Weavile
[Overview]
<p>Although Weavile is not the most versatile Pokemon in OU, it functions very precisely with the combination of Ice Shard and a speedy Pursuit, making it one of the best revenge killers for Latios and Latias on offensive teams, as well as a good general Dragon slayer and supporter for Pokemon such as Keldeo and Lucario (through the elimination or weakening of their checks with Pursuit). Another thing that Weavile has going for it is that it can trap and KO Starmie, helping Spikes-stacking offensive teams keep their hazards intact. However, Weavile is frail, meaning that most strong neutral STAB attacks will OHKO it. Furthermore, it's defeated by common priority moves such as Scizor's Bullet Punch and Breloom's Mach Punch, weak to Stealth Rock, which, when combined with the mandatory Life Orb that Weavile holds, seriously limits its longevity. Finally, Weavile is easy to wall for both offensive and defensive teams with common Pokemon such as Keldeo, Jirachi, and Skarmory.</p>
[SET]
name: Physical Attacker
move 1: Pursuit
move 2: Ice Shard
move 3: Night Slash / Ice Punch
move 4: Low Kick
item: Life Orb
nature: Jolly
ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Pursuit is the move that separates Weavile the most from Mamoswine, which also has Ice Shard and hits much harder. Pursuit enables Weavile to weaken or eliminate many problematic Psychic- and Ghost-type Pokemon such as Starmie, Celebi, and Gengar, and for this reason makes Weavile a very good team player. Ice Shard gives insurance against faster threats, such as Choice Scarf Salamence, +2 Thundurus-T, +2 Landorus-T, and Venusaur in sun, and allows Weavile to OHKO a slightly weakened Breloom (it deals 75.57 - 89.31% to 4 HP Breloom) before it can KO back with Mach Punch. Night Slash is Weavile's strongest and most reliable move and deals with any Psychic- and Ghost-type that decided to stay in. It is also Weavile's strongest option against Pokemon such as Jirachi, Rotom-W, and Tentacruel. On the other hand, Ice Punch allows Weavile to OHKO Gliscor, offensive pivot Landorus-T (even after Intimidate), and Amoonguss (the last two need Stealth Rock for the guaranteed OHKO), and 2HKO Hippowdon and Donphan after Stealth Rock. Low Kick provides almost perfect neutral coverage with Night Slash and deals with some of the Steel-types that plague Weavile, namely Scizor, Ferrothorn, Magnezone, and Heatran, all of which are either OHKOed or 2HKOed with the help of Stealth Rock. It also OHKOes some offensive Pokemon that Weavile outspeeds, such as Terrakion, Hydreigon, Kyurem-B, and Mamoswine.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>An alternative EV spread of 252 Atk / 28 SpD / 228 with a Jolly nature can be used to always survive a Hydro Pump from Life Orb Starmie, but this scenario is very rare and the Speed tie with opposing Weavile is usually more important. Choice Band can be used over Life Orb if the extra power it provides is needed and allows Weavile to sometimes avoid the guessing game involving Pursuit and Night Slash when facing a Psychic- or Ghost-type. However, it makes Weavile easier to play around and to set up on after it KOes something, so make sure to have the defensive backbone to deal with such threats.</p>
<p>Weavile fits better on offensive teams that appreciate the combination of its Pursuit-trapping and Ice Shard revenge killing abilities. Those kinds of teams include Spikes-stacking hyper offensive teams that rely on Gengar to spinblock, where Weavile eliminates Starmie if it manages to get past Gengar, and rain offense teams with Pokemon such as Choice Scarf Keldeo and Agility Thundurus-T, which appreciate Celebi, Jellicent, Latios, and Latias gone or weakened. This means that suicide hazard leads such as Skarmory or Forretress are good partners when combined with Gengar. Keldeo is one of the best offensive partners to Weavile, as not only is Weavile taking care of Keldeo's checks and counters (Celebi, Starmie, Jellicent, Latios, and Latias), but Keldeo also takes on some of the best counters to Weavile, such as Scizor, Skarmory, and Forretress. Thundurus-T, Lucario, Starmie, and any sweeper that benefits from the absence of Psychic- and Ghost-types is also a good offensive partner for Weavile. Lastly, Rapid Spin support always helps a Stealth Rock-weak Pokemon, and Weavile is no exception. Tentacruel is the best option for rain teams and has nice defensive synergy with Weavile, covering threats such as Scizor, Keldeo, Skarmory, and Forretress.</p>
[Other Options]
<p>Fake Out and Counter can be used with Focus Sash on a lead set to break any Focus Sash from other leads and OHKO anything physically based that Weavile cannot otherwise threaten with Counter, but dedicated leads are very situational in this generation and the same holds true for Weavile. Taunt can be used to prevent defensive Steel-types from taking advantage of Weavile if your team has a big problem with entry hazards, but this is its only use. Swords Dance is an option to capitalize on the switches that Weavile forces and attempt some late-game cleaning, but it's a very risky strategy that will probably result in Weavile being KOed with a wrong prediction, not to mention that Weavile is not such a good cleaner anyway with prevalent Pokemon such as Keldeo and Scizor cutting its sweep short. Punishment is useful against Calm Mind users such as Jirachi and Latias, but is inferior to Night Slash in all other cases.</p>
[Checks and Counters]
<p>Skarmory, Forretress, Wish Jirachi, Keldeo, Chansey, and Vaporeon are hard counters to Weavile, easily walling it and either using it as setup bait or just OHKOing it. Scizor can easily switch into anything bar Low Kick (which 2HKOes offensive variants with two rounds of Stealth Rock damage) and OHKO Weavile with Bullet Punch or set up on it. Metagross is on a similar boat, but has the advantage of not being 2HKOed by Low Kick after two rounds of Stealth Rock damage (with Leftovers factored in). Most bulky Water-types, such as Politoed, Tentacruel, and Rotom-W, are good checks to Weavile, as they avoid the 2HKO from Night Slash and threaten back with rain-boosted attacks or status. Hippowdon walls any set that lacks Ice Punch, which in turn 2HKOes even physically defensive variants with the help of Stealth Rock. Offensive Pokemon such as Gyarados, Infernape, and Conkeldurr are perfect checks to Weavile, as they don't care about most of its moves and can either set up on it or OHKO it with Mach Punch in Infernape and Conkeldurr's case. Finally, everything faster than Weavile can usually OHKO it due to its frailty and common weaknesses, and the same holds true for most priority moves other than Ice Shard.</p>
- Ice Shard + Pursuit give it a unique niche
- Able to outspeed every Psychic and Ghost-type in the tier and put them in the guessing game of ''switch out or stay in''
- Can revenge kill a plethora of unboosted offensive Pokemon with its good neutral coverage, such as Terrakion, Latios, Thundurus-T, and Starmie
- Easy to wall with physical walls such as Skarmory and Forretress, as well as popular offensive Pokemon, namely Jirachi, Keldeo, and Scizor
- Very frail and almost impossible to switch in on attacking moves
- Weak to SR and priority
name: Physical Attacker
move 1: Pursuit
move 2: Ice Shard
move 3: Night Slash / Ice Punch
move 4: Low Kick
item: Life Orb
nature: Jolly
ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
- Pursuit prevents Psychic and Ghost-types from switching out, allowing Weavile to trap and possibly eliminate them
- Ice Shard gives insurance against faster threats, such as ScarfMence, Double Dance Thundurus-T, Rock Polish Landorus, and Venusaur in sun, and allows Weavile to KO a slightly weakened Breloom before it can kKO with Mach Punch
- Night Slash mauls most Psyhic and Ghost-types that decide to stay in. It also is Weavile's strongest option against Jirachi, and Water-types
- Ice Punch allows Weavile to OHKO Gliscor, Landorus-T even after Intimidate, 2HKO Hippowdon and Donphan after SR, and OHKO Amoonguss
- Low Kick deals with Steel-types mainly (2HKOes Scizor after SR, 2HKOes Ferrothorn, Magnezone, and SpD Hetran) as well as OHKOing Terrakion, Hydreigon, Kyurem-B, and Mamsowine
- Spread outspeeds Alakazam and Scarf Gothitelle and can live one LO Hydro Pump from Starmie at full health
- Alt spread of 252 Atk / 28 SpD / 228 Spe with Jolly, to always survive a Hydro Pump from LO Starmie
- Choice Band
- Swords Dance
- Punishment
- Rapid Spin support. Tenta is the best option for rain teams, covering Scizor and Keldeo, the two biggest threats to Weavile
- Fits well on HO spike stacking teams with Gengar, trapping the only spinner that Gengar can't spinblock, Starmie. Gengar, Skarmory, and Forretress makes good partners on such teams
- Fits well on rain offense teams, as it can take out mamy problematic Pokemon for them, such as Starmie, Celebi, Gengar, Jellicent, and Lati@s. Keldeo is the best partner for rain offense teams, as except from benefiting from the absence of all those Pokemon it also deals with Scizor and Skarmory. Double Dance Thundurus-T also benefits from the absence of some of those Pokemon and fairs well against most of the Pokemon that give troubles to Weavile
- Lucario is another good partner as Weavile traps and kills/weakens Gengar and Jellicent and allows Lucario to sweep
- RP Landorus
- Fake Out + Counter for lead set?
- Taunt
- Scizor
- Keldeo
- Skarmory
- Forretress
- Jirachi
- Chansey
- Vaporeon
- Tentacruel
- Gyarados
- Rotom-W
- Politoed
- Infernape
- Conkeldurr
- Hippowdon
- Metagross
- Any faster Pokemon
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