Pixie Theater Episode 3

Welcome to...

Pixie Theater!

And here are your hosts, Celebi and Jirachi!

Jirachi: Hello everyone, and welcome to yet another exciting and informative episode of Pixie Theater! Okay, maybe not that exciting, but I'd definitely say informative. Also, my co-host Celebi is kind of pre-occupied here...

Celebi: I'm trying to catch a Gible in the hidden cave in Platinum.

Jirachi: The one for which the entrance is blocked from your view by the cycling bridge above?

Celebi: Yep. Not only that, but they have Dragon Rage, which at about level 20, is really hard to deal with.

Jirachi: Yikes. Why bother, then?

Celebi: Because, like we talked about last time, Garchomp is a beast. Not only that, but you can get the Earthquake TM in the same cavern!

Jirachi: Wait... isn't that before the 3rd gym? How is that even legal?

Celebi: I guess they thought that most people wouldn't find the cavern that early...

Jirachi: They so underestimate the power of online guides.

Celebi: So are we starting this show or what?

Jirachi: Ah, we need to formally introduce our final and newest member of our pixie family, Victini!

Hello, everyone!

Celebi: So, Victini, you bring us metagame news, don't you?

Victini: I sure do!

The Smogon tiers recently got updated, with a couple of notable changes. Hail has now officially entered into all tiers UU and below; not only that, but Abomasnow has dropped into UU, along with Chansey. Cresselia has been banned from RU, and now sits in the borderline between that and UU; in return, Cinccino, Absol, Emboar, Amoonguss, and Snover have all risen from NU into RU. Stoutland and Roselia, on the other hand, have dropped from RU to NU.

Also, in a very interesting move, in the Ubers tiers, evasion-boosting moves like Double Team and Minimize are now legal.

Jirachi: Really? They actually relaxed the Evasion Clause up there? Has the metagame turned into a complete hax-fest?

Victini: Not really. None of the commonly-used Pokemon use the move more than 4% of the time.

Celebi: So... all those complaints about Evasion-boosting was pretty overblown, huh?

Jirachi: Looks like it. Thanks for the info, Victini!

Celebi: I guess it's time to start talking about the Pokemon, then.

Jirachi: Definitely! Let's get started with...

#90: Miltank

OU: 0.240%, 201st place
UU: 0.687%, 103rd place
RU: 2.770%, 67th place
NU: 9.765%, 9th place

C: These are the December stats, right?

J: Indeed. And Miltank here is one of the most popular Pokemon in NU.

C: This gal's got all sorts of cool abilities... what are the players choosing?

J: 44.1% use Thick Fat, 37.8% use Sap Sipper,  and 18.1% use Scrappy. A decent balance, I'd say.

As for items, 79.6% hold Leftovers, while 7.8% use Life Orb.

Natures: 37.3% are Impish, 27.2% are Careful, 15.7% are Adamant, and 10.9% are Jolly.

C: Impish and Careful are defensive natures, for those not familiar with natures. But now comes the fun part, the move usage!

J: Indeed!

94.5%: Milk Drink. Instant healing is always awesome, especially when it is Miltank's signature move.
77.2%: Body Slam. A great move for a Pokemon that is overall defensive: even if you don't knock them out, you can paralyze them.
73.5%: Heal Bell. Miltank makes a great cleric.
41.7%: Stealth Rock. She can also set up entry hazards.
26.3%: Earthquake. Always a great move.
16.5%: Curse. Worth noting that it's about the same usage as the Scrappy usage, and the two definitely go together.
16.4% use Toxic.

But now, we go into the part I'm sure you're really interested in... in-game usage! And for that, Celebi is the pixie for the job.

C: That's right!

Now, Miltank, you need to either catch one in Generation IV and transfer it over, or catch one in Dream World, where they can be found with Sap Sipper in the Pleasant Forest after having at least 5,000 Dream World points.

When you do catch one, there are a couple of good in-game sets to use. This is a good one overall, though, regardless of Miltank's ability...

Miltank
- Body Slam
- Milk Drink
- Heal Bell
- Earthquake/Stealth Rock

Stealth Rock is pretty situational in-game, since in-game Trainers do not switch around their Pokemon a lot, but you can still get a good start on knocking out tough foes. You can either teach the move through TM in Gen IV before transferring Miltank over, or use the B2W2 move tutor in Nacrene City to teach the move for 10 Green Shards. Otherwise, Earthquake is an excellent secondary attack.

J: Next up we have:

 #89: Escavalier

OU: 0.197%, 215th place
UU: 0.476%, 121st place
RU: 7.984%, 28th place


C: An RU native? How is his ability usage down there?

J: 67.8% use Swarm, 17.1% use Shell Armor, and 15.1% use Overcoat.

C: I guess 17.1% of people hate crits that much. That's pretty high Overcoat usage, though...

J: Well, with Hail just re-introduced into the tier, it's kind of understandable.

As for items: 54.0% use Choice Band, and 28.3% use Leftovers.
There's not much to talk about natures-wise; 76.3% are Adamant, and any other nature has less than 10% usage.

C: No point raising the speed of a Base 20 Pokemon, huh?

J: Yeah, about 9% even use Brave nature to make him as slow as possible, possibly for Trick Room. Let's talk about moves now, though...

97.5%: Iron Head. Steel STAB is actually pretty useful in a Hail-infused tier, I guess. Not that there's much other choice for STAB other than...
97.2%: Megahorn. Yeah, a Base 120 move with STAB off Base 135 Attack is killer and a big reason why Escavalier is the threat he is.
58.3%: Pursuit, because having a Pokemon that can trap and revenge-kill Ghosts, Psychics, or other weakened threats is always helpful.
40.1%: Return. Yeah, Escavalier is a bit limited in good attacking options.
24.2%: Swords Dance. There's a possibility of Swords Dance going particularly with Leftovers and Pursuit going with Choice Band.
20.8%: Sleep Talk. Sometimes, having a Pokemon to switch into sleep-inducing moves that can still possibly strike back hard is helpful.
10.9% use Toxic.

Celebi, give 'em a good in-game set!

C: Will do!

First of all, Karrablast are found on Route 6. To evolve it, you must trade it specifically for a Shelmet. If you don't have a friend or a second cartridge and system to trade with, your best bet is to catch a Shelmet and offer it on the GTS for a Karrablst. Shelmet are found on Route 8 in Black and White and Route 6 in Black 2 and White 2, among other places.

Escavalier
- X-Scissor/Megahorn
- Iron Head
- Return
- False Swipe/Swords Dance

First of all, Megahorn is an Egg Move. A Heracross or a Scolipede can both pass the move to a Karrablast. However, if you're trading for it over the GTS, getting one with Megahorn might not be so easy. That's why X-Scissor, which is a level-up move and a TM move, is perfectly acceptable. It also is more accurate and has more PP, which helps when traveling. And that's all I have.

J: Let's take this next Pokemon for a spin, then...

#88: Hitmontop

OU: 0.881%, 108th place
UU: 11.561%, 17th place

C: He seems to be pretty popular in UU.

J: He's one of the few Rapid Spinners in the tier, so it makes sense.

The abilities show that, too... 75.7% use Intimidate, the preferred ability for Rapid Spinners. 24.2% use Technician, and a mere 0.1% use Steadfast.

Items use highly favor Leftovers, with 79.7% of Hitmontop carrying the item. Life Orb comes in second at 9.6%.

As for Natures, 45.4% are Impish (defensive), 29.7% are Adamant (offensive), and 14.2% are Careful (defensive).

And now for the actual move usage...
88.7%: Rapid Spin. As I said, Hitmontop is mostly used for Rapid Spin. Though clearly, some of those Technician Hitmontop are also using the move...
71.5%: Close Combat. A good STAB move regardless of set.
54.8%: Sucker Punch. Priority is always useful.
52.6%: Toxic. Great for defensive sets like a lot of Hitmontop have.
38.8%: Mach Punch. Another priority attack, with STAB. This one goes well with Technician.
26.7%: Stone Edge. Good coverage alongside Close Combat.
21.0%: Fake Out. You'll pretty much only see this move with Technician.
11.5%: Foresight. This move, when used at the right time, can allow Hitmontop to Rapid Spin even against a Ghost-type.

Celebi, what do you suggest for in-game?

C: First off, you have to catch one. They sometimes swarm on Route 10 in Black and White; otherwise, you can catch a Dream World one in Rugged Mountain after getting at least 10,000 Dream World points. It's recommend that you breed the Dream World one to get one without the Dream World ability, as both Intimidate and Technician are better than Steadfast.

It's worth noting, though, that Sucker Punch is only available as a Move Tutor attack in Gen IV, so if you want that move, you need to get a Tyrogue somewhere there (for example, the Karate Master in HGSS), teach the move there, then transfer it over.

To evolve Tyrogue into Hitmontop, his Attack and Defense must be equal at Level 20. Use vitamins to modify Tyrogue's stats accordingly.

Now, the thing with Hitmontop is, he is most effective in Doubles or Triples. Intimidate is a useful ability which can lower two or even three opponent's Attack stats, while Technician boosts the power of many priority attacks, which is very helpful. Hitmontop's solid defensive bulk plus decent offensive power also makes him a great choice for the center slot in Triples. Here is an overall helpful Doubles/Triples set to use.

Hitmontop
Ability: Intimidate or Technician
- Fake Out
- Close Combat/Mach Punch
- Sucker Punch/Rock Slide
- Wide Guard/Detect

Fake Out is useful to keep one of the opposing Pokemon from acting on the first turn. It also gets a nice boost from Technician if that is your ability of choice. Close Combat is preferred with Intimidate, while Mach Punch is preferred with Technician. Sucker Punch is great if you can get your Hitmontop as a transfer from Gen IV; otherwise, Rock Slide offers great coverage with nice spread. Finally, Wide Guard is useful to protect your team from spread moves, while Detect is always useful, and preferred over Protect in Doubles/Triples as you avoid problems with Pokemon using Imprison + Protect.

If you want a set that is more tailored to normal game usage...

Hitmontop
- Close Combat/Low Sweep/Triple Kick
- Sucker Punch/Rock Slide/Stone Edge
- Mach Punch
- Toxic/Fake Out

Low Sweep and Triple Kick are for use with Technician. The former is much more reliable--there's only about a 73% chance all three hits of Triple Kick will hit to equal the damage of Low Sweep--but the latter can potentially one-shot Pokemon with Sturdy.

Whew, that's a lot. How about we take a break?

J: Sure... Mew, do you have some music for us?

Mew: Well, since you guys were talking about Garchomp in Platinum, how about this one...

M: Unfortunately, not a very good loop point edit, but hey, it's Cynthia's battle theme, and it is awesome.

C: Totally is. In fact, I'm getting all pumped up for the next Pokemon! Bring it on!

J: You asked for it!

#87: Tangrowth

OU: 0.547%, 145th place
UU: 1.360%, 73rd place
RU: 9.817%, 14th place


C: So this Pokemon is popular in RU, then. Go ahead and go over the usual...

J: Sure thing.

For Abilities: Regenerator gets overwhelming usage at 94.6%, with Chlorophyll at 5.1% and Leaf Guard at 0.3%.

C: Not much sun in RU, I guess?

J: That, and even at double speed, Tangrowth still isn't that fast. Being able to heal a third of his health upon switching is much more useful for a defensive Pokemon like him.

Likewise, as far as items are concerned, Leftovers is by far the most popular at 81.0%, with Life Orb next at 8.0%.
Similarly, the popular natures are the defensive ones: Bold at 55.5%, and Impish (which is for more physical sets as it lowers Special attack) at 11.2%. Modest gets 10.4% usage.

And now, the moves:
78.9%: Sleep Powder. Always a useful move.
75.2%: Leech Seed. Another great move that Grass-types get.
67.6%: Giga Drain. Solid damage and healing to make Tangrowth even harder to take down.
41.5%: Hidden Power Fire, for coverage.
24.9%: Knock Off, which is a handy support move.
22.9%: Power Whip, a strong physical move.
20.1%: Focus Blast, for additional special coverage.

Celebi, what's your in-game report?

C: Standard Tangela are found in Route 13 and in the Giant Chasm. Regenerator Tangela can be found in Black 2 and White 2 in the Hidden Grotto on Route 13 at the northwest stairs, or in the Pleasant Forest Dream World area. Tangela evolves into Tangrowth upon leveling up with Ancientpower, which he learns at Level 36 normally, though you can also breed the move early with two Pokemon with Ancientpower.

As for a moveset...

Sunlight Tangrowth
Ability: Chlorophyll
- SolarBeam
- Sleep Powder
- Focus Blast
- Sunny Day/some other move

This Tangrowth is to be used in sunlight, and can either be used on his own with Sunny Day or in a part of a larger sun team. Any of the moves Jirachi noted above as commonly used in the metagame can be used in-game, with Power Whip being more useful if you don't have an attack-lowering nature.

If you don't want a Sun-specific Tangrowth, then...

Regenerator Tangrowth
Ability: Regenerator
- Giga Drain
- Sleep Powder
- Leech Seed
- some other move

Again, any of those other moves mentioned previously can work.

J: We're now on our final Pokemon in this segment...

#86: Aggron

OU: 0.702%, 123th place
UU: 1.037%, 83rd place
RU: 9.122%, 23rd place


C: Another RU native. What do we have for abilities?

J: 81.8% use Rock Head, 14.7% use Sturdy,  and 3.5% use Heavy Metal.

C: Really? Not that many use Rock Head? I know Sturdy is a lot better this generation, especially for a Pokemon so easily KO'd by Fighting and Ground moves, but still...

J: Well, in the meantime, let's look at items...

26.4% use Leftovers, 25.3% use Choice Band, and 22.9% use Life Orb.

C: Pretty even item usage there. What about natures?

Nothing much. 74.8% are Adamant, and any other nature is less than 10%.

But now for the good stuff: move usage.
90.2%: Head Smash. Aggron definitely has the Rock Head + Head Smash niche, but there are about 8% of people out there using the move without Rock Head... and all of that 50% recoil.
70.5%: Earthquake. Always a great move.
30.4%: Heavy Slam. Hope no one's using this move with Autotomize...
29.5%: Aqua Tail. Great coverage move.
27.8%: Rock Polish/Autotomize; 14.0% use Autotomize.
23.9%: Stealth Rock.
18.7% use Ice Punch, 13.3% use Fire Punch, 12.5% use Superpower, 12.2% use Substitute, 11.4% use Thunder Wave, and 10.5% use Focus Punch.

C: Wow, that's a lot of different moves between 10% and 20%. Most of those moves are good filler moves, but I guess this is where I must cover in-game usage...

You can catch Aron in Black 2 and White 2 in Mistralton Cave, which you can Surf to on the east side of Route 6. Head Smash is an Egg Move which is passed on from Craniados or Rampardos, so make sure that gets bred on to Aron properly.

As for a moveset...

Aggron
Ability: Rock Head
- Head Smash
- Earthquae
- Iron Head/Heavy Slam
- (filler move)

Just pick a move from the above list. They're all good; just make sure not to use Autotomize with Heavy Slam. Iron Head is presented as an alternative because Aggron doesn't learn Heavy Slam until level 65, but Aron can learn Iron Head at level 29, before evolving, so you'll be using Iron Head for a while anyways.

J: And that's all for this show! Now, because we have been busy, we have yet to be able to see what that new announcement for Pokemon was all about...

C: Oh, you didn't get the news? Nintendo just announced the next generation of Pokemon games.

J: ...wait, what? How did I miss such big news?

C: Well, you sleep like you're not going to wake up in a thousand years...

J: I need to get more info about these new games. Until next time, see you!

Pixie Theater Episode 2: Top 100 Pokemon #95-91

It's time for Pixie Theater! Please welcome the members of Pixie Theater, Celebi, Jirachi, Mew, and Manaphy!

Jirachi: Hello, everyone! I would like to take this moment to introduce some of the other members of Pixie Theater. I am Jirachi, of course, your not-really-an-expert on commentating on the competitive metagame.

Celebi: And I am Celebi, the in-game expert.

Jirachi: Mew is the Keeper of CDs, and will provide us with music for this episode. Mew, do you have a tune to start us off with?

Mew: Of course! It's the final battle with N in Black and White!

Mew: Gotta love that organ.

Celebi: Agreed. And now, here's our final member, Manaphy! What are you here for, anyways?

Manaphy: I'm here to report on some corrections from the last episode!

Jirachi: Wait, did we make a mistake somewhere?

Manaphy: Sort of. You talked about trying to find Eevee and Zangoose with their hidden abilities, without mentioning that they can be found in the Dream World's newest area, Dream Park.

Celebi: Oh... yeah, that was so new, that my sources didn't even update that info properly.

Manaphy: Well, a lot of information about Dream Park still isn't known. What is known is that certain Pokemon only appear if you access the place with a Black or White cartridge, and others only appear with a Black 2 or White 2 cartridge. Zangoose, in particular, belongs with the former group. Eevee is still unknown as to what games she appears with, or if one needs points to find her. Oh, and to have a higher chance of going to Dream Park, be sure to tuck in a Normal-type.

Jirachi: Looks like this aspect still has developments. You will keep us updated, right?

Manaphy: Certainly! Especially since I've got nothing else to do...

Celebi: Nothing else?

Manaphy: ...I just missed out on ranking in the Top 100. I'm something like #109.

Jirachi: ...aww, poor thing. Well, see you later.

Celebi: Say, don't we have a fifth member?

Jirachi: Oh, you must mean Victini. He does have a role, which is to inform us of changes to the metagame. The next tiering update will be in January, so he'll pop up around then.

Celebi: Oh, cool. Shall we get started on the main event?

Jirachi: Of course!

#95: Zapdos

OU: 1.545%, 77th place
UU Suspect: 12.335%, 12th place

An UU native, and a top threat there.

C: I'd be surprised if he wasn't at least that. Wasn't he OU for four generations before now?

J: Yes, he was. No point in talking abilities, as Lightningrod is not legal yet, so all Zapdos have Pressure by default.

C: Items, then...

J: In UU Suspect, 55.5% hold Leftovers, 24.8% hold a Life Orb, 8.4% hold Choice Specs, and 4.2% hold a Choice Scarf.

As for natures, though, 45.5% are Timid, 21.4% are Modest, 18.1% are Calm, and 10.5% are Bold.

C: That is odd. About half hold Leftovers but nowhere near that many are of the two defensive natures. That's Calm and Bold, for those not familiar with natures.

J: Well, it's not like Leftovers is bad on an offensive set, since Zapdos has pretty good defenses regardless.

C: I guess so. What about moves?

J: They are as follows.

86.7%: Thunderbolt. Naturally. It only really competes with Discharge, which got 8.4% usage.
79.4%: Roost. Good option for pretty much any Zapdos set other than the Choice sets.
74.5%: Heat Wave. Extra coverage is always great.
35.5%: Hidden Power Ice. The poor man's BoltBeam.
26.5%: Hidden Power Grass. For when you just hate Swampert and Rhyperior that much.
20.5%: Toxic. This one's only used on the more defensive sets. The Smogon analysis always puts it as an alternative to Heat Wave, which may explain how the two together just about add up to 100%.
14.8%: Volt Switch. About corresponds to the usage of Choice items.
14.6%: Substitute.
8.5% run Hidden Power Flying for STAB, and as mentioned earlier, 8.4% use Discharge.

C: Is it time for in-game stuff now?

J: The floor is yours.

C: Unfortunately, Zapdos currently is not available in any of the Gen V games, so it is time to take a bit of a time warp!

J: Wait, what...

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

C: Welcome back to Gen III! Specifically, welcome to FireRed and LeafGreen!

J: ...did you just take us back in time?

C: Of course! How else can I show people where to find a Zapdos?

J: By telling them?

C: That's no fun. Anyways, Zapdos can be found at the same place he could be found in the original Red and Blue: at the end of the Power Plant. Well, technically in these remakes, Zapdos is outside of the Power Plant at an area only accessible by going through the plant, but still. You can also get one in Pokemon XD at Citadark Isle, and it will have the unique move Baton Pass after purification.

After capturing either one, you can transfer it via Pal Park into a 4th generation game. You can also grab one of the ones that appear in a 4th-gen game... so, ready to time warp again, Jirachi?

...

Jirachi? Why are you tearing up?

J: *sniff* ...it's just that... this is where it all started for me... when I appeared on that Pokemon Colosseum bonus disc and could be transferred over... and then I was able to start terrorizing the metagame...

C: Oh... I guess this was your debut, huh. We have a show to do, though...

J: Wait!

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

C: Welcome to Gen IV! Particularly, Platinum. Come on, Jirachi, cheer up already...

J: *sniff* No, this place is sentimental, too...

C: How come?

J: ...because this is where I learned Iron Head and learned how to flinch-hax all my opponents to death!

C: ...you know there are people out there that are going to be pissed if they heard you say that. Anyways, here, Zapdos is a roaming Legendary, obtainable after getting the National Dex and visiting Professor Oak in Eterna City. He can also be found in HeartGold and SoulSilver on Route 10 right next to the Power Plant after obtaining all 16 badges. Whether you catch one in these games or have transferred one over from Gen III, you can then transfer him to a Gen V through PokeTransfer.

J: ...okay, I'm done being all sentimental. Can we go back to the present time?

C: In a flash!

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

J: So, you have your Zapdos, but what's a good set for him?

C: Try the following:

Zapdos
- Thunderbolt/Discharge
- Heat Wave
- Roost
- Thunder Wave/Volt Switch/Fly

Fly is a good in-game move since CPU opponents can never quite figure out how to take advantage of the charge turn, and with Zapdos's decent Attack, it'll do good STAB damage. Thunder Wave or Volt Switch can be used if your Zapdos has an Attack-lowering nature, though, as Electric+Fire has pretty good coverage.

J: But what about hitting Rock/Grounds or Dragons?

C: You could try and see if you were lucky with Hidden Power, or you can use Signal Beam... or just use someone else.

J: All right... speaking of someone else...

#94: Samurott

OU: 0.228%, 200th place
UU Suspect: 0.152%, tied for 191st place
RU: 0.754%, 94th place
NU: 7.773%, 18th place

C: And back to the NU natives we go. Samurott's hidden ability of Shell Armor isn't legal yet, right?

J: Right, so no point evaluating abilities, since they'll all run Torrent. Let's go straight to items...

44.1% hold a Life Orb, 20.8% hold a Lum Berry, 13.1% hold Leftovers, and 6.9% hold a Salac Berry.

C: Wait, SubSalac is still a thing?

J: I guess so. As for natures... 31.6% are Adamant, 23.2% are Timid, 22.8% are Jolly, and 8.8% are Modest. As a reminder, Adamant and Jolly are for physical attackers and Timid and Modest are for special attackers, so that's about 53% physical Samurott and 31% special Samurott. The rest are mixed or who-knows-what.

C: Moves, then?

J:

65.1%: Aqua Jet. Priority is so important, even special sets will run it to pick off that last bit of health.
61.7%: Megahorn. Yes, the coverage move gets more use than normal STAB. But hey, it hits Grass-types hard, so I can't complain.
52.0%: Swords Dance. Just about matches the number of physical sets.
51.4%: Waterfall. See above.
42.8%: Ice Beam. Anything that can hit Grass-types super-effectively is important for a Water-type.
26.8%: Hydro Pump. As far as special STAB goes, it's either this or Surf, and it looks like more people prefer the extra power to accuracy.
17.1%: Hidden Power Grass and Surf.
12.6% run Grass Knot, 10.9% run Taunt, 10.5% run Superpower and 10.2% run Substitute.

That's all I have. Considering Samurott is a starter, I'm guessing you have a lot to say, Celebi...

C: Yes, I do! As Jirachi mentioned, Samurott--well, Oshawott--is one of the starter Pokemon for the Gen V games, and probably the best one as far as in-game use is concerned; Oshawott will easily help carry you through the entire game. He learns the very useful Razor Shell at level 17 when he evolves into Dewott, then learns moves like Water Pulse at level 25 and Aqua Jet at level 33, then evolves at level 36 into Samurott. If you really want to learn Hydro Pump earlier, you can delay that evolution to learn it at level 52 instead of level 62, though in-game Scald or Surf is better due to having more PP. When you do evolve him into Samurott, though, don't forget to use a Heart Scale to learn Megahorn!

He also learns some great TM moves, like Scald/Surf/Waterfall, Blizzard/Ice Beam, Grass Knot, X-Scissor, and even Return, which gets good neutral coverage with Water attacks. Really, once you get past Elesa, there isn't a major opponent he won't do well against.

J: What if you didn't start with Oshawott, though?

C: When you can, breed your starter, offer the offspring and ask for Oshawott over GTS. Starter-trading is very common there.

J: So what is your overall recommendation for a moveset?

C: You can try something like this:

Samurott
- Surf/Waterfall
- Megahorn
- Aqua Jet
- Ice Beam/Swords Dance

Surf and Ice Beam are good for a mixed set, while Waterfall and Swords Dance work better for a pure physical set. Use whichever one fits your Samurott's nature better.

We're going to cover our first OU Pokemon next, aren't we?

J: Oh yes, we are!

#93: Garchomp

OU: 13.166%, 7th place
Ubers: 4.417%, 31st place

As a reminder, Garchomp is only legal in OU if he uses his Rough Skin hidden ability; in Ubers, he can use his normal ability of Sand Veil.

C: So in Ubers, how many still use Rough Skin?

J: As it turns out, in Ubers, 51.1% use Sand Veil, and 48.9% use Rough Skin. It really can go either way, since sandstorm is nowhere near as reliable as it is in OU. Though, for what it's worth, Tyranitar is one of Garchomp's teammates 44.3% of the time in Ubers.

C: We haven't really looked at teammates in this section.

J: Well, usually, the top teammates are just some of the most used Pokemon in that tier. I guess for Garchomp here it's a bit different, so it's worth mentioning, for instance, that he works with Excadrill 34.6% of the time in Ubers. OU teammates data is pretty boring, though.

C: What about items, then?

J: In OU, 32.7% hold a Choice Scarf, 14.9% hold Leftovers, 11.3% hold a Life Orb, 10.8% hold a Yache Berry, and 10.3% hold a Choice Band.

In Ubers, 40.1% hold a Choice Scarf, 18.2% hold Leftovers, and other items get less than 10% usage each.

C: Natures?

J: In OU, 71.4% are Jolly, 16.8% are Adamant. In Ubers, 63.4% are Jolly, 17.0% are Adamant.

C: And, of course, moves...

J: Right. OU first.

96.8%: Earthquake. Obvious.
76.0%: Outrage.
47.0%: Fire Fang, to hit those pesky Skarmory and Bronzong that resist his STAB combo.
45.6%: Stone Edge, to hit various Flying-types harder.
41.9%: Swords Dance. Obviously not going to be used on Choice sets.
41.0%: Dragon Claw, because sometimes being locked into Outrage sucks.
The rest are all under 10% each.

Ubers next.

94.8%: Earthquake.
74.1%: Outrage.
54.8%: Stone Edge, to hit Ho-Oh harder.
42.6%: Dragon Claw.
35.6%: Swords Dance.
24.2%: Fire Fang. Skarmory and Bronzong don't show up as much in Ubers.
16.0%: Substitute.

C: Man, I can't believe they brought back Garchomp to OU... moreso that he hasn't broken the tier yet. I guess it's time to go into in-game discussion.

I wonder how many Diamond/Pearl\ players even found a Gible to evolve into Garchomp. The guy resides in an area under a biking bridge, such that the entrance is concealed by the bridge above... yeah.  They did appear in Victory Road in Platinum, but were rare there as well. Anyways, if you do have one, you can transfer it to the Gen V games. As for catching one there, you have two options. If you have Black 2, you can get one as a gift after beating Benga at the 10th floor of Black Tower.

J: That's going to be pretty tough, isn't it?

C: Yes, but as a bonus, the Gible will be shiny.

J: Ooh, shiny... The other option?

C: Find one in the Icy Cave area of Dream World. Be warned, you have to have 10,000 Dream World points before he will appear. Of course, these Gible will have their Dream World ability Rough Skin instead of Sand Veil.

J: What's a good Garchomp moveset?

C: Try something like this:

Garchomp: Adamant/Jolly
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Fire Fang/Stone Edge/Crunch/Dragon Claw
- Swords Dance/Fire Fang/Stone Edge/Crunch/Dragon Claw

If you run 4 attacks instead of 3 attacks and Swords Dance, you can use a Choice Band or Choice Scarf. Dragon Claw is mostly for if you are going to play in places without the Shift option to switch after a KO, though there aren't going to be many places in-game where being locked into Outrage will be a huge problem. Crunch is there because it destroys 2 of the 4 of the Elite Four.

Man, this guy's power overwhelms me. Can we take a break?

J: Well, if you must... Mew, how about you play another song for us in the meantime?

Mew: Ooh, is it party time?

J: Actually, that's perfect for our next Pokemon!

OU: 0.126%, 238th place
UU Suspect: 0.322%, 143rd place
RU: 5.822%, 46th place

He's a lower end RU native.


As for ability usage... 77.3% use Sap Sipper, 22.4% use Reckless, and a mere 0.2% use Soundproof. (The last 0.1% was lost to rounding.)

There's an interesting bit of teammate info here as Bouffalant's top partner isn't one of the top Pokemon, but rather, Lanturn, with 20.6% of Bouffalant pairing up with the anglerfish. This is probably because Lanturn attracts those Grass-type attacks that Bouffalant likes switching into to grab Sap Sipper boosts.

As for items, 41.5% hold Leftovers, 31.2% hold a Choice Band, 9.1% hold a Life Orb, 7.6% hold a Choice Scarf, and the rest are under 3% each.

Bouffalant are overwhelmingly Adamant, with 88.9% running that nature. The next common nature, Jolly, is only represented by 4.6% of these afro-buffalo.

Finally, moves.

87.1%: Earthquake. Always a good attack.
83.4%: Head Charge. Bouffalant's signature attack, though I guess some would rather go for something without recoil?
77.1%: Megahorn. A number of the tier's biggest defensive threats are weak to this attack.
44.6%: Stone Edge. Good to use with Earthquake.
29.4%: Superpower. Coverage attack alternative to Earthquake for Rocks and Steels. Will hit Levitate Pokemon, but the stat drop isn't desirable.
23.8%: Swords Dance.
22.3%: Substitute.
10.7%: Return. Apparently, some Pokemon run both this and Head Charge.

Okay, Celebi, in-game coverage is all yours! ...Celebi? You've been awfully quiet for this one; what are you doing...

...oh, I see you're still grooving to that song.

C: Doesn't it make you wanna dance?

J: I guess, but we have a show to do.

C: Okay, let me cover this guy in-game and you can go dance your heart out...

J: ...oh, the song ended. Guess that wasn't an extended version.

Mew: No problem; I've got Miror B.'s other theme here, and it is an extended version!

J: Ooh, funky.

C: Dance away, Jirachi.

Anyways, Bouffalant are found on the last route before Victory Road in each game. For Black and White, that is Route 10, and in Black 2 and White 2, that is Route 23. If you want a specific ability, try to Sleep Powder it to see if he has Sap Sipper.

Keep in mind that Bouffalant is slow and isn't particularly helpful in the final battles. Still, he's a cool Pokemon to use, if you like him. Try this set:

Bouffalant: Adamant, if possible
- Head Charge
- Megahorn/Wild Charge
- Earthquake/Rock Slide
- Swords Dance/Stone Edge/Protect/Wild Charge/Megahorn

Keep in mind, when I recommend natures, you can definitely use a different natured Pokemon if you want. Anyways, Wild Charge is more recommended for Reckless Bouffalant, since the attack does get boosted by the ability. Rock Slide is an option if you use Bouffalant in Doubles or Triples, particularly as a member of a Trick Room team; if that's the case, Brave is the recommended nature to make him as slow as possible. Protect is also specifically for Doubles and Triples Bouffalant.

Are you done grooving, Jirachi?

J: Huh? Oh, yes. Next Pokemon...

#91: Bisharp

OU: 0.647%, 129th place
UU Suspect: 4.748%, 50th place

C: So a low-end UU native this time?

J: Indeed. I guess it's time to pry into his UU Suspect usage...

Regarding abilities, Defiant is the overwhelming favorite, with 89.0% of Bisharp running the ability. Inner Focus takes up 9.4%, and the remaining 1.6% go to Pressure.

As for items, Leftovers is quite popular at 60.0%, while Life Orb usage is at 20.7%. Other items fall under 5% each.

C: Huh, why is Leftovers so popular?

J: There's a hint in the move usage stats. But first, natures... 72.1% are Adamant, while 20.5% are Jolly.

Now, the moves.

90.4%: Sucker Punch. This is definitely Bisharp's big selling point, compensating for his relatively low Speed and providing good STAB to work off his high Attack.
85.3%: Swords Dance. Boosting Attack seems to be the popular thing to do with Bisharp.
74.4%: Iron Head, as secondary STAB.
57.8%: Substitute. Not only does this provide a nice buffer against status, it also gives Bisharp some breathing room when trying to predict with Sucker Punch. It goes well with Leftovers, hence the close percentages with these two.
35.4%: Brick Break, for coverage.
17.3% use Night Slash as a more reliable Dark STAB, and 14.5% use Low Kick to target heavier opponents.

This segment is about to close, so Celebi, take us quickly through in-game stuff.

C: Okay! Find Pawniard on Route 9 on all Gen V games. If you send out a Pokemon with Intimidate, you will immediately find out if the Pawniard has Defiant; you can also use Fake Out to check for Inner Focus instead.

However, note that Pawniard's best move, Sucker Punch, cannot be learned by level-up. You will need to breed the move onto him, using a male Spinda, Cacnea/Cacturne, or Croagunk/Toxicroak that knows the move to pass it along.

From there, Pawniard evolves into Bisharp at level 52. This late evolution keeps Pawniard from being particularly useful in-game until after the Elite 4. If you want to use him, though, try out this set:

Bisharp
- Sucker Punch
- Iron Head
- Swords Dance
- Night Slash/Brick Break/Thunder Wave/Substitute

J: That's all, then?

C: That is all for today's Pixie Theater! This is Celebi and Jirachi, reminding everyone that, with the latest Christmas WiFi tournament offering a Custap Berry to participants, that that will soon become legal in the metagame, allowing one quick priority attack when the user hits 25% health. However, the tournament itself is only available to Japanese game players, being absolutely, completely open to every single Pokemon not named Chatot, and is essentially an Ubers Doubles tournament. And for the first time, event pixies like Jirachi and I are able to join, too! Whether we can weather the attacks of Pokemon's mightiest remains to be seen, but we'll definitely be there to see what it's like.

J: Stay tuned for the next episode of Pixie Theater!

Pixie Theater Episode 1: Top 100 Pokemon #100-#96

Welcome to Pixie Theater! Here are your hosts, Celebi and Jirachi!

Now with 100% more capacity for communication in English!

Jirachi: Hello everyone, and welcome to Pixie Theater, the place where we talk about Pokemon in various battling aspects! I am Jirachi, and over there, playing her Black 2 version, is Celebi!

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!

J: According to the stats for November 2012, Leafeon was used in the following tiers with the following frequencies:

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?

J: Braviary's metagame usage:
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...

Kabutops:
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.

Weavile:
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!