Had some extra time, finished this up -- let me know what you think!
ADV Forre
[OVERVIEW]
Forretress has established itself as a strong pillar of the ADV metagame due to its access to both Spikes and Rapid Spin. Its Steel / Bug typing, solid resilience, and role compression give common Toxic, Sandstorm, and Spikes (TSS) teams versatility in fitting other Pokemon. Forretress can use its good bulk to set up Spikes on Pokemon that cannot threaten it effectively, such as Skarmory, most Metagross, most Blissey, Milotic, some Celebi, some Zapdos, defensive Swampert, and Porygon2. With Pursuit support, it can also be an effective counter to many Toxic, Sandstorm, and Spikes teams due to its prowess as a spinner.
Forretress is commonly compared to Skarmory and Cloyster as a Spikes user and Claydol and defensive Starmie as a Rapid Spin user. In comparison to Skarmory, Forretress is much more difficult to trap with Magneton, as Forretress’s Earthquake OHKOes variants not specifically EVed to survive it. In addition, Modest Magneton’s Hidden Power Fire has only a 25% chance to OHKO Forretress, whereas Magneton’s Magnet-boosted Thunderbolt is much more likely to eliminate Skarmory. Forretress is much more resilient than Cloyster due to its Toxic and sand immunity as well as superior special bulk. As a spinner, Forretress is a better counter to Skarmory than Claydol and Starmie due to its Toxic immunity; Claydol can run Refresh but is vulnerable to Skarmory's Taunt. Skarmory can still use Taunt on Forretress to prevent Spikes or actively wear it down with Drill Peck, however.
Forretress’s primary faults lie in its tendency to get worn down, weakness to specially defensive Gengar, and relative passivity. Forretress performs worse as a physical wall than Skarmory despite its numerical bulk advantage, as it can't phaze, typically can't fit Protect to passively recover health, and is damaged by Spikes. Cloyster's superior Speed, resistance to Water, and immunity to being trapped by Magneton allow it to be used on offensive teams that can't fit the rigid support Forretress teams need. Unlike Claydol, Forretress is not immune to the Spikes it is removing, and unlike Starmie, it cannot use a recovery move nor heal status by switching. Forretress is also vulnerable to surprise Fire-type moves from Pokemon such as Metagross and Blissey, which often greatly weaken or OHKO it. Additionally, due to the prominence of specially defensive Gengar, which can't be OHKOed by Tyranitar's Pursuit, Forretress will struggle to use Rapid Spin, as its sets typically have very weak or no options to hurt it. Forretress is also quite easy to set up on with Pokemon like Curse Snorlax, Substitute Heracross, and Jirachi, as its only counterplay is to use Explosion or hit them with weak coverage moves.
[SET]
name: Standard
move 1: Spikes
move 2: Rapid Spin
move 3: Hidden Power Bug / Explosion
move 4: Earthquake / Explosion
item: Leftovers
ability: Sturdy
nature: Careful
evs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
[SET COMMENTS]
Set Description
=========
Forretress sets Spikes up against a wide variety of Pokemon and can often do so multiple times a game due to its bulk. With maximum special bulk and Leftovers, Forretress shields itself as much as possible against Magneton and greatly increases the amount of Pokemon it can use Spikes on, like Milotic and Zapdos. In addition, this allows Forretress to better combat defensive Starmie trying to remove Spikes. Rapid Spin is a rare support move Forretress gets; almost all Forretress run it due to Spikes’s prominence in the metagame. Beware of teams likely to have defensive Gengar, as opponents will often liberally bring it in with Spikes set to prevent losing them as well as force Forretress out.
After Spikes and Rapid Spin, Forretress’s options open up quite a bit, letting it defeat some of its counters or be a general threat with Explosion. Hidden Power Bug helps against Claydol and Starmie as well as Celebi and Tyranitar. It is a guaranteed 3HKO at least on all Claydol and Starmie—this discourages them from performing their duty of removing Spikes. It also 2HKOes all variants of Celebi, which is useful due to Forretress teams frequently being weak to Celebi passing Calm Minds or Swords Dance. If Gengar tries to block Rapid Spin, Hidden Power Bug can remove it after sand if it was hit by Pursuit upon switching out, easing Forretress's ability to keep Spikes off the field. Earthquake Forretress OHKOes most Magneton and damages Metagross, Tyranitar, and Jirachi. If you suspect Magneton is on the opposing team, aggressively using Earthquake as it comes in can be a game-winning play. Earthquake's utility against Metagross can be very important to stop it, especially Choice Band sets, from accumulating chances for Meteor Mash boosts and potentially steamrolling Forretress's team, especially since the best common option to phaze Metagross is a Roar Swampert that lacks its own Earthquake. Earthquake also gives Forretress an option to combat Dragon Dance Tyranitar and Substitute Jirachi without Fire Punch in desperate situations. Forretress can additionally use Explosion, which notably prevents setup from Pokemon such as Curse Snorlax, Dragon Dance Gyarados, and Dragon Dance Salamence. It can additionally eliminate threats coming in, such as Moltres and Charizard. Smart uses of Explosion include against incoming Claydol and Starmie to keep Spikes up, on paralyzed threats to end turns—Explosion prevents action by slower threats in ADV, or even against Rock-resistant Pokemon or bulky walls to set up an Aerodactyl or mixed Salamence sweep. Be careful of Gengar switching in, however. Picking two of Hidden Power Bug, Earthquake, and Explosion is up to personal preference outside of teams with specific needs.
Team Options
========
Forretress needs specific support from its teammates in order to be most effective: Pursuit support for removing Gengar, special walls for the strong threats like Moltres it often attracts, good physical answers for the threats that try to set up on it, like Salamence and Snorlax, and Pokemon that take advantage of the extra residual damage Spikes provides. Tyranitar is by far the best partner for Forretress. It not only sets up the sand that helps make Spikes damage stick, it also Pursuit traps Gengar, acts as a solid answer to Moltres as well as some Snorlax, and takes advantage of Spikes with Roar or a well-timed Focus Punch. With smart play, Pursuit Tyranitar can remove Claydol and Starmie to prevent Rapid Spin, but be careful of their Earthquake and Surf, which will typically 2HKO Tyranitar. However, Forretress's Pursuit trapper does not have to be Tyranitar—Umbreon and Houndoom are other options that can also free up Tyranitar to run a physical set, such as Choice Band, Dragon Dance, or bulky physical attacker, that benefits more from Spikes. Forretress can also be ran without a Pursuit Pokemon if it has additional assistance from another Rapid Spin user such as Claydol, though this pairing is relatively niche. Gengar is another good Forretress teammate because it not only greatly appreciates Spikes, but also helps keep Spikes up against Claydol, Starmie, other Forretress, and even the rare Donphan. A Forretress, Gengar, and Tyranitar core is commonly used to take advantage of Spikes and keep them up against spinners while also finding opportunities to trap and remove them.
As for special walls, the standard on many Forretress teams is Blissey, often with Wish to help Forretress deal with residual damage. Blissey also commonly runs Counter, sometimes with Wish as well, due to Forretress teams generally being weak to mixed sweepers such as Salamence and Tyranitar. This point is especially true when the team does not have strong physical walls. However, the special wall can easily be Jirachi, which has an easier time fitting Wish, works well with Pursuit trappers to prevent Gengar from burning Jirachi, and shores the team up against physical threats such as Metagross, Fighting-type Pokemon, Aerodactyl, and Tyranitar. Wish support in general from not only Blissey and Jirachi, but also Salamence and Umbreon can be helpful to keep Forretress and its teammates healthy, especially if Spikes can't be removed as easily. Celebi can also fill the specially defensive role, as it is stronger against defensive Water-types such as Rest Suicune and switches into Leech Seed from opposing Celebi and Venusaur. Beware of offensive Water-types such as fast Calm Mind Suicune and Starmie hitting hard or freezing with potentially boosted Ice Beam, however. Specially defensive Roar + Rest Zapdos is a good choice on these teams, as it provides additional support against Calm Mind Celebi, Jirachi, and Suicune as well as mixed Salamence, which often tries to take advantage of Forretress. It also is great as additional support against offensive Water-types, such as the aforementioned Suicune and Starmie, which love to spam Hydro Pump against Forretress and its common teammates. It additionally stops Gyarados from taking advantage of Forretress's passivity. Zapdos can even use Light Screen to give Forretress a better chance against Magneton.
For physical walls, Forretress appreciates Pokemon like Swampert and Flygon to help the team handle physical threats such as Tyranitar and Salamence. Defensive Metagross, Milotic, and bulky Roar Suicune can also work on some Forretress teams, as they check the Rock-type threats and Metagross that can break apart Forretress teams. Milotic is especially nice here, as it also is a fantastic counter to Fire-types such as Moltres and Charizard as well as mixed Salamence, which prey on Forretress and its common teammates. Dugtrio can also be helpful on some Forretress teams, as it can trap threats such as Calm Mind Celebi and Jirachi as well as Dragon Dance Tyranitar and Heracross—dangerous Pokemon that are typically difficult to handle for many Forretress teams.
Forretress really appreciates Pokemon that can take advantage of the residual damage Spikes provides. Roar is a good option to repeatedly force Spikes damage on the opposing Pokemon, and it can easily be fit on essential teammates, such as Pursuit Tyranitar, Swampert, Suicune, and even mixed Salamence. Outside of Roar users, the aforementioned Zapdos, physical Tyranitar, and Gengar work great, but so do Salamence, Aerodactyl, Venusaur, and Moltres. Aerodactyl is especially strong, as it not only benefits from a good Skarmory answer and Pursuit support, but also cleans effectively with Spikes and helps against Calm Mind and Swords Dance Baton Pass Celebi with its own Hidden Power Bug. Moltres is a nice mid-ground switch-in against Gengar, as it is immune to Gengar's Will-O-Wisp and takes a pittance from Grass-type coverage and Focus Punch meant for catching Pursuit Tyranitar. Moltres, Salamence, and Gengar also provide a switch-in to Heracross—a dangerous threat that takes advantage of the lack of Drill Peck Skarmory on these types of teams. Very aggressive Forretress teams can also run their own Fighting-type Pokemon such as Medicham, Breloom, or Hariyama, as its role compression of Spikes and Rapid Spin user allows Toxic, Sandstorm, and Spikes teams to fit a variety of Pokemon.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Forretress is generally required to be specially defensive, but it has quite a few options for its last moveslots. One of the more prominent of these is Counter, which can defeat Hidden Power Fire variants of Magneton, mixed Metagross, and Celebi—Counter always succeeds against Hidden Power in ADV. Counter also allows Forretress to act as a physical wall, notably improving its matchup against Metagross, Tyranitar, Snorlax, Gyarados, Heracross, and Dugtrio. Forretress survives Snorlax's +6 Earthquake, avoids a 2HKO from even +1 Choice Band Metagross's Meteor Mash, and takes any of +2 Heracross's attacks bar Focus Punch. Forretress can also use Counter to surprise threats like Dragon Dance Gyarados and Tyranitar, as they need multiple boosts to OHKO Forretress. Counter additionally improves Forretress's matchup against Drill Peck Skarmory—a common way to chip Forretress is using Drill Peck whenever it tries to remove Spikes, but Forretress outdamages Skarmory with Counter.
Another option is Zap Cannon, which is often used in tandem with Counter or even over Rapid Spin. Zap Cannon allows Forretress to chip and paralyze Gengar and hit Skarmory fairly hard. Notably, Zap Cannon + Pursuit from Tyranitar is a guaranteed KO on 248 HP / 112 SpD Gengar in sand. Zap Cannon's unreliability is its main drawback, but against Skarmory, Forretress has quite a few chances to use it. Forretress can use a variety of Hidden Power types, such as Fire for completely invalidating opposing Forretress (it does 38.4 - 45.1%) and doing some small chip damage to Skarmory, Ghost for hitting Gengar as hard as possible, and Flying for teams horribly weak to Heracross. These alternate Hidden Power types allow for versatility in choosing teammates—Hidden Power Fire can cover for a lack of Gengar to block opposing Forretress's Rapid Spin, as an example. For both Hidden Power Fire and Zap Cannon, make sure to give Forretress a Sassy nature to increase power.
Toxic is also a very nice choice on Forretress, as many of its common switch-ins, such as Claydol without Refresh, Starmie, Moltres, and Salamence, really hate being poisoned. It additionally improves Forretress’s match-up against Cloyster considerably. Watch out for Gengar or Magneton switching into Toxic, however. Forretress can also run Protect to help with residual damage, as well as Light Screen to assist with tanking special hits from Magneton or help teammates. These are often difficult to fit, however.
Despite being very slow, Forretress can hit 196 Speed when fully invested with a Jolly nature, allowing it to use Explosion on most Claydol before they can remove Spikes on aggressive teams.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Ghost-types**: Gengar spinblocks and forces Forretress out, making it take more Spikes damage when it switches in again to remove Spikes. Defensive Gengar dodges an OHKO after sand from Pursuit Tyranitar, whereas offensive Gengar can run Hidden Power Grass, Hypnosis, or even Focus Punch to defeat Pursuit Tyranitar on the switch. Even a defensive Gengar hit by Pursuit on the switch is a risk to Forretress, as Forretress commonly runs sets that do little or no damage to Gengar. If Forretress chooses to stay in, it risks being burned or possibly OHKOed by Gengar’s Fire Punch. Dusclops is rare but threatens Forretress the same way.
**Magneton**: Forretress can beat Magneton, but it will always do major damage to Forretress with Hidden Power Fire or Thunderbolt before falling to Earthquake if it switches in safely. Additionally, Magneton can use 240 HP and 80 Def EVs to survive Forretress’s Earthquake. Hidden Power Fire Magneton should be careful of the occasional Counter, which will always OHKO.
**Residual Damage**: Forretress is not immune to Spikes, and it therefore can be worn down easily if not played carefully. An example of this unfavorable situation is Skarmory using Taunt against Forretress to prevent Spikes, and then switching to Gengar on the ensuing Rapid Spin. Being phazed in with Spikes down wears Forretress down quite a bit.
**Fire-type Moves and Pokemon**: Teams with multiple Pokemon using Fire-type moves, such as Moltres, Charizard, Blaziken, Fire Blast Tyranitar, and Fire Blast Salamence, as well as surprise ones from Blissey, Metagross, Snorlax, Porygon2, and Regice, can greatly damage Forretress if not OHKO it.
**Setup Threats**: Forretress and its common partners are frequently weak to Calm Mind users such as Jirachi, Celebi, and Suicune. Forretress without Hidden Power Bug or Explosion is setup fodder for these Pokemon, and it is generally scared of Jirachi and Celebi’s Fire-type coverage. This weakness is exacerbated by Forretress's most common phazer teammates being Pursuit Tyranitar and Swampert with Surf as its only attack, both of which don't have strong offensive pressure and are defensively poor against Grass- and Water-type coverage. Forretress’s offensive output besides Explosion does not scare physical sweepers like Curse Snorlax, Dragon Dance Salamence, Dragon Dance Gyarados, and Substitute and/or Swords Dance Heracross. While these Pokemon typically won't try to switch in and counter Forretress, they can be very dangerous against Forretress and its common partners with momentum.
**Rapid Spin Users**: Claydol, Starmie, other Forretress, and even Donphan can easily remove the Spikes that Forretress sets up. While Forretress can combat these Pokemon, they can easily weaken Forretress so that another threat such as Magneton or Dugtrio can remove it with certainty. Forretress needs Hidden Power Bug to have any chance against Starmie and Claydol, whereas Forretress will stalemate with itself unless it has Hidden Power Fire. Donphan doesn't particularly care about anything Forretress runs besides Toxic and Explosion.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[johnnyg2,57904]]
- Quality checked by: [[vapicuno,5454], [watermess,440992]]
- Grammar checked by: [[CryoGyro, 331519 ], [Finland, 517429]]
ADV Forre
[OVERVIEW]
Forretress has established itself as a strong pillar of the ADV metagame due to its access to both Spikes and Rapid Spin. Its Steel / Bug typing, solid resilience, and role compression give common Toxic, Sandstorm, and Spikes (TSS) teams versatility in fitting other Pokemon. Forretress can use its good bulk to set up Spikes on Pokemon that cannot threaten it effectively, such as Skarmory, most Metagross, most Blissey, Milotic, some Celebi, some Zapdos, defensive Swampert, and Porygon2. With Pursuit support, it can also be an effective counter to many Toxic, Sandstorm, and Spikes teams due to its prowess as a spinner.
Forretress is commonly compared to Skarmory and Cloyster as a Spikes user and Claydol and defensive Starmie as a Rapid Spin user. In comparison to Skarmory, Forretress is much more difficult to trap with Magneton, as Forretress’s Earthquake OHKOes variants not specifically EVed to survive it. In addition, Modest Magneton’s Hidden Power Fire has only a 25% chance to OHKO Forretress, whereas Magneton’s Magnet-boosted Thunderbolt is much more likely to eliminate Skarmory. Forretress is much more resilient than Cloyster due to its Toxic and sand immunity as well as superior special bulk. As a spinner, Forretress is a better counter to Skarmory than Claydol and Starmie due to its Toxic immunity; Claydol can run Refresh but is vulnerable to Skarmory's Taunt. Skarmory can still use Taunt on Forretress to prevent Spikes or actively wear it down with Drill Peck, however.
Forretress’s primary faults lie in its tendency to get worn down, weakness to specially defensive Gengar, and relative passivity. Forretress performs worse as a physical wall than Skarmory despite its numerical bulk advantage, as it can't phaze, typically can't fit Protect to passively recover health, and is damaged by Spikes. Cloyster's superior Speed, resistance to Water, and immunity to being trapped by Magneton allow it to be used on offensive teams that can't fit the rigid support Forretress teams need. Unlike Claydol, Forretress is not immune to the Spikes it is removing, and unlike Starmie, it cannot use a recovery move nor heal status by switching. Forretress is also vulnerable to surprise Fire-type moves from Pokemon such as Metagross and Blissey, which often greatly weaken or OHKO it. Additionally, due to the prominence of specially defensive Gengar, which can't be OHKOed by Tyranitar's Pursuit, Forretress will struggle to use Rapid Spin, as its sets typically have very weak or no options to hurt it. Forretress is also quite easy to set up on with Pokemon like Curse Snorlax, Substitute Heracross, and Jirachi, as its only counterplay is to use Explosion or hit them with weak coverage moves.
[SET]
name: Standard
move 1: Spikes
move 2: Rapid Spin
move 3: Hidden Power Bug / Explosion
move 4: Earthquake / Explosion
item: Leftovers
ability: Sturdy
nature: Careful
evs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
[SET COMMENTS]
Set Description
=========
Forretress sets Spikes up against a wide variety of Pokemon and can often do so multiple times a game due to its bulk. With maximum special bulk and Leftovers, Forretress shields itself as much as possible against Magneton and greatly increases the amount of Pokemon it can use Spikes on, like Milotic and Zapdos. In addition, this allows Forretress to better combat defensive Starmie trying to remove Spikes. Rapid Spin is a rare support move Forretress gets; almost all Forretress run it due to Spikes’s prominence in the metagame. Beware of teams likely to have defensive Gengar, as opponents will often liberally bring it in with Spikes set to prevent losing them as well as force Forretress out.
After Spikes and Rapid Spin, Forretress’s options open up quite a bit, letting it defeat some of its counters or be a general threat with Explosion. Hidden Power Bug helps against Claydol and Starmie as well as Celebi and Tyranitar. It is a guaranteed 3HKO at least on all Claydol and Starmie—this discourages them from performing their duty of removing Spikes. It also 2HKOes all variants of Celebi, which is useful due to Forretress teams frequently being weak to Celebi passing Calm Minds or Swords Dance. If Gengar tries to block Rapid Spin, Hidden Power Bug can remove it after sand if it was hit by Pursuit upon switching out, easing Forretress's ability to keep Spikes off the field. Earthquake Forretress OHKOes most Magneton and damages Metagross, Tyranitar, and Jirachi. If you suspect Magneton is on the opposing team, aggressively using Earthquake as it comes in can be a game-winning play. Earthquake's utility against Metagross can be very important to stop it, especially Choice Band sets, from accumulating chances for Meteor Mash boosts and potentially steamrolling Forretress's team, especially since the best common option to phaze Metagross is a Roar Swampert that lacks its own Earthquake. Earthquake also gives Forretress an option to combat Dragon Dance Tyranitar and Substitute Jirachi without Fire Punch in desperate situations. Forretress can additionally use Explosion, which notably prevents setup from Pokemon such as Curse Snorlax, Dragon Dance Gyarados, and Dragon Dance Salamence. It can additionally eliminate threats coming in, such as Moltres and Charizard. Smart uses of Explosion include against incoming Claydol and Starmie to keep Spikes up, on paralyzed threats to end turns—Explosion prevents action by slower threats in ADV, or even against Rock-resistant Pokemon or bulky walls to set up an Aerodactyl or mixed Salamence sweep. Be careful of Gengar switching in, however. Picking two of Hidden Power Bug, Earthquake, and Explosion is up to personal preference outside of teams with specific needs.
Team Options
========
Forretress needs specific support from its teammates in order to be most effective: Pursuit support for removing Gengar, special walls for the strong threats like Moltres it often attracts, good physical answers for the threats that try to set up on it, like Salamence and Snorlax, and Pokemon that take advantage of the extra residual damage Spikes provides. Tyranitar is by far the best partner for Forretress. It not only sets up the sand that helps make Spikes damage stick, it also Pursuit traps Gengar, acts as a solid answer to Moltres as well as some Snorlax, and takes advantage of Spikes with Roar or a well-timed Focus Punch. With smart play, Pursuit Tyranitar can remove Claydol and Starmie to prevent Rapid Spin, but be careful of their Earthquake and Surf, which will typically 2HKO Tyranitar. However, Forretress's Pursuit trapper does not have to be Tyranitar—Umbreon and Houndoom are other options that can also free up Tyranitar to run a physical set, such as Choice Band, Dragon Dance, or bulky physical attacker, that benefits more from Spikes. Forretress can also be ran without a Pursuit Pokemon if it has additional assistance from another Rapid Spin user such as Claydol, though this pairing is relatively niche. Gengar is another good Forretress teammate because it not only greatly appreciates Spikes, but also helps keep Spikes up against Claydol, Starmie, other Forretress, and even the rare Donphan. A Forretress, Gengar, and Tyranitar core is commonly used to take advantage of Spikes and keep them up against spinners while also finding opportunities to trap and remove them.
As for special walls, the standard on many Forretress teams is Blissey, often with Wish to help Forretress deal with residual damage. Blissey also commonly runs Counter, sometimes with Wish as well, due to Forretress teams generally being weak to mixed sweepers such as Salamence and Tyranitar. This point is especially true when the team does not have strong physical walls. However, the special wall can easily be Jirachi, which has an easier time fitting Wish, works well with Pursuit trappers to prevent Gengar from burning Jirachi, and shores the team up against physical threats such as Metagross, Fighting-type Pokemon, Aerodactyl, and Tyranitar. Wish support in general from not only Blissey and Jirachi, but also Salamence and Umbreon can be helpful to keep Forretress and its teammates healthy, especially if Spikes can't be removed as easily. Celebi can also fill the specially defensive role, as it is stronger against defensive Water-types such as Rest Suicune and switches into Leech Seed from opposing Celebi and Venusaur. Beware of offensive Water-types such as fast Calm Mind Suicune and Starmie hitting hard or freezing with potentially boosted Ice Beam, however. Specially defensive Roar + Rest Zapdos is a good choice on these teams, as it provides additional support against Calm Mind Celebi, Jirachi, and Suicune as well as mixed Salamence, which often tries to take advantage of Forretress. It also is great as additional support against offensive Water-types, such as the aforementioned Suicune and Starmie, which love to spam Hydro Pump against Forretress and its common teammates. It additionally stops Gyarados from taking advantage of Forretress's passivity. Zapdos can even use Light Screen to give Forretress a better chance against Magneton.
For physical walls, Forretress appreciates Pokemon like Swampert and Flygon to help the team handle physical threats such as Tyranitar and Salamence. Defensive Metagross, Milotic, and bulky Roar Suicune can also work on some Forretress teams, as they check the Rock-type threats and Metagross that can break apart Forretress teams. Milotic is especially nice here, as it also is a fantastic counter to Fire-types such as Moltres and Charizard as well as mixed Salamence, which prey on Forretress and its common teammates. Dugtrio can also be helpful on some Forretress teams, as it can trap threats such as Calm Mind Celebi and Jirachi as well as Dragon Dance Tyranitar and Heracross—dangerous Pokemon that are typically difficult to handle for many Forretress teams.
Forretress really appreciates Pokemon that can take advantage of the residual damage Spikes provides. Roar is a good option to repeatedly force Spikes damage on the opposing Pokemon, and it can easily be fit on essential teammates, such as Pursuit Tyranitar, Swampert, Suicune, and even mixed Salamence. Outside of Roar users, the aforementioned Zapdos, physical Tyranitar, and Gengar work great, but so do Salamence, Aerodactyl, Venusaur, and Moltres. Aerodactyl is especially strong, as it not only benefits from a good Skarmory answer and Pursuit support, but also cleans effectively with Spikes and helps against Calm Mind and Swords Dance Baton Pass Celebi with its own Hidden Power Bug. Moltres is a nice mid-ground switch-in against Gengar, as it is immune to Gengar's Will-O-Wisp and takes a pittance from Grass-type coverage and Focus Punch meant for catching Pursuit Tyranitar. Moltres, Salamence, and Gengar also provide a switch-in to Heracross—a dangerous threat that takes advantage of the lack of Drill Peck Skarmory on these types of teams. Very aggressive Forretress teams can also run their own Fighting-type Pokemon such as Medicham, Breloom, or Hariyama, as its role compression of Spikes and Rapid Spin user allows Toxic, Sandstorm, and Spikes teams to fit a variety of Pokemon.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Forretress is generally required to be specially defensive, but it has quite a few options for its last moveslots. One of the more prominent of these is Counter, which can defeat Hidden Power Fire variants of Magneton, mixed Metagross, and Celebi—Counter always succeeds against Hidden Power in ADV. Counter also allows Forretress to act as a physical wall, notably improving its matchup against Metagross, Tyranitar, Snorlax, Gyarados, Heracross, and Dugtrio. Forretress survives Snorlax's +6 Earthquake, avoids a 2HKO from even +1 Choice Band Metagross's Meteor Mash, and takes any of +2 Heracross's attacks bar Focus Punch. Forretress can also use Counter to surprise threats like Dragon Dance Gyarados and Tyranitar, as they need multiple boosts to OHKO Forretress. Counter additionally improves Forretress's matchup against Drill Peck Skarmory—a common way to chip Forretress is using Drill Peck whenever it tries to remove Spikes, but Forretress outdamages Skarmory with Counter.
Another option is Zap Cannon, which is often used in tandem with Counter or even over Rapid Spin. Zap Cannon allows Forretress to chip and paralyze Gengar and hit Skarmory fairly hard. Notably, Zap Cannon + Pursuit from Tyranitar is a guaranteed KO on 248 HP / 112 SpD Gengar in sand. Zap Cannon's unreliability is its main drawback, but against Skarmory, Forretress has quite a few chances to use it. Forretress can use a variety of Hidden Power types, such as Fire for completely invalidating opposing Forretress (it does 38.4 - 45.1%) and doing some small chip damage to Skarmory, Ghost for hitting Gengar as hard as possible, and Flying for teams horribly weak to Heracross. These alternate Hidden Power types allow for versatility in choosing teammates—Hidden Power Fire can cover for a lack of Gengar to block opposing Forretress's Rapid Spin, as an example. For both Hidden Power Fire and Zap Cannon, make sure to give Forretress a Sassy nature to increase power.
Toxic is also a very nice choice on Forretress, as many of its common switch-ins, such as Claydol without Refresh, Starmie, Moltres, and Salamence, really hate being poisoned. It additionally improves Forretress’s match-up against Cloyster considerably. Watch out for Gengar or Magneton switching into Toxic, however. Forretress can also run Protect to help with residual damage, as well as Light Screen to assist with tanking special hits from Magneton or help teammates. These are often difficult to fit, however.
Despite being very slow, Forretress can hit 196 Speed when fully invested with a Jolly nature, allowing it to use Explosion on most Claydol before they can remove Spikes on aggressive teams.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Ghost-types**: Gengar spinblocks and forces Forretress out, making it take more Spikes damage when it switches in again to remove Spikes. Defensive Gengar dodges an OHKO after sand from Pursuit Tyranitar, whereas offensive Gengar can run Hidden Power Grass, Hypnosis, or even Focus Punch to defeat Pursuit Tyranitar on the switch. Even a defensive Gengar hit by Pursuit on the switch is a risk to Forretress, as Forretress commonly runs sets that do little or no damage to Gengar. If Forretress chooses to stay in, it risks being burned or possibly OHKOed by Gengar’s Fire Punch. Dusclops is rare but threatens Forretress the same way.
**Magneton**: Forretress can beat Magneton, but it will always do major damage to Forretress with Hidden Power Fire or Thunderbolt before falling to Earthquake if it switches in safely. Additionally, Magneton can use 240 HP and 80 Def EVs to survive Forretress’s Earthquake. Hidden Power Fire Magneton should be careful of the occasional Counter, which will always OHKO.
**Residual Damage**: Forretress is not immune to Spikes, and it therefore can be worn down easily if not played carefully. An example of this unfavorable situation is Skarmory using Taunt against Forretress to prevent Spikes, and then switching to Gengar on the ensuing Rapid Spin. Being phazed in with Spikes down wears Forretress down quite a bit.
**Fire-type Moves and Pokemon**: Teams with multiple Pokemon using Fire-type moves, such as Moltres, Charizard, Blaziken, Fire Blast Tyranitar, and Fire Blast Salamence, as well as surprise ones from Blissey, Metagross, Snorlax, Porygon2, and Regice, can greatly damage Forretress if not OHKO it.
**Setup Threats**: Forretress and its common partners are frequently weak to Calm Mind users such as Jirachi, Celebi, and Suicune. Forretress without Hidden Power Bug or Explosion is setup fodder for these Pokemon, and it is generally scared of Jirachi and Celebi’s Fire-type coverage. This weakness is exacerbated by Forretress's most common phazer teammates being Pursuit Tyranitar and Swampert with Surf as its only attack, both of which don't have strong offensive pressure and are defensively poor against Grass- and Water-type coverage. Forretress’s offensive output besides Explosion does not scare physical sweepers like Curse Snorlax, Dragon Dance Salamence, Dragon Dance Gyarados, and Substitute and/or Swords Dance Heracross. While these Pokemon typically won't try to switch in and counter Forretress, they can be very dangerous against Forretress and its common partners with momentum.
**Rapid Spin Users**: Claydol, Starmie, other Forretress, and even Donphan can easily remove the Spikes that Forretress sets up. While Forretress can combat these Pokemon, they can easily weaken Forretress so that another threat such as Magneton or Dugtrio can remove it with certainty. Forretress needs Hidden Power Bug to have any chance against Starmie and Claydol, whereas Forretress will stalemate with itself unless it has Hidden Power Fire. Donphan doesn't particularly care about anything Forretress runs besides Toxic and Explosion.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[johnnyg2,57904]]
- Quality checked by: [[vapicuno,5454], [watermess,440992]]
- Grammar checked by: [[CryoGyro, 331519 ], [Finland, 517429]]
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