Repto's TR VR

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TRICK ROOM SETTERS
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**Explanation of ratings**
[S] Heavily distinguished from all other options in any combination of bulk, support options, and ease of activation; their faults are more easily mitigated with proper team structure and decision making than others.

[A] Maintains a very high level of durability and support. Would likely be S tier if not for a varying amount of redundancy and/or handicaps; still easily fits onto most teams.

[B] Bulk, movepool and abilities, while meeting the standard of decency for setters, should not be used unless filling a specific niche. Viable, but not recommended under normal circumstances (constance, aiming for 200+ wins.)

[C] Not recommended for facility play, but may have unexplored potential (especially in Triples.)



[S+]
-Musharna: Bulk allows for withstanding most "overpowered" physical attacks in tree which other setters cannot hope to survive; highly potent support movepool, especially when used alongside spread moves; minimum speed of 30 allows pre-empting for almost all desireable abusers, as well as utilizing After You properly. Hits somewhat hard uninvested and rarely spends any turn with nothing of use. If not abusing Telepathy, Forewarn is also a limited but nevertheless effective means of scouting an enemy set.

-Oranguru: Flinch & Ghost immunity and excellent overall bulk; Instruct doubles effectiveness of most abusers, making it one of the most devastating support moves in format; also fits Protect nicely into set, but this is due more to it being an ineffective user of most other (also limited) options. Speed tier both allows it to Instruct almost all desireable abusers but cripplingly leaves it at the mercy of those same slower species.

[S]
-Dusclops: Extremely difficult to KO quickly and access to gigantic support movepool; Frisk immediately indicates most enemy sets for easier planning. Between Ally Switch, Gravity, Disable, Pain Split and Night Shade, it is almost never rendered impotent by matchup alone. More vulnerable to status and Taunt than other setters.

-Aromatisse: Coveted Taunt/Encore/Disable immunity for its team, leaving its item slot free for Lum Berry; Fairy typing allows its merely decent bulk to be threatened by very few, albeit common, things; Minimum 30 speed allows its expansive support movepool to assist most other abusers, particularly when using Heal Pulse. Like Musharna, able to inflict moderately high damage uninvested, making it invaluable against the many things destroyed by Moonblast.

[A+]
-Cresselia: Obscene bulk, Levitate, with access to Helping Hand and Ally Switch. Speed and poor offense render it mostly deadweight if not using priority support; however, without Taunt it is incredibly difficult to prevent it from setting, and HH/AS are so useful as to mitigate the speed issue nicely.

[A]
-Cofagrigus: Overall excellent defenses without compromising its hold item, and comparable support movepool to Dusclops; includes some useful niches such as Fake Tears and Crafty Shield. Downgrade in bulk compared to Dusclops is highly noticeable. Mummy a double-edged sword in potentially neutering enemies' useful abilities, while making them undesireable targets for own physical-based allies.

-Mega Audino: Trades Aromatisse's hold item and ability for incredible bulk; the addition of Fairy typing both exploits AI tendencies as well as greatly narrowing its pool of threats. Healer is more useful in theory than in practice, as its trigger rate is not high enough to make a noticeable difference. It also lacks Aromatisse's speed; while Gravity and Heal Pulse are great moves, base 50 speed shrinks the number of abusers it can precede with them.

[A-]
-Mega Slowbro: Very high overall bulk and maintains incredible physical defense without investment; foregoes Taunt immunity for protection from crits which offers its own constant, albeit invisible, protection. Has highest SpA of all viable setters, and access to uncommon (among setters) attacks including Scald and Flamethrower. Still makes a somewhat helpful user of Heal Pulse.

-Bronzong: Overall excellent defenses and Heatproof makes it very difficult to OHKO, even in the face of STAB and most high-end attacks which hit it supereffectively. Very good user of Gravity and provides decent flinch support, but is outsped by many of the allies it would better support if slower. Less passive than other setters.

[B+]
-Porygon2: Excellent bulk and offensive movepool, but has limited team support options and is not a comparably effective user of Gravity nor Ally Switch. However, with Download frequently providing useful boosts, tends to play a more active roll in quickly destroying enemy teams. Notably high speed also allows it to safely aggress enemy TR teams, foregoing its own TR in the process.

-Carbink: Sturdy and Lum Berry combined are very useful, but its long list of common weaknesses limits their effectiveness too much. Still an effective user of support moves in dual screens and Gravity, and Moonblast/Power Gem allow it to inflict some decent STAB damage. Base 50 speed tends to be pretty underwhelming, compared to most setters.

[B]
-Uxie: Largely redundant aside Cresselia with little to distinguish itself. In spite of that, its strengths are not greatly diminished; also has some potential in unusual options of Memento, Foul Play, and Knock Off.

[B-]
-Jellicent: Makes the least of Relaxed nature and heavily skewed EV spreads, yet is still able to hit the useful benchmark of surviving Tyrantrum4 Head Smash. Team support comes not from individual moves but its extremely handy ability in Cursed Body, which will frequently neuter opponents; Scald and Night Shade prevent Jellicent from being too passive.

-Gothitelle: Alleviating redundancy tends to be a futile struggle; all of its notable perks (Frisk, Heal Pulse and most other standard passive moves) are available to another setter with a higher BST, better typing, and/or an additional distinguishing feature. Is still effective enough for brief runs (ie: randoms play.)

[C]
-Mimikyu: One the one hand, Disguise offers a good degree of protection most of the time; on the other, its speed is ill-suited for TR; it lacks any major offensive presence or support moves, and is especially weak to status. Mitigating one of these makes the remaining downsides more glaring. Has found success as an emergency backup setter with some damage output, but is not recommended.

-Stakataka: Excellent offense and support movepool wasted by exploitable weaknesses to common, high-powered moves; Ally Switch and Air Balloon provide meager protection. Stakataka is far better suited for full offensive investment, though it remains to be seen what can be brought to TR teams in Triples, as running two setters opposite each other has previously been highly effective.

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TRICK ROOM ABUSERS
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**Explanation of ratings**
[S] Seemingly made with Trick Room in mind, these Pokemon will do most of the work themselves. A combination of raw offensive power, sufficient movepool, and outspeeding over 95% of all possible enemies lends to this. Full offensive investment still leaves defenses moderately high, preventing them from being too quickly defeated in or out of TR.

[A] Able to keep up with S tiers in damage output and/or versatility but more lacking in one area, usually speed or bulk. With excellent synergy, these discrepancies go completely unnoticed.

[B] Still easily fit into teams and performs reliably, but likely passed unless it fulfills a specific need. Poorer speeds are often a factor in this. The right sort of "glue" their synergy provides can make these pokemon more valuable than their ranking would indicate.

[C] Fun and often rewarding to use in TR, but not intended for casual play, let alone longevity. Like B tiers, these are still capable of occasionally providing a necessary sort of glue.



[S+]
-Mega Slowbro: Running full SpA investment, is able to secure a very long list of useful OHKOs; special-based 1st-generation movepool is so large that rounded coverage is easily attainable and difficult to wall. Minimum speed of 31 hits all important benchmarks, losing out to Avalugg4 which cannot hope to threaten. When glue must come in the form of raw muscle, it is the perfect ally to fight alongside a physical sweeper with constrasting coverage. Mega Slowbro is particularly effective at destroying backline enemies able to halt momentum of TR teams, such as Escavalier and Camerupt.

-Snorlax: Able to distribute EVs almost entirely into bulk while still possessing monstrous OHKO potential due to Belly Drum; Gluttony also makes this extremely difficult to stop. Setters make it so much more effective with additional healing, Helping Hand, Ally Switch or Instruct, that there is no reason not to use it as a lead. Its physical coverage is more than wide enough that it cannot be effectively walled.

-Mega Camerupt: Speed ties with the relatively nonthreatening Shuckle, the slowest enemy in the tree. Narrow movepool, but possessing incredibly damaging STAB options; type coverage and tenacity both rise exponentially with the right teammates, as its primary weakness is easily nulled and terrains provide a potent Nature Power attack. Poor initial BST also lends to Protect baiting, though running backline allows it to increase its scope of coverage.

[S]
-Escavalier: Provides an immediate surge of overwhelmingly destructive power with its narrow but sufficient movepool; minimum speed of 22 also grants it free reign to attack all relevant threats first. While Life Orb gives it the most versatile boost, it's able to utilize a number of other options to grant another teammate that item. Overcoat provides a frequently exploitable niche, as does its typing; invaluable in destroying enemy TR teams, as well as Veterans packed with nuisances.

-Ferrothorn: Fastest user of Gravity under TR, as well as the fastest user of Acid Spray, a potent crippling agent; also able to inflict sizeable amounts of damage with its STAB moves. Surprisingly malleable, Ferrothorn ventures well outside its role as a supporter without requiring different EV spreads; it's an incredibly strong adhesive for teams with one or more special attackers, or as part of a FWG core. Halving its speed is far from redundant, powering up Gyro Ball substantially against slow enemies weak to it, as well as allowing it to hinder targets for Camerupt.

[S-]
-Reuniclus: While most of its movepool is comprised of attacks with 80 base power, its damage output is not rivaled by much; as one of the most prominent Life Orb wielders amongst TR units, it has the rare benefit of using it completely uninhibited. Gravity makes it all the more dangerous, granting free use of Focus Blast. Psychic typing is its primary downside, making it more alluring for teams with Fairy-typed setters; regardless, it's a proficient wallbreaker and provides a means of swiftly removing Water and Steel.

-Stakataka: While being relied upon for TR is far too risky, attacking and (some) defending is its true forte. Stakataka quickly snowballs out of control and is easily assisted by most setters to acheive that end; makes excellent use of any number of hold items, as well as being more easily molded (stacked) to complement the team. Effective both as a lead as well as backline; four attacks gives it a means of annihilating anything in its path, while its expansive support movepool provides frequent niche assistance.