Quality Control Basculin (revamp) (QC: 1/2)

[Heracross2.0]

[OVERVIEW]
With a solid Speed tier, Adaptability-boosted STAB, and a pivoting move in Flip Turn, Basculin secures its niche as one of the few Choice Scarf users in the tier. A Choice Scarf Basculin is able to outspeed the entire unboosted metagame, as well as some other fast Pokemon like Choice Scarf Mesprit and +1 Silvally-Ghost. Its decent offensive stats allow it to hit hard from its physical side while giving it the option to use special coverage to hit a few physically defensive walls like Tangela. However, Basculin lacks ways around common Water-type resists like Jellicent and Eldegoss, forcing it to pivot out every time. It is also frail, limiting its ability to come in on Pokemon it would otherwise force out, like Charizard and Gigalith. Finally, despite having a good Speed tier, it cannot deal with Unburden Grassy Seed users like Thievul and Hitmonlee, making it pale in comparison to Choice Scarf Ribombee on that front.

[SET]
name: Choice Scarf
move 1: Liquidation
move 2: Flip Turn
move 3: Crunch
move 4: Ice Beam / Aqua Jet
item: Choice Scarf
ability: Adaptability
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Crunch lets Basculin hit Jellicent super effectively, which is especially useful against Water Absorb variants that keep it from simply pivoting out. Ice Beam hits Tangela and outdamages Regenerator recovery even with negative investment, while Aqua Jet is used to pick off faster foes like +1 Ninjask. Basculin struggles heavily with Water-type resists and physically defensive walls, but preys upon common special walls like Audino and Gigalith, so partners like Galarian Articuno and Vikavolt pair well with Basculin as they can come in on Basculin's checks and Basculin can threaten out their checks. They also appreciate Basculin bringing them in with Flip Turn. Entry hazard setters like Sandslash can help Basculin wear down switch-ins like Tangela and Ferroseed, as they do not run Heavy-Duty Boots; this also helps Basculin clean late-game.

[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Heracross2.0, 414072]]
- Quality checked by: [[asa, 400292], [username2, userid2]]
- Grammar checked by: [[username1, userid1]]

 

[Heracross2.0]

Ready for QC!

 

[asa]

checking this when it's not 4 am

 

[asa]

[OVERVIEW]
With a solid Speed tier, Adaptability-boosted STAB, and a pivoting move in Flip Turn, Basculin secures its niche as one of the few Choice Scarf users in the tier. Its decent offensive stats allow it to hit hard from its physical side while giving it the option to use special coverage to hit a few physically defensive walls like Tangela. A Choice Scarf Basculin is also able to outspeed the entire unboosted metagame, as well as some other Choice Scarf users like Mesprit (state a non-scarfer matchup where this is useful, too, if possible.) (also, this sentence would sound better coming after the first one imo; putting it there instead + rewording it a little further solidifies why basc is a good scarfer.). However, Basculin lacks ways around common Water-type resists like Jellicent and Eldegoss, forcing it to pivot out every time. It is also frail, limiting its ability to come in on Pokemon it would otherwise force out, like Charizard and Gigalith. Finally, despite having a good Speed tier, it cannot deal with Unburden Grassy Seed users like Thievul and Hitmonlee, making it pale in comparison to Choice Scarf Ribombee on that front.

[SET]
name: Choice Scarf
move 1: Liquidation
move 2: Flip Turn
move 3: Crunch
move 4: Ice Beam / Aqua Jet
item: Choice Scarf
ability: Adaptability
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Crunch lets Basculin hit Jellicent super effectively, which is especially useful against Water Absorb variants that keep it from simply pivoting out. Ice Beam hits Tangela and outdamages Regenerator recovery even with negative investment, while Aqua Jet is used to pick off faster foes like +1 Ninjask. Basculin struggles heavily with Water-type resists and physically defensive walls, but preys upon common special walls like Audino and Gigalith, so partners like Galarian Articuno and Vikavolt pair well with Basculin as they can come in on Basculin's checks and Basculin can threaten out their checks. (they also get pretty good mileage out of not having to hard switch into stuff like sleep powder eldegoss.) Entry hazard setters like Sandslash can help Basculin wear down switch-ins like Tangela and Ferroseed, as they do not run Heavy-Duty Boots. (hazards also make cleaning late-game easier; with the lack of a boosting item here, i can imagine this thing sometimes falls short of a crucial KO.)

[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Heracross2.0, 414072]]
- Quality checked by: [[asa, 400292], [username2, userid2]]
- Grammar checked by: [[username1, userid1]]

it is now not 4 am but 9 am, qc 1/2

 

[Heracross2.0]

it is now not 4 am but 9 am, qc 1/2
View attachment 502038

Implemented!