|
-
Damp
- Prevents the use of Selfdestruct or Explosion. Prevents Aftermath from doing damage.
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Cloud Nine
- Blocks the effects of weather.
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Level 50 Statistics (see level 5, 50, 100)
|
Min- |
Min |
Max |
Max+ |
| HP |
80
|
- |
155 |
187 |
- |
| Atk |
82
|
91 |
102 |
134 |
147 |
| Def |
78
|
88 |
98 |
130 |
143 |
| SpA |
95
|
103 |
115 |
147 |
161 |
| SpD |
80
|
90 |
100 |
132 |
145 |
| Spe |
85
|
94 |
105 |
137 |
150 |
Overview
Like many first generation Pokemon, Golduck is blessed with a cool design and a generous movepool, but is held back by a lackluster stat distribution. Golduck's base 95 Special Attack is good, but not great, and the rest of its stats are decidedly average, making it difficult for Golduck to compete with its more specialized rivals. Luckily, Golduck does have a couple of niches in UU that help differentiate it from other Water-types. Cloud Nine is an exclusive ability that turns Golduck into a unique counter to devastating Swift Swim and Chlorophyll sweepers, while Calm Mind makes Golduck one of the few UU Water-types capable of sweeping through boosting its Special Attack. Although it's not the most threatening Pokemon around, Golduck can fill an important role without requiring much support, making it a solid choice for a variety of offensive teams.
Golduck, an otherwise decidedly mediocre Pokemon, has two things that set it firmly apart from the many other similarly molded Water-types: its Cloud Nine ability and access to Encore. This set combines both and turns Golduck into a very versatile Pokemon who can fit on many different team types, in particular those which have trouble dealing with opposing weather teams.
Cloud Nine is a brilliant ability which effectively negates every effect weather has in battle, from boosting the power of Water-type moves in rain to the Speed-doubling effect of Chlorophyll in sun. Clearly this gives Golduck a great niche in UU as a one-Pokemon answer to rain and sun sweepers alike. Encore allows Golduck to pull his weight in battles against non-weather teams, and with its good base 85 Speed, it can come in on a predicted ineffective move and force the opponent to repeat it, shifting the momentum of the battle in your favor.
The other three slots are coverage moves which allow Golduck to inflict good damage on a wide range of foes. Hidden Power Grass is especially helpful on this set as it allows a quick, clean OHKO on Kabutops and Omastar, two common rain sweepers, as well as Quagsire. Ice Beam is a reliable choice for the last slot, but if you are looking to make Golduck an even surer answer to weather teams, Signal Beam can be used to hit Ludicolo and Snover harder than any of his other attacks. It is also a stronger option against Slowbro and Slowking as well. Another option is Psychic, which gets super effective hits on Qwilfish, Toxicroak, and Venusaur, all of whom take little from Surf and Hidden Power Grass.
Team Options & Additional Comments >>>
Golduck gets many opportunities to switch in on opposing weather teams. Against rain teams, it can come in on all of the common rain sweepers, with the exception of Ludicolo, with great ease, and then force them out of play with the threat of a super effective Hidden Power Grass. When switching into opposing Chlorophyll users, such as Exeggutor and Tangrowth, Golduck can use its ability to force a predicted SolarBeam to take a charge turn, forcing the hapless foe to stay in and be taken out by Ice Beam. Fire-types won't manage much against Golduck either when their STABs are resisted and don't receive a power boost from the sunlight.
Encore combined with Golduck's Speed comes extremely handy when playing against more standard teams. Any supporting move or ineffective attack can be switched into and Encored. From an opposing Milotic's Surf or Recover to Registeel's Stealth Rock or Iron Head, or if you're feeling particularly gutsy, Venusaur's Swords Dance, Golduck can come in and force them all to switch out. This free turn allows you to pummel the opposing team with your choice of attack, and while it doesn't possess the highest of Special Attack stats, the ease with which Golduck can give itself free turns means this constant pummeling process will very quickly begin to take a toll.
The 224 Speed EVs with a Timid nature ensure that Golduck outspeeds Jolly Kabutops and Timid Milotic, allowing it to Hidden Power Grass or Encore before they can attack. Maximizing Special Attack gives Golduck's attacks a much needed power boost, just enough to allow Ice Beam to 2HKO the standard offensive Venusaur. Leftovers is the item of choice, providing a steady source of recovery and helps switching into entry hazards a bit easier. Life Orb can be used to increase damage output (as can using Hydro Pump over Surf as your STAB attack), but it's hard to give up Leftovers when you're wanting Golduck to be in good health for switching in multiple times. A good middle ground between the two items is Expert Belt—Golduck will often be receiving the damage boost with the impressive coverage it has on this set, and won't have to take any recoil damage for it either.
Overall, this Golduck set is very self-sufficient and needs little in the way of specific team support. Rather, Golduck provides a good catch-all for offensive teams that want a bit of insurance against being destroyed by even more offensive rain teams, while also being an effective tool against more defensive Pokemon. As with most Pokemon, entry hazard support is appreciated, but in Golduck's case, it is especially helpful because of the number of switches Encore forces. Be careful when using one of UU's Water-type Spikers (Omastar, Cloyster, or Qwilfish) alongside Golduck because you will inevitably double up on weaknesses.
Golduck is perhaps the only UU Water-type that can effectively boost its own Special Attack and sweep. While Slowbro and Slowking can also set up with Calm Mind or Nasty Plot, their extremely low Speed makes it easy for opponents to halt an attempted sweep with Toxic or Haze. Golduck, on the other hand, is fast enough to outspeed the defensive Pokemon that commonly carry such moves and can often 2HKO them after a boost, making it a much harder sweeper to stop. Hydro Pump is Golduck's most powerful STAB attack, dealing heavy damage to any Pokemon that doesn't resist it. After a single boost, even sturdy Pokemon such as Spiritomb and Hariyama can be OHKOed, while Clefable and Uxie are hit for guaranteed 2HKOs. Ice Beam takes care of Grass-types as well as Altaria, while Hidden Power Grass covers Golduck's fellow Water-types. With good prediction, Golduck can 2HKO Milotic with a boosted Hidden Power Grass and avoid being stifled by Toxic or Haze. Alternatively, Golduck can use Encore in the last slot to gain free turns. While this makes setting up much easier, it comes at the cost of a coverage move. If you choose to use Encore, Psychic is a good option over Ice Beam, as it has better two-move coverage alongside Hydro Pump. The only common UU Pokemon that resist both Water and Psychic are Slowbro and Exeggutor. Unfortunately, the loss of super effective coverage makes it significantly easier for the opponent to wall Golduck with bulky Water resistors.
Team Options & Additional Comments >>>
While Golduck has decent Speed and passable bulk, it is still vulnerable to faster physical attackers. Despite being unable to safely switch in on an attack, Leafeon, Sceptile, and Hitmonlee can all come in while Golduck sets up, and will outspeed and OHKO Golduck with their STAB moves. Because of this, it is usually better to simply fire off unboosted attacks during the early-game and save Calm Mind for later in the match when you have scouted most of your opponent's team. Life Orb is the recommended item thanks to the consistent power boost it brings. Without it, Golduck will often require more than one boost to be able to KO defensive Pokemon. However, Leftovers can be used if you wish to play Golduck more conservatively, especially in tandem with Encore. This will help keep Golduck healthy early on and may give it the opportunity to accumulate multiple boosts when it's ready to sweep. Hydro Pump is usually recommended due to the key KOs that it achieves, but Surf has more PP and better accuracy, and is worth considering for its reliability if you choose to use Leftovers.
Golduck's Cloud Nine ability makes it an excellent counter to most Swift Swim and Chlorophyll sweepers. With their weather boosts nullified, Golduck can outspeed and OHKO Pokemon such as Kabutops and Tangrowth that might otherwise do serious damage to your team. Max Speed and a Timid nature are required to outspeed or tie the most common weather abusers along with the all-important base 80 Speed group. Special Attack is then maximized to cause as much damage as possible, while the final 4 EVs are placed in HP. You can instead put those 4 EVs into one of Golduck's defenses and use an HP IV of 29 to minimize damage from Life Orb recoil, although this will also slightly reduce the power of Hidden Power Grass.
Entry hazard support is always helpful for an offensive Pokemon, and Golduck is no exception. After a single boost, Golduck gets a guaranteed OHKO on Spiritomb and specially-defensive Weezing and has a decent chance to 2HKO Registeel with Hydro Pump if Stealth Rock is in play. Hazards become even more important when running Encore to punish the switches that it causes while making up for the loss of super effective coverage. With Encore, Golduck can even come out on top against Chansey if Stealth Rock is up, as +1 Hydro Pump will be a guaranteed 3HKO, forcing Chansey to use a recovery move immediately after switching in. Golduck can then Encore the recovery move to force Chansey out and grab another boost. Registeel is a good choice to set up Stealth Rock due to its excellent defensive capabilities and decent synergy with Golduck.
This set's counters depend on which moves Golduck is running. With three attacks, the only Pokemon that can safely switch in after a boost is Chansey. In this case, the best teammates for Golduck are mixed attackers or Choiced special attackers with Trick that can cripple Chansey. Blaziken and Rotom are both fine choices for this job. On the other hand, if Golduck is limited to a single coverage move, it will have more trouble breaking through bulky Water- and Grass-types that are not weak to Psychic. This makes Venusaur the best possible teammate, as it can come in on either of Golduck's weaknesses and use its powerful STAB Grass- and Poison-type attacks to destroy the Pokemon that wall Golduck.
This set takes full advantage of Golduck's excellent coverage in order to pose an immediate threat to a variety of Pokemon. With Cloud Nine, Golduck is especially effective at countering Pokemon that rely on the weather to boost their Speed and power. Fire-type Sunny Day abusers lose their instant SolarBeam and are swiftly KOed by Golduck's STAB Hydro Pump. Chlorophyll sweepers are easily outsped once their Speed boost is nullified and can be defeated with Ice Beam. Hidden Power Grass takes care of some of the most common Swift Swimmers, while Psychic rounds out the coverage by hitting Qwilfish and Toxicroak hard.
Team Options & Additional Comments >>>
The given EVs are standard for a special attacker. A Timid nature is required to outspeed the crucial base 80 Speed group and tie with other base 85s, such as Qwilfish and Toxicroak. Life Orb is the recommended item since it provides a solid boost to Golduck's attacks without limiting its flexibility, but Choice Specs provide a bigger boost and can be used if you plan to play Golduck as a hit-and-run Pokemon. Either way, Golduck will be completely walled by Chansey, so Cross Chop is an option in the fourth moveslot to get past it. With a Life Orb, Mild nature, and EV spread of 120 Atk / 252 SpA / 136 Spe, Golduck can always 2HKO Chansey while still outspeeding neutral-natured base 70s. However, Cross Chop has little value outside of hitting Chansey, and the drop in Speed makes Golduck lose to many key Pokemon that it could have otherwise beat, so using such a spread is only recommended if Chansey poses a huge problem for your team. Once again, using 29 HP IVs to drop Golduck's HP to 299 is an option as it will minimize Life Orb recoil at the cost of a tiny reduction in Hidden Power Grass's power.
While this set's great coverage allows Golduck to get past most Pokemon easily, it has trouble beating Pokemon that can take a hit or two. Entry hazards make life much easier for Golduck, softening up bulkier Pokemon and punishing weakened sweepers as they switch out. Most of Golduck's counters are grounded, so Spikes support would be ideal; unfortunately, most of the best UU Spikers are Water-types that don't work very well on the same team as Golduck. Cacturne is an exception, and has good defensive synergy with Golduck; unfortunately, neither Cacturne nor Golduck are very adept at taking Fighting-type attacks. Stealth Rock can be set up by a much wider variety of teammates, including reliable tanks such as Registeel and Uxie, and is therefore likely to be your best bet. Even with entry hazards up, this set is walled by most bulky Water-types. As such, Venusaur makes a great teammate thanks to its ability to consistently beat the most popular Water-types in UU.
Other Options
Golduck can use Encore with three attacks to fill a specific supporting role as a counter to weather sweepers and stat boosters. Even without any boosts to its Special Attack, Golduck can still outspeed and OHKO or 2HKO most weather sweepers with Surf, Ice Beam, or Hidden Power Grass, while Encore forces switches and prevents opponents from setting up. However, Golduck can make much better use of the free turns granted by Encore if it has Calm Mind, so it's usually best to stick to that. Golduck can also use a defensive Calm Mind set with Rest and Sleep Talk or a Chesto Berry, but physical attackers can still easily revenge kill Golduck, so such sets would have to be saved until very late in the match.
Aqua Jet is a STAB priority move, which is always a helpful asset in UU, but Golduck can't really spare a moveslot for it and lacks the physical power to use it effectively without heavy investment in Attack. Golduck has a nice physical movepool, including Waterfall, Aqua Tail, Ice Punch, Low Kick, Zen Headbutt, Shadow Claw, and Return, so a fully physical set could be used; however, with mediocre Attack and the unreliable Screech and Psych Up as the only options for boosting the power of its moves, it won't be very effective.
Signal Beam can surprise Ludicolo and hit Exeggutor, Shiftry, and Slowbro harder than Golduck's other moves, but any other potential targets take more damage from Hydro Pump or Ice Beam. Focus Blast can be used to nail special walls such as Registeel and Clefable harder than Hydro Pump would, but Golduck can often beat them after a boost anyway, so it's usually not worth risking the shaky accuracy. Golduck has access to several support moves besides Encore, including Light Screen, Hypnosis, Yawn, Toxic, Confuse Ray, and Whirlpool, but if you want a support-oriented bulky Water-type, there are many better options available.
Checks and Counters
Golduck's counters depend heavily on what moves it is running. Chansey can usually come in on any set and stall Golduck out easily, but if Golduck happens to have Cross Chop or Encore, it will force Chansey right back out. Unless Golduck has multiple Calm Mind boosts under its belt, Registeel can switch in and paralyze Golduck, neutralizing it as an offensive threat, but will often take heavy damage in the process. Ludicolo cannot switch into a boosted Ice Beam or Psychic, but shrugs off Golduck's other moves and can OHKO back with Seed Bomb. If Golduck lacks Psychic, Toxicroak can usually force Golduck out with powerful physical attacks, although a boosted Ice Beam will hurt. Without Calm Mind, Golduck will be unable to break through Milotic and other bulky Water-types. Golduck's Defense and Speed stats aren't particularly impressive, so speedy physical attackers such as Leafeon, Scyther, and Primeape can all revenge kill it easily.
