Punchshroom
FISHIOUS REND MEGA SHARPEDO
Knock Off is okay for neutral coverage on Samurott, but it doesn't really offer any additional coverage that Gatr's Return doesn't aside from Gourgeist (and if you're using a Return Samurott you might as well be using Gatr). It's nice for removing items and all, but it's not actually a safe move to throw out since its weakening effect against an itemless Pokemon factors in greatly when trying to go for a sweep (SD Knock Off Samurott has no chance against an itemless Plume, while Gatr fares better against it). Megahorn is nice and powerful, but fewer Water resists are hit super effectively by it than those that are either neutral to it or even resist it, such as Vileplume, Dragalge, Lanturn, and Qwilfish; the only notable Poke struck by Megahorn would be Tangela I guess. Gatr, meanwhile, has Ice Punch and Earthquake, which super effectively strikes all of these Pokemon. I legit cannot see how you can claim that Samurott's coverage is better than Gatr's in NU; Gatr has far more effective coverage against NU Water resists. Samurott's coverage options are better in RU (where stuff like Slowking, Tangrowth, Doublade, and Jellicent reside), but not here.I think Samurott to A+ is a fine nomination. It has pretty much no counters at all, and the best checks get donked by Taunt. It does a huge number to balanced and defensive teams, and all it needs to devastate offense is Sticky Web support. Lanturn is a solid check, but it's not very common. SD is also still a really good set. It's a bit slower and weaker than Feraligatr, but it has Megahorn and Knock Off, which are much better coverage options than what Feraligatr has to offer. SD Samurott also has huge surprise factor, which is huge. You can definitely win a game solely because your opponent sacrifices their best check to SD Samurott, thinking that it's special Life Orb.
I won't cry it stays in A, but I think people are underrating it.
Soulgazer I won't deny that Gatr is hard to stop (pretty much the only hard counters I can think of are Poliwrath, Tangela, and perhaps defensive Leafeon), since Dragon Dance Gatr can kill almost every mon that can safely revenge SD Gatr. Samurott's flaw is that while its SD set is also revenged by these same Pokemon, it can use its other set to...still lose to these revenge killers. This is what I meant by Samurott's unpredictability factor not being as deadly as it was last Gen, since there are more offensive responses to Samurott this Gen that neither set can deal with. If you have an SD Gatr check but face off against a DD Gatr, you could well be fucked, since Gatr has the speed to threaten offensive teams and the coverage to threaten slower teams. However, if the SD Samurott turns out to be a special attacker, your SD Rott checks aren't any less viable responses to special Rott either. Substitute Samurott can be quite the pain though, I will admit, but so begins the difficult choice between Life Orb for general power or Leftovers for survivability. It would also drop coverage against slower mons, and Samurott wants to fare better against them to maintain its advantage over Gatr.
With all that said, I can attest to Samurott being deadly as fuck with Web support, because if there is one crucial advantage that Rott has over Gatr, it's that its ability to go physical or special makes it a pretty brutal guessing game for slower teams, and it can continue trucking on from there. 70 base speed is pretty darn slow for Samurott to apply this kind of dangerous offensive pressure consistently, which still makes it A in my eyes. but if it ends up in A+, so be it :)
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Carracosta and Barbaracle's rankings have always been an inside debate for me for quite some time now.
- On one hand, there are almost no Scarfers that can outspeed a +2 Jolly Barbaracle, much less revenge it (it is one of the reasons why Scarf Raichu is even discussed). It has much more effective coverage than Costa in Tough Claws Grass Knot and Cross Chop which it has a free moveslot for, which allows it to break Seismitoad and Ferroseed easily, and even allow it to do some holepunching against defensive teams, which it can outspeed with investment, unlike Costa.
- On the other hand, Costa has Aqua Jet, which allows it to retaliate better against faster offensive teams. Its lower speed and Solid Rock also grants it safer setup opportunities. Its better physical bulk and access to Aqua Jet makes it a lot less vulnerable to priority, primarily allowing it to dodge Sucker Punches. Carracosta can even pull off a defensive set, where it can utilize Solid Rock and large physical bulk to set up Stealth Rock. While its defensive typing may be iffy, its dual STABs threaten pretty much every hazard remover, so they would be hard pressed to clear away the Stealth Rock in Costa's face.
In terms of flaws, Barbaracle is a tad trickier to Smash with (which is a problem when that is what Barbara should be doing most of the time), while Costa's coverage is limited (let's be honest, SmashCosta cannot really afford a luring option since its main STABs and especially Aqua Jet are too important to drop, at which point I'll just use a Samurott or Barbaracle itself). It seems to me that Barbaracle would thrive better in a more defensive meta due to its speed and coverage, while Costa would fare better against offense due to its priority and bulk, although each still fares well against their less favorable team archetype matchup. On the fence here.
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