Competitive Pokemon History - Absol Quiz

Answer: 130

At a Base 130, Absol could hit rather hard by standard play, third generation standards. It had enough of a colorful movepool to make up for its shortcomings otherwise, combined with this stat, to become usable in standard play.

Answer: Baton Pass

On a Choice Band set, Absol users could make use of Baton Pass to help Absol gain momentum when predicting a switch in to a Pokemon Absol itself couldn't handle. Absol had absolutely no business staying in and pointlessly trying to break down Skarmory, so if the user predicted a Skarmory switch in, they could use Baton Pass to bring in, say, Magneton for free to better deal with Skarmory that way.

In general, being able to bring a teammate in for free off a good prediction could grab lots of momentum and gave Absol good offensive utility, when it would otherwise have been a lost cause in standard play.

Answer: Bulky offensive Pokemon in general

Salamence, Metagross, Tyranitar, Snorlax, even niche picks like Tauros or Dragonite can achieve this against Absol. Absol's lack of usable STAB options meant these bulky Pokemon could quite reliably take a hit on the switch, then abuse Absol's remarkably poor bulk and take it out in, at most, two turns. Absol's low Speed also meant it generally only hit these Pokemon as they switched in, before getting outsped and pulverized on the next turn.

Answer: Super Luck

Super Luck raises the user's critical hit ratio by one stage, as if to grant them a free Focus Energy. This was a nice offensive ability for Absol to have, though it was clearly rather inconsistent. When combined with STAB Night Slash, a move which naturally has an above average critical hit rate, Absol can sometimes out-luck its opponent into winning matchups it likely would've lost, such as against Weezing, Milotic and Donphan.

Answer: Four moveslot syndrome; the inability to run enough options to account for everything

Base 75 Speed sure isn't winning any races for a Pokemon as frail as Absol. Still, with its good movepool, it is a perfectly viable user of the Choice Scarf, which can render this a non problem most of the time.

In terms of options Absol players really wanted to run, Night Slash, Sucker Punch, Psycho Cut, Superpower and Pursuit come to mind. That isn't even accounting for needing an additional moveslot for Swords Dance, as Absol needs to pick up a boost to reliably sweep in the first place. Night Slash was needed for general damage, Sucker Punch was needed as to not get invalidated by offensive teams, Superpower was needed to hit bulky Steel types which laughed at Absol otherwise, Psycho Cut was needed for similar reasons against Fighting types, and Pursuit kept Psychic and Ghost types, who Absol needed to be able to beat, honest by stopping them from just brainlessly switching out of it. As Absol could not fit all of these options onto one set, it was always going to come across some major flaw the opponent could easily exploit. As such, despite its high stats and good ability, Absol had ample counterplay and was a healthily good Pokemon in fourth generation UnderUsed.

Answer: Justified

Justified boosts the user's Attack by one stage if they are struck by a Dark type attack. While Absol does resist Dark, it is still far too frail to consistently risk switching in to Dark type moves. Super Luck did not require any aggressive, prediction reliant play, and even though it could prove somewhat inconsistent, it was still Absol's go-to ability, good enough to make it a huge threat in fifth generation RU.

Answer: 115

Mega Absol doesn't actually gain any additional bulk from Mega Evolving, but fret not, as with its new Speed tier, it is likely going to be moving first quite often. 115 is generally enough to naturally outspeed a number of offensive threats, including Gengar, Latios, Latias, Terrakion and more.

Answer: Magic Bounce

Magic Bounce reflects status moves and entry hazards which target the user back at the opponent. Mega Absol's bulk is terrible, so switching it in on entry hazard setters takes expert prediction to pull off with any sort of consistency, and can easily get Mega Absol prematurely KOed, creating a waste of a Mega slot.

It does notably help Mega Absol block Will-O-Wisps from the likes of Sableye or Gengar, or crippling Thunder Waves from Cresselia or Blissey, but that's about the extent of the ability's practical value on Mega Absol.

Answer: It was outclassed in any role it could fill

Base 150 Attack and 115 Speed both look appealing at first, but when one considers the need to invest a Mega slot in it, that tempers those prospects significantly. It is true that Pokemon with inferior stats, such as Mega Sharpedo, were viable themselves, but Mega Sharpedo has two things that Mega Absol does not; a lot more power, courtesy of its more useful ability, and higher Speed in practice thanks to its Base forme's ability. Because Mega Absol cannot wield a Life Orb or Choice Band, Base 150 Attack is merely quite average. Running Swords Dance seems like a simplistic way to rectify this, but Mega Absol's pathetic bulk makes actually boosting quite the chore.

As a sweeper, Mega Absol would be thoroughly outclassed by many different Pokemon, the majority of which didn't need to take up a team's Mega slot. Examples include Garchomp, Talonflame, Azumarill, Landorus-T, Scizor and its Mega forme and more.

Answer: RarelyUsed

Mega Absol's deficiencies hindered it more than ever in the Z-Move era. Unable to make use of Z-Crystals itself, Mega Absol's average Base 150 Attack would be insufficient by seventh generation UU standards, as Mega Absol didn't have a practical way to boost it at all.

It was easily checked by Scizor and Mega Altaria, by far the best Pokemon in the tier, who also happened to outclass it offensively for the most part. Despite its high Base 115 Speed, seventh generation UU came with Pokemon like Mega Aerodactyl, Mega Manectric and Mega Pidgeot who naturally outsped Mega Absol, and had common Choice Scarfers such as Infernape or Krookodile who could revenge kill it easily, and even resisted Sucker Punch to boot. Sadly, Mega Absol was not viable for UU, and was considerably too strong for RU, leaving it in a regrettable state to end the generation.