[OVERVIEW]
**Water**:
Starmie is a premier addition to most Water teams thanks to its fantastic Speed and decent Special Attack stat. Its Speed lets it outspeed and KO many threats to Water-type teams such as Mega Diancie, Breloom, and Keldeo. In addition to this, Starmie's Psychic typing makes it one of the few Mega Venusaur checks on Water that can also revenge kill Serperior. Other than its STAB moves, it has good coverage in Thunderbolt and Ice Beam. To complement its great movepool, Starmie has a fantastic ability in Analytic, which lets it capitalize on the fact that it can force switches and punish incoming foes. Starmie is not lacking on the support side either, as it can function as a reliable offensive Rapid Spin user and has access to Recover to improve its longevity. However, it is hugely let down by its rather average bulk, which makes it vulnerable to attacks from offensive Pokemon like Mega Gardevoir and Dragonite. Starmie's Psychic typing comes with drawbacks as well, as it makes Starmie weak to common moves like Knock Off, U-turn, and Sucker Punch. Without Natural Cure, Starmie is worn down very easily if inflicted with status effects like burn or poison, which, in accumulation with Life Orb damage and entry hazards, makes it very vulnerable to faster revenge killers and priority moves.
[SET]
name: Life Orb Attacker (Water)
move 1: Hydro Pump
move 2: Psychic
move 3: Ice Beam
move 4: Rapid Spin
item: Life Orb
ability: Analytic
nature: Timid
evs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
ivs: 29 HP
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Hydro Pump is Starmie's strongest move and lets it beat Ground-, Fire-, and Rock-type Pokemon like Hippowdon, Torkoal, and Mega Diancie. Psychic is Starmie's secondary STAB move and allows Starmie to beat Fighting-type Pokemon such as Keldeo, Breloom, and Heracross while also being a 100% accurate STAB move. It is used over Psyshock to deal more damage to Mega Venusaur, which is a threat to most Water-type teams. Ice Beam lets Starmie threaten Flying- and Dragon-type Pokemon like Dragonite and Landorus, and it also hits Grass-types like Serperior super effectively. Rapid Spin allows Starmie to clear away entry hazards for its teammates. Thunderbolt can be used to threaten opposing Water- and Flying-type Pokemon such as Charizard, Gyarados, and Skarmory. Recover can be used as an alternative to Rapid Spin to increase Starmie's longevity for teams that already have an entry hazard remover.
Set Details
========
Maximum Speed investment with a Timid nature lets Starmie outspeed threats like Landorus, Latios, Serperior, and Keldeo. Maximum Special Attack investment lets Starmie hit as hard as it can without a boosting nature. Life Orb increases Starmie's Special Attack even more at the cost of losing a bit of HP at the end of every successful attack. Analytic is used to punish Pokemon that try to switch into Starmie, particularly faster threats, by boosting the power of the move it uses. 29 HP IVs are used to drop Starmie's HP value to 259; this reduces Starmie's Life Orb recoil from 26 to 25 at the cost of 2 HP points.
Usage Tips
========
Starmie's wide movepool lets it be useful in almost every matchup. You should take advantage of this and try to weaken the opposing team as much as possible with it. Since Starmie's bulk is rather average, it should be sent out when a teammate faints or against a low HP foe that it outspeeds. Starmie functions great both early-game and late-game. Its good offensive movepool lets it weaken and KO most Pokemon, allowing its teammates to clean up later, while its good Speed lets it clean up late-game. Make use of Analytic and try to predict what the opponent is going to switch into, as most of the time, an Analytic-boosted hit will render most walls weakened. As Starmie will most of the time be the only form of hazard control on Water-type teams, Rapid Spin should be used liberally to get rid of entry hazards. If running Analytic, Starmie should avoid residual damage from status effects, as along with Life Orb damage, it will wear down Starmie very easily.
Team Options
========
Most Water-types appreciate Starmie's ability to clear away entry hazards and wallbreak, letting it fit on most offensive teams easily. Empoleon can set up Stealth Rock for Starmie to help weaken opposing foes. Empoleon especially appreciates Starmie running Rapid Spin, as it then doesn't have to waste a moveslot on Defog and can run a more useful move. Along with Empoleon, Tentacruel provides a solid Grass-type move switch-in for Starmie. Tentacruel too can run Rapid Spin, allowing Starmie to run Thunderbolt over it. Tentacruel also can run Toxic Spikes to wear down walls that stall out Starmie. Lanturn and Swampert provide an Electric immunity for Starmie. Lanturn can even help with Starmie's problem with status effects through Heal Bell and pivot it in safely through Volt Switch, while Mega Swampert can set up Rain Dance or Stealth Rock to help Starmie KO Pokemon more easily. Rotom-W provides a Ground immunity and is neutral to Electric-type moves. Rotom-W can pivot out with Volt Switch and wear down Pokemon with Will-O-Wisp, allowing Starmie to clean up later. Keldeo and Azumarill are strong wallbreakers that beat Dark-type Pokemon with their respective secondary STAB moves, while also helping Starmie get past walls like Chansey and Porygon2. In return, Starmie gets rid of Flying-type Pokemon for Keldeo and Poison-type Pokemon for Azumarill. Mega Gyarados appreciates Starmie's ability to clear away Stealth Rock for it as well as its ability to beat physically defensive Pokemon like Skarmory, Hippowdon, and Mandibuzz. Volcanion is a fantastic partner for Starmie because it helps with Starmie's weakness to Grass-type moves, while Starmie can clear away entry hazards, especially Stealth Rock, for Volcanion. Mega Sharpedo and Crawdaunt appreciate Starmie's ability to clear out Fighting-type Pokemon for them. On the other hand, Crawdaunt and Mega Sharpedo can beat Ghost-type Pokemon that might trouble Starmie.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
**Water**:
Hidden Power Fire can be used to hit Steel-type Pokemon such as Ferrothorn and Scizor. Power Gem can be used to OHKO Mega Charizard Y in the sun, though outside of that, it has no real use, as it can't even outdamage an unresisted Hydro Pump. A defensive set with Toxic and Recover can be used; however, it is very situational and Water-type teams prefer Starmie's offensive set more.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Water**:
**Jellicent**: Jellicent is a reliable counter to Starmie. It can spinblock, is immune to Hydro Pump, and can easily switch into Psychic even after Stealth Rock damage.
**Specially Defensive Walls**: Pokemon like Chansey, Mew, and Gastrodon easily take all of Starmie's attacks and can stall it out with Life Orb damage or Thunder Wave it. However, they fear Toxic from the rare defensive set.
**Faster Pokemon**: Faster Pokemon like Mega Lopunny, Weavile, and Choice Scarf Heracross outspeed Starmie and KO it. However, none of them like to switch into any of its attacks.
**Electric-types**: Electric-type Pokemon such as Raikou, Zapdos, and Mega Ampharos all can take at least one hit from Starmie and OHKO back with a Thunderbolt, while faster threats like Mega Manectric outspeed and KO it. However, all of these Pokemon are checks to Starmie, as none of them can come in on its Analytic-boosted attacks.
**Grass-types**: Although most Grass-types can't switch into an Ice Beam from Starmie, most of them can easily tank one and KO back. Cradily, Celebi, and Ferrothorn all tank an Ice Beam from Starmie and KO back with their respective moves.
**Dark-types**: Dark-type Pokemon like Choice Scarf Hoopa-U and Weavile both outspeed Starmie and OHKO it, while Bisharp can play mind games with Sucker Punch and Knock Off. However, none of these Pokemon can switch into Starmie's attacks.
**Status**: Unless Starmie is running Natural Cure, Life Orb damage in conjunction with entry hazard damage and status effects like burn and poison easily wear down Starmie, making it vulnerable to faster Pokemon and priority moves, while paralysis hinders its Speed greatly.
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