AccidentalGreed
Sweet and bitter as chocolate.
Hey you. Yeah you. See this big belly here? I eat ghost swords for breakfast.
GP Approvals: Zystral
Status: Done!
[Pros]
<ul>
<li>Diggersby has Huge Power to make up for its middling Attack, turning it into a fearsome physical attacker that surpasses even Groudon in terms of STAB moves.</li>
<li>It has some great STAB options that certainly don't lack in coverage or power.</li>
<li>Diggersby's Normal typing makes it immune to Ghost-type moves such as the popular Shadow Sneak, while Ground typing gives it an immunity to Electric-type attacks and thus Thunder Wave.</li>
<li>The above makes it a fairly good check to Aegislash; in fact, it can OHKO common variants of its Shield Forme with Earthquake with or without boosting items. But it can't switch into Sacred Sword or Iron Head.</li>
<li>Diggersby is fairly fast and averagely bulky for a Huge Power user, enough to outrun some defensive walls and slow offensive threats.</li>
</ul>
[Cons]
<ul>
<li>Its reliance on Normal- and Ground-type moves may make it fail against some Ghost-, Steel-, and Flying-types.</li>
<li>It is slow overall.</li>
<li>A bit frail, and weak to common Grass-, Water-, Fighting-, and Ice-type attacks.</li>
<li>It has four moveslot syndrome, so it can't cover everything at one time.</li>
<li>It is vulnerable to faster Ghost- and Rock-types, though fortunately the latter isn't exactly prominent.</li>
</ul>
[Set Recommendations]
<p>name: Choice Scarf<br />
move 1: Earthquake<br />
move 2: Return<br />
move 3: Wild Charge<br />
move 4: U-turn<br />
nature: Adamant / Jolly<br />
ability: Huge Power<br />
item: Choice Scarf<br />
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe</p>
<p>Choice Scarf allows Diggersby to be fast and powerful without resorting to Quick Attack, while also giving it a bit of utility as a revenge killer. Specifically, with an Adamant nature, it is fast enough to outrun Greninja, while with a Jolly nature it can outrun +1 Adamant Gyarados and Dragonite. Keep in mind, however, that Diggersby's STAB attacks are rather easy to switch in on due to their immunities being common, so it may be best to use U-turn to scout and deal some damage at the same time first. Wild Charge is used to deal great damage to Flying- and Water-types, though most of the time it is more worthwhile to use Return on them as it is overall more powerful against threats outside of those mentioned.</p>
<p>name: Swords Dance<br />
move 1: Swords Dance<br />
move 2: Earthquake<br />
move 3: Quick Attack<br />
move 4: Wild Charge / Return<br />
nature: Adamant / Jolly<br />
ability: Huge Power<br />
item: Life Orb<br />
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe</p>
<p>With Swords Dance, Diggersby becomes a deceptively great wallbreaker that can mow down slower defensive or balanced teams while holding its own against some offensive ones. Even without Swords Dance, Diggersby is reasonably powerful thanks to Life Orb, though it should find an opportunity to use it in order to power up both Quick Attack against faster foes, and Earthquake to KO slow walls and tanks. Also keep in mind that Diggersby is somewhat frail, so it should aim to set up on weak defensive Pokemon or Choice-locked threats. In the last slot, Wild Charge gives Diggersby better coverage, especially against Skarmory, Gyarados, and other bulky Water- and Flying-types. Return, however, is an alternative STAB that does explosive damage if Quick Attack or Earthquake are insufficient against certain threats.</p>
<p>name: Agility<br />
move 1: Agility<br />
move 2: Earthquake<br />
move 3: Return<br />
move 4: U-Wild Charge / Swords Dance<br />
nature: Adamant / Jolly<br />
ability: Huge Power<br />
item: Life Orb<br />
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe</p>
<p>Diggerby is reasonably powerful just with Life Orb, making Agility a viable option, and thus reducing the need for Quick Attack somewhat. However, Agility must only be used if faster threats exist on the opposing team, as it offers no valuable offensive boost otherwise. The only moves up for debate are Wild Charge and Swords Dance. Whereas Wild Charge is still very useful for Skarmory and miscellaneous Water-types, Swords Dance gives Diggersby much needed utility against defensive Pokemon, which Agility typically won't help against. Due to Diggersby's average bulk, it is ill-advised to try setting up both boosting moves.</p>
<p>name: Choice Band<br />
move 1: Earthquake<br />
move 2: Quick Attack<br />
move 3: Return<br />
move 4: Wild Charge / U-turn<br />
nature: Adamant / Jolly<br />
ability: Huge Power<br />
item: Choice Band<br />
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe</p>
<p>With a Choice Band, Diggersby gains utility as a hard-hitting attacker without Life Orb recoil, and is a decent alternative over similar Pokemon such as Azumarill due to its STAB Earthquake and Quick Attack's more neutral coverage. However, both moves, including Return, have common immunities, so this set must be used with some prediction and caution, especially since threats such as Gourgeist and Gengar are common. Aside from Wild Charge's additional coverage, U-turn is also very useful on this set to scout for Pokemon that may come in to wall Diggersby's other moves.</p>
[Checks and Counters]
<p>It is naturally easy to check Diggersby due to its humongous power but average defenses, so threats such as Trevenant, Gourgeist, and barring Wild Charge, Gengar, Aerodactyl, and Skarmory can all switch in on all of Diggersby's main moves. Anything else must be wary though, as Diggersby does have near-perfect coverage on everything else. Priority users such as Talonflame, Conkeldurr, Breloom, Scizor, and Mega Kangaskhan are the best approach as Diggersby can otherwise manage faster threats with Agility or Quick Attack. Alternatively, faster threats that resist or are immune to Quick Attack will be sufficient enough as long as they don't accidentally switch into other moves. Gengar once again is a good example of this as it can switch into both Earthquake and Quick Attack, then either set up Substitute or just hit it with Focus Blast. Gourgeist and Trevenant are also resistant or immune to Diggersby's most commonly used moves.</p>
Last edited: