Aggron (Full Revamp) {3/3} {2/2}

[Overview]

<p>Aggron was left in the dust for much of competitive Pokemon, but all that changed when it got Head Smash in HGSS. With an effective 225 Base Power after STAB, and no recoil damage thanks to Aggron's ability, Head Smash is an absolute cannon of a move and makes Aggron a major force to be reckoned with. That isn't the only thing Aggron has going for it, however; it has a massive movepool that can be tailored to take out almost any threat that comes its way. Aggron is no slouch defensively either, with its Steel typing and excellent Defense stat being great boons to Aggron's walling capabilities. These qualities lend themselves to Aggron's ability to wall the Flying- and Dragon-type Pokemon in the tier; it is in fact one of the few Pokemon capable of easily accomplishing this. Furthermore, Aggron is unaffected by most residual damage, being immune to Toxic Spikes and resisting Stealth Rock.</p>

<p>However, Aggron's typing leaves it with a large number of common weakness, most notably to Fighting-, Water-, and Ground-type attacks. This, alongside its decidedly sub-par Special Defense, makes it difficult to bring Aggron into play safely. Even worse, Aggron is particularly slow, meaning that its weaknesses can be easily exploited by opponents. Despite these shortcomings, Aggron is more than capable of holding its own in RU, with its terrifying Head Smash making the tier tremble with fear.</p>

[SET]
name: Choice Band
move 1: Head Smash
move 2: Heavy Slam / Iron Head
move 3: Earthquake
move 4: Ice Punch / Aqua Tail
item: Choice Band
ability: Rock Head
nature: Adamant
evs: 52 HP / 252 Atk / 204 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

<p>The epitome of power—Choice Band Head Smash from Aggron's base 110 Attack—is devastating, OHKOing almost everything that doesn't resist it. Earthquake complements Head Smash nicely, hitting other Steel-types, most notably Steelix, super effectively, while also being a strong neutral attack used to ease prediction. Heavy Slam and Iron Head are solid secondary STAB options, with Heavy Slam hitting much of the tier heavily due to Aggron's weight, but Iron Head hits Rhydon, the premier Rock-type Pokemon, much harder. Ice Punch and Aqua Tail are both excellent choices to hit Ground-types super effectively, with Ice Punch specifically taking on Gligar, whereas Aqua Tail hits most other Ground-types for more damage.</p>

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

<p>As few base 80 Speed Pokemon run minimal speed, the EV spread is tailored to outspeed Claydol and other base 75 Speed Pokemon, with the excess EVs placed in HP for optimal bulk. Choice Band and Rock Head are the keys to Aggron's power, letting it spam its powerful STAB move with zero drawbacks aside from Head Smash's unfortunate 80% accuracy. Iron Tail is an option as Aggron's secondary STAB move, and provides greater power than Iron Head at the cost of lower accuracy. Other move options include Low Kick, Superpower, and Fire Punch, which hit Pokemon such as Ferroseed super effectively, but they are generally outclassed by other moves.</p>

<p>This Aggron in particular despises Spikes as it has to switch in and out of battle frequently, meaning that its health is quickly stripped by the entry hazard. Rapid Spinners are therefore great partners, with Hitmonchan being notable for its good type synergy with Aggron. Conversely, entry hazards on the opponent's side of the field aids Aggron greatly, as they help to wear down the defensive behemoths that can wall Aggron's attacks, not to mention accruing damage on the frequent switches Aggron's presence can cause. Moltres is also an excellent teammate, despite the shared Water weakness, for its ability to switch in on Aggron's Ground weakness and threaten Steelix and Quagsire with Fire Blast and Hidden Power Grass, respectively.</p>

[SET]
name: SubPunch
move 1: Substitute
move 2: Focus Punch
move 3: Head Smash
move 4: Magnet Rise / Ice Punch
item: Leftovers
ability: Rock Head
nature: Adamant
evs: 52 HP / 252 Atk / 204 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

<p>This set takes advantage of Aggron's ability to force switches, letting Aggron use the free turn to set up a Substitute. This provides an excellent safeguard behind which Aggron can fire off powerful Focus Punches, which achieve great coverage alongside its devastating Head Smash. The final moveslot combats Ground-type Pokemon, specifically Claydol and Gligar. Magnet Rise allows Aggron to avoid their dangerous STAB attacks, thus rendering them useless, whereas Ice Punch hits both of them for super effective damage. Aggron can actually defeat Claydol one-on-one in this manner.</p>

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

<p>The EV spread chosen is suitably straightforward: maximum Attack investment allows for full power, 204 Speed EVs let Aggron outpace uninvested Claydol to Magnet Rise before it attacks, and the rest is allocated into HP to boost the longevity of Aggron's Substitutes. Aggron can be thrown onto a team pretty easily due to its typing, and thanks to Substitute, it doesn't need many specific teammates. However, entry hazard support is greatly appreciated due to the switches Aggron causes. Rotom works well was a teammate due to its immunity to Aggron's two 4x weaknesses, Fighting and Ground. Paralysis support is appreciated in order to aid Aggron in creating Substitutes, and Pokemon such as Uxie are therefore good teammates. Tangrowth is also a good choice, for its resistance to Water- and Ground-type moves, and its capability to handle Fighting-type Pokemon with its great physical bulk.</p>

[SET]
name: Support
move 1: Head Smash
move 2: Stealth Rock
move 3: Thunder Wave / Toxic
move 4: Earthquake / Aqua Tail
item: Choice Band
ability: Rock Head / Sturdy
nature: Careful
evs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD

[SET COMMENTS]

<p>Aggron is capable of not only being a devastating offensive force, but also an effective defensive support Pokemon, with its Steel typing and high Defense enabling it to fill many defensive roles. Stealth Rock is necessary for any team, and Aggron is a strong deterrent to Cryogonal, the best Rapid Spinner in the tier. This is primarily due to Aggron's Head Smash, which is still obscenely powerful despite the lack of investment. Access to multiple status options is a great boon to Aggron: Thunder Wave allows it to support offensive teams that appreciate the Speed drops, while defensive teams appreciate the wallbreaking effects of Toxic. As for Aggron's coverage move, Earthquake offers the best neutral coverage overall, whereas Aqua Tail acts as a deterrent to Claydol and its attempts to Rapid Spin.</p>

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

<p>Full investment in HP and Special Defense maximize Aggron's overall defensive capabilities, as the fact that it resists most physical attacks means Aggron does not require much Defense investment. Leftovers and a Careful nature also serve to increase Aggron's defenses. Rock Head is typically the preferred ability in order to enable a recoil-free Head Smash, but Sturdy can be used in order to guarantee that Stealth Rock is set up. Furthermore, it enables Aggron to act as a last-ditch check to anything, acting as a free Focus Sash, although it should be noted that Aggron should use Stone Edge in tandem with Sturdy in lieu of Head Smash.</p>

<p>Ghost-type Pokemon are excellent teammates to this Aggron set, particularly Rotom, who is able to switch in on deadly Fighting- and Ground-type attacks aimed at Aggron. Tangrowth is an excellent partner for is strong defensive synergy, as well as pressuring the opponent with moves such as Sleep Powder and Leech Seed, not to mention being a considerable offensive presence of its own. Aggron itself is also an excellent teammate to other powerful Pokemon, such as Moltres or Medicham, as these Pokemon love support from both entry hazards and paralysis.</p>

[Other Options]

<p>With Aggron's excellent movepool comes a plethora of possible options it can run. First, it is able to abuse the combo of Endeavor + Metal Burst thanks to Sturdy. Autotomize is an interesting choice to rectify Aggron's poor Speed, although it will often lose out on some of its power. Toxic is a cool option on the SubPunch set, crippling those Pokemon that would switch into Aggron and weakening them for later in the game. Hone Claws is Aggron's only offensive boosting move and is a good one, boosting not only Aggron's power, but also the accuracy of its moves, ensuring that Head Smash will never miss after a boost. Taunt is a niche option to ensure that opposing Pokemon do not set up on Aggron, but is rarely useful due to Aggron's mediocre Speed. Dragon Tail and Roar are useful for defensive sets to entry hazard damage on the forced switches Aggron causes. Finally, Aggron sports an amazing special movepool, with options such as Fire Blast and Ice Beam available to it, but its Special Attack stat is so poor that these moves should never be seriously used.</p>

[Checks and Counters]

<p>Despite Aggron's awesome power, there are still some Pokemon capable of standing up to it. Quagsire is hands down the best counter to Aggron, as it is never 2HKOed by any of Aggron's attacks and can threaten with a STAB Earthquake or Waterfall in return. The king of derp itself, Stunfisk, is also an excellent counter, as it is only 2HKOed by even a Choice Band Earthquake and OHKOing in return with a STAB Earth Power. Steelix is also an excellent counter, being able to set up Stealth Rock on a Choice-locked Aggron, and can also threaten it with Earthquake. Ferroseed and Tangrowth make excellent checks to Aggron, being able to tank most of its attacks and recover health via Leech Seed. Gligar is yet another solid check, fearing only a Choice Band Ice Punch and threatening a KO with Earthquake. Fighting-type Pokemon are useful checks to Aggron, resisting Head Smash and threatening a KO with their STAB options. Similarly, fast special attackers will always force Aggron out due to their ability to outspeed and prey on Aggron's poor Special Defense.</p>

[Dream World]

<p>Aggron receives Heavy Metal from the Dream World. While it does have some use in boosting the Base Power of Heavy Slam, it is inferior in almost every way to the raw power provided by a recoil-less Head Smash, courtesy of Rock Head.</p>

Aqua Tail is capable of 2HKOing Steelix after one layer of Spikes

Click to expand...

Make sure you do your calcs against the standard Steelix (which uses Relaxed and some Def). That was one of the things that the old writeup got wrong. CB Aqua Tail vs Standard Steelix: 38.41 - 45.19%, and EQ only 2HKOes 50% of the time with 1 layer of Spikes.

Everything else looks good.

Agreeing with Honko. aGGron!

QC APPROVED 1/3

Actually why Iron Tail on CB? That should be Iron Head. You don't need to risk that 75% accuracy, and Iron Head 2HKOes Rhydon anyway.

Change that to Iron Head and it's
QC APPROVED 2/3

iirc in the irc discussion the reason was that 90% of the time you're spamming Head Smash anyway so misses are proportionally reduced and since your usually aiming for a switch in that would force you out missing isn't a huge issue since you're going to be switching anyway. imo its personal preference so I'll AC or slash Iron Tail.

QC APPROVED 3/3

GP Approved 1/2

GP APPROVED 2/2

This is for all the sets in general. Can you make a mention of a status absorber to take Will-O-Wisp, also, can you mention some teammates that switch into Ground- and Fighing-type moves on the offensive sets. For example, Moltres, while it shares a Water-type weakness with Aggron, it can use a set of Hidden Power Grass and Fire Blast to take out Quagsire and Steelix, respectively. Lilligant is good too, it resists Water- and Ground-type moves, and it has Sleep Powder, can beat Quagsire, and it puts offensive pressure on the opponent with Quiver Dance. You can probably mention paralysis support for the SubPunch set; Uxie is helpful, and it can set up Stealth Rock.

Also, I'm sure this is a mistake. I think you mean Ground-type moves, not Ghost :)

"Ghost-type Pokemon are excellent teammates to this Aggron set, particularly Rotom, who is able to switch in on deadly Fighting- and Ghost-type attacks aimed at Aggron."

Will edit this post once the changes have been made.

Also it would be nice if you could point stuff like this out in the QC stage :P

EDIT: To do, Tangrowth to SubPunch/Support AC, Moltres to CB AC, Uxie to SubPunch AC

EDIT2: Changes in, might have been a bit hasty :s

uploaded