TONE
I don't have to take this. I'm going for a walk.
Approved by Dell
Idea taken from unfixable
Defining Lures: Lures are Pokemon that use sets to draw in their usual counters and expose of them with surprise. This can also mean either KO'ing, weakening, or crippling them for a teammate to take them on more effectively. Lures are a tad uncommon, and some people just use flat out bad lures. A lure may be good for one thing, but sacrificing a key component is not a good lure. For example, running Magic Coat on Klinklang seems good in theory, bouncing back Taunts, Thunder Waves, and Will-O-Wisps; however, this means Klinklang can only use it once, effectively making it somewhat useless and easy to predict around. You end up being prone to being outplayed, making it more detrimental than beneficial. Lures should be able to consistently be as / more effective than their normal counterparts.
Bad Examples of Lures: Bad examples of lures are Pokemon that 'over-specialize' in what they do to try desperately to beat their checks / counters, bad lures' functions are better left to teammates, for the most part. To make things clearer, I'd like to quote doughboy, from the OU Lures thread:
A bad lure is one that is either overly specialized and / or lessens the amount of targets it can hit effectively in exchange for hitting a single target effectively. If you specialize your lure too much, it becomes a non threat to a larger amount of pokemon and only to the pokemon you are targeting. It will only be effective if the pokemon you are targeting is in the match, which is less likely to happen when you consider you might be going into a single battle for a tournament. Here is an example of a bad lure:
Jumpluff @ Apicot Berry
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Natural Gift
- Seed Bomb
- Acrobatics
Natural Gift Jumpluff does seem a bit gimmicky, but upon looking further one can see that Natural Gift with an Apicot Berry becomes a base 100 power Ground-type attack which could be used to nail Zebstrika, Jumpluff's biggest counter. One average ladder player might think: "Hmm, sounds cool. I'll be innovative and use this!" as shown by this calc:
252 Atk Jumpluff Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Zebstrika: 186-220 (63.9 - 75.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO (Earthquake is the same power as Natural Gift Apicot Berry.)
252 Atk Jumpluff Acrobatics (110 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Zebstrika: 76-90 (26.1 - 30.9%) -- guaranteed 4HKO
Also looking at this, you'll notice some flaws with this mindset. For one, you forgo running Sleep Powder, one of Jumpluff's biggest perks as to why it is so effective just to nail a counter that you can't even OHKO with Natural Gift. Second, Natural Gift only works one time, so it isn't worth giving up Sleep Powder's utility. Third, Natural Gift is illegal with Infiltrator, another perk of Jumpluff's as hitting foes through Substitutes and ignoring Reflect and Light Screen is a really nice thing to have. Now for a good example of a lure.
Good Examples of Lures:
Carracosta @ Life Orb
Ability: Solid Rock
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Shell Smash
- Zen Headbutt
- Stone Edge
- Aqua Jet
Courtesy of Anty, here's Zen Headbutt Carracosta! Zen Headbutt has seen less use with the banning of Throh, but it still allows Carracosta to lure in Poliwrath which would otherwise completly wall Carracosta without it:
+2 252+ Atk Life Orb Carracosta Zen Headbutt vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Poliwrath: 325-385 (84.6 - 100.2%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO
+2 252+ Atk Life Orb Carracosta Zen Headbutt vs. 200 HP / 0 Def Poliwrath: 455-538 (122.6 - 145%) -- guaranteed OHKO
Posting Format:
Pokemon Sprite
Pokemon @ Item
Ability:
EVs:
-
-
-
-
Description goes here
Here are also some things to keep in mind when posting:
- Does this Pokemon have to sacrifice anything important?
- Does this Pokemon consistently perform its role?
- Does this Pokemon gain anything important when using this moveset?
- Could this method be better aided through teammates?
- Can this Pokemon be as generally effective as standard counterparts?
Conundrum of Effective Lures:
Now get out there and test some lures!
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