Your Competitive Gen 4 Pokemon in Gen 5

[Linkachu]

While many of us are sizing up the new Gen 5 Pokemon for competitive, we're also looking at our currently existing Pokemon and considering how Gen 5 has upgraded them, eh? After seeing the new attacks available to older Pokemon in this new generation - whether they be new level-up moves, egg moves, or TMs - is there anything specific you intend to try out on your currently existing Pokemon (either by rebreeding them or using the Pokemon you currently have trained)?

Oh, feel free to discuss the new possibilities re: Dream World abilities on your Pokemon, too.

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I'm personally very interested in this Heavy Bomber attack for my Snorlax and Steelix. I haven't really worked out how useful it'd be in Snorlax's case coverage-wise, and I'm not sure if it'd technically be better for Steelix than Gyro Ball, but it's definitely a fun option to play around with. I've always planned to rebreed my Steelix anyways, so this would be the perfect opportunity to do so.

I haven't yet trained my shiny Growlithe (poor guy's been sitting in my PC for ages), but I'm very intrigued by the species learning Close Combat now. I'll probably still raise my shiny before this Gen is out but rebreed for a second Close Combat Growlithe once I get B/W.

If Free Fall works how I think it does, it was made for my Aerodactyl. Wouldn't need to rebreed anything there. Still need to look into that one, tho. Doesn't look like it does what I'd heard, but I'm sure it'll still come in handy.

Hrm... That's all that stands out to me off-hand attack-wise (I'll think about the new abilities laters). What about you guys?

 

[KoL]

Without any shadow of a doubt for me, the first Pokemon that comes to mind is Dream World Ditto. With its new Eccentric ability allowing it to instantly transform into the opponent upon switching in, Ditto's officially gone from abysmal to amazing, and it definitely wins the award for "most improved Pokemon" of the older generations. Got a Dragon Dancer tearing into you? Send in Ditto to transform into them while copying their stat boosts as well. Heatran in the house? Switch in Ditto and take his Flash Fire ability when you transform into him. Ditto can trouble so many things just by switching himself in now, and he'll definitely be considered by many players as either a possible team member or another threat that has to be taken down.

Dream World abilities are definitely the key for me, and now that it's been confirmed that they can be passed on via breeding, the potential application is pretty high. Blaziken needs no introduction - Speed Boost is the ability he's been begging for since day one, and with Baton Pass confirmed as available for him, Ninjask may very well be out of a job with Blaziken in town - not to take anything away from Blaziken's unprecedented offenses either though, as his mixed attacks combined with ever-increasing Speed will quickly make Blaziken very dangerous, and can also allow Blaziken to potentially forgo Speed training entirely and simply max out both offenses. If Ditto earned first place for most improved, Blaziken definitely earned second place.

Other slightly less notable ones include the LightningRod buff, making the likes of Manectric and Pikachu more viable in doubles especially but also in singles battle, Arcanine getting Wild Bolt and Close Combat as well as Electivire getting Wild Bolt, finally acquiring the good STAB attack he's begged for since he was first born into the Pokemon world are also notable. Lucario's Nasty Plot will finally make the special sets an option over the physical sets, since Lucario's special sets were vastly inferior to the physical sweepers (although Heart of Justice may tip the balance back to physicals again,) and I think I'm going to stop right there before I make an essay out of this.

The oldies weren't neglected in Gen V, that's for certain.

 

[Toastie]

I'm very intrigued with one of Aggron's improvements - Heavy Bomber. As well as it getting STAB from the move, it has a Dream World Ability called 'Heavy Metal' which doubles its weight, making it the third heaviest Pokemon in the game, only behind Groudon and Giratina's Altered Forme. That makes it very likely that Heavy Bomber will have a 120 base power when it attacks, and that coupled with STAB could mean some serious damage.

 

[Carmen Lopez]

Looking at my old team(s), Swampert, Lucario, and Arcanine look like they may make it on my Gen V team. While Speed Boost Blaziken is awesome, I can't overlook Damp Swampert. If Explosion is anywhere near as popular in Gen V as it is in Gen IV, Damp will be a huge asset and I'd be willing to rebreed. Lucario for reasons KoL already mentioned. I don't use physical sets on Lucario so hearing that it now gets Nasty Plot to increase damage output on the special sets just rocks. Four words for Arcanine: Close Combat. Wild Bolt. I nearly died when I found out Arcanine finally got Close Combat. It's a huge help to Arcanine's rather shallow physical movepool.

I'm also considering using Breloom in Gen V as well. The thing was already a beast before, but now it gets Technician via Dreamworld. STAB, Technician-boosted Mach Punches will really dent stuff just like Scizor's STAB Technician Bullet Punches.

 

[Linkachu]

I'm also considering using Breloom in Gen V as well. The thing was already a beast before, but now it gets Technician via Dreamworld. STAB, Technician-boosted Mach Punches will really dent stuff just like Scizor's STAB Technician Bullet Punches.

Something tells me I'll be raising two new Breloom for B/W. While technician Breloom sounds awesome and I can't wait to try one, I'm very interested in having a Drain Punch Breloom as well. Now that the attack received the boost its been begging for, it could be very useful on a Pokemon like Breloom with that high attack stat and Spore. :3

 

[Jeydis]

For me there's another bunch, though I agree with the above mentioned greatly (Technician Breloom particularly)

- Rain Dish Blastoise, He can now be my rain tank and I can finally make my ludicolo the sweeper.
- Sandthrow Sandslash can make it an interesting addition to a Sandstorm team.
- Encourage Nidoking is going to be interesting to make him an even better sweeper then he is now.
- Encourage Kingler, see above.
- Overconfidence Gyarados...Didnt really need to boost in my opinion but really this thing terrifies me.
- Overconfidence Heracross. I already love Heracross to bits, this is just butter it up for me.
- Unburden Skeptile, gives it a different tactic to work with. Perhaps a Salac sweeper?
- Overconfidence Mightyena, the grace its been waiting for? Maybe it will stop playing second fiddle to Houndoom now.
- Speedboost Sharpedo, a nice boost to the mediocre rough skin. Wish they would've given rough skin to some sort of tank at least :*(

And there is a ton more just in dreamworld abilities. Loving gen 5, the only thing they seriously screwed up on is the starter typing but other then that its golden.

 

[Phanes]

I'll be using a lot of my older gen guys, there's too much love for them compared to the newbies, I will however exercise the newbies in my finalized team for the journey, but don't expect me to be highly competitive in this, not going to bother completing the dex, not going to bother playing on wifi anymore (since I've been facing the same friggin team over and over but under a different trainer), I want to make the "No Legendary/No Starters" rule because nobody knows what classifies under the uber list. I like some legendaries but I don't use them, people are free to use them but quit using them via wifi.

With the boosts into the new gen, don't care really, I'm still using pokemon I like. I guess you can see me as more of a laid back trainer than an underground one where battling means life and death. This is why I wouldn't be on any title in the Pokemon world, I'll battle here and there but won't be in the pokemon league, won't be in the fashion shows (wtf) and won't be trying to complete some pokedex. Oak better not say crud or I'll give him a mouthful! lol

 

[Sir Red]

I'll be using a lot of my older gen guys, there's too much love for them compared to the newbies, I will however exercise the newbies in my finalized team for the journey, but don't expect me to be highly competitive in this, not going to bother completing the dex, not going to bother playing on wifi anymore (since I've been facing the same friggin team over and over but under a different trainer), I want to make the "No Legendary/No Starters" rule because nobody knows what classifies under the uber list. I like some legendaries but I don't use them, people are free to use them but quit using them via wifi.

With the boosts into the new gen, don't care really, I'm still using pokemon I like. I guess you can see me as more of a laid back trainer than an underground one where battling means life and death. This is why I wouldn't be on any title in the Pokemon world, I'll battle here and there but won't be in the pokemon league, won't be in the fashion shows (wtf) and won't be trying to complete some pokedex. Oak better not say crud or I'll give him a mouthful! lol

...I feel like you missed the point of the thread... >>

That being said, I just love that Drizzle and Drought are actually accessible in competitive play now. It'll make for Rain Dance and Sunny Day teams to be much more common and a lot more lethal than they were before. Plus, I love Ninetales getting it as it gives me more reason to retrain mine (who has terrible IV's T_T).

Charizard getting Solar Power could prove interesting, especially with a Pinch berry to activate when it's health drops low. It's kind of like Blaze, but the boost is to Special Attack (plus the Sunshine boosts Fire attacks anyways). It'll be good for Sunny Day teams.

Wall Tangrowth getting Regeneration will be nice, as it will be able to survive even longer and just be an overall pain in your opponent's side.

Analyze looks to be a fun ability, although Starmie getting it is rather pointless (unless in Trick Room :x).

Dragonite getting Multiscale will be cool to stay alive a bit longer and squeak out a kill or two when it should have died.

Also, I just love Mega Drain getting a power boost. Meganium just got even more lovely in my eyes. :3 (And Jaroda could totally pull off her set too. O.O)

 

[Linkachu]

Charizard getting Solar Power could prove interesting, especially with a Pinch berry to activate when it's health drops low. It's kind of like Blaze, but the boost is to Special Attack (plus the Sunshine boosts Fire attacks anyways). It'll be good for Sunny Day teams.

It's not quite the same as Blaze, but it's similar and definitely sounds interesting. It's just begging for a Sunny Day/Solar Beam set on 'Zard. I'd almost be tempted to further Life Orb it for kamikaze lulz. Thanks for the heads up, Red. I'd missed this one completely, and now it greatly interests me as a new way to use Special Attacking Charizard. :3

And I only JUST noticed that Zangoose gets this new Poison Rampage ability, too. Sounds basically the same as a Poison-triggered Guts, but it'll serve Zangoose better than Immunity did. Curious however... Do any of you know if Poison Rampage prevents damage from Poison completely, or is it basically exactly like Guts in that regard too?