Statistics
|
Stat |
| HP |
100
|
403 |
| Atk |
100
|
298 |
| Def |
80
|
258 |
| SpA |
60
|
218 |
| SpD |
60
|
218 |
| Spe |
50
|
198 |
One of the better underused sweepers. Curse up, Roar out anything that tries to Roar you. Blizzard hits Grass-types and Flying-types since Earthquake won't work well on them. Blizzard beats Zapdos in two hits and Skarmory in three.
Piloswine has decent Defense and great HP, so it can use Sleep Talk well. Ground + Ice is at least neutral on everything, and double STAB is not a bad thing.
Other Options
If Blizzard isn't your cup of tea, you can try Ice Beam. Also it can get Rock Slide, Body Slam, or AncientPower for physical attacks. AncientPower is always fun for that possible stat boost.
Opinion
Piloswine is definitely one of the better underused sweepers and can be extremely effective when it's in the right hands. Its unique typing gives it STAB on two of the best attack types, not to mention that Ice and Ground attacks cover each other's short-comings amazingly well. While its stats aren't stellar (exception being a good deal of HP), they're made up for with the good typing. It does get countered by just about any standard Water-type, but besides that it's a great underused choice. Unfortunately, as good as Ground / Ice is offensively, it is a garbage typing defensively. It's immune to Electric and it resists Poison. Other than that, Piloswine takes everything for neutral or worse.
Counters
The usual defensive Water-types completely stop Piloswine in its tracks and Surf its weak Special Defense. Heracross's Ground resistance and good Special Defense help it take Piloswine's attacks while its powerful Megahorn takes its toll. Skarmory doesn't have trouble taking Piloswine's attacks, but the former will unfortunately always be Roared out, as Piloswine has the slower Roar. Skarmory is still is very effective at wasting Piloswine's PP, though. Moltres and Charizard beat Piloswine if it doesn't have a Rock move.
