Vaporeon ~ mermaid
[Overview]
- Huge HP stat and Wish;
- Also pretty high Special Attack stat and Special Defense stat;
- Two great abilities in Water Absorb and Hydration.
- BW2 brought new threats that really give Vaporeon a hard time, such as Techniciam Breloom and Thundurus-T;
- Entry hazards hinder its effectiveness;
- Amazing on Baton Chains. Seriously.
[SET]
name: Wish Support
move 1: Scald
move 2: Wish
move 3: Protect
move 4: Roar / Toxic / Ice Beam
item: Leftovers
nature: Bold
evs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
- Huge HP stat means that Vaporeon can easily support your team with Wish;
- With a defensive EV spread, Vaporeon can tank lots of hits from opposing Pokemon;
- Scald is a great STAB move that has a 30% chance of burning opponents;
- Protect is used to scout the opponent’s moves and to give you a free recovery turn with Wish;
- There are several options on the last slot. Toxic is able to stall out common walls with the help of Protect and Wish. Roar is a nice option to phaze out setup sweepers such as SubDD Gyarados as well as phazing out counters such as Ferrothorn (especially good with entry hazards support). You can also run Ice Beam to deal with Dragon-types and Grass-types, which resist Scald.
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
- EV spread is standard, maximizing Vaporeon’s bulk;
- Ferrothorn is a nice teammate because it can lay down hazards, tank Electric and Grass-type moves aimed at Vaporeon, and it appreciates Wish recovery;
- Forretress is also a nice teammate since it can set up hazards while rapid spinning, which is something Vaporeon likes a lot;
- Haze can be used on the last slot to nullify stat boosts, but Roar is generally superior;
- You can use both abilities. Water Absorb allows it to switch into common Water-type moves and recover 25% of its HP while Hydration gives you a nice status immunity. You can run Rest if using Hydration under Rain.
[SET]
name: Hydration Tank
move 1: Hydro Pump / Surf
move 2: Rest
move 3: Ice Beam
move 4: Hidden Power Grass
item: Life Orb
ability: Hydration
nature: Modest
evs: 212 Def / 252 SpA / 44 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
- Great bulk in 130/60/95, which means it can still tank hits while hitting really hard;
- Overlooked 110 Special Attack stat, which is more than enough to break through common Pokemon in the OU metagame;
- 100% recovery in Rest under Rain;
- The first slot goes to the STAB move preferred. Hydro Pump packs a lot of power – it can even 2HKO Blissey under Rain with some prior damage - while Surf is a more reliable option that still packs a punch;
- Ice Beam is a great coverage move that hits Grass-types and Dragon-types for super effective damage;
- Hidden Power Grass is good to hit bulky Water-types such as Jellicent and Rotom-W for super effective damage;
- Life Orb gives you a great power boost.
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
- EV spread is standard. Max Special Attack and enough Speed EVs to outspeed base 70s without investments. The rest is thrown into Defense to maximize Vaporeon’s bulk.
- Drizzle support is completely necessary to this set and it won’t work without it.
- You can use Scald over your STAB moves, but the loss of power is really noticeable.
- Ferrothorn is a nice teammate because it takes Grass and Electric-type moves aimed at Vaporeon and Politoed and it lays down hazards;
- Needs offensive support to break through some walls, such as Ferrothorn. Breloom deserves a special mention as a teammate, since it can defeat Ferrothorn and bulky Water-types;
- Pretty slow, so Thunder Wave support from teammates is nice.
[SET]
name: Baton Pass
move 1: Baton Pass
move 2: Substitute
move 3: Acid Armor / Wish
move 4: Roar / Scald
item: Leftovers
ability: Water Absorb
nature: Bold
evs: 244 HP / 136 Def / 128 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
- Amazing member of Baton Pass teams;
- Can pass huge Substitutes to its teammates;
- Acid Armor is the preferred option because it gives Vaporeon an amazing boosting move in Defense;
- Wish allows Vaporeon to create more Substitutes;
- Roar is a great option on the last slot to phaze out phazers and setup sweepers that could give your team trouble;
- Scald is a nice STAB move that deals consistent damage to most Taunt users.
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
- EVs maximize its bulk and make it outspeed positive-natured base 130s with +2 Speed;
- Work Up is a nice option on the third slot, but generally Baton Pass teams have better Pokemon to pass Attack / Special Attack boosts;
- Vaporeon can also use Aqua Ring over Wish or Acid Armor to slowly recover its (and its teammates) HP;
- Nice teammates are those who work nicely in baton chains. This includes Gliscor, Celebi, Jirachi, Ninjask, Mr.Mime, Espeon, etc.
name: Boosting Sweeper (?)
move 1: Work Up
move 2: Scald
move 3: Ice Beam / Hidden Power Grass
move 4: Rest
item: Leftovers
ability: Hydration
nature: Bold
evs: 252 HP / 200 Def / 56 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
- Great boosting sweeper, just set up with Work Up and recover with Rest and you can turn games around.
- Unlike other set up sweepers, it doesn't have to worry about status and it has 100% recovery.
- Needs rain. Completely.
- Work Up is the crux of this set. Use it to get Vaporeon's Special Attack to high levels and then you sweep.
- Scald is the main STAB and is really helpful to get burns on physical attackers.
- Ice Beam is for Grass-types such as Celebi that otherwise defeat you one-on-one, but you can also use Hidden Power Grass to get bulky Water-types such as Rotom-W.
- Rest recovers your HP in 100% when under rain.
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
- Needs rain. Completely needs rain.
- Seriously rain.
- You can run Surf or Hydro Pump for power, but you're not getting any important KOs with them.
- EV spread to maximize bulk while outspeeding base 70's.
- Hidden Power Electric?
- Hydration is completely necessary to recover your HP. This set doesn't work with Water Absorb.
- Thunder Wave support is appreciated. Hazards too. Therefore, partners such as Jirachi, Celebi, and Ferrothorn are great
[SET]
name: Hydration Wall
move 1: Rest
move 2: Scald
move 3: Roar / Wish
move 4: Toxic / Ice Beam
item: Leftovers
ability: Hydration
nature: Bold
evs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
- 100% recovery move is something that every wall would love to have;
- Good and balanced defenses;
- Rest is completely needed on the set because it gives Vaporeon a 100% recovery move under Rain;
- Scald is a nice STAB that cripple physical attackers;
- The choice between Roar and Wish depends on what your team needs the most. Roar is for phazing while Wish can recover a teammates health;
- Toxic is generally the preferred option in the last slot to defeat walls one-on-one, such as Blissey and Chansey, but you can run Ice Beam to hit common Ice-type weak Pokémon found in the tier, such as Dragonite, Garchomp, and Landorus.
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
- Can wall almost every Pokemon that fails to KO it since it has 100% recovery;
- Surf can be used over Scald for the power boost;
- Completely Rain dependent, it just simply doesn't work without it;
- Hazards support is great especially if running Roar;
- Nice teammates are Virizion, Jirachi, and Ferrothorn.
[Other Options]
- Can use Surf over Scald on every set bar Hydration Tank, but the power difference isn't really big enough to be worth it;
- Can run Hidden Power Fire or Hidden Power Electric. The former is a nice option to defeat Ferrothorn one-on-one while the latter can be used to hit Water-types and to get a surprise KO on Gyarados;
- A boosting set with Hydration under Rain with Work Up, Rest, Scald, and Ice Beam can be really effective as a slow boosting sweeper;
- Choice Specs because it’s strong.
- Curse + Rest with Hydration under Rain.
[Checks and Counters]
- Ferrothorn completely shuts down Vaporeon. It sets up on it while recovering HP with Leech Seed;
- Most Grass-types can easily switch into Vaporeon and KO it. Breloom doesn’t fear Scald burns due to Poison Heal, Virizion usually runs CM variants, Celebi and Shaymin have Natural Cure, etc.
- Venusaur is usually used on sun teams, which means Scald will do a pitfull damage to it while it can hit back hard with Giga Drain or set up with Growth.
- If Vaporeon is not running Hydration, Toxic can severely cripple it;
- Common setup sweepers can dance in Vaporeon’s face if it’s not running Roar. Conkeldurr, Lati@s, Jirachi, Toxicroak and Reuniclus are some examples;
- Stuff that hit really hard before Vaporeon can move are great checks. Thundurus-T and Techniciam Breloom, for example;
- Rotom-W.