Lower Tiers RU Playstyle Classification Thread

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Offense:

Revenge Killers:

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(Offensive)

  • Accelgor is more than fast enough to beat the majority of the unboosted tier without a choice scarf
  • beats everything up to Scarf Medicham with a timid nature
  • Unlike the Choice Scarf users like Emboar and Rotom-C, Accelgor can switch moves and use a Life Orb while still being able to perform its revenge killing role
  • Many Pokemon such as Mesprit, Sceptile, and Lilligant are weak to Accelgor's Bug-type STAB, making it easier to revenge kill them.
  • because of the aforementioned combination of natural speed and ability to switch moves/hold life orb Accelgor can even countersweep in some circumstances
  • Weakness to priority and residual damage hinders Accelgor a little bit
 
Balance / Stall:

Mixed Wall:

i_matadogasu.gif

(Physically defensive or mixed)

  • SMOGon wall.
  • Great defensive type along with Levitate that add a nice inmunity against Ground attacks.
  • Can work very well with both evs spread, physically defensive or specially defensive spread being just mixed, just checks some of Fighting, Grass, Bug Ground, Poison types.
  • WoWisp is mandatory on Weezing like status move for Physical threats or just criple another stuff.
  • Same with Pain Split, the only reliable move to recover health.
  • Solid moves to support the team like Haze or Clear Smog against Baton Pass or sweepers, Taunt as well.
  • Like offensive options the viables are Sludge Bomb, Fire Blast or Flame for stuff like Escavalier or Tangrowth and finally Thunderbolt.
 
Hail Teams:

Blizzspammers:

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(Choice Scarf)

  • Choice Scarf Rotom-F is a near staple on hail offense
  • STAB Blizzbolt+Volt Switch to scout is great for Rotom-F, and lets it break down a lot of common pokemon, offensive and defensive alike
  • nice Speed with Choice Scarf makes it that much harder to survive Scarf Rotom-F's barrage of Blizzards and Thunderbolts after everything else has been worn down by its teammates because of the lack of Pokemon that can outspeed it, even things like Scarf Glaceon get outpaced by faster Pokemon on occasion
  • Speed and coverage let Choice Scarf Rotom-F serve as a potent revenge killer if/when needed
  • can use Trick to cripple common defensive blizzspam checks by locking them into unfavorable moves and eliminating leftovers recovery, making it easier for the other Blizzspammers to break through
  • Trick also lets Rotom-F switch moves when the extra speed isn't needed
  • SR weak gives it a limited amount of switch ins when using Volt Switch
  • how was this not mentioned before ?___?
 
Offense / Bulky Offense:

Wallbreakers:

i_aakeosu.gif

(Acrobatics)

  • Super strong Atk and a solid SpA, with a good Speed as well.
  • Only two reliables counter: Regirock and Alomomola, with another solid checks but that with the right move and Stealth Rock on the field are 2hko.
  • Very frail and their ability sucks, so works nice to kill something and die since also is weak to Stealth Rock so is very limited to switch and super easily revenge killer with another faster mon / priority.
  • Acrobatics, Earth Power and Stone Edge are staple on Archeops by coverage, Acrobatics and Stone Edge are stronger but Earth Power helps against some physically defensive walls like Steelix and Rhydon, last slot is for Heat Wave, Roost, U-turn or Head Smash.
  • Stealth Rock and Tailwind are another decent options.
 
Hi.

Offense/Bulky Offense:

Physical Sweepers:

457.png

(Swords Dance)
  • Not superb, but a very usable physical sweeper
  • Has a pretty good Speed, and usable Attack to boost
  • Usable coverage in Poison Jab, Crunch, and EQ
  • Also has Taunt to stallbreak
  • Decent defensive typing
  • Hits hard enough with hazard support
  • Not amazing, but very usable nonetheless

653.png


(Rock Polish)
  • It may be slow, but not too slow to sweep
  • Has very useful defensive typing with useful resistances to set up
  • Very strong Attack and excellent coverage
  • With Jolly Nature it outspeeds Scarf Rotom-C, awesome benchmark to hit
  • Immune to T-Wave, which sweetens the deal
  • Why the fuck is this NU?
Wallbreakers:
297.png

(Guts)
  • Strong Attack stat to work with, plus usable bulk
  • Can burn or poison itself and hit ridiculously hard while freely switching moves
  • Close Combat hurts
  • It has Facade, Stone Edge, Payback, and Ice Punch for coverage too
  • Also can revenge kill weakened targets between Fake Out and Bullet Punch
  • It's a sumo wrestler
Balance/Bulky Offense:

Hazard Setters:
241.png


(Utility)
  • Very bulky, so it can set up SR reliably
  • Has reliable recovery to repeatedly do so
  • Has three goddamn amazing abilities
  • Bulky as fuck
  • Also can spread paralysis and heal the team with heal Bell
  • It's a fucking annoying cow, I don't get why it isn't RU already
 
Hail:

Utility:

623.gif


(Tank)
  • Gives important resistances/immunities to Fighting-type, rock-type(two important and rare for hail)as well resistances to Electric and Normal something always useful.
  • Quite good bulk with 89/80/80
  • Can set-up Stealth Rock
  • Great Attack and ability in iron fist which boosts most of its moves
  • Exellent coverage thanks to its STABs and coverage moves
  • Low speed which means it will easily get outspeed
  • Common weaknesses
 
Bulky Offense/Balance:

Special Sweepers:

626.png
(All-Out-Attacker)

  • Nice STAB combination in Electric/Bug to work with, hits a bunch of common pokemon super effectively such as Uxie, Tangrowth, Slowking, Rotom-C, Lilligant, and Kabutops.
  • Has the ability to use Compoundeyes Thunder to make up for an only alright base 97 Special Attack, wheras other Electric-types need to use Thunderbolt
  • nice base 108 Speed lets Galvantula outrun most of the tier and even revenge kill slower threats in a pinch
  • can use Volt Switch to scout and escape checks and counters when needed
  • Giga Drain rounds out Galvantula's coverage and gives it a way to recover if it ever gets the chance to use the move
  • Stealth Rock weakness and fraility mean Galvantula gets worn down easily
 
Volturn:

U-turn users:

i_oosubame.gif

(Cleaner)
  • One of the mons more faster avalaible on the RU tier.
  • Toxic Orb or Flame Orb to activate Guts and a stronger Facade.
  • For ghost types and bulky grasses such Tangrowth just uses Brave Bird.
  • U-turn gives momentum into stuff like steel or rocky types the only types that resist their coverage.
  • Last move is filler, with Pursuit can trap some weaks stuff and luring Psychic types mostly, Quick Attack is useful against faster mons just very weak (mostly Choice Scarf since is just very fast). Protect is another option for Swellow to activate the Orb but not for Volturn teams since needs momentum not the lose of this.
 
Volturn

Volt Switch Users:

484.png
(Choice Scarf)

  • Rotom-N fits quite well onto volturn
  • immunities and resists help rotom pivot in and out to an extent despite its fraility, while it can simply use Volt Switch to escape the majority of its checks and counters
  • levitate means rotom doesn't get worn down by SR and Spikes as quickly, which is important on full volturn
  • very fast with a Choice Scarf, can revenge kill things such as +2 Omastar for Volturn if needed
  • previously mentioned typing makes Rotom immune to Entei's Extremespeed, meaning that any team with rotom can never be cleaned up by CB Entei espeed until rotom is taken out of the match, which is pretty cool
  • can trick away its scarf vs more defensive teams to let it switch moves
 
Offense/Bulky Offense

Special Sweepers:

244.png
(Substitute + Calm Mind)

  • Amazing surprise factor
  • Can handle typical counters such as Poliwrath, Kabutops, Omastar, Qwilfish and Alomomola with HP Grass
  • Solid bulk and ability to force switches makes getting up a Substitute easy
  • 101 HP Subs
  • Great speed and respectable Special Attack
  • Fire x Grass provides nice coverage, and Stealth Rocks can make getting past Fire types much easier
  • Is the bane of Hail teams, being able to set-up on Snover (Who is usually sacked turn one against Entei because you typically don't need it and you have a counter to CB Entei), and beats the majority of Hail's Entei counters (Except one major one)
  • Slowking can still ruin Entei's day with Surf, since Entei needs some boosts for HP Grass to do good damage
 
Bulky Offense:

Rapid Spinners:

141.png
(Rapid Spin)

  • Easily the best offensive rapid spinner in the tier
  • beats most of RU's spinblockers easily, which lets it spin the vast majority of the time
  • outside of spinning kabutops has a nice base 115 Attack stat, STAB priority, swords dance, and good STABs to work with, meaning it can function even if its rapid spin duties are uneeded
  • frail but has a 4x resist to fire-type moves to help it switch in
  • Weak Armor can clutch a game by boosting Kabutop's speed so a pokemon that would normally revenge kill it is now unable to
  • fits really well in FWG cores, especially with moltres, who demolishes kabutop's checks and counters while kabu spins for moltres in return
  • how was this not added yet
 
Hail:

Ice Body Pokemon:
i_onigoori.gif

  • Faster than others Ice Body users like Dewgong, Wallrein or Glaceon.
  • Substitute and Protect to stall opponent mons on Hail.
  • Toxic if you dont run Toxic Spikes on your team.
  • Blizzard is necessary like an offensive attack.
  • Spikes are a cool option for your hail team if is more offensive oriented.
  • Taunt, Disable and Hidden Power Fire are another decent options thought.
 
Going to give some mons already in stall some extra classifications to show what else they can do for a team.

Stall:

Physical Walls:

211.png
(Utility)

  • Outside of setting up spikes and toxic spikes, qwilfish can check a bunch of common physical threats with ease because of its typing and intimidate
  • Pokemon that qwilfish can check and use as spikes fodder for its team include Durant, Escavalier, Entei, Emboar, and Hariyama
  • Absorbs Toxic Spikes for its team too, which is nice because a lot of defensive pokemon really hate Toxic Spikes
  • Qwilfish is still useful even against physical Pokemon it doesn't 100% counter, as Intimidate lets it serve as an effective emergency stop by cutting a threatening sweeper's attack stat
  • decently fast taunt is really useful for defensive teams too to stop things like opposing set up, hazards, or status
  • Thunder Wave is great for crippling Pokemon such as Rotom-C and Sceptile that might switch into Qwilfish, making them easier to handle in the process.
Stall:

Special Walls:
447.png
(Defensive)
  • Outside of spinblocking, Spiritomb's immunities, good natural bulk, and lack of weaknesses make it a good special wall
  • checks common Special Pokemon such as Uxie, Mesprit, Sigilyph, and some Slowking varients (note: not specs) pretty nicely, some of which are really annoying for stall otherwise
  • Will-O-Wisp and Foul Play help Spiritomb defend against physical attackers that might try and take advantage of Spiritomb as well, especially the latter, which hits things like CB Entei and CB Druddigon really hard
  • not a special attacker, but defensive Spiritomb is also the best check to Gallade out there, and beating it makes Spiritomb a stall staple.
 
Offense / Bulky Offense:

Physical Sweeper:

i_saidon.gif

(Double Boost)

  • Great bulk thanks to eviolite mostly physical and a good HP.
  • Jolly nature is recommended since is just too slow after with a single boost or without this boost.
  • Sword Dance is the option to down better with slower mons stuff like Slowking, Steelix, Ferroseed and this stuff just with very a few counters: Tangrowth.
  • Rock Polish is the another boost option for faster things, more useful against another offensive teams.
  • Earthquake and Stone Edge are the mainly offensive moves because have a good coverage and both STAB.
  • Good type that gives some nice resistances for example against flying or fire types, while is inmunity to Volt Switch.
 
Offense:

Wallbreakers:

628.png
(Choice Band)

  • Massively powerful with a Choice Band equipped because of its Attack stat and STABs
  • Flying is a somewhat spammable STAB, especially when paired with Superpower, which covers most if not all the Pokemon that resist Brave Bird
  • 2HKOs pretty much the entire tier bar a few select threats with its coverage moves, even Alomomola has a chance to be 2HKO'd after Stealth Rock, not even protect recovery can save it every time! (it gets a guarenteed 2HKO if alomomola doesn't protect!).
  • Hits physically defensive monster Tangrowth super effectively with Brave Bird, which is really nice for a physical wallbreaker, hits Poliwrath super effectively too.
  • decently bulky, can take a hit from full health, although Stealth Rock and Brave Bird wears it down somewhat quickly
  • forces switches easily because of its massive power and has u-turn to scout and escape checks and counters if/when needed.
  • decently fast for a wallbreaker, 80 base speed is by no means bad.
  • SR weakness and BB recoil means Braviary might not live very long
 
Balance / Bulky Offense:

Utility / Special Sweeper:

i_jyukain.gif

(SubLeech)

  • Leech Seed and Substitute are the mainly moves on this set, works like another SubSeeder such Whimsicott but Sceptile with a good offense so can put a good pressure against many threats or making substitutes easier.
  • Giga Drain is the main offensive mon because STAB and health, Leaf Storm is another option hits much harder but dont recover health, SpA drop and can miss.
  • Substitute with Overgrow + Giga or Leaf to activate their ability and hit harder.
  • With this great speed can make their Substitute easily.
  • Last move is Focus Blast, Hidden Power Fire or Hidden Power Rock. Focus Blast hits sap sipper mons, escavalier neutral, druddigon; Hidden Power Fire is mostly for another grasses / steels and finally Hidden Power Rock is for Moltres / Sigyliph.
 
Third post about Kabutops on one page, damn....

Offense/Bulky Offense/Balance

Physical Sweepers:

141.png
(Swords Dance or Offensive Rapid Spin)

  • Outside of its spinning duties, Kabutops actually makes a pretty good physical sweeper whether its carrying Rapid spin or not
  • ability to force switches and a 4x resist to Fire-type moves help Kabutops set up a Swords Dance
  • after Kabutops has set up a Swords Dance, it can brutally attack the opposing team with a combination of its dual STAB combination and great base 115 Attack stat
  • has Aqua Jet to take out potential revenge killers such as Rotom-N and Manectric at +2, some potential checks resist it though
  • can still Rapid Spin while running a Swords Dance set, although Waterfall is a really nifty tool too to take out bulkier rock resistant Pokemon that might be able to take a boosted Aqua Jet, but not Waterfall.
  • can forego Swords Dance to run 3 Attacks+Rapid Spin as well, even without the boost Kabutops functions decently as a physical attacker between its STABs and priority.
 
Stall:

Special Walls:

315.png

(Utility)

  • Eviolite gives it amazing special bulk
  • Has excellent resistances, can wall threats such as Galvantula, Sceptile, Lilligant, Rotom-C, and Omastar
  • Has reliable recovery in Rest/Synthesis
  • Not a sitting duck, good 100 Attack and usable STABs allow it to pack a punch
  • Is immune to Toxic and Natural Cure allows it to remove any status upon switching
  • Also sets up hazards
  • idg why this thing is in NU while Dusknoir isn't

Balance/Bulky Offense:

Hazard Setters:

573.png


(Spikes)

  • Very fast, can set up Spikes really quickly
  • Has useful STAB in Megahorn to cover most of the tier
  • Also has great coverage and can lay some real nice hurt on the team
  • Swarm is cool to use mega powered Megahorns as a final gambit
  • Absorbs Toxic Spikes and sets them up too, which is cool
  • It's really manly and should be RU
653.png


(Tank)

  • Usable bulk and great resistances
  • Can set up SR super reliably
  • Also has the spinblocking capability, so it can block spin
  • Amazing Attack and great movepool, so it can lay hurt
  • It can fly
  • Seriously why isn't this RU already?
Offense:

Hazard Setters:

486.png

(Stealth Rock)
  • Good bulk and nice resistances
  • Can set up SR pretty damn well
  • Has U-turn to scout and repeatedly set up TR
  • Can hit pretty hard to lay hurt on the team
  • Awesome Pokemon
 
Hail:

Ice Body Pokemon:

476.png
(SubProtect)

  • Best raw power of any SubProtect user
  • Arguably Glaceon's best set due to flexibility in play
  • Holds true to stalling principles while providing offensive firepower when necessary
  • Destroys Magneton, a major issue for Hail Stall teams
  • Able to outspeed and handle Lanturn better than Walrein ever could (Subs even hold up to Volt Switch!)
  • Surprise value due to the ubiquity of the Specs set
  • Remind me again why this hasn't been added yet?
Utility:

486.png
(Offensive Stealth Rock)

  • Solid bulk, resistance to Fighting, and ability to check Slowking
  • Has U-turn to get Hail abusers in safely (and forms a VoltTurn core with Rotom-F)
  • Can utilize Blizzard if desired
  • Arguably the best offensive check to Gallade who often threatens Hail teams
  • Access to Healing Wish to bring back something like Glaceon or Rotom-F; teams can rarely handle them twice
  • Hits decently hard despite being more of a pivot
  • Awesome Pokemon that needs more love
 
Hail:

Ice Body Pokemon:
584.png

(SubProtect)
  • Second fastest SubProtect user
  • Also the second most powerful SubProtect user
  • Access to Taunt allows it to differentiate itself from other SubProtect users
  • Can destroy Magneton with HP Ground like Glaceon
  • Not the best SubProtect user, but a very solid one overall
 
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Offense / Bulky Offense:

Wallbreaker:

i_emuritto.gif

(Offensive Calm Mind)

  • Calm Mind is the main move on this set, to boost the SpA.
  • Psyshock or Psychic is necesary like strong move because STAB, Psychic hits a bit harder in overall but Psyshock hits much harder against SpD walls such Cryogonal and Clefable which is much more important in terms to wallbreaking.
  • Life Orb is probably most strong item, Leftovers can work as well.
  • Ice Beam and Thunderbolt both moves by coverage hits super effective against many stuff.
  • Hidden Power Fire or Ground are decent options if you need nails some mons, like Escavalier or Magneton / Aggron respectively.
 
Alright, its been a while, but i updated the OP with the majority of the entries posted! There were like 3 i wasn't 100% sure on, so i left them out for now. DittoCrow also changed misc roles to a niche mons section a few days ago for Pokemon that have a small niche but should only be used on certain teams, so things like Camerupt, Liepard, and Mothim have been placed there for the time being. Some of the links are still broken, but i'll fix them soon. Anyways, to keep discussion moving...

Bulky Offense/Balance

Physical Sweepers:

662.png
(Hone Claws)

  • Durant's high attack, hustle ability, and great speed stat mean that fighting against one can be really painful if you make the wrong move
  • Hustle boosts Durant's Attack by 1.5 in exchange for accuracy, making it even stronger than it already is and making up for its lowish BP STAB moves
  • Hone Claws patches up Durant's Accuracy issue and further boosts its Attack stat if it gets a chance to set one up
  • Outspeeds the majority of the unboosted tier, which is always nice for a physical sweeper
  • doesn't care about priority: resists Extremespeed, Quick Attack, Shadow Sneak, and Sucker Punch, and has enough physical bulk to take the rest of them pretty easily.
  • defensive teams have quite a bit of trouble with +1 Durant because of its sheer power and STABs, even things like Poliwrath take quite a bit from +1 Superpower
  • terrible Special Bulk holds it back a bit
  • prone to missing at terrible times without a Hone Claws boost
  • still a really powerful and threatening physical sweeper.
 
Out of boredom I compiled a list of Pokemon that have showed up the most on this list. I may have missed some.

Mesprit – 15
Torterra - 11
Druddigon, Slowking, Kabutops – 9
Uxie - 8
Aggron, Sceptile, Qwilfish, Omastar, Rhydon, Entei, Rotom (normal) – 7
Braviary, Gallade, Cryogonal, Emboar - 6
Samurott, Seismitoad – 5

This may be just me but I think there are too many Mesprits and Torterras in this chart - they are on there more than even Slowking and Druddigon (the best Pokemon in the tier), for instance, which I find strange, considering they far from as dominant, although I guess it goes off the # of submissions.

Balance
Pivots
479-c.gif
(Choice Scarf, probably other sets too but idk)
  • Immunity to Ground, Water resistance, and, most of all, Volt Switch make it an excellent pivot on any team, including Balance.
  • Its one of the only Pokemon that resists Water and still gets Volt Switch, and thanks to Leaf Storm it can also severely threaten Slowking, forcing it to leave most of the time.
  • Trick can really screw up some walls and give some other things an easier time. It also means that if a Pokemon stops its momentum after it Tricks away its scarf, they will be forced to eat a Leaf Storm (aka almost always get OHKOed by Leaf Storm because these things are Ground-types)
  • Done being a pivot? Rotom-C makes for a decent cleaner as well thanks to its decently powered Thunderbolt.
  • Its in general just very good, there isn't much more to say :/
Pivots
591.gif
(Pivot)
  • Regenerator, a good bulk, and a good typing that grants it lots of resistances gives it several opportunities to switch in an do its business.
  • Checks several dangerous offensive Pokemon such as Sceptile, Feraligatr
  • Spore is a very annoying move and it gets a lot of opportunities to set it up because it is very hard to directly eliminate from the match
  • Has Stun Spore if it wants to crippple other stuff after the initial Spore.
  • Sleep is extremely well prepared for in RU and its low special attack doesn't help against some Pokemon, although Clear Smog and the aforementioned Stun Spore helps.
Niche Roles
sandslash.gif
(Niche Spinner)
  • Like Torkoal, it should not be your first choice for a spinner.
  • Its Ground typing means it is of the few switch-ins for CB Aggron's Head Smash in the tier, and it is immune to Volt Switch, making it a good partner for Flying-types in general. It can also deal with Rhydon and Aerodactyl moderately well.
  • It still can beat Spiritomb, which is the most common spinblocker in the tier.
  • Hard to OHKO with a physical attack with just max HP so it can usually pull off a spin against physical attackers in case of emergency.
  • Doesn't really fit into one type of team in my experience so it would fit here moreso than anywhere else.
EDIT: If we are going to put Mesprit on the list 15 times and even put stuff like Torkoal or Beheeyem out there Sandslash at least deserves a mention in misc. roles
 
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I think the large number of Mesprits on the list mostly relates to the fact that it can do a fuckton of things in RU, simply because it has a great balance of stats and a massive movepool which means it can do a lot of things, hence the large number of entries. (Plus, Mesprit's updated analysis has more sets than any Pokemon viable in RU). On a side note, I would actually refrain from mentioning Sandslash at all because it really is not viable imo, but that may be just what I think.

EDIT: Eh, I guess Sandslash has a small niche as a last resort spinner, so okay then

Anyways, to make this post more useful, here's what I've got.

Balance/Bulky Offense:

Physical Sweepers:

573.png

(Swords Dance)
  • Although Durant and Scyther might look better, this thing is beastly and possibly better than both
  • High Speed, and amazing coverage, so it can handily sweep teams
  • Has useful Fighting and Grass resistances to use as setup opportunities
  • Can run Salac Berry+Swarm to be even more epic
  • Immune to Toxic and also absorbs Toxic Spikes
  • It's very manly
653.png

(Rock Polish)
  • It has usable bulk and nice resistances, so it can patch up its paltry Speed handily
  • Outspeeds a lot of things in the tier after a Rock Polish Boost
  • Amazing 124 Attack and a great coverage make it a force to be reckoned with
  • Has the nice ability to spinblock, even if not that well
  • It's mega sized
Spinblockers:
200.png

(Support)
  • With Eviolite, this little Ghost is pretty bulky on both sides
  • Has a great ability in Levitate to prevent it from being worn down
  • Useful support moves in WoW, Heal Bell, Taunt, etc.
  • It also hits decently hard with Shadow Ball, so it's no sitting duck
  • Why wasn't this listed already
Niche Roles:

198.png

(Prankster Support)
  • Has Prankster
  • Great support movepool to troll
  • Can spread paralysis, perish trap, and other ways to be annoying
  • Bulk is okay with Eviolite
  • Not much else going for it, but it has its place
 
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Bulky Offense:
Hazard Setter:
208.gif

(Defensive)
  • Amazing typing, giving it 2 immunities and 9 resistances
  • Amazing physical defense
  • Has access to a reliable phazing move
  • Walls several important threats, including Escavalier, Cinccino and Aerodactyl
  • Hindered by its low Special Defense and Speed, but is a solid Hazard setter overall
Hail:
Sweepers:
584.gif

(Automize)
  • Outspeeds the entire tier after an Automize boost
  • 3rd strongest Blizzard in the tier
  • Ice Body means that it only takes 4% damage from Life Orb
  • Can lure and beat Cryogonal with Explosion
Niche Roles:
477.gif

(Niche Spinblocker)

  • Like Lampent, it should not be your first choice for a spinblocker
  • Ghost-typing means that it can deal with most Fighting-types and certain Normal-types fairly well
  • Only Spinblocker who has a chance at beating Kabutops and does great against Cryogonal
  • Will-O-Wisp cripples most physical attackers
  • Relatively hard to OHKO with a non-Super-effective attack
 
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