[OVERVIEW]
In the OU metagame, Porygon is a small fish in a big pond. Its stats are comparable to unevolved Pokemon, it is slower than most Pokemon in the metagame, and despite having Recover it is mostly outclassed by Chansey defensively. Despite its issues, it has just the right qualities in RBY to make it usable in OU. It cannot be paralyzed by Body Slam, and it has 32 PP for recovery to outlast Body Slam's 24 PP, more than 30 Base Speed and enough physical bulk to switch into Snorlax. This makes it an effective dedicated wall to most Snorlax variants. Chansey comparatively runs out of Softboiled PP before Snorlax runs out of Body Slam PP, requiring spending a turn on Reflect to attempt to wall Snorlax. Porygon is best used alongside Chansey as a defensive core, using Chansey to handle Special attackers while Porygon keeps Snorlax from taking advantage of Chansey to make any progress.
While Porygon is primarily used for walling Snorlax, in a pinch it can switch into and wall Gengar and most paralyzed Pokemon which do not have boosting moves or the ability to inflict status, including paralyzed Tauros. It has some consistency issues, however. Critical hits from Snorlax can heavily pressure Porygon, Ice Beam or Blizzard can freeze Porygon, and Amnesia Snorlax with a Special attack doesn't fear anything from Porygon except being frozen. Gengar can put Porygon to sleep or even fish for Thunderbolt paralysis to cripple it. Stun Spore-less Exeggutor, if it can't use Sleep Powder, can still heavily pressure Porygon with Psychics as Special drops prevent Porygon from walling it, and can attempt to KO it with Explosion if all else fails.
[SET]
name: Wall
move 1: Recover
move 2: Thunder Wave
move 3: Ice Beam
move 4: Thunderbolt / Hyper Beam / Tri Attack
[SET COMMENTS]
Set Description
=========
Recover is mandatory to keep Porygon healthy and wall Snorlax. [Thunder Wave] [Ice Beam] [Thunderbolt] [Hyper Beam] [Tri Attack]
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
[Sharpen]. [Reflect]. [Flash]. Psywave can be used for coverage compression, doing up to 150 damage regardless of stats or typing, but it is not desirable due to its extreme randomness in damage and low average damage output. Scraping the bottom is Mimic, Porygon's only means to wall Amnesia Snorlax. By mimicking Amnesia, Porygon can boost alongside it and avoid being overwhelmed by Snorlax's boosted attacks. However, Mimic copies a move randomly from the opponent, making it extremely unreliable as it only has a 25% chance to copy Amnesia from Snorlax.
Checks and Counters
===================
Chansey: Chansey's immense bulk leaves Porygon's Special attacks almost incapable of denting it, and Porygon's weak Attack stat leaves it only able to 4HKO at best. Not only is Porygon unable to inflict meaningful damage on Chansey, it is also heavily crippled by Chansey's status moves. Chansey is also faster than Porygon, so outside of Sharpen sets Chansey is highly advantaged in a one on one fight. Against Chansey, Porygon is rarely able to do more than switch out or paralyze Chansey as it switches in.
Alakazam and Starmie: While Alakazam and Starmie are 3HKO'd by Tri Attack and Thunderbolt respectively, if they are healthy they can switch into Porygon even if Porygon attacks them with the right coverage, force Porygon out with the threat of Thunder Wave, and Recover to heal any damage they took.
Paralysis: Paralyzing Porygon takes away its ability to consistently use Recover and move first against most paralyzed Pokemon, almost completely removing Porygon's ability to wall any Pokemon and rendering it nearly useless.
Sleepers: Porygon must avoid paralysis to fulfill its niche, which means it often has no status condition. This means any Pokemon with a sleep inducing move can try to switch in while Porygon Recovers, and then threaten it with sleep.
Offense Boosting: Porygon's options for handling Amnesia or Growth are limited, as it can only attempt to freeze Amnesia users, annoy them with Thunder Wave and Flash, or gamble to gain Amnesia or Growth itself through Mimic. Any Pokemon that can boost their Attack can overwhelm Porygon, though if Porygon has Reflect, only Sandslash and Hitmonlee are able to muscle through with their strong boosted STAB attacks.
Psychic: While Porygon has just enough bulk to avoid 2HKOs from STAB Psychic attacks, Psychic's 33.2% chance to reduce Special makes it very easy to soften up Porygon and make it vulnerable to being 2HKOed, forcing it to switch out.
Confuse Ray: Confusion temporarily makes Porygon unable to reliably recover, forcing Porygon to switch out or risk missing a crucial Recover turn.
Strong Critical Hits: Very powerful critical hits can OHKO Porygon,
Defense Reduction: Even if Porygon has Reflect, reducing Porygon's Defense will inevitably soften even Reflect Porygon enough to make Porygon unable to stomach physical attacks.
Explosion: As a last resort, Pokemon with Explosion or Self-destruct can opt to trade for Porygon. However, this is likely to be a net loss. While Snorlax's Self-destruct is a guaranteed OHKO on Porygon, it also leaves Porygon's mission to keep Snorlax from doing anything to its teammates accomplished. Additionally, while Porygon's physical bulk is only slightly higher than Chansey's, it is favored to survive any Explosion except for Golem's, making it risky for any Pokemon outside of Snorlax and Golem to explode to attempt to KO a healthy Porygon.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Enigami, 233818]]
- Quality checked by: [[, ], [, ]]
- Grammar checked by: [[, ], [, ]]
In the OU metagame, Porygon is a small fish in a big pond. Its stats are comparable to unevolved Pokemon, it is slower than most Pokemon in the metagame, and despite having Recover it is mostly outclassed by Chansey defensively. Despite its issues, it has just the right qualities in RBY to make it usable in OU. It cannot be paralyzed by Body Slam, and it has 32 PP for recovery to outlast Body Slam's 24 PP, more than 30 Base Speed and enough physical bulk to switch into Snorlax. This makes it an effective dedicated wall to most Snorlax variants. Chansey comparatively runs out of Softboiled PP before Snorlax runs out of Body Slam PP, requiring spending a turn on Reflect to attempt to wall Snorlax. Porygon is best used alongside Chansey as a defensive core, using Chansey to handle Special attackers while Porygon keeps Snorlax from taking advantage of Chansey to make any progress.
While Porygon is primarily used for walling Snorlax, in a pinch it can switch into and wall Gengar and most paralyzed Pokemon which do not have boosting moves or the ability to inflict status, including paralyzed Tauros. It has some consistency issues, however. Critical hits from Snorlax can heavily pressure Porygon, Ice Beam or Blizzard can freeze Porygon, and Amnesia Snorlax with a Special attack doesn't fear anything from Porygon except being frozen. Gengar can put Porygon to sleep or even fish for Thunderbolt paralysis to cripple it. Stun Spore-less Exeggutor, if it can't use Sleep Powder, can still heavily pressure Porygon with Psychics as Special drops prevent Porygon from walling it, and can attempt to KO it with Explosion if all else fails.
[SET]
name: Wall
move 1: Recover
move 2: Thunder Wave
move 3: Ice Beam
move 4: Thunderbolt / Hyper Beam / Tri Attack
[SET COMMENTS]
Set Description
=========
Recover is mandatory to keep Porygon healthy and wall Snorlax. [Thunder Wave] [Ice Beam] [Thunderbolt] [Hyper Beam] [Tri Attack]
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
[Sharpen]. [Reflect]. [Flash]. Psywave can be used for coverage compression, doing up to 150 damage regardless of stats or typing, but it is not desirable due to its extreme randomness in damage and low average damage output. Scraping the bottom is Mimic, Porygon's only means to wall Amnesia Snorlax. By mimicking Amnesia, Porygon can boost alongside it and avoid being overwhelmed by Snorlax's boosted attacks. However, Mimic copies a move randomly from the opponent, making it extremely unreliable as it only has a 25% chance to copy Amnesia from Snorlax.
Checks and Counters
===================
Chansey: Chansey's immense bulk leaves Porygon's Special attacks almost incapable of denting it, and Porygon's weak Attack stat leaves it only able to 4HKO at best. Not only is Porygon unable to inflict meaningful damage on Chansey, it is also heavily crippled by Chansey's status moves. Chansey is also faster than Porygon, so outside of Sharpen sets Chansey is highly advantaged in a one on one fight. Against Chansey, Porygon is rarely able to do more than switch out or paralyze Chansey as it switches in.
Alakazam and Starmie: While Alakazam and Starmie are 3HKO'd by Tri Attack and Thunderbolt respectively, if they are healthy they can switch into Porygon even if Porygon attacks them with the right coverage, force Porygon out with the threat of Thunder Wave, and Recover to heal any damage they took.
Paralysis: Paralyzing Porygon takes away its ability to consistently use Recover and move first against most paralyzed Pokemon, almost completely removing Porygon's ability to wall any Pokemon and rendering it nearly useless.
Sleepers: Porygon must avoid paralysis to fulfill its niche, which means it often has no status condition. This means any Pokemon with a sleep inducing move can try to switch in while Porygon Recovers, and then threaten it with sleep.
Offense Boosting: Porygon's options for handling Amnesia or Growth are limited, as it can only attempt to freeze Amnesia users, annoy them with Thunder Wave and Flash, or gamble to gain Amnesia or Growth itself through Mimic. Any Pokemon that can boost their Attack can overwhelm Porygon, though if Porygon has Reflect, only Sandslash and Hitmonlee are able to muscle through with their strong boosted STAB attacks.
Psychic: While Porygon has just enough bulk to avoid 2HKOs from STAB Psychic attacks, Psychic's 33.2% chance to reduce Special makes it very easy to soften up Porygon and make it vulnerable to being 2HKOed, forcing it to switch out.
Confuse Ray: Confusion temporarily makes Porygon unable to reliably recover, forcing Porygon to switch out or risk missing a crucial Recover turn.
Strong Critical Hits: Very powerful critical hits can OHKO Porygon,
Defense Reduction: Even if Porygon has Reflect, reducing Porygon's Defense will inevitably soften even Reflect Porygon enough to make Porygon unable to stomach physical attacks.
Explosion: As a last resort, Pokemon with Explosion or Self-destruct can opt to trade for Porygon. However, this is likely to be a net loss. While Snorlax's Self-destruct is a guaranteed OHKO on Porygon, it also leaves Porygon's mission to keep Snorlax from doing anything to its teammates accomplished. Additionally, while Porygon's physical bulk is only slightly higher than Chansey's, it is favored to survive any Explosion except for Golem's, making it risky for any Pokemon outside of Snorlax and Golem to explode to attempt to KO a healthy Porygon.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Enigami, 233818]]
- Quality checked by: [[, ], [, ]]
- Grammar checked by: [[, ], [, ]]
