The shield that can't be broken *cough
[Overview]
<p>Wielding massive defensive stats, a typing that gives it a bunch of nifty resistances, and the ability to set up Stealth Rock and phaze with Roar, Bastiodon has a solid niche on defensive teams. However, its rare and defensive Steel typing is sadly hindered by its additional Rock typing, giving it many exploitable weaknesses, including two 4x ones to very common offensive types in the tier, Fighting and Ground. In addition, Bastiodon has no offensive presence or reliable recovery moves, so it can easily end up being dead weight to the team. While these traits hinder Bastiodon greatly, some stall teams still find this Pokemon's plethora of resistances and support moves to be just what they need to patch the holes in their defenses.</p>
[SET]
name: Utility
move 1: Stealth Rock
move 2: Roar
move 3: Magic Coat
move 4: Toxic
item: Leftovers
ability: Sturdy
nature: Careful
evs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Bastiodon will start off most games by switching in on a defensive Pokemon or a Pokemon with ineffective attacks to set up Stealth Rock to support the team. Magic Coat will bounce back Taunt or harmful statuses, ensuring Bastiodon's longevity; it can also reflect any incoming Spikes or Toxic Spikes, saving the team time for setting up while the opponent has to lay down entry hazards. One of Bastiodon's redeeming qualities is its treasured ability to safely counter the antics of Pokemon with the Prankster ability, such as Swagger and Foul Play Liepard and Copycat and Roar Riolu, as Magic Coat has a higher priority than what Prankster gives their moves. Once enough entry hazards are on the opponent's side of the field, Bastiodon can begin phazing with Roar, racking up as much damage as possible. Toxic is in the last slot as it is the only significant source of damage Bastiodon can offer, and it can neuter some important Pokemon such as Alomomola and Audino who have the Regenerator ability, which minimizes entry hazard damage. It also badly poisons Flying-type and levitating Pokemon, who avoid Toxic Spikes.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>Sturdy is the better ability because it nearly guarantees that Bastiodon will set up Stealth Rock, ensuring only Bonemerang Marowak and Pokemon with the ability Mold Breaker can stop it. Against more offensive teams, this will most likely be all that Bastiodon is able to accomplish, as its typing leaves it open to many common moves, such as Earthquake, Close Combat, and Hidden Power Ground. Its EVs can be switched from Special Defense to Defense depending on the team, but Bastiodon's Defense is much more exploitable due to its typing. If Toxic damage is really important to the team, Protect can be used instead of Magic Coat to rack it up, gain Leftovers recovery, and scout for Pokemon with Trick or with super effective coverage. Metal Burst can also be used in place of Magic Coat for decent damage, but Magic Coat will generally provide more utility to the team as Protect is only a safe option and Metal Burst is situational at best.</p>
<p>Because of Bastiodon's lack of reliable recovery, Wish support is recommended to keep it alive. Alomomola is a good partner, as it can take Water-type attacks aimed at Bastiodon. Misdreavus also patches up both of Bastiodon's 4x weaknesses with its immunity to Fighting- and Ground-type attacks; Misdreavus is also one of the tier's best spinblockers and can help ensure Bastiodon's phazing deals optimal damage. Bastiodon also covers Misdreavus's weaknesses to Dark- and Ghost-type attacks, so they have great synergy with each other. As Spikes and Toxic Spikes support is necessary for a stall team, physically defensive Scolipede is an excellent partner for Bastiodon, being able to take the Fighting- and Ground-type attacks headed towards it better than Roselia and Garbodor.</p>
[Other Options]
<p>While it's blessed with an extensive movepool, Bastiodon fails to use almost any of it effectively. Rock Blast could fit into a slot, but it could only really hit Ninjask and break Haunter's Substitutes, and Bastiodon can safely Roar them out anyway. Its special movepool is marvelous, as it contains Thunderbolt, Flamethrower, Ice Beam, and Flash Cannon, but none of these attacks will do close to satisfactory damage unless super effective. A Curse set is plausible with Rock Blast and Avalanche, but it would need many boosts to do significant damage. Bastiodon can also learn Taunt, but it is too slow for it to be effective.</p>
[Checks and Counters]
<p>Because of its typing, Bastiodon can be defeated by almost any Ground- or Fighting-type attack, so it is threatened out by the likes of Sawk, Primeape, Golurk, Pinsir, and Golem, all of which are common. Marowak deserves a special mention, as it can bypass Sturdy and OHKO with Bonemerang; any Pokemon with Mold Breaker, such as Sawk, Rampardos, and Fraxure, can also bypass Sturdy and KO Bastiodon. Water-type Pokemon such as Samurott and Ludicolo can also hit Bastiodon super effectively, but Bastiodon can usually survive one hit and phaze them out. In addition, any residual damage, such as entry hazards and burns, will wear down Bastiodon quickly because it can't heal itself reliably.</p>
[Overview]
- Wields the rare Steel-typing of NU
- No offensive presence
- Weak to the most common attack types of NU/ 4X weak to Ground/Fighting
- Good ONLY on super Stall teams by patching up weaknesses/phasing
- No reliable recovery
- Role: Reliable bulky phaser with Stealth Rocks as a bonus
name: Utility
move 1: Stealth Rock
move 2: Roar
move 3: Magic Coat
move 4: Toxic
item: Leftovers
ability: Sturdy
nature: Careful
evs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpDef
[SET COMMENTS]
- Walls a bunch of stuff depending on coverage moves.
- Primarily phases so needs hazards
- Magic Coat for Taunt/other annoyances
- Sturdy guarantees Stealth Rocks at beginning, but you shouldn't lead with Bastiodon or it will die
- Liepard counter O_O
- Toxic is main source of damage, good for particularly walls with Regenerator (Alomomola and Audino) that take minimal phasing damage
- Needs Wish support (Alomomola Audino)
- Misdreavus is a great partner as it is immune to Bastiodon's 4X weaknesses and Bastiodon resists Misdreavus' Dark, and Ghost weaknesses. Misdreavus also spinblocks!
- Spikes and Toxic Spikes are needed so phasing has a purpose. Good users are Roselia, Garbodor, and Scolipede, but they all cannot take Ground-type attacks well so make sure to compensate for this stacking of weakness.
- In place of Magic Coat, Bastiodon can also use Protect to rack up poison damage and scout for super-effective moves, or use Metal Burst which can deal some serious damage. It's decent, but Bastiodon doesn't have the room for it.
- Need partner to fill the Water weakness (Alomomola who can also pass Wishes)
- Sturdy is better than Soundproof for the situational longevity
- Incredible special movepool but terrible Special Attack stat
- Utility moves such as Torment and Block but they are counter productive to Bastidon's purpose of phasing
- A curse set is optional but it will need a lot of boosts to deal damage/take a super-effective hit
- The evs can be switched to Def if you are lacking there, but most of its weaknesses are physical types so it won't work out very well most of the time
- Rock Blast can be used instead of Magic Coat for breaking Haunter's substitutes, Ninjasks, and ensuring it is not complete Taunt bait
- A Fighting-type attack (Sawk Primeape Pinsir Gurdurr )
- A Ground-type attack (Golurk Golem Marowak Kangaskhan)
- Both Ground and Fighting-types must be careful of Metal Burst sets.
- Water types to an extent (Samurott Gorebyss) but Bastiodon can live most attacks and phase them back out.
- Hazards on your side of the field will quickly wear down Bastiodon as he lacks proper recovery and will switch in a lot
- Rapid Spinners (Wartortle Torkoal Armaldo) defeat Bastiodons purpose in life.