Pokémon Avalugg

[Mugenman88]

Typing: Ice
Base Stats: 95 HP / 117 Atk / 184 Def / 44 SpA / 46 SpD / 28 Spe (BST: 514)
Abilities: Own Tempo | Ice Body | Sturdy (HA)
Notable Moves:
-Rapid Spin
-Recover
-Body Press
-Heavy Slam
-Earthquake
-Icicle Crash
-Ice Spinner
-Curse
-Iron Defense

Full Movepool

Level Up Moves:

1. - [Evolve] Body Slam
2. - [01] Powder Snow
3. - [01] Rapid Spin
4. - [01] Wide Guard
5. - [01] Harden
6. - [01] Tackle
7. - [09] Curse
8. - [12] Icy Wind
9. - [15] Protect
10. - [18] Avalanche
11. - [21] Bite
12. - [24] Ice Fang
13. - [27] Iron Defense
14. - [30] Recover
15. - [33] Crunch
16. - [36] Take Down
17. - [41] Blizzard
18. - [46] Double-Edge
19. - [51] Icicle Crash

Egg Moves:

1. - Mist
2. - Mirror Coat
3. - Aurora Veil

TM Learn:

1. - [TM001] Take Down
2. - [TM006] Scary Face
3. - [TM007] Protect
4. - [TM010] Ice Fang
5. - [TM022] Chilling Water
6. - [TM025] Facade
7. - [TM028] Bulldoze
8. - [TM034] Icy Wind
9. - [TM036] Rock Tomb
10. - [TM046] Avalanche
11. - [TM047] Endure
12. - [TM050] Rain Dance
13. - [TM052] Snowscape
14. - [TM066] Body Slam
15. - [TM070] Sleep Talk
16. - [TM084] Stomping Tantrum
17. - [TM085] Rest
18. - [TM086] Rock Slide
19. - [TM089] Body Press
20. - [TM093] Flash Cannon
21. - [TM099] Iron Head
22. - [TM103] Substitute
23. - [TM104] Iron Defense
24. - [TM108] Crunch
25. - [TM121] Heavy Slam
26. - [TM123] Surf
27. - [TM124] Ice Spinner
28. - [TM135] Ice Beam
29. - [TM142] Hydro Pump
30. - [TM143] Blizzard
31. - [TM149] Earthquake
32. - [TM150] Stone Edge
33. - [TM152] Giga Impact
34. - [TM163] Hyper Beam
35. - [TM171] Tera Blast

New Move: Ice Spinner
Ice-type
Physical
80 BP / 100% acc / 24 PP
Ends the effects of terrain upon use


Pros:
-Extremely high Defense means most physical attacks bounce of this, and can even take super effective physical attacks well
-Body Press hits like a truck off 184 Defense
-Access to Rapid Spin
-Access to reliable recovery in Recover
-Not passive thanks to high power moves and good Attack
-Sturdy can make Avalugg a possible emergency stop to a sweeper or guarantee a spin

Cons:
-Bad defensive typing
-Reliant on Terastylizing to fix defensive typing, removing the ability to use it on other Pokemon
-Poor Special Defense, even resisted hits will chunk it hard
-Incredibly slow, pretty much always will take a hit before moving

Terastylizing Potential:
-Removing horrid defensive typings makes Terastylizing a very attractive option, and not a bad one as this can become a check to any physical pokemon with the right tera, or you can stick Fighting on it to make Body Press hit even harder
-Terastylizing's versatility means you can make Avalugg any type to help cover a weakness in your team. Need a Rain check? Go Water or Grass! Chien-Pao got you down? Steel or Fighting tera's got your back! The possibilities are near endless(as long as they punch)!

Potential Sets:
Physical Wall
Avalugg @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Sturdy
Tera Type: Steel/Fairy/Water
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Impish Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Recover
- Body Press
- Ice Spinner/Tera Blast/Earthquake

Premise is simple, get this thing in, tera, then get rid of hazards and do whatever is needed. Try to bring it in on phsyical threats it could threaten out like Chien-Pao or Roaring Moon, or defensive pokemon like Blissey or Ting-Lu. Works well as a team mate with physically frail mons, especially once you tera. Recommended team mates are basically anything that can take a special hit, meaning Clodsire or Ting-Lu, and you can customize your tera type in order to more efficiently take the physical attacks most likely to be aimed at these. If you choose Water or Fairy tera I highly recommend using Tera Blast.


I think this Pokemon definitely has a small nice in OU thanks to the gargantuan defense, reliance on tera hurts it but there's potential for some real cool stuff to happen thanks to terastylizing breathing new life in this, especially in defensive teams.

 

[kennelofdog]

I've been finding use with Tera-Ghost and curse in my mono ice nonsense.

Avalugg @ Leftovers
Ability:Ice Body
Tera Type: Ghost
252 HP/4 Atk/252 Def
Impish Nature
Curse
Body Press
Avalanche
Snowscape

The plan is to already have hazards cleared off so Avalugg can get in safe and preferably already have snow and Aurora Veil up. Avalugg has won multiple games for me if I've already taken out all my opponents special attackers and Ghost Curse can put the timer on anything too bulky for a body press to remove.

 

[Eeveeto]

This is a defensive and slow Mon. I see Icicle Crash in the set, a Move meant for fast Ice Mons that want to break with it and maybe flinch. This is not the case here. Normally I would recommend putting Icicle Spear due to the huge 64 PPs it has, but I see it lost the move, so Ice Spinner should be the STAB, it has 100 Accuracy and just 5 less power than Icicle Crash. Due to having few Defoggers, this Mon will stay relevant even if Terastal is banned, it's a Solid Spinner for Stall and even some Balances, checking threats like Garchomp and Roaring Moon.

 

[Shmirko]

Maybe a stupid idea, but what about using Chilly Reception from Slowking to boost its sp def? Idk might be bad but it has enough defense to survive many attacks uninvested and since the future of terastylizing is uncertain, this might not be a bad alternative

Edit: oops it is not a sp def boost but a def boost but that's probably better lol

 

[Seth Vilo]

Maybe a stupid idea, but what about using Chilly Reception from Slowking to boost its sp def? Idk might be bad but it has enough defense to survive many attacks uninvested and since the future of terastylizing is uncertain, this might not be a bad alternative

Snow boosts Defense, not Special Defense.

 

[Shmirko]

Snow boosts Defense, not Special Defense.

Ha true lol well actually that way more epic this shit dies from nothing then lmao

 

[Sonikgav]

Remember however you lose the Defence buff once you Terrastallize.

I'm thinking...

Avalanche
Body Press
Rapid Spin/Tera Blast
Recover

With a defensive tera choice like Fairy or even Poison but thats a choice based on my team.

 

[Sonikgav]

Currently debating on Tera types for Avalugg and I've come up with a little list.

Fighting
Adds STAB to Body Press, turns all of its current Weaknesses into Neutral and has a built in counter to one of its new Weaknesses.

Steel
Strong Defensive typing with the most resistances in the game. The big issue is that it's weaknesses are basically the same ones as Ice, with Fire & Fighting and although it loses Rock & Steel, it picks up the ever so common Ground weakness which Rock/Steel types often come with anyway so it doesn't really help evade switch ins.

Flying
An Immunity and is a direct counter to its Fighting Weakness but the Rock weakness stays and Electric/Ice is fairly common.

Poison
Ground & Psychic are common but 5 resistances, including to one of its previous weaknesses is a good trade off. On top of that it's a Physical tank that is immune to being poisoned.

Ghost
Two immunities, including one of its prior weaknesses and only 2 new weaknesses. Shadowball would be an issue though most common Dark attacks tend to be physical at least.

Water
Water tanks are no secret, can be well supported on teams built for them though 2 common weaknessess with Energy Ball being real common these days.

Electric
Only one weakness and counters a weakness by adding steel resistance with 2 others. Everything else being Neutral could be an issue though.

Fairy
Keeps one of its weaknesses but gains a resistance to another and an immunity is always fun.



Personally, I'm leaning towards Poison, Fighting or Fairy with Body Press, Tera Blast, Avalanche and Recover, swapping Tera Blast for something like Rapid Spin if I go Fighting.

Im far from competitively experienced though so feel free to weigh in.

 

[Tropomyosin]

Defensive Avalugg in Snow with Ice Body and Leftovers is no joke. With over 700 effective Defense, this allows it to 1v1 common OU threats like Chien Pao, Roaring Moon and even Great Tusk without needing to use Terastrallization.

Access to Earthquake coverage and a respectable Attack stat add icing to the cake enabling it to deal solid damage to Gholdengo and Ceruledge which attempt to switch in on a Body Press or Rapid Spin.

Do not freeze on this Pokemon. With the right support (Abomasnow/slowking) it can crush even a Fire and Fighting-centric metagame.

 

[STEELDRAGON]

Avalugg has done a lot better than I initially thought it would do. Heavy-Duty Boots are really the only notable item for it because the immunity to hazards far outweigh the slight recovery every turn. It really shouldn't run Rapid Spin unless you have a specialized set to defeat Gholdengo. The physical wall/Curse sets performs a lot better but really needs a lot of team support to be effective.

 

[Wolf-X]

Avalugg @ Leftovers
Ability: Ice Body
Tera Type: Fighting
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Body Press
- Recover
- Avalanche
- Curse

Water, Ghost and Fairy are other great options.

Ive been using curse Avalugg with a lot of success as a physical wall and potential finisher/hard hitter in ladder. Body press hits super hard, specially once you tera (which should be most games to get rid of ice weaknesses).

It heavily counters anything physical except some very rare encounters like CB tera dragon glaive rush baxcalibur lmao.

Some great partnerss are Slowking (Chilly reception is just great for Avalugg) and Clodsire.

Overall avalugg is the strongest and most reliable physical wall in the tier.

Its biggest weakness is it poor special bulk that makes it easy to check and Gholdengo, which just heavily counters avalugg due to resisting Avalanche.

 

[Venduria]

Avalugg @ Leftovers
Ability: Ice Body
Tera Type: Fighting
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Body Press
- Recover
- Avalanche
- Curse

Water, Ghost and Fairy are other great options.

Ive been using curse Avalugg with a lot of success as a physical wall and potential finisher/hard hitter in ladder. Body press hits super hard, specially once you tera (which should be most games to get rid of ice weaknesses).

It heavily counters anything physical except some very rare encounters like CB tera dragon glaive rush baxcalibur lmao.

Some great partnerss are Slowking (Chilly reception is just great for Avalugg) and Clodsire.

Overall avalugg is the strongest and most reliable physical wall in the tier.

Its biggest weakness is it poor physical bulk that makes it easy to check and Gholdengo, which just heavily counters avalugg due to resisting Avalanche.

I think you mean poor special bulk, and having a dreadful matchup against Gholdengo is pretty damning without a complete team built around Avalugg. Its a bit hard to justify using Avalugg over Dondozo on most teams for example.

Avalugg @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Sturdy
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Mirror Coat
- Rapid Spin
- Recover
- Body Press

Sturdy Mirror Coat with HDB can get you a safe switch in and lure Gholdengo for a OHKO on the Make It Rain hit. Pretty easy bait in when they expect to spin block and threaten you out, only to get butt-blasted. Recover situationally could get you back to max HP if you take chip.

I think other than sets like this and building full Stall around Avalugg, there isn't any reason to use it over other top mons right now. But Mirror Coat can just outright win games if people don't respect the option.

 

[Wolf-X]

I think you mean poor special bulk, and having a dreadful matchup against Gholdengo is pretty damning without a complete team built around Avalugg. Its a bit hard to justify using Avalugg over Dondozo on most teams for example.

Avalugg @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Sturdy
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Mirror Coat
- Rapid Spin / Stealth Rocks
- Recover
- Body Press

Sturdy Mirror Coat with HDB can get you a safe switch in and lure Gholdengo for a OHKO on the Make It Rain hit. Pretty easy bait in when they expect to spin block and threaten you out, only to get butt-blasted. Recover situationally could get you back to max HP if you take chip.

I think other than sets like this and building full Stall around Avalugg, there isn't any reason to use it over other top mons right now. But Mirror Coat can just outright win games if people don't respect the option.

You can still use Avalugg as a physical hits sponge, just avoid special hits and have some good answers to gholdengo.

 

[STEELDRAGON]

I think you mean poor special bulk, and having a dreadful matchup against Gholdengo is pretty damning without a complete team built around Avalugg. Its a bit hard to justify using Avalugg over Dondozo on most teams for example.

Avalugg @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Sturdy
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Mirror Coat
- Rapid Spin / Stealth Rocks
- Recover
- Body Press

Sturdy Mirror Coat with HDB can get you a safe switch in and lure Gholdengo for a OHKO on the Make It Rain hit. Pretty easy bait in when they expect to spin block and threaten you out, only to get butt-blasted. Recover situationally could get you back to max HP if you take chip.

I think other than sets like this and building full Stall around Avalugg, there isn't any reason to use it over other top mons right now. But Mirror Coat can just outright win games if people don't respect the option.

Normal Avalugg doesn't get Stealth Rock. Decent set for koing some special attackers, you often won't get the chance to do much of anything after a Mirror Coat ko due to its Speed though

 

[Venduria]

Normal Avalugg doesn't get Stealth Rock.

True, removed Stealth Rock. You realistically won't get a chance to do anything after Mirror Coat, but I don't see many situations where getting that KO is less useful than what it can do otherwise. Might be a me issue though rather than the Pokemon.