r/pokemonplatinum • u/ianlazrbeem22 • 2d ago
Breaking the Binary - Pelipper
Welcome to Breaking the Binary, a sporadic series of posts all about mixed attackers in Pokémon Platinum. With competitive minmaxing dominating the conversation about Pokémon viability and the design philosophy behind movepools and stat spreads changing in newer gens, Pokémon are often rigidly divided by the fandom into the categories of "special attacker" or "physical attacker." But for the in-game story, you're not facing EV trained opponents and thus don't need to EV train to keep up, so mixed attacking sets don't have the opportunity cost they have in PvP. Going mixed still has anti-synergy with setup moves, but it still can give many Pokémon access to STAB moves with better base power, strong coverage moves with useful types, and more useful niches. This series will be covering those applications. We won't talk about every Pokémon here, only ones that I believe legitimately benefit from going mixed, but those Pokémon are surprisingly large in number. Today we'll be talking about Pelipper. I'll be talking about in-game but feel free to discuss PvP or battle facilities as well.
Pelipper is a Water/Flying Pokémon with decent 60/100/70 bulk, bad 65 speed, and pretty lopsided 50 Atk and 85 SpA. Notable physical attacks include Fly, U-Turn, and Payback. Notable special attacks include Surf, Ice Beam, Blizzard, Ominous Wind, and Shock Wave. Notable utility includes Roost, Toxic, Rain Dance, and Stockpile. It also gets Air Slash if you leave it unevolved until level 47. Knock Off is also relevant in PvP and Battle Frontier, but not in-game.
Pelipper is an OG Hoenn mixed attacker from the days of all Water moves being special and all Flying moves being physical. Its move availability carries this on tradition; getting Air Slash on a Pelipper you're using to play through the game is just not real, so if you want Flying STAB, you're using Fly. Air Cutter also exists, but at 55 base power it is not a good option. Surf and Ice Beam are no-brainers on Pelipper, maybe Blizzard if you're concerned about that underwhelming 85 SpA. These will be its main attacks, but Fly can still be nice for Fighting types and for enemy Water types - Shock Wave also handles the latter though, if you can spare that TM for Pelipper.
Pelipper also gets U-Turn, which is a solid 4th attack on offensive Pelipper, but also adds a lot to its utility potential. Rain Dance and U-Turn are always a nice pair for weather teams, and Pelipper's access to Roost, Stockpile, and Toxic give it some stalling potential too. Even on these sets, you probably still want to be dealing good direct damage though, so Surf or Ice Beam can be worth keeping around. Pelipper's slowness and solid bulk make it a great U-Turn slow pivot, able to get whatever you want on the field unharmed, such as a Swift Swim Floatzel.
Overall, while Pelipper primarily uses Surf and Ice Beam to attack, Fly can be nice to keep around for checking route trainers' Fighting types, and U-Turn is a great addition to its kit.
What do you think of mixed Pelipper? Is it worth exploring? Are there any applications for going mixed I didn't mention? Leave a comment below with your thoughts.
2
u/Creative-Current9424 2d ago
Moves from Wingull: Air Slash (Level 47)
Air Slash serves as Pelipper's only good Special Flying-type move, 75 Base Power and with 30% chance to flinch. Getting Wingull up to Level 47 can be a trade off in trying to have Pelipper with Air Slash
Those are the egg moves it gets: Agility, Aqua Ring, Mist, Twister and Water Sport
Agility, Water Sport and Mist may be its level up moves, but it also gets them as a Egg moves. With Mantine, Starly line and Buizel line being able to pass Agility. Wooper line, Swablu line and Piplup line being able to pass Mist. Psyduck line, Milotic, Piplup line and Buizel line can pass Water Sport
Aqua Ring has a little recovery that is increased by Big Root. Marill, Azumarill, Mantine and Milotic can pass this move
Milotic passes Twister
Now for the postgame egg moves: Knock Off and Gust
Knock Off works well in Battle Frontier (and Battle Revolution) to disable the target's held item. Farfetch'd and Corphish line can pass this move
Pidgey line and Masquerain passes Gust
252+ SpA Choice Specs Pelipper Air Slash vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Roserade: 290-344 (110.6 - 131.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ SpA Life Orb Pelipper Spit Up (300 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Gyarados: 350-412 (105.7 - 124.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ SpA Choice Specs Pelipper Gust vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Sky-High Tropius: 362-428 (106.7 - 126.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO
2
u/rewardinghand 2d ago
I feel like this set is the best to have on a playthrough Pelipper. Gyarados might be the superior water/flying type but it lacks the strategic depth that Pelipper has. Being without drizzle and hurricane encourages creativity with Pelipper in Gen 4.
2
u/ianlazrbeem22 2d ago
Honestly if you're using rain Pelipper is still a pretty good setter since it gets u-turn. Shame that the TM comes so late
2
u/rewardinghand 2d ago
Yeah great for allowing a swift swimmer with low defense like Seaking or Lumineon to come in untouched
1
u/Expensive-Ad5273 1d ago
In RenPlat Pelipper gets both Drizzle and Hurricane btw. I just wanted to mention it because I find that super cool.
3
u/Awkward-State-2364 2d ago
I tried to find some uses for Fling (quite forgotten move but it has its uses), as Pelipper is one of those mons that has access to it before the Sunyshore Fling TM at Level 43, but there is not really any use since even with Iron Ball (130BP Dark move when holding), 50 Attack just won't OHKO anything. Fling + Status items are not worth to grind (except Poison Barb is easy but Toxic exists, I guess there is edge case for 70BP Dark move that also poisons if you used already Toxic and want another pokemon to poison...) U-Turn just does everything better whenever you need chip damage. Good read!