[OVERVIEW]
Kabutops is a threat in UU matches. Its STAB Rock Slide is the strongest in the tier, letting it bulldoze through many common Pokemon, and it packs the necessary coverage to surprise most of its switch-ins with good prediction. Its defensive typing is also decent, giving it useful resistances that let it switch into common threats such as Kangaskhan, Granbull, and Walrein, and smash them to pieces. And while there are several other powerful Rock-types in the tier, Kabutops's solid Speed tier and access to rare utility options like Rapid Spin give it a real case to potentially join your team. Despite these strengths, however, Kabutops struggles to fit into the metagame. Even though it's a Water-type and resists Normal-type attacks, it's too defensively inept to serve as either the Normal resistance or the bulky Water-type that is nigh mandatory on every UU team. Therefore, most teams must stack weaknesses to common types such as Electric, Ground, and Fighting to harness its wallbreaking power. Many of its tools are also better used by other Pokemon. Omastar shares Kabutops's typing while having more set variety and utilizing Swift Swim more effectively; Solrock, Golem, and Aggron have more useful secondary typings with the former two also packing Explosion; and Feraligatr is a better Swords Dance sweeper thanks to its bulk and coverage options.
[SET]
Name: Choice Band
Move 1: Rock Slide
Move 2: Brick Break
Move 3: Hidden Power Flying
Move 4: Double-Edge / Rapid Spin
Item: Choice Band
Ability: Battle Armor / Swift Swim
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 80 HP / 252 Atk / 176 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Set Description
=========
Rock Slide is an incredibly spammable STAB attack that gets boosted into the stratosphere by Choice Band, letting Kabutops threaten massive damage against a wide range of common Pokemon; only Rock resistances, Intimidate users such as Granbull, and incredibly bulky neutral targets such as Blastoise avoid a 2HKO from it. Even these targets aren't always safe either, as Rock Slide comes with a nasty 30% chance to flinch, giving Kabutops a way to escape certain desperate situations. Brick Break covers Granbull, Golem, Cradily, and Aggron and scores a harder hit on the always-important Kangaskhan, potentially OHKOing some offensive variants after Spikes damage; it's also a useful middle-ground move that hits most Rock Slide switch-ins for strong neutral damage. Hidden Power Flying is important to deal with Vileplume as well as Fighting-types such as Hitmontop and Hitmonlee. Since the first three moves score big hits on nearly everything in the tier, the last slot is quite flexible: Double-Edge is the default choice, giving Kabutops a stronger neutral hit than Rock Slide at the cost of recoil. Rapid Spin can also fit here; locking into the move is exploitable, but having the option to remove Spikes in an emergency is a boon to teams that struggle to fit it elsewhere, especially since none of the tier's spinblockers can stand up to Rock Slide. Ice Beam is an offbeat pick that, despite coming from Kabutops's poor Special Attack stat, OHKOes a common check in Gligar, making it an effective lure. Surf also uses Kabutops's weaker offensive stat, but with STAB it can still OHKO Golem and 2HKO every other Ground-type in the tier besides Quagsire. However, both of these special options are risky due to their paltry damage outside of these specific cases.
The given EV spread with an Adamant nature lets Kabutops hit as hard as possible while leveraging its solid Speed. 176 Speed EVs let Kabutops outspeed Adamant Solrock as well as bulky variants of Kangaskhan. A few additional Speed EVs can be added, as the HP investment doesn't hit any specific benchmarks; 224 EVs let Kabutops outrun Jolly Sandslash, for instance. A Jolly nature is potentially rewarding since it gives Kabutops the jump on Adamant Gligar, but the drop in power is instantly noticeable and usually not worthwhile. A Naughty nature should be used with Ice Beam or Surf to guarantee the aforementioned damage benchmarks. Battle Armor is the default ability to protect against untimely critical hits, but Swift Swim can also be useful to revenge kill Rain Dance sweepers such as Rain Dance Omastar and Gorebyss, since Kabutops can outspeed all of them handily and KO them with enough prior chip damage.
Team Options
========
Kabutops generally fits best on offensive paralysis spam archetypes that can lure and disable fast revenge killers that give it trouble; full paralysis also complements Rock Slide's 30% flinch rate, letting Kabutops fire off its strongest move even more freely. The most important thing to keep in mind when building with Kabutops is how to incorporate its awkward defensive profile, given that its team will need to have another Normal resistance and Water-type. Solrock is a great candidate for the former role, as it can accentuate Kabutops's physical bulk with Reflect and help check Normal- and Flying-types (especially Gligar) without making the team worse against Fighting- and Ground-types. Cradily is another option that also checks common Electric-types such as Ampharos, Electabuzz, and Electrode. Slowking is a great Water-type partner that can check Fighting- and Ground-types, spread paralysis with Thunder Wave, and provide a potent win condition with Calm Mind; Walrein also deserves a mention for its great bulk, solid Arcanine matchup, and ability to find entry points for Kabutops with Encore. Thunder Wave Lanturn is another useful partner that checks Electric-types, threatens opposing Water-types, and spreads paralysis, but it's harder to recommend due to its poor Ground-type matchups. Spikes can help pile even more pressure onto Kabutops's switch-ins, but Omastar is awkward to fit alongside it, so it's worth looking at other options such as Qwilfish, Roselia, Cacturne, and Glalie, all of which bring some defensive synergy and other utility such as Self-Destruct, Aromatherapy, Encore, and Taunt, respectively; the former two are great at spreading paralysis for Kabutops as well. Misdreavus is a great partner for blocking Rapid Spi, spreading paralysis, and acting as a pseudo-Normal resistance that also checks Ground-types. Kabutops is crippled by all forms of status, so a cleric such as Ampharos, Vileplume, or the aforementioned Roselia is a great insurance policy for it. Wish support from Kangaskhan or Hypno can also do wonders for its subpar longevity, especially if the team lacks a Rapid Spin user besides Kabutops itself.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Toxic is a reliable tool for dealing with common switch-ins such as Cradily and Hitmontop, potentially crippling them for a long stretch of the game, but other checks including Nidoqueen, Nidoking, Metang, and Aggron are immune to the move, making it a hard sell. Knock Off is an interesting utility move that attempts to let Kabutops outlast its checks by removing their Leftovers and make them more vulnerable to passive damage, but the immediate damage from a Choice Band-boosted attack usually provides more value in the shorter games Kabutops enjoys playing. A Swords Dance set with Rock Slide, Return, and Hidden Power Ground is somewhat usable, but the coverage issues caused by a reliance on Hidden Power for Ground-type coverage make it harder to use and easier to check compared to Feraligatr.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Ground-types**: Every Ground-type commonly seen in UU is a solid switch-in to Rock Slide, making them a headache for Kabutops to deal with. Many of them also resist Kabutops's other moves by virtue of their secondary typings; for instance, Gligar and the Nido twins resist Brick Break, and Golem resists Hidden Power Flying and Double-Edge. However, many of these Pokemon have to watch out for offbeat coverage options, especially Gligar and Golem, which are OHKOed by Ice Beam and Surf, respectively. Quagsire deserves special mention for not caring about any of Kabutops's surprise coverage options, although it still has to fear Double-Edge due to its middling natural bulk.
**Steel-types**: Aggron and Metang shrug off Rock Slide thanks to their resistances and enormous physical bulk, and they even resist most of Kabutops's coverage to boot; however, Aggron has to worry about a potential OHKO from Brick Break.
**Bulky Water-types**: Blastoise, Slowking, and Omastar all tend to run physically defensive EV spreads, which lets them take Kabutops's hits even without resisting them and threaten massive damage in return with their Water-type STAB moves. Blastoise in particular is knocked into Torrent range after two Rock Slides, making it a pain to switch into afterwards. Omastar is easily the shakiest check out of this group, as it's 2HKOed by Brick Break.
**Intimidate Users**: Granbull and Hitmontop are both decent Kabutops checks by virtue of Intimidate, letting them switch into Rock Slide with relative ease and threaten super effective damage in return. However, they must watch out for Brick Break and Hidden Power Flying, respectively. Arcanine can also slow Kabutops's rampage with Intimidate and even OHKO it with Hidden Power Grass, but its Rock weakness means it can only switch into a coverage move.
**Cradily**: Cradily can switch into most of Kabutops's moves and stall them out of PP with Recover. However, it needs to be careful of Brick Break predictions and Rock Slide's flinch chance, both of which can turn the matchup on its head.
**Electric-types**: Common Electric-type attackers such as Electabuzz, Electrode, and Manectric can outspeed and prey on Kabutops's low Special Defense with STAB Thunderbolt, OHKOing it with ease. However, they can't dream of switching into Kabutops since they're all deleted by Choice Band-boosted Rock Slide, limiting them to aggressive double switches or a revenge killing role.
**Residual damage**: Kabutops is liable to get worn down quickly during a battle due to its vulnerability to Spikes and status, limiting the progress it can make throughout a battle. However, Rapid Spin and/or cleric support can help with these problems to some extent.
[CREDITS]
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/stupidflandrs48.633500/
Quality checked by:
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Grammar checked by:
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