another benefit granted by the Normal-type, and allows Luxray to make up for the mediocre speed that has always held it back in the past.

EDIT: I see how the move Extreme Speed would be an extremely powerful tool on this Luxray and gives it too high revenge killing potential to be handled in NU, so it is now toned down to Quick Attack for priority which is still quite strong, as demonstrated by Zangoose. It should be noted though that Luxray does not have an effective way to boost it's attack stat, and will not do too well against offensive teams even with access to Quick Attack.
 
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Due to complications Voting Phase will start tomorrow and end on Thursday. Sorry for any inconvenience.

Anyway, time for submissions on my own:


Mega Gardevoir
Type:

New stats: 68 / 100 / 90 / 135 / 120 / 95 (608)
New Ability: Forewarn
Added/Removed Moves: None

Justification: To make sure Gardevoir stays in NU, it's Mega loses the Fairy type to remove any extra STAB, and its stats have become a lot more balanced, but in ways, worse. 95 base speed really hinders Gardevoir despite only a 5 point loss due to the abundance of base 100s in the tier and removal of the option of a Choice Scarf. It gains Forewarn over Pixilate because one of its Pokedex entries state; "If it senses impending danger to its Trainer, this Pokémon is said to unleash its psychokinetic energy at full power."


Keldeo
Type:

New stats: 91 / 72 / 90 / 129 / 90 / 108 (580)
(New) abilities: No Change
Added/Removed Moves: -Calm Mind, -Work Up, -Secret Sword, -Icy Wind, -Scald
Justification: Lack of stat-boosting moves and certain moves in general really hinder Keldeo. Lack of Secret Sword means Keldeo has to rely on the unreliable Focus Blast for decent fighting STAB, and lack of Icy Wind will limit most of Keldeo's movepools to: Water STAB, Fighting STAB, Hidden Power, filler.


Talonflame
Type:

New stats: 88 / 74 / 81 / 63 / 79 / 104 (489)
(New) abilities: Flame Body / Speed Boost
Added/Removed Moves:
None
Justification: Not removing too much BST, Talonflame becomes slightly bulkier (it learns Bulk Up after all) with less offensive presence and speed. However, the latter is made up for thanks to Speed Boost, which fits Talonflame due to its very high speeds the Pokedex claims it can fly at.


Gigalith
Type:

New stats: 80 / 80 / 80 / 125 / 130 / 40 (515)
(New) abilities: Sturdy / Solar Power
Added/Removed Moves: +Heat Crash,
+Fire Blast, +Flamethrower, +Morning Sun
Justification: First of all, the Ground type addition allows for STAB Earthquake and another 'Rock' Pokemon, Geodude, is part ground-type as well. I re-arranged its stats to make it a Special-oriented instead to make it different from Golem, and due to it's movepool (Also higher speed makes Rock Polish more viable). Solar Power because of Pokedex entries mentioning it's 'Solar Energy'. The moves are to make it a decent sun abuser, as it already has Solar Beam in its movepool. To keep it from being too overpowered, it lacks priority and fire STAB.


Bastiodon
Type:

New stats: 60 / 82 / 138 / 77 / 108 / 30 (495)
(New) abilities: Sturdy / Bulletproof
Added/Removed Moves: +Thunder Wave
Justification: This stat distribution is actually planned for another Pet Mod of mine, but since the chance has come I decided to show it first here. It stops being Bastiodon from having too-high defenses, and gives it better offensive capabilities. Bulletproof because it's a shield. Lastly, Thunder Wave since the only other status condition move it gets is Toxic, and Bastiodon learns quite a few electric-type moves anyway.

All the good Luxray ideas were taken, haha.

EDIT: Updated the spreadsheet with current changes!

EDIT EDIT:

Luxray
Type:

New stats: 80 / 120 / 79 / 95 / 79 / 80 (533)
(New) abilities: No change
Added/Removed Moves: +Pursuit, +Flame Charge, +Agility, +Dark Pulse
Justification: Luxray doesn't need to be overly changed too much, in all honesty. Dark type because of its coloration and attitude. I only gave it +10 Speed since all of its other stats are pretty decent as is. It gets Pursuit as it's a predator, after all, so it must be able to pursue prey (also STAB). Flame Charge as it learns Fire Fang already, and Zebstrika, a quite similar Pokemon to Luxray, gets Flame Charge. With Agility (since lynx are agile) Luxray finally gets some way other than stat changes to raise its speed. Lastly, Dark Pulse for special Dark STAB.


Justification: No Gale Wings - keeping it would screw with the tier way too much (up to the point that properly nerfing Talonflame would be impossible, and I'm glad Runbabyrun had the sense not to impose that challenge)
Thanks... since... uh... I was the one imposing the challenges this week so it wasn't runbabyrun making them :P
 
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The Voting Phase has begun!
If you are unsure on how to vote, please consult the OP.
Note: Submissions not fulfilling full criteria have been removed. Sorry for any inconvenience caused. If your submission is not here and you are unsure why, or if I have misinterpreted some submissions, please tag me in a post. Thanks for your cooperation.


68 / 95 / 85 / 145 / 155 / 80 (618) [+Cute Charm, -Pixilate] No moveset change. (The Reptile)
Justification: "What's the best way to nerd a mega? Simple - dump some of its "boosts" into useless stats, and give it a weak ability. Cute Charm was chosen because of the infatuation status - I think it ties in well with the whole wedding dress get-up. It's speed and power have been nerfed a lot - 145 is only OK, and 80 is mediocre. Meanwhile its attack gets even bigger even though its mostly useless (I guess it can kind of use it now? That's the only danger of boosting a "useless" stat), and its bulk is a bit buffed. I didn't want to lower its BST by 10 because I feel like that's more of an exception, rather than a rule. As it stands, I think Gardevoir can go into NU and not kill everything."

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68 / 105 / 65 / 165 / 135 / 80 (618) [+Synchronise, -Pixilate] No moveset change. (Cretacerus)
Justification: "Mega Guardevoir acts as an excellent wallbreaker with its useful offensive typing and solid power, a role that I wanted to preserve with as few nerfs as possible. The first adjustment was a drop of speed from 100 (decent in OU) to 80 (decent in NU), which means Gardevoir will be able to outspeed most defensive threats while still struggling immensely against more offensive teams, especially considering its low defense stat and lack of priority. A simple removal of its famed Pixilate ability ensures that Mega Gardevoir's attack power remains balanced as well, as it now equals to Life Orb boosted base 115 SpA (less than Kadabra)."

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68 / 105 / 115 / 125 / 125 / 80 (618) [+Clear Body, -Pixilate] No moveset change. (Ticktock)
Justification: "Losing it's previous ability was a downer for it, but with better bulk, it makes it still pretty good. It gains a new typing in Normal, which makes it lose resistances but come with a nifty immunity to Ghost-types It's formerly good speed is is now reduced to it's original state and gains some more Attack. It gets Clear Body in place in Pixilate to have some kind of advantage from other Psychic types."

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68 / 65 / 75 / 125 / 175 / 110 (618) [+Insomnia, -Pixilate] No moveset change. (Aasgier)
Justification: "Gardevoir actually loses some of its power compared to its base form (no item) in exchange for a ludicrous amount of Special bulk and some Speed. Imsomnia has not much use except that Mega Garde becomes a hard counter to Jynx, but even then it has to be somewhat careful since most Spore-users are physical attackers... and while I put the leftover stats into Defence, 75 defence still sucks.
All-in-all, I wanted the role of Gardevoir and Mega-Gardevoir to be entirely different from each other, and I think that I succeeded."

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68 / 100 / 90 / 135 / 120 / 95 (608) [+Forewarn, -Pixilate] No moveset change. (MegaGallade)
Justification: "To make sure Gardevoir stays in NU, it's Mega loses the Fairy type to remove any extra STAB, and its stats have become a lot more balanced, but in ways, worse. 95 base speed really hinders Gardevoir despite only a 5 point loss due to the abundance of base 100s in the tier and removal of the option of a Choice Scarf. It gains Forewarn over Pixilate because one of its Pokedex entries state; 'If it senses impending danger to its Trainer, this Pokémon is said to unleash its psychokinetic energy at full power.'"


93 / 80 / 85 / 119 / 100 / 103 (580) [No Ability Change] -Icy Wind, -Calm Mind (The Reptile)
Justification: "This is an important nerf, as it will determine how we nerf the other 3 musketeers. Rather than just dropping the BST, I figured that we should just mess around with the stat spread, and hope that it nerfs it out. As crazy as it might seem, I removed their Fighting STAB. I know it has huge flavor with it, but for the nerf I feel like its necessary. Justified keeps the heroic theme in there though, so it's not all gone. Removed Icy Wind to complete the removal of Ice moves, and removed Calm Mind so that it's only set-up move is SD, which isn't that good at all."

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70 / 60 / 70 / 115 / 70 / 105 (520) [No Ability Change] -Scald, -Calm Mind (Cretacerus)
Justification: "This is basically Keldeo with its base stats adjusted to upper NU standards, which means it can still make use of its amazing speed and typing to punch some major holes into the opposing team. However, since the Water/Fighting is arguably a lot more solid defensively in NU compared to OU, Scald and Calm Mind were both removed from Keldeo's movepool, in order to keep the focus on sweeping and to allow its few checks to switch in more safely."

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73 / 109 / 75 / 100 / 78 / 93 (528) [No Ability Change] -Icy Wind, -Aqua Jet, -Scald (Ticktock)
Justification: "No Fighting type means no Fighting STAB. The new stats means it can now go physical now, but it does have a cost. It cannot use Aqua Jet anymore. When going special, it cannot use Icy Wind, meaning it has to use Hidden Power Ice to wipe away Ice-weak opponents. It also loses Scald because Scald itself is too OP with that annoying burn rate."

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83 / 90 / 80 / 129 / 90 / 108 (580) [No Ability Change] -Icy Wind, -Scald, -Aqua Jet (Aasgier)
Justification: "I disagree with TheReptile in that this nerf decides over the future of the other Musketeers. We can always make the four Musketeers entirely different from each other (let's not forget to mention Virizion needs less of a nerf than the other three).
I removed Scald because that is just a bullshit move, and Icy Wind to frustrate it even more on the Special Side, making the choice for a Hidden Power even harder. I removed Aqua Jet because I don't want it to revenge stuff it has no business to revenge, not to mention that I want Talonflame to remain a solid check to it and Aqua Jet would prevent that a bit too easily.
Its Special Attack is left untouched - NU is home to quite a few things that fully wall its STAB moves completely, and with Icy Wind removed it has to choose in what it is going to hit with Hidden Power. Mantine? Leavanny? Jellicent? Masquerain (assuming Water/Bug)? Gourgeist? Exeggutor? Slowbro? Tropius? Ofcourse there are Hidden Powers that hit several of those hard, but you will always be left open to some of these too.
Its Speed is also left untouched, for pretty much the same reason - there can and will be stuff that revenges it."

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91 / 72 / 90 / 129 / 90 / 108 (580) [No Ability Change] -Calm Mind, -Work Up, -Secret Sword, -Icy Wind, -Scald (MegaGallade)
Justification: "Lack of stat-boosting moves and certain moves in general really hinder Keldeo. Lack of Secret Sword means Keldeo has to rely on the unreliable Focus Blast for decent fighting STAB, and lack of Icy Wind will limit most of Keldeo's movepools to: Water STAB, Fighting STAB, Hidden Power, filler."


98 / 81 / 69 / 54 / 71 / 126 (499) [+Reckless (HA), -Gale Wings (HA)] +Wild Charge, +Double-Edge (The Reptile)
Justification: "I'm actually surprised 'keep Gale Wings' wasn't one of the challenges. Which makes this a pretty easy nerf. However, I didn't just want to leave it at that - I think Talonflame probably needs a small buff without Gale Wings. Thus, Reckless and Wild Charge were given to it. Originally, I was going to give it Submission, but I still want Rock-types to wall this. This way, it can still hit kind of hard, especially with Swords Dance. Another change was that it has buffed bulk, while keeping the same BST. With 98 HP, it can now use recoil moves and not completely die. Meanwhile, it gives it mediocre bulk compared to its old frailty. It's still an NU mon for sure though - 81 still sucks, even with Reckless."

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65 / 85 / 70 / 60 / 70 / 130 (480) [+Reckless (HA), -Gale Wings (HA)] -Extreme Speed (Cretacerus)
Justification: "There was no way to keep Gale Wings on Talonflame without completely outclassing the already good Fletchinder, so I focused on the next most defining attribute of Talonflame which sets it apart from its prevolution: high powered STAB moves coupled with blistering speed. A base speed of 130 means Talonflame is the fastest unboosted threat in the metagame after Ninjask, while its new ability Reckless coupled with STAB Flare Blitz and Brave Bird let it hit a lot harder than base 85 Atk would suggest. To keep at least some of its former glory as ultimate revenge killer, Extremespeed was added to Talonflame's movepool, allowing it to circumvent opposing priority and speed boosts. It also gains Sword Dance from its prevolution, meaning that it can potentially set up a sweep on its own if given the chance. That's also the reason why 85 Atk is the highest I was willing to go, giving it similar offensive presence as the recently banned Sneasel (though without Knock Off and at the cost of huge recoil damage)."

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68 / 88 / 69 / 98 / 71 / 86 (490) [+Reckless (HA), -Gale Wings (HA)] +Wild Charge, +Nasty Plot, +Hurricane, +Extreme Speed (Ticktock)
Justification: "No Gale Wings is all that is really need to say, it gets replaced with Reckless for the moves it gets. It goes now mixed thanks to the new offensive stats of 98. It's Speed gotten quite nerfed, going into almost decent level for NU. It gains a buttload of new moves, gaining Extreme Speed and Wild Charge on the physical side and Hurricane for the special side. It also gains Nasty Plot for boosting it's Special Attack."

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88 / 81 / 69 / 84 / 71 / 136 (529) [+Keen Eye, +Inner Focus (HA), -Gale Wings (HA)] +Energy Ball (Aasgier)
Justification: "No Gale Wings - keeping it would screw with the tier way too much (up to the point that properly nerfing Talonflame would be impossible, and I'm glad Runbabyrun had the sense not to impose that challenge) The biggest change is that it can attack on both sides of the Spectrum now, and Energy Ball renders it stupidly annoying to switch into since most Rock-types no longer can. However, none of the Attack stats is that high, both being actually fairly low, so bulky mons that don't mind a Will-O-Wisp to the face can still wall it. Talonflame keeps the same role it had in OU - that of a very fast revenge killer, just without Priority Brave Bird."

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88 / 74 / 81 / 63 / 79 / 104 (489) [+Speed Boost, -Gale Wings] No moveset change. (MegaGallade)
Justification: "Not removing too much BST, Talonflame becomes slightly bulkier (it learns Bulk Up after all) with less offensive presence and speed. However, the latter is made up for thanks to Speed Boost, which fits Talonflame due to its very high speeds the Pokedex claims it can fly at."



80 / 72 / 168 / 30 / 138 / 22 (510) [+Heatproof (HA), -Soundproof (HA)] +Wish (The Reptile)
Justification: "Bastiodon is now stupid bulky, and can hit for ok damage (for a wall). The 3 stat values kept the same were 30, 168, and 138. It's still held back by its mediocre typing though, but now it has ways to recover in the form of the slow Wish. The higher HP also helps with Metal Burst shenanigans, which is always nice. Heatproof lets it keep its resistance to Fire while minimizing burn damage (now if only it prevented burns...). Overall it's still a very serviceable birdcheck and normal check in the NU tier, with exploitable weaknesses."

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60 / 92 / 138 / 47 / 128 / 30 (495) [+Bulletproof (HA), -Soundproof (HA)] +Dragon Tail, +Thunder Wave, +Super Fang (Cretacerus)
Justification: "This is the most drastic change on the slate, since Bastiodon's original role was already done so much better by a couple of other Pokemon in NU. With an actually good defensive typing without any 4x weaknesses to undermine its amazing bulk, it will finally find itself as a serious defensive threat that can easily set up Stealth Rocks, and proceed to shuffle, paralyze and wear down the opposing team. Bastiodon still possesses key weaknesses to the ubiquitous fighting and ground types, meaning most teams will have the tools to bring it down eventually, especially considering the lack of reliable recovery. A useful ability in Bullet Proof allows Bastiodon to avoid the occasional Focus Blast, which means that it can actually switch in onto most Special Attackers who rarely have a second move that's effective against it."

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92 / 112 / 128 / 47 / 138 / 30 (547) [+Filter, +Prankster (HA), -Soundproof (HA)] +Wish, +Super Fang, +Bulk Up, +Dragon Claw, +Dragon Tail (Ticktock)
Justification: "It keeps bad speed and excellent defenses as well as more attack power with also a new Dragon typing which makes it excellent now. It can now heal up with Wish and can help other pokemons. It loses it's dreaded typing and gains 2 useful abilities, Filter and Prankster. It also has Super Fang for halfing HP and Bulk Up for boosting Defence and Attack. It now has Dragon moves becuase it is now Steel/Dragon so Wynaut?"

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87 / 52 / 168 / 138 / 94 / 30 (517) [+Solid Rock (HA), -Soundproof (HA)] +Power Gem (Aasgier)
Justification: "Bastiodon never looked like a powerful physical attacker to me, so instead I made this walking fortress attacking from a range, shifting its 2nd-highest stat to Special Attack. Due to that, it has much less SpDef than before, but it gained enough HP to make difference in bulk on the special side much less notable. I gave it 87 HP because I was bored of seeing all the simple 60s and 70s and 80s in this thread and Bastiodon always had pretty random stats.
In between its STAB moves Flash Cannon and Power Gem, and coverage in the form of Thunderbolt, Ice Beam and Flamethrower, it can hit pretty damn hard, especially with maximum investment. It can tank numerous hits as well, but the lack of reliable recovery allows it to be whittled down eventually regardless.
The kept stat values were 168, 138 and 52, as well as 30."

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60 / 82 / 138 / 77 / 108 / 30 (495) [+Bulletproof (HA), -Soundproof (HA)] +Thunder Wave (MegaGallade)
Justification: "This stat distribution is actually planned for another Pet Mod of mine, but since the chance has come I decided to show it first here. It stops being Bastiodon from having too-high defenses, and gives it better offensive capabilities. Bulletproof because it's a shield. Lastly, Thunder Wave since the only other status condition move it gets is Toxic, and Bastiodon learns quite a few electric-type moves anyway."


85 / 135 / 130 / 50 / 70 / 30 (500) [+Solid Rock (HA), -Sand Force (HA)] No moveset change. (The Reptile)
Justification: "Gigalith has a huge buff in the form of Solid Rock - this makes it a force to be reckoned with. To make up for this, it's SpDef got nerfed a bit, although it is a bit faster which is nice. There really isn't much else to say about this - Gigalith is basically the same it always was - a Solid Rock."

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85 / 135 / 130 / 50 / 110 / 20 (530) [+Analytic (HA), -Sand Force (HA)] +Swords Dance, +Diamond Storm (Ticktock)
Justification: "With a better Special Defence, it can take special attacks better and can retaliate back with an move. It now has access to Analytic becuase it's slow speed makes it move almost last. This helps to combined with Swords Dance it now has, it can take a hit and retaliate back with a boosted Diamond Storm."

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85 / 135 / 130 / 60 / 100 / 25 (535) [+Diamond Armor {Fire-type immunity + Bulletproof}, -Sturdy] +Recover, +Play Rough, +Diamond Storm, -Explosion (Aasgier)
Justification: "No Solid Rock, which I originally wanted to give to Gigalith, but instead I decided to go with a souped up Bulletproof that also turns a resistance into a full immunity, giving it a very convenient Will-O-Wisp immunity in the process, making it a much better counter to Fletchinder and Talonflame than most other Rock-types. I left its stats mostly unchanged, but I added some Special Defence, which is needed as it loses out on Sturdy, which also takes Custap sets out of the equation.
Move-wise, it gains Recover, making it the one of the rare defensive Rock-types that can last throughout the match and keep checking Normal and Flying spam. Diamond Storm because it goes well with the name of its new ability. And last, Play Rough to prevent Gurdurr from setting up nilly-willy on it, but Gigalith has trouble to afford the moveslot for it (with Recover, Diamond Storm and Earthquake pretty much being a given) unless you have a different Stealth Rock setter. I originally wanted to give it Zen Headbutt instead of Play Rough, but when I glanced at its prevolutions, I found Play Rough the better fit.
Gigalith is now entirely different from Golem and the numerous other Rock-types that have found their home in NU, whether that is Solrock, Bastiodon or Cradily.
The last thing that I changed is the loss of Explosion; we have other Rock-types to say hello like a bomb, not to mention that Explosion does not really fit with the other changes anyway."

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85 / 60 / 130 / 135 / 80 / 25 (515) [+Sand Stream (HA), -Sand Force (HA)] +Recover, +Giga Drain (Cretacerus)
Justification: "I wanted to keep Gigalith mono Rock-type, while avoiding the route of a generic bulky wall similar to Regirock and Rhydon. Changing Gigalith's formerly useless Hidden Ability Sand Force into Sand Stream gives it a unique and solid niche in the NU metagame, while also enhancing its already respectable bulk. Newly added reliable recovery fits Gigalith's flavor pretty well, and allows it to check powerful physical attackers in the metagame such as Kangaskhan, Fletchinder and Scyther throughout the match, while providing Sand Storm and Stealth Rock support for its team. To further set Gigalith apart from the other Rock-types in NU, it received a swap in its offensive stats, and has now access to a powerful Power Gem, Earth Power and Giga Drain, giving it all the coverage and offensive presence it needs in its role as supporting wall."

---------------------

80 / 80 / 80 / 125 / 130 / 40 (515) [+Solar Power (HA), -Sand Force (HA)] +Heat Crash, +Fire Blast, +Flamethrower, +Morning Sun (MegaGallade)
Justification: "First of all, the Ground type addition allows for STAB Earthquake and another 'Rock' Pokemon, Geodude, is part ground-type as well. I re-arranged its stats to make it a Special-oriented instead to make it different from Golem, and due to it's movepool (Also higher speed makes Rock Polish more viable). Solar Power because of Pokedex entries mentioning it's 'Solar Energy'. The moves are to make it a decent sun abuser, as it already has Solar Beam in its movepool. To keep it from being too overpowered, it lacks priority and fire STAB."


90 / 120 / 80 / 70 / 80 / 90 (530) [No Ability Change] +Sucker Punch, +Slack Off (The Reptile)
Justification: "Luxray now has a unique typing, a decent enough speed tier, and recovery for defensive sets. It's abilities are still the same though. It is now a decently powerful, decently fast, and decently bulky Pokemon with a unique typing. Sucker Punch lets it deal with priority, while Slack Off lets it run a bulkier set if it really wants to. Luxray is now a really cool Pokemon."

---------------------

80 / 100 / 80 / 110 / 80 / 90 (540) [+Moxie, +Strong Jaw (HA), -Rivalry, -Guts (HA)] +Sucker Punch, +Slack Off, +Close Combat, +Dark Pulse, +Energy Ball (Ticktock)
Justification: "The lynx finally gets the Dark type it always wanted. It also gains Moxie and Strong Jaw to help with it's moves and Attack. It gains better Speed and Special Attack. With the new package, it gets Sucker Punch for priority, Slack Off for recovery, Close Combat for a better Fighting move, Dark Pulse for a special Dark STAB, and Energy Ball for Ground coverage."

---------------------

92 / 122 / 92 / 62 / 82 / 72 (522) [+Strong Jaw (HA), -Guts (HA)] No moveset change. (Aasgier)
Justification: "Much like those before me, I think Luxray is a fine candidate to gain the Dark-type alongside its Electric-typing. However, Luxray looks too honest to me at the same time to use a dirty trick, so I don't give it Sucker Punch. It instead gains Strong Jaw, to boost its coverage moves, like Ice Fang and Crunch, to respectable levels. It can also utilize Intimidate alongside a (rather weak) Volt Switch if it wants to, but its low speed is a bit of a bummer, though I made sure that it outspeeds Samurott given equal investment."

---------------------

80 / 120 / 79 / 95 / 79 / 70 (523) [No Ability Change] No moveset change. (Cretacerus)
Justification: "A lot of people have already suggested the interesting Electric/Dark-typing and Strong Jaw ability that I was originally going for, so this submission will take a slightly different route and play on Luxray's inherent strengths instead. As such, the only change he received was a secondary typing to complement his fearsome Guts set: Guts-boosted STAB 140 BP Facade from Luxray's base 120 Atk stat will certainly hurt a lot and make Luxray an extremely effective wallbreaker, especially since Normal resists and immunities can all be dealt with potential coverage in Superpower and Crunch. Luxray now does not have to rely on the mediocre Wild Charge for a strong STAB move anymore, which makes a huge difference for its already limited longevity. STAB Quick Attack is another benefit granted by the Normal-type, and allows Luxray to make up for the mediocre speed that has always held it back in the past."

---------------------

80 / 120 / 79 / 95 / 79 / 80 (533) [No Ability Change] +Pursuit, +Flame Charge, +Agility, +Dark Pulse (MegaGallade)
Justification: "Luxray doesn't need to be overly changed too much, in all honesty. Dark type because of its coloration and attitude. I only gave it +10 Speed since all of its other stats are pretty decent as is. It gets Pursuit as it's a predator, after all, so it must be able to pursue prey (also STAB). Flame Charge as it learns Fire Fang already, and Zebstrika, a quite similar Pokemon to Luxray, gets Flame Charge. With Agility (since lynx are agile) Luxray finally gets some way other than stat changes to raise its speed. Lastly, Dark Pulse for special Dark STAB."

Please PM me (not runbabyrun) with your votes and the voting phase will end by Wednesday (hopefully) Thursday!

Some points that could be discussed:
  • Which submissions do you disagree with and why? [Remember: Be to the point and decisive: No hate]
  • What Pokemon do you want to nerf / buff soon and why? (Preferably PU / BL4 and OU / BL please :] )
  • What sets could be made from last week's nerfs and buffs?

Thanks for reading!
 
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Cretacerus

Survivor
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Reactions Contest Winner

60 / 92 / 138 / 47 / 128 / 30 (495) [+Bulletproof (HA), -Soundproof (HA)] +Dragon Tail, +Thunder Wave, +Super Fang (MegaGallade)
Justification: "Pixilate is a huge improvement on Maractus. Since we have the one-new-move limit, and since Maractus has a lackluster movepool, Pixilate seemed like the only way to go. Maractus gets the Fairy type because of it's pink, jolly/happy attitude, and as a counterpart to Cacturne, another cactus. Also, Maractus' BST is now the same as Cacturne's, except more defensive than offensive. Lastly, it gains Earth Power for more coverage, and it lives in the desert so how can it not? A sunflower can harness the power of the earth too..."
Hey there, this looks very much like my submission with the wrong name and justification attached somehow. ;)

Anyway, I'd like to suggest the following Pokemon for the upcoming round:

Nerfs: Crobat, Nidoqueen, Garchomp
Buffs: Tropius, Corsola, Armaldo
 
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canno

formerly The Reptile
Er, I think the entirety of the Luxray submissions are wrong. At the very least mine is - iirc mine is the first one

edit: tagging MegaGallade so he can fix any issues with the voting post, as it seems I'm not the only one
 
Many submissions were awfully similar, especially Luxray because the Dark-typing was so obvious. (and the Normal suggestion isn't any better because it's just a better Ursaring now).
Talonflame isn't any better in that regard, and then there are a few suggestions that are really unorginal because they are remarkably similar to things we already have (Ground-type Gigalith springs to mind, even if this one is a special attacker), but we really don't need another Ground-type quad-weak to Grass and/or Water in NU.

Also, I'm seeing a few issues with the voting post so I'm holding back my own votes for now ^ I'm seeing MegaGallade with two submissions on Bastiodon, for example.
 
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Here is my suggestion for buffs and nerfs
Nerfs: Weavile Magnezone Mega Manectric
Buffs: Lumineon Delibird and Swoobat
 
Hey there, this looks very much like my submission with the wrong name and justification attached somehow. ;)
I thought making the voting post took to quickly (normally takes 2-3 hours)... I'll fix it when I can.
Er, I think the entirety of the Luxray submissions are wrong. At the very least mine is - iirc mine is the first one

edit: tagging MegaGallade so he can fix any issues with the voting post, as it seems I'm not the only one
Yeah... It's really just the names that are the problem... Sorry for any inconvenience!

EDIT: Everything should be fixed. Sorry again for any inconvenience. If there are any more mistakes please tell me asap! :P
 
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Cretacerus

Survivor
is a Top Artist Alumnusis a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnusis a Top Smogon Media Contributor Alumnus
Reactions Contest Winner
Umm, Aasgier, I'd just like to point out that the only common Pokemon actively abusing Guts (or equivalent) in NU are Swellow and Zangoose, none of which are really similar to Luxray. Ursaring is outclassed by both of them and hardly relevant in NU, and even then it prefers to run Quick Feet due to the lack of priority. As far as I see it, my proposed change does in no way replicate any existing role in NU..
 
Umm, Aasgier, I'd just like to point out that the only common Pokemon actively abusing Guts (or equivalent) in NU are Swellow and Zangoose, none of which are really similar to Luxray. Ursaring is outclassed by both of them and hardly relevant in NU, and even then it prefers to run Quick Feet due to the lack of priority. As far as I see it, my proposed change does in no way replicate any existing role in NU..
True, but your Luxray would not run Electric coverage in most sets, I think (because its Electric STAB is mediocre, as you said)
- Facade
- Superpower / Wild Charge
- Crunch / Wild Charge / Ice Fang
- Quick Attack / Fire Fang / Volt Switch
As you see, the first four moves (primary choices) are the same set as Zangoose. It might run a set with "BoltBeam" coverage, potentially aided by Fire Fang if it wants to be different, or run Volt Switch instead of QA on Zangoose's set.

Ursaring runs
- Facade
- Earthquake / Close Combat
- Play Rough / Crunch
- Seed Bomb / Fire Punch
At least somewhat unpredictable, even moreso because it doesn't really have a primary choice (especially the last moveslot). It will likely run a set that Zangoose cannot (thus opting for EQ and Play Rough) but can always opt to run a very similar set, making it quite scary because it has little to no counter.

Essentially, your Zangoose is in between Zangoose and Ursaring. It has its perks over Zangoose (more bulk, Bullet Punch resistance) but also its downsides (ground weakness, slower, Superpower and Crunch are worse than Close Combat and Knock Off, respectively). Ursaring is still different though its Guts set is (and was) outclassed. The fact it can still run Guts instead of Quick Feet, however, is part of what makes it one of the hardest mons to face.
Swellow is indeed entirely different, not a contest, but I never compared with it.
 
The Voting Phase is over! ...a bit earlier than usual... Here are the results:

Mega Gardevoir
68 / 105 / 65 / 165 / 135 / 80 (618) [New Abilities: +Synchronise, -Pixilate] No moveset change. (By Cretacerus )
Keldeo
91 / 72 / 90 / 129 / 90 / 108 (580) [No Ability Change] -Calm Mind, -Work Up, -Secret Sword, -Icy Wind, -Scald (By MegaGallade )
Talonflame
98 / 81 / 69 / 54 / 71 / 126 (499) [New Abilities: +Reckless (HA), -Gale Wings (HA)] +Wild Charge, +Double-Edge (By The Reptile )

Gigalith
85 / 135 / 130 / 50 / 110 / 20 (530) [New Abilities: +Analytic (HA), -Sand Force (HA)] +Swords Dance, +Diamond Storm (By Ticktock )
*Please read bottom of post to see why Bastiodon and Luxray aren't here.


Thanks for all who posted submissions and thanks for all who voted! These changes will be added to the spreadsheet soon!
Anyways, here are the New Pokemon for modification:

Nerfs:
Excadrill
| Current Stats: 110 / 135 / 60 / 50 / 65 / 88 (508)
Magnezone
| Current Stats: 70 / 70 / 115 / 130 / 90 / 60 (535)
Mega Manectric | Current Stats: 70 / 75 / 80 / 135 / 80 / 135 (575) [Note: Same Mega Evolution limits as last time.]


Buffs: (Jungle life... you're far away from nothing.)
Arbok | Current Stats: 60 / 85 / 69 / 65 / 79 / 80 (438)
Corsola
| Current Stats: 55 / 55 / 85 / 65 / 85 / 35 (380)
Tropius | Current Stats: 99 / 68 / 83 / 72 / 87 / 51 (460)


This week we have two challenges yet again; Excadrill's Mold Breaker could really hit NU hard, right? So, Excadrill must keep Mold Breaker. Also, that 99 HP on Tropius is pretty unique; Tropius must not have any stats that exceed 99.

For the first time, we have not just one tie in the votes, but two! In this case, for Bastiodon and Luxray!
Bastiodon
60 / 92 / 138 / 47 / 128 / 30 (495) [New Abilities: +Bulletproof (HA), -Soundproof (HA)] +Dragon Tail, +Thunder Wave, +Super Fang (By Cretacerus )
Bastiodon
60 / 82 / 138 / 77 / 108 / 30 (495) [+Bulletproof (HA), -Soundproof (HA)] +Thunder Wave (By MegaGallade )
Luxray
90 / 120 / 80 / 70 / 80 / 90 (530) [No Ability Change] +Sucker Punch, +Slack Off (By The Reptile )
Luxray
80 / 120 / 79 / 95 / 79 / 80 (533) [No Ability Change] +Pursuit, +Flame Charge, +Agility, +Dark Pulse (By MegaGallade )

Note, for purposes of equality I haven't voted for any Pokemon that has tied. :P
For the tiebreaker, please vote for which submission you prefer and why, in the thread below (preferably with your submissions)
This Justification counts as a legal vote:
I'd vote for xxxxx's xxxxx submission because I think this really gives xxxxx a niche in the current metagame and makes a lot of sense flavor-wise. The other submission, in my opinion, is too overpowered and would easily break the meta.
This Justification is not a legal vote:
i vote for xxxxx's submission cuz its mine lol and uh i think its awsum
You can vote for your own, but not using the reason above. The winner will be posted when the voting phase starts.

Thanks for reading and good luck!
 
Ooh, interesting choices.

Bastiodon-wise my own voting post was so close that I rolled a dice to decide for the first three slots (those that didn't give it a Dragon-typing). While I agree Dragon/Steel is a very cool typing, Bastiodon is foremost a fossil, and with that, carries a Rock-typing. Dragon/Steel has a ton of niches, but I do not think I'd like to see that on something like Bastiodon. I'll vote for MegaGallade, which is pretty balanced and has found a niche.

Luxray wasn't much better voting wise; one was eliminated from the get-go (Electric/Normal variety) and the other four were close enough for me to consider a dice too. But as I said in my submission, I don't really like Sucker Punch on Luxray. It feels too off. So I'll vote for MegaGallade once more.

Nerfs:

Pokémon: Excadrill
Typing:
/

Current Stats:
120 / 135 / 40 / 50 / 35 / 74 (454)
Ability: Mold Breaker / Soundproof [HA]
Moves: -Swords Dance, -Shadow Claw
Excadrill became a bit slower and lost a good portion of its bulk. It still has its HP stat, but that only makes it serve as a health bank for things like Ferroseed and Gourgeist. It even misses Shadow Claw to assist it in killing Spinblockers that resist Ground, like the aforementioned Gourgeist.
Still, Mold Breaker Earthquake is very useful in the tier and so is its typing, but it is much easier to revenge-kill.
However, if it gets in safely, it is probably going to hurt. But a lot of things can scare it out, it has enough weaknesses to pray on and due to its stat distribution it doesn't really like draining moves either, giving it a bit of an odd weakness to pick up on. It can still easily handle a good number of spinblockers though, since its Earthquakes negate levitate and coming from an attack stat like this, it is going to hurt like hell.


Pokémon: Magnezone
Typing:
/

Current Stats:
70 / 70 / 115 / 130 / 90 / 50 (525)
Ability: Levitate
Moveset Changes: -Volt Switch
I removed only 10 points from its Speed stat, and then just shredded its abilities which put even its prevolution to the edge. Not that Levitate isn't useful, what with that 4× weakness to Ground, but it does also remove much of the utility it used to have in Magnet Pull and Analytic (or even Sturdy). That, and we have a few Mold Breaker's to eat it alive anyway.
It is still very hard to switch into, but outside of Hidden Power it has no noteworthy coverage anyway. It loses Volt Switch, and with that, Magneton loses it too, so that banned bugger becomes more manageable too in the process (and now serves an entirely different role with its abilities).



Pokémon: Mega Manectric
Typing:

Current Stats:
70 / 85 / 80 / 145 / 85 / 110 (575)
Ability: Lightningrod
Moveset Changes:
I removed some of its Speed, so it is much more manageable and not taking Electrode's gimmick of an Electric-type with blistering speed. It now kept Lightningrod from its base form instead, which is a huge bummer but also makes it less of a catch-all check to physical attackers with Intimidate + Volt Switch.
It is a souped up Life Orb Manectric, exchanging firepower for bulk and only a little bit of speed


Buffs:

Pokémon: Arbok
Typing:

Current Stats:
90 / 85 / 79 / 65 / 89 / 80 (488)
Ability: Intimidate / Shed Skin / Unnerve [HA] (Unchanged)
Moveset changes: None
Arbok is plenty dangerous when it sets up, but now with +30 added to HP and +10 to both defenses, it has a much easier time doing so, becoming a very deadly Coil sweeper in the process. A small but very powerful niche it already serves in the lwoer tiers and served in Gen V, and can now serve once more. Its attacks and coverage are deadly as it are, so I found no reason to add additional moves to its moveset. Coil, Gunk Shot, Sucker Punch, and a lot of coverage moves like Earthquake, Seed Bomb and Aqua Tail will form its main set, and an effective one nonetheless.


Pokémon: Corsola
Typing:
/

Current Stats:
95 / 55 / 125 / 80 / 85 / 15 (460)
Ability: Water Veil / Natural Cure / Regenerator
Moveset Changes: None
I first wanted to change its typing, but in the end found Water/Rock just too fitting for something that is coral - while not technically a living rock, it comes awfully close. It lives in the water, too. Instead, I just buffed it statwise, adding 40 points to HP and Def stats, making it a true defensive Rock-type that can last an entire battle. Removing Hustle - kinda useless especially when its SpA is a fair bit higher - and instead gave it a 3rd defensive ability that makes it completely immune to Burns. Not as useful as the other two abilities, but a valid choice nontheless. I also made it a great deal slower, because coral is unmoving in real life.

Much like with Arbok, it has anything it needs in its moveset. Earth Power, Scald, Power Gem, Recover, Refresh, even Stealth Rock.


Pokémon: Tropius
Typing:
/

Current Stats:
99 / 88 / 88 / 77 / 88 / 66 (506)
Ability: Chlorophyll / Overgrowth [HA]
[B} Movepool changes: [/B} None
Harvest sets are out of the equation now, because they are annoying as heck. However, its Dragon Dance and Sun Sweeper sets both became a great deal more viable with its newfound attack buffs. But even after a Dragon Dance it is easily revenged due to the lack of priority and the fact it isn't THAT fast, and we have a few Ice Shard users in the tier. It can also still run a defensive set with Leech Seed, Roost and Giga Drain in its moveset, but it is just a great deal less annoying than the Harvest set it used to have.
And yes, I could not resist this stat distribution. I'm sorry.
 

Excadrill
Type:
(unchanged)
New stats: 90 / 115 / 70 / 70 / 75 / 88 (508)
(New) Abilities: Hyper Cutter / Battle Armor / Mold Breaker
Added/Removed Moves: -Stealth Rock, -Rock Slide, -Brick Break, -Submission, -Shadow Claw

Justification: For the stat distribution, I added 30 to every stat Drilbur has, and swapped 10 in Speed to the useless Special Attack, leaving Excadrill with more bulk, but less offensive power. Hyper Cutter makes sense due to its 'cutting-edge' claws, and Battle Armor too due to the addition of metal 'armor' apon evolution, the last of which preventing anymore Sand Rush shenanigans. Lastly, removal of lead potential in Stealth Rock as well as decent coverage means Exacdrill can be walled by, interestingly, Skarmory, unless you run the not-so powerful Rock Tomb. I debated removing Swords Dance, but most sets may be Scarf anyway, and an SD set can be outsped easily.


Magnezone
Type:

New stats: 70 / 100 / 105 / 120 / 80 / 60 (535)
(New) abilities: Magnet Pull / Sturdy / Heavy Metal
Added/Removed Moves: +Heavy Slam
Justification: Magnezone evolves from an influx of electrical energy, so this energy would be so overpowering, would it's Steel type be removed? The main reason for this is because one of the reasons Magneton was banned was because of its type. I rearranged the stats to move most of the stats into Attack, which is fairly useable now. Magnezone also gets Heavy Metal and Heavy Slam to give it at least some sort of niche, and Analytic is very powerful from 100 / 120 Attack stats.


Mega Manectric
Type:
(unchanged)
New stats: 70 / 85 / 85 / 135 / 95 / 105 (575)
(New) ability: Rough Skin
Added/Removed Moves:
None
Justification: Making Mega Manectric more bulky, as 135 speed is very good especially for NU levels, Rough Skin seemed like the obvious choice due to the amount of spikes Mega Manectric obtains. Not much else to say here.



Arbok
Type:

New stats: 80 / 95 / 79 / 60 / 89 / 85 (488)
(New) abilities: Intimidate / Shed Skin / Contrary
Added/Removed Moves: +Draco Meteor, +Dragon Rush, +Dragon Dance, +Outrage
Justification: The Dragon type is often associated with reptiles, dinosaurs, and thus snakes. Similarly to Serperior, Arbok gains Contrary and Draco Meteor, but with only 60 Special Attack as to not be too broken. Dragon Rush is great when used with Coil, as Coil boosts Accuracy. Dragon Dance can always be an option, and 'snake dancing' is a thing. Lastly, Outrage may be chosen over Dragon Rush due to better accuracy and base power, and is good STAB.



Corsola
Type:

New stats: 75 / 80 / 105 / 80 / 105 / 35 (490)
(New) abilities: No change
Added/Removed Moves: +Horn Leech, +Giga Drain, +Energy Ball, +Spiky Shield, +Spikes
Justification: Water/Grass may seem odd at first glance, but the reason for it is because Corsola is obviously based on Coral, marine plant life. I kept all of its abilities as they are pretty good already, Hustle being fun to play with. It gets Horn Leech due to its horn-like branches, Giga Drain for special recovery, Energy Ball for a decent special new stab move, Spiky Shield due to again, its branches, and Spikes also.



Tropius
Type:
(unchanged)

New stats: 99 / 88 / 83 / 92 / 97 / 81 (540)
(New) abilities: Chlorophyll / Regenerator / Harvest
Added/Removed Moves: +Weather Ball, +Brave Bird, +Earth Power, +Defog, +Hurricane
Justification: Making Tropius much more balanced, Tropius gets Regenerator due to the facts its fruit apparently regrows, or regenerates, over time. Weather Ball is good for weather teams, and good to make use of Chlorophyll, and Brave Bird is reliable physical STAB, as Tropius gets Dragon Dance. Earth Power since Tropius gets Earthquake already, Defog for a more defensive option and for Harvest compatibility, and Hurricane again for Flying STAB.
 
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Pokemon:
Excadrill
Typing Change: Ground/Steel
New Stats: 90/130/60/60/65/71 (476)
New Ability: Hyper Cutter/Sand Force/Mold Breaker
Added/Removed Moves: -Swords Dance, -Stealth Rock
Justification: With 71 Speed, a Jolly Scarfed Excadrill only reaches 397 Speed, making it much harder for the mole to do its revenge-killing job. The reduced overall bulk makes taking hits harder, too, and the lack of Swords Dance means Excadrill may sometimes finds itself without enough power to break through opponents. Removing Stealth Rock also stops it from laying down rocks in the face of Magic Bounce users. Oh and also, even though sand teams don't seem to be prevalent in NU, Sand Rush is probably too much for the tier to handle.


Pokemon:
Magnezone
Typing Change: Electric/Steel
New Stats: 70/80/105/120/80/50 (505)
New Ability: Magnet Pull/Heavy Metal/Analytic
Added/Removed Moves: -Thunderbolt
Justification: Yeah, I took Thunderbolt away. Now that Magnezone has to rely on Discharge and Volt Switch, combined with its even lower speed and SpA, it doesn't quite have the ability to utilise a Scarf set. As Magnezone's main niche in OU is to trap Steel-types, I'm not about to take that away, but with how few Steel-types there are in NU, it may choose to use Analytic to pick up some extra damage instead. At least it doesn't have recovery.


Pokemon:
Mega Manectric
Typing Change: Electric
New Stats: 70/90/120/120/80/95 (565)
New Ability: Weak Armor
Added/Removed Moves:
None
Justification: With Weak Armor and a much lower speed, Mega Manectric basically has to take a hit in order to go fast. While it's much faster at +1 Speed, with the lack of Intimidate it's much easier to take it out with priority or simply with powerful physical moves. That, and with how it has to switch out whenever it uses Overheat, it becomes much easier to be worn down.


Pokemon:
Arbok
Typing Change: Poison
New Stats: 60/95/79/60/89/100 (483)
New Ability: Intimidate/Shed Skin/Regenerator
Added/Removed Moves:
None
Justification: As Muk already fills up the bulky Poison set-up tank role, I made Arbok much faster in order for it to have a decent speed even without investment. You can try and use a max speed Coil set with Intimidate to aid in setting up, or a CoilRest variant with Shed Skin. Regenerator, on the other hand, gives Arbok recovery whenever it switches out, allowing it to have more longevity and be able to switch in and set-up again after taking hits.


Pokemon:
Corsola
Typing Change: Water/Rock
New Stats: 70/85/85/100/135/30 (495)
New Ability: Sap Sipper/Natural Cure/Sturdy
Added/Removed Moves:
+Aromatherapy, +Spikes
Justification: To differenciate itself from the other defensive Water/Rock types in NU, Corsola gains a huge buff to its SpD, which when combined with Sap Sipper makes it an exceptional special wall. Sap Sipper patches up its 4x weakness to Grass-type, and boosts its Stone Edge - which at +1 hits surprisingly hard, even without investment. With Aromatherapy, Corsola can also heal its party of status and boost its Atk at the same time, though keep in mind Sap Sipper negates the move's effect on Corsola itself. Using Sturdy, Corsola can also run a lead hazard setter with Spikes and Stealth Rock, though its Speed is really lacking.


Pokemon:
Tropius
Typing Change: Grass/Flying
New Stats: 99/88/93/72/87/61 (500)
New Ability: Adaptability/Filter/Harvest
Added/Removed Moves: +Power Whip, +Drill Peck, +Stone Edge
Justification: Adaptability makes a Dragon Dance set incredibly dangerous, as with a single boost, an Adamant LO set with max investment can cleanly 2HKO the whole tier save for a small chance of only 3HKOing Steelix. However, it's still not that fast with a single DD, and can be easily revenge killed. With Filter and the buffed bulk, Tropius can also tank a ridiculous amount of hits. It can run a SubSeed set with either Harvest for general tanking or Filter to counteract its unfortunately huge amount of weaknesses.
 
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canno

formerly The Reptile
I'll post a submission later, but for now I'll talk about Luxray and Bastiodon.

This might seem odd, but I actually think MegaGallade's Luxray should win, and here's my reasoning - I think I might of made Luxray too good, adding Sucker Punch and Slack Off, along with really solid stats. In retrospect this probably was a bad idea, balance wise. I think MegaGallade's is much more NU level in retrospect. Both are very similar, which makes me happy because I really like my submission, but overall MegaGallade's is probably more balanced.

As for Bastiodon, I also vote for MegaGallade simply because I am not a fan of the Steel / Dragon typing for Bastiodon - First of all, the flavor is really weak (It loses its Rock-typing, something all Fossilmons must have, and the only thing that ties Bastiodon to be a dragon is Tyranturm being a dragon). Second of all, I think that typing with those stats are simply too good - a RestTalk set with DTail and Iron Head would be insane.
 

T.I.A.

formerly Ticktock

Excadrill
Type:
\

New stats: 85 / 100 / 80 / 100 / 80 / 93 (538)
New Abilities: Rock Head / Iron Barbs / Mold Breaker
Added/Removed Moves: -Stealth Rock, -Brick Break, +Wood Hammer, +Flash Cannon, +Wild Charge
Justification: For the stat distribution, it gets more defensive capabilities at the cost of Attack, which makes it up for a better Special Attack. It also gains some Speed that makes up for Sand Rush, sort of. Rock Head is there because it's armored head makes it look like can be hard, and Iron Barbs because it's things are very pointy. Lastly, removal of lead potential in Stealth Rock as well as Brick Break which still means that the thing can still hit with some decent coverage, and after all, who uses Shadow Claw when you can use Mold Breaker Earthquake on Haunter. It gets Wood Hammer and Wild Charge to use Rock Head and Flash Cannon to use it's new Special Attack with a good STAB move.


Magnezone
Type:

New stats: 80 / 115 / 80 / 120 / 80 / 40 (515)
(New) abilities: Heavy Metal / Technician / Analytic
Added/Removed Moves: +Heavy Slam, +Drill Run, +Heat Crash, +U-turn, -Volt Switch
Justification: Magnezone evolves from an influx of electrical energy, so it would have it's Steel type removed. Rearrangement of the stats makes it have even worse speed than before and has a lot better Attack. Magnezone also gets Heavy Metal, Technician, Heat Crash, and Heavy Slam to give it at least some niches as well as getting Drill Run for coverage against other Electric types without being Earthquake, and Analytic is very powerful from 115 / 120 Attack stats. It loses Volt Switch which it now has U-turn to patch things up a bit.


Mega Manectric
Type:

New stats: 70 / 65 / 105 / 125 / 105 / 105 (575)
(New) ability: Rough Skin
Added/Removed Moves:
None
Justification: Making Mega Manectric more bulky, as 105 speed is still good especially for NU levels. Rough Skin seemed like the obvious ability due to the amount of spikes it obtains. Not much else to say here.



Arbok
Type:
/

New stats: 80 / 95 / 89 / 95 / 89 / 85 (533)
(New) abilities: Intimidate / Shed Skin / No Guard
Added/Removed Moves:
+Dragon Rush, +Dragon Dance, +Dragon Pulse, +Earth Power, +Flamethrower, +Thunderbolt, +Ice Beam
Justification: The Dragon type is often associated with reptiles snakes. It has improved stats all around, with being it's Special Attack being the most improved. It gets more Dragon moves and gets some special coverage. Thanks to No Guard, Dragon Rush becomes way more usable and makes Coil not really useful. It also gets FlameBoltBeam coverage as, hey, Dragonite has it, so why not this. It gets Earth Power because, well, it gets Mud Bomb.


Corsola
Type:
/

New stats: 90 / 100 / 105 / 100 / 105 / 25 (525)
(New) abilities: Water Absorb / Natural Cure / Regenerator
Added/Removed Moves: +Horn Leech, +Giga Drain, +Energy Ball, +Spiky Shield, +Spikes, +Hydro Pump, +Waterfall, +Leaf Blade, +Toxic Spikes
Justification: It's new typing reflects on Coral, which is plant life. It has much improved stats all around, especially in it's offensives. It gets Horn Leech for physical STAB recovery, Giga Drain for special STAB recovery, Energy Ball and Leaf Blade for decent new STAB moves, Spiky Shield due to it's spikes, Spikes and Toxic Spikes also because of it's spikes, and Hydro Pump and Waterfall being good Water moves if running a slow Offensive set.


Tropius
Type:
/

New stats: 99 / 98 / 97 / 98 / 97 / 71 (560)
(New) abilities: Chlorophyll / Regenerator / Harvest
Added/Removed Moves: +Brave Bird, +Earth Power, +Hurricane, +Draco Meteor, +Dragon Claw, +Calm Mind
Justification: Having above average stats it does have now does not mean that it gets no allowment in NU. With access to Dragon Dance and Calm Mind as well as good coverage and STAB moves gives it the chance to shine in NU. It gets the Dragon typing and Regenerator for maximum power and defensive capabilities.
 
Last edited:

canno

formerly The Reptile
NERFS


Pokemon: Excadrill
Typing:
/
[No Change]
New Stats: 108 / 127 / 55 / 50 / 65 / 75 (480)
New Ability: Iron Barbs / Sand Force / Mold Breaker (HA)
Added/Removed Moves: -Shadow Claw
Justification: So this Excadrill is very much nerfed. Its speed is only decent, although it does hit pretty hard. It's bulk is alright thanks to its high HP, but it has low bulk so it's not the most tanky thing either. Removed Shadow Claw to weaken its rapid spinning powers, so now Ghosts that aren't ground weak can spinblock it. Iron Barbs can help a more defensive set, as seen on things like Garchomp and Ferrothorn. Overall a solid spinner and even rocker for NU.


Pokemon: Magnezone
Typing:
/
[No Change]
New Stats: 65 / 85 / 100 / 125 / 90 / 60 (525)
New Ability: Plus / Minus / Magnet Pull (HA)
Added/Removed Moves: -Volt Switch
Justification: Pretty simple nerf - its stats overall outside of attack have been nerfed. Its abilities have also been changed - basically only Magnet Pull is usable now. It also loses Volt Switch, removing a lot of what made it powerful. However, it is still a potent bulky attacker in the NU tier thanks to its cool typing and decent SpA. Not having Volt Switch hurts it a lot though.


Pokemon: Mega Manectric
Typing:
[No Change]
New Stats: 70 / 95 / 80 / 135 / 80 / 115 (575)
New Ability: Static
Added/Removed Moves: [No Change]
Justification: Basically now its a lot slower, and has higher attack which is mostly useless. Not much else changes for it. It's ability, the main thing that kept it from not being terrible, is gone, being replaced by the much weaker Static. Static to me makes sense, as Manectric has become Lighting Incarnate - even touching this electrifying beast can paralyze you! Its a pretty solid NU mon now, being a faster manectric.

BUFFS



Pokemon: Arbok
Typing:
/

New Stats: 82 / 95 / 69 / 45 / 99 / 90 (480)
New Ability: Intimidate / Shed Skin / Multiscale (HA)
Added/Removed Moves: +Dragon Dance, +U-Turn, +Recover
Justification: Now Arbok is more of a jack-of-all-trades pokemon, having usable bulk, speed, and power, but not excelling at any 1 thing. This is to nerf out Arbok's insane Poison / Dark typing, a really solid typing for it to have. Calling back to its dragonic roots (it is in the Dragon egg group, after all), it now has Dragon Dance as an alternative boosting option. It also has U-Turn for more supportive options, and Recover makes it bulkier than it seems. It's higher SpDef works well with Intimidate, while a boosting set can use either Multiscale or Intimidate to help boostings. Finally, Shed Skin is still a stellar ability to have.


Pokemon: Corsola
Typing:
/
[No Change]
New Stats: 75 / 65 / 105 / 55 / 85 / 35 (420)
New Ability: Rough Skin / Natural Cure / Regenerator (HA)
Added/Removed Moves: [No Change]
Justification: Corsola now becomes a scary wall to bird pokemon, sporting decent 75/105 physical bulk. Birds without coverage for this thing are in trouble. It also works as a general wall - it's special bulk is a bit lacking, but physically its bulk is nice. It has 3 great abilities to choose from - Rough Skin punishes birds even harder, especially if they use Brave Bird. Natural Cure is also good due to its status healing, but the main other ability here is Regenerator, keeping the bird check constantly healthy. Overall a solid wall with (again) an exploitable weakness.


Pokemon: Tropius
Typing:
/
[No Change]
New Stats: 99 / 80 / 81 / 80 / 89 / 71 (500)
New Ability: Technician / Thick Fat / Harvest (HA)
Added/Removed Moves: +Bulk Up, +Calm Mind
Justification: Tropius is a weird mon now. It still has Harvest shenanigans to do, but now it has some alternatives that are pretty decent. Thick Fat removes that big x4 Ice Weakness and removes its Fire weakness, making it a very solid option for Tropius. Of course, set-up is also a thing. Technician is mainly there to help physical sets - technician Aerial Ace and Bullet Seed are very nice. It also gets 2 bulky set-up moves. Overall a solid mon.
 

Excadrill
Type:
\

New stats: 85 / 100 / 80 / 100 / 80 / 93 (538)
New Abilities: Rock Head / Battle Armor / Mold Breaker
Added/Removed Moves: -Stealth Rock, -Brick Break, +Wood Hammer, +Flash Cannon, +Wild Charge
Justification: For the stat distribution, it gets more defensive capabilities at the cost of Attack, which makes it up for a better Special Attack. It also gains some Speed that makes up for Sand Rush, sort of. Rock Head is there because it's armored head makes it look like can be hard, and Battle Armor too due to the addition of metal 'armor' apon evolution, the last of which preventing anymore Sand Rush shenanigans. Lastly, removal of lead potential in Stealth Rock as well as Brick Break which still means that the thing can still hit with some decent coverage, and after all, who uses Shadow Claw when you can use Mold Breaker Earthquake on Haunter. It gets Wood Hammer and Wild Charge to use Rock Head and Flash Cannon to use it's new Special Attack. I debated removing Swords Dance, but most sets may be Scarf anyway, and an SD set can be outsped easily.


Magnezone
Type:

New stats: 80 / 115 / 80 / 110 / 80 / 70 (535)
(New) abilities: Heavy Metal / Technician / Analytic
Added/Removed Moves: +Heavy Slam, +Drill Run, +Heat Crash
Justification: Magnezone evolves from an influx of electrical energy, so this energy would be so overpowering, would it's Steel type be removed? Rearrangement of the stats makes it have the same speed of Magneton and have a lot better Attack. Magnezone also gets Heavy Metal, Technician, Heat Crash, and Heavy Slam to give it at least some niches as well as getting Drill Run for coverage against other Electric types without being Earthquake, and Analytic is very powerful from 100 / 120 Attack stats.


Mega Manectric
Type:

New stats: 70 / 65 / 105 / 125 / 105 / 105 (575)
(New) ability: Rough Skin
Added/Removed Moves:
None
Justification: Making Mega Manectric more bulky, as 135 speed is very good especially for NU levels. Rough Skin seemed like the obvious choice due to the amount of spikes Mega Manectric obtains. Not much else to say here.



Arbok
Type:
/

New stats: 80 / 95 / 89 / 95 / 89 / 85 (533)
(New) abilities: Intimidate / Shed Skin / No Guard
Added/Removed Moves:
+Dragon Rush, +Dragon Dance, +Dragon Pulse, +Earth Power, +Flamethrower, +Thunderbolt, +Ice Beam
Justification: The Dragon type is often associated with reptiles, dinosaurs, and thus snakes. It has improved stats all around, with being it's Special Attack being the most improved. It gets more Dragon moves and gets some special coverage. Thanks to No Guard, Dragon Rush becomes way more usable and makes Coil not really useful. It also gets FlameBoltBeam coverage as, hey, Dragonite has, so why not this. It gets Earth Power because, well, it gets Mud Bomb.

Corsola
Type:
/

New stats: 90 / 100 / 105 / 100 / 105 / 25 (525)
(New) abilities: Water Absorb / Natural Cure / Regenerator
Added/Removed Moves: +Horn Leech, +Giga Drain, +Energy Ball, +Spiky Shield, +Spikes, +Hydro Pump, +Waterfall, +Leaf Blade
Justification: Water/Grass may seem odd at first glance, but the reason for it is because Corsola is obviously based on Coral, marine plant life. It gets Horn Leech due to its horn-like branches, Giga Drain for special recovery, Energy Ball and Leaf Blade for decent new STAB moves, Spiky Shield due to again, its branches, Spikes also, and Hydro Pump and Waterfall being good Water moves if running a slow Offensive set.

Tropius
Type:
/

New stats: 99 / 98 / 97 / 98 / 97 / 71 (560)
(New) abilities: Chlorophyll / Regenerator / Harvest
Added/Removed Moves: +Brave Bird, +Earth Power, +Hurricane, +Draco Meteor, +Dragon Claw, +Calm Mind
Justification: Having above average stats it does have now does not mean that it gets no allowment in NU. With access to Dragon Dance and Calm Mind as well as good coverage and STAB moves gives it the chance to shine in NU. It gets the Dragon typing and Regenerator for maximum power and defensive capabilities.
Can you remove some of my own justification? If everyone copied everyone elses' justification there won't be any variety. Thanks.
 

Cretacerus

Survivor
is a Top Artist Alumnusis a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnusis a Top Smogon Media Contributor Alumnus
Reactions Contest Winner
I quite like the submissions posted so far, so I guess I won't have to write up my own ones this time round.^^

Anyway, I'd like to make some comments on the tied entries:

Luxray:
MegaGallade
Even though I really like the direction The Reptile took with his submission, it might be a tad too much for the metagame to handle. I actually really like his proposed movepool changes since they are minor and efficient, but what pushed the submission over the edge for me is its base 90 Speed, which is really fast in the NU metagame for something that bulky and powerful. Honestly, I would have preferred Luxray to keep its original 70 Speed, but MegaGallade's spread is close enough to that I guess.^^

Bastiodon: MegaGallade
I have to agree with the posts above that my submission has overshot its goal with that combination of typing and bulk, even with the lack of reliable recovery and minimal offensive presence. Even a pure Dragon type with Bastiodon's bulk would probably dominate NU through sheer supportive capacity, and the additional Steel typing just makes it all the better.
That being said, I can't really see MegaGallade's version of Bastiodon filling any decent niche in NU at all, since it still faces huge competition from Regirock and Rhydon in the role of a defensive Rock-type. Both of them have superior bulk (physically in Rhydon's case) and most importantly offensive presence, while lacking a crippling 4x weaknesses to the coverage moves commonly employed by Normal-types.
In the end though, I believe that an outclassed Bastiodon is still healthier for the metagame than a overcentralizing Bastiodon. :P
 
Last edited:

T.I.A.

formerly Ticktock

Excadrill
Type:
(unchanged)
New stats: 90 / 115 / 70 / 70 / 75 / 88 (508)
(New) Abilities: Hyper Cutter / Battle Armor / Mold Breaker
Added/Removed Moves: -Stealth Rock, -Rock Slide, -Brick Break, -Submission, -Shadow Claw

Justification: For the stat distribution, I added 30 to every stat Drilbur has, and swapped 10 in Speed to the useless Special Attack, leaving Excadrill with more bulk, but less offensive power. Hyper Cutter makes sense due to its 'cutting-edge' claws, and Battle Armor too due to the addition of metal 'armor' apon evolution, the last of which preventing anymore Sand Rush shenanigans. Lastly, removal of lead potential in Stealth Rock as well as decent coverage means Exacdrill can be walled by, interestingly, Skarmory, unless you run the not-so powerful Rock Tomb. I debated removing Swords Dance, but most sets may be Scarf anyway, and an SD set can be outsped easily.


Magnezone
Type:

New stats: 70 / 100 / 105 / 120 / 80 / 60 (535)
(New) abilities: Magnet Pull / Sturdy / Heavy Metal
Added/Removed Moves: +Heavy Slam
Justification: Magnezone evolves from an influx of electrical energy, so this energy would be so overpowering, would it's Steel type be removed? The main reason for this is because one of the reasons Magneton was banned was because of its type. I rearranged the stats to move most of the stats into Attack, which is fairly useable now. Magnezone also gets Heavy Metal and Heavy Slam to give it at least some sort of niche, and Analytic is very powerful from 100 / 120 Attack stats.


Mega Manectric
Type:
(unchanged)
New stats: 70 / 85 / 85 / 135 / 95 / 105 (575)
(New) ability: Rough Skin
Added/Removed Moves:
None
Justification: Making Mega Manectric more bulky, as 135 speed is very good especially for NU levels, Rough Skin seemed like the obvious choice due to the amount of spikes Mega Manectric obtains. Not much else to say here.



Arbok
Type:

New stats: 80 / 95 / 79 / 60 / 89 / 85 (488)
(New) abilities: Intimidate / Shed Skin / Contrary
Added/Removed Moves: +Draco Meteor, +Dragon Rush, +Dragon Dance, +Outrage
Justification: The Dragon type is often associated with reptiles, dinosaurs, and thus snakes. Similarly to Serperior, Arbok gains Contrary and Draco Meteor, but with only 60 Special Attack as to not be too broken. Dragon Rush is great when used with Coil, as Coil boosts Accuracy. Dragon Dance can always be an option, and 'snake dancing' is a thing. Lastly, Outrage may be chosen over Dragon Rush due to better accuracy and base power, and is good STAB.



Corsola
Type:

New stats: 75 / 80 / 105 / 80 / 105 / 35 (490)
(New) abilities: No change
Added/Removed Moves: +Horn Leech, +Giga Drain, +Energy Ball, +Spiky Shield, +Spikes
Justification: Water/Grass may seem odd at first glance, but the reason for it is because Corsola is obviously based on Coral, marine plant life. I kept all of its abilities as they are pretty good already, Hustle being fun to play with. It gets Horn Leech due to its horn-like branches, Giga Drain for special recovery, Energy Ball for a decent special new stab move, Spiky Shield due to again, its branches, and Spikes also.



Tropius
Type:
(unchanged)

New stats: 99 / 88 / 83 / 92 / 97 / 81 (540)
(New) abilities: Chlorophyll / Regenerator / Harvest
Added/Removed Moves: +Weather Ball, +Brave Bird, +Earth Power, +Defog, +Hurricane
Justification: Making Tropius much more balanced, Tropius gets Regenerator due to the facts its fruit apparently regrows, or regenerates, over time. Weather Ball is good for weather teams, and good to make use of Chlorophyll, and Brave Bird is reliable physical STAB, as Tropius gets Dragon Dance. Earth Power since Tropius gets Earthquake already, Defog for a more defensive option and for Harvest compatibility, and Hurricane again for Flying STAB.
You know that Tropius already has Defog.
 

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