Get in a Substitute on Blissey or a frightened Water-type (read: not Gyarados) and see what happens. Focus Punch Blissey if you're facing it, and Hidden Power Grass Swampert or Hidden Power Ice Garchomp, Salamence, and Grass-types. Basically, this set is a bit like Tyraniboah, except a lot less fearsome. Other OptionsCounter is a great surprise. Ampharos attracts Earthquakes like candy attracts little kids, and with some defensive EV investment it can live through them easily, but still take enough damage to kill opponents with. Thunder Wave is another good option as it helps you fix Ampharos' hideous Speed. Don't use the two together, because if your opponent gets a full paralysis when you're about to Counter them into oblivion, you'll spoil your surprise with no outcome. Heal Bell is a good move, but it's too bad Ampharos doesn't really have the staying power to use it effectively. It's a good filler though. Discharge and Thunder offer a 30% paralysis chance, Signal Beam hurts Celebi and Exeggutor a lot and Reflect gives you some support. Hidden Power Water works for Steelix and Camerupt, and Hidden Power Ground hits fellow Electrics hard. You'd think they give an unique Electric like this more move options, but apparently Raichu and Electivire did Game Freak a favor and they got all the good stuff. EVsThe EVs suggested on the set allow you to 2HKO Blissey with Focus Punch. You could get a 143 Speed stat to beat Swampert with a hindering Speed nature to the punch when using Hidden Power Grass. You obviously need neither of that in the lower tier environments. Usually you should pump Ampharos' Special Attack, and work on his durability whenever using Counter. OpinionAmpharos is the opposite of most Electrics. He's not fast, but he doesn't die in one hit either. He's got kickass Special Attack and Focus Punch to work with, but that alone doesn't get him a good tier placement. He is severely outclassed by Electivire in standard, and Raichu tends to outplay in the lower playing fields. If you use Ampharos, let him stick out of the pack with Counter or Focus Punch. CountersGrounds are the best counters for Ampharos, as long as he doesn't have an effective Hidden Power. Camerupt and Steelix will usually do just fine as Hidden Power Water is rare, but Focus Punch might hurt the latter a little. Swampert, Whiscash, Quagsire, Gastrodon, and Lanturn counter Ampharos that don't have Hidden Power Grass. Gliscor, Garchomp, Flygon, Torterra, and most other Grassers work well if he doesn't have Hidden Power Ice, and most Grassers with good Special Defense (Vileplume, Meganium, Celebi) work nonetheless. |
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