Swampert (QC 2/3)

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Audiosurfer

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[Overview]
  • Often overlooked in favor of other Water-types
  • Especially faces competition from Gastrodon, who has same typing and cool Storm Drain ability
  • Swampert, however, has an awesome move in Wide Guard, giving it a nice niche
  • Cool typing both offensively and defensively
  • Overall can be useful when its strengths are properly utilized
[Set]

name: Wide Guard
move 1: Waterfall
move 2: Earthquake
move 3: Wide Guard
move 4: Protect / Ice Punch / Stone Edge
item: Sitrus Berry / Rindo Berry
nature: Adamant
evs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spe

[Set Comments]
  • Waterfall is main STAB and has nice coverage, flinch chance is nifty too
  • Earthquake good secondary STAB and has useful spread
  • Wide Guard lets Swampert shield its partners from annoying spread moves like Earthquake, Surf, Muddy Water, etc.
  • Protect = Protect
  • Ice Punch can be nice to hits Grass- and Flying-types
  • Stone Edge also hits Flying-types + Volcarona harder than other moves which is cool
[Additional Comments]
  • Sitrus for more longevity is cool
  • Rindo Berry to live Grass-type moves that will otherwise easily KO, especially Energy Ball from Chandelure and Goga Drain from Volcarona
  • Brave + 0 Spe IVs can be nice to use Swampert in Trick Room
  • 240 HP / 176 Atk / 92 SpD @ Adamant allow Swampert to KO Excadrill w/ Waterfall while living through Dragon Gem Draco Meteor from Latios and LO Hydro Pump from Kingdra in the Rain.
  • Grass-types are a huge problem for Swampert since they resist both of its STABs and can KO easily, so partners like Abomasnow, Tornadus, Scizor, and Heatran that can get rid of them are great partners
  • Pokemon such as Abomasnow and Tornadus who are weak to common spread moves appreciate Swampert's Wide Guard shielding them from damage. They also go well w/ Earthquake.
  • Pokemon such as Scizor and Metagross that eliminate Dragons such as Latios, Latias and Hydreigon that otherwise don't care about Swampert's STABs make for good partners
  • Grass-types make for good partners to Swampert since they can easily dispatch Water-types such as Rotom-W and Jellicent that don't care about Swampert's attacks
  • Swampert is a good fit for Hail teams since it can take on Fire-, Steel-, and Rock-types that threaten Hail teams while also shielding it from Heat Waves and Rock Slides that threaten it
[Other Options]
  • Superpower hits Tyranitar harder than Waterfall or Earthquake and also hits Abomasnow + Rotom-W harder than other moves, but stat drops suck
  • Hammer Arm is also good for this, and can be useful to drop speed under Trick Room
  • Bulldoze is nice for Speed control, but is noticably weaker than Earthquake
  • Special set can be used to get around Intimidate drops
  • Choice Band set can be used, but then you miss out on Wide Guard
  • ChestoRest can be nice to grant more longevity
  • Roar is nice to phaze out Trick Room
  • Avalanche can be nice due to Swampert's low Base Speed
  • Curse can be nice to be a boosting tank w/ FM/RP support, especially since Swampert isn't weak to any spread moves.
  • Muddy Water can be nice for spread that doesn't hit partner + unaffected by intimidate
  • Scald can be cool for potential burns on a defensive set but is weak af
  • Icy Wind for speed control but also weak af
  • Hydro Pump
  • Counter/Mirror Coat to get a surprise KO on an attacker, but it's kinda situational
  • Blizzard can be used in hail
[Checks and Counters]
  • Grass-types easily are the bane of Swampert's existence. Pokemon such as Abomasnow, Breloom. Virizion, Ludicolo, Shaymin-S and Amoonguss can all take a hit and KO back easily. Breloom can even get around Rindo Berry with Bullet Seed, and Amoonguss can redirect its hits with Rage Powder, with both being able to put it to sleep
  • Dragon-types such as Latios, Latias, Hydreigon, Kyurem, and Kyurem-B resist Waterfall, and the fact that the first 3 have Levitate means they're immune to Earthquake. All of them can easily take a hit deal huge amounts of damage to Swampert in return.
  • Bulky Water-types such as Rotom-W and Jellicent can all comfortably take whatever Swampert can throw at them and then either hit it with powerful Water STAB or potentially burn with Scald or Will-O-Wisp
  • Sableye can cripple it with Will-O-Wisp, Taunt it to prevent the use of Wide Guard, and has Recover to heal off damage
  • Cresselia is immune to Earthquake and can take its other attacks with ease
 
Last edited:
Overview

  • Also mention it has higher attacking stats than Gastrodon (and Seismitoad), which allows it to take on more of an offensive role than those two can
Set Comments

  • Nothing to criticize mention here. The only real thing is that the item points might be better for AC, but that's really up to you.
Additional Comments
  • Expert Belt doesn't really deliver enough power to be useful; so it should be removed imo. For example:
    • 252+ Atk Expert Belt Swampert Waterfall vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Tyranitar: 283-334 (82.74 - 97.66%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
    • 252+ Atk Expert Belt Swampert Earthquake vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Metagross: 230-274 (76.15 - 90.72%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
  • Ground Gem also misses out on OHKOs on 252 HP variants (the more common sets), but since it can still deliver a powerful one-time attack, it could probably make itself useful
  • "Pokemon such as Abomasnow and Tornadus who are weak to common spread moves appreciate Swampert's Wide Guard shielding them from damage" ~mention that these guys also work well with Swampert's EQ~
  • "Swampert is a good fit for Hail teams since it can take on Fire- and Rock-types that threaten Hail teams while also shielding it from Heat Waves and Rock Slides that threaten it" ~Steel-types will also not enjoy its EQ, and they are hands down the biggest problem hail teams deal with, so add them in too~
Other Options
  • Avalanche- while it always goes last, it can take advantage of Swampert's lower speed, and if Swampert is targeted, it hits 120bp; the raw power of it would be nice in various situations
Checks & Counters
  • I'm completely surprised Ludicolo had no mention here; it resists both STABs, is neutral to Ice, and can rip Swampert apart with Giga Drain
  • Both Rotom-W and Jellicent have bulky sets abusing WoW, those particular sets can easily cripple Swampert
I'd also give you a QC approval, but the first reply is p. premature for that, I'll give some other people time to look it over first.
 
Under Overview, talk about how Swampert fares well against Electric-types, since most of them lack a grass coverage move. Swampert is also a decent check against Sand teams, giving Tyranitar and Excadrill a run for their money. Fire-types also hate facing Swampert.

I prefer slashing Stone Edge instead of Rock Slide. A non-stab Rock Slide coming from a 110 base Attack is simply unimpressive, and wont really improve Swampert's offensive coverage. With Stone Edge Swampert can actually 2HKO Zapdos (144 HP / 4 Def), even after Sitrus Berry, max HP Abomasnow, and min HP Kyurem-B. Stone Edge is also an easy OHKO on max HP Volcarona without risking a Flame Body burn. You can swap Stone Edge and Rock Slide's places.

You can AC mention Brave Nature with 0 Spe IVs if you want Swampert to operate more effectively in Trick Room.

You should offer an alternative bulkier spread for Swampert, imo. Here's an example: 240 HP / 176 Atk / 92 SpD, Adamant Nature: Enough Atk to OHKO 4 Def Excadrill with Waterfall, while the increased investment in SpD allows it to tank Dragon Gem Draco Meteor from Latios and LO Hydro Pump from Kingdra in the rain.

When talking about Rindo Berry, give a particular strong mention of the item's protection against Chandelure's Energy Ball / Volcarona's Giga Drain.

Add onto your OO Superpower that Superpower is the hardest move Swampert has at its disposal to hit Rotom-W and Abomasnow.

Add Curse to OO. Expand that Swampert's lack of exploitable weakness to spread moves makes this set-up particularly potent with a Follow Me / Rage Powder user.

Add Muddy Water, Scald, Icy Wind, Counter, and Magic Coat to OO as utility moves that a defensive Swampert could run.

Add Blizzard to OO if it's run on Hail teams.
 
Hydro Pump to be added to list or a billion other options other than that this skelly looks p good

QC Approved 2/3
you go glen coco
 
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