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Life Orb already limits Regice's sweeping capability, and I despise Focus Blast's shoddy accuracy. It's always missed at the worst times for me, as such, I use Explosion. I do see the merits of Focus Blast, however, so I'll try it next time I battle.
life orb doesn't limit its sweeping capability at all; if anything not having life orb limits your ability to sweep because as an rp sweeper, regice doesn't boost its offensive stats, so without life orb it lacks the power to break through teams. even though focus blast has low accuracy, its coverage is crucial against important threats such as rotom-f, piloswine, and avalugg, and you are only using it to hit a few specific pokemon, so it's not like you're relying on it often. also, i really don't see the benefit of explosion at all, it does next to no damage, doesn't even accomplish anything unique, and forces you to lower your bulk to even run it.
Magnemite All good points. I am relatively new or serious competitive battling, so I didn't take those into account. Thanks for your ideas. Focus Blast it is.
Magnemite All good points. I am relatively new or serious competitive battling, so I didn't take those into account. Thanks for your ideas. Focus Blast it is.
Modest is preferred on Regice as you're already boosting your speed and you would want to maximize the amount of damage Regice can deal after a Rock Polish. Timid doesn't help it outspeed anything important.
Rampardos @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 16 Atk / 252 SpA / 240 Spe
Rash Nature
- Rock Slide
- Earth Power
- Fire Blast/Thunderbolt
- Ice Beam
Another set I've tried out with some success is mixed Rampardos (sorry galbia). Rampardos is such an awesome wallbreaker held back only by its poor speed and shoddy defenses. However given the chance, mixed Rampardos punches holes in opposing teams with it wide range of moves and Sheer Force + LO to make it hit even harder. As for the moveset itself, Rock Slide is the STAB move of choice while its less powerful than Stone Edge or Head Smash, it gets the Sheer Force boost and with LO, it still hits very hard even with minimum attack investment. Earth Power can be used to form a Rock-Ground combo with Rock Slide to hit opposing Rock-types like Golem, Barbaracle, Carracosta, and other Rampardos attacking them from their lower Special Defense stat. Fire Blast OHKOes Avalugg and physically defensive Gourgeist after Stealth Rock and hits other Grass- and Ice-types as well. On the other hand, Thunderbolt can be used instead to nail Swanna, Pelipper, and Mantine tho Rock Slide tends to KO them anyway. Ice Beam rounds out the set as it nails Ground-types like Marowak and Torterra. The EV spread allows Rampardos outspeed everything up to max speed Adamant Torterra with max Special Attack investment allows its special attacks to hit as hard as possible with the rest dumped into Attack to give Rock Slide a slight boost in power. This set is best used alongside Sticky Web or paralysis support from pokemon like Kricketune and Meowstic respectivly. Hazard support works well with this set to turn 2HKOes to possible OHKOes.
Meganium @ Rocky Helmet or Leftovers
Ability: Overgrow
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature or Bold Nature if using Leaf Storm
- Synthesis
- Toxic/Aromatherapy/Leaf Storm
- Counter
- Dragon Tail
Went out of the norm here with this Meganium set. Normally when you see a Meganium in battles, you would normally assume its a dual screen or subseed set with max hp, max sp. def, and calm nature. However physically defensive Meganium is no slouch either. Was looking to try out a physical wall not named Poliwrath to deal with Barbaracle, Carracosta, etc and it led me to give Meganium a shot. While Meganium isn't the first thing that comes to mind regarding being a physical wall, this set does do some of the similiar things that RestTalk Poliwrath can. It phazes out opponents with Dragon Tail, spreads status with Toxic, but unlike Poliwrath which has no reliable recovery outside of Rest, Meganium has Synthesis to instantly recover any lost HP while taking hits and punishing physicals attackers with Rocky Helmet. The only real downside to this set is the fact that for one, don't switch it in on an incoming attack as Sneasel and Scyther still 2HKO with Icicle Crash and Aerial Ace respectively. I'll post some calcs 2 show how bulky it is and then retaliate with Counter.
The ability to bait in physical attackers is cool, but megnanium is a poor choice for this for a few reasons. Firstly, it has 0 offensive presence, and without any strong attacking moves, it will become set up fodder. Look at bouff for example, yes meg can take a hit, but bouff can freely sub and spam SD, others also have ways round it, fire blast will most likely use fire blast, if scyther SD's, you are screwed, same with sneasel (barbaracle dont run aerial ace either). Other than that, its outclassed by tangela/torterra/leafeon. I just dont think counter is niche enough
This set lures Tangela, Garbodor, Gourgeist, etc while still checking the same things normal poliwrath does. I know other people have used specs poliwrath, but i like lefties better since yoou still 2hko what you need to, have passive recovery, and can switch moves. this doesn't hit all that hard, but it doesn't really matter too much because it's poliwrath. not much else to say about this really, it's a fun lure that isn't that much worse off against what you normally beat.
I have used this set before, as it can checks attackers better with passive recovery. Im curious why use psychic>focus blast, focus blast smacks poli, so the only thing you really beat is throh, but without fblast, you suffer from regular polys problems, lack of fighting STAB. I will add this to the op if you edit in reasoning for that (or slash, might just be an oversight).
Sorry but explosion is inferior to focus blast, as it allows you to beat pokes like licky, while still having the ability to sweep, it also allows you to beat piloswine, and -def nature is annoying for this
Vigoroth @ Eviolite
Ability: Vital Spirit
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Return
- Bulk Up
- Slack Off
- Taunt
I stole this from Anty's post in the current CCAT and holy shit, this thing puts in work. Nobody uses it but it easily sets up on a large portion of the tier. Its bulk at +2 defense is really good both physically and specially, and it takes most special hits fairly well. It gets stopped by throh, trick, and that's basically it apart from a few nasty plot users, most of which don't like taking a +1 return anyway (chatot, raichu, etc.) For a replay that shows off how disgusting Vigoroth is, look below. I couldn't help but post this directly after that game.
Adding this, it is a great pokemon and its low usage is a crime. Thanks for adding a replay (even if it is against non sand stoutland :x), i recommend more people do this
Rampardos @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 16 Atk / 252 SpA / 240 Spe
Rash Nature
- Rock Slide
- Earth Power
- Fire Blast/Thunderbolt
- Ice Beam
Another set I've tried out with some success is mixed Rampardos (sorry galbia). Rampardos is such an awesome wallbreaker held back only by its poor speed and shoddy defenses. However given the chance, mixed Rampardos punches holes in opposing teams with it wide range of moves and Sheer Force + LO to make it hit even harder. As for the moveset itself, Rock Slide is the STAB move of choice while its less powerful than Stone Edge or Head Smash, it gets the Sheer Force boost and with LO, it still hits very hard even with minimum attack investment. Earth Power can be used to form a Rock-Ground combo with Rock Slide to hit opposing Rock-types like Golem, Barbaracle, Carracosta, and other Rampardos attacking them from their lower Special Defense stat. Fire Blast OHKOes Avalugg and physically defensive Gourgeist after Stealth Rock and hits other Grass- and Ice-types as well. On the other hand, Thunderbolt can be used instead to nail Swanna, Pelipper, and Mantine tho Rock Slide tends to KO them anyway. Ice Beam rounds out the set as it nails Ground-types like Marowak and Torterra. The EV spread allows Rampardos outspeed everything up to max speed Adamant Torterra with max Special Attack investment allows its special attacks to hit as hard as possible with the rest dumped into Attack to give Rock Slide a slight boost in power. This set is best used alongside Sticky Web or paralysis support from pokemon like Kricketune and Meowstic respectivly. Hazard support works well with this set to turn 2HKOes to possible OHKOes.
Im not too sure about this set. Im not too sure if running a specially based set is better, for example:
252+ SpA Life Orb Sheer Force Rampardos Earth Power vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Golem: 330-390 (109.2 - 129.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ Atk Life Orb Rampardos Earthquake vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Golem: 296-351 (98 - 116.2%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO. If running mold breaker, you beat its sturdy.
Other special moves are standard on ramp, like fire blast, as it 2HKOs pokes like gourgeist and tangela even without investment. By the looks of the description, thunderbolt hits nothing, however it does hit poliwrath, which zen headbut beats. A main downfall of this set is that you lose your main attacking move:
252+ SpA Life Orb Sheer Force Rampardos Fire Blast vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Eviolite Thick Fat Piloswine: 146-172 (36.1 - 42.5%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
16 Atk Life Orb Sheer Force Rampardos Rock Slide vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Eviolite Piloswine: 173-204 (42.8 - 50.4%) -- 1.2% chance to 2HKO
252+ Atk Life Orb Rampardos Stone Edge vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Eviolite Piloswine: 224-265 (55.4 - 65.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
I just dont think there is enough of a reason to use it over the mixed sets
Basically, Dedenne subs/takes damage until her Petaya Berry activates, giving her not only an increase to Sp. Atk, but also 1/3 of her HP back from Cheek Pouch. Then she can fire off boosted T-bolts or Recycle the berry for another HP and attacking boost. Either coverage move sucks, but it's all Dedenne's got to work with.
Basically, Dedenne subs/takes damage until her Petaya Berry activates, giving her not only an increase to Sp. Atk, but also 1/3 of her HP back from Cheek Pouch. Then she can fire off boosted T-bolts or Recycle the berry for another HP and attacking boost. Either coverage move sucks, but it's all Dedenne's got to work with.
Basically, Dedenne subs/takes damage until her Petaya Berry activates, giving her not only an increase to Sp. Atk, but also 1/3 of her HP back from Cheek Pouch. Then she can fire off boosted T-bolts or Recycle the berry for another HP and attacking boost. Either coverage move sucks, but it's all Dedenne's got to work with.
Basically, Dedenne subs/takes damage until her Petaya Berry activates, giving her not only an increase to Sp. Atk, but also 1/3 of her HP back from Cheek Pouch. Then she can fire off boosted T-bolts or Recycle the berry for another HP and attacking boost. Either coverage move sucks, but it's all Dedenne's got to work with.
There is no reason to use dedenne over raichu or any other electric type like that. ITs low strength will prevent this from doing anythings, and its awful bulk will prevent it from setting up substitutes/doing anything
As people know mega glalie is one of the powerhouses in pu, being able to hit hard with base 120 STAB refrideraged boosted moves. This set is made to smack Piloswine and avalugg, its two counters, whilst also allowing it to function fairly normally, ie it can still smack things will double edge or explosion or hit switch ins with eq:
252+ Atk Refrigerate Glalie Explosion vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Avalugg: 126-149 (32 - 37.9%) -- 0.6% chance to 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
Physically defensive avalugg dies if rocks + spikes are up or if has taken priori damage. No one even uses that, specially defensive sets are more of a joke:
252+ Atk Refrigerate Glalie Explosion vs. 248 HP / 0 Def Avalugg: 161-189 (40.9 - 48%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
You dont even need rocks if it has taken a bit of damage.
252+ Atk Refrigerate Glalie Explosion vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Thick Fat Piloswine: 153-181 (37.8 - 44.8%) -- 5.1% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock
THat cannot recover, and it is dead if it is offensive set.
Killing these two pokes also opens wholes in your opponents teams; as avalugg is a big check to a lot of physical attackers like, sneasel (ice spam is cool but requires defog), bouff, any attack not named costa/baracle.
As people know mega glalie is one of the powerhouses in pu, being able to hit hard with base 120 STAB refrideraged boosted moves. This set is made to smack Piloswine and avalugg, its two counters, whilst also allowing it to function fairly normally, ie it can still smack things will double edge or explosion or hit switch ins with eq:
252+ Atk Refrigerate Glalie Explosion vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Avalugg: 126-149 (32 - 37.9%) -- 0.6% chance to 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
Physically defensive avalugg dies if rocks + spikes are up or if has taken priori damage. No one even uses that, specially defensive sets are more of a joke:
252+ Atk Refrigerate Glalie Explosion vs. 248 HP / 0 Def Avalugg: 161-189 (40.9 - 48%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
You dont even need rocks if it has taken a bit of damage.
252+ Atk Refrigerate Glalie Explosion vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Thick Fat Piloswine: 153-181 (37.8 - 44.8%) -- 5.1% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock
THat cannot recover, and it is dead if it is offensive set.
Killing these two pokes also opens wholes in your opponents teams; as avalugg is a big check to a lot of physical attackers like, sneasel (ice spam is cool but requires defog), bouff, any attack not named costa/baracle.
this is more of a general nitpick than with this set in particular, but why do people always run adamant on glalie? are there any relevant koes that it gets that are worth not outspeeding all of mr. mime, chatot, leafeon, sawsbuck, quick feet ursaring, haunter, frogadier, swanna, and basculin, as well as tying with ninetales and dodrio?
this is more of a general nitpick than with this set in particular, but why do people always run adamant on glalie? are there any relevant koes that it gets that are worth not outspeeding all of mr. mime, chatot, leafeon, sawsbuck, quick feet ursaring, haunter, frogadier, swanna, and basculin, as well as tying with ninetales and dodrio?
Say welcome to the new king of rain teams, everyone. BD Poliwrath is a very interesting, fun, and effective set up sweeper for several reasons.
The first reason that makes it legit as a Belly Drummer is Swift Swim, which double Poliwrath's speed in rain, making it hard to revenge kill.
Speaking of revenge killing this beast, its typing is exellent at taking priorities, as it resists Ice Shard, Aqua Jet, Bullet Punch and Sucker Punch, while being to no priority at all!
The 3rd reason is its access to Fast Encore ( due to swift swim ) , which allows Poliwrath to set up way more easily by blocking some pokemons into their moves, and as i said before, Poliwrath's typing is really helping you on that side, even if it's not an obligation to run it. It's still a nice tool.
Waterfall is your main STAB, boosted by the rain, KOing everything that doesn't resist it while being a bit defensive.
Ice Punch resists the main mons that will try to wall you: Grass Types. Both Gourgeist & Tangela will fall to a Ice Punch, unless full defense Tangela but who uses that?
Brick Break's main purpose is simple: not getting walled and thrown away by your opponent's own Poliwrath ( and immunities to Water, but the other sucks ). Otherwise it's STAB for sure, but still kinda useless.
Say welcome to the new king of rain teams, everyone. BD Poliwrath is a very interesting, fun, and effective set up sweeper for several reasons.
The first reason that makes it legit as a Belly Drummer is Swift Swim, which double Poliwrath's speed in rain, making it hard to revenge kill.
Speaking of revenge killing this beast, its typing is exellent at taking priorities, as it resists Ice Shard, Aqua Jet, Bullet Punch and Sucker Punch, while being to no priority at all!
The 3rd reason is its access to Fast Encore ( due to swift swim ) , which allows Poliwrath to set up way more easily by blocking some pokemons into their moves, and as i said before, Poliwrath's typing is really helping you on that side, even if it's not an obligation to run it. It's still a nice tool.
Waterfall is your main STAB, boosted by the rain, KOing everything that doesn't resist it while being a bit defensive.
Ice Punch resists the main mons that will try to wall you: Grass Types. Both Gourgeist & Tangela will fall to a Ice Punch, unless full defense Tangela but who uses that?
Brick Break's main purpose is simple: not getting walled and thrown away by your opponent's own Poliwrath. Otherwise it's STAB for sure, but still kinda useless.
I'm ManOfMany23, and I've used this set (belly drum, waterfall, ice punch, and brick break) on my rain team for a week now, paired with memento Drifblim. It's a lot of fun, and useful even without Belly Drum.
However, the EVs are wrong. You need 4 HP EVs rather than defense EVs to activate sitrus berry.
I used an adamant nature, cause that's my style, however it's important to know that you speed tie with scarfed base 110 pokemon.
I'm ManOfMany23, and I've used this set (belly drum, waterfall, ice punch, and brick break) on my rain team for a week now, paired with memento Drifblim. It's a lot of fun, and useful even without Belly Drum.
However, the EVs are wrong. You need 4 HP EVs rather than defense EVs to activate sitrus berry.
I used an adamant nature, cause that's my style, however it's important to know that you speed tie with scarfed base 110 pokemon.
Vespiquen (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 SpD (or 252 Def)
Careful Nature (or Impish if Physical)
- Defog/Tailwind
- Attack Order
- Roost
- Destiny Bond/Toxic
This thing is one of my favourite Walls in PU as it dual-resists the incredibly common grass type as well as being able to go physical or special. Defog and Tailwind allow it to fill a supportive role meaning it is more valuable. Attack order is a unique physical attack with 90 power and a high crit ratio. Roost is for health recovery and to catch rock-types out as you get rid of your flying type. Lastly, Toxic is for residual damage whereas Destiny bond is useful for taking down walls or threats when Vespiquen's usefulness has expired.
Vespiquen (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 SpD (or 252 Def)
Careful Nature (or Impish if Physical)
- Defog/Tailwind
- Attack Order
- Roost
- Destiny Bond/Toxic
This thing is one of my favourite Walls in PU as it dual-resists the incredibly common grass type as well as being able to go physical or special. Defog and Tailwind allow it to fill a supportive role meaning it is more valuable. Attack order is a unique physical attack with 90 power and a high crit ratio. Roost is for health recovery and to catch rock-types out as you get rid of your flying type. Lastly, Toxic is for residual damage whereas Destiny bond is useful for taking down walls or threats when Vespiquen's usefulness has expired.
Phazing, stealth rocks, fire types, boosting sweepers, rock types, flying types, ice types, electric types... You're gonna find at least 4 of those on any PU team, and all beat this set
Phazing, stealth rocks, fire types, boosting sweepers, rock types, flying types, ice types, electric types... You're gonna find at least 4 of those on any PU team, and all beat this set
Other people have covered why this pokemon is bad, but not in too much detail so i will post. Firstly its poor defensive typing, being weak to Electric, Fire, Flying, Ice and 4x to rock. These are all common types in PU. Secondly, its walling capabilities are hindered by 4x weakness to stealth rocks, meaning it is at a huge risk of dying/not being able to switch in if rocks a present. Lastly, Pelipper outclasses it; pelipper has a better defensive typing, having much less weaknesses, and more resistances allowing it to check pokemon such as flareon easily.
Other people have covered why this pokemon is bad, but not in too much detail so i will post. Firstly its poor defensive typing, being weak to Electric, Fire, Flying, Ice and 4x to rock. These are all common types in PU. Secondly, its walling capabilities are hindered by 4x weakness to stealth rocks, meaning it is at a huge risk of dying/not being able to switch in if rocks a present. Lastly, Pelipper outclasses it; pelipper has a better defensive typing, having much less weaknesses, and more resistances allowing it to check pokemon such as flareon easily.
Anti-meta Kecleon (I did not invent this set but saw someone use it and like it)
Kecleon @ Life Orb
Ability: Protean
EVs: 208 HP / 252 Atk / 48 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Drain Punch
- Knock Off / Sucker Punch
- Fake Out
- Thunder Punch
Thanks to ORAS (Knock Off / Drain Punch + Protean mostly) Kecleon has seen a huge surge in usage in the PU meta. With all the Kecleon usage its only natural that we see people trying to counter this mon with the likes of Pelipper, Poliwrath, Gougeist (except Knock Off), etc. That's where Thunder Punch comes in nicely and bops Pelipper and 2hkoes 252 Hp / 252 Def Poliwrath which can't KO in return since you will be electric type. The 48 speed is to outspeed 4 Speed base 45s (Marowak, Golem, Wigglytuff). Fake Out, Drain Punch and Knock Off are essential for coverage but if your team would benefit more from Sucker Punch then go for it.
meet mantine 2.0 while it misses like every move ever, rain dance poliwrath is actually a really good sweeper. it's just as fast as mantine, and is a bit weaker, but it more than makes up for this with its powerful stab focus blast and its amazing typing. life orb poliwrath hits surprisingly hard, and it has solid coverage as well. vacuum wave lets you bop jolly scarf tauros, but i prefer ice beam for grass types. overall this is a surprisingly good set that a ton of teams are weak to, so i definitely recommend trying it out.