Pokemon of the Week DP: Groudon
Sets
Swords Dance Sweeper V1.0
- Item Held
- Life Orb
- Nature
- Jolly (+Speed, -Special Attack)
- Effort Points
- 252 Attack - 252 Speed - 6 HP
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Dragon Claw
- Stone Edge
What was standard in Advance comes back in D/P with some ways to boost even more Groudon's damage output. One Swords Dance is enough to start delivering powerful blows to the other Ubers but after two, nothing stays alive. Earthquake is there for STAB and for hitting Dialga, Dragon Claw covers the Lati twins, Rayquaza and Palkia and Stone Edge is for Ho-Oh, Lugia and Rayquaza again. But anyway, after 2 Swords Dances not many Pokémon will easily switch in on Groudon. Life Orb just adds more pain.
Swords Dance Sweeper V2.0
- Item Held
- Salac Berry
- Nature
- Jolly (+Speed, -Special Attack)
- Effort Points
- 252 Attack - 252 Speed - 6 HP
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Shadow Claw
- Substitute
This moveset is quite good at stopping defensive Pokémon like Giratina. Swords Dance as they switch in, Substitute as they try to use Will-O-Wisp and one more Swords Dance as they break your Substitute, if they can. Earthquake's place in every Groudon moveset is obvious. Shadow Claw is prefered for hitting that Giratina and other Defense-minded Ubers like Latias and Deoxys-D with its high critical-hit ratio. Salac Berry makes Groudon faster, helping its mediocre Speed stat and is easily activated with constant Substitutes.
CB Groudon
- Item Held
- Choice Band
- Nature
- Adamant (+Attack, -Special Attack)
- Effort Points
- 252 HP - 220 Attack - 32 Defense - 6 Speed
- Earthquake
- Fire Punch
- Dragon Claw
- Stone Edge
Choice Band Groudon is expected to be the standard in this generation's Uber metagame. With the addition of Pokémon like Manaphy and Palkia, Groudon will rarely have the time to set up as many Swords Dances as it needs, so the hit-and-run moveset with Choice Band seems to be a great option. These moves hit the grand majority of Ubers for super-effective, including Dialga, Rayquaza, Palkia, Latios and Latias, Giratina, Lugia and Ho-Oh. Fire Punch deals with Pokémon like Skarmory, Exeggutor and Forretress which are often used in Ubers.
This EP spread is the standard way to go with CB Groudon. It lets Groudon survive a Dragon Dance + Life Orb boosted Outrage by Rayquaza while still leaving enough EPs in Attack. Those few Speed EPs are enough to put you above other Pokémon with base 90 Speed that rarely invest EPs in Speed (Giratina for example).
Other Possible Options
As far as sweeping goes, Overheat is a good alternative to Fire Punch for hitting Skarmory and Tangrowth harder. Rock Polish and Bulk Up are Groudon's other means of setting up but Swords Dance works far better for the mighty giant.
Groudon can also go for a defensive set if you feel like it. Rest is its only way of recovering so the Rest-Talk combo can be used. Thunder Wave is quite worthy on that defensive set too. Finally, Stealth Rock is an option but there's a huge number of Pokémon that can learn it and losing one of Groudon's moveslots for such a move is not so wise.
Counters
Lugia and Cresselia are Groudon's number one counters. They can both receive its moves after they set their Reflect and either KO it with Ice Beam or Grass Knot or send it away along with its boosts with Whirlwind in Lugia's case. What's more, Cresselia's Moonlight recovers 2/3 of her HP, boosted by Groudon's Drought and Lugia gets rid of its Rock-type weakness with Roost if it's faster than Groudon.
Latios and Latias have a hard time switching in on Groudon but, if they manage to get in, knocking it out with Ice Beam or Grass Knot is really easy. Same happens with other hard-hitting Ubers like Mewtwo.
Tangrowth is also an excellent counter to any Groudon that lacks Overheat. It can easily switch in, take advantage of Groudon's Drought becoming faster with Chlorophyll and beating the titan with Grass Knot. Exeggutor does exactly the same thing but switching in on Groudon is more difficult. Finally, Giratina can be considered a counter with its Will-O-Wisp for Choice Band sets and Roar for Swords Dance sets.
Opinion & Notes
The 4th generation came with some things that Groudon loves and some things it hates. Fire Punch, Dragon Claw, Shadow Claw, Stone Edge and Life Orb belong in the first category while Palkia, Manaphy and Grass Knot belong in the second. Although it got all those awesome moves to use, it now has to worry about much more Pokémon. And the fact that it is one of the slowest Ubers sure won't help it overcome its problems. With moves like Surf and Ice Beam being everywhere, you have to think twice now before sending Groudon in, especially on a Pokémon with a really unpredictable moveset like Arceus. However, its ability to destroy those teams that rely on Kyogre's Drizzle is still really appreciated and if Groudon wasn't used at all, so would be some other Pokémon like Exeggutor.
Note that Fire Punch is only obtainable through Emerald's move tutor in the Battle Frontier. Not much of a problem though considering Groudon is only available in R/S/E.
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Ninjomewtwo @ 12/01/2008 at 10:55:19 am
Ubers are to be used against ubers, not against standard Pokémon, I also don't like people that battle me with an uber team. Now, about Solarbeam. It has a base power of 100, 200 with weakness, coming from a weak Sp.Attack, hitting on Kyogre and Milotic's high Sp.Defense. However, Earthquake has a base power of 100, 150 with STAB, 300 after a Swords Dance or 225 after the CB boost, coming from Groudon's stellar Attack and hitting on Kyogre and Milotic's Defense which is weaker than their Sp.D. And imo, Palkia is really famous in Kyogre-based Uber teams so Dragon Claw is needed.
ShadowSwellow @ 15/01/2008 at 02:13:56 am
Considering Groudon's reduced survivability in this generation, maybe rock slide would be preffered to Stone Edge due to its increased accuracy?
And Jolly could be beneficial for the Choice Band set to make Groudon faster than other slow ubers, and get the first hit.
But, good movesets nevertheless. :D
Ninjomewtwo @ 15/01/2008 at 08:40:40 pm
Groudon is one of the slowest ubers, it won't flinch anybody if it goes last so using Rock Slide won't give you anything. Also, I don't think a SD boosted Rock Slide can OHKO Lugia.
And about the CB set, Jolly is certainly an option but reduces Groudon's power. At least that's what I think. Also, Jolly w/o any Speed EPs won't put Groudon above the standard Adamant Rayquaza so what's the point? It already outruns ubers like Giratina. If you add some Speed EPs, its survivabilty will be even worse than before.
diegomiranda @ 18/01/2008 at 02:07:53 am
quiero que creen nuevos juegos de pokemon por favor como pokemon crater o tppc
hiram @ 29/03/2008 at 11:03:01 pm
am… hello ok am… recently i catched an arceus and i give to it an spooky plate but i nedd to know wat's the nature and the correct item that it must to have
pokemonFan @ 30/03/2008 at 02:37:40 am
I LIKE GROUDON! He is awesome!!! well i don't know, I like RAYQUAZA too. Well, any is good.
chuka wizard @ 12/04/2008 at 08:40:55 pm
Groudon can know any ground or fire.You can find it in emerald or ruby.Try your best to catch it
I Love Pokemon @ 28/04/2008 at 06:18:06 am
Groundon is so powerful. His ability Drought and his move Solarbeam can beat almost anything. P.S Darkria is so powerful.
POKERULER @ 24/05/2008 at 09:30:54 pm
Generally,Groudon can lay down fire,grass,steel,rock,ground and water types as it can have a great type coverage with these moves->solarbeam,fire blast/thrower,earthquake and bulk up or swords dance.
Groudon is a monster!
poketrainer @ 07/07/2008 at 08:34:30 am
ilove one of pokemon she name groudon
FIRE FRANKIE! @ 23/07/2008 at 10:50:14 pm
Groudon is the best ever! Because it's a FIRE type! My Blaziken once battled Kyogre and won!
POKECHAIN:
Blaziken --> Kyogre --> Groudon --> Rayquaza --> Palkia --> Lugia
KingDedede @ 09/01/2008 at 09:22:41 pm
Personally, I am slightly against the use of ubers, as they arn't a measure of you skill, but your ability to catch and raise legendarys. Though Groudon exels in the use of attack moves, Solarbeam could proberbly save Groudon more times than the chance of ever really needing Dragon Claw, because the only real threats are Kyogre and Milotic, as people usually favor over Diamond than pearl, rendering most players unable to obtain Palkia. In the case of Dialga appearing, Groudon could definatly OHKO it with Earthquake if my Heracross can OHKO pretty much any Dialga with Close Combat.