Houndoom (Early Bird)

Anachronism

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http://www.smogon.com/dp/pokemon/houndoom

[SET]
name: Early Bird
move 1: Flamethrower
move 2: Toxic
move 3: Rest
move 4: Taunt
item: Leftovers
nature: Calm
ability: Early Bird
evs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD

[SET COMMENTS]

<p>Houndoom's unique typing and rare ability in Early Bird allow it to effectively use a Specially Defensive set. The EVs maximize Houndoom's Special defensiveness, with the last point put into Special Attack because Houndoom's Defense stat is too weak to worry about and extra Speed accomplishes little of value. Good Special bulk, immunity to burn and Psychic, and resistances to Ghost, Dark, Ice, Fire, and Grass let Houndoom come in on a diverse array of threats such as Mismagius, Spiritomb, Weezing, Venusaur, Chansey, Exeggutor, Uxie, Mespirit Toxic Stall Moltres and opposing Houndoom. Toxic cripples common switch-ins such as Azumaril and Milotic while also acting as a constant source of damage for anything on the opposing side, and Taunt keeps the afflicted Pokemon from healing off the damage or curing the status with Rest, Heal Bell, or Aromatherapy. The threat of Flamethrower keeps Toxic-immune Pokemon such as Registeel, Venusaur, Steelix and Weezing at bay, hitting the latter two on their weaker stat and the former three for super-effective damage. Finally, Rest provides recovery, and the sleep lasts only one turn thanks to Early Bird!</p>

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

<p>This set is best used alongside Pokemon that can cover Houndoom's weaknesses to Water, Rock, Ground, and Fighting, as well as Physical attacks in general. Venusaur can take these attacking types effectively while also forcing out Milotic, Azumarill, Rhyperior, and Regirock, which can all pose a serious threat to Houndoom. Toxicroak and Poliwrath are also great partners to this set, as they also resist the majority of those attacking types</p>

<p>This set also pairs well with Offensive pokemon that like to have opposing walls weakened or crippled. Dragon Dance or Swords Dance Feraligatr love it when opposing Milotic are poisoned, as it makes it much harder for Milotic to stay in and continue to Haze away the stat boosts. Curse Registeel and Calm Mind Spiritomb also enjoy it when Milotic can't stay in and repeatedly erase their efforts. The extra damage on Milotic can also get it into 2hko range for Moltres, which barely misses a 2HKO on Milotic if there is no prior damage.</p>


I think I did a fairly comprehensive job on this but if you have something for me to add or think I should say something differently feel free to speak up ;)
 
Fewer resists, lacks STAB Flamethrower and Taunt, and lures in entirely different things that aren't easily Toxic'd on the switch. Flamethrower has the ability to do damage to Weezing AND Registeel/Steelix, something Earthquake, Return, or Hammer Arm can't accomplish, and Taunt is the crux of the set.
 
weezing will hit hard back with Sludge bomb or possibly explode, which I think will likely 2hko (though I'm not sure here). Registeel will EQ; definite 2hko. Steelix does the same, or explodes as most seem to be baitlix nowadays

Sure it lures in bulky waters but quite a few run restalk; aromatherapy and heal bell also can get rid of it

And also, sure it has less resists, but it has less weaknesses - no SR weakness is nice and no weakness to water or ground is nice too.

Finally (rather hilariously) it's setup fodder for itself and the feraligatr that you mention as a teammate (who it no longer outspeeds due to a lack of speed)
 
Weezing does terrible damage with Sludge Bomb, and rarely uses Explosion these days. Taunt prevents Restalking against Milo (Houndoom avoids a 2hko 62% of the time so it can afford to stay in and Taunt). no Registeel or Steelix in its right mind would switch into Houndoom, even though Flamethrower doesn't OHKO either of them. If I force an Explosion out of any of these then I have accomplished my job anyway. It means the thing I was trying to weaken Weezing/Registeel for (mmm Venu) can have a field day.

It is NOT setup fodder for itself. I can Toxic opposing Houndoom and laugh as they do 38% with a boosted Dark Pulse and I easily Rest off the damage every other turn.

Regarding Feraligatr, I always Toxic the switchin, so it will have fun trying to stall out my Milo.

Have you considered trying the set before talking about the limitations of it?
 
What exactly is this supposed to wall and beat, compared to other specially defensive dark types?

You mention Mismagius, but +2 Thunderbolt easily 2hko's after Stealth Rock even without Life Orb, and God help you if it's carrying HP Fighting and Life Orb (ohko 85% of the time). Meanwhile, Flamethrower is doing lol damage and Toxic...will kill it eventually, but only after it eats like half your team. Literally any other Dark-type in the tier does a better job of countering Mismagius.

Alakazam? Only if it's Specs and you switch into Psychic. Even then you lack Pursuit, meaning you can either hit the switch-in with a weak attack or poison it...which, again, any other dark-type in the tier can also do. Against LO variants...well, +1 Signal Beam 2hko's if it's Modest, and you do pathetic damage with Flamethrower to +1 Kazam. And of course if it has Focus Blast you're just doubly boned.

Weezing? Sure, and Houndoom actually boasts an advantage here over other specially-defensive dark types due to being immune to burn.

Venusaur? Eh. LO Venusaur 2hko's you after Stealth Rock with LO Sludge Bomb over half the time, while Flamethrower isn't even guaranteed to KO it back. Drapion does an infinitely better job of walling special Venusaur.

Chansey? >_> Really?

Moltres? Remember, you are no longer immune to Fire, so switching into Fire Blast means that you're in KO range for the following Air Slash (small chance if Moltres is Timid, much larger chance if Modest). Even if you survive, you can't do much except suicide poison...

Opposing Houndoom? Again, no longer immune to Fire. NP Doom does 53.1% - 62.7% with a +2 Fire Blast. You suicide poison it and...then what?

The problem with this set is that it's literally useless for walling things. I cannot think of a single Pokemon where I can go "hey specially defensive early bird houndoom walls that". Sure, once it gets in it might just be mediocre, but you're never getting it on anything besides Weezing and Choiced Psychic.

There is no defensive niche which Houndoom fulfills in the metagame (at least not without Flash Fire) that cannot be fulfilled by a specially-defensive Drapion or even a specially-defensive Arcanine. One turn rest isn't going to turn a Pokemon with mediocre defenses and barren support movepool into an analysis-worthy special wall. Sorry, I'm going to have to reject this unless you can show convincing logs of it working out well in common battle conditions.

[Grimer Stamp]

whistle edit cause I have nothing of substance to add but I want to second the motion for you to produce many many logs of this set in action.
 
Anachronism said:
Weezing does terrible damage with Sludge Bomb, and rarely uses Explosion these days.
Click to expand...

I use a Weezing with Explosion, and it works very well...

But that's beside the point. As for my opinion, I'm agreeing with FlareBlitz that this isn't a set that Houndoom can run well. He pretty much stated the main reasons why, and I personally think that "Houndoom" and "Specially Defensive Pokemon" don't match up well. Still, I do like your idea, even though Houndoom isn't the right Pokemon for the job.
 
Hmm although Houndoom has a decent base 80 SpD I don't think this set will really work. Mostly because Houndoom has much better sets to use. Like FlareBlitz said things that you are supposed to counter are either countered better by another specially defensive Dark type or can beat you since you didn't invest in offense. This set has a suprise effect but thats it. I'm sorry but I don't think this will work better then any other similiar set on a specially defensive Dark pokemon (eg. Drapion).
 
I tested an alternate to this set...

[SET]
name: Early Bird
move 1: Fire Blast
move 2: Toxic
move 3: Rest
move 4: Taunt
item: Life Orb
nature: Timid
ability: Early Bird
evs: 24 HP / 252 SpA / 232 Spe

What I like about this set is that his Check/ Counter (Milotic or Chansey) will always become statused and taunted. FlashFire Pokemon can be covered by Milo anyways.

However, I feel that this set cannot compete his other sets... Np, Special Mix, or Physical Mix.
 
The major difference between Drapion and Houndoom is that STAB Flamethrower keeps poison-immune Pokemon from coming in. Drapion typically just causes a switch to Registeel / Weezing / Steelix with a similar set using Crunch over Flamethrower. It also lacks 1-turn Rest Recovery which limits its stalling ability.

The leftovers variety of Mismagius does about 34% with HP Fighting before a boost while I do approximately 42% with Flamethrower (These are not calc'd, just from memory). They have always Subbed as I switched in, and then attacked the turn after. Remember that opposing Houndoom usually won't attempt to Fire Blast you until they see your 1-turn Rest, which is typically too late. Clearly if you switch into a Fire Blast then your cover is blown against Moltres, but otherwise the mere possibility of Flash Fire will keep them from Fire Blasting freely. Yes, other things like Specially Defensive Arcanine technically do these jobs better, but it has worked as a conditional counter to the above in my experience. While I wouldn't call this set a complete gimmick, it is certainly a paradigm shift from the Standard Houndoom to this, and that can be used to your advantage.

I admit that rocks make the set considerably less effective but I use it on a team with a spinner so perhaps I am biased by that.

@ Overhazard: That set seems interesting, however you won't be avoiding the KO against Milotic unless you don't come in on Rocks, so it is unlikely you can safely Taunt. And you are right about that. If you are going to use the sweeper build then you might as well throw NP and Dark Pulse on it.

@ Universal Berry: Thanks. Noted and fixed.
 
Anachronism, the thing is that people will be looking out for this more if it is posted. Therefore, it loses its surprise value, and opponents will find ways to exploit it. It works as a surprise now and then, but not as an analysis set.
 
If it is worth looking out for then it is probably worth an analysis. If it becomes popular enough to be on the radar then that is proof that it is worth analyzing. Nearly every recent set starts out as a surprise when used on the ladder, and clearly loses a bit of viability when it becomes a known entity. That is the nature of writing an analysis and of the metagame in general. This set still breaks stall wide open in my experience, even in the second game, so I don't even agree with you entirely.
 
Basically, I'm going to say exactly what I said to the "Mixed Attacking Giratina" set I saw on Ubers here. Houndoom is quite mediocre defensively. Consider this:

0 SpA Milotic Surf vs this Houndoom: 48.02% - 57.63%

So you're very likely to be 2HKO'd anyway, so it's kind of pointless. Houndoom's assets are Speed and power, and that is what he should be running. Instead of trying to be gimmicky and stalling bulky Waters out (Which is kinda risky anyway), you can just go "LOL NP Dark Pulse - DIE". Basically, this is like trying to give Gengar something like 252 HP/128 Def/128 SpD with a movepool of Taunt/Pain Split/Filler/Filler and going "Hey Gengar, go Spin block for me". It's just not happening. If you want a bulky water Poisoning lure, Moltres is about 10x better since it actually has bulk and Pressure. This is like getting your 100m sprinter to go start training for a marathon when you have a perfectly good marathon runner ready to go.
 
Your analogies are a little over the top. I acknowledge that other Fires have Toxic, good SpA, and recovery options. However, none of them have Taunt. Taunt allows you to break things like Restalk Milotic that would otherwise walk all over SubRoost Moltres and the like.

If it is worth anything, I made it to #10 on the ladder with a team that used this set. It is very effective when used correctly.

To give you an analogy, this is like someone who has leaderboarded with a set being lectured by someone who hasn't even tried that set. Oh wait...that is exactly what this is...

Please inform me when you stop using straw man arguments and actually test the set.
 
Taunt allows you to break things like Restalk Milotic that would otherwise walk all over SubRoost Moltres and the like.
Click to expand...

She 2HKOs you with Surf. How the hell is that breaking Milotic?? You can break Milotic by running Passho-NP with much efficiency than this set. You also have very low Speed for this set too. Have a look at the UU Speed Tier and tell me what Pokemon are between 226 and 317 Speed and tell me how many of them can kill you now. It's not pretty.

If it is worth anything, I made it to #10 on the ladder with a team that used this set. It is very effective when used correctly.
Click to expand...

Logs are better, I believe.

Please inform me when you stop using straw man arguments and actually test the set.
Click to expand...

I'm not a QC member, but I'll waste my time testing a set that actually looks feasible. If you provide a few logs, I might actually have a look.
 
I decided to test the set a little bit...to sum it up, Houndoom died many times, and this set didn't fare too well. It's a good idea, but I don't think Specially Defensive is one thing that Houndoom can do too well in.

However, I do admit that I only did about 6-7 battles with this set, and you're more used to it than I am. Also, I'm not the best at set testing, so I'll use this a little more and see how it fares. I will agree with Anachronism about testing the sets first before making final comments. Anyway, I might be wrong with my opinion, or I might be right. I'll see how I fare.
 
This is Gliscor without instant recovery in UU, and is worse since you're still asleep for one turn- A free turn of switching-into for something like CB Azumarill to go ahead and assasinate you with Aqua Jet.

I understand this isn't meant to take Aqua Jets from Azumarill's absurd attack stat after Huge Power. However, like many have pointed out, this doesn't walk over stuff like ResTalk Milotic. It gets killed by it. 2 Surfs, lights out (Or at least a high percentage of it happening).

And you may say that you got to #10 on the leaderboard. Okay. Good job. However, this suggests that your team was fine-tuned to exploiting what this set did and to defending from what it couldn't and was threatened by(Which I think was the case; think of something like Azumarill. CB sets can fit on literally any UU team that requires something that kills junk with water-type moves, but for reasons I've already outlined perhaps your team is the only one in existence that benefits from Houndoom having this set in UU). It may be really hard to test this out, since Milotic, the water to beat in UU, 2HKOs this set when it's meant to beat Milo anyways.
 
FYI it is only a 2hko 38% of the time, which is more than I would have expected after using the set for a while but yes, it is still fairly high.

Yes, my team benefits greatly from what Houndoom can do. Let me show you a fairly decent log of Houndoom doing his stuff. It played a pivotal role in removing Clefable from the game (yes, the crit helped, but the fable was going down regardless) and countering Venusaur. I will post the entire log, but bold the turns Houndoom participated in.

Rules: Ladder Match, Sleep Clause, Freeze Clause, OHKO Clause, Evasion Clause, Species Clause, Strict Damage Clause
make it rain sent out Turn (lvl 100 Scyther ?).
opponent sent out Primeape (lvl 100 Primeape ?).
make it rain switched in Trounce (lvl 100 Rhyperior ?).
Primeape used U-turn.
Trounce lost 17% of its health.
opponent switched in Uxie (lvl 100 Uxie).
Trounce's leftovers restored its health a little!
Trounce restored 6% of its health.
---
Uxie used Stealth Rock.
Pointed stones float in the air around the foe's team!
Trounce used Stealth Rock.
Pointed stones float in the air around the foe's team!
Trounce's leftovers restored its health a little!
Trounce restored 6% of its health.
---
Uxie used U-turn.
Trounce lost 9% of its health.
opponent switched in Primeape (lvl 100 Primeape ?).
Pointed stones dug into Primeape.
Primeape lost 6% of its health.
Trounce used Megahorn.
It's not very effective...
Primeape lost 47% of its health.
Trounce's leftovers restored its health a little!
Trounce restored 6% of its health.
---
make it rain switched in Top (lvl 100 Hitmontop ?).
Top's Intimidate cut Primeape's attack!
Pointed stones dug into Top.
Top lost 6% of its health.
Primeape used U-turn.
It's not very effective...
Top lost 6% of its health.
opponent switched in Venusaur (lvl 100 Venusaur ?).
Pointed stones dug into Venusaur.
Venusaur lost 12% of its health.
Top's leftovers restored its health a little!
Top restored 6% of its health.
---
make it rain switched in Houndoom (lvl 100 Houndoom ?).
Pointed stones dug into Houndoom.
Houndoom lost 25% of its health.
Venusaur used Sludge Bomb.
Houndoom lost 39% of its health.
Venusaur lost 10% of its health.
Houndoom's leftovers restored its health a little!
Houndoom restored 6% of its health.
---
opponent switched in Clefable (lvl 100 Clefable ?).
Pointed stones dug into Clefable.
Houndoom used Toxic.
Clefable was badly poisoned!
Houndoom's leftovers restored its health a little!
Houndoom restored 6% of its health.
Clefable is hurt by poison!
---
Houndoom used Taunt.
Clefable fell for the taunt!
Clefable used Seismic Toss.
Houndoom lost 28% of its health.
Houndoom's leftovers restored its health a little!
Houndoom restored 6% of its health.
Clefable is hurt by poison!
---
Houndoom used Rest.
Houndoom fell asleep!
Houndoom restored 73% of its health.
Clefable used Seismic Toss.
Houndoom lost 28% of its health.
Houndoom's leftovers restored its health a little!
Houndoom restored 6% of its health.
Clefable is hurt by poison!
---
opponent switched in Primeape (lvl 100 Primeape ?).
Pointed stones dug into Primeape.
Primeape lost 6% of its health.
Houndoom is fast asleep!
Houndoom's leftovers restored its health a little!
Houndoom restored 6% of its health.
---
make it rain switched in Top (lvl 100 Hitmontop ?).
Top's Intimidate cut Primeape's attack!
Pointed stones dug into Top.
Top lost 6% of its health.
Primeape used U-turn.
It's not very effective...
A critical hit!
Top lost 18% of its health.
opponent switched in Venusaur (lvl 100 Venusaur ?).
Pointed stones dug into Venusaur.
Venusaur lost 12% of its health.
Top's leftovers restored its health a little!
Top restored 6% of its health.
---
Venusaur used Sludge Bomb.
Top lost 53% of its health.
Top was poisoned!
Venusaur lost 10% of its health.
Top used Rapid Spin.
Top blew away the pointed stones!
Venusaur lost 6% of its health.
Top's leftovers restored its health a little!
Top restored 6% of its health.
Top is hurt by poison!
Top lost 12% of its health.
---
make it rain switched in Houndoom (lvl 100 Houndoom ?).
Venusaur used Synthesis.
Venusaur restored 50% of its health.
Houndoom's leftovers restored its health a little!
Houndoom restored 6% of its health.
---
opponent switched in Sharpedo (lvl 100 Sharpedo ?).
Pointed stones dug into Sharpedo.
Sharpedo lost 12% of its health.
Houndoom woke up!
Houndoom used Flamethrower.
It's not very effective...
Sharpedo lost 43% of its health.
Sharpedo was burned!
Sharpedo was hurt by its burn!
Sharpedo lost 12% of its health.
Houndoom's leftovers restored its health a little!
Houndoom restored 6% of its health.
---
make it rain switched in Troll (lvl 100 Milotic ?).
Sharpedo used Hydro Pump.
It's not very effective...
Troll lost 19% of its health.
Sharpedo lost 10% of its health.
Sharpedo was hurt by its burn!
Sharpedo lost 12% of its health.
Troll's leftovers restored its health a little!
Troll restored 6% of its health.
---
Sharpedo used Crunch.
Troll lost 20% of its health.
Sharpedo lost 10% of its health.
opponent's Sharpedo fainted.
Troll used Recover.
Troll restored 34% of its health.
---
opponent switched in Venusaur (lvl 100 Venusaur ?).
Pointed stones dug into Venusaur.
Venusaur lost 12% of its health.
make it rain switched in Houndoom (lvl 100 Houndoom ?).
Venusaur used Sludge Bomb.
Houndoom lost 39% of its health.
Venusaur lost 10% of its health.
Houndoom's leftovers restored its health a little!
Houndoom restored 6% of its health.
---
opponent switched in Clefable (lvl 100 Clefable ?).
Pointed stones dug into Clefable.
Houndoom used Flamethrower.
Clefable lost 26% of its health.
Houndoom's leftovers restored its health a little!
Houndoom restored 6% of its health.
Clefable is hurt by poison!
---
Houndoom used Taunt.
Clefable fell for the taunt!
Clefable used Seismic Toss.
Houndoom lost 28% of its health.
Houndoom's leftovers restored its health a little!
Houndoom restored 6% of its health.
Clefable is hurt by poison!
---
Houndoom used Flamethrower.
Clefable lost 30% of its health.
Clefable used Seismic Toss.
Houndoom lost 28% of its health.
Houndoom's leftovers restored its health a little!
Houndoom restored 6% of its health.
Clefable is hurt by poison!
---
opponent switched in Rhyperior (lvl 100 Rhyperior ?).
Pointed stones dug into Rhyperior.
Rhyperior lost 6% of its health.
Houndoom used Rest.
Houndoom fell asleep!
Houndoom restored 74% of its health.
---
make it rain switched in Top (lvl 100 Hitmontop ?).
Top's Intimidate cut Rhyperior's attack!
Rhyperior used Rock Polish.
Rhyperior's speed was sharply raised.
Top's leftovers restored its health a little!
Top restored 6% of its health.
Top is hurt by poison!
Top lost 12% of its health.
---
Rhyperior used Earthquake.
Top lost 10% of its health.
make it rain's Top fainted.
Rhyperior lost 10% of its health.
---
make it rain switched in Troll (lvl 100 Milotic ?).
make it rain switched in Houndoom (lvl 100 Houndoom ?).
opponent switched in Uxie (lvl 100 Uxie).
Pointed stones dug into Uxie.
Uxie lost 12% of its health.
Uxie's leftovers restored its health a little!
Uxie restored 6% of its health.
---
Houndoom is fast asleep!
Uxie used Stealth Rock.
Pointed stones float in the air around the foe's team!
Uxie's leftovers restored its health a little!
Uxie restored 6% of its health.
---
Uxie used U-turn.
Houndoom lost 20% of its health.
opponent switched in Clefable (lvl 100 Clefable ?).
Pointed stones dug into Clefable.
Houndoom woke up!
Houndoom used Toxic.
Houndoom's attack missed!
Houndoom's leftovers restored its health a little!
Houndoom restored 6% of its health.
Clefable is hurt by poison!
---
Houndoom used Taunt.
Clefable fell for the taunt!
Clefable used Seismic Toss.
Houndoom lost 28% of its health.
Houndoom's leftovers restored its health a little!
Houndoom restored 6% of its health.
Clefable is hurt by poison!
---
Houndoom used Flamethrower.
A critical hit!
Clefable lost 44% of its health.
opponent's Clefable fainted.
Houndoom's leftovers restored its health a little!
Houndoom restored 6% of its health.
---
opponent switched in Primeape (lvl 100 Primeape ?).
Pointed stones dug into Primeape.
Primeape lost 6% of its health.
make it rain switched in Trick (lvl 100 Spiritomb ?).
Trick is exerting its pressure!
Pointed stones dug into Trick.
Trick lost 12% of its health.
Primeape used Close Combat.
It doesn't affect Trick...
Trick's leftovers restored its health a little!
Trick restored 6% of its health.
---
Trick used Pursuit.
It's not very effective...
Primeape lost 32% of its health.
opponent switched in Uxie (lvl 100 Uxie).
Pointed stones dug into Uxie.
Uxie lost 12% of its health.
Uxie's leftovers restored its health a little!
Uxie restored 6% of its health.
Trick's leftovers restored its health a little!
Trick restored 6% of its health.
---
Uxie used Yawn.
Trick became drowsy!
Trick used Pursuit.
It's super effective!
Uxie lost 20% of its health.
Uxie's leftovers restored its health a little!
Uxie restored 6% of its health.
Trick's leftovers restored its health a little!
Trick restored 0% of its health.
---
Uxie used U-turn.
Trick lost 15% of its health.
opponent switched in Primeape (lvl 100 Primeape ?).
Pointed stones dug into Primeape.
Primeape lost 2% of its health.
opponent's Primeape fainted.
Trick used Will-o-wisp.
But there was no target!
Trick's leftovers restored its health a little!
Trick restored 6% of its health.
Trick fell asleep!
---
opponent switched in Rhyperior (lvl 100 Rhyperior ?).
Pointed stones dug into Rhyperior.
Rhyperior lost 6% of its health.
make it rain switched in Troll (lvl 100 Milotic ?).
Pointed stones dug into Troll.
Troll lost 12% of its health.
Rhyperior used Rock Polish.
Rhyperior's speed was sharply raised.
Troll's leftovers restored its health a little!
Troll restored 6% of its health.
---
Rhyperior used Earthquake.
Troll lost 55% of its health.
Rhyperior lost 10% of its health.
Troll used Surf.
It's super effective!
Rhyperior lost 68% of its health.
opponent's Rhyperior fainted.
Troll's leftovers restored its health a little!
Troll restored 6% of its health.
---
opponent switched in Venusaur (lvl 100 Venusaur ?).
Pointed stones dug into Venusaur.
Venusaur lost 12% of its health.
Venusaur used Synthesis.
Venusaur restored 36% of its health.
Troll used Surf.
It's not very effective...
Venusaur lost 18% of its health.
Troll's leftovers restored its health a little!
Troll restored 6% of its health.
---
Venusaur used Sludge Bomb.
Troll lost 35% of its health.
Venusaur lost 10% of its health.
Troll used Recover.
Troll restored 50% of its health.
Troll's leftovers restored its health a little!
Troll restored 6% of its health.
---
Venusaur used Leaf Storm.
It's super effective!
Troll lost 72% of its health.
make it rain's Troll fainted.
Venusaur's special attack was harshly lowered.
Venusaur lost 10% of its health.
---
make it rain switched in Turn (lvl 100 Scyther ?).
Pointed stones dug into Turn.
Turn lost 50% of its health.
opponent switched in Uxie (lvl 100 Uxie).
Pointed stones dug into Uxie.
Uxie lost 12% of its health.
Turn used Aerial Ace.
Uxie lost 34% of its health.
Uxie's leftovers restored its health a little!
Uxie restored 6% of its health.
---
make it rain switched in Trick (lvl 100 Spiritomb ?).
Trick is exerting its pressure!
Pointed stones dug into Trick.
Trick lost 12% of its health.
Uxie used Zen Headbutt.
It doesn't affect Trick...
Uxie's leftovers restored its health a little!
Uxie restored 6% of its health.
Trick's leftovers restored its health a little!
Trick restored 6% of its health.
---
Trick is fast asleep!
Uxie used U-turn.
Trick lost 13% of its health.
opponent switched in Venusaur (lvl 100 Venusaur ?).
Pointed stones dug into Venusaur.
Venusaur lost 12% of its health.
Trick's leftovers restored its health a little!
Trick restored 6% of its health.
---
Trick is fast asleep!
Venusaur used Synthesis.
Venusaur restored 50% of its health.
Trick's leftovers restored its health a little!
Trick restored 6% of its health.
---
Venusaur used Leaf Storm.
Venusaur's attack missed!
Trick is fast asleep!
Trick's leftovers restored its health a little!
Trick restored 6% of its health.
---
Venusaur used Leaf Storm.
Trick lost 87% of its health.
Venusaur's special attack was harshly lowered.
Venusaur lost 10% of its health.
Trick is fast asleep!
Trick's leftovers restored its health a little!
Trick restored 6% of its health.
---
Venusaur used Sludge Bomb.
It's not very effective...
Trick lost 10% of its health.
make it rain's Trick fainted.
Venusaur lost 10% of its health.
---
make it rain switched in Turn (lvl 100 Scyther ?).
Pointed stones dug into Turn.
Turn lost 50% of its health.
Turn used Aerial Ace.
It's super effective!
Venusaur lost 80% of its health.
opponent's Venusaur fainted.
---
opponent switched in Uxie (lvl 100 Uxie).
Pointed stones dug into Uxie.
Uxie lost 12% of its health.
Turn used Aerial Ace.
Uxie lost 33% of its health.
opponent's Uxie fainted.
make it rain wins!
opponent has left the room.

I am not going to try to tell you that was the best game ever for either of us, but it shows what it can do that other Toxicing fire types can't do.
 
I'm not convinced by the log, because Clefable isn't even hurt by the poison, and because regular Houndooms do a much better job of killing it. Then again, it is just one log, and if you can post a couple more that show it doing a better job, then I will be convinced and throw my support for you. Good luck.
 
Recognize that a Standard Houndoom taks around 70% from the same Venu Sludge Bomb, and therefore would not have been a good counter to Venu there.

Whether Clefable was affected by the Toxic or not, Taunt proved its worth in that game.
 
I forgot about LO on Venusaur. Whoops...

I also see what you mean about Taunt and Clefable. Since Clefable wasn't healing, then it obviously wasn't holding Leftovers. Therefore, you knew something was up with it, and it may have had an item which could have been Tricked onto Houndoom. In that scenario, it worked out well, and props for that.

However, it mentions facing off against Milotic, which I didn't see in the log. Once you have a battle in which this occurs, then I'll make my decision. Still, I will admit that I am liking this set a little bit more, and I wish you continued luck with it.
 
I don't think Taunt gives this set enough of an advantage on other bulky Fire-types, like Arcanine and Moltres. Sure, Houndoom has Early Bird, and it might work once, but after that your opponent is gonna know what's up and use that turn to switch to another Pokemon / sweeper / whatever and abuse the fact that Houndoom can't do anything.

Arcanine has higher overall bulk, Intimidate, reliable recovery, and Extremespeed. Moltres has Pressure, reliable recovery, better resistances, more overall bulk, and a Ground immunity. I don't see how Houndoom matches up against them, especially since this set doesn't even beat Milotic and has no Speed behind it. It's a sad day when Houndoom gets outsped and OHKOed by a Toxicroak or Absol. I think this should be OC at best.
 
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