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Celebi: Hold on, I almost caught Virizion here...
J: Cel, can't that hold off for a bit? We have a show to do here...
C: What? Oh, come on, that was a crit-capture and it still broke out?! So what are we doing?
J: We talk about Pokemon and battling! How often various Pokemon are used in different tiers, what moves are popular in the metagame, that kind of stuff.
C: Ew, the metagame. I can't stand that stuff. You talk about that if you want.
J: What do you have against the metagame? You've been OU at the least for every generation since your debut!
C: Yeah, and do you know how hard it is to maintain that? Especially when they decided to create that U-Turn attack... ugh, I shudder just to think about it. And then recently there was this Genesect that was always buzzing around... thank Arceus he became Uber...
J: ...well, if it makes you better, how about you talk about in-game movesets and whatnot?
C: Sure, I'll do that. Wait, you don't actually play in the metagame...
J: ...I can still look up statistics! And pretend like I know what I am talking about!
C: Well, do what you want. Who's up first?
J: Leafeon!
OU: 0.528%, tied for 142nd place
UU Suspect...
C: Whoa, wait a second, UU Suspect? Why that instead of the normal?
J: A lot more battles took place on Suspect, actually, so it will be more accurate.
C: What's the difference between normal UU and UU Suspect?
J: Snover with Snow Warning and thus hail is allowed in Suspect.
C: Ohh.
J: Anyways...
UU Suspect: 0.235%, tied for 161st place
C: Wha? That's even worse than OU!
J: Probably because in OU a couple of folks are using Chlorophyll Leafeon with Drought Ninetales. Beyond that...
RU: 0.318%, 144th place
NU: 2.782%, 73rd place
C: Wow, that means Leafeon isn't even in the OU for NU. Poor guy.
J: Yeah, having to compete with Sawsbuck as a Chlorophyll sweeper isn't easy. Well, Leafeon does have his perks, namely his ridiculous Defense, so he still has a niche. He's resident of NU, so shall we pull up his moveset statistics?
C: Sure.
J: Looking at ability usage first... 53.4% run Leaf Guard, while 46.6% run Chlorophyll.
C: What? More people run Leaf Guard than Chlorophyll?
J: I guess a lot of Leafeon are support Leafeon that invest more in defenses and care more about defending against status than gaining a speed advantage. Even Smogon's analysis recommends Leaf Guard for the Utility set.
C: Item usage?
J: Leftovers is the overwhelming favorite, at 71.8%. Life Orb gets 9.4% and the rest is pretty random stuff.
C: Natures?
J: Impish at 32.4%, Jolly at 29.9%, Adamant at 28.8%. Impish is recommended on the support set, so as I thought, a good number of Leafeon are that.
C: What movesets are recommended on Leafeon in the metagame, anyways?
J: Eh, the analysis is easy enough to find; the audience can just look it up on their own. Let's just look at the move percentages...
96.6%: Leaf Blade. No surprise here; even support Leafeon want some way to hit for some damage.
60.1%: Swords Dance. Odd that there are so many, considering only about 75% of them are running Chlorophyll, probably. Maybe some are on dedicated Baton Pass sets?
41.6%: X-Scissor. That one's not actually in the analysis suggestions, except as alternate options. I guess it is pretty good for coverage.
34.3%: Substitute. Good for setting up or for Baton Passing. Speaking of which...
26.2%: Baton Pass.
25.3%: Heal Bell. Utility all the way.
21.5%: Return. Another coverage move.
Both Wish and Synthesis are around 16.5%. Roar can be found on 14.6% of them, too.
Anyways, enough of that. Celebi, take us away with the in-game evaluation.
C: Great, now for something actually useful!
J: ...No comment. Though, what exactly differentiates this in-game talk from the metagame talk?
C: In-game sets that I talk about will be geared more to everyday travel and in-game enemies, as well as facilities like the Battle Subway and the Pokemon World Tournament. The two big things are that I will not include Hidden Power, since trying to get the perfect one in-game is ridiculously arduous, and that I will not cover too many sets that rely on consumable items, since it would only make sense to use them in the battle facilities.
J: No Hidden Power? Man, in-gamers must have it rough. I mean, what would you do without Hidden Power Fire?
C: Probably just switch to a Fire-type. It's not like Scizor are everywhere in-game as well...
J: So what about Leafeon, then? I mean, how do you even get one in the first place?
C: You don't know?
J: I don't know the location of every Pokemon in the game, okay?
C: All right... You can catch Eevee in the park in Castelia City in Black 2 and White 2; those will evolve into Leaf Guard Leafeon. You can get one that will evolve into Chlorophyll Leafeon as a gift from Fennel's assistant in Castelia City after beating the Elite Four, but that one is always male, so you won't be able to teach it any Egg Moves... so no Wish Chlorophyll Leafeon there.
J: Aww... though I'd say Wish is better with Leaf Guard anyways. Still, any way to get a female Eevee with her hidden ability?
C: ...There's going to be some available in Japan later in the year through hidden grottos and a Funfest Mission. We'll have to stay tuned to see if they also do anything like this for outside of Japan. Until then, you can look on the GTS and hope someone has a reasonable offer, make the trade, and then hope she has the hidden ability Anticipation.
J: Well, I guess we should put that aside; it's not that important. Suggested movesets?
C: All right, now we're talking! To start, you can always go for the good ol' Baton Pass set:
Leafeon: Adamant/Jolly/Impish w/Leftovers
Ability: Chlorophyll
- Swords Dance
- Leaf Blade
- Baton Pass
- X-Scissor/Dig/Return/Substitute
J: An awful lot of slashes there at the end.
C: They're all TMs; just switch them around however you want. There's nothing too unusual about this set. Honestly, the natures and ability here aren't set in stone. Any ability that hinders Special Attack or does not hinder Attack, Defense or Speed will work.
However, this is important: do not evolve Eevee into Leafeon until Level 36 when he learns Baton Pass. (As a reminder, Eevee evolves into Leafeon when he is leveled up at Moss Rock in Pinwheel Forest.)
If you don't have the Swords Dance TM, after evolving Leafeon you can use a Heart Scale to learn Swords Dance. Leafeon learns Leaf Blade at Level 45. Mind you, this is only in Black 2 and White 2; in any other game, Leafeon does not learn Leaf Blade until level 71.
J: Yikes. Is that the only set you recommend?
C: There are some other ones. You can replace Baton Pass in the above set with something like Synthesis if you want to try to stay in and sweep. Another choice is to just use a support set, with Leaf Guard, Leaf Blade and support moves like Wish (egg move), Heal Bell (move tutor), Knock Off (move tutor), or Sunny Day (TM). You can even try to make Leafeon his own Sunny Day sweeper with Sunny Day, Synthesis, Leaf Blade, and a coverage move.
J: And since Wish is an egg move, just how would one get it onto Eevee anyways?
C: Uh... Smeargle? Beyond that, you'd have to have a Togetic with the move breed it onto a Pikachu, Skitty, Girafarig, or Spinda, and then breed him with Eevee.
J: Kinda complicated. How about we go on to the next Pokemon?
J: Zangoose's metagame usage:
OU: 0.230%, 199th place
UU Suspect: 0.405%, 129th place
RU: 1.297%, 76th place
NU: 8.095%, 17th place
C: So an NU resident, and a fairly popular one at that. So let's talk about Zangoose's usage in NU. How about ability usage?
J: Toxic Boost: 94.1%, Immunity: 5.9%.
C: I see the vast majority of players understand just how important Toxic Boost is to Zangoose. Wonder what that 5.9% is thinking, though...
J: Actually, there's an interesting thing down in the stats. First, though, natures: Jolly 81.4%, Adamant 15.5%. Now, as for items, 93.1% are using Toxic Orb.
C: Which means 1% of players are trying to activate Toxic Boost by, what, having the opponent poison them? How about the rest, though?
J: Ah, that's the thing. Of the remainder, 3% run Focus Sash.
C: ...wait a second. Go down to the move usage for a moment. How many people are running Flail?
J: ...2.86%.
C: I see. And here I thought Sash-Flailing was long dead. I suppose Immunity might help with that if all there is is Toxic Spikes or something... Still, what about all the sane people? Their move usage?
J: Pretty simple.
92.2%: Facade. Obvious and consistent with the Toxic Boost/Toxic Orb data.
87.6%: Close Combat.
79.3%: Both Quick Attack and Night Slash.
31.0%: Swords Dance
5.6% run Protect, and 2.7% run Pursuit.
C: This guy is pretty straightforward. My turn now?
J: The floor is yours.
C: In Black 2 and White 2, Toxic Boost Zangoose can be found in one of two Hidden Grottos: the one on Route 7, and the one on Route 23, both with a 7.5% chance of appearing.
J: Explain that for those not in the know.
C: Inside any given Hidden Grotto, you may either find an item ball, a hidden item in the center of the square (the Dowsing Machine will detect it), or a Pokemon. After picking up the item and catching or defeating the Pokemon, the grotto will be empty; however, every 256 steps you take, that grotto has a 5% chance of spawning a new item or Pokemon. So when the grottos on Routes 7 or 23 respawn, they have a 7.5% chance of spawning a Zangoose. Ah, but within that chance, there's only a 30% chance it will spawn female, and you can't soft-reset to change the gender.
J: Yikes, that is, what, a total of 2.25% of getting a female Zangoose? And that's important because Night Slash is an Egg Move and hidden abilities can only be passed by females, huh...
C: Yep. If you are lucky enough to find a female, breed her with any Ground-group Pokemon that can learn Night Slash.
J: Cool. Who's the easiest one to do that with? That is, easiest to find one and learns it the earliest?
C: ...
J: ...what's with that awkward silence?
C: ...well, there's a Pokemon that can be caught starting at Route 7 and learns it at Level 31...
J: Which one?
C: ...Seviper.
J: ...you're telling me not only is Zangoose able to breed with her sworn rival, but that you're recommending that players do so in order to give Zangoose a useful Egg Move?
C: Hey, if you really don't want to go that route, just catch a high-level Liepard or something. And that's only presuming you find that female Zangoose in the hidden grotto.
J: All right. So if that Zangoose is male, are players plumb out of luck?
C: Not really. First of all, you can soft-reset for a good nature. And second, Zangoose can learn Shadow Claw, which has that same increased crit-rate and serves the same purpose of hitting Ghosts (and Psychics) extra-hard.
J: So Seviper-breeding isn't necessary at all, then! Give us a moveset!
C: You asked for it!
Zangoose: Jolly/Adamant w/Toxic Orb
Ability: Toxic Boost
- Facade
- Close Combat
- Night Slash/Shadow Claw
- Quick Attack
I would not really recommend Swords Dance, except maybe for WiFi or in a battle facility. For in-game travels, though, Zangoose is probably best not staying in for too many turns at a time, just to keep down the damage from Toxic; otherwise, you'll burn through healing items quickly.
J: Okay. So that was pretty simple. How about we take a quick break? We have our first-generation pixie friend, Mew, here with her collection of music, and she'll play one for us...
Mew: Hello everyone! I've got us a great track to start things off! This is Entei's battle theme in Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver. Listen to that fiery passion!
J: Mew... did you have to pick out one of those 15-minute extended versions?
M: Just turn down the volume a bit and it will make a great background tune for your show!
C: Fine... let's continue on, shall we?
OU: 0.249%, 194th place
UU Suspect: 0.318%, 144th place
RU: 1.274%, 77th place
NU: 10.079%, 10th place
C: Pretty similar to Zangoose; a popular NU native, so we should go into his usage there. Abilities?
J: 55.9% run Defiant, 33.1% run Sheer Force, and 11.0% run Keen Eye.
C: Huh, that is a lot more Sheer Force than I would have thought. I suppose we'll have to look into move usage for more clues. No idea what's with those 11% that run Keen Eye...
J: Noobs afraid of being hit by Sand-Attack? Who knows. Items... 37.6%: Leftovers, 23.9% Choice Scarf, 20.0% Choice Band, and 13.6% Life Orb. Worth noting is that each one corresponds to a different set on Smogon's analysis, the Leftovers set being the Bulk Up set, so this essentially shows how many people run each different set.
Natures... Adamant 34.2%, Careful 33.0%, Jolly 27.6%. Careful is probably for the Bulk Up set, which corresponds well with the Leftovers numbers.
Moves:
97.6%: Brave Bird. No surprise.
56.7%: Superpower. Important attack for coverage, though I can understand why the Bulk Up users don't want to use that move, since it'd essentially erase one Bulk Up boost each use.
51.4%: U-Turn. Recommended for the two Choice sets, and the percentages add up fairly close as in the item usage.
45.3%: Roost. This one is recommended for the Bulk Up and Life Orb sets, and again, the percentages just about add up the same as in the item usage.
39.2%: Return.
39.1%: Bulk Up. Again, pretty close to the previously determined percentages for Leftovers and Careful nature.
34.9%: Substitute. Another one that mainly appears on the Bulk Up set.
25.5%: Rock Slide. That about explains the Sheer Force numbers, I guess.
C: Another pretty straightforward Pokemon. Can we talk in-game now?
J: All right...
C: Yay! For all who are looking for Defiant Braviary, in White 2, one appears behind a building on Route 4 every Monday. He cannot be obtained at all in Black 2, where Weak Armor Mandibuzz appears instead, so try to find a friend to trade for it instead.
J: Any chance of it being female to breed for Egg Moves?
C: ...uh, Braviary are all male. They don't have Egg Moves.
J: ...oh, right. In that case, just give us a moveset.
C: Sure.
Braviary: Adamant/Jolly
Ability: Defiant
- Brave Bird
- Return
- Superpower
- U-Turn/Roost
Roost is recommended if you're using a Life Orb. Both are good in-game. Like Zangoose, very straightforward. Ah, but he doesn't learn Superpower until Level 51, or Brave Bird until Level 63. For the latter, Fly is a good in-game STAB option in the interim. For the former, if you really want Braviary to know it earlier and have 10 Blue Shards on hand, a Move Tutor in Lentimas Town can teach Superpower to him early.
All in all, Braviary is great in-game. You can get him fairly early (you do have to beat Burgh first, though) at Level 25, he learns Fly and Strength so he can provide HM utility, and if you can teach Superpower to him, he'll be deadly. Definitely a useful Pokemon for the main game.
J: Cool. Not much else, so let's move on, shall we? We've got our first not-NU Pokemon coming up...
OU: 0.374%, 169th place
UU Suspect: 1.116%, 83rd place
RU: 10.259%, 16th place
Ubers: 4.058%, 32nd place
C: Wow, that would make Kabutops in the OU of Ubers. Must be all that Drizzle.
J: Yeah. So, since Kabutops plays no small role in Ubers, I will cover data for both RU, where he is native, and Ubers. Let's start with abilities...
In RU, 45.9% run Swift Swim, 38.7% run Weak Armor, and 15.4% run Battle Armor.
In Ubers, 99.2% run Swift Swim, with the rest running one of the other two.
C: Wow, I guess having Drizzle available just makes that much more of a difference for Kabutops.
J: Weak Armor isn't that bad, especially if you're not running a Rain team yourself, so that frequency isn't bad. And I guess 15% of RU players are sick and tired of crithax.
Item-wise, in RU, 54.8% run Life Orb, and 19.4% run Leftovers. In Ubers, 75.1% run Life Orb, and 11.9% run Choice Band.
C: Support Kabutops just doesn't work that well in Ubers, I guess.
J: Natures... In RU, 59.6% are Adamant, while 27.8% are Jolly. However, in Ubers, 88.1% are Adamant, while only 7.9% are Jolly.
C: So when constant rain is readily available, the extra Speed from Jolly isn't as necessary. How about moves?
J: In RU:
85.1%: Stone Edge.
74.5%: Rapid Spin. Kabutops does make a good offensive Spinner.
66.5%: Aqua Jet. Priority is always nice.
63.0%: Waterfall. Are people running Aqua Jet as their main Water STAB or something?
56.5%: Swords Dance.
15.9% run the ever-dreaded Stealth Rock, and 13.2% run Superpower.
In Ubers:
97.0%: Waterfall. Here, if you don't have something like Waterfall for a main STAB, you're just being silly.
93.2%: Stone Edge. Of course, Rock STAB is just as important.
74.8%: Low Kick. Lots of heavyweights in Ubers that this can hit hard, to be sure.
41.1%: Aqua Jet. Priority is still cool here.
35.2%: Rapid Spin. I guess Kabutops isn't as good of a spinner in Ubers, though still pretty good.
32.0%: Swords Dance.
...and that's all I have. In-game Kabutops is all yours, Celebi.
C: Okay. First, to get a Kabuto, you need a Dome Fossil. In all Gen V games (Black, White, Black 2, and White 2), after beating the Elite Four and acquiring the National Pokedex, a guy in Twist Mountain will give you a random fossil every day, including the Dome Fossil. In Black 2 and White 2, the Antique Shop of Join Avenue may give you one as well from one of those "Rock" items. If you want one with the hidden ability of Weak Armor, they can be found right away in the Sparkling Sea.
Kabuto evolves into Kabutops at Level 40. There's no point in delaying his evolution, as he doesn't really learn any of his good moves leveling up except Aqua Jet at level 31.
Moveset time!
Kabutops: Jolly/Adamant
- Waterfall
- Stone Edge/Rock Slide
- Aqua Jet
- Swords Dance/Rain Dance
Stone Edge does have low PP, which is why I offer Rock Slide as an alternative. The latter is also good if you're using Kabutops more for doubles or triples. If you don't have a Drizzle Politoed, you can have Kabutops set up his own Rain for a Speed boost and extra power to Waterfall and Aqua Tail. You can give him a Damp Rock if this is the case, if you want that rain support to spread to others as well.
Nothing much else to say. Shall we move on? We only have one more Pokemon left!
J: Indeed we do.
OU: 2.105%, 66th place
UU Suspect: 7.251%, 33rd place
C: Say, now that that bastar-I mean, Genesect is gone, think Weavile might go back into OU like he was last generation?
J: Who knows; he probably will rise in usage there all the same. Now for Weavile's UU Suspect stats...
Abilities: 88.3% run Pressure, 11.7% run Pickpocket.
Items: 38.9% use Life Orb, 17.9% use Choice Band, and 17.0% use Focus Sash.
C: I guess it's those Focus Sashers that are running Pickpocket. How many just run nothing at all?
J: Only 1.7%.
Natures: 82.2% are Jolly, 15.0% are Adamant.
Moves:
82.4%: Night Slash
69.4%: Ice Shard
68.8%: Ice Punch
56.5%: Low Kick
44.1%: Swords Dance
24.7%: Pursuit. I guess not that many people are using Weavile as a Psychic/Ghost trapper.
18.3% run Brick Break, and 10.2% run Fake Out.
C: No more comments?
J: Nope. Nothing that unusual here, either.
C: That means it's in-game time!
In all Gen V games, Sneasel can be found inside the caves of the Giant Chasm; 10% chance of encounter in Black and White, and 20% in Black 2 and White 2. The hidden grotto at the Giant Chasm also has a 2% chance of spawning a Sneasel with Pickpocket, if you really want to use that ability; there's only a 30% chance of it being female, though.
Sneasel evolves into Weavile when holding a Razor Claw and leveled up at night. However, don't evolve Sneasel until level 51 in Black and White or level 47 in Black 2 and White 2, or else he won't be able to learn Ice Shard, unless he already knew the move as an Egg Move. Speaking of which, both Ice Punch and Ice Shard are Egg Moves, so if you have a male Sneasel or Weavile and have already taught him Ice Punch through the BW2 move tutor and Ice Shard, it's easy to get more Sneasel that already know the two moves, and you can evolve that Sneasel early. Only Weavile can learn Night Slash, and he learns it at Level 38 in BW and 35 in BW2, so use a Heart Scale if necessary.
I guess this means it's time for a moveset...
Weavile: Adamant/Jolly
- Night Slash
- Ice Punch
- Ice Shard
- Swords Dance/Brick Break
Brick Break is more reliable in-game where not every Fighting-weak Pokemon is heavy.
J: Oh, Mew, you have something?
C: Hey, that's my Weavile trophy in my Super Smash Bros. Brawl trophy collection! Why'd you bring it here?
M: You'll see.
C: Hmm... well, the description says...
A Sharp Claw Pokémon. The crown on its head resembles a fully opened folding fan. Its sharp, hooked claws and outstanding speed are its most memorable features. It's one of the Pokémon that can be expected to perform well in the front lines of a battle. There are many Trainers who teach it the TM False Swipe and travel with it to catch rare Pokémon.
C: ...okay, so I guess False Swipe is also an option, too!
Anyways, that's all I have. Can I go back to trying to capture Virizion now?
J: All right, go on.
That is all for Pixie Theater! This is Jirachi, and for my co-host Celebi, may we see you whenever Nintendo decides to distribute us! Goodbye, and stay tuned for Top 100 Pokemon #95 coming up next!
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