Donphan [4F]

Flashstorm1 · Aug 18, 2009

Current Status: COMPLETED, in need of proofreading

Note: Credit also goes to franky for assisting me with this update.

http://www.smogon.com/dp/pokemon/donphan

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Changes:

Rewrite of individual sets, reflecting changes to the UU metagame
Addition of Team Options for each set, in regards to the UU metagame
Addition of Team Options section for UU play
Team support options will be written in purple
Some EV spreads may receive a change

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[SET]
name: Rapid Spin
move 1: Rapid Spin
move 2: Earthquake
move 3: Assurance
move 4: Stealth Rock / Ice Shard / Stone Edge
item: Leftovers
nature: Adamant
evs: 52 HP / 252 Atk / 204 Def

[SET COMMENTS]
Donphan is one of the few viable spinners in UU, with several key traits that make using it advantageous over using Hitmontop and Claydol, such as the monstrous base 120 Attack and Defense stats and the ability to hurt Ghost-types with either Earthquake or Assurance. Donphan, being so physically defensive, also acts as a counter to some of the major physical threats in the metagame, such as Swords Dance Drapion, Swords Dance Toxicroak, and physical variants of Honchkrow (assuming you are running either Ice Shard or Stone Edge in the fourth moveslot).

This set revolves around Rapid Spin, which removes any entry hazards your opponent might have laid down during the match, in particular Spikes and Stealth Rock. Earthquake is the main STAB move of choice, as even incoming Spiritomb (a common switch-in to this set) is obliterated by it, possibly being 2HKOed after Stealth Rock damage. Assurance prevents Levitating Ghost-types, namely Rotom and Mismagius, from coming in freely, as even the most defensive of Rotom and Mismagius will lose at least 75% of their health from a 100 Base Power Assurance, with Stealth Rock already factored in, of course. Finally, the last moveslot is up to preference. Stealth Rock is a useful support option on Donphan, as it gets many opportunities to switch in and cause further trouble for the opponent. Ice Shard allows Donphan to hit Flying-types for a decent amount of damage and allows you to pick off weakened Dragon Dance Altaria and Rock Polish Torterra. Despite Stone Edge's higher Base Power, its mediocre accuracy makes it slightly inferior to Ice Shard.

The EVs for this set are rather straightforward. Max Attack is used on Donphan as it needs the ability to immediately threaten Ghost-types who attempt to switch in to block Rapid Spin. 56 HP / 204 Def gives Donphan the ability to take physical hits about 5% better than by simply maxing out HP. The old standard of 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe can also be run on this set, along with the possible support options of Roar, Rest, or Knock Off, but the lower physical Defense of Pokémon in UU makes maxing out Attack a better option, as Donphan now has the chance of threatening counters instead of simply stalling them out.

Donphan is best paired with teammates that can switch into the most common attacking types aimed at Donphan, such as Water, Ice, and Grass. Milotic is a useful partner that can switch into Water- and Ice-type attacks, and its access to recovery along with largely superior defenses allows Milotic to also counter some other special attackers that can give Donphan trouble, such as Life Orb Blaziken and Calm Mind Mismagius; granted, they are unlikely to switch into Donphan to begin with. Grass-type attacks are easily covered by Yanmega and Moltres, both of which pack a 4x resistance. Although both are dangerously weak to Stealth Rock, pairing either Yanmega or Moltres with Donphan is extremely beneficial because of Donphan's ability to spin away Stealth Rock.

If you want to use Donphan on a more defensive team, there are several noteworthy teammates you can consider for Donphan. Chansey is a useful partner for Donphan because it can switch into the special attacks that threaten Donphan and can heal Donphan with Wish, who otherwise lacks recovery of its own. Roserade is a useful partner for laying down Spikes, but the entry hazards layed down by Roserade are most effective when Donphan is running Roar. Roserade also has the benefit of carrying a resist to the Grass- and Water-type attacks normally directed at Donphan.

[SET]
name: Choice Band
move 1: Earthquake
move 2: Assurance
move 3: Stone Edge / Ice Shard
move 4: Rapid Spin / Ice Shard
item: Choice Band
nature: Adamant
evs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Although Donphan is normally seen as a defensive tank that focuses on taking hits, this set instead focuses on Donphan's base 120 Attack stat and its great STAB move in Earthquake. Choice Band provides Donphan with an Attack stat of 558, which is simply overwhelming against some of the previous set's counters. For example, Spiritomb is always outsped and 2HKOed by Earthquake, while Rotom and Mismagius are always OHKOed by a 100 Base Power Assurance after Stealth Rock damage. Simply put, coupled with an already great physical Defense and an even higher Attack (with Choice Band equipped), Donphan is capable of putting large holes in the opponent's team with little effort.

Earthquake is Donphan's primary attacking option, and it puts a serious hurt on anything that doesn't resist or is not immune to it. Assurance is needed to hit Levitating Ghost-types like Rotom and Mismagius, both of whom enjoy switching into Donphan to block any attempts to Rapid Spin and setting up themselves. The third moveslot gives Donphan an option to hit Flying-types who are immune to Earthquake. Stone Edge has a much higher Base Power that Ice Shard, making it the preferred option, despite the shaky accuracy; nevertheless, Ice Shard is a useful option for its 100% accuracy and ability to prevent Torterra from walling you with ease. For the last moveslot, Rapid Spin is quite a useful option for eliminating the opponent's entry hazards, which is capitalized by this set's ability to beat any Ghost-type one-on-one. If your team does not have much of an issue with entry hazards, then Ice Shard can be used over Rapid Spin as well.

The EVs maximize Donphan's offensive capabilities. Max Attack is obvious, while the rest of the EVs are dumped into HP since Donphan doesn't need to ourtun anything with the mediocre base 50 Speed. The given 4 Speed EVs allow Donphan to outspeed base 50's, such as Chansey and Registeel, that do not have any investment in Speed. However, you can instead run 20 Speed EVs, which can be taken from HP, to outspeed variants of Azumarill that run 16 Speed EVs, which include the Choice Band and Substitute + Focus Punch sets.

This set's teammates should handle Flying-types, Torterra, and Milotic, all of which can switch into Donphan's Earthquake with impunity. Registeel counters most of the Flying-types of UU and can set up Stealth Rock to cripple the ones it doesn't. It also provides support with Thunder Wave to allow Donphan to outspeed and 2HKO Pokemon it normally couldn't, though Earthquake will no longer 2HKO Milotic with Marvel Scale activated. Roserade is a good teammate for countering Milotic if your team does not have paralysis support, as it can switch into Milotic's Water-type attacks with ease and threaten it with a STAB Leaf Storm or Energy Ball or set up Spikes as Milotic deals mediocre damage. Spikes, in particular, is a very useful strategy since Donphan is great at forcing switches. Torterra is a bit trickier to handle, as not many Pokémon can switch into Torterra without the risk of getting outsped after a Rock Polish; however, having a Pokémon that can bypass Torterra's Speed with priority, such as Hitmontop, or simply having a revenge killer, such as Choice Scarf Rotom with Hidden Power Ice, is often the best response to Torterra. Defensive versions are easier to handle since you don't have to worry about taking too much damage from either Earthquake / Wood Hammer and getting outsped, but it's often best if you can just force Torterra to switch out by switching in a Pokémon likely to carry an Ice-type move. Moltres is an overall good counter to Torterra, provided it doesn't carry a Rock-type move, and can even benefit from Donphan's ability to spin away Stealth Rock.

Offensively, many of the Pokémon that paired well with the previous set still pair well with the Choice Band set. Choice Specs Yanmega is one of the best partners to this set, as it can usually sweep through a team that has been weakened by Donphan's Earthquakes and hopeful entry hazard support. As mentioned many times before, Donphan even has the ability to spin away Stealth Rock, meaning Yanmega has little reason to worry about taking any damage as it switches in. Mismagius carrying Taunt is also an interesting option for an offensive partner, as with Calm Mind, it also gets multiple opportunities to benefit from the holes in the opponent's team made by Donphan and sweep. For example, Milotic, normally a counter to Mismagius, will often be weakened enough by Donphan's Earthquake to where it can no longer switch in and Haze away Mismagius's (possible) stat boosts.

[Team Options]
Donphan is a Pokémon that certainly appreciates entry hazards support since it forces many switches. Donphan is capable of setting up Stealth Rock on its own; however, Donphan can be paired with other Stealth Rock users, such as Uxie, if you'd rather have the fourth moveslot open for another attack. Spikes support works even better than Stealth Rock, since incoming foes will lose a quarter of their health max each time upon switching in, provided they aren't part Flying or have the Levitate ability. Roserade is a good choice to consider for laying down Spikes, since it has no difficulty switching into the bulky Water-types that normally switch into Donphan. Dual screens support could be of use for both of the sets, but it is largely unneeded as Donphan already has a massive Defense stat and won't be switching into special attacks anytime soon anyways.

Offensively, Donphan has trouble getting past bulky Water-types like Milotic, Flying-types, who can switch into Earthquake, and Torterra, a common deterrent to all of the main sets. Milotic is best handled by a Grass-type such as Roserade and Venasaur, both of which have no problem coming into Milotic's Water-type attacks and forcing it to switch out. Roserade can either take the opportunity to set up Spikes, use Sleep Powder to incapacitate Milotic, or simply launch an all-out attack with Leaf Storm, capable of inflicting a large amount of damage to even those Pokémon that pack a resistance to Grass. Swords Dance Venasaur is also an interesting choice to consider, as it can easily plow through most of Donphan's counters after a Salac Berry boost, while Donphan is capable of handling the common priority users that can put an end to a Venasaur sweep. A combination of a Water-type and Steel-type on your team will ensure that you can take on the majority of Flying-types. Defensive Milotic is a good choice to consider for the bulky Water-type role, as Ice Beam can handle Altaria with no problem at all, and Moltres will not enjoy taking a STAB Surf; Hidden Power Grass is an added bonus to taking on the aforementioned Water-types as well. Registeel ensures both Swellow and Yanmega, other UU Flying-types, are stopped cold. Registeel can even provide paralysis support, making it easier for Donphan to weaken opponents who could previously outspeed, and Registeel even does a nice job of luring in Water- and some Flying-types as well. Torterra can be best checked by a Scarfed Pokémon running an Ice-type attack, such as Rotom, as long as it is capable of outpacing max Speed Adamant Torterra after a Rock Polish; be careful when switching into Wood Hammers though. Weezing is the best counter to Torterra in UU for its immunity to Ground-type attacks and resistance to Grass-type attacks along with the ability to use Will-O-Wisp, so if you are running a slower paced team, it is certainly a worthy option to consider as well.

Defensively, Donphan has trouble taking Grass-, Water-, and Ice-type attacks that often bypass Donphan's poor Special Defense stat and 2HKO or OHKO. Grass-type attacks are easily resisted by Steel-, Poison-, Fire-, and Flying-types, so pretty much anything works here. However, the most common Grass-type, Roserade, also had Sludge Bomb in its arsenal, so it is often best to consider a Pokémon that can survive one Life Orb-boosted Sludge Bomb, outrun Roserade, and KO in return. Yanmega is a decent choice here as long as Stealth Rock is out of the picture, but its horrible Special Defense stat means that a Life Orb-boosted Leaf Storm, even though 4x resisted, can deal up to 45%, and Sludge Bomb always 2HKOes, but since you outpace Roserade, the damage taken is less of an issue. It should also be emphasized that Yanmega can also pair well with Donphan offensively, as Yanmega can easily sweep through holes created by Donphan on the opponent's team. For example, Donphan's Earthquake can wear down defensive Steel-types, while Assurance and Stone Edge wears down Flying-types that give Yanmega trouble. Drapion is also a good choice to combat Roserade as it resists both Grass- and Poison-type attacks, and it can utilize Taunt to prevent Roserade from using Sleep Powder or Synthesis / Rest, while your STAB attack of choice can hit Roserade on its lower Defense stat as well. Water- and Ice-type attacks are best handled by a Water-type of your own, such as Milotic. Milotic has Hidden Power Grass to hit other Water-types for super effective and Haze negates any unwanted boosts from your opponent. Chansey is an effective partner for taking on any special attack that can give Donphan trouble; Wish, in particular, complements Donphan perfectly, as Donphan lacks recovery outside of Leftovers and Rest.

Milotic and Roserade are often paired together on the same team. Chansey is the best option in taking on both at once, but if your team can afford it, you can dedicate two team slots to countering Milotic and Roserade. Possible teammates apart from Chansey have been addressed in the previous paragraph. Other common teammates seen with both Milotic and Roserade are Registeel and Mismagius. Registeel is easily countered by Donphan as long as you avoid Toxic, as even the base 150 Defense stat won't save it from Donphan's 100 Base Power STAB Earthquake. Curse variants of Registeel could potentially outstall Donphan though, but will hardly do anything in return without a few boosts. The best way to counter Mismagius depends on the moveset it is running. Calm Mind variants running Hidden Power Fighting are easily stopped in their tracks by Milotic with Haze, while Thunderbolt variants are easily countered by Steelix and Registeel. Taunt + Will-O-Wisp Mismagius is a bit trickier to handle. Life Orb Moltres is a good counter because it doesn't take much from Shadow Ball and can immediately threaten Mismagius. Moltres, like Yanmega, greatly benefits from Donphan's ability to spin away Stealth Rock. Torterra, a counter previously addressed, is most commonly seen paired with Uxie. Uxie is often seen in the lead position, so any good Pursuit user that can outspeed defensive variants, such as Honchkrow and Absol, is a decent choice in dealing with it. Hitting Uxie with status is an alternative option in wearing it down, since it poses no immediate offensive threat and is quite easily stalled out itself.

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Using Donphan effectively on a team largely depends on your ability to predict, as Donphan is a Pokémon that can easily lose the momentum on a mistimed Earthquake or Rapid Spin, and to make it worse, the lack of recovery means Donphan will get limited switch-ins if Spikes are present on your side of the field. When using Donphan, especially on the standard set, it is a good idea to attack first before using Rapid Spin, as it is essential in getting Ghost-types out of the way before attempting to clear the field of entry hazards.

[Other Options]
Donphan does not have many competitively viable options outside of what has already been mentioned. A combination of Rest + Sleep Talk can be utilized if your team is in essential need of a defensive tank that is guaranteed to last, but the poor type coverage between Earthquake and either Assurance and Stone Edge is not enough in consideration of the amount of Pokémon that can potentially set up on Donphan while asleep. Donphan can run Toxic in the fourth moveslot of either of the two sets, but Toxic is largely unneeded when Donphan can simply eliminate common switch-ins with Earthquake or Assurance. A Rock Polish set can be considered, but Donphan lacks the Speed and type coverage to pull off a sweep most of the time. Body Slam can be used to paralyze opponents if you're lucky, but the lack of power is noticeable. Poison Jab can hit Tangrowth for super effective, but its massive Defense stat makes it a worthless option. Counter can nab a surprise kill against physical attackers like Altaria. Endeavor and Flail are gimmicky options at best.

[EVs]
Most of the time, you will just want to run what is provided. An Adamant nature is recommend over Impish in UU as Donphan can effectively wear down its counters by maximizing the damage output from Earthquake and still have enough defense to beat most physical attackers with ease. However, an Impish nature can be considered if you want Donphan to last a bit longer at the cost of some attacking power. The defensive EV investment 52 HP and 204 Defense EVs allow Donphan to take physical hits marginally better than by simply maximizing HP.

On the Choice Band set, 20 Speed EVs can be used to outpace 16 Spe Azumarill and 2HKO with Earthquake. Running max Speed allows you to outrun minimum Speed Milotic and 2HKO with Earthquake.

[Opinion]
Donphan is one of the more reliable Pokémon to consider for any balanced team for its ability to spin away entry hazards. The common presence of Stealth Rock and even Spikes in UU will surely lead to Donphan being used more and more on teams. Another interesting thing to note about Donphan is its ability to beat just about every Ghost-type you are likely to encounter in UU, ranging from Spiritomb to Rotom. However, the lack of recovery really does hamper Donphan's ability to tank hits repeatedly, and outside of Stealth Rock, Donphan has very few support moves to take advantage of. The sturdy elephant is not the most spectacular Pokémon around, but he is a solid and reliable supporter who can also hit hard when the need arises.

[Counters]
Most Water-types are capable of switching into Donphan with ease and threatening it with a STAB Surf. Both Milotic and Slowbro have enough physical Defense to withstand an Earthquake or two, with the former outpacing Donphan. Ludicolo resists Earthquake and can threaten Donphan with either of its STAB. Azumarill can survive one Earthquake and deal heavy damage with boosted Waterfalls. Even Blastoise can come in a few times and KO Donphan with Surf, although the lack of recovery hurts. Poliwrath can also switch into Earthquake with little trouble and KO with Waterfall in return.

Flying-types are capable of switching into Donphan's Earthquake with impunity and threaten Donphan with boosted attacks, provided Donphan does not have Stone Edge or Ice Shard in the fourth moveslot. Moltres can scorch Donphan with a Life Orb-boosted Fire Blast, amd Swellow can easily wear down Donphan with a Guts-boosted, STAB Facade, while Altaria can set up on Donphan with Dragon Dance and proceed to deal heavy damage with Outrage.

Torterra and Tangrowth can switch into any of Donphan's sets with ease due to their mighty physical Defense and KO with a super effective Grass-type attack or stall out Donphan with Leech Seed. Venasaur, while it doesn't resist Earthquake, can switch in and KO Donphan with Leaf Storm, set up Swords Dance, or put something to sleep with Sleep Powder. Roserade can switch into Impish variants, but Adamant Donphan's Earthquake is capable of KOing Roserade with no defensive investment after Stealth Rock.

Outside of Torterra and Tangrowth, Weezing is the most reliable counter to Donphan, as its high Defense and immunity to Earthquake means that Donphan will hardly be able to land a scratch. Will-O-Wisp also shuts down Donphan completely, further nullifying its attempts to weaken you down. With some EV investment in Special Attack, Weezing can even 3HKO Donphan with Flamethrower or Fire Blast.

Any Pokémon that can switch into Donphan's Earthquake and hit it on its weaker Special Defense stat is a solid overall counter.
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Updates:

8/18/09 - Thread posted, awaiting further edit
8/19/09 - Updated with some set comments for the "Rapid Spin" set, Implemented franky and whistle's edits
8/24/09 - Rapid Spin and Choice Band set comments updated
8/29/09 - Team Options, Other Options, EVs, Opinion, and Counters section updated
8/30/09 - Added in franky and JabbaTheGriffin's suggestions, implemented Eo Ut Mortus's proofread edit
9/3/09 - Added in franky and umbarsc's revised edits

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Additional Credits:

LonelyNess, for proving suggestions on the "Rapid Spin" set
Eo Ut Mortus, for helping me test the Choice Band set

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I will attempt to get this update completed in a timely manner. I appreciate everyone's patience and cooperation while working on this.

Flashstorm1 · Aug 19, 2009

People are welcome to start responding with comments on what I've written so far, but please note that as of right now, I have not gotten to team options for the first set, so don't bring that up.

Thanks.

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Reference Edit:

Donphan is one of the few Pokémon available that has access to Rapid Spin, and this set attempts to make the best use out of this "rather exclusive" ability. Since there are a limited number of viable users of Rapid Spin in UU, it is important to understand what differentiates Donphan from Hitmontop and Claydol, among other Spinners. One of the biggest selling points about Donphan is that it gets numerous opportunities to switch into weaker physical attacks in the UU metagame, thanks to its massive base 120 Defense stat and acceptable base 90 HP stat. Next, Donphan's Ground-typing gives it a useful resistance to Poison-type attacks, along with an added immunity to Electric-type attacks, giving it ample opportunities to switch in. Although Claydol has the same resistance to Poison-type attacks, along with an added immunity to Ground-type attacks and Toxic Spikes but added weaknesses to Dark- and Ghost-type attacks, its weaker overall defenses cause it to get worn down much quicker than Donphan. On an additional note, the large number of Poison-types in UU make Toxic Spikes a non-issue for the most part. Another large bonus to using Donphan is its ability to deal a good amount of damage to most of the Ghost-types hoping to come in to block Rapid Spin; Hitmontop needs Foresight to have any hope of getting past any Ghost-type switching in while Claydol needs Shadow Ball to damage Ghost-types immune to Ground-type attacks. Last but not least, Donphan, apart from serving solely as a Spinner, is also a great counter to many physical sweepers in UU, making it easy to take down threats like Swords Dance Drapion who otherwise gives stall teams in particular a lot of trouble.

The main move in this set is Rapid Spin. Entry hazards, in particular Stealth Rock and Spikes, are quite common in UU. For this reason, Rapid Spin is a solid choice to consider for any team, as more Pokémon are capable of being hit by Spikes in UU than OU and being able to eliminate Stealth Rock makes life much easier for Flying-types, especially Moltres and Yanmega. Earthquake is a powerful STAB attack that can KO any opponent weak to Ground and also allows Donphan to combat Spiritomb eager to block Rapid Spin. For example, 252 HP / 252 Def Spiritomb with a positive nature takes an average of 41.45% from Earthquake (which translates to an average of 53.95% after Stealth Rock damage), which gives Donphan a 7.76% chance to 2HKO Spiritomb after Stealth Rock damage. The third slot is devoted to Assurance, since Donphan's biggest adversaries, apart from Spiritomb, are other Ghost-types like Rotom and Mismagius (which are immune to Earthquake due to their abilities, Levitate). Assurance ensures that Rotom and Mismagius will think twice about switching in without risk. 252 HP / 252 Def Rotom with a positive nature will be hit for a minimum of 63.16%, provided it has switched into Stealth Rock, and Calm Mind Mismagius is always OHKOed, provided Stealth Rock is in play, while defensive versions will take slightly more from Assurance than Rotom. Even though it may be tempting to stay in to 2HKO, it is recommended that Donphan switches out of Rotom and defensive versions of Mismagius regardless, due to the impending risk of Will-O-Wisp -- Donphan absolutely needs to avoid status in order to avoid getting worn out too quickly. Not only is Will-O-Wisp an issue, but Assurance's Base Power will be reduced back to 50 (instead of 100), unless Rotom/Mismagius somehow takes damage before you attack.

Donphan has plenty of options for the fourth slot, and all of them have their uses. Stealth Rock is a fantastic option on such a defensive Pokémon like Donphan, as like its OU counterpart, Swampert, it gets many opportunities to switch in on the opponent to reliably get Stealth Rock. Running Stealth Rock on Donphan also ensures that Assurance gets the boosted power noted in the previous paragraph. However, if another Pokémon on your team is capable of laying down Stealth Rock, then it is recommended that Donphan choose from one of the other options for the fourth slot. Ice Shard is a useful option for revenge killing threats like Dragon Dance Altaria and Rock Polish Torterra, provided they have been weakened sufficiently, with the former always being OHKOed after Stealth Rock. Stone Edge is another useful option in being able to hit Flying-type switch-ins much harder than Ice Shard. Stone Edge is usually inferior to Ice Shard despite its much higher Base Power due to the lower PP and shaky accuracy, but it helps prevent Moltres and Yanmega from switching in freely, although Stealth Rock makes the point rather moot. Other secondary options for the fourth slot include Rest, Roar, and Knock Off. Rest is extremely helpful in keeping Donphan healthy throughout the match, considering it can get worn down quickly from switching into Spikes (and other attacks) repeatedly. Rest also cures Donphan of troublesome status, in particular from poison and burn conditions. Note that it is also Donphan's only form of recovery. If using Spikes support, Roar is another decent option to consider on Donphan. Donphan's most common switch-ins, Spiritomb and Flying-types, will hardly appreciate coming in to lose 25% of their health (or 37.5% in Spiritomb's case), only to be forced out and lose another big chunk of health upon coming back in again. However, Roar is not nearly as effective on Rotom and Mismagius, which only take the standard 12.5% from Stealth Rock. Running Assurance on the same set, along with the large investment in Attack, makes Roar largely unneeded, but it works much better on a more defensive spread where Assurance won't be dealing as much damage. Knock Off is a useful support option if you, for whatever reason, feel like negating your opponent's Leftovers recovery is of a worthwhile advantage to your team; getting rid of Choice items can be particular useful, but once again, it fails to make Knock Off a primary option for the fourth slot.

The EVs provided allow Donphan to act as both a good physical hitter as well as allowing it to take physical hits quite well, even when boosted. The given EV spread allows Donphan to take about 5% less damage from physical hits as compared to a 252 HP / 0 Def spread. Since physical hits in UU as not nearly as powerful as they are in OU, a good portion of the EVs previously invested in HP and Defense have been relocated to Attack, and an Impish nature has been replaced with the more favorable Adamant nature. By running max Attack, Donphan can OHKO incoming threats such as Roserade, who often don't think twice about coming in once your opponent sees Leftovers. Earthquake will also always OHKO Drapion and Toxicroak, two Poison-types which can wear down Donphan after a Swords Dance boost.

An alternate EV spread to use on Donphan is to run an Impish nature with max HP and max Defense EVs. Focusing on Donphan's defensive stats allow Donphan to take physical hits much easier at the cost of some power. With this more defensive spread, Donphan becomes a much more reliable counter to Adamant Swords Dance Toxicroak, which OHKOes Donphan running the standard EV spread, and Altaria's +1 Life Orb Outrage will deal 20% less damage as compared to when running the standard EV spread, increasing Donphan's ability to come in later in the match and still reliably Rapid Spin when needed. Although Donphan loses a lot of power when running this EV spread, such as losing the OHKO on Roserade with Earthquake, Donphan still deals a respectable amount of damage to most of the counters to this set. For example, Spiritomb still takes an average of 30.92% from Earthquake (which translates to an average of 43.42% after Stealth Rock), Rotom still takes a minimum of 47.37% from Assurance, provided it has switched into Stealth Rock, and the standard Calm Mind Mismagius is still OHKOed after Stealth Rock damage. Needless to say, Rest and Roar will work much better on a Donphan running the alternate EV spread over the standard, as you'll be taking less damage from weaker physical attacks. As stated before, Roar is very useful when running this EV spread specifically, as it puts Spiritomb into KO range from Earthquake after switching into 3 layers of Spikes and Stealth Rock at least twice.

Donphan works best on teams which have a little bit of trouble against Stealth Rock, as Donphan is one of the most reliable Spinners around in UU. Additionally, there are several ways to approach how you want to choose teammates for Donphan, as it works decently on both balanced offensive teams and stall teams. On a more offensive team, Donphan works really well with Choice Specs Yanmega, as they cover each other's weaknesses pretty nicely. Donphan gladly switches in on Rock- and Electric-type attacks aimed at Yanmega, which in turn, switches into the Grass-type attacks from Roserade, among others, that Donphan commonly lures out, and as an added bonus, Donphan also gets rid of the pesky entry hazard in Stealth Rock that prevents Yanmega from freely switching in. Many of Donphan's main counters, such as Milotic, will be worn down by Yanmega's Specssed Bug Buzz or Air Slash, allowing Donphan to have an easier time in further weakening its counters with repeated Earthquakes. In addition to Yanmega, Donphan also pairs well with Water-types who have no trouble wearing down Fire-types which can give the previously mentioned combination some trouble. There are several viable Pokémon to choose from here, such as Milotic, Azumarril, and Slowbro. Milotic is particularly useful as both a wall breaker (provided Chansey is out of the picture) and as a tank of its own. A Life Orbed Hydro Pump coming off of Milotic's fairly solid base 100 Special Attack stat hurts just about everything, while Ice Beam and Hidden Power Grass allow it to wear down Pokémon which resist Water-type attacks; additionally, Milotic also has access to Recover, allowing to to switch into resisted attacks with ease and heal off the damage taken. Azumarril is a solid physical sweeper which has access to both a Choice Band and Substitute + Focus Punch set, both capable of wearing out Water- and Fire-types that give Donphan and Yanmega some trouble, and this works even better if you have Toxic Spikes support, although unlikely. Finally, Slowbro is a decent Calm Minder, and is a decent switch into Mixed Blaziken, although Milotic does the job a lot better as it can survive two consecutive super effective Hidden Powers and/or outspeed Blaziken to annihilate it with Surf.

On a more defensive team, Donphan appreciates many forms of support that will ensure that it is used to the highest degree on your team. As stated before, Donphan's main issue are Ghost-types that can come in and block any attempts to Rapid Spin, so a defensive team should aim to either directly counter common users of Spikes, such as Roserade, and provide entry hazards support to weaken the Pokémon most likely to come in on Donphan, which can be accomplished by adding Stealth Rock and Spikes support for your team, as Donphan usually benefits from another support option, such as Roar or Rest, instead of Stealth Rock, especially since Donphan will be counted upon to switch in repeatedly to cover the physical spectrum of the UU metagame. As such, the defensive EV spread, 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe along with an Impish nature, is highly recommended on Donphan being used on stall teams in particular, as Donphan will need to focus on taking hits and supporting the team rather than posing as an offensive threat to Ghost-types and other incoming counters alike. Normally, one of the biggest concerns for Donphan is its rather mediocre Special Defense stat, meaning special sweepers will likely cause trouble for Donphan, especially if they are immune to Earthquake or do not get 2HKOed by it, such as Milotic, which even has Recover to heal off any damage taken. As such, Chansey is a highly recommended partner to Donphan, primarily because it is "the special wall" of UU. Many of the Pokémon that enjoy switching into Donphan's Earthquake, like (Choice Specs) Yanmega and Life Orb Moltres are easily stopped in their tracks by Chansey, with the strongest attacks coming from the two failing to 2HKO, even after Stealth Rock and no Leftovers recovery; in response, Chansey can either stall out the attacks with Softboiled or Wish + Protect, or simply Toxic the opposing Pokémon to cripple it for the rest of the match. Chansey's ability to pass Wish to Donphan is particularly helpful if Donphan lacks Rest, as it gets many opportunities to switch into the physical attacks normally directed at Chansey. However, there are a few special sweepers that Chansey has difficulty handing, such as Calm Mind Mismagius and mixed variants of Blaziken. Although both are unlikely to switch into Donphan, they can cause problems nevertheless. Milotic with Haze is a good choice in combating both of the above Pokémon; Milotic is never 2HKOed by Mismagius's Shadow Ball, assuming Milotic has been properly EVed beforehand, with Haze negating any stat boosts from Calm Mind, and most Blaziken are unable to 2HKO Milotic with a Superpower followed by Hidden Power Grass, even after Stealth Rock damage, and the Blaziken that are capable of 2HKOing Milotic can be outran if Milotic invests a relatively small amount of EVs into Speed.

Additional teammates available to Donphan on a defensive team are Roserade and Spiritomb, although both are not necessarily needed unless Donphan is being used on a full stall team. Roserade is one of the best Pokémon in UU, if not already, at laying down Spikes, which greatly helps Donphan using Roar by forcing incoming Pokémon to take damage from entry hazards. Roserade gets many chances to switch-in, as Donphan tends to lure out Water-type attacks that Roserade has no trouble against; however, take caution against Ice Beam, an attack commonly seen on the bulky Waters of UU. Running Spiritomb (or Rotom) all but ensures that your entry hazards will be unable to be spun away, provided you are able to weaken down the opposing player's spinner before your own Ghost-type of choice faints. Needless to say, Spiritomb with Shadow Ball is also a decent counter to Swords Dance Toxicroak, a major issue for Donphan.

franky · Aug 19, 2009

Flashstorm1 said:
[SET]
name: Rapid Spin
move 1: Rapid Spin
move 2: Earthquake
move 3: Assurance
move 4: Stealth Rock / Ice Shard / Stone Edge
item: Leftovers
nature: Adamant
evs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Donphan is one of the few Pokémon available who has access to Rapid Spin, and this set attempts to make the best use out of this "rather exclusive" ability. One of the biggest selling points about Donphan is that it gets numerous opportunities to switch into weaker physical attacks in the UU metagame, thanks to its massive base 120 Defense stat and acceptable base 90 HP stat. Since there are a limited number of viable users of Rapid Spin in UU, it is important to understand what differentiates Donphan from Hitmontop and Claydol, among other spinners. First, the large amount of Poison-types present in UU give Donphan numerous opportunities to switch in, as Donphan's Ground-typing gives it a useful resistance to Poison-type attacks, along with an added immunity to Electric-type attacks. Although Claydol has the same resistance to Poison-type attacks, along with an added immunity to Ground-type attacks and Toxic Spikes, its weaker overall defenses cause it to get worn down much quicker than Donphan, and the added weaknesses to Dark- and Ghost-type attacks don't serve it justice either. On an additional note, the large amount of Poison-types in UU make Toxic Spikes a non-issue for the most part. Another large bonus to using Donphan is its ability to deal a good amount of damage to most of the Ghost-types hoping to come in to block Rapid Spin, as opposed to Hitmontop, which needs Foresight to even have any hope of getting past any Ghost-type switching in. Last but not least, Donphan, apart from serving solely as a spinner, is also a great counter to a major portion of physical sweepers in UU, making it easy to take down threats like Swords Dance Drapion which otherwise gives stall teams, in particular, a lot of trouble.

Obviously, as the name of the set states, the main move in this set is Rapid Spin. Entry hazards are quite common in UU, with Stealth Rock being one of the more common moves as well as Spikes becoming more popular thanks to the large usage rate for Roserade, in which approximately 1/3 of all Roserade have Spikes in their moveset. For this reason, Rapid Spin is a solid choice to consider for any team, as a lot more Pokémon are capable of being hit by Spikes in UU than OU, and being able to eliminate Stealth Rock makes using Pokémon like Moltres and Yanmega on the same team much easier. Earthquake is the obligatory STAB move of choice, as even with no EV investment in Attack, a 150 Base Power move (STAB applied) coming off of a base 120 Attack is nothing to laugh at. For example, 252 HP / 252 Def Spiritomb with a positive nature takes an average of 41.45% from Earthquake (which translates to an average of 53.95% after Stealth Rock damage), which gives Donphan a 7.76% chance to 2HKO Spiritomb after Stealth Rock damage. The third slot is devoted to Assurance, since Donphan's biggest adversaries, apart from Spiritomb, are other Ghost-types like Rotom and Mismagius (which are immune to Earthquake), so being able to hit them for super effective is essential. Assurance ensures that Rotom and Mismagius will think twice about switching in without risk. 252 HP / 252 Def Rotom with a positive nature will be hit for a minimum of 63.16%, provided it has switched into Stealth Rock, and Calm Mind Mismagius is always OHKOed, regardless of whether Stealth Rock is present, while defensive versions will be taking slightly more from Assurance than Rotom. Even though it may be tempting to stay in to 2HKO, it is recommended that Donphan switches out of Rotom and defensive versions of Mismagius regardless, due to the impending presence of Will-O-Wisp, as Donphan absolutely needs to avoid status in order to avoid getting worn out too quickly. Not only is Will-O-Wisp an issue, but Assurance's Base Power will be reduced back to 50 (instead of 100), unless Rotom/Mismagius somehow takes damage before you attack.

Donphan has plenty of options for the fourth slot, and all of them have their uses. Stealth Rock is a fantastic option on such a defensive Pokémon like Donphan, as like its OU counterpart, Swampert, it gets many opportunities to switch in on the opponent to reliably get down (removed a layer) Stealth Rock. Running Stealth Rock on Donphan also ensures that Assurance gets the boosted power noted in the previous paragraph. However, if another Pokémon on your team is capable of laying down Stealth Rock, then it is recommended that Donphan choose from one of the other options for the fourth slot. Ice Shard is a useful option for revenge killing threats like Dragon Dance Altaria and Rock Polish Torterra (maybe mention SD Venusaur), provided it has been weakened sufficiently, with the former always being OHKOed after Stealth Rock. Stone Edge is another useful option in being able to hit Flying-type switch-ins for much harder than Ice Shard, as the Base Power is over double that of Ice Shard's; however, Stone Edge is usually inferior to Ice Shard due to the lower PP and shaky accuracy, but as said before, it will prevent Moltres and Yanmega from switching in freely, although Stealth Rock makes the point rather moot. Other secondary options for the fourth slot include Rest, Roar, and Knock Off. Rest is a useful option available to Donphan, which is extremely helpful in keeping Donphan healthy throughout the match, considering it can get worn down quickly from switching into Spikes (and other attacks) repeatedly, as well as Donphan not having any other form of recovery to begin with (maybe mentioned cleansing Will-o-Wisp and Toxic too). If using Spikes support, Roar is another decent option to consider on Donphan. Donphan's most common switch-ins, Spiritomb and Flying-types, will hardly appreciate coming in to lose 25% of their health (or 37.5% in the case of Spiritomb), only to be forced out and lose another big chunk of health upon coming back in again. However, Roar is not nearly as effective on Rotom and Mismagius, which only take the standard 12.5% from Stealth Rock. Running Assurance on the same set, along with the large investment in Attack, makes Roar largely unneeded, but it works much better on a more defensive spread. Knock Off is a useful support option if you, for whatever reason, feel like negating your opponent's Leftovers recovery is of a worthwhile advantage to your team; getting rid of Choice items can be particular useful, but once again, it fails to make Knock Off a primary option for the fourth slot.

252 HP / 252 Atk Adamant Nature Donphan ev spread comments

An alternate EV spread to use on Donphan is to run an Impish nature with max HP and max Defense EVs. Focusing on Donphan's defensive stats allow Donphan to take physical hits much easier at the cost of some power, albeit not too much. While running the more defensive EV spread, Donphan also reliably counters Adamant Swords Dance Toxicroak, which OHKOes Donphan running the standard EV spread, and Altaria's +1 Life Orb Outrage will deal 20% less damage as compared to when running the standard EV spread, increasing Donphan's ability to come in later in the match and still reliably Rapid Spin when needed. Although Donphan loses a lot of power when running this EV spread, such as losing the OHKO on Roserade with Earthquake, Donphan still deals a respectable amount of damage to most of the counters to this set. For example, Spiritomb still takes an average of 30.92% from Earthquake (which translates to an average of 43.42% after Stealth Rock), Rotom still takes a minimum of 47.37% from Assurance, provided it has switched into Stealth Rock, and the standard Calm Mind Mismagius is still OHKOed after Stealth Rock damage. Needless to say, Rest and Roar will work much better on a Donphan running the alternate EV spread over the standard, as you'll be taking less damage from weaker physical attacks. As stated before, Roar is very useful when running this EV spread specifically, as it puts Spiritomb into KO range from Earthquake after switching into 3 layers of Spikes and (removed one layer of) Stealth Rock at least twice.

My 2 cents.

whistle · Aug 19, 2009

i'm not sure exactly how to describe it but in general the analysis seems too... wordy. it feels like you're adding extra phrases and words where they aren't necessary and it ends up just making it harder to read.

i tried to cut down on the (imo) extraneous parts of the analysis. red is stuff that i deleted. blue is stuff i added. green is something i deleted from your analysis but moved to a different place in the analysis (the new placement is in blue). purple is comments. hopefully the color coding will help you figure out which changes you want and which you don't.

[SET]
name: Rapid Spin
move 1: Rapid Spin
move 2: Earthquake
move 3: Assurance
move 4: Stealth Rock / Ice Shard / Stone Edge
item: Leftovers
nature: Adamant
evs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Donphan is one of the a few Pokémon available which has with access to Rapid Spin, and this set attempts to make the best use out of this (")rather exclusive(") ability move. One of the biggest selling points about Donphan is that it gets numerous opportunities to switch into weaker physical attacks in the UU metagame, thanks to its massive base 120 Defense stat and acceptable base 90 HP stat. Since there are a limited number of viable users of Rapid Spin in UU, it is important to understand what differentiates Donphan from spinners like Hitmontop and Claydol, among other Spinners. One of the biggest selling points about Donphan is that it gets numerous opportunities to switch into weaker physical attacks in the UU metagame, thanks to its massive base 120 Defense stat and acceptable base 90 HP stat. First, the large amount of Poison-types present in UU give Donphan numerous opportunities to switch in, as Donphan's Ground-typing gives it a useful resistance to Poison-type attacks(,) along with an added immunity to Electric-type attacks in addition to a powerful STAB Earthquake. Although Claydol has the same resistance to Poison-type attacks, along with an added immunity to Ground-type attacks and Toxic Spikes, its weaker overall defenses and added weaknesses to Dark- and Ghost-type attacks cause it to get worn down much quicker than Donphan(,) and the added weaknesses to Dark- and Ghost-type attacks don't serve it justice either. On an additional note, the large amount number of Poison-types in UU make Toxic Spikes a non-issue for the most part. Second, Another large bonus to using Donphan is its ability to can deal a good large amount of damage to most of the Ghost-types hoping to come in to block Rapid Spin, as opposed to(;) Hitmontop, which needs Foresight to even have any hope of getting past any Ghost-type switching in while Claydol must use Shadow Ball. Last but not least, Donphan, apart from serving solely as a (S)(s)pinner, is also a great counter to a major portion of many physical sweepers in UU, making it easy to take down threats like Swords Dance Drapion which who otherwise gives stall teams(,) in particular(,) a lot of trouble.

Obviously, as the same of the set states, the main move in this set This set's main move is Rapid Spin. Entry hazards, in particular Stealth Rock and Spikes, are quite common in UU, with Stealth Rock being one of the more common moves as well as Spikes becoming more popular thanks to the large usage rate for Roserade, in which approximately 1/3 of all Roserade have Spikes in their moveset. For this reason, Rapid Spin is a solid choice to consider for any team, as a lot more Pokémon are capable of being hit by Spikes in UU than OU(,) and being able to eliminate Stealth Rock makes using life much easier for Pokémon like Moltres and Yanmega on the same team much easier. Earthquake is a powerful STAB attack that can KO any opponent weak to Ground and also allows Donphan to combat Spiritombs eager to block Rapid Spin. is the obligatory STAB move of choice, as even with no EV investment in Attack, a 150 Base Power move (after STAB) coming off of a base 120 Attack is nothing to laugh at. the way you had it implied that Earthquake is only on the moveset because Donphan needs a STAB move. plus the preferred EVs on this set are max attack, not no attack. For example, 252 HP / 252 Def Spiritomb with a positive nature takes an average of 41.45% from Earthquake (which translates to an average of 53.95% after Stealth Rock damage), which gives Donphan a 7.76% chance to 2HKO Spiritomb after Stealth Rock damage. The third slot is devoted to Assurance, since Donphan's biggest adversaries, apart from Spiritomb, are other Ghost-types like Rotom and Mismagius (which are immune to Earthquake due to their abilities, Levitate)(,)(.) so being able to hit them for super effective is essential. Assurance ensures that Rotom and Mismagius will think twice about switching in without risk. 252 HP / 252 Def Rotom with a positive nature will be hit for a minimum of 63.16%, provided it has switched into Stealth Rock, and Calm Mind Mismagius is always OHKOed, regardless of whether Stealth Rock is present if SR isn't present, Assurance is 50 BP rather than 100 BP -- does that still OHKO?, while defensive versions will be taking take slightly more from Assurance than Rotom. Even though it may be tempting to stay in to 2HKO, it is recommended that Donphan switches out of Rotom and defensive versions of Mismagius regardless, due to the impending presense risk of Will-O-Wisp, as (--) Donphan absolutely needs to avoid status in order to avoid getting worn out too quickly. Not only is Will-O-Wisp an issue, but Assurance's Base Power will be reduced back to 50 (instead of 100), unless Rotom/Mismagius somehow takes damage before you attack.

Donphan has plenty of options for the fourth slot, and all of them have their uses. Stealth Rock is a fantastic option on such a defensive Pokémon like Donphan, as like its OU counterpart, Swampert, it gets many opportunities to switch in on the opponent to reliably get down a layer of Stealth Rock. Running Stealth Rock on Donphan also ensures that Assurance gets the boosted power noted in the previous paragraph. However, if another Pokémon on your team is capable of laying down Stealth Rock, then it is recommended that Donphan choose from one of the other options for the fourth slot. Ice Shard is a useful option for revenge killing threats like Dragon Dance Altaria and Rock Polish Torterra, provided it has they have been weakened sufficiently, with the former always being OHKOed after Stealth Rock. Stone Edge is another useful option in being able to hit Flying-type switch-ins for much harder than Ice Shard, as the Base Power is over double that of Ice Shard's; however, Stone Edge is usually inferior to Ice Shard despite its much higher base power due to the lower PP and shaky accuracy, but as said before (it wasn't said before) it will prevent Moltres and Yanmega from switching in freely, although Stealth Rock makes the point rather moot. Other secondary options for the fourth slot include Rest, Roar, and Knock Off. Rest is a useful option available to Donphan, which is extremely helpful in keeping Donphan healthy throughout the match, considering it can get worn down quickly from switching into Spikes (and other attacks) repeatedly, as well as Donphan not having any other form of recovery to begin with. It is also Donphan's only way to recover its own HP. If using Spikes support, Roar is another decent option to consider on Donphan. Donphan's most common switch-ins, Spiritomb and Flying-types, will hardly appreciate coming in to lose won't appreciate losing 25% of their health (or 37.5% in the case of Spiritomb's case), only to be forced out and lose another big chunk of health upon coming back in again. However, Roar is not nearly as effective on Rotom and Mismagius, which only take the standard 12.5% from Stealth Rock. Running Assurance on the same set, along with the large investment in Attack, makes Roar largely unneeded, but it works much better on a more defensive spread. perhaps move the last sentence to the set comments for the defensive spread? Knock Off is a useful support option if you, for whatever reason, feel like negating your opponent's Leftovers recovery is of a worthwhile advantage to your team; getting rid of Choice items can be particular useful, but once again, it fails to make Knock Off a primary option for the fourth slot. Finally, Knock Off is a useful option to get rid of Leftovers or Choice items.

252 HP / 252 Atk Adamant Nature Donphan ev spread comments

An alternate EV spread to use on Donphan is to run an Impish nature with max HP and max Defense EVs. Focusing on Donphan's defensive stats allow Donphan to take physical hits much easier at the cost of some power, albeit not too much. While running the more defensive EV spread, Donphan also reliably counters With this more defensive spread, Donphan becomes a much more reliable counter to Adamant Swords Dance Toxicroak(,) (()which OHKOes Donphan running the standard EV spread()), and Altaria's +1 Life Orb Outrage will deal 20% less damage as compared to when running the standard EV spread, increasing Donphan's ability to come in later in the match and still reliably Rapid Spin as needed. Although Donphan loses a lot of power when running this EV spread, such as losing the OHKO on Roserade with Earthquake, Donphan still deals a respectable amount of damage to most of the counters to this set. For example, Spiritomb still takes an average of 30.92% from Earthquake (which translates to an average of 43.42% after Stealth Rock), Rotom still takes a minimum of 47.37% from Assurance, provided it has switched into Stealth Rock, and the standard Calm Mind Mismagius is still OHKOed after Stealth Rock damage. Needless to say, Rest and Roar will work much better on a Donphan running the alternate EV spread over the standard, as you'll be taking less damage from weaker physical attacks. As stated before, Roar is very useful when running this EV spread speficically specifically, as it puts Spiritomb into KO range from Earthquake after switching into 3 layers of Spikes and one layer of Stealth Rock at least twice.

nice work.

Flashstorm1 · Aug 20, 2009

I went ahead and added team options in regards to offensive Pokémon that pair well with Donphan, but I'd like some confirmation on the information I've presented since I have less experience with using Donphan on an offensive team than I'd like. Later tonight or tomorrow, I will be additing team options in regards to defensive/stall teams.

On another note, EV comments for the recommended EV spread have been added.

LonelyNess · Aug 20, 2009

On second thought, you should really be running 52 HP / 204 Def / 252 Atk with an Adamant nature (everyone should be)

This maximizes your defenses against Physical attacks with only 256 EVs, putting them all in HP actually makes you 5% less bulky on the physical side of things... which actually makes a huge difference in some cases.

Take versus a Swords Dance Toxicroak

the current ev spread:

684 Atk vs 276 Def & 384 HP (100 Base Power): 348 - 409 (90.63% - 106.51%)

That's an 40% chance of an OHKO (you don't include rocks because it Swords Dances on the turn you come in) and a guaranteed OHKO if there is a layer of spikes on the ground. On the contrary the new spread:

684 Atk vs 327 Def & 334 HP (100 Base Power): 292 - 345 (87.43% - 103.29%)

This only has half as much chance to get OHKOd as the first spread, and even has a chance (albeit slight) to not be OHKOd if there are spikes on the ground.

The difference in your ability to take Special Hits is negligable at best... and in no cases is it significant.

Flashstorm1 · Aug 20, 2009

Alright. Thanks Lonelyness.

Flashstorm1 · Aug 21, 2009

I've finished up the Rapid Spin set if anyone would like to proofread it. Thanks for everyone's help so far.

JabbaTheGriffin · Aug 21, 2009

Just a minor nitpick....this writeup is way too fucking long.

8 paragraphs for a set as simple as rapid spin donphan? What in the world? Donphan: Come in on physical attacks, set up sr, attack or spin. What else is there to it? People aren't going to want to read 8 paragraphs. Is all of this necessary or is there anyway you can cut the fat off and get down to the meat? These analyses don't have to be dissertations or anything. You should explain as much as you can of course. But there's no need to cover EVERYTHING. I've heard from others that this is a problem that's currently plaguing analysis workshop and while this is the first time I've seen it, if this is true, things definitely need to be fixed.

Writing these long analyses results in two problems. One, it makes it almost impossible to catch all the grammar mistakes and fix it up to make it site ready because there's way too much ground to cover. And two, no one wanting to find out about Donphan is going to read all that. So can we please be more succinct when we write?

umbarsc · Aug 23, 2009

Agreeing that this is way too long. The entire first paragraph can be condensed to a few simple sentences. Something like "Donphan has a few advantages over the other popular spinners of UU, like Claydol and Hitmontop, such as his monstrous physical defense, his ability to hurt Ghost switch-ins, and his powerful 120 base Attack." says the main points of the first paragraph without taking 5 minutues to read through.

Flashstorm1 · Aug 23, 2009

Since many of you guys have complained about the length of the first set comments (I don't see it, but this is not the place to discuss it; if you feel the need to argue, I'm on IRC), I re-wrote the set comments and made them smaller in exchange for descriptive bulk, which I feel emphasized the set itself better.

Revised Rapid Spin set comments:

Donphan is one of the few viable spinners in UU, with several key traits that make using Donphan advantageous over Hitmontop and Claydol, such as the monstrous base 120 Attack and Defense stats and the ability to hurt Ghost-types with either Earthquake or Assurance. With Donphan being so physically defensive, it also acts as a counter to some of the major physical threats in the metagame, such as Swords Dance Drapion, Swords Dance Toxicroak, and physical variants of Honchkrow (assuming you are running either Ice Shard or Stone Edge in the fourth moveslot).

This set revolves around Rapid Spin, which has the unique ability of nullifying any attempts your opponent might have made in laying down entry hazards, in particular Spikes and Stealth Rock. Earthquake is the main STAB move of choice, as even incoming Spiritomb (a common switch-in to this set) is obliterated by it, possibly being 2HKOed after Stealth Rock damage. Assurance prevents Levitating Ghost-types, namely Rotom and Mismagius, from coming in freely, as even the most defensive of Rotom and Mismagius will lose at least 75% of their health from a 100 Base Power Assurance, with Stealth Rock already factored in of course. Finally, the last moveslot is up to preference. Stealth Rock is a useful support option on Donphan, as it gets many opportunities to switch in and cause further trouble for the opponent. Ice Shard allows Donphan to hit Flying-types for a decent amount of damage, and allows you to pick off weakened Dragon Dance Altaria and Rock Polish Torterra. Stone Edge has a higher Base Power than Ice Shard (100 instead of a measly 40), but the mediocre accuracy makes it a slightly inferior option to Ice Shard.

The EVs for this set are rather straightforward. Max Attack is used on Donphan as it needs the ability to immediately threaten Ghost-types who attempt to switch in to block Rapid Spin. 56 HP / 204 Def gives Donphan the ability to take physical hits about 5% better than by simply maxing out HP. The old standard of 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe can also be run on this set, along with the possible support options of Roar, Rest, or Knock Off, but the lower physical Defense of Pokémon in UU makes maxing out Attack a better option, as Donphan now has the chance of threatening counters instead of simply stalling them out.

Donphan is best paired with teammates that can switch into the most common attacking types aimed at Donphan, such as Water, Ice, and Grass. Milotic is a useful partner that can switch into Water- and Ice-type attacks, and its access to recovery along with largely superior defenses allows Milotic to also counter some other special attackers that can give Donphan trouble, such as Life Orb Blaziken and Calm Mind Mismagius, granted they are unlikely to switch into Donphan to begin with. Grass-type attacks are easily covered by Yanmega and Moltres, both of which pack a 4x time resistance. Although both are dangerously weak to Stealth Rock, pairing either Yanmega or Moltres with Donphan is extremely beneficial with its ability to spin away Stealth Rock.

If you want to use Donphan on a more defensive team, there are several noteworthy teammates you can consider for Donphan. Chansey is "the special wall" of UU, making it a fantastic partner to Donphan for its ability to easily switch into special attacks that are capable of threatening Donphan, such as Milotic's Surf or Roserade's Leaf Storm. Chansey is also capable of providing Wish support for Donphan, which sadly, has no form of recovery of its own outside of Rest. Roserade is a useful partner of laying down Spikes, but the entry hazards layed down by Roserade are most effective when Donphan is running Roar; otherwise, they are not needed as much. As an additional note, if running Spikes support, running a Ghost-type of your own, such as Spiritomb, is necessary so opposing spinners don't come in to eliminate your entry hazards.

---

Comment if you like this or the one I have in the OP please.

Xia · Aug 23, 2009

I very much prefer the second set of comments as opposed to the first. Though it may all apply, reading a wall of text is not something a new battler is going to want to do, whereas the new and improved comments are short, sweet, and to the point.

Draco Zephyr · Aug 23, 2009

I definitely prefer the second set of comments, because as people commented before, eight paragraphs is way too much for a pretty simple set. I mean, if I saw that on the Smogon Pokedex, I would just say tl;dr and forget about it.

Flashstorm1 · Aug 29, 2009

I finally managed to squeeze in some time to complete the rest of the update, so it is open for any proofreads, suggestions, etc.

Also, the parts in italics can be ignored, as I am using that for reference at the moment.

Thanks for everyone's help!

franky · Aug 29, 2009

Not much to say, good write-up since I can't get on MSN I'll just say it here:

@ CB:

I think its best if you made 232 HP / 252 Atk / 20 Spe the standard instead of getting a mentioned. The couple of EVs sliced out for Spe isn't a big deal, and I just feel that it deserves to be the main EV option. The set itself focuses on attacking rather than physical walling so trading some HP for Spe should be no problem. Outpacing Azumarill is crucial as it deals a maximum 90.25% with Earthquake, a slight chance of OHKO with SR down. You really don't want to get Waterfall first and risk loosing Donphan.

Also Torterra is tough to handle, having Scarf Rotom / Hitmontop mentioned is iffy. Weezing can make great partner with it and it completely shuts down Torterra.

Speaking of Weezing, I think it needs to be elaborated more as its the best counter to any attacking Donphan. With absolute immunity to its STAB Attack and access to Will-O-Wisp, its an easy shut down for Weezing. It can 3HKO it with Flamethrower or Fire Blast depending on the EV spread too. There's no mention so I think you should look to write up a paragraph or even a couple of sentence about him.

JabbaTheGriffin · Aug 29, 2009

Donphan is often an overlooked Pokémon whose ability to Rapid Spin is underappreciated, since very few Pokémon, if any, pull off the role of spinner better than Donphan in UU.

didn't really take a deep look i'll do that later but the main thing i noticed is this. Donphan is probably one of the most common/best pokemon in UU right now. i wouldn't call it overlooked or underappreciated by any stretch of the imagination

Eo Ut Mortus · Aug 29, 2009

Rapid Spin

Donphan is one of the few viable spinners in UU, with several key traits that make using it advantageous over using Hitmontop and Claydol, such as the monstrous base 120 Attack and Defense stats and the ability to hurt Ghost-types with either Earthquake or Assurance. Donphan, being so physically defensive, also acts as a counter to some of the major physical threats in the metagame, such as Swords Dance Drapion, Swords Dance Toxicroak, and physical variants of Honchkrow (assuming you are running either Ice Shard or Stone Edge in the fourth moveslot).

This set revolves around Rapid Spin, which has the unique ability of nullifying any attempts your opponent might have made in laying down entry hazards, in particular Spikes and Stealth Rock. Earthquake is the main STAB move of choice, as even an incoming Spiritomb (a common switch-in to this set) is obliterated by it, possibly being 2HKOed after Stealth Rock damage. Assurance prevents Levitating Ghost-types, namely Rotom and Mismagius, from coming in freely, as even the most defensive of Rotom and Mismagius will lose at least 75% of their health from a 100 Base Power Assurance, with Stealth Rock already factored in, of course. Finally, the last moveslot is up to preference. Stealth Rock is a useful support option on Donphan, as it gets many opportunities to switch in and cause further trouble for the opponent. Ice Shard allows Donphan to hit Flying-types for a decent amount of damage and allows you to pick off weakened Dragon Dance Altaria and Rock Polish Torterra. Stone Edge has a higher Base Power than Ice Shard (100 instead of a measly 40), but the mediocre accuracy makes it a slightly inferior option to Ice Shard.

Donphan is best paired with teammates that can switch into the most common attacking types aimed at Donphan, such as Water, Ice, and Grass. Milotic is a useful partner that can switch into Water- and Ice-type attacks, and its access to recovery along with largely superior defenses allows Milotic to also counter some other special attackers that can give Donphan trouble, such as Life Orb Blaziken and Calm Mind Mismagius; granted, they are unlikely to switch into Donphan to begin with. Grass-type attacks are easily covered by Yanmega and Moltres, both of which pack a 4x resistance. Although both are dangerously weak to Stealth Rock, pairing either Yanmega or Moltres with Donphan is extremely beneficial because of Donphan's ability to spin away Stealth Rock.

If you want to use Donphan on a more defensive team, there are several noteworthy teammates you can consider for Donphan. Chansey is "the special wall" of UU, making it a fantastic partner to Donphan for its ability to easily switch into special attacks that are capable of threatening Donphan, such as Milotic's Surf or Roserade's Leaf Storm. Chansey is also capable of providing Wish support for Donphan, which sadly has no form of recovery of its own outside of Rest. Roserade is a useful partner for laying down Spikes, but the entry hazards laid down by Roserade are most effective when Donphan is running Roar; (I don't think Roar Donphan is absolutely necessary, since a team could run another phazer such as Drapion, and Spikes are beneficial enough to be considered even without phazing support.) otherwise, they are not needed as much. As an additional note, if running Spikes support, running a Ghost-type of your own, such as Spiritomb, is necessary so opposing spinners don't come in to eliminate your entry hazards.

Choice Band

Although Donphan is normally seen as a defensive tank that focuses on taking hits, this set instead focuses on Donphan's base 120 Attack stat and its great STAB move in Earthquake. Choice Band provides Donphan with an Attack stat of 558, which is simply overwhelming against some of the previous set's counters. For example, Spiritomb is always outsped and 2HKOed by Earthquake, while Rotom and Mismagius are always OHKOed by a 100 Base Power Assurance after Stealth Rock damage. Simply put, coupled with an already great physical Defense and an even higher Attack (with Choice Band equipped), Donphan is capable of putting large holes in the opponent's team with little effort.

Without question, Earthquake is the main move on this set, as it gains a useful STAB from Donphan's Ground typing and can put a serious hurt into anything that doesn't resist or is not immune to Ground-type attacks. Assurance is needed to hit Levitating Ghost-types like Rotom and Mismagius, both of whom enjoy switching into Donphan to block any attempts to Rapid Spin and setting up themselves. The third moveslot gives Donphan an option to hit Flying-types who are immune to Earthquake. Stone Edge has a much higher Base Power that Ice Shard, making it the preferred option, despite the shaky accuracy; nevertheless, Ice Shard is a useful option for its 100% accuracy and ability to prevent Torterra from walling you with ease. For the last moveslot, Rapid Spin is quite a useful option for eliminating the opponent's entry hazards, which is capitalized by this set's ability to beat any Ghost-type one-on-one. If your team does not have much of an issue with entry hazards, then Ice Shard can be used over Rapid Spin as well.

The EVs maximize Donphan's offensive capabilities. Max Attack is obvious, while the rest of the EVs are dumped into HP since Donphan doesn't need to ourtun anything with the mediocre base 50 Speed. The given 4 Speed EVs allow Donphan to outspeed base 50's, such as Chansey and Registeel, that do not have any investment in Speed. However, you can instead run 20 Speed EVs, which can be taken from HP, to outspeed variants of Azumarill that run 16 Speed EVs, which include the Choice Band and Substitute + Focus Punch sets.

This set's main issues are Flying-types, along with Milotic and Torterra, all of which are capable of switching into Donphan's Earthquake and setting up or KOing with a super effective attack. For this reason, teammates for this set should aim to counter the Pokémon which can give Donphan trouble. Registeel is a good teammate that can counter most of the Flying-types in UU and can even set up Stealth Rock, indirectly countering Flying-types who think they can switch into Donphan's Earthquake without risk; Registeel also has access to Thunder Wave, which allows Donphan to 2HKO walls (namely Milotic)(even with marvel scale?) that could previously survive one Earthquake, outspeed Donphan, and threaten it with a super effective attack. Needless to say, Registeel does a good job of luring out such walls, especially with Steel's overall mediocre coverage in UU. Roserade is a good teammate for countering Milotic if your team does not have paralysis support, as it can switch into Milotic's Water-type attacks with ease and threaten it with a STAB Leaf Storm or Energy Ball or set up Spikes as Milotic deals mediocre damage. Spikes, in particular, is a very useful executable strategy since Donphan is great at forcing switches. Torterra is a bit trickier to handle, as not many Pokémon can switch into Torterra without the risk of getting outsped after a Rock Polish; however, having a Pokémon that can bypass Torterra's Speed with priority, such as Hitmontop, or simply having a revenge killer, such as Choice Scarf Rotom with Hidden Power Ice, is often the best response to Torterra. Defensive versions are easier to handle since you don't have to worry about taking too much damage from either Earthquake / Wood Hammer and getting outsped, but it's often best if you can just force Torterra to switch out by switching in a Pokémon likely to carry an Ice-type move. Moltres is an overall good counter to Torterra, provided it doesn't carry a Rock-type move, and can even benefit from Donphan's ability to spin away Stealth Rock.

Offensively, many of the Pokémon that paired well with the previous set still pair well with the Choice Band set. Choice Specs Yanmega is one of the best partners to this set, as it can usually sweep through a team that has been weakened by Donphan's Earthquakes and hopeful entry hazard support. As mentioned many times before, Donphan even has the ability to spin away Stealth Rock, meaning Yanmega has little reason to worry about taking any damage as it switches in. Mismagius carrying Taunt is also an interesting option for an offensive partner, as with Calm Mind, it also gets multiple opportunities to benefit from the holes in the opponent's team made by Donphan and sweep. For example, Milotic, normally a counter to Mismagius, will often be weakened enough by Donphan's Earthquake to where it can no longer switch in and Haze away Mismagius's (possible) stat boosts.

Team Options

Donphan is a Pokémon that certainly appreciates entry hazards support since it forces many switches. Donphan is capable of setting up Stealth Rock on its own; however, Donphan can be paired with other Stealth Rock users, such as Uxie, if you'd rather have the fourth moveslot open for another attack. Spikes support works even better than Stealth Rock, since incoming foes will lose a quarter of their health max each time upon switching in, provided they aren't part Flying or have the Levitate ability. Roserade is a good choice to consider for laying down Spikes, since it has no difficulty switching into the bulky Water-types that normally switch into Donphan. Dual screen support could be of use for both of the sets, but it is (the support is) largely unneeded as Donphan already has a massive Defense stat and won't be switching into special attacks anytime soon anyways.

Offensively, Donphan has trouble getting past bulky Water-types like Milotic, Flying-types, who can switch into Earthquake, and Torterra, a common deterrent to all of the main sets. Milotic is best handled by a Grass-type such as Roserade and Venasaur, both of which have no problem coming into Milotic's Water-type attacks and forcing it to switch out. Roserade can either take the opportunity to set up Spikes, use Sleep Powder to incapacitate Milotic, or simply launch an all-out attack with Leaf Storm, capable of inflicting a large amount of damage to even those Pokémon that pack a resistance to Grass. Swords Dance Venasaur is also an interesting choice to consider, as it can easily plow through most of Donphan's counters after a Salac Berry boost, while Donphan is capable of handling the common priority users that can put an end to a Venasaur sweep. A combination of a Water-type and Steel-type on your team will ensure that you can take on the majority of Flying-types. Defensive Milotic with Ice Beam and Hidden Power Grass is a good choice to consider for the bulky Water-type role, as Ice Beam can handle Altaria with no problem at all, and Moltres will not enjoy taking a STAB Surf coming off of Milotic's decent base 100 Special Attack stat; Hidden Power Grass is an added bonus to taking on the aforementioned Water-types as well. Running a Steel-type ensures that your team has a response to Swellow and Yanmega; Registeel is the best choice here, as both Swellow and Yanmega are stopped cold by it. Registeel can even provide paralysis support, making it easier for Donphan to weaken opponents who could previously outspeed, and Registeel even does a nice job of luring in Water- and Flying-types (only Moltres and Charizard come to mind) as well. Torterra can be best checked by a Scarfed Pokémon running an Ice-type attack, such as Rotom, as long as it is capable of outpacing max Speed Adamant (Jolly is almost unheard of) Torterra after a Rock Polish; be careful around switching into Wood Hammers though.

Defensively, Donphan has trouble taking Grass-, Water-, and Ice-type attacks that often bypass Donphan's poor Special Defense stat and regularly 2HKO if unSTABbed and likely OHKO if STABbed. Grass-type attacks are easily resisted by a large portion of the commonly seen types in UU, such as Steel, Poison, Fire, and Flying, so pretty much anything works here. However, the most common Grass-type, Roserade, also had Sludge Bomb in its arsenal, so it is often best to consider a Pokémon that can survive one Life Orb-boosted Sludge Bomb, outrun Roserade, and KO in return. Yanmega is a decent choice here as long as Stealth Rock is out of the picture, but its horrible Special Defense stat means that a Life Orb-boosted Leaf Storm, even though 4x resisted, can deal up to 45%, and Sludge Bomb always 2HKOes, but since you outpace Roserade, the damage taken is less of an issue. It should also be emphasized that Yanmega can also pair well with Donphan offensively, as Yanmega can easily sweep through holes created by Donphan on the opponent's team. For example, Donphan's Earthquake can wear down defensive Steel-types, while Assurance and Stone Edge wears down Flying-types that give Yanmega trouble. Drapion is also a good choice to combat Roserade as it resists both Grass- and Poison-type attacks, and it can utilize Taunt to prevent Roserade from using Sleep Powder or Synthesis / Rest, while your STAB attack of choice can hit Roserade on its lower Defense stat as well. Water- and Ice-type attacks are best handled by a Water-type of your own, such as Milotic. Milotic commonly wields Hidden Power Grass to hit other Water-types for super effective, and Haze negates any stab boosts your opponent might have been trying to nab as you switched to a counter. Chansey is an effective partner for taking on any special attack that can give Donphan trouble; Wish, in particular, complements Donphan perfectly, as it has no HP-restoring capabilities of its own, outside of the meager Leftovers recovery and Rest.

Most of the teammates you are likely to encounter for counters to Donphan are counters themselves. Milotic is commonly paired with Roserade, which in turn, is most commonly paired with Milotic. Needless to say, both of them cause Donphan trouble. Chansey is the best option in taking on both at once, but if your team can afford it, you can dedicate two team slots to countering Milotic and Roserade. Possible teammates apart from Chansey have been addressed in the previous paragraph. Other common teammates seen with both Milotic and Roserade are Registeel and Mismagius. Registeel is easily countered by Donphan as long as you avoid Toxic, as even the base 150 Defense stat won't save it from Donphan's 100 Base Power STAB Earthquake. Curse variants of Registeel could potentially outstall Donphan, though, but they are largely incapable of doing anything in return without a few boosts and will still eventually lose due to the 2-turn incapacitation of Rest. The best way to counter Mismagius depends on the moveset it is running. Calm Mind variants running Hidden Power Fighting are easily stopped in their tracks by Milotic with Haze, while Thunderbolt variants are easily countered by Steelix and Registeel. Taunt + Will-O-Wisp Mismagius is a bit trickier to handle. A Fire-type that doesn't take much from Shadow Ball and can immediately threaten Mismagius, such as Life Orb Moltres, is your best choice here. Moltres, like Yanmega, greatly benefits from Donphan's ability to spin away Stealth Rock. Torterra, a counter previously addressed, is most commonly seen paired with Uxie. Uxie is often seen in the lead position, so any good Pursuit user that can outspeed defensive variants, such as Honchkrow and Absol, is a decent choice in dealing with it. Hitting Uxie with status is an alternative option in wearing it down, since it poses no immediate offensive threat and is quite easily stalled out itself.

EVs

On the Choice Band set, 20 Speed EVs can be used to outpace 16 Spe Azumarill and 2HKO with Earthquake. Running max Speed allows you to outrun minimum Speed Milotic and 2HKO with Earthquake.

Counters

Most Water-types are capable of switching into Donphan with ease and threatening it with a STAB Surf. Both Milotic and Slowbro have enough physical Defense to withstand an Earthquake or two, with the former outpacing Donphan. Ludicolo resists Earthquake and can threaten Donphan with either of its STAB. Azumarill can survive one Earthquake and deal heavy damage with boosted Waterfalls. Even Blastoise can come in a few times and KO Donphan with Surf, although the lack of recovery hurts. Poliwrath can also switch into Earthquake with little trouble and KO with Waterfall in return.

Flying-types are capable of switching into Donphan's Earthquake with impunity and threaten Donphan with boosted attacks, provided Donphan does not have Stone Edge or Ice Shard in the fourth moveslot. Moltres can scorch Donphan with a Life Orb-boosted Fire Blast, and Swellow can easily wear down Donphan with a Guts-boosted, STAB Facade, while Altaria can set up on Donphan with Dragon Dance and proceed to deal heavy damage with Outrage.

Torterra and Tangrowth can switch into any of Donphan's sets with ease due to their mighty physical Defense and KO with a super effective Grass-type attack or stall out Donphan with Leech Seed. Venasaur, while it doesn't resist Earthquake, can switch in and KO Donphan with Leaf Storm, set up Swords Dance, or put something to sleep with Sleep Powder. Roserade can switch into Impish variants, but Adamant Donphan's Earthquake is capable of KOing Roserade with no defensive investment after Stealth Rock.

Flashstorm1 · Aug 29, 2009

Updated with franky and Jabba's suggesions, along with Eo's proofread

@ Franky: I discussed the 16 speed EVs idea, and we agreed to dismiss it as then its just a war until both end up running 252 Speed EVs.

franky · Sep 2, 2009

Since this looked bundled - Ill have to bold out things for the things you have to remove and get to the point. Underlined are new materal, (yes whistle i'm copying this format because its easier to see :P)

[Team Options]
Donphan is a Pokémon that certainly appreciates entry hazards support since it forces many switches. Donphan is capable of setting up Stealth Rock on its own; however, Donphan can be paired with other Stealth Rock users, such as Uxie, if you'd rather have the fourth moveslot open for another attack. Spikes support works even better than Stealth Rock, since incoming foes will lose a quarter of their health max each time upon switching in, provided they aren't part Flying or have the Levitate ability.Roserade is a good choice to consider for laying down Spikes, since it has no difficulty switching into the bulky Water-types that normally switch into Donphan. Dual screens support could be of use for both of the sets, but it is largely unneeded as Donphan already has a massive Defense stat and won't be switching into special attacks anytime soon anyways.

Offensively, Donphan has trouble getting past bulky Water-types like Milotic, Flying-types, who can switch into Earthquake, and Torterra, a common deterrent to all of the main sets. Milotic is best handled by a Grass-type such as Roserade and Venasaur, both of which have no problem coming into Milotic's Water-type attacks and forcing it to switch out. Roserade can either take the opportunity to set up Spikes, use Sleep Powder to incapacitate Milotic, or simply launch an all-out attack with Leaf Storm, capable of inflicting a large amount of damage to even those Pokémon that pack a resistance to Grass. Swords Dance Venasaur is also an interesting choice to consider, as it can easily plow through most of Donphan's counters after a Salac Berry boost, while Donphan is capable of handling the common priority users that can put an end to a Venasaur sweep. A combination of a Water-type and Steel-type on your team will ensure that you can take on the majority of Flying-types. Defensive Milotic with Ice Beam and Hidden Power Grass is a good choice to consider for the bulky Water-type role, as Ice Beam can handle Altaria with no problem at all, and Moltres will not enjoy taking a STAB Surf coming off of Milotic's decent base 100 Special Attack stat; Hidden Power Grass is an added bonus to taking on the aforementioned Water-types as well. Running a Steel-type ensures that your team has a response to Swellow and Yanmega; Registeel ensures both Swellow and Yanmega are stopped cold. Registeel can even provide paralysis support, making it easier for Donphan to weaken opponents who could previously outspeed, and Registeel even does a nice job of luring in Water- and some Flying-types as well. Torterra can be best checked by a Timid Scarfed Pokémon running an Ice-type attack, such as Rotom, as long as it is capable of outpacing max Speed Adamant Torterra after a Rock Polish; be careful when switching into Wood Hammers though. Weezing is the best counter to Torterra in UU for its immunity to Ground-type attacks and resistance to Grass-type attacks along with the ability to use Will-O-Wisp, so if you are running a slower paced team, it is certainly a worthy option to consider as well.

Defensively, Donphan has trouble taking Grass-, Water-, and Ice-type attacks that often bypass Donphan's poor Special Defense stat and is regularly 2HKOed if unSTABbed and likely or OHKOed if STABbed. Grass-type attacks are easily resisted by a large portion of the commonly seen types in UU, such as Steel, Poison, Fire, and Flying, so pretty much anything works here. However, the most common Grass-type, Roserade, also had Sludge Bomb in its arsenal, so it is often best to consider a Pokémon that can survive one Life Orb-boosted Sludge Bomb, outrun Roserade, and KO in return. Yanmega is a decent choice here as long as Stealth Rock is out of the picture, but its horrible Special Defense stat means that a Life Orb-boosted Leaf Storm, even though 4x resisted, can deal up to 45%, and Sludge Bomb always 2HKOes, but since you outpace Roserade, the damage taken is less of an issue.(I think Altaria is a better example) It should also be emphasized that Yanmega can also pair well with Donphan offensively, as Yanmega can easily sweep through holes created by Donphan on the opponent's team. For example, Donphan's Earthquake can wear down defensive Steel-types, while Assurance and Stone Edge wears down Flying-types that give Yanmega trouble. Drapion is also a good choice to combat Roserade as it resists both Grass- and Poison-type attacks, and it can utilize Taunt to prevent Roserade from using Sleep Powder or Synthesis / Rest, while your STAB attack of choice can hit Roserade on its lower Defense stat as well. Water- and Ice-type attacks are best handled by a Water-type of your own, such as Milotic. Milotic commonly wields hasHidden Power Grass to hit other Water-types for super effective, and Haze negates any unwantedboosts from your opponent. your opponent might have been trying to nab as you switched to a counter. Chansey is an effective partner for taking on any special attack that can give Donphan trouble; Wish, in particular, complements Donphan perfectly, as it has no HP-restoring capabilities of its own, outside of the meager Leftovers recovery and Rest. Donphan lacks recovery outside Leftovers and Rest

Most of the teammates you are likely to encounter for counters to Donphan are counters themselves. Milotic is commonly paired with Roserade, which in turn, is most commonly paired with Milotic. Needless to say, Roserade and Milotic are very common and both of them cause Donphan trouble. Chansey is the best option in taking on both at once, but if your team can afford it, you can dedicate two team slots to countering Milotic and Roserade. Possible teammates apart from Chansey have been addressed in the previous paragraph. Other common teammates seen with both Milotic and Roserade are Registeel and Mismagius. Registeel is easily countered by Donphan as long as you avoid Toxic, as even the base 150 Defense stat won't save it from Donphan's 100 Base Power STAB Earthquake. Curse variants of Registeel could potentially outstall Donphan though, but Registeel can't do anything in return without a few boosts under its belt. but they are largely incapable of doing anything in return without a few boosts and will still eventually lose due to the 2-turn incapacitation of Rest. The best way to counter Mismagius depends on the moveset it is running. Calm Mind variants running Hidden Power Fighting are easily stopped in their tracks by Milotic with Haze, while Thunderbolt variants are easily countered by Steelix and Registeel. Taunt + Will-O-Wisp Mismagius is a bit trickier to handle. Life Orb Moltres is good because it doesn't take much from Shadow Ball and can immediately threaten Mismagius, such as Life Orb Moltres, is your best choice here. Moltres, like Yanmega, greatly benefits from Donphan's ability to spin away Stealth Rock. Torterra, a counter previously addressed, is most commonly seen paired with Uxie. Uxie is often seen in the lead position, so any good Pursuit user that can outspeed defensive variants, such as Honchkrow and Absol, is a decent choice in dealing with it. Hitting Uxie with status is an alternative option in wearing it down, since it poses no immediate offensive threat and is quite easily stalled out itself.

umbarsc · Sep 2, 2009

Though this is a lot more concise, some areas still could use some cutting, and a few sentences are quite wordy.

This set revolves around Rapid Spin, which has the unique ability of nullifying any attempts your opponent might have made in laying down entry hazards, in particular Spikes and Stealth Rock.

This doesn't sound quite right. "nullifying any attempts" makes it sound like it prevents them from coming up. This is also a bit wordy. You should rephrase it to something more like "This set revolves around Rapid Spin, which removes any entry hazards your opponent has laid down during the match, in particular Spikes and Stealth Rock."

Stone Edge has a higher Base Power than Ice Shard (100 instead of a measly 40), but the mediocre accuracy makes it a slightly inferior option to Ice Shard.

"Despite Stone Edge's higher Base Power, its mediocre accuracy makes it slightly inferior to Ice Shard."

Chansey is "the special wall" of UU, making it a fantastic partner to Donphan for its ability to easily switch into special attacks that are capable of threatening Donphan, such as Milotic's Surf or Roserade's Leaf Storm. Chansey is also capable of providing Wish support for Donphan, which sadly has no form of recovery of its own outside of Rest.

"Chansey is a useful partner for Donphan because it can switch into the special attacks that threaten Donphan and can heal Donphan with Wish, who otherwise lacks recovery."

Roserade is a useful partner for laying down Spikes, but the entry hazards layed down by Roserade are most effective when Donphan is running Roar. Another option could be to run another "phazer", such as Drapion, elsewhere on the team. As an additional note, if running Spikes support, running a Ghost-type of your own, such as Spiritomb, is necessary so opposing spinners don't come in to eliminate your entry hazards.

I don't see how the last two sentences are necessary because they don't really complement Donphan at all. Maybe they complement the Pokemon that complement Donphan, but there's no need to go that in-depth in analyses. Instead you should mention how Roserade resists Grass and Water.

Without question, Earthquake is the main move on this set, as it gains a useful STAB from Donphan's Ground typing and can put a serious hurt into anything that doesn't resist or is not immune to Ground-type attacks.

"Earthquake is Donphan's primary attacking option, and it puts a serious hurt on anything that doesn't resist or is not immune to it."

This set's main issues are Flying-types, along with Milotic and Torterra, all of which are capable of switching into Donphan's Earthquake and setting up or KOing with a super effective attack. For this reason, teammates for this set should aim to counter the Pokémon which can give Donphan trouble.

The second sentence is almost universally applicable so it's not really needed. Rephrase it to sound more like

"This set's teammates should handle Flying-types, Torterra, and Milotic, all of which can switch into Donphan's Earthquake with impunity."

Registeel is a good teammate that can counter most of the Flying-types in UU and can even set up Stealth Rock, indirectly countering Flying-types who think they can switch into Donphan's Earthquake without risk; Registeel also has access to Thunder Wave, which allows Donphan to 2HKO walls that could previously survive one Earthquake, outspeed, and threaten it with a super effective attack. (However, it should be noted that Milotic's Marvel Scale, if activated, will prevent Donphan's Earthquake from 2HKOing.)

"Registeel counters most of the Flying-types of UU and can set up Stealth Rock to cripple the ones it doesn't. It also provides support with Thunder Wave to allow Donphan to outspeed and 2HKO Pokemon it normally couldn't, though Earthquake will no longer 2HKO Milotic with Marvel Scale activated."

Needless to say, Registeel does a good job of luring out such walls, especially with Steel's overall mediocre coverage in UU.

This can be removed.

Spikes, in particular, is a very useful executable strategy since Donphan is great at forcing switches.

Remove executable.

Flashstorm1 · Sep 3, 2009

Status update: Implemented franky and umbarsc's edits.

twash · Sep 16, 2009

Good solid edit, easy to understand. On-site!

Donphan [4F]

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