For A Sweeper (with close to or the same attack stats), Is It Better To Stick With 1 Category Of Moves or Make it Mixed?

Question

Wow sorry about that title. I've been having trouble with them today.

Anyway, I was wondering, is it better for a sweeper with similar attack stats to be Physical/Special or mixed? Like, Mega Lucario (or regular Lucario) for example. It can run physical, special, and mixed sets due to its about equal attack stats. Or even Pokémon with identical attack stats (Like Jirachi).

Also, I'm guessing the answer is depending on the tier. I'm not looking for a specific one, so really answer how you'd like.

Comments

You can make up your own format where mixed attackers are banned. Physical attackers and special attackers would be good in that format.

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This is the sort of thing you will simply learn with experience. As you say, it's mostly dependent on the meta and whether there are important Pokemon you could hit using the opposite stat that you couldn't with your main stat. You will become a better judge of which targets are important, and which moves are worth sacrificing for, as you familiarise yourself with the game. In most cases, though, mixed sets are a liability to offensive Pokemon and require more justification than usual.

Answer 1

For me, that should depend on your team. If you have multiple physical attackers then make the sweeper special and vice versa. That's usually how I do things otherwise Pokemon like Blissey or Weezing will screw me over big time so hitting from both sides would help that a lot. I honestly don't think mixed sweepers is a good idea due to the fact that you're gonna have to split the evs between speed and its two attacking stats. The only time I would run a mixed sweeper set is when the attacking stats are like Mega Garchomp's where there is a great enough difference to put evs in only one attack stat and speed while still dealing a good amount of damage from the other (I know Mega Garchomp isn't a sweeper but that's just for example's sake). That's just my opinion anyway

Comments

Thanks!