[Overview]
Bulky Bulk:
Avalugg @ Groundium Z
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Lax Nature
IVs: 29 HP / 0 SpD
- Earthquake
- Avalanche
- Curse
- Mirror Coat
[Set Details]
Moves:
[Other Options]
- Avalugg is one of the strongest physical walls in the meta, with bulk comparable to Slowbro-Mega and Aggron.
- This allows it to tank hits while using Curse to bulk up and eventually hit back for the win.
- Even most super-effective physical moves are ineffective against Avalugg's sheer bulk.
- It also functions as a duel threat with the addition of Mirror Coat to its kit, which in tandem with Sturdy allows it to counter unprepared special attackers without a way to break Sturdy.
- Despite its strengths, Avalugg can be countered relatively easily by prepared opponents able to break Sturdy or take advantage of Avalugg's abysmal speed.
- Avalugg is also vulnerable to most forms of stalling, including PP stalling, Leech Seed stalling, and Toxic stalling.
- It is important to be prepared for these threats by compensating for Avalugg's weaknesses when building your team.
Bulky Bulk:
Avalugg @ Groundium Z
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Lax Nature
IVs: 29 HP / 0 SpD
- Earthquake
- Avalanche
- Curse
- Mirror Coat
[Set Details]
Moves:
- Earthquake is used for super effective damage against Steel-types, Avalugg's biggest physical threat.
- Avalanche is Avalugg's STAB move, which hits many of the strongest Pokemon in the meta super effectively with 120 Base Power after Avalugg is hit, allowing it to return fire with massive damage.
- Curse is used to boost attack and defense as much as possible before hitting back. The drop in speed is negligible, as Avalugg is already slower than every relevant physical attacker it faces.
- Mirror Coat functions as a hard punish for special attackers without a way to break sturdy, allowing it to beat a non-trivial portion of the meta just by showing up and using this move. Additionally, this serves as a major surprise factor against opponents who have never seen Avalugg in action, which can net you a free win. However, you should not count on this tactic working on the same opponent more than once.
- The most surprising thing about this set is the lack of HP investment and 2 hp IVs missing. This is in order to have less HP than even moderately invested Magearna, in order to beat all viable variants. Without this, pain split breaks sturdy. This loss of HP only sacrifices the Metagross-Mega matchup, and slightly weakens the Charizard-Mega-X matchup, as Charizard-Mega-X with Will-o-wisp has a 50/50 between using Will-o-wisp or Flare Blitz, and if Avalugg responds incorrectly (Curse is the correct response to Will-o-wisp, and Tectonic Rage is the correct response to Flare Blitz) it loses.
- 252+ Defense in order to make maximum usage of its massive bulk.
- 252 Attack EVs in order to make use of Avalugg's strong base damage, as well as to scale as efficiently as possible with Curse.
- - SpD and 0 SpD IVs in order to take as much damage as possible from special attacks so Mirror Coat KOs in return.
- 4 speed in order to win the matchup against itself.
- Groundium Z in order to hit steel types as hard as possible, and cover other matchups where a Ground-type attack is preferred over an Ice-type one.
- Against Gyarados-Mega and other neutral physical attackers, use your discretion as to how many times to use Curse before attacking. Generally 3 or 4 times is fine.
- Against Pokemon 4x weak to Ice-type moves, such as Dragonite, Zygarde, and Landorus-Therian, select Avalanche immediately.
- Against special attackers, namely Porygon-Z, Sceptile-Mega, Genesect, and other Pokemon with the same theme of having only strong special attacks in their arsenal, click Mirror Coat in order to score a quick kill due to the immense damage they will do to Avalugg.
- Some pokemon, such as Nihelgo, Blacephalon, and Naganadel also fit into the above category, but will also die to a Tectonic Rage, which is preferable for use in the matchup.
- Magearna is an important matchup to know, as generally speaking Avalugg is Magearna bait. Lead off with Mirror Coat, and continue using it while the Magearna boosts its stats with Iron Defense and Calm Mind. While it boosts up, intersperse Curse to boost up Avalugg's attack. If you use Curse unpredictably between successive uses of Mirror Coat, you ensure that you will not be attacked while maxing out your own attack. After you have boosted up, it's important that you click Earthquake first, then Tectonic Rage, as the reverse will allow the Magearna to recover too much with Pain Split. This wins the matchup unless the Magearna is able to predict your usage of Curse and attack while you do so. This matchup advice may also be applicable to Tapu Lele, as the matchup can end up being extremely similar in practice.
- Although Mimikyu is generally a losing matchup, if you are certain that a given Mimikyu is not running Curse, you may be able to beat it by first breaking its Disguise, then using Curse while it uses Swords Dance until it begins attacking you, then use Tectonic Rage in order to secure a victory before the Mimikyu can knock out Avalugg.
- Pokemon that you pair with Avalugg must be prepared to cover its significant weaknesses, namely its weakness to strong Steel-types and special attackers with a way to break Sturdy, as well as Mimikyu and sleep users.
- Special Defense tanks, such as Venusaur-Mega, are able to absorb hits from many of many of Avalugg's counters and effectively deal with pokemon that give Avalugg trouble.
- PP Stall Pokemon, such as Deoxys-Speed, can effectively deal with many of the slower special attackers in the meta, while functioning as an immediate counter to the vast majority of sleep users (with the exception of Whimsicott), as well as most other types of stalling Pokemon in the meta.
- Generally speaking, Mawile, Metagross-Mega, Heatran, Magnezone, and Charizard-Y tend to give this set the most trouble as they are the most common counters to Avalugg in the meta, so finding a pokemon that can beat all five of these or even a majority will be crucial in using Avalugg effectively.
[Other Options]
- The easiest option to implement is raising HP EVs in exchange for attack EVs. While this does cause Avalugg to lose the Magearna matchup, it instead wins the Metagross and Charizard-Mega-X matchup 100% of the time, and can win against bulky Mawiles without Swords Dance. This doesn't have to be an all or nothing venture either, as a mix of HP, Attack, and Defense EVs can be used in order to survive a specific matchup while still dealing as much damage as possible.
- Running a set with leftovers and recover is also an option used to beat Aggron and other Steel-type pokemon in the same vein, matchups that the standard set loses. However, Avalugg must sacrifice Earthquake in order to use Recover, which will lessen its type coverage and cause Avalugg to lose matchups it might otherwise win with the standard set. Leftovers is the item of choice for this set, as well as 252 HP and Defense EVs in order to make good use of recover.
- Using Superpower and Fightium-Z instead of Earthquake and Groundium-Z is also an option which can be used in order to secure the matchup with Tyranitar, Gyarados-Mega, and Heatran, as well other pokemon with a significant weakness to Fighting-type moves. However, Earthquake is generally considered to be the stronger move in most scenarios.
- Strong Steel Attackers: These include Metagross-Mega, Mawile, and the rare Aggron with Iron Head. These mons hit too hard for Avalugg to be able to bulk up with Curse, and are too bulky to knock out with Tectonic Rage. Excadrill is not included here, it dies to Tectonic Rage. However, any Aggron not running Taunt loses to Recover Avalugg.
- Special Attackers with a way to break Sturdy: These include Chairzard-Mega-Y, Heatran, Celesteela, which usually brings in flamethrower in addition to leech seed, Primarina, and any other Pokemon you can think of that has a physical or status move to break Avalugg's Sturdy, then hit it with a special move to knock it out. Notably, Aegislash will always lose to Tectonic Rage into Earthquake (if the Aegislash used King's Shield), so it is not included here.
- Dark Type Special Attackers: Because Mirror Coat is a Psychic-type move, it cannot affect Dark-types. Thus, Greninja and Hoopa-Unbound are notable pokemon that are able to get around Avalugg's only option, and both are a bit to bulky to be ko'd by Tectonic Rage.
- Lopunny-Mega: While Avalugg can tank a High Jump Kick after Fake Out, it cannot hit hard enough to KO it in retaliation.
- Sleep Users/Leech Seed stallers: Jumpluff, Whimsicott, Vivillion, Venusaur, and mons from that vain are able drain Avalugg while staying safe behind either their massive defense or substitute. Notably, because of Avalugg's sturdy, Gengar-Mega loses the matchup 60.4% of the time, so Avalugg is preferred in that matchup. (60% chance for Hypnosis multiplied by the 66% chance for no first-turn awaken leads to a 39.6% chance of success. Due to Avalugg's Sturdy, if Avalugg can wake up on the first turn of sleep or avoid Hypnosis, it will be able to survive Hex and hit with Tectonic Rage, which OHKOs Gengar-Mega. Thus, the Gengar matchup is favorable for Avalugg)
- PP Stall: Avalugg loses to both Deoxys-Speed and Kyurem, as it is too slow to do any damage before its opponent puts itself out of reach.
- Mimikyu with Curse: Mimikyu is able to outspeed Avalugg and use Curse while tanking a hit from Avalugg, then stall with Substitute and Protect in order to win the matchup.
- Mega-Gyarados running Taunt can be an issue for Avalugg, as Taunt prevents Avalugg from using Curse, which would otherwise boost Avalugg's defense out of range of Gyarados's attacks while simultaneously boosting Avalugg's attack to be able to easily kill Gyarados with Tectonic Rage. If the Gyarados doesn't Mega-evolve while using Taunt and boosting with Dragon Dance, Avalugg cannot whittle its health down with Teconic Rage and Earthquake and will thus lose the matchup.
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