Lane Scoring Build Absol - Mason
Secondary build I use to help Absol stay viable in mid and late-game.
Build Path
SlashFirst Pick
Damage. Crit% up.
Pursuit
Dash. Damage. Then: Attack up (from behind). CDR. (+)Movement Speed up.
Psycho Cut
Damage. Slow. Attack up. (+)Movement Speed up near opponents.
Midnight SlashUNITE
Damage. Displacement.
Score Shield
Receive a shield while charging up to score a goal. While shielded, incoming attacks will not stop you from charging up.
Stat Boosts
Shield and Focus (Score Attempt)
HP (Upon Goal)
Attack Damage (Upon Goal)
Guide
The goal of this build is to make Absol viable in lane, and fix its issue of falling off heavily in team and objective fights in mid and late-game.
Your primary goal early-game is to safely score small amounts as much as possible, annoying your enemies, while your other laner final hits the majority of wild pokemon in lane. You get a healthy amount of experience and levels from scoring, while your lane partner also gets a lot of farm. If you do this strategy correctly, your team should overall have a better experience economy than the enemy team, and you and your other laner (or laners if you're triple laning in 113) should outlevel the enemies in the same lane.
Slash first helps you clear lane faster, and once you're level 3 and pick up Feint, you can start safely going for quick scores to annoy enemies, build up your stats, and build up your experience lead.
Pursuit resets are essential for as much damage output as possible, allowing Absol to chain them to chase enemies like Greedent and Crustle that other characters cannot. I think this alone sets Absol apart from other speedsters and attackers, so I feel like Pursuit is generally a must pick since it gives Absol more of a unique niche and identity. You also have crazy damage potential in team fights with Pursuit, and the survivability from Aeos Cookie, Score Shield, and Full Heal help you use Pursuit a lot more safely than other builds could.
Psycho Cut doubles your basic attack damage on targets affected up to 3 times, which also helps supplement your damage as much as possible, while making up for only having one damage item. Since you have so much added survivability, you don't need Sucker Punch as a defensive option.
Why not run Night Slash or Sucker Punch with these items?
Night Slash gets increased healing if you crit at level 11, which isn't as useful without Scope Lens or Razor Claw.
Sucker Punch gives you increased attack speed after using it at level 11, which is less useful without Muscle Band.
Both Pursuit and Psycho Cut offer the best scaling off Attack Weight out of your move choices, giving it as much value as possible in this build. The level 11 and 13 upgrades for these two moves are also nice, since they increase your movement speed.
Aeos Cookie and Score Shield give you +1660 to max HP at 6 scores if both are level 20, or +1890 at level 30, giving you more max health than even Sylveon, Machamp, or Lucario have at default. Attack Weight gives you enough attack to somewhat make up for the loss of Muscle Band, Razor Claw, and Scope Lens, while conveniently fitting in on one item slot.
In mid and late-game, you're able to be a dominant force at team fights and objectives, due to being a lot less squishy than you would be with other builds, while still being able to slot in a flexible damage item that makes up for not having multiple equipped once you get 6 scores in.
I think Full Heal is your best battle item option, to even out bad matchups, and guarantee escapes, or allow safe aggression in more scenarios. If you're not comfortable with Full Heal, then you could run pretty much any other battle item in the game you're comfortable with, and still see success.
Pokemon Unite .GG thanks user Mason for sharing this guide on how to play Absol. Be sure to support your favorite creators by upvoting their builds, videos, and anything else they share you find useful. You can also check this user's page for more build guides.
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