|
-
Immunity
- This Pokémon cannot be poisoned.
|
Statistics
|
Min- |
Min |
Max |
Max+ |
| HP |
73
|
- |
287 |
350 |
- |
| Atk |
115
|
239 |
266 |
329 |
361 |
| Def |
60
|
140 |
156 |
219 |
240 |
| SpA |
60
|
140 |
156 |
219 |
240 |
| SpD |
60
|
140 |
156 |
219 |
240 |
| Spe |
90
|
194 |
216 |
279 |
306 |
Swords Dance and sweep is the basic idea. With Life Orb / Silk Scarf, Return is a guaranteed OHKO on 332HP / 196Def Salamence after a Swords Dance and Intimidate. In the same scenario, Gyarados is OHKOed if it switches in to Stealth Rock. Fire Punch dents Metagross, Skarmory and Bronzong, while Shadow Claw covers Ghosts. Swords Danced Quick Attack does more damage than you think, but doesn't score any notable OHKOs, except on Ninjask (Life Orb / Silk Scarf).
Not viable at all in standard play, because Sand Stream is far too common; Zangoose must remain at 100% or Focus Sash will fail. But if you can force a switch, that allows you to Swords Dance twice (Focus Sash saving you the second time) turning Quick Attack into a (near) OHKO on many faster Pokémon e.g. Primeape.
This is your run of the mill Choice Band user. Tauros is better overall, but Zangoose has a superior movepool. Zangoose can survive most neutral STAB attacks (once) unless your opponent is running Choice Band / Choice Specs / Life Orb. The last moveslot purely depends on your team's needs. Fire Punch will hit Steel-types who normally wall Zangoose fairly hard and Ice Punch can cover Dragons and Bulky Ground-types. You have to use Shadow Claw with the Punches. Use Night Slash with Quick Attack, however, as Normals can't abuse immunity to switch in for free.
Zangoose's movepool gives it a very potent combination of attacks in Fighting and Ghost, making this set viable. Return is there for STAB, while Close Combat and Shadow Claw provide extensive coverage, allowing you to damage foes you normally wouldn't threaten otherwise. Ice Punch will allow you to hit Dragons and bulky Grounds harder. While Close Combat already hits most Steel-types for super-effective damage, Fire Punch will allow you to hit Forretress and Scizor for 4x damage.
Again, not viable in standard play because Sand Stream will kill it. 216 speed EVs (270) is the minimum recommended for Adamant. Jolly with 232 speed EVs generates 301 to outrun Jolly Hitmonlee who hits 300.
Other Options
Pursuit is a possibility and could be useful to finish off low HP Pokémon, namely Blissey. Don't bother with Taunt, everything 2HKOs you. Zangoose packs an awesome special movepool, and Fire Blast off a neutral nature does more to Skarmory than unboosted Adamant Fire Punch / ThunderPunch. Night Slash and Shadow Claw are virtually perfect substitutes. The former is better with Choice items, because nothing is immune to Dark. However, note that Night Slash is illegal in conjunction with an elemental punch. Counter can be used with a Focus Sash to KO an unsuspecting opponent. Aerial Ace can be used deal with Heracross.
EVs
You should always run max Attack and at least near max Speed. The recommended Speed EVs for each set are the minimum you should be using, with any spare EVs dumped into a preferred Defense, but not HP. With 0 EVs, Zangoose has 287 HP, which is ideal; residual damage rounds down, so you take 35 from Stealth Rock, 28 from Life Orb and 17 from Sandstorm. With 4 EVs and 288 HP Stealth Rock deals 36 and Sandstorm deals 18.
Opinion
There is a better option in standard play that essentially does the same thing as Zangoose; its name is Garchomp. However, it has the potential to be a beast in other environments. The transition brought a whole bunch of new items that are usable on Zangoose, and even doubled Silk Scarf's boost to 20%. It gained physical elemental punches too, and most importantly, Close Combat. Despite a low stat total, those points are distributed excellently. Its defenses are adequate enough to survive most neutral STAB attacks, which is a problem when running Focus Sash / Flail (you could opt for a Hasty / Naive nature instead). The only real gripe is that 90 base Speed is slightly low for a fragile sweeper. Zangoose's main problem is trying to switch in.
Counters
Skarmory walls Zangoose decently and Whirlwinds off its stat boosts, though a Swords Danced Fire Punch / ThunderPunch is usually a 2HKO. Zangoose faints from 2 hits from just about anything. However, it can hit just about anything with a super effective attack or a neutral Return.