[Overview]
<p>Omastar is a frustrating Pokemon, both for its user and the opponent. On one hand, Omastar has access to the famed Shell Smash, bolstering its speed and boosting its offenses to incredible heights. Its Water-type STAB move has excellent coverage with Ice Beam and Hidden Power Grass. Also, Omastar has a great Defense stat that helps it nab the crucial Shell Smash boost. In fact, its Defense is so great that Omastar can pull off an excellent support set by abusing its access to all three entry hazards.</p>
<p>However, that's not the whole picture. Omastar is cursed with a dubious defensive typing, typical of Game Freak, and has multiple weaknesses to common types; this hampers its success as a true defensive Pokemon—even Pokemon that it can wall normally, such as Choice Band Entei, can bypass it easily with a Hidden Power Grass. Its Special Defense is so abysmal that even Moltres can do a huge chunk to it with a resisted Air Slash, and super effective special attacks such as Rotom's Thunderbolt will easily turn Omastar into fried calamari. To top it off, its heinous Speed means that any Choice Scarf user with decent speed will be able to outspeed Omastar even after the +2 boost in Speed. Still, Omastar is an excellent Pokemon that manages to be a centerpiece of RU. With right teammates, Omastar will frustrate your opponent a lot more often than it does you.</p>
[SET]
name: Shell Smash
move 1: Shell Smash
move 2: Surf / Hydro Pump
move 3: Ice Beam
move 4: Hidden Power Grass / Hidden Power Rock
item: White Herb / Life Orb
ability: Swift Swim
nature: Modest / Timid
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Omastar's flagship set is a straightforward sweeping set which abuses its access to Shell Smash. Omastar can either use its rare set of resistances to set up on a Choice-locked attack, or threaten a physical wall and force a switch. After a Shell Smash, Omastar is quite unstoppable without a fast Choice Scarf user, super effective priority, or a dedicated special wall thanks to the great boosts it receives from Shell Smash alone. Surf, Ice Beam, and Hidden Power Grass provide the best coverage, but Hidden Power Rock is also a viable secondary STAB move since it is capable of nailing Cryogonal and Mantine. The choice between Surf and Hydro Pump is the usual power vs. accuracy dilemma. Surf does not miss any significant 2HKOs that Hydro Pump achieves, and the only notable benefit of Hydro Pump is that it can OHKO Ferroseed and Munchlax in rain, assuming Stealth Rock damage, Modest nature, Life Orb, and +2 in Special Attack. Without rain support, Surf is almost always the better option.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>Modest is the nature of choice on this set, as Shell Smash will boost Omastar's pathetic Speed to acceptable levels. The only relevant threats that a Timid Nature allows you to outspeed are Choice Scarf Medicham and Choice Scarf Rotom-A; the extra speed will not usually come in handy unless your team is especially weak to them. Still, a Timid Nature is worth a mention as those are rather common Choice Scarf users. Life Orb can be used over White Herb in order to further boost its attacks to incredible levels, but White Herb offers some protection against physical Choice Scarf users and Priority users. The EV spread is very straightforward as it is aimed to maximize Omastar's offenses, though a small bulk investment may be helpful for setting up against a resisted attack.</p>
<p>Because Munchlax and Ferroseed are the only common Pokemon capable of walling Omastar, Fighting-type Pokemon such as a Medicham of your own are great teammates to take advantage of Munchlax's and Ferroseed's Fighting-type weakness. With Spikes support, Medicham can easily switch into those special walls and force a switch, forcing them to take continuous residual damage that walls using Eviolite are ever so weak to. Speed is Omastar's lowest stat, and Omastar appreciates Rain Dance support to double its initial speed and provide an additional boost in power. In rain, Omastar is even more difficult to wall, and is nearly impossible to outspeed. If you manage to grab a Shell Smash boost in rain, chances are your opponent just lost the game.</p>
[SET]
name: Support
move 1: Stealth Rock
move 2: Spikes / Toxic Spikes
move 3: Scald
move 4: Ice Beam / Knock Off
item: Leftovers
nature: Bold
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>While Omastar is commonly known as an offensive juggernaut, it does have an acceptable Defense stat and access to all three entry hazards. With its physical bulk and surprise factor, support Omastar can easily set Stealth Rock and lay down a few layers of Spikes. Scald prevents Omastar from being Taunt bait; it hurts thanks to Omastar's respectable Special Attack, and the burn chance is always useful. Having two attacking moves on a support set may seem odd, but Ice Beam punishes predictable Grass-type switch-ins eager to exploit its 4x weakness. However, if paired with a teammate designed to capitalize on opposing Grass-types, then Knock Off can provide more utility as the threat of a sweeping set will often lure out Ferroseed, Munchlax, and other Pokemon holding Eviolite. Note that Omastar cannot carry all three entry hazards due to legality issues; more often than not, Omastar will not have enough turns to set up all three hazards anyway.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>The EVs emphasize its exceptional physical bulk, while the nature and item allow for maximum longevity. However, a Calm nature with an EV spread of 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD is also viable—it allows Omastar to take Choiced Fire-type moves from the likes of Moltres and Charizard, and most of your opponents will not expect Omastar to tank a rare Hydro Pump or two. With the specially defensive spread, Omastar will play like a specially defensive Forretress in RU, trying to lay down as much hazards as possible until it dies to repeated attacks. Even with large investment in Special Defense EVs, Omastar's Special Defense is decidedly average, and the physically defensive set will die to any reasonably strong special STAB move. Hence, a special wall such as Clefable is necessary to cover its weak Special Defense. As with all Spikes users, this Omastar appreciates help from Rotom or other Ghost-types to spinblock its hazards. Misdreavus gets a special mention for its ability to spinblock, great Special Defense, and acceptable synergy.</p>
<p>Omastar's typing and its great Defense stat allow it to switch in on strong physical attackers such as Swellow, Choice Band Entei, and Moxie Honchkrow, and proceed to set up entry hazards or retaliate with a super effective attack. However, note that one should not blindly switch in Omastar into the latter two: Mixed Honchkrow or Calm Mind Entei commonly carry Hidden Power Grass, which easily OHKOes Omastar. A large number of Choice Band Entei also tend to run Hidden Power Grass despite having an Adamant nature and no investment in Special Attack just to catch Omastar on the switch. While this weak Hidden Power Grass will not OHKO, it still deals plenty of damage to a severely dent Omastar. For a defensive Pokemon with no recovery, Omastar always has to be careful about taking a strong hit if it still needs to be alive in order to check another threat on the opposing team. Hence, Wish support from the likes of Clefable is very helpful to keep Omastar healthy from repeated attacks.</p>
[Other Options]
<p>There are not many options for Omastar other than the two given sets. Offensive variants may utilize Earth Power or Hidden Power Fire, but both are only used to hit Eviolite Magneton or Ferroseed, respectively. AncientPower can be used over Hidden Power Rock as they have negligible difference in power, and +3 Omastar is significantly harder to outspeed in comparison to a +2 Omastar. Still, the 10% chance of massive boost is not as reliable as the more consistent Hidden Power Rock, which has a higher Base Power. Lum Berry may also prove useful on offensive sets to shrug off status and set up more easily. Haze may work on defensive sets, but Omastar usually has better things to do.</p>
[Checks and Counters]
<p>Dedicated special walls such as Clefable and Munchlax are good initial switch-ins for the Shell Smash set, as they can take a hit or two and cripple Omastar with status. Still, Life Orb boosted +2 Hydro Pump will do massive damage. Especially with rain support, Omastar can leave a huge dent in their HP and guarantee that those walls will not have enough health to check other special attackers. Therefore, special walls that resist its attacks, such as Ferroseed and Mantine, are better suited to counter Omastar. While Omastar is incredibly hard to wall, it is significantly easier to revenge kill. Even at +2 Speed, Choice Scarf Moltres barely outspeeds it by a single point. If Omastar has a Modest nature, anything faster than a Choice Scarf Medicham can revenge kill it. Because of Omastar's great Defense stat, most priority moves will have hard time denting it even with the Defense drop. Still, Mach Punch from Hitmonchan and Hitmonlee can bring down a weakened Omastar. Against the support set, Rapid Spinners such as Cryogonal and Hitmonchan can take Scalds and threaten to remove all of its hazards. Of course, Electric- or Grass-type attacks can easily dispatch of Omastar.</p>
<p>Omastar is a frustrating Pokemon, both for its user and the opponent. On one hand, Omastar has access to the famed Shell Smash, bolstering its speed and boosting its offenses to incredible heights. Its Water-type STAB move has excellent coverage with Ice Beam and Hidden Power Grass. Also, Omastar has a great Defense stat that helps it nab the crucial Shell Smash boost. In fact, its Defense is so great that Omastar can pull off an excellent support set by abusing its access to all three entry hazards.</p>
<p>However, that's not the whole picture. Omastar is cursed with a dubious defensive typing, typical of Game Freak, and has multiple weaknesses to common types; this hampers its success as a true defensive Pokemon—even Pokemon that it can wall normally, such as Choice Band Entei, can bypass it easily with a Hidden Power Grass. Its Special Defense is so abysmal that even Moltres can do a huge chunk to it with a resisted Air Slash, and super effective special attacks such as Rotom's Thunderbolt will easily turn Omastar into fried calamari. To top it off, its heinous Speed means that any Choice Scarf user with decent speed will be able to outspeed Omastar even after the +2 boost in Speed. Still, Omastar is an excellent Pokemon that manages to be a centerpiece of RU. With right teammates, Omastar will frustrate your opponent a lot more often than it does you.</p>
[SET]
name: Shell Smash
move 1: Shell Smash
move 2: Surf / Hydro Pump
move 3: Ice Beam
move 4: Hidden Power Grass / Hidden Power Rock
item: White Herb / Life Orb
ability: Swift Swim
nature: Modest / Timid
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Omastar's flagship set is a straightforward sweeping set which abuses its access to Shell Smash. Omastar can either use its rare set of resistances to set up on a Choice-locked attack, or threaten a physical wall and force a switch. After a Shell Smash, Omastar is quite unstoppable without a fast Choice Scarf user, super effective priority, or a dedicated special wall thanks to the great boosts it receives from Shell Smash alone. Surf, Ice Beam, and Hidden Power Grass provide the best coverage, but Hidden Power Rock is also a viable secondary STAB move since it is capable of nailing Cryogonal and Mantine. The choice between Surf and Hydro Pump is the usual power vs. accuracy dilemma. Surf does not miss any significant 2HKOs that Hydro Pump achieves, and the only notable benefit of Hydro Pump is that it can OHKO Ferroseed and Munchlax in rain, assuming Stealth Rock damage, Modest nature, Life Orb, and +2 in Special Attack. Without rain support, Surf is almost always the better option.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>Modest is the nature of choice on this set, as Shell Smash will boost Omastar's pathetic Speed to acceptable levels. The only relevant threats that a Timid Nature allows you to outspeed are Choice Scarf Medicham and Choice Scarf Rotom-A; the extra speed will not usually come in handy unless your team is especially weak to them. Still, a Timid Nature is worth a mention as those are rather common Choice Scarf users. Life Orb can be used over White Herb in order to further boost its attacks to incredible levels, but White Herb offers some protection against physical Choice Scarf users and Priority users. The EV spread is very straightforward as it is aimed to maximize Omastar's offenses, though a small bulk investment may be helpful for setting up against a resisted attack.</p>
<p>Because Munchlax and Ferroseed are the only common Pokemon capable of walling Omastar, Fighting-type Pokemon such as a Medicham of your own are great teammates to take advantage of Munchlax's and Ferroseed's Fighting-type weakness. With Spikes support, Medicham can easily switch into those special walls and force a switch, forcing them to take continuous residual damage that walls using Eviolite are ever so weak to. Speed is Omastar's lowest stat, and Omastar appreciates Rain Dance support to double its initial speed and provide an additional boost in power. In rain, Omastar is even more difficult to wall, and is nearly impossible to outspeed. If you manage to grab a Shell Smash boost in rain, chances are your opponent just lost the game.</p>
[SET]
name: Support
move 1: Stealth Rock
move 2: Spikes / Toxic Spikes
move 3: Scald
move 4: Ice Beam / Knock Off
item: Leftovers
nature: Bold
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>While Omastar is commonly known as an offensive juggernaut, it does have an acceptable Defense stat and access to all three entry hazards. With its physical bulk and surprise factor, support Omastar can easily set Stealth Rock and lay down a few layers of Spikes. Scald prevents Omastar from being Taunt bait; it hurts thanks to Omastar's respectable Special Attack, and the burn chance is always useful. Having two attacking moves on a support set may seem odd, but Ice Beam punishes predictable Grass-type switch-ins eager to exploit its 4x weakness. However, if paired with a teammate designed to capitalize on opposing Grass-types, then Knock Off can provide more utility as the threat of a sweeping set will often lure out Ferroseed, Munchlax, and other Pokemon holding Eviolite. Note that Omastar cannot carry all three entry hazards due to legality issues; more often than not, Omastar will not have enough turns to set up all three hazards anyway.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>The EVs emphasize its exceptional physical bulk, while the nature and item allow for maximum longevity. However, a Calm nature with an EV spread of 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD is also viable—it allows Omastar to take Choiced Fire-type moves from the likes of Moltres and Charizard, and most of your opponents will not expect Omastar to tank a rare Hydro Pump or two. With the specially defensive spread, Omastar will play like a specially defensive Forretress in RU, trying to lay down as much hazards as possible until it dies to repeated attacks. Even with large investment in Special Defense EVs, Omastar's Special Defense is decidedly average, and the physically defensive set will die to any reasonably strong special STAB move. Hence, a special wall such as Clefable is necessary to cover its weak Special Defense. As with all Spikes users, this Omastar appreciates help from Rotom or other Ghost-types to spinblock its hazards. Misdreavus gets a special mention for its ability to spinblock, great Special Defense, and acceptable synergy.</p>
<p>Omastar's typing and its great Defense stat allow it to switch in on strong physical attackers such as Swellow, Choice Band Entei, and Moxie Honchkrow, and proceed to set up entry hazards or retaliate with a super effective attack. However, note that one should not blindly switch in Omastar into the latter two: Mixed Honchkrow or Calm Mind Entei commonly carry Hidden Power Grass, which easily OHKOes Omastar. A large number of Choice Band Entei also tend to run Hidden Power Grass despite having an Adamant nature and no investment in Special Attack just to catch Omastar on the switch. While this weak Hidden Power Grass will not OHKO, it still deals plenty of damage to a severely dent Omastar. For a defensive Pokemon with no recovery, Omastar always has to be careful about taking a strong hit if it still needs to be alive in order to check another threat on the opposing team. Hence, Wish support from the likes of Clefable is very helpful to keep Omastar healthy from repeated attacks.</p>
[Other Options]
<p>There are not many options for Omastar other than the two given sets. Offensive variants may utilize Earth Power or Hidden Power Fire, but both are only used to hit Eviolite Magneton or Ferroseed, respectively. AncientPower can be used over Hidden Power Rock as they have negligible difference in power, and +3 Omastar is significantly harder to outspeed in comparison to a +2 Omastar. Still, the 10% chance of massive boost is not as reliable as the more consistent Hidden Power Rock, which has a higher Base Power. Lum Berry may also prove useful on offensive sets to shrug off status and set up more easily. Haze may work on defensive sets, but Omastar usually has better things to do.</p>
[Checks and Counters]
<p>Dedicated special walls such as Clefable and Munchlax are good initial switch-ins for the Shell Smash set, as they can take a hit or two and cripple Omastar with status. Still, Life Orb boosted +2 Hydro Pump will do massive damage. Especially with rain support, Omastar can leave a huge dent in their HP and guarantee that those walls will not have enough health to check other special attackers. Therefore, special walls that resist its attacks, such as Ferroseed and Mantine, are better suited to counter Omastar. While Omastar is incredibly hard to wall, it is significantly easier to revenge kill. Even at +2 Speed, Choice Scarf Moltres barely outspeeds it by a single point. If Omastar has a Modest nature, anything faster than a Choice Scarf Medicham can revenge kill it. Because of Omastar's great Defense stat, most priority moves will have hard time denting it even with the Defense drop. Still, Mach Punch from Hitmonchan and Hitmonlee can bring down a weakened Omastar. Against the support set, Rapid Spinners such as Cryogonal and Hitmonchan can take Scalds and threaten to remove all of its hazards. Of course, Electric- or Grass-type attacks can easily dispatch of Omastar.</p>
