Hippowdon Preview Singles [QC 0/2]

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[OVERVIEW]

* Hippowdon is one of the best walls the metagame has to offer. With fantastic natural bulk aided by reliable recovery in Slack Off, Hippowdon has no problem pivoting in and out of both a wide range of physical and specially orientated pokemon. Sandstream is a great ability for Hippowdon to have, granting gradual chip damage and breaking the occasional Focus Sash, whilst working in tandem with Sand Rush Excadrill. Hippowdon's speed tier however is incredibly poor, making it more susceptible to being revenge killed and getting pressured by the likes of Taunt, as well as faster bulkier pokemon including Tapu Fini and Celesteela.

[SET]
name: Physically Defensive
move 1: Slack Off
move 2: Yawn / Stealth Rock
move 3: Stealth Rock / Whirlwind
move 4: Earthquake
item: Rocky Helmet / Sitrus Berry / Figy Berry / Smooth Rock
ability: Sand Stream
nature: Impish
evs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def

[SET COMMENTS]

* Slack off is necessary to keep Hippowdon as healthy as possible while continuously taking hits and dishing out chip damage with the combination of Rocky Helmet and Sand Stream.

* Yawn allows Hippowdon to apply pressure and often forces switches. Stealth Rock is used for overall support, breaking Focus Sash and dealing great chip damage in general, especially to Pokemon that harness a Rock-type weakness.

* Stealth Rock should be used if Yawn takes the second move slot, while Whirlwind should be used if Stealth Rock takes the Second move slot. A combination of Yawn and Whirlwind is usable, but not ideal for this set as Stealth Rock + Whirlwind has much better synergy, forcing switches and getting chip damage with Stealth Rock.

* Earthquake is Hippowdon's strongest STAB move and is necessary to deal damage to the physical threats which Hippowdon checks, such as both Mega-Blaziken and regular, Mega-Metagross, Mega-Mawile and Mega-Charizard-X (with a small amount of chip damage).

* Rocky Helmet is the ideal item, dealing chip damage to physical attackers that make contact. Sitrus Berry and Figy Berry are both also options to assist in longevity without having to rely on Slack Off all the time. Smooth Rock should be used when paired with Excadrill to make the most use of Sand Stream in assisting Excadrill's Sand Rush.

* The given EV spread and nature is ideal for a physically defensive wall, able to sponge as many physical hits as possible.

* Despite the physical bulk, Hippowdon isn't going to be taking many Ice / Grass / Ground-type hits; even more so on the special side. Because of this, Hippowdon appreciates a teammate which can safely pivot into these weaknesses. Consider Spd Celesteela / Spd biased Porygon2.

[SET]
name: Specially Defensive
move 1: Slack Off
move 2: Yawn / Stealth Rock
move 3: Stealth Rock / Whirlwind
move 4: Earthquake / Rock Tomb
item: Sitrus Berry / Lum Berry / Figy Berry
ability: Sand Stream
nature: Careful
evs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spd

[SET COMMENTS]

* Slack Off is required for longevity, and allows Hippowdon to pivot much more freely against common special threats such as Mega-Charizard-Y and Aegislash.

* Yawn provides the same utility as the physically defensive set, allowing Hippowdon to apply pressure and often forces switches. Stealth Rock also provides the same use, breaking Focus Sash and dealing great chip damage in general, especially to Pokemon that harness a Rock-type weakness.

* Stealth Rock should be used if Yawn takes the second move slot, while Whirlwind should be used if Stealth Rock takes the Second move slot. A combination of Yawn and Whirlwind is usable, but not ideal for this set as Stealth Rock + Whirlwind has much better synergy, forcing switches and getting chip damage with Stealth Rock.

* Earthquake is Hippowdon's most powerful STAB option, and deals with the likes of special threats such as Aegislash / Tapu Lele / Tapu Koko. Rock slide is also an attacking option to hit Mega-Charizard-Y and hit Zapdos. Toxic is also an option to put a timer on bulkier pokemon such as Cresselia and Porygon2, but has poor synergy with yawn and at the opportunity cost of other moves.

* The given EV spread and nature is ideal for a specially defensive wall, able to sponge as many physical hits as possible.

* Sitrus Berry is the preferred item, restoring Hippowdon's HP by 1/4 when it begins falls below 50%. Figy berry is also an option, restoring HP by 1/2 but activates when below 25%, and is a lot more risky. Lum Berry isn't bad also, catching subtoxic Aegislash off guard.

* Similar to the physically defensive set, Spd Hippowdon isn't going to appreciate taking hits from Ice / Grass / Water-type moves. Consider physically defensive Celesteela as a partner here.
 
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This is far from perfect but it's ready for a check at least. Just note that I haven't put much thought into the order of moves, because I know that either way It's going to probably be a bigger discussion to sort out the order and slashes
 

Theorymon

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dogknees if you don't reply about the status of the missing parts of this analysis by this coming Sunday (by missing parts, I mean counters and checks and other options), I'm probably going to reassign this. Sorry if that's a bit unfair, I just figure that we just sorta stopped doing the preview stuff, and Hippowdon is a really important Pokemon.

(And yes I realize I've been taking ages too, but I want to fix that!)
 
dogknees if you don't reply about the status of the missing parts of this analysis by this coming Sunday (by missing parts, I mean counters and checks and other options), I'm probably going to reassign this. Sorry if that's a bit unfair, I just figure that we just sorta stopped doing the preview stuff, and Hippowdon is a really important Pokemon.

(And yes I realize I've been taking ages too, but I want to fix that!)
oh pls reassign lol, didn't even know i still had this
 
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