A FREAKIN' STRATDEX [never completed though ._.] - Pokémon Strategy

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MagnetBoy Meandering to the beat of my own drummer (moderator) Pokémon Strategy total posts: 5888 since: Jul 2010	Jan 09, 13 at 5:33pm ^ A FREAKIN' STRATDEX [never completed though ._.]
	Log in to remove this sponsored message quote Ohhaider. If you’re reading this, it means I finally have finished the goddamn thing. Now if you’re wondering what sets this apart from other useful threads made in Strategy, read the rest of this paragraph for some perspective and then look at just how much is actually written. This is my contribution to Strategy, and the Pokemon forums here as a whole. Perhaps some of you remember the past attempt at a StratDex which failed miserably, due to lack of overall activity. Well, here you go. Activity can’t be lacking if it’s just one person, hmm? And so I set out to create at least one reasonable set for every Pokemon of every tier barring LC since it seems no one here plays it, and a handful of others excluded for obvious reasons. Starting August 15, 2012, at about 5:20AM due to extreme boredom and fatigue, using Serebii as my only reference and only for alphabetical order, movepools, and base stats, along with Marriland for some calcs, I started this secretly and plan to tell no one until it is time to post it. Nothing fancy, no pop-out colors or sprites, facts. Boring to read through the whole thing? Yeah, but first of all why would you do that, and second of all just imagine how bad writing it is gonna be. Any sets I’ve had personal success with shall be bolded. All sets are implied for use in OU unless for an Uber Pokemon (in which case it will be in that section anyway), because I don’t know any other metagame that well. Enjoy. EDIT: Well, with my schedule packed more full than a chepaskate’s carry-on luggage and the upcoming release of Pokemon X and Y apparently, it would appear this will never be finished. So, uh, here’s a 143-page StratDex through the letter E, as I toss in an Exploud summary as my last one for the sake of finality. A Spoiler:Abomasnow Grass-Ice HP: 90 Atk: 92 Def: 75 Sp.Atk: 92 Sp.Def: 85 Spe: 60 Emergency Drainage Abomasnow @ Big Root Snow Warning Bold 252HP/252Def/6Sp.Atk -LeechSeed -Ingrain -GigaDrain -Protect This is one of those sets that changes from match to match whether it will be the most awesome thing of all time or the epitome of dead weight. Be very careful when using Ingrain, as although it is a necessity to prolonging your stall, it means you can’t escape at any time. With this in mind, have a Dugtrio on board for Fire-types and/or a Ghost for Fighting, etc. The story behind this set is that I read a Smogon description for Big Root and it sarcastically said to never use it unless running LeechSeed/GigaDrain/Ingrain on the same set ‘which would of course be impractical’, so naturally I did just that. If you eliminate its threats and get it setup, it can stall out a whole damn team with ease. Choice Band Abomasnow @ Choice Band Snow Warning Adamant 236HP/252Atk/20Spe -IceShard -WoodHammer -Earthquake -RockSlide/BrickBreak Aboma’s offenses are lacking, but with a Choice item he can patch up one of the three at least. He’s slow, so Speed won’t do him much, hence this is focused more on giving him maximum power with some bulky to complement it as well. The move choices are fairly simple, and the last slot is only filler anyway, with RockSlide getting decent damage on other Ice-types and BrickBreak doing the same minus EdgeQuake coverage but plus removing screens. Choice Specs Abomasnow @ Choice Specs Snow Warning Modest 236HP/252Sp.Atk/20Spe -Blizzard -EnergyBall/GrassKnot -HiddenPower [Ground] -FocusBlast This actually has the same exact coverage as the Band set, only special and without the option of a Rock attack. It also lacks priority, but with more powerful combined STABs and the surprise of HP Ground. FocusBlast gets other Ice-types, and GrassKnot is a nitpicky option if you’d like to hit Tyranitar a little harder. Choice Scarf Abomasnow @ Choice Scarf Snow Warning Hasty 16Atk/252Sp.Atk/240Spe -Blizzard -WoodHammer -HiddenPower [Fire] -Earthquake And then there’s the Scarf item. Mixing Aboma’s two high-powered STAB moves can prove troublesome for any unprepared opponent, while the added Fire coverage alongside Earthquake means you don’t necessarily need to deal with Ferrothorn, Scizor, Forretress, and Genesect with other teammates. SubSeed Abomasnow @ Leftovers Snow Warning Calm 252HP/172Def/84Sp.Def -Substitute -LeechSeed -Blizzard -Protect Abomasnow brings back the Grass-type favorite choice, LeechSeed stalling from behind a Sub; he, however, brings hail to add on to the damage racked up. Similar to my Emergency Drainage set, but more within the status quo. Team Support Well unless you plan to just lead with him and die, which does get hail up but won’t be winning you any weather wars any time soon, you’ll need to mend that StealthRock weakness, as well as vulnerability to Spikes and ToxicSpikes on top of that. Tentacruel can use BlackSludge to not really mind hail and Spin away these hazards, and Cryogonal can Levitate over the grounded layers and wall any special attacker around. The weakness to Terrakion’s dual STABs is unsettling, so be ready to take him on at any moment too with something like a Dusclops or Jellicent. Abomasnow does have the handy advantage of being able to KO Politoed, Ninetales, and Tyranitar with the appropriate moves on the Scarf set, while Hippowdon’s bulk can’t stand up to either STAB for very long either. Alternatives If you like Abomasnow but don’t want hail, you can give him his Dream World ability Soundproof which unfortunately serves next to no individual purpose to call its own. On top of that, there’s nothing that great about Abomasnow outside of Snow Warning, so, yeah. You’d also lose the ability to run Blizzard. Also, if you’re just afraid of losing weather wars, IceBeam is of course a nice side route, while IcePunch can take over for IceShard if you find yourself not needing the priority as much as you thought you would. Mixed sets without a Scarf could work, especially with an Expert Belt to fake a Choice item, or on any offensive set you could use it or Life Orb instead I suppose. Oh, and Aboma can SubPunch, if you wanna get inventive. How to Beat it Well, he’s got plenty of weaknesses to abuse, and hazards ruin him. A Spinblocker can keep those in his way, such as Froslass, who would even benefit from his hail thanks to Snow Cloak. Gengar can wall parts of most sets, and SubDisable variants will laugh at Emergency Drainage, SubSeed, and Choice sets, which is…well, all of it actually. Note: Kill Gengars. Spoiler:Absol Dark HP: 65 Atk: 130 Def: 60 Sp.Atk: 75 Sp.Def: 60 Spe: 75 Swords Dance Absol @ Lum Berry Super Luck Lonely/Adamant 252Atk/6Sp.Atk/252Spe -SwordsDance -SuckerPunch -Superpower -FireBlast/NightSlash This is more or less Absol’s attempt to rival Breloom and Scizor, with more powerful but less reliable priority. Superpower really goes along with Scizor but that’s proof that it’s effective, and the final slot is either for melting Skarmory, Ferrothorn, Forretress, etc., or for a backup STAB in case of PP stall or lack of need for priority. Choice Absol @ Choice Scarf/Band Super Luck Hasty/Lonely 252Atk/6Sp.Atk/252Spe -NightSlash/SuckerPunch -Superpower -Pursuit -FireBlast With a Scarf, Absol is able to outspeed select Scarfers as well as base 130 Pokemon. This pretty much negates the need for priority, allowing for a perfectly speedy yet more reliable STAB to go along with the rest of the set, which is dedicated to appropriate coverage as well as trapping ability (don’t say Scizor >_>). Team Support Well a pure Dark-type is always nice for the lack of many weaknesses, being only to Fight and Bug. A Ghost-type partner can take on both of these, such as Gengar or Mismagius, as both can either run a special setup set to match Absol’s SD set or a Choice set to match his, or mix and match as you want. Flying-types also resist both, so a Drifblim would actually be perfect, or Zapdos could spread some paralysis around to make the Band set work better. Alternatives A special attacker set would be unpredictable but still very very gimmicky, though his special movepool of Fire, Ice, and Electric with STAB is somewhat inviting. A Curse set could be of some use on a TrickRoom team for some laughs. ThunderWave, Toxic, and Will-O-Wisp are all useful status moves for an annoyer set, but he’s too frail most likely. As for other attacking moves, he has Megahorn, AerialAce, and QuickAttack, as well as HoneClaws as an alternative setup move. How to Beat it Well MachPunch and U-Turn aren’t exactly hard to come by, and both can do the job fairly well. Almost everyone runs SwordsDance and almost no one thinks to use FireBlast, so, Skarmory can usually come in and phaze it out. Hippowdon won’t be hit super-effectively by anything but IceBeam and can also phaze, while Alakazam can evade SuckerPunch with a Substitute and then KO with FocusBlast. Spoiler:Accelgor Bug HP: 80 Atk: 70 Def: 40 Sp.Atk: 100 Sp.Def: 60 Spe: 145 Lead Accelgor @ Focus Sash Sticky Hold Timid 6HP/252Sp.Atk/252Spe -Spikes -BugBuzz -HiddenPower [Ice] -Yawn This lead is capable of doing many things, but its main purpose is of course to get Spikes up and running. BugBuzz serves as mildly powerful STAB, and HP Ice allows him to KO most Dragonite variants by outspeeding them at +1. Yawn is great for forcing switches or forcing something to be put to sleep, especially if you get your Spikes up. Final Gambit Accelgor @ Choice Scarf Sticky Hold Timid 252HP/6Sp.Atk/252Spe -FinalGambit -Recover -BugBuzz/GigaDrain -Spikes Here, Accelgor functions as a kamikaze pilot, volunteering a 661 Spe stat to come in and eliminate anything that has setup and needs to be swiftly eliminated. +2 Volcarona without full HP investment or with some prior damage is killed, as is +3 offensive Dragonite, Scarf MoxieMence, etc. Recover is if you need to make sure you have as much HP as possible before taking something down with it, while BugBuzz is an emergency STAB attack or GigaDrain offers further recovery. Spikes is filler, but can help lower the HP of something switching in that you need to take down. Choice Specs Accelgor @ Choice Specs Hydration Modest 6HP/252Sp.Atk/252Spe -BugBuzz -GigaDrain -HiddenPower [Ice] -FocusBlast This variant sacrifices just a tiny bit of Speed to let base 130s and most Scarfers outspeed, while gaining a real solid amount of power in return. 492Sp.Atk is no joke, and the actual decent coverage offered is a force to be reckoned with. An awesome revenge killer, this should always be up for consideration when looking at Accelgor, or when looking for a revenge killer for a rain team. Rain Sweeper Accelgor @ Life Orb Hydration Timid 6HP/252Sp.Atk/252Spe -BugBuzz -HiddenPower [Ice] -FocusBlast -Rest And then there’s the ninja bug’s awesome ability, Hydration. With it, he can outspeed almost any non-priority attack to use Rest and cure his full HP bar of any damage, then continue a LO-boosted onslaught. This has the advantage of switching moves in comparison to the Specs set, in exchange for a good deal of power but along with new lifespan length. Team Options Well the lead set helps the team rather than being helped by it, so anything that likes to switch into his weaknesses will benefit; Heatran comes to mind if not running rain. If you ARE running rain, then of course Politoed is necessary. And overall, the Choice and FinalGambit sets hate hazards that deplete their health, especially StealthRock since he’s weak to it, so a RapidSpinner such as Donphan may be able to help in that department. Alternatives HP Electric could replace HP Ice if you don’t mind Gliscor giving you trouble and have other means of dealing with DNite and Mence, but, it’s really pretty inferior. U-Turn is possible on the Specs set over FocusBlast for the scouting and momentum, but don’t expect it to be killing much. Accelgor can setup RainDance for a Swift Swim teammate like Kingdra, if given Damp Rock especially. And following the lines of support, he gets BatonPass along with Agility, AcidArmor, and even Curse for trolling. Oh, and don’t go for Unburden, it’s redundant and he appreciates an item at all times. How to Beat it Well he relies on Speed, so TrickRoom will turn the tables, but his STAB is super-effective against common users like Reuniclus and the Slows. Hence, Dusknoir or Bronzong would be better off, if given the choice. Priority can take on Accelgor fairly well, as his physical bulk is all but nonexistent, he does resist MachPunch though. A really fast Scarfer like Gengar or Starmie would be able to get some damage on him too, although his special bulk is slightly better. Spoiler:Aerodactyl Rock-Flying HP: 80 Atk: 105 Def: 60 Sp.Atk: 65 Sp.Def: 75 Spe: 130 Lead Aerodactyl @ Focus Sash Pressure Jolly 6HP/252Atk/252Spe -StealthRock -Taunt -StoneEdge -Earthquake The defining lead of Gen IV returns with no changes to itself in Gen V. However, the opposition certainly changed, as Prankster Taunt from Sableye made Aero’s job a little harder. Other than that though, his ability to prevent opposing setup and support your team by setting up hazards of his own is extremely consistent and the help it provides should never be underestimated. The EdgeQuake combo fills the set with a not too shabby 309 Atk to bank that coverage off of, taking down Ninetales and denting Tyranitar, fairly common leads today. Choice Band Aerodactyl @ Choice Band Rock Head Jolly 6HP/252Atk/252Spe -StoneEdge -Earthquake -FireFang/AquaTail -Double-Edge Take that 309Atk and ratchet it up to an attractive 464, throw in EdgeQuake coverage and the ability to switch into Ground moves freely, and it’s looking mighty fine. AquaTail and DoubleEdge add great coverage as filler, but FireFang has the added benefit of incinerating Breloom and Virizion, which wall EdgeQuake, and premier physical walls such as Skarmory, Ferrothorn, and Forretress along with Scizor and Genesect. Double-Edge is good for general filler power alongside Rock Head. Team Options Aero has an unnoticed benefit for sun teams, his Water weakness removed and the otherwise-weak FireFang being powered up noticeably. Meanwhile, he covers the Ground weakness of many Fire-types used on said sun teams, and the Flying weakness of Chlorophyll abusers. On other teams, Water Absorb and Storm Drain teammates will enjoy the boosts from HydroPumps aimed at him, and a similar case could be made for Volt Absorb, Motor Drive, and Lightningrod users. Alternatives Aerodactyl gets STAB AerialAce if you wanna be more easily able to KO Virizion and Breloom, assuming you have something else to deal with the walls mentioned above. HoneClaws was the best addition Aero got with the generation shift, as it gives him more power and a more accurate Rock STAB, so feel free to consider that with a Life Orb and EdgeQuake plus a coverage move of your choice. He even gets Roost if you wanna stick around longer, and with Substitute and Pressure he could potentially PP stall out some stuff, causing problems for things like Banded Terrakion and Specs Starmie. He can also phaze with Whirlwind, on the defensive train of thought. RockSlide is a more accurate but weaker STAB, Pursuit is a tricky choice for the Band set, and the elemental fangs could be used for specific threats to your team. Tailwind could be used, mainly in Doubles or Triples though, and Torment could be added to try and make a faster TormenTran if you so desired. How to Beat it Well if you see an Aerodactyl lead, much like when Deoxys-S was OU, it’s more or less a guarantee that StealthRocks will be set up. Crobat can tie in Speed and try to win the first tie to Taunt first, or Sableye could use Prankster to always Taunt first. Other than that, a super-effective special attack will do away with Aero fairly swiftly, although his Sash will make it so that two hits will usually be required to do that. Spoiler:Aggron Steel-Rock HP: 70 Atk: 110 Def: 180 Sp.Atk: 60 Sp.Def: 60 Spe: 50 Autotomize Aggron @ Expert Belt/Wide Lens Rock Head Adamant 6HP/252Atk/252Spe -Autotomize -HeadSmash -Earthquake -FirePunch Well here’s a kick in the groin to anyone without a MachPuncher. 398Spe will beat out base 130s, and a STAB recoil-free HeadSmash will sometimes 2HKO walls like Tangrowth while OHKOing most other things weak or even neutral. Those that resist it will have issues taking Earthquake, bar Breloom and Virizion, which will struggle to tank two FirePunches, with Aggron’s bulk allowing him to take a non-Technician MachPunch most of the time. Claydol resists EdgeQuake and is neutral to Fire, but, only Ziggly uses him. Tank Aggron @ Leftovers/Air Balloon Rock Head Adamant 252HP/6Atk/252Def -HeadSmash -Earthquake -ThunderWave -Roar/DragonTail Odd set I made up partially on the spot, but it looks pretty effective as a physical wall with oomph. Good attacking coverage and power, paralysis, and the choice between phazing through Subs or causing some damage in the process. It should be noted that you can wall something locked into Outrage and would hit said user super-effectively with DragonTail, but if it’s Kingdra behind a Sub, no dice. Resto Aggron @ Chesto Berry Rock Head Impish 252HP/252Atk/6Def -HoneClaws -Rest -HeadSmash -Earthquake HeadSmash’s sketchy 80% accuracy can be a pain in the rear end when a miss cuts short a sweep, so you could always try to mend it with HoneClaws. Two boosts will get your Atk sky high and your STAB’s accuracy to 98%, and Rest will heal you up enough to go for a late-game sweep. Paraflincher Aggron @ Leftovers Rock Head/Sturdy Adamant 252HP/252Atk/6Def -ThunderWave -IronHead -Protect -HeadSmash/Earthquake This is a fun little troll set that will surprise people for sure, and its success just might surprise you too. ThunderWave to slow down your foe, and then hit hard with IronHead to try and prevent them from attacking. Great physical bulk allow you to take the occasional hit that may slip through, with Protect for Leftovers recovery. The final slot goes to coverage, with HeadSmash for finishing power or Earthquake for Steel-types that IronHead would take too long to wear down with. If running EQ, you might as well run Sturdy too for whatever use it may serve you. Choice Band Aggron @ Choice Band Rock Head Adamant 116HP/252Atk/140Spe -HeadSmash -Earthquake -HeavySlam -FirePunch Smogon had the Band set listed first; this confused me. It’s so damn slow that no matter how powerful it is, that won’t matter a whole lot if anything with HP Fight can revenge kill it or catch it by surprise and wipe it off right away. If you get it some paralysis support though or come into something that’s used HammerArm or something, then it will certainly leave things more than bruised. Team Options TrickRoom turns him into more than an aesthetics-only monster, and that’s a guarantee. You can basically take the Band set and use a Life Orb or Expert Belt instead to just wreck all day. Other than that, Ground and Fighting will both crush Aggron, so something like a Levitating Ghost or a bulky Flying-type could make an excellent teammate. For example, I’m fairly convinced that Xatu learns TrickRoom, and could also block burns and such aimed at Aggron with Magic Bounce. Hazards don’t bug Aggron much due to his immunity to ToxicSpikes and x4 resistance to StealthRock, but setting them up on the opponent would greatly assist his sweeping abilities. Finally, a special wall of some sort is needed to be the yang to Aggron’s yin. Sun support would remove his Water weakness and power up FirePunch, if you’re looking for a creative sun sweeper. Alternatives Well due to the vast number of sets I went through, Aggron’s entire movepool has pretty much been covered. The other elemental Punches are situational at best, and Taunt requires something speedier. He gets Toxic to try a dual status set with ThunderWave if you want, or a RestTalk set similar to Gyarados could be attempted I suppose. How to Beat it Again, Fighting and Ground attacks will leave him badly crippled at worst and well dead most of the time. Weaker physical ones like MachPunch might be tanked, but FocusBlast and EarthPower are guaranteed to OHKO. He’s also weak to Water, so most rain teams shouldn’t have issues, and burns can halve his only above average power. Spoiler:Alakazam Psychic HP: 55 Atk: 50 Def: 45 Sp.Atk: 135 Sp.Def: 85 Spe: 120 Sub + 3 Attacks Alakazam @ Life Orb Magic Guard Timid 6HP/252Sp.Atk/252Spe -Psychic -Substitute -ShadowBall -FocusBlast This is easily the single greatest special attacking set a hyper-offense team could ever hope to ask for. The coverage is superb, the speed is awesome, and the power is ridiculous. If you get a Sub up then you’re almost impossible to break down. Psyshock looks good on paper, but leaves you with nothing against a BulkUp Conkeldurr, one of your main targets. Same goes for Toxicroak, who you can kill by using Substitute as he tries to SuckerPunch so it fails, and then using Psychic as the second SuckerPunch breaks the Sub but you KO easily. ShadowBall is enough to bring down the Latis, Jellicent, Mismagius, and Starmie, and FocusBlast rounds off the coverage on threats like Ferrothorn, Tyranitar, and Zoroark. And remember, that Magic Guard means no LO recoil and also worrying not about burns or poisoning, or even LeechSeed. The Sub is perfectly capable of blocking Spore and ThunderWave for you. Calm Mind Alakazam @ Focus Sash/Life Orb Magic Guard Timid 252Sp.Atk/6SP.Def/252Spe -CalmMind -Psychic -ShadowBall/Substitute -FocusBlast/Substitute This time around, if you can get a CM boost up, your power grows to even higher levels than with a LO and you become able to tank neutral special attacks. Sub is still an option, but leaves your coverage lacking either way. The Sash ensures you get at least one boost, but if you feel you can do that anyway or if running Sub and find it to be counterproductive, a Life Orb could send your power through the roof while also allowing you to get going even without a boost if the situation demands it. Team Options A Magnezone is very helpful to Alakazam, for the fact that Scizor, Bronzong, Jirachi, Genesect, and Metagross can all handle Alakazam if still alive to do so. Hazards don’t affect Zam but their presence on the other side of the field is of course beneficial as he tries to sweep. Something that can remove paralysis or sleep is very much appreciated, as they’re about the only things that immediately stop Alakazam, so he loves a cleric like Blissey. Paralysis support in general can prevent Scarfers from wiping him off too, and some sort of Fighting-type to knock out the pink blobs is always nice, but especially when backing up the mustached magician. Alternatives Psyshock is an overrated move in my opinion unless on a Choice set perhaps, but if it floats your boat then all I can do is suggest against it. EnergyBall hits Vaporeon a little harder, but that’s about it as Tentacruel is hit by Psychic and Politoed can usually be 2HKO’d by the same regardless. Taunt, Encore, and ThunderWave are all possibilities for support, as is a Dual Screen set or even just one screen. Even Torment could be used for some laughs, or Toxic to try a speedy Sub stall just because. How to Beat it Well if Alakazam can’t 2HKO it then it will probably snuff Alakazam out instead. Priority attacks, even +1 MachPunches, will eliminate the yellow stick figure with ease. Scizor can use its BulletPunch or trap with Pursuit, Metagross can use BulletPunch as well, and wee little Jirachi can paralyze or just KO with IronHead. Bronzong and Blissey can just flat-out wall, or paralyze too in Bliss’s case. Spoiler:Alomomola Water HP: 165 Atk: 75 Def: 80 Sp.Atk: 40 Sp.Def: 45 Spe: 65 Wish Support Alomomola @ Leftovers Regenerator Impish 252HP/6Atk/252Def -Wish -Protect -Toxic -Waterfall 267HP back from each passed Wish will heal a helluva lot, and with Protect it can heal Luvdisc’s cousin here as well. Toxic manages to deal actual damage, and Waterfall for avoiding total Taunt bait level. Toxic Stall Alomomola @ Leftovers Hydration Impish 252HP/252Def/6Sp.Def -Toxic -Soak -Protect -Wish This set, preferably run under rainy conditions, is capable of stalling out anything without recovery and/or a cleric. The ability to not only remove Steel or Poison typing from a foe in order to be able to badly poison them, but also remove their STAB(s), allows Alo here to be quite a tough nut to crack. Hydration under rain will allow her to avoid status, and Wish is good for her as well as teammates. Team Options Well Politoed is certainly good for the Drizzle support, and something to take Grass and Electric attacks for the fish would also be a nice idea; Tangrowth also gets Regenerator and appreciates Wish support if you run the first set, or with the second set any Grass-type could do, maybe a more offensive one to complement better, such as Sceptile or Breloom. ToxicSpikes would save Alomomola the trouble of using Toxic herself, opening a slot for something else. Alternatives AquaRing has difficulty finding room for itself in this bad case of four-moveslot syndrome, but could be nifty if you did run it. Low Sp.Def and high HP make for an interesting MirrorCoat possibility, or Refresh could cure status on a non-rain team, but again they’d need to squeeze themselves in somewhere. Rest is good if you’re confident in keeping rain up, but you lose support talent. How to Beat it Since no one ever seems to notice the viability of MirrorCoat, hitting Alo with a high-powered special attack is a fairly reliable way to net the KO. Taunt removes most of whatever threat she could hope to pose, so something like Water Absorb Taunt Jellicent could fit that bill rather nicely. Changing the weather would allow you to status her, as well as turn Rest into a wasted moveslot if it’s being run. If she lacks Soak, the Alomomola will do little to Steel and Poison types, particularly Ferrothorn and Tentacruel. Spoiler:Altaria Dragon-Flying HP: 75 Atk: 70 Def: 90 Sp.Atk: 70 Sp.Def: 105 Spe: 80 DD Offense Altaria @ Liechi Berry Natural Cure Impish 252HP/6Def/252Sp.Def -DragonDance -DragonClaw -Earthquake -Roost This blue tweety bird goes for a bulky setup here, obtaining 2 boosts in order to sweep but trying to make this task as painless as possible with the given nature and EVs. Of course, even at +2, while your Spe may be good enough your Atk is still not quite up to sweeping level; hence, Liechi Berry gives you an added +1 there once your “in a pinch”, which should have occurred by the time you’d DD’d twice. For attacking, you have great STAB and a coverage move, followed by Roost to get you out of the pinch Liechi is concerned with. Speedy Toxic Stall Altaria @ Leftovers/Lum Berry Natural Cure Calm/Careful 252HP/244Sp.Def/12Spe -Agility -Toxic -Substitute/Protect -Roost With an Agility boost, Altaria can outspeed any wall in the game and the majority of the offensive players as well, hitting a nice 398 with the minimal suggested investment, enough to beat base 130s by two points. Meanwhile, Toxic is there to stall out whatever it can, and then you have a move to assist in the stall followed by Roost. The handy thing in addition to the obvious recovery provided by Roost, is that with it, you can remove your Flying-typing for a turn; crucial when you outspeed something like a Jolteon’s HP Ice, as you can then tank it more easily with that good 336Sp.Def stat and 354HP. Leftovers tack on further recovery, or Lum Berry allows you to escape one status as you Agility so that you can then proceed to block the second attempt with a Sub. However, you do have Natural Cure, so if you don’t mind switching out then Lefties is a perfectly safe decision. Wall Altaria @ Leftovers Natural Cure Careful 252HP/6Def/252Sp.Def -CottonGuard -Roost -Roar -DragonClaw I’m going to just list the varied array of moves with potential on this set: Toxic, Haze, Substitute, PerishSong, Attract, HealBell. Feel free to mix and match. Or you could even run Featherdance instead of CottonGuard, although that’s highly inferior. As for the main set, it’s pretty simple really, basically remove Dragon and Ice-types from the opposing team and start phazing with this stonewall. Team Options Well, ToxicSpikes support would negate the absolute need for Toxic on defensive variants, and hazards in general are pretty much required for the Wall to do any real damage since Altaria has no access to DragonTail. A Steel-type comrade would be able to tank the Dragon and Ice attacks aimed at Altaria, with Heatran in particular taking Ice-types on and threatening to burn physical Dragon-types, especially those dumb enough to lock themselves into Outrage. He won’t like having to handle a Terrakion for Altaria though, so maybe something like Bronzong could do the job similarly if not better in some respects. Oh, and you’re weak to StealthRock, so a Spinner could be nice. Forretress meets the above requirements while also being able to Spin, and can use Counter to break Outrage-locked Dragons. Alternatives Well all of Altaria’s defensive options were brought up on the Wall set, so, offense: HoneClaws may look good, but it’s inferior to DragonDance since you need the Spe boost and have no need for an accuracy upgrade. A Specs set could do some damage (some), with DracoMeteor and the like. Banded set could use Outrage, but Altaria lacks the movepool to fill it out. A Scarf set would leave too much desired and not enough substance in the offensive department. In addition to that, all Choice sets require a lot of switching, and Altaria is weak to StealthRock. Oh and before you go considering a Cloud Nine set to slow down Venusaur, realize that you can’t have it and HealBell at the same time; just a note. How to Beat it Altaria has the typing of Dragonite and Salamence, but with neither’s power but bulk to beat both (discounting Multiscale). So, that means that you should treat it similarly, only with being easier to wall yet harder to break. Taunt shuts most sets down at least partially if not entirely, and Torment in conjunction with this would make mono-attackers rip their hair out. Or their cloud fluff. Meh. Heatran, while being a good teammate for Altaria, is by this logic an equally good counter to anything but the offensive set, as he fears EQ and DragonClaw would break any Balloon upon switching in. Ferrothorn’s LeechSeed stall would be a very effective means of dealing with Altaria, as the bird really can’t afford to split any EVs for FireBlast, and certainly not enough to KO that freakishly sturdy barb sack. Spoiler:Ambipom Normal HP: 75 Atk: 100 Def: 66 Sp.Atk: 60 Sp.Def: 66 Spe: 115 Anti-Lead Ambipom @ Normal Gem Technician Jolly 6HP/252Atk/252Spe -FakeOut -DoubleHit -Acrobatics -LowKick/LowSweep Ah, was waiting for this one. First set I made for Gen V and to this day my very favorite; must’ve used this thing well over 1000 times by now, it’s insane. He pretty much fits onto any team, for the record. Now here’s the workings: FakeOut, with STAB, Normal Gem, and Technician, reaches 135BP of free damage thanks to the flinch. Follow that up with a DoubleHit of a combined 160BP with all of its own boosts, and you can 2HKO Ninetales, offensive Politoed, Infernape, Meinshao, Machamp, and many other non-defensive and non-resistant leads. If you come across a bulky Machamp, or a Grass-type like Breloom and need to KO fast, Acrobatics gets to 110BP once you use up the Gem, 220 on Machamp and 440 on Breloom, scoring that KO easily. Offensive Tyranitar (DD, etc.) will be KO’d by FakeOut followed by a LowKick, or two LowKicks/LowSweeps if defensive. The choice between the two coverage options for Fighting lies between hitting Tyranitar, Heatran, and Snorlax notably harder, or being able to lower the Speed of Aerodactyl so that you can KO him on the next turn or hitting something that’s about to KO you so that they can be more easily revenge killed. Oh and for the record, if Acrobatics is at full power, it 2HKOs Gengar. Choice Band Ambipom @ Choice Band Technician Jolly 6HP/252Atk/252Spe -DoubleHit -LowKick -AerialAce -U-Turn/Switcheroo This set can do about as much as the Anti-Lead set can, only with more options yet the inability to switch moves. DoubleHit and LowKick again provide their coverage, and AerialAce fills in for Acrobatics with slightly less power in the end but with the Band making up for that well. In the last slot, U-Turn does what it does, or Switcheroo could surprise Skarmory or Ferrothorn into being dead weight for the remainder of the battle. Last Resort Ambipom @ Silk Scarf Technician Jolly 6HP/252Atk/252Spe -FakeOut -LastResort - - Ah, one of the funnier sets to actually have success with. If you can somehow rid the battle of all Ghost, Rock, and Steel-types, then this can and will actually sweep. Unfortunately, the prevalence of sandstorm-abusing Rock or Steel-types as well as faster threats makes this very difficult to accomplish. Still, this set being a fan favorite, I felt the need to post it. Team Options In my extended experience, Magnezone is a blessing for Ambipom to partner up with, as he can take down Forretress, Skarmory, and Ferrothorn for the little monkey. The first two even have Sturdy negated if Ambipom uses FakeOut before switching or simply U-Turns to Zone. A Pursuit user like Scizor helps with KO’ing Ghost-types as well as faster threats such as Alakazam and Scarf Starmie/Azelf (who otherwise tie you in Speed). The lead set helps Ghost-types who love to come in on CloseCombats directed at Ambi, Jellicent in particular being able to also counter defensive Politoed leads. Alternatives Pursuit is viable on the Band set, I don’t know where but it is on any Choice set really I suppose. A Scarf set could be used with no Speed investment and Adamant for decent power as well as the ability to outspeed base 130s still, or with full speed investment and Jolly to tie with Timid Scarf Starmie, or Spe investment but Adamant for power and speed combined. FakeOut could go on the Band set if you need priority that badly, but it’s risky at best. HoneClaws could allow for more power and give DoubleHit essentially perfect accuracy, but there’s rarely a free moment to use it and still be able to sweep afterwards. Speaking of boosting moves, Ambipom also gets NastyPlot, Agility, and WorkUp for gimmick sets or a BatonPass surprise, though he’s outclassed in the latter by many many others. Taunt, ThunderWave, and a fast Toxic are all eye-catching support options, if you want to run a Utility sort of set. BrickBreak is weaker than the Low’s since they get Technician, before you go thinking that it’s worth using a Fighting-type attack to break Screens against almost-always-Psychic-typed foes. Return/Frustration is weaker than DoubleHit but could be used for anyone super paranoid about accuracy, and ShadowClaw could hit Ghosts. Bounce could make a trolling Toxic stall, I guess. Ambipom gets the elemental Punches, so FirePunch could hit the physical walls that Magnezone would otherwise need to deal with, IcePunch could bring down Gliscor, and Thunderpunch could give you something respectable to hit Jellicent with or KO Gyarados with even if it Intimidates you first. These could be handy on a Choice set or Life Orb set. Oh, that’s right, Life Orb could of course replace the Band. How to Beat it Bronzong, Jirachi, Metagross, Scizor, etc. that can tank your STAB and don’t really mind your coverage will force you out if not just kill you. Cofagrigus laughs at anything you try to beat him with, even ShadowClaw. He also has the bonus of not being weak to the odd elemental Punch user, unlike some of the others. Gliscor can also wall Ambipom, since again, he never really runs IcePunch. Jellicent, Dusknoir, Chansey, etc. can all pretty much stop Ambipom in his tracks, or tree swings for that matter. Spoiler:Amoonguss Grass-Poison HP: 114 Atk: 85 Def: 70 Sp.Atk: 85 Sp.Def: 80 Spe: 30 Dual Status Amoonguss @ Black Sludge Regenerator Bold 252HP/100Def/156Sp.Def -Spore -StunSpore -GigaDrain -HiddenPower [Ice]/HiddenPower [Fire] It’s like the double powder set, but, with perfect accuracy on the sleep inducer. The threat of Spore alone forces switches, racking up hazard damage on the opponent and incapacitating whoever ends up getting hit with it. StunSpore then spreads paralysis, actually allowing you to outspeed most paralyzed foes and making setup for the rest of your team much easier. GigaDrain is STAB with recovery added in, and the last slot goes to HP Ice or HP Fire based on whether you’re more concerned with Gliscor and Breloom or Ferrothorn, Forretress, and friends. Team Options Well the movepool of this PokeBall mushroom is severely lacking, as it doesn’t even get LeechSeed despite being a fungus. So lots of jobs are left for your teammates to accomplish. The weaknesses to Flying, Ice, Psychic, and Fire are remedied by a Flash Fire Pokemon such as Heatran or Houndoom, or a Rock-type like Tyranitar or Aggron. ToxicSpikes would save you the trouble of having to status things yourself and you could just peacefully stall in general, although Spore is just so much fun. Amoonguss’s resistances to Fighting, Water, and Grass as well as his ability to remove ToxicSpikes upon entry are all much appreciated by sweepers as a whole, so, yeah. Alternatives Once again, the movepool for something this bulky would preferably be a lot wider, but, not here. Toxic could be run, and if it was then so could Venoshock as a sort of gimmick. Another gimmicky gamble is Ingrain for great recovery but trapping yourself on the field. Synthesis could provide more recovery, but sunlight or no weather is hard to come by in today’s game. ClearSmog could halt stat boosters well also doing damage, although damage only by definition. Protect could of course be added onto any Toxic staller set, and a fully specially defensive set could be run with DefenseCurl to totally wall a lot of top threats, such as Terrakion, while making it easier to use ClearSmog effectively. How to Beat it Tricky question there, but Taunt can usually shut him down pretty well, and an Insomnia ability would eliminate his biggest asset, Spore. Celebi can setup on Amoonguss and has Natural Cure, and SubStall Gliscor can wall variants lacking HP Ice. If Sleep Clause is in effect, Skarmory can phaze or hit hard with BraveBird, hardly fearing the rare HP Fire. Spoiler:Ampharos Electric HP: 90 Atk: 75 Def: 75 Sp.Atk: 115 Sp.Def: 90 Spe: 55 Choice Specs Ampharos @ Choice Specs Static Modest 252HP/252Sp.Atk/6Sp.Def -Thunderbolt -HiddenPower [Ice] -FocusBlast -VoltSwitch Oh looky, 542 Sp.Atk coming at your face with a STAB Thunderbolt. Add onto that the BoltBeam combo’s insane coverage and FocusBlast for Steel-types and VoltSwitch for VoltSwitching, and this is not exactly an easy thing to face. The lack of speed is troublesome, but it’s not exactly frail, and Static helps too. Agility Ampharos @ Air Balloon/Life Orb Static Modest 6HP/252Sp.Atk/252Spe -Agility -Thunderbolt -HiddenPower [Ice] -FocusBlast Disregard the previous statement about slowness holding you back; this gets to 418 at +2, and maintains a 361 Sp.Atk stat to hit you with. Air Balloon means easier switch-ins and more opportunities to setup an Agility, while Life Orb gives your attacks that extra oomph they may need. Dual Screens Ampharos @ Light Clay Static Calm 252HP/6Sp.Atk/252Sp.Def -Reflect -LightScreen -VoltSwitch -ThunderWave/HiddenPower [Ice] And it can also run defensive. His special bulk is superior to his physical, so this is intended to have that end covered off the bat and use Reflect first, but depending on your style/team you could of course flip-flop that. VoltSwitch lets you escape while still dealing decent damage in the process of bringing out a sweeper to abuse the screens, and ThunderWave is filler. HP Ice could be run there if you’re afraid of being screwed over by Volt Absorb Thundurus-T or Lightningrod Zapdos (it’d better be released by the time this whole damn thing is finished…), although in that case you’d still need to watch out for Lanturn, so keep track of Team Preview. Team Options Anything to take Ground attacks would be nice, as in a Flying-type or something with Levitate ~~Rotom-S gogogo~~, and preferably a physical attacker. Staraptor comes to mind for his ability to provide speedy physical presence to run alongside the Specs set, as does Archeops for his appreciation for Screens. Speaking of the ground, Ampharos is on it. So if running the Specs set, consider a Spinner to ease the constant switching it will require. Ampharos resists Electric, Flying, and Steel, so anything weak to those would like having him around. Gyarados likes having Screens to DD behind, and anything that Scizor preys on would love having something to take his Technician-boosted BulletPunches. Finally, a Quiet Ampharos with 0 Spe IVs is quite slow indeed, meaning having the potential to sweep whole teams with TrickRoom in effect. Alternatives A defensive set could be run with HealBell and some status moves, and Charge does carry a little-known side effect of raising the user’s Sp.Def. If running on a dedicated rain team, Thunder could of course replace Thunderbolt on any set. On non-rain teams, HP Fire is a decent possibility for the many things weak to it running around, though that’s only if the rest of your team is heavily weak to them. A ChargeBeam set is fairly viable thanks to Amp’s passable bulk, even with Substitute maybe. And finally, a Chesto Rest set for Agility with BoltBeam coverage could be potentially run for those who don’t mind the loss of Fighting coverage. Spoiler:Arbok Poison HP: 60 Atk: 85 Def: 69 Sp.Atk: 65 Sp.Def: 79 Spe: 80 All-Out Coil Arbok @ Life Orb Intimidate Adamant 252Atk/6Def/252Spe -Coil -GunkShot -Earthquake -SuckerPunch Well, Coil up and go for broke basically, if you get the chance for a second Coil then by all means take it and run with it. Adamant and LO do their best to make your power worth using, and the coverage is about as good as you’re gonna scrape up. Bulky Coil Arbok @ Black Sludge Shed Skin Careful 252HP/252Atk/6Sp.Def -Coil -Rest -GunkShot -Earthquake This is more likely to get some sweeping potential going as far as numbers go, but then again, it lacks heavily in coverage. In addition to that, Shed Skin doesn’t actually guarantee waking up any earlier than normal. Choice Scarf Arbok @ Choice Scarf Shed Skin Adamant/Jolly 6HP/252Atk/252Spe -GunkShot/PoisonJab -SeedBomb -Earthquake -Crunch Erm, revenge killer, I think? Could definitely work, but the power is somewhat lacking. Jolly is an option if falling just below base 130s isn’t good enough for you, but beware that the power drop will hurt and you’ll be all but forced to run the shaky GunkShot. Defensive Arbok @ Black Sludge Shed Skin Impish 252HP/6Def/252Sp.Def -Toxic -DragonTail -Rest -Stockpile Okay this one has some potential for the sheer fact that the other guy simply won’t know what the fluff you’re even doing. With hazards support, this can rack up some decent damage, since Arbok isn’t actually frail and has Stockpile to actually make him quite well-rounded defensively after one or two uses. Team Options Hazards are necessary since Arbok will need all the added damage he can get on the offensive sets and needs his phazing to do more than just poison and hit with a weak non-STAB DragonTail. He’s weak to Spikes and neutral to StealthRock, but his entry onto the field does remove ToxicSpikes for your team. Paralyzing, burning, poisoning, and putting to sleep the other team all make his attempt at sweeping so much easier, and would save the defensive set some trouble. He’s weak to Ground and Psychic, which means that Honchkrow happens to make a perfect partner, or Eviolite Murkrow if you feel like being annoying. He does resist Fighting, which should please any Normal-type brethren. Alternatives Haze is there, as is Pursuit, both of which are gimmicks at best though. Switcheroo could be used on the Choice set to cripple some walls, or on any set with Black Sludge too as a matter of fact since it would be quite the nuisance to anything that isn’t also Poison-type, but the defensive set really wouldn’t exactly like giving away its recovery like that. For those with veteran prediction skill, Snatch could be a handy toy at times too. The elemental fangs, finally, are very weak but could see situational use against Skarmory or Gliscor. How to Beat it While I did say Arbok isn’t frail, unless you allow him to setup, he is by no means bulky. Unsetup, any super-effective physical attack would send him slithering away in pain, whereas with a few Coils up, one may have to resort to EarthPower or Psychic instead. Skarmory walls him for all of eternity bar FireFang, and can and will phaze kobrA out. He can be burned or paralyzed, and if he’s revealed Intimidate to be his ability of choice then by all means proceed with that plan if you really have nothing better. Spoiler:Arcanine Fire HP: 90 Atk: 110 Def: 80 Sp.Atk: 100 Sp.Def: 80 Spe: 95 Physical Beast Arcanine @ Life Orb/Choice Band Flash Fire Jolly 6HP/252Atk/252Spe -FlareBlitz -WildCharge -Extremespeed -CloseCombat/Crunch An all-out attacker Arcanine is one of those sets that just sorta builds itself. FlareBlitz is a monstrously powerful STAB attack at the price of some recoil, and WildCharge is an Electric equivalent for Water-types that aren’t Gastrodon, Swampert, or Quagsire. Extremespeed picks off faster enemies and makes you that much more difficult to revenge kill due to it going before all other priority attacks, and the final slot is given up to a random coverage move either for Rock-types, especially Tyranitar, or Ghosties, such as Chandelure who happens to deserve particular attention to get around. Flame Charge Arcanine @ Air Balloon Intimidate Adamant 6HP/252Atk/252Spe -FlameCharge -FlareBlitz -WildCharge -Crunch/CloseCombat Arcanine can also choose to exchange ESpeed for a reasonably powerful STAB FlameCharge to get its Speed up plenty high before fully sweeping. In this case, Chandelure is even more likely to come in, so Crunch edges out CC in my opinion. Sun Special Sweeper Arcanine @ Expert Belt Flash Fire Timid 6HP/252Sp.Atk/252Spe -FireBlast -Solarbeam -HiddenPower [Ice] -MorningSun 299 Sp.Atk with a double-STAB FireBlast and great coverage is not to be taken lightly. On top of that, MorningSun is amazing recovery assuming you can keep the sun shining on Arcanine’s majestic coat. Shame his special movepool is so weak. Wallbreaker Arcanine @ Life Orb/Choice Scarf Flash Fire Hasty/Adamant 56Atk/200Sp.Atk/252Spe -FireBlast -WildCharge -HiddenPower [Ice] -Extremespeed/CloseCombat Arcanine’s intimidation factor (no pun intended, obviously since Flash Fire is preferred here) when running attacks from both ends is not too far short of shitbrix status, and that’s only because he’s slow enough to be revenge killed most of the time, especially by Ghosts. Unless of course this set dons a Scarf, in which case you’d better be damn good at predicting. Either way, this set is capable of dishing serious damage in all kinds of ways, especially on premier walls (Skarmory, Gliscor, Ferrothorn, Forretress, Chansey, Blissey) and attackers (Dragonite, Breloom, Salamence, Genesect, Scizor, Gyarados, Politoed, Tyranitar, Magnezone, Mamoswine), and the number increases if you choose to run a Scarf (non-Scarf Terrakion, non-Scarf Starmie, non-Scarfed Landorus/-T). Team Options Arcanine is a common member of Fire Water Grass cores, thanks to his Flash Fire ability and pure typing. So things like Water Absorb Vaporeon or Gastrodon cover him rather well, and he supports Grass-types in general such as Ferrothorn and Tangrowth, and appreciates them luring Fire attacks when he’s running Flash Fire. Spin support is a necessity due to his grounding and weakness to Rocks, and a cleric would of course keep paralysis woes away. You can rest safely though knowing that unlike most physical attackers, Arcanine’s typing means he cannot be burned. Providing hazards to weaken the competition will greatly assist in sweeping potential, especially if you decide to run Roar. Alternatives The majority of Arcanine’s movepool has been stated at some point or another, and two of the three Choice items have been mentioned too. The third, Specs, is inadvisable due to Arcanine’s disappointingly shallow special movepool, despite his good Sp.Atk stat for a physical attacker. HP Grass can be used as a special attack for Water and Rock-types, but that can be achieved through WildCharge and CloseCombat with HP Ice doing its own job if you care that much. However, HP Grass would remove the threat of Gastrodon, Swampert, and Quagsire, so if you don’t have a Fire-Water-Grass core or something similar then it’s still worth a look. Will-O-Wisp could be used on a physically bulky set with Intimidate, or a RestTalk set could abuse said bulk too despite a relative lack of coverage. BodySlam could provide paralysis support on defensive sets, allowing Arcanine to recover before being hit potentially. Various other support moves like Safeguard, Substitute, and Roar are also up for consideration when steering away from the offensive route. If FlameCharge doesn’t meet your standards, then Agility is also available to the Legendary Pokemon. Howl is another boosting option, although it’s somewhat subpar as far as boosting moves go. Ignore apparent gems like Retaliate, AerialAce, and Bulldoze, as they’re outclassed by better choices in Arcanine’s wide toolbox. How to Beat it StealthRock is as good a start as any against anything weak to it, for obvious reasons, but keep a Spinblocker if you’re dedicated to your hazards. Hippowdon’s bulk can handle Arcanine very well, as even HP Ice/Grass won’t get the job done on him, and he can then either wear down with EQ or just phaze out. Water-Ground types such as Gastrodon and Swampert can tank everything but an HP Grass, and should be able to take on a CC before KO’ing with either of their STABs. Rhyperior’s Solid Rock can even null CC, so he also makes a reasonable counter. Spoiler:Archeops Rock-Flying HP: 75 Atk: 140 Def: 65 Sp.Atk: 112 Sp.Def: 65 Spe: 110 Acrobatics Archeops @ Flying Gem Defeatist Hasty 252Atk/6Sp.Atk/252Spe -Acrobatics -StoneEdge -Earthquake -HiddenPower [Fire] Ah the beauty of an all-in specimen like Archeops. The intent of this set is to basically just wreck before anything hits you too hard, as Defeatist ruins any potential you may have had for the rest of the battle after you’ve taken 50% or more. Acrobatics and StoneEdge provide high-powered dual STABs, with Earthquake rounding out the EdgeQuake combo and HP Fire burning up Skarmory, Ferrothorn, Forretress, and Scizor. The last of those needs to be caught switching in though, lest it activate Defeatist with a BulletPunch. Choice Band Archeops @ Choice Band Defeatist Jolly 6HP/252Atk/252Spe -Earthquake -StoneEdge -U-Turn -Crunch/DragonClaw The power this set manages to generate, 569Atk backed up by 350Spe, is obscene. It works like the Acrobatics set, except it sacrifices move-switching freedom for even more power. Choice Scarf Archeops @ Choice Scarf Defeatist Lonely 252Atk/6Sp.Atk/252Spe -StoneEdge -Earthquake -U-Turn -HiddenPower [Fire] Now, we rotate our focus on power to Speed, which is actually a very wise decision when using Archeops. Why? Well, when he’s sitting at a blistering 479Spe, he’s almost guaranteed to hit before being hit; this makes it less likely that Defeatist will end up activating, while also making him an even more effective revenge killer since he keeps a ridiculous Atk stat of 416. Team Options Archeops doesn’t resist priority and takes 12.5% from StealthRock, so a Spinner and a Magnezone for Scizor would both be greatly appreciated on his behalf. MachPunchers such as Breloom and Conkeldurr can’t switch into the Acrobatics set, but can neuter him with their STAB priority by coming in after a kill, so a Flying-type like Tornadus would assist there. Anything that can take Electric and Water attacks, i.e. basically any Grass-type, would also do a good job of keeping Archeops’ HP bar above the halfway mark. Wish support could also do this, so a mixed wall like Chansey capable of spreading paralysis and healing any status that comes upon Archeops (any and all status will essentially waste him) is also a great idea. Oh, and he gets a Sp.Def boost from sandstorm and the damage racks up on some bulkier foes, so perhaps that would allow him to tank that one extra neutral special attack. Alternatives A Specs set may seem more viable than most gimmicks, but the lack of any movepool for such a variant should wipe that idea from your mind. Plus, as some people may not realize, Atk AND Sp.Atk are cut in half by Defeatist; not just Atk. QuickAttack could be used on the Band set, sorta like a Terrakion, but is useless on anything besides that. If you find yourself getting statused, phazed, or setup on too often, he does have access to a very speedy Taunt. HoneClaws my catch your eye, but he can’t afford to be wasting time setting up. How to Beat it A weakness to BulletPunch, MachPunch, and VacuumWave does not benefit something trying so hard to keep its HP as high as possible, for sure. Metagross and Scizor can predict their way into switching in, and if they succeed, Archeops will have no choice but to turn feathery tail and run. Forcing switches in general can break him down if you have StealthRock up, and certain bulky phazers like Hippowdon and Skarmory (against sets without HP Fire) can force switch-outs as well as involuntary switch-ins. Side note: do not attempt to wall with Cofagrigus, as giving Archeops Mummy will double his reign of terror’s length. Spoiler:Ariados Bug-Poison HP: 70 Atk: 90 Def: 70 Sp.Atk: 60 Sp.Def: 60 Spe: 40 Toxic Spikes Ariados @ Black Sludge Insomnia Impish 252HP/252Def/6Sp.Def -ToxicSpikes -SpiderWeb -Protect -BatonPass ToxicSpikes do their job, and SpiderWeb is a signature move that does of course have its benefits, trapping something that doesn’t switch out but can’t hurt you too badly, or guaranteeing that you can switch a counter into it. Protect stalls out toxic poisoning’s effects on anything afflicted, and BatonPass provides a means of escaping AFTER taking a hit (assuming it’s something weak so that you can actually tank it), that way whatever follows you in doesn’t need to be hit. Unfortunately, SpiderWeb no longer carries over when BP is used, thanks to Gen V mechanics nerfing it almost entirely with that one. Baton Passer Ariados @ Black Sludge/Liechi Berry/Salac Berry Insomnia Jolly 252HP/6Def/252Spe -Agility -HoneClaws -SpiderWeb -BatonPass The interesting niche value of running this set is that, while it is certainly outclassed as a Passer, Ariados’s typing and ability happen to give it the opportunity to setup on Breloom. The item choice could be switched to a pinch berry if you’re looking to collect an extra boost for whatever ends up receiving the Pass. Keep in mind that, even at +2, Ariados is still only at 358Spe. Team Options Ariados’s role, regardless of what you choose to make it, will be difficult for him to accomplish and have minimal effect overall; don’t make him feel any worse by having it undone. If using the ToxicSpikes set, kill opposing Poison-types and Spinners, or at least do the first half and have a Ghost-type. Use your own Spinner too, since he’s weak to StealthRock. Don’t let either set get Taunted, and don’t have the BP recipient get killed by being weak to the same thing(s) as Ariados. For the record, Ariados is weak to Rock, Psychic, Fire, and Flying off the top of my head, all of which are relatively common but can also be commonly resisted by things like Empoleon and Heatran, who are weak to the Fighting moves that Ariados resists. Don’t forget that Ariados removes ToxicSpikes by entering, a great asset to teams. Alternatives …are few and far between. Disable could be of use if you manage to trap a Choice user, but his lack of Speed or bulk sorta ruins that idea. A HoneClaws set mayyyyyy be able to do some damage in TrickRoom, but a lack of offensive coverage would mean even more support would be required to eliminate counters. ScaryFace could be of use and something you trapped, potentially, although Agility is better. How to Beat it The aforementioned super-effective attacks (plus whatever ones I may have forgotten) can easily dispose of the little pest, especially if coming from the special side. Taunt will shut down anything he attempts, forcing a switch. It may seem like there aren’t many counters listed, but that’s simply because he doesn’t do much in the first place to be countered. Spoiler:Armaldo Rock-Bug HP: 75 Atk: 125 Def: 100 Sp.Atk: 70 Sp.Def: 90 Spe: 45 Supporting Armaldo @ Leftovers Battle Armor Impish 252HP/252Def/6Sp.Def -StealthRock -RapidSpin -RockBlast -KnockOff Armaldo’s physical walling prowess flies under the radar of many battlers, or perhaps it’s just buried in the desert with Anorith’s fossil. He also has the rare combination of StealthRock and RapidSpin, making him crucial to multiple support roles at once. KnockOff can be quite annoying, especially on things like Ferrothorn that require Leftovers recovery or Chansey that needs its Eviolite. And then there’s STAB RockBlast for hitting through Dragonite’s Multiscale or the Substitute of anything weak to it or physically frail. Sweeper Armaldo @ Life Orb Swift Swim Jolly 252Atk/6Def/252Spe -RockPolish -X-Scissor -StoneEdge -Earthquake He may seem too slow for even a RockPolish set, but a max Speed Armaldo at +2 is at 414. With a Life Orb to help counteract the lack of Adamant, dual STABs, and Earthquake for coverage, well this thing can certainly leave a surprisingly big dent in teams, surprising to both you and the victim. Chesto Resto Armaldo @ Chesto Berry Swift Swim Adamant 252HP/252Atk/6Def -SwordsDance -Rest -StoneEdge -Earthquake Armaldo is not only physically bulky enough to pull this set off quite well once special attackers have been removed, but he even gets Swift Swim to capitalize on opposing Politoed. Rest removes status and heals, while EdgeQuake is more than enough in terms of attacking power. With no Speed investment, by the way, Armaldo in an opponent’s rain outspeeds base 110 Pokemon. Team Options Armaldo does more for most teams than vice versa, so something like Volcarona that hates StealthRock would like having the Support set around, while teams that struggle against rain teams could benefit from an offensive set running Swift Swim. Hyper-offense teams would certainly love having the RockPolish set to play around with, while bulkier offense teams could better utilize the Resto variant. Armaldo himself is weak to Water and Steel, which does hurt his ability to sweep HydroPump-filled and Scizor-happy rain teams, so something to take their respective threatening attacks like Water Absorb Lanturn would be a good partner in crime. TrickRoom could turn Armaldo into a very ‘fast’ sweeper, and in such a case he should be running Battle Armor just to be safe. Alternatives A Choice Band set is viable for the heavyweight power it brings to the table, although the lack of Speed is a concern. Especially on a TrickRoom team, Curse could be good for the fact that it boosts Armaldo’s two highest stats. If you’re trying to maintain speed in hopes of encountering rain (which is a pretty reachable dream), then HoneClaws also boosts Atk and picks up on StoneEdge’s imperfect accuracy if you’d rather do that than run SwordsDance and RockSlide or something like that. Toxic has its uses as it does on any defensive set, and IronDefense could be an interesting pick. Also, Bulldoze could be viable to force some switches and/or cripple some sweepers, while also doing decent damage to those it hits super-effectively. How to Beat it Again, Armaldo is weak only to Water and Steel, but those are both pretty well distributed around OU play. Basically, any Water-type but especially a physically bulky one can make Armaldo all but pointless as long as they’re still alive. Scizor and Metagross have priority regardless of what speed Armaldo is currently at. Jirachi can take an EQ and paralyze before flinching to death, and Ferrothorn can wall the crap out of you. Spoiler:Articuno Ice-Flying HP: 90 Atk: 85 Def: 100 Sp.Atk: 95 Sp.Def: 125 Spe: 85 Special Wall Articuno @ Leftovers Pressure Calm 252HP/6Sp.Atk/252Sp.Def -Toxic -Roost -Haze -IceBeam Typical special wall sort of set, but hey, it works. Pretty simple really, so I’ll just mention the fact that Articuno’s mixed bulk should never be underestimated just because of his weakness to Rocks. Support Articuno @ Leftovers Pressure Calm 252HP/6Sp.Atk/252Sp.Def -Reflect -HealBell -Roar -IceBeam Well same EVs and still a mono-attacker, but different intent. Reflect makes him a much more balanced wall, and helps physically frail teammates like Alakazam potentially tank that one crucial extra attack. HealBell for cleric purposes, and Roar for phazing instead of Hazing while also racking up hazards damage. Hail Sweeper Articuno @ Sitrus Berry Snow Cloak Modest 252HP/252Sp.Atk/6Sp.Def -Substitute -Agility -Blizzard -HiddenPower [Electric] What a plot twist, the runt of the Bird Trio can actually cause damage! Snow Cloak and Substitute can be quite annoying, especially when Sitrus activates. BoltBeam combo comes in with a fantastically high-powered Ice half and a disappointingly weak Electric portion, but it’s enough for things like Gyarados and offensive Politoed. Team Options RapidSpin support, two RapidSpinners, Magic Bounce, anything to keep StealthRock off the field at all costs. Next, attend to the Electric and Rock weaknesses; a Ground-type partner can deal with those. What does that mean? It means Donphan should get his elephantine arse in here. Abomasnow is obvious for the hail set, or Eviolite Snover since you must be okay with gimmicks to be here in the first place. Alternatives Unfortunately, the entire usable movepool of Articuno has been listed apart from U-Turn, which would possibly be handy on a Reflect-focused set I guess. The support movepool is wider however, consisting of neat toys like Tailwind,Hail, and RestTalk. He could try a Scarf set for fun, filling the slots with IceBeam, HP Electric, U-Turn, and uh…Gust?? At that point just run Pressure stall if you feel like being an irritant. How to Beat it StealthRock obviously cripples Arctic Uno, and Froslass in particular can take advantage of hail if present and block Spinning too, while being able to Taunt defensive variants and paralyze offensive, with IceBeam hitting neutrally and killing Donphan. Lanturn resists BoltBeam, as does Shedinja if you happen to be Jeevs. Terrakion and Tyranitar hit it hard with Rock STABs, as does anything else with a Rock-type move of any sort, except maybe Togekiss’s Ancientpower. Actually, he can probably do it too, especially with a NP under the ol’ belt. Spoiler:Audino Normal HP: 103 Atk: 60 Def: 86 Sp.Atk: 60 Sp.Def: 86 Spe: 50 Support Audino @ Leftovers Regenerator Bold/Impish 252HP/252Def/6Sp.Def -HealBell -Wish -ThunderWave/Toxic -HealingWish Much like the main character of Chowder, Audino’s rabbit/bear/cat/thing look creates a deceptively cute external image. However, he is easily capable of holding a defensively-oriented team together, as Ziggly will attest to as I mention him yet again. Here is a variety of support options which are all run simultaneously to let Audino work in plenty of situations that he may find himself on the battlefield covering for a Ghost weakness. Trick Room Setter Audino @ Focus Sash/Mental Herb Regenerator Relaxed/Sassy 0 Spe IVs 6HP/252Def/252Sp.Def -TrickRoom -HealingWish -Telekinesis -Yawn Ooh goody a TrickRoomer has entered the fray. Audino’s access to TrickRoom is odd, which benefits you since few will ever expect it if any. Once that’s all done, either switch out or use HealingWish if the incoming sweeper has been crippled already and/or Audino barely survived this little escapade. Telekinesis is handy filler if you for some reason choose to stay in for another turn, such as if your next sweeper is at full health so HealingWish would be pointless. The last move is filler for just causing a switch for any reason you may feel the need to do so. Statuser Audino @ Leftovers/Lum Berry Regenerator Calm 252HP/252Def/6Sp.Def -ThunderWave/Toxic/Yawn -ThunderWave/Toxic/Yawn -Wish -Protect/HealBell …Damn this thing is a pain. Mix and match the status options, or feel free to replace Protect to have all three I guess. Wish is pretty much a necessity though, so keep that one preferably. HealBell is an option too to keep you alive longer, or you could just use a Lum Berry. Team Options A Ghost-type would be able to cover your Fighting-type weakness, and would enjoy having you around to cover their own weakness to Ghost. Audino could also work as the secondary TrickRoomer to Reuniclus, who has the same synergy more or less. An Eviolite Dusclops could complement as a second mixed wall and help to stall out with one or both using Toxic, or even use TrickRoom himself. He and other Ghost-types like Cofagrigus and Jellicent love the cleric support, too. Amoonguss and the Slows resist Fighting and could form Regenerator cores. Alternatives A Dual Screener set actually was going to be posted, but I realized that it’s exactly the same as the Statuser set bar the first two slots. You could run Klutz ability with Entrainment for trolling purposes, as can Encore only with higher practicality than the former and making more sense with Regenerator. Audino’s special movepool is sexy, but 60 Sp.Atk is nowhere near enough even with Specs. However, if you’re really that lured, then you could sacrifice one slot for CalmMind just to make the decisions of coverage even tougher. If you’re an expert decision maker then maybe even run Wish! How to Beat it Audino may be immune to Ghost and weak only to Fighting, but he has no resistances, so repeated heavy hits will wear him to the ground eventually. He also lacks the ability to burn or sleep, so sweepers can setup on many sets barring Screens, although faster ones will hate paralysis. Think more along the lines of Breloom, Conkeldurr, Infernape, Keldeo, etc. Spoiler:Azelf Psychic HP: 75 Atk: 125 Def: 70 Sp.Atk: 125 Sp.Def: 70 Spe: 115 Anti-Weather Lead Azelf @ Choice Scarf Levitate Timid 6HP/252Sp.Atk/252Spe -Psychic/Psyshock -Thunder -FireBlast -GrassKnot/HiddenPower [Fight] Azelf’s movepool has the interesting advantage of having a move to take out every weather lead bar Ninetales, which won’t exactly scoff at a STAB Psychic. Thunder 2HKOs defensive Politoed and its fellow rain abusers, FireBlast takes care of things like Ferrothorn and Scizor while also nailing Abomasnow easily, and GrassKnot deals serious damage on Tyranitar and Hippowdon. If Hippowdon isn’t a concern of yours for whatever reason though, HP Fight hits Tyranitar for 280 as opposed to 240 from GrassKnot. General Lead Azelf @ Choice Scarf Levitate Jolly 6HP/252Atk/252Spe -Trick -StealthRock -ZenHeadbutt/FirePunch -U-Turn/FirePunch This is a less specific form of an attacking Azelf lead. Trick with his high Speed and a Scarf is used to cripple defensive foes, assisted by Team Preview of course. Beyond that, StealthRock is used for obvious reasons, and then STAB and U-Turn with FirePunch for coverage a decent choice in place of either. Choice Band Azelf @ Choice Band Levitate Jolly 6HP/252Atk/252Spe -ZenHeadbutt -FirePunch -U-Turn -IcePunch Banded Azelf has serious power to go along with naturally above average speed. ZenHeadbutt is obvious STAB, and U-Turn for scouting as well as coverage. FirePunch and IcePunch destroy most walls you’ll see around the game, like Steels and Gliscor. Choice Specs Azelf @ Choice Specs Levitate Timid 6HP/252Sp.Atk/252Spe -Psychic -HiddenPower [Fighting] -ShadowBall -FireBlast The equivalent power of a Banded set, Azelf’s special prowess harbors even more coverage than his physical. The coverage of the first three moves mimics an Alakazam standard set, with FireBlast taking care of Steel-Psychic types that can take the others. Nasty Plot Azelf @ Life Orb Levitate Timid 6HP/252Sp.Atk/252Spe -NastyPlot -Psychic -ShadowBall -FireBlast In addition to his straight-off power with a Choice item of either attacking side, Azelf hits 698 Sp.Atk at +2, and has the coverage to back it up and the Life Orb to amp it even higher. Plus, with Levitate and not-bulky-but-not-frail defensive stats, it’s not really that daunting of a task to get that boost, and even if you don’t you still have the power to revenge kill or even sometimes cleanup late-game. Dual Screens Azelf @ Light Clay Levitate Impish 252HP/252Def/6Sp.Def -LightScreen -Reflect -ThunderWave -U-Turn Azelf wears many hats. You just wouldn’t know because they’re all under the blue triangular one he wears every day like Double D from Ed Edd N’ Eddy. Anywho, Dual Screens is a very viable option for Azelf, who suddenly becomes very, very bulky behind either or both and so does the rest of his team for several turns afterward. ThunderWave is for annoyance and U-Turn does reasonable damage to escape to your setup sweeper of choice for the situation. Team Options Overall, Azelf is more or less capable of handling itself. However, the Choice sets are forced to switch constantly, so even Levitate and neutrality to StealthRock can’t save him forever. The NastyPlot set likes having Blissey out of the way, so any Fighting-type could do that really. Paralysis support can make it easier for him to setup or revenge kill, too. Alternatives Either of the Choice sets could run an offensive nature with a Scarf instead, easily, or a Scarf set could be run with mixed attacks for specific wallbreaking. A Life Orb could also be used on either Choice set, or an Expert Belt to make switching moves more of a surprise. Azelf gets CalmMind for a bulkier setup on teams that might have trouble with special attackers, as well as ChargeBeam if you find that to be handy. EnergyBall could replace GrassKnot for more consistency, but would be weaker against Ttar and Hippowdon. TrickRoom is a decent choice, as Azelf could set it up, then become ‘slow’ and take a hit before U-Turning out to spare the incoming Pokemon. How to Beat it Tyranitar and Scizor, though risky switch-ins, both have STABs to bring down the blue elf or could Pursuit it trying to escape. The NastyPlot and Dual Screens set hate being Taunted, so something fast enough like Weavile could at least prevent part of his setup. Blissey can wall the special set, but had better be careful of a physical variant. Chansey can take on a physical variant a little better, as can Dusclops or Dusknoir. Spoiler:Azumarill Water HP: 100 Atk: 50 Def: 80 Sp.Atk: 50 Sp.Def: 80 Spe: 50 Choice Band Azumarill @ Choice Band Huge Power Adamant 252HP/252Atk/6Sp.Def -AquaJet -Waterfall -IcePunch -Superpower Azumarill’s most (in)famous set, with a Band the water bunny tops out at 654Atk to become a true revenge killing menace. AquaJet has STAB to get up to a decent 60BP, 90 under rain. Waterfall is a very nice 120, or 180 under rain. IcePunch takes care of Grass-types and Dragons that resists Azu’s lone STAB type, while Superpower lands on Ferrothorn. Azumarill is by no means fast, so use these coverage moves only if necessary. SubPunch Azumarill @ Leftovers Huge Power Adamant 252HP/252Atk/6Sp.Def -Substitute -FocusPunch -AquaJet -IcePunch Another mean set with less power but more likelihood of getting itself going. Sub on a forced switch, and start abusing that coverage again. Even without STAB, his massive Atk combined with a high-powered FocusPunch or a STAB priority AquaJet will leave most foes mown down. IcePunch once again is for Dragons and Grass-types. Team Options There are certain things that mayyyy be able to take some of Azumarill’s attacks, so they need to be wiped out. Jellicent, Gastrodon, and Vaporeon from most to least likely all need to be ditched, so something like a Sceptile could deal with them with his speedy STAB. Paralysis support makes his Waterfall more practical, and it’s obviously twice as deadly as AquaJet when going first, so that helps. Rain from Politoed gives his already lethal STAB 50% more power, if you feel like being a jerk to the other guy, or TrickRoom could turn him into a very ‘fast’ powerhouse. Finally, some hazards to net those extra 2HKOs are a blessing for any sweeper, especially one who forces so many switches. Oh, right, he’s weak to Electric and Grass which means that a Grass-type is an even better partner choice, or a Dragon-type like Haxorus that could use the opportunity to setup a DD or SD. Alternatives As far as movepools go, Azumarill’s is incredibly lacking. BellyDrum is a drastic setup option, and is illegal with AquaJet, but if you tried it with Sub, Waterfall, and BrickBreak then you might get somewhere either on a TrickRoom team or with a ton of paralysis support. Life Orb could be used somewhere, but he usually appreciates either the added power or the HP recovery for Sub more. Thick Fat could work if you ran some sort of defensive set with Encore and Toxic and stuff but, that’s pretty outclassed by not only his other talents but also other Pokemon with the same toys. How to Beat it[i] Well there are a handful of walls in OU that can claim the right to truly stand up to Azumarill. Jellicent can take anything with Water Absorb, Tentacruel resists everything too, and Skarmory is just a stonewall. Of course, he may fall to a rain-boosted Waterfall before being able to phaze, so play cautiously. Azumarill is grounded and takes neutral from StealthRock, so the Band set would find its switches limited and the Sub set would be left with less possible Subs if SR and some Spikes were on his playing field, and ToxicSpikes would [i]really cripple the Sub set. Azu resists BulletPunch but is neutral to all other priority, and Dragonite’s Extremespeed in particular combined with Multiscale should suffice. B Spoiler:Banette Ghost HP: 64 Atk: 115 Def: 65 Sp.Atk: 83 Sp.Def: 63 Spe: 65 Suicide Trick Room Setter Banette @ Focus Sash Insomnia Brave 0 Def, 0 Sp.Def, 0 Spe IVs 252Atk -TrickRoom -DestinyBond -Taunt -ShadowClaw Poor Banette was once discarded by his owner, and then by most players due to his poor stats bar Atk. However, they do allow him to do this one role well, with the correct moves. On Banette’s first turn in, he should set up TrickRoom immediately. Then, since he’s guaranteed to survive that thanks to his Sash, use DestinyBond and kill the opposing Pokemon with your own death, making it that much easier for the incoming player to sweep thanks to the free switch-in you’ve granted him. Taunt stops setup or being Taunted, and ShadowClaw is a 361Atk STAB for emergency purposes such as having been Taunted. Team Options While that set should usually be run as a lead to ensure the Sash remains unbroken by hazards or status, if you choose to run it in another slot and/or like to shuffle your lead based on Team Preview, then a Spinner is required. Other than that, Banette is supposed to die for his team, so it’s just a matter of what he can do for them rather than the other way around. So slow things like Ramparados or offensive Ferrothorn will enjoy TrickRoom, and another Trick Room setter or more than one is also necessary if you’re dedicating your team to the field effect. Alternatives Banette’s Atk may look promising if you’d like to sweep under his own TrickRoom, but he only learns Ghost and Dark attacks and GunkShot. A support set could be run, or a non-suicide TrickRoomer, as he does learn Disable, ThunderWave, Toxic, Will-O-Wisp, Trick, Torment, and ConfuseRay. More practically speaking, one could try Cursed Body on the Suicide TR set to screw with Choice users, however Insomnia allows you to setup on Breloom lacking BulletSeed, Venusaur, and Amoonguss. How to Beat it Few people ever bother to read up on Banette, so while it’s unlikely you’ll see it around, the only way you will would probably be the TrickRoom setter. Assuming that’s the case, just Taunt it before the Speed stats are flip-flopped and it should be shut down almost entirely, and if you happen to resist its STAB then even better. If it’s an offensive set, then any Steel-type walls it completely and any Dark-type can KO it, or a Scizor or Tyranitar with Pursuit. If it does setup TrickRoom before you can stop it, then try hitting it with priority so it can’t use DestinyBond, although keep in mind that it’s immune to MachPunch. You could also try statusing it or setting up, but he can Taunt you in that case so be prepared to potentially be foiled. Spoiler:Basculin Water HP: 70 Atk: 92 Def: 65 Sp.Atk: 80 Sp.Def: 55 Spe: 98 Choice Band Basculin @ Choice Band Adaptability Adamant 6HP/252Atk/252Spe -AquaJet -Waterfall -Crunch -Return The fact that I once was asked by Icekickseverything in a battle what Basculin even is, proves the point of how invisible his presence truly is. No, not Ice’s, the fish. Anyways, he’s underrated in that respect, as his Adaptability AquaJet is entirely unique, and the ability itself is highly rare. Waterfall hits real hard if you’re faster or predict a switch, and Crunch nails Jellicent while Return provides general coverage. Team Options Yes, it’s already to this part. Anything that resists Water and is bulky will prevent Basculin from netting his revenge kills, so take out Tangrowth, Ferrothorn, defensive Politoed, Tentacruel, etc. if you care that much about the fish. Really though, he shouldn’t be taking over too much of the team, as he’s only there for the priority in essence. Hazards make his KOs easier, paralysis gives him more opportunities to hit with Waterfall for more power, and rain powers up his STAB even further. RapidSpin helps since he has to switch quite a bit. Alternatives Basculin-B? Nah I’ll include that as the same Pokemon for obvious reasons. However, if you did run that, you’d have the option to try Rock Head for Double-Edge having more power than Return, or with regular Basculin you could use Reckless to power it up while losing the double STAB boost, so that’s pretty inferior. You could run Double-Edge on the set with Adaptability, actually, just beware it’ll shorten his lifespan. You could Scarf him, as his 98Spe is good enough for that easily, allowing you to use Waterfall more often. He does get Taunt if you wanna screw with Ferrothorn and other common walls, but it’s a little out of place on a Choice set. You could run Life Orb I guess, but his lifespan again would be cut and he’d lose power. How to Beat it Cofagrigus can switch into either Water STAB and cut its power with Mummy, and is immune to Normal, and can usually tank a Crunch but won’t like being Taunted. Fast Electric-types and Grass-types will be able to dish hits on him, as well as take them in the case of the latter. Much like all revenge killers, unless you’re heavily weakened or weak to Water, he won’t be on the field on the first place but if he is you should be able to handle him. If something has a faster priority or Extremespeed, he’ll be dented pretty badly, although he does have the advantage of resisting BulletPunch. Spoiler:Bastiodon Rock-Steel HP: 60 Atk: 52 Def: 168 Sp.Atk: 47 Sp.Def: 148 Spe: 30 Physical Wall Bastiodon @ Leftovers Sturdy Impish 252HP/252Def/6Sp.Def -StealthRock -Roar -Toxic -RockTomb Bastiodon’s typing gives him nine resistances and an immunity, but in exchange for a x4 weakness to both Fighting and Ground, with the latter possibly being the most common attacking type in OU and the former being right up there with it, alongside Water which Bastiodon also is weak to. However, the first two are very often physical, which means that with his astounding 324/478/313 defenses, this prehistoric Red Rover wall can take the ones that aren’t STAB. StealthRock is arguably the best kind of overall hazard, and Roar assists it in doing its job while getting rid of threats to Bastiodon as they try and fail to switch in. Toxic is for stalling and actually doing some damage with his pathetic offensive stats, while RockTomb annoys sweepers and avoids being Taunt bait. Metal Burst Bastiodon @ Leftovers Sturdy Careful 252HP/6Def/252Sp.Def -MetalBurst -Roar -Toxic -Taunt MetalBurst is a highly exclusive move, given only Mawile, Dialga, Aggron, Cobalion, and Sableye besides Bastiodon and some NFEs. He can abuse it quite well though, with Sturdy and a very even defensive spread here of 324/373/375 since it works as MirrorCoat and Counter do but on both sides of offense. Keep in mind that it also only does 1.5x as much damage back instead of 2x. Taunt is for forcing them to hit you, and if they start switching around instead, you use Roar. Toxic hits walls and such. Team Options Gengar is immune to Bastiodon’s two biggest weaknesses, and many Water-type attackers tend to be Choiced so the SubDisable set could be a big help. Jellicent is also immune to Fighting and Water, or even without Cursed Body still resists Water, but his lacking physical Def lets him down against STAB EQs unless he’s used AcidArmor already. Mismagius has the same immunities as Gengar and can then setup, and appreciates walls being badly poisoned to break through them later on. Sigilyph and Xatu are immune to Ground and have x4 resistances to Fighting, so perhaps mix and match some of these mentioned. Bastiodon is nearly unaffected by StealthRock and is immune to poisoning, so he doesn’t really require Spin support. However, he has no means of recovery, so a Wish passer would be highly beneficial. Alternatives He gets Torment, which could force the opponent not to be able to 2HKO him with a super-effective attack, and if you run it with Protect then it could be especially frustrating. A dedicated Toxic stall set could work with again Protect, but his horrid Speed and unfitting HP make Sub impossible on such a set. RestTalk with Roar and Toxic or some attack could work, since he does need recovery, with BodySlam being a decent option on that over Toxic now that I think about it more. How to Beat it Bastiodon’s supreme bulk on both ends leaves his Water weakness almost insignificant other than in rain, but, it is there. However, you’d be better off focusing on his larger weaknesses to Fighting and Ground, and common things such as Conkeldurr and Hippowdon can easily capitalize on those. Taunt leaves Bastiodon with little to do thanks to his pathetic offensive stats, on the other hand always be wary of MetalBurst. Steel-types can wall the physical wall set, as it cannot poison them or even make a mark with RockTomb, while most Steel-types are defensive and wouldn’t mind the Speed drop. Ferrothorn and other GyroBall users can even take advantage of it. Spoiler:Beartic Ice HP: 95 Atk: 110 Def: 80 Sp.Atk: 70 Sp.Def: 80 Spe: 50 SubPunch Beartic @ Leftovers Swift Swim Adamant 6HP/252Atk/252Spe -Substitute -FocusPunch -NightSlash -IcicleCrash Beartic’s stats are seemingly designed solely to tease him, as he has excellent potential in his Atk and Swift Swim, but with the former being restricted by awful Speed and the latter being banned from use alongside Drizzle, he ends up being heavily frustrating to even make a decent set with. However, he does have okay defenses, so despite terrible defensive typing he should be able to get a Sub up if you play him right. FocusPunch hits hard, NightSlash provides perfect coverage alongside it, and IcicleCrash is the STAB move of choice. Rain Sweeper Beartic @ Life Orb Swift Swim Adamant 6HP/252Atk/252Spe -SwordsDance -IcicleCrash -BrickBreak -StoneEdge/NightSlash Beartic does, however, reach 398Spe under rain, although it’ll need to be provided via RainDance unless you feel like relying on your opponent to have it. Assuming he does get the doubled Speed though, the moves listed do their best to cover for the Fire, Ice, Steel, and Water-types that resist your STAB. StoneEdge is preferred to get Fire-types, but NightSlash could be used for better overall coverage with BrickBreak. Team Options Spin support is mandatory for the SubPunch set, otherwise Beartic will be severely limited on the number of Subs he can successfully create. Other than that, you need to account for his many weaknesses to Fire, Fighting, Rock, and Steel; a Magnezone could cover Rock and eliminate Steels, but shares the other two weaknesses, although they’re covered by Chandelure, which unfortunately shares a Ground weakness with Zone. Solrock in particular resists the first three and can burn Steel attackers like Metagross and Scizor, setting up a BatonPass set as they flounder around. Conveniently enough, he could potentially Pass Beartic a RockPolish to set up a sweep of some sort. Also, rain happens to weaken Fire, giving you more reason to possibly use it in some way. TrickRoom makes him very ‘fast’ and most users resist Fighting, if you’re willing to choose him as one of the sweepers. Alternatives BulkUp could give you a nice Atk boost while possibly letting you take one Fighting, Steel, or Rock attack, but that’s unlikely at best. HoneClaws on the other hand, gives you one attack boost while making IcicleCrash more accurate, if you’re paranoid. Or, you could just run IcePunch, which has perfect accuracy but is slightly less powerful. Beartic could use RainDance himself, but usually needs the moveslot. A TrickRoom set with Brave and 0 Spe IVS or EVs could easily get the job done, with four attacking moves most likely. How to Beat it StealthRock will severely limit his switch-ins of course, and he’s weak to four fairly commonly seen attacking types. So capitalize on those facts and his low Speed, and it shouldn’t be too hard to bring this guy down. If you run rain and give him the boost, MachPunch will deal with him rather easily, as will BulletPunch. Spoiler:Beautifly Bug-Flying HP: 60 Atk: 70 Def: 50 Sp.Atk: 90 Sp.Def: 50 Spe: 65 Quiver Dance Beautifly @ Life Orb Swarm Timid 252Sp.Atk/6Sp.Def/252Spe -QuiverDance -BugBuzz -HiddenPower [Rock] -Psychic/ShadowBall Beautifly looks like it actually could be quite a menace in lower tiers with its coverage and QD access, while its low stats hold it back from sweeping effectively in higher tiers, but I only know OU and Ubers so here’s my best go at it. QuiverDance gives you good Sp.Atk and good enough Speed to work with if you can get the boost, and then BugBuzz is STAB. It’s resisted by six things though, three of which are taken care of by HP Rock. This leaves Fighting, Poison, and Ghost, the first two being covered by Psychic in the last slot but ShadowBall is still a possibility despite not hitting Gengar as hard. Team Options As seems to apply to many things near the top of the alphabet, Spin support is a must if you want Beautifly to have any prayer of setting up after switching in. All, and I mean ALL special walls must be gotten rid of, so a physical partner to deal with Jellicent, Blissey, Ferrothorn, and co. may come in handy. Hazards on the other side of the field give Beautifly an actual chance of sweeping, as does any sort of status in its own respective way. Alternatives Beautifly’s admittedly impressive movepool consists of gems such as GigaDrain/EnergyBall, StunSpore, Whirlwind, Venoshock, U-Turn, Toxic, Safeguard, MorningSun, and Solarbeam. A dual status set could certainly be run, even with U-Turn if you’re highly confident in your ability to keep hazards off of the field. Rest is learned for a Chesto Rest set, but the lack of coverage would be noticeable. A Specs set is possible but would miss Speed, and a Scarf set is possible but would miss power. You could try Scarfing and using StunSpore for annoyance value though, if that’s your thing as it is mine. How to Beat it As with all Bug-types, Flying-types, and combinations, StealthRock will hinder them severely. However, Beautifly teams would be sure to be carrying Spin support, so a Spinblocker would help. In general, Beautifly is not difficult to simply wall, as things like Blissey, Chansey, etc. aren’t hit super-effectively by anything other than HP Fight and would be able to tank that too. Spoiler:Beedrill Bug-Poison HP: 65 Atk: 80 Def: 40 Sp.Atk: 45 Sp.Def: 80 Spe: 75 Support Beedrill @ Black Sludge Swarm Jolly 248HP/8Atk/252Spe -ToxicSpikes -KnockOff -U-Turn -Toxic While Beedrill should only be used in the first place for the purpose of favoritism and little else if anything at all, that doesn’t mean this set isn’t necessarily effective. He can switch into Toxic, and absorb ToxicSpikes to help the team, and once he’s in has average speed to setup ToxicSpikes of his own with. KnockOff is fun, U-Turn provides an escape, and Toxic is filler. EVs were adjusted just the slightest bit in order for him to have a multiple of four, plus one, on his HP stat in order to be able to switch into StealthRock up to four times assuming no other damage. Baton Passer Beedrill @ Focus Sash/Liechi Berry Swarm Jolly 248HP/8Atk/252Spe -Agility -SwordsDance -BatonPass -X-Scissor Now Beedrill does receive BP from some weird XD game thing, so if that can’t be transferred to other games or something then can someone please tell me. Assuming it’s legal however, this set aims to basically play like a lower form of Ninjask with less predictability. Item choice depends on preference, and Sub is an option over SwordsDance especially if you choose to run Liechi. Team Options As sick as I’m becoming of saying it, RapidSpin support is very important to Beedrill given his partial Bug typing. Other than that, just provide him with a decent recipient if running the BP set or if running the support set perhaps have a Spinblocker ready. Anything capable of capitalizing on his weaknesses to Psychic, Fire, Rock, and Flying would definitely enjoy the partnership, such as Heatran and Tyranitar. Alternatives A double boosting set is all but impossible due to the lack of coverage available to Beedrill in just two attacks, or even four for that matter. You could Band or Scarf him just to troll, as having any kind of success whatsoever would be bragging rights. Other than that, his movepool is rather barren, unless you’d like to try Harden on the BP set. How to Beat it StealthRock and Taunt shut it down, and you can always just spin his hazards away or, even better in case he’s paired with a Ghost, have a Poison-type of your own absorb the danger at the first opportunity. If he actually tries to attack, Taunt again would shut down setup attempts while he’s very easy to wall in general due to his lack of coverage tools and overall offensive presence. Spoiler:Beheeyem Psychic HP: 75 Atk: 75 Def: 75 Sp.Atk: 125 Sp.Def: 95 Spe: 40 Trick Room Sweeper Beheeyem @ Life Orb Synchronize Quiet 0 Spe IVs 252HP/252Sp.Atk/6Sp.Def -TrickRoom -NastyPlot -Psychic -HiddenPower [Fighting]/ShadowBall Beheeyem may seem outclassed by Reuniclus, and that’s because he is. However, he does have access to NastyPlot for more direct sweeping. Syncrhonize also helps to deter opponents from statusing you, especially if it’s been revealed and you then used a cleric to remove the status. The choice in the last slot for coverage leans toward Fighting for a neutral hit on Meloetta, but ShadowBall is of course an option to hit other Psychic-types such as, of course, Reuniclus. Analytic Beheeyem @ Leftovers Analytic Quiet 0 Spe IVs 252HP/252Sp.Atk/6Sp.Def -Psychic -ShadowBall -HiddenPower [Fighting] -Thunderbolt/Recover Analytic is nifty in giving the equivalent of a LO boost when you move last, which is a rather common occurrence in the case of Beheeyem. So the moveset devotes itself to all out attacking, although Recover could be used to tank since this relies on having to take hits. Keep in mind though that unlike things like Payback, Analytic does not require taking damage, only moving second; this includes if the opponent switches out. Team Options A backup Trick Room setter is pretty handy, since if you’re using TR on Beheeyem to begin with then you must be devoting your team to the field effect. Or, you could arrange for a guaranteed presence of TrickRoom upon Beheeyem’s entry to the field, saving him a moveslot for coverage or something. Psychic-types can wall him if you run HP Fight, so have a Pursuit user like Bisharp on hand. Alternatives CalmMind and ChargeBeam are both other means of setup, but both are outclassed and the latter isn’t entirely reliable. He gets ThunderWave and Toxic for some annoyance, as well as dual screens for support if you’re looking for a surprising new way to set them up. EnergyBall gets similar coverage to Thunderbolt with less power, if you worry about Rock and Ground-types. Psyshock is a possibility, but can backfire on you often despite its fascinating mechanics. HP Fire could be run for hitting some common x4 weak Pokemon, and is actually a very feasible option. On a random side note, Beheeyem appears to have impressive potential in Doubles and Triples matches, having access to SkillSwap, AllySwitch, SimpleBeam, and the ability Telepathy. How to Beat it Beheeyem has access to Recover, so stalling it out wouldn’t be your best option; rather, you simply need to hit it hard, preferably from the physical side. Scizor and Tyranitar excel at this despite being wary of the appropriate HiddenPower to take them out, while Gengar, Alakazam, and Toxicroak can certainly check it at least. He’s neutral to StealthRock and vulnerable to Spikes and ToxicSpikes, while having no way of curing himself, so those are of course helpful as always; then again, ToxicSpikes with Synchronize could easily backfire. Spoiler:Bellossom Grass HP: 75 Atk: 80 Def: 85 Sp.Atk: 90 Sp.Def: 100 Spe: 50 Sunny Status Bellossom @ Wide Lens Chlorophyll Timid 252HP/6Sp.Def/252Spe -SleepPowder -StunSpore -TeeterDance -Toxic Bellossom’s presence on a team basically should only even occur if the team builder is at least partially doing it for giggles, and this will certainly obtain said giggles. With maximum Speed in the sun, Bellossom gets her Hawaiian arse in gear and tops out at 436Spe; this can easily be abused for fast status of all sorts. Here, the intent is to put something to sleep first and then assault with status or flee. Paralyze fast sweepers, confuse slower ones, and poison walls to your heart’s content. Sunny Swords Dance Bellossom @ Life Orb Chlorophyll Adamant 252Atk/6Sp.Def/252Spe -SwordsDance -LeafBlade -NaturePower -Return Oh yes I did. Surprisingly, a +2 Adamant Bellossom reaches 568Atk to go along with 398Spe, perfectly capable of sweeping so long as the sun continues to shine. The three attacks listed actually happen to be the only physical attacks it really gets, but they’re enough: With Grass STAB being resisted by many things, Return does its best to get neutral coverage, and NaturePower (which becomes Earthquake in Wifi and PO battles) hits the Steel-types and Chandelures remaining while at least snagging a neutral hit on the likes of Scizor and Ferrothorn; then again, if you’re running sun, odds are that they won’t last long. Team Options Well a Drought Ninetales is obviously a necessity for Bellossom to have any success, unless you have it set its own sun for itself and maybe one sweeper teammate like Leafeon or even Darmanitan. Heatran could also benefit from this weather, while also covering for Bellossom’s every weakness (Fire, Flying, Bug, and Poison). If you wanna run it outside of sun just to be awesome, try Passing it some boosts, at least an Agility but preferably for whichever attacking end you choose to try out as well. Alternatives On the multi-status set, one could run Moonlight or GigaDrain for recovery and/or hold Leftovers, or even use LeafStorm if you wanna actually hit instead of poke. All kidding aside, Bellossom’s Sp.Atk actually is decent, so an EnergyBall/SludgeBomb/HP Fire/Moonlight set could be attempted, although there aren’t enough moves to fill a Specs set. If you’re doing in-game Wifi battling rather than PO and need to construct the sets, of course Moonlight and Synthesis are identical so whichever is easier for you will be perfectly fine if you want to run either. How to Beat it Removing sunlight essentially neuters any hopes Bellossom could ever possibly have of attacking or statusing (first), so, Politoed’s IceBeam and Tyranitar’s powerful physical STABs (or IceBeam actually) can take the dancing leaf down, though neither of them should really switch in. In addition to that, Cloud Nine Pokemon Lickilicky, Altaria, and Golduck all could force Bella out as well since they can KO with the appropriate coverage move and/or setup a DD or CM in the case of the latter two. Taunt ruins the multi-status set, as even if it runs a Grass attack, that’s easily walled and retains little power, while the SD set relies heavily on getting the +2 to KO anything. If it does get that boost though, Forretress and Ferrothorn wall it hard while Scizor can take a hit or two and U-Turn to victory. Spoiler:Bibarel Normal-Water HP: 79 Atk: 85 Def: 60 Sp.Atk: 55 Sp.Def: 60 Spe: 71 Hellz Yeah Bibarel @ Leftovers Simple Impish 252HP/6Atk/252Def -Amnesia -SkullBash -SuperFang -QuickAttack/AquaTail Thanks to the new BW mechanics for Simple, if you Pass boosts to Bibarel they no longer get doubled upon receiving, ruining a helluva ShellSmash recipient. Moody’s banishment didn’t help. However, here, Bibarel uses Amnesia to grab a quick +4 in Sp.Def, then uses STAB SkullBash for the meh damage but mostly the +2 in Def with each use. SuperFang halves their HP with each use until they can be finished off with a priority QuickAttack, although AquaTail provides coverage. Chesto Rest Bibarel @ Chesto Berry Simple Adamant 252HP/252Atk/6Sp.Def -Curse -QuickAttack -AquaTail -Rest Here, one could use the simultaneous effects of SwordsDance, IronDefense, and CottonSpore as Bibarel turns Curse into an effective tanking move when special attacking threats have been taken care of, and the Speed negation is taken care of by STAB priority QuickAttack. Special Chesto Bibarel @ Chesto Berry Simple Modest 252HP/6Def/252Sp.Atk -ChargeBeam -IceBeam -Surf -Rest What’s that? Bibarel’s Sp.Atk stat sucks? Says who, logic?! ChargeBeam’s 70% chance to double that stat to a useable 458, and if you’re lucky enough to get two boosts then 687 is even better. IceBeam has nice coverage with Electric, and Surf is STAB while Rest lets you get back to full HP once you’ve gotten a boost or two. Team Options Bibarel’s typing makes him weak to Fighting, Electric, and Grass; this means that Venusaur resists everything Bibarel is weak to, and in return has his Fire weakness covered by the derpy beaver. The Nidos resist Fighting, are immune to Electric, and take only neutral from the semi-rare Grass attacks of OU, and can abuse the switch-ins well. Paralysis support is a godsend for Bibarel, bringing a Double Powder set to mind on Venusaur (or Victreebel or Vileplume). Bibarel actually could be run on a sun team to synergize with some of those mentioned, as he doesn’t always need to his Water STAB that much, so depends on what set you wanna use. Or he could be run in rain so that his Water STABs do more after their boosts. TrickRoom could make it easier for him to setup defensively before he has to start taking hits before attacking once the timer runs out, although if you’re devoting a team to TrickRoom you probably have more important priorities. Alternatives If running Unaware, Bibarel could use Yawn to force out boosters and/or T-Wave to support in general. If you use an attacking set in rain, he gets Thunder for some legitimate power to go with Surf and IceBeam. Physical sets have most of the coverage they’d need in his dual STABs, but Jellicent and Ferrothorn do end up walling that, so Superpower is a weird option to hit the latter while Bibarel has nothing for the former. Since you’re probably into annoyance to even be here, Attract and Toxic are other irritating toys for the dam-builder to mess around with. How to Beat it MachPunch and VacuumWave will both go right through Bibarel and out the other side before he can do a thing, and Taunt will shut down any set you’ll ever encounter. Jellicent walls physical Bibarel all day and night, and he and other stallers can easily wear Bibarel down through status and/or weather. Unaware sets can be tough to break through, but late-game cleaners that don’t rely on boosts like Life Orb Alakazam and Banded Darmanitan can do the job through their respective coverage moves. Of course, Fighting, Electric, and Grass moves should really find themselves scattered across your team anyway, so it’s unlikely you’ll be caught totally helpless. Spoiler:Bisharp Dark-Steel HP: 65 Atk: 125 Def: 100 Sp.Atk: 60 Sp.Def: 70 Spe: 70 Swords Dance Bisharp @ Leftovers Defiant Adamant 236HP/252Atk/20Spe -Substitute -SwordsDance -SuckerPunch -IronHead/BrickBreak Bisharp is definitely seen as powerful, but not everyone seems to realize just how powerful; 125Atk is an excellent base stat, and with a beneficial nature and a +2, things will certainly be shaken up. Substitute is great on a Pokemon with resistances and immunities like Bisharp has, and behind it, he forces the opponent to attack so that SuckerPunch will not fail. SwordsDance is easy to use with all the switches he forces, but isn’t even necessary if you find it tough to free up a turn. IronHead is secondary STAB that doesn’t necessarily get the best coverage, so BrickBreak is there for the choice of perfect coverage alongside SuckerPunch. Lead Bisharp @ Focus Sash Defiant Adamant 252HP/252Atk/6Def -StealthRock -ThunderWave -NightSlash -BrickBreak Yes, I’ve had much success with many variants of Bisharp. His little-known access to StealthRock AND ThunderWave makes him an ideal candidate for a lead, especially with Team Preview allowing you to switch him into the lead spot by surprise. He can also attack, and powerfully at that, so coverage is provided between the final slots. Paraflincher Bisharp @ Leftovers Pressure Adamant 252HP/252Atk/6Def -ThunderWave -IronHead -StoneEdge/SuckerPunch -Protect/SuckerPunch Never got around to using this set, but it was an idea of mine from a while ago that looks rather promising. Everyone knows how to flinch with Jirachi and Togekiss ~~and Rotom-S~~ but no one gets that Bisharp can do it too, again lending an element of surprise to contribute to the success rate of the set. StoneEdge hits Fire-types and gets a neutral hit on Electric-types, or SuckerPunch could provide backup STAB and emergency priority. Protect stalls if running sandstorm and also scouts any possibly threatening attacks, while inching closer to full paralysis. Rock Polish Bisharp @ Life Orb Defiant Adamant 6HP/252Atk/252Spe -RockPolish -NightSlash -BrickBreak -IronHead/SwordsDance I can’t stress enough how underrated Bisharp’s movepool is. RockPolish sends him far over the 400Spe mark, and his Dark STAB and BrickBreak provide all the coverage you’ll really need. Therefore, the final slot is a toss-up between the option of backup STAB, and the terrifying possibility of a double booster. Team Options Bisharp’s typing is great, but the weaknesses to Fighting, Ground, and Fire must be dealt with in order for him to start a full sweep. Special attacking Zapdos and Wish Passing Vaporeon would provide pretty solid complements, especially with Lightningrod and Water Absorb. Bisharp doesn’t necessarily demand Spin support, but hazards on the other end certainly assist in sweeping. If using the lead set and abusing Team Preview, list something in the lead spot that’s weak to stuff Bisharp resists, like Meinshao; it’s especially good because as a physical attacker, Meinshao will lure Intimidate Gyarados to the lead spot, which gives Defiant Bisharp a +1. Also, if you run him on a rain team, you won’t have to worry about the Fire weakness any longer so long as the weather holds out. Alternatives X-Scissor doesn’t add much coverage in the end, but does hit Grass-types harder. PsychoCut adds coverage on Fighting-types trying to switch in, if you worry about those. Another set I had a lot of success with on a team that otherwise wasn’t great, was a Choice Band Bisharp, as the power wielded by it and the coverage contained in Dark-Fighting-Psychic could often overwhelm foes with the addition of priority SuckerPunch and either IronHead or Pursuit. If you didn’t like any of the above sets, I highly recommend a Band set then. I suppose you could Scarf him too, but at that point just use RockPolish since it isn’t that hard to setup with him, and I’ve only even ever used SwordsDance on him. You could use his awesome typing for a Toxic SubStall, and he even gets Taunt to prevent healing. MeanLook could be added, or SuckerPunch to discourage attacking. Pressure would probably be run with that set, as it would add to the stalling factor. How to Beat it Odds are that if Bisharp comes in, something is going out, and fast. Gliscor can stand up to him to an extent, as he can Sub away from SuckerPunch and then try to KO with Earthquake, but if Bisharp has a SwordsDance up then even he will need to be wary. Skarmory can wall a little better but can’t do much in return besides phaze Bisharp out with Whirlwind. Sableye is immune to BrickBreak and neutral to Dark and Steel, and could burn Bisharp if the Sub isn’t up at the moment. MachPunchers and VacuumWave users would have no issue revenge killing Bisharp if they outspeed and/or resist SuckerPunch. Spoiler:Blastoise Water HP: 79 Atk: 83 Def: 100 Sp.Atk: 85 Sp.Def: 105 Spe: 78 Mixed Wall Blastoise @ Leftovers Rain Dish Bold 252HP/6Def/252Sp.Def -Scald -Toxic -Haze -Protect This is actually a very effective wall, especially in rain. The special bulk is impressive, but the physical is decent enough and is backed up by a high HP stat to work with while Scald deters physical attackers anyway. For other foes, particularly walls, Toxic works its usual magic. Haze frustrates stat boosters, especially special attackers. Unfortunately though, Blastoise lacks typical recovery, so Leftovers and preferably Rain Dish are helped along by a free turn (or two) granted by Protect. Choice Scarf Blastoise @ Choice Scarf Torrent Timid 8HP/252Sp.Atk/248Spe -WaterSpout -HydroPump -IceBeam -HiddenPower [Grass] Scarfed Blastoise sits at an unimpressive 269 Sp.Atk stat, which is why this set would again prefer rain support for the double STAB. However, with or without such a boost, a full-powered STAB WaterSpout’s sheer power cannot be denied. And even beyond that, HydroPump is still a force to be reckoned with. IceBeam and HP Grass provide the necessary coverage to complement Blastoise’s above-average STAB offensively. Oh, and the slight tweak in EVs is so that he can reach 301HP, taking 3 NightShades from Sableye and similar scenarios. Rest Talking Phazer Blastoise @ Leftovers Rain Dish Bold 252HP/6Def/252Sp.Def -DragonTail/Roar -Scald -Rest -SleepTalk Blastoise has access to plenty of moves for a set like this, as well as the bulk without a doubt. However, he’s not as bulky as others, hence DragonTail is preferred as the phazing move in order to speed up the process of damage despite being defeated by any remotely healthy Substitute. Scald is the regular attacking move of choice for the burn chance and decent power with STAB. Rest and SleepTalk are rather obvious. Team Options Again, Blastoise’s defensive and offensive variants alike each appreciate the presence of rain on the field, and Politoed’s statistics leave it to fill similar niches to Blastoise, and so an offensive of one could be run alongside a defensive of the other. Or you could match them for a team devoted to either side of play. Other than that, Blastoise makes for good Fire-Water-Grass cores on non-weather teams, as any pure Grass-type covers his weaknesses perfectly and the favor is returned in equivalence besides Blastoise being neutral to Bug and Flying. The Scarf set could enjoy a Wish passer, restoring WaterSpout’s glory if HP falls too low for its continued use. The phazing set obviously requires hazards put up, the more the better. The defensive set does as well, since he lacks reliable recovery for himself. Alternatives On the defensive set, due to Blastoise’s very well-rounded defensive stats and excellent typing for the role, EVs and nature can be played around any which way to either survive specific KOs from one or both attacking sides, or to simply max out either end for whatever fits your team best. The Scarf set could be run with Specs for more sufficient power, as his bulk does allow him to take hits before hitting back rather efficiently, however the likelihood of being hit first diminishes WaterSpout’s appeal significantly. You could trade Timid in for Modest on the Scarf set, but you’d start losing out to high-speed Pokemon, particularly Jolteon. AquaRing is a neat little semi-gimmick for defensive sets, although it finds trouble fitting in; Yawn and MirrorCoat follow suit with this. How to Beat it Blastoise is a cool-looking fan favorite that’s more well rounded than a Chinese high schooler. However, this means he may not necessarily be played to his strengths, and that he does not excel spectacularly in any particular subject, respectively. So figure out what set he’s running (it will be defensive 95% of the time), and just hit it hard. He lacks recovery, so repeated hits will always rack up, unless you somehow allow him to set up AquaRing in the rain holding Leftovers and spamming Protect. Which is why Taunt is very handy in stopping him; Jellicent can do that, as most will be mono-attackers that can’t touch his Water Absorb talents. Spoiler:Blissey Normal HP: 255 Atk: 10 Def: 10 Sp.Atk: 75 Sp.Def: 135 Spe: 55 Special Wall Blissey @ Leftovers Natural Cure Calm 252HP/252Sp.Def/6Spe -SeismicToss -Toxic -Protect -Softboiled/Wish Building a basic special wall set for a Pokemon with stats and moves like Blissey’s is one of those things that just kind of does itself. The heavenly HP and ridiculous Sp.Def combine to make one of the best walls in the game, and with SeismicToss access, Bliss can even deal consistent damage of some sort. Toxic also does this while beating out other walls and generally forcing switches, and Protect stalls the increasing damage and adds Lefties recovery. If one chooses to run Wish over Softboiled, then protect also aids that successfulness, but on this set Softboiled is preferred since it is preferred you don’t have to switch out. Oh by the way, the extra point goes to Speed to hit a weakened opposing Blissey with SeismicToss before they can recover/hit you. Support Blissey @ Leftovers Natural Cure Calm 252HP/252Sp.Def/6Spe -HealBell -Wish -ThunderWave -IceBeam/Protect/StealthRock Blissey also has access to lots of fun stuff to aid the team, and will get plenty of opportunities to use them thanks to sponging basically any special attack you’ll find in OU. HealBell cures the team of status, and Wish fully restores anything’s HP thanks to the new mechanics using the 357HP Bliss would’ve regained. ThunderWave makes sweeping and setup easier for fellow teammates against paralyzed foes, while forcing still more switches to rack up entry hazard damage. IceBeam could hit things like Dragonite decently, or Protect could scout and let Wish heal Blissey herself. Or, if you have nothing else on your team to do it, Blissey can even set Rocks upon the opponent. Special Sweeper Blissey @ Life Orb Serene Grace Modest 252HP/252Sp.Atk/6Sp.Def -ChargeBeam -IceBeam -Softboiled -HealBell Serene Grace seems so useless on Blissey that most people don’t even realize she gets it, but with it, ChargeBeam is guaranteed to boost Sp.Atk one stage with each use. So, kill physical attackers, switch this in, start setting up and sweeping. Blissey reaches 273 Sp.Atk with max investment and no boosts, which isn’t bad when you’re sure to get at least a +1 99 times out of 100. Team Options A physical wall complements Blissey perfectly, hence the infamy of SkarmBliss’s success on stall and balanced teams for years. Gliscor can also fill that role, his spreading of toxic poisoning giving Blissey something to stall and allowing her not to need to spend a slot on Toxic herself. She’s her own cleric and healer, so those aren’t needed and neither is a Spinner really, for her anyway. Putting up your own hazards helps her gain more from the switches she forces though, especially ToxicSpikes as that would again free up a moveslot. Paralysis gives her more chances to recover and hit with SeismicToss, and burns let her take non-Fighting physical attacks even thanks to her mind-blowing HP stat. Alternatives Blissey gets CalmMind and LightScreen for the sake of overkill, although they’re outclassed by ChargeBeam and a waste, respectively. Her special movepool is actually quite wide, holding such weapons as FireBlast, FocusBlast, Thunder, Solarbeam, ShadowBall, Psychic, and GrassKnot. All of these can be used for specialized KOs, FireBlast in particular for Ferrothorn, Scizor, etc. infesting the OU environment. If Blissey is part of a hail stall team, Blizzard is an option, as is Thunder in rain. Solarbeam could even be used in sun, but is risky and doesn’t gain much coverage to really write home about. If you’re building this team within the game, Aromatherapy is exactly the same as HealBell, so whichever one is easier for you to get should obviously be the one you use. Finally, Blissey has access to the odd Gravity, if you’re into coolio tactics such as this. How to Beat it Any physical attack will crack Blissey’s egg pretty solidly, as will Psyshock on special attackers looking to work around her (although I’ve voiced my negative opinion on the move multiple times). Dugtrio in particular can trap Blissey and use Reversal, and Breloom will gain a truckload of health back from using LeechSeed on her, as will Ferrothorn if she lacks FireBlast. Taunt shuts her down, barring the special attacker, which ironically is still walled by other Blissey as well as Lanturn, though the latter can do little back. Spoiler:Bouffalant Normal HP: 95 Atk: 110 Def: 95 Sp.Atk: 50 Sp.Def: 95 Spe: 55 Trick Room Sweeper Bouffalant @ Life Orb Reckless Brave 0 Spe IVs 252HP/252Atk/6Def -HeadCharge -Earthquake -WildCharge -Pursuit/Payback Bouffalant’s sheer power and the swiftness of his death from HeadCharge makes him an ideal Life Orb candidate, however he lacks the Speed to pull this off effectively. Hence, trying to sweep with him under TrickRoom circumstances would allow for a pretty ‘fast’ all-out attacker. You’ll mainly be using HeadCharge, his signature move that’s basically an improved DoubleEdge and is boosted by Reckless, but Earthquake gets coverage on Rock and Steel-types while Pursuit is something for Ghosts. You could use Payback though, especially since it isn’t guaranteed he’ll be called out with TrickRoom up. WildCharge is just there for the Reckless boost, although it does help against bulky Waters as well as Gyarados trying to Intimidate you. Choice Band Bouffalant @ Choice Band Reckless Adamant/Jolly 6HP/252Atk/252Spe -HeadCharge -Earthquake -Payback -WildCharge Same moves, but different approach; more power thanks to Band over LO, but you have to consider how easily you’ll be outsped. This is why Adamant is recommended since you won’t outspeed much with Jolly anyway. Swords Dance Bouffalant @ Lum Berry Reckless Adamant 252HP/252Atk/6Def -SwordsDance -HeadCharge -Earthquake -Payback Here Bouffalant attempts to apply his 95/95/95 defenses and bank heavily on them to get a +2 and start racking up KOs. This leaves no room for WildCharge, but the necessary coverage is all there. Lum Berry is chosen as Life Orb would speed his death up way too much and the loss isn’t a huge deal with SD, and since Leftovers is a pretty steep uphill battle. Team Options A Ghost killer and/or a Steel killer would allow Bouffalant to simply spam his STAB more or less, especially on a TrickRoom team. Similarly, on such a team one might find use for a Spiritomb and/or a Magnezone to fill these roles respectively, and a TrickRoom setter with Ghost typing could help his Fighting weakness (think Banette, Dusnoir, Cofagrigus). Paralysis support lets him setup and sweep more easily on teams without TrickRoom, and hazards of course help with anything trying to sweep. His groundedness leaves him vulnerable to all hazards on his own side though, so a Spinner wouldn’t be necessary but wouldn’t be wasted either really. Alternatives If you dislike the recoil and such, you could use Sap Sipper for the chance of a +1, but you’d lose a decent amount of power…as well as viability in the case of WildCharge. Then again, you could run a Toxic Orb and use Façade, as it would then hit 210 power with STAB, a close second to HeadCharge’s 216 with STAB and Reckless. The Band set could use Retaliate, but that’s not guaranteed to get the double in power. As far as coverage moves, Megahorn drills into bulky Psychic and Grass-types if you find yourself struggling against them, StoneEdge could make a very nice EdgeQuake combo, and Reversal could be used…I guess. Whatever the case, any of these would preferably replace WildCharge, as it’s similar to them in its situational usage but is listed first due to the boost it gets from Reckless. Also, if you can get him lots of paralysis support, Bouffalant could always use Headbutt and IronHead for paraflinch lulz. How to Beat it Bouffalant has the advantage of very well-rounded bulk and only one weakness; this means that unless picking a weakened one off, MachPunch/VacuumWave probably just won’t cut it. CloseCombat, FocusBlast, SecretSword, boosted STAB moves is more like it. Poisoning him is a good idea given the fact that he practically kills himself with recoil and sometimes Life Orb too, and the Band set in particular is thus very weak to hazards due to its frequent switching. Bulky Ghosts like Dusclops and Cofagrigus are slower and can avoid doubling Payback by hitting or just use Toxic (or Curse in the latter’s case), and Slowbro can use SlackOff to eventually force WildCharge and just abuse the ensuing recoil. Spoiler:Braviary Normal-Flying HP: 100 Atk: 123 Def: 75 Sp.Atk: 57 Sp.Def: 75 Spe: 80 Choice Scarf Braviary @ Choice Scarf Defiant Adamant 6HP/252Atk/252Spe -BraveBird -Return -U-Turn -Superpower Braviary has the selling point of above average bulk for an attacker, but the drawback of being generally outclassed despite this. However, when one considers his interesting access to Superpower to hit the Rock and Steel-types that resist his STABs and U-Turn, he can carve a niche for himself nonetheless. Team Options StealthRock sorta ruins the point of a hit and run set like the set above, thus its presence should be eliminated if at all possible. A Fighting-type to remove Rock- and Steel-types would allow Braviary to spam his STABs without resorting to Superpower (as it lowers his stats), so something like Scrafty would be nice since he can also chomp down on Ghosts with Crunch. Alternatives Braviary has plenty of other options simple not worthy of being listed as their own set, so don’t let the lack of sets discourage you in any way. His 100/75/75 defenses make BulkUp fairly viable, as well as HoneClaws if you’re running RockSlide and Sheer Force. Oh, that’s right: Sheer Force looks good, but doesn’t benefit much unless you’re running RockSlide, which itself doesn’t add a great deal of coverage anyway, so…yeah. Plus, CrushClaw with Sheer Force and STAB is still slightly weaker than a STAB Return. Retaliate is more powerful than that, but only if you come in after a KO; this is rather likely when using a Choice item though, so, up to you. Speaking of Choice items, a Band send Braviary’s already underrated power soaring, though leaving his Speed a little bit behind the crowd. In the same boat, a Life Orb could be used for move switching, but lacks Speed as well and even power to an extent. How to Beat it Braviary’s typing leaves him weak to Ice, Electric, and Rock moves, which means that BoltBeam, EdgeQuake, and StealthRock will all make his life difficult and/or very brief. Steel-types resist all but Superpower, with Forretress being able to take just about anything thrown at it and either setup hazards on the switch out or retaliate with a surprise Counter should Braviary attempt to remain in. Most sets will be Choiced, so any bit of prediction can let you switch in appropriately, especially if it’s trying to score a revenge kill. Ghost-types with Disable can especially frustrate Choice sets due to their immunities to one of his STABs and his coverage move, as well as resistance to U-Turn. Spoiler:Breloom Grass-Fighting HP: 60 Atk: 130 Def: 80 Sp.Atk: 60 Sp.Def: 60 Spe: 70 Swords Dance Breloom @ Toxic Orb Poison Heal Adamant 240HP/252Atk/16Spe -Spore -SwordsDance -MachPunch -SeedBomb/StoneEdge This is Breloom’s blend of his ability to avoid status and heal, shut down foes with Spore, abuse priority, and just plain hit hard. The EVs are designed to outspeed other base 70s, and then Spore and SD are obvious while MachPunch is STAB priority. The final slot can either go to secondary STAB or to StoneEdge, depending on whether you’d prefer more power or coverage. Technician!!1! Breloom @ Fist Plate Technician Adamant 240HP/252Atk/16Spe -Spore -MachPunch -BulletSeed -StoneEdge Breloom’s DW ability’s release sent his power through the roof, and his popularity briefly as well. Then it dropped; why? Because people tried to sweep straight off with it. That’s not happening in today’s bulky offense metagame, sorry. The set itself is pretty self-explanatory, so I’m using this description to warn you all to use this as more of a late-game cleaner or momentum shifter, as it lacks a boosting move to go with its still-awesome power. Bulky Setup Breloom @ Toxic Orb Poison Heal Adamant 252HP/252Atk/6Def -BulkUp -DrainPunch -SeedBomb -StoneEdge Breloom here skips out on priority or any Speed at all, in exchange for even more recovery to go with Poison Heal and more full coverage. This set is very very frustrating, as the mere threat of Spore usually is enough to force a switch, allowing Breloom to get his BulkUp under his belt before launching a ridiculously powerful STAB DrainPunch on anything that doesn’t resist it. The constant recovery and impressive bulk make him quite the tough task to bring down late-game, especially if the opposing team is paralyzed. This is actually the only time I ever use Breloom, really, and it does work if you aren’t too eager to send it out. Choice Band Breloom @ Choice Band Technician Adamant 240HP/252Atk/16Spe -MachPunch -SeedBomb -StoneEdge -DrainPunch Banded Breloom’s Technician and STAB boosted MachPunch is equivalent in power to a Scizor’s BulletPunch, with arguably better coverage to boot. His typing may be a little worse, but, it’s also more surprising for him to hit like even more of a truck than usual. Team Options Paralysis support was mentioned offhand on multiple sets, and for good reason. Breloom’s Speed is just the tiniest bit underwhelming, and thus he needs to be able to get that edge over speedy threats like Alakazam and Staraptor that would otherwise KO him in a heartbeat. Hazards are nice to make his revenge kills easier, and his own benefit from ToxicSpikes when running Poison Heal makes a Spinner on his own side not really even a necessity. His weaknesses to Fire, Flying, and Psychic can be scary to deal with, but something like Heatran could easily take care of them and hit back with special attacking power to match Breloom’s. Alternatives While Breloom’s movepool isn’t the deepest around, the number of sets shown above testify to how many different way he can be played regardless. He could be made Jolly and given a Scarf, finishing just behind base 130s in that case, and the need for MachPunch would then be less so Spore could be used for the quickness with which it would then land. He could also be given a Life Orb or an Expert Belt or something, although he’d lose Poison Heal recovery to negate the former’s recoil. How to Beat it Well my own personal way around him is Ambipom, as most Brelooms will arrogantly assume the switch and use Sport while I kill them easily with Acrobatics before they even have the chance to do so. However, apart from that, anything with Psychic, AirSlash, or FireBlast will do the job even against BulkUp sets, so Lati@s, Togekiss, and Chandelure come to mind. Gliscor walls him hard and can’t be poisoned, and if running the semi-gimmicky Acrobatics set can even KO in return. Spoiler:Bronzong Steel-Psychic HP: 67 Atk: 89 Def: 116 Sp.Atk: 79 Sp.Def: 116 Spe: 33 Specially Defensive Tank Bronzong @ Leftovers Levitate Careful 252HP/6Def/252Sp.Def -StealthRock -Toxic -Protect -GyroBall Bronzong’s typing and ability leave him weak only to Fire, a primarily special attacking type, so a specially defensive set is a rather good idea in general. StealthRock is there for obvious reasons, and Toxic is so that Zong can actually cause some reliable damage. Protect stalls its damage count, as well as weather damage and scouting for moves, and GyroBall dodges Taunt while doing passable damage with STAB and a fair Atk stat for a defensive Pokemon. Dual Screens Bronzong @ Light Clay Levitate Careful 252HP/6Def/252Sp.Def -Reflect -LightScreen -GyroBall -Explosion Bronzong’s double-sided bulk and seemingly infinite resistances allow for him to set up Dual Screens quite reliably, and he even has access to Explosion to bring in a sweeper immediately. The set could be flipped around to be physically defensive of course, in which case you’d just focus on using LightScreen primarily to ensure you set Reflect as well. Choice Band Bronzong @ Choice Band Levitate Brave 0 Spe IVs 252HP/252Atk/6Sp.Def -GyroBall -Earthquake -RockSlide -Trick /ZenHeadbutt/Explosion Banded Bronzong was an idea that once came to me partially as a joke, but it wound up actually having much success. GyroBall often hits max power and has STAB, and despite having poor coverage on paper, anyone who has ever abused Scizor’s BulletPunch or Jirachi’s IronHead will tell you that it’s surely enough. Nonetheless, Earthquake gets the Steel and Electric-types that resists it, and RockSlide lands on Zapdos and Gyarados. Trick cripples Skarmory and Gliscor, potentially not even allowing the latter to get Poison Heal going if he switches into it, and Bronzong can’t be poisoned; either way, he can eventually Trick that Orb onto something else if necessary for further wall crippling. He could also steal Chansey’s Eviolite and then put it on something with no use for it, etc., etc. However, if you’re not really into the whole prediction thing or just want more coverage and/or STAB, ZenHeadbutt could do that as it does also land on Infernape harder than EQ would. Or, Explosion could work as filler, despite the Gen V nerf it received. Team Options A pure Fire-type with Flash Fire would have perfect synergy with Levitate Bronzong other than Zong being only neutral to Water, and something like Arcanine in particular would really appreciate Screen support to get a FlameCharge up and start sweeping. Zong is immune to Spikes and cannot be poisoned, and resists StealthRock, so he shouldn’t by any means demand Spin support. Things that commonly wield Taunt though, think Jellicent, should be eliminated before Bronzong tries to do his full job. A phazer would go well with the StealthRocks Bronzong flings out onto the field, or if you run him with TrickRoom then anything slow would love to have him around too. Drizzle would remove his fire weakness, together with Levitate making him a Spiritomb with more resistances, since that’s always nice for something trying to stay alive with no means of recovery. Finally, he has no means of recovery, so a Wish passer like Chansey could help resolve that issue and would complement him nicely if Bronzong is leaning towards physical defense. Alternatives As just mentioned, TrickRoom is an excellent option for Bronzong, but it would be built so similarly to the Dual Screens set that I didn’t feel it needed to be listed on its own. Nonetheless, much like screens, TR is made very easy to use when abused by a bulky Pokemon like Bronzong. Heatproof makes him neutral to Fire, but it still shows up as super-effective if people hit with Fire, so a lot of the times you won’t even have a Ground move thrown at you and can get away with it. Or you could go with Levitate and an Air Balloon, have an opponent waste a turn on popping the Balloon only to have their next attack be a failed Earthquake. As far as other moves go, Bronzong has access to ConfuseRay and Hypnosis for annoyance value. His special attack is below average, as is his respective movepool, and he’s too slow even after a RockPolish so don’t bother with those sorts of things. How to Beat it Bronzong is still weak to Fire, if you keep rain away, although if you find those attacks doing too little to him then they seem like they should, it may be worth trying Earthquake out just in case. Magnezone can trap him and KO, although for the sake of time note that a STAB T-Bolt is more powerful than a x2 HP Fire. Repeated hits in general will wear the bell down too, as he lacks recovery, but try and avoid letting him get a Wish passed to him if that’s your tactic. Spoiler:Butterfree Bug-Flying HP: 60 Atk: 45 Def: 50 Sp.Atk: 80 Sp.Def: 80 Spe: 70 Quiver Dance Butterfree @ Life Orb Tinted Lens Timid 252Sp.Atk/252Sp.Def/6Spe -QuiverDance -BugBuzz -Psychic -HiddenPower [Ground] Thanks to Tinted Lens, resisted hits will land as neutral, therefore the only thing that can actually resist an attack would need to be either x4 resistant or immune. Meaning that BugBuzz is resisted by quite a few things still, namely part Poison-types, which the other two slots take care of while also netting their own neutral hits on certain Pokemon; for example, if Heatran is floating on an Air Balloon, Psychic would land as a neutral hit anyway if he’s weakened. Scarfed Annoyer Butterfree @ Choice Scarf Compoundeyes Jolly 252HP/6Atk/252Spe -SleepPowder -StunSpore -Toxic -U-Turn I faced one of these things and found it so awesome that it actually works, that I never forgot it. The speed is very good, almost reaching that of base 130s, and Compoundeyes brings SleepPowder and StunSpore up to 97.5% accuracy each, almost perfect! Once you’ve activated Sleep Clause, it’s up to you whether to paralyze or poison, based on the foe; U-Turn is filler, and don’t expect to revenge kill anything with it, bar a 2% Latios or something (that isn’t also Scarfed). Team Options Butterfree’s typing shared with many other laughable Pokemon leaves him x4 weak to StealthRocks, so those should obviously be gotten rid of. On the bright side, that’s it, as he isn’t grounded. His many other weaknesses mean he’s hard to cover for fully, with them being Fire, Ice, Electric, Flying, and Rock, although Heatran and Gastrodon could combine to do so. The Scarf set in particular doesn’t need much support as it does the statusing and doesn’t attack, but the QD set would like some status spread around; if only there were no Species Clause. Then again, there are plenty of other multi-status options to be had. Alternatives For specific KOs on things your team might happen to struggle with, Butterfree has ShadowBall, GigaDrain, and your choice of a different HiddenPower. For whatever else, Whirlwind is there too, as is Roost. You could try SleepPowder on the QD set, or Substitute, but the coverage remaining would suck. A double powder set could be run with Roost and BugBuzz or something if you wanted to do it without a Scarf, but Butterfree is already frail as heck and now you’re taking away any impressive Speed too. How to Beat it Have a Spinblocker if you’re using StealthRocks, and Butterfree is going down in two switches or one switch and a hit. BoltBeam hits Butterfree with both ends, and StoneEdge will smack him into the sky like Team Rocket at the end of an episode. Sun teams can destroy him pretty easily with their Fire attacks galore, although the Scarf set could switch into a Grass attack and try to status something that doesn’t have Chlorophyll; meaning that Venusaur, Victreebel, Scarf Darmanitan, and Scarf Victini still win out. C Spoiler:Cacturne Grass-Dark HP: 70 Atk: 115 Def: 60 Sp.Atk: 115 Sp.Def: 60 Spe: 55 Dancing Scarecrow Cacturne @ Leftovers Sand Viel Adamant 252HP/252Atk/6Spe -SwordsDance -SuckerPunch -BrickBreak -Substitute/Encore While Cacturne has high Atk and SD to boost it up, his Speed requires him to heavily rely on SuckerPunch and he lacks a physical Grass STAB to use. Then again, BrickBreak is all he’ll ever really need as far as coverage, so meh. In the final slot, Substitute is for if you want to force them to attack and let you use SuckerPunch, while Encore is for netting more SwordsDance boosts if you use it on a status move as they try to avoid being hit by SP. Lead Cacturne @ Salac Berry Sand Viel Jolly 252HP/6Atk/252Spe -Spikes -Encore -SuckerPunch -DestinyBond Cacturne’s movepool is very weird, maybe not considering that he’s a scarecrow with his typing but, weird for Pokemon overall. However, it consists of some fascinating toys that a lead might use; but then again, his Speed is awful. With a Salac Berry though, he can set up his Spikes more reliably and may even get the chance to use DestinyBond. SuckerPunch discourages attacking in the event you’re still outsped, and Encore effs up stuff trying to avoid it via status moves, giving you more chances to use Spikes. When they finally decide they have no choice but to attack, hopefully you can use DestinyBond. Sand Viel makes it more annoying when it’s against a Tyranitar lead, while Politoed leads would be using IceBeam against it anyway if you tried Water Absorb out. Half a Wobbuffet Cacturne @ Leftovers Water Absorb Careful 252HP/6Atk/252Sp.Def -SuckerPunch -Encore -Counter -DestinyBond Here, Cacturne takes on a much more annoying role, trying to force physical attackers into hitting him so that he can hit back with Counter. SuckerPunch is for damage, but mainly you just try to Encore status moves and then switch out since you can’t hit them once they’re locked into that, but, once they start attacking you use Counter and DestinyBond to take them out. Water Absorb is chosen for more recovery on a set that relies on being hit. Team Options The SwordsDance set obviously appreciates any physical walls being done away with prior to a sweep attempt, especially Bronzong. Sandstorm support is also nice, as it makes for easier setup sometimes thanks to Sand Viel. The lead set likes switching into the lead spot so that it’s a surprise to see it right off the bat, so something that can lure an opposing lead that Cacturne won’t mind is good; you want an attacker to avoid bringing a Taunter out, maybe something that something else would try to set up on that you can Encore, such as a special attacking lead that might bring Blissey up to the front, like Heatran. The final set is a gimmick at best, but if you do choose to use it, something to kill special attackers like a Chansey or other special wall would be good to narrow down to what Counter would be capable of retaliating against. Trick Room could allow him to sweep without resorting to priority, for instance Dusknoir resists Bug for Cacturne and could set it up. Alternatives Cacturne’s Sp.Atk stat is equal to his Atk and he has NastyPlot to match SwordsDance, but he loses any sort of priority in the switch. Disable, LeechSeed, and TeeterDance are all nice toys for annoyance value, as is Switcheroo if you wanna throw some sort of item for that purpose onto him. Revenge could be used over BrickBreak seeing how slow Cacturne is, and although unreliable overall it’s quite practical in this case should you be willing to take the slight risk. Attract and CottonSpore are available if you’re devoting the set entirely to trollish irritation, of which I would wholeheartedly approve of course. How to Beat it The surge in VoltTurn usage and the x4 effectiveness the latter half of it has on Cacturne means most teams will have something for the job right there, but if they don’t in that, then MachPunch and VacuumWave can dodge SuckerPunch if faster or a tank like Conkeldurr could just blast through Cacturne with DrainPunch. Alakazam could Sub to evade SuckerPunch and hope FocusBlast hits, while a Sub Starmie could fire off an IceBeam. Sun teams prevent Cacturne from getting his evasion bump and carry plenty of Fire moves to dish out, while Virizion’s Justified ability lets it abuse SuckerPunch and then hit hard with SacredSword. Spoiler:Camerupt Fire-Ground HP: 70 Atk: 100 Def: 70 Sp.Atk: 105 Sp.Def: 75 Spe: 40 Trick Room Special Sweeper Camerupt @ Leftovers Solid Rock Quiet 0 Spe IVs 252HP/6Def/252Sp.Atk -Eruption -FireBlast -HiddenPower [Ice] -EarthPower Camerupt has good mixed attacking stats and interesting STAB coverage, but much like the lava he spews, he’s not getting anywhere very quickly. Unless of course you throw him into a Trick Room scenario, in which case he can abuse a rare Eruption with his incredibly sluggish 76 Spe and impressive 339 Sp.Atk. Once your HP runs low, FireBlast becomes your best STAB option, with EarthPower crushing Flash Fire Pokemon and Rock-types while HP Ice freezes up Dragons and bulky Ground-types. Keep in mind though that its lack of power makes it only really useful against things that are hit x4 by it and/or can totally ignore your STABs. Support Camerupt @ Leftovers Solid Rock Calm 220HP/36Def/252Sp.Def -StealthRock -Roar -Will-O-Wisp -Protect If you’re looking to be original with a supporter for your sun team, this is perfectly reasonable to try on for size. The lack of recovery hurts though, so Protect and Leftovers are there to at least attempt some longetivity. Rock Polish Camerupt @ Petaya Berry Solid Rock Timid 6HP/252Sp.Atk/252Spe -RockPolish -FireBlast -EarthPower -HiddenPower [Ice] Camerupt does get RockPolish for an attempt at a sweep, although beware that 392 at +2 is outsped still by base 130s and 99% of Scarfers. He also lacks sweeping power without a positive nature, so Petaya Berry tries to take advantage of the hit he’ll need to take before boosting to get him up to 464Sp.Atk along with the aforementioned Speed stat. Same coverage moves as the TrickRoom sweeper set, for obvious reasons. Team Options Camerupt very much enjoys sunshine, as it not only allows his Water weakness to be further negated alongside Solid Rock, but it also gives the extra oomph of course to his Fire STAB. If you’re running Trick Room and Ninetales at the same time, well, then Camerupt is very much at home. He’s also weak to Ground, meaning that (outside of sun) Mantine would make a wonderful partner with Water Absorb and Flying typing, and his weakness to Electric that Camerupt can of course capitalize on. He takes neutral from StealthRock and is grounded, though, so keeping hazards off the field is very good since he has no recovery to gain that HP back. Hazards on the other side are equally appreciated to help with the KOs he already struggles to maintain, hence Espeon or Xatu could fill both roles. Coincidentally, that would also work decently for a Trick Room setter, if that’s your strategy. Alternatives You’re probably wondering why no physical moves are listed, and well, he doesn’t have many. He lacks a practical physical Fire-type move, although FlameCharge could be tried if you think you can get two boosts off of it. More likely, you’d want to try a Wallbreaking set, although that only makes sense in TrickRoom circumstances. In that case, customize the attacking EVs to suit what you want to KO, and arm him with Earthquake to knock down Blissey. If you really want to run a fully physical attacking set, then you could shoot for a RockPolish/EdgeQuake set, with…Rest? Yeah, Chesto Rest is also a good option on boosting sets for Camerupt, given his lack of recovery. Speaking of boosting, he gets Curse for physical attacking, again probably with Rest but he just isn’t bulky enough to really pull that off. Other miscellaneous moves include Yawn, Toxic, Stockpile, Explosion, LavaPlume, Howl, and Amnesia. How to Beat it Any rain team will shut down Camerupt, as although the rare physical attacker will probably not be relying on Fire, his x4 weakness to Water is a killer. Gastrodon particularly walls Camerupt, and when trying to wall him otherwise, keep in mind the possibility of mixed attacks; i.e., Blissey getting beaten by EQ, Gliscor switching into HP Ice, Skarmory getting roasted by a FireBlast. If you stall out the effects of TrickRoom, then Camerupt will revert to being a sitting duck for a revenge kill, and even in Trick Room he can be dealt with by AquaJet. Don’t count on using Ground to OHKO though thanks to Solid Rock, for example Mamoswine might not be able to finish the job and would then have to take a hit (although he does have Thick Fat in this example). Spoiler:Carnivine Grass HP: 74 Atk: 100 Def: 72 Sp.Atk: 90 Sp.Def: 72 Spe: 46 Irritation Carnivine @ Leftovers Levitate Careful 6Atk/252Def/252Sp.Def -LeechSeed -StunSpore -SleepPowder -PowerWhip James from Team Rocket can vouch for how annoying Carnivine can be, but he may overestimate him even in that. SleepPowder is quite annoying though, and StunSpore helps since Carnivine is so slow for some reason. LeechSeed and Leftovers do their best to get some recovery going on, and PowerWhip is some sort of damage off of a not too shabby 237 Atk stat. Team Options As seems to be a recurring theme among Pokemon whose names begin with ‘Ca’, Carnivine could function better under Trick Room circumstances, but usually there are better things to be doing with those few turns than status things. Carnivine’s Levitate makes him synergize well with Fire-types though, if you think he deserves to be looked out for even when he is never going to be a big contributer. Alternatives The set stated above could utilize a Sash to be a last resort stop to sweepers, in which case you’d better be watching out for StealthRocks (Levitate working to your advantage here though on the other hazards). Strangely, Carnivine has access to SwordsDance, but PowerWhip/Crunch/Return is the best coverage he can muster and won’t get you much coverage, and he’s too slow. On the annoyer set, GigaDrain could replace PowerWhip; other moves worth taking a flier on are Attract, Protect, and Stockpile, if any of the listed moves doesn’t seem to be seeing any use. How to Beat it Like most Grass-types unfortunately, Carnivine can’t do many different things, and what it does do, it doesn’t do particularly well and won’t make much of an impact even if it does. An opposing Grass-types ruins the point of Leech Seed, and something like Venusaur could fry with an HP Fire. Just know that you’ll probably need to sacrifice something to SleepPowder, although if you send fodder in and the attack misses, Carnivine lacks any sort of remotely impressive bulk and can be 2HKO’d by any STAB attack that it doesn’t resist. Also, two things people tend not to know about Carnivine are that its ability is Levitate and that it’s slow as dirt. So don’t use Ground attacks and capitalize on outspeeding it, and you’ll be fine; or just let it try to do something, kill it afterwards, and undo the small damage if any. Spoiler:Carracosta Water-Rock HP: 74 Atk: 108 Def: 133 Sp.Atk: 83 Sp.Def: 65 Spe: 32 ZOMG SHELL SMASH Carracosta @ White Herb/Salac Berry Sturdy Jolly 6HP/252Atk/252Sp.Atk -ShellSmash -Waterfall -StoneEdge -Earthquake Yes, yes, Carracosta gets ShellSmash; naturally therefore, that’s what most people would be coming here for, so it’s first up. Sadly for the tortoise, he still only gets to 358Spe at +2, so Salac Berry is a personal customization to this set which I find to be fairly useful thanks to Sturdy and the fact that he has to take a hit as he boosts; that we you can more easily sweep with 730 Atk and 448Spe at +2 and +3 respectively. Attacks listed are dual STABs and EdgeQuake coverage. Trick Room Carracosta @ Life Orb Solid Rock Brave 0 Spe IVs 252HP/252Atk/6Atk -Waterfall -StoneEdge -Earthquake -Crunch/Curse If you’ve been reading this Dex in order, you’ll notice that Trick Room sets are getting very common lately, and I actually even mentioned that above under Carnivine. Anyways, yeah Carracosta is incredibly slow and has decent bulk and Solid Rock to stick around for most if not all of Trick Room’s duration. The first three slots are pretty obvious attacking options, and the final slot can either go to Crunch for Ghosts and Psychics, or to Curse for the perfect TR setup move if you think you can spare the turn. Curse Carracosta @ Leftovers Solid Rock Adamant 252HP/252Atk/6Def -Curse -AquaJet -StoneEdge -Earthquake/Waterfall On the other hand, you could dedicate a set entirely to Curse, since it isn’t like you’ll be outspeeding anything anyways. Because of this though, you’ll be needing some priority to help you out, hence STAB AquaJet is chosen for the main Water STAB with StoneEdge as secondary and either EQ for filler coverage or Waterfall for more powerful STAB in situations where you don’t necessarily need to hit first. Physical Wall Carracosta @ Leftovers Solid Rock Bold 252HP/6Sp.Atk/252Def -StealthRock -Toxic -Protect -Scald Carracosta rocks a 133Def stat if you want a new attempt at a physical wall, and he does it quite well. He lacks Roar sadly, but is still good to set up StealthRock. Toxic and Protect are plenty of fun, and Scald is off a usable 83 base Sp.Atk for some burns here and there. Team Options Grass attacks could easily be covered by something with Sap Sipper, but most things with access are better off with something else, so any Grass-type in general would do since it would also resist Electric. Venusaur resists Grass x4 and Electric and Fight x2, however their preferred weathers contradict so that would be an interesting task if running both offensively. Which reminds me, rain is very good for Carracosta when he needs that little bit of extra oomph to his Water attacks since, while by no means bad, 108 base Atk is a little too little sometimes in today’s bulky offense metagame. Keep Toxic Spikes off the field in general since he needs to be able to boost before hitting in most cases, and Spikes too to an extent; he resists StealthRock if that’s any comfort, and it should be. Alternatives Swift Swim probably looks good for facing rain teams, but even then he only gets to 358Spe with a positive nature. A Choice Band set, on the other hand, could be very good although would require Wish support most likely, and would grant practicality to the use of Superpower. AquaTail is also on the table if you want that extra bit of power and don’t mind the loss of accuracy and the 20% flinch chance of Waterfall, or the priority of AquaJet. Defensively speaking, KnockOff and RestTalk present themselves as worthwhile in their own ways, if you’d like to replace StealthRock or try an entirely different tact. RestTalk could even be used with Curse actually, as could Chesto Rest. Don’t bother with RockPolish, as ShellSmash is just generally better. The same goes for a special set versus a physical, but if you’re into gimmicks, access to STAB HydroPump, IceBeam, FocusBlast, and HP Electric could put up a fight under rain or something. HydroPump could be considered as filler on the ShellSmash set for wallbreaking too, as it would hit physical walls harder. How to Beat it A Grass, Electric, or Fight attack shouldn’t be too hard to come by on your team, and if they are then that’s a bigger problem than just Carracosta. The turtle also lacks recovery; hence repeated hits in general, especially special attacks, will get him out of the way. Burning him will ruin any offensive variant and slowly break down a defensive one, though in the latter case you’d be better off trying to Toxic it. A sturdy physical wall could stand up even to the ShellSmash set if it isn’t hit super-effectively, or Intimidate Gyarados could try to switch in and out to reduce his Atk one stage at a time, so long as he avoids StoneEdge. Skarmory could phaze, as good Hippowdon since it would remove rain boost. Spoiler:Castform Normal HP: 70 Atk: 70 Def: 70 Sp.Atk: 70 Sp.Def: 70 Spe: 70 Well aren’t you just the cutest thing Castform @ Life Orb Forecast Modest 6HP/252Sp.Atk/252Spe -SunnyDay/RainDance -WeatherBall -Thunderbolt -IceBeam WEATHERBALL!!1! Saved for a Rainy Day Castform @ Choice Specs Forecast Modest 6HP/252Sp.Atk/252Spe -HydroPump -Thunder -IceBeam -EnergyBall/WeatherBall Funny rain sweeper. Starmie coverage plus EnergyBall because it would be awesome to kill Lanturn. Agh, my eyes!! Castform @ Choice Specs Forecast Modest 6HP/252Sp.Atk/252Spe -FireBlast -Thunderbolt -IceBeam -EnergyBall/WeatherBall Literally the same exact thing but for sun. WeatherBall if you don’t want to miss...I think. All Hail Castform Castform @ Choice Specs Forecast Modest 6HP/252Sp.Atk/252Spe -Blizzard -Thunderbolt -HydroPump -FireBlast Ha!! Now your Leftovers can’t do a thing!! Might as well just be annoying Castform @ Leftovers Forecast Bold 252HP/252Def/6Sp.Def -ThunderWave -Toxic -Attract -Disable You can’t possibly have expected to do damage with Castform, so this is worth a look. Team Options Five Pokemon capable of working together fine without the need of a sixth teammate. Alternatives There are none, so I’ll just explain myself: the reason why I actually bothered to list so many sets for a joke Pokemon like Castform, is that I highly appreciate trolling. Hence I’d recommend the final set over the others, because let’s face it, you weren’t being a serious battler to click this spoiler in the first place. How to Beat it If your Pokemon aren’t ticklish, then they won’t mind Castform’s attack. Or you could Taunt it. Or you could ignore its presence entirely with no consequences. Spoiler:Celebi Psychic-Grass HP: 100 Atk: 100 Def: 100 Sp.Atk: 100 Sp.Def: 100 Spe: 100 Nasty Plot Celebi @ Life Orb Natural Cure Timid 6HP/252Sp.Atk/252Spe -NastyPlot -GigaDrain -EarthPower -HiddenPower [Ice] Be honest; you only even came to this spoiler to check the exact workings of this one set. Well, I aim to please; then again, I also dislike Smogon, hence I altered the set for my own diabolical intents because booyah. Anyways, yeah with a Life Orb, StealthRock, and +2, you can OHKO Scizor with EarthPower, and this has LO, NP isn’t too hard to setup, and SR is common enough, so I figured you could leave out HP Fire and take care of the Pokemon it would hit with something else in exchange for getting the benefit of Ground-Ice coverage, which of course, is awesome. Tinkerbell Celebi @ Life Orb Natural Cure Modest 232HP/240Sp.Atk/36Spe -ThunderWave -LeafStorm -HiddenPower [Fire]/EarthPower/Psychic -Recover This one on the other hand, I decided to copy straight from Smogon, based on the fact that I run my own special tinkerbell set anyway which will come next. Anyways, this is just fun to use all around I’m sure, as it can use its ability to absorb status for your team and then paralyze stuffs too while even being able to hit pretty damn hard. MB’s Tinkerbell Celebi @ Leftovers Natural Cure Jolly 252HP/6Atk/252Spe -ThunderWave -LeechSeed -U-Turn -Recover Now let’s get down to business: this set is, along with possibly my Spiritomb, one of if not the single weirdest concoction I’ve ever brewed up. It’s just so fun though, like you switch into a resistance or a status, paralyze, force switches with LeechSeed, and get out of there or Recover on the switches. Practically a phazer with the switches it creates; great for sand teams I bet. Seriously, try this one out, if you can fit it into a team then you really should have success. Swords Dance Celebi @ Life Orb Natural Cure Jolly 6HP/252Atk/252Spe -SwordsDance -SeedBomb -ZenHeadbutt -Return Terrible coverage? Agreed. Awesome surprise factor? You bet. Try this one on for size if you’re in the mood for being creative, and only if you’re in the mood for being creative. Team Options Celebi has a frightening seven weaknesses: Bug, Dark, Flying, Ice, Fire, Ghost, and Poison. That’s a hefty burden to cover for. Handily however, Heatran does it singlehandedly, with two immunities, two x4 resists, and a x2 resist to Dark, Ghost, and Flying. This matches up, more or less, with how common those attacking types are in OU, making him an even BETTER choice for a partner. However, they’re both special attackers (typically; I’ve run physical variants of both), so yeah. On top of that last note, Magnezone is another special attacker which is of great use to Celebi, killing Scizor, Ferrothorn, Forretress, Bronzong, and other Steels with ease; if you can trust Zone’s trapping capabilities, then you can afford to skip HP Fire on Celebi so long as the lil’ onion sweeps after Zone has done its job. Have something for Tyranitar too, especially important if running Celebi on a rain team which, is a pretty good idea considering any weakness negated is very much welcomed in his case, just keep in mind that Politoed’s presence would totally negate any chance of using HP Fire successfully. Alternatives Celebi has more great sets unlisted than most Pokemon have listed: Dual Screens with U-Turn, Dual Status, Dedicated LeechSeed Sub Stall, CalmMind, Choice Scarf, Choice Specs, Wallbreaker, and even Choice Band. For the Choice sets, you run a mixed Scarf for some serious revenge killing prowess, assuming the target is already weakened plenty, with great moves for such a set like U-Turn and GigaDrain.Though if you’re tearing your hair out to find Psyshock in Celebi’s movepool, sorry but for some reason it just isn’t in there, which is very unfortunate indeed. Celebi could also run a late-game cleaner with Sub and three attacks, as 101HP Subs are of course always nice, though this tends to be inferior to NastyPlot and Sub’s main use is blocking status, which Natural Cure helps in anyway. Regardless, if you find yourself stopped mid-sweep too often by SuckerPunch and Toxic, it’s certainly worth a go. How to Beat it Celebi is far too versatile for a universal counter, and many of its sets also lack such consistent stoppers. Scizor and Ferrothorn are some of the better checks, as they wall but are ruined by HP Fire; if Scizor switches in safely though and Celebi is already weakened, BulletPunch will be able to at least take a chunk out. Ferrothorn ignores LeechSeed, but so does Celebi and the best Ferro can muster is a GyroBall or just setting up hazards. Heatran fears EarthPower and that’s a very common move on the set, but with Air Balloon he can revenge kill Celebi/force the switch. The same goes for any Fire-type on a balloon actually, particularly Arcanine thanks to his access to Extremespeed. Moltres, who despite being a personal favorite since my childhood is never seen in OU because of StealthRock, would in theory counter Celebi thanks to his typing, bar some really odd HP Rock set I suppose. Spoiler:Chandelure Ghost-Fire HP: 60 Atk: 55 Def: 90 Sp.Atk: 145 Sp.Def: 90 Spe: 80 Choice Scarf Chandelure @ Choice Scarf Flash Fire Modest 6HP/252Sp.Atk/252Spe -Overheat -ShadowBall -EnergyBall -HiddenPower [Fighting] Probably the Chandy set with the most potential, although from personal experience I must say his power is overrated at times. So don’t expect him to just OHKO everything in sight, instead think more along the lines of doing a solid 60% to most foes. The coverage moves are pretty much your best bets for hitting Water-types and Rock-types, and Heatran respectively. Oh and if you get this guy a Flash Fire boost and use Overheat and they don’t have a resist, then I take back what I said about not expecting to OHKO everything. Sub Split Chandelure @ Leftovers Flash Fire Modest 6HP/252Sp.Atk/252Spe -Substitute -FireBlast/HiddenPower [Fighting] -ShadowBall/EnergyBall -PainSplit If you find yourself struggling with stall teams, welp, here ya go. This set destroys stall itself as a strategy, with the added bonus of having STABs that land super-effectively on Steel-types and Reuniclus. However, EnergyBall lands on bulky Waters and Ground-types, and HP Fight hits Tyranitar and Heatran. So feel free to mix and match, but, obviously have at least one STAB always. Defensive Chandelure @ Leftovers Flash Fire Bold 252HP/252Def/6Sp.Atk -CalmMind -Will-O-Wisp -Flamethrower -Toxic It can actually tank pretty solidly, but just can’t deal with any of its usual checks in any way whatsoever. Wish support is nice, and if its particularly reliable then you could even try an Air Balloon. Team Options Chandelure makes a perfect offensive partner with Ferrothorn, who coincidentally is a monster on his defensive end equivalent to Chandy’s offensive might. The only weakness that would leave open is Chandelure being weak to Ground and Ferrothorn being neutral, but anything with Levitate or Flying-typing (beware double Rocks weakness in that case) would handle that fine. Generally, a physical attacker of sorts would go along with that massive Sp.Atk stat pretty nicely, like Flygon or something with Levitate and an Ice lure to his credit. Finally, if you just want that extreme overkill power on your Fire STABs, sunlight would power them up beyond reckoning. Alternatives Special mention to Shadow Tag, as if it were to ever get unbanned, not only would it be a great option for ability choice in general but its effect would also open many doors, such as a dedicated CalmMind booster or an AcidArmor tank. It would also make a Specs set much more viable; on that note, the Scarf set could be run with Specs anyway and preferably a Timid nature, but you’d just be easily revenge killed back. For attacking moves, FlameCharge is actually an excellent toy to remedy that Speed stat, HP Water has merit for a Fire-Water-Grass coverage set, Solarbeam works over EnergyBall on sun teams, and Psychic hits Fighting-types that you switch into their STABs. Defensively speaking, interesting options include Haze/ClearSmog, TrickRoom, Toxic, Safeguard, ConfuseRay, Curse, and Memento. Finally, for set possibilities not listed, FlameCharge sets, Sub + 3 attacks, CM boosters, Chesto Rest (potentially with CalmMind), and even SubStall come to mind. How to Beat it StealthRock weakness, STAB removal in rain and weakness to rain-boosted attacks, typically low speed or reliance on a Choice item, weakness to SuckerPunch and Pursuit, and the overall popularity of EdgeQuake all have their own ways of removing Chandelure from the battlefield. AquaJet, though rare these days, will also be a death sentence from the likes of Azumarill and Feraligatr. The occasional Sharpedo could check Chandelure despite not being able to switch in, and likes the extra turns of Speed Boost. Politoed rains on Chandelure’s parade entirely, often being able to take non-Specs EnergyBall even, although I believe is 2HKO’d when defensive so still needs to be careful trying to switch in. Spoiler:Chansey Normal HP: 250 Atk: 5 Def: 5 Sp.Atk: 35 Sp.Def: 105 Spe: 50 Wishing Wall Chansey @ Eviolite Natural Cure Bold 252HP/252Def/6Sp.Def -Wish -Protect -SeismicToss -Toxic Chansey is the bulkiest Wish user in the game and has the second biggest Wish capacity at 352HP when passed, barely second to big sister Blissey. Other than that though, she has no offensive options bar SeismicToss and Toxic, meaning that the set pretty much builds itself. Regardless, it’s a very very good set, and should be considered for any team needing a mixed wall. Full Support Chansey @ Eviolite Natural Cure Bold 252HP/252Def/6Sp.Def -Wish -HealBell -ThunderWave -StealthRock/Protect/Toxic Yeah this is basically the same set except leaning more to support than walling, while still using said walling capabilities to make support easier to accomplish. Last slot depends on if you have phazers, wanna heal yourself more reliably, or wanna break opposing walls down. Team Options Well a Ghost-type is almost essential for that lone weakness to Fighting, if you wanna stall hard then Eviolite Dusclops could fill that role (or Dusknoir in the event that Item Clause is followed). Cofagrigus also comes to mind, with a bit of offense in his case too to make up for Chansey’s lack thereof. Regardless, some sort of major offense needs to be provided by the remainder of your team, as Chansey won’t be picking up that slack any time soon. Alternatives Ironically enough, the nurse Pokemon can both paralyze and poison you at will, so those two status options can be mixed and matched with its Wish and cleric abilities. Typically though, you’ll wanna have SeismicToss around, as it gives you a way of 3HKO’ing Alakazam, in case he wields Psyshock and may break you with it. If you just wanna troll, then there are a surprising number of toys available for such purposes: SweetKiss, Sing, and DreamEater are all available to Chansey. As for more practical gimmicks, Gravity stands out too since Chansey easily forces enough switches to use it on the free turns. Oh, and if you don’t need Wishes passed (for whatever reason), Softboiled is more immediate recovery. Or I suppose you could use Rest and switch out with Natural Cure, up to you. Finally, as a side note, Bold and Impish can be swapped obviously if you’re playing in-game and need to breed, and the same goes for HealBell and Aromatherapy. How to Beat it Well Chansey is tough to break through attacking due to her ridiculous mixed walling skill, but if that’s your tactic then aim for the physical side obviously, particularly Fighting-type attacks. Terrakion and Breloom can do this just fine, the latter in particular with Poison Heal to avoid being statused with that Toxic Orb of his. Gengar, so long as he can avoid paralysis, will leave Chansey with literally nothing to do, especially the SubDisable set; however, he can do nothing back. This is why a physical Ghost-type like Golurk would be a better stop, despite being susceptible to Toxic poisoning. Guts Conkeldurr actually enjoys being statused, and is so slow that paralysis will only mean anything if it happens to stop his attacks. Either way, his presence will send Chansey fleeing, and for good reason. Spoiler:Charizard Fire-Flying HP: 78 Atk: 84 Def: 78 Sp.Atk: 109 Sp.Def: 85 Spe: 100 Slash Charizard @ Life Orb Solar Power Timid 16HP/240Sp.Atk/252Spe -FireBlast -AirSlash -FocusBlast -Solarbeam The epitome of a glass cannon sun sweeper right here. Pretty good Speed, and the power is off the charts. Which, is why I afforded some Sp.Atk EVs to make his HP one higher than a multiple of 16/8, beneficial for Life Orb and Solar Power recoil respectively. Basically just send this in late-game with sun up and sweep away. Team Options RapidSpin obviously due to the glaring StealthRock weakness, and Ninetales to activate Solar Power. A Ground-type to take Electric and Rock attacks would be helpful, hence Donphan is great for his additional access to RapidSpin. A physical attacker for balance, etc., etc. Zard is a stand-alone sweeper in general, so, not much here although if you wanna pass him a Speed boost or two I’m sure he wouldn’t mind. Oh and paralysis, as while 100 base Speed isn’t bad by any means, in modern times it’s still a little short. Alternatives Well I posted the only set anyone is probably gonna use, but, Zard has a buttload of other fun stuff to work with. Choice Scarf would make him the greatest revenge killer evar in sunlight, bar Darmanitan and Victini but they suffer recoils. Specs on the other hand allows him to OHKO basically anything to cross its path in sunlight, but again he’ll be a little slow in comparison to today’s speed-oriented metagame. He could also run a physical set with DragonDance, which also fixes his Speed semi-woes. If you have an absolutely rock solid Spinner, or two or three or eight, then BellyDrum is there as Slash will surely attest to. If running any sort of physical set though, run Blaze, as Solar Power won’t help you and opposing sun won’t start hurting you needlessly. Especially with BellyDrum sets, since with a resisted hit added to the 50% sacrificed and maybe a Salac Berry too, you’ll be more or less home free with the coverage of FireFang, DragonClaw, and BrickBreak. If said recoil scares you too much, which is understandable, but DragonDance just isn’t enough: this guy even gets SwordsDance. As mere side notes, he has some fun other eye-catchers such as DragonTail, Roar, Outrage, HoneClaws, RockSlide, DragonPulse (illegal with Solar Power), Earthquake, and FlameCharge. How to Beat it Carry a StealthRocker as you kinda should anyway, especially with a Spinblocker, and Charizard will either be quickly eliminated or forced to rush any sort of sweep. If he gets in with full HP or close, in sunlight, then you’re in trouble; however, there are ways around it anyway: Extremespeed is a good choice, as is AquaJet once he’s been weakened. Anything faster can hit him pretty hard, particularly Archeops and Aerodactyl. If you use a rain team then just win the weather war, or switch Politoed into a FireBlast or Flamethrower to cut its power by well over half. Spoiler:Chatot Normal-Flying HP: 76 Atk: 65 Def: 45 Sp.Atk: 92 Sp.Def: 42 Spe: 91 Nasty Plot Chatot @ Life Orb/Focus Sash Tangled Feet Timid 6HP/252Sp.Atk/252Spe -NastyPlot -HyperVoice -HeatWave -HiddenPower [Water] I’ll even admit: Chatot is one of a select few Pokemon that I actually often forget they exist. Nonetheless, being annoying and all, I may use this set in the future because it would be so funny if it worked. Although the stats may be pretty bad, 566 Sp.Atk at +2 could easily get going if one were to provide the necessary support. HyperVoice is a rare Normal-type attack from the special side, and it gets STAB here while having great coverage with HP Water. HeatWave because KO’ing Ferrothorn or Scizor with a bird with a music note for a hat would just be so damn awesome. Team Options If you’re gonna go with Chatot, you’re gonna have to go hard. He’s too slow to sweep reliably, yet too fast for TrickRoom. The answer? Paralysis support, and lots of it. Lanturn’s resistance to many of Chatot’s weaknesses could be potential for a great partner, although the two both find very little to do against Blissey and Chansey, hence an Infernape or something could help break walls while luring Ground attacks for Chatot. Then I’d suggest a RapidSpinner, preferably a defensively inclined one like Claydol. Alternatives Well for coverage, Chatot could use the weak Chatter for the confusion chance and STAB, but HP Water is usually better. On the subject of HiddenPower, Grass is another possibility for it but you’d be walled by Heatran even more. Outside of that, you could run a funny annoyance set with things like Taunt, Torment, Toxic, U-Turn, Encore, Sing, Roost, and Featherdance. Finally, if you wanna give up HeatWave for Agility, you’d need to sweep later in the game and would have difficulty getting two boosts but I suppose it could be attempted. How to Beat it Any dedicated special wall could probably shut Chatot up, and/or a phazer. His typing leaves him weak to StealthRock, so keep that on the field like you would anyways. What I’m trying to tell you is that Chatot is not worth preparing for, because in all my experience in OU and some in UU I’ve never seen him once. Not once. However, if you happen to see him for any reason, just know he’ll be using NP so you could also Taunt him. Unless it’s me when you see him, in which case send in your best physical wall that he can set up on. c: Spoiler:Cherrim Grass HP: 70 Atk: 60 Def: 70 Sp.Atk: 87 Sp.Def: 78 Spe: 85 Sub Seed Cherrim @ Leftovers Flower Gift Careful 252HP/6Atk/252Sp.Def -LeechSeed -Substitute -Synthesis -SeedBomb The set itself is pretty straightforward, so allow me to use this space to basically just explain exactly how Flower Gift works: under sunlight, Atk and Sp.Def get a +1. This means that Cherrim is actually a fairly decent special wall under such weather conditions, but the attacking benefit is on the wrong end of the spectrum for her stats. Hence, assuming sunlight, Atk is more powerful than Sp.Atk but still not really that good. Therefore SeedBomb. TL;DR GO GO SUN RELIANCE!!1! Team Options Ninetales is obviously required if you actually want Cherrim to do anything in OU, as well as a solid counter to both Politoed and Tyranitar, both of whom beat the fox one on one. A physical Grass-type attacker, such as physical Venusaur or Breloom, could do this job quite well. Other than that, Cherrim just likes avoiding status and hazards like, well, everything else in the game that doesn’t have Magic Guard. Alternatives The given set could be run with Solarbeam if that’s your preference, but that makes you 110% sun-reliant as opposed to 99.9% so yeah. WeatherBall does the same, but makes a bit of sense in that it hits the Grass-types immune to your LeechSeeding epicness. For offense, Cherrim could go for a joke physical set with SeedBomb and NaturePower followed by either Synthesis or Aromatherapy, or Return if you really think it can get going on your particular team for whatever reason. Special attacking is less reliant on sunlight and is more powerful than physical when outside of sun, and there are things like GigaDrain and WeatherBall to be had in that department, although little else. Aromatherapy could be nice for a sun supporter, and the same goes for HealingWish. SwordsDance would be an epic win if successful, a win so epic in fact that it just may be worth the laughter you’ll endure for the other 95 times out of 100 that it fails miserably. How to Beat it Cherrim will only really be seen on a sun team, so remove that sunlight and it’s a goner. It’s neutral to StealthRock and vunerable to all other forms of hazards and status, although it does get Aromatherapy for status, and has Grass-typing’s infamous weaknesses to Fire, Ice, Flying, and Bug. It lacks offensive coverage or power, and on the physical side of defense poses about as much of an obstacle to any attacker as a wet paper bag does to a NASCAR race. Spoiler:Chimecho Psychic HP: 65 Atk: 50 Def: 75 Sp.Atk: 95 Sp.Def: 80 Spe: 65 Support Chimecho @ Leftovers Levitate Bold 252HP/252Def/6Sp.Def -HealBell -ThunderWave -Recover -Psychic I’ll be the first to admit: I used to think Chimecho was Steel-Psychic. I mean, I knew she was Psychic, and she’s a metallic-looking bell you find in caves. But anyway, her typing loses that massive advantage opportunity and leaves her with weaknesses to Bug, Dark, and Ghost. She does get Levitate though, almost letting her compete with Bronzong as a supporter, and her support toys are wonderful; she’s also the only Psychic-type with access to cleric ability and instant recovery, which is a niche in itself to stand out over Gardevoir. Status Ahoy! Chimecho @ Leftovers Levitate Bold 252HP/252Def/6Sp.Def -ThunderWave -Toxic -Yawn/Hypnosis -Recover If you opened this spoiler, there’s a good chance it was with trolling in mind. So in response to your desire, I decided to take note of the fact that Chimecho has lots and lots of ways to status the crap out of your opponent and then recover HP back to do it again. Er, yeah, that’s about it. Team Options Something to lure Ground or Fighting moves would be good, i.e. any Rock- and/or Steel-type, particularly a sweeper like Aggron who would enjoy having the opponent paralyzed or a burn cleric’d away. Chimecho is sorta the one doing the teamwork though, so, not much else…not even the generic stuff since she can heal herself of HP loss and status, and is neutral to Stealth Rocks and immune to Spikes and Toxic Spikes. Alternatives Chimecho’s movepool is quite wide, but her stats tend not to live up to it. Her Speed is poor, which however means that one Curse could be used to make her a nice mixed wall alongside max Sp.Def investment. Inversely, she gets CalmMind and Psychic/ShadowBall/HP Fight coverage which could be mixed and matched with Recover. She also gets ChargeBeam and EnergyBall, which have their own quirky uses as far as offense goes. For irritation, she gets Taunt, Torment, Disable, and the status moves listed. For support, she gets Dual Screens, Wish, TrickRoom, and HealingWish. So her unpredictability in itself can be a pretty solid weapon. How to Beat it Dark-types wall her completely, but if they rely on SuckerPunch then they won’t be hitting her with it any time soon. Things like Bisharp can of course still take her down with secondary STABs, and he in particular has the advantage of being immune to Toxic. Spiritomb will give her trouble, as will Sableye to a lesser extent. Anything with a strong enough super-effective attack should actually be able to ring her bell pretty hard, honestly. But typically, Chimecho isn’t your main concern, it’s what she’s supporting; thus, although she’s immune to Arena Trap, Shadow Tag Gothitelle can very very easily set up on her. Spoiler:Cinccino Normal HP: 75 Atk: 95 Def: 60 Sp.Atk: 65 Sp.Def: 60 Spe: 115 Choice Band Cinccino @ Choice Band Skill Link Jolly 6HP/252Atk/252Spe -TailSlap -BulletSeed -RockBlast -U-Turn/AquaTail Cinccino is often discarded based on its admittedly adorable but therefore unintimidating display; however, the power of a Banded STAB TailSlap with Skill Link just can’t be ignored. In my personal experience, this is a surprisingly effective revenge killer, so long as you don’t expect to OHKO anything since its power does indeed lack a tad even with a Band. In the final slot, U-Turn is decent filler for any Choice set, whereas AquaTail would give you a surprise option against Heatran (not much else though). Annoying Mousey Thing Cinccino @ Life Orb Skill Link Jolly 6HP/252Atk/252Spe -ThunderWave -TailSlap -U-Turn -KnockOff/Encore Yeah this looks like it could probably be a helluva nuisance, if played right at least. Ability to switch into Ghost moves and do reasonable damage is nice, especially when you can break Subs with TailSlap before paralyzing. Team Options Ghost-types have perfect synergy with Cinccino for his Fighting weakness and Ghost immunity, and are typically specially based so you could potentially have a revenge killer from each attacking end. Cinccino is weak to all hazards so Spinning is good, as are opposing hazards since he can force switches when Choiced. He won’t be taking many hits, if any, so keep in mind when deciding to add a wall or not as well. Alternatives Life Orb is highly viable, or an Expert Belt if you wanna feign a Band. Even Sash is considerable for the extra chance to net a necessary KO, but only if you have a reliable Spinner or plan on leading with Cinccino. Which brings to mind the fact that his attacking competence, coverage, and myriad support options make him a viable candidate for the lead slot. Speaking of such options, they’ve all been listed aside from Toxic, LightScreen, Safeguard, and Sing, none of which should really be seeing much use to be honest. Cinccino was one of few Gen V Pokemon to gain access to SleepTalk, if you wanna somehow utilize it with Rest. For attacking variety, Technician would bring more immediate power but less reliability, while making Wake-UpSlap an option that actually makes some sense for hitting Steel-types. Retaliate is there, but outclassed, and the same pretty much goes for Return as far as STABs go. Special attacking has a great movepool that’s wasted by stats, so steer clear of the temptation of Thunder and CM and all that (unless trolling, in which case go right ahead). Most if not all other options have really been listed, other than I guess a Sub + 3 Attacks set since he lacks a physical boosting move. How to Beat it MachPunch and VacuumWave will both easily defeat the incredibly frail Cinccino, as will other powerful priority like Scizor’s BulletPunch and Dragonite’s Extremespeed. Ferrothorn walls all sets pretty hard, as does Heatran, and every other Steel-type. Ghost-types also like giving this set trouble, although something frail like Gengar could easily get caught off guard by a Skill Link RockBlast smacking him in the face, especially if you feigned a Choice item. Otherwise, powerful moves of any power should be able to kill Cinccino, but the user needs to be able to take a hit probably. Status will wear him down pretty easily, as will hazards given his hit-and-run nature. Spoiler:Claydol Ground-Psychic HP: 60 Atk: 70 Def: 105 Sp.Atk: 70 Sp.Def: 120 Spe: 75 Dreidel Claydol @ Leftovers Levitate Bold 8HP/252Def/248Sp.Def -RapidSpin -StealthRock -Toxic -ShadowBall/Protect Claydol has great support options and mixed defenses, but struggles because of his awkward typing which leaves him weak to Bug, Dark, Ghost, Grass, Ice, and Water, incredibly common attacks. However, capitalizing on the immunities to Ground and Electric and the resistances to Fighting, Psychic, and Rock, then he can be worked with quite well (just ask captain boo). RapidSpin is of course highly regarded, but in Claydol’s case it’s especially impressive, given the immunity to Spikes and ToxicSpikes and the resistance to StealthRock. In the final slot, Protect works well with Toxic and your sole source of recovery, Leftovers; however, ShadowBall hits Ghost-types trying to Spinblock you, particularly frail ones like Gengar since other bulkier ones can be poisoned. The EVs are customized a tad so that he would have exactly equal defensive stats of 339 each, but with the miniscule tweak he makes sure Genesect’s U-Turn doesn’t get a Download +1. Dual Screens Claydol @ Light Clay Levitate Impish 8HP/252Def/258Sp.Def -Reflect -LightScreen -Explosion -Earthquake/Substitute Dual Screens, quite self explanatory if I do say so myself; Explosion is handy for getting out for a sweeper to come in, so it helps Claydol slice out his niche a little better. Earthquake is for avoiding Taunt bait if needed, or Substitute could be used on a switch out thanks to his immunities so that you can set screens up more easily. Team Options Claydol IS the support, therefore needs very little. The only major flaw with him is the complete lack of recovery bar Rest, hence a Wish supporter would be nice for the support set; the Dual Screens set needs to do its job once, maybe twice, so don’t worry too much about that one. However if running the support set, you’ll also probably be needing a cleric. Eviolite Chansey can help out a lot with her lure for Fighting and immunity to Ghost, plus her even better mixed walling capabilities and Wish + HealBell which Claydol complements with RapidSpin. If you hadn’t already figured this out, Claydol is intended for stall teams, where his team needs his specialties and little more from him. Alternatives CalmMind or ChargeBeam could be used for a strange offensive variant, although any offensive set may need to be a Chesto Rest due to recovery issues. EarthPower or Psychic for STAB could be used to avoid Taunt bait, but I personally like ShadowBall as it hits Ghost-types. The again, if you find Gengar to be the main obstacle, then Psychic hits him harder due to the Poison-typing that lets him get away from Toxic. Safeguard is a neat little trick if you can free up a slot, for example if you have something else to set StealthRock, so if status is annoying you, try Safeguard before you resort to Lum Berry. Finally, on the Screens set, you could put all the investment into one defensive side, and just set up the other side’s screen first, a tried and true strategy. How to Beat it Rain teams and their double STAB Water attacks create problems for Claydol switching in, and that’s the best way to get rid of the spinny top: hit him on the switch-in. His weaknesses are pretty easily covered by teammates, so while plenty of things can threaten enough to force him out, killing him is more challenging. And that’s before his insane bulk is even considered. Still, his HP stat is undeniably subpar, which means SeismicToss and NightShade will set a timer on his lifespan too. Just don’t try to overpower him with brute force, because it’ll fail, and you should be alright. Worst comes to worst, try to isolate it as the last member of its team, since it can’t really kill anything on its own besides Toxic stalling (which means Steel-types are also handy). Spoiler:Clefable Normal HP: 95 Atk: 70 Def: 73 Sp.Atk: 85 Sp.Def: 90 Spe: 60 Special Sweeper Clefable @ Red Card/Leftovers Magic Guard/Unaware Bold 252HP/252Sp.Atk/6Def -CosmicPower -Softboiled -StoredPower -FocusBlast This is more than likely the toughest choice you’ll ever make: the abilities. Magic Guard is arguably the best one in the game, but then again, this could setup so well on boosting sweepers with Unaware. The set itself is pretty simple though, just get the defensive boosts up and then start firing off high-powered (although non-STAB) StoredPowers. FocusBlast hits Dark-types fairly hard if necessary, as well as Steel-types at that. Softboiled is preferred over Wish since this wants to avoid switching out at all costs and needs the more immediate recovery. Supporter Clefable @ Leftovers Unaware/Magic Guard Calm 252HP/252Def/6Sp.Def -StealthRock -Wish -HealBell -ThunderWave/Toxic/IceBeam/Flamethrower In this case I might lean more towards Unaware, as the loss of status immunity is somewhat negated by the use of HealBell. The last slot’s choice involves either spreading status of your own or avoiding Taunt while having a decent hit on Dragonite or Ferrothorn. The former in particular if you run Unaware, since a +0 DragonClaw you might be able to tank. Feel free to mix and match the options though, of course. Team Options Clefable only has one weakness, and it’s to Fighting-type moves. Enter Ghost-types who appreciate Clefable’s own talents, and/or Gengar since he’s his shadow. Other offensive Ghosts of course like it too, such as Mismagius and Golurk, the latter being able to take paralysis for ThunderWaves aimed at the offensive set, since it’s really the best status option most people will have against Magic Guard. The supporter doesn’t need support of its own, as that would be counterproductive, but the offensive set would prefer to have immediately powerful threats like Genesect and Alakazam out of the way before it joins the fray. Alternatives Where to begin? ChargeBeam and CalmMindare other options for offense, and for the actual attacking, there’s only Thunder/bolt, FireBlast, FocusBlast, WaterPulse, IceBeam, Psychic, Psyshock, Solarbeam, GrassKnot, SignalBeam, and ShadowBall. You could even run a gimmicky BellyDrum set with the equally impressive physical movepool of STAB Return, BrickBreak, the elemental Punches, BodySlam, Bounce, MeteorMash, and ZenHeadbutt. And then there are just a handful of side dishes to the supporting end of the stick, i.e. FakeTears, MagicCoat, Flame Orb/Toxic Orb/Choice Item + Trick, Gravity, Safeguard, HealingWish, and Dual Screens, all backed by the awesomeness of Magic Guard or Unaware, leaning more towards Magic Guard the more times you need Clefable to switch in. How to Beat it Well hazards and status won’t help, and neither will LeechSeed, but if for some reason you notice they do, then you’re facing an Unaware Clefable instead of Magic Guard. In that case, you’ll want to Taunt it to remove recovery and do your best to hit it with immediate force like a Specs Tornadus’s Hurricane or Life Orb Alakazam’s FocusBlast. If it’s Magic Guard, though, as will be more common int today’s metagame, then you can set up on it if you have Substitute to avoid status, again bringing Alakazam to mind. However, Clef’s physical defense is lower than special, so Fighting-types like Hitmonlee, Breloom, Infernape, and Conkeldurr can all do the job, though some may be challenged to do so without their boosts making a difference. Spoiler:Cloyster Water-Ice HP: 50 Atk: 95 Def: 180 Sp.Atk: 85 Sp.Def: 45 Spe: 70 OH LOOK IT LEARNS SHELL SMASH OKAY THAT’S ALL I NEED TO KNOW Cloyster @ White Herb Skill Link Naughty 252Atk/164Sp.Atk/92Spe -ShellSmash -IcicleSpear -RockBlast -HydroPump Well you probably only came here for this, so I took the liberty of putting the title in caps so you could find it easily. So yeah I did tweak the statistical aspect of it though, as in my ~~highly biased~~ opinion, the standard take on it with a Speed nature and max Atk and Spe is just dumb. Why? Because this set is guaranteed to do at least 96% on standard Banded Scizor, a perfectly easy OHKO and even if it does minimum, then with just one layer of Spikes, the bug is still dead. And the bulky variant takes a minimum of 75% too and a maximum of 88%, so, still potential OHKO with some hazards (or considering that the rain helps HydroPump and Scizor is often run with it, yeah guaranteed OHKO there). ANYWAYS feel free to maximize Speed if you really want, which is only really necessary if you find Scarfers screwing you over, but even in that case they’d need to be special attackers because of Cloyster’s obscene Def stat. Wait it has defensive options??? Cloyster @ Leftovers Skill Link Impish 252HP/6Atk/252Def -Spikes -ToxicSpikes -RapidSpin -IcicleSpear And then there’s the set that I used to run when Garchomp was OU. This thing countered him, and hard, and still does the same to other Dragon-types of OU: a Jolly Salemence’s (or Dragonite, whose Atk sits one base point lower) +1 Outrage will rarely 2HKO if you can keep StealthRock off your side, and in response Cloyster can OHKO each of them thanks to IcicleSpear. As for things it also beats the heck out of, Landorus, Gliscor, physical Virizion, Donphan, Flygon, and Dugtrio all come to mind, while things that are walled include Infernape, Gyarados, and any physical attacker without a super-effective STAB move and a boost. EDIT: Garchomp is now OU once again, and if that scares you, get.this.thing.going. Team Options The main downside to Cloyster is his suckish typing, which leaves him requiring dedicated Spin support and something to cover its four weaknesses, Electric, Rock, Grass, and Fighting. If you don’t mind a neutrality to Rock, Celebi covers the other three and can lure Ice attacks that Cloyster resists x4, while providing some special attacking capability and/or support, depending on which set you’re running for both of them. Exeggutor has the same typing and is more creative, if that’s what you’re into. Hitmontop and Donphan both resist Ground and can Spin while maintaining an offensive presence, since Cloyster should really be run on a mostly offensive team if he’s going for ShellSmash. If he’s going defensive, you’ll need a Wish supporter, since he has no means of recovery. The lone upside to his typing is the fact that he gets double HydroPump STAB in rain, which means that Politoed is a nice option to go along with him, or perhaps vice versa. Or, you could slap him on a hail team to benefit from residual damage on those he’s trying to sweep through and the option of Blizzard. Alternatives Cloyster is very predictable, but he does have a couple of tricks he could whip out should the situation demand such actions. RazorShell is a nice physical secondary STAB if you wanna run all physical, sacrificing wallbreaking capability for the ability to max Atk and Spe without missing out on power on one of your attacks. HiddenPower [Electric] has its merits for BoltBeam coverage, or HP Ground since Ice-Ground and pseudo-EdgeQuake are both great coverage and would be combined with that option. SpikeCannon would be nice if it was Ground-type, but, it isn’t and is weaker than other multi-hit moves so…unless you really want the general coverage of Normal-type, don’t bother. Explosion got nerfed, but could be fun nonetheless. Surf is a more accurate option instead of HydroPump that still packs quite a punch, especially in rain. The defensive set also has some room to work with, such as Explosion again or I guess IronDefense/Barrier for the purpose of maximum overkill. AquaRing doesn’t have an easy time finding an open slot, but, it’s debatable I suppose. Torment is annoying, as is Supersonic if you’re just going for trolling. How to Beat it If/when Cloyster gets a ShellSmash set up, don’t panic just yet. Fast Scarfers, especially if Cloyster has a neutral nature toward Speed, can still give it a go, although if it has a White Herb then they’d better be special attackers. StealthRock takes a nice 25% off its HP bar on the switch-in, as if you didn’t need reason enough to carry it on your team. Spikes and ToxicSpikes will likewise have their effect on the clam, but most users of Cloyster will be using a Spinner so try to have a Ghost-type around too. VacuumWave from Lucario could be used to ignore the Speed boost, while if there was no White Herb, LO recoil and the -2 in Def could be abused to try and land a MachPunch from something really powerful like Breloom or Conkeldurr, or a BulletPunch from a Banded Scizor or Metagross. If it switches into you and you happen to be carrying FocusBlast or T-Wave or something else it probably wasn’t anticipating, then that’s great for you. Bulky Rotom-W resists both STABs and can swallow a RockBlast if it has to, and OHKOs with T-Bolt, revenge kills with VoltSwitch, or even just burns with Will-O-Wisp if it has nothing better for whatever reason. Spoiler:Cobalion Steel-Fighting HP: 91 Atk: 90 Def: 129 Sp.Atk: 90 Sp.Def: 72 Spe: 108 Swords of Steel Cobalion @ Life Orb Justified Jolly 252Atk/6Def/252Spe -SwordsDance -CloseCombat/SacredSword -IronHead -X-Scissor/StoneEdge Cobalion is an excellent example of three things: four-moveslot syndrome, letdown stat distribution, and the singer Pitbull. In response to the first two, his better attributes are attempted to be put into this set, with the boosting of SwordsDance to bring his Atk to a very solid 558 after one use, powerful STAB and flinching STAB, and your choice of a coverage move. You’re gonna wanna spam CloseCombat for the most part, and it’s resisted by Ghost, Flying, and Psychic. Nothing in Cobalion’s movepool hits Ghost-types super-effectively, unless you’d like to use ZenHeadbutt for Gengar, so IronHead is used for a very good neutral hit. Psychic-types are hit by X-Scissor, or Flying-types by StoneEdge, to deal with threats such as Reuniclus or Thundurus-T. The choice of Fighting STAB is only there if you hate the defensive drops, since although SacredSword’s ability to cleave through defensive boosts, you’ll rarely see any and it doesn’t apply to Eviolite. Calm Mind Cobalion @ Leftovers Justified Timid 252Sp.Atk/6Sp.Def/252Spe -CalmMind -FocusBlast -HiddenPower [Ghost] -FlashCannon Well doesn’t this make his subpar physical movepool just look like a gold mine? However, his impressive Def with the Sp.Def boost from CM does make setup a little easier, and his Sp.Atk is equal to his Atk so you can’t complain. Dual STABs again, and this time the option of HiddenPower to get that extra coverage on Psychics and Ghosts that Cobalion’s physical side had been looking for. Choice Band Cobalion @ Choice Band Justified Adamant/Jolly 252Atk/6Def/252Spe -CloseCombat -IronHead -X-Scissor -StoneEdge Best attempt at beating the four moveslot syndrome, although at the cost of his good Speed unless you’re content with the 419Atk you’re left with if running a Jolly nature. For comparison’s sake, that would let you hit 346Spe, while an Adamant nature tops out at only 315 (outrun by base 95s) for the reward of 459Atk instead. Maybe that’s not such a big gap to you, in which case go ahead and run Jolly, as it’s honestly what I’d do but my team is hyper-offense so I can count on the foe being weakened. If you can do that, especially by providing hazards, then Jolly would be the way to go. Team Options A major plus to using Cobalion is that he doesn’t give a damn about hazards, being x4 resistant to the evils of StealthRock and being immune to ToxicSpikes, with Spikes being fairly uncommon anyway. Setting hazards on the opposing side however, well that’s very important to him given his lack of immediate OHKO’ing power, as if they weren’t important enough already. Other than that, his weaknesses to Fire, Ground, and Fighting are covered easily by something like Gyarados, while his x4 resistances to common attacking types such as Bug, Rock, and Dark (don’t forget his ability), are much appreciated by frailer attackers like Alakazam. His x2 resistances really pile up too, being ones to Grass, Ghost, Steel, Normal, and Dragon, with an immunity to Poison (think Toxic). Alternatives Cobalion has a quirky movepool like that of something designed purely to be a nuisance, so if you like that kinda thing, then look towards StealthRock, ThunderWave, Roar, Taunt, Toxic, and the questionably-available VoltSwitch. The final of these also applies to any sort of Specs set, as it would be a suitable fourth move in addition to the three attacks on the CM set. Speaking of three attacks, with Sub that could be a pretty nice set too, with Cobalion’s physical bulk and sturdy typing in mind. Don’t bother with HoneClaws or Superpower, as both are outclassed heavily. RockPolish or Scarf is a bit of overkill, especially considering his disappointing Atk, and a dual boosting set would leave a lot of coverage behind. Personally I used to run a Chesto Rest set in Ubers to great success, mainly because of the oppurtunities to setup on Darkrai, but it had some sweeps in OU too with SacredSword, Rest, SD, and StoneEdge. How to Beat it Cobalion may be able to ignore a lot of attacking types, but the three he can’t are all very common. Landorus can switch into a CC and easily kill with EQ after the Def drop, Conkeldurr is pretty bulky and can land a hard DrainPunch to finish with MachPunch, and although unable to really switch into much, Terrakion can revenge kill just fine. The same goes for Dugtrio with his trapping abilities. As long as it isn’t raining, most Fire-types like Ninetales, Heatran, and Infernape should have no trouble KOing Cobalion, so long as the first two of those mentioned don’t switch into a super-effective attack. Spoiler:Cofagrigus Ghost HP: 58 Atk: 50 Def: 145 Sp.Atk: 95 Sp.Def: 105 Spe: 30 Overkill Physical Wall Cofagrigus @ Leftovers Mummy Bold 252HP/252Def/6Sp.Def -Will-O-Wisp -Toxic/Haze -NightShade -Protect/Haze Just in case a titanic Def stat of 427 backed up by a passable 320 HP stat wasn’t enough, oh look you can burn the opponent too. You can then opt for dual status, or to go with Haze so that special attackers don’t set up on you, especially Reuniclus. Or you could sacrifice Protect for Haze, however I personally love Protect on a set like this for the stalling, scouting, Lefties recovery, and general irritation. Mixed Wall Cofagrigus @ Leftovers Mummy Calm 6HP/252Def/252Sp.Def -Toxic -Protect -PainSplit -NightShade It is my personal opinion, that whoever at GameFreak decided to make such a set possible with such a stat spread be damned to hell. The 389/339 defenses are obscene, the low HP makes PainSplit pretty reliable recovery, and Toxic and Protect get further damage while NightShade lets you get the job done on Steels and Poison-types as well, of course in conjunction with PainSplit. Chesto Rest Sweeper Cofagrigus @ Chesto Berry Mummy Modest 252Def/252Sp.Atk/6Sp.Def -CalmMind -Rest -ShadowBall -HiddenPower [Fight] This thing is just a really freakin’ threatening setup sweeper, ‘nuff said. However, I guess I’ll explain why: after a single CM, Cof reaches 388/370 defenses, and 475 Sp.Atk. Get two or three boosts, and well, you can see where this is going. I personally really like the Chesto Rest route, as while PainSplit is of course a multi-use option, this is a set very vulnerable to being statused, particularly with toxic poisoning. If you do choose to use PainSplit as your recovery form though, I’d run with a Lum Berry. As for the attacks, STAB and unresisted coverage, yay. Team Options Perhaps the mummy’s lone downfall is the fact that he takes neutral damage from StealthRocks, is grounded, and is open to all types of status. So if you expect to be bringing him in many times, as in, you’re using any set other than the sweeper, you’ll wanna keep hazards away (as you should anyway) and a cleric would be nice. Cofagrigus fits especially well on stall teams, particularly ones with Wish passers as he can then afford a moveslot that PainSplit or Rest may have otherwise taken up. Being a pure Ghost-type, he’s weak to Ghost and Dark, meaning a Steel-type or Dark-type, or both like Bisharp, would cover both of these. Also, both of those would appreciate Cof’s immunity to Fighting-type moves, and Dark-types would love to have their Bug weakness also covered. Alternatives Pure Ghost-typing is a blessing for Pokemon who wish to have variety, and this is no exception. A SubDisable set to somewhat mimic Gengar while being incredibly bulky instead of fast an offensive could work, although the low Speed and HP could be an issue. The latter could, of course, be remedied with PainSplit. TrickRoom is another interesting toy accessible to Cofagrigus, which he could use his bulk to set up reliably and/or to function under quite well as a ‘fast’ Sub Staller. Other than that, he could use NastyPlot for a more direct offensive approach, or Curse but the Def boost is redundant and his Atk is too weak really. DestinyBond, MagicCoat, Trick, and even Snatch all have their own uses too, if you’re up for a gimmicky set. How to Beat it It’s usually too bulky to just hit it, and even if you try boosting it can burn and/or haze you and/or put a timer on you with Toxic. Thus, try to Toxic it instead, and also preferably taunt it to remove recovery of any sort. Killing the opposing cleric would obviously become important too then. Sub Mismagius and Gengar could try to set up on it, although NightShade would cause problems. Basically, just don’t waste your time attempting brute force, and you should be fine. Spoiler:Conkeldurr Fighting HP: 105 Atk: 140 Def: 95 Sp.Atk: 55 Sp.Def: 65 Spe: 45 Friday Night Boxing Conkeldurr @ Fist Plate Iron Fist Brave 0 Spe IVs 252HP/252Atk/6Def -MachPunch -DrainPunch -IcePunch -Payback The power in this thing is ridiculous, and the difficulty involved in killing it is absurd; why isn’t it Ubers? Well it’s slow, I guess, but a STAB Iron Fist MachPunch, with my own addition of Fist Plate to feign a Choice Band, is gonna hit like a truck. If you can take a hit, DrainPunch that sucker and get your massive HP stat soaring back upward. In the event that a Flying-type, particularly Gliscor, Dragonite, or Salamence, should show up, IcePunch them into oblivion. Ghost-types won’t enjoy a Payback, especially when your really low Speed almost guarantees that you go second and your menacing presence demands that they hit you. Gutsy Conkeldurr @ Flame Orb Guts Brave 0 Spe IVs 252HP/252Atk/6Def -MachPunch -DrainPunch -Payback -IcePunch/Protect Basically the same thing, only with 1.5x Atk on everything instead of 1.6x power on your STABs and item confusion for the foe. Also changed, is that you may want to run Protect on this set, as it guarantees you get burned by Flame Orb in case you switch in after a KO. Then again, not much is gonna really OHKO you I suppose, so it’s a coin flip that’s up to you. SubPuncher Conkeldurr @ Leftovers Iron Fist Brave 0 Spe IVs 252HP/252Atk/6Def -Substitute -FocusPunch -Payback -DrainPunch/MachPunch/IcePunch The great HP stat (Subs can’t be broken by a SeismicToss/NightShade), Fighting-typing, and Iron Fist attributes leave little to be desired on a SubPuncher, except maybe a bit of Speed for setting that Sub up but he forces plenty of switches. Payback is necessary coverage, and in the last slot, DrainPunch gets more HP back along with Lefties as you go through Substitutes, MachPunch is obvious priority, or IcePunch adds more coverage. It should be noted that the first two get STAB, all three get Iron Fist, and the latter 2HKOs DNite with Multiscale. Choice Band Conkeldurr @ Choice Band Iron Fist Brave 0 Spe IVs 252HP/252Atk/6Def -MachPunch -DrainPunch -IcePunch -Payback Just in case you didn’t wanna burn yourself to get the boost, Choice Band is here to save the day. Possibly one of the most self-explanatory sets ever made. Carry on. Team Options Conkeldurr is grounded, but resists StealthRock and can abuse ToxicSpikes if he has Guts. So the only potential issue would be Spikes, which is uncommon anyway. However, one big thing one needs to cover for him is physical walling, so any sort of special attacker would be great alongside him; Reuniclus in particular has decent synergy and both love TrickRoom, which Reuni sets up often. Any other TrickRoomer would of course be of benefit to Conkeldurr given his abysmal Speed stat, although in that case, Payback can’t be relied on as much. He’s weak to Flying and Psychic attacks, both resisted by Steel-types, with such examples as Bisharp coming to mind. Alternatives Thunderpunch and FirePunch both show up as situational coverage, but if your team happens to struggle heavily with Gyarados or you’d like to break Ferrothorn more easily, be my guest. StoneEdge is a nice hit on Flying-types, and will hit harder than the Punches, especially if you’re skipping on Iron Fist. One major set I didn’t get around to listing is his super scary BulkUp set, which pumps his two best stats even higher and is frighteningly easy to set up. If you wanna get creative with your abuse of Guts, then you could go with RestTalk and DrainPunch/Payback for your attacks, a devastating idea on paper that I have no idea what would do in practice. Don’t waste your time with EQ or PoisonJab by the way, as neither contributes any meaningful coverage if any that couldn’t be provided through much better choices. How to Beat it As a pure Fighting-type, Conkeldurr has two glaring weaknesses type-wise, being Flying and Psychic attacks. Both of these are typically special attacks, which works nicely with his low Sp.Def for anyone trying to get him out of the picture. Though frail, Alakazam can stomach an unboosted MachPunch and pound Conk with a STAB LO Psychic, or Tornadus could predict a STAB Fighting move to switch in on and launch a Hurricane. Reuniclus is bulky enough to setup on Conk and slow enough to dodge Payback’s doubled power, and the rare Togekiss can flinch to death with AirSlash. Skarmory can tank most attacks without them being heavily boosted, and sweep the concrete clown under the rug for the time being with Whirlwind. Slowbro isn’t as powerful as Reuniclus, but is more bulky in exchange and can scare Conk out or break him with a reasonably strong STAB Psychic. Spoiler:Corsola Water-Rock HP: 55 Atk: 55 Def: 85 Sp.Atk: 65 Sp.Def: 85 Spe: 35 What’s a Corso- oh, that pink thing? Corsola @ Leftovers Regenerator Calm 252HP/6Sp.Atk/252Sp.Def -Toxic -Refresh -Scald -Protect Corsola has absolutely no niche, in any role, in any tier, in any universe. The only way to receive any benefit from using it whatsoever is to try to be annoying. How? Max its decent Sp.Def and throw it on a sandstorm team banking on the boost from Rock-typing, then Toxic stall opponents while using Scald as a last resort hope for burn. Team Options Sandstorm is more or less mandatory, and while both inducers share Corsola’s massive Grass weakness, Hippowdon is at least not also weak to Fighting so there’s definitely something in that. Something to take said Grass attacks is of course mandatory then, with Heatran coming to mind for his great versatility to make up for Corsola’s lack of anything to actually accomplish. Interestingly though, she resists Fire x4, so she could find her way onto a sun team as a check to other sun teams bar Venusaurs. Alternatives Surprisingly, there are lots of other irritating things to consider: ConfuseRay, StealthRock, AquaRing, Refresh, Dual Screens, AquaRing, and MirrorCoat. Of course, considering the statistical suckiness of Corsola, these become simultaneously all inferior yet also all just as good as anything else, since nothing is ever really gonna be pulled off that successfully to be honest. Oh, and you could run it on a rain team too, if rain stall is your game. How to Beat it Uh, well, any Grass-type attack will OHKO Corsola really, except for the immensely overrated GrassKnot since she weighs less than your baby sister. Electric and Fighting attacks, both highly common today, are also very plausible in taking out the coral fish thing. Even more plausible is to just not waste your time on it and force it out as easy, and I mean EASY, setup bait, and eventually it’ll be the last thing standing and will be up a creek without a paddle, boat, or desire to even attempt swimming. Spoiler:Cradily Rock-Grass HP: 86 Atk: 81 Def: 97 Sp.Atk: 81 Sp.Def: 107 Spe: 43 Only four moveslots? :C Cradily @ Leftovers Storm Drain Bold 252HP/252Def/6Sp.Atk -Stockpile -Toxic -Recover -GigaDrain The embodiment of four moveslot syndrome, Cradily is very difficult to make a coherent set for because of the simple fact that you need to carefully analyze every single viable move he has and decide which one is better suited for what you want. This particular set is more of a Toxic staller I guess, so Protect is an option as usual, as is Substitute I suppose but the HP stat for that kind of abuse isn’t exactly there. Extreme Annoyance Cradily @ Lum Berry Suction Cups Bold 252HP/252Def/6Sp.Def -Stockpile -ConfuseRay -Recover -MirrorCoat/StealthRock/Toxic This set, on the other hand, is more of just a sort of troll. In the last slot though, Cradily’s diverse support/irritation movepool begins to show itself for what it really is. Those moves could be mixed and matched with others on the set, I just personally find the first three listed to be important. Bulky Sweeper Cradily @ Leftovers Suction Cups Adamant 252HP/252Atk/6Sp.Def -SwordsDance -Recover -StoneEdge -Earthquake/SeedBomb Yes of course it gets SwordsDance, why wouldn’t a seaborne plant dug into the ground be able to dance? More importantly, this is a highly impressive physical sweeper; potentially. You need to watch out for those pesky weaknesses to Ice, Fight, Bug, and Steel when setting up, or foes like Scizor, Genesect, and Conkeldurr will be all over you as easy prey. EdgeQuake coverage is recommended, but SeedBomb does also get STAB and would hit Keldeo for super-effective damage. Team Options I’ve seen Cradily used to great effect on rain teams, well stall rain teams at that, as although he lacks many resistances, the ability to tank Electric attacks is nice and he’s just so good at stalling in general. Therefore, any stall team could really benefit from Cradily, especially as he has Stockpile and Recover to basically hold himself together all by himself if needed. If you’re going for the offensive one, keep in mind that at +2 he still doesn’t have much power, and therefore would greatly appreciate StealthRocks and whatever other hazards being laid down. Any Cradily set is vulnerable to all hazards and statuses, so a Spinner and a cleric are near necessities as they should be on a stall team regardless. Alternatives Attract, Amnesia, Barrier, PainSplit, and BodySlam are some other incredibly frustrating things for Cradily to try on for size, although the first is gimmicky, the last needs to be gotten grom Gen IV, and the others are outclassed by Stockpile and Recover. If you really wanna boost with something else though, you could build Cradily as a special wall and run Curse, a highly frightening setup sweeper for anyone who then has the task of trying to kill it, especially if it has Lum Berry or Rest. Ingrain is a gimmick that traps you on the field, and if you wanted to avoid phazing, Suction Cups is a safe option since Lefties and Recover should be enough recovery for you anyways. RockPolish is there, and Cradily could get to a max Speed of 370 or 410 (Adamant/Jolly) with a +2 to its benefit, but you’d basically be forced to run a double boosting set then…you could always go mono-attacker with RockSlide flinches though, if you wanna be a pest, which you probably do if you’re actually reading this far into my Cradily spoiler in the first place. How to Beat it God I wish I knew. Toxic poisoning is probably your best bet, but be prepared to hit the temporary obstacle of a Lum Berry and/or to kill an opposing cleric like Blissey. Stall teams as a whole have some common enemies, particularly SubSplit Pokemon like Chandelure and Dusclops, the latter of which also is good at Toxic stalling to boot. If Cradily switches into a Water attack and reveals Storm Drain as its ability, then feel free to just phaze it out and hope some repeated hazards and resisted hits can eventually break it. If it has Suction Cups though, you’d better hurry up and smash it with a Banded CloseCombat or BulletPunch or something, because once it gets its defenses up it’s a monstrous wall weak only to status. Spoiler:Crawdaunt Water-Dark HP: 63 Atk: 120 Def: 85 Sp.Atk: 90 Sp.Def: 55 Spe: 55 Dragon Crab Crawdaunt @ Sitrus Berry Adaptibility Jolly 6HP/252Atk/252Spe -DragonDance -Crunch -Waterfall -X-Scissor/BrickBreak Am I the only one who notices the awesome ability available to this guy? Like seriously, 160BP Waterfall and Crunch with a fine coverage option regardless of which one you run; hello?! DD is just a great move all around of course, although his Speed really needs two boosts to sweep reliably so the Sitrus Berry helps there. If you really think you can consistently get two boosts, then you can run Adamant as a nature since at +2 the Speed will still be plenty. X-Scissor gets Grass-types or BrickBreak gets perfect coverage with Crunch, your choice, I run X-Scissor because my Magnezone makes hitting Steel-types unnecessary c: Trick Room Crawdaunt @ Life Orb Adaptibility Brave 0 Spe IVs 252HP/252Atk/6Def -Crunch -Waterfall -BrickBreak/SwordsDance -X-Scissor/SwordsDance Team Options Paralysis support, I find, is the best thing to add to Crawdaunt’s backup. His low Speed in general can now be enough to net an emergency revenge kill or to sweep with only one boost, and that’s of course a blessing. His power is pretty solid, but of course hazards are welcome as usual. Being grounded and all, with no real sort of recovery and therefore one shot at a sweep per battle, keeping his HP high with a Spinner is nice too; of course, these are all things you should really have anyway. Politoed’s rain gets Waterfall to insane power levels, and teammates common to rain teams such as Ferrothorn and Breloom can be of great assistance to Crawdaunt with StealthRock and Spore. TrickRoom was given its own set, so, obviously it’s also a solid idea; Dusclops has decent enough type synergy with Crawdaunt and sets TR pretty reliably. Oh, and since Ferrothorn can pretty easily wall the hell out of Crawdaunt, feel free to bring a Magnezone along, especially in rain so he can abuse Thunder and dodge Fire attacks and their sting. Alternatives As scarce as Crawdaunt’s movepool may be, he doesn’t really find himself needing much more very often. And the tools he does have, tend to be outclassed, like HoneClaws since his moves already have fine accuracy. He gets Superpower if you wanna try a Band set or something, I guess. Crabhammer is slightly more powerful than Waterfall at the cost of imperfect accuracy, which then again, could make HoneClaws almost worth using…he’d still be too slow to really cause much of a stir in that case though, so I still wouldn’t suggest HC. RockSlide could gain some niche coverage on Gyarados and Tornadus-T, I suppose, if you find them stopping you and/or your team. How to Beat it Crawdaunt’s sweeps rely 100% on him mending his horrible Speed stat. So, if you can Taunt or phaze him to prevent boosting, then you’re in pretty good shape. If TrickRoom is on his team, Taunt the user or stall out its affects. Worst case scenario: blow through the crab’s lowsy Def stat with a MachPunch or even an Extremespeed if he’s already weakened. A very bulky physical wall, such as Deoxys-D (damn Toxic stall), Ferrothorn (he’s just a pest), and Cofagrigus (Mummy cuts your big advantage away) from personal memory, will be able to force the switch assuming Crawdaunt hasn’t accumulated a ton of boosts or something. Spoiler:Cresselia Psychic HP: 120 Atk: 70 Def: 120 Sp.Atk: 75 Sp.Def: 130 Spe: 85 Toxic Staller of Doom Cresselia @ Leftovers Levitate Bold 252HP/6Def/252Sp.Def -Toxic -Substitute -Moonlight -IceBeam/Protect/Psychic God this thing is bulky. Like, 444/301/359 bulky. You can obviously finagle the EVs and nature to whatever floats your team synergy and/or specific KO boat, but, this is what made the most sense to me. Toxic is obvious on something this hard to kill, and Sub is great with decent speed (for a wall) and massive HP. Moonlight is shaky recovery at best, but it’s all you’ve really got, unfortunately. Hence, Protect is a decent option for extra Lefties recovery and Toxic stall, but it would leave you as Taunt bait; IceBeam would hit Dragon-types and Gliscor super-effectively, or Psychic would get STAB. You could run this on a sun team to guarantee Moonlight’s usefulness and run HP Fire in the last slot, if you’re that concerned with hitting the Steel-types that Toxic can’t touch. Calm Mind Cresselia @ Lum Berry/Leftovers Levitate Bold 252HP/252Def/6Sp.Atk -CalmMind -Psychic -ShadowBall -Moonlight Yup, the thing can go offensive too. It needs a few CMs to get any sort of power presence, undoubtedly, but that’s really not much of a challenge since if it sets just one CM on a switch, it’s at 444/372/444 defensively and already an almost workable 285 for Sp.Atk. ShadowBall is for coverage because it’s about your best bet, as HP Fight is weak and would leave you walled by opposing Psychic-types whereas ShadowBall only requires the occasional Dark foe to be removed. Supporter Cresselia @ Leftovers Levitate Bold 252HP/252Def/6Def -ThunderWave -Toxic -Moonlight -IceBeam/Psychic NOTICE: LunarDance is a very good option on this set, but instead of listing it as an alternate for every moveslot, I’ll just say so here. Other than that, yeah, everything’s rather self-explanatory…I based the EVs physically to avoid being too easily revenge killed by Scizor, whose Banded Adamant U-Turn will do a maximum of 75.6% to this Cresselia (minimum of 64.2%), and since it outspeeds Scizors without at least 160 Spe EVs, you can often use Moonlight before taking that blow. Team Options Well as has been stated, sunlight is a great thing to have for Cresselia, who relies on Moonlight for recovery. If running said sun team, or even if not since rain is so common, try and have something to reliably get Politoed off the board like a Jellicent to wall it; to the same effect, something to get a hit on Ttar would be nice. Torterra, an odd choice to most battlers, is capable of taking both of these foes out with a STAB WoodHammer or a x4 Superpower, and with a Scarf is just fast enough to outspeed his starter rival Infernape and therefore these common weather leads as well. As far as synergy with Cress herself, a pure Psychic-type is of course weak to Ghost, Dark, and Bug, all of which are resisted by a typical Steel-type such as Ferrothorn, which can again hold its own against Toed and Ttar. Probably not your favorite choice for a sun team though, so Scrafty is a nice offensive complement despite neutrality to Bug moves who can handle plenty of opposing walls. Cresselia isn’t grounded and is neutral to StealthRock, so hazards aren’t much of a pain, however a cleric like Audino for the Fighting lure and Ghost immunity may be a nice idea. Alternatives Cresselia’s non-attacking movepool is quite appealing, despite lacking much cohesiveness in itself. Eye-catchers such as MagicCoat, Gravity, and Trick are all there, as is the incredibly potent possibility of Dual Screens on such a mixedly bulky Pokemon. Surprisingly, there are several offensive options to consider as well, with ChargeBeam and IceBeam forming a pseudo-BoltBeam, Solarbeam having merit on sun teams, EnergyBall netting super-effective hits on Politoed and Tyranitar, and the irritating IcyWind to potentially help the Toxic staller set out. A couple of gimmicks like PsychoShift and Telekinesis also present themselves, or even Safeguard if you really hate status that much yet still can’t make room for a cleric. How to Beat it Kill the cleric and then Toxic the moon wall. That’s really about it. It’s too bulky to try and muscle through without a ton of boosts (think boosting Scrafty though), and too support-oriented to put too much time into killing anyway. So you could always just try to narrow it to the last standing of its team, but even then you may be forced to PP stall it, particularly if sunlight is up for Moonlight (which luckily is lacking in the PP department). You can try to win a wall war, but watch out for CalmMind and/or even Psyshock if attempting to do this with a Blissey or something similar. Repeated hits can wear Cresselia down, not much but still, and although the fact that it can stomach a Banded Adamant Scizor’s U-Turn is rather disconcerting to offensive players, keep in mind that it can’t stomach it by a whole lot, so a second knockout punch could still get the job done for ya. Spoiler:Crobat Poison-Flying Anti-Lead Crobat @ Black Sludge Inner Focus Jolly 6HP/252Atk/252Spe -SuperFang -Toxic -BraveBird -U-Turn/Roost This is a very weird set, without a doubt, but it does work pretty well in its niche: being a pest. SuperFang continually halves the opponent’s health until they either die from the combination of that and poisoning, or they get into the range where a decently powerful STAB BB can kill them. U-Turn and Roost are equally solid options in the last slot, for whether you’d like to escape and scout more easily, or if you’d rather stick around. Curse Crobat @ White Herb Inner Focus Jolly 252Atk/6Def/252Spe -Curse -Acrobatics -CrossPoison -ZenHeadbutt/X-Scissor I tore a few hairs out looking for that last coverage move, but, there’s really just nothing for coverage in this movepool; a darn shame really, as the premise of this set is very cool, with Curse boosting that lame Atk stat up while using up the White Herb to make Acrobatics useable. The same thing could be done with a Flying Gem, but let’s face it, there’s no point in having another subpar coverage move in Curse’s place, and that extra Atk boost is really nice. Team Options Crobat’s troubles with Steel-type foes merit the use of a Magnezone to keep killing them out of the bat’s job description, or even a Dugtrio I guess but Zone has better type synergy with Poison-Flying and Steel-Electric. Crobat may also be plenty fast, but his offense can come up short too often for one’s liking; hence, a SwordsDance passer of some sort may be of use to him. His quadruple Fighting resistance and Ground immunity are very, VERY nice to have on a team, so something like Tyranitar or Heatran would appreciate such traits for sure, while covering the Psychic and Ice weaknesses for Crobat. Alternatives This is gonna be a meaty section, as there are multiple other perfectly viable sets which just didn’t seem to merit their own individual listings. For example, a NastyPlot sense has immense surprise factor, and 458 Sp.Atk at +2 isn’t too shabby. GigaDrain, HeatWave, ShadowBall/DarkPulse, the choice of any HiddenPower if necessary, and STAB AirSlash and SludgeBomb make his special movepool arguably better than his physical, to back up reasoning for such a set. A gimmicky but hilarious set is one consisting of RestTalk and Whirlwind, as thanks to Crobat’s great Speed, you should be going first with SleepTalk and have a 50% chance to then be using a phazing move without the negative priority that usually makes that a risky choice. If you wanna be annoying, yet on a more reliable scale, then look no further than the remainder of Crobat’s non-attacking options: ConfuseRay, Attract, Hypnosis, MeanLook, Taunt, Torment, and Snatch can all be mixed and matched to your liking. How to Beat it The main issue in countering Crobat is its blistering Speed, as even if it can’t hit you for much damage, odds are it can U-Turn out before you can KO it. Jolteon can speed tie with him though, or a Scarf Starmie or Gengar could revenge kill with a Psychic or a T-Bolt. Mamoswine’s IceShard will force the switch, and Donphan has more than enough bulk to fire as many of his own IceShards as needed. StealthRock will make repeated switch-ins impractical, and Scarfed Terrakion can drop a RockSlide or lift a StoneEdge at the purple pest. Or, he could switch in since it’s incredibly unlikely he’d be hit very hard at all, RockPolish, and start sweeping with the Speed to outpace Crobat if and when it returns. Sashed Alakazam could revenge kill with a powerful STAB Psychic, Reuniclus could maybe take an unboosted X-Scissor and do the same or just KO Crobat if TrickRoom is up, and Magnezone could use his epic Steel-typing to counter Crobat rather solidly. Worst case scenario is, you just wall the thing to death with Dusclops or Ferrothorn or something, watching out for some weird coverage move it may carry by chance. Spoiler:Crustle Bug-Rock HP: 70 Atk: 95 Def: 125 Sp.Atk: 65 Sp.Def: 75 Spe: 45 I’M GONNA USE SHELL SMASH BECAUSE THAT’S UNBEATABLE Crustle @ White Herb Sturdy Jolly 6HP/252Atk/252Spe -ShellSmash -StoneEdge/RockSlide -Earthquake -X-Scissor Crustle is that one user of ShellSmash that actually very often has better things to be doing with its time. However, 578Atk and 414Spe after one use is still very good for those who want to go hyper-offense, but with a creative Pokemon. For the Rock STAB, I really recommend StoneEdge, because in this day and age of Pokemon 578 is still gonna have trouble with some stuff and you still just wanna do as much damage as possible. Other slots are EdgeQuake coverage and STAB. Physical Wall Support Crustle @ Leftovers Shell Armor Impish 252HP/6Atk/252Def -StealthRock/Spikes -Spikes/Toxic -Protect/Toxic -X-Scissor/RockBlast As you may have noticed, there’s a fair bit of wiggle room when building this set. The two hazards are great assets, especially the high-demand Spikes, and Toxic poisoning is a nice way of adding some extra damage. Protect would Toxic stall and get some Lefties recovery back, or just scout moves, and the last slot is for a decently powerful STAB move to avoid Taunt bait, with the former being a bit more reliable and the latter potentially hitting through some weaker Subs. Trick Room Sweeper Crustle @ Life Orb Sturdy Brave 0 Spe IVs 6HP/252Atk/252Def -X-Scissor -StoneEdge -Earthquake -SwordsDance Honestly, if you want Crustle to go on the offensive, this is where he’s gonna be much more at home in that giant cube of a shell. Dual STABs and EdgeQuake, with the otherwise somewhat outclassed SwordsDance giving the hermit crab a real shot at doing quite a number on the opposing team. Team Options Crustle’s typing is very good defensively, with the only major issue being Water, which of course is still a major issue thanks to Politoed and co.’s unending popularity. So anything with Water Absorb or Storm Drain would love to turn that into an advantage, especially Jellicent who can also start TrickRoom if that’s your strategy. Other possibly users of TrickRoom are Slowbro and Slowking for their Water resistances and lure for Bug-type moves for Crustle to switch into, Bronzong and Dusclops/Dusknoir for their overall bulk, and Reuniclus for the Bug lure and the special attacking complement. If going with ShellSmash, perhaps lead with Crustle to avoid entry hazards and switch-in attacks, but still have something on hand to handle Politoed via Team Preview if the opponent should showcase the frog. If running the defensive set, still feel free to lead with Crustle, as it’ll feign ShellSmash and it’s nice to have hazards up right off the bat. Finally, in general, a sandstorm team would grant his subpar Sp.Def a boost to make him a pretty formidable mixed wall, and would help his Toxic stalling or sweeping with the extra damage on most foes. Alternatives Most options have been mentioned, but not quite all of them. ShadowClaw/NightSlash could be used for specific hits on Ghost-types, although the repeat of Psychic coverage could be seen as wasteful. AerialAce and PoisonJab both add little to nothing, so stay away from them. On the defensive variant, Counter could be pretty fun to abuse his physical bulk, similar to what I run on Forretress; physical setup sweepers try to DD up on you to overpower your bulk, you take a hit with Sturdy and KO with Counter, often forcing a ragequit sheerly for how much time they just wasted. Curse is another setup move with a good amount of reason behind its use, as it boosts the two stats you’d use and lowers one you couldn’t care less about, especially if you swap it into the TrickRoom one over SwordsDance. RockPolish is outclassed, as it would leave too little power for much of a sweep anyway, and HoneClaws just doesn’t do enough and StoneEdge isn’t that unreliable anyway, or if you think it is then just run RockSlide and move on. How to Beat it Politoed’s super-powered HydroPump will come quite in handy here, being one of the few things to hit Crustle for super-effective damage. The same goes for Starmie and for the Waterfalls of Gyarados and Kingdra, although the physicals of those will need sufficient boosts prior to trying to get around that 125 base defense. Kingdra, of course, could go mixed though. Hazards as per the usual tips are great to have, as Crustle is grounded and neutral to StealthRock with no means of recovery or status removal. To the extent of the latter, just poisoning the defensive ones and burning the offensive ones is as rational response as any, particularly if using Scald. Forretress, Ferrothorn, Donphan, and bulky phazers will all give the ShellSmasher hardship. If all else fails, wait for the ShellSmasher to see if he ends up with lowered defenses and then hit it with an AquaJet, or isolate the defensive one as the last one standing so he can do little to nothing. Spoiler:Cryogonal Ice HP: 70 Atk: 50 Def: 30 Sp.Atk: 95 Sp.Def: 135 Spe: 105 Special Wall Cryogonal @ Leftovers Levitate Calm 252HP/6Sp.Atk/252Sp.Def -Toxic -Recover -Protect -IceBeam Cryogonal is one of those Pokemon with qualities so weird that they just build the set for you. His fantastic special bulk and great speed for a wall make a Toxic stalling set great with his access to Recover, and pure Ice typing and workable Sp.Atk obviously lean to IceBeam in the final slot. Dual Screener Cryogonal @ Light Clay Levitate Timid 252HP/6Sp.Def/252Spe -Reflect -LightScreen -IceBeam -MagicCoat Obviously set Reflect first, but be warned that it still can’t take a hit for its life from the physical side even with Reflect taken into account. MagicCoat is my choice for the last slot, as with a bit of prediction it can get you safe from Taunt, status, and hazards. The EVs are tweaked to make you nice and speedy, to get them screens up as fast as possible. Special Attacker Cryogonal @ Leftovers Levitate Timid 6HP/252Sp.Atk/252Spe -Substitute -IceBeam/Blizzard -HiddenPower [Ground]/HiddenPower [Fire] -Recover The captain boo special. I personally feel it should be run on a hail team for the extra damage to foes since its Sp.Atk is nothing to write home about and so Blizzard could be run for much more power, but rain could work too. If in rain, then HP Fire is obviously out of the question, but here’s my explanation of the choice: HP Ground has phenomenal coverage with Ice and isn’t weakened by the ever-present rain, while HP Fire gets Scizor, Ferrothorn, and Skarmory. I’m told this set needs good prediction, which is hardly surprising I suppose. Team Options Rain and hail have both been presented as fine team types to slap Cryogonal on to, although always be aware that the shady snowflake typically requires precision timing in switching in and the use of each move, so make sure you’ve got some battle experience under your belt when giving this guy a shot. As for partners, Chandelure is immune to Fire and Fighting and resists Steel, but shares a Rock weakness. Pure Ghost-types are better covers, but usually lack a resistance to Fire or Steel, hence typically a trio is a better choice; Cryogonal/Cofagrigus/Crawdaunt sounds like a UU core with alliteration, but, you get the idea. Cryogonal may be off the ground, but that StealthRock weakness shouldn’t be ignored, unless you run RapidSpin on him and are comfortable with using Recover quite a bit. Alternatives RapidSpin is the biggest thing going for Cryogonal that I neglected to mention in the sets, and I did that because he’s weak to StealthRock himself. However, if you’re okay with using Recover before or after spinning SR away, and like the fact that he doesn’t need to worry when spinning away Spikes and ToxicSpikes, then go ahead and give it a ‘spin’ ucwutididthar. Other than that, his movepool is rather sparce, although ConfuseRay deserves a mention in my opinion. KnockOff is there too, as is Explosion, but neither is really worth a moveslot. How to Beat it Kill it with fire! Or a MachPunch, or a StoneEdge, or a BulletPunch. Or any boosted physical hit of any sort. Taunt shuts most variants down, as few people are cool enough to run offensive or MagicCoat, but be warned it may outspeed you to getting something done before you taunt it. Weavile is a good counter with Taunt and BrickBreak, as well as relishing the chance to set up a SwordsDance. StealthRock helps if it isn’t using RapidSpin, although you’ll have to rid yourself of him before he can use Recover. D Spoiler:Darmanitan Fire HP: 105 Atk: 140 Def: 55 Sp.Atk: 30 Sp.Def: 55 Spe: 95 SCARF THIS Darmanitan @ Choice Scarf Sheer Force Adamant 6HP/252Atk/252Spe -FlareBlitz -U-Turn -Superpower -RockSlide I mean seriously, the stats themselves are screaming for this set. With 434 Speed allowing for an Adamant nature to push your Atk stat all the way up to 416 and Sheer Force and STAB on your side for a 240 base power FlareBlitz possibly pumped to 360 by sunlight, nothing without a quadruple resistance or Flash Fire is going to be shrugging off any hits from him anytime soon. Superpower hits for another solid 240 on Rock-types and Gyarados while RockSlide gets the Tornadus-T that most rain teams will carry, at the same power as StoneEdge minus flinch and plus perfect accuracy. U-Turn is for the rare occasion you actually can’t immediately beat the crap out of your current opponent and feel like just doing a sizeable dent on them regardless while escaping to an even better answer. Cleaner Darmanitan @ Life Orb Sheer Force Jolly 6HP/252Atk/252Spe -FlareBlitz -U-Turn -RockSlide -Superpower Keep in mind that with Sheer Force, FlareBlitz doesn’t even bring LO recoil on you, allowing you to easily feign a Choice item while actually hitting harder than the Scarf set since Adamant grants a 1.1x boost to Atk while LO boosts attacks by 1.3x. U-Turn and Superpower will still reveal the LO though, if you’re big on holding true to the feign as long as possible. Team Options If you stick this on a sun team then it is going to sweep. Like if it happens to be stopped midsweep that’s rare but either way it’s getting something done. How this thing is not OU at the time of writing, I’ll never know. The only real challenge it faces is hazards, being grounded and susceptible to poisoning and weak to StealthRock and all. So slap a spinner on his team too, such as Donphan if you’d like to keep the sun theme going along for his good synergy with typical sun teams, and blitz away. Rain teams will pose some issues for obvious reasons, so a Jellicent, Gastrodon, or something else with the ability to capitalize on Water attacks is as good a choice as any; also, at that point you might as well just shoot for a Fire-Water-Grass core, and something like Venusaur could make a nice special attacking complement on a sun team. Alternatives Earthquake makes a lot of sense with Darmanitan, as it goes hand in hand with RockSlide and slaughters Heatran with ease. If you hate the Atk and Def drop from Superpower, then HammerArm is a weaker alternative with the Speed drop instead. Or you could run a positively murderous SubPunch set, although he lacks STAB on the implied main move, since his HP stat is quite impressive and would allow for 100+HP Subs to wreck Chansey. FlameCharge could definitely work out nicely, as it would allow for the quickness of the Scarf set with just one turn of setup that would probably be able to revenge kill something weakened or force Scizor or Ferrothorn out. With such a set, Flame Plate is what I’d recommend for an item to boost the setup and your main STAB, but Life Orb is still viable obviously. Darm has an intriguing support movepool, consisting of Taunt, Roar, Will-O-Wisp, Encore, and Yawn, all of which could be used as a filler and are assisted by his decent enough HP stat. Finally, if one were to have a dedicated RapidSpinner and probably a partner like an offensive Gastrodon or something similar, then a BellyDrum set could actually be run for the sake of overkill, maybe even with FlameCharge to ensure sweeping capability and since even with no attack investment you’d be at 918 at +6 so it’d be killing plenty regardless of its low power. How to Beat it Welp, firstly you’ll need to determine the set, and as Scarf is most popular, you can usually fairly safely assume it to be that; if it outspeeds something it normally shouldn’t, then you have your answer. In the case of a Scarf set, you’ll be needing a faster Scarfer to revenge kill it and/or hazards and forced switches to weaken it to the point where you can beat it with priority. Heatran and other Flash Fire abusers can squeeze themselves into an incoming attack, but must watch out for EQ, RockSlide, and Superpower depending on who they are so…yeah. Dragonite with Multiscale intact can even take a RockSlide fairly easily and then try to land an Earthquake or an Extremespeed, as it resists FlareBlitz and is pretty bulky and doesn’t mind Superpower or U-Turn. Rain teams will cut its power by a fair amount, and of course can try AquaJet or a Scarfed HydroPump to wash it out; Azumarill and Starmie come to mind respectively. Spoiler:Delcatty Normal HP: 70 Atk: 65 Def: 65 Sp.Atk: 55 Sp.Def: 55 Spe: 70 Meow :3 Delcatty @ Focus Sash Normalize Jolly 252HP/6Atk/252Spe -ThunderWave -HealBell -Return -Toxic Well Delcatty sure is cute, but little else; however, the ability Normalize does have its mixed benefits. Although entirely walled by any Ghost-type, ThunderWave can now paralyze speedy Ground-types like Landorus and Dugtrio, assisted by the Sash in being a last resort to sweeps by such foes. HealBell is very handy in general, as is Toxic. Return is chosen since, despite getting STAB on every attack, it’s still the most powerful physical attack it learns. Team Options A Ghost-type to take Fighting-type attacks would be nice, and Ghost-types on your team in general tend to be nice, so it’s not like your using a whole slot just to support a weak link like Delcatty. Yes, keep in mind that Delcatty is something that you throw on a team when you find yourself suffering from sixth-teammate-unneeded syndrome, particularly if Ground-types tend to give you issues. Going along with the idea of putting something that benefits the whole team including Delcatty, a Spinner would maintain the Sash for you. Alternatives You could run it with Cute Charm for Attract trolling, or just with Attract, although if you run Cute Charm you have the freedom to select a more covering attack. Delcatty gets SuckerPunch which could catch some foes rather off guard, though it wouldn’t do much of course. CalmMind is there for a gimmick special set, as access to BoltBeam could make it interesting. A more viable route would be that of BatonPass if using a boosting move, among which ChargeBeam and WorkUp also lie. WonderSkin is a half-finished Magic Guard if I understand correctly, which therefore could see some sort of use I guess but at that point you’re better off running Sigilyph or something similar. How to Beat it A Ghost-type won’t be hit by anything from the Normalize set for obvious reasons, and one such as Gengar could kill Delcatty with FocusBlast or Cofagrigus could start stocking Curses under his belt. If it’s not running Normalize, then a Ghost-type would just have to beware of the odd SuckerPunch but the bulkier ones like Dusknoir or again Cofagrigus would be able to tank it just fine. Careful when hitting such sets physically though, as Cute Charm’s 30% chance of activation looms as a powerful form of irritation. Spoiler:Delibird Ice-Flying HP: 45 Atk: 55 Def: 45 Sp.Atk: 65 Sp.Def: 45 Spe: 75 CHOICE BAND AW YEAH Delibird @ Choice Band Hustle Adamant 6HP/252Atk/252Spe -IceShard -QuickAttack -AerialAce -IcePunch/SeedBomb/FocusPunch Yes, that’s right, I’ve had success with Delibird. How? Well, consider this: Delibird’s max Atk stat with Adamant is 229, which is what it starts out as here. Factor in Choice Band, and it’s up to 344. Factor in Hustle, and it’s up to 516. Let’s compare that to, say, an Adamant Deoxys-A, the highest Atk stat in the game, shall we? Well, that’s a 504 for ya. So Delibird is higher than that, and gets STAB on IceShard while Deo-A does not get such a benefit on ESpeed, making the moves almost equally powerful, and leaving Delbird only slightly behind Deo-A in power if the latter is holding a Life Orb. In case you still aren’t grasping this, that’s 75.6% minimum damage on Tornadus-T with just IceShard, an OHKO with one round of StealthRocks. Landorus, Landorus-T, Salamence, and Dragonite without Multiscale intact are all OHKO’d swiftly and easily. Physically defensive Latias takes minimum 40.1% from IceShard, a solid revenge kill chance and she tends to be specially defensive anyway, while offensive Latios takes 75.5%, a GREAt revenge kill chance. The only problem, of course, is the 80% accuracy resulting from Hustle. Hence, if you outspeed something, AerialAce is there for a more reliable hit while being more powerful as well. QuickAttack is resisted by some of the same things as IceShard, but if you’re forced to try and hit a Fire-type or Water-type for some reason, there it is. If you don’t ever use it, feel free to put one of the other choices in the last slot in its place. IcePunch is alternate Ice STAB if you outspeed but need to hit harder than AerialAce, SeedBomb would get Water-types, and FocusPunch would just hit like such a truck on Rock- and Steel-types (38.14%-44.6% on max HP/Def Forretress ._.). Team Options Delibird, being Choiced, will be switching around a lot; being x4 weak to StealthRock and grounded, you’d better have a damn good plan for hazard layers if you wanna even attempt this amazingly insane set. You’ll also want to have a cleric and possibly a Wish passer, but that’s more if you wanna base a whole team around Deli’s success for the sake of humor. His Fighting weakness brings Espeon to mind with dat Magic Bounce ability, if you’d like me to name names. A rain team would go well for Delibird, as he would have less worry about Fire-type enemies. Alternatives Delibird gets RapidSpin, but it’s not very much use on something so horribly frail and even more horribly weak to hazards. If you’re in desperate need of a Breloom counter, Vital Spirit Delibird with Bounce or Pluck or IceBeam or something else comically weak would be in that niche and no other. Erm, BrickBreak is a weaker FocusPunch that’s easier to use, and would still get a nice hit on less defensive things that are weak to it. How to Beat it Mostly just find a way to get hazards on the field and keep them there, although plenty of specific OU regulars can switch in with relative ease: Scizor will kill it with BulletPunch in a heartbeat, Metagross has the Def to take just about anything and hit with a MeteorMash or use Agility, and Tyranitar only needs to avoid a super-powered FocusPunch/high-powered BrickBreak to counter Delibird hard. Heatran falls into the same category, and then there are the bulky Waters like Vaporeon and bulky Intimidate Gyarados that just need to avoid SeedBomb. Other than those, just keep in mind it’s gotta be Choiced to be doing anything at all, so if it’s doing something, just use smart switching and try to force it to run into some hazards. Spoiler:Deoxys-D Psychic HP: 50 Atk: 70 Def: 160 Sp.Atk: 70 Sp.Def: 160 Spe: 90 WALL Deoxys-D @ Leftovers/Lum Berry Pressure Calm 252HP/252Def/6Sp.Def -MagicCoat -Toxic -Recover -IceBeam/Thunderbolt/Psychic Goddamn this thing is sturdy. I know MagicCoat seems like an oddball but it really opens the door to Leftovers instead of Lum Berry for added recovery by keeping status off you, as well as shooting hazards and LeechSeeds right back at them for added frustration. Feel free to make him Bold with 252Sp.Def for a switch on the mixed walling, or just throw everything to one side if you’re getting beaten bad by a particular thing. In the last slot, that’s just making sure you don’t become Taunt bait, Beam/Bolt to hit Dragons or rain teams (Tornadus/-T hit by both, while Thundurus-T hit only by IceBeam, but Politoed only hit by T-Bolt). Or, for the indecisive among us, Psychic is a nice STAB move of course. Lead Deoxys-D @ Leftovers/Lum Berry Pressure Careful 252HP/252Def/6Sp.Def -StealthRock/Spikes -MagicCoat/Spikes -ThunderWave -FirePunch This is the other Deoxys-D set you’ll see most of the time, with the following set probably pretty much rounding it out. Anyways, this is a pretty menacing lead at times, armed with hazards and status as well as, in my case, the capability to throw your non-attacks back at you. Toxic is also an option over or beside ThunderWave, as in case you couldn’t tell, there’s a lot of room to mix and match here. I listed FirePunch as the attack for the ability to hit Scizor and Genesect like a boss, although Psychic, IceBeam, Thunderbolt, or whatever applies best to your team would all still make sense obviously. Dual Screens Deoxys-D @ Light Clay Pressure Bold 252HP/252Def/6Sp.Def -LightScreen -Reflect -Recover -IceBeam/Thunderbolt/Psychic The set is pretty damn self-explanatory, and the dilemmas are pretty much the same as the previous set with the possibility of flipping or mixing the defensive EVs/nature and the final anti-Tauntbait moveslot…yeah, it’s really freakin’ efficient though. Calm Mind Sweeper Deoxys-D @ Leftovers Pressure Bold 252HP/252Def/6Sp.Atk -CalmMind -Psychic -ShadowBall/FocusBlast/HiddenPower [Fight] -Recover With astonishing Speed for something so bulky and great offensive stats for anything capable of boosting, plus the ability to put up 304/460/534 defenses after a single CM, making it highly likely you’ll net at least two boosts, the minimum for a passable Sp.Atk of 354 (+3 would make it 443). Psychic is obligatory STAB, and I’m tired of explaining my hatred for Psyshock in the synopsis for every Psychic-type thus far. Ghost vs. Fighting coverage is a tough choice, so it’s based majorly on what your remaining team is capable of taking out for you. Toxic Staller Deoxys-D @ Lum Berry/Leftovers Pressure Careful/Calm 252HP/252Def/6Sp.Def -Agility -Recover -Toxic -DrainPunch/Taunt/Psychic In this case, the first options listed are really what I would recommend running. Why? Well, there’s little room for MagicCoat this time, so Lum Berry becomes a much more appealing option already. Next, Careful allows the use of DrainPunch, which is used to land a hit on arrogant Steel-types trying to blank you like Heatran and heavyweight hitters trying to setup on you like Tyranitar. Taunt is a decent option if you’re confident you can get an Agility in to Taunt opposing Taunters first, or of course Psychic is general STAB. Oh, and Agility is so you can use Recover before being hit again. Physical Semi-Gimmick Deoxys-D @ Life Orb Pressure Adamant 252HP/252Atk/6Def -ZenHeadbutt -Extremespeed -FocusPunch/Agility -Recover I once ran this set in Ubers as a total joke and it actually began to land a few kills sheerly from the fact that opponents had absolutely no idea what the hell they’d just run into. In that case I think I slapped Sub on it somewhere, but that worked only because of how much setup and status can be found in that metagame. OU, on the other hand, has little room for weak Subs like those of Deo-D, but Agility is there as an alternate option if you’d like to regain health and use your STAB faster, although ESpeed would ignore it. Team Options If you get a cleric on this thing’s side then it’s not going down easily, at all. Depending on who the cleric is, you could toy with Deo-D’s EV spread to complement them, such as leaning more physically if you’re shooting for an Aromatherapy Roserade. Typically run on hardcore stall teams when going totally defensive, Deo-D can fit onto most teams nonetheless, particularly the lead. Regardless, he’ll usually require an offensive complement, something like Justified Terrakion for synergy and some raw power. Deo-D usually walls everything but the kitchen sink, but he’ll have to switch out and back in eventually, which makes his grounded nature and neutrality to StealthRocks a burden in stall wars or matches in which he ends up carrying the team (which he can do remarkably well, for the record); point being, a Spinner is always nice, as per usual on stall and balanced teams. Alternatives The Deos are still, in my opinion, the most versatile four Pokemon in the game by movepool, as although Mew and Smeargle have better ones, Mew is too well-rounded with no specialty and the painter thing can do nothing but Spore and SmashPass. Meanwhile, something like Deoxys Defense Forme here has a deep physical movepool for coverage purposes, a deep special movepool CM for a dedicated offensive set, and many more boosting options like Amnesia/IronDefense and CosmicPower. Although he very unfortunately lacks StoredPower or a physical boosting move, just look at the support options I never even mentioned: Torment, ConfuseRay, PsychoShift, Gravity, TrickRoom, Trick, KnockOff, and IcyWind all can be used to very good effect in their own realms of purpose. Random coverage moves of all sorts range from elemental Punches to RockSlide to SignalBeam to Superpower, to the more consistent NightShade to the more all-out offensive PsychoBoost. Substitute makes mixed sense with the low HP but only three weaknesses and mind-boggling bulk, and Counter and/or MirrorCoat could even end up on there at some point. How to Beat it Um…uh, yeah, about that…I’ve never really figured this out either. Usually I just try to run it into some hazards and then slam the heck out of it with a Banded NightSlash or something, or I just try to get something boosted way up before Deo-D is even on the field so that when it comes out, I can 2HKO the damn thing. Poisoning it with Toxic works if you can kill the cleric and waste its Lum Berry, but stalling it out is another matter full of PP tactics and constantly forcing it to come back in; by this logic, hazards are again a fairly significant portion of bringing down the uncrackable space virus. For specific Pokemon, a SwordsDance Bisharp can actually do it if played right, especially if it isn’t relying on only SuckerPunch for Dark STAB. Banded Tyranitar and Scizor can at least make a solid dent in Deoxys-D, although Taunting it will be in order to stop the damn recovery. Worst case scenario is you wittle the other team down until it’s the only one left and hope you still have a Taunter, staller, or massive hitter of your own. Spoiler:Dewgong Water-Ice HP: 90 Atk: 70 Def: 80 Sp.Atk: 70 Sp.Def: 95 Spe: 70 Rain Stall Dewgong @ Leftovers Hydration Calm 252HP/252Def/6Sp.Def -Stockpile -Toxic -Rest -IcyWind/Surf Sorta gimmicky but, if it can force a switch and get a Stockpile or two under its belt, no one really knows it gets Hydration so Rest will catch a lot of things off guard with the sudden full recovery. If you wanna stall real hard, you’ll need at least two boosts, at which point you’ll hit 384/518/498 defenses. Toxic is the actual stalling weapon, and the last slot goes to an attack. I was hoping Dewgong got Scald while going through the movepool on PO V2, but presumably due to his secondary Ice-typing, Game Freak willed it not so. So I was gonna go with just a simple choice between IceBeam and Surf for one STAB move or the other, with one getting double STAB and the other nailing those pesky Dragons especially the once-again-OU Garchomp, but then I noticed IcyWind and thought it might be nice to slow down some sweepers so you can Rest up before they try to hit you, and add to the opposition’s frustrations in the process. IceBeam is still viable if you find Dragons to be things you need to KO, not slow down and slightly dent. Hail Stall Dewgong @ Leftovers Ice Body Calm 252HP/252Def/6Sp.Def -Toxic -Protect/Substitute/Disable -Substitute/Disable/Protect -Blizzard This is basically an inferior Walrein, which is why I decided to list the oddly-accessed Disable to the fray of viable options, as most things won’t carry more than one super-effective hit on Dewgong. Stockpile is also a semi-worthy option, but is less viable now without the ability to instantly recover health. Status also can’t be easily removed, which is why Sub is almost vital to the set. Team Options Dewgong, best used as a staller, hardly needs support in that case as stalling is sort of a standalone thing for him. However, if running the hail option, a cleric and/or a Wish passer would probably be of use. Apart from that though, you just need to cover his weaknesses, with Mamoswine coming to mind for the hail variant due to his Electric immunity and lure for Water attacks. A Ghost-type like Froslass or Jellicent would be handy for the Fighting weakness, while the Rock weakness is only a real danger in the thought of StealthRock, hence the usual mention of a Spinner. Alternatives I honestly don’t know what Seel’s deal is, but he provides a load of pretty strange Pre Evo learned options for Dewgong. One that stands out as particularly useful and particularly sense-making would be Encore, since his specialty seems to be causing severe hair loss from tearing. Disable is back to weirdness, and PerishSong is a little strange to see too, but both are very viable on a set nonetheless. Safeguard and AquaRing also present themselves, if you can find an empty moveslot. If you’d like to go offensive for some reason, his Atk and Sp.Atk are actually the same but I’d recommend going physical, as AquaJet and IceShard could potentially nullify the Speed issue with their priority while still hitting respectably with STAB. FakeOut is still more priority, and then IcicleSpear/Avalanche and Waterfall/AquaTail for more STAB since the coverage is lacking. Special moves don’t have much more variety anyway, although to their credit they’d be receiving benefits from weather with rain’s double Water STAB and hail’s perfect accuracy granted to Blizzard. How to Beat it Thunderbolt (or Thunder in rain) would land pretty hard on my variants due to their slight physical lean, but in general if by some chance you actually do encounter a Dewgong, I have no idea what its EVs will be because he’s just never used. So just try to nail it with a super-effective attack, and if it’s outside of rain then you should be fine to just poison it. It’s more likely to be seen in hail though I suppose, but either way it’ll be pretty stall based so a Steel-type would leave it with little to do, and BulletPunch, MeteorMash, and Heatran’s FireBlast all land neutrally while a PowerWhip from Ferrothorn hits doubly hard. Spoiler:Ditto Normal HP: 48 Atk: 48 Def: 48 Sp.Atk: 48 Sp.Def: 48 Spe: 48 Silly Putty Ditto @ Choice Scarf Imposter Jolly/Timid 252HP/252Spe -Transform - - - Okay first of all my god this thing is just too freakin’ cute I can’t even. Moving past that rather obvious statement, I have no idea as to why Ditto is not OU, as he’s the greatest revenge killer in existence. He’s the best option you have when trying to kill a speed-boosted DDNite or MoxieMence, as the Scarf will let you still outspeed them and KO them with their own super-effective STAB moves. Other such examples include Magnezone, as you can 2HKO with HP Fire before he can, Genesect as he usually carries Flamethrower, Gengar thanks to his traitorous ShadowBall, Rotom-W carrying HP Grass, and then you can capitalize on the Water Absorb of Jellicent to switch into his Scald or gain a Sp.Atk boost from Gastrodon’s Surf. The point is, this thing just about always gets his kill or at least forces the opponent out, since if you don’t have anything to hit them super-effectively with, then they don’t have anything for you either. Team Options Insert Ditto on any team lacking a good revenge killer. His weaknesses are those of what he becomes, so, you can’t predict that. Oh and a Spinner since all he can do is revenge kill. Alternatives Uh, Limber? It’s highly inferior unless you face a team spamming paralysis. So yeah just do it this way. I listed Jolly or Timid since it’s hard to get a particular natured Ditto in-game for those Wifi battlers out there, and to that extent, any Speed-boosting nature is actually fine but I can’t remember the others right now as Hurricane Sandy has wiped my Internet out. Wow, this section sure is long for a Pokemon that has only one move. How to Beat it Real tricky to play around Ditto; first thing is to take note of it in Team Preview and play with it in mind until it’s dead. Hazards are very important to make his problem, as they take their toll almost regardless of what he becomes. Then it just comes down to a lot of prediction. If you try to boost with something like a DNite, don’t lock yourself into Outrage, because it’ll switch in, copy your boosts and outspeed, and launch an even faster Outrage of its own onto you and the rest of your team. The same goes for, say, a Starmie; look at your own movepool and see if it will have any weapons against you, in this case most likely T-Bolt. If so, don’t plan on hanging out for very long. Try to focus on Pokemon that won’t mind their own STAB, like a pure Fire, Water, or Grass type. However, the Fire-type would need to be lacking both parts of EdgeQuake, the Water-type HP Grass, and the Grass-type HP Ice. See the issue with taking Ditto on? The one thing I often found useful was to get Alakazam out there and put up a Sub, so that he could use the Sub to survive Ditto’s ShadowBall and hit it back with its own for the KO. If you really can’t do it any other way, just try to isolate Ditto somehow, such as if it transforms into a Steel-type that lacks EQ or locks itself into something other than EQ, go to your Magnezone and trap it. Or, just kill the rest of its team and beat whatever the last thing is that it switches into. Spoiler:Dodrio Normal HP: 60 Atk: 110 Def: 70 Sp.Atk: 60 Sp.Def: 60 Spe: 100 Agility Dodrio @ Life Orb Early Bird Adamant 6HP/252Atk/252Spe -Agility -BraveBird -Return -SteelWing Dodrio has two good stats and, those being Atk and Spe, it seems pretty obvious to make him a physical sweeper. However, 110 Atk can be just the tiniest bit of a letdown at times, and 100 Spe even more often in such a fast-paced metagame. So, with this set, you use Agility to grant yourself a blistering 598 Spe while affording an Adamant nature for a very good 350 Atk. The only other thing besides the obvious STAB choiced is the seemingly odd SteelWing, but there’s a method to my weirdness: while a Ghost-type switching into Return can at least be hit neutrally by BraveBird, a Rock-type can wall both attacks; hence, SteelWing lands for a far better hit, although Steel-types will still be able to wall you of course. However, in my opinion, it’s still better than using Pursuit or some other lame option for Ghost-types while Steels AND Rock-types still get to laugh in your face. Team Options The weakness to StealthRock is an obvious flaw, so a Spinner is nice for those pesky hovering bricks. Other than that, just something like a Volt Absorb Jolteon or a Registeel to cover the weaknesses of the typical Flying-type is perfectly fine for teammate synergy. Uh, he kinda just sweeps on his own, so, not much else to say here…sorry to disappoint. If you really care that much then here: a special attacking complement. Alternatives The awkward moment when I already mentioned basically everything worth using in his movepool. DrillPeck is a weaker STAB with no recoil, but that’s pretty wimpy. Dodrio has interesting potential in the lead position, with niche tools such as KnockOff, Taunt, Roost, and Haze to go along with the intimidating STAB BraveBird he arms himself with. For sets, Dodrio is often run with a Choice item for some reason, even though you can just use Agility (Toast would agree) and need to switch a lot with a weakness to SR. Still though, if you wanna Scarf the mutant birdy, BraveBird/Return/Pursuit/SteelWing looks pretty decent, perhaps with Taunt swapped in there somewhere sheerly for lack of other useful physical weapons. A Band set makes a little more sense at least, and he gets a STAB QuickAttack too in that case if you want priority. The only other thing I guess would be a BatonPass set, which he does run admittedly well due to his Speed and offensive threat, and he gets Agility and even WorkUp to Pass on to a sweeper. Oh, the other thing I forgot to mention was that if you’re confident in your Spinner, you could Sash the Agility set for easier setup but at the loss of power. Or you could even give it a Liechi Berry I guess, since he tends to take hits pretty hard in general. How to Beat it Just as you would practically any other Normal-Flying type, handle Dodrio with no unnecessary fear, yet with caution nonetheless. For whatever reason, usually people will be running him Choiced, so you can predict your way out of those situations or sacrifice some fodder to revenge kill him/force him out (either is good since repeated switch-ins with Rocks up will take quite a toll). Any Steel-type gives him literally nothing to do, as even though Ferrothorn takes BraveBird neutrally, Iron Barbs and overall bukiness mean that Dodrio’s lack of raw wallbreaking capability will leave him with no choice but to switch or face a GyroBall. Spoiler:Donphan Ground HP: 90 Atl: 120 Def: 120 Sp.Atk: 60 Sp.Def: 60 Spe: 50 Phazer Donphan @ Leftovers Sturdy Impish 252HP/6Atk/252Def -StealthRock -Roar -IceShard -Earthquake This is quite the touch nut to crack, which is odd since elephants are usually good with breaking peanuts. Moving on past my horrendous attempt at wit, the set more or less builds itself, with a hazard and a phazing move making sense together plus EQ for STAB and IceShard for priority while having amazing coverage next to EQ; to make matters even worse for those facing this, both come off of a not too shabby 277 Atk. Support Donphan @ Leftovers Sturdy Impish 252HP/6Atk/252Def -StealthRock -Toxic -RapidSpin -Earthquake/IceShard Similar set with a different purpose. Yet, equally self-explanatory. Spinning and hazards are lots of fun for the user while a nightmare for the recipient, and then Toxic for something to stall, especially if run in a sandstorm. EQ is STAB and more damage, or IceShard catches stuff off guard sometimes and has priority. You could even run Protect if you wanna stall harder, but you’d become Taunt bait. Rock Polish Donphan @ Life Orb Sturdy Adamant 252Atk/6Def/252Spe -RockPolish -Earthquake -StoneEdge -FireFang No one really seems to take note of the fact that Donphan’s Atk is equal to his Def, yet everyone obsesses over his amazing Def…-.- Anyway though, the only thing holding him back from sweeping outright is his decisively mediocre Speed, which jumps to 398 at +2 while his STAB and two basic coverage moves do the rest. IceShard is an option over FireFang, as I just like to have a hit on Forretress, Genesect, Scizor, and Bronzong, but the priority could work too or could even replace StoneEdge I guess since their coverage would begin to overlap. I wouldn’t recommend it though due to the priority becoming a waste pretty easily. Team Options If using the usual phazer set or the supporter, then a special wall would be a nice complement. Both also rely on getting their hazards up, so a Spinblocker would be marvelous. Dusknoir and Eviolite Dusclops could do both while throwing some burns around to make the physical walling even easier, as could Jellicent. An interesting thing about Donphan is that he has merit on all four types of weather teams, with his stall assisted by residual damage of sand and hail (and luring Ice attacks in the latter case), his weakness to Water negated by sunlight and his lure for Grass and Ice attacks resisted by Fire-type partners, and his lure for Water attacks on a rain team despite being then outclassed by Starmie. Oh, and he has no means of recovery really, sooo a cleric and/or a Wish passer would be handy to have around. Alternatives Donphan’s movepool is chock full of specific-use toys, with GyroBall, ThunderFang, and SeedBomb leading the way. His support movepool also has its lesser known items, namely BodySlam and Counter. You could chuck a Lum Berry on any of his sets to aid in the fight against status, or you could even run him with Substitute to ease prediction as well; the lack of recovery would hurt though. On that topic, he could be run with Rest, possibly even replacing a coverage move on the RP set and being negated by a Chesto Berry for a prolonged sweep. The other full set option I didn’t mention above is a full tank set, with EQ/IceShard/Protect and some coverage move. Then again, I guess RestTalk is a form of tanking. Meh. How to Beat it Donphan has the freedom to switch around a lot since he won’t mind StealthRock, which leaves you in a tough spot to pin him down. Dugtrio of course can trap him, but won’t be able to KO before being smacked with an IceShard or two. Wobbuffet can also trap but will just be phased out or Toxic stalled to death. Yeah, phazing is the other problem. A Suction Cups Cradily or something weird could try to outstall the elephant with Recover, but otherwise, I usually just attempt to poison it and then hit it with as many special attacks as I possibly can as it flips my whole team around. The weaknesses to Water, Ice, and Grass should all be capitalized on if at all possible. Spoiler:Dragonite Dragon-Flying HP: 91 Atk: 134 Def: 95 Sp.Atk: 100 Sp.Def: 100 Spe: 80 Bulky DD Dragonite @ Leftovers Multiscale Careful 252HP/6Def/252Sp.Def -DragonDance -Outrage/DragonClaw -Earthquake -Roost/FirePunch/DragonClaw Well the standard set for Dragonite is a bulky Multiscale DD booster, but obviously, the set is anything but regulated. The main choices tend to be tough ones, but they’re all the same still. Now I know I made no Atk investment whatsoever, but at +1 you’re already at 456 and it’s by no means unlikely you’ll get to +2 or +3 by the time you’re forced to start attacking. Now Outrage is the sweeping STAB move of death, although DragonCLaw could be used for a safer alternative. Earthquake is pretty much a must have with all the Steels running around on rain teams, and then I personally run FirePunch for Genesect, Scizor, and most importantly: Skarmory. However, Roost allows for more frustration and boosting, or DragonClaw could be used here so you have the choice with which STAB to use. Extremespeed is another common choice I left out, as I see it as kinda pointless once you get to +2 Speed. Parashuffler of Doom Dragonite @ Leftovers Multiscale Careful 252HP/6Def/252Sp.Def -ThunderWave -DragonTail -Roost -Substitute/Extremespeed Whoever came up with this set deserves a medal and then to be hit in the face with said medal a good handful of times. Because it is just pure evil. Just keep Roosting back to full HP for Multiscale to allow for hit-taking, and eventually they’ll be paralyzed out of a turn and then you can take their next hit and phaze them out to paralyze the next one. This set, I actually see ESpeed having some use on, as it would be nice to not always be going last with the negatively prioritized DragonTail in my opinion. Rain Special Sweeper Dragonite @ Life Orb Multiscale Modest 6HP/252Sp.Atk/252Spe -Agility -Hurricane -Thunder -IceBeam/DragonPulse Yeah, usually Agility is seen as inferior to DD with Dnite because of the lack of need for that second boost, but, when you’re not getting anything from an Atk boost and can’t really afford a Timid nature, I say it looks pretty damn good. Hurricane is STAB, Thunder is damn powerful, and then the choice lies between forming a BoltBeam combo and getting a backup STAB move. Hyper-Offense Dragonite @ Lum Berry/Life Orb Multiscale Jolly 80HP/252Atk/176Spe -DragonDance -Outrage -Earthquake -FirePunch As you can see, this is very similar to the previous DD set, the only difference being that it’s much less cautious. The EVs given allow you to outspeed base 130s after one DD, which is important because of Jolteon’s Specs HP Ice and also forcing Weavile to use the weaker IceShard instead of IcePunch, which you can take while at full HP. Outrage hits like a truck on anything without a hard resist, and Earthquake and FirePunch work to hit those that do. Team Options Anything with Steel-typing will basically cover Dragonite’s three weaknesses, and then you usually like to have a Spinner to keep StealthRock off the field and therefore Multiscale still intact. The Steel-type also helps to lure Ground attacks for Dragonite to switch in to, although otherwise you usually don’t like to switch into anything so that Multiscale still holds strong. He’ll take a lot of status as last resort attempts to beat him, so unless running a Lum Berry, a cleric would be helpful. Apart from the basics, he pretty much sweeps on his own, although obviously the rain sweeper needs a rain team and the rest need a special sweeper complement. Alternatives Oy, where to begin; well as far as physical options go, the best ones have been listed, but BrickBreak, IcePunch, and Thunderpunch all have their niche coverages and Waterfall could be useful if running a physical set in rain. There’s also FocusPunch, which could be quite nasty with Sub, although that sorta defeats Multiscale, the one thing DNite has over Salamence…then again, Mence doesn’t have fists and therefore can’t run SubPunch. Yeah, go ahead and try out SubPunch I suppose, as the Sub would imply a Parashuffler set right away. For special attacks, you have DracoMeteor, FireBlast, FocusBlast, and Surf, all with their own respective usefulnesses. The one major set I didn’t give a full mention is MixNite, as frankly I don’t know that set off the top of my head, have no Internet at the moment to check it, and wouldn’t know where to begin when building it due to the number of options to choose from and the tricky EV spread that would be required for specific KOs, which I have no Internet to calculate regardless xD oh, yeah, and it could just Toxic stall hard with a set similar to the Parashuffler I guess too. How to Beat it ~~Toast~~ This is quite the task to explain. Trying to waste its Lum Berry is a good start, by statusing it somehow so that it gets confused after Outrage or statusing it after it uses it on confusion. Or, if it isn’t carrying a Lum Berry by some good fortune, you’re doing pretty well so far. Actually killing it though relies on having the right thing on your team already, and if you don’t then it’ll be a tough foe to stomach. Mamoswine, famous for being so anti-metagame, can punch through Dragonite with IceShard. Weavile can outspeed a bulky Dragonite at +1 to hit it with an IcePunch and then finish with an IceShard if it boosted again and was at Multiscale health. Donphan can take a hit or two and land a less powerful IceShard. Cloyster can wall DNite with his supreme physical bulk and ignore Multiscale entirely with Skill Link IcicleSpear. Oddly enough, the little squirrel Cincinno stands a chance with a Skill Link RockBlast, but would have trouble taking a hit or outspeeding without a Sash or a Scarf respectively. If you don’t have access to any of these options, or anything else with a reasonably powerful IceShard or a really powerful priority of other sorts, then you’ll have to do what I usually end up doing: put up StealthRocks, try and set a Sub up with something of my own, and land a big hit. Or, I just force it to Outrage and then hit it with Magnezone’s Thunderbolt and hope for the best. Whenever my Internet comes back though, I’m planning to go back to using Skarmory like I used to, and here’s where I save the best for last: Skarmory is an end-all counter to any physical DNite without FirePunch, and even then can take a +1 FirePunch from most versions iirc, especially in the rain. The special one may be able to crack the iron bird though, although that’s walled by any Blissey or Chansey or other reasonably bulky special wall as his Sp.Atk stat is nothing to brag about in OU. Spoiler:Drapion Poison-Dark HP: 70 Atk: 90 Def: 110 Sp.Atk: 60 Sp.Def: 75 Spe: 95 Utility Drapion @ Black Sludge Battle Armor Adamant 6HP/252Atk/252Def -ToxicSpikes -Roar -Crunch -BrickBreak Just a sort of mix of Drapion’s many different routes he can take if necessary. This could even be run as a lead set, but he’s not too fast so I’d only swap him to the front if Team Preview happens to show a favorable matchup. ToxicSpikes are obvious, and Roar goes along with them and also to try and get a physical attacker in that will have trouble KOing Drapion. Crunch is STAB and BrickBreak provides the necessary coverage, especially on Steels that don’t get poisoned. Black Sludge is for recovery that will also screw over Trick Rotom-W or Jirachi, and then Battle Armor just because his lack of many weaknesses mean that crits will be the main thing to actually drag him down, and I have terrible luck. Double Booster Drapion @ Focus Sash/Life Orb/Black Sludge Sniper Jolly 6HP/252Atk/252Spe -SwordsDance -Agility -NightSlash -BrickBreak This is meant for more of a late-game sweeping role thingy, and you can therefore pick which stat to boost or do both if at all possible and sweep a whole damn team with your awesome neutral coverage. Sash ensures at least one boost barring hazards, Life Orb grants more power if you’re forced to use Agility, or Black Sludge makes it easier to eventually snag a second boost. Choice Scarf Drapion @ Choice Scarf Sniper Adamant 252Atk/104Def/152Spe -NightSlash -CrossPoison -Earthquake -IceFang Much like laws according to common phrase, in GameFreak’s mind it seems Drapion was almost made to be broken; he has Sniper with two STABs each with good critical hit chances, and the beautiful physical movepool to cover the rest. EQ is used to hit annoying Steel-types for more power than BrickBreak would, and IceFang nails Ground-types who could otherwise KO you with their STABs while also hitting Dragons very nicely. The EVs allow you to outspeed everything from base 130s down that isn’t Scarfed also. Swords Dance Drapion @ Salac Berry/Life Orb Sniper Adamant 252Atk/104Def/152Spe -SwordsDance -CrossPoison -NightSlash -Earthquake This set focuses more entirely on getting your Atk to sweeping levels and not worrying as much about your Speed, although a Salac Berry is a good option in my mind to remedy the quickness issue anyway. EQ is again chosen over BrickBreak because, whereas the Utility set is free to switch out, this needs to stay in on and KO bulkier threats like Heatran and Terrakion, which are hit harder this way. If you find Tyranitar and other Dark-types to be far more troublesome though, then go ahead and run BB. Team Options If you wish to run BrickBreak, then Magnezone is good for trapping Steels and removing them for Drapion to sweep much more easily moving on. The Utility set functions well alongside sweepers who benefit from his Psychic immunity and Ground weakness, calling to mind Gengar especially. He’s grounded, but immune to poisoning and only neutral to StealthRock so I wouldn’t deem a Spinner very important, or a cleric for that matter since he doesn’t draw many burns for whatever reason, perhaps because Dusknoir and Jellicent can be taken down if they miss on the first Will-O-Wisp. Paralysis support is nice though, given his slightly mediocre Speed. Alternatives If you happen to run Drapion on a rain team for whatever synergy he may have with the rest fo your team, then AquaTail could catch some foes off guard for sure. ThunderFang could be of use in beating bulky Waters and Intimidate Gyarados, while FireFang could land that better hit on Skarmory, Bronzong, Breloom, and Virizion; the latter two are also hit by IceFang, for the record. X-Scissor may look appealing but, it only hits Grass and Psychic, both of which are hit by your STABs so don’t waste your time. RockSlide has its merits for Flying-types, but it outclassed by Earthquake when it comes to hitting Fire-type opponents. Taunt could be used on the Utility set if you plan to use it mainly in the lead spot, and Pursuit has a chance to find space on the Scarf set. A Band set would make some sense I guess, but you’d never be outpacing very much. If doing this in-game and for whatever reason don’t wanna use the TM for Roar, you can breed for Whirlwind to accomplish the same exact thing. Nothing in your movepool needs an accuracy boost really, so HoneClaws is pointless when you have SwordsDance. ConfuseRay could be kinda funny though I guess, with the same going for Torment, KnockOff, and Toxic (in case something non-grounded gets over your ToxicSpikes). How to Beat it Drapion is weak to Ground, and only Ground, which means that to beat it you either need a powerful neutral special attack or some sort of high-powered Ground attack. Nailing him with any sort of HyrdoPump, FireBlast, Thunderbolt, or IceBeam will get your pretty far along the path to KOing the scorpion, especially given his lack of recovery. If he’s going totally offensive, then you basically need a really sturdy physical wall, as his coverage is often pretty good. Donphan covers most of these categories, and can even phaze him away from any boosts, so he’s as good a choice as any. Although Drapion can’t be poisoned, his physical nature leaves burns as a pretty good option to neuter his presence on the field. Spoiler:Drifblim Ghost-Flying HP: 150 Atk: 80 Def: 44 Sp.Atk: 90 Sp.Def: 54 Spe: 80 Toxic Stall Drifblim @ Leftovers Aftermath Calm 252HP/6Def/252Sp.Def -Toxic -Substitute -Protect -HiddenPower [Fire] For the life of me I just could not come up with a coherent set for this guy. So, I made a Toxic stall With the titanic HP stat of his that makes +100 Subs with not investment (126 HP Subs as designed here), and the almost passable Sp.Def stat that gets to 227 at max, he can take some special attacks and stall out quite a few foes. Keep in mind that his typing will draw Ice, Electric, and Ghost attacks, meaning special bulk is more important than the less common Rock and Dark attacks he’ll also need to watch out for. HP Fire is chosen as the lone attack as a means of hitting Steel-types that aren’t named Heatran. Aftermath is the ability so that if you can almost stall something out before it kills you, it now takes 25% of its health away in addition to whatever it gets from poisoning on that turn. Annoyance(?) Drifblim @ Leftovers Aftermath Calm 252HP/6Def/252Sp.Def -Toxic/Haze/Substitute -ThunderWave/MagicCoat/Protect -Will-O-Wisp/Hypnosis/Disable -ShadowBall/HiddenPower [Fire]/Hex …I tried, okay? Basically the idea here was to just list all the conceivable options it has for an annoyance because damnit I couldn’t find any combination that made any more sense than any other. Just some points of interest though: Drifblim is one of a select few Pokemon with access to four direct status moves, and the only one with Hex to go alongside them; Memento and DestinyBond were omitted for the fact that they waste Aftermath’s potential effect; Sub and MagicCoat on the same set gets redundant; PainSplit is a fail because his HP is always so high, which is why it was also omitted. ChargeBeam Drifblim @ Sitrus Berry Unburden Modest 240HP/252Sp.Atk/16Spe -Substitute -ChargeBeam -ShadowBall -HiddenPower [Fighting] Noticed ChargeBeam in the special movepool and thought this might work since Sitrus provides enough recovery to get a sweep off with a boost or two in Sp.Atk and the doubled Speed from Unburden. Just a +1 in Sp.Atk will get you to 459, which you can probably clean up with late game, or if you’re lucky enough to get two boosts then you’ll be sitting pretty comfortably at 612. The EVs are tweaked to give you enough Speed to outrun base 130s after Unburden, Jolteon in particular, and then an extra point is put into Speed once the 30 IVs for HP Fight are taken into account. Team Options Interesting as Drifblim’s typing may be, it comes with its downsides for sure. A weakness to StealthRock and no real means of recovering that lost HP makes for a Spinner’s consideration, although being ungrounded is a plus. A cleric is only needed if for some reason you aren’t running Sub, as toxic poisoning will make walling difficult. The weakness to BoltBeam makes for a tough time finding a synergetic partner, although Magnezone’s resistances to every one of Drifblim’s weaknesses and handy ability to remove the Steels that Drifblim can’t poison or easily KO make him a helluva partner, since he even lures Ground and Fighting attacks that the blimp is immune to. Alternatives Well I spent the whole Annoyance set mentioning basically mentioning every individual move that made any sense, but, here goes my try at finding even more: Memento and DestinyBond become somewhat useful if not running Aftermath, although the only reason I see for doing that would be offensively oriented. Flare Boost is outclassed by Unburden, if you were looking over your shoulder at that blatant hot air balloon pun. I’ve heard of Acrobatics sets attempted with a Flight Gem and Unburden abuse, but despite my support of gimmick movesets, I don’t see 284 max Atk doing very much any time soon. IcyWind did stand out a bit as an attack for the useful Speed drop, if you find your anti-Taunt-bait moves not getting much use and would like to try it out instead. Thunder/bolt and Psychic are also there for random coverage if your team happens to struggle with particular things, though frankly I wouldn’t point to Drifblim as the one to take care of them for you. Explosion got nerfed this Gen and wastes Aftermath, and BodySlam is just not gonna do any real damage while T-Wave can paralyze much more efficiently. BatonPass and SuckerPunch are really the only things left, and both are great moves with little potential for Drifblim. Oh, and CalmMind, which could be used over ChargeBeam to become a little more bulkier while boosting a little more reliably. How to beat it Odds are that Drifblim is gonna leave dents everywhere on your team, even if it can’t kill anything, similar to a real hot air balloon crashing into a village. Personally I’d just aim to Toxic it and then send in a Normal-type like Snorlax that can tank its way through whatever is thrown at it, especially since Snorlax in this case can use Rest to remove status and survive Aftermath with ease. Hitting it hard with a StoneEdge or Crunch, or a high-powered STAB IceBeam, T-Bolt, or ShadowBall, is as good a means of KOing it as any, since while its HP may be frighteningly high, as long as you’re aware of its pathetic defensive stats otherwise you’ll be alright on the rare occasion you encounter the ghostly blimp. Spoiler:Druddigon Dragon HP: 77 Atk: 120 Def: 90 Sp.Atk: 60 Sp.Def: 90 Spe: 48 Double Shuffle Druddigon @ Leftovers Rough Skin Adamant 252HP/252Atk/6Sp.Def -DragonTail -Roar -Earthquake -StealthRock/Snatch/Protect/Toxic Idunno. This way, I guess, you can keep phazing with a pretty powerful DragonTail, and if something sets up a Sub in your face, just Roar the bastard out while he arrogantly tries to setup. Earthquake lands a KO on Steel-types that you’re sick of doing barely anything to, and then I couldn’t think of much for the last slot so…you can either have the hazards yourself, or use the epic gimmick Snatch to even steal opposing Subs, boosts, recovery, etc., scout attacks and get extra Lefties recovery, or add extra damage with Toxic. Trick Room Sweeper Druddigon @ Life Orb Sheer Force Brave 0 Spe IVs 252HP/252Atk/6Sp.Def -DragonClaw -FirePunch -RockSlide -Outrage Druddigon’s best shot to sweep is under TrickRoom circumstances, as his low Speed transforms from a hinderance to a major advantage. FirePunch and RockSlide both get the Sheer Force boosts while providing coverage, and then Outrage provides a more powerful STAB when safe enough to use. Choice Band Druddigon @ Choice Band Sheer Force Adamant 252HP/252Atk/6Sp.Def -DragonClaw/Outrage -FirePunch -RockSlide -SuckerPunch Regardless of whether or not he has the Speed to make it last, 558 Atk is gonna be sending opponents running pretty frequently. Plus, now you have room for SuckerPunch for some sort of priority, useful against Gengar, Alakazam, and Starmie. Team Options The shuffling set loves Wish support, as Druddigon lacks any form of recovery of his own besides Rest. Hazard support besides his own StealthRock is also awesome since it potentially frees up that slot. A Spinner and cleric aren’t really that necessary, as he’s neutral to StealthRock and grounded but tends not switch much unless we’re talking about the Band set, which rarely stays alive long enough to make many switches anyways. If you feel like using Ninjask despite how outclassed the ninja bug has become, Druddigon is a fantastic recipient of the boosts he provides. Also, being a pure Dragon-type, he’s only weak to Ice and Dragon so any Steel-type basically has fine synergy with him, especially ones like Genesect that lure some Fire attacks from time to time. Alternatives Crunch is a non-priority version of SuckerPunch for the TrickRoom set if you feel you need its select coverage badly, with other moves like AquaTail, Thunderpunch, AerialAce, and GunkShot falling into that same category. Druddigon is too slow even for a Choice Scarf, topping out at only 321 Scarfed, so don’t bother with that mindset. He gets Taunt and Torment for being a pest, or HoneClaws if you’d like to bring your Atk up more without a Band. RestTalk occurred to me as an intriguing idea, especially if you ran it with, like, DragonTail and Roar just to be mean. How to Beat it Given the low Speed that continues to plague Druddigon, he’s a sitting duck for a revenge kill, especially from the likes of Dugtrio with its trapping capability. Just beware of Druddigon’s respectable bulk when trying to kill it. To that extent, you may want to use some hazards and status in your efforts to bring him down, namely burns to remove his best stat from legitimacy. If you’re having difficulty getting a counter into the phazer set, play it based on which phazing move it’s using, as despite my advice the majority of battlers continue to run only one phazing move. DragonTail is stopped by a Sub, and Roar is thwarted by Taunt. Actually, a lot of what Druddigon tries to do can be shut down by Taunt, although his offense still needs to be accounted for: Donphan’s physical bulk and lack of weakness to any of Druddigon’s coverage moves makes him a prime candidate, with that IceShard of his adding to his resume. Ferrothorn and Forretress get mentions, but will be utterly toasted by FirePunch. Intimidate Gyrados can slow Druddy’s progress, as Thunderpunch is rarely seen. Heatran only needs to watch out for Earthquake, and if he has a Balloon then he has an easy time burning Druddigon before he actually falls into any danger. Spoiler:Dugtrio Ground HP: 35 Atk: 80 Def: 50 Sp.Atk: 50 Sp.Def: 70 Spe: 120 Choice Band Dugtrio @ Choice Band Arena Trap Jolly 6HP/252Atk/252Spe -Earthquake -RockSlide -SuckerPunch -AerialAce Okay my apologies in advance for my tone for the rest of this spoiler, because I just find Dugtrio to be so damn overrated that it makes me sick. This here is the only offensive set I see any point in running on him, as in this case he actually musters at least a bit of power; 389Atk is still nothing to write home about, but you know he’ll just be revenge killing the things he can easily kill since they won’t be able to switch out. Earthquake is the main point of this set, as in particular he’s used to trap Steels I guess, and then I chose RockSlide over StoneEdge for two reasons: Dugtrio certainly can’t afford to miss, and the flinch would be a blessing for him. Not to mention that he wouldn’t be grabbing any extra KOs with Edge anyway. SuckerPunch provides priority for things like Scarf Starmie, Scarf Gengar, and Mamoswine about to use IceShard. AerialAce is there for Grass-types and Fighting-types, and because the simple premise of a Dugtrio using AerialAce is hysterical. Team Options Dugtrio is probably only gonna be on a team in the first place if you couldn’t think of a better sixth teammate and needed to kill Steels, so since he’s outclassed by Magnezone in that niche anyway, I guess put him on any team that hates facing Steels but has bad synergy with Zone. If you really actually spend any part of your team on supporting Dugtrio then I refuse to aid you in something so pointless anyway. Like seriously he resists StealthRock and only switches in once or twice before getting torn apart by anything with an offensive base stat in triple digits, and if he gets burned then he makes excellent death fodder since he already is death fodder. If using this stupid mole, have a phazer, because you’re gonna be facing a lot of setups. Alternatives ~~Magnezone~~ Uh, apparently some people Scarf him? I laughed when I noticed that it was outspeeding my Scarfed Manectric, since although he did kill Manectric, I came in with Gyarados and setup and swept. But, if you’d like to Scarf him, Scarf him. If you’d like to Sash him and run Reversal, that makes a little sense I guess and I’ve seen it used to decent success, so be my guest. If you wanna use BodySlam, NightSlash/ShadowClaw, or Return, I couldn’t care less. How to Beat it Burn it, poison it, use a Normalize Delcatty and T-Wave it for all I give. Hit it with an IceShard, hit it with a MachPunch, hit it with an Extremespeed, hit it with a BulletPunch, hit it with a boosted STAB attack. Hit it with any STAB attack or any boosted attack. Step on it. It’s not rocket science to get rid of something incapable of OKHO’ing a Phanpy. Spoiler:Dunsparce Normal HP: 100 Atk: 70 Def: 70 Sp.Atk: 65 Sp.Def: 65 Spe: 45 AW YEAH DUNSPARCE Dunsparce @ Leftovers Serene Grace Adamant 252HP/252Atk/6Def -BodySlam -Headbutt -Bite -Roost WOO DUNSPARCE. STAB BodySlam with 60% paralysis rate, STAB Headbutt with 60% flinch rate, Bite for flinching Ghosts too because you’re just that cruel, and Roost because apparently whatever the hell Dunsparce is, has wings. Charge Beam Dunsparce @ Leftovers Serene Grace Modest 252HP/6Def/252Sp.Atk -ChargeBeam -IceBeam -Substitute -Roost WOO SERENE GRACE. Guaranteed boost with every use of ChargeBeam thanks to your infamous ability, IceBeam for a pseudo-BoltBeam, Sub for 101HP setup ease, and Roost for recovery. Coil Dunsparce @ Leftovers Serene Grace Careful 252HP/6Atk/252Sp.Def -Coil -Roost -BodySlam -Earthquake/Bite WOO BULK. The accuracy boost doesn’t actually do anything, I know, but it’s better than Curse since if your Speed dropped enough, you’d be getting beaten by even paralyzed things. Choice Specs Dunsparce @ Choice Specs Serene Grace Modest 252HP/6Def/252Sp.Def -Thunder -IceBeam -FireBlast -ShadowBall/WaterPulse WOO OFFENSE. I still don’t have the slightest clue what Dunsparce is, but whatever the hell it is, it sure has a godly special movepool. Team Options Who needs a team when you’re a Dunsparce??? The only conceivable partner would be a Ghost-type, not for the Fighting immunity or the Ghost lure, but so that Dunsparce can run right through its plasma body if necessary, thus leaving no obstacle for its sweeping prowess of mythical proportions. He often brings the thunder on his enemies, but it’s made even easier for him if his foes’ parades are being rained on by his froggy friend Politoed. Alternatives Earthquake, Solarbeam, WildCharge, ZenHeadbutt, RockSlide, Counter, ThunderWave, Toxic, Yawn, StealthRock, PainSplit, MagicCoat, CalmMind, Agility, AquaTail, and Pursuit are all somehow learned by the turd-dragonfly. RockSlide and ZenHeadbutt in particular work well with Serene Grace. You could run a Band set too on him, since you’d once again have access to STAB. Return could be used if you don’t care for BodySlam’s paralysis rate very much. You could run a Coil set with Blizzard/Thunder/FireBlast, which would be a slap-in-the-face surprise to anyone facing it once you started hitting specially. How to Beat it Dunpsarce’s lone flaw is the fact that he is not a fan of boxing. Therefore, he often loses fights of fists, seeing as he has none of his own whereas arrogant opponents such as Infernape, Hitmonlee, Conkeldurr, and Sawk have the exclusive abilities to unleash fists of fury on our turd-ish friend here. Yet, should Dunsparce paralyze these foes in fear as they enter the ring, he stands a chance. Special attackers, cowardly as it may be to not fight Dunsparce up close, can take their shots at him due to the fact that his mysterious wings are rather fragile to non-physical damage. Finally, Dunsparce is by no means conceited, but loves a fight and is therefore quickly ruined by Taunting, as he will then stubbornly attempt to attack foes he cannot directly injure, such as Heatran and Ferrothorn. Spoiler:Durant Bug-Steel HP: 58 Atk: 109 Def: 112 Sp.Atk: 48 Sp.Def: 48 Spe: 109 Choice Durant @ Choice Band/Choice Scarf Jolly/Adamant Swarm 252Atk/6Def/252Spe -X-Scissor -IronHead -Superpower -StoneEdge/Crunch/RockSlide This is the basis of most Durant sets you’ll see around, as his even Atk and Spe sets sorta scream for one respective Choice item or the other. The choice is entirely up to you, as it depends on personal preference as well as your team’s needs. In the last slot, StoneEdge gets Flying-types and Fire-types that could ruin your day, or Crunch provides great neutral coverage next to Superpower (which is there for Steels, by the way) and hits Ghost-types that wall parts of the rest of the set. Or, RockSlide is a more reliable alternative to StoneEdge with a flinch chance that’s very handy if you’re Scarfing it, since you’ll be outspeeding more things for the flinch and will be making more 2HKOs than OHKOs. Hone Claws Durant @ Salac Berry Swarm Jolly 252Atk/6Def/252Spe -HoneClaws -IronHead -X-Scissor -Superpower/StoneEdge Here, you try to take a hit or two to boost up, which will then activate Swarm and Salac at the same time, granting you an even more powerful STAB move and 522 Speed to go with your 476 or 634 Atk. IronHead is more STAB that hits Rock-types for you and has that nifty flinch possibility, and Superpower gets the Steel-types. However, that’s all it gets since X-Scissor is better for Dark-types and IronHead for Rock-types, so StoneEdge is another potential coverage move for Flying-types if you have a solid plan to beat Steels. You could also run this set with Hustle, as it would grant 20% to all your attacks and the HC boosts would remove the 20% accuracy drop it also brings to the table. I just find Swarm a tad more reliable as opposed to HC’s more immediate power. Truant Durant @ Leftovers Truant Jolly 252Atk/6Def/252Spe -Entrainment -Toxic -Protect -IronHead For those of you who don’t know what Entrainment does, it copies your ability onto the opponent. So, now they have Truant. Instant sweep stopper, guaranteed. Durant’s typing allows you to switch into a lot of would-be sweeps to boot. Toxic makes forstalling since they can only do half as much about it as before, and Protect is so that you can nullify their attacking turn. IronHead lets you still do plenty of damage if you get Taunted or if you wanna finish an opponent instead of waiting for the stall to do its job, plus if you flinch them it’s even funnier than using Protect. Team Options If you can cover Durant’s one weakness, Fire, then you’re off to a very good start. He’s immune to poisoning and neutral to StealthRock, so a Spinner isn’t a huge deal and neither is a cleric as long as he can maneuver around burns (paralysis is negotiable thanks to his physical bulk). He doesn’t have many resistances, and the only immunity to lure is Poison, which would require a Grass-type sharing the Fire weakness and counting on a highly uncommon attack type. You’d be better off using a wall like Cresselia that people often resort to poisoning. Other than that, he’s vulnerable to Magnezone and doesn’t get U-Turn, so a Ground-type to outpredict Zone would be a good decision. Rain would lower his Fire weakness to a more manageable level, if it worries you. Alternatives Agility/RockPolish exist in his movepool for a different means of boosting, but they’re sorta overkill on Speed and leave his Atk a bit low for a full sweep attempt. Along with IronDefense and the already discussed HoneClaws, those boosts would be good for a BatonPass set, something that would surely surprise most battlers and which could be easily pulled off by his typing; sending a +2 in Speed to a Modest Heatran absorbing a FireBlast aimed at Durant will make for some hefty damage production without a doubt. His whole attacking movepool worth using has pretty much been named already, other than maybe ThunderFang if you end up having troubles with bulky Waters. Which reminds me: He gets ThunderWave for some fun times with IronHead’s flinch rate and power. How to Beat it As I said above, Magnezone can trap and kill Durant as long as it can tank a Superpower, and if Durant is Choice-locked into anything else then it’s a sitting duck. Any Fire-type that can take a StoneEdge, such as Heatran, would be a pretty good counter, and any other Fire-type that otuspeeds Durant would be a pretty good check. Steel-types like Bronzong, Jirachi, Metagross, and Registeel can shrug off Durant’s attacks and setup hazards, status it, KO it, wear it down, etc. If you face the Truant set by some chance, remember that switching removes Truant, so switch out on a turn it’s also stuck to something with Protect and force it to switch. Spoiler:Dusclops Ghost HP: 40 Atk: 70 Def: 130 Sp.Atk: 60 Sp.Def: 130 Spe: 25 Stalled to the Grave Dusclops @ Eviolite Pressure Careful 252HP/6Def/252Sp.Def -Will-O-Wisp -Toxic -PainSplit -NightShade I hate this thing so much. Like, so much. I just can never seem to kill it. Why? Because it has a Sp.Def stat of 394 and the ability to burn physical attackers, and if W-o-W misses, it’s still got a Def stat of 297. The only weak defensive thing about it is the 284 HP, which makes PainSplit even better recovery. NightShade is preferred over SeismicToss, as Normal-types that are immune to it, you’re immune to their STABs and all of them hate being statused. If you really wanna run SeismicToss, you’ll have little to do against other Ghosts (especially Gengar) which can eventually wear you down with their super-effective STAB moves. Team Options Dusclops can stall out a whole damn team on his own if given the rightcircumstances, so, support for him should be minimal. He hates status, so a cleric of some sort is pretty good to have around. Other than that, a Normal-type makes for good synergy with Fighting lure and Ghost immunity, and if you’re really mean and play without Item Clause, then you’ve got a mighty fine mixed wall pair laid out for you with Chansey. Providing hazards makes his job faster, since he tends to cause a lot of switches. Alternatives I only listed one set, because that’s the best you’ll probably be getting, but that doesn’t mean that he’s by any means limited; Memento and DestinyBond are nice, but feel wasted often since he’s rarely in a position where he’s about to die or needs to be used as fodder. Taunt is more practical, but his low Speed hinders its usefulness. He’s a great setter of TrickRoom, and that’s one casse you may find use in Memento if you have other reliable setters. He can also put Gravity in play if you’re up for a bit of a gimmick strategy. Curse is a nifty way to continue to stall the opponent, as you usually won’t have a lot of difficult getting that quarter HP back. ConfuseRay and Torment have their uses in irritation, and then Snatch and MeanLook are kinda viable for those with excellent prediction skills. Disable is sorta a mix of both of those categories. How to Beat it I’ve been dreading getting up to this part ;_; I usually try to Toxic it and then dance around its statuses and NightShades as best I can, with Magic Guard Alakazam coming in handy. Magic Guard Reuniclus is one example of a pretty good counter, as he’ll be immune to status and can Recover off the bit of health he loses to boost high enough to eventually break Dusclops. Weathers like sand and hail will wear down on Dusclops since he has no Leftovers, and if you Taunt him, then he can’t recover it back; in fact, he can’t do much of anything at all when Taunted. So, yeah: Taunt, Toxic, Magic Guard. All great choices to beating him. Sometimes I use Switcheroo to plant my Manectric’s Scarf on Dusclops, crippling his moves and removing his defensive boosts, plus later I can dump the Eviolite on anything fully evolved to waste its own item. So Trick/Switcheroo is a pretty good means of getting around him too. Finally, Heatran is immune to both of his statuses and can hit it reasonably hard if offensive or status it back if defensive. Spoiler:Dusknoir Ghost HP: 45 Atk: 100 Def: 135 Sp.Atk: 65 Sp.Def: 135 Spe: 45 Tank Dusknoir @ Leftovers Pressure Adamant 0 HP IVs 252Atk/6Def/252Sp.Def -Will-O-Wisp -PainSplit -ShadowPunch -BrickBreak Due to the fact that Dusknoir’s stats, sprite, and movepool are all barely any different from those of Dusclops, the introduction of Eviolite left the big brother actually outclassed apart from his improved Atk. So, he must use that Atk and the freedom to use Leftovers to carve a niche, and he does so by becoming a one-eyed tank. Will-O-Wisp and PainSplit allow for walling and longetivity, while ShadowPunch is the best physical STAB he can muster and BrickBreak provides nice neutral coverage. Neither is particularly powerful, but, the combo gets the job done with a decent 328 Atk and the ability to stick around to land plenty of hits. SubPunch Dusknoir @ Leftovers Pressure Adamant 252Atk/128Def/128Sp.Def -Substitute -FocusPunch -ShadowPunch -PainSplit This set has its surprise value, with FocusPunch actually hitting pretty hard most of the time. And while his Subs may have low HP, his defenses are still undeniably mammoth and PainSplit provides plenty of recovery when needed. Plus, everyone knows that Ghost-types with Sub are just generally frustrating. Team Options Uh, would it be petty of me to say ‘see Dusclops’? Because it’s literally the same thing. Spinners aren’t too important, provide your own hazards (although in this case so his KOs are easier rather than his stalls), cleric would be a good idea, and a Normal-type has great synergy. Instead of mentioning Eviolite Chansey, I’ll mention Leftovers Blissey. Alternatives Again, same thing as Dusclops. Disable, Taunt, Torment, Toxic, ConfuseRay, and Curse all have their niche uses, although there actually are some new doors open now that I look closer…Memento and DestinyBond become less wasted since he goes down a little more easily, if you’re into that stuff. More importantly however, his passable physical movepool becomes more feasible, with moves like Earthquake, RockSlide, and the elemental Punches gaining in power. Which reminds me that I used to run a Band set to actually solid success, since it gets to 492 Atk and has sufficient coverage. How to Beat it Poisoning Dusknoir still works just fine, although Leftovers will make stalling him out a bit more of a challenge even if you Taunt him out of PainSplit. Burning him becomes more effective, as it erases his main advantage over other mixed walls, limiting him to just regular walling while still chipping at his health slowly. Being less bulky than Dusclops, Dusknoir is a few degrees easier to simply muscle through, although still pretty sturdy nonetheless. His low HP stat can be capitalized on by anything else with NightShade, although that’s pretty uncommon other than maybe Deoxys-D. Anything not hit super-effectively by the usual Ghost-Fight coverage can try to stall him out, like Bronzong or Jirachi. Physical attackers have to avoid burns though, unless they use Rest like Curselax or have Shed Skin like a BulkUp Scrafty. Special attackers like Gengar can stall him out to within range of a KO or ones with multiple boosts like CalmMind Suicune can make a go at overpowering Dusknoir. Finally, Fire-types in general won’t be burned, and attackers like Arcanine and Heatran can take advantage of Will-O-Wisp switch-ins to have better chances at KOing the bulky reaper. Spoiler:Dustox Bug-Poison HP: 60 Atk: 50 Def: 70 Sp.Atk: 50 Sp.Def: 90 Spe: 65 Filler Dustox @ Black Sludge Compoundeyes Calm 252HP/128Sp.Def/128Spe -QuiverDance -IronDefense -Toxic -Roost Um…well, if you get two QDs and one ID, then you can become sorta bulky and also outspeed enough to Roost and Toxic before taking hits. Not like you’ll ever pull that off, but… Team Options Many kind and considerate Pokemon who won’t laugh at Dustox for its lack of ability to do a single thing. Alternatives Uh…I’m at a loss. I’m sorry, do I really need to be here? I mean if someone’s even here then they should know nothing good is gonna come out of it, so if they wanna try some offensive crap, nothing I say is gonna thwart their attempts. How to Beat it Pesticide. Or any super-effective hit. Or turning a light on elsewhere so it just leaves and everyone can get back to actual battling. E Spoiler:Eelektross Electric HP: 85 Atk: 115 Def: 80 Sp.Atk: 105 Sp.Def: 80 Spe: 50 Mixed Attacker Eelektross @ Life Orb Levitate Lonely 6HP/252Atk/252Sp.Atk -WildCharge -HiddenPower [Ice] -GigaDrain -DrainPunch/FirePunch This is the best I could so, as there were a lot of reasonable moves and not enough reason to differentiate between them. WildCharge goes in as the STAB for higher Atk than Sp.Atk, HP Ice because he just had to get the other two elemental Punches that DON’T give you BoltBeam, GigaDrain for Lanturn and special recovery, DrainPunch for Steels and physical recovery. However, FirePunch would hit Ferrothorn harder, although only outside of rain. Coil Eelektross @ Leftovers Levitate Adamant 252HP/252Atk/6Def -Coil -WildCharge -DrainPunch -FirePunch Again, trying to filter the best moves out of his many options. This could probably work pretty well, as he gets pretty bulky with a +1 in Def and max HP. His Atk goes all the way up to 542, plenty for sweeping with an admittedly weak STAB move in WildCharge. FirePunch is for all the Steels and for the Grass-types that resist your STAB, and then DrainPunch gets Heatran and offers some more recovery while hitting Steels harder in the rain. Rain Mix Eelektross @ Life Orb Levitate Mild 6HP/252Atk/252Sp.Atk -Thunder -AquaTail -DrainPunch -GigaDrain With attacking stats of 329/339, one thing that can’t be denied is that he’s well-rounded. Thunder provides great STAB in rain, while AquaTail hits Ground-types harder than HP Ice would. DrainPunch and GigaDrain are your recovery tools, which are even better now that there’s only LO recoil. Grass-types will wall this set unless they’re weak to DrainPunch, and even then Ferrothorn will take it pretty well and has Iron Barbs, but you have a whole team to beat them with. Team Options Well, considering he’s a mixed attacker, he usually doesn’t need much of an attacking complement, and being immune to Spikes and ToxicSpikes and only neutral to StealthRock, he doesn’t really need a Spinner either. He provides a bit of his own recovery, and for whatever reason doesn’t draw much status. He doesn’t even have any weaknesses to cover. So, the one thing I’ll recommend is an Ice-type partner, especially if running the rain set, and also of course a Politoed in the same case. Other than that, the Coil set likes to clean up late-game rather than sweep outright, so some other attackers who can pick things off for him tend to work out nicely. He’s pretty slow, so a TrickRoomer like Reuniclus that can sweep on its own would be a good thing for the eel, or just anything with paralysis support actually. Alternatives Eelektross has a lot of other moves to choose from, but first of all he even has several other sets I didn’t give full mentions: He can run a phazer set to decent effect, especially since he has access to Roar and DragonTail. He could run a supporter set with Toxic, ThunderWave, LightScreen, and KnockOff at his disposal. He could even run a decent parashuffler set, despite lacking instant recovery. On that note, he could do a ChestoRest set with Coil, but the coverage between WildCharge and one coverage move would be disappointing at times. He could run a purely special set, or a purely physical one without Coil, and can run bulky Band and Specs sets rather well; U-Turn and VoltSwitch add to these capabilities. As for other coverage moves in his arsenal, the main one I see a lot is Flamethrower, which is very good for avoiding Ferrothorn’s Iron Barbs, so if there’s anything you wanna change about the sets I pieced together then I’d hope it would be the Fire move. BrickBreak is outclassed by DrainPunch, but Crunch is a solid option for coverage alongside DrainPunch. Or, you could try Superpower for your Fighting move, but that’s only sensible on Choice sets. DragonClaw provides general coverage, but only if you’re not using HP Ice. SignalBeam could get Grass-types, but adds little else; FlashCannon is in a similar boat with hitting Rock-types. Acrobatics or Bounce could be more useful ideas to hit Grass-types actually, although in the case of the former, you can’t really afford to be using a Flight Gem, and the latter takes an extra turn. That extra does grant you more Lefties recovery if that’s what you run as an item, though. Oh, yeah, Expert Belt is an okay item choice too, with the feign of a Choice item in exchange for a tad less power. I think that’s it…uh, RockSlide? Yeah not really since he’s too slow for the flinch and his STAB gets Flying-types. Forget I said it >.> How to Beat it Well as I mentioned in the Team Options bit, he has no weaknesses, which makes this a challenge to write xD. A Bulky Grass-type like Exeggutor or something would take most of the coverage moves for said Grass-types, while Ferrothorn can stomach even FirePunch very well in rain. If he’s running a purely physical set then a Donphan or Hippowdon would be able to wall it, and Chansey and Blissey could do the same to special sets. Choiced sets can be worked around by smart switching, but the lack of vulnerability to hazards means that you’re gonna need to hit it eventually. When hitting it, it really doesn’t matter at all what you hit it with as long as it’s not an Electric or Steel attack, because its defenses are equal and again he has no weaknesses. So, just some powerful attack should dent him nicely, i.e. Politoed’s HydroPump, Scizor’s U-Turn, Conkeldurr’s MachPunch, Dragonite’s Outrage, the like. Spoiler:Electivire Electric HP: 75 Atk: 123 Def: 67 Sp.Atk: 95 Sp.Def: 85 Spe: 95 Physically Based Electivire @ Life Orb Motor Drive Lonely 252Atk/6Sp.Atk/252Spe -WildCharge -IcePunch -Earthquake -VoltSwitch In many ways a speedier Eelektross, Electivire finds his niche over the eel in his access to IcePunch and Motor Drive. He also gets Earthquake, which is very useful for taking out the Electric-types whose STABs he must often switch into. VoltSwitch round out the set, since he has all the coverage he’ll really need anyway, and gives him a nice scouting option. Choice Scarf Electivire @ Choice Scarf Motor Drive Adamant 6HP/252Atk/252Spe -WildCharge -IcePunch -Earthquake -CrossChop Ah my old ScarfVire. Since everyone relies on the Motor Drive boost to outspeed anything with him, it comes as a shock to most players when he starts outrunning things right out of the gate. One tactic I used to use was to switch into a T-Wave or something else for the speed boost, land a hit, and then switch out so that the Scarf still wasn’t given away. One important note for use is to beware of CrossChop’s accuracy -_- Team Options Electivire is very good, but not as good as he was made out to be at the start of Gen IV. Hence, he does need some support. A special attacker to complement his impressive physical power is always good, however that power falls short of wallbreaking status. Therefore, he fits best on a hyper-offense team, where walls will usually be weakened for him or where he can weaken walls for his teammates. A rain team would allow the use of Thunder for more powerful mixed capabilities, and has many hyper-offensive regulars to go along with it. Alternatives EVire’s movepool is not as deep as it may appear, another reason he’s often overestimated. FirePunch toasts Ferrothorn, Forretress, Genesect, Scizor, and Skarmory, and would be the thing to add if it were up to me. Or, Flamethrower would do an even better job on the physical walls of those just listed. BrickBreak is more reliable than CrossChop but is also significantly weaker. DualChop looks good for breaking Multiscale, but IcePunch is superior regardless. RockSlide is unneeded, as are IronTail and Psychic. Still, these many special options mean that he could run a gimmicky special attacker set for the surprise value, with Thunder, Flamethrower, FocusBlast, and VoltSwitch all being there for his use. Meditate is a simple +1 in Atk that seems pretty wimpy, but if you’re gonna rely on Motor Drive for speed and can consistently net that boost, then with a +1 in Atk too he becomes quite the beast. Taunt and ThunderWave have niche uses if you find yourself struggling against setup or speedier foes or whatever else. How to Beat it Well if it’s being used by a noob then just don’t give it the Motor Drive boost really, and kill it with EQ as it switches in stupidly. If it’s being used by a more experienced player, then not only will you need to predict its switches precisely, but you’ll also need to wall it because it’ll be capable of doing its job without a speed boost too. The concept of physical BoltBeam makes him hard to wall outright, but Ferrothorn can wall sets lacking FirePunch and capitalize on a CrossChop miss to eventually wear EVire down with IronBarbs and PowerWhip. Donphan can avoid being OHKO’d by an IcePunch to leave its mark with STAB EQ, and the sand teams he’s often on will provide for continual wear and tear on EVire with his usual Life Orb. Having a Lightningrod/Volt Absorb Pokemon of your own could turn the tables dramatically, more specifically using an Air Balloon Jolteon to do a number with ShadowBall before switching back out. Skarmory can take a WildCharge and try to stall that recoil along with that of Life Orb, and Deoxys-D can just put a stop to him like he does to every other offensive Pokemon ever created. Or worst case scenario is that you chuck a Dusclops in there and burn him, or anything else that can take a hit and carries Will-O-Wisp, and wait for burn/LO/WildCharge to kill the yellow fiend even quicker than you might think. Spoiler:Electrode Electric HP: 60 Atk: 50 Def: 70 Sp.Atk: 80 Sp.Def: 80 Spe: 140 Lead Electrode @ Zap Plate Aftermath Timid 6HP/252Sp.Atk/252Spe -Thunder -ThunderWave -VoltSwitch -Taunt/MagicCoat/Toxic/HiddenPower [Ice] Yes, his movepool really is that pitiful. However, it has just enough tools to abuse his insane Speed, so that’s a plus. Using ThunderWave on a slower Scarfer is really fun, crippling their revenge killer right from the opening of the match like that. In the last slot, Taunt stops setup, status, and hazards, MagicCoar bounces back status and hazards, Toxic poisons stuffs, and HP Ice provides another attacking option even though even the STAB attacks are practically pointless. Rain Lead Electrode @ Damp Rock Aftermath Timid 6HP/252Sp.Atk/252Spe -RainDance -Thunder -VoltSwitch -Torment Yeah, he can set up rain too, if you need a backup rain starter for a rain team or just wanna lay the foundations for a Kingdra sweep. In the case of the latter (or any other Swift Swim sweeper of course), Torment is a nice option since the foe is unlikely to carry two super-effective moves on your sweeper; for example, using Torment on Dragonite as it Outrages allows Kingdra to set a DD as it struggles the next turn, then Sub for DNite to break on the next turn if it’s still locked, and sweep away. Team Options Anything that benefits from Electrode’s paralysis support or rain starting will do fine, and since Electrode is supposed to lead and then die, he doesn’t need anything for himself really. Oh, something that can switch into a Ground attack would appreciate having the lure. Alternatives He gets LightScreen, but unfortunately doesn’t get Reflect for a suicide Dual Screener. He gets Explosion, but it got nerfed this generation so it’s of little merit. Mirror Coat could let him actually kill something if he has a Sash and faces a special attacker, but there are better users. How to Beat it Electrode tends to allow himself to die, so to ‘beat’ him is really more a matter of preventing him from achieving his goal. However, he’s too fast to Taunt him first, and you risk getting Taunted back. Luring a Taunt and throwing Espeon out to bounce the Taunt back could work, but other than that, accept that it’s getting at least one turn in, as even if you’re running a really strong priority attack, it will usually have a Sash. If it uses RainDance, then just start prepping yourself for the incoming sweeper, which you should be able to guess from Team Preview unless there’s more than one. In that case, or any case if it’s your only route, stalling until the rain stops usually is pretty effective. Unless it’s Kingdra, because he can set up speed boosts with DD if he’s going physical. But, that’s countering Kingdra, and we’re talking about Electrode here. If you happen to have a Scarf Landorus/-T, then he’ll do just fine as long as the Electrode isn’t incredibly odd and running HP Ice. Spoiler:Emboar Fire-Fighting HP: 110 Atk: 123 Def: 65 Sp.Atk: 100 Sp.Def: 65 Spe: 65 Choice Emboar @ Choice Band/Choice Scarf Reckless Adamant/Jolly 6HP/252Atk/252Spe -FlareBlitz -HammerArm/Superpower -WildCharge -StoneEdge I’m not exactly positive on how to use this guy, to be flat out honest, so just a heads up on that before you read on. Anyways, with a Scarf and Jolly he hits 376 Speed, which is slow for a Scarfer but fast overall. Or, you could Band him and go Adamant for a heavyweight 569 Atk. The moves are pretty straightforward, with dual STABs and the best coverage moves he has. The choice of Fighting STAB depends on which you find to have the lesser of two recoils. Speaking of recoil, Reckless is chosen since your main STAB gets a boost from it and so does the otherwise fairly weak WildCharge. Mixed Attacker Emboar @ Life Orb Reckless Lonely 4HP/252Atk/252Sp.Atk -FlareBlitz -Scald -HiddenPower [Grass] -StoneEdge I have no clue how it learns Scald xD but alas, it does. So yeah Fire-Water-Grass coverage is pretty badass, only resisted by Dragon-types, so StoneEdge is there so you can knock those stupid Dragonites and Salamences out of the skies (if Scald doesn’t burn them anyway c;) Bulk Up Chesto Rest Emboar @ Chesto Berry Blaze Adamant 252HP/252Atk/6Def -BulkUp -Rest -HammerArm -FlareBlitz shrugs it looks like it has potential. With a BulkUp he hits 362/344 physical defense, which is half decent for an attacker, so you can set up on a physically hitting foe without Earthquake. Then you can use Rest after getting a boost or two (569 or 758 Atk respectively) and start hitting; more of a late-game cleaner than a full sweeper, since he’s pretty damn slow and uses HammerArm, and also because his coverage isn’t exactly lacking but is nothing to brag about either. Team Options Unlike many of his Fire-type brethren, Emboar has secondary typing that makes him neutral to StealthRock, but he’s still grounded so Spinning is appreciated (especially for the Choice set). He lacks instant recovery besides Rest, but other than the Choice set he only should need to even be in the game once or twice before he succeeds or dies. He doesn’t have Flash Fire, but still merits consideration on a Fire-Water-Grass core that likes bulky offense. And as with all Fire-types, sunlight is a blessing for his STAB power to go through the roof, while he naturally has good synergy with the Grass-types common to such teams of course. Jellicent in particular also happens to have pretty solid synergy with the self-made bacon, as does Celebi. Oh, and he functions pretty nicely on a TrickRoom team, and is one of the slower Fire-types out there if you need some flame offense to back up a team devoted to the field condition. Alternatives Both of his abilities have good reason to use them, with the choice depending partially on the set but it’s still up to some amount of personal preference. If on a sun team, he has Solarbeam to replace HP Grass if you’re confident in your weather. You can run a FlameCharge set, which is the one thing I didn’t give a direct mention but which also looks very promising as an individual set, perhaps holding a Flame Plate and running whatever coverage suits your fancy. He gets Earthquake for EdgeQuake coverage, or HeadSmash for the Rock half if you’re okay with taking basically all of your own health in the process. An all special set could be run for the surprise effect, although he’d need to rely on FocusBlast for Fighting STAB. He gets WorkUp to set up a mixed set, but there are coverage attacks which could better fill the slot it would take up. He gets Toxic, Will-O-Wisp, and Yawn for some sort of gimmick support set, or could run just one of them to increase tanking ability. How to Beat it Emboar is quite easily outsped under normal circumstances, and under the rare circumstance he’s Scarfed or has one Speed boost from Flame Charge, any typical Scarfer will still be able to revenge kill him. Aerodactly outspeeds +1 Emboar without even a Scarf and has Earthquake to hit him hard. If TrickRoom is in effect, stalling out its effects with a physical wall like Donphan is a good choice, so long as the elephant can evade a Scald. Rain teams ruin one of his STABs, and can kill him with their super-powered Water STABs. Lanturn can even wall his WildCharge coverage, and Vaporeon can usually take one to poison Emboar or hit it with Surf or Scald (unfortunately, Emboar can’t be burnt as a means of neutering him). Should worse come to worst, you can always phaze it out with Dragonite or Donphan and let hazards work their evils on him. Spoiler:Emolga Electric-Flying HP: 55 Atk: 75 Def: 60 Sp.Atk: 75 Sp.Def: 60 Spe: 103 Choice Scarf Emolga @ Choice Scarf Motor Drive Modest 6HP/252Sp.Atk/252Spe -VoltSwitch -Thunderbolt -AirSlash -HiddenPower [Ice]/U-Turn Emolga kinda reminds me of Noctowl in that he has only one above average stat and then one other that he might as well use by process of elimination, those being Speed and Sp.Atk respectively. His Atk may be equal, but his typing means he’s much better off with the former. He only shares this typing with Zapdos and Thundurus/-T, and has at least one tiny advantage over Zapdos in access to AirSlash while Thundurus is Uber anyway and -T is ten times more powerful no matter what Emolga does. Regardless, Emolga is less mainstream for you cool people out there, and also is of course immeasurably cuter. Now for the set, he has VoltSwitch and T-Bolt for Electric STAB options, and AirSlash for backup STAB against Grass-types especially. HP Ice hits Ground-types and Dragons, or U-Turn offers an escape from Jolteon and Lanturn but a pathetically weak one at that. Team Options He’s only worth using when Choiced, and he’s part Flying-type so a Spinner would be nice as with most Pokemon. Don’t bother taking him into account when debating a cleric though, as he won’t mind a burn, can’t be paralyzed, and switches too often for Toxic to get much momentum. His ability to capitalize on switching into Electric attacks means that anything weak to Electric would make logical sense, although Flying-types would share his weaknesses so Water-types would be better off. Thus, he could handle a spot on a rain team nicely, with added power to his STAB now that Thunder becomes accessible to make his offense not quite so laughable anymore. Alternatives Not much. A physical set could work with equal base stats, but the movepool for STAB is limited to Acrobatics and WildCharge, both weaker than their special equivalents. You could go Specs on the given set, for a decisively subpar 374 Sp.Atk (for a Specs user anyway) to go with Speed that would then revert to being only slightly above average. T-Wave is a decent support option if you wanted to go with something like T-Wave/Roost/VoltSwitch/AirSlash for some hit-and-run paraflinching irritation. Oh, and he gets BatonPass and Agility, but is pretty slow and there are better users. How to Beat it Putting up StealthRock like you always should, any Ice or Rock attack, or just walling it to death with any special wall you have that isn’t x4 weak to Electric or Flying (although Mantine could probably take these puny T-Bolts anyway). All he really does is attempt revenge kills on highly weakened Pokemon anyways, so, whatever he does is just removing fodder in the end. So don’t sweat him at all, and focus on the bigger threats that must be on his team for it to be even worth using in the first place. Spoiler:Empoleon Water-Steel HP: 84 Atk: 86 Def: 88 Sp.Atk: 111 Sp.Def: 101 Spe: 60 Agility Empoleon @ Petaya Berry Torrent Modest 6HP/252Sp.Atk/252Spe -Agility -HydroPump -IceBeam -HiddenPower [Electric] Gen IV powahs go! Agility makes his Speed a really good 438, meaning he can afford to run Modest since his Sp.Atk is by no means spectacular. Therefore, Petaya Berry is also included, so as to bring him up to 530 offensively at around the same time Torrent comes into play, making for one high-powered HydroPump. IceBeam and HP Electric provide Starmie-esque coverage for ya. Swords Dance Empoleon @ Life Orb Torrent/Defiant Adamant 6HP/252Atk/252Spe -SwordsDance -AquaJet -Waterfall -Return I’m sorry but Empoleon is another Pokemon I just find really overrated. Much like Electivire, the hype on him kinda dropped back down to reality in the Generation shift, but maybe this set could still work. Ferrothorn happens to wall it entirely, but if you can kill him before trying to sweep then you have pretty good coverage. Defiant is another option over Torrent if you wanna try to sneak in that added boost since no one really realizes he gets it and those who do would never expect it to be running it, but he does resist Dark so it makes sense. Team Options Empoleon is one of those weird Pokemon that you can easily build a team around by pure logic without him actually being the star of said team. So, with his traits in mind, some obvious things come up such as a Politoed to give his attacks that extra oomph they often need, as well as a Magnezone since he loves rain and could remove Ferrothorn from the battle for Empoleon to sweep more fluently while simultaneously covering the Electric weakness. However, Empoleon is also weak to Fighting and Ground, so why not toss a Tornadus on there? Or a Levitating Ghost, or a sturdy physical wall like Donphan, etc. Empoleon can absorb Toxic and special variants won’t mind a burn horribly since he usually tries to sweep late-game anyway, so just keeping something to take T-Waves like (again) Donphan would pretty much round it out. Alternatives He gets GrassKnot, but I find that move overrated too since the main things he’d need it for, Rotom-W, Lanturn, Gastrodon, are pretty light anyway. If you wanna stick it on him on a rain team so that he has a means of tripping Tyranitar, then I’ll admit that makes sense. FlashCannon and SteelWing both offer a second STAB, but add no new super-effective coverage next to your primary STAB. Earthquake and RockSlide are available on the physical end for miscellaneous coverage, but the general coverage of Return is usually superior. DrillPeck could hit Grass-types on physical sets, and actually if paired with Earthquake would net extremely good overall coverage, especially considering they’d hit three types which have super-effective STABs on Empoleon (Grass, Fighting, and Electric). Uh, I suppose StealthRock could make him an alright attacking lead, and he gets Roar to that extent too. How to Beat it Empoleon is not difficult to counter, by any means, but for whatever reason I’m finding it difficult to actually name a counter. For one thing, he sorta got screwed by the secondary typings given to the Gen IV starters, as Infernape and Torterra both got a STAB to super-effectively hit the starter that would normally have the obvious advantage, meanwhile the penguin got one of the decisively worse offensive types in the game and without even BulletPunch to bring some respectability to it. So, a particularly bulky special wall that isn’t threatened by any of his attacks would humble him pretty quickly, with Gastrodon and Vaporeon coming to mind. On the physical flipside, Ferrothorn can take him on with impunity, and the same goes for the special attacker too depending on how Ferro is built. Other Grass-types like Venusaur also can take on the physical set, being wary of the odd DrillPeck though and in his case EQ as well; Venusaur, however, often comes with sun, which substantially neuters Empoleon’s only useful STAB. Spoiler:Entei Fire HP: 115 Atk: 115 Def: 85 Sp.Atk: 90 Sp.Def: 75 Spe: 100 Choice Entei @ Choice Scarf/Choice Band Flash Fire Adamant/Jolly 136HP/252Atk/8Def/112Spe /// 6Atk/252Atk/252Spe -FlareBlitz -StoneEdge -IronHead -Extremespeed To explain the EV spreads, the first one gets him to 396Spe with a Scarf which outspeeds base 130s while maximizing Atk and putting him at a solid HP stat to avoid being KO’d four switches into StealthRock. The second one is to try and make him fast enough to keep up with things despite his average 100 base Speed if running a Band. Then the set itself, FlareBlitz is his only STAB, StoneEdge gets some general coverage on foes like Gyarados and Dragonite, IronHead hits Rock-types that resist everything else you have, and ESpeed provides emergency priority against something that’s also Scarfed or has boosts or whatever; it comes in more handy on the Band set. Flame Charge Entei @ Flame Plate/Life Orb Flash Fire Adamant 6HP/252Atk/252Spe -FlameCharge -FlareBlitz -StoneEdge -IronHead/Substitute Entei got FlameCharge with Gen V, and since he didn’t get any new type coverage added to his infamously shallow movepool, you might as well take advantage of the one useful thing he gained access to. Coverage is the same, although Substitute would make the setup easier and he can produce pretty bulky Subs with 115 base HP, so it could be used over IronHead if you think you don’t need the flinch chance or coverage on Rock-types. If you do decide to run Sub, 132HP EVs would allow for 101HP Subs and would leave you with enough Speed to beat out base 130s at +1 regardless. I run Flame Plate over Life Orb on all my FlameCharge sets, because the setup usually requires you to take damage and I don’t wanna burn any more of my health, plus if I need to attack first with FlareBlitz I can feign a Choice Band. Team Options Generic pure Fire-type despite his status as a legendary, Entei requires nothing more or less than any of his brethren; Spin support is nice since he’s grounded and weak to SR, something to lure Fire attacks is great now that Flash Fire is released, Fire-Water-Grass cores can benefit from his presence, get rid of opposing bulky Water-types like Jellicent, and sun would be a huge plus. Nothing new. Alternatives Not many xD his special movepool has Extrasensory and ShadowBall for random coverage, as well as Solarbeam if you’re confident in your sun support, and then of course the potentially devastating Eruption despite how much successful strategy it requires to be executed properly. Still, with a Flash Fire boost, sunlight, and STAB, at full health even that letdown base 90 Sp.Atk can bring the pain in volcanic proportions. His physical movepool has basically all been listed, as he missed out on EQ access and Dig is useless; IronTail is outclassed by IronHead, and Bite is weak and only useful against Jellicent. He gets Yawn, Roar, Toxic, and Will-O-Wisp if you wanted to run a surprise support set with his decently bulky HP/Subs. Oh and he gets CM for a special set, since you’ll be needing whatever power you can muster if that’s your angle. Howl boosts Atk by one stage but…meh. How to Beat it He’ll usually be Choiced in order to do any damage, so just like all the other Choice users in the game, smart prediction and hazards should be able to bring him down or at least weaken him into the range of a priority or revenge kill. Rain ruins his only STAB and brings with it plenty of things capable of OHKO’ing him with their own, while sand gradually weakens him and brings similar opponents. Anything with either half of EdgeQuake can force him out, and Vaporeon can do the same or just Roar him out to force hazards to take their toll the next time he returns. AquaJet is fine from Azumarill, defensive Politoed can take anything he has really, Jellicent can Toxic him, and Starmie can outspeed and launch a HydroPump. Spoiler:Escavalier Bug-Steel HP: 70 Atk: 135 Def: 105 Sp.Atk: 60 Sp.Def: 105 Spe: 20 Choice Band Escavalier @ Choice Band Swarm Adamant 252HP/252Atk/6Sp.Def -Megahorn -IronHead -Pursuit -Return/Reversal/SleepTalk His physical movepool may bite, but so does his raw offensive power. Positive nature and a Band equals 608Atk equals hooha. His dual STABs are pretty obvious, and then that’s all he really has access to worth using. So Pursuit goes there to catch Reuniclus and Alakazam trying to get out of there, and in the last slot either Return provides random neutral coverage, Reversal hits Steel-types under a low health scenario, or SleepTalk lets you absorb Spore from Breloom since you can hit him harder than he can hit you. Swords Dance Escavalier @ Sitrus Berry Swarm Adamant 252HP/252Atk/6Sp.Def -SwordsDance -Megahorn -IronHead -Reversal/Return Same concept, but with SD to sky that Atk all the way up to 910 in just one use, a ridiculous sweeping opportunity if you can eliminate Steels and Fire-types first. Life Orb and Leftovers are other item options, I just use Sitrus on slow boosters a lot so they can get off more hits before inevitably being revenge killed. Trick Room Escavalier @ Life Orb Swarm Brave 0 Spe IVs 252HP/252Atk/6Sp.Def -Megahorn -IronHead -SwordsDance -Pursuit With a whopping Speed stat of 40 with this set, Escavalier is blazingly fast under TrickRoom circumstances. Combine that with the possibility of a +2 in Atk, and you’re dealing with a real beast. Pursuit is basicallty there to hit Ghost-types and in case an opposing Reuniclus sets up TR and you think he’ll run away (you’re slower than Reuni btw, so in TR you can revenge him). Team Options Anything to take Fire attacks is more or less all Escavalier will need. Any Water-type that needs a weakness to Grass covered, will have great synergy with Escavalier. Politoed comes to mind since he provides some bulky special attacking to complement Cav’s specialty. He’s immune to ToxicSpikes and neutral to SR so Spinning isn’t really much of a necessity for him. He could benefit from the extra damage on opponents provided by hazards and sandstorm though, as sometimes when he has no choice but to try and brute force his way through a wall that resists his moves, he’ll still come close but needs that extra bit of previous damage on them to finish the KO. Alternatives Adamant and Brave natures are basically interchangeable for those of you trying to breed for the correct nature in-game, since the Band and SD sets won’t be outspeeding anything anyway and the TR sweeper set will still be plenty slow at 45 Spe instead of 40 xD I got the idea for a Chesto Rest set while looking through his movepool, since he’s plenty bulky and has little better to be putting in a moveslot. So you could do that on a SD set or just a straight-up tank. Apart from that though, he basically has no other moves worth listing besides KnockOff and Toxic for some lame support set that wastes his offensive might and is highly outclassed. How to Beat it If he comes in with TrickRoom in effect, you’d better have something that can stall until it’s over, because that kind of outspeeding ability on something with that much power is not going down easily. A Steel-type resists most of what he can throw out, and Magnezone and Heatran in particular are great at killing him too as opposed to just walling him. MachPunch and VaccumWave can do a little bit to him if he’s weakened from LO recoil or something, but never count on weak neutral moves against base 105 Def. You can try to burn him, but you’ll need a bit of luck with either Will-O-Wisp hitting on the first or second try or Scald burning on the first try because he’ll punch through you if it takes too long to neuter him. Keep in mind though that a burn only cuts in half his Atk, which means he can still deliver hits when statused. Spoiler:Espeon Psychic HP: 65 Atk: 65 Def: 60 Sp.Atk: 130 Sp.Def: 95 Spe: 110 Dual Screener Espeon @ Light Clay Magic Bounce Timid 6HP/252Sp.Atk/252Spe -Reflect -LightScreen -Psychic/Psyshock -ShadowBall Espeon’s ability to leave you with no choice but to attack him directly makes for an excellent screener, since the appropriate defense booster renders your final option against him next to useless while supporting the team incredibly in the process. STAB move is up to you, and I personally hate Psyshock so yeah xD ShadowBall hits other Psychic-types that may try to stall and setup until the screens wear off. Calm Mind Espeon @ Leftovers Magic Bounce Timid 252Sp.Atk/6Sp.Def/252Spe -CalmMind -Psychic/Psyshock -ShadowBall -HiddenPower [Fighting] At just +1, Espeon hits a towering 539 Sp.Atk, while also solidifying his Sp.Def at 341. With multiple boosts, Espy reaches monstrous sweeping potential while also definite special wall status. Moves provide all the coverage you could ever need, as proven by Alakazam and Reuniclus. Tank Espeon @ Leftovers Magic Bounce Modest/Calm 252HP/6Sp.Atk/252Sp.Def -Reflect -Psychic/Psyshock -ShadowBall -HiddenPower [Fighting] With Reflect and max Sp.Def, Espeon reaches an impressive 334/312/289 overall defenses (assuming Modest; Calm would give 317 Sp.Def), perfect for tanking with its solid Speed stat considering no investment. Coverage moves are repeated, mainly because they work. Team Options Something that draws status a lot, like Donphan, Jellicent, and Dragonite, all make good lures for such moves to be bounced back by Espeon. Using Team Preview to display a lead that looks like hazards could be setup against it, or would lure Taunt, also is a good idea. If you mispredict and allow hazards to be put up, Espeon is somewhat vulnerable to them given his grounded state and neutrality to StealthRock, but you shouldn’t be switching into multiple hazards ever so there’s no need for a Spinner unless dedicating a whole team to Volcarona or Moltres or Charizard or something. Something to also kill Dark-types, such as a powerful MachPuncher like Hitmonchan or Conkeldurr, would also help the psychic kitty out a lot. Alternatives Espeon has a handful of other offensive options you may wish to try out, such as GrassKnot for Tyranitar or a different HiddenPower (Fire for Scizor and Genesect comes to mind first) or…oh right, that’s it. Fortunately however, his supporting movepool is decently broad, with neat tricks such as MagicCoat, HealBell, Yawn, Roar, MorningSun, Trick, Toxic, and even Wish if you find any of them to fit your team’s needs particularly well. As far as different types of sets, a SubPetaya set or something similar may work out well, or even a Specs set like I used to run (or Scarf for those Speed overkillers out there). How to Beat it Trappers like Scizor, Tyranitar, Weavile, Bisharp, etc. all make Espeon’s life difficult with their near-guarantee of his demise, for starters. Anything that can feign a status move or hazard for Espeon to try and sneak in on and then nail it with a super-effective attack is plenty qualified to KO him, such as a tank Deoxys-D or Jellicent. Tornadus/-T can U-Turn out of a special wall Espeon, and Dugtrio can trap him and go for the SuckerPunch. Blissey can wall him until he gets a ton of boosts, but can only SeismicToss him due to Magic Bounce. Should he aquire such boosts, then you’ll have to just nail him with the most powerful priority you can muster and hope for the best, the best in this case being Espeon carrying Life Orb and sandstorm or hail being in play. Sandstorm again brings Tyranitar up as a greatn counter, as a +0 HP Fight probably still won’t OHKO a defensive one thanks to the Sp.Def boost from his self-brought weather. Spoiler:Exeggutor Grass-Psychic HP: 95 Atk: 95 Def: 85 Sp.Atk: 125 Sp.Def: 65 Spe: 55 Sun Sweeper Exeggutor @ Life Orb Chlorophyll Modest 6HP/252Sp.Atk/252Spe -GigaDrain -Psychic -HiddenPower [Fire] -Synthesis Exeggutor is incredibly versatile, and this is his most used offensive set. Dual STABs are about all his special movepool has to offer, and then HP Fire covers Genesect, Ferrothorn, and Scizor who would otherwise wreck this set completely. Synthesis gains a lot of recovery in sunlight, and GigaDrain also helps you to stick around longer, allowing LO recoil to not be such a big problem. Psyshock is an option but I find it a very weak alternative with niche use and common backfires. Sun SubSeed Exeggutor @ Leftovers Chlorophyll Bold 252Def/6Sp.Atk/252Spe -Substitute -LeechSeed -Synthesis -HiddenPower [Fire] SubStall is annoying enough on something that’s ridiculously bulky, but on something with decent enough bulk and a ton of Speed in sunlight, it’s quite the challenge to stop. HP Fire is for Ferrothorn and buggies. EV spread allows for good physical bulk, but can be shifted to special if you wanna try to take certain IceBeams and Flamethrowers; no HP investment allows for a higher percentage to be recovered from each turn of LS. Defensive Exeggutor @ Sitrus Berry/Lum Berry Harvest Bold 252/252Def/6Sp.Atk -Toxic -LeechSeed -Substitute/Protect -GigaDrain Harvest is a monstrous ability on Exeggutor, as the repeated major recoveries from Sitrus make him seriously difficult to take down; quick note, iirc Sitrus will restore his HP in between IcicleSpear hits from Cloyster, which is interesting when trying to withstand all five of them. Toxic and LeechSeed provide plenty of damage, switching, opportunities to Sub, and genera frustration; if you’re not particularly good at prediction and/or using Subs, then you can run a Lum Berry to become immune to status thanks to Harvest and just run Protect to stall for more recovery since you don’t need Sub to block status. If running Sitrus though, Sub can be important, as it can get you into Sitrus range on a switch and return more HP than the Sub cost. GigaDrain is random STAB for extra recovery. It’s also the reason HP investment is given on this set, so if you don’t run it then feel free to maximize both defenses and thereby gain a higher chunk of your HP back from each turn of LeechSeed Double Powder Exeggutor @ Sitrus Berry Harvest Bold 252HP/252Def/6Sp.Atk -SleepPowder -StunSpore -LeafStorm -PowerSwap Cripplin’ all kindsa sweeperz up in here. Shut down something trying to set up if you get SleepPowder to hit, paralyze whatever else, hit respectably hard with STAB LeafStorm, and force that -2 onto opposing special attackers. Rinse and repeat as Sitrus restores your awesomeness. Team OptionsWell obviously if running a Chlorophyll-based set then you’ll be needing not only a Ninetales, but also a solid counter to both Politoed and Tyranitar. Coincidentally, a specialy defensive Exeggutor can take a defensive Politoed’s IceBeam and retaliate with a LeafStorm, but the odds of that are fairly unlikely so a more dedicated team member would be required. Something like Gastrodon or Jellicent is a step in the right direction, and both of them have above average synergy with Exeggutor too. A Fire-Water-Grass core is possible, with Eggy’s secondary Psychic typing calling to mind things like Crawdaunt and Ferrothorn for other dual-typed partners. Unless running Lum Berry and Harvest, he’s somewhat vulnerable to status, so a cleric would be nice; a Spinner isn’t really a priority of any sort, though. You could actually run a defensive set in rain, since his Fire weakness would be negated and Politoed could provide some type synergy. Alternatives Exeggutor, instead of sweeping under the easily-removed condition of sunlight, and flip his speed-remedy upside down and run TrickRoom instead. Or he could be the designated setter of TR for a teammate, such as Rhyperior or Ramparados, both of whom would like his typing a lot. Gravity and Dual Screens are other support options, as is Wish although it’s incompatible with Harvest (among other important moves most likely). Oh, and Moonlight could of course be used over Synthesis on any set if it’s easier to anyone running him in-game trying to build the set, whatever’s easier. Offensively speaking, he has Curse and SwordsDance and a gimmick-worthy 95 base Atk with SeedBomb and ZenHeadbutt to try and do some damage with. NaturePower would probably be the fourth move, since its becoming EQ in competitive battle is actually pretty useful for him. How to Beat it The overwhelming popularity of Politoed and Tyranitar, who ruin Exeggutor’s preferred weather and can usually KO him, Genesect and Scizor, who can always KO him, and dominant special walls that he can’t touch, all make the meandering palm tree’s life difficult in OU. Keeping any of these things alive, or any other U-Turner for that matter (Flygon resists HP Fire), will give you a rather good chance at keeping his potential tied down. If he is under his optimal circumstances though, you still have a chance, as IceShard will hit him pretty hard and Scarf Starmie can outspeed him even in sun and revenge kill with IceBeam. Defensive Exeggutors are harder to get around given their balanced stat spreads and reasonably intimidating offensive presence, but common Pokemon that can defeat his LeechSeed strategy are Reuniclus, Alakazam, Cradily, anything faster with Substitute, and any other Grass-type that can tank an HP Fire or two. Overall, Exeggutor is pretty unpredictable on paper, but in reality you’ll find that his offensive movepool is too shallow to be and his defensive sets are all run more or less the same way. Spoiler:Exploud Normal HP: 104 Atk: 91 Def: 63 Sp.Atk: 91 Sp.Def: 63 Spe: 68 Sub + 3 Attacks Exploud @ Leftovers Scrappy Modest 252HP/6Def/252Sp.Atk -Substitute -HyperVoice -FocusBlast -IceBeam Exploud has one of the most colorful movepools in the entire game, yet sadly stats that are nowhere close to being sufficient for abusing his potential coverage. His HP is the only thing he has going for him really, producing Subs capable of taking a SeismicToss or NightShade, so here he has Sub and then special attacks with a Modest nature for his subpar offense and since he won’t outspeed anything anyway. Scrappy makes HyperVoice actually pretty annoying to work around, and the Rock- and Steel-types that still resist it won’t like FocusBlast if it hits. IceBeam because the one thing it sadly lacks is Thunder, which would otherwise have been used to hit rain teams, so instead you get to freeze up Dragons, Tornadus/-T, Thundurus-T, Landorus, Gliscor, and the like. Team Options Being a pure Normal-type, Exploud won’t need much type synergy nor does he provide any worth bragging about. Any Ghost-type would be plenty if you really feel like devoting any part of your teammate-picking thinking to his presence. He does falter in the presence of hazards though when running the Sub set, and of course some heavy physical attacker to break special walls would be in order, considering he can barely break physical walls at times if their HP is high enough. Alternatives Well, there’s ShadowBall if you run Soundproof, although the only reason you’d do that would be if you didn’t have access to a DW Wishmur. Overheat or FireBlast could replace Sub on a Specs set, which would require a lot of switching but could catch something off guard with 464 Sp.Atk assuming a Modest nature. A physical set would hit harder with Return than a special set with HyperVoice, so if you’re in it solely for Scrappy then that may be your better route; otherwise, his physical coverage moves are weaker despite being just as impressive, with the elemental Punches 9and Fangs but…yeah), BrickBreak, and Crunch pretty much headlining the group. IcyWind deserves a mention for providing a makeshift solution to his suckish speed, as does Surf if you happen to find yourself trying him on a rain team for the heck of it. How to Beat it Having personally run a Scarf set for a little while (don’t try that at home), I’m aware that Exploud’s lack of overwhelming power and speed (even with the Scarf) are his undeniable downfalls. So just outspeed him, break the Sub with any sort of Fighting attack using a Conkeldurr or Sawk or something else that can easily take a HyperVoice (Lucario and Cobalion risk being smacked with FocusBlast), and proceed to KO the noisy monster fairly easily. The only way he’ll be doing any damage is if the trainer using him devotes most of the battle to removing his counters from the field, so if you notice Blissey and Breloom being particular targets on your team facing an Exploud, take note that the player at least knows what he or she is doing and beware a well-timed Sub or unexpected random revenge kill; most importantly, don’t forget it has Scrappy, since the occasional surprise kill it can get on a Gengar is highly embarrassing. general help ------------------- Have cool sets? Post in the Moveset Competition and see how you stack up! Wanna earn badges? Try the NeoLeague! Pumped for Pokemon X and Y? We are, so we made a FORUM!
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MagnetBoy Meandering to the beat of my own drummer (moderator) Pokémon Strategy total posts: 5888 since: Jul 2010	Jan 09, 13 at 5:37pm ^ re: A FREAKIN' STRATDEX [never completed though ._.]
	Spoiler:Notif Bomb Jeevs slashtrey MagnetBoy Geo Tyranitar1 BluesandCoke codyhaifley Dark-Magic Dark Arcanine darkgamer123 darkhaunter24 Dustonimore deon00 Donphan Phan Duncan Idaho Dustonimore Farmboy90 Jace2012 InDiGo JesseTheKing KirbyHyrule Korra Laika Lil J lovelyfisher Magic Magnaillusion CM Majestic Shadow Master L MetallicaDragon MidnightXS Mikey14 Mohamadito Morning Mudkip94 Nage Neon Rayquaza NFS_Street_King Old Man Zangetsu orez Orlando pavak Phoenixmon Piccolossj4 PokeYoshi PreservationalMartyr Prince Vegeta psyche Psycho5050 RaichuTriad RansoM-x red wishes regi45 Rice Riniac Opocamimor ryan589 Sengoku Shawn Yasumara silverr Smurf Stevemeister tangy33 tears of insanity TFlo18 ThatBuddhaDude ThatDudeUKnow The Legend 207 TnLo Toast Un_Blooded UN3 Vapid Soul Xyn Zef captain boo Vast smoochypoo Enjoibro4 Megamaster37 Unchained1 Poketrainer_Jay zeezow Vast Jeremy A Simple Box Pirate Random Notes: Pirate was the only one to know about this iirc, when I mentioned it to her while tired as hell. Any typos, I apologize for, somewhere around the ten thousandth red underline on Word it wasn't able to keep showing them due to capacity issues since every name and most moves were counted out, so other than the odd lucky autocorrect it isn't perfect. Errors with moveset impossibilities, stat falsifications, or miscalculations, on the other hand I would prefer you tell me about. Yeah. This thread will be left open for this purpose mainly, and/or for you all to tell me how stupid I am for attempting something this huge. Uh, yeah that's about it I guess...have fun, I hope you people and whoever else comes around in whatever timespan to come can make use of it. I'll sticky it eventually ------------------- Have cool sets? Post in the Moveset Competition and see how you stack up! Wanna earn badges? Try the NeoLeague! Pumped for Pokemon X and Y? We are, so we made a FORUM!
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captain boo ~Father of Medicine~ Still Seekin' total posts: 3993 since: Jul 2006	Jan 09, 13 at 6:13pm ^ re: A FREAKIN' STRATDEX [never completed though ._.]
	Mentioning me so many times is flattering, MagnetBoy. But wow, looks good though, I have a couple disgressions with the sets themselves because of my personal experience with pokemon like Cradily, Claydol and Cryogonal, but you probably don't want this thread to turn into a giant critiquing thread when you've spent so long on this. Well done, man. ~~My guide is nearing completion...~~ ------------------- Need some help supporting your team?
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supergoji18 Godzilla > you ultra seeker total posts: 1512 since: Feb 2012	Jan 09, 13 at 6:20pm ^ re: A FREAKIN' STRATDEX [never completed though ._.]
	Magnetboy am i not good enough to on the notif list? ------------------- BW Friend Code: 0089 6898 6121 Trainer Name: E-rocK Neoleague Badges: Fighting
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Jeevs Swaggerific (moderator) Pokémon Battle Tournaments Pokémon Battles total posts: 4838 since: Apr 2010	Jan 09, 13 at 8:25pm ^ re: A FREAKIN' STRATDEX [never completed though ._.]
	no baton pass anywhere on Espeon should be a crime.
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Zeezow iz Clumzee ;3 Neoholic total posts: 10581 since: Aug 2010	Jan 09, 13 at 10:13pm ^ re: A FREAKIN' STRATDEX [never completed though ._.]
	Wow, this is pretty good o: Lol, that Dustox "Filler" set It can do better in NU though xp This looks great though ------------------- quote 10:18:48 PM Jason Quigley she wanted the Z
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Geo (ninja) True Addiction total posts: 19512 since: Jun 2010	Jan 09, 13 at 11:20pm ^ re: A FREAKIN' STRATDEX [never completed though ._.]
	Any intention of transferring them to Wiki? I can clock a lot of bytes with that. ------------------- No Action, Talk Only.
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Icekickseverything #CultFigure Relentless since: Jan 2009	Jan 10, 13 at 1:45am ^ re: A FREAKIN' STRATDEX [never completed though ._.]
	I knew about it. ._. ------------------- Hop into my spaceship coupe. There's only room for two, me and you.
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Jeremy NYANdere Neolithic since: Oct 2009	Jan 10, 13 at 3:17am ^ re: A FREAKIN' STRATDEX [never completed though ._.]
	Oooh, this is interesting. Duncan Idaho, you might be interested. ------------------- {Vanguard} {Magic} {Yu-Gi-Oh}
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Jeevs Swaggerific (moderator) Pokémon Battle Tournaments Pokémon Battles total posts: 4838 since: Apr 2010	Jan 10, 13 at 7:14am ^ re: A FREAKIN' STRATDEX [never completed though ._.]
	MagnetBoy some thoughts. didn't read all the way through. Abomasnow needs HP Fire slashed on most of its sets to deal with grass types that come in. Also, could definitely pull off a sub focus punch set. It's important to note that HP Fire is only a 2HKO on most OU Steels Not sure if Absol learns sub, but might want to add that as a slash on its SD set over night slash/fire blast. Also Absol is way to fragile for a Curse set, don't even think about it. Accelgor receives better coverage (IIRC) with HP Rock instead of HP Ice. Aerodactyl needs Fire Blash slashed on it's lead set to deal with Ferrothorn and SD Scizor Charge Beam Alakazam (CB / Psyshock / SB / Focus Blast) deserves some love although substitute has its merits. Amoonguss needs a clear smog set, it's what allows it to beat specially based threats like Keldeo Archeops is not weak to mach punch or vacuum wave Snow Cloak is actually banned on Articuno (as per evasion clause IIRC). Try including a Sub/Roost toxic stall set Azelf needs explosion on his physical sets, they allow him to fill a niche of a true suicide lead editting problem with azumarill on Bellossom, change Swords Dance to Growth, shift the 6 SpD EV's to Sp.A and change Return to either HP Ice, Rock, or Ground Bibarel needs special mention to Quagsire as a counter Slash Fight Gem alongside Brelooms technician set. Sub Focus punch also deserves some recognition. IIRC Rock tomb is also technician boosted. Technician set also needs Swords Dance slashed on it. Sand Veil is banned on Cacturne (as per evasion clause) Carracosta needs a mixed Shell Smash set Celebi needs Recover and HP Fire slash on it's first set. try a 192 HP / 252 SpA / whatever rest in Spe set instead with a modest nature. Could also fare well with Baton pass
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Unchained1 Neoseeker battle Records 551W-1D-49L Resident Neo total posts: 2931 since: Feb 2011	Jan 10, 13 at 8:02am ^ re: A FREAKIN' STRATDEX [never completed though ._.]
	pretty much everything he said^ (xbelt hp fire on abom is win). Awesome to see someone with the effort to do this great job!(I was 1st at neo to use para shuffle nite btw) ------------------- -IM A SOLDIER- (18:44:57) ±Porygon: Your rank in Wifi OU is 10/103148 [1616 points / 100 battles]! (20:44:34) Splitr: so really i have to let a 14 year old kid flame at me when in real life i could OHKO him with a slap of my dick
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Duncan Idaho The Top General of The Atriedes Forces Neo: Essential total posts: 12140 neopoints: 325 since: Dec 2007	Jan 10, 13 at 9:36am ^ re: A FREAKIN' STRATDEX [never completed though ._.]
	quote Jeremy Oooh, this is interesting. Duncan Idaho, you might be interested. Would love to contribute, but i am busy until february 3. ------------------- Support the Last Story wiki! Contribute to the Xenoblade wiki!
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MagnetBoy Meandering to the beat of my own drummer (moderator) Pokémon Strategy total posts: 5888 since: Jul 2010	Jan 10, 13 at 7:10pm ^ re: A FREAKIN' STRATDEX [never completed though ._.]
	captain boo well you're the one who mentions the most sets for things I would otherwise know next to nothing about xD supergoji18 wait you aren't on there? That's highly surprising...I'll add you for the next one Jeevs well it was a compilation of my own personal experiences, and I don't remember ever seeing a BP Espeon (at least not a successful one) tbh for example. This was written long before the Evasion Clause so I guess I should add that in somehow though...Also, on some sets I tried to avoid adding one option because it would open up a Pandora's box that I'd end up having to slash like six things; I'll probably add some of those things in though another time when I have the chance and patience to edit it, since it takes a full minute or so every time I went to preview it to check for errors xD Geo as long as I was given the full credit for compiling, you can post it wherever the hell you like lol, especially if that place happens to garner interest to add more to the alphabet of it ------------------- Have cool sets? Post in the Moveset Competition and see how you stack up! Wanna earn badges? Try the NeoLeague! Pumped for Pokemon X and Y? We are, so we made a FORUM!
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Unchained1 Neoseeker battle Records 551W-1D-49L Resident Neo total posts: 2931 since: Feb 2011	Jan 12, 13 at 3:26am ^ re: A FREAKIN' STRATDEX [never completed though ._.]
	Post my pokes plz: -Subby DDance Kingdra -Sdance Ferro -Haxrachi -Haze Poli -Shell Smash Surf everything Hydration Gorebyss -even SDance xspeed -Nplot Thunder spam Thundurus -All I Do Tornadus Specs Hurricane -Scarf Darkvoid Darkrai -Scarf Waterspout(surf/ thunder/ icebeam) Kyogre -Meoletta rachi style(Thunder 60% para, Subby, Calm mind, Psyshock) -Xatu Twave spam/ UTurn/ Roost/ Night shade -Cband Headsmash/ Waterfall Relicanth - Expert Belt Flame Charge(still 2hko scizor/Ferro) Thunder, Icebeam, UTurn(fake scarf) -Keldeo now pretty standard Surf Calm Mind, HP ice for dragons, SSword with Lum berry( I was using DW poke as soon as I was allowed btw getting #1 at Smogon and #2 at Beta with DW no wifi) Subby DDance, Dragon Claw, Earthquake Haxorus. Hmm thats about it for now i realise its gonna take time and i can pm all the proper evs ect with more indepth discussion. ^No one in Neo used these before me. ------------------- -IM A SOLDIER- (18:44:57) ±Porygon: Your rank in Wifi OU is 10/103148 [1616 points / 100 battles]! (20:44:34) Splitr: so really i have to let a 14 year old kid flame at me when in real life i could OHKO him with a slap of my dick
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MagnetBoy Meandering to the beat of my own drummer (moderator) Pokémon Strategy total posts: 5888 since: Jul 2010	Jan 12, 13 at 9:54am ^ re: A FREAKIN' STRATDEX [never completed though ._.]
	quote Unchained1 Post my pokes plz: -Subby DDance Kingdra -Sdance Ferro -Haxrachi -Haze Poli -Shell Smash Surf everything Hydration Gorebyss -even SDance xspeed -Nplot Thunder spam Thundurus -All I Do Tornadus Specs Hurricane -Scarf Darkvoid Darkrai -Scarf Waterspout(surf/ thunder/ icebeam) Kyogre -Meoletta rachi style(Thunder 60% para, Subby, Calm mind, Psyshock) -Xatu Twave spam/ UTurn/ Roost/ Night shade -Cband Headsmash/ Waterfall Relicanth - Expert Belt Flame Charge(still 2hko scizor/Ferro) Thunder, Icebeam, UTurn(fake scarf) -Keldeo now pretty standard Surf Calm Mind, HP ice for dragons, SSword with Lum berry( I was using DW poke as soon as I was allowed btw getting #1 at Smogon and #2 at Beta with DW no wifi) Subby DDance, Dragon Claw, Earthquake Haxorus. Hmm thats about it for now i realise its gonna take time and i can pm all the proper evs ect with more indepth discussion. ^No one in Neo used these before me. Well, I guess now that this is public, I could start just filling in in no particular order, so if you wanna PM me the full sets I'd be glad to come up with some descriptions, and get around to adding the bottom sections later haha ------------------- Have cool sets? Post in the Moveset Competition and see how you stack up! Wanna earn badges? Try the NeoLeague! Pumped for Pokemon X and Y? We are, so we made a FORUM!
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