[OVERVIEW]
Ferrothorn has solidified a niche for itself in the National Dex metagame as one of the very few viable Spikes users. It's particularly notable as a Spikes user thanks to its ability to beat a common entry hazard remover in Tapu Fini and annoy many others such as Zapdos and Corviknight with Knock Off, Leech Seed, Toxic, and Thunder Wave. On top of that, Ferrothorn is a good check to prominent offensive threats such as Calm Mind Clefable, Magearna, Mega Latios, and Greninja. Unfortunately, Ferrothorn can be worn down rather quickly because of its lack of reliable recovery; this flaw is made especially notable by Knock Off users such as Tapu Fini, Clefable, and Tangrowth. To add onto that, it's also very susceptible to prominent Pokemon like Heatran, Mega Mawile, Kartana, and Mega Lopunny, though it has solid means of crippling them with Leech Seed, Knock Off, and Thunder Wave. Other Pokemon that Ferrothorn is supposed to check, such as Magearna, Greninja, and Clefable, can also run coverage moves for it.
[SET]
name: Entry Hazard Setter
move 1: Spikes / Stealth Rock
move 2: Knock Off
move 3: Leech Seed
move 4: Gyro Ball / Protect / Toxic / Thunder Wave / Power Whip
item: Leftovers
ability: Iron Barbs
nature: Sassy / Careful
evs: 252 HP / 92 Def / 164 SpD
[SET COMMENTS]
Set Description
========
Ferrothorn is one of the few viable Pokemon that have access to Spikes, and it excels as an entry hazard setter thanks to its ability to beat common defoggers. Stealth Rock is an alternative over Spikes for teams without another setter. Knock Off enables Ferrothorn to cripple Pokemon that it cannot do much to with other means, such as Zapdos, Corviknight, Heatran, Rotom-H, and Aegislash. Leech Seed is useful on Ferrothorn, as it lacks any form of recovery besides Leftovers otherwise. It also makes Ferrothorn, an otherwise rather passive Pokemon, much harder to deal with consistently. In order to pressure Pokemon like Hydreigon, Clefable, Dragapult, and Shift Gear Magearna, Ferrothorn can elect to run Gyro Ball. Protect can be run instead in order to rack up recovery from Leech Seed and Leftovers, as well as scout Choice-locked Pokemon such as Kartana and Tapu Lele, super effective coverage from the likes of Magearna and Greninja, and Z-Moves from Pokemon such as Landorus-T, Dragapult, and Magearna. It also punishes Mega Medicham should it try to recklessly use High Jump Kick. Toxic is another good option to harshly punish the metagame's most common Defogger in Zapdos, as well as other common switch-ins such as Hydreigon, Cinderace, and Volcarona. Alternatively, Ferrothorn can choose to cripple these Pokemon, as well as the likes of Kartana, Mega Mawile, and Corviknight, with Thunder Wave. Power Whip is another option to threaten Tapu Fini a lot harder, in addition to Mega Swampert, Manaphy, and Dracovish. 92 Defense EVs ensure Ferrothorn survives a boosted Never-Ending Nightmare from Dragapult, as well as a Choice Band-boosted Sacred Sword from Kartana after Stealth Rock damage, allowing it to punish both with Gyro Ball and Thunder Wave, respectively. The rest of the EVs are invested into Special Defense in order to check the likes of Clefable, Mega Latios, Tapu Lele, and Greninja more comfortably. A Sassy nature is to be used with Gyro Ball in order to maximize damage output. If forgoing Gyro Ball, a Careful nature is optimal.
Usage Tips
========
With Ferrothorn, you need to be a little conservative with switching it into play, especially against strong wallbreakers, as its lack of reliable recovery can lead to being it worn down quickly. Similarly, be careful around Knock Off users like Tapu Fini and Clefable; Ferrothorn can be worn down very quickly without its item. You should mostly look to switch Ferrothorn into Pokemon such as Clefable, Slowbro, Hippowdon, and Tapu Fini, which are forced out by it. Ferrothorn can also come in on Pokemon like Mega Latios, Magearna, and Greninja, though you'll need to scout for coverage moves from them first. Once Ferrothorn finds a safe opportunity to switch into play, you'll want to annoy the opposition as much as possible with Spikes, Leech Seed, Knock Off, Toxic, and Thunder Wave.
Team Options
========
Ferrothorn is very useful alongside Pokemon such as Mega Latios and Mega Lopunny whose checks are prone to being worn down and pressured by Spikes very quickly. It's incredibly important to use checks to Fire-types like Heatran, Volcarona, and Rotom-H, as Ferrothorn is rather susceptible to them. As such, Pokemon like Tapu Fini and Mega Tyranitar make for incredible teammates. As Ferrothorn is a Grass-type that doesn't resist Ground, checks to Garchomp, Gliscor, and Landorus-T like Slowbro, Corviknight, and Mega Latios are also very important. Mega Latios also checks Fire-types like Rotom-H and Heatran. Ferrothorn often wants to run Spikes over Stealth Rock, so it's important you cover your bases with other Stealth Rock setters such as Heatran, Clefable, and Garchomp.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
If checking threats like Magearna and Mega Latios isn't desired of Ferrothorn, it can elect to run a physically defensive spread to check Pokemon such as Dracovish and Mega Swampert instead. Chople Berry is an option to deal with Mega Medicham and Mega Lopunny, but the lack of Leftovers recovery makes Ferrothorn significantly easier to deal with.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Fire-types and Coverage**: Fire-types such as Heatran, Volcarona, and Rotom-H can easily overwhelm Ferrothorn with their Fire-type STAB moves. They need to be wary of Knock Off, Toxic, and Thunder Wave, though. Fire-type coverage from Pokemon like Clefable and Greninja can also easily overwhelm Ferrothorn.
**Fighting-types**: While Fighting-types like Mega Lopunny, Mega Medicham, and Mega Gallade cannot switch into Ferrothorn reliably, they can threaten to OHKO it.
**Magnezone**: Thanks to Magnet Pull, Magnezone can trap and remove Ferrothorn quite reliably. Choice Scarf variants of Magnezone may lose to Protect variants of Ferrothorn, though.
**Strong Wallbreakers**: Strong wallbreakers such as Garchomp, Landorus-T, and Hydreigon can quickly overwhelm Ferrothorn thanks to their raw strength.
**Grass-types**: Grass-types such as Tangrowth, Kartana, Mega Venusaur, and Serperior can quickly wear down Ferrothorn, as they deny Ferrothorn recovery from Leech Seed.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Jordy, 395754]]
- Quality checked by: [[Guardsweeper, 360582], [SputnikGT, 475916]]
- Grammar checked by: [[The Dutch Plumberjack, 232216], [A Cake Wearing A Hat, 388157]]
Ferrothorn has solidified a niche for itself in the National Dex metagame as one of the very few viable Spikes users. It's particularly notable as a Spikes user thanks to its ability to beat a common entry hazard remover in Tapu Fini and annoy many others such as Zapdos and Corviknight with Knock Off, Leech Seed, Toxic, and Thunder Wave. On top of that, Ferrothorn is a good check to prominent offensive threats such as Calm Mind Clefable, Magearna, Mega Latios, and Greninja. Unfortunately, Ferrothorn can be worn down rather quickly because of its lack of reliable recovery; this flaw is made especially notable by Knock Off users such as Tapu Fini, Clefable, and Tangrowth. To add onto that, it's also very susceptible to prominent Pokemon like Heatran, Mega Mawile, Kartana, and Mega Lopunny, though it has solid means of crippling them with Leech Seed, Knock Off, and Thunder Wave. Other Pokemon that Ferrothorn is supposed to check, such as Magearna, Greninja, and Clefable, can also run coverage moves for it.
[SET]
name: Entry Hazard Setter
move 1: Spikes / Stealth Rock
move 2: Knock Off
move 3: Leech Seed
move 4: Gyro Ball / Protect / Toxic / Thunder Wave / Power Whip
item: Leftovers
ability: Iron Barbs
nature: Sassy / Careful
evs: 252 HP / 92 Def / 164 SpD
[SET COMMENTS]
Set Description
========
Ferrothorn is one of the few viable Pokemon that have access to Spikes, and it excels as an entry hazard setter thanks to its ability to beat common defoggers. Stealth Rock is an alternative over Spikes for teams without another setter. Knock Off enables Ferrothorn to cripple Pokemon that it cannot do much to with other means, such as Zapdos, Corviknight, Heatran, Rotom-H, and Aegislash. Leech Seed is useful on Ferrothorn, as it lacks any form of recovery besides Leftovers otherwise. It also makes Ferrothorn, an otherwise rather passive Pokemon, much harder to deal with consistently. In order to pressure Pokemon like Hydreigon, Clefable, Dragapult, and Shift Gear Magearna, Ferrothorn can elect to run Gyro Ball. Protect can be run instead in order to rack up recovery from Leech Seed and Leftovers, as well as scout Choice-locked Pokemon such as Kartana and Tapu Lele, super effective coverage from the likes of Magearna and Greninja, and Z-Moves from Pokemon such as Landorus-T, Dragapult, and Magearna. It also punishes Mega Medicham should it try to recklessly use High Jump Kick. Toxic is another good option to harshly punish the metagame's most common Defogger in Zapdos, as well as other common switch-ins such as Hydreigon, Cinderace, and Volcarona. Alternatively, Ferrothorn can choose to cripple these Pokemon, as well as the likes of Kartana, Mega Mawile, and Corviknight, with Thunder Wave. Power Whip is another option to threaten Tapu Fini a lot harder, in addition to Mega Swampert, Manaphy, and Dracovish. 92 Defense EVs ensure Ferrothorn survives a boosted Never-Ending Nightmare from Dragapult, as well as a Choice Band-boosted Sacred Sword from Kartana after Stealth Rock damage, allowing it to punish both with Gyro Ball and Thunder Wave, respectively. The rest of the EVs are invested into Special Defense in order to check the likes of Clefable, Mega Latios, Tapu Lele, and Greninja more comfortably. A Sassy nature is to be used with Gyro Ball in order to maximize damage output. If forgoing Gyro Ball, a Careful nature is optimal.
Usage Tips
========
With Ferrothorn, you need to be a little conservative with switching it into play, especially against strong wallbreakers, as its lack of reliable recovery can lead to being it worn down quickly. Similarly, be careful around Knock Off users like Tapu Fini and Clefable; Ferrothorn can be worn down very quickly without its item. You should mostly look to switch Ferrothorn into Pokemon such as Clefable, Slowbro, Hippowdon, and Tapu Fini, which are forced out by it. Ferrothorn can also come in on Pokemon like Mega Latios, Magearna, and Greninja, though you'll need to scout for coverage moves from them first. Once Ferrothorn finds a safe opportunity to switch into play, you'll want to annoy the opposition as much as possible with Spikes, Leech Seed, Knock Off, Toxic, and Thunder Wave.
Team Options
========
Ferrothorn is very useful alongside Pokemon such as Mega Latios and Mega Lopunny whose checks are prone to being worn down and pressured by Spikes very quickly. It's incredibly important to use checks to Fire-types like Heatran, Volcarona, and Rotom-H, as Ferrothorn is rather susceptible to them. As such, Pokemon like Tapu Fini and Mega Tyranitar make for incredible teammates. As Ferrothorn is a Grass-type that doesn't resist Ground, checks to Garchomp, Gliscor, and Landorus-T like Slowbro, Corviknight, and Mega Latios are also very important. Mega Latios also checks Fire-types like Rotom-H and Heatran. Ferrothorn often wants to run Spikes over Stealth Rock, so it's important you cover your bases with other Stealth Rock setters such as Heatran, Clefable, and Garchomp.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
If checking threats like Magearna and Mega Latios isn't desired of Ferrothorn, it can elect to run a physically defensive spread to check Pokemon such as Dracovish and Mega Swampert instead. Chople Berry is an option to deal with Mega Medicham and Mega Lopunny, but the lack of Leftovers recovery makes Ferrothorn significantly easier to deal with.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Fire-types and Coverage**: Fire-types such as Heatran, Volcarona, and Rotom-H can easily overwhelm Ferrothorn with their Fire-type STAB moves. They need to be wary of Knock Off, Toxic, and Thunder Wave, though. Fire-type coverage from Pokemon like Clefable and Greninja can also easily overwhelm Ferrothorn.
**Fighting-types**: While Fighting-types like Mega Lopunny, Mega Medicham, and Mega Gallade cannot switch into Ferrothorn reliably, they can threaten to OHKO it.
**Magnezone**: Thanks to Magnet Pull, Magnezone can trap and remove Ferrothorn quite reliably. Choice Scarf variants of Magnezone may lose to Protect variants of Ferrothorn, though.
**Strong Wallbreakers**: Strong wallbreakers such as Garchomp, Landorus-T, and Hydreigon can quickly overwhelm Ferrothorn thanks to their raw strength.
**Grass-types**: Grass-types such as Tangrowth, Kartana, Mega Venusaur, and Serperior can quickly wear down Ferrothorn, as they deny Ferrothorn recovery from Leech Seed.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Jordy, 395754]]
- Quality checked by: [[Guardsweeper, 360582], [SputnikGT, 475916]]
- Grammar checked by: [[The Dutch Plumberjack, 232216], [A Cake Wearing A Hat, 388157]]
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