Legendary Pokemon: Pokemon Of The Week

Pokemon of the Week DP: Azelf

Ninjomewtwo — 2008-07-30T13:34:58+02:00

Sets

Nasty Plot

Item Held: Life Orb / Expert Belt
Nature: Timid (+Speed, -Attack)
Effort Points: 252 Special Attack - 252 Speed - 6 HP

Azelf's sweeping skills are certainly undeniable, to begin with. Coming from a Special Attack stat of 349, any hit this little creature throws will deal some good amounts of damage to Pokémon that don't resist it. Add the fantastic move that D/P brought, Nasty Plot, and you've got a real killer. Just think about it. Nasty Plot, Life Orb, a base stat of 125 and STABed Psychic can take down many Pokémon. Flamethrower covers Steel-type Pokémon as well as Celebi. Hidden Power Fighting is a great move as it covers Dark-type Pokémon, immune to Psychic, plus the three Pokémon resisting/being immune to both Psychic and Flamethrower - Tyranitar, Heatran and Houndoom. It also hits Weavile really hard. Grass Knot is an alternative if Hidden Power Fighting isn't accessible but that doesn't mean it's a bad move as it prevents Tyranitar from walling you.

Since boosting your hits as much as possible is a must, the best item choice is definitely Life Orb. Expert Belt is just a replacement if you hate the recoil damage, but its boost applies only to super-effective moves.

Regarding Azelf's EP spread, the one listed above is just the generic one. The Speed stat you must hit is 352 (requiring 216 EPs with a Speed IV of 31) so that Gengar and other +Speed, base 110 Speed Pokémon cannot outrun you. Of course, maxing Speed is suggested so that you can outrun some other base 115 Speed Pokémon who just stop at 352, like Starmie or Raikou.

Non Nasty Plot Sweeper

Item Held: Life Orb
Nature: Naive (+Speed, -Special Defense)
Effort Points: 252 Special Attack - 216 Speed - 42 Attack

Same sweeping set as above, but without the Nasty Plot boost this time. Azelf's hits are already powerful enough to score some KOs and with Explosion, Blissey won't stop you. Hidden Power Fighting isn't really needed in this set, unless you are really scared of Heatran.

CS Azelf

Item Held: Choice Specs
Nature: Naive (+Speed, -Special Defense)
Effort Points: 252 Special Attack - 216 Speed - 42 Attack

If you think Azelf is too frail to pull off a Nasty Plot, a set with Choice Specs is ideal. Once again, the same moves are here for maximum type coverage. U-Turn becomes and option in this set for scouting opponents' moves while switching a counter in. However, Explosion will be the superior option most of the time, mainly for dealing with Blissey.

Other Possible Options

As most of the Psychic-type legendary Pokémon, Azelf's movepool is quite vast. Shadow Ball and Thunderbolt are its other noteable choices as far as sweeping goes, for covering Pokémon like Dusknoir and Gyarados respectively. Taunt is a good move in general, helping you set a Nasty Plot or two easily and preventing Blissey from paralyzing Azelf, but you will have to sacrifice type coverage and be destroyed by Tyranitar and Houndoom.

Unfortunately, even though it has a respectable base stat of 125 in Attack, Azelf's only Physical options are Return, U-Turn and Iron Tail. As one can easily guess, a Physical moveset for Azelf isn't a great idea.

A moveset using Choice Scarf is certainly an option, mainly for dealing with Weavile and Choice Scarf Garchomp. Finally, Azelf can have a Focus Sash for surviving a Night Slash/Pursuit by Weavile and use Explosion.

Counters

Azelf is a Special Sweeper so send in your Blissey, Snorlax, Togekiss or Cresselia and either knock it out with Crunch/Pursuit or render it useless with Thunder Wave or Yawn. Nevertheless, a Life Orb boosted Explosion will definitely hurt.

Dark-type Pokémon, immune to Psychic, are quite good counters to Azelf. Houndoom is obviously the best one as it is immune to Flamethrower and resistant to Grass Knot as well. It should look out for Hidden Power Fighting and Explosion though. Weavile hates Flamethrower but if it switches in, it can knock out Azelf with Pursuit/Night Slash. Spiritomb with its immunity to both Psychic and Explosion can beat Azelf with Sucker Punch or Pursuit. Other Sucker Punch users like Absol and Banette can get a revenge kill if Azelf chooses to attack them. Dusknoir can also bring Azelf down with its Shadow Sneak.

Of course, Heatran is one of the best counters to any Azelf lacking Hidden Power Fighting. It resists all of its other moves and can easily take Azelf down with its STABed moves or the occasional Dark Pulse.

Opinion & Notes

This little fairy looking thing proves that, sometimes, looks are deceiving. This innocent creature will rip through whole teams with its Nasty Plot, Life Orb boosted hits. Try to stop it with a Special Wall, and then you get an Explosion coming from its quite high Attack stat. It looks like Game Freak loves those powerful Psychic-type legendaries. Of course, Azelf isn't an unstoppable sweeping machine. Its below average HP, Defense and Special Defense won't help it switch in easily and combined with Sandstorm, Stealth Rock and Life Orb recoil damage, it won't last long. However, in this short time of its reign in the field, it can easily take down a team, making it one of the most powerful Sweepers that D/P introduced to competitive battling.

Pokemon of the Week DP: Zapdos

Ninjomewtwo — 2008-07-20T00:05:00+02:00

Sets

Baton Passer

Item Held: Leftovers
Nature: Modest (+Special Attack, -Attack)
Effort Points: 252 HP - 100 Defense - 100 Special Attack - 58 Speed

Agility
Baton Pass
Thunderbolt / Discharge
Hidden Power Ice / Hidden Power Grass / Roost

Zapdos is one of the best Agility Baton Passers in the game. Simply switch in on something that can't touch the mighty bird (like a Choice Bander locked in Earthquake), Agility as they switch, then Baton Pass to a sweeper that needs the Speed boost, like Marowak or Rhyperior. Thunderbolt is your standard attack for when you feel that Zapdos can take something down. Discharge is an alternative that makes Zapdos more of a team player by spreading paralysis to your opponent's team.

About the last moveslot, Hidden Power Ice or Hidden Power Grass cover those Ground-type Pokémon, immune to Thunderbolt, that come in to destroy Zapdos with Stone Edge. Roost is listed though due to the increased difficulty of getting a good Hidden Power on a Baton Passer Zapdos. Baton Pass is a move available only through Pokémon XD, so getting a useful Hidden Power seems impossible. Of course, Roost isn't that bad as it can help you Baton Pass Agility boosts more times.

The EP spread suggested is the standard one, that makes Zapdos quite bulky, letting it survive some hits while it pulls off its Agility. If an IV of 31 in Speed is not the case, some EPs can be taken from Defense or Special Attack for hitting 250 Speed, enough to outrun a Jolly, Choice Scarf using Garchomp after an Agility. Of course, the 252 HP EPs are standard and should always be there.

Bulky Zapdos

Item Held: Leftovers
Nature: Bold (+Defense, -Attack)
Effort Points: 252 HP - 220 Defense - 38 Speed

Thunderbolt
Light Screen
Hidden Power Ice / Hidden Power Grass / Thunder Wave
Roost

Zapdos needed one certain thing in Advance, and D/P brought it. A recovery move, not named Rest. With Roost being available now, Zapdos can continue its defensive job. Thunderbolt is its basic attack again, with Hidden Power providing type coverage. If a good Hidden Power is a hard task, Thunder Wave can be used for paralyzing opponents at the cost of being walled by Ground-types. Light Screen is used for making Zapdos even more bulky on the Special side, as well as for pseudo-passing Special Defense to the team.

Toxi-Staller

Item Held: Leftovers
Nature: Timid (+Speed, -Attack)
Effort Points: 252 HP - 176 Speed - 82 Special Defense

There are not many Pokémon out there that can do the job of Toxi-stalling better than Zapdos. Lay your Toxic Spikes down, and watch your Zapdos stall them till the poison knocks them out or till they are out of PP, abusing its Ability, Pressure. The combination of Toxic Spikes, Substitute, Roost and Leftovers will nearly never let your opponent attack while inflicting damage and recovering the Substitute's 1/4 of HP cost. If some Flying-types try to be clever and switch in, avoiding your Toxic Spikes, Thunderbolt will send them to the Underworld, with Hidden Power Ice being here for more specific threats like Salamence and Gliscor. Toxic is an alternative, if you plan on using Zapdos in a team without a Toxic Spikes user.

The recommended EPs give Zapdos a Speed stat of 304 (with a Speed IV of 31), allowing it to outrun Pokémon like Timid/Jolly Lucario, Modest/Adamant Salamence and Adamant Garchomp. Of course, its Defenses are a bit neglected but after all this Zapdos is supposed to avoid hits with Substitute, not get them.

If you are going to use that Zapdos with Hidden Power Ice on a battle simulator, where you have the ability to set its IVs, be sure to go with 31/30/30/31/31/31 for Hidden Power Ice. The reason is that the standard 31/31/31/31/31/30 makes you lose a Speed point that drops your Speed to 303, letting Adamant Garchomp outrun you 50% of the time.

Rest-Talk

Item Held: Leftovers
Nature: Bold (+Defense, -Attack) / Calm (+Special Defense, -Attack)
Effort Points: 252 HP - 220 Defense - 38 Speed OR 252 HP - 220 Special Defense - 38 Speed

What was the standard set in Advance, is here for D/P, with the addition of Discharge being the only new thing. Since Zapdos is a defensive minded Pokémon, the 30% paralysis chance of Discharge makes it a great move for supporting its slow team-mates. However, after the arrival or Roost in Zapdos' movepool, the only reason to use this set is for absorbing Sleep inducing moves like a Hypnosis from a Bronzong or Milotic.

Other Possible Options

Zapdos faces the same problem that most Electric-type Pokémon do. Although it has great stats and quite good typing, its movepool is much more shallow than those of most OverUsed Pokémon. Most of its noteable moves were mentioned in the sets, leaving few other suggestions. Roar could be used for ruining the job of other Baton Passers. It can be also combined with Toxic or Thunder Wave for a Toxi-Shuffler or Para-Shuffler set. Alternative Hidden Power types are viable, mainly for hitting specific Pokémon like Hidden Power Ground for Heatran or Water for Camerupt. Rain Dance + Thunder is always an option, though never the best one. The rest of its sweeping moves are just Extrasensory and Ancientpower, none of which helps much. Well, if you feel lucky, you can aim for Ancientpower's side effect and Baton Pass those boosts to another Pokémon but the 10% of he effect's activation is too low. Another move that could possibly help Zapdos with its sweeping is Metal Sound which drops the foe's Special Defense by two stages.

Zapdos could possibly go for a Choice Band set, using Drill Peck, U-Turn and possibly Steel Wing, but as far as Physical sweeping goes, there are many Pokémon that do it better than the Electric bird.

Counters

Blocking Zadpos' sweeping attempts is as easy as with most Electric-type Pokémon. Any Special Wall like Blissey and Snorlax can receive its attacks and recover, either with Softboiled or Rest. Regice is another Pokémon able to stop Zapdos with its sky-high Special Defense and the ability to destroy it with Ice Beam.

Of course, instead of receiving hits, you can always use them to your advantage. Electivire and Lanturn will raise their Speed and HP respectively after switching in a Thunderbolt and are both capable of hitting Zapdos with Ice Punch or Ice Beam. Jolteon works in the same way but it doesn't have a really strong hit for Zapdos. Raikou can start using Calm Mind, hoping to sweep, but it has to look out for Toxic and Roar.

Ground-type Pokémon stop Zapdos once its Hidden Power is revealed. If Hidden Power Grass is absent, Swampert and Rhyperior are great counters and can hit Zapdos with Ice Beam/Avalanche or Stone Edge. With Hidden Power Ice missing, Gliscor, Garchomp and, to a lesser extent, Salamence can switch in easily.

As far as stalling Zapdos variants go, anything that can beat the stall war against Zapdos can counter it and force it to switch out. Venusaur (which is immune to Toxic) is just an example. It can break Zapdos' Substitute with Sludge Bomb, predict Roost and hit with either Sleep Powder or Leech Seed.

Opinion & Notes

The legendary bird of thunder was always considered to be the best one of the trio and there are some reasons for it. With Moltres being able to just sweep and Articuno to support, its ability to do both makes it shine. Plus, unlike them, it takes 25% damage every time it switches in Stealth Rock instead of 50%. The bad thing about Zapdos is that getting a "good" one is a real pain. All in all, some more that a generation jump will be needed to make this Pokémon move out of the OU tier. And, by the way, I think Zapdos should have gotten Air Slash in D/P.

Note that Baton Pass, Metal Sound and Extrasensory are available to Zapdos only through Pokémon XD.

Pokemon of the Week DP: Spinda

Ninjomewtwo — 2008-07-13T11:06:33+02:00

Sets

Baton Passer

Item Held: Leftovers / Salac Berry
Ability: Own Tempo
Nature: Bold (+Defense, -Attack) / Impish (+Defense, -Special Attack)
Effort Points: 252 HP - 200 Defense - 58 Special Defense

Spinda's only purpose is to Baton Pass a Calm Mind or two to a Pokémon that has the ability to sweep, unlike itself. Hypnosis on the first Pokémon, Calm Mind as they switch out, and Baton Pass away. Wish can be used to heal yourself if you think that Spinda can take two hits and survive (which is highly unlikely), or to heal your next Pokémon. Leftovers is just a generic item, but you can go with Salac Berry. If you are lucky and survive their hit, you may pass a Speed boost to your sweeper as well. A good set in theory that gets ruined by Spinda's terrible stats.

Endure + F(l)ail

Item Held: Salac Berry
Ability: Own Tempo
Nature: Adamant (+Attack, -Special Attack) / Jolly (+Speed, -Special Attack)
Effort Points: 252 Attack - 252 Speed - 6 HP

Spinda's surprising offensive potential becomes reality through this set. Use Endure to stay alive with 1 HP, laughing at your opponent for not being able to OHKO your Pokémon. Then, start using Flail until everything is taken down by Spinda's supernatural power. Sucker Punch takes care of the Ghost-type Pokémon that want to stop your mighty rampage. When you are finally done, Baton Pass the Speed boost of the Salac Berry to a sweeper that needs it.

Just as happens with any other Flail user, Sandstorm and Hail stop your sweep and render your Pokémon useless. So, if you want to add that "L" to "Fail", be sure to clear the skies before sending Spinda in.

Trick or Treat?

Item Held: Choice Scarf / Choice Band
Ability: Own Tempo
Nature: Adamant (+Attack, -Special Attack) / Jolly (+Speed, -Special Attack)
Effort Points: 252 Attack - 252 Speed - 6 HP

And for our next trick, we will need a volunteer. Preferably a Wall. Trick your Choice Scarf/Band to a Pokémon that will hate Spinda after that. Hypnosis to the incoming Pokémon. Return for STAB and Sucker Punch for hitting the Ghosts.

As the name of the set suggests, it may trick your opponent with an unwanted Choice Scarf on their Wall but it may also treat them with a great Choice Band on their Physical Sweeper. So, if you are not good at prediction, better leave this set.

Other Possible Options

Spinda's movepool isn't what one would call awful, but its stats are not helping it. Regarding offensive options, Focus Punch, Psycho Cut, Rock Slide and Fake Out are its Physical options while Shadow Ball and Psychic (boosted by Calm Mind of course) are its Special ones.

Of course, the Focus Sash + Counter combo is worth mentioning. Finally, it has access to moves like Snatch, Disable and Psych Up if you feel like using them, but they won't prove too helpful.

Counters

In UnderUsed, most Rock-types and Steel-types have no problem countering Spinda, especially those who don't care having a Choice Band tricked to them, like Relicanth. Steelix can stop the Baton Pass set using its Roar and if Spinda happens to Trick a Choice Band to it, a STABed, Choice Band boosted Earthquake is a real threat. And certainly, many other sweepers can KO Spinda easily, some of them are Scyther and Crawdaunt. However, don't forget that Spinda can put an incoming counter to sleep with its Hypnosis.

If you are planning to use Spinda in OverUsed, be prepared as almost anything can counter it. And by anything I mean that even Pokémon with below average Defense can switch in on Spinda without trouble.

Opinion & Notes

Spinda is one of my favorite Pokémon to use. In the Pokémon TCG that is. In competitive battling, the best that Spinda can do is pull off a Calm Mind and Baton Pass it to a sweeper. We've got just a generic Normal-type here like Aipom and Lickitung, apart from the fact that they got their respective evolved forms during the generation jump. If Spinda doesn't get its evolution soon, it will remain stuck forever in the NeverUsed tier, and its quite wide movepool will remain unexploited. Although I'm sure I will miss its retarded face if it gets an evolution...

Note that Baton Pass, Wish and Trick are all egg moves.

Pokemon of the Week DP: Heracross

Ninjomewtwo — 2008-07-06T11:51:06+02:00

Sets

Choice Bander

Item Held: Choice Band
Ability: Guts
Nature: Adamant (+Attack, -Special Attack)
Effort Points: 252 Attack - 152 Speed - 106 HP

Some simple calculations can show how extremely powerful Heracross can be. We've got two attacks with a base power of 120 which becomes 180 by STAB, fired from an Attack stat of 383, which becomes 574 due to the Choice Band, with a possibility of it rising to 861 if you switch in on a Will-o-Wisp. Obviously, those two STABed moves will be included in the moveset, as will Stone Edge which is useful for knocking out those Flying-type Pokémon like Salamence that come in to counter you. About the last moveslot, Pursuit hits slower Psychic-type Pokémon that flee, afraid of Megahorn. Night Slash is an alternative for hitting them if they predict Pursuit and stay in. But Pursuit is the superior choice most of the time. Let's see now how those Physical Walls like Skarmory (which is easily 2HKOed by Close Combat) are turned into wannabes by the power of this bug!

The Effort Points listed, assuming Heracross has a Speed IV of 31, give 244 Speed, enough to outrun Jolly Tyranitar. However, feel free to add as much as you like, depending on what other Pokémon you want to outrun. Jolly nature is also an option is you want to outrun some more Pokémon like Adamant Electivire but after all they won't be switching in on any of Heracross' moves.

Choice Scarfer

Item Held: Choice Scarf
Ability: Guts
Nature: Adamant (+Attack, -Special Attack)
Effort Points: 252 Attack - 252 Speed - 6 HP

Without the boost from Choice Band, Heracross is still proud of his pretty high Attack stat. With a Speed of 404 and a possible Attack of 574 due to Guts, this bug seems unstoppable. The moves suggested are the same ones as above with Pursuit being an even better choice than it was before as a Choice Scarf Heracross threatens even fast Psychic-types like Azelf and Alakazam.

Swords Dancer V1.0

Item Held: Salac Berry
Ability: Swarm
Nature: Jolly (+Speed, -Special Attack)
Effort Points: 252 Attack - 252 Speed - 6 Defense

First of all, this Heracross needs an HP stat divisible by 4. An IV of 30 in HP will do. If that's not the case, just take the EPs you need from Defense and Attack. This is because Salac Berry must activate after 3 uses of Substitute, leaving Heracross with 25% of its HP instead of 4 which would leave Heracross with 1% of its HP.

Now, the whole idea of the set is quite simple. Hide behind your Substitute, getting to Swords Dance as many times as you can, until that Salac Berry is activated. Then sweep using your Megahorn which gets boosted by STAB, Swords Dance and Swarm, delivering ridiculously high amounts of damage to your opponent. Close Combat is an option for another STABed move but Stone Edge stops those Flying-type Pokémon that try to ruin your fun.

Swords Dancer V2.0

Item Held: Flame Orb
Ability: Guts
Nature: Jolly (+Speed, -Special Attack)
Effort Points: 252 Attack - 252 Speed - 6 HP

Switch in on something that will flee and Swords Dance as they switch out. After just one Swords Dance, no Pokémon can come in safely. The sheer power of Heracross' Close Combat and Facade are enough to OHKO most of its counters, like Skarmory and Gliscor to name but two, after a Swords Dance. Beware of revenge killers though, as Dugtrio can easily catch you off guard after a KO and OHKO Heracross with its Aerial Ace.

Rest-Talker

Item Held: Life Orb
Ability: Guts
Nature: Adamant (+Attack, -Special Attack)
Effort Points: 204 HP - 153 Attack - 153 Speed

A bulkier Heracross set, which was pretty common in Advance, is now back in D/P. Heracross is one of the best Rest-Talkers in the game as Rest activates Guts, letting it sweep with a free boost while healing itself. Life Orb is a good item choice since you'll be etting the HP back with Rest.

Endure + Reversal

Item Held: Salac Berry
Ability: Swarm
Nature: Jolly (+Speed, -Special Attack)
Effort Points: 252 Attack - 252 Speed - 6 HP

The basic Reversal set here. Swords Dance as they switch, Endure their hit, which will also activate the Salac Berry and then sweep with a full power, Swords Dance boosted, STABed Reversal. However, with Tyranitar's and Hippowdon's Sandstorm being everywhere in OU, Heracross will have trouble pulling this set off effectively, unless you have a Sunny Day/Rain Dance user in your team.

Other Possible Options

With six sets listed above, Heracross doesn't even need any other options. And that's good, as it doesn't have any other noteable moves. Rock Slide and Brick Break get a mention in case you don't like the low accuracy of Stone Edge or the side effect of Close Combat. Earthquake, Aerial Ace and Shadow Claw can be found in Heracross' movepool but the bug has little to no use for them. Bulk Up could be used, replacing Swords Dance in a set but, generally, Swords Dance is the best choice.

Counters

Countering Heracross will not be easy as you can't be sure what it's going to throw at you. Gliscor is definitely the number one Heracross counter though as it resists Heracross' both STAB moves and knocks it out with Aerial Ace. Dusknoir and Weezing function similarly as they can both get some hits and KO with Fire Punch/Fire Blast. Of course, if you do the mistake to burn Heracross, things will get difficult.

Jirachi and Choice Scarf Metagross can get a hit an take Heracross down with their Zen Headbutt. Skarmory can also survive a hit and KO with its Flying-type move. Beware though as a Choice Band boosted Close Combat will 2HKO the steel bird.

Finally, Gyarados and Salamence with their Intimidate threaten Heracross but if it predicts them switching, it can OHKO them with Stone Edge.

Opinion & Notes

Whatever one says about Heracross, it is not enough. Its immense power and two STABed, 120 base power attacks, it can bring down whole teams as those Physical Walls cannot easily stop it. Of course, it can't only have advantages. Its 4x weakness to Flying and mediocre Defense mean that any Aerial Ace user will force a switch, causing it to lose all of its Swords Dance boosts. However, once again Heracross finds a way to counter that, and that way is called Stone Edge. All in all, if you don't take Heracross seriously, it can easily beat you.

Pokemon of the Week DP: Manectric

Ninjomewtwo — 2008-06-30T19:29:16+02:00

Sets

Pure Sweeper

Item Held: Petaya Berry / Life Orb
Ability: Static
Nature: Timid (+Speed, -Attack)
Effort Points: 252 Special Attack - 252 Speed - 6 HP / Special Defense

With a base stat of 105 in both its Special Attack and Speed, Manectric's job is to sweep. STABed Thunderbolt will be your main offensive move, with Flamethrower being here for hitting those annoying Grass-type Pokémon like Meganium and Vileplume that think they can wall your Thunderbolt. Hidden Power is here mainly for covering Ground-type Pokémon, either if it's Grass-type or Ice-type. Hidden Power Grass is prefered in UU environment as it hits Quagsire, Lanturn and Golem hard. Hidden Power Ice is better in OU for knocking out the Dragon-types. Substitute protects Manectric from status inducing moves and activates the Petaya Berry, should you choose it. Note that you should make your HP divisable by 4 so that Petaya Berry activates after 3 uses of Substitute rather than 4. Check your HP IV and attach the Effort Points it needs. If the remaining 6 aren't enough, you can take some from Speed.

SpecsTric

Item Held: Choice Specs
Ability: Static
Nature: Timid (+Speed, -Attack) / Hasty (+Speed, -Defense)
Effort Points: 252 Special Attack - 252 Speed - 6 HP OR 252 Special Attack - 220 Speed - 38 Attack

Same as the set above but with Choice Specs boosting your hits this time. More or less the same moves as in the previous set, with Overheat replacing Flamethrower since you'll be switching out all the time. Hyper Beam is there for finishing off threats while knowing that your opponent will knock you out. On the other hand, Crunch can be used for hitting hard two of the most commonly seen Special Walls in UU, Grumpig and Hypno. Choose the second EP distribution with a Hasty nature if you are using Crunch.

Other Possible Options

Manectric doesn't really boast about his vast movepool. Charge Beam can be used for getting the Special Attack boost. Discharge has a nice 30% chance of paralyzing the foe. Rain Dance + Thunder is always an option but not the best one. Hidden Power Water takes out Camerupt but has no other purpose than that. Finally, Thunder Wave and Toxic are worth mentioning but after all Manectric isn't a defensive Pokémon.

As far as items go, Life Orb is always a great choice in a mixed sweeping set, used for taking down the aforementioned Special Walls.

Counters

If Crunch is missing from a set, Hypno and Grumpig can easily wall any move fired towards them, set up a Light Screen and hit Manectric with their Calm Mind boosted Psychic.

The rest of Manectric's UU counters depend on the type of its Hidden Power. If Hidden Power Ice is missing, Nidoking and Nidoqueen can easily take on Manectric. If Hidden Power Grass is missing, those bulky Water-Ground-type Pokémon like Quagsire can switch in without fear. If Hidden Power Water is missing, Camerupt can wall anything shot at it and hit back with Earthquake.

If you plan on using Manectric in OU, the list of counters becomes pretty wide, the most notable of which are Swampert, Garchomp and Salamence, again depending on the type of its Hidden Power. And let's not forget Dugtrio and Electivire who can easily switch in on predicted Electric-type attacks and KO Manectric.

Opinion & Notes

The base 105 stats of Special Attack and Speed make Manectric a quite good Special Sweeper, especially in UU play. However, its pretty shallow movepool hinders its capabilities. With Thunderbolt and those newly acquired Fire-type moves as its only options, it has to resort to Hidden Power for covering its weaknesses. The change of Crunch from Special to Physical wasn't welcome as well. However, the addition of Choice Specs and Life Orb certainly helps its sweeping potential. All in all, Manectric seems like it will need much more help in order to jump out of the UU tier.

Pokemon of the Week DP: Rampardos

Ninjomewtwo — 2008-06-23T19:40:45+02:00

Sets

Scarfpardos

Item Held: Choice Scarf
Nature: Adamant (+Attack, -Special Attack) / Jolly (+Speed, - Special Attack)
Effort Points: 252 Attack - 252 Speed - 6 Special Defense

We have a beast here, with a base Attack stat of 165, able to hit 429 with Jolly nature and a base Speed of 58, stopping at 236 with Jolly nature. Obviously, the first set that one would think would be the Choice Scarf based one. The STAB boosted Stone Edge will obviously be your main offensive move and it will deal impressive amounts of damage to anything that doesn't resist it. Earthquake offers the usual type coverage and works with Rampardos' ability, Mold Breaker, preventing Levitate users like Gengar from avoiding the move. Even though Head Smash is quite the high risk move, it's a great way of finishing off the likes of Milotic and Suicune if they're already weakened. As for the last move, it's mostly a filler. Choose Pursuit if you think you can catch some Pokémon off guard or Crunch for hitting Claydol and Dusknoir.

As far as the nature goes, both Adamant and Jolly are viable. Adamant packs a better hit to anything while Jolly lets you outrun those +Speed natured base 110 Pokémon like Gengar.

Choice Bander

Item Held: Choice Band
Nature: Jolly (+Speed, -Special Attack)
Effort Points: 252 Attack - 252 Speed - 6 Special Defense

A Choice Band Rampardos is definitely a really heavy hitter. Expect to be outrun by nearly everything though. The moves work just like as in the Choice Scarf set, with Focus Punch being an option now as it can hit some Pokémon really hard on the switch. Of course, Rampardos' Speed won't help at all your attempt to sweep so Adamant nature is not an option here.

Rock Polish Rampardos

Item Held: Focus Sash
Nature: Adamant (+Attack, -Special Attack)
Effort Points: 252 Attack - 252 Speed - 6 Special Defense

With such a pathetic Speed stat and a move like Rock Polish in its movepool, it is just obvious that a Rampardos user should use it. Rock Polish once, enduring any hit with your Focus Sash and getting ready to sweep. The moves work as described in the previous movesets. Just be sure to blow away any Spikes / Stealth Rock before switching Rampardos in. Losing your Focus Sash may be lethal.

Swords Dancer

Item Held: Focus Sash
Nature: Jolly (+Speed, -Special Attack)
Effort Points: 252 Attack - 252 Speed - 6 Special Defense

Get yourself a skilled Baton Passer like Jolteon or Ninjask to pass some Speed boosts to Rampardos, then pull off a Swords Dance while standing on 1 HP and start sweeping. The most difficult set to use but the most powerful one once it sets up. Of course, once again, Rapid Spin support is essential.

Other Possible Options

Endeavor is probably the best move for Rampardos not mentioned in the sets. In a Focus Sash using set, like the Rock Polish one, if you cannot beat the Pokémon your opponent sent out, just lower its HP to 1, as it did to yours. Avalanche on the Physical side and Ice Beam on the Special one can be used for taking down threats like Garchomp and Torterra. Finally, Natural Gift with a Liechi Berry can grant you a Grass-type attack with a base damage of 80 for hitting Swampert and Hippowdon.

Counters

Defensive Ground-type Pokémon are the best way to go for countering this beast. Hippowdon is certainly the most effective counter out there, taking easily hits from Rampardos and healing itself with Slack Off. Rhyperior, Swampert and Skarmory can also take hits and strike back, either directly or indirectly (via Stealth Rock). Torterra can counter a Rampardos lacking the Ice-type move. Claydol can show up against a non-Choice Band Rampardos as well.

Opinion & Notes

Although its Attack stat is stellar, Rampardos stands in the BorderLine tier, unable to move up due to its awful Speed. Of course, Snorlax is slow too, but it isn't as fragile as Rampardos is. A base stat of 60 in Defense and 50 in Special Defense mean it will be going to down by any powerful move. Of course, let's not forget the great Mold Breaker, an ability cancelling other abilities. That means Gengar and Bronzong are weak to its Earthquake instead of immune to it. Even though, Rampardos is not the Pokémon that will satnd out much. You may get some lucky sweeps if you manage to set up, but that will rarely happen.

Pokemon of the Week DP: Machamp

Arty2 — 2008-05-11T13:21:16+02:00

Sets

Choice Scarf

Item Held: Choice Scarf
Ability: No Guard / Guts
Nature: Jolly (+Speed, - Sp.Attack)
Effort Points: 12 HP - 252 Attack - 244 Speed

Every generation brings something new to every Pokemon and, in my opinion, we should be taking advantage of it. Machamp can use Choise Scarf very effectively. Assuming you have 31 Speed IV, putting 244 Speed Eps means that you are going to have 340 Speed surpassing even Adamant Dugtrio. Watch out though, because Pokémon like Gengar, Alakazam, Weavile and Starmie can easily be faster than Machamp if properly trained. Machamp has access to two great abilities: No Guard and Guts. The first gives you and your opponent full accuracy and the second gives you a x1.5 bonus to your attacks when you are statused. If you are using guts, then chose Close Combat over Dynamic Punch and possibly Payback over Stone Edge (although if you want to have specific type coverage you can keep Stone Edge)

Choice Band

Item Held: Choice Band
Ability: Guts
Nature: Adamant (+Attack, - Sp.Attack)
Effort Points: 128 HP - 252 Attack - 128 Speed

The same moveset with a different item and EPs. Assuming you have a 31 Speed IV, put 128 on speed. If you don't, try to reach 178 Speed in order to outrun common Skarmory. The preferred ability here is Guts. After activating it, almost no opponent will be safe against one of Machamp's attacks. Having that in mind, you can actually put 252 EPs on HP and nothing on Speed, because being Paralysed is GOOD for you. Payback provides more Type Coverage, but again, you can use Stone Edge if you believe that it fits your team better. Although Guts is generally better for this set, there are times that No Guard can be helpful (for example, against a Garchomp in Sandstorm). If you use No Guard, change Close Combat to Dynamicpunch.

Bulk Up

Item Held: Leftovers
Ability: No Guard
Nature: Adamant (+Attack, - Sp.Attack)
Effort Points: 128 HP - 252 Attack - 128 Speed

This set is more difficult to use than the others, but can be very effective if used at the right time. Choose No Guard for this. Bulk Up and Dynamicpunch are the standard attacks. The others, depend on the rest of your team. When using this set, you must make sure that Special Sweepers are out of the way. Bring Machamp in and use as much Bulk Up as you can. Dynamicpunch's wonderful effect can buy you some time for that. It would be a great idea to support this set with Agility. If you do so, put all the EPs on speed in order to reach Max Speed.

Other Possible Options

Rest + Sleep Talk is a good combination, but in this generation, loosing so many terns is the worst thing you can do.

Fire Blast with No Guard is very good against Skarmory, Forretress, Scizor and Heracross.

Bullet Punch can do some work on the non-Choice Scarf sets, but it lacks STAB, so it's not THAT powerful.

Facade works greatly with Guts.

Mega Kick with No Guard, is a good idea, too.

Counter can surprise your enemy and get rid of an opposing Gliscor.

Counters

PREDICTION. That's the best counter for Machamp. If you see it using Dynamicpunch, it is safe to burn it, but unless you see that, don't dare use a Status move because activating Guts will be very painful. Weezing is a good counter, but if Machamp has Mega Kick or Facade, it can beat you easily. Dusknoir is good, if Machamp is not using Payback. Cresselia with Reflect is quite safe as well. Celebi can take some hits but it fears a boosted Payback. Gliscor is a good idea, but Ice Punch can destroy it, so watch out. A fast Special Sweeper, is probably the best choice using the technique: "Kill, to stay alive!"

Opinion & Notes

Machamp is a strong Pokemon that represents pure muscular power. It has a very good Defense stat and an excellent Attack stat along with very good moves. No Guard, its new ability, makes Dynamicpunch one of its most reliable and powerful attacks. Choice Scarf gave it the ability to be fast and it can now hit a lot of Pokemon before they are able to block it.

Note that the elemental Punches are egg moves or Emerald's Move Tutor moves. Close Combat is also an egg move.