Relicanth (QC 3/3) (GP 2/2)

Engineer Pikachu

Good morning, you bastards!
is a Contributor Alumnus
I'm taking over for Krasnopesky, whose analysis has been untouched for about a month. Thanks for the skeleton, by the way.

[Overview]

<p>With four weaknesses to extremely common attacking types—Fighting, Ground, Grass, and Electric—and poor Special Defense, Relicanth initially appears to be a horrible choice to put on your team. However, its main niche lies in its ability, Rock Head, which allows Relicanth to fire off powerful STAB Head Smashes without fearing any recoil whatsoever. Its good HP and Defense stats mitigate its low Special Defense and pitiful Speed, and while its movepool is quite barren, Head Smash and a few other moves in conjunction with its good Attack are really all Relicanth needs in order to pose a threat. Although Relicanth may not seem like a very threatening Pokemon, beware; its attacks may hurt much more than you expect them to.</p>

[SET]
name: Rock Polish
move 1: Rock Polish
move 2: Head Smash
move 3: Waterfall
move 4: Earthquake
item: Life Orb
ability: Rock Head
nature: Jolly / Adamant
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

<p>With base 90 Attack and a high-powered STAB move at its disposal, the only issue holding Relicanth back from sweeping is its Speed, which lies at a rather pitiful 55. This set uses Rock Polish in order to alleviate this problem; after one Rock Polish boost, Relicanth is able to outspeed many threats, such as +1 positive-natured base 86 Pokemon, which include Choice Scarf users such as Sawk, Rotom-F, Magmortar, and Pinsir, all of whom would pose great threats to Relicanth otherwise. At +2, Relicanth is also able to outspeed base 95 Pokemon with no Speed investment, such as defensive Leafeon. In some cases, however, you'll find that Relicanth can already outspeed and destroy some walls.</p>

<p>Head Smash is an obvious move on this set, obliterating most Pokemon who don't resist it. Waterfall acts as a secondary STAB, hitting the Pokemon that do resist Head Smash for major damage; once Relicanth gets a Rock Polish boost, Waterfall's flinch rate can also come in handy. Earthquake rounds out the moveset, granting Relicanth excellent coverage against most of the Pokemon in NU. However, note that as super effective STAB Waterfall and Earthquake actually deal less damage than a neutral STAB Head Smash, you should only be using them for situations in which Head Smash is resisted.</p>

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

<p>The EV spread is fairly straightforward. Maximizing Speed and using a Jolly nature allow Relicanth to outspeed the aforementioned threats after a Rock Polish boost, and maximizing Attack lets Relicanth demolish as many things as possible; the remaining 4 EVs are then added to Defense for some added bulk. However, if you want more power, an Adamant nature can be used instead of a Jolly one; unfortunately, this leaves Relicanth outsped by the Choice Scarf threats mentioned above, but it is still fast enough to outspeed positive-natured base 140s, notably Electrode, at +2. Yet another alternate EV spread you can use is 108 HP / 252 Atk / 144 Spe with an Adamant nature; this gives Relicanth some more bulk, while allowing it to outspeed positive-natured base 115s and +1 positive-natured base 60s after a Rock Polish boost. Rock Head allows Relicanth to suffer no recoil from its powerful Head Smash, and a Life Orb simply adds to that power.</p>

<p>With base 100 HP and 130 Defense, Relicanth can actually come in on a large variety of physical attacks, set up Rock Polish, and proceed to tear through the opponent's team with Head Smash and its other coverage moves. However, its horrible Special Defense and crippling weaknesses make it somewhat hard to do so. As such, Pokemon who have great defensive synergy with Relicanth make excellent partners. Leafeon is one of the best Pokemon to pair Relicanth up with, as it resists three of Relicanth's weaknesses and can even Baton Pass a Swords Dance or two to Relicanth; once Relicanth gets both its Speed and Attack boosted, it's essentially game over. In return, Relicanth resists four of Leafeon's weaknesses, and can come in and set up a Rock Polish. Other Grass-types, such as Simisage and Meganium, are also great partners. Flying-types such as Swellow have great synergy with Relicanth as well, and can weaken its walls for it, potentially opening up a sweep.</p>

[SET]
name: Choice Band
move 1: Head Smash
move 2: Waterfall
move 3: Earthquake
move 4: Double-Edge
item: Choice Band
ability: Rock Head
nature: Adamant / Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

<p>Instead of using Rock Polish to boost Speed and sweep, the Choice Band set focuses on making Relicanth deal ridiculous amounts of damage, while using its fairly decent bulk to survive attacks and retaliate. With a Choice Band equipped, Relicanth reaches 459 Attack and can proceed to repeatedly slam into opponents with a STAB 150 Base Power Head Smash, obliterating anything that doesn't resist it. STAB Waterfall and Earthquake hit quite hard with the Choice Band boost and give excellent coverage in conjunction with Head Smash, and Double-Edge eases predictions somewhat by hitting almost everything for about the same amount of damage. As this Relicanth doesn't have very much special bulk, it should be kept away from faster Pokemon who use powerful special moves; instead, Choice Band Relicanth should be used to destroy tanks such as Miltank and Alomomola. In fact, Choice Band Relicanth is so powerful that physically defensive Alomomola is 2HKOed with Head Smash after Stealth Rock damage!</p>

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

<p>The EV spread provided allows Relicanth to hit as hard and as quickly as possible; again, the remaining EVs are dropped into Defense for some added physical bulk. In order to outspeed positive-natured base 50s or Speed tie with positive-natured base 55s, a Jolly nature can be used instead of an Adamant one, but Choice Band Relicanth needs as much power behind its attacks as it can. On the other hand, an alternate spread of 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def can be used to make Relicanth much bulkier, but Relicanth needs to outspeed certain key threats, such as uninvested Alomomola.</p>

<p>If you feel that Waterfall is too weak, using Aqua Tail instead can also work; however, the power difference isn't too noticeable, and the loss of a flinch chance and slightly lower accuracy can come back to bite you. Instead of using Double-Edge, Sleep Talk can be used to transform Relicanth into a sleep absorber, allowing it to switch on Parasect's Spore or Vileplume's Sleep Powder, and retaliate with a high-powered attack that is backed by Choice Band. However, as Relicanth doesn't fare too well against common sleep inducers, such as Parasect, Vileplume, and Exeggutor, it is often forced to switch back out again; moreover, Choice Band forces Relicanth to switch out once it wakes up, which may prove disastrous at times. Because Relicanth will probably be either taking lots of damage from entry hazards due to constant switching or just getting hit by faster enemies, Wish support is very helpful to it. For this reason, using Alomomola as a partner is a great idea; if you're worried about doubling up on weaknesses to Grass- and Electric-type attacks, however, using Wigglytuff can work as well.</p>

[SET]
name: Support
move 1: Head Smash
move 2: Waterfall / Earthquake
move 3: Stealth Rock / Toxic
move 4: Toxic / Yawn
item: Leftovers
ability: Rock Head
nature: Impish
evs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def

[SET COMMENTS]

<p>This set uses Relicanth's excellent physical bulk, making it a support Pokemon with the options available. With base 90 Attack and Head Smash, Relicanth can still use Head Smash well even without any additional investment; on this set, it allows Relicanth to retain an offensive presence. Waterfall and Earthquake both work well as a coverage move; on average, Waterfall deals more damage due to STAB and hits Ground-type Pokemon hard, but Earthquake can be used instead to hit Steel-types. Stealth Rock ischosen in the third slot for added residual damage, but if you already have a Stealth Rock user on your team, Toxic should be used instead to wear down walls, so Relicanth can demolish them with its Head Smash after a couple turns. Yawn is an excellent move to use in conjunction with Stealth Rock, as the threat of being put to sleep forces switches, which racks up even more residual damage thanks to Stealth Rock. If you use Toxic and Yawn at the same time, though, remember that Yawn will fail should the target already be poisoned.</p>

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

<p>The given EV spread makes Relicanth as physically bulky as possible, allowing it to absorb even super effective physical attacks that lack a STAB boost. However, if you want Relicanth to hit harder, a spread of 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def can be used, but this Relicanth should use the bulkier spread provided, as its purpose is for support. On the other hand, a moveset consisting of Head Smash, Stealth Rock, Toxic, and Yawn can be used, but then you are left helpless against Steel-, Fighting-, and Ground-type Pokemon, most of whom resist Head Smash. Leftovers is used to give Relicanth some source of constant healing, which is superior to added power on this set.</p>

<p>As always, Grass-type Pokemon pose a huge threat to Relicanth, as they can exploit 4x weakness to their STAB moves and completely destroy it. Because of this, Pokemon who threaten enemy Grass-types are excellent partners for Relicanth. Flying-types, such as Braviary and Swellow, have fairly good synergy with Relicanth and benefit from Relicanth, who can threaten their walls and checks. Grass-types of your own, such as Meganium and bulky Leafeon, also have excellent synergy and can kill off opposing Ground-type Pokemon that threaten Relicanth. Bulky Pokemon who resist Head Smash and either have Substitute or Rest, such as Throh and Stunfisk, respectively, completely wall this set, and are able to set up fearlessly. Because Relicanth has no source of recovery outside of Leftovers and it will probably be taking many hits, a Pokemon that can pass Wish to it is recommended; again, Alomomola fits this role best, but if you're worried about defensive synergy, Audino and Wigglytuff are acceptable choices as well.

[Other Options]

<p>Outside of the sets listed above, Relicanth's movepool is pitifully small. The only other viable move that Relicanth can use is Amnesia, which could work on the Support set, but faces too much competition for a moveslot to really be used. A RestTalk set can work somewhat well in conjunction with Head Smash and a filler move, but it leaves Relicanth far too vulnerable to the plethora of special attackers in NU. On the Rock Polish set, you could run a spread of 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def with Leftovers and use Substitute over Rock Polish in order to make Relicanth a bulky attacker, but then you would miss outspeeding certain walls, such as Alomomola and Piloswine. Lastly, if you choose to put Relicanth on a rain team, replacing Rock Polish with another filler move—probably Double-Edge—and Rock Head with Swift Swim can transform it into a rain sweeper, but its other moves fail to deal much damage and Head Smash recoil in conjunction with Life Orb will wear down Relicanth's health too quickly for it to be worth it.</p>

[Checks and Counters]

<p>Due to Head Smash's sheer power, Choice Band and Life Orb Relicanth actually have fairly few true counters; however, those counters stop Relicanth cold. Torterra, Quagsire, and Throh all resist Head Smash, and can retaliate with STAB super effective attacks; Torterra is an especially good counter, as its physical bulk allows it to set up Rock Polish or Stealth Rock while tanking hits from Relicanth and its STAB Grass-type attacks are guaranteed to KO it. Although it doesn't resist Head Smash, Tangela is also an excellent counter to Relicanth; its already good physical bulk is boosted further by Eviolite, and it can strike back hard with any STAB move.</p>

<p>If you lack any of the aforementioned Pokemon on your team, don't fret. Because of Relicanth's terrible Special Defense, almost any special Grass-type attack will deal heavy damage to it, even without a STAB boost. Electric-type attacks also deal a fair number to Relicanth; Rotom-S and Rotom-F are especially good, as they can force a switch and proceed to conserve momentum with STAB Volt Switch. Defensively speaking, any Pokemon that can take multiple Head Smashes from Relicanth also make for decent checks. Stunfisk and Gurdurr can take multiple hits and attack back hard with Discharge and Drain Punch, respectively; the former, however, must be wary of Relicanth's STAB Waterfall. Metang can also serve as a decent check, especially to the Support set, but it must be careful of Earthquake.</p>

[Dream World]

<p>Relicanth receives Sturdy as its Dream World ability. Although Sturdy is an excellent ability, the only reason to use Relicanth is to fire off STAB Head Smashes without taking any recoil; because of this, using any ability other than Rock Head is not recommended. Stick with Rock Head if you can.</p>
 
[Overview]

<p>With four weaknesses to extremely common attacking types—Fighting, Ground, Grass, and Electric—and poor Special Defense, Relicanth initially appears to be a horrible choice to put on your team. However, its main niche lies in its ability, Rock Head, which allows Relicanth to fire off powerful STAB Head Smashes without fearing any recoil whatsoever. Its good HP and Defense stats mitigate its low Special Defense and pitiful Speed, and while its movepool is quite barren, Head Smash and a few other moves in conjunction with its good Attack is really all Relicanth needs in order to pose a threat. Although Relicanth may not seem like a very threatening Pokemon, beware; its attacks may hurt much more than you expect them to.</p>

[SET]
name: Rock Polish
move 1: Rock Polish
move 2: Head Smash
move 3: Waterfall
move 4: Earthquake
item: Life Orb
ability: Rock Head
nature: Jolly / Adamant
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

<p>With base 90 Attack and a high-powered STAB move at its disposal, the only issue that holds Relicanth back from sweeping is its Speed, which lies at a rather pitiful 55. This set uses Rock Polish in order to alleviate this problem; after one Rock Polish boost, Relicanth is able to outspeed many threats, such as +1 positive-natured base 86 Pokemon, which include Choice Scarf users such as Sawk, Rotom-F, Magmortar, and Pinsir, all of whom would pose great threats to Relicanth otherwise. At +2, Relicanth is also able to outspeed base 95 Pokemon with no Speed investment, such as defensive Leafeon. In some cases, however, you'll find that Relicanth can already outspeed and destroy some walls. </p>

<p>
Head Smash is an obvious move on this set, obliterating most Pokemon who don't resist it. Waterfall acts as a secondary STAB, hitting the Pokemon that do resist Head Smash for major damage; once Relicanth gets a Rock Polish boost, Waterfall's flinch chance can also come in handy. Earthquake rounds out the moveset, granting Relicanth excellent coverage against most of the Pokemon in NU. However, note that as super effective STAB Waterfall and Earthquake actually deal less damage than a neutral STAB Head Smash, you should only be using Waterfall and Earthquake for situations in which Head Smash is resisted.</p>

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

<p>The EV spread is fairly straightforward. Maximizing Speed and using a Jolly nature allow Relicanth to outspeed the aforementioned threats after a Rock Polish boost, and maximizing Attack lets Relicanth demolish as many things as possible; the remaining four4 EVs are then added to Defense for some added bulk. However, if you want more power, an Adamant nature can be used instead of a Jolly one; this forces you to beleaves Relicanth outsped by the Choice Scarf threats <don't get this>, but it is still fast enough to outspeed positive-natured base 140s, notably Electrode, at +2. Yet another alternate EV spread you can use is 108 HP / 252 Atk / 144 Spe with an Adamant nature; this gives Relicanth some more bulk, while allowing Relicanthit to outspeed positive-natured base 115s and +1 positive-natured base 60s after a Rock Polish boost. Rock Head allows Relicanth to suffer no recoil from its powerful Head Smash, and a Life Orb simply adds to that power.</p>

<p>With base 100 HP and 130 Defense, Relicanth can actually come in on a large variety of physical attacks, set up Rock Polish, and proceed to tear through the opponent's team with Head Smash and its other coverage moves. However, its horrible Special Defense and crippling weaknesses make it somewhat hard to do so. As such, Pokemon who have great defensive synergy with Relicanth make excellent partners. Leafeon is one of the best Pokemon to pair Relicanth up with, as it resists three of itRelicanth's weaknesses and can even Baton Pass a Swords Dance or two to Relicanth; once Relicanth gets both its Speed and Attack boosted, it's essentially game. In return, Relicanth resists four of Leafeon's weaknesses, and can come in and set up a Rock Polish. Other Grass-types, such as Simisage and Meganium, are also great partners. Flying-types such as Swellow have great synergy with Relicanth as well, and can weaken its walls for it, potentially opening up a sweep.</p>

[SET]
name: Choice Band
move 1: Head Smash
move 2: Waterfall
move 3: Earthquake
move 4: Double-Edge
item: Choice Band
ability: Rock Head
nature: Adamant / Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

<p>Instead of using Rock Polish to boost Speed and sweep, the Choice Band set focuses on making Relicanth deal ridiculous amounts of damage, while using its fairly decent bulk to survive attacks and retaliate. With a Choice Band equipped, Relicanth reaches 459 Attack and can proceed to repeatedly slam into opponents with a STAB 150 Base Power Head Smash, obliterating anything that doesn't resist it. STAB Waterfall and Earthquake hit quite hard with the Choice Band boost and give excellent coverage in conjunction with Head Smash, and Double-eEdge eases predictions somewhat by hitting almost everything for about the same amount of damage. As this Relicanth doesn't have very much special bulk, it should be kept away from faster Pokemon who may use powerful special moves; instead, Choice Band Relicanth should be used to destroy tanks such as Miltank and Alomomola. In fact, Choice Band Relicanth is so powerful with Choice Band that physically defensive Alomomola is 2HKOed with Head Smash after Stealth Rock damage!</p>

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

<p>The EV spread provided allows Relicanth to hit as hard and as quickly as possible; again, the remaining EVs are dropped into Defense for some added physical bulk. In order to outspeed positive-natured base 50s or sSpeed tie with positive-natured base 55s, a Jolly nature can be used instead of an Adamant one, but Choice Band Relicanth needs as much power behind its attacks as it can. On the other hand, an alternate spread of 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def can be used to make Relicanth much bulkier, but Relicanth needs to outspeed certain key threats, such as 0 Speuninvested Alomomola.</p>

<p>If you feel that Waterfall is too weak, using Aqua Tail instead can also work; however, the power difference isn't too noticeable, and the loss of a flinch chance and slightly lower accuracy can come back to bite you. Instead of using Double-eEdge, Sleep Talk can be used to transform Relicanth into a sleep absorber, allowing it to switch on Parasect's Spore or Vileplume's Sleep Powder, and retaliate with a high-powered attack that is backed by Choice Band. However, as Relicanth doesn't fare too well against common sleep inducers, such as Parasect, Vileplume, and Exeggutor, it is often forced to switch back out again; moreover, Choice Band forces Relicanth to switch out once it wakes up, which may prove disastrous at times. Because Relicanth will probably be either taking lots of damage from entry hazards due to constant switching or just getting hit by faster enemies, Wish support is very helpful to it. For this reason, using Alomomola as a partner is a great idea; if you're worried about doubling up on weaknesses to Grass- and Electric-type attacks, however, using Wigglytuff can work as well.</p>

[SET]
name: Support
move 1: Head Smash
move 2: Waterfall / Earthquake
move 3: Stealth Rock / Toxic
move 4: Toxic / Yawn
item: Leftovers
ability: Rock Head
nature: Impish
evs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def

[SET COMMENTS]

<p>This set uses Relicanth's excellent physical bulk, making it a support Pokemon with the options available. With base 90 Attack and Head Smash, Relicanth can still use Head Smash well even without any additional investment; on this set, it allows Relicanth to retain an offensive presence. Waterfall and Earthquake both work well as a coverage move; on average, Waterfall deals more damage due to STAB and hits Ground-type Pokemon hard, but Earthquake can be used instead to hit Steel-types. Stealth Rock is the chosen in the third slot for added residual damage, but if you already have a Stealth Rock user on your team, Toxic should be used instead to wear down walls, so Relicanth can demolish them with its Head Smash after a couple turns. Yawn is an excellent move to use in conjunction with Stealth Rock, as the threat of being put to sleep forces switches, which racks up even more residual damage thanks to Stealth Rock. If you use Toxic and Yawn at the same time, though, remember that Yawn will fail should the target be already be poisoned.</p>

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

<p>The given EV spread makes Relicanth and physically bulky as possible, allowing it to absorb even super effective physical attacks that lack a STAB boost. However, if you want Relicanth to hit harder, a spread of 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def can be used, but this Relicanth should use the bulkier spread provided, as its purpose is for support. On the other hand, a moveset consisting of Head Smash, Stealth Rock, Toxic, and Yawn can be used, but then you are left helpless against Steel-, Fighting-, and Ground-type Pokemon, most of whom resist Head Smash. Leftovers is used to give Relicanth some source of constant healing, which is superior to added power on this set.</p>

<p>As always, Grass-type Pokemon pose a huge threat to Relicanth, as they can exploit 4x weakness too their STAB moves and completely destroy it. Because of this, Pokemon who threaten enemy Grass-types are excellent partners for Relicanth. Flying-types, such as Braviary and Swellow, have fairly good synergy with Relicanth and benefit from Relicanth, who can threaten their walls and checks. Grass-types of your own, such as Meganium and bulky Leafeon, also have excellent synergy and can kill off opposing Ground-type Pokemon that threaten Relicanth. Bulky Pokemon who resist Head Smash and either have Substitute or Rest, such as Throh and Stunfisk, respectively, completely wall this set, and are able to set up fearlessly. Because Relicanth has no source of recovery outside of Leftovers and it will probably be taking many hits, a Pokemon that can pass Wish to it is recommended; again, Alomomola fits this role best, but if you're worried about defensive synergy, Audino and Wigglytuff are acceptable choices as well.

[Other Options]

<p>Outside of the sets listed above, Relicanth's movepool is pitifully small. The only other viable move that Relicanth can use is Amnesia, which could work on the Support set, but faces too much competition for a moveslot to really be used. A ResTalk set can work somewhat well in conjunction with Head Smash and a filler move, but it leaves Relicanth far too vulnerable to the plethora of special attackers in NU. On the Rock Polish set, you could run a spread of 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def with Leftovers and use Substitute over Rock Polish in order to make Relicanth a bulky attacker, but then you would miss outspeeding certain walls, such as Alomomola and Piloswine. Lastly, if you choose to put Relicanth on a rain team, replacing Rock Polish with another filler move—probably Double-Edge—and Rock Head with Swift Swim can transform it into a rain sweeper, but its other moves fail to deal much damage and Head Smash recoil in conjunction with Life Orb will wear down Relicanth's health too quickly for it to be worth it.</p>

[Checks and Counters]

<p>Due to Head Smash's sheer power, Choice Band and Life Orb Relicanth actually has fairly few true counters; however, those counters stop Relicanth cold. Torterra, Quagsire, and Throh all resist Head Smash, and can retaliate with STAB super effective attacks; Torterra is an especially good counter, as its physical bulk allows it to set up Rock Polish or Stealth Rock while tanking hits from Relicanth and its STAB Grass-type attacks are guaranteed to KO it. Although it doesn't resist Head Smash, Tangela is also an excellent counter to Relicanth; its already good physical bulk is boosted further by Eviolite, and it can strike back hard with any STAB move.</p>

<p>If you lack any of the aforementioned Pokemon on your team, don't fret. Because of Relicanth's terrible Special Defense, almost any special Grass-type attack will deal heavy damage to Relicanth, even without a STAB boost. Electric-type attacks also deal a fair number to Relicanth; Rotom-S and Rotom-F are especially good, as they can force a switch and proceed to conserve momentum with STAB Volt Switch. Defensively speaking, any Pokemon that can take multiple Head Smashes from Relicanth also make for decent checks. Stunfisk and Gurdurr can take multiple hits from Relicanth, and attack back hard with Discharge and Drain Punch, respectively; the former, however, must be wary of Relicanth's STAB Waterfall. Metang can also serve as a decent check, especially to the Support set, but it must be careful of Earthquake.</p>

[Dream World]

<p>Relicanth receives Sturdy as its Dream World ability. Although Sturdy is an excellent ability, the only reason to use Relicanth is to fire off STAB Head Smashes without taking any recoil; because of this, using any ability other than Rock Head is not recommended. Stick with Rock Head if you can.</p>


wtf

[Overview]

<p>With four weaknesses to extremely common attacking types—Fighting, Ground, Grass, and Electric—and poor Special Defense, Relicanth initially appears to be a horrible choice to put on your team. However, its main niche lies in its ability, Rock Head, which allows Relicanth to fire off powerful STAB Head Smashes without fearing any recoil whatsoever. Its good HP and Defense stats mitigate its low Special Defense and pitiful Speed, and while its movepool is quite barren, Head Smash and a few other moves in conjunction with its good Attack is really all Relicanth needs in order to pose a threat. Although Relicanth may not seem like a very threatening Pokemon, beware; its attacks may hurt much more than you expect them to.</p>

[SET]
name: Rock Polish
move 1: Rock Polish
move 2: Head Smash
move 3: Waterfall
move 4: Earthquake
item: Life Orb
ability: Rock Head
nature: Jolly / Adamant
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

<p>With base 90 Attack and a high-powered STAB move at its disposal, the only issue that holds Relicanth back from sweeping is its Speed, which lies at a rather pitiful 55. This set uses Rock Polish in order to alleviate this problem; after one Rock Polish boost, Relicanth is able to outspeed many threats, such as +1 positive-natured base 86 Pokemon, which include Choice Scarf users such as Sawk, Rotom-F, Magmortar, and Pinsir, all of whom would pose great threats to Relicanth otherwise. At +2, Relicanth is also able to outspeed base 95 Pokemon with no Speed investment, such as defensive Leafeon. In some cases, however, you'll find that Relicanth can already outspeed and destroy some walls.</p>

<p>Head Smash is an obvious move on this set, obliterating most Pokemon who don't resist it. Waterfall acts as a secondary STAB, hitting the Pokemon that do resist Head Smash for major damage; once Relicanth gets a Rock Polish boost, Waterfall's flinch chance can also come in handy. Earthquake rounds out the moveset, granting Relicanth excellent coverage against most of the Pokemon in NU. However, note that as super effective STAB Waterfall and Earthquake actually deal less damage than a neutral STAB Head Smash, you should only be using Waterfall and Earthquake for situations in which Head Smash is resisted.</p>

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

<p>The EV spread is fairly straightforward. Maximizing Speed and using a Jolly nature allow Relicanth to outspeed the aforementioned threats after a Rock Polish boost, and maximizing Attack lets Relicanth demolish as many things as possible; the remaining 4 EVs are then added to Defense for some added bulk. However, if you want more power, an Adamant nature can be used instead of a Jolly one; this leaves Relicanth outsped by the Choice Scarf threats <don't get this>, but it is still fast enough to outspeed positive-natured base 140s, notably Electrode, at +2. Yet another alternate EV spread you can use is 108 HP / 252 Atk / 144 Spe with an Adamant nature; this gives Relicanth some more bulk, while allowing it to outspeed positive-natured base 115s and +1 positive-natured base 60s after a Rock Polish boost. Rock Head allows Relicanth to suffer no recoil from its powerful Head Smash, and a Life Orb simply adds to that power.</p>

<p>With base 100 HP and 130 Defense, Relicanth can actually come in on a large variety of physical attacks, set up Rock Polish, and proceed to tear through the opponent's team with Head Smash and its other coverage moves. However, its horrible Special Defense and crippling weaknesses make it somewhat hard to do so. As such, Pokemon who have great defensive synergy with Relicanth make excellent partners. Leafeon is one of the best Pokemon to pair Relicanth up with, as it resists three of Relicanth's weaknesses and can even Baton Pass a Swords Dance or two to Relicanth; once Relicanth gets both its Speed and Attack boosted, it's essentially game. In return, Relicanth resists four of Leafeon's weaknesses, and can come in and set up a Rock Polish. Other Grass-types, such as Simisage and Meganium, are also great partners. Flying-types such as Swellow have great synergy with Relicanth as well, and can weaken its walls for it, potentially opening up a sweep.</p>

[SET]
name: Choice Band
move 1: Head Smash
move 2: Waterfall
move 3: Earthquake
move 4: Double-Edge
item: Choice Band
ability: Rock Head
nature: Adamant / Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

<p>Instead of using Rock Polish to boost Speed and sweep, the Choice Band set focuses on making Relicanth deal ridiculous amounts of damage, while using its fairly decent bulk to survive attacks and retaliate. With a Choice Band equipped, Relicanth reaches 459 Attack and can proceed to repeatedly slam into opponents with a STAB 150 Base Power Head Smash, obliterating anything that doesn't resist it. STAB Waterfall and Earthquake hit quite hard with the Choice Band boost and give excellent coverage in conjunction with Head Smash, and Double-Edge eases predictions somewhat by hitting almost everything for about the same amount of damage. As this Relicanth doesn't have very much special bulk, it should be kept away from faster Pokemon who use powerful special moves; instead, Choice Band Relicanth should be used to destroy tanks such as Miltank and Alomomola. In fact, Choice Band Relicanth is so powerful that physically defensive Alomomola is 2HKOed with Head Smash after Stealth Rock damage!</p>

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

<p>The EV spread provided allows Relicanth to hit as hard and as quickly as possible; again, the remaining EVs are dropped into Defense for some added physical bulk. In order to outspeed positive-natured base 50s or Speed tie with positive-natured base 55s, a Jolly nature can be used instead of an Adamant one, but Choice Band Relicanth needs as much power behind its attacks as it can. On the other hand, an alternate spread of 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def can be used to make Relicanth much bulkier, but Relicanth needs to outspeed certain key threats, such as uninvested Alomomola.</p>

<p>If you feel that Waterfall is too weak, using Aqua Tail instead can also work; however, the power difference isn't too noticeable, and the loss of a flinch chance and slightly lower accuracy can come back to bite you. Instead of using Double-Edge, Sleep Talk can be used to transform Relicanth into a sleep absorber, allowing it to switch on Parasect's Spore or Vileplume's Sleep Powder, and retaliate with a high-powered attack that is backed by Choice Band. However, as Relicanth doesn't fare too well against common sleep inducers, such as Parasect, Vileplume, and Exeggutor, it is often forced to switch back out again; moreover, Choice Band forces Relicanth to switch out once it wakes up, which may prove disastrous at times. Because Relicanth will probably be either taking lots of damage from entry hazards due to constant switching or just getting hit by faster enemies, Wish support is very helpful to it. For this reason, using Alomomola as a partner is a great idea; if you're worried about doubling up on weaknesses to Grass- and Electric-type attacks, however, using Wigglytuff can work as well.</p>

[SET]
name: Support
move 1: Head Smash
move 2: Waterfall / Earthquake
move 3: Stealth Rock / Toxic
move 4: Toxic / Yawn
item: Leftovers
ability: Rock Head
nature: Impish
evs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def

[SET COMMENTS]

<p>This set uses Relicanth's excellent physical bulk, making it a support Pokemon with the options available. With base 90 Attack and Head Smash, Relicanth can still use Head Smash well even without any additional investment; on this set, it allows Relicanth to retain an offensive presence. Waterfall and Earthquake both work well as a coverage move; on average, Waterfall deals more damage due to STAB and hits Ground-type Pokemon hard, but Earthquake can be used instead to hit Steel-types. Stealth Rock is the chosen in the third slot for added residual damage, but if you already have a Stealth Rock user on your team, Toxic should be used instead to wear down walls, so Relicanth can demolish them with its Head Smash after a couple turns. Yawn is an excellent move to use in conjunction with Stealth Rock, as the threat of being put to sleep forces switches, which racks up even more residual damage thanks to Stealth Rock. If you use Toxic and Yawn at the same time, though, remember that Yawn will fail should the target already be poisoned.</p>

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

<p>The given EV spread makes Relicanth and physically bulky as possible, allowing it to absorb even super effective physical attacks that lack a STAB boost. However, if you want Relicanth to hit harder, a spread of 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def can be used, but this Relicanth should use the bulkier spread provided, as its purpose is for support. On the other hand, a moveset consisting of Head Smash, Stealth Rock, Toxic, and Yawn can be used, but then you are left helpless against Steel-, Fighting-, and Ground-type Pokemon, most of whom resist Head Smash. Leftovers is used to give Relicanth some source of constant healing, which is superior to added power on this set.</p>

<p>As always, Grass-type Pokemon pose a huge threat to Relicanth, as they can exploit 4x weakness too their STAB moves and completely destroy it. Because of this, Pokemon who threaten enemy Grass-types are excellent partners for Relicanth. Flying-types, such as Braviary and Swellow, have fairly good synergy with Relicanth and benefit from Relicanth, who can threaten their walls and checks. Grass-types of your own, such as Meganium and bulky Leafeon, also have excellent synergy and can kill off opposing Ground-type Pokemon that threaten Relicanth. Bulky Pokemon who resist Head Smash and either have Substitute or Rest, such as Throh and Stunfisk, respectively, completely wall this set, and are able to set up fearlessly. Because Relicanth has no source of recovery outside of Leftovers and it will probably be taking many hits, a Pokemon that can pass Wish to it is recommended; again, Alomomola fits this role best, but if you're worried about defensive synergy, Audino and Wigglytuff are acceptable choices as well.

[Other Options]

<p>Outside of the sets listed above, Relicanth's movepool is pitifully small. The only other viable move that Relicanth can use is Amnesia, which could work on the Support set, but faces too much competition for a moveslot to really be used. A ResTalk set can work somewhat well in conjunction with Head Smash and a filler move, but it leaves Relicanth far too vulnerable to the plethora of special attackers in NU. On the Rock Polish set, you could run a spread of 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def with Leftovers and use Substitute over Rock Polish in order to make Relicanth a bulky attacker, but then you would miss outspeeding certain walls, such as Alomomola and Piloswine. Lastly, if you choose to put Relicanth on a rain team, replacing Rock Polish with another filler move—probably Double-Edge—and Rock Head with Swift Swim can transform it into a rain sweeper, but its other moves fail to deal much damage and Head Smash recoil in conjunction with Life Orb will wear down Relicanth's health too quickly for it to be worth it.</p>

[Checks and Counters]

<p>Due to Head Smash's sheer power, Choice Band and Life Orb Relicanth actually has fairly few true counters; however, those counters stop Relicanth cold. Torterra, Quagsire, and Throh all resist Head Smash, and can retaliate with STAB super effective attacks; Torterra is an especially good counter, as its physical bulk allows it to set up Rock Polish or Stealth Rock while tanking hits from Relicanth and its STAB Grass-type attacks are guaranteed to KO it. Although it doesn't resist Head Smash, Tangela is also an excellent counter to Relicanth; its already good physical bulk is boosted further by Eviolite, and it can strike back hard with any STAB move.</p>

<p>If you lack any of the aforementioned Pokemon on your team, don't fret. Because of Relicanth's terrible Special Defense, almost any special Grass-type attack will deal heavy damage to Relicanth, even without a STAB boost. Electric-type attacks also deal a fair number to Relicanth; Rotom-S and Rotom-F are especially good, as they can force a switch and proceed to conserve momentum with STAB Volt Switch. Defensively speaking, any Pokemon that can take multiple Head Smashes from Relicanth also make for decent checks. Stunfisk and Gurdurr can take multiple hits from Relicanth, and attack back hard with Discharge and Drain Punch, respectively; the former, however, must be wary of Relicanth's STAB Waterfall. Metang can also serve as a decent check, especially to the Support set, but it must be careful of Earthquake.</p>

[Dream World]

<p>Relicanth receives Sturdy as its Dream World ability. Although Sturdy is an excellent ability, the only reason to use Relicanth is to fire off STAB Head Smashes without taking any recoil; because of this, using any ability other than Rock Head is not recommended. Stick with Rock Head if you can.</p>
 

Mafeking

channels his inner Wolverine
is a Contributor Alumnus
so this thread is apparently like really good

We'll see about that >:D

(<3 Engi, <3 placeholders)

[Overview]

<p>With four weaknesses to extremely common attacking types—Fighting, Ground, Grass, and Electric—and poor Special Defense, Relicanth initially appears to be a horrible choice to put on your team. However, its main niche lies in its ability, Rock Head, which allows Relicanth to fire off powerful STAB Head Smashes without fearing any recoil whatsoever. Its good HP and Defense stats mitigate its low Special Defense and pitiful Speed, and while its movepool is quite barren, Head Smash and a few other moves in conjunction with its good Attack is (are) really all Relicanth needs in order to pose a threat. Although Relicanth may not seem like a very threatening Pokemon, beware; its attacks may hurt much more than you expect them to.</p>

[SET]
name: Rock Polish
move 1: Rock Polish
move 2: Head Smash
move 3: Waterfall
move 4: Earthquake
item: Life Orb
ability: Rock Head
nature: Jolly / Adamant
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

<p>With base 90 Attack and a high-powered STAB move at its disposal, the only issue that holds (holding) Relicanth back from sweeping is its Speed, which lies at a rather pitiful 55. This set uses Rock Polish in order to alleviate this problem; after one Rock Polish boost, Relicanth is able to outspeed many threats, such as +1 positive-natured base 86 Pokemon, which include Choice Scarf users such as Sawk, Rotom-F, Magmortar, and Pinsir, all of whom would pose great threats to Relicanth otherwise. At +2, Relicanth is also able to outspeed base 95 Pokemon with no Speed investment, such as defensive Leafeon. In some cases, however, you'll find that Relicanth can already outspeed and destroy some walls.</p>

<p>Head Smash is an obvious move on this set, obliterating most Pokemon who don't resist it. Waterfall acts as a secondary STAB, hitting the Pokemon that do resist Head Smash for major damage; once Relicanth gets a Rock Polish boost, Waterfall's flinch chance (rate) can also come in handy. Earthquake rounds out the moveset, granting Relicanth excellent coverage against most of the Pokemon in NU. However, note that as super effective STAB Waterfall and Earthquake actually deal less damage than a neutral STAB Head Smash, you should only be using Waterfall and Earthquake (them) for situations in which Head Smash is resisted.</p>

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

<p>The EV spread is fairly straightforward. Maximizing Speed and using a Jolly nature allow Relicanth to outspeed the aforementioned threats after a Rock Polish boost, and maximizing Attack lets Relicanth demolish as many things as possible; the remaining 4 EVs are then added to Defense for some added bulk. However, if you want more power, an Adamant nature can be used instead of a Jolly one; unfortunately, this leaves Relicanth outsped by the Choice Scarf threats mentioned above, but it is still fast enough to outspeed positive-natured base 140s, notably Electrode, at +2. Yet another alternate EV spread you can use is 108 HP / 252 Atk / 144 Spe with an Adamant nature; this gives Relicanth some more bulk, while allowing it to outspeed positive-natured base 115s and +1 positive-natured base 60s after a Rock Polish boost. Rock Head allows Relicanth to suffer no recoil from its powerful Head Smash, and a Life Orb simply adds to that power.</p>

<p>With base 100 HP and 130 Defense, Relicanth can actually come in on a large variety of physical attacks, set up Rock Polish, and proceed to tear through the opponent's team with Head Smash and its other coverage moves. However, its horrible Special Defense and crippling weaknesses make it somewhat hard to do so. As such, Pokemon who have great defensive synergy with Relicanth make excellent partners. Leafeon is one of the best Pokemon to pair Relicanth up with, as it resists three of Relicanth's weaknesses and can even Baton Pass a Swords Dance or two to Relicanth; once Relicanth gets both its Speed and Attack boosted, it's essentially game (over). In return, Relicanth resists four of Leafeon's weaknesses, and can come in and set up a Rock Polish. Other Grass-types, such as Simisage and Meganium, are also great partners. Flying-types such as Swellow have great synergy with Relicanth as well, and can weaken its walls for it, potentially opening up a sweep.</p>

[SET]
name: Choice Band
move 1: Head Smash
move 2: Waterfall
move 3: Earthquake
move 4: Double-Edge
item: Choice Band
ability: Rock Head
nature: Adamant / Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

<p>Instead of using Rock Polish to boost Speed and sweep, the Choice Band set focuses on making Relicanth deal ridiculous amounts of damage, while using its fairly decent bulk to survive attacks and retaliate. With a Choice Band equipped, Relicanth reaches 459 Attack and can proceed to repeatedly slam into opponents with a STAB 150 Base Power Head Smash, obliterating anything that doesn't resist it. STAB Waterfall and Earthquake hit quite hard with the Choice Band boost and give excellent coverage in conjunction with Head Smash, and Double-Edge eases predictions somewhat by hitting almost everything for about the same amount of damage. As this Relicanth doesn't have very much special bulk, it should be kept away from faster Pokemon who use powerful special moves; instead, Choice Band Relicanth should be used to destroy tanks such as Miltank and Alomomola. In fact, Choice Band Relicanth is so powerful that physically defensive Alomomola is 2HKOed with Head Smash after Stealth Rock damage!</p>

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

<p>The EV spread provided allows Relicanth to hit as hard and as quickly as possible; again, the remaining EVs are dropped into Defense for some added physical bulk. In order to outspeed positive-natured base 50s or Speed tie with positive-natured base 55s, a Jolly nature can be used instead of an Adamant one, but Choice Band Relicanth needs as much power behind its attacks as it can. On the other hand, an alternate spread of 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def can be used to make Relicanth much bulkier, but Relicanth needs to outspeed certain key threats, such as uninvested Alomomola.</p>

<p>If you feel that Waterfall is too weak, using Aqua Tail instead can also work; however, the power difference isn't too noticeable, and the loss of a flinch chance and slightly lower accuracy can come back to bite you. Instead of using Double-Edge, Sleep Talk can be used to transform Relicanth into a sleep absorber, allowing it to switch on Parasect's Spore or Vileplume's Sleep Powder, and retaliate with a high-powered attack that is backed by Choice Band. However, as Relicanth doesn't fare too well against common sleep inducers, such as Parasect, Vileplume, and Exeggutor, it is often forced to switch back out again; moreover, Choice Band forces Relicanth to switch out once it wakes up, which may prove disastrous at times. Because Relicanth will probably be either taking lots of damage from entry hazards due to constant switching or just getting hit by faster enemies, Wish support is very helpful to it. For this reason, using Alomomola as a partner is a great idea; if you're worried about doubling up on weaknesses to Grass- and Electric-type attacks, however, using Wigglytuff can work as well.</p>

[SET]
name: Support
move 1: Head Smash
move 2: Waterfall / Earthquake
move 3: Stealth Rock / Toxic
move 4: Toxic / Yawn
item: Leftovers
ability: Rock Head
nature: Impish
evs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def

[SET COMMENTS]

<p>This set uses Relicanth's excellent physical bulk, making it a support Pokemon with the options available. With base 90 Attack and Head Smash, Relicanth can still use Head Smash well even without any additional investment; on this set, it allows Relicanth to retain an offensive presence. Waterfall and Earthquake both work well as a coverage move; on average, Waterfall deals more damage due to STAB and hits Ground-type Pokemon hard, but Earthquake can be used instead to hit Steel-types. Stealth Rock is the chosen in the third slot for added residual damage, but if you already have a Stealth Rock user on your team, Toxic should be used instead to wear down walls, so Relicanth can demolish them with its Head Smash after a couple turns. Yawn is an excellent move to use in conjunction with Stealth Rock, as the threat of being put to sleep forces switches, which racks up even more residual damage thanks to Stealth Rock. If you use Toxic and Yawn at the same time, though, remember that Yawn will fail should the target already be poisoned.</p>

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

<p>The given EV spread makes Relicanth and (as) physically bulky as possible, allowing it to absorb even super effective physical attacks that lack a STAB boost. However, if you want Relicanth to hit harder, a spread of 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def can be used, but this Relicanth should use the bulkier spread provided, as its purpose is for support. On the other hand, a moveset consisting of Head Smash, Stealth Rock, Toxic, and Yawn can be used, but then you are left helpless against Steel-, Fighting-, and Ground-type Pokemon, most of whom resist Head Smash. Leftovers is used to give Relicanth some source of constant healing, which is superior to added power on this set.</p>

<p>As always, Grass-type Pokemon pose a huge threat to Relicanth, as they can exploit 4x weakness too their STAB moves and completely destroy it. Because of this, Pokemon who threaten enemy Grass-types are excellent partners for Relicanth. Flying-types, such as Braviary and Swellow, have fairly good synergy with Relicanth and benefit from Relicanth, who can threaten their walls and checks. Grass-types of your own, such as Meganium and bulky Leafeon, also have excellent synergy and can kill off opposing Ground-type Pokemon that threaten Relicanth. Bulky Pokemon who resist Head Smash and either have Substitute or Rest, such as Throh and Stunfisk, respectively, completely wall this set, and are able to set up fearlessly. Because Relicanth has no source of recovery outside of Leftovers and it will probably be taking many hits, a Pokemon that can pass Wish to it is recommended; again, Alomomola fits this role best, but if you're worried about defensive synergy, Audino and Wigglytuff are acceptable choices as well.

[Other Options]

<p>Outside of the sets listed above, Relicanth's movepool is pitifully small. The only other viable move that Relicanth can use is Amnesia, which could work on the Support set, but faces too much competition for a moveslot to really be used. A Res(t)Talk set can work somewhat well in conjunction with Head Smash and a filler move, but it leaves Relicanth far too vulnerable to the plethora of special attackers in NU. On the Rock Polish set, you could run a spread of 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def with Leftovers and use Substitute over Rock Polish in order to make Relicanth a bulky attacker, but then you would miss outspeeding certain walls, such as Alomomola and Piloswine. Lastly, if you choose to put Relicanth on a rain team, replacing Rock Polish with another filler move—probably Double-Edge—and Rock Head with Swift Swim can transform it into a rain sweeper, but its other moves fail to deal much damage and Head Smash recoil in conjunction with Life Orb will wear down Relicanth's health too quickly for it to be worth it.</p>

[Checks and Counters]

<p>Due to Head Smash's sheer power, Choice Band and Life Orb Relicanth actually has(ve) fairly few true counters; however, those counters stop Relicanth cold. Torterra, Quagsire, and Throh all resist Head Smash, and can retaliate with STAB super effective attacks; Torterra is an especially good counter, as its physical bulk allows it to set up Rock Polish or Stealth Rock while tanking hits from Relicanth and its STAB Grass-type attacks are guaranteed to KO it. Although it doesn't resist Head Smash, Tangela is also an excellent counter to Relicanth; its already good physical bulk is boosted further by Eviolite, and it can strike back hard with any STAB move.</p>

<p>If you lack any of the aforementioned Pokemon on your team, don't fret. Because of Relicanth's terrible Special Defense, almost any special Grass-type attack will deal heavy damage to Relicanth (it), even without a STAB boost. Electric-type attacks also deal a fair number to Relicanth; Rotom-S and Rotom-F are especially good, as they can force a switch and proceed to conserve momentum with STAB Volt Switch. Defensively speaking, any Pokemon that can take multiple Head Smashes from Relicanth also make for decent checks. Stunfisk and Gurdurr can take multiple hits from Relicanth, and attack back hard with Discharge and Drain Punch, respectively; the former, however, must be wary of Relicanth's STAB Waterfall. Metang can also serve as a decent check, especially to the Support set, but it must be careful of Earthquake.</p>

[Dream World]

<p>Relicanth receives Sturdy as its Dream World ability. Although Sturdy is an excellent ability, the only reason to use Relicanth is to fire off STAB Head Smashes without taking any recoil; because of this, using any ability other than Rock Head is not recommended. Stick with Rock Head if you can.</p>


[Overview]

<p>With four weaknesses to extremely common attacking types—Fighting, Ground, Grass, and Electric—and poor Special Defense, Relicanth initially appears to be a horrible choice to put on your team. However, its main niche lies in its ability, Rock Head, which allows Relicanth to fire off powerful STAB Head Smashes without fearing any recoil whatsoever. Its good HP and Defense stats mitigate its low Special Defense and pitiful Speed, and while its movepool is quite barren, Head Smash and a few other moves in conjunction with its good Attack are really all Relicanth needs in order to pose a threat. Although Relicanth may not seem like a very threatening Pokemon, beware; its attacks may hurt much more than you expect them to.</p>

[SET]
name: Rock Polish
move 1: Rock Polish
move 2: Head Smash
move 3: Waterfall
move 4: Earthquake
item: Life Orb
ability: Rock Head
nature: Jolly / Adamant
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

<p>With base 90 Attack and a high-powered STAB move at its disposal, the only issue holding Relicanth back from sweeping is its Speed, which lies at a rather pitiful 55. This set uses Rock Polish in order to alleviate this problem; after one Rock Polish boost, Relicanth is able to outspeed many threats, such as +1 positive-natured base 86 Pokemon, which include Choice Scarf users such as Sawk, Rotom-F, Magmortar, and Pinsir, all of whom would pose great threats to Relicanth otherwise. At +2, Relicanth is also able to outspeed base 95 Pokemon with no Speed investment, such as defensive Leafeon. In some cases, however, you'll find that Relicanth can already outspeed and destroy some walls.</p>

<p>Head Smash is an obvious move on this set, obliterating most Pokemon who don't resist it. Waterfall acts as a secondary STAB, hitting the Pokemon that do resist Head Smash for major damage; once Relicanth gets a Rock Polish boost, Waterfall's flinch rate can also come in handy. Earthquake rounds out the moveset, granting Relicanth excellent coverage against most of the Pokemon in NU. However, note that as super effective STAB Waterfall and Earthquake actually deal less damage than a neutral STAB Head Smash, you should only be using them for situations in which Head Smash is resisted.</p>

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

<p>The EV spread is fairly straightforward. Maximizing Speed and using a Jolly nature allow Relicanth to outspeed the aforementioned threats after a Rock Polish boost, and maximizing Attack lets Relicanth demolish as many things as possible; the remaining 4 EVs are then added to Defense for some added bulk. However, if you want more power, an Adamant nature can be used instead of a Jolly one; unfortunately, this leaves Relicanth outsped by the Choice Scarf threats mentioned above, but it is still fast enough to outspeed positive-natured base 140s, notably Electrode, at +2. Yet another alternate EV spread you can use is 108 HP / 252 Atk / 144 Spe with an Adamant nature; this gives Relicanth some more bulk, while allowing it to outspeed positive-natured base 115s and +1 positive-natured base 60s after a Rock Polish boost. Rock Head allows Relicanth to suffer no recoil from its powerful Head Smash, and a Life Orb simply adds to that power.</p>

<p>With base 100 HP and 130 Defense, Relicanth can actually come in on a large variety of physical attacks, set up Rock Polish, and proceed to tear through the opponent's team with Head Smash and its other coverage moves. However, its horrible Special Defense and crippling weaknesses make it somewhat hard to do so. As such, Pokemon who have great defensive synergy with Relicanth make excellent partners. Leafeon is one of the best Pokemon to pair Relicanth up with, as it resists three of Relicanth's weaknesses and can even Baton Pass a Swords Dance or two to Relicanth; once Relicanth gets both its Speed and Attack boosted, it's essentially game over. In return, Relicanth resists four of Leafeon's weaknesses, and can come in and set up a Rock Polish. Other Grass-types, such as Simisage and Meganium, are also great partners. Flying-types such as Swellow have great synergy with Relicanth as well, and can weaken its walls for it, potentially opening up a sweep.</p>

[SET]
name: Choice Band
move 1: Head Smash
move 2: Waterfall
move 3: Earthquake
move 4: Double-Edge
item: Choice Band
ability: Rock Head
nature: Adamant / Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

<p>Instead of using Rock Polish to boost Speed and sweep, the Choice Band set focuses on making Relicanth deal ridiculous amounts of damage, while using its fairly decent bulk to survive attacks and retaliate. With a Choice Band equipped, Relicanth reaches 459 Attack and can proceed to repeatedly slam into opponents with a STAB 150 Base Power Head Smash, obliterating anything that doesn't resist it. STAB Waterfall and Earthquake hit quite hard with the Choice Band boost and give excellent coverage in conjunction with Head Smash, and Double-Edge eases predictions somewhat by hitting almost everything for about the same amount of damage. As this Relicanth doesn't have very much special bulk, it should be kept away from faster Pokemon who use powerful special moves; instead, Choice Band Relicanth should be used to destroy tanks such as Miltank and Alomomola. In fact, Choice Band Relicanth is so powerful that physically defensive Alomomola is 2HKOed with Head Smash after Stealth Rock damage!</p>

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

<p>The EV spread provided allows Relicanth to hit as hard and as quickly as possible; again, the remaining EVs are dropped into Defense for some added physical bulk. In order to outspeed positive-natured base 50s or Speed tie with positive-natured base 55s, a Jolly nature can be used instead of an Adamant one, but Choice Band Relicanth needs as much power behind its attacks as it can. On the other hand, an alternate spread of 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def can be used to make Relicanth much bulkier, but Relicanth needs to outspeed certain key threats, such as uninvested Alomomola.</p>

<p>If you feel that Waterfall is too weak, using Aqua Tail instead can also work; however, the power difference isn't too noticeable, and the loss of a flinch chance and slightly lower accuracy can come back to bite you. Instead of using Double-Edge, Sleep Talk can be used to transform Relicanth into a sleep absorber, allowing it to switch on Parasect's Spore or Vileplume's Sleep Powder, and retaliate with a high-powered attack that is backed by Choice Band. However, as Relicanth doesn't fare too well against common sleep inducers, such as Parasect, Vileplume, and Exeggutor, it is often forced to switch back out again; moreover, Choice Band forces Relicanth to switch out once it wakes up, which may prove disastrous at times. Because Relicanth will probably be either taking lots of damage from entry hazards due to constant switching or just getting hit by faster enemies, Wish support is very helpful to it. For this reason, using Alomomola as a partner is a great idea; if you're worried about doubling up on weaknesses to Grass- and Electric-type attacks, however, using Wigglytuff can work as well.</p>

[SET]
name: Support
move 1: Head Smash
move 2: Waterfall / Earthquake
move 3: Stealth Rock / Toxic
move 4: Toxic / Yawn
item: Leftovers
ability: Rock Head
nature: Impish
evs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def

[SET COMMENTS]

<p>This set uses Relicanth's excellent physical bulk, making it a support Pokemon with the options available. With base 90 Attack and Head Smash, Relicanth can still use Head Smash well even without any additional investment; on this set, it allows Relicanth to retain an offensive presence. Waterfall and Earthquake both work well as a coverage move; on average, Waterfall deals more damage due to STAB and hits Ground-type Pokemon hard, but Earthquake can be used instead to hit Steel-types. Stealth Rock ischosen in the third slot for added residual damage, but if you already have a Stealth Rock user on your team, Toxic should be used instead to wear down walls, so Relicanth can demolish them with its Head Smash after a couple turns. Yawn is an excellent move to use in conjunction with Stealth Rock, as the threat of being put to sleep forces switches, which racks up even more residual damage thanks to Stealth Rock. If you use Toxic and Yawn at the same time, though, remember that Yawn will fail should the target already be poisoned.</p>

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

<p>The given EV spread makes Relicanth as physically bulky as possible, allowing it to absorb even super effective physical attacks that lack a STAB boost. However, if you want Relicanth to hit harder, a spread of 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def can be used, but this Relicanth should use the bulkier spread provided, as its purpose is for support. On the other hand, a moveset consisting of Head Smash, Stealth Rock, Toxic, and Yawn can be used, but then you are left helpless against Steel-, Fighting-, and Ground-type Pokemon, most of whom resist Head Smash. Leftovers is used to give Relicanth some source of constant healing, which is superior to added power on this set.</p>

<p>As always, Grass-type Pokemon pose a huge threat to Relicanth, as they can exploit 4x weakness to their STAB moves and completely destroy it. Because of this, Pokemon who threaten enemy Grass-types are excellent partners for Relicanth. Flying-types, such as Braviary and Swellow, have fairly good synergy with Relicanth and benefit from Relicanth, who can threaten their walls and checks. Grass-types of your own, such as Meganium and bulky Leafeon, also have excellent synergy and can kill off opposing Ground-type Pokemon that threaten Relicanth. Bulky Pokemon who resist Head Smash and either have Substitute or Rest, such as Throh and Stunfisk, respectively, completely wall this set, and are able to set up fearlessly. Because Relicanth has no source of recovery outside of Leftovers and it will probably be taking many hits, a Pokemon that can pass Wish to it is recommended; again, Alomomola fits this role best, but if you're worried about defensive synergy, Audino and Wigglytuff are acceptable choices as well.

[Other Options]

<p>Outside of the sets listed above, Relicanth's movepool is pitifully small. The only other viable move that Relicanth can use is Amnesia, which could work on the Support set, but faces too much competition for a moveslot to really be used. A RestTalk set can work somewhat well in conjunction with Head Smash and a filler move, but it leaves Relicanth far too vulnerable to the plethora of special attackers in NU. On the Rock Polish set, you could run a spread of 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def with Leftovers and use Substitute over Rock Polish in order to make Relicanth a bulky attacker, but then you would miss outspeeding certain walls, such as Alomomola and Piloswine. Lastly, if you choose to put Relicanth on a rain team, replacing Rock Polish with another filler move—probably Double-Edge—and Rock Head with Swift Swim can transform it into a rain sweeper, but its other moves fail to deal much damage and Head Smash recoil in conjunction with Life Orb will wear down Relicanth's health too quickly for it to be worth it.</p>

[Checks and Counters]

<p>Due to Head Smash's sheer power, Choice Band and Life Orb Relicanth actually have fairly few true counters; however, those counters stop Relicanth cold. Torterra, Quagsire, and Throh all resist Head Smash, and can retaliate with STAB super effective attacks; Torterra is an especially good counter, as its physical bulk allows it to set up Rock Polish or Stealth Rock while tanking hits from Relicanth and its STAB Grass-type attacks are guaranteed to KO it. Although it doesn't resist Head Smash, Tangela is also an excellent counter to Relicanth; its already good physical bulk is boosted further by Eviolite, and it can strike back hard with any STAB move.</p>

<p>If you lack any of the aforementioned Pokemon on your team, don't fret. Because of Relicanth's terrible Special Defense, almost any special Grass-type attack will deal heavy damage to it, even without a STAB boost. Electric-type attacks also deal a fair number to Relicanth; Rotom-S and Rotom-F are especially good, as they can force a switch and proceed to conserve momentum with STAB Volt Switch. Defensively speaking, any Pokemon that can take multiple Head Smashes from Relicanth also make for decent checks. Stunfisk and Gurdurr can take multiple hits and attack back hard with Discharge and Drain Punch, respectively; the former, however, must be wary of Relicanth's STAB Waterfall. Metang can also serve as a decent check, especially to the Support set, but it must be careful of Earthquake.</p>

[Dream World]

<p>Relicanth receives Sturdy as its Dream World ability. Although Sturdy is an excellent ability, the only reason to use Relicanth is to fire off STAB Head Smashes without taking any recoil; because of this, using any ability other than Rock Head is not recommended. Stick with Rock Head if you can.</p>



GP (2/2)
 

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 1, Guests: 0)

Top