...hmm. You make some valid points, I hadn't thought of that before. As far as Counter's usefulness goes, opportunities to properly use it are few and far between I admit, but the value of having it when it's needed is definitely appreciated. I also try to avoid letting my Forry take HP Fires or Flamethrowers or the like as much as I can so that Forry has more time to set up and whatnot. As I said, it's not so much for countering Outrages as it is for anticipating setup sweepers like Conkeldurr (who admittedly isn't used as much anymore) and taking them out of the picture a la Explosion without actually killing Forry. Sturdy Counter is well worth having IMO.Volt Switch is for luring and trapping spin blockers and Magic Bouncers. That alone makes it useful. I can't really see Counter being useful myself, the time I can see it being used is on Outraging Dragons (and you're better off setting hazards in that time) or late game when your opponent is getting desperate and can only hit Forretress with physical attacks. 90% of the time, especially early game, Forretress is taking random HP [Fire]s... I'd rather keep Volt Switch and swap Gyro Ball for Counter.
Volt Switch AND Counter is an interesting idea, though... I hadn't considered getting rid of Gyro Ball, though now that I think about it, it doesn't tend to do me too many favors, hmm... Sow what about this?
Forretress @ Lefties
Careful/Impish Nature, 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef
- Spikes
- Rapid Spin
- Volt Switch
- Counter
I might try that set out, see how it does.