I've never personally understood the hype surrounding Seismitoad. It may have something to do with me being absolutely unable to use it to any real effect but I've always found that it suffers from possibly the most severe 4mss I've ever seen while also struggling against the one playstyle that tends to frustrate the average NU team (stall). Seismitoad is absolutely positively trash against any form of competent stall and gives free turns to one of the most common stall spikers, Roselia, who hard counters every set. Status will not stick due to almost every stall team carrying a cleric, and without the threat of Toxic Seismitoad is walled by the omnipresent Alomomola (very depressing). In and of itself Seismitoad just doesn't seem to have that much going for it other than the oft-coveted water/ground typing, failing as a dedicated wall due to less than incredible bulk and lack of reliable recovery, as a bulky attacker with its subpar offensive capabilities and inability to take neutral hits, and as a rain sweeper due to being almost wholly outclassed by either Ludicolo (superior offensive typing, firepower) or Golduck (greater speed, power).
Of course its typing will always be nice, but personally I've found that there's almost always a better fit for whatever team I'm building, Seismitoad is passable at a lot of things but shines at very little. Most of its resistances are on the special side, but almost every special sweeper in the tier carries Grass coverage in the form of Giga Drain, Grass Knot, or HP Grass. It also happens to be just about 4hkoed by Skuntank's Crunch when it holds Dread Plate, which sounds good until you realize that Skuntank is not known for its particularly immense firepower and that Seismitoad has no reliable recovery, you're likely to just get worn out. There's something to be said about the 'unpredictability' of Seismitoad's set but in all honesty I doubt anyone has ever worried about switching their Vileplume or Meganium or Roselia or Alomomola or Lickilicky into Seismitoad all that much as all of Seismitoad's sets threaten essentially the same things, and with those all being staples of NU teams as bulky pivots I've found myself rather frustrated at Seismitoad's lack of production under my command. It does shine against many hyper offense teams and occasionally balance but having a dead weight in the slot against stall, semistall and many balance teams is somewhat dissapointing
On the note of fighting spam it seems to be more effective than ever. CB Sawk, Skuntank, and Scarfed Primeape work wonders together as so many teams rely on Musharna as their sole fighting resist. After eating a pursuit on the way out and with rocks down Musharna is handily 2hkoed by Sawk's Close combat, EQ, Stone Edge, etc and as such cannot directly switch in, forcing unfortunate sacrifices on the part of the enemy. Other fighting counters that rely on flying typings such as Golbat are pressured hard, eating constant SR damage switching into possible U-turns and being forced out right after by threat of strong special assaults. In conjunction with hazards fighting type offensive cores rack up a ton of passive damage while breaking through cores that lack multiple dedicated answers. Typically SR and 1 layer of spikes is sufficient, but no harm in adding a few extra.
Of course its typing will always be nice, but personally I've found that there's almost always a better fit for whatever team I'm building, Seismitoad is passable at a lot of things but shines at very little. Most of its resistances are on the special side, but almost every special sweeper in the tier carries Grass coverage in the form of Giga Drain, Grass Knot, or HP Grass. It also happens to be just about 4hkoed by Skuntank's Crunch when it holds Dread Plate, which sounds good until you realize that Skuntank is not known for its particularly immense firepower and that Seismitoad has no reliable recovery, you're likely to just get worn out. There's something to be said about the 'unpredictability' of Seismitoad's set but in all honesty I doubt anyone has ever worried about switching their Vileplume or Meganium or Roselia or Alomomola or Lickilicky into Seismitoad all that much as all of Seismitoad's sets threaten essentially the same things, and with those all being staples of NU teams as bulky pivots I've found myself rather frustrated at Seismitoad's lack of production under my command. It does shine against many hyper offense teams and occasionally balance but having a dead weight in the slot against stall, semistall and many balance teams is somewhat dissapointing
On the note of fighting spam it seems to be more effective than ever. CB Sawk, Skuntank, and Scarfed Primeape work wonders together as so many teams rely on Musharna as their sole fighting resist. After eating a pursuit on the way out and with rocks down Musharna is handily 2hkoed by Sawk's Close combat, EQ, Stone Edge, etc and as such cannot directly switch in, forcing unfortunate sacrifices on the part of the enemy. Other fighting counters that rely on flying typings such as Golbat are pressured hard, eating constant SR damage switching into possible U-turns and being forced out right after by threat of strong special assaults. In conjunction with hazards fighting type offensive cores rack up a ton of passive damage while breaking through cores that lack multiple dedicated answers. Typically SR and 1 layer of spikes is sufficient, but no harm in adding a few extra.
