If there was more HP, it would be a good poison and water Wobbuffet. Only this time, it can attack directly.
Just when you thought it was safe to get back in the water.
Slow DEFENSIVE Pokemon. And it gets Regenerator, though Merciless seems a bit odd on it though it can activate it rather easily.
Utilities first, be it from Toxic, Toxic Spikes, or Baneful Bunker you are going to be poisoned. And either from Wide Guard, Recover, Venom Drench, Protect, Light Scren, Safeguard, Double Team, and/or Substitute you will be stalled. But Merciless is a niche option so let's look at attacks. Has its option of STABs (can go either Physical or Special, doesn't really matter) as well as Ice Beam/Blizzard, Smack Down, Payback, and Frost Breath (which Merciless doesn't help since it always a Critical Hit). Egg Moves are Stockpile/Swallow/Spit Up and Haze.
Geez, you may just need a dedicated Pokemon to take out this thing, something with Heal Block and immune to Poison like the Bronzor family (bonus for being Psychic-type).
Nah, There's EQ on every team so this thing wont need a dedicated slot
There is EQ to pressure it, but are you really gonna switch your Excadrill / Landorus-T / Garchomp into Scald?
Moreover : 252 Atk Mold Breaker Excadrill Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 180 Def Tentacruel: 206-246 (67.7 - 80.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Black Sludge recovery. He is that tanky (well you aren't staying but with Regenerator, some damage are alleviated). Not going to say you need something dedicated, but you do need to adapt your set to this. Either by running Sub (he fails to break Chomp's sub) or something else, but his bulk + Scald + Regenator means that physical attacker will have an hard time to pressure it.
Fortunately:
252+ SpA Life Orb Sheer Force Landorus Earth Power vs. 252 HP / 80+ SpD Tentacruel: 315-374 (103.6 - 123%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 SpA Life Orb Gardevoir Psyshock vs. 252 HP / 176 Def Tentacruel: 315-374 (103.6 - 123%) -- guaranteed OHKO (actually Tapu Lele)
There is always the nuke option.
Pair it with Tapu Bulu. Grassy Terrain. Enjoy neutral EQ.
What can Toxapex do if the opponent just sets up a Substitute and starts to boost? Sure, you can Haze, but you'll get worn down sooner or later and switching out for Regenerator means you give opponent a free turn of setup behind a Substitute. I hope I'm wrong but it just looks like Substitute sweepers wreck it.
That's true for....well, most defensive things that don't have Unaware. Which is why you have something with Taunt/an appropriate counter to the booster you're worried about.
Any sweeper can end your team if they get one turn with Toxapex, though. It's impossible to have counters for all of them, and the thing that makes Toxapex worse than a lot of other bulky defensive mons is that its offenses are so poor that it can't even break Substitutes. I really want to like this thing but I think it may turn out to be a liability in an offensive metagame.
Off the top of my head, DD Gyarados and CM Magic Guard Clefable will give this hell. DD CharX and M-Sableye don't usually run Sub but will still wreck Toxapex while boosting.
But my point is it doesn't have to be something that runs Sub now. If you have access to Sub + a boosting move, you will be able to set up on Toxapex this gen.
+1 252+ Atk Gyarados Bounce vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Toxapex: 118-141 (38.8 - 46.3%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Stealth Rock and Black Sludge recovery (plus, Baneful Bunker completely counters that move)Off the top of my head, DD Gyarados and CM Magic Guard Clefable will give this hell. DD CharX and M-Sableye don't usually run Sub but will still wreck Toxapex while boosting.
But my point is it doesn't have to be something that runs Sub now. If you have access to Sub + a boosting move, you will be able to set up on Toxapex this gen.
A lot of M-Char X run EQ, no? At least they used to, for Heatran & co. And Clefable can run Psychic IIRC if Toxapex ever gets annoying. Points taken, though.
Some unresolved build questions.
If you run Regenerator: Black Sludge or Rocky Helmet?
Toxic + Baneful Bunker on the same set? Would Protect be better?
Scald or Liquidate?
Every single set will run Recover, I imagine.
Toxic Spikes is nice but I don't think you'd run it alongside Toxic. Maybe I'm wrong.
PP count of move selection will be important for stall wars.
So Toxic and Baneful Bunker on the same set will be tough, huh...
I think if you're not running Baneful Bunker, serious consideration should be given to Rocky Helmet over Black Sludge.
And if you run Toxic, won't Liquidate prove better than Scald against bulky mons? It runs off the better offensive stat and can actually wear them down if they stay in, unlike Scald (burn nerf and all that).
Wouldn't get too overhyped about the bulk, that 50 Base HP is deceptively bad. Also, Tapu Lele can come in on it since it will rarely be using attacks and annihilate it with Psychic Terrain boosted STAB Psychics. It also has to watch out for the likes of SDChomp Earthquake. Psychic Terrain is going to make Psychic attacks a lot more common, and Ground get several moves that are threatening. For example, lets say Toxapex switches into a Toxic of a mon with Stomping Tantrum. Toxic will fail, meaning Stomping Tantrum will have 150 BP the next turn. Probably not the most common scenario, but it's there.
It's not so much that 50/152/142 is insanely good so much as it's insanely good on a Pokemon that has Recover and Regenerator. Like holy shit, this thing is never ever going to die.Wouldn't get too overhyped about the bulk, that 50 Base HP is deceptively bad.