Attack Utsuho

[DoctorShanks]

Attack Utsuho
Type: Fire/Flying
Abilities: Blaze or Fire Veil
Base Stats
HP: 80
Atk: 70
Def: 65
Spd: 90
SpAtk: 170
SpDef: 65

Overview

Scroll back up and look at her Base Stats again. Yes, Attack Utsuho is dangerous, and even more dangerous in the right hands. When Attack Utsuho enters the fray, something usually dies. At first her base 90 speed doesn't look like it helps much, but upon further inspection, it's just enough to outpace everything at +1. Her 80/65/65 bulk usually allows her to take a neutral hit or even an unSTABed super-effective hit from most puppets, which most of the time ends up activating her Blaze ability. With the combination of Blaze and a menacing Special Attack stat of, and let me remind you, 170, tends to make sure that Attack Utsuho is going to be dishing out a lot of damage during her stay.

Unfortunately, Attack Utsuho has quite a number of flaws despite how scary she seems to be. Firstly, her Move Pool is about as barren as her fanbase. Another issue, one that she shares with Attack Flandre, is that none of her moves have a 100% accuracy rate (well, not the good ones anyway...). She, like other Special Attackers, is considered set-up bait by some (not many) special walls. Her moves have low PP, leaving her to be often pressurized by Sariel and Shingyoku-F. Lastly, her Super-effective type coverage is only average at best. While Fire is a great offensive type, it is easily walled by having four resistances against it. Please don't let these flaws discourage you from using her though, as her raw firepower is a huge threat to just about any team in existence.

I hope you have as much fun reading this as I did writing it. I learned so much about Attack Utsuho that I did not know previously.

☢CAUTION☢CAUTION☢CAUTION☢
Attack Utsuho @ Salac Berry
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 4 HP/252 Spd/252 SpAtk
Timid nature (+Spd,-Atk) / Modest nature (+SpAtk,-Atk) / Hasty nature (+Spd,-Def) / Mild nature (+SpAtk,-Def)
-Fire Blast
-Air Slash
-Energy Ball / Explosion
-Endure

Attack Utsuho sparks panic and fear in the souls of puppets and trainers alike, causing over-predictions and misplays to happen at least once on average during her stay. Fire Blast and Air Slash are just about the only moves worth using from her offensive move pool, and Energy Ball discourages Advent Alice and Defense Parsee from switching in, but it can be replaced by Explosion if a 75% accuracy rating isn't your cup of tea (just be sure to change your nature to one that lowers Defense instead, and replace the 4 HP EVs with Atk EVs instead). The icing on the cake is Endure, of course, and this is where things gets interesting...

Endure is Attack Utsuho's last stand. In a situation where a faster opposing puppet without priority or set-up moves could end Attack Utsuho's stay in the battle that turn, that's when you hit Endure. Attack Utsuho survives with 1 HP, while simultaneously proccing her Salac Berry as well as her Blaze boost.

If this is pulled off, all hell is unleashed. Any team that has neglected to prepare for any kind of Fire-type onslaught, whether it be through priority moves or Specially Defensive Earth-types, is effectively torn to shreds. Game over.

The choice of nature really only depends on what you want out of your Attack Utsuho. Timid And Hasty allow you to tie with the other myriad of base 90s and outpace the 85s and 80s, most of which are likely to 2HKO you, but after the Salac boost, the extra speed is wasted. Modest and Mild on the other hand give you a more menacing 482 Special Attack along with a 279 base Speed, which is just enough speed to outpace every puppet in the game after the Salac Berry has kicked in. Use Modest/Timid when dealing with Energy Ball, and use Mild/Hasty when dealing with Explosion. Some might argue it's better to run Naive/Rash when going with Explosion, but I'm not so sure myself.

Endure? Aint nobody got time for that.
Attack Utsuho @ Gothic Outfit / Salac Berry
Ability: Blaze / Fire Veil
EVs: 4 Atk/252 Spe/252 SpAtk
Hasty nature (+Spd,-Def) / Mild nature (+SpAtk,-Def)
-Fire Blast
-Air Slash
-Energy Ball
-Explosion

I don't see any reason not to simply run four attacks on Attack Utsuho. Included are the only four offensive moves ever worth using with Attack Utsuho, along with an Item and Ability choice. I personally recommend Gothic Outfit with Blaze for the extra firepower that it provides, but Salac Berry is there too if you're feeling lucky. Fire Veil is cool too sometimes if you need something to switch in on Sakuya's World (keep in mind that Sculpture is a 2HKO, and that you're slower), but there are other puppets for that role.

One thing I should note is that this variant works especially well as a Baton Pass recipient from Speed Aya Lily Black. In this case, go equipped with a Mild nature, a Gothic Outfit, and the Blaze ability. Try to get Attack Utsuho in on something she resists (or not, if you're trying to proc Blaze).

Something else to note is that her Explosion isn't very powerful either. An Attack stat of 177 isn't much to go on, so it's only meant to be used to go out with a bang.

Other Options

Sunny Day, perhaps? She has access to Solarbeam, but as far as I'm aware, Sunny Day+Solarbeam is bugged on Pokémon Lab at the moment. Sunny Day is really pushing your luck, but I don't see why it wouldn't work on a sun team. Blast Burn is only 30BP stronger than Fire Blast after STAB, and can only really be used once before being forced to switch out unless you're running White Herb, which uses up her item slot.

Air Slash and why it's actually important

Air Slash blows (Pun very much intended), but here are the calculations of the puppets worth using it on over Fire Blast because I'm a baller. The following calculations are done with a Timid Attack Utsuho.

Timid 252 SpAtk Attack Utsuho Air Slash vs. 252 HP Rin: 86.4 ~ 103.9%
(Better OHKO chance after Spikes damage)
Timid 252 SpAtk Attack Utsuho Air Slash vs. 252 HP Defense Keine: 70.2 ~ 82.6%
(Can threaten Paralysis on the retaliation)
Timid 252 SpAtk AUtsuho Air Slash vs. 252 HP/4 SpDef Kanako: 76.9 ~ 90.3%
(Modest Thunderbolt has a 42% chance to OHKO. Switch out.)
Timid 252 SpAtk AUtsuho Air Slash vs. 4 HP Kasen: 90.6 ~ 106.5%
(Clean OHKO chance after Spikes damage)
Timid 252 SpAtk AUtsuho Air Slash vs. 252 HP/252 SpDef Calm Defense Sunny Milk: 56.6 ~ 66.5%
(Even if she tried to set up on you, a Critical hit ignores Mana Charge boosts. It's still quite the gamble)
Timid 252 SpAtk AUtsuho Air Slash vs. 252 HP/252 SpDef Calm Star Sapphire: 50.7% ~ 59.6%
(2HKO/Surf won't OHKO back at +0)
Timid 252 SpAtk AUtsuho Air Slash vs. 252 HP Helper Star Sapphire: 95 ~ 111.7%
(Clean OHKO after Spikes/Often OHKO without)
Timid 252 SpAtk AUtsuho Air Slash vs. 252 HP Attack Star Sapphire: 95 ~ 111.7%
(Clean OHKO after Spikes/Often OHKO without. Cannot OHKO with Aqua Jet.)

As for everything else worth using Air Slash on, Attack Rin, Speed Rin, Sunny Milk, and Attack Sunny Milk are all OHKOed by it, but these puppets in particular have Flash Fire, so be on the lookout for them. Technical Sanae and Technical Shou cannot switch safely into Fire Blast without risking their lives (100% death rate with Spikes out), and their Surf and Thunderbolt respectively have less than a 50% OHKO chance (A damaged Utsuho is fair game, though). Attack Keine won't stomach an Air Slash, but Choiced variants of Attack Keine can revenge kill Attack Utsuho with Thunderpunch or Ice Punch. The rest, being Aki Sisters, Speed Shizuha, Attack Minoriko, and Technical Yuka, all pose no threat to Attack Utsuho.

Counters

Specially Defensive Demons seem to be the #1 way to deal with a Special Sweeper of such magnitude. 252 HP/252 SpDef Sariel is, without a doubt, the Gold Medalist when it comes to Attack Utsuho counters. Sariel can sponge literally everything Attack Utsuho throws at her as she resists three of her moves (Explosion included, which inflicts 59% max) and takes negligible damage from Air Slash. When Sariel is in, she has a free turn to use Calm Mind, and potentially give her opponent's team hell.

Tenma, like Sariel, doesn't fear any of Attack Utsuho's moves, and can use her as set-up bait for things like Spikes or even Mana Charge. Sendai doesn't mind Attack Utsuho either, and she's usually free to set up a Curse. Nitori has no problem with Fire Blast or Air Slash, and can use the free turn to set up a Rain Dance.

In regards to just flat out murdering Attack Utsuho, Murasa is a relatively safe switch-in that is immune to Explosion. She can switch in on a Fire Blast with her amazing special bulk and then threaten an Aqua Jet or Splashing. Futo is in the same boat, except she's totally immune to Fire Blast, and offensive Jolly Futos can out-speed Modest Attack Utsuhos and OHKO them with Waterfall (carry Aqua Jet in case of Endure). Technical Toyohime, Attack Patchouli, Chiyuri, and Defense Suwako are some more examples of Water-types who don't mind Fire and have a high Special Defense stat that Attack Utsuho might choose to explode on. Once Attack Utsuho has exploded, the counter has done its job of ridding the playing field of a heavily monstrous threat.