QC's: 3/3 (Blue Jay, Fireburn, shrang)
GP's: 1/2
Overview
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Amoonguss looks like a weird choice in the Ubers metagame, and in many cases, it is. However, it serves as a good check or counter to non-Psyshock Xerneas and Kyogre, and it has just the right bulk, movepool, and ability in Regenerator to get the job done. Amoonguss's typing allows it to absorb Toxic Spikes and Spore, which can prove useful in certain situations. It also has enough power to have some semblance of offensive prowess with Grass Knot and a good annoyance to sweepers with Clear Smog, but there are a lot of reasons why Amoonguss is often overlooked. Outside of Grass Knot and Foul Play, Amoonguss can't really do that much damage combined with movepool restrictions due to it having to run Assault Vest. Even though its HP is high, its defenses are not, and these will not yield good results if one remains uninvested. This is not good when looking at Amoonguss's common weaknesses to Fire-, and Ice-, Flying-, and Psychic-type weakness, especially when Yveltal, Ho-Oh, and Mewtwo are rising in popularity. Despite being inferior in most aspects to other Xerneas counters such as Klefki and even Aegislash, play to Amoonguss' strengths, and it can do its job effectively.
Regenerator Pivot
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name: Boosting moves? What are those?
move 1: Clear Smog
move 2: Sludge Bomb
move 3: Grass Knot
move 4: Foul Play
ability: Regenerator
item: Assault Vest
evs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
nature: Calm
Moves
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One of the main attractions of Amoonguss's movepool is Clear Smog, which can put Geomancy Xerneas and other setup sweepers back to square one. Sludge Bomb is the more spammable of the two, with which Amoonguss can hit most Fairy-types such as Xerneas and Fairy Arceus for solid damage. In order for Amoonguss to check bulky Water-types, the most prominent being Kyogre, Grass Knot is an absolute must in order to not only reduce the damage of Kyogre's Water Spout, but to hit most of the heavy Ubers metagame for respectable damage. Foul Play prevents Amoonguss from being total fodder to Mewtwo and Mega Gengar and can hit physical attackers on the switch. A good move that isn't listed is Hidden Power Fire, which can be used over Foul Play in order to fend off common Spikes setters such as Klefki and Forretress; however, this leaves Amoonguss walled by the likes of Ho-Oh, Dialga, and Heatran, which are hit by Foul Play for neutral damage.
Set Details
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The listed EV spread lets Amoonguss have a good chance to avoid a 2HKO from a Choice Specs Kyogre's Water Spout even after Stealth Rock, in addition to giving Xerneas a really hard time if it doesn't have Psyshock. However, if you want a bit more power behind Amoonguss's attacks and the ability to break past Geomancy Xerneas's Substitute after the boost, a spread of 248 HP / 96 SpA / 164 SpD is viable; it allows Amoonguss to break the Substitute with Sludge Bomb even after a Geomancy boost and deal more damage overall with Sludge Bomb and Grass Knot. However, Xerneas does have difficulty breaking past Amoonguss even after a Substitute.
Usage Tips
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Since Amoonguss has Regenerator, it doesn't have to worry too much about residual damage and entry hazards, so it can be difficult to wear down when pivoting. Pivoting against special attackers is the best option for Amoonguss since its uninvested physical bulk is lackluster and the threats Amoonguss can check are specially oriented. However, if Amoonguss comes in on a double switch into a physical attacker whose coverage moves are mostly ineffective against Amoonguss such as Excadrill or Scizor, Foul Play can usually either force them out or do a good amount of damage.
Team Options
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Amoonguss's presence can attract entry hazard setters, so Defoggers such as Arceus and Giratina-O or Rapid Spinners such as Excadrill or Forretress can make good partners. Since Amoonguss can check both Geomancy Xerneas and Kyogre, sweepers or wallbreakers that are threatened by the two, such as Rayquaza and Yveltal, appreciate the support Amoonguss brings to the table. Amoonguss also needs support of its own, such as checks to Mewtwo, Ho-Oh, and Yveltal. Giratina-O and Ghost Arceus can check or counter Mewtwo; Fairy-types such as Xerneas or Fairy Arceus can counter Yveltal; and Landorus-T, Hippowdon, and Water Arceus can check Ho-Oh. Heatran is an extremely helpful partner to Amoonguss as not only does it form an excellent resistance core, Heatran can check Geomancy Xerneas variants with Subsitute. Amoonguss can also scare away Kyogre, which can handle Heatran with ease. Ho-Oh is also an awesome partner as it can check Geomancy Xerneas variants with Substitute and form a neat Regenerator core with Amoonguss. However, Amoonguss is very prone to compounding weaknesses in the team, so be careful when selecting team members.
Other Options
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If Assault Vest is not something appealing to you, Amoonguss actually has a lot more moves and items to choose from. Black Sludge opens up Amoonguss's movepool and gives it extra recovery options, but it prevents Amoonguss from checking Choice Specs Kyogre or Xerneas as easily as the Assault Vest set can. When equipped with Black Sludge, many non-damaging moves come up, Spore being at the forefront of them. With Spore, Amoonguss can better support its team better with a 100% accurate sleep-inducing move. Synthesis can also give Amoonguss even more recovery, especially when paired with Groudon, but Kyogre's Drizzle diminishes its recovery. Toxic punishes Defoggers and support Arceus formes and also lets Amoonguss stall out most walls or sweepers that are not Steel-type. Gastro Acid can do neat things like render Shadow Tag, Multiscale, and even Prankster users almost useless. Unfortunately, all these non-damaging moves cannot be used with Assault Vest, so Amoonguss would have to resort to Black Sludge. Giga Drain can give Amoonguss extra recovery outside of Regenerator, but Grass Knot does more damage overall to most Ubers heavyweights such as Groudon, Kyogre, and support Arceus formes.
Checks & Counters
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**Yveltal**: Yveltal can basically wall Amoonguss with its own form of recovery in Roost, and offensive sets can repeatedly Oblivion Wing Amoonguss until it is KOed.
**Ho-Oh**: Ho-Oh can also hard-wall Amoonguss with its amazing special bulk and Roost, KOing back with Sacred Fire or Brave Bird without breaking a sweat.
**Bulky Steel-types**: Dialga, Heatran, Ferrothorn, Klefki, Aegislash, and Forretress are just a small list of the Steel-types in the tier that can either wall Amoonguss or take advantage of it by laying entry hazards, though the list depends on whether Amoonguss is running Foul Play or Hidden Power Fire.
**Mewtwo**: Mewtwo can completely bypass Amoonguss's special bulk and either KO with Psystrike or Psycho Cut in the case of Mega Mewtwo X. However, bear in mind that Mega Mewtwo Y is 2HKOed by Foul Play.
**Shadow Tag**: Wobbuffet and Gothitelle will always win one-on-one against Amoonguss, but Mega Gengar can be 2HKOed by Foul Play. Mega Gengar can still Destiny Bond to remove Amoonguss from the match, however.
**Lugia**: If Lugia is carrying Aeroblast, it will always win against Amoonguss, but if Lugia does not, neither of the two can do much to the other.
**Wallbreakers**: Though none of these appreciate taking damage from Amoonguss, wallbreakers like Reshiram, Kyurem-W, Rayquaza, and Blaziken always have coverage moves that will annihilate Amoonguss.
QC's: 2/3 (Blue Jay, Fireburn)
GP's: 1/2
Overview
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- Usable defenses combined with ok defensive typing and Regenerator = badass pivot
- Such Xern and non-Specs Kyogre check
- Clear Smog is very nice for pitting against sweepers
- Absorbs Toxic Spikes and Spore :P
- Restricted to pivot roles and due to sparse movepool and horrible offensive presence
- Assault Vest prevents it from using its good support movepool
- Defenses are kinda bad without investment
- Annoying Fire and Ice weaknesses, Flying and Psychic weaknesses aren't too nifty either
- Loses to Psyshock GeoXern -_-
- Overall kinda niche mon compared to Xern checks like Keys or Aegislash
Regenerator Pivot
########
name: Boosting moves? What are those?
move 1: Clear Smog
move 2: Sludge Bomb
move 3: Grass Knot
move 4: Foul Play
ability: Regenerator
item: Assault Vest
evs: 248 HP / 96 SpA / 164 SpD
nature: Modest
Moves
========
- Clear Smog removes boosts from opponent; trolls GeoXern and other special sweepers utterly
- Sludge Bomb can damage Xerneas after Clear Smog has done its thing
- Grass Knot is the only main damage output Amoonguss can do in Ubers; can hit for decent damage uninvested cuz Ubers is bloated as shit
- Foul Play deals solid-ish damage to Mega Gengar and MM2Y on switch-ins, and additionally allows Amoonguss to severely hurt physical attackers
- HP Fire can break past common Spikes setters (Klefki, Forry, Ferrothorn), at the cost of being walled by specially bulky mons like Dialga, Heatran, Ho-Oh, etc.
Set Details
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- The above EVs allow Amoonguss to break standard GeoXern's Substitute with Sludge Bomb, while maintaining defensive capabilities. Keep in mind that since Amoonguss is more powerful with this investment, it can lessen Kyogre's Water Spout's power more with Grass Knot
Usage Tips
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If you see Psyshock on a Xerneas forfeit the match- Don't be too worried about resid or taking hits, Regenerator can fix that up quickly
- Since Amoonguss is specially invested, try to avoid taking physical hits and pivot more against special attackers
- But, if you come in on a double switch into a physical attacker, Foul Play would be the best choice to either scare out said attacker or to damage or KO them if they do not suspect it
Team Options
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- Hazard removal (Defog + Rapid Spin). Amoonguss is generally hazard bait, so having a solid plan to remove these is a good option
- Stuff that likes having Xerneas crippled (Rayquaza, Yveltal, etc.)
- MEWTWO, YVELTAL AND HO-OH CHECKS (Mewtwo: Gira-O, Ghostceus; Ygod: Fairies; Ho-Oh: Lando-T, Hippowdown, Water Arceus)
- Extra add-on tip: Amoonguss is unfortunately very prone to compounding weaknesses with other team members, so forming resistance cores in the team is a solid option to fix this.
- Heatran can form a reliably solid core with Amoonguss. Heatran murders Steel-types and is resistant to all 4 of Amoonguss's weaknesses, while Amoonguss can resist Fighting and Water, takes neutral damage from Ground, and scares away Kyogre for Heatran.
- Ho-Oh is cool
Other Options
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- Black Sludge
- Spore
- Giga Drain
- Toxic
- Synthesis
- Gastro Acid
Checks & Counters
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A good chunk of the Ubers metagame can unfortunately wall or pressure Amoonguss because of its exploitable type weaknesses, uninvested base Defense, and lack of support moves due to Assault Vest. However, the Pokemon mentioned below are the most effective at checking or countering Amoonguss:
- Yveltal
- Ho-Oh
- Bulky Steel-types
- Mewtwo
- Shadow Tag
- Lugia
- Wallbreakers (Reshiram, Kyurem-W, Rayquaza)
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