Fighting Hariyama
BST: 150 / 120 / 80 / 60 / 95 / 65
Abilities: Thick Fat / Guts /
Unaware (HA)
New Moves: Mach Punch, Slack Off, Drain Punch
I kind of like the idea of bulky FIghting types with Special Defense, so I left Hariyama's Special Defense a bit higher than defense, and lowered Atk, Def and Spd. In fact, it's Atk is back to regular Hariyama's Atk. It still has Bulk Up to recover its physical stats, but at least it has to spend turns to work for it.
Fire Arcanine
BST: 100 / 115 / 80 / 75 / 90 / 110 = 570 BST
Ability: Intimidate / Reckless / Justified (HA)
New Moves: Swords Dance, Taunt, Fire Lash
Yeah I think bringing back its original Intimidate should be good for Arcanine- it gets better, but not insane bulk, plus it supports the team. I still like Fire Lash on it as Flare Blitz's recoil can get annoying but at least the lack if Fur Coat means it's not as easy to just slap on Assault Vest + Fire Lash and call it a day. Just in case though, I lowered its Attack a little bit in case repeated Fire Lashes can be too annoying (and to balance its access to Swords Dance). I made it a bit faster just to compete with some of the faster Pokemon (by 5 points), but I think this shouldn't be too bad?
Fairy Cresselia
BST: 120 / 60 / 120 / 90 / 100 / 80 (BST: 570)
Abilities:
Triage,
Shed Skin, Levitate
New Moves: Roost, Refresh,
Defog
I quite like the idea of a physically defensive Fairy, so I rearranged its stats a bit. 140 may be a bit much, so I gave it a more manageable 120 defense, with a lower 100 special defense to compensate. Since Cresselia wants to be a Calm Mind user, it can regain it's Sp Atk/Spd Def with those boosts.
Going with the idea of higher Def, I gave it Stamina to boost it even further while you can focus on using Calm Mind. The continuous Def boosts might be too annoying, which is why I lowered it's Special Atk/Special Def to compensate. Scratch that, I think Shed Skin could be an interesting ability when using Calm Mind. It allows Cresselia to be a pseudo-status absorber and not have to worry about Toxic when CM boosting.
Otherwise, I gave back Levitate since additional immunities are always nice, plus with the new Defog, it can also support the team. Triage can be used with Moonlight/Lunar Dance, but isn't as overwhelming as giving it Prankster. I decided to just removing Serene Grace since even though Lava Plume is gone and Moonblast will now be walled by Steels, I still think this spread needs a weakness of needing turns to set up the Calm Mind boosts to gain Special bulk. Fairy has a lot of resistances anyway so it should find the time to set it up.
Normal/Steel Zangoose
BST: 80 Hp / 115 Atk / 60 Def / 90 SpA / 105 SpD /120 Spe
=570 BST
Abilities: Defiant/
Technician/Tough Claws
New Moves: Bullet Punch/
Magnet Bomb/Drain Punch
Removed Moves: Giga Drain, Meteor Mash
Okay, I reverted its Atk back to it's original iteration and lowered its speed. Now for the ability replacement- Guts had to go. It needs to be susceptible to burns to balance it.
But wait, Technician? Well for one, it doesn't have Scizor's level of Atk anymore so it shouldn't be as overwhelming- plus having Choice Band sets will mean, well..it's locked to one move, making it easier to counter. Plus, I just wanted to use Technician + Magnet Bomb combo ( I replaced Meteor Mash because the miss chance can be unreliable, plus this would have similar power without a sudden Atk boost that can prove overwhelming).
In addition to that, if Tech-boosted priority feels a bit strong, I adjusted its Defense so it will be back to its original frailty in terms of defense. I moved the extra stats to Special Defense, to give it more of a role as a Fairy check, but still weak to physical attacks and priority. I did dump the rest of its stats to Special Attack- maybe for a decent but not too powerful Technician Hidden Power (and it has a nice special movepool, but 90 SpA is decent but not too spectacular of a stat to invest in it).
Water/Bug Araquanid
Stats: 85 / 80 / 100 / 75 / 170 / 60 = 570
Abilities: Water Bubble / Drizzle /
Magnet Pull (HA)
New Moves: U-turn,
Heal Bell, Spikes
Araquanid was really bulky, and had access to Bulk Up to boost it's lower Defense (which was still quite high) but also boosted it's Atk for stronger Leech Lifes. Now this Araquanid's Atk is a more 'okay' 80 Atk, a bit higher than original Araquanid but is more on par with Marowak. Water attacks will still hurt with Water Bubble, but at least other attacks like Leech Life aren't as threatening, especially since it lacks attack boosting options again. HP and Def is lowered as well.
In return, I made it even more support-orientated to make use of its resistances. U-turn is for pivoting. Heal Bell is useful since it is immune to burns, so it will be easier to heal the whole team's status effects.
Magnet Pull is an alternate option to Water Bubble- while it loses offensive stats, it can trap Steel types who normally carry Hidden Power Fire/Ground for coverage moves (Water/Bug resists those and Steel STABs). Stay away from Magnezone obviously. It can then use Scald to fish for burns and incapacitate physical Steel types or Lunge to lower Attack to let a frailer teammate come in. At the very least, this gives it an alternative playstyle besides being the wincon that it was. If it has Heal Bell, then it might be a good Garbodor check as it resists one of of Garbodor's STABs + Earthquake, and can heal Toxic with Heal Bell. Still needs to watch out for Gunk Shot though. (maybe a check for the low-key brokenness of Garbodor
Moosical /
leonard (from big bang theory) ? Also feel free to expand on that note on this thread as well)
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Let me know if any of these are still a bit overbearing but I also wanted to add some alternate fun playstyles in there as well.
Tiksi I guess it depends on the team, if you really hate Flying types. Moonblast usually covers for Dragons. I do like the idea of Competitive though with the amount of hazards and Defog I see. But yeah, I think it's better to just go down an ability list yourself to see any potential fun additions rather than a ranking list.
