Salamence (WIP)

Swamp-Rocket · Jul 8, 2012

Excellent Mixed Attacking stats and a good speed stat.
Excellent offensive typing thanks to Dragon STAB.
Versatile enough to threaten almost any Pokemon and perform many roles.
Access to two great abilities that aid it further.
Some competition from other Dragon types.
Unfortunate weakness to Stealth Rock.

[Set]
name: Choice Scarf
move 1: Outrage
move 2: Dragon Claw
move 3: Fire Blast
move 4: Earthquake/Brick Break
item: Choice Scarf
nature: Naive
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
ability: Moxie

[Set Comments]

Choie Scarf ensures it outspeeds many things, making it hard to force out.
Moxie means that sacrificing a weak Pokemon to open up a revenge kill makes Salamence stronger, making it an excellent revenge killer.
Outrage is a powerful STAB option that dents anything.
Dragon Claw is less powerful, but its better for cleaning up a weakened team.
Fire Blast heavily dents Steel-types such as Forretress.
Earthquake is a physical option for several Steel-types such as Heatran and is preffered.
Brick Break does more damage to Tyranitar and Balloon Heatran than anything else in the moveset.

[Additional Comments]

EVs maximize offensive presence.
Naive nature is preffered to ensure it outspeeds slower scarfed Dragons like Hyrdeigon and Haxorus, but a Naughty nature gives it more power.
Flamethrower is an option for reliability, but the power drop is noticable.
Fire Fang can also be used, but most Steel types are weak on the special side, not the physical side.
Magnezone makes an excellent partner as it traps Steel-types, allowing Outrage to be more spammable.
Scizor can threaten Ice Shard users with Bullet Punch, which can otherwise OHKO Salamence.

[Set]
name: Dragon Dance
move 1: Dragon Dance
move 2: Outrage
move 3: Fire Blast
move 4: Earthquake
item: Life Orb
nature: Naive/Naughty
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
ability:

[Set Comments]

One Dragon Dance boost makes it both hit very hard and make it difficult to revenge kill, letting it defeat many types of teams.
Notable for being the fastest user of Dragon Dance that is a physical attacker.
Outrage is a hard-hitting move that dents or flat-out KOs several Pokemon after the boost.
Earhquake hits several Steel-types and Tyranitar hard.
Fire Blast is pretty much purely for Skarmory, Forretress, and Ferrothorn.

[Additional Comments]

Once again, EVs maximize offensive presence.
A Life Orb pushes its Offensive capabilities even further.
Either ability is fine. Intimidate allows Salamence to switch into more attacks and set up from there but Moxie makes it hit harder over time.
Dragon Claw is an option to not lock Salamence into a move, but the power drop is noticeable.
Brick Break can be used to hit Tyranitar and Balloon Heatran harder, but Earthquake hits Tyranitar very hard regardless and Heatran's Balloon can be popped early on.
Roost can be used to recover health, notably Life Orb recoil.
Magnezone once again is useful for removing Steel-types from the field, making Salamence more unstoppable.
Another Dragon type can also finish off what Salamence did to make a "double dragon" straegy.

[Set]
name: MixMence
move 1: Draco Meteor
move 2: Fire Blast
move 3: Roost/Outrage
move 4: Earthquake/Brick Break
item: Life Orb
nature: Rash/Naive
evs: 100 Atk / 168 SpA / 240 Spe
ability:

[Set Comments]

Set aims to threaten teams with high-power moves from both the special side and the physical side.
Draco Meteor OHKOs many Pokemon, notably those expecting a more common physical variant.
Fire Blast hits steel types that come in to absorb Dragon-moves.
Roost allows it to be used more, but Outrage gives it another powerful physical attack to use.
Earthquake deals heavy damage to Jirachi and OHKOs non-Balloon Heatran.
Brick Break is also useful, as it 2HKOs Heatran and Blissey and OHKOs Tyranitar. Note a STAB Outrage outdamages a Super-effective Brick Break.

[Additional Comments]

EVs allow Salamence to hit as hard as possible on both attacking sides and outspeed everything up to Neutral-Natured Hydreigon if it has a Rash Nature.
Ability depends on what the third move is. Intimidate should be used with Roost to give it more opportunities to switch in, but Moxie is a good option with Outrage to act more as an early-game wallbreaker.
Life Orb should be used in order increase the damage output.
Tyranitar is notable for trapping Latios and Latias, who could otherwise outspeed and OHKO with Draco Meteor or Dragon Pulse.
Starmie is an offensive Pokemon that can Rapid Spin Stealth Rock away, as this Salamence will be coming in often.
Another Dragon type can be used to continue what Salamence was doing in the case that it faints.

[Set] name: Lure
move 1: Dragon Claw
move 2: Outrage
move 3: Fire Blast
move 4: Earthquake/Brick Break
item: Lum Berry/Expert Belt
nature: Naive/Naughty
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
ability: Moxie

[Set Comments]

Set aims to suprise foes expecting a Choiced set, which can be used to an effect since the items given do not heal or damage Salamence.
Similar to the Choice Scarf set, but without the Choice Scarf.
Dragon Claw is more preferred early game, as it can hit hard and see what the opponent's response is.
Outrage still heavily dents everything, but be wary of the fact that it locks you into the move like a Choice item.
Fire Blast can destroy Steel types that think Salamence will keep using Dragon Claw.
Earthquake and Brick Break can work in a similar way to Dragon Claw, as it can lure in a Pokemon and then hit it with the appropriate move.

[Additional Comments]

The EV spread is the same as any other offensive set.
A Lum Berry can be used to heal status, which otherwise heavily cripples Salamence. An expert belt allows it to hit some Pokemon harder.
As temping as a Life Orb is on this set, note that it ruins the purpose of this set due to the obvious fact that he can switch moves.
Doesn't need many partners as it deals with its common switch-ins.
Ice Shard users still could be dealt with by Scizor's Bullet Punch, as they cannot be outsped due to the priority the move has.

[Set]
name: Choice Band
move 1: Outrage
move 2: Dragon Claw
move 3: Earthquake
move 4: Fire Blast/Fire Fang
item: Choice Band
nature: Naive
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
ability: Moxie

[Set Comments]

Choice Band is always a possibliltiy thanks to its high Attack and Speed.
Outrage's immediate power is very devastating.
Dragon Claw is usable if Outrage's side effect of not being able to switch out is too risky.
Eathquake is for coverage.
Fire Blast is for Steel types.
Fire Fang is an option thanks to the Choice Band boosting its power, as it does more damage to Ferrothorn this way.

[Additional Comments]

EVs maximize offesnive power.
Moxie is preffered to make Salamence destroy walls with its moves. Intimidate allows it to switch in more often, but Moxie fits in more with this version of Salamence.
Magnezone again is an option to remove Steel-types from the field.
Forretress can switch into Dragon and Ice moves. It also can rapid spin Stealth Rock away.

[Set]
name: Defensive
move 1: Wish
move 2: Protect/Roost
move 3: Dragon Tail
move 4: Flamethrower
item: Leftovers
nature: Bold
evs: 252 HP / 240 Def / 16 Spe
ability: Intimidate

[Set Comments]

Set aims to support the team and act as a physical wall.
Wish allows it to support its team by passing 197 HP wishes to them.
Protect ensures that Salamence gets healed from its own wish.
Roost can also be used if a more immediate heal is needed.
Dragon Tail allows it to phaze while racking up damage.
Flamethrower is needed to get past Steel types that resist Dragon Tail.

[Additional Comments]

EVs aim to outspeed neutral natured Base 70s. The rest is placed into physical defense.
Intimidate allows it to switch into non-dragon physical attackers very easily.
A Bold nature is preffered because raises its defense even more, and Dragon Tail still hits off a somewhat high Attack stat despite the nature.
Roar can be used over Dragon Tail, but Salamence needs a STAB option to be threatening at all.
Speed EVs can be modified to outspeed certain Pokemon but too many Speed EVs takes away from its bulk.
Rapid Spinners like Forretress allow Stealth Rock to stay off the field to allow Salamence to perform its role often. Forretress also enjoys the wish recovery.
Scizor can switch into Ice-types and threaten them all of them with a powerful Bullet Punch, which lets Salamence support easier.

[Other Options]

Very wide special movepool including Draco Metoer, Hydro Pump, and Fire Blast, but sets revolving around this are generally outclassed by Hydreigon and Latios.
Several types of Dragon Dance can be used, including Mixed and Bulky. However, it cannot cover as much with a Mixed set and a Bulky set gets competition from Dragonite.
Substitute can be used to account switches.
Stone Edge hits some Pokemon types of harder, but none resist Outrage anyway and its 80% accuracy is annoying.

[Checks and Counters]

Revenge Killing is the best option since it cannot switch out when it is locked into Outrage and due to its high power.
Mamoswine and Weavile OHKO with Ice Shard.
Scarfed Pokemon above base 100 like Terrakion and Latios.
Balloon Heatran is immune to or resists almost everything Salamence can do except Brick Break.
When locked into Outrage, Steel-types can beat it. Jirachi and Ferrothorn also have Thunder Wave so then they can cripple Salamence heavily.
Landorus-T can use Intimidate to soften blows and OHKO with Stone Edge.
Cresselia has Thunder Wave and Ice Beam, as well as enough bulk to take hits from either spectrum.
Porygon2 can trace Intimidate variants and OHKO with Ice Beam.
Priority Moves in general hurt it badly.

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I decided to combine the two MixMence sets, since the only difference is the EVs and Outrage over Roost.

Salamence (WIP)

Swamp-Rocket