The Agility set needs some new comments and reordering of moves as Hydro Pump isn't actually that good on it and Salamence / Celebi is generally more important than Bulky Waters (especially since Vaporeon isn't nearly OHKOed and can stall you out / HP Electric you anyway).
Knock Off can be added to the (Special) Tank set, and emphasis on how it handles everything Kingdra can throw at it should be added. (EDIT: Someone did this on the SCMS already, I see...)
Agility (3 attacks) from C&C should _probably_ be added too.
Oh, minor thing: With usage stats out, these should be in order of usage (and power roughly), so Agility - Petaya, then Agility, then Specs, then Support, then Swords Dance.
------
[SET]
name: Agility SubPetaya
move 1: Agility
move 2: Substitute
move 3: Surf
move 4: Ice Beam / Grass Knot
nature: Modest
item: Petaya Berry
evs: 12 HP / 252 SpA / 12 SpD / 232 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Empoleon has the potential to be a very threatening late game sweeper with the right support. Using this set is fairly simple. Bring Empoleon in on one of the 12 types of attacks it resists, then Agility on the switch and Sub down to a Petaya Berry boost while activating Torrent, and finish with STAB Torrent Surfs coming from 528 Special Attack. As a bonus, Empoleon resists nearly every priority move in the game, including 4x resists to the wildly popular Bullet Punch (Scizor) and Ice Shard (Mamoswine). Unlike other pinch sweepers, these omnipresent threats will not end your sweep. Just watch out for Vacuum Wave / Mach Punch.</p>
<p>The power of this set is not to be underestimated with adequate team support. Stealth Rock and 2 layers of Toxic Spikes is ideal, though the latter is optional if you can manage to lure out and kill Blissey / Water types. With this support, you can set up on (and beat) the standard Blissey and Vaporeon one-on-one by simply Substituting and watching them struggle to break your Subs, attacking as needed. Stealth Rock will also help in weakening Grass-types like Celebi, putting them in the KO range of Ice Beam. Once you've set up these hazards on your team, there's very, very few Pokémon in the game that can stop Empoleon from a sweep.</p>
<p>The choice between Ice Beam and Grass Knot is tricky, and it mostly depends on whether or not your team can take care of Water types or Salamence / Celebi. Ice Beam is recommended, as with as little as two layers of Toxic Spikes you can beat everything that you'd run Grass Knot for if they come in on you as you begin to set up.</p>
<p>One option for this set is Hydro Pump, though it is not recommended. While it secures OHKOs on bulky Pokémon such as Salamence and Dusknoir with Stealth Rock support alone, generally the 80% accuracy will ruin Empoleon's sweep more often than these Pokémon will.</p>
[SET]
name: Agility, Three Attacks
move 1: Surf / Hydro Pump
move 2: Ice Beam
move 3: Grass Knot
move 4: Agility
item: Life Orb
nature: Modest
evs: 24 HP / 252 SpA / 232 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>In contrast to the SubPetaya set, this Empoleon takes full advantage of the perfect type coverage granted by running Grass Knot and Ice Beam on the same set at the expense of a significant amount of power. Life Orb goes a little way toward making up the difference in raw damage output, while simultaneously lowering Empoleon's HP into Torrent range.</p>
<p>The choice between Surf and Hydro Pump is an age-old one of reliability vs power. Surf will never miss, but a Life Orb Hydro Pump will OHKO 404 HP/236 Sp. Def Tyranitar 66% of the time and 320 HP/216 Sp. Def Magnezone 40% of the time if they switch into Stealth Rock. In addition, if you can manage to activate Torrent, Hydro Pump will absolutely annihilate anything that does not outright resist it and is not named Blissey or Snorlax. Grass Knot takes care of Water-types, and Ice Beam deals with Salamence, Celebi, and Dragonite. Using Hidden Power Electric over Grass Knot is worth a mention if you fear being killed by Gyarados or walled by Tentacruel, but be warned that it will leave you unable to OHKO Swampert (who can OHKO back with Earthquake), and will deal significantly less damage to Suicune as well.</p>
<p>Since even an offensively-EVed Empoleon possesses useful resistances and some general bulk, Expert Belt or Mystic Water may be used instead of Life Orb if you do not wish to compromise its defenses to the tune of 10% of Empoleon's HP every time it attacks. The former will give all three attacks a decent boost if they hit for super-effective, while the latter boosts Empoleon's primary sweeping move against foes that are only hit neutral. It should be noted that some sort of boosting item is required for a guaranteed OHKO on 4/0 Heatran with Surf.</p>
[SET]
name: Defensive Penguin
move 1: Surf
move 2: Grass Knot
move 3: Ice Beam / Stealth Rock
move 4: Roar / Yawn / Knock Off
item: Leftovers
nature: Calm
evs: 252 HP / 160 Def / 92 SpD / 4 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Empoleon's 12 resistances do not go to waste on this set, which capitalizes on taking hits from powerful attackers like Kingdra, non-Earthquake Gyarados, most Bulky Waters, Choice Specs Salamence, and resisted Choice item attacks.</p>
<p>Surf is for STAB and deters Ground types and Heatran from switching into Empoleon. Grass Knot covers Water-types nicely, making Empoleon an effective counter to them. Ice Beam hits Salamence for a clean OHKO and covers Grass types. However, Salamence without an SE move on Empoleon is fairly uncommon, so if you have to, you can run Stealth Rock in slot 3. Roar and Yawn are mainly to deal with stat boosting Latias and Kingdra more effectively. Roar is usually better as both of them tend to carry Substitute. Knock Off is a neat move to strip off Life Orbs or Choice items from threatening sweepers or even Leftovers from Blissey.</p>
<p>The EVs are oriented toward Special Defense to better take hits from Water types carrying Hidden Power Electric as well as to better counter Latias. To fare better against Kingdra, 160 EVs are placed in Defense to guarantee survival against 2 Life Orb Outrages after one Dragon Dance and Stealth Rock damage. If one does not care about Dragon Dance Life Orb Kingdra, maxing Special Defense is recommended to better deal with Water types and Choice Specs Salamence. 4 Speed is to outrun Impish Swampert for the OHKO with Grass Knot, though it never OHKOs with Earthquake anyway. </p>
[SET]
name: Swords Dance + Priority
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Aqua Jet
move 3: Drill Peck
move 4: Earthquake / Avalanche
item: Leftovers
nature: Adamant
evs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Extremely similar to Normal Arceus (but with a lot less power), this Empoleon is designed to switch in to one of the numerous attacks it resists and Swords Dance as the opponent switches out. Usually, the opponent switches to something like Blissey, thinking Empoleon is running a Special set. You can use the "surprise value" of Swords Dancing on the first switch to often get a second Swords Dance in, leaving Empoleon with a nice 894 Atttack to use Aqua Jet with. </p>
<p>This set tears through most of Empoleon's normal counters. Blissey is 2HKOed by Earthquake after a Swords Dance. Ludicolo, Heracross, and Breloom are all horribly hurt by Drill Peck, though the latter two you'd want to nail on the switch. Lanturn, Magnezone, and Tentacruel all fall to Earthquake. Dugtrio is destroyed with Aqua Jet, and Regice can't do enough damage with Thunderbolt to stop Empoleon from sweeping.</p>
<p>4 Speed EVs let you almost always outrun Swampert. If you Swords Dance on the switch, you 2HKO with Earthquake while it never OHKOs you with the same move.</p>
[SET]
name: Choice Specs
move 1: Surf / Hydro Pump
move 2: Ice Beam
move 3: Grass Knot
move 4: Sleep Talk / Hidden Power Electric
item: Choice Specs
nature: Modest
evs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>With Empoleon's massive list of resistances, he finds plenty of opportunities to switch into battle. Combine that with his great Special Attack and you have a natural candidate for Choice Specs. Other than dedicated Special sponges, this set has very few safe switch-ins. Surf and Hydro Pump is the same "accuracy versus power" argument, though Hydro Pump does always OHKO Magnezone. Ice Beam and Grass Knot are standard issue moves to hit Grass types and Dragon types (Ice Beam) as well as Water types (Grass Knot). </p>
<p>The fourth move is filler. Empoleon makes a great Sleep absorber, being able to come in on Roserade, Yanmega, and Bronzong fairly easily, so Sleep Talk may be useful to get off one hit while Asleep. Hidden Power Electric will OHKO Gyarados as opposed to Grass Knot's 2HKO, as well as do more damage to Tentacruel and Vaporeon.</p>
[Other Options]
<p>Empoleon doesn't have a great movepool; most of what it gets is either listed or not at all useful. Surf / Aqua Ring / Protect / Substitute is an okay combination of moves in theory to help stall something out in a manner similar to Walrein, but you need a free turn to set up Aqua Ring and while Empoleon is bulky, it's not quite bulky enough to virtually guarantee living through the one hit the set takes when setting up a Substitute.</p>
<p>One could elect to run a Choice Band set, but Empoleon doesn't have the offensive power to make it worthwhile. The Specs set will do more damage to virtually everything except Blissey.</p>
<p>Rest and Sleep Talk isn't a bad option, but Empoleon's weaknesses rarely leaves it in a position where it can afford to stall something, thus making it undesirable.</p>
[EVs]
<p>Both Agility sets are EV'd similarly. Max Special Attack with a Modest nature is obvious, and 232 Speed EVs puts Empoleon at 428 Speed after one Agility, enough to outrun Choice Scarf Jolly Medicham, Choice Scarf Modest Porygon-Z, and Choice Scarf Timid Heatran. The remaining 24 EVs are put into HP. The SubPetaya set puts 12 of the remaining EVs in HP to reach a number divisible by 4, then puts the rest in Defense.</p>
<p>The Support set is EV'd to always survive two Life Orb Kingdra Outrages after a Dragon Dance, at the cost of a small chance of being 2HKOed by Salamence's Choice Specs Fire Blast.</p>
[Opinion]
<p>Empoleon is a very unique Pokémon that is consistently underestimated. As a defensive Pokémon, it has a lot of potential; Empoleon definitely has the defensive stats to exploit his 12 resistances, often walling entire move sets of Pokémon such as Kingdra. Offensively, it is a force to be reckoned with and unlike the majority of late game sweepers does not fear priority Scizor or Mamoswine at all. Overall, Empoleon is surprisingly versatile and an asset to almost any team.</p>
[Counters]
<p>The SubPetaya set is perfectly counterable, but it's generally very easy for the opponent to wear the threats that stop it down. Tentacruel is the best counter as it absorbs the Toxic Spikes commonly run with Empoleon and can take even Torrent boosted Surfs all day, though it needs HP Electric (or Rest / Sleep Talk) to win. Calm Blissey with Seismic Toss or Thunderbolt does well, but don't send it in right away unless there's no Toxic Spikes support. Vaporeon doesn't take enough from Grass Knot to be walled by Empoleon and can heal itself. Vacuum Wave or Mach Punch can keep it in check from the likes of Lucario and Hitmontop. Hitmontop also has good Special Defense and Triple Kick. Lanturn is a brilliant counter in the same manner as Vaporeon but with the benfit of a STAB Thunderbolt. Other than that, it depends mostly on the move Empoleon runs in the fourth slot; Celebi can take it on without Ice Beam, most waters without Grass Knot.</p>
<p>The 3-attack Agility set has a lot less power, but better coverage, so your typical Special sponges in Blissey and Snorlax do just fine. All of the above counters still work, provided they aren't move-dependent. Tentacruel has to watch out for Hidden Power Electric though, which may 2HKO. The Specs set is largely the same, but can also be beaten by predicting "the wrong attack".</p>
<p>The Swords Dance set is oddly difficult to counter, actually. Cresselia takes little damage from it at all, but can't really do anything back to Empoleon. Skarmory and Bronzong don't really mind the set at all, though Skarmory can only phaze it away. Defensive Pokémon that resist the non-STAB moves like Rotom and Zapdos do fine too. The main problem is that there's not one good switch-in to both the Agility and the Swords Dance set.</p>
Knock Off can be added to the (Special) Tank set, and emphasis on how it handles everything Kingdra can throw at it should be added. (EDIT: Someone did this on the SCMS already, I see...)
Agility (3 attacks) from C&C should _probably_ be added too.
Oh, minor thing: With usage stats out, these should be in order of usage (and power roughly), so Agility - Petaya, then Agility, then Specs, then Support, then Swords Dance.
------
[SET]
name: Agility SubPetaya
move 1: Agility
move 2: Substitute
move 3: Surf
move 4: Ice Beam / Grass Knot
nature: Modest
item: Petaya Berry
evs: 12 HP / 252 SpA / 12 SpD / 232 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Empoleon has the potential to be a very threatening late game sweeper with the right support. Using this set is fairly simple. Bring Empoleon in on one of the 12 types of attacks it resists, then Agility on the switch and Sub down to a Petaya Berry boost while activating Torrent, and finish with STAB Torrent Surfs coming from 528 Special Attack. As a bonus, Empoleon resists nearly every priority move in the game, including 4x resists to the wildly popular Bullet Punch (Scizor) and Ice Shard (Mamoswine). Unlike other pinch sweepers, these omnipresent threats will not end your sweep. Just watch out for Vacuum Wave / Mach Punch.</p>
<p>The power of this set is not to be underestimated with adequate team support. Stealth Rock and 2 layers of Toxic Spikes is ideal, though the latter is optional if you can manage to lure out and kill Blissey / Water types. With this support, you can set up on (and beat) the standard Blissey and Vaporeon one-on-one by simply Substituting and watching them struggle to break your Subs, attacking as needed. Stealth Rock will also help in weakening Grass-types like Celebi, putting them in the KO range of Ice Beam. Once you've set up these hazards on your team, there's very, very few Pokémon in the game that can stop Empoleon from a sweep.</p>
<p>The choice between Ice Beam and Grass Knot is tricky, and it mostly depends on whether or not your team can take care of Water types or Salamence / Celebi. Ice Beam is recommended, as with as little as two layers of Toxic Spikes you can beat everything that you'd run Grass Knot for if they come in on you as you begin to set up.</p>
<p>One option for this set is Hydro Pump, though it is not recommended. While it secures OHKOs on bulky Pokémon such as Salamence and Dusknoir with Stealth Rock support alone, generally the 80% accuracy will ruin Empoleon's sweep more often than these Pokémon will.</p>
[SET]
name: Agility, Three Attacks
move 1: Surf / Hydro Pump
move 2: Ice Beam
move 3: Grass Knot
move 4: Agility
item: Life Orb
nature: Modest
evs: 24 HP / 252 SpA / 232 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>In contrast to the SubPetaya set, this Empoleon takes full advantage of the perfect type coverage granted by running Grass Knot and Ice Beam on the same set at the expense of a significant amount of power. Life Orb goes a little way toward making up the difference in raw damage output, while simultaneously lowering Empoleon's HP into Torrent range.</p>
<p>The choice between Surf and Hydro Pump is an age-old one of reliability vs power. Surf will never miss, but a Life Orb Hydro Pump will OHKO 404 HP/236 Sp. Def Tyranitar 66% of the time and 320 HP/216 Sp. Def Magnezone 40% of the time if they switch into Stealth Rock. In addition, if you can manage to activate Torrent, Hydro Pump will absolutely annihilate anything that does not outright resist it and is not named Blissey or Snorlax. Grass Knot takes care of Water-types, and Ice Beam deals with Salamence, Celebi, and Dragonite. Using Hidden Power Electric over Grass Knot is worth a mention if you fear being killed by Gyarados or walled by Tentacruel, but be warned that it will leave you unable to OHKO Swampert (who can OHKO back with Earthquake), and will deal significantly less damage to Suicune as well.</p>
<p>Since even an offensively-EVed Empoleon possesses useful resistances and some general bulk, Expert Belt or Mystic Water may be used instead of Life Orb if you do not wish to compromise its defenses to the tune of 10% of Empoleon's HP every time it attacks. The former will give all three attacks a decent boost if they hit for super-effective, while the latter boosts Empoleon's primary sweeping move against foes that are only hit neutral. It should be noted that some sort of boosting item is required for a guaranteed OHKO on 4/0 Heatran with Surf.</p>
[SET]
name: Defensive Penguin
move 1: Surf
move 2: Grass Knot
move 3: Ice Beam / Stealth Rock
move 4: Roar / Yawn / Knock Off
item: Leftovers
nature: Calm
evs: 252 HP / 160 Def / 92 SpD / 4 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Empoleon's 12 resistances do not go to waste on this set, which capitalizes on taking hits from powerful attackers like Kingdra, non-Earthquake Gyarados, most Bulky Waters, Choice Specs Salamence, and resisted Choice item attacks.</p>
<p>Surf is for STAB and deters Ground types and Heatran from switching into Empoleon. Grass Knot covers Water-types nicely, making Empoleon an effective counter to them. Ice Beam hits Salamence for a clean OHKO and covers Grass types. However, Salamence without an SE move on Empoleon is fairly uncommon, so if you have to, you can run Stealth Rock in slot 3. Roar and Yawn are mainly to deal with stat boosting Latias and Kingdra more effectively. Roar is usually better as both of them tend to carry Substitute. Knock Off is a neat move to strip off Life Orbs or Choice items from threatening sweepers or even Leftovers from Blissey.</p>
<p>The EVs are oriented toward Special Defense to better take hits from Water types carrying Hidden Power Electric as well as to better counter Latias. To fare better against Kingdra, 160 EVs are placed in Defense to guarantee survival against 2 Life Orb Outrages after one Dragon Dance and Stealth Rock damage. If one does not care about Dragon Dance Life Orb Kingdra, maxing Special Defense is recommended to better deal with Water types and Choice Specs Salamence. 4 Speed is to outrun Impish Swampert for the OHKO with Grass Knot, though it never OHKOs with Earthquake anyway. </p>
[SET]
name: Swords Dance + Priority
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Aqua Jet
move 3: Drill Peck
move 4: Earthquake / Avalanche
item: Leftovers
nature: Adamant
evs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Extremely similar to Normal Arceus (but with a lot less power), this Empoleon is designed to switch in to one of the numerous attacks it resists and Swords Dance as the opponent switches out. Usually, the opponent switches to something like Blissey, thinking Empoleon is running a Special set. You can use the "surprise value" of Swords Dancing on the first switch to often get a second Swords Dance in, leaving Empoleon with a nice 894 Atttack to use Aqua Jet with. </p>
<p>This set tears through most of Empoleon's normal counters. Blissey is 2HKOed by Earthquake after a Swords Dance. Ludicolo, Heracross, and Breloom are all horribly hurt by Drill Peck, though the latter two you'd want to nail on the switch. Lanturn, Magnezone, and Tentacruel all fall to Earthquake. Dugtrio is destroyed with Aqua Jet, and Regice can't do enough damage with Thunderbolt to stop Empoleon from sweeping.</p>
<p>4 Speed EVs let you almost always outrun Swampert. If you Swords Dance on the switch, you 2HKO with Earthquake while it never OHKOs you with the same move.</p>
[SET]
name: Choice Specs
move 1: Surf / Hydro Pump
move 2: Ice Beam
move 3: Grass Knot
move 4: Sleep Talk / Hidden Power Electric
item: Choice Specs
nature: Modest
evs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>With Empoleon's massive list of resistances, he finds plenty of opportunities to switch into battle. Combine that with his great Special Attack and you have a natural candidate for Choice Specs. Other than dedicated Special sponges, this set has very few safe switch-ins. Surf and Hydro Pump is the same "accuracy versus power" argument, though Hydro Pump does always OHKO Magnezone. Ice Beam and Grass Knot are standard issue moves to hit Grass types and Dragon types (Ice Beam) as well as Water types (Grass Knot). </p>
<p>The fourth move is filler. Empoleon makes a great Sleep absorber, being able to come in on Roserade, Yanmega, and Bronzong fairly easily, so Sleep Talk may be useful to get off one hit while Asleep. Hidden Power Electric will OHKO Gyarados as opposed to Grass Knot's 2HKO, as well as do more damage to Tentacruel and Vaporeon.</p>
[Other Options]
<p>Empoleon doesn't have a great movepool; most of what it gets is either listed or not at all useful. Surf / Aqua Ring / Protect / Substitute is an okay combination of moves in theory to help stall something out in a manner similar to Walrein, but you need a free turn to set up Aqua Ring and while Empoleon is bulky, it's not quite bulky enough to virtually guarantee living through the one hit the set takes when setting up a Substitute.</p>
<p>One could elect to run a Choice Band set, but Empoleon doesn't have the offensive power to make it worthwhile. The Specs set will do more damage to virtually everything except Blissey.</p>
<p>Rest and Sleep Talk isn't a bad option, but Empoleon's weaknesses rarely leaves it in a position where it can afford to stall something, thus making it undesirable.</p>
[EVs]
<p>Both Agility sets are EV'd similarly. Max Special Attack with a Modest nature is obvious, and 232 Speed EVs puts Empoleon at 428 Speed after one Agility, enough to outrun Choice Scarf Jolly Medicham, Choice Scarf Modest Porygon-Z, and Choice Scarf Timid Heatran. The remaining 24 EVs are put into HP. The SubPetaya set puts 12 of the remaining EVs in HP to reach a number divisible by 4, then puts the rest in Defense.</p>
<p>The Support set is EV'd to always survive two Life Orb Kingdra Outrages after a Dragon Dance, at the cost of a small chance of being 2HKOed by Salamence's Choice Specs Fire Blast.</p>
[Opinion]
<p>Empoleon is a very unique Pokémon that is consistently underestimated. As a defensive Pokémon, it has a lot of potential; Empoleon definitely has the defensive stats to exploit his 12 resistances, often walling entire move sets of Pokémon such as Kingdra. Offensively, it is a force to be reckoned with and unlike the majority of late game sweepers does not fear priority Scizor or Mamoswine at all. Overall, Empoleon is surprisingly versatile and an asset to almost any team.</p>
[Counters]
<p>The SubPetaya set is perfectly counterable, but it's generally very easy for the opponent to wear the threats that stop it down. Tentacruel is the best counter as it absorbs the Toxic Spikes commonly run with Empoleon and can take even Torrent boosted Surfs all day, though it needs HP Electric (or Rest / Sleep Talk) to win. Calm Blissey with Seismic Toss or Thunderbolt does well, but don't send it in right away unless there's no Toxic Spikes support. Vaporeon doesn't take enough from Grass Knot to be walled by Empoleon and can heal itself. Vacuum Wave or Mach Punch can keep it in check from the likes of Lucario and Hitmontop. Hitmontop also has good Special Defense and Triple Kick. Lanturn is a brilliant counter in the same manner as Vaporeon but with the benfit of a STAB Thunderbolt. Other than that, it depends mostly on the move Empoleon runs in the fourth slot; Celebi can take it on without Ice Beam, most waters without Grass Knot.</p>
<p>The 3-attack Agility set has a lot less power, but better coverage, so your typical Special sponges in Blissey and Snorlax do just fine. All of the above counters still work, provided they aren't move-dependent. Tentacruel has to watch out for Hidden Power Electric though, which may 2HKO. The Specs set is largely the same, but can also be beaten by predicting "the wrong attack".</p>
<p>The Swords Dance set is oddly difficult to counter, actually. Cresselia takes little damage from it at all, but can't really do anything back to Empoleon. Skarmory and Bronzong don't really mind the set at all, though Skarmory can only phaze it away. Defensive Pokémon that resist the non-STAB moves like Rotom and Zapdos do fine too. The main problem is that there's not one good switch-in to both the Agility and the Swords Dance set.</p>
