Kabutops (D/P) - Smogon University

R/B
G/S
R/S
D/P
B/W
Strategy
Moves

Battle Armor: Prevents critical hits.
Swift Swim: Speed doubles in rain.

Type	Tier
Rock / Water	UU

Level 100 Statistics (see level 5, 50, 100)
		Min-	Min	Max	Max+
HP	60	-	261	324	-
Atk	115	239	266	329	361
Def	105	221	246	309	339
SpA	65	149	166	229	251
SpD	70	158	176	239	262
Spe	80	176	196	259	284

Underused
Overused
Uber

Overview

Kabutops is one of the best Rain Dance sweepers in OU. With an Attack stat higher than Lucario's, it is no surprise that it is so powerful. This extra power combined with the usefulness of Stone Edge are Kabutops' main benefits over Qwilfish. The impressive combination of Water / Rock is not resisted by many, allowing Kabutops to rip through many teams with little effort. If you can keep the rain up, Kabutops will almost certainly do you proud, and if your opponent underestimates this beast, it will likely lead to their demise.

There are Pokemon who can cause it a few problems, but usually once Kabutops gets a Swords Dance off, your opponent better get ready for a painful experience.

Name	Item	Ability	Nature
Swords Dance	Life Orb	Swift Swim	Adamant

Moveset	EVs
~ Swords Dance ~ Waterfall ~ Stone Edge ~ Aqua Jet	32 HP / 252 Atk / 20 Def / 204 Spe

Kabutops is a truly fearsome Swords Dance sweeper in OU when Rain Dance is in effect, and this set aims to take full advantage of that. Waterfall and Stone Edge are the primary moves on this set, providing an awesome attacking combination as the only two Pokemon commonly used in OU who resist both types are Breloom and Empoleon. Aqua Jet finishes off the set by allowing Kabutops to OHKO Infernape before it hits you with Mach Punch or Vacuum Wave. Not to mention it does 74% minimum to Choice Scarf Gengar without a Swords Dance boost, who outspeeds you even in the rain. Most important of all, it can hit Scizor before it Bullet Punches you, although it will need to be weakened a bit for you to OHKO it at +2 in the rain, as it does 74.3% - 87.8%. Priority is also just a useful thing to have in general since the rain won't always be up. When it is raining, Waterfall will have a massive 180 Base Power with Aqua Jet at 90 thanks to the boost to Water-type moves provided by the weather.

Unlike Qwilfish, Kabutops has a higher Attack stat and access to Stone Edge which gives it an easier time against bulky Water- and Dragon-types, such as Gyarados and Dragonite. While Qwilfish may have a powerful Explosion and the ability to absorb Toxic Spikes on entry, it usually won't do as much damage to your opponent's team as Kabutops can. Although Aqua Jet is generally the preferred option in the last slot, there are some other possibilities. X-Scissor can be used since it has a high chance of OHKOing Celebi with Stealth Rock support, even before a Swords Dance. It also provides a more accurate attack to hit Starmie with, rather than relying on Stone Edge's shaky accuracy. Low Kick, Superpower, and Brick Break are some Fighting-type alternatives that hit Empoleon for super effective damage and hit most Fighting-weak Pokemon harder than Waterfall. Aqua Tail can replace Waterfall if you want even more power, at the cost of 10% accuracy, but Waterfall is usually strong enough and the accuracy loss from Aqua Tail can hurt at times. Also, the 20% flinch rate can be useful at times. Rock Slide can be used over Stone Edge since it has slightly more reliable accuracy and a nice flinch rate, but the loss of power makes it unappealing.

Team Options & Additional Comments >>>

The EVs are aimed at making Kabutops hit hard, while outspeeding as many important foes as possible. Max Attack is obvious, while 204 Speed EVs allows Kabutops to hit 247 Speed, outrunning anyone up to and including +1 +nature base 100s, assuming Rain Dance is in effect. When rain isn't up, it will outspeed Choice Scarf-less Tyranitar, and many others trying to just outspeed Tyranitar. 32 HP EVs give a Life Orb number, while the rest is put into Defense to take physical hits slightly better. An Adamant nature is preferred for the extra power, but a Jolly nature can be used should you wish to outrun Timid Choice Scarf Gengar while rain is up, and also outrun neutral natured Gyarados, Kingdra, and Lucario regardless of whether the rain is up or not. Swift Swim is the obvious ability since it doubles Kabutops' Speed to impressive levels, while Life Orb is used for the extra power that is necessary against important threats, such as Skarmory.

Kabutops' teammates should all be centered around either sweeping in Rain Dance or setting it up. All versions of Kingdra are great partners to Kabutops for a few reasons. Mixed versions can easily OHKO Breloom with Draco Meteor and often OHKO standard 252 HP Celebi with Signal Beam, assuming Stealth Rock is up. Both Dragon Dance and special versions can outspeed and OHKO Timid Choice Scarf Gengar in the rain, who causes Kabutops problems. The special versions can also lure in both Celebi and Empoleon, always OHKOing the former with Signal Beam (with Stealth Rock support) and 2HKOing offensive versions of the latter with Hidden Power Electric, allowing Kabutops an easier time sweeping. Ludicolo is a great partner since it can deal with bulky Water-types who can trouble Kabutops if it can't get a Swords Dance up. It can also Ice Beam Breloom to its grave. Qwilfish works effectively as a partner since it OHKOes Celebi 100% of the time at +2 with a STAB Poison Jab. Also, they have similar Pokemon who trouble them, and Qwilfish Exploding on one of them could give Kabutops a chance to sweep.

The Rain Dance supporters who partner up best with Kabutops are those who resist its weaknesses to Electric-, Fighting-, Grass-, and Ground-type moves. Levitate Bronzong is immune to Ground-type attacks and resists Grass-type attacks, so it makes a great partner. It is also one of, if not the best, mid-game Rain Dance replenishers due to its lack of multiple weaknesses and great defenses. Jolteon, Magnezone, Rotom-W, and Zapdos are all effective partners as they all resist many of the moves which trouble Kabutops and can fire off powerful Thunders at some of the troublesome bulky Water-types, such as Suicune. Scizor can take the Grass-type attacks aimed at Kabutops and also use Bullet Punch to deal with Abomasnow and Tyranitar whose abilities clear the rain, as well as having super effective Bug-type attacks to hit Celebi and Starmie with.

Other Options

Return and Aerial Ace are other attacking options for Kabutops, but have limited use in OU; a +2 Waterfall in the rain OHKOes most Breloom anyway. Kabutops can use a Focus Sash and set up Stealth Rock in the lead position, but there are better options for doing this in OU and for a Rain Dance team; it is better to stick to Azelf, Crobat, Electrode, or Jirachi for leading. Kabutops can set up Rain Dance itself, but the loss of a moveslot hurts it and there are better Pokemon to do this. Kabutops can use Endure / Substitute + Flail, but priority and the abundance of Choice Scarf users makes this hard to set up. Rapid Spin could be useful to get rid of entry hazards, but this is better left to Forretress, Starmie, and Tentacruel in OU. Knock Off is an option since getting rid of an opponent's Leftovers could prove useful, but this has limited use in OU. Surf and Hidden Power are possibilities for use on a mixed set, but Kabutops can usually get through most physical walls by using Swords Dance anyway, and its low base 65 Special Attack makes this even more unappealing.

Kabutops could run a Choice Band, sacrificing versatility for straight out power, but this is usually a bad idea since rain turns are precious and a misprediction when using a Choice Band could therefore prove costly. A Lum Berry could be used to stop status ending your sweep.

Running maximum Speed is fine should you wish to Speed tie with Adamant Mamoswine and outspeed the rare Modest Heatran. When using a Jolly nature, running maximum Speed is best as this Speed ties with Jolly Mamoswine. Jolly and 236 Speed EVs will outspeed Adamant Lucario, while running 192 Speed EVs will outspeed neutral natured Kingdra and other neutral base 85 Pokemon.

Checks and Counters

Not much can take repeated hits from Kabutops so it often depends on the move choice. Celebi is among the best counters if Kabutops lacks X-Scissor as even with Stealth Rock, it almost always survives a +2 Stone Edge and can then OHKO Kabutops with Grass Knot. Very bulky Breloom can deal with most Kabutops since a +2 Waterfall in the rain only does 66.6% - 78.4% to 236 HP / 248 Def +Defense nature Breloom, allowing it to easily take a hit then Seed Bomb Kabutops for the OHKO. Defensive Empoleon also does well since Waterfall can only manage 75.8% maximum at +2 in the rain, allowing Empoleon to take a hit and OHKO Kabutops with Grass Knot. More offensive Empoleon can do decently, but they have a chance of being OHKOed by a +2 Waterfall in the rain.

Bulky Water-types, such as Suicune, Swampert, and Vaporeon, can do decently as long as Kabutops has not got a Swords Dance up, although non-offensive Suicune and Vaporeon will need Kabutops to be slightly weakened to OHKO it. Choice Scarf Gengar can outspeed and OHKO most Kabutops, but it generally can't switch in directly. Scizor can use Bullet Punch to finish off a weakened Kabutops, but it must be in high health to take an Aqua Jet in the rain from a +2 Kabutops. Shaymin can do well against Kabutops if Bold and with maximum or close to maximum HP and Defense EVs, as it will almost always survive a +2 Stone Edge, even with Stealth Rock support, and has around a 50% chance to survive a +2 X-Scissor with Stealth Rock up. It can then easily OHKO Kabutops with Seed Flare. Non-bulky versions of Shaymin won't like Kabutops at +2, but they otherwise can take a hit and OHKO Kabutops with Seed Flare.