10-02-2016, 03:33 PM
(This post was last modified: 10-02-2016, 10:03 PM by poweroftibarn.)
Empirilla
![[Image: latest?cb=20140715164320]](http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/pokemon-uranium/images/e/e4/011_Empirilla.png/revision/latest?cb=20140715164320)
Typing: Fighting
Ability: Infuriate/Weak Armor
Bases:
HP - 80
Attack - 115
Defense - 70
Sp. Atk - 80
Sp. Def - 80
Speed - 95
Overview
Fighting types definitely got the short end of the stick in Uranium. With powerful Fairies like Syrentide, Kiricorn, Winotinger, and Luxelong running around, Fighting-types have had difficulty making their presence known in Uranium’s competitive environment. When viable Fighting types are mentioned, generally Baariette and the double agent Winotinger are the first to be mentioned, alongside Navighast. The rest of the Fighting type has gone largely unnoticed, even the king of the type: Empirilla. It’s easy to see why this is, at first glance Empirilla looks very ordinary and uninteresting. Base 115 Attack is nice, but it’s other bases are mediocre at best. It’s typing, pure Fighting isn’t anything to write home over either. However, if you can look past this, then you will realize that Empirilla is blessed with possibly one of the strongest abilities in the game: Infuriate. Infuriate essentially turns that base 115 attack into base ~200 Attack for free if the Empirilla player plays their cards right. Unfortunately, while Infuriate has potential to be a devastatingly powerful ability if used correctly, unlocking that potential can be a challenge, and often requires specific teambuilding in order to supplement Empirilla’s weaknesses.
Choice
Empirilla @ Choice Scarf/Choice Band
Ability: Infuriate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly/Adamant Nature
- Close Combat/Cross Chop
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Stone Edge
Empirilla’s main gambit when choiced is to switch into a physical attack, proc Infuriate, and go to town. Close Combat is your main move of choice, STAB plus 120 BP mean that this move will hurt whatever is on the receiving end of it. Cross Chop is another option for those wary about reducing their defenses, possibly in hope of picking up another Infuriate boost, but I can’t say I would recommend it. Cross Chop lacks the stopping power of Close Combat and has shaky accuracy to boot. Earthquake is always a good option, allowing Empirilla to deal with Poison types who resist it’s Close Combat. U-turn hits bulky Grass types and allows Empirilla to get out of bad situations with ease, and Stone Edge allows Empirilla to hit Bugs and Flying types that Chose Combat and Earthquake fail to cover.
The difference between Band and Scarf is that Scarf Empirilla seeks to function more as a sweeper or wallbreaker, whereas Band Empirilla seeks to function more as a pivoting wall breaker. With an Infuriate boost under it’s belt, Scarf Empirilla can potentially run through entire teams with ease with Close Combat, provided they lack Fighting resists. Banded Empirilla is better at forcing switches and dealing massive damage to whatever is sent in. Choice Band plus Infuriate boosts multiply Empirilla’s attack to astronomical levels (812 with Adamant), making Empirilla very effective at wallbreaking. Since Banded Empirilla generally forces switches and tends to be switching into attacks, moving the EVs from speed into HP is a viable option, but only for the banded set.
SubPunch
Empirilla @ Leftovers/Black Belt
Ability: Infuriate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly/Adamant Nature
- Substitute
- Focus Punch
- U-turn
- Earthquake/Ice Punch/Stone Edge
An interesting property of the Infuriate ability is that it will activate even if the user is behind a sub. This makes Empirilla very good at SubPunching. The gambit of this set is simple: gain as many boosts as possible through Substitute and Infuriate, then annihilate your opponent with a 150 BP STAB Focus Punch. Substitute and Focus Punch form the core components of the combo, U-turn serves a similar purpose here as it did in the previous set - allowing Empirilla to get out of sticky situations, and Earthquake and Ice Punch can be used as your coverage moves. Earthquake is good for dealing with Poison types and Ice Punch is good for Grass and Flying types. Stone Edge can be used over Ice Punch if you are looking to deal with Bugs instead of Grass types.
Jolly is the preferred nature, as it allows Empirilla to outspeed more things, allowing it to set up substitute and therefore get more boosts from Infuriate. Adamant can be used if you are confident and are looking for more stopping power, but it is a risky option. As for items, Black Belt is preferred here as it lets you get more mileage from each Focus Punch. Leftovers can potentially allow you to pick up some extra Infuriate boosts, but will more often than not be irrelevant most of the time, which is why Black Belt is superior most of the time.
Bulk Up
Empirilla @ Leftovers/Black Belt
Ability: Infuriate
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Bulk Up
- Drain Punch
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
With access to STAB Drain Punch, Empirilla can also run a Bulk Up set. Bulk Up allows Empirilla to remedy it’s sub-par base Defense of 70, letting it take more physical hits and therefore get more Attack from Infuriate. Drain Punch is Empirilla’s attack of choice, allowing it to keep it’s health up in between Bulk Ups. Earthquake and Stone Edge are standard coverage moves - Earthquake deals with Poison types and Stone Edge deals with Bug and Flying types.
EV spread focuses mainly on bulk, allowing Empirilla to become even more tanky after getting off a few Bulk Ups. 248 HP is used in order to keep Empirilla’s HP value odd, giving it an extra turn against residual damage. The HP EVs can be converted into Speed EVs for a set focused on sweeping. However, this idea is not too optimal since there is a lot of things Empirilla will fail to outspeed even after max Speed investment, making investing in bulk a better idea. As for the item, Leftovers is preferred to increase Empirilla’s longevity. Leftovers paired with Drain Punch does wonders in keeping the monkey king healthy. Black Belt can also be used to increase the damage of Drain Punch, therefore allowing Empirilla to recover more HP after each punch. However, Leftovers allows Empirilla to recover HP even when using moves other than Drain Punch, making it more optimal.
Other Options
A Life Orb All-out attacker set is an option, but not a great one. The other sets mentioned effectively outclass an All-out attacker set. Life Orb is also a poor item on Empirilla, as it makes it harder for Empirilla to activate its ability and survive afterwards. Running a Dark-type coverage move may seem like a good idea as well, since it allows Empirilla to deal with pesky ghosts who are immune to Empirilla’s Fighting STAB. Unfortunately, the best Dark type move Empirilla gets is Assurance, which only has a BP of 60 unless Empirilla takes damage on the same turn it uses Assurance. While this effect may appear to synergize well with Empirilla’s ability, this is in fact not the case, since Empirilla will generally be activating it’s ability on switch in. Poison Jab may also appear to be a tantalizing option as well in order to deal with Fairies. However, Empirilla will most likely be switching out against Fairies anyways, making this move a waste of a moveslot more often than not.
Team Options
Empirilla is best used either to pivot and wallbreak or to clean up the game. Because of this, Empirilla’s best teammates are ones that can switch into attacks that Empirilla cannot take and ones that can deal with Empirilla’s counters and switchins. In general, Empirilla appreciates having special walls on the team, as Empirilla wants to be taking physical attacks in order to activate Infuriate. Chimaconda makes a good teammate for this purpose, as it can switch into Fairy attacks directed at Empirilla and it has good Special Defense to boot. Empirilla complements Chimaconda nicely as well, being able to take Rock-type attacks directed at Chimaconda and convert that attack into an Infuriate boost. Baitatao is similar to Chimaconda in this regard, and makes a good partner to Empirilla as well (provided Baitatao is ever released).
Counters
The best way to counter Empirilla is to circumvent the threat of Empirilla entirely by preventing Empirilla from activating Infuriate. Depending on your team, this may either be an easy task or a hard one. Fire off physical attacks sparingly, and keep the threat of an Empirilla switchin in mind. Try to stick to physical attacks that would either OHKO Empirilla should it try to switch in, or 2HKO Empirilla if the attacker can outspeed Empirilla. If Empirilla has managed to activate Infuriate, then Ghost types that are immune to Empirilla’s Fighting STAB are a good option. Navighast and M-Dramsama work particularly well. Navighast is protected from both Empirilla’s Fighting STAB and Earthquake thanks to it’s Levitate ability, and M-Dramsama can outspeed and one shot Empirilla with a STAB Psychic type attack. Chainite is a good option, but only against the Choiced set and only if Empirilla locks itself into a Fighting-type move. Other Empirilla sets can generally beat Chainite in a 1v1 by using Earthquake, since Chainite has very poor bulk. Remember when dealing with an Infuriate-boosted Empirilla that even if you can’t knock it out, forcing it to switch out is still effective, as doing so will cause Empirilla to lose it’s Infuriate boosts.
Typing: Fighting
Ability: Infuriate/Weak Armor
Bases:
HP - 80
Attack - 115
Defense - 70
Sp. Atk - 80
Sp. Def - 80
Speed - 95
Overview
Fighting types definitely got the short end of the stick in Uranium. With powerful Fairies like Syrentide, Kiricorn, Winotinger, and Luxelong running around, Fighting-types have had difficulty making their presence known in Uranium’s competitive environment. When viable Fighting types are mentioned, generally Baariette and the double agent Winotinger are the first to be mentioned, alongside Navighast. The rest of the Fighting type has gone largely unnoticed, even the king of the type: Empirilla. It’s easy to see why this is, at first glance Empirilla looks very ordinary and uninteresting. Base 115 Attack is nice, but it’s other bases are mediocre at best. It’s typing, pure Fighting isn’t anything to write home over either. However, if you can look past this, then you will realize that Empirilla is blessed with possibly one of the strongest abilities in the game: Infuriate. Infuriate essentially turns that base 115 attack into base ~200 Attack for free if the Empirilla player plays their cards right. Unfortunately, while Infuriate has potential to be a devastatingly powerful ability if used correctly, unlocking that potential can be a challenge, and often requires specific teambuilding in order to supplement Empirilla’s weaknesses.
Choice
Empirilla @ Choice Scarf/Choice Band
Ability: Infuriate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly/Adamant Nature
- Close Combat/Cross Chop
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Stone Edge
Empirilla’s main gambit when choiced is to switch into a physical attack, proc Infuriate, and go to town. Close Combat is your main move of choice, STAB plus 120 BP mean that this move will hurt whatever is on the receiving end of it. Cross Chop is another option for those wary about reducing their defenses, possibly in hope of picking up another Infuriate boost, but I can’t say I would recommend it. Cross Chop lacks the stopping power of Close Combat and has shaky accuracy to boot. Earthquake is always a good option, allowing Empirilla to deal with Poison types who resist it’s Close Combat. U-turn hits bulky Grass types and allows Empirilla to get out of bad situations with ease, and Stone Edge allows Empirilla to hit Bugs and Flying types that Chose Combat and Earthquake fail to cover.
The difference between Band and Scarf is that Scarf Empirilla seeks to function more as a sweeper or wallbreaker, whereas Band Empirilla seeks to function more as a pivoting wall breaker. With an Infuriate boost under it’s belt, Scarf Empirilla can potentially run through entire teams with ease with Close Combat, provided they lack Fighting resists. Banded Empirilla is better at forcing switches and dealing massive damage to whatever is sent in. Choice Band plus Infuriate boosts multiply Empirilla’s attack to astronomical levels (812 with Adamant), making Empirilla very effective at wallbreaking. Since Banded Empirilla generally forces switches and tends to be switching into attacks, moving the EVs from speed into HP is a viable option, but only for the banded set.
SubPunch
Empirilla @ Leftovers/Black Belt
Ability: Infuriate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly/Adamant Nature
- Substitute
- Focus Punch
- U-turn
- Earthquake/Ice Punch/Stone Edge
An interesting property of the Infuriate ability is that it will activate even if the user is behind a sub. This makes Empirilla very good at SubPunching. The gambit of this set is simple: gain as many boosts as possible through Substitute and Infuriate, then annihilate your opponent with a 150 BP STAB Focus Punch. Substitute and Focus Punch form the core components of the combo, U-turn serves a similar purpose here as it did in the previous set - allowing Empirilla to get out of sticky situations, and Earthquake and Ice Punch can be used as your coverage moves. Earthquake is good for dealing with Poison types and Ice Punch is good for Grass and Flying types. Stone Edge can be used over Ice Punch if you are looking to deal with Bugs instead of Grass types.
Jolly is the preferred nature, as it allows Empirilla to outspeed more things, allowing it to set up substitute and therefore get more boosts from Infuriate. Adamant can be used if you are confident and are looking for more stopping power, but it is a risky option. As for items, Black Belt is preferred here as it lets you get more mileage from each Focus Punch. Leftovers can potentially allow you to pick up some extra Infuriate boosts, but will more often than not be irrelevant most of the time, which is why Black Belt is superior most of the time.
Bulk Up
Empirilla @ Leftovers/Black Belt
Ability: Infuriate
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Atk / 8 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Bulk Up
- Drain Punch
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
With access to STAB Drain Punch, Empirilla can also run a Bulk Up set. Bulk Up allows Empirilla to remedy it’s sub-par base Defense of 70, letting it take more physical hits and therefore get more Attack from Infuriate. Drain Punch is Empirilla’s attack of choice, allowing it to keep it’s health up in between Bulk Ups. Earthquake and Stone Edge are standard coverage moves - Earthquake deals with Poison types and Stone Edge deals with Bug and Flying types.
EV spread focuses mainly on bulk, allowing Empirilla to become even more tanky after getting off a few Bulk Ups. 248 HP is used in order to keep Empirilla’s HP value odd, giving it an extra turn against residual damage. The HP EVs can be converted into Speed EVs for a set focused on sweeping. However, this idea is not too optimal since there is a lot of things Empirilla will fail to outspeed even after max Speed investment, making investing in bulk a better idea. As for the item, Leftovers is preferred to increase Empirilla’s longevity. Leftovers paired with Drain Punch does wonders in keeping the monkey king healthy. Black Belt can also be used to increase the damage of Drain Punch, therefore allowing Empirilla to recover more HP after each punch. However, Leftovers allows Empirilla to recover HP even when using moves other than Drain Punch, making it more optimal.
Other Options
A Life Orb All-out attacker set is an option, but not a great one. The other sets mentioned effectively outclass an All-out attacker set. Life Orb is also a poor item on Empirilla, as it makes it harder for Empirilla to activate its ability and survive afterwards. Running a Dark-type coverage move may seem like a good idea as well, since it allows Empirilla to deal with pesky ghosts who are immune to Empirilla’s Fighting STAB. Unfortunately, the best Dark type move Empirilla gets is Assurance, which only has a BP of 60 unless Empirilla takes damage on the same turn it uses Assurance. While this effect may appear to synergize well with Empirilla’s ability, this is in fact not the case, since Empirilla will generally be activating it’s ability on switch in. Poison Jab may also appear to be a tantalizing option as well in order to deal with Fairies. However, Empirilla will most likely be switching out against Fairies anyways, making this move a waste of a moveslot more often than not.
Team Options
Empirilla is best used either to pivot and wallbreak or to clean up the game. Because of this, Empirilla’s best teammates are ones that can switch into attacks that Empirilla cannot take and ones that can deal with Empirilla’s counters and switchins. In general, Empirilla appreciates having special walls on the team, as Empirilla wants to be taking physical attacks in order to activate Infuriate. Chimaconda makes a good teammate for this purpose, as it can switch into Fairy attacks directed at Empirilla and it has good Special Defense to boot. Empirilla complements Chimaconda nicely as well, being able to take Rock-type attacks directed at Chimaconda and convert that attack into an Infuriate boost. Baitatao is similar to Chimaconda in this regard, and makes a good partner to Empirilla as well (provided Baitatao is ever released).
Counters
The best way to counter Empirilla is to circumvent the threat of Empirilla entirely by preventing Empirilla from activating Infuriate. Depending on your team, this may either be an easy task or a hard one. Fire off physical attacks sparingly, and keep the threat of an Empirilla switchin in mind. Try to stick to physical attacks that would either OHKO Empirilla should it try to switch in, or 2HKO Empirilla if the attacker can outspeed Empirilla. If Empirilla has managed to activate Infuriate, then Ghost types that are immune to Empirilla’s Fighting STAB are a good option. Navighast and M-Dramsama work particularly well. Navighast is protected from both Empirilla’s Fighting STAB and Earthquake thanks to it’s Levitate ability, and M-Dramsama can outspeed and one shot Empirilla with a STAB Psychic type attack. Chainite is a good option, but only against the Choiced set and only if Empirilla locks itself into a Fighting-type move. Other Empirilla sets can generally beat Chainite in a 1v1 by using Earthquake, since Chainite has very poor bulk. Remember when dealing with an Infuriate-boosted Empirilla that even if you can’t knock it out, forcing it to switch out is still effective, as doing so will cause Empirilla to lose it’s Infuriate boosts.
