@@convalaria with stab and a crit, that would go from effectively a 120 base power move to a 360 base power one, and it would be a 1.25% chance Edit: Just realized I made an error, with crit it would only be 180 base power
I once made an incredibly stupid paraflinch Meloetta set that was using Thunder Wave, Rest, and Snore of all things. But bullcrap RNG is so stupidly broken that it was unironically ridiculously strong to the point where i shelved it as it was intended to be an unviable joke.
Oranguru could make a good addition to the team... Once Hydrapple is set up, bring out Oranguru to use "Instruct" so that "Fickle Beam" goes off twice in the same turn. I guess this would make the team a bit more jankey, but funny as hell when it goes off.
From what I researched “additional effect” technically refers to moves that can cause stat changes, status effects, and flinching. Boosting damage doesn’t fall into any of those categories, so it makes sense why it doesn’t work. Although, I can’t think of another move that acts like Fickle beam, so maybe additional effect only referred to stat changes, status effects, and flinching, because those were the only additional effects that existed until now. I’m holding out hope that fickle beam and serene grace’s current interaction is just a bug.
You know what else you could try? Have a Fire Starter with U-turn and Fire Pledge, a Water Starter with Flip Turn and Water Pledge, get the rainbow effect set up, then bounce out to Hydrapple. I think Cinderace and Greninja are the fastest ones to make this work, but we _could_ keep a draconic/reptilian theme and use Charizard and Feraligatr. Bulbapedia says the rainbow effect and Serene Grace effects stack, so because it's a different effect from Serene Grace, then maybe Fickle Beam will still work with the Rainbow Effect?
I want to see either a sharpness or technician boosted Tachyon Cutter be viable with a Steely Spirit Perrserker next to it! I play a lot of Shared Power and making teams that center around making Tachyon Cutter as strong as possible has been my favorite strat because of how buffable it is as an attack. Would love to see how close we can get in game!
You can actually replace quark drive/protosynthesis since the indigo disk DLC came out. You can't give other Pokémon quark drive/protosynthesis so skill swap still fails but entrainment works...
@@foofootooeh, Steely Spirit buffs the owner of the ability and it's allies, so swapping abilities is thankfully, optional there. Could actually be worth trying out, honestly, could be fun, and rage inducing for opponents
It's such a shame serene grace doesn't effect fickle beam. Ignoring the double supersweet syrup sing nonsense, going sticky hold on Hydrapple and using a skill swap with serene grace Chansey so her eviolite cannot be knocked off would have been another fun combo.
There are certain scenarios that exist where the % chance never changes. For example, Thunder under harsh sunlight is always 50%, no matter what. Doesn't matter if you increase your accuracy or not. (It's "set to" as opposed to "reduced to.") So Fickle Beam's 30% being fixed no matter what is just another example. Also shows the developers were aware that people would try things like putting Serene Grace onto Hydrapple.
Setting up rain is optional (pelipper u-turn hydrapple protect first round) but reduces fire damage while buffing golducks speed and water moves golduck simple beam + hydrapple nasty plot/dragon cheer... +4 special attack or +2 crit hit ratio swift swim golduck has focus sash and uses psyche up on hydrapple
Commenting before seeing it fully: Um I had the same idea the moment I heard of the move. But then realised it probably doesn't work cuz serene grace boosts the secondary effects of moves. Fickle beam going twice isn't a secondary effect but a move mechanic itself. Dunno if it works
I didn't specifically test that pledge effect but would assume it doesn't work since it is similar to serene grace. Another extremely cool combo that was dead on arrival
The easy way to remember it is that Serene Grace doubles the chance of applying the secondary effect on the enemy. - Fickle beam effectively works the other way around. It applies onto yourself or just the move. Thus why it didn't work. However Stat adding to the original move works. Example. Adaptability does indeed give you the extra 50% of damage to make the original 80→160 instead of 120. But with a held item like dragon claw. It's 80→160→192 and if fickle beam activates it jumps to 384. Issue is you can get the same results with just Tera Dragon. A friend guard Clefairy and some fun redirection can help Hydraple clean a team.
@@gregariosity so you're telling me you told me it doesn't work like ,doubling the chance of applying the secondary effect... But it doubles the chance of applying the secondary effect? I respect you man. You probably read it wrong or misunderstood something...but you ignored the part where I explained what Serene Grace does.
Imagine combining this with the Pledge Rainbow? Combining Fire Pledge and Water Pledge will add a Serene Grace effect to all your pokemon for a few turns, and it stacks with the ability.
You know what would be hilarious? Flame body coalossal with Scorching Sands and Scald. Chansey gets flame body and coallosal has 60% chance to burn with coverage 😂
I can't believe how lucky I was after evolving my Hydrapple. My first three Fickle Beams are all out attacks, and I didn't understand how the move works at the time. RIP to that one trainer at the Polar Biome whom I destroyed with my golden dragon apple. 😂
Seems like I was right on this... Looks like it wasn't just me when I tested Fickle Beam & Serene Grace Kind of sad gamefreak didnt implement the double chance of activation for F Beam :(
Yeah a near always 160 base move with no downside game freak probably saw people were going to try that and made it so that move can't be effected by Serene Grace
I see next gen having a fairy dragon type with access to serene grace and fickle beam. Gamefreak switches how moves and abilities like Protean this gen so who knows this could be a future nightmare
I was kinda hoping that with Archaludon, Eviolite Duralodon would be a thing. But with Archaludon getting access to Stamina and Duralodon still having two mostly useless abilities, there doesn't seem to much reason to try to use Dury over Archy, even for a defensive set. Curious if you have any thoughts on this.
Yeah I think you're right, Archaludon does seem bulkier than Eviolite Duraludon because of the extra HP, SpDef and the Stamina ability. I think it's another example where the evolution is really a direct upgrade, similar to how Kingambit is so much better than Eviolite Bisharp
So does that mean Fickle Beam's 30% 2x damage is not a secondary effect but a primary effect? Ya, that's really weird. What about using a Dragon Cheer teammate to boost its crit by 2 (and using Razor Claw/Scope Lens for the last stage)? That seems like the next best thing to the 60% 2x damage that it can't get.
It depends on the Pokemon. For something like Hydrapple, this is my offensive pokemon so I want it to be attacking and I want as many moveslots as possible for coverage moves. For this team, having a bulky support pokemon with pollen puff (amoonguss) is better than sacrificing a moveslot on hydrapple for recover.
Not sure if it would work, but what about sheer force with fickle beam? Making it 104 attack that never misses with no downsides. Though may not even be worth.
Everyone's kind if being a downer on Fickle Beam, but isnt it just a strictly better version of Dragon Pulse? Same power and accuracy but Pulse has no secondary effects. I get that its disappointing when compared to Draco Meteor, but it still seems like it has its place even if its not as mind-blowing of a place as we would have hoped.
Yes basically. Dragon Pulse is 85 instead of 80 power but fickle beam has an average power of 102 which is much better. Draco has great synergy with regenerator thoufh
Does bonus crit chance increase the Fickle Beam High Power activation chance? Because it evolves by using a move that increases the crit chance. Maybe there is a hidden mechanic here.
I literally tried making this strat yesterday and u drop a vid saying it doesn’t work how tragic lol, but I got another idea how about trying it with oranguru instruct
If the Fire/Water Pledge Rainbow Pledge works out Supersweet Syrup Hydrapple + King's Rock Technician Maushold might be a funny thing to inflict on an innocent vgc player. Or if it doesn't work out having Maushold take advantage of the Supersweet Syrup evasion drop to make Population Bomb 100% accurate and giving it a less gimmicky power-boosting item could prove devastating.
Wait, try giving it sheer force and see if it can still do the all out attack. If serene grace doesnt double it, sheer force shouldn't remove it, right?
Good question! I saw on the testing forum that someone said sheer force does not remove the effect and the move does not get a sheer force damage boost. I haven't verified that myself though
Mew and Exeggutor still get Dragon Cheer and Skill Swap. You can also pivot with other Pokemon like Meowstic or Wyrdeer, who get Skill Swap and they also get Role Play. This would have been successful, if there was any other Super Luck Pokemon aside Honchkrow - mostly because Togekiss gets Follow Me, which would help with longevity of Pokemon like Meowstic. But you know - Honchkrow still gets Tailwind and U-turn. And there is also always Oranguru, that can Skill Swap and then help demolish with Instruct. And most importantly - most Skill Swappers/Role Players/Honchkrow can just Tera Dragon and you can have other team mate cheer for them. Or you can use Psych Up. But also you have other better options - Kingdra's Sniper with Focus Energy (or a Berry/Item) and friendly Dragon Cheer can Max it's Crit Rate in one turn. Same thing with Tera Dragon Ariados or Regidrago or Costar Flamigo. And then you have many other Pokemon and Dragons who get both Focus Energy and Dragon Cheer. Who depending on situation and help of other Dragon Cheerer can max their Crit in one turn. Intelleon is also a notable pick there, because it's the fastest Sniper user, that only needs to Tera Dragon and it immediately can demolish with Maxed Crit Snipe Shots. And it gets Psych Up. And that also brings all the Pokemon with moves that have higher Crit Ratio. Including Pokemon like Palkia who will be now way more formidable as a horse with Spacial Rend. And this also makes fast support dragons like Cyclizar even scarier. Super Luck is really not as good ability as it have been in the past. Because you only need three stages - it's actually worse than having other buffing ability.
I was thinking of ways to make the apple boi stronger and what about dragon energy hydrapple you could use blissy like you do here but put in regidrago for the dragon energy and dondozo with soak. Give hydrapple tera steel with giga drain tera blast pollen puff and fickle beam maybe with big root? Anything not fairy should melt to the dragon energy fickle beam giga drain just to keep it topped off on health and pollen puff for teammates if you get stuck you can always switch out for a regenerator
I made mistake there, it is really 64% chance. The chance for not burning a Pokémon is 60%. The chance of burning neither Pokémon is 0.6 x 0.6 x 100 = 36%, so the chance of burning at least one Pokémon is 64%
I was going to comment this, but I thought it was too difficult and outlandish. Swap Serene Grace + Water/Fire Pledge (Rainbow) = 100% 160 BP Fickle Beam. Lmao. That's BEYOND gimmicky though 😂
I thought of this before u haha but I didn't realise it didn't work with the ability as after chafing ability I got 5 all outs in a row, I guess I just got super lucky lol
Who knows, maybe you just had bad luck. Maybe you should do it a hundred times to be Safe. Maybe we should tell the pokemon company to not lie About a pokemon's abilities
I did say in the video how this was my original plan even before the contrary strategy 😁 we just have the same brain sickness to look for these strategies
This actually isn't such a good combo as you might think. Let me explain: Fickle Beam'e avarage damage is 104 (80×0.7+160×0.3) If the scerene grace would work, the double damage chance will be 60%. This means Fickle Beam's avarage damage would be 128 (0.6×160+0.4×80). This is less then 20% stronger damage for a turn of set up. With this turn you can set a Nasty Plot, use helping hands, use fake tears etc...
Well Blissey is the set up mon so you wouldn't get a Nasty Plot boost, and you could always set up a Nasty Plot on the Hydrapple set on the set up turn too. Giving a partner a 20% damage buff that sticks (ie is not one turn only like helping hand) and can't be hazed is decent, and the skill swap strategy enables blissey's sings too. Plus skill swap has good synergy with the rest of the team. But you're right that this would still be a gimmick strategy, it would have a lot of style though 😁