Ace Emerald
Cyclic, lunar, metamorphosing
Blastoise
[Overview]
<p>Blastoise is famous for being the best user of Rapid Spin in UU. Its usable bulk and decent defensive typing give Blastoise many opportunities to enter battle and clear hazards from the field. Its access to Scald gives it a chance to burn Ghost-types that try and prevent the use of Rapid Spin and possibly ruin their longevity. It can even bypass their immunity to Rapid Spin entirely with Foresight. Scald's burn chance combined with Blastoise's access to phazing moves ensure that other Pokemon won't use Blastoise as setup bait. Unfortunately, though it is a good Rapid Spin user, it is a bad bulky Water-type. The other bulky Water-types, such as Suicune, Slowbro, Milotic, and Swampert, offer better bulk and various other advantages, such as recovery, better movepools, and useful secondary typings. These Pokemon often take up Blastoise's niche and make it hard to fit on teams. Even so, Blastoise continues to find space on teams as a great spinner.</p>
[SET]
name: Utility
move 1: Rapid Spin
move 2: Scald
move 3: Roar / Dragon Tail
move 4: Foresight / Toxic
item: Leftovers
nature: Bold / Relaxed
evs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>The purpose of this set is to support teams by clearing entry hazards from your side of the field. As such, Rapid Spin is the crucial move of the set. Scald's burn chance wears down Ghost-types that try to block Rapid Spin, as well as cripples Pokemon that may try to set up. The burn chance makes physical attackers afraid of Blastoise and allows it to check them while it has most of its HP. Roar weakens potential switch-ins that would threaten Blastoise, such as Roserade and Raikou, by forcing them to take repeated hazard damage. Roar also prevents Blastoise from being setup bait and allows it to check Substitute boosting sweepers, most notably Substitute + Dragon Dance Kingdra. Dragon Tail is an alternative to Roar that hits Wonder Skin Venomoth more accurately and does more damage to switch-ins. However, Dragon Tail can miss and it often cannot break the opponent's Substitutes. Foresight is very useful in allowing Blastoise to Rapid Spin immediately against bulky Ghost-types, such as Cofagrigus and Dusclops, which would take many turns to KO. Toxic may be used to cripple these bulky Ghost-types, as the badly poisoned status condition ruins Pokemon intended to stay in battle many turns.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>Physical defense is maximized because Water typing lends itself to checking physical attackers. A Relaxed nature should be used with Dragon Tail to ensure that it always breaks the Substitutes of Substitute + Dragon Dance Kingdra, but otherwise Bold is preferred. Blastoise can use a special EV spread of 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD with a Calm or Sassy nature to check certain special threats, most notably Rain Dance Kingdra and Chandelure. Ice Beam can be used over Roar or Foresight to hit common Grass-type switch-ins such as Roserade and Shaymin. However, it won't OHKO and Blastoise will still be forced out of battle. Both of Blastoise's abilities are very situational. With respect to Torrent, a low health Blastoise isn't much use and the power of a boosted Scald is minimal. Rain Dish Blastoise is good against the very situational Rain Dance team as well as Rain Dance Kingdra, but the ability is otherwise useless. Blastoise likes to be paired with Pokemon that can take Grass- and Electric-type attacks. Any Grass-type resists those two types, but Roserade in particular pairs with Blastoise very well. It provides special bulk that compliments Blastoise's physical bulk and its ability to set entry hazards with Spikes compliments Blastoise's ability to clear them from your side of the field. Although they cannot deal with powerful Electric-type attacks, Crobat and Zapdos can easily take Grass-type attacks and they help check Fighting-types that can break through Blastoise over time with high-powered STABs. Both Flying-types appreciate Blastoise's ability to remove Stealth Rock from the field. Darmanitan enjoys playing without Stealth Rock on the field as it is particularly prone to passive damage. Furthermore, Blastoise can check Rhyperior, a Darmanitan counter, while Darmanitan threatens Grass-types that come in easily on Blastoise. Snorlax can stomach almost any special attack that may be flung at Blastoise, and a lack of entry hazards makes it a much safer counter to powerful special attackers, such as Raikou and Zapdos, which could break through it eventually with the assistance of hazards.</p>
[Other Options]
<p>Rapid Spin is the main draw of Blastoise and as such it cannot do much else. It can try a RestTalk set to increase longevity; however, with the sleep counter resetting every switch it can become a liability very quickly. With a usable base 85 Special Attack and access to the powerful Water Spout, Blastoise can attempt an offensive Choice Specs or Scarf set, but this is better left to Empoleon or Swampert which have better offenses. Blastoise can utilize Aqua Jet to inflict a small amount of damage first, but this only helps against the rare Focus Sash Pokemon or Pokemon already at very low health.</p>
[Check and Counters]
<p>While it may be difficult to block Blastoise's Rapid Spin, defeating it isn't very difficult. Blastoise cannot often switch in for free. Strong neutral attacks that it uses to enter battle, such as Heracross's Close Combat or Rhyperior's Earthquake, wear it down very quickly as Blastoise lacks recovery. Choice Band Heracross with Guts can check Blastoise and become a major threat to the opponent's team if burned. Electric- and Grass-types are able to do massive amounts of damage with their super effective STABs and can switch in for free on a predicted Rapid Spin. Roserade in particular can enter battle and immediately start putting Spikes back on the field while shrugging off a burn with Natural Cure. Shaymin can also easily enter battle, but instead of hazards it threatens the opponent's team with powerful Seed Flares. Zapdos and Raikou both put a large offensive strain on the opponent's team with their large Special Attack stats and great Electric-type STAB, and if they switch into Blastoise for free on Rapid Spin, they can start tearing the opponent's team apart. Choice Specs Kingdra resists Scald, doesn't fear burn, and can threaten physically bulky Blastoise with a 2HKO from Draco Meteor, but is unable to do so to a specially bulky Blastoise, and switching into Dragon Tail can be painful.</p>