QC: Jio / Carbonific
GP: Eien
[OVERVIEW]
* One of the main allures of Gastrodon is its ability Storm Drain, which grants it an immunity to Water and acts as a critical Water-type move deterrent that benefits many of its potential teammates. This makes users of Muddy Water like Tapu Fini think twice before using the move, as they risk raising the Special Attack of Gastrodon while also negating non-spread Water-type attacks, such as those from Milotic and Araquanid.
* Storm Drain often helps against rain teams, as it redirects Water-type moves from teammates so that they can threaten the sweeper. Due to the prevalence of Ludicolo on rain teams, Gastrodon is more of a check than a counter most of the time.
* Gastrodon has a solid defensive typing that grants it resistances to a variety of types and an immunity to Electric-type moves, leaving only a 4x weakness to Grass. Gastrodon finds itself as a defensive glue on many teams due to the large number of Pokemon it checks, such as Incineroar, Landorus-T, Tapu Koko, Heatran, Nihilego, Zapdos, Mega Gengar, and Mega Manectric.
* Despite having great Health and Special Defense stats, the poor Defense of Gastrodon limits its tanking potential. It can be heavily damaged by strong physical attackers such as Mega Kangaskhan, Mega Mawile, and Zen Headbutt Mega Metagross or OHKOed by some Z-Moves such as Tectonic Rage from Landorus-T or Excadrill.
* Gastrodon has low Speed and rarely will outspeed anything even with Tailwind up, though this makes it all the more valuable against Trick Room teams.
* Gastrodon faces competition when it comes to being a rain check from Ferrothorn, as Ferrothorn doesn’t have to worry about being OHKOed by Ludicolo and can threaten it or its teammates back with moves such as Power Whip. In addition Gastrodon faces competition from Tapu Fini for the bulky Water role on various teams, as Tapu Fini has access to many more moves such as Calm Mind and Heal Pulse and it has more bulk, Speed, and Special Attack.
[SET]
name: Bulky Attacker
move 1: Earth Power
move 2: Ice Beam
move 3: Clear Smog / Recover / Scald
move 4: Protect / Recover
item: Wiki Berry
ability: Storm Drain
nature: Modest
EVs: 124 HP / 148 Def / 100 SpA / 132 SpD
IVs: 0 Atk / 26 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
* Earth Power provides an accurate STAB attack that allows Gastrodon to threaten Pokemon such as Tapu Koko, Incineroar, and Heatran.
* Ice Beam hits many Pokemon for super effective damage, such as Mega Salamence, Landorus, and Zapdos, and has strong neutral coverage alongside Earth Power.
* The option of Clear Smog allows Gastrodon to win the one-on-one versus Calm Mind Tapu Fini and allows it to clear away any threatening boosts on opposing Pokemon. This makes Gastrodon less susceptible to becoming setup bait. Recover can give reliable recovery outside of the Wiki Berry to allow Gastrodon to be a nuisance throughout the game. Scald provides a spammable STAB move that has a decent 30% chance to burn an opposing pokemon, though the other 2 moves in the set give the necessary coverage to not usually need this move outside of its burn chance.
* Protect grants Gastrodon the ability to allow its partners to deal with its checks while keeping itself safe.
* Wiki Berry improves Gastrodon's longevity and grants it a form of recovery should it not run Recover.
* The EVs on this set guarantee an OHKO on 4 HP / 0 SpD Mega Salamence with Ice Beam and prevents Gastrodon from being 2HKOed by a 252 Atk Adamant Landorus-T Earthquake, a 252 SpA Modest Aegislash-Blade Shadow Ball and a 252 SpA Mega Gengar Shadow Ball
* 26 Speed IVs allow Gastrodon to underspeed Aegislash by one point to OHKO with Earth Power. Gastrodon can run a Quiet nature with 0 Speed IVs to be more threatening on Trick Room teams or against them.
* Gastrodon should be switched in on moves it rests or is immune to, especially predicted Water-type moves to use its Water deterring abilities to the fullest. Gastrodon can be kept on the field alongside Pokemon weak to Water-types attacks in order to discourage Water-type attackers from using attacks that could hit its teammate.
* Gastrodon enjoys Pokemon such as Incineroar and Landorus-T as teammates, as they can weaken physical threats with Intimidate and appreciate Gastrodon's ability to deter Water-types.
* Gastrodon is often run with Pokemon such as Mega Metagross and Tapu Lele, as both enjoy a rain check, a way to remove Steel-types like Heatran and Mega Metagross lacking Zen Headbutt, and Gastrodon checking metagame threats like Incineroar and Landorus-T.
* Gastrodon also appreciates Pokemon such as Incineroar, Charizard, and Zapdos with Heat Wave that can threaten Grass-types.
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