Is Topsy-Turvy a good move?

Question

I'm going to use a Malamar soon and I was wondering if Topsy-Turvy was really a good move to use. It just seems like you'd kind of need the perfect conditions for it so I wasn't too sure about it.

Answer 1

It's works great getting rid of Belly Drummers, Swords Dancers, Power-Up Punchers, Stockpilers, Cotton Guarders, Terrakion-being-Beat-Up-by-Weavile-ers, Dragon Dancers, Speed Boosters, you name it.

To put it into one sentence, basically anything that's used for stat boosts is weak to this.

However, I wouldn't recommend it with Swagger, as the 2x Attack does indeed make your opponent do extra damage to itself. For that reason, Swagger has been banned to Übers on Showdown, from what I've heard. Yes, 2x Attack does make your own Pokémon vulnerable, but inverting it kinda' defeats the purpose of Swagger.

Comments

Malamar speed is medicore though. It could get knocked out before trying it. I'd rather use unaware or durant with traunt and entrainment

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If he's going to use a Malamar, I would suggest this being in his moveset. Personally, I would rather use something with Unaware (I use Quagsire a lot) over this, but when it starts to get obvious that your opponent is going for stat boosts, I would highly recommend this. Also, just because Malamar has mediocre Speed doesn't mean it's going to get 1HKO'd.

One other thing, I wouldn't suggest Truant Durant with Entrainment because your opponent can just as easily switch out while Durant is in its inactive phase. I guess it might work against people who want to keep their boosted stats, but Malamar probably does the job a lot better.

Answer 2

It can be. If your malamar carries swagger then if you use topsy turvy then your opponents attack will be lowered instead of risen. So it might be useful sometimes, others it may not. Hope I helped!

Comments

You want their attack to be higher with Swagger, because if their attack is here, they do more damage to themselves

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But if they break free of swagger quickly, their physical attacks do less damage

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The main problem with that is that it kinda' defeats the purpose of confusing the opponent in the first place. I do understand where you're coming from though, because confusion doesn't tend to last very long.