Become a PU balance tester

[Roloc]

We previously had quite a few balance testers but sadly they have mostly all become inactive and have been removed. SO! I'm starting up a new competition to get new balance testers.

What is a Balance Tester?

The balance testers help the balancers by testing out the balanced pokemon and letting them know if something is balanced or unbalanced. A balance tester will have to type well thought out reasons on why they think a pokemon is balanced or unbalanced and discuss it in a separate part of the forums that normal members can't see. We need active balance testers, you don't have to work on it every day but some participation at least once a week is needed.

Okay so now on to the competition.

Balance Tester Competition!

I want you to choose from one of the new gen 6 mega pokemon and report on it. Any mega will do, but you can only do one that isn't being done already. Go into detail explaining why it is balanced or unbalanced. Then along side your analysis we want you to balance the same mega. Stat changes, move changes, ability changes, whatever you think the pokemon needs to become more on par with all other pokemon. But remember, megas are meant to be strong, they lose their ability to use an item in order to gain a temporary evolution.


analysis format:

Name: Pokemon (balanced or unbalanced)
Reason:


Balance format:

Name / Dex Number:
Old stats: 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 = 0
New stats: 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 / 0 = 0
Ability changes:
Move pool changes:
Reason:
Example set:

Megas are first come first serve. Post in this thread with the name of the mega you want to do to "claim" it. If the mega you wanted to do has already been claimed by someone then you will have to choose another.

When you are finished with your analysis and balance, you can post them here together in the same post. Keep this thread clean. No posting besides claiming a mega and posting your balance and analysis or any questions you may have. Do as best as oyu can on the balance and it just may be added into the game.

[Miss Wednesday]

Mega Garchomp C:

[Tickles]

Name: Mega Houndoom (unbalanced)
Reason: Mega Houndoom is one of the few megas that have a very good set up, but with Houndoom's balance for PU, he doesn't quite fit the into our balance well. After  testing this time and time again, he gains a small boost in his HP, where as other megas keep the same HP, Pre-Balance. Considering this, I am asking the following changes.

Name / Dex Number: Mega Houndoom #229
Old stats: 75 / 90 / 90 / 140 / 90 / 115 = 600
New stats: 70 / 100 / 90 / 140 / 90 / 115 = 605
Ability changes: None
Move pool changes: None
Reason: HP drop to match PU balance Houndoom, one detail that remains the same across all megas. Mega Houndoom is by far one of the more well rounded megas in the game, and having a high special attack combined with solar power makes it a devastating poke in the sun, but with the cost of HP. Without an item, it's not a problem, and he lacks recovery to really abuse this power.

As for the atk raise, since he will be losing HP a lot faster, I figured why not let him keep his PU balance atk. Though the mega form is made for the sun, it would be interesting to see physical doom with the increased speed and bulk.

Example set:

Solardoom (M) @ Houndoominite
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Flamethrower
- Dark Pulse
- Solar Beam
- Sludge Bomb

The ultimate in sun abuse, his coverage hits the annoying fairy type with insane power. Get a flash fire boost from the previous form, then mega evolve for an intense flamethrower devastation. Watch your HP, as a good priority hit will mean death of a power house.

[Desbear]

You know what? Not a balance tester anymore, but, I feel like I need to at least try and become one again and actually contribute this time.

So.

I guess I'll take the one I've had countless thoughts about, since I was scared it would get nerfed at one point, and looking back, it might have needed it.

So.

Mega Mawile.

[Miss Wednesday]

Mega Garchomp / Dex Number: 445
Old stats: 108 /170 / 115 / 120/ 95/ 92= 700
New stats: 108 /170 / 115 / 120 / 90 / 92= 695
Ability changes: None
Move pool changes: None
Reason: Took 5 Sp. Def. away so it's easier to kill with a special attacker.
Example set:
Mega Garchomp (M) @ Garchompite
Trait: Sand Force
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Dual Chop
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Poison Jab- For the fairies



Name: Mega Garchomp (Unbalanced)
Reason: Megachomp, in my opinion was unbalanced because of the sheer
amount of base stats it has. It's able to take both physical and special hits with
its 108 HP bulk coupled with the 115 def. and 95 sp. def; Even stab special fairy
attacks don't put a big enough dent into this thing and with its coverage and
base 170 attack it can hit back and OHKO most fairy types with Poison Jab. I
think a slight nerf to the sp. def. will help make sure this monster has a
weakness that you can exploit.

[Roloc]

We still have plenty of megas out there so don't be afraid to try your hand at it! If you want your voice to be heard on what happens to a pokemon that's being balanced, this is the way to do it. Become a tester!

[TrainerX]

I would apply again (and actually, you know, balance pokemon), but I'm not familiar with the 5th and 6th gen pokemon. I didn't get into White much, and I don't have a 3ds to play X or Y on. I actually only know of three pokemon from the 6th generation, and those are the starters. On top of that, I've forgotten nearly everything that I had learned about competitive battling for the 4th gen, so I'm useless now. Maybe I'll get into competitive battling again, I need something to learn that involves strategy again anyway. I might be capable of balancing by the time you recruit testers again.

[Roloc]

Testers won't be balancing pokemon. Just testing out pokemon that have been balanced by the balancers and reporting on them. Maybe the tester found out that a certain pokemon can set up 100% of the time and sweep very easily, or that a certain pokemon just simply "sucks" or is outclassed by other pokemon, if so, we want them to let us know in a special place on the forums that only testers and admins can see.

I added the balancing part of the competition to help me see if the person truly does know what they are talking about, pokemon wise.

You don't need to know anything about 5th and 6th gen, you can test and report on 1-4th gen if you want. There are tons of pokemon that still need testing.

[TrainerX]

I guess that just shows how much testing I did as a balance tester xD

By balancing, I meant offering suggestions to the actual balancers on what needs to be balanced.

Even if I could just do 1-4th gen, I still don't know enough about competitive battling yet to justify even trying to apply. Unless everything comes rushing back to me and I can magically learn all the things I would need to know before the testers are selected, I'll just have to wait.

[Roloc]

You should join us on the balance server and give it a whirl. Pokemon is like riding a bike, you never forget how. Though you will have a few new things to learn that came into gen 6. Such as new weather changes, type effectiveness changes, etc. But yeah, competition is open to all, no matter your pokemon skill level. Though only a few will be selected.

[TrainerX]

Yeah, I've been meaning to get on the balance server. I would have been on over the past couple of weeks, but I was busy, and the heatsink on my CPU went to sh*t, so then I had to order a new heatsink.

That was pretty off-topic. Anyway, I plan to get on the balance server once I've done a bit of reading and throw a team together.

[Roloc]

Well if you ever need help with a team (mono or mixed) feel free to post it in the EE thread. Plenty of well seasoned competitive players there that can help. I for one always help with teams if I can. And I always try to keep the team as close as to what they had it before as to not change the overall feel of the team.


NINJASKEDIT:

For those of you who want to know what kind of reports you will be doing on the pokemon if you become a tester, here are some examples of the ones I used to do when I was a tester.

Ludicolo(Balanced)
Ludicolo has very nice special attack and can dish out some nice damage. With access to swift swim it will free up evs for another stat. Though I think it will work nice with a choice scarf as well. Or just a bulky attacker.
Why I think Ludicolo is balanced.
While Ludicolo has really nice special attack it lacks speed. That lack up high speed lets it sweep but not freely sweep an entire team.
With swift swim it did really well for me but kind of broke down when rain dance fell off.

Ludicolo (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Swift Swim
EVs: 112 HP / 252 SAtk / 144 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Surf
- Energy Ball
- Ice Beam
- Synthesis / HP Fire

Synthesis is nice as long as you don't have rainy day going. You can swap it out for another attack fo your choice.

Wigglytuff(Balanced)
Wigglytuff has really high HP and a really really nice move pool. It's defenses are okay but the high HP makes up for it.
Why I think Wigglytuff is balanced.
Though the HP is really nice it's defenses are fairly low and lets setup sweepers or just a sweeper with a SE can hurt Wigglytuff pretty bad.. But with it's huge move pool there are sooo many different things that it can do.

Wigglytuff (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Cute Charm
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Def / 252 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Heal Bell
- Wish
- Thunder Wave
- Seismic Toss

Just your normal Cleric build. Nothing needs to be explained.

Exploud(Balanced)
Exploud being able to go either special/physical attack or both is really nice. He is not bulky at all though so I found it best to use a choice scarf.
Why I think Exploud is balanced.
While exploud has nice physical/special attack it's speed isn't the greatest and it's defenses are really low making it take lots of damage from a hit.

Exploud (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Scrappy
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Hyper Voice
- Ice Beam
- Focus Blast
- Extrasensory


Girafarig(Leaning toward balanced)
Being part normal type it's immune to ghost attacks.
Why I think Girafarig is balanced.
Girafarig is able to utilize charge beam really well. While it's speed with timid nature is nice, it leaves it's special attack fairly low. It's defenses aren't that high either so it's able to be taken out by a faster pokemon. While I do think Girafarig is balanced, I do think it may be able to set up with charge beam a little to easy sometimes. But I have also seen it get KOed without even getting a chance to do anything. Could be that it just needs to lose Charge beam and just let it work off of calm mind/workup.

Girafarig (M) @ Expert Belt
Trait: Regenerator
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Psychic
- Energy Ball
- Charge Beam
- Signal Beam

[TrainerX]

Will do, Roloc. I started reading up on the basics, but I had to stop. I'm having one of those days where my mind just doesn't seem to want to function properly. Hopefully I'll be alright tomorrow, and I can get a basic idea of what I want out of my team. I mainly have to read up on the changes that the 5th and 6th gen brought, as I haven't been keeping up with Pokemon at all since I played through White. I'll probably end up starting with a bunch of Pokemon that look promising, switch some of them out to cover my weaknesses and get a general theme going, and then get some advice to see what should change.

[The-Blades-slave]

Name: Abomasnow (unbalanced)
Reason: He has the potential to be decent, but he needs a few tweaks to push him along. He suffers greatly from his typing with a total of 7 weaknesses; Several of them are rather common, first and foremost being Rock. Everyone and their mother has stone edge. He is bulky, but has one of the lowest speeds in the game. He is bulky, but chunk or pebble or toss an ember at him and he crumbles.

Mega Abomasnow / Dex Number: 460
Old stats: 90/132/105 /132/105/30= 594
New stats: 90 /132/105/132/105/30= 594
Ability changes: Ice body
Move pool changes: None.
Reason: I gave him ice body to give him a bit more of an edge in hail. Send him in to start the hail and then mega evolve for free leftovers. I didn't mess with his stats or moves, he has decent coverage and runs a mixed set very well.
Example set:

Mega Abomasnow (M) @ Abomasite
Trait: Snow Warning
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 SAtk
Brave Nature (+Atk, -Spd)
- Blizzard
- Giga Drain/Wood Hammer
- Earthquake
- Ice Shard

This set is what has worked best for me. 100% accuracy Blizzard for high power is monstrous, and Giga Drain is a good move partnered with self-healing. It can be swapped for Wood Hammer for extra power. Earthquake and Ice Shard are your standard coverage and priority moves.

[Desbear]

Name: Mega Mawile
Reason: Its your typical Sweeper, be it revenge if you want to do that with sucker punch, or just normal if you want to attack. But unlike nearly every other, it can tank very well. And with a 309 Base attack stat, and huge power? Yeah, that's not gonna work.

Another thing is, I'm running some tests, and Mega-while's got a bit too much attack. If you don't decide to Whisp it, it can 2HKO Wheezing.  So, I was talking with someone, and I have a couple of idea's for a balance.

One is a new ability in place, and, honestly, I really like this one.
 

Name / Dex Number: # 303 Mega-Mawile. (Unbalanced)
Old stats: 85 / 105 / 125 / 55 / 95 / 50 = 480
New stats: 50 / 105 / 90 / 55 / 95  / 50 = 480
Ability changes: Replace Huge power with Hustle.
Move pool changes: [None]
Reason:Adding hustle in place of Huge power. It allows for Mawile to have near the same damage, with being able to 3HKO a Weezing if not burned, which shows off its power, while giving it a lot more risk with the loss of accuracy. So a player has a few choices, build tanky, and hope for the best, or build a high risk, high reward set are two of the ones I see right now.  The subtle HP Defense change was due to Mawile's balanced HP being different from Mega-wile's.
Example set:
Mawile (Mega Mawile) (F) @ Mawilite (Only showing it as in this form for the reason it IS it's balance)
Trait: Hustle
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Sucker Punch
- Iron Head
- Iron Defense
- Play Rough

This is my example for a a make-shift play safe or Risk set. You can build your defense, and hope to survive a couple misses, or just go at it immediately, using the high acc of Iron head and sucker punch to try and off set hustle. It most likely would crash and burn if you thought it through, but you get the gist of everything.

Now, I've already addressed what his issue is, I have another suggestion. He's meant to be a sweeper, that much is obvious. Why don't we make him more on-par with other sweepers...? I didn't word it very well, I know I didn't, so, I'm sorry if it doesn't make sense.

Name / Dex Number: # 303 Mega-Mawile. (Unbalanced)
Old stats: 50 / 105 / 125 / 55 / 95 / 50 = 480
New stats: 85 / 105 / 55  / 55 / 55 / 115 = 470
Ability changes: [None]
Move pool changes: [None]
Reason: Mega-Wile's biggest thing, was it could tank for days and still put out tons of damage, as if it was a banded pokemon. Well, the obvious route was to take away its Defense. But if I just did that, it would be slow enough, that it would nearly never get a kill. So, I started looking at its stats, and after a ton of guidance from Roloc/Xetroc/Blades/PO itself, I put this together. It's basically bringing Mega-wile back down to par with other sweepers, while still making it very potent. I had to raise its HP to match regular Mawile's in PU's balanced, but the defenses have been nerfed accordingly to the HP buff. So, here you have, what I think is a Sweeper Mega-wile, not unlike Rampardos or Alakazam.
Example set:

Mawile (Mega Mawile) (F) @ Mawilite (Only showing it as in this form for the reason it IS it's balance)
Trait: Huge power
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Sucker Punch
- Iron Head
- Stone edge
- Play Rough
This set is what I would think it would mostly look like, and there's not much to say. Sucker punch for your revenge kills, or just hits on ghosts. Iron head and Play rough for stab, and stone edge for its coverage.


 I would like it known, that I may come back and update these two depending on if I missed something, decided to change something as it didn't measure out to what It needed to be, or I flat out forgot to put something down.