RandomNPC – Video Game RPG Reviews, Editorials, and Features

A personal favorite of mine, Trick Room is one of many tactics that has gained significant new tools in Pokemon’s 5th generation. The generation-wide trend of slow but powerful offensive Pokemon combines with new Trick Room users and a number of useful support abilities to make Trick Room teams easier to build. Overall, Trick Room is now easier to use, and the skill as a whole more effective. This week, we’ll take a look at the new toys it has access to, and talk about how to make use of this unusual move.

First off, let’s talk about the basic mechanics of this move. The primary effect of Trick Room is to invert the turn order of Pokemon in play; Pokemon with higher Speed move last, and those with lower Speed move first. Priority moves are unaffected, however, meaning moves like Quick Attack and Aqua Jet will still go first. Trick Room itself moves at -7 priority, the lowest possible. Even Roar and Whirlwind will activate before it does. This makes Trick Room itself extremely vulnerable to disrupting moves, so extreme caution needs to be used when choosing the correct time and place to activate the move.

As you can see by the way the move activates, the Pokemon best suited to Trick Room teams are slow and powerful, but those with solid bulk on top of that are the most highly prized. A major advantage to Trick Room is that your Pokemon will have no need of Speed, so the EVs that would be put into that stat can be redirected to more defensive purposes. This will also help in those tight spots where you just don’t have time to reactivate Trick Room, as your Pokemon will be able to take a hit and keep on sweeping. Pokemon with a way to get out of play while maintaining momentum are also essential, since Trick Room lasts only five turns, a limit which includes the turn on which it was used. Given that it takes a turn to switch out, activating and swapping out reduces Trick Room’s duration to three turns in which to sweep. Using moves like U-Turn, Explosion, and the newly introduced Volt Switch — essentially an Electric-type version of U-Turn — a Pokemon can at least put the switching turn to good use, and with luck, may even catch a weakened Pokemon off guard.

As to Pokemon capable of using Trick Room, all of the old standards are still in place; Slowbro, Porygon2, Dusknoir, Bronzong, and Uxie are all fine choices for defensive Trick Room specialists. In this category, Black and White introduces Musharna, Audino, Cofagrigius, and Jellicent. Of the four, only Cofagrigius really reaches the defensive level of the others I have mentioned, though Audino and Jellicent may come close. Interestingly, one defensive Pokemon who seems to be an excellent choice, yet turns out not to be so, is Whimsicott. One would think that its ability, Trickster (formerly called Mischievious Heart), which bumps up the priority of non-attacking moves, would be excellent with Trick Room. However, Trickster would only bump Trick Room up to -6 priority, which isn’t what you’d call a stellar improvement. Finally, although its movepool makes it an excellent support Pokemon, its high base Speed makes Whimsicott is fundamentally ill-suited to Trick Room.

Alongside the defensive users of Trick Room are those Pokemon who lack somewhat in bulk, but make up for it in offense. 5th gen gives us Reuniclus, a name I’ve mentioned before. Reuniclus’s huge bulk combines with its low Speed and excellent Special Attack makes it wonderfully suited to play under Trick Room. It even gets Psyshock (known previously under the name Psycho Shock), a Psychic-type attack that runs on Special Attack, yet hits against the foe’s Defense stat, which allows it to act as a kind of pseudo-mixed attacker. Given that most opponents will try to stall out Trick Room’s duration, the ability to mix offense like this makes Reuniclus extremely useful.

Another offensive Trick Roomer comes in the unexpected form of Victini, one of Black and White’s event legendaries. Though Victini’s 100 base Speed would normally be considered much too high to be useful under Trick Room’s effect, one of Victini’s most powerful moves makes it a candidate. V-Create is a physical Fire-type attack with a borderline nuclear base power of 180 which has the secondary effect of lowering Victini’s Speed, Defense and Special Defense by one stage each. This means that while Trick Room is active, Victini will actually get faster every time the move is used. Though it’s probably unwise to use Victini as a lead or to attempt a V-Create sweep before making sure that your enemy has no Pokemon with Flash Fire, Victini would make an excellent choice for a late-game finisher. The one hitch in this plan is that V-Create is an event exclusive move on an event exclusive Pokemon, so getting your hands on one may be a challenge.

As for other options for Trick Room attackers, the 5th generation has introdced us to; Escavalier, a Bug/Steel Pokemon with excellent Attack, low Speed, and access to U-Turn, but which has trouble with its tiny movepool; Druddigon, a Dragon-type critter whose broad movepool and Mold Breaker ability make it difficult to wall; Eelektross, a solid mixed attacker and user of Volt Switch whose Levitate ability essentially makes it weakness-free; and Gigalith, whose solid bulk and access to Sturdy suppliment its massive offensive abilities exceptionally well.

In the end, if there can be said to be a secret to using a Trick Room team together, it’s being mindful of your team’s momentum in battle and using your relative bulk to maximum effect. That’s about it for this week, our subject next week will be the similar but oh-so-different Gravity, a move which becomes much more attractive once you know what it actually does, as opposed to what the game tells you. Until then, happy Trick Rooming!