Poliwrath

[TTK]

he dropped this on discord -zard

[OVERVIEW]

• Poliwrath carves a niche into the PU tier as an expectional rain sweeper with Belly Drum, allowing Poliwrath's attack is reach very high levels and making it a deadly force to handle.
• Poliwrath's coverage is not resisted by any pokemon in the tier, allowing it to OHKO most pokemon at +6 with its moveset.
• Poliwrath's unique Water/Fighting typing gives it a handful of resistances to typings such as Dark, Rock, Fire and Ice and along with defensive stats 90/95/90, Poliwrath has the bulk to achieve sweeping without going down to strong neutral attacks.
• However, its typing also gives it quite a few weaknesses, such as Psychic, Fairy, Electric and Grass, typings that are quite common in the tier.
• Poliwrath also lacks a good spammable Fighting STAB, having to resort to Brick Break, which only has 75BP so without a Belly Drum boost, it doesn't do a lot of damage, even to pokemon weak to it.
• Poliwrath also has a low base speed of 70, so without rain, it is quite slow and even more vulnerable to revenge killing by faster pokemon.

[SET]
name: Rain Sweeper
move 1: Belly Drum
move 2: Waterfall
move 3: Brick Break
move 4: Ice Punch
item: Sitrus Berry
ability: Swift Swim
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 HP / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========

• Belly Drum maxes out Poliwrath's attack, making it a very dangerous pokemon while it's speed is doubled in rain, allowing it to OHKO most pokemon in the tier.
• Waterfall is Poliwrath's strongest physical Water STAB move and is boosted by 50% while rain is set up.
• Brick Break is Poliwrath's secondary STAB move. While only being 75BP, at +6, it OHKOs pokemon weak to it such as Drampa easier and threatens Ferroseed.
• Ice Punch is Poliwrath's coverage move which threatens mons like Gourgeist-XL at +6 and Altaria, which has risen in usage.

Set Details
========

• Max investment in Attack allows Poliwrath to do as much damage as it can while rain is up and allows its Waterfall is be even stronger in rain. Max investment in Speed and a Jolly nature allows Poliwrath to outspeed mons like Scarf Togedemaru and +1 Jynx, which would usually threaten Poliwrath when its Speed is not boosted.
• 4 HP EVs are used to have an even amount of HP at level 100 so when Poliwrath uses Belly Drum, it can activate Sitrus Berry to recover some health back
• A Sitrus Berry is used to ensure Poliwrath's longevity and makes sure it can sweep as long as possible.

Usage Tips
========

• Bring in Poliwrath against passive pokemon while rain is up, such as Altaria and Ferroseed, as they won't be doing much damage to Poliwrath so it has an easier time to set up Belly Drum and proceed to sweep.
• Poliwrath should never be brought into attacks and should always be brought in on a free switch. This prevents it from taking damage so it's as healthy as possible when Belly Drum is used so Sitrus Berry can recover its health to 75%.

Team Options
========

• Rain setters like Liepard help Poliwrath a lot because Liepard can always set up a prioritised Rain Dance mid to late game and then pivot in with U-Turn Poliwrath to do its job. Defensive Rain Setter Mesprit can also do this job of setting up Rain Dance then U-Turn in Poliwrath.
• Poliwrath appreciates special-orientated rain partners, like Gorebyss and Ludicolo, who can burst through physical walls like Weezing in rain while Poliwrath is at neutral attack and won't be able to OHKO them.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

• A special attacking rain set could be used. However, it is outclassed by Ludicolo and Gorebyss because Poliwrath's Special Attack stat is very low compared to Ludicolo's 90 and Gorebyss' 114. This set does help Poliwrath take on physical defensive walls easier but overall lacks the damage output of a +6 physical Poliwrath.
• A SubPunch set with 112 HP / 252 Atk / 144 Spe makes Poliwrath slightly more bulky and a STAB Focus Punch does do a lot of damage to those who don't resist it. However, Poliwrath is made even slower and more vulnerable to the mons that check it and this set is walled completely by Gourgeist-XL, who would be usually threatened by the Belly Drum Rain Sweeper set.

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

**Faster Pokemon**: Poliwrath only has 70 base speed, which isn't fast at all outside of rain and faster mons like Togedemaru, Lilligant and Jynx all outspeed it and threaten Poliwrath with their STAB moves.

**Status**: Pokemon such as Sableye, Weezing and Spiritomb can take a hit from unboosted Poliwrath and can threaten it with a burn from Will-o-Wisp or paralysis from Thunder Wave, preventing it from performing its role as a sweeper.

**Bulky Grass Pokemon**: Gourgeist-XL, Alolan Exeggutor and Tangela shrug off Poliwrath's STAB and threaten it with their STAB moves. However, none of these pokemon appreciate a +6 Ice Punch.