[Guide] Competitive Analysis: Laissure

[Dragonstrike]

Swords Dance really is superior to Hone Claws, I would never use Hone Claws if SD was an option. Your first observation about Subduction not having a 100% chance to confuse the user is really interesting however. If what you are saying is true, then Lanthan's Sheer Force ability overrides Subduction's confusion chance entirely, since not being 100% would mean that the confusion is a secondary effect and would go away with Sheer Force.

If that is true, a Sheer Force Subduction would probably be one of the most powerful, no drawback moves in the game beside Nucleon's Hyper Voice and Yatagaryu's Thunder. That's a terrifying thing to consider.....

Even if it does confuse, Lanthan's Sheer Force boosted Subduction and Metal Cruncher still make it one of the best mons in Uranium, probably only behind Nucleon and Yatagaryu.  The Choice Band set is a stupidly good pivot.

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If that is true, a Sheer Force Subduction would probably be one of the most powerful, no drawback moves in the game beside Nucleon's Hyper Voice and Yatagaryu's Thunder. That's a terrifying thing to consider.....

However, due to the nature of the effect, Sheer Force should not boost the power of Subduction.  Back before when generation 5 first came out, everyone was speculating how broken the ability would be combined with things like Brave Bird and Close Combat, but detrimental effects aren't removed by the ability's effect.  And as such, they don't get the boost either.  If Lanthan's Sheer Force does boost Subduction currently, that should be changed in a future patch so that it doesn't, as it defeats the purpose of the move entirely.

And concerning Hone Claws, I did notice it was in the movepool, but  even though it sounds like a good idea due to Subduction and Stone Edges' lower accuracy, it isn't worth it for just those two moves.  Subduction will end up forcing you out and forfeit the buffs gained, and Stone Edge isn't worth trying to slowly set up for using when all it's used for is coverage.  Swords Dance is the vastly superior option here.  You almost never see Hone Claws based sets on pokemon that learn it, since they usually have better things to do than boost their accuracy and attack by a mere 1 stage without any increase in bulk to help (which is the sole reason why Coil sets exist for pokemon like Eelektross).

No, Subduction also lowers the target's speed by two stages.  Even if Sheer Force doesn't prevent confusion, Sheer Force would still give Subduction a power boost in exchange for not lowering the target's speed by two stages.

Wait, it also lowers speed?  Okay then, that's interesting.  I haven't heard anybody say that.  However, it's still a detrimental effect to offset the power of the move.  As such, Sheer Force should not negate it and boost the move's power.  General rule of thumb with the ability is that if it's a helpful effect, remove it.  If harmful, leave it.  Close Combat and Outrage are both examples of moves with those kinds of effects seen on Subduction that don't receive a Sheer Force boost.  Flare Blitz is an example of a move that has both helpful and harmful effects.  Sheer Force doesn't remove its recoil, but it does remove its rare burn chance.

Sheer Force Metal Cruncher is still pretty terrifying though, thinking about it...

Subduction reduces the OPPONENT's speed by two, not the users.

OOOOOOHHHHHH!!!  Now it makes sense.  Yes, that's a Sheer Force boosted move then, and yes, it's absolutely terrifying on Lanthan.  That's scary...