Seismitoad (2/3) - Writing

[Kreme]

[OVERVIEW]

• Seismitoad finds itself a niche in the current metagame as a Stealth Rock setter on teams that require its good defensive typing and Water-immunity through Water Absorb.
• Thanks to its typing, Seismitoad is able to function well as a wall against top tier threats such as Mega Aerodactyl, Mega Manectric, PerishTrap Azumarill, and Stakataka among others.
• However, Seismitoad's overall bulk can be rather subpar, even with EV investment, leaving it susceptible to being 2HKOed by many strong attacks, such as Choice Band Azumarill's Play Rough and Life Orb Latias's Psychic.
• Furthermore, Seismitoad lacks any form of solid recovery, making it reliant on Leftovers as its only form of recovery.
• Seismitoad also faces heavy competition from Swampert, which has better overall bulk, and access to more utility moves such as Roar and Counter.

[SET]
name: Physically Defensive
move 1: Stealth Rock
move 2: Scald
move 3: Earthquake / Earth Power
move 4: Toxic
item: Leftovers
ability: Water Absorb
nature: Relaxed / Bold
evs: 52 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========

• Stealth Rock provides support for the rest of the team with residual damage.
• Scald is Seismitoad's main STAB attack, providing decent damage output as well as potentially crippling foes with a burn.
• Earthquake is Seismitoad's secondary STAB attack, providing it with solid damage output, and ensuring Seismitoad can 2HKO key threats in Empoleon and Tentacruel.
• Earth Power is an option over Earthquake that allows Seismitoad to hit Pokemon with better Defense, such as Cobalion and Klefki, for more damage, but misses out on the 2HKOes on Tentacruel and Empoleon.
• Toxic allows Seismitoad to cripple most Pokemon that attempt to take advantage of its passivity, such as Latias and Azumarill, as well as break down walls that may attempt to Toxic it in return, such as Alomomola and Swampert.

Set Details
========

• The given EVs maximize Seismitoad's physical bulk, ensuring it's as effective as possible in acting as a tank against the many physically offensive threats within the tier, such as Mega Aerodactyl and Scizor.
• A Relaxed or Bold nature is used in order to further boost Seismitoad's physical defense. The former is used when Earthquake is chosen in the second slot as to ensure the damage output of the move isn't lowered unnecessarily. The latter is used when Earth Power is chosen over Earthquake, as Seismitoad's Attack is not used.
• Leftovers is the item of choice to ensure Seismitoad has a form of passive recovery.

Usage Tips
========

• Use Seismitoad to pivot into Pokemon it walls or takes minimal damage from, such as Mega Manectric and Alolan Muk.
• From there, it's generally suggested to use Stealth Rock as early as possible to ensure the opposing team is pressured from freely switching between their Pokemon.
• Seismitoad should not be used as the primary answer to Pokemon that can heavily damage it, such as Scizor and Mega Houndoom, despite having a defensive typing that should be able to tank their attacks, as Seismitoad's bulk is not great enough to do so.
• Seismitoad can be used to take advantage of Pokemon that are Choice-locked into a Water-type attack, such as Choice Band Azumarill and Choice Specs Primarina, as well as Pokemon that commonly use Water-type attacks as their only attacking move, such as certain Suicune variants and PerishTrap Azumarill. However, Seismitoad should not be used as a primary Suicune answer, as it is generally stalled out and used as setup fodder.
• Ensure to keep Seismitoad as healthy as possible should Stealth Rocks be required to win the game over an extended period of time, or if Seismitoad is needed in order to check a dangerous threat, such as Mega Aerodactyl or Doublade.
• Should Seismitoad be key to winning a game, be sure to scout for Toxic on bulky Pokemon, such as Swampert and Alomomola, before proceeding to use Stealth Rock against them.

Team Options
========

• Seismitoad only has one weakness in Grass-type attacks, making Pokemon that can deal with Grass-type Pokemon and easily switch into their STAB attacks, like Latias, Amoonguss and Moltres, good Seismitoad partners.
• Seismitoad is susceptible to being worn down by status conditions and passive damage, making a cleric and Wish user, like Sylveon, Togekiss and Florges, good partners for it.
• Seismitoad excels in being able to combat common Electric-types found on VoltTurn offense, such as Magneton and Mega Manectric, thus making it fit well on teams that can capitalize on this proficiency. Pokemon that appreciate this niche, such as Klefki, Scizor and Crobat, make for good teammates.
• Seismitoad also works especially well with most Defog or Rapid Spin users, such as Crobat and Tentacruel, respectively, in forming an entry hazard control core.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

• Protect is also a viable option because it can scout for attacks and Choice-locked pokemon, while getting an extra turn of Leftovers recovery.
• Knock Off allows Seismitoad to cripple most opposing Pokemon by removing their items, but tends to be tough to fit onto its main set.
• Refresh can be a good option on Seismitoad to remove status, as it tends to be the target of Toxic by opposing bulky Pokemon.
• Power-Up Punch is an option to be able to beat Suicune 1v1 but is generally useless outside of this.

Checks and Counters
===================

**Grass-type Pokemon and Grass-type Coverage Moves**: Grass-type Pokemon resist both of Seismitoad's STAB attacks and can often OHKO it with their own STAB attacks, making them especially good counters to Seismitoad. Amoonguss and Celebi are especially dangerous due to either being immune to Toxic or being able to remove the status infliction. Pokemon that use Grass-type coverage moves, like HP Grass Salazzle and Grass Knot Infernape, can also be extremely problematic for Seismitoad, although these Pokemon tend to have a difficult time switching into it.

**Status**: Burn and poison are easy methods of wearing down Seismitoad sets lacking Refresh. Being badly poisoned completely shuts down Seismitoad, thus Toxic users, such as Swampert and Gliscor, can be especially threatening to Seismitoad.

**Powerful Wallbreakers**: Due to Seismitoad's lack of solid recovery and only rather decent bulk, it is susceptible to being brought down to low HP or even outright KOed by powerful wallbreakers, such as Choice Band Azumarill and Life Orb Gengar.

**Knock Off**: Seismitoad is completely reliant on Leftovers for recovery, making the removal of Leftovers via Knock Off by switching into common users of the move, such as Alomomola and Krookodile, detrimental for Seismitoad in the long run.

**Dragon-type Pokemon**: Every Dragon-type Pokemon in the tier can break through Seismitoad easily. Mega Altaria can deal a lot of damage to Seismitoad through a Dragon Dance boosted Return or powerful Hyper Voice, Haxorus OHKOes Seismitoad with a Dragon Dance boosted Devastating Drake, Kommo-o can deal heavy damage after a boost, Hydreigon and Latias deal immense damage with their STAB attacks, and Mega Sceptile OHKOes Seismitoad with Giga Drain.

**Pokemon That Don't Mind Status**: Pokemon that are generally resistant to status or use it to their advantage, such as Magic Guard Reuniclus and Guts Heracross, respectively, as well as Pokemon with access to Heal Bell or Aromatherapy, such as Florges and Sylveon, don't care much about Seismitoad's mediocre damage output and easily take advantage of it to either setup or heal their allies.

 

[Kreme]

Ready for QC now.

 

[Amaroq]

You might want to consider adding Knock Off to C&C, since Seismitoad is so dependent upon Leftovers for passive recovery. Looks good!

QC 1/3.

 

[Ark]

There's no PuP mention so I don't think Suicune should be mentioned as a mon that it beats in Usage Tips; it just gets stalled out.

Team Options need to be fleshed out a bit. Amoonguss should be mentioned as it can absorb status and take care of some Seismitoad answers such as Serperior, Breloom and Tsareena. Togekiss should be added to the clerics. Dragon-types like Hydreigon, Latias and Mega Altaria are also great partners, as they can soft check most Seismitoad answers. Some partners that benefit from Mega Manectric (and Magneton I guess) being useless should be listed. I've also seen some creative Klefki spike builds featuring Seismi, so mention Klefki as a partner if you want, although you may want to test a bit with them yourself first.

Add Dragon-types to checks and counters; Mega Altaria, Hydreigon and Latias beat it rather handily. Remove the Mamoswine mention. Add Clerics / fairies, as Togekiss, Sylveon and Florges don't fear Seismi too much, although Sylv can get pressured with the toxic + eq combination due to relying on wishtect.

QC 2/3 after this.