Greetings Hat Lovers!

This week I’ll be looking at one of my favourite Pokemon in the format which has been a staple on many of my teams. Rotom debuted in generation four, and gained five alternate forms in Platinum. Each form got its own signature move and in generation five each Rotom’s secondary type became the same as the signature moves type.

Rotom-H began to gain popularity around the time of winter regionals when players realized they needed a strong Fire type and found the options to be scarce.

Base Stats:

 50 / 65 / 107 / 105 / 107 / 86

Rotom-H has a mediocre base HP, with some great defences to go with it. Investing in HP and giving Rotom-H Sitrus Berry makes it hard to OHKO. 105 Special Attack is enough for Rotom to have some offensive pressure, especially with a high base power move like Overheat. 86 Speed puts Rotom firmly below the base 100+ range but has it sitting above most everything else.

Electric / Fire typing is great with Levitate. Rotom-H resists Electric, Ice and Fire, all of which are types I find myself wanted more resistances too. Being a Fire type at all is a major boon to Rotom-H, as we have a severe lack of viable Fire types in VGC 2014.

Ability:

Rotom-H’s only ability is Levitate. This patches up Rotom’s would-be 4x weakness to Ground, which would make it nearly unplayable. Keep in mind that this ability won’t save you from Mold Breaker users like Mega Gyarados.

Sets:

Defensive Rotom-H

Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 68 Def / 156 SAtk / 12 SDef / 20 Spd
Modest nature
– Thunderbolt
– Overheat
– Will-O-Wisp
– Protect

This EV spread is the pinnacle of defensive Rotom-H spreads. I used this spread in Washington and I’ve never found a reason to change it. When I originally made it I only had a couple goals in mind but by shear coincidence it manages to just barely survive several strong attacks with the highest damage roll.

• Survives 252+ Dragon Claw from +1 Mega Charizard X
• Survives 252+ Waterfall from Gyarados
• Survives 252 Close Combat from Mega Lucario
• Survives 76 Hydro Pump from Rotom-W
• 3HKO’d by Rock Slide/Dragon Claw from 252 Garchomp
• 3HKO’d by 252+ Aqua Jet from Azumarill after Sitrus Berry most of the time (if they don’t activate Sitrus after the first hit and then get a high roll on the second attack there is a slight chance to 2HKO)
• OHKO’s Ray’s Mawile 15/16 times with Overheat

Rotom-Heat @ Life Orb
Ability: Levitate

Level: 50
EVs: 108 HP / 8 Def / 164 SAtk / 228 Spd
Modest nature
– Thunderbolt
– Overheat
– Hidden Power [Ice]
– Protect

This Rotom-H focuses on getting OHKOs instead of surviving multiple hits. There are a handful of Pokemon Rotom-H can’t OHKO on its own and Life Orb gives it the boost it needs to always net the OHKO on them. This Rotom always OHKOs Amoonguss, Mega Manectric, Garchomp and Salamence with either Overheat or Hidden Power. This set out speeds positive natured base 70 Pokemon. The rest is put into HP to reach 139 HP, a good amount for reducing Life Orb damage.

Rotom-Heat @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate

Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest nature
– Thunderbolt
– Overheat
– Hidden Power [Ice]
– Will-O-Wisp

Scarfed Rotom will often take your opponent by surprise. This set out speeds Mega Manectric. Be aware that this set loses a ton of bulk by not investing in HP. I’m often disappointed by this set as it lacks the bulk of a standard Rotom and HP Ice lacks the power to OHKO Garchomp. Being able to Will-O-Wisp Kangaskhan before it attacks is nice though, as is being able to out speed Gyarados and avoid taking a Waterfall.

Other Options:

Expert Belt can be subbed in Life Orb so Rotom-H can stay in play longer. This will cost you the OHKO on Mega Manectric and reduce your damage output in general. Safety Googles makes Rotom-H a hard counter to Charizard / Venusaur, but that lack of healing will hurt you outside of this combo. Leftovers is an alternate healing item if another teammate needs Sitrus Berry.

Thunder Wave is an alternate status move that provides speed control over attack reduction. Discharge can work on a team with Lightning Rod / Telepathy / Ground Pokemon. Substitute is a cool move I’ve had successfully used against me, if neither of your opponent’s Pokemon can threaten Rotom-H you can put up a Substitute and make it harder to deal with. This also works great when facing Amoonguss and Mawile that want to bait an Overheat and switch into a Fire resist.

Teammates:

What can’t be paired with Rotom? I’m not kidding Rotom-H and it’s other form Rotom-W slot onto pretty much any team you want them to. Due to the lack of Fire types in the format you have your choice of Charizard, Rotom-H, Talonflame, Pyroar or using Pokemon like Manectric, Hydreigon, Salamence and Tyranitar that have non-STAB fire attacks. Of these fire types Charizard takes your Mega slot, Talonflame has its issues and while Pyroar handles the offensive side well it doesn’t take hits at all.

Rotom-H will want partners that can handle Rotom-W and other Water types. Amoonguss, Venusaur and Ludicolo. all fit the bill. These Pokemon benefit from Rotom-H hard countering Talonflame. Things like Mega Charizard and Specs Hydreigon that can simply muscle through Rotom-W’s defence are also welcome additions. While Rotom-H can burn a Kangaskhan it doesn’t beat it on its own so having Pokemon that help it out are nice to have.

Counters and Checks:

Rotom-W can take any attack from Rotom-H and OHKO with Hydro Pump. Most Water types that can out speed Rotom-H can check it with Hydro Pump, Ludicolo and Kingdra are good choice as they aren’t weak to Thunderbolt.

Mega Charizard X doesn’t care about anything Rotom-H can do to it bar Thunder Wave. Rotom-H can’t do anything to Rotom-H either, but Rotom-H won’t be able to do anything to Rotom-H to take advantage of this unless you run HP Rock or something. Garchomp can handle Rotom-H if it lacks HP Ice. Rotom-H will have to land 2 Will-O-Wisp to burn a LumChomp while being hit by Rock Slide each turn.

Conclusion:

Back in my day Hidden Power Flying was my best move, and it was awful

Hello Hat Lovers!

Today I’ll be looking Gyarados. Gyarados was introduced in Generation 1, and while it’s one of the coolest Pokemon around it wasn’t very good until Generation 3 when it got Intimidate and Dragon Dance. In Generation 4 Gyarados really hit its stride with the physical/special split making Waterfall a physical attack. Gyarados hasn’t changed much since then, but it hasn’t needed to. Generation 6 has given Gyarados a Mega Evolution, adding to the list of roles it can play.

Gyarados has been a great Pokemon in VGC, bringing Intimidate support to teams, threatening with Dragon Dance, even running Choice Specs that one time. Despite all of its great traits Gyarados has always had to deal with its 4x weakness to Electric. Over the last three years Thundurus and/or Rotom have been very popular Pokemon and Gyarados will need to rely on its teammates to deal with these Electric types.

Base Stats:

 95 / 125 / 79 / 60 / 100 / 81

Gyarados has a fantastic base 125 attack. 81 Speed is decent especially when Gyarados uses Dragon Dance. 95 / 79 / 100 defences are also pretty great when you factor in Intimidate. Water/Flying typing comes with an unfortunate 4x Electric weakness and an inconvenient Rock weakness but provides resistances to Fighting, Fire, Water, Steel, Bug and an immunity to Ground.

95 / 155 / 109 / 70 / 130 / 81

In terms of stats Mega Gyarados just gets stronger and more resilient. What’s interesting is the change in typing. Water / Dark is worse overall compared to Water / Flying but Gyarados’ previous weaknesses are lessened and while it gains several problematic weaknesses it’s base form resisted them so before you Mega Evolve your opponent will be left to guess which moves will be effective.

Abilities:

Gyarados’s main Ability is Intimidate, one of the greatest Abilities in VGC. Lowering both the opponent’s attack whenever Gyarados switches makes Kangaskhan more manageable and makes it easier for Gyarados to take repeated Rock Slides.

Gyarados’s Hidden Ability is Moxie, which boosts it’s attack whenever it KO’s a Pokemon. While this isn’t a bad Ability it isn’t worth giving up Intimidate to use.

Mega Gyarados’s Ability is Mold Breaker. This allows Gyarados to hit Rotom with Earthquake and ignore Mega Venusaur’s Thick Fat. Keep in mind that Mold Breaker will affect your Pokemon as well, so any partner with Levitate or Telepathy can still get hit by Earthquake.

Attacks:

Waterfall and Aqua Tail are Gyarados’s choice of STAB moves, with Waterfall having perfect accuracy and a flinch chance and Aqua Tail having a chance to miss but more power to make up for it. Other attacks include Ice Fang, Earthquake and Stone Edge. Gyarados generally has room for two damaging attacks unless it’s a choice set so you’ll need to pick based on which type coverage you want on Gyarados. If you want a Dark move for Mega Gyarados your only options are Bite and Payback. Its a shame Gamefreak didn’t give Gyarados something like Crunch to go with it’s new Mega Evolution when they gave Blastoise Aura Sphere, Dark Pulse and Dragon Pulse to go with it’s Mega Evolution.

For non-damaging attacks Gyarados has Dragon Dance, Taunt, Thunder Wave and Protect.

Dragon Dance

Gyarados @ Sitrus Berry / Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 172 / 116 Atk / 4 Def / 4 SDef / 212 Spd
Adamant Nature
– Waterfall
– Ice Fang
– Dragon Dance
– Protect

I came up with this spread while trying to reverse engineer Tony’s EV spread from Washington Regionals. From the streamed games I could see that it had an HP stat of 192 so I used 172 EVs to reach it. Tony later told me that this is a good Leftovers number and conversely a bad Sandstorm number, and he meant to drop the HP by 1 before the tournament. The Speed EVs allow Gyarados to reach 192 speed after a Dragon Dance, putting it above Scarf Tyranitar with a positive nature. The rest were put into Attack.

Support

Gyarados @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 36 Atk / 4 Def / 4 SDef / 212 Spd
Jolly Nature
– Waterfall
– Ice Fang
– Thunder Wave
– Taunt

I stole this spread from Imouto Island. This Gyarados out speeds Jolly Smeargle and Taunts it before they can use Dark Void. This set aims to support the team with Thunder Wave and Intimidate instead of trying to sweep. Rocky Helmet punishes any Kangaskhan that attack Gyarados, especially if they try to use Fake Out on it.

Choice Band

Gyarados @ Choice Band
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 4 / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 4 SDef / 244 Spd
Adamant Nature
– Waterfall
– Ice Fang
– Earthquake
– Stone Edge

Choice Band Gyarados will probably catch people by surprise by hitting as hard as a Dragon Dance set without needing a turn to set up. The switch heavy nature of choice items works well with Intimidate.

Mega Dragon Dance

Gyarados @ Gyaradosite
Ability: Intimidate
Level: 50
EVs: 36 / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 4 SDef / 212 Spd
Adamant Nature
– Waterfall
– Earthquake
– Dragon Dance
– Protect

Mega Gyarados can now hit Levitate users with Earthquake, allowing it to OHKO Rotom-H and 2HKO Rotom-W. Mega Gyarados has some fantastic natural bulk, being equivalent to Umbreon. If you’re choosing to focus your team around Mega Gyarados be sure to provide with plenty of support. Gyarados doesn’t carry itself like Kangaskhan and Mawile do, and will need help to reach it’s full potential.

Teammates:

Gyarados’s BFF is Manectric. Manectric redirects Electric attacks away from Gyarados with Lightning Rod, eliminating its greatest weakness. Mega Manectric also provides a second Intimidate to shut down physical attackers. Raichu can also provide Lightning Rod support as well as Fake Out and Encore support.

Amoonguss, Smeargle and Pachirisu can redirect attacks with Rage Powder / Follow Me. Amoonguss and Pachirisu are the more notable users as they take little to no damage from Electric attacks. Amoonguss also threatens with Spore while Pachirisu can use Nuzzle and Super Fang to help Gyarados take out foes. If using Pachirisu you can use Ion Deluge to make Return an Electric attack giving Gyarados an Electric type move for a turn.

Garchomp makes a good offensive partner for Gyarados. Garchomp is free to use Earthquake beside Gyarados. Gyarados can slow down Salamence with Thunder Wave and take out other Dragons with Ice Fang. Both make life harder for Kangaskhan which is also a positive in this format. Hydreigon appreciates Thunder Wave support to make up for its low speed, and helps Gyarados by threatening Rotom with Specs Draco Meteor.

When using Mega Gyarados you’ll want some Flying types that Gyarados can use Earthquake beside. Salamence is a good partner in general. Talonflame will deal with Amoonguss and Venusaur which will give you trouble. Aerodactyl and use Sky Drop to help deal with troublesome foes.

Counters:

Rotom-W is a hard counter to Gyarados, which is unfortunate given the popularity of Rotom-W. Rotom-W has the choice of using Thunderbolt to OHKO Gyarados or using Will-O-Wisp to cripple it while punishing a potential switch. Rotom-H also has these options but has to worry about taking a Waterfall. Bulky Rotom-H will take an un-boosted Waterfall but it won’t enjoy it and the flinch chance makes things dicey. Mega Manectric doesn’t enjoy switching into an attack from Gyarados but it out speeds Gyarados even after a Dragon Dance and OHKOs with Thunderbolt.

Grass types give Gyarados a rough time. Mega Venusaur will take anything Gyarados can dish out and heal it off with Giga Drain. Amoonguss takes most of Gyarados’ attacks, redirects them from their intended target, and punishes them with Rocky Helmet. Ferrothorn can also withstand Gyarados’ attacks and set up a Leech Seed on it.

Conclusion:

Gyarados can fill a myriad of roles on a VGC team. If you can get around the obstacles facing Gyarados it will put in a ton of work. So give the other wannabe Dragon from Gen 1 a try, you might like what you see.

Hello There Hat Lovers!

This week we’ll be looking at Scizor, a fan favourite with a long history of success in competitive play. Scizor is a Bug / Steel type, giving it a quadruple weakness to Fire and resistances to several types. In fourth Gen Scizor was the most dominate Pokemon in Smogon singles (after they banned Garchomp and Salamence) and continued to be a great Pokemon in both singles and doubles in fifth Gen.

Scizor was a popular Pokemon in VGC 2012 and 2013, but hasn’t seen as much usage as it has in the past. The reason why Scizor has seen a drop in usage is because many of the Pokemon it countered are no longer in the format, such as Cresselia and Terrakion. The lack of Cresselia has also reduced the amount of Tyranitar in the metagame, which Scizor could counter or check depending on whether or not Tyranitar carries Fire Blast. The changes to the type chart didn’t help Scizor as much as we may have hoped. Scizor makes a logical choice as a Fairy killer, however two of the most popular Fairy types, Azumarill and Mawile, are neutral to Steel. Scizor also lost it’s resistance to Ghost and Dark this generation so it doesn’t fair as well against these attacks as it used to. Scizor also lost Bug Bite as a move, which is stronger then X-Scissor and eats the opponent’s berry. Bug Bite would make Scizor’s life a lot easier against Rotom-W. The lack of Steel Gem also reduces the potential potency of Bullet Punch.

Despite all of this, Scizor is still a great Pokemon for VGC. Bullet Punch threatens Gardevoir, Mega Aerodactyl and frail or weakened Pokemon in general. Bug/Steel is still fantastic typing for combating Dragon and Fairy types. Scizor has even gained a Mega Evolution, though it does little to differentiate itself from Scizor’s regular form outside of some increased stats.

Base Stats:
 70 / 130 / 100 / 55 / 80 / 65
Scizor has a fantastic distribution of stats to work with. A sky high attack stat goes great with Bullet Punch, which makes up for Scizor’s mediocre speed stat. Scizor has decent bulk to go with its great typing. You can invest in HP and defences to have Scizor survive hits or you can invest in Speed to make Scizor faster then most Rotom-A.
 70 / 150 / 140 / 65 / 100 / 75
Mega Scizor has higher stats, but the lack of an item and the fact that it operates exactly the same as regular Scizor make it hard to justify using it as your Mega Pokemon. Life Orb and Choice Band sets hit harder, the only thing Mega Scizor has going for it is the added bulk and speed.

Abilities:

Scizor has three Abilities: Swarm, Technician, and Light Metal.

Technician gives all of Scizor’s moves with base power of 60 or lower a 1.5 times boost. This makes Bullet Punch a base 90 power priority move after STAB.

Swarm and Light Metal aren’t viable in the slightest, just use Technician.

Attacks:

Bullet Punch is pretty much mandatory on any Scizor set. U-turn and X-Scissor are our best choice of Bug STAB, and which one we use depends on the set we run. Swords Dance sets will run X-Scissor and for other sets it comes down to preference. Speaking of Swords Dance Scizor becomes an even greater threat when at +2 attack. Scizor also gets Quick Guard and Feint to help support its teammate. Quick Guard will block out Prankster, Sucker Punch, and Brave Bird. Feint will allow you to ensure damage on a slot and pick off Pokemon with low HP trying to avoid a Bullet Punch. Feint also has +2 priority so it gets around Sucker Punch and Rage Powder. Other notable options are: Brick Break, Iron Head, Roost, Acrobatics and Pursuit.

Sets:

Life Orb Attacker:Scizor @ Life Orb
Ability: Technician
Level: 50
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
– Bullet Punch
– U-turn
– Feint
– Protect

This is the set Randy used in Washington Regionals and one we’ve become a fan of. A Life Orb Bullet Punch destroys Gardevoir and Mega Aerodactyl, as well as doing solid damage with priority. U-Turn allows us to deal damage to a Rotom-W and retreat for something that can absorb a Will-O-Wisp or a Thunderbolt aimed at it. Feint is just plain useful, and also gets a Technician boost.

Swords Dance Sweeper:
Scizor @ Lum Berry
Ability: Technician
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Adamant Nature
– Bullet Punch
– X-Scissor
– Swords Dance
– Protect

This set aims to get a Swords Dance and then threaten the opponent with a +2 Bullet Punch. I’ve invested in HP instead of Speed to ensure Scizor stays on the field for longer. I’ve put a Lum Berry on this Scizor to burn a turn from Rotom trying to use WoW.

Mega Scizor:
Scizor @ Scizorite
Ability: Technician
Level: 50
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Adamant Nature
– Bullet Punch
– X-Scissor
– Swords Dance
– Roost

Scizor can Mega Evolve, so here’s a set for Mega Scizor. In order to justify using Mega Scizor I figure it needs a reliable form of healing to keep it on the field and Swords Dance to keep it a threat. This set is begging to have Togekiss back to redirect attacks with Follow Me, but now all we have is Smeargle, which isn’t quite the same. Amoonguss could almost fill this role is your goal is to take all the Overheats and hope the opposing Fire types are out of Special Attack by the time Amoonguss goes down.

Hello Hat Lovers!

For week the fifth of Pokemon of the Week we’ll be looking at Azumarill. Azumarill was introduced in generation 2, but originally it was a very mediocre Pokemon. Since its inception it has gotten better with each passing generation. Generation 3 gave Azumarill Huge Power, which turns its base 50 attack into an effective base 150 attack. Generation 4 gave it physical STAB with the physical/special split. Generation 6 has changed Azumarill’s pure Water type to a Water/Fairy type.

Azumarill has finally made a name for itself this generation. Being a Fairy type allows it to deal with the ever popular Dragon types Garchomp and Salamence. Having a massive attack stat to go with a priority move is also a major boost that allows Azumarill to pick off weakened opponents.
Base Stats:

100 / 50 / 80 / 60 / 80 / 50

As we can see Azumarill’s offensive stats are terrible and its defensive stats are pretty good. However Huge Power makes that attack stat an effective 150 base so once we take that into account Azumarill’s stats are looking great. The only poor stat is it’s middling speed, but Azumarill has a strong priority move to make up for it.

Abilities:

Azumarill has three abilities: Thick Fat, Huge Power and Sap Sipper.

Thick Fat reduces Fire and Ice damage, but Azumarill resists these types to begin with and Azumarill has much better choices for it’s Ability.

Huge Power doubles Azumarill’s attack stat. This is the Ability for Azumarill and it so important to its viability that I had to mention it twice before getting to this section.

Sap Sipper makes Azumarill immune to Grass moves and boosts it’s attack by one whenever it gets hit by one. You miss out on Huge Power but an unexpected immunity to Grass can catch your opponent off guard. Use this Ability when using a defensive set on a Perish Trap team.

Attacks:

For offence Azumarill gets Aqua Jet, Waterfall, Play Rough and Superpower. Aqua Jet and Play Rough are the main attractions, providing great coverage and both a priority move to make up for Azumarill’s low speed and a strong attack to use with Azumarill’s fantastic attack stat. Waterfall gives you a strong Water type move and a powerful STAB that doesn’t miss, but I’d only use it on a Choice Band set. Superpower gives Azumarill an attack that OHKOs Mega Kangaskhan, a much needed boon for any team.

For non attack moves Azumarill gets Belly Drum, Helping Hand and Perish Song. Belly Drum maximizes Azumarill’s already monstrous attack stat at the cost of 50% of your HP. Helping Hand puts Azumarill into a supporting role. Perish Song makes Azumarill an option on Perish Trap teams to set up Perish Song.

Sets:

Belly Drum:
Azumarill @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Huge Power
Level: 50
EVs: 212 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 4 SDef / 36 Spd
Adamant Nature
– Aqua Jet
– Play Rough
– Belly Drum
– Protect

Belly Drum raises Azumarill’s attack to +6, ignoring any previous attack drops. Sitrus Berry will heal you back to 75% which should be enough to withstand one hit. From here you can start spamming Aqua Jet with an attack stat of 896. This set appreciates Fake Out support to help it set up safely, often from Mega Kangaskhan.

I’ve seen a spread of 212 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 36 SDef / 4 Spd going around on the internet. This spread reduces the chances of getting OHKO’d be Manectric’s Thunderbolt but it doesn’t prevent the KO entirely. I’d prefer to try and speed creep other Azumarill / Mawile then lower the chance of a KO that I can’t prevent entirely.

Choice Band
Azumarill @ Choice Band
Ability: Huge Power
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 212 HP / 4 SDef / 4 Def / 36 Spd
Adamant Nature
– Aqua Jet
– Play Rough
– Superpower
– Waterfall

This set hits hard without the need to cut your HP or spend a turn on set up. This is the set me and Mark have been using the most because without the Band Azumarill isn’t hitting as hard as we’d like. This set has issues due to the lack of Protect and locking into one move preventing you from using a strong attack and finishing up with Aqua Jet.

Mark’s spread: 60 HP / 124 Atk / 68 Def / 188 SDef / 68 Spd

– Survives M-Manectric TBolt and M-Kanga’s Return. Still OHKO’s 252 HP M-Kangaskhan. Outspeeds Machamp, TR Chandelure, and Scrafty. Mainly wanted 79 speed Azumarill on my team so Azumarill could deal with Scrafty and protect its partner. It’s not like Azumarill cares that much about Scrafty, so feel free to take that Speed investment and return some of it to Attack if your team doesn’t care. A good target Attack is 196 to OHKO Garchomp at -1 100% of the time, but to reach this while keeping your bulk, you need to let M-Kanga have a 6% chance to KO you.

Expert Belt
Azumarill @ Expert Belt
Ability: Huge Power
Level: 50
EVs: 212 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 4 SDef / 36 Spd
Adamant Nature
– Aqua Jet
– Play Rough
– Superpower
– Protect

Wanting to avoid the pitfalls of a Choice Band set while still retaining the power to OHKO our main targets brings us to Expert Belt. This set still gets the OHKO on Kangaskhan, Garchomp, Salamence, and Tyranitar while still 2HKOing Rotom-H with Aqua Jet. This set loses out when you can’t deal super effective damage to the target, but you often lost out to those Pokemon anyways.

Teammates:

Azumarill will enjoy a partner that helps it set up a Belly Drum. Kangaskhan is an excellent user of Fake Out and once you have a +6 Azumarill beside a Mega Kangaskhan your opponent is going to have to decide which threat is more important to deal with and leave the other to wreak havoc.

Amoonguss can redirect attacks with Rage Power and resists any Electric attacks being aimed at Azumarill. Amoonguss is also a great answer to Rotom-W.

Manectric can redirect Electric attacks with Lightning Rod and can provide Intimidate support with its Mega Evolution to help Azumarill take a hit. Raichu also provides Lightning Rod support as well as Fake Out support to help Azumarill set up safely.

Rotom-H has great synergy with Azumarill, being able to switch in on any Electric or Grass attacks and threaten opposing Grass and Steel types with Overheat. Salamence appreciates having Azumarill to switch in and take a Dragon or Ice move aimed at it.

Azumarill can be the Fairy type in a Fantasy core (Fairy/Dragon/Steel) or the Water type in a Grass/Fire/Water core.


Counters:


Grass types like Mega Venusaur and Amoonguss can wall Azumarill and hit with a super effective Giga Drain. Ludicolo can also give it trouble but doesn’t enjoy taking a Play Rough. Trevenant and Gourgeist can burn it with Will-O-Wisp and use either Leech Seed or a STAB move to help it go down faster. Ferrothorn can wall any Azumarill that lacks Superpower.

Rotom-W can 2HKO Azumarill with Thunderbolt and survive a Play Rough. Rotom-H can OHKO Azumarill using a Life Orb set. Either Rotom form can burn Azumarill to reduce it’s threat level to a minimal one. Mega Manectric can Intimidate Azumarill and deal a ton of damage with Thunderbolt, having a good chance of OHKOing standard Azumarill.

Having Quick Guard on your team helps with dealing with Azumarill, as does having your own priority move to KO it before it can KO you.

Conclusion:

Azumarill’s great typing, Ability, and movepool makes it a great Pokemon for VGC. An opponent can never ignore Azumarill as it threatens to Belly Drum and start sweeping. The Aqua Rabbit took a while to grow on me but I’m now a fan of having it on my teams for defensive switches and powerful physical attacks.