[on-site] Baton Pass Guide (Rewrite)

[Fuzznip]

It's finally done. I've been spending a lot of my time fixing this guide (the reason why I haven't been nearly as active in C&C these past couple of weeks), and I'm very happy that it's complete. I've done major changes as well, so I dearly hope everyone likes it.

Current Article: http://www.smogon.com/dp/articles/baton_pass_chains

Changes:
- removed Garchomp mentions
- split up guide into OU and UU
- added a bunch of more detail to the Baton Passers, including an example moveset and description
- added common Baton Pass receivers
- added a UU example team
- added UU examples of the "What beats Baton Pass?" and a new section of it
- added a "What else can Baton Pass do? section
- added a bunch of information in a lot of the sections

Special thanks to Heysup for helping me with parts of the UU sections, including the example team (which I refined and added the comments).

Here it is!

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Baton Passing the Metagame

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. What is Baton Pass?
3. Who can Baton Pass?
---3.1 OU
---3.2 UU
4. Who can receive?
---4.1 OU
---4.2 UU
5. How do I build the team?
---5.1 The Lead
---5.2 The Chain
---5.3 The Receiver
6. Example Team
---6.1 OU
---6.2 UU
7. How do I play the chain?
8. What else can Baton Pass do?
9. What beats Baton Pass?
10. Conclusion

1. Introduction

Baton Pass chains were a fairly common strategy in the third generation of Pokemon. Since there was nothing faster than Jolteon or Aerodactyl, it was easy to spam Substitute and take care of threats quite easily. However, this once frequent strategy has taken a back seat in DPP. The additions of hard hitters such as Lucario, Azelf, and Infernape, the improvement of the move Taunt (which now lasts 3-5 turns), new pseudo-Hazers, and Choice Scarf were the cause for this drastic shift. Even though they're not quite as potent as they once were, Baton Pass teams can be extremely deadly in the right hands. While there may be many more phazers in today’s metagame, many of these kind of Pokemon forgo their phazing moves for more "useful" options, which means an unprepared opponent will likely fall under numerous Pokemon setting up in their face. The most important part in building a successful Baton Pass team is the teambuilding itself. Baton Pass teams must be carefully played if they're to work properly; they also must be played very carefully. This guide will help you make a fantastic Baton Pass team that'll put a smile on your face.

2. What is Baton Pass?

Before you attempt to make a Baton Pass team, it’s definitely a good idea to know what Baton Pass is. Baton Pass is a 40 PP (64 with PP Max) move that allows the user to switch out of battle with normal priority. The user is then able to pass any stat boosts or other conditions that it has to the Pokémon that is being switched in. Baton Pass also allows the user to escape from the effects of Shadow Tag, Magnet Pull, Arena Trap, and Pursuit’s effect of hitting before the user switches out.

3. Who can Baton Pass?

Below will be a list of all the viable Baton Passers divided into two categories: OU and UU, two main tiers where Baton Pass teams usually take place. Each of them will contain a list of notable Baton Passable moves (Substitute will be omitted), a short description, and a moveset example so you can get a general idea of how they support and perform in Baton Pass teams.

3.1 OU

Celebi

Notable moves: Calm Mind, Swords Dance.
Description: Celebi is a pretty unique Pokemon when it comes to filling a role in Baton Pass teams. It can become an effective Calm Mind Passer, attacking with powerful Grass Knots; it can also go a completely opposite route and set up several Swords Dances, while attacking with Seed Bomb. Celebi has access to a reliable healing move in Recover, great defensive typing, and a balanced stat spread. All of these factors help it gain more boosts than usual. Speaking of its stat spread, it has just the right amount of HP to set up a 101 HP Substitute it and its team to use once Baton Passed.

Example moveset:
Celebi @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP/80 Def/176 Spd
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Calm Mind
- Grass Knot
- Baton Pass
- Recover

Gliscor

Notable moves: Rock Polish, Swords Dance.
Description: Gliscor is commonly seen passing both Swords Dance and Rock Polish in one set, as it has the typing and bulk to pass them both effectively. Normally, when Gliscor is passing on both of these moves, it’s best to pass defensive boosts before you attempt to use Gliscor, or set up dual screens, as it will give Gliscor an easier time to achieve several boosts to pass on. What makes Gliscor’s job even more of a success is because it has access to the move Taunt and the ability Hyper Cutter, allowing it to stop any pseudo-Hazer, status effects, the opponent boosting its own stats , and Intimidate-users who attempt to stop Gliscor from Baton Passing Swords Dance and Rock Polish.

Example moveset:
Gliscor @ Yache Berry
Ability: Hyper Cutter
EVs: 252 HP/60 Spd/196 SDef
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Rock Polish
- Swords Dance
- Taunt
- Baton Pass

Jolteon

Notable moves: Agility, Charge Beam.
Description: Jolteon is the fastest Baton Passer in the game, meaning it can easily set up Agility or Substitute before the opponent can attack it. Also, with Charge Beam, it’s capable of gathering a few Special Attack boosts before it uses Baton Pass. This can be quite beneficial to your special-based Baton Passers on your team when they need to attack in an emergency.

Example moveset:
Jolteon @ Leftovers
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs: 4 HP/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Agility
- Baton Pass
- Charge Beam
- Hidden Power [Grass]

Ninjask

Notable moves: Swords Dance.
Description: Ninjask is probably the most popular Swords Dancer passer in the game, and for a good reason. With its fantastic ability, Speed Boost, Ninjask can forgo using Agility and can use Protect or Substitute to gather Speed boosts instead. It is almost always guaranteed that Ninjask will be using Baton Pass with at least one Swords Dance and two Speed boosts under its belt, which is a great way to start off the chain.

Example moveset:
Ninjask @ Leftovers
Ability: Speed Boost
EVs: 176 HP/252 Atk/80 Spd
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Substitute
- Swords Dance
- Baton Pass
- X-Scissor

Scizor

Notable moves: Agility, Iron Defense, Swords Dance.
Description: Scizor is capable of passing many different stat boosts, as seen in its list of notable moves. With its one weakness to Fire and decent bulk, Scizor doesn’t really have a hard time gathering boosts at all. In most cases, Scizor is guaranteed to pass away four stat boosts (two stat boosting moves), which is definitely not bad as a minimum. Also, Scizor can force an immense amount of switches because of how threatening it is with its powerful attacks, buying Scizor time to set up.

Example moveset:
Scizor @ Occa Berry
Ability: Technician
EVs: 248 HP/88 Atk/172 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Agility
- Swords Dance
- Baton Pass
- Bullet Punch

Smeargle

Notable moves: Belly Drum, Cosmic Power, Ingrain, Spider Web.
Description: Smeargle is quite possibly the most common user of Baton Pass, mainly because of its gargantuan movepool that consists of numerous Baton Passable moves. Also, it has two moves in particular that make it such a successful Baton Passer: Spore and Ingrain. Having a 100% accurate sleep-inducing move is incredibly useful when gathering several boosts, and Smeargle holds the title as the only Pokemon that is capable of Baton Passing Ingrain. It’s basically a must-have on any Baton Pass related team.

Example moveset:
Smeargle @ Salac Berry
Ability: Own Tempo
EVs: 244 HP/12 Def/252 Spd
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Spore
- Substitute
- Belly Drum
- Baton Pass

Togekiss

Notable moves: Nasty Plot.
Description: Togekiss is the only Pokemon that can Baton Pass Nasty Plot and still fare well in the OU metagame; this makes it a primary option when your team is in need of a Special Attack booster. Also, it can effectively abuse Nasty Plot by spamming powerful Air Slash attacks that have a high chance of flinching the enemy. Lastly, it has a great HP and Special Defense, Roost, and Encore, all of which give Togekiss an easier time at setting up and passing away.

Example moveset:
Togekiss @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP/192 Spd/64 SDef
Calm nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Nasty Plot
- Air Slash
- Baton Pass
- Roost

Vaporeon

Notable moves: Acid Armor, Aqua Ring.
Description: Vaporeon is one of the most reliable defensive Baton Passers to use. Being a pure Water-type and having great overall bulk, Vaporeon can be very difficult to take down without being hit by powerful, super-effective moves. Not only that, but it also has access to Wish and Aqua Ring; the former gives it a decent way of healing itself and its teammates, while the latter restores an extra 6% of health and is also Baton Passable. Lastly, it can set up a considerably bulky Substitute thanks to its large HP stat, and Baton Pass it to the next Pokemon in the chain.

Example moveset:
Vaporeon @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 128 HP/252 Def/128 Spd
Calm nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Baton Pass
- Acid Armor
- Wish
- Surf

Zapdos

Notable moves: Agility, Charge Beam.
Description: Zapdos plays a very similar role as Jolteon, though it’s possible that Zapdos does a slightly better job as an Agility passer. The biggest reason is because of Zapdos’ excellent defensive dual-typing, carrying many useful resistances and immunities which make it a pretty tough Pokemon to take down, not to mention its ability to Roost. It can also gather a few Special Attack boosts with Charge Beam, which is always helpful for your teammates that pack special moves, allowing them to hit harder than usual.

Example moveset:
Zapdos @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP/136 Def/36 Spd/88 SAtk
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Agility
- Baton Pass
- Charge Beam
- Hidden Power [Grass]

3.2 UU

Absol

Notable moves: Mean Look, Swords Dance.
Description: Absol belongs to the small pool of Pokemon that is able to trap-pass. Since Absol tends to force multiple switches because of its very high Attack stat, it can potentially trap its common switch-ins, like Weezing. This is perfect for your Baton Pass chain, as most defensive Pokemon can’t do much to threaten anything. It can also add Swords Dance to the Baton Pass pool, not to mention that it can abuse the Attack boost itself.

Example moveset:
Absol @ Leftovers
Ability: Super Luck
EVs: 4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spd
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Mean Look
- Baton Pass
- Night Slash

Ambipom

Notable moves: Agility, Nasty Plot.
Description: Ambipom is one of the fastest Baton Passer to use, reaching a high Speed stat of 361. Not many Pokemon are capable of passing Special Attack boosts in UU very well, so this makes Ambipom a hot commodity for UU Baton Pass teams. It can become a reasonably big threat with a Nasty Plot boost because of its ability, Technician, which will boost its STAB Swift to a greater level. Once it’s been threatened by a wall, it can then Baton Pass away to the next Pokemon in the chain.

Example moveset:
Ambipom @ Life Orb
Ability: Technician
EVs: 4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spd
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Nasty Plot
- Baton Pass
- Swift
- Taunt

Ariados

Notable moves: Agility, Spider Web.
Description: Ariados may seem to be a bit unreliable as a Baton Passer, but it has a couple of things going for it that make it a viable Agility passer. The biggest thing Ariados has that the majority of Baton Passers lack is the ability to trap Pokemon with Spider Web and keep them trapped by Baton Passing it to the next Pokemon in the chain. Also, Ariados can become a great Pokemon in the lead position, due to the fact that it is immune to sleep-inducing leads because of its helpful ability, Insomnia.

Example moveset:
Ariados @ Focus Sash
Ability: Insomnia
EVs: 4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spd
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Agility
- Spider Web
- Baton Pass
- Bug Bite

Blaziken

Notable moves: Agility, Bulk Up, Swords Dance.
Description: Blaziken’s ability to force many switches because of its great offensive stats and movepool definitely helps it become a great Baton Passer. Blaziken isn't a Pokemon that is normally seen carrying Baton Pass, as it’s usually used as an offensive threat. This could easily mess up your opponent and give you the upperhand in most circumstances, since your opponent won’t know what set Blaziken is running.

Example moveset:
Blaziken @ Leftovers
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spd
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Bulk Up
- Baton Pass
- Brick Break
- Fire Punch

Drifblim

Notable moves: Calm Mind, Stockpile.
Description: Drifblim makes an excellent Passer, thanks to its huge HP stat that allows it to set up 101 HP Substitutes, which is considerably bulky. Its Substitute can also be passed to the next Pokemon in the chain, making that Pokemon under a bulky Substitute. Drifblim is the only Ghost-type that can Baton Pass, which really differentiates itself from other Ghost-types. Finally, its ability, Unburden, gives it the chance to use a pinch Berry of your choice or a Focus Sash to get off a fast Baton Pass from the Speed boost Unburden offers, but the Speed boost cannot be Baton Passed, sadly.

Example moveset:
Drifblim @ Petaya Berry
Ability: Unburden
EVs: 80 HP/176 Spd/252 SDef
Calm nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Substitute
- Calm Mind
- Baton Pass
- Shadow Ball

Espeon

Notable moves: Calm Mind.
Description: Espeon is a really fast Calm Mind Baton Passer, as it hits a Speed stat of 350. This basically guarantees it to achieve at least two or more Calm Mind boosts, which is definitely a reasonable amount of boosts to hit. Also, with its huge base Special Attack stat of 130, it can directly abuse the Calm Mind boosts it has gained before passing them on.

Example moveset:
Espeon @ Leftovers
Ability: Synchronize
EVs: 252 HP/216 Spd/40 SDef
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Calm Mind
- Psychic
- Baton Pass
- Substitute

Floatzel

Notable moves: Agility, Bulk Up.
Description: Having access to a very fast Taunt, Floatzel makes a prime candidate on Baton Pass teams, being able to outpace basically every phazing Pokemon and stop them before they try to stop your chain. It plays quite similar to Espeon, but it uses Bulk Up instead of Calm Mind, not to mention that it can also abuse Bulk Up itself with its high Attack stat and powerful Waterfall.

Example moveset:
Floatzel @ Leftovers
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 40 HP/252 Def/216 Spd
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Bulk Up
- Baton Pass
- Taunt
- Waterfall

Gligar

Notable moves: Rock Polish, Swords Dance.
Description: Gligar takes on the exact same role as Gliscor, but it thrives in the UU environment. Boasting a great stat spread and typing, Gligar can effectively use a pure Baton Pass set with great success. Like Gliscor, it’s best to pass defensive boosts first before you attempt to gather several Speed and Attack boosts, since Gligar will have a much easier time to do so with the defensive support than without.

Example moveset:
Gligar @ Yache Berry
Ability: Hyper Cutter
EVs: 252 HP/4 Def/252 Spd
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Rock Polish
- Swords Dance
- Baton Pass
- Taunt

Gorebyss

Notable moves: Agility, Aqua Ring, Amnesia, Iron Defense.
Description: Gorebyss is one of few Pokemon that can Baton Pass a multitude of moves, and this really makes it stand out, as it can be used as several different roles. Also, it’s one of the very few Pokemon that can Baton Pass Aqua Ring, which is another trait that makes Gorebyss a unique Baton Passer.

Example moveset:
Gorebyss @ Leftovers
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 HP/232 Spd/24 SAtk
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Baton Pass
- Agility
- Surf
- Substitute

Hypno

Notable moves: Barrier, Belly Drum, Calm Mind, Nasty Plot.
Description: Hypno has many options to Baton Pass, and it has great bulk to make use of them as well. It also holds the title as the only Pokemon in UU to Baton Pass Belly Drum, which definitely makes it stand out from the other Baton Passers. Besides the wide variety of moves Hypno can Baton Pass, it has a huge supporting movepool that consists of moves like Wish, Thunder Wave, and Hypnosis, which can help it boost its stats easier.

Example moveset:
Hypno @ Leftovers
Ability: Insomnia
EVs: 252 HP/4 Def/252 SDef
Careful nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Substitute
- Belly Drum
- Baton Pass
- Zen Headbutt

Leafeon

Notable moves: Swords Dance.
Description: With Leafeon’s great physical bulk and high Attack stat, it is a great choice for a team in need of a Swords Dance Passer. It also has various support moves it can use to further aid it to achieve Swords Dance boosts, these include Grasswhistle (though the shaky accuracy is quite risky), Wish, and Roar.

Example moveset:
Leafeon @ Leftovers
Ability: Leaf Guard
EVs: 132 HP/160 Atk/216 Spd
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Baton Pass
- Leaf Blade
- Roar

Lopunny

Notable moves: Agility.
Description: Lopunny can become a very effective Agility passer for a couple of reasons. First of all, it can abuse the move Encore, which it can definitely use to its advantage when its being used in the lead position, since it can potentially trap the opposing Pokemon into using Stealth Rock. This gives Lopunny the perfect opportunity to set up Agility as the opponent switches out and use Baton Pass to the Pokemon that can handle the situation. Second, Lopunny has access to Switcheroo, meaning it can pass on an item that may cripple the opposing Pokemon, buying you time to set up and pass Agility to the next Pokemon in your chain.

Example moveset:
Lopunny @ Flame Orb
Ability: Klutz
EVs: 236 HP/164 Def/108 Spd
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Baton Pass
- Agility
- Magic Coat
- Switcheroo

Mr. Mime

Notable moves: Barrier, Calm Mind, Nasty Plot.
Description: Since Smeargle is the only Pokemon in the game being able to Baton Pass Ingrain, Mr. Mime should be used on any UU Baton Pass chain team. The reason for this is because of its great ability, Soundproof, which blocks the effects of moves like Roar and Perish Song (though Perish Song still takes effect when Baton Passed) from working. This means that Mr. Mime can easily stop the opponent from breaking your Baton Pass chain with these kind of moves, which is really beneficial. Besides that, Mr. Mime has a wide supporting movepool to aid itself and its teammates in passing on boosts.

Example moveset:
Mr. Mime @ Leftovers
Ability: Soundproof
EVs: 252 HP/216 Spd/40 SDef
Calm nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Calm Mind
- Baton Pass
- Encore
- Psychic

Scyther

Notable moves: Agility, Swords Dance.
Description: Scyther is definitely a successful Baton Passer, even though it has a 4x weakness to Stealth Rock. To avoid this problem, Scyther can easily be used in the lead position, outpacing many leads with its high Speed. It can set up Agility or Swords Dance (or both) to Baton Pass away, starting off the chain relatively quick.

Example moveset:
Scyther @ Leftovers
Ability: Technician
EVs: 208 HP/80 Atk/4 Def/216 Spd
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Baton Pass
- Substitute
- Aerial Ace

Solrock

Notable moves: Calm Mind, Cosmic Power, Iron Defense, Rock Polish.
Description: Solrock may seem like a Pokemon that can’t do much, but its effectiveness starts in Baton Pass teams. Since it carries a variety of stat boosting moves, Solrock can be used in various positions, whether it be Speed passing, Defense passing, or other various boosts. Also, Solrock is one of few Baton Passers that has access to Stealth Rock, which makes it even more appealing, especially when it’s used as a lead.

Example moveset:
Solrock @ Lum Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 120 HP/252 Atk/136 Spd
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Rock Polish
- Baton Pass
- Stealth Rock
- Rock Slide

Umbreon

Notable moves: Curse, Mean Look.
Description: Umbreon’s excellent overall bulk helps it greatly in setting up and using Baton Pass. It has a huge movepool consisting of several supportive moves, like Wish and Yawn, and is also one of the few lucky Pokemon that can Baton Pass Mean Look. Lastly, it has Taunt in its movepool, which can be very beneficial when your opponent is trying to phaze Umbreon to break your Baton Pass chain.

Example moveset:
Umbreon @ Chople Berry
Ability: Synchronize
EVs: 252 HP/164 Spd/92 SDef
Careful nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Mean Look
- Baton Pass
- Wish
- Taunt

4. Who can receive?

Technically, any Pokemon can be used as a receiver in a Baton Pass team and become successful; however, it’s usually a better idea to use more common Pokemon that are very threatening once they have several boosts under their belt. Below will be a list of OU and UU receivers that include one example of a Pokemon from each offensive playstyle; physical, mixed, and special. Also, there will be a description and a moveset exemplar to give you an idea of how they do as a final receiver.

4.1 OU

Metagross

Playstyle: Physical.
Description: Metagross is one of the most common, if not the most common, Baton Pass receiver in OU teams. There are several reasons why Metagross is such an insanely threatening sweeping force after being passed on with multiple boosts. First, it has fantastic typing, boasting resistance to Bullet Punch, ExtremeSpeed, and Ice Shard, immunity to Toxic and Toxic Spikes, and and taking neutral damage from all other priority attacks. Second, it has a large offensive movepool that consists of moves that allow it to hit many types for super effective damage. Third, its ability, Clear Body, allows it to be immune from Intimidate users like Gyarados and Salamence, meaning Metagross will never have to worry about having its Attack lowered. Lastly, it has an excellent stat spread to use, scoring a huge base Attack stat of 135 and great overall defenses. Metagross can easily OHKO almost every Pokemon in the game with a +6 Attack boost, making it a force to be reckoned with.

Example moveset:
Metagross @ Lum Berry
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 40 HP/252 Atk/216 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Zen Headbutt
- Earthquake
- Thunderpunch
- Ice Punch

Lucario

Playstyle: Mixed.
Description: Lucario can become an extremely devastating mixed sweeper once it has received the gathered boosts from the Baton Pass chain. Having a great offensive movepool to work with (including priority moves like ExtremeSpeed and Bullet Punch) and excellent offensive stats, Lucario can sweep teams with relative ease. Like Metagross, it to is immune to Toxic and Toxic Spikes and takes little damage from the powerful Bullet Punch coming from Scizor. Even though Lucario may be weak to Mach Punch, it can luckily OHKO the Mach Punch user with ExtremeSpeed before they have a chance to do so, as most Mach Punch users take neutral damage from Extremespeed and are defensively frail.

Example moveset:
Lucario @ Life Orb
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 252 Atk/196 Spd/ 60 SpA
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SpA)
- Close Combat
- Crunch
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Bullet Punch

Porygon-Z

Playstyle: Special.
Description: Probably one of the scariest special sweepers in the OU metagame, Porygon-Z boasts several characteristics that make it an incredibly strong sweeper. The biggest thing Porygon-Z has is its ability, Adaptability, which makes its Tri Attack so insanely strong, that it can obliterate Pokemon that even resist it, assuming it has received Special Attack boosts. It also an extremely high Special Attack stat, reaching a number of 405, making Porygon-Z the deadliest of special sweepers.

Example moveset:
Porygon-Z @ Lum Berry
Ability: Adaptability
EVs: 4 HP/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Modest nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Tri Attack
- Hidden Power [Fighting]
- Dark Pulse
- Ice Beam

4.2 UU

Bibarel

Playstyle: Physical.
Description: Bibarel is probably one of the most doubted sweepers in UU, since it doesn’t really do much. However, Bibarel really shines once it has been blessed with multiple boosts, since its ability, Simple, doubles the boost it normally gets. For example, Swords Dance will count as two Swords Dances, and one Calm Mind will act as two Calm Minds. What this really means is that your Baton Pass team needs to set up less in order for your receiver to sweep, allowing you to get to your receiver in a shorter amount of turns. When it comes to sweeping, Bibarel boasts an unresisted dual STAB combo (Shedinja being the only one immune, which is why Pluck is usually seen in its moveset), firing off very powerful Waterfall and Return attacks.

Example moveset:
Bibarel @ Lum Berry
Ability: Simple
EVs: 252 HP/252 Atk/6 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Waterfall
- Return
- Pluck
- Quick Attack

Blaziken

Playstyle: Mixed.
Description: A very fierce competitor, especially when it gets all of the gathered boosts from the Baton Pass chain. It has an amazing offensive movepool, excellent offensive typing, and high Attack and Special Attack. It will also never be stopped by many of the common UU walls, since Blaziken is a great wall breaker itself, ripping through many teams with relative ease.

Example moveset:
Blaziken @ Lum Berry
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 4 Atk/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Rash nature (+SAtk, -SDef)
- Flamethrower
- Brick Break
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Vacuum Wave

Gardevoir

Playstyle: Special.
Description: Gardevoir boasts a very high Special Attack stat of 383 maxed out, meaning it can become a devastating special sweeper. Also, it has a decent offensive movepool to use, as well as a variety of supportive options to use incase it’s in trouble. Gardevoir's ability, Trace, can also be a helpful addition to its sweeping. In some cases, Gardevoir is capable of Tracing an ability that may help it offensively, such as Download from Porygon2, or help it defensively, such as Clefable's Magic Guard. If you get lucky, you may even have the opportunity to Trace Flash Fire or Water Absorb to gain a bonus immunity.

Example moveset:
Gardevoir @ Lum Berry
Ability: Trace
EVs: 4 HP/252 Spd/252 SAtk
Modest nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Psychic
- Hidden Power [Fighting]
- Thunderbolt
- Wish

There are many move viable Pokemon to use in each playstyle, these are just examples of some that are quite dangerous.

5. How do I build a team?

This is the part where things get a bit tricky. In DPP, there are threats that you have to be able to counter, or your entire chain may just fall apart. Team design, right down to your EV spread, is crucial for the success of a Baton Pass chain. Overall, your team should consist of five Baton Passers that contribute to the chain, and one receiver (which will be explained in more detail later on) to finish off the opponent. A good Baton Pass team should have a way to beat common phazers such as Swampert and Skarmory, and be able to deal with Haze, Taunt, Encore, sleep-inducing moves, Perish Song, and even Trick Room. Below will explain what your lead, chain, and receiver should look like. Do note that the comments and examples will be directed towards the OU environment, rather than the UU environment, but the comments can still be directed to the UU metagame as well.

5.1 Your Lead

Your lead should be able to scare away or outpace most users of Taunt. The best leads of choice for Baton Pass chains are usually the ones that pass Agility or Rock Polish boosts, since moving before your opponent is almost mandatory when passing boosts, setting up Substitutes, and when using Taunt. Ninjask, Gliscor, and Zapdos are probably the most common examples of Speed passers, especially Ninjask due to its ability, Speed Boost, which allows it to forgo using a Speed boosting move and use another move, like Swords Dance. Another common lead to use are ones that can trap pass, most notably Smeargle. This gives you the opportunity to trap a Pokemon that may be relatively weak, Baton Pass it, and completely wall the Pokemon by using the proper defense boost. Also, most leads that are slower than Smeargle (Hippowdon, Swampert, Bronzong) will try to absorb Spore, which basically means that you can use Spider Web first turn instead of Spore, and then proceed to use Spore, Ingrain, and then Baton Pass.

Sleep-inducing leads like Roserade and Bronzong are a huge problem for many Baton Pass chain leads, since being immobilized from setting up Agility or Rock Polish means that your Baton Pass chain will be slower than usual, which leads to Pokemon stopping your chain by using Taunt or just firing off powerful attacks before you have a chance to Baton Pass. With that being said, Lum Berry is one of the most commonly held items in Baton Pass teams, since your lead can use Agility or Rock Polish first turn, absorb the sleep, then use Substitute to be immune to the sleep-inducing move, allowing you to Baton Pass safely to your next Pokemon in the chain.

With the addition of a new kind of threat, adjustments are now required. This new threat to Baton Pass teams comes in a form of a new popular strategy in leads, commonly referred to as “suicide leads”, like Azelf and Aerodactyl. They use a combination of Focus Sash and Taunt to stop their opponent from setting up Stealth Rock, and then setting it up themselves. These leads will also use Taunt to stop your Agility or Rock Polish, which makes your Baton Pass team harder to pull off. However, there are certain ways that a Baton Pass team can get around a fast Taunter. One idea is to use a Fake Out user that learns Baton Pass, such as Ambipom, to eliminate the usefulness of Focus Sash immediately. The best way, however, to beat this new generation of leads is to pretend that you are using a standard team, and worry about beating the lead before you start Baton Passing. For example: I lead with Zapdos, and my opponent is starting off with Azelf. Instead of me trying to set up Agility and fall at risk to a possible Taunt, I can simply attack it with Thunderbolt. After that procedure, switch to a Pokemon that a standard team and a Baton Pass team would have in common, such as Vaporeon, Scizor, Togekiss, or Celebi. Then, try to set up a Substitute back to your lead, pull off an Agility or Rock Polish, and continue your chain. With this method, suicide leads are more of an inconvenience that a game-breaking start for your opponent. Another kind of lead strategy that has been gaining immense popularity are Explosion leads, commonly used by Metagross, Heatran, and Bronzong. These type of Pokemon can easily obliterate one of your team members, which is horrible since you have just lost a Pokemon that is part of your Baton Pass chain. It may be obvious to use Substitute as they use Explosion, but this is not always the case. A good battler can just as easily attack to break your Substitute, predict when you use Baton Pass, and try to bring down one of your Pokemon. It’s not as difficult to deal with this problem as suicide leads, since it’s possible to use Drifblim, the only Ghost-type that learns Baton Pass, or a Pokemon that is resistant to Explosion, such as Scizor.

5.2 The Chain

As for the rest of the team, two Pokemon are almost required in the chain: Smeargle and Mr. Mime. These Pokemon prevent phazers from stopping you from completing your strategy. Smeargle is the only Pokemon that can pass Ingrain, whereas Mr. Mime has access to Soundproof to block Roar and Perish Song. Having these Pokemon supports your team greatly, and with smart prediction, they can prevent your chain from being destroyed. Mr. Mime is not as necessary as Smeargle, however, it’s strongly recommended.

Pokemon that sport the Spider Web / Mean Look and Baton Pass combination are extremely useful to have on a Baton Pass team, but are by no means required. If you manage to trap a wall like Blissey with them, your chain will be nearly unbreakable. You will also find that if you can trap just the right Pokemon, setting up and sweeping becomes a lot easier. Umbreon, Smeargle, Absol, and Ariados are the only Pokémon that sport this combination, so you will have to choose between these four for your team.

The rest of your team should be used to counter the threats that could destroy your chain, while contributing to the chain themselves. Defense boosts help keep your Pokémon alive, and could make an opponent fail to break your Substitute. Attack boosts should correspond to the type of sweeper you are trying to set up. Use Nasty Plot for a special sweeper, and Swords Dance or Belly Drum for a physical sweeper. If your finisher is mixed, use Swords Dance / Calm Mind for predominantly physical sets, and Nasty Plot / Bulk Up for more special-based attackers. However, you might find it easier to just rely on one stat to increase the overall speed of your Baton Pass chain.

A commonly asked question is: should the Pokémon on your team be extremely bulky, or more speedy? In ADV, fast Pokémon were preferred because there was nothing faster than Aerodactyl or Jolteon in OU, save something with Agility or Dragon Dance. In the current DPP metagame, faster Pokémon could put up a Substitute to prevent from being statused, stop most damage, and would force your opponent to limit their switches. However, the introduction of Choice Scarf has made this benchmark close to useless. Bulky Baton Passers are generally much more valuable than they were back then, and most likely should make up a good majority of your team.

5.3 The Receiver

One Pokemon on your team should be your receiver, the Pokemon that is passed with the boosts your Baton Pass chain has gathered. When this Pokemon gets +6 in the attack stat it choose to use (or some mixed sweeper equivalent), it should be able to OHKO every single Pokemon with 100% accurate moves, since one miss can mean big trouble. Your receiver should also not be weak to any priority move by 4x, and it might be helpful for your receiver to also have Baton Pass, but trying to OHKO every single Pokemon you need to can be difficult with only three moves at hand. Immunity to Toxic Spikes is a great thing to look into, and if your receiver needs to use a Life Orb to get certain KOs, it should be immune to sandstorm as well due to how common it is, or else it can be stalled by good prediction on your opponent’s side.

6. Example Team

In order to make sense of the explantations above, an example team should help put everything in context and give you ideas for your own Baton Pass team. There will be two example teams provided below; one for OU, and one for UU. Along with each team, there will be short descriptions for each team member about what role they play in the team.

6.1 OU

Zapdos @ Lum Berry
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP/104 Spd/152 SDef
Calm nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Agility
- Baton Pass
- Thunderbolt
- Substitute

The lead and Speed Passer. The way this Zapdos works is to use Agility on turn one, allowing Lum Berry to save it from unnecessary status, especially sleep. Next turn, set up Substitute as a barrier to more status moves. Baton Pass out when you feel ready; Thunderbolt is used to beat Skarmory and Gyarados, two big threats to a Baton Pass chain. 104 Speed EVs allows Zapdos to outrun Adamant Gyarados before a boost, and everything else after an Agility, save Scarfed Weavile and Aerodactyl, who are rarely seen carrying those items.

Smeargle @ Shed Shell
Ability: Own Tempo
EVs: 252 HP/4 Def/252 Spd
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Ingrain
- Spore
- Substitute
- Baton Pass

Smeargle is necessary for every Baton Pass chain: it is the only Pokemon that can Pass Ingrain, which will prevent Roar and Whirlwind from working and also helps heal your team every turn. Get this in with a bulky Substitute from one of the other members of the team, and use Spore. Substitute will prevent you from being hit by a Sleep Talker or another switch-in, and then use Ingrain and Baton Pass out. Smeargle needs all of the bulk it can get while being as fast as possible, and the EV spread accomplishes this. Shed Shell is there because this Pokemon is the most vulnerable to Taunt, so it might need Shed Shell’s help to switch out without using Baton Pass.

Scizor @ Leftovers
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 HP/104 Def/152 Spd
Impish nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Baton Pass
- Iron Defense
- Bullet Punch

Scizor Passes the Defense and Attack boosts to the rest of the members. 152 Speed EVs allow Scizor to reach 406 Speed, to outpace Scarf Heracross among other potential threats. Scizor is also the Tyranitar counter, setting up in its face and defeating it with Bullet Punch. Besides Bullet Punch, some find it viable to use Brick Break to kill off Magnezone.

Vaporeon @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 192 HP/252 Def/60 Spd
Calm nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Baton Pass
- Substitute
- Wish
- Ice Beam

With some defensive boosts Passed to it, Vaporeon becomes very difficult to take down. It supports the team with Wish, and passes very bulky Substitutes to the rest of the teammates. With 66 Speed EVs, it outruns Starmie, Gengar, and others in the base 115 group after receiving an Agility boost. A Calm nature grants it more bulk on the special side; ideally, it should have Defense boosts from Scizor to boost its ability to handle other physical attacks.

Mr. Mime @ Leftovers
Ability: Soundproof
EVs: 252 HP/100 Def/56 Spd/102 SDef
Calm nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Baton Pass
- Calm Mind
- Thunderbolt
- Grass Knot

Mr. Mime is another essential element of a Baton Pass team. Soundproof prevents Roar and Perish Song from breaking the Baton Pass chain when there’s no time Pass to Smeargle. Mr. Mime is used as the Special Defense and Special Attack booster with Calm Mind, and has Thunderbolt and Grass Knot to knock out Skarmory and Swampert, common phazers. 252 HP is quite obvious, and 100 Defense EVs helps Mr. Mime stand up to Swampert’s Earthquake. 56 Speed EVs allows it to outrun all base 90 Choice Scarf users, and the rest of the EVs go in Special Defense to stand up to other powerful special threats, like Heatran.

Lucario @ Life Orb
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 252 Atk/196 Spd/60 SAtk
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Close Combat
- Crunch
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Bullet Punch

The receiver of the chain. Once the team amasses enough boosts, Lucario can come in to wreck the opponent. As far as recipients go, Lucario is one of the best: sporting immunity to sandstorm, Toxic Spikes, resistance to move priority attacks, and a movepool that will OHKO every Pokemon legal in OU. Cresselia’s OHKOed by Crunch, Bronzong loses to Close Combat, and Gliscor is obliterated by Hidden Power Ice. Brick Break is an option over Close Combat, but without Stealth Rock down, there is a chance that Hippowdon will survive, meaning it can hit for big damage with Earthquake or sleep you with Yawn. If you elect to use Brick Break, be sure to have Stealth Rock, or at least three Calm Minds in so you can OHKO Hippowdon with Hidden Power Ice. Lucario can also outpace everything with an Agility boost from Zapdos, save Scarf Aerodactyl and Weavile (which you can beat with Bullet Punch anyway). Life Orb is used because the boost is necessary, and Ingrain helps make up for the 10% loss of health after every attack. Bullet Punch is to kill other priority users such as Weavile and Mamoswine, and it also allows you to kill Gengar if you lose your Speed boosts.

6.2 UU

Ambipom @ Lum Berry
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 HP/252 Spd/4 SDef
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Agility
- Baton Pass
- Taunt
- Fake Out

Ambipom is an excellent lead to start off with. Agility is the first thing a Baton Pass chain should be using, so Ambipom fits that role perfectly. Taunt is used to stop opposing leads from statusing it, setting up hazards, and phazing Ambipom, while Fake Out lets it eliminate the opposing lead’s Focus Sash. Lum Berry is very helpful as well, allowing Ambpimon to fearlessly set up Agility, take the status hit, and then proceed to use Taunt so the other lead can’t status any of the other Pokemon in the chain.

Gorebyss @ Leftovers
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 HP/252 Spd/4 SDef
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Amnesia
- Iron Defense
- Baton Pass
- Surf

Gorebyss takes on the role of a defensive passer, using both Amnesia and Iron Defense. After receiving an Agility boost, it will most likely be moving first, meaning it can set up the appropriate defense boost for the situation it’s in. To stop Gorebyss from being Taunt bait, Surf is used, and it does receive STAB, which is always nice. Max Speed is a must to ensure Gorebyss outpaces basically everything after a +2 Speed boost.

Umbreon @ Leftovers
Ability: Synchronize
EVs: 252 HP/180 Def/76 SDef
Careful nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Wish
- Baton Pass
- Taunt
- Substitute

The Wish Passer. In case one of the Baton Passers are running low on HP, Umbreon helps heal them by setting up a Substitute and Wish and then Passing it to the one in need. Taunt is almost mandatory on any Baton Pass team, so Umbreon uses it to prepare itself for status users, phazers, stat boosters, and more. It also protects itself from being Taunt bait itself, since it will usually be outpacing the Taunt user and Taunting it before it Taunts Umbreon.

Mr. Mime @ Light Clay
Ability: Soundproof
EVs: 252 HP/200 Def/36 Spd/20 SDef
Bold nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Baton Pass
- Taunt
- Reflect
- Light Screen

Like mentioned many times before, Mr. Mime almost a necessity on Baton Pass teams, especially in the UU environment. With UU lacking an Ingrain Passer to stop Roar and Whirlwind from breaking the chain, it can use its ability, Soundproof, to be immune to these, as well as Perish Song. The role Mr. Mime plays on this team is a dual screen Baton Passer, which definitely helps them score more boosts than usual. Taunt is used again to avoid phazing moves, since it’s not pretty when your Baton Pass chain is broken. 36 Speed EVs are used to make Mr. Mime at a high 450 Speed after an Agility, which is a great number to hit. The rest of the EVs are used to maximize its overall bulk.

Leafeon @ Leftovers
Ability: Leaf Guard
EVs: 252 HP/252 Def/4 Spd
Impish nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Swords Dance
- Baton Pass
- Substitute
- Leaf Blade

The Swords Dance passer. With Leafeon’s excellent defensive bulk, it can easily set up on some of the most strongest physical sweepers. It also sets up Substitute for itself and its teammates to boost up under, and it protects itself from status effects. To prevent Taunt from shutting this down, Leaf Blade is used, and it’s extremely powerful when Leafeon has a couple of Swords Dance boosts under its belt.

Bibarel @ Lum Berry
Ability: Simple
EVs: 252 HP/252 Atk/4 Spd
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Waterfall
- Return
- Quick Attack
- Pluck

Bibarel is one of the greatest receivers for a Baton Pass chain. With its Simple ability, the entire Baton Pass chain has to set up less boosts. Bibarel also has an unresisted STAB combo in Waterfall and Return, hitting insanely hard with a +6 in Attack. Quick Attack is a great priority move when it’s up against a priority user, such as Sucker Punch Absol. Since this specific Baton Pass team lacks Stealth Rock, Shedinja can shut down Bibarel instantly, being immune to Waterfall, Return, and Quick Attack. With that being said, Pluck is solely used for that situation, just in case Shedinja is lurking around in the opponent’s team.

7. How do I play the chain?

Playing a Baton Passing team is all about knowledge and planning. You should have a good idea about how you are going to switch when specific threats come out. For example, if a Tyranitar came out, what would your initial switch be? On this team, bring out Scizor and use Iron Defense, and then switch to Vaporeon to take the possible but rare Flamethrower or Fire Blast. As stated in the opening, you have to be able to counter certain threats this generation or your entire team could fall apart. If a powerful special sweeper such as Azelf came out, who would you pass to? How would you stop it? These are pretty important questions you need be able to answer, especially if you don't have a Substitute up when those threats switch in.

Speaking of Substitute, it is recommended that you keep a Substitute up as often as possible when you get Ingrain up. Substitute will protect you from critical hits that can cut through your defense boosts. They also stop status and the move Trick, which is crucial. When you don't have Ingrain up yet, you should be more careful, since you aren’t going to be healing a lot of health each turn. Here's a scenario that you may encounter: say your opponent brings in Tyranitar, and you pass to Scizor. You use Substitute, and they bring in Skarmory. Skarmory then proceeds to Whirlwind you, making you lose all of your boosts and your Substitute, assuming Smeargle hasn’t set up Ingrain yet. Instead of using Substitute, it might have been smarter to Baton Pass and predict the switch. That way, if they actually go to Skarmory, you can bring in Smeargle. From there, just use Spore, Substitute, and then Ingrain. If they keep Tyranitar in, then proceed to set up Iron Defense. This kind of "prediction" is something that comes from experience, and it should be practiced and mastered in order to gain the upper-hand in your battle.

One of the most difficult Pokémon to get out happens to be the most important to the success of your Baton Pass chain. Smeargle is extremely fragile, and if it faints you might be out of luck. Predicting to get Smeargle in against a Choice Specs Shadow Ball is too risky to be effective. The best way get Smeargle out is to either bring it out against a wall like Skarmory or Blissey, or pass a bulky Substitute that won't break on the switch. An early Ingrain is ideal, but it is often not worth the risk. The best way to ensure you get the Ingrain off is after you have a few Defense boosts and a Substitute to pass to it. Smeargle is also the most vulnerable Pokémon in a Baton Pass chain to the move Taunt. If you aren't carrying a Shed Shell and you have Ingrain up, a well-timed Taunt can leave you trapped and force you to Struggle, since Ingrain stops you from switching out. Don't take any unnecessary risks to get an early Ingrain or Spore; most of the time it isn't worth it.

8. What else can Baton Pass do?

Baton Pass isn’t only a move that must be used in a Baton Pass chain, since there are other ways that you can use Baton Pass to your advantage.

As you may have noticed, OU and UU are the tiers being discussed throughout this guide, leaving Ubers out of the picture. The reason for this is because, unlike OU and UU, the Ubers tier lacks many Baton Passers, since Mew is probably the only Uber that can do so. Also, Ubers is filled with very hard hitters, so it’s not as easy to set up a long Baton Pass chain, not to mention that there are very bulky defensive Pokemon, like Giratina and Lugia, who can try to phaze or cripple your receiver. Even though it may be difficult to pull off a Baton Pass chain, it doesn’t mean that it should be steer you away from using Baton Pass related teams in Ubers. Ninjask and Mew are two Pokemon that are commonly used as Baton Passers in Ubers, the former passing Swords Dance and Speed boosts, while the latter setting up practically anything and passing the boosts to the next Pokemon in the chain, or the receiver if you are going for a simpler chain.

A strategy that’s been gaining attention is the “dry passing” strategy. What this means is that you are not necessarily passing any boosts to your teammates, but you are scouting the opponents switch-ins. This strategy is commonly used by Jolteon, since it can force many switches with its powerful Thunderbolt. When you predict that your opponent will switch out from Thunderbolt, using Baton Pass means that you can scout what the opponent will be switching in, meaning you can then switch in a Pokemon to counter whatever the opponent brought in. This strategy is mostly used in trap-related teams, since scouting your opponent’s switch-in can give you an opportunity to trap the switched in Pokemon. For example, Jolteon can try to use Thunderbolt, but you realize that your opponent can switch in Rotom-a to take the hit. With that said, you can use Baton Pass instead, switch in Tyranitar, and proceed to dispose of Rotom-a with a STAB Pursuit. This also works with Dugtrio, being able to trap a Pokemon like Tyranitar (a common Jolteon switch-in) with its ability, Arena Trap, and attempt to finish it off with a powerful Earthquake.

Like mentioned earlier in this guide, Baton Pass can escape the grips of Pursuit, Arena Trap, and Shadow Tag. This can be very useful since Pursuit won’t be hitting with 80 base power and will hit the switch-in, not the user. Also, you will no longer have to worry about being trapped from Dugtrio or Magnezone, since you can now Baton Pass away from them.

The most popular Baton Pass strategy is known as “screen boost passing”. This strategy involved Dual Screen Azelf, Pure Baton Pass Gliscor, and a receiver of choice, commonly being Metagross. This is by far one of the most effective strategies Baton Pass can be used for, and is extremely successful. The procedure to accomplishing this is simple. Bring out Azelf when you feel the time is right, set up Stealth Rock, set up both of the screens, and then use Explosion to bring in Gliscor safely and to try to bring down the opposing Pokemon with you. Once that has been done, Gliscor can then try to boost its Speed and Attack by using Rock Polish and Swords Dance whenever it can, using Taunt when it’s about to be pHazed. Once Gliscor has gathered several boosts, complete the strategy by bringing in Metagross (or your receiver of choice) and attempt to wreak havoc and destroy the opponent. This strategy is also used in UU, Uxie being in place of Azelf, while Gligar takes the role of Gliscor, and Bibarel (or another receiver) takes place of Metagross. It’s very devastating once you have pulled this off, since it’s very difficult to stop it when it’s rolling.

9. What beats Baton Pass?

It can be extremely difficult to beat a well-made Baton Pass team. While it is harder to pull off the chain in DPP, in some ways it can be easier. In ADV, people were well aware of the threat of Baton Pass teams, and made their team accordingly. While in DPP increases the number of Pokemon that can mess up a Baton Pass chain, many forgo those options due to a decline in their popularity. This “counter” list will help the maker of the team more aware of the threats they might face, and can build their team accordingly.

Roar

One of the most common ways to attempt to stop a Baton Pass chain. However, it’s useless when you are behind an Ingrain or have Mr. Mime waiting in the wings. If a Baton Pass team does not use Mr. Mime, and the Roarer is faster and strong enough to kill Smeargle, there’s not much the Baton Pass team can do.

Common OU users: Gyarados, Hippowdon, Latias, Suicune, Swampert, Vaporeon, Zapdos
Common UU users: Altaria, Arcanine, Donphan, Blastiose, Lapras, Nidoqueen, Rhyperior, Steelix Torterra, Venusaur

Whirlwind

Whirlwind can only be stopped by Ingrain, so it poses much more of a threat than Roar. However, it’s not as commonly seen as Roar.

Common OU users: Skarmory
Common UU users: Hariyama

Taunt

Taunt is a very deadly weapon against Baton Pass teams. Now that it’s duration has increased to three to five turns, it can stop your entire chain dead in its tracks. The only way to beat Taunt is to sleep their Taunter, scare it away before it can use Taunt, or Taunt them before they can Taunt you. Most Taunters are used as leads, so your lead should be able to stop them.

Common OU users: Aerodactyl, Azelf, Gliscor, Gyarados, Heatran, Skarmory, Weavile
Common UU users: Alakazam, Ambipom, Drapion, Electrode, Froslass, Mismagius, Spiritomb, Umbreon

Encore

If you don’t expect it coming, Encore can easily eliminate your Baton Pass chain. It can make you lose all of your gathered boosts by forcing you to switch out. If you are Ingrained and you are Encored, you might lose one part of your chain, and from there the entire game, possibly. The way to beat it is to keep Baton Passing until they switch out or run out of Encore PP, as it only has eight. A Pressure Pokemon such as Zapdos is extremely helpful in this process, allowing the Encore user to use it only four times.

Common OU users: Infernape, Machamp, Togekiss
Common UU users: Alakazam, Cacturne, Gardevoir, Jumpluff, Lopunny, Pikachu, Poliwrath, Raichu, Mr. Mime, Shuckle

Haze

Haze eliminates all stat changes, and can be game-breaking once used. However, it’s extremely rare, as no one relies on this kind of move anymore.

Common OU users: Tentacruel, Vaporeon
Common UU users: Articuno, Blastoise, Lapras, Milotic, Omastar, Weezing

Perish Song

Forces a switch or causes a Pokemon to faint, but it’s blocked by Soundproof from Mr. Mime.

Common OU users: Celebi
Common UU users: Altaria, Lapras, Mismagius

Exploders

It can easily eliminate one of your Pokemon, and therefore your boosts. It can be stopped by keeping a Substitute up at all times, or passing to Drifblim.

Common OU users: Azelf, Bronzong, Forretress, Gengar, Heatran, Magnezone, Metagross
Common UU users: Claydol, Cloyster, Electrode, Exeggutor, Lickilicky, Qwilfish, Magneton, Registeel, Regirock, Shiftry, Skuntank, Steelix

Toxic Spikes

A new threat this generation. One or two layers of Toxic Spikes will limit the success of your team, and the amount of time you can use to get all of your boosts passed off. The best way to counter Toxic Spikes is to have a Taunt on your leader, or use Ariados as it can absorb them, and make sure your receiver isn’t affected by Toxic Spikes. Try to limit the overall number of Pokemon on your team that are affected by Toxic Spikes, if possible. Also note that if Baton Pass a Substitute, the Pokemon that switches in will not be poisoned.

Common OU users: Forretress, Roserade, Tentacruel
Common UU users: Cloyster, Drapion, Nidoqueen, Qwilfish, Omastar

Priority Moves

These moves cancel out the Speed boosts your team has gathered., and can end up killing something or forcing a hard switch if you are not careful.

Common OU users: Lucario (Bullet Punch, Extremespeed, Vacuum Wave), Mamoswine (Ice Shard), Metagross (Bullet Punch), Weavile (Ice Shard)
Common UU users: Ambipom (Fake Out), Arcanine (Extremespeed), Azumarill (Aqua Jet), Blaziken (Vacuum Wave), Cloyster (Ice Shard), Dugtrio (Sucker Punch), Gallade (Shadow Sneak), Hitmonchan (Bullet Punch, Mach Punch), Hitmonlee (Bullet Punch, Mach Punch), Hitmontop (Bullet Punch, Fake Out, Mach Punch), Honchkrow (Sucker Punch), Persian (Fake Out), Medicham (Bullet Punch, Fake Out), Skuntank (Sucker Punch), Spiritomb (Shadow Sneak, Sucker Punch), Swellow (Quick Attack), Toxicroak (Bullet Punch, Fake Out, Sucker Punch, Vacuum Wave)

Critical Hits

There’s no way you can stop critical hits from happening in battle (aside from the move Lucky Chant, however, it is very unreliable since it only lasts for five turns), as there’s always going to be a chance your opponent can score a lucky one. Sadly, there aren’t any Baton Passers that have the abilities to negate critical hits, so it’s going be tough if your opponent has a Pokemon that uses high critical hit moves. Not only that, but critical hits can break through your gathered defensive boosts, and there are many moves that increase the chance of a critical hit happening. However, there are ways to work around this. The biggest strategy is to switch in Pokemon that is resistant to all or most of the opposing Pokemon’s moves, since you will have a smaller chance of being OHKOed. Another way to stop critical hits from ending your chain is to keep up a Substitute at all times, since using Substitute will block you from unexpected critical hits.

10. Conclusion

To sum up everything that’s been said, don’t ever overlook Baton Pass chains in DPP, because they can really cause some serious damage if they are used by a skilled player. A Baton Pass team can be a nice change of pace from a standard team, and if designed and played well, they might even achieve more victories. Most importantly, who doesn’t like sweeping a team with a Pokemon that has +6 in all of its stats?

Thanks for reading!

 

[Xia]

I'm assuming this guide's sets will not follow the same format as analyses do; if it should, there are a lot of errors you already know about. ;]

Section 1

Baton Pass chains were a fairly common strategy in the third generation of Pokemon. Since there was nothing faster than Jolteon or Aerodactyl, it’s it was easy to spam Substitute and take care of threats quite easily. However, this once frequent strategy has almost taken a back fall with the introduction of DPP. With the additions of a vast amount of hard hitters such as Lucario, Azelf, and Infernape, the improvement of the move Taunt (which now lasts 3-5 turns), new phazers, and the item Choice Scarf were most likely the cause for this drastic shift. Even though this may be true, Baton Pass teams in the right hands can be extremely deadly. While there may be a lot more phazers in today’s metagame, many of these kind of Pokemon forgo their phazing moves for more ‘"useful"’ options, which means an unprepared opponent will likely fall under numerous Pokemon setting up in their face. The most important part in building a successful Baton Pass team is knowing how to play it and designing your team very carefully. Even though they aren’t as successful as they were in previous generations, this guide will help you make a great Baton Pass team that ends up with a smile upon your face in DPP.

Section 3-3.1

3. Who can Baton Pass?

Below will be a list of all the viable Baton Passers divided into two categories: OU and UU, two main tiers where Baton Pass teams usually take place. Each of them will contain a list of notable Baton Passable moves (Substitute will be omitted), a short description, and a moveset example so you can get a general idea of how they support and perform in Baton Pass teams.

3.1 OU

Celebi

Notable moves: Calm Mind, Swords Dance.
Description: Celebi is a pretty unique Pokemon when it comes to filling a role in Baton Pass teams. It can either become an effective Calm Mind Passer and can attack with a powerful Grass Knot, or it can go a completely opposite route and set up several Swords Dance boosts and can take advantage of them by sending off powerful Seed Bomb attacks in an emergency. Also, it has access to a reliable healing move in Recover, a great defensive typing, and a balanced stat spread which all help it gain more boosts than usual.

Togekiss

Notable moves: Nasty Plot.
Description: Togekiss is the only Pokemon that can Baton Pass Nasty Plot and still faring fare well in the OU metagame, which makes it a primary option when your team is in need of a Special Attack passer booster. Also, it can effectively abuse Nasty Plot by spamming powerful Air Slash attacks that have a high chance of flinching the enemy. Lastly, it has a great HP and Special Defense stats, Roost, and Encore, all of which give Togekiss an easier time at setting up and passing away.

Vaporeon

Notable moves: Acid Armor, Aqua Ring.
Description: Vaporeon is one of the most reliable Defense Passers to use, as it has all of the necessities that make it a great option. Being a pure Water-type and having great overall bulk, Vaporeon can be very difficult to take down without being hit by powerful moves. Not only that, but it also has access to Wish and Aqua Ring; the former giving gives it a decent way of healing itself and its teammates, while the latter restoring restores an extra 6% of health and is also Baton Passable.

Zapdos

Notable moves: Agility, Charge Beam.
Description: Like Jolteon, Zapdos plays nearly the exact same role as it, Zapdos plays a very similar role as Jolteon, though and it’s possible to say that Zapdos does a slightly better job as an Agility passer. The biggest reason is because of Zapdos’ excellent defensive dual-typing, carrying many useful resistances and immunities which make it a pretty tough Pokemon to take down, not to mention its ability to Roost. It can also gather a few Special Attack boosts with the use of Charge Beam, which is always helpful for your teammates that pack special moves, which makes allowing them to hit harder than usual.

Section 3.2

Absol

Notable moves: Mean Look, Swords Dance.
Description: Absol belongs to the small pool of Pokemon that is able to trap pass. Since Absol tends to force multiple switches because of its very high Attack stat, it can potentially trap its common switch-ins, like Weezing. This is perfect for your Baton Pass chain, as most defensive Pokemon can’t do much to threaten anything. Also, It can also use add Swords Dance to the Baton Pass pool pass away, not to mention that it can abuse the Attack boost itself.

Ambipom

Notable moves: Agility, Nasty Plot.
Description: Ambipom is one of the fastest Baton Passer to use, reaching a high Speed stat of 361. Not many Pokemon are capable of passing Special Attack boosts in UU very well, so this is something that Ambipom is really good at. Also, it can become a reasonably big threat with a Nasty Plot boost because of its ability, Technician, which will boost its STAB Swift to a greater level. Once it’s been threatened by a wall, it can then Baton Pass away to the next Pokemon in the chain.

Example moveset:
Ambipom @ Life Orb
Ability: Technician
EVs: 4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spd
Timid nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Nasty Plot
- Baton Pass
- Swift
- Taunt

Ariados

Notable moves: Agility, Spider Web.
Description: (format errors; try deleting the bold and underline tabs in the paragraph itself) Ariados may seem to be a bit unreliable as a Baton Passer, but it has a couple of things going for it that make it a viable Agility passer. The biggest thing Ariados has that the majority of Baton Passers lack is its the ability to trap Pokemon with Spider Web and keep them trapped by Baton Passing it to the next Pokemon in the chain. Also, Ariados can become a great Pokemon in the lead position, due to the fact that it is immune to sleep-inducing leads because of its helpful ability, Insomnia.

Example moveset:
Ariados @ Focus Sash
Ability: Insomnia
EVs: 4 HP/252 Atk/252 Spd
Jolly nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Agility
- Spider Web
- Baton Pass
- Bug Bite

Blaziken

Notable moves: Agility, Bulk Up, Swords Dance.
Description: Blaziken’s ability to force numerous amounts of switches because of its great offensive stats and movepool definitely helps it become a great Baton Passer. Also, it’s Blaziken isn't a Pokemon that is not normally seen to carrying Baton Pass, as it’s usually used as an offensive threat. This could easily mess up your opponent and give you the upperhand in most circumstances, since your opponent won’t know what set Blaziken is running.

Drifblim

Notable moves: Calm Mind, Stockpile.
Description: Drifblim makes an excellent Passer on Baton Pass teams (a bit redundant, since Passers only exist on Baton Pass teams), as it has a thanks to its huge HP stat that allows it to set up 101 HP Substitutes, which is considerably bulky. Its bulky Substitute can also be passed to the next Pokemon in the chain, making that Pokemon under a bulky Substitute. Drifblim is the only Ghost-type that can Baton Pass, which really differentiates itself from other Ghost-types. Finally, its ability, Unburden, gives it the chance to use a pinch Berry of your choice or a Focus Sash to get off a fast Baton Pass from the Speed boost Unburden offers, but the Speed boost cannot be Baton Passed, sadly.

Gorebyss

Notable moves: Agility, Aqua Ring, Amnesia, Iron Defense.
Description: Gorebyss is one of few Pokemon that can Baton Pass a multitude of moves, and this really makes it stand out, as it can be used as several different roles. Also, it’s one of the very few Pokemon that can Baton Pass Aqua Ring, which is another trait that makes Gorebyss a reliable stand-out Baton Passer.

Hypno

Notable moves: Barrier, Belly Drum, Calm Mind, Nasty Plot.
Description: Hypno has so many options to Baton Pass, and it has great bulk to make use of them as well. It also holds the title as the only Pokemon in UU to Baton Pass Belly Drum, which definitely makes it stand out from the other Baton Passers. Besides the wide variety of moves Hypno can Baton Pass, it has a huge supporting movepool that consists of moves like Wish, Thunder Wave, and Hypnosis, which can help it Pass boost its stats easier.

Leafeon

Notable moves: Swords Dance.
Description: With Leafeon’s great physical bulk and high Attack stat, it definitely makes a great answer to a team in need of a Swords Dance Passer. It also has various support moves it can use to further aid it to achieve Swords Dance boosts, these include Grasswhistle (though the shaky accuracy is quite risky), Wish, and Roar.

Scyther

Notable moves: Agility, Swords Dance.
Description: Scyther is definitely a successful Baton Passer, even though it may have has a 4x weakness to Stealth Rock. To avoid this problem, Scyther can easily be used in the lead position, outpacing many leads with its high Speed and setting up Agility or Swords Dance (or both) to Baton Pass away, starting off the chain relatively quick.

Solrock

Notable moves: Calm Mind, Cosmic Power, Iron Defense, Rock Polish.
Description: Solrock may seem like a Pokemon that can’t do much, but its effectiveness starts in Baton Pass teams. Since it carries a variety of stat boosting moves, Solrock can be used in various positions, whether it be Speed passing, or Defense passing, or other various boosts. Also, Solrock is one of few Baton Passers that has access to Stealth Rock, which makes it even more appealing, especially when it’s used as a lead.

Section 4.0

Technically, any Pokemon can be used as a receiver in a Baton Pass team and become successful; however, it’s usually a better idea to use more common Pokemon that are very threatening once they have several boosts under their belt. Below will be a list of OU and UU receivers that include one example of a Pokemon from each offensive playstyle;: physical, mixed, and special. Also, there will be a description and a moveset exemplar to give you an idea of how they do as a final receiver.

4.1 OU

Metagross

Playstyle: Physical.
Description: Metagross is one of the most common, if not the most common, Baton Pass receiver in OU teams. There are several reasons why Metagross is such an insanely threatening sweeping force after being passed on with multiple boosts. First, it has fantastic typing, being boasting resistance to Bullet Punch and Extremespeed, immunity to Toxic and Toxic Spikes, and and taking neutral damage from all other priority attacks. Second, it has a large offensive movepool that consists of moves that allow it to hit many types for super effective damage. Third, its ability, Clear Body, allows it to be immune from Intimidate users like Gyarados and Salamence, meaning Metagross will never have to worry about lowering having its Attack lowered. Lastly, it has an excellent stat spread to use, scoring a huge base Attack stat of 135 and great overall defenses. Metagross can easily OHKO practically every Pokemon in the game with a +6 Attack boost, meaning Metagross is making it a force to be reckoned with.


Lucario

Playstyle: Mixed.
Description: Lucario can become an extremely devastating mixed sweeper once it has received the gathered boosts from the Baton Pass chain. Having a great offensive movepool to work with (including priority moves in Extremespeed and Bullet Punch) and excellent offensive stats, Lucario can sweep teams with relative ease. Like Metagross, it to is immune to Toxic and Toxic Spikes and takes little damage from the powerful Bullet Punch coming from Scizor. Even though Lucario may be weak to Mach Punch, it can luckily OHKO the Mach Punch user with Extremespeed before they have a chance to do so, as most Mach Punch users take neutral damage from Extremespeed and are defensively frail.

Section 4.2

Bibarel

Playstyle: Physical.
Description: Bibarel is probably one of the most doubted sweepers in UU, since he it (pronoun agreement) basically doesn’t really do much. However, Bibarel really shines once it has been blessed with multiple boosts, since its ability, Simple, doubles the boost it normally gets. For example, Swords Dance will count as two Swords Dances, and one Calm Mind will act as two Calm Minds. What this really means is that your Baton Pass team needs to set up less in order for your receiver to sweep, allowing you to get to your receiver in a shorter amount of turns. When it comes to sweeping, Bibarel boasts an unresisted dual STAB combo (Shedinja being the only one immune, which is why Pluck is usually seen in its moveset), firing off very powerful Waterfall and Return attacks.

Gardevoir

Playstyle: Special.
Description: Gardevoir boasts a very high Special Attack stat of 383 maxed out, meaning it can become a devastating special sweeper. Also, it has a decent offensive movepool to use, as well as a variety of supportive options to use incase it’s in trouble. (This description seems to be lacking a lot of the substance the other descriptions have; perhaps adding in a reason to use Gardevoir over other BP recipients would help flesh it out.)

Section 5

With the addition of a new kind of threat, adjustments are now required. This new threat to Baton Pass teams comes in a form of a new popular strategy in leads, commonly referred to as “suicide leads”, like Azelf and Aerodactyl. They use a combination of Focus Sash and Taunt to stop their opponent from setting up Stealth Rock, and then setting it up themselves. These leads will also use Taunt to stop your Agility or Rock Polish, which makes your Baton Pass team harder to pull off. However, there are certain ways that a Baton Pass team can get around a fast Taunter. One idea is to use a Fake Out user that learns Baton Pass, such as Ambipom, to eliminate the usefulness of Focus Sash immediately. But, The best way, however, to beat this new generation of leads is to pretend that you are using a standard team, and worry about beating the lead before you start Baton Passing. For example:, I lead with Zapdos, and my opponent is starting off with Azelf. Instead of me trying to set up Agility and fall at risk to a possible Taunt, I can simply attack it with Thunderbolt. After that procedure, switch to a Pokemon that a standard team and a Baton Pass team would have in common, such as Vaporeon, Scizor, Togekiss, or Celebi. Then, try to set up a Substitute back to your lead, pull off an Agility or Rock Polish, and continue your chain. With this method, suicide leads are more of an inconvenience that a game-breaking start for your opponent. Another kind of lead strategy that has been gaining immense popularity are Explosion leads, commonly used by Metagross, Heatran, and Bronzong. These type of Pokemon can easily obliterate one of your team members, which is horrible since you have just lost a Pokemon that is part of your Baton Pass chain. It may be obvious to use Substitute as they use Explosion, but this is not always the case. A good battler can just as easily attack to break your Substitute, predict when you use Baton Pass, and try to bring down one of your Pokemon. It’s not as difficult to deal with this problem as suicide leads, since it’s possible to use Drifblim, the only Ghost-type that learns Baton Pass, or a Pokemon that is resistant to Explosion, such as Scizor.

5.3 The Receiver

One Pokemon on your team should be your receiver, the Pokemon that is passed with the boosts your Baton Pass chain has gathered. When this Pokemon gets +6 in the attack stat it choose to use (or some mixed sweeper equivalent), it should be able to OHKO every single Pokemon with 100% accurate moves, since one miss can mean big trouble. Your receiver should also not be weak to any priority move by 4x, and it might be helpful for your receiver to also have Baton Pass, but trying to OHKO every single Pokemon you need to can be difficult with only three moves at hand. Immunity to Toxic Spikes is a great thing to look into, and if your receiver needs to use a Life Orb to get certain KOs, it should be immune to sandstorm or possibly hail as well, or else it can be stalled by good prediction on your opponent’s side.

Section 6

6.1 OU

The lead and Speed Passer. The way this Zapdos works is to use Agility on turn one, allowing Lum Berry to save it from unnecessary status, especially sleep. Next turn, set up Substitute as a barrier to more status moves. Baton Pass out when you feel ready; Thunderbolt is used to beat Skarmory and Gyarados, two big threats to a Baton Pass chain. 104 Speed EVs allows Zapdos to outrun Adamant Gyarados before a boost, and everything else after an Agility, save Scarfed Weavile and Aerodactyl, who are rarely seen carrying those items.

Smeargle is necessary for every Baton Pass chain:; it is the only Pokemon that can Pass Ingrain, which will prevent Roar and Whirlwind from working and also helps heal your team every turn. Get this in with a bulky Substitute from one of the other members of the team, and use Spore. Substitute will prevent you from being hit by a Sleep Talker or another switch-in, and then use Ingrain and Baton Pass out. Smeargle needs all of the bulk it can get while being as fast as possible, and the EV spread accomplishes this. Shed Shell is there because this Pokemon is the most vulnerable to Taunt, so it might need Shed Shell’s help to switch out without using Baton Pass.

Scizor Passes the Defense and Attack boosts to the rest of my members. 152 Speed EVs allows Scizor to reach 406 Speed to outpace Scarf Heracross and the things that try to outpace it. Scizor is also the Tyranitar counter, setting up in its faces and penetrating it with Bullet Punch. Besides Bullet Punch, some find it viable to use Brick Break to kill off Magnezone.

With some defensive boosts Passed to it, Vaporeon because very difficult to take down. It supports the team with Wish, and passes very bulky Substitutes to the rest of my teammates. With 66 Speed EVs, it outruns Starmie, Gengar, and others in the base 115 group (I assume this is after a +2 Speed boost?). A Calm nature grants it more bulk on the special side, and ideally it should have Defense boosts from Scizor to boost its ability to handle other physical attacks.

Mr. Mime is another essential element of a Baton Pass team. Soundproof prevents Roar and Perish Song from breaking the Baton Pass chain when there’s no time Pass to Smeargle. Mr. Mime is used as the Special Defense and Special Attack booster with Calm Mind, and has Thunderbolt and Grass Knot to knock out Skarmory and Swampert, common phazers. 252 HP is quite obvious, and 100 Defense EVs helps Mr. Mime stand up to Swampert’s Earthquake. 56 Speed EVs allows me it (unless you're secretly Mr. Mime >.>) to outpace all base 90 Choice Scarf users, and the rest of the EVs go in Special Defense to stand up to other powerful special threats, like Heatran.

The receiver of the chain. Once Lucario gets enough boosts in store, it comes in to destroy the opponent. As far as recipients go, Lucario is one of the best: sporting immunity to sandstorm, Toxic Spikes, resistance to move priority attacks, and a movepool that will OHKO every Pokemon legal in OU. Cresselia’s OHKOed by Crunch, Bronzong loses to Close Combat, and Gliscor is obliterated from by Hidden Power Ice. Brick Break is an option over Close Combat, but without Stealth Rock down, there is a chance that Hippowdon will survive, meaning it can hit for big damage with Earthquake or sleep you with Yawn. If you elect to use Brick Break, be sure to have Stealth Rock, or at least 3 three Calm Minds in so you can OHKO Hippowdon with Hidden Power Ice. Lucario can also outpace everything with an Agility boost from Zapdos, save Scarf Aerodactyl and Weavile (which you can beat with Bullet Punch anyway). Life Orb is used because the boost is necessary, and Ingrain helps make up for the 10% loss of health after every attack. Bullet Punch is to kill other priority users, such as Weavile and Mamoswine, and it also allows you to kill Gengar if you lose your Speed boosts.

6.2 UU

Ambipom is an excellent lead to start off with. Agility is the first thing a Baton Pass chain should be using, so Ambipom fits that role perfectly. Taunt is used to stop opposing leads from statusing it, setting up hazards, and phazing Ambipom, while Fake Out lets it eliminate the opposing lead’s Focus Sash. Lum Berry is very helpful as well, allowing Ambpimon to fearlessly set up Agility, take the status hit, and then proceed to use Taunt so the other lead can’t status any of the other Pokemon in the chain.

Gorebyss takes on the role of a defensive passer, using both Amnesia and Iron Defense. After receiving an Agility boost, it will most likely be moving first, meaning it can set up the appropriate defense boost in for the situation it’s in. To stop Gorebyss from being Taunt bait, Surf is used to remedy that problem, and it does receive STAB, which is always nice. Max Speed is a must to ensure Gorebyss outpaces basically everything after a +2 Speed boost.

The Wish passer. In case one of the Baton Passers are running low on HP, Umbreon helps heal them by setting up a Substitute and Wish and then Passing it to the one in need. Taunt is almost mandatory on any Baton Pass team, so Umbreon uses it to prepare itself for status users, phazers, stat boosters, and more. It also protects itself from being Taunt bait itself, since it will usually be outpacing the Taunt user and Taunting it before it Taunts Umbreon.

Like mentioned many times before, Mr. Mime is almost necessary on Baton Pass teams, especially in the UU environment. With Ingrain only being able to be Baton Passed by Smeargle, Mr. Mime can use its ability, Soundproof, to be immune to this, as well as Perish Song (this whole sentence doesn't make sense to me. you start off talking about Ingrain, but end up talking about blocking phazes). The role Mr. Mime plays on this team is a dual screen passer. It’s the one that sets up Reflect and Light Screen to aid my teams overall bulk, which definitely helps them score more boosts than usual. Taunt it used again to avoid phazing moves, since it’s not pretty when your Baton Pass chain is broken. 36 Speed EVs are used to make Mr. Mime at a high 450 Speed after an Agility, which is a great number to hit. The rest of the EVs are used to maximize Mr. Mime’s overall bulk.

The Swords Dance passer. With Leafeon’s excellent defensive bulk, it can easily set up on some of the most strongest physical sweepers. It also sets up Substitute for itself and its teammates to boost up under, and it protects itself from status effects. To prevent Taunt from shutting this down, Leaf Blade is used, and it’s extremely powerful when Leafeon has a couple of Swords Dance boosts under its belt.

Bibarel is one of the greatest receivers for a Baton Pass chain. With Bibarel’s its Simple ability, the entire Baton Pass chain has to set up less boosts, since Simple doubles any boosts that it has received. For example, just two Swords Dance boosts is enough for Bibarel to get to +6, as with two Iron Defense boosts to get +6 Defense. This means that the chain can get to the receiver in a shorter amount of time, which is quite beneficial. Bibarel also has an unresisted STAB combo in Waterfall and Return, hitting insanely hard with a +6 in Attack. Quick Attack is a great priority move when it’s up against a priority user, such as Sucker Punch Absol. Since this specific Baton Pass team lacks Stealth Rock, Shedinja can shut down Bibarel instantly, being immune to Waterfall, Return, and Quick Attack. With that being said, Pluck is solely used for that situation, just in case Shedinja is lurking around in the opponent’s team.

I'll be back tomorrow. =]

 

[Heysup]

Yea I just used your refined version of that team, it works really well (much better). Leafeon almost always gets unbreakable subs along with SDs up for Bibarel. However I prefer Taunt for Bibarel incase the opponent has something boosting their defenses as well (like Bulk Up Hitmontop / Gallade are a bit of an issue the odd time when Bibarel is in), though that rarely happens (and only against excellent opponents).

 

[Jimbo]

Is this finished? If so I will go through it and HTMLize this weekend (or next weekend at the latest).

 

[Fuzznip]

I suppose this is ready to go, even though I haven't received much comments. I didn't realize you edited it Jimbo, so you can HTMLize is now.

Thanks.

 

[Darkmalice]

Would it be possible to include Uber Baton Passing? I understand this would be a hefty task, so if you're not willing to do it, I could do it and include it in your analysis. I don't see the need to make a separate Uber guide when your guide is so well made and laid.out so that Uber additions can easily fit into the style of this guide.

 

[DDRMaster]

Isn't Belly Drum illegal with Baton Pass on Hypno? Iirc, it can only get Baton Pass from XD and Belly Drum from the NYPC.

 

[Fuzznip]

I appreciate your comments, but this guide is already on-site.

Darkmalice, I didn't want to include an Ubers section because there aren't any Uber Pokemon that can Baton Pass, aside from Mew. Although, I already mentioned Ubers in the "What else can Baton Pass do?" section, because Baton Pass is not largely played in the Uber tier.

DDRMaster, I fixed that when it was on-site.