Project OU Weekly Research | v2 hosted by Terrakion. coming soon!

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Name: Gallade-Mega
Type: Psychic/Fighting
Ability: Inner Focus
Stats: 618 BST
HP: 68
Atk: 165
Def: 95
Sp.Atk: 65
Sp.Def: 115
Speed: 110

Overview (small summary) : This dude, while having a weird ability, nevertheless makes this dude an incredible wallbreaker.

Ability Overview: Why Inner Focus and not a power boosting Ability? Its not JUST to prevent flinches, but the MUCH BIGGER PICTURE BEHIND flinches: LOSING OFFENSIVE MOMENTUM!
So Mega Gallade is all about getting momentum via Inner Focus to make sure it will always get a hit, and lack of flinch helps this not only always get a hit or set up, but be able to gain offensive pressure through momentum.

Again I repeat: this Mega is all about Offensive momentum!!!

Weaknesses: 110 Speed is nice for some Balanced teams but nevertheless struggles against Fast Teams, especially with strong faster attackers and stuff like Tornadus-Therian and Talonflame, etc. Even if Mega Sableye can wall Mega Gallade well, It takes a lot of pressure nevertheless.

How to use: Mega Gallade is a balance/wallbreaker, and his bulk isn't really much for Bulky Offense, so its pretty much for strictly Hyper Offense, since he needs momentum and pressure to be able to function well.

It needs help against stuff like Mega Sableye Slowbro in defensive teams, while Needs help annoying or beating/countering fast teams and Pokémon like Sand Rush Excadrill Talon flame Tornadus-Therian Weavile Mega Lopunny Mega Manectric Mega Alakazam etc (basically anything faster or just as fast). So a very good partner to Mega Gallade here is stuff like Talonflame or Tornadus-Therian Weavile Sand Offense for the more offensive side. Landorus-Therian can offer some defensive backbone for Mega Gallade, and so can Heatran, as it can not only offer defensive backbone but offer offensive pressure of its own via Magma Storm Stallbreaker (which solves Mega Gallade's issue of getting past Mega Sableye). While on the more stallish Wallish side, stuff like Taunt Talonflame Tail Glow Manaphy Heatran (Magma Storm) the Classic Bisharp etc. These all offer aid in Stallbreaking/Aiding it more in breaking fat/stallish teams.

Is the Meta in favor of Mega Gallade?
Depends. Since Balanced and fat teams aren't incredibly too common, why use it? But once they do rise, it'd be an amazing Mon to use. And being able to not lose momentum keeps his Offensive pressure going, so it'd be a really dangerous threat in this manner. But in a more Offensive meta, its hard to fit Mega Gallade in without adding checks to stuff like Excadrill Talonflame etc. But still puts work nevertheless.

Competition against Mega Medicham:
Why use this over say, Mega Medicham, who at the cost of a little speed, has way more immediate power and priority?

1: Better Speed and Momentum
Mega Gallade still hits hard, maybe not as hard as Mega Medicham, but it has enough bulk and Momentum via Inner Focus to set up a Swords dance and hit harder and faster than Mega Medicham

2: Don't have to be forced to switch out as much.

Because of its momentum and speed, it doesn't have to switch out as much cause of its 110 speed, unless its facing obvious checks/counters. With Mega Medicham, you may get power, but may (may not always happen) lose Momentum because you may find yourself constantly switching out cause of its 100 speed.

Team I used?: I used this team in tours and in testing alts. It did pretty good at pressuring and checking stuff I need. Have fun! n_n


Gallade-Mega @ Galladite
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Knock Off
- Close Combat
- Zen Headbutt

Manaphy @ Mystic Water
Ability: Hydration
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Tail Glow
- Scald
- Ice Beam
- Energy Ball

Talonflame @ Sharp Beak
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Brave Bird
- Flare Blitz
- Roost

Garchomp @ Focus Sash
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Swords Dance
- Outrage
- Earthquake

Bisharp @ Black Glasses
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Iron Head
- Knock Off
- Sucker Punch

Latios @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Defog
- Roost
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock


 
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tagging the people that signed up:
thanks everyone that signed up; lots of people this time around :o. you guys have between now and monday (2/22) night (EST) to write up your posts about whichever pokemon you took (volcarona / mega gallade / gastrodon). as a reminder:
If you take a test subject, it is expected that you'll post. Your posts don't need to be super lengthy & detailed, but they shouldn't be super short and simple. I'm not gonna put some arbitrary regulation on how many sentences you should have, but you should have at least a small paragraph.
and as a reminder to those unsure of what to post:
Things you can post include (but are not limited to):
  • strategies used
  • how you went about building with this Pokemon
  • general strengths / weaknesses you noticed about the Pokemon
  • if the meta is in favor of the Pokemon or not
  • sets you used with the Pokemon
remember: you aren't limited to these guidelines; they're just here to help in case you aren't sure what to post. if you'd prefer to focus on 1 specific aspect of the pokemon you selected rather than a broad overview, that's totally okay! if you're still lost, try checking out this post by Infernal.

if you didn't sign up but you'd like to post, feel free to do so, but just don't post if you haven't used the pokemon in awhile / at all. also, if you sign up but you cannot find the time to post, don't worry about it! just please don't do it regularly :x.

also:
also, i'm gonna try out something new for next week and request that those of you signing up / posting suggest a pokemon to research (if you'd like to ofc). if you want to suggest a pokemon, you can either include it in your signing up post, or you can put it at the end of your write up. if you wanna suggest a pokemon, but you don't want to participate this week, feel free to leave suggestions on my wall (VMs) or PM me on PS!.
once again, thanks everyone & have fun posting!
 
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V O L C A R O N A

Strengths
Volcarona has access to one of the best boosting moves in the game, Quiver Dance. It's also got a perfect speed tier of 100 to take advantage of it and a hefty base 135 SpA which means it'll pack a punch if it sets up. It can get past would be checks like Azumarill and Keldeo by using Giga Drain which gives it a better span of coverage. It has quite a good Special Defense STAT of 105, but a depressing Defense STAT of 65 coupled with an average HP STAT of 85 means most powerful attacks will take a rather large chunk out of it.

Weaknesses
It has a sub-par typing of Bug / Fire which gives it a big weakness to Stealth Rock meaning it necessitates hazard removal and has a very hard time trying to switch-in, limiting its setup opportunities. It's movepool is rather lacking, would be good moves such as Psychic not being worth much as it doesn't cover anything not covered. Talonflame is perhaps the most definite of counters towards

Set Used
Quiver Dance + 3 Attacks
Pretty much the best and only set that can be used to its greatest effect. Passho Berry is a great item as it allows you to setup one time against a the majority of Water-types in the tier and retaliate with Giga Drain. Lum Berry however is good as well since it allows you to muscle past paralysis.
Volcarona @ Passho Berry / Lum Berry
Ability: Swarm
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Fire Blast
- Bug Buzz / Hidden Power Ground
- Giga Drain
- Quiver Dance


Bulky Wisp
Volcarona @ Leftovers
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 248 HP / 152 Def / 108 Spe
Bold Nature
- Will-O-Wisp
- Roost
- Flamethrower / Fiery Dance
- Giga Drain / Quiver Dance / Hidden Power Ground

This is a more unorthodox spread that I fashioned myself. It's based around the idea of crippling a ton of physical attacker through Will-O-Wisp or by chance of Flame Body. Roost gives it a lot of longevity as long as Rocks are off the field. Flamethrower is solid STAB while Fiery Dance, while also solid, has a 50% chance to boost your SpA so you gradually become a bigger offensive threat. The last slot is more upon what you want. Giga Drain lets you do something to Waters aside burning them but its really weak, Quiver Dance allows you to boost while being bulky, but the coverage is very lackluster. Hidden Power Ground allows you to not be walled by Heatran which is a solid option. It may not be the best set but it works.

Teams

v (Volcarona) @ Lum Berry
Ability: Swarm
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Quiver Dance
- Fire Blast
- Bug Buzz
- Giga Drain

e (Gyarados)@ Lum Berry
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Waterfall
- Crunch
- Substitute

l (Latios) @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Defog
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Roost

b (Landorus-Therian) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 240 HP / 228 Def / 32 SpD / 8 Spe
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- U-Turn
- Stealth Rock

b (Breloom) @ Fist Plate
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Mach Punch
- Bullet Seed
- Spore
- Focus Punch / Swords Dance

p(Jirachi) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Iron Head
- U-turn
- Heart Stamp
- Healing Wish

So this is a super standard team functioned to support either a Volcarona or Gyarados sweep. The two have pretty good natural synergy together which is a hue boon for them. Latios provided Defog support which was pretty mandatory considering the use of Gyarados and Volcarona. Landorus-T is a solid pivot that checks the likes of Talonflame and Mega Lopunny which pretty much cut through the previous 3 easily. I added Focus Punch Breloom because I still didn't like my matchup against fat teams. It also works as an extremely solid wallbreaker to better support my sweepers, but if you want SD is solid. Finally I added Scarf Jirachi since it rounded off most of my team's weaknesses and provided Healing Wish support which is a godsend for this team.

Verdict
With offense swarming (pun) it really can't find many opportunities to setup. That doesn't mean that its dead-weight as it can still fire off powerful attacks, but there are other breakers in the tier with far less issues than what it has. Metagame not in favor.

 
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p2

Banned deucer.

thoughts


volcarona is a super threatening mon under the right circumstances but it does have a fair set of issues that prevent it from being as threatening as say clefable or torn-t. being one of the fastest and most powerful boosters in the tier is definitely why volc shouldn't be slept on, but still, it's held back by its horrible stealth rock weakness and lack of bulk and solid defensive typing which prevents it from effectively running roost like charizard x can and in general its defensive utility is lacking. it also has pretty bad coverage issues with wanting to run: quiver dance, fire blast, giga drain, hp ground, bug buzz, roost, and hp ice, which means its relying on heavy support to cover the threats that it can't beat. on the bright side, it isn't a mega evo, so it's really easy to pair with mega diancie and mega sableye, both of which make hazard control much more easier and makes it a lot easier to keep volcarona alive and healthy. it also has access to flame body, which can make it a pain in the ass to revenge kill with the likes of aqua jet or sucker punch, because even though they deal enough damage to volcarona to remove it, azumarill/craw/bish is really likely to come off with a burn crippling them for the rest of the game.

volcarona is far from one-dimensional though for its ability to pick and choose its own counters and even checks by move choice and even item choice, which isn't limited to lum berry, passho berry, coba berry, or even life orb. it's a massive threat and is one of the most slept-on threats in oras.

building

volcarona pretty much has 2 routes for building with - offensive and defensive. offensive being the standard qd + 3 attacks with coverage depending on its teammates, and defensive being either bulky qd or even wisp sets which allow it to function as a check to many threats for bulkier teams and helps take on the likes of serperior, bisharp, mega lopunny, mega gardevoir, and even mega metagross. of course, using offensive pretty much decides your mega is going to be diancie while defensive pretty much means you're using mega sableye. it doesn't end there with hazard control because you need to ensure you have hazard removal as well, whether its rapid spin or defog. then yeah you just build on that 3 mon core, incorporate a rocker and something for luring or demolishing fat walls like chansey which wall volcarona forever.


Volcarona @ Passho Berry
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Quiver Dance
- Fire Blast
- Giga Drain
- Hidden Power [Ground] / Hidden Power [Ice]

Diancie @ Diancite
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Moonblast
- Protect
- Earth Power
- Diamond Storm

Latios @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Thunder Wave
- Defog

Landorus-Therian @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 232 Def / 24 SpD
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- U-turn
- Stone Edge

Bisharp @ Life Orb
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Knock Off
- Iron Head
- Grass Knot
- Sucker Punch

Azumarill @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Aqua Jet
- Play Rough
- Knock Off
- Belly Drum

i don't think this build is anything special, i made it really quickly, but it doesn't particularly autolose to anything. started with the typical volc + magic bounce + hazard removal core, which mine consisted of volc/diancie/latios. obviously needed an extra bird check because diancie gets worn down really quickly and needed rocks as well as a sand check so land-t fits pretty well here. i kinda wanted to take a different approach to stallbreaking instead of just using rd manaphy or cb hoopa so i went with gk bish + bd azu. bish lures quagsire easily which opens a hole for azu to sweep once quagsire is gone and when the opposing clef is weakened. thunder wave latios prevents it from being setup bait for mega alt, but hp ice volc can come in really handy here.

conclusion

volc is a pretty solid mon in ou and for good reason; it's one of the most threatening setup sweepers in the tier, a huge movepool and variety in item choice makes it incredibly difficult to beat when completely unrevealed because you just cant tell if your azumarill or crawdaunt, or if your dragonite can set up on it or not. even though its a really great mon, it has some pretty bad issues in that it mandates heavy hazard control, and it cant run 6 or so moveslots that it desperately wants to run. it's in a fine place in the meta right now, but it can struggle in a lot of matchups especially against chansey or talonflame. favourable trends for volc are more lo torn-ts which can't even check it after a qd while av can as well as mega altaria dropping in usage which leaves less need for hp ice.


free shaymin next week
 
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Infernal

Banned deucer.
Overview

Volc is scary, able to end games in a heartbeat after a QD. A surprising amount of teams are unprepared for it, and this only increases its potency. Volc is diverse in what it can do with QD, being able to run various items and coverage moves to bypass its usual answers. Coupled with good STABs, Volc's ability to pick and choose what it'd like to beat can make it tough to handle reliably. Although setting up can be hard sometimes due to SR and the offensive nature of ORAS, Volc abuses the popularity of various grass, psychic, and steel types to QD up and go haywire. With a nice speed stat to outrun the likes of CS Lando-T, Volc has all the tools needed.

Volc has a few annoying flaws. The main one is a weakness to SR and every other hazard. This mandates hazard control in the form of Defog or Spin, often paired with Magic Bounce. As a result, a lot of teams with Volc tend to end up similar, making it hard to stray away from the standard. Even with hazard control, preventing SR isn't always possible because the typical carriers of Defog, Spin, and Magic Bounce all have their own problems, such as a vulnerability to being trapped and difficulty preventing SR against certain setters. If SR can't be prevented, Volc can often find itself doing nothing and turn into a liability rather than an asset.

Another issue is Talon and Azu's priority. This problem can be addressed by running specific items and coverage moves, but can come at the expense of running other alternatives. Regardless of any issues, Volc is still a force and can be one of the deadliest threats to deal with.

Items

Because of the diverse amount of items Volc can use to circumvent some of its issues, I feel this warrants its own section:

Lum Berry
- Status is on the list of things Volc hates, and Lum Berry is a common pick to help cure paralysis and poison.


Passho Berry
- Volc has problems with Azu's priority. Passho Berry helps with this while easing set up on several water types. Passho Berry is also useful to prevent CS Keldeo from revenge killing Volc as easily.


Coba Berry
- This allows Volc to take SpD Talon's BB and kill back with HP Rock. Also helps Volc take Mega Pinsir's QA. Niche option overall, especially because offensive variants of Talon still KO Volc regardless. There are usually better options.


Life Orb
- This isn't seen too often, but has uses in increasing Volc's power significantly. LO makes Volc capable of KOing the bulkiest variants of AV Torn-T after SR. The recoil damage is a turn off though, especially with Volc being vulnerable to having its life expectancy ruined by so many other things already.


Sets & Moves

Volc will always run QD. The most common is FB, Bug Buzz, and Giga. There are several other move options. HP Ground is one, helping Volc with Heatran. Damaging Zard-X is also cool. HP Rock is another option, giving Volc coverage over Talon and Zard-Y. HP Ice isn't seen too often, but is interesting to cover Mega Altaria, Garchomp, and the rare Dragonite. Another interesting move is Sub. This also helps avoid status and be easily used on something like Clefable to power up. These all have their pros and cons, and usually come with the expense of giving up certain coverage.

Another set Volc can use is QD / Roost / Fiery Dance / Bug Buzz. These are usually bulkier in nature and make use of Volc's typing and solid bulk to accumulate boosts. These usually take more time to get going than more offensive variants and are seen less regularly as a result.

Building

I didn't get around to building with Volc, so I will mention common partners instead. The majority of them help with hazard control. Once this is decided, you have your every day partners like Landorus-T, Rotom-W, Jirachi, and Ferrothorn to help cover several weaknesses.

- Your typical options for hazard control while helping cover threats like Char-Y, Keldeo, and so on. Latias can use Healing Wish to provide Volc with a second chance, and Latios can potentially use EQ to lure Heatran and pave the way. Both are prone to being trapped, which can make preventing SR hard some times. Starmie is another choice and can run bulky or offensive sets depending on how you'd like to build your team. Volc + Starmie teams tend to lead to the usual Lando-T + Mega Diancie build. Volc is a cool option on sand sometimes, helping these builds with threats like Serp and Mega Sciz. These teams usually end up as the typical sand build with Exca as the spinner and something like Mega Latias to cover several weaknesses. Exca's struggle vs. common SR setters is annoying though.

- These two add to the hazard control. Mega Diancie is a nice partner with Volc, especially for its ability to cover Talon. Mega Sableye has an easier time preventing hazards against most setters, but shares Volc's vulnerability to things like Zard-X and Char-Y. Mega Diancie is the more common partner in general.

Conclusion

Volc can either sweep teams outright, or end up doing nothing, making it a hit or miss kind of Pokemon at times. Its ability to run various coverage moves and items to bypass usual checks and counters makes Volc dangerous to deal with. Because you can never be sure what Volc is running until its set is fully revealed, it's possible to lose a Pokemon to an unexpected coverage move and end up on the wrong side of a sweep. A huge weakness to hazard limits its abilities and mandates specific support from its teammates. Setting up can be hard sometimes, especially against more offensive teams. Volc excels against more balanced builds, and abuses defensive grasses, psychics, and steels to QD up. Regardless of its flaws, Volc is still a dangerous and solid Pokemon overall.
 
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Pokemon as a whole:

I was really hyped for Gallade when I started using it. But, I'm not going to lie, Gallade was really hard to use properly. I certainly didn't get the same enjoyment using it as I did with Mega Pidgeot. I can't quite explain why... but the best word I can use for it is...awkward.
On one end, it's super under-prepared for, and the power it has over Lopunny really does mean things. Most people have like... Hippowdon for their check to Lopunny, and to watch Gallade blow right through it at +2 is really redeeming. Once you're able to set up on something... Oh lordy good luck dealing with it. It has absolutely insane power and has pretty good options offensively (and defensively, surprisingly, with options such as Skill Swap and Will-O-Wisp), limiting the amount of switch-ins is has. In fact... there are so few good switch-ins to this thing that you're better off just attacking it with the Pokemon you have out if it tries to set up on you.
On the other end, it's just a weird Pokemon in general, which I'll get in to.

Competition with Lopunny / Medicham:

In regards to Medicham, although Gallade's Speed tier is just so much better, Medicham's immediate power proves valuable in situations when it can't afford to set up and just needs to blow through something. This comes into play a lot more than you think it would, especially considering how difficult it is to actually set up with Gallade. Actually, Medicham's High Jump Kick is just barely out-damaged by Gallade's +2 Close Combat. Funny enough, I tested this exact team with Medicham over Gallade and it honestly performed better.
I know some people will probably mention the bulk difference, but with a typing like Gallade's, defensive prowess isn't exactly the first thing on my mind. It's certainly nice, but nothing game changing.
In terms of Lopunny, Mega Lopunny's Speed tier is so valuable, as you aren't forced out as often against the likes of Tornadus-T or Weavile, and its High Jump Kick hits almost as hard as Gallade's Close Combat (not when Gallade's at +2 though lol). This is the biggest issue I have with Gallade. It has like one, maybe two niches over one of the other, but it's directly outclassed otherwise.

Weaknesses Gallade has:

Gallade definitely has a huge issue setting up. I mean, it has really good bulk all around, but if you try to set up in anything that can do any damage to you, it's going to be hard not to be easily revenge killed. Its Speed stat before Mega Evolution isn't doing it any favors, either. While it's not awful (you're still able to outpace Heatran and tie with base 80s), it leaves a lot to be desired against the likes of Keldeo or Landorus-T. This one's pretty obvious, but it's just hard to use Gallade when everything else has more than it. Hell, I had better success using Mienshao than I did Gallade. Finally, having Close Combat and not being able to deal with a lot of priority... just sucks. It immediately trades all of its bulk away, but Drain Punch just doesn't hit hard enough unless you're Adamant, which is.... ew, to say the least. Obviously, Inner Focus sucks, but not being pressured as much by the ever-present Scarf Jirachi is something I suppose.

Is it worth using:

Absolutely, but only on specific terms. People trash this Pokemon so hard, calling it one of the worst Megas, but in reality, it can be a real nightmare to try to take down after a Swords Dance. However, you're generally going to want either Medicham's immediate power or Lopunny's Speed stat, depending on what team you're using. So tl;dr, the meta is really not in favor of Gallade, and I don't think it ever will be, which sucks.

Next time I'll hopefully have decent replays, but it was mainly just Scarf Chomp and Togekiss carrying the team lol.
Really wacky slashes for Gallade but they're all decent enough and yes I know the team 6-0s to Mega Scizor if Gallade hasn't set up it's just hard to check everything

murder mitten (Gallade) (M) @ Galladite
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Swords Dance
- Knock Off / Zen Headbutt
- Poison Jab / Zen Headbutt / Substitute

ten thousand feet (Bisharp) @ Life Orb
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Knock Off
- Sucker Punch
- Iron Head
- Swords Dance

endless sky (Togekiss) @ Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 76 Def / 4 SpD / 176 Spe
Timid Nature
- Nasty Plot
- Air Slash
- Thunder Wave
- Roost

the common hours (Garchomp) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Outrage
- Fire Blast
- Dragon Claw

NZT48 (Starmie) @ Life Orb
Ability: Analytic
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Hydro Pump
- Psychic
- Hidden Power Fire / Thunderbolt

project wakeup (Ferrothorn) @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Leech Seed
- Gyro Ball
- Power Whip
 
Too much Volcarona. Wheres the slug love?

Gastrodon

Aka that Slug thing with 3 eyes call it jirachi's cousin
  • strategies used
When using gastrodon i went with a more balanced build. Gastrodon makes for a nice way to crap on volt-turn teams thanks to its ground/water typing and having actual recovery makes it a really nice mon overall. Curse gastro also makes for a solid win-con on balance/semi stall and becomes really annoying to kill. Storm drain also makes it immune to water type moves which lets it function as a way of absorbing status.

  • how I went about building with this Pokemon
When building around gastrodon i went towards a more balance/semi stall approach. Naturally gastrodon fits at home on more defensive teams where a way of killing momentum via volt-turn is really nice. I decided to pair it up with wisp zard-x due to how it handles grass types thanks to its quad resist as well as having some really nice defensive synergy with gastrodon. I also paired skarmory with gastro and zard due to how together they have overall great defensive synergy as well.
  • general strengths / weaknesses noticed about the Pokemon
Pros:

Great typing
nice win con for defensive teams
Stops volt switch without being 4x weak or 2x weak to ice
has recovery
Storm drain

Cons:

Physically frail
4x weak to grass
easy to overwhelm
Stallbreakers such as mega gyarados use it for setup fauder
  • is the meta in favor of Gastrodon or not
The meta currently favors gastrodon thanks to its unique traits of storm drain and water/ground typing. In a meta where things such as manectric roam around its really nice to have something that can stop from grabbing momentum. The ability also lets it check some wallbreakers like keldeo/azumarill which is really useful. Despite this Gastrodon is a really one dimensional pokemon and can really only run one set effectively.

  • sets used with the Pokemon


Gastrodon @ Leftovers
Ability: Storm Drain
EVs: 252 HP / 164 Def / 92 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Earthquake
- Scald
- Curse
- Recover

This set functions as a way of annoying volt-turn cores while also acting as a win-con.

Team Used:


Gastrodon @ Leftovers
Ability: Storm Drain
EVs: 252 HP / 164 Def / 92 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Earthquake
- Scald
- Curse
- Recover

Charizard-Mega-X @ Charizardite X
Ability: Tough Claws
EVs: 252 HP / 144 Def / 112 Spe
Impish Nature
- Will-O-Wisp
- Flare Blitz
- Earthquake
- Roost

Skarmory @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 232 SpD / 24 Spe
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Iron Head
- Defog
- Roost

Reuniclus @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 200 Def / 56 SpD
Bold Nature
- Calm Mind
- Psyshock
- Focus Blast
- Recover

Tyranitar @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stone Edge
- Crunch
- Superpower
- Pursuit

Amoonguss @ Black Sludge
Ability: Regenerator
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 160 Def / 96 SpD
Bold Nature
- Clear Smog
- Giga Drain
- Spore
- Stun Spore


Nice balance/semi stall team with curse gastrodon and Cm reuni. Sorta weak to bisharp w/o Phys def zard-x but other then that its fine. Dual status amoon to para things and punish mons trying to act as sleep fauder. Scarf tar+skarm for hazards+anti hazard removal which is nice. Ttar also checks hoopa which is nice on slower teams. Physically defensive wisp zard-x for checking threats like bisharp for reuniclus.

Shoutouts to Nedor for gastrodon spread.
 
hi, sorry if my post looks odd, i'm honestly really tired so stuff may be repetitive lmao and i just wanna get this done so i don't have to do it later.

☆ general ☆

hmm, mega gallade. as someone who has really only used it a couple times, here and there i don't really think there's much to say about it; pretty one dimensional poke that has its good sides and its bad sides. it runs off a set of sd / cc / zen headbutt / knock off as a mid-late game sweeper that can also double as a breaker, realistically there's a bit of problems with it but i'd say its positives definitely outweigh its negative traits. for one, and one of the most negative attributes of a sweeper, like a lot of pokes its defense stat is low, which leaves it susceptible to a majority of revenge killers as they are usually physical, alongside the abundance of priority running around in the metagame.

however this isn't really too bad of a thing, if it's being targeted by a revenge killer / priority and or faster pokemon in general in the first place, you're probably using it as a midgame breaker for another one of your potential wincons for late game by weakening key parts of your opponents ways of beating your potential wincon. if it isn't that, in that scenario you're just baiting out the pokemon that is attempting to revenge mega gallade to cripple it with one of your partners, something like a rocky helmet user to punish them, or something like scarftar to pursuit trap stuff like talonflame. if you're using it as a late game sweeper, you don't really have to worry about being removed like that in the first place as you'd probably have the essentials of your opponent removed and or crippled already to the point where they can't really do much aside from just watching your opponent drop from a set up opportunity given from one of your members fainting.

another one of its issues is not being able to set up on a mass of pokemon unlike other pokes like the handful of potent sweepers lurking about, m-gallade needs to be built around as a whole solely for the reason on being limited on what it can set up on; passive pokes, and the majority of special attackers, it doesn't really fit if you're just casually building a team. but yeah, there's a handful of other common problems that pokemon alike it have, but there's only so much you can do for it to perform at its utmost capability. and before you ask, are there any other sets worth using besides the sd / cc / zen / knock set? here, and whats my stance on the use of mega gallade of mega medicham? here.

☆ ladder meta | tours meta ☆

but honestly, i'm not here just to talk about basic stuff everyone can tell just by lookin' at it. what i'm here to talk about is how nice it is from what i've been seeing thats trending in the metagame right now. what i've noticed for a while is that people have pretty much adapted as in running more consistent kinda teams. hints of offense are spreading to balance teams to keep up sorts of offensive pressure, reduce passivity and have more consistent answers to stuff that'd eat up general stuff that would be ran on those teams as emergency checks. hints of balance are spreading towards offense to account for several of the threats you can see trending via ladder n' tour usage. whats both good and bad here for mega gallade is that it completely shits on people being more concerned against something like mega medicham instead and just using a fat psychic + offensive deterrent to it on balance will just get eaten up by teams that both mega gallade and its teammates thrive off. regarding its matchup against offense, it really does annoy the fuck out of offense these days cause of people slapping on bulkier blanket checks to stuff like ground / steel / dragon cores for its defensive properties on offense, ttar + amoong on sand bo, u get what i mean, all kinds of bullshit. for a better idea of what i'm saying on how it actually has good matchup atm, you can just check out the spl logs n' replays thread to see what i mean in larger detail, alongside the ps ladder stats oo~

☆ play ☆

while i didn't really get much time to play with it, i found m-gallade to be really surprising in play which sorta shocked me. for example you can just check out this replay~ on the ou ladder /w snowcristal using a mega gallade bo!

to analyse the team used in the replay and how its played, the team he's using is presumably sd m-gallade / av | cm volt kou / eplate rocks landot / mixdef cm clef / scarfrachi / specs keldeo. the team looks like it runs off a core of momentum generators n' pivots namely kou / landot / rachi with the main receivers being the breakers in specs keldeo n' mega gallade, with the more consistent win condition + pivot being cm clef. as you can see in the replay, the main idea of the team is to set up rocks, pressure the opponent via the momentum generators, forcing switches and increasing passive damage from sr, pivoting into the main wallbreaker, keldeo and spreading burns and putting stuff into range. you repeat this until you get into a favourable position to click mega gallade, click sd, and break down the opponent further. bout' clefable, its more or less used here as a middle ground pivot and consistent secondary win condition against teams where mega gallade and the other teammates cannot do much yet until their checks have been crippled, (especially against stuff like msable and general mons that disrupt the voltturn core), it's probably standard twave as its last slot clefable to smack the majority of its switchins, and cripple them for itself and the rest of the team. if it's not twave, could be wrong and it could be something odd as the filler move knowing snow; the team has pretty solid offensive and defensive backings.

the game went pretty smoothly and didn't take much effort as stated before, all needed to be done was set rocks > cripple switchins via knock off so they have trouble switching in next time and are now susceptible to offensive pressure > channel through your momentum generators until you go into your breaker > break stuff > repeat until you find a chance to set up with your win condition > clean up the game.

the next next replay was just a friendly challenge, just chose one of my teams and went ham with it, the workings of my team will be explained below under building and thought process, so skip to that if you'd like to know more about the team although it really is just hilarious how mega gallade can make teams that mcham would struggle against completely drop~
♥ general thought process ♥

note: if you'd like to skip towards how i actually built my 5min m-gallade teams, just scroll down! this is just a sample of my thought process at the time of building them :3c

kk, before i started building with mega gallade, the first thing i ruled out was what sort of team composition it'd fit best in, and abuse the most out of; the first time i chose an offensive approach. what i knew was it was a mid-late game sweeper that doubles as a breaker, for it to sweep in the first place i'll need teammates that allow it to find set up opportunities to a degree. next would be that i'd need something to lure and our just put its checks in general range for when i'm ready to abuse it as a potential win condition, either that or just completely remove them. if i can't fit in that, i'd at least want a sense of a consistent wallbreaker to ram the opponents tools that would otherwise stop my win condition in its tracks. moving on, offense always needs emergency checks / speed control for whenever you fucked up as in sweeper checks like revenge killers n' strong priority, if i couldn't fit in a scarfer i'd go with priority instead. next, you come to a realisation that the majority of what stop it are generally faster pokemon, revenge killers, priority so you'll obviously want both secondary win conditions and basic switchins to not get floored by the amount of scary shit these days like birds alongside the basic essentials like a stealth rocker to punish switches and limit pokémon from switching in however they'd like to. finishing it up, the final composition i came up with consisted of: sweeper x2 / breaker x2 / filler x1 / glue x1!

the second time i tried building mega gallade, i wanted to try more of a balanced style team that focuses on wearing down my respective win condition's checks til they're in range of whatever i have to play with on my team. toxic spikes was a clear candidate for this, a lot of teams i've seen personally have a lot of issues with it and its honestly really troublesome to deal with with the right support. now, i wanted insurance of my toxic spikes staying up, so i just opted for something to let those stay up by removing them at the source with a pursuit trapper, to maintain consistency along the way. next, i'll of course need a secondary win condition as mega gallade can't do it alone, i'd prefer if it abused what toxic spikes crippled so i'd choose another sweeper alongside mega gallade. seeing as i'd probably not have much insurance against more offensively inclined teams there was two things i could do, add more offensive pressure to make up for a bit of passivity or make a more solid defensive core to achieve a few essential bits to make sure i have a switchin for big threats that i hadn't covered yet. i'd choose a more defensive route to maintain consistency while still maximizing the chance of my sweepers taking advantage of the tspike game. the last two mons are just glues to the build, a rock setter and physical sponge and a check all to whatever i would be weak to. final team composition would consist of: sweeper x2 / tspike setter / pursuit trapper / glue x2


♥ importable ♥
♥ in-depth description ♥


okay, following the team composition i came up with in the thought process phase of things, i'd apply that to the team i'm building. so far i've started with sd m-gallade, the first thing i really do need to cover is my rock setter so i don't have to worry about that later, its essential for the reasons stated above. i have a few preferable choices for the offense build so far; the majority will definitely be a consistent stealth rocker and not a suicide lead for specific reasons, a prime one being that how offense teams end up nowadays are often pressured by not having a physical sponge if you have pokemon susceptible to them (which commonly happens, and is why people use a physical sponge on the usual offense), the second one being how common removal is and whether you can fit in the majority of your mons to pressure the relevant ones, you really never know if you can keep it up, its better to have a insurance of being able to set it up a second time. third one, not having enough offensive pressure in the first place to deal with being able to keep rocks up and just being pressured in general for not having a physical sponge to switch in to punish whatever attacker. the obvious choice here would be landot as it fulfils the role of being a consistent rock setter, phys sponge, and not to mention being able to abuse a yache set as a one time check to fully remove a painful electric out of the game.

sd m-gallade / yache rocks lando-t, you've got your main win condition and your rocker now, the least you can do now is get a couple of additional breakers and sweepers to maintain your goal of rampaging through your opponent til they're broken down and ready to be chain swept by your mons. the next mon come will be a sweeper, i'll choose something that can make use of landorus-t being used as fodder and something to cover a part of my backbone on offense. there's only a bit of pokemon that use dangerous stuff like weavile as set up bait, this time i'll choose bd azu for its ability to blanket check threats, use the as set up bait, and break through teams and or weaken a certain pokemon or two via aqua jet. sd m-gallade / bd azu / yache rocks landorus-t, i want another sweeper to make use of what bd azu would weaken with aqua jet, people often use water resists to remove azu, but get weakened into range themselves; a prime candidate of being weakened would be stuff like latis, keldeo, y'know basic water resists found on offense and balance alike.

to abuse that i wanted some pokes to make use of them being weakened so they'd have free range on what they'd click. i chose twave + 3 atks thundurus + lo sd bisharp, they both benefit from the work azu would put in and their checks would be in range, they'd have no care in the world. it also works in another way, if the try to check thund + bish first with their respective mons, being latis or keld or w/e, they'd just be put in range of bd azu's jet too. not to mention this but thundurus gave me a nice sweeper check, bisharp gave me a source for pressuring removal and a secondary source for priority alongside azumarill's aqua jet. sd m-gallade / twave + 3 atks thund / lo sd bish / bd azu / yache rocks landorus-t, at the final point i was missing a secondary opener for my sweepers, what i noticed so far was that my only lure for ground types would be hp ice landorus-t, which would already be pressured for the stuff its supposed to check, so i wanted a breaker that'd open holes in my opponents teams, while also opening up set up opportunities for it to be revenged so i can freely go into my wincons and click a boosting move and repeat til the games over. chose icy wind gar as people also tend to switch in their av tornts to absorb a hit only to get icy winded and find out they have no switchins; it removes a pain to m-gallade as it wouldn't directly stay in on the rest of my members that could hurt it like thundurus-i. not only this but people do in fact like to let their grounds absorb a sball when i can remove them so my team won't have to bother with those anymore. the team is pretty simple, set rocks > break stuff | lure in wincons checks > repeat until situation is ready so i can chain sweep with my set up mons, if something goes wrong i always have twave thundy in the back alongside priority. that's it for there, if you have any improvements lemme know~


♥ importable ♥
♥ in-depth description ♥


okie dokes, this ones gonna be way more simplistic as its pretty much covered in the above thought process paragraph, when i wanted to make the balance i followed the team composition i made. first, i wanted my tspiker, the best tspiker i could think of at the time would be dragalge; it blanket checks a ton of stuff that balance teams are pressured by like zardy, specs keld, y'know that ish while also contributing to the win conditions by laying tspikes, hitting switchins like mzor n' ferro /w hp fire, sludge bomb to psn tornts on the off-chance, that ish. next mon would be the pursuit trapper, the most obvious partner here would be ttar thanks to it checking a plethora of stuff like birds while also removing and putting stuff in range, mainly offensive checks to m-gallade and taking out hazard removal. next up which i've used before would be good ol' twave | subnp thundurus, my secondary wincon, its pretty damn good one in conjunction with the tspikes + ttar removing checks like latis and opposing electrics and with dragalge being able to stop an opposing ferro from spiking via hp fire; synergises pretty well. the last two slots would be the glues of the team and they bind the team together, mixdef chople ferro + defensive landorus-t, these two give me assurance against stuff i'd be massacred by without em' while also providing spikes + rocks, if you don't find spikes to be too useful here, you can shift rocks to ferrothorn, make landorus-t the double dance set to more actively pressure the opposing team. :)

and yes, i built these in 5 mins like i do with the majority of my teams, i just happen to think a lot oof~
☾ synopsis ☽

while it may seem a bit rushed and while my fingers do hurt, this is honestly all i have to say; i really do think mega gallade is nice in this metagame and people should really just try it out and shake off stuff you've applied to mons like these in the past and try them out again. albeit one dimensional, its got all the right tools granted you build with it in a decent manner, not much else to say 'bout it. hope you guys can benefit from this post n_n
 

Giagantic

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Gastrodon: The Immortal Slug

Water / Ground
HP:111
Attack:83
Defense:68
Sp. Atk:92
Sp. Def:82
Speed:39

Boasting a great HP stat and usable Defensive stats, in tandem with access to reliable recovery in the form of Recover, immunity to water, and the great typing of Water/Ground Gastrodon is a great defensive and bulky win condition within the current OU metagame.

Pros:
- Water/Ground typing- Only 1 weakness that being Grass which isn't all that common of a coverage move in OU, this typing allows Gastrodon to be an amazing check to Mega-Manectric, Raikou, and basically every other electric type in Over-Used barring Thundurus-I who can run Grass knot- Watch out for Serperior, Ferrothorn, Celebi, Manaphy and be wary of Pokemon that can carry Grass coverage example: it is not common but Landorus-Therian can effectively run mixed sets that utilize Grass Knot

- Great Movepool- Access to Clear Smog, Toxic, Scald, Recover, Curse, etc enable Gastrodon to pull its weight in most matchups and effectively run a variety of different sets

-Storm Drain- Immunity to Water in a Metagame where Scald is spammed like nobodies business + the sweet Special Attack Boost

Cons:
- It has a very hard time taking especially powerful hits if mixed defensively, and even it is focused entirely on one of the defensive stats extrordinarily strong attackers like Life Orb Excadrill can be extremely hard to switch into. Gastrodons bulk is the result of its HP stat in tandem with its access to Recover, however its defensive stats are actually fairly bad which is why it can struggle to deal the many powerful threats in OU

- Can be fairly passive at times just spamming recover to avoid being whitttled down, and isn't a huge threat to the opposing team outside of status from Scald / Toxic , or Curse variants

My Experience with Gastrodon: I have found Gastrodon to be a great asset to bulkier teams that needed an electric type check, bulky win-con, and status spreader. It is an underrated defensively inclined Pokemon that can outright win against many teams that lack a means of removing it quickly. I personally think that in the current metagame with the popularity of Tyranitar, Keldeo, Landorus-therian, and so on that Gastrodon is very viable at the moment as it can deal with a wide range of threats to varying degrees. It's Access to Clear Smog means that it isn't set-up fodder to the likes of Clefable, and scald makes it hard for physically orientated Pokemon to switch-in as they often don't want to risk getting burned.

Sets:
- The most promienent set for Gastrodon currently is its curse set which allows it to act as a nice defensive switch-in early to mid game then late game potentially sweep.
-My Set that I opted to use was for my semi-stall team which utilized Clear Smog/Scald/Toxic/Recover allowing it to toxic or scald switch-ins or prevent set-up sweepers that think Gastrodon is set-up bait.

Threats to Gastrodon:
- Grass Types: Ferrothorn, Serperior, Breloom, Celebi
-Those that can carry grass coverage: Landorus-therian, Tornadus-therian (who still threatens even without), etc
- Hard-hitting moves from the more defensively weak side: If physically defensive, Gastrodon will not enjoy taking hard-hitting neutral Special attacks, and inversely the same applies if specially defensive where things like Latios can seriously threaten Gastrodon due to its mixed coverage
-Status: Yes, everything in reality hates status but it is even worse for Gastrodon that prides itself in living for as long as possible, the effect that Burn or Toxic has on Gastrodon is huge as it limits its ability to live continuously without recovering and heavily pressures it on top of the opponents own Pokemon


Potential Team Members:

There is a ton of syngergistic combinations that Gastrodon has with many Pokemon ranging from the most acclaimed combo of Talonflame + the slug, Skarmory, Mega-Venusaur, and even the underrated Moltres who brings much greater bulk+Pressure in comparison to Talonflame.

In Conclusion:
Use Gastrodon it is a spectacular pokemon that has gone under many players people radar both as a tool and as threat. The Meta-Game heavily favours it and as a result you will not be let down.

Below is the Team that I used, and which won the 64 man Room Tour that it was used in. It was ultimately made fairly hastily and could use a lot of work (something I will pursue).

Gastrodon @ Leftovers
Ability: Storm Drain
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Clear Smog
- Toxic
- Recover

Moltres @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 248 HP / 72 SpD / 188 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Flamethrower
- Hurricane
- Will-O-Wisp
- Roost


Venusaur-Mega @ Venusaurite
Ability: Chlorophyll
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 124 Def / 112 SpD / 20 Spe
Bold Nature
- Giga Drain
- Sludge Bomb
- Knock Off
- Synthesis


Skarmory @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Impish Nature
- Brave Bird
- Whirlwind
- Defog
- Roost


Clefable @ Leftovers
Ability: Unaware
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Moonblast
- Stealth Rock
- Wish
- Protect


Dragonite @ Choice Band
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Outrage
- Extreme Speed
- Earthquake
- Dragon Claw
 
Last edited:

Gastrodon!

with help from Mega Gallade and Volcarona
Gastrodon has always been a nice defensive wall. Ground water is probably the best typing for a bulky water type, as it gives him an immunity to one of water's biggest weaknesses. In fact, Gastrodon only has one weakness, a 4x weakness to grass. His stats allow him enough bulk to survive a few hits, and he also has recover which aids in his staying power. He has access to a good number of attacks, and is generally a good tank. He also has an awesome ability in storm drain, which lets him absorb water type attacks. His other abilities while good, are usually inferior to storm drain, but sticky hold can be nice to bait knock off and then watch as it does paltry damage, and sand force might be usable on a curse set but I didn't really test it.

However, Gastrodon is not the greatest wall in the world. He lacks stealth rocks for some reason despite being a ground type. He's also really slow, and doesn't have too much attack. His most useful attacks tend to be Scald and Earthquake, which either requires you to net a storm drain boost or just run a neg speed nature, which makes gastrodon EVEN SLOWER. Also despite being a defensive wall most high powered offense threats in OU can blow past him in two or three hits, and most things with a grass move can do it in one.

For a strategy, I zeroed in on using all three research subjects (though I focused my actual analysis on Gastrodon himself.) Reason is they seem to make a nice core together. Gastrodon can check talonflame and heatran, while Gallade can punch a hole in annoying ferrothorn or other special walls, and Volcarona can knock out ferrothorn as well. It's a nice core that's very Zard-Y weak, but we can deal with that. For the rest of the team I just needed a backup check to heatran, a counter to Zard (X can be kinda-sorta dealt with by gastro, but for Y I needed something else). I needed rocks and I needed rapid spin.

Well, its still zard-Y weak, but it proved itself to be at least capable.
Steyr Aug (Gastrodon) (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Storm Drain
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Earthquake
- Scald
- Recover
- Toxic

Maai (Volcarona) (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Flame Body
EVs: 72 HP / 252 SpA / 184 Spe
Modest Nature
- Quiver Dance
- Heat Wave
- Bug Buzz
- Giga Drain

Leone (Gallade) @ Galladite
Ability: Steadfast
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Zen Headbutt
- Knock Off

Schmidt (Landorus-Therian) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Impish Nature
- U-turn
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Knock Off

Scar (Excadrill) (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Mold Breaker
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Iron Head
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Rapid Spin

AWP (Magnezone) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Magnet Pull
EVs: 172 HP / 252 SpA / 84 Spe
Modest Nature
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Thunderbolt
- Flash Cannon
- Volt Switch


Using Gastrodon was a blast, but frustrating at times, as Zard-Y and Venusaur had the coverage to pretty much obliterate the team I decided to use. The main set I used was a defensive set, because I wanted to counter Talonflame with it, but you can run specially defensive as it really helps out against those grass moves, especially unSTAB grass moves. There is also the option to use curse but I felt like that didn't actually play to gastrodon's strengths that well.

A couple of the games I recorded I got really lucky,
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-332443409 here's one where gastro has a moment of glory, and then goes down, but he did his job (and also thawed himself out!)

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-332759926 this one my opponent sacs his hoopa-u to get rid of gastro!

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/ou-332763163 this is another one. I make a huge misplay at the end that costs me, I sac my magnezone for no good reason...however, this is another one where Gastrodon shows how defensive it can be.

Is it 'meta'? Well, I would say no, not right now. I mean, it certainly could fit on a lot of teams, but I wouldn't call it 'meta' as there isn't really anything special about it. Granted, it fits into the metagame, there's no doubt there. A more defensive or balanced team could certainly use it, but the meta right now is focused pretty hard on offense. Gastrodon doesn't fit on offense very well because he can't lay hazzards, he's REALLY slow, and he doesn't threaten opponents (people might switch out of gastrodon, but that's more because they can't hurt it usually)
 
c l o s i n g. thanks to everyone who participated!

the posts being added to archive are this post on volcarona by p2, this post on mega gallade by FookMi?, and this post on gastrodon by Giagantic. fantastic job everyone c:

thanks Infernal and FookMi? for helping me decide on the posts to archive (infernal didn't comment on posts pertaining to volcarona, and fook didn't comment on posts pertaining to mega gallade). also, remember: the archived posts are simply the posts that best summarize the pokemon for future reference. not every post needs to summarize the pokemon; some people may just want to center their posts around one aspect, and that's totally okay. you don't need to follow the guidelines perfectly to post here; they're just there to guide you a bit if you're unsure of what to post.

~​

week #6

tangrowth | mega aerodactyl | entei
this doesn't really line up right >.<
REMEMBER: you simply pick 1 one of these 3 (or 2 / 3 of them if you want :p) and post here saying which one you're taking. also, you can use any set you want!


the discussion period will start on 2/27; those of you who want to participate have between now and then to play around with one of these pokemon.

have fun :D
 
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