At first glance, this Weavile seems to be a generic Choice Bander, but this set functions as insurance against many of the metagame’s top threats. This is mostly thanks to Weavile’s STAB Pursuit, which OHKOes Gengar and Alakazam, even if they stay in, and Azelf is almost always OHKOed if it has taken Stealth Rock damage. Starmie is also OHKOed by a Pursuit on the switch, letting your Gyarados or Infernape sweep with their counter eliminated. Weavile's STAB Ice-type attacks allow it to easily OHKO any Dragon-type threatening a sweep, with the exception of Kingdra. Ice Shard is the preferred option on this set, as it handles both Choice Scarf Flygon and Dragon Dance Salamence regardless of their Speed. It also kills off Aerodactyl, one of the few Pokemon that naturally outspeeds Weavile. Brick Break OHKOes Tyranitar, whom Weavile can outspeed even after a Dragon Dance, as well as hitting Steel- and Normal-types for super effective damage. Ice Punch takes the last slot, because it's a solid STAB attack that sends Grass- and Flying-types running, and can also 2HKO Heracross. Night Slash is another option for the last slot, as it provides a stronger STAB attack than Pursuit and has good neutral coverage against Pokemon that you’ll be revenge-killing. Aerial Ace is another option, as it will OHKO Heracross and do more damage to most other Fighting-types. This set has dwindled in usage, for good reason. Weavile can't outpace the majority of OU's top threats, like Choice Scarf Heatran, and is easily picked off by Bullet Punch from Scizor, which hits it for super effective damage. Gyarados and Scizor can be serious threats to this set, especially bulky variants. None of Weavile's attacks do significant damage to either, and both can do serious damage with Stone Edge and Bullet Punch, respectively. Both Scizor and Gyarados fear Rotom-H, who will take most of Scizor's attacks and OHKO with Overheat, and can also hit Gyarados with Thunderbolt. Physically defensive Steel-type Pokemon in general will block this set; however, Rotom-H or Heatran can generally take care of such problems. Choice Scarf Magnezone is a fantastic Scizor counter, as it can come in on a Bullet Punch and OHKO Scizor with Hidden Power Fire while taking minimal damage. Magnezone can also take care of other Steel-types that wall Weavile, such as Skarmory, Forretress, Bronzong, and some Metagross and Jirachi. Celebi and Vaporeon are also good Gyarados counters; nothing Gyarados commonly uses can touch Celebi or Vaporeon and they can defeat or outstall it.
Weavile's combination of Speed and power makes it an excellent candidate for sweeping late in the game, when Weavile's counters are weakened or gone altogether. Night Slash is a great STAB move that hits most types neutrally, and Brick Break lets Weavile handle Steel-types and Tyranitar. Ice Shard is generally a better option than Ice Punch because it OHKOes the same Pokemon, like Salamence, that you would be hitting with Ice Punch, but allows Weavile to always strike first. It is also helpful against extremely fast Pokemon like Jolteon, who is always OHKOed by +2 Ice Shard after taking Stealth Rock damage. Still, Ice Punch is an option if you want a more powerful attack to use, especially against bulky Ground-types like Hippowdon who take minimal damage from Ice Shard. The item choice is somewhat difficult, and largely depends on personal preference. Life Orb is a great option if you can predict what will come in well, but given the popularity of Stealth Rock and Weavile's general frailty, it's not always the best choice. Expert Belt gives your attacks a little extra kick, but it's usually not needed, because anything hit with a Swords Dance boosted super effective attack is going to faint anyway. Lum Berry is another option, as it will let you set up against something like Blissey who would Thunder Wave you, but it has little utility otherwise. BlackGlasses and Nevermeltice are also decent options if you don't want Weavile to be taking recoil damage, yet would still like some power behind its low base power STAB attacks. The greatest issues for this set are Hariyama, Scizor and Weezing. Hariyama resists Night Slash, and Thick Fat prevents Ice Shard or Ice Punch for doing much damage. Hariyama will then dish out damage with Stone Edge or Cross Chop, both of which Weavile fears. Weezing can take anything Weavile throws at it with ease and can cripple it with Will-O-Wisp or Flamethrower. Hariyama can be dispatched with Cresselia, who walls most of Hariyama's attacks and can deal serious damage with Psychic. Jirachi is also a pretty safe bet against Hariyama; it can deal out STAB Psychics and it doesn't take much damage from any of Hariyama's attacks. Weezing and Scizor can be easily taken care of by Heatran, who absorbs Will-O-Wisp and Flamethrower from Weezing and shrugs off Bullet Punches from Scizor. However, Heatran fears Superpower from Scizor, so this makes Gyarados or Rotom-A excellent choices to threaten it.
Weavile is one of the few Pokemon that can stop the popular "suicide lead," which quickly sets up Stealth Rock and stops the opponent from doing the same. Fake Out is the most important move on the set, as it allows Weavile to break the Focus Sashes on leads such as Aerodactyl, Infernape, and Azelf, whilst keeping its own intact. Night Slash lets you finish off Azelf, while Ice Punch handles Aerodactyl. The other half of the set, Taunt and Counter, allows Weavile to deal with slower, bulkier Pokemon like Bronzong. First, Taunt to prevent it from using Stealth Rock, Hypnosis, or Trick. Now that it's forced to attack you, Counter back the Gyro Ball for an OHKO. This strategy also works in situations like when facing a lead Gyarados who would normally Dragon Dance from the start, or against Tyranitar where you should probably use Counter before Taunt. This strategy is very risky, especially when facing dangerous leads like Infernape, but if you predict correctly the payoff is enormous. The occasional Pokemon with Inner Focus can be damaging to this set. In particular, Lucario can tear it apart. Being immune to flinching and resisting Night Slash and Ice Punch, Lucario is free to set up and sweep. Counter provides a solution to this; however, Focus Sash can be broken with a weaker move, rendering the Counter strategy useless. Gyarados and Gliscor both make excellent counters to Lucario, resisting attacks from Physical Lucario. Special Lucario – which is much rarer these days – can be dealt with by Blissey and Zapdos, who resist most anything Special Lucario will dish out. Dragonite is also a problem for this set because of Inner Focus, but it can usually be dealt with by using Taunt and Counter. Finally, MixPert is a major problem; even if you Taunt it, Swampert could hit you with STAB Hydro Pump, which can't be Countered. Celebi makes a fantastic Swampert counter, as it isn't heavily damaged by anything Swampert has, and threatens a OHKO with Grass Knot. Team OptionsBecause Weavile isn't the most powerful sweeper out there (especially without Swords Dance), entry hazards of your own help it immensely. Entry hazards can turn several 2HKOs into OHKOs. Entry hazards also eliminate Focus Sashes which would lead to Weavile's demise. For an offensive team, there are several Pokemon that can help deal with Weavile's counters. Starmie, especially Choice Scarf Starmie, easily deals with Gyarados, who takes minimal damage from anything Weavile can dish out. Weavile also has trouble dealing with Hariyama; Azelf and Rotom-A do well against Hariyama or any other Fighting-type that might come along. Rotom-A can burn Hariyama with Will-O-Wisp and do a good amount of damage with Thunderbolt. Azelf does serious damage to Hariyama with STAB Psychic, though Payback will OHKO Azelf even if Hariyama isn't using a Choice Band. On a more defensive or balanced team, Vaporeon and Celebi support Weavile very well. Both of these Pokemon easily counter Gyarados; Vaporeon can OHKO Gyarados with Hidden Power Electric and Celebi can do heavy damage with Grass Knot or Leaf Storm. Choice Scarf Heatran outspeeds Weavile and can OHKO it with its STAB Fire attacks. Blissey and Tentacruel are good counters to Heatran, though Blissey needs to watch out for Explosion. Anything that resists Fighting, Steel, and/or Rock is a safe bet to pair with Weavile. Bulky Pokemon are good choices too, as they can take the hits that Weavile cannot. Other OptionsPunishment is useful for taking out Calm Minders like Slowbro and Jirachi, as it will do more than Night Slash after a few boosts. Assurance can also be used if you have Stealth Rock support, but Night Slash is generally the better choice. Stay away from using special attacks, because although Weavile gets Nasty Plot, it will never be doing much damage thanks to its terrible Special Attack stat. Focus Punch and Substitute can be used if you want Weavile to pack a more powerful Fighting-type move. Reflect can be used, but it has little utility on such a defensively challenged Pokémon. EVsAlways use a +Speed nature, unless using a Choice Scarf, to take advantage of Weavile’s great Speed stat. Maximizing Speed isn’t needed, so just aim for 373 Speed (216 EVs) to outrun Dugtrio and Alakazam, and put the remaining EVs in HP. Those 40 EVs let Weavile survive an unboosted Flamethrower from Azelf and a Modest Choice Specs Surf from Starmie. Max Attack is a given, because Weavile needs all the power it can get. OpinionWeavile certainly isn’t winning any awards defensively, as it gets stripped of 25% every switch-in to Stealth Rock and has weaknesses to common attacking types like Rock, Fire, and Fighting. It can also be easily walled, so outside of the late-game, its sweeping potential is limited. On the other hand, Weavile’s combination of Speed and Attack and useful STAB moves can be a great asset to many teams. Is Starmie causing you trouble? Pursuit it to death. Is Salamence threatening a sweep with Dragon Danced Outrages? Not with Weavile in the wings. Thanks to both STAB Ice Shard and Pursuit, Weavile is a true revenge killer. CountersSteel-types take Weavile’s attacks with ease. Forretress laughs at all of its attacks and can use Weavile’s Speed against it by firing off STAB Gyro Balls. Bronzong works in a similar way, though Night Slash does hit it neutrally. Metagross and Scizor can also switch in without trouble and OHKO Weavile with STAB Bullet Punches. Weezing can take Weavile's hits with ease, never being 2HKOed by a Choice Band Night Slash, and fire back a Will-O-Wisp or Fire Blast. Gyarados is another good choice, as it can easily switch into Weavile thanks to Intimidate, and OHKO with Stone Edge. Swampert can also come in on Weavile and 2HKO with Earthquake or Stone Edge, and OHKO with Hammer Arm. Beware of random Choice Scarf Pokémon when using Weavile, especially Fighting-types like Heracross. Mach Punch ruins it as well, so watch out for common priority Fighting-types like Hitmontop. Hariyama is also dangerous, using Thick Fat and its typing to ruin both of Weavile's STAB moves, while threatening with Bullet Punch or Fighting-type attacks. Similarly, Poliwrath naturally resists both Dark and Ice and can hit back with its own 4x effective Fighting-type STAB attacks. |
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