I'd like to talk about a specific Pokemon that's put in a LOT of work for me lately, something that's been a fair bit overlooked but frankly shouldn't be. Vaporeon.
Vaporeon @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Wish
- Scald
- Haze
- Protect
I can't state enough how much work this thing has put in for my team. A lot of you are probably wondering (well why not choose Toxapex? It fulfills the same role). Because Vaporeon has the following wonderful traits that Toxapex doesn't have.
- Water Absorb grants immunity to Dracovish's Fishious Rend and all other Water moves in the Rain / Dynamax-laden metagame, along with punishing endless Fishious / Water spam by healing Vaporeon
- Neutral damage from Excadrill's Earthquake, Hatterene's Psychic, etc (things that Toxapex hates taking due to its secondary Poison typing)
- Access to Wish coming off of a beefy 130 HP stat, the biggest Wish available in OU
Using Vaporeon is simple; pass massive Wish heals off to restore your team, use Scald to whittle down your opponent and spread Burns. Haze away boosts (particularly from annoying Pokemon such as Dragon Dance Dragapult, Dragon Dance Gyarados [Be wary of Power Whip], Dragon Dance Tyranitar, etc). Use Protect to scout for moves and stall for Wish time should you need to heal yourself.
+1 252 Atk Gyarados Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Vaporeon: 157-185 (33.8 - 39.8%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
+1 252 Atk Dragapult Dragon Darts (2 hits) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Vaporeon: 228-270 (49.1 - 58.1%) -- approx. 98.8% chance to 2HKO
252 Atk Mold Breaker Excadrill Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Vaporeon: 166-196 (35.7 - 42.2%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
EVs are max HP for Wish passing, max Defense for that nice physical bulk. 0 IVs in Attack is so that Strength Sap Pokemon like G-Corsola and Polteageist don't annoy you as much.
The metagame is really kind to Vaporeon right now, and you all shouldn't sleep on it.