This is a reliable set that takes advantage of Walrein's good defenses. Avalanche powers up to 120 if Walrein takes a hit, while Ice Beam does more damage to incoming Pokémon thanks to the extra 35 base power and Walrein's higher Special Attack. If this is used in OU play, Ice Beam is always the superior option as it does far more damage to the likes of Skarmory and Weezing than Avalanche would. In the last slot, you can go with Earthquake to smack around Electric-types, such as Manectric and Lanturn. It also has a chance to 2HKO Tentacruel. Toxic is useful to help wear down its counters and fits in well with the stally nature of this set. Hypno, Grumpig, and Water-types like Blastoise and Quagsire will hate being poisoned.
Walrein is a slow bugger to begin with, so the one negative effect of Curse barely hinders it at all, especially as it will almost always being going last when using Avalanche. Rest recovers off damage incurred while Cursing and gets rid of crippling status conditions like Will-O-Wisp and Toxic. Yawn can help you set up by sending a counter to sleep or forcing them to switch, giving you another chance to Curse. This is mostly designed for UU, as the likes of Snorlax, Regirock and Swampert make more effective Cursers in OU.
Walrein is highly unlikely to be sweeping, but it can use Encore to help a teammate set up. Encore a Thunderbolt, switch to a Ground-type, Encore a Fighting attack, switch to a Ghost, you get the idea. You can also Encore stat boosting attacks, recovery moves, etc., giving a teammate another possibility of a free switch in. Substitute helps to ensure you don't take too much damage from Encored attacks. Toxic can be used to spread status when Encore forces a switch.
This set is centered around making use of Walrein's Ice Body ability, so you will need to pair it up with Abomasnow to get a constant stream of Hail going. With Ice Body activated and Leftovers equipped, Walrein can use Protect to score some free healing. Poisoning opponents is key to this set's success. Once Walrein has infected an opponent with Toxic, the stalling can commence. Simply alternate between Protect and Substitute, healing each turn while the poison damage intensifies, draining your opponent of its HP. This is the more direct approach. Although it requires some additional support, throwing a Toxic Spiker—Forretress and Tentacruel are both fine choices—into the mix can really add to this set's effectiveness. Bear in mind that if you are unable to get both layers of Toxic Spikes in play, you will be inflicting the weaker variety of poison, making draining opponents a slightly slower process. With a Toxic Spiker supporting, Walrein can afford to drop Toxic from its set. However, you may still want to hold onto it to enable Walrein to poison Flying enemies, specifically Gyarados. If you decide to dispense with Toxic, you have a couple of useful options to use in its place. Earthquake is a great choice to hit Poison-types coming in to absorb Toxic Spikes, thus ruining your set up. It also helps to wear down Steel-types, who are also immune to poison and can generally make nuisances of themselves. Roar can work if your team is need of a phazer, and it also has applications more specific to this set. First of all, you can shuffle another opponent in to let Toxic Spikes take hold. Secondly, you can prevent Skarmory from Whirlwinding your Substitute away by Roaring him out first. Finally, you have your choice of STAB move so Walrein's respectable Special Attack isn't going to waste. Blizzard may seem the most tempting as you can take advantage of the 100% accuracy it has during Hail, but Surf is generally the superior choice. Surf helps to wear down Tyranitar, whose ability to change the weather and powerful Rock attacks is a huge problem, not only to Walrein, but to many Hail teams in general. It also has the potential to 2HKO Forretress, as its immunity to Toxic and ability to spin away Toxic Spikes can ruin Walrein's strategy. However, Blizzard is still a worthy option, especially if you choose Earthquake in the third slot as it provides Walrein with good attacking coverage and smacks around most Flying-types and Grass/Poison-types who are immune to Toxic Spikes, and in the case of the latter, poisoning altogether. Other OptionsCharm comes via Spheal in XD and can be used to annoy physical attackers. Stockpile is available over Curse if you wish to boost both defenses. Hidden Power Electric works okay alongside Ice Beam, hitting Water-types for reasonable damage, especially Gyarados. Hidden Power Grass also hurts Water-types, particularly the likes of Quagsire and Gastrodon. If your opponent allows OHKO moves, Walrein can abuse both Sheer Cold and Fissure. A Choice Band is plausible but not really where Walrein's strengths lie. If you want a CB set then Crunch, Body Slam, Rock Slide, Ice Fang and Waterfall are available for physical attacks. Ice Body can replace Thick Fat on any of the sets listed, but with support from Abomasnow you're usually better off going with Stallrein. EVsMaxing out both HP and Defense is fine for most sets. Although not really required, some investment can be made in Attack to boost Earthquake and Avalanche, as Walrein's Attack stat is average at best. For the Curse set, you may want to focus more on Special Defense and use a Careful nature. Relaxed nature if you're using both attacking stats, Impish for purely physical sets or Bold if you're only using special attacks. Max HP and Defense is fine on Stallrein, but there are some alternate spreads, depending on the attacks you select. 252 HP / 56 Atk / 200 Def, Relaxed nature allows for Earthquake to guarantee a 2HKO on max HP Tentacruel. If you're not using Earthquake and prefer Roar, then Bold with 252 HP / 208 Def / 48 Spe is sufficient to outrun most Skarmory. OpinionAs usual, Ice typing is very much a mixed blessing. Ice attacks are always useful on a team, but the trade off for gaining a STAB boost on them is an unfortunate list of defensive weaknesses. Stealth Rock can hinder its ability to function as a tank somewhat, as taking 25% each time he comes in will wear him down a little faster than is preferable. Even with those drawbacks considered, Walrein is a fine tank in UU play, sporting handy resists to Ice, Fire and Water and while its offensive stats are nothing special, they are more than adequate for a predominantly defensive Pokémon. Back in ADV, the sight of Walrein in OU matches was rare to say the least. However, with its cool new Ice Body ability it can be a very useful—often integral—part of a Hail based team when he receives support from Abomasnow. Its stalling abilities with Hail support is impressive and with Toxic or Toxic Spikes flying around, he can be surprisingly difficult to take down. Overall, Walrein got some very useful boosts in the transition from ADV to DP. Whether it is tanking in UU or stalling on Hail teams, the sturdy walrus can prove to be a difficult opponent to take down. CountersUU: Poliwrath does well thanks to its decent defenses, Ice resist, STAB Fighting attacks and ability to score some free healing from Surf with his Water Absorb ability. Lapras is also blessed with Water Absorb and a 4x Ice resist and can wear down Walrein with Thunderbolts. Lanturn can beat it unless it carries Earthquake too. Slowking also works and can either set up or simply hit Walrein with Grass Knot, which has 100 base power against the weighty walrus. Tentacruel and Qwilfish can both set up Swords Dances against it if it doesn't have Earthquake to 2HKO them. Both have the added advantage of being immune to Toxic. Hypno and Grumpig can both wall its special attacks well. Grumpig works more effectively than Hypno against the physical sets, thanks to his Ice resistance. Electric-types won't want to switch into an Earthquake, but the likes of Luxray, Ampharos and Manectric can usually survive at least one attack and hit Walrein hard with their STAB attacks, although they may require Choice Band/Choice Specs to ensure a OHKO. Clefable works great as Magic Guard makes him immune to the effects Toxic and can set up Calm Mind and batter Walrein with Thunderbolts. OU (Toxic Stall set): Since he relies on Toxic to deal damage, most Steel-types can cause problems. Earthquake can dent them, but the likes of Metagross and Jirachi have the defenses to handle a few hits. Metagross can fire off Meteor Mash or Thunderpunch, while Jirachi can smack Walrein around with Thunderbolt or Grass Knot. Empoleon can beat it down with Grass Knot and also resists Water, making switching in a little easier. Empoleon can also Roar away a Substitute, but rarely has enough Speed EVs to ensure it will phaze Walrein before being phazed itself. Bronzong walls it if it doesn't carry Surf, but can't do much in return unless it has Grass Knot. Tyranitar screws up its Leftovers recovery and also removes Hail, making Ice Body useless. Repeated hits from Surf hurt, but Tyranitar will likely come out on top by firing off powerful Stone Edges and can also Taunt Walrein, effectively shutting it down. Gyarados can sponge hits from Ice and Water attacks and set up with Dragon Dance, before KOing Walrein with Stone Edge. Like Tyranitar, Gyarados also has access to Taunt. Suicune is faster than Walrein can easily Roar it out, taking minimal damage from any of the Walrein's attacks. Clefable was already mentioned, but it makes an even better counter to Stallrein than it does for the other sets. It is immune to the effects of Hail and poison and can Encore Walrein's attacks, before setting up Calm Mind or simply hitting back with Thunderbolt. Breloom can be a problem if you don't have Blizzard, as like Clefable it is still able to recover HP during Hail and can't be worn down by poison. |
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