General Outline.
1. Introduction
2. Gravity Basics
3. Gravity Strategies
4. Gravity Users
5. Pokemon that work well under gravity (Abusers).
a) Defensive
b) Offensive
6. Team Building
a) Defensive
b) Offensive
7. Conclusion
Introduction
Gravity is a
5 turnfive-turn field effect that was first introduced in
DPP.the previous generation. Gravity never really took
the previous generation'sDPP's metagame by
storm,storm. It was often labeled as a gimmick, and
itas such, was rarely seen. This could be attributed to players just slapping it on teams, rather than basing their team around Gravity. Although Gravity itself did not receive any buffs in BW, it was distributed to a few more Pokemon and gained a few extra abusers as well. Gravity can be used to great effect; however, it requires a dedicated team for it to work to its full potential.
Gravity Basics (Credit to Legacy Raider and Joel for the original Gravity Basics section.)
Gravity is a 5 PP Psychic-type move that lasts for five turns after being used. Unlike Light Screen and Reflect, there is no item that extends the duration of this effect, so it is important that you keep your Gravity users alive if you plan on winning battles with
it. [COMMENT: If you mean "winning battles with Gravity," it should be it. If you mean, "winning battles with your Gravity users," revert it to them.
It looked to me like you meant the former.] The following effects occur while Gravity is active:
All Pokemon become vulnerable to Ground-type moves.
Flying-types and Pokemon with the
Levitate ability,ability Levitate, who usually enjoy an immunity to Ground attacks, suddenly find themselves
being damaged by them. This effect is not only limited to attacks. Spikes, a Ground-type entry hazard, will do damage to Flying-type and Levitating Pokemon under
Gravity.Gravity as well. Also, while Gravity is in effect, Toxic Spikes will poison all Pokemon bar those with Steel typing, Poison typing, or the ability Immunity. This also means that Poison-type Pokemon who normally have an immunity to Ground-type moves, such as Gengar and Crobat, will absorb and remove Toxic Spikes from the field upon entry while Gravity is active. Finally, the ability Arena Trap will prevent Flying-type and Levitating Pokemon from switching for Gravity's duration. There is a common misconception that the Flying-type is removed while Gravity is in effect, somewhat like the effect of the move Roost on a Pokemon's type. This is not strictly true. Even under Gravity, Skarmory is still neutral to Fighting-type moves and weak to Electric-type moves. The only difference in terms of type effectiveness is that Skarmory is now 2x weak to Ground-type attacks (because of its Steel typing), and is damaged by Spikes upon entry. Similarly, a
Bug / FlyingBug- and Flying-type Pokemon such as Yanmega, while normally immune to Ground-type attacks, will take 0.5x damage from them under Gravity (because of its Bug typing, which resists Ground-type moves), but will retain a 4x resistance to Fighting-type attacks. Furthermore, Flying-types will still take 2x damage from Stealth Rock, and those 4x weak to Stealth
RockRock, such as Ninjask and
VolcaronaVolcarona, will still be stripped of half of their
maximum HP upon entry.
The effects of the item Air Balloon are temporarily negated.
This is a very important
effecteffect, as Pokemon such as Heatran and Excadrill commonly abuse Air Balloon to avoid Ground-type moves. During the turns
wherein which Gravity is active, the item Air Balloon becomes useless, giving the Gravity user a slight
advantage in that Ground-typeadvantage—Ground-type attacks can still be abused without worrying
that athat, for instance, Heatran or Excadrill
couldcan switch in for free. With many teams relying on Air Balloon on certain Pokemon to counter the powerful Excadrill, its nullification can be very
damaging to many players,damaging, making Excadrill and Landorus
so much more powerful.
The use of the moves Bounce, Fly, Hi Jump Kick, Jump Kick, Magnet Rise, and Splash is prevented.
This isn't of much
significancesignificance, as the only moves in the list that really see any use at all are Bounce, Hi Jump Kick, and Magnet Rise. If Fly or Bounce is on its
'charge turn'"charge turn" when Gravity is used, then the move will
be instantly
be canceled and the user will drop to the ground.
The Evasion of all Pokemon is lowered to 3/5.
This is quite a significant component of Gravity's effect. Essentially, all move accuracies are boosted by 1.67x while Gravity is in play. This makes
all moves with
at least 60%
or more accuracy always hit during Gravity (60 x 1.67 = 100), and is quite a large factor in offensive Gravity teams' success, as they can now use high Base Power and low accuracy
movesmoves, such as Hydro Pump and
BlizzardBlizzard, to devastating effect. Although irrelevant for most
matches asmatches—as they are played with OHKO
clause, Gravity'sclause—Gravity's accuracy boost does not affect the accuracy of OHKO moves.
Gravity teams aim to utilize many of these factors to gain an advantage in battle, one that, if used correctly, should be enough to ensure victory the vast majority of the time.
Strategies with Gravity
Gravity can usually be split up into offensive and defensive play-styles. These two play-styles usually focus on the different effects of Gravity.
Defensive Gravity teams abuse entry hazards, which affect a wider range of Pokemon under Gravity. For example, Pokemon such as Salamence can now be affected by Toxic Spikes and Spikes, to which it would normally be immune. The standard play for defensive teams is to set up hazards as quickly as possible, activate Gravity, and bring in bulky phazers to inflict massive damage to the opponent's team. In this way, defensive Gravity teams are similar to stall
teams in that theyteams—they focus on forcing switches, applying residual damage, and outstalling the
opponentsopponent's team.
Offensive Gravity teams will often focus on abusing the evasion-lowering side effect that Gravity brings. Moves such as Hypnosis, Thunder, Hydro Pump, and Blizzard all have 100% accuracy once Gravity is up and, as such, can quickly do massive damage. Pokemon such as Excadrill and Mamoswine can abuse powerful STAB Earthquakes to blast through Pokemon that would check them without Gravity. For example, Skarmory is no longer a viable check to Excadrill under Gravity
sincebecause it becomes weak to
itsExcadrill's Earthquake, allowing
Excadrillit to power past
it.Skarmory. Dugtrio also gets a special mention for being able to trap Levitators and Flying-types that it would not be able to trap normally.
Gravity Users
Blissey
Meet Blissey, one of the
topbest special walls in all of BW. With its massive HP stat and excellent Special Defense, Blissey is an excellent choice to use on a Gravity team. It comfortably walls the special attackers that plague the tier and, with its large bulk, can safely set up Gravity for your team. Blissey can even fit into offensive teams as a general special wall. Blissey's main weakness is that it is very weak
offensivelyoffensively, and with the influx of powerful Fighting-types in BW, Blissey can be set up on rather easily.
As far as abusing Gravity herself, Blissey has access to
Sing;,Sing; this is usually an unreliable sleep move,
but,but under Gravity, it has 92% accuracy, making Blissey a bit tougher to switch into. Blissey can also run more powerful special
moves such as Firemoves—Fire Blast, Thunder, and
Blizzard ratherBlizzard—rather than their less powerful
alternatives, Icealternatives—Ice Beam, Thunderbolt, and Flamethrower. Though not affected by Gravity, Blissey can still run Aromatherapy or Wish to
better support its
teammates better.teammates.
Chansey
With the arrival of BW came the item Eviolite, which boosts the Defense and Special Defense stats of NFE Pokemon by 50%. This item was a great boon to Chansey, who now rivals Blissey in terms of walling capacity. The downside is that it loses out on Leftovers, which means that Sandstorm and Hail damage can wear Chansey down. Chansey is
more bulkybulkier than Blissey, but it lacks Blissey's higher Special Attack; Seismic Toss is usually Chansey's only method of doing damage, leaving it walled by Ghost-types.
Dusclops
Dusclops is another Pokemon that benefited from the Eviolite. It becomes much bulkier than its evolved form Dusknoir, and the drop in Attack does not matter too much. Dusclops is a perfect partner to
BlisseyBlissey, as it can take the Fighting-type attacks directed at Blissey, walling physical attacks, while Blissey takes care of special attacks. Dusclops has a much smaller pool of Pokemon that it can wall and thus its use is limited on offensive teams. Dusclops really shines on defensive teams, as it can block Rapid Spin by virtue of its Ghost typing, preventing your hard-earned hazards from being blown away.
With Gravity up, the only Pokemon that are immune to Toxic Spikes are Steel- and Poison-types and those with the ability Immunity. Dusclops helps take care of this with its Will-O-Wisp, which has perfect accuracy under Gravity. This is exceptionally helpful for defensive teams
whereon which residual damage is key. Will-O-Wisp also cripples physical attackers such as Metagross and Excadrill, dropping their Attack stats and making them easier to wall. Though Dusclops has only modest Attack, it can run Earthquake, which gets solid coverage under Gravity. Dusclops can abuse the 83% accurate DynamicPunch, which gets awesome coverage with a Ghost-type
movemove, while deterring Tyranitar and Heatran from switching in.
Dusclops has its faults, though. Lack of reliable recovery really hurts, as it is forced to run Pain Split to get any sort of healing. Partner Dusclops with a cleric so it can run Rest, or even a
Wish passerWish-passer so Dusclops can stay in tip-top shape during the battle.
Bronzong
Bronzong
is ansets up Gravity extremely
reliable Pokemon with which to set up Gravity.reliably. With its nice typing and stats it can take a hit or two and get Gravity up. However, Bronzong also suffers from lack of recovery and loses its ground immunity under Gravity. It's not all bad
though, as underthough—under Gravity, Hypnosis gets its accuracy boosted to 100%, allowing Bronzong to spam Earthquake much more easily. Bronzong
is also
makes a decent
Pokemon with which to getat getting up Stealth Rock or dual screens if need be, which is useful for both defensive and offensive teams.
Cresselia
Cresselia is also very reliable at setting up Gravity. Its relatively low offensive stats often relegate it to a defensive
role. However,role, and with
base 120 / 120 / 130 defenses, it can take hits all day long. Cresselia can run Moonlight for recovery and has access to a nice range of support options such as Thunder Wave, dual screens, and its signature move, Lunar Dance. Even though Gravity robs Cresselia of its Ground immunity, its high defenses allow it to take an Earthquake if it needs to. Unfortunately, Cresselia faces heavy competition with Deoxys-D, who has similar support options with the added bonus of moves such as Spikes and Stealth Rock.
Jirachi
With awesome typing, base 100 stats across the board, and a wide movepool, Jirachi is the perfect Pokemon for both defensive and offensive teams. Jirachi will often run Gravity and U-turn on the same set, allowing it to scout ahead while giving you momentum. Jirachi can be used in different ways, often depending on what type of Gravity team it's used on. Defensive Gravity teams will often use Jirachi for Wish support while making use of its
typing. Offensivetyping, while offensive teams may benefit from
Jirachi’sits paralysis support or its ability to quickly get up Stealth Rock. Both team styles will appreciate Jirachi setting up dual screens for
them.them as well. On defensive teams, hazard-layers such as Forretress take hits more easily, while offensive teams appreciate the extra security to set up more easily. However, Jirachi cannot run
both Gravity and dual screens effectively,
sincebecause it must have powerful offensive moves to discourage your opponent from setting up on you. Jirachi's only added benefit from Gravity is a 100% accurate Thunder with a useful 60% paralysis rate, so it should just set up Gravity and U-turn out to gain momentum.
Forretress
At first
glanceglance, Forretress suffers from severe competition with Ferrothorn for a slot on a Gravity Team. Both
pokemonPokemon have excellent defensive stats and typing,
both pokemon can set up hazards, and as a
bonusbonus, they can both set up Gravity for your team.
Forretress howeverForretress, however, has a few slight advantages
overthat set it apart from its fellow
spiker which sets it appart from Ferrothorn.Spikes user.
To begin
withwith, Forretress has access to Rapid Spin, a really nice move to have on a Gravity team. When entry hazards hit all
pokemonPokemon under
GravityGravity, having a Rapid Spinner on hand is an excellent choice to
minimiseminimize the damage your team takes switching around. Forretress also has access to Toxic
SpikesSpikes, which
areis really useful to defensive Gravity teams in making it much easier to stall out
pokemon.Pokemon. Perhapes the biggest advantage Forretress has over Ferrothorn is that it can run Gravity and
Spikes. FerrothornSpikes together. The combination is
prevented from doing so due to Gravity and Spikes being illegal
together howeveron Ferrothorn, but Forretress is under no such
restrictionsrestrictions, and can freely
spike and set up
Spikes and Gravity for your team.
Forretress also has a few other cool moves at its disposal. Volt
SwitchSwitch, like
U-Turn in that itU-turn, does a bit of damage and then
switchsswitches Forretress for another
pokemonPokemon of your choice. This is really
useful foruseful, as Forretress
as it can set up Gravity then Volt Switch
outout, using its defensive stats as a shield to get get your next
pokemonPokemon in
safelysafely, ready to abuse Gravity. Forretress also has access to Pain Split for
recoveryrecovery, which
is kinda cool in that whenhelps it
gets low on health it can steal some back to stay in the
game.game when its health is getting low. Forretress is really good at what it
does on a Gravity Teamdoes, and
it can work on both offensive and defensive teams. Provided you stick to its
strengths and advantages over
FerrothornFerrothorn, you will rarely be disappointed.
Metagross
Possessing a
simply massive Attack stat and excellent defensive typing, Metagross is perfect for setting up Gravity. Metagross has the added bonus of
actually being able to abuse Gravity
itself. For starters,as well. Gravity boosts Meteor Mash to 100%
accuracy,accuracy while letting Earthquake hit the
Flying-types,Flying-types that would otherwise wall Metagross to hell and back.
AgiliGross was a very dangerous set in the
pastpast, and can still work effectively in BW in conjunction with Gravity. This lets Metagross get past counters such as Bronzong and Skarmory. In addition, Gravity nullifies Air Balloon, so Steel-types
likesuch as Heatran that rely on Air Balloon to get past Earthquake can no longer stop an AgiliGross sweep. Metagross also has access to Explosion, which is still
usableusable, even with the nerf, as well as
to various support moves such as Stealth Rock, Reflect, and Light Screen.
Starmie
Starmie has excellent Speed and decent bulk, allowing it to set up Gravity for your team as well. Starmie can also make use of Gravity by spamming high-powered moves such as Hydro Pump, Thunder, and Blizzard with 100% accuracy. With its type coverage and Speed, Starmie can rampage through teams, making it an excellent choice for offensive teams. Starmie also handles many ground types that your opponent might
havehave, thanks to its super effective moves. This is useful,
sinceas many Gravity teams require a Ground check to prevent the opponent from spamming
Earthquake.Earthquake as well. Starmie does not resist Ground, but its Speed and coverage should discourage your opponent from switching their Ground-types into
Starmie.it.
Starmie can also use Recover, allowing it to stay healthy throughout the match. However, this does come at the
lostloss of a coverage move. Rapid Spin is also usable for offensive Gravity teams, but again, Starmie misses out on an extra attacking move, thus making it easier to check.
Smeargle
Viable Gravity users are hard to come by,
thereforeand as such, Smeargle becomes a decent option. Due to its extremely poor defenses, Smeargle should not be used on defensive Gravity teams.
OffensiveHowever, offensive Gravity teams love
Smeargle'sits versatility. Smeargle can run a huge number of support options such as Spore, Spikes, Toxic Spikes, and Stealth Rock. Smeargle can also run dual screens, but these are generally left to other Gravity users, as Smeargle is a bit too frail to be using them.
Moves such as Destiny Bond and Endeavor are nice for Smeargle, as they let it do decent damage to your opponent. Smeargle must
avoidsandstormavoid sandstorm if it runs these moves, however. U-turn and Volt Switch give Smeargle the chance to escape the battlefield, but
the damage done will be minuscule due towith its pathetic
offenses.offenses, these will do miniscule damage. Smeargle often works best as a lead to give offensive teams momentum from the start of the match.
Magnezone
Magnezone is a slightly odd
choice sincechoice, as Gravity will prevent Magnet Rise and
Air Balloon from covering its crippling 4x Ground weakness, but its ability, Magnet Pull, lets it trap opposing Steel-types, giving it plenty of opportunities to set up Gravity while eliminating troublesome Steel-types with Hidden Power Fire or Thunder. Magnezone makes use of Gravity by abusing its STAB Thunder,
which has aas its 30% Paralysis
rate,rate is useful for many teams. However, it's the support
Magnezone provides to offensive teams that really lets
Magnezoneit shine. Trapping Ferrothorn, for
example,willexample, will allow Starmie to sweep more easily. Trapping Scizor lets Gengar sweep, as it no longer has to worry about Bullet Punch. Magnezone can also use dual screens
as well asor status moves such as Toxic and Thunder Wave.
Clefable
Clefable looks like an inferior choice to Blissey or Eviolite Chansey. In terms of walling power this may be the case, but Clefable brings excellent versatility to a Gravity team with its outstanding movepool. Clefable can abuse Magic Guard to protect it from passive
damagedamage, such as that from Toxic or sandstorm. Magic Guard also blocks Life Orb recoil, which allows Clefable to run an offensive set relying on moves such as Focus Blast, Fire Blast, Thunder, and Blizzard. Clefable can
also run Sing, which has its accuracy boosted under Gravity. Encore is an excellent option to give one of your Pokemon
atwo free
turnturns to set up.
[COMMENT: Encore give you four turns. It was 3 before; that was a PO glitch.] Setting up Stealth Rock is also a viable option, applying pressure to your opponent's team with further passive damage. Clefable can also spread status by tricking a Flame Orb onto a physical attacker or a Toxic Orb onto a wall such as Blissey.
Clefable has access to healing moves such as Wish and Softboiled, with Softboiled generally being the better
choice sincechoice, as Chansey, Blissey, and Jirachi use Wish more effectively. Due to Blissey and Chansey outclassing Clefable in terms of defensive ability, Clefable is better suited to offensive teams. The best thing about Clefable is that it can be tailored to fit your Gravity team any way
youyou'd like, be it an offensive sweeper or a team supporter.
Regice
Regice is often outclassed by Blissey due to lack of a recovery move and
its worse typing. Ice only grants Regice a resistance to Ice, while leaving it vulnerable to
common Rock, Fire, and Fighting attacks
common in the current metagame. Still, Regice can go on the offensive,
with Gravity boosting the accuracy of Zap Cannon and
Blizzard, althoughBlizzard—although its low Speed really hampers it.
Registeel
Registeel has a nice Steel typing and solid defenses, letting it act as a reliable Gravity supporter. Lack of a viable recovery move hurts Registeel, but moves such as Thunder Wave and Toxic are frustrating for many teams. Registeel can also set up Stealth Rock if
you need it too.needed.
Regirock
Regirock has
200 base
200 Defense and
100 base
100 Special Defense that can be further boosted under sandstorm. It can run supporting options
likesuch as Thunder Wave and Stealth Rock in a
similar fashion
similar to Registeel, but Regirock really loves the
accuracy boost
in accuracy of its offensive moves under Gravity. The powerful STAB-boosted Stone
Edge,Edge has 100% accuracy, as does Hammer Arm, and Earthquake is still available to
spam under Gravity.spam. DynamicPunch is another option that has 83% accuracy under Gravity, letting Regirock play a more offensive role in a Gravity team.
Mew
With base 100 stats across the board and a massive movepool, Mew is a
perfectfantastic option to set up Gravity on both offensive and defensive teams. Mew has access to a few instant recovery moves such as Roost and Recover, and can abuse Gravity with Fire Blast, Thunder, and Blizzard. Offensive teams may appreciate Mew Baton Passing boosts or running a straight up offensive set with Nasty Plot. Defensive
setsteams love the variety of phazing moves Mew has access to as well as those valuable instant recovery moves. Both teams appreciate Mew being able to set up Stealth Rock or even dual screens to cushion hits.
In addition to all of the above, Mew can act as a status platform of sorts, spamming Will-O-Wisp, Toxic, Hypnosis, and Thunder Wave. Offensive teams appreciate paralysis support as well as a possible threat being
to sleep,asleep, while stall teams
just love Toxic wearing down key members of the
opponentsopponent's team. Will-O-Wisp cripples physical attackers as well. Mew is one of the few viable users of Super Fang, an excellent move that can take chunks out of your opponent's team, weakening key members. There is very little that Mew cannot
dodo, and it can be tailored to fit onto almost any Gravity team.
Deoxys-S
Deoxys-S is the fastest user or Gravity
around and,around, and with an excellent support movepool, works extremely well on offensive teams. Its defensive stats are pretty average, so it has little use on defensive teams.
Deoxys-S can be used in a few ways. It can run a dual
screenscreens lead set which, if used on an offensive team, can really put pressure on your opponent. Not only does it give you 4 turns of Gravity to abuse, but with Light Clay, will end up giving you up to 8 turns of screen protection as well. This can be crucial if you are running Excadrill as, assuming you spend a turn using Swords Dance, you can smash through your opponent's team very quickly, putting you in the
boxdriver's seat. Alternatively, Deoxys-S can run its
spikerSpikes set, which lets
Deoxys-Sit quickly set up as many layers of hazards as it can while also setting up Gravity. Deoxys-S can abuse Gravity itself by running a mixed offensive set with Blizzard, Thunder, and other
powerful low accuracypowerful, low-accuracy moves,
while forgoing its weaker options, Ice Beam and Thunderbolt.
Deoxys-D
Deoxys-D faces a bit of competition from its speedier forme Deoxys-S,
sinceas they share a similar movepool. However, Deoxys-D has the edge in defensive stats and therefore makes
it an excellent choice for defensive teams that need a
spiker.Spikes user.
Due to Deoxys-D's high defensive stats, it can be relied
uponon to get 3 layers of
spikesSpikes up. Forretress provides stiff competition for this role, however. Deoxys-D does boast a reliable recovery move in Recover, which can work well with its ability, Pressure, allowing it to PP-stall opponent's moves. Deoxys-D can also set up screens like its faster forme, which are still useful to defensive teams, providing a buffer to protect its walls. Although Deoxys-D lacks a phazing move, it can always run Recycle with Red Card. This new item introduced in BW, is a one-use item that forces the opponent out after it attacks the holder. Recycle lets you reuse this strategy, and Recover lets Deoxys-D stay healthy. That set does limit your move choices, though. Deoxys-D can again fire off those high power, low accuracy moves such as Thunder, but its lacking offenses relegate it to a support role.
Ferrothorn
Ferrothorn is the new Grass-
/and Steel-type introduced in BW. It has excellent defensive typing and the stats to back it up. In addition, Ferrothorn boasts a base Attack stat of 94, which, in conjunction with powerful STAB moves in Gyro Ball and Power Whip, can pack
a bit ofquite a punch. Ferrothorn can learn Gravity, but it must
dropforgo Spikes to use it. In addition, Leech Seed, Stealth Rock, and Gravity cannot all be used on the same set. While this does limit Ferrothorn a bit, teams can always
delegateuse something else to set up Gravity if the loss of Spikes is too much. That said, with moves such as Thunder Wave, Leech Seed, Stealth Rock, and a 100% accurate Power Whip to threaten
Ground-andGround- and Water-types, Ferrothorn can fit in both offensive and defensive teams exceptionally well.
Sigilyph
Sigilyph is a rather interesting Pokemon. It is a Psychic- and Flying-type,
whichmeaning it loses its Ground immunity under Gravity. However, Sigilyph boasts the incredible ability Magic Guard, which prevents it from taking passive damage. Sigilyph also gets Roost, which lets it hang around for a while, setting up Gravity over and over again as the match goes on.
Sigilyph also gets useful moves such as Cosmic Power and Calm Mind if it wants to take the boosting sweeper route.
Sigilyph gets useful moves such as Cosmic Power and Calm Mind if it wants to go along the sweeper route. DespiteDespite these traits,
it has to be said that Sigilyph does not abuse Gravity too well. Instead,
Sigilyphit makes an excellent supporter with the ability to use tactics such as Toxic Orb or Flame Orb with Psycho Shift, or with moves such as Thunder Wave, Reflect, Light Screen, and Whirlwind. Sigilyph can also make use of a 100% accurate Hypnosis under Gravity, making it slightly more difficult to switch into.
Porygon2
Porygon2 was a rather forgotten Pokemon in DPP. It could check many threats with
TraceTrace, but that was the extent of its usefulness. With the introduction of Eviolite, Porygon2 gets a massive defensive boost which, when combined with Recover, makes it very tough to take down.
Porygon2 can
take tremendous punishment and keep Gravity up. It can then abuse buffed BoltBeam
coverage under Gravity,coverage, firing off Blizzards and Thunders without
fear of them missing their target.fearing a miss. Trace is an amazing ability
whichthat lets it switch into Heatran's Fire-type attacks and Jellicent's Water-type moves. It can also
gains pseudogain pseudo-immunity to status
immunity by switching into
a Pokemon with Natural Cure, and can benefit from a plethora of other useful abilities.
[COMMENT: I changed this because pseudo status is a different concept. Just wanted to avoid confusion.] However, Porygon2 does suffer a bit
with move slots;from moveslots; if
it runsusing Gravity, it may not find room for moves such as Thunder Wave, Toxic, and Magic
Coat, as Recover isCoat—Recover gives it the essential
for Porygon2ability to
repeatedly set up
Gravity. Porygon2 can take tremendous punishment and keep Gravity
up.repeatedly. Due to its wide coverage and excellent defenses,
itPorygon2 can function well on either offensive or defensive teams with little difficulty, making it a top choice for setting up Gravity.
Gigalith
Gigalith has a rather poor typing, but with its large Defense, it is capable of setting up Gravity for its teammates. Sandstorm support will allow it to take special hits better, allowing
itGigalith to hang around much longer. Its poor movepool limits
it a bit,it, but it can set up Stealth Rock if needed. While Gigalith has few options, it has enough power to hit very hard under Gravity. With its large Attack stat, Gigalith can get awesome coverage with Earthquake and STAB Stone Edge. Gigalith can also utilize Explosion to go out with a bang, clearing the way for another sweeper to make use of Gravity. Even after the nerf in BW, Explosion will still do a
tonlot of damage coming off a
base 135 Attack stat. Gigalith also has boosting moves in Curse and
Autotomize, theAutotomize—the latter
doublingof which doubles its Speed and
halvinghalves its
weight, thatweight—that it can use in conjunction with Gravity.
Other Pokemon to Consider
Defensive
Skarmory
Skarmory is an excellent choice for teams needing a
spiker.Spikes user. Skarmory can also set up Stealth Rock if needed, but with Stealth
Rock being so widespread, itRock's better distribution, that task is better left for another Pokemon.
Skarmory shares
similarities with Forretress
in its Steel typing and huge Defense, but Skarmory has a huge advantage in having access to the move Roost,
givingletting it
recover 50%
recovery.of its maximum HP. This makes
Skarmoryit very difficult to take down. Skarmory also has access to Whirlwind, letting it phaze and quickly spread residual damage. It also has much higher Speed than Forretress, letting it set up multiple layers of Spikes more easily.
On
On the other hand, Skarmory loses its Ground immunity under Gravity. This is a quite a
problem sinceproblem, as it can no longer wall
as well assome of the attackers it
could previously.would otherwise. For example, it can no longer check Excadrill, a menace to Gravity teams. It is highly recommended that if Skarmory is to be your phazer, a second phazer should be used as backup.
Tentacruel
Tentacruel is often thought of as being outclassed by Forretress, as its lack of access to Stealth Rock and Spikes is a big letdown. However, Tentacruel
does playplays very differently to Forretress and should not be ignored when crafting your
Gravity team.
Tentacruel's main benefit is its access to Rapid Spin and Toxic Spikes, as well as
its Poison typing, which allows it to absorb opposing Toxic Spikes. It can make use of Hydro Pump and Blizzard to strike hard under Gravity and can check many
Fire-andFire- and Water-types with its impressive Special Defense. If you are using Tentacruel, you should pair it with a
SpikerSpikes user, such as
FerrothornFerrothorn, to get up as many hazards as possible to hurt your opponent.
Hippowdon
When building a defensive team, it's
always hard to look past Hippowdon, and defensive Gravity teams are no exception. Hippowdon has fantastic
physical bulk,
especially on the physical side, and so ismaking it almost impossible to OHKO with a physical attack. Its large HP stat also allows it to take
certainsome special attacks, and with
access to Slack Off
giving itrecovering 50%
recovery,of its maximum HP, it becomes extremely difficult to take down. Hippowdon
can setsets up a permanent sandstorm upon entering the field,
starting the chain of residual damage by taking 6.25% of many Pokemon's
maximum HP each
turn, starting the chain of residual damage.turn. Hippowdon is also an excellent user of Stealth Rock;
sincebecause very little can OHKO it, Hippowdon will be able to quickly get up Stealth Rock at the start of the match, provided the opponent does not use Taunt.
Hippowdon also has access to
RoarRoar, which, in conjunction with its bulk, typing, and instant Recovery, makes it one of the best phazers under Gravity. Hippowdon can also smash through your opponent's team with its STAB Earthquake
off itsand base 112 Attack stat, which will do decent damage to any Pokemon that doesn't resist it.
Celebi
Celebi is an often overlooked Pokemon that can fill a defensive role on both offensive and defensive Gravity teams. Celebi has
Basebase 100 stats across the board, giving it balanced
defences.defenses. Celebi's Grass typing also allows it to switch in on the opponent's Earthquakes, which can otherwise be rather difficult under Gravity.
Celebi is blessed with a rather large support
movepoolmovepool, consisting of moves such as Thunder Wave, Leech Seed, Heal Bell, and Perish Song. Perish Song is particularly welcome for defensive Gravity teams, as it provides an excellent way of removing last Pokemon boosters such as RestTalk Suicune, Curse Snorlax, and Curse Tyranitar. Celebi can also set up dual screens, Baton Pass boosts, or even set up Stealth Rock if needed. Celebi
also has access to Nasty
PlotPlot, which
can letlets it function as an excellent offensive sweeper
to sweep late game.late-game. Access to Recover lets Celebi last for quite a long time, and U-turn in conjunction with Natural Cure lets
Celebiit switch in and out of the battle, making it a decent scout.
On the flip side, Celebi has a massive 7 weaknesses, and as
suchsuch, can be quickly worn down by super effective moves. Its bulk, Recover, and U-turn can
help withalleviate this to an extent, but repeated hits
maywill take their
toll on Celebi.toll. Also, Celebi does not
really get much to abusehave moves that can take advantage of Gravity
with besides a 100% accurate Leaf Storm, Toxic, and Leech Seed. Still, Perish Song and Heal Bell are excellent moves to have on a defensive Gravity team, and Celebi can use them very well.
Vaporeon
Vaporeon is an excellent bulky Water-type for a defensive Gravity
team to use. Vaporeonteam. It has access to Water Absorb, potentially giving it free healing when it switches in on a Water move. Vaporeon has a great HP stat, which
aidslets it
in passingpass rather large Wishes to heal teammates. Vaporeon can also abuse Roar and Heal Bell if your team requires a phazer or a cleric.
In terms of abusing Gravity, Vaporeon can make use of its 110
Basebase Special Attack stat and fire off 100% accurate Blizzards or Hydro Pumps.
Latias
At first glance, Latias seems to be an odd choice for a gravity team, but its
base 80 / 90 / 130 defenses make it a great choice for sponging special attacks.
LatiasIt also has a large support
movepoolmovepool, with moves such as Wish, Thunder Wave, Reflect, Light Screen, Toxic, Charm, Healing Wish, and Roar.
Latias has accessAccess to
Recover, which gives itRecover allows Latias to recoup 50%
instant recovery, as well asof its maximum HP, and access to moves such as Refresh and Psycho Shift
to prevent statushelp protect it from
crippling it.status. Latias can
make an awesome phazer with Recoverphaze to great effect, and can
potentiallyeven beat
Reuniclus this way, using Calm Mind
Recover Reuniclus by Calm Minding alongside it
and Roaringbefore sending it
out.away with Roar. This is of great use to defensive
Gravity teams, as Reuniclus can rip many defensive
teamsGravity apart.
Although losing its ground immunity is frustrating for Latias, it can abuse Gravity to a certain extent by firing off 100% accurate Thunders or Draco Meteors off a base 110 Special Attack stat.
Heatran
With wonderful typing and above-average defensive stats, Heatran is very effective on defensive Gravity teams.
Defensive GravityThese teams will often utilize Toxic Spikes to poison everything under Gravity bar Poison- and Steel-type Pokemon. For this reason, Heatran is an excellent choice to blast through those Steel-types with its STAB Fire moves. Heatran can abuse Gravity very well, as
under Gravity,it gives Will-O-Wisp and Fire Blast
will have perfect accuracy. Heatran also gets nice coverage with Fire Blast and Earth Power, hitting pretty much everything that is immune to Toxic Spikes for super effective damage.
HeatransHeatran's signature attack, Magma Storm, also becomes more
viableviable, as it will have 100% accuracy, trap the target, and deal an extra 6.25% each turn, increasing the amount of residual damage to your opponent's team.
Heatran can also abuse Roar effectively, spreading residual damage and weakening the bulky Waters that
might switch in, onlylike to
get Roared right back out.switch in. Lastly, Heatran can set up Stealth Rock with its nice typing and defenses.
Roserade
Roserade can work decently on both offensive and defensive Gravity teams. It has high Special
DefenseAttack, Special Defense, and
has access to both Toxic Spikes and Spikes to rack up entry hazard damage. Roserade can run Sleep
Powder or GrassWhistle, the former being illegalPowder—which is incompatible with
Spikes,Spikes—or GrassWhistle, which get their accuracy boosted under Gravity to 100% and 91.67%, respectively. Roserade
also has access to Natural Cure, meaning that it can use Rest for recovery and switch out to heal its status. It can also act as a cleric with Aromatherapy. In addition, Roserade absorbs Toxic Spikes upon switching in by virtue of its Poison typing. This is a nice asset to have, considering that Toxic Spikes are extremely dangerous under Gravity.
Lastly, Roserade can abuse Gravity with moves such as Leech Seed and Leaf Storm. It can also go the double powder route with 100% accurate Stun Spore and Sleep Powder to harass opponent. However, it does clash a bit with Toxic Spikes.
Jellicent
Jellicent is the premier
spin blockerspinblocker introduced in BW. Jellicent has high HP and Special Defense stats backed up with an excellent Water/Ghost typing. Jellicent also as the ability Water Absorb, giving it free healing whenever it switches
in oninto a Water-type
moves.attack. It can also
utilizeuse Recover, making it very tough to take down.
Jellicent is useful for many defensive Gravity teams,
sinceas its Ghost typing lets it block Rapid Spin, ensuring that entry hazards are not removed. Jellicent can also use Will-O-Wisp, which has 100% accuracy under Gravity, to burn physical attackers that intend to prey on its less-than-stellar Defense stat. Scald is a nice STAB move
which haswith a 30% burn rate,
thus giving Jellicent the ability to spread burns around the opponent's team very easily. Jellicent can abuse Gravity by running Blizzard and Hydro Pump, which can do decent damage off its
100 base
100 Special Attack stat. You do miss out on the burn chance of Scald, though.
Cofagrigus
Cofagrigus is another new Ghost-type introduced in BW. Cofagrigus is notable for having a massive 145 Defense stat and a 105 Special Defense stat, making it one of the bulkiest Ghosts in the game. Dusclops provides a bit of competition for it with Eviolite boosting its defenses, but Cofagrigus has a free item slot it can use for items such as Leftovers, and it hits much harder than Dusclops with its base 95 Special Attack stat.
Cofagrigus has the ability Mummy, which activates when Cofagrigus is hit by a contact move, changing the attacking Pokemon's ability to Mummy as well. Removing abilities such as Guts can be very convenient for defensive teams.
Cofagrigus has a rather small movepool and really only has Will-O-Wisp
with which to abuse Gravity. Cofagrigus does have a nice
niche in that it can counter last-Pokemon stat boosters withniche—with access to moves such as Haze and
Curse.Curse, it can counter last-Pokemon stat boosters. On the flip side, Cofagrigus has no real recovery, having to rely on Rest. Lastly, Cofagrigus can sweep with moves such as Calm Mind and Nasty Plot, although its low Speed makes it hard to sweep effectively.
Spiritomb
Spiritomb is another excellent option for a
spin blockerspinblocker on a defensive Gravity team.
To begin, Spiritomb has aIts Ghost/Dark
typing, givingtyping gives it no
weaknesses. This isweaknesses, perfect for a spinblocker, and its
base 108 base defenses make it tough to take down. In
addition to all this,addition, Spiritomb has access to Pressure, letting it stall out powerful, low PP attacks.
Spiritomb is one of the few Pokemon that can wall Reuniclus,
which is a key threat to defensive Gravity teams. Under Gravity, Spiritomb can
runuse a 100% accurate Will-O-Wisp to burn physical attackers. Alternatively, it can use Hypnosis with perfect accuracy
under Gravity to incapacitate a counter or other "problem
Pokemon".Pokemon." Unfortunately, Spiritomb must resort to Pain Split for
instant recovery, as a RestTalk set would limit its coverage.
SpiritombIt can also trap and kill certain Starmie with Sucker Punch or Shadow Sneak, putting Starmie into a checkmate situation with Pursuit. Spiritomb can run a Trick
Choice Band set to cripple certain Pokemon, or a Curse set to take down any last Pokemon that stall may have trouble with. Lastly, Spiritomb can attempt a sweep by running a
"CroTomb"mono-attacking set with Calm Mind, Rest, Sleep Talk, and Dark Pulse to take
hits from both
sides of the spectrumspecial and physical hits while remaining a potent offensive threat later in the game.
Offensive
Excadrill
Meet Excadrill,
a fearsome sweeper and probably the best offensive Gravity abuser in the game.
Excadrill isIn a
fearsome sweeper. Under sandstorm, it will outrun nearly
everythingeverything, and can hit extremely hard with excellent coverage under Gravity. Skarmory, Gliscor,
Rotom W,Rotom-W, Bronzong, and Hippowdon are the main checks to Excadrill. However, when you factor in Gravity,
Rotom W,Rotom-W, Skarmory, and Bronzong become weak to Earthquake, while Gliscor loses its immunity. Throw in Spikes support and nothing is stopping Excadrill in the short time Gravity is active.
Excadrill does not
really get anything else of note to abuse under Gravity but then, it does not need to. With pretty much everything covered by Rock Slide and Earthquake, Excadrill is a very dangerous threat under Gravity.
Landorus
Landorus is yet another powerful Ground-type introduced in BW. Landorus is in a similar boat as Excadrill, as both Pokemon can sweep extremely effectively if sandstorm and Gravity are up. Landorus has access to the ability Sand Power, which boosts the power of
Rock, Ground,Rock-, Ground-, and
Steel MovesSteel-type moves by 30%. This gives Landorus an extremely powerful STAB Earthquake which, under Gravity, will hit everything neutrally except for Grass-types. Landorus has above average stats overall as well. Its Speed stat lets it outrun base 100s, and it has a very nice base 125 Attack stat. In addition, its decent defenses let it take a hit when needed.
Landorus has access to
both Swords Dance and Rock Polish to boost its Attack and Speed stats, respectively. It can even run both on the same set if needed. Landorus can abuse U-turn to scout and can run a mixed or Special
setset, although it lacks a bit in coverage. Under Gravity, Landorus can abuse a 100% accurate Stone Edge for further coverage.
Golurk
Golurk is very useful on Gravity teams. With a nice base 124
attackAttack stat and
a STAB Earthquake, Golurk hits very hard under Gravity.
Golurk'sIts average defenses let it take a hit when
needed,needed as well, which is always a plus. Unfortunately, Golurk has several weaknesses, namely
Ice, Grass, Water, Dark,to Ice-, Grass-, Water-, Dark-, and
Ghost.Ghost-type attacks. These are rather common weaknesses, which can make it tough to switch in safely. It's not all bad for Golurk, though; its Ghost and Ground typing gives it immunities to
Electric, Fighting,Electric-, Fighting-, and
Normal.Normal-type attacks. In addition, its Ghost typing lets it fit well on an offensive Gravity
team as an offensive spin blocker, helping to maintain any hazards that might have been set up.
Golurk can abuse the SubPunch
combo;combination; Focus Punch even gets an additional boost when paired with Golurk's ability Iron Fist. Additionally, its dual STAB
combocombination grants it nice coverage. Golurk
also can
also abuse a 100% accurate Stone Edge, granting it near-perfect coverage twice over,
sinceas both Rock + Ground and Ghost + Fighting work excellently together. It can
also use Rock Polish to increase its Speed if you want to sweep with
Golurk. ItGolurk, and can
also use Curse
to some extent. Dynamic Punchdecently. DynamicPunch and Hammer Arm are other excellent options if you want to go with a
FightingFightin-type move.
Virizion
Virizion, one of BW's musketeer trio, has a great typing in Fighting and Grass, giving it
thata resistance to Earthquake
resistance that Gravity teams
just love. Virizion is also fairly bulky and with its base
109108 Speed, can outspeed much of the metagame.
Virizion has access to
set upthe set-up moves
in Calm Mind and Swords Dance, to boost
both itseither attacking
stats,stat, opening up the potential for it to go mixed. Nice STAB moves such as Close Combat, Leaf Blade, Giga Drain, and Focus Blast means that it can potentially hit very
hardhard, no matter what set its running. Virizion can also act as a check to Rain teams, which struggle to get past its impressive Special Defense.
Mamoswine
Mamoswine was a very powerful Gravity sweeper in DPP and not much has changed in
the switch to BW. Having a nice Attack stat and
a STAB Earthquake is always useful on a Gravity team. Mamoswine can abuse Stone Edge's 100% accuracy under Gravity and can use Ice Shard for priority. The influx of Dragon-types in the current metagame is excellent for Mamoswine, as it threatens many with its Ice attacks.
Tyranitar
Tyranitar has always been a top pokemon and not much has changed in BW. It works perfectly on a Gravity team, using its impressive Attack stat to smash through
teamsteams, while utilizing its awesome bulk to check powerful sweepers such as Latios.
Tyranitar, upon entering the battlefield, will create a Sandstorm
whichthat will chip away at Pokemon
that are not
of the Rock-, Steel-, or Ground-type, and lack the abilities Magic Guard and Overcoat. Luckily, many Gravity abusers have one of these types, so the Sandstorm should not hinder your team as much. Tyranitar can abuse Stone Edge and Aqua Tail, which are 100% accurate under Gravity, as well as Earthquake, which hits Flying-types and Levitators.
TyranitarIt can even run mixed or
fullfullly special sets, as it can drop Ice Beam, Thunderbolt, and Flamethrower for their more powerful alternatives. Tyranitar
can supportsupports the team
really wellwell, as the Sandstorm it brings to the field gives a nice boost to Excadrill and Landorus. Tyranitar can also set up Stealth Rock for your
Gravity team.
Dugtrio
Although Dugtrio is rather uncommon in the current metagame, it has huge success on Gravity teams, as with Arena Trap, it can trap any Pokemon in the game under Gravity. Dugtrio also got a boosting move in Claw Sharpen, letting it set up on a trapped opponent for as long as Gravity is up, then sweep. It may also choose to remove key Pokemon from your opponent's team. Even without Claw Sharpen, Dugtrio can still
sweepsweep, as an unresisted STAB Earthquake coming off a decent Attack stat can do nice damage. Combine that with Stone
EdgeEdge, and under Gravity
and Dugtrio gets excellent coverage.
Heracross
One of the main downsides to using Heracross is that the accuracy of its most powerful moves makes it a bit risky. Gravity solves this problem, letting Heracross abuse Megahorn and Stone Edge with perfect
accuracy, diminishing the risk factor.accuracy. Earthquake also becomes more viable when using Heracross on a Gravity Team, as it gets perfect neutral coverage, allowing Heracross to hit Pokemon such as Zapdos, Gengar, and Skarmory.
Victini
At first glance, Victini does not seem like your average Gravity abuser. Its Psychic and Fire typing leaves it vulnerable to
quite a few threats, while its weakness to Earthquake is not very desirable on a Gravity team. However, Victini can use Gravity and its ability Victory Star, which acts as a Wide Lens Boost, to use a nearly 100% accurate
Purgatory,Inferno, normally a 50% accurate move; this move has 100 Base Power and comes with a 100% burn rate.
This makes switching into Victini a bit harder, withMany common
threatsswitch-ins to
VictiniVictini, such as
Tyranitar having their attack halved by burn.Tyranitar, do not appreciate a burn, and this makes Victini harder to deal with. Under Gravity, Victini can also get great coverage with 100% accurate Focus Blast and Thunder,
Whilewhile also having
the option to go Physical withphysical options such as Brick Break, Fusion
BoltBolt, and V-Create. Victini can also abuse certain status moves such as Toxic or
Will-o-wispWill-O-wisp to great effect under Gravity.
Shaymin
AsWith base 100 stats across the board and pure Grass typing, Shaymin has traits that work well on many types of Gravity teams. As explained numerous times, Gravity teams
really enjoy a Ground resist. Shaymin is one of thosegreatly appreciate Pokemon
who resist Ground-type attacks, and
it works very well under Gravity. Shaymin also
takes Waterbrings helpful resistances to Water- and
GrassGrass-type attacks that your main Earthquake users
maymight be weak to.
Base 100 stats across the board means that Shaymin can take a hit and dish one back out too. Shaymin can fill a few roles of a Gravity Team. It can
gobe defensive with
Aromatheropy and / orAromatherapy and/or Leech Seed, or
run an offensive set,offensive, with Earth Power and Seed Flare
combining wellproviding good coverage under Gravity. Lastly, Shaymin can abuse GrassWhistle, which has much better accuracy under Gravity and can disable key threats to your team.
Gengar
Gengar is an odd choice
onfor a Gravity team, as it loses its Ground immunity, making it much harder to switch in with those frail defenses. On the other hand, it brings to the table high Speed and Special Attack to bulldoze though teams. Focus Blast has perfect accuracy under Gravity, and Gengar can also abuse Hypnosis to
sleepput a
counter,counter to sleep, perhaps giving it the opportunity to set up a free Substitute and
damage things some more.inflict more damage. Gengar can also spam a high-powered Thunder to wreck Water-types switching in.
Venomoth
Venomoth got a big boost in BW with the introduction of Quiver Dance to its movepool. One of the best
set upset-up moves in the game, it increases
Venomoth's Speed, Special Attack, and Special Defense
all by one
stage.stage each. Venomoth can then Baton Pass these boosts to a special sweeper such as Starmie, who can
then power through threats. For example, a +2 Starmie can 2HKO Sassy max HP / SpD Ferrothorn with Blizzard and can outpace Excadrill in a Sandstorm. Venomoth can also abuse a 100% accurate Sleep Powder under Gravity, which can be very useful in gaining that free turn to set up a Quiver Dance.
[COMMENT: Not to nitpick, but is this feasible? Gravity is a 5-turn effect; set up gravity, switch to Moth, QD once, pass to Starmie, and you only have one turn left to do anything. I'm not so sure the BP mention should be in here at all.]
Tornadus
Often overshadowed by its Electric cousin, Tornadus works much better than Thundurus in Gravity. Tornadus has access to
Hurricane, which becomes a
now 100% accurate, 120 Base Power STAB
Hurricaneattack that will do tremendous damage. Hurricane also comes with a neat 30% chance to cause confusion. Tornadus can also spam Focus Blast which, under Gravity, will not miss and can smash Steel-types
whothat resist Hurricane. Tornadus has
anthe excellent ability
in Prankster, which gives +1 priority to non-damaging moves. This lets Tornadus spam a fast Taunt or even Tailwind to increase your team's speed for four turns.
Thundurus
Thundurus shares the same base stats as Tornadus, but has part Electric typing. Thundurus has an excellent movepool and can abuse its
ability Pranksterability, Prankster, to give +1 priority to
its non-attacking moves, such as Taunt, Nasty Plot, and Thunder Wave, which is always useful. Thundurus can spam a 100% accurate STAB Thunder under Gravity, hitting Steel-types that think of switching in with Focus Blast. High Speed and offensive
statsstats, along with Nasty
PlotPlot, make
ThunderusThundurus tough to switch into. However,
Thunderus'sThundurus's immunity to Ground-type moves becomes a 2x weakness. This makes it a bit tougher to switch in, but once it's in safely, it will cause huge
damagedamage, just like its cousin Tornadus.
Rotom-W
Rotom-W
is an excellent Pokemon to use under Gravity. Rotom-W lost its Ghost typing in the generation shift, exchanging it for Water typing instead. This can be seen as a positive, as now Rotom-W has STAB on both Thunderbolt and Hydro Pump, which lets it have great coverage and hit very hard. By virtue of its typing, it can switch into Water and Ice attacks directed at your Ground-types and retaliate with a Hydro Pump.
Under Gravity, Rotom-W loses its Ground immunity, but on the
flip side,other hand, it can spam Hydro Pump and Thunder with 100% accuracy. Rotom-W can also spam status moves such as Will-O-Wisp with perfect accuracy, discouraging physical sweepers from switching in. Even without its Ground immunity, with excellent resistances and bulk, Rotom-W should still be able to switch in and out, firing off high powered attacks under Gravity.
Rotom-F
Rotom-F has been largely forgotten in the new metagame in favor of Rotom-W, which has the advantage of a more accurate alternate STAB move and a better typing. However, under Gravity, Rotom-F
ashas a few things that set it apart from its cousin. With the generation shift, the Rotom formes gained new typings. Rotom-F gained Ice typing, which is rather poor defensively. However, Ice is an excellent
typing offensively and,offensive typing, and under Gravity, Rotom-F can make use of it by spamming a 100% accurate STAB
BlizzardBlizzard, which deals huge damage. Rotom-F can also abuse the 100% accurate
ThunderThunder, giving it excellent, more powerful BoltBeam coverage. Will-O-Wisp, now 100% accurate, can ward
ofoff Tyranitar, which would otherwise shrug off a Thunder and threaten to retaliate with a STAB Stone Edge. Rotom-F, like its other formes, loses its Ground immunity under Gravity, which is frustrating. On the other hand, with nice bulk and strong offensive coverage, it can be a perfect fit on a Gravity team.
Nidoking
At first glance, a Ground weakness seems to hinder Nidoking's chances on an offensive Gravity team. However, with a huge attacking movepool and access to STAB Ground-type attacks, Nidoking can be very effective. With the introduction of the Dream World, Nidoking got
athe useful ability
in Sheer Force, which raises the base power of all moves that have a positive secondary effect by 30%. However, the secondary effect is eliminated in exchange. This ability also removes recoil from Life
OrbOrb, so long as you are using a move that is boosted by Sheer Force. This gives Nidoking huge amounts of power to complement its already awesome coverage. Nidoking can abuse its special movepool with attacks such as Earth Power, Fire Blast, Blizzard, Thunder, and Focus Blast all benefitting from Gravity in some way. As a bonus, all of
the abovethese moves are boosted by Sheer Force, making the special attacker set one of Nidoking's best. However, Nidoking can also go
physicalphysical, with moves such as Megahorn, Earthquake, Head Smash, Stone Edge, and Poison Jab all
available to use, butavailable; of these, though, only Poison Jab gets a boost from Sheer Force, making a physical set very ineffective. Lastly, Nidoking can
phasephaze with Dragon Tail or even set up Stealth Rock if your team requires it.
Durant
Durant, the new
Steel/Bug-typeSteel- and Bug-type introduced in BW, is also an option for your Gravity team. Durant has great Attack,
DefenceDefense, and Speed stats, but the remainder of its stats are well below average, which means that
Durantit may require some careful prediction to get in safely. However, Durant does have a few excellent
resistancesresistances, and once it's in safely, it can hit hard with its base 109 Attack stat.
Durant has access to Hustle, which boosts the power of physical attacks by 50%, but in turn lowers their accuracy by 20%. Gravity somewhat nullifies this accuracy drop, making all physical moves with 80% or higher accuracy 100% accurate. However, Durant really struggles to damage Steel-types, with Dig and Rock Smash as its only options to hurt them. Teaming up Durant with Magnezone is a good idea, as Magnezone can trap and kill the Steels that give Durant trouble, as well as set up Gravity.
Example Teams
Defensive Teams
Defensive Gravity teams work a lot like your average stall
teamteam, which
involveinvolves setting up hazards to wear down your opponents team, while switching walls in and out to prevent your opponent from making any headway into your team.
HoweverHowever, on Gravity teams, phazing suddenly becomes a lot more frightening to your opponent. If Gravity is
upup, Spikes hits all
pokemonPokemon on
he field,the field; in
combinationconjunction with Stealth
RockRock, the amount of damage
can be huge to your
opponent.opponent can be huge. For
exampleexample, Salamence would take 50% switching
in (assuminginto Stealth Rock and 3 layers of
Spikes)Spikes if Gravity
was upis up, which is truly amazing. As stated
aboveabove, traditional stall
tacticstactics, such as setting up hazards, playing around with
resistances amdresistances, and wearing down
pokemonPokemon with residual damage all apply here just as they would on a normal stall team.
Hippowdon (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature (+Def, -SpA)
- Slack Off
- Roar
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
HippowdonThe numerous roles Hippowdon fills
so many uses on a Gravity team
it'smake it hard to ignore. Hippowdon starts the battle by setting up sandstorm, inflicting residual damage on your opponent's team from turn 1. Sandstorm is also useful in helping shut down other weather
teams such, as rain and sun Teams.teams. Hippowdon can use its massive bulk to check the many physical sweepers in
BWBW, such as Excadrill. With access to Slack Off, Hippowdon can last for a long time and spam Roar very effectively, doing huge damage under Gravity when phazing. Earthquake is a nice STAB move to have and has lovely coverage with Gravity.
Blissey (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 80 HP / 252 Def / 176 SpD
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Softboiled
- Gravity
- Aromatherapy
- Seismic Toss
Blissey is
just one of those pokemona Pokemon you cannot ignore when building a defensive Gravity Team. Its massive HP
stat and excellent Special Defense let it sponge special attacks with ease while setting up Gravity. Softboiled and Natural Cure
meansmean it's not going down any time soon. Blissey can use Aromatherapy to heal any status that's been inflicted on its teammates. Seismic Toss is Blissey's best way to do damage when needed.
Dusclops (M) @ Eviolite
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature (+Def, -SpA)
- Gravity
- Pain Split
- Will-O-Wisp
- Earthquake
All defensive Gravity teams need a
spinblockerspinblocker, and Dusclops fits that role perfectly. Eviolite boosts both
of its defenses by
50% and,50%, and with Pain Split, Dusclops can get some quick recovery. This is the team's second Gravity user, meaning that keeping Dusclops alive is very important. Dusclops
synergizes well with Blissey,and Blissey have good synergy, Dusclops taking the Fighting-type attacks directed at
herBlissey and burning the physical attackers that Blissey hates to face. Will-O-Wisp has perfect accuracy under Gravity and cripples any physical
attackersattacker trying to switch in. Dusclops can also get decent coverage with Earthquake under Gravity, hitting most
thingsPokemon for neutral damage.
Forretress (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252
SDefSpD
Sassy Nature (+SpD, -Spe)
- Toxic Spikes
- Spikes
- Rapid Spin
- Gyro Ball
Forretress has excellent Defense and is perfect for setting up the layers of hazards that all stall teams need. Toxic Spikes and Spikes will
causewreak havoc under
GravityGravity, while Rapid Spin prevents opposing hazards from crippling the team.
Latias (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature (+Spe, -Atk)
- Calm Mind
- Dragon Pulse
- Recover
- Roar
Latias is the team's check to Calm Mind Reuniclus, which dismantles many stall teams. With Calm Mind and Roar, Latias can boost up alongside it, Roar it out, then freely sweep the opponent's team. Access to Recover means that Latias can hang around for a fair bit while acting as a backup phazer. She can switch in easily on the Water- and Grass-type moves that plague Hippowdon, allowing you to rack up residual damage quickly. Latias is also very useful against other stall
teamsteams, as it outspeeds many common phazers, including Skarmory, and can phaze them out first. Lastly, Latias can sweep late-game once it has amassed enough Calm Mind boosts.
Vaporeon (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8
SpFSpD
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Wish
- Protect
- Boil Over
- Ice Beam
Vaporeon is the glue of the team. Passing large Wishes to Forretress and Dusclops is very important and helps this team function at its peak. Boil Over is an excellent STAB move with a 30% burn rate, which discourages many physical attackers from switching in. Ice Beam lets Vaporeon deal significant damage to the many Dragons in the metagame such as Salamence and Haxorus.
Offensive [COMMENT: To be honest, this team seems much more defensive; it's basically semi-stall. I would say if you're classifying teams as being just defensive/offensive, this fits under defensive. Not that it's a huge deal...]
Offensive Gravity teams are difficult to classify because of the massive variety of options available. Deoxys, Jirachi, and even Mew are often used to set up Gravity, as they
also play many other roles for the
team as well.team. Offensive Gravity teams often carry a powerful
ground type pokemonGround-type Pokemon, such as Excadrill or
LandorusLandorus, to abuse powerful
Earthquakes under Gravity.Earthquakes. They also often run high
powerpower, low accuracy moves
whichthat have greater accuracy under Gravity. Choice Band Dugtrio
also can
also find its way onto offensive Gravity teams with its ability to trap anything when Gravity is active. Teams based around Dugtrio will often abuse entry hazards such as Spikes and Stealth Rock to lower
pokemonPokemon into
DugtriosDugtrio's KO range. Offensive Gravity teams
can still
play very similar toshare basic strategies with your average
non gravity teamsnon-gravity team, such as weakening your
opponentsopponent's team for a sweeper to break through, or by playing around with resistances when switching into attacks.
Heatran (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 252
SDefSpD / 4
SpdSpe
Calm Nature
(+SDef,(+SpD, -Atk)
- Lava Plume
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic
- Roar
Heatran
does so many jobscan fill a myriad of roles for
the team its amazing.an offensive Gravity team. First and
foremostforemost, it sets up the useful Stealth Rock to
quickly force my opponent to take damage whenever they switch.increase residual damage. Stealth Rock is crucial
in helping check pokemonfor checking Pokemon such as Salamence and
VolcaronaVolcarona, so getting it up quickly is very important.
Being fire type,As a Fire-type, Heatran also serves as an excellent check to
pokemonPokemon such as Scizor and Celebi
whichthat can cause
significant problems
tofor this team. In addition, Heatran lures in bulky
watersWater-types and can nail them with
a ToxicToxic, wearing them down. Toxic also helps weaken opposing weather inducers such as Ninetales and
PolitoedPolitoed, letting
meyou control the weather. Lastly, Heatran also serves as the
teamsteam's primary
phaser.phazer. If Gravity is up in
combinationconjunction with a few layers of Spikes and Stealth
RockRock, Heatran can cause some serious
damagedamage, opening up the opponents team for a sweep.
Dusclops (M) @ Eviolite
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 80 Def / 176
SDefSpD
Calm Nature
(+SDef,(+SpD, -Atk)
- Pain Split
- Will-O-Wisp
- Night Shade
- Gravity
Dusclops is the
teams ghost type,team's Ghost-type, preventing Rapid Spinners from removing
myany hazards. Eviolite
doublesboosts the
defenseDefense and
special defenseSpecial Defense of
a NFE'ed pokemon which, im combinationNFE Pokemon by 50% each, and with
DusclopsDusclops's already impressive
defences, makedefenses, makes it exceptionally hard to take down. Those impressive
defencesdefenses let it switch in on
an Excadrill, one of the best Rapid
SPinnersSpinners in the game, survive
2 Earthquakestwo Earthquakes, and then
use Pain Split
up to heal its health. Dusclops also helps provide
Burnburn support for the team, crippling physical attackers and spreading residual damage. Dusclops is also the
teamsteam's first Gravity
useruser, which makes the
teamsteam's hazards much more threatening while limiting
my opponentsthe opponent's switches.
Tangrowth (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4
SDefSpD
Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Power Whip
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Sleep Powder
- Leech Seed
Excadrill and Landorus are a massive pain to Gravity teams.
Under Gravity,While Gravity is in effect, they can do massive damage with
there STAB
EarthquakesEarthquake and as such, a
ground resistPokemon that resists Ground-type attacks is needed. Tangrowth is the
teamsteam's check to
themthem, shrugging off Earthquakes and hitting back with a STAB Power Whip. Tangrowth can
utalisealso use Leech Seed to pile up
the residual damage while keeping
mythe team relatively healthy.
Since SleepBecause sleep is so crippling in BW, having a sleep move on Tangrowth is very helpful, especially if you run into something dangerous. Hidden Power Ice nails
Gliscor whichGliscor, which, again, can fire off Swords
Dance boostedDance-boosted Earthquakes
whichthat can be tough to switch into.
LastlyLastly, Tangrowth has the amazing ability
in RegenerationRegenerator, which lets it heal
30%33% of its health upon switching
outout, making it a perfect pivot
pokemonPokemon for the team.
Tyranitar (M) @ Choice Band
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 36 Atk / 220 SDef
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Crunch
- Pursuit
- Stone Edge
- Aqua Tail
Tyranitar performs a very important role for
the team, namely, settingthis team—setting up Sandstorm. Sandstorm is
very importantcrucial, as it helps weaken
lifeLife Orb sweepers, limiting
theretheir attacks.
SandtormSandstorm also helps shut down any opposing
pokemonPokemon that might try and change the
weather. Onceweather—once they have been sufficiently
weakenedweakened, a Choice
BandedBand Pursuit can often cripple them enough to prevent them
from switching in again.
As well asAside from setting up Sandstorm, Tyranitar also serves as an excellent check to the powerful psychic types in the metagame, slamming them with a powerful Crunch or trapping them with Pursuit.
TyranitarsTyranitar's massive power lets it break down the
opponets team, the sheer power it wieldsopponent's team and makes it tough to switch
in on,into, especially once a few layers of hazards have been set up.
Deoxys-D @ Leftovers
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252
SDefSpD
Calm Nature
(+SDef,(+SpD, -Atk)
- Gravity
- Recover
- Spikes
- Psychic
Deoxys DDeoxys-D is the
teamsteam's second Gravity user, working in tandem with Tangrowth to wall
certain sides of the attacking spectrum. Deoxys Das many attackers as possible. Deoxys-D packs recovery as well as
SpikesSpikes, which really
hurthurts the opponent. Deoxys simply has the job of switching into pretty much any Special attack and
Spikingusing Spikes and
recovering tillRecover until all layers are up.
Then itIt then hangs around to set up Gravity once or twice to cripple the opponent with hazard damage.
Excadrill (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Sand Rush
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk,
-SAtk)-SpA)
- Earthquake
- Swords Dance
- Rock Slide
- Frustration
Excadrill is the
teamsteam's cleaner.
AtIn the
end gameend-game, when your
opponentsopponent's team is weakened from Spikes and Stealth
RockRock, Excadrill
switchs in and wreckswreaks havoc with its STAB
Earthquake smashing aside pokemonEarthquake, hitting hard most Pokemon that
would usually check it. For
example the mighty Hippowdonexample, Hippowdon, one of Excadrill's best checks, gets
KoedKOed by a +2 Earthquake with a little bit of prior damage. Excadrill also acts as the
teamsteam's revenge
killerkiller, dealing with
pokemonPokemon such as Thundurus
whichthat can prove troublesome to this
teamteam.
Conclusion
Gravity is a very rare sight to see in the BW metagame, as many players are not familiar with the move. Due to its lack of use,
Gravityit is often labeled as a
Gimmick;gimmick; however this is far from the case. A well-made Gravity team can quickly threaten a non-Gravity team with the advantages that Gravity brings, smashing through teams with powerful
groundGround-type attacks or dealing massive damage with Spikes. The purpose of this guide is to teach you about Gravity and how it can be readily
abused by you on a team.abused. I hope you have enjoyed the
Articlearticle and that it has aided you
in some small way, in understanding Gravity.
Torterra
Torterra is an excellent
pokemonPokemon to use under Gravity that can fulfil both offensive and defensive roles
onfor a team. It has the wonderful Grass
/and Ground
typingtyping, which lets it resist
ground typeGround-type attacks, a useful ability for Gravity teams. Torterra also has
excellent, bulkexcellent bulk, which lets it take a few hits and dish them back out with a
basrbase 109
attackAttack stat. With a STAB Earthquake at its disposal, Torterra can quickly blast through teams once Gravity is active.
TorterraIt has access to the powerful Stone
EdgeEdge, which has perfect accuracy under Gravity.
When combined withThe combination of Earthquake
they getand Stone Edge gets phenomenal coverage. Torterra
also has access to the powerful Wood Hammer to slam
Water pokemon with.Water-type Pokemon. Aside from
thisthis, though, Torterra lacks many other useful offensive moves. Swords Dance lets it hit even harder and Rock Polish patches up its low
speedSpeed to try for a sweep. Both moves can make Torterra very
threateningthreatening; however, they are tough to pull off
effectivelyeffectively, as Gravity has a very limited timespan.
On the defensive
side of thingsside, Torterra has access to the Leech Seed + Protect
combocombination to annoy opponents
with as well as providing it with limited recovery. Torterra also can run Roar to
phasephaze out stat boosters, or it can set up Stealth Rock if your team requires it.
Mamoswine [COMMENT: You already have Mamoswine! I take it this should replace the other Mamoswine section?]
Mamoswine was a very threatening sweeper in DPP but suffered the unfortunate problem of being walled by defensive powerhouses such as Skarmory and Bronzong.
In the new GenerationWhile this is still the
case, howevercase in the new generation, Mamoswine has become a rather
anti Metagameanti-metagame pokemon, and once Gravity is up,
itsit's exceptionally hard to play around.
Firstly,First, Mamoswine has access to a massive
130 base
attack stat130 Attack stat, which gives its attacks a lot of power. The speed
creepycreep of BW also
frees upallows Mamoswine to run Adamant
to give its attacks a bitfor even more
of a power boost. Having accesspower. Access to a STAB Ice Shard is also perfect for
MamoswineMamoswine, as
itIce Shard lets it function as an effective revenge killer to
Flying pokemon suchFlying-types—such as
Thundurus, andThundurus—and the many
Dragon pokemonDragon-type Pokemon that plague the metagame. What Mamoswine really excels
atat, however, is luring out and eliminating the
pokemonPokemon that counter Excadrill. Under
GravityGravity, Skarmory and Bronzong no longer wall it and get smashed with Earthquake. Celebi, Tangrowth,
HippowdonHippowdon, and Gliscor all hate
MamoswinesMamoswine's Ice
attacksattacks, while
Rotom W alsoRotom-W hates having Levitate ignored under Gravity. After a few
turnsturns, Mamoswine can quickly destroy a
teamsteam's defensive backbone, leaving your opponent helpless against Excadrill later in the game.
With one of the strongest Earthquakes in the game, Mamoswine is hard to ignore for a spot on a Gravity team. STAB Ice
attacks, as well as Priorityattacks and attacks with priority are perhaps the biggest
reason why you wouldreasons to use it over Excadrill and
Landlos however.Landlos. Play to its strengths and Mamoswine will do just fine on a Gravity team.
Heracross [COMMENT: You already have Heracross! I take it this should replace the other Heracross section?]
Heracross might not be the first
pokemonPokemon brought up when someone mentions Gravity. It doesn't have access to
a powerful STAB
EarthquakeEarthquake, but thanks to a large attack stat, its Earthquake still hits very hard. In addition, Heracross really sufferers from the poor accuracy of its moves. For
exampleexample, Megahorn and Stone Edge are
essential on most
HeracrossHeracross, despite
theretheir low accuracy. Under Gravity, both of those attacks
receivehave perfect
accuracyaccuracy, letting you abuse them with virtually no
downsides so long as Gravity is active.downside.
Heracross also has an excellent niche
in beingas one of the few
fighting typesFighting-types that can handle the powerful
psychic pokemonPsychic-type Pokemon that have become more
popular with the increase in viable fighting pokemon.popular. With a STAB Megahorn at its
disposaldisposal, Reuniclus,
SlowbroSlowbro, and Latias all have to stay well
clearclear, letting Heracross unleash its powerful
Fighting STAB.Fighting-type STAB attacks. Heracross also enjoys Gravity for
aiding it to wearwearing down Gliscor a bit
easiermore easily, as under Gravity,
pokemonPokemon such as Excadrill can weaken Gliscor enough for Heracross to take down, allowing it to sweep
unheeded.unimpeded.
