Brambane
protect the wetlands
Overview
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- Access to numerous utility moves and useful defensive typing
- One of the most reliable, if not the most reliable, Spikers in the tier
- Can use Toxic and/or Leech Seed to wear down the opponent, especially those that rely on direct contact moves
- 5-turn Drizzle makes it unable to tank weak Fire-type moves as reliably as it did previous gen
- Serious 4MSS
- Gyro Ball is reasonably powerful, can 2HKO Xerneas
- NEW HIDDEN ABILITY ANTICIPATION!!!!!!!
Utility
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name: Utility
move 1: Gyro Ball
move 2: Leech Seed / Rest
move 3: Toxic / Power Whip
move 4: Spikes / Stealth Rock / Protect
ability: Iron Barbs
item: Leftovers
nature: Sassy
evs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
ivs: 0 Spe
Moves
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- Gyro Ball 2HKOs Xerneas and Mega Gengar
- Leech Seed doesn't heal burn, but doesn't put Ferrothorn to sleep and also damages the opponent
- Rest allows Ferrothorn to heal burn, which it despises, recover HP and potentially stall out defoggers; having something with Aromatherapy or Heal Bell is highly recommended
- Toxic gives Ferrothorn the ability to beat Lugia and certain Arceus
- Power Whip is an option to smack Kyogre harder than Chris Brown does Rihanna
- Spikes and Stealth Rock work well on Ferrothorn because it fairs better off against Defog users than most other hazard setters
- Protect can be used to scout and get free healing from Leech Seed
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- You can either invest into Defense or Special Defense to fit your team's needs
- For example, if you have Groudon, consider investing in Special Defense in order to switch in on Kyogre more safely
- Minimum Speed for MAXIMUM DAMAGE
- Always use Leftovers, the HP regeneration between Leech Seed and Leftovers is too good
- Knock Off provides great utility but can be difficult to fit on the set
- Anticipation lol
- Thunder Wave can be used over Toxic, but it will weaken Gyro Ball and doesn't allow you to beat many defensive Pokemon
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- If you have Protect, use it to scout Fire- and Fighting-type moves; Flamethrower and Focus Blast have a WIDE distribution
- DO NOT switch it in on an Xerneas that has already set up unless you know it doesn't have Focus Blast or Hidden Power Fire
- Ferrothorn cannot take hits from Kyogre with Choice Specs or multiple Calm Mind boosts, but is otherwise a solid check
- Gyro Ball has only 8 PP, keep this in mind when using it, especially against Pressure users. If they have Xerneas, make sure you save some if for it if you lack any other solid answer
- Try to catch Pokemon with Leech Seed on the switch; that way you can recover HP while scouting with Protect and it will benefit your switch-in
- Iron Barbs activates twice against Mega Kangaskhan when it uses contact moves
- For Ferrothorn vs Ferrothorn/Forretress/Skarmory/etc, if you have Thunder Wave, delay paralyzing it as long as you can; the full paralysis will give the opponent a PP advantage
- Remember that Steel no longer resists Ghost or Dark!
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- Although Drizzle got nerfed, Ferrothorn still appreciates having it up, so Kyogre works reasonably well; Kyogre also loves having Spikes support and Ferrothorn can readily switch in on Electric and Grass moves
- Clerics like Blissey and Xerneas are great if you are running Leech Seed and still useful for when you are not, as burn is greatly limits Ferrothorns survivability. Also can be used to wake up Ferrothorn after Rest
- Fire-type moves are Ferrothorn's bane, but can be used to bait them; Ho-Oh, Rock Arceus, Kyogre, Heatran and most Dragon-types can use them as an opportunity to switch in
- Ho-Oh, Giratina and Rayquaza can also switch in on Fighting-type moves
- Ferrothorn gets more utility out of status moves or Protect, so having another Stealth Rock user is beneficial
Other Options
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- Choice Band can catch a number of Pokemon off guard with OHKOes and 2HKOes using Gyro Ball and Power Whip, but relies heavily on surprise and can be done more reliably with faster and stronger Pokemon
- Iron Head is more effective against Substitute than Gyro Ball, as it has higher PP
- With Bulldoze you can beat other Ferrothorn and really hurt Heatran
- If you have SERIOUS GONADS, then you can try Swords Dance or Curse
- jk don't do it plz
- Rocky Helmet is cute, but Leftovers + Leech Seed is generally going to be better. Good for counterteaming your friends who use Mega Kangaskhan
Checks & Counters
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- Fire-type moves, especially outside of Rain
- Taunt messes up Ferrothorn pretty bad, especially Taunt Roost/Oblivion Wing Yveltal
- Ferrothorn hates getting burned
- Fire-type moves
- Skarmory, Bronzong and Forretress can use it as set up bait, but Ferrothorn can set up on them as well
- Heatran is immune to Toxic, 4x resists Gyro Ball AND Power Whip and has STAB Lava Plume
- Fire-type moves
- Mega Blaziken, Mega Lucario, Mega Mewtwo X, Terrakion and Fighting Arceus can all dent it with Fighting-STABs, although Blazikens is much safer using Flare Blitz
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