This is my first time, so, uh, here we go!
Overview
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There are only two Pokemon in NU with access to both Swift Swim and Rapid Spin. Armaldo is one of them, but it is almost completely outclassed by the other, Kabutops. When considering using Armaldo on your team, Kabutops is almost always the better choice. However, Armaldo has two small advantages over Kabutops which must be utilized when using Armaldo. The first advantage is having better matchups with Psychic-types, due to Armaldo's STAB X-Scissor. The second is Armaldo's better matchups with Normal-types, due to not being weak to Fighting or Ground. Armaldo should only be used if these two advantages are valued over performing worse in all other aspects. Despite its flaws, Armaldo can be a decent Swift Swim sweeper that can support its team with entry hazard removal. Outclassed in a solely spinning role as well as a setup role, Armaldo must be utilized on a rain team in order to avoid being outclassed, where it can use its high Speed under rain and strong offensive presence to spin and dish out strong hits. In addition to Rapid Spin, Armaldo's movepool offers unique coverage in X-Scissor, which is valued on rain teams for its ability to take on Grass-types that rain teams have trouble with, such as Lilligant and Ludicolo. Armaldo also has access to Knock Off, allowing it to break through most spinblockers. Unfortunately, Armaldo's semi-unique typing is a burden. It loses 25% when switching into the very hazards it's supposed to remove, has common weaknesses in Water and Rock, and has two mostly useless resistances in Normal and Poison. However, Armaldo's Normal resistance does come in use against Normal-types such as Kangaskhan, which Armaldo can tank and spin well against.
Offensive Swift Swim Spinner
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name: Offensive Swift Swim Spinner
move 1: Rapid Spin
move 2: Aqua Tail
move 3: X-Scissor
move 4: Knock Off / Stone Edge
ability: Swift Swim
item: Life Orb
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
nature: Jolly
Moves
========
Rapid Spin is what makes Armaldo viable. Use it to support Armaldo's team with entry hazard removal. Aqua Tail is actually the strongest move Armaldo can use under rain, and it beats the frailer spinblockers Mismagius and Rotom. When out of rain, X-Scissor is Armaldo's most reliable move; however, Armaldo should generally be kept in the rain. X-Scissor easily deals with Grass-types that can be troublesome for rain teams. Knock Off is useful as always, removing items and dealing high damage with good coverage. Additionally, Knock Off can deal with Gourgeist, which is generally a problem for rain teams. However, Stone Edge is a useful secondary STAB move that can be used instead to hit Mantine, Pelipper, and Vileplume for greater damage, although it suffers from lower accuracy.
Set Details
========
252 Speed EVs and a Jolly nature allow Armaldo to outspeed the likes of Swellow, Adamant Choice Scarf Sawk, and Sneasel when under rain. 252 Attack EVs and a Life Orb are used to maximize damage output.
Usage Tips
========
Although Armaldo is a spinner, avoid mindlessly spamming Rapid Spin. Rain is a limited resource, and a spin should only be executed if desperately needed. Threatening entry hazards such as Toxic Spikes should be spun away immediately, but consideration is important when deciding to spin away other hazards. For example, if a significant portion of your team is weak to Stealth Rock, it would be important to spin away Stealth Rock. Similarly, deciding whether to spin away Spikes would depend on how many layers of Spikes there are. Otherwise, Armaldo should make use of rain turns to deal as much damage as possible with its high Speed and good coverage. Specifically, Armaldo can spin and tank against Kangaskhan and Kecleon, which are both bothersome threats for fellow rain sweepers. Finally, Armaldo's strong Bug-type STAB move in X-Scissor easily deals with Grass-types that are also troublesome for rain teams.
Team Options
========
Being only viable in rain teams, Armaldo needs team members that make a rain team. Rain Dance users such as Uxie and other Swift Swim sweepers such as Seismitoad and Ludicolo are some examples. Additionally, Ludicolo and Seismitoad as well as Poliwrath all cover Armaldo's weaknesses well and can fit onto rain teams. Finally, Pokemon weak to Stealth Rock such as Sneasel and Pokemon holding a Focus Sash such as Jynx appreciate Armaldo's ability to spin.
Other Options
########
Although Armaldo has a surprisingly wide and appealing movepool that can fill many roles, Armaldo is outclassed in all of these roles, mainly due to its horrid typing. A more tanking-oriented spinning set can be used, but Armaldo's weakness to Stealth Rock and mostly useless resistances make it pitiful, and both Sandslash and Claydol outclass Armaldo in this role. A Rock Polish set can be used, but Armaldo's typing leaves it few chances to set up, and Crustle outclasses Armaldo in this role. Stealth Rock is an interesting option for Armaldo, but Armaldo should be firing off powerful moves instead of setting up Stealth Rock, and Armaldo finds few free turns to use Stealth Rock. Choice Band is another option that Armaldo can make use of with its high power, but Armaldo's typing and weakness to Stealth Rock let it down once again. Finally, a Swords Dance set combined with Swift Swim can be used quite decently. However, Armaldo has issues finding turns to set up, and Beartic can perform this role somewhat better.
Checks & Counters
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**Entry Hazards**: Being weak to the entry hazards it's supposed to clear, Armaldo's defensive capabilities are severely hampered by losing 25% of its health when switching in on Stealth Rock.
**Super Effective Attacks**: While Armaldo's physical bulk is decent, Armaldo is unable to make full use of it due to its exploitable weaknesses. Common physical threats such as Archeops can hit Armaldo with STAB super effective attacks, easily KOing Armaldo.
**Special Attacks**: With mostly useless resistances and mediocre Special Defense, Armaldo is easily KOed by special attacks, including Fire-type attacks out of rain and Psychic-type attacks.
**Faster Pokemon**: When not under rain, Armaldo is quite slow, resulting in many Pokemon such as Archeops and Samurott outspeeding and KOing it before it can do anything.
**Fighting-types**: Resisting both of Armaldo's STAB types as well as Knock Off, Fighting-types such as Hariyama only fear Aqua Tail, which becomes quite weak when not under rain.
Overview
########
Offensive Swift Swim Spinner
########
name: Offensive Swift Swim Spinner
move 1: Rapid Spin
move 2: Aqua Tail
move 3: X-Scissor / Stone Edge
move 4: Knock Off / Stone Edge
ability: Swift Swim
item: Life Orb
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
nature: Jolly
Moves
========
Set Details
========
Usage Tips
========
Team Options
========
Other Options
########
Checks & Counters
########
**Stealth Rock**: Being weak to the hazards he's supposed to clear, Armaldo's defensive capabilities are severely hampered by losing 25% of his health when switching in.
**Super Effective Attacks**: While Armaldo's physical bulk is decent, he is unable to make full use of it due to his exploitable weaknesses. Common physical threats such as Archeops can hit Armaldo with STAB super effective attacks, easily KOing Armaldo.
**Special Attacks**: With mostly useless resistances and mediocre Special Defense, Armaldo is easily KOed by special attacks.
**Faster Pokemon**: When not under Rain, Armaldo is quite slow, resulting in many Pokemon outspeeding him and KOing him before he can do anything.
**Fighting-types**: Resisting both of Armaldo's STABs as well as Knock Off, Fighting-types only fear Aqua Tail, which becomes quite weak when not under rain.
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- Access to Rapid Spin
- Outclassed by Sandslash and Claydol in a solely spinning role, as they both have greater resistance to entry hazards granting them better chances to spin. Outclassed by Crustle in any setup role.
- Armaldo's main niche is to spin on rain teams, utilizing high speed with Swift Swim and strong offensive presence to spin and dish out strong hits.
- Weak to Stealth Rock, which severely hampers Armaldo's ability to spin or do any other job
- Semi-unique typing that is completely useless and grants Armaldo common weaknesses (mention Water and Rock-type) and two mostly useless resistances in Normal and Poison.
- Armaldo can check Normal-types and spin easily against them. Armaldo specifically checks Kangaskhan well.
- Armaldo is useful on rain teams for his ability to take on bulky Grass-types that other Pokemon on rain teams have trouble with. X-Scissor can 2HKO physically defensive Vileplume with Stealth Rock, while Stone Edge can 2HKO without it. Armaldo can easily OHKO all other Grass-types weak to X-Scissor.
- Armaldo generally has the power to break through most spinblockers.
Offensive Swift Swim Spinner
########
name: Offensive Swift Swim Spinner
move 1: Rapid Spin
move 2: Aqua Tail
move 3: X-Scissor / Stone Edge
move 4: Knock Off / Stone Edge
ability: Swift Swim
item: Life Orb
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
nature: Jolly
Moves
========
- Rapid Spin is the most important move of the set, and is used to remove hazards.
- When boosted by rain, Aqua Tail is stronger than X-Scissor. It us useful to beat the frailer spinblockers in Mismagius and Rotom.
- When out of rain, X-Scissor is Armaldo's most reliable STAB move. However, Armaldo generally wants to stay in rain. X-Scissor easily deals with Grass-types that are usually troublesome for Rain teams.
- Knock Off can be used to hit Gourgeist, while Stone Edge is a useful secondary STAB to hit Mantine and Pelipper, both of which are problems for rain teams.
Set Details
========
- 252 Speed EVs and a Jolly nature allows Armaldo to outspeed up to Swellow and Adamant Scarf Sawk
- The Attack EVs and Life Orb are used to maximize Armaldo's damage output
Usage Tips
========
- Although Armaldo is a spinner, you shouldn't be mindlessly spamming Rapid Spin.
- Under the rain, Armaldo is a sweeper! With invested base 125 Attack and Life Orb, Armaldo can deal serious damage. Utilize his strong offensive presence and blazing speed with Swift Swim to fire off strong attacks, and spin under the right circumstances.
- Under the rain, Armaldo can spin and tank against Kangaskhan and Kecleon, which are both bothersome threats for fellow rain sweepers.
- Armaldo can spin best against Normal-types, and specifically Kangaskhan, as many Normal-types cannot threaten him.
- Armaldo's strong Bug STAB in X-Scissor easily deals with Grass-types that are usually troublesome for Rain teams.
- Some balanced teams employ Toxic Spikes to deal with rain teams, and Armaldo can get rid of these if necessary.
Team Options
========
- Being only viable in rain teams, Armaldo needs team members that make a rain team. Rain Dance users such as Uxie and other Swift Swim sweepers such as Seismitoad and Ludicolo are examples of rain team members.
- Pokemon weak to Stealth Rock such as Sneasel or Pokemon holding a Focus Sash such as Jynx appreciate Armaldo's ability to spin.
- Ludicolo, Seismitoad, and Poliwrath all cover Armaldo's weaknesses well, and can fit onto rain teams.
Other Options
########
- Although a bulky set invested in HP and Attack may seem appealing, Armaldo cannot run such a set very well because he loses 25% of his HP every time he switches into Stealth Rock, has mostly useless resists, and is outclassed by Sandslash in this role.
- Stealth Rock - Although useful, Armaldo doesn't really get free turns to use SR, and Armaldo should be firing off powerful moves instead of setting up rocks
- Swords Dance - When combined with Swift Swim and Armaldo's high power, Swords Dance can actually work quite decently. However, Armaldo has issues finding turns to setup, and Beartic can perform this role somewhat better.
- Choice Band - Armaldo can take advantage of his high power with Choice Band, however Armaldo's typing and weakness to Stealth Rock lets him down.
- Rock Polish - Armaldo has great power, and just enough speed to clean up with Rock Polish, however Armaldo's poor typing leaves him few chances to set up. Additionally, Shell Smash Crustle outclasses Armaldo in this role.
Checks & Counters
########
**Stealth Rock**: Being weak to the hazards he's supposed to clear, Armaldo's defensive capabilities are severely hampered by losing 25% of his health when switching in.
**Super Effective Attacks**: While Armaldo's physical bulk is decent, he is unable to make full use of it due to his exploitable weaknesses. Common physical threats such as Archeops can hit Armaldo with STAB super effective attacks, easily KOing Armaldo.
**Special Attacks**: With mostly useless resistances and mediocre Special Defense, Armaldo is easily KOed by special attacks.
**Faster Pokemon**: When not under Rain, Armaldo is quite slow, resulting in many Pokemon outspeeding him and KOing him before he can do anything.
**Fighting-types**: Resisting both of Armaldo's STABs as well as Knock Off, Fighting-types only fear Aqua Tail, which becomes quite weak when not under rain.
Overview
########
There are only two Pokemon in NU with access to both Swift Swim and Rapid Spin. Armaldo is one of them, but it is almost completely outclassed by the other, Kabutops. When considering using Armaldo on your team, Kabutops is almost always the better choice. However, Armaldo has two small advantages over Kabutops which must be utilized when using Armaldo. The first advantage is having better matchups with Psychic-types, due to Armaldo's STAB X-Scissor. The second is Armaldo's better matchups with Normal-types, due to not being weak to Fighting or Ground. Armaldo should only be used if these two advantages are valued over performing worse in all other aspects. Despite its flaws, Armaldo can be a decent Swift Swim sweeper that can support its team with entry hazard removal. Outclassed in a solely spinning role as well as a setup role, Armaldo must be utilized on a rain team in order to avoid being outclassed, where it can use its high Speed under rain and strong offensive presence to spin and dish out strong hits. In addition to Rapid Spin, Armaldo's movepool offers unique coverage in X-Scissor, which is valued on rain teams for its ability to take on Grass-types that rain teams have trouble with, such as Lilligant and Ludicolo. Armaldo also has access to Knock Off, allowing it to break through most spinblockers. Unfortunately, Armaldo's semi-unique typing is a burden. It loses 25% when switching into the very hazards it's supposed to remove, has common weaknesses in Water and Rock, and has two mostly useless resistances in Normal and Poison. However, Armaldo's Normal resistance does come in use against Normal-types such as Kangaskhan, which Armaldo can tank and spin well against.
Offensive Swift Swim Spinner
########
name: Offensive Swift Swim Spinner
move 1: Rapid Spin
move 2: Aqua Tail
move 3: X-Scissor
move 4: Knock Off / Stone Edge
ability: Swift Swim
item: Life Orb
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
nature: Jolly
Moves
========
Rapid Spin is what makes Armaldo viable. Use it to support Armaldo's team with entry hazard removal. Aqua Tail is actually the strongest move Armaldo can use under rain, and it beats the frailer spinblockers Mismagius and Rotom. When out of rain, X-Scissor is Armaldo's most reliable move; however, Armaldo should generally be kept in the rain. X-Scissor easily deals with Grass-types that can be troublesome for rain teams. Knock Off is useful as always, removing items and dealing high damage with good coverage. Additionally, Knock Off can deal with Gourgeist, which is generally a problem for rain teams. However, Stone Edge is a useful secondary STAB move that can be used instead to hit Mantine, Pelipper, and Vileplume for greater damage, although it suffers from lower accuracy.
Set Details
========
252 Speed EVs and a Jolly nature allow Armaldo to outspeed the likes of Swellow, Adamant Choice Scarf Sawk, and Sneasel when under rain. 252 Attack EVs and a Life Orb are used to maximize damage output.
Usage Tips
========
Although Armaldo is a spinner, avoid mindlessly spamming Rapid Spin. Rain is a limited resource, and a spin should only be executed if desperately needed. Threatening entry hazards such as Toxic Spikes should be spun away immediately, but consideration is important when deciding to spin away other hazards. For example, if a significant portion of your team is weak to Stealth Rock, it would be important to spin away Stealth Rock. Similarly, deciding whether to spin away Spikes would depend on how many layers of Spikes there are. Otherwise, Armaldo should make use of rain turns to deal as much damage as possible with its high Speed and good coverage. Specifically, Armaldo can spin and tank against Kangaskhan and Kecleon, which are both bothersome threats for fellow rain sweepers. Finally, Armaldo's strong Bug-type STAB move in X-Scissor easily deals with Grass-types that are also troublesome for rain teams.
Team Options
========
Being only viable in rain teams, Armaldo needs team members that make a rain team. Rain Dance users such as Uxie and other Swift Swim sweepers such as Seismitoad and Ludicolo are some examples. Additionally, Ludicolo and Seismitoad as well as Poliwrath all cover Armaldo's weaknesses well and can fit onto rain teams. Finally, Pokemon weak to Stealth Rock such as Sneasel and Pokemon holding a Focus Sash such as Jynx appreciate Armaldo's ability to spin.
Other Options
########
Although Armaldo has a surprisingly wide and appealing movepool that can fill many roles, Armaldo is outclassed in all of these roles, mainly due to its horrid typing. A more tanking-oriented spinning set can be used, but Armaldo's weakness to Stealth Rock and mostly useless resistances make it pitiful, and both Sandslash and Claydol outclass Armaldo in this role. A Rock Polish set can be used, but Armaldo's typing leaves it few chances to set up, and Crustle outclasses Armaldo in this role. Stealth Rock is an interesting option for Armaldo, but Armaldo should be firing off powerful moves instead of setting up Stealth Rock, and Armaldo finds few free turns to use Stealth Rock. Choice Band is another option that Armaldo can make use of with its high power, but Armaldo's typing and weakness to Stealth Rock let it down once again. Finally, a Swords Dance set combined with Swift Swim can be used quite decently. However, Armaldo has issues finding turns to set up, and Beartic can perform this role somewhat better.
Checks & Counters
########
**Entry Hazards**: Being weak to the entry hazards it's supposed to clear, Armaldo's defensive capabilities are severely hampered by losing 25% of its health when switching in on Stealth Rock.
**Super Effective Attacks**: While Armaldo's physical bulk is decent, Armaldo is unable to make full use of it due to its exploitable weaknesses. Common physical threats such as Archeops can hit Armaldo with STAB super effective attacks, easily KOing Armaldo.
**Special Attacks**: With mostly useless resistances and mediocre Special Defense, Armaldo is easily KOed by special attacks, including Fire-type attacks out of rain and Psychic-type attacks.
**Faster Pokemon**: When not under rain, Armaldo is quite slow, resulting in many Pokemon such as Archeops and Samurott outspeeding and KOing it before it can do anything.
**Fighting-types**: Resisting both of Armaldo's STAB types as well as Knock Off, Fighting-types such as Hariyama only fear Aqua Tail, which becomes quite weak when not under rain.
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