[Overview]
<p>Rampardos is a unique Pokemon. No other Pokemon has such massive Attack and okay HP, but lacks in all the other stats. He's relatable to Ursaring, because they both wield awesome power, but are very frail and weak to priority. That's why most people refer to Rampardos as the "glass cannon". Because he is so strong, people often assume that they will lose at least one Pokemon to Rampardos anyway, so they don't switch out, preventing Rampardos from setting up. He also faces stiff competition from Crustle and Archeops who have a second typing and more favorably distributed stats.</p>
<p>However, Rampardos excels greatly at certain roles, despite being slow and frail. If paired with Archeops or Aggron, the pair would form the most dangerous "double dragon" combo in RU. Rampardos also is capable of using Mold Breaker, which is useful to hit Rotom with Earthquake. He can also beat his Speed issue through the use of Rock Polish. Also, physical walls such as Gligar and Ferroseed can be beaten if Rampardos is running Ice Beam or Fire Punch. Rampardos has his pros and cons, but will rarely disappoint with the right amount of team support.</p>
[SET]
name: Choice Scarf
move 1: Head Smash / Stone Edge
move 2: Earthquake
move 3: Fire Punch
move 4: Zen Headbutt
item: Choice Scarf
ability: Mold Breaker
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>This is Rampardos's most effective set. With a Choice Scarf, he resolves his Speed issues somewhat and is still capable of wielding awesome power. Head Smash is Rampardos's strongest move and will at least 2HKO most everything that doesn't resist it. Stone Edge serves as a secondary option if the massive amount of recoil from Head Smash scares you. Earthquake forms the latter half of the infamous EdgeQuake combo, granting perfect neutral coverage alongside Head Smash. The next two moves are mainly to beat specific threats; Fire Punch roasts Ferroseed, and Zen Headbutt decimates bulky Fighting-types.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>Ice Beam is an option in the last slot to hit Gligar for massive damage. Mold Breaker is chosen over Sheer Force because Sheer Force is illegal with Fire Punch. A Jolly nature with maximum Speed make Rampardos as fast as the old dinosaur can be. There are only a few counters to this set, due to its remarkable coverage. Cofagrigus can survive any attack and burn Rampardos, making him useless. Quagsire can easily take any attack Rampardos throws at it and can retaliate with an Earthquake, all the while Recovering off the damage. Bulky Fighting-types can use priority to beat Rampardos or just spam Close Combat if Rampardos is locked into Head Smash. To beat these two counters, Fire-types, Grass-types, and Cofagrigus are recommended as teammates for Rampardos. Fire-types can switch in on Cofagrigus with impunity, while Grass-types do the same to Quagsire. Cofagrigus beats all Fighting-types through a combination of Will-O-Wisp and Mummy. This set's power combined with decent speed makes Rampardos good at picking off slightly weakened, fast Pokemon. Teammates who enjoy having faster Pokemon out of the way make for good teammates here. Durant and Medicham are good examples of this.</p>
[SET]
name: Rock Polish
move 1: Rock Polish
move 2: Stone Edge
move 3: Earthquake
move 4: Fire Punch / Ice Beam
item: Life Orb
ability: Mold Breaker
nature: Adamant / Naughty
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
[SET]
name: Trick Room
move 1: Head Smash / Stone Edge
move 2: Earthquake
move 3: Substitute / Fire Punch
move 4: Ice Beam
item: Life Orb
ability: Mold Breaker
nature: Brave
evs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
ivs: 0 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
[Other Options]
[Checks and Counters]
<p>Rampardos is a unique Pokemon. No other Pokemon has such massive Attack and okay HP, but lacks in all the other stats. He's relatable to Ursaring, because they both wield awesome power, but are very frail and weak to priority. That's why most people refer to Rampardos as the "glass cannon". Because he is so strong, people often assume that they will lose at least one Pokemon to Rampardos anyway, so they don't switch out, preventing Rampardos from setting up. He also faces stiff competition from Crustle and Archeops who have a second typing and more favorably distributed stats.</p>
<p>However, Rampardos excels greatly at certain roles, despite being slow and frail. If paired with Archeops or Aggron, the pair would form the most dangerous "double dragon" combo in RU. Rampardos also is capable of using Mold Breaker, which is useful to hit Rotom with Earthquake. He can also beat his Speed issue through the use of Rock Polish. Also, physical walls such as Gligar and Ferroseed can be beaten if Rampardos is running Ice Beam or Fire Punch. Rampardos has his pros and cons, but will rarely disappoint with the right amount of team support.</p>
[SET]
name: Choice Scarf
move 1: Head Smash / Stone Edge
move 2: Earthquake
move 3: Fire Punch
move 4: Zen Headbutt
item: Choice Scarf
ability: Mold Breaker
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>This is Rampardos's most effective set. With a Choice Scarf, he resolves his Speed issues somewhat and is still capable of wielding awesome power. Head Smash is Rampardos's strongest move and will at least 2HKO most everything that doesn't resist it. Stone Edge serves as a secondary option if the massive amount of recoil from Head Smash scares you. Earthquake forms the latter half of the infamous EdgeQuake combo, granting perfect neutral coverage alongside Head Smash. The next two moves are mainly to beat specific threats; Fire Punch roasts Ferroseed, and Zen Headbutt decimates bulky Fighting-types.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>Ice Beam is an option in the last slot to hit Gligar for massive damage. Mold Breaker is chosen over Sheer Force because Sheer Force is illegal with Fire Punch. A Jolly nature with maximum Speed make Rampardos as fast as the old dinosaur can be. There are only a few counters to this set, due to its remarkable coverage. Cofagrigus can survive any attack and burn Rampardos, making him useless. Quagsire can easily take any attack Rampardos throws at it and can retaliate with an Earthquake, all the while Recovering off the damage. Bulky Fighting-types can use priority to beat Rampardos or just spam Close Combat if Rampardos is locked into Head Smash. To beat these two counters, Fire-types, Grass-types, and Cofagrigus are recommended as teammates for Rampardos. Fire-types can switch in on Cofagrigus with impunity, while Grass-types do the same to Quagsire. Cofagrigus beats all Fighting-types through a combination of Will-O-Wisp and Mummy. This set's power combined with decent speed makes Rampardos good at picking off slightly weakened, fast Pokemon. Teammates who enjoy having faster Pokemon out of the way make for good teammates here. Durant and Medicham are good examples of this.</p>
[SET]
name: Rock Polish
move 1: Rock Polish
move 2: Stone Edge
move 3: Earthquake
move 4: Fire Punch / Ice Beam
item: Life Orb
ability: Mold Breaker
nature: Adamant / Naughty
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
- strong and quick
- outspeeds all unboosted pokes in ru
- stone edge is powerful stab
- eq provides 2nd half of edgequake
- fire punch hits ferroseed
- ice beam hits the odd gligar
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
- life orb gives most power, blah blah
- mold breaker cuz sheer force is illegal with fire punch
- adamant if you choose fire punch
- naughty lets ice beam do more damage to gligar
- evs get most power blah blah
- ferroseed is a dick and can paralyze if chosen ice beam
- gligar at full health can live one ice beam
- magneton beats ferroseed
- cryogonal beats gligar
- bulky fighting types suck, zen headbutt is also an option in last slot
- needs an opportunity to set up
- slowking with block and yawn can give him a setup opportunity
- wynaut
- both resist fighting
- cofagrigus is a pain
- fire-types beat, guts can, but only once
- exeggutor is a good teammate, resists fighting, ground
- rampardos resists fire
- exegg. can beat ferroseed (hp fire), gligar (repeated hits, resists eq), and cofagrigus (substitute to beat wow and repeated hits)
- good sweeper
- can break walls himself
- durant can take advantage of it
- archeops too
[SET]
name: Trick Room
move 1: Head Smash / Stone Edge
move 2: Earthquake
move 3: Substitute / Fire Punch
move 4: Ice Beam
item: Life Orb
ability: Mold Breaker
nature: Brave
evs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
ivs: 0 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
- great atk and sucky spe make for a good trick room sweeper
- head smash kills most things under tr
- stone edge if you don't want rampardos to kill himself
- eq makes good coverage
- note that resisted head smash is stronger than neutral eq
- substitute / swords dance takes advantage of smart switching the opponent will try to do to stall out tr
- sd stalls out tr even more though, while sub provides a nifty cushion to live one extra attack after tr runs out
- fire punch hits ferroseed who "outspeeds" rampardos under tr
- ice beam hits glig
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
- lo makes him strong
- hammer arm is cool and lowers his speed to only be "outsped" by ferroseed, but no real extra coverage
- evs make lots of hp for recoil to eat away
- makes him strong
- mold breaker cuz sheer force is illegal with fire punch
- brave lowers his spe so he can be slower than everything else under tr
- enjoys uxie or slowking to set up tr and resist his weaknesses
- other tr sweepers help
- marowak, but lack of defensive synergy
- hariyama
- beheeyem
- ampharos
[Other Options]
- sr, but has better things to do with spare turns
- assurance is stupid, and he is generally better either spamming head smash or stone edge
- sub-punch
- dragon tail, but he usually wants to go first
- outrage, double-edge, and superpower are powerful, but provide no further coverage
- curse is interesting, but there are better users and set up moves
- endure and endeavor are gimmicky together, and rarely ever work, so don't do it
[Checks and Counters]
- cofagrigus
- quaggy
- bulky fighting-types
- gligar sometimes
- ferroseed sometimes
