Volcarona

This poke reminds me of Gyarados on so many levels. It has a superb stat-boosting move, is weak to Stealth Rock, has an ability to harm physical attackers, and is a top tier threat capable of sweeping teams after one or two turns of set-up.
 
athleteandy1 said:
This poke reminds me of Gyarados on so many levels. It has a superb stat-boosting move, is weak to Stealth Rock, has an ability to harm physical attackers, and is a top tier threat capable of sweeping teams after one or two turns of set-up.
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Except theit types are completely different. Stats are completely different. their ability's are completely different. and the ways the sweep are completely different. after that. sure they are the same lol
 
Merii said:
Except theit types are completely different. Stats are completely different. their ability's are completely different. and the ways the sweep are completely different. after that. sure they are the same lol
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I just said that it reminded me of it, not that they were the same
 
well clearly the must be the same in SOME kind of way if it remind's you of gyarados.
this reminds me more of yanmega, personally, only better. yanmega 2.0. still not top tier though.
 
Can't tell you how easy it is to rip through teams with this bug...

But yeah, SR/Heatran/Aquajet (pretty much Azumarill and Kabutops)/Paralyze (grr Lepard) are all hard counters (Empoleon is resistant to my set, but I have only seen it once this Gen) to it. All Heatran needs is Roar and you'll pretty much neutralize Urga (been seeing these Heatrans a lot lately), you can come in on even a +3 Bfly dance and still be fine. I run it with Flame Body for switching into weak physicals (which isn't very hard with this guy's typing). I might try Swarm... Also I tend to use Flame Dance due to really only being able to use Bfly once most of the time. HP Rock as my third move gives really nice coverage (especially Gyarados and Dragonite, HP Rock is uncommon so I usually get a free kill), then last slot is Bug Buzz for neutral covg and killing that pesky Tyranitar...


/Post cherry popped
 
I really like that set, and her stat-boosting move is so killer if you can get it done at the right time. We might be seeing her a lot w/ a good partner to soak up those fire moves.
 
I find it pretty easy to counter.

Just get Nattorei to Twave on the switch and switch to the appropriate counter so now its paralyzed with just 50% hp if factoring stealth rock
 
Synth_Metal said:
I find it pretty easy to counter.

Just get Nattorei to Twave on the switch and switch to the appropriate counter so now its paralyzed with just 50% hp if factoring stealth rock
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you don't switch in volcarona, you let something die then switch it in.

EDIT: no please let's not go gravity zero sawsbuck on this conversation please; the most common set runs lefties and let's leave it at that
 
Using T-Wave on the switch is not a countering, it could carry Lum for all you know and all of a sudden you are Flame Dance setup bait.
 
Synth_Metal said:
I find it pretty easy to counter.

Just get Nattorei to Twave on the switch and switch to the appropriate counter so now its paralyzed with just 50% hp if factoring stealth rock
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No one is going to switch Volcarona into a pokemon that can carry T-wave unless it's taunted. Not to mention you would have to predict both the switch-in with a Ferrothorn already on the field.

Heatran could also use Stone Edge, since it's not like it's going to use HP Rock against anything else besides Dragonite and Salamence.
 
Hm...what about minimum speed Heatran...with a Quiet nature...252 HP...a smattering of SAtk...

and JUST ENOUGH ATTACK TO KO ALL VOLCARONA WITH STONE EDGE without fearing a burn from Flame Body?

EDIT: No amount of investment outside of a full 252 Atk Adamant Heatran can OHKO a 252/252 Bold Volcarona with no residue damage. Even with a Modest nature Stone Edge is a 2HKO, OHKO with rocks down.
 
I think most Heatrans would use roar before Stone edge. More utility, since you're not hurting much else with stone edge, not even dragons (after all it can't even ohko volcan, who is quad weak).
 
Nubbins said:
No one is going to switch Volcarona into a pokemon that can carry T-wave unless it's taunted. Not to mention you would have to predict both the switch-in with a Ferrothorn already on the field.

Heatran could also use Stone Edge, since it's not like it's going to use HP Rock against anything else besides Dragonite and Salamence.
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I find that most people do switch volcorona into nattorei, so yea

(or it could be that fact that im not fighting the better players with my battle rating at 1040) >.>
 
I didn't realize Ferrothrorn got Thunder Wave, and also didn't realize how solid he is [after checking out his page, etc]

you probably faced some kids that 1) didnt know completely about the new pokemon yet [understandable] 2) got excited seeing a pokemon being x4 weak to their pokemon
 
Arc Tech said:
I think most Heatrans would use roar before Stone edge. More utility, since you're not hurting much else with stone edge, not even dragons (after all it can't even ohko volcan, who is quad weak).
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This.

Honestly every Heatran I run into has been setup fodder. If its a special sweeper and it doesn't have a rock attack or phazing move or t-wave, its pure an unadulterated Volcarona bait. Surely everyone knows this by now.

So far the only real counters Volcarona has that will ever see it face to face (seeing as no competitive battler with a brain would have it in on something carrying a Rock move) are physically based water sweepers. Special ones are a joke, don't gimme that Jellicent crap, if you've already BDed you just get another one as Jellicent comes in, a third as they toxic you (if they even have toxic, if not they're SOL &JWF), then you nuke them with HP/Psychic, and likely have enough HP left if running a set with leftovers to KO 1 or 2 other opposing mons. Moral of the story being that no special water type can stop this thing, weakness or not, rain or shine.

I run a team based around Volcarona and I have a Bulkynite as well, running T-wave/Dragon Tail/Roost/Sub, specifically to phaze/check other Volcarona as well as any other boosting sweepers. There hasn't been much talk on this thread about phazing this guy and its a pretty obvious solution wouldn't you say?

If a team running Volcarona hasn't spun your rocks away or Espy/Xatu-mirrored them back at you, you can probably get them up at some mid-battle which I've noticed a lot of folks trying on me (unfortunately I run Espy AND a spinner so their plan never works). This simple fact makes phazing Volcarona even more appetizing as no self-respecting competitive battler would EVER switch it in while rocks were on the field unless it was their last mon; In fact its really beneficial for one to switch in Volcarona when predicting rocks or other hazards, which plays into the phazing strategy that much more; thus phazing is one of the most viable methods of actually getting Volcarona to take SR damage in the first place.
 
I actually love it when I phaze in an enemy Volcarona with Dragon Tail when I have rocks up. And because my phaser is Gyarados it either eats a Waterfall or dies the next time it switches in. Phazing with rocks on the field is actually a pretty effective way of dealing with Volcarona prematurely. Otherwise my Conkeldurr always kills the bug outside of a Stone Edge miss. Everyone still expects Payback, which is there fault, and they either hit me with a weak Flame Dance or try to set up on me while I OHKO. Conkeldurr is also perfectly capable of surviving a +1 LO Flame Dance, even a +2 I think, with reasonable SpD investment. Mine isn't even Careful.
 
Jaroda said:
I actually love it when I phaze in an enemy Volcarona with Dragon Tail when I have rocks up. And because my phaser is Gyarados it either eats a Waterfall or dies the next time it switches in. Phazing with rocks on the field is actually a pretty effective way of dealing with Volcarona prematurely. Otherwise my Conkeldurr always kills the bug outside of a Stone Edge miss. Everyone still expects Payback, which is there fault, and they either hit me with a weak Flame Dance or try to set up on me while I OHKO. Conkeldurr is also perfectly capable of surviving a +1 LO Flame Dance, even a +2 I think, with reasonable SpD investment. Mine isn't even Careful.
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I'm pretty sure a +1 Psychic (which more sets run than you might expect due to people being put off by HP IV restrictions and the fact that Volcarona's biggest (arguably) counter Terrakion is weak to it) would KO with any prior damage. If anything that learns Stone Edge was a hard counter to this guy this thread probably wouldn't be so long.

But yeah I agree the best counter to any Volcarona set is a good bulky phazer; phazing completely unravels Volcarona's entire purpose for living.

I'd be shocked to not see phazing in general see a major spike in employment this gen with all the fucking draconian boosting moves that are out now like Shell Break, Tail Glow, and of course BD.
 
voodoo pimp said:
All good Volcarona users will be using spin support, so you can't automatically assume rocks will always be in play.
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Not necessarily, Volcarona is a great early game wall breaker, and it can come in on a predicted SR and just start attacking until it dies. The only hard stop to it is Evo Stone Chansey, since IIRC Blissey is 2KOed by a +2 Fire Blast. Also, defensive sets get Morning Sun if you want, which can mitigate SR right off the bat.

You don't even need Spin support with Volcarona like you do with Yanmega because Butterfly Dance is such a great boosting move.
 
Not only that, but I've had my anti-hazard pokémon failing me only for Volcarona to manage to boost while taking SR damage under Rain and then proceeding to sweep/punch holes into the opponent's team more than once.

I thank God every day (hahah just kidding, only twice a week) Stealth Rock still does 50% max damage; I reckon Volcarona would be "too good" if it took only 25%, or had a BST of 600. It may be the most vulnerable to passive damage pokémon ever made (only immune to Burn lol), but Butterfly Dance just puts it one step above. Now, if only Hurricane had 0 Acc (nevermiss) under Sun...
 
sure the power is there, but if stealth rock is as popular and used as last gen.. you're going to have half a pokemon with a lot of power and possibility.

there's just.. so many new threats now.. directly and indirectly.. i don't know how or when this metagame will settle.. honestly don't believe it will for a long time.

But with Volcarona.. it's power,type,movepool is definitely great enough to base a team around.. and protect it the best you can.. so.. there's a plus for it.
 
Volcorona @ Chesto Berry
Nature: Timid
Ability: Flame Body
Evs: 252 HP, 188 Def, 52 SpA, 16 Spd
-Quiver Dance
-Fire Blast
-Bug Buzz
-Rest

If anyone can help me with optimizing the Evs, please do so. But so far, this has been the most successful version of this pokemon I have ever run. I simply attempted to treat it like a bulky dancer and this was what I got. Slapped it on a sun team and called it a day.

Although it's got base 60 defense, the defensive EVs allow it to take hits extraordinarily well, especially if Flame body acitvates. Azumarill's Aqua Jet is now a 2-3HKO, and other priority is moot after that. The Speed Evs allow me to outrun all base 130 pokemon after one quiver dance. The rest are just dumped into SpA. This pokemon turns Chansey and Blissey into setup fodder, getting up to 4 dances on them and then 2HKOing them with sun boosted fire blasts(Evs can probably be redone to ohko at this point). The set simply manhandles everything that resists it, save for terakion.

What was I losing to? Phazer heatrans. Fire blast misses. More than one pokemon with unresisted priotity on the same team. Being unable to set up because my opponent's entire team either contains rock attacks or multiple phazers.

I think I'm seeing this pokemon in a better light.
 
I would probably put enough speed EVs so you can outrun sand throw Excadrill at +2. And maybe use flame dance over fire blast, but that's more of a preference thing.

Volcarona is most hilarious when it sweeps rain teams. Bug buzz alone does great damage to most rain sweeper and psychic/hp rock picks up all the slack. Not to mention it's really easy to predict an Azumarill switch in and hit it with bug buzz when it switches in before switching to dragon.
 
I've tried flame dance and I prefer fire blast/flamethrower. The move is great and all it helps to break walls. But a base 80 powered move can leave much to be desired when it comes to sweeping.

I hadn't considered putting in extra speed to outrun Excadrill in the sand since even outside of weather, I would have to worry about choice scarf garchomp and above switching in and ohkoing me with stone edge. I might try it out if I find that running Volcorona under weather is troublesome. Since I'm playing in the sun, I could probably poor some more speed into Volcorona to outrun sun Sawsbuck.
 
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