|
-
Guts
- Attack is increased 50% when statused.
|
Statistics
|
Min- |
Min |
Max |
Max+ |
| HP |
60
|
- |
261 |
324 |
- |
| Atk |
85
|
185 |
206 |
269 |
295 |
| Def |
60
|
140 |
156 |
219 |
240 |
| SpA |
50
|
122 |
136 |
199 |
218 |
| SpD |
50
|
122 |
136 |
199 |
218 |
| Spe |
125
|
257 |
286 |
349 |
383 |
Swellow lost physical Hidden Power from Advance, but gains three new moves. Brave Bird is a much more powerful option than its previously available Flying-type move choices, Pursuit was always an option but is now physical, and U-turn allows Swellow to switch out while doing some damage. While thanking Staraptor and Dodrio for being allowed to get both Brave Bird and Pursuit in the same moveset via breeding, Swellow tries to switch into a Will-O-Wisp or Toxic to activate its Guts. If Guts is activated, Facade has an 84.6% chance of OHKOing standard Blissey even with Jolly. With Adamant, it is a sure OHKO. Return is an option over Pursuit or U-turn if you want a more powerful STAB move until you get your Guts boost.
Almost the same as the previous set, but this time, Guts gets activated via Toxic Orb or Flame Orb instead of by predicting. This gives you the freedom of choosing whichever move you want after the first one, but now your attacks are 1.5 times less powerful due to lack of Choice Band.
Toxic Orb does less damage to Swellow the first two turns Swellow is out, but on the third turn, it is tied with Flame Orb for total damage done. If you think you can keep Swellow in for more than three turns, you'll want to use Flame Orb, otherwise, use Toxic Orb.
Swellow learns Baton Pass after being purified in Pokémon XD. You Substitute down to activate whichever berry you wish to make Swellow hold. If it is Starf Berry, you can then pass that stat boost (+2 in a random stat, which means that a random stat is doubled) to various options you deem fit. A few Pokémon would find a +2 boost in Defense or Special Defense welcome, like Tyranitar with a +2 in Defense or Salamence with a +2 in Special Defense. Boosting Speed would always be nice to pass to a sweeper, and boosting Attack or Special Attack is obviously also desirable. If you boost the Attack, Swellow can try to hit something before passing that boost. Then, after passing your boost, you can come back in later and Endeavor something before dying.
Because Endeavor doesn't hit Ghosts anyway, you don't really have a chance to beat them with this set, so you don't really gain much coverage with Aerial Ace over Return. Return has much greater power, as well. Aerial Ace can be used to finish off Heracross and Breloom, however. Quick Attack is a good option here because of all the Choice Scarf and high priority move users, like Ice Shard Donphan. If you Endeavor them on the switch, you can still finish them off with Quick Attack, and be able to Endeavor yet another Pokémon after that.
Other Options
Double-Edge is quite a nice option on Swellow, albeit a bit risky, since Swellow doesn't like recoil damage much, but remember that it cannot be together with Brave Bird in the same set, since it is a move tutor move. Steel Wing is an option if you want to hit Rock-types better. Mirror Move is an interesting option especially since, in DP, you can switch into an Earthquake and Mirror Move it back.
EVs
Swellow always needs maximum Speed and Attack.
Opinion
Swellow got boosted by Brave Bird, physical Pursuit and U-turn, but, overall, it didn't change much from Advance. Its strategy is still to activate its Guts, and then your opponent needs to watch out. The loss of physical Hidden Power makes Swellow struggle though, as not even Guts makes it do adequate damage to Pokémon that resist Normal and Flying moves.
Counters
Most Rock and Steel-types are counters to Swellow, although you need to be careful of Pursuit when you switch to them. This includes especially Tyranitar, Rhyperior, Bronzong and Skarmory. In UU, the Rock/Steel-types (Aggron, Probopass, and Bastiodon) wall it completely. Most other Rock-types stand a decent chance (Omastar and Magcargo are particularly useful thanks to neutrality to Steel Wing). In addition, Pokemon with Protect can stall and force Swellow to take burn damage. Priority moves (especially Ice Shard) combined with residual damage can often lead to a KO thanks to Swellow's poor defenses.