Water-types in USM OU

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Introduction

Today we will delve into the oceans of the OverUsed tier and take a look at the many Water-types that flourish in the tier. Water-types have always been great in OU throughout many generations, whether it be Swampert in Gen 3, Starmie in Gen 4, or Keldeo in Gen 5 and 6, and they're still a dominant type in USM OU, as many of them, like Ash-Greninja and Toxapex, greatly shape the metagame. Water-types have been gaining in traction since SPL X up to this Smogon Snake Draft. Examples include the rise of Rotom-W after the Zygarde ban, rain teams during SPL X, as well as newer threats, like Manaphy and Gyarados during this OLT. We will look into how these Pokémon work below.

Offensive Threats

• Greninja-Ash @ Choice Specs
• Ability: Battle Bond
• EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
• Timid Nature
• - Dark Pulse
• - Hydro Pump / Surf
• - Water Shuriken
• - Spikes

Ash-Greninja is a straightforward hit-and-run Pokémon capable of forcing many switches with its powerful STAB attacks boosted by Choice Specs. It also utilizes its ability to force switches and set up Spikes on many of its switch-ins like Ferrothorn and Gastrodon. What makes Ash-Greninja such a great wallbreaker is its great Speed, getting the jump on the likes of even Tornadus-T and Tapu Koko; this gives it an amazing niche over other wallbreakers, as it has a good matchup versus offense, and very few can safely consistently switch in if they are well pressured with Spikes. All teams pack at least one Pokémon that resists Water and one that resists Dark in order to stop Ash-Greninja from going all in. These include Toxapex, Tapu Fini, and Clefable on the more balanced teams, and Assault Vest Magearna (which is found on offense hugely because of Ash-Greninja and Psychic-types), Ferrothorn, Tangrowth, Tapu Bulu, Tapu Fini, Clefable, and Rotom-W on both offense and balanced teams. However, if one is able to prevent Greninja from transforming, it will remain significantly weaker than its Ash forme, making it much easier to check. It struggles to switch directly into a Pokémon due to its frailty, so it can only come in safely only through double switches or pivoting.

Greninja is, undoubtedly, the most versatile attacker in the OU metagame thanks to its multitude of great coverage moves, and this is further bolstered by Z-Moves. It is quite difficult to switch into until the full set is known. As a result, it forces many switches, which allows Greninja to lay down Spikes and wear down the opposing team. Due to its insane versatility, it is able to surprise any of its checks. For instance, many Fairy-type checks bar Magearna take a ton from Gunk Shot, Groundium Z buries Toxapex and Magearna, and most Water-type switch-ins are caught by Grassium Z. Due to Greninja's high Speed, a Choice Scarf set can be used as an offensive check to sweepers like Volcarona and Gyarados, but it is pretty weak and can't really lure in threats like the above sets. Greninja also fares decently as a suicide lead and has unique moves in Spikes, Toxic Spikes, and Taunt. Like Ash-Greninja, it suffers from bad bulk, making it unable to take even weak hits repeatedly, and it is outsped by multiple threats like Tapu Koko and Mega Lopunny. Despite these flaws, it is still a great pick on teams to greatly pressure opposing teams and thus keeping its Spikes up, allowing teammates to break through checks when they are sufficiently weakened.

• Swampert @ Swampertite
• Ability: Damp
• EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
• Jolly / Adamant Nature
• - Waterfall
• - Earthquake
• - Ice Punch
• - Stealth Rock

Mega Swampert is gifted with an Electric immunity, an incredible trait to boast on rain teams, and high Attack. It is also rather effective at putting up Stealth Rock, as it forces a lot of switches with its powerful moves. Furthermore, its ability in Swift Swim allows it to be an amazing sweeper under rain, and this makes it quite difficult to switch into for many offensive teams. However, it does struggle to directly break through more balanced teams, which have several sturdy checks like Tangrowth and Mega Latias, since it lacks a way to directly 2HKO such Pokémon, while they can consistently switch into it. It's also taken advantage of by U-turn users, especially Tapu Koko, as Mega Swampert will then be letting a check in freely. Mega Swampert is simply a must on rain teams as an Electric immunity and a physical powerhouse capable of beating many rain checks like Toxapex and Tapu Fini. Remember to run Pelipper with it, though; Mega Swampert can only show its full potential when rain is active!

Manaphy is an amazing wallbreaker under rain by virtue of its well-rounded stat spread, Hydration, and Tail Glow. Hydration allows it to run a more defensive Tail Glow set with Rest, as it will wake up the next turn thanks to its ability, and makes it amazing against stall and balance teams, as their defensive checks mainly use Toxic to wear down threats. Furthermore, a boosted Surf under rain is very difficult to switch into, and a rain-boosted Hydro Vortex after a Tail Glow can break open even defensive walls like Toxapex, Ferrothorn, and Chansey. To complement this, it has decent coverage moves in Psychic, which allows it to beat Toxapex and most Pokémon resistant to both Surf and Ice Beam, although such Pokémon are blown away by its powerful Hydro Vortex, and Ice Beam, which allows it to break past most Pokémon resistant or immune to Surf like Tangrowth, Ferrothorn, and Gastrodon. Manaphy still has its flaws; one of them is its reliance on rain, especially for the Rest variant, as a huge part of its ability to break bulky teams comes from its tremendously powerful Surf under rain and Hydration. Due to constricting team slots on rain teams, using Manaphy may also prevent one from using Ash-Greninja, which has arguably more raw power and access to Spikes, does better against offense due to its great Speed, and doesn't require Tail Glow to start wreaking havoc on the opposing teams. Manaphy is also relatively slow against offensive teams, where it is often outsped by common threats like Kartana, Tapu Koko, Flyinium Z Tornadus-T, and Mega Alakazam, meaning it's not that difficult for them to check.

• Gyarados @ Flyinium Z
• Ability: Moxie
• EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
• Jolly Nature
• - Dragon Dance
• - Bounce
• - Waterfall
• - Earthquake / Taunt

Flyinium Z Gyarados is an underrated sweeper that smashes through unprepared teams occasionally, as Supersonic Skystrike allows it to break Grass-types and it can set up on common threats like Heatran, Gliscor, and Mega Swampert. Its ability in Moxie allows it to snowball, which is also part of what makes pivoting against Gyarados a bit risky. Gyarados is also amazing on opening holes in the opposing team early- or mid-game with its powerful Z-Move, allowing Pokémon like Volcarona, Serperior, and Hawlucha to go in after checks like Tapu Fini and Ferrothorn have been sufficiently weakened. However, Gyarados has rather average Speed, being outsped by Pokémon like Mega Alakazam and Choice Scarf Pokémon like Landorus-T and Kartana. It also relies heavily on its Z-Move, as checks like Mega Latias, Rotom-W, and bulky Kartana are running around quite often, and a lot of times the opponent will lure in and waste Gyarados's Z-Move, making it unable to get past said checks. Its weakness to Stealth Rock is also detrimental because it has no recovery, making it easy to wear down.

• Gyarados @ Gyaradosite
• Ability: Intimidate
• EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
• Jolly Nature
• - Dragon Dance
• - Crunch
• - Earthquake
• - Substitute

Mega Gyarados's great Attack, amazing typing, and good bulk make it a great sweeper on hyper offensive dual screens teams. Its ability in Mold Breaker is also incredible, allowing it to bypass abilities like Levitate and Unaware, making Pokémon like Rotom-W and Clefable no longer solid counters. Intimidate also makes it a useful check to Mega Swampert or Mega Scizor. Its typing allows it setup opportunities, as it resists the moves of many top-tier threats like Heatran and Ash-Greninja, and its decent bulk coupled with dual screens support makes it quite a dangerous sweeper. It's also resistant to several revenge killing methods in Water Shuriken and Sucker Punch. Unfortunately, its Speed doesn't improve with Mega Evolution, and it still suffers from being outsped by fast Pokémon like Choice Scarf Kartana and Landorus-T, as well as Mega Alakazam. It also struggles with many Pokémon that resist its moves like Tapu Fini, Tapu Bulu, and Kommo-o, since it cannot use a Z-Move. Entry hazards and hyper offensive teams' reliance on it as an Ash-Greninja check wear down Mega Gyarados quickly, cutting into its longevity and ability to sweep late-game. Lastly, it really only fits on hyper offensive teams, as it requires many defensive threats weakened quickly for it to sweep with dual screens in front of it while keeping entry hazards up against the opponent.

Defensive Threats

• Toxapex @ Black Sludge
• Ability: Regenerator
• EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
• Calm Nature
• - Scald
• - Toxic Spikes
• - Recover
• - Haze / Knock Off / Toxic

Here is Toxapex, one of the best defensive pivots introduced in Generation 7. Toxapex's sky-high mixed defense stats, great typing, and access to both Regenerator and Recover are what makes it so good. Scald and Haze are another key factors of Toxapex's viability, as Scald has the nasty of chance to burn, making many Pokémon think twice before switching in, while Haze prevents Toxapex from being setup bait for sweepers. It is also the only viable user of Toxic Spikes on more balanced teams, as all of Nihilego, suicide lead Greninja, and Nidoking only really fit on specific builds, which only further increases the amount of utility it brings. Furthermore, it is one of the few Fighting- and Fairy-type answers that don't get chipped down as easily, unlike Landorus-T and Magearna, making it a great tool against said threats. Toxapex can still be broken through by several means, however. Taunt users like Heatran and Tapu Fini are some of Toxapex's best checks, as Magma Storm Heatran can trap Toxapex and beat it with Earth Power, while Tapu Fini prevents Toxapex from using Toxic and can remove Toxic Spikes with Defog. Pokémon like Tapu Lele, Mega Alakazam, and Tapu Koko can beat Toxapex with their super effective STAB attacks. Some attackers like Electrium Z Magearna and Groundium Z Greninja also run Z-Moves in order to bust through Toxapex.

• Tapu Fini @ Leftovers
• Ability: Misty Surge
• EVs: 248 HP / 16 Def / 12 SpA / 40 SpD / 192 Spe
• Calm Nature
• - Defog
• - Moonblast / Nature's Madness
• - Scald / Nature's Madness
• - Taunt

Tapu Fini used to be considered one of the worst Pokémon in the Tapu group, with no recovery and many weaknesses. However, it is now one of the best checks to top-tier threats like Ash-Greninja and Heatran as well as to different entry hazard setters like Gliscor and Kommo-o, allowing it to be a great Defogger as well. Taunt is a great tool against defensive Pokémon like Toxapex and Chansey as well. Alongside this is Misty Terrain, which provides the team with amazing utility. It is prone to being worn down quickly, however, as it has no recovery outside Leftovers, meaning it dislikes taking Knock Off from Pokémon such as Toxapex, Gliscor, and Weavile, which are Pokémon that Tapu Fini can check normally. Even with Leftovers recovery, Tapu Fini can still get overwhelmed from Heatran's Magma Storm damage and entry hazards as well as stacked threats that Tapu Fini checks, like Ash-Greninja + Kommo-o. While most entry hazard setters cannot properly beat a healthy Tapu Fini one-on-one, Ferrothorn can force Tapu Fini out. It can also be caught off guard by surprise coverage, such as Gunk Shot from Greninja and Bloom Doom from Heatran and weakened easily through Z-Moves like Garchomp's Continental Crush and Gyarados's Supersonic Skystrike.

Rotom-W fell off during mid to late 2018 due to Zygarde's presence, but it is now back as one of the best pivots in the tier with a unique set of resistances and utility. What makes Rotom-W so effective as a pivot is Volt Switch alongside Hydro Pump and Will-O-Wisp to ensure Ground-types are taking a risk by coming in to block Volt Switch. Furthermore, it can serve as both a defensive and offensive pivot due to its well-rounded stats and annoy especially bulky teams with Will-O-Wisp, Volt Switch, and Pain Split. Pain Split slightly compensates for Rotom-W's unfortunate reliance on its item for recovery, particularly against Pokémon with a decent HP stat like Clefable and Mega Latias. Defog is also a great move due to Rotom-W's immunity to grounded entry hazards. For these reasons, it can serve as a decent check to many threats like Landorus-T, Tornadus-T, and Gliscor. However, it is unfortunate that said Pokémon can overwhelm it with coverage like Knock Off, Toxic, and Z-Moves. Offensive sets rely on Rotom-W's ability to lure in bulky Pokémon and constantly pressure them with Pain Split and Volt Switch and potentially even overwhelm the likes of Clefable and Toxapex with the help of Z-Moves. Due to its lack of reliable recovery, Rotom-W can be worn down quickly through Stealth Rock and status and hates losing its passive recovery to Knock Off. Z-Moves can also overwhelm Rotom-W, like Landorus-T's Continental Crush and Heatran's Bloom Doom. Specially defensive Pokémon can also be a pain for Rotom-W to deal with, especially Gastrodon, since it walls Rotom-W and can poison it with Toxic. However, Chansey is taken advantage of by Pain Split variants due to its sky-high HP stat, allowing Rotom-W to recover up to almost full health.

• Pelipper @ Damp Rock
• Ability: Drizzle
• EVs: 248 HP / 36 Def / 224 SpD
• Bold Nature
• - Scald
• - U-turn
• - Roost
• - Hurricane / Defog

Pelipper is the star of every rain team due to its ability Drizzle allowing many Water-types like Ash-Greninja and Mega Swampert to go wild on rain teams. It is chosen over the rain setter from the previous generations, Politoed, as Pelipper has more utility, such as U-turn, Roost, and Defog. This means it is able to consistently keep itself healthy throughout the match to keep rain up for its teammates. It is able to keep up the pressure on the opposing team by giving rain wallbreakers a free turn with a slow U-turn as well. Its offensive capabilities are not that bad either, with a rather powerful Scald + Hurricane combination. While Defog is useful, most rain teams choose to use Tornadus-T as their Defogger, since Pelipper is rather bad at removing entry hazards due to its Stealth Rock weakness and rather bad matchup against most entry hazard setters in the tier. Despite Pelipper's defensive investment, it is still rather easily overwhelmed by strong attackers like Ash-Greninja, Kartana, and Tapu Lele due to its naturally low bulk and weakness to Stealth Rock. Electric-types are also a pain, and even though Mega Swampert is typically present on all rain teams, both Tapu Koko and Rotom-W have their ways of punishing a Mega Swampert switch. Opposing weather setters like Tyranitar and Mega Charizard Y also pose a huge problem, as rain teams often struggle to switch into them safely with their powerful attacks, and Pelipper's rather lackluster bulk forces it to switch out against them. This is where U-turn comes in, bringing in a rain wallbreaker against said weather changers as they come in to force them out. Stealth Rock is another huge issue, as it takes a quarter of Pelipper's health away every time it switches in, forcing it to use Roost more often, reducing the number of rain turns and sapping a lot of the team's momentum.

• Gastrodon @ Leftovers
• Ability: Storm Drain
• EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
• Sassy Nature
• - Scald
• - Recover
• - Toxic
• - Earthquake

Gastrodon might be tiered PU, but it's no slouch in dealing with special attackers even in OU like Ash-Greninja, Magearna, Heatran, and Tapu Koko thanks to its good bulk and typing, Storm Drain, and Recover. Being able to check all 4 of these threats is something almost no other Pokémon can accomplish. A Volt Switch immunity is very useful, as Tapu Koko and Rotom-W often mess up many bulky teams with it, and most Ground-types are scared of switching into it. These traits make it fit decently well on many balance and semi-stall teams. Scald + Toxic is also rather annoying to switch into, given that most Pokémon would like to avoid status. Furthermore, its neutrality to Ice means it doesn't get easily caught by sets like Ice Beam Ash-Greninja and Hidden Power Ice Tapu Koko.

However, Gastrodon is vulnerable to entry hazards and status, as it will get overwhelmed by Pokémon it should check if it is not healthy, forcing it to click Recover more often. Its physical bulk is rather lacking as well, leaving it overwhelmed by Mega Swampert's Earthquake, physically offensive Greninja, and Victini. Having a 4x weakness to Grass is also detrimental, as it gets forced out by Tangrowth, Ferrothorn, Tapu Bulu, and Kartana, although they are all wary of either Toxic or a Scald burn. This also means surprise Grass coverage from Pokémon it should check can significantly cripple it, like Grassium Z Heatran. Despite being one of the best Tapu Koko checks, it is still vulnerable to U-turn, meaning it can be taken advantage of and allow your opponent to pressure your team. It also fails to check many rain teams, as Mega Swampert can overwhelm it with Earthquake, while Manaphy can solidly beat it one-on-one, especially if it uses Rest.

Honorable Mentions

Kingdra and Keldeo were amazing in older generations, but Kingdra faces direct competition from Ash-Greninja, which has arguably more spammable STAB moves and access to Spikes, and Keldeo struggles to do much in a metagame where both its offensive and defensive checks run around rampant. Azumarill and Crawdaunt are dangerous attackers, but with their poor Speed and the prevalence of Psychic Terrain, they are just not that effective against the metagame. Suicune was also once a great Pokémon in the previous generations, but with Kartana and Toxapex running around, it is difficult to set up with it. Slowbro and its Mega Evolution are decent physical walls with acceptable offensive presence, but their weakness to Dark and competition from so many other defensive Water-types to choose from make them much less popular. Alomomola saw some usage throughout the generation on bulky builds due to its immense HP stat, but it is again not very popular due to the amount of competition and its extreme passivity. Due to the decrease in popularity for stall, Quagsire and Pyukumuku have lost a lot of usage as well, although they are still solid Unaware users. Mantine is able to counter Manaphy and Mega Swampert, but its detrimental Stealth Rock weakness and vulnerability to Toxic make it quite a niche pick indeed.

Closing Thoughts

There are so many Water-type Pokémon in the sea, and each of them serve a unique role. Hopefully, you will have gotten a hold of how these Pokémon work and how to answer them in teambuilding. Now, how about you go and try these Pokémon out and see what works best for you? They'll be waiting by the seashore!

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