Walrein
Taking over and pushing through GP for DeluxeBird with Oglemi's permission.
Status: copied skeleton for now
GP: [Guyguypants / NixHex] [V0x]
[Overview]
<p>Walrein has been a staple of hail stall teams since DPP. It is capable of stalling out entire teams with a combination of Substitute, Protect, its ability, Ice Body, and Leftovers. Defensive stats of 110 / 90 / 90 are exceptional, especially on a Pokemon such as Walrein, which depends on stalling to defeat the opponent. Walrein also has a decent base 95 Special Attack, allowing it to fire off decently powerful STAB Surfs and Blizzards. However, using Walrein requires a great deal of specific team support, since it is utterly useless outside of hail. Its typing leaves much to be desired, having a weakness to Stealth Rock as well as common Grass-, Electric-, and Fighting-type attacks. In addition, it is vulnerable to Toxic Spikes and Spikes, meaning that Rapid Spin is crucial to Walrein's survival. Despite Walrein's serious flaws, it can be a great addition to a hail team if provided with the proper team support.</p>
[SET]
name: Stallrein
move 1: Protect
move 2: Substitute
move 3: Blizzard / Surf
move 4: Super Fang / Toxic / Roar
item: Leftovers
ability: Ice Body
nature: Bold
evs: 232 HP / 252 Def / 24 SpD
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Stallrein is Walrein's best and only set. The combination of Protect, Ice Body, and Leftovers allow Walrein to create Substitutes at virtually no cost, as Ice Body and Leftovers restore the health lost from using Substitute after only two turns. Although Substitute and Protect only have a maximum PP of 16 each, giving Walrein a total of only thirty-two turns to abuse this strategy, it is usually more than enough to outstall any Pokemon that is not immune to Toxic Spikes. Additionally, the damage from hail, provided the opposing Pokemon is not Ice-type, will further accelerate the stalling process.</p>
<p>Blizzard and Surf are both good options to prevent Walrein from becoming total Taunt bait. In permanent hail, Walrein can fire off a decently powerful STAB Blizzard without fear of missing. However, the low PP of Blizzard may prove to be troublesome in longer battles. For that reason, Surf is another attacking option that hits many targets neutrally. It also has more PP than Blizzard, is accurate outside of hail, and is a more reliable move in general. In the final moveslot, Walrein has several options. The three most effective options are Super Fang, Toxic, and Roar. Super Fang instantly cuts the target's HP in half, greatly accelerating the stalling process. Unfortunately, because it is a Normal-type move, Ghost-types are unaffected by it. Walrein can also make good use of Toxic. If Walrein is faced with a Pokemon that is immune to Toxic Spikes such as a Flying-type or a Pokemon with the ability Levitate, it can proceed to poison the Pokemon and continue its thirty-two turns of Substitute and Protect stalling. Yet another option in the final moveslot is Roar, which is extremely helpful in racking up entry hazard damage, allowing sweepers to get easier KOs and Walrein to stall more effectively. In addition, it can help Walrein out of potentially dangerous situations.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>Using Walrein correctly can be extremely difficult without the proper team support because it requires much more than other stall-oriented Pokemon. Abomasnow is a required teammate to provide the permanent hail that activates Walrein's Ice Body ability and its 100% accurate Blizzard. Abomasnow's type synergy with Walrein is a mixed bag. While the abominable snowman brings additional weaknesses to Fighting- and Rock-type attacks, it resists both Grass- and Electric-type attacks. Toxic Spikes are also required for Walrein to function properly, as they allow Walrein to wear down opponents much faster. However, Walrein itself is also vulnerable to Toxic Spikes as well as Stealth Rock and Spikes, and therefore requires a teammate who can rid the field of them. Nidoqueen is a great teammate for its ability to both absorb Toxic Spikes and set up its own. Nidoqueen can also set up Stealth Rock and provides an important resistance to Fighting-type attacks, and has an immunity to Electric-type attacks.</p>
<p>In addition to Toxic Spikes, Walrein really appreciates other entry hazard support to help wear down opponents. If Walrein chooses to run Roar in its final moveslot, it can rack up entry hazard damage that allows it to stall more efficiently and help sweepers obtain easier KOs. Walrein also tends to have problems with Steel-, Poison-, and Flying-types as well as Pokemon with the Levitate ability, due to their immunity to Toxic Spikes. Although Flying-types and Pokemon with the Levitate ability can be dealt with using a combination of Toxic and Blizzard (Flygon and Claydol are the only Pokemon with Levitate that are commonly seen in the UU metagame, and both are weak to Ice-type moves), Walrein still appreciates teammates that can eliminate them before it tries to outstall the opponent. Teammates that can easily rid Walrein of Poison- and Steel-types are also important, as the latter also resists Ice-type moves. Nidoking and Dugtrio are great teammates to take out Poison- and Steel-types, as the former hits ridiculously hard with a Sheer Force-boosted Earth Power and the latter can trap the opponent and KO it with a STAB super effective Earthquake.</p>
<p>Although the EV spread may seem somewhat arbitrary, it does serve a specific purpose. The 232 HP EVs give Walrein a total of 419 HP, which allows it to create infinite Substitutes under hail that will not be broken by Seismic Toss or Night Shade. The Defense EVs along with a Bold nature give Walrein maximum physical bulk. Walrein's more common Grass- and Electric-type weaknesses are usually specially-based, so it is not worth heavily investing in its Special Defense. However, the remaining 24 EVs are put into Special Defense so as to provide a little extra special bulk.</p>
[Other Options]
<p>Walrein does not have many other options. However, the combination of Super Fang, Brine, and permanent hail can be surprisingly effective. Once the opponent's HP has been cut in half by Super Fang, Brine becomes an astonishing 130 Base Power, which becomes even more powerful when taking its STAB boost into consideration. If the opponent somehow miraculously survives the onslaught of Super Fang and the following Brine, the residual hail damage will finish it off. That said, such a strategy is too gimmicky and Stallrein should be the only set Walrein is running. While a RestTalk set might seem viable, it is horribly outclassed by the likes of Milotic and Suicune, which have superior defenses and typing.</p>
[Checks and Counters]
<p>Because Walrein requires so much team support, stopping it is often simple. Toxic cripples Walrein, and because it is so slow, the opponent can easily use Toxic before it manages to set up a Substitute. In addition to the obvious counters such as fast Electric- and Grass-types, there are also many other specific threats to Walrein. Taunt users can easily screw with Walrein by upsetting its Substitute + Protect combination, and can set up on or defeat Walrein with brute force. Encore users can also mess with Walrein, as Encoring Protect essentially puts it out of commission, or forces it to switch. Poliwrath, though relatively uncommon, is immune to Water-type moves thanks to Water Absorb, resists Blizzard, and can set up on Walrein by using Encore. On that note, most bulky Water-types with Substitute or Rest + Sleep Talk such as Suicune or Milotic can handle Walrein relatively well unless it packs Roar. Strong users of multi-hit moves such as Technician Ambipom's Double Hit and Rhyperior's Rock Blast don't care about Substitute and hit it for heavy damage. Clefable is also a decent check to Walrein, as it can stomach multiple Blizzards and Surfs with its decent Special Defense and is immune to Toxic and hail damage thanks to Magic Guard. Magic Guard Alakazam works the same way, and it can also use Encore; however, it is much more frail and cannot survive multiple Blizzards without a Calm Mind boost. Finally, entry hazards destroy Walrein, as it is weak to Stealth Rock, and is affected by Spikes and Toxic Spikes. In addition, if Abomasnow is not present for whatever reason, and hail has been replaced with some other weather or clear skies, Walrein is effectively neutered. Overall, it is relatively easy to deal with Walrein if it has not managed to get a Substitute up or if permanent hail is not present.</p>
[Dream World]
<p>Walrein receives Oblivious as its Dream World ability, which is obliviously useless in any sort of competitive play. Oblivious simply provides an immunity to the Attract condition, which is never seen in serious competitive play; Ice Body is always the superior ability.</p>
