Politoed

Politoed

[Overview]

[SET]
name:
move 1: Scald / Surf / Hydro Pump
move 2: Ice Beam
move 3: Encore / Hidden Power Electric / Hidden Power Grass
move 4: Protect
item: Wacan Berry / Iron Ball
ability: Drizzle
nature: Quiet
evs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 6 SpD
ivs: 30 SpA, 3 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Politoed has three solid choices for STAB. Scald is the most reliable and can burn opponents fairly often, Surf hits every Pokemon on the field, and Hydro Pump is the most powerful but the least reliable. Ice Beam hits Dragon-types super-effective. Encore is useful for interrupting support Pokemon like Cresselia. Hidden Power Grass lets Politoed hit Gastrodon and enemy Politoed hard, while Hidden Power Electric covers Gyarados.</p>

<p>Wacan Berry allows Politoed to survive most STAB Electric attacks, while Iron Ball makes Politoed slow enough to underspeed Tyranitar, Hippowdon, and Abomasnow so that its Drizzle will overwrite Sand Stream or Snow Warning.</p>

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>Ludicolo, Kingdra, and other Pokemon with Swift Swim make good partners for Politoed. Drizzle activates Swift Swim and boosts the power of their STAB Water attacks. Toxicroak gains 1/8th of its HP every turn in rain and can absorb Surfs with Dry Skin. Jellicent accomplishes a similar task with Water Absorb and it can use Trick Room to put Politoed's mediocre speed to good use. When using Hidden Power Grass, make sure Politoed's Attack IV is also an even Hidden Power number, such as 30.</p>

[SET]
name:
move 1: Surf
move 2: Ice Beam
move 3: Hidden Power Electric / Hidden Power Grass
move 4: Hydro Pump / Scald
item: Choice Scarf
ability: Drizzle
nature: Timid
evs: 6 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
ivs: 30 SpA

[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Surf is generally your STAB of choice on the offensive set, so be sure to pair Politoed with a partner that can take a hit from it. Ice Beam and Hidden Power provide coverage, but since you're locked into one move, you generally want to avoid using them unless you must. Hydro Pump and Scald are solid backup STAB moves for when Politoed absolutely must not hit its partner. Choice Scarf lets Politoed barely edge out max speed base 130 Pokemon.</p>

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>This Politoed set pairs well with Absorb Bulb Ludicolo, as it can give it a one-time Special Attack boost with Surf. Critical hits aside, Politoed doesn't have to worry much about damaging Ludicolo because Ludicolo 4x resists Surf and can regain HP with Giga Drain. Again, make sure to have an even Hidden Power number as your Attack IV if you want Hidden Power Grass over Hidden Power Electric.</p>

[Other Options]
<p>Politoed without Choice Scarf can use Rain Dance to get its Rain back if it is interrupted by another weather user, just be aware that Rain Dance is not infinite like Drizzle is and will stop after five turns. Psychic can bring Toxicroak down to its Focus Sash or kill it outright if it has taken damage. Perish Song clears the field, and picks off the remainder of a team when down to its last two Pokemon. It can be used in conjunction with a Pokemon with the Shadow Tag ability to take down Pokemon regardless of stats or typing, but it's generally an unstable strategy.</p>

[Checks and Counters]
<p>Rotom and Zapdos both get STAB on Thunder and can 2HKO Wacan Politoed with ease. Ludicolo can take advantage of Politoed's Drizzle by outspeeding it with Swift Swim (even if Politoed has Choice Scarf) and hitting it with Giga Drain. Similarly, Abomasnow can Giga Drain Politoed and interrupt Politoed's Drizzle with Snow Warning. Latios and Latias resist Water and are 3HKOed by Ice Beam, and both can deal damage back with Thunderbolt, Thunder, or a strong Draco Meteor.</p>

hp electric before grass, 90% of the time politoed is with ludicolo (add this as a teammate, along with kingdra, toxicroak, other rain mons). add psychic to OO for beating toxicroak. mention lati@s, cloud 9, and other weather setters as checks / counters for general rain teams.

after that qc 1 / 2

there's no dreamworld section needed if the ability is released

mention a speed iv of 0 if using encore to be sure to underspeed and get your weather up (obviously not on the scarf set)

mention optimal hp grass/electric iv's
(for electric its 30 atk/def/spe, 31 in the rest and for grass its 30 atk and 30 spatk, 31 in the rest)

QC 2/2

it may be just me, but oo looks mighty skimpy!

imo, hypnosis, perish song (if you have at least 3 pokemon against 2, it's pretty much gg) and stuff like toxic to hurt shedinja, since standard rain teams don't have much to hurt it.

I feel hypnosis is too risky, especially with the plethora of other options that can use more accurate sleeping attacks. Perish Song might be a gimmicky, but a surprise and i could see it working. My 2 cents!

Am I missing something? Wouldn't it be strictly better to have the lowest atk power possible with a good hidden power rather that the highest? (instead of using 30 use 02 to lower confusion damage)

Yes, but most people dont care enough to take the time to minimize confusion damage on their special attackers. Its just so small of a detail that it isnt deemed "worth it"

I just thought that if you were going to put in the effort of establishing the best or most competitive builds then you should not leave out a detail such as this. Sure there are people who could care less but for the sake of perfection it seems more than reasonably mentionable.

firstly, if/when this is fully written up, do remember to post in the gp queue, and change the title to Politoed (GP 0/2) so checkers know to come and do their thing :)

secondly, be sure to take a look at this and refresh your memory! explanation of item choice (i.e. the paragraph on wacan and iron ball) goes in the first paragraph of AC, as does the EV spread, nature selection, and IV spread. teammates go in the second paragraph.

also, I hope I'm not out of place here, but the first set looks like it's a little slashitis-y. perhaps one or two of the first moves, in particular, should be moved to AC?

one more note that it should be 4 SpD and 4 HP EVs in the first and second set respectively, not 6. also, your IVs for the first set are in the wrong format; it should have the same format as the EV spread

good luck writing this up!

hey I talked to six and he is gonna change some things, which is why this is back in QC. Thought he was gonna do it right then which is why I didn't post at the time.

@six - make those changes so we can get this online, this is an important mon!

lucariojr is taking this over.