Toxicroak
[SET]
name: Toxic Stall
move 1: Toxic
move 2: Protect / Substitute
move 3: Drain Punch
move 4: Bulk Up / Ice Punch
item: Black Sludge
ability: Dry Skin
nature: Impish
evs: 244 HP / 252 Def / 12 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>This set takes a more stalling approach and makes use of Toxicroak's unique traits. Firstly, its superb defensive typing allows it to counter some of the most threatening Pokemon in OU, Keldeo and Tyranitar; second, Dry Skin provides it with extra healing under rain; and third, it can lure and cripple most of its counters with Toxic. For example, Hippowdon, Landorus-T, Jellicent, and Sableye, common checks or counters to the other sets, all despise Toxic and can easily get Toxic stalled to death with the use of Protect or Substitute. This set also helps significantly rain teams to win the war of attrition against Hippowdon, which otherwise is quite a pain to take down.</p>
<p>Protect works well with Dry Skin and Toxic; it enhances Toxicroak's ability to stall for Toxic damage and heal, allows Toxicroak to heal big amounts of health under rain, and gives it the ability to scout for Choice-locked attacks. Substitute works better against slower opponents and prevents status from the likes of Jellicent, Rotom-W, and Amoonguss, enabling Toxicroak to beat them one-on-one. Substitute also eases prediction and ensures that Toxicroak will hit the incoming Pokemon with the right move. Drain Punch hits many Pokemon that are immune to Toxic hard—such as Ferrothorn, Heatran, and Magnezone—hard, and provides Toxicroak with another way to keep itself healthy. Bulk Up lets Toxicroak defeat some of its counters, namely Tentacruel, specially defensive Jirachi, Venusaur in rain, and Skarmory in a last-Pokemon situation, while also making Toxicroak a bigger threat in the long term. It is also worth noting that Toxic + Drain Punch + Bulk Up is a great combination as it is walled only by a few Pokemon viable in OU, those being Skarmory, Starmie, Xatu, Celebi with Psychic or Perish Song, Espeon, Gengar, Reuniclus, and Gliscor, and of those, only a handful of these are commonly seen. On the other hand, Ice Punch scores super effective hits on some Pokemon that check or counter Toxicroak, such as Gliscor, Landorus-T, Landorus, Garchomp, and Dragonite, making sure that Toxicroak won't become setup bait for any of those Pokemon. For example, Toxic does nothing to Dragon Dance Dragonite with Lum Berry and doesn't KO Sheer Force Landorus or Swords Dance Garchomp quickly enough to prevent them from doing serious damage to Toxicroak's team.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>12 Speed EVs are used to outspeed uninvested Rotom-W and set up a Substitute before Rotom-W statuses Toxicroak, or to hit it for some decent damage with Drain Punch. The rest of the EVs go into HP and Defense to allow Toxicroak to hard-counter Keldeo and Terrakion. Sucker Punch is an option on the last slot if Toxicroak's team is desperately in need of priority, but Bulk Up and Ice Punch provide more utility overall.</p>
<p>Politoed is a necessary teammate in order to allow Toxicroak to stall properly. While hard counters to this set are few, they all wall Toxicroak completely and make it a liability, so teammates to deal with those Pokemon are important. Weavile deals with Gengar, Celebi, Starmie, Xatu, Espeon, and Reuniclus to an extent, trapping them with Pursuit or hitting them hard if they stay in. Choice Scarf Scizor can trap some of those Pokemon too and can switch into most of them easily, while getting its Fire weakness halved in rain. Finally, Gothitelle is another trapper that works well alongside Toxicroak and deals with every Pokemon that troubles his partner; Choice Scarf Gothitelle is the best set for this job, as it can outspeed and KO even Gengar.</p>
