(Hurray for terrible banners made in 5 seconds)
Zuruzukin has easily earned my approval, and he is currently my favorite Pokemon of Gen V. Great typing, Good stats, and he looks awesome too! Today, I'll examine how well he could fare in the metagame, and what tools he has at his disposal. Let's start with his stats, abilities (3 of them!), and learnset.
HP: 65
Attack: 90
Defense: 115
Speed: 58
Sp. Attack: 45
Sp. Defense: 115
ABILITIES:
Shed Skin: Every turn, there is a 1/3 chance of removing a Status Ailment.
Overconfidence: Attack raises every time you faint an enemy Pokemon.
Intimidate: Lowers attack of an opposing Pokemon by 1 stage.
Choosing an ability: Shed Skin, Intimidate, and Overconfidence are all AMAZING abilities to start out with, and from the looks of it, Zuru doesn't even need some of them! Intimidate is completely un-needed, with respectable defensive stats like 65/115/115. Shed Skin could be useful to an extent, preventing statuses like Burn from ruining a sweep. Overconfidence is a great ability too, and can raise stats more effectively than using Bulk Up/Dragon Dance/Cheer Up. I would definitely go with Overconfidence with this Pokemon.
Code:
1-Leer - Normal - Other
1-Low Kick - Fight - Physical
1-Sand-attack - Ground - Other
1-Faint attack - Dark - Physical
5- Sand-attack - Ground - Other
9- Faint Attack - Dark - Physical
12- Headbutt - Normal - Physical
16- Swagger - Normal - Other
20- Brick Break - Fight - Physical
23- Payback - Dark - Physical
27- ??? - ??? - ???
31- Hi Jump Kick - Fight - Physical
34- Scary Face - Normal - Other
38- Crunch - Dark - Physical
45- Facade - Normal - Physical
51- Rock Climb - Normal - Physical
58- Focus Punch - Fighting - Physical
65- Head Smash - Rock - Physical
Code:
Learnable TMs: ,
TM02 - Dragon Claw,
TM05 - Roar,
TM06 - Toxic,
TM08 - Bulk Up,
TM10 - Hidden Power,
TM11 - Sunny Day,
TM12 - Taunt,
TM15 - Hyper Beam,
TM17 - Protect,
TM18 - Rain Dance,
TM21 - Frustration,
TM23 - Strike Down,
TM27 - Return,
TM28 - Dig,
TM31 - Brick Break,
TM32 - Double Team,
TM36 - Sludge Bomb,
TM39 - Rock Tomb,
TM41 - Torment,
TM42 - Facade,
TM44 - Rest,
TM45 - Attract,
TM46 - Thief,
TM47 - Ankle Sweep,
TM48 - Troll,
TM52 - Focus Blast,
TM56 - Fling,
TM59 - Complete Burn,
TM66 - Payback,
TM67 - Get Even,
TM68 - Giga Impact,
TM71 - Stone Edge,
TM80 - Rock Slide,
TM82 - Dragon Tail,
TM83 - Cheer Up,
TM84 - Poison Jab,
TM86 - Grass Knot,
TM87 - Swagger,
TM90 - Substitute,
TM94 - Rock Smash,
TM95 - Back Out,
HM04 - Strength
Code:
Egg moves, courtesy of Upstart:
Drain Punch
Counter
Dragon Dance
Detect
Fake Out
Fire Punch
Ice Punch
ThunderPunch
Amnesia
Faint Attack
Zen HeadbuttAt a glance, Zuruzukin looks like an all-out offensive pokemon, with access to lots of TMs and moves like Head Smash and Focus Punch. However, it is possible to play Zuru as a tank, with crazy defenses like that. His terrible speed is made up for with access to Dragon Dance, and he can make himself even more bulkier with Bulk Up or Amnesia. He has access to the elemental punches, Drain Punch (which got a power boost this generation), and many crippling moves such as Toxic and Scary Face.
Zuruzukin may come into play as a slower, bulkier version of Ambipom with access to Taunt and Fake Out, as well as Protect and Substitute. He could also make a great late game sweeper, and paired with Dragon Dance, can potentially rape everything in the ass mercilessly. With a +Atk nature and a 252 Atk EV investment, you get a 306 Attack power, and with two turns of setup, that gets doubled into a monstrous 612 attack stat. He has enough time to do this with his defense and sp defense. Speed gets a boost, as well. Imagine a pokemon with monstrous defenses and 600+ attack running around with 400+ speed. That is Zuruzukin. Then imagine having Overconfidence on him. Every time he KOs someone, he gets even stronger.
Face it, Zuruzukin will fck your shit. Backwards.
Possible Sets:
Sub DD Zuru@ Leftovers
Overconfidence
252 Atk/4 HP/252 Speed
Dragon Dance
Substitute
Crunch
Focus Punch
SubPunches work great if you can get it set up, and Zuru is no exception. Crunch and Focus Punch are two very powerful stab moves. I went for lefties instead of life orb or something else because of:
1) the added survivability
2) it's attack stat is already crazy after a single dd and a KO.
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Bulky Zuru @ Lefties
Shed Skin
252 HP/252 Atk/4 Speed
Bulk Up
Toxic
Crunch
Brick Break
This is a very effective set, with Shed Skin getting rid of any ailments quickly and Toxic disposing of the opponent eventually. Bulk Up makes Zuru even bulkier, and Crunch and Brick Break are two powerful filler STAB moves in case you get taunted.
So, that's it, if you have anything else you want to suggest, post it below. It's not possible to determine what tier he will be in, and I'm quite sure that this is disallowed so I won't go further into the subject. However, from what I've seen, he can become quite a threat and with the element of surprise and a varied learnset. Ludicolo is great because of this too :)
Zuruzukin will steal your wife, rape your child, and then fuck your shit. Backwards. >:3
