Aggron (OU Analysis) (WIP)


it runs in the family, I guess

[Overview]

  • Aron's big brother
  • Rather than being the most obnoxious thing ever, Aggron aims to net a quick KO or two
  • Aggron can also support its team with SR
  • Weak to a lot of common stuff
  • Though, this is a double-edged sword, as Sturdy will activate pretty frequently
  • Must compete with many other SturdyCustapmons
  • Sturdy + Endeavor--priority Endeavor thanks to Custap--means that something's going down with Aggron
  • (The only other Pokemon that get Sturdy + Endeavor are the Donphan line)
  • Gets Metal Burst as well, which further differentiates Aggron from its competition
  • Base 110 Attack + its available offensive options is strong enough to ward off some key threats, like Terrakion and Dragonite
  • Holy sweet black baby jesus that's a huge movepool
  • The furthest thing from a fast Pokemon
  • (Although, it has enough Speed to outpace some noteworthy defensive threats with enough investment)
  • Again, Rock / Steel typing blows in OU
  • Endeavor is by no means a perfect move
  • Lots of stuff can be used to play around it
  • If your team can get rid of ghosts and doesn't mind Aggron dying pretty fast, then by all means go for it
[SET]
name: Custap
move 1: Metal Burst / Stealth Rock
move 2: Endeavor
move 3: Stone Edge
move 4: Low Kick
item: Custap Berry
ability: Sturdy
nature: Adamant
evs: 212 HP / 252 Atk / 44 Spe

[Set Comments]

  • Sturdy + Custap Endeavor is cool
  • SR can potentially save Aggron's team an entire Pokemon
  • Metal Burst is fine--much better, in fact--if another SRer is present on Aggron's team
  • Metal Burst can't be Taunted and can potentially net Aggron 2+ KOes
  • Just be aware that leading with Aggron won't be a good idea at this point
  • Most 'leads' will just aim for hazards first and Aggron may just end up spoiling Metal Burst too early
  • It's not a bad idea vs Hippo / Politoed, though
  • Stone Edge is a fairly powerful STAB attack
  • Low Kick compliments Stone Edge pretty well
[Additional Comments]

  • EVs: outspeed min Spe Blissey; get as much power as possible; and the rest goes into HP
  • The extra bulk helps Aggron survive some noteworthy moves, like Gliscor's EQ after one layer of spikes / two switch-ins to SR
  • ofc this is important if Sturdy is 'broken' early on
  • It's not wise to use up Custap via Endeavor if there's a ghost around
  • Head Smash can be used for a ton of extra power and to prevent spinning (priority Head Smash, anyone?)
  • Head Smash, unlike Explosion, has no immunities, so Aggron is bound to at least scratch something with it
  • Rock Slide is an acceptable alternative to both Rock STAB is accuracy is a concern
  • Taunt w/ a ton of Speed (Jolly + max) turns Aggron into a more of an anti-lead
  • Taunt prevents Nattorei, Forry, Skarm, etc--basically every bulky thing that would want to switch into a full HP Aggron--from setting up
  • The extra Speed lets Aggron Endeavor everything up to and including defensive Rotom-A
  • 30 Speed IV + investment no Speed / Brave nature + 0 Speed IV underspeeds Donphan
  • Though, Donphan will probably want to SR first, so Aggron may just end up revealing Metal Burst too early
  • Iron Head saves Aggron a moveslot, but Stone Edge + Low Kick gets better coverage overall
  • Heavy Slam is O.K for Sableye, Celebi, etc (can actually OHKO specially defensive Sab after SR)
  • Although, it almost always misses the 2HKO on Terrakion, which is pathetic
  • Ice Punch is usable so Lando-T doesn't prove to be an utter douchebag
  • Experiment with other move combinations
  • Teammates aren't particularly important here
  • Pursuit support would be nice, though
  • TTar can provide this + sand support to take better advantage of Endeavor
  • Spin support is good if Metal Burst > Stealth Rock
  • Gengar would be nice to keep up a strong offensive flow / block Rapid Spin
[Other Options]

  • [SET]
    name: Choice Band
    move 1: Head Smash
    move 2: Superpower
    move 3: Ice Punch
    move 4: Aqua Tail / Earthquake
    item: Choice Band
    ability: Rock Head
    nature: Adamant / Jolly
    evs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe

    Basically, it's a nuke with OK coverage that can function as a conduit for Outrages (and Stone Edges I guess). Moreover, people might have to tip-toe around SturdyCustap and CB capitalizes on that pretty well. This thing is a monster y/y?
  • Big movepool, crap options, blah blah
  • Gets other support options like Thunder Wave and Icy Wind to help its teammates out more
  • Finding a spot for one of those moves can prove to be difficult, though
  • Autotomize
  • Hone Claws + Head Smash eeeeeeeeeee
  • Superb special movepool that it can't use
  • Tank set, but lol good luck trying that in OU
[Checks and Counters]

  • 'Countering' supportmons? Ok go ahead and try
  • SRmons that can win regardless of the set: Pretty much anything that threatens to OHKO and commonly carries a [weak] move that can break Sturdy + Skarm
  • Jellicent
  • Sableye doesn't enjoy switching into Stone Edge or Head Smash (OHKOes specially defensive 100% of the time), but can threaten a leading Aggron with priority Wisp
  • Remember: Sableye is slower, so Aggron's Custap > Prankster
  • Ghosts in general
  • A well played Starmie
  • Sturdy 101: Terravolt and Mold Breaker negate it
  • Kyu-B and Haxorus can OHKO Aggron
  • Just tiptoe around Aggron; scout for MB with and work from there
 
cb sucks. too slow, weak to a ton of common shit, not all that strong (it's almost never killing hippowdon), basically a worse terrakion. throw it in other options.

custap lead seems alright.
 

Lavos

Banned deucer.
tell me why i should use this set in particular over other leads like skarm and forry. in this metagame you can slap a custap berry on loads of stuff but to have a set dedicated to it you need to justify this thing's niche somehow.
 

tehy

Banned deucer.
I'd like to point out that, even though it's an obscure as shit custap lead... what the fuck else is aggron doing? And once you know that, it becomes much easier to deal with.

Which leads into my next point, sableye bones this. But since it's such an obvious suicide lead, it double bones it because i'll always lead with it and so will anyone else. So put that in CnC. Also, Earth Power Kyurem-B (I assume it KOs?) goes right through sturdy.

Donphan also stomps it
 

ginganinja

It's all coming back to me now
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The set itself iv seen used against me, and it was pretty devastating. Basically this guy lead with Aggron and I assumed CB so I scalded it with Politoed, it survived, and Metal Bursted me back for the OHKO. Next turn I brought in a mon to revenge it and custap activated and it endeavoured me to 1%, effectively getting 2 kills.

To be fair, the above was largely possible due to me being unfamiliar to the set, so maybe this set might suffer when it goes on sight. I imagine you would use this over Skarm or something for Endeavor + Metal Burst which could possibly get you 2 kills. Thats your niche (as well as possibly getting up SR as well) and the set didn't do too badly when I tested it a month back, might need to do some more testing again.
 
tell me why i should use this set in particular over other leads like skarm and forry. in this metagame you can slap a custap berry on loads of stuff but to have a set dedicated to it you need to justify this thing's niche somehow.
Gotcha, emphasized on Aggron's niche more in the overview.

Which leads into my next point, sableye bones this. But since it's such an obvious suicide lead, it double bones it because i'll always lead with it and so will anyone else. So put that in CnC. Also, Earth Power Kyurem-B (I assume it KOs?) goes right through sturdy.

Donphan also stomps it
I believe that the first part of your post was already addressed by both the skeleton and ginga. Adding everything else to the skeleton.
 

Lavos

Banned deucer.
isn't stealth rock one of the main reasons to be using this set? i understand metal burst is really good and all but i wouldn't be slashing it with sr, instead i would do something along the lines of:

move 1: stealth rock
move 2: endeavor
move 3: metal burst / stone edge
move 4: metal burst / low kick

you get the idea, centralize metal burst but make it optional and don't make rocks a choice either
 
"Remember: Sableye is slower, so Aggron's Custap > Prankster"

Incorrect, Prankster is +1 priority while custap puts you in front of your current priority bracket, meaning Sableye's Prankster wins regardless of Speed.

It's just a nitpick, but it'd be stupid for something like that to end up on site.
 

jc104

Humblest person ever
is a Top Contributor Alumnus
I think I would probably use SR on this thing even if I had another SR user on my team. While obviously I would hope to be able to use Metal Burst instead, it is often rather obvious that Metal Burst isn't going to work, and you really want to be able to do something productive before the opponent takes you down (any extra damage is basically useless if you are going to follow up with a custap endeavor). So I would probably give up either low kick or stone edge.

If I didn't have another SR user I would just forgo Metal burst, because clearly I need to get SR up ASAP.

Also, I know this is just a skeleton, but it looks really long, especially for such an insignificant Pokemon. All I can say is, I hope the actual writeup will be more concise.
 

ginganinja

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OK here is my own general idea for the set (with advice from SDS and stuff)

move 1: Stealth Rock
move 2: Endeavor
move 3: Metal Burst
move 4: Low kick / Iron Head / Stone Edge

AC: Head Smash, Taunt, Ice Punch

A note that Head Smash isn't entirely necessary and that you can run two attacking moves if you want but mostly Metal Burst is better.

Logic

-Metal Burst is part of the set, as it CAN force 1.99 KOs if the set can pull it off. You might not get SR up, but this is potentially less of an issue if you have Sand or a secondary Stealth Rocker.

-If you only have Metal Burst, then you NEED a move that can hit Terrakion. This (I feel) is essential as with access to Taunt, SR, and CC Terrakion can threaten Aggron fairly hard and this is a problem. Low Kick is potentially the best option here, but if you want a STAB move I prefer Iron Head or something since I guess you can hit Tyranitar as well.

Also why are we running HP isn't like the point to get you into Custap range as quickly as possible?
 
-If you only have Metal Burst, then you NEED a move that can hit Terrakion. This (I feel) is essential as with access to Taunt, SR, and CC Terrakion can threaten Aggron fairly hard and this is a problem. Low Kick is potentially the best option here, but if you want a STAB move I prefer Iron Head or something since I guess you can hit Tyranitar as well.

Also why are we running HP isn't like the point to get you into Custap range as quickly as possible?
Metal Burst is considered a physical attack, so taunt is useless against it .

Also, if Custap is the ultimate goal, would min defenses be useful?
 
Go with max Atk + Spe EVs, with an IV of 1 in HP (less hazard damage, useful if you're really low on health and switching into hazards mid-game to get off a Custap attack) and 0 in both defenses.
 

jc104

Humblest person ever
is a Top Contributor Alumnus
BKC, you do know that metal burst doesn't have negative prio, but still needs to go last to work? Running too many Speed EVs prevents its successful use.
 
yes but even with max speed you hit a stat of 199 so youre slower than most of the things youre going to be metal bursting and outspeeding shit like cbtar/jellicent/sdef tran/non-custap skarm is very useful!
 

jc104

Humblest person ever
is a Top Contributor Alumnus
Actually, you know what

QC rejected 1/3

I really can't see this thing working well against anyone who knows what's coming, and I've been told before that surprise value alone does not make a set.
 
I'm pretty sure a Rock Polish set should deserve a mention. I've used it in the early days of BW, and even though its speed even after a boost was a bit disappointing, it still managed to net some key KO's a lot of the time, due to its impressive physical coverage.
 

ginganinja

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QC REJECTED 2/3

Yea, I liked this set, but the meta has shifted for the worse against Aggron. For instance, spinners such as Forry have increased in usage, as well as Rain also being exceptionally common, and this doesn't work quite as well as it did in the past. I think it needs Taunt now or something to "win" against many of the standard "leads" and its cutting into its severe 4MSS.

Still deserves an OO mention somewhere on Aggrons analysis, as the set isn't terrible, the meta just hurts its viability.
 

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