Gen 5 Huntail [QC 1/1] [GP 1/1] [DONE]

[Akir]

[OVERVIEW]

Huntail is a fearsome setup sweeper in PU with the help of Shell Smash. The boost from Shell Smash gives Huntail just enough Speed to outrun the entire unboosted metagame, and the dual boosts to Attack and Special Attack make Huntail a truly difficult Pokemon to stop late-game that can shred weakened teams. However, Huntail can struggle to find a time to set up in the face of offensive pressure from threats like Zebstrika and Stoutland and is relatively weak and slow without the Shell Smash boost.

[SET]
name: Shell Smash
move 1: Shell Smash
move 2: Hydro Pump / Waterfall
move 3: Ice Beam
move 4: Hidden Power Electric / Crunch
item: White Herb / Life Orb
ability: Water Veil
nature: Modest / Naughty
evs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe or 4 Def / 252 Atk / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Huntail can utilize a special or physical Shell Smash set with relatively similar viability. The special set utilizes Hydro Pump and is the stronger of the two options overall and is therefore the recommended set, but Waterfall's perfect accuracy and only slightly worse damage output make the physical set a good choice as well. It is also worth mentioning that although Surf might seem like an obvious third choice, it is weaker than Waterfall and Hydro Pump and therefore inferior to the previous options. Ice Beam is critical coverage for threats like Maractus and Vileplume that would be able to soak up Huntail's STAB Water-type attacks otherwise, regardless of if Huntail is physical or special. The last move choice depends on Huntail's orientation; Hidden Power Electric gives Huntail a strong option for breaking through Tentacool and Frillish and rounds out Huntail's coverage perfectly, while Crunch gives physical Huntail great neutral coverage while also hitting Frillish hard. White Herb is the preferred item due to it restoring Huntail's defenses after a Shell Smash, but Life Orb is also very useful for pushing Huntail's power further and allowing it to hit certain benchmarks, such as Waterfall always 2HKOing Bronzor and Hydro Pump getting a chance to OHKO Bronzor. Water Veil is the chosen ability to avoid burns, but Swift Swim can be used on dedicated rain teams to let Huntail outspeed everything in the tier after a Shell Smash. Modest is always chosen as the nature on special variants, but if you are running a physical set, then Naughty is chosen to allow Huntail to use Ice Beam to the fullest while also not taking any extra damage from common priority moves like Mach Punch and Sucker Punch.

Huntail at +2 Speed is able to outspeed the entire unboosted tier but fails to outrun common Choice Scarf users like Swanna, Arbok, and Monferno. Because of this, having strong walls to fall back on to stop them like Klang and Stunfisk can be essential for keeping Huntail around. Huntail can also struggle to get a good opportunity to set up, so a Volt Switch from Klang, a U-turn from Monferno, or a Healing Wish from Mr. Mime can all be ways to position Huntail well enough to get a Shell Smash off. Huntail can also struggle to break through certain Grass- and bulky Steel-types like Maractus and Klang, so wallbreakers that threaten these two like Simisear and Marowak can make great partners. Huntail also tends to force out bulky Water-types like Tentacool and Frillish, so Pokemon like Swanna and Monferno are excellent choices for utilizing the holes that Huntail punches through the opponent's team.

[CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/akir.231726/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/bella.567483/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/marillvibes.643347/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/deetah.297659/

 

[Bella]

[OVERVIEW]

Huntail is a fearsome setup sweeper in PU with the help of Shell Smash. The boost from Shell Smash gives Huntail just enough Speed to outrun the entire unboosted metagame, and the dual boosts to to Attack and Special Attack also makes Huntail a truly difficult Pokemon to stop in the lategame that can shred weakened teams. (the content here is good, but a bit wordy. I would cut this down to one sentence to something like “Huntail is one of the most fearsome sweepers thanks to Shell Smash making it an extremely difficult ro stop sweeper” or something.) However, Huntail can struggle to find a time to set up and is relatively both weak and slow without the Shell Smash boost. Huntail also suffers from having to choose between Sucker Punch and Shell Smash thanks to BW move legality rules. (Shell Smash is 99.9% of the reason to use Huntail lol, cut this)

[SET]
name: Shell Smash
move 1: Shell Smash
move 2: Hydro Pump / Waterfall
move 3: Ice Beam
move 4: Hidden Power [Electric] / Crunch
item: White Herb / Life Orb
ability: Water Veil
nature: Modest / Naughty
evs: 4 Def / 252 SpAtk / 252 Spd Spe OR 4 Def / 252 Atk / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Before anything is established, it is important to note that Huntail can utilize a specially- or physically-oriented Shell Smash set to relatively similar viability. The special set utilizes Hydro Pump and is the stronger of the two options overall and is therefore the recommended set, but Waterfall's perfect accuracy and only slightly-worse damage output makes the physical set a good choice as well even if it can't run Sucker Punch. Ice Beam is chosen regardless, but never choose Surf for the Water STAB as it is actually the worst choice damage-wise. If you want power go special, but if you want accuracy then go physical. Remember to move the 252 EVs from Special Attack to Attack if you do choose physical Shell Smash as well. (New Smog formatting means we can just add both EVs sets to the analysis so this isnt needed imo)

Shell Smash is the key to Huntail's success, giving it such a strong boost that lets Huntail dwarf the tier in terms of both Speed and power. Ice Beam is critical coverage for hitting threats like Maractus or Vileplume that would be able to soak up Huntail's STAB Water-type attacks otherwise regardless of if Huntail is physically- or specially-oriented. The last choice for move depends on Huntail's orientation: Hidden Power [Electric] gives Huntail a strong option for breaking through Tentacool or Frillish and rounds out Huntail's coverage perfectly, while Crunch gives physical Huntail great neutral coverage while also hitting Frillish hard. White Herb is the preferred item due to it restoring Huntail's defenses after a Shell Smash, but Life Orb is also very useful for pushing Huntail's power further and allowing Huntail to hit certain benchmarks such as Waterfall always 2HKOing Bronzor and Hydro Pump getting a good chance to OHKO Bronzor. Water Veil is the chosen ability to avoid burns. If you are running a physically-oriented set, then Naughty is chosen as the nature to not lower either Huntail's Special Attack or Defense, allowing Huntail to use Ice Beam to the fullest while also not taking any extra damage from common priority moves like Mach Punch or Sucker Punch. Modest is always chosen on special variants since it does not have to worry about cutting into coverage move damage. (Im pretty sure we need to keep analysis work to two paragraphs on set comments, so cut some words and move this to paragraph one.)

Huntail at +2 Speed is able to outspeed the entire unboosted tier, but fails to outrun common Choice Scarf users like Swanna, Arbok, or Monferno. Because of this, having strong walls to fall back on to stop them like Klang or Stunfisk can be essential for keeping Huntail around. Huntail can also struggle to get a good opportunity to set up, so a Volt Switch from Klang or a U-Turn from Monferno or a Healing Wish from Mr. Mime can all be ways to position Huntail well enough to get a Shell Smash off. Huntail can also struggle to break through certain Grass- and bulky Steel-types like Maractus and Klang, so wallbreakers who threaten these two like Simisear or Marowak can make great partners. Huntail also tends to force out bulky Water-types like Tentacool or Frillish, so Pokemon like Swanna or Monferno are excellent choices for utilizing the holes that Huntail punches through the opponent's team.
(Perhaps mention rain teams somewhere here? Ive ran huntail on them to success in the past so maybe is worth a mention)
[CREDITS]
Written By:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/akir.231726/

Not bad but it needs a bit of work before a 1/2. Ping me on discord when u implemented
(Sorry for a crappy formatting, im on a flight qcing this lmfao)

 

[Bella]

[OVERVIEW]

Huntail is a fearsome setup sweeper in PU with the help of Shell Smash. The boost from Shell Smash gives Huntail just enough Speed to outrun the entire unboosted metagame, and the dual boosts to to Attack and Special Attack also makes Huntail a truly difficult Pokemon to stop in the lategame that can shred weakened teams. However, Huntail can struggle to find a time to set up (Think mentioning how much of the offensive metagame fucks it over setup wise; obviously zeb and swanna but also threats like victrebell, simisear, and cb stout exist that it cant setup against.) and is relatively both weak and slow without the Shell Smash boost.

[SET]
name: Shell Smash
move 1: Shell Smash
move 2: Hydro Pump / Waterfall
move 3: Ice Beam
move 4: Hidden Power [Electric] / Crunch
item: White Herb / Life Orb
ability: Water Veil
nature: Modest / Naughty
evs: 4 Def / 252 SpAtk / 252 Spe or 4 Def / 252 Atk / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Huntail can utilize a specially- or physically-oriented Shell Smash set to relatively similar viability. The special set utilizes Hydro Pump and is the stronger of the two options overall and is therefore the recommended set, but Waterfall's perfect accuracy and only slightly-worse damage output makes the physical set a good choice as well. It is also worth mention that although Surf might seem like an obvious third choice, it is weaker than Waterfall and Hydro Pump and therefore inferior to the previous options. Ice Beam is critical coverage for hitting threats like Maractus or Vileplume that would be able to soak up Huntail's STAB Water-type attacks otherwise regardless of if Huntail is physically- or specially-oriented. The last choice for move depends on Huntail's orientation; Hidden Power [Electric] gives Huntail a strong option for breaking through Tentacool or Frillish and rounds out Huntail's coverage perfectly, while Crunch gives physical Huntail great neutral coverage while also hitting Frillish hard. White Herb is the preferred item due to it restoring Huntail's defenses after a Shell Smash, but Life Orb is also very useful for pushing Huntail's power further and allowing Huntail to hit certain benchmarks such as Waterfall always 2HKOing Bronzor and Hydro Pump getting a good chance to OHKO Bronzor. Water Veil is the chosen ability to avoid burns. (I think you could probably mention there is a slight niche on rain to use swift swim; you outspeed literally everything after shell smash.) Modest is always chosen on special variants since it does not have to worry about cutting into coverage move damage. If you are running a physically-oriented set, then Naughty is chosen as the nature to allow Huntail to use Ice Beam to the fullest while also not taking any extra damage from common priority moves like Mach Punch or Sucker Punch.

Huntail at +2 Speed is able to outspeed the entire unboosted tier, but fails to outrun common Choice Scarf users like Swanna, Arbok, and Monferno. Because of this, having strong walls to fall back on to stop them like Klang and Stunfisk can be essential for keeping Huntail around. Huntail can also struggle to get a good opportunity to set up, so a Volt Switch from Klang or a U-Turn from Monferno and a Healing Wish from Mr. Mime can all be ways to position Huntail well enough to get a Shell Smash off. Huntail can also struggle to break through certain Grass- and bulky Steel-types like Maractus and Klang, so wallbreakers who threaten these two like Simisear and Marowak can make great partners. Huntail also tends to force out bulky Water-types like Tentacool and Frillish, so Pokemon like Swanna and Monferno are excellent choices for utilizing the holes that Huntail punches through the opponent's team.

[CREDITS]
Written By:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/akir.231726/
Quality Checked By:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/bella.567483/

1/1, nice job on recheck!

GP Team

 

[calmvibes]

Hi there, here for a GP amcheck for ya

Tagging deetah so she can bonk me later for whatever I miss

add remove comment

Spoiler

Huntail is a fearsome setup sweeper in PU with the help of Shell Smash. The boost from Shell Smash gives Huntail just enough Speed to outrun the entire unboosted metagame, and the dual boosts to to Attack and Special Attack also makes make Huntail a truly difficult Pokemon to stop in the lategame late game that can shred weakened teams. However, Huntail can struggle to find a time to set up in the face of offensive pressure from threats like Zebstrika and Stoutland, (RC) and is relatively both weak and slow without the Shell Smash boost.

[SET]
name: Shell Smash
move 1: Shell Smash
move 2: Hydro Pump / Waterfall
move 3: Ice Beam
move 4: Hidden Power [Electric] / Crunch
item: White Herb / Life Orb
ability: Water Veil
nature: Modest / Naughty
evs: 4 Def / 252 SpAtk / 252 Spe or 4 Def / 252 Atk / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Huntail can utilize a specially- or physically-oriented special or physical Shell Smash set to relatively similar viability. The special set utilizes Hydro Pump and is the stronger of the two options overall and is therefore the recommended set, but Waterfall's perfect accuracy and only slightly-worse slightly worse damage output makes make the physical set a good choice as well. It is also worth mention mentioning that although Surf might seem like an obvious third choice, it is weaker than Waterfall and Hydro Pump and therefore inferior to the previous options. Ice Beam is critical coverage for hitting threats like Maractus or Vileplume that would be able to soak up Huntail's STAB Water-type attacks otherwise, (AC) regardless of if Huntail is physically- or specially-oriented. The last choice for move depends on Huntail's orientation; Hidden Power [Electric] gives Huntail a strong option for breaking through Tentacool or Frillish and rounds out Huntail's coverage perfectly, while Crunch gives physical Huntail great neutral coverage while also hitting Frillish hard. White Herb is the preferred item due to it restoring Huntail's defenses after a Shell Smash, but Life Orb is also very useful for pushing Huntail's power further and allowing Huntail to hit certain benchmarks such as Waterfall always 2HKOing Bronzor and Hydro Pump getting a chance to OHKO Bronzor. Water Veil is the chosen ability to avoid burns, but Swift Swim can be used on dedicated rain teams in order to outspeed everything in the tier after a Shell Smash. Modest is always chosen on special variants since it does not have to worry about cutting into coverage move damage. If you are running a physically-oriented set, then Naughty is chosen as the nature to allow Huntail to use Ice Beam to the fullest while also not taking any extra damage from common priority moves like Mach Punch or Sucker Punch.

Huntail at +2 Speed is able to outspeed the entire unboosted tier, (RC) but fails to outrun common Choice Scarf users like Swanna, Arbok, and Monferno. Because of this, having strong walls to fall back on to stop them like Klang and Stunfisk can be essential for keeping Huntail around. Huntail can also struggle to get a good opportunity to set up, so a Volt Switch from Klang or a U-Turn from Monferno and a Healing Wish from Mr. Mime can all be ways to position Huntail well enough to get a Shell Smash off. Huntail can also struggle to break through certain Grass- and bulky Steel-types like Maractus and Klang, so wallbreakers who threaten these two like Simisear and Marowak can make great partners. Huntail also tends to force out bulky Water-types like Tentacool and Frillish, so Pokemon like Swanna and Monferno are excellent choices for utilizing the holes that Huntail punches through the opponent's team.

[CREDITS]
Written By: https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/akir.231726/
Quality checked by: https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/bella.567483/[/spoiler

 

[deetah]

Add Remove Comments (AH) = Add Hyphen (AC) = Add Comma

GP 1/1

Huntail

[OVERVIEW]

Huntail is a fearsome setup sweeper in PU with the help of Shell Smash. The boost from Shell Smash gives Huntail just enough Speed to outrun the entire unboosted metagame, and the dual boosts to Attack and Special Attack also make Huntail a truly difficult Pokemon to stop in the late-(AH)game that can shred weakened teams. However, Huntail can struggle to find a time to set up in the face of offensive pressure from threats like Zebstrika and Stoutland and is relatively both weak and slow without the Shell Smash boost.

[SET]
name: Shell Smash
move 1: Shell Smash
move 2: Hydro Pump / Waterfall
move 3: Ice Beam
move 4: Hidden Power [Electric] Electric / Crunch (No brackets)
item: White Herb / Life Orb
ability: Water Veil
nature: Modest / Naughty
evs: 4 Def / 252 SpAtk SpA / 252 Spe or 4 Def / 252 Atk / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Huntail can utilize a special of or physical Shell Smash set to with relatively similar viability. The special set utilizes Hydro Pump and is the stronger of the two options overall and is therefore the recommended set, but Waterfall's perfect accuracy and only slightly worse damage output make the physical set a good choice as well. It is also worth mentioning that although Surf might seem like an obvious third choice, it is weaker than Waterfall and Hydro Pump and therefore inferior to the previous options. Ice Beam is critical coverage for hitting threats like Maractus or and Vileplume that would be able to soak up Huntail's STAB Water-type attacks otherwise, regardless of if Huntail is physically- or specially-oriented physical or special. The last move choice for move depends on Huntail's orientation; Hidden Power [Electric] Electric gives Huntail a strong option for breaking through Tentacool or and Frillish and rounds out Huntail's coverage perfectly, while Crunch gives physical Huntail great neutral coverage while also hitting Frillish hard. White Herb is the preferred item due to it restoring Huntail's defenses after a Shell Smash, but Life Orb is also very useful for pushing Huntail's power further and allowing Huntail it to hit certain benchmarks, (AC) such as Waterfall always 2HKOing Bronzor and Hydro Pump getting a chance to OHKO Bronzor. Water Veil is the chosen ability to avoid burns, but Swift Swim can be used on dedicated rain teams in order to let Huntail outspeed everything in the tier after a Shell Smash. Modest is always chosen on special variants since it so that Huntail does not have to worry about cutting into its coverage move damage. (I believe this was what you were trying to say?) If you are running a physically-oriented physical set, then Naughty is chosen as the nature to allow Huntail to use Ice Beam to the fullest while also not taking any extra damage from common priority moves like Mach Punch or and Sucker Punch.

Huntail at +2 Speed is able to outspeed the entire unboosted tier but fails to outrun common Choice Scarf users like Swanna, Arbok, and Monferno. Because of this, having strong walls to fall back on to stop them like Klang and Stunfisk can be essential for keeping Huntail around. Huntail can also struggle to get a good opportunity to set up, so a Volt Switch from Klang, (AC) or a U-Turn U-turn from Monferno, (AC) and or a Healing Wish from Mr. Mime can all be ways to position Huntail well enough to get a Shell Smash off. Huntail can also struggle to break through certain Grass- and bulky Steel-types like Maractus and Klang, so wallbreakers who that threaten these two like Simisear and Marowak can make great partners. Huntail also tends to force out bulky Water-types like Tentacool and Frillish, so Pokemon like Swanna and Monferno are excellent choices for utilizing the holes that Huntail punches through the opponent's team.

[CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/akir.231726/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/bella.567483/

GP Team Done