What does Slowbro do?
Like last gen, a key part of what the Slowtwins do is Future Sight, which allows one to disrupt the enemy position, crucially forcing tier defining mons like Great Tusk and Valiant to play far more carefully. Slowking's access to Chilly Reception means its Future Sight is inherently more annoying to deal with, but Slowbro does have one tool that makes it not totally outclassed: Body Press. Dark types, usually able to switch into Future Sight with impunity, must risk taking heavy damage from Body Press whenever they switch into Slowbro, whereas Slowking can potentially be put in a bad position if the Dark type switches in as the FS is lined up. Slowbro's naturally good physical bulk means it can often live a Dark type hit easily with Colbur Berry, allowing it to reliably damage Dark types like Moon, Kingambit and Meowscarada; in a pinch, Slowbro is guaranteed to survive a Flower Trick from even Band Meowscarada at full before Tera*. Most importantly, that physical bulk allows it to consistently check the omnipresent Great Tusk. Slack Off complements this bulk nicely, allowing Bro to stay healthy. That stuff is already known and present in the sample set atm; here is where I think there are options to be explored.*252 Atk Choice Band Meowscarada Flower Trick vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Slowbro on a critical hit: 312-368 (79.1 - 93.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
The Fourth Move
Looking at the sample set on SmogDex, STAB Surf is listed as the fourth move; now Surf is not bad, as it does allow you to hit Skeledirge and Volcarona, and most crucially lets you more immediately threaten Tusk and Glimmora without activating Toxic Debris. But I also don't think Surf is mandatory like the other three moves are. In practice, I've found that Slowbro rarely clicks its fourth move; in most scenarios, one of the three staples simply gets you more out of the turn. While Surf isn't a bad option, it's mainly useful for those four, otherwise suffering from the prominence of natural Water resists and the popularity of Tera Water. And save for Tusk, Slowbro is somewhat limited against those four.
: Naturally slams Bro with Ghost STAB, so you can't really stay in.
: Auto-f*cks Bro if it isn't mono-attack, can easily boost in its face and heal up with Morning Sun. Slowbro is largely praying for a crit to do serious damage with Surf and doesn't even take Fiery Dance that well once Volc is boosted.
: Role means it doesn't care about going down fast. Even if it can't use Toxic Debris, it can still get multiple hazards and Mortal Spin poison Bro so it can't check what it's supposed to.
: Body Press literally does more.
Iron Defense
- The whole reason to use Slowbro over Slowking is Body Press, so why not try to squeeze as much damage out of Press as possible? But more practically: remember how I mentioned Slowbro could heavily damage Dark types with Body Press? Well, +2 allows it to actually OHKO Moon and Gambit, as well as incoming Meowscarada. ID obviously allows Slowbro to become a great stop gap for physical attackers, as at +2 it can even shrug off attacks from Baxcalibur and Tera Water Floatzel. In practice, I find its main benefit is actually in forcing these attackers out rather than directly bodying them. Giving up a third attack can have its downsides, most obviously versus Gholdengo and Unaware Clodsire, but we'll get more into that when I talk about Slowbro's team.
- Good for-
- Good for-
- Now, Future Sight + Body Press is generally good, but there are a few Pokemon that naturally resist both parts of the combo. Gholdengo is by far the most obvious stopgap, easily switching in and threatening Slowbro out with its STAB Shadow Ball; Balloon Gholdengo obviously needs to be more careful but non-Balloon isn't too concerned. This is where the next option comes in: Flamethrower. Flamethrower means that Gholdengo can no longer come in for free, 2HKOing non-defensive variants with one round of FS chip. Flame also allows it to hit the annoying Corviknight while ensuring Bro can still hit Protean Meow super-effectively. The popularity of Tera Water does impede it a bit, and you need to be more careful around Bax, but the ability to prevent free Gholdengo is important enough to make it a serious option.
- Good for-
- Good for-
- Ice Beam: If you're really worried about Dragonite and Tera Dragon Baxcalibur, and lets you more directly threaten Tusk; also knocks Dragapult into FS range. Doesn't help much with your other match-ups though.
- Shadow Ball: My original idea for hitting Gholdengo since it also hits Dragapult and Skeledirge, but it proved largely redundant with my choice of partners. Prominence of Dark types also discourages you from using it.
- Thunder Wave: More support capabilities for Bro, can be handy for punishing careless switches from Moon or Meow. Gives you an even worse match-up versus Gholdengo and Garganacl doesn't help.
Tera Type
Tera also feels like a bit of a placeholder at the moment, so here is the serious types I think are worth considering. Tera Fairy
- Okay, this one is legit. Flipping the Dark match-up is generally the most important aspect of Slowbro's Tera Type, and its ability to shut down Tera Dragon Glaive Rush and flip the U-turn weakness is greatly appreciated. But in terms of its role of countering Dark types, Fairy does have one big flaw: it doesn't actually improve your match-up versus Kingambit. Look, top players may be doing fancy things with Low Kick and Tera Blast in tourneys, but on ladder, at least up to 1500, every King is running Iron Head. You can't take Iron Head, Gambit user can easily play around you.
- Good for-
- Good for-
- You know how neutral Body Press doesn't OHKO the resident Dark types? Turns out STAB is the other way you can score those important KOs, demolishing Gambit and Meow while still scoring the OHKO on Moon 75% of the time. Fighting provides the same U-turn resist, but also makes you take less from Stealth Rock to help gain more from Regenerator.
- Good for-
- Good for-
- Want your Slowbro also serve as an emergency answer to Gholdengo? Tera Dark drops the U-turn flip for a Ghost resistance, allowing you to potentially lure Gholdengo or Dragapult. As such, you want to be more selective with picking this type; I'd personally only recommend it on Flamethrower or Ice Beam variants.
- Good for-
- Good for-
- Not tested, but if you go for one Tera Type that doesn't resist Dark, I'd recommend Steel. Can't be poisoned by Clod or Glimmora (blocks Mortal Spin), walls Amoonguss post-Spore, blanks Flower Trick, keeps Iron Head resist for Gambit and helps check stuff like Dragonite, non-EQ Moon and Valiant (more likely to run Psyshock than Aura Sphere/Focus Blast); also Rocks resist for extra Regen shenanigans. The grab bag of benefits is helpful, but it does mean you can't check Tusk anymore. I would mainly recommend on Iron Defense variants.
- Good for-
- Good for-
Where to Use It
Slowbro's inability to pivot out ala SwSh means that Slowbro is generally best on bulky offense teams, with several teammates which can take hits on switch-in. Since Slowbro already gives you a physical tank, you want to pair it with at least one specially bulky mon like Clodsire or Roaring Moon, and the positioning caused by FS means a Slowbro team can benefit from other pivots causing further confusion. You should also pair it with a Ground type to catch Electric moves and a Fighting type, which most reap the benefits of Future Sight. To give more specifics:
Clodsire is a great Pokemon for filling out the team's defensive backbone, providing that Electric immunity and SpD partner for Bro alongside being the team's hazard setter. Unaware helps it blank Volcarona and Skeledirge while threatening them out with Toxic and EQ, basically blanking those matchups that you'd run SurfBro for.- Ting-Lu can also serve as special wall + Electric blocker, and provides phasing, more mixed bulk and a Dark resist. I just prefer my walls having non-Rest recovery, not to mention Lu does stack Grass and U-turn weaknesses.
Huh, Slowbro appreciates a Ground type companion and benefits Fighting types? Wonder who would benefit the most from that. Yes, on top of being one of Bro's best matchups, Great Tusk is a great partner, providing KnockSpin support and a Dark resist for the team. Tusk likes FS potentially removing Amoonguss or Valiant and popping Gholdengo's Balloon, with offensive sets probably benefitting the most.- Roaring Moon is a weirdly perfect partner, a SpD tank that eats macaroni and gator bites for breakfast (no judgement), can provide U-turn support for the team or even keep itself healthy with Roost. It doesn't pair as directly with Bro, but two have proven surprisingly effective together, at least for me.
- Gholdengo likes help from FS in breaking Clod and appreciates Body Press making Gambit not a switch-in anymore.
What's Holding Bro Back
Now, the loss of Teleport is obviously a major reason why Slowbro isn't as good as last gen, but in my experience, I think I see a- bigger problem that is holding Bro back; you've probably already picked up on it. Put simply, Dark types are basically running the tier. Kingambit, Meowscarada and Roaring Moon are all huge threats that you have to account for in builder; to those that complain about the omnipresence of Great Tusk, it wouldn't be as common as it is if Dark resists weren't so important atm. And the Dark resists that are OU- every one of them drops to at least one of those three without Tera. From my experience, quite a few teams on ladder like to stack the Dark types, sometimes with a Ghost like Gholdengo waiting in the wings. And this means that Psychic types are generally not good in OU.
The Dark dominance is the main reason why Slowbro has any serious niche over Slowking, as the ability to directly threaten Dark types with Body Press is a small but crucial advantage when Dark types are this vital to deal with, enough to overcome the "no pivoting move" hurdle. However, Slowbro is basically forced to run Colbur Berry in order to actually make use of Press, and therefore can't make use of Lefties or Boots. Even if Press means it isn't helpless versus Dark, the fact it needs Tera to handle Dark moves repeatedly means it is heavily flawed as a tank and needs to be played carefully; that it can be a momentum sink now and lacks the utility of Scald is just icing on the cake. As long as Dark as dominant as it is, Slowbro will only ever have a small role in OU.
Conclusion Some Slowbro Showcases:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1863204466
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1863244591
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1863816917
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@ Choice Scarf
