General Being a Pokemon that had to be nerfed in BW2 LC, Carvanha returns as a solid offensive force in XY LC. Its Speed Boost ability lets it act as both a late-game sweeper and a mid-game revenge killer. Carvanha also has an excellent Attack stat, which is further complimented by its great offensive typing. Unfortunately, Carvanha is horribly frail, making it so that it need to immediately OHKO stuff, or it will be taking a lot of damage back, even getting outright OHKOed. Don't overestimate Carvanha, as it may disappoint with its poor bulk, but don't underestimate it either, as it will plow straight through teams if unprepared for. Life Orb Carvanha @ Life Orb Trait: Speed Boost EVs: 196 Atk / 36 Def / 36 SpD / 236 Spe IVs: 0 HP Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SpA) - Waterfall - Crunch - Protect - Destiny Bond / Aqua Jet / Zen Headbutt This is Carvanha's best set in the current metagame. Waterfall and Crunch pose as reliable STABs, and they have excellent synergy together. Protect lets Carvanha gain a free Speed boost, and is detrimental to its revenge killing abilities. Destiny Bond is a useful move that lets Carvanha take down one Pokemon that it can't outright OHKO at the cost of its own life, letting it act as an excellent wallbreaker mid-game. Aqua Jet can be used instead to pick off weakened priority users like Timburr and outright avoid priority from the likes of Pawniard. Zen Headbutt is another alternative that can be used to hit Mienfoo, Timburr, and most importantly, Croagunk, for super effective damage. Maximum Attack with an Adamant nature is used to provide the highest damage output, while 0 HP IVs are used to attain 19 HP, which lets Carvanha only take one HP from Life Orb recoil. Synergy Knock Off users like Pawniard, Mienfoo, and Vullaby are appreciated to Knock Off Eviolites, which severely eases Carvanha's sweeps. Vullaby can even clear hazards and deal with troublesome Fighting-type. Other checks to Fighting-types like Spritzee and Misdreavus are also handy, as they remove some of Carvanha's best checks. Lastly, hazard setters like Dwebble can help Carvanha attain KOs and sweep with greater ease. Other Options There aren't many other options for Carvanha, as it has a fairly barren movepool. A Jolly nature is nice to Speed tie with Timid Choice Scarf Chinchou and outspeed Choice Scarf Meditite after a Protect, but the power that Adamant brings is usually preferred. A mixed set with Ice Beam and Naive can hit Grass-types super effectively, but bulky Grass-types aren't hindered too much by Ice Beam and there are better options for Carvanha to utilize. An all-out special set consisting of Hydro Pump, Dark Pulse, and Ice Beam can also work, but its Attack stat is much larger than its Special Attack. Choice Band provides Carvanha with even more power, but is a bad choice due its frailty and need to consistently be switching moves. Substitute can be used to ease prediction and avoid priority, but Carvanha is way too frail for that and doesn't find too many opportunities to set up Substitutes. Finally, a Thief + Focus Sash set can work as it lets Carvanha potentially steal Berry Juices, but it's fairly gimmicky and usually a bad option. Checks and Counters Fighting-types like Croagunk, Timburr, and Mienfoo are excellent answers to Carvanha; specifically the former two, as they have priority Fighting-type attacks and Croagunk is even immune to Carvanha's Water-type moves. Priority in general is a huge concern for Carvanha; Acrobatics Fletchling and even Sucker Punch Pawniard can leave Carvanha crippled. Bulky Grass-types like Ferroseed, Lileep, and Foongus can take a Crunch with ease and proceed to OHKO Carvanha with their Grass-type STABs, or just set up hazards and/or Leech Seed on it. Any Pokemon that can take a hit and has a moderate offensive presence or a super effective STAB can deal with Carvanha; Chinchou and Spritzee are common examples of such Pokemon. Lastly, residual damage greatly lowers Carvanha's already poor longevity, so even if you can't directly attack it, it can be whittled away with Life Orb recoil, entry hazards, and other means of passive damage.
I would argue that Carvanha is not a premier offensive Pokémon currently. I would qualify that Water/Dark is good offensive typing. Defensively it's pretty garbage. "Aqua Jet lets Carvanha pick off weakened priority users like Machop and outright avoid priority from the likes of Pawniard" I would say that Timburr is a more apt example. As Machop's Bullet Punch isn't going to do much to even Carvanha. That and Timburr is more common 196+ Atk Choice Band Machop Bullet Punch vs. 0 HP / 36 Def Carvanha: 4-5 (19 - 23.8%) -- possible 5HKO Zen Headbutt is probably worth a third slash on the last move because; 196+ Atk Life Orb Carvanha Zen Headbutt vs. 0 HP / 36 Def Eviolite Mienfoo: 16-21 (76.1 - 100%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO 196+ Atk Life Orb Carvanha Zen Headbutt vs. 0 HP / 76 Def Eviolite Timburr: 16-21 (66.6 - 87.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO Lileep is bad news for Carvanha, even variants that pack Ice Beam need some investment to do better than a ~12% chance to 2KO after rocks. Eviolite is pretty bad for Carvanha to be honest, it /barely/ survives a Timburr's mach punch after rocks and loses a significant chunk of its offensive ability. A mixed set running Naive is an OO worthy mention. Sub and Taunt are possibly OO mention worthy. Sub is for predicted switches, giving you a "buffer" but doesn't help with the 4mss, Taunt is probably pretty useless, but hey, it's OO.
Done I confused Machop with Timburr, sorry :x Done Lileep falls in the category of bulky Pokemon, but I can specify it if you like. Alright, removed Evio from OO and added mixed. I agree with Sub, but not at all with Taunt. Very few Pokemon would use status moves/any non-attacking moves at all in front of Carvanha, they would just go for the KO with an attack. If Eviolite is worthless enough for OO, Taunt it too imo. I can add it if you or other QC members insist though. Thanks for all the feedback though ^.^
Nothing much for me to really add except to put jolly in OO for certain scarfers such as chinchou and meditite so you dont have to risk the double protect
You might consider adding Thief to Other Options, mention that it works well with a Focus Sash and it can steal Berry Juice or other useful items. I have nothing else to say, great work on this!
That makes you understand that it was banned in the last generation but it actually wasn't, Speed Boost was banned in general so you could've used a Rough Skin Carvanha. Rephrasing the sentence will solve the misunderstanding. Other than that I didn't spot any thing wrong, good job!