[OVERVIEW]
Consistent with its terrifying appearance, Kabutops is a unique and dangerous sweeper. With Swords Dance boosting its already high Attack, it can quickly become a terror to deal with, and the looming possibility of an Ancient Power boost can cause opponents to dread confrontations with this freakish fossil. Unfortunately, the fact that Kabutops runs such a move in its standard set should allow one to infer that Kabutops is lacking in the movepool department; notably, it lacks access to Rock Slide and Earthquake. Kabutops also has rather low HP and Special Defense stats, meaning it must move with care to ensure that it has enough HP left after setting up to take one or two foes down with it. Moreover, while its typing and decent Speed stat grant it winning matchups against all three of Nidoqueen, Granbull, and Scyther, it is far from a reliable response to any of these Pokemon. Instead, it is best played aggressively and, ideally, with screen support to maximize its opportunity to break through the opponent's defenses.
[SET]
name: Swords Dance Sweeper
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Ancient Power
move 3: Hidden Power Ground / Submission
move 4: Hydro Pump / Double-Edge
item: Leftovers
[SET COMMENTS]
Set Description
=========
Kabutops primarily functions as a wallbreaker and sweeper, and its access to Swords Dance allows it to fulfill this role admirably despite its lack of high-Base Power STAB attacks. Kabutops can hit some foes reasonably hard before using Swords Dance, but to break through GSC UU's bulkier foes such as Slowbro and Blastoise, it will need to boost to +2 or even +4 Attack. Once boosted, there are virtually no foes that can reliably put a stop to its deadly mix of physical coverage and STAB Hydro Pump. Its primary physical STAB attack, Ancient Power, is surprisingly powerful, OHKOing Scyther when unboosted and 2HKOing a wide variety of foes that do not resist it after a boost. Kabutops can also realistically sweep an entire opposing team if it manages to acquire the fabled Ancient Power boost, which allows it to survive various attacks, boosts both its physical and special attacks, and allows it to outspeed literally all unboosted foes. Hidden Power Ground allows Kabutops to deal substantial damage to Electric-types such as Magneton and Ampharos as well as Qwilfish, one of the most common Pokemon in the tier and one whose high Speed, deceptively solid bulk, and access to Haze make it difficult for Kabutops to achieve a sweep. Alternatively, Kabutops can use Submission to maximize its chances against Granbull while still dealing decent damage to Magneton and hitting Rock-types such as Omastar and opposing Kabutops for heavy damage. Hydro Pump is recommended as the fourth attack, as it allows Kabutops to 2HKO Nidoqueen without the need to boost its Attack, a trait that is highly valuable. However, Double-Edge can also be used in this slot and is Kabutops's strongest available physical attack aside from Hyper Beam. Without Double-Edge, Kabutops notably fails to 2HKO Quagsire, Blastoise, and Slowking after reaching +2 Attack, although only Quagsire 2HKOes it in return with its standard set.
Team Options
========
Kabutops is a great addition to a team that can make use of an offensive sweeper. It provides little defensive utility, as even with its resistance to Normal, it performs inconsistently against Curse Granbull due to Hydro Pump's imperfect accuracy and Granbull's tendency to run RestTalk. For a more consistent approach to taking on Granbull, Haunter makes for a useful teammate and doubles as a Pokemon that can use Explosion to take down problematic foes like Electabuzz, Ampharos, and Bellossom for Kabutops. Similarly, while a healthy Kabutops can survive a +2 Hidden Power Ground from Scyther, Scyther's access to Baton Pass can foil Kabutops's attempts at threatening it and leave it to fend against a boosted foe that can OHKO it. Therefore, while Kabutops's somewhat useful defensive typing should be taken into consideration, it is Kabutops's offensive prowess that should primarily influence your teambuilding decisions. As one of the best wallbreakers in the tier, Kabutops appreciates being paired with other sweepers such as Pinsir, Scyther, and Sandslash that can take advantage of bulky foes having been weakened or else weaken them for Kabutops. Scyther deserves a special mention due to its ability to pass Swords Dance boosts to Kabutops, although the two of them share a common weakness to Electric, so the support of Ground-types such as Nidoqueen, Piloswine, Quagsire, and Sandslash is also welcome. Hypno and Bellossom are two potential teammates that can provide helpful paralysis, sleep, and screen support to Kabutops and its fellow sweepers. Kabutops particularly benefits from Qwilfish being paralyzed before it attempts a sweep, and Bellossom is great at drawing Qwilfish in for the purpose of paralyzing it. As Kabutops has somewhat respectable bulk for a sweeper and a fairly uncommon 4x weakness, it can also make fantastic use of screen support to mitigate its weaknesses to Ground and Electric. In addition to Hypno and Bellossom, Mr. Mime can also provide this support and potentially create opportunities for Kabutops to switch in with Encore, but it lacks the bulk of other supporters mentioned.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
========
Hidden Power Rock can be chosen over Ancient Power for its extra power, but the difference in damage is not all that big, Kabutops must sacrifice a chunk of HP to use it due to DV requirements, and using it means that Kabutops can't use Hidden Power Ground; also, Ancient Power's secondary effect is very useful when it activates. Kabutops can use Surf over Hydro Pump, but it would then miss out on the critical unboosted 2HKO on Nidoqueen. Hidden Power Bug is another alternative that can 2HKO both Slowbro and Bellossom at +2 Attack, although it has worse general coverage and thus can be difficult to fit on a set. Giga Drain is a decent surprise option for hitting Quagsire, Omastar, and opposing Kabutops, although it fails to 2HKO Quagsire consistently. Kabutops learns Rapid Spin, but the move is illegal with Swords Dance, which means that Kabutops essentially loses all of its damage-dealing potential if it uses it. Similarly, Flail is not available with Swords Dance, which severely limits the move's viability.
Checks and Counters
========
**Grass-types**: Bellossom, Victreebel, and Vileplume counter Kabutops as long as they have a Grass-type STAB attack. Not only do they potentially OHKO Kabutops, but Kabutops also fails to come close to OHKOing any of them after a Swords Dance boost, and the Grass-types all have instant recovery to avoid being worn down. However, Jumpluff is usually 2HKOed by Ancient Power and is therefore a shaky check, despite having access to Encore.
**Electric-types**: Electabuzz and Ampharos make for solid answers to Kabutops, easily OHKOing it with Thunder. Both of them also avoid the 2HKO from Hidden Power Ground, although Electabuzz misses the OHKO on Kabutops if it has Thunderbolt and is usually OHKOed by +2 Hidden Power Ground after Spikes. Magneton takes more than 75% from unboosted Hidden Power Ground and should avoid switching into Kabutops, although it usually can survive a +2 Submission. Lanturn can survive a +2 Hidden Power Ground easily, but it can only OHKO Kabutops in return a third of the time, even with Thunder. Although less common, Electrode usually OHKOes Kabutops with Thunder and is rarely OHKOed by +2 Hidden Power Ground. Pikachu easily OHKOes Kabutops with Thunderbolt, but it cannot switch into it safely.
**Bulky Water-types**: Slowbro deals almost half of Kabutops's health with STAB Surf and is only 3HKOed by +2 Ancient Power around 20% of the time. Slowking also has a solid matchup against Kabutops thanks to RestTalk and its powerful STAB attacks, despite having lower Defense than Slowbro. However, if Kabutops boosts to +4, it reliably 2HKOes Slowking and has good odds to 2HKO Slowbro. Blastoise fares worse, losing to Kabutops if it switches in on Swords Dance most of the time. However, its STAB Surf can still weaken Kabutops significantly before it goes down. Lastly, Quagsire is the most reliable Water-type check of them all thanks to its resistance to Rock and ability to 2HKO Kabutops with Earthquake. However, it is 2HKOed by +2 Double-Edge should Kabutops have it.
**Mr. Mime and Kadabra**: These two Psychic-types outspeed Kabutops and have numerous ways to deal with it. Kadabra can lock Kabutops into Swords Dance with Encore and hit it hard with Psychic or Thunder Punch. Mr. Mime not only has Encore but also has Hypnosis and Thunder to threaten Kabutops. However, Kabutops can potentially 2HKO Kadabra if it catches it with Ancient Power or Double-Edge on the switch and also hits Mr. Mime fairly hard with its unboosted attacks.
**Qwilfish**: Qwilfish outspeeds Kabutops and can nullify its boosts with Haze. It also hits Kabutops fairly hard with Hydro Pump, so even if Qwilfish doesn't finish the job itself, it can weaken Kabutops for a teammate to finish it off safely.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Earthworm, 15210]]
- Quality checked by: [[Century Express, 234737], [Diophantine, 370164]]
- Grammar checked by: [[Empress, 175616], [deetah, 297659]]
Consistent with its terrifying appearance, Kabutops is a unique and dangerous sweeper. With Swords Dance boosting its already high Attack, it can quickly become a terror to deal with, and the looming possibility of an Ancient Power boost can cause opponents to dread confrontations with this freakish fossil. Unfortunately, the fact that Kabutops runs such a move in its standard set should allow one to infer that Kabutops is lacking in the movepool department; notably, it lacks access to Rock Slide and Earthquake. Kabutops also has rather low HP and Special Defense stats, meaning it must move with care to ensure that it has enough HP left after setting up to take one or two foes down with it. Moreover, while its typing and decent Speed stat grant it winning matchups against all three of Nidoqueen, Granbull, and Scyther, it is far from a reliable response to any of these Pokemon. Instead, it is best played aggressively and, ideally, with screen support to maximize its opportunity to break through the opponent's defenses.
[SET]
name: Swords Dance Sweeper
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Ancient Power
move 3: Hidden Power Ground / Submission
move 4: Hydro Pump / Double-Edge
item: Leftovers
[SET COMMENTS]
Set Description
=========
Kabutops primarily functions as a wallbreaker and sweeper, and its access to Swords Dance allows it to fulfill this role admirably despite its lack of high-Base Power STAB attacks. Kabutops can hit some foes reasonably hard before using Swords Dance, but to break through GSC UU's bulkier foes such as Slowbro and Blastoise, it will need to boost to +2 or even +4 Attack. Once boosted, there are virtually no foes that can reliably put a stop to its deadly mix of physical coverage and STAB Hydro Pump. Its primary physical STAB attack, Ancient Power, is surprisingly powerful, OHKOing Scyther when unboosted and 2HKOing a wide variety of foes that do not resist it after a boost. Kabutops can also realistically sweep an entire opposing team if it manages to acquire the fabled Ancient Power boost, which allows it to survive various attacks, boosts both its physical and special attacks, and allows it to outspeed literally all unboosted foes. Hidden Power Ground allows Kabutops to deal substantial damage to Electric-types such as Magneton and Ampharos as well as Qwilfish, one of the most common Pokemon in the tier and one whose high Speed, deceptively solid bulk, and access to Haze make it difficult for Kabutops to achieve a sweep. Alternatively, Kabutops can use Submission to maximize its chances against Granbull while still dealing decent damage to Magneton and hitting Rock-types such as Omastar and opposing Kabutops for heavy damage. Hydro Pump is recommended as the fourth attack, as it allows Kabutops to 2HKO Nidoqueen without the need to boost its Attack, a trait that is highly valuable. However, Double-Edge can also be used in this slot and is Kabutops's strongest available physical attack aside from Hyper Beam. Without Double-Edge, Kabutops notably fails to 2HKO Quagsire, Blastoise, and Slowking after reaching +2 Attack, although only Quagsire 2HKOes it in return with its standard set.
Team Options
========
Kabutops is a great addition to a team that can make use of an offensive sweeper. It provides little defensive utility, as even with its resistance to Normal, it performs inconsistently against Curse Granbull due to Hydro Pump's imperfect accuracy and Granbull's tendency to run RestTalk. For a more consistent approach to taking on Granbull, Haunter makes for a useful teammate and doubles as a Pokemon that can use Explosion to take down problematic foes like Electabuzz, Ampharos, and Bellossom for Kabutops. Similarly, while a healthy Kabutops can survive a +2 Hidden Power Ground from Scyther, Scyther's access to Baton Pass can foil Kabutops's attempts at threatening it and leave it to fend against a boosted foe that can OHKO it. Therefore, while Kabutops's somewhat useful defensive typing should be taken into consideration, it is Kabutops's offensive prowess that should primarily influence your teambuilding decisions. As one of the best wallbreakers in the tier, Kabutops appreciates being paired with other sweepers such as Pinsir, Scyther, and Sandslash that can take advantage of bulky foes having been weakened or else weaken them for Kabutops. Scyther deserves a special mention due to its ability to pass Swords Dance boosts to Kabutops, although the two of them share a common weakness to Electric, so the support of Ground-types such as Nidoqueen, Piloswine, Quagsire, and Sandslash is also welcome. Hypno and Bellossom are two potential teammates that can provide helpful paralysis, sleep, and screen support to Kabutops and its fellow sweepers. Kabutops particularly benefits from Qwilfish being paralyzed before it attempts a sweep, and Bellossom is great at drawing Qwilfish in for the purpose of paralyzing it. As Kabutops has somewhat respectable bulk for a sweeper and a fairly uncommon 4x weakness, it can also make fantastic use of screen support to mitigate its weaknesses to Ground and Electric. In addition to Hypno and Bellossom, Mr. Mime can also provide this support and potentially create opportunities for Kabutops to switch in with Encore, but it lacks the bulk of other supporters mentioned.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
========
Hidden Power Rock can be chosen over Ancient Power for its extra power, but the difference in damage is not all that big, Kabutops must sacrifice a chunk of HP to use it due to DV requirements, and using it means that Kabutops can't use Hidden Power Ground; also, Ancient Power's secondary effect is very useful when it activates. Kabutops can use Surf over Hydro Pump, but it would then miss out on the critical unboosted 2HKO on Nidoqueen. Hidden Power Bug is another alternative that can 2HKO both Slowbro and Bellossom at +2 Attack, although it has worse general coverage and thus can be difficult to fit on a set. Giga Drain is a decent surprise option for hitting Quagsire, Omastar, and opposing Kabutops, although it fails to 2HKO Quagsire consistently. Kabutops learns Rapid Spin, but the move is illegal with Swords Dance, which means that Kabutops essentially loses all of its damage-dealing potential if it uses it. Similarly, Flail is not available with Swords Dance, which severely limits the move's viability.
Checks and Counters
========
**Grass-types**: Bellossom, Victreebel, and Vileplume counter Kabutops as long as they have a Grass-type STAB attack. Not only do they potentially OHKO Kabutops, but Kabutops also fails to come close to OHKOing any of them after a Swords Dance boost, and the Grass-types all have instant recovery to avoid being worn down. However, Jumpluff is usually 2HKOed by Ancient Power and is therefore a shaky check, despite having access to Encore.
**Electric-types**: Electabuzz and Ampharos make for solid answers to Kabutops, easily OHKOing it with Thunder. Both of them also avoid the 2HKO from Hidden Power Ground, although Electabuzz misses the OHKO on Kabutops if it has Thunderbolt and is usually OHKOed by +2 Hidden Power Ground after Spikes. Magneton takes more than 75% from unboosted Hidden Power Ground and should avoid switching into Kabutops, although it usually can survive a +2 Submission. Lanturn can survive a +2 Hidden Power Ground easily, but it can only OHKO Kabutops in return a third of the time, even with Thunder. Although less common, Electrode usually OHKOes Kabutops with Thunder and is rarely OHKOed by +2 Hidden Power Ground. Pikachu easily OHKOes Kabutops with Thunderbolt, but it cannot switch into it safely.
**Bulky Water-types**: Slowbro deals almost half of Kabutops's health with STAB Surf and is only 3HKOed by +2 Ancient Power around 20% of the time. Slowking also has a solid matchup against Kabutops thanks to RestTalk and its powerful STAB attacks, despite having lower Defense than Slowbro. However, if Kabutops boosts to +4, it reliably 2HKOes Slowking and has good odds to 2HKO Slowbro. Blastoise fares worse, losing to Kabutops if it switches in on Swords Dance most of the time. However, its STAB Surf can still weaken Kabutops significantly before it goes down. Lastly, Quagsire is the most reliable Water-type check of them all thanks to its resistance to Rock and ability to 2HKO Kabutops with Earthquake. However, it is 2HKOed by +2 Double-Edge should Kabutops have it.
**Mr. Mime and Kadabra**: These two Psychic-types outspeed Kabutops and have numerous ways to deal with it. Kadabra can lock Kabutops into Swords Dance with Encore and hit it hard with Psychic or Thunder Punch. Mr. Mime not only has Encore but also has Hypnosis and Thunder to threaten Kabutops. However, Kabutops can potentially 2HKO Kadabra if it catches it with Ancient Power or Double-Edge on the switch and also hits Mr. Mime fairly hard with its unboosted attacks.
**Qwilfish**: Qwilfish outspeeds Kabutops and can nullify its boosts with Haze. It also hits Kabutops fairly hard with Hydro Pump, so even if Qwilfish doesn't finish the job itself, it can weaken Kabutops for a teammate to finish it off safely.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Earthworm, 15210]]
- Quality checked by: [[Century Express, 234737], [Diophantine, 370164]]
- Grammar checked by: [[Empress, 175616], [deetah, 297659]]
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