Omastar has high Special Attack, and with Rain Dance and Swift Swim boosting his Speed, and Life Orb boosting the power of his attacks, he makes an excellent special sweeper, especially in the lower tiers. Surf or Hydro Pump is a simple choice between accuracy and power, while Ice Beam covers Grass-types and destroys Dragon-types like Altaria. Deciding on which Hidden Power you want depends on what Pokémon you want to cover. Hidden Power Grass covers Water/Ground-types, specifically Quagsire and Gastrodon, as well as damaging Lanturn while Hidden Power Electric takes out Gyarados, should you try this set in OU. When using Swift Swim Omastar in OU, Earth Power becomes a great addition over Rain Dance, scoring 2HKOs on positive natured 252 HP / 92 SpD Empoleon and the most specially defensive Tentacruel, without Stealth Rock or Life Orb factored in. If you do replace Rain Dance, go with Life Orb as the held item, and make sure you have other Rain Dancers to keep Swift Swim activated. Hidden Power Electric then becomes the better choice, taking down Gyarados who would otherwise wall this set. Gyarados, though, can turn the rain against you with STAB, rain-boosted Waterfalls, so try to take it out as quickly as possible. Having rain already set up will really help get Omastar sweeping, so his greatest allies will be Pokemon who can easily set up Rain Dance. Bulky Pokemon, like Uxie or Ludicolo, are good choices in UU, as both can consistently switch in and set up rain. Electrode also, is a viable addition to your team, just know he tends to be suicidal. OU Pokemon like Bronzong, Kingdra, and Azelf are great in the upper tier, as they provide both coverage from Ground- and Grass-type attacks and make good Rain Dance partners as well.
Omastar’s movepool is just about good enough to support a Choice Specs set, allowing him to function as a rather slow but powerful hit and run attacker. AncientPower is pretty weak even with STAB, but it does decent damage to Pokemon who can sponge hits from your other attacks easily, especially doing a lot to Mantine. Hidden Power Grass can be used to take down bulky Water-type hybrids, including Swampert and Lanturn, just watch out for Lanturn's STAB Electric-type attacks. Some back up from a Rain Dancer would be really helpful if you're using this set. Having an Omastar with over 400 Speed and firing off attacks from a 540 Special Attack stat with even further boosted STAB Water-type attacks makes it an insanely potent threat. Again, Rain Dance would be beneficial to this set, as will entry hazards. A Pokemon running off 400 Speed and packing a 540 Special Attack stat isn’t something you want to skip over. Ludicolo does a great job as a switch-in for this set, resisting Electric- and Ground-type attacks, and taking only neutral damage from Grass-type attacks. The dancing pineapple is also a very capable Rain Dancer, and both its abilities benefit from the rain. Users of Stealth Rock and Spikes, such as Claydol and Roserade, respectively, are also appreciated, as the entry hazards help net OHKOs that would otherwise be impossible. If you’re looking for someone to absorb the inevitable Grass-type attacks better than Ludicolo does, adding a Flying-type Pokemon, such as Altaria, would be beneficial. Altaria also has Rain Dance to support Omastar, and can use Natural Cure to take status aimed at Omastar. If rain isn’t being used, Moltres is an amazing partner, as Air Slash and Fire Blast take down the majority of Omastar’s counters.
Omastar has an awful typing for a defensive Pokémon, but his impressive Defense stat means he can at least switch into Choice Banded Normal-, Flying-, and Fire-type attacks with ease. Once Omastar is in play, set up entry hazards. The choice between Spikes and Toxic Spikes comes down to personal preference. Spikes is suggested as Toxic Spikes are generally a poor choice in UU, where Poison-types run amuck. The last move slot is influenced by the rest of your team. If you need to cover Dragon- or Grass-types a more, use Ice Beam. Knock Off is a great support move, stripping your opponent’s Pokemon of many valuable items. Protect is a good stall option, scouting for Choiced Pokemon and providing a turn of Leftovers recovery, as well as racking up poison damage is you opt to use Toxic Spikes. Adding this set to a Rain Dance team might seem plausible, but know that you have low Special Attack investment, and will be using up three turns of rain to lay down entry hazards. A spin blocker is a great ally for this set, especially Rotom, who is immune to both Fighting- and Ground-type attacks. Rotom’s ability to add screens or status your foe’s counters will greatly help Omastar, covering his lower Special Defense or horrible Speed, respectively. It’s worth noting how this set can be effective on an OU sandstorm team. The Special Defense boost adds to Omastar’s sturdiness, but be wary of the all-too-frequent Ground- and Fighting-type attacks. Omastar also makes a great switch-in to Heatran locked into a STAB Fire-type move (Choice Specs Fire Blast is a 3HKO in Sandstorm). Omastar doesn't fear Stealth Rock, so he can easily switch in on the majority of Stealth Rockers and threaten them with STAB Water-type attacks. Team OptionsOmastar’s great, but he really shines in rain. A great lead Pokemon like Uxie or Electrode in UU, and Azelf in OU, who are capable of getting Rain Dance set up fast puts Omastar into Speed mode-just make sure the rain doesn’t dry up. Sandstorm is also a viable, though less used, weather condition, since he is able to cover the Fire-type weakness held by many Steel-types which are found in a sandstorm team with a STAB Surf. Being a Swift Swim Pokemon, the majority of Omastar’s ideal teammates also star on Rain Dance teams. Kabutops picks up the slack on the physical side, but shares every weakness Omastar does. Qwilfish can help set up entry hazards with Omastar and can potentially KO Grass-types with a STAB Poison Jab, but will add another Ground-type weakness to your team. Ludicolo is one of the best partners with Omastar in UU and OU, with both Pokemon providing great resistances, while not sharing a single common weakness as well. In OU, Kingdra becomes a great ally, resisting or taking neutral damage from all of Omastar’s weaknesses. Rotom-H or Rotom-W are both good teammates, depending on whether rain is falling or not. Both block Rapid Spin attempts, but while Rotom-H covers Grass-types with Overheat, Rotom-W can use a boosted Hydro Pump and 100% accuracy STAB Thunder. Be wary of Tyranitar, though, if you choose to run Rotom-W; his Sand Stream ability will lower Thunder's accuracy to 50%. Omastar has some backing when it comes to defensive pairings. Chansey and Omastar’s foil defensive stats make them a capable duo in UU; just make sure both are out of there when Fighting-types come to play. Clefable also performs similarly to Chansey. Spiritomb boasts immunity to Fighting-type attacks and can stall out many enemies with help from Omastar’s entry hazards. In OU, Bronzong is great when paired with our prehistoric cephalopod. Bronzong boast immunity to Ground moves, resists Grass-type moves, takes neutral damage from Fighting attacks, and is finally able to use Rain Dance. In return, Omastar covers Bronzong’s only weakness, Fire, with its dual Water- and Rock-typing. Hippowdon and Tyranitar are both great teammates, since both can activate permanent sandstorm, though Hippowdon is probably the better choice; Tyranitar shares many more weaknesses with Omastar. Status sponges, such as Starmie and Blissey, are also helpful (and Blissey can provide recovery via Wish). To effectively use Omastar, you have to be either super offensive (in rain), or great at predicting (for hazards). Either way, though, Omastar must have great teammates who can cover for his multiple weaknesses. Other OptionsOmastar does not have a wide array of other options that it can use competitively. A Choice Specs Wring Out can do about 45% damage to a full health Lanturn, and up to 80% to Quagsire. However, Wring Out is pretty poor otherwise and one will generally not find much use for it.
Brine is stronger than Surf and can be useful if you need the extra kick to finish a Pokémon off. However, a lot of the time it will be dead weight as Surf generally has enough power against the majority of threats. It should be noted however, that a rain-boosted Life Orb Brine can do 45% - 53% damage to 0 HP / 252 SDef Calm Chansey, provided that it is under 50% HP. Rest and Sleep Talk can be used with Surf and a utility move such as Spikes, which trades coverage for a bit more longevity. Finally, Haze is an interesting option, but there are not many threats Omastar can actually use Haze on, as many of the stat up users in UU carry a Ground- or Electric-type move. EVsIf you’re holding anything but a Life Orb, the standard 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe spread maximizes all important stats. If, however, you are using a Life Orb and want to hit that magic Hit Point number, lowering the HP IV to 29 will grant you 279 HP and a few extra hits on your opponent. The Utility set’s EV spread allows Omastar to live through an Adamant Choice Banded Dugtrio Earthquake and score an OHKO with Surf (even without Stealth Rock support), as well as survive a Naughty Life Orb +1 Outrage from Salamence if using Omastar in OU. OpinionOmastar may have been dealt a rather poor hand when it comes to typing and movepool, but he does the best he can with what he has. Omastar resides in two niches, both of which play very differently. Being a successful hazard setter or sweeper is difficult, especially when you're so defensively lopsided and slow, and although it may take a bit of prediction to successfully use, as soon as you learn how to switch him in and how much he can manage, our extinct friend here is one capable Pokemon, regardless of the tier he's playing in. CountersOmastar's horrid typing makes him susceptible to a multitude of attack types. Roserade and Ludicolo both pack enough punch with their STAB special attacks to OHKO Omastar every time, and even Breloom can overcome his huge base 125 Defense to score OHKOs with Seed Bomb. The move Vacuum Wave also spells doom for Omastar, so Toxicroak and Lucario aren’t welcome guests on the battlefield, either. Bulky Water-types, such as Milotic, don’t fear Hidden Power, and can retaliate with greater force. Vaporeon can absorb Water-type attacks to replenish her own HP, as well as hit hard with Surf, so be on your guard. Suicune can use Omastar as set-up fodder, and really has no problem absorbing a super effective Hidden Power, either. Like all Pokemon who rely on their Special Attack stat to cause damage, Omastar is walled by Chansey, in UU and Blissey, in OU. Registeel, also, does a fair job of stopping Omastar in its tracks. Our beloved octopus snail also falls to Tracers, such as Gardevoir, who can copy Swift Swim and wreak havoc on Rain Dance teams. Lack of a reliable recovery move outside of Rest really hurts Omastar as well, and residual damage from status and entry hazards are normally enough to force him into OHKO range for anything. |
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