How Purrloin Forced Pokemon to Change the Game

Purrloin was part of a strategy so powerful, Pokemon was forced to change the game. Here's how it happened.
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[@StickMaster500]

Purrloin was such a threat not only because of the Dive Cat strategy but because it was sitting like a normal cat, so they had to make it stand on two legs when Pokémon moved to 3D in X and Y

[@soulofsomething6651]

Reminds me of flying pokemon that got stuck on Flying Animations because of Sky Battles I wish they were grounded again, Pokemon like Salamence loses so much of it's essence

[@melindamuller4466]

Oh how I hate that!

[@melindamuller4466]

@@soulofsomething6651 On most Pokemon, I like that the ones that fly, do actually fly.

[@marilynlucero9363]

Yes indeed that was very overpowered catching your opponent offguard. GameFreak did not want that to happen and made sure in future Generations that this were to be prevented.

[@natwilson9338]

@@soulofsomething6651 xatu :(

[@Pikatrainer2]

"Dark Void is supposed to be Darkrai's signature move. But in VGC it's Smeargle's signature move." Truer words have never been spoken

[@stellarknight04]

That's because Darkrai is a quiet kid that didn't want to be released in-game to all players. What a sussy baka amiright

[@ChibiOnVR]

technically everything is Smeargle's signature move assuming the Smeargle in question knows it.

[@stellarknight04]

@@ChibiOnVR so Smeargle is a content thief by definition

[@ChibiOnVR]

@@stellarknight04 Smeargle is the pokemon that would be op in lore, but nobody addresses it because of the fact you would basically have to be ash in order to get a smeargle that strong (technically it wouldnt be that hard to get a smeargle that could teleport, regen itself, and learn a couple powerful moves, but in the case of legendary pokemons' moves you would either need to get super lucky, or live in one of the cities that are featured in a pokemon movie)

[@layarteBdnAevoL]

@@ChibiOnVR I think in-universe you can just have a smeargle be like an alternate mew by just teaching it transform. It's main thing is it's ability to memorize any move it sees, it definitely does not have the downside of ditto's in-universe memory problems for sure lol. You managed to get lucky enough with your smeargle buddy to see a legendary bird fly overhead? Guess you just have the ability to summon that legendary(with probably less hp lol) at will. Went to go see a league match? I guess it's cool you have their entire teams on your side now, wow! Your Smeargle also happens to have Own Tempo which means it can't get confused by anything? Time to freestyle some transformations I guess, that legendary bird's alot more effective when it can shoot 7 sacred flames at a time with it's 7 heads.

[@cumbrap]

Dude who discovered this had to be some sort of anime supervillain because this is just evil.

[@talullah1065]

bro i see you everywhere on youtube except ur own channel

[@botzko93]

It might be a bit old, but Eli bandits sturdinja Pokémon team is a fun watch.

[@lgbtqiarights]

@smelly paws what

[@HaxDotCombo]

I mean, looking at Digby's channel I see some stuff complaining about "SJW" stuff so it's totally believable they'd get banned from a website for hate speech or something? Maybe Digby did a big homophobia twice?

[@RokuroCarisu]

A Nasty Plot indeed!

[@josiahdean-ware1994]

I'm so angry that this is called "dive cat" when it clearly should've been called cat fishing

[@melodasbaka6629]

😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@RobotFlower2763]

I hate how the revival cats strat isn't called "9 Lives"

[@sexygirlmax2019]

AUGHHHHHHHHH 😔

[@nerdbrain396]

I'm still mad about how they nerfed dark void. They made it so no one but darkrai can use it but also nerfed the accuracy. But darkrai has pretty much NEVER been allowed in vgc tournaments. So all this really did was make darkrai in singles ubers incredibly pathetic and use hypnosis instead of his signature move

[@BoomarangComet]

I think it should of got the accuracy lowered OR only usable by Darkrai. I also don't believe it should of gottten both nerfs.

[@andreaseverin1346]

I think it should have 80% accuracy on single target and 50% on double

[@dbzfanexwarbrady]

classic knee jerk reaction

[@TheOnlyGBeast]

I just don't understand why they don't add a sleep clause if they're worried about sleep. They already have an item clause

[@sqfzerzefsdf]

@Roméo Figueroa 50% accurate but darkrai increases the accuracy Easy fix

[@GlitchxCity]

I'm starting to think that Game Feak has a vendetta against cat Pokemon

[@federicosavorani6320]

Hey, do you know about this obscure cat pokémon named Invcineroar?

[@MrSponge56]

Idk the many meowth varieties would disagree with that statement dunsparce hasn’t gotten anything at all yet the cat gets multiple forms

[@mothichorror446]

@@MrSponge56 tbf though dunsparce is dunsparce

[@sirlambchops.]

Ah yes, my favorite game studio, Game Feak

[@poyyo1784]

I fear for the future of sprigatito

[@ForestCal]

the liepard and houndoom combo was so cool, it truly seems like the real life equivalent of ingo and emmet

[@SaltyShale]

Bruh, I read "Ingo and Emmet" and deadass went "Oh shit, do you mean Inigo (Fire Emblem)?"

[@chopperbrosadvance9760]

Isn't this said in the video?

[@FaraazQmehrTheLastHope]

who is ingo & emmet?

[@kimberlyscout]

When Liepard is my favorite Pokémon and Ingo and Emmet being my favorite Pokémon characters.

[@valdavies5071]

@@AxiBoy_ 1. A Warden in PL:A and 2. The Battle Subway leaders.

[@Patterrz]

If Purrloin with Dive breaks the game then we're lucky that cats hate water, or they'd take over the world

[@herbsimp5237]

Please help cats have taken me hostage this is not a joke send help please

[@Sid37612]

@@herbsimp5237 Too late. This message was intercepted by Team Meow.

[@RealNitetales]

How do we know they haven’t?

[@theclot4487]

My cat doesn't hate water... Is he gonna kill my family when I'm sleeping??

[@jameskelly-smith1279]

There are some cats that do not hate water. One almost went extinct. I do not think cats would take over the world if they liked water, but would be worse.

[@lemonadogirl4082]

Don't forget the singles version, RoarCats. Since hazards see a lot more use in Singles due to the greater frequency of switching, getting Roar in a positive priority state was _insanely_ busted, as you could just rake your opponent's entire team over stealth rocks and spikes while they were rendered entirely unable to act as being forcibly switched _entirely cancels your turn_ if you had not yet moved, this being the reason Roar and related moves are negative priority to begin with.

[@juanjotur114]

Damm that dirty and broken.

[@BoopaKing]

The more common variety of this gimmick would be Copycat Riolu, who could copycat its own roar so the rest of your pokemon could have actual movesets.

[@BigBoct]

@@BoopaKing I remember seeing a battle replay from someone using Copyroar Riolu years ago. There would be a broken DS in my house if I was on the receiving end of that.

[@cutekittenlady]

I dont play competitive pokemon, but its still a lot of fun to hear about all the little tricks and strategies people have come up with over the years.

[@jblen]

I love hearing about strats like this. it's so cool how people come up with this, assist with prankster makes sense, but then to go for an invulnerability move and use lagging tail is genius.

[@dboi1656]

I never would have put it together myself, but as soon as I heard him say "Full Incense" I knew 100% what was happening

[@raccoonchild]

Purification in process...

[@techstuff9198]

@@raccoonchild The only thing I truly understand about that game is that it's a crapsack world and this batter guys sends existence for a homerun and that it never makes it back to first base. Also sugar, oh the sugar...

[@patrickrobertshaw7020]

@@dboi1656 I knew what was happening as soon as he mentioned dive. I didn't actually know full incense existed though and assumed they were just using speed min IVs. Two stage moves have always had wonky interactions with speed ties or speed changing between stage one and stage two of the move. Speed ties being an absolute RNGfest

[@francogaray3273]

I'm still proud of getting to top 200 in doubles with an Arcanine with "Burn out" Even at high leveles there was people who never saw that move.

[@lthefifteenth661]

As soon as you mentioned the Lagging Tail, it immediately clicked and I thought "Oh God, this is scary"

[@stephanieowusu-ansah4894]

Fishious Rend would be extremely broken for the sheer fact that it's second effect doubles the damage if you move first

[@thewildwolfbg1260]

What are you even talking about

[@cetitanenthusiast776]

@@thewildwolfbg1260 I think they're talking about using Prankster + Assist to use Fishious Rend with +1 priority.

[@emjay604]

That explains how Dracofish always messed up my mons

[@EnriqueLaberintico]

Hmm, Choice Band to fix the lack of STAB and we're golden. I kinda want to make an AG team of Choice Band Liepard, Choice Scarf Dracovish and White Herb Victini now.

[@leila13dnd]

You might be onto something there, I should suggest this to one of my favorite PokeTubers.

[@theangledsaxon6765]

Damn, I’m hyped that I’ve seen enough competitive Pokémon to see the strat emerge with the reveal of dive. I immediately thought “if only there was a way to guarantee that the dive moved second on the other turn…” and ofc there is, in the form of atrocious items I never knew existed

[@lemguins7031]

Could pull in the rng factor and pack fly, dig and shadow force too.

[@timmyreobed5043]

Prankster Assist is such a devastating combo that they would make Purrloin and Liepard borderline unkillable in gen 9 while taking advantage of Revival Blessing.

[@harsh3948]

Yeah, that strategy was called Revive Cats, look it up

[@Qaos]

Strategies like these are always so interesting to me. A simple concept that's extremely easy to counter, 'n' yet is completely unbeatable if you're unprepared.

[@Stratelier]

And I imagine it could have been avoided entirely with one simple tweak to Assist: Whatever move is called gets queued in its usual priority bracket. Comparable to how Focus Punch initially triggers at high priority only as a warning, while the actual _strike_ executes at negative priority (so that other moves can interrupt it).

[@techstuff9198]

@@Stratelier So that's why that move is garbage.

[@sillerbarly4927]

No one would expect dive cat's or void cats

[@Qaos]

@@sillerbarly4927 Exactly. That's why I love shit like this. It started most prominently with FEAR, 'n' it will continue until the end o' creativity. An endless cycle o' new inventive strategies 'n' a rush to counter 'em, truly beautiful to observe.

[@handgun559]

Which, while a fun strategy as a player, almost immediately means the game designers messed up. Like, a strategy game shouldn't have a random element where you lose upon entry to the match because you happened to pick the wrong team. And there are still plenty of teams like this, mainly in single battles. Like, you have a team set up you want to run. It's got coverage. It's competent. You know how to play it. But, oops. Because you can't counter literally everything, this particular hypothetical team will ALWAYS lose against trick room, or weather teams, or that stupid fucking Justified gimmick (which really fucking sucks because it requires you to predict their start up and counter it turn one, but WHOOPS, they might not be running justified that game). There will always be at least one strategy that can gimmick you no matter what team you pick. And thatssssssssss... Kinda dumb tbh but I still play em. Tho, It's why pro sports and especially card games make you play multiple sets or games where you can change comp or adjust strategy in between. In casual it's just fucking miserable.

[@ctnc6059]

Purrloin was terrifying in every type of battle, each in more horrifying ways than the last. Doubles and Multi were covered in this video, but Singles had Swag Play. Saying that Swagger/Thunder Wave/Substitute/Foul Play is evil would be a massive understatement.

[@PrismaAce]

singles also had assist cheese

[@blu3jaguar874]

Single has assist banned because of Prankster Roar with hazards

[@No_Sleepee]

Is *that* why Generation 7 outright banned Swagger?

[@ctnc6059]

@@No_Sleepee Not in Doubles. Swagger and Confusion were nerfed in Gen 7. I think it was banned in Doubles because of using it on your allies with Misty Terrain. Edit: I'm not entirely sure, so please correct me if I'm wrong.

[@No_Sleepee]

@@ctnc6059 No, if you go into the Gen 7 formats on Showdown *right now* you will see that Swagger is banned unless it's AG

[@theknightlightfilm]

Wolfe I was so confused when you said you were playing competitive for over a decade - then I realized 2011 was 11 years ago. Thanks for the shock and horror on this fine day. Glad to have watched you for so long! EDIT: I got the number of years wrong because I’m dumb sorry lmao

[@ssr8555]

It’s not 2023 yet

[@FFKonoko]

Clearly still confused then, about the 11 years.

[@theknightlightfilm]

@@ssr8555 I’m stupid aight

[@lordfelidae4505]

Now it's 13 years ago.

[@---mr5iu]

Surf bypasses the semi-invulnerable turn of Dive and deals double damage to boot. Surf is also way more common in doubles for its spread damage compared to the overall dominance of Scald and Hydro Pump in singles. I think there's a high chance you'd run into it using this team, which really hurts its consistency.

[@bluemew22]

Fly also lacks an immune counter, so Flycat and Divecat in the same team would make it unpredictable and thus only counterable with raw luck

[@jjt171]

@@bluemew22 fly is countered by thunder, gravity, smack down (I believe)

[@bluemew22]

thing nothing is immune to the flying type attack though. Dig at would be blocked by a simple flying type existing

[@ArthurLocatelli]

@@jjt171 and twister

[@winterFox2r]

@@jjt171 ​ Hurricane too. Dive gets washed out by Surf and Whirlpool. Dig gets cracked by Earthquake, Fissure, and Magnitude. Fly, Sky Drop, and Bounce is blown away by Hurricane, Gust, Thunder, Twister, Smack Down, Sky Uppercut, and Thousand Arrows. The only semi-invulnerable move that had no actual move counter is the Phantom and Shadow Force. No Guard would bypass all of this… I think. Same with Poison-Type use of a Poison Status move?

[@SigmaAirplaneBalls]

Liepard and Houndoom are probably my favorite pokemon, warms my heart to see them obliterate opponents

[@Yeedede]

There’s also an even more gimmicky version in singles with roar over dive, all it needed was one form of permanent passive damage and it could just win

[@nousername191]

Riolu was doing that with Copycat, right?

[@Denomigator]

Unfortunately they also made that uncallable in gen 6, so it's another strat that only works up to gen 5.

[@Yeedede]

Copycat can actually pull both strategies, and you don’t need to restrict your whole team to do it, just need one thing with it that’ll guaranteed die turn one then hit the funny button and go wild

[@Denomigator]

@@Yeedede Yeah, unfortunately they also changed that. My Riolu found that out the hard way in Gen 6 :(

[@xXIxidor92Xx]

I dealt with that once on showdown back in the day. It was infuriating

[@danielwalsh94]

Hey Wolfey, just wanted to let you know that I’m really digging the new, late 2010 era game-theory video-style you’ve been working with recently

[@omgbunnyy]

Still the game theory style innit?

[@snakey1315]

What is your opinion on upsidedown pineapple cake

[@nekosedey]

hard agree, this slaps. the animations make me laugh every time

[@osaru7506]

i definitely agree

[@shamussarrazine6623]

@@omgbunnyy It is, but better at this point. MatPat's Theory content isn't as good as GTLive or his old theory content imo. Plus Wolfey's background is more appealing than plain white

[@CyanicCore]

I only really figured out what Assist did a year ago, and thought "there has to be a crazy was to use this'... Well, Divecats certainly went beyond my expectation! It's also good to know about the nerfs that developed. While they do their job, where else is a change so specific than those made for Assist and Dark Void?

[@nautilus2612]

There was really no need to reduce dark void's precision so much. They completely destroyed it

[@CyanicCore]

@@nautilus2612 I didn't even notice it's disappearance until watching this video (I've been playing ORAS). While the change severely limits Dark Void's utility... it WAS a signature move for a reason.

[@nautilus2612]

@@CyanicCore removing dark void from Smeargle's movepool was probably a good decision, but there was no need to nerf the move itself because it's not broken when Darkrai uses it. It's only a problem when combined with Smeargle's infinite movepool and Moody ability

[@CyanicCore]

@@nautilus2612 Agreed

[@aguyontheinternet8436]

The one game you would never expect to have a dive strategy

[@noremac7216]

I remember watching WeedleTwinneedle do this with a prankster Riolu in singles. They lead with a sturdy Skarmory and used fly, then used copycat to use fly. It was pretty hilarious

[@robertprice2294]

This reminds me of the Normalium Z Nature Power Whimsicott team that saw some play in Gen 7. Nature Power was considered a status move that got priority improved by prankster, and had the typing of whatever terrain you used, with misty terrain it was moonblast, with grassy terrain energy ball, and thunderbolt with lightning terrain. Normalium Z allowed you to access powerful Z moves in three different typings at priority, making the whimsicott able to 100% pokemon like garchomp or tapu fini.

[@Rot8erConeX]

But then it was also the gen that made it so Dark types are immune to Prankster-boosted moves, allowing the *insane* play to send in a Dark type to a correctly-predicted Fairy Z-Move, because that move was Prankster-boosted.

[@stan_1999]

I really love how the video is structured. The picture of the crazy combo gets slowly revealed to us and once you get it you're like "oh dear. I see".

[@leavemealone8534]

A similar thing is very rarely used in singles. You get a sturdy Pokémon, like that turtle from gen 5, and it’s level 1. Then you give it a sticky barb. It uses dive turn 1, and it the opponent hits you down to sturdy, you die from barb after you use dive. Then you use riolu with the same item and copycat. Very niche but it’s a similar idea.

[@michaelhardin4133]

“Dive Dog”?

[@Skeloperch]

@@michaelhardin4133 Yes, but it also particularly likes to fly. Skarmory is often used alongside Tirtouga. Same idea - Sturdy, Sticky Barb, Fly. That way if you think your opponent is packing Surf or a something like Dry Skin, you can just have your dog fly instead.

[@youtubewatcher6124]

I don't get it

[@animeaddict2202]

@@youtubewatcher6124 It's to get Riolu who has the prankster ability to be able to use Dive, killing off the Pokemon that knows dive quickly and safely switching in Riolu immediately after, then with prankster ability able to learn and keep using Dive as per the Dive-cats strat

[@byeguyssry]

I was confused for a while since I thought Copycat would attempt to call Copycat, but apparently that was only in Gen 4

[@IsaacComelli]

A few thoughts from this video: - This is a fantastic description of a wildly hilarious problem. - I really enjoyed being called a "beloved viewer" - I loved the Exodia reference

[@stellarknight04]

You must be new here

[@akiradkcn]

@@stellarknight04 elaborate

[@stellarknight04]

@@akiradkcn what the fuck does that mean? Just watch his other videos.

[@akiradkcn]

@@stellarknight04 no, I'm asking YOU to elaborate, you don't need to but I wont see 10+ vids just for a single joke

[@stellarknight04]

@@akiradkcn Well, everything OC listed in this comment is in his other videos with insane amount of editing but the Exodia reference is not used as often but it's there. Highly recommend watching his other vids.

[@somnaire3418]

Always love the cat pokemon for their tricky uses and adorable natures, like real cats. haha

[@aaronstreet1054]

After watching this it makes me think: did the developers know about these exploits? Saying to themselves ‘I wonder if the gamers will figure THIS out!’ Or did they just set parameters they thought would work, and the gamers found game breaking mistakes the developers made? I’ll accept either answer, it certainly is very interesting! 👍🏻👍🏻 great video!

[@King_Minos64]

Probably the later. Making games is a maddening task often times that includes guessing and praying the the machine gods that one’s code works. In the sea of code and programmer tears, they likely didnt realize this combination.

[@jayde4872]

@@King_Minos64 I’m learning programming. I already see what you mean.

[@jayde4872]

Game freak doesn’t even have time to program trees, let alone find game breaking setups buried in a world of random move/item/ability/Pokémon stat combinations.

[@jstarstudios7110]

Fucking HATE that strategies for an underdog Pokémon to win get called "mistakes". There's fuck-all wrong with it

[@NightmareZerogbs]

I don't think they saw this one coming, it's SUPER specific, I struggle to even think how would someone come up with this.

[@Vassilinia]

The moment he brought up Prankster I knew what change he was talking about. It's nice to know the story of what brought about this change though, thanks for the vid Wolfey.

[@soulofsomething6651]

Generation 5 has a huge place in my heart, it's the generation where I started my journey

[@karlotty]

I started at Hoenn but my home will always be Unova. ✨

[@Zwijger]

I technically started with 4, but 5 is where I really got into pokemon. I also played the game blind, so all pokemon but the legendaries were a surprise, which really adds to the wonder of exploring a region.

[@Bladius_]

Gen5 is a complete mess between these cheese strats, weather wars and blatant power creep... and I wouldn't have it any other way, it's by far the most fun gen for me too. It's by far my most played generation when it comes to competitive. Also BW2 is a top 2 pokemon game, and people need to put some respect on it. (for reference, I started in gen 1 in 1999, with Pokemon red and HGSS is probably my number 1)

[@SnarkyShane]

I'm sure it's already been said a million times, but just wanted to say congrats on the top 8 in regionals. Been great being able to watch the live competitions again and can't wait to see what you and your Aarons bring to the table for worlds!

[@kirenn1000]

Wasn't he top 4 actually?

[@seacaptainminto7169]

Purrloin is one of my favorites so I'm glad it got this spotlight

[@kimberlyscout]

Yes, same!!!!

[@kitgodsey]

I havent been into competitive since gen 6 but one of my favorite things was seeing the crazy combos people made. This one really shines xD

[@Oramni27]

1:26 "You wouldn't ever do this" You underestimate the smoothness of my brain

[@TheTexasDice]

There was another version of Voidcats during VGC 2016. You'd use Liepard with a wide lens and bring mega Mewtwo X and/or Mega Lucario to one-hit kill all the sleeping enemies with Focus Punch. (Liepard, Lucario, Mewtwo, Smeargle, Ditto and one more, I forgot). The team had some absolute bollocks tech, like putting "Me first" on Mewtwo to prevent safeguard, Quick Guard to prevent prankster+taunt and my absolute favorite: Feint to break wide guard. All of these incredibly specific moves were unassist'able so they worked. The team never made it out of battlespot, but it was probably the only way to run mewtwo at all. You even had unnerve, if you got the shiny event mewtwo.

[@HavenKhaos]

Hey Wolfey, I think a good topic would be why Doubles remains the standard of Pokemon competitive and how things would change if it was triples.

[@drakephysecron6775]

Is there a video of him discussing rotation battles? I think its quite a cool concept but i dont knjow about practicality.

[@gogobebe8460]

I would definitely love to see this

[@ehit9620]

Back in Gen 5, I think you could have countered the strategy with surf and have a water absorb or storm drain pokemon in the other slot, or just take the hit. You'd be able to get two surfs off before the cats can do damage to you.

[@beenjamminbunny9977]

Seriously, I don't think this strat would have ever taken off competitively. Surf is one of the best and most common moves in the game

[@demi-femme4821]

The problem is that Thundurus exists.

[@SatoriKenshou]

I love hearing about these stories, didn't expect Purrloin to be that much of a menace.

[@Luxiah]

This was actually the most entertaining video I've watched in weeks. I love hearing about weird strats.

[@m0ns510]

If I'm not mistaken, a similar strat could still be used in singles, but with riolu. If you have a pokemon with dive/fly/dig, you go for it and let your pokemon die before the move ends (like with sticky barb), then you can go into a lagging tail riolu and use prankster-boosted copycat. It has loads of problems, but it definitely can work!

[@cooolth3547]

Yes The Garbodors made a video on this a couple of years ago something among the lines of “beating 6 primal groudons with 2 Pokémon”

[@tenaxity]

@@cooolth3547 same with temp6t lmao

[@martinevans8984]

There is also a strategy employing Roar/Whirlwind that you could use with either Copycat Riolu or Assist Liepard that you can use in singles.

[@filodipicori]

Prankster CopyCat Circle Throw. Infuriating to play against if you didn't have your counters.

[@bensoncheung2801]

69 👍

[@ItaiPatai]

4:02 when you said dive my mind was immediately: "dive makes a pokemon immune to all attacks until it hits the next turn. Prankster makes it hit first so you won't take damage that turn and because the priority just makes the pokemon use the move first, but the attack after the use is determined by the pokemon speed it will hit last. Not dig cause flying is Immune to ground. That ecentelly makes you hit and is immune to all attacks" I did not heard what he would said but that's my prediction

[@vez3834]

You are the side character in an anime explaining exactly what the main character just explained.

[@ItaiPatai]

@@vez3834 yeah, you're pretty much right

[@marcossimian9583]

While it is a bit more luck-based, I personally enjoy using "Assist" to call upon "Beat-Up" while holding the "Kings-Rock" item. Since "Beat-Up" offers Purrloin and Liepard "STAB" while also a +1 priority, more often than not, this will result in flinching the opponent. The probability to prevent the enemy from moving could be increased all the more with paralysis, confusion, or simply "Encore"/"Taunt". But even with just one Purrloin or Liepard using "Beat-Up + Kings-Rock", you have a 56% chance of flinching the target. In a double-battle, if both members of your team use "Beat-Up + Kings-Rock" on the same target, then the probability that the opponent won't flinch is an abysmal 28%. In other words, the probability the opponent gets to move is less likely than hitting with "Fissure"! This is obviously not a guaranteed strategy, but it is very entertaining one watch the opponent get helplessly beat-up by your entire party repeatedly without being able to attack back. When "RNG" favors you, this strategy can wipe-out entire parties without using anything other than Purrloin or Liepard; even when the opponent uses types that are resistant to "Dark".

[@GeorgeDCowley]

Why do you list moves "Like-This"?

[@Grievance87]

@@GeorgeDCowley Because it gives a great sense of "pleasure"

[@retroreset8140]

Love these as always, such an amazing professional explaining things that I never knew, and this stuff helps me learn old and new stuff about Competitive Pokémon that makes me want to learn even more to participate in a big event one day

[@deth2munkies]

My favorite interaction with Liepard in the current gen is one that was used around the beginning of Gen 8 over a year ago: using Copycat to get priority Trick Room. With Dynamax, Trick Room turns into Max Guard, but Copycat still sees Trick Room, so you max your Trick Room user, Max Guard, then get a priority Trick Room set up . It's a nice way to work around Taunt, but it usually suboptimal, which doesn't mean it's not fun!

[@ecstaticbutter9164]

This video idea was AWESOME. I was entertained from start to finish! Please please please upload more videos like this! 😃

[@yvvy7916]

And now revivecats got natdex AG thanos snapped. History truly repeats itself

[@Sean081799]

This was actually crazy to watch, nice job.

[@renxiemsgaming96]

I love when strategies become so broken, that decs have to intervene

[@youcantkeeprunninginandout7240]

Therapist: "Terrakiuckle isn't real, he can't hurt you" Terrakiuckle:

[@justyourfriendlyneighborho903]

Damn I was so confused when I saw Wolfey talking about Purrloin, I thought this was another one of Freezai's little cup videos for a second

[@Ehtis1]

I honestly expected the move to be Roar/Whirlwind in combination with hazards, which I'm pretty sure was a strategy used with Riolu when using Copycat back in the day

[@jamiewilliams5309]

Abusing this in Battlespot Singles and Spore from Amoongus with Sub, Nasty Plot and Dank Pulse with finally leftovers for the cherry on top is just hilarious

[@E1337N3SS]

it was actually pretty brutal in smogon singles as well. There are a couple of mons that could actually run half way decent move sets of all moves that couldn't be called by assist, so the goal wasn't so much for Liepard to kill 6 mons as it was for Liepard to chunk enough of your opponent's team that you're playing a 5v4 or 5v3, assuming they's eventually find some way to kill it. Pretty sure I remember Shadow Force being the move of choice as opposed tor dive in that particular context.

[@lisanguyen673]

this is the best editing i've ever seen for a pokemon video. nice job!

[@pkminpkmon]

I would LOVE more videos like this, covering competitive Pokemon history and weird strategys

[@Sojorlos]

Also: twister and gust can hit a pokemon flying, surf and mudy water to a pokemon diving and earthquake and magnitude tod a pokemon digging. That's why this strategy used dive and fly. Some players used to bring surf instead of hydro pump for this role strategy.

[@ADiretoria100]

When every just clicks together you realize how fucking EVIL this strategy is holy shit, it's even worse than FEAR

[@andreabianchi4078]

The Shuckl-ion is a beast that will probably hunt my weak mind forever.

[@billyhatfield7049]

I love these hilarious and specific gimmicks. Been really loving the type of videos you've put out!

[@Drowzee64]

Liked and subscribed because that edit of Liepard swimming in the ocean made for the BEST dumb laugh.

[@zacharytaylor5584]

Loved the JoJos music/hats for multibattles. Informative competitive strategies and helpful ways to actually use Pokemon is getting me to sub. Much love

[@Llamallord27]

still giggling at swiping left on two pranksters, then conspicuously not swiping purrloin :^)

[@Zwijger]

I did not predict it, but as soon as you said it I was like "oooooooooooh", abusing the difference in priority between the first and second part of the attack is indeed sick.

[@Hammerhead0276]

Doug Dimmadome, owner of the Dimmsdale Dimmadome is my favorite Jojo character personally. Also also, have to say, Dive cats feels like one of those gimmicks that could've shifted a whole meta for a year had it been discovered sooner. Great vid! Learned a lot :)

[@Viperio_19]

Time to take down the video because it uses my footage. Jk, cool video and it’s an honour for my footage to be used for something like this!

[@joaqpalma9830]

OMG IS THAT THE FAMOUS KZbinR VIPERIO

[@MarioCVebber]

THE Viperio?? Big fan

[@gustavolopes7374]

Omg the real viperio from the channel viperio

[@nottadoc1704]

It's an honor to be in the presence of THE viperio

[@WordOfTheDayIsYay]

no way its viperio your channel is so cool we should make pokemon videos on the internet sometime

[@Nate.mp4]

With how incredible this topic is, the best part of the video is the storytelling

[@MrMitchbow]

This is the closest I’ve seen to a Wolf and Weedle collab

[@Kimihro]

This video was fantastic! I love hearing about all the little weird things that happens in competitive gaming fields.

[@trevorkroon2163]

I was fully expecting a Stealth Rocks/Focus Sash Foretress, followed by a Roar/Whirlwind team. This would keep your item slot on the cats open for something like leftovers for that bit of extra bulk, safety goggles (did those exist in gen 5?) to prevent weather damage, leppa berry for more pp, or a choice scarf to potentially beat out any other priority moves like quick attack.

[@fizzlock]

Safety goggles weren't till gen 8, iirc

[@pixiel1xie]

@@fizzlock gen 6, at least. I used goggles on my stupid sturdy shedinja team lol

[@fizzlock]

@@pixiel1xie Ahhhhh, I'm thinking Boots, but I'm 95% certain the goggles weren't in gen 5 at least lol

[@wolferwolf14]

The problem with this is that, as explained in the video, Prankster only raises the Priority of a move by 1, resulting in moves like Roar/Whirlwind (Priority -6) to still go last in almost any scenario.

[@Bladius_]

@@wolferwolf14 Riolu can do it. You set up Rock/spikes with foretress or Skarmory, until they drop. Riolu comes in and roars at -5, takes a hit on his sash, then spams copycat. Prankster looks at the Copycat, not the move called by it so you get a +1 prio Roar. This was a fairly popular strat back in Gen5, I saw it and used it for fun quite a lot.

[@padeshaies]

these kind of stories are so interesting! We definitely want more of those! Thank Wolfey!

[@kameib]

Man you put so much effort gathering the information, footage, sprites and editing. On top of that, you are a pokemon legend! So much respect.

[@Dragodilian]

I really enjoyed this format of video. It was very informative, and also your squished photoshopped face in a Doug Dimmadome hat was icing on top of the cake.

[@smallfuzzypeach]

Big applause for the gorgeous beach side silhouette of our kitties. Also - bring back the Wolfey on web cam while he talks to us! We miss seeing your face!

[@thehopefulgamer1075]

I double checked my subscription status at your request wolfey lol. I am still subscribed. enjoyed the video as well 😁

[@SaskiaSketches]

Wolfe’s scripted content is so freaking good, I love watching these, they always have me hooked!

[@Asherbird25]

The second i saw this i though "bc assist" but then remembered others like skitty had it too Then I remembered it had Prankster

[@c-puff]

Man I haven't checked in in a while and this editing is insane!! Really enjoying how this video is looking! This format is great :D

[@dantec4458]

1:33 ah yes my favorite strategy, helping hand into protect.

[@pmShane302]

Damn what a strat, great video man. I could just imagine the opponents face when they had these strat's happen to them.

[@averytubestudios]

Loving The Great Ace Attorney music in the background. I've never heard of this strategy! It's seems annoying to play around, but seems fun to use.

[@skeetermania3202]

Do you know all the music playing in the background?

[@averytubestudios]

@@skeetermania3202 Not every track, but most of them.

[@CoolyCools]

Almost forgot about trying that game out, but i want to keep my gta san andreas on my phone. Should i delete it?

[@averytubestudios]

@@CoolyCools I'd say get it on consoles, but if you must get it on mobile, I'd say it's worth getting.

[@Zeldrake]

I'd hardly call it fun to use, you just use Assist every turn

[@maiselph7456]

"like a dog who happily devours the last piece of a puzzle, preventing its completion forever" Okay, I had to subscribe after that line

[@MofoMan2000]

5:44 "With an item that makes a Pokémon move last in their priority bracket, we now have all the pieces to understand the strategy known as 'Dive Cats'. Let's put it all together. Oh, before we do that, we should talk about..." PARALLEL UNIVERSES

[@Musicon14]

Fun little stories like this are always entertaining. I never knew something like this happened and I wonder how many other events like this occurred.

[@Ayunnuya]

That was amazing! I thought the cats would use trick room, but of all things Dive? It absolutely makes sense when you break it down. Great vid!

[@spartaleonidas7132]

Trick room has a pr of -5. A priority of -4 probably wouldn't matter.

[@eddykidplayzyt]

9:26 god I love this channel

[@klunkefaderen8189]

Man. After all these months with you providing all this pokémon content without even realized I was subbed. I don't even play pokémon at all, I just find it really entertaining. Keep up the good work! Definitely worth a sub

[@williamhagood]

Hey Wolfey, so glad I subbed a while back. I'm loving your content! You break things down logically piece by piece in a digestible way. Keep it up and stay healthy!

[@ConcaCon]

I wonder how useful this would be in Nuzlockes, especially versus water-weak gyms.

[@dinocharlie1]

I'm afraid it would probably be impossible to set up because you would have to find purloin, find a pokemon with dive, have it learn only other moves that can't be copied and have 4 other pokemon with no copy-able moves. But after all that, if it was successfully pulled off it would be so satisfying (assuming you don't get this far and run out of pp 😬)

[@ConcaCon]

@@dinocharlie1 Fair points. I will try it out in a Gen 5 run just for kicks, see what the results are.

[@fluwelogging8352]

Pretty cool to see some Competitive Pokemon history, especially with the more obscure strategies!

[@englorious]

The editing in this video was absolutely on point! DIOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

[@Neville133]

Paused the video to guess a OHKO move.

[@EnriqueLaberintico]

1:52 love how my boy just shakes.

[@phinnbagnall4311]

In OU there was the same thing but stealth rocks would be set up and Liepard would use Assist to get priority Roar

[@XenithShadow]

That was in NU, liepard was in NU in gen 5. Sure it may have been used in OU, but it was alot more effective in NU where there was significantly less counters.

[@Bladius_]

@@XenithShadow Liepard was NU by usage, sure, but it was playable in any tier because it was usually "scamming" you anyway; so the opponent didn't matter unless they had to exact counter to your strat. It's kinda like how Quagsire is NU by usage, but can rumble in Ubers because what he does is pretty unique. Gen5 is my most played generation and Liepard doing this or Swagplaying were everywhere, even in OU. I played it a bunch myself too.

[@Verde4755]

@@XenithShadow nah, it was OU, you can even check it out, they banned the strat altogether now

[@choatixtherobot]

I was expecting the move to be called was Whirlwind or something like that without its negative priority, and I'm pretty sure they changed it in Gen 6 or 7 with Riolu & Me First strategies which follow a similar issue!

[@Quite_Quiet]

This was a thing in singles. Assist Roar or Assist Whirlwind for +1 priority phasing. Your only issue was getting hazards on the field (they are callable by Assist so you needed Copycat/Ditto and your opponent for this).

[@XenithShadow]

@@Quite_Quiet If i remember correctly whirlwind cat ran xatu to bounce back the opponents own entry hazards, then began whirlwinding them.

[@Bladius_]

@@Quite_Quiet Copycat Roar Riolu was a little better if I remember. Set hazards with Skarm turn 1-2, bring in Riolu, eat a hit on his sash and roar, proceed to press copycat 32 times and hope they don't have extremespeed.

[@itsyaboychipsahoy.7989]

@@Bladius_ Or protect, since ANY move faster than copycat will stop it from using roar

[@eldritch_whispers1654]

Me, as soon as you said dive, realizing what was about to happen: oh no. oooooooh noo

[@MerryMarvelite]

I audibly chuckled at "But in VGC, Dark Void is Smeargle's signature move."

[@joaqpalma9830]

God damn one of my favourite youtubers showed footage of my friend and also great content creator. GG viperio you have clout now

[@WordOfTheDayIsYay]

no way its THE jpalma (also viperios channel is very cool and no i am not biased)

[@TheOnlyGBeast]

well put together video, my thoughts on this is that this kinda seems like it's just a cheese strategy that once you see it once, you'll never fall for it again. I find it hard to believe that any serious team would have trouble with this after the first tournament or two that it popped up since thundurus and, to a lesser extent, tornadus were so prevalent in gen5