Stone Edge and Waterfall will be your main attacks, with Aqua Jet for picking off weakened, faster opponents. Several viable options can occupy the last moveslot, which depends partly on which tier you are using Kabutops in. In OU battles, X-Scissor offers a reliable way to get rid of Celebi, and provides a little more power and accuracy against other Psychics and Grassers, like Slowbro, Starmie, and Cresselia. Brick Break is almost entirely for Empoleon, who resists every other attack in Kabutops' arsenal, although it does give you a little more kick against Magnezone too. In UU, Aerial Ace is useful for Toxicroak and Poliwrath and Return is your best option against Quagsire; it also leaves a nice dent in the two Fighters.
With Swords Dance to back up those great STAB moves and impressive Attack stat, this version of Kabutops can be a devastating sweeper. A Swords Dance and Life Orb boosted Aqua Jet is a very potent weapon and can OHKO many fast but frail sweepers, such as Gengar, Rotom, Manectric, and Hitmonlee, although it is only guaranteed against Hitmonlee. However, if you are providing Rain Dance support to Kabutops, then Aqua Jet is not required and you can opt for another attack to take care of potential counters. X-Scissor or Brick Break are your best options in OU, while Aerial Ace and Return (which can hit Quagsire for up to 70% after a Swords Dance) are better choices in UU. For the merits of each attack, see the Choice Band set above. If you aren't keen on Life Orb recoil, Mystic Water is a good alternative to power up Waterfall and Aqua Jet. This is especially useful if you are looking to take advantage of sandstorm.
The main problem with the first two sets is Kabutops' rather average Speed. Rain Dance and Swift Swim solve this problem while still giving Kabutops' offense a boost, albeit only to Waterfall. Rock Slide is viable here, since you are now fast enough to get more use from the 30% flinch rate. If Kabutops has other team members to benefit from more turns of Rain Dance, then Damp Rock is a good item choice. However, if it operating as a more independent sweeper, then Life Orb is preferred.
This works better than the Rain Dance variant in a team running Sand Stream. Since you can't get permanent sandstorm support in UU, this is geared towards OU play. As such, your final attack should be either X-Scissor to cover Celebi and other Psychics, or Brick Break to take out Empoleon.
Being weak to the ever popular Close Combat and Earthquake, means that Kabutops' good Defense stat is somewhat wasted. In fact you are better off specializing in Special Defense and running Sand Stream to capitalize on Kabutops' Ice and x4 Fire resistances, as well as improving its ability to take bulky Surfs. Rapid Spin and Knock Off are incompatible breeding moves, so you must decide which would benefit your team most.
With Sand Stream resistance, this is perfectly viable in OU battles. Despite the lack of STAB, a full powered Flail is very potent, especially when backed with a Swords Dance. Waterfall covers everything that resists Flail, with the exceptions of Empoleon, Shedinja, Dialga, and Giratina, the latter two of which Kabutops would never see in OU or UU. Placing EVs anywhere other than Attack and Speed is pointless on this set. Simply max out both stats and use a Jolly nature. Make sure that Kabutops' HP is odd if you opt for Substitute over Endure. Other OptionsNatural Gift and a Liechi Berry provides an 80 BP Grass attack to maim Quagsire. Night Slash is not worth a slot as STAB Stone Edge does more to every Ghost in the game, and X-Scissor is more effective on Psychics. A Lum Berry can be handy on Swords Dance set, so Kabutops' sweep isn't ruined by paralysis or burn. This is especially useful against the likes of Dusknoir and Cresselia. EVsWith the exception of the Support set, you should always max out Attack. For the CB and Swords Dance sets, 254 Speed will beat Modest Heatran, and 280 beats everything from neutral natured Heracross and Toxicroak to Lucario and other base 90s. For OU battles, If you want take greater advantage of the Special Defense in sandstorm, you can invest more defensive EVs at the expense of Speed. 241 Speed outruns neutral natured base 70s and max Speed Magnezone and Abomasnow. 228 Speed (128 EVs) will outrun most Gliscor, and 222 (104 EVs) to beat Adamant Tyranitar. After maxing Attack, place the remaining EVs in Special Defense. The Speed boosting sets (Rain Dance, Rock Polish), don't require as much Speed. 232 EVs are enough to initially outrun Modest Heatran, Adamant Scarf Garchomp and Modest Scarf Gengar after Rain Dance is set up. In UU, you don't need that much Speed, so you can invest more in HP. 200 HP / 252 Atk / 56 Spe, hits 210 Speed and outruns many of the other Swift Swimmers, including Omastar, Relicanth, Huntail and Gorebyss. If you want to ensure you outrun Seaking and Mantine, boost your Speed up to 240 (176 EVs). OpinionKabutops packs quite a punch (or... slash) with double STAB on Water and Rock; a combination resisted by only a handful of Pokemon. Further, it has access to Swords Dance and two methods of boosting its Speed, with Rock Polish or Swift Swim. Although its typing has few useful resistances, Rock makes Kabutops immune to Sand Stream, gaining a Special Defense boost in the process. Kabutops is looking to switch in on Ice or Fire-type attacks. Normal and Flying attacks are alright too, though they tend to be backed up by STAB and a Choice Band. It has a number of fun and potentially lethal movesets available; one would do well not to underestimate it. CountersOU: Empoleon is one of the best initial switch-ins, as he resists all of Kabutops' attacking apart from Brick Break. Sturdy Grass-types like Celebi and Tangrowth can work, although X-Scissor will destroy Celebi. Swampert and Torterra can both handle three CB Waterfalls, or two Swords Dance boosted attacks and easily KO with Earthquake. CB X-Scissor is a possible 2HKO on Torterra, so beware of that. UU: Quagsire is your best option here. Kabutops' best weapon is Return, which is a mere 3HKO with a Choice Band or a 2HKO even when boosted by Swords Dance and Life Orb. Poliwrath can switch-in easily on both STAB attacks and only fears boosted Aerial Aces. Toxicroak works in a similar fashion, although it has lower defenses when compared to Poliwrath. Meganium can be 2HKOed by a CB Stone Edge or X-Scissor, but it fares well against Rain Dance sets as a Life Orb X-Scissor is a 2HKO at best. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
