I was in the middle of a total revamp when I noticed that a thread on Belly Drum was already created and a very good revamp was created in that thread, while I am still in the process of my edit I want to put this up.
THE ORIGINAL:
If you have played Hearts more than once, you should know about this thing called "Shooting the Moon". The general goal of Hearts is getting as few hearts (and no Queen of spades) as possible, as every heart is worth 1 point and the Queen is worth 13. However, if you manage to get all hearts AND the Queen, all of your opponents get 26 points, and you get zero. But if only one heart is kept away from your pile, you are in huge trouble.
Shooting is comparable to using Belly Drum. It takes a lot of effort and strategy, and both the risk and the pay-off are extremely high. If you ruin it, you'll have to rely on the rest of your team to win. But if you can set the game your way, and bring out your Drummer in time, you can clear your opponent out completely.
The strategy Belly Drumming is split in two main ways: Substitute and non-Substitute. The Substitute way is very easy to pull off, but the non-Substitute way leaves up one more attacking move slot, which increases your versality (and your KO range).
I'm going to discuss 3 Belly Drummers mainly, because those are simply the best. Most of the others are quite unworthy of mention, as they require a lot of luck, support, set-up and whatnot...they are too weak, too slow, or too unversatile.
1.
Charizard
Who doesn't know this monster? Especially those who have played GSC the non-gay way know that Bellyzard is the fear of slow or vulnerable teams. In R/S, with the addition of the Salac Berry, the Blaze trait and a little more love for Hidden Power, it's hard to deny it's sexiness.
Substitute
~ Belly Drum
~ Substitute
~ attacking move
~ attacking move
@ Salac Berry
(attacking move = Hidden Power Flying, Fire Blast/Overheat/Flamethrower, Rock Slide or Earthquake)
It shouldn't be very hard to bring in Charizard on something that will switch out, especially against someone who doesn't know what Charizard is so famous for. Choice Banded Earthquake (Dugtrio, Metagross, Salamence, etc), Forretress, Skarmory, Sceptile, enough examples. Simply use Substitute on the switch to whatever, and Belly Drum away. Salac activates, and hopefully you will sweep your opponent.
As you see, Charizard has 4 main choices for moves, and if you have used this you have thought this at least once: "god why did I use this move and not that one". Without Earthquake, Tyranitar eats you. Without Hidden Power Flying, Claydol owns your face. Without Rock Slide, Zapdos laughs. Without a Fire move, Skarmory is just going to blow you away. Obviously you should pick the moves that counter the Pok�mon you think you cannot take out before your Belly Drum - or do it the other way - design your team to a set of moves. However, keep in mind that some Pok�mon are offensively so weak that you might not want to kill them, but use them to let Charizard scare them off. More about this on the pro version of Bellyzard.
non-Substitute
~ Belly Drum
~ Hidden Power Flying
~ Fire Blast/Overheat/Flamethrower
~ Earthquake
@ Salac Berry/Leftovers
(Rock Slide is an option)
Without Substitute, you can play this Charizard two ways.
1.
Like the previous one, you bring it in with full health on something that will switch. Belly Drum on the switch and hope they brought in something slower you can kill. When you face something that will kill you (whether it's too fast or too durable to kill), switch out. If you thought the first step was hard, good luck doing this part. You need your opponent to do nothing against Bellyzard for a turn again, with your opponent in the knowledge Charizard can Belly Drum and sweep their team! However, if you manage this, and you get a second Belly Drum in, Charizard is even harder to bring down. Your opponent now has to cop with a 400+ Speed monster, with a dual STAB on Fire-moves, in addition to over 1200 Attack, Earthquake, Hidden Power Flying and an instant mess-up for Skarmory and Forretress (other Steels fall to Earthquake).
2.
You can also bring in Charizard on something that you are sure of that it does less than 50% damage to you. A great example is the standard Blissey with Ice Beam over Thunder Wave, or Claydol with Rest over Explosion (preferably no Reflect). A Skarmory that wants to Drill Peck you is fine too...which it does if Charizard is the last Pok�mon. Found your target? Belly Drum, and if you get hit you instantly get the Blaze + Salac boosts. If your opponent switches or doesn't touch you, continue in the first way I described.
Charizard is probably the best Belly Drummer in the game, because of it's extreme versality, and quite a good typing for such an offensive tactic (Earthquake and Spikes immunity, double STAB). It can totally tear teams apart, of course...unless!
* has one of these Pok�mon at high health: Suicune, Zapdos (if no Rock Slide), Armaldo (if no Rock Slide), Cradily, Regice (with Def EVs), Miltank, Explosion Claydol, Surf Swampert, Vaporeon, Milotic, Solrock, Weezing. Plus anything I forgot that survives +6 HP Flying, Earthquake and all Fire-moves. Blazed Fire-attacks are not taken very lightly by some of these, though.
* manages to juggle his Intimidating Salamence/Gyarados in repeatedly by sacrificing or trying to alternate them with Pok�mon weak to Earthquake/Fire moves and resistant to the other attacks, for example Metagross, to cut your Attack in pieces
* has a powerful priority modified move on his team...Linoone, Dodrio, and repeated Fake Outs are the best counters in this department
* has Tyranitar and stalls your (already low) health away. This is the reason @Leftovers is an option, but I just recommend Salac Berry.
* has a Pok�mon faster than a Belly Drummed Charizard that can KO him. Very few of these, especially if you invest in Speed EVs and have Salac Berry (I always max it, then go Lonely nature). Electrode, Ninjask and Deoxys-E fall in this category.
Always, and I mean always, have a Damage Calculator check before you take a risk you're unsure of. If you have over 50% health left (or have Wish) and think you can pull another drum off later, don't try to kill a Swampert that you most likely cannot. This goes for all Belly Drummers.
2.
Smeargle
Our special little guy. Suicidal stats, but an instant sleep to help him through. Using it without Substitute is VERY hard and not recommended.
Substitute
~ Belly Drum
~ Spore
~ Baton Pass
~ Substitute
@ Salac Berry
Very simple to put: Spore something slow, use Substitute on the switch, Belly Drum to trigger Salac Berry, and then Baton Pass to something with at least 264 Speed (hopefully with accurate attacks) to kill your opponent completely. Aerodactyl and Salamence are both excellent choices. Metagross can work, but his inaccurate Meteor Mash and the 262 max Speed will make you cry once.
non-Substitute
~ Belly Drum
~ Spore
~ Baton Pass
~ Extremespeed/Taunt
@ Salac Berry
Use Substitute, it's easier. HOWEVER Extremespeed is a great help against Dodrio, Ninjask, and anything at somewhat low health. You will have to max Attack on this or it won't hurt anything, of course, which takes away the last bits of defenses Smeargle has with the Substitute version. Taunt eats that Skarmory/Weezing out that comes in on your Belly Drum, as well as about anything that wants to status your recipient (paralyzed Aerodactyl won't sweep shit). Good luck triggering Salac Berry though, seriously.
Smeargle's tactic is countered by anything with Sleep Talk, Roar, Whirlwind, Haze, Taunt, Quick Attack, Mach Punch, Extremespeed, Fake Out, a status move, or Explosion. Dugtrio rapes it a new one if it doesn't have Extremespeed or the Salac boost, and Focus Punch can cause a load of trouble.
I must say though, the first version is VERY easy to get to work with. You can even try to Substitute on a switch to anything your opponent wants to sleep. If it's faster, Belly Drum to get Salac Berry boost, then Spore it. Baton Pass, see what your opponent does, and go to an appriopate speedy counter. If the sleep-taker is slower, Spore first, then Belly Drum on the switch. You can now Baton Pass both a Sub and a Drum.
Unlike Charizard, however, Smeargle can't do anything as the last Pok�mon and only has an immunity to Shadow Ball.
3.
Linoone
The other Normal-type Drummer, one of my favourite Pok�mon. It's Attack is weak, but it's Speed is decent. It's main pro? Extremespeed. You don't need Salac Berry as much as you need it on Charizard, and it is the best candidate to the finisher function Belly Drummers automatically bring. More about this later.
non-Substitute
~ Belly Drum
~ Shadow Ball
~ Extremespeed
~ Hidden Power Ground/Return
@ Leftovers/Salac Berry/Shell Bell
One of Linoone's advantages over the Drummers is that faster Pok�mon, other than Aerodactyl and Gengar, aren't a trouble at all. Usually those are sweeping-based Pok�mon and have little to no Defense EVs, and are easily killed by Extremespeed. The trouble comes when a Pok�mon is sluggish, but has more than, say, 90 in both HP and Defense, and enough EV investment. when this is not Dusclops, it's not much trouble. But you will need Hidden Power Ground to own Tyranitar and Metagross, and you're not going to kill Skarmory or Forretress any time soon. Venusaur and Swampert are very stable as well. You CAN use Return to kill slow things not resistant to it, but you will be completely helpless to Steels and Rocks.
Leftovers to protect against Sandstream, Salac Berry to be able to catch aforementioned Aerodactyl and Gengar, or Shell Bell in the assumption you will KO lots of stuff to gain health back, but I would not use that.
Substitute
~ Belly Drum
~ Substitute
~ Flail
~ Shadow Ball/Hidden Power Ground
@ Salac Berry
A Flailing set. Belly Drummed Flail kills a SHITLOAD of stuff, but Flail/Reversal tactics are even more vulnerable than Belly Drumming ones.
A third way
~ Belly Drum
~ Extremespeed
~ Flail
~ Shadow Ball/Hidden Power Ground
@ Salac Berry
To employ Flail effectively, you will need to use the first tactic in the Bellyzard part. On your first Belly Drum, you sweep anything you can with Extremespeed and your last move. On your second one, you kill about anything with Flail, and use Extremespeed to fend off priority modified moves. I don't really recommend this set as it's impossible to get that second Drum in, even harder than with Charizard. If you must, use it in conjunction with Gengar. If someone uses a Choice Bander with Shadow Ball, you can safely switch Gengar in anytime, because if they Shadow Ball it, Linoone can come in to rape.
As I said, it's one of my friends, but it's Attack is weak and very hard to pull off. Not much doesn't do over 50% to it, and those that don't are usually stallers that will survive it's unslaught. You are warned.
The Finisher Function
Back to Hearts again. One of your opponent is shooting, and you have a chance to prevent it. However, if you do this, you will have to take the Queen. It's better to do it than to let it, because if you don't, you get 26 points, while if you do you only get 13. It's not worth taking the risk.
So, if your opponent sees you with a known Belly Drummer (or you are trying to get your second Drum in), he is going to take risks into account. A Charizard against a stalling team with a Suicune that's asleep, has come in on Forretress' Spikes. This opponent will know he can do NOTHING at all to a Belly Drummed Charizard, and probably blow up Forretress. This is where you just Fire Blast it back to hell.
This whole mind-game is important for the finisher function. If your opponent has nothing that can take on your Belly Drummer when it's set-up, he will have to risk a sacrifice of the Pok�mon that's out. Of course, it's still a 50/50 thing...it's also possible that you will just Fire Blast their Thunder Waving Blissey in the face.
Linoone is probably even more fit for this job because of Extremespeed. Alakazam is an easy kill for you because if it tries to save itself by going out, there is a chance you saw this coming and used Belly Drum.
Do not over- or underestimate your opponents, especially not in this case. The safe option here is to attack. Your opponent can know all this and take the decision you considered too risky.
Free Turns
Other than "the opponent fears being hit", what are good ways of forcing your opponent to keep you alive?
*
Substitute
Other than using it yourself, let it get Baton Passed by Vaporeon, Jolteon, Celebi or whatever you feel like using. Jolteon is one of the coolest if a Pok�mon with Earthquake comes in, for reasons you should understand by now.
*
Perish Song
Simply use Perish Song and wait until Perish Count on your opponent is 2. Switch to your Belly Drummer. Your opponent is now in a checkmate position - if you use Belly Drum, you will have killed or crippled one Pok�mon in 99% of the cases. Watch out for Explosion.
*
Dugtrio
This is very circumvental, but can work in your advantage. It will either allow your Drummer to set up, or kill a big threat. Say your Charizard is facing Magneton, and you have Skarmory + Dugtrio in the wings, and your opponent knows this, plus he has no Spinner. If you use Belly Drum and Magneton kills Charizard, finish it off with Dugtrio, and then have the Spikes roll in later. If Magneton switches out or uses Hidden Power, expecting Dugtrio, Charizard gets his +6 Attack.
*
Choice Band
I've mentioned it before. Choice Banded Earthquake or, in Smeargle/Linoone's case, Shadow Ball, is a beg to come in and Drum.
*
pseudo-passing
Reflect/Light Screen can help you take that hit and get between 0% and 25% to trigger Salac Berry. Safeguard gives you a free Belly Drum against any Blissey, Thunder Wave or not.
Support
BLAGH BLAGH WITH SPIKES DUGGY MAGGY PARA AND WISH SUPPORT, IN LATE GAME, THIS POKEMON CAN REALLY SWEEP IF IT'S COUNTERS ARE GONE
I hear stuff like that often. It sounds really professional, but seriously it isn't. However, in the case of Belly Drummers, all of these can be of use.
*
Spikes
Spikes wear down counters that are counters because they survive hits - the most famous one is Suicune. It takes circa 60% from a Drummed Charizard HP Flying, so after two switches with multiple layers, it's dead.
*
Dugtrio
See "Free Turns" section.
*
Magneton
This can help, but also get in the way. You do not want to kill Skarmory when Charizard is alive, because Skarmory is your chance to get Belly Drum in. However, Magneton can encourage Choice Banded Earthquakes, and if you must, can kill Skarmory so you don't need a Fire attack on Charizard, provided you found another way of getting that precious Belly Drum in.
*
Paralysis
A good player will rarely get his fast Pok�mon paralyzed, but it can also bring fully paralysis when you just needed it (on a Substitute, for example), lure Blissey to Aromatherapy and force stuff (like Suicune) to Rest. Of course, paralysis blocks Smeargle's Spore.
*
Burn
A Will-o-Wisping Gengar is a great example of a great surprise that helps Belly Drummers. You think Metagross is a threat to you? Burn it, then let Linoone or Charizard (if he doesn't carry Rock Slide) come in.
*
Wish
Wish can give your Drummers another chance, though if Salac Berry has already triggered they are of course not as effective as before. If you could only Wish your HP out of the negative, this would be a lot more useful.
*
Perish Song
See "Free Turns" section.
*
Sleep
Not many players keep in a Sleeping Pok�mon. However, I do when it's Venusaur - I'd rather have my sleeping Pok�mon I'm going to switch out anyway seeded than the one that has to scare off Venusaur. A Mean Look + Lovely Kiss Jynx, or even Spore + Spider Web Smeargle can work, or even (lol) Wrap/Sleep Powder Victreebel. Umbreon is very scary when you take all of this into account.
*
Memento
I love this tactic. Back in the day, I had my awesome Mementozard team, consisting of Vaporeon, Jolteon, Charizard, 2 Memento'ers (2 from Weezing, Dusclops and Gardevoir) and either Snorlax or Exeggutor...sometimes changing around. The Memento'ers could all Will-o-Wisp stuff which helps excellently, but the greatest part is of course Memento'ing a Snorlax, then bringing in Charizard to easily Belly Drum and survive the Return. Once, I burned a Venusaur, then Memento'ed it. The incoming Jolteon's Substitute survived the Earthquake, and I passed to Charizard on the second Earthquake. Belly Drum, gg. If Metagross or Regice come in on Memento, you are going to get laughed at.
*
Explosion
Very effective if your opponent doesn't know if you have a Drummer and which one. The one that in theory works the best is a Metagross against a team with a sturdy Water. Explode on this Water, who doesn't expect Metagross to boom early.
*
Grudge
Grudging the attacking move that touches your Belly Drummer is the way to open up the game. On a Choice Bander, this is a guaranteed set-up.
*
Leech Seed
A seeded opponent is a perfect target for Belly Drumming, provided they don't kill you and they don't switch out immediatly after you seed them. This is again why Spikes are so handy. A seeded opponent gets weakened and more likely to get killed, and if he switches you get your Drum for free.
Closing words
As you probably have understood by now, I hold Belly Drum in a high regard. It is very hard to pull off, and after you did you might get blocked anyway, so you need a clear vision of the game status. It might be wise to write down what you know about your opponent's team in a text document, and to have a Damage Calculator at hand.
Belly Drum is not an easy sweep, but its pay-offs are amazing.
GREAT SAGE'S EDIT:
I. Introduction
In the card game Hearts, certain cards are worth points, and if a player is holding a point card at the end of a round, he or she receive the appropriate number of points, one for each Heart, and 13 for the Queen of Spades. Contrary to many other games, players attempt to receive the lowest score possible, and therefore usually try to avoid holding point cards at the end of a round. However, if a certain player receives all thirteen Hearts and the Queen of Spades, that player gains zero points, whereas all other players accept a 26-point acquisition each, giving the player who obtained all the point cards a substantial advantage. This is called "shooting the moon" and is a very dynamic strategy that has huge rewards, but also enormous risk; if the player attempting to "shoot the moon" is missing even one point card, the scores are calculated regularly, and oftentimes the would-be shooter is burdened with a gigantic point gain if the strategy isn't executed perfectly.
The concept of "shooting the moon" is analogous to using the move Belly Drum in Pokémon. Belly Drum is a risky move that raises the user's Attack stage to the maximum level of +6 regardless of the original stage, but in return for such an explosive boost rids the user of 50% of its maximum HP, leaving it open to being easily knocked out in subsequent turns. If the strategy succeeds, the Belly Drummer is set to sweep, especially if it receives a Speed boost from a Salac Berry, but if the strategy is somehow foiled, the Belly Drummer's team is put at an immediate disadvantage, leaving it with one fewer member and often at little or no cost to the opposition.
There are two main formats for sets with Belly Drum: those with Substitute, and those without it. Substitute is an excellent choice to use with Belly Drum, as it allows the user to scout for unfavorable switches so it doesn't waste its Belly Drum on something it can't beat anyways. Substitute also takes 25% of the user's HP, which may at first appear to lack synergy with Belly Drum; however, if the user's HP is set at a number divisible by 4, a Substitute followed by a Belly Drum is enough to activate the Salac Berry, opening a pathway for a clean sweep. Unfortunately, using Substitute only leaves the Belly Drummer with two slots for offensive moves, and oftentimes two slots doesn't offer sufficient type coverage. Sets without Substitute don't usually have problems with type coverage, but are incredibly risky and aren't nearly as easy to use because of how difficult it is to set the user's HP under 25% and over 0% after a Belly Drum. A relatively weak attack from a wall that would switch out from a given Pokémon, such as a Skarmory Drill Peck on an incoming Charizard, will suffice, as it deals over 25% but under 50% damage.
The subsequent portions of this article will discuss three main Pokémon: Charizard, Linoone and Smeargle. In general, these are the most effective Belly Drummers; most other Belly Drummers are either too slow, too limited in movepool, or too weak.
II. Charizard
Charizard is arguably the best Belly Drummer in Advance, because it it reasonably fast at 100 base Speed and has a large physical movepool consisting of attacks such as Earthquake, Hidden Power Flying, and Rock Slide, and can use STAB Fire attacks to annihilate Steel-type walls like Skarmory. Additionally, Charizard's Flying subtype grants it an immunity to one of the most common moves in the game, Earthquake, which makes switching in much easier; immunity to Spikes also helps it, by cutting down on residual damage. The basic set with Substitute consists of Substitute, Belly Drum, and two offensive moves. One offensive move should be Hidden Power Flying, which receives STAB, while the other one is a choice between Earthquake, Rock Slide, and a Fire move from Flamethrower, Fire Blast, and Overheat.
Earthquake and Rock Slide work well with Hidden Power Flying in terms of type coverage, but falter against solid physical walls such as Skarmory, Forretress, and Weezing. The Fire move easily dispatches Skarmory and Forretress, but leaves Charizard open to some threats like Tyranitar. Each Fire move also has its own advantages and foibles. Overheat is the most powerful option and has a good chance of OHKOing Weezing after an Overheat, assuming a Blaze boost and a Naughty or Lonely nature on Charizard's part, but is rendered tantamount to useless after the initial attack because of its two-stage Special Attack drop. Fire Blast is more consistent, can pierce through multiple Steels, and isn't vulnerable to a predicted switch, but is the least accurate of the three moves. Flamethrower is the most accurate but least powerful of the Fire-type options.
A small note in the usage of Substitute Charizard is to use a 30 HP IV on it, and therefore a 30 HP / 30 Attack / 30 Defense / 30 Special Attack / 30 Special Defense / 31 Speed to attain Hidden Power Flying; a 30 HP IV will allow Salac Berry to activate at 25% HP rather than at 1%, meaning Charizard isn't instantly killed by weak priority moves and won't simply roll over to Sand Stream.
Charizard can't possibly hope to be able to beat everything with two moves, which is where the non-Substitute version comes in. Earthquake becomes a mandatory move on this set, and the Fire moves and Rock Slide are left to vie for the final slot. Ideally, Charizard without Substitute should switch in on something that would surely switch out after dealing 25-50% damage; the aforementioned Skarmory and its Drill Peck is but one example of an excellent candidate. Even though Skarmory might predict a Belly Drum and subsequently kill Charizard with Drill Peck, more often than not it wouldn't want to risk an OHKOing Fire attack. Another way to knock down Charizard's health into the appropriate level is to use Double-edge in the auxiliary slot; Double-edge also usually handles the fact that it will never be able to OHKO Milotic or Swampert with a Belly Drummed Hidden Power Flying, but unfortunately an OHKO on Suicune is still far from being attainable.
However, Charizard is still counterable by small pools of Pokémon. Obviously, Pokémon that resist its offensive choices will easily smash the 25% HP or less it has left. Carefully juggling Pokémon with Intimidate, such as Gyarados and Salamence, can wear down at Charizard's Attack to manageable levels; even a two-stage Attack drop heavily weakens Charizard, as its initial Attack isn't particularly impressive. While 25% health and Flying subtyping stops all Mach Punches and most Quick Attacks from taking effect, two or more Fake Outs, Choice Banded and STAB boosted Quick Attacks from Pokémon like Dodrio, or Extremespeed from Linoone or Arcanine will murder a 25% HP Charizard. Tyranitar's Sand Stream puts a time limit on the time Charizard with Salac Berry can sweep by chipping away 6.25% HP each turn, a quarter of the 25% the most healthy Charizard should have; Charizard might like to carry Leftovers to circumvent death by weather, but will not be as useful in general as Salac Berry. The rarest counter to Charizard is something that actually outspeeds it after a Belly Drum. The only non-Uber Pokémon that should be outrunning Charizard is Ninjask, from which a Hidden Power Flying does a minimum of 29%.
It is critical when using Charizard, or any other Belly Drummer for that matter, to not take unnecessary risks. A Charizard that somehow returns to over 50% health, most commonly by Wish support or having an odd HP, should never risk not OHKOing a bulky Water Pokémon and fainting in return. A quick damage calculator on hand aids one in determining whether to attack or switch out.
III. Linoone
Initially, Linoone might seem utterly inferior to Charizard, with lower defenses and Attack, fewer resistances, and an essentially useless Ghost resistance (Ghost attacks are a bit rare, and most commonly found on non-Choice Banded attackers such as Snorlax) in exchange for Charizard's Ground and Spikes immunities. There are very few attacks that do less than 50% damage to Linoone, and it doesn't carry the threat Charizard does to force much or anything to switch out. Linoone does boast two major selling points, though. Extremespeed is one, because its positive priority makes Salac Berry less of a necessity; another one is Flail, which is insanely powerful following a Belly Drum and especially at low HP. Not requiring Salac Berry lets Linoone thrive, even in Sandstorm conditions, by grace of Leftovers. Extremespeed Linoone can also make a case for using Shell Bell, as it should be OHKOing everything, and anything that suffers more than or equal to 152 damage will cause Shell Bell to outweigh Leftovers in terms of recovery.
The basic Extremespeed set for Linoone has Belly Drum, Extremespeed, Shadow Ball for Ghost-types, and either Hidden Power Ground for type coverage on Metagross, Tyranitar and the like, or Return for a slightly stronger Normal STAB move. The only fast Pokémon Linoone should have problems with are Gengar and Aerodactyl, who respectively are immune to and resistant to Extremespeed; the group it has the most problems with are somewhat defensive and slower Pokémon like Swampert. Return and Hidden Power Ground are intended to counter that group of Pokémon, but unfortunately Linoone can only choose one, leaving it vulnerable to either Tyranitar and Metagross in the case of Return or bulky Waters in the case of Hidden Power Ground. Either way, Skarmory and Forretress always beat it easily.
A set with Flail and Substitute is also viable for Linoone, though Flail is an extremely risky tactic because of how critically low one needs to place Linoone's HP. Contrary to most Belly Drummers, Flail Linoone should have an HP that isn't divisible by four so it can get down to 1, 2 or 3 health and strike with Flail at its maximum power of 200. An extremely dynamic version of Linoone combines the Extremespeed and the Flail sets, and should have an odd HP so it can Belly Drum twice. Extremespeed kills some things during the first round, while Flail obliterates almost anything the second round. Shadow Ball or Hidden Power Ground are usable in the fourth slot for type coverage. It would do one well to remember that the combination set is extremely circumstantial and oftentimes won't find a suitable setup. Also, even though Flail is incredibly powerful, it still doesn't OHKO Skarmory or Forretress after a Belly Drum.
IV. Smeargle
Smeargle is the maverick of the three Pokémon that can use Belly Drum effectively. Its HP and Speed are mediocre at best, and the rest of its stats are absolutely unusable; on the other hand, Smeargle learns every single move in the game through Sketch, and while it can't use Belly Drum for itself effectively (its absolute maximum Attack after a Belly Drum is 608, only one more than a once-Dragon Danced Salamence), it can Baton Pass it off to a more powerful Pokémon, most often Medicham. If Smeargle also passes a Salac Berry Speed boost successfully, then its recipient will probably be able to sweep the opponent's team.
The standard Smeargle set consists of Substitute, Belly Drum, Baton Pass, and its linchpin, Spore. Spore is the only sleep move in the game with perfect accuracy, and allows Smeargle plenty of time to set up and Baton Pass Belly Drum. However, the opponent often anticipates it and switches to a Pokémon with Sleep Talk, so a full health Smeargle should use Substitute against a slower enemy, the only type of enemy Smeargle should stay in against. Hopefully, the opposing Pokémon will switch out, but even if it doesn't, Smeargle can Spore it on the next turn and Belly Drum, and if the opponent does switch out, it can Spore the switch-in, which ideally is also slower than Smeargle, and then Belly Drum. Either way, if Smeargle's HP is divisible by four, it will have activated the Salac Berry and become faster than every Pokémon allowed in OU except Electrode and Ninjask. From there, it is a matter of Baton Passing safely to the preferred recipients before winning.
There is an extremely risky variant of the Belly Drumming Smeargle that replaces Substitute with Extremespeed, which helps it against strong carriers of priority moves such as Dodrio, or Substitute with Taunt, which stops Skarmory from forcing it out with Whirlwind. However, it is one of the most difficult things possible in Pokémon to activate a Salac Berry with the modified set. One's best chance would be residual damage from Spikes or Sandstorm.
Medicham tends to be the best recipient, because its Pure Power ability allows it the highest non-Uber Attack in the game, and it sports a physical movepool capable of OHKOing everything except the most defensive Groudon after a Belly Drum. Some other useful recipients are Gyarados, Aerodactyl, Salamence, Zapdos and many others.
V. The Finisher Function
Belly Drummers are very powerful if set up correctly, but there is an anecdote to their usage that relates back to the game of Hearts. If a player realizes his or her opponent is attempting to "shoot the moon" and has the opportunity to stop it, but at the expense of taking the Queen of Spades, the player is more likely than not going to take the chance anyways. At worst, he or she gains 13 points, as opposed to the 26-point gain that would have occurred otherwise. This is why the user of the Belly Drummer should never over- or underestimate the opponent, especially on a second attempt at Belly Drumming, or with a well-known Belly Drummer such as Charizard. A predicted switch might very well not happen. For example, a Charizard that has just switched into a Skarmory's Drill Peck might suffer a fatal one while Belly Drumming on an incorrectly predicted switch. It is vital while using a Belly Drummer to not only consider the risks involved with the Belly Drummer, but also the risks run by the opponent.
There are a few ways for one to force his or her opponent to keep the Belly Drummer alive. This section will also include general support for Belly Drummers.
A. Substitute
A Substitute Baton Passed from another Pokémon is often extremely helpful and lets the Belly Drummer switch in easily and occasionally benefit from its immunities more easily. For example, a Jolteon is exceptionally good at supporting Charizard, because it is weak to Ground, so it can often Baton Pass from an impending Earthquake. It also is extremely fast and scares off Water-types that Charizard dislikes.
B. Perish Song
When the opponent is down to a Perish count of 2, it is a perfect opportunity for a Belly Drummer to switch in. This places the opponent into a checkmate position, because if it switches out, it will give the Belly Drummer a free turn to set up, and if it attacks, it faints to Perish Song, because two turns will have elapsed by that time. Explosion or Selfdestruct will foil this strategy, though.
C. Dugtrio
Dugtrio is very circumstantial, but is also a checkmate strategy to allow for free turns. It is best revealed early and kept in reserve until a Pokémon vulnerable to it and valuable to the opposing team is facing a Belly Drummer. If the Pokémon in question knocks out the Belly Drummer, Dugtrio will revenge kill it.
D. Magneton
Magneton is a trapper of a different flavor from Dugtrio. It can only trap Steel Pokémon, but is generally very effective at killing them off, especially Skarmory, the bane of most Belly Drummers. It is important to keep in mind that Magneton shouldn't try to faint Skarmory if Charizard with a Fire move is active, because Skarmory is excellent switch-in bait.
E. Pseudo-passing
Light Screen and Reflect are moves that halve special and physical damage, respectively, for 5 turns. This can often be enough to lower damage sufficiently so the Belly Drummer suffers less than 25%, or less then enough to break a Substitute. Safeguard, another pseudo-passing move, stops the Belly Drummer from being afflicted by status, most importantly paralysis or burn.
F. Choice Banded Opponents
Choice Band stops the opponent in question from changing attacks, so if the Belly Drummer switches into an attack it is immune to, it will almost certainly pull off a successful Belly Drum. The best Pokémon for this is Charizard, because of its immunity to the popular Ground attack, Earthquake. Linoone and Smeargle will have to be satisfied with switching into the infrequent Shadow Ball.
G. Wish
Wish restores the health of the Pokémon that is active when it takes effect, so it can be used to replenish a Belly Drummer's health to give it a second chance at sweeping. Unfortunately, it can't restore a Salac Berry if it has already been activated.
H. Status
There are four main statuses that help Belly Drummers: sleep, paralysis, burn, and a pseudo-status, Leech Seed. Sleep is obvious for its giving of free turns; freeze works similarly, but isn't the easiest status to inflict due to the fact that it can only be affected via luck. Paralysis can cause a fortunate full paralysis, and burn debilitates physical attackers, increasing the number of hits a Belly Drummer can take. Leech Seed saps the opponent's health to give Belly Drummers extra chances at using Substitute, and helps with its residual damage.
I. Spikes
As usual, Spikes are excellent for residual damage. It is especially useful for Charizard, because it just misses OHKOing several bulky Waters after a Belly Drum.
J. Explosion / Selfdestruct
These moves faint the user and instantly end the turn, letting Belly Drummers switch in without any problems. One of the best users in theory is Metagross, which attracts Water-types, which may not be expecting an early Explosion.
K. Memento
Memento is another self-sacrificial move, but rather than dealing direct damage like Explosion, it lowers both the Attack and Special Attack of the target by 2 stages. Like Explosion, Memento ends the turn when used. An excellent fact is that the three best users of Memento, Dusclops, Gardevoir, and Weezing, all learn Will-O-Wisp, which inflicts burn on the foe. Will-O-Wisp will deter Metagross, which has Clear Body to render Memento useless, however Regice doesn't care.
L. Grudge
Grudge is the third support option that involves the user fainting. It doesn't force the user to faint, but if the opponent uses a direct attack and it causes the Grudge user to faint in the turn immediately following Grudge's usage, that move loses all its PP. This will instantly ruin any Choice Bander and leave it open to switch-ins by Belly Drummers.
VI. Countering Belly Drummers
While Belly Drummers are immensely fearsome once set up, there are counters to every one except Medicham that has been passed Belly Drum. Two ways to beat Belly Drummers that are already set up are generally considered failsafe.
A. Priority Moves
The priority moves available in Advance are Fake Out, Quick Attack, Mach Punch, and Extremespeed. Quick Attack is usually insufficient to finish Belly Drummers, because most keep their HP at 25%, but if heavily boosted, it can work. Mach Punch is essentially futile against Charizard because it resists Fighting, but it is super effective against Smeargle and Linoone. Fake Out will only work if it is heavily boosted or if the Pokémon using it has at least one surviving teammate; it can Fake Out for the flinch, and then come back later to Fake Out for the knockout. Only Linoone and Arcanine can use Extremespeed in non-Uber environments, but it is essentially guaranteed to cut off a Belly Drummer's remaining sliver of health.
B. Tyranitar
Tyranitar is the absolute dread of most Belly Drummers, on par with Skarmory. Most threatening is its Sand Stream ability, which calls infinite Sandstorm upon entry, which straps a ticking time bomb on Charizard. Linoone's standard Extremespeed set is safe if it carries Leftovers, though. Tyranitar also resists many of the move combinations that Belly Drum sweepers often have, including Flying and Fire from Charizard. It doesn't particularly mind Rock Slide either.
VII. Final Words
Belly Drum is, overall, one of the riskiest and most explosive strategies in the game. It requires tremendous team support, so if it fails, the entire team often loses the game. However, if executed properly, Belly Drum can make Charizard, Linoone or Smeargle's recipient a game-winning sweeper. A clear vision of the game status is vital for a Belly Drum team's victory.
THE ORIGINAL:
If you have played Hearts more than once, you should know about this thing called "Shooting the Moon". The general goal of Hearts is getting as few hearts (and no Queen of spades) as possible, as every heart is worth 1 point and the Queen is worth 13. However, if you manage to get all hearts AND the Queen, all of your opponents get 26 points, and you get zero. But if only one heart is kept away from your pile, you are in huge trouble.
Shooting is comparable to using Belly Drum. It takes a lot of effort and strategy, and both the risk and the pay-off are extremely high. If you ruin it, you'll have to rely on the rest of your team to win. But if you can set the game your way, and bring out your Drummer in time, you can clear your opponent out completely.
The strategy Belly Drumming is split in two main ways: Substitute and non-Substitute. The Substitute way is very easy to pull off, but the non-Substitute way leaves up one more attacking move slot, which increases your versality (and your KO range).
I'm going to discuss 3 Belly Drummers mainly, because those are simply the best. Most of the others are quite unworthy of mention, as they require a lot of luck, support, set-up and whatnot...they are too weak, too slow, or too unversatile.
1.
Charizard
Who doesn't know this monster? Especially those who have played GSC the non-gay way know that Bellyzard is the fear of slow or vulnerable teams. In R/S, with the addition of the Salac Berry, the Blaze trait and a little more love for Hidden Power, it's hard to deny it's sexiness.
Substitute
~ Belly Drum
~ Substitute
~ attacking move
~ attacking move
@ Salac Berry
(attacking move = Hidden Power Flying, Fire Blast/Overheat/Flamethrower, Rock Slide or Earthquake)
It shouldn't be very hard to bring in Charizard on something that will switch out, especially against someone who doesn't know what Charizard is so famous for. Choice Banded Earthquake (Dugtrio, Metagross, Salamence, etc), Forretress, Skarmory, Sceptile, enough examples. Simply use Substitute on the switch to whatever, and Belly Drum away. Salac activates, and hopefully you will sweep your opponent.
As you see, Charizard has 4 main choices for moves, and if you have used this you have thought this at least once: "god why did I use this move and not that one". Without Earthquake, Tyranitar eats you. Without Hidden Power Flying, Claydol owns your face. Without Rock Slide, Zapdos laughs. Without a Fire move, Skarmory is just going to blow you away. Obviously you should pick the moves that counter the Pok�mon you think you cannot take out before your Belly Drum - or do it the other way - design your team to a set of moves. However, keep in mind that some Pok�mon are offensively so weak that you might not want to kill them, but use them to let Charizard scare them off. More about this on the pro version of Bellyzard.
non-Substitute
~ Belly Drum
~ Hidden Power Flying
~ Fire Blast/Overheat/Flamethrower
~ Earthquake
@ Salac Berry/Leftovers
(Rock Slide is an option)
Without Substitute, you can play this Charizard two ways.
1.
Like the previous one, you bring it in with full health on something that will switch. Belly Drum on the switch and hope they brought in something slower you can kill. When you face something that will kill you (whether it's too fast or too durable to kill), switch out. If you thought the first step was hard, good luck doing this part. You need your opponent to do nothing against Bellyzard for a turn again, with your opponent in the knowledge Charizard can Belly Drum and sweep their team! However, if you manage this, and you get a second Belly Drum in, Charizard is even harder to bring down. Your opponent now has to cop with a 400+ Speed monster, with a dual STAB on Fire-moves, in addition to over 1200 Attack, Earthquake, Hidden Power Flying and an instant mess-up for Skarmory and Forretress (other Steels fall to Earthquake).
2.
You can also bring in Charizard on something that you are sure of that it does less than 50% damage to you. A great example is the standard Blissey with Ice Beam over Thunder Wave, or Claydol with Rest over Explosion (preferably no Reflect). A Skarmory that wants to Drill Peck you is fine too...which it does if Charizard is the last Pok�mon. Found your target? Belly Drum, and if you get hit you instantly get the Blaze + Salac boosts. If your opponent switches or doesn't touch you, continue in the first way I described.
Charizard is probably the best Belly Drummer in the game, because of it's extreme versality, and quite a good typing for such an offensive tactic (Earthquake and Spikes immunity, double STAB). It can totally tear teams apart, of course...unless!
* has one of these Pok�mon at high health: Suicune, Zapdos (if no Rock Slide), Armaldo (if no Rock Slide), Cradily, Regice (with Def EVs), Miltank, Explosion Claydol, Surf Swampert, Vaporeon, Milotic, Solrock, Weezing. Plus anything I forgot that survives +6 HP Flying, Earthquake and all Fire-moves. Blazed Fire-attacks are not taken very lightly by some of these, though.
* manages to juggle his Intimidating Salamence/Gyarados in repeatedly by sacrificing or trying to alternate them with Pok�mon weak to Earthquake/Fire moves and resistant to the other attacks, for example Metagross, to cut your Attack in pieces
* has a powerful priority modified move on his team...Linoone, Dodrio, and repeated Fake Outs are the best counters in this department
* has Tyranitar and stalls your (already low) health away. This is the reason @Leftovers is an option, but I just recommend Salac Berry.
* has a Pok�mon faster than a Belly Drummed Charizard that can KO him. Very few of these, especially if you invest in Speed EVs and have Salac Berry (I always max it, then go Lonely nature). Electrode, Ninjask and Deoxys-E fall in this category.
Always, and I mean always, have a Damage Calculator check before you take a risk you're unsure of. If you have over 50% health left (or have Wish) and think you can pull another drum off later, don't try to kill a Swampert that you most likely cannot. This goes for all Belly Drummers.
2.
Smeargle
Our special little guy. Suicidal stats, but an instant sleep to help him through. Using it without Substitute is VERY hard and not recommended.
Substitute
~ Belly Drum
~ Spore
~ Baton Pass
~ Substitute
@ Salac Berry
Very simple to put: Spore something slow, use Substitute on the switch, Belly Drum to trigger Salac Berry, and then Baton Pass to something with at least 264 Speed (hopefully with accurate attacks) to kill your opponent completely. Aerodactyl and Salamence are both excellent choices. Metagross can work, but his inaccurate Meteor Mash and the 262 max Speed will make you cry once.
non-Substitute
~ Belly Drum
~ Spore
~ Baton Pass
~ Extremespeed/Taunt
@ Salac Berry
Use Substitute, it's easier. HOWEVER Extremespeed is a great help against Dodrio, Ninjask, and anything at somewhat low health. You will have to max Attack on this or it won't hurt anything, of course, which takes away the last bits of defenses Smeargle has with the Substitute version. Taunt eats that Skarmory/Weezing out that comes in on your Belly Drum, as well as about anything that wants to status your recipient (paralyzed Aerodactyl won't sweep shit). Good luck triggering Salac Berry though, seriously.
Smeargle's tactic is countered by anything with Sleep Talk, Roar, Whirlwind, Haze, Taunt, Quick Attack, Mach Punch, Extremespeed, Fake Out, a status move, or Explosion. Dugtrio rapes it a new one if it doesn't have Extremespeed or the Salac boost, and Focus Punch can cause a load of trouble.
I must say though, the first version is VERY easy to get to work with. You can even try to Substitute on a switch to anything your opponent wants to sleep. If it's faster, Belly Drum to get Salac Berry boost, then Spore it. Baton Pass, see what your opponent does, and go to an appriopate speedy counter. If the sleep-taker is slower, Spore first, then Belly Drum on the switch. You can now Baton Pass both a Sub and a Drum.
Unlike Charizard, however, Smeargle can't do anything as the last Pok�mon and only has an immunity to Shadow Ball.
3.
Linoone
The other Normal-type Drummer, one of my favourite Pok�mon. It's Attack is weak, but it's Speed is decent. It's main pro? Extremespeed. You don't need Salac Berry as much as you need it on Charizard, and it is the best candidate to the finisher function Belly Drummers automatically bring. More about this later.
non-Substitute
~ Belly Drum
~ Shadow Ball
~ Extremespeed
~ Hidden Power Ground/Return
@ Leftovers/Salac Berry/Shell Bell
One of Linoone's advantages over the Drummers is that faster Pok�mon, other than Aerodactyl and Gengar, aren't a trouble at all. Usually those are sweeping-based Pok�mon and have little to no Defense EVs, and are easily killed by Extremespeed. The trouble comes when a Pok�mon is sluggish, but has more than, say, 90 in both HP and Defense, and enough EV investment. when this is not Dusclops, it's not much trouble. But you will need Hidden Power Ground to own Tyranitar and Metagross, and you're not going to kill Skarmory or Forretress any time soon. Venusaur and Swampert are very stable as well. You CAN use Return to kill slow things not resistant to it, but you will be completely helpless to Steels and Rocks.
Leftovers to protect against Sandstream, Salac Berry to be able to catch aforementioned Aerodactyl and Gengar, or Shell Bell in the assumption you will KO lots of stuff to gain health back, but I would not use that.
Substitute
~ Belly Drum
~ Substitute
~ Flail
~ Shadow Ball/Hidden Power Ground
@ Salac Berry
A Flailing set. Belly Drummed Flail kills a SHITLOAD of stuff, but Flail/Reversal tactics are even more vulnerable than Belly Drumming ones.
A third way
~ Belly Drum
~ Extremespeed
~ Flail
~ Shadow Ball/Hidden Power Ground
@ Salac Berry
To employ Flail effectively, you will need to use the first tactic in the Bellyzard part. On your first Belly Drum, you sweep anything you can with Extremespeed and your last move. On your second one, you kill about anything with Flail, and use Extremespeed to fend off priority modified moves. I don't really recommend this set as it's impossible to get that second Drum in, even harder than with Charizard. If you must, use it in conjunction with Gengar. If someone uses a Choice Bander with Shadow Ball, you can safely switch Gengar in anytime, because if they Shadow Ball it, Linoone can come in to rape.
As I said, it's one of my friends, but it's Attack is weak and very hard to pull off. Not much doesn't do over 50% to it, and those that don't are usually stallers that will survive it's unslaught. You are warned.
The Finisher Function
Back to Hearts again. One of your opponent is shooting, and you have a chance to prevent it. However, if you do this, you will have to take the Queen. It's better to do it than to let it, because if you don't, you get 26 points, while if you do you only get 13. It's not worth taking the risk.
So, if your opponent sees you with a known Belly Drummer (or you are trying to get your second Drum in), he is going to take risks into account. A Charizard against a stalling team with a Suicune that's asleep, has come in on Forretress' Spikes. This opponent will know he can do NOTHING at all to a Belly Drummed Charizard, and probably blow up Forretress. This is where you just Fire Blast it back to hell.
This whole mind-game is important for the finisher function. If your opponent has nothing that can take on your Belly Drummer when it's set-up, he will have to risk a sacrifice of the Pok�mon that's out. Of course, it's still a 50/50 thing...it's also possible that you will just Fire Blast their Thunder Waving Blissey in the face.
Linoone is probably even more fit for this job because of Extremespeed. Alakazam is an easy kill for you because if it tries to save itself by going out, there is a chance you saw this coming and used Belly Drum.
Do not over- or underestimate your opponents, especially not in this case. The safe option here is to attack. Your opponent can know all this and take the decision you considered too risky.
Free Turns
Other than "the opponent fears being hit", what are good ways of forcing your opponent to keep you alive?
*
Substitute
Other than using it yourself, let it get Baton Passed by Vaporeon, Jolteon, Celebi or whatever you feel like using. Jolteon is one of the coolest if a Pok�mon with Earthquake comes in, for reasons you should understand by now.
*
Perish Song
Simply use Perish Song and wait until Perish Count on your opponent is 2. Switch to your Belly Drummer. Your opponent is now in a checkmate position - if you use Belly Drum, you will have killed or crippled one Pok�mon in 99% of the cases. Watch out for Explosion.
*
Dugtrio
This is very circumvental, but can work in your advantage. It will either allow your Drummer to set up, or kill a big threat. Say your Charizard is facing Magneton, and you have Skarmory + Dugtrio in the wings, and your opponent knows this, plus he has no Spinner. If you use Belly Drum and Magneton kills Charizard, finish it off with Dugtrio, and then have the Spikes roll in later. If Magneton switches out or uses Hidden Power, expecting Dugtrio, Charizard gets his +6 Attack.
*
Choice Band
I've mentioned it before. Choice Banded Earthquake or, in Smeargle/Linoone's case, Shadow Ball, is a beg to come in and Drum.
*
pseudo-passing
Reflect/Light Screen can help you take that hit and get between 0% and 25% to trigger Salac Berry. Safeguard gives you a free Belly Drum against any Blissey, Thunder Wave or not.
Support
BLAGH BLAGH WITH SPIKES DUGGY MAGGY PARA AND WISH SUPPORT, IN LATE GAME, THIS POKEMON CAN REALLY SWEEP IF IT'S COUNTERS ARE GONE
I hear stuff like that often. It sounds really professional, but seriously it isn't. However, in the case of Belly Drummers, all of these can be of use.
*
Spikes
Spikes wear down counters that are counters because they survive hits - the most famous one is Suicune. It takes circa 60% from a Drummed Charizard HP Flying, so after two switches with multiple layers, it's dead.
*
Dugtrio
See "Free Turns" section.
*
Magneton
This can help, but also get in the way. You do not want to kill Skarmory when Charizard is alive, because Skarmory is your chance to get Belly Drum in. However, Magneton can encourage Choice Banded Earthquakes, and if you must, can kill Skarmory so you don't need a Fire attack on Charizard, provided you found another way of getting that precious Belly Drum in.
*
Paralysis
A good player will rarely get his fast Pok�mon paralyzed, but it can also bring fully paralysis when you just needed it (on a Substitute, for example), lure Blissey to Aromatherapy and force stuff (like Suicune) to Rest. Of course, paralysis blocks Smeargle's Spore.
*
Burn
A Will-o-Wisping Gengar is a great example of a great surprise that helps Belly Drummers. You think Metagross is a threat to you? Burn it, then let Linoone or Charizard (if he doesn't carry Rock Slide) come in.
*
Wish
Wish can give your Drummers another chance, though if Salac Berry has already triggered they are of course not as effective as before. If you could only Wish your HP out of the negative, this would be a lot more useful.
*
Perish Song
See "Free Turns" section.
*
Sleep
Not many players keep in a Sleeping Pok�mon. However, I do when it's Venusaur - I'd rather have my sleeping Pok�mon I'm going to switch out anyway seeded than the one that has to scare off Venusaur. A Mean Look + Lovely Kiss Jynx, or even Spore + Spider Web Smeargle can work, or even (lol) Wrap/Sleep Powder Victreebel. Umbreon is very scary when you take all of this into account.
*
Memento
I love this tactic. Back in the day, I had my awesome Mementozard team, consisting of Vaporeon, Jolteon, Charizard, 2 Memento'ers (2 from Weezing, Dusclops and Gardevoir) and either Snorlax or Exeggutor...sometimes changing around. The Memento'ers could all Will-o-Wisp stuff which helps excellently, but the greatest part is of course Memento'ing a Snorlax, then bringing in Charizard to easily Belly Drum and survive the Return. Once, I burned a Venusaur, then Memento'ed it. The incoming Jolteon's Substitute survived the Earthquake, and I passed to Charizard on the second Earthquake. Belly Drum, gg. If Metagross or Regice come in on Memento, you are going to get laughed at.
*
Explosion
Very effective if your opponent doesn't know if you have a Drummer and which one. The one that in theory works the best is a Metagross against a team with a sturdy Water. Explode on this Water, who doesn't expect Metagross to boom early.
*
Grudge
Grudging the attacking move that touches your Belly Drummer is the way to open up the game. On a Choice Bander, this is a guaranteed set-up.
*
Leech Seed
A seeded opponent is a perfect target for Belly Drumming, provided they don't kill you and they don't switch out immediatly after you seed them. This is again why Spikes are so handy. A seeded opponent gets weakened and more likely to get killed, and if he switches you get your Drum for free.
Closing words
As you probably have understood by now, I hold Belly Drum in a high regard. It is very hard to pull off, and after you did you might get blocked anyway, so you need a clear vision of the game status. It might be wise to write down what you know about your opponent's team in a text document, and to have a Damage Calculator at hand.
Belly Drum is not an easy sweep, but its pay-offs are amazing.
GREAT SAGE'S EDIT:
I. Introduction
In the card game Hearts, certain cards are worth points, and if a player is holding a point card at the end of a round, he or she receive the appropriate number of points, one for each Heart, and 13 for the Queen of Spades. Contrary to many other games, players attempt to receive the lowest score possible, and therefore usually try to avoid holding point cards at the end of a round. However, if a certain player receives all thirteen Hearts and the Queen of Spades, that player gains zero points, whereas all other players accept a 26-point acquisition each, giving the player who obtained all the point cards a substantial advantage. This is called "shooting the moon" and is a very dynamic strategy that has huge rewards, but also enormous risk; if the player attempting to "shoot the moon" is missing even one point card, the scores are calculated regularly, and oftentimes the would-be shooter is burdened with a gigantic point gain if the strategy isn't executed perfectly.
The concept of "shooting the moon" is analogous to using the move Belly Drum in Pokémon. Belly Drum is a risky move that raises the user's Attack stage to the maximum level of +6 regardless of the original stage, but in return for such an explosive boost rids the user of 50% of its maximum HP, leaving it open to being easily knocked out in subsequent turns. If the strategy succeeds, the Belly Drummer is set to sweep, especially if it receives a Speed boost from a Salac Berry, but if the strategy is somehow foiled, the Belly Drummer's team is put at an immediate disadvantage, leaving it with one fewer member and often at little or no cost to the opposition.
There are two main formats for sets with Belly Drum: those with Substitute, and those without it. Substitute is an excellent choice to use with Belly Drum, as it allows the user to scout for unfavorable switches so it doesn't waste its Belly Drum on something it can't beat anyways. Substitute also takes 25% of the user's HP, which may at first appear to lack synergy with Belly Drum; however, if the user's HP is set at a number divisible by 4, a Substitute followed by a Belly Drum is enough to activate the Salac Berry, opening a pathway for a clean sweep. Unfortunately, using Substitute only leaves the Belly Drummer with two slots for offensive moves, and oftentimes two slots doesn't offer sufficient type coverage. Sets without Substitute don't usually have problems with type coverage, but are incredibly risky and aren't nearly as easy to use because of how difficult it is to set the user's HP under 25% and over 0% after a Belly Drum. A relatively weak attack from a wall that would switch out from a given Pokémon, such as a Skarmory Drill Peck on an incoming Charizard, will suffice, as it deals over 25% but under 50% damage.
The subsequent portions of this article will discuss three main Pokémon: Charizard, Linoone and Smeargle. In general, these are the most effective Belly Drummers; most other Belly Drummers are either too slow, too limited in movepool, or too weak.
II. Charizard
Charizard is arguably the best Belly Drummer in Advance, because it it reasonably fast at 100 base Speed and has a large physical movepool consisting of attacks such as Earthquake, Hidden Power Flying, and Rock Slide, and can use STAB Fire attacks to annihilate Steel-type walls like Skarmory. Additionally, Charizard's Flying subtype grants it an immunity to one of the most common moves in the game, Earthquake, which makes switching in much easier; immunity to Spikes also helps it, by cutting down on residual damage. The basic set with Substitute consists of Substitute, Belly Drum, and two offensive moves. One offensive move should be Hidden Power Flying, which receives STAB, while the other one is a choice between Earthquake, Rock Slide, and a Fire move from Flamethrower, Fire Blast, and Overheat.
Earthquake and Rock Slide work well with Hidden Power Flying in terms of type coverage, but falter against solid physical walls such as Skarmory, Forretress, and Weezing. The Fire move easily dispatches Skarmory and Forretress, but leaves Charizard open to some threats like Tyranitar. Each Fire move also has its own advantages and foibles. Overheat is the most powerful option and has a good chance of OHKOing Weezing after an Overheat, assuming a Blaze boost and a Naughty or Lonely nature on Charizard's part, but is rendered tantamount to useless after the initial attack because of its two-stage Special Attack drop. Fire Blast is more consistent, can pierce through multiple Steels, and isn't vulnerable to a predicted switch, but is the least accurate of the three moves. Flamethrower is the most accurate but least powerful of the Fire-type options.
A small note in the usage of Substitute Charizard is to use a 30 HP IV on it, and therefore a 30 HP / 30 Attack / 30 Defense / 30 Special Attack / 30 Special Defense / 31 Speed to attain Hidden Power Flying; a 30 HP IV will allow Salac Berry to activate at 25% HP rather than at 1%, meaning Charizard isn't instantly killed by weak priority moves and won't simply roll over to Sand Stream.
Charizard can't possibly hope to be able to beat everything with two moves, which is where the non-Substitute version comes in. Earthquake becomes a mandatory move on this set, and the Fire moves and Rock Slide are left to vie for the final slot. Ideally, Charizard without Substitute should switch in on something that would surely switch out after dealing 25-50% damage; the aforementioned Skarmory and its Drill Peck is but one example of an excellent candidate. Even though Skarmory might predict a Belly Drum and subsequently kill Charizard with Drill Peck, more often than not it wouldn't want to risk an OHKOing Fire attack. Another way to knock down Charizard's health into the appropriate level is to use Double-edge in the auxiliary slot; Double-edge also usually handles the fact that it will never be able to OHKO Milotic or Swampert with a Belly Drummed Hidden Power Flying, but unfortunately an OHKO on Suicune is still far from being attainable.
However, Charizard is still counterable by small pools of Pokémon. Obviously, Pokémon that resist its offensive choices will easily smash the 25% HP or less it has left. Carefully juggling Pokémon with Intimidate, such as Gyarados and Salamence, can wear down at Charizard's Attack to manageable levels; even a two-stage Attack drop heavily weakens Charizard, as its initial Attack isn't particularly impressive. While 25% health and Flying subtyping stops all Mach Punches and most Quick Attacks from taking effect, two or more Fake Outs, Choice Banded and STAB boosted Quick Attacks from Pokémon like Dodrio, or Extremespeed from Linoone or Arcanine will murder a 25% HP Charizard. Tyranitar's Sand Stream puts a time limit on the time Charizard with Salac Berry can sweep by chipping away 6.25% HP each turn, a quarter of the 25% the most healthy Charizard should have; Charizard might like to carry Leftovers to circumvent death by weather, but will not be as useful in general as Salac Berry. The rarest counter to Charizard is something that actually outspeeds it after a Belly Drum. The only non-Uber Pokémon that should be outrunning Charizard is Ninjask, from which a Hidden Power Flying does a minimum of 29%.
It is critical when using Charizard, or any other Belly Drummer for that matter, to not take unnecessary risks. A Charizard that somehow returns to over 50% health, most commonly by Wish support or having an odd HP, should never risk not OHKOing a bulky Water Pokémon and fainting in return. A quick damage calculator on hand aids one in determining whether to attack or switch out.
III. Linoone
Initially, Linoone might seem utterly inferior to Charizard, with lower defenses and Attack, fewer resistances, and an essentially useless Ghost resistance (Ghost attacks are a bit rare, and most commonly found on non-Choice Banded attackers such as Snorlax) in exchange for Charizard's Ground and Spikes immunities. There are very few attacks that do less than 50% damage to Linoone, and it doesn't carry the threat Charizard does to force much or anything to switch out. Linoone does boast two major selling points, though. Extremespeed is one, because its positive priority makes Salac Berry less of a necessity; another one is Flail, which is insanely powerful following a Belly Drum and especially at low HP. Not requiring Salac Berry lets Linoone thrive, even in Sandstorm conditions, by grace of Leftovers. Extremespeed Linoone can also make a case for using Shell Bell, as it should be OHKOing everything, and anything that suffers more than or equal to 152 damage will cause Shell Bell to outweigh Leftovers in terms of recovery.
The basic Extremespeed set for Linoone has Belly Drum, Extremespeed, Shadow Ball for Ghost-types, and either Hidden Power Ground for type coverage on Metagross, Tyranitar and the like, or Return for a slightly stronger Normal STAB move. The only fast Pokémon Linoone should have problems with are Gengar and Aerodactyl, who respectively are immune to and resistant to Extremespeed; the group it has the most problems with are somewhat defensive and slower Pokémon like Swampert. Return and Hidden Power Ground are intended to counter that group of Pokémon, but unfortunately Linoone can only choose one, leaving it vulnerable to either Tyranitar and Metagross in the case of Return or bulky Waters in the case of Hidden Power Ground. Either way, Skarmory and Forretress always beat it easily.
A set with Flail and Substitute is also viable for Linoone, though Flail is an extremely risky tactic because of how critically low one needs to place Linoone's HP. Contrary to most Belly Drummers, Flail Linoone should have an HP that isn't divisible by four so it can get down to 1, 2 or 3 health and strike with Flail at its maximum power of 200. An extremely dynamic version of Linoone combines the Extremespeed and the Flail sets, and should have an odd HP so it can Belly Drum twice. Extremespeed kills some things during the first round, while Flail obliterates almost anything the second round. Shadow Ball or Hidden Power Ground are usable in the fourth slot for type coverage. It would do one well to remember that the combination set is extremely circumstantial and oftentimes won't find a suitable setup. Also, even though Flail is incredibly powerful, it still doesn't OHKO Skarmory or Forretress after a Belly Drum.
IV. Smeargle
Smeargle is the maverick of the three Pokémon that can use Belly Drum effectively. Its HP and Speed are mediocre at best, and the rest of its stats are absolutely unusable; on the other hand, Smeargle learns every single move in the game through Sketch, and while it can't use Belly Drum for itself effectively (its absolute maximum Attack after a Belly Drum is 608, only one more than a once-Dragon Danced Salamence), it can Baton Pass it off to a more powerful Pokémon, most often Medicham. If Smeargle also passes a Salac Berry Speed boost successfully, then its recipient will probably be able to sweep the opponent's team.
The standard Smeargle set consists of Substitute, Belly Drum, Baton Pass, and its linchpin, Spore. Spore is the only sleep move in the game with perfect accuracy, and allows Smeargle plenty of time to set up and Baton Pass Belly Drum. However, the opponent often anticipates it and switches to a Pokémon with Sleep Talk, so a full health Smeargle should use Substitute against a slower enemy, the only type of enemy Smeargle should stay in against. Hopefully, the opposing Pokémon will switch out, but even if it doesn't, Smeargle can Spore it on the next turn and Belly Drum, and if the opponent does switch out, it can Spore the switch-in, which ideally is also slower than Smeargle, and then Belly Drum. Either way, if Smeargle's HP is divisible by four, it will have activated the Salac Berry and become faster than every Pokémon allowed in OU except Electrode and Ninjask. From there, it is a matter of Baton Passing safely to the preferred recipients before winning.
There is an extremely risky variant of the Belly Drumming Smeargle that replaces Substitute with Extremespeed, which helps it against strong carriers of priority moves such as Dodrio, or Substitute with Taunt, which stops Skarmory from forcing it out with Whirlwind. However, it is one of the most difficult things possible in Pokémon to activate a Salac Berry with the modified set. One's best chance would be residual damage from Spikes or Sandstorm.
Medicham tends to be the best recipient, because its Pure Power ability allows it the highest non-Uber Attack in the game, and it sports a physical movepool capable of OHKOing everything except the most defensive Groudon after a Belly Drum. Some other useful recipients are Gyarados, Aerodactyl, Salamence, Zapdos and many others.
V. The Finisher Function
Belly Drummers are very powerful if set up correctly, but there is an anecdote to their usage that relates back to the game of Hearts. If a player realizes his or her opponent is attempting to "shoot the moon" and has the opportunity to stop it, but at the expense of taking the Queen of Spades, the player is more likely than not going to take the chance anyways. At worst, he or she gains 13 points, as opposed to the 26-point gain that would have occurred otherwise. This is why the user of the Belly Drummer should never over- or underestimate the opponent, especially on a second attempt at Belly Drumming, or with a well-known Belly Drummer such as Charizard. A predicted switch might very well not happen. For example, a Charizard that has just switched into a Skarmory's Drill Peck might suffer a fatal one while Belly Drumming on an incorrectly predicted switch. It is vital while using a Belly Drummer to not only consider the risks involved with the Belly Drummer, but also the risks run by the opponent.
There are a few ways for one to force his or her opponent to keep the Belly Drummer alive. This section will also include general support for Belly Drummers.
A. Substitute
A Substitute Baton Passed from another Pokémon is often extremely helpful and lets the Belly Drummer switch in easily and occasionally benefit from its immunities more easily. For example, a Jolteon is exceptionally good at supporting Charizard, because it is weak to Ground, so it can often Baton Pass from an impending Earthquake. It also is extremely fast and scares off Water-types that Charizard dislikes.
B. Perish Song
When the opponent is down to a Perish count of 2, it is a perfect opportunity for a Belly Drummer to switch in. This places the opponent into a checkmate position, because if it switches out, it will give the Belly Drummer a free turn to set up, and if it attacks, it faints to Perish Song, because two turns will have elapsed by that time. Explosion or Selfdestruct will foil this strategy, though.
C. Dugtrio
Dugtrio is very circumstantial, but is also a checkmate strategy to allow for free turns. It is best revealed early and kept in reserve until a Pokémon vulnerable to it and valuable to the opposing team is facing a Belly Drummer. If the Pokémon in question knocks out the Belly Drummer, Dugtrio will revenge kill it.
D. Magneton
Magneton is a trapper of a different flavor from Dugtrio. It can only trap Steel Pokémon, but is generally very effective at killing them off, especially Skarmory, the bane of most Belly Drummers. It is important to keep in mind that Magneton shouldn't try to faint Skarmory if Charizard with a Fire move is active, because Skarmory is excellent switch-in bait.
E. Pseudo-passing
Light Screen and Reflect are moves that halve special and physical damage, respectively, for 5 turns. This can often be enough to lower damage sufficiently so the Belly Drummer suffers less than 25%, or less then enough to break a Substitute. Safeguard, another pseudo-passing move, stops the Belly Drummer from being afflicted by status, most importantly paralysis or burn.
F. Choice Banded Opponents
Choice Band stops the opponent in question from changing attacks, so if the Belly Drummer switches into an attack it is immune to, it will almost certainly pull off a successful Belly Drum. The best Pokémon for this is Charizard, because of its immunity to the popular Ground attack, Earthquake. Linoone and Smeargle will have to be satisfied with switching into the infrequent Shadow Ball.
G. Wish
Wish restores the health of the Pokémon that is active when it takes effect, so it can be used to replenish a Belly Drummer's health to give it a second chance at sweeping. Unfortunately, it can't restore a Salac Berry if it has already been activated.
H. Status
There are four main statuses that help Belly Drummers: sleep, paralysis, burn, and a pseudo-status, Leech Seed. Sleep is obvious for its giving of free turns; freeze works similarly, but isn't the easiest status to inflict due to the fact that it can only be affected via luck. Paralysis can cause a fortunate full paralysis, and burn debilitates physical attackers, increasing the number of hits a Belly Drummer can take. Leech Seed saps the opponent's health to give Belly Drummers extra chances at using Substitute, and helps with its residual damage.
I. Spikes
As usual, Spikes are excellent for residual damage. It is especially useful for Charizard, because it just misses OHKOing several bulky Waters after a Belly Drum.
J. Explosion / Selfdestruct
These moves faint the user and instantly end the turn, letting Belly Drummers switch in without any problems. One of the best users in theory is Metagross, which attracts Water-types, which may not be expecting an early Explosion.
K. Memento
Memento is another self-sacrificial move, but rather than dealing direct damage like Explosion, it lowers both the Attack and Special Attack of the target by 2 stages. Like Explosion, Memento ends the turn when used. An excellent fact is that the three best users of Memento, Dusclops, Gardevoir, and Weezing, all learn Will-O-Wisp, which inflicts burn on the foe. Will-O-Wisp will deter Metagross, which has Clear Body to render Memento useless, however Regice doesn't care.
L. Grudge
Grudge is the third support option that involves the user fainting. It doesn't force the user to faint, but if the opponent uses a direct attack and it causes the Grudge user to faint in the turn immediately following Grudge's usage, that move loses all its PP. This will instantly ruin any Choice Bander and leave it open to switch-ins by Belly Drummers.
VI. Countering Belly Drummers
While Belly Drummers are immensely fearsome once set up, there are counters to every one except Medicham that has been passed Belly Drum. Two ways to beat Belly Drummers that are already set up are generally considered failsafe.
A. Priority Moves
The priority moves available in Advance are Fake Out, Quick Attack, Mach Punch, and Extremespeed. Quick Attack is usually insufficient to finish Belly Drummers, because most keep their HP at 25%, but if heavily boosted, it can work. Mach Punch is essentially futile against Charizard because it resists Fighting, but it is super effective against Smeargle and Linoone. Fake Out will only work if it is heavily boosted or if the Pokémon using it has at least one surviving teammate; it can Fake Out for the flinch, and then come back later to Fake Out for the knockout. Only Linoone and Arcanine can use Extremespeed in non-Uber environments, but it is essentially guaranteed to cut off a Belly Drummer's remaining sliver of health.
B. Tyranitar
Tyranitar is the absolute dread of most Belly Drummers, on par with Skarmory. Most threatening is its Sand Stream ability, which calls infinite Sandstorm upon entry, which straps a ticking time bomb on Charizard. Linoone's standard Extremespeed set is safe if it carries Leftovers, though. Tyranitar also resists many of the move combinations that Belly Drum sweepers often have, including Flying and Fire from Charizard. It doesn't particularly mind Rock Slide either.
VII. Final Words
Belly Drum is, overall, one of the riskiest and most explosive strategies in the game. It requires tremendous team support, so if it fails, the entire team often loses the game. However, if executed properly, Belly Drum can make Charizard, Linoone or Smeargle's recipient a game-winning sweeper. A clear vision of the game status is vital for a Belly Drum team's victory.
