When I first played this metagame, I realised that Pangoro was really annoying, stopping every threat and providing free momentum. I wanted to make something that did not care about the stat drops, but wasn't Defiant or Contrary either. Now, I don't normally endorse FEAR but when I witnessed the ease of free switching, as well as the loveliness of TM Wish and TM Substitute, I knew FEAR had potential! I even have more FEAR ideas, but I'm posting my best one here.
Smeargle @ Custap Berry / Focus Sash
Ability: substitute
Level: 2
EVs: 36 HP / 84 Atk / 196 Def / 116 SpD / 76 Spe
Hardy Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Endeavor
- Spiky Shield
- Spore / Dark Void
- Destiny Bond / Soak / Pain Split / Feint
The goal of this set is to weaken and cripple opposing threats with Endeavor and Spore respectively. Bear in mind that this set requires a free switch in order to perform its duty. Endeavor, the crux of this set, damages a Pokemon's HP all the way to 1%, allowing fast teammates and Nature Power Pokemon to easily KO weakened opponents. A metagame this unpredictable can be quite unkind to our FEAR friend here; as such, Spiky Shield is—by necessity—used to scout for threatening attacks, in addition to potentially whittling down eager targets with its rather annoying effect. A Smeargle set without Spore isn't Smeargle at all! Unless you want to use Dark Void and ruin my horrible joke, you may as well call him Sporegle, or something to that effect! All things considered, Dark Void is a decent alternative, due to its omission of Spore's regular counters—Grass Pokemon and Safety Goggles (with inconstant accuracy, however.) The last slot can be a little difficult to decide, as there is a lot that can be accomplished: Destiny Bond deters opponents from switching to their Nature Power Pokemon, allowing Smeargle to switch out, assuming your opponent values his Nature Power user. Soak changes the opponent into a Water-type, enabling Smeargle to hit Ghost-types with Endeavor, and also potentially supporting teammates. Pain Split is a good option that basically always halves the opponent's HP. It's nice that only Substitute and Taunt can stop it from working. Feint beats Protect and has higher priority than other priority attacks, but if you want more PP and hate Rocky Helmet, Ice Shard could be used instead. Its HP investment allows Smeargle to use Substitute with greater ease, and endure status effects and hazards with greater efficiency. The rest of the EVs are filler, but I tried to optimise the spread. As always, free switches and Wish support greatly aid this set.
NOTE: I forgot to mention about Focus Sash. I use Wish on all my teams, so I am often able to keep it at 100% HP. It basically allows Smeargle to survive an attack incase he gets hit. Smeargle is prone to Nature Power, multihit attacks, and sound moves—Focus Sash fixes that.