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Octazooka!
[Overview]
<p>Octillery is an extremely adorable, albeit underrated, Pokemon. Most trainers take a quick glance at its pathetic base 45 Speed and 75/75/75 defenses, and immediately look for another Water-type Pokemon. Luckily, Game Freak was kind enough to shine a ray of hope at Octillery, which came in the form of Trick Room. With Trick Room, Octillery immediately transforms from sushi into a mighty Kraken, destroying anything foolish enough to step in its path. In addition, Octillery has more move options than the number of plural pronunciations of ''octopus.'' Its shabby defensive stats do hurt, though, so make sure that Octillery doesn't take more hits than it has to.</p>
[SET]
name: Trick Room Sweeper
move 1: Water Spout
move 2: Surf
move 3: Energy Ball
move 4: Fire Blast
item: Expert Belt / Lum Berry
nature: Quiet
evs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
ivs: 0 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>At first glance, Octillery's low Speed and terrible defensive stats appear to make it useless, since most foes can KO Octillery before it even moves. Luckily, the existence of Trick Room allows Octillery to drown, troll, or incinerate its enemies within the blink of an eye. At full health, Octillery's STAB Water Spout reaches an insane 225 Base Power, enough to dent any Pokemon which does not pack a resistance or immunity to it. Surf becomes more powerful than Water Spout when Octillery's health drops below 63%, however, so pay careful attention to its HP bar. Energy Ball and Fire Blast are great coverage options for Octillery to deal with any cheeky Water- or Grass-type Pokemon, such as Poliwrath, Ferroseed, or Tangrowth, that try to switch into it. However, remember that Octillery becomes practically useless once Trick Room ends. If you do not want Octillery to be processed into sushi, be sure to switch it out when Trick Room starts to run out.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>Octillery's low defenses are a big concern, so maximizing its HP stat is your number one priority. Next, its Special Attack stat is maximized, since all of its attacks on this set are special. Speed is a liability here, so set Octillery's Speed IVs to 0 and toss in a Quiet nature. Unfortunately, the choice of Octillery's ability and item is a bit more complex. Suction Cups makes it impossible for enemy Pokemon to phaze out Octillery with Roar or Whirlwind, which is a very useful trait to have. Sniper is more unreliable, but its potential to dish out sheer amounts of damage with the occasional critical hit is appealing. The choice of Lum Berry vs Expert Belt falls into the same boat: do you want Octillery to have a safety net against defensive Pokemon, or would you rather go for raw power?</p>
<p>A good Trick Room team will have two or three Pokemon which can set up Trick Room, and three to four Pokemon which can sweep in it. Viable Pokemon which can set up Trick Room include Uxie, Dusknoir, Cofagrigus, Claydol, Beheeyem, and Slowking. Uxie and Claydol can also use Memento and Explosion, respectively, to give Octillery a free switch-in. However, all of these Pokemon have a possibly debilitating weakness to Dark- and Ghost-type attacks. To fix this problem, you should have sweepers which are resistant or immune to these types, such as Hariyama, Aggron, Bouffalant, and Crawdaunt. Since these four Pokemon are physical sweepers, they will have no problem demolishing special walls that Octillery cannot break through.</p>
[Other Options]
<p>Octillery can opt to go physical instead of special since it has a pretty astounding physical movepool, including attacks such as Rock Blast, Bullet Seed, Seed Bomb, Return, Bounce, and Gunk Shot. A suggested EV spread for this set is 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD with a Brave nature and 0 IVs in Speed. Remember that Octillery will now have trouble dealing with physical walls instead, so pack your Trick Room team with powerful special sweepers. Good options include Omastar, Slowking, Eviolite Duosion, and Beheeyem.</p>
<p>Suction Cups makes Octillery a fine receiver of Baton Pass boosts. However, you should avoid using a mixed set, because there are few viable Pokemon which can pass both an Attack and Special Attack boost simultaneously. Trying to pass on both boosts separately uses up a lot of valuable time, so a receiver set should stick to being purely physical or special. You can use the moves listed on the set or in the paragraph above, or experiment by mixing and matching attacks.</p>
[Checks and Counters]
<p>Octillery is a glass cannon under Trick Room, so stalling it until Trick Room runs out is a good idea. Mandibuzz, Regice, Cryonogal, and Eviolite Munchlax are excellent special walls that can soak up its attacks. However, Octillery can 2HKO the former three if Stealth Rock is on their side of the field, so tread carefully. Speaking of which, laying down entry hazards is another good strategy to defeat Octillery, since it will reduce both its HP and Water Spout's Base Power. With a weakened Water Spout, many other special walls can take on Octillery. On the offensive side, both Ludicolo and Lanturn can sponge Octillery's attacks and chop it into seafood with Giga Drain and Thunderbolt, respectively. Rotom can do the same, but it will be OHKOed by a full-powered Water Spout. Water-types such as Feraligatr, Qwilfish, and Slowking can survive Energy Ball and finish off a weakened Octillery. If you have trouble stalling the octopus until Trick Room disappears, consider using Hitmonlee and Honchkrow. These two Pokemon can use Sucker Punch to pummel Octillery before it can strike back.</p>