Threatini
| Index # | 4645 |
| Type: | Auto |
| Ability: | Vengeful Education |
| Tier: | Euclid |
| HP | 120 |
| Attack | 80 |
| Defense | 110 |
| Sp. Attack | 30 |
| Sp. Defense | 100 |
| Speed | 20 |
Overview
For a long time, Threatini was in an unfortunate spot in the Euclid tier, where its potential was second to none, and its stats theoretically giving it an edge over almost anything else, but with too many counters and poor matchups preventing it from truly shining. Threatini's bulk is an immense boon to it, and even Keter-tiers would have trouble immediately wiping it out without a supereffective move. Its Attack stat, while comparatively middling, can be fairly threatening as well. Of course, what makes it a true threat is its signature ability, Vengeful Education. Boosting its Attack by one stage for every hit it takes is already fairly broken, but combined with its substantial bulk it can be a monster on the field.
Unfortunately, its immense potential was held back by its abysmal movepool and several counters. Its only truly viable attacking move is Hidden Anger, which possesses the decent offensive type Auto and also has STAB, but this effectively makes it a one-trick pony and is easily predicted. Given the prevalence of opponents with strong type matchups against Auto, most teams didn't even need a dedicated Threatini counter. Its ability to set Misfortune helped give it some relevance, but even then the abundance of hazard setters in Keter tier prevents it from rising any higher. Finally, the addition of the Antimeme ability, which prevents stat changes from other abilities, makes it almost useless against any opponent that has it, and it only gets worse as Antimeme becomes more prevalent.
However, Threatini entered the metagame suddenly. When Memogiga was banned to Apollyon shortly after the release of Series 6, it left a gaping hole in the Keter tier without any Antimeme abilities in the meta. While it still suffered from its other weaknesses, Threatini's usage spiked, and it graduated to the Keter tier, becoming a serious threat. As it happened, this period coincided with the American regional tournament, and Threatini was actually seen on Tufto's experimental 2nd-place team.
After a couple months though, more Antimeme opponents entered the metagame, responding to Threatini and others, and Threatini dropped down to Euclid once again. Even there it was only somewhat common, and certainly not a metagame definer. MnemoMirren's revolutionary Euclid metastrategy, using Memogiga's preevolution Memoloss, was the final nail in the coffin.
Of course, with Threatini's pitiful usage in Euclid, one might think that it would end up in Safe; even there, its weaknesses still remain, and it probably still wouldn't be too much of a threat. Unfortunately, ever since the Shark Punching Center DLC dropped in Series 4, Vengeful Education has been banned from Safe and lower tiers; this being Threatini's only ability, it's never been allowed.
Setini
| Move 1: | Soul Lock |
| Move 2: | Misfortune/Shark Punch |
| Move 3: | Hidden Anger |
| Move 4: | Pattern Dance |
| Item: | Census Ticket |
| Ability: | Vengeful Education |
| Persona: | Brave |
| AVs: | 252 Atk / 4 HP / 252 SpD |
For anyone attempting a single battles set, don't bother. Threatini is useless in singles and doubles, but in doubles it at least has the slightest of potential niches.
Setini has always been considered the only truly viable strategy for Threatini in double battles. Hidden Anger is a must-have, being its only viable move, and Pattern Dance helps give it a small edge against the Antimeme ability if it has time to set up. Misfortune is naturally its best hazard, especially against Mineral types which would normally threaten it.
Soul Lock and Census Ticket are what really makes this a truly viable combo. Census Ticket prevents any direct attacks from opponents except for the one that attacked it, and Soul Lock's +1 priority overcoming Threatini's nonexistent speed stops the designated attacker from switching out. A smart player can easily switch Threatini into an ineffective attack against it, consuming the Census Ticket, and then use Soul Lock on the following turn, placing Threatini against a severely disadvantaged opponent and giving them effectively a free kill, so long as the opponent has no priority pivot moves.
Discussion
Ok I hate every1 and everyting telling me this thing is mid ITS NOT!!! EVERY TIME I PLAY UCLID I GET SWEPT BY THRETINI!!!!!1! its such fkn awful to play agnst
Skill issue
Skill issue
Skill issue
Skill issue
I hate Pokemon