wraith89 Posted August 11, 2011 Share Posted August 11, 2011 (edited) Due to the first post getting incredibly hefty and bulky, I had to purge this thread, and divide everything into 5 posts. Sorry for the inconvenience, but this makes it easier for me to edit. [icon]150[/icon]Know Your Pokemon[icon]150[/icon] Okay, I know I got rid of it in the old guide, but that was because it was getting too big to edit. Naturally, I decided to make it a separate thread. Well, here goes nothing. NOTE: This is INCOMPLETE and is IN WORKS. [icon]025[/icon]The Layout Picture: The Picture of the Pokemon The Author: All analysis are done by Wraith89 unless otherwise stated. The statement will be in italics. Type: The Type (ex: Blastoise is a Water Pokemon) Ability: Every ability the Pokemon can have, even Dream World Base Stats: HP/Attack/Defence/Special Attack/Special Defence/Speed Currently the bolded stats are the ones that are 100 or over. I will change this criteria eventually and bold out capital stats or something. Role: I have not made this yet, but it shows what each Pokemon is best fit as Difficulty: The relative skill level needed to play this Pokemon efficiently. Some Pokemon are easier to abuse than others, and this is also based on how much support is required to efficiently use as well. Some of them are just how simple they are to play, and is in NO WAY an indicator of how good the Pokemon is, rather how complex each specimen are. The skill ranges from Noob, Beginner, Easy, Intermediate, Hard, Advanced, Insane, Rageworthy. For people who are starting, try to aim for the Beginner to Intermediate Pokemon. The ones at Hard and above are more complicated Pokemon and require a lot of skill to pull off. For those, look at their individual paragraphs to see how they play. Description: A long long paragraph analysing the Pokemon. Generally, when I write it, it will have a description of what it can do, its Dream World ability, and finally its counters Notable Moves: What this Pokemon can be known for using often. Note that you are NOT limited to these and you can use some other attacks anytime Useful Items: Items that can be of use to the Pokemon Counters: The definition of counters is someone who can switch in safely and can do something to retaliate against the foe. It is a broad list of counters; this not a "set list" of counters, but rather what can work and if not, try another one. There is no such thing as a 100% foolproof counter to anything. Also, counters are not limited to what I have listed; there should be more unless otherwise specified. [icon]149[/icon]Kanto Theme: PROTOTYPES [hgsssprite]003[/hgsssprite] 003: Venusaur Type: Grass/Poison Ability: Overgrow / Chlorophyll (Dream World) Base Stats: 80/82/83/100/100/80 Difficulty: Intermediate Venusaur is one of the most versatile Pokemon in the Underused environment. In fact, at one point Venusaur was #1 in UU. This monster has bulk, can put Pokemon to sleep, and either play a defensive role with Leech Seed or even an offensive role by setting up with Swords Dance and using powerful moves like Power Whip. He even has access to Sleep Powder to put his counters to sleep and continue being annoying. That Poison type also allows him to absorb Toxic Spikes and immunity to Toxic. In Gen V's Dream World, Venusaur gained access to the ability Chlorophyll, making him a very powerful sun sweeper. In fact, Growth is a good move to use in the sun because it gives + 2 Attack and Special Attack in the sun. Talk about scary! Of course, like most Grass Pokemon, he hates Fire attacks and Ice attacks, and also has weakness to Psychic and Flying. Venusaur is a staple grass Pokemon and despite not looking all that great, don't be fooled with his meager stats. He can offer a lot to your team and if on the opposing side, can cause tons of headaches. When countering Venusaur, it is all about knowing his set. Do take note that he will start using Sleep Powder to incapacitate a switch-in, so have a status absorber ready. I'd say the legendary birds, particularly Moltres, does very well in countering Venusaur. Fire Pokemon is Venusaur's bane, and will usually make its life miserable. Most will have to watch out for Earthquakes, unless your name is Charizard. Flying dragons like Altaria or Dragonite also works, particularly the former as she can switch out when status is inflicted. Notable Moves: Sleep Powder, Leech Seed, Toxic, Energy Ball, Giga Drain, Sludge Bomb, Leaf Storm, Swords Dance, Power Whip, Earthquake, Return, Body Slam, Growth, Sunny Day, Solarbeam Useful Items: Leftovers, Black Sludge, Life Orb, Choice Scarf, Choice Specs, Lum Berry Counters: Moltres, Articuno, Arcanine, Altaria, Entei, Celebi, Skarmory, Dragonite, Heracross [hgsssprite]006[/hgsssprite] 006: Charizard Type: Fire/Flying Ability: Blaze / Solar Power (Dream World) Base Stats: 78/84/78/109/85/100 Difficulty: Hard Charizard, the one face everyone recognises and is arguably the childrens' favourite starter, and quite possibly their favourite Pokemon. Anyhow, Charizard is by no means a bad Pokemon, don't let those competitive freaks tell you otherwise. Charizard is a strong Pokemon who can leave holes on nearly anything it comes across, but many things let it down, such as its relatively frail defences, the fact that newer fire Pokemon hit harder or are more versatile, and the major letdown: 4x weakness to Stealth Rocks! Kids always want this guy to be a Fire/Dragon with Levitate, but where would Blaze be? Charizard seems to be the reckless type of Pokemon who doesn't mind sacrificing some of his HP to dish out more damage. Blaze powered Fire Blasts with Life Orb boost is nothing to shrug off; it's just incredibly scary. Charizard is the "dragon" of the Kanto starters so he can learn dragon moves such as Dragon Claw or the coveted Dragon Dance. Speaking of Dragon Dance, Charizard is one of the weird starters who has a higher special attack score than physical attack score but learns more physical attacks than special attacks. In fact, much like Sceptile and Empoleon, he only has physical attack boosters such as Swords Dance or Dragon Dance. And he has one of my personal favourites; Belly Drum, making Charizard a high risk high reward Pokemon. Belly Drum, if pulled properly, can allow Charizard to sweep an entire team, but again, WITH PROPER SUPPORT. Even at + 6 Attack, you're not OHKOing Swampert with an Earthquake (did like 79% damage in fact...) so it is best that some targets have taken prior damage before attempting such a risky move. I personally prefer to use a special attacking Charizard, however, because he already deals massive damage anyhow. In fact, BW's Dream World Charizard gets Solar Power to make it even more of a risky Pokemon. Put this thing in a Sunny Day team and watch its special attacks wreak havoc! I am starting to believe that Charizard was designed to be the power up by draining HP type; in fact, that's what he does best, both physically and specially. Countering Charizard may seem easy at first since most bulky waters can switch into his attacks with ease, but don't get complacent. Charizard can carry something like Thunderpunch or Solarbeam in the sun to mess with bulky water switch-ins. Hariyama with rock moves can function quite well, except for the fact Charizard has STAB Air Slash. If it is a special attacker, you know which pink fat blob to use to counter. If it is Bellyzard, GG, but Charizard's main enemy, as we all know, is Stealth Rocks. If you know the opponent has a Charizard, Stealth Rocks on the field is a MUST, because 50% of that beast's HP is already down, making your job much easier. Even if he does take someone down, this makes him easily revenge killed by priority users like Azumarill. I think Arcanine would work decently too, Intimidate or Flash Fire. Use Thunder Fang to exploit its weakness to electric moves and if he survives, Extremespeed to finish him off. Tyranitar is one of his biggest nemesis thanks to sand taking away the sun, raising his special defence, and using STAB Stone Edge to OHKO the fiery dragon. But watch out for Focus Blast. Generally, I would suggest bulky waters as they can live one hit of whatever Charizard uses and can retaliate with STAB water moves. I'm sure we've all seen our fair share of Ember/Flamethrower/Fire Blast/Fire Spin Charizards when we were children, but even if that's the image of Charizard you get, don't be fooled by this scary lizard; he really is as dangerous as he sounds! If someone laughs at you for using Charizard, know your advantages, and surprise your opponent by taking down many of their Pokemon with its high powered attacks! Notable Moves: Fire Blast, Flamethrower, Air Slash, Flare Blitz, Fire Punch, Dragon Dance, Swords Dance, Roost, Belly Drum, Earthquake, Thunderpunch, Air Slash, Dragon Pulse, Solarbeam, Sunny Day, Dragon Claw, Focus Blast, Substitute, Hidden Power [Electric/Grass] Useful Items: Life Orb, Choice Specs, Choice Scarf, Petaya Berry, Salac Berry Counters: Milotic, Slowbro, Slowking, Snorlax, Blastoise, Swampert, Tyranitar, Dragonite, Rhyperior, Golem, Azumarill, Suicune [hgsssprite]009[/hgsssprite] 009: Blastoise Type: Water Ability: Torrent / Rain Dish (Dream World) Base Stats: 79/83/100/85/105/78 Difficulty: Intermediate Blastoise is like the big daddy in Pokemon; he's there to take the hits for the team and make sure no one else gets hurt. He is very dependable and a solid utility Pokemon. Sporting great defences and good utility moves, Blastoise is no slouch defensively, but like all the other bulky waters, he just does all the things a bulky water would do, so people think he's boring. You will not see him a lot in Standards. However, he is seen a lot more in the Underused environment, but that does not mean he is bad by any means. Blastoise also has access to some cool attack moves, such as Hydro Pump, Surf, Scald, Ice Beam, and even Aqua Jet. If you wanted to, Blastoise can surprise people with a Choice Band/Specs set, but usually, more often than not, Blastoise is better off supporting his teammates. Keep those rocks off your field! There is another way to use Blastoise; and I did this. It's using Water Spout. I know it sounds ridiculous for a Pokemon that is SUPPOSED to keep the rocks off the field to be paired with another spinner to make sure Water Spout doesn't lose power, but I've used it to some success. Slap a Choice Specs on and put on Water Spout/Surf/Ice Beam/Hidden Power Grass (or Electric, whichever one your team needs more) and you have a monster in your hands. Modest nature and max SpA and put enough speed to outpace base 75s or something. You would be surprised, this guy got enough KOs on a team which did not expect such a hard hitting Blastoise. I end up sweeping. That's pretty boss right there. Gen V's Dream World introduced Rain Dish, meaning he gains extra recovery in the rain, which is a good way to increase his longevity, and quite annoying to face. As for dealing with Blastoise? He cannot really go down to a single non-boosted move. In fact, he can survive a Modest Kyogre's Thunder! But if he is not being dirty and packing Counter or Mirror Coat, try to smack him as hard as you can, maybe even set up. Using Taunt will also shut down some of the nasty things he can do, such as Toxic or Yawn. Like most of the other bulky waters, Blastoise HATES to be intoxicated. This is the first bulky water of the Pokedex, and he is not a bad one by any means. The classic turtle starter is a great addition to any team who hates continually switching into entry hazards. Notable Moves: Surf, Scald, Rapid Spin, Toxic, Ice Beam, Yawn, Roar, Haze, Dragon Tail, Protect, Rest, Water Spout, Aqua Jet, Hydro Pump, Focus Blast, Earthquake, Waterfall, Ice Punch, Return, Counter, Mirror Coat Useful Items: Leftovers, Life Orb, Lum Berry, Choice Band, Choice Specs, Choice Scarf Counters: Meganium, Venusaur, Vileplume, Roserade, Celebi, Raikou, Zapdos, Suicune, Empoleon, Tentacruel, Vaporeon, Lapras, Rotom [hgsssprite]012[/hgsssprite] 012: Butterfree Type: Bug/Flying Ability: Compoundeyes / Tinted Lens (Dream World) Base Stats: 60/45/50/80/80/70 Difficulty: Advanced Yeah, I'm well aware Butterfree is one of those early game Pokemon who wasn't meant to offer anything competitively, but that's where you are wrong. She can provide critical support with her ability Compoundeyes, which boosts her accuracy by 30%. This is of great importance to moves like Sleep Powder or Stun Spore, making them nearly 100% accurate. Her attacks include Bug Buzz, Energy Ball, Shadow Ball, and Psychic. For some reason Gamefreak thinks bugs are psychic, so all these bugs end up having some Psychic move of some kind. People object that she cannot utilise them properly due to her lackluster stats. However, in Generation V, she gained access to Quiver Dance, allowing her to set up WITH the proper support and be able to do some surprising damage to the opponent's team, possibly sweeping them if they were not ready. She can put her foes to sleep then proceed to set up, though that's 2 moveslots down right there. U-turn is a useful move to escape once someone is status'd. Dream World brought Butterfree Tinted Lens, allowing her to hit very hard on things that are supposed to resist her attacks. Though she likes extra damage, Compoundeyes might be better due to her powder obsession. Aside from that, we have Venomoth who is stronger with that. To counter Butterfree is... well, tedious, especially if she likes to spam powders. With sleep clause, be thankful that she can only put one of your guys to sleep. Get a status absorber, maybe something like a Milotic with Resttalk, and then get a generic counter in. Blissey can sit there and wall her all day long. Steels wall Butterfree as if she's nothing. Heatran would love to eat a toasty butterfly anytime soon. Stealth Rocks is Butterfree's bane; she takes 50% HP damage from it every time. Her weaknesses include Fire, Ice, Electric, Flying, and Rock (4x) attacks. If Butterfree is a lead, hope that your Pokemon carries a Lum Berry, especially if Butterfree is scarfed. However, I'd be careful of things like Electrode, who will always be faster and has Thunder or Taunt to mess with Butterfree. Overall, it's pretty easy what to expect from Butterfree, but she is a dangerous little butterfly. Notable Moves: Sleep Powder, Stun Spore, Bug Buzz, Psychic, Energy Ball, Giga Drain, Shadow Ball, U-turn, Tailwind, Protect, Safeguard Useful Items: Focus Sash, Choice Scarf, Lum Berry Counters: Blissey, Clefable, Spiritomb, Milotic, Altaria, Regice, Regirock, Registeel [hgsssprite]015[/hgsssprite] 015: Beedrill Type: Bug/Poison Ability: Swarm / Sniper (Dream World) Base Stats: 65/80/40/45/80/75 Difficulty: Hard Another level 10 bug? Except this time Beedrill doesn't have much to offer over something like Scyther. However, he has the right stats and he moves to pull off being a physical attacker. With access to Agility and Swords Dance, he can set up, given the right circumstances. He has access to STAB X-Scissor and Poison Jab, though they don't give good enough coverage, so Brick Break can be useful here to seal the deal against things like Steel Pokemon. U-turn can be another idea if Beedrill is equipped with a Choice Scarf to be an efficient scout. Pursuit and Assurance can be useful to take Ghosts, depending on the situation. Endeavour is also a useful move paired with Endure. I believe an event even allowed Baton Pass on a Beedrill set, maybe a Pokemon set, I'm not sure. It is also strange, but Beedrill can use Toxic Spikes. If he has the time to, he can set those up to be quite annoying and also differentiates him from Scyther and such. However, Dream World Beedrill has Sniper, which raises critical hit damage to 3x as opposed to 2x. That is very helpful and I would recommend that on any Beedrill sets, though Swarm is also useful. To counter Beedrill, most physical walls are great switch-ins. Watch out, as Beedrill with Baton Pass can set up and switch out to a counter to the Beedrill counter. Rhyperior is a great switch-in, who can take any of Beedrill's moves, including Brick Break, and hit back with a powerful Stone Edge or set up on him. Skarmory laughs at whatever Beedrill uses to attack as well and can easily set up on Beedrill, or if Beedrill gets greedy, Skarmory can Whirlwind him out, or just straight out attack the bee with Drill Peck or Brave Bird. Forretress can also employ similar tactics but will need to Gyro Ball for the KO. Ghost Pokemon in general resist Beedrill's attacks, and is immune to Endeavour, but must watch out for random Assurances. Fire Pokemon will almost always scare Beedrill away, no question about that. Overall, Beedrill is a simple Pokemon with a simple mindset, but can be a nasty trickster if he decides to Endeavour or Baton Pass out to a counter-counter. Notable Moves: Swords Dance, Agility, X-Scissor, Poison Jab, U-turn, Toxic Spikes, Endeavor, Endure, Pursuit, Assurance, Protect, Substitute, Baton Pass (Event) Useful Items: Choice Band, Choice Specs, Liechi Berry, Salac Berry, Focus Sash Counters: Skarmory, Forretress, Metagross, Rhyperior, Moltres, Zapdos, Articuno, Weezing, Spiritomb, Nidoqueen, Nidoking, Heatran, Gengar, Drifblim, Mismagius, Swellow, Staraptor [hgsssprite]018[/hgsssprite] 018: Pidgeot Type: Normal/Flying Ability: Keen Eye / Tangled Feet / Big Pecks (Dream World) Base Stats: 83/80/75/70/70/91 Difficulty: Intermediate For something so big and mighty, Pidgeot doesn't hold much power nor speed, but nonetheless, he can be an interesting choice for a bird in the underused tiers. Compared to the other normal birds such as Fearow or Swellow, Pidgeot holds slightly more bulk, allowing him to survive a little longer. He also has access to moves that can utilise his bulk such as Featherdance, Roost, Whirlwind or Work Up. Unlike some of the other birds, Pidgeot holds the ability to go mixed due to its attack and special attack stats being quite similar. His movepool is also slightly larger than his normal type bird cousins so it is possible to work with Heat Wave, which most birds cannot utilise properly. He is also one of the few Pokemon which can learn the relatively exclusive Hurricane, a special based 120 base power attack which will not miss in the rain and has a chance to cause confusion. In doubles it can hit both enemies! However, Pidgeot is not without his flaws. For one, you can clearly see those base stats are not promising. Neither are his three abilities; it's just not impressive. Also, he does not hurt too much because his offensive capabilities are middling; even second stage birds like Fearow or Dodrio outclass him in this sense. 91 speed trolls on base 90 speed Pokemon, but other birds are better offensively and in speed, since 100 speed from Fearow or 125 from Swellow beats Pidgeot's outright. To counter Pidgeot, bulky rock Pokemon are the premier counters. Rhyperior can shrug off anything Pidgeot has to offer and has a powerful Stone Edge to retaliate. Tyranitar can remove the rain Pidgeot might have set up and with his bloated special defence, take whatever Pidgeot has to offer, and resists almost anything Pidgeot has on the physical side, save U-turn, but U-turn will hardly do anything to Tyranitar anyhow. Omastar and Kabutops can benefit from the rain Pidgeot *might* set up and chip the bird with their STAB attacks. Electric Pokemon resists Flying STAB, though many are frail and so must watch out for Normal STABs. Ampharos is bulky enough to sponge a few, unless it is from a Banded Pidgeot. Steel Pokemon can wall him to no end unless Pidgeot is using special moves like Heat Wave. Overall, Pidgeot has a lot to offer, and even though some of the other birds do his job better, Pidgeot can hold off on his own if played properly. Notable Moves: Hurricane, Brave Bird, Return, Quick Attack, U-turn, Pursuit, Rain Dance, Heat Wave, Hidden Power [Ground/Fighting], Air Slash, Work Up, Featherdance, Roost, Whirlwind, Substitute Useful Items: Leftovers, Life Orb, Choice Band, Choice Scarf, Petaya Berry, Liechi Berry, Salac Berry, Damp Rock Counters: Tyranitar, Rhyperior, Aggron, Skarmory, Kabutops, Omastar, Ampharos, Luxray, Raichu, Gyarados [hgsssprite]020[/hgsssprite] 020: Raticate Type: Normal Ability: Run Away / Guts / Hustle (Dream World) Base Stats: 55/81/60/50/70/97 Difficulty: Intermediate Raticate is that early annoying rat that you encounter everywhere... well actually as Rattata. But you see everyone and their brothers (and I mean quite literally) using a hax level 16 Raticate all over the game. In fact, Green did that and his died because his Action Replay broke. But how good is this guy? He's another "walled by Steel Pokemon" fodder it seems, but Raticate can be quite promising. Raticate was the sole user of a scary move called Super Fang, which will always take 50% of the foe's HP away. As Raticate slowly wittles down his foe's HP, he can then finish them off with his STAB Returns or something. Actually, forget about Return. Take advantage of Raticate's ability Guts, and use Facade instead. Ghosts? Pssh no problem. Raticate has a plethora of dark moves such as Sucker Punch or Crunch to deal with those pests. Pursuit can track down fleeing ghosts. For some strange reason Raticate can also U-turn to flee from a walling steel. Raticate also has Flame Wheel as a hereditary move. Burning rat of doom! Yeah, it doesn't warrant as a strong move by any means, but it can at least help Raticate touch Steel Pokemon without relying on Reversal. Hustle is Raticate's Dream World ability, but that is so unreliable I think Guts makes the better ability, unless you are not relying on Flame Orb to power up Raticate. I know, it sounds kind of mean to purposely burn or intoxicate your lab rat here, but that is how you extort the most out of Raticate during battle. Countering Raticate is usually as simple as bringing in Steelix or Skarmory in. Yeah, walled by steels literally means walled by steels. Skarmory can just sit down and set up all day while Raticate slowly faints from the burn or intoxication. If Raticate decides to set up Swords Dances, Skarmory can simply blow him away. Fighters scare Raticate a lot and can come in during a Protect or something. Overall, this rat can be scary while on the battlefield, but he won't do much to physically inclined walls. Notable Moves: Super Fang, Facade, Pursuit, Crunch, Sucker Punch, U-turn, Flame Wheel, Reversal, Protect, Swords Dance, Endeavor, Quick Attack Useful Items: Flame Orb, Toxic Orb, Focus Sash Counters: Skarmory, Forretress, Rhyperior, Aggron, Steelix, Probopass, Weezing, Regirock, Registeel, Spiritomb, Hitmontop [hgsssprite]022[/hgsssprite] 022: Fearow Type: Normal/Flying Ability: Keen Eye / Sniper (Dream World) Base Stats: 65/90/65/61/61/100 Difficulty: Intermediate Fearow is a simple bird with a simple task; hitting his foes hard until he faints. He was scary in the anime and is quite decent in-game, but how will he fare competitively? Well... good luck. In the physical department, he struggles for a spot with his rival Pidgeot because he does not have access to Brave Bird. He is simply not bulky enough to take a lot of hits, but can dish out pretty hard hits with access to the reliable Drill Peck along with STAB Return. If he is walled by Steels (this again), he can U-turn out. However, in Generation V, Fearow gained access to Drill Run, a Ground move which helps him combat the aforementioned steels. However, don't count on running it on Steelix; it just won't work. Fearow's Dream World ability is Sniper, allowing him to do 3x damage with Critical hits as opposed to 2x. That can be extremely helpful and is recommended over Keen Eyes. Countering Fearow? Eh... do what I do. Bring in a Steel. That metallic bird Skarmory? Yeah, bring her in and just set up on Fearow. However, some Fearows have Baton Pass from an event (similar to Beedrill) and can Agilipass to someone who can counter Skarmory. Rhyperior will give Fearow the run for its money and has Stone Edge to scare him away. Overall, Fearow will incite fear on Grass or Bug Pokemon in general, but Steel or Rock Pokemon destroy Fearow. Notable Moves: Drill Peck, Return, Drill Run, U-turn, Pursuit, Quick Attack, Agility, Baton Pass (Event) Useful Items: Choice Scarf, Choice Band, Life Orb Counters: Skarmory, Steelix, Rhyperior, Aggron, Forretress, Probopass, Weezing, Luxray, Manectric, Regirock, Regice, Registeel, Rotom [hgsssprite]024[/hgsssprite] 024: Arbok Type: Poison Ability: Intimidate / Shed Skin / Unnerve (Dream World) Base Stats: 60/85/69/65/79/80 Difficulty: Intermediate Yes, this is another member of the "I'm walled by Steelix" club, but this one is somewhat interesting. Arbok's stats may not look interesting to anyone, but she can be tailored to be quite defensive. This tricky serpent knows how to run Glare to inflict paralysis on her foes and slowly wittle down their HP as physical foes fail to deal much damage to her. How? Try maxing out her HP and defence and use Intimidate. Somehow, this is bulkier than Weezing. In return, she can utilise STAB Poison Jab or the unreliable yet powerful Gunk Shot along with Earthquake for Steels and Crunch for Ghosts. She also has the elemental fangs for coverage, or Seed Bomb to nail bulky ground Pokemon like Swampert, or Aqua Tail to nail Donphan. She also has Switcheroo which is an interesting move; switch a choice item to an unrelenting foe and they're done. Unnerve is Arbok's Dream World ability, though I do not know why you want to disable a certain berry. Well, it can work against Shuca Berry Heatran I suppose, but in my opinion, Intimidate works better. Shed Skin is also a useful ability, but relies on chance. To counter Arbok, bring in a Steel. Yeah, this again. She has a weakness to that dreaded Earthquake, so something like Rhyperior or Steelix should be first on the threat list. Earthquake and Fire Fang does lol damage to them even when Choice Banded, and they can nail back the snake with their own Earthquake. The slow Pokemon work better for this job because fast sweepers do NOT want to be paralysed by her Glare. Her friend Weezing makes a surprisingly good counter as well, taking whatever she throws at him and can Will-o-Wisp back in return. Arbok seems to take the role of an evil status spreader with a surprisingly large movepool. Crafty and sly, Arbok should not be underestimated. Notable Moves: Glare, Poison Jab, Gunk Shot, Earthquake, Crunch, Seed Bomb, Aqua Tail, Fire Fang, Thunder Fang, Ice Fang, Toxic, Switcheroo Useful Items: Leftovers, Choice Band, Choice Scarf, Air Balloon Counters: Steelix, Skarmory, Weezing, Rhyperior, Aggron, Registeel, Regirock, Donphan, Hippowdon, Metagross [hgsssprite]025[/hgsssprite] 025: Pikachu Type: Electric Ability: Static / Lightningrod (Dream World) Base Stats: 35/55/30/50/40/90 Difficulty: Advanced Pikachu, the mouse we all love (and hate) is actually the first Pokemon since Blastoise on the list to NOT be a member of the "I'm walled by Steel Pokemon" club! Hurray! Oh wait what? With those stats? Why did you just list an NFE? Well, there is this thing that Pikachu can hold. It's called Light Ball, and when Pikachu holds that ball, his attack and special attack doubles! Well, actually this was starting from Gen IV when attack can also double, but previously, it was just special attack. Interesting? Yeah, you bet! Pikachu is the Deoxys of the underused tiers, being able to put a world of hurt on nearly anything, but also fainting to a Slaking's Scratch. If you are gutsy enough, attempt a Nasty Plot and you should be able to OHKO, if not 2HKO, a lot of Pokemon. Pikachu is a risky Pokemon to run, but given the right circumstances, Pikachu can be well played. For one, Pikachu has access to STAB such as Thunderbolt or Volt Tackle. Against that scary Rhyperior? Get a load of Grass Knot! Whoops... I guess he isn't a counter. So what really does counter Pikachu? Good question. Send in that Blissey and see what happens. But... what if Pikachu uses Volt Tackle? Eh... it'll probably get KOd from its own recoil, pretty much like how Rampardos using Head Smash would vs Blissey. What about Focus Punch? Oh er... beware, that can 2HKO. Bulky grass Pokemon can reliably beat Pikachu, such as Venusaur or Meganium, as they wall anything Pikachu has to offer, even Hidden Power Ice won't do a lot. Dugtrio can reliably switch into a predicted Thunderbolt and trap Pikachu and destroy him with a STAB Earthquake easily. Beware, however, as good Pikachu players run Substitute and can really dent Dugtrio with Hidden Power Ice. Camerupt is immune to Thunderbolt and isn't weak to Grass Knot, so he makes a decent counter too. Lanturn might be a better counter though, as Grass Knot has a paltry 20 base power on her (literally!) and Lanturn can sit pretty 24/7 doing her thing. Overall, Pikachu is ridiculously powerful with that Light Ball, but remember he is easy to pick off on with a faster Pokemon. After all, his base speed is 90 and a lot of Pokemon can outpace that. Pikachu gained Lightningrod as Dream World ability, which means he is immune to lightning attacks and gains + 1 Special Attack from it. Oh did you just Thunderbolt that Pikachu? If I were you, I'd run like hell. Notable Moves: Thunderbolt, Thunderpunch, Volt Tackle, Volt Switch, Grass Knot, Brick Break, Substitute, Focus Punch, Hidden Power [ice], Encore, Quick Attack, Nasty Plot, Surf (Event) Useful Items: Light Ball Counters: Blissey, Lanturn, Meganium, Venusaur, Celebi, Dugtrio, Camerupt, Electivire, Nidoqueen, Nidoking [hgsssprite]026[/hgsssprite] 026: Raichu Type: Electric Ability: Static / Lightningrod (Dream World) Base Stats: 60/90/55/90/80/100 Difficulty: Intermediate And here is the real deal Raichu. No, you cannot stick a Light Ball on him and expect it to work. Actually, he is like 30% weaker than Pikachu, I think. So isn't Pikachu nominally better than his evolution? Erm, okay, that can't be right because Pikachu needs a reason to evolve. See that extra bulk? That means Raichu can switch in easier and can actually live something much better than Pikachu can! Now let's see him take an Earthquake from Rhyperio-*faints*. Whoops, not THAT! But the main trade-off here for that power is that base 100 speed, which means Raichu at least has a chance to tie with base 100 speeders and finally put an end to things like Houndoom who plagued Pikachu with 90 base speed. Oh and with that extra bulk, Raichu can make up for his lost power by running Nasty Plot! He even has access to Focus Blast to make things better! Well okay, it still fails to hit 30% of the time, but still, Raichu is a much safer electric to use than that unstable Pikachu. Dream World gave Raichu Lightningrod, allowing him to gain + 1 Special Attack while being immune to electric attacks. That's right, more the reason to like Raichu. To counter Raichu, it takes more than just a Ground type switch in to do the job, because Raichu has access to Grass Knot. Unlike most other electrics, Raichu can attack from BOTH sides of the spectrum, both physical and special. Blissey will wall a specially oriented Raichu 24/7, but watch out for him boosting himself with Nasty Plot and Focus Blast! Lanturn is a safe bet because Grass Knot is no problem, and the rest can be walled off. However, Nasty Plot + Focus Blast can still be a problem. Most bulky grassers are still a problem, particularly ones with Earthquake such as Meganium or Venusaur. Steelix works against anything without Focus Blast and Focus Punch will hardly damage him as his sky high defence makes him basically untouchable in that department. Camerupt is a decent counter too as nothing Raichu has aside from event Surf can hit him super effectively, even being immune to Thunderbolt. Though Pikachu takes a lot of skills to play with, Raichu is more friendly towards people starting to play this game. See if he appeals to you. Notable Moves: Thunderbolt, Thunderpunch, Volt Tackle, Volt Switch, Grass Knot, Brick Break, Substitute, Focus Punch, Focus Blast, Hidden Power [ice], Encore, Quick Attack, Nasty Plot, Surf (Event), Protect, Yawn, Wish Useful Items: Leftovers, Life Orb, Choice Specs, Choice Scarf, Air Balloon Counters: Blissey, Lanturn, Meganium, Venusaur, Celebi, Dugtrio, Camerupt, Electivire [hgsssprite]028[/hgsssprite] 028: Sandslash Type: Ground Ability: Sand Veil / Sand Rush (Dream World) Base Stats: 75/100/110/45/55/65 Difficulty: Intermediate Wow. What is with these mice and not being in the walled-by-steels club? Heh anyways, this is Sandslash, one of the cool ground Pokemon (and the first one we see in Kanto). He is very bulky physically and has a decent attack to boot, along with set up moves that complement him very well, such as Swords Dance or even Hone Claws. As a Ground Pokemon, he has access to the useful Edgequake combo (Stone Edge + Earthquake) and runs a plethora of other useful physical moves such as X-Scissor or Night Slash. Rapid Spin and Stealth Rocks are also great utility techniques making Sandslash a very useful Pokemon. He is often compared to Donphan, but can you really pass up Swords Dance? Oh too slow? Er well, you see, Gen V brought in an interesting Dream World ability called Sand Rush, which effectively doubles his speed in sand. Oh cool! But wait, doesn't Excadrill do the same thing but better? HUSH! You'd be surprised what a Sand Rush Sandslash can do. Unlike Excadrill, Sandslash is pure Ground type, meaning he is missing that weakness to Ground, Fighting and Fire attacks. That big defence of 110 is also helpful in sponging a few physical hits, making Landorus think twice before switching in and hitting him with an Earthquake. Let's see Excadrill survive an Earthquake from Garchomp! Oh wait, he can't! Ha ha. I know it sounds strange, but Sandslash can also run Counter to bounce back physical assaults. He might as well, I mean... he's bulky enough. As you can see, Sandslash suffers the 4 moveslot syndrome. He has so many tools to play around with, but he cannot use them all. How to counter Sandslash? Usually the answer is as easy as bulky water or grass... because it is true. Things like Blastoise or Swampert can switch in and scare Sandslash away with their STAB Surf. Torterra or Meganium can also do similar things with their own grass attacks, but should watch out for boosted X-Scissors. Tangrowth might be the best here because of his incredible physical stat ratings. Skarmory is the one steel that CAN wall Sandslash; she is immune to Earthquake and can whirlwind Sandslash away while he tries to boost himself. However, a boosted Stone Edge can hurt if it lands a hit. Bronzong is probably better for this job as he can Grass Knot to hurt Sandslash. Overall, Sandslash is a cool Pokemon and definitely deserves some love. Notable Moves: Earthquake, Swords Dance, Stone Edge, Rock Slide, X-Scissor, Night Slash, Rapid Spin, Substitute, Super Fang, Counter Useful Items: Leftovers, Choice Band, Choice Scarf, Lum Berry Counters: Tangrowth, Leafeon, Torterra, Meganium, Blastoise, Swampert, Milotic, Slowbro, Suicune, Skarmory, Bronzong [hgsssprite]031[/hgsssprite] 031: Nidoqueen Type: Poison/Ground Ability: Poison Point / Rivalry / Sheer Force (Dream World) Base Stats: 90/82/87/75/85/76 Difficulty: Intermediate Though often scrapped in favour of her male counterpart (unless your name is Wraith89), one should not shy away from Nidoqueen that easily. With good enough defences and a unique typing (aside from Nidoking of course) and a very large movepool, Nidoqueen can also be a dangerous foe to watch out for. She has key resistances to many attacks such as Bug, Fighting, and Rock moves, and has a handy resistance to Electric moves. Even if her stats appear average, Nidoqueen proves to be a great defensive pivot in both UU and OU and her large movepool makes it hard to know what she will do. She can set up Stealth Rocks and Toxic Spikes and has Taunt to shut down opposing attempts to phaze or set up on her, such as the ever popular Skarmory. She even has the tools to deal with Skarmory with Thunderbolt or Fire Blast. Unlike Nidoking, she can switch in more easily to physical blows and proves to be an effective counter to things like Lucario or Heracross. For some odd reason, she has access to Aerial Ace while Nidoking does not. In Gen V, Nidoqueen received Sheer Force as her ability. With this, her STAB Earth Powers and other moves will receive a boost in exchange for their secondary effects that effect the opponent. This means a more buffed Ice Beam and Thunderbolt and Fire Blast as well! Also, it negates Life Orb recoil, which is also cool. However, this is more often seen from Nidoking, a more dangerous foe, and this also gets rid of Nidoqueen's ability to set up Stealth Rocks. Dealing with Nidoqueen can be difficult, but she also has common weaknesses to Water, Ice, Ground and Psychic. If you hit her hard enough, she will take a lot of damage, sometimes even OHKOing her, but do not count on it. She will annoy you by absorbing Toxic Spikes and being able to set up her version as well. Do not underestimate Nidoqueen as she can do SO many things and has the potential to OHKO many of her switch-ins, but expect her to play a more defensive role than an offensive one. Therefore, it is hard to list counters to Nidoqueen as there are no surefire counters. If you can get past that, she should go down with very little problem. Notable Moves: Stealth Rock, Toxic Spikes, Taunt, Roar, Dragon Tail, Earth Power, Ice Beam, Thunderbolt, Fire Blast, Toxic, Earthquake, Super Fang, Superpower, Crunch, Rest, Sleep Talk, Counter Useful Items: Leftovers, Black Sludge, Lum Berry Counters: Milotic, Slowbro, Blastoise, Gardevoir, Swampert, Skarmory, Bronzong, Gyarados, Flygon, Forretress, Reuniclus [hgsssprite]034[/hgsssprite] 034: Nidoking Type: Poison/Ground Ability: Poison Point / Rivalry / Sheer Force (Dream World) Base Stats: 81/92/77/85/75/85 Difficulty: Beginner This guy is one of the premier wallbreakers of UU. He is dangerous because of his large movepool and great mixed stats and generally not perfectly counterable. Unlike many sweepers, Nidoking's typing gives him immunity to Thunder Wave and Toxic, which is very beneficial. This also means he eats up Toxic Spikes on the switch. Unfortunately, this comes at the cost of lower defences than his female counterpart. However, Nidoking's higher attack power and speed is generally favoured over what Nidoqueen offers. When Nidoking switches in safely into the battlefield, very little people know what to do to deal with him. He can either be a physical sweeper, a special sweeper, a mix sweeper, or even a utility Pokemon of some sort. This unpredictability is a great tool for Nidoking and allows him to rip through his foes with ease. Tyranitar-lite? Well, somewhat... but I have already mentioned some of Nidoking's benefits over Tyranitar's. Gen V's Dream World gave Nidoking Sheer Force, which is even scarier. This gives Nidoking a much welcomed boost in his special attacks, which along with Life Orb can inflict serious pain to his foes. In fact, this is what makes Nidoking seen quite often in the Generation V metagame, though usually in the lower tiers. Unlike Nidoqueen, who probably needs Stealth Rocks to have a use of some sort, Nidoking does not lose out on much with Sheer Force, making him a scary threat to deal with. To counter Nidoking? That is quite difficult, but generally, you would send in a wall of some sort like Forretress or Skarmory to see what he will do. You will need to scout his set first then find how to deal with him. Unfortunately, that is quite risky, but what Nidoking seems to lack are powerful stats. 92 attack is great, but that's not amazing like, I don't know, Scizor's 130. You will normally find Nidoking with a boosting item for that reason. Exploit his weakness to water, ice, ground and psychic moves and he should be able to go down in a hit or two. His presence is frightening in the beginning, but once you know his set, Nidoking will be an easier foe to deal with. Notable Moves: Earthquake, Earth Power, Ice Beam, Thunderbolt, Fire Blast, Sucker Punch, Shadow Ball, Megahorn, Stone Edge, Superpower, Taunt, Toxic Spikes, Super Fang, Stealth Rocks, Taunt Useful Items: Life Orb, Focus Sash, Choice Band, Choice Scarf, Choice Specs Counters: Milotic, Slowbro, Blastoise, Swampert, Skarmory, Bronzong, Forretress, Reuniclus [hgsssprite]036[/hgsssprite] 036: Clefable Type: Normal Ability: Cute Charm / Magic Guard / Unaware (Dream World) Base Stats: 95/70/73/85/90/60 Difficulty: Hard Clefable is a very versatile Pokemon, which is expected from a normal Pokemon. She has an incredibly large movepool and can be tailored to do nearly anything, ranging from utility to physical attack to special attacker to special wall to cleric to well, almost anything. You would normally think Blissey outclasses her because Blissey is a much better special wall and better at supporting her team, but Clefable has one thing that Blissey will never have; Magic Guard. With Magic Guard, the only thing that will ever hurt Clefable are direct attacks; indirect attacks such as bad weather, poison, burn, and entry hazards. This is something Blissey will never have, but of course, this is balanced by Clefable's mediocre stats. However, the sheer amount of moves Clefable can use makes Clefable very useful. Clefable's Dream World ability is Unaware, which means she ignores any stat changes from Pokemon. This is a good ability, but Magic Guard is probably better as it is her gift. To counter Clefable is a pretty hard task. In fact, she can do too many things that countering Clefable is quite tough. Take advantage of her weakness to fighting attacks. Fighters like Hariyama or Machamp work really well and can scare her away. Guts Pokemon are probably better however because Clefable has a chance of holding Flame Orb. Pokemon with Taunt can shut Clefable up really well because most of the time, Clefable will rely on disrupting moves such as status moves or booster moves. If you do not have anything to disrupt Clefable? Hit her as hard as you can. Cosmic Power versions are going to wall you 24/7 if you let her set up, but maybe you'll land a critical hit. Actually, Throh works best there as he has Storm Throw which will always land a critical hit. In any event, it is clear Clefable is a tough Pokemon to defeat, and as an ally, Clefable can make a valuable glue that can hold your team together. Notable Moves: Double-Edge, Softboiled, Wish, Protect, Seismic Toss, Heal Bell, Toxic, Ice Beam, Thunderbolt, Flamethrower, Fire Blast, Thunder Wave, Substitute, Trick, Calm Mind, Meteor Mash, Focus Blast, Psychic, Shadow Ball, Signal Beam, Grass Knot, Focus Punch, Drain Punch, Reflect, Light Screen, Encore, Endeavor, Belly Drum, Stealth Rock, Gravity, Cosmic Power, Knock Off, Sing, Splash Useful Items: Leftovers, Life Orb, Toxic Orb, Flame Orb, Light Clay, Focus Sash Counters: Hariyama, Machamp, Conkeldurr, Heracross, Throh, Sawk, Hitmontop, Hitmonlee, Hitmonchan, Medicham, Mienshao, Infernape, Blaziken, Emboar [hgsssprite]038[/hgsssprite] 038: Ninetales Type: Fire Ability: Flash Fire / Drought (Dream World) Base Stats: 73/76/75/81/100/100 Difficulty: Intermediate Ninetales does not look very powerful nor threatening, but one should not underestimate this clever fox. She is very deceptive and has a large movepool, which is unusual for a Fire Pokemon. She is able to bolster up her special attacks with either Calm Mind or Nasty Plot and has annoying support moves like Hypnosis, Confuse Ray, Will-o-Wisp and Grudge. In Generation V, Ninetales has access to the ability Drought from Dream World, allowing her to bring the sunlight into the field, making her and Vulpix the only Pokemon aside from Groudon with the ability to do so. Therefore, when you see a Drought Ninetales, expect the team to be a sun team. Though almost ALWAYS at a disadvantage against the other weather Pokemon, Ninetales can mangle with them if she wanted to. She is one tricky fox. Even though she seems to only bring sunlight to the team, people forget how capable of a Pokemon Ninetales is herself. Even without the sun, Flash Fire makes Ninetales a good Pokemon to counter threats like Volcarona and win the Calm Mind war with Psyshock. She can also lure others as a bait and set up Nasty Plot only to get OHKOd by what she has. What trickery! To counter Ninetales, generally a special wall like Blissey will do, but watch out for Psyshock and other mess up moves. Ninetales does not hurt a lot and NORMALLY, the other Fire Pokemon can deal with her, but just don't take her for granted only because what she does best is to make the appearance that she is not what she seems to be. Try to attack her from the physical side because that is where she is most weak, but a Will-o-Wisp will hurt. Be careful when handling Ninetales, whether she be on yours or the opponent's side. Notable Moves: Nasty Plot, Calm Mind, Flamethrower, Fire Blast, Energy Ball, Dark Pulse, Psyshock, Hex, Flame Charge, Hidden Power [Fighting/Rock], Will-o-Wisp, Hypnosis, Toxic, Confuse Ray, Substitute, Pain Split, Safeguard, Grudge, Quick Attack Useful Items: Leftovers, Life Orb, Lum Berry, Choice Specs, Choice Scarf Counters: Altaria, Milotic, Entei, Moltres, Politoed, Blissey, Tyranitar, Heatran, Jellicent [hgsssprite]040[/hgsssprite] 040: Wigglytuff Type: Normal Ability: Cute Charm / Frisk (Dream World) Base Stats: 140/70/45/75/50/45 Difficulty: Hard Poor Wigglytuff. She has really almost nothing over any of the other Normal Pokemon. In fact, they gave Magic Guard to Clefable so there is absolutely no reason to ever use Wigglytuff over Clefable. Wigglytuff does have very high HP however and is still very versatile, much like other Normals. The low defences however mess with the high HP. Wigglytuff's signature STAB move Hyper Voice can also be of use, but it can get walled very easily. She is still useful though so if you like Wigglytuff a lot, that's enough of a reason to use her. Wigglytuff's Dream World ability is Frisk, allowing her to spot what her opponent uses. Well, I suppose it can be more useful than Cute Charm, but seeing how most of Wigglytuff's dispatchers like to use physical fighting attacks against her, Cute Charm is still useful. It's all up to you. Countering Wigglytuff can be tough, but usually it's just about bringing Blissey in against the special attacking variants, as Wigglytuff is usually just attacking specially. However, status moves are incredibly disgusting and cripples the Pokemon you would normally switch in. Therefore, countering Wigglytuff, like Clefable, is tough, due to her versatility. Try Guts fighters like Heracross or Hariyama, which works perfectly fine. However, unlike Clefable, Wigglytuff is vulnerable to indirect damage, so crippling her with status can also work. Watch out for Disable however. With the new 100% accurate Disable, she can pretty much disable the fighting move after a Protect if she somehow slowed down your fighter and force the fighter to run his coverage move. It is a lot worse if the fighter is choiced. In the end, Wigglytuff is a great jack of all trades, but master of none. I just wish Gamefreak actually gave her a role, you know? Notable Moves: Hyper Voice, Last Resort, Return, Wish, Protect, Seismic Toss, Magic Coat, Heal Bell, Charge Beam, Toxic, Ice Beam, Thunderbolt, Flamethrower, Fire Blast, Thunder Wave, Fire Punch, Ice Punch, Thunderpunch, Substitute, Focus Blast, Disable, Psychic, Shadow Ball, Signal Beam, Grass Knot, Focus Punch, Drain Punch, Reflect, Light Screen, Endeavor, Stealth Rock, Gravity, Icy Wind, Knock Off, Sing, Charm, Pain Split Useful Items: Leftovers, Life Orb, Light Clay, Choice Band, Choice Specs Counters: Hariyama, Machamp, Conkeldurr, Heracross, Throh, Sawk, Hitmontop, Hitmonlee, Hitmonchan, Medicham, Mienshao, Infernape, Blaziken, Emboar [hgsssprite]042[/hgsssprite] 042: Golbat Type: Poison/Flying Ability: Inner Focus / Infiltrator (Dream World) Base Stats: 75/80/70/65/75/90 Difficulty: Intermediate I've evolved! Please check Crobat in the Johto section for more details. Now go away! I'm gonna go annoy you as your next cave encounter! Notable Moves: Brave Bird, Super Fang, Haze, Acrobatics, Toxic, Torment, Taunt, U-turn, Hypnosis, Whirlwind, Confuse Ray, Quick Attack, Pursuit, Nasty Plot, Sludge Bomb, Air Slash, Heat Wave, Shadow Ball Useful Items: Eviolite, Leftovers, Focus Sash Counters: Registeel, Regirock, Steelix, Skarmory, Aggron, Rhyperior, Rotom, Ampharos, Luxray [hgsssprite]045[/hgsssprite] 045: Vileplume Type: Grass/Poison Ability: Chlorophyll / Effect Spore (Dream World) Base Stats: 75/80/85/100/90/50 Difficulty: Hard Vileplume makes a great staple grass of the underused tiers. With her decent bulk and great special attack, she is certainly a threat to waters and electrics out there. STAB Sludge Bomb means she is also a threat to pure grassers out there such as her sister Bellossom or Meganium. Offensively and defensively, she is very good and has access to crippling moves such as Sleep Powder and Stun Spore. Aromatherapy allows her to function as a cleric as well. I know, she is slow, but under the sun, her speed can soar up twice the amount thanks to Chlorophyll, making her quite the scary threat. She is in fact our first Chlorophyll abusing Grasser that isn't a Dream World Venusaur. If only she had Leech Seed. Oh wait, an event Vileplume can actually have Leech Seed, making that particular one quite a nuisance. That being said, she is not without limitations. Her movepool is quite limited to only Grass and Poison as offensive options. She does get Drain Punch, but why bother when you have Giga Drain? Oh for Swords Dance? I guess you can throw people off with that, as Rhyperior doesn't want to fight Vileplume anyways. Dream World gave Vileplume Effect Spore, but the randomness of that can sometimes be of little use. I prefer the more consistent Chlorophyll. To counter Vileplume takes a bit of thought, but have a Sleep absorber ready. Obviously, you don't want to switch in a water or an electric; Vileplume absolutely walls these two. Even Ice Beaming bulky waters usually just 3HKO at best, if not 2HKO. Fire Pokemon will scare Vileplume away, particularly Heatran, since he is immune to Sludge Bomb and 4x resists her other STAB. Watch out for surprise Drain Punches, but without a boost that hardly does anything. Birds like Swellow and Moltres can pose an immediate threat, particularly the latter. The former has to beware of high powered Sludge Bombs however, as Swellow isn't very bulky. Moltres even has Safeguard to circumvent Vileplume's attempts to status it. Substitute also works as well. Vileplume is a great grasser for the lower tiers and can be a very useful teammate. Notable Moves: Giga Drain, Sunny Day, Solarbeam, Petal Dance, Sludge Bomb, Hidden Power [Fire], Grass Knot, Energy Ball, Substitute, Aromatherapy, Synthesis, Moonlight, Toxic, Swords Dance, Drain Punch, Return, Seed Bomb, Lucky Chant, Teeter Dance, Ingrain, Charm, Tickle, Leech Seed (Event) Useful Items: Leftovers, Life Orb, Heat Rock Counters: Moltres, Articuno, Heatran, Altaria, Dragonite, Charizard, Arcanine, Ninetales, Spiritomb [hgsssprite]047[/hgsssprite] 047: Parasect Type: Bug/Grass Ability: Effect Spore / Dry Skin / Damp (Dream World) Base Stats: 60/95/80/60/80/30 Difficulty: Advanced Parasect used Spore! Yes, the only 100% accurate sleep move was actually this guy's signature move... until it went to the other mushroom Pokemon as well (Shroomish and Amoonguss). That's what made him special and was even one of the only Pokemon who could legally defeat the Generation 1's Mewtwo (THE most powerful Pokemon ever created) one on one if played properly. Nowadays, he is neglected, but Parasect is very underrated and can be a useful Pokemon. From that transition from Gen I to Gen II he actually lost that 4x weakness to Poison! Hurray! Now he only has Fire and Flying 4x weaknesses to worry about! Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Who cares? This guy still keeps that same role as the Ubers killer (even though they're different ubers we are talking about here) and still spooks Psychics to this day. With access to great physical STABs in the form of X-Scissor and Seed Bomb, it is enough to cover Grounds, Psychics, Waters, Darks, and Rocks. Brick Break is also available for coverage and Pursuit is for Psychics who want to run away. Effect Spore or Dry Skin? Effect Spore is too random so sometimes it doesn't help if you want to spore someone and it accidentally poisoned someone. Dry Skin is probably better for this. But.. aren't we giving Parasect an extra weakness to Fire? Eh... what's the difference between 4x weakness and 5x if Fire moves will destroy him anyways? That extra immunity to water is very nice and in fact makes Parasect great against non Ice Beaming Kyogres. However, the sun will hurt Parasect, though the rain will restore HP. This is one grasser who hates the sun. Weird huh? Dream World gives Parasect the ability Damp, preventing anyone from self destructing. Well, it would have been a bit more useful IF Explosion wasn't nerfed. Countering Parasect is a tricky business. Waters, even with Ice Beam, won't do more damage than what Parasect can do to them. Insomniacs like Noctowl or Honchkrow can work well, as they both possess moves super-effective against Parasect. However, Honchkrow is rather fragile so should beware of what Parasect can do. If no Insomniacs are available, a Sleep Absorber can work well. Heracross resists anything not named Aerial Ace and can absorb Spore if he carries Sleep Talk. Fire Pokemon will always scare Parasect thanks to his 4-5x weakness. If Swellow gets in safely, Flame Orb can protect him against the evils of Spore or Stun Spore and be able to OHKO Parasect with his STAB Brave Bird. Just make sure someone is asleep and Parasect will be of little threat. Take advantage of that low speed; Parasect has almost no hopes of outpacing anything. Overall, Parasect is a very unique Pokemon and certainly has a lot to offer. Many people don't know what to expect from him from the start. Notable Moves: Spore, Aromatherapy, X-Scissor, Seed Bomb, Stun Spore, Brick Break, Cross Poison, Hone Claws, Swords Dance, Leech Seed, Substitute, Pursuit, Agility, Counter, Toxic, Light Screen, Knock Off Useful Items: Leftovers, Life Orb Counters: Noctowl, Honchkrow, Primeape, Banette, Heracross, Altaria, Dragonite, Swellow, Moltres, Articuno, Arcanine, Ninetales [hgsssprite]049[/hgsssprite] 049: Venomoth Type: Bug/Poison Ability: Shield Dust / Tinted Lens / Wonder Skin (Dream World) Base Stats: 70/65/60/90/75/90 Difficulty: Intermediate This thing nearly outclasses poor Butterfree, had it not been for the fact Venomoth does not have Compoundeyes. Anyways, he looks like another generic bug, but unlike those level 10 bugs, Venomoth has usable stats and a large movepool to boot. Also, he possesses Tinted Lens, allowing him to hit neutrally on targets that resist his attacks! Ouch... in fact, Specs Venomoth can 2HKO normal Empoleons with Bug Buzz! That is scary, very scary. Shield Dust is also another great ability, but to go all out offensive, Tinted Lens might be the better choice. Because Gamefreak thinks bugs are Psychic, this guy has access to Psychic, even if he is weak to it. He also has the strange ability to set up Toxic Spikes. Even if he is very fragile, Toxic Spikes can be used somehow. Let's not forget the disabling moves such as Stun Spore and Sleep Powder... and the new 100% accurate Disable! What's more is his new move that he pulled out from the quiver... Quiver Dance! Like Volcarona and Butterfree, Venomoth will become incredibly beast with this move that raises SpA/SpDef/Speed by 1 in a single turn! So for an unimpressive Pokemon, Venomoth surely got a lot of interesting toys to play around with. I don't believe Venomoth is as bad as people make him out to be. Wonder Skin is Venomoth's Dream World ability, which can disable status moves like Thunder Wave 50% of the time from having an effect. Eh, Tinted Lens will do Venomoth better as Substitute can work as Wonder Skin that works 100% of the time. Countering Venomoth? If you see a bunch of Quiver Dancers, I suppose someone packing Unaware can do, but why bother? If you have a Shedinja, Venomoth has no way of touching it aside from using Toxic. Steels can wall Venomoth, but I would beware of Tinted Lens; it still hurts. Blissey can of course always wall Venomoth 24/7, but do not let Venomoth set up! In fact, use Flamethrower and you'll scare him away. Whoops there's Roost. Oh. Well, that means he only has 2 moves, or possibly one thanks to Sleep Powder. Let's try Thunder Wave. There we go, a paralysed moth. Easy to pick on with some hard hitting physical attacker. Thankfully, Venomoth does not have access to Psyshock. If EVd properly, Tyranitar can come in on a Quiver Dance, take that Bug Buzz (remember, Tar can live a + 1 LO Modest Volcarona's Bug Buzz as well), and destroy him with a Stone Edge. That is, if it hits. Skarmory can sit pretty all day and just roost her metallic body all day long and blow Venomoth away if he causes her trouble, maybe even strike with Brave Bird. Remember Tinted Lens however; it can get ridiculously powerful. However, Skarmory has a 4x resist from Bug Buzz, so... it just becomes 2x resist, which is still not a good thing. Yeah, Skarm's a counter. Fire Pokemon will almost always scare Venomoth away. No doubt Moltres is one of them. If Venomoth gets greedy on the Quiver Dances, physical Fires such as Arcanine are good enough options. Barring critical hits, Ninetales can win a Quiver Dance/Calm Mind war by setting up Calm Minds then hitting the moth with a super effective Psyshock to hit Venomoth's lower defence. Also watch out for Baton Pass. Venomoth can set up and pass it to someone who can scare anyone with Quiver Dance boosts, such as Gengar or something. Jellicent is where help can be found. Use Taunt to foil Venomoth from doing anything but attacking, while Jellicent can easily wall Venomoth without much of a problem. Overall, Venomoth is a testimony to the other lower bugs out there; they're not as weak as you make them out to be. Venomoth can bring surprising results to anyone given the proper support. Notable Moves: Sleep Powder, Stun Spore, Bug Buzz, Psychic, Sludge Bomb, Quiver Dance, Roost, Toxic Spikes, Toxic, U-turn, Substitute, Baton Pass Useful Items: Choice Specs, Leftovers, Life Orb, Focus Sash Counters: Blissey, Skarmory, Moltres, Drapion, Noctowl, Arcanine, Ninetales, Tyranitar, Jellicent, Regirock, Registeel [hgsssprite]051[/hgsssprite] 051: Dugtrio Type: Ground Ability: Sand Veil / Arena Trap / Sand Force (Dream World) Base Stats: 35/80/50/50/70/120 Difficulty: Easy Back in my first ever Pokemon playthrough of Pokemon Yellow, I caught a Dugtrio from Diglett's Cave. After one turn of Dig, he defeated Lt. Surge's Raichu, and from then I fell in love with him, eventually becoming my most powerful Pokemon. Well, that is until I reached Lance. End of the line bub. I know, I didn't teach it Rock Slide, but I was a kid. What could I do? Anyways, I knew Dugtrio as an incredibly fast Ground Pokemon, but what I did not know is that it would become this incredibly annoying Pokemon competitively. Why? Because of this one ability; Arena Trap. This basically traps anything grounded or without Shed Shell and force them to stay. That pesky Magnezone trapping your steels? Send in Dugtrio and let him have a word with that pesky UFO. That Infernape continually revenge killing your Pokemon? Revenge him back with Dugtrio! He's basically your whack-a-mole game; he keeps popping out, trapping the foe and making sure they won't get away with the crime. Perfect law enforcing Pokemon... along with Magnezone. Chandelure you say? She's too evil; she uses her trapping powers for terrible reasons! But I digress. The problem with Dugtrio is his lack of power; 80 base attack doesn't cut it. Not to mention, he is too fragile. 35/50/70 defences? Yeah, it's not happening. Dugtrio did get Sand Force as an ability from Dream World. While Dugtrio does appreciate the extra boost that can give, the whole purpose of Dugtrio is to trap annoying foes and not let them get away, so Sand Force cannot be of any help here. What counters Dugtrio? Erm, well, you see, in order to counter, you are supposed to be able to switch in to Dugtrio. Seeing how Dugtrio comes out when it wants to trap someone, it is virtually impossible to counter Dugtrio. However, it is defeatable. Bulky waters or grassers in general can destroy Dugtrio. Dugtrio is also too fragile to even live a hit, so priority moves from the likes of Scizor can do critical damage. You can also surprise Dugtrio somehow by packing a move unexpected on your Pokemon. Did Dugtrio just trap your Blissey? Give him a swift Ice Beam to the face and Dugtrio will never show his face in front of Blissey ever again. What about the choice between Choice Band/Scarf or Life Orb? That all depends. I hate Life Orb to be precise because I failed to OHKO Tyranitar while he was at 60% while Tyranitar OHKOd Dugtrio. I was raging, but if versatility is your thing, definitely pack a Life Orb. This is Dugtrio; the trapmeister of Pokemon. I would never let the surprise out so early unless some foe gets really really annoying. Notable Moves: Earthquake, Rock Slide, Stone Edge, Sucker Punch, Night Slash, Pursuit, Return, Aerial Ace, Substitute Useful Items: Life Orb, Choice Band, Choice Scarf Counters: See what I wrote above, but those that can handle Dugtrio are: Porygon2, Blastoise, Swampert, Tangrowth, Torterra, Milotic, Slowbro, Suicune, Gyarados [hgsssprite]053[/hgsssprite] 053: Persian Type: Normal Ability: Limber / Technician / Unnerve (Dream World) Base Stats: 65/70/60/65/65/115 Difficulty: Intermediate Back in the old Generation 1 metagame, Persian was a monster. Being able to hit critical hits almost every time with Normal STAB was just too good. Rhydon and Golem? Hello Bubblebeam! Now that the broken critical hit ratio is gone, Persian is now a mediocre Pokemon with very little too offer. Or does she? The competitive players all faun over Ambipom, but Persian has some excellent abilities. For one, Limber allows her to be not paralysed. Also, she has access to Hypnosis and can be a useful special attacker. Useful special attacker? Eh, slightly higher special attack than Ambipom anyone? It's 65 vs 60... oh. Not interested? Fine, what about Hypnosis allowing to set up Nasty Plots and hit with Technician STAB Swifts and Technician boosted Water Pulses to hit Rhyperiors? Now we're talking! Also Persian is allowed to use Switcheroo to trick an annoying item to another Pokemon. Oh Ambipom can do it too? Never mind then. Anyways, stop looking at "X outclasses Y so Y is useless" argument and look in absolute terms, not relative terms. Persian is still a legitimate threat like many of the other Pokemon out there. Yes, even someone like Wigglytuff can be a threat. Persian gets Unnerve from Dream World, which is pretty cool, but Limber and Technician are much better for this job. Unnerve would be useful to disable Lum Berries from working on Hypnosis however, but Persian wants all the power she can get. Countering Persian is as easy as bringing a Steel Pokemon in. Let's call in Skarmory again. Well, that's only on physical sets, as + 2 Water Pulse can still hurt somewhat. Special sets are walled by Blissey, but must watch out as becoming a set up fodder isn't fun. Shedinja is immune to both Swift and Water Pulse and Hidden Power Fightings. Of course, Night Slash or Bite will put an end to Shedinja. Keep in mind when you are switching in a wall to take Persian's lackluster attacks, you are risking your counter to fall asleep, get switcheroo'd, or getting his item knocked off. Persian may be weak, but she can be deadly under the hands of experts; crafty Pokemon always are. Notable Moves: Nasty Plot, U-turn, Swift, Water Pulse, Hypnosis, Fake Out, Return, Shock Wave, Bite, Taunt, Switcheroo, Night Slash, Seed Bomb, Hone Claws, Substitute, Spite, Snatch, Punishment, Foul Play, Charm, Assist, Flail, Work Up, Sunny Day, Rain Dance, Icy Wind, Knock Off Useful Items: Leftovers, Life Orb, Choice Band, Petaya Berry, Salac Berry Counters: Skarmory, Shedinja, Empoleon, Forretress, Weezing, Rhyperior, Donphan, Machamp, Hariyama, Conkeldurr, Hitmontop [hgsssprite]055[/hgsssprite] 055: Golduck Type: Water Ability: Damp / Cloud Nine / Swift Swim (Dream World) Base Stats: 80/82/78/95/80/85 Difficulty: Intermediate At first glance, Golduck doesn't look interesting. Unless you watch the anime, where basically Psyduck or Golduck have God mode thanks to Confusion beating nearly anything, you wouldn't be sold by Golduck's stats. I mean, why would you? Most other waters have better stats than this; they can either wall endlessly or hurt like a truck. He has neither, so what's so special about him? Golduck has the exclusive ability Cloud Nine, meaning no weather will take effect whenever he is on the battlefield. In fact, he's the only one who has this ability. Eh? What do you mean Altaria and Lickilicky has this ability too? Oh Dream World? Heh heh... oops. Okay let's try again. With Cloud Nine, Golduck's STAB Surfs or Hydro Pumps can rip through Tyranitar or Excadrill surprising them about how much damage they took. What? Excadrill's speed trolling you? Put a Scarf on Golduck silly! With Cloud Nine, Golduck can be a surprising revenge killer and has access to a lot of cool moves such as Surf, Ice Beam, Psychic (he no longer needs to breed for this!), Cross Chop, Psyshock, and more! Golduck also has access to a very strange move called Wonder Room, which swaps Defence and Special Defence for 5 turns. This can get very interesting. Watch as Blissey wonders how that Hydro Pump took a chunk of her HP down and how Skarmory is getting maimed even worse from physical Fighting attacks. Golduck is full of interesting options. What about Dream World? Golduck has Swift Swim from Dream World, making him an interesting option in rain teams. He isn't bad by any means, so you are free to try him out, even if there are better options out there. To counter Golduck, try Blissey out. Cross Chop? Psyshock? Oh whoops. Okay, that's only if you know Golduck doesn't have those. Bulky grassers work well, but partially poison ones like Venusaur can take heavy damage from Psychic and Grassers in general hate Ice Beam. None will OHKO however unless your name is Tangrowth. How about electrics? Well, Ampharos certainly can scare away Golduck, but STAB Surfs or Hydro Pumps still hurt like a maniac. Bulky waters? Sure let's try Lapras. Lapras is probably a great counter to Golduck because she can absorb any STAB water moves, laugh at any ice moves, and has enough HP to sponge a few Psychics and hit back with Thunderbolts. Watch out for Cross Chop however. Ludicolo can work very well, barring random Signal Beams. Starmie resists everything barring Signal Beam and has Thunderbolt to destroy Golduck. Seems that Golduck's worst enemies are bulky waters themselves. If you want to try Golduck out, use him when your opponent gets complacent. When they're busy sweeping with Excadrill, they'll soon forget that Golduck is a legitimate revenger and that weather effects are nullified with him around. Watch their faces react with shock as their sweep is soon over from that one duck dodger that could! Notable Moves: Surf, Hydro Pump, Encore, Aqua Jet, Ice Beam, Cross Chop, Psychic, Psyshock, Hypnosis, Focus Blast, Signal Beam, Calm Mind, Refresh, Hone Claws, Waterfall, Aqua Tail, Ice Punch, Low Kick, Zen Headbutt, Shadow Claw, Return Useful Items: Life Orb, Leftovers, Choice Scarf, Choice Specs Counters: Milotic, Lapras, Ludicolo, Lanturn, Starmie, Meganium, Bellossom, Ampharos, Blissey [hgsssprite]057[/hgsssprite] 057: Primeape Type: Fighting Ability: Vital Spirit / Anger Point / Defiant (Dream World) Base Stats: 65/105/60/60/70/95 Difficulty: Intermediate A fragile but quite fast of a fighter, Primeape is known to throw tantrums and NEVER GO TO SLEEP. That's right, the main selling point to Primeape is his speed and Vital Spirit, making him function as a great switch-in to anything Spore happy like Smeargle or something. His movepool is useful and packed with great moves like Close Combat, Stone Edge, Ice Punch, Earthquake, Overhea-oh wait. Forget about the last one. However, being fragile is rather disturbing, as once he is locked into a move thanks to Choice Scarf or Band, he's easy picking for nearly anything that can take a hit and dish back enough damage. Primeape can function very well as a scout thanks to U-turn. Anger Point would be great if you have Substitute, but without Substitute, Primeape is almost always going to faint from a critical hit. It basically maxes out Primeape's attack if he gets hit by a critical hit. I wouldn't use this unstable ability unless you know what you are doing and run the more dependable Vital Spirit instead. If you are running this, use Substitute. In Dream World, Primeape got the highly scary ability Defiant. Defiant is when Primeape gets a stat deduction anywhere, his attack power raises by TWO stages. That's right, TWO. But that is at the price of Vital Spirit, right? It is all up to the player, but to be frank, I feel much more safer with a Vital Spirit Primeape. To counter Primeape, send in Tyranitar because Close Combat will obviously not OHKO that beast. No kids don't try this. In general, bulky physical walls like Skarmory can work. She also has the added benefit of having STAB Brave Bird, which will most likely OHKO the raging pig monkey. Weezing is a great counter thanks to his resistance to Close Combat STAB and hit back with Will-o-Wisp. Any boosts can be negated by Haze and Weezing can force Primeape to switch out. Other counters include highly defensive Psychics such as Slowbro or Exeggutor. Both, however, need to watch out for things like Thunderpunch or Ice Punch. Exeggutor ESPECIALLY hates U-turn, so remember that. Nidoqueen can come into Close Combat or Stone Edge easily and can set up on him. Nidoking can outright damage him with his incredible powers. Arcanine with Intimidate + Will-o-Wisp is probably a great idea. Beware of Stone Edge, or worse, Defiant! Bulky ghosts like Cofagrigus can come in to anything and burn Primeape, making his life miserable. Cofagrigus also has the added benefit with Mummy, disabling Primeape's ability. Overall, Primeape is a very useful fighter. Even if he is not the fastest nor the strongest, the ability to not fall asleep due to his tantrums can make him a resourceful revenger or scouter. Notable Moves: Close Combat, Stone Edge, U-turn, Earthquake, Ice Punch, Thunderpunch, Fire Punch, Low Kick, Punishment, Encore, Substitute, Encore, Magic Coat Useful Items: Choice Scarf, Life Orb, Choice Band Counters: Weezing, Skarmory, Arcanine, Slowbro, Exeggutor, Cofagrigus, Dusknoir, Nidoqueen, Nidoking [hgsssprite]059[/hgsssprite] 059: Arcanine Type: Fire Ability: Intimidate / Flash Fire / Justified (Dream World) Base Stats: 90/110/80/100/80/95 Difficulty: Intermediate Arcanine is one scary monster, offensively and defensively. He has a very good total base stat of 555, even beating Volcarona's 550. That is something. That means there are a lot to distribute across the board. Yep, Arcanine does not have real weaknesses in his stat distribution and is overall well balanced. As one can see, he has a high attack power, meaning many people will try to use physical attacks on him. And he does have scary moves, such as Flare Blitz, Wild Charge, Close Combat, and his once-signature move Extremespeed. Arcanine also has some special moves too, so things like Fire Blast or Dragon Pulse can also be useful. Defensively, Arcanine is no slouch either. With Intimidate sponging physical hits and Will-o-Wisp to further weaken his physical foe, Arcanine has a lot going for him. Add Morning Sun to the mix and there is already a defensive monster in your hands. In fact, it can get really hard that a Gyarados can manage only 13%... 13% with Waterfall against a defensive Arcanine who managed to Intimidate and Will-o-Wisp him (actually I think the sun was up then too, so I forget the circumstances, but regardless, that is amazing). It is even weird that an Arcanine, when played right, can switch into a Gyarados who Dragon Dances and defeat the beast one on one. Waterfall should not OHKO while Arcanine's Thunder Fang will do a lot of damage to regular offensive Gyarados, and at that point, the Gyarados is at KO range for Extremespeed to finish it off. In fact, I do that a lot and people are often surprised that a Fire Pokemon just defeated a Water Pokemon. Bulky Gyarados, however, can be a bit more difficult to beat. It really depends on who switched in last for Intimidate to take place. It is hard to counter Arcanine if you think this way, but usually a generic Pokemon with resistance to Fire can defeat him. For example, Swampert is not weak to anything Arcanine can throw at him and can strike back with STAB Surf. I would beware of using physical attacks, just in case Arcanine decides to burn your Pokemon. Also, many of Arcanine's moves are either recoil or have some other penalty (like the defence drops from Close Combat). Add that to the usual Life Orb the offensive Arcanine usually carries, and you will realise that more often than not, Arcanine will end up hurting itself more than the foe will do to it. As for the Defensive Arcanine, usually it surprises people to see it survive an Earthquake, but Intimidate only works once per switch in, and Arcanine really will not hurt too much. Something like Milotic can somewhat benefit from Will-o-Wisp and hit it back with Surfs. It's important that most Arcanines like this attempt to invest in physical defences rather than special defence, not to mention burn does not cripple special attacks, so try going that route. Notable Moves: Flare Blitz, Fire Blast, Flamethrower, Wild Charge, Thunder Fang, Close Combat, Crunch, Extremespeed, Overheat, Dragon Pulse, Morning Sun, Will-o-Wisp, Toxic, Roar, Rest, Sleep Talk Useful Items: Life Orb, Leftovers, Lum Berry, Choice Band, Choice Specs, Choice Scarf Counters: Milotic, Slowbro, Blastoise, Azumarill, Hariyama, Altaria, Rhyperior, Swampert, Hippowdon, Heatran (Gen IV), Snorlax (Gen IV) [hgsssprite]062[/hgsssprite] 062: Poliwrath Type: Water/Fighting Ability: Water Absorb / Damp / Swift Swim (Dream World) Base Stats: 90/85/95/70/90/70 Difficulty: Intermediate Poliwrath possessed a unique typing until Keldeo entered the scene, but forget about that thing for now. This guy is just so weird, because a tadpole ends up becoming a bigger tadpole? Must be a mutant, that's for sure, because I'm sure those radiation stones must be bad for Pokemon. This guy cannot become a frog like he is supposed to! Meh, whatever. Poliwrath is an interesting Pokemon as he can become either a defensive backbone thanks to his typing, or an offensive Pokemon which can check on many Pokemon due to his typing yet again! He can be a great check to Tyranitar due to this, but his problem is that his stats are middling. If you put in too much defensive, he will appear quite weak. If you put in too much attack, Poliwrath will all of a sudden less sturdy. However, Poliwrath's movepool is great enough to support his role in a team, as he has access to Substitute, Focus Punch, Waterfall, Ice Punch, Bulk Up, and even Encore. Although he has a plethora of special attacks such as Surf or Psychic, it is better off using his physical attacks as they can be boosted and are of higher rating. Dream World brought in Swift Swim, which makes an interesting choice. Although Poliwrath would prefer Water Absorb as this makes him a great counter to Water Pokemon, Swift Swim is an acceptable choice for offensive Poliwraths who must cross the Pacific Ocean faster. Not many people will expect this from Poliwrath in fact and usually refrain from wasting their Water attacks on Poliwrath, unless you somehow gave away that Poliwrath is lacking Water Absorb. To counter Poliwrath, most bulky grassers can deal with Poliwrath quite easily. Tangrowth can easily sponge whatever Poliwrath has (even Ice Punch) and hit back with her powerful STAB Grass attacks. Leafeon works similarly with STAB Leaf Blade in her disposal and even has the speed to keep Poliwrath in check. Slowbro can always loaf around, resisting whatever Poliwrath uses, and hitting back with STAB Psychic. Jellicent is a scary counter as well as it is immune to both STABs Poliwrath has to offer and can Taunt any attempts to set up or whatnot. The most defensive Poliwraths cannot do much to Skarmory, who can also hit back with STAB Brave Birds, or if he gets annoying with Bulk Ups, Whirlwind. Weezing can burn Poliwrath and Haze away whatever boosts Poliwrath may have accumulated and even has Thunderbolt to boot. Poliwrath is a good Pokemon; he can fit in a lot of teams and has quite a lot to offer. There is no use underestimating Poliwrath; though his stats are middling, he is very capable of holding on his own. Notable Moves: Waterfall, Brick Break, Substitute, Focus Punch, Ice Punch, Return, Rock Slide, Earthquake, Bulk Up, Encore, Hypnosis, Rest, Sleep Talk, Belly Drum, Circle Throw Useful Items: Leftovers, Choice Band, Life Orb Counters: Slowbro, Jellicent, Ferrothorn, Hypno, Grumpig, Tangrowth, Leafeon, Skarmory, Weezing [hgsssprite]065[/hgsssprite] 065: Alakazam Type: Psychic Ability: Inner Focus / Synchronise / Magic Guard (Dream World) Base Stats: 55/50/45/135/85/120 Difficulty: Hard Would you look at those stats? 135 base special attack! Until Gen V came in and broke mass milestones, Alakazam along with Porygon-Z had the highest special attack of all non-legendary Pokemon. Alakazam was one of the scariest Pokemon of all times due to his high speed and high special attack. His STAB Psychic, when unresisted, took a huge chunk off most Pokemon, and before the physical/special split, utilised the elemental punches very well. He was pretty much the guy who defined "Glass Cannon". Though the physical/special split took a toll and he can no longer utilise the elemental punches effectively, he has new moves to boot such as the now special Shadow Ball and Focus Blast to ward off Dark Pokemon such as Tyranitar or Weavile. However, things have changed and being Alakazam is no longer as easy as it used to be. He now has to beware of the Psychic killer such as Weavile or Scizor. The priority move Sucker Punch is nearly widespread, netting a surprise KO on Alakazam if he does not predict properly. Dream World, however, brought Alakazam a cool new ability Magic Guard. With Magic Guard, 80% of your HP is displaced unto MP. Whoops wrong Magic Guard. Basically it's that same ability Clefable has; no damage from indirect attacks! Yep, now you can stick a Life Orb on Alakazam behind a Sub and you don't have to worry about destroying his longevity. He may not be Reuniclus, but he hurts a lot more and is much faster. Anyone who is not careful of Alakazam will soon face his powerful damage! Countering Alakazam is actually much more complex than bringing in Blissey. Actually, a boosted Alakazam is capable of maiming Blissey with Focus Blasts or dealing major damage with Psyshock while Blissey cannot do much to Alakazam at all. Alakazam also has Taunt or Trick or even Encore to mess with Blissey. I would say Scizor, but some Alakazams can go behind that Sub and Hidden Power Fire to get rid of the Crimson Flash once and for all. I'd say Tyranitar, but Focus Blast is prevalent and there is no way to boost Tyranitar's Special Defence any more than surviving a LO Gengar's Focus Blast. Spiritomb is probably the best counter out there, being immune to Focus Blast and Psychic and hitting back with whatever STAB moves he has. Drapion also works quite well in that regard. Things with Sucker Punch can be used to revenge Alakazam, but once Alakazam predicts that and goes behind a Substitute, GG. Alakazam can walk all over your team with nothing there to touch him. The metagame around Alakazam may have changed a lot since his debut, but he is by no means worthless. He is still as scary as he always was, but... he needs to tread lightly. Things hit harder than ever, and with all these Dark and Bug Pokemon around, it isn't easy being a relic of the past. Notable Moves: Psychic, Psyshock, Substitute, Energy Ball, Grass Knot, Charge Beam, Signal Beam, Shadow Ball, Focus Blast, Hidden Power [Fire], Taunt, Calm Mind, Trick, Encore, Reflect, Light Screen Useful Items: Leftovers, Life Orb, Choice Specs, Choice Scarf, Focus Sash, Light Clay Counters: Spiritomb, Blissey, Scizor, Mandibuzz, Drapion, Weavile, Tyranitar [hgsssprite]068[/hgsssprite] 068: Machamp Type: Fighting Ability: Guts / No Guard / Steadfast (Dream World) Base Stats: 90/130/80/65/85/55 Difficulty: Easy Strong, scary, and very dangerous, Machamp is THE Pokemon responsible for KOing more Pokemon than any other Pokemon in the OU battlefield. Don't believe me? Try to switch in to Machamp yourself once he comes safely into the battlefield. Then you will know how scary this thing is and why people shudder once he is present. What makes Machamp particularly dangerous? Well, that ability No Guard means that nothing in the battlefield will ever miss... ever, be it from his end or your end. Which means... that STAB Dynamicpunch of his with 50% accuracy? It's going to hit you regardless, and WILL confuse you too once it hits. Non missing Stone Edges to take care of Fliers, and Machamp's low speed means Payback can hit other stuff that are either resistant or immune to Dynamicpunch. Usually, the latter group is weak to Payback, so bye bye Gengar! Oh, Focus Sash? Bullet Punch says denied! Machamp is almost always guaranteed to take one Pokemon down before he goes down, which is what makes him scary. He also functions very well as an anti-lead, and even has the bulk to survive things like Azelf's Psychic! That is one scary monster there! To counter Machamp, well, it is really difficult. There are things like Slowbro, who take very little from anything Machamp offers and even has immunity to confusion thanks to Own Tempo, and can hit back with STAB Psychic. But otherwise, you will have a hard time with Machamp. Chances are, Machamp will KO something you have, requiring you to sacrifice one of your Pokemon. However, by that time, Machamp is usually weakened enough to be revenged by something else. Thankfully, he is not fast. Also, some people do run Guts Machamp, meaning the Will-o-Wisp you expect to cripple Machamp will actually benefit him and he will continue to spam mega powered Close Combats and coverage moves to shred some of your teammates to pieces. Be careful with Machamp! He does have weaknesses, but he is very difficult of an opponent to face! Notable Moves: Dynamicpunch, Payback, Stone Edge, Bullet Punch, Bulk Up, Rest, Sleep Talk, Substitute, Encore, Close Combat, Ice Punch, Thunderpunch, Fire Punch, Drain Punch Useful Items: Lum Berry, Life Orb, Leftovers, Choice Band, Choice Scarf Counters: Slowbro, Spiritomb, Forretress, Skarmory, Cofagrigus, Reuniclus [hgsssprite]071[/hgsssprite] 071: Victreebel Type: Grass/Poison Ability: Chlorophyll / Gluttony (Dream World) Base Stats: 80/105/65/100/60/70 Difficulty: Hard Victreebel is the more offensive of the Grass/Poison duo of Kanto. Compared to her friend Vileplume, she is faster, stronger in the physical attack department, and has more offensive attacks to use at the expense of being more fragile. She still has access to Sleep Powder and Stun Spore, which can be useful, and Chlorophyll can raise her speed up to an insane value of 524 in the sun! Couple that with Growth which now adds + 2 Attack and Special Attack in the sun and you have a monster in your hands. Yes, sure, Venusaur does this better, but does Venusaur have Weather Ball? What happens when Hidden Power Fire turns out much weaker than expected? Or what happens if Power Whip misses? Victreebel has access to the more consistent Leaf Blade which can turn out better at times, though she has Power Whip as well. Encore can be an extremely helpful move in helping set up while Leaf Storm can clear out some physical bully like Hippowdon immediately. Dream World's Gluttony does not help much unless you like to consume a Salac Berry right at 50% with Substitute, but of course, that berry is not available as of now in Generation V. To counter Victreebel, I want to say Blissey but Victreebel can also Swords Dance in her face and hit hard with physical attacks. Fire Pokemon can come in and force Victreebel out, such as Arcanine or Moltres. Beware of hard hitting Sludge Bombs though; they really hurt. Alakazam is also a scary Pokemon that can revenge kill once the sun is out. Once the sun is gone, Victreebel cannot do much. However, watch out for Sucker Punch; Victreebel isn't going down without a fight. Weezing has access to Flamethrower and can wall the physical variants without much trouble. However, watch out for Weather Ball; it can hurt. Scizor can come into anything not named Weather Ball and hit back with a hard Bullet Punch. Remember that it isn't all to hard to knock out Victreebel; it's just taking her attacks in the first place that is difficult. Victreebel's power lies under the sun. Without the sun, she can fall prey to faster foes. Notable Moves: Sleep Powder, Stun Spore, Sunny Day, Solarbeam, Leaf Blade, Growth, Grass Knot, Leaf Storm, Sludge Bomb, Return, Weather Ball, Sucker Punch, Encore, Substitute, Teeter Dance, Hidden Power [Rock], Knock Off Useful Items: Leftovers, Heat Rock, Life Orb, Focus Sash, Salac Berry Counters: Altaria, Moltres, Zapdos, Articuno, Dragonite, Blissey, Weezing, Arcanine, Ninetales, Houndoom, Scizor [hgsssprite]073[/hgsssprite] 073: Tentacruel Type: Water/Poison Ability: Liquid Ooze / Clear Body / Rain Dish (Dream World) Base Stats: 80/70/65/80/120/100 Difficulty: Intermediate Tentacruel is a great utility Pokemon with a lot of potential. With moves like Rapid Spin and Toxic Spikes, Tentacruel sees a lot of usage for a great reason too. Knock Off basically cripples some foes when used, and he has a reliable STAB in the form of Surf. He makes a great counter to Pokemon like Mixed Infernape due to his stats and typing, and can defeat them one on one. He even absorbs Toxic Spikes as soon as he switches in, so he is a lot better than one would expect him to be. Of course, who switches in? Ghosts who want to block rapid spins... as usual. But fear not... with a combination of Scald (which can hopefully burn the Ghost switch in) and Hex, Tentacruel can pose a threat even to ghosts who think they can switch in with impunity! Add to the fact Tentacruel's ability Liquid Ooze plays VERY well in this metagame, discouraging Conkeldurrs or Serperiors from Drain Punching or Giga Draining, respectively, Tentacruel can be a real asset to any team. Special Defence of 120 means he is living through Thunderbolts and Psychics like a pro, and other bulky waters fail to harm him without something ridiculous like Hidden Power Electrics or even worse, Earthquakes. His overlooked base speed of 100 means he can be tailored to outpace whatever he needs to should you give him the right investments. Dream World Tentacruel can play very well in a rain team, because with Rain Dish, he can heal a LOT to make up for his lack of recovery move. Tentacruel is a great Pokemon to keep in any team! But to face an opposing Tentacruel can be tough. First thing first; he has low physical defence, so smacking him on that side will do it no favours. Reuniclus can turn Tentacruel into a set up bait, scaring Tentacruel with a Psyshock, does not fear status, and generally makes Tentacruel switch out. Swampert hates Giga Drains, but has STAB Earthquakes to destroy Tentacruel, but watch out for Scald. Heracross with Guts can come into a Tentacruel's Scald, sponge it, and benefit from the burn. But without Stone Edge or Earthquake (latter is rarely carried by Heracross), Tentacruel resists both of Heracross's STAB. Dream World Espeon's Magic Bounce will reflect any attempts of Tentacruel's set up moves, and will force it out with STAB Psyshock/Psychic. Basically, a lot of Pokemon that can switch in directly and has something like Psyshock or Earthquake will automatically make Tentacruel into a set up bait, which is unfortunate for most utility Pokemon. But overall, one can see why Tentacruel is a favoured Pokemon and deserves a spot on many teams. Notable Moves: Surf, Scald, Sludge Bomb, Toxic Spikes, Rapid Spin, Hex, Giga Drain, Toxic, Knock Off, Swords Dance, Poison Jab, Waterfall, Return Useful Items: Black Sludge, Leftovers, Air Balloon Counters: Reuniclus, Swampert, Heracross, Gyarados, Zapdos, Slowking, Slowbro, Torterra, Gardevoir, Espeon, Xatu [hgsssprite]076[/hgsssprite] 076: Golem Type: Rock/Ground Ability: Rock Head / Sturdy / Sand Veil (Dream World) Base Stats: 80/110/130/55/65/45 Difficulty: Hard Golem. What a unique name. Meh, don't worry, first generation is forgivable. This is the Pokemon we all knew to be Thundershocked to submission by Pikachu in the anime. But don't try this in-game. You'll be in for a nasty surprise. And yes, he's that guy that gets OHKOd by special water or grass moves. And to make matters worse, he's outclassed by Rhyperior who has a better movepool, better stats, and pretty much better applications. But Golem can explode! Well, Explosion got nerfed in Gen V, making it half as effective as before. Oh. Well, in absolute terms Golem is still good right? Yes, he's still a useful utility Pokemon who can set up Stealth Rocks and still pack a punch with EdgeQuake combo. Thanks to the new Sturdy, it can work as a makeshift Focus Sash and survive one lethal attack, be it some boosted Focus Blast or even Surf! Rhyperior does NOT get Sturdy, just to let you know, allowing Golem to function as a lead much better than Rhyperior. Now be glad it was Sturdy Boldores plaguing the wild, not Sturdy Gravelers. If Sturdy Gravelers were plauging the wild, imagine all the Selfdestructs you would have to endure training against them. What an annoying thing to fight! Dream World brought in Sand Veil, which is useful if your luck is good, but I would prefer the more consistent Sturdy. Besides, lethal Surfs and Grass Knots are everywhere! This allows Golem to take down those pesky Pikachus with Grass Knot at last! Countering Golem is usually as simple as bringing in some bulky water like Blastoise or Slowbro in, but exploding in their face can hurt. Claydol resists Stone Edge and is immune to Earthquake and can hit back with STAB Earth Power. Tangrowth with her bloated defence can come in and use Giga Drain or some other STAB Grass move to defeat Golem. Steel Pokemon like Skarmory can set up on Golem, but should watch out for Earthquakes on predicted Roost or boosted Fire Punch. She cannot do much back to Golem however aside from blowing him away. Overall, Golem can be a great asset to anyone who wants a bulky ground Pokemon. Though his overwhelming amount of weaknesses are noticeable, Golem is not bad by any means. Notable Moves: Stealth Rocks, Earthquake, Stone Edge, Rock Blast, Return, Sucker Punch, Fire Punch, Explosion, Rock Polish, Substitute, Heavy Slam, Gyro Ball, Curse, Autotomise Useful Items: Lum Berry, Leftovers, Choice Band Counters: Tangrowth, Leafeon, Blastoise, Suicune, Milotic, Slowbro, Skarmory, Gastrodon, Quagsire [hgsssprite]078[/hgsssprite] 078: Rapidash Type: Fire Ability: Run Away / Flash Fire / Flame Body (Dream World) Base Stats: 65/100/70/80/80/105 Difficulty: Intermediate It took until Platinum for Rapidash to get "good". But now, she is quite an asset for any team who wants a fire Pokemon. Although she has that nasty weakness to Stealth Rocks, limiting her opportunities to switch in, but she combines the two traits Arcanine and Ninetales use; physical attack power and access to Hypnosis. In fact, Rapidash is faster than both of them thanks to base 105 speed. Her STAB of choice is Flare Blitz, which hurts to anything that doesn't resist it. Megahorn is also a useful 120 base power move which she usually runs alongside Flare Blitz. Wild Charge is now available to target water types thinking they can switch in safely. On top of that, she can run a mixed set and run Fire Blast to nail things like Skarmory much better. Rapidash gets Flame Body as her Dream World ability, which can be helpful to cause random burns, but usually, I would prefer the immunity Flash Fire gives. Flame Body does have its uses however. In order to counter Rapidash, bulky grounds or waters are the top counters. Waters have to think twice before switching in, however, because of Wild Charge. Things like Donphan or Quagsire can come in and hit Rapidash hard with their STAB Earthquake. Beware of Hidden Power Grass, however, or random Solarbeams in a Sunny Day team. Swampert is immune to Wild Charge and resists Flare Blitz and can run Earthquake to defeat Rapidash. If he gets burned, he still has old reliable Surf to hit back to. Overall, this pony is quite a unique one. She may not have a large movepool like Ninetales, nor does she have the sheer bulk and power Arcanine has, but Rapidash takes some aspects from both of them and makes a fine Pokemon indeed. Notable Moves: Flare Blitz, Fire Blast, Flame Charge, Megahorn, Wild Charge, Bounce, Hypnosis, Will-o-Wisp, Double-Edge, Hidden Power [Grass], Return, Agility, Baton Pass, Substitute, Quick Attack Useful Items: Life Orb, Leftovers, Choice Band, Choice Scarf Counters: Swampert, Heatran, Rhyperior, Golem, Donphan, Quagsire, Gastrodon, Milotic, Suicune, Lanturn [hgsssprite]080[/hgsssprite] 080: Slowbro Type: Water/Psychic Ability: Oblivious / Own Tempo / Regenerator (Dream World) Base Stats: 95/75/110/100/80/30 Difficulty: Intermediate Slowbro is a staple bulky water of the metagame with many capabilities. He is slow, yes, he is, but that does not stop him from being a capable bulky water because he has a large defence to work with along with great special attack with the moves to abuse it, such as Surf, Psychic, Psyshock, and strangely, Flamethrower or Grass Knot! Due to Own Tempo, he is not able to be confused, allowing him to be one of the best Machamp counters possible. Finally someone to get rid of that scary muscleman! He can also take down Speed Boost Blaziken quite well actually. He can live a single Hi Jump Kick thanks to his resistance and KO back with STAB Psychic or Surf. Best of all, he has a reliable recovery move in the form of Slack Off! Slowbro is definitely a dream package for anyone who wants a bulky water, but he is not without flaws. With that Psychic STAB comes the terrible price of being weak to Bug, Dark, and Ghost moves. Pursuit is pretty annoying to face and Scizor's U-turn will take a chunk off of Slowbro's health if Slowbro does not nail him with Flamethrower immediately. Slowbro's Dream World ability is incredibly stupid. I mean trollingly stupid. With Regenerator, every time Slowbro switches out, he regains 33% of his health back. Yes, he can be a troll and just come in, take a hit, and switch out and will probably never get KOd in a LONG time. Talk about troll eh? To counter Slowbro, hit him where it hurts the most; Special Defence. Strong electric or grass attacks can quickly spell doom for Slowbro. Blissey is even more absurd as she can just sit there walling Slowbro 24/7 as usual, but can't do much back to him other than poisoning him... oh. Yes, that's good enough, but don't let Slowbro set up. Try bulky grasses that are NOT partially Poison so they can come in, but Slowbro's Fire Blasts or Ice Beams can still take a toll. Ludicolo isn't weak to anything Slowbro has to offer and has STAB Grass Knot to force him to switch out. On the other side, Dark or Ghost Pokemon are perfectly logical responses to Slowbro. Spiritomb or Cofagrigus can Shadow Ball him to oblivion. Overall, Slowbro is a tough contender and sits proudly and lazily as he will put up a fight before going down. Notable Moves: Surf, Scald, Psychic, Psyshock, Flamethrower, Fire Blast, Grass Knot, Ice Beam, Focus Blast, Shadow Ball, Slack Off, Yawn, Disable, Thunder Wave, Trick Room, Calm Mind, Trick, Wonder Room Useful Items: Leftovers, Choice Specs Counters: Ludicolo, Meganium, Celebi, Spiritomb, Blissey, Tyranitar, Weavile, Scizor, Heracross [hgsssprite]082[/hgsssprite] 082: Magneton Type: Electric/Steel Ability: Magnet Pull / Sturdy / Analytic (Dream World) Base Stats: 50/60/95/120/70/70 Difficulty: Easy VZVZVZT! Please check for Chief Magnezone in Sinnoh for more details-VZVZVZT! If you plan on using us over our boss Magnezone, please realise that we are faster than chief-VZVZVZT! This can come in handy and is probably the only reason (personal issues aside-VZVZVZT!) for using us over our boss-VZVZVZT! Thank you-VZVZVZT! Notable Moves: Thunderbolt, Discharge, Thunder Wave, Flash Cannon, Signal Beam, Hidden Power [Fire/Fighting/Ground], Magnet Rise, Substitute, Tri Attack, Metal Sound, Volt Switch, Rain Dance, Thunder Useful Items: Eviolite, Leftovers, Choice Scarf, Shed Shell, Air Balloon, Shuca Berry Counters: Swampert, Quagsire, Dugtrio, Gastrodon, Rhyperior, Hippowdon, Meganium, Venusaur [hgsssprite]083[/hgsssprite] 083: Farfetch'd Type: Normal/Flying Ability: Keen Eye / Inner Focus / Defiant (Dream World) Base Stats: 52/65/55/58/62/60 Difficulty: Rageworthy I've evolved! Please check- Sigh I wish. Farfetch'd is the butt of every "Pokemon that got neglected's" jokes. I know he's supposed to based off a tale where a duck offers himself to a hungry traveler to be eaten, but this is a bit too much. But believe it or not, they actually tried to improve this guy during Gen IV! Yep, this bird has quite a useful movepool consisting of things like Night Slash, Leaf Blade, Brave Bird, and even has his own unique item in the form of Stick, but unfortunately he has very little way of using them. Yeah, he just cannot work competitively, which begs the question... WHY Gamefreak did not bother evolving him and decided to evolve Rhydon and Dusclops instead? But I digress. He can actually Swords Dance and Agility and whatnot, and the version can use Baton Pass to pass all of that! Interesting. Dream World was much more kinder to Farfetch'd than Delibird by giving him Defiant, an ability which raises attack stage by 2 if one stat gets lowered. Yeah, an Intimidator will actually end up raising Farfetch'd attack by a net total of 1 if they come in. They even gave him Leaf Blade from Dream World to be kind enough. Countering him is of little effort, as anything with a decent enough stat can come in and scare him away. Rock Pokemon like Golem laughs at whatever Farfetch'd can do except Leaf Blade and have their way with him. Electric Pokemon can put an end to Farfetch'd quite readily and resist his STAB Flying moves. I hope this guy evolves one day because he has been waiting for a long time. While gimmicks like Unown or Spinda have a reason that isn't competitively based, I don't see what the deal is with Farfetch'd. Maybe he's just here to troll, I don't know. But he's always cool. It really is far-fetched for this guy. Not to mention, the bird below this one is much better suited competitively. Notable Moves: Brave Bird, Leaf Blade, U-turn, Knock Off, Return, Night Slash, Slash, Acrobatics, Air Cutter, Steel Wing, Endure, Flail, Swords Dance, Agility, Substitute, Baton Pass () Useful Items: Stick, Life Orb, Choice Band, Choice Scarf Counters: Magikarp, Rotom, Pikachu, Onix, Porygon, Aron, Bronzor [hgsssprite]085[/hgsssprite] 085: Dodrio Type: Normal/Flying Ability: Run Away / Early Bird / Tangled Feet Base Stats: 60/110/70/60/60/100 Difficulty: Easy Until the introduction of Swellow, this was the best Normal/Flying bird available, and ironically, this thing isn't supposed to fly, but can learn HM02 anyways. But I digress. This guy was basically the better version of Fearow, with better attack to boot even and access to Drill Peck. To add salt to injury, Dodrio can even access Brave Bird via hereditary moves! He even has moves that calls for abuse with Endure; Endeavor, Quick Attack, Flail. Some other weird options include Taunt, Acupressure, and an option from Pokemon (you guessed it), Baton Pass! He is quite fearsome and very useful for battling. Dream World gave him Tangled Feet, which isn't too useful anyways. Machamp's Dynamicpunch will always hit regardless of 50% evasion or not. To counter Dodrio, remember that he still cannot touch Rock Pokemon. While Pidgeot has special attacks to look back to and Fearow has Drill Run and Staraptor has the almighty Close Combat, Dodrio has none of those options and will have nothing to take on a Rhyperior, even though the others still wouldn't want to deal with Rhyperior. Choice Band Brave Bird still 2HKOs weaker Rock Pokemon like Kabutops though; it is THAT strong. Electric Pokemon can also be considered counters, but switching into STAB Returns is a tricky business. Bulkier ones like Ampharos or Luxray can work though. This guy IS the best of the Kanto normal birds, and still quite good, even if he isn't anything like Staraptor, so be on your guard when dealing with the three furies. Notable Moves: Brave Bird, Drill Peck, Return, Pursuit, Payback, Quick Attack, Taunt, Torment, Roost, Substitute, Toxic, Acupressure, Baton Pass (), Endure, Flail Useful Items: Choice Band, Choice Scarf, Life Orb Counters: Rhyperior, Steelix, Probopass, Bastiodon, Aggron, Regirock, Registeel [hgsssprite]087[/hgsssprite] 087: Dewgong Type: Water/Ice Ability: Thick Fat / Hydration / Ice Body (Dream World) Base Stats: 90/70/80/70/95/70 Difficulty: Intermediate Another one of those Gen I Pokemon with middling stats, she still is not as bad as you would make her out to be. This beauty, along with Manaphy, was the only one with Hydration, allowing her to be never inflicted by status in the rain. Yep, in the rain, Rest will just heal her HP up to 100% and she will instantly get up! How cool is that? Well, that was until Gen V came and break the milestones and blah blah blah... yeah, a lot of Pokemon got Hydration. Eww. But all is not lost for this beautiful sea lion. For one, 90/80/95 defences is actually quite bulky. She has STAB Surf and Ice Beam to boot, along with two priority moves in the form of Aqua Jet and Ice Shard. The new 100% accurate Disable can force someone to run a coverage move, and Dewgong with Protect or Substitute can easily force that out of an electric or a fighter. Encore can force someone to repeat a move and you can switch to a counter. Dream World Dewgong gained Ice Body, which is pretty much her cousin Walrein's ability. Unfortunately, Dewgong suffers the "prototype syndrome", where her stats just do not match Walrein's. Because Dewgong's HP stat does not reach 416, she is not as effective as Walrein in hail stalling. However, Ice Body can be promising if you are sick to death of Walrein. Not to mention, Dewgong is faster so she needs less speed EVs to outpace certain Skarmories... in fact just 4 EVs more than the Skarmory in question! To counter Dewgong, don't bring in a bulky grasser because Dewgong actually has STAB Ice Beam, which may be enough to cause that 3HKO you get from other bulky waters to 2HKO! Safer counters are things like Hariyama, for he has STAB fighting moves for super effective damage and Thick Fat to resist Ice Beam. If she disables his Fighting move, she is still weak to rock moves. If Hariyama possesses no rock moves, blow her away with Whirlwind. Or just bring in Blissey... you should know why by now. Lanturn is a great counter because she has little to fear from either STAB from Dewgong and can hit back with her STAB electric attacks. Lapras also works except she has no chance of getting frozen thanks to her part Ice typing, and can hit back with electric attacks as well. Overall, Dewgong may not look too impressive, but in reality, she can be a great teamplayer and a valuable ally... or a terribly annoying foe. Notable Moves: Rain Dance, Surf, Ice Beam, Signal Beam, Toxic, Ice Shard, Aqua Jet, Disable, Encore, Protect, Rest, Fake Out, Perish Song, Stockpile Useful Items: Leftovers Counters: Blissey, Hariyama, Conkeldurr, Ampharos, Lanturn, Lapras, Ludicolo, Kabutops, Omastar, Octillery [hgsssprite]089[/hgsssprite] 089: Muk Type: Poison Ability: Stench / Sticky Hold / Poison Touch Base Stats: 105/105/75/65/100/50 Difficulty: Intermediate My brother told me to spell his name backwards after telling me to spell Ekans and Arbok backwards. I was mortified. Anyways, Muk is a weirdo. He has an incredibly large movepool and the stats to back it up, but he cannot seem to fit them all into one moveset. He has good HP, Attack, and Special Defence it seems, so it would be natural to utilise Curse. Okay... now what? Just three more moves to fill in. What do we have? We have Gunk Shot, Poison Jab, Ice Punch, Thunderpunch, Fire Punch, Shadow Sneak, Brick Break, Payback... there is really a lot he can do! Heck, if he wanted to he can even explode! Although he does not have a reliable recovery move, he does have access to Pain Split. Dream World gave him Poison Touch, which allows him to inflict normal poison with his contact moves 20% of the time. If you are running Toxic, do not run this. Actually, I wouldn't run it at all if your aim is to run some other status like paralysis or sleep with another Pokemon! I would prefer Stench, except the flinch rate is useless if Muk is using Curse to slow himself down. I think Sticky Hold might be the best choice here or else something as valuable as Black Sludge can be knocked out. Countering Muk? Er, he's a member of the "I'm walled by Steels" club, so yeah, Skarmory again. Watch out for random Fire Blasts however. Rhyperior is scary as he can directly threaten him with STAB Earthquake and doesn't mind anything Muk throws at him. The Nido royals work similarly, but have to beware of Ice Punch. Steelix and Aggron can sit pretty 24/7 and hit him hard with STAB Earthquake; Fire Punch barely scathes them. Aggron does hate Brick Break however. Overall, Muk will almost always attack from the physical side, but don't expect to always know what he is carrying. This guy's movepool is large and may have something to take your precious Ground Pokemon down if weakened enough! And... he smells Notable Moves: Curse, Poison Jab, Gunk Shot, Shadow Sneak, Payback, Brick Break, Substitute, Focus Punch, Ice Punch, Thunderpunch, Fire Punch, Disable, Rock Slide, Pain Split, Explosion, Giga Drain, Rest, Sleep Talk, Memento, Imprison, Acid Armor, Taunt, Torment Useful Items: Black Sludge, Leftovers, Choice Band, Lum Berry Counters: Skarmory, Bronzong, Steelix, Rhyperior, Aggron, Probopass, Nidoqueen, Nidoking, Claydol, Swampert [hgsssprite]091[/hgsssprite] 091: Cloyster Type: Water/Ice Ability: Shell Armor / Skill Link / Overcoat (Dream World) Base Stats: 50/95/180/85/45/70 Difficulty: Intermediate Cloyster is always a nice utility Pokemon to have. Being one of the few Pokemon with the ability to use Rapid Spin, he can be a great asset to one's team. He even has the ability to lay his own Spikes and even Toxic Spikes as well! Also, many of the other spinners fall to him, one on one. And look at that awesome defence of 180. 180! That is the largest defence stat any of the Generation I Pokemon have. Along with decent offence stats with two STAB Surf and Ice Beam in his arsenal, he can be a great Pokemon. He can even go BOOM with Explosion once he is done with his job. Huh? What do you mean that's not what he is known for? He is a great utility Pokemon, you seem to forget. Oh, Generation V Cloyster. Right, I think I should tell you about this crazy monster of a Pokemon they bought in. Cloyster, along with a few other Pokemon, received a scary boosting move called Shell Smash. Using a single Shell Smash, Cloyster's Attack, Special Attack, and Speed doubles, but his defences go down by 1 stage. This makes Cloyster automatically a scary sweeper, as even with 1 defence stage lowered, physical priority moves still cannot take him down because his base 180 defence is already absurd. But what makes Cloyster special? Aside from being the fastest of the Shell Smashers, his STAB move of choice Icicle Spear can break Substitutes, and can pretty much OHKO anything that doesn't resist it because his ability Skill Link guarantees ALL 5 of the Icicles hit. The Pokemon that resist Icicle Spear? Let's try Rock Blast! Yeah, those Ice Pokemon will start crying once they get hit by these. What do you mean that Skarmory is trouble? Let's give them a taste of Hydro Pump! And Empoleon? Oh, well, that's why there is a team! Anyways, we can see why Cloyster is such a scary monster. However, Cloyster is not without flaws. He has a hopeless special defence, that even Surfs chip off quite a lot of his health. Having Cloyster set up is a huge mistake for any battlers, BUT, sometimes it is quite hard to stop him. Your best bet is probably Ferrothorn, who isn't weak to anything he has, though Icicle Spear will probably hurt a lot regardless. Ferrothorn can use Power Whip in return to hurt Cloyster. Skarmory and Bronzong can also switch in and either phaze him out (Skarmory) or hit him with a super effective Grass Knot (Bronzong). Empoleon resists all of Icicle Spear, Rock Blast and Hydro Pump and can hit the blasted shellfish with Grass Knot. You can try revenging a Cloyster by having someone with the PRANKSTER ability to Thunder Wave/Will-o-Wisp Cloyster so that it will be crippled, making him easier to deal with. This variant of Cloyster also hates Vacuum Waves. The defensive Cloyster, surprise surprise, is weak to Stealth Rocks as he needs to spin them away. Just hit it hard with an electric or grass move. Lanturn works well, as he resists both Surf and Ice Beam, BUT must watch out for surprise Explosions or something. All in all, beware of Cloyster. If you let a Cloyster set up (be it entry hazards or Shell Smash), it can mean doom to your team. In fact, you will see a lot of people rage at this guy because of Shell Smash. Notable Moves: Surf, Ice Beam, Spikes, Toxic Spikes, Rapid Spin, Shell Smash, Icicle Spear, Rock Blast, Razor Shell, Hydro Pump, Spike Cannon, Protect, Explosion, Ice Shard Useful Items: Leftovers, Lum Berry, Focus Sash, Chople Berry, Choice Band, Choice Scarf Counters: Skarmory, Bronzong, Empoleon, Ferrothorn [hgsssprite]094[/hgsssprite] Analysis by Tbird 094: Gengar Type: Ghost/Poison Ability: Levitate Base Stats: 60/65/60/130/75/110 Difficulty: Hard "That unpredictable beast is you in Pokemon form" ~ Wraith Gengar is another pokemon that has been OU from the very start, and rightfully so. It is unpredictable and a beast, it has the stats and movepool to make you cry. his stats may look subpar... until you reach that 130 special attack and 110 speed. This basically means you better be ready for something to take a hurting. Gengar sees so much usage due to the aforementioned beast stats, and due to its mass immunities. It can outright wall Chansey, it can switch in pretty much whenever it likes, and it can destroy most things... and if its offensive movepool doesn't allow it to destroy the opponent it has several great support moves to mess with the opponent. In Gen IV it was used to remove Scizor, Tyranitar, Heatran, Starmie and other problem pokes with a Protect set that allowed it to scout the opponent and act accordingly, most the time netting Gengar's team one less threat. It can now be seen taking out Blissey and other walls with a Sub Split set, The idea is to sub down as much as possible, hit painsplit and then smack the opponent with the relevent move. A new set of sub disable is also immerging now, too, which generally allows gengar to act as a check to so many pokemon in the metagame that it is unreal. Say Bulk up Conkeldurr is being a pain, switch in on the mach punch/ drain punch, hit Substitute as it uses Payback, then disable Payback and leave it thinking "what just happened?" Gengar's unpredictability is what makes it a true beast, if you can't figure out its set early on, expect it to screw with your team for a good while. Beating it is all about knowing what you're up against, If it's a general special attacker, then Ice Beam Blissey can take it down, if it's the sub split set, your best bet is using a fast priority abuse like Scizor or Azumarill, depending on the coverage move. If you can get in on it when it doesn't have a substitute up, then anything that outspeeds it can wreck it, If you can get Scarf Chomp, Starmie, ScarfTran or Scarftar in on a resisted move they will tend to come out on top. TR Reuniclus can generally come out on top, too, as it can set up TR as Gengar uses Shadow Ball, then OHKO the next turn with PsyShock and Recover off the damage the turn after. Spiritomb puts Gengar in an awful position, too, as it can Pursuit it or Sucker punch it, depending on the set. Notable Moves: Shadow Ball, Focus Blast, Thunderbolt, Hidden Power [Fire/Ice/Fighting], Energy Ball, Psychic, Giga Drain, Substitute, Trick, Will-o-Wisp, Hypnosis, Toxic, Icy Wind, Destiny Bond, Pain Split, Protect, Disable, Focus Punch, Explosion, Counter, Mean Look, Perish Song Useful Items: Black Sludge, Life Orb, Leftovers, Choice Scarf, Choice Specs, Expert Belt, Focus Sash, Salac Berry, Petaya Berry Counters: Spiritomb, Snorlax, Blissey, Metagross, Tyranitar, Heatran [hgsssprite]095[/hgsssprite] 095: Onix Type: Rock/Ground Ability: Rock Head / Sturdy / Weak Armor (Dream World) Base Stats: 35/45/160/30/45/70 Difficulty: Insane I've evolved! Please check Steelix in the Johto section for more details. What? You calling me weak? I'll tell you what, I can do things to you that isn't pretty, like break your bones by binding on you, or breathing dragon stuff! Eh? 45 attack isn't convincing? All right. Look at me. See that base 70 speed? Yes, I get slower when I evolve. But guess what? Try me on a Substitute/Toxic/Torment set with 245 speed and see how I do. Maybe then you might reconsider. Now go away. I'm busy digging holes looking for a Metal Coat. Wraith wonders what the heck they were thinking when they gave Onix such a low HP score and an incredibly low attack. I think he was supposed to be a boss type of Pokemon gone all wrong. Thank God he evolved into Steelix, I think that's how Onix was supposed to be. If this wasn't Pokemon, a balance patch would have probably changed his stats... and possibly Pidgeot's or Hitmonchan's. Alas, GSC was the 'balance patch' and... yeah. Rocky (Onix) (M) @ Leftovers Trait: Sturdy EVs: 252 HP / 64 Atk / 192 Spd Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk) - Substitute - Torment - Toxic - Rock Slide / Protect / Taunt Notable Moves: Earthquake, Stone Edge, Iron Head, Crunch, Return, Dragon Tail, Substitute, Toxic, Taunt, Torment, Stealth Rock, Roar, Protect, Rock Polish Useful Items: Leftovers, Eviolite Counters: Blastoise, Swampert, Meganium, Venusaur, Celebi, Exeggutor, Slowbro, Suicune, Milotic [hgsssprite]097[/hgsssprite] 097: Hypno Type: Psychic Ability: Insomnia / Forewarn / Inner Focus (Dream World) Base Stats: 85/73/70/73/115/67 Difficulty: Intermediate The first defensive Psychic, along with the one who defined Hypnosis + Dream Eater combo (though Gengar is right above Hypno in the Pokedex), Hypno is not like the glass cannon Alakazam. With the inability to sleep thanks to Insomnia, this guy has a lot going for him. Even though he has access to Nasty Plot, I see him more as a defensive Pokemon, so Calm Mind suits him better. Since he has equal attack and special attack, he can utilise both, but he has more attacks on the special side, so stick with those unless you are going to attempt Belly Drum or Meditate. He is probably best utilising things like Thunder Wave or Hypnosis as a status platform, or casting double screens. A certain event allows Hypno to get Wish, though it is difficult to obtain, it can be quite useful. The version has (give you two seconds to guess)... Baton Pass. Joy. Dream World gives Hypno Inner Focus. Okay, at least you won't flinch from Jirachi's dastardly attempts to flinchhax, but honestly, I would take the inability to sleep anytime. Hypno's counters are generic psychic counters, ones such as Tyranitar or Spiritomb. Neither of them are afraid of Thunder Wave either. Mismagius is able to set up Calm Minds and can even Taunt Hypno to prevent him from setting up himself, forcing him to retreat. Scizor and Weavile can also be problematic due to their psychic killing powers. Overall, Hypno makes an interesting Psychic and can provide the team in many ways possible. Notable Moves: Psychic, Psyshock, Calm Mind, Hypnosis, Thunder Wave, Protect, Disable, Nasty Plot, Shadow Ball, Focus Blast, Grass Knot, Signal Beam, Substitute, Focus Punch, Fire Punch, Ice Punch, Thunderpunch, Meditate, Psycho Cut, Low Kick, Magic Coat, Skill Swap, Trick, Trick Room, Belly Drum Useful Items: Leftovers, Choice Specs Counters: Spiritomb, Cofagrigus, Mismagius, Drifblim, Tyranitar, Weavile, Scizor, Heracross [hgsssprite]099[/hgsssprite] 099: Kingler Type: Water Ability: Hyper Cutter / Shell Armor / Sheer Force (Dream World) Base Stats: 55/130/115/50/50/75 Difficulty: Hard "Cookie cookie!" Ash's Kingler was an amazing sight to behold in the anime. He just rocked. Anyways, this guy was plagued for a long time for the lack of usable STAB due to his paltry base 50 attack. However, Gen IV came along with its physical/special split and gave Kingler a much better time with his signature move Crabhammer! Yay! With that being said, Kingler is an interesting Pokemon and can be quite promising if played right. He has Swords Dance and Agility to help set up and with base 130 attack, a Swords Dance + Crabhammer will hurt nearly anything that doesn't resist it. His coverage moves include Return, X-Scissor, Rock Slide and Brick Break. Actually, he even has Superpower, but that's to be used with a Choice item or something. Too bad he doesn't have Earthquake; that would have been really neat. That being said, Kingler is not without his flaws. See those special stats I have been harping about? Yeah... he's toast even to some special Fire attack. All over the anime people make no mention of Kingler's water affinity and have Arcanine Fire Blasting him all over defeating him. What a shame, but it's true. Fire Blast can take a chunk off Kingler's HP even if he resists it. Nearly any special attacks can be quite lethal to the king crab. Dream World brought in Sheer Force as an ability. It's a great ability which sacrifices an attack's effect for 30% more power. However, Kingler doesn't have much that can benefit from this aside from Rock Slide. Any of the abilities are fine really. Countering Kingler usually involves bringing in some bulky grass, as usual. Hopefully they have a secondary poison typing to negate weakness to X-Scissor. If not, Tangrowth is usually fine. She has special attacks such as Giga Drain and has the bulk to take whatever Kingler has to offer. Leafeon is in the same vein, but needs to run STAB Leaf Blade. Empoleon can come into anything except Superpower or Brick Break and hurt Kingler with Grass Knot. Skarmory can come in and blow Kingler away, provided he did not set up already and hit her with a boosted Crabhammer. Electrics would work if they were not so fragile. Zapdos, however, should be able to take a hit and hit back with Thunderbolt. Overall, Kingler is a good Pokemon and can pose a great threat to anyone lacking a physical wall. Notable Moves: Crabhammer, Swords Dance, Agility, Hone Claws, Return, Rock Slide, Brick Break, X-Scissor, Superpower, Knock Off, Tickle, Endure, Flail Useful Items: Leftovers, Life Orb, Choice Band, Choice Scarf Counters: Milotic, Suicune, Lapras, Tangrowth, Empoleon, Leafeon, Venusaur, Vileplume [hgsssprite]101[/hgsssprite] 101: Electrode Type: Electric Ability: Soundproof / Static / Aftermath (Dream World) Base Stats: 60/50/70/80/80/140 Difficulty: Intermediate Electrode is THE fastest Pokemon of the Kanto generation. Seriously, there is nothing here that beats base 140 speed. But... that's about all. But it can explode right? Yep, the bomb ball as I used to call it. It would troll me in Super Smash Bros as someone would throw a Pokeball and summon an Electrode that exploded all of us out of the arena. Whoops. But then would you look at that? 50 base attack? And this guy is supposed to be the representative of all things that explode? Yes, pretty much. But Electrode isn't useless. In fact, it makes an excellent lead and can set up rain. It also sports the fastest Taunt in the underused tiers and in the end explode in someone's face. But Explosion got nerfed right? ... yes Try to utilise his STAB electric moves as well, as Thunder can still be potent despite the modest 80 base special attack. Dream World brought in Aftermath as its ability. Hey, that's how it's supposed to be! You make it faint, it will explode! It's pretty cool, so any ability will do. Countering Electrode is usually as easy as bringing in some generic ground to take a Thunder. It's even better if it is a Rock/Ground like Rhyperior, but some Electrodes anticipate that and can run some random Hidden Power Grass or Ice or something. Ew. Blissey can wall it 24/7, but Electrode has Taunt to stop her from recovering. Bulky grass like Venusaur or Meganium make great switch ins and can deal with a menace like Electrode easily. Lanturn absorbs Thunder and has her own tools to mess with Electrode. Really though, anything bulky that resists Electric moves with enough hard hitting moves should be enough to put an end to Electrode, as long as they're not relying on indirect tactics only to get Taunted. Electrode is a weird one, but it is smiling for a reason. It's just too fast and loves exploding on its foes. Notable Moves: Thunderbolt, Discharge, Volt Switch, Taunt, Rain Dance, Thunder, Taunt, Torment, Toxic, Thunder Wave, Explosion, Substitute, Charge Beam, Magnet Rise, Hidden Power [Grass/Ice/Water], Protect Useful Items: Focus Sash, Choice Specs, Lum Berry, Damp Rock Counters: Venusaur, Meganium, Lanturn, Electivire, Blissey, Rhyperior, Steelix, Dugtrio, Excadrill, Claydol [hgsssprite]103[/hgsssprite] 103: Exeggutor Type: Grass/Psychic Ability: Chlorophyll / Harvest Base Stats: 95/95/85/125/65/55 Difficulty: Hard Do not underestimate this versatile Grass Pokemon. He can function in many teams, such as sun teams, Trick Room teams, and can be a useful status platform. Exeggutor can hit very hard and will definitely surprise anything that expects to switch in easily. His typing, however, leaves it 7 weaknesses, including a fatal 4x weakness to Bug moves and very common weaknesses. However, his defences are okay and it has handy resistances to Water, Electric, Grass, Fighting and Psychic moves. He has support moves such as Reflect, Light Screen, and Sleep Powder. His Dream World ability Harvest is pretty broken. Exeggutor will switch into some bulky water or grass, Substitute, and keep Subbing or something until it reaches 25% HP or so. Then Starf Berry will activate, and stupidly raise some stat by + 2. Pray that stat was something awesome like speed or SpA or if it's the other guy, some irrelevant stat. Anyways, with this, Exeggutor can become very scary because of infinite berries. However, this will only activate 50% of the time. It will become activated 100% of the time during intense sunlight, however. Though he does not seem interesting, whenever you see Exeggutor, expect it to either hit hard, set up a Trick Room, or do something to mess with you. He does not like stuff like Flamethrower and whatnot, but beware that lead variants like to carry Focus Sash to mitigate that. But with Exeggutor's mass weaknesses, it should not be hard to deal with him... but he certainly will not go down before leaving a huge dent on something. Notable Moves: Leaf Storm, Psychic, Psyshock, Grass Knot, Energy Ball, Giga Drain, Wood Hammer, Trick Room, Sleep Powder, Stun Spore, Leech Seed, Swords Dance, Synthesis, Reflect, Light Screen, Low Kick, Explosion, Sunny Day, Solarbeam Useful Items: Leftovers, Life Orb, Focus Sash, Lum Berry, Starf Berry, Heat Rock Counters: Spiritomb, Moltres, Venusaur, Ninetales, Arcanine, Houndoom, Entei, Heatran, Scizor [hgsssprite]105[/hgsssprite] 105: Marowak Type: Ground Ability: Rock Head / Lightningrod / Battle Armor Base Stats: 60/80/110/50/80/45 Difficulty: Intermediate I see Marowak's Japanese name as "Garagara". Funny thing is, that means "Leave leave!" in Korean, which is pretty much what you should be doing from an angry Marowak. Hey, didn't that ghost of mother Marowak do the same thing? Telling the protagonist to leave the place? Interesting. It surely can't be a coincidence. Anyways, Marowak is known for one thing; hitting really hard. Eh, but his attack power is only 80! True, but it is due to his unique held item; Thick Club, which basically doubles his attack power. Interesting? Of course it is! This makes Marowak much stronger than Medicham! A free Swords Dance from the start is always nice to have. Okay fine, it isn't free because it requires a held item space. Heh, okay. STAB Earthquake + Rock Slide or Stone Edge always works well. But you know, if Marowak is already this strong, why not make it overkill? How about a Swords Dance? Brilliant idea! Let's set up Swords Dance and just OHKO the whole metagame with OP moves. Now wait a minute! Can you really do that with that low base 45 speed? Eek! Should have thought of that... oh. Let's put him in a Trick Room environment! That can work really well actually, or pass some Agilities to Marowak. Marowak's Dream World ability is Battle Armor, which is great since it disallows critical hits on him. Rock Head is useful when you are running Double-Edge however. However, with Battle Armor Marowak cannot learn Fire Punch. Eww. To counter Marowak, send in some really durable physical wall. Something like Weezing can do, as he is immune to Earthquake and takes not much from anything else can hit back with Will-o-Wisp to cripple Marowak and Haze any attempts of Swords Dance. Skarmory as usual can sit her butt and blow Marowak away, though she must watch out for the occasional Fire Punches. Bulky grasses such as Leafeon, Tangrowth and Torterra do well, but of course, Fire Punch can be a hazard. Azumarill can hit him really hard with her Aqua Jet if all else fails. Overall, Marowak is a nuke, but must be launched with caution as there are just too many ways to deal with him. Notable Moves: Earthquake, Rock Slide, Stone Edge, Substitute, Fire Punch, Return, Low Kick, Thunderpunch, Double-Edge, Swords Dance, Icy Wind Useful Items: Thick Club Counters: Torterra, Lunatone, Solrock, Weezing, Skarmory, Leafeon, Tangrowth, Blastoise, Swampert, Azumarill [hgsssprite]106[/hgsssprite] 106: Hitmonlee Type: Fighting Ability: Limber / Reckless / Unburden (Dream World) Base Stats: 50/120/53/35/110/87 Difficulty: Easy From the stats and ability alone, it is clear that Hitmonlee is the better of the two Hitmons from the Saffron Dojo. With high attack and decent speed (which can cap at 300 with positive nature), Hitmonlee is a capable revenge killer with plenty of power. However, he suffers from very low defence, meaning he can be easily revenge killed. Usually he is scarfed to employ his revenger role better, but doing so means he will be locked into one move. He has access to plethora of moves such as Hi Jump Kick, Close Combat, Stone Edge, Earthquake, Sucker Punch and more. Dream World gave Hitmonlee Unburden, which would be useful with a Berry such as Liechi Berry, but that is not available yet. I would stick with Limber for immunity with paralysis. Generic physical walls make great counters to Hitmonlee. Skarmory can take a hit or come into Stone Edge or Earthquake, but must watch out for Blaze Kick. Weezing resists Hitmonlee's STAB moves and can hit back with Will-o-Wisp. Spiritomb can be used similarly and STAB Shadow Ball can be used to dispatch Hitmonlee relatively rapidly. If Hitmonlee lacks Earthquake, poisons like Nidoking or Nidoqueen can come in and hit Hitmonlee hard. If you are in need of a fighter, Hitmonlee can definitely play a good role for your team. While he is not as fast as Primeape, he certainly is stronger and is able to switch into Thunder Waves easily, which would otherwise maim other Fighters. Notable Moves: Close Combat, Hi Jump Kick, Stone Edge, Earthquake, Blaze Kick, Fake Out, Sucker Punch, Mach Punch, Bullet Punch, Pursuit, Rapid Spin Useful Items: Life Orb, Choice Scarf, Choice Band, Focus Sash Counters: Weezing, Spiritomb, Nidoking, Nidoqueen, Skarmory, Slowbro, Claydol, Cofagrigus [hgsssprite]107[/hgsssprite] 107: Hitmonchan Type: Fighting Ability: Keen Eye / Iron Fist / Inner Focus (Dream World) Base Stats: 50/105/79/35/110/76 Difficulty: Intermediate Unfortunately for Hitmonchan, he has nothing to claim over the other two Hitmons. Hitmonlee is stronger and faster and Hitmontop is a great utility Pokemon. Hitmonchan has higher defence than Hitmonlee, but it is a lost cause because it doesn't help much. Doesn't its Pokedex description imply Hitmonchan is fast? I guess it learns Agility and a lot of priority moves, but still, that's ridiculous. Also another stupid thing is Hitmonchan is the ONLY HITMON WITHOUT Sucker Punch! I know Sucker Punch isn't a fist attack, but still, that is incredibly ridiculous. So what does Hitmonchan have? Elemental punches I guess... but he couldn't even utilise them properly until Gen IV due to the physical/special split. And even then, there are other fighters who can use the elemental punches as well. And they somehow gave up... Iron Fist was his signature ability, but now it is just totally widespread almost anything gets it. Ridiculous, is it not? However, Iron Fist does power up his fist attacks, and he has quite a lot of them. In fact, it is powerful enough that a Choice Banded Focus Punch shaves off 80% + to things that even resist Fighting attacks normally, such as Venusaur! It will even OHKO max HP Steelix or Registeel, which you will not see quite often, if at all! Combine that with the fact Hitmonchan gets access to a lot of priority attacks (two of them being fist attacks) and he can be pretty hard hitting. Dream World didn't do Hitmonchan much justice, however, as he only got access to Inner Focus. It is helpful if you hate flinchhaxing things like Jirachi, but other than that, there could have been more done for Hitmonchan. Iron Fist is most likely Hitmonchan's best ability. As for defeating Hitmonchan, don't switch into a Focus Punch unless you are a ghost. Weezing and Spiritomb make great initial switch-ins, with access to Will-o-Wisp and resistance or immunity to his STAB, respectively. Cofagrigus deserves a mention for his Mummy ability disabling Iron Fist and being immune to STAB. Though Hitmonchan may be outshined by most other fighters, he can still be useful in his own rights. Hey, at least he can run elemental punches properly now! Notable Moves: Close Combat, Hi Jump Kick, Thunderpunch, Ice Punch, Fire Punch, Stone Edge, Earthquake, Substitute, Bulk Up, Focus Punch, Mach Punch, Drain Punch, Bullet Punch, Pursuit, Agility Useful Items: Leftovers, Life Orb, Choice Band, Choice Scarf Counters: Weezing, Spiritomb, Nidoking, Nidoqueen, Skarmory, Slowbro, Claydol, Cofagrigus [hgsssprite]108[/hgsssprite] 108: Lickitung Type: Normal Ability: Own Tempo / Oblivious / Cloud Nine (Dream World) Base Stats: 90/55/75/60/75/30 Difficulty: Advanced I've evolved! Please check Lickilicky in the Sinnoh section for more details. Oh and please don't check your nearest candy shop. Notable Moves: Return, Power Whip, Disable, Ice Beam, Thunderbolt, Earthquake, Flamethrower, Fire Blast, Shadow Ball, Swords Dance, Aqua Tail, Surf, Fire Punch, Ice Punch, Thunderpunch, Work Up, Substitute, Focus Punch, Dragon Tail, Toxic, Rock Slide, Heal Bell, Body Slam, Hammer Arm, Wish (Event), Heal Bell (Event), Knock Off, Protect, Curse, Rest, Sleep Talk Useful Items: Leftovers, Life Orb, Choice Band, Choice Specs, Eviolite Counters: Machamp, Hariyama, Conkeldurr, Primeape, Throh, Sawk, Heracross [hgsssprite]110[/hgsssprite] 110: Weezing Type: Poison Ability: Levitate Base Stats: 65/90/120/85/70/60 Difficulty: Intermediate He may be ugly but he's sure very effective from keeping Fighters from wrecking your whole team. He has the moves a Ghost would have, such as Pain Split, Will-o-Wisp and Destiny Bond, and he's physically very bulky to take on most physical attackers. He has Thunderbolt to take care of Gyarados and Flamethrower to burn Scizor to crisp. In a metagame dominated by the likes of Conkeldurr and whatnot, Weezing can definitely take them heads on. Well, don't try to burn Conkeldurr or Heracross; that just makes them angrier. I'd say he's very effective. Being immune to Earthquake is also a bonus. However, things started hitting much harder so an old school Pokemon like Weezing has a much harder time to switch in than before. Not to mention, he is not very able on taking physical attacks. Luckily, many Psychics have converted to Psyshock as their main STAB, meaning their Psychic attacks will not OHKO Weezing if they use Psyshock unless significantly boosted. To counter Weezing, ghost Pokemon can resist nearly anything Weezing has and can hit him with STAB Shadow Ball on his weaker defence. Heatran is possibly Weezing's best counter, as he can benefit from a Will-o-Wisp and hit back with a Flash Fire boosted Fire Blast. In general, try a Flash Fire Pokemon if you anticipate a Will-o-Wisp. Weezing will generally hate Steels, but he usually has Flamethrower to defend himself in case of such encounters. At any rate, Weezing's unique typing and ability can be very helpful in hindering your foe from using an otherwise dangerous physical sweeper. You will be surprised at how useful Weezing can be... or how annoying he can be if he is your foe. Notable Moves: Toxic, Sludge Bomb, Clear Smog, Will-o-Wisp, Haze, Pain Split, Substitute, Thunderbolt, Flamethrower, Fire Blast, Hidden Power [ice], Explosion, Destiny Bond, Dark Pulse, Taunt, Torment, Shadow Ball, Curse, Stockpile, Grudge, Payback Useful Items: Black Sludge, Leftovers, Choice Specs Counters: Heatran, Ninetales, Houndoom, Arcanine, Gengar, Mismagius, Cofagrigus, Chandelure, Blissey [hgsssprite]112[/hgsssprite] 112: Rhydon Type: Ground/Rock Ability: Lightningrod / Rock Head / Reckless (Dream World) Base Stats: 105/130/120/45/45/40 Difficulty: Hard I've evolved! Please check Rhyperior in the Sinnoh section for more details. What? You think I evolved unnecessarily? Try bringing me in a serious match in OU and see if I can live long enough from these new guys without Solid Rock. Notable Moves: Earthquake, Stone Edge, Megahorn, Aqua Tail, Thunderpunch, Fire Punch, Ice Punch, Rock Blast, Hammer Arm, Crunch, Payback, Swords Dance, Rock Polish, Substitute, Curse, Avalanche, Roar, Dragon Tail, Stealth Rock, Rest, Sleep Talk, Toxic Useful Items: Leftovers, Life Orb, Eviolite, Lum Berry, Choice Band, Passho Berry, Rindo Berry Counters: Swampert, Tangrowth, Hippowdon, Torterra, Leafeon, Bronzong, Blastoise, Milotic, Serperior [hgsssprite]113[/hgsssprite] 113: Chansey Type: Normal Ability: Natural Cure / Serene Grace / Healer (Dream World) Base Stats: 250/5/5/35/105/50 Difficulty: Intermediate I've evolved!♪ Please check Blissey in the Johto section for more details.♪ Chansey Day Care takes Eggs and looks after them for Pokemon!♪ I'm responsible for caring for Eggs, raising them as if they were my own!♪ I hope you're as excited as I am to know what's growing inside your Egg!♪ I've heard that you can get Eggs as rewards for missions sometimes.♪ So, if you want an Egg, go on lots of missions!♪ Notable Moves: Softboiled, Wish (NYPC Event), Protect, Aromatherapy, Heal Bell, Toxic, Thunder Wave, Seismic Toss (FRLG Tutor), Counter Useful Items: Leftovers, Eviolite Counters: Machamp, Conkeldurr, Tyranitar, Metagross, Snorlax, Gengar [hgsssprite]114[/hgsssprite] 114: Tangela Type: Grass Ability: Chlorophyll / Leaf Guard / Regenerator (Dream World) Base Stats: 65/55/115/100/40/60 Difficulty: Advanced I've evolved! Please check Tangrowth in the Sinnoh section for more details. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be getting my haircut... Notable Moves: Sunny Day, Solarbeam, Sleep Powder, Stun Spore, Giga Drain, Swords Dance, Power Whip, Return, Grass Knot, Energy Ball, Leaf Storm, Leech Seed, Ancientpower, Sludge Bomb, Shock Wave, Knock Off, Tickle, Toxic, Pain Split Useful Items: Leftovers, Heat Rock, Life Orb, Eviolite, Big Root Counters: Heatran, Arcanine, Moltres, Ninetales, Houndoom, Charizard, Infernape, Blaziken, Typhlosion, Emboar [hgsssprite]115[/hgsssprite] 115: Kangaskhan Type: Normal Ability: Early Bird / Scrappy / Inner Focus (Dream World) Base Stats: 105/95/80/40/80/90 Difficulty: Intermediate Is she just another run-of-the-mill Normal? Not quite. Kangaskhan is quite a strange Normal Pokemon (oxymoron much?) who, despite what people say, is NOT outclassed by Tauros. What other Pokemon can use Normal or Fighting attacks against Ghost Pokemon without the help of Foresight? Oh... Miltank. Yeah okay, but Kangaskhan has a lot to offer. For one, she is offensively better than Miltank and can make 101 Substitutes that cannot be broken from the likes of a single Seismic Toss. Though she has super effective moves to target Ghosts like Crunch or Sucker Punch, they're not always needed as STAB Normal moves can hit hard enough. However, Sucker Punch is still a useful move and this kangaroo can actually Fake Out Ghost Pokemon leads when they normally don't have anything to fear! Heh heh, Gengar won't be smiling pretty without that Sash to go back to. The combination of Substitute + Focus Punch + Sucker Punch is a pretty amazing combination to behold for people who are great at predictions. She also has Disable to mess with Pokemon with one Fighting move and also has a new toy to play with: Circle Throw. Why is it useful on Kangaskhan? Because Kangaskhan is quite bulky and nobody is immune to her Circle Throw due to Scrappy. However, that 90% is off putting sometimes and a lot of times, I found myself missing. Too bad she does not get Hone Claws, that would have been great. Dream World gave Kangaskhan Inner Focus. Well, okay, lead Kangaskhan might be able to use that somewhat, but I prefer Fake Out being able to hit ghost leads and being able to hit other ghosts without being in the lead position as well. Countering Kangaskhan is a tricky business, as you cannot just rely on ghosts to wrangle the kangaroo. Not even defensive rocks and steels are completely safe; Focus Punch can hurt. However, Steelix and Rhyperior are bulky enough to take a hit from Kangaskhan and can hurt her back with their attacks. Weezing resists Focus Punch and can cripple her with Will-o-Wisp. Don't try Spiritomb because with Scrappy, he is actually WEAK to Focus Punch. Cofagrigus can come in, take a Focus Punch or whatever Kangaskhan has and can disable her Scrappy with Mummy. If she doesn't have any dark moves, then she is in for a lot of trouble. Kangaskhan can be a very helpful Pokemon; when protecting her baby from a cruel world where everyone is belligerent, she will not relent easily. Notable Moves: Substitute, Return, Circle Throw, Focus Punch, Crunch, Sucker Punch, Drain Punch, Hammer Arm, Earthquake, Low Kick, Fake Out, Protect, Double-Edge, Disable, Rest, Sleep Talk, Wish (Event), Counter, Endure, Reversal Useful Items: Leftovers, Liechi Berry, Salac Berry, Lum Berry, Choice Band Counters: Rhyperior, Steelix, Weezing, Cofagrigus, Heracross, Hitmontop, Forretress, Skarmory [hgsssprite]117[/hgsssprite] 117: Seadra Type: Water Ability: Poison Point / Sniper / Damp (Dream World) Base Stats: 55/65/95/95/45/85 Difficulty: Advanced I've evolved! Please check Kingdra in the Johto section for more details. Oh, and please don't touch me. I AM actually poisonous. Notable Moves: Hydro Pump, Surf, Dragon Dance, Outrage, Waterfall, Dragon Pulse, Ice Beam, Scald, Signal Beam, Disable, Clear Smog, Endure, Flail, Splash Useful Items: Life Orb, Choice Scarf, Choice Band, Choice Specs, Eviolite, Salac Berry, Petaya Berry, Liechi Berry Counters: Celebi, Venusaur, Meganium, Raichu, Ampharos, Registeel, Milotic, Slowbro [hgsssprite]119[/hgsssprite] 119: Seaking Type: Water Ability: Swift Swim / Water Veil / Lightningrod (Dream World) Base Stats: 80/92/65/65/80/68 Difficulty: Hard Yes, some of you have already heard that stupid meme involving Seaking and a certain swear word. You are thinking he isn't anything special. Sure, I'll consent, there are much better waters out there and he seems to just be a Pokemon swimmers or fishers carry to distract you in-game or just a Pokedex fodder or to include more species of fishies to reflect real life diversity of fauna, but I digress. He is somewhat interesting. Though he isn't that great in standards, he can certainly be quite scary in uber battling. Why? Because with a Choice Band and Megahorn, he can go ahead and ruin many Psychics and Darks that plague the Ubers metagame. In fact, it hurts. In the rain, he is incredibly powerful with a boosted Waterfall or Megahorn and is actually pretty hard to switch into. Not convinced? Some people can get it to work because they were willing to try. Dream World gave Seaking an interesting ability. Now you are thinking Gamefreak trolled him because they gave him an ability that draws in a type that he is weak against! Yes, I thought that at first too, until I knew of Lightningrod's new effect. It will also grant the user immunity to electric moves and raise their special attack level by 1! HOLY moly! I still like Swift Swim better, but Lightningrod has its uses. I switched into a Zapdos who got surprised that Thunderbolt didn't hurt Seaking at all! In return, it got a strong STAB Waterfall in its face, though it wasn't enough to OHKO. Either way, that will certainly surprise most people. Countering Seaking is a matter of bringing in a physical wall, such as Skarmory or Forretress and setting up or something. Shedinja can come into anything except Peck or Knock Off with impunity. Bulky waters such as Milotic can wall Seaking and cripple him with Toxic or strike back with something like Hidden Power Electric or Grass. Lapras and Lanturn work great in fact thanks to their access to Thunderbolt, but I wouldn't really recommend the latter because of her low defence. Also, some Seakings COULD be carrying Lightningrod so electric moves are not always an option. Poliwrath and Empoleon both resist Waterfall and Megahorn, making them great switch-ins. Starmie would be nice except it's weak to Megahorn. Whoops. Overall, this guy's horn should not be underestimated and can puncture serious holes if you are not careful. Notable Moves: Waterfall, Megahorn, Hydro Pump, Return, Ice Beam, Knock Off, Aqua Tail Useful Items: Life Orb, Choice Band Counters: Empoleon, Poliwrath, Skarmory, Forretress, Jellicent, Ferrothorn, Lapras [hgsssprite]121[/hgsssprite] 121: Starmie Type: Water/Psychic Ability: Illuminate / Natural Cure / Analytic (Dream World) Base Stats: 60/75/85/100/85/115 Difficulty: Intermediate Starmie is one of those Pokemon who has consistently stayed in OU due to its versatility and usefulness. It may be fragile, but it is very fast and is a great counter to otherwise murderous Pokemon such as Infernape and has been present in many Fire-Water-Grass cores within a team. It has many attacks to take down threats like Ice Beam for Salamence or Thunderbolt for Gyarados and it has Rapid Spin to support its teammates. Recover is a handy reliable recovery move and it is always nice to have. Toxic Spikes ruining the fun? Spin away and come back healthy again thanks to Natural Cure! Dream World's Starmie has Analytic, which is fitting for such a mysterious Pokemon, but it isn't very useful. Why? Because Starmie is fast; there is almost never a time where Starmie will survive the hit of a faster Pokemon to even use Analytic's attack boost anyhow. The amazing Starmie is very useful, but it is not without flaws. For one, it is quite fragile; not what you would take as a bulky water actually. Since it is typically the hit-and-run type, it is also vulnerable to Pursuit, which it is weak to. More often than not, a Scizor or Weavile forcing Starmie out can OHKO it while retreating, which is bad. In fact, those two make very good counters to Starmie, though an LO boosted Hydro Pump will take its toll, possibly OHKOing either of them after Stealth Rocks. Lanturn is resistant to STAB water moves and is immune to Thunderbolt and has her own electric attacks to take on the starfish. Even though Tyranitar is weak to water moves, that bloated sand can help him live through at least one or two attacks and hit back with his scary STAB Crunch or Pursuit, which is very threatening. You can always send in Blissey, but Blissey hates it when Starmie tricks a Choice Specs onto her. Bulky grass like Celebi can do the trick, as that dryad is resistant to both STABs and can hit back with its STAB Grass attack. Remember that Ice Beam is a dangerous move and can 2HKO some grassers. Overall, this versatile star can be a dangerous foe; it is not to be underestimated. Using Starmie properly can also help defeat your foes; do so and you will not be disappointed. Notable Moves: Surf, Hydro Pump, Psychic, Psyshock, Rapid Spin, Thunderbolt, Ice Beam, Signal Beam, Grass Knot, Trick, Recover, Thunder Wave, Toxic, Reflect, Light Screen, Substitute Useful Items: Leftovers, Life Orb, Light Clay, Choice Specs, Choice Scarf Counters: Blissey, Weavile, Tyranitar, Scizor, Mismagius, Celebi, Shaymin, Lanturn [hgsssprite]122[/hgsssprite] 122: Mr. Mime Type: Psychic Ability: Soundproof / Filter / Technician (Dream World) Base Stats: 40/45/65/100/120/90 Difficulty: Hard For those who are wondering, yes, there can be female Mr. Mimes... Sabrina has one. Mr. Mime is an interesting character. For one, he is the first Pokemon to ever learn Substitute naturally; hence the only Pokemon who learns it naturally in Kanto. He is a defensive Psychic, BUT that low HP is very off-putting. So what can Mr. Mime do? He has a lot of buff up moves, such as Calm Mind, Nasty Plot, Charge Beam, and even Meditate, and can Baton Pass them to anyone he wants to. But... couldn't a lot of other Pokemon do the same thing too? Yes, of course, but Mr. Mime has Encore! Still not convinced? How about the ability Soundproof? Yes, with Soundproof, Mr. Mime will not be able to be phazed from Roar! As an added bonus, he is also immune to Bug Buzz, a move he really hates. Now keep boosting as the other Pokemon realises that he has no way of phazing Mr. Mime and pass it to someone who can really use that, such as Octillery or something. Yes, he can still be phazed by Whirlwind, and yes, Dragon Tail and Circle Throw can too, but the latter two can be circumvented with Substitute. And if that's not enough, Mr. Mime CAN defend himself. What, that 100 base special attack isn't gonna sit there and do nothing! He has a lot of moves to abuse, such as Psychic, Thunderbolt, Grass Knot, Focus Blast, and quite a lot more. This guy is quite versatile. Dream World Mr. Mime gains Technician, which is a nifty ability, but there really is not a lot he can abuse that ability with. The two non-Dream World abilities will probably suit Mr. Mime better. To counter Mr. Mime, most people would count on Pursuiting menacers like Scizor or Weavile. Both of them will scare Mr. Mime away, though the latter should watch out for U-turn. Blissey can wall Mr. Mime 24/7, but watch out for Psyshock. After a couple of boosts, it can hurt. Also, getting Trickscarfed is never pretty. Spiritomb is immune to Focus Blast and his STAB Psychic moves and can hurt Mr. Mime badly with some of his STAB moves. Overall, Mr. Mime is very versatile and can do a LOT for the team; he was made to be a teamplayer is rather great at it. Notable Moves: Psychic, Psyshock, Focus Blast, Shadow Ball, Thunderbolt, Grass Knot, Energy Ball, Nasty Plot, Charge Beam, Signal Beam, Magic Coat, Calm Mind, Substitute, Baton Pass, Encore, Reflect, Light Screen, Meditate, Trick Useful Items: Leftovers, Life Orb, Choice Specs, Choice Scarf, Light Clay Counters: Spiritomb, Scizor, Weavile, Tyranitar, Drapion, Skuntank, Blissey, Claydol, Mismagius [hgsssprite]123[/hgsssprite] 123: Scyther Type: Bug/Flying Ability: Swarm / Technician / Steadfast (Dream World) Base Stats: 70/110/80/55/80/105 Difficulty: Intermediate I've evolved! Please check Scizor of the Johto section for more deta-*gets swiped* Scyther is the blazing fast ninja of Pokemon and plays very differently from his brother Scizor. In fact, Scizor doesn't look like he should be an evolution of Scyther but a different Pokemon altogether! Nonetheless, that's how it turned out. So what makes Scyther special other than being a stronger Beedrill? Actually, that's precisely what's amazing about Scyther! However, it's also important to realise that Scyther is more than just a generic Bug/Flying. With high attack and speed stats, and access to boosting moves such as Swords Dance, Scyther is clearly a very powerful contender. His ability Technician makes him VERY dangerous; STAB Bug Bite and Aerial Ace hurt much more than one would expect. Unlike Scizor, he isn't incredibly bulky, but unlike Scizor, he is immune to Ground moves and Fire moves are not almost always lethal to him unless STAB'd. Scyther should utilise his speed, which Scizor does NOT have. He can also function as an offensive lead thanks to access to Counter, Reversal, and high powered offensive STABs. Dream World gave Scyther Steadfast, which would be an interesting option if someone decides to Fake Out on Scyther or something. However, the power missing from the lack of Technician will be VERY noticeable, so unless you really want that very conditional speed boost, I think Technician would be the better choice. Countering Scyther means bringing some Steel Pokemon in. Skarmory is always a great nemesis and isn't taking much damage from whatever Scyther has to offer. Steelix laughs at whatever Scyther has to offer, even super-effective Brick Breaks, and can turn Scyther's speed against him with STAB Gyro Ball. Rhyperior is an incredibly scary foe who takes little damage from Scyther's moves and has STAB rock attacks to dispose of the mantis. Strangely, Scizor makes a great counter as well if he gets into a Bug move or something. His STAB Bullet Punch can override the speed difference and 2HKO Scyther. Don't underestimate Scyther, he is an incredibly deadly physical sweeper and can turn the tables against you if you make that mistake. Notable Moves: Swords Dance, Bug Bite, U-turn, Aerial Ace, Brick Break, Quick Attack, Agility, Baton Pass, Substitute, Roost, Night Slash, Pursuit, Counter Useful Items: Life Orb, Leftovers, Choice Scarf, Choice Band, Eviolite, Salac Berry, Liechi Berry Counters: Steelix, Skarmory, Forretress, Rhyperior, Arcanine, Moltres, Aggron [hgsssprite]124[/hgsssprite] 124: Jynx Type: Ice/Psychic Ability: Oblivious / Forewarn / Dry Skin (Dream World) Base Stats: 65/50/35/115/95/95 Difficulty: Advanced The first of the three elementals. You'll find it interesting that 10 Pokedex numbers later is Vaporeon, and 20 Pokedex numbers later is Articuno. Those two also belong in a trio of blue-yellow-red, the latter two always being Electric and Fire, but the blue is either Ice or Water. Interesting? Anyways, Jynx is the one who needed the evolution the most out of the three elementals... but is the one who DID NOT receive the evolution. Gamefreak you trolls. Also, her stats are VERY similar to Haunter's. Don't believe me? Check it out; their Special Attack and Speed are the same; that's all that matters. I also hate the fact the majority of her level up moves in-game are physical. It would be great if she could learn Psychic naturally or something, but no, Gamefreak has to make my life miserable. Oh well. She's just incredibly fragile and even though 95 speed was great back then, it just doesn't work that well now. Well, Jynx isn't actually bad though. She's okay, but priority moves such as Bullet Punch completely ruin her. However, with access to a unique move like Lovely Kiss and her ability to hit hard with STAB Ice Beam and Psychic makes her a formidable foe if she is able to set up. While she received two not so useful abilities, in Dream World, she received Dry Skin. As a Smoochum, she had Hydration, but now it is even better. With Dry Skin, she gained an immunity to Water but in return becomes more vulnerable to Fire (2.5x weakness to be precise), but that's all right, because an immunity doesn't hurt. Besides she was already weak to Fire, so whatever. I would recommend this Dream World ability very much. In fact, I come in on Tentacruels or something, Substitute up, and they try to Surf me until they realise that Dry Skin is keeping her healthy. Whoops. Time to set up with Calm Minds and start owning. Countering Jynx can be difficult, as she is sneaky and can put her counter to sleep. I'd recommend Primeape or Honchkrow with their immunity to Lovely Kiss, but if she has a Substitute up instead, she will destroy both of them, no questions asked. Scizor makes a better switch-in as he resists both STABs and can hit back with super effective STAB Bullet Punch or can scout for a switch-in with U-turn. Pursuit can effectively remove Jynx from play as well. Weavile is in the same vein, except he does not want to meet Focus Blast. And yes, Tyranitar too. We all know Blissey can do the job well too, except Psyshock is ruining her experience now and Psychics have Trick and yadda yadda yadda. Overall, Jynx is a great contender; though she does not look like much, under the right hands she is truly devastating. Notable Moves: Ice Beam, Calm Mind, Nasty Plot, Lovely Kiss, Substitute, Psychic, Psyshock, Shadow Ball, Focus Blast, Grass Knot, Energy Ball, Fake Out, Taunt, Perish Song, Torment, Frost Breath, Trick Useful Items: Leftovers, Life Orb, Choice Scarf, Choice Specs, Focus Sash Counters: Spiritomb, Scizor, Weavile, Tyranitar, Blissey, Jellicent, Chandelure [hgsssprite]125[/hgsssprite] 125: Electabuzz Type: Electric Ability: Static / Vital Spirit (Dream World) Base Stats: 65/83/57/95/85/105 Difficulty: Hard I've evolved! Please check Electivire in the Sinnoh section for more details! EBLUBLUBLUBLUBLUBLUB! Notable Moves: Thunderbolt, Volt Switch, Psychic, Focus Blast, Signal Beam, Meditate, Low Kick, Cross Chop, Fire Punch, Ice Punch, Thunderpunch, Wild Charge, Focus Blast, Charge Beam, Substitute, Focus Punch, Magnet Rise, Thunder Wave Useful Items: Life Orb, Choice Scarf, Eviolite Counters: Swampert, Claydol, Zapdos, Lanturn, Rhyperior, Electivire, Shaymin [hgsssprite]126[/hgsssprite] 126: Magmar Type: Fire Ability: Flame Body / Vital Spirit (Dream World) Base Stats: 65/95/57/100/85/93 Difficulty: Hard I've evolved! Please check Magmortar in the Sinnoh section for more details! Did you know my Japanese name is Boober? Ha ha! Get it? Boo-ber? Boob-er! Notable Moves: Flamethrower, Fire Blast, Lava Plume, Flame Charge, Will-o-Wisp, Overheat, Psychic, Thunderpunch, Fire Punch, Flare Blitz, Mach Punch, Belly Drum, Cross Chop, Low Kick, Substitute, Focus Punch Useful Items: Life Orb, Choice Scarf, Choice Specs, Eviolite Counters: Swampert, Arcanine, Rhyperior, Milotic, Suicune, Slowbro [hgsssprite]127[/hgsssprite] 127: Pinsir Type: Bug Ability: Hyper Cutter / Mold Breaker / Moxie (Dream World) Base Stats: 65/125/100/55/70/85 Difficulty: Intermediate The other great bug of Kanto, Pinsir is an interesting one. He is the polar opposite of Scyther. While Scyther was the offensive speedster, Pinsir is the bulkier powerhouse with access to things you would expect ground Pokemon to possess, like Stone Edge and Earthquake. Well, back in Generation I and II, I questioned why this guy even had a typing... because all he could learn were normal moves and a bit of fighting moves. In fact, he had NO real STAB until Generation IV, where they were much kinder to Bugs in general. But... isn't this guy outclassed by Heracross? Not completely. Just because Heracross has STAB Close Combat while Pinsir does not have STAB does not mean Heracross completely outclasses Pinsir. Pinsir has some interesting niche of his own. Due to logic, Pinsir cannot learn Megahorn, so his strongest STAB is X-Scissor. However, Pinsir's ability Mold Breaker is an interesting thing. This allows Pinsir to negate ANY abilities that hinder him from attacking them. Gengar levitating? What levitiate? Hit him with a super effective Earthquake. Chuck Shedinja down with whatever move that isn't Fighting or Normal and you got a pest down. Moxie is Pinsir's Dream World ability. Basically, when Pinsir knocks someone down, he gains + 1 attack. That is pretty cool, but usually Pinsir is forced to switch after that + 1 boost, so it is pretty tough to utilise it. But if you can, try it out and see if it works out for you. Unlike most Bugs, Pinsir isn't as simple as switching in a Fire like Moltres and Heatran and destroy him with your STAB. Since Pinsir has access to Edgequake, this is tougher than you think, so be careful. However, some things never change; Skarmory WILL wall Pinsir and can use STAB Brave Bird to take a chunk off Pinsir. Though Rhyperior is weak to Close Combat or Earthquake, he can usually take a few hits and can retaliate with STAB Stone Edge. Steelix just laughs because of his high HP and can also run Stone Edge, even if it isn't STAB'd. Spiritomb and Weezing are also great; they have Will-o-Wisp to burn Pinsir. However, Weezing's Levitate is negated by Pinsir's Mold Breaker, so beware. This is another underestimated Pokemon, but quite unjustly. Pinsir the stag beetle can leave his mark very well if you leave him to wreck your team. Notable Moves: Swords Dance, X-Scissor, Close Combat, Earthquake, Stone Edge, Return, Quick Attack, Substitute, Bulk Up, Endure, Flail Useful Items: Leftovers, Life Orb, Choice Band, Choice Scarf, Salac Berry, Liechi Berry Counters: Skarmory, Forretress, Rhyperior, Steelix, Regirock, Spiritomb, Dusknoir, Cofagrigus [hgsssprite]128[/hgsssprite] 128: Tauros Type: Normal Ability: Intimidate / Anger Point / Sheer Force (Dream World) Base Stats: 75/100/95/40/70/110 Difficulty: Intermediate This was the monster that ravaged Generation I's metagame that wasn't named Alakazam. He was incredibly powerful. Right now, with the introduction of Steels and whatnot, he has less of an impact, but it doesn't mean he is useless. He is still quite the powerhouse and anyone should know how scary it is to fight a raging bull. Thanks to Intimidate, he can switch in with relative ease and hit anything hard with his powerful moves, such as STAB Double-Edge and complementary moves like Stone Edge and Earthquake. Ghosts are not entirely safe because he can use Dark moves like Pursuit or Payback to destroy them. Anger Point is an interesting ability and can be abused with Substitute. If someone hits Tauros with a critical hit, he is at + 6 attack. Scary right? Dream World introduced Sheer Force as his new ability. Unfortunately, there really is not much Tauros can abuse with this new ability. Maybe Rock Slide and Zen Headbutt, but I don't really see much else. Rock Climb can become stronger than Return, but its accuracy is off-putting. Fire Blast is also powered up. In fact, it COULD be of use surprising Steels, but with 40 Special Attack? It isn't happening. Countering Tauros is another matter of bringing in some generic Steel. Steelix with his bloated defence works well, and can turn Tauros's speed against him with STAB Gyro Ball. Skarmory is immune to Earthquake and phaze Tauros out or set up on him. Rhyperior is not afraid of much actually, not even Earthquake, and has his hard hitting STAB moves to hurt Tauros. Ferrothorn can do the same thing and can be a real nuisance to fight against. Overall, this guy is incredibly dangerous, but even though generic steels can wall him, Tauros has enough to work with and be a force to reckon with. Notable Moves: Return, Double-Edge, Work Up, Earthquake, Stone Edge, Payback, Pursuit, Zen Headbutt, Wild Charge Useful Items: Leftovers, Life Orb, Choice Band, Choice Scarf, Liechi Berry, Salac Berry Counters: Skarmory, Forretress, Rhyperior, Steelix, Ferrothorn, Weezing, Spiritomb, Conkeldurr [hgsssprite]130[/hgsssprite] 130: Gyarados Type: Water/Flying Ability: Intimidate / Moxie (Dream World) Base Stats: 95/125/79/60/100/81 Difficulty: Easy With a high attack power and a great offensive and defensive typing, there is no wonder Gyarados is one of the greatest threats in the competitive metagame. His ability Intimidate can help sponge physical assaults directed at him, and Dragon Dance allows him to raise both his attack and speed to astronomical levels because he is not fragile either. In fact, his base 100 Special Defence does allow him to survive non-STAB Thunderbolts at times. His STAB Waterfall rips through anything that does not resist it. Any physical walls can automatically become set-up bait once Gyarados uses TAUNT. Though most people know Gyarados as an offensive threat, one must not forget that he can also serve as a bulky water as well. He has access to some defensive moves such as Roar, Thunder Wave, etc. In fact, some people do use Gyarados as a Resttalker so he can absorb sleep. He has handy resistances to the common Fighting, Bug, Fire and Water moves, resists Steel moves so that Bullet Punch is ineffective, and is immune to Ground attacks, giving him plenty of opportunities to switch in. Gyarados obtains Moxie from Dream World, which increases his attack power by 1 every time he defeats a foe. That is scary, and if you let Gyarados set up enough, that should pretty much be a reason to forfeit. Every team should be prepared to take down a Gyarados if they want to be a good team. Though facing Gyarados is a chore, there are always ways to defeat him because he is not invincible. Gyarados's biggest nemesis are electric moves, which more often than not, prove fatal to this atrocious monster. He is also weak to Rock attacks and hates switching in whenever there are Stealth Rocks on his side of the field. Other than that, Gyarados can be a great asset to any team and should be considered when building a team. Notable Moves: Dragon Dance, Waterfall, Ice Fang, Stone Edge, Earthquake, Bounce, Return, Taunt, Roar, Dragon Tail, Thunder Wave, Substitute, Toxic, Rest, Sleep Talk Useful Items: Leftovers, Life Orb, Wacan Berry, Lum Berry, Choice Band, Choice Scarf Counters: Zapdos, Vaporeon, Rotom (Gen IV), Porygon2, Tangrowth, Lapras [hgsssprite]131[/hgsssprite] 131: Lapras Type: Water/Ice Ability: Water Absorb / Shell Armor / Hydration (Dream World) Base Stats: 130/85/80/85/95/60 Difficulty: Intermediate We all know that the Loch Ness monster is really a Lapras. Though Lapras looks like a rather average Water Pokemon with only high HP, she provides a great check to rain teams due to her immunity to Water attacks and a movepool to mess with basically many of her supposed counters, such as Thunderbolt and STAB Ice Beam and Hydro Pump. Psychic can also hurt Fighting Pokemon (most notably Toxicroak) for Super effective damage. Lapras also has the ability to go physical because she has access to Dragon Dance, a move associated with dragons, making her a potent physical threat as well. However, her stats also indicate she may be better off providing support for her team, and that she can do as well with access to Heal Bell, Toxic, Confuse Ray, and even Perish Song. Lapras is very versatile as a Water Pokemon and should not be underestimated. In Generation V, Lapras gained access to the ability Hydration, which allows her to take those detested Toxic she hates in the rain and can Rest off continually while setting up Dragon Dance to overwhelm her foes. Lapras is incredibly scary in the rain and can turn the opponent's rain against them by giving them a tough opponent to face. To counter her, you can generally send a Water Pokemon that is immune to electric attacks and resist or is possibly immune to Water, such as Lanturn or Quagsire. Lanturn can strike Lapras with STAB Electric moves and takes very little from her Water and Ice moves and is downright immune to Thunderbolts. Hariyama is also good because he resists Ice moves with Thick Fat and strike back with Super Effective Fighting moves. Bulky Grass Pokemon can do the trick, but unlike most bulky waters, Lapras's Ice Beam is STABd, which can take a huge chunk off these bulky grass. Empoleon can take water and ice moves and can hit back with Grass Knot, but can take quite a bit from Thunderbolts or even worse, Thunder. Kingdra is not weak to any of Lapras's moves aside from the rare Dragon Pulse and can strike back with Draco Meteors and Outrage. Also, Lapras hates Stealth Rocks, so take advantage of that. Notable Moves: Ice Beam, Surf, Hydro Pump, Thunderbolt, Psychic, Dragon Dance, Waterfall, Return, Ice Shard, Avalanche, Zen Headbutt, Substitute, Heal Bell, Toxic, Perish Song, Roar, Curse, Rest, Body Slam, Icy Wind, Confuse Ray, Hail, Rain Dance, Blizzard, Thunder, Sing Useful Items: Leftovers, Lum Berry, Life Orb, Choice Band, Choice Specs, Damp Rock, Icy Rock, Wacan Berry, Rindo Berry, Chople Berry, Charti Berry Counters: Blissey, Hariyama, Lanturn, Quagsire, Lapras, Empoleon, Celebi, Cobalion, Virizion [hgsssprite]132[/hgsssprite] 132: Ditto Type: Normal Ability: Limber / Imposter (Dream World) Base Stats: 48/48/48/48/48/48 Difficulty: Noob Ditto, the one and only transforming Pokemon! Okay, I lied. Mew and Smeargle can do the same thing, but why use Ditto? For Daycare breeding fodder? Oh come on, that's mean. There are ways to use Ditto competitively. Wait, why are you laughing? No seriously! Listen to me! I'm not trolling here! If you have Gen V, get the Dream World version. Why? The ability Imposter allows Ditto to instantly transform into the foe upon switch-in, making it the best revenge killer ever made... or the worst, depending on what you are facing. Slap a Choice Scarf on it and yeah, get into that Salamence who just + 6'd himself and prepare to sweep the foe's ENTIRE team! Well, if you Choice Scarf'd it would be terrible to transform into a wall like Blissey eh? Well, switch in under your discretion. How to stop this monster? Get behind a Sub. Seriously, Imposter will fail against anyone behind a sub, so if you know the other guy has a Ditto, get paranoid and keep Subbing. Heh heh, I know, it doesn't sound realistic, but that's how it is. If you're going to set up, always carry a Sub with you! Zoroark's Illusion also works as a counter to Imposter as anyone who is an Illusion will make Imposter fail. But, if you're that guy who thought you were lucky with a Gyarados sweep and end up owned by a Ditto... well... good luck to you! You'll need it. Notable Moves: Transform Useful Items: Choice Scarf, Focus Sash Counters: See what I've wrote above for some tips on how to handle an Imposter Ditto [sprite]134[/sprite] 134: Vaporeon Type: Water Ability: Water Absorb / Hydration (Dream World) Base Stats: 130/65/60/110/95/65 Difficulty: Hard If you notice 10 numbers above in the Pokedex, the legendary birds that correspond to the Kanto Eeveelutions' typing match up! Vaporeon is another one of those bulky waters, but she is possibly the best supportive team player of them all. Her HP is incredibly high, allowing her to soak up some hits before going down. That low defence, however, requires a lot of investment for Vaporeon to take physical hits. With a movepool consisting of Wish, Heal Bell, Roar and Haze, Vaporeon is a very supportive Pokemon. She even has the ability to Baton Pass Aqua Rings, Acid Armors and GIGANTIC Substitutes. Her offensive movepool is usable, consisting of Surf, Hydro Pump, Ice Beam, Shadow Ball and a few others, but a lot of what Vaporeon does is mostly to support her whole team. You can still put up a Choice Specs set with Vaporeon, and that thing HURTS, coming off a base 110 SpA. When a team has a Vaporeon in it, people will usually try to take her down first because she is a glue that holds the whole team together. Should she fall, the whole team all of a sudden becomes weaker than before without the support she provides. Her Dream World ability Hydration helps her against status, which she hates the most, but only in the rain. Overall, Water Absorb is probably the better ability, but Hydration does have its uses. To counter Vaporeon, hard hitting Electric or Grass moves normally work. Taunting it will stop her ability to provide support to her party, and like most bulky waters, Vaporeon HATES Toxic. She has access to Heal Bell to remove it, but how often can you Heal Bell? Overall, if one wants an outstanding support unit, Vaporeon can provide plenty, and her impact is so good people want her out of the battlefield, so be sure to guard her carefully, or if she be your opponent, make her one of your priority targets. Notable Moves: Surf, Wish, Protect, Heal Bell, Roar, Haze, Scald, Ice Beam, Hidden Power [Electric], Toxic, Substitute, Baton Pass, Acid Armor, Aqua Ring, Hydro Pump, Signal Beam, Shadow Ball, Yawn, Fake Tears Useful Items: Leftovers, Choice Specs, Lum Berry Counters: Blissey, Zapdos, Jolteon, Raikou, Shaymin, Celebi, Roserade, Empoleon, Tentacruel, Lapras, Ferrothorn, Virizion [hgsssprite]135[/hgsssprite] 135: Jolteon Type: Electric Ability: Volt Absorb / Quick Feet (Dream World) Base Stats: 65/65/60/110/95/130 Difficulty: Intermediate Jolteon is one of the fastest Pokemon out there. Not the fastest, but still one of the fastest. With Volt Absorb, she can check many electric Pokemon and hit them back with her own coverage moves. Of course, Ground Pokemon love switching into Jolteon like no tomorrow. What does she do? RUN--- oh wait, simulator game? We can try a Hidden Power Ice or Grass to deal with these foes for major damage. She can aid the team by Baton Passing fast Substitutes or Agility. Her offensive movepool is rather shallow, but it is good enough to provide a reliable check to things weak to electricity, along with Shadow Ball or Signal Beam. She even has Charge Beam to boost her Special attack up and pass to her teammate! Jolteon can be frightening because some things that boost up their speed with things like Dragon Dance still cannot outpace Jolteon, leaving them easy targets to be picked off by Jolteon. For example, an Adamant Gyarados cannot ever hope to outpace a Timid Jolteon... ever. It must go Jolly to even get the jump on Jolteon, but that way, it loses out on some power. Others like Feraligatr do not even stand a chance. Note that Jolteon does have Wish, but in Gen V, her Wish does not help as much as someone's like her sister Vaporeon's. Her Dream World ability Quick Feet is somewhat redundant with her high speed anyhow, BUT, if someone lands a Body Slam that paralyses her, she can surprise people by still outpacing them, hopefully without paralysis getting in the way. To counter Jolteon, one really cannot hope to stop her from accomplishing her goals, but she usually hates facing stuff like Grass Pokemon or Ground Pokemon in general. Jolteon has problems dealing with Electivire, as he is immune to Thunderbolt, gets his speed boost, and can threaten with an Earthquake. However, some Jolteon carry a Hidden Power move to hurt her counters, so beware. Overall, Jolteon may not look like much, but she can provide an adequate revenge killer or support for your team. Notable Moves: Thunderbolt, Baton Pass, Shadow Ball, Signal Beam, Hidden Power [ice/Grass], Charge Beam, Substitute, Agility, Yawn, Fake Tears, Quick Attack, Rain Dance, Thunder, Wish (Gen IV), Heal Bell Useful Items: Leftovers, Life Orb, Choice Specs, Air Balloon, Lum Berry Counters: Blissey, Electivire, Swampert, Garchomp, Gliscor, Flygon, Shaymin, Roserade, Lanturn, Rhyperior, Ferrothorn, Excadrill, Virizion, Landorus [hgsssprite]136[/hgsssprite] 136: Flareon Type: Fire Ability: Flash Fire / Guts (Dream World) Base Stats: 65/130/60/95/110/65 Difficulty: Advanced "See that tragic'ly beautiful Pokemon... the one with the fur? It seems so unfair, they should go on a spree, and not she..." Flareon, the forgotten Eeveelution sister, should not be underestimated. Laugh at the poor thing all you want, but Flareon does have some merits. She can beat all of her other sisters one on one, actually, provided she has the right sets (even Vaporeon, no joke, though tough). Yes, she wanted Flare Blitz, and yes, Gamefreak denied her all sorts of moves she has wanted, but Flareon's mean 130 attack power can still leave a dent on things. Her physical Fire STAB is Fire Fang, unfortunately, but she has access to Superpower, allowing to hurt Tyranitars thinking they can switch in. Her new move, Flame Charge, allows her to raise her speed per attack. Flareon's special moves are more plentiful with access to moves like Fire Blast and Shadow Ball. However, Flareon does have a cool special defence, allowing her to take some Surfs! This allows her to fulfill a supportive role with moves like Lava Plume, Will-o-Wisp, Toxic, or even Wish. In Generation V, however, Wish is less potent coming from Flareon, but she can still use it as her makeshift recovery. Dream World Flareon has access to Guts, which makes her physical attacks more powerful when poisoned or paralysed. Unfortunately, Flareon's typing means she cannot be burned, the ideal stat to be inflicted with when obtaining Guts. Regardless, expect Guts Flareon to HURT. To counter Flareon, try to use physical super effective attacks, such as Earthquake or Stone Edge, to destroy her. Some dragons like Dragonite or Altaria resist anything Flareon can throw on them. Unfortunately, both of them hate burns, though Altaria has Natural Cure to mitigate it. Hariyama can take fire attacks with Thick Fat or use Will-o-Wisp to his advantage with Guts and hit her back with powerful physical moves. Water moves from stuff like Milotic can lay a world of hurt on Flareon while Flareon cannot do much back to her. Azumarill can always just Choice Band Aqua Jet her out. All in all, Flareon needs to be hit hard to be dealt with, and her low speed means generally it is not a problem. She is, however, going to hit really hard before going down, do not forget that. Here's hoping she gets a buff in the upcoming versions! Notable Moves: Flare Blitz, Fire Blast, Flamethrower, Overheat, Lava Plume, Fire Fang, Flame Charge, Superpower, Shadow Ball, Return, Hidden Power [Grass], Quick Attack, Toxic, Will-o-Wisp, Substitute, Curse, Baton Pass, Yawn, Fake Tears, Wish (Gen IV), Protect, Flail, Heal Bell Useful Items: Leftovers, Life Orb, Choice Scarf, Choice Band, Air Balloon, Lum Berry, Salac Berry, Liechi Berry Counters: Milotic, Azumarill, Slowbro, Hariyama, Altaria, Dragonite, Salamence, Hippowdon, Swampert, Tentacruel, Rhyperior [hgsssprite]137[/hgsssprite] 137: Porygon Type: Normal Ability: Trace / Download / Analytic (Dream World) Base Stats: 65/60/70/85/75/40 Difficulty: Advanced Please contact my manufacturers from Silph Co. to give me an Upgrade. Once I am traded away holding one, I can evolve into a Porygon2! Check Porygon2 in the Johto section for more details! Notable Moves: Conversion, Conversion2, Recover, Magnet Rise, Tri Attack, Discharge, Charge Beam, Shadow Ball, Psychic, Signal Beam, Magic Coat, Agility, Psyshock, Ice Beam, Thunderbolt, Psych Up, Thunder Wave, Gravity, Icy Wind, Pain Split, Trick, Trick Room Useful Items: Leftovers, Eviolite, Life Orb, Choice Specs Counters: Blissey, Snorlax, Clefable, Machamp, Conkeldurr, Heracross [hgsssprite]139[/hgsssprite] 139: Omastar Type: Rock/Water Ability: Swift Swim / Shell Armor / Weak Armor (Dream World) Base Stats: 70/60/125/115/70/55 Difficulty: Hard The first of the fossil trio of Kanto, Omastar is known for his incredible performance as a rain sweeper. In the rain, Omastar all of a sudden loses his sluggishness and becomes Michael Phelps and starts destroying his foes here and there with high powered STAB Hydro Pumps and all sorts of other moves. Generation V made this even scarier by introducing Shell Smash as one of his moves, which doubles his attack and special attack and speed but lowering his defences by 1 stage. That means regardless of the rain or not, he is still going to be fast AND powerful! That is the offensive side of Omastar. For his rather defensive side, Omastar can be useful too with his utility moves such as Spikes, Toxic Spikes, Stealth Rocks and Knock Off. Shell Armor prevents critical hits from touching him. He even has access to Haze which can be very useful. Dream World Omastar's shell is apparently loose, so his ability is Weak Armor. Losing defence for an increase in speed might be useful at times, but then you realise that Omastar does not like priority attacks like Mach Punch. With priority attacks continually hitting him, he is just losing defence because priority moves always hit first, which is detrimental. Not to mention Swift Swim is gone that way. Countering Omastar is actually pretty tough. However, Blissey can wall Omastar because he is primarily a special attacker. Empoleon can come in to anything but Earth Power and hit Omastar back with Grass Knot, which should be enough to put Omastar to rest. Remember that Omastar is 4x weak to Grass. Ludicolo is also a great counter because he has access to STAB Grass moves AND can outpace Omastar in the rain if he has Swift Swim. Lapras is immune to Surf, 4x resistant to Ice Beam and has access to Thunderbolt to hurt Omastar a LOT. She won't like STAB Ancientpowers though. Lanturn works similarly except she hates Earth Powers. Bulky grasses can do well except switching into Ice Beams can be painful. Remember how powerful Omastar is; you are most likely to see him in a rain team because rain teams are where Omastar shines the most. He can tear apart unprepared teams very well all thanks to a little rain. Notable Moves: Rain Dance, Surf, Hydro Pump, Ice Beam, Ancientpower, Earth Power, Hidden Power [Electric/Grass], Substitute, Scald, Spikes, Toxic Spikes, Stealth Rocks, Knock Off, Haze, Icy Wind Useful Items: Leftovers, Life Orb, Damp Rock Counters: Blissey, Ludicolo, Empoleon, Lapras, Lanturn, Jellicent, Ferrothorn [hgsssprite]141[/hgsssprite] 141: Kabutops Type: Rock/Water Ability: Swift Swim / Battle Armor / Weak Armor (Dream World) Base Stats: 60/115/105/65/70/80 Difficulty: Intermediate Kabutops is the second fossil Pokemon of Kanto... and he's really dangerous. I mean REALLY dangerous. This guy makes himself well known in rain teams by just coming out of nowhere, setting up and thrashing everything giving them problems. He isn't as bulky as Omastar, but he doesn't need to be because Swords Dance + STAB Waterfall + Stone Edge destroys EVERYTHING. Aqua Jet also makes a quick work of anything that survived with a trinkle of HP. Is he more dangerous than Omastar? Yeah definitely... CRAZY scary actually if you let him set up, but of course, Omastar is much better in the special department; that's what the differentiation is for. As in the way of support, Kabutops strangely has access to Rapid Spin. You can stick it in the moveset if you want a spinner. He can also set up Stealth Rocks. As for his Dream World ability, yes he gets Weak Armor too. Joy. But I got destroyed by a Weak Armor Kabutops once because of some stupid critical hits and whatnot. I felt incredibly trolled... and that's how I'll remember how Kabutops can carry Weak Armor. There's not much that can really counter Kabutops safely once he starts pumping up. I mean, by virtue of typing, Swampert can resist Kabutops' STAB and can retaliate with his STAB Earthquake. Tangrowth is very bulky on the physical side and can give Kabutops the whipping of his life with STAB Power Whip. Ferrothorn is a wonderful counter too, as even touching Ferrothorn can cause residual damage. Bulky waters in general, such as ones with Water Absorb like Vaporeon, can come in a predicted water move and use their own water moves to douse Kabutops. Remember, Kabutops is part rock so he takes neutral damage from Surfs and whatnot. Empoleon has Grass Knot to mess with Kabutops, but must watch out for Brick Break. Overall, this dangerous slashing fiend is a scary sight in the rain. He makes it well known that in the rain, the battlefield is all his. Notable Moves: Swords Dance, Waterfall, Aqua Tail, Aqua Jet, Stone Edge, X-Scissor, Low Kick, Brick Break, Night Slash, Return, Rapid Spin, Knock Off, Stealth Rocks, Hone Claws, Giga Drain Useful Items: Life Orb, Choice Band, Focus Sash Counters: Ferrothorn, Empoleon, Skarmory, Forretress, Tangrowth, Leafeon, Gastrodon, Quagsire, Swampert [hgsssprite]142[/hgsssprite] 142: Aerodactyl Type: Rock/Flying Ability: Rock Head / Pressure / Unnerve (Dream World) Base Stats: 80/105/65/60/75/130 Difficulty: Intermediate Here is the last fossil Pokemon of Kanto, Aerodactyl. In the anime, Kabutops and Omastar were afraid of this guy. In the games, they can destroy this guy if they wanted to! I swear, this phenomenon of "minions able to beat the boss" is like everywhere, such as Rayquaza getting owned by Kyogre and Groudon, the Regi trio surpassing their master Regigigas, or more recently, Tornadus and Thundurus being able to defeat Landorus. I still don't understand that, but then again, what can I expect? There's Team Flame in Mystery Dungeon 2, which is a BELLSPROUT leading the team consisting of Ponyta and Camerupt, and he is scared of their fire attacks! I know I am digressing, but that keeps happening. Aerodactyl has high speed and a very good attack power which allows him to function as a decent lead. He has the fastest Taunt in OU tied with Crobat and can set up Stealth Rocks quite readily. He has Stone Edge and Earthquake to fall back to if he wants offensive options. There are also elemental fangs and a lot of other options to attack with. Dream World gave Aerodactyl Unnerve as an ability. Actually, this can work quite well because leads carrying something like Shuca Berry (Heatran I'm looking at you) can be defeated with an Earthquake when the berry just won't activate, so it can have its uses. Countering Aerodactyl involves... well, bringing in a Steel. No, he isn't really walled by them, as he has access to Earthquake and Fire Blast, but they can come out on top usually before Aerodactyl can. Metagross is the prime counter to Aerodactyl, as it can hit him with STAB Meteor Mash and has priority Bullet Punch to take care of weakened ones. Scizor has a powerful Bullet Punch which would definitely OHKO Aerodactyl since he isn't all too bulky. Swampert is a very good counter and can eliminate him with little problems because of his bulk and his STAB Water attacks. However, keep in mind that these Pokemon cannot really stop Aerodactyl from placing rocks to begin with, which may as well just be his goal. Overall, this pterodactyl is a powerful Pokemon who can force any unworthy foe to submission and can be a very resourceful Pokemon to try out. Notable Moves: Stealth Rock, Taunt, Stone Edge, Rock Slide, Earthquake, U-turn, Fire Fang, Ice Fang, Thunder Fang, Aqua Tail, Smack Down, Fire Blast, Hone Claws, Dragon Claws, Toxic, Substitute, Roost, Whirlwind, Pursuit, Aerial Ace, Crunch, Iron Head Useful Items: Focus Sash, Life Orb, Choice Band, Leftovers Counters: Swampert, Metagross, Scizor, Ferrothorn, Skarmory, Bronzong, Forretress, Steelix, Rhyperior [hgsssprite]143[/hgsssprite] 143: Snorlax Type: Normal Ability: Thick Fat / Immunity / Gluttony (Dream World) Base Stats: 160/110/65/65110/30 Difficulty: Intermediate My Neighbour TotoroSnorlax is a very powerful force to be reckoned with. In fact, he is a great alternative to Blissey as a special wall if you are sick to death of her. Do note that Snorlax is nowhere near as good as Blissey in that occupation, but he has a lot to offer. First off, he has actual offensive options, such as STAB Body Slam and a whole slew of physical moves. With Curse, he can raise his Attack and Defence and lower his already pitifully low speed which didn't matter anyways. He has access to moves like Earthquake, Crunch, Fire Punch, and Pursuit as coverage moves and is even able to blow himself up with Selfdestruct, which is funny. Because of his immense bulk, he can find himself switching into nearly any special attackers and can set up with ease. When he is going low on health, it is time to do what Snorlax does best; SLEEP. Yep, Resttalk is a common staple with Snorlax and that makes him not mind status. Snorlax can even phaze Pokes away with Whirlwind, believe it or not. Gluttony is Snorlax's Dream World ability. Although it is fitting for him, he really has no use for that as the berries he would consume would be an instant effect berry, not pinch berries. Countering Snorlax takes a bit of thought, but try to scout for what Snorlax has in his moveset; he cannot carry more than 4. When he has Curse, he can only possibly carry 3 more moves, no doubt that one of them is his STAB. If he also has Rest, then that leaves him with two moves; try to find out what the other move that isn't Body Slam is. That way you can see what an adequate counter can be. A fighter such as Hariyama or Conkeldurr are REALLY threatening to Snorlax; he cannot take such threats and paralysing either could possibly benefit them due to Guts. This should scare Snorlax away. Skarmory is stupidly physically defensive and should be able to take anything bar a random Fire Blast. The same could be said about Ferrothorn, and Leech Seed can eat up a lot since Snorlax has HUGE HP. Of course, beware of Fire Blasts or Fire Punches. Overall, we all know how threatening Snorlax can be. This guy was so dangerous in Generation II and most people felt he was pretty broken. Though he has it much harder now than he used to, this lazy guy can still be a staple in the OU metagame and if used at the hands of an expert, a solid winner. Notable Moves: Curse, Body Slam, Crunch, Heavy Slam, Earthquake, Zen Headbutt, Thunderpunch, Ice Punch, Fire Punch, Seed Bomb, Superpower, Rest, Sleep Talk, Fire Blast, Selfdestruct, Iron Head, Gunk Shot, Wild Charge, Work Up, Counter, Double-Edge, Pursuit Useful Items: Leftovers, Choice Band Counters: Conkeldurr, Hariyama, Rhyperior, Skarmory, Steelix, Ferrothorn [hgsssprite]144[/hgsssprite] 144: Articuno Type: Ice/Flying Ability: Pressure / Snow Cloak (Dream World) Base Stats: 90/85/100/95/125/85 Difficulty: Hard Articuno is the ice legendary bird with great defensive stat spread and a useful support movepool, such as Reflect, Heal Bell, and Roar. STAB Ice Beam is a useful move with a good coverage. With its great special defence, Articuno can sit all day toxic stalling things like bulky waters and defeat many Ground and Grass Pokemon as well. Its ability Pressure is just icing on the cake; depleting the foe's PP very quickly. Attacks like Stone Edge and Fire Blast only have 3-4 tries to hit Articuno as it stalls with Substitute and Roost before they run out. Articuno has a decent speed which can hit up to 295, allowing it to outpace some of its essential threats. Though Articuno was designed as a stall Pokemon in mind, it has a modest special attack which allows it to run an Agility + Life Orb set, but Articuno has very limited offensive options. Unfortunately, Articuno's defensive typing leaves a lot to be desired. Ice is a poor defensive typing in general, only resisting itself, and unfortunately for Articuno, that flying typing means it does not even resist Ice! Also, it has a hampering 4x weakness to Rock, which means every time it switches in, Stealth Rocks cuts its health by 50%. So much for a wall. However, when played right, Articuno can be a nuisance, and to defeat Articuno, one will need to hit it where it hurts the most. A Steel Pokemon can endlessly wall Articuno, especially if it has access to Taunt. Articuno can also be hit very hard by Fire Pokemon and is usually forced to switch out. Regardless, if Articuno happens to be behind a Substitute and has entry hazards set up on your side of the field, it can become quite a nuisance, but like generic walls, it can be dealt with. You can try to find a way to Poison Articuno to indefinitely seal its fate, or switch in a Synchronize Pokemon when Articuno uses Toxic. The other legendary bird Moltres can be used to deal with the other half of the metagame: the Steel Pokemon, while Articuno can deal with Dragons, Waters, and Ground Pokemon easier. Even though Articuno is nowhere near as popular as Zapdos or Moltres, do not underestimate this stallish monster! Notable Moves: Ice Beam, Roost, Toxic, Substitute, Roar, Reflect, Heal Bell (Pokemon ), Water Pulse, Rain Dance, U-turn, Ice Shard, Agility, Hidden Power [Ground/Grass/Fighting/Flying], Haze (Pokemon ), Hail, Blizzard, Frost Breath Useful Items: Leftovers, Lum Berry, Choice Scarf, Damp Rock, Icy Rock, Occa Berry, Wacan Berry, Charti Berry, Babiri Berry, Petaya Berry Counters: Tyranitar, Heatran, Metagross, Blissey, Snorlax, Scizor, Empoleon, Bronzong, Magnezone, Forretress, Skarmory, Cloyster, Octillery, Flareon [hgsssprite]145[/hgsssprite] Analysis by Tbird 145: Zapdos Type: Electric/Flying Ability: Pressure / Lightning Rod (Dream World) Base Stats: 90/90/85/125/90/100 Difficulty: Intermediate Zapdos has been overused since the beginning of time, and for a good reason Gamefreak loves it it's got the stats and moves that most pokemon would die for. Zapdos is a premium staller, a premium scouter, a premium Utility and a premium attacker. The famous Sub/Roost set just does not die, and though it has minimal attacking investment, that base 125 Special Attack means it doesn't care and will hit you hard regardless. Place it on a team with Toxic spikes and watch the opponent cry. Its main use is to counter the hard hitters of the game, it can take on Gyarados and Lucario like a pro. In Gen V it can also somewhat be used to break stall, also, as its STAB Thunderbolt and coverage move Heat Wave Destroys the JelliThorn Core. Its ability Pressure also means that it can Sub away all of Machamp's Dynamic punches, Heatran's Fire Blasts, Tyranitar's Stone Edges... well anyone's Stone Edges. It can also Out stall all of Breloom's focus punches and be left with 7 and 8 Substitutes and Roosts... Phenomenal. Pressure and subroost also mean that late game 1 vs 1 it will generally come out on top, making the opponent struggle to death before Zapdos even breaks into a sweat. Blissey is your best bet at beating it, as it can break Zapdos' subs with Ice beam/ Seismic Toss and Toxic/ Twave it to remove its usefulness, all the while wishing off the damage. If Zapdos lacks heatwave for hidden power grass or ice, Ferrothorn can win out on it. If all else fails, predict your opponent's rhythm, switch in on an unsubbed roost and smack it with a speedy SE attack. Notable Moves: Thunderbolt, Heat Wave, Hidden Power [ice/Grass], Roost, Substitute, Toxic, Thunder Wave, Charge Beam, Agility, Baton Pass (Pokemon ), Metal Sound (Pokemon ), Light Screen, Rain Dance, Thunder, U-turn, Drill Peck Useful Items: Leftovers, Life Orb, Choice Specs, Choice Scarf, Damp Rock Counters: Blissey, Tyranitar, Snorlax, Latios, Latias, Regice, Swampert, Gliscor, Garchomp, Flygon, Rhyperior, Lanturn, Camerupt, Gardevoir, Porygon2 [hgsssprite]146[/hgsssprite] 146: Moltres Type: Fire/Flying Ability: Pressure / Flame Body (Dream World) Base Stats: 90/100/90/125/85/90 Difficulty: Intermediate Moltres is an offensive monster and is a constant threat to many Pokemon. It can provide an indefinite check to Scizor, one of the most popular Pokemon in the metagame and a lot of others thanks to its Fire typing. With access to two STAB options Fire Blast and Air Slash alongside coverage moves like Solarbeam (with sun support!), Moltres is bound to shred many Pokemon to pieces. Flame Charge allows it to raise its speed while doing some damage to its foes. Slap a Choice Specs on and you have a monster in your hands. Face one and you'll be praying that Fire Blast misses. To make things even better, Moltres can double its role as a defensive pivot as well. Using a similar strategy as Articuno's and Zapdos's subroost, Moltres can pull off an annoying toxic stalling strategy. Any Steel Pokemon not named Heatran that is immune to Toxic will have to answer to Moltres's Flamethrower. Despite no SpA EVs invested in these types of Moltres, it can still leave a dent on things that do not resist it. Moltres, however, is not without shortcomings. That 4x weakness to Rock is ridiculous, chipping off 50% of its HP whenever it switches into Stealth Rocks. Its speed is great, but not excellent. There are many Pokemon that can deal with Moltres because of their resistance to Fire moves if it is locked into a Choice item. Also, although Moltres has a decent attack score, it does not learn many physical attacks. They should have given it Flare Blitz and Brave Bird or possibly Wild Charge. But no, it was not meant to be. Regardless, Moltres is one scary customer and being the legendary bird of fire, one should not take it lightly. You can try to douse it with water, but some Moltres are even able to survive a Choice Band Azumarill's Aqua Jet! Notable Moves: Fire Blast, Flamethrower, Air Slash, U-turn, Hidden Power [Grass/Ice], Roost, Substitute, Toxic, Will-o-Wisp, Flame Charge, Overheat, Sunny Day, Solarbeam, Morning Sun (Pokemon ), Safeguard Useful Items: Life Orb, Leftovers, Lum Berry, Salac Berry, Petaya Berry, Charti Berry, Passho Berry, Wacan Berry Counters: Tyranitar, Blissey, Suicune, Milotic, Altaria, Entei, Flareon, Slowking, Snorlax, Heatran [hgsssprite]149[/hgsssprite] 149: Dragonite Type: Dragon/Flying Ability: Inner Focus / Multiscale (Dream World) Base Stats: 91/134/95/100/100/80 Difficulty: Intermediate Dragonite, the pioneer dragon, the original symbol for achievement, orange Barney that evolved from an elegant dragon, the friendly dragon, the former mascot of Project Pokemon, you all know Dragonite, I hope. Oh you use Salamence? Who's that again? Just kidding. Though the debut of Dragonite was not favourable and was almost rendered entirely outclassed when new dragons were added, Dragonite was given more tools to give him some edge over its new rivals. For example, one glance at Dragonite's stats show us that Dragonite is bulkier than Salamence and possibly Garchomp, meaning he can take hits better than the other two and actually survive an Ice Beam from non STAB sources. Unlike Salamence, Dragonite can comfortably switch into Fire Blasts or Surfs and set up Dragon Dances with ease. Also, Dragonite has a gigantic movepool, making him more versatile than the other dragons. For example, aside from his natural dragon moves, Dragonite has access to Superpower to leave a huge dent on things like Blissey and Snorlax while Salamence would need to use the weaker Brick Break. Dragonite also has a relatively exclusive Extremespeed, which gives him a priority move. Aside from physical moves, Dragonite can also learn elemental moves like Thunderbolt or Fire Blast, giving him coverage against dangerous foes like Gyarados or Skarmory. He can also function in rain teams with STAB Hurricane and a powerful Thunder. Dragonite used to be the only user of Dragon Dance who can use Outrage, but unfortunately Outrage tutor in Platinum gave rise to a scarier Salamence with Outrage. Oops. However, Dragonite is not only an outstanding attacker, but also a defensive support unit, with moves like Thunder Wave, Heal Bell, and Light Screen. In fact, using Light Screen can allow Dragonite to take around ~20% from a Vaporeon's Ice Beam, the strongest bulky water's Ice Beam you would possibly ever encounter. Watch her cry as Dragonite Toxic stalls her down while he continually Roosts behind the safety of Light Screen. The fact that Dragonite cannot flinch due to Inner Focus makes him a great anti-lead. If he equips a Life Orb, a moveset of Draco Meteor, Superpower, Extremespeed and Fire Blast can deal with many lead Pokemon, though not entirely invincible. Dragonite in the Dream World is scary. Aside from Lugia, Dragonite received Multiscale, allowing him to take half the damage it normally would when in full health. This is a Godsend for our friend here, as he can even survive a + 1 Draco Meteor from Latios! This will certainly give Dragonite a great edge over the other Dragons. As for countering Dragonite, good luck. There are no surefire counters for this guy either, more so than many others because Dragonite can do so many things that it can mess anything up if you make one mistake. But generally, send a bulky water like Suicune or Swampert in, as they are naturally bulky and can scout what Dragonite can do. When Dragonite is a sweeper, expect him to show up late game, so be sure that your priority move Pokemon are still in-tact so you can at least revenge him when he is low in health. Remember, Dragonite's biggest downfall is his mediocre speed and that 4x weakness to Ice. If Dragonite is just some mix attacker of some sort or a supporter, you will probably see him played throughout the game. Dragonite also hates Stealth Rocks, so if Stealth Rocks are up on his field, not only did you disable a potential Multiscale Dragonite from taking half damage from what normally would be half, but you have come a long way into dealing with an otherwise scary foe. Remember that Dragonite is very versatile: do not be too eager to switch in what you THINK might beat him, because chances are, he has something to deal with your Pokemon too! Notable Moves: Dragon Dance, Draco Meteor, Outrage, Dragon Claw, Dragon Pulse, Earthquake, Fire Blast, Fire Punch, Thunderbolt, Thunderpunch, Extremespeed, Superpower, Hurricane, Aqua Tail, Stone Edge, Aqua Jet, Roost, Heal Bell, Thunder Wave, Toxic, Roar, Heal Bell (Pokemon ), Substitute, Hone Claws, Haze, Agility Useful Items: Leftovers, Lum Berry, Life Orb, Yache Berry, Choice Band, Choice Scarf, White Herb Counters: Suicune, Vaporeon, Swampert, Cresselia, Skarmory, Hippowdon [hgsssprite]150[/hgsssprite] 150: Mewtwo Type: Psychic Ability: Pressure / Unnerve (Dream World) Base Stats: 106/110/90/154/90/130 Difficulty: Easy Here is the Pokemon who can be called the personification of intimidate... on steroids. Mewtwo is pretty much your classic king of all Pokemon, with very high stats, an incredibly large movepool, and much more dangerous than Elec Man's Thunder Beam! In the past, Psychic Pokemon were the most dangerous typing out there thanks to their lack of real weakness and immense power. Mewtwo's access to Amnesia meant its Special value (which is Special Attack and Special Defence shared in one stat) goes up by 2 values! Yes, Generation I's Mewtwo was so powerful that it defined the Uber tier; it was the first Pokemon ever to be banned! Definitely something to fear. You are drooling on Mewtwo's offensive stats, but defensively, Mewtwo isn't a slouch either. This is bulkier than Swampert actually; underestimate its bulk at your own peril. Mewtwo ends up surviving a lot of things no one expects it to all because they are measuring its defences with a different standard; 106/90/90 IS bulky. Then came Generation II and nerfed Mewtwo, and eventually a lot of other ubers came around and eventually Mewtwo all of a sudden had a lot of competition to face. Generation II and III was difficult for Mewtwo because he lacked a real tool aside from Submission or Brick Break to hurt Dark Pokemon. Problem solved when they added the special Aura Sphere for Mewtwo, meaning Darkrai and pals can be dealt with. In Generation IV, Ho-oh and Kyogre was quite difficult for Mewtwo to face because of their bloated special defences and high power to strike Mewtwo down. Also, Mewtwo lacked a signature move while many of the other Ubers did get one. Gen V gave Psystrike (Psycho Break in Japanese) to Mewtwo which is Psyshock on steroids; 100 base power STAB that can target the foe's defence, not special defence, with this special attack. Now Kyogre and Ho-oh has to think twice before switching in Mewtwo. Dream World gave Mewtwo Unnerve, which can be helpful if you want to disable random Occa Berries from working when you are targeting Metagross or something, or perhaps Custap Wobbuffets with Destiny Bond, but I like Pressure for making people waste more PP as they try to target Mewtwo. To counter Mewtwo, well, I don't believe there is a safe counter. Dark pokemon like Darkrai and Tyranitar have to watch out for Aura Sphere, especially the latter. Scizor is going get destroyed from Flamethrower. Scarf Heracross or Chandelure can revenge Mewtwo however, particularly if the latter has Shadow Tag, but if Mewtwo has enough Calm Minds, a Shadow Ball is not going to defeat the beast. Blissey doesn't even work anymore because Psystrike is too insane; LO + 1 Psystrike can OHKO in fact with Stealth Rocks. Even without Psystrike, Sub or Taunt can ruin Blissey and make her into a set up fodder. Kyogre and Ho-oh should work except Psystrike can be a monster. Same for Latios and Latias; though they are resistant to Psystrike, they will take around 68-81% from that crazy beast of an attack. I suppose Spiritomb can take a standard Calm Mind/Psystrike/Aura Sphere/Flamethrower set in the rain, as he has super-effective STABs to hurt Mewtwo and is immune to both Psystrike and Aura Sphere. Lugia is set up fodder, but has Whirlwind to blow Mewtwo away and takes little damage from any of those moves. However, ones with Taunt can turn the tables against Lugia and turn it into a set up fodder. Rayquaza and Arceus can revenge Mewtwo with boosted Extremespeed and can still survive a single Psystrike. The former will have to beware of a surprise Ice Beam however. The Extreme Killer can lose to the Stall Mewtwo one on one actually; Will-o-Wisp and Reflect and Taunt coupled with Pressure is too much to handle. You can try to get Mewtwo to be complacent by getting it to set up and get a Ditto in to revenge it, but if Mewtwo has Sub, GG. Yeah, there are no real counters. That is the power of Mewtwo. Notable Moves: Psystrike, Calm Mind, Substitute, Aura Sphere, Ice Beam, Thunder, Flamethrower, Fire Blast, Shadow Ball, Psychic, Grass Knot, Will-o-Wisp, Thunder Wave, Toxic, Reflect, Light Screen, Recover, Taunt, Torment, Bulk Up, Ice Punch, Thunderpunch, Brick Break, Drain Punch, Charge Beam, Aqua Tail, Icy Wind, Signal Beam, Low Kick, Magic Coat, Trick, Gravity, Seismic Toss, Safeguard, Barrier, Amnesia Useful Items: Leftovers, Life Orb, Choice Scarf, Choice Specs, Light Clay, Lum Berry, Salac Berry Counters: No true counters, but I'll list some that can possibly deal with Mewtwo: Metagross, Kyogre, Lugia, Ho-oh, Darkrai, Spiritomb, Chandelure, Blissey [hgsssprite]151[/hgsssprite] 151: Mew Type: Psychic Ability: Synchronise Base Stats: 100/100/100/100/100/100 Difficulty: Hard The elusive Mew, the one everyone wanted back then before they even knew it existed. Mew is special because it can learn EVERY single TMs, HMs and tutor moves with the exception of exclusive moves such as Secret Sword, Draco Meteor, the elemental Hyper Beams and Relic Song. This little guy defined the whole elusive pixies that were stuck at the end of like every regional Pokedex, such as Celebi and Jirachi. By itself it learns Baton Pass and the rare Nasty Plot, which allows it to pass a lot of boosts to its fellow teammates. Barrier, Amnesia, Swords Dance, Rock Polish, it learns it all! I suppose due to its elusive nature Baton Pass and U-turn and Transform are quite fitting for Mew. And yes, Mew also has Aura Sphere to defend itself against Dark types. It did not seem to receive a Dream World ability however. Countering Mew is quite difficult, because it is too versatile and can carry as many moves as it wants to. However, take note that Mew's stats, while great, is not overly amazing so it can be overpowered by powerful Pokemon. Blissey can check any special ones but that's not usually Mew's goal. Besides that, Mew can easily run a physical set as well to defeat Blissey. Mew tends to run Baton Pass so something with a phazing move should be able to phaze it out. Unfortunately, Mew can also run Taunt, so Prankster Pokemon with Taunt such as Thundurus or Tornadus can work. Unfortunately, the two are quite fragile and can be dispatched by Mew's attacks if not careful. Overall, be careful of Mew. Though it doesn't seem as threatening as Mewtwo, its incredible versatility means it can be tailored to do nearly anything, and thus surefire counters are generally non-existent. Use Mew's unpredictability to your advantage; more often than not you will surprise your opponent with what you do! Notable Moves: Well, Mew can learn every TMs/HMs and nearly every move tutor moves. But from its natural moveset it has Baton Pass, Nasty Plot, Aura Sphere, Transform, everything else is all up to your preferences Useful Items: Leftovers, Life Orb, Choice Scarf, Choice Specs, Choice Band, Lum Berry, Light Clay Counters: No surefire counters. Good luck. Those that can handle Mew: Metagross, Tyranitar, Weavile, Spiritomb, Scizor, Heracross, Chandelure, Darkrai Edited June 27, 2012 by wraith89 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wraith89 Posted August 13, 2011 Author Share Posted August 13, 2011 (edited) [icon]248[/icon]Johto Theme: EVOLUTION 154: Meganium Type: Grass Ability: Overgrow / Leaf Guard (Dream World) Base Stats: 80/82/100/83/100/80 Difficulty: Advanced Meganium is the official bearer of the worst starter Pokemon in competitive battling at the moment, but don't let that prevent you from using her! It is also quite patronising that an essential technique, Leech Seed, is acquired through breeding. However, she does have applications, even though it is quite one dimensional. Meganium is mostly a support Pokemon, much like a malaligned Serperior rather. She is slightly bulkier than Serperior but slower. A selling point of Meganium is her ability to function as a cleric with Aromatherapy. With her overall bulk and access to both screen techniques, Meganium can start stalling bulky waters and electrics with very little problems. She also outpaces some of the other bulky grasses and can intoxicate them. However, her biggest flaw is her lack of movepool; she seems to only learn Grass offensive moves, along with Earthquake and Return. The lack of Sleep Powder also hurts, but overall, Meganium is a great supportive Pokemon and deserves a chance to be filled in a teamslot. Her Dream World Ability Leaf Guard can be useful in a sun team, as she can benefit from not being affected by status and she isn't primarily attacking anyways. Countering Meganium is not all too hard, as Fire Pokemon will scare her away with their STAB Fire attacks. Her rival Venusaur works very well, as he is immune to Leech Seed and Toxic, and has Sleep Powder to incapacitate her or can simply set up for himself and fire off super effective Sludge Bombs. The legendary birds, in particular, can all outspeed Meganium and run Substitute to protect themselves against Meganium's Leech Seed and can fire off Super Effective Ice Beam or Flamethrower, or in Zapdos's case, a Heat Wave or an appropriate Hidden Power, though without any, Zapdos will have more trouble busting through Meganium than Moltres or Articuno would. Altaria or Dragonite can also work well and have super effective moves to dispatch Meganium. Altaria also has Natural Cure to get rid of Toxic if she decides to switch out. Salamence is an immediate threat as well. Abomasnow is immune to Leech Seed and has STAB Blizzard to completely destroy Meganium. Overall, playing with Meganium is a challenge for anyone who uses her as a cleric, but she can provide a great check to bulky waters and electrics. Just know her strengths and weaknesses and she should do fine. Notable Moves: Leech Seed, Aromatherapy, Reflect, Light Screen, Safeguard, Energy Ball, Giga Drain, Grass Knot, Seed Bomb, Earthquake, Return, Synthesis, Toxic, Roar, Dragon Tail, Substitute, Counter, Swords Dance, Flail, Refresh, Grasswhistle, Hidden Power [Fire/Ice] Useful Items: Leftovers, Lum Berry, Light Clay Counters: Venusaur, Ninetales, Arcanine, Houndoom, Rapidash, Moltres, Articuno, Zapdos, Dragonite, Altaria, Heracross, Scizor, Pinsir, Scyther, Forretress, Skarmory [hgsssprite]157[/hgsssprite] 157: Typhlosion Type: Fire Ability: Blaze / Flash Fire (Dream World) Base Stats: 78/84/78/109/85/100 Difficulty: Hard Formerly the best Johto starter, now usurped by Feraligatr and his sheer might, Typhlosion is no joke. Though he has the same exact stats as Charizard (Gamefreak, you're really something), Typhlosion can do things that Charizard cannot do. Mainly, he is pure fire. I know, that sucks because he's weak to Earthquake, but at least he isn't weak to electric moves, actually resists ice attacks, and only has 2x weakness to rock. Yeah I know, that isn't stopping him from fainting from a Tyranitar's Stone Edge, but at least he isn't taking 50% damage from Stealth Rocks! Typhlosion's main claim to fame in competitive battling though, is that he has the fastest Eruption in game. STAB Eruption with 150 base power at full health is nothing to scoff at. It even hits both foes at doubles, and so that is incredibly dangerous coming off his 109 special attack. He also has other options in form of Fire Blast, Solarbeam, Focus Blast, and even the odd Extrasensory. When he is at full health and all revenge killers and entry hazards are gone, there really is no stopping him. Eruption just hurts too much. Dream World gave Typhlosion Flash Fire, giving him an immunity to Fire. Now, competitive players scoff at Flash Fire because it is easier to get Blaze to activate for more power in fire moves than to switch in to a predicted fire attack for the fire power. I know it sounds weird, but for that reason alone, people prefer Blaze. I, however, like the idea of an extra immunity, but it is up to you. To counter Typhlosion, Blissey is the way to go for being the premier special attacker. However, watch out as Typhlosion can be a great mixed attacker and has access to Focus Punch! Bulky waters such as Milotic and Slowking can do well also, but Solarbeam is a pain. Tyranitar with his sandstream will stop Solarbeam from working instantly and thanks to his bloated special defence, he can survive a single impact and retaliate with STAB Stone Edge. He must watch out for Focus Blast however. Aerodactyl resists Fire attacks and is not weak to Solarbeam and is naturally faster than Typhlosion and can retaliate with STAB Stone Edge or a powerful Earthquake. Overall, this flaming echidna may be a risky Pokemon to play with, but he can certainly puncture holes given the proper support. He is not to be underestimated or you'll have to avoid deep lava. Notable Moves: Fire Blast, Flamethrower, Lava Plume, Eruption, Flame Charge, Sunny Day, Solarbeam, Focus Blast, Extrasensory, Hidden Power [Grass/Ice], Will-o-Wisp, Substitute, Focus Punch, Earthquake, Howl, Thunderpunch, Flare Blitz, Fire Punch, Wild Charge, Overheat Useful Items: Life Orb, Leftovers, Heat Rock, Choice Scarf, Choice Specs, Petaya Berry, Salac Berry Counters: Blissey, Aerodactyl, Milotic, Slowking, Entei, Suicune, Azumarill, Tyranitar [hgsssprite]160[/hgsssprite] Analysis by Tbird 160: Feraligatr Type: Water Ability: Torrent / Sheer Force (Dream World) Base Stats: 85/105/100/79/83/78 Difficulty: Easy Feraligatr is often seen as the mini Gyara for the underused community. However, being a pure water type and having more defence (pre intimidate) it has an easy time switching in and staying in. Though the 105 base Attack may seem somewhat lack lustre, with access to moves such as Dragon Dance, Swords Dance and Aqua Jet, its shortcomings are easily bypassed. With the advent of the 5th generation, Feraligatr got scarier. With access to Dragon Dance to boost its speed and attack to outpace most of the unboosted Metagame and scarfed <75s. Coupled with the new Ability Sheer Force, it's truly a force to be reckoned with. The main reason being, its relied upon STAB is Waterfall, when given the nature of sheer force, turns the already quite potent attack into a base 170 brute of an attack. Put it in a rain team and let it do 210 damage per turn; scary stuff. Oh and did I mention that Sheer Force negates LO recoil? Of course it's beatable, it wouldn't still be UU if it wasn't, Anything that can tank its hard attack, phaze it, or outpace it should do the job. Just be careful, however, as it does have quite some bulk to it, and if you can't OHKO it, expect to lose. Things like Starmie, Skarmory, Ferrothorn and Slowbro shouldn't have too much problems, but just be weary of its coverage moves. Notable Moves: Dragon Dance, Waterfall, Earthquake, Ice Punch, Rock Slide, Crunch, Low Kick, Superpower, Swords Dance, Return, Aqua Jet, Flail, Substitute, Agility, Hydro Pump Useful Items: Life Orb, Leftovers, Choice Band, Choice Scarf Counters: Milotic, Slowbro, Skarmory, Ferrothorn, Suicune, Vaporeon, Lapras, Jellicent, Celebi [hgsssprite]164[/hgsssprite] Analysis by Tbird 164: Noctowl Type: Normal/Flying Ability: Insomnia / Keen Eye / Tinted Lens (Dream World) Base Stats: 100/50/50/76/96/70 Difficulty: Advanced Noctowl is another one of my very favourite pokémon ever. However, a running theme to my favourites is their general suckishness in a competitive POV. However, while you won't find Noctowl in the higher tiers given that Sigilyph does Noctowl's Job better, it is still a pretty coolWall in the UU environment if you need someone to take out problem Pokémon like Hitmonlee or maybe Shaymin. Noctowl's main selling point in Generation IV was its ability to Psycho-Shift Burn and sleep around teams with the moves Rest / Sleep Talk / Psycho-Shift / Filler, this meant it could switch in on something like Hitmonlee's Sucker Punch, and hit it with a nasty burn, then sleep off the damage and maybe get someone to sleep, too. Generation V wasn't kind, however. It made an outclassed pokémon even more outclassed and then to make matters worked, it mocked Noctowl with a Bad ass ability that it could ill use anyway. It is still a pretty cool Special wall in the Lower tiers, but with things like Victini and Weavile running rampent it will find itself over powered most of the time, with experience you may be able to find ways to switch it in and burn a predicted counter as it switches in, but it's by no means an easy feat. One of Noctowl's best partners is Hitmontop, as it can switch in on Rock typed attacks aimed at it and also OHKO Weavile with Mach Punch, not only that but it can spin away the ever present Stealth Rocks that all birds so hate. It also appreciates the removal of walls like Chansey, who can be taken out by Nidoking who can also boast the ability to switch in on Rock typed attacks, electric typed attacks and most statuses that might be thrown in Noctowl's Direction, Noctowl in return provides a ground immunity for Nidoking. Notable Moves: Night Shade, Reflect, Hypnosis, Air Slash, Roost, Psychic, Substitute, Psycho Shift, Shadow Ball, Work Up, Whirlwind, Featherdance, Toxic, Heat Wave, Agility Useful Items: Leftovers, Lum Berry Counters: Rhyperior, Aggron, Spiritomb, Umbreon, Blissey, Heatran [hgsssprite]171[/hgsssprite] Analysis by Tbird 171: Lanturn Type: Water/Electric Ability: Illuminate / Volt Absorb / Water Absorb (Dream World) Base Stats: 125/58/58/76/76/67 Difficulty: Hard Lanturn is a favourite Pokémon of mine. It's awesome looking, has a great typing, pretty cool stats and a huge movepool. Lanturn is usually played defencively given its awesome Special bulk. It has a utility movepool to die for formed of Heal Bell, Toxic, Thunder Wave, Confuse Ray, Toxic, Substitute, Flash, Protect And Stockpile. Lanturn is one of your generic bulky waters with a twist, it isn't destroyed by Starmie and can truly mess up the opponent by spreading paralysis and confusion until the cows come home. But wait! There's more! Its STABs get all but universal coverage, being walled by - ironically - itself and Ferrothorn. These days it generally can't take the power of OU, but it is always worth a shot in the underused tier, where things like Victini and Arcanine run rampent. Its best partners are those that can take the strong physical hits and fast grass types, like Celebi, out. Moltres can do this quite effectively, as it can switch on things like Quagsire and aforemention Celebi and attack back with STAB Fire Blast and Hidden Power Grass. Forretress makes a cool partner for Lanturn, too, as it can tank string physical hits lay down all the hazards under the sun and spin away the destrimental Toxic Spikes, they also have pretty awesome synergy together too. Given that Lanturn will be forcing switches with Parafusion, having a lot of entry hazards down is a fine idea, as this puts the opposition in a damning position, roll the dice with parafusion or allow another pokemon to be poisoned. Lanturn hates coming across other walls as she doesn't have very much in the way of a strong attacking stat, so the removal of these walls is lovely. In the Lower Tiers Victini is a fine idea, and in the higher tiers Salamence or Gliscor is a fine idea. Don't underestimate this guy because of her low stats. I actually pulled off some nasty tactics with her and it is still viable under the right hands! Notable Moves: Surf, Ice Beam, Thunderbolt, Discharge, Thunder Wave, Confuse Ray, Substitute, Hydro Pump, Signal Beam, Stockpile, Toxic, Protect, Charge Beam, Scald, Volt Switch, Agility, Electro Ball Useful Items: Leftovers, Air Balloon Counters: Blissey, Ferrothorn, Venusaur, Meganium, Quagsire, Gastrodon, Seaking [hgsssprite]181[/hgsssprite] 181: Ampharos Type: Electric Ability: Static / Plus (Dream World) Base Stats: 90/75/75/115/90/55 Difficulty: Intermediate This one is the black sheep of most electric type Pokemon. Baaaad joke I know, but it is true. Electric Pokemon have the common stereotype of being really fast but fragile. Aside from Magneton though, was there really anything that broke that category? Oh Zapdos, because it's fast, strong, and not fragile, but forget about broken things like that and look at normal electrics. Yea, Ampharos is a little strange, but maybe because she wasn't meant to be played that way. Due to her relatively higher bulk of 90/75/90, maybe she was made to tank hits while still being able to hurt a lot with that base 115 special attack. In game I knew her for Static hax; everytime someone touches mine they always get paralysed. Even though her attack power leaves much to be desired, she can run mixed and is often seen running Substitute + Focus Punch as well to deal with pests like Blissey or Chansey. Maybe that slow speed is a good thing because at least you don't have to sacrifice power for speed boosting nature like everything else does and you can go ahead and boost her special attack with a boosting nature to give her a total of 361 special attack. That is a LOT. In fact, that's really strong that even Milotic can be OHKOd with Thunderbolt after Stealth Rocks + LO impact! Talk about scary. You can even play her defensively and run Heal Bell and Discharge for a status platform of some kind. In Gen V, they actually gave her Agility as a hereditary move. Though I don't really recommend it, if you max out her speed, it hits 209 at neutral, and that ties with Modest Omastar in the rain. They also gave her Cotton Guard, which raises her Defence by THREE levels. That can be an interesting move for tanking. Dream World gave Ampharos Plus, that ability that went for Plusle. Actually, I think they were planning on a strategy allowing for Ampharos and Manectric to be used together. That's just calling for Earthquake to come in and destroy them both, but with Plus and Minus, Ampharos + Manectric can really put a hurt on a LOT of things with their high special attack and usable movepool. Maybe you can try that out on doubles and see if it is worth using. Countering Ampharos? Blissey. Just watch out for Focus Punch. Electivire counters almost EVERY Electrics, and Ampharos unfortunately is no exception. He can switch into a predicted electric attack, get the speed boost, and hit her hard with Earthquake. Grounds such as Swampert or Rhyperior can work, but they should watch out for special moves such as random Hidden Power Grass or Focus Blast for the latter. Dugtrio can come in a predicted Thunderbolt and trap Ampharos so it will never be able to escape. If all Ampharos has is Thunderbolt and Focus Blast, Nidoqueen and Nidoking can come in either of them and proceed to attack with STAB Earthquakes or Earth Power. Bulky grassers are probably another way to deal with Ampharos, and hit her hard on the physical side. Cotton Guard does get annoying though, and Hidden Power Ice will strike them for super effective damage. Pure grass should also watch out for random Signal Beams. Ampharos is certainly no pushover and she is certainly a very unique Pokemon and deserves to be played with a lot more. Notable Moves: Thunderbolt, Discharge, Reflect, Light Screen, Safeguard, Heal Bell, Thunder Wave, Focus Blast, Substitute, Focus Punch, Hidden Power [Grass/Ice/Water], Cotton Guard, Rain Dance, Thunder, Charge Beam, Volt Switch, Signal Beam, Power Gem, Agility, Electro Ball, Fire Punch Useful Items: Leftovers, Life Orb, Damp Rock, Choice Specs Counters: Swampert, Blissey, Rhyperior, Electivire, Nidoking, Nidoqueen, Lanturn, Venusaur [hgsssprite]182[/hgsssprite] 182: Bellossom Type: Grass Ability: Chlorophyll / Healer (Dream World) Base Stats: 75/80/85/90/100/50 Difficulty: Hard Here is the first of the split evolutions of Johto, this one being Gloom's. I had no idea Gloom could evolve into this one until I looked at the Pokedex in GSC, saw Bellossom next to Vileplume, checked for her location, and it said unknown. Maybe she's a headbutt Pokemon? But Erika's roster had Bellossom in it, which gave me a hint that maybe there's a way to evolve Gloom into Bellossom, just maybe. Then I try using that Sun Stone I won from the Bug Catching Contest and wow Gloom really does evolve into Bellossom! Then I found an interesting quirk in Gen II; I couldn't teach TM36 (Sludge Bomb) to my Bellossom while Gloom was able to learn it. I know, none of you care about these in-game stuff and you want me to talk about the competitive aspects. Okay then. Bellossom is an interesting Pokemon and is slightly more specially defensive over her sister Vileplume. Actually, the only thing that's different is that her special attack and special defence swapped and she lost her Poison typing. That removal of poison typing can actually be a boon in disguise. While she is no longer immune to Toxic (Spikes) or neutral to Bug attacks, she isn't weak to Psychic either and is actually resistant to Earthquake! Like Meganium, she is a pure Grass defensive Pokemon, so let that be your reason to use her over Vileplume. Also, she has access to Leaf Blade and Leaf Storm, something Vileplume does not have, but she is also missing Aromatherapy, which would have been great on Bellossom but nope, it went to that rafflesia instead. Dream World gave Bellossom Healer, which can be useful in a doubles battle as she has auto 30% cleric chance and is not a slouch defensively. 30% is a little too little though; I wish it was at least 50% to be an effective ability. Bellossom's primary counters are, you guessed it, bulky Grass that are partially Poison, such as her sister Vileplume and her other friend Victreebel. They also resist Drain Punch and has STAB Sludge Bomb to severely damage Bellossom. Fire Pokemon are the bane of Bellossom's existence; things like Arcanine or Charizard is sure to scare Bellossom away. Heatran has the added benefit of being immune to a surprise Sludge Bomb from Bellossom. Do remember, however, that when you are switching into Bellossom, you are risking your counter to fall asleep from Sleep Powder. Altaria and Blissey can take a status and switch out thanks to Natural Cure and pretty much wall Bellossom with whatever she has. Drain Punch can hurt Blissey however. Overall, Bellossom is an interesting one and being the split evolution of Gloom, you wonder how she ended up like this. Notable Moves: Giga Drain, Sunny Day, Solarbeam, Petal Dance, Sludge Bomb, Hidden Power [Fire], Grass Knot, Energy Ball, Substitute, Leaf Storm, Synthesis, Moonlight, Toxic, Swords Dance, Drain Punch, Return, Leaf Blade, Lucky Chant, Teeter Dance, Ingrain, Charm, Tickle, Leech Seed (Event) Useful Items: Leftovers, Life Orb, Heat Rock Counters: Vileplume, Victreebel, Moltres, Articuno, Heatran, Altaria, Dragonite, Charizard, Arcanine, Ninetales, Venusaur [hgsssprite]184[/hgsssprite] 184: Azumarill Type: Water Ability: Thick Fat / Huge Power / Sap Sipper (Dream World) Base Stats: 100/50/80/50/80/50 Difficulty: Easy When this little rabbit was released in GSC, I was in love. She was so cute! I was excited when Hiker Parry (either this guy or Anthony, I think Parry) said there was a swarm of Marills in Mt. Mortar and I immediately caught a lot of them due to my obsession for Pikablues (when we all thought Marill was Pikablue... come on I know you did too). Then they evolved so early at like level 18 and I thought "AWESOME!". I even experimented with the Day Care and by putting two Marills of opposite sex that is how I found out how the Day Care worked! Call me a noob, but I was a kid then... what was I supposed to know? Anyhow, I grew up and started checking on Azumarill's base stats. First I was like "what?" because I thought I was checking Marill's stats accidentally then I went "WHAT?!" when I realised it certainly wasn't a typo. Those are indeed Azumarill's stats, and very lackluster too. If Azumarill remained that way I would have put her in the same vein as Pidgeot as the 3rd stage Pokemon completely outclassed by everyone else. However, Azumarill was a 2nd stager, and when they introduced Azurill in Gen III they introduced Huge Power anyways. Huge Power you say? Yes, that is the very ability that DEFINES Azumarill. Thanks to this ability, her attack stats DOUBLE, making that laughable 50 base attack into base 150 (base powers work differently). At max that is 218 * 2 = 436 attack. Holy. Moly. But Azumarill didn't even have a proper STAB to abuse because Water moves were special. Eh well, at least she had Substitute + Focus Punch to abuse. Then came Gen IV and Azumarill received a bunch of upgrades thanks to the physical/special split. In fact, she's crazy good now. Waterfall from Azumarill will rip non-Water Absorbers a new one and her new priority STAB in the form of Aqua Jet makes her a great revenger. It's only half the power of Waterfall... yeah, ONLY. That's still a lot, especially if you slap her a Choice Band. She can nail Grassers with Ice Punch on the switch in and her Focus Punch still hurts more than Waterfall on neutral targets. Don't like predictions? Then try Superpower on a Choice Band set, it still hurts. Now you just wish Belly Drum was legal with Aqua Jet. (Un)fortunately, it isn't, and probably for a good reason. Best of all, with all this power, she still retains her great bulk of 100/80/80, making her an ideal Subpuncher. She even has access to Encore! Dream World gave Azumarill Sap Sipper, which gives her immunity to Grass attacks (which she is weak to) and raises her attack when in contact with one, including Leech Seed and Spore! This would be great, but it comes at the price of sacrificing Huge Power. I don't think that's worth it since it is very situational and to match with Huge Power you need Sap Sipper's boost and a Work Up boost, which takes 2 turns, and by that time, you might be forced to switch out. Azumarill hits hard, but she's not without flaws. Generation V added a huge nemesis in the form of Jellicent. With Water Absorb, it is immune to Water, Fighting, and even Normal attacks, all of which are Azumarill's main attacks. She can settle for (lol) Ice Punch, but that just makes her into a set up fodder. Oh you wanted Freeze hax? Too bad, Scald can thaw Jellicent out of that, thus making Jellicent her best counter, hence why SOME Azumarills decidedly carries Toxic JUST to nail Jellicent with something crippling. Water absorbers like Vaporeon can fight back and poison Azumarill. Lapras can Thunderbolt Azumarill to oblivion, but must watch out for surprise Focus Punches or Superpower. Bulky grassers like Tangrowth or Leafeon or Torterra works well, but must watch out for Ice Punch, ESPECIALLY Torterra. You can switch in Cofagrigus and disable Huge Power, making Azumarill do lol-worthy damage and cripple her even more with Will-o-Wisp. Due to such counters, Azumarill is usually paired with a Fire Pokemon and is part of a Fire-Water-Grass core. Azumarill is typically found in the lower tiers, but she is able to hold off on her own in the higher tiers thanks to her great capability to revenge. She is not a terrible Pokemon by any means and as such, is very deceiving for a Pokemon with a docile appearance. Notable Moves: Waterfall, Aqua Jet, Ice Punch, Return, Superpower, Substitute, Focus Punch, Aqua Tail, Double-Edge, Body Slam, Perish Song, Belly Drum, Encore, Work Up Useful Items: Leftovers, Choice Band Counters: Jellicent, Ferrothorn, Slowbro, Milotic, Tangrowth, Leafeon, Cofagrigus, Skarmory, Vaporeon [hgsssprite]185[/hgsssprite] 185: Sudowoodo Type: Rock Ability: Rock Head / Sturdy / Rattled (Dream World) Base Stats: 70/100/115/30/65/30 Difficulty: Hard The tree that is scared of water. Here is he, Sudowoodo. He pretends to be a tree but he really isn't, but he still packs a hard punch. Many people don't use him because there are much better rocks out there, such as Rhyperior, but Sudowoodo has some neat tricks of his own. For a tree that isn't a tree, he can still learn Wood Hammer to nail Water or Ground Pokemon during switch-in. With Rock Head, he will not take any recoil damage from it either! Yes, he has the ubiqitous Edgequake combo as well, but he also has Sucker Punch as his priority move, elemental punches for coverage, Curse as a boosting move, and strangely, VERY strangely, he can utilise Calm Mind. Don't do it unless you're really pro. Dream World gave Sudowoodo rattled, which makes sense because he gets jittery when you throw water at him, but this ability is triggered with only Dark/Bug/Ghost moves, as if Sudowoodo was a Psychic or something. This raises his already pathetic speed stat of 30. I don't know about you, but I prefer Rock Head so Sudowoodo doesn't end up fainting himself with Wood Hammer or even Sturdy if in lead position. Sudowoodo would probably do best in a Trick Room team because of that. Actually, if you are using Sudowoodo, by all means do try that out! Countering Sudowoodo can be a tough business, because he has hard hitting moves not even Water Pokemon want to come into. Oh it's because trees are weak to Fire right? So let's bring Charizard in-ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! That's where Fighters come in. They resist Sudowoodo's STABs and have super effective Fighting moves to wrangle the tree. Conkeldurr or Hitmontop come into mind, particularly the latter since he has Intimidate. Bulky grassers make a good switch in as they resist Wood Hammer and can strike back with their STAB Grass attacks. Torterra or Tangrowth or Leafeon will work really well as they have high defences enough to take Sudowoodo's attacks. Torterra also has the added benefit of resisting Sudowoodo's STAB. However, watch out for the rare Fire Punch or even worse for Torterra, Ice Punch. There's also Skarmory who can come in and blow Sudowoodo away, but should watch out for random Fire/Thunderpunches. Overall, this freaky tree is an unpredictable guy, but he can be an alternative Rock Pokemon and is very useful for anyone sick of using Rhyperior and the likes. Notable Moves: Stone Edge, Earthquake, Wood Hammer, Sucker Punch, Stealth Rock, Low Kick, Hammer Arm, Double-Edge, Substitute, Focus Punch, Curse, Fire Punch, Ice Punch, Thunderpunch, Rock Polish, Explosion, Magic Coat, Smack Down, Taunt, Torment, Psych Up Useful Items: Leftovers, Choice Band, Life Orb Counters: Hariyama, Conkeldurr, Machamp, Hitmontop, Torterra, Tangrowth, Leafeon, Skarmory, Cobalion, Virizion, Terrakion [animsprite]186[/animsprite] 186: Politoed Type: Water Ability: Water Absorb / Damp / Drizzle (Dream World) Base Stats: 90/75/75/90/100/70 Difficulty: Intermediate "Wraith's frog sucks. All it does is jump and sing." ~ Gin This happy dancing amphibian is yet just another boring bulky water. So why even fear him? Politoed may just be another bulky water, but he IS still a bulky water, and will mess you up if you underestimate him. With Water Absorb, he can heal from a water hit every time he switches in. He has access to the usual Surf, Ice Beam, Toxic, but also has Hypnosis to put stuff to sleep, Refresh to stop Toxic from eating him up, Perish Song to force switches, and Encore to royally mess things up. He can trap things with Whirlpool and start Encoring them or use Perish Song for some evil perishtrapping strategy. Huh? What do you mean that's not what he is known for? Of course he is- oh you mean Generation V. Okay, stop with these broken Generation V renditions of the old Pokemon, and I'll explain. Politoed, of all things (along with my favourite Fire Pokemon Ninetales) gained access to perma-weather abilities! That's right folks, POLITOED, that thing you scorned in the corner in favour of your Suicune or Milotic, now has access to DRIZZLE! Yeah sure, Ninetales isn't completely outclassed by Groudon, but Politoed is completely outclassed by Kyogre... huh what? Can your Kyogre put its counters to sleep? I don't think so! Can your Kyogre sing its opponents to death? I don't think so! Can your Kyogre force its opponents to use the same moves all over again? I don't think so! Can your Kyogre bring lightning down from the sky frying every other waters? I don't think s- oh wait. Never mind. Anyways, Drizzle Politoed has become a controversial Pokemon, where people have decided to ban Swift Swim and Drizzle from being in the same team! We all know how devastating rain teams are, except they need to set up rain every time. Not anymore! This bulky happy froggy just needs to show his presence and bring down the rainstorm... PERMA Rain! Also, he can defeat the other perma-weather Pokemon one on one, with the exception of Abomasnow, who can hit him hard with his STAB Grass moves and his natural slowness will bring the hailstorm in. But you see, people are screwing up badly when they think the froggy is ONLY useful for rain, nothing else. Wrong. Politoed is STILL a bulky water, no matter how you look at it. People don't know his capabilities much because in the past he was beaten off the path. Try out a Water Absorb Politoed for once, and you can see that he is still naturally bulky and can prove to be a great bulky water by himself! To counter Politoed? Well, for one, you probably want a weather inducer yourself if it is the Drizzle version you are looking at. Keeping a Ninetales or Tyranitar or something at bay will definitely help. Ninetales can disable Politoed with her own Hypnosis, weaken his Surfs and Scalds with Drought, is immune to the burn side effects, and has Energy Ball at her disposal to hit him for super effective damage. However, Politoed isn't taking much from Energy Balls anyhow unless it is significantly boosted. In general, bulky grassers, especially ones with part Poison, can come into Politoed's Surfs or even Ice Beams and hit him hard with grass moves, such as Venusaur or Celebi. However, beware that Scald can burn a physical SD Venusaur or a Hypnosis that lands a hit. Whimsicott's Prankster allows him to mess with Froggy by landing a Taunt on him and Subseed him until he's down, provided the frog is not behind a Substitute. Lanturn hates Toxic, but she can come in to Politoed's Surf and mess the froggy up with STAB Thunderbolts. Blissey, of course, can come into anything Politoed as (as long as it isn't some crazy Belly Drum set) and wall him all day. Natural Cure or Heal Bell means Toxic is generally not a problem. All in all, Politoed is another "beaten off the path" Pokemon, but has a lot to offer, and is actually very scary to face if he is on the battlefield. You will see... it is actually pretty hard to one shot the froggy as his defensive stats are great and he has plenty of moves to mess with his foes. Notable Moves: Surf, Scald, Toxic, Ice Beam, Hydro Pump, Psychic, Focus Blast, Hidden Power [Grass/Electric], Hypnosis, Substitute, Encore, Bounce, Refresh, Protect, Whirlpool, Perish Song, Earthquake, Swagger, Haze, Endeavor, Splash, Belly Drum, Waterfall, Body Slam, Return Useful Items: Leftovers, Lum Berry Counters: Abomasnow, Blissey, Lanturn, Whimsicott, Clefable, Venusaur, Vileplume, Roserade, Celebi, Zapdos, Articuno, Tentacruel, Empoleon [hgsssprite]192[/hgsssprite] 192: Sunflora Type: Grass Ability: Chlorophyll / Solar Power / Early Bird (Dream World) Base Stats: 75/75/55/105/85/30 Difficulty: Hard Another Chlorophyll abuser. Great. Except this one has pathetically low speed maybe she isn't worth using? Maybe with the proper teammates to take out annoying foes like Fire Pokemon such as Dugtrio, she might just work. With Solar Power, she's incredibly powerful under the sun, especially with that high special attack of 105. And unlike most other Grassers, she has a pretty interesting movepool. The generic grass moves like Grass Knot, Solarbeam and even Leaf Storm are here, but there's also Sludge Bomb which she does not get STAB from. Great. Oh what's this? Earth Power?! Yes finally something to take down those fires! With Modest she ends up at 318 speed while with Timid she ends up with 358 speed under the sun. Which one will it be? Dream World gave Sunflora Early Bird, which makes sense but, isn't too helpful. The other two abilities will serve her better. Countering Sunflora is as easy as sending Blissey... literally. But, since there's always going to be a caveat attached, yeah watch out for random Leech Seeds or else Sunflora will just end up leeching off chunks of HP off of Blissey herself. Birds such as Moltres or Articuno work very well. Though Articuno is weak to those Hidden Powers that always happen to be Fire with these Chlorophyll abusers, its special defence is bloatedly high and can take several hits while STAB Ice Beam will dispatch Sunflora easily. Fires will almost always scare her away, especially part flying ones such as Charizard. Heatran hates Earth Power, but he can come in as a revenger and even outpace those with Timid speed under the sun if he has a Choice Scarf. Play smart when you play Sunflora. With the right support she can be an interesting choice; she is a powerful Pokemon in her own right. Notable Moves: Sunny Day, Solarbeam, Giga Drain, Grass Knot, Leaf Storm, Energy Ball, Earth Power, Sludge Bomb, Hidden Power [Fire/Ice], Grasswhistle, Encore, Leech Seed, Substitute, Morning Sun, Synthesis, Endeavor, Swords Dance, Seed Bomb, Return, Ingrain, Light Screen Useful Items: Leftovers, Life Orb, Choice Specs, Heat Rock Counters: Blissey, Venusaur, Vileplume, Moltres, Arcanine, Ninetales, Articuno, Roserade, Charizard [hgsssprite]195[/hgsssprite] Analysis by Tbird 195: Quagsire Type: Water/Ground Ability: Damp / Water Absorb / Unaware (Dream World) Base Stats: 95/85/85/65/65/35 Difficulty: Intermediate Quagsire's a weird one. On paper its stats are mediocre at best, it has a cool typing, some great abilities and pretty extensive movepool. In saying this, he is actually considerably bulky, even if his stats might suggest otherwise. He was a premium wall in the UU tier with the advent of HGSS allowing him to use recover for instant... recovery and as such was made quite the staple bulky water, somewhat like Milotic only with a cool immunity to electric attacks and a more unpredictable movepool, in the overused tier, however he was basically a poor man's swampert that lacked Stealth Rocks. In the Gen IV Uber tier it had its novelty as the best Kyogre Counter in the game, as it was immune to 2-3/4 of Kyogre's common attacks. It is now in Generation 5 where Quagsire has really come into its own with the Dream World ability Unaware, which basically means you can let the opponent's Salamence get 6 Dragon Dances, then switch in Quagsire and LOL at it with Ice Punch. Along side Slowbro, it is one of the best or near-enough counters to the now banned Blaziken; yes it is that damned good. So given the prior information we can see that Quagsire is best used as your generic bulky water. It has movepool enough to pull this off with its Dual STABs in Surf and Earthquake and nice coverage moves such as Stone Edge and Ice Punch, It also has access to Recover and Yawn allowing it to switch on set up sweepers, scare them to sleep or flee and then recover off any residual damge. Quagsire is not without its faults, however. It suffers from a very poor special defence score and is weak to every status other than electric based paralysis, and such is its downfall. Unlike starmie how can remove status on switching out, and Tentacruel who outright absorbs Toxicity, Quagsire falls very quickly to any Status condition. However, in knowing this one can pack a heal beller in the form of Celebi, how can switch in on grass typed attacks aimed at Quagsire, or a generic status absorber like Sigilyph, who can also switch in on grass typed attacks for Quagsire. A great partner for Quagsire in the lower tiers is Victini how can switch in on Quagsire's grass weakness, break bulky grassers and give most walls a generally hard timing, allowing Quagsire to wall easier. Infernape can do the same sort of thing in the higher tiers, and is thankful Quagsire removing things like Excadrill, Landorus and Gliscor. Notable Moves: Waterfall, Aqua Tail, Earthquake, Recover, Ice Punch, Stone Edge, Toxic, Protect, Substitute, Focus Punch, Yawn, Encore, Body Slam, Counter, Curse, Rest, Sleep Talk, Scald Useful Items: Leftovers, Choice Band Counters: Celebi, Tangrowth, Leafeon, Milotic, Slowbro, Ferrothorn, Skarmory [hgsssprite]197[/hgsssprite] Analysis by Lorshinator 197: Umbreon Type: Dark Ability: Synchronize / Inner Focus (Dream World) Base Stats: 95/65/110/60/130/65 Difficulty: Hard Ah, Umbreon, one of the most annoying Pokemon you could ever meet. Ever. Well, back in the golden days, Umbreon was probably one of the greatest walls around, boasted thick-as-a-brick defences with a great support movepool, Umbreon was where it was at. Its use has somewhat deteriorated from its golden place back in previous generations, but it still maintains to be a great ideal team support and wall in the lower tiers. Are you in need of something with good bulk? Are you in need of something to revitalize your team's health, or something to be a bulky baton passer? Umbreon might be able to fit somewhere in those lines... Umbreon's unique from a majority of the other eeveelutions as being primarily defensive, preferring to pester her foes with status and the like. Umbreon's primary selling point is it's support movepool boasting Moonlight for a reliable recovery, Wish for her team, Heal Bell, Baton Pass, Curse, and Roar, just to name a few. Umbreon, in my obviously non-Smogon unprofessional opinion, is best as a team support, not necessarily a staller. Wish support and Heal Bell is perhaps the most practical set, as Umbreon can heal her entire team from status and heal Pokemon otherwise incapable of healing themselves. Umbreon can also use Toxic to badly poison her foes, and Payback is a reliable option for an attack, although you mustn't expect it to deal intense damage. Umbreon's type, despite her fear of Fighting types, is pretty good defensively, as it stops Psychics and is a good aid for her fighting friends. Ghosts may find it difficult to get past her without the proper movepool, and if anything sets up on them a good Roar will send them scurrying. Her fantastic bulk distribution allows her to either specialize in one category of defence, or mix and match the two, making her rather sturdy. Umbreon can halt Sigilyph's typical Cosmic Power set, being one of the few to actually do so. Her Dream World ability, Inner Focus, isn't all that bad, as she is rather slow and some flinches can ruin her performance, although I personally would rather her getting Pressure instead. Umbreon isn't all sugar and spice though. Like many support Pokemon of her kind, Steel types completely incapacitate her, preventing her from doing anything. Toxic is the only real damage she will inflict on her foes, as the rest is usually team support (although a curse set could eventually hurt). Also, taunting Umbreon can completely shut her down, preventing her status moves from being used. Umbreon is fairly predictable once you are aware of the type of set, which is more often than not going to be wish support. Dealing with Umbreon can be a nuisance, but ultimately it grinds down to using a fighting, bug, or steel type. Name any Fighting type with high attack: it'll get the job done. Our amazing little ant friend Durant completely ignores Toxic, and can easily set up on the poor creature (as can Scizor and Heracross). Heracross has Guts to make it even stronger when intoxicated. Bringing in any Steel type, regardless if it's strong offensively or not, will stop her in her tracks. Notable Moves: Toxic, Wish, Heal Bell, Roar, Mean Look, Baton Pass, Moonlight, Curse, Yawn, Taunt, Payback, Protect Useful Items: Leftovers, Lum Berry Counters: Durant, Heracross, Scizor, Scrafty, Houndoom, Conkeldurr, Ferrothorn, Forretress, Registeel, Toxicroak, Samurott (Taunt, Swords Dance + Megahorn), Espeon (believe it or not), Xatu (same as Espeon, Magic Bounce) [hgsssprite]201[/hgsssprite] 201: Unown Type: Psychic Ability: Levitate Base Stats: 48/72/48/72/48/48 Difficulty: Rageworthy You know, I've once seen a team with the Unowns of the following letters: E-I-N-P-S-!. You figure out what that means. Anyways, this guy knows how to run the ancient art of Hidden Power. But it hates modern technology, so it cannot use TM10 to learn that move. Once an Unown chooses its Hidden Power, it will be set with that Hidden Power for life. What does that mean? Nobody knows. All we know is that it will forever stare into your soul making you wonder how the heck you are supposed to use this guy in battle. Okay, let's slap a Choice Specs on it. Logical thing to do... until you realise Unown only has one eye. So how the heck do you slap a Choice Specs on it to power up Hidden Power? One can only wonder... oh you wanted a list of counters? Nah forget it, you will probably ragequit as you are trying to solve the mysterious ways of this thing. Yeah, it's quite scary that Hidden Power Ice can even 2HKO the almighty Magikarp, even when it resists it! That's the power of Unown folks. Notable Moves: Hidden Power Useful Items: Choice Specs Counters: I'm unsure of this one actually. But there are 28 Unown in total. See? I can count! [hgsssprite]205[/hgsssprite] 205: Forretress Type: Bug/Steel Ability: Sturdy / Overcoat (Dream World) Base Stats: 75/90/140/60/60/40 Difficulty: Easy Forretress is, for all purposes, the #1 utility Pokemon in the whole entire game. There is also Tentacruel, but Forretress is awesome. He has high physical defence, enough to match Skarmory's, and is able to lay all three types of entry hazards, Spikes, Stealth Rocks, and Toxic Spikes. Couple in the fact that Forretress is able to use RAPID SPIN too is even better. Also, he is immune to Toxic Spikes, which is always great. To defend himself, he has STAB GYRO BALL to match with his low speed and can come into physical threats and wall them. He has Payback to hit Ghosts who want to block his spin and Earthquake to take care of his #1 threat: Magnezone. Light Screen fortifies his special defence. Starting from Generation V, if Forretress is at full health, Sturdy will allow him to survive one fatal hit thanks to Sturdy (particularly special based Fire moves). Once Forretress finishes his job, he can end it all with a BOOM (Explosion). Forretress is rather interesting and one can see why he is preferred as a utility Pokemon. That is not to say he is without problems. For one, his offences are middling, and starting from Gen V, Payback will NOT double in power against Pokemon that switches in, which just blows. He can easily be transformed into a set up bait due to this, which can pretty much turn against you. His Explosion also got nerfed in Generation V, which discourages many Forretress users from running it. Also, Forretress may have high defence, but unlike Skarmory, he does not possess a reliable recovery move. He will have to resort to stuff like Rest... or Pain Split just to get to work. Magnezone can trap Forretress and blast him with his STAB Thunderbolts but will have to beware of surprise Earthquakes. Some Magnezones carry Hidden Power Fire for this job, while Forretress carry Shed Shells to escape the clutches of Magnezone, but this sacrifices Leftovers recovery. At any rate, Forretress will go down eventually after smacking him down a couple of times, while a special Fire move like Fire Blast is sure to end Forretress's showtime once and for all, provided he isn't at full health. Overall, Forretress sees a lot of use, and for a great reason too. People criticised me (Wraith89) for running him a lot, but I don't see a reason not to. He's one of the best utility Pokemon ever created. Notable Moves: Rapid Spin, Stealth Rocks, Spikes, Toxic Spikes, Gyro Ball, Earthquake, Payback, Revenge, Reflect, Light Screen, Explosion, Pain Split, Rest, Sleep Talk, Counter, Zap Cannon Useful Items: Leftovers, Shed Shell, Macho Brace, Light Clay Counters: Chandelure, Magnezone, Heatran, Moltres, Zapdos, Flygon, Rotom, Spiritomb [hgsssprite]208[/hgsssprite] 208: Steelix Type: Steel/Ground Ability: Rock Head / Sturdy / Sheer Force Base Stats: 75/85/200/55/65/30 Difficulty: Intermediate By now you are probably going "Oh another Pokemon that's OHKOd by Surf!" Well, not quite, as it isn't always true. Anyways, Steelix is quite a physical tank, with that CRAZY defence stat which FINALLY beat Cloyster's 180 defence! Whoo hoo, and that Steel typing definitely buys it plenty of resistances. Steelix has great utility moves, such as Stealth Rocks, Roar, Dragon Tail, and for some reason is able to run Torment. Pretty cool. Yeah, I know that this is a snake made out of twisted metal, but that attack stat is somewhat lacking. He follows suit with his poor little brother Onix, who had laughable attack power at his stage. Anyways, Steelix is able to learn Curse, boosting his attack and defence in exchange for his already hopeless speed. However, this DOES increase the power of his STAB Gyro Ball, which is pretty good. Stone Edge and Earthquake are there for coverage, and the new move Smack Down allows him to target things that levitate with a Super Effective Earthquake the next turn! Pretty cool. When things do not look good, he can go BOOM with Explosion. Steelix's Dream World ability Sheer Force powers up moves like Rock Slide, Iron Head, and even his Elemental Fangs, but overall, he prefers to be a wall rather than be a "sweeper" of some sorts. Although Steelix laughs at the opponent's Fire Fangs or Waterfalls, he does run into some problems. For one, Steelix is completely vulnerable on the special side. Most special attacks like Fire Blast or Surf will do catastrophic damage to Steelix, possibly enough to OHKO the metallic serpent. However, Steelix's trait Sturdy allows him to take an otherwise fatal hit while at full health. Another problem is that he is too slow and generally not strong enough to leave a dent, strangely for a giant Pokemon like him. This allows bulky waters in general to force him out or flat out destroy him easily while sustaining little damage. All in all, Steelix is a wonderful tankish support unit as he is able to completely wall physical attacks, but he should avoid special attacks while he can. Notable Moves: Stealth Rocks, Roar, Dragon Tail, Curse, Gyro Ball, Iron Head, Earthquake, Stone Edge, Smack Down, Rock Blast, Payback, Crunch, Return, Fire Fang, Ice Fang, Thunder Fang, Taunt, Torment, Rest, Sleep Talk, Autotomize, Rock Polish, Toxic, Explosion, Heavy Slam Useful Items: Leftovers, Lum Berry, Passho Berry, Occa Berry Counters: Blastoise, Milotic, Slowbro, Tangrowth, Leafeon, Arcanine, Rhyperior, Swampert, Hippowdon [sprite]212[/sprite] 212: Scizor Type: Bug/Steel Ability: Swarm / Technician / Light Metal Base Stats: 70/130/100/55/80/65 Difficulty: Easy Scizor was probably one of the most prominent Pokemon during the Platinum metagame. With key resists, access to some powerful moves like Bullet Punch and U-turn, the ability to check on many Psychics and Ghosts, and with only one weakness, there is little wonder why Scizor was seen everywhere. Basically, the reason why so many people carry Hidden Power Fire on the most random stuff is because of Scizor. Slow? Ha, STAB Bullet Punch bypasses that and gains a Technician boost, making it efficiently a 90 base power priority move. Sticking a Choice Band on him made him an efficient scout, as STAB U-turn would hurt anything that didn't resist it. Pursuit would net him a KO against a retreating Ghost like Gengar who fears Bullet Punch. Expecting a Magnezone or Heatran? Watch them stare in horror as they take a super effective Superpower in their face. If Choice Banding is not your style, there's always Swords Dance/Roost versions, which can sweep provided the right support is given. Use Bug Bite over X-Scissor when running Technician because Bug Bite is stronger. A good team should always have an answer to Scizor. Generally, he shares similar counters with his cousin Heracross, except he is more allergic to Fire moves. Something like Gyarados resists his STAB moves and almost anything he has to carry and can Intimidate him and set up on him or respond with a surprise Fire Blast. Moltres looks like the best Scizor counter ever designed, resisting almost everything Scizor has and a 4x resistance to his STAB U-turn. Zapdos is in the similar vein, and has Heat Wave to dispatch the crimson flash. Skarmory can scout what Scizor has and can either blow him away or just set stuff on him if he is locked into something like Bullet Punch, but beware of Superpower. Chandelure is immune to Superpower, resists Bullet Punch and Bug Bite, and is faster than Scizor to burn him with Fire Blast. The Shadow Tag version is the scary one, but U-turn allows Scizor to escape if he predicts a trapper. Infernape or Heatran generally forces Scizor to switch out. If you want to trap Scizor, Scarf Magnezone can destroy him with two Thunderbolts or even a Hidden Power Fire. Basically, try to take advantage of resistances against Scizor and force an immediate threat on him to force him out. Remember, Scizor is slow, despite what he looks like. Notable Moves: Bullet Punch, U-turn, Superpower, Pursuit, Quick Attack, Bug Bite, Night Slash, Brick Break, Swords Dance, Roost, Agility, Substitute, Baton Pass Useful Items: Choice Band, Leftovers, Life Orb, Occa Berry Counters: Moltres, Zapdos, Gyarados, Skarmory, Gliscor, Arcanine, Cofagrigus, Chandelure, Magnezone [sprite]214[/sprite] 214: Heracross Type: Bug/Fighting Ability: Swarm / Guts / Moxie (Dream World) Base Stats: 80/125/75/40/95/85 Difficulty: Easy Heracross is one of the most powerful Bug Pokemon ever designed. Before that troll Escavalier came about, Heracross held the title of having the most powerful Megahorn, though Escavalier needs breeding to even get Megahorn, but whatever. Heracross has access to two 120 base power STAB moves, Megahorn and Close Combat, making him very dangerous. He has Stone Edge to combat Fliers and Night Slash to at least find a way to damage Ghosts. His most dangerous trait is Guts, which means things that try burning him to weaken him will find a nasty surprise by actually making him stronger! This is how Pokemon like Dusclops or Weezing, who were considered his counters, could have their whole strategy turned against them. Heracross also has 95 Special Defence, which, when EVd right, can take up to 3 Heat Waves from a defensive Zapdos! His Dream World ability Moxie is really cool, as he gains + 1 attack when netting a KO, but unfortunately, Heracross is either too slow or easily walled if he has Choice Scarf, forcing him to switch out more often than not. With Speed boosts Baton Passed to Heracross however, maybe it will see some uses. Because Heracross attacks from the physical side and his two STABs do not complement each other very well, things like Gyarados or Skarmory can switch in and threaten him with ease. Skarmory gets a special mention for having a 4x resist to Megahorn and a 4x type advantage with its Brave Bird or Drill Peck. Defensive Ghosts like Dusknoir also work, but must beware not to burn Heracross. Cofagrigus can come in on anything, disable Heracross's Guts with Mummy, and proceed to burn it, but if Heracross switches after the burn, that would be bad. Gliscor can take any of Heracross's moves and can retaliate with Aerial Ace, but a Guts boosted + 2 Facade OHKOs Gliscor. Even though Heracross seems easily counterable, do not underestimate him as sometimes his STAB moves hurt even those that resist it. Notable Moves: Megahorn, Close Combat, Stone Edge, Night Slash, Swords Dance, Facade, Substitute, Bulk Up, Low Kick, Pursuit, Rest, Sleep Talk Useful Items: Leftovers, Life Orb, Choice Scarf, Choice Band, Flame Orb, Toxic Orb, Salac Berry, Liechi Berry Counters: Skarmory, Gliscor, Gyarados, Salamence, Dusknoir, Cofagrigus [hgsssprite]227[/hgsssprite] Analysis by Tbird 227: Skarmory Type: Steel/Flying Ability: Keen Eye / Sturdy / Weak Armour (Dream World) Base Stats: 65/80/140/40/70/70 Difficulty: Easy Skarmory has been a staple pokemon ever since it was created all the way back in GSC. Its typing and stats allow it to tank physical threats all day long and generally screw up the opponent. There is only really one way to run Skarmory, and that's as a physically defensive phaser; anything else is just illogical as it is so good at what it does. A simple move-set of spikes / Stealth Rocks, Roost, Whirlwind, Brave Bird / Drill Peck basically means GG. Having Key immunities and resistances to Toxic, Dragon, Ground, Grass, Steel, Bug and Dark means that it can switch in on that annoying Scizor, or that Outraged locked Garchomp, or even that Excadrill and start setting up; thus saving you being swept by these problem pokemon. Sturdy means that if you happen to have let Excadrill get to + 6, you can phaze it 100% of the time, Roost means you can then heal off that damage taken, and Drill Peck screws with Virizon and Breloom. Your best bet at beating it is either having a lucky phaze bringing in any capable special attacker, or switching in a special attacker on the roost. Skarm hates anything that carries Thunderbolt or Fire Blast, so Starmie and Infernape make for great counters, though Infernape has to beware of a Sturdy Brave Bird flying its way. Infernape gets a special mention as not only does it KO Skarmory, it happens to also KO most of Skarm's partners like Ferrothorn, Heatran, Tyranitar and Blissey. Notable Moves: Brave Bird, Drill Peck, Spikes, Stealth Rocks, Roost, Whirlwind, Roar, Taunt, Torment, Substitute, Protect Useful Items: Leftovers, Shed Shell Counters: Magnezone, Probopass, Heatran, Rhyperior, Tyranitar, Gyarados, Gliscor [hgsssprite]232[/hgsssprite] Analysis by Tbird 232: Donphan Type: Ground Ability: Sturdy / Sand Veil (Dream World) Base Stats: 90/120/120/ 60 / 60 / 50 Difficulty: Easy Donphan is a freaking boss of a Pokémon. It has a huge movepool, some pretty awesomely aligned stats and a really cool physically defencive typing. What sets Donphan apart from other physical walls is his ability to really hit back quite hard, and what sets him apart from other rapid spinners is his ability to catch ghost types switching in with Assurance which deals heavy Damage if the Ghost type takes Stealth Rocks Damage switching in. In Gen IV his main job was to tank as many physical hits as possibly, maybe lay Stealth Rocks and get a Rapid Spin in. And it fulfills this role really quite easily and Autonomously. In the UU of the past it had the ability to catch things like Mismagius and and Altaria off guard, with the moves Assurance and Ice Shard, respectively. In the new UU it pretty much plays the same role with just more things to hit, for instance it can switch in on a predicted Victini Thunder, and hit the switch in with Assurance for boss damage, or it can switch in on a predicted Flygon Outrage and OHKO it with Ice shard. Or maybe Weavile is giving you some jip? He can switch in on Pursuit or Low Kick and OHKO with Stone Edge. Let's say things go perfectly for Donphan, it can take down two pokémon in 3 turns fairly easily. Let's say you switch in on the aforementioned Thunder, you nail the ghost type with assurance as it switches in Expecting Rapid spin or even Earthquake, then they switch in Victini again, it hits you with a V-Create and you OHKO it with a Sturdy Activated Earthquake... fun times. Of course Donphan isn't without its flaws. As a primary rapid spinner it is susceptible to Toxic Spikes and status in general, meaning it can't switch in too easy sometimes, also it has a terrible special defence score and it can't get passed most walls without invested a large amount of EVs that would then jeopardise its walling capabilities. To cure this you could pair it with someone like Victreebel, who can absorb toxic spikes and switch in on water and grass types for Donphan. A wall breaker is then needed, Arcanine doesn't particularly fare at this job, however watch out for the shared water weakness (which is somewhat negated with Arcanine's ability to use Wild Charge). Notable Moves: Stealth Rock, Earthquake, Stone Edge, Ice Shard, Fire Fang, Thunder Fang, Rapid Spin, Assurance, Knock Off, Toxic, Substitute, Rock Polish, Counter, Body Slam, Charm Useful Items: Leftovers, Choice Band Counters: Tangrowth, Swampert, Leafeon, Quagsire, Milotic, Slowbro, Suicune, Celebi [hgsssprite]242[/hgsssprite] 242: Blissey Type: Normal Ability: Natural Cure / Serene Grace / Healer (Dream World) Base Stats: 255/10/10/75/135/55 Difficulty: Intermediate Many of us probably know what Blissey is best known for. If not, you probably have not been battling competitively much, but no worries. Blissey is the BEST, I mean the ABSOLUTE best Special Wall ever designed. She is the sole reason why a team of 6 special attackers would be utterly helpless against a team with a Blissey (though some special attackers do have tools to fight against Blissey). Blissey is purely made for support and can keep a whole team together, especially where it hurts. Gyarados afraid of Thunderbolt? Switch Blissey in. That Milotic going to Ice Beam your Salamence? Switch Blissey in. Flamethrower directed at Scizor? Blissey! Honestly, Blissey can eat any form of special attack all day and just sit there stalling the special attacker out. That max HP (value of whopping 255) is incredibly scary, along with her large special defence. Oh no there's Toxic! Oh wait, there's Natural Cure, meaning if she switches out, no poison! She has the supportive movepool to work well, with Aromatherapy/Heal Bell, Light Screen, and the NYPC event move Wish. She can be incredibly annoying with status inflicting moves like Toxic and Thunder Wave. Her special attack is quite modest, but works well enough because she has access to Ice Beam, Thunderbolt and Flamethrower. She even has Calm Mind to bolster those special stats! You can teach Blissey Seismic Toss through a move tutor in Fire Red/Leaf Green for a more stable damaging move, which is perfect for Blissey. Wanna surprise someone? Counter that Metagross's Meteor Mash for an instant OHKO. I know how annoying Blissey is to beat, but there is always a way to defeat her. See that incredibly low defence? Heh, just smack her around with physical attacks! Something like a STAB Close Combat is surely going to end Blissey, and is usually enough to force her out. Heracross's special defence is enough to take a Flamethrower and has the added threat of STAB Close Combat to dispatch her. It would be even better if that Flamethrower decided to burn Heracross, heh heh. Conkeldurr has the added benefit of Drain Punching Blissey's HP to restore a lot of his lost health. Hydreigon is mostly a special attacking beast, but he can lure in a Blissey, Taunt her, and continue Crunching the blob to death. Alakazam is primarily a special attacker, but Psyshock is an inverted special attack which targets the foe's DEFENCE instead, meaning he will hurt Blissey where it hurts the most. In the Ubers environment, a Kyogre can still 2HKO Blissey with a full powered Water Spout. OWWW. Mewtwo, primarily a special attacker, has Taunt or Substitute to mess up Blissey badly, and its new attack Psystrike is basically Psyshock on steroids, landing a HUGE possibility of an OHKO with a single boost. Bulky grassers with Substitute + Leech Seed can gain a HUGE amount of HP per seed sapping because of Blissey's ginormous HP. Pain Split stuff work the same way. There are so many ways to dispatch of Blissey, but it is mostly a whole bunch of tricks and whatnot. This is also why she is paired up with physical walls like Skarmory or Forretress. Blissey will not stay in to someone she expects to hold a physical move. But there is no doubt that Blissey is the best special wall ever made, and we cannot expect anything to outclass Blissey... but who knows? Gamefreak does all sorts of stupid things. Notable Moves: Softboiled, Wish (NYPC Event), Protect, Aromatherapy, Heal Bell, Toxic, Thunder Wave, Seismic Toss (FRLG Tutor), Flamethrower, Ice Beam, Thunderbolt, Calm Mind, Counter Useful Items: Leftovers Counters: Machamp, Conkeldurr, Tyranitar, Metagross, Snorlax, Gengar [hgsssprite]243[/hgsssprite] Analysis by Tbird 243: Raikou Type: Electric Ability: Pressure / Volt Absorb (Dream World) Base Stats: 90/85/75/115/100/115 Difficulty: Intermediate Raikou is the electric beast of Johto. It's a fast powerful Electric type that is often comparable to a poor man's Jolteon. However, Raikou finds its own niche in being able to successfully abuse a sub-calm mind set given its extra bullk over Jolteon. the 115 speed it possesses sets it apart from a lot of the top hitters in the Overused tier, with most sitting between the 100-110 base mark. This means that Raikou can set up fairly easily and only be worried about the occasional Scarfed pokemon, which isn't much of a problem so long as Raikou packs the right support (Wobbuffet). With the 115 speed it is able to outspeed and dent if not outright OHKO such Pokémon as Gengar, Lati@s, Hydreigon, Gliscor, Landorus, Flygon, Salamence, Dragonite, Gyarados, Infernape and a whole host of other top tier mons and tie speeds with Starmie; meaning it will often be forcing a switch there. Being almost exclusively a Special Attacker it does have its short comings. These present themselves in the form of Blissey and Tyranitar, former being able to stall it out and the latter being able to demolish it; contingency plans can be made to fix these short comings, such as using Volt Switch to help Raikou get out of potencially damning possitions. Some great partners for Raikou are Wobbuffet, for being able to take out Choice Scarfers; with Raikou's cool speed it can outspeed things that don't usually wear a scarf and use wobb for the other pokemon that might use one (Tyranitar, Landorus). Considering that Raikou will primarily be looking to set up Calm Minds, anything that can lure in something that Raikou can force out is usually a God send, too. For instance Skarmory will lure in Gyarados and can also be used to take Ground attacks for Raikou whilst also provide much need hazard support. Once Gyarados (or something like it) has been lured in Raikou can force it out and start setting up a sweep. As Raikou is primarily a special attack, Wall breakers generally pair well with it too, These would be pokemon like Infernape and Hydreigon, however Blissey/Chansey/Tyranitar are the main banes so a nice strong fighting type should do the job. Notable Moves: Calm Mind, Substitute, Extremespeed (Event), Thunderbolt, Thunder, Hidden Power [ice/Grass], Shadow Ball, Volt Switch, Aura Sphere (Event), Rain Dance, Weather Ball (Event) Useful Items: Leftovers, Life Orb, Choice Specs, Choice Scarf, Petaya Berry, Salac Berry Counters: Lanturn, Tyranitar, Blissey, Ferrothorn, Electivire, Latios, Latias, Swampert [hgsssprite]244[/hgsssprite] Analysis by Tbird 244: Entei Type: Fire Ability: Pressure / Flash Fire (Dream World) Base Stats: 115/115/85/90/75/100 Difficulty: Intermediate Entei is overlooked by many due to its other fire brethren being seemingly, and frankly better than Entei in most aspects. It has a curse that appears to plague all of the cool looking Pokémon, a high attack but not much to do it with it; A la Flareon and Luxray. It struggles to find slots on teams due to Heatran and Infernape having better distributed stats and typing in the higher echleons, and in the lower it is fairly outclassed by Arcanine. HOWEVER! Not all hope is lost! Entei has some cool tricks under its sleeve. Like its beastly brethren it can abuse a Sub Calm Mind set rather well given its decent bulk. It also gets Flame Charge, allowing it to set up later on in the game and speed tie with things like Scarfed Flygon thanks to its base 100 speed, something Arcanine does not have. It also has a very usuable Attack stat and a nice offencive movepool to boot with moves like Stone Edge, Extreme Speed, and even Flare Blitz, all of which can be powered up by... Howl (just like Arcanine ). Stone Edge netting a nice strong hit on Kyurem is possibly the only reason you might use Entei over Arcanine, but given that Arcanine has Close Combat the point could be moot. But it does hit Moltres and Zapdos super effectively! In my opinion the best way to play Entei is with a Sub CM set. It sits on a very usuable and crowded base 100 speed and can abuse it fairly well. It can function very well on sun teams with Substitute, Calm mind, Solarbeam and Fire Blast (Ninetales provides sun and can arguably do it better, though remember!). What it has over Ninetales is the ability to run 417 HP, meaning that it can make 6 substitutes whilst against a Seismic Toss user and net +6 calm minds if it is running leftovers. It can function as some sort of utility pokemon given that it has Roar, Will-o-wisp, Toxic and Reflect. However, defencively Fire types don't generally work out all that well, Entei has the bulk over most other fire types, however-- use at your own risk. It should be worth noting that Entei shares Typhlosion's title as the fastest STAB Eruption user, but with more bulk, Entei can probably pull it off better. Also, people somewhat expect that off Typhlosion; Entei has a lot of things it could possibly be doing, so you can throw people off guard with that. Given that Entei will be liable to functioning off of its weaker attacking stat, it is wise to pair it with pokemon that can set hazards down. A great partner is Skarmory as they have fairly decent synergy together. To that end, Entei is susceptible to all forms of entry hazards. Starmie is a great rapid spinner and also has pretty cool synergy with Entei. If you're running a physical Entei you are going to want Sturdy walls like Skarmory removed, and if you go special you'll want Chansey and co removed. Dragonite can do this fairly well, as can Gyarados, and they both again have decent coverage with Entei. Notable Moves: Calm Mind, Fire Blast, Flamethrower, Substitute, Sunny Day, Solarbeam, Stone Edge, Extrasensory, Flame Charge, Hidden Power [Ground/Fighting/Rock/Grass/Ice], Shadow Ball, Return, Overheat, Will-o-Wisp, Lava Plume, Howl (Event), Extremespeed (Event), Flare Blitz (Event), Roar Useful Items: Leftovers, Choice Scarf, Life Orb, Choice Band, Heat Rock Counters: Milotic, Swampert, Slowbro, Blastoise, Rhyperior, Dragonite, Altaria, Suicune [hgsssprite]245[/hgsssprite] 245: Suicune Type: Water Ability: Pressure / Water Absorb (Dream World) Base Stats: 100/75/115/90/115/85 Difficulty: Intermediate Suicune was purely designed to fix everything that was wrong with poor Articuno. Lack of reliable recovery move aside, Suicune is one tough beast that was practically invincible in Generation III and just incredibly frustrating to encounter in Generation IV and is still a good bulky water in Generation V. Basically, it has the same moves as most of the other bulky waters, with Surf, Ice Beam, Roar, Toxic, you name it. Similar to everyone else, except it has access to Calm Mind to bolster that special attack and special defence and PRESSURE, which is key to outstalling many of the key threats of this game. Back in Gen III Suicune had no physical weaknesses, so raising its special stats with Calm Mind would make Suicune with "no weaknesses". I think many people know what a Crocune is, the one with Calm Mind/Surf/Rest/Sleep Talk, which is incredibly annoying to face if you do not have the right tools. Yes, a Vaporeon completely walls it, but one on one, that Suicune will outstall Vaporeon all thanks to Pressure, eventually leading to her demise. Dream World gave Suicune Water Absorb, which is also another handy trait to have, but all in all, I find Pressure more useful for outstalling stuff. To counter Suicune, generic bulky waters can counter Suicune. Crocune can only be hit really tough by a hard physical move, such as ones from Heracross, while Heracross has the Special Defence to take a hit. A Gyarados can Taunt a Crocune, but offensive Suicune can carry Hidden Power Electric to dispatch of the beast in 2 hits. You can attempt to Trick a Choice item on a Suicune to mess with its versatility, which is always useful. To counter Suicune, generally something that hits hard on the physical side can work. Of course, in a Calm Mind war, try to have something like Psyshock, which will basically be a shocking experience for Suicune. Of course, once Keldeo with Mystery Sword is released, all problems of Crocune will be solved. Overall, Suicune is a staple bulky water of this metagame and possesses a huge threat to an unprepared team. Notable Moves: Surf, Calm Mind, Rest, Sleep Talk, Hydro Pump, Scald, Ice Beam, Hidden Power [Electric], Roar, Toxic, Substitute, Tailwind, Extremespeed (Event), Aqua Ring (Event), Air Slash (Event), Mirror Coat Useful Items: Leftovers, Life Orb, Choice Scarf, Choice Specs Counters: Blissey, Vaporeon, Celebi, Shaymin, Virizion, Keldeo [sprite]248[/sprite] 248: Tyranitar Type: Rock/Dark Ability: Sand Stream / Unnerve (Dream World) Base Stats: 100/134/110/95/100/61 Difficulty: Intermediate "Tyranitar is the metagame!" ~ Gin One of the most dangerous Pokemon in the game, Tyranitar has certainly made a name for himself by being able to take hits like a pro, deal damage like a dump truck, and countering some of the game's powerful threats. Even his usual counters can struggle to defeat him because he has the moves to even destroy them too! For example, Scizor, who is considered his counter, actually takes nearly fatal damage from a + 1 Stone Edge, and is guaranteed to fall from a Fire Blast/Flamethrower/Fire Punch from the beast. There is not a lot of Pokemon that can safely counter Tyranitar. What makes him even scarier is that sand he brings to the field. That sand can get incredibly annoying to you and your foes, but it also puts pressure into some walls who rely on Leftovers recovery and also benefits Tyranitar by effectively raising his special defence to a base value of 154! That's right, that sand raises Rock Pokemon's special defence by 1.5x, and with the right investments, Tyranitar is able to survive crazy things like a + 1 Volcarona's Bug Buzz, LO Timid Gengar's Focus Blast, or even a MEWTWO's Aura Sphere! It's ridiculous right? Add to the fact that Tyranitar is incredibly versatile with a ginormous movepool and many possible roles, Tyranitar is a worthy foe or an ally to have. Countering Tyranitars may be a difficult road, but Tyranitar has a MAJOR weakness: his low speed. That low speed can lead to his downfall because it leaves him prone to revenge killing, though he can sometimes survive unexpectedly. Tyranitar has some of the most common weaknesses: Water, Ground, Grass, Bug, Steel, and that fatal 4x weakness to Fighting. Yeah, Tyranitar does not want to touch anything with Close Combat with a 30 feet pole. However, generally a bulky ground or water can safely switch in to Tyranitar to see what he carries. Swampert is one example, as he is not weak to anything Tyranitar normally carries and can fight back with STAB Earthquakes or Surfs or something. Hippowdon has all the physical bulk in the world and can somewhat wall Tyranitar while he can fight back with STAB Earthquakes. Gliscor, Skarmory, Forretress, and a few others can also do the same thing. Be wary however, that Tyranitar CAN deal with them in some ways by throwing unexpected Ice Beams or Fire Blasts their direction. Fighters like Hariyama or Machamp seem to be his best counters; no sets Tyranitar has can take either of them down while their STAB Fighting moves can dispatch of the tyrant quickly. Tyranitar is a king in the battlefields; that Sand Stream is an opening fanfare to make way for His Imperial Majesty, so when facing this brute, always be on your guard. Notable Moves: Stone Edge, Crunch, Pursuit, Earthquake, Aqua Tail, Fire Punch, Ice Punch, Thunderpunch, Low Kick, Superpower, Fire Blast, Thunderbolt, Ice Beam, Flamethrower, Dark Pulse, Dragon Dance, Rock Polish, Curse, Payback, Stealth Rocks, Substitute, Focus Punch, Taunt, Torment, Rest, Sleep Talk, Roar, Dragon Tail, Surf, Focus Blast, Hone Claws, Thunder Wave, Toxic, Counter Useful Items: Leftovers, Life Orb, Lum Berry, Expert Belt, Choice Band, Choice Scarf, Choice Specs, Chople Berry, Babiri Berry, Focus Sash Counters: Hariyama, Machamp, Swampert, Hippowdon, Skarmory, Forretress, Gliscor, Heracross, Scizor, Poliwrath, Conkeldurr, Cobalion, Terrakion, Virizion, Keldeo Edited June 27, 2012 by wraith89 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wraith89 Posted August 15, 2011 Author Share Posted August 15, 2011 (edited) [icon]373[/icon]Hoenn Theme: EXOTIC [sprite]254[/sprite] 254: Sceptile Type: Grass Ability: Overgrow / Unburden (Dream World) Base Stats: 70/85/65/105/85/120 Difficulty: Hard Sceptile holds the honour of being the fastest starter Pokemon ever designed, and I think he is pretty cool in general, so I think I will analyse him. Aside from Shaymin Sky Forme, Sceptile is the fastest user of Substitute + Leech Seed, which is pretty cool. I still have NOT been able to get that to work in Generation V, however, because of his fragile defences and everybody hitting too hard to even attempt it, but I believe it can work well if you know what you are doing. Even though Sceptile is often thought of as the fast Subseeder guy, I feel he can also be a great revenge killer. With an astounding speed and great special attack, Sceptile is a great candidate to stick a Choice Specs in. Come in on a slow guy and start pounding Specs Leaf Storm all over. In fact, Leaf Storm is SO strong that it can even OHKO a Swellow (nearly guaranteed), who resists Grass moves normally. Even though Sceptile has a higher special attack than attack, he suffers a syndrome Charizard and Empoleon suffers as well: larger physical movepool. In fact, all three of them can boost their physical attack in some way (they have Swords Dance in common) but have no way of boosting their special attack, despite their higher special attack rating. Anyhow, that means Sceptile also has the ability to go run Swords Dance! Hey, it's worth a try. I mean, his attack power is greater than Venusaur's, and he is much faster than Venusaur! Even though he does not have Power Whip, Sceptile does know the more consistent Leaf Blade, which USED to be his signature move. Also, he has a bunch of physical attacks, such as Earthquake, Rock Slide, Thunderpunch, X-Scissor, and Dragon Claw, meaning he has ways to deal with almost anything that comes in his way. Rock Slide is noteworthy because otherwise Moltres or Charizard would switch in anytime to ruin the day. His Dream World Ability is an interesting one, though I cannot really see a practical use to it. Sceptile is already a fast Pokemon, and running Unburden would require some pinch berry and Substitute or something to make good use of it. However, Sceptile DOES know Acrobatics, and if all works well, Sceptile can grab the berry boost, pretty much outpace EVERYTHING, and fire off 110 base power Acrobatics to even trump Scarf Heracross who would otherwise be trouble. But again, it is hard to think of a practical use for it. As you can see, Sceptile is incredibly versatile, so dealing with Sceptile will require radically different counters. Generally, a wall like Skarmory or Forretress can come in safely, 4x resisting his STAB Grass moves and dealing with him with Brave Bird or Gyro Ball, respectively. Choice Scarf Heracross can come in anything that isn't a random Aerial Ace and scare him away with STAB Megahorn. Scizor is generally the same. If Sceptile does NOT carry something ridiculous like Hidden Power Fire, then Sceptile can trump over Scizor, ignoring his blazing speed with priority Bullet Punch. Fire types like Heatran or Arcanine can come in too, forcing a switch, but the former will hate a Focus Blast in his face. Moltres is probably one of his best counters, but will absolutely hate a Rock Slide. Grass/Poisons like Venusaur can resist his grass STABs and fire back with STAB Sludge Bombs. Ouch. As you can see, most of his counters are vulnerable to Leech Seed, so leaving something like a Leech Seed behind can wear them down. Overall, Sceptile can play different roles, be it subseeder or a sweeper or a revenger, so underestimating this Pokemon would be a grave mistake. While he is not the best Pokemon there is, he can mess you up if you are careless about his presence. Notable Moves: Leaf Storm, Energy Ball, Grass Knot, Giga Drain, Leech Seed, Substitute, Hidden Power [ice/Rock/Fire], Focus Blast, Dragon Pulse, Leaf Blade, Earthquake, Acrobatics, Thunderpunch, Rock Slide, Low Kick, X-Scissor, Return, Dragon Claw, Crunch, Pursuit, Synthesis, Grasswhistle, Endeavor, Quick Attack Useful Items: Leftovers, Life Orb, Choice Specs, Petaya Berry, Focus Sash Counters: Heatran, Skarmory, Forretress, Scizor, Heracross, Moltres, Arcanine, Dragonite, Salamence, Altaria, Weezing, Registeel, Regice, Venusaur, Celebi [sprite]257[/sprite] 257: Blaziken Type: Fire/Fighting Ability: Blaze / Speed Boost (Dream World) Base Stats: 80/120/70/110/70/80 Difficulty: Easy Is this supposed to be a chicken? Certainly doesn't look like mine. But this is the first of the many Fire/Fighting starter Pokemon that emerged. In the underused tiers Blaziken is a scary wallbreaker with access to high powered attacks such as Fire Blast or Sky Uppercut and Flare Blitz. He even has Stone Edge and Thunderpunch to deal with otherwise scary foes such as Moltres or bulky waters in general. Generation V gave him a new STAB in Hi Jump Kick, which now has a base power of 130. No more relying on Superpower! Eh what? Are you telling me this isn't what Blaziken is known for? And you want him banned? What are you talking about?! In Generation IV, Infernape came out and completely began to thrash Blaziken all around and say "Hey look at me I'm too fast!" and therefore rendered Blaziken outclassed. But Dream World gave Blaziken a VERY scary ability, Speed Boost. So all of Infernape's talk about "I'm better than j00" were put to an end thanks to this one ability. But wait... maybe, that was a little too much? Yep. Because of Speed Boost, Blaziken was pretty much unrevengable without a specific Pokemon such as Azumarill and with a single Swords Dance and Flare Blitz, Hi Jump Kick and Stone Edge, nothing can switch in safely; NOTHING. Well, all except that pink hippo with a shell clamped up in the butt, but that's another story; it's too overcentralised to carry one Pokemon to defeat a Pokemon which can obviously shred a whole team to bits without much effort, and so people wanted him banned. Counters? Yeah you wish. But like I said, Slowbro works really well because he resists Hi Jump Kick and Flare Blitz and has STAB Psychic or Surf to take the beast down. No, Blaziken cannot use Swords Dance and an attack at the same turn, so Slowbro is a counter. Er... try to bring in a ghost while he uses Hi Jump Kick; that pretty much defeats Blaziken. Chandelure is immune to Hi Jump Kick and Flare Blitz, but... she pretty much will fall if Stone Edge hits. If you switched into a Flare Blitz, great, but then, Blaziken is faster than Chandelure anyways and will tear her apart with Stone Edge the following turn. And too bad, Will-o-Wisp does NOT affect Blaziken! Great... Then what about regular Blaze ones? Eh... bulky waters or grounds almost always work. You know, ones like Milotic or Blastoise? So there you have it folks... the starter you always wanted to be strong has become broken. Gamefreak, what have you done? Notable Moves: Flare Blitz, Hi Jump Kick, Stone Edge, Earthquake, Thunderpunch, Brave Bird, Superpower, Blaze Kick, Shadow Claw, Night Slash, Swords Dance, Sunny Day, Solarbeam, Focus Blast, Substitute, Fire Blast, Overheat, Flamethrower, Will-o-Wisp, Hidden Power [ice/Grass], Agility, Baton Pass, Quick Attack Useful Items: Life Orb, Choice Scarf, Expert Belt Counters: See what I've stated above. There is few to no counters for Speed Boost Blaziken from what I see, though my scope is limited. But I'll list a few that can handle Blaziken: Slowbro, Chandelure, Spiritomb, Milotic, Vaporeon, Blastoise, Tentacruel, Swampert, Cofagrigus [sprite]260[/sprite] 260: Swampert Type: Water/Ground Ability: Torrent / Damp (Dream World) Base Stats: 100/110/90/85/90/60 Difficulty: Intermediate Old reliable Swampert is a great bulky Water. With resistance to Stealth Rocks and Rock moves in general. immunity to Sand Stream and Electric moves, ability to check threats like Tyranitar, Landorus and Metagross, and great overall bulk, Swampert can easily find a place in one's team. He has access to Stealth Rocks and Roar, allowing him to function as a lead or a defensive pivot, along with attacks such as STAB Earthquake, STAB Surf, Ice Beam for Dragons, and even Stone Edge to hurt things like Zapdos. Swampert's Dream World ability is a troll. Seriously, this ability was EXACTLY what Swampert needed during Generation IV when Metagross loved to blow up in his face during lead vs lead wars, but of course, Stealth Rocks is no longer a TM, making it impossible to have Damp AND Stealth Rocks, and Explosion is nerfed anyways, meaning there is little point to carrying Damp as an ability in general because not a lot of Pokemon want to blow themselves up anymore. Generally, it is quite difficult to one hit KO a Swampert, but unfortunately, Swampert has a lot of problems. One thing is that obvious 4x weakness to Grass, meaning any bulky grassers like Celebi or Meganium can switch in and threaten him with their Grass moves; Ice Beam generally does not hurt them enough. Also, unlike many other bulky waters like Milotic or Slowbro, Swampert lacks a reliable recovery move. Because of this, Swampert can be worn down after repeated hits from switch-ins, and therefore really appreciates Wish support. To beat Swampert, try to smack it around with special moves, as USUALLY Swampert invests in physical defence more than his special defence. Things with Grass Knot can usually 2HKO Swampert, and OHKO Swampert if it is STAB'd. Overall, Swampert is a great bulky Water Pokemon and should never be underestimated, and he still works well. Notable Moves: Stealth Rocks, Surf, Hydro Pump, Earthquake, Ice Beam, Roar, Protect, Scald, Waterfall, Ice Punch, Stone Edge, Hammer Arm, Avalanche, Curse, Rest, Sleep Talk, Counter, Mirror Coat, Yawn, Toxic, Wide Guard (doubles/triples only), Endeavor Useful Items: Leftovers, Lum Berry, Rindo Berry, Choice Band Counters: Celebi, Meganium, Roserade, Shaymin, Virizion, Venusaur, Sceptile, Serperior, Slowbro, Suicune, Vaporeon, Heracross [animsprite]282[/animsprite] 282: Gardevoir Type: Psychic Ability: Synchronize / Trace / Telepathy (Dream World) Base Stats: 68/65/65/125/115/80 Difficulty: Advanced Gardevoir, aside from being aesthetically pleasing, has a lot of things to offer for her team. Although other Psychics, particularly Alakazam, Espeon, or Reuniclus seem to be more worthwhile than a jack-of-all-trades like Gardevoir, she has a lot of tricks up her sleeves. Gardevoir's offensive movepool is quite large for a Psychic, being able to learn Psychic, Shadow Ball, Focus Blast, Energy Ball, and like a ghost, Thunderbolt. Psyshock is also another move she can utilise to deal with things like Blissey and Charge Beam can raise her special attack if Calm Mind is being such a drag. Gardevoir has moves which can support her teammates, such as Reflect, Light Screen, Safeguard, and even Wish, though Wish's mechanics changed in Gen V, making it less effective on her teammates, but still a good makeshift recovery. She also has access to Will-o-Wisp, Toxic, Thunder Wave, and Hypnosis to put others to sleep. Talk about versatile! Blissey can be foiled with Taunt and things like Choiced foes can be shut down with a Torment. Icy Wind can slow down incoming foes. With love, Gardevoir can heal a teammate in need by sacrificing herself with Healing Wish. The icing to the cake is her ability Trace. With Trace, she can bounce back an intimidate to a Gyarados and hit back with a high powered Thunderbolt. She can also switch into a Lightningrod Zapdos Thunderbolting everything and hit back with her powerful psychic attacks. Switch into a Magic Guard Clefable and turn that thing into a set-up bait! In Generation 3, Gardevoir was able to come in to a Wobbuffet, trap him with Shadow Tag, and set up Calm Minds behind a Substitute with special moves ready in hand. Trace has a LOT of applications, but it can also backfire on her, such as double switching against a Truant Slaking, who will use Pursuit on the guardian Pokemon. Nonetheless, due to Gardevoir's versatility, countering her will be a difficult task. Usually, something like Scizor or Tyranitar would put an end to Gardevoir, but Will-o-Wisp can weaken them, rendering them nearly useless for later matches. Tyranitar also hates being busted with a Focus Blast, while some Gardevoirs carry Hidden Power Fire anticipating Scizor. Houndoom is a Dark Pokemon with immunity to Will-o-Wisp and can hit back with super effective Pursuits/Dark Pulse, although he REALLY hates Focus Blast. Better yet is Chandelure, who is immune to Focus Blast that Gardevoir loves to fire around, and also is not affected by Will-o-Wisp and can fire back a super effective Shadow Ball. However, she hates being hit by a Shadow Ball from Gardevoir. Spiritomb seems to be a great general counter, but Will-o-Wisp will mess with Sucker Punch/Pursuit variants. Overall, to counter a Gardevoir, one must outmatch her in a battle of wits, and like Ninetales, she has access to many toys to destroy her would-be-counters, so keep in mind the counters list is not absolute. However, remember that she has a hard time choosing 4 moves, and once you know her set, she is a lot easier to defeat. Notable Moves: Psychic, Calm Mind, Psyshock, Thunderbolt, Shadow Ball, Focus Blast, Energy Ball, Hidden Power [Fire/Ice], Substitute, Hypnosis, Will-o-Wisp, Thunder Wave, Toxic, Icy Wind, Trick, Taunt, Torment, Heal Bell, Protect, Wish, Healing Wish, Encore, Destiny Bond, Pain Split, Confuse Ray, Stored Power, Trick Room Useful Items: Leftovers, Light Clay, Lum Berry, Choice Scarf, Choice Specs, Life Orb Counters: Spiritomb, Tyranitar, Chandelure, Houndoom, Reuniclus, Clefable, Blissey, Scizor, Heracross, Escavalier [sprite]306[/sprite] Analysis by Lorshinator 306: Aggron Type: Steel/Rock Ability: Sturdy / Rock Head / Heavy Metal (Dream World) Base Stats: 70/110/180/60/60/50 Difficulty: Hard Aggron is to me a pretty sick looking Pokemon, but in a good way. This guy looks epic, and his physical stats are pretty darn good to boot. His movepool is quite vast too in the physical category to show that he can be pretty lethal. His physical stats can be boosted by curse, his speed can be ramped by rock polish/automotize (they do the same thing, except the latter halves the user's weight, making Aggron less vulnerable to Grass Knot or Low Kick) and he can even use thunder wave! His movepool is more vast than some other physically sturdy pokes, but at this comes at a high price. Despite having good physical stats and a good movepool, Aggron suffers from the easily exploitable weaknesses he has, fighting, water and ground. Rock is a good offensive type, Steel is a good defensive type, but putting them together can add to some severe issues defensively. Aggron probably was a lot more valuable in the past, but now his shine is... Hard to find. Now, like Muk in some ways, Aggron can do a number of things. It can simply be a hard hitting truck, a cursing machine, a stealth rock setter, or a physical wall that counters some other pokes weaknesses. Aggron's movepool is actually fairly good, and it lets you experiment a little. It can learn the elemental punches, payback (good with curse perhaps), stealth rock, magnet rise (although it's perhaps too slow for that.) It perhaps has the four moveslot syndrome, because if you give it curse, well... Give it Iron Head for sure, but the rest are up to you. (Even though stone edge may be calling you.) Indeed, there's quite a selection of moves to be had for this metal dinosaur. It's abilities are also great, Sturdy and Rock Head. Sturdy is no doubt one of the best abilities in the game, but if you manage to utilize it, Rock Head can be pretty dangerous too. The sole reason to have Rock Head is for the use of Head Smash, which he can learn. Despite being inaccurate, it will hurt truckloads and since it's stronger than Relicanth (who likely would use it with rock head), it will be dangerous. If the accuracy is a problem, it can learn hone claws, but it would need an entire set based around accuracy... Dragon Rush? Hmm... Whatever. It's got good abilities, but it's not like you're going to cry in amazement for it. It's dream world ability is interesting, but it's not amazing. Heavy metal makes your pokemon's weight doubled. Lovely. Now grass knot is going to probably OHKO the poor dinosaur, and low sweep... Nah, I kid, but the only reason you'd want to utilize this ability is for heavy slam, which while sounds promising, it's not as reliable as the other two abilities. Heavy slam is while strong, it's not as reliable as Iron Head, and it depends on how heavy your opponent is too... Unlike Iron head, this deals different amounts of damage. I'd suggest just to stick with Iron Head, but it's not illegal to use it if you wanted to. Aggron is good for bringing on the pain train, as long as his weaknesses are kept away. Despite his huge weaknesses, he has as whole lot of resistances, and as such he can safely switch in to the likes of weavile, although if it has brick break then... Ouch. Aggron is also a good trap setter, and his extra physical bulk is great as he will be able to set up rocks easily. However, like some pokemon, Aggron isn't just good for that. He is a solid hard hitting truck that needs his weaknesses kept away. If not, Aggron will fall quickly. Also, Aggron doesn't like any form of special attacks, so... Keep them away, of course. He can counter most poison types except Toxicroak, and he can also be good on Choice Banded Slakings if they spam Giga Impact or Return. To counter it, well, bring on any fighting type, water or ground type and watch what happens. Aggron fears fighting in particular because there's no balloon or whatnot that'll prevent fighting types. As a result, Infernape is a good counter as long as it safely arrives onto the battlefield. Registeel is good too, because it resists it's STAB and although Earthquake may hurt, it's not STABBED so Registeel can hurt it bad. Jellicent could burn it or scald it, but should be weary of things like Thunder punch. Cofagrigus is probably the better ghost to use due to the insane defence and a random shadow claw won't hurt too bad. Payback may be nasty if Will=o-wisp misses, but due to the defence and the likelihood of being wisped, Cofagrigus shouldn't worry. Any Mach punch user (again infernape) will take him down fast, but probably should worry if it has sturdy. Conkeldurr... Will just decimate him, and so will Machamp. Hippowdon will tank most of the hits, except Ice Punch, Aqua Tail or avalanche, and should worry about those only. Aggron should be taken down quickly it's going to boost itself with curse or rock polish, or otherwise it shouldn't scare the crap out of you. Be weary if it'll use Dragon Tail though, it might force you out of your switch in, and be an entire switch in game. Infernape should worry if he will survive an attack or if Aggron predicts such a switch in and uses Earthquake. Notable Moves: Iron Head, Heavy Slam, Stone Edge, Rock Slide, Stealth Rock, Thunder Punch, Ice Punch, Fire Punch, Payback, Shadow Claw, Rest, Head Smash, Magnet Rise, Avalanche, Brick Break, Aqua Tail, Rock Polish, Autotomize, Dragon Rush, Dragon Tail Useful Items: Chople Berry, Leftovers, Focus Sash, Air Balloon, Choice Band Counters: Swampert, Donphan, Hippowdon, Cofagrigus, Hariyama, Conkeldurr, Machamp [sprite]310[/sprite] Analysis by Lorshinator 310: Manectric Type: Electric Ability: Static / Lightning Rod / Minus (Dream World) Base Stats: 70/75/60/105/60/105 Difficulty: Intermediate Manectric gets a lot less love than other notable Electric types such as Rotom, Ampharos, Raikou and Jolteon. It's got a shallow movepool, poor defences and only one noteworthy ability, Lightning Rod. Despite these issues, Manectric can do some justice for an offensive hit and run, and has some nice advantages to make this lightning wolf acceptable as an electric choice for a team. First of all, look at it's stats. Yes, I know Jolteon has higher sp. atk, speed, and special defence, but that special attack and speed is still impressive. It's attack power is decent, but since it has a shallow movepool, it can't make much use of it. There's the odd Ice and Fire fang you could teach to it for Steels and Grounds, but they lack power and for Steels you could use Flamethrower and/or Overheat instead. It can learn Crunch via breeding, but special moves are better to use. Why is that? Oh well, it's not that big of a deal, because you'd rather invest in that special attack stat. It can learn some good moves, and it's STAB movepool is pretty nice, having Thunderbolt, Discharge, and even Electro Ball, which is an interesting move. It can learn Wild Charge, but is that worth replacing Thunderbolt? No. Flamethrower is practically a given, and is a move that Jolteon can't learn, which is good for coverage. Hidden Power is strongly recommended if you have the right IV's for the type, such as Grass and Ice, in particular. It can also set up Light Screen with it's impressive speed, but it would probably be better for a tankier pokemon to perform that role. It can also learn Signal Beam, which is good for coverage on Grass types. Magnet Rise is pretty good, which is definitely good in general, ridding of it's only weakness for a period of time. Switcheroo can come in handy and can help slow down certain physical attackers from setting up or inflicting status moves. Volt switch is an incredibly handy move since with STAB and LO it will pack a good punch, allowing you to finish off a target with half it's health off then switch afterwards. Electro Ball could be interesting, since it is more effective based on how fast the user is, and Manectric is pretty fast. If Agility and Baton Pass was used, he could become a killing machine with this move. However, it's not as reliable since Thunderbolt has a similar power to it with STAB anyway, and once he switches the effect resets. Don't let it's subpar movepool and mediocre defenses fool you. While it's definitely not as useful as your Jolteon or Rotom, it's got a decent coverage for it's type and good attack power. It's fast, and can dish out damage very well, especially with Life Orb or Choice Specs. It's high speed is great for a hit and run type, and it can surely can hurt a team if they do not resist it's attacks. Even a Timid LO Manectric can put a huge dent in most of everything that isn't a special wall, and will likely 2HKO a lot of targets.Thunderbolt will dish out a lot of damage and is very reliable, whereas Discharge is more useful in double battles and for the paralyze hax. Flamethrower/Overheat are good moves to deal with pesky grass types like Roserade or some steels such as Cobalion/Bronzong. If using Overheat, running would be wise afterwards. Ground types will pose a huge threat to the wolf of course, since if predicted can send out a Donphon and Earthquake on the next turn. Donphan will never be OHKO by Hidden Power thanks to it's ability Sturdy but will indeed take a chunk of it's HP. In that case, switch out. Manectric fears most ground types with it's life, and it's never a good idea to attack one directly, only on a predicted or lucky switch in. Since it's special attack is at 105, it's more of the hit and run type instead of a sweeper, since a timid Manectric won't commonly OHKO a pokemon even with LO, unless you have a boost. When it comes to it's abilities, static is pretty pointless. Not only do you need to get hit by a physical attack, which in itself is something you'd avoid, it doesn't always activate. Lightning Rod is where it really shines, completely absorbing the Electric Type attack and boosting it's special attack power one stage. This comes in great handy especially on things common in UU such as Zapdos, and will allow Manectric to perform better at it's role. Minus is... Kind of useless and shouldn't really be used except in double battles since you won't get anything from it in singles. Even despite, having the ability to draw in and absorb an attack, boosting special attack one stage is better than just getting a boost. Manectric makes a great partner for any water or flying type for this reason, and is the most noteworthy aspect of Manectric. To counter it, Donphan comes to mind in the under used environment. Donphan will always survive an attack Manectric has to offer and lash back with earthquake to finish it off, or even a lucky stone edge. Manectric is incredibly frail and is a big target to any scarf or specs user. Arcanine is also a good counter as it has pretty good bulk and can survive a Thunderbolt with the right EVs, and can take it out with a Close Combat even. Any scarf or ground user that outpaces it can finish it off, or any user than can sustain an attack from it. Also, anything that can survive it's hit can easily hit back and KO it. Notable moves: Thunderbolt, Thunder, Discharge, Flamethrower, Overheat, Signal Beam, Rain Dance, Hidden Power [Grass/Ice], Magnet Rise, Volt Switch, Electro Ball, Charge Beam, Protect, Substitute Useful Items: Life Orb, Choice Specs, Choice Scarf, Focus Sash, Air Balloon, Counters: Blissey, Tyranitar, Zapdos, Donphan, Claydol, Rhyperior, Gliscor, Arcanine [sprite]330[/sprite] Analysis by Tbird 330: Flygon Type: Ground/Dragon Ability: Levitate Base Stats: 80/100/80/80/80/100 Difficulty: Intermediate Flygon was a staple pokemon in the later stages of Gen IV. While it was always compared to its dragon brethrens, Salamence and Garchomp, it found its own little niche when they were eventually banned. Flygon is one of those pokemon with middling stats but all the right tools to pull it off. The 100 speed tier in 4th Gen OU was the most popular, and Flygon sat snuggly in there with the likes of Jirachi, so it always had at least 50% chance of taking something out. With a workable base 100 Attack stat and very strong dual STABs in Earthquake and Outrage, It made for both a strong revenge killer and great late game cleaner. With a respectable base 80 Special Attack, it could afford to run Fire Blast to dispatch of its would be counters in the form of Forretress and Skarmory, while U turn allowed it to take out its number one counter; Starmie. With All moves and stats considered, the scarf set all but tore through the metagame and was generally head hunted if seen in battle. With stats and a move-pool akin to Zapdos, it could also pull off a great stalling set with access to the moves, substitute, toxic, roost, earthquake, dragon claw, dragon tail and fly. Its speed ensured that it would be stalling for a while, often beating most folk to the punch and being able to stall out there strong attacks with a combination of roost and substitute, and possibly Protect, too! In Generation five, with its former competitors allowed back in, it struggles to find room on a team a being locked into either or its stab moves means that either Salamence will set up on it or Garchomp will Out speed and OHKO it. That being said, if you look at all of Flygon's positives, and feel it is something your team needs then by all means use it. It is immune to Ground, which a whole heap of the metagame is weak to, and is also immune to Electricity which another portion of the metagame is weak to, couple in its scouting and revenging capabilities and you'll have a great team player for your team, should you need it. He works especially well with Starmie and Heatran, so if your team already has those two guys in it, why not try a Flygon out? Notable Moves: Dragon Claw, Outrage, Earthquake, Stone Edge, U-turn, Fire Blast, Flamethrower, Fire Punch, Thunderpunch, Crunch, Draco Meteor, Roost, Toxic, Substitute, Dragon Tail, Quick Attack, Screech Useful Items: Choice Scarf, Choice Band, Leftovers, Life Orb, Yache Berry Counters: Swampert, Suicune, Gliscor, Hippowdon, Vaporeon, Bronzong, Forretress, Skarmory, Cresselia [hgsssprite]373[/hgsssprite] 373: Salamence Type: Dragon/Flying Ability: Intimidate / Moxie (Dream World) Base Stats: 95/135/80/110/80/100 Difficulty: Easy Arguably the most dangerous non-legendary dragon, Salamence makes a name for himself in the standard metagame with his offensively geared stats and the moves to abuse them. He is capable of tearing down an entire team if they predict his moves wrong. Though he is nowhere near as versatile as Dragonite, he really does not need to be as he has enough offensive tools to play around with. His hereditary moves include some of the scariest techniques such as Dragon Dance or even Hydro Pump, the latter which even Dragonite does not get. In fact, Salamence was geared towards attacking from his special side with Choice Specs in Generation IV with Draco Meteor/Dragon Pulse/Flamethrower/Hydro Pump, but not until Platinum came in and gave a more devastating attack for Salamence to play around with; Outrage. Yeah, Dragonite shuddered in fear as he saw his more ferocious cousin get the very signature move only he used to sport along with Dragon Dance. Now Salamence has the scary Outrage and Dragon Dance to sweep an unprepared team. Factor into the fact that Salamence is not as fragile as he looks makes him even more dangerous. Intimidate helps his cause as it makes him slightly more physically durable than Dragonite during the switch-in. Thanks to Dream World in Generation V, Salamence has an even more ferocious ability; Moxie. With Moxie, Salamence will gain + 1 attack per KO he scores. This WOULD be deadlier if Salamence had access to both Outrage AND Moxie, but unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your point of view), Outrage is only available as a move tutor in Generation IV. Oh the irony. So it is up to one's decision; would you want a Salamence who can go into an Outrage... or a Salamence that gets stronger per KO but loses out on Outrage? Countering Salamence is really really tough. In fact, he was banned at the end of Gen IV, which made the metagame more tame with just his absence alone. One wrong move and Salamence will not hesitate to rip your team apart to shreds. It all starts with this; know Salamence's moveset. I would attribute Cresselia as Salamence's best counter, as she can survive anything Salamence has to offer, and has Ice Beam to put an end to the monstrous dragon. Generally when Salamence is sent out, they tend to open with either a scary Draco Meteor. A Steel Pokemon should be enough to absorb that one... but there's the other side of the coin where Salamence uses Fire Blast instead. Whoops. Against a specially inclined Salamence, a Blissey or Tyranitar can absorb whatever Salamence has. Blissey must watch out, as Salamence can easily be mixed. Tyranitar will hate Brick Break, but usually that isn't enough to OHKO, but the initial impact of a special attack + Brick Break might. If Salamence does not possess Brick Break, Tyranitar can easily destroy the beast with a STAB Stone Edge. If a Salamence decides to get greedy and Dragon Dances, a Choice Scarf Garchomp can still outpace a + 1 positive natured Salamence and one shot him with his own STAB Dragon attacks. Heatran resists Dragon attacks and is immune to Fire attacks, but Salamence with Earthquake will put an end to the molten lava. A Choice Scarfed Heatran, however, can revenge Salamence or safely switch into whatever attack not named Earthquake or Brick Break and destroy the beast with either Dragon Pulse or Hidden Power Ice. If all else fails, you have to try and get Salamence to use Outrage (he most likely will have it). Once he starts using Outrage, get a Steel Pokemon like Forretress or Scizor to come in and start walling the Outrages and hit back with STAB Gyro Balls or Bullet Punches. Skarmory can phaze Salamence away but it is only a temporary solution. However, keep in mind Salamence's greatest enemy is residual damage; it is weak to Stealth Rocks and Sandstorm + potential Life Orb can possibly remove 25% + 10% + 6.25% of his health for a single turn! All in all, prediction is your best friend here. Salamence is a dangerous foe and is sure to terrorise anyone in the battlefields. Notable Moves: Draco Meteor, Dragon Claw, Outrage, Dragon Dance, Fire Blast, Flamethrower, Earthquake, Brick Break, Dragon Pulse, Hydro Pump, Roost Useful Items: Life Orb, Expert Belt, Choice Specs, Choice Band, Choice Scarf, Yache Berry, Haban Berry Counters: Cresselia, Skarmory, Scizor, Heatran, Forretress, Metagross, Jirachi, Suicune [sprite]376[/sprite] 376: Metagross Type: Steel/Psychic Ability: Clear Body / Light Metal (Dream World) Base Stats: 80/135/130/95/90/70 Difficulty: Intermediate Before the introduction of Hydreigon, Metagross was the only pseudolegendary Pokemon with a lack of a 4x weakness. It is definitely one of the most dangerous Pokemon out there, with high versatility, power, and survivability. Sporting a large movepool and a powerful STAB in the form of Meteor Mash, which can also raise its attack power, switching into Metagross is no small feat. Clear Body negates the reduction of stats, so things like Gyarados or Salamence cannot hope to reduce its already high attack power with Intimidate. Metagross can be tailored to do many things, such as a Stealth Rocks lead, an Agility sweeper, a revenge killer with Choice Scarf, or even a Trickster with access to Trick. Low speed? STAB Bullet Punch as a priority move is very helpful in finishing off faster weakened foes. It is one dangerous Pokemon, but there are ways to defeat it. For one, it can be walled by other Steel Pokemon, particularly ones with resistance to Earthquake, such as Skarmory. However, Skarmory needs to beware of some random Thunderpunches. The Rotom appliance forms can serve as a great check to Metagross, as it resists almost anything Metagross tends to carry, and can hit back with its powerful STAB moves. The oven one can threaten Metagross with Overheat. Bulky waters or grounds are annoying to Metagross since Meteor Mash is not very effective, and they have enough bulk to take a few Earthquakes. Swampert or Hippowdon work perfectly well in this case and they can retaliate back with their own STAB Earthquakes. However, some Metagross carry Grass Knots to deal with its bulky ground foes. Zapdos and Moltres both work as both of them resist Meteor Mash and can hit back with Heat Wave or Fire Blast, respectively. Moltres should watch out for Rock Slide however. Overall, Metagross is a dangerous contender and holds its OU status rightfully. Notable Moves: Meteor Mash, Earthquake, Bullet Punch, Zen Headbutt, Stealth Rocks, Rock Slide, Ice Punch, Thunderpunch, Trick, Agility, Rock Polish, Magnet Rise, Grass Knot, Psychic, Hidden Power [Fire], Explosion, Icy Wind, Iron Head, Hammer Arm, Pursuit Useful Items: Leftovers, Lum Berry, Occa Berry, Choice Band, Choice Scarf, Life Orb, Iron Ball Counters: Rotom, Swampert, Hippowdon, Skarmory, Zapdos, Moltres [sprite]380[/sprite] 380: Latias Type: Dragon/Psychic Ability: Levitate Base Stats: 80/80/90/110/130/110 Difficulty: Intermediate Though nowhere near as powerful as her brother Latios, Latias has some differences to set her apart from the blue dragon. Yes, Latios's power is probably more preferable to Latias's extra bulk, but sometimes, Latios's power is overkill. For example, a + 1 Latios could not survive a Draco Meteor from a Palkia though he can OHKO Palkia with his own Dragon Pulse due to his power, but a + 1 Latias can survive a Draco Meteor from Palkia... and still OHKO Palkia back. You see what I mean? Due to Latias's extra bulk, she can set up Calm Minds easier than Latios, but does not possess the immediate threat that Latios possesses. Regardless, Latias with a Soul Dew is probably almost as scary as Latios would be, except with better longevity. With a Choice Scarf attached, she can revenge KO any of the other dragons because they are slower than she is (save Latios and Extremespeed Rayquaza). As for her counters, the same counters that destroy Latios still apply to Latias. The top of the food chain is Tyranitar, who possess the double threat of STAB Crunch or Pursuit to dispatch of poor Latias. Scizor can also hurt a lot with either U-turn or Pursuit. Yet, both of these counters can be dispatched with either Grass Knot or Hidden Power Fire should Latias sport it. If Latias lacks Hidden Power Fire, Ferrothorn can switch in and outstall her. And of course, there is always Blissey who laughs at Latias, but be careful as Latias can turn Blissey into a set up bait if she possesses the right moves. Trick can also be lethal to the pink blob. Yes, Latios can apparently OHKO Mewtwo with a + 1 Draco Meteor, while Latias cannot, but do not scrap Latias away for just that! Latias has a lot to offer and to give you my personal opinion, I (Wraith89) prefer to use Latias over Latios in the Ubers metagame mostly for the bulk reason. Notable Moves: Draco Meteor, Dragon Pulse, Psyshock, Surf, Grass Knot, Thunderbolt, Hidden Power [Fire], Calm Mind, Recover, Refresh, Substitute, Trick, Thunder, Wish, Protect, Reflect, Light Screen, Safeguard, Psycho Shift, Healing Wish Useful Items: Life Orb, Leftovers, Lum Berry, Colbur Berry, Choice Specs, Choice Scarf, Light Clay, Soul Dew (Gen III and IV) Counters: Tyranitar, Scizor, Blissey, Ferrothorn [sprite]381[/sprite] Analysis by Tbird 381: Latios Type: Dragon/Psychic Ability: Levitate Base Stats: 80/90/80/130/110/110 Difficulty: Intermediate Latios is one scary customer. If you see him, run away. He has always been a top tier pokemon, and in Gen V, the flood gates have been opened and Latios has allowed to come and molest the OU environment. He has all but perfect Stat distribution, the move pool of a legend, and a couple awesome resistances to switch in on. So I'll tackle the stats side of things first, 130 Special attack and 110 Speed. This is perfect for the current metagame. There are many pokemon sitting on base 100, 101, 108 and 109, being able to outpace these pokemon without a scarf means that he can use Choice Specs safely and hit incredibly hard. Now onto the moves. He has access to a whole arsenal of painful moves that should make you weep at the mere thought of them. Calm mind means he can raise its survivabilty and already beast special attack to sky-rocketing proportions, whilst having the ability to switch attacks remains in tact. He also has access to Dragon dance, allowing him to beat most of the Scarfed metagame and function as a mixed sweeper if that's what you so desire. As for his actual attacking options... Draco Meteor, Surf, and Psyshock means that nothing is really safe. Scared of Ferrothorn or Scizor? Well slap Hidden Power Fire into the mix and you are good to go. He can also utilise Recover, Substitute and Refresh to keep itself nice and healthy while he's murdering your team. He is a truly scary pokemon and you should be well prepared for him. Again, he isn't uncounterable, but he is certainly hard to counter, and you must look at what set he is running to be able to safely counter him. If he lacks Psyshock, Blissey and Chansey can counter him. If he lacks Hidden Power Fire Ferrothorn can counter him. And if he lacks Surf or Grass Knot Tyranitar can counter him. Tyranitar is especially good at countering him, as with a specially defensive set he can take most of his moves and OHKO him, whilst Scarftar can outright OHKO him with Crunch. Bisharp can Sucker Punch him to death, and Spiritomb (if switched in on the right move) can KO him with Sucker Punch. Know the set, and you should be able to work around him. Notable Moves: Draco Meteor, Dragon Pulse, Psyshock, Surf, Grass Knot, Thunderbolt, Hidden Power [Fire], Calm Mind, Recover, Refresh, Substitute, Trick, Thunder, Dragon Dance, Reflect, Light Screen, Safeguard, Memento Useful Items: Life Orb, Leftovers, Lum Berry, Colbur Berry, Choice Specs, Choice Scarf, Light Clay, Soul Dew (Gen III and IV) Counters: Tyranitar, Scizor, Blissey, Ferrothorn [sprite]385[/sprite] Analysis by Tbird 385: Jirachi Type: Steel/Psychic Ability: Serene Grace Stats: 100/100/100/100/100/100 Difficulty: Intermediate If you've ever seen anyone ranting "RQ!" you can guarantee that Jirachi probably had something to do with it. Jirachi is know first and foremost for its hax ability, it can flinch you within an inch of your life, and then flinch you into utter despair. However, that isn't all it can do, it is very versatile and you should be prepared to take an unexpected beating whenever you see it. 100s across the board coupled with its movepool pretty much means it can do whatever it likes. It can act as an effective wish passer, a twaver, a haxer, a lead, an annoyance and a sweeper. With access to wish and CM it can pull of a brilliant defencive sweeping set that can't be crippled by Blissey's toxic, doesn't mind burn and can fight through Paralysis due to its bulk. With Access to Body Slam/Twave and Iron head it can about out hax any threat in the game for a cheap yet successful win. With Access to Stealth Rock, Trick and U-turn it can function as a hell of a disruptive lead and scouter. Not only the aforementioned, but it can pull of a mean lure/ mixed attacking set that can often take 3 pokes off of an opponent's team in one sitting. Let's say your opponent is running a sand storm team, you switch in on Ttar and Flinch it to death whilst it furiously tries to earthquake your jirachi, once Ttar is down they send in the Scizor thinking you are choice locked, you nail it with a fire punch, so now they come to thinking your a physical attacker and send in their Gliscor, only to realise you'd planned this all along and your opponent must watch in horror as you OHKO their Gliscor with Hidden Power Ice. Its typing allows it to be a pretty successful dragon check, so long as they are locked into a dragon typed move; there is nothing more satisfying than body slamming an outraged locked Garchomp, for instance. Jirachi is very much beatable if you a) know its set and b) outspeed it. If its a choice scarf set, Garchomp can take it out with STAB earthquake, or Skarmory can wall it no end. If it's Body slam set then Jellicent Can burn and outstall it, if it's a twave set Landolus and Garchomp can both take it out, Landorus being able to set up in the process. If you suspect it might be a lure, double switch on it and you'll then be able to devise a way to beat it by manipulating it to fire off moves that you can set up on. Notable Moves: Stealth Rocks, Iron Head, U-turn, Substitute, Fire Punch, Ice Punch, Thunderpunch, Calm Mind, Flash Cannon, Thunderbolt, Grass Knot, Psychic, Psyshock, Shadow Ball, Cosmic Power, Wish, Toxic, Thunder Wave, Body Slam, Hidden Power [ice/Fire/Ground], Trick, Psych Up, Charge Beam, Drain Punch, Gravity, Doom Desire, Refresh Useful Items: Leftovers, Life Orb, Expert Belt, Choice Scarf, Choice Band, Choice Specs, Shed Shell, Occa Berry, Shuca Berry Counters: Heatran, Magnezone, Blissey, Celebi, Metagross, Rotom, Zapdos, Gallade, Cobalion Edited June 27, 2012 by wraith89 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wraith89 Posted August 16, 2011 Author Share Posted August 16, 2011 (edited) [icon]445[/icon]Sinnoh Theme: POWER [sprite]389[/sprite] 389: Torterra Type: Grass/Ground Ability: Overgrow / Shell Armor (Dream World) Base Stats: 95/109/105/75/85/56 Difficulty: Hard Torterra is a grossly underrated Pokemon who can serve as an amazing check to many Pokemon. For one, he has incredible physical bulk, resistance to both Rock and Ground moves, and immunity to Sandstorm. He even has an okay recovery move in the form of Synthesis. With these in mind, he makes a fine counter to the popular Excadrill, though he should beware of X-Scissor. He can also check Gyarados without Ice Fang, Tyranitars that don't run special attacks, or even Lucarios without Ice Punches. His typing is very helpful and many will find themselves walled by Torterra while Torterra poses a huge threat to them. Offensively, he has STAB Wood Hammer and Earthquake to work with, along with coverge moves like Stone Edge and Crunch. Rock Polish helps boost his ugly speed while Swords Dance can boost his already high attack power, though his low speed makes it rather not practical. He has other virtues as well, being a great defensive utility Pokemon with access to Stealth Rocks, Leech Seed, and Roar. His movepool is actually quite great for a Grass Pokemon starter. His applications are many, but he has the four moveslot syndrome because he simply cannot do them all. Torterra's Dream World Ability Shell Armor will be very useful, because it can prevent critical hits from interfering with his plans. To counter Torterra, there are precautions needed. Yes, Grass Pokemon are immune to Leech Seed, but do not be hasty to switch in Venusaur because he can be 2HKOd by Earthquake. For the most part, Skarmory can shrug off anything Torterra has to offer, 4x resisting his Grass STAB and immune to Ground STAB and not taking enough from Stone Edge. In return, she can phaze a Torterra out or hit him with super effective Brave Birds or Drill Pecks. Forretress and Escavalier are also in the same vein as Skarmory, and Forretress can set up on Torterra while Escavalier can hurt Torterra with STAB Megahorns. However, Forretress cannot do much against Torterra in the long run and may become a set up bait himself. Weezing is immune to Earthquake and resists Wood Hammer and can either burn Torterra or can strike him down with a Flamethrower or Fire Blast. He can also Haze out any boosts Torterra accumulated. Tangrowth and Leafeon work very well as they resist Torterra's STAB. The former works particularly well as Stone Edge does little damage. Remember, Torterra has a nasty 4x weakness to Ice and is weaker on the special side than the physical side, making him particularly susceptible to Ice Beam or Fire Blast. He also does not resist Water or Grass moves unlike most other Grassers, which is something to look out for. While he certainly is not the best, Torterra is a great Pokemon and underestimating him is a grave sin. Notable Moves: Wood Hammer, Earthquake, Stone Edge, Seed Bomb, Substitute, Leech Seed, Synthesis, Rock Polish, Rest, Sleep Talk, Curse, Stealth Rock, Roar, Reflect, Light Screen, Superpower, Toxic, Crunch, Swords Dance, Leaf Storm, Hidden Power [ice/Fire], Giga Drain, Wide Guard (Doubles/Triples) Useful Items: Leftovers, Choice Band, Life Orb, Yache Berry, Light Clay Counters: Skarmory, Forretress, Bronzong, Weezing, Tangrowth, Leafeon, Escavalier [sprite]392[/sprite] Analysis by Tbird 392: Infernape Type: Fire/Fighting Ability: Blaze / Iron Fist (Dream World) Base Stats: 76/104/71/104/71/108 Difficulty: Beginner In Generation IV Infernape broke the mould. You could no longer just run SkarmBliss and say hell to the rest of the team, Infernape came to kick ass and take your team down with it. It has stats that are, or were, pretty much perfectly aligned. Its Fire and Fighting typing makes the generic walling types shudder in fear, but what sets it apart from other wall breakers is its extra speed allowing it to also function as a stand alone sweeper. Its typing also means that its not plagued by the fire types instant 25% loss in health when it switches in on Stealth Rocks, which is a big deal given that Infernape likes to switch in, create a hole and get out; rinse and repeat. With the 5th generation it has somewhat fallen from grace with new walling types and the fact that 108 is no longer such a great milestone. It is still a force to be reckoned with, howeber it doesn't have the bulk required take the strongs hits from the plethora of fast things flitting around like Excadrill and the re-allowed Latitwins. With Jellicent's typing that was pretty much made to make Infernape weap, it struggles to break such walls as effectively. However, as always there are contingencies that can be made to aid Infernape with Longevity. The first two being Mach Punch and U-turn. It can still hit very hard with mach punch that gets further boosted by Iron fist, allowing it to hit at 68BP, which isn't terrible when coupled with a Choice Band. The rest of its worries can be dealt with with its Coverage moves; such as adding Hidden Power Ice and Thunder Punch to the set. The only problem, though, is that Infernape can start to be ineffective when you try to run it as the Jack-of-all. your best bet is to realise its short comings and use your team to work around these. That being said the biggest walling combos currently are Jirachi + Gliscor and Tyranitar + Skarmory and Ferrothorn + Jellicent, and infernape can be tailored to remove any that may be troubling your team. For the Former, Hidden Power Ice and Flare Blitz/Fire Blast will do the job, for SkarmTar Close Combat and Fire Blast will seal the deal, however the Latter Might be a little harder to deal with, my recommendation is to run a choice Band set and use intermitent Flare Blitzes coupled with U-turns. The best way to support Infernape is to have pokemon on team that can remove the Lati Twins, Ghosts, Starmie and his number one Counter: Tentacruel. Tyranitar can murder these things pretty easily as can a Scarfed Flygon if played well. Starmie gets a special mention as it has great synergy with Infernape and can destroy stall very easily when coupled with infernape. Notable Moves: Fire Blast, Flamethrower, Close Combat, Grass Knot, Hidden Power [ice], Focus Blast, Swords Dance, Flare Blitz, Thunderpunch, U-turn, Fake Out, Stealth Rocks, Taunt, Nasty Plot, Overheat, Vacuum Wave, Mach Punch, Endeavor Useful Items: Life Orb, Focus Sash, Choice Scarf, Choice Band, Choice Specs Counters: Jellicent, Tentacruel, Starmie, Latios, Latias, Vaporeon, Swampert, Suicune, Hippowdon, Donphan [sprite]395[/sprite] 395: Empoleon Type: Water/Steel Ability: Torrent / Defiant (Dream World) Base Stats: 84/86/88/111/101/60 Difficulty: Hard As of Generation V, Empoleon is currently the only Water/Steel type Pokemon, meaning he has a whole bunch of resistances (including Stealth Rocks!) which can be very useful. He has an amazing special attack of 111, which is the highest of all starters' (though Charizard and Typhlosion has it at 109 and Blaziken at 110... trololol), and a few attacks to go with that special attack, such as STAB Surf, Hydro Pump, Ice Beam and Grass Knot. There is also STAB Flash Cannon but that is generally unused due to its lack of coverage. Empoleon made himself known as a late game sweeper. What lack of speed? Put in Agility and you are good to go. After an Agility, Empoleon can outpace a lot of things and start smacking stuff with his high powered Water STAB moves. He normally has Substitute along with the dangerous Petaya Berry to further increase his special attack. Oh, and I forgot Torrent, which will make his water moves even MORE powerful and enough to just put pain on generally anything that isn't a Water Absorber or a Blissey. If Empoleon sets up, he becomes incredibly powerful. And better yet, he has resistances against common priority moves such as Extremespeed, Aqua Jet, Sucker Punch, Ice Shard, and Bullet Punch, 4x resistance on the latter two! Yeah okay, Mach Punch and Vacuum Wave will probably hurt, but the other resists are just Godsend. Scared of Empoleon? You ought to be! Letting him set up can be a great mistake. But let's not forget his great typing. Empoleon can double his role as a bulky water, with the ability to set up his OWN Stealth Rocks and Roar Pokemon out. Unlike other bulky waters not named Tentacruel, he is immune to Toxic, and unlike the others, he is soundly able to counter Kingdra due to his resistances to both STAB Dragon and Water moves from that dangerous beast! Run Scald and physical sweepers will definitely not want to get burned, not to mention Empoleon STILL has STAB from it! However, Empoleon has some other tools that I have not mentioned. This guy, like Charizard and Sceptile, has a higher special attack, but not enough tools to play with there, and yet he has tons of physical attacks. The fact that he learns Swords Dance and the Empoleon in Battle Frontier happens to be physical somehow proves that Gamefreak wanted Empoleon to be physical. *facepalm* But it's not all bad news. With Empoleon setting up Swords Dance and his many resistances, he is able to pull it off quite readily. Low speed? Use Aqua Jet! Sometimes, the opponent readily brings in Blissey, thinking Empoleon is going special, only to have Swords Dance set up in her face. She's going to switch out... just set up Swords Dance again! Or... if you predict something fishy, Empoleon can start nailing his "would-be counters". Not the best way to use Empoleon, but is still usable nonetheless. In fact, Aqua Jet allows him to function as a good lead Pokemon as well, along with the ability to set up Stealth Rocks and whatnot. The Dream World Empoleon also proves that Gamefreak is just trying their best to make Empoleon a physical attacker with the ability Defiant. Basically, if someone lowers any of Empoleon's stat, Empoleon's attack power will rise + 2. That means it will effectively cancel out Intimidate and raise Empoleon's attack power to + 1. Interesting. With all this being said, you can probably see that Empoleon is quite the unique Pokemon, but he is not without flaws. Though he has few weaknesses, those few weaknesses he possess are COMMON; Electric, Ground, and Fighting moves. Ouch. This means that Empoleon will have a hard time switching into many moves from the dominant Pokemon of this metagame. Of course, Blissey is probably Empoleon's #1 counter, sponging his attacks all day long able to wear him down with Seismic Toss and Thunder Wave him to make him an easy bait to something like Machamp. That's not, however, applicable to his Swords Dance set. Jolteon or Rotom can come in and threaten Empoleon with a STAB Thunderbolt. Also, Empoleon with Agility and Substitute cannot carry three attack moves, so their coverage is limited. Those without Grass Knot can be dealt with by bulky waters like Suicune or Vaporeon, while those lacking Ice Beam can be dealt with by something like Dragonite or Salamence. All variants will probably hate Lanturn, who takes a paltry base 20 power from Grass Knot, and she can hit back Empoleon with STAB Thunderbolts or cripple him with Thunder Wave or Confuse Ray. However, Lanturn will fear SD Earthquake variants. All in all, Empoleon is a confusing case, but just note that he likes to come out in late game if he is a sweeper variant, and that the wallish variants are nowhere near as powerful and that they can be worn down due to their lack of reliable recovery moves. He is frequently underestimated, but this Emperor Penguin is incredibly useful and can certainly slice and dice like his Pokedex description says. Just to give you an idea, I (Wraith89) use a defensive Empoleon in one of my teams, and he has been a reliable check to a lot of Pokemon and has always put up a great fight. I'm cursed with bad luck, but this Empoleon was able to take a Flygon's Outrage, TWICE, with CRITICAL HIT ON BOTH. Notable Moves: Surf, Hydro Pump, Ice Beam, Grass Knot, Substitute, Agility, Flash Cannon, Stealth Rocks, Roar, Scald, Hidden Power [Electric] Swords Dance, Waterfall, Aqua Jet, Earthquake, Drill Peck, Return, Avalanche, Featherdance, Knock Off, Yawn Useful Items: Leftovers, Life Orb, Petaya Berry, Chople Berry, Shuca Berry, Choice Specs Counters: Blissey, Jolteon, Vaporeon, Magnezone, Rotom, Celebi, Lanturn, Gyarados, Cobalion, Virizion, Keldeo [sprite]409[/sprite] Analysis by Lorshinator 409: Rampardos Type: Rock Ability: Mold Breaker/ Sheer Force (Dream World) Base Stats: 97/165/60/65/50/58 Difficulty: Advanced When fourth gen was on the horizon and pokemon were leaked, initially Rampardos was widely feared. These were the days were Rhyperior's 140 attack was considered way too high, and perhaps when Machamp was still considered "good". But like many fourth gen Pokemon, including Rhyperior, Porygon-Z and so on people were soon to find out that Rampardos was an over hyped pokemon, having a massive attack stat, movepool, and abilities to pull it off, but its dire speed and fragility got the better of it. In Gen 5, it is outclassed by Pokemon such as Haxorus for having better bulk (relatively) and speed, and it even has Mold Breaker to rub it in Rampardos's face, so Rampardos bit the dust unfortunately. Rampardos can still pull of being a physical sweeper, but it is hard to do. Rampardos is an awesome pokemon. If you allow it to show its strength, you had better watch out. Even if Rampardos could potentially die from a STAB Mud Slap, it's massive attack stat of 165 is nothing to scoff off. Even if it hits you once, it'll dish out plenty of damage. This is what Rampardos is well known for... being a battering ram. It's got a great ability too. That Bronzong got Levitate? BAM! That pokemon has Sturdy? Bye! Multiscale? I don't even need to go on. Mold Breaker is an awesome ability, and whether you admit it or not, makes switching into Rampardos tricky. On top of that, it's got a great movepool. Stone Edge and Earthquake gives it a horrifying coverage already, and Earthquake is going to hurt those Steels who try to switch in or potentially attack. On top of that, Zen Headbutt allows it to hit Fighting types such as Machamp who switch in or, if you're lucky, destroy it, as well as coverage on Poisons (I guess). It can learn Fire Punch and Thunderpunch, although the former is more useful considering that it hits Steels and Grassers pretty hard. Counters such as Ferrothorn are no longer reliable if you have Fire Punch, for instance. Although not as reliable as it is for Honchkrow, Pursuit is there as well for fleeing foes. Crunch hits Psychic users hard, as well as Ghosts that may be able to counter the dinosaur. You can use Brick Break to get rid of Light Screens and to hit Dark types/Steels. Some Dragon types can get annoying too, so Outrage! Indeed, its hitting power is amazing. But wait, it's frail, and it's speed is terrible for sweeper standards! Well, there's a tricky to use but effective remedy in the form of Rock Polish. Invest fully in speed, and with Adamant nature, one use will make his speed jump up to 430! Problem solved... Almost. If you want more speed to outrun scarfers, have Jolly to reach 472. Rampardos also serves well in Trick Room, where it could use Swords Dance, although... it's Rampardos. Oh, and its once signature move, Head Smash, is brutal if it hits, but it'll take down Rampardos too, so if you don't mind going suicidal, well, the strongest Head Smash user in front of you. Its got Curse, but due to that horrid special defence, well, good luck living. It has Sheer Force as it's Dream World ability, which sounds nice at first. However, you lose out on great coverage with the elemental punches, Crunch, and so on, so it's not even worth it in the long run. However, if you really want Stone Edge to hit ludicrously hard and you want Zen Headbutt to demolish everything, well, be my guest. There's still a really good reason why incredibly frail pokemon such as Weavile, Durant and Alakazam still see usage. Unlike Rampardos, these three may be ridiculously frail but at least have a type that allows resistance to others and switching opportunities, and have really high speed. Yes, Rampardos may have Rock Polish to boost it's already bad speed to Accelgor levels, but there are some detriments. On top of losing on coverage, it takes a turn to use. This is a lot harder than it sounds. Since Rampardos is so fragile even despite of it's base 97 HP, anything super effective can take it out with ease. Rampardos has a very hard time switching in thanks to it's bad defensive typing, and priority, the main killer here, will just eat up the poor dino, as it is only normally effected by Ice Shard and Sucker Punch, whereas all other forms of priority will just destroy it. As a result, name any Fighting type with priority, and Rampardos won't even get to use Zen Headbutt. Also, due to it's bad defenses, most people will just try to take it out before it can attack twice. Bulky waters such as Alomomola and Slowbro provide excellent checks, but should watch out for a random Thunderpunch or in Slowbro's case, Crunch. As said earlier, priority users shy Rampardos away easily. Keep in mind that if Rampardos doesn't take out it's target, it's very, very likely it'll get taken down the same turn. However, Rampardos is the second strongest pokemon in the game legitimately, its ability is amazing, it has a versatile movepool, and its type is amazing offensively. If you want a specialized power house, well, Rampardos may want to be your battering ram. Notable Moves: Head Smash, Rock Slide, Stone Edge, Earthquake, Fire Punch, Thunderpunch, Crunch, Pursuit, Zen Headbutt, Outrage, Rock Polish, Swords Dance, Superpower, Brick Break, Endeavor Useful Items: Life Orb, Focus Sash, Choice Band, Choice Scarf, Lum Berry Counters: Slowbro, Alomomola, Skarmory, Heracross, Hitmontop, Conkeldurr, Torterra, Scizor, Metagross, Blastoise [sprite]430[/sprite] Analysis by Lorshinator 430: Honchkrow Type: Dark/Flying Ability: Insomnia / Super Luck / Moxie (Dream world) Base Stats: 100/125/52/105/52/71 Difficulty: Hard Honchkrow's a boss, and back in Gen 4, it was a scary new customer. It was a well deserved evolution to Murkrow, and abused the special/physical split. As a Gen 4 pokemon, it gained things like Brave Bird, Sucker Punch, and could learn some nice special attacks. However, in Gen 5, it's use has dwindled a little due to it's predictability and terrible 52/52 defences. It's got subpar speed, so it can easily be revenged. Honchkrow is good at one thing: hitting hard. It can do this in two ways, one being a common physical attacker with a ridiculously strong Brave Bird/Sucker Punch combo with filler, or an uncommon special attacker. Having 125 attack is nothing to be trifled with; it still hurts a lot, and with STAB Brave Bird, it will take a huge chunk of those who can't resist it or take the hit. Sucker Punch allows those who want to revenge him be able to hit back with good power. It can also surprise those who think they can wall it with a physical wall (Steelix for example) by using Heat Wave. Whether it runs a mixed set or not, and it will still do a lot. Pursuit is excellent since it gets STAB and it will end up taking a huge chunk of the target before it switches. Superpower is for those pesky Steels like Aggron. It's also pretty good at using Subs and then hitting back with its STAB. It makes a good partner with Fighters who are weak to psychic, and good for Electric types for their ground weakness. Insomnia is good for Roserades who try to put your team to sleep, or just anything really. Super Luck has seen more use though, due to the extra crit chance. Who doesn't love hax when it's on your side? (Okay, maybe not every one does). It's also got Moxie, which is really good, and boosts his attack after a KO. In my opinion though, if you are using a scarfed set, chances are you will have to run after you take one down. This may come in handy for Sub users though. If you need a physical beast, Honchkrow might fit the bill. Honchkrow, while very deadly, has some issues, like all Pokemon. First and foremost, despite having base HP of 100, it will still get OHKOed quite easily. It is immune to Psychic or Ground attacks, but that's its main defensive niche. Other than that, 52/52 is really bad, and it'll be taken down by a good STAB or super effective attack with relative ease. Mamoswine can take a physical hit not named Superpower and Ice Shard it down, while Rhyperior can take any Physical hit, really. If it's scarfed, which is commonplace to get rid of the speed problem, it can become setup fodder if it tries to use a failed Sucker Punch. Anything that can take a hit and hit it back can easily KO it. Skarmory can simply stand there and barely get a scratch, unless of course it has Heat Wave, which will still 2HKO. Speaking of which, Honchkrow's special movepool is rather limited in comparison, so tough guys like Snorlax can come in if it doesn't pack physical moves. Omastar can do justice too. Scizor can Bullet Punch it, but watch out for Heat Wave on the switch in. All in all, to counter it, figure out what set it has, and act accordingly. Notable Moves: Brave Bird, Sucker Punch, Pursuit, Night Slash, Drill Peck, Superpower, Roost, Substitute, Nasty Plot, Dark Pulse, Heat Wave, Psychic, Foul Play Useful Items: Focus Sash, Life Orb, Leftovers, Lum Berry, Choice Scarf, Choice Band, Dark Gem Counters: Steelix, Skarmory, Metagross, Tyranitar, Scizor, Omastar, Rhyperior, Mamoswine, Blissey [sprite]442[/sprite] Analysis by Tbird 442: Spiritomb Type: Ghost/Dark Ability: Pressure / Infiltrator (Dream World) Base Stats: 50/92/108/92/108/35 Difficulty: Intermediate Spiritomb is a generally awesome Pokemon. First of all, it has absolutely NO ELEMENTAL weaknesses; meaning nothing will hit it for super effective damage! A lot of people do scoff at it, however it does have a fair few niches in which it excels. Firstly it is very unexpected, and once most people see it they aren't quite sure what to do. The reason being it has a great movepool and its stats allow for a lot of versatility. One of the main reasons to use it is its spinblocking ability. With its typing, overall bulk, and access to Sucker Punch/Pursuit it can trap and destroy Starmie; one of the metagame's premium spinners. Not only that, but spinning Excadrill also hates it due to Will-o-wisp and Hidden Power Fighting; so right there are two premium spinners in the game that get ruined by Spiritomb. Its offences, all though slightly on the low side, are very usable, with a huge attacking movepool it can remove Pokemon like Reuniclus, Conkeldurr, Bisharp, Jellicent, tyranitar and the aforementioned spinners. Generation V didn't really bring it any new tricks. However, the metagame shift made Spiritomb a lot more viable with plenty of Psychic and Fighting typed pokemon to ruin. Spiritomb will find little use for the Infiltrator ability, as it can also enjoy pressure stalling with Rest Talk sets, or even a super mean Spite set. Spiritomb has the whole freaking magician's box of tricks up its sleeve, so don't under estimate it or you may find half of your team wondering "what just happened!?" The best way to beat it is switch in something with bulky stats that resists Spiritomb's moves and doesn't mind being burnt. Things with Taunt and or torment will absolutely ruin Spiritomb, so Poison heal Gliscor and Torment tran are great candidates. While Spiritomb loves burning things, it generally hates being burnt itself, and toxic will wear it down also. Don't bother Paralysing it, as with 35 base speed... it really doesn't care. Notable Moves: Shadow Ball, Sucker Punch, Pursuit, Shadow Sneak, Will-o-Wisp, Toxic, Hypnosis, Dark Pulse, Psychic, Calm Mind, Nasty Plot, Hidden Power [Fighting/Rock], Rest, Sleep Talk, Substitute, Pain Split, Confuse Ray, Spite, Taunt, Torment, Trick Useful Items: Leftovers, Choice Band, Lum Berry, Spell Tag Counters: Blissey, Heatran, Gliscor [sprite]445[/sprite] Analysis by Tbird 445: Garchomp Type: Dragon/Ground Ability: Sand Veil / Rough Skin (Dream World) Base Stats: 108/130/95/80/85/102 Difficulty: Easy Garchomp is the bigger, meaner and for all intents and most purposes better Flygon. Same typing, better stats, an ability that when used correctly is on par with flygon's, and a possibly better movepool, too. Garchomp got banned from OU due to its sheer lack of counters and speed. While 102 might seem quite slow, all things considered, its bulk allows it to take hits from the faster folks and OHKO with deathly effect. The Yache Swords dance set was completely uncounterable. What are you supposed to do when a pokemon sets up SD off of a base 130 attack... and its main weakness is covered? 102 Speed meant that the whole 100 speed metagame was outsped without the need for a choice item, allowing Garchomp to run SD with impunity. 108/95 physical defence means that it's going to take a strong strong stab SE physical attack to hurt it... the point to make here is that Flygon's Outrage doesn't have a 100% chance to OHKO, while Garchomp can shrug off Dragon claw any day of the week, and if Garchomp opts for a bulky set, Flygon's Outrage (360BP!!!) won't even OHKO... Scary, right? Not to mention, if it was on a sand team, you might not even hit it anyway. Moving on to generation V. Garchomp is still the beast it always was, however with the power creep and speed creep, Garchomp can't really afford to run its SD yache set, as now things can outspeed it and OHKO it without being choice locked. However, its scarf set is what sets it apart from the rest of its dragons. With a trollish 102 Base speed, it is always outspeeding its dragon brethren at +1, sans Lati@s, and with a huge 130 Atk it's going to either OHKO the dragon infront of it, or leave a hell of a dent in what ever switches in. With Scarf sets in mind, it can pull of a surprise Choice Band set to truly unleash the rage of a generation in which it was banned from. To show you what sets the CB set apart from the CS set I'll put you in two scenarios. CS scenario: Switch in Garchomp on MixMence Starmie Switches in to take the dragon claw, takes SR damage too (12.5% + 57 - 67%) Starmie while dented OHKOs Garchomp with Ice beam CB Scenario: Switch in Garchomp on MixMence Starmie Switches in to take the dragon claw, takes SR damage too (12.5% + 93%+) Starmie's annihilated, Infernape can now set up safely and sweep the rest of the opponent's team. The best way to beat Garchomp is to know the set it's running. The SD set is countered by Skarmory, if Chomp isn't running Fire blast, The scarf set is countered by the Lati twins (if they switch in on EQ) and the CB set is countered outright by Skarmory. Bulk Gyarados works as a good counter too, sans the CB set, as it can Intimidate the land shark taking 35 - 45% from a choice scarf outrage and set up on it, and still only taking 50% from Stone Edge at max. Gliscor can shut it down with any toxic set, but again must be weary of the CB set, as it has the chance to 2HKO the Poison heal set with Outrage after SR damage. Notable Moves: Swords Dance, Outrage, Dragon Claw, Earthquake, Stone Edge, Crunch, Fire Fang, Fire Blast, Draco Meteor, Stealth Rocks, Roar, Dragon Tail, Dual Chop, Hone Claws, Substitute Useful Items: Choice Scarf, Choice Band, Life Orb, Yache Berry Counters: Cresselia, Skarmory, Forretress, Bronzong, Cloyster, Gyarados [sprite]448[/sprite] 448: Lucario Type: Fighting / Steel Ability: Inner Focus / Steadfast / Justified (Dream World) Base Stats: 70/110/70/115/70/90 Difficulty: Intermediate This guy was one of the most powerful late game sweepers the game had to offer in Gen IV. He has a ginormous movepool which can be tailored to carry out nearly any offensive strategy, be it physical or special. Gen V gave him Nasty Plot to work with, which makes him even more deadly. Due to this sort of unpredictability, it is hard to find a safe switch in for Lucario. But he is not a reckless "put him in my team because he's cool" kind of Pokemon either. He takes a lot of skills to play with and is usually brought out late game if he is not some offensive lead. Late game Lucario tend to switch into something he can scare away, Swords Dance up, and start Extremespeeding everything to finish them off. If they're slower, STAB Close Combat can easily rip apart a lot of defensive Pokemon, even things like Swampert! Ghosts? Crunch them and watch them go bye bye. Gengar? Yeah you're screwed... 70% of the time at least. You should have gotten rid of him earlier! Dream World brought about Justified, which is a good ability, as hitting him with a dark move will raise his attack power... which he is 4x resistant to. Most of these Pokemon that use Dark moves is either Pursuit happy (which you cannot switch into) or a Pokemon you don't want to switch into (Tyranitar because he has a lot of moves which can OHKO Lucario). But if you can switch into a well predicted Crunch, all is golden. Countering Lucario is tough, especially if he switched into your locked Bug-Bite or something. He is frail and his 90 speed is somehow middling, but he's fast and strong enough to take a lot of your Pokemon after directly switching in. The physical and special versions have radically different counters. Defensive Fire Pokemon like Arcanine can work, as he can Intimidate Lucario and hit back with STAB Flare Blitz or Fire Blast. Some of them have Earthquake though, so watch out. Gyarados can work similiarly, but must watch out for Stone Edge or worse, Thunderpunch. Gliscor should be able to switch in to anything except Ice Punch, is faster than Lucario, and can OHKO back with STAB Earthquake. Gengar can come in to anything that isn't a Crunch, outpace him, and Focus Blast him to oblivion... 70% of the time. Okay, that's a shaky counter, but that's always there. Skarmory might work, but + 2 Close Combat really hurts. But at least you can blow him away. You wouldn't have expected it, but Nidoqueen works too, resisting his Fighting STAB attack and retaliating with STAB Earthquakes or Earth Powers. For special versions, there's always Blissey, except STAB Aura Sphere is super effective and at + 2 can really hurt. Regardless, she can cripple him with Thunder Wave and has Softboiled to recover health and Flamethrower to dispatch Lucario in 2 hits. Gengar can switch in to any of that except Shadow Ball and er... yeah beat him 70% of the time. I guess Cresselia can work since she can Thunder Wave Lucario and continually recover health and weaken him with a bunch of Psychics. Believe it or not, the most specially defensive Tyranitar, though not a counter, can even survive an Aura Sphere from Timid LO Lucario sometimes and has boosted Earthquake to hurt back. No that's not a counter, but I'm just stating. Also, if you land Infernape in safely, that's surely going to cause Lucario to force out. Overall, this very unpredictable and powerful Pokemon was a very offensive threat back in Gen IV, and returns as a yet another formidable foe in Gen V. But can he master the new environment within Chaos? Notable Moves: Swords Dance, Extremespeed, Close Combat, Crunch, Ice Punch, Thunderpunch, Blaze Kick, Earthquake, Stone Edge, Bullet Punch, Nasty Plot, Substitute, Aura Sphere, Vacuum Wave, Shadow Ball, Dragon Pulse, Agility, Hidden Power [ice/Rock], Psychic, Dark Pulse, Hone Claws, Hi Jump Kick, Counter Useful Items: Life Orb, Expert Belt, Focus Sash, Choice Scarf, Choice Band, Choice Specs, Salac Berry Counters: Gliscor, Cresselia, Nidoqueen, Gyarados, Arcanine, Salamence, Weezing, Gengar, Heracross [sprite]450[/sprite] Analysis by Lorshinator 450: Hippowdon Type: Ground Ability: Sand Stream / Sand Force (Dream World) Base Stats: 108/112/118/68/74/47 Difficulty: Intermediate Hello desert hippo! Hippowdon is famous in Gen IV and onwards for being the second sandstorm inducer! That means that Hippowdon was a very common pokemon due to it's hefty bulk, strength, some interesting moves and above all, sand stream, making it a viable option for any weather team. In Gen V, however, it's lost it's status as an OU and now is treading the path of UU, unfortunately. What? Why? Well, let's start of with its strengths. First and foremost, look at its physical stats. Pretty nice eh? This thing is probably, in Gen 5, amongst the bulkiest pokemon in all of UU with its high HP and defence, making it bulkier than Donphan, the most common UU. Hippowdon's goodiness doesn't stop there, since it has an impressive base attack of 112, allowing it to hit things it doesn't like very well. Its Ground typing is excellent and doesn't have too many weaknesses either. With its ability, Sand Stream, it induces a semi-permanent sandstorm. This is the primary reason for using it. Being a great inducer of weather, sending it out will support your entire team, if need be. Unlike the underestimated DW Politoed, however, Hippowdon can still serve well after summoning weather. It hits hard, can set up Stealth Rocks, be a great phazer with Roar or Whirlwind, and my personal favourite, immediate recovery with Slack Off! I also would prefer Sand Stream over Sand Force, since Hippowdon requires a sandstorm to make use of it, unless you have a Tyranitar in tow or something. Hippowdon is used primarily as a phazer or defensive tank instead of a utility/offensive attacker such as Donphan. If you need a physical UU Pokemon that can take hits very well and hit back well physically or need a Pokemon with sandstream, here you go! But like all Pokemon, it's far from perfect. In OU, which is trolled by many physical attackers in the past, Hippowdon's entrance to UU brings many, and I mean many, special attackers. This is his sore spot, as Hippwdon has a bit of trouble dealing with special attackers. Many of them can easily come in and shy Hippowdon away, since unlike Tyranitar, he does not get a special defence boost from weather. Also, poisoning him can easily cause him to perish over time, and if taunted, he cannot phaze at all. Hippowdon is very scared of any Water type special attacker faster than it or able to take a hit. Empoleon may be weak to Ground, but if timed right, can jump right in and destroy it. Grass Pokemon scare it a lot too, such as Venusaur, Lilligant, Whimsicott, the list could go on. Also, many Electric Pokemon can take a huge chunk of his HP with a super effective Hidden Power. It's also tremendously slow, and this can be a problem. If he tries using Stealth Rocks, DW Xatu/Espeon can come in and wall him very well, unless he has Crunch or Stone edge. Pretty much any nameable special attacking Water, Grass, or Ice type can cause him to flee in terror. As mentioned earlier, Toxic and Burns really cripple Hippowdon without a cleric. However, despite this, Hippowdon is a fearsome new addition to UU and caution should be taken when you see one, for this sand hippopotamus can cause a lot of problems for any team, and serve well on your team, regardless if you need the weather or not. Notable Moves: Stealth Rock, Earthquake, Crunch, Ice Fang, Fire Fang, Rock Slide, Stone Edge, Yawn, Curse, Slack off, Toxic, Roar, Whirlwind, Revenge, Superpower, Stockpile, Useful Items: Leftovers, Lum Berry, Rocky Helmet Counters: Swampert, Slowbro, Vaporeon, Milotic, Roserade, Sceptile, Jellicent, Blastoise, Ferrothorn, Starmie, Quagsire, Torterra, Whimsicott, Empoleon [sprite]460[/sprite] 460: Abomasnow Type: Grass/Ice Ability: Snow Warning / Soundproof (Dream World) Base Stats: 90/92/75/92/85/60 Difficulty: Advanced Abomasnow pretty much started what is now a phenomenon called the Hail Team, because along with his pre-evolution Snover, Abomasnow can automatically cast a hailstorm. Yes, his stats appear middling like the Nido-royals, but Abomasnow has virtues of his own. Aside from being there to automatically set up hail, one must not forget what he can do. Like most Grass Pokemon, he can Subseed, which along with hail, becomes a nasty form of stalling out non-Abomasnow or non-Magic Guard foes. Abomasnow also has key resistances to Ground, Water, Grass, and Electric moves, allowing him to come into many of those assaults and do whatever he wants to do. Best of all, the automatic hail allows him to fire Blizzards that NEVER miss. He has another form of 120 base power STAB in the form of Wood Hammer, and thanks to his stats, he can utilise both sides with little to no problem. His movepool is not bad either, as he also has access to things like Earthquake and Shadow Ball and even Rock Slide. Is Tyranitar going to ruin your day? Go behind a Substitute and land a FALCON PAWNCH! (Focus Punch). Like many of its other weather bretheren, Abomasnow is very versatile. I would not go Soundproof from Dream World as the absolute reason for using Abomasnow is Snow Warning in itself, though Abomasnow can be useful in its own rights even without it. Still, I see very little use of Soundproof aside from being immune to Bug Buzz, which even that is quite specific. Abomasnow, however, is not without problems. 60 base speed is quite slow, and his 90/75/85 defences, although okay, is not spectacular. Also, his amount of weaknesses end up at a glaringly atrocious amount of SEVEN. That's right, he is weak to Bug, Steel, Rock, Fighting, Poison, Flying, and Fire, the latter which he is 4x weak to. Tyranitar may hate Wood Hammers or Focus Blasts or Focus Punches, but other than that, he can switch in, cause a sand storm to rise, and nail Abomasnow with his STAB Rock attacks. In fact, Tyranitar trolls over Abomasnow with his 61 speed. Ewww. Steel Pokemon in general will also scare Abomasnow. Scizor has access to STAB Bug and Steel moves, and most often than not a Fighting move, so Scizor will pose a huge threat. If he predicts a switch, he can nail Abomasnow with Pursuit. Metagross is even sturdier and can cause huge problems with his STAB Meteor Mash. Though Taunt will shut Abomasnow down for the most part, many of the premier Taunting Pokemon are in fact, weak to Ice or even Grass, so they don't really count as safe switch-ins. Anything with a Fire attack will force Abomasnow out. As many people know, countering Abomasnow is quite difficult, but it can be done given the right tools. Take advantage of Abomasnow's weakness to Stealth Rocks, or perhaps if you have Toxic Spikes, Abomasnow will go down much faster if you phaze him out. Overall, Abomasnow is a valuable ally to have, and will certainly be a dangerous Pokemon to contend with, as he brings the harshness of the northern winds in. Notable Moves: Blizzard, Wood Hammer, Leech Seed, Substitute, Focus Punch, Grass Knot, Energy Ball, Ice Punch, Ice Shard, Seed Bomb, Focus Blast, Earthquake, Shadow Ball, Rock Slide, Hidden Power [Fire], Icy Wind, Magic Coat, Growth, Swords Dance, Ingrain, Grasswhistle, Swagger Useful Items: Leftovers, Big Root, Choice Band, Choice Scarf, Choice Specs Counters: Tyranitar, Ninetales, Bronzong, Metagross, Scizor, Clefable, Reuniclus [sprite]461[/sprite] 461: Weavile Type: Dark/Ice Ability: Pressure / Pickpocket (Dream World) Base Stats: 70/120/65/45/85/125 Difficulty: Easy In the early days of the DP metagame, Weavile was one of the best revenge killers that was introduced. We all know Sneasel had that problem of having both of his STAB being special. So they fixed him up by giving him an evolution and the biggest contributer to making him a Zero to Hero is the physical/special split, giving him a LOT of physical Darks and physical Ice to run. He could finally outpace Alakazam. He could finally hurt something with Ice Punch. Best of all, he became usable! Ice Shard meant Dragons who set up Dragon Dance could be revenged. Psychics would need to think twice before switching out because Weavile can easily Pursuit or Night Slash them. Starmie can be eliminated allowing your allied Infernape to sweep now that his check is gone. Maybe if the foe is a Cresselia Weavile can set up Swords Dances and continue to maul her down. Focus Sash Fake Out Counter leads were very scary as well, as he also has access to Taunt. They trolled however, by giving him Nasty Plot. Wow Gamefreak, wow. There certainly was a lot going for Weavile... but after a while, the hype went down. Not many people run Weavile anymore as they used to. What happened? Platinum happened... and it brought a certain crimson flash to the metagame, who became the prime revenge killer and could fit in more teams readily than Weavile could. To add salt to injury, Scizor could easily destroy Weavile one on one with his buffed up Bullet Punch! Because Scizor could destroy Psychics and Ghosts just as easily as Weavile could and had more practical applications, Weavile usage died out. And in a metagame where you need to be able to deal with Scizor, which Weavile certainly could not, he was brushed off along with the other overhyped Pokemon like Electivire and Spiritomb and such. However, all is not lost for Weavile as Weavile can still offer a lot to one's team. Just because Scizor came in the fray it does not mean Weavile is any less useful than it was before. For example, Weavile can survive a Flamethrower from an Azelf while Scizor could not. Weavile is also faster and can easily destroy Azelf with a single Night Slash. Weavile's Pickpocket ability is somewhat of a troll. I (Wraith89) thought it would work well because I thought when Weavile made contact, it would steal someone's items. Turns out the opposite is true; if the opponent makes contact with Weavile, he steals their item. Considering Weavile is pretty fragile to begin with, what are the chances this would actually work? What a shame, I was thinking of running a Fake Out/Ice Shard/Fling/Night Slash set, but I guess it wasn't meant to be. To counter a Weavile, there are many ways. Skarmory can take whatever Weavile has and can either blow him away or set up all over him. Forretress has STAB Gyro Balls which messes up Weavile royally because of Weavile's high speed. In fact, Steel Pokemon in general are particularly dangerous. More threatening counters would be things like Heracross or Scizor. Heracross has dual STAB attacks that immediately threaten Weavile, forcing him to switch out, though Heracross hates Aerial Ace. Though Scizor can be 2HKOd by Choice Band Low Kick, Scizor poses an immediate threat, and can bypass his speed problems by Bullet Punching. Fire Pokemon like Infernape or Blaziken resist both of Weavile's STAB and can force him out with their STAB moves. Heatran also works, but watch out for super effective Low Kick or Brick Break. Weavile is a fast revenger, so whenever he comes into the battlefield, he will usually take someone down before he goes down. Notable Moves: Ice Shard, Night Slash, Pursuit, Ice Punch, Low Kick, Brick Break, Retaliate, Fake Out, Counter, Taunt, Aerial Ace, Swords Dance, Punishment, Substitute, Focus Punch Useful Items: Choice Band, Life Orb, Choice Scarf, Focus Sash Counters: Heracross, Scizor, Forretress, Skarmory, Infernape, Blaziken, Metagross, Heatran, Escavalier [sprite]464[/sprite] 464: Rhyperior Type: Ground/Rock Ability: Solid Rock / Lightningrod / Reckless (Dream World) Base Stats: 115/140/130/55/55/40 Difficulty: Hard Rhyperior is a titanic Pokemon who is quite harshly underrated. "Lol that thing? I'll Surf it!" Forget about the weaknesses, as most of your OU Pokemon have 4x weaknesses as well, you know. Look at Scizor... he hates Fire Blast. Tyranitar hates Close Combats, Gyarados hates Thunderbolts, Salamence hates Ice Beam, Heatran hates Earthquakes, Celebi hates Megahorns, Swampert hates Grass Knots... did I make my point clear? That's why there is always switching out and having other team members, you know? Rhyperior can be a valuable asset to the team by providing some form of support, tank physical hits, and of course, wreck a whole bunch of Pokemon. Rhyperior's crazy base attack and bulk allows him to wreck a lot of things; very little Pokemon can safely switch in to his attacks. With a large array of moves like Stone Edge, Earthquake, Megahorn, the elemental punches, and even Aqua Tail, Rhyperior can find just about anything to nail his potential switch-ins. That mean physical defence of 115/130 will allow him to take a couple of Earthquakes/Close Combats from some foes and nail them back with his own overpowered STAB moves. Best of all, Solid Rock weakens these super effective moves to 75% effectiveness of what it would have been, allowing him to sponge some hits even better. Oh too slow? Ha, try Rock Polish for a size. Swords Dance will allow Rhyperior to hit even harder, which pretty much means OHKO on almost everything the foe can bring in. You can try to place him in a Trick Room team for some mean sweepage. He has utility moves like Stealth Rocks and Roar to further make him destructive. Rhyperior, however, is not without flaws. See those low special stats? Yeah... you've guessed it. Like his little brothers Rhyhorn and Rhydon, he is STILL going to fall from Surfs and Grass Knots. But he has Solid Rock! Yeah well, Surf is now 3x effective instead of 4x... and that is still lethal! Bulky waters and grassers will usually pose a huge threat to Rhyperior due to that, such as Swampert and Tangrowth. That low speed also means he is easily revengable. Therefore, this rhino requires a lot of support to truly shine, but he can also prove to be quite fearsome. Switching into his attacks will prove to be a terrifying process, but Rhyperior can be dealt with if you know where his weak spot is. Overall, Rhyperior is a threatening monster, but like a schoolground bully, he isn't too smart and can be dealt with. Notable Moves: Earthquake, Stone Edge, Megahorn, Aqua Tail, Thunderpunch, Fire Punch, Ice Punch, Rock Blast, Hammer Arm, Crunch, Payback, Swords Dance, Rock Polish, Substitute, Curse, Avalanche, Roar, Dragon Tail, Stealth Rock, Rest, Sleep Talk, Toxic Useful Items: Leftovers, Life Orb, Lum Berry, Choice Band, Passho Berry, Rindo Berry Counters: Swampert, Tangrowth, Hippowdon, Torterra, Leafeon, Bronzong, Blastoise, Milotic, Serperior [sprite]468[/sprite] Analysis by Lorshinator 468: Togekiss Type: Normal/Flying Ability: Hustle / Serene Grace / Super Luck (Dream World) Base stats: 85/50/95/120/115/80 Despite being cute, Togekiss is a mean, lean, white machine thing. Togekiss is a needed evolution to Togekiss and despite being offensive and outclassed in terms of power by the likes of Gengar, Chandelure, Alakazam and so on, Togekiss is another Normal/Flying type that surely got some attention. Togekiss is good, no, great at two roles. One of which is being an offensive, which makes great use of that big special attack stat of 120, and of course, is the main reason why she was an OU in Gen 4. She has good bulk, especially that Special Defence stat of 115. Her speed may be in the middling, but that can be taken care of with a Scarf. She can also be a screen setter and can use such support moves such as Heal Bell and Wish to help her teammates if they are in need. She hits hard and can also learn Nasty Plot to make her, well, nastier. She has quite a movepool, including Air Slash, Aura Sphere, Fire Blast/Flamethrower, Signal Beam, Psyshock and more. The main seller of Togekiss is not only her stats and good offensive movepool, but her ability, Serene Grace. Yes, Gustle is in there but is Useless as can be despite being powerful for the likes of Durant. Serene Grace is an almost unfair ability that puts your hax to the limit. Doubling the percentage of side effects for your attacks means that STAB Air Slash is going to make your foe flinch 60% of the time. That's... annoying, 'nuff said. As such, extra effects such as burning or special defence lowering will also occur more frequently, so that's win. Despite that middling speed of 80, it is still decent, so slapping on a Choice Scarf would allow her to outrun a lot of foes that aren't scarfed. Her Special Defence will allow her to take good Special Defence hits if invested in, and with Choice Scarfed ghost sweepers she can step in and do as she pleases. Tri attack is a possible move to get but only from Gen 3, so, otherwise, it's almost impossible to get if you don't have the GC games. If you're playing a simulator or do have this move on your Togekiss, she'll have a 40% chance of burning, freezing, or paralyzing! However, Togekiss, despite being annoying with constant flinching and high attack power, is not invincible. First off, having a scarfed pokemon to hit it physically is recommended, but that's not a direct counter. Registeel is very bulky but should watch out for her Aura Sphere's and Fire Blasts. Blissey can wall her if she doesn't have Psyshock. Regice could take hits from Togekiss pretty well but should still watch out for her Aura Spheres, and flinching. Hitting her physically is good and recommended. Overall, try to hit it before it attacks, because it can flinch you very often, and it hits hard. Notable Moves: Nasty Plot, Air Slash, Aura Sphere, Fire Blast, Flamethrower, Psyshock, Shadow Ball, Magic Coat, Wish, Heal Bell, Protect, Substitute, Light Screen, Reflect, Roost, Yawn, Thunder Wave, Encore, Body Slam, Secret Power Useful Items: Leftovers, Light Clay, Choice Scarf, Choice Specs, Focus Sash, Shell Bell Counters: Blissey, Snorlax, Registeel, Regice, Dragonite, Slowking, Zapdos, Electivire [sprite]469[/sprite] Analysis by Lorshinator 469: Yanmega Type: Bug/Flying Ability: Speed Boost / Tinted Lens / Frisk (Dream World) Base Stats: 86/76/86/116/56/95 Difficulty: Easy Yanmega is worthy of the title of "mega", or mega bug, because it's one of the best lower tier Pokemon out there. Along with Scyther, it's one of the best Bug/Flying types out there. It's got great abilities, a decent movepool and good offensive stats. It will buzz you and hurt you badly if you don't find a way to stop it. Yanmega's abilities are very interesting. Both of them are incredible and very lethal, but neither are actually better than one another, it's just what you intend to do with it. Speed boost is a great offensive ability of course, and so, it will outrun most pokemon after a single protect. It's got great STAB moves, Bug Buzz and Air Slash, which hit hard and have nice coverage, especially against the Fighting type. Since it can have speed boost, threats like Infernape and so on will be slower and you will outpace them easily after one boost, only to OHKO them afterwards. Hypnosis is very useful on this set and although it isn't very reliable, it can be very useful if hax is on your side. (Just don't forget about the common sleep clause.) Yanmega also can learn Shadow Ball to counter pesky Ghosts who try to counter it. If things get dangerous, Yanmega can U-turn out. This works especially well as a scout or lead with a sash. Tinted Lens is incredibly dangerous too, but you lose the speed. Tinted Lens allows you to hit pokemon that normally resist a type to become hit neutrally by it, which is great, especially on Steel, Fire, Rock, Ghost Pokemon, etc. This is a very lethal ability that again costs speed, but makes up to lessen the amount of counters this dragonfly has. He will be able to 2HKO a lot of his normal resistances, such as Skarmory, and switching into is pretty difficult. Yep, Yanmega is pretty nasty with it's abilities. This is probably the more offensive oriented ability, since you will be able to 2HKO an incredible amount of pokes, especially on the switch in. But that's not to say it obviously doesn't have flaws. While its abilities are incredibly lethal and can either put you to sleep or KO you fast with tinted lens, it's got a somewhat shallow movepool. Shadow Ball should only be carried for Ghosts, but even then, it is very unlikely you'd use that on Psychics, and you're replacing U-turn, Hypnosis, Reversal or even Hidden Power. Yanmega practically always carries it's signature moves, Air Slash and Bug Buzz, so you can expect those. Psychic is a nice move for Poison types, but other than that, it's not going to do you much good. If Hypnosis misses, it's going to cost you big. Reversal is nice especially on it's primary counter, Blissey/Chansey, but unfortunately Yanmega's attack stat isn't always worth it, and he needs to be on the brink of being knocked out in order for it reach full effectiveness, usually in which he becomes a target for priority. His defences are shallow and he will get OHKOd by almost by any special attack that is super effective. Stealth Rock completely ruins it, stripping half it's health, and is the most effective way to ruin Yanmega. Yanmega is primarily a hit-and-run pokemon, because despite his impressive special attack and pretty good speed, he will rarely OHKO something, in which if they attack back he will fall from the skies. Slowing it down ALSO destroys it, because even if it has speed boost, it'll take time to reach it's former speed (although you should probably spend your turns hurting it rather than slowing it down). With Tinted Lens, it's hard to resist him, but bring on Heatran, (which would completely wall it if it didn't have HP Ground). Priority is a big winner and if you use it then you can swat this nuisance out of the way. Trick Room would hurt it too, considering it's speed is always going to be emphasized. Frisk is just... Gamefreak, you know you could've gave it Swarm instead right? It's entirely pointless, and it's normal abilities are where it shines. Why would you want to know your foe's item if you can have boosted speed or boosted ineffective moves? Yanmega, while having incredibly abilities, great special attack and great STAB moves, is crippled completely by Stealth Rock since it can't recover, and wishing it back to health won't work with it around. He is vulnerable due to a somewhat small movepool but has to be predicted well in order to counter it. Notable moves: Bug Buzz, Air Slash, Shadow Ball, Psychic, U-turn, Protect, Hypnosis, Reversal, Whirlwind, Dream Eater, Endure, Hidden Power [Ground/Fighting] Useful Items: Focus Sash, Choice Specs, Choice Scarf, Life Orb, Petaya Berry, Salac Berry Counters: Heatran, Skarmory, Blissey, Chansey, Scizor, Lucario, Regice [sprite]473[/sprite] 473: Mamoswine Type: Ice/Ground Ability: Oblivious / Snow Cloak / Thick Fat (Dream World) Base Stats: 110/130/80/70/60/80 Difficulty: Intermediate Mamoswine is the much needed evolution of Piloswine and he makes himself known as a great revenge killing Pokemon. He also has the 4th strongest Earthquake in the game (tied with Garchomp, 3rd place is Excadrill, 2nd place is Rhyperior, 1st place is Groudon), giving anything a right to fear his presence. He also has a notable trait of being immune to both Sandstorm and Hail, which is always good. The one thing Mamoswine is known for is his priority move: Ice Shard. With STAB Ice Shard and base 130 attack, Mamoswine can easily revenge many of the dragons in the metagame, including Garchomp, Salamence, the Lati@s twins, and even Dragonite. Mamoswine also makes a mean lead thanks to access to Stealth Rocks, Endeavor, and of course, Ice Shard. Protect allows him to scout for Fake Out leads who try to destroy his Focus Sash. Though Ice Shard is always nice, he only has Ice Fang to work with as an alternative physical Ice STAB. In Gen V though, he gained Icicle Crash, which is always better in this case. He functions very well in a hail team, and with Snow Cloak, he has a chance of evading attacks, much like Garchomp does in the sand. I (Wraith89) had very successful times with Mamoswine in the hail team. Though Snow Cloak was nearly irrelevant for me, the Hail + Ice Shard eating up ravaging Dragons was always nice. His Dream World ability is very good, as Thick Fat provides him a neutrality to Fire attacks and an actual resistance to Ice! However, I do not know if Mamoswine comes as Swinub in Dream World, because only Swinub has access to Ice Shard, and it is imperative that Mamoswine has that move to begin with. Countering Mamoswine can be difficult because his two STAB moves provide very great coverage. Bronzong would probably be #1 counter only because he resists Ice and is immune to Ground. Superpower will take a load off Bronzong's health, however. Bulky waters in general make an awesome counter to Mamoswine. Swampert can take a single Earthquake and can fire off his own STAB Surfs to threaten Mamoswine. Ludicolo resists Ground and isn't weak to Ice, and his STAB Water and Grass moves will scare Mamoswine away. Slowbro has high defences and a powerful STAB Surf to take down Mamoswine. Ferrothorn isn't weak to Ground, but he may still be dented with Mamoswine's high powered Earthquake. However, he can threaten with both of his STABs and takes little damage from Ice Shard. Scizor can always come in and revenge Mamoswine with STAB Bullet Punch. Skarmory may hate a Blizzard in her face, but Skarmory can take whatever physical Mamoswine has. Asides from that, Blizzard is a rare sight and is only used in hail teams anyhow. Overall, Mamoswine is an incredible force to be reckoned with. How you use him is entirely up to you. Notable Moves: Earthquake, Ice Shard, Icicle Crash, Ice Fang, Superpower, Stone Edge, Blizzard, Stealth Rocks, Endeavor, Roar, Avalanche, Curse Useful Items: Leftovers, Choice Band, Life Orb, Focus Sash Counters: Bronzong, Swampert, Ludicolo, Ferrothorn, Skarmory, Slowbro, Scizor [sprite]478[/sprite] 478: Froslass Type: Ice/Ghost Ability: Snow Cloak / Cursed Body (Dream World) Base Stats: 70/80/70/80/70/110 Difficulty: Advanced Like Ninetales, Froslass is an incredibly crafty Pokemon. She looks rather weak from first glance, but Froslass is a lot scarier than one would expect, because this girl can mess with any of her counters with her useful movepool. For one, that speed of 110 makes her the fastest Ghost ever made, tied with the original Gengar of course. Because she has access to Spikes, this allows her to be an extremely potent lead by setting up layers of Spikes to mess with the other team. Trollishly, she also blocks any attempts of Rapid Spin. Her STAB Ice Beam can put a world of hurt on many Pokemon, while Thunderbolt complements Ice Beam very well. STAB Shadow Ball will get rid of those pesky Psychics and has decent coverage. Froslass also has a lot of support moves, such as Taunt, Thunder Wave, Torment, and Confuse Ray. Unfortunately, she is one of the few (if not the only) Ghost Pokemon without access to Will-o-Wisp. Is Froslass about to faint? Use Destiny Bond and take the opponent down with her! Froslass is a nightmare in a hail team, benefitting with Hail increasing her evasion while she can throw STAB Blizzards all around. Her Dream World ability Cursed Body is an interesting ability, as it allows a chance for the foe's move to be disabled. Froslass is an incredibly versatile Pokemon and can get her job done, BUT she has all sorts of problems. For one, she is an Ice Pokemon, leaving her with a poor defensive typing. Yes, she has equal amount of resistances and immunities as her weaknesses, but this doesn't stop her from being tormented by the likes of Scizor or worse, Tyranitar. Scizor has priority Bullet Punch to dispatch her, while both of Tyranitar's STAB moves will completely annihilate Froslass. What Focus Sash? That Sand Stream also negates the effect of that Focus Sash as well. Fire Pokemon can also switch into an Ice Beam and destroy Froslass. Blissey can wall her 24/7, but Froslass can be crafty and trick a Choice item on her. Though Froslass can be defeated by these Pokemon, they will not really stop her from completing her objectives. This cunning Pokemon will play a lot of mind games with her foes, and can succeed given the right circumstances. Be on your guard when fighting this treacherous lass. Notable Moves: Ice Beam, Thunderbolt, Shadow Ball, Spikes, Taunt, Icy Wind, Hidden Power [Fire/Fighting], Torment, Substitute, Thunder Wave, Trick, Psychic, Hail, Blizzard, Ice Shard, Icy Wind, Toxic, Weather Ball Useful Items: Leftovers, Choice Scarf, Choice Specs, Focus Sash, Life Orb, Colbur Berry, Babiri Berry Counters: Tyranitar, Scizor, Snorlax, Metagross, Forretress, Infernape, Blaziken, Flareon, Entei, Regirock, Registeel [sprite]488[/sprite] 488: Cresselia Type: Psychic Ability: Levitate Base Stats: 120/70/120/75/130/85 Difficulty: Hard I am dubbing this the Lugia of OU. See those defensive stats? That's enough to make Lugia proud. To some people, Cresselia has an unfortunate defensive typing, but nonetheless, those stats are pretty nice to have. She is purely utility and wall, as her offenses leave much to be desired, but has enough of a movepool to be able to check on some constant threats, such as Garchomp and others. With the right investments, Cresselia even has the ability to survive a Choice Banded Heracross's Megahorn! She learns Ice Beam and Grass Knot as coverage moves, but her new tool Psyshock allows things like Blissey to get hurt. Calm Mind or Charge Beam bolsters her special stats, and the special defence is already quite high. She also has some scary utility moves like Thunder Wave and Toxic, and has the ability to set up Reflect and Light Screen. Moonlight allows her to recover her lost HP very well, and makes her function as the best counter for Groudon available. Her signature move, Lunar Dance, sacrifices herself so that a Pokemon will be fully restored to full health, including HP and PP and the removal of status ailment. Unfortunately, Cresselia has a lot of drawbacks. For one thing, she tends to become a sitting duck, and I mean that literally, against set up Pokemon like Gyarados. Things with Taunt will shut her down indefinitely. One other thing about a wall like Cresselia is her lack of a reliable recovery move; she only has Moonlight and Rest + Sleep Talk to work with. Tyranitar seems to be Cresselia's #1 threat, reducing her Moonlight recovery to a measly 25%, and has the ability to Crunch or use Pursuit against the Lunar Pokemon. They must, however, be wary of surprise Grass Knots. Scizor also has similar options, but some Cresselia are smart and use Hidden Power Fire to deal with that nuisance. Spiritomb can also be a scary customer as he is immune to Cresselia's STAB and has the dual threat of Pursuit or Sucker Punch, or even Shadow Ball. Blissey is almost a definite wall to Cresselia, but she can be dealt with in many ways, such as Trickscarfing or even a high powered Psyshock. Overall, Cresselia is a glue that holds a team together. Should she fall, a whole team may as well fall apart. She is hard to KO, but she often does not hurt much. Notable Moves: Psychic, Psyshock, Ice Beam, Grass Knot, Energy Ball, Shadow Ball, Hidden Power [Fire/Fighting], Moonlight, Calm Mind, Charge Beam, Psycho Shift, Rest, Sleep Talk, Reflect, Light Screen, Safeguard, Toxic, Thunder Wave, Magic Coat, Gravity, Icy Wind, Trick, Trick Room, Lunar Dance Useful Items: Leftovers, Lum Berry, Flame Orb, Choice Scarf, Choice Specs Counters: Tyranitar, Scizor, Spiritomb, Weavile, Heatran, Jellicent, Ferrothorn, Blissey, Reuniclus, Heracross Edited June 27, 2012 by wraith89 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wraith89 Posted August 16, 2011 Author Share Posted August 16, 2011 (edited) Unova Theme: CHAOS 497: Serperior Type: Grass Ability: Overgrow / Contrary (Dream World) Base Stats: 75/75/95/75/95/113 Difficulty: Hard At first glance, I (Wraith89) was rather disappointed at Serperior. This is the Pokemon who was supposed to outclass Sceptile, and yet we get something with no legs, mediocre attack, okay defences, and high speed, and that high speed is still lower than Sceptile's! Adding to the fact Grass is a poor defensive typing overall, I started to question how well Serperior would work. I began to look into her movepool, and I was rather surprised but quite satisfied, because Serperior has the tools to be a defensive monster. Yes, Meganium outbulks her and is even slightly stronger than she is, but Serperior's speed is key to her success. For one, even though she is not as fast as Sceptile, she has the defences to switch into Earthquakes and whatnot unlike her predecessor, and can still be a monster Subseeder. She has all sorts of interesting supportive moves such as Dragon Tail, Glare, Reflect, and Light Screen. Also, she is another deceptive Pokemon as she has access to Taunt and Torment, which further increases her defensive capabilities. Even though her stats look mediocre at best, she has boosting moves in the form of Calm Mind, Coil and Swords Dance. Coil works well with Dragon Tail and Glare because Coil increases attack, defence, AND accuracy all at once! Parashuffling never got better! Her offensive movepool, however, is rather barren, as she pretty much only has Leaf Blade and Return from the physical side while her special moves are... pretty much all Grass moves like Giga Drain or some Hidden Power move for coverage. Sigh. However, Serperior from the Dream World is very interesting. Knowing she would be beaten off the path by all the other Pokemon, Serperior dreamed that she would be able to actually tear her foes apart despite her mediocre attack. How would she do that? By screwing with all logics of course, as it is a dream after all! Her Dream World ability Contrary switches around her own stat boosts and drops, so that any boosts will actually be drops, and all stat drops will be a stat boost. Now that seems ridiculous as her Coil, Swords Dance and Calm Mind will be foolish, but look again. A Tyranitar spamming Crunches will end up raising her defence rather than lowering it, for example, which will be rather beneficial for Serperior. But this also means something terrifying: Leaf Storm, a base 140 attack power STAB, had the drawback of - 2 SpA, right? Well, not with Contrary. Contrary will change Leaf Storm into a scary STAB attack combined with NASTY PLOT in one turn! Coming from something with 113 base speed, that is incredibly scary, as in at least 3 turns, Serperior will have gained + 6 SpA by simply just attacking. Of course, the drawback is that Leaf Storm only has 5-8 PP, it can miss 10% of the time, and Serperior has no other special coverage move to run that with! Most people pair it up with some Hidden Power of some kind just so she can deal with switch ins, but there can only be one Hidden Power. Regardless, a Contrary Serperior is a fascinating Pokemon and really the only Pokemon so far to be able to utilise this crazy tactic. How to counter Serperior? For one, Leech Seed FAILS against any Grass Pokemon. A Whimsicott with Prankster can outpace ANYTHING Serperior has to use and can Taunt her to completely shut her off, and switch to a counter like Scizor, who 4x resists her STAB and has super effective Bug Bites. Heracross can nail Serperior with STAB Megahorn, but beware of Torment messing with Choice Scarf/Band Heracross. Other Grass Pokemon, mostly stuff like dual typed Grass/Poisons or Grass/Flying can come in to a Leech Seed and strike back with STAB Sludge Bomb or Flying moves. Moltres and Articuno can scare Serperior away, while wittling away her moves with Pressure. In fact, this works even better against Serperior with Contrary, as Leaf Storm will only have 3-4 chances to strike, and they resist it and can threaten her with their STAB super effective moves. However, both of them will hate + 2 Hidden Power Rock. Zapdos works to a lesser extent because its Heat Wave does not have STAB, but it can still cause trouble. Something like Swellow can come in and threaten the serpent with STAB Brave Bird, but should be burned before attempting a switch in because Glare will mess with the bird. Skarmory essentially walls Serperior and can strike with STAB Brave Bird or blow her away. However, Skarmory will not like Taunt messing with Whirlwind. Hydreigon can break stall easily with access to Taunt and super effective Fire Blasts while resisting Serperior's Grass moves, but Serperior is faster and can Taunt the dragon if she anticipates one. Fire Pokemon will scare Serperior and she will go slithering back to her tree. Although Serperior looks rather poorly designed overall, Serperior is actually a properly designed stall monster, and being incredibly crafty, defeating her will require outwitting her ploys. Notable Moves: Substitute, Leech Seed, Leaf Blade, Glare, Coil, Dragon Tail, Reflect, Light Screen, Safeguard, Giga Drain, Taunt, Torment, Calm Mind, Energy Ball, Grass Knot, Swords Dance, Return, Leaf Storm, Hidden Power [Fire/Ice/Rock], Sunny Day, Solarbeam, Growth Useful Items: Leftovers, Light Clay, Lum Berry, Occa Berry, Yache Berry, Big Root, Heat Rock Counters: Moltres, Articuno, Zapdos, Whimsicott, Scizor, Heracross, Skarmory, Hydreigon, Venusaur, Roserade Analysis by Lorshinator 500: Emboar Type: Fire/Fighting Ability: Blaze / Reckless Base stats: 110/123/65/100/65/65 Difficulty: Advanced When Tepig arrived and it was speculated that it was going to be a defensive fire type, there was an eruption of joy. Finally, a fire type that stood out from the bunch, some hoped, and the likelihood (or what was once thought) of there being a new fire combination would have been truly marvelous. However, when a webmaster found images of the new starters, many were enraged by the sight of Tepig's evolve forms. It seemed apparent that it was another fire/fighting. Some still clung to their false hope, and eventually the message was delivered: Tepig's family is another Fire/Fighting type. Not only that, but it is not specifically defensive, as it's a slower (yet in some ways more powerful) version of the past starters. People began abandoning Tepig, and the starter was alone. One day, however, one man picked up the chubby piglet, and found reason to pair up with Emboar... Alright alright, enough history lessons. However, Emboar was loathed for it being another Fire/Fighting and still is. Not only that, but its stats are strange. It suggests that it's bulky and hard hitting, but its defences are quite low. It also suggests it could go mixed, but its attack is much higher and has a better movepool to boot. It can learn Scald and Wild Charge, although the former sees much less use. Why would you still want to use Emboar? Actually, Emboar just needs a helping hand, and if given rock-solid support, Emboar can become a saving grace. Emboar's a little different from the other Fire/Fighting brothers. He's slow but hits hard, and has some HP to boot. To his credit, Emboar is in some ways more versatile in possible sets than the other two, as he can be bulky with bulk up or he can be a special attacker or a mixed or a flame charge user. Emboar also has the highest attack of all the starters, too, which is neat. Emboar's speed is also not bad for something of it's type, since most bulky Fighting types are unfortunately sluggish. Now, for the most obvious set, Emboar can use Bulk Up to bolster his defences, and increase his already hulking attack. Make sure you invest fully into HP and some defences so that he can take hits. If you actually managed to pull some off, Emboar can become pretty durable, and with STAB Flare Blitz / Superpower, he can become a monster on the battlefield. Wild Charge can be used against those pesky waters, but beware of Suicune, as that thing can still stop Emboar flat. If you don't like the stat drops for Superpower, there's also Hammer Arm and Brick Break. Stone Edge is also pretty nifty, but there's also Head Smash, if you want to go kamikaze. He can also use Flame Charge, which is more commonplace, to become a ninja pig, and with Life Orb, he can hit hard. His D/W ability, Reckless, is pretty dang good actually, as he has quite a few recoil moves. Flare Blitz, Wild Charge, Head Smash, and filler make him quite easy to take out, but if he hits you, it'll hurt. Emboar is also a viable option for Trick Room, and for some reason has Curse, if you ever felt like using him in Double Battle Trick room combinations. Unlike most fighters, Emboar cannot be burned because of his Fire typing. He also has quite a few resistances as well. Emboar's not all sugar and spice, and that's why it's not even in UU. But then again all of BW's starters are NU according to Smogon. Emboar's lackluster defences for something with that HP really don't do it justice, and it's movepool is rather awkward. Pig that sets it's fists on fire with it's beard can't learn Fire Punch (despite what the Pokedex says), so if you don't want recoil, too bad. His signature move, Heat Crash, sounds cool, but it's actually pretty pointless in reality. Due to the abundance of Water/Rock/Ghost types in many of the lower tiers, Emboar can find himself struggling to keep the pace. Emboar doesn't usually last too long, and sometimes he'll finish himself off before the foe even uses two attacks against him. Emboar also has no Drain Punch which infuriates me, and so, if you use bulkier sets meant for walling, be sure to include a wish passer. Emboar's main flaws include his low defences (with high HP), slow speed, and his common weaknesses. Countering Emboar isn't too hard, as water types are usually the first option. Suicune I find is the number one counter, because a physically defensive Suicune can still take a hit from a +1 Bulk Up Wild Charge and still be in good condition. Rhyperior can take a hit from all bar Grass Knot, as Rhyperior's ridiculous physical defence can save it easily. Donphan is another option, and can retaliate with Earthquake, and Sturdy will save him as well. Ghost types, especially Jellicent, completely wall him minus Wild Charge. Swampert can easily sustain hits, but must beware of Grass Knot. Quagsire with unaware can take hits all day pretty much, but again, Grass Knot must be avoided at all costs. Emboar isn't all bad either, he just has some pretty neat perks and some pretty unfortunate drawbacks, but if given support, which is the primary thing you must look out for, Emboar can become quite a monster indeed. Notable Moves: Flare Blitz, Head Smash, Superpower, Hammer Arm, Brick Break, Wild Charge, Stone Edge, Rock Slide, Head Smash, Grass Knot, Earthquake, Bulldoze, Bulk Up, Curse, Flame Charge, Scald Useful Items: Leftovers, Quick Claw, Life Orb, Lum Berry, Focus Sash Counters: Suicune, Donphan, Swampert, Rhyperior, Jellicent, Quagsire, Gliscor, Landorus, Rotom-W, Blastoise Analysis by Tbird 530: Excadrill Type: Ground/Steel Ability: Sand Throw / Sand Power / Sheer Force (Dream World) Base Stats: 110/130/60/50/65/88 Difficulty: Beginner With sand throw and that gargantuan attack stack, coupled with swords dance, instant threatability and mass resistances to switch in on Excadrill is one of the scariest pokémon in the game. Commonly seen holding a balloon to give itself yet another immunity, it can switch in nearly any pokemon and set up, then proceed to sweep unprepared teams. Whilst balloon sets give Excadrill more chance to switch in, a more prevalent life orb set is beginning to emerge as the novelty of balloon is beginning to wear off. With Life orb it is now able to 2HKO some Skarmory after SR with +2 attack... which is just ridiculous. Whilst not uncounterable, it does prove to be a big problem to a lot of teams. Some of the best ways to deal with this behemoth are using pokemon that can abuse high powered priority attacks, such as Azumarill, Nasty Plot infernape and Bulk up Conkeldurr. The unreleased Mischievous Heart Sableye also has the added bonus of Priority Will o Wisp to all but render it useless. Notable Moves: Swords Dance, Substitute, Earthquake, Rock Slide, X-Scissor, Brick Break, Hone Claws, Rapid Spin Useful Items: Air Balloon, Life Orb, Leftovers, Choice Band Counters: Skarmory, Gliscor, Bronzong, Torterra, Swampert Analysis by Lorshinator 538: Throh Type: Fighting Ability: Guts / Inner Focus / Mold Breaker (Dream World) Base Stats: 120/100/85/30/85/45 Difficulty: Intermediate Throh is the White version counterpart to Sawk. Yes, I know you can still catch it in White, but it's more rare. Anyways, this guy is like a swapped around Conkeldurr or a nerfed one. He has more HP and special defence, but is not as physically strong. However, despite his lack of a good recovery move, Throh can actually server as a good physical hard hitter, and with guts, people will think twice about burning him or poisoning him. First of all, Throh's quite a bulky fighter. He can withstand a lot of physical punishment, especially if he packs Bulk up, and his special defence is pretty alright, combined with that huge HP. If you invested in both of his defences somehow with bulk up, he could be quite durable. As such, if you're looking for a bulky fighter... other than Conkeldurr or Hariyama, Throh can still serve a purpose. His signature move, Storm Throw, is very useful, especially on Pokes who think they can set up as much as they want. (pointing at you Snorlax/Umbreon). Storm Throw ignores any stat modifiers on the target and is excellent on pretty much anything that wants to raise stats or whatnot, because it always crits. With STAB, it clocks at 120 power, which is stronger than Brick Break, hooray! He can also learn the usual Edgequake combo, which is good on tough poisons that try to wall him or devastate flyings on the switch in. He's got Payback too, which he makes better use than Sawk due to his low speed and good bulk, which is good on psychics. Since he's pretty slow, he can make use of Revenge as well, due to that low speed. His low speed can also be turned into an advantage in trick room, having good defences of course and good attack. I don't think a lum berry would always do justice unless he fell asleep, which would be one of the best ways to hurt it. Then again, if there's sleeping problems, why not carry a Chesto Berry? That way you'd keep some power you get from burns, poisons, the like... The only exception is if you're using his other two abilities. Like some other Gen V pokes though, he suffers from some movepool problems. Throh's got the stats, but he isn't too versatile, despite the moves he learns are still good. He is outclassed by Conkeldurr in pretty much every right, except the special defence and HP. Throh, like other pokes such as Aggron, lack a good recovery move. Well, there's drain punch, right? WRONG. For some reason, Throh cannot learn that move. It's pretty stupid and would've made his extra bulk so much more useful. Guts is his only notable ability outside dream world, because flinching isn't a huge deal unless you are unlucky. Mold Breaker is good, especially on those pokes who try to switch in like Mismagius or Gengar. If you don't pack payback, those pokemon will completely wall him. However, burning Throh is never a good idea, because it will simply hit harder. So in that case, if you're using a ghost type, don't bother doing that, because it may backfire. Throh, despite his stupid name and his average movepool, he still hits hard, and it can be tough to safely switch into him, since he can pack quite a different variety of moves even despite. Also, guts makes it hard to weaken him, especially if he starts bulking up. Bulky psychics will have not much of a problem, and if you can manage being slower than it, payback won't hurt too much. Throh can be a pretty deadly in the lower tiers if used properly. Just make sure to use wish to heal it or pack some sort of team plan. Hit it hard before it hits back with some payback or revenge. Flying types are actually a pretty good counter to him with brave bird or air slash, long as he isn't bulked up. His counters solely depend on what set it's carrying. If it's got payback, don't use stall ghosts. If it's got stone edge, don't try to switch in anything but Skarmory. If it's got Earthquake, don't try to use poisons. All in all, don't throw away a good Pokemon! Terrible pun, sorry... Notable Moves: Circle throw, Storm throw, Earthquake, Stone Edge, Payback, Revenge, Bulk Up, Rest, Facade, Rock Slide Useful Items: Leftovers, Choice band, Chesto berry, Fight Gem, Dark Gem Counters: Reuniclus, Skarmory, Slowbro, Cofagrigus, Jellicent, Weezing, Spiritomb, Conkeldurr, Hariyama Analysis by Lorshinator 539: Sawk Type: Fighting Ability: Sturdy / Inner Focus / Mold Breaker (Dream World) Base Stats: 75/125/75/30/75/85 Difficulty: Intermediate When I saw Sawk, I immediately thought he was better than Throh. He has sturdy which is actually really cool, he looks better, and he's fast, and not a nerfed Conkeldurr (or so I thought). However... When I looked at Sawk, he has fine stats, but other than the ability, he isn't set apart from other fighters. Unlike Throh, Sawk lacks a unique move that makes him different from other fighters. Instead, we get another fast (kinda, 85 speed is faster than some) hard hitting fighting type with solid defences... and I say solid for a reason. Well, what's good about Sawk? Well, first thing that comes to mind is Sturdy. Interesting, he won't be OHKOed at all thanks to that, which is great for setting up or revenge killing, unless spikes or something chip off some HP beforehand. Sawk's got good attack power which shouldn't be under estimated. It's equivalent to Mienshao, although Mienshao is much faster... Meh. Sawk's got more bulkish ness. Also, for some reason, Gamefreak decided not to give him Swords Dance but left him with Bulk Up. A lot of fighters do a better job with this move, such as Throh, Conkeldurr, Hariyama, Machamp... Sort off, I guess... Yeah. So, What's Sawk good at again? Well, he's got sturdy, good attack, and above average speed. He's got access to edgequake, and that's all fine and dandy. One good think to point out is that he makes better use of Reversal than his brother counterpart, since combined with sturdy clocks a move with 200 base power, which is pretty dang high, and he'll get that very often with it. He's got Close Combat which is nice if you want to run with high HP, and due to Sturdy he can suffer from a decrease every know and then. Counter also works with Sturdy, so that's nice too. Sawk is your typical faster fighter, hits hard, comes back, hits hard later, but with a free sash thrown in (technically due to Sturdy). Taunt is great for those who want to set up, usually with Spikes or whatnot, and prevents foes from getting tougher than him. He can be paired with a Band or Scarf thanks to that awesome ability, despite his counters may be many. However, he's got less of a punch than Throh, and I say this because there are other fighters, particularly Hitmonlee, that do the same thing (close combat, he's faster, limber, movepool, etc). Inner Focus is obviously meh... Sturdy is awesome. He doesn't have Storm Throw, which means defence raisers will be happy to do that... No Cross Chop? Why? Oh well, that move isn't required anyway as he's got Close Combat. He's fairly easy to counter, he doesn't even have access to U-turn for constant switching. To do this, Weezing is very good, because he'll say howdy and burn him, or just hit him hard, resisting his attacks well unless he is boosted by bulk up or if he has mold breaker. Slowbro is another mention, since... He obviously will wall him no matter what. Skarmory will just laugh at him, and Claydol will just look at him funny... He's nothing to become afraid off if you got the team. Still, that 125 base attack will take a chunk off, and if used right, Sturdy + Reversal combined with a Substitute could leave a nasty mark on the foes team if they don't have the right pokes for the job. I'm not saying Sawk sucks, I'm saying that there are other fighting sweepers that can get the job done even in UU. Notable Moves: Close Combat, Brick Break, Rock Slide, Stone Edge, Earthquake, Reversal, Counter, Retaliate, Substitute, Taunt Useful Items: Choice Band, Choice Scarf, Life Orb, Fight Gem, Ground gem, Shell Bell, Lum Berry Counters: Slowbro, Skarmory, Weezing, Claydol, Tangrowth, Donphan, Dusknoir, Reuniclus Analysis by Lorshinator 563: Cofagrigus Type: Ghost Ability: Mummy Base stats: 58/50/145/95/105/30 Difficulty: Intermediate Cofagrigus is an atrocious name. It's just terrible, and I think you know why. As a result, I will refer to it as "coffy" (pronounced like coffee, but refers to Coffin) throughout this entry. Coffy is an awesome pokemon. Isn't it interesting that this is actually was a human being in the past? (Read Yamask's entries).This guy is scary stuff, mate. Moving on, this guy is known to be a solid counter to many dangerous threats like Throh and Heracross. It is also unique in that it has a useable special attack and has a nifty special movepool, which it can use for offensive sets. This ghoul, however, is most popular to for stalling purposes. Coffy is outright dangerous. Don't let its abysmal health worry you, as that staggering physical defence of 145 is no joke. Its body is made of gold for crying out loud! It's also got some Special Defence to back it up. Aside from this, it seems like just an ordinary wall, but there's one thing that it has that makes it stand out, and that is its ability, Mummy. This ability is like a virus, and when Coffy is hit by a contact move, the user will receive this ability as well in exchange for the previous one. To illustrate, having Coffy hit by a Pokemon with Guts turns them from a formidable physical attacker to something down right pathetic, and completely shuts them down in an instant. Like most Ghosts, Coffy is fitted with some dangerous sabotage moves, such as the classic Will-o-Wisp and Toxic, to haze, which can further weaken foes and can sometimes prompt switching, Disable. It can also learn Mean Look, although its speed is so low that it may work against you. Aside from the obvious moves that inflict status, Coffy is equipped with some neat offensive moves, such as Shadow Ball, Energy Ball, Calm Mind, Trick Room and even Nasty Plot. Coffy is infamous for being the 'soul' counter (pun intended) to a lot of threats, particularly Fighting and Bug types. If you use this zombie to your advantage, he'll reward you greatly. Despite the obvious fact that Coffy is an awesome Pokemon aesthetically and competitively, that's not to say it doesn't have drawbacks. It's most obvious that problems are related to its lack of health. Firstly, its health rating is incredibly low even with investment, and secondly (which is the big killer), it lacks reliable recovery (Not anymore in B2W2 as move tutor allows Pain Split). As a result, although it can resist plenty of damage, it cannot sustain some for too long. Its only method of healing itself is through Rest, which is unreliable. Wish support is strongly recommended. Coffy can use some moves to increase its attack prowess, but unfortunately it does not have amazing coverage. In order to hit Steels who would be a big problem, the strongest attack he has is Hidden Power Fighting. Coffy's biggest counters, though, are Dark and Fire types. Dark types resist his STAB and can pose a problem, particularly special attackers. Fire types are immune to Will-o-Wisp, and usually pose a threat with their powerful STAB attacks (Flare Blitz and Fire Blast). Houndoom stands out as one of its most prominent counters due to its Dark/Fire typing and powerful special attack. It can set up on this zombie as well with Nasty Plot, and can seriously wreak havoc. (Although, there's an odd chance that Coffy could use disable on his stabs if it miraculously survives both Dark Pulse and Fire move). Chandelure can be a potent threat, but if invested in Sp. Def, the coffin could endure at least one attack unless it is equipped with Life Orb. Fire types of all shapes and sizes can be a nuisance to this guy, particularly special attackers, although physical users can also be a potent threat. Other walls can seriously pester this guy, like Blissey/Chansey, since it can poison and heal any status it receives. In essence, countering Coffy ultimately is based on using either Special attacking variants (unless that Coffy has a calm mind set), Dark types and Fire types. Coffy has some serious perks with mummy and its movepool, but it's drawbacks primarily situate in health and special defence. Notable moves: Will-o-Wisp, Toxic, Haze, Disable, Calm Mind, Nasty plot, Hex, Shadow ball, Energy Ball, Hidden power Fighting, Safeguard, Trick Room, Swagger, Grass Knot, Psychic Useful Items: Leftovers, Chesto Berry, shell bell, Lum Berry, Sitrus Berry Counters: Houndoom, Chansey, Blissey, Hydreigon, Ninetales, Arcanine, Heatran, Tyranitar Analysis by Lorshinator 565: Carracosta Type: Water/Rock Ability: Solid Rock / Sturdy / Swift Swim (Dream World) Base Stats: 74/108/133/83/65/32 Difficulty: Intermediate Naturally, if you were a new player to the game, by comparing the two Unova pokemon together, you'd think you wouldn't have much reason to use this little turtle over Archeops. Well, that is wrong, because Archeop's ability wrecks it (defeatist). So what's the reason to use Carracosta? Well, if you're looking for a bulky water, there's many others that fit the bill. However, with Gen V, a new move called Shell Smash has come up, sharply increasing attack, special attack and speed but lowering the defensive stats, giving the pokemon that can learn it ridiculous sweeping capability, and Carracosta is not an exception. Carracosta is unlike other pokemon that can learn Shell Smash. It can't set up entry traps like Cloyster or be a special attack monster like Omastar. However, physically, it's pretty good. It's slower than both but each hit still packs a punch, and it has a very good defence stat of 133. It's got a decent STAB movepool but can't learn too much otherwise. Instead, Carracosta is still specialized in a sense, because most of it's useful moves are in the water, ground, and rock type category, and it can't learn any ice moves that are strong and physical. It doesn't have access to spikes or even stealth rock at all for that matter! So, Carracosta is stuck with being very offensive. There's still Curse if you want him to be made for a trick room team or if you just prefer being sturdier... But otherwise Shell Smash is brutal and more useful if you allow it to be set up. Due to that high attack stat, he will OHKO a lot of pokemon, and 2HKO bulkier ones with his powerful stab. However... Grass pokemon still destroy this guy, and I would never, ever, recommend using him to fight them. Even after Shell smashing, Carracosta is still slow, and even after two boosts he will still be outrun by some pokes, unless you given him some speed EVS. Carracosta will bring the pain train if you don't have something to resist him, and he'll deal some hefty damage unless you bring in a little tiny thorny steel seed. You can run mixed sets to make use of his Ice attacks, since his special attack isn't terrible. When it comes to abilities, they're all good, even his dream world one. Sturdy is now one of the best abilities in the game since it works like a sash, combined with the immunity to OHKO moves. Solid Rock is nice... But honestly if he gets hit by any STAB or special super effective he'll likely faint anyways, unless you give him HP EVs. Solid rock weakness the moves that are super effective by 25%, which is again nice, but he has so many weaknesses and that won't save him often from being OHKOed by a lot of attackers, unless they are physical. Swift Swim is also good, and will allow him to function well with rain teams, being a more durable Kabutops but a tad slower (although Kabutops still has good defence.) Although, Sturdy is perhaps his best ability since it will prevent him from being OHKOed, and if you combine that with rest, the effect can reset. To counter Carracosta, Ferrothorn and Ferroseed (with eviolite) are probably the best counters, because they will resist all that's thrown at him. Dusknoir/Dusclops are good because they can burn him and resist his attacks well. Leafeon is also good if her EV's prioritize being tanky, but probably she should watch out for Ice beam/Blizzard on mixed sets or a boosted stone Edge. Skarmory walls it, and can whirlwind him away if he tries to boost. Also keep in mind that he gets more fragile if he uses Shell Smash, so priority fighters are useful (mach punch, Vacuum Wave, etc). Hitting him with special attacks will fell him fast because of that weak sp. def. Just don't let him use Shell smash more than once, because he'll do a lot of damage otherwise. Notable Moves: Aqua Tail, Aqua Jet, Waterfall, Rock Slide, Stone Edge, Smack Down, Earthquake, Bulldoze, Rest, Ice Beam, Crunch, Curse, Shell Smash, Rain Dance. Useful Items: Leftovers, Chesto berry, Lum Berry, Life Orb, White Herb Counters: Skarmory, Ferrothorn, Tangrowth, Dusknoir, Cofagrigus, Registeel, Leafeon, Venusaur Analysis by Lorshinator 571: Zoroark Type: Dark Ability: Illusion Base Stats: 60/105/60/120/60/105 Difficulty: Easy Zoroark... You sly fox you... Yeah. Zoroark is pretty mean. It packs a punch in all offensive stats and has great speed, and on top of that, one of the most random abilities out there! Okay, it's not random, but for some reason, it messes up people really bad. I mean really. When Zoroark comes onto the field, it's a mind game. Is that a Heracross? Should I use Psychic? Only to find out later it fails and you get hit by an incredibly strong Dark Pulse on your Alakazam or whatever. Yes, Zoroark, it's a pretty evil pokemon. It's got good stats, no doubt. As such, it can either run physical or special, or both. It's got a great STAB movepool. Dark Pulse, Sucker Punch, Night Slash, Taunt, and the somewhat unique Foul Play are some examples. It can also hurt steels who switch in with flamethrower, and it got hit and run with U-turn. It can raise it's attack stats with Swords dance and Nasty plot, and can hurt some other dark types with Focus blast. Yep. It's pretty tricky, especially under the disguise of another pokemon! As such, most people (unfortunately) fall for what they think is another pokemon and allows you to either hit hard or take down your target easily. It's hard to counter Zoroark as such, due to it's mind games and high speed. Due to it's high speed and special attack, it can sneakingly switch into special psychics who try to hit the wrong target. With life orb and it's high attack stats, it'll KO a lot of pokemon in 2 hits or less, and with access to nasty plot, it'll hurt you pretty bad. Having a sub for this pokemon is also really harsh too. However, do not lose hope. It still has flaws! Despite being a hard hitting and unpredictable pokemon in some ways due to it's ability, it's still frail. Sometimes it can be really easy to predict when it's a Zoroark, especially if they send out a pokemon that would normally be ineffective against yours! (a hurt Throh vs Alakazam) Conkeldurr resists it's dark attacks and can hit back with a mach punch, but should watch out for extrasensory. Scarfed Heracross can survive a hit from it's dark attacks, but of course, be weary of that Flamethrower, Extrasensory, or Aerial Ace. Fighting types are amongst the greatest in order to take it out, since it'll have an edge on taking down other pokemon with it's somewhat versatile movepool. However, it's not Gengar levels... It can't learn thunderbolt and some bulky waters such as Vaporeon can wall it and take it down, but be weary if it's a physical attacker. Registeel does some justice, due to it being a steel type and being durable, but of course it's weak to Flamethrower. Blissey walls all special Zoroarks, and can slow it down via Thunder Wave. Snorlax can do damage too. Infernape is faster and can take hits from an unboosted Zoroark. Most importantly, you have to make sure that you know what you're dealing with, or else you'll get hit hard. Rocks do justice as well, and priority moves are the main killer. Notable moves: Dark Pulse, Sucker Punch, Night Slash, Taunt, Foul play, Flamethrower, Night Daze, Grass Knot, Shadow Ball, Extrasensory, U-turn, Substitute, Swords Dance, Focus Blast, Shadow Claw, Aerial Ace, Protect Useful Items: Focus Sash, Life orb, Shell Bell, Lum Berry, Choice Scarf, Choice Band, Choice Specs, Shed Shell, Air Balloon Counters: Conkeldurr, Infernape, Hariyama, Vaporeon, Registeel, Scrafty, Heracross, Umbreon, Snorlax, Blissey Analysis by Tbird 579: Reuniclus Type: Psychic Ability: Overcoat / Magic Guard / Regenerator (Dream World) Base Stats: 110/65/75/125/85/30 Difficulty: Beginner Reuniclus is a monster in the over used tier. With bulk similar to Swampert, an ability that makes it impervious to all passive damage and movepool enough to sweep the entire metagame - unless you have luck akin to the devil's - if you aren't prepared for it, it will sweep you. Its main role is being a bulky sweeper and will most often times be found on weather teams, where it can set up happily and not find its health being chipped away by the hail or sand. With that monster Special attack stat, it need not invest in it at all to be a reliable sweeper, with access to Calm Mind and having no speed at all that leaves only the HP stat and Defence stat to invest in, making it close to unbeatable. The poor speed, however, isn't even a bad thing as it has access to Trick Room, so now it has all of this bulk, all of this attack and speed enough to sweep you before you get the chance to sweep. But that's not all, it also has access to reliable recovery in form of Recover. So, to sum up; enough special attack to make you cry, enough bulk to never cry ... and a move to remove any damage you manage to inflict on it. Way to go Game Freak. Having said all of the above it isn't unbeatable, but finding a non-niche or gimmick mon to beat it can be an arduous task. The point to play off of is that it often suffers from 4ms (4 move syndrome). Most of the time it will run Psychic STAB + best coverage, usually in the form of Focus Blast and as such this leaves it susceptible to being walled by pokemon like Spiritomb and other Psychics such as Mew or cresselia. Reuniclus can even over come these threats, however by running Trick with Toxic orb / Flame orb / Choice Specs. The trick set is less common as Reuniclus really doesn't want to go mono attack, and it wants to have reliable recovery, so most often you will see the trick set merely running Specs. Aside from the above, your best bets at halting Reuniclus is going to be hazing with pokemon like Skarmory or bulky suicune. A special mention goes to Gengar who can successfully wall Reuniclus with its sub disable set. If you're not fond of running these sets, then Bisharp, Absol and Scizor can go a long way in denting Reuniclus, however the former two and to a certain degree the latter must watch out for boosted Focus blasts. Notable Moves: Psyshock, Psychic, Focus Blast, Shadow Ball, Trick Room, Trick, Calm Mind, Recover, Pain Split, Reflect, Light Screen, Thunder, Energy Ball, Acid Armor, Wonder Room, Thunder Wave, Confuse Ray Useful Items: Choice Specs, Life Orb, Leftovers Counters: Spiritomb, Scizor, Cresselia, Slowbro, Jirachi Analysis by Lorshinator 589: Escavalier Type: Bug/Steel Ability: Swarm / Shell Armor / Overcoat Base stats: 70/135/105/60/105/20 Difficulty: Hard There's not too much to say about Escavalier. On paper, it looks like he could be amazing. His stats are pretty good IMO. That HP stat is OK, his attack is beast and his defences are both high and even, and that low speed could be turned to his advantage in trick room teams. So, despite that, why isn't this guy seen more? I can give at least one reason. His movepool is pretty bad. Yes, that's why he is uncommon and his abilities don't back him up either. However, if you're looking for a Bug/Steel with some durability, well, Escavalier may be able to do something about that. Let's look at his strengths. First of all, his stats. It's good, and with that physical attack stat, who cares if he can learn bug buzz? His special attack stat is mediocre, but that's not a problem. His STAB movepool, well... He can learn Iron Head and X-scissor, but now is known as the strongest user of Megahorn. Yes, that attack stat of 135 combined with Megahorn will troll around if it hits, as likely it will OHKO quite a number of pokes in one hit, except for those who resist it, of course. His defences are pretty good, and it's nice that they are even... Due to being a bug/steel, he can safely switch into a fair number of things and the only type he should worry about is fire. Due to that low speed, he is perfect for UU trick room teams, as he'll become a killing machine with great defences. If you're using him as a Trick Room sweeper, I suggest Megahorn. If it misses... Well, due to that low speed, he can try again. He can also be fairly tricky with Counter. If he gets hit by a heavy physical, hit back with Counter if you'll know he'll survive it for tremendous damage. As far as Trick room teams are concerned, there's also Reversal which would work great, and would hit hard against those Steels that would normally completely wall him. He can also learn Pursuit, which is good on those pokes that think they can easily switch into their fire type pokemon. Flail and Reversal should only be used for trick room teams, since he's too slow to utilize it without. He can learn Swords Dance, but again, only should be used on Trick Room teams. He is hard to use otherwise; he is just a standard hard and slow hitter without a Sturdy ability. Escavalier is incredibly hard hitting and has solid defence capability for a time, but is literally made for Trick Room. Otherwise, he's not very notable if you don't use Trick Room. If he is Baton Passed to with attack and speed boosts, he could outrun a little bit of pokemon... But not much. As far as cons go... Well, let's just say it's movepool is a major killer. Obviously Gamefreak might have been paranoid that its stats would be too powerful if it could use Rock Slide, Earthquake, or anything of that sort (that's just me, because they give Conkeldurr all it needs to be incredibly powerful, whereas Throh could've used Drain Punch, stuff like that). Well, it's movepool is almost terrible. It isn't versatile at all and the most unique moves it has is reversal, counter, pursuit and perhaps knock off... It's just... Ugh. To be short, you'll be guaranteed to carry Iron Head and some bug move, whether it be a reliable X-Scissor or incredibly strong Megahorn. Other than those two... it's pretty barren. Let's just say the moves that are noted in notable moves are pretty much the only moves that Escavalier can really make use of, other than that it's... Shamefully low. Also, it's abilities are pretty meh. Swarm is only useful for Trick Room because he's so slow, it's not going to made of much use. Shell Armor is in some ways better because it ignores that unlucky hax you may get from time to time. Overcoat would be nice, since you could slap him on a hail team if you felt like it, but I dunno why you'd do that unless you had a hail team that used Trick Room at the same time or whatever. Also, he lacks a recovery move aside from Rest, of course. If he doesn't have Trick Room with him, well, let's just say if he gets hit by a move that takes over 50% of his health, well, he's screwed. To counter it, many fire types can rid of him easily, because he doesn't have anything noteworthy to take them on. A special attacking Nidoking resists his bug attacks and can hit with flamethrower. Volcarona is almost too brutal of a counter, unless you have Aerial Ace... There's nothing that can hurt it really. Hippowdon is a complete wall and literally laughs at most of what's thrown at him except Megahorn. Registeel should watch out for Reversal, but otherwise completely walls it. Cofagrigus can burn him, since Faint Attack is his strongest Aark move (for the most part). Skarmory laughs at him, resisting the reversal better due to the flying weakness but should be weary of Counter if it bothers to attack. Swampert works really nicely too, as do some water types. Really, Escavalier is one of those really specialized pokemon, one that needs to be under a specific condition (trick room) in order to be of big use. Otherwise, his low movepool will come back to haunt him with a simple water or ground type. It's not terrible, he just needs proper support. Notable moves: Megahorn, X-scissor, Iron Head, Counter, Reversal, Pursuit, Knock Off, Headbutt, Flail, Swords Dance, Rest Useful items: Choice Band, Leftovers, Focus Sash, Liechi Berry, Lum Berry, Quick Claw Counters: Arcanine, Skarmory, Swampert, Conkeldurr, Machamp, Charizard, Typhlosion, Cofagrigus, Lucario, Spiritomb, Moltres 593: Jellicent Type: Water/Ghost Ability: Water Absorb / Cursed Body / Damp (Dream World) Base Stats: 100/60/70/85/105/60 Difficulty: Intermediate Jellicent is a much needed late addition to the Pokemon metagame and is an adequate check to things like Infernape or Azumarill from wreaking havoc. Being a Water typed Ghost, it resists a lot of attacks and can do a lot to mess with its foes. First of all, Water Absorb gives it immunity to water, so Gyarados cannot freely Waterfall anything it wants to, while Jellicent can fire Will-o-Wisps to incapacitate physical sweepers and even has Taunt to prevent them from setting up. Taunt also shuts down Reuniclus thinking it can Calm Mind and Recover stall while Jellicent can freely fire its STAB Shadow Balls. Jellicent is even bulky enough to survive a Shadow Ball from Chandelure and can OHKO back with its own Surf, Scald or Shadow Ball if given the right EVs. Even better, Jellicent has access to RECOVER, as a reliable recovery move is essential for any walls. It is frequently paired with Ferrothorn, who provides a great defensive synergy with Jellicent, and is known as the Jellithorn core. Jellicent's Dream World ability is a major troll... possibly intentional. Like, who would ever blow up something against a ghost? Stick with Water Absorb for the best results. Counter Jellicent can be a tricky business, but know that Jellicent is physically frail and more often than not a good physical attack will at most 2HKO the royal jellyfish youkai. Status absorbers like Heracross or Conkeldurr can come in and take a Will-o-Wisp/Scald and take advantage of it. While Conkeldurr only has Payback or Stone Edge to work with, that's enough to take down Jellicent. Heracross's Megahorn, although resisted, will still take a hefty chunk off of Jellicent's HP, especially when powered by Guts. Bulky grass in general are also great counters. Even though a swift Ice Beam can hurt grass switch-ins, they're usually not enough to take them down in one hit. Serperior can Subseed stall Jellicent, though it needs to watch out for Taunt. However, the tricky serpent has Taunt as well, as can Whimsicott. Tyranitar can wear down a Jellicent with its Crunch or Pursuit, and Sandstream cancels out its Leftovers recovery. It also allows Tyranitar to shrug off Water moves coming from Jellicent as well. However, more often than not, Tyranitar will hate getting burned, and special variants will have slight bit of trouble hurting Jellicent than the physical variants. Overall, Jellicent provides an invaluable teammate for anyone looking for a bulky water, and can also be an annoying foe to face. Notable Moves: Surf, Scald, Will-o-Wisp, Shadow Ball, Ice Beam, Recover, Taunt, Toxic, Substitute, Acid Armor, Confuse Ray, Pain Split, Energy Ball, Psychic, Trick Room Useful Items: Leftovers, Lum Berry, Colbur Berry Counters: Venusaur, Celebi, Empoleon, Meganium, Sceptile, Serperior, Whimsicott, Ferrothorn, Heracross, Virizion Analysis by Lorshinator 594: Alomomola Type: Water Ability: Healer / Hydration / Regenerator (Dream world) Base Stats: 165/75/80/40/45/65 Difficulty: Hard Check this out! Alomomola is NOT the evolution to Luvdisc! That's incredibly tragic, because it looks pretty much exactly the same. Before B/W, there was quite some uproar about how she isn't an evolved form. Despite that though, why would you want to use this thing? It's another boring bulky water, or is it? Looks can be quite deceiving. Alomomola is what most water types are: bulky and probably somewhat sluggish. Well, we've already got Slowbro for physical bulk, it's a troll with Regenerator, and boasts an immediate recovery move! Well, if you want something different, Alomomola can fit the bill. How so? Well, first off, take a look at that gargantuan HP stat. Combine that with a respectable defence, patch it up a little with Impish nature and some EV's, and you got a formidable physical wall already. While nothing truly new or mind blowing, Alomomola is actually a really good physical wall, providing a check to even some OU pokes, despite not being in that tier. With Wish, she not only can heal her teammates, which Slowbro can't do, but heal herself at the same time. Also, being a pure Water type also gives her much less weaknesses, being weak to two types. This is good, although she lacks resistances as well. She takes hits incredibly well and can even survive a +1 DD Dragonite with Outrage quite well. Her main goal is simple; take hits, stall her opponent to death. If her teammates are hurt, wish them to full health. Her abilities outside of Dream World are meh unless given the right support, but her DW ability is awesome. Regenerator? I so wish that was a default ability, she'd be taking hits and laugh at that Conkeldurr that thinks he can take her on. Despite being a GOOD under used addition to the metagame, she does suffer from drawbacks, hindering her OU usage. Yes, she can counter physical pokemon quite well, she can work against Rain Dance teams to an extent, and she's got the tools of the trade for supporting, but generally, she lacks any form to fight back. Despite that base 165/80 bulk, her terrible 40 base Special Defence is a big sore spot that even Slowbro handles better. As much as she can check the likes of Dragonite, at the same time she'll suffer from a now and then special set up (Dragonite with Thunder), and the only true way for her to counter it is to poison it, but if it has Heal Bell, well, good riddance. Her Special Attack is also lacking at 45, and her base 75 Attack isn't really anything special. She can function pretty well in most tiers including OU, but she needs support from her teammates to do well. Almost any special attacker with STAB or high power will leave her taking only two hits at best. She can barely even touch her enemies with her pitiful offensive stats and movepool, and although that's not her objective, the likes of Slowbro can be offensive, while she can't do much at all. In order for her to heal up, she'll need to take a turn with Wish, which can occasionally result in her demise. Hey, what if you gave her Mirror Coat? Well, given her terrible special defence, she will likely not survive a special attack. To counter her weaknesses, Chansey and Blissey are great as Alomomola can counter their weaknesses to physical attacks. Ferrothorn is good too, but if you want to use her in UU/NU, Slowbro and Cofagrigus are also great. If you just want a physical bulky water, Alomomola is a unique choice more or less, but it has to be used properly to be effective. Pair her up with a Pokemon that can take special hits and you got yourself a good combination. Notable Moves: Wish, Healing Pulse, Healing Wish, Aqua Ring, Soak, Rest, Safeguard, Rain Dance, Light Screen, Attract, Waterfall, Toxic, Pain Split, Mirror Coat Useful Items: Leftovers, Lum Berry, Light Clay Counters: Tentacruel, Ferrothorn, Raikou, Suicune, Starmie, Jellicent, Whimsicott, Sceptile, Serperior, Venesaur, Dragonite, Magnezone, Vaporeon, Jolteon, Roserade, Bronzong, Zapdos Analysis by Lorshinator 604: Eelektross Type: Electric Ability: Levitate Base stats: 85/115/80/105/80/50 Difficulty: Hard Eelektross is a very unique Pokemon. It is pure Electric, and has the ability Levitate, thus giving it no weaknesses (aside from Mold Breaker Earthquake users or being inflicted with Smack Down prior to Earthquake). Nonetheless, it is backed up by a very good spread of stats, and is rather bulky for an Electric type, and boasts high attack stats. It has a very large movepool, and as a result, can be very intimidating when it is set on the field, because it can be either offensive physical, defensive special, offensive special, defensive in general, phaser, or mixed. Despite this, like many Pokemon, its movepool seems to prefer special attack; his special attack is slightly lower but has more versatility from that side, and although the physical stat is higher, its physical movepool is a bit shallow. Furthermore, Eelektross's lack of resistances makes it easily deteriorated from constant attacks, and its Speed, while promising in Trick Room teams, hinder's its effectiveness offensively. At first glance, Eelektross appears quite promising, but it can only be a saving grace if you have the team and the skill to pull it off. Sit back and relax: this will be rather long. Eelektross is versatile, and as a result, it can do quite a variety of things. Upon first looking at his statistics, and seeing the move Coil, it is likely that he could be a physical attacker. Having Wild Charge as his signature physical move, it can dish off quite a lot of damage on whatever it hits. Some other notable moves include Brick Break, which although has low power, can destroy Reflect and Light Screen, and provides viable coverage against Steels and Darks. It also has Rock Slide, but it is not preferable, since Wild Charge will deal more damage all around. Crunch can hit Ghosts and Poisons, particularly Golurk who would otherwise be a counter to the eel. It hits hard, but the recoil may be unappealing to some, and for certain, the lack of moves to back up its physical movepool are disheartening. As a result, there are some that might want to go mixed. If using a Coil set, the advantage of using the usually inaccurate Zap Cannon could be fixed with a turn or two of Coil. Zap Cannon catches most foes off guard, especially on mixed sets. While there is an inaccuracy problem even after one boost, after two it is safe to say it will be accurate. Using this move will grant instant paralysis on the foe, which can be a saving grace. It also hits very hard, and if you predict well, it could seriously destroy any foe. Besides, even if you hit another electric type or a swift Grass type, it will still deal damage, and throw in a free paralysis. For those who worry about the accuracy, there is Thunder as well. Otherwise, those moves are unreliable by themselves. Some people may want to go the special route, and despite its lower special attack, it has a wider movepool in that area, and has seen more use because of it. Familiar moves such as Flamethrower, Grass Knot, Thunderbolt, Hidden Power, Volt Change and Acid spray are just a few, and completely walling Eelektross can be a bit of a pain, at least in terms of super effective and ineffective damage. Eelektross, however, cannot raise his Special Attack, except through Charge Beam, which is not always reliable. With Flamethrower, Grass Knot, and Thunderbolt, he will put a dent in most foes, especially if he carries a Life Orb. Eelektross can be a useful phaser as well, and boasts both Dragon Tail and Roar, and with Stealth Rocks, it can continually use these moves ad nauseum. OHKOing Eelektross is not easy either, due to his impressive durability for an Electric type. If you are using a more supportive variant, have a Wish user ready, because Rest is not very useful for this 6' 11" Eel. Despite its perks, it is weighed down by its flaws, and as a result, is in the NU tier. Eelektross is very versatile, but it's safe to say it doesn't do everything it can do all that well. While it is strong, it has problems with Ground, Grass and Dragon types in particular, and the latter is usually filled with rather powerful creatures. Grass types should be weary of Flamethrower, but otherwise can resist most other moves. Special tanks should be weary of Acid Spray, and although Steel types have a complete immunity, it can weaken other walls rather easily, and cause them to switch. To deal with Eelektross, it ultimately depends on the variant that is being used, and as a result, there is no sure fire counter to any set. For physical sets, physical walls do very well. Hippowdon comes to mind, as it is immune to his STAB, and can use slack off to restore any damage, and Roar if it gets greedy with Coils. If mixed, Rhyperior should beware of Grass Knot, but otherwise should have no worries, even with Brick Break. Swampert is also useful, but should beware of Grass Knot. Flygon is neutral to Grass Knot and most likely will not take to damage from it, and can deal some damage with Outrage or Draco Meteor. However, beware of Hidden Power Ice. For Garchomp, it is the same case scenario, as Garchomp is bulkier and more powerful, but Hidden Power Ice is a threat. Cryogonal can deal damage through Toxic on special variants, and can spam Recover to restore health after each hit, but be cautious of Acid Spray, and using this pokemon on a physical set is suicide. Snorlax can handle special variants, although should steer clear of physical variants. Tangrowth can handle physical variants, but should be cautious of special variants, especially with flamethrower. Ferrothorn can handle physical variants, but again, should steer clear of flamethrower. Leafeon can handle physical sets and resist with Leaf Blade and the like, but special variants ensure her demise. Burning physical variants destroy it, and Toxic can quickly dampen it's health. To counter Eelektross, simply find out what variant it is, and deal with it respectively. Wraith's notes: I ran a Thunder Wave / Dragon Tail / Roar / Volt Change Eelektross for fun. It's not the best way to use Eelektross, but it certainly was unexpected and caused a lot of annoyance to its foes Notable moves: Wild Charge, Brick Break, Crunch, Acid Spray, Thunder, Thunderbolt, Zap Cannon, Flamethrower, Volt Change, Coil, Discharge, Roar, Dragon Tail, Acrobatics, Thunder Wave, Grass Knot, U-turn, Gastro Acid, Hidden Power Ice Useful Items: Leftovers, Lum Berry, Electric Gem, Flying Gem, Life Orb Counters: Flygon, Swampert, Raikou, Hippowdon, Snorlax, Lanturn, Steelix, Tangrowth, Golurk, Garchomp Analysis by Lorshinator 617: Accelgor Type: Bug Ability: Hydration / Sticky Hold / Unburden (Dream world) Base Stats: 80/70/40/100/60/145 Difficulty: Hard Accelgor... is interesting, but not fascinating. If you look at it's stats, it's pretty mediocre except for it's above average special attack and it's speed is incredibly high. Because of that, it's main selling point is his speed. When you look at this guy, he looks pretty good, but his movepool is limited, he gets trolled by special walls and gets killed practically in one hit in the physical category. Accelgor can perform a few roles, one of which being a Spike setter, another being a hit and run, or a Baton Passer. He performs fine in in any of them, and his abilities complement this well. Having Sticky Hold is always useful and prevents his Focus Sash from being tossed out if he gets hit by knock off, and Giga Drain is useful for restoring any health he lost from either Spikes, Rocks, or an ineffective move. It is also useful if he is running a Choice Specs set, since his speed is so high he could utilize this boost, but unfortunately due to a limited movepool he wouldn't be able to counter, his, well, counters, or those that switch and resist his attacks will be able to set up afterwards or whatnot. Hydration works very well against some pokes that try to use Thunder Wave to try to slow it down, and heal him afterwards. Unburden is if you are obsessed with speed, but it's already incredibly fast. Having a Timid nature will allow it to outrun some Adamant or Modest scarfers, mainly those with a speed of 80, clocking at up to 427 with perfect IV's. (It can outrun a scarfed Hitmonlee that's Adamant). It's good on pokemon that try to set up on you, because it can hit hard and the unreliable but still somewhat useful Focus Blast is good on those Steels that try to set up or wall you (unless they have good special defence). Agility is good only for Baton Passing, since unless you are paranoid that things will outrun you, there's no reason to use it himself. Acid Armor is not too useful for Accelgor because it's so frail aready, but still useful for passing. Substitute is also a given to use for Baton Passing, of course, as long as it is actually able to set it up. It can set up rain because of it's incredible speed, that is if you don't want to use Politoed, but don't forget that it can still function after setting up rain, a sandstorm (although rain would be better for Accelgor anyway), and Spikes. It can still hit hard and outrun a lot of Pokemon. Accelgor is best used offensively to take down fragile sweepers and setting up Baton Passes, Spikes, and weather. Keep in mind that he should probably attempt to hit the pokemon that he is effective on like Alakazam, since he will probably faint if his move doesn't knock out his target. Countering Accelgor isn't that difficult. Any special defence wall that isn't weak to bug, grass, or fighting will be able to take a hit from it, but of course there are some exceptions. For example, Registeel and Ferrothorn can sit there for a turn, paralyze him, or hit him with Gyro Ball and kill it in one blow. Jellicent is a distinguishable counter, because even though it is weak to grass, it will be able to endure multiple hits of Giga Drain/Energy Ball with relative ease and hit back with Scald, Surf, or Shadow ball. Cofagrigus will also be able to sustain damage from it with incredible ease, and can easily burn it and hex it or just hit it hard with shadow ball. Accelgor is no match for the Blissey family, end of story. Regice may get hurt by some of it's moves, but it's got a load of special defence and can just shrug it off and hit back with ice beam, easily knocking it out. Paralyzing it is very useful, especially if it doesn't have rain set up with hydration or holding a berry. Keep in mind that Accelgor will often switch out with U-turn and likely will not be too easy to hit, unless you predict it or it tries to attack and ends up failing to KO you. Priority users such Bullet Punch Scizor will wreck it without a boost unless it's holding a sash, and pursuit with stab or scizor will kill it easily too. Rocks will hurt it bad and there's not much it can do after priority moves. While Accelgor may be annoying, it's not too threatening if you have the right pokemon. Just watch out if it's able to baton pass successfully. Notable moves: Bug Buzz, Focus Blast, U-turn, Energy Ball, Hidden Power [Fire], Substitute, Spikes, Rain Dance, Acid Spray, Final Gambit, Giga Drain, Baton Pass, Agility, Acid Armor Useful Items: Life Orb, Choice Specs, Focus Sash, Lum Berry, Choice Scarf, Damp Rock Counters: Jellicent, Ferrothorn, Cofagrigus, Registeel, Regice, Chansey, Blissey, Zapdos, Drifblim, Scizor Analysis by Lorshinator 632: Durant Type: Bug/Steel Ability: Swarm / Hustle / Truant (Dream World) Base Stats: 58/109/112/48/48/109 Difficulty: Intermediate Durant looks pretty pathetic at first glance, with an odd appearance, terrible HP and special defence, and shallow movepool. However, in the UU tier, Durant is monstrous. With Hustle, its only notable ability, its accuracy is lowered by 20% but increased attack power gives it an edge, boosting its attack to be near 135 base or higher. It is incapable of learning Swords Dance, but it instead is able to learn Hone Claws, which proves to be useful, ridding of its accuracy loss and boosting it's already high attack. As such, its powerful STAB moves, X-Scissor and Iron Head, are great sweeping moves. If it gets the boosts from Hone Claws, it will OHKO many of it's competitors after even one boost. With the grace of being the fastest Steel type, it is likely it will outrun most of everything, long as they aren't scarfed. It has access to Stone Edge, which is an interesting move since it will be able to counter a lot of fire types and flying types, also being useful to KO pokemon such as Zapdos, Chandelure (if it isn't scarfed). However, despite being an incredibly powerful and quick Pokemon, it isn't without it's flaws. First off, its quite clearly a glass cannon, and despite that high defence, its HP is very low, so a STAB neutral will likely take it down in 2 hits or less, and its Special Defence is so low any STAB special will likely OHKO it. Since it relies on Hustle (every set has this pretty much), Whirlwinding it out with a Skarmory or whatnot will be recommended, and any scarfed pokemon will likely take it down before it can even launch an attack. Stone Edge, a move that I like to put on it, has ugly accuracy of 60 with hustle. It is not recommended to attack without Hustle, since if Durant misses, it's likely he will die next turn. Good counters are Fighting types and Steel types, since Dig is it's only Ground move and X-Scissor isn't good on them either. Durant will pretty much never run a Choice item set with Hustle, since its accuracy may make it lose its life. Something to note is that if you let Durant set up and have nothing that can resist it, it will likely KO you very fast. Use a scarfed Pokemon or a special attacker to take it down. I personally don't recommend Life Orb, since it has low HP and if it gets hit it may die pretty fast. Notable moves: X-Scissor, Iron Head, Stone Edge, Endure, Baton Pass, Agility, Rock Polish, Thunder Fang, Hone Claws, Entrainment Useful Items: Lum Berry, Focus Sash, Salac Berry, Choice Band, Choice Scarf, Shell Bell, Life Orb Counters: Jellicent, Skarmory, Conkeldurr, Infernape, Heatran, Cobalion, Chandelure, Lucario 635: Hydreigon Type: Dark/Dragon Ability: Levitate Base Stats: 92/105/90/125/90/98 Difficulty: Intermediate At first glance, Hydreigon does not look anything interesting for a pseudolegendary. People always harp on the fact Hydreigon's stats are "lackluster" for a pseudolegend, but that is far from the truth. The only reason people say that is because they are only looking at the numbers without actually playing him. I think that was Tbird's reaction when he first saw Hydreigon; he wasn't really happy with it nor did he think it was anything special because people were playing him wrong. Gin just told him to just use it and suck it up. Well, so did some other people from the competitive community and now Tbird is satisfied after getting used to him. It is all about the practice; not theory. Hydreigon has a lot of interesting quirks though. One thing for sure is that he can actually run a mixed set with good attack and special attack power. Yes, he does not have access to Dragon Dance, but that is not what he is there for. Rather, he seems to close in and put the foe into a checkmate position. With U-turn, he makes an effective scout, and Taunt can mess up Blisseys who think they are able to set up on Hydreigon. That 92/90/90 bulk doesn't look all that special, but you'd be surprised. I was able to have my Hydreigon survive an Arcanine's Close Combat (though with barely any HP left), but still enough to hit back with Surf. 125 Special Attack is not anything to shirk off, as STAB Draco Meteor can definitely hurt (it hurts more than Salamence's) and Dragon Pulse can be a great reliable special attack. Crunch slowly wittles away Blissey's HP while taunted while Dark Pulse is a reliable special STAB Hydreigon can work around with. Crocune getting in your way? Not with Hydreigon's Taunt; make Suicune pay by taunting it and continue wearing it down with STAB Crunch after a single Draco Meteor. He is an effective stallbreaker thanks to his movepool; it is pretty hard to switch into Hydreigon safely. Countering him? Eh, I'd try to send Blissey in first to absorb a hit or something. Ice Beam can still somewhat hurt (though not enough) and in the end he will switch out or start Taunting and wittling Blissey's HP. Because he is a Dark Pokemon, switching in Psychics or Ghosts are not recommended. Heatran can come in to any versions without Surf or Earth Power and can fire off Dragon Pulses. Tormenttran can destroy Scarf Hydreigons as well with no problems. Tyranitar can absorb special hits and he has his own attacks such as STAB Stone Edge to slowly destroy Hydreigon. However watch out for Surf, Earth Power, or much worse, Focus Blast. Fighting Pokemon in general can be considered counters. Specially defensive Hariyama can deal with Hydreigon fairly well. I'm not sure if Machamp can switch in, but he will definitely scare Hydreigon. Although Life Orb Modest Hydreigon can 2HKO Regice with Fire Blast or Focus Blast without any Special Defence investment, Regice can 2HKO Hydreigon with STAB Ice Beam while sponging most of his other attacks. It will help more if Draco Meteor softened the impact, making either FBs doing 29% at most. Overall, this guy is as scary as he looks! No joke... he will rip your head off and devour it with one of his three heads if you are not careful. Notable Moves: Draco Meteor, Dragon Pulse, Surf, Fire Blast, Flamethrower, U-turn, Dark Pulse, Crunch, Taunt, Charge Beam, Focus Blast, Earth Power, Torment Useful Items: Leftovers, Life Orb, Lum Berry, Choice Scarf, Chople Berry, Yache Berry, Haban Berry Counters: Blissey, Tyranitar, Heatran, Conkeldurr, Hariyama, Regice Analysis by Tbird 637: Volcarona Type: Bug/Fire Ability: Flame Body / Swarm (Dream World) Base Stats: 85/60/65/135/105/100 Difficulty: Easy Volcarona is a demon. I'm dubbing it the Ho-Oh of OU. With the abilty to +1 all of its best stats with Quiver dance, a special attack to make you cry and a good enough speed (not to mention reasonable bulk) This thing was meant for killing. Its two STABs have great coverage together, just missing out on a few things like Heatran and Empoleon (who still takes neutral from Fire Blast anyway!) The bane of this pokemon is undoubtedly Stealth rock, however given its speed, access to morning sun and alright bulk, this isn't too much of a problem. Pack it on a sun team with a hitmontop rapid spinner and you've got a demon on your hands. Again this thing is far from unbeatable, however, While it can over come SR weakness with a spinner and Morning Sun, It still can't beat everything. Azumarill, IMO, is the best counter to this thing. It can switch in on a resisted Fire Blast (with its amazing bulk) and Aqua jet it for an OHKO. Blissey/ Chansey can toxic stall it out... however, it won't take long for Volcarona to get to + 6 and even get passed those formidable foes. Scarfed Garchomp can do a number on it with Strong stab'ed physical attacks, too. Basically, don't let it set up! Notable Moves: Quiver Dance, Fire Blast, Fiery Dance, Flamethrower, Bug Buzz, Hidden Power [ice/Rock/Ground], Rest Useful Items: Leftovers, Life Orb, Chesto Berry Counters: Azumarill, Milotic, Ninetales, Moltres, Dragonite, Heatran, Salamence, Blissey Edited June 27, 2012 by wraith89 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wraith89 Posted August 21, 2011 Author Share Posted August 21, 2011 Due to the first post getting incredibly hefty and bulky, I had to purge this thread, and divide everything into 5 posts. Sorry for the inconvenience, but this makes it easier for me to edit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tbird Posted August 21, 2011 Share Posted August 21, 2011 Entei Fire Pressure / Flash Fire 115 /115 / 85 / 90 / 75 / 100 Entei is overlooked by many due to its other fire brethen being seemingly, and frankly better than entei in most aspects. It has a curse that appears to plague all of the cool looking pokémon, a high attack but not much to do it with it; A la flareon and Luxray. It struggles to find slots on teams due to Heatran and Infernape having better distributed stats and typing in the higher echleons, and in the lower it is fairly outclassed by arcanine. HOWEVER! Not all hope is lost! Entei has some cool tricks under its sleeve. Like its beastly brethren it can abuse a sub calm mind set rather well given its decent bulk. It also gets Flame Charge, allowing it to set up later on in the game and speed tie with things like Scarfed Flygon. It also has a very usuable Attack stat and a nice offencive movepool to boot with moves like Stone Edge, Extreme Speed ... bite, alas no Flare blitz. Stone Edge Netting a nice strong hit on Kyurem is possibly the only reason you might use Entei over Arcanine, but given that Arcanine has Close Combat the point could be moot. In my opinion the best way to play Entei is with a Sub CM set. It sits on a very usuable and crowded base 100 speed and can abuse it fairly well. It can function very well on sun teams with Substitute, calm mind, solar beam and Fire Blast (Ninetales provides sun and can arguably do it better, though remember!). what it has over Ninetales is the ability to run 417 HP, meaning that it can make 6 substitutes whilst against a seismic toss user and net +6 calm minds if it is running leftovers. It can function as some sort of utility pokemon given that it has roar, Will-o-wisp, Toxic and reflect, however, defencively fire types don't generally work out all that well, Entei has the bulk over most other fire types, however-- use at your own risk. Given that entei will be liable to functioning off of its weaker attacking stat, it is wise to pair it with pokemon that can set hazards down. A great partner is Skarmory as they have fairly decent synergy together. To that end, Entei is susceptible to all forms of entry hazards. Starmie is a great rapid spinner and also has pretty cool synergy with Entei. If you're running a physical Entei you are going to want Sturdy walls like Skarmory removed, and if you go special you'll want Chansey and co removed. Dragonite can do this fairly well, as can gyarados, and they both again have decent coverage with Entei. ----Not sure if I did Entei Justice, feel free to edit or rewrite---- Lanturn Water / Electric Illuminate / Volt Absorb / Water absorb 125 / 58 / 58 / 76 / 76 / 67 Lanturn is a favourite Pokémon of mine. It's awesome looking, has a great typing, pretty cool stats and a huge movepool. Lanturn is usually played defencively given its awesome Special bulk. It has a utility movepool to die for formed of heal bell, Toxic, Thunderwave, Confuse Ray, Toxic, Substitute, Flash, Protect And Stock Pile. Lanturn is one of your generic bulky waters with a twist, it isn't destroyed by starmie and can truly mess up the opponent by spreading paralysis and confusion until the cows come home. But wait! There's more! Its stabs get all but universal coverage, being walled by - ironically - itself and ferrothorn. These days it generally can't take the power of OU, but it is always worth a shot in the underused tier, where things like Victini and Arcanine run rampent. Its best partners are those that can take the strong physical hits and fast grass types, like celebi, out. Moltres can do this quite effectively, as it can switch on things like Quagsire and aforemention Celebi and attack back with STAB Fire Blast and Hidden Power Grass. Forretress makes a cool partner for Lanturn, too, as it can tank string physical hits layu down all the hazards under the sun and spin away the destrimental Toxic Spikes, they also have pretty awesome synergy together too. Given that Lanturn will be forcing switches with Parafusion, having a lot of entry hazards down is a fine idea, as this puts the opposition in a damning position, roll the dice with parafusion or allow another pokemon to be poisoned. Lanturn hates coming across other walls as she doesn't have very much in the way of a strong attacking stat, so the removal of these walls is lovely. In the Lower Tiers Victini is a fine idea, and in the higher tiers Salamence or Gliscor is a fine idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tbird Posted August 21, 2011 Share Posted August 21, 2011 Infernape Fire / fighting Blaze / Iron Fist 76 / 104 / 71 / 104 / 71 / 108 In generation 4 Infernape broke the mould. You could no longer just run SkarmBliss and say hell to the rest of the team, Infernape came to kick ass and take your team down with it. It has stats that are, or were, pretty much perfectly alligned. Its fire and Fighting typing makes the generic walling types shudder in fear, but what sets it apart from other wall breakers is its extra speed allowing it to also function as a stand alone sweeper. Its typing also means that its not plagued by the fire types instant 25% loss in health when it switches in on Stealth Rocks, which is a big deal given that Infernape likes to switch in, create a hole and get out; rinse and repeat. With the 5th generation it has somewhat fallen from grace with new walling types and the fact that 108 is no longer such a great milestone. It is still a force to be reckoned with, howeber it doesn't have the bulk required take the strongs hits from the plethora of fast things flitting around like Excadrill and the re-allowed Latitwins. With Jellicent's typing that was pretty much made to make Infernape weap, it struggles to break such walls as effectively. However, as always there are contingencies that can be made to aid Infernape with Longevity. The first two being Mach Punch and U-turn. It can still hit very hard with mach punch that gets further boosted by Iron fist, allowing it to hit at 68BP, which isn't terrible when coupled with a Choice Band. The rest of its worries can be dealt with with its Coverage moves; such as adding Hidden Power Ice and Thunder Punch to the set. The only problem, though, is that Infernape can start to be ineffective when you try to run it as the Jack-of-all. your best bet is to realise its short comings and use your team to work around these. That being said the biggest walling combos currently are Jirachi + Gliscor and Tyranitar + Skarmory and Ferrothorn + Jellicent, and infernape can be tailored to remove any that may be troubling your team. For the Former, Hidden Power Ice and Flare Blitz/Fire Blast will do the job, for SkarmTar Close Combat and Fire Blast will seal the deal, however the Latter Might be a little harder to deal with, my recommendation is to run a choice Band set and use intermitent Flare Blitzes coupled with U-turns. The best way to support infernape is to have pokemon on team that can remove the Lati Twins, Ghosts, starmie and his number one Counter: Tentacruel. Tyranitar can murder these things pretty easily as can a Scarfed Flygon if played well. Starmie gets a special mention as it has great synergy with Infernape and can destroy stall very easily when coupled with infernape. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lorshinator Posted August 22, 2011 Share Posted August 22, 2011 617: Accelgor Type: Bug Ability: Hydration / Sticky Hold / Unburden (Dream world) Base Stats: 80/70/40/100/60/145 Accelgor... is interesting, but not fascinating. If you look at it's stats, it's pretty mediocre except for it's above average special attack and it's speed is incredibly high. Because of that, it's main selling point is his speed. When you look at this guy, he looks pretty good, but his movepool is limited, he gets trolled by special walls and gets killed practically in one hit in the physical category. Accelgor can perform a few roles, one of which being a spike setter, another being a hit and run,or a baton passer. He performs fine in in any of them, and his abilities complement this well. Having sticky hold is always useful and prevents his focus sash from being tossed out if he gets hit by knock off, and Giga drain is useful for restoring any health he lost from either spikes, rocks, or an ineffective move. It is also useful if he is running a choice specs set, since his speed is so high he could utilize this boost, but unfortunately due to a limited movepool he wouldn't be able to counter, his, well, counters, or those that switch and resist his attacks will be able to set up afterwards or whatnot. Hydration works very well against some pokes that try to use thunderwave to try to slow it down, and heal him afterwards. Unburden is if you are obsessed with speed, but it's already incredibly fast. Having a timid nature will allow it to outrun some adamant or modest scarfers, mainly those with a speed of 80, clocking at up to 427 with perfect IV's. (It can outrun a scarfed Hitmonlee that's Adamant). It's good on pokemon that try to set up on you, because it can hit hard and the unreliable but still somewhat useful Focus Blast is good on those steels that try to set up or wall you (unless they have good special defence). Agility is good only for baton passing, since unless you are paranoid that things will outrun you, there's no reason to use it himself. Acid armor is not too useful for accelgor because it's so frail aready, but still useful for passing. Substitute is also a given to use for baton passing, of course, as long as it is actually able to set it up. It can set up rain because of it's incredible speed, that is if you don't want to use Politoed, but don't forget that it can still function after setting up rain, a sandstorm (although rain would be better for Accelgor anyway), and spikes. It can still hit hard and outrun a lot of Pokemon. Accelgor is best used offensively to take down fragile sweepers and setting up baton passes, spikes, and weather. Keep in mind that he should probably attempt to hit the pokemon that he is effective on like Alakazam, since he will probably faint if his move doesn't knock out his target. Countering Accelgor isn't that difficult. Any special defence wall that isn't weak to bug, grass, or fighting will be able to take a hit from it, but of course there are some exceptions. For example, Registeel and Ferrothorn can sit there for a turn, paralyze him, or hit him with gyro ball and kill it in one blow. Jellicent is a distinguishable counter, because even though it is weak to grass, it will be able to endure multiple hits of giga drain/energy ball with relative ease and hit back with scald, surf, or shadow ball. Cofagrigus will also be able to sustain damage from it with incredible ease, and can easily burn it and hex it or just hit it hard with shadow ball. Accelgor is no match for the Blissey family, end of story. Regice may get hurt by some of it's moves, but it's got a load of special defence and can just shrug it off and hit back with ice beam, easily knocking it out. Paralyzing it is very useful, especially if it doesn't have rain set up with hydration or holding a berry. Keep in mind that Accelgor will often switch out with U-turn and likely will not be too easy to hit, unless you predict it or it tries to attack and ends up failing to KO you. Priority users such Bullet punch Scizor will wreck it without a boost unless it's holding a sash, and pursuit with stab or scizor will kill it easily too. Rocks will hurt it bad and there's not much it can do after priority moves. While Accelgor may be annoying, it's not too threatening if you have the right pokemon. Just watch out if it's able to baton pass successfully. Notable moves: Bug Buzz, Focus Blast, U-turn, Energy Ball, Hidden power fire, Substitute, Spikes, Rain Dance, Acid Spray, Final Gambit, Giga drain, baton pass, Agility, Acid armor Useful Items: Life Orb, Choice specs, focus sash, lum berry, Choice scarf, Damp Rock, add more if needed Counters: Jellicent, Ferrothorn, Cofagrigus, Registeel, Regice, Chansey, Blissey, Zapdos, Drifblim, Scizor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wraith89 Posted August 22, 2011 Author Share Posted August 22, 2011 I added a new field called Difficulty. What is Difficulty? The relative skill level needed to play this Pokemon efficiently. Some Pokemon are easier to abuse than others, and this is also based on how much support is required to efficiently use as well. Some of them are just how simple they are to play, and is in NO WAY an indicator of how good the Pokemon is, rather how complex each specimen are. The skill ranges from Noob, Beginner, Easy, Intermediate, Hard, Advanced, Insane, Rageworthy. For people who are starting, try to aim for the Beginner to Intermediate Pokemon. The ones at Hard and above are more complicated Pokemon and require a lot of skill to pull off. For those, look at their individual paragraphs to see how they play. If you contest any of the given ones I've made, let me know and tell me why. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tbird Posted August 22, 2011 Share Posted August 22, 2011 Beedrill -> Advanced Pidgeot -> Hard Raticate -> Hard Fearow -> Intermediate Arbok -> Hard Clefable -> Intermediate Ninentales -> Intermediate Arcanine -> Easy Alakazam -> Easy Dodrio -> Intermediate Dewgong -> Hard Cloyster -> Easy / Intermediate (depending on set) Gengar -> Easy Hitmonchan -> Hard Chansey -> Easy Starmie -> Easy Aerodactyl -> Easy Zapdos -> Easy Lanturn -> Intermediate Scizor -> Easy Skarmory -> Easy Blissey -> Easy Entei -> Hard / Advanced (to make it shine out from Arcanine you gotta be a damned pro) Weavile -> Intermediate Yanmega -> Intermediate Hydreigon -> Intermediate Them be the only changes I'd make B: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wraith89 Posted August 22, 2011 Author Share Posted August 22, 2011 (edited) Wait, what are your standards? From what I'm seeing, it's all based on either your experiences (seeing how most Pokemon you are playing a lot with are either Easy or Intermediate) or it's based off their competitive value. But I'll give you what I was thinking. Beedrill "Easy" because it's easy to play with; simple attacker. That was my reasoning; not on how great it is in battling. Fearow is simple too. Raticate was Intermediate because it requires itself to burn itself to do great, otherwise it's pretty simple. Though I'm a little confused with these guys too because some of my judgments are based off how well they do in a team, and these guys aren't really... meant to play competitively. So yeah, I'm quite confused here. Ewww I put Cloyster on hard? It's rather Intermediate due to the amounts of things he can do; it isn't just Shell Smash + Sweep because it also has utility purposes, so Intermediate it is. It's not about how effective they are but rather their playing styles. Entei outshining Arcanine has nothing to do with it because this is in absolute playing style, not relative. Also I don't consider Entei outclassed by Arcanine; Stone Edge is enough to nail Zapdos and the likes and CM set is very beast. Gengar's pretty difficult for people sometimes because of its many playing styles and the requirement of predictions, but I see. It's not so easy to put in Gengar in a team either and say "it works". More about how simple or how complex each Pokemon are. Whoops I put Starmie on Hard (I wasn't thinking)! It's most likely Intermediate; you need something to destroy Pursuit Pokemon with that and it can't just fit on any team it wants to. Same reason why Alakazam got a Hard; it will get KOd to nearly any priority moves and has more than one method of use. Actually, I'll stick him to Intermediate; I know most people think this guy just Subs + Attack but I think there's more to him than just that. The harder the difficulty gets, the more specialised a team has to be to accomodate for that Pokemon. If it does the supporting then it's hard or something. You know what? That should be the final criteria for that. Some are due to complexity... I did this late at night and all so I know I messed up on some of them. Sorry about that. I can't really put Zapdos on "Easy" because there are multiple ways of using it, for example, and it does require some sort of skills rather than just sending it in and Tbolting everything. Scizor though fits in nearly any teams... fine he shall be Easy. We're not making every OUs "Easy", many will be on Intermediate. tl;dr: ABSOLUTE not RELATIVE terms; there shall be NO comparisons Remember it has NOTHING to do with their battling potentials, but rather on how easy/hard they are to use overall. EDIT: Changed some of them. I haven't really got to touch all of them yet though. Edited August 22, 2011 by wraith89 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lorshinator Posted August 22, 2011 Share Posted August 22, 2011 (edited) Hmm. Difficulty ranking. I liek. Although I would down Durant's difficulty to intermediate, because it doesn't need to long to set up in order to be beast. Oh well, that's just me. Anyways, I'm putting up Aggron to add to Hoenn. I do honestly find Accelgor to be hard to use, so that's kept. Wait, why am I only mentioning my posts? Because I breeze threw to quickly look at some of them, also because I know about the pokemon I posted about... Yeah. So here's Aggron. If it's not good, add whatever you want to it. Note: Adding Escavalier afterwards #306: Aggron Type: Steel/Rock Abilities: Sturdy / Rock Head / Heavy Metal (Dream world) Base stats: 70/110/180/60/60/50 Difficulty: Intermediate (change this if you want Wraith) Aggron is to me a pretty sick looking Pokemon, but in a good way. This guy looks epic, and his physical stats are pretty darn good to boot. His movepool is quite vast too in the physical category to show that he can be pretty lethal. His physical stats can be boosted by curse, his speed can be ramped by rock polish/automotize (they do the same thing) and he can even use thunder wave! His movepool is more vast than some other physically sturdy pokes, but at this comes at a high price. Despite having good physical stats and a good movepool, Aggron suffers from the easily exploitable weaknesses he has, fighting, water and ground. Rock is a good offensive type, Steel is a good defensive type, but putting them together can add to some severe issues defensively. Aggron probably was a lot more valuable in the past, but now his shine is... Hard to find. Now, like Muk in some ways, Aggron can do a number of things. It can simply be a hard hitting truck, a cursing machine, a stealth rock setter, or a physical wall that counters some other pokes weaknesses. Aggron's movepool is actually fairly good, and it lets you experiment a little. It can learn the elemental punches, payback (good with curse perhaps), stealth rock, magnet rise (although it's perhaps too slow for that.) It perhaps has the four moveslot syndrome, because if you give it curse, well... Give it Iron Head for sure, but the rest are up to you. (Even though stone edge may be calling you.) Indeed, there's quite a selection of moves to be had for this metal dinosaur. It's abilities are also great, Sturdy and Rock Head. Sturdy is no doubt one of the best abilities in the game, but if you manage to utilize it, Rock Head can be pretty dangerous too. The sole reason to have Rock Head is for the use of Head Smash, which he can learn. Despite being inaccurate, it will hurt truckloads and since it's stronger than Relicanth (who likely would use it with rock head), it will be dangerous. If the accuracy is a problem, it can learn hone claws, but it would need an entire set based around accuracy... Dragon Rush? Hmm... Whatever. It's got good abilities, but it's not like you're going to cry in amazement for it. It's dream world ability is interesting, but it's not amazing. Heavy metal makes your pokemon's weight doubled. Lovely. Now grass knot is going to probably OHKO the poor dinosaur, and low sweep... Nah, I kid, but the only reason you'd want to utilize this ability is for heavy slam, which while sounds promising, it's not as reliable as the other two abilities. Heavy slam is while strong, it's not as reliable as Iron Head, and it depends on how heavy your opponent is too... Unlike Iron head, this deals different amounts of damage. I'd suggest just to stick with Iron Head, but it's not illegal to use it if you wanted to. Aggron is good for bringing on the pain train, as long as his weaknesses are kept away. Despite his huge weaknesses, he has as whole lot of resistances, and as such he can safely switch in to the likes of weavile, although if it has brick break then... Ouch. Aggron is also a good trap setter, and his extra physical bulk is great as he will be able to set up rocks easily. However, like some pokemon, Aggron isn't just good for that. He is a solid hard hitting truck that needs his weaknesses kept away. If not, Aggron will fall quickly. Also, Aggron doesn't like any form of special attacks, so... Keep them away, of course. He can counter most poison types except Toxicroak, and he can also be good on Choice Banded Slakings if they spam Giga Impact or return. To counter it, well, bring on any fighting type, water or ground type and watch what happens. Aggron fears fighting in particular because there's no balloon or whatnot that'll prevent fighting types. As a result, Infernape is a good counter as long as it safely arrives onto the battlefield. Registeel is good too, because it resists it's STAB and although Earthquake may hurt, it's not STABBED so Registeel can hurt it bad. Jellicent could burn it or scald it, but should be weary of things like Thunder punch. Cofagrigus is probably the better ghost to use due to the insane defence and a random shadow claw won't hurt too bad. Payback may be nasty if Will=o-wisp misses, but due to the defence and the likelihood of being wisped, Cofagrigus shouldn't worry. Any Mach punch user (again infernape) will take him down fast, but probably should worry if it has sturdy. Conkeldurr... Will just decimate him, and so will Machamp. Hippowdon will tank most of the hits, except Ice punch, Aqua Tail or avalanche, and should worry about those only. Aggron should be taken down quickly it's going to boost itself with curse or rock polish, or otherwise it shouldn't scare the crap out of you. Be weary if it'll use Dragon Tail though, it might force you out of your switch in, and be an entire switch in game. Infernape should worry if he will survive an attack or if Aggron predicts such a switch in and uses Earthquake. Notable Moves: Iron Head, heavy Slam, Stone Edge, Rock Slide, Stealth rock, Thunder Punch, Ice Punch, Fire Punch, Payback, Shadow Claw, Rest, Head Smash, Magnet rise, Avalanche, Brick Break, Aqua Tail, Rock Polish, Dragon Rush, Dragon Tail. Useful Items: Chople Berry, Leftovers, Focus Sash, Air Balloon, add more here Counters: Registeel, Hippowdon, Cofagrigus, Jellicent, Skarmory, add more if needed, Edited August 22, 2011 by Lorshinator mistakes here and there Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tbird Posted August 22, 2011 Share Posted August 22, 2011 Wait, what are your standards? From what I'm seeing, it's all based on either your experiences (seeing how most Pokemon you are playing a lot with are either Easy or Intermediate) or it's based off their competitive value. But I'll give you what I was thinking. My standards were based more on them getting in and staying in and doing their elected jobs... Like with these next two guys... Beedrill "Easy" because it's easy to play with; simple attacker. That was my reasoning; not on how great it is in battling. Getting him on the field is a hard ass feat considering his typing and lack of bulk, then factoring his speed and not so great attack / stabs he finds it hard to even stay in. So I guess theoretically he's a simple attacker he is very complicated to get to work, so for that factor I ranked him harder. Fearow is simple too. Raticate was Intermediate because it requires itself to burn itself to do great, otherwise it's pretty simple. Though I'm a little confused with these guys too because some of my judgments are based off how well they do in a team, and these guys aren't really... meant to play competitively. So yeah, I'm quite confused here. Same as above for these guys, I was looking at it like how easy they are to use effectively, like that seems more important than whether the theory behind them is easy enough to grasp. Like with driving, The theory is easy enough to grasp, but if your car sucks it's going to be hard to drive... making sense? My TL;DR here is basically that the pokémon they are is a huge deciding factor on whether or not they are easy to use, whilst Beedrill might have a simple concept, making it fulfill that task is rather hard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wraith89 Posted August 22, 2011 Author Share Posted August 22, 2011 Yeah you convinced me there. I'll adjust the standards a bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lorshinator Posted August 23, 2011 Share Posted August 23, 2011 Alright here's Escavalier. If anything's not top notch feel free to edit it. Probably going to take a break, but I'll probably help out working on Unova. Gotta stop doing bug types, sheesh... All I ever do! Anywayz, 589: Escavalier Type: Bug/Steel Abilities: Swarm / Shell Armor / Overcoat Base stats: 70/135/105/60/105/20 Difficulty: Hard (Change if need be) There's not too much to say about Escavalier. On paper, it looks like he could be amazing. His stats are pretty good IMO. That HP stat is OK, his attack is beast and his defences are both high and even, and that low speed could be turned to his advantage in trick room teams. So, despite that, why isn't this guy seen more? I can give at least one reason. His movepool is pretty bad. Yes, that's why he is uncommon and his abilities don't back him up either. However, if you're looking for a Bug/Steel with some durability, well, Escavalier may be able to do something about that. Let's look at his strengths. First of all, his stats. It's good, and with that physical attack stat, who cares about that low special attack? His STAB movepool, well... He can learn Iron Head and X-scissor, but he is now known as the strongest user of Megahorn. Yes, that attack stat of 135 combined with megahorn will troll around if it hits, as likely it will OHKO quite a number of pokes in one hit, except for those who resist it, of course. His defences are pretty good, and it's nice that they are even... Due to being a bug/steel, he can safely switch into a fair number of things and the only type he should worry about is fire. Due to that low speed, he is perfect for UU trick room teams, as he'll become a killing machine with good defences. If you're using him as a trick room sweeper, I suggest Megahorn. If it misses... Well, due to that low speed, he can try again under the trick room. He can also be fairly tricky with counter. If he gets hit by a heavy physical, hit back with counter if you'll know he'll survive it for tremendous damage. As far as trick room teams are concerned, there's also reversal which would work great, and would hit hard against those steels that would normally completely wall him. He can also learn pursuit, which is good on those pokes that think they can easily switch into their fire type pokemon. Flail and reversal should only be used for trick room teams, since he's too slow to utilize it without. He can learn swords dance, but again, only should be used on trick room teams. He is hard to use otherwise; he is just a standard hard hitting but slow pokemon without a fantastic movepool. Escavalier is incredibly hard hitting and has solid defence capability for a time, but is literally made for trick room. Otherwise, he's not very notable if you don't use trick room. If he is baton passed to with attack and speed boosts, he could outrun a little bit of pokemon... But not much. You may as well just use trick room. As far as cons go... Well, let's just say it's movepool is a major killer. Although I'm just assuming here, but gamefreak might have been paranoid that it's stats would be too powerful if it could use Rock slide, earthquake, or anything of that sort (that's just me, because they give Conkeldurr all it needs to be incredibly powerful, whereas Throh could've used Drain Punch, stuff like that). Well, it's movepool is almost terrible. It isn't versatile at all and the most unique moves it has is reversal, counter, pursuit and perhaps knock off... It's just... Ugh. To be short, you'll be guaranteed to carry Iron Head and some bug move, whether it be a reliable X-scissor or incredibly strong Megahorn. Other than those two... It's pretty barren. Let's just say the moves that are noted in notable moves are pretty much the only moves that Escavalier can really make use of, other than that it's... Shamefully low. Also, it's abilities are pretty meh. Swarm is only useful for trick room because he's so slow, it's not going to made of much use. Shell Armor is in some ways better because it ignores that unlucky hax you may get from time to time. Overcoat would be nice, since you could slap him on a sandstorm team if you felt like it, but I dunno why you'd do that unless you had a sandstorm team that used trick room at the same time or whatever. Also, he lacks a recovery move aside from rest, of course. If he doesn't have trick room with him, well, let's just say if he gets hit by a move that takes over 50% of his health, well, he's screwed. To counter it, many fire types can rid of him easily, because he doesn't have anything noteworthy to take them on. A special attacking Nidoking resists his bug attacks and can hit with flamethrower. Volcarona is almost too brutal of a counter, unless you have aerial ace... There's nothing that can hurt it really. Hippowdon is a complete wall and literally laughs at most of what's thrown at him except megahorn. Registeel should watch out for reversal, but otherwise completely walls it. Cofagrigus can burn him, since faint attack is his strongest dark move (for the most part). Skarmory laughs at him, resisting the reversal better due to the flying weakness but should be weary of counter if it bothers to attack. Swampert works really nicely too, as do some water types. Really, Escavalier is one of those really specialized pokemon, one that needs to be under a specific condition (trick room) in order to be of big use. Otherwise, his low movepool will come back to haunt him with a simple water or ground type. It's not terrible, he just needs proper support. Notable moves: Megahorn, X-scissor, Iron Head, Counter, Reversal, Pursuit, Knock Off, Headbutt, Flail, swords dance, rest insert more here if need be Useful items: Leftovers, Focus sash, Leichi berry, lum berry, quick claw, air balloon Counters: Skarmory, Swampert, Conkeldurr, Machamp, Charizard, Typhlosion, Cofagrigus, Lucario, Spiritomb, Moltres, add more if need be I dunno about the last item, air balloon, just thought in trick room could be useful for switch ins. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tbird Posted August 24, 2011 Share Posted August 24, 2011 Quagsire Water / Ground Damp / Water Absorb / Unaware 95 / 85 / 85 / 65 / 65 / 35 Intermediate Quagsire's a weird one. On paper its stats are mediocre at best, it has a cool typing, some great abilities and pretty extensive movepool. In saying this, he is actually considerably bulky, even if his stats might suggest otherwise. He was a premium wall in the UU tier with the advent of HGSS allowing him to use recover for instant... recovery and as such was made quite the staple bulky water, somewhat like Milotic only with a cool immunity to electric attacks and a more unpredictable movepool, in the overused tier, however he was basically a poor man's swampert that lacked Stealth Rocks. In the Gen IV Uber tier it had its novelty as the best Kyogre Counter in the game, as it was immune to 2-3/4 of Kyogre's common attacks. It is now in Generation 5 where Quagsire has really come into its own with the Dream World ability Unaware, which basically means you can let the opponent's Salamence get 6 Dragon Dances, then switch in Quagsire and LOL at it with Ice Punch. Along side Slowbro, it is one of the best or near-enough counters to the now banned Blaziken; yes it is that damned good. So given the prior information we can see that Quagsire is best used as your generic bulky water. It has movepool enough to pull this off with its Dual stabs in Surf and Earthquake and nice coverage moves such as Stone Edge and Ice Punch, It also has access to recover and yawn allowing it to switch on set up sweepers, scare them to sleep or flee and then recover off any residual damge. Quagsire is not without its faults, however. It suffers from a very poor special defence score and is weak to every status other than electric based paralysis, and such is its downfall. Unlike starmie how can remove status on switching out, and tentacruel who outright absorbs Toxicity, Quagsire falls very quickly to any Status condition. However, in knowing this one can pack a heal beller in the form of Celebi, how can switch in on grass typed attacks aimed at Quagsire, or a generic status absorber like Shinbora, who can also switch in on grass typed attacks for Quagsire. A great partner for Quagsire in the lower tiers is Victini how can switch in on Quagsire's grass weakness, break bulky grassers and give most walls a generally hard timing, allowing Quagsire to wall easier. Infernape can do the same sort of thing in the higher tiers, and is thankful Quagsire removing things like Excadrill, Landorus and Gliscor Noctowl Psychic Normal / Flying Insomnia / Keen eye / Tinted Lens 100 / 50 / 50 / 76 / 96 / 70 Advanced Noctowl is another one of my very favourite pokémon ever. However, a running theme to my favourites is their general suckishness in a competitive POV. However, while you won't find Noctowl in the higher tiers given that Shinbora does Noctowl's Job better, it is still a pretty coolWall in the UU environment if you need someone to take out problem Pokémon like Hitmonlee or maybe Shaymin. Noctowl's main selling point in Generation IV was its ability to Psycho-Shift Burn and sleep around teams with the moves Rest / Sleep Talk / Psycho-Shift / Filler, this meant it could switch in on something like Hitmonlee's Sucker Punch, and hit it with a nasty burn, then sleep off the damage and maybe get someone to sleep, too. Generation V wasn't kind, however. It made an outclassed pokémon even more outclassed and then to make matters worked, it mocked Noctowl with a Bad ass ability that it could ill use anyway. It is still a pretty cool Special wall in the Lower tiers, but with things like Victini and Weavile running rampent it will find itself over powered most of the time, with experience you may be able to find ways to switch it in and burn a predicted counter as it switches in, but it's by no means an easy feat. One of Noctowl's best partners is hitmontop, as it can switch in on Rock typed attacks aimed at it and also OHKO weavile with Mach Punch, not only that but it can spin away the ever present Stealth Rocks that all birds so hate. It also appreciates the removal of walls like Chansey, who can be taken out by Nidoking who can also boast the ability to switch in on Rock typed attacks, electric typed attacks and most statuses that might be thrown in Noctowl's Direction, Noctowl in return provides a ground immunity for nidoking Donphan Ground Sturdy / Sand Veil 90 / 120 / 120 / 60 / 60 / 50 Easy Donphan is a freaking boss of a Pokémon. It has a huge movepool, some pretty awesomely aligned stats and a really cool physically defencive typing. What sets Donphan apart from other physical walls is his ability to really hit back quite hard, and what sets him apart from other rapid spinners is his ability to catch ghost types switching in with Assurance which deals heavy Damage if the Ghost type takes Stealth Rocks Damage switching in. in gen IV his main job was to tank as many physical hits as possibly, maybe lay Stealth Rocks and get a rapid spin in. And it fulfills this role really quite easily and Autonomously. In the UU of the past it had the ability to catch things like Mismagius and and Altaria off guard, with the moves Assurance and Ice Shard, respectively. In the new UU it pretty much plays the same role with just more things to hit, for instance it can switch in on a predicted Victini Thunder, and hit the switch in with Assurance for boss damage, or it can switch in on a predicted Flygon Outrage and OHKO it with Ice shard. Or maybe weavile is giving you some jip? He can switch in on Pursuit or low kick and OHKO with Stone Edge. Let's say things go perfectly for Donphan, it can take down two pokémon in 3 turns fairly easily. Let's say you switch in on the aforementioned thunder, you nail the ghost type with assurance as it switches in Expecting Rapid spin or even Earthquake, then they switch in Victini again, it hits you with a V-Create and you OHKO it with a Sturdy Activated Earthquake... fun times. Of course Donphan isn't without its flaws. As a primary rapid spinner it is susceptible to Toxic Spikes and status in general, meaning it can't switch in too easy sometimes, also it has a terrible special defence score and it can't get passed most walls without invested a large amount of EVs that would then jeopardise its walling capabilities. To cure this you could pair it with someone like Victreebel, who can absorb toxic spikes and switch in on water and grass types for Donphan. A wall breaker is then needed, Arcanine doesn't particularly fair at this job, however watch out for the shared water weakness (which is somewhat negated with Arcanine's ability to use Wild Charge.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lorshinator Posted August 24, 2011 Share Posted August 24, 2011 Again, adding to Unova. If no one has or is going to claim it, I'll be doing Zoroark next, if that's fine. Here's Throh, of all things. Add some counters to it, because some might not be there, of course. #538: Throh Type: Fight Abilities: Guts / Inner Focus / Mold Breaker Base stats: 120/100/85/30/85/45 Difficulty: Intermediate Throh is the White version counterpart to Sawk. Yes, I know you can still catch it in White, but it's more rare. Anyways, this guy is like a swapped around Conkeldurr or a nerfed one. He has more HP and special defence, but is not as physically strong. However, despite his lack of a good recovery move, Throh can actually server as a good physical hard hitter, and with guts, people will think twice about burning him or poisoning him. First of all, Throh's quite a bulky fighter. He can withstand a lot of physical punishment, especially if he packs Bulk up, and his special defence is pretty alright, combined with that huge HP. If you invested in both of his defences somehow with bulk up, he could be quite durable. As such, if you're looking for a bulky fighter... Other than Conkeldurr or Hariyama, Throh can still serve a purpose. His signature move, Storm Throw, is very useful, especially on Pokes who think they can set up as much as they want. (pointing at you Snorlax/Umbreon). Storm throw ignores any stat modifiers on the target and is excellent on pretty much anything that wants to raise stats or whatnot, because it always crits. With stab, it clocks at 120 power, which is stronger than brick break, hooray! He can also learn the usual Edgequake combo, which is good on tough poisons that try to wall him or devastate flyings on the switch in. He's got Payback too, which he makes better use than Sawk due to his low speed and good bulk, which is good on psychics. Since he's pretty slow, he can make use of Revenge as well, due to that low speed. His low speed can also be turned into an advantage in trick room, having good defences of course and good attack. I don't think a lum berry would always do justice unless he fell asleep, which would be one of the best ways to hurt it. Then again, if there's sleeping problems, why not carry a chesto berry? That way you'd keep some power you get from burns, poisons, the like... The only exception is if you're using his other two abilities. Like some other Gen V pokes though, he suffers from some movepool problems. Throh's got the stats, but he isn't too versatile, despite the moves he learns are still good. He is outclassed by Conkeldurr in pretty much every right, except the special defence and HP. Throh, like other pokes such as Aggron, lack a good recovery move. Well, there's drain punch, right? WRONG. For some reason, Throh cannot learn that move. It's pretty stupid and would've made his extra bulk so much more useful. Guts is his only notable ability outside dream world, because flinching isn't a huge deal unless you are unlucky. Mold Breaker is good, especially on those pokes who try to switch in like Mismagius or Gengar. If you don't pack payback, those pokemon will completely wall him. However, burning Throh is never a good idea, because it will simply hit harder. So in that case, if you're using a ghost type, don't bother doing that, because it may backfire. Throh, despite his stupid name and his average movepool, he still hits hard, and it can be tough to safely switch into him, since he can pack quite a different variety of moves even despite. Also, guts makes it hard to weaken him, especially if he starts bulking up. Bulky psychics will have not much of a problem, and if you can manage being slower than it, payback won't hurt too much. Throh can be a pretty deadly in the lower tiers if used properly. Just make sure to use wish to heal it or pack some sort of team plan. Hit it hard before it hits back with some payback or revenge. Flying types are actually a pretty good counter to him with brave bird or air slash, long as he isn't bulked up. His counters solely depend on what set it's carrying. If it's got payback, don't use stall ghosts. If it's got stone edge, don't try to switch in anything but Skarmory. If it's got Earthquake, don't try to use poisons. All in all, don't throw away a good pokemon! Terrible pun, sorry... Notable moves: Circle throw, Storm throw, Earthquake, Stone Edge, Payback, Revenge, Bulk Up, Rest, Facade, Rock Slide Useful items: Leftovers, Choice band, Chesto berry, fight gem, dark gem, add more here? Counters: Reuniclus, Skarmory, Slowbro, Cofagrigus, Jellicent, Weezing, Spiritomb, Conkeldurr, Hariyama, add more that I obviously missed. ANGAR. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lorshinator Posted August 24, 2011 Share Posted August 24, 2011 I apologize for adding so much, I hope I'm not spammin'. Anyways, here is Zoroark. I plan to add more to Unova, if that doesn't bother anyone. I don't think I did a good job, but if it meets any standards, feel free to give it a go yourself. #571: Zoroark Type: Dark Abilities: Illusion Base stat: 60/105/60/120/60/105 Difficulty: Easy Zoroark... You sly fox you... Yeah. Zoroark is pretty mean. It packs a punch in all offensive stats and has great speed, and on top of that, one of the most random abilities out there! Okay, it's not random, but for some reason, it messes up people really bad. I mean really. When Zoroark comes onto the field, it's a mind game. Is that a Heracross? Should I use Psychic? Only to find out later it fails and you get hit by an incredibly strong Dark Pulse on your alakazam or whatever. Yes, Zoroark, it's a pretty evil pokemon. It's got good stats, no doubt. As such, it can either run physical or special, or both. It's got a great STAB movepool. Dark Pulse, Sucker Punch, Night Slash, taunt, and the somewhat unique Foul Play are some examples. It can also hurt steels who switch in with flamethrower, and it got hit and run with U-turn. It can raise it's attack stats with Swords dance and Nasty plot, and can hurt some other dark types with Focus blast. Yep. It's pretty tricky, especially under the disguise of another pokemon! As such, most people (unfortunately) fall for what they think is another pokemon and allows you to either hit hard or take down your target easily. It's hard to counter Zoroark as such, due to it's mind games and high speed. Due to it's high speed and special attack, it can sneakingly switch into special psychics who try to hit the wrong target. With life orb and it's high attack stats, it'll KO a lot of pokemon in 2 hits or less, and with access to nasty plot, it'll hurt you pretty bad. Having a sub for this pokemon is also really harsh too. However, do not lose hope. It still has flaws! Despite being a hard hitting and unpredictable pokemon in some ways due to it's ability, it's still frail. Sometimes it can be really easy to predict when it's a Zoroark, especially if they send out a pokemon that would normally be ineffective against yours! (a hurt Throh vs Alakazam)Conkeldurr resists it's dark attacks and can hit back with a mach punch, but should watch out for extrasensory. Scarfed Heracross can survive a hit from it's dark attacks, but of course, be weary of that flamethrower, extrasensory, ot aerial ace. Fighting types are amongst the greatest in order to take it out, since it'll have an edge on taking down other pokemon with it's somewhat versatile movepool. However, it's not Gengar levels... It can't learn thunderbolt and some bulky waters such as Vaporeon can wall it and take it down, but be weary if it's a physical attacker. Registeel does some justice, due to it being a steel type and being durable, but of course it's weak to flamethrower. Blissey walls all special Zoroarks, and can slow it down via thunder wave. Snorlax can do damage too. Infernape is faster and can take hits from an unboosted Zoroark. Most importantly, you have to make sure that you know what you're dealing with, or else you'll get hit hard. Rocks do justice as well, and priority moves are the main killer. Notable moves: Dark Pulse, Sucker Punch, Night Slash, Taunt, Foul play, Flamethrower, Night Daze, Grass Knot, Shadow Ball, U-turn, Substitute, Swords dance, Focus Blast, Shadow Claw, Aerial Ace, Protect Useful Items: Focus sash, life orb, shell bell, lum berry, choice scarf, choice band, choice specs, shed shell, Air Ballon add or remove Counters: Conkeldurr, Infernape, Hariyama, Vaporeon, Registeel, Scrafty, Umbreon, Snorlax, Blissey, Chansey, Venemoth add more here or remove Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mewtwo Ex Posted August 26, 2011 Share Posted August 26, 2011 Interesting W. You seem to have described 150 quite well. Couldn't have done it better myself. Btw i asked you to let me know about this thread when you made it eventually. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wraith89 Posted August 26, 2011 Author Share Posted August 26, 2011 It's not done yet This is roughly a skeleton of a final thread that will come out since it's a bit messy and disorganised and a lot of vital information are missing. But seems like you've found it... and Kanto is actually finished. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lorshinator Posted August 28, 2011 Share Posted August 28, 2011 (edited) Awright. Going to add Togekiss. Hopefully everyone's been doin' good... Anyway: #468: Togekiss Type: Normal/Flying Abilities: Hustle / Serene Grace / Super Luck Base stats: 85/50/95/120/115/80 Despite being cute, Togekiss is a mean, lean, white machine thing. Togekiss is a needed evolution to Togekiss and despite being offensive and outclassed in terms of power by the likes of Gengar, Chandelure, Alakazam and so on, Togekiss is another Normal/Flying type that surely got some attention. Togekiss is good, no, great at two roles. One of which is being an offensive, which makes great use of that big special attack stat of 120, and of course, is the main reason why she was an OU in Gen 4. She has good bulk, especially that special defence stat of 115. Her speed may be in the middling, but that can be taken care of with a scarf. She can also be a screen setter and can use such support moves such as heal bell and Wish to help her teammates if they are in need. She hits hard and can also learn Nasty plot to make her, well, nastier. She has quite a movepool, including Air slash, Aura Sphere, Fire blast/flamethrower, signal beam, psyshock and more. The main seller of Togekiss is not only her stats and good offensive movepool, but her ability, Serene Grace. Yes, hustle is in there but is useless as can be despite being powerful for the likes of Durant. Serene Grace is an almost unfair ability that puts your hax to the limit. Doubling the percentage of side effects for your attacks means that STAB Air Slash is going to make your foe flinch 60% of the time. That's... Annoying, nuff said. As such, extra effects such as burning or special defence lowering will also occur more frequently, so that's win. Despite that middling speed of 80, it's still decent, so slapping on a choice scarf would allow her to outrun a lot of foes that aren't scarfed. Her special defence will allow her to take good special defence hits if invested in, and with choice scarfed ghost sweepers she can step in and do as she pleases. Tri attack is a possible move to get but only from Gen 3, so, otherwise, it's almost impossible to get if you don't have the GC games. If you're playing a simulator or do have this move on your Togekiss, she'll have a 40% chance of burning, freezing, or paralyzing! However, Togekiss, despite being annoying with constant flinching and high attack power, it's not invincible. First off, having a scarfed pokemon to hit it physically is recommended, but that's not a direct counter. Registeel is very bulky but should watch out for her Aura Sphere's and Fire Blasts. Blissey can wall her if she doesn't have Psyshock. Regice could take hits from Togekiss pretty well but should still watch out for her Aura Spheres, and flinching. Hitting her physically is good, and recommended. Overall, try to hit it before it attacks, because it can flinch you very often, and it hits hard. Notable Moves: Air Slash, Aura Sphere, Fire Blast, Flamethrower, Psyshock, Shadow Ball, Magic Coat, Wish, Heal Bell, Protect, Substitute, Light Screen, Reflect, Roost,Yawn, Thunder wave, Encore Useful Items: Leftovers, Light Clay, Choice Scarf, Choice Specs, Focus Sash, Shell Bell, add more. Counters: Blissey, Chansey, Snorlax, Registeel, Regice, Slowking, add more here. >.> Added. Giant Togekiss is happy. Edited September 5, 2011 by wraith89 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lorshinator Posted September 10, 2011 Share Posted September 10, 2011 Here's another *gasp* fifth gen. I feel kinda dumb for doing mostly fifth, so it'll be the last one for fifth unless asked otherwise... If no one did them, I would do Cacturne, BUT, it doesn't matter if they do, so yeah. I'll also be adding LESS thanks to being in school, but that's not a problem, I probably contribute a little TOO much... but I digress. Here's the counterpart to Throh, Sawk. I kinda wanted to do this one for a little while, so that's why I'm doing it. If I didn't do a good job, then... You have every right to ignore itz. Hope everyone is doing jolly good. #539: Sawk Type: Fighting Abilities: Sturdy / Inner Focus / Mold Breaker (Dream world) Base stats: 75/125/75/30/75/85 Difficulty: Intermediate When I saw Sawk, I immediately thought he was better than Throh. He has sturdy which is actually really cool, he looks better, and he's fast, and not a nerfed Conkeldurr (or so I thought). However... When I looked at Sawk, he has fine stats, but other than the ability, he isn't set apart from other fighters. Unlike Throh, Sawk lacks a unique move that makes him different from other fighters. Instead, we get another fast (kinda, 85 speed is faster than some) hard hitting fighting type with solid defences... and I say solid for a reason. Well, what's good about Sawk? Well, first thing that comes to mind is sturdy. Interesting, he won't be OHKOed at all thanks to that, which is great for setting up or revenge killing, unless spikes or something chip off some HP beforehand. Sawk's got good attack power which shouldn't be under estimated. It's equivalent to Mienshao, although Mienshao is much faster... Meh. Sawk's got more bulkish ness. Also, for some reason, gamefreak decided not to give him swords dance but left him with bulk up. A lot of fighters do a better job with this move, such as Throh, Conkeldurr, Hariyama, Machamp... Sort off, I guess... Yeah. So, What's Sawk good at again? Well, he's got sturdy, good attack, and above average speed. He's got access to edgequake, and that's all fine and dandy. One good think to point out is that he makes better use of Reversal than his brother counterpart, since combined with sturdy clocks a move with 200 base power, which is pretty dang high, and he'll get that very often with it. He's got close combat which is nice if you want to run with high HP, and due to sturdy he can suffer from a decrease every know and then. Counter also works with sturdy, so that's nice too. Sawk is your typical faster fighter, hits hard, comes back, hits hard later, but with a free sash thrown in (technically due to sturdy). Taunt is great for those who want to set up, usually with spikes or whatnot, and prevents foes from getting tougher than him. He can be paired with a band or scarf thanks to that awesome ability, despite his counters may be many. However, he's got less of a punch than Throh, and I say this because there are other fighters, particularly Hitmonlee, that do the same thing (close combat, he's faster, limber, movepool, etc). Inner focus is obviously meh... Sturdy is awesome. He doesn't have storm throw, which means defence raisers will be happy to do that... No cross chop? Why? Oh well, that move isn't required anyway. He's fairly easy to counter, he doesn't even have access to U-turn for constant switching. To do this, Weezing is very good, because he'll say howdy and burn him, or just hit him hard, resisting his attacks well unless he is boosted by bulk up or if he has mold breaker. Slowbro is another mention, since... He obviously will wall him no matter what. Skarmory will just laugh at him, and Claydoll will just look at him funny... He's nothing to become afraid off if you got the team. Still, that 125 base attack will take a chunk off, and if used right, sturdy + reversal combined with a substitute could leave a nasty mark on the foes team if they don't have the right pokes for the job. I'm not saying Sawk sucks, I'm saying that there are other fighting sweepers that can get the job done even in UU. Notable Moves: Close Combat, Brick Break, Rock Slide, Stone Edge, Earthquake, Reversal, Counter, Retaliate, Substitute, Taunt Useful Items: Choice band, Choice scarf, Life orb, fight gem, ground gem, shell bell, lum berry Counters: Slowbro, Skarmory, Conkeldurr, Zapdos, Claydoll, Tangrowth, Donphan, Dusknoir, Dusclops, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lorshinator Posted September 18, 2011 Share Posted September 18, 2011 #430 Honchkrow Type: Dark/Flying Abilities: Insomnia / Super Luck / Moxie (Dream world) Base stats: 100/125/52/105/52/71 Difficulty: Intermediate Honchkrow's a boss, and back in gen 4, it was a scary new customer. It was a well deserved evolution to Murkrow, and abused the special/physical split. As a Gen 4 pokemon, it gained things like Brave Bird, Sucker Punch, and could learn some nice special attacks. However, in Gen 5, it's use has dwindled a little due to it's predictability and terrible 52/52 defences. It's got subpar speed, so it can easily be revenged. Honchkrow is good at one thing. Hitting hard. It can do this in two ways, one being a common physical attacker with a ridiculously strong Brave Bird/Sucker Punch combo with filler, or a uncommon special attacker. Having 125 attack is nothing to be trifled with; it still hurts a lot, and with Brave Bird, it will take a huge chunk of those who can't resist it or take the hit. Sucker Punch allows those who want to revenge him be able to hit back with good power. It can also surprise those who think they can wall it with a physical wall (steelix for example) end up being hit hard by Heat Wave. It can run mixed or not, and it will still do a lot. Pursuit is excellent since it gets stab and it will end up taking a huge chunk of the target before it switches. Super Power is for those pesky steels and rocks if they are hurt, and it's stab is really, really strong. It's also pretty good at using Subs and then hitting back with it's stab. It makes a good partner with fighters who are weak to psychic, and good for electric types for their ground weakness. Insomnia is good for Roserades who try to put your team to sleep, or just anything really. Super Luck has seen more use though, due to the extra crit chance. Who doesn't love hax when it's on your side? (Okay, maybe not every one does). It's also got Moxie, which is really good, and boosts his attack after a KO. In my opinion though, if you are using a scarfed set, chances are you will have to run after you take one down. This may come in handy for sub users though. If you need a physical beast, Honchkrow might fit the bill. Honchkrow, while very deadly, has some issues, like all pokemon. First and foremost, even despite having base HP of 100, it will still get OHKOed quite easily. It can resist attacks like Psychics or Ground, but that's its main defensive niche. Other than that, 52/52 is really bad, and it'll be taken down by a good STAB or super effective with relative ease. Mamoswine can take a physical hit and Ice shard it down, while Rhyperior can take any Physical hit, really. If it's scarfed, which is commonplace to get rid of the speed problem, only will have one move, and it can become setup fodder if it tries to use a failed Sucker Punch. Anything that can take a hit and hit it back can easily KO it. Skarmory can simply stand there and barely get a scratch, unless of course it has heat wave,which will still 2HKO. Speaking of which, Honchkrow's special movepool is rather limited in comparison, so tough guys like Snorlax can come in if it doesn't pack physical moves. Omastar can do justice too. Scizor can bullet punch it, but watch out for Heat Wave on the switch in. All in all, to counter it, figure out what set it has, and act accordingly. Useful Items: Focus Sash, Life Orb, Leftovers, lum berry, choice scarf, Choice Band, dark gem, Notable Moves: Brave Bird, Sucker Punch, Pursuit, Night slash, Drill Peck, Super Power, Roost, Substitute, Nasty Plot, Dark Pulse, Heat Wave, Psychic, Foul Play Counters: Steelix, Skarmory, Scizor, Machamp, Conkeldurr, Omastar, Rhyperior, Mamoswine, Donphan, Swampert, Blissey, Chansey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lorshinator Posted October 15, 2011 Share Posted October 15, 2011 Woah, another fifth gen! Ask me if you want me to stop doing them, but I experimented with Alomomola and found some.... interesting results. Besides, when new things come around, I tend to experiment with them, so that's sorta why I'm doing them a lot. Anyways, here's my newest contribution: #594 Alomomola Type: Water Abilities: Healer / Hydration / Regenerator (Dream world) Base stats: 165/75/80/40/45/65 Difficulty: Hard Check this out! Alomomola is NOT the evolution to luvdisc! That's incredibly tragic, because it looks pretty much exactly the same. Before B/W, there was quite some uproar about how she isn't a evolve form. Despite that though, why would you want to use this thing? It's another boring bulky water, or is it? Looks can be quite deceiving. Alomomola is what most water types are: bulky and probably somewhat sluggish. Well, we've already got Slowbro as a physical bulk, it's a troll with regenerator, and boats an immediate recovery move! Well, if you want something different, Alomomola can fit the bill. How so? Well, first off, take a look at that gargantuan HP stat. Combine that with a respectable defence, patch it up a little with Impish nature and some EV's, and you got a formidable physical wall already. While nothing truly new or mind blowing, Alomomola is actually a really good physical wall, providing a check to even some OU pokes, despite not being in that tier. With wish, she not only can heal her teammates, which Slowbro can't do, but heal herself at the same time. Also, being a pure water type also gives her much less weaknesses, being weak to two types. This is good, although she lacks resistances as well. She takes hits incredibly well and can even survive a +1 DD Dragonite with outrage quite well. Her main goal is simple; take hits, stall her opponent to death. If her teammates are hurt, wish them to full health. Her abilities outside of dream world are meh unless given the right support, but her DW ability is awesome. Regenerator? I so wish that was a default ability, she'd be taking hits and laugh at that Conkeldurr that thinks he can take her on. Despite being a GOOD under used addition to the metagame, she does suffer from drawbacks, hindering her OU usage. Yes, she can counter physical pokemon quite well, she can work against rain dance teams to an extent, and she's got the tools of the trade for supporting, but generally, she lacks any form to fight back. Despite that base 165/80 bulk, her terrible 40 base special defence is a big sore spot that even Slowbro handles better. As much as she can check the likes of Dragonite, at the same time she'll suffer from a now and then special set up (dragonite with thunder), and the only true way for her to counter it is to poison it, but if it has heal bell, well, good riddance. Her special attack is also lacking at 45, and her base 75 attack isn't really anything special. She can function pretty well in most tiers including OU, but she needs support from her teammates to do well. Almost any special attacker with STAB or high power will leave her taking only two hits at best. She can barely even touch her enemies with her pitiful offensive stats and movepool, and although that's not her objective, the likes of Slowbro can be offensive, while she can't do much at all. In order for her to heal up, she'll need to take a turn with Wish, which can occasionally result in her demise. Hey, what if you gave her Mirror coat? Well, given her terrible special defence, she will likely not survive a special attack. To counter her weaknesses, Chansey and Blissey are great as Alomomola can counter their weaknesses to physical attacks. Ferrothorn is good too, but if you want to use her in UU/NU, Slowbro and Cofagrigus are also great. If you just want a physical bulky water, Alomomola is a unique choice more or less, but it has to be used properly to be effective. Pair her up with a pokemon that can take special hits and you got yourself a good combination. Notable Moves: Wish, Healing Pulse, Healing Wish, Aqua Ring, Soak, Rest, Safeguard, Rain Dance, Light Screen, Attract, Waterfall, Toxic, Pain Split Useful Items: leftovers, Sitrus Berry, Lum Berry, Light Clay Counters: Tentacruel, Ferrothorn, Raikou, Suicune, Skarmory, Starmie, Jellicent, Whimsicott, Sceptile, Serperior, Venesaur, Dragonite, Magnezone, Vaporeon, Jolteon, Roserade, Bronzong, Zapdos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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