K, well let's have a real good look at sweepers, and which is the best.
BEWARE!! THIS IS VERY LONG!
Metagross
Salamence
Tyranitar
Azelf
Gyarados
Heracross
Lucario
Infernape
Porygon-Z
Well there's 10 of them.
There may be more, but I'm sure we all use at least one of these. Okay: A lot of info:
Metagross:
It's Movepool and Typing are great. Access to STAB meteor mash, Earthquake, Explosion, T-Punch, Pursuit and Bullet Punch. As well as Agility to raise it's average speed.
135 Att is awesome for any Pokemon, as is 130 DEF. Everything else is either average, or slightly more than average.This makes a great CB set as well.
ThunderPunch will down Pokémon like Milotic and Skarmory in two hits and will be a quick kill upon foes like Gyarados and Starmie.Pursuit works well against many Pokémon that will try to switch out against Metagross. Alakazam, Gengar, and other weak enemies will go down in one hit. Bullet Punch can work here as an answer to speedy Pokémon like Aerodactyl, Azelf, Weavile, or Gengar. Aerodactyl and Weavile will go down in one blow without being able to touch Metagross.
When using Agility, The basic idea of this strategy is to use Agility to make Metagross faster than just about everything, then beat things into submission.
Salamence:
Again, sweet movepool and base stats. 135/110 offences is just great, and also gives a chance for a mix sweeper. But with a great SP.att as well, we now begin to see SpecsMence. Salamence's often overlooked 110 base Special Attack now has the 140 base power Draco Meteor to work with. Since only Steel-type Pokémon resist Dragon Attacks, Flamethrower (for Skarmory, Metagross, etc.) and Hydro Pump (for Heatran, Probopass and Bastiodon) hit 99% of the Pokémon in the game with at least a 2HKO.
but a Choice Band set is also Popular.
The reason CB Mence may actually be scarier than it was in Advance, besides the clear upgrade in sheer power, is that people your opponent may very well be expecting the more-popular SpecsMence variant. For some perspective, the same 405 Attack Choice Band Dragon Claw will do 58-68% to a 688HP/130Def Bold Blissey that switches in expecting a Modest Draco Meteor, and she will take 73-86% from a 405 Attack Choice Band Brick Break.
Not to mention that it also has Dragon Dance to work with, which is great for late game sweeping.
Tyranitar:
Good Movepool and attack, but poor speed lowers the ability to sweep easily, however Dragon Dance can fix this Easily.Crunch and Earthquake provide excellent type coverage to sweep after you pull off a Dragon Dance, and are standard moves on a T-Tar.
A popular argument is wether to use Stone edge or Rock Slide.
So:
Some people say to use Rock Slide instead of Stone Edge because Stone Edge has such poor PP and accuracy. The problem with that is that you already have Crunch with more power and accuracy (and arguably a better side-effect, when you consider Tyranitar's low Speed) than Rock Slide. If you use Rock Slide, there are going to be very few situations in which you will find yourself using it. With Stone Edge, however, the increase in power can get you out of some tricky situations where Crunch / Rock Slide wouldn't do enough damage, but Stone Edge's massive power will get you through it.
Oh, a Sub-Punch set is just killer as well on T-Tar.
Gyarados:
While the movepool is somewhat limited, Access to Dragon Dance helps it out a lot.
BulkyGyara is the most common set used.
A set of: Dragon Dance, Waterfall, EQ/ice Fang and Taunt is very difficult to stop.
The main purpose it to switch into something harmful, like heracross, then predict what to do next. Either attack, taunt or DD.
Similar like the DD useage of Tyranitar.
As far as the Sweeping part, nothing resists Water / Ice / Ground but Shedinja and Surskit, against which you should be forfeiting anyway. You can definitely go with Stone Edge over Ice Fang if you don't mind the former's accuracy, because then only ultra-defensive Grass Pokémon have a shot at walling you, but then you will no longer OHKO Garchomp with a single Dragon Dance. 244 Speed outpaces Tyranitar's max 243 speed and allows Gyarados 366 Speed after a DD, besting Azelf, Raikou, and Starmie, who top out at 361 Speed.
Heracross:
Good movepool and Swords dance for support, but it mainly benefits from a Choice set.
"Choice" is in reference to the items and the popularity of this Heracross set. With a Choice Band boost Heracross is incredibly powerful and few Pokémon can survive hits from his 120 base power dual STAB moves, Megahorn and Close Combat. Flying-types ruin the fun, but that's where Stone Edge comes in to at least 2HKO the majority of Heracross' airborne foes. Whereas Scarf outruns almost everything, if you need it to be faster.
The swords dance set is also popular, since you can use all your moves, but it's still slow.
A sub salac set exists, but can fail easily.
Lucario:
time for SDLUKE.
Lucario@LifeOrb
Inner Focus
Adamant
4HP/252Att/252Spe
Close Combat
Swords Dance
ExtremeSpeed
Crunch/Stone Edge
Of all the sets Lucario can run, this is perhaps the one with the most destructive potential. The power this set wields is frightening—after a single boost, many walls that don't resist Fighting can be defeated in one blow with a little help from Stealth Rock or a layer of Spikes.
However, It also has great Sp.attack, and access to Aura Sphere, Vacuum Wave, Dragon Pulse and Shadow Ball. Therefore, A Specs set is also viable.
Infernape:
The ever popular Mixape is featured here.
Great Speed and offences, as well as Nasty plot help it here.
To say this is good at taking out walls is an understatement. Close Combat absolutely ruins anyone silly enough to switch in something weak to it. After a single Nasty Plot, Grass Knot will OHKO Suicune, Slowbro, and Milotic unless they're running Special Defense. It also has a chance to OHKO Gyarados if it doesn't invest in HP, and does about 65% damage to Vaporeon. Swampert, Donphan and Hippowdon don't even stand a chance. You can then sweep with Flamethrower and Close Combat.
But with access to Swords Dance, as well as the Powerful Flare Blitz, it can just destroy.
So with Both nasty Plot and Swords Dance, any kind of sweeping is possible on Infernape.
Porygon-Z:
Porygon-Z can run a standard Nasty Plot setup. Adaptability makes Tri Attack, already a powerful move, almost unstoppable. The other attacks are up to preference—Hidden Power Fighting and Dark Pulse cover the resistances to Porygon-Z's Normal STAB, but for a Wi-Fi team, Ice Beam may be preferable. Hyper Beam is risky but has some excellent payoff—after a Nasty Plot, Life Orb Hyper Beam will bring down a 714 HP / 306 SpD Blissey in one hit. Just watch out for revenge kills. Timid can be used to outrun neutral base 100 Speed threats such as Salamence. It also outspeeds neutral Speed Garchomp, which can be handy.
Well That's it! if you made it this far anyway. now discuss!!
BEWARE!! THIS IS VERY LONG!
Metagross
Salamence
Tyranitar
Azelf
Gyarados
Heracross
Lucario
Infernape
Porygon-Z
Well there's 10 of them.
There may be more, but I'm sure we all use at least one of these. Okay: A lot of info:
Metagross:
It's Movepool and Typing are great. Access to STAB meteor mash, Earthquake, Explosion, T-Punch, Pursuit and Bullet Punch. As well as Agility to raise it's average speed.
135 Att is awesome for any Pokemon, as is 130 DEF. Everything else is either average, or slightly more than average.This makes a great CB set as well.
ThunderPunch will down Pokémon like Milotic and Skarmory in two hits and will be a quick kill upon foes like Gyarados and Starmie.Pursuit works well against many Pokémon that will try to switch out against Metagross. Alakazam, Gengar, and other weak enemies will go down in one hit. Bullet Punch can work here as an answer to speedy Pokémon like Aerodactyl, Azelf, Weavile, or Gengar. Aerodactyl and Weavile will go down in one blow without being able to touch Metagross.
When using Agility, The basic idea of this strategy is to use Agility to make Metagross faster than just about everything, then beat things into submission.
Salamence:
Again, sweet movepool and base stats. 135/110 offences is just great, and also gives a chance for a mix sweeper. But with a great SP.att as well, we now begin to see SpecsMence. Salamence's often overlooked 110 base Special Attack now has the 140 base power Draco Meteor to work with. Since only Steel-type Pokémon resist Dragon Attacks, Flamethrower (for Skarmory, Metagross, etc.) and Hydro Pump (for Heatran, Probopass and Bastiodon) hit 99% of the Pokémon in the game with at least a 2HKO.
but a Choice Band set is also Popular.
The reason CB Mence may actually be scarier than it was in Advance, besides the clear upgrade in sheer power, is that people your opponent may very well be expecting the more-popular SpecsMence variant. For some perspective, the same 405 Attack Choice Band Dragon Claw will do 58-68% to a 688HP/130Def Bold Blissey that switches in expecting a Modest Draco Meteor, and she will take 73-86% from a 405 Attack Choice Band Brick Break.
Not to mention that it also has Dragon Dance to work with, which is great for late game sweeping.
Tyranitar:
Good Movepool and attack, but poor speed lowers the ability to sweep easily, however Dragon Dance can fix this Easily.Crunch and Earthquake provide excellent type coverage to sweep after you pull off a Dragon Dance, and are standard moves on a T-Tar.
A popular argument is wether to use Stone edge or Rock Slide.
So:
Some people say to use Rock Slide instead of Stone Edge because Stone Edge has such poor PP and accuracy. The problem with that is that you already have Crunch with more power and accuracy (and arguably a better side-effect, when you consider Tyranitar's low Speed) than Rock Slide. If you use Rock Slide, there are going to be very few situations in which you will find yourself using it. With Stone Edge, however, the increase in power can get you out of some tricky situations where Crunch / Rock Slide wouldn't do enough damage, but Stone Edge's massive power will get you through it.
Oh, a Sub-Punch set is just killer as well on T-Tar.
Gyarados:
While the movepool is somewhat limited, Access to Dragon Dance helps it out a lot.
BulkyGyara is the most common set used.
A set of: Dragon Dance, Waterfall, EQ/ice Fang and Taunt is very difficult to stop.
The main purpose it to switch into something harmful, like heracross, then predict what to do next. Either attack, taunt or DD.
Similar like the DD useage of Tyranitar.
As far as the Sweeping part, nothing resists Water / Ice / Ground but Shedinja and Surskit, against which you should be forfeiting anyway. You can definitely go with Stone Edge over Ice Fang if you don't mind the former's accuracy, because then only ultra-defensive Grass Pokémon have a shot at walling you, but then you will no longer OHKO Garchomp with a single Dragon Dance. 244 Speed outpaces Tyranitar's max 243 speed and allows Gyarados 366 Speed after a DD, besting Azelf, Raikou, and Starmie, who top out at 361 Speed.
Heracross:
Good movepool and Swords dance for support, but it mainly benefits from a Choice set.
"Choice" is in reference to the items and the popularity of this Heracross set. With a Choice Band boost Heracross is incredibly powerful and few Pokémon can survive hits from his 120 base power dual STAB moves, Megahorn and Close Combat. Flying-types ruin the fun, but that's where Stone Edge comes in to at least 2HKO the majority of Heracross' airborne foes. Whereas Scarf outruns almost everything, if you need it to be faster.
The swords dance set is also popular, since you can use all your moves, but it's still slow.
A sub salac set exists, but can fail easily.
Lucario:
time for SDLUKE.
Lucario@LifeOrb
Inner Focus
Adamant
4HP/252Att/252Spe
Close Combat
Swords Dance
ExtremeSpeed
Crunch/Stone Edge
Of all the sets Lucario can run, this is perhaps the one with the most destructive potential. The power this set wields is frightening—after a single boost, many walls that don't resist Fighting can be defeated in one blow with a little help from Stealth Rock or a layer of Spikes.
However, It also has great Sp.attack, and access to Aura Sphere, Vacuum Wave, Dragon Pulse and Shadow Ball. Therefore, A Specs set is also viable.
Infernape:
The ever popular Mixape is featured here.
Great Speed and offences, as well as Nasty plot help it here.
To say this is good at taking out walls is an understatement. Close Combat absolutely ruins anyone silly enough to switch in something weak to it. After a single Nasty Plot, Grass Knot will OHKO Suicune, Slowbro, and Milotic unless they're running Special Defense. It also has a chance to OHKO Gyarados if it doesn't invest in HP, and does about 65% damage to Vaporeon. Swampert, Donphan and Hippowdon don't even stand a chance. You can then sweep with Flamethrower and Close Combat.
But with access to Swords Dance, as well as the Powerful Flare Blitz, it can just destroy.
So with Both nasty Plot and Swords Dance, any kind of sweeping is possible on Infernape.
Porygon-Z:
Porygon-Z has access to Nasty Plot, and Amazing Special attack, among the highest in the game. With a Timid Nature, A nasty plot set is very deadly. It also has access to agility for a speed boost.
Porygon-Z can run a standard Nasty Plot setup. Adaptability makes Tri Attack, already a powerful move, almost unstoppable. The other attacks are up to preference—Hidden Power Fighting and Dark Pulse cover the resistances to Porygon-Z's Normal STAB, but for a Wi-Fi team, Ice Beam may be preferable. Hyper Beam is risky but has some excellent payoff—after a Nasty Plot, Life Orb Hyper Beam will bring down a 714 HP / 306 SpD Blissey in one hit. Just watch out for revenge kills. Timid can be used to outrun neutral base 100 Speed threats such as Salamence. It also outspeeds neutral Speed Garchomp, which can be handy.
Well That's it! if you made it this far anyway. now discuss!!
