Pokémon Corsola-Galar

[MANNAT]

Corsola-Galar

Base Stats: 60 HP / 55 Atk / 100 Def / 65 SpA / 100 SpD / 30 Spe
Abilities: Weak Armor | Cursed Body (HA)

Notable Moves:
- Stealth Rock
- Strength Sap
- Will-O-Wisp
- Night Shade
- Hex
- Haze
- Shadow Ball
- Light Screen
- Reflect
- Destiny Bond
- Disable
- Calm Mind
- Giga Drain
- Surf
- Ice Beam
- Earth Power

Pros:

• Obscenely bulky with eviolite, being able to wall nearly all of the best physical metagame threats, most notably gyarados and hawlucha
• Access to rocks alongside a ton of other utility, like strength sap for recovery and wisp to cripple certain threats, alongside with some nifty utility options like haze and dual screens.
• Ghost typing allows it to function as a rocker that also spinblocks simultaneously, which is especially significant in a metagame with decreased defog distribution.

Cons:

• Laughably weak attacking stats means that it's forced to resort to night shade to do damage, as it can't even do simple things like break gyarados's substitutes with shadow ball or hex without significant special attack investment.
• Reliance on strength sap for recovery means that it can't consistently heal against special attackers with especially low attack stats.
• Being grounded means that it's affected by both spikes and toxic spikes, so hazard removal is necessary to allow it to perform its role effectively.

Potential Moveset:

Corsola-Galar @ Eviolite
Ability: Cursed Body
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Will-O-Wisp
- Strength Sap
- Night Shade

I skipped the dynamaxing potential portion because this is a primarily utility based set, so it would just be using max guardx3 if it tried dynamaxing. Basically, I think that Corsola is best served being a utility pivot that sets up rocks and checks some strong offensive threats. Wisp is important for crippling the aforementioned threats, especially Hawlucha and Gyarados. Strength Sap is pretty reliable as a recovery, as it's basically giving you 100 HP against even the weakest targets and is basically a 100% heal against physically offensive threats along with the attack drop being pretty important for keeping mons in check. Like I mentioned above, Night Shade is chosen here because you can't break Gyarados subs with normal attacking moves and it's just generally not worth using this thing's abysmal attacking stats regardless. Besides that, this set is fairly straightforward, it's a really strong defensive pivot that can switch into a ton of mons and generally annoy your opponent.

Overall, I think Galarian Corsola is really good, you've just gotta make sure that it's paired with strong hazard removal and the opponent isn't able to easily abuse its passivity. I'm especially looking forward to to seeing some nasty stall and balanced builds that people have been able to come up with that have this thing.

 

[Dreadfury]

Galarian Corsola has a movepool from the heavens. An interesting set I've considered is a CM+Hex set with Strength Sap and either Stealth Rock or Will-o-Wisp, which acts as an amazing wincon when paired up with Toxapex (who is easily G-Corsola's best teammate in my opinion) thanks to its Toxic Spikes support. Wisp helps it cripple Steels and Poisons that would be unaffected by T-Spikes.

Realistically, you could run Spite or Haze on any standard defensive set and it would probably do extremely well against opposing Stall or Offense, respectively. Haze in particular deserves some mention for being able to delete any of the obscene boosts Barraskewda, Hawlucha, and Gyarados might be able to get from their Dynamax moves.

 

[Ema Skye]

FerroPex + Corsola is the new "You can't have any fun" defensive core. The three work so well off of each other, with each setting up a hazard and posessing fantastic defensive synergy together. Especially with Cursed Body randomly trolling the few options they have.

Night Shade should be mandatory as you otherwise are total Taunt bait, and anything with Sub will use you as fodder (since Sap doesn't work on Subs).

 

[Zukrad]

THANK GOD IT DIDN'T KEEP REGENERATOR

Of course they add the defensive ghost type the gen they delete Pursuit
A bunch of utility, including Strenght Sap and Stealth Rocks, which might even give it a niche on more offensively oriented teams. The choice between Will-o-Wisp and Haze is a hard one assuming none of your other Pokémon carries SR.

Neat mon, me like

since Sap doesn't work on Subs

Good to know, maybe its time to run Sub in Hawlucha again

 

[Karxrida]

Is Cursed Body even legal right now?

Because having Weak Armor on a wall sounds like garbage.

 

[lydian]

Is Cursed Body even legal right now?

Because having Weak Armor on a wall sounds like garbage.

it should be! i think only the fossils and starters have unreleased ha

 

[Tmi489]

Wisp + Hex is stronger than Night Shade and what i see more on the ladder
Even with hazards up Corsola makes a great check for scary dynamaxers like Hawlucha and Gyarados, so I wouldn't say hazard removal is super recommended

 

[Siggu]

I would list the significantly reduced distribution of Knock Off as an advantage, as it's less likely that it will get its Eviolite removed by something you didn't think would carry the move.

 

[Pixilate]

Wisp + Hex is stronger than Night Shade and what i see more on the ladder
Even with hazards up Corsola makes a great check for scary dynamaxers like Hawlucha and Gyarados, so I wouldn't say hazard removal is super recommended

I will respectfully debate this point. I think Hex may also be more common on the ladder atm because there was a stall team posted in the meta discussion forum a few days back that uses Hex. I think Wisp is generally going to be a necessity either way because you need to check the scary physical Dynamaxers, but I don't think the situational extra damage from hex is generally worth the potential that you can't break a sub and then get swept.

I'll experiment more for sure, but I've been subbed on a few times before I get a status ailment on (and sometimes the status is already there but Corsola is that weak) because Corsola is so slow, and swept afterwards. The equivalent to Z-move power supplied by Dynamaxing is usually too much for any Unaware safety nets, like Clefable or Quagsire, you have to matter once Corsola realizes its mistake and gets nuked.

So far, there aren't any Pokemon that have a high enough base HP that Dynamax often to warrant Hex over Night Shade. As perspective, a Pokemon needs to be max HP with a base stat of 100 in order for Night Shade to not break the sub (that's 401HP total in case the number is necessary). With Gyarados being the most centralizing Dynamaxee atm, I don't think Hex is worth the risk especially because Night Shade is always gonna break a base 95 HP substitute.

 

[Yak Attack]

One Pokemon I find can really hit this thing hard is Drapion.

252 Atk Life Orb Drapion Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Corsola-Galar (I just used Combusken in the calc but I updated its stats and typing): 312-374 (96.2 - 115.4%) -- 81.3% chance to OHKO (guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock)

252+ Atk Life Orb Drapion Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Corsola-Galar: 343-406 (105.8 - 125.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO

This is with a max Defense Corsola-G. I expect to see this as a major threat to stall teams as it can Swords Dance once and proceed to do huge amounts of damage with Knock Off, which hits most stall mons rn neutrally (except Clefable, which it has Poison Jab for), and remove crucial items on Pokemon.

 

[Leica]

One Pokemon I find can really hit this thing hard is Drapion.

252 Atk Life Orb Drapion Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Corsola-Galar (I just used Combusken in the calc but I updated its stats and typing): 312-374 (96.2 - 115.4%) -- 81.3% chance to OHKO (guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock)

252+ Atk Life Orb Drapion Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Corsola-Galar: 343-406 (105.8 - 125.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO

This is with a max Defense Corsola-G. I expect to see this as a major threat to stall teams as it can Swords Dance once and proceed to do huge amounts of damage with Knock Off, which hits most stall mons rn neutrally (except Clefable, which it has Poison Jab for), and remove crucial items on Pokemon.

Hydreigon eats this thing's ass and generally does well against the teams it tends to be on too.

 

[Pixilate]

I ran some quick checks to try to resolve the Night Shade v. Hex debate. Here are some important ones:

Corsola Night Shade vs. 0 HP Hawlucha: 100-100 (33.6 - 33.6%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
vs.
4 SpA Corsola Hex (130 BP) vs. 0 HP / 36 SpD Hawlucha: 136-162 (45.7 - 54.5%) -- 53.9% chance to 2HKO
4 SpA Corsola Hex (65 BP) vs. 0 HP / 36 SpD Hawlucha: 69-82 (23.2 - 27.6%) -- 72% chance to 4HKO (59.1% chance to break sub)

Corsola Night Shade vs. 0 HP Gyarados: 100-100 (30.2 - 30.2%) -- guaranteed 4HKO
vs.
4 SpA Corsola Hex (130 BP) vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Gyarados: 99-117 (29.9 - 35.3%) -- 19.8% chance to 3HKO
4 SpA Corsola Hex (65 BP) vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Gyarados: 51-60 (15.4 - 18.1%) -- possible 6HKO (cannot break sub)

I'm not sure Hex is gonna be worth it. I mean, this thing has great utility, why not just use that instead of trying futilely trying to squeeze out damage from a Pokemon that can't deliver it consistently? Notice a glaring weakness that both of these Pokemon need to be afflicted with status manually, either through a prediction or something faster than it if it sets up substitute at the earliest moment. Toxic spikes doesn't work against these two.

I think if you were running stall or aside Toxapex with the intention on laying Toxic Spikes to ensure that Hex is gonna hit for 130 base power every time, it still isn't even worth it because the two threats that make Corsola so desirable right now just dodge this attempted insurance policy that every opposing Pokemon is gonna be statused.

I personally will agree with OP's originally choice to run Night Shade because it's just that much more consistent. Just realize that if your damage roll is among the 40.9% of unboosted Hexes that fail to break Hawlucha's sub, unless you have a contingency plan and you're using Quagsire or Clefable to mitigate the effect of boosts, you are going to lose. Don't even ask about Gyarados. Once it reveals substitute, you're finished. No Quagsire is going to save you here and Clefable probably isn't safe either since it doesn't have Soft-boiled anymore.

 

[JustoonSmitts]

So Corsola went from one of the worst Pokemon in the game to one of the biggest meta-defining defensive walls to the point that it outclasses its own evolution? Yeah, I love this thing. Even if Chansey magically came back, this is likely going to be the better choice in this meta with all the physical attackers around.

On a side note, it's design is rather heartbreaking. It's supposedly a dead coral reef, a chilling reminder that the planet is slowly dying because of global warming. That's pretty deep for a Pokemon game.

 

[Pixilate]

I actually want to reflect a bit on what JustoonSmitts was saying because it's probably worth noting in most likely the only thread dedicated to this Pokemon.

I actually love this thing's design so much. As a player who started their Pokemon journey in Johto, I've always loved Corsola after seeing Misty's in the anime. Although its presence in the anime is clearly no reason to justify its use competitively on top of the fact that in the games, Corsola tended to be pretty rare. It just gives me joy that this Pokemon is getting the love it deserves, albeit in a new demented form.

 

[GaileOxstain]

Duel Dance Death Defense
Ability: Cursed Body
Item: Leftovers
Nature: Bold
EV's (HP 252) (Def 156) (Sp.Def 100) Feel free to tweak
Iron Defense
Amnesia
Strength Sap
Night Shade
Boost both of your defense to make yourself near invincible provided Toxic and the like don't ruin your day. Strength Sap to heal you and impair them, Night Shade for consistent damage.

This regional variant and its evolution, to be completely frank, scare me. Something about it being a dead bleached coral created by man-made climate change kinda makes you feel responsible for the depraved state it has been reduced to. Those eyes look like something out of a Pokemon Creepypasta, and something about Cursola's design is incredibly unnerving to me, and I can't understand why...

 

[Empress Mobile]

Duel Dance Death Defense
Ability: Cursed Body
Item: Leftovers
Nature: Bold
EV's (HP 252) (Def 156) (Sp.Def 100) Feel free to tweak
Iron Defense
Amnesia
Strength Sap
Night Shade
Boost both of your defense to make yourself near invincible provided Toxic and the like don't ruin your day. Strength Sap to heal you and impair them, Night Shade for consistent damage.

This regional variant and its evolution, to be completely frank, scare me. Something about it being a dead bleached coral created by man-made climate change kinda makes you feel responsible for the depraved state it has been reduced to. Those eyes look like something out of a Pokemon Creepypasta, and something about Cursola's design is incredibly unnerving to me, and I can't understand why...

I think it needs more support moves to be consistently useful. Iron Defense might be overkill and there's honestly not a ton of special attackers in the tier anyway. I could maybe see running one of these but not both

 

[Monsoon117]

One Pokemon I find can really hit this thing hard is Drapion.

252 Atk Life Orb Drapion Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Corsola-Galar (I just used Combusken in the calc but I updated its stats and typing): 312-374 (96.2 - 115.4%) -- 81.3% chance to OHKO (guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock)

252+ Atk Life Orb Drapion Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Corsola-Galar: 343-406 (105.8 - 125.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO

This is with a max Defense Corsola-G. I expect to see this as a major threat to stall teams as it can Swords Dance once and proceed to do huge amounts of damage with Knock Off, which hits most stall mons rn neutrally (except Clefable, which it has Poison Jab for), and remove crucial items on Pokemon.

I did the calcs by replacing corsola's typing and stats with Corsola Galars(60/100/100) along with a +1 in both defenses to emulate eviolite.

252 Atk Life Orb Drapion Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. +1 252 HP / 252+ Def Corsola: 156-187 (48.1 - 57.7%) -- 90.2% chance to 2HKO

Even with adamant choice band it's only:

252+ Atk Choice Band Drapion Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. +1 252 HP / 252+ Def Corsola: 198-234 (61.1 - 72.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Not trying to derail the discussion, but this was a wildly off calc. This was also assuming Galarian corsola is being switched in. Pursuit isn't in the game, and Corsola can tank any hit from drapion in a pinch and wisp him back if need be. Once burned, a jolly banded drapion cannot kill G-corsola even with max rolls from knockoff. Corsola can then strength sap back up to full. After that, it can set up rocks and restore its health again before switching out or night shading the drapion down.

To me, this just isn't a solid answer.

From what I've seen, the best answer has been substitute and taunts. Those two moves from almost any offensive mon really shut corsola down. Pex can still fish for scald burns, but corsola is relegated to using nightshade at that point. It's quite easy for a corviknight to pressure stall you out of your moves at that point.

Another excellent counter in general is toxic spikes and the pex. Pex can switch in freely, set up toxic spikes, and he doesn't care what the corsola does afterawards.

Galarian Darm can break corsola with a banded set, even with jolly:

+1 252 Atk Choice Band Darmanitan Icicle Crash vs. +1 252 HP / 252+ Def Corsola: 159-187 (49 - 57.7%) -- 96.9% chance to 2HKO

Of course, curse body turns this around immediately, making the darm useless and likely burned/strength sapped. It's a method of breaking corsola in a pinch though.

 

[Yak Attack]

I did the calcs by replacing corsola's typing and stats with Corsola Galars(60/100/100) along with a +1 in both defenses to emulate eviolite.

252 Atk Life Orb Drapion Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. +1 252 HP / 252+ Def Corsola: 156-187 (48.1 - 57.7%) -- 90.2% chance to 2HKO

Even with adamant choice band it's only:

252+ Atk Choice Band Drapion Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. +1 252 HP / 252+ Def Corsola: 198-234 (61.1 - 72.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Not trying to derail the discussion, but this was a wildly off calc. This was also assuming Galarian corsola is being switched in. Pursuit isn't in the game, and Corsola can tank any hit from drapion in a pinch and wisp him back if need be. Once burned, a jolly banded drapion cannot kill G-corsola even with max rolls from knockoff. Corsola can then strength sap back up to full. After that, it can set up rocks and restore its health again before switching out or night shading the drapion down.

To me, this just isn't a solid answer.

From what I've seen, the best answer has been substitute and taunts. Those two moves from almost any offensive mon really shut corsola down. Pex can still fish for scald burns, but corsola is relegated to using nightshade at that point. It's quite easy for a corviknight to pressure stall you out of your moves at that point.

Another excellent counter in general is toxic spikes and the pex. Pex can switch in freely, set up toxic spikes, and he doesn't care what the corsola does afterawards.

Galarian Darm can break corsola with a banded set, even with jolly:

+1 252 Atk Choice Band Darmanitan Icicle Crash vs. +1 252 HP / 252+ Def Corsola: 159-187 (49 - 57.7%) -- 96.9% chance to 2HKO

Of course, curse body turns this around immediately, making the darm useless and likely burned/strength sapped. It's a method of breaking corsola in a pinch though.

I will double check but I just used Combusken and replaced its stats and typing with that of Corsola-Galar, then gave it Eviolite. Also, Life Orb/Choice Band (maybe Expert Belt?) Weavile is another answer, though with your calcs, it wouldn’t be. Wild how off our calcs are when they seem to be the same concept, maybe someone can verify.
Edit: I gave it Ghost type as a primary and a secondary type in the damage calculator, that’s why
Okay so a Weavile with 252+ Atk Life Orb Knock Off and Throat Chop might be able to handle this. Not a popular set so not very relevant and your Weavile’s gonna get burned making it useless so it’s better to use Hydreigon to break this thing by a mile
Edit 2: To return to the original discussion, if Drapion gets off a SD beforehand then the original calc applies

 

[Monsoon117]

That's reasonable. I definitely think corsola wouldn't be a switch in to drapion, though hydreigon is actually quite a good one. Doesn't mind the burn and whips out some pretty powerful attacks in response. It can even use the turn to nasty plot if the situation arises. I think having a dedicated stallbreaker mon(Eg, corviknight with taunt/sub, substitute aegislash, toxapex's toxic spikes.) are the best answers.

Interestingly enough, I think this meta kind of caters to corsola, and it wouldn't be as powerful in other metas. Toxic's lack usage along with knock off not being so common makes ghost types far better than they once were. Pursuit also stops something like banded tar from ever trapping this thing. It's interesting to see how it will develop.

Yeah, I was wondering why the calcs were different. I've played corsola a lot, and the thing is damn near the physical equivalent to chansey.

 

[zferolie]

I am curious, how would a curse set work on this pokemon? Its super tank, has a traping move with whirlpool, and has the best recovery move in the game to negate the curse set up. On paper i think Galarian Corsola could pull it off.

Corsola-G@evolite
Impish nature?
252 hp, rest mixed in defenses i think
Curse
Whirlpool
Strength sap
Night shade

I just love the idea of a curse pokemon but its very hard to pull off

 

[Karoshi]

I'm... skeptical over Galaran Corsola's value in the OU meta. It is a monotype ghost that uses eviolite to bolster its defenses to large heights. It sounds alot like Dusclops. 60/100/100 is even similar to their 40/130/130. Dusclops at its height of usefulness was UU in BW and was a legitimate threat, but dropped like a rock all the way down to PU/ZU with Knock Off being as prevalent as it is now. It is still as bulky and annoying to fight as it ever was, it never changed; only the meta did.

G-Corsola does have Cursed Body and Strength Sap, which does make it better. I'm not even saying it won't completely wall out key threats. I just don't see it staying in OU for very long.

 

[earl]

I'm... skeptical over Galaran Corsola's value in the OU meta. It is a monotype ghost that uses eviolite to bolster its defenses to large heights. It sounds alot like Dusclops. 60/100/100 is even similar to their 40/130/130. Dusclops at its height of usefulness was UU in BW and was a legitimate threat, but dropped like a rock all the way down to PU/ZU with Knock Off being as prevalent as it is now. It is still as bulky and annoying to fight as it ever was, it never changed; only the meta did.

G-Corsola does have Cursed Body and Strength Sap, which does make it better. I'm not even saying it won't completely wall out key threats. I just don't see it staying in OU for very long.

Reliable recovery, hazards, and the rarity of knock off go a long way for this thing. Especially reliable recovery

 

[MigueelDnd]

What’s a good way to counter this thing? I’m having a hard time against it, especially if it carries Eviolite

 

[onatolentino]

What’s a good way to counter this thing? I’m having a hard time against it, especially if it carries Eviolite

It can't do anything against substitute. Also, choice-trick if you have a mon to do it.

 

[LORD SAGIS]

It can't do anything against substitute. Also, choice-trick if you have a mon to do it.

It runs Night Shade to beat sub users.