[SET]
name: Choice Scarf
move 1: Tri Attack
move 2: Thunderbolt
move 3: Ice Beam
move 4: Hidden Power Fighting
item: Choice Scarf
ability: Download
nature: Timid
evs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Porygon-Z's defenses aren't exactly terrible, but due to its lack of resistances, it is best suited to coming in after one of your Pokemon has fainted.
The Choice Scarf allows it to be an awesome revenge killer, outrunning even Jolly Gyarados and Tyranitar after they have Dragon Danced, and of course, other Pokemon such as Gengar, Salamence, Azelf, and more.</p>
<p>Thunderbolt and Ice Beam allow you to deal with Gyarados and Salamence respectively, while Hidden Power Fighting hits Tyranitar and Heatran hard. Tri Attack is
Porygon-Z's most reliable STAB move. Like most special sweepers, Choice Porygon-Z is walled by Blissey, so don't stay in, as
you'll be risking a paralysis.</p>
[SET]
name: Choice Specs
move 1: Tri Attack
move 2: Hidden Power Fighting
move 3: Dark Pulse
move 4: Hyper Beam / Ice Beam
item: Choice Specs
ability: Adaptability
nature: Modest
evs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>With the Choice Specs equipped, Porygon-Z's Special Attack stat goes through the
roof, becoming a whopping 607. Coupled with a 160
BP Tri Attack, Porygon-Z can mow down
almost anything not named Blissey. Dark Pulse tears into any Ghost Pokemon, OHKOing every one of them except Dusknoir and Spiritomb. Hidden Power Fighting, boosted by Choice Specs, annihilates Tyranitar and other Rock- or Steel-type Pokemon that resist Tri Attack. </p>
<p
>What really sets Porygon-Z apart from other high powered special attackers is Hyper Beam. With Adaptabiliy boosting
its power to 300, it is sure to maim or outright destroy anything not immune to it. In fact, Hyper Beam deals up to 62% to 0/176 Calm Blissey, so you can take it out if you've weakened it already. There is a downside to Hyper Beam though. The recharge turn almost ensures that your opponent will be able to kill Porygon-Z the next turn, or, even worse,
use the free turn to set up. With great power comes great responsibility, and if you don't think you can handle being responsible for letting your opponent set up his
Dragon Dancing Salamence on your helpless Porygon-Z, Ice Beam
(or one of Porygon-Z's other special options) is a respectable choice for the last slot instead.</p>
[SET]
name:
Subsitute + Salac
move 1: Subsitute
move 2: Nasty Plot
move 3: Tri Attack
move 4: Hidden Power Water / Dark Pulse
item: Salac Berry
ability: Adaptability
nature: Modest
evs: 4 HP / 128 SpA / 124 SpD / 252 Spe
ivs: 30 Atk / 30 Def / 30 SpA
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>The more offensive metagame has forced Porygon-Z to adapt its strategy a bit. Using Nasty Plot, it packs fearsome power, but is open to revenge kills from Scarfed Heatran, Gengar, and Scizor. This set attempts to remedy these issues by using Substitute to block revenge killing attempts, and a Salac Berry to ensure you outrun most enemy Pokemon.</p>
<p>Porygon-Z is a fearsome special attacker, and as such, encourages switches to dedicated special walls. Using this free turn, you have two options. If your opponent has a Blissey, you should Nasty Plot first. This will lead your opponent to believe it is the standard Nasty Plot set, and they will likely attempt to Thunder Wave you. This will allow you to set up a Substitute on them. You can Nasty Plot a second time as they break your Substitute. After two Nasty Plots, you should be able to 2HKO all Blissey. Most opponents will not Thunder Wave again,
in anticipation of a second Substitute. If you play intelligently, you may walk away with a Substitute or even a Salac boost depending on their reaction to your first Tri Attack. Flamethrower/Toxic Blissey has no chance. With the given Special Defense EVs it will take two hits to break one of Porygon-Z's Substitutes with Blissey's special attack of choice (Thunderbolt, Flamethrower, or Ice Beam). Take advantage of this, and you
could very easily sweep the opposing team.</p>
<p>Against a more offensive opponent, you should Substitute first. When they send in a faster Pokemon, you can Substitute as they break your previous Substitute. Repeat once more, and you will be at one-fourth of your HP and have a Salac boost. You will more than likely outrun them, so you can either Nasty Plot, or kill them off, leaving you with +1 Speed and +2 Special Attack, or +1 Speed and a Substitute. Since
priority moves are very popular, you should strongly consider keeping your Substitute instead of going for the Nasty Plot.
Scizor's Bullet Punch, for example, will force you to switch or die if Porygon-Z is caught exposed. Even with only 370 Special Attack, Porygon-Z can do considerable damage to the opponent.</p>
<p>It is difficult to get good type coverage with only two moves. This problem is compounded when your STAB is a
Normal-type move. However, Tri Attack and Hidden Power Water, while a strange combination, is only walled by Empoleon and Shedinja in
Standard play. Hidden Power Water deals
reliable damage to Tyranitar, Heatran, and can even OHKO Gengar after a boost with some prior damage. Tri Attack
with Dark Pulse work
s as well, especially if you fear bulky Ghosts like the
appliance Rotom formes ruining your sweep. Being walled by Tyranitar and Heatran isn't a very good idea, as they are very common, so it is strongly recommended that Hidden Power Water be your choice. The given IVs allow a full power Hidden Power Water, while still
retaining max Speed.</p>
[SET]
name: Substitute, Three attacks
move 1: Substitute
move 2: Tri Attack
move 3: Dark Pulse
move 4: Hidden Power Fighting
item: Leftovers / Salac Berry / Petaya Berry
nature: Timid
evs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>As previously stated, Porygon-Z is easily revenge killed. Because of this, sometimes it's just simpler to Substitute on an expected switch rather than trying to predict your opponent's response. Porygon-Z has perfect type coverage with these three moves, so he doesn't miss the moveslot much. Tri Attack for STAB, Dark Pulse hits Ghosts, and
Hidden Power Fighting hits Steels and Rocks.</p>
<p>This is an especially effective set when facing down an offensive team. While the other Substitute set,
Subsitute + Salac (above) is most effective if your opponent has Blissey, this one works much better if they do not have it. Simply Substitute, and attack the switch-in with the correct moves. If they are faster than you, you still get to attack them without fear thanks to your protective Substitute. If they are slower, you can attack them twice before taking damage. Many offensive teams rely on their resistances to take Porygon-Z's beatings, so this set makes that tactic obsolete. You should be able to
faint a couple Pokemon with it if you play your cards right.</p>
<p>
The item choice is difficult. Leftovers allows you to make more Substitutes than you normally
could. Salac Berry gives you a nice Speed boost, bringing you up to 459 Speed. This outruns all Scarfed base 10
0s and anything slower. However, with only 369 Special
Attack, peanuts compared to other Porygon-Z sets, you might want to try using a Petaya Berry to boost
that Special Attack to a more
respectable 553. Download is more than usable on this set. Usually the pokemon who run from Porygon-Z have low Special
Defense, meaning more often than not, you'll get the Special Attack boost you want. This, coupled with the Substitute will make Porygon-Z a very fearsome threat. Tri Attack is actually more powerful with the Download boost than with the Adaptability boost, so most cases Download will serve you better. Adaptability powers up Tri Attack only, making it a consistent but lesser option.</p>
[SET]
name: Trick
move 1: Trick
move 2: Tri Attack
move 3: Hidden Power Fighting / Substitute
move 4: Dark Pulse
item: Choice Scarf
ability: Adaptability
nature: Modest
evs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>
With Trick in Porygon-Z's sizable movepool, even special walls should fear it.
Blissey isn't terribly threatening if you can Trick a Choice Scarf onto it. Being locked into one move makes Blissey much easier to deal with, as it will no longer be able to use Softboiled effectively, and it will have to choose between attacking
you, trying to status you, or recovering. Because of this, Substitute is a viable option. If Blissey tries to status Porygon-Z, you now have a free Substitute against a completely helpless Blissey.
They either have to let Blissey be killed, or let another Pokemon take two powerful hits from Porygon-Z.</p>
<p>Use Hidden Power Fighting and Dark Pulse together to hit all the Pokemon that resist Tri Attack. If you're a little gutsier and are going to go the Substitute route, Hidden Power Fighting
can be forwent. However, beware of Tyranitar, Heatran, and other sturdy Rocks and
Steels, as you won't be hitting them too hard.
Modest is recommended because you won't be able to deal with Salamence or Gyarados properly without the respective elemental attacks, making outspeeding either a less-than-desirable pursuit. You'll appreciate the extra punch Modest provides.</p>
[SET]
name: Nasty Plot
move 1: Nasty Plot
move 2: Tri Attack
move 3: Dark Pulse
move 4: Hidden Power Fighting
item: Life Orb / Silk Scarf
ability: Adaptability
nature: Timid
evs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Once the flagship Porygon-Z set, the Nasty Plot sweeper has become slightly less useful thanks to Scizor, Swords Dance Lucario, and tougher Blissey variants. It still wields fearsome power, and can sweep an unprepared team.
It's very simple to use and can OHKO or 2HKO any pokemon in the entire game after just one boost. Like every other set, Tri Attack is
Porygon-Z's most reliable STAB attack, while Dark Pulse hits
Ghosts, and Hidden Power Fighting hits Rocks and Steels for super effective damage. Thunderbolt and Ice Beam can also be used alongside Tri Attack for the
BoltBeam combo, but you'll have problems with Tyranitar and the
Rotom formes. Hidden Power Fire can be used to hit Steels like Scizor, but leaves you walled by Tyranitar. Hidden Power Ground does more damage to Pokemon like Heatran and Metagross than Fighting does.</p>
<p>The biggest letdown is Porygon-Z's
middling Speed. 306 isn't very high, and it is outrun by many Pokemon. This makes it difficult to sweep some of the faster teams, but it is by no means a useless set. Against a slower team, you will likely rip over half of it to shreds before you succumb to their attacks.</p>
[SET]
name: Agility
move 1: Agility
move 2: Tri Attack
move 3: Dark Pulse
move 4: Hidden Power Fighting
item: Life Orb
ability: Download
nature: Modest
evs: 132 HP / 252 SpA / 124 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>An alternate spin on the Nasty Plot set.
Using Agility, Porygon-Z can outrun nearly everything after a single boost from Agility. This aids Porygon-Z greatly when facing an offensive team, as it is much harder to revenge kill. Offensive teams generally don't take hits very well, so even
with 405 Special Attack, you'll still be able to do some damage. Because of the reduced power, Download is recommended. If you can get the boost, you'll have
607 Special Attack to work with. Tri Attack is your STAB move, like every other set here. Hidden Power Fighting deals with Rock- and Steel-type Pokemon. Dark Pulse is for Ghost Pokemon.</p>
<p>The EVs give you 247 Speed before the Agility. This outruns all Tyranitar, and after an Agility, Scarfed Positive base 100s.
Alternatively, you can use a spread of 70 HP / 252 SpA / 188 Spe. With this spread, you'll have 263 Speed before Agility, enough to outrun positive-natured base 70s. After the Agility,
Porygon-Z will reach 526 Speed, enough to outrun Timid Choice Scarf Gengar.</p>
[SET]
name: Mixed Sweeper
move 1: Sharpen
move 2: Return
move 3: Ice Beam / Dark Pulse
move 4: Hidden Power Fighting
item: Life Orb
ability: Adaptability
nature: Mild
evs: 252 Atk / 36 SpA / 220 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>
Porygon-Z's forgettable base 80 Attack is not so shabby when complemented with Sharpen, Adaptability, and one of the most reliable, drawback-free attacks - Return. After one Sharpen boost, Porygon-Z has over 500 Attack. This allows it to guarantee a OHKO on Blissey with Return, as long as it has taken Stealth Rock damage. After you have done this, attempt to sweep your opponent, using your ridiculously powerful Return on Special Defense oriented Pokemon, and using your Special Attacks to destroy physical walls. To put it into perspective, Porygon-Z's
Sharpen-boosted Return hits harder than Salamence's Life Orb Outrage, dealing damage not unlike Adamant Choice Band Heracross' Close Combat. This allows you to 2HKO all but the toughest walls. Even Suicune, Celebi, and Hippowdon are 2HKOed.</p>
<p>Ice Beam smashes those sturdy Ground-types and Grass-types. Dark Pulse can be used to beat on bulky Ghosts. Hidden Power Fighting helps you deal with Steel- or Rock-type pokemon, most importantly Tyranitar. Everything else you should just hit hard with your STAB Return.</p>
<p>The only thing stopping Porygon-Z is something faster, and unfortunately, at 270 Speed, this includes quite a few pokemon. There are two ways to fix this. The first is to lower your Attack EVs to 192. This still guarantees the OHKO on Blissey, but makes Return a significantly weaker sweeping move. This allows you to maximize speed. Agility can also be used over Sharpen, as you can 2HKO Blissey without the Attack boost, but when your strongest special attack is an unSTABed Ice Beam, sweeping will be difficult, regardless of how fast you are.</p>
[Adaptability or Download?]
<p>Both of Porygon-Z's abilities are very potent and make it a dangerous special sweeper. Adaptability boosts the power of Tri Attack from 120 to 160, giving it a considerable punch even when resisted. Download is recommended on the Choice sets however. This is because Download boosts the power of all your Special Attacks by 1.5x if your target has lower Special Defense than Defense. Since you can only use one move, and it might not be Tri Attack, it is better to have that boost on your other moves as well. It is also interesting to note that a Download boosted Tri Attack is more powerful than an Adaptability boosted Tri Attack by 12%. This advantage is moot after a Nasty Plot, which is when Adaptability Tri Attack becomes stronger by 3%. After two Nasty Plots it is stronger by 11%. After three it is stronger by 15%. On Nasty Plot sets, Adaptability is far superior. On sets where you have no other means of boosting your Special Attack, use Download.</p>
[Other Options]
<p>Porygon-Z has a fairly large special attacking movepool. However, Tri Attack is so powerful, you should only consider moves that complement its type coverage. For the most part, you should be trying to hit Ghost Pokemon, and Rocks or Steels. Tri Attack will deal with everything else. Because of this, ignore moves such as Psychic, Signal Beam, Solarbeam, and Zap Cannon. Thunderbolt and Ice Beam have good coverage, but are only useful on the Choice sets.</p>
<p>Hyper Beam is a deadly suicide
move, one that can even OHKO the occasional Blissey if a Modest Porygon-Z has a Nasty Plot and a Life Orb. However, it is difficult to find a moveslot for this attack. Removing Dark Pulse or Hidden Power Fighting would mean you forfeit coverage on Ghosts or Tyranitar. Removing Tri Attack for Hyper Beam hinders your ability to sweep, as you no longer have a reliable STAB attack to fall back on. It's very risky, but destroying Blissey is well worth the payoff. Just make sure you have a backup plan when your opponent uses that recharge turn to set up a sweep.</p>
<p>Porygon-Z has a interesting support movepool as well, thanks to
its more defensive pre-evolution Porygon2. These include Trick Room, Thunder Wave, Magnet Rise, Recycle and more. These are better left to other Pokemon, as Porygon-Z packs so much power that it's better to spend your time destroying your targets instead of attempting to cripple them with status or playing mind games.</p>
<p>Conversion can be used with Dark Pulse and Nasty Plot (and a fourth move like Substitute, Recover, and another attack). Adaptability will make Dark Pulse as powerful as Tri Attack would once Porygon-Z is a Dark-type. The strategy takes two turns to set up though, one to Conversion, making Porygon-Z a Dark-type (with STAB Adaptability Dark Pulse) and another to Nasty Plot, so you can do some damage. Using just Normal- and Dark-type moves will guarantee Conversion's turning you into a Dark-type. However, you can take a gamble and use a second attacking move, as well.</p>
[EVs]
<p>The EVs vary depending on the set. Usually you should just stick with what's listed. The only real decision you should be making is Timid or Modest. Modest provides you with huge attack power, but dooms you to be slower than all those 280 speed Pokemon, as well as tying with Lucario. Timid outruns neutral base 100s.</p>
[Opinion]
<p>Porygon-Z was vastly overhyped in the early stages of the 4th generation, boasting to be the only Pokemon that could OHKO Blissey with a special attack. However, it soon fell into obscurity, because of its average Speed and lack of resistances. With a couple of new move tutor attacks, and some new, metagame friendly sets, it is once more worth consideration. Boasting the highest non-uber Special Attack in the game, and a 160 power Tri Attack, Porygon-Z is a potent addition to any team that can be tailored to its needs. Its biggest hitch is its low Speed, but if you can get past this, you'll be very impressed. It can 2HKO every Pokemon in the entire game after one Nasty Plot boost.</p>
[Counters]
<p>Porygon-Z can 2HKO anything in the game after a Nasty Plot, even Blissey. This makes it very difficult to counter. Its lack of resistances as a Normal-type and its average Speed make it slightly easier to handle. Being weak to both Vacuum Wave and Mach Punch
helps, too.</p>
<p>Spiritomb makes a more than decent switch-in to any Porygon-Z set. It is immune to Tri Attack and isn't weak to any other moves. Hidden Power Fighting will 2HKO Porygon-Z easily. Blissey is a decent option, but only
if it has Thunder Wave. Porygon-Z deal damage a lot faster with its boosted Tri Attacks than you can do back with Seismic Toss. Sharpen boosted Return OHKOs Blissey too, which is a problem. Probopass, Registeel and Tyranitar can weather any beating save for Hidden Power Fighting. Metagross can do some damage with Choice Banded Bullet Punch, but boosted Tri Attacks will sting quite a bit.</p>
<p>As far as revenge killing goes, it's much easier. Scizor with Bullet Punch can chase it away quite easily. Lucario can use Vacuum Wave or Extremespeed. Gengar can outrun Porygon-Z and use Focus Blast for a quick kill. Scarfed Heatran is a suitable revenge killer as well, but can actually be set up on by the Sub Salac set. Basically take advantage of its average Speed and hit it with whatever you can. That's about as close to countering a Porygon-Z as it gets.</p>
