Spiritomb
[Overview]
<p>Spiritomb is a versatile Pokemon in the VGC 2012 metagame, but it is best used in the role of a support Pokemon. It has decent base stats in both Attack and Special Attack as well as Defense and Special Defense, but it lacks in Speed and HP. For this reason, Spiritomb is best used in a Trick Room team, where it is easier for Spiritomb to weaken opposing Pokemon before they can hit Spiritomb or its allies. Spiritomb benefits from having the excellent Ghost/Dark typing, which offers it three immunities, one resistance, and no weaknesses. This makes Spiritomb difficult to KO, despite its low base HP.</p>
[SET]
name: Support
move 1: Will-O-Wisp
move 2: Sucker Punch / Shadow Sneak
move 3: Icy Wind
move 4: Protect / Dark Pulse / Hypnosis
item: Lefovers / Sitrus Berry
ability: Pressure
nature: Sassy
evs: 252 HP / 252 Sp Def
ivs: 0 spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Spiritomb has a large support movepool, offering a number of ways to weaken opponents to make life easier for its teammates. It can slow both opposing Pokemon simultaneously with Icy Wind, cripple physical attackers with Will-O-Wisp, and pick off weakened Pokemon with Shadow Sneak or Sucker Punch. The last moveslot is again a tossup: Protect allows Spiritomb to block incoming attacks for a turn and gain another turn of Leftovers recovery/burn damage, Dark Pulse offers another damage source, and Hypnosis allows Spiritomb to completely shut down one Pokemon, albeit a bit unreliably. </p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>As stated before, Spiritomb works best under Trick Room to take advantage of it's low Speed stat. As such, any Pokemon that can set up Trick Room works well with Spiritomb. Pokemon that can draw attention away from Spiritomb work well with the Sweeper set, as they allow Spiritomb to set up unimpeded. Rage Powder users like Amoonguss and Parasect are particularly useful, especially as they also benefit from Trick Room. Because Spiritomb has three type immunities, it also works well with Pokemon that are fragile or may commonly be targeted by Normal-, Fighting-, or Psychic-type attacks.</p>
[Other Options]
<p>Spiritomb has a vast movepool, which allow it to be used for many roles. Spiritomb learns both Rain Dance and Sunny Day and is immune to Fake Out, so it can be used to set up those weather effects with relatively little danger to itself. Spiritomb can also learn a number of other supporting options, such as Taunt, Memento, Embargo, and Destiny Bond. Spiritmob learns both Nasty Plot and Calm Mind, which are powerful setup moves. Unfortunately, due to Spiritombs relative lack of bulk and the threat of being double targeted, it is very difficult to set up successfully. Spiritomb is also one of the few Pokemon that learns Quash, which forces the target to move last out of all the Pokemon that turn. Unfortunately, Spiritombs low speed make it a poor user of Quash. Spiritomb does learn Imprison, but it does not learn Trick Room or many other moves that would be useful to prevent the opponent from using outside of Protect. A Choice Band set is possible, and you don't need to invest EVs in Speed because Spiritombs best physical attacks are both priority attacks, Shadow Sneak and Sucker Punch. You can also Trick your Choice Band onto a Special Attacker on the opposing team and cripple that Pokemon for the rest of the battle.</p>
[Checks and Counters]
<p>Because of the fact that Spiritomb must set up for a turn or two before it is a threat, any Pokemon that can deal large amounts of damage to Spiritomb quickly is a good check to it. However, the thing that Spiritomb most fears is Taunt. If Spiritomb is Taunted before it can set up, or at any point if it is using the Support set, its utility is greatly diminished. Dark- and Steel-type Pokemon are effective against Spiritomb as well, as they are difficult for Spiritomb to KO. Due to Spiritombs low speed, it is also very easy to put Spiritomb to sleep and render it useless for several turns.</p>
