
Donphan #232
Ground
Base stats: 90/120/120/ 60/ 60/ 50
Abilities: Sturdy/Sand Veil (Dream World)
Lvl up moves:
Lv1: Fire Fang, Lv1: Thunder Fang, Lv1: Horn Attack, Lv1: Growl, Lv1: Defense Curl, Lv1: [M523], Lv6: Rapid Spin, Lv10: Knock Off, Lv15: Rollout, Lv19: Magnitude, Lv24: Slam, Lv25: Fury Attack, Lv31: Assurance, Lv39: Scary Face, Lv46: Earthquake, Lv54: Giga Impact
Egg moves:
Focus Energy
Body Slam
AncientPower
Snore
Counter
Fissure
Endeavor
Ice Shard
Head Smash
Mud-Slap
Heavy Bomber
Body Slam
AncientPower
Snore
Counter
Fissure
Endeavor
Ice Shard
Head Smash
Mud-Slap
Heavy Bomber
TMs/HMs
TM05 - Roar, TM06 - Toxic, TM10 - Hidden Power, TM11 - Sunny Day, TM15 - Hyper Beam, TM17 - Protect, TM21 - Frustration, TM26 - Earthquake, TM27 - Return, TM32 - Double Team, TM37 - Sandstorm, TM39 - Rock Tomb, TM42 - Facade, TM44 - Rest, TM45 - Attract, TM48 - Troll, TM49 - Echo Voice, TM68 - Giga Impact, TM69 - Rock Polish, TM71 - Stone Edge, TM74 - Gyro Ball, TM78 - Smooth Over, TM80 - Rock Slide, TM84 - Poison Jab, TM87 - Swagger, TM90 - Substitute, TM94 - Rock Smash, HM04 - Strength
4th gen usable moves:
Seed bomb, Stealth rock, Superpower
Pros:
Excellent physical bulk, donphan can take most physical hits easily and ground is a decent defensive typing.
Sturdy, with the buff of sturdy in the 5th gen, donphan now have a free focus sash :D
Sand veil, donphan's dream world ability. The hax of sand veil is always welcome.
Good attack, 120 base attack is pretty respectable, and can put a dent on most non flyers/levitators with stab earthquake.
Stealth rock and rapid spin, donphan is one of the few reliable spinners and also can set up rocks, with the lack of SR tm in the 5th gen, donphan have an advantage over most of the new ground types.
Cons
Terrible special bulk, Donphan's base special defense is 60, and his hp (90) isn't great either, so he is easily KOd with special attacks. Even neutral hits can put a dent on him, at least he has sturdy now.
50 base speed, this guy isn't outspeeding much with that speed...
Ice, water and grass weaknesses, ice and water are always bad weaknesses and grass is much more common this gen with skymin, jaroda, nattorei, etc.
Movesets
Sturdy lead
Donphan@Custap berry
252hp/252atk/4speed
Ability sturdy, Adamant nature
-Stealth rock
-Rapid spin
-Eartquake
-Stone edge/Ice shard/Assurance
Thanks to sturdy donphan can survive almost (icicle spear) any attack and set up rocks. Once the rocks are up you can attack or spin the opponent's hazards. Thanks to custap berry, when donphan is at low health he will always move first, and thanks to sturdy donphan can almost 100% of the time spin before die. Donphan is also faster than others sturdy-custap users, like gigaisu and forretress. Mischievous heart leads are hard to deal, you can stone edge voltolos, but efuruun is a problem, even with ice shard, and you can't do anything to sableye and his will-o-whisp... A status absorber is recommended.
Sandstorm abuser
Donphan[LVL 1]@Shell bell
Evs: whatever...but 0 hp /Ivs: 0hp
Ability sturdy, ??? nature
-Endeavor
-Ice shard
-Protect
-Toxic/Filler
This set is pure gimmick but can wreak havoc if your opponent isn't prepared.
You need a streamer and something to kill ghosts, so tyranitar is a must.
The objective of this set is switch into an electric attack or when something dies. If the opponent pokemon isn't a ghost type, Donphan's endeavor will leave it at 1-12 hp and then it will be killed by the sandstorm. Also if the opponent is a rock/steel/ground/magic guard/etc pokemon and doesn't have leftovers, you can kill it with ice shard. Thanks to shell bell, Donphan will regain all his hp :D
Be aware of Toxic/WoW and the field clean of hazards.
Spinner
Donphan@Leftovers
252hp/188atk/68def (from old gen4 spinner set, might need more def this gen)
Ability sturdy/sand veil, Adamant nature
-Rapid spin
-Earthquake
-Assurance
-Ice shard/Stealth rock
Spin hazards, Assurance for ghosts switch ins (EQ for shanderaa) and ice shard for priority and revenge kill Weakened dragons. Earthquake for awesome stab.