Krookodile

August 22nd, 2014

by Richard

Krookodile

Overview

Krookodile is an awesome beast from Gen 5. Having used one in Pokemon White, I know how he can wreck teams. His good stats and great abilities make him a true force to be reckoned with on the battlefield, but beware of his new weakness to fairy types, which can stop him dead in his tracks.

Abilities

Intimidate: Upon entering a battle, the opponent’s Attack is lowered by one stage. This is a good ability, as it can help Krookodile take an extra hit if it has to, but it’s next ability is far better.

Moxie: Boosts Attack one stage after knocking out an opponent. This is Krookodile’s selling point and what puts him into UU. Send him in for an easy revenge kill and begin the sweep.

Anger Point: If Krookodile is hit with a critical hit, it maxes out his Attack (6 stages or 4x). Very situational and unlikely to happen. The croc probably won’t survive a crit in the first place.

Base Stats

HP: 95

Attack: 117

Defense: 80

Special Attack: 65

Special Defense: 70

Speed: 92

Movesets

Moxweep

• Earthquake
• Crunch
• Stone Edge
• Superpower/Outrage/Pursuit
• Ability: Moxie
• Item: Choice Scarf
• Nature and EV’s: Jolly (+Spd -SpD), 252 Atk, 252 Spd, 4 HP

Krookodile’s good base 92 speed boosted by a Choice Scarf makes him very fast, infact faster than all Pokemon in UU without a boost to speed. Earthquake and Crunch are you two reliable STAB moves. Stone Edge provides coverage against Flying, Ice, and Bug types, the latter two of which can be a threat to Krookodile. Superpower hits other Dark types along with Normal and Ice types, and if it kills it’s attack drop is negated thanks to Moxie.  Outrage is powerful and hits Dragons hard, but locks you in and confuses you. The lock in can turn into a free switch for any opposing Fairies. Pursuit is also an option for hitting any Pokemon that might switch out.

Support/Tank/Troll/Something?

• Stealth Rock
• Earthquake
• Roar/Dragon Tail/Crunch/Foul Play/Bulk Up/Taunt/Toxic/Protect
• Roar/Dragon Tail/Crunch/Foul Play/Bulk Up/Taunt/Toxic/Protect
• Ability: Intimidate/Moxie
• Item: Leftovers/Focus Sash
• Nature and EV’s: Careful (+SpD -SpA) OR Impish (+Def -SpA), 252 SpD 252 HP 4 Def OR 252 Def 252 HP 4 SpD

I made this up in about ten minutes, so this is pretty gimmicky, but feel free to try this out! Krookodile has good HP and decent Defense so you could try to pull off a defensive set starting with Stealth Rock, a crazy entrance hazard that will drive your opponent bananas. Earthquake is always a good move and has decent coverage as well. The next part is going to be a bit crazy. Roar and Dragon Tail both switch out your opponent so that they take Stealth Rock damage and lose momentum. Roar may be preferred as Dragon Tail cannot hit Fairies.  Crunch is a good STAB Dark move, but Foul Play may be better if you are up against a physical opponent because it uses your opponent’s Attack stat against them. Bulk Up can be used to increase bulk and hitting power. Taunt breaks down walls and Toxic is a great status as always. Use it in conjunction with Protect and leftovers for free healing and damage. Intimidate is viable here to possibly take another hit you choose to use it. If you feel the need to change the Nature/EV spread, make sure to take into account that Roar and Dragon Tail have negative priority, meaning that they will go last, so a +Speed nature or Speed EV’s will not help in this case.

Other Options

• Brick Break is an alternative to Superpower that doesn’t lower stats, but it is quite a bit weaker.
• Aerial Ace hits Grass types, but only has 60 base power.
• Rock Slide is weaker than Stone Edge, but is more accurate and has a decent chance to flinch.
• Power-Up Punch is cool and can make you a beast, but Moxie kind off already does that.
• Iron Tail can be great against Fairies (if it hits, that is)
• Low Kick can hit heavy things like Snorlax, but is more situational than Superpower or Brick Break
• Krookodile can learn Spite via move tutor in B2W2 for some reason, which could be cool I guess.

Follow-Up

Krookodile can beast if he gets even one kill and sweep through a team, but his 6 weaknesses and predictability make him rather easy to counter, so be sure to use him carefully. He’s really cool looking and a great Pokemon to use in a playthrough if you haven’t used him before.

Banette

November 18th, 2013

by Richard

Banette

The Marionette Pokémon

Overview

Oh, Banette, how unrecognized you were, until you got a MEGA-EVOLUTION! Personally, I think Banette is one of the coolest Ghost types around. It is physical, which is weird for a Ghost. It’s mega evolution has the highest attack of any Ghost, and even its regular form is only outdone my Aegislash, Golurk, and the Ghost legendaries. But it falls short in every other stat in regular form and they are only decent in Mega form. Nonetheless, Banette is a fun Pokémon to use.

Abilities

Insomnia: You can’t fall asleep. Useful to counteract Spore,  I guess, but not that useful.

Frisk: Reveals your opponent’s item. More useful than Insomnia, but still not that useful.

Dream World Cursed Body: When your opponent makes contact, there is a 30% chance that the move used will be disabled. The most useful ability so far, it can give you an edge on whoever took out Banette (because Banette likely won’t survive most attacks).

Mega Evolution: Prankster: All status category move get +1 priority. This is very useful because Banette has a dire speed, and priority to moves like Destiny Bond, Trick, Will-o-wisp, Thunder Wave, and others make this ability great.

Base Stats

Mega Evolution in parentheses

HP: 64 (64)

Attack: 115 (165)

Defense: 65 (75)

Special Attack: 83 (93)

Special Defense: 63 (83)

Speed: 65 (75)

Total: 455 (555)

Movesets

Physical

• Sucker Punch
• Shadow Sneak/Shadow Claw/Phantom Force
• Will-o-Wisp/Thunder Wave/Toxic
• Hex/Protect
• Ability: Cursed Body/Prankster
• Item: Spell Tag/Muscle Band/Banettite/Other

This set isn’t really meant to defeat other things, more like put a big hole in them. Sucker Punch gets priority, which is needed for Banette, and so does Shadow Sneak. Shadow Claw doesn’t get priority, but it has 70 base power. Phantom Force is a new move and basically a weaker version of Shadow Force, but gets 90 base power and always hits. This is an Egg Move only though. Will-o-wisp, Thunder Wave, and Toxic are all great status moves. (I would prefer Will-o-Wisp because it is signature to Banette, but use whatever is best for your team.) Hex got a boost from last gen with 65 instead of 50 base power, and this doubles when attacking an opponent with a status condition, so 130 base power. Yes, it is a Special Attack, but that power is undeniably high. You could also use Protect to stall for burn or poison damage.

Support

• Will-o-wisp/Toxic/Thunder Wave
• Another support move
• Shadow Sneak/Shadow Claw/Hex
• Sucker Punch/Another support move
• Ability: Cursed Body -> Prankster
• Item: Banettite

Banette has a multitude of support attacks. Prankster is a necessity for this set. Use Will-o-wisp, Toxic, or Thunder Wave for status effect. Shadow Sneak gets priority, Shadow Punch gets more power, and Hex can be extremely powerful. You need to have an attack so you don’t get stuck in Taunt. Sucker Punch is can be put in the last slot if you want more coverage. Banette’s support movepool is pretty big. You can use Curse, Spite, Embargo, Snatch, Grudge, Taunt, Protect, Torment, Rest, Attract, Psych Up, Swagger, Substitute, Confuse Ray, Destiny Bond, Trick Room, and several others. Banette can even set up Sunny Day and Rain Dance! The sad thing is that Banette doesn’t have the stats to back up a defensive strategy, but I guess it’s worth a shot.

Sleep Talk?

• Rest
• Sleep Talk
• Shadow Claw/Phantom Force
• Sucker Punch/Gunk Shot/Return/Knock Off
• Ability: Cursed Body -> Prankster
• Item: Banettite

This set is sort of a gimmick, but I hope it works. Like the last set, Mega-Banette is a must. Pick an attack to use the first turn, then when you have less HP, use Rest. Since it is a status category move, it gets priority. Then use Sleep Talk, which is also a status category move, and hopefully Banette uses the right attack, you do have a 50% chance, though so that’s pretty good. Shadow Claw or Phantom Force is your go to Ghost move here. Since Sleep Talk gets priority, Shadow Sneak has no use here. Sucker Punch is a priority attack, but is a good move for Banette. Gunk Shot, for some reason, is a physical move, and has 120 base power, but only 80 accuracy, Return can be a powerful normal type move and Knock Off can screw up enemy strategies. This is a pretty wacky strategy and it sure opens up Banette’s options outside of priority moves, but I’m not entirely sure if it works. This is just and idea.

Other Options

• Calm Mind can go on a special set with Shadow Ball, Thunderbolt, Dark Pulse, Dazzling Gleam and/or Psychic, but Banette was made for attack.
• If you are playing Gen V without Mega-Banette, Thief is an option over Knock Off, as Knock Off had way less power last gen and Thief steals items instead of knocking it off.
• Banette can get Pursuit as an Egg Move.
• Telekinesis can make it easier for Gunk Shot to hit.
• Foul Play is an interesting Dark type move.
• Pain Split can work with Focus Sash

Follow-Up

Banette had been defeated and forgotten until X and Y with its Mega-Evolution. It’s new ability, Prankster, is terrific, and makes it much better and 165 base attack is amazing. Although it still lacks in most other stats, it is so much better than before. I truly hope Banette does well competitively as it is such a cool Pokémon.

Blastoise

December 20th, 2011

by Richard

BLASTOISE

OVERVIEW

Blastoise is awesome. He’s really bulky in defense and special defense and can use both physical and special fairly well. What really kills him is speed, though. 78 base speed isn’t all that ideal. But Blastoise is awesome anyways.

BASE STATS

HP 79

Attack 83

Defense 100

Special Attack 85

Special Defense 105

Speed 78

ABILITIES

Torrent: When Blastoise’s HP is below 1/3, your Water type attacks are multiplied by 1.5. Pretty nice add-on to STAB.

Rain Dish (Dream World): When it’s raining, Blastoise gets 1/16th of his HP back at the end of every turn. That’s a great add-on to Blastoise’s defenses and will really drive your opponent crazy.

MOVESETS

SWEEPER

• Hydro Pump, Surf
• Earthquake
• Blizzard, Ice Beam
• Rain Dance, Flash Cannon
• Ability: Torrent, Rain Dish
• Item: Damp Rock, Wise Glasses

A combination of awesome moves. Hydro Pump is you main move. You could go with Surf for better accuracy, though. Earthquake is amazing and takes out electrics and steels. Blizzard hits most everything hard and takes out dragons and grass types. Ice beam is an alternative with better accuracy. The last slot is your choice. Rain Dance is good with Hydro Pump and Rain Dish whereas Flash Cannon lets you take care of Ice types. Either way, no single type is resistant. The Damp Rock allows Rain dance  to last 8 turns. The Wise Glasses raise the power of special attacks by 10%.

RAPID SPIN

• Rapid Spin
• Rain Dance
• Toxic
• Hydro Pump, Surf
• Ability: Torrent
• Item: Damp Rock

It’s awesome that Blastoise gets Rapid Spin. Rapid Spin takes out entry hazards. Rain Dance raises the power of Water type moves and makes Thunder always hit. Toxic badly poisons and it hurts more every turn. Hydro Pump or Surf keeps you from being Taunt bait and works well with Rain Dance.

SKULL BASH

• Skull Bash, Iron Defense
• Aqua Tail, Waterfall
• Toxic
• Earthquake, Gyro Ball, Return, Dig, Brick Break, a physical move, Protect
• Ability: Torrent
• Item: Leftovers

Skull Bash is cool. You raise your defense the first turn, then attack the next turn with plenty of power. You could also use Iron Defense to make yourself a physical wall.  Aqua tail is a cool physical water type move, but Waterfall has a more accuracy and a drop in power. Toxic is great for stalling moves like Dig. The last slot is your choice. Earthquake is awesome. Gyro Ball could be awesome with your low speed. Return is another physical move that gets good coverage with water outside of Jellicent and Ferrotron. Dig stalls for Toxic damage. Brick Break is good for a wide range of types. Protect is another option to stall for Toxic damage.

OTHER OPTIONS

• Rest is Blastoise’s only recovery move
• Focus Blast is a cool fighting type move
• Scald can inflict burns
• Hydro Cannon is a better version of Hydro Pump but has even less accuracy and you have to recharge for a turn

STATS

• Sweeper: You want max special attack and max speed or defense.
• Rapid Spin: Max HP and max defense  or special defense.
• Skull Bash: Max attack and max defense or special defense.

FOLLOW-UP

Blastoise is an awesome starter with tons of bulk and plenty of options. Although he is mainly used for spinning, he can be physical and special sweeper and has plenty of other support moves. Blastoise is my personal favorite Kanto starter and is great for in-game use in FireRed and LeafGreen. Blastoise is very special in being a tank. Tons of good moves and an impenetrable wall.

Charizard

October 6th, 2011

by Richard

CHARIZARD

OVERVIEW

Usually a popular choice, Charizard has an immense sp. att. and a pretty good movepool. He has access to about every good fire attack out there and some other cool moves so he has enough to make a few sets.

ABILITIES

Blaze: When HP is lower than 1/3, power of  all Fire type attacks is raised by 1.5. I like it because it gives Charizard a good boost considering his bad defense.

Solar Power: Much, much better. In sunshine, Charizard’s sp. att. is raised by 1.5. That makes his BASE sp.att. to 163.5. 163.5! That is sick. Plus fire type attacks work better in sunshine, so Overheat would be like diving into the center of the sun. I don’t care do the math. Yeah, this is a wall smasher.

BASE STATS

HP 78

Attack 84

Defense 78

Special Attack 109

Special Defense 85

Speed 100

SWEEPIZARD

• Fire Blast, Overheat, Heat Wave
• Sunny Day
• Solarbeam
• Earthquake, Focus Blast
• Ability: Solar Power
• Item: Leftovers

This is a set using Charizard’s best attacks. Fire Blast is a great fire type move. Overheat is better, but then you would be weaker in attacking due to losing 2 sp.att. Heat Wave has less power than Fire Blast, but more accuracy. Sunny Day raises the power of fire type attacks and makes Solarbeam attack faster. Solarbeam takes care of waters, rocks, and grounds. Earthquake takes care of other fires, but Focus Blast hits steel types hard.

PHYSICAL

• Swords Dance
• Earthquake
• Flare Blitz
• Brick Break, Return, Dragon Claw, Shadow Claw, Rock Slide, Dragon Tail
• Ability: Blaze
• Item: ?

Charizard has a lot of physical attacks, but lacks a good attack stat. Swords Dance boosts your attack, which you dreadfully need. Earthquake is an awesome move that Charizard has access to. Flare Blitz is your main move here. Other than that you have lots of options. Brick Break is a cool fighting type move. Return can be really strong. Dragon Claw… is another physical move. Shadow Claw can take out Psychics. Rock Slide is good against flying and fire types, but Earthquake already takes out fires. Dragon Tail can ruin your opponents strategies.

Hmm…

•  Toxic, Will-o-Wisp
• Protect
• Fire Blast
• Earthquake
• Ability: Blaze
• Item: Wide Lens, Zoom Lens

This  is a support set. I’m not sure if it will work, but go ahead and try it out. Toxic deals more damage every turn. Will-o-wisp is another option. Protect stalls for Toxic/Will-o-wisp damage. Fire Blast gets a boost of accuracy from the Wide Lens. Earthquake is awesome. Wide Lens raises your accuracy by 10%, whereas the Zoom Lens raises your accuracy by 20% if you attack second.

OTHER OPTIONS

Hone Claws boost attack and accuracy.

Flame Charge is a good move as it boosts speed.

Fire Spin is a good trapping move.

Inferno burns, but has horrible accuracy.

Air Slash is a special flying type move.

DOUBLE AND TRIPLE BATTLE OPTIONS

Charizard is immune to Earthquake, but gets hit hard by Rock Slide and Surf. He does have Earthquake himself, though, which is nice. He also gets Heat Wave. Flame Burst also hits multiple opponents. Fire Spin can trap. He can burn and poison which works well with Fire Spin. I’d say he’s pretty well off in doubles and triples, but watch out for Rock Slide and Surf.

FOLLOWUP

Charizard is an awesome Pokemon, but he doesn’t get very many special attacks, which is his forte. He has some competition, too, against Ninetales, Volcarona, and Reshiram. But his Dream World ability lets him rock the house. He truly is the king of Fire Type Pokemon.

Venusaur

Quick Note: This is my first moveset, so please tell me what you like and what I can improve on. You can also send in recommedations for the next featured Pokemon.

September 17th, 2011

by Richard

VENUSAUR

 

The Seed Pokémon. Venusaur may not seem like the most popular choice over Charizard and Blastoise, but it has good stats overall. It does have some competition though, with Ferrothorn and Virizion being very popular, but I still think it’s good.

Abilities

Overgrow: When your HP is less than 1/3, all Grass type moves’ power is multiplied by 1.5. That’s a nice add-on to the STAB power that you get already.

Dream World Ability: Chlorophyll: Raises Speed in sunshine. Venusaur’s speed is less than what I would like, so this will pair nicely with Sunny Day and Solar Beam.

 Base Stats

HP   80

Attack   82

Defense   83

Sp. Attack   100

Sp. Defense   100

Speed 80

Movesets

Pure Power

• Petal Dance
• Sludge Bomb
• Earthquake
• Swords Dance
• Ability: Overgrow
• Item: Persim Berry

This is a good set to run if you are using your Venusaur as a sweeper. Petal Dance gives you continuous power, but you’ll get confused. That’s what the Persim Berry is there for. Sludge Bomb is a good special attack and it takes out grasses. Return could be another option. Swords Dance raises Venusaur’s low attack and will pair nicely with Earthquake which will take out fire, rock and steel types.

It’s getting hot

• Toxic/Sleep Powder/Attract
• Sunny Day
• Solarbeam
• Venoshock/Earthquake/Sludge Bomb
• Item: Zoom Lens
• Ability: Chlorophyll-Overgrow

This set is mainly attack, but provides a little support. Toxic is a great move; poisoning worsens each turn. Sleep Powder could be used to stall for Sunny Day. Attract could work, too, but it wouldn’t be effective a lot of the time. Sunny Day pairs nicely with Solar Beam, an awesome attack. Venoshock is awesome with Toxic. Earthquake is another option, but Sludge Bomb is probably better because you get STAB, but I would go with Venoshock.

S-S-S-S

• Sunny Day
• Solarbeam
• Synthesis
• Sludge Bomb
• Item: Focus Sash
• Ability: Chlorophyll

Sunny Day works well with Solarbeam and gives you some speed. When you have the Focus Sash and you end up with one HP or a little in general, you can use Synthesis to regain all of you HP due to weather. You will also have a good chance of getting to attack first due to Chorophyll and the weather. Sludge Bomb gets STAB and hits other Grasses. Be sure to watch out for other weather effects with this set. Rain, Hail, and Sanstorm make Synthesis recover only 25% of Venasaur’s HP. They will also make Solarbeam take 2 turns instead of one. This set could be potentially ruined by Politoed.

Where to put your stats

I’d say go for higher speed on Pure Power, and more attack on the other 2, but less defense on all. You’d only really be vulnerable to Flare Blitz and maybe Fire Punch, Flame Charge, and Fire Fang along with some very rare physical fire attacks. As far as Psychic, attacks, there is Heart Stamp, Psycho Cut, and Zen Headbutt, so you should be safe putting your defense down. Just switch out on Ice and Flying types.

Other options

Light Screen could make Venusaur an amazing special wall.

Substitute and Protect could stall for Toxic damage.

You could use Leach Seed, but synthesis is better in my opinion.

Growth raises att. and sp. att., but your sp. att.is already really good, so I’d say just go with Swords Dance for +2 attack.

Substitute could be used with Leach Seed to make a Sub-Seed combo.

Follow Up

Venusaur is really cool, but now it has lots more competition with Ferrothorn, Virizion, and Whimsicott entering the battle. But Venusaur has access to Earthquake, which lets it counter fires and steels well. Overall, Venusaur is pretty good and it gets its job done, and it gets it done very well. I never realized he was so good up until recently when I started researching some sets for him. He has definitely earned his spot in the OU.