This is the best that Sudowoodo can do—switch into a move that it resists, and hit the Pokémon that’s switching into it hard. Stone Edge gets STAB and is your main form of attack. Earthquake covers Steel-types, and the excellent Wood Hammer covers bulky Water and Ground-types. A Choice Banded Explosion always does massive damage, and Sudowoodo's is no exception. This set can also benefit from another Pokémon that has set up Trick Room, in which case Life Orb is a superior item choice.
Despite poor physically defensive typing, which somewhat undermines his above average base 115 Defense, Sudowoodo can still force some switches, particularly in UU against the likes of Swellow, Dodrio, or any Choice Banded Normal or Flying attacks. In OU, Sudowoodo's ability to force switches is almost zero, although the SpD boost from Sandstorm will grant a small number of opportunities, as will the threat of a potential Explosion. Set up a Substitute on the switch, and see what comes in. Ghosts such as Gengar and Rotom will often be switching into Sudowoodo, due to their immunity to Sudowoodo's powerful Explosion. Putting up a Substitute encourages them to attack Sudowoodo straight upon coming in, allowing you to Sucker Punch them with minimal risk. You can also fire off powerful Focus Punches from behind your Substitute, which gets excellent coverage with both Sucker Punch (the Fighting/Dark-type combination is only resisted by Heracross and Toxicroak) as well as STAB Stone Edge. The synergy between Sucker Punch and Focus Punch is the main selling point for this set; whilst one encourages your opponent to attack Sudowoodo directly, the other deters them from doing so. Max HP is not used so that Sudowoodo's HP stat is not divisible by 4. If it was, then it would only be able to Substitute four times as opposed to five. Earthquake or Wood Hammer can be used over Substitute for greater coverage but Substitute helps to ease prediction.
It doesn't get much in the way of support options, but Stealth Rock is a great move and Sudowoodo is bulky enough to switch in and set it up. Stone Edge and Wood Hammer get decent coverage, although Earthquake does more to Steel-types, especially Mawile. Toxic complements the nature of the set and helps to wear down various walls, which is helpful against Waters and Grounds if you don't use Wood Hammer. Rather than slowly wear down your enemies, you can just explode on them to get them out of the way quickly, and more spectacularly.
Sudowoodo can outspeed even base 105 Speed Pokémon after one Rock Polish, which in UU translates to outspeeding the vast majority of the metagame there. Use Rock Polish while your foe is switching out, then choose one of your three attacking moves accordingly. Other OptionsHammer Arm can deal with bulky Normal-types more effectively. Sudowoodo learns Thunderpunch as well but it doesn’t provide much type coverage, or, at least, the listed moves are better in that regard. The other elemental punches can be used if you want to try Sudowoodo in OU battles. Fire Punch helps against Bronzong and Forretress, and Ice Punch is useful for Garchomp, Flygon and Torterra. Either attack will take out Breloom too. Rock Slide is an option over Stone Edge if you prefer a more accurate move, or if you want to take advantage of the flinch rate on the Rock Polish set, or with Trick Room support. Counter is a rather nifty option considering Sudowoodo's average HP stat but high Defense, which can surprise a Pokémon using a non-STAB Earthquake. EVsFor the first set, aim for max Attack with Adamant. At least 117 (84 EVs) Speed to outrun most Camerupt. If you’re going to set up Trick Room, use a 0 Speed IV and a Brave nature. Support set should have plenty of HP and Defense. You can invest the same 84 EVs if you want to outrun Camerupt, or add a little more to Defense or Attack. For Rock Polish sets, max Attack and Speed is fine. Jolly nature. OpinionSudowoodo got some rather nice moves in DP. A more powerful STAB move in Stone Edge, and physical elemental punches and Sucker Punch are all quite handy. However, Wood Hammer is by far the best new attack in its arsenal. Not only does Rock Head ensure it doesn't incur recoil damage, but it hammers Water and Ground-types, who would otherwise switch into Sudowoodo with little fear. Sadly, it is still extremely slow, but it can do decently under Trick Room conditions or after a Rock Polish. You really need to question Gamefreak’s wisdom of creating a pre-evolution to Sudowoodo which ends up not contributing anything to Sudowoodo at all, but that is another story. CountersNot much can switch into Sudowoodo safely, but with such low Speed and several common weaknesses, killing it is not difficult. Hitmontop is your best bet as it can switch in, Intimidate Sudowoodo and easily handle Stone Edge. Meganium is also a good option. Quagsire and Poliwrath can come in on anything but Wood Hammer. Usually you can simply take advantage of Sudowoodo's poor Speed and Special Defense, by firing off Surfs and Energy Balls. |
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