Gen 3 Seaking (NU Revamp)

[Oglemi]

https://www.smogon.com/dex/rs/pokemon/seaking/

[Overview]

Seaking lives deep, deep, deep in Huntail's shadow as a Swift Swim sweeper in NU for a few reasons, namely its lower power and overall bulk. This doesn't make Seaking a bad Pokemon, as it is actually a capable sweeper in its own right, just horribly outclassed in the one role you would want to use it for. There does exist a huge reason to use it though, and that's the fact that it will actually beat Huntail one-on-one every time thanks to its much higher Speed, meaning it is a great counterpick option despite being a worse overall sweeper. This trait, combined with its access to Megahorn to blast through one of the Pokemon Huntail has major trouble with in Bellossom, makes Seaking a good anti-meta option that can be fun for a one-off surprise.

[SET]
name: Swift Swim Sweeper
move 1: Rain Dance
move 2: Hydro Pump
move 3: Megahorn
move 4: Hidden Power Grass
item: Mystic Water / Silver Powder
ability: Swift Swim
nature: Rash
evs: 96 Atk / 208 SpA / 208 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
- Standard sweeping set with Ice Beam replaced with Megahorn as a better pick for breaking past the Grass-types in NU
- Megahorn easily 2HKOes Bellossom and Roselia, still easily 2HKOes offensive Tangela but only 3HKOes defensive versions
- Seaking's HP Grass is significantly weaker than Huntail's but is still needed to 2HKO opposing Huntail before they 2HKO Seaking, and is Seaking's best option for other Water-types
- Choice in item depends on which you want a better chance of OHKOing, Mystic Water opens up a OHKO on Pidgeot and is the better choice overall, Silver Powder opens up the OHKO on offensive Bellossom after Spikes

[ADDITIONAL SET COMMENTS]
- Rash needed to not weaken Seaking anymore to Mach Punch and to keep Hydro Pump and Megahorn strong
- EV spread designed to always outspeed Huntail by one point and always ensure the 2HKO with Hidden Power Grass
- The leftover EVs are pumped into Attack to make Megahorn as strong as possible to have a chance of OHKOing Bellossom after Spikes if using Silver Powder
- Seaking works with all the same teammates as Huntail, needs bulky Water-types like Wailord and Dewgong out of the way even more so than Huntail. Pairs well with Rain Dance Plusle for this reason
- Needs other specially defensive Pokemon like Lickitung weakened making Hitmonchan a naturally good partner

[Other Options]
- Fully physical rain sweeper
- Flail
- Ice Beam/Blizzard
- Haze

[Checks and Counters]
- Dewgong, Wailord, Pelipper, Octillery
- Lickitung
- Hitmonchan
- Def Tangela, Tropius if no Ice Beam
- Swalot
- Plusle, Pikachu out of rain
- Shelgon

 

[Fakes]

Another approach to the Huntail problem, EV-wise:

Seaking (M) @ Leftovers / Mystic Water / ...
Trait: Swift Swim
EVs: 208 HP / 36 Atk / 228 SAtk / 36 Spd
Quiet Nature (+SAtk, -Spd)

These EV leave Seaking with 353 HP, 229 Atk, 245 SAtk and 162 Spd. The Speed is enough to outrun jolly Raticate in rain, but far from competing with Huntail.

This Seaking will still kill Huntail, even though it will do so by surviving two of its attacks rather than outspeeding it. This is obviously far inferior to fast Seaking, who comes out on top of Huntail with 30-40 % of his HP remaining, whereas bulky Seaking ends up almost dead.

However in most situations where Huntail is NOT involved, the extra survivability comes in handy: Surviving Choice Band Hitmonchan's Sky Uppercut, two of offensive Chimecho's Psychics (with Leftovers), Choice Band Raticate's or Pidgeot's Double-Edge (> 87 % chance), +1 Pupitar's Earthquake and the list goes on...
252+ Atk Choice Band Hitmonchan Sky Uppercut vs. 208 HP / 0 Def Seaking: 280-330 (79.3 - 93.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252+ SpA Chimecho Psychic vs. 208 HP / 0 SpD Seaking: 158-186 (44.7 - 52.6%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 Atk Choice Band Raticate Double-Edge vs. 208 HP / 0 Def Seaking: 304-358 (86.1 - 101.4%) -- 12.5% chance to OHKO
252 Atk Choice Band Pidgeot Double-Edge vs. 208 HP / 0 Def Seaking: 301-355 (85.2 - 100.5%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO after Leftovers recovery
+1 252 Atk Pupitar Earthquake vs. 208 HP / 0 Def Seaking: 260-306 (73.6 - 86.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Megahorn still kills offensive Tangela and specially defensive Bellossom in two hits:
36 Atk Seaking Megahorn vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Tangela: 149-176 (54.7 - 64.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
36 Atk Seaking Megahorn vs. 244 HP / 4 Def Bellossom: 192-226 (54.5 - 64.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

The only drawback is Roselia's very slight chance to survive two Megahorns:
36 Atk Seaking Megahorn vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Roselia: 157-185 (51.6 - 60.8%) -- 93.4% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

The newly gained HP allow Seaking to always survive two of timid Huntail's HP Grass:
252 SpA Huntail Hidden Power Grass vs. 208 HP / 0 SpD Seaking: 149-176 (42.2 - 49.8%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery

With Leftovers you can almost always take two HP Grass from modest Huntail:
252+ SpA Huntail Hidden Power Grass vs. 208 HP / 0 SpD Seaking: 163-192 (46.1 - 54.3%) -- 5.9% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

In return, your own HP Grass will always demolish even Leftovers Huntail in two hits:
228+ SpA Seaking Hidden Power Grass vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Huntail: 134-158 (53.1 - 62.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

Hydro Pump already suffices against Huntail without Leftovers (64% chance due to bad accuracy, though):
228+ SpA Seaking Hydro Pump vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Huntail in Rain: 127-150 (50.3 - 59.5%) -- 84% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

Possible changes to the spread above:
- 239 Atk (76 EV) to guarantee the Megahorn 2HKO versus Roselia
- 168 Spd (60 EV) to outspeed Roselia outside of rain
- 363 HP (248 EV) to avoid the 2HKO from modest Huntail's HP Grass with Leftovers