Azumarill (Analysis)

STATUS: DONE

http://veekun.com/dex/pokemon/azumarill

[Overview]

<p>While often overlooked at first, Azumarill has been improving with each passing generation. It gained Huge Power in ADV, and DPP gave it the all-important Aqua Jet, making Azumarill a formidable physical attacker in UU. Unfortunately, the fifth generation has not brought Azumarill anything as groundbreaking, but it has brought with it a metagame almost perfectly tailored to the Aqua Rabbit. In the OU metagame, Azumarill finds itself able to revenge kill the likes of Heatran, Excadrill, and Volcarona, something which not even Scizor and Conkeldurr can boast.</p>

<p>Azumarill is not without its downfalls, however. It has a shallow movepool, and there are some pokemon, such as Jellicent, which can completely wall any Azumarill set. The fact that Azumarill often carries a Choice Band also means that overprediction, or misprediction, can be highly costly.</p>

[SET]
name: Choice Band
move 1: Aqua Jet
move 2: Superpower
move 3: Waterfall
move 4: Ice Punch / Return
item: Choice Band
nature: Adamant
ability: Huge Power
evs: 232 HP / 252 Atk / 12 Def / 12 SpD


[SET COMMENTS]

<p>With Huge Power and a Choice Band, Azumarill hits a massive 654 Attack stat. This makes the otherwise weak Aqua Jet powerful enough to decimate many top offensive threats. For example, Volcarona and Excadrill are both pretty much OHKOed by Aqua Jet,with standard offensive Excadrill taking a minimum of 99% damage. Other threats Aqua Jet covers include Landorus and Terrakion, as well as frailer Pokemon such as Zoroark and Gengar.</p>

<p>However, Azumarill's Aqua Jet on one of these aforementioned threats is about as predictable as Scizor Bullet Punching a Salamence in DPP (before it was banned, of course), so it is likely that the foe will switch out the intended Aqua Jet target. In this case, prediction can not only force out the opponent's sweeper, but also score you a possible KO. Dragon-types and most Grass-types can be handled by Ice Punch, and most other Pokemon who can switch into Aqua Jet will not take kindly to Superpower, especially Ferrothorn, who will be OHKOed unless it is running almost maximum Defense. Waterfall is Azumarill's most reliable STAB attack, and with Water having excellent neutral coverage, is a good option if you are unsure of what is switching in. The choice of Return or Ice Punch is dependant on what you want to deal more damage to; Ice Punch is the better option if you're troubled by Dragon- or Grass-types switching in a lot, but, otherwise, Return is the better coverage move due to higher Base Power on neutral targets.</p>

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

<p>The EV spread allows Azumarill to take hits better on both sides, while being able to dish out as much damage as possible. Since a lot of the time Azumarill will be using priority attacks, or hitting switch-ins, Azumarill does not need any Speed investment. As a Choice Band user, Azumarill will be switching a lot, meaning residual damage will add up very quickly. In order to counteract this, Rapid Spin support from Forretress can be valuable, as Azumarill can simultaneously use its Fire-type weakness as an opportunity to switch in and hit hard.</p>

<p>As a revenge killer, Azumarill can support most teams which have trouble with its common targets, such as Volcarona, Excadrill, and Terrakion. However, when using Azumarill, it is a good idea to have a check to its common counters, such as Jellicent and Slowbro, as well as Pokemon that can handle Dragon-types. Ferrothorn is an excellent choice, as not only can it defeat most of Azumarill's checks, but it can set up hazards, to abuse the switches Azumarill forces, and it can also lure out Fire-types, and Pokemon such as Terrakion for Azumarill to handle.<p>

[Other Options]

<p>Azumarill doesn't have much else useful to offer. Toxic is a choice to surprise Slowbro or Jellicent, who otherwise completely wall Azumarill. Double-Edge is a more powerful alternative to Return, but chips away at Azumarill's health.</p>

<p>Azumarill can also run a Life Orb set, granting it greater flexibility at the cost of HP upon each attack, allowing it to act somewhat like a wallbreaker. If this route is taken, Speed should be maximised, to allow Azumarill to outspeed more defensive Pokemon. It can also abuse the switches that it forces to run a Substitue + Focus Punch set. However, both of these sets generally are inferior to the raw power of the hit-and-run Choice Bander.<p>

[Checks and Counters]

<p>Jellicent is an absolute stop to Azumarill; it is immune to Return, Aqua Jet, Waterfall and Superpower, and can wall Ice Punch all day long. Unfortunatly, there is nothing Azumarill can do about this, unless it is carrying Toxic, although it would have succeeded in making the foe switch out, losing any boosts they may have attained. Gyarados is also a solid counter, due to Intimidate and resistances to Aqua Jet and Superpower. Other physically bulky Water-types, such as Suicune, can also defeat Azumarill, barring critical hit Superpowers or Returns. Skarmory can also Roost off anything Azumarill throws at it, although a Choice Band-boosted Waterfall will deal heavy damage on the switch-in, and it must be wary of possible Superpowers while Roosting from Life Orb sets. Aside from the aforementioned Water-types, however, Azumarill has very few hard counters. Most pokemon are at risk of being 2HKOed by Aqua Jet, Ice Punch, or Superpower. Dusclops also makes a good counter to Azumarill, as it is enough to shrug off any of its attacks and threaten a burn with Will-O-Wisp, which will make Azumarill almost useless. Azumarill is also vulnerable to all forms of entry hazards, and will typically be locked into an attack and forced to switch a lot. Spikes are more dangerous due to the ability to stack them but Stealth Rock is also a problem. Toxic Spikes are also an issue for Azumarill, slowly wearing away its health.

[Dream World]

<p>Azumarill gains Sap Sipper in Dream World, granting it an immunity to Grass-type attacks, and +1 Attack when it is hit by one. However, this ability is easily inferior to Huge Power, due to the fact that most Grass-types still give Azumarill issues, and Huge Power automatically provides what is equivilant to a +2 Attack boost.</p>
 
Fixed the above.

Created bear bones of the anayalsis.

Needs checking over/suggestions to improve.

Also, I may add a Trick Room and Baton Pass Receiver set. With such a low speed, Trick Room is viable for Azumarril, especially as it's capable of using it's priority to aid outside of TR as well. Meanwhile, passing speed to Azumarill is benificial. Gliscor is perfect to pass Agility and/or Swords Dance to Azumarill. I will test these out on PO, and see if they are viable. For now, they are in Other Options, and Team Options.

Requesting the removal of [Placeholder] from the title, and correction of the spelling error, as this is no longer a placeholder.
 

B-Lulz

Now Rusty and Old
is a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnus
I'd like to note that a non-choice band set should be in the analysis, in my opinion. I've been using SubPunch and Toxic Azumarill's to great success so far, and it can also be easily EV'd to survive Doryuuzu EQ's and other strong attacks.
 
The thing with those sets, is the fact that they play off of the threat of Choice Band Azumarill. That threat is what will draw in most of the things that you will want to hit with Toxic, such as Burungeru, or your target will switch out, to give you a free Sub.

Due to Azumarill's speed, it will be taking a heavy hit if it uses Substitute, and the foe doesn't switch out.

If anything, I'd certainly label Toxic Azumarill a gimmick set, and Subpunch would border on it if Azumarill did not have such a high HP stat as well, and wasn't as good at threatening the likes of Dory as it is.

Still, I'll try out a Subpunch set, but I'm currently testing AgilPass.

So far, Aglipass is going down well. Gliscor is an excellent Baton Passer to Azumarill, and Agility Gliscor isn't useless in it's own right either. In addittion, Gliscor happens to lure two types of attack that Azumarill resists. I've got several sweeps with Azumarill this way, and it almost always manages to take out something. Noteably, I'm using a Life Orb on this set. Waterfall is just godly rideing off 400+ attack with a Life Orb and STAB.

Now if only I played Dream World, and had Politoad's rain up for another x1.5 boost.

Anyway, after I'm done with the Agilipass testing, I'll test passing Swords Dance.
 
Also, benefits over benifits and likely over likly, reduce over redue

<p>Azumarill gains Herbivore in Dream World, granting it an immunity to Grass-type attacks, and a +1 to attack. However, this ability is easily inferior to Huge Power. However, Azumarill's Choice Band set becomes even more absurd when in the Rain provided by Politoad, with Aqua Jet bordering on 2HKO'ing anything at dosen't resist it, or has Skarmory-level defenses.</p>
I have qualms with this sentence, I don't think however is the right way to start it.

Maybe something like: "On the plus side, Politoed's Dream World ability Drizzle makes Azumarill's Choice Band attacking power even more absurd, with Aqua Jet bordering on 2HKO'ing anything at doesn't resist it, or has Skarmory-level defenses."
 
Made the suggested changes.

Added the Baton Pass Receiver set, as testing has shown it to be, frankly, devestateing, almost always getting at least two KO's. The counters seem to vary based on what is passed, with bulky waters stopping the Agility set, but dragons such as the Latis, Mance, and Kingdra stopping the Swords Dancer.
 
Theoretically every Pokemon in existance could have a specialized BP receiver set, Azumarill really doesn't do anything special enough to deserve its own imo.

I think the main attacking set needs a Life Orb slash and look something like this:

name: Physical Attacker
move 1: Waterfall
move 2: Aqua Jet
move 3: Return / Double-edge
move 4: Superpower / Ice Punch / Toxic
item: Choice Band / Life Orb
ability: Huge Power
nature: Adamant
evs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def

I don't see why you'd want to drop Waterfall since it's what makes it so threatening most of the time. Toxic might be more AC material instead but Burungeru walls it so hard it's depressing. I might be missing something with Ice Punch but I don't see much it hits that Return/Superpower won't dent.
 
Azumarill is special because of Huge Power, giving it a higher attack stat than any unboosted pokemon, and having priority Aqua Jet. Swords Dance, on the other hand, raises Aqua Jet to ungodly levels. Agility allows Azumarill to outrun +Nature Base 130's. You could say that Azumarill is almost perfect for receving at either end, and unlike a lot of other common BP recipients, Azumarill is not useless outside of it.

The thing with a Life Orb set, is that Azumarill is slow, and needs the power of the band to OHKO Dory.

Still, I'll probobly edit the BP set to just a Life Orb set, and mention that the set benifits greatly from Baton Pass.

And, Superpower is an absolute must for Azumarill, as it allows it to muscle past slower steels, such as Nattoei. Azumarill is never going to outspeed a Dragon, and the only thing Return hits harder than Ice Punch or Superpower is Gyarados, Slowbro, and Starmie. The only use for Ice Punch is hitting dragons on the switch-in, and Return has no use except against Gyarados, Slowbro, and Starmie, the former two you'd probobly rather Toxic.

In addittion, again, due to the speed issues, Azumarill isn't going to be using much except Aqua Jet unless it gets some form of speed boost.

Also, added mention of Slowbro as a counter, as it resists all of Azumarill's common moves, and only fears Toxic.
 

Nexus

Forever the Recusant
is a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Senior Staff Member Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnus
In the Choice Band set you still have Azumarill spelled as Azumarril. This line:
Superpower, especially Nattorei, who, on a 252/Impish spread will take between 286 and 337 damage, which will 2HKO it
Change the "286 and 337" to percentages, it gives the reader a better idea of how devastating Superpower can be in my opinion, as hardly anyone will have Nattorei's actual HP stat memeorized.
 
Azumarill is special because of Huge Power, giving it a higher attack stat than any unboosted pokemon, and having priority Aqua Jet. Swords Dance, on the other hand, raises Aqua Jet to ungodly levels. Agility allows Azumarill to outrun +Nature Base 130's. You could say that Azumarill is almost perfect for receving at either end, and unlike a lot of other common BP recipients, Azumarill is not useless outside of it.
Yeah, I'm not saying Azumarill isn't a good BP recipient, but the only BP recipient sets currently in analyses seem to be for those that do something special (ie. Suction Cups, Simple) so it just seemed a bit out of place.

The thing with a Life Orb set, is that Azumarill is slow, and needs the power of the band to OHKO Dory.
True, but that doesn't make CB better 100% of the time. Life Orb is great on Azumarill since it can nail something with Waterfall or whatever and then finish it off with Aqua Jet. Being able to switch attacks is just useful in general.

And, Superpower is an absolute must for Azumarill, as it allows it to muscle past slower steels, such as Nattoei. Azumarill is never going to outspeed a Dragon, and the only thing Return hits harder than Ice Punch or Superpower is Gyarados, Slowbro, and Starmie. The only use for Ice Punch is hitting dragons on the switch-in, and Return has no use except against Gyarados, Slowbro, and Starmie, the former two you'd probobly rather Toxic.
Return is still good because it's a safe coverage move for everything that resists Water, while Superpower is more risky to spam due to its stat drops. Though it's probably alot better w/ Life Orb.
 

B-Lulz

Now Rusty and Old
is a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnus
The thing with those sets, is the fact that they play off of the threat of Choice Band Azumarill. That threat is what will draw in most of the things that you will want to hit with Toxic, such as Burungeru, or your target will switch out, to give you a free Sub.

Due to Azumarill's speed, it will be taking a heavy hit if it uses Substitute, and the foe doesn't switch out.

If anything, I'd certainly label Toxic Azumarill a gimmick set, and Subpunch would border on it if Azumarill did not have such a high HP stat as well, and wasn't as good at threatening the likes of Dory as it is.

Still, I'll try out a Subpunch set, but I'm currently testing AgilPass.

So far, Aglipass is going down well. Gliscor is an excellent Baton Passer to Azumarill, and Agility Gliscor isn't useless in it's own right either. In addittion, Gliscor happens to lure two types of attack that Azumarill resists. I've got several sweeps with Azumarill this way, and it almost always manages to take out something. Noteably, I'm using a Life Orb on this set. Waterfall is just godly rideing off 400+ attack with a Life Orb and STAB.

Now if only I played Dream World, and had Politoad's rain up for another x1.5 boost.

Anyway, after I'm done with the Agilipass testing, I'll test passing Swords Dance.
No they don't. Burungeru will switch into pretty much anything Azu has to offer bar Toxic, so a set like Sub/Fpunch/Aqua Jet/Toxic has served me really well thus far. Obviously i'm not writing the analysis here, but don't disregard things too easily.
 
Before this is 'complete' I'd like you to make a few small edits:

1) At the end of each paragraph make sure there is no space between the full stop and </p>.
2)
[SET]
name: Choice Band
move 1: Aqua Jet
move 2: Superpower
move 3: Ice Punch
move 4: Return / Waterfall (Space needed)
item: Choice Band
nature: Adamant
evs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def (Abbreviations to be used) HP, Atk, Def, SpA, SpD and Spe
Ability: Huge Power
Make similar changes for the other sets.
 
Though it may seem situational, I think Fling+Iron Ball could have some use since Iron Ball really doesn't hinder Azumarill very much, and it offers a way to OHKOs 252 HP/4 Def Calm Burungeru and does up to 90.6% with out entry hazards to physical bulky Burungeru. Fling is the only thing that it can even do to Burungeru. It would allow Azumarill to bait out and beat it's main counter. Also put the spare 6 EVs into Special Defense so Genosect and company don't get a Special attack boost.
 
Though it may seem situational, I think Fling+Iron Ball could have some use since Iron Ball really doesn't hinder Azumarill very much, and it offers a way to OHKOs 252 HP/4 Def Calm Burungeru and does up to 90.6% with out entry hazards to physical bulky Burungeru. Fling is the only thing that it can even do to Burungeru. It would allow Azumarill to bait out and beat it's main counter. Also put the spare 6 EVs into Special Defense so Genosect and company don't get a Special attack boost.
Is it really worth trading Azumarill's item slot for such a situational use, though, when one could just switch to a more appropriate Burungeru counter? Azumarill pretty much needs its item slot to either deal out the extra damage.
 
Though it may seem situational, I think Fling+Iron Ball could have some use since Iron Ball really doesn't hinder Azumarill very much, and it offers a way to OHKOs 252 HP/4 Def Calm Burungeru and does up to 90.6% with out entry hazards to physical bulky Burungeru. Fling is the only thing that it can even do to Burungeru. It would allow Azumarill to bait out and beat it's main counter.
Sounds okay if you're really worried about Burungeru, but what use does it have outside of Geru? Using Iron Ball means that you give up CB or LO, which means less damage output (for one, you never OHKO Blaziken with Aqua Jet, and you probably lose OHKO's and 2HKO's on other things). Also, once you Fling Iron Ball, you lose a moveslot that could be used for a coverage move or Waterfall. Using Fling + Iron Ball just doesn't seem worth it.

EDIT: Ninja'd
 
Not sure if anyone realized, but i want to address a mathematics issue here.

Provided Azumarill is Adamant with 252 Ev's in Attack, 252 HP and the obligatory 4 in Def/SpecD DOES NOT maximize Azumarills defenses.

If one wants maximum, EQUAL defenses, a spread of 232 HP/ 12 Def/ 12 SpD is actually better.
 
Not sure if anyone realized, but i want to address a mathematics issue here.

Provided Azumarill is Adamant with 252 Ev's in Attack, 252 HP and the obligatory 4 in Def/SpecD DOES NOT maximize Azumarills defenses.

If one wants maximum, EQUAL defenses, a spread of 232 HP/ 12 Def/ 12 SpD is actually better.
Actually, the last 4 go into Spe from what I've seen in battle.
And even if they were going to go into Def/SpD, why not use 248 HP/4 Def/4 SpD?

Regardless of X-Act's defensive app, why make things complicated?


As most of them time
Problem here, Raikaria? I sense one.
Please fix your "them" into "the". Thank you!
 
I find
Choice band 252Hp/252atk/4def adamant nature with
Aqua Jet
Ice Punch
Superpower
Waterfall

To be quite a threatening set. It provides enough bulk to survive a scarfchomp outrage and ice punch back. It can OHKO dory after SR on the field, and waterfall is there for strong damage in the off chance you know aqua jet won't OHKO, but azumarill will live and OHKO back. I don't like the idea of return/double edge, since normal attacks.... aren't that amazing and water/ice/fighting hits several types for neutral damage on its own.
 
On the Choice Band Set, slash Focus Punch in with Superpower, if you know they're switching out of Aqua Jet you can predict and get a big hit.
 

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