Preface

Before getting into the true analysis of Gumshoos as a competitive threat, I feel some awkward need to address the “hot take” on this Pokemon. It looks like Donald Trump. I find that a funny coincidence, but most of the Internet seems to care more. All over, people are using the release of a new Pokemon to advance some political agenda. Since Twitter is so biased toward controversial political content, the hashtag for his release has been littered with Trump memes and no actual hype. That’s no fun…

Analysis

As soon as Yungoos was revealed, competitive players say its potential to be a powerhouse in the OU metagame. These weren’t unfounded theories, since Yungoos was announced to have one of the most powerful competitive abilities since Regenerator. Stakeout gives Yungoos the ability to “deal twice the normal damage if the opponent just switched into battle”. That is a big deal.

Gumshoos has been confirmed to retain Stakeout (in addition to Strong Jaw, which will be touched on again in the Speculation section). That means that any switch-in to Gumshoos will essentially take a +2 hit. With decent coverage, this ability can significantly alter the metagame built in ORAS. Even its stats are virtually irrelevant.

According to Bulbapedia, the average Attack stat for all one-evolution lines is 90 and the average Speed stat for that same group is 78. These stats will be assumed for this analysis, since it is unlikely Gumshoos’s final stats will be much lower than this. The essential part of Gumshoos is its Speed. The Yungoos line is known for hunting, a skill that probably requires some speed. Luckily, an average speed stat allows Gumshoos to reach above 264 speed, which is the faster than the popular 262 speed tier and Garchomp who speed-creeps at 264. This speed is monstrous. Everything that could possibly take a Stakeout boosted hit on the switch would be slower and get 2HKO’d. Revenge killers would be required to take down Gumshoos.

Even with no stats or movepool, it’s clear that Gumshoos will be most effective with a four attack set, armed with a Life Orb. Some form of Normal STAB and three coverage moves are all Gumshoos needs to abuse Stakeout.

Gumshoos will likely be played in an extremely aggressive way. Switch into a non-damaging move (luckily for opponents, Gumshoos has no resisted hits) and scare the opponent. Either they let the Pokemon they have out get KO’d or they choose a fodder to take the Stakeout boosted hit. Volt-Turn cores could allow Gumshoos to threaten the opponent without having to take any hits. Gumshoos’s only counter is a fast Pokemon that would either not allow it to come in or revenge kill it. Unfortunately, every attempt to revenge kill Gumshoos means your team has one less Pokemon.

Gumshoos will likely pair well with Tyranitar and pair amazingly with Mega Scizor. Both usually run enough bulk to take hits from common revenge killers such as Latios, Scarfed Landorus, or any priority user. Gumshoos will also appreciate a Keldeo counter.

Speculation

The main direction of Gumshoos speculation should be directed toward its movepool. It’s already shown that nothing short of a historic stat nerf will be able to stop Gumshoos. But, moves will make or break Gumshoos. Luckily, our biggest hint at the ever so important movepool is its secondary ability, Strong Jaw.

Every single Strong Jaw Pokemon has access to Crunch, Poison Fang, and two of the Elemental Fangs. Every single Pokemon that can learn TMs can learn Return. That’s enough to build an enormously powerful moveset, that can neutralize all physical switch-ins. Fire Fang with Life Orb, has a 98% chance to kill bulky Mega-Scizor. Ice Fang will OHKO Tank Chomp and 2HKO bulky Landorus-T. Return deals more damage to Clefables, being able to OHKO 37% of the time. This is how strong Stakeout is. This is why Gumshoos will be uncounterable, and why it must be defeated by the Pokemon in front of it.

A moveset of Return, Crunch, Ice Fang is amazing coverage. What moves will be able to round out the set? Will the bipedal Gumshoos get access to Close Combat to destroy Tyranitar? Will it somehow get access to the perfect fourth move, Play Rough?