Slaking

[Dwarfspider]

Slaking without Truant = uber.

After seeing how well Kyurem did in OU (that is not at all), I am not so sure about this statement.

Slaking does have a great deal of power, but its movepool is actually quite lacking, not in coverage, but in power. It only has three physical moves with higher base power than return: gunk shot, giga impact, and focus punch, all of which are terrible. For coverage it has to rely on the 75 base power punches, or goes with earthquake and hammer arm which have redundant coverage.

I personally question whether Slaking could even be in the top 20 in ou even if it lost truant.


Anyways, while Mummy makes a great partner with Slaking it basically requires that he caries pursuit, and if you want your now "uber" slaking to survive long enough to benefit your going to need a recovery move, which then limits you options of attacking.

 

[Tsarkey]

Kyurem:
130 Attack/Special Attack (great)
125/90/90 Defences (great)
95 Speed(outsped by the 100s)
Weaknesses to Fighting(mach punch), Rock(stealth rock) Dragon, Steel(bullet punch)
Lack of recovery other than Rest.
Only Hone Claws for boosting.
No priority.
Most STABs have a downside: Outrage locks, Draco Meteor reduces in power, Blizzard misses.

Slaking:
160 Attack (insane), 95 special attack (usable)
150/100/65 (superb, when you consider the weaker defence is unlikely to be hit for super effective damage when Aura Sphere is rare and Focus Miss misses.)
100 Speed (speed ties a bunch of things, survives their attacks and OHKOs back)
Weakness to Fighting(predominantly physical, so against his higher defence)
Slack Off (if you can't do more than 50% to Slaking you die and it remains healthy)
Amnesia(fixes his Sp. Def), Bulk Up(even greater bulk, and boosts his insane attack to insanier levels), Work Up(aforementioned insanity, makes his special attack even more usable)
Sucker Punch(Oh hey Psychic/Ghost trying to use focus blast to kill the king hows it going? Whats that? You just got OHKO'd?
STAB has excellent power, and (usually) perfect accuracy with no downsides. When resisted power is only reduced to 75, still leaving a dent in most pokemon and leaving them open to a KO from Brick Break or Hammer Arm, or if immune KO'd by Sucker Punch or Night Slash
Return+Fighting+Dark leaves room for Slack Off and achieves perfect coverage.

So yeah, I find it hard to believe without Truant Slaking wouldn't be Top 20 or Uber.
Not to mention he'd get a new ability, perhaps Scrappy to make him even more broken?

 

[jrrrrrrr]

The problem with Slaking in OU is that it doesn't resist anything except Ghost, which is as useless a resistance as there is. The only Ghost move used in OU is Shadow Ball, and everything that uses it ALWAYS has Focus Blast to back it up. Reuniclus and Gengar come to mind here.

All of the top attackers in OU have important resistances to back them up. Tyranitar, Scizor, Reuniclus, Garchomp, Latios, etc...they all have common moves that they can switch into without harm to launch their powerful attacks. Slaking has good HP and Defense but nothing else, then it has to deal with Normal being a poor attacking type, then it has to deal with being outclassed by things like Staraptor and Snorlax. There really isn't a niche for Slaking to fill in OU...so even without Truant I doubt it would be top 20. It would probably get a crowd of people wanting to ban it at the beginning just from looking at the numbers, but I feel like the Kyurem comparison is a pretty good one. Sure it can do a lot of damage but it is ultimately beatable with things that are already common.

I'd personally use a scarf set with Double-Edge/EQ/(Fire Move)/filler...maybe even lol Slack Off if I think I can force a switch

 

[Tsarkey]

Care to name something common that can beat Slaking without Truant then?

 

[TorchicBlaziken]

Well, it's not Uber, but it will be too strong for NU.

 

[XienZo]

Care to name something common that can beat Slaking without Truant then?

Skarmory or Conkledurr?

 

[Guyguypants]

0 SpA EV's, Neutral Nature Fire Blast from Slaking @ Life Orb on 252/252+ Skarmory = 57.5-68.3%
252+ Slaking @ Life Orb Frustration on 252/0 Conkledurr = 69.8-82.6%
252+ Conkledurr Mach Punch on 0/0 Slaking = 30.4-35.8%

So yeah, Slaking can take two Mach punches (or 1 Drain Punch, since he outspeeds) and 2HKO with Frustration while Skarmory is 2HKO'd by Fire Blast with no investment. I would definitely not say either one beats him.

So something like
Slaking @ Life Orb
252Atk/252Spd/4HP
- Frustration
- Fire Blast
- Slack Off
- Sucker Punch or Earthquake or something

Would probably be unstoppable

 

[XienZo]

0 SpA EV's, Neutral Nature Fire Blast from Slaking @ Life Orb on 252/252+ Skarmory = 57.5-68.3%
252+ Slaking @ Life Orb Frustration on 252/0 Conkledurr = 69.8-82.6%
252+ Conkledurr Mach Punch on 0/0 Slaking = 30.4-35.8%

So yeah, Slaking can take two Mach punches (or 1 Drain Punch, since he outspeeds) and 2HKO with Frustration while Skarmory is 2HKO'd by Fire Blast with no investment. I would definitely not say either one beats him.

So something like
Slaking @ Life Orb
252Atk/252Spd/4HP
- Frustration
- Fire Blast
- Slack Off
- Sucker Punch or Earthquake or something

Would probably be unstoppable

That's because you made a dedicated anti-Skarmory set. >_>

And I'm pretty sure he loses the 2HKO on Conkledurr after Drain Punch's healing, and Conkledurr can Mach Punch after the Drain Punch.

Now what is it going to do to Terrakion and Gliscor?

 

[PokéMontage]

then it has to deal with Normal being a poor attacking type, then it has to deal with being outclassed by things like Staraptor and Snorlax. There really isn't a niche for Slaking to fill in OU...so even without Truant I doubt it would be top 20.

While I agree that Slaking probably wouldn't be a top OU Pokemon (you never know, though), I don't think some of your comparisons are all that fair.

I wouldn't agree that Normal is such a poor attacking type. He gets a hugely powerful neutral hit on 14 of the 17 types and some great coverage moves to take care of the rest.

Saying he'd be outclassed by Staraptor and Snorlax isn't really doing it for me either. He's MUCH stronger than either of those two stat-wise on the physical side and can actually make use of Special moves. He's much more naturally bulky than Staraptor and can literally run laps around Snorlax and his base 30 Speed.

That's because you made a dedicated anti-Skarmory set. >_>

He stuck Fire Blast on it, which doesn't seem incredibly dedicated to me. I don't really see the issue.

Anyway, this discussion is moot since Slaking will always have Truant.

 

[Netbrian]

Anyway, this discussion is moot since Slaking will always have Truant.

You never know. Maybe in Gen 6, they'll make versions with Slow Start instead.

 

[PokéMontage]

^It's still a moot point considering where Regigigas ended up.

 

[Tenodera]

^At least Slaking gets Protect to help with Slow Start, lol. But that's another moot point as of now.

Does Simple Beam take away Truant or is there an exception for that?

 

[Gerard]

Yamask mas def/max HP with Escape button, you pursuit and gg

 

[BurningMan]

^At least Slaking gets Protect to help with Slow Start, lol. But that's another moot point as of now.

Does Simple Beam take away Truant or is there an exception for that?

Confirmed Simple Beam changes the target's ability to Simple. Does not work against a Pokemon with Truant.
copied from the research thread

 

[ThePants]

Did anyone think of MummyGigas too? When I thought of MummyKing, the first thing I thought would also go good with it is MummyGigas. It seemed like a pretty good idea to me...

Sorry if anyone has commented on this, but I'm fairly cerain regigigas doesn't "get it's act together" if it doesn't keep slow start. i could be wrong but I tried skill swap in a double battle with it and it doesn't recover.

 

[TorchicBlaziken]

Its stats go back to normal but it doesn't tell you. Regigigas doesn't learn Pursuit.

 

[No. 1 Machop Fan]

Will it virtually be compulsory to run Slaking with Cofagrigus?

 

[Boarbaque]

Slaking @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Truant
Nature: Adamant/Jolly
- Retaliate
-
-
-
EVs: 252 atk/252 spe/4 hp

What else do you need from a pokemon with 150 base HP, 160 base Attack and 100 base speed with STAB retaliate? Sure you can add other moves, but in reality you cannot get a better revenge killer in low tiers.

 

[JSND]

^ I rather use return

And i need an actualy good set

 

[Showsni]

Now, if gamefreak added a tutor in Grey who could teach Slaking Skill Swap, instant uber.

 

[lmitchell0012]

Confirmed Simple Beam changes the target's ability to Simple. Does not work against a Pokemon with Truant.
copied from the research thread

They've screwed over slaking in every possible way. Seriously WTF Gamefreak?!?!

 

[Boarbaque]

^ I rather use return

And i need an actualy good set

Focus Punch for prediction of steels, Sucker Punch for Ghosts, Counter/Rest/Slack Off/Substitute for lackluster healing/stalling/tanking.

He could be really awesome but hes too lazy.

 

[No. 1 Machop Fan]

They've screwed over slaking in every possible way. Seriously WTF Gamefreak?!?!

If they didn't it'd be broken.

 

[TheOriginalBattler]

+

=A chance of sweep
Really risky, but i honestly think it could be a good sweeper if you do a double battle or triple with it. If you have a Pokemon with the ability Mummy(make sure its bulky), you can hit it and then have your ability to change then go for the sweep, maybe if you get a speed boost and hit the poke with mummy and baton pass, it would be a beast if you use a sucky move to attack your teammate with.

 

[No. 1 Machop Fan]

+

=A chance of sweep
Really risky, but i honestly think it could be a good sweeper if you do a double battle or triple with it. If you have a Pokemon with the ability Mummy(make sure its bulky), you can hit it and then have your ability to change then go for the sweep, maybe if you get a speed boost and hit the poke with mummy and baton pass, it would be a beast if you use a sucky move to attack your teammate with.

I think the best move you can attack Cofagrigus with would be Aerial Ace, but with Slaking's power that'd be dangerous.
The next best thing would be to have a faster, lower-power non-Ghost Pokemon hit it, and then have Slaking use Frustration on that Pokemon (make sure Happiness is maximum).