Sucker Punch mind games 101: For babys and Randbat players

Sucker punch mind games

Basic idea: Sucker punch gets priority, but fails if you don’t attack. By using non-attacking moves, you can gain momentum/win an otherwise un-winnable situation. Skip to "IQ test" section if you just want the good stuff.

Key:

SP = Sucker punch (Applies to thunderclap too)

X = SP user

Y = SP victim

A = Y’sHKO, Amount of sucker punches Y can take unboosted (Taking into account current health)

B = X’sHKO, Amount of attacks the sucker punch user can take from the opposition, unbolted unless stated otherwise (Taking into account current health)

Situation 1 = Not considering other variables, X wins.

Situation 2 = Not considering other variables, Y wins.

SP Formula: (Ignoring variables) If A-B = 0≤, X wins (Situation 1). f A-B = ≤0, Y wins (Situation 2).

General strategies (Real shit!!):

**Recover:**In a 1HKO situation 1. If X commits SP, and Y recovers, Y can then tank the next SP and hit back.

**Defensive Buff:**Y Is 1HKO by sucker punch, so they choose to buff Def to be able to tank the hit next turn. If X has other coverage moves, like a special move on mixed attackers, this is a less ideal strategy.

**Offensive buff:**Only really matters if Y is in situation 2, but SD/DD can be used to guarantee that when sucker punch hits, you can kill. Again, only matters if X’s SP kills in (Y’sHKO by sucker punch turns + 1), But is useful either way to carry momentum onto the next mon.

Encore:

Again, if you’re already in a situation 1, the best you’re gonna achieve is pp drain. Encore really depends on your other non-attacking moves, whether that lets you set up hazards, buff, status, or recover. More on this later.

Status:

Burn and sleep are both great options against X, with para and toxic being a bit more risky. Since SP is physical, unless you’re dealing with a mixed attacker the free burn is gonna be a huge detriment to your opponent. Moves like burning bulwark and baneful bunker still make SP fail, so they’re not the best options for this situation other than PP stall. Para is a lot more situational, really only affect your opponents non-priority moves (As well as not affecting RB) and toxic is something we’ll get into later.

Schizo level mind games, the “IQ test” method:

Step 1: Recon

Gather as much information about your opponent as possible. Talk to them over the chat during the match, look at their username, and observe how well they’re able to make predictions and how frequently they’re doing so.

Step 2: Tiering

Place your opponent into one of the following mental tiers, separated by amount of logical switchbacks.

1: Your opponent is expecting the simplest play from you, an attack. They will SP.

2: Your opponent understands that you are predicting their SP, they will Taunt/Switch/Use another attack.

3: Your opponent Understands that you understand their prediction, and thus MIGHT stick in and SP still, depending on the situation. At this point, anything is possible, depending on move sets and team comp.

Step 3: Self Reflection

As you understand your opponent and their behaviours, put yourself in their shoes. What do they think of you? How have your plays so far indicated your skill? Times like these allow blunders to become helpful, as your opponent may under-predict. Alternatively, if your pressure has been good, they may overpredict, allowing you to sidestep their move.

Step 4: Response

Respond accordingly, choosing an option that accounts for the best moves in the most likely situations. Imagine the moves you believe your opponent is most likely to make as percentages, and imagine the situations that would benefit you the most, and cross reference them to find the option that covers the most ground. Better to make the safest option, in my opinion.

Step 4: Second response

THIS is maybe the most important part of SP mindgames. IF and only IF you and your opponent stuck in, and Sucker punch was used, do you begin this strategy.

If sucker punch hit, consider your opponents situation, intelligence, and the moves they know you're running. If you've used a status move yet that could put them in a worse spot, they will probably switch, or use a standard attack if they outspeed (Unless you have prankster). If you haven't, now's the time to unless you think they're not expecting you to sack the mon you have. Remember, the best situation is the one in which you CONVINCE the opponent to undervalue you, and such, their SP's. If this SP is gonna demolish your team, you NEED them to stay in and PP stall to 0, get knocked out, or status. In the same vein, if you set up on multiple turns while they SP because they know it'll kill, you want to convince them you won't tera, so go for as little setup as is necessary. Tera out of your weakness only on the turn when you attack.

If sucker punch didn't hit (by switch or use of status) Expect them to switch off SP, or switch the mon out entirely, and respond to predict one of those moves.

Step 5: Win

Simple as.

Other things that effect SP:

VARIABLES (Excluding those mentioned in strategies):

Trick room:

Priority is unaffected in trick room.

Psychic terrain:

All grounded (Non flying type/Non levitate) targets are immune to priority moves, causing them to fail.

STRATEGIES:

Outspeed/priority (Moves/abilities/items that go before sucker punch, causing it to fail):

+1 Priority moves:

+1 Priority moves (Accelerock, Aqua Jet, Baby-Doll Eyes, Bullet Punch, Grassy Glide (with Grassy terrain), Ice Shard, Jet Punch,

Mach Punch, Quick Attack, Shadow Sneak, Sucker Punch, Thunderclap, Vacuum Wave, Water Shuriken) all hit AND cause sucker punch to fail if Y>X in speed.

+2 Priority moves:

Unlike +1 priority moves, +2 priority moves will always go first AND cause sucker punch to fail.

Complete priority:

Quick claw grants a ~23% (60/256)% to move first, regardless of priority or speed. Quick draw does the same thing, but with a 30%~ chance. Custap berry grants a single use priority move in its bracket when the user reaches below 1/4 health.

Priority Abilities:

Quick draw, mentioned before has an effect similar to quick claw, albeit using 30%~. Gale wings gives +1 Priority to flying type moves, still requiring the user to outspeed.

Negation (Moves/abilities that prevent priority moves from affecting the target):

Priority Block (Moves):

Quick guard (Doesn’t apply unless you’re in doubles ??),

Priority Block (Abilities):

Queenly majesty, Armour tail, and dazzling all prevent the use of priority moves against the user/users side. Pokemon that have these abilities like Bruxish and Farigarif are also psychic types, leading to them shutting down slower dark types, or dark types that are relying on SP as their only Dark type STAB.

I love stimulants, and playing pokemon showdown on them is one of the best feelings. godspeed.