Analysis Compendium and Tiering Plans

[poweroftibarn]

Challenge accepted, Windos. This is the most OP set I could think of since Belly Drum is unavailable.

Raffiti @ Life Orb/ White Herb
Hasty, 228 Spe, 252 Spa, 24 At
- Expunge
- Fire Blast
- Extremespeed
- Shell Smash

Did some calcs and this thing can basically 2HKO the entire metagame at this rate.

+2 252 SpA Life Orb Raffiti Fire Blast vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Lanthan: 307-361 (72.4 - 85.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

Expunge will do similar damage to one typed pokemon. If you have a dual typed Pokemon? Then its a guaranteed OHKO. The EV's, by the way, guarantee Raffiti hits 300 speed before using Shell smash, which is important because after shell smash it will hit 600 speed, and be unable to be outsped by anything except for choice scarf Inflagetah. The rest is dumped into special attack and attack.

That being said... After using shell smash, it becomes very weak to all priority, especially Mach Punch users. For instance, VS garlikid:

+2 42 Atk Life Orb Raffiti Extreme Speed vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Garlikid: 149-177 (46.2 - 54.9%) -- 63.7% chance to 2HKO
252 Atk Life Orb Garlikid Mach Punch vs. -1 0 HP / 0- Def Raffiti: 351-416 (120.6 - 142.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Maybe replace Extremespeed with Flame Impact? Of course, Navighast could still oneshot Raffiti. If Raffiti runs a White Herb then maybe it could tank hits better, but would lose 1.3x power.

This thing MIGHT not be as overpowered as we thought. I say this because there are some things that can counter it via priority mach punch, and of course it has to set up Shell Smash in order to do this job- meaning its vulnerable during that turn.

Someone suggested a Quick Feet, Toxic Orb, Expunge set which may work better but...

252 SpA Raffiti Fire Blast vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Lanthan: 118-140 (27.8 - 33%) -- 84.3% chance to 4HKO after Leftovers recovery

... it loses a lot of power without the life orb. Anyway, there's my set and data for Raffiti. We'll see what happens.

I think I would rather run Sucker Punch on Raffiti instead of Espeed since STAB and all.  And while the Shell Smash Expunge set may not be as game breakingly broken as say, Nucleon, there is no denying it's power.  But it isn't just that set alone that makes Raffiti broken, it's the sheer versatility that comes with being to learn literally every move that makes it broken.  How does one come up with an answer for something that can potentially be anything?  It's impossible to do so, or not at least until one has figured out what the opposing Raffiti is running.  And by the time that has happened, chances are, one of your mons are dead, or it has spread hazards throughout your side of the field, or maybe it just Baton Passed a bunch of boosts onto a M-Syrentide or a Contrary Chimaconda.  Either way, it is nearly to deal with Raffiti before Raffiti has fulfilled it's purpose due to its verstility, which in my opinion is why it is broken, not due to the power of the individual Shell Smash set (although that is where a large fraction of Raffiti's power comes from).

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Challenge accepted, Windos. This is the most OP set I could think of since Belly Drum is unavailable.

Raffiti @ Life Orb/ White Herb
Hasty, 228 Spe, 252 Spa, 24 At
- Expunge
- Fire Blast
- Extremespeed
- Shell Smash

Did some calcs and this thing can basically 2HKO the entire metagame at this rate.

+2 252 SpA Life Orb Raffiti Fire Blast vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Lanthan: 307-361 (72.4 - 85.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

Expunge will do similar damage to one typed pokemon. If you have a dual typed Pokemon? Then its a guaranteed OHKO. The EV's, by the way, guarantee Raffiti hits 300 speed before using Shell smash, which is important because after shell smash it will hit 600 speed, and be unable to be outsped by anything except for choice scarf Inflagetah. The rest is dumped into special attack and attack.

That being said... After using shell smash, it becomes very weak to all priority, especially Mach Punch users. For instance, VS garlikid:

+2 42 Atk Life Orb Raffiti Extreme Speed vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Garlikid: 149-177 (46.2 - 54.9%) -- 63.7% chance to 2HKO
252 Atk Life Orb Garlikid Mach Punch vs. -1 0 HP / 0- Def Raffiti: 351-416 (120.6 - 142.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Maybe replace Extremespeed with Flame Impact? Of course, Navighast could still oneshot Raffiti. If Raffiti runs a White Herb then maybe it could tank hits better, but would lose 1.3x power.

This thing MIGHT not be as overpowered as we thought. I say this because there are some things that can counter it via priority mach punch, and of course it has to set up Shell Smash in order to do this job- meaning its vulnerable during that turn.

Someone suggested a Quick Feet, Toxic Orb, Expunge set which may work better but...

252 SpA Raffiti Fire Blast vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Lanthan: 118-140 (27.8 - 33%) -- 84.3% chance to 4HKO after Leftovers recovery

... it loses a lot of power without the life orb. Anyway, there's my set and data for Raffiti. We'll see what happens.

Nice idea~ I wonder why you chose not to use Sucker Punch, though. It has priority plus STAB, so...

The idea behind a Toxic/Flame Orb set up is that, after using Protect for a turn, you get a free speed boost, and prevent others from procing status on you. Flame Orb is good if your running only Expunge, Shell Smash, Protect, and Whatever (I'd say Trick, just to screw the enemy over, but Taunt works too., but Toxic Orb works better with Atomic Punch and Sucker Punch/Any Priority Move.

I am kinda wondering how it can get a Shell Smash off, though, and survive without a Focus Sash, though. Any ideas on that front?

Simple: use Spore when it is released.  Raffiti has 306 max speed, allowing it to speed pretty much anything that is uninvested.  After putting something to bed, it is practically guaranteed a round of Shell Smash setup.