Competitive Pokemon History - Suicune Quiz

Answer: Utility Wall

Suicune's base 90 special attack, while not leaving it overtly passive, did not allow it to perform any sweeping roles since it lacked any sort of way to boost its offenses. As such, Suicune became a Utility Wall whose effectiveness was completely unparalleled. Despite its weakness to Electric, Suicune was so bulky that a non-STAB Thunderbolt would just about never 3HKO unless it was being used in Ubers to fight off Mewtwo. Because Mewtwo was banned from standard play, only actual Electric types posed a serious offensive threat to Suicune. Due to this, Suicune easily fit Rest on its moveset and walled most Pokémon not named Raikou or Zapdos forever. If the opponent got cheeky and tried to take advantage of Suicune's average offenses by setting up on it, Suicune could just Roar it out, forcing the opponent to possibly take entry hazard damage and potentially reveal hidden members of their team as well. This made Suicune into a great Snorlax check, and an impeccable option to try and scout the moveset Snorlax was running; Snorlax's Thunder was only a 3HKO, and could never 2HKO even after Suicune took Spikes damage, so Suicune could at least discover Snorlax had Thunder without being at risk of getting KOed by surprise. Additionally, Suicune could Roar out non-last Pokémon Curselax and stop it from gaining too much momentum in the middle of the match. While it was busy Roaring threats and taking hits and Resting off the damage, Suicune could spread Toxic poison in-between these efforts, increasing the passive damage the opponent was taking significantly, also making Suicune a lot harder to KO itself. Suicune's STAB move of choice was Surf, though it was probably its least used move in a typical match despite having STAB, as the move did so-so damage unless it was hitting super effectively. Still, this allowed Suicune to check Swords Dance Marowak directly, without having to first take an immensely strong hit before Roaring away Marowak's boost(s). It also allowed Suicune to threaten Pokémon without strong special defenses, especially those who were also weak to Water like Steelix.

Overall, Suicune was doubtlessly a top ten Pokémon in its debut generation. It offered so much to any team looking for a defensive backbone, making it an automatic addition to these types of teams.

Answer: Pressure

Most notable legendaries, such as the legendary birds, Suicune's fellow legendary beasts, and the cover legendaries of the second generation were given Pressure. Out of all of them, Suicune arguably benefitted from it the most. Given that Suicune had gained a reputation as a Wall, the ability to more effectively PP stall threats was one which came in handy. Notably, matchups Suicune would stalemate in during its debut generation, namely Blissey, were now wholly positive since Suicune could easily stall Blissey out of its PP if it came down to it.

Answer: CroCune

CroCune is an all-time classic. It's a simple set of Surf, Calm Mind, Rest and Sleep Talk. It allowed Suicune to wall threats just as it had always done. However, instead of aiming to spread passive damage and phase dangerous threats, CroCune aimed to locate Pokémon who couldn't do much damage to it and use Calm Mind to offensively check them. Given Suicune's amazing mono-Water defensive typing, these opportunities to setup were plentiful. It could take top tiered threats such as Tyranitar, Metagross, and certain variants of Jirachi, and turn them into total liabilities, boosting in their faces and proceeding to win the game. It was also notable for being one of few dedicated special attackers Blissey could not handle, as Blissey posed absolutely no threat to Suicune whatsoever and would simply flail as Suicune effortlessly attained six Calm Mind boosts in its face.

This set was so easy to use and fit on such a wide variety of teams that it became Suicune's most well known set, in any future tier or metagame it would end up in. It was strong enough to keep Suicune afloat in standard play's top ten, despite the increase in competition that came from the generational transition.

Answer: Calm Mind + 3 Attacks

The idea was that Suicune would make use of its good bulk and amplified offenses, courtesy of utilizing a Life Orb and a more offensive EV spread, to be more threatening and have better coverage by dropping its recovery options. This made it less useful in the early and middle stages of a game, but made it more threatening offensively.

The set was generally Calm Mind + Hydro Pump + Ice Beam + Hidden Power Electric, attaining perfect neutral coverage on the entirety of the relevant tier. It was less effective at breaking down stall due to its unimpressive immediate power, but it was now better at beating offensive teams.

It notably could use Pokémon like Heatran or Infernape as an opportunity to boost at least once, and have a generally advantageous position against whatever came in, unless it was a Blissey or a Celebi.

Answer: Yes

Suicune had fallen a couple notches coming over from the third generation, and while its movepool was quite small, it packed just enough options for Suicune to have some variety. It could boast bulky offensive movesets, it could try the classic CroCune, or it could go for a straight up walling set, and do all three with excellent viability.

Answer: Keldeo

Latias and Latios were not newcoming Pokémon. They also did not outclass Suicune's offensive sets, though they did give it lots of competition; Suicune's advantage was its lack of a weakness to Gengar and Tyranitar, who would tear the Eon twins apart. Keldeo, on the other hand, outclassed Suicune as an offensive Calm Mind user; it had enough bulk to find a chance to boost, and had a lot more power and a better movepool to make boosting more profitable. Notably, Keldeo could use Secret Sword to destroy Blissey and Chansey with- threats who would wall offensive Suicune forever. It could also do this to Ferrothorn, another Pokémon who made Suicune's life miserable.

However, Suicune's tried and true CroCune set gave it a usable niche in the tier. It was still bulky as ever, and operated just as it had for years now. Unfortunately, it wasn't flashy and did not boast the immediate power other threats did, so it didn't see enough use to stay OverUsed by usage statistics. It was definitely viable for the tier, however.

Answer: Extremespeed

Sadly, Extremespeed was totally useless on a competitive Suicune; Suicune's base 75 Attack stat combined with the fact that Extremespeed did not get STAB meant it would hit like a wet paper towel. Suicune also never really had room to run it to begin with.

Unfortunately, trying to use it as a way of giving Suicune revenge killing utility is just about always ineffective due to how seriously weak the move is on Suicune.

Answer: Scald

Scald was a little weaker than Surf, but offered a nifty 30% chance to burn the target. This allowed Suicune to find setup opportunities easier up against burned physical threats, while also allowing it to spread passive damage easier, making it more threatening throughout a game than Surf could make it. Scald was also still strong enough to do what Suicune needed the move to do, meaning it represented a total upgrade over Surf despite the slight loss of base power.

Answer: Toxapex and Tapu Fini

Suicune's only viable set for the tier was a nifty set of Scald + Substitute + Protect + Calm Mind. The idea was to utilize SubProtect in conjunction with Protect to PP stall threats, while boosting against passive defensive Pokémon with Calm Mind and eventually win the game with Scald. Toxapex could use Haze's gargantuan 64 PP to not only avoid being PP stalled, but could also negate Suicune's Calm Mind boosts, taking a pittance from Scald thanks to its resistance to the move and high special defense. It infinitely walled Suicune to death, and Suicune needed to have a teammate or two that could deal with it if it wanted to get anywhere. Tapu Fini traded away Toxapex's access to Haze in exchange for a speedy Taunt, essential immunity to being burned by Scald, and Nature's Madness to reliably chunk at Suicune's HP. These threats were incredibly common, meaning Suicune would be a liability if something else couldn't deal with them somehow.

Still, Suicune was definitely viable for the metagame. It had great bulk, passable power, and passable pretty much everything else. It wasn't easy to use, and its usage statistics still reflected this, but if used by a skilled player, it could get the job done with a pretty reasonable amount of support.

Answer: Trick question- Suicune was removed from the game entirely

Suicune was sadly left at the border, as about 400 Pokémon would cross over into the Galar Region. If allowed in the game, it is likely Suicune would still be viable, but it would have a difficult time dealing with Dyna and Gigantomaxed threats, while also not being a great user of the mechanic itself.