MOTW: Perish Song

Pardon me, Wil, I'm gonna have me some ambiance music for my article here as well.

This is the song, lalalala, Perish Song...
Lalalala, lalalala, Perish Song... (No one likes it!)
Lalala, lalalala... (It's not a useless attack!)
Lalala, lalalala... (Agreed!)

I like to use, lalalala, Perish Song... (Oh, use it!)
Lalalala, lalalala, Perish Song!
Total destuction
is guaranteed
That's Perish Song!

Okay, some of you may ask, "There's a move called Perish Song? Is it a new gen 6 move?" Well, in fact Perish Song has been with us ever since second gen. This move is in my opinion one of the most neglected and oft-forgotten moves in the game. Here's the basic description of Perish Song.

PERISH SONG (5PP)
All active Pokémon that hear the song faint after 3 turns

(Fully evolved) Pokémon that can use this move
Jynx, Laparas, Politoed, Mismagius, Celebi, Altaria, Absol, Kricketune, Arceus (srsly?!), Meloetta,
Dewgong, Gastly, Marowak, Wigglytuff, Azumarill, Hounchkrow

This is possibly the deadliest of all deadliest moves in the game. Like if there were a contest for the deadliest moves, this move oughta win. Or lose, for it is the deadliest. I'm not making sense.

You may be asking me, "Why are you so fascinated with moves that faint your opponent that quickly like Explosion or Perish Song?" Well isn't that like what the game is about? We use some moves to faint our foe, some to prevent them from fainting us, and some to make us faint them faster. As sad as it is true, the goal of the game is to faint Pokémon. If you don't like the idea of making Pokémon fight each other...then join Team Plasma maybe...oh wait, they did the same thing.

Like Explosion, Perish Song can turn the tide of the battle for a player. Methinks the reason for its under-popularly is that it's a hard move to pull off. Here are some examples of how you can make it work (like Tim Gunn).

#1
Someone someone used the force to force a switch!

Sometimes in a battle you see opponents that are hard to get rid of. Like they just get stuck on stage, and maybe you don't want it to be there for your amazing strategies. What you can do is get your Pokémon to use Perish Song, and your opponent will undoubtedly HAVE to switch out in 3 turns. This works get especially to get rid of walls that keep gaining stats (like a clam mind Bronzong). Well you can use Roar/Whirlwind to achieve the same effect of course but...well here's one use of Perish Song I guess.

#2
Someone someone sang the song of victory!

This is great! Your opponent has only one Pokémon left and you still have your Wigglytuff and Houndoom. However, your opponent's final Poké is kind of a threat to you: It's a Medicharm with High Jump Kick. You know that Medicharm can easily OHKO both your Pokés. Here's what you should do: with your Wigglytuff already in play, use Perish Song. Then PROTECT! It doesn't matter if Wigglytuff faints; your Houndoom can protect too! Just stall the opponent for 3 turns and...you win! The trick to all this is that your opponent cannot switch to anything, and thus it is forced to faint on stage. This is even deadlier in the doubles, when your opponent's last two Pokémon is in play. Wicked!

#3
Politoed!!!!

A looooong time ago my team was featured here in PKMNCAST. That team featured my Politoed (my favourite Pokémon of course; I mean look at my username) with the move combo Perish Song and Whirlpool. What I'm trying to do is that when there're bulky opponents that are hard to get rid of, I have Politoed use Perish Song, and then Whirlpool to trap the opponent. That means, like in example 2, the opponent cannot switch out. Politoed, however, can! (Yes you can switch out your Pokémon and Whirlpool will still be in effect). This move combo is not that common, I would say, in competitive battling, but really works!

An improved version would be to actually make use of the ability Arena Trap or Shadow Tag, which automatically traps the opponent. You can then Perish Song with your first Pokémon, then switch out to your second Pokémon with Arena Trap to shut your opponent down. Or in the doubles, have both these two Pokémon in play.

NOTE/TIP

Don't know if it's obvious to you: ALL Pokémon who hears the song will faint. That includes your own Pokémon! So in the doubles, if you use Perish Song on one Pokémon, both of your Pokémon in play will faint. I think that is probably why people rarely think of using this move: It's like double-kamikaze.

However, note this. All Pokémon who HEARS the song will faint. Which means if they don't, they don't have to faint. Hearing. Faint. Won't faint if they don't hear. Get it? Soundproof! Soundoproof as an ability blocks the effect of Perish Song. So if you use Perish Song on one Pokémon while your partner Pokémon has Soundproof, it won't faint!

Battle Animation

I remember I used to freak out when I saw the battle animation for Perish Song for the first time back when I had my Pokémon Crystal. It was truly 8-bit creepiness. Notes flew around the screen and they descended slowly, accompinied by a creepy 8-bit tune. Yikes. Then in gen 3, the notes turned from red to black and "dropped dead" as the song is heard. Even more creepy. Then in gen 4, they're like Red notes of death. Each generation the animation of Perish Song becomes creepier.

Final words: If a Pokémon's singing is THAT bad that you'll faint upon hearing it...That's just sad.

This has been this week's move...of the week. See you next week!

politoedable

(Courtesy to Glaceon554, Unikeko, hiphiphippo, and Bulbapedia for the pics!)

Follow my twitter @politoedable! :)