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Pokémon Scarlet and Violet (2022)

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This week for Surprise Trade, I chose the Pokémon, and I decided that a Ghost-type would be the best one to pick, and I went with Greavard. I usually breed for 31 IVs in at least 4 or 5 stats, and for some reason, I didn't realize that Fluffy was the Hidden Ability of Greavard, this is because the Houndstone that I used to breed for them had Sand Rush, which is what Pickup turns into, and I assumed that Sand Rush was the Hidden Ability. I went with Adamant for the Nature, Impish can work as well as the Greavard line have good Defense and this pairs well with Fluffy, but they do have to watch out for Fire-type moves.
For Egg Moves, I went with Shadow Sneak, Yawn, Destiny Bond, and Ally Switch, as I saw them to be the best moves to go with, Greavard can get Disable, Memento, and Howl for other moves. To list Pokémon that can learn the moves I went with, Shadow Sneak can be learned by Hisuian Zorua, and it can get Yawn from many Pokémon, like Wooper, Fuecoco, and Hippopotas. The rest require a Mirror Herb, Destiny Bond can be learned by Gastly, Qwilfish, and Drifloon, and Ally Switch from Armarouge, Ceruledge, Iron Leaves, and a few others.
Shadow Sneak does give Greavard a nice early Ghost-type move, it does have Tackle and Growl for starting moves, and it is a better move to have over Lick which it gets early on. For other moves, it can get Tail Whip, Bite, Roar, Headbutt, Dig, Rest, Crunch, Play Rough, Helping Hand, Phantom Force, Charm, and Double-Edge. It evolves into Houndstone at Level 30, but it will only evolve at night, and it learns its signature move Last Respects upon evolution.
Next are TMs, and I will go over what Houndstone can learn, it can get Mud-Slap, Thunder Fang, Fire Fang, Ice Fang, Confuse Ray, Thief, Bulldoze, Snarl, Night Shade, Psychic Fangs, Stomping Tantrum, Body Press, Will-O-Wisp, Trick, Giga Impact, Hyper Beam, Tera Blast, and Poltergeist.
Houndstone is an interesting case of a Pokémon, this Pokémon was banned during the first week of Pokémon Scarlet & Violet, this is the quickest a Pokémon has ever been banned, not even Garchomp took that long to be banned back in Gen 4. When it was revealed that Basculegion can get Last Respects, it would come to no surprise that it would get banned, as Basculegion has higher Attack and Speed than Houndstone. Then the move Last Respects was banned, and as a result, Houndstone was unbanned. In online battles, Last Respects can be used, and Houndstone is less effective in 3v3 battles than in 6v6 battles, as Last Respects caps at 150 power in online battles, unless you are using a Pokémon with Revivial Blessing, like Pawmot or Rabsca as they are the only two Pokémon that can learn that move. Houndstone can get access to Poltergeist to give it a good Ghost-type alternative over Last Respects, it can get Shadow Sneak for priority and Tera Blast with a Fighting Tera Type to give it a way to deal with Dark-type Pokémon, but it does get Body Press if it wants to go defensively. Houndstone can even use Will-O-Wisp and Trick for status options, and with Sand Rush, this pairs well with Tyranitar or Hippowdon, which have Sand Stream and can give Houndstone the boost in Speed it needs.
Houndstone faces competition with Lycanroc Midday Form as a Pokémon with Sand Rush, because Lycanroc has high Speed and can use Rock Slide to flinch both targets, and the other advantage Lycanroc has is Endeavor and Accelerock with the Focus Sash. Houndstone can make use of Last Respects to take out weakened opponents, or when it is the last Pokémon on the field, and Sand Rush can give it the boost in Speed, while Play Rough and Shadow Sneak are other moves it can work with, and it does get good status moves like Will-O-Wisp, Ally Switch, and Howl for Double Battles. We do have Sandslash back in the game, and while it isn't used as much as Lycanroc, it does have an advantage for a Ground-type with access to High Horsepower, Knock Off, and Rock Slide.
When going through the game, the Greavard line don't get many Ghost-type moves, it is stuck with Lick until it evolves, and Last Respects becomes more powerful when teammates faint, Houndstone learns Phantom Force at Level 46, and that might end up being its main Ghost-type move for a while, and it does get some good level up moves like Play Rough, Crunch, and Dig to help in most battles. Houndstone isn't that useful in Tera Raid Battles, because Annihilape learns a similar move in Rage Fist, which is better and Annihilape has higher Attack than Houndstone, and there are other better Ghost-type options like Ceruledge, Gholdengo, Sinistcha, and many others, and even Polteageist has a niche in Tera Raid Battles, Houndstone does get Howl to boost the Attack of its teammates, and it can get Helping Hand to boost its teammates' next attack.

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