Octillery
[Overview]
<p>Octillery seems incredibly mediocre compared to all the other Water-type Pokemon in the VGC 2012 metagame. Its average defenses and poor Speed often hinder it, leaving it quite easy to defeat with a faster Pokemon. However, with access to Water Spout, one of the strongest moves in the game, Octillery easily KOs unsuspecting opponents. To add to this, Octillery's low Speed can be abused to its fullest in a Trick Room team, while Octillery supports its team with its incredible coverage. Although this octopus may seem easily destroyed, it can quickly wash away your entire team if you underestimate it.</p>
[SET]
name: Trick Room Sweeper
move 1: Water Spout
move 2: Ice Beam
move 3: Scald / Fire Blast / Energy Ball
move 4: Protect
item: Water Gem / Life Orb
nature: Quiet
ability: Sniper
evs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
ivs: 0 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Octillery is most effective as a Trick Room sweeper because of its low Speed. Water Spout is absolutely necessary on Octillery, and with a Water Gem boost, it can OHKO almost anything that does not resist it. However, as Octillery is fragile, Water Spout's effectiveness will decrease tenfold after it is attacked. Ice Beam hits Dragon- and Flying-type Pokemon for large amounts of damage. The last offensive move should be chosen according to your teammates. Scald is a great alternative for a strong STAB attack, doing more damage than Water Spout when Octillery is on low health; it also has a nice chance to burn. Fire Blast eliminates Steel-types such as Scizor and Ferrothorn. Energy Ball is excellent for hitting Water-types that otherwise resist Octillery's attacks. Finally, Protect is necessary to prevent Octillery from taking damage while allowing its partner to set up Trick Room.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>In order to maximize Octillery's Water Spout 's damage output, Water Gem is necessary. However, Life Orb can also be used to boost the power of Octillery's other attacks, although it decreases Water Spout's potential. Quiet nature with 0 Speed IVs allow Octillery to be as fast as possible under Trick Room, and the HP EVs allow it to survive as long as possible. Sniper is the only useful ability, as Suction Cups is pointless and Moody is too risky and unreliable. Sniper has no drawbacks, and the chance of doing 3x damage is always a nice addition.</p>
<p>Octillery needs to be used in Trick Room and therefore partners well with other slow Pokemon. For example, it works great alongside Cresselia and Dusknoir, who are both bulky and can help set up Trick Room as well as assist Octillery with moves such as Helping Hand. Octillery can also be used with Politoed; the boost that Rain provides makes Water Spout even more deadly. Octillery can also be used with Abomasnow, as it can KO Fire-type Pokemon that threaten Abomasnow while having the ability to spam completely accurate Blizzards thanks to Hail.</p>
[Other Options]
<p>Other moves that can be considered include Rain Dance, Thunder Wave, Surf, Sludge Bomb, and Icy Wind. Rain Dance can catch your opponent off guard and increases Water Spout's power, but it leaves Octillery wide open to an attack on the turn it is used. Thunder Wave can be used in the final turns of Trick Room to paralyze an opponent, reducing theireffectiveness. Surf is another strong STAB boosted attack but hits your partner as well. Sludge Bomb can be used to hit Grass-types such as Ludicolo that otherwise give Octillery a bit of trouble. Icy Wind, similar to Thunder Wave, can be used to slow both of your opponent's Pokemon. However, Octillery's main role is to do as much damage as possible in the few turns it is alive, so it does not want to spend its time using support moves or offensive moves that do not do much damage.</p>
<p>Octillery is one of the few Pokemon that received Moody as its Dream World ability, and it can be considered over its other two abilities. However, because of its unpredictability and Octillery's fragility, it is not very effective. As Moody users often use Protect, an Octillery with Moody will often draw out very long games depending on its boosts. Because VGC games are timed and run on a 15 minute timer, there is essentially only 15 turns for Octillery to gain the boosts it needs while avoiding being KOed. It is an interesting gimmick to try out, and can be deadly when Octillery gets the boosts it needs. However, it comes with great risk and is not recommended.</p>
[Checks and Counters]
<p>Octillery is rendered useless without Trick Room, so if you are able to shut down or stall out Trick Room, it will easily go down. Because it is so frail, any strong STAB attack will be able to KO it. Octillery is also walled by Pokemon that resist both of its main attacks, namely Water-type Pokemon. Rain teams that include Pokemon such as Ludicolo, Toxicroak, and Kingdra can easily soak a hit from Octillery before OHKOing it.</p>
