[OVERVIEW]
Registeel acts as an important wall in RU thanks to its excellent mono-Steel typing and amazing 80 / 150 / 150 bulk, allowing it to wall threats that present problems to stall and balance teams like Exploud, Meloetta, Mega Glalie, Abomasnow, Venusaur, and Fletchinder. It also boasts a solid support movepool, including Stealth Rock, Thunder Wave, and Toxic. However, Registeel suffers from weaknesses to common types in Ground, Fire, and Fighting and has horrible offensive presence, needing to rely on Toxic and Seismic Toss to do damage. This allows Pokemon like Flygon, Flame Orb Sigilyph, and Emboar to come in on Registeel with relative ease and start firing off attacks or set up or remove entry hazards. Finally, Registeel's low offensive presence makes it bait for status-resilient setup sweepers such as Virizion, and Pokemon that can make 101 HP Substitutes, like Braviary and Meloetta.
[SET]
name: Specially Defensive
move 1: Seismic Toss
move 2: Stealth Rock
move 3: Toxic
move 4: Thunder Wave / Protect
ability: Clear Body
item: Leftovers
evs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
nature: Calm
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Seismic Toss, while weak, is a consistent form of damage output that can chip away at switch-ins, such as Steelix. Iron Head can be used over Seismic Toss to target Hoopa and keep it from setting up a Substitute on Registeel and can also be used to attempt to paraflinch foes in conjunction with Thunder Wave. Stealth Rock can chip at foes as well as break Focus Sashes and Sturdy. Toxic is useful for whittling down Pokemon that aren't vulnerable to Seismic Toss, like Flygon, Fletchinder, and Alomomola. Thunder Wave can be used to slow down faster threats like Delphox, Hoopa, Mega Glalie, and Tyrantrum. Thunder Wave is especially important to allow Registeel to outlast Venusaur and Sigilyph. Protect is used for scouting what move Choice-locked Pokemon are using or for dangerous coverage moves, stalling for Toxic damage and Leftovers recovery, and potentially blocking High Jump Kick from Hitmonlee and Medicham.
Set Details
========
A specially defensive spread with a Calm nature allows Registeel to take on as many attackers as possible. If Iron Head is run, a Careful nature should be run instead. Leftovers is mandatory on Registeel, as it has no form of reliable recovery.
Usage Tips
========
Registeel can be used to set up Stealth Rock early in the game. Registeel should be switched into Pokemon that it can wall, such as Venusaur, Exploud, Fletchling, Tyrantrum, and Choice Specs Meloetta. Be careful when switching in on Exploud and Meloetta, however, as Registeel can be 2HKOed by the appropriate coverage move. Once Registeel gets in against a Pokemon that can do little to it, it can spread status throughout the opposing team. Although certain Pokemon are unable to 2HKO Registeel, it's good to not let it take on foes that can do significant damage to it, as Registeel can be easily whittled down by attacks. If the opponent lacks status-immune Pokemon, don't hesitate to spam Toxic or Thunder Wave. One should be careful, however, to inflict a convenient condition on the foe, such as Toxic on Alomomola, Slowking, and Fletchinder or paralysis on Sigilyph. Inflicting the wrong condition can make it hard for Registeel to adequately take on that Pokemon.
Team Options
========
Alomomola is easily one of the best partners for Registeel, patching up Registeel's lack of recovery by passing it massive Wishes. Registeel and Alomomola also have solid defensive synergy, since Alomomola is able to take on Fire- and Ground-types for Registeel while Registeel can handle Exploud and Venusaur for Alomomola. Fighting-type switch-ins, like Granbull, Aromatisse, and Garbodor, can take on Hitmonlee and Sawk well. Diancie, Aromatisse, Togetic, and Granbull can supply cleric support to allow Registeel to take on weak Scald users without serious fear of a burn. All of these Fairy-types have very good defensive synergy with Registeel, as Registeel can easily take Steel- and Poison-type moves for them, while they can take on Fighting-types for Registeel. Users of Haze and Clear Smog, like Garbodor and Weezing, can check Fighting-types and take on the setup sweepers that can use Registeel as bait, like Virizion.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
A Curse set using Rest for recovery can be used as a bulky wincon on stall-oriented teams, but Registeel's pitiful offensive presence, its overreliance on Rest for recovery, and the prevalence of Flygon and other Ground-types in the tier make this difficult to pull off. Block can be used over Stealth Rock to trap Pokemon weak to Toxic, but this strategy is unreliable due to most Pokemon that lose to Registeel simply switching out in the first place. If Block is run, such a set needs to run Protect alongside it. A set of Thunder Wave, Toxic, Protect, and Seismic Toss can be used if Registeel's team already has a Stealth Rock user. A physically defensive spread can be used to take on a different pool of threats, but such a set is largely outclassed by Steelix and is overall less effective than a specially defensive one. Counter can be used to take advantage of physical attackers targeting Registeel, but this strategy requires Registeel to take a large amount of damage. Finally, Earthquake can be used to target Jolteon, Manectric, and Magneton but has little use outside of that.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Ground-types**: Ground-types are immune to Thunder Wave and can target Registeel with their super effective STAB moves. Flygon, Mega Camerupt, and Rhyperior can quickly defeat Registeel, giving them opportunities to grab momentum, stack or remove entry hazards, or smash a switch-in hard. Steelix gets a special mention, as it is also immune to Toxic. Finally, Dugtrio can trap Registeel fairly effectively, giving opportunities for Exploud or Venusaur to terrorize Registeel's team.
**Fighting-types**: Despite Medicham, Sawk, and Hitmonlee being bothered by Protect and crippled by Thunder Wave, most Fighting-types, especially those resilient to status, can make short work of Registeel with their STAB moves. Virizion, while not threatening an OHKO, can still easily set up on Registeel due to commonly holding Lum Berry and can become very threatening to Registeel's entire team. Scrafty can usually set up on Registeel due to Shed Skin removing status.
**Fire-types**: Fire-types can threaten Registeel with their STAB attacks. Delphox, Houndoom, and Emboar all easily 2HKO Registeel, while Mega Camerupt can do the same and has an immunity to Thunder Wave, which the former three all despise.
**Status-immune Pokemon**: Pokemon that can Taunt or set up a Substitute against Registeel can easily muscle past it due to its heavy reliance on Thunder Wave and Toxic. Taunt Jellicent can take advantage of Registeel's passivity and wear it down with Scald or Hex. Substitute + Bulk Up Braviary and Substitute + Calm Mind Meloetta can make 101 HP Substitutes, making it impossible for Registeel to break them with one Seismic Toss, leaving it as setup bait. Sigilyph can muscle past Registeel if it lacks Thunder Wave or if Sigilyph is holding Flame Orb.
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