A Raticate with what?

[Foguet]

I am considering training a Raticate with the following moves:

Super Fang
Inversion
XXX
XXX

The theme is to use Raticate's high speed to bring the opponent's health down to 1/4 with Super Fang, and when Raticate's almost knocked out, finish the rival Pokémon with a strong inversion. Now, there are still 3 questions:

1.- What object would you equip it with?
2.- Can Inversion be a critical hit? If so, would it pay off to add Focus Energy?
3.- Do you think it's wise to put Rest to it, so it may recover after taking all the damage necessary to use Inversion strongly?

[mr_pikachu]

Um... sorry, but I've never heard of Inversion. Are you perhaps thinking of Reversal?

Reversal
Move type: Fighting
Move power: N/A
Accuracy: 100
PP: 15
Effects: The lower the user's HP, the more powerful the move is.

I'm not sure that Raticate's strong enough to use this effectively. Its speed is pretty good, but I'd worry that its low Defense would get it KOed before you could take advantage of its low HP with Reversal. (And yes, increasing its HP with Rest would take away the power of Reversal.) But on the other hand, not everything's going to have a massive physical attack, so I could be wrong there. Still, tossing in something like Shadow Ball or Body Slam could help you to take advantage of its decent Attack. Even Counter might potentially be helpful.

Of course, I'm not really sure how powerful Reversal can get; all I know is that its power varies based on the HP of the user. I'm guessing it goes up to about 100 or 120 when your Pokemon is at 1 HP, but if the power could be something huge like 200, this could be quite legitimate. Again, I'm not sure exactly what the range is, so my guess could be wrong. But if I'm right (or at least close) about Reversal's max power, I'd think taking a Super Fang into a typical attack/Counter tactic might be a better idea.


As for your questions...

1. If you decide to use Reversal, you might want something to keep it away from status problems, like a Miracleberry. You could also go with a Focus Band to try to maximize the benefits of Reversal. Otherwise, high HP would be desirable, so you could try the standard of Leftovers or use a combo of Rest and Miracleberry (or was there a GSC berry that only healed sleep?) to wake it up immediately.

2. I think Reversal can be a critical hit, as the only special effect of the attack is on its power. However, I'm not sure that Focus Energy would be wise, as you're going to be in a race against time with the SFang/Reversal tactic. After two Super Fangs, I would think your HP would be too low to dawdle with a Focus Energy - after all, what good does a higher critical rate do you if Raticate's unconscious? I just think that that idea might be a tad too slow.

3. I don't really think so. Remember that Reversal will always be strongest when its HP is low - but that's exactly when you'll also be wanting to use Rest. So you'll end up using one, and the other will be a wasted move. Moves that restore HP and moves that rely on low HP don't often mix. It'd probably be best to pick one strategy or the other and stick with that.


EDIT: I forgot this is GSC... aren't I smart! Going back and changing my advice so that it's actually relevant...

[Foguet]

Yeah I did mean Reversal, it's hard to translate from Spanish if you don't know the attacks LOL I think I am going to stick with Reversal, but I'm still not sure about what two other attacks I could toss in.

In fact, I don't think I'd use them too much if I stick to the Hyper-Fang, Reversal trick, but just in case I need something else.

[mr_pikachu]

Well, if you're looking for a variety of types to attack with, remember that Reversal is a Fighting move. With that as your only power-based attack, you can't do much of anything to Bug, Flying, Ghost, Poison, or Psychic Pokemon when you need to finish them.

Despite an awful Sp. Attack stat, Raticate might be able to deal with the Flyers and Bugs using Ice Beam. (That only really works because just about every Bug type in GSC is Bug/Flying, and Forretress is Bug/Steel - don't forget, Steel is weak to Fighting, so you can still do considerable damage with Reversal.) You could then use Shadow Ball to cover Psychics and Ghosts, or you could try a Dig to combat Poison Pokes.

[Foguet]

Still, it seems to me that Raticate's dreadful Special attack is to low to deal a lot of damage with Ice Beam, even if it's against Pokémon against which the attack is super effective. Every time I used a Raticate with Thunderbolt and Ice Beam in Pokémon Stadium, it lost even against Flying or Grass Pokémon! So I prefer physical attacks.

[Poryhedron]

(or was there a GSC berry that only healed sleep?)

It's called Mint Berry.

Well, if you're looking for a variety of types to attack with, remember that Reversal is a Fighting move. With that as your only power-based attack, you can't do much of anything to Bug, Flying, Ghost, Poison, or Psychic Pokemon when you need to finish them.

Is there any way for Raticate to learn Flail? (In case Foguet doesn't know, that's the move that's exactly like Reversal except it's Normal-type.) That will work against anything except Ghost, Rock and Steel, and it'll get STAB too. In fact, you might give yourself both Flail and Reversal to cover everything except Ghost...

[Foguet]

Is there any way for Raticate to learn Flail? (In case Foguet doesn't know, that's the move that's exactly like Reversal except it's Normal-type.) That will work against anything except Ghost, Rock and Steel, and it'll get STAB too. In fact, you might give yourself both Flail and Reversal to cover everything except Ghost...

Thanks Poryhedron, I've got more trouble writing the names than understanding them And... no, it can't learn Flail, sadly, which would be great because of STAB.

[pidgezero_one]

I've got a Raticate with Blizzard if that move interests you at all. o_0

[Green_Pikachu]

raticate is best used in a spikes/switch-inducing team with 2 or 3 big-time sweepers, with something like...

substitute
roar
super fang
whatever...reflect?

drop spikes with cloy/forry. super fang as much as you can. keep roaring. keep getting spikes damage. etc. something like that, i guess.

[SupremeChampion]

[i]yea, i don't know if raticate w/ reversal would be a great idea... i mean its not really known anything save its decent speed... but yea it you're gonna use hyperfang and reversal as the main attacks, you might want to consider some special moves, just to to do some damage to whatever reversal can't hit.

~The Italian Stallion

[Crazy Elf Boy]

Why couldn't you see if Raticate could learn endure or give it a focus band the take advantage of Raticates speed to get in a Reversal

[Foguet]

Perhaps the best idea would be to throw in endure to take advantage of a full-power reversal, and shadow ball to hit ghosts. And to chuck in a Liechi berry too to add attack.

[Crazy Elf Boy]

And to chuck in a Liechi berry too to add attack.

Are we still talking about GSC?

Yeh so try

Raticate@Focus band or Something else

Superfang
Reversal
Endure
Shadow Ball

[BiGSh0t]

Used to not use an item on raticate and added Thief to be very annoying.