To fully realize Suicune's potential with this set, you will need 3 layers of Spikes on the opponent's field and a good sense of prediction. You will naturally start off Calm Minding. After a few Calm Minds under your belt, proceed to attack with Surf. Here is where the hard part comes in: If you predict Blissey, Milotic, Ludicolo, Venusaur, or other Pokémon able to incapacitate Suicune, Roar. It will take 25% damage and so will the next Pokémon who comes out. If you predict right, you will hurt these Pokémon so much by Spikes that you can finish them off with a Calm Mind Surf. Obviously, when they think you will Roar you will need to Calm Mind.
Not nearly as much of a team player, but whatever. Probably the best Salamence counter in the game. More of a pain in the ass for Celebi and Venusaur.
Suicune is most vulnerable when it's Resting. A common situation is for Suicune to be up vs. Blissey, Calm Minding as Blissey Seismic Tosses. Suicune eventually has to Rest, and that's when they switch to Skarmory or Weezing. With this set, named after Cromat who popularized it, you now have 1-2 chances to pick Surf in your Sleep, killing Skarmory or Weezing before it has a chance to stop you. This is also a great Tyraniboah counter, and in fact can switch into most any Tyranitar without much risk.
An excellent wall if you don't mind the loss of Calm Mind. Toxic messes up some counters nicely, and works in tandem with Spikes and Sand Stream. It will beat last-Pokémon Blissey and Starmie without Thunderbolt quickly as well. A great counter to other Waters, just beware of Hypnosis Milotic. Other OptionsWith Suicune's near uber Defense, it is easy to switch in to get a free Reflect for the rest of your team. Mirror Coat can catch Electrics off guard. Protect and Substitute are for only 1 purpose: to waste PP with Pressure. Blissey cannot break Suicune's Substitute with a Seismic Toss as well. With Sleep Talk you can beat Blissey and better counter Tyranitar. EVs404 HP and a lot of Defense. Suicune can use some Speed (at least 8 EVs, for Jolly Marowak, more can be used primarily to beat other Suicune to the Roar), and can go as high as 222 Speed (requires 64 EVs) to always be faster than Adamant Tyranitar, and virtually always beat other Suicune to the Roar. Suicune can use some Special Attack, especially if it has Ice Beam. Suicune should be Bold always. OpinionThis is one of the best Pokémon in the game. It is almost impossible to kill and even harder to stop once it gets rolling with some Spikes support. Seriously, when used right this will make your team cry. CountersPoliwrath can absorb Surf and Focus Punch Suicune. If you set it up right, you can probably pull off a Belly Drum against it and begin to sweep your opponent's team. Mantine counters Roar Suicune 100%, as it is immune to Spikes and with Water Absorb Surf heals Mantine. However, without Toxic, Mantine can't do anything back to Suicune but Haze, and eventually run out of PP due to Pressure. If you are using Mantine to counter Suicune, and lack a hard hitter like Heracross, prepare for a long, long, wait before you can kill Suicune. Vaporeon is much the same story, except it can use Roar instead of Haze on Suicune, which helps unless Suicune is the last Pokémon, and it isn't immune to Spikes, but resists Ice Beam. Lapras beats Ice Beam Suicune 100% with Water Absorb, titanic HP, and 4x Ice resist, and doesn't really care about Roar, either, if you have smart switching into Surfs for Water Absorb. Lapras can also use Thunderbolt on that decent Special Attack stat, Roar Suicune out, or Perish Song it. Ludicolo resists Water x4, and has enough Special Defense to take Ice Beam, and can then use Toxic, Leech Seed, or STAB Hidden Power Grass on Suicune, eventually wearing it down. Milotic can use Toxic or Hypnosis on Suicune to temporarily put it out of commission, to allow another sweeper actually kill it later, or set up in that free turn or two. Tentacruel's godly Special Defense and resistances allow it to come in on Suicune even after a few Calm Minds, and then use Sludge Bomb until it's Poisoned (30% chance is rather high), and Swords Dance up for a free sweep (the Poisoning step can be skipped on Suicune without Roar, as you can just set up on them without fear of phazing). Gyarados works somewhat like Tentacruel, in that its Special Defense and typing let it take hits while setting up. The difference is that Gyarados has Taunt at its disposal for stopping Suicune from using Roar, and can then Dragon Dance at will and sweep. While it's Resting, things like Choice Band Salamence can kill it before it wakes up. Most heavy Choice Banders are like this, with the exception of Metagross, as Suicune resists Meteor Mash, but Metagross's Earthquake isn't much weaker than Salamence's Hidden Power Flying. Heracross can take it on any time, whether it's awake or asleep, but a sleeping Suicune is much easier to switch in on. Choice Band Megahorn 2HKOs Suicune, and Heracross has decent Special Defense. Zapdos can take it on with STAB Thunderbolt, but it doesn't like switching into those Ice Beams. Raikou fares a bit better, as it has better Special Defense and isn't weak to Ice or Water. Raikou can also Calm Mind up against a Resting or Roarless Suicune and sweep the whole team. Suicune with Roar will usually be too afraid to stay in and try and phaze you for fear of taking ~70% from Thunderbolt, and even if they do, you can just come right back in (watch out for Dugtrio with Raikou, of course) and try it again. If you wait too long, however, Suicune can get some Calm Minds in, and with as little as one Calm Mind (depending on how offensive your Electric is), that 2HKO can become a 3HKO, and Suicune's 3HKO can be a 2HKO on you. This is why things like Heracross are such good counters compared to Electrics—even if Suicune gets a bunch of Calm Minds, Heracross can kill it off on a Rest with impunity. Of course, immediate response to Suicune will also stop this. While Tyranitar itself loses handily to Suicune, Tyranitar's ability, Sand Stream, puts a damper on Suicune's tanking ability, as it lacks a recovery move outside of Rest, so Leftovers are highly important to Suicune's success. Suicune is like Jesus. Even with all the counters listed, Suicune will eventually wear them out of PP. It's important to have a decent offense to kill Suicune on Rests. |
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