Grimer

Stench
Increases the chance that the opponent will flinch when the wielder attacks. Decreases wild encounter rate.
Sticky Hold
The wielder's item cannot be removed. Increases chance of encountering Pokemon while fishing.
Poison Touch
The wielder has a 30% chance to poison the opponent when it uses a contact move.
Type Tier
Poison LC
Level 5 Statistics (see level 5, 50, 100)
Min- Min Max Max+
HP
80
- 24 27 -
Atk
80
12 14 17 18
Def
50
9 11 14 15
SpA
40
9 10 13 14
SpD
50
9 11 14 15
Spe
25
8 9 12 13
  • Little Cup

Overview

Grimer's excellent base 80 HP and base 80 Attack make it a great offensive tank. Additionally, Grimer has a wide physical movepool which allows it to hit almost every Pokemon in the tier for super effective damage. Access to boosting moves such as Curse and a nifty priority move in Shadow Sneak all increase its potential as a wall breaker or boosting sweeper. However, Grimer is cursed with an atrocious Poison-type STAB, which has laughable coverage. It also has a poor Speed stat, allowing it to be easily revenge killed. However, fear not, as Grimer is still a great Pokemon that can destroy your opponent's team in a heartbeat if given the chance.

Name Item Ability Nature

Physical Attacker

Life Orb Sticky Hold Adamant
Moveset EVs
~ Gunk Shot / Poison Jab
~ Shadow Sneak
~ Fire Punch
~ Ice Punch
36 HP / 36 Atk / 196 Def / 196 SpD

Grimer's excellent Attack stat coupled with its decent bulk allows it to pull off a purely offensive physical attacking set. Gunk Shot is Grimer's main move in spite of its poor coverage. Coming off an excellent base 80 Attack stat and further boosted by STAB and Life Orb, Gunk Shot hits like a truck, severely denting any Pokemon that doesn't resist it. Fire Punch allows Grimer to deal with Bronzor and Ferroseed, 2HKOing Ferroseed if it's not carrying Eviolite. Ice Punch hits Hippopotas and Dratini fairly hard. Shadow Sneak gives Grimer much needed priority, allowing it to outspeed and hit Gastly, Litwick, and Frillish for super effective damage.

Team Options & Additional Comments >>>
Name Item Ability Nature

Curse

Life Orb / Eviolite Sticky Hold Adamant
Moveset EVs
~ Curse
~ Poison Jab / Gunk Shot
~ Shadow Sneak
~ Fire Punch / Ice Punch
196 Atk / 116 Def / 196 SpD

With the advent of Eviolite, combined with Grimer's decent bulk, Grimer can effectively run a Curse set. This set utilizes Grimer's great Attack stat and decent bulk to set up Curses and attempt to sweep. After two Curses, Grimer reaches an Attack stat of 34 with an Adamant nature and 32 with an Impish nature. Just to put it into perspective, an Impish Hippopotas with 236 HP / 236 Def can be OHKOed by a +2 Ice Punch. Fire Punch allows Grimer to hit Ferroseed and Bronzor super effectively. Poison Jab is Grimer's main STAB move, capable of dealing massive amounts of damage with a boost. Gunk Shot can be used over Poison Jab, but it trades off accuracy for power. However, the drop in power is quite noticeable. At +2 Defense with an Impish nature, Grimer can take defensive hits quite well; this is backed up even further if Eviolite is used.

Team Options & Additional Comments >>>
Name Item Ability Nature

Rest + Curse

Eviolite Sticky Hold Careful
Moveset EVs
~ Curse
~ Rest
~ Poison Jab / Brick Break
~ Sleep Talk / Shadow Sneak
36 HP / 36 Atk / 196 Def / 196 SpD

This is a variation of the Curse set. It effectively has much more staying power than the Curse set due to Rest, which allows Grimer to recover all its HP and rid it of any negative status. Poison Jab is the STAB move of choice; however, if Poison Jab's poor coverage is not appealing to you, Brick Break can be used, which allows Grimer to break Reflect and Light Screen. However, Brick Break is significantly less powerful than Poison Jab due to its lack of STAB. Sleep Talk makes sure Grimer is not absolutely useless or setup fodder while it is asleep. It is especially important as with the sleep counter resetting every time one switches out, there is a slight chance Grimer might be asleep throughout the match. Shadow Sneak gives Grimer priority, and allows it to hit Ghost-types such as Frillish, Duskull, and Litwick super effectively.

Team Options & Additional Comments >>>

Other Options

Grimer is capable of running a set consisting of Stockpile, Pain Split, Gunk Shot / Poison Jab, and Shadow Sneak. Toxic can be used and allows Grimer to spread around status. Grimer can also run a special set consisting of Sludge Bomb, Thunderbolt, Fire Blast, and Hidden Power Ice. However, it is not as effective as the physical sets due to Grimer's poor base 40 Special Attack stat.

Grimer has no dearth of secondary moves thanks to its great movepool. Rock Slide can be used to hit Bug-, Fire-, and Flying-types super effectively. Payback can be used in conjunction with Grimer's minute Speed to hit Ghost-types harder. Substitute can be used as a scouting move, but Grimer loses precious coverage to accommodate it. Return is an option with great neutral coverage that can be fired off without as much thought as a Gunk Shot or Poison Jab. Grimer is also capable of running Memento, allowing setup sweepers such as Dragon Dance Dratini and Scraggy to set up easily. However, it must be noted that Grimer is outclassed by other Memento users.

Checks and Counters

Bronzor is an excellent counter to Grimer. It is immune to Grimer's main STAB and laughs at all of its other moves. However, it must be wary of Fire Punch. Provided Grimer lacks Fire Punch, Bronzor can come in on Grimer, set up dual screens, and hit Grimer with a super effective STAB Psychic. Ferroseed is also a good counter to Grimer, but similarly to Bronzor it must be wary of Fire Punch.