Amoonguss
[OVERVIEW]
<p>Amoonguss's excellent bulk and typing allows it to take both physical and special hits, and a key resistance to common Fighting-type attacks helps it immensely. Its access to Spore and Rage Powder allows it to fit into any team, and especially helps Trick Room teams to set up. However, many common Pokemon, such as Tornadus, Reuniclus, and Chandelure, can easily OHKO it, and its low Speed stat means it can't do much to stop this. Overall, though, its tremendous bulk and access to Spore makes Amoonguss an excellent choice for almost any team.</p>
[SET]
name: Support
move 1: Spore
move 2: Rage Powder
move 3: Giga Drain
move 4: Protect / Hidden Power Ice
nature: Calm / Sassy
ability: Effect Spore
item: Coba Berry
evs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Spore, in conjunction with Amoonguss's excellent bulk, will almost always incapacitate an opponent the first turn unless they specifically prepare for it. Rage Powder allows Amoonguss to help its team set up field effects such as Tailwind or Trick Room, and with its bulk, it can easily take moves that could OHKO frailer Pokemon. It also attracts Beat Up, so the vaunted Beat Up Whimsicott-Terrakion combination utterly fails against Amoonguss. Giga Drain 2HKOes Terrakion, and does good damage to Water-types like Jellicent or Samurott while healing back HP. It also helps break Focus Sashes. Protect allows Amoonguss to stall the opponent, and gives its partner time to take out whatever may be threatening it. The EVs give it excellent special bulk, allowing it to take Reuniclus's Life Orb Psychic and take much less damage from Chandelure's Heat Wave.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>Hidden Power Ice can work well over Protect; although Amoonguss loses the ability to survive a move that would otherwise OHKO it, it lets Amoonguss hit the genies and Dragon-types for a good amount of damage, which can help immensely if Amoonguss is the last Pokemon on the field. Mental Herb is a viable choice over Coba Berry; although Amoonguss loses the ability to take a Flying Jewel-boosted Acrobatics from Tornadus or Archeops, two of its common counters, a Mental Herb allows it to bypass Taunt and Encore for a turn.</p>
<p>A Sassy nature can be used as well, but Amoongus doesn't outspeed other Pokemon with 30 base Speed, such as Musharna and Reuniclus, and it will thus be unable to use Spore on them before they use Psychic to severely damage or KO Amoonguss. A Sassy nature also does not allow Amoonguss to outspeed opposing Amoonguss and Spore them if Trick Room is not up. However, if Trick Room is up, a Sassy nature will allow Amoonguss to Speed tie with these Pokemon and possibly use Spore on them, incapacitating them before they can take it out. As a lead, Amoonguss tends to do better with a Bold nature. However, if Amoonguss isn't being used as a lead, it generally has greater success with a Sassy nature and 0 Speed IVs.</p>
<p>A Lum Berry is another viable item; if Amoonguss faces another Amoonguss in a Trick Room mirror match, a Lum Berry will allow Amoonguss to always take the opposing Spore, Spore back, and remain awake and able to support its team. Trick Room teams can utilize Amoonguss very effectively, as Rage Powder can almost always guarantee that Trick Room will be set up, while Amoonguss can use Trick Room to abuse its low Speed and spam Spore. For this reason, Reuniclus is an excellent partner for Amoonguss due to with its ability to set up Trick Room and 2HKO the entire metagame with Trick Room in effect. Amoonguss can also work well on faster teams, and its access to Rage Powder allows it to sponge an attack aimed at its partner, giving Pokemon with many weaknesses, such as Terrakion or Hydreigon, a turn to take out many of their common checks.</p>
<p>Taunt users can completely wreck Amoonguss if it does not have a Mental Herb, so a Rock Slide user can help to take out Thundurus and Tornadus, the most common users of Taunt, while an Ice Beam or Blizzard user such as Cryogonal or Vanilluxe can hurt the genies as well as Whimsicott. Safeguard users such as Terrakion, Virizion, or Cobalion can stop Amoonguss from using Spore, and remove much of its utility. A Taunt user such as Tornadus or Whimsicott, or a Pokemon such as Archeops that can OHKO them before they use Safeguard can allow Amoonguss to bypass this and put the opponent to sleep.</p>
[Other Options]
<p>Amoonguss can be used at levels lower than 50, in order to outspeed more Pokemon in Trick Room with only a minor decrease in bulk. For example, at level 49, Amoonguss speed ties with Musharna, and outspeeds opposing Reuniclus and Amoonguss in Trick Room, allowing it to become a more effective check to opposing Trick Room teams. Amoonguss has access to Synthesis, which increases its survivability even more, but it suffers from four-moveslot syndrome already, and is still OHKOed by strong super effective attacks or when double-targeted. Its low Speed also means it won't be able to recover health very easily. Amoonguss has access to both Rain Dance and Sunny Day, allowing it to support a rain- or sun-based team, but it has very low Speed, making it generally inferior to Pokemon like Whimsicott or Volcarona, who can set the weather up with priority or substantial offensive presence. Substitute can work well with Amoonguss's excellent defenses, but it has lacks the offensive stats to take advantage of it, and is generally much more effective just using Spore to incapacitate the opponent. Sludge Bomb is an alternate attacking move that has higher Base Power than Giga Drain, but does not recover health, nor does it allow Amoonguss to take out Terrakion even with Safeguard up, and as such is usually an inferior choice.</p>
<p>Amoonguss can be used well in Tailwind teams simply because of its access to Spore, allowing it to incapacitate the bulkier Pokemon that plague Tailwind teams. Although utilizing a Timid nature and 252 Speed EVs causes Amoonguss to lose a lot of bulk, it can outspeed all Pokemon up to Thundurus and Tornadus when Tailwind is up. Amoonguss can also run a whole host of other items to confound its usual counters. While Mental Herb and Coba Berry halt the most standard counters, an Occa Berry stops Chandelure's Fire Blast or Overheat from OHKOing, and a Yache Berry can allow it to survive a Vanilluxe's Ice Beam, giving it an extra turn to use Rage Powder or Spore an opponent. Focus Sash allows Amoonguss to survive an attack of any type, but means it will die after using Rage Powder, and is generally an inferior choice. While it doesn't stop these attacks, a Sitrus Berry greatly increases Amoonguss's survivability and allows it to tank neutral assaults much more easily, making it yet another viable choice.</p>
[Checks and Counters]
<p>Tornadus and Archeops can both do great damage to Amoonguss with a Flying Gem-boosted Acrobatics, and can KO with help from a partner, giving it no chance to support the team at all. A partner such as Terrakion utilizing super effective attacks or a Trick Room user such as Reuniclus can help tremendously, KOing the aforementioned threats with Rock Slide or setting up Trick Room as Amoonguss uses Protect. A Fire Gem-boosted Heat Wave from Chandelure also OHKOes Amoonguss, as does an unboosted Fire Blast or Overheat. Chandelure has many weaknesses, though, and with its 80 base Speed, it's not too difficult to take out; a Terrakion's Rock Slide or Landorus's Earthquake will KO it if it's not holding Focus Sash, and a bulky Trick Room user like Musharna can set up Trick Room as Amoonguss uses Protect. Musharna, Reuniclus, and Beheeyem are Pokemon which commonly set up Trick Room, and they can all OHKO or 2HKO Amoonguss with Psychic. An Escavalier can help to rectify this, outspeeding the above threats under Trick Room and KOing with X-Scissor or Megahorn. A Chandelure can also help if Trick Room is not up yet, 2HKOing both with Shadow Ball, or OHKOing with a Ghost-Gem boosted Shadow Ball.</p>
<p>Any Taunt user can stop Amoonguss in its tracks if it doesn't have Mental Herb. Thundurus and Tornadus with Substitute are often used to stall out turns of Trick Room, and can completely obstruct any of Amoonguss's assaults if it does not possess Hidden Power Ice. A Rock Slide user such as Conkeldurr can break their Substitutes, while Gigalith can outspeed Amoonguss in Trick Room and break the Substitute with Rock Slide, allowing Amoonguss to put them to sleep with Spore. Pokemon such as Terrakion or Virizion can use Safeguard to stop Amoonguss from using Spore.</p>
