UU Darmanitan Psuedo QC 2/2 GP 1/1

[Twilight]

[OVERVIEW]
While Darmanitan possesses a remarkable Attack stat that is further boosted by its ability Sheer Force, it struggles to perform the role of a wallbreaker reliably. Darmanitan is susceptible to being revenge killed, as it is easily worn down through the combination of its weakness to Stealth Rock and recoil damage from Flare Blitz, a move it is overreliant on due to lacking a secondary STAB move to spam. This lack of a dual typing also gives Darmanitan a lot of competition with Infernape, which doesn't have a Stealth Rock weakness, has access to boosting moves in Nasty Plot and Swords Dance, boasts a higher Speed stat, and has access to priority moves like Vacuum Wave and a vaster movepool to break past common checks in Mega Altaria, Primarina, and Suicune. Darmanitan is further hindered by its base 95 Speed tier, which, while respectable, leaves it outpaced and revenge killed by a lot of common threats like Hydreigon and Terrakion. Furthermore, very lackluster defenses go with its mono-Fire typing leave Darmanitan unable to take even resisted hits such as a Bullet Punch from Choice Band Scizor, which can 2HKO it after Stealth Rock damage; this leaves it unable to take advantage of the defensive capabilities of its typing at all, meaning it struggles to compete with Infernape in this regard, which is able to deal with threats like Bisharp and the aforementioned Scizor much better.

[SET]
name: Choice Band
move 1: Flare Blitz
move 2: U-turn
move 3: Earthquake
move 4: Rock Slide / Fire Punch
item: Choice Band
ability: Sheer Force
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Darmanitan should attempt to wallbreak by switching in safely via a slow pivoting move, off a predicted double switch, or after a partner Pokemon fainting due to its susceptibility to being worn down too quickly if forced to take a hit. This provides Darmanitan with optimal opportunities to wallbreak because almost everything in the tier is unable to switch into a Choice Band- and Sheer Force boosted Flare Blitz well. While this is the case, Darmanitan is unable to reliably break past Pokemon like Mega Slowbro, Suicune, and defensive Mega Altaria due to its lack of coverage options, unlike Infernape, which can run a multitude of different sets with coverage options like Grass Knot and Gunk Shot. Infernape also outclasses Darmanitan as a Choice Band user, as it has a better Speed tier with a secondary STAB option in Close Combat and, as previously mentioned, coverage like Gunk Shot to break past some of their shared Fire-type checks. Furthermore, Choice band Infernape's Fighting typing removes the weakness to Stealth Rock that greatly hinders Darmanitan. Darmanitan also fails to compete against other noticeable wallbreakers in the tier such as Crawdaunt and Terrakion when it comes to utilizing a Choice Band as the former has access to priority and the latter has a greater Speed tier, with both also having a better offensive typing.

[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Twilight, 344575]]
- Quality checked by: [[Hilomilo, 313384], [Martha, 384270]]
- Grammar checked by: [[The Dutch Plumberjack, 232216]]

 

[Hilomilo]

Overview
- I would bring up Infernape's much stronger matchups against Scizor and Bisharp than Darmanitan when bringing it up as the main competition. If you can fit it in I'd also bring up its ability to hit stuff like Suicune hard with Fighting-type STAB attacks since that'd better emphasize the usefulness of its secondary STAB.
- I don't really like using Doublade's Gyro Ball as an example in your last sentence, considering Darmanitan should only really come in on Doublade through a double switch or pivot support and not directly, and once in it doesn't even have to worry about Gyro Ball unlike Bullet Punch. Scizor is fine as the only example.

Set Comments
- "also benefiting from having a secondary STAB option to take advantage of." This sounds like it implies that Terrakion and Darmanitan share one of their typings, which isn't true. I'd say instead of a secondary STAB option that it has a better offensive typing.

1/2 when this is implemented

 

[Twilight]

ready for second check

 

[autumn]

QC 2/2 :cbcbdarm:

While Darmanitan possesses a remarkable Attack stat that is further boosted by its ability Sheer Force, it struggles to perform the role of a wallbreaker reliably. Darmanitan is too susceptible to being revenge killed because it is worn down through the combination of its weakness to Stealth Rock recoil from Flare Blitz, a move it is over-reliant on by virtue of lacking a secondary typing. This lack of a dual typing gives Darmanitan a lot of competition with Infernape who doesn't have a Stealth Rock weakness, has access to boosting moves in Nasty Plot and Swords Dance, boasts a higher Speed stat and has access to priority moves like Vacuum Wave, and a vaster movepool to break past common checks in Mega Altaria, Primarina, and Suicune. Darmanitan is hindered by its Speed tier of base 95, which while respectable leaves it outpaced by a lot of common threats like Hydreigon and Terrakion that can revenge kill it. Darmanitan also has very lackluster defenses to pair with its mono Fire typing, which leaves it unable to take even resisted hits such as a Bullet Punch from Choice Band Scizor, which is able to 2HKO Darmanitan after Stealth Rock damage. (also means darm can't switch into things that its typing should let it check) This being an important factor in Darmanitan's viability as it struggles to compete with Infernape in this regard who is able to deal with threats like Bisharp and the aforementioned Scizor much better.

[SET]
name: Choice Band
move 1: Flare Blitz
move 2: U-turn
move 3: Earthquake
move 4: Rock Slide / Fire Punch
item: Choice Band
ability: Sheer Force
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpDef / 252 Spe

Darmanitan should attempt to wallbreak by switching in via a slow pivoting move or a safe switch-in on off a predicted double or partner Pokemon fainting due to its susceptibility to being worn down too quickly if being forced to take a hit. Safe switches in like this provide Darmanitan with the most optimal opportunities to wallbreak because almost everything in the tier is unable to switch into a Choice Band Sheer Force boosted Flare Blitz well. While this is the case, Darmanitan is unable to reliably break past Pokemon like Mega Slowbro, Suicune, and defensive Mega Altaria due to its lack of coverage options, this being something Infernape is capable of doing through running a multitude of different sets with coverage options like Grass Knot and Gunk Shot. Infernape also outclasses Darmanitan as a Choice Band user as it has a better Speed tier with a secondary STAB option in Close Combat and as previously mentioned has coverage options in Gunk Shot to break past some of their shared Fire-type checks. Infernape pulling off a Choice Band set better is only further exemplified by its Fighting typing removing the weakness to Stealth Rock that greatly hinders Darmanitan. Darmanitan also fails to compete against other noticeable breakers in the tier such as Crawdaunt and Terrakion when it comes to utilizing a Choice Band as the former has access to priority and the latter a greater Speed tier, both also having a better offensive typing.

 

[Lumari]

martha if you could take another pass over this while uploading that'd be nice, I'm not exactly confident on a lot of the phrasing here still but not enough to want to ask for a second check

remove add / fix (comments); (AC=add comma; RC=remove comma; SC=semicolon)
GP 1/1

check

[OVERVIEW]
While Darmanitan possesses a remarkable Attack stat that is further boosted by its ability Sheer Force, it struggles to perform the role of a wallbreaker reliably. Darmanitan is susceptible to being revenge killed, as it is easily worn down through the combination of its weakness to Stealth Rock and recoil damage from Flare Blitz, a move it is over-reliant overreliant on due to lacking a secondary STAB move to spam. This lack of a dual typing also gives Darmanitan a lot of competition with Infernape, (AC) who which doesn't have a Stealth Rock weakness, has access to boosting moves in Nasty Plot and Swords Dance, boasts a higher Speed stat, and has access to priority moves like Vacuum Wave (RC) and a vaster movepool to break past common checks in Mega Altaria, Primarina, and Suicune. Darmanitan is further hindered by its base 95 Speed tier, which, (AC) while respectable, leaves it outpaced and revenge killed by a lot of common threats like Hydreigon and Terrakion that can revenge kill it. Darmanitan also has Furthermore, very lackluster defenses to pair go with its mono-Fire (AH) typing, which leaves it leave Darmanitan unable to take even resisted hits such as a Bullet Punch from Choice Band Scizor, as it which can 2HKO Darmanitan it after Stealth Rock damage; (SC) leaving this leaves it unable to take advantage of the defensive capabilities of its typing at all, (comma) This being an important factor in Darmanitan's viability as meaning it struggles to compete with Infernape in this regard, (AC) who which is able to deal with threats like Bisharp and the aforementioned Scizor much better.

[SET]
name: Choice Band
move 1: Flare Blitz
move 2: U-turn
move 3: Earthquake
move 4: Rock Slide / Fire Punch
item: Choice Band
ability: Sheer Force
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpDef SpD / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Darmanitan should attempt to wallbreak by switching in safely via a slow pivoting move, (AC) or a safe switch-in on off a predicted double switch, (AC) or after a partner Pokemon fainting due to its susceptibility to being worn down too quickly if being forced to take a hit. Safe switches in like This provides Darmanitan with the most optimal opportunities to wallbreak because almost everything in the tier is unable to switch into a Choice Band- (AH) and Sheer Force-boosted (AH) Flare Blitz well. While this is the case, Darmanitan is unable to reliably break past Pokemon like Mega Slowbro, Suicune, and defensive Mega Altaria due to its lack of coverage options, this being something unlike Infernape, (AC) is capable of doing through running which can run a multitude of different sets with coverage options like Grass Knot and Gunk Shot. Infernape also outclasses Darmanitan as a Choice Band user, (AC) as it has a better Speed tier with a secondary STAB option in Close Combat and, (AC) as previously mentioned, (AC) has coverage options in Gunk Shot to break past some of their shared Fire-type checks. Infernape pulling off a Choice Band set better is only further exemplified by its Furthermore, Choice Band Infernape's Fighting typing removing removes the weakness to Stealth Rock that greatly hinders Darmanitan. Darmanitan also fails to compete against other noticeable wallbreakers in the tier such as Crawdaunt and Terrakion when it comes to utilizing a Choice Band, (AC) as the former has access to priority and the latter has a greater Speed tier, with both also having a better offensive typing.