The best way to play this Salamence is to bring him in on Earthquake, Megahorn, or a Fighting move and attack with Hidden Power Flying or Earthquake. Your opponent will most assuredly bring in their Swampert or Milotic or other sturdy water to take the hit. Rinse and repeat this process until their Salamence counter is sufficiently low on health or dead. At this point, and only at this point, should you use Dragon Dance. With their counter out of the way, you have a clear shot at the sweep. As for the fourth moveslot: the options have been listed from most to least useful. Rock Slide for Fliers (but most specifically for Aerodactyl and Zapdos who resist Hidden Power Flying and can OHKO Salamence), Flamethrower is for a 2HKO on Skarmory and a OHKO on Scizor and Forretress, and Hydro Pump usually 3HKOs Skarmory and does a load of damage to Claydol and Donphan.
With proper prediction, the closest thing to a 100% counter to this is Ice Beam Suicune. Counters like Weezing, Milotic, Swampert and Claydol will not be able to withstand the Choice Banded assault nearly as well and will be KOed on the third shot in most cases. Again, the fourth moveslot is a toss up. Each of the attack moves has its obvious merits. Brick Break OHKOs Tyranitar, who can survive, depending on the EVs, otherwise, and helps a lot against Curse Snorlax. Flamethrower 2HKOs Skarmory, usually 2HKOs Steelix, and OHKOs Forretress / Scizor. Fire Blast can be used over that to have a guaranteed 2HKO (Flamethrower and Earthquake fall just short if Steelix is EVed with Special Defense), but you give up accuracy for an uncommon opponent. The most common switch in to Salamence, however, is the "bulky Water", such as Swampert, Milotic, or Suicune. Double-Edge 2HKOs Swampert and Milotic, and 3HKOs Suicune, compared to Hidden Power Flying's 3HKO and 4HKO, respectively, assuming Adamant; don't bother with Double-Edge if you're Jolly. Watch out for recoil. Have fun with this monster. While Choice Band Salamence is an offensive threat, it has lower staying power because of the different EV spread and the lack of Leftovers recovery. For example, you cannot switch this into Heracross Megahorns too often. So if you're using Salamence to counter Fighters and such, you're probably better off with Leftovers variants. Those IVs allow for a max power Hidden Power Flying without lowering Speed. Adamant is usually preferred on CBMence, but Jolly can be used to beat out other Salamence, Zapdos, and the myriad Pokémon that like to float at 300 speed, to beat most Salamence.
Special sweeping Salamence, also called Elemence. Pretty much the same idea as any special sweeper, but with no stat boosting moves. This can catch people off guard, but sadly, it still can't counter Suicune or Regice effectively. This was a better set in 200 play (also known as Ru/Sa only) as opposed to Full Advance. Use Dragon Claw with Hidden Power Grass / Electric, Ice is generally superior if you're using Crunch. This is because Fire Blast and Hydro Pump have the same power as neutral STAB Dragon Claw, for stuff like Snorlax. Dark, Ice, Water, and Fire also hit a ton of things super effective (Hidden Power Ice covers Dragons better than Dragon Claw, and Fliers better than your other moves). The only reason to use Dragon Claw, really, would be for the 100% accuracy on neutral things, like Swampert and Suicune. The main advantage of using Timid over Modest would be to hit enemy Salamence with Hidden Power Ice / Dragon Claw before they can get in a hit. Otherwise, Modest is generally better. Generally, Dragonite can use this sort of set more effectively, because it learns Thunderbolt and Ice Beam, instead of being forced to pick between Ice, Grass, or Electric Hidden Powers.
A sort of mixed sweeper, it doesn't do anything to Waters though. Brick Break does some damage to Blissey or Snorlax, and if they think you attack physically you can still blast their Skarmory / Donphan / Claydol to hell. Hidden Power Electric is a nasty surprise for Gyarados. Hidden Power Grass is for Swampert, one of Salamence's most common foes, and is thus a generally superior choice. Intimidate allows Salamence to switch into physical hits better, but aside from that, this set is mostly inferior to Dragonite, as Dragonite has the choice between Focus Punch and Brick Break to deal with walls, and has a much better special movepool to work with (Thunderbolt instead of Hidden Power Electric, Ice Beam instead of Hidden Power Ice / Dragon Claw, and the ability to use Electric and Ice on the same set).
A Mixmence should be Rash, as Ice attacks will KO you regardless, and STAB Thunderbolts are still a 2HKO. If you are Mild, stuff like Heracross Megahorn can still 2HKO you after the Intimidate. Once again, Dragonite is generally used over Salamence as a mixed sweeper, because of the aforementioned superior special movepool, in addition to Focus Punch.
Protect is to allow Wish to heal Salamence more easily, and to stall with Toxic. Toxic, and then alternate Wish and Protect until they die. Salamence also has a great defensive typing when paired with Intimidate that allows you to easily pass Wishes to things like Choice Band Metagross or Snorlax. Dragon Claw is a decent move if it's your only attack, but Fire Blast is generally better to hit the Pokémon that Toxic can't, Steels (and the rare Grass / Poison). You can also use something like Brick Break or Hidden Power Flying, depending on your needs. You'll want max HP, or near it, with Speed up to your preference (Speed isn't as important on this set as others). With Hidden Power Flying, add one more EV to Speed to reach 270 Speed, as this is very useful to beat Adamant Heracross to the punch. A bit of Special Attack can be used to give your attack that extra punch, and the rest in the defenses. Alternately, you could use 300 Speed, since you're already using Timid, taking out of the defenses to do so. Other OptionsRoar is fun if your opponent's Dragon Dance counter is Skarmory or Roaring Suicune. Dragon Dance when they switch in, and then Roar them away before they get the chance to Roar you out. EVsThe Dragon Dance and Choice Band sets should have an Adamant nature, while the third set should have Modest. The Dragon Dancer should have at least 264 Speed to outspeed Aerodactyl and Jolteon after on Dragon Dance. This takes 112 EVs (116 if your Speed DV is 30 because of Hidden Power Flying). 270 Speed can also be used, to kill Heracross before you are able to set up a sweep with Dragon Dance. Your next priority is obviously attack which should be nearly maxed. However, if you put 148 EVs in HP, you will have 368 HP, allowing for maximum Leftovers recovery, so you might want to subtract a couple points from Attack for that. You can also ditch the HP EVs altogether and sacrifice a bit of Attack to get to 160 Special Defense EVs, which will guarantee survival of Ice Beam, Ice Punch, and Hidden Power Ice from Special Attacks of 238, 302, and 324, respectively. The Choice Bander needs maximum Attack, no questions asked. The Speed is up to preference. When in doubt, just max it out so you get 299. Don't forget to set all of your IVs (except Speed) to 30 for Hidden Power Flying. If you're satisfied with less Speed, use the standard IV set for Hidden Power Flying, and use 270 or 286. Any leftover EVs can go in HP. Elemence should have maxed Special Attack. Again, 270, 286, or 299 Speed is preferable, with the other EVs in HP. The same Speed requirements go for Mixmence, most EVs should go to Special Attack as they are your main means of sweeping, while Brick Break is for Special walls and doesn't need much (if any) EVs for it. OpinionSalamence is one of the best sweepers in the game today. Intimidate coupled with resistances to Fighting and Bug make it great to switch into popular Pokémon like Heracross, and his immunity to Ground attacks allows you to bring in Salamence on the ubiquitous Earthquake. Nothing cleans as nicely as the Dragon Dancer and nothing switches in easily on the Choice Bander. If you expect one version and it turns out to be another, chances are you will be in a world of pain. CountersMilotic, Swampert and Suicune all screw up Salamence's sweep with Toxic or Ice Beam, and Salamence cannot possibly OHKO them. Claydol and Weezing are immune to Earthquake and don't fall to his other moves too quickly either, though Hydro Pump messes up Claydol badly and Weezing doesn't take Special Attacks well in general. Donphan is weak to Special moves as well, but for the most part should be able to hold physical Salamence with Rock Slide, Hidden Power Rock or Toxic. Regice isn't too reliable as a Salamence counter as he's weak to Brick Break and Rock Slide, but he may work in a pinch. For the rest, it's a guessing game. Zapdos, Solrock and Aerodactyl can be troublesome if you're not packing Rock Slide, while Skarmory is hard to get around without a Fire move. Metagross, Tyranitar, Regirock, Rhydon and other Rocks and Steels come in easily on Choice Band Salamence sometimes. You will also want to be on your guard for anything using an Ice move, like Hidden Power Ice on Sceptile, or Ice Punch on Gengar, plus about any Water-type with Ice Beam. Watch out for Rock Slide from Heracross and other Fighters as well. |
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