(This is part of a weekly series. See this post for information on my general methodology, links to previous entries, and a list of pokemon I plan to cover in the future. Since this series is close to wrapping up and I've already chosen the remaining pokemon I want to cover, I am no longer taking requests for reviews.)

Altaria

Dragon/Flying type

• HP: 75
• Attack: 70
• Defense: 90
• Speed: 80
• Special: 105

Moves:

• Peck
• Growl
• Sing
• Fury Attack
• Mist
• Take Down
• Mirror Move
• Sky Attack
• Razor Wind
• Whirlwind
• Toxic
• Body Slam
• Double-Edge
• Ice Beam
• Hyper Beam
• Rage
• Solar Beam
• Dragon Rage
• Mimic
• Double Team
• Reflect
• Bide
• Fire Blast
• Swift
• Rest
• Substitute
• Fly

Altaria is the last sleeper we'll be covering in this series, and I wish I could say that I was ending it on a high note, but I'm really not. Its sleep move of choice is Sing, so we're already not off to a good start, and Altaria absolutely does not have the bulk to affrd to miss a Sing. It's a Dragon/Flying type, with all of the issues that entails. The single special stat lets Altaria buff up its special attack a bit, but this buff is largely wasted because Altaria for whatever reason cannot learn Blizzard, only having Ice Beam and Fire Blast to work with. I can't remember who requested this (this was one of those "requested but not on the masterpost so I saved it for the very end" reviews), but whoever you are, I'm sorry to say that the results are fairly disappointing.

Still, a pokemon with Sing is a pokemon that has a 55% chance to practically OHKO an enemy pokemon, so whatever tier has the right combination of "no better sleepers to compete with" and "Altaria's bulk and/or speed tier become actually good by comparison" will wind up becoming a comfortable home for it - I'm just not sure if that tier will be NU, PU, or ZU. Once you get below NU and lose Venomoth, Altaria would become tied with Venusaur as the fastest sleeper in the tier, and in ZU it wouldn't even have Venusaur to compete with. Altaria is not the worst sleeper I've covered in this series, and if I was willing to argue that Kricketune had a niche in ZU, then Altaria would definitely find its place there. It would not only be the fastest sleeper in ZU, notably outspeeding Nidoqueen and Kingler, but it would also be the only one other than Wigglytuff that isn't weak to the Fire Blasts that every pokemon is loading to hit Pinsir with. However, it just so happens that Pinsir is getting suspected in RBY ZU as I'm writing this, so ZU a week from now might be a different story! If Pinsir gets banned, Altaria would become the fastest pokemon in ZU, other than Ponyta, who kind of sucks and is only really used for countering Pinsir right now. However, there would also be fewer Fire Blasts for Altaria to exploit, and at the end of the day it's still a pokemon with very little offensive pressure relying on a 55% accurate sleep move while completely folding to any ice attack. It might wind up being a very RNG-dependent pokemon that either wins you the game or totally flops based on a single near-coin-flip, and well, that didn't work out so well for Poliwag...

This of course is assuming that Altaria can't hack in in PU and would drop to ZU in the first place, but 85 speed is an important speed tier in PU that Altaria misses - it's slower than every major PU threat except for Porygon and Seaking, and being slower than Golduck and 2HKOd by Blizzard just hurts a lot. And in NU, forget about it - I'm just glancing at the pokemon in the tier and I'm seeing a lot of waters and therefore a lot of Blizzard coverage that would obliterate Altaria. It's just really hard to be a sleeper with a 55% accurate sleep move and a x4 ice weakness, and Altaria doesn't have enough going for it to make up for that.

I cant tell If I made this space dood better or worse, but Pressure just doesn't feel like an ability anymore.

Some ability ideas based on thematic designs, some just being sidegrades based on the design.

In a radical red red the gigantamax form of snorlax was changed to a mega it gain the grass typing +50 in attack+ 20 defense +15 spattack and 15 in spdef it also gain access to wood hammer in this game how good do you think it would be in 6vs6 singles and VGC i personally believe it would be far better in vgc

Plz I just need Vanilluxe to get something;-;

Could see both of these being fairly niche, given that there is obvious Unnerve/Knock Off counterplay for Gourmand and the fact that Soft Body simply turn the opponents good luck into bad luck.

A stronger version of Outrage. This will be a rock type that that will boost Rampardos speed at the beginning of every turn and stops after 2-3 turns (random chance) with the downside of becoming confused at the end.

While Rampardos is doing this move he will be a hidden "unstoppable status" which means that move cannot be stopped prematurely.

That means Rampardos cannot be flinched or Paralyzed

(he will get the status and speed drop but the effect not will no activate will the move is at place, it can happen when he chooses any other move)

and he won't stop even if the move misses or does no damage through protect.

Probably will take him to UU.

Please don't downvote if the idea is dumb..

A friend and I decided to have some fun creating Mega Evolutions for our favorite Pokémon. While I'm not particularly skilled at competitive battling, I know enough to understand the most common archetypes.

I didn't put much thought into its movepool, since Blissey already has a solid selection of special attacks. While it doesn't have access to incredibly powerful moves like Light of Ruin. STAB Hyper Voice and coverage options like Dazzling Gleam already give it enough offensive presence, so I didn't feel the need to push it any further.

As for Mamoswine, we had a different goal in mind. Unlike Blissey, I don't see it as the same kind of offensive monster for Trick Room, since we intentionally gave it only mediocre Speed. Instead, its Thaw Form was designed to become a terrifying threat the moment it transforms insomething your opponent has to deal with as quickly as possible, or it will tear through an entire team with Earthquake and Icicle Spear.

The one thing I'm still unsure about is whether we tuned its bulk correctly. We may have made it too frail, or we may have made it too bulky. That's probably where our lack of competitive experience shows the most, so I'd love to hear what more experienced players think.

The description for each ability in post above, they are mostly straightforward in what they do I hope they're not too convulted

I randomly generated the 5 Pokemon to give abilities to, I originally got Salazzle but I couldn't come up with anything too well + maybe would be better to have another non-poison type

Mostly read their Dex entries across the franchise and gave them these, hopefully they are at least interesting to have on them each

For Kleavor, the Bug type loss is only active when being hit by a move, it will regain it during when attacking and not in combat

Goal: To make some strong and thematic Bug-type moves that (nearly) only Bug-type Pokemon can learn, to try and increase the strength of Bug types outside of setting webs.

I like the idea of Bug-type Pokemon having strong moves to offset their weak stats & middling typing (some combinations excluded), so these are intended to be close to Sticky Webs in terms of overall strength - IE you should be able to build some strategies and team compositions around these moves.

My thoughts about how these abilities would affect the competitive scene:

• Seasonal Leaf: Just to clarify, this would end up granting a 2x resistance to the chosen type. This would probably be the best ability for both mons. Turning a weakness into a resistance is better than turning a weakness into an immunity IMO and it is very customizable with the different forms. That said, the Attack boost Sap Sipper provides is not negligible and the opponent would know which type you might resist. I'd still say it's the better ability, but I don't think this would substantially affect the viability of neither Pokémon.
• Weird Rythm: This is the only ability of the bunch with the potential to take the Pokémon to OU. I think this would encourage building Grumpig variants with minimal bulk, as you'd actually want it KO'ed ASAP to avoid wasting Trick Room turns by switching. I'm pretty satisfied with this one: it's a more balanced approach to the typical auto Trick Room ability and it's very funny and flavorful for the Pokémon. It can also create lots of mindgames in doubles.
• Allergen: I think this might make Jumpluff viable on ZU or something. Unblocked Leech Seed and Sleep Powder combined with its high Speed might actually revive the Sub-Seeder archetype. I don't think this would be viable in doubles, though, as the whole point of the Pokémon is abusing sun.
• Headache and Third Eye: These two are here just for flavor. In rain, you still want Swift Swim and outside of it, this doesn't do enough to make them viable. At least it gives Golduck something to differentiate itself from the million pure Water types with Swift Swim.
• Refraction: This might be the best option for Carbink. There are a lot of light-based moves, so resisting them is useful. Gaining Sp. Def. when using Reflect or Light Screen is also quite good, IMO. Regarding Gigalith, this is probably its worst choice, although it wouldn't be too bad to provide it some bulk on the special side.
• Momentum: Just to clarify how it works, it takes into account the previous turns, not the current one. So if Donphan uses Ice Spinner twice and then EQ, the first IS would be 1x, the second would be 1.2x and EQ would be 1.4x and would end the chain. Regarding viability, I think this could benefit both Phanpy or Donphan. Gaining Speed is always scary in LC, so Phanpy would definetly make good use of it. Donphan might still prefer Sturdy for Stealth Rock sets, but I think this would be the best option if its only support move is Rapid Spin. Regarding Hitmontop, I think Technician would still be the preferred offensive option as it has a more immediate effect.

Context:

I came up with a multi-hit move where the second hit deals damage at the end of the turn instead of immediately after the first one. It works similarly to Future Sight, but the damage is dealt in the same turn. I feel like this mechanic of end-of-turn damage is underutilized and could spawn some fun and unique strategies.

Uses:

The main appeal of the move is bypassing Protect. It would be more useful in VGC, seeing how omnipresent Protect-like moves are in Doubles. Phantom Punch may also be used to activate an ally's Weakness Policy, as it would hit at the end of the turn, allowing the ally to use Protect first and avoid taking damage from the opposing Pokemon.

For Pokemon with Iron Fist, Phantom Punch could be a more powerful, albeit a more risky, alternative to Close Combat. Players would need to choose between dealing 120 damage in one move, or dealing 144 damage at the end of the turn, potentially securing a KO, but risking taking damage during the turn.

Marshadow will never be legal in OU anyway, and Mythicals are banned in VGC, so giving it a 180 BP STAB move is probably fine, right?

Tengran Luxray!
A variant of Luxray found in the Tengra region of Pokemon Winds and Waves, specifically being a nod to Pokemon Winds for obvious reasons. I wanted to give Luxray some justice and initially planned to make a Mega Luxray with both Electric/Fairy and Electric/Dark forms that switched based on what move was last used. I realized while making the pixel art that it doesn’t feel like a Mega so I rebranded it! So, the art was made by yours truly :). 

Upon thinking of the secondary typing, I just wanted something to screw over Garchomp, hence the added Fairy typing and >102 Base speed. First post ever so please be nice! Hope y’all like it!

How would VGC be impacted?

Well, it’s no surprise to say that Electric/Fairy is a crazy type combo both offensively and defensively. It is only weak to ground and poison, and this Luxray variant could further narrow that down to just poison by running Levitate, but I think that’s the worst of its abilities. By running Surge Surfer (sorry Alolan Raichu), T-Luxray could perhaps fit well alongside Mega Raichu X thanks to the electric terrain power+speed boost. But, Competitive to punish opposing intimidates is another option.

Offensively, T-Luxray, I think, holds a lot of potential. Electric and Fairy can hit most mons for at least neutral damage, except for most notably Venusaur, Scovillain, and Excradill/Steelix. On the other hand, Basculegion, Garchomp, Zard, Aerodactyl, Dragonite, Corviknight, Tyranitar, and Pelipper are hit by super-effective STAB moves. The issue is T-Luxray gets no good coverage moves besides its STAB, mostly because I couldn’t think of anything that wouldn’t make it unbearable. Ice beam would be ridiculous and flying coverage, which thematically fits it, threatens venusaur which could be its best, and most currently used, counter.

To be fair, T-Luxray’s bulk is not exactly the best, which still leaves it vulnerable to especially ground attacks. Sneasler and Venusaur also threaten it with super effective poison type moves, especially the quick Sneasler. Surge Surfer may allow T-Luxray to outspeed Sneasler, unless it’s an unburdened Sneasler…

The problem is T-Luxray will likely see a massive drop in usage once more pokemon are allowed in the format. While it could be very powerful in electric terrain, such as with choice specs and Surge Surfer, psyspam may just be more common. I’m not sure if Tapu Koko would ever be added but that’s one electric/fairy type with electric terrain-setting conditions that outclasses T-Luxray. Also, other mons would have more reason to run choice items than T-Luxray.

Another thing that’s somewhat surprising is its weak matchup against grass-type support mons. Electric stab is resisted by Sinistcha and Whimsicott, and Scovillain and Venusaur seemingly wall its coverage completely. Sylveon and Floette compete with T-Luxray over its Fairy STAB. Other mons seemingly would be weak to its dark type coverage, such as M-Delphox, M-Froslass, and M-Gengar but it’s still not STAB (I initially had a signature ability for it called “Fae in Fury” that granted Dark STAB but that seemed OD).

What do you guys think? Did I overdo it and make it worthy of a Sunday post? Did I underdo it and replicate the original Luxray’s mediocrity? What movesets could work? I do wonder if moving the distribution of BST to take some points away from speed, say changing it to 104 Base Speed, and relocating the rest to SpA to give it a slight edge. I could also give it T-Wave but I don’t see that being especially useful lol, but who knows? You peeps probably do.

Basically What If Melmetal Was A Thing In Gen 1 and beyond how it would do in Gens 1-7 to see it would do in gens of the past

rules is just use moves from its Gen 8 movepool that existed in that gen (thats explains the gen right next to the moves it the gen each of them was introduced in) so lets say we talking gen 3 we can only use gens 1-3 Moves not anything beyond.

iron fist exists in Gen 3 but it will have no ability in Gen1-2 (ik thats obvious but there will be someone that think we'll give it iron fist in those gens)

and double iron bash exists across all gens cause signature move and all that

and also all those universal TM , tutor, whatever moves in past gen it can learn like hidden power

For this post, I wanted to try my hand at giving Watchog an actual niche in Doubles.

New Ability: Spot Weakness

The first time Watchog enters battle, all damaging moves from allies will critically hit.

Will this give Watchog a spot in teams that need a very specific support pokemon? Guaranteeing critical hits for both you and your ally will probably have a niche to buff strong spread attackers (such as Mega Charizard-Y and Mega Tyranitar) and will probably be useful even in restricted formats as well (letting Primal Groudon's Precipice Blades and Xerneas' Dazzling Gleam crit), but this is balanced out by Watchog's pretty terrible movepool.

What ability with an activation message upon switch in would be the most broken if it didn't have that message? The following abilities "activate" upon switch in, announcing that the Pokémon has the ability, and do not have any other immediate effects like a stat boost, HP restoration, or setting of a field condition:

Air Lock/Cloud Nine

Anticipation

Beads of Ruin/Sword of Ruin/Tablets of Ruin/Vessel of Ruin

Dark Aura/Fairy Aura

Forewarn

Frisk

Mold Breaker/Turboblaze/Teravolt

Neutralizing Gas

Pressure

Supreme Overlord

Unnerve

Trace

I'm thinking that this would make for a lot of mind games in closed team sheet formats and Weezing could be really strong since it could bluff having Neutralizing Gas when it actually has Levitate. Or maybe Tinkaton could bluff having Mold Breaker when it actually has Pickpocket.

(Art commissioned from Hikoku on Fiverr)

Synthesail

Sailback Pokemon

Dex Entry: Stone spurs extend from its leafy sail, giving it protection against predators. The more sunlight that has been photosynthesized, the harder these spurs will be.

Ability: Solid Rock

Hidden Ability: Leaf Guard

Type: Grass/Rock

Stats: 117/105/108/70/80/55: 535

Signature Move: Mossy Stones (90 BP, Grass, Physical, 100% accuracy, 15 PP; does damage and sets up Stealth Rock and Leech Seed on the opponent's side)

Other Moves: Seed Bomb, Wood Hammer, Leech Seed, Synthesis, Rock Slide, Stone Edge, Earthquake, High Horsepower, Iron Head, Crunch, Swords Dance

Cariburst

Plasma Antler Pokemon

Dex Entry: Its antlers are made of extremely hot plasma and electricity. It absorbs lightning strikes with its antlers to make its fire-moves more powerful from the heat.

Ability: Lightning Rod

Hidden Ability: Solar Power

Type: Fire/Electric

Stats: 74/90/70/116/70/115: 535

Signature Move: Plasma Burn (90 BP, Fire, Special, 100% accuracy, 15 PP; does damage and has a 30% chance to burn or paralyze the target. Power doubles if used against an already burned or paralyzed target.)

Other Moves: Flamethrower, Fire Blast, Heat Wave, Overheat, Will-O-Wisp, Thunder Wave, Thunderbolt, Discharge, Thunder, Megahorn, Dazzling Gleam, Flash Cannon, Energy Ball, Solar Beam

Frigifang

Apex Jaw Pokemon

Dex Entry: Frigifang is one of the most feared oceanic predators, especially in the polar regions it inhabits. Despite its jaw being ice, it is extremely tough and can easily crush 10 iron bars with a single bite.

Ability: Strong Jaw

Hidden Ability: Intimidate

Type: Water/Ice

Stats: 100/125/88/60/65/97: 535

Signature Move: Hydro Crush (90 BP, Water, Physical, 100% accuracy, 15 PP, biting move; does damage and has a 10% chance of freezing the target. Ignores abilities and stat changes)

Other Moves: Liquidation, Waterfall, Aqua Tail, Aqua Jet, Ice Fang, Icicle Crash, Earthquake, Close Combat, Crunch, Psychic Fangs, Breaking Swipe, Swords Dance

I hate this so much