Status said:
[Overview]
<p>This cute duck Pokemon immediately stands out from the rest of the Little Cup crowd due to a few unique traits it possesses, including its creative typing, picky movepool, and odd stat distribution. Ducklett is the type of Pokemon that one will use to fill a crucial niche on their team, and luckily, it can do this in a few ways. With only two uncommon weaknesses, Ducklett finds it easy to switch in on a metagame packed with Fighting- and Ground-types. The blue duckling also has very great STABs that allow it to remove common threats such as Hippopotas from the game completely. Ducklett does not, however, win the usage crown against Flying-types that are just plain better, such as Mantyke, and it can't even use any of its abilities well. All-in-all, Ducklett is probably the only Pokemon that can be fine-tuned to serve the role of both an attacker and a defender at the same time, and while it comes with the price of having to support it, Ducklett should definitely not be overlooked when looking to fill a spot on your team!</p>
[SET]
name: SubRoost
move 1: Substitute
move 2: Roost
move 3: Toxic
move 4: Air Slash / Surf
item: Eviolite
nature: Bold
ability: Big Pecks
evs: 180 HP / 196 Def / 4 SpA / 116 SpD
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Ducklett isn't as great as Vullaby when pulling off a defensive set such as this one, but it certainly has its perks. Ducklett plays this role like a combination of Swablu and Vullaby in the sense that it can attack and defend itself at the same time, provided that you pair it up with Pokemon that can defeat Electric-types, such as Diglett. The objective is literally to keep your opponent attacking fruitlessly until they faint; this is done by poisoning them with Toxic and stalling afterward with Substitute and Roost. With Murkrow banished from the game, this strategy is now extremely effective as stallbreakers are now much less common, diminishing the list of candidates that can take Ducklett down.</p>
<p>This aqua-colored duck does its job well, with its above average defenses and the extra buff provided by Eviolite making sure that Ducklett will take any unboosted and neutral hit with ease. Relatively high Speed also means that setting up Substitute and removing the Flying typing from Ducklett with Roost now becomes easier and less costly. Another gem is Ducklett's ability, Big Pecks, which keeps its defense from being lowered. This is useful against Sandile and other users of Crunch as Ducklett can stall it out without fearing a Defense drop, and it helps against the odd Screech Munchlax and the like. Lastly, Ducklett gets Air Slash, which is cool because it can stall out the foe further with a lucky flinch.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>Ducklett actually has a vast variety of defensively-oriented moves that can help it stall out its opponents. While Ducklett needs all four of its moveslots, FeatherDance or Aqua Ring can replace its attacks if desperately desired. FeatherDance pretty much guarantees victory against physically-based Pokemon, but leaves Ducklett helpless against Steel-types as it has no way of damaging them. Aqua Ring will serve as a replacement for Ducklett's missing Leftovers, and again, would be used if Ducklett had room for it. Note that Aqua Ring will usually be impossible to set up safely anyway, but is possible with support from Memento or Dual Screens.</p>
<p>While it is rare to have inaccurate moves on stalling Pokemon for obvious reasons, Ducklett's Special Attack screams for help, and using Hurricane in the last slot is the best way to solve this problem. This does, however, create a new problem that is arguably worse than no power, which is no reliability. Since Ducklett isn't the strongest tank out there, it cannot really afford to waste its turn with a missed attack. If your team has rain support, Hurricane is good if you do not mind the low PP. Note that Surf will be stronger in the rain, though, and may ultimately prove to be the superior choice.</p>
<p>Ducklett's abilities are both subpar, so using Keen Eye over Big Pecks usually will not change anything. Both traits are useless for the most part and will only help Ducklett against a select few. Keen Eye is usually only good against Zorua that carry Night Burst, but even without Keen Eye, Ducklett is unlikely to lose accuracy when factoring in Night Burst's accuracy, the low chance that its effect will work, and the chance that Ducklett will have a Substitute up. Using this logic, Big Pecks should almost always be used over Keen Eye.</p>
<p>Good partners for Ducklett include Magnemite, Ferroseed, and Pokemon that can use Rapid Spin or Taunt. Magnemite's offensive and defensive synergy with Ducklett makes it a prime example of a Pokemon that should almost always be on Ducklett's team. Magnemite is great at trapping and killing Steel-type Pokemon that can freely switch into Toxic, and it loves the removal of Fighting-types. Ferroseed has similar synergy and can set up entry hazards to make use of the switches Ducklett causes or aid Ducklett in stalling with Leech Seed. Rapid Spin is not great as most users of it share crucial weaknesses with Ducklett, but every little bit helps.</p>
[SET]
name: Choice Specs
move 1: Hurricane
move 2: Surf
move 3: Ice Beam
move 4: Hidden Power Grass
item: Choice Specs
nature: Modest
evs: 20 HP / 248 SpA / 236 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Since Ducklett has pretty awful stats, it needs a nice Choice Specs set to help fire up its weapons. Sadly, Ducklett has nothing good in its movepool. This Water / Flying Pokemon even lacks Hydro Pump, making its only punishing move Hurricane, which is very inaccurate. The objective is simply to fire off powerful attacks to quickly defeat the opponent's Pokemon. While 44 base Special Attack is not promising at all, Choice Specs does make this weak ducky pretty hefty offensively, and it can actually get some KOs on Slowpoke and others. The way to defeat the opposing team is simple, yet effective: send Ducklett in on something that will not kill it, trick them into thinking it is defensive, and use a powerful move to surprise the switch-in. Hopefully Ducklett will take something out and can be used later as death fodder or switch-in to something else it can kill. Surf is on the set merely for secondary STAB; it's useful against something that it hits super effectively, something at low health, or a Steel-type. Ice Beam is there for Dragon-types and Ferroseed. Hidden Power Fire can also go in the last slot to heavily damage Ferroseed, but Hidden Power Grass is your best bet because Chinchou is more threatening than Ferroseed for Ducklett, as Chinchou resists all of Ducklett's other moves. If you're feeling daring, you can even use Hidden Power Ground for Chinchou, but it's a waste of IVs considering Surf hits Electric-types harder than Hidden Power Ground.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>44 base Special Attack necessitates Ducklett to max out its Special Attack. Speed is maxed out to outpace Pokemon that lie on the 15 Speed mark. The rest goes into HP to add bulk that this Ducklett cannot use effectively anyway. Like always, a Magnemite partner is great for killing Mantyke, bulky Water-types, and all those Pokemon that Ducklett cannot touch.</p>
<p>Since Hurricane is really inaccurate, Air Slash might be better for Ducklett in the long run, as it will still get the desired KOs against Timburr and Mienfoo. In general, Rapid Spinners and Taunt are still what we're going for here in the teammates department.</p>
[Other Options]
<p>Using Ducklett on a rain team is an okay idea to make use of a perfectly accurate Hurricane and a powered up Surf. This isn't really a great idea, though, as there are much better rain sweepers out there, such as Omanyte. You can try Life Orb on Ducklett instead of Choice Specs if you like freedom more than power, but don't expect Ducklett to defeat anything that it doesn't hit super effectively. You can try a physical set with Brave Bird, Steel Wing, Return, and Aerial Ace. Ducklett can also use Brave Bird as its attack on the first set as long as an Impish nature is used, though be wary of recoil. Other than that, Ducklett doesn't have any noteworthy physical moves to offer. It also gets some very situational moves such as Tailwind, Lucky Chant, and Water Sport, but none of them are worth using competitively.</p>
[Checks and Counters]
<p>If you cannot tell from its typing, Ducklett fears any Electric-type. Anything from Magnemite to Elekid to Mareep to Pichu is a threat to Ducklett. Chinchou, especially specially defensive Chinchou, walls Ducklett to no end by resisting all of its moves barring some types of Hidden Power. Choice Scarf variants can eliminate Ducklett with Volt Change or Thunderbolt while outspeeding it. Most common walls such as Ferroseed, Munchlax and Frillish can take Ducklett on with no sweat, so it's definitely not hard to stop. As for the SubRoost set, Taunt works especially well to shut it down, and Encore coming from Cottonee can be extremely effective.</p>
[Dream World]
<p>Ducklett gets Hydration, which contributes further to its arsenal of situational abilities that are mostly useless. This ability makes rain almost appealing with instant status recovery, perfect accuracy Hurricane, and boosted STAB Water moves, but a lack of Drizzle in the tier is tough. Ducklett is always a terrible choice on a rain team when Mantyke is available anyway, and Hydration doesn't change that fact one bit.</p>
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Post-critique changes:
* Changed Scald to Surf on the SubRoost set
* Added Rapid Spinners to Additional Comments
* Fatecrashers' GP check 1
* Added Brave Bird SubRoost to OO
* NatGeo's GP check 2
* Fixed spacing stuff
