Swanna

[SOMALIA]

Swanna



[Overview]
• Swanna unfortunately has poor dual typing combined with mediocre base 87 Special Attack, giving it little reason to be used.
• Has quite a shallow movepool to choose from.

[SET]
name: Special Attacker
move 1: Boiling Water / Surf
move 2: Air Slash
move 3: Ice Beam
move 4: Hidden power Fire / Hidden Power Grass / Roost
item: Life Orb
ability: Pigeon Heart
nature: Timid
evs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe


[Set Comments]
• Has decent Speed and good dual STAB moves. This set aims to dish out as much damage before frail Swanna goes down.
• Boiling Water has a respectable base 80 power and can sometimes inflict burns, which is always good. Surf can be used if you prefer the extra boost in power rather than relying on getting a burn.
• Air Slash has good coverage with Boiling Water / Surf which is only resisted by a small minority of Pokemon.
• Ice Beam is to hit Dragon-types such as Ononokusu and Sazando for solid damage while also severely denting fragile Flying-types such as Shinpora.
• The last moveslot is up to you. Hidden power Fire allows you to hit the very-common Nattorei for 4x super effective damage as well as other pure Steel-types. Hidden Power Grass allows you to dispense of Swampert and other Water / Ground type Pokemon. Roost is to regain health lost due to Stealth Rock damage but since Swanna is quite fragile and has poor typing, finding an opening to Roost off won't be easy.

[Additional Comments]
• It is important to use a Timid nature as to outpace +ve base 95 Speed Pokemon. Rest of the Evs are dumped into SpA to get as much fire-power as possible.
• Both of Swanna's abilities aren't that great, but at least Pigeon Heart prevents any Defense drop, which Swanna will definitely not like having especially since it already has poor defenses in the first place.

[Team Options]
• Swanna can lure Electric-types in for Dugtrio to switch in on and trap, then proceed to kill with STAB Earthquake. Ground-types in general make good partners as they resist Rock-type moves and are immune to Electric-type attacks aimed at Swanna.
• Rapid Spin support is much appreciated as Swanna cannot afford to lose 25% in each switch-in. Hitmontop and Donphan make great spinners, possessing a great amount of bulk whilst having respectable offensive stats.
• Electivire makes a great partner as it benefits from Electric-type attacks aimed at Swanna, and in return Swanna is immune to Electivire's sole weakness.


[Optional Changes]
• Gale lacks reliable accuracy but can be used instead of Air Slash if you long for the extra 45 base power.


[Counters]
• Due to its somewhat mediocre offensive stats, Swanna unfortunately has quite alot of counters.
• Blissey can take any attack

[Dream World]
• Swanna receives Hydration from the Dream World.
• It outclasses its other two abilities and can be useful provided Rain is up.

 

[Vixie]

• Air Slash has good coverage with Boiling Water / Surf and the combination is resisted by only Steel-types.

Since when does Steel resist Water?

 

[SOMALIA]

Since when does Steel resist Water?

My bad, clumsy as always. Thanks for spotting it out ._.

 

[Oni Katsu]

only resisted by empoleon* ;)

 

[EpitomeOfFailure]

Actually both Lanturn and the newly water-type Rotom-W (If I remember right) also do resist Water+Flyding.

 

[Ahhhhhh......Clefable.]

Since Swanna lures out electricity, I think Electivire should get a mention as a teammate. He comes in, absorbs the electric attack aimed at Swanna with Motor Drive, gets the speed boost, and fires back with an Earthquake. Not to mention, Swanna is immune to Electivire's only weakness, and has STAB super-effective moves to hit ground types pretty hard.

Zeburaika could get a mention for this as well, but without Earthquake, he wouldn't be as effective as Electivire.

 

[Rotom-S w/balloon]

water and flying is also resisted by dialga and zekrom. and cyclohm in CAP.

as far as ubers goes, this pokemon definetly has nothing going for it.

 

[Xav]

Didn't the Kenhorou thread just get closed because of the lack of effectiveness in ubers. I see a similar problem here with Swanna, there are better options for uber play and it is outclassed by a lot, so maybe waiting till the lower tiers are being worked on would be sensible.

 

[joo]

I've tested this one in a rain team and it's quite an awesome sweeper.

name: Rain sweeper
move 1: Hurricane
move 2: Surf
move 3: Hidden Power Grass / Hidden Power Electric
move 4: Roost
Item: Life Orb
EVs: 252 Sp Att / 252 Spe
Nature: Timid
Ability: Hydration

For those who don't know, Hurricane raises it's accuracy in rain much like Thunder and has a 30% chance to confuse the target and provides great coverage with Water. Surf is obvious, and hits really hard in the rain. The hidden power is of choice, choose if you want to kill Gyarados and Empoleon who resists the set, or the Water/Ground types, Lanturn and Rotom-W since they wall this set. Against a bulky water, Hurricane is better as it will hit harder and a 2x SE Hidden Power and Water + Flying has awesome coverage anyway. Roost is mainly a filler but it may prolong Swanna's reign of terror longer. Hydration is a must on a rain team, since Swanna is so frail, switching onto predicted status moves is a blessing.

Hope it helped!

 

[Shnoogle]

I think that Surf should be the primary slash as Swanna needs all the power it can get

Same with Gale over Air Slash, as a 75 base power move compared to a 120 base power move is meh

 

[The 1 and Only Lady Gaga]

Swanna also has the same base attack and special attack, Brave Bird can also be used.