Calm Mind is your best bet when using Golduck in UU, where it belongs. Just build up your Special Attack with Calm Mind, Hypnotize your opponent's main Golduck counter and try to sweep. Hypnosis and Ice Beam are replaceable and depend on personal preference as well as your team. Psychic can be used as very few things resist both Surf and Psychic, and it hits Vileplume and Muk hard. Hidden Power Grass can be useful as well, it OHKOs Quagsire after a Calm Mind (who cannot be touched by Surf) as well as Omastar, and it hits other Waters as well. Substitute in the last slot makes Golduck a lot like the standard Jynx and can be rather scary as it cannot be walled as easily by Waters with Toxic anymore, but you'll hurt your attacking versatility. Damp lets you block Explosion, but Cloud Nine lets Golduck switch in on a weakened Sunny Day Chlorophyll Pokémon, force it to charge up Solarbeam, and finish it off with Ice Beam. Of course, doing this also means you cannot benefit from, say, an enemy Omastar's Rain Dance.
This set is meant for OU. Fire away your Special attacks, and when they bring in Blissey, Snorlax or Regice to wall you, use Focus Punch or Cross Chop. With these EVs you outspeed any Tyranitar (as long as it hasn't Dragon Danced) allowing you to Cross Chop or Surf it quickly. Cross Chop will 3HKO Blissey, but Cross Chop's high Critical Hit rate means you have a shot at a 2HKO (OHKO with Spikes down). With Psychic you can 2HKO Heracross and possibly OHKO Gengar. Hidden Power Electric hits enemy Water types, however, especially Gyarados. Other OptionsHydro Pump can be used over Surf anywhere for more power. Toxic is nice for other Waters; it forces Regice and Thick Fat Snorlax to Rest in standard and it will really get in the way for Grumpig and Hypno in UU. Refresh can shrug off status, but you're better off preventing it altogether. Psych Up can snag Calm Minds, but Golduck isn't likely to win a Calm Mind war in either standard or UU since its stats are so mediocre. Light Screen is nice for support, but Golduck isn't the best user for it. EVsMixed sets need some Attack EVs to hurt the standard Special walls. You don't need more than 220 Attack, though, usually. You generally just want to raise Golduck's Special Attack and Speed as much as possible, as it's meant to sweep. OpinionGolduck is a mid-level UU sweeper with Calm Mind and Hypnosis. None of its stats are particularly bad, and its Speed is actually decent in UU, so it will usually live through a hit or two and dish out some damage. With Cloud Nine, it can be very useful to stop a sweep from Chlorophyll or Swift Swim enemies: thanks to Cloud Nine, it is not affected by the weather, allowing it to Ice Beam that Victreebel or Vileplume, or Surf that Omastar. Damp can be funny to stop Solrock from Exploding on you though. In standard, Golduck looks good on paper. It isn't affected by Tyranitar's Sand Stream, which often ruins Pokémon trying to pull off a Substitute set. It can get rid of special walls thanks to its Fighting moves, and still attack decently. However, it is killed quickly by standard sweepers and a lot of walls just stall Golduck. This makes it hard to bring in and deploy. CountersOU counters: One of the best counters in OU is Zapdos. It usually has Rest and Sleep Talk, so it won't mind Hypnosis, it will live through some hits (even Ice Beam), and can hit Golduck with Thunderbolt. Raikou can do the same without the Ice Beam weakness, but it rarely has Sleep Talk. Blissey, Snorlax, and Regice are good Golduck counters as long as you don't switch them in when Golduck can Focus Punch or Cross Chop them. They nullify Calm Minding sets pretty easily. Regice and Snorlax will usually 2HKO Golduck with Thunderbolt and any Normal attack respectively. Celebi takes less than 50% from Ice Beam as long as Golduck hasn't Calm Minded yet, and can Calm Mind by itself and win the war, Leech Seed Golduck, and / or hit for super effective damage with a STAB Grass move. Suicune can Calm Mind up and Roar Golduck or Toxic it without taking much damage. Milotic can Hypnosis or Toxic Golduck, or set up a Light Screen. UU counters: Meganium and Vileplume resist Surf and can use STAB Grass moves, put Golduck to sleep, Leech Seed it, or Toxic it. However, they surely won't like Ice Beam, and Vileplume doesn't like Psychic either. Lanturn makes a great counter with its resistance to Surf and Ice Beam, and STAB Thunderbolt to put an end to Golduck. Hypno has Insomnia, great HP and Special Defense, and will whittle Golduck down with Toxic, Thunder Wave, or Seismic Toss, or even Calm Mind up on Golduck. Grumpig doesn't have Insomnia or Thunder Wave, but will often beat Golduck in a Calm Mind war or Trick a Choice Band onto it. Quagsire can be a prick because it can restore health on Surf and hit Golduck with STAB Earthquake. Remember, Golduck often packs Hypnosis, so you may need Sleep Talk on your counter, or absorb that Hypnosis with something else before sending in your counter. |
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