So I was sitting here thinking about stuff, when my thoughts dwelled on how badly Zapdos gets owned in RBY with Golem/Rhydon in play. Drill Peck tickles them, Thunder Wave and Thunderbolt do nothing...and then some people attempt to beat them by Mimicing Earthquake (25% chance too), but Zapdos still loses that one on one unless Golem/Rhydon are severely weakened. There's also been the idea of using Reflect/Rest to stall them out, which would work if they don't CH at all, but a sleeping Zapdos is a useless Zapdos in all other situations.
This is why I thought of using Toxic on Zapdos. Think about it: why is Toxic (and poison in general) not used in RBY? Because poisoning something means a Pokemon can no longer be frozen, put to sleep or paralyzed. But our target is Golem/Rhydon...
- it is generally Chansey or Alakazam or sometimes Snorlax who gets frozen. Golem and Rhydon are both weak to Ice and won't be taking Ice Beams besides out of desperation. And if they are desperate you should be on the winning hand anyway.
- sleep is generally gotten in on the first turn, often on Alakazam, sometimes even on Golem/Rhydon. A sleeping Pokemon generally stays asleep and alive until all sleep inflicting opponents are dead, so nothing else is put to sleep. Or they are switched into Explosions, of course.
- paralysis is generally inflicted through Thunder Wave (which these Grounds are immune to), Stun Spore (which comes from Exeggutor, who would generally be Mega Draining for the OHKO or Psychicing for the 2HKO) or Body Slam paralysis. Which only happens if they switch into Body Slams, which I admit would be a downside of poisoning them, but then again Snorlax generally carries Surf or at least Earthquake while Tauros has Blizzard.
So the set would become
Zapdos
- Thunderbolt
- Thunder Wave
- Toxic
- Drill Peck
You just have to be careful that you don't poison Alakazam/Chansey but most people just switch in their Ground right away, not to mention these two tend to be statused already most of the time. And really, what's there to lose by putting Toxic there? Agility, Mimic and Reflect could hardly ever be called practical, I'd say on paper Toxic is at least as good.
Thoughts and test results welcome to this dead forum.
This is why I thought of using Toxic on Zapdos. Think about it: why is Toxic (and poison in general) not used in RBY? Because poisoning something means a Pokemon can no longer be frozen, put to sleep or paralyzed. But our target is Golem/Rhydon...
- it is generally Chansey or Alakazam or sometimes Snorlax who gets frozen. Golem and Rhydon are both weak to Ice and won't be taking Ice Beams besides out of desperation. And if they are desperate you should be on the winning hand anyway.
- sleep is generally gotten in on the first turn, often on Alakazam, sometimes even on Golem/Rhydon. A sleeping Pokemon generally stays asleep and alive until all sleep inflicting opponents are dead, so nothing else is put to sleep. Or they are switched into Explosions, of course.
- paralysis is generally inflicted through Thunder Wave (which these Grounds are immune to), Stun Spore (which comes from Exeggutor, who would generally be Mega Draining for the OHKO or Psychicing for the 2HKO) or Body Slam paralysis. Which only happens if they switch into Body Slams, which I admit would be a downside of poisoning them, but then again Snorlax generally carries Surf or at least Earthquake while Tauros has Blizzard.
So the set would become
Zapdos
- Thunderbolt
- Thunder Wave
- Toxic
- Drill Peck
You just have to be careful that you don't poison Alakazam/Chansey but most people just switch in their Ground right away, not to mention these two tend to be statused already most of the time. And really, what's there to lose by putting Toxic there? Agility, Mimic and Reflect could hardly ever be called practical, I'd say on paper Toxic is at least as good.
Thoughts and test results welcome to this dead forum.