Zangoose (QC 3/3) [GP 2/2]

Molk

Godlike Usmash
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http://www.smogon.com/bw/pokemon/zangoose/ru

[Overview]

<p>Ever since its introduction in ADV, Zangoose was always outclassed with little to stand out among the plethora of Normal-types available in the lower tiers. It was often thrown aside for bigger and better options such as Swellow and Ursaring. This is no longer true, as Zangoose hit the jackpot when it comes to Dream World abilities. Zangoose's new ability, Toxic Boost, functions a lot like Guts, boosting Zangoose's Attack stat if its afflicted with the poison status. This is a godsend for Zangoose, shooting its already high Attack to astronomical levels after only being in for one turn. Combine this newfound power with Zangoose's above average base 90 Speed and one of the most powerful STAB moves in the game in the form of Facade, and you have a monster on your hands. Sadly, there is one very important attribute holding Zangoose back, and that is its frailty. 73 / 60 / 60 defenses are nothing to write home about, and with no notable resistances to take advantage of, it can be quite hard to switch Zangoose in and activate Toxic Orb. Zangoose is also held back by its own Toxic Orb; while the poison status gives Zangoose enough power to break down a brick wall with its bare hands, it also puts Zangoose on a timer, slowly wearing it down over the course of the match. Nonetheless, Zangoose's incredible power makes it a threat to watch out for, and it would be foolish to underestimate it, despite its frailty.</p>

[SET]
name: Toxic Boost
move 1: Facade
move 2: Close Combat
move 3: Night Slash / Swords Dance
move 4: Quick Attack
item: Toxic Orb
ability: Toxic Boost
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

<p>With Toxic Boost to boost its Attack stat, excellent coverage, priority, and a bone crushingly powerful STAB, Zangoose is a perfect candidate for a physical attacker set. The basic objective of the set is to get in safely and then get a boost from the Toxic Orb to start a sweep. While Facade starts off with only 70 Base Power, its Base Power doubles when Zangoose is afflicted with a status problem, so once Zangoose's Toxic Orb activates, Facade has an effective 140 Base Power. Now add on STAB and you have a massively powerful attack that's capable of 2HKOing anything that doesn't resist it. Close Combat takes care of anything that would happen to resist Zangoose's Facade such as Steelix, Ferroseed, Kabutops, and Aggron, all of which take huge amounts of damage. Night Slash rounds off Zangoose's coverage by giving it a solid option to hit the Ghost-types that are immune to both Close Combat and Facade such as Rotom and Misdreavus, allowing Zangoose to break through these Pokemon with little team support. Lastly, Quick Attack provides Zangoose with a decently powerful priority move, a great emergency weapon against faster Pokemon that might otherwise stop Zangoose's sweep prematurely. Zangoose can also give up Night Slash for Swords Dance to further bolster its Attack stat if it gets a boost in; after a Swords Dance boost, Zangoose is fully capable of cleanly OHKOing Tangrowth with Facade, among other incredible feats.</p>

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

<p>Although Zangoose has quite a few alternative options to use on this set, thanks to the immense Base Power of Facade outranking the power of even super effective coverage moves most of the time, they usually aren't needed. If you want a safer way to consistently activate Zangoose's Toxic Orb, Protect is certainly an option, but the vast majority of the time you will miss something about whatever move you replaced, whether it be the power of Facade, the coverage of Close Combat or Night Slash, or the utility of Quick Attack. Like all physical attackers, Zangoose appreciates a teammate that can set up multiple layers of entry hazards to secure some KOs on some really bulky Pokemon such as Tangrowth. Smeargle is excellent at this job, being able to set up every hazard in the game, while also being able to pull its own weight by using Spore to essentially eliminate one Pokemon from the match. If Smeargle doesn't appeal to your tastes, there are plenty of other options for hazard setters such as Crustle, Ferroseed, Uxie, and Omastar. Although Zangoose is a very powerful Pokemon, there is one threat it has significant trouble breaking through: Spiritomb. Therefore, teammates that can readily deal with it are very much appreciated. Aggron, Escavalier, and Klinklang are all good examples of Spiritomb counters, being able to come in on any of its standard attacks bar Will-O-Wisp and either strike back with an incredibly powerful Head Smash or Megahorn or set up a Substitute to avoid status and set up to +6, respectively. Hariyama is also a good way to keep Spiritomb in check, taking almost nothing from its attacks and using the burn from Will-O-Wisp to its advantage with Guts. Zangoose works well with many of the other Normal-types in RU, such as Tauros and Swellow, and thanks to their similar checks and counters, one can come in and either eliminate or weaken the opponent's Normal-type check, giving the second Normal-type a clear opportunity to sweep. Zangoose is especially good at this thanks to its immense power and ability to break through many Rock- and Steel-type Pokemon with Close Combat.</p>

[Other Options]

<p>As a Normal-type, Zangoose has a pretty varied movepool with quite a few options; sadly, there's usually no reason to use any of them due to the sheer power of a Toxic Boosted Facade. Zangoose is capable of using a wide array of special moves such as Fire Blast, Giga Drain, Focus Blast, and Ice Beam, but none of them are worth it in the long run thanks to the power of Facade. Zangoose can potentially use Double Kick over Close Combat to break down Substitutes, but the power drop is very noticeable. The elemental punches can be useful at times for hitting certain Pokemon such as Escavalier and the rare Torterra harder than Facade, but keep in mind that in the majority of cases Facade will do more than enough to the Pokemon in question anyway, making the punches obsolete. Zangoose can choose to use an item other than Toxic Orb such as Life Orb, Choice Band, or Silk Scarf if you think you can predict Toxics well enough to get the boost, but it makes Zangoose pretty unreliable and the extra item boost usually isn't worth it unless Zangoose switches into a random Toxic.</p>

[Checks and Counters]

<p>Because of how hard Zangoose hits with Toxic Boost taken into account, foolproof counters are few and far between, but there are plenty of ways to stop a rampant Zangoose from sweeping your whole team. Spiritomb is your best bet when it comes to countering Zangoose; it's completely immune to Facade and Close Combat, while its secondary Dark-type makes it take little from Night Slash. Spiritomb can then trap Zangoose with Pursuit in return, eliminating it from the match. Fast paced offensive teams can minimize the amount of damage Zangoose can do by taking advantage of its frailty, giving it little to no opportunity to switch in with powerful STAB attacks and crippling status. Outside of Spiritomb, perhaps the best way to stop Zangoose is to wear it down with its own Toxic Orb, playing around Zangoose's coverage moves with various resists as the poison damage chips away at Zangoose's HP until it falls. If all else fails, faster opponents that can take a Quick Attack are able to revenge kill Zangoose quite easily thanks to its frailty and lack of notable resistances. Choice Scarf Rotom-C, Aerodactyl, Sceptile, and Durant are all perfectly capable of pulling this off with their high Speed stats and strong offensive presence.</p>
 

Windsong

stumbling down elysian fields
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Try and keep personal bias out of the write up, as you're hyping it a bit, especially considering it's one of those "great on paper" mons (not denying that it's good, but it's just one of those mons that looks a lot better in damage calcs than in truth). Also make sure to mention bulky scarfers in checks and counters, and probably spend a little bit more time making sure people realize how really really poor its defenses are.

QC 1/3
 
Don't mention Cresselia just yet. We can always edit it in if it becomes RU. Also in C&C don't forget to be specific with priority users :3. Hazards also help wear it down.

[qc]2/3[/qc]
 

Molk

Godlike Usmash
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Try and keep personal bias out of the write up, as you're hyping it a bit, especially considering it's one of those "great on paper" mons (not denying that it's good, but it's just one of those mons that looks a lot better in damage calcs than in truth). Also make sure to mention bulky scarfers in checks and counters, and probably spend a little bit more time making sure people realize how really really poor its defenses are.

QC 1/3

Will do, thanks man! I tested zangoose out quite a bit today and was actually very impressed with the results, but as you said, its a bit better on paper than in practice, if it was as good as it is on paper, it would probably be BL3/RU already, lol. Rotom-C was indeed an annoyance for me when i was using this guy, so ill make sure to give special note to him as a revenge killer, any other bulky scarfers i should mention?
 

complete legitimacy

is it cold in the water?
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I think that Adamant should at least be mentioned on the Swords Dance set, if not slashed. As you can see from the calcs, Zangoose can really appreciate a little bit of extra power. It doesn't really miss the Speed too much either, because everything that it would be able to outspeed or tie with Jolly is KOed by a +2 Quick Attack after Stealth Rock. It still outspeeds Jolly Absol and Timid Nidoqueen with Adamant if people are gonna run that, too. Like I said, I think it should at the very least be mentioned, but I'd prefer that it was slashed, and at that should probably be the primary slash because you wouldn't use Adamant with Night Slash. Feel free to use your own judgment though. Also, as far as bulky Scarfers go, there really aren't that many in the metagame, so you can mention things like Aerodactyl and Drapion that outspeed and can take a +2 Quick Attack. Other than that,

[QC]3/3[/QC]
 

Molk

Godlike Usmash
is a Top Tutor Alumnusis a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Team Rater Alumnusis a Senior Staff Member Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Smogon Discord Contributor Alumnusis a Top Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Top Contributor Alumnus
thanks for the approval c_l, i would be happy to mention adamant, but i would like more opinions on if it should be a slash or an Ac mention! thanks in advance!
 

Molk

Godlike Usmash
is a Top Tutor Alumnusis a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Team Rater Alumnusis a Senior Staff Member Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Smogon Discord Contributor Alumnusis a Top Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Top Contributor Alumnus
Finally done with the writeup, i talked with QC and we eventually decided to remove the Swords Dance set entirely and simply give swords dance an AC mention in the Physical Attacker set, i think i might need to beef up C&C a bit, but for now..... This is ready for checks!
 
GP check. Good job on writing this. Just a couple comments: frailty>fraility, capitalize Base Power but don't capitalize status conditions, and be careful and remember when you need to use apostrophes. Other than that and a few weird capitalizations, this looks great.
Additions in Blue
Subtractions in Red
Comments in Purple

[Overview]

<p>Ever since its introduction in R/S/E ADV, Zangoose has been seen as outclassed, and with little to make itself stand out among the plethora of Normal-types available in the lower tiers, it was often thrown aside for bigger and better options such as Swellow and Ursaring. This is no longer true, as Zangoose hit the jackpot when it comes to Dream World abilities in BW2. Zangoose's new ability, Toxic Boost, functions a lot like Guts, boosting Zangoose's Attack stat if its afflicted with the Poison poison status. This is a godsend for the mighty moongoose Zangoose (You can rephrase this in a way to your liking if you want, but Pokemon aren't animals, they're Pokemon), shooting its already high Attack to astronomical levels after being in for one turn. Combine this newfound power with Zangoose's above average base 90 Speed and one of the most powerful STAB moves in the game in the form of a STAB Facade, and you have a monster on your hands. Sadly, there is one very important thing holding Zangoose back, and that is its fraility frailty. 73/60/60 is defenses are nothing to write home about, and with no notable resistances to take advantage of, it can be quite hard to switch Zangoose in and activate its Toxic Orb. Zangoose is also held back further by its own Toxic Orb, (change to semicolon) while the Poison poison status gives Zangoose enough power to break down a brick wall with its bare hands, it also puts Zangoose on a timer, slowly wearing it down over the course of the match. Nonthenless Nonetheless, Zangoose's incredible power makes it a threat to watch out for, and it would be foolish to understimate underestimate it, despite its fraility frailty.</p>


[SET]
name: Physical Attacker
move 1: Facade
move 2: Close Combat
move 3: Night Slash / Swords Dance
move 4: Quick Attack
item: Toxic Orb
ability: Toxic Boost
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

<p>With Toxic Boost to boost its Attack stat, excellent coverage, priority, and a bone crushingly powerful STAB in the form of Facade, Zangoose is the a perfect candidate for a physical attacker in the RU tier set. The basic objective of this Zangoose set is to try to get the mongoose it in safely, (remove comma) and then get a boost from the Toxic Orb to start up a sweep. While Facade starts off with only 70 base power Base Power, its base power Base Power doubles when Zangoose is afflicted with a status problem, so once Zangoose's Toxic Orb activates, Facade has an effective 140 base power Base Power. Now add on STAB and you have a bone crushingly powerful attack thats that's capable of 2hkoing 2HKOing anything that doesnt doesn't resist it. Close Combat takes care of anything that would happen to resist Zangoose's Facade such as Steelix, Ferroseed, Kabutops, and Aggron, hitting all four of which are hit for massive amounts of damage. Night Slash rounds off Zangoose's coverage by giving the mongoose it a solid option to hit the Ghost-types that are immune to both Close Combat and Facade such as Rotom and Misdreavus, allowing Zangoose to break through these Pokemon with little team support. Lastly, Quick Attack provides Zangoose with a decently powerful priority move, this is a great emergency weapon against faster Pokemon that might be able to stop Zangoose's sweep prematurely otherwise. Zangoose is also capable of giving can also give up Night Slash for Swords Dance to further bolster its Attack stat if it gets a boost in, (change to semicolon) after a Swords Dance boost, Zangoose is fully capable of cleanly OHKOing Tangrowth with Facade, among other incredible feats.</p>

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

<p> Although Zangoose has quite a few alternative options to use on this set, very few of them are worth using over any of the moves on the set thanks to the immense BP of facade Battle Power of Facade outranking the power of even super-effective (remove hyphen) coverage moves most of the time. If you want a safer way to consistently activate your Zangoose's Toxic Orb, Protect is certainly an option on this set, but the vast majority of the time you will miss something about whatever move you replaced with it, whether it be the power of facade Facade, the coverage of Close Combat or Night Slash, or the utility of Quick Attack. Like all physical attackers, Zangoose appreciates a teammate that can set up multiple layers of entry hazards to secure some KOs on some really bulky Pokemon such as Tangrowth. Smeargle is excellent at this job, being able to set up every hazard in the game, while also being able to pull its weight otherwise using Spore to automatically essentially eliminate one Pokemon from the match. If Smeargle doesnt doesn't appeal to your tastes, there are plenty of other options for hazard setters, such as Crustle, Ferroseed, Uxie, and Omastar. Although Zangoose is a very powerful Pokemon, there is one threat it has significant trouble breaking through: Spiritomb, (change to semicolon) therefore, teammates that can readily deal with the possessed stone it are very appreciated. Aggron, Klinklang and Escavalier Escavalier, and Klinklang are all good examples of Spiritomb counters, being able to come in on any of Spiritomb's its standard attacks bar Will-O-Wisp and either strika strike back with their an incredibly powerful Head Smash and or Megahorn or set up a Substitute to avoid status and set up to +6, respectively. Hariyama is also a good way to keep Spiritomb in check, taking almost nothing from its attacks and using the Burn burn from Will-O-Wisp to its advantage with Guts. Zangoose works well with many of the other Normal-types in RU such as Tauros and Swellow, (change to semicolon) thanks to their similar checks and counters, one can come in and either eliminate or weaken the opponent's Normal-type check, giving the second Normal-type a clear opportunity to sweep, (start new sentence) Zangoose is especially good at this due to its immense power and ability to break through many of the Rock- and Steel-type Pokemon with Close Combat.</p>

[Other Options]

<p> As a Normal-type, Zangoose has a pretty varied movepool with quite a few options, (change to semicolon) sadly, theres there's usually no reason to use any of them due to the sheer power of a Toxic Boosted Facade. Protect can be useful in theory to activate Zangoose's Toxic Orb with little risk, but Zangoose really doesnt have a moveslot for it on its standard set. (already mentioned in Additional Comments; either remove this or remove the mention there) Zangoose is capable of using a wide array of special moves such as Fire Blast, Giga Drain, Focus Blast, and Ice Beam, but none of them are worth it in the long run thanks to the power of Zangoose's Facade. Zangoose can potentially use Double Kick over Close Combat to break down Subsitutes, but the power drop is very noticeable. The elemental punches can be useful at times for hitting certain Pokemon such as Escavalier and the Rare rare Torterra harder than Facade, but you have to keep in mind that in the majority of cases Facade will do more than enough to the Pokemon in question anyway, making the punches obselete obsolete. Zangoose can choose to use an item other than Toxic Orb such as Life Orb, Choice Band, or Silk Scarf if you think you can predict Toxics well enough to get the boost, but it makes Zangoose pretty unreliable and the extra item boost usually isnt isn't worth it unless you switch Zangoose switches into a random Toxic.</p>

[Checks and Counters]

<p>Because of how hard it Zangoose hits with Toxic Boost taken into account, foolproof counters to Zangoose are few and far between, but there are plenty of ways to stop a rampant Zangoose from sweeping your whole team. Spiritomb is your best bet when it comes to countering Zangoose, (change to semicolon) its it's completely immune to Facade and Close Combat, while its secondary Dark-type makes it take little from Night Slash, Spiritomb can then trap Zangoose with Pursuit in return, eliminating it from the match. Fast paced offensive teams can minimize the amount of damage Zangoose can do by taking advantage of its fraility frailty, giving it little to no opportunity to switch in with Powerful powerful STAB attacks and crippling status. Outside of Spiritomb, perhaps the best way to stop Zangoose is to wear it down with its own Toxic Orb, playing around Zangoose's coverage moves with various resists as the Poison poison damage chips away at Zangoose's hp HP until it falls. If all else fails, Faster faster opponents that can take a Quick Attack are able to revenge kill Zangoose quite easily thanks to its fraility frailty and lack of notable resistances, (change to semicolon) Choice Scarf Rotom-C, Aerodactyl, Sceptile, and Durant are all perfectly capable of pulling this off with their high speed Speed stats and strong offensive presence.</p>


[gp]1/2[/gp]
 

Yonko7

Guns make you stupid. Duct tape makes you smart.
is a Contributor Alumnus
[Overview]

<p>Ever since its introduction in ADV, Zangoose hwas been seen always outclassed, and with little to make itself stand out among the plethora of Normal-types available in the lower tiers, i. It was often thrown aside for bigger and better options such as Swellow and Ursaring. This is no longer true, as Zangoose hit the jackpot when it comes to Dream World abilities in BW2. Zangoose's new ability, Toxic Boost, functions a lot like Guts, boosting Zangoose's Attack stat if its afflicted with the poison status. This is a godsend for Zangoose, shooting its already high Attack to astronomical levels after being in for one turn. Combine this newfound power with Zangoose's above average base 90 Speed and one of the most powerful STAB moves in the game in the form of Facade, and you have a monster on your hands. Sadly, there is one very important thingattribute holding Zangoose back, and that is its frailty. 73 / 60 / 60 defenses are nothing to write home about, and with no notable resistances to take advantage of, it can be quite hard to switch Zangoose in and activate its Toxic Orb. Zangoose is also held back by its own Toxic Orb; while the poison status gives Zangoose enough power to break down a brick wall with its bare hands, it also puts Zangoose on a timer, slowly wearing it down over the course of the match. Nonetheless, Zangoose's incredible power makes it a threat to watch out for, and it would be foolish to underestimate it, despite its frailty.</p>


[SET]
name: Physical Attacker
move 1: Facade
move 2: Close Combat
move 3: Night Slash / Swords Dance
move 4: Quick Attack
item: Toxic Orb
ability: Toxic Boost
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

<p>With Toxic Boost to boost its Attack stat, excellent coverage, priority, and a bone crushingly powerful STAB in the form of Facade, Zangoose is a perfect candidate for a physical attacker set. The basic objective of this Zangoose set is to try to get it in safely and then get a boost from the Toxic Orb to start up a sweep. While Facade starts off with only 70 Base Power, its Base Power doubles when Zangoose is afflicted with a status problem, so once Zangoose's Toxic Orb activates, Facade has an effective 140 Base Power. Now add on STAB and you have a bone crushingly powerful attack that's capable of 2HKOing anything that doesn't resist it. Close Combat takes care of anything that would happen to resist Zangoose's Facade such as Steelix, Ferroseed, Kabutops, and Aggron, all four of which are fortake massive amounts of damage. Night Slash rounds off Zangoose's coverage by giving it a solid option to hit the Ghost-types that are immune to both Close Combat and Facade such as Rotom and Misdreavus, allowing Zangoose to break through these Pokemon with little team support. Lastly, Quick Attack provides Zangoose with a decently powerful priority move, a great emergency weapon against faster Pokemon that might be able tootherwise stop Zangoose's sweep prematurely otherwise. Zangoose can also give up Night Slash for Swords Dance to further bolster its Attack stat if it gets a boost in; after a Swords Dance boost, Zangoose is fully capable of cleanly OHKOing Tangrowth with Facade, among other incredible feats.</p>

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

<p> Although Zangoose has quite a few alternative options to use on this set, thanks to the immense Base Power of Facade outranking the power of even super effective coverage moves most of the time. If you want a safer way to consistently activate Zangoose's Toxic Orb, Protect is certainly an option, but the vast majority of the time you will miss something about whatever move you replaced with it, whether it be the power of Facade, the coverage of Close Combat or Night Slash, or the utility of Quick Attack. Like all physical attackers, Zangoose appreciates a teammate that can set up multiple layers of entry hazards to secure some KOs on some really bulky Pokemon such as Tangrowth. Smeargle is excellent at this job, being able to set up every hazard in the game, while also being able to pull its weight otherwise using Spore to essentially eliminate one Pokemon from the match. If Smeargle doesn't appeal to your tastes, there are plenty of other options for hazard setters, such as Crustle, Ferroseed, Uxie, and Omastar. Although Zangoose is a very powerful Pokemon, there is one threat it has significant trouble breaking through: Spiritomb ;, therefore, teammates that can readily deal with it are very appreciated. Aggron, Escavalier and Klinklang are all good examples of Spiritomb counters, being able to come in on any of its standard attacks bar Will-O-Wisp and either strike back with an incredibly powerful Head Smash or Megahorn or set up a Substitute to avoid status and set up to +6, respectively. Mention maybe how a Will-O-Wisp could ruin them, and Entei as a teammate?Hariyama is also a good way to keep Spiritomb in check, taking almost nothing from its attacks and using the burn from Will-O-Wisp to its advantage with Guts. Zangoose works well with many of the other Normal-types in RU such as Tauros and Swellow ;, thanks to their similar checks and counters, one can come in and either eliminate or weaken the opponent's Normal-type check, giving the second Normal-type a clear opportunity to sweep. Zangoose is especially good at this duethanks to its immense power and ability to break through many Rock- and Steel-type Pokemon with Close Combat.</p>

[Other Options]

<p> As a Normal-type, Zangoose has a pretty varied movepool with quite a few options ; sadly, there's usually no reason to use any of them due to the sheer power of a Toxic Boosted Facade. Zangoose is capable of using a wide array of special moves such as Fire Blast, Giga Drain, Focus Blast, and Ice Beam, but none of them are worth it in the long run thanks to the power of Zangoose's Facade. Zangoose can potentially use Double Kick over Close Combat to break down Substitutes, but the power drop is very noticeable. The elemental punches can be useful at times for hitting certain Pokemon such as Escavalier and the rare Torterra harder than Facade, but keep in mind that in the majority of cases Facade will do more than enough to the Pokemon in question anyway, making the punches obsolete. Zangoose can choose to use an item other than Toxic Orb such as Life Orb, Choice Band, or Silk Scarf if you think you can predict Toxics well enough to get the boost, but it makes Zangoose pretty unreliable and the extra item boost usually isn't worth it unless Zangoose switches into a random Toxic.</p>

[Checks and Counters]

<p>Because of how hard Zangoose hits with Toxic Boost taken into account, foolproof counters are few and far between, but there are plenty of ways to stop a rampant Zangoose from sweeping your whole team. Spiritomb is your best bet when it comes to countering Zangoose ; it's completely immune to Facade and Close Combat, while its secondary Dark-type makes it take little from Night Slash, Spiritomb can then trap Zangoose with Pursuit in return, eliminating it from the match. Fast paced offensive teams can minimize the amount of damage Zangoose can do by taking advantage of its frailty, giving it little to no opportunity to switch in with powerful STAB attacks and crippling status. Outside of Spiritomb, perhaps the best way to stop Zangoose is to wear it down with its own Toxic Orb, playing around Zangoose's coverage moves with various resists as the poison damage chips away at Zangoose's HP until it falls. If all else fails, faster opponents that can take a Quick Attack are able to revenge kill Zangoose quite easily thanks to its frailty and lack of notable resistances ;. Choice Scarf Rotom-C, Aerodactyl, Sceptile, and Durant are all perfectly capable of pulling this off with their high Speed stats and strong offensive presence.</p>


[Overview]

<p>Ever since its introduction in ADV, Zangoose was always outclassed with little to stand out among the plethora of Normal-types available in the lower tiers. It was often thrown aside for bigger and better options such as Swellow and Ursaring. This is no longer true, as Zangoose hit the jackpot when it comes to Dream World abilities. Zangoose's new ability, Toxic Boost, functions a lot like Guts, boosting Zangoose's Attack stat if its afflicted with the poison status. This is a godsend for Zangoose, shooting its already high Attack to astronomical levels after being in for one turn. Combine this newfound power with Zangoose's above average base 90 Speed and one of the most powerful STAB moves in the game in the form of Facade, and you have a monster on your hands. Sadly, there is one very important attribute holding Zangoose back, and that is its frailty. 73 / 60 / 60 defenses are nothing to write home about, and with no notable resistances to take advantage of, it can be quite hard to switch Zangoose in and activate Toxic Orb. Zangoose is also held back by its own Toxic Orb; while the poison status gives Zangoose enough power to break down a brick wall with its bare hands, it also puts Zangoose on a timer, slowly wearing it down over the course of the match. Nonetheless, Zangoose's incredible power makes it a threat to watch out for, and it would be foolish to underestimate it, despite its frailty.</p>

[SET]
name: Physical Attacker
move 1: Facade
move 2: Close Combat
move 3: Night Slash / Swords Dance
move 4: Quick Attack
item: Toxic Orb
ability: Toxic Boost
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

<p>With Toxic Boost to boost its Attack stat, excellent coverage, priority, and a bone crushingly powerful STAB, Zangoose is a perfect candidate for a physical attacker set. The basic objective of the set is to get in safely and then get a boost from the Toxic Orb to start a sweep. While Facade starts off with only 70 Base Power, its Base Power doubles when Zangoose is afflicted with a status problem, so once Zangoose's Toxic Orb activates, Facade has an effective 140 Base Power. Now add on STAB and you have a bone crushingly powerful attack that's capable of 2HKOing anything that doesn't resist it. Close Combat takes care of anything that would happen to resist Zangoose's Facade such as Steelix, Ferroseed, Kabutops, and Aggron, all of which take massive amounts of damage. Night Slash rounds off Zangoose's coverage by giving it a solid option to hit the Ghost-types that are immune to both Close Combat and Facade such as Rotom and Misdreavus, allowing Zangoose to break through these Pokemon with little team support. Lastly, Quick Attack provides Zangoose with a decently powerful priority move, a great emergency weapon against faster Pokemon that might otherwise stop Zangoose's sweep prematurely. Zangoose can also give up Night Slash for Swords Dance to further bolster its Attack stat if it gets a boost in; after a Swords Dance boost, Zangoose is fully capable of cleanly OHKOing Tangrowth with Facade, among other incredible feats.</p>

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

<p> Although Zangoose has quite a few alternative options to use on this set, thanks to the immense Base Power of Facade outranking the power of even super effective coverage moves most of the time. If you want a safer way to consistently activate Zangoose's Toxic Orb, Protect is certainly an option, but the vast majority of the time you will miss something about whatever move you replaced, whether it be the power of Facade, the coverage of Close Combat or Night Slash, or the utility of Quick Attack. Like all physical attackers, Zangoose appreciates a teammate that can set up multiple layers of entry hazards to secure some KOs on some really bulky Pokemon such as Tangrowth. Smeargle is excellent at this job, being able to set up every hazard in the game, while also being able to pull its weight otherwise using Spore to essentially eliminate one Pokemon from the match. If Smeargle doesn't appeal to your tastes, there are plenty of other options for hazard setters, such as Crustle, Ferroseed, Uxie, and Omastar. Although Zangoose is a very powerful Pokemon, there is one threat it has significant trouble breaking through: Spiritomb, therefore, teammates that can readily deal with it are very appreciated. Aggron, Escavalier and Klinklang are all good examples of Spiritomb counters, being able to come in on any of its standard attacks bar Will-O-Wisp and either strike back with an incredibly powerful Head Smash or Megahorn or set up a Substitute to avoid status and set up to +6, respectively. Hariyama is also a good way to keep Spiritomb in check, taking almost nothing from its attacks and using the burn from Will-O-Wisp to its advantage with Guts. Zangoose works well with many of the other Normal-types in RU such as Tauros and Swellow, thanks to their similar checks and counters, one can come in and either eliminate or weaken the opponent's Normal-type check, giving the second Normal-type a clear opportunity to sweep. Zangoose is especially good at this thanks to its immense power and ability to break through many Rock- and Steel-type Pokemon with Close Combat.</p>

[Other Options]

<p>As a Normal-type, Zangoose has a pretty varied movepool with quite a few options; sadly, there's usually no reason to use any of them due to the sheer power of a Toxic Boosted Facade. Zangoose is capable of using a wide array of special moves such as Fire Blast, Giga Drain, Focus Blast, and Ice Beam, but none of them are worth it in the long run thanks to the power of Facade. Zangoose can potentially use Double Kick over Close Combat to break down Substitutes, but the power drop is very noticeable. The elemental punches can be useful at times for hitting certain Pokemon such as Escavalier and the rare Torterra harder than Facade, but keep in mind that in the majority of cases Facade will do more than enough to the Pokemon in question anyway, making the punches obsolete. Zangoose can choose to use an item other than Toxic Orb such as Life Orb, Choice Band, or Silk Scarf if you think you can predict Toxics well enough to get the boost, but it makes Zangoose pretty unreliable and the extra item boost usually isn't worth it unless Zangoose switches into a random Toxic.</p>

[Checks and Counters]

<p>Because of how hard Zangoose hits with Toxic Boost taken into account, foolproof counters are few and far between, but there are plenty of ways to stop a rampant Zangoose from sweeping your whole team. Spiritomb is your best bet when it comes to countering Zangoose; it's completely immune to Facade and Close Combat, while its secondary Dark-type makes it take little from Night Slash, Spiritomb can then trap Zangoose with Pursuit in return, eliminating it from the match. Fast paced offensive teams can minimize the amount of damage Zangoose can do by taking advantage of its frailty, giving it little to no opportunity to switch in with powerful STAB attacks and crippling status. Outside of Spiritomb, perhaps the best way to stop Zangoose is to wear it down with its own Toxic Orb, playing around Zangoose's coverage moves with various resists as the poison damage chips away at Zangoose's HP until it falls. If all else fails, faster opponents that can take a Quick Attack are able to revenge kill Zangoose quite easily thanks to its frailty and lack of notable resistances. Choice Scarf Rotom-C, Aerodactyl, Sceptile, and Durant are all perfectly capable of pulling this off with their high Speed stats and strong offensive presence.</p>


I left a note in the Diff that you might want to look at
Good job~

[gp]2/2[/gp]
 

Molk

Godlike Usmash
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Implemented!

And Yonko7, ill definitely consider that, im really tired atm though, so i dont think my writing would come out so great at this time. Ill edit/scms it in tommorow, depending on if this gets uploaded by then or not :>

so, uh, this is done!
 

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