I laugh at rain teams until the day they discover Grass-type moves
Taken over from noobcubed
[Overview]
- Gastrodon at first seems like just another Pokemon, with mediocre stats all around
- It redemption comes in the form of its great Water / Ground typing and a wonderful ability in Storm Drain
- These two attributes grant it Water- and Electric-type immunities, allowing it to check common Electric- and Water-types such as Thundurus, Rotom-W, and Politoed with ease
- It also has a efficient base 92 Special Attack, meaning it can hit back as well, rather than simply being a sitting
duckslug - Unfortunately, Gastrodon has numerous faults. Its 111/68/82 defenses are only tolerable at best, meaning it will take some high investment to be able to tank powerful attacks in the tier (Dragon Gem Draco Meteors, Fighting Gem Close Combats, etc)
- While it may have only one weakness, it is a compound weakness, and this is often its downfall. Many threats, such as Choice Specs Rotom-W, literally run Hidden Power Grass for the sole reason of laughing at Gastrodon. Many rain teams also run things like Ludicolo or Hidden Power Grass (on something like Politoed I guess), so that Gastrodon cannot successfully counter them
- While Gastrodon's flaws may be numerable, there are few who can rival its ability to counter rain
(jk Sunny Day Cresselia the best), and with some minimal team support to handle Grass-types (i.e. Tornadus or Scizor or etc), Gastrodon can be a true thorn in the opponent's side - ...derp I've practically written the whole paragraph except divided into sections. Meh, whatevs.
name: Offensive
move 1: Earth Power
move 2: Muddy Water
move 3: Ice Beam
move 4: Protect
item: Ground Gem
ability: Storm Drain
evs: 248 HP / 160 SpA / 100 SpD
ivs: 0 Spe
nature: Quiet
[SET COMMENTS]
- This set's main goal is to take advantage of the Storm Drain boosts it achieves (usually by clever switching) by taking an offensive stance with its efficient base 92 Special Attack
- Earth Power is Gastrodon's best Ground-type STAB attack, and OHKOs standard 252 / 4 Metagross thanks to Ground Gem, as well as doing a number to anything that doesn't resist it
- Muddy Water gives Gastrodon secondary STAB as well as an efficient spread move, while giving Gastrodon a very powerful attack against rain teams (since rain boosts it)
- Ice Beam rounds off Gastrodon's coverage, hitting Dragon-types like Latios and Hydreigon and Flying-types like Tornadus and Landorus-T for heavy damage (note that in the rain Muddy Water will probably be a better option vs Flying-types, especially Landorus-T)
- Protect is in the last slot and is a given for the majority of offensive Pokemon in the tier, as it Protects them from A) moves used by the ally that hurt it as well, such as EQ, and B) dangerous attack from the opponent so that your ally can attack the opponent while you "distract" it
- Ground Gem is a given since it allows Gastrodon to OHKO Metagross, which is one of the highlight of this set. You could try Rindo Berry however, as a guard against surprise HP Grass, though this is highly situational at best.
- The given spread accomplishes quite a bit (credit to noobcubed for spread). The given defensive investment allows you to survive a Fighting Gem-boosted Close Combat from Hitmontop on the physical side and a Dragon Gem-boosted Draco Meteor from Timid Latios on the special side. Remaining EVs are packed into SpA for more offensive pressure (note: 112 SpA is what is needed for Ground Gem Earth Power to OHKO 252/4 Metagross).
- A Quiet Nature w/ 0 Spe IVs is used in order to work well against opposing Trick Room (or on Trick Room itself). If Trick Room does not concern you and you want to outspeed slow Trick Room threats, such as Conkeldurr, outside of Trick Room, a Modest Nature w/ 31 Speed IVs is an option.
- This set works well in a lot of areas, simply due to its ability to apply some offensive pressure to rain and Trick Room teams. However, it does need some support. The first and foremost needed partners are those who can handle Grass-types, such as Tornadus, Scizor, Heatran, Volcarona and Togekiss. Volcarona and Togekiss are extra useful for redirecting Grass-type attacks, while being able to do heavy damage to Grass-types as well. Heatran is useful for setting up Substitutes in front of Grass-types, but Ludicolo will be able to beat it one-on-one (assuming you aren't running on of those Sunny Day Ludicolos, anyway). Hail teams work very well with Gastrodon, as they can remove Grass-types for it via Blizzard while it removes Steel-types and Fire-types for them. Trick Room setters work well alongside Gastrodon too, particularly Chandelure and Victini (since they cover eachother's weaknesses), though others like Cresselia and Gallade will also work. Amoonguss can be useful for assisting Gastrodon against rain teams, as it can also tank Water-type attacks as well, while crippling Pokemon that threaten Gastrodon with Spore and redirecting attacks w/ Rage Powder. Finally, Intimidate users like Hitmontop (Landorus-T is a bit redundant imo, but it works too I guess) can help compensate for Gastrodon lacking base 68 Defense, which is always useful.
name: Defensive
move 1: Earth Power / Scald
move 2: Ice Beam / Icy Wind
move 3: Recover
move 4: Protect / Stockpile
item: Sitrus Berry / Rindo Berry
ability: Storm Drain
evs: 252 HP / 156 Def / 100 SpD
ivs: 0 Spe
nature: Sassy Nature
[SET COMMENTS]
- This set aims to be a complete nuisance by limiting the opponent's options while surviving a long time (great for annoying rain to death w/ proper support and good play)
- Earth Power is the preferred STAB move of choice and can hit common Steel-types like Heatran & Metagross for heavy damage. However, Scald is just a viable, as it capitalizes on this set's bulkier nature thanks to its nifty 30% burn rate, while offering a similar amount of power (in exchange for less notable super-effective coverage alongside the Ice-type).
- Ice Beam tends to be preferred so that Gastrodon actually does damage and it works great alongside Earth Power, but Icy Wind can also be used to offer a form of speed control as well as a spread attack (it's really weak tho).
- Recover is used so that Gastrodon can stick around for as long as possible
- Protect is preferred in slot 4, mainly to discourage opponents from double attacking Gastrodon, but also for the typical reasons as well (the things I mentioned for Protect in the first set). Stockpile is also an option, as it makes the opponent suffer dearly for giving Gastrodon a free turn while making Gastrodon even bulkier (+1 to both defenses makes Gastrodon terribly hard to get past without Grass-type attacks).
- With the given spread, Gastrodon survives 2 hits from LO Jolly Garchomp's Earthquake, Adamant Metagross's Zen Headbutt, Adamant Tyranitar's Crunch, and Adamant Scizor's Bug Bite. It can also tank a +1 Close Combat from Terrakion on the physical side. On the special side it can tank one Dragon Gem Draco Meteor from Modest Kyurem. With a Rindo Berry, Gastrodon can even survive an unboosted Seed Flare from Timid Shaymin-S!
- If you are running Stockpile, this set will heavily appreciate Rage Powder/Follow Me support, as once it gets boosted defenses dealing with it will be far more difficult for the opponent. As with all Gastrodon sets, teammates will be needed that can either redirect Grass-type moves or take out Grass-types (switching out to a resist is ok, but this set enjoys staying on the field more than its offensive counterpart, so it is not preferred), such as Volcarona and offensive Togekiss; or Tornadus, Volcarona (again), Heatran, Abomasnow/Kyurem (hail in general), Scizor, and Skymin (taking Grass-types down). (Note: due to this set's supportive nature, it is heavily preferred to use more offensive teammates; as such, Amoonguss and defensive Togekiss were excluded from the list for this set)
- Hidden Power Grass / Hidden Power Electric to hit various bulky Waters; Grass is generally more useful since it hits Rotom-W and opposing Gastrodon
- Gastrodon's base 83 attack is decent, and it has some options like EQ, Stone Edge and Rock Slide to use on a physical set, but this is largely outclassed by Swampert
- CounterCoat (for some reason :/)
- Blizzard w/ Hail support
- Chesto Berry w/ Rest can give Gastrodon more dramatic recovery and heal you from any status ailments, but can only be used without its nasty 2-turn sleeping drawback once
- Hail (the legitimate move) can provide you with your own hail support while giving Gastrodon a way to further ruin an opposing rain team's day
- Surf (if for some reason Muddy Water has voodoo miss hax when you use it)
- Grass-types are the big ones; Skymin, Ludicolo, Amoonguss, Abomasnow, Breloom, Virizion, and almost any Grass-type will take Gastro down
- Sun can hinder the offensive set somewhat by weakening Muddy Water, though Ground Gem Earth Power will still hurt/KO the typical Fire-types like Ninetales, Blaziken & Heatran
- Dragon-types, especially Kyurem-B (and to a lesser extent Kyurem), Hydreigon, and Latios
- Hidden Power Grass in general is an easy way to make sure you have Gastrodon covered; having some sort of Grass-type move somewhere is highly recommended on rain teams especially, since Gastrodon (and other rain checks like Rotom-W) will take heavy damage from them
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