Genghis Khan : Just When You Thought Mega-Kangaskhan Couldn't Be More Broken...

Base Stats/Mega Stats
HP: 105
Attack: 95/125
Defense: 80/100
Sp. Attack: 40/60
Sp. Defense: 80/100
Speed: 90/100

Early Bird: The Pokémon awakens quickly from sleep.
Scrappy: Enables moves to hit Ghost-type foes.
Inner Focus (Dream World): The Pokémon is protected from flinching.

Ah, the glorious Mega-Mom in all of her demonic glory.  With the advent of Mega-Evolutions, the competitive scene was staged to change quite a bit for the X/Y generation.  Pokémon that were previously underused due to poor stats (Manectric, Houndoom, Mawile) or due to poor typing (Charizard, Venusaur) finally got an ace in the hole, and many of them saw increases in usage.  However, Nintendo couldn’t possibly prepare themselves for the way that Mega-Kangaskhan would change the competitive metagame.

Normal Kangaskhan is nothing special.  It has a wide variety of moves at its disposal and pretty decent bulk with 105 HP, 80 Defense, and 80 Sp. Defense, but these traits aren’t anything special.  It has decent physical attacking power at base 95, and it is pretty quick with 90 Speed, but there are faster, more powerful sweepers out there to use.  In fact, it wasn’t until Kangaskhan received a Mega Evolution that it saw much use at all, particularly in Smogon’s Overused tier.

And damn, did this thing rip the Overused tier apart.  Upon Mega Evolution, Kangaskhan lets her baby out of the pouch to join the fight with her newfound ability, Parental Bond.  This lets Mega Mom hit twice with every attack that she uses, with the second hit coming at half-damage.  However, what really scared some players was that this ability also applied stat boosts from attacking moves twice, as well (we’re looking at you, Power-up Punch).  With Power-up Punch, Mega-Khan is able to get a free Swords Dance boost while dealing damage.  Additionally, Parental Bond means that even opponents with a Focus Sash or a Substitute up can’t stand a chance against the maternal monster, who will proceed to rip through both like a wet paper bag.  To put it in perspective, a +2 Return from Mega Mom can potentially 2KO max HP, max Defense Skarmory, one of the most durable and popular physical walls in Overused.  It’s no wonder that Kangaskhanite was banished to the Ubers tier.

However, the Battle Spot is not nearly as balanced of a metagame as Smogon’s Pokémon Showdown.  Many common threats that have long since been banned by Smogon (Thundurus-T Lucarionite, Kangaskhanite, Gengarite) are present in the Battle Spot, making it a fairly centralized metagame.  Most good teams you encounter will probably run a Mega-Khan, and a counter to it.  It’s that good.

In normal Battle Spot, it’s not too difficult to work around, provided it runs Sucker Punch (which it almost always does).  Most Ghost-types can avoid half of its moveset, and as long as they resist or are immune to Earthquake, Mega Kangaskhan can’t touch them unless you do something dumb like attack with it before burning it with Will-o-Wisp. I personally like to use physically defensive Sub-Sitrus Trevanent, who can tank any hit from Kangaskhan barring Fire Punch, Ice Punch, or Crunch, and burn it with Will-o-Wisp, effectively neutering Kangaskhan for the rest of the match.  Sub-Disable Gengar is another popular counter, disabling Sucker Punch and destroying it with Focus Blast or STAB Sludge Wave.  It also helps that it is immune to the other moves it is most likely to carry (Return, Power-up Punch, Earthquake, Fake Out, etc).

Unfortunately, these options do not stop this monster in an Inverse Battle, where nothing is immune to Normal type attacks and it is super-effective against it’s most common switch-ins.  Additionally, considering Mega Kangaskhan’s exceptional bulk, lack of weaknesses barring Ghost, and access to Sucker Punch, it can be very difficult to counter.  This is the set in question:

Kangaskhan
Hold Item: Kangaskhanite
Ability: Inner Focus/Parental Bond
EVs: 252 Attack, 252 Speed, 6 HP
Return
Power-up Punch
Fake Out
Sucker Punch/Crunch

Look familiar?  That’s because it’s almost the exact same as the standard OU set (before it got banned).  Return is your standard STAB which hits everything for at least neutral damage, as absolutely nothing resists it in an Inverse Battle, and your go-to attack of choice.  Power-up Punch allows you to boost your attack when forcing a switch, as nothing is immune to Fighting-type attacks anymore.  Due to this, you no longer need to use Scrappy pre-Mega Evolution and can go for Inner Focus to put an end to those Fake Out users, or even Early Bird for absorbing random Spores or Sleep Powders from other common threats like Breloom and Vivillon.  This is assuming you haven’t Mega-Evolved yet, as your ability changes upon Mega-Evolution.

Without the need to run Earthquake to hit Rock and Steel-type switch-ins, Mega-Kangaskhan has the option to run Fake Out in addition to its much more powerful STAB, Return.  The last slot is largely up to preference.  Crunch can be used to make Azumarill take itself out with Belly Drum, or Sucker Punch can be used to keep it from attacking you in the first place, at the cost of valuable power points.  Either way, it’s a dangerous gamble, as a max Attack Azumarill with Aqua Jet is gonna hurt, regardless of what eats it.

Talonflame (another common priority abuser) would normally be a good choice to check Mega-Kangaskhan, but it lacks the brute power that it takes to stop it in its tracks, and will likely go down itself before KOing it.  Brave Bird comes close to knocking it out, but Mega-Kangaskhan will survive with ~20% of its HP if hit at full health.  Though Talonflame can’t faint it on its own, the brave bird (hehe) can rest easy knowing that it has made it easier for its teammates to KO it, at least.

Conventional means are lacking in number for taking out Mega-Khan, but you can greatly reduce its sweeping power by crippling it with a burn or paralysis.  You can put it to sleep, too, but this is only a temporary fix.  The only counters for Mega-Khan in an Inverse Battle are risky ones that could very well be taken out themselves.  Max Special Attack Gengar can revenge kill it, or come in on a Sucker Punch. It can then target its new weakness with a STAB Shadow Ball.  To put it in perspective:

252+ SpA Life Orb Gengar Shadow Ball vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Mega Kangaskhan: 198-234 (110 - 130%) -- guaranteed OHKO

It is also a guaranteed OHKO on max HP Kangaskhan, though most Mega-Mom’s you’ll encounter on the Battle Spot will invest fully in Attack and Speed, and run a Jolly nature.  Mega Gengar, another common mega evolution seen on the Battle Spot, has an even easier time one-shotting the beast:

252+ SpA Mega Gengar Shadow Ball vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Mega Kangaskhan: 182-216 (101.1 - 120%) -- guaranteed OHKO

That’s without Life Orb recoil, too, and you get an insane speed boost and a sweet ability in Shadow Tag, to boot.  Just watch out for both Return and Power-up Punch, as both will knock our favorite Overused ghost into the next afterlife (particularly Power-up Punch, as Gengar is now x4 weak to it).

Another Ghost that could potentially have some viability is Aegislash, who (like Gengar) is massively weak to almost all of Mega-Khan’s attack choices.  However, unlike Gengar, Aegislash has great defenses and a secret weapon - King’s Shield.  Using this great defensive move, Aegislash can effectively neuter Mega-Kanga’s Attack boosts from Power-up Punch.  At -2, Mega-Kanga will still 2KO Aegislash with Return.  However, if it is coming in to avenge a fallen comrade, and it is holding the Weakness Policy item, it can King’s Shield the first turn with certainty (all of the attacks Mega-Khan is likely to use against it will make contact) and lower it’s attack.  Then, the next turn, it can whip a nuclear-powered Shadow Ball or Shadow Sneak at its foe.

Similarly, Whimsicott can come in after a Sucker Punch, Encore it, and then watch it squirm (or switch out, which is the more likely option).

Another option you have is to throw the Rocky Helmet on something with Rough Skin or Iron Barbs and feed it to the angry mother.  Garchomp is probably the best choice for this, as Ferrothorn has gained a new weakness to Normal from its Steel-typing.  The damage racks up, and although you’ll likely lose your Garchomp or Ferrothorn, at least you’ll knock the mother goddess into a potential KO range (from, say, Talonflame).

Basically, anything that takes neutral damage with a respectable Defense stat might have a shot at taking down Mega-Khan, as residual damage will take its toll eventually.  Even something like Rocky Helmet Mandibuzz might have a shot, as it tanks hits from Mega-Mom and Roosts off the damage.  However, you don’t want to take that kind of risk in the Battle Spot, where battles last an extremely short time and one slip-up could spell doom for you.

Mega-Khan can probably take out entire teams by itself if left unchecked, but that doesn't mean that it doesn't need any help once in a while.  Dual screens will be able to lengthen its lifespan considerably and make it incredibly difficult to stop.  A fun choice for this is Klefki, who can also paralyze the opposition with Prankster Thunder Wave.  Just don’t be one of those people who abuse the Swag-Play combo (Swagger/Foul Play).  That shit’s annoying.

A great teammate for Mega-Kangaskhan could be anything that resists Ghost in the new metagame, and can use Wish.  Bulky Espeon immediately comes to mind with its great ability, Magic Bounce, and good Special Defense.  Espeon can set up screens, use Wish to heal its allies, and reflect nasty statuses targeted at the maternal monster.

Overall, Mega-Kangaskhan is (in my opinion) the Pokémon who benefited most from its new Mega-Evolution.  Pokémon like Lucario and Tyranitar were great on their own, but a new toy to play with was just what Mega-Kangaskhan needed to get its head back in the game.  What are you opinions on Mega-Kangaskhan, or the Inverse Battle metagame as a whole?  Let me know in the comments!

PokéManiac Welcomes You to SplashAttack.net With A Challenge!

Welcome to SplashAttack.net everyone!  You can call me PokéManiac. I’ve been playing Pokémon since Gen 1 and as the name implies, I am more of a casual player and collector. That being said, casual gameplay offers numerous challenge styles: Nuzlocke (of varying degrees), the Avatar challenge, and the Conservelocke or Fundamentalism challenge.  But, those can wait - we’re discussing something completely different here.

For the focus of this post, I will be discussing the Avatar, or Clan challenge. This challenge divides the different Pokémon types into the four elemental nations from the popular television show Avatar: The Last Airbender, as seen on Nickelodeon (before it started to suck). The rules are simple: pick a nation and only use Pokémon whose typing aligns with your nation.

If a Pokémon evolves out of your nation, you can no longer use it. On the other hand if it will eventually evolve and gain a typing in your nation, it can be used under the premise that you plan on evolving it. Normal Pokémon can be used by all the nations, barring a second typing (Pidgey can only be used by the Air Nation because of its Normal/Flying typing). In Gen 6 games, the Fairy type has been added to the Air Nation and Bug Pokémon have been introduced as playable by all the nations. If your nation of choice doesn’t have a starter that falls into its types you are allowed to choose whatever starter you like on the premise that as soon as possible it will be stored in the PC.

To get a feel for this, I restarted Pokémon Y and chose the Fire Nation because. Dark, Dragon, and Electric are my three favorite types. Due to Froakie’s potential Water/Dark typing as Greninja, I had the option of picking Froakie or Fennekin. Froakie was my starter in X so I switched things up and went with Fennekin. Early on the choice of the Fire Nation made this an insanely easy play through. The issues began to come up a little farther in when I realized I had three Fire types - Fennekin, Charmander, Litleo - and only one Electric type, Pikachu. The appearance of Pancham and Scraggy on Route 5 alleviated the imbalance. Braixen was replaced with Snorlax, and eventually a Bagon and a more balanced Electric type will be substituted into the team.

Overall, playing through as the Fire Nation hasn’t been overly difficult…yet. I’m sure playing as the other nations completely changes the experience. Before that happens, I look forward to finishing my Fire Nation challenge before playing through other challenges and challenge styles (including the Christian/Conservalocke challenge) through other generations, and to continue writing for the SplashAttack community. Until next time, and the next challenge…

- PokéManiac

Ahh, Memories... Azathoth's Reflection on Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire

As you’ve probably all heard by now, remakes/sequels of Ruby and Sapphire are coming to the 3DS in November.  A lot of people, myself included, are excited to learn more about what to expect and what exactly these games will entail.

I’m mostly excited because Ruby and Sapphire hold a very special place in my heart.  As I mentioned in my “About Me” blurb, I’ve played Pokémon since Red/Blue/Yellow came out on the GameBoy.  Gold and Silver definitely took the original formula, improved it, and became some of the greatest Pokémon games ever, but Ruby and Sapphire truly felt like a new game rather than just a sequel set a few years later.

The story was really great, and it was the first time there was really a difference between versions rather than certain version-exclusive Pokémon.  In Ruby, you’d be working against Team Magma, who want to have land cover the entire planet.  Team Aqua appears and helps you defeat them.  In Sapphire, you work with Team Aqua, who want to flood the earth and erase all land.  Team Magma appears and supports you.  So sure, it isn’t the largest difference but it was still there.  All we had seen up to that point was Team Rocket being jerks and the only major difference being whether you could get Lugia at level 40 or 70.  It expanded the cast and the world, introduced new allies and villains, and raised the stakes.  And when the sun was shining brightly in the overworld (Ruby) or the rain was pounding like the wrath of Arceus (Sapphire), it really helped you appreciate just what the stakes were.  And hell, when you used Surf you didn’t just morph into a white blob with eyes.  A Pokémon appeared (a vague black blob, but still) and you actually surfed on top of it.  That was awesome back then.

Not only that, but there was more development of the player character as well.  You start off in a moving truck – which must’ve been ridiculously stuffy and massively unsafe for a child – and arrive in Littleroot Town just as the adventure begins.  This allowed us to acquaint ourselves with the town and its residents (including your rival) fairly naturally.  They were introduced to us at the same time we were introduced to them.

Not only that, but this was the first main series game that gave your character a father.  Not only that, but he was a gym leader.  It allowed for a really interesting dynamic and it put more meaning behind that gym battle than we’d seen since defeating Giovanni in the original games.

The Running Shoes were by far my favorite addition to the series.  I had always hated having to walk everywhere until we could finally get a bike, so having the option of running – even if it was limited to only outdoors (curse you, etiquette!) – was fantastic and really helped the games separate themselves from what came before.

And, of course, there were the Pokémon themselves.  There was still the Caterpie-clone (Wurmple), the Pidgey-clone (Taillow) and the groan-inducing Pikachu-clones Plusle and Minun, but I loved a lot of them because a lot of them were different, too.  Slaking was a badass. The concept behind Ninjask and Shedinja was awesome, and there was even HSOWA.  Part of the reason behind my love for it, though, was that each Pokémon was finally given its own image in your party.  Rather than just blobs and generic sprites of monster-shaped things or a bird, you’d be able to look in your party and see Swampert, Mightyena, Skarmory, or whoever.

Then, of course, there were the other gigantic changes that were made.  Abilities, natures, a polished EV/IV system, and so much more that have become staples of the games and forever changed how competitive play worked.  For the first time, Pokémon of the same breed could be vastly different.  Each one was an individual, rather than just “Pikachu,” or “Torchic.”

Pokémon contests were also pretty cool – though not fantastic – and I did miss them in future installments.  It was a frustrating, confusing mess, but it was cool to have a way to sort of battle that didn’t involve fighting.
For a time, I also owned an Action Replay, which I would plug Ruby into and then plug that into my GBA.  It was really just a cheat device, allowing me to give my character 99 Master Balls, 99 Rare Candies, and pretty much 99 of whatever item I wanted as many times as I wanted.  I only did this after I beat the game (I didn’t want to cheat my way to the top), but man, once I started, I went to town.  It got to the point where I’d use a Master Ball on a Wurmple because why not?  At one point I gave myself 99 of every item at the same time and the game just freaked out completely.  I was afraid I may have broken it, and I stopped playing for a while.

When I started dating my current girlfriend, I found out she had never played Pokémon.  Naturally, I couldn’t let that stand.  All she had was a Game Boy Advance SP, so I gave her my old copy of Ruby and had her start a new file.  She absolutely loved it and has been hooked ever since.  When X and Y were released, we bought each other a 3DS and played through them together.  It was fantastic.

I’ve heard Gen. 3 get a lot of flak from fans.  A lot of people say it was the worst of the series (or just ranked really low), that the Pokémon weren’t that cool, or whatever their logic is.  For me, they’ve always been among my favorite.  It finally felt like a whole new world, with whole new Pokémon, with new challenges and a new adventure.  It may not have been flawless in its execution, and there may have been some absurd bits (the Regi puzzles, anyone?), but the changes it introduced shaped the series into what it is today.  It allowed Pokémon to grow into the deep, strategic series it’s become rather than keep it as just a kid-friendly RPG-lite.

- Azathoth