In-battle formes
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| HP: | 85 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Attack: | 105 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Defense: | 100 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sp. Atk: | 79 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sp. Def: | 83 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Speed: | 78 |
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Strategies
- en
Overview
Feraligatr has always lived in the shadow of mighty and majestic Gyarados. Because Gyarados sports Intimidate or Moxie, as well as higher Attack and Speed stats, one would wonder what qualities Feraligatr has over the Atrocious Pokemon. While Feraligatr used to be inferior, it has picked up a gift from the heavens in the form of its Dream World ability, Sheer Force. That, along with its superior movepool and lack of weakness to Stealth Rock, allows Feraligatr to stand out from its fellow physical Water-types.
Dragon Dance
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Like Gyarados, Feraligatr has access to Dragon Dance to increase its Attack and Speed stats. Its decent bulk and short list of weaknesses allows it to set up fairly easily. With Sheer Force, Feraligatr becomes immensely powerful. It also removes Life Orb recoil for moves it affects, which allows Feraligatr to last longer. In the rain, Waterfall tops at a huge 234 Power, easily allowing Feraligatr to sweep even slightly weakened teams. Ice Punch is also boosted to a respectable 97.5 Power thanks to Sheer Force, which allows Feraligatr to deal with Grass-types such as Celebi, Serperior, and Virizion a lot more easily. However, the real draw to using Feraligatr is the final slot. Unlike Gyarados, Feraligatr has absolutely no problem with the ubiquitous Ferrothorn, easily OHKOing it with Superpower after one round of Spikes damage. If Ferrothorn is not a major concern, Crunch can be used to swat aside Jellicent, as well as heavily damage Slowbro.
The EVs presented allow Feraligatr to outspeed Pokemon with base 120 Speed after a Dragon Dance. An Adamant nature provides maximum power, while a Jolly nature allows Feraligatr to outspeed Modest Choice Scarf Chandelure and Rotom-W. Be advised, however, that Feraligatr will lose some OHKOs with a Jolly nature, particularly on Ferrothorn. Maximum Attack makes Feraligatr as strong as possible, while the rest go into HP for bulk. Aqua Jet could be used in the last slot to pick off Choice Scarf Chandelure if running an Adamant nature, as well as weakened Genesect. A Lum Berry can be an option to avoid status, but Feraligatr really likes the free Life Orb boost.
As with all Water-type sweepers, Feraligatr highly appreciates rain support from Politoed. If Feraligatr lacks Crunch, then it is hard-countered by Slowbro and Jellicent, while if it lacks Superpower, it will be hard-pressed to get past Ferrothorn. If Feraligatr is not running a Jolly nature, Jolteon can outspeed and OHKO with Thunder, while Choice Scarf users such as Rotom-W, Chandelure, and Genesect will always outspeed and OHKO with their their respective super effective move. Deoxys-S also outspeeds Adamant Feraligatr even when it's at +2, and can revenge kill with Psycho Boost or Thunderbolt. Because of this, Feraligatr appreciates teammates who can dispose of such threats. Even in the rain, Choice Specs Chandelure is still a great teammate to Feraligatr, as it can easily trap and remove Slowbro, Jellicent and Ferrothorn. Wobbuffet is also an excellent teammate to run alongside Feraligatr to trap and remove Choice Scarf users locked into the wrong move. Dugtrio is also good at removing Choice-locked Electric-types, as well as Ninetales and Tyranitar, helping to win any weather wars. Scizor is a good check to offensive Deoxys-S, and easily traps it with Pursuit.
Swords Dance
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While the Dragon Dance set focuses on sweeping, Swords Dance Feraligatr is an unstoppable wallbreaker. There is almost no wall on a rain stall team that can stop Feraligatr from busting up the team's core. After a Swords Dance, Feraligatr is so powerful that it can OHKO defensive Dragonite with Waterfall after Stealth Rock. With Crunch, it obliterates Slowbro and Jellicent, while Low Kick easily OHKOes Ferrothorn. A rain stall team's only real chance to defeat Feraligatr is to poison it with Politoed, and then play around with resistances until it succumbs to poison damage, which by then Feraligatr will most likely have created craters in the opposing team's core.
To demonstrate Feraligatr's power, here are some damage calculations against typical walls on rain stall teams:
- +0 Waterfall vs 252 HP / 252 Def Relaxed Quagsire: 63.45% - 74.87%
- +2 Waterfall vs 252 HP / 232 Def Impish Skarmory: 107.78% - 126.95%
- +2 Waterfall vs 252 HP / 252 Def Bold Politoed: 58.59% - 68.75%
- +2 Waterfall vs 252 HP / 0 Def Dragonite: 84.72% - 99.48%
- +2 Crunch vs 252 HP / 252 Def Bold Slowbro: 95.43% - 112.69%
- +2 Low Kick vs 252 HP / 88 Def Relaxed Ferrothorn: 101.70% - 119.89%
20 Speed EVs allow Feraligatr to outspeed minimum Speed Dragonite, allowing you to outspeed and OHKO it before it hits you with Thunder. Max Attack and an Adamant nature provide maximum destructive power. 232 HP EVs give Feraligatr a Life Orb number, just in the rare circumstance that it loses Sheer Force, reducing the recoil damage from use of Aqua Jet and Superpower. More Speed can be used if desired. As for moveset choices, Aqua Jet can be used in place of Crunch if you want Feraligatr to be a sweeper as well, although it loses coverage against Slowbro and Jellicent. If Aqua Jet is used, Superpower is to be used in the last slot since the combination of all three of Low Kick, Aqua Jet, and Sheer Force is illegal on the same set. +2 Superpower also has the benefit of OHKOing Gastrodon.
Again, Politoed is a key teammate to Feraligatr for eternal rain. The boost that rain provides is even more noticeable on this set. Unlike Dragon Dance Feraligatr, anything with a reasonable Speed stat that uses STAB Grass- and Electric-type attacks will take down Feraligatr easily. This is why Grass-types and Dragon-types are great teammates for Feraligatr. These include Celebi, Virizion, Serperior, Latias, and Dragonite. Lightningrod Zapdos is also a great teammate for this reason. In return, Feraligatr can easily switch into weaker Ice-type attacks aimed at them, as well as Fire-type attacks aimed at Grass-types.
Choice Scarf
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Feraligatr's access to Sheer Force, reasonably high Attack stat, and usable Speed easily makes it fit as a Choice Scarf user. Reaching a Speed of 420 with a Choice Scarf, Feraligatr can revenge kill many threats. Waterfall is Feraligatr's STAB move of choice, allowing it to revenge-kill many frail threats, as well as clean up late-game. Ice Punch severely damages Dragonite and Grass-types. Rock Slide may seem redundant with Ice Punch around, but it allows Feraligatr to revenge-kill Gyarados. Crunch allows Feraligatr to revenge kill Starmie, while Superpower makes sure that Feraligatr is not walled by Ferrothorn. Beware of Chandelure when using Superpower.
Max Speed and a Jolly nature allow Feraligatr to outspeed Choice Scarf Heatran by 3 points. It is generally not adviced to run an Adamant nature, since Feraligatr would then find itself outsped by things that really shouldn't outspeed it, such as Jolteon.
As always, Feraligatr appreciates Politoed to power up Waterfall. Unlike the other sets, Choice Scarf Feraligatr is reasonably independent, since it is more of a supporter. Since Feraligatr has weaknesses to Grass- and Electric-types, Grass- and Dragon-types are good teammates to Feraligatr. Celebi, Breloom, Serperior, Latias, and Dragonite, as well as Zapdos, fit the bill nicely.
Other Options
In terms of other moves, Earthquake, Return, and Dragon Claw are available, but do not add to the coverage that the suggested moves already give. Feraligatr can run a Substitute + Dragon Dance set, but Gyarados largely does this better due its better bulk and two move coverage. Feraligatr's main attraction is its its access to multiple coverage moves and this should always be taken advantage of. A Choice Band set is also feasible, although Crawdaunt is generally better if you want to hit hard straight off the bat.
Checks and Counters
Due to its power and coverage, Feraligatr is difficult to "counter" in the strictest sense. However, as long as your team has something reasonably fast that can hit it super effectively, Feraligatr is not very threatening. Jellicent and Slowbro wall the Dragon Dance set if it lacks Crunch, while Ferrothorn stops it if it lacks Superpower. Rotom-W can take an attack from unboosted Feraligatr and destroy it with its Electric STAB of choice. Faster Pokemon with a Choice Scarf and strong Special attacks can also easily revenge kill it, such as Genesect, the aforementioned Rotom-W, Chandelure, Latios, and Hydreigon. The Swords Dance set is even harder to counter, as it is very difficult to wall. However, due to its low Speed, any Electric or Grass-type, as long as they themselves are not slow, can revenge-kill it. These include Zapdos, Celebi, Virizion, Breloom that invest in Speed, Thundurus, Raikou, and Serperior. The Choice Scarf set is relatively easy to take on due to its lack of power, anything that resists its move can switch in and take it out.
