Swalot [QC 2/3]

ManOfMany

I can make anything real
is a Tiering Contributor


[OVERVIEW]
  • unique Mono-poison lets it check pokemon like Leafeon, Mawile, and Monferno
  • decent physical and special bulk
  • Unremovable Rocky Helmet is very good for punishing physical attackers. Swalot is also a good switch-in to most Knock Off users because of high bulk, unremovable item, and good coverage in Earthquake/Sludge Bomb which allows it to hit Pawniard and Leafeon hard.
  • Defensive set is fairly passive due to low offensive stats. Only method of recovery is Rest, which is unreliable and leaves it worn down easily, and also adds to its passiveness.
  • does not fit on many teams due to passiveness, only certain bulky teams looking for its particular niche.
  • Because of its good coverage Swalot can run other, more offensive sets, but they are not as reliable.
  • Its role on teams overlaps somewhat with Gourgeist-Super as it is also a good check to physically offensive Grass-types and Knock-Off users. However, Swalot differentiates itself with its ability to also wall Monferno, Fire Blast Mawile, and Ninjask among other things.
[SET]
name: Physical Wall
Move 1: Sludge Bomb
Move 2: Earthquake
Move 3: Rest
Move 4: Sleep Talk/Encore
Item: Rocky Helmet
Ability: Sticky Hold
Nature: Relaxed
evs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
  • Sludge Bomb is Swalot's STAB move of choice and is its primary way to deal damage. Sludge Wave can be used instead to hit Quilladin, which is immune to Sludge Bomb, and also htis slightly harder, but Swalot really appreciates the 30% poison chance of Sludge Bomb.
  • Earthquake hits steel-types immune to poison, such as Metang and Probopass, and allows Swalot to counter Pawniard. It also hits fire-types like Monferno and Simisear hard.
  • Rest allows Swalot to heal up the damage it has taken so it can continue checking pokemon throughout the battle.
  • Sleep Talk lets Swalot still attack while it is asleep so Swalot is not a sitting duck while it is asleep.
  • Encore lets Swalot lock slower pokemon like Clefairy and Munchlax into non-attacking moves to prevent them from sweeping a team. However, you must forfeit Sleep Talk which makes it very easy for the opponent to take advantage of a sleeping Swalot.
Set Details
========
  • Max HP and Max Def make it as physically bulky as possible, in order to take hits from pokemon like Monferno, Mawile, and Leafeon throughout the match.
  • A Relaxed Nature is used to give Swalot maximum physical defense while not lowering either offensive stat because Swalot uses both special and physical moves. Swalot does not mind the speed loss since it is already slow.
  • Sticky Hold is used so the item Rocky Helmet cannot be removed by Knock Off or Trick.
  • Rocky Helmet is the choice item as all the pokemon Swalot checks use physical contact moves, and Swalot can keep using it to wear down the pokemon it checks throughout the match due to Sticky Hold. In addition it helps Swalot to deal damage because of its weak offensive stats.
Usage Tips
========
  • Switch Swalot into something that it counters or checks, such as Eviolite Monferno, Leafeon, or Ninjask. You can also take advantage of Swalot's bug resistance to switch it on a U-turn and get 20% chip damage.
  • Use Rest frequently to preserve Swalot's health, because Swalot needs to be healthy in order to check pokemon throughout the match. Generally focus on getting Rocky Helmet damage off on the pokemon Swalot checks rather than actually attacking since Swalot is weak anyway.
  • Against weaker pokemon like Lumineon or Audino, Sludge Bomb can be spammed to get Poison damage off.
  • If running Encore, use it to prevent setup sweepers like Calm Mind Clefairy or Curse Munchlax from sweeping the team, but be sure not to waste PP on Encoring other moves like Wish or Stealth Rocks.
  • If Swalot is no longer useful in a match, it can be sacked to get off Rocky Helmet damage and possibly recoil on a physical attacker that it cannot wall, such as Chocie Band Dodrio, Life Orb Rapidash, or Stoutland.
  • Swalot can be useful to remove Toxic Spikes off a field even if the physical threats it walls are gone.
Team Options
========
  • Swalot works best on bulkier teams wanting a catch-all or secondary checks for various physical attackers.
  • Grass-types such as Tangela, Gogoat, and Gourgeist are good partners for Swalot as they take the ground type moves aimed at Swalot. Swalot can in return check Monferno and take Knock Offs.
  • Specially bulky pokemon such as Audino and Grumpig are decent partners to take on the special attackers who try to break through Swalot, especially psychic-types like Mr.Mime.
  • Swalot pairs well with pokemon who strongly dislike Knock Off or Trick, such as Munchlax, Chinchou, and Clefairy, since it can absorb those moves for them.
  • Swalot enjoys Heal Bell support from the likes of Audino, Grumpig, and Altaria because it uses Rest frequently.
  • Teams with Swalot appreciates hazard removers like Swanna, Prinplup, and Cryogonal because it is very passive and often invites hazard setters in for free.
  • Swalot pairs well with pokemon weak to fighting like Audino and Bouffalant, since it beats Monferno.
  • Swalot pairs well with pokemon weak to grass like Stunfisk, Prinplup, and Relicanth, since it is one of the best checks to Leafeon, Simisage, and Jumpluff.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
  • Assault Vest is a decent option to allow Swalot to take both physical and special hits. However it is hurt by the fact that it cannot hit back very hard, and it faces heavy competition from other special tanks like Bouffalant and Grumpig.
  • Pain Split can be used over Rest but due to Swalot's high HP it generally won't recover a lot of health.
  • Physically Offensive sets such as Choice Band or Offensive Rocky Helmet are usable due to Swalot's decent coverage. However, they are outclassed by Arbok due to lower speed and lack of Coil, and are quite subpar in terms of power.
  • Specially Offensive sets are also usable since Swalot has a large special movepool including moves such as Ice Beam and Giga Drain. However Swalot's severe lack of power and speed makes them unappealing.
  • Acid Spray is an option to annoy pokemon who rely on their special bulk, such as Audino.
  • Counter could be used to retaliate with a heavy hit from a physical attacker for KO, however it usually requires sacrificing Swalot's health.
  • Destiny Bond or Explosion with Custap Berry can be a nice lure with the ability Gluttony to activate Custap Berry at 50% health, but it is an unreliable strategy.
  • Swalot can use Curse to become a setup sweeper, although if not running Rest-Talk it is easily overwhelmed by common special attackers, and if it does run Rest-Talk it runs the risk of being walled by Steel-types.

Checks and Counters
===================
**Ground Types**: Bulky Ground Types such as Stunfisk, Gabite, and Golem take little damage from either Sludge Bomb or Earthquake and can 2HKO in return with their ground-type STAB moves.

**Psychic Types**: Psychic types such as Grumpig, Mr.Mime, and Kadabra can heavily damage or KO Swalot with their STAB attacks, although the latter two cannot switch in.

**Ghost Types**: Misdreavus and CM Drifblim takes little damage from Swalot's attacks and can use it as set-up bait. Dusknoir can come easily in on Swalot and hit it hard with Earthquake.

**Bulky Tanks**: Pokemon with high bulk that are also strong offensively are able to easily switch in on Swalot and threaten it out, such as Regice, Lapras, Bouffalant, and Relicanth.
 
Last edited:

MZ

And now for something completely different
is a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Top Team Rater Alumnusis a Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Community Leader Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Top Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Top Contributor Alumnusis a Top Smogon Media Contributor Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnus
then change the title
doing replies in quote bc I'm lazy
[OVERVIEW]
  • useful unique is safer, not sure how good the typing is outside of machoke/leaf Mono-poison typing to check pokemon like Leafeon, Mawile, and offensive Machoke
  • decently high bulk for taking physical hits +it has decent spdef which is nice
  • Unremovable Rocky Helmet is very good for punishing physical attackers which use knock off
  • Fairly passive due to low offensive stats
  • Unreliable recovery expand more on small points like this (i.e. unreliable recovery can leave it worn down and forced to become passive), overview is p short and unfinished points like this kinda hurt
  • does not fit on many teams due to passiveness, only certain bulky teams looking for its particular niche

[SET]
name: Physical Wall
Move 1: Sludge Bomb
Move 2: Earthquake
Move 3: Rest
Move 4: Sleep Talk/Encore
Item: Rocky Helmet
Ability: Sticky Hold
Nature: Relaxed
evs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD


[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
  • Sludge Bomb is Swalot's STAB move of choice and is its primary way to deal damage. Sludge Wave or Gunk Shot could also be used to hit Quilladin fine w/mentioning sludge wave but why talk about gunk shot when it's kinda mediocre for wall to run inaccurate 8pp move, only rly hits rose
  • Earthquake hits steel-types immune to poison, and also hits fire-types hard. give examples for both of those
  • Rest allows Swalot to heal up the damage it has taken so it can continue checking pokemon throughout the battle. Pain Split can be used but due to Swalot's high HP it is very unreliable. just mention pain split in OO since it seems like you guys don't think it's terribly good
  • Sleep Talk lets Swalot still attack while it is asleep so Swalot is not a sitting duck while it is asleep.
  • Encore lets Swalot lock slower pokemon like Clefairy and Munchlax into non-attacking moves to prevent them from sweeping a team. However, you must forfeit Sleep Talk which makes it very easy for the opponent to take advantage of a sleeping Swalot.
Set Details
========
  • Max HP and Max Def make it as physically bulky as possible, in order to take hits from pokemon like Monferno, Mawile, and Leafeon throughout the match.
  • A Relaxed Nature is used to give Swalot maximum physical defense while not lowering either offensive stat because Swalot uses both special and physical moves.
  • Sticky Hold is used so the item Rocky Helmet cannot be removed by Knock Off or Trick.
  • Rocky Helmet is the choice item as all the pokemon Swalot checks use physical contact moves, and Swalot can keep using it to wear down the pokemon it checks throughout the match due to Sticky Hold. In addition it helps Swalot to deal damage because of its weak offensive stats.
Usage Tips
========
  • Switch Swalot into something that it counters or checks, such as Eviolite Monferno, Leafeon, or Ninjask clarify OO to say ur basically just sitting there and not getting hurt, rather than having a specific agenda once inside. Use Rest frequently to preserve Swalot's health, because Swalot needs to be healthy in order to check pokemon throughout the match. Generally focus on getting Rocky Helmet damage off on the pokemon Swalot checks rather than actually attacking since Swalot is weak anyway. Sludge Bomb and EQ should be used to revenge set up sweepers that cannot be dealt with by Rocky Helmet alone, such as SD Leafeon and SD Monferno so use attacking moves to attack stuff? seems unnecessary. Earthquake can be used occasionally to hit Steel Types on the switch however if Swalot is healthy again, not sure what the point of this is here. If running Encore, use it to prevent setup sweepers like CM Clefairy or Curse Munchlax from sweeping the team, but be sure not to waste PP on Encoring other moves like Wish or Stealth Rocks. If Swalot is no longer useful in a match, it can be sacked to get off Rocky Helmet damage on a physical attacker that it cannot wall, such as CB Dodrio or Stoutland.
  • this should be split up into individual bullet points, being in a paragraph under a bullet point doesn't count as doing bullet point form. Other than that haven't used swalot and can't say too much about it

Team Options
========
  • Grass-types such as Tangela, Gogoat, and Gourgeist are good partners for Swalot as they take the ground type moves aimed at Swalot. Swalot can in return check Monferno and take Knock Offs.
  • Specially bulky pokemon such as Audino and Grumpig are decent partners to take on the special attackers who try to break through Swalot, especially psychic-types like Mr.Mime.
  • Swalot pairs well with pokemon who strongly dislike Knock Off or Trick, such as Munchlax and Clefairy, since it can absorb those moves for them.
  • Swalot enjoys Heal Bell support from the likes of Audino, Grumpig, and Altaria because it uses Rest frequently.
  • Teams with Swalot appreciates hazard removers like Swanna, Prinplup, and Cryogonal because it is very passive and often invites hazard setters in for free.
  • seems fine bc don't know much about swalot but seems like you'd at least want to mention fighting weak shit bc most of what it does is switching into machoke/monferno

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
  • Assault Vest is a decent option to allow Swalot to take both physical and special hits. However it is hurt by the fact that it cannot hit back very hard, and it faces heavy competition from other special tanks like Bouffalant and Grumpig.
  • Physically Offensive sets such as Choice Band or Offensive Rocky Helmet are usable due to Swalot's decent coverage. However, they are outclassed by Arbok due to lower speed and lack of Coil, and are quite subpar in terms of power.
  • Specially Offensive sets are also usable since Swalot has a large special movepool including moves such as Ice Beam and Giga Drain. However Swalot's severe lack of power and speed makes them unappealing.
  • Acid Spray is an option to annoy pokemon who rely on their special bulk, such as Audino.
  • Destiny Bond with Custap Berry can be a nice lure, but it is a difficult strategy to pull off. not sure how difficult it is but ok, specify gluttony here tho
  • could mention ice beam lure, curse, block I guess

Checks and Counters
===================
**Ground Types**: Bulky Ground Types such as Stunfisk, Gabite, and Golem take little damage from either Sludge Bomb or Earthquake and can 2HKO in return with their ground-type STAB moves.

**Psychic Types**: Psychic types such as Grumpig, Mr.Mime, and Kadabra can heavily damage or KO Swalot with their STAB attacks, although the latter two cannot switch in.

**Ghost Types**: Misdreavus and CM Drifblim takes little damage from Swalot's attacks and can use it as set-up bait. Dusknoir can come easily in on Swalot and hit it hard with Earthquake.

this could use a section for bulky pokemon down here since swalot just really can't do shit to rose, tank regice, quilladin, relicanth, air balloon probo, some other random things I guess
You should be fine to implement this stuff so 1/3
zDganmZ.gif
 

Raiza

is a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Top Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnusis a defending SPL Championis a Past SPL Championis a Past WCoP Championis a Former Old Generation Tournament Circuit Champion
World Defender
in overview:
machoke should have its own point in the overview and be explained more thoroughly
unremovable rocky helmet doesn't make it punish knock off users, as swalot will always take full dmg, you should rather say that swalot is a good switchin into most koff users because of high bulk and still strong coverage in eq which allows it to hit stuff such as pawniard hard
i also would mention that swalot can be flexible bc of coverage so it can run other sets even if they are kinda worse
because of that mention that it is passive only when running defensive sets
remove the point where you say it pairs well w other grass-types, already in team options

in the set:
mention sludge wave also hits slightly harder
mention pawniard as an eq target since it's one of the main things you want to hit

set details:
mention that swalot doesn't bother losing speed by using relaxed as it is already slow as hell

usage tips:
mention that you can take advantage of rocky helmet and swalot's high bulk by switching it on u-turns
mention that at times you can spam sludge bomb to fish for useful poisons
mention that even if physical threats are gone swalot could be useful to remove toxic spikes from the field

team options:
mention it works best in bulkier team bc counter to stuff like machoke

ManOfMany QC 2/3
 

ManOfMany

I can make anything real
is a Tiering Contributor
in overview:
machoke should have its own point in the overview and be explained more thoroughly
unremovable rocky helmet doesn't make it punish knock off users, as swalot will always take full dmg, you should rather say that swalot is a good switchin into most koff users because of high bulk and still strong coverage in eq which allows it to hit stuff such as pawniard hard
i also would mention that swalot can be flexible bc of coverage so it can run other sets even if they are kinda worse
because of that mention that it is passive only when running defensive sets
remove the point where you say it pairs well w other grass-types, already in team options

in the set:
mention sludge wave also hits slightly harder
mention pawniard as an eq target since it's one of the main things you want to hit

set details:
mention that swalot doesn't bother losing speed by using relaxed as it is already slow as hell

usage tips:
mention that you can take advantage of rocky helmet and swalot's high bulk by switching it on u-turns
mention that at times you can spam sludge bomb to fish for useful poisons
mention that even if physical threats are gone swalot could be useful to remove toxic spikes from the field

team options:
mention it works best in bulkier team bc counter to stuff like machoke

ManOfMany QC 2/3
Done, with removed mentions of Machoke. I actually don't think this has gotten much worse with Machoke leaving as it still blanket checks Monferno, Pawn, Mawile, Leafeon, Simisage, Jumpluff, Rapidash, Scarf Dodrio, Mightyena and stuff but if you want to drop this analysis just let me know
 
Hey, it's been quite a while since I've been around competitive, and I don't know what ettiquite is with regard to posting here, but I was using Swalot recently and I think Counter should be mentioned as an additional option. Swalot baits out users of Earthquake, and can cripple or kill things that try to hit it with an Earthquake if you predict correctly and pull off the counter. This was true for a long time, it comes up in the RS and DPP analyses, but not the BW or XY ones.

Disclaimer: most of my experience with competitive was with the 251 UU, 202 OU, and 386 NU metagames, so I'm not really sure how well this transfers now, but I had been using this recently.
 

ManOfMany

I can make anything real
is a Tiering Contributor
Hey, it's been quite a while since I've been around competitive, and I don't know what ettiquite is with regard to posting here, but I was using Swalot recently and I think Counter should be mentioned as an additional option. Swalot baits out users of Earthquake, and can cripple or kill things that try to hit it with an Earthquake if you predict correctly and pull off the counter. This was true for a long time, it comes up in the RS and DPP analyses, but not the BW or XY ones.

Disclaimer: most of my experience with competitive was with the 251 UU, 202 OU, and 386 NU metagames, so I'm not really sure how well this transfers now, but I had been using this recently.
Hi, sorry for the late reply. I added Counter to Other Options but I don't think it's worth a mention in the main analysis because Swalot is a defensive pokemon and you don't usually want to sack it to kill off the pokemon it was not supposed to check (EQ users) rather than using it to check the pokemon it is supposed to check.
 
Gunk Shot is viable in this set and should be mentioned despite having low PP (but really don't mind that and you even have sleep talk for more Gunk shots but is rare to spend the 8 pps in a battle). The extra power is noticeable and the accuracity isn't bad.
 

WhiteDMist

Path>Goal
is a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Team Rater Alumnusis a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a CAP Contributor Alumnusis a Top Contributor Alumnus
Gunk Shot is viable in this set and should be mentioned despite having low PP (but really don't mind that and you even have sleep talk for more Gunk shots but is rare to spend the 8 pps in a battle). The extra power is noticeable and the accuracity isn't bad.
You say that, but you need to actually provide calcs to show how the extra power matters. Sludge Bomb has more PP, decent power, perfect accuracy, and the same 30% poison chance as well, making it much more reliable. Plus, many Grass-types are physically defensive, so Sludge Bomb hits them harder (Tangela, Gourgeist, Leafeon). Just saying the power is noticeable means nothing, since reliability is much more important for a tank/wall. At best, Gunk Shot would get a mention in OO, maybe alongside the Curse or Physical offense bullets, with the note that it hits Quilladin better. You need reasoning for anything more.
 
0 Atk Swalot Gunk Shot vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Floatzel: 160-190 (51.4 - 61%)
0 SpA Swalot Sludge Bomb vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Floatzel: 129-153 (41.4 - 49.1%)

0 Atk Swalot Gunk Shot vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Rotom-F: 94-112 (39 - 46.4%)
0 SpA Swalot Sludge Bomb vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Rotom-F: 72-85 (29.8 - 35.2%)

OHKO on Mr.mime (scarf don't kill you), sludge is 2HKO

0 Atk Swalot Gunk Shot vs. 160 HP / 0 Def Grumpig: 142-168 (41.6 - 49.2%)
0 SpA Swalot Sludge Bomb vs. 160 HP / 0 SpD Grumpig: 69-82 (20.2 - 24%)

Better to hit on the switch, obvious.

0 Atk Swalot Gunk Shot vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Jumpluff: 266-314 (91.4 - 107.9%) -- 43.8% chance to OHKO
0 SpA Swalot Sludge Bomb vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Jumpluff: 156-186 (53.6 - 63.9%)

0 Atk Swalot Gunk Shot vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Simisage: 290-344 (99.6 - 118.2%)
0 SpA Swalot Sludge Bomb vs. 0 HP / 0- SpD Simisage: 242-288 (83.1 - 98.9%)

Regice, cryogonal, roselia, clefairy,....

Etc.


http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/pu-viability-rankings.3528743/

Only tangela, leafeon, gourgeist, avalugg, kingler and quilladin (sludge WAVE) are hit harder with Sludge Bomb. (but are important, I know).

Prinplup and lumineon (physically defensive) have practically the same damage.

Not speaking about C Rank or less because are not relevant mons.


The only exceptions (I know are important because Swalot check Leafeon):

0 SpA Swalot Sludge Bomb vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Leafeon: 212-252 (78.2 - 92.9%)
0 Atk Swalot Gunk Shot vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Leafeon: 158-188 (58.3 - 69.3%)

Still 2HKO, but can Synthesis or miss.

0 Atk Swalot Gunk Shot vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Eviolite Tangela: 116-140 (34.7 - 41.9%) --
0 Atk Swalot Gunk Shot vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Tangela: 86-104 (25.7 - 31.1%)
0 SpA Swalot Sludge Bomb vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Eviolite Tangela: 204-242 (61 - 72.4%)

But tangela can't touch swalot anyway and you absorb sleep power.

0 Atk Swalot Gunk Shot vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Gourgeist-Super: 63-75 (16.8 - 20%)
0 SpA Swalot Sludge Bomb vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Gourgeist-Super: 94-112 (25.1 - 29.9%)

0 SpA Swalot Sludge Bomb vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Kingler: 130-154 (51.7 - 61.3%)
0 Atk Swalot Gunk Shot vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Kingler: 88-105 (35 - 41.8%)

And avalugg, but is not relevant, because you can't damage heavily and your best option is try to poison.

I think deserves a slash or a mention in set details, but i'm not QC. In more battles I wish to have Gunk shot instead of Sludge Bomb.
 

pancake

movement and location
is a Contributor Alumnus
What happens to this? Muk is almost always better than Swalot now D:

In my opinion you have to talk a lot about Muk being usually better than it, but I would hate to see all of this work go to waste...
 

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 1, Guests: 1)

Top