Dusclops is good for a few things, but there is only one REAL reason you want a Dusclops on your team: To block Rapid Spin. He is one of the reasons people use Magneton instead of a hardy Rapid Spinner. Barely anything gets past this. Donphan is often used as a Rapid Spinner over Claydol because the former can hit Dusclops hard on the switch with a STAB Earthquake from 120 base attack. Anyway, the premise is simple: block Rapid Spin, burn stuff, and when low on health, Pain Split or Rest. He beats the shit out of Blissey: Will-O-Wisp it, Pain Split, and keep Focus Punching. Even if it Ice Beams, it will get so low on health from burn that it will recover eventually and you will land a punch.
A pretty decent Salamence counter, and stops Donphan pretty effectively. Watch out for Suicune, as it will Roar you out, and Milotic will absorb the Burn and put you to sleep. However, if Milotic has already put something else to Sleep, you can Calm Mind up to block its Surfs defensively, and then try to Pressure stall it with Rest. You want to focus on Defense more than Special Defense here because Calm Mind will help you out on that side anyway.
With Shadow Ball, this is one of the best Gengar counters in the game. Even if it has Hypnosis or Will-O-Wisp, you can continue your business, and maybe surprise some physical attacker with a Sleep Talked Will-O-Wisp. Good to absorb sleep from Breloom and Jynx too. Other OptionsToxic is an alternative to Will-O-Wisp if you are really against Burn, but there are so many Pokémon that can Toxic effectively that I'd use Will-O-Wisp instead. Imprison works great in 2v2, since you can block Earthquake, Shadow Ball, Protect, Endure, and Hidden Power, depending on what you need for your team. In 1v1, it can be used to prevent people from Resting or statusing you. Snatch grabs Blissey Softboileds and what not. Counter can let you catch some things off-guard, like a Snorlax that has a lot of Curses in and tries to Shadow Ball you under Will-O-Wisp, or a Heracross with Choice Band and Guts triggered from Will-o-Wisp that wants to Megahorn. Thunderpunch and Fire Punch are alternates for a Calm Minding set. Hidden Power Flying can be used if you desperately need a Heracross counter, and it also helps against Breloom and Machamp. Rest vs. Pain SplitThere are two main advantages to using Rest over Pain Split. Rest heals Dusclops of status, and heals it 100%. Pain Split, on the other hand, heals Dusclops without putting it to Sleep, and will also lower the opponent's health (in cases like Blissey and Snorlax, this drop is dramatic, and can bring them to well below 50%). Due to Dusclops' already low HP, Pain Split will heal it nearly 100% against most enemies, anyway. However, if they have a weakened Pokémon out, Pain Split will not heal as much. It also makes it difficult for Dusclops to actually kill anything, because with Will-O-Wisp's steady draining and Seismic Toss's fixed damage, you can't just weaken them to a certain point and deliver a fatal blow; you yourself get low HP with them, which, when coupled with Dusclops' low speed, forces you to switch to something else as they die their final rounds. Some Claydol carry Toxic (when Claydol is used), so you most likely need Rest or an Aromatherapist on your team if you intend to block Rapid Spin for long, unless you have really good maneuvering with Heracross. The status-removing effect of Rest can be simulated by having an Aromatherapist on your team. However, Resting Dusclops uses Aromatherapy support as well, if not better than Pain Splitters, as Aromatherapy removes the biggest problem of Rest—those two turns of sleep. Rest is also a good move for PP stalling, which Dusclops does very well with those defenses, Will-O-Wisp, and Pressure. EVsMax HP always. You can use 48 Speed EVs to beat Snorlax, and with least 36 EVs in attack you will OHKO Alakazam guaranteed with Shadow Ball. Defense or Special Defense is your pick, depends on what you need it for. Defense helps a lot against Donphan, Heracross, Medicham and Snorlax, but Special Defense helps against Blaziken, Starmie, Alakazam, and other Special attackers. OpinionThe best source of Rapid Spin protection. It is a great help to a lot of teams thanks to Normal and Fighting immunity as well, especially stall teams. Its immense defenses let it live through a lot of things, though the low HP stat hurts a bit. He can pull a lot of tricks on you, and generally be a prick with Pressure. CountersHoundoom can come in on Will-O-Wisp or Shadow Ball easily. Crunch will hurt you if you stay in, and Pursuit if you switch out. Tyranitar has to avoid Will-O-Wisp at all costs, but he can Substitute or Taunt against that, Crunch you for a load of damage, or set up Dragon Dances. Both of these are taken care of by a swift Focus Punch in the balls. Skarmory doesn't take much damage from physical assaults, and he can survive 3 Night Shades / Seismic Tosses. Burn reduces his damage output, but most of the time he will handle the damage just fine. In the mean time, he can Spike up and make your life sad. Suicune survives even more (5 Night Shades / Seismic Tosses with 401 HP and Leftovers), and can Calm Mind up and then kill you with Surf if you allow it. Milotic can absorb the Will-O-Wisp to trigger Marvel Scale, and Toxic you or put you to Sleep. Milotic cannot really kill Dusclops outright, though. Heracross, Ursaring, Swellow, Hariyama and Machamp with Guts can absorb Toxic or Will-O-Wisp, but their best STAB attacks won't work well or at all on Dusclops. However, they can bang up Dusclops with their alternate attacking options, and then do a follow-up on the rest of your team. |
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