Misdreavus

Misdreavus' respectable Speed and access to a passable Special movepool makes it a good candidate for a Choice Specs sweeper. At first glance, this set may seem as an inferior Choice Specs Haunter. While this Misdreavus doesn't have as much Speed as Haunter, it does have higher overall defenses, meaning Misdreavus has a better chance of using Trick on a foe without fearing the revenge attack that would at times mean a KO for Haunter. Hidden Power Fighting provide Misdreavus with unresisted type coverage, while Thunderbolt proves as Misdreavus' most powerful third option.

Because of Hidden Power Fighting, Misdreavus cannot hit the maximum Speed that would normally tie it with max Speed Staryu, Aipom, Seadra and Wingull. 232 allows Misdreavus to outspeed a max Speed, non-Scarf'ed Gabite, although it misses out on outspeeding Magby, who is a rare sight in OU, anyway. The Special Attack EVs are a given for aid in sweeping, while the remaining EVs were dumped into Defense.

Misdreavus' access to Nasty Plot makes it a much more viable sweeper than it was in DP, where its only option to raise its Special Attack was through Calm Mind. Send Misdreavus in on something that it can resist, and set up a Substitute. With Misdreavus' respectable Speed, it's easy to get up a Nasty Plot the next turn before its Substitute is broken, likely allowing you to outspeed again, and hit with the appropriate attack. Fighting and Ghost give Misdreavus unresisted type coverage in NFE, although Hidden Power Fighting may be undesirable because of its Speed drop. Shock Wave is an alternative over Hidden Power Fighting because of this, although Misdreavus will miss the OHKO against Sneasel and Lairon.

236 Speed allows Misdreavus to outspeed a max Speed Gabite without Choice Scarf, and anything slower. If you are using an alternative to Hidden Power Fighting, a switch to 252 Spd is recommended, as it ties Misdreavus with max Speed Gligar, Staryu, Wingull and Aipom.

Misdreavus' access to numerous utility moves also makes it a very good annoyer and utility lead. Taunt can be used against foes that you suspect will try getting up Stealth Rock, while Thunder Wave deals with anti-leads such as Plot Monferno, Murkrow and some forms of Staryu, who will not appreciate the Speed cut. Destiny Bond is a nasty surprise for later in the match where you encounter a foe who cannot easily be taken down by your team, or if the match becomes 2-1 in your favor, as this set has the Speed to set it on a handful of late- or mid-game sweepers, including mix Charmeleon, neutral-natured, 252 Speed Gligars, and bulky DD Shelgons, although max Speed Shelgons after a Dragon Dance will outspeed Misdreavus. The choice between Hidden Power Grass and Hidden Power Water is a matter of type coverage, as Shadow Ball in itself doesn't hit enough OUs to really do much damage because of a lack of weakness to Ghost, so Misdreavus usually must rely on super-effective hits. Hidden Power Water hits lead Monfernos, Gligar, Lairon and Magmar for more damage, while Hidden Power Grass will always 2HKO Marshtomp, and does more damage to Croconaw, Wartortle, Prinplup, although both attacks will 2HKO a standard lead Graveler and Onix.

228 Speed allows Misdreavus to outspeed a lead Monferno, and either 2HKO it with Hidden Power Water (assuming it has a Focus Sash, otherwise, it is a OHKO), or paralyze it if you choose to use Hidden Power Grass. The remaining EVs were delegated to maximize Misdreavus' Defense to aid in longevity.

Apart from Dusclops, who is Uber, Misdreavus is the bulkiest ghost in NFE. Staryu's Hydro Pump never 2HKOs this Misdreavus, and even Max Attack Rhydon can't OHKO with Stone Edge, giving you a chance to burn Rhydon. Shadow Ball 2HKOs most Staryus even if they invest EVs in HP, and is your main method of dealing damage to anything that does not resist it. Calm Mind allows you to set-up on Staryu rather than just 2HKOing it, and makes Shadow Ball have a slightly low chance to OHKO Staryu. Pain Split is your only reliable method of recovering outside of Leftovers, although Perish Song is an option to force switches on Pokemon that would otherwise be able to set up on Misdreavus. Substitute works well with any of the mentioned moves. It helps you set up Calm Mind, it lowers HP for more Pain Split recovery and damage to the opponent and lastly it can be used to stall Perish Song. Pain Split is also an option if you used Calm Mind or Perish Song for the second move. Will-O-Wisp ruins physical sweepers that fail to OHKO or are slower than Misdreavus such as Piloswine, Machoke, Krabby and another main Rapid Spinner, Phanpy. Toxic is another option if your team has more tanking mindstates than offensive set-uppers, and aids in bulky stallers, such as Lickitung and Marshtomp.

Credit to DialaceStarvy for this set.

This is a bulkier set that attempts to trap the foe, and stall until Perish Song kicks in. The key here is to switch Misdreavus in on something that it scares in fear of the Nasty Plot set, and set-up Substitute. From there. Mean Look is used to prevent the foe from switching. Only then is the Perish Song surprise revealed on the third turn, and the stall starts. Protect helps with this phase. It is important to ensure that Misdreavus has somebody else on your team to switch to, however. This Misdreavus works as a fantastic last-resort Pokemon when your foe only has one Pokemon left. In this situation, Misdreavus can simply use Perish Song and Protect to lower the Perish Song count to 2, and from there, one can intermittently switch between Misdreavus and the other ally to eventually KO the foe. It is important to have some kind of reliable wall to help with this, however, as both Misdreavus and its ally must survive 2 turns.

Defenses are maximized on this set, as they are key to this set's success. Misdreavus doesn't outspeed anything notable in OU without heavy Speed investment, which would interfere with this set's bulk.