Forretress

[Nix_Hex]

[Overview]

<p>Since its debut in GS, it Forretress has been an excellent Pokemon. In the previous generation, it excelled at laying down several layers of entry hazards as well as providing vital Rapid Spin support. With BW came Ferrothorn, with similar resistances, typing, bulk, and offenses, the ability to lay down layers of hazards, but the ability to use Leech Seed or Thunder Wave, as well as much greater special bulk. Its powerful dual STAB attacks and its Iron Barbs ability allowed it to actually do damage to its counters. Forretress, it seems, was outclassed. Or at least overshadowed. Unlike Ferrothorn, Forretress has Sturdy to nearly always survive at least one attack, the aforementioned Rapid Spin, and Volt Switch, allowing it to escape the clutches of Magnezone and Chandelure without the need for a Shed Shell. However, after these goals are accomplished, Forretress has little else to do and is merely something to be sacrificed. It has a hard time working as an endgame Pokemon, with its STAB Gyro Ball providing little coverage. However, Forretress is still a great Pokemon, filling a niche so desperately needed by offensive and defensive teams alike.</p>
​

[SET]
name: Specially Defensive
move 1: Stealth Rock
move 2: Spikes / Toxic Spikes
move 3: Rapid Spin / Gyro Ball
move 4: Volt Switch / Gyro Ball
item: Leftovers / Shed Shell
ability: Sturdy
nature: Sassy
evs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
ivs: 0 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

<p>It may not seem worth it to invest in Forretress's mediocre Special Defense, especially given that sky-high Defense stat. However, with full investment, Forretress can switch in on resisted special attacks, namely Latios's choice-locked Draco Meteor, very easily, and set up your entry hazard of choice. Stealth Rock is the obvious choice here, hitting every Pokemon without the ability for at least some damage; one switch into Stealth Rock and an opponent's Focus Sash is ripped apart. Most importantly, Stealth Rock breaks through Dragonite's Multiscale, bringing it low enough in health for one of your powerful offensive Pokemon to defeat. The choice between Spikes is a toss-up; Spikes further cripples grounded attackers such as Volcarona, while Toxic Spikes is useful for slowly wearing out your opponent's health, shortening their sweeps and forcing them to switch constantly, only to be further bombarded by Stealth Rock the next time it decides to switch in. Rapid Spin is as useful as ever, preventing the above scenario from happening to you, but Chandelure switches in effortlessly and forces a switch with either Volt Switch or Shed Shell. The fourth moveslot depends on how you plan on playing Forretress, and is necessary for it to actually do something should it become Taunt bait and stuck with Rapid Spin as its only attack. Since Sturdy can prevent your opponent's trapper from OHKOing Forretress, a slow Volt Switch allows you to escape to a counter. However, if you desire a little more offensive power, Gyro Ball is a massive attack that works off of Forretress's better Attack stat.</p>
​

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>The EVs and nature on this set maximize Forretress's ability to take special hits. As mentioned above, it can absorb Latios's Choice Specs-boosted Draco Meteor, while surviving the second hit and gaining an extra turn with which to set up more entry hazards. With rain support, Forretress can survive Latios's or Gengar's Hidden Power Fire, but will not enjoy taking Surf from the former. If you see that your opponent's Chandelure is using a Choice Scarf and you are a master of prediction, Forretress can switch into Shadow Ball, taking little damage and gaining a free turn. If Forretress holds Leftovers, it can switch into weak resisted attacks (such as Giga Drain), as long as it's weak enough to where Leftovers will recover it to full health and restore Sturdy. You may then use Volt Switch again when your opponent inevitably sends Chandelure back to the arena. As far as spin blockers go, Forretress really only worries about Chandelure, as Jellicent can't 2HKO with Scald giving Forretress two more turns with which to set up hazards. Gengar can only muster a 2HKO with Focus Blast, and a potential miss just gives Forretress more time to set up hazards, or smack Gengar hard with Gyro Ball.</p>

<p>For a defensive Pokemon, Forretress has an extreme case of four moveslot syndrome. It has a support movepool larger than once can imagine, but it cannot survive using all of them. A lack of Volt Switch or Gyro Ball allows your opponent a free turn to do just about anything. Without Volt Switch, your opponent's Gyarados is free to set up a Substitute and start Dragon Dancing away. Forretress is then forced to hold a Shed Shell, since Gyro Ball is not enough to hit Chandelure very hard, and Magnezone finds its damage hilarious, making Sub+Charge a viable strategy for once in its life. Finally, despite Forretress's defensive stats, make sure not to use it as a wall. Its goal is to switch in on special attacks when it absolutely must, and proceed to set up hazards before it dies a quick and painless death.</p>

[SET]
name: Physically Defensive
move 1: Stealth Rock
move 2: Spikes / Toxic Spikes
move 3: Rapid Spin / Gyro Ball
move 4: Volt Switch / Gyro Ball
item: Leftovers / Shed Shell
ability: Sturdy
nature: Impish / Relaxed
evs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
ivs: 0 Spe


[Other Options]

<p></p>
-Earthquake to hit any Chandelure or Magnezone who tries to set up in its face.
-Magnet Rise (just kidding).
-Choice Band if you are insane or just plain stupid.
-Hidden Power Ice does 48-57% to Gliscor, breaking its subs; does 43- 51% to Garchomp, tiny chance to 2HKO while breaking its subs. (shut up, I faced one yesterday, I think it was jrrrrrrr)
-Suicide lead with sturdy+custap to get multiple hazards. Unique to DW since it uses an unreleased berry, so could be its own set?
-Other than this, Forretress is rather limited.

[Checks and Counters]

<p><p>
-Chandelure Chandelure Chandelure. Blocks Rapid Spin, sets up a sub, Calm Mind, or just outright obliterate it if it can't Volt Switch switch out.
-One of the only things that the otherwise shitty SubCharge Magnezone can set up on, again unless it Volt Switches.
-Espeon as long as Forretress lacks Gyro Ball; has enough special bulk to laugh at Volt Switch and set up dual screens, Calm Mind, or Substitute, or whatever Espeon feels like doing with a free turn.
-Gyarados takes less than 50% from Volt Switch and your opponent will be forced to send in a Gyarados counter lest it set up some Dragon Dances
-Dragonite doesn't mind taking Gyro Ball through Multiscale; beware that Salamence cannot set up as it takes over 50% from Gyro Ball, although it can 2HKO with Fire Blast in the rain.
-Holy shit despite being so good, this thing has lots of counters.
​

 

[Jukain]

Shed Shell should get the main slash. Honestly, the ubiquity of Shadow Tag Chandelure and also Magnezone to an extent, even with Volt Switch, Forretress is OHKO'd, accounting for some kind of prior damage, even from entry hazards, just Sturdy broken.

 

[Nix_Hex]

I've run Forretress on a few of my DW teams and have never used Shed Shell. Honestly, if Forretress gets Stealth Rock up in front of something that's not Chandelure, it's job well done in my book. If they switch to Chandelure, I have a chance to lay down Spikes, survive Chandelure's attack, then click Volt Switch. They either kill me, put down a sub, or Calm Mind. If they do the first, I gain momentum and can trap Chandelure with Dugtrio or Tyranitar. If they do the latter 2, I just successfully escaped and can send in Tyranitar to mess with Chandelure (it's not going to get very many Calm Mind boosts, or enough to do significant damage to specially defensive Tyranitar). I'll also have a 1 HP Forretress to sacrifice later on.

tl;dr Leftovers is remaining the primary slash.

And give me a break lol, I typed it up in a minute before class and had to run. It's a placeholder and is not meant to be perfect.

 

[Calm Pokemaster]

small nitpick - Leftovers also allows you switch into weak special attacks [like Giga Drain or something] and keep Sturdy intact, so you get that one free turn to set up SR without getting KOed by a coverage move. As NixHex said, Forretress's job is pretty much done after that, so you also get a useful death fodder if it keeps Sturdy intact.

You might also want to mention that other spinblockers like Jellicent just give Forry more time to set up all the Spikes / TSpikes it wants, since Jelly can't 2HKO with Scald, and Forry doesn't give a fig about getting burnt. Gengar can 2HKO with Focus Blast, but Forry can still get one layer of Spikes up, and if Gengar does something silly like Disable Spikes, it will take heavy damage from Gyro Ball.

 

[shrang]

Just saying, I remember Jibaku using a very successful suicide Forretress with hazards, Rapid Spin, and Custap Berry in very early BW Ubers when we had no Dream World. While that is Ubers, Forry can still be used as a suicide lead that can get up two layers of hazards against anything that doesn't have Taunt.

 

[Nix_Hex]

Thanks you guys! Edited in CP's note about weak resisted attacks (used Giga Drain as the example). I don't know if I'll use the Custap set, but it will at least get an OO option).

Also, I'm having trouble with the physically defensive set. I know it plays much differently than the specially defensive set, but should the moves just stay as they are?

 

[ace combat]

I might not be too experienced when playing with Forretress, but you might want to put Spikes as the first move in the analysis and sash Stealth Rocks with Toxic Spikes with Stealth Rocks being the primary option. This is because many more Pokemon can learn Stealth Rocks than Spikes and if you are going to run Toxic Spikes on Fortress you are probably using stall which means that you would have no problem fitting Stealth Rocks on another Pokemon.

Edit: If you don't do that to the specially defensive set you should do that to the physically defensive set because it can survive more hits.