Empoleon's trademark SubPetaya set is no longer as good as it was in Gen. 4. There are just quite too many things that make it hard for Empoleon to pull off a sweep / set-up. Ferrothorn, with his resistance to Surf and access to Power Whip, will prevent Empoleon from sweeping. Now that Latias is allowed in OU, she can either phaze you with Roar or Calm Mind up against Empoleon, taking little damage from Ice Beam. Rotom-W is also everywhere right now, and since it's part Water, it resists Empoleon's Surf and Ice Beam, and takes little from Grass Knot since it doesn't weigh much. It can then retaliate with Thunderbolt. Even Mach Punch users like Roobushin stop you from sweeping if your Substitute has faded.
IMO, the best thing Empoleon can do is run the special defensive set -Charmander- mentioned in his post. Latios is all the rage at the moment, throwing off powerful Draco Meteor's all over the place. With Empoleon's resistance to Dragon and high Special Defensive, he makes a good switch into Latios, especially since he resists Surf and is neutral to HP Fire. The fact that Empoleon can lay down Stealth Rock and can now use Boil Over is an added bonus. Make the special defensive set the first one in the analysis whenever you get a chance.
I'm going to reject the Swords Dance set. It's less effective than the SubPetaya set and runs into the same problems SubPetaya does. Rotom-W, who can Will-O-Wisp and hit you back with Thunderbolt, stops you; Ferrothorn can Thunder Wave / Leech Seed you and hit back with Power Whip; Jellicent can also Will-O-Wisp you and shrug off the damage with Recover; Birijion can revenge kill with either Close Combat or Focus Blast, the list goes on There are just too many new threats this generation for this set to be effective. The best thing you can do is mention Swords Dance in Optional Changes.
Make these changes and you have my approval:
QC APPROVED (1/3)
IMO, the best thing Empoleon can do is run the special defensive set -Charmander- mentioned in his post. Latios is all the rage at the moment, throwing off powerful Draco Meteor's all over the place. With Empoleon's resistance to Dragon and high Special Defensive, he makes a good switch into Latios, especially since he resists Surf and is neutral to HP Fire. The fact that Empoleon can lay down Stealth Rock and can now use Boil Over is an added bonus. Make the special defensive set the first one in the analysis whenever you get a chance.
I'm going to reject the Swords Dance set. It's less effective than the SubPetaya set and runs into the same problems SubPetaya does. Rotom-W, who can Will-O-Wisp and hit you back with Thunderbolt, stops you; Ferrothorn can Thunder Wave / Leech Seed you and hit back with Power Whip; Jellicent can also Will-O-Wisp you and shrug off the damage with Recover; Birijion can revenge kill with either Close Combat or Focus Blast, the list goes on There are just too many new threats this generation for this set to be effective. The best thing you can do is mention Swords Dance in Optional Changes.
Make these changes and you have my approval:
QC APPROVED (1/3)
