Primarina (Singles) [QC 0/3]

[Lionyx]

[OVERVIEW]

* Primarina has a high offensive potential, a decent bulk and a low speed, but lacks a recovery move to exploit its full potential

* It has a great type combination, giving it two excellent STABs and making it the special counterpart of Azumarill

* A decent special movepool allows it to hit a large portion of the metagame

* It hits much harder than Tapu Fini

* It suffers the overwhelming presence of Tapu Koko, and will probably have even more difficulties to obtrude in the metagame after the release of the Bank

[SET]
name: Assault Vest
move 1: Moonblast
move 2: Scald / Hydro Pump
move 3: Energy Ball
move 4: Hidden Power Fire / Psychic / Shadow Ball
item: Assault Vest
ability: Torrent
nature: Modest
evs: 168 HP / 252 SpA / 88 Spe

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

* Moonblast is Primarina's main STAB, which pressures Dragon and Fighting types and does decent neutral damage to a large part of the metagame.

* Scald is its other STAB, and even with gen 7's burn nerf, a few Pokémon will take the risk of being burned on a switch. Hydro Pump is a more powerful alternative if it is not a problem to sacrifice accuracy and chances to burn at the benefit of brute power. Hyper Voice can also be run when Primarina's Hidden Ability Liquid Voice is released

* Energy Ball hits most bulky Water types, such as Tapu Fini, or opposing Primarina

* Hidden Power Fire mostly hits Skarmory and will be useful against Ferrothorn once it is released. Psychic can be used alongside the prediction that a Poison type comes in, while Shadow Ball deals serious damage to Tapu Lele.

Set Details
========

* The Assault Vest increases Primarina's defensive potential to its maximum, making it able to tank a few hits for the rest of the team

* A Modest Nature makes it hit the harder possible to fully exploit its SpA stat

* 88 Spe allows it to outspeed non-investment Base 70 Pokémon like Skarmory

Usage Tips
========

* This Primarina easily comes in when another member of the team has to be protected from a non-super effective special attack. Is it especially good when sent against Tapu Fini which barely 3HKOes it while Primarina 2HKOes almost every variant of Fini expected 252 HP / 252 SpD

* It deals good damages to almost every Pokémon thanks to its Special Attack and coverage, giving it a free attack when it is against a Pokémon that can't beat it

Team Options
========

* An Electric-check is mandatory, and Magnezone is the one that fills the best this role since it also resists Poison and Grass, whereas Mamoswine's AV user spot is stolen by Primarina. Furthermore, Magnezone can help to bring up Primarina thanks to Volt Switch

* Once released, Ferrothorn will also be a nice partner for Primarina, helping it to weaken opponents' Pokémon thanks to the Entry Hazards. Each one resists the weakness of the other, and they make a solide defensive combo.

* Primarina appreciates Stealth Rock/Spikes' support, helping it to KO the opposing threats


[SET]
name: Lorelei
move 1: Sparkling Aria
move 2: Moonblast
move 3: Hydro Pump / Encore
move 4: Aqua Jet / Encore
item: Primarium Z / Life Orb
ability: Torrent
nature: Modest / Quiet
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 Spe

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

* Sparkling Aria has a decent power and a 100% accuracy. It has less PP than Surf but has an advantage: it bypasses Substitutes.

* Moonblast is the mandatory Fairy stab, hitting a bunch of Pokémon at least neutrally

* Hydro Pump hits stronger than Sparkling Area and can be used once the Z-Crystal is consumed, but its lack of accuracy may change the result of a match

* Encore can block several threats and, when combined to Sparkling Area's capacity of bypassing subs, makes Aegislash have a much harder time playing around it than Tapu Fini

* Aqua Jet can revenge kill an opposing Pokémon but will almost never have another utility

Set Details
========

* Maximizing HP and Special Attack lets Primarina live longer and hit harder, which is important in a metagame where a lot of stally Pokémon are absent

* A Modest nature is the best to hit foes and to take minimal damage on Foul Play, but Quiet can be used under Trick Room

* Primarium Z permits the use of Oceanic Operetta, Primarina's exclusive Z-Move which is extremely powerful and deals serious damage to every non-resistant Pokémon

* Life Orb helps Primarina to send boosted attacks, and then Moonblast almost every OHKOes Tapu Koko



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

* Primarina can be ran with a Choice Specs set so that it hits harder and lets another Pokémon such as Mamoswine, have the Assault Vest

* Its low Speed can be taken advantage of with a 0 EV Speed Quiet Nature, alongside with Trick Room support users, giving the priority to Primarina and offering it the occasion to fastly wear through the opposing team

* 252 HP / 252 SpA is a wiser choice if speed doesn't matter or if the objective is to survive even more attacks

* Aqua Jet can be ran if the team lacks a revenge killer, though that will be at the cost of a coverage option, and will almost only be useful when Primarina faces a Pokémon with a very few HP left

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

**Electric types**: Most of them won't have any problem to 2HKO even the AV set, and they all outspeed Primarina meaning it won't be able to K.O. them

**Toxapex**: Toxapex isn't afraid of Primarina's Psychic and can stall it with its Recover options

**Porygon2**: Ultra fat, can use Thunderbolt and Recover to beat Primarina

**Tapu Bulu**: Primarina's lack of physical Defense makes it very weak to Tapu Bulu, which isn't afraid of Primarina and can KO it back with its Grass moves

**Post-bank threats:** Mega-Venusaur, Amoonguss, Chansey, Ferrothorn if Primarina lacks HP Fire, almost every Electric-type Pokémon

 

[Alpha Ninja]

You accidently put Salamencite as item and Primarium Z / Life Orb as ability.

 

[Lionyx]

Thanks dude!

I think this is ready to be QC'd

 

[Solerme]

This is not an official QC, but i think it still might be helpful

[OVERVIEW]

* Primarina has a high offensive potential, a decent bulk and a low speed, but lacks a recovery move to exploit its full potential

* It has a great type combination, giving it two excellent STABs and making it the special counterpart of Azumarill

* A decent special movepool allows it to hit a large portion of the metagame

* It hits much harder than Tapu Fini

* It suffers the overwhelming presence of Tapu Koko, and will probably have even more difficulties to obtrude in the metagame after the release of the Bank

i think that you should point up that its SpD is much better than decent

[SET]
name: Assault Vest
move 1: Moonblast
move 2: Scald / Hydro Pump
move 3: Energy Ball
move 4: Hidden Power Fire / Psychic / Shadow Ball
item: Assault Vest
ability: Torrent
nature: Modest
evs: 168 HP / 252 SpA / 88 Spe

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

* Moonblast is Primarina's main STAB, which pressures Dragon and Fighting types and does decent neutral damage to a large part of the metagame.

* Scald is its other STAB, and even with gen 7's burn nerf, a few Pokémon will take the risk of being burned on a switch. Hydro Pump is a more powerful alternative if it is not a problem to sacrifice accuracy and chances to burn at the benefit of brute power. Hyper Voice can also be run when Primarina's Hidden Ability Liquid Voice is released

* Energy Ball hits most bulky Water types, such as Tapu Fini, or opposing Primarina

* Hidden Power Fire mostly hits Skarmory and will be useful against Ferrothorn once it is released. Psychic can be used alongside the prediction that a Poison type comes in, while Shadow Ball deals serious damage to Tapu Lele.

I'd add Sparkling Aria and Aqua Jet as options to the AV set. I would also remove Shadow Ball, since Hydro Pump does more damage to Lele.

Set Details
========

* The Assault Vest increases Primarina's defensive potential to its maximum, making it able to tank a few hits for the rest of the team

* A Modest Nature makes it hit the harder possible to fully exploit its SpA stat

* 88 Spe allows it to outspeed non-investment Base 70 Pokémon like Skarmory

Adding some calcs here might be good. For example you can say that Prima will always survive a Tbolt from Life Orb Koko in the Electric terrain and KO it with the combination of Hydro Pump plus Aqua Jet.

Usage Tips
========

* This Primarina easily comes in when another member of the team has to be protected from a non-super effective special attack. Is it especially good when sent against Tapu Fini which barely 3HKOes it while Primarina 2HKOes almost every variant of Fini expected 252 HP / 252 SpD

* It deals good damages to almost every Pokémon thanks to its Special Attack and coverage, giving it a free attack when it is against a Pokémon that can't beat it

List some pokemon that Primarina can hit

Team Options
========

* An Electric-check is mandatory, and Magnezone is the one that fills the best this role since it also resists Poison and Grass, whereas Mamoswine's AV user spot is stolen by Primarina. Furthermore, Magnezone can help to bring up Primarina thanks to Volt Switch

* Once released, Ferrothorn will also be a nice partner for Primarina, helping it to weaken opponents' Pokémon thanks to the Entry Hazards. Each one resists the weakness of the other, and they make a solide defensive combo.

* Primarina appreciates Stealth Rock/Spikes' support, helping it to KO the opposing threats

This part needs more options i think. I would add Garchomp not only as a decent Electric-type check (it would be great without Koko's Dazzling Gleam), but also as a Dragon, since Dragons have great synergy with Fairies and Prima's Water-type helps even further to resist its Ice-weakness. This being said you could add another option with Dragons (Chomp, Mence, and so on).
Even Steel-type are great partners for Prima, guarding it from its weakness while taking the advantage of Prima's Fire-type resist. You already mentioned Ferrothorn, but even Aegislash is pretty good with it.




[SET]
name: Lorelei
move 1: Sparkling Aria
move 2: Moonblast
move 3: Hydro Pump / Encore
move 4: Aqua Jet / Encore
item: Primarium Z / Life Orb
ability: Torrent
nature: Modest / Quiet
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 Spe

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

* Sparkling Aria has a decent power and a 100% accuracy. It has less PP than Surf but has an advantage: it bypasses Substitutes.

* Moonblast is the mandatory Fairy stab, hitting a bunch of Pokémon at least neutrally

* Hydro Pump hits stronger than Sparkling Area and can be used once the Z-Crystal is consumed, but its lack of accuracy may change the result of a match

* Encore can block several threats and, when combined to Sparkling Area's capacity of bypassing subs, makes Aegislash have a much harder time playing around it than Tapu Fini

* Aqua Jet can revenge kill an opposing Pokémon but will almost never have another utility

I'm not really sure if this should be mentioned, but Toxic could be an option for the last slot to cripple mons such as Porygon2. So it's up to you and the QCrs.

Set Details
========

* Maximizing HP and Special Attack lets Primarina live longer and hit harder, which is important in a metagame where a lot of stally Pokémon are absent

* A Modest nature is the best to hit foes and to take minimal damage on Foul Play, but Quiet can be used under Trick Room

* Primarium Z permits the use of Oceanic Operetta, Primarina's exclusive Z-Move which is extremely powerful and deals serious damage to every non-resistant Pokémon

* Life Orb helps Primarina to send boosted attacks, and then Moonblast almost every OHKOes Tapu Koko

I don't think that the foul play part is relevant.



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

* Primarina can be ran with a Choice Specs set so that it hits harder and lets another Pokémon such as Mamoswine, have the Assault Vest

* Its low Speed can be taken advantage of with a 0 EV Speed Quiet Nature, alongside with Trick Room support users, giving the priority to Primarina and offering it the occasion to fastly wear through the opposing team

* 252 HP / 252 SpA is a wiser choice if speed doesn't matter or if the objective is to survive even more attacks

* Aqua Jet can be ran if the team lacks a revenge killer, though that will be at the cost of a coverage option, and will almost only be useful when Primarina faces a Pokémon with a very few HP left

If you want to note the AV Mamo set, you should also say that Prima's Z-Move OHKOes it, while Life Orb Hydro Pump more than 85% chances to OHKO its standard AV set. (Specs OHKOes it with HPump). In the Aqua Jet description also mention that it helps vs Focus Sashes.

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

**Electric types**: Most of them won't have any problem to 2HKO even the AV set, and they all outspeed Primarina meaning it won't be able to K.O. them

**Toxapex**: Toxapex isn't afraid of Primarina's Psychic and can stall it with its Recover options

**Porygon2**: Ultra fat, can use Thunderbolt and Recover to beat Primarina

**Tapu Bulu**: Primarina's lack of physical Defense makes it very weak to Tapu Bulu, which isn't afraid of Primarina and can KO it back with its Grass moves

**Post-bank threats:** Mega-Venusaur, Amoonguss, Chansey, Ferrothorn if Primarina lacks HP Fire, almost every Electric-type Pokémon

I would add here that Prima fears strong physical attackers such as Mega Salamence, from which it's straightly OHKOed by its Double-Edge

 

[Charlotte]

Reviving this.
Now we have more of an eye for how it's run, it's clear that AV isn't too relevant.

items above 3%

#1 Primarium Z 64.13%
#2 Choice Specs 14.19%
#3 Sitrus Berry 12.65%
#4 Assault Vest 4.28%
#5 Waterium Z 1.27%

Primarium Z should be the main focus, and possibly the only set for now. I want opinions on that though.
Move set would simply Sparkiling Aria, Moonblast and Aqua Jet for the first 3, these are basically the only fixed pieces. The last slot I'd slash Encore, Perish Song and Hidden Power Fire in some order, but again welcoming opinions.

moves above 3%

#1 Moonblast 99.84%
#2 Sparkling Aria 97.72%
#3 Aqua Jet 79.20%
#4 Encore 33.15%
#5 Perish Song 18.30%
#6 Hidden Power 17.13%
#7 Psychic 13.98%
#8 Hydro Pump 11.62%
#9 Ice Beam 8.58%
#10 Energy Ball 7.58%
#11 Substitute 4.34%

 

[Theorymon]

Reviving this.
Now we have more of an eye for how it's run, it's clear that AV isn't too relevant.

items above 3%

#1 Primarium Z 64.13%
#2 Choice Specs 14.19%
#3 Sitrus Berry 12.65%
#4 Assault Vest 4.28%
#5 Waterium Z 1.27%

Primarium Z should be the main focus, and possibly the only set for now. I want opinions on that though.
Move set would simply Sparkiling Aria, Moonblast and Aqua Jet for the first 3, these are basically the only fixed pieces. The last slot I'd slash Encore, Perish Song and Hidden Power Fire in some order, but again welcoming opinions.

moves above 3%

#1 Moonblast 99.84%
#2 Sparkling Aria 97.72%
#3 Aqua Jet 79.20%
#4 Encore 33.15%
#5 Perish Song 18.30%
#6 Hidden Power 17.13%
#7 Psychic 13.98%
#8 Hydro Pump 11.62%
#9 Ice Beam 8.58%
#10 Energy Ball 7.58%
#11 Substitute 4.34%

To add to this:

I wouldn't mind have Psychic as a 4th slash. It's literally only for dealing over 50% to Mega Venusaur. This may seem a bit moot because It can just use Synthesis, but wasting a Synthesis PP while switching out to a check can be pretty valuable imo, since Primarina is hopeless against it otherwise.

I feel like Specs has enough usage to justify a set, though Primarium Z is a much more important set. While Choice Specs isn't as much of a crazy, Torrent abusing nuke, it is a lot harder to wall consistently for bulkier Pokemon. Big example: With Specs, Sparking Aria actually straight up 2HKOs Aegislash, especially nice against Substitute Aegislash! It also gives Moonblast a good shot at 2HKOing Porygon2, so you don't have to rely on Primarina sniping it anymore with a Z-move.

Also, Specs is the only Primarina set where Hydro Pump is worth running. Can be a bit risky obviously, and giving up Sparking Aria (or Psychic) can be a bit rough since you either lose the ability to hit through subs or Mega Venusaur... but good lord is it powerful. Even without the torrent boost, we're talking about something that can deal over 50% to Mega Salamence, so anything that doesn't resist it is in for a rude awakening! Also, not sure if this is worth mentioning, but a neat trick I've seen before: I saw 2 teams that paired Primarina with Tapu Lele. With Specs Psychic under the terrain, it actually OHKOs non SpD Mega Venusaur!

I guess my only big problem with Specs besides being locked in and not having the nuke move is that this set doesn't do nearly as well on Trick Room teams, which is a shame because I feel like this is a big selling point on the Z-move set.

If we add Specs, here's the set I'd go with.

[SET]
name: Choice Specs
move 1: Moonblast
move 2: Sparkling Aria / Hydro Pump
move 3: Hidden Power Fire
move 4: Psychic
item: Choice Specs
ability: Torrent
nature: Modest
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 Spe