Smogon Community - View Single Post - Research Week #6 - Rapidash, Articuno, Kecleon, and Stunfisk

erisia · Apr 8th, 2012, 7:15:09 AM

Alt: Eresearch

I'm going to be using Rapidash since I think the niche of Flash Fire in NU has yet to be explored offensively. I might use Kecleon too if I feel like it, but that'll be a seperate attempt and not for laddering purposes.

Because people don't seem to want to use Articuno, I'll post my thoughts on him now, as I used him considerably on an older team. Yes, it's 4x weak to Stealth Rock. No, that doesn't mean it's useless defensively. Articuno isn't 2HKO'd by most Grass types even AFTER Stealth Rock, and can set up Substitutes or Roost on them all day. It can stall out Stone Edges, Fire Blasts, and Close Combats from slower users ridiculously easily, and can be really hard for the opponent to take down unless they have a Golem or Cinccino. If you can use other Pokemon such as Quagsire and Luxray to provide Poison support (Toxic Spikes is good too, but use Ice Beam to take out the Grass / Poisons before setting them) then you can run Protect and become an even bigger stalling machine.

Rapid Spinners are all well and good, but they're not completely mandatory to ensure Articuno can come in safely against its targets at full health, and remember that Articuno itself is still immune to Spikes and Toxic Spikes. While Wartortle is pretty shit in general, it does a good job Rapid Spinning for Articuno due to its typing, Scald can deal with Rock Blast users, and it finds lots of opportunities to Toxic switchins, and to lure in Vileplume and Amoonguss for Articuno to take down.

Apr 8th, 2012, 7:15:09 AM	#10
erisia (macho) brace yourselves Join Date: Nov 2011 Posts: 852	Alt: Eresearch I'm going to be using Rapidash since I think the niche of Flash Fire in NU has yet to be explored offensively. I might use Kecleon too if I feel like it, but that'll be a seperate attempt and not for laddering purposes. Because people don't seem to want to use Articuno, I'll post my thoughts on him now, as I used him considerably on an older team. Yes, it's 4x weak to Stealth Rock. No, that doesn't mean it's useless defensively. Articuno isn't 2HKO'd by most Grass types even AFTER Stealth Rock, and can set up Substitutes or Roost on them all day. It can stall out Stone Edges, Fire Blasts, and Close Combats from slower users ridiculously easily, and can be really hard for the opponent to take down unless they have a Golem or Cinccino. If you can use other Pokemon such as Quagsire and Luxray to provide Poison support (Toxic Spikes is good too, but use Ice Beam to take out the Grass / Poisons before setting them) then you can run Protect and become an even bigger stalling machine. Rapid Spinners are all well and good, but they're not completely mandatory to ensure Articuno can come in safely against its targets at full health, and remember that Articuno itself is still immune to Spikes and Toxic Spikes. While Wartortle is pretty shit in general, it does a good job Rapid Spinning for Articuno due to its typing, Scald can deal with Rock Blast users, and it finds lots of opportunities to Toxic switchins, and to lure in Vileplume and Amoonguss for Articuno to take down. __________________ Check out Slowmons: A new metagame where the slowest Pokémon moves first! Last edited by erisia; Apr 8th, 2012 at 9:28:14 AM.