[Monotype/Water] Empoleon

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dawnmidst

[OVERVIEW]

Strengths:
- Access to great supporting moves in Phazing and Hazard Control
- Able to take multiple Grass Type attacks
- Immune to Toxic
- Solid Defensive Typing
- Great Special Bulk
Weaknesses:
- Weak to two common Offensive Types in the Metagame (Ground, Fighting)
- Lack of reliable recovery
-

[SET]
Name: Special Wall
Move 1: Scald
Move 2: Defog
Move 3: Roar / Ice Beam
Move 4: Stealth Rock / Toxic
Item: Leftovers / Mental Herb
Ability: Torrent
Nature: Calm
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
- Scald will be your only attacking move, it nice for that 30% burn chance which seems to happen a lot of the time, this is especially helpful if a physical attacker switches in and for it not being complete Taunt bait.
- Defog is there to maintain Hazard Control, which is really helpful on Balance and Stall teams so that bulky Pokemon aren't worn down easily.
- Roar is there for Phazing capability against Serperior at +2, Manaphy, Volcarona, and Bulky Mega Scizor, and for Pokes that you want off the field for whatever reason.
- Stealth Rock is always nice to wear down the opponents team and break sashes, which is necessary in this meta
- Toxic can wear down walls and potentially render them useless.
- Knock Off provides useful utility in item removal by removing Eviolite from Chansey and P2 in the Normal Defensive Core, and common items on walls such as Leftovers and Rocky Helmet. It also hits a lot of Psychic and Ghost Types for supereffective damage that spam Eball against Water
- Ice Beam can be situationally be used to 2HKO Serperior, although Roar is still recommended over it

Moves
========
- Leftovers is nice because it is Empoleon's only form of recover (Rest is not as viable on it), however Mental Herb can be used in case of a Taunt Serperior or other Set Up Mon with Taunt. Leftovers is still recommended over it.
- 252 HP / 252 SpD for maximum Special Defense capability

Usage Tips
========
- Try avoiding staying in on Physical Attackers unless you absolutely have to phaze knowing you live or if you resist all of its STAB
- Watch out for Knock Off because it removes Empoleon's only form of recovery and it makes it easier to whittle down by residual damage, and can potentially limited tanking potential
- Bring in against most special sweepers to phaze them such as previously mentioned ones like Manaphy and Volcarona, and also things that spam Eball against Water such as Latias and Meloetta
- Be weary of Focus Blast, which is commonly ran on Special Psychic Types like Gardevoir, and a lot of Special mons in general like Zard Y and Tornadus-T (which can also run Superpower)
- When playing against Serperior, make sure to sack a useless mon for the match-up and then switch in Empoleon to fire off a Roar or an Ice Beam

Team Options
========
- Empoleon fits best in Balance and Stall Water teams
- A Pokemon with and Electric Immunity such as Swampert or Lanturn is nice to stop momentum the other team by absorbing supereffective Electric Type moves, especially Volt Switch. In return, Empoleon provides a Grass switch-in to easily preserve the core. Lanturn also provides Heal Bell support
- Alomomola can be paired up with it on Stall to provide Wish Support for Empoleon, since it lacks reliable recovery, although no type coverage is provided
- Rotom-W is a Solid switch-in to Lando-T and EQ spammers due to a Ground Type immunity, as long as it is run Physically Defensive to bulk U-Turns and Coverage moves
- Azumarill is nice as a Fighting Resist and a Wallbreaker. It switches in on a lot of checks and counter of Empoleon such as Hoopa-U, Mega Sableye, and Keldeo. Empoleon also provides a Poison Resist for Azu

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
A Defiant, Physical set can be ran on a Hazard Stack team on an incoming Defog, and it has quite a diverse Physical movepool to work with. However, Empoleon has an underwhelming Attack Stat of 86, and without Hazard Support, it is not near capable doing an amount of damage as Bisharp, and its priority is much weaker as well, making it harder to clean up. It is also generally outclassed by Azumarill as a Setup Mon and Band mon.

An AV set can also be ran, but you miss out on the great utility Empoleon is capable of for more damage.

Checks and Counters
===================

Stallbreakers - Taunt and Substitute mons with supereffective attacks are very good against Empoleon. Includes mons like Hoopa and Serperior

Wallbreakers - Powerful supereffective Fighting and Ground attacks absolutely decimate Empoleon. Includes mons such as Diggersby, Specs Keldeo, and Mega Medicham

Mega Swampert - Can fire off an Earthquake eliminating a good wall against Swift Swim teams

Mega Sableye - Can easily start setting up CM and can predict incoming Azumarill with Will-O-Wisp

Landorus-T - Can fire off powerful EQs and can keep momentum with U-Turn. Double Dance can also threaten a Physical Wall on the switch with Soft Sand
 
Last edited:
Don't split Checks & Counters into each individuals. Keep them together and specify in the description which is which. The proper format is:

Stallbreakers: Taunt and Substitute mons with supereffective attacks are very good against Empoleon. Includes mons like Hoopa and Serperior

Wallbreakers: Powerful supereffective Fighting and Ground attacks absolutely decimate Empoleon. Includes mons such as Diggersby, Specs Keldeo, and Mega Medicham

Mega Swampert: Can fire off an Earthquake eliminating a good wall against Swift Swim teams

Mega Sableye: Can easily start setting up CM and can predict incoming Azumarill with Will-O-Wisp

Landorus-T: Can fire off powerful EQs and can keep momentum with U-Turn. Double Dance can also threaten a Physical Wall on the switch with Soft Sand
Click to expand...

Can't comment on the content, as I'm not QC, but I figured I should mention this before you advance further! :)
 
We talked on Showdown and he said that this is ready for QC. At the top, please click Thread Tools and Edit Title to change the prefix to Quality Control.

Overview:
Entry hazard control is generally a reference to removal or prevention. Add that Empoleon has access to Stealth Rock of its own.

Explain more what the defensive typing does for Empoleon. It has a key neutrality to Grass and resistances to Dragon and Fairy as well.

Set:
I don't think Mental Herb is a thing, so I'd remove the slash for that.
On the moves, Ice Beam is not really worth slashing in my opinion, but I'd put it in moves. Instead, I'd slash Roar / Toxic, and leave Stealth Rock unslashed, as that is one of Empoleon's biggest niches. Here's what it looks like now:

[SET]
Name: Special Wall
Move 1: Scald
Move 2: Defog
Move 3: Stealth Rock
Move 4: Roar / Toxic
Item: Leftovers
Ability: Torrent
Nature: Calm
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD

Moves:
Don't say that Scald is the "only" attacking move when you do discuss other attacking moves.

Also add that Roar's shuffling takes advantage of the Stealth Rock that Empoleon sets too.

Say that Toxic can be used over Roar if defensive Pokemon (walls) are more threatening than offensive Pokemon are to the team. Toxic can still hit setup sweepers if necessary, but does lack the ability to go through Substitute or target Steel-types, although most Steel-types struggle to break through Water teams anyway.

I would move Knock Off to Other Options, instead of having it here.

Ice Beam also gives Empoleon an option to hit Dragon-types for decent damage, but doesn't really do that much damage due to Empoleon's lack of power.

Set Details:
You have two sections labeled "Moves" so change the second one to "Set Details", which is what it should be.

Don't mention Mental Herb, don't think that's a real thing.

You could say that Shuca Berry can be used to let Empoleon take a Ground-type attack. It's especially nice because Water teams generally lack Pokemon that resist Ground attacks.

Make a brief note that Torrent is used to boost the power of Scald when Empoleon is low on health. Defiant is completely useless and actually is counterproductive against Foul Play.

Usage Tips:
You mean "wary" not "weary" for Focus Blast.

Add that Empoleon should look to get Stealth Rock up as soon as possible. It should use its considerable special bulk to do so. If needed, Empoleon should also take these opportunities to Defog before setting up Stealth Rock.

Empoleon should be careful of the likes of Serperior and Bisharp, both of which can take advantage of its Defog to boost their evasion and Attack stats, respectively.

Add that Toxic can be used to cripple Pokemon trying to remove Empoleon's Stealth Rock, such as Zapdos and Staraptor, to make it easier to keep them up.

Just as a note, Ice Beam only really does 50% to Serperior, so make sure to say that only weakened Serperior can be taken out.

Team Options:
I'd include for Alomomola that it's a great physical wall, which can help relieve the pressure on Empoleon.

Gyarados is a great option I think you should add, whether it's Mega or not. It appreciates the Defog and Stealth Rock support Empoleon gives it. In return, it has Intimidate and a Flying typing pre-Mega which lets it take a lot of attacks that are often aimed at Empoleon.

A stallbreaker such as Tail Glow Manaphy would be really useful for breaking down the defensive walls that stop Empoleon cold.

Similarly a wallbreaker such as Keldeo or Volcanion can do just as well. Volcanion also enjoys not having to take Stealth Rock damage every time it switches in.

Other Options:
Knock Off can be here instead?

Chople Berry for Fighting attacks or even Air Balloon?

Defiant set is definitely not worth mentioning, it's really bad.

Checks and Counters:
Change Mega Swampert and Landorus to Ground-types. In general, Ground-types are incredibly difficult for Empoleon to handle.

I don't think Substitute users are good against Empoleon because of Roar. Taunt is very useful though. Those two aren't really stallbreakers. I'd use Mew and Sableye as two good examples.

Add Fighting-types in general, which defeat Empoleon easily due to their powerful STAB attacks that often hit physically.

Electric-types are also problematic, since their STAB attacks will do serious damage, although they rarely OHKO Empoleon due to its special bulk.

I'd add Defensive Pokemon as a check because they really don't care much about what Empoleon does. Since Empoleon lacks recovery, most of them will beat it. Those such as Chansey can set up Stealth Rock on Empoleon pretty safely as well.

Nice job, there were mainly small details missing. QC 1/3
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