Doubles Amoonguss [QC 2/2] [GP 1/1]

[Yoda2798]

[OVERVIEW]

Amoonguss is one of the best support Pokemon in the metagame, capable of redirecting attacks with Rage Powder or putting foes to sleep with Spore. It is bulky enough to live most attacks, and the added survivability from Regenerator allows it to perform its role repeatedly throughout a match. Additionally, Pollen Puff ensures Amoonguss's teammates can also remain healthy. Setup Pokemon, such as Dragon Dance Zygarde or Kyurem-B and Calm Mind Tapu Fini, benefit the most from Amoonguss's support and can make up for its minimal damage output. Due to its low Speed and Spore, Amoonguss also works well both with and against Trick Room teams, as it can then send most Pokemon to sleep before they move. Trick Room users such as Porygon2 and Diancie also appreciate the redirection support while setting it. Despite being able to stomach most hits, Amoonguss must be wary of Fire-types such as Heatran and Incineroar as well as Psychic-types such as Tapu Lele and Necrozma, requiring teammates to deal with them such as Urshifu-R and Heatran, respectively. The presence of Misty Terrain hampers Amoonguss's Spore, so terrain setters such as Tapu Lele and Indeedee-F, or Metagross with Steel Roller, are essential to remove it. Opposing Grass-types such as Rillaboom and Kartana, or Pokemon holding Safety Goggles, can also be troublesome, as immunity to powder moves lets them mostly ignore Amoonguss and attack its partner. Blastoise, its biggest competitor as a redirector, doesn't share this drawback.

[SET]
name: Rage Powder Support
move 2: Sludge Bomb / Protect
move 1: Pollen Puff
move 3: Rage Powder
move 4: Spore
item: Sitrus Berry
ability: Regenerator
nature: Calm
evs: 232 HP / 88 Def / 188 SpD
ivs: 28 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

* Sludge Bomb is Amoonguss's primary offensive option, hitting Tapu Fini as well as Grass-types like Rillaboom, (AC) which are immune to Spore. Protect can be used instead to scout for moves such as Choice Scarf Genesect locking into Ice Beam, but this leaves Amoonguss quite passive.

* Pollen Puff heals Amoonguss's partner and can hit Kartana, which is immune to Sludge Bomb.

* Rage Powder keeps partners safe from attacks and is most effective when used alongside setup Pokemon, or while setting field conditions such as Trick Room and Tailwind.

* Besides critically putting foes out of action, Spore helps ensure Amoonguss is not too passive while on the field.

* Sitrus Berry complements Amoonguss's bulk, turning many would-be 2HKOs into 3HKOs instead, such as Ice Beam from non-Life Orb Kyurem-B.

* Regenerator also helps Amoonguss's longevity on switching out, which can let it give future utility even when at low health.

* The given EV spread and nature, combined with Sitrus Berry, allow Amoonguss to live two Heat Waves from Volcanion, with the remaining EVs placed in Defense. 28 Speed IVs let it underspeed Diancie to move first under Trick Room while still being able to outspeed foes with the help of speed control.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

Resist berries such as Occa and Papaya allow Amoonguss to live certain attacks that it would not otherwise. Eject Button lets Amoonguss redirect a hit and then immediately switch out, e.g. for helping to set Trick Room or Tailwind and then getting an attacker in to benefit right away. However, Eject Button can be awkward if Amoonguss intends to use Spore and gets forced out instead or needs to redirect two attacks. Another option is Rocky Helmet, which provides chip damage on physical attackers such as Urshifu-R, Rillaboom, and Kartana. These alternate item choices are not as generally useful as the recovery from Sitrus Berry, though. Clear Smog is a weaker Poison-type STAB move compared to Sludge Bomb, but it can be used instead to help deal with opposing setup. A Grass-type STAB move such as Energy Ball could also be considered, but it cannot effectively hit the Pokemon immune to Spore, while the Pokemon it does hit harder than Sludge Bomb are vulnerable to Spore, so there is little reason to use it.

[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Yoda2798, 243662]]
- Quality checked by: [[zeefable, 501951], [emma, 294304]]
- Grammar checked by: [[Finland, 517429]]

 

[zee]

o/

• The flow into the Pollen Puff line feels a little off. I would probably just say something like Additionally, Pollen Puff...
• I would prefer the terrain mention just be Psychic Terrain with Tapu Lele and Indeedee-F as mentions. Only 1 in 68 teams in DPL featured both Amoonguss + Rillaboom, generally because there's not enough offensive pressure to justify stacking grasses like a kartana/rillaboom core.
• Mention some specific teammates in the Fire-types/Psychic-types line. I'd mention Urshifu-R/Heatran but if you have others in mind by all means.
• You mention Sitrus Berry turns many 2HKOs into 3HKOs, which is definitely true, but providing an example or two (separate from the volcanion point) in the spread would go a long way. (ex: av kyub ice beam)
• A mention of adjusting Amoonguss's Speed to fit with the speed control its paired with would be good. Faster shroom is useful on tailwind and vice versa for harder TR builds.

Excellent work bossman

QC 1/2

 

[emma]

Good work Yoda-chan. This is a pretty solid analysis, so most of the points are pretty minor. Even though I have minimal suggestions, I wrote a lot because I never stop talking. Of course, implement what you see fit; these are mostly nitpicks and personal opinion anyway.

• "The presence of Misty Terrain hampers Amoonguss's ability to put Pokemon to sleep, so terrain setters such as Tapu Lele or Indeedee-F, or Metagross with Steel Roller to remove it, are essential."
  • I would reword from essential to almost always mandatory. Tapu Fini + Amoonguss has proven to work, and is even featured on a Sample Team (although it does have Steel Roller), so I don't think Psychic Terrain support is necessary for all Amoonguss teams. Furthermore, with Tapu Fini being a bit less popular (9 uses in DLT Round 1, 21% usage, 10th most & 6 uses in DLT Round 2, 30% usage, 7th most), I'd reckon "blind" Amoonguss also works, but this point is more theory.
• I think Protect should be dropped from Pollen Puff. Healing 50% of your partner's HP is extremely helpful, especially under Trick Room when you're moving first. You also mention Pollen Puff in the third line of the Overview, so it would be a bit contradicting in my mind to highlight it so early but then slash something next to it.
  • Additionally, I would consider putting Sludge Bomb before Protect. I enjoy using Amoonguss to soak up damage by pivoting in-and out; I would rather have Amoonguss taking damage then shielding itself. On the other hand, I don't think Sludge Bomb is that good, so keeping Protect first is probably fine because it's Protect.
• Amoonguss should default to a Sassy Nature and 0 Speed IVs. Even if you don't have Trick Room, running minimum Speed is very helpful for opposing teams. TurboShroom seems to be a valid choice, but a flat 0 Speed set seems very strange.
• I would unironically mention Rocky Helmet in OO. Amoonguss is one of the few switch-ins to Urshifu-R and Kartana, and getting significant chip damage on massive threats is good. It's also great against the large amount of Fake Out and pivot moves we see. The missing recovery from Sitrus Berry is mitigated by Regenerator. It also saw some usage in DLT Playoffs.

 

[emma]

Following up from my previous post, you can find my reasoning there. Overall great work!

• Unslash Sludge Bomb on Pollen Puff
• Slash Sludge Bomb before Protect
• Change spread to Sassy Nature and 0 Speed IVs
• Mention Rocky Helmet in Other Options

QC 2/2

 

[Adeleine]

Add/Fix Remove Comment
(AC)/(RC): Add/Remove Comma

when the IMPOSTER is SUS! do do do do do do do do-do-do BUM BUM (he made the joke in gp queue its not my fault)

[OVERVIEW]

Amoonguss is one of the best support Pokemon in the metagame, capable of redirecting attacks with Rage Powder or putting foes to sleep with Spore. A 114/70/80 defensive statline ensures Amoonguss It is bulky enough to live most attacks, while and the added survivability from Regenerator allows it to perform its role repeatedly throughout a match. Additionally, Pollen Puff ensures Amoonguss's teammates can also remain healthy. Setup Pokemon, (AC) such as Dragon Dance Zygarde or Kyurem-Black, or Kyurem-B and Calm Mind Tapu Fini, benefit the most from the support Amoonguss provides, Amoonguss's support and can make up for its minimal damage output. Due to its low Speed and coveted access to Spore, Amoonguss also works well both with and against Trick Room teams, as it can then send most Pokemon to sleep before they move. Trick Room users such as Porygon2 and Diancie also appreciate the redirection support while setting it. Despite being able to stomach most hits, Amoonguss must be wary of Fire-types such as Heatran or and Incineroar and as well as Psychic-types such as Tapu Lele and Necrozma, requiring teammates to deal with them (RC) such as Urshifu-R or and Heatran, (AC) respectively. The presence of Misty Terrain hampers Amoonguss's ability to put Pokemon to sleep, Spore, so terrain setters such as Tapu Lele or and Indeedee-F, or Metagross with Steel Roller, (AC) are essential to remove it, are essential. Opposing Grass-types such as Rillaboom or and Kartana, or Pokemon holding Safety Goggles, can also be troublesome, as immunity to powder moves lets them mostly ignore Amoonguss and attack its partner, a drawback its biggest competitor as a redirector, Blastoise, does not share. partner. Blastoise, its biggest competitor as a redirector, doesn't share this drawback.

[SET]
name: Rage Powder Support
move 2: Sludge Bomb / Protect
move 1: Pollen Puff
move 3: Rage Powder
move 4: Spore
item: Sitrus Berry
ability: Regenerator
nature: Calm
evs: 232 HP / 88 Def / 188 SpD
ivs: 28 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

* Sludge Bomb is Amoonguss's primary offensive option, hitting Tapu Fini as well as Grass-types like Rillaboom, (AC) which are immune to Spore. Protect can be used instead (RC) allowing to scout for moves such as Choice Scarf Genesect locking into Ice Beam, but this leaves Amoonguss quite passive without its main attack.

* Pollen Puff is dual-purpose, able to function as a healing move for Amoonguss's partner, or as an attack. In practice it is primarily used for utility, as it has little offensive value outside of hitting heals Amoonguss's partner and can hit Kartana, which is immune to Sludge Bomb.

* Rage Powder lets Amoonguss redirect attacks away from its partner, expending its own HP to keep them healthy. This keeps partners safe from attacks and is most effective when used alongside setup Pokemon, or while setting field conditions such as Trick Room or and Tailwind.

* Spore gifts Amoonguss the powerful ability to put an opponent out of action for at least one turn. While not dealing damage directly, this Besides critically putting foes out of action, Spore helps ensure Amoonguss is not too passive while on the field.

* Sitrus Berry complements Amoonguss's bulk, turning many would-be 2HKOs into 3HKOs instead, such as Ice Beam from non-Life Orb Kyurem-Black.

* Regenerator also helps Amoonguss's longevity by providing healing on switching out, meaning even if it is low health there is the potential for Amoonguss to switch and heal back up. on switching out, which can let it give future utility even when at low health.

* The given EV spread and nature, combined with Sitrus Berry, allows Amoonguss to live two Heat Waves from Volcanion, with the remaining EVs placed in Defense. 28 Speed IVs lets Amoonguss it underspeed Diancie to move first under Trick Room (RC) while maintaining the ability still being able to outspeed slower opponents foes (does "slow" make sense here? or did you just mean foes in general, which will then become slower than amoong after speed control? if the latter, just remove "slower" entirely) with the help of speed control.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

Resist berries such as Occa or and Papaya allow Amoonguss to live Fire- or Psychic-type attacks, respectively, certain attacks that it would not otherwise. Eject Button lets Amoonguss redirect a hit and then immediately switch out, e.g. for helping to set Trick Room or Tailwind (RC) and then getting an attacker in to benefit right away. However, Eject Button can be awkward if Amoonguss intends to Spore but is forced out instead, or is needed to redirect two attacks but will be switched after the first. use Spore and gets forced out instead or needs to redirect two attacks. (I imagine this still flows, but lmk if not) Another option is Rocky Helmet, which provides chip damage on physical attackers such as Urshifu-R, Rillaboom, and Kartana. These alternate item choices are not as generally useful as the recovery from Sitrus Berry, though. Clear Smog is a weaker Poison-type STAB move compared to Sludge Bomb, but it can be used instead for the added ability to clear stat changes from the target, helping to help deal with opposing setup. A Grass-type STAB move such as Energy Ball could also be considered, but as it cannot effectively hit the Pokemon immune to Spore, while the Pokemon it does hit harder than Sludge Bomb are vulnerable to Spore, so there is little reason to use it.

[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Yoda2798, 243662]]
- Quality checked by: [[zeefable, 501951], [emma, 294304]]
- Grammar checked by: [[Finland, 517429]]

1/1

 

[Idyll]

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