Spiky Shield for Gen VI!
[Overview]
<p>Ferroseed might have an NFE status, but don't let that trick you into thinking it is a bad Pokemon. In fact, Ferroseed is one of the best pure support Pokemon in the tier. Sporting solid defenses thanks to Eviolite, a great defensive typing, and a wide support movepool, Ferroseed can be quite the pain to take down. Even its abysmal Speed can be turned into an advantage thanks to Ferroseed's access to Gyro Ball. Ferroseed isn't unbeatable though. With a 4x Fire weakness, a Fighting weakness, and Pokemon such as Entei, Gallade, and Moltres being extremely common in the tier, there are plenty of Pokemon that can simply turn Ferroseed into a liability. Ferroseed's low Attack stat also means that nothing outside of Gyro Ball is going to be hitting hard. Ferroseed's abundant support movepool also leads to a case of four-moveslot syndrome that keeps it from carrying every support move it would like to. Within its vast support movepool, Ferroseed is missing one key ingredient: a form of reliable recovery. This can cause Ferroseed to wear down over time as it doesn't even have Leftovers recovery due to the necessity of holding Eviolite to be the defensive stalwart that it is. Ferroseed is a great support Pokemon in RU, but you need to be sure to cover for its faults, mainly its lack of reliable recovery and weaknesses to Fire- and Fighting-type moves, if you want to get the most out of it.</p>
[SET]
name: Support
move 1: Spikes / Stealth Rock
move 2: Thunder Wave / Protect
move 3: Leech Seed
move 4: Gyro Ball / Seed Bomb
item: Eviolite
ability: Iron Barbs
nature: Relaxed
evs: 248 HP / 248 Def / 12 SpD
ivs: 0 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>This is standard fare for Ferroseed in RU. This set allows Ferroseed to check and counter a plethora of threats in RU while using its expansive movepool to support its team. Spikes is the entry hazard of choice, as Ferroseed can find many opportunities to switch in and set up the entry hazard to slowly build up passive damage against the opposing team. Stealth Rock is an alternative to lessen the pressure on Ferroseed to continually set up entry hazards, but do keep in mind that it gets much wider distribution than Spikes does, thus making Spikes the better option on most teams. Thunder Wave generally gets the nod to allow Ferroseed to cripple faster Pokemon, such as Moltres, Gallade, and Entei, that might attempt to switch into it. If you're using more of a stall-based team, Protect could be a better option to stall for Leech Seed damage and possible poison damage from Toxic Spikes support. In general, this also allows Ferroseed to scout for possible Choice-locked attackers or stray Fire- or Fighting-type moves. Leech Seed is a must in the next slot as it provides the only form of recovery Ferroseed has. This works well in conjunction with Spikes anyway, as it will force the opponent to stay in and take more Leech Seed damage or switch out and deal with Spikes damage. The final slot keeps Ferroseed from being complete Taunt bait. Gyro Ball is generally preferred as it hits decently hard thanks to Ferroseed's abysmal Speed stat. However, if your team really struggles with Water-type sweepers, namely Omastar and Crawdaunt, Seed Bomb is an option to better handle them.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>The EV spread gives Ferroseed as much bulk as possible with a heavy preference in physical bulk, as a lot of Ferroseed's resistances, such as Dark, Dragon, and Rock, are physical attacks on most occasions. A Relaxed nature is used with 0 Speed IVs to maximize the damage output from Gyro Ball. One can reverse the spread with a Sassy nature to give Ferroseed much better special bulk to take more advantage of its resistances to Water-, Grass-, Electric-, and Psychic-type moves. However, many of these Pokemon commonly carry coverage moves that are super effective against Ferroseed.</p>
<p>Due to its many resistances, it is quite easy to form a defensive core with Ferroseed. Slowking is a great teammate as it resists both Fire- and Fighting-type moves for Ferroseed and can form quite the annoying paralysis core with Ferroseed, which in turn can take on many of the attacks Slowking can't handle. Alomomola is another worthy option as its gigantic Wishes can easily keep Ferroseed healthy while the duo can wall the vast majority of physical attackers in the tier. Uxie, Mesprit, and Sigilyph are other Psychic-types that can be used to check the Fighting-type Pokemon that Ferroseed dislikes. Although Ferroseed matches up well against the likes of Cryogonal and Kabutops, a spinblocker is a decent option to ensure that the entry hazards Ferroseed typically lays down aren't removed. Spiritomb and Rotom are the best choices since each can deal with the best spinner in the tier—Kabutops—reliably in most circumstances. Spiritomb can also handle Cryogonal without much difficulty. Any offensive Pokemon that has decent synergy with Ferroseed and benefits from Spikes, and possibly paralysis, support can make for good teammates. Druddigon and Sigilyph generally struggle with Steel-types, all of which are grounded, thus making them vulnerable to the Spikes Ferroseed can lay down. Moltres and Magmortar enjoy paralysis support and the Spikes Ferroseed lays can quickly wear down Lanturn, arguably their best check, which lacks reliable recovery. Moltres is also notable for its ability to wipe out most Fighting-types in the tier with its absurdly powerful STAB Hurricane. Finally, a Stealth Rock user is useful to form an entry hazard setting core with Ferroseed. Golurk, Uxie, and Rhydon are the most notable as each can resist Fighting- or Fire-type moves for Ferroseed.</p>
[Other Options]
<p>Ferroseed really doesn't have many other options to consider. It has a decent offensive movepool, but it has pitiful offenses. Curse can attempt to remedy this issue, but commonly seen Pokemon such as Entei and Gallade will ultimately be the downfall of such a set. Toxic is an option on the main set over Thunder Wave if Ferroseed is used on a stall team, but it should ideally be supported with Toxic Spikes from something like Qwilfish in such a case. Bullet Seed can possibly be used against something like Substitute + Dragon Dance Crawdaunt, but it would literally have no use outside of that. Payback can hit Ghost- and Psychic-types such as Rotom, Uxie, and Sigilyph for decent damage, but most are either hit harder by Gyro Ball or won't be staying in on Ferroseed if they don't have a coverage move for it anyway. Finally, Ferroseed has access to Explosion to go out with a bang, but it won't be hitting as hard as you might think off of Ferroseed's lackluster base 50 Attack.</p>
[Checks and Counters]
<p>There are plenty of Pokemon that can beat Ferroseed, but they have to be mindful of a possible Thunder Wave or Leech Seed with most answers. Perhaps the most surefire way to beat Ferroseed is the use of Magneton. Thanks to its ability, Magnet Pull, Ferroseed is unable to switch out and Hidden Power Fire will take care of Ferroseed in very short order. From there, slower Pokemon that are capable of using Fire- and Fighting-type moves are generally safe answers as they aren't crippled badly by Thunder Wave. Such Pokemon include Slowking, Druddigon, and Eelektross. Obviously, Pokemon such as Entei, Gallade, and Magmortar are more than capable of handling Ferroseed, but they have to be careful of being caught by Thunder Wave on the switch.</p>
<p>Any Pokemon with Trick or Switcheroo can cripple Ferroseed by giving it a useless Choice item in place of its precious Eviolite. Rotom-C, Mesprit, and Manectric are key users of these moves with Manectric being able to ignore Thunder Wave's paralysis thanks to Lightningrod. All three are also capable of carrying a Fire-type coverage move to handle Ferroseed with if they would prefer to keep their Choice items. Any Qwilfish wielding Taunt can quickly shut down Ferroseed and turn it into Spikes fodder. In the long run, Ferroseed can be worn down quite easily as it doesn't even have Leftovers to recover health and has to rely on Leech Seed to have any sort of recovery. However, by going this route, you risk allowing Ferroseed to get down multiple layers of Spikes before it finally gets KOed, which means it will have probably done its job by then.</p>
[Overview]
NFE, but don’t let that fool you
Fantastic defensive typing that brings multiple resists
Great support movepool to back its great defensive typing and solid defenses
Can hold Eviolite to bolster its already good defenses to great levels
Iron Barbs chips away at physical attackers
No reliable recovery
4MSS that prevents it from carrying every support move it wants to
Low offense presence leaves it vulnerable to setup sweepers
Abysmal Speed, but Gyro Ball can take advantage of this
Weakness to Fire and Fighting hurts with major threats such as Entei, Gallade, and Emboar around every corner
Great defensive Pokemon, but be sure to cover for its faults to make sure you get the most out of it
[SET]
name: Support
move 1: Spikes / Stealth Rock
move 2: Thunder Wave / Protect
move 3: Leech Seed
move 4: Gyro Ball / Seed Bomb
item: Eviolite
ability: Iron Barbs
nature: Relaxed
evs: 248 HP / 248 Def / 12 Sdef
ivs: 0 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Puts Ferroseed’s many resistances to good use with a defensive set
Switch in on one of Ferroseed’s many resistances and support the team
Spikes has less distribution than Stealth Rock and Ferroseed can setup multiple layers handily
Stealth Rock still possible if you're really in need of it
Thunder Wave preferred to cripple sweepers that may try to switch in on Ferroseed
Protect is possible to scout for moves and stall for Leech Seed damage, but is only truly useful on stall-based teams since Ferroseed forces many fast attackers into the match
Nice segway into Leech Seed. Ferroseed’s only form of recovery, so very useful. Can cause loads of passive damage alongside Iron Barbs
Last slot is for a STAB move to fend off key threats
Gyro Ball is stronger thanks to that abysmal Speed.
Seed Bomb deals with Omastar, Kabutops, and Crawdaunt
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
EV spread focuses on physical bulk with a Relaxed nature and 0 Speed IV to maximize Gyro Ball’s power
Specially defensive spread to take better advantage of Water, Grass, Electric, and Psychic resistances.
Most Pokemon of these types have coverage moves to deal with Ferroseed though
Numerous resistances, so it’s easy to form a defensive core with
Slowking is the most notable as it resists Fire- and Fighting-type moves. Ferroseed takes Ghost, Dark, and Grass-type moves and each can use Thunder Wave to setup a slower attacker
Alomomola for Wish Support and to stick it to p. much any physical attacker not named Gallade
Psychic-types such as Uxie, Mesprit, and Sigilyph can take Fighting-type moves
Spinblocker to protect the Spikes Feroseed lays
Spiritomb and Rotom are great choices as both handle Kabutops nicely
Tomb also handles Cryo
Sweepers that appreciate Spikes support
Druddigon and Sigilyph are great as both struggle against Steel-types, all of which are grounded
Moltres and Magmortar love paralysis support and benefit from Spikes wearing down Lanturn quickly
Moltres in particular is good since it can check Fighting-types and wipe them out with Hurricane
Stealth Rock users for a hazard setting core
Golurk, Uxie, and Rhydon are solid as each can take either Fighting- or Fire-type moves respectively
[Other Options]
Toxic
Explosion
Curse
Bullet Seed
Uh, Payback?
[Checks and Counters]
Most offensive Fire- and Fighting-types
Entei, Gallade, Emboar, Moltres, etc.
Pokemon capable of using Fire or Fighting-type coverage moves can generally check Ferroseed
Sceptile, Slowking, Sigilyph, Manectric, etc.
Magneton traps and KOes without question thanks to Magnet Pull
Mixed Druddigon and Mixed Absol can utilize Flamethrower or Fire Blast after luring Ferroseed in with STAB moves
Trick users hurt bad as Ferroseed depends on Eviolite to bolster defenses
Rotom-C, Mesprit, and Manectric are primary users of Trick (Switcheroo for Manectric)
Taunt Qwilfish turns Ferroseed into Spikes fodder
Be careful of paralysis. Mixed Druddigon Fire Punch Golurk, and Fire Blast Slowking can get around this, making them even more reliable
Lacks recovery so it is prone to getting worn down quickly
NFE, but don’t let that fool you
Fantastic defensive typing that brings multiple resists
Great support movepool to back its great defensive typing and solid defenses
Can hold Eviolite to bolster its already good defenses to great levels
Iron Barbs chips away at physical attackers
No reliable recovery
4MSS that prevents it from carrying every support move it wants to
Low offense presence leaves it vulnerable to setup sweepers
Abysmal Speed, but Gyro Ball can take advantage of this
Weakness to Fire and Fighting hurts with major threats such as Entei, Gallade, and Emboar around every corner
Great defensive Pokemon, but be sure to cover for its faults to make sure you get the most out of it
[SET]
name: Support
move 1: Spikes / Stealth Rock
move 2: Thunder Wave / Protect
move 3: Leech Seed
move 4: Gyro Ball / Seed Bomb
item: Eviolite
ability: Iron Barbs
nature: Relaxed
evs: 248 HP / 248 Def / 12 Sdef
ivs: 0 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Puts Ferroseed’s many resistances to good use with a defensive set
Switch in on one of Ferroseed’s many resistances and support the team
Spikes has less distribution than Stealth Rock and Ferroseed can setup multiple layers handily
Stealth Rock still possible if you're really in need of it
Thunder Wave preferred to cripple sweepers that may try to switch in on Ferroseed
Protect is possible to scout for moves and stall for Leech Seed damage, but is only truly useful on stall-based teams since Ferroseed forces many fast attackers into the match
Nice segway into Leech Seed. Ferroseed’s only form of recovery, so very useful. Can cause loads of passive damage alongside Iron Barbs
Last slot is for a STAB move to fend off key threats
Gyro Ball is stronger thanks to that abysmal Speed.
Seed Bomb deals with Omastar, Kabutops, and Crawdaunt
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
EV spread focuses on physical bulk with a Relaxed nature and 0 Speed IV to maximize Gyro Ball’s power
Specially defensive spread to take better advantage of Water, Grass, Electric, and Psychic resistances.
Most Pokemon of these types have coverage moves to deal with Ferroseed though
Numerous resistances, so it’s easy to form a defensive core with
Slowking is the most notable as it resists Fire- and Fighting-type moves. Ferroseed takes Ghost, Dark, and Grass-type moves and each can use Thunder Wave to setup a slower attacker
Alomomola for Wish Support and to stick it to p. much any physical attacker not named Gallade
Psychic-types such as Uxie, Mesprit, and Sigilyph can take Fighting-type moves
Spinblocker to protect the Spikes Feroseed lays
Spiritomb and Rotom are great choices as both handle Kabutops nicely
Tomb also handles Cryo
Sweepers that appreciate Spikes support
Druddigon and Sigilyph are great as both struggle against Steel-types, all of which are grounded
Moltres and Magmortar love paralysis support and benefit from Spikes wearing down Lanturn quickly
Moltres in particular is good since it can check Fighting-types and wipe them out with Hurricane
Stealth Rock users for a hazard setting core
Golurk, Uxie, and Rhydon are solid as each can take either Fighting- or Fire-type moves respectively
[Other Options]
Toxic
Explosion
Curse
Bullet Seed
Uh, Payback?
[Checks and Counters]
Most offensive Fire- and Fighting-types
Entei, Gallade, Emboar, Moltres, etc.
Pokemon capable of using Fire or Fighting-type coverage moves can generally check Ferroseed
Sceptile, Slowking, Sigilyph, Manectric, etc.
Magneton traps and KOes without question thanks to Magnet Pull
Mixed Druddigon and Mixed Absol can utilize Flamethrower or Fire Blast after luring Ferroseed in with STAB moves
Trick users hurt bad as Ferroseed depends on Eviolite to bolster defenses
Rotom-C, Mesprit, and Manectric are primary users of Trick (Switcheroo for Manectric)
Taunt Qwilfish turns Ferroseed into Spikes fodder
Be careful of paralysis. Mixed Druddigon Fire Punch Golurk, and Fire Blast Slowking can get around this, making them even more reliable
Lacks recovery so it is prone to getting worn down quickly
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