At 8/13/10 10:29 PM, ParadoxVoid wrote:
At 8/13/10 07:37 PM, verycoolguy wrote:
Turn one:
The point I think he was making was that at least you'll be able to get one layer of Spikes down, as opposed to none.
It's a very bad idea to use a whole team slot just to set up one layer of Spikes and nothing else, especially when the Pokemon is slow, but could live for an eternity. Skarmory can get up more than one layer easily in a nonlead slot. Skarmory is supposed to live a long time, and not be some suicide lead like Aerodactyl. And it's not like Spikes NEEDS to be used first thing once the battle starts. If Skarmory sees a lead Heatran, he needs to switch the hell out. It's better to have all six Pokemon in tact, instead of five Pokemon with only one layer of Spikes up, while the Pokemon that fainted was supposed to live for a long time. The teamslot would be completely wasted if the Spikes get Spun away.
It's another reason why I don't like Aerodactyl as a lead, or suicide leads in general. Taunt doesn't completely prevent Stealth Rock from happening, since Metagross or Swampert could just come in later and set it up, and once any entry hazards get Spun away, there's no putting them back up, unless you use a bulky Pokemon like Swampert, Metagross, or Heatran, who do make good recipients of Wish, to keep living.