Empoleon's a viable special tank, especially since it has 11 resistances and 1 immunity. Choice Specs Salamence can only manage 43% with Fire Blast if Empoleon is using a Calm nature, whereas the same Fire Blast will do 47% if Empoleon is Modest. Its high Special Attack also makes it stand out. Salamence gets destroyed by Ice Beam, while Grass Knot takes advantage of Empoleon's ability to counter Water-types such as Milotic and Vaporeon, and also allows it to scare away Starmie. As for support moves, Empoleon gets Stealth Rock, which can be used on its own or with Roar/Yawn. This moveset can be played with a bit. Yawn and Protect can work if you predict something staying in, while Stealth Rock and Roar make Empoleon a pseudo-Skarmory. Empoleon could run Sleep Talk to absorb sleep from the likes of Milotic, Bronzong, and Roserade. Modest is an option on this set for a few reasons. First, Empoleon's niche is that of a special tank with great Special Attack, so a boosting nature would help it further that goal. More importantly, it guarantees the 2HKO on Starmie with Grass Knot, making it a pretty neat switch-in to Starmie as long as it's wary of Thunderbolt. The standard spinner Starmie will do 33.65 - 39.52% with Thunderbolt to Empoleon (if it is Modest), while a Choice Specs Thunderbolt is an easy 2HKO.
Shaymin, eat your heart out. Once this thing sets up, it's ready to slaughter anything in its path. Empoleon resists nearly every priority move, has kickass Special Attack (in terms of non-Uber Waters, only Omastar, Gorebyss, and Clamperl beat it), and Torrent to sweep with. Agility fixes its Speed, getting it above Scarfed neutral-natured base 90s like Porygon-Z and Lucario. From there, it Subs 3 times to activate Torrent and Petaya Berry and proceed to sweep. Boosted Hydro Pump will always OHKO bulky Garchomp, can 2HKO Bold Blissey (48-57%), OHKOs Bronzong, and OHKOs Dusknoir and Salamence switching into Stealth Rock (though Empoleon's always faster than both after a boost anyway). Boosted Hydro Pump achieves 75% of what unboosted Ice Beam does on Grass-types, making Ice Beam less necessary and Grass Knot the ideal choice. However, since Empoleon will sweeping later in the game, Surf is a better option as everything should be weakened anyway, and you won't want your late game sweeper to miss. Surf still can do 40% to Blissey (meaning Empoleon will win if Blissey lacks Seismic Toss or Thunderbolt) and 2HKOs on the above Pokemon should be sufficient. You should use Ice Beam with Surf and Grass Knot with Hydro Pump, but it really depends on what your team can cover.
With its above average defenses and massive amounts of resistances, Empoleon is easy to switch in, making it a natural candidate for Choice Specs. Hydro Pump scores an OHKO on Magnezone, and you can afford to miss once in a while to do extra damage. Surf is still an option for better accuracy. Ice Beam and Grass Knot are standard fare, taking out Grass and Water-type switch-ins. With Choice Specs, Grass Knot also has the added benefit of always 2HKOing Gyarados. The fourth move is a filler because Empoleon has a small special movepool. Sleep Talk allows you to absorb sleep, but you can only use it once before switching out thanks to Choice Specs. Hidden Power Ground OHKOs Magnezone, may 2HKO Lanturn, and hits enemy Empoleon. Hydro Pump will outdamage Hidden Power Ground in all other cases though.
Kinda reminds you of Normal Arceus, huh? Empoleon, however, trades extreme strength (and Uber status) for massive surprise value. The idea here is to Swords Dance, then use the surprise value and Empoleon's overall bulkiness to get in another Swords Dance if possible. Then, you may proceed to kill things with STAB Aqua Jet from 894 Attack (assuming you get two boosts). Though the idea may seem somewhat novel, it is actually a very viable option. This set takes down Empoleon's big counters as well as other threats very easily. Blissey is barely OHKOed by a Life Orb Empoleon that has Swords Danced twice. Unlike most other sweepers, paralysis isn't a bad thing for this Empoleon because Aqua Jet allows it to move first anyway, and it protects it from other status. Ludicolo gets annihilated by Drill Peck, Lanturn and Magnezone are beaten with Earthquake, Dugtrio falls Aqua Jet, and Regice just can't do enough damage in time to stop Empoleon's sweep. Magnezone often invests Speed to beat Skarmory, so it might be faster than Empoleon. Either faint it before pulling this off or predict its switch-in and use Earthquake. Drill Peck is the primary option here for hitting Heracross and Breloom on the switch. If you're scared of Salamence, Avalanche should beat it, and Empoleon won't mind the negative priority with its low Speed anyway. Water/Flying has excellent coverage, so Avalanche should go over Earthquake if you decide to use it. Leftovers is the better item choice here; Empoleon is designed to play like Normal Arceus and use its massive number of resistances to take hits. Life Orb is necessary for some KOs, though.
Empoleon's lack of a real recovery move is disappointing, but is remedied somewhat with the Rest/ Sleep Talk combination. This Empoleon makes a fine switch in to absorb sleep from the likes of Milotic, Yanmega, and Roserade. A lack of STAB Surf might seem like a bad idea from an offensive standpoint, but Grass Knot helps Empoleon take on threats such as Starmie and Swampert, and Ice/Grass is a good attacking combination in general. It should be mentioned that Grass Knot and Ice Beam will leave you utterly walled by Steels, so pick your poison carefully. Empoleon can switch into many special threats pretty easily, but it will often switch if it comes up against a strong physical attacker with a Fighting move or Earthquake. As such, Empoleon might not have a lot of time to stall with Rest and Sleep Talk. It would be best used to absorb sleep early game, and come back out later when those aforementioned threats are dead or sufficiently weakened. Because Rest is assisting in recovery, Shed Shell may be a good choice for this set so Empoleon can escape the clutches of Magnezone and Dugtrio. Other OptionsEmpoleon could use Choice Band, but the potential surprise value isn't made up for with Empoleon's crappy Attack stat. On the special wall, Hydro Pump and Substitute with a Modest nature allow Empoleon able to counter any virtually every non-Blissey switch in; Magnezone is 2HKOed while it won't OHKO your Sub-less Empoleon, and Electivire is nearly always OHKOed after Torrent. Aqua Ring can work but Empoleon switches in and out a lot so it's really not worth the trouble. Hidden Power Electric is if you really fear Gyarados so much that you must OHKO it. Empoleon does have a decent physical movepool that could be implemented by the Swords Dancer. Rock Slide could be used to fend of Gyarados, but if Gyarados is carrying Earthquake, you might be in trouble. Return is Empoleon's best option against other waters, and Water/Normal is only resisted by other Empoleon and Shedinja outside of Ubers. However, Empoleon's attack stat is so low that will often need to rely on super effective attacks in order to do serious damage. Rain Dance support is always good for Empoleon; on the special tank it could run the move as he does a decent job of keeping Hippowdon away. If you have a Damp Rock Rain Dancer on your team, it could also help the Agility set do even more damage. Speaking of the Agility set, Brine can be a useful option as you can hit things that are under 50% health with a 130 base STAB attack. EVsMaxing HP and Special Defense is obvious on the walling sets. 4 Speed EVs allows you to beat minimum Speed Impish Swampert. The Agility set has the option of running Timid and 216 Speed EVs to outrun Adamant Choice Scarf Garchomp, but then it won't get the kills needed with Modest. If you do choose to run Timid, put the remaining EVs in HP so it can take more hits. 44 HP makes HP divisible by 4; be sure to adjust if you don't have a 31 HP IV on Wi-Fi. Choice Specs can run any Speed up to max and Modest and still maintain its efficiency; Timid nature with 184 Speed EVs puts Empoleon at 222 Speed to outpace Adamant Tyranitar. Swords Dance sets should max out HP and Attack; this lets it take hits and do actual damage to things. With Aqua Jet and possibly Avalanche on the set, Speed EVs aren't required outside of the 4 EVs needed to beat Swampert. OpinionEmpoleon an off-the-beaten-path Pokémon who can both wall and sweep your opponent. As a special tank, it can shine as a counter to most Water-types (including non-EQ Gyarados) and dish out stronger hits than Blissey while absorbing attacks with his 11 resists and 1 immunity. As a sweeper, he's really something most teams don't expect and he can reach insanely powerful levels with Torrent and Petaya boosting its excellent Water STAB. The thing that really holds it back from being a complete powerhouse is the lack of real recovery and 3 common weaknesses to Fighting, Ground, and Electric. If you can get the past these limitations (hint: pair with Gliscor!), it's a fine choice for a lot of teams. CountersFor every set, Lanturn is an excellent counter; it is barely scratched by even Grass Knot. Watch for Hidden Power Ground on the Specs set or Earthquake on the Swords Dance set though. Countering the wall set isn't very difficult. Electivire can switch in to anything on the wall set and immediately threaten a KO with ThunderPunch. Blissey, Cresselia, Snorlax, and Regice all wall Empoleon. Hitmontop spins away Stealth Rock while threatening a KO with Mach Punch or Hi Jump Kick. The Agility set is harder to shut down. A Calm Blissey or Lanturn stops it cold, as do things with Taunt or stuff faster than Empoleon. After the last Substitute is broken, Breloom and Hitmontop can Mach Punch it, and Lucario can use Vacuum Wave. Hitmontop's high Special Defense can help, to a degree, and he also gets special mention for Triple Kick. Tentacruel gives it problems too, as do some Vaporeon and Lapras. Ludicolo can handle everything outside of Drill Peck on the Swords Dancer. Strangely, not many Pokemon can switch into both the Swords Dance set and the SubPetaya set; Cresselia and Thunderbolt Blissey are your only real shots. If you know it's a Swords Dancer, Swampert, Tangrowth, and Earthquake Bronzong are decent counters. Although neither Magnezone nor Dugtrio can switch in directly, they can trap and kill Empoleon with their STAB moves. |
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