All Gens Find a Niche: Kabutops

[Jellicent]

Middling stats and an awkward typing make it easy to overlook Nidoqueen, especially with the direct competition she faces from Nidoking. Her bulk must always be capitalized on to set her apart, so we should look at what in particular she can check for the team. What sort of support does she require to function in the OU environment? More importantly, what does she actually bring to the table over Nidoking? From RBY to ORAS, how do we save the queen?

 

[Cowboy Dan]

Never actually tried this out but CALLOUS and I had a discussion about nidoqueen a while back. It has a number of unique defensive traits thanks to that typing and its movepool. It's one of the better answers to standard heracross in the game as it resists all of its common attacks. It's immune to thunderbolt, neutral to HP grass, and immune to both thunderwave and toxic making it a solid electric answer. Finally the rock resistance allows it to make CB rock types like aerodactyl think twice about clicking Rock Slide. The earthquake weakness makes it a not particularly reliable rock resist however.

Its movepool also has some nice tricks. STAB Earthquake + Sludgebomb sorta make up for its middling power by providing it with some high base power moves to use. Sludge Bomb's poison rate can definitely come in handy too, discouraging waters that would otherwise love to switch in to it. Taunt allows it to shut down skarmory which is huge and roar allows it to abuse spikes. It also has a wide coverage move pool that it can make use of to make a variety of threats think twice about switching in to it.

I can see a set of EQ, Sludge Bomb, Taunt, Roar fitting well on a skarm mag team. Pursuit tar support would be incredibly welcome for it, and due to this archetype's tendency to be somewhat heracross weak, its defensive traits could definitely come in handy.

It's not a pokemon you want to build around but it has the ability to fill a few common holes in adv teams, so if you find yourself needing its support, it's an option to consider.

 

[Enigami]

In RBY OU, she functions as an answer to electrics that has speed to lessen the need for paralysis support as well as provides some hax potential with Blizzard freezes. I'd gone through all the calculations at one point and found RBY is possibly the one tier Nidoqueen might be superior to Nidoking. Only Dragonite sits between Nidoqueen's 76 and Nidoking's 85 speed, and neither can reliably stop Dragonite from using Agility. Nidoqueen and Nidoqueen share the same Special stat, so offensively only Earthquake's power is reduced which usually doesn't effect # of hits to KO targets not weak to Blizzbolt.

And lastly, Nidoqueen's bulk is relevant for 4 important matchups: Taurus, Snorlax, Chansey and Zapdos. Taurus loses out on 2HKO without using Hyper Beam, which only has a 1/3 chance of KO, Snorlax also had to use Hyper Beam (reliable unlike Taurus though), Chansey often fails to 2HKO with Ice Beam, and Zapdos can require an extra Drill Peck to KO.

In short, Nidoking pros:
Very slightly higher crit rate
Slightly stronger Earthquake
Outspeeds Dragonite

Nidoqueen pros:
Stronger electric check
Improved survivability against 3/4 S ranks

There's reasons to prefer one over the other (I prefer Nidoqueen), but ultimately both are outshined by Rhydon for its sheer power, Golem for Explosion, and Sandslash for Swords Dance. Compared to their Ground-type competition, they matchup better against Lapras, Cloyster and Victreebel teams due to their higher speed and move pool (Grass neutrality for Victreebel is great too), so the Nidos have some merit against players that favor those Pokémon.

For team considerations, she ultimately needs luck or Chansey and Starmie at least paralyzed to do much beyond annoying Jolteon and Zapdos, and naturally pairs with Pokémon like Starmie or Slowbro that offer paralysis support and appreciates a Ground-type teammate.

Nidoqueen
-Earthquake
-Blizzard
-Thunderbolt
-Body Slam / Counter / Tail Whip

Earthquake + Blizzbolt offers complete coverage, Body Slam can be used to paralyze a switchin, Counter can allow her to severely punish a predicted Hyper Beam targeting a teammate, and Tail Whip is an option to soften Reflect users, or help to break a healthy Chansey that otherwise only fears a crit. Substitute is also a possibility, though it can only reliably set up Substitute against Jolteon.

 

[Bongi]

Despite nidoqueen sub-par stat distribution, it can serve as a great check to one of the ORAS biggest threats clefable. Resisting stab moonblast and being immune to thunderwave, which prevents things like heatran from being able to switch into it.

With access to both, Steath rocks and toxic spikes it's a great teammate for vincune, as toxic spikes help it 1v1 the likes of tangrowth. However nidoqueen shortcomings come from the fact that things such as: starmie, latios, and excadrill all force it out with a super effective hit, and can spin/ defog on it. Because of this pursuit trappers such as scarf tyranitar and weavile are great partners for nidoqueen.

All in all nidoqueen relies heavly on its typing as a defensive mon as it stats are mediocre. You will normally see nidoqueen on balance teams that benefit from toxic spikes, and one of the best clefable checks in the metagame.

 

[BKC]

nidoqueen is quite excellent in dpp ou, I wrote an excessively lengthy post on what it does a few months ago here

in bw tspikes are very underrated (your average sand offense team cant stand them) and you can set em up easily on ttar/a lot of rachi. checking terrakion/mienshao is very nice. sheer force ep/ice/flame is nice to have but I personally like poison point + rocky helmet so youre really punishing the pokes youre taking hits from cause queen isnt really much for offense.

in gsc I have seen conflict make use of an interesting charm set which combines the electric-checking of being a ground (but with much better bulk than nido) with the snorlax-annoying of a growler, and it does so without being a complete wuss offensively. moonlight helps it stay healthy. I'd probably use ice beam as the last (egg/zap). it's got a nice speed tier to do stuff with. obviously can't be a one-mon defensive army but it is a pretty decent stopper to halt your opponent's momentum for a bit. lastly it eats machamp's dumb face which any team appreciates.

 

[Jorgen]

Sadly GSC Nidoqueen cannot have both Charm & Moonlight on the same set; the former is an egg move, the latter is an event exclusive. Of the two I'd personally prefer Moonlight.

It does learn Body Slam by level-up though, which in combination with its bulk gives it another leg up on Nidoking as far as defensive sets go (Nidoking has to learn it via RBY TM, also incompatible with Morning Sun).

Nidoqueen @ Leftovers
-Earthquake
-Body Slam
-Roar
-Moonlight

The use case is basically when you want to add Steelix for the electric immunity, you already have enough Lax checks (even then Nidoqueen can act as a tertiary check), and are afraid of letting yourself get too weak to Machamp or Tyranitar. Which is similar to the sort of case where you'd use Nidoking, but Nidoqueen fits in if you'd rather have something more reliable (particularly against Gengar) or if you still need a Phazer.

 

[LonelyZard]

In BW her niche is hard to justify. Fight resistance is always good, but you'll end up with having a ground-weak pokemon when you could have used Landorus-T instead of her. So you'll have to put Nidoqueen in certain teams where you already have full ground protection; also, it would be better to take full advantage of the toxic spikes she lays by pairing her with something like Sub CM Keldeo or a bulkier team. Her biggest selling point is Sheer Force Fire Blast, though. Threatening a 2HKO on specially defensive Skarmory is a feat Roserade, Forretress and Tentacruel can only dream of. This is one of the reasons you'll insert her into hail or sandstorm (tyranitar) teams.
Poison point + Helmet seems an interesting set, but I guess the loss of sheer force means she must run Taunt? Overall Nidoqueen is a really cool Pokémon, she also has boltbeam, super fang and some phazing capabilities. Too bad she doesn't get softboiled.

 

[Jellicent]

Despite being the final form of the franchise's mascot, Raichu's never been a popular pick for competitive battlers. Electric is a good typing and its movepool is actually pretty cool, but poor stats have always held it back. So, what utility does Raichu offer that would make it worth using in OU? What sort of teammates can help it excel? From RBY to ORAS, are there any opposing threats it could possibly take advantage of?

For some extra fun, Light Ball Pikachu is on the table as well.

 

[Peasounay]

Raichu is rly mediocre in RBY. Even Zapdos and Jolteon aside, it has too much of a hard time against Chansey and Exeggutor. The niche is Surf to OHKO rocks but it can only do it if unparalysed and you're blocked by two pokemon who are on every team so there isn't much point.

- Thunderbolt
- Thunder Wave
- Surf
- Seismic Toss / Hyper Beam

Seismic Toss hits Exeggutor, Hyper Beam can (rarely) finish Chansey and Alakazam. Whatever last move you pick you're gonna have a problem against something. You can't afford stuff like Agility or Body Slam.

I don't think I ever thought "this team has a problem and putting Raichu in it solves it". It would only happen if you need to break waters for the team and check electrics without being at the total mercy of rocks but it can't do all of it at the same time. I think I paired it with like Charizard in some shitty experimental team to cover all the traits in questions but I ended up tossing the team as a whole.

If you want to run Raichu I'd say Slowbro to be a good partner (run Seismic Toss): Raichu gets rid of Starmie & Friends while checking Electrics and the combination of Raichu + Slowbro means they help each other out wearing down Exeggutor. Slowbro supports against Rocks for Raichu if it took paralysis and it helps against Alakazam as well. Thing is Jolteon can do that as well, but at least with Raichu rocks don't come in for free to hit smth. Not a great gain compared to what you lose.

I think a lot of mons in RBY have interesting under-explored niches (we discover new stuff every now and then) but I wouldn't consider Raichu as an interesting one since it's not a mon you're gonna extract a lot of value from compared to let's say niche normal types or swords dancers.

 

[Jorgen]

GSC:

Raichu @ Leftovers
-Thunder
-Toxic
-Encore
-Rest

Raichu could use a mixed attacking set, but Electabuzz & Ampharos are better suited for that. The main thing Raichu has going for it over other electrics is Encore, so a support set is the way to go. Raichu is faster than Misdreavus and Umbreon and even Jynx and Smeargle so it can stop them without fearing Confuse Ray or Sleep after the trap. Works very well in conjunction with (not instead of, because 8pp is not much) a phazer to deplete those trappers' PP.

Surf is illegal with Encore and your SpA isn't fantastic anyway, so Toxic is used because this guy often finds his way onto stall teams that aim to spread Toxic all over the place. That said, Thief, Light Screen, Hidden Power, Thunder Wave, and Charm are all legal moves in that slot that have their merits. Rest goes in the 4th slot so it can live a while & take advantage of its Thunder resistance.

Now that I think of it, Sleep Talk is also a reasonable move to consider in that Toxic slot so that even after using Rest, Raichu can still maybe use Encore to save the game if need be (esp. useful if you're using Raichu to take Thunders, as being able to RestTalk Encores means you get to heal off paralysis much more easily; hitting with ST is more likely than hitting through parafusion). It also helps with Encore's PP problem.

As for STAB, Thunder has these advantages over Tbolt:
-guaranteed 4HKO (assuming it hits) and ~30% 3HKO against Zapdos (note: 4HKO is relevant because of the speed tie; by comparison, Tbolt is a mere 30% to 4HKO)

-Assuming it hits, Thunder is a guaranteed 2HKO on Vaporeon (Tbolt merely 3HKOs or is a 50% 2HKO after Spikes)

-Para chance (in case you'd rather have that over poison)

The main thing is the vastly improved Zapdos KO threat, though.

 

[Jellicent]

Here's one that should get a bit more discussion going. Besides being the reason to stock up on Repels, the Zubat line's never really been the center of attention. I'm mostly interested in Crobat here, but also included Golbat for the RBYers. That said, if there's something cool that Eviolite Golbat is able to pull off that Crobat can't, feel free to discuss it as well. As usual, this is limited to past gens and OU. What unique qualities can Golbat and Crobat bring to the table? What sort of teams do they fit best on, and how should we go about supporting them? What's the best way to use this thing I caught so my 'mon would stop hitting itself in confusion?

I have given a name to my pain, and it is Crobat, man.

 

[Ortheore]

Golbat in RBY comes with a laugh track that makes Big Bang Theory look modest. There are literally zero redeeming qualities to it, with a terrible typing both offensively and defensively, stats that are in every way mediocre, and a movepool that is reminiscent of outer space- a giant void with barely anything in it. On pokemon perfect our lower tiers have gone as far as 6U and Golbat still isn't remotely useful. In higher tiers you could legitimately argue that Ditto is better, as it can conceivably luck its way past a paralysed Amnesia sweeper (or a frozen/sleeping one), whereas Golbat is bad at literally everything. Disclaimer: I'm greatly overstating Ditto here

I really loved using Golbat in PO's BW2 NU though. Bulky as fuck, great stallbreaking options and a typing that becomes decent defensively. I can't say I like Crobat as much though, Steel types are just too big an issue for it and in higher tiers they're much more prevalent

 

[Enigami]

Golbat in RBY comes with a laugh track that makes Big Bang Theory look modest. There are literally zero redeeming qualities to it, with a terrible typing both offensively and defensively, stats that are in every way mediocre, and a movepool that is reminiscent of outer space- a giant void with barely anything in it. On pokemon perfect our lower tiers have gone as far as 6U and Golbat still isn't remotely useful. In higher tiers you could legitimately argue that Ditto is better, as it can conceivably luck its way past a paralysed Amnesia sweeper (or a frozen/sleeping one), whereas Golbat is bad at literally everything. Disclaimer: I'm greatly overstating Ditto heret

There are 3 redeeming things about RBY Golbat: can't be walled (Flying-type moves hit Ghosts, Mega Drain hits Rocks), is reasonably fast for lower tiers, has EQ immunity and a 4x Grass resistance which is relevant against low tier Grass- and mono Ground-types. Problem is, its mediocre stats and lack of a decent STAB means it simply doesn't have the power to make use of what it does have. It's best treated like an NFE as it is in later gens.

Also, for Ditto, if you were to EVER use it before Imposter, the one place to use it is RBY Ubers- think of it like this, there's only 2 Ubers and you can technically gain a '3rd'. Ditto is much slower than Mew and Mewtwo, so it requires paralysis support to be able to Transform into them safely before getting wasted. Slowbro is also a potential target that Ditto outspeeds. All 3 of these are typically Pokemon with boosts that Ditto can copy to make up for the momentum loss of Transform, and even if they 'counter' Ditto with switching out, forcing them out is still a boon for Ditto. Despite this technical niche though, Ditto is still bad even there.

 

[Jorgen]

RBY Golbat's only flying move is wing attack, which has base 35 power in that gen. Not exactly earth-shattering power.

Yeah, in RBY, Golbat's "niche" is the dubious distinction of being literally the worst fully-evolved Pokemon in the game. At least Ditto can go toe-to-toe with Slowbro and Hitmonchan gets Body Slam and Counter and Butterfree gets powders and Beedrill gets Swords Dance and Pin Missile and Farfetch'd gets STAB Slash. While those aren't niches per se (they're all outclassed for sure), Golbat doesn't even have a role in which to be outclassed. It gets nothing.

In GSC though, Crobat is still fairly weak but its one niche is inspired by the swagster strats of later gens:

Crobat @ Leftovers
- Swagger
- Substitute
- Screech
- Hidden Power Flying / Mean Look

Swagger > Confuse Ray so things do more damage to themselves (otherwise this set is wholly a nuisance, nothing more). Screech further compounds the issue. HP Flying allows you to finish things off and force things out with Def downs before they get max attack and can't be confused anymore. Substitute is what makes the set work (minimizes risk of giving foe attack boosts, lets you cheese for self-hits). Crobat's blistering speed is why this set is dangerous - he always gets to confuse you before you can move. Only really works with Spikes down to punish switching. Because of that, it's countered pretty hard by double-flying (Skarm + Zapdos). Mean Look is slashed over HP Flying so that isn't as big an issue, but then you run into problems with keeping the foe confused.

 

[Jellicent]

I wouldn't say Golbat gets nothing. Haze only has 3 users, and Golbat's the only one that outspeeds a good amount of SDers (Victreebel, Venusaur, Sandslash, Kingler, Pinsir, Kabutops). The 4x resistance to Grass and immunity to Ground gives it a chance to come in against a few of them, too. Vaporeon's the better Hazer for Am Bro + Lax, though, which are overall more common, I'd say. Weezing's probably also a better option for them due to Explosion and stronger offenses. Still, Golbat outspeeds both Bro and Lax (and the ultra rare but speedier Golduck and Poliwrath, which the others miss), making it an option if you predict Am / they're Resting.

That said, Haze still isn't that great. It's situational, making Golbat even more useless if the opponent doesn't have one of those (not too common, besides Bro) mons. It removes the opponent's status, meaning a smart switch on their part could just cure something on their team. After it Hazes or when it has no need to, Golbat's not really that threatening to anything. Confuse Ray is probably one of its best options, and Haze annoyingly removes paralysis...

 

[Enigami]

RBY Golbat's only flying move is wing attack, which has base 35 power in that gen. Not exactly earth-shattering power.

Yeah, in RBY, Golbat's "niche" is the dubious distinction of being literally the worst fully-evolved Pokemon in the game. At least Ditto can go toe-to-toe with Slowbro and Hitmonchan gets Body Slam and Counter and Butterfree gets powders and Beedrill gets Swords Dance and Pin Missile and Farfetch'd gets STAB Slash. While those aren't niches per se (they're all outclassed for sure), Golbat doesn't even have a role in which to be outclassed. It gets nothing.

Golbat Tackle vs. Gastly: 63-75 (23.9 - 28.5%) -- 97.9% chance to 4HKO

Wing Attack is weak, yes, but still better than being entirely rendered useless by any Ghost-type. Other Flying-types like Scyther and Pidgeot also sometimes run Wing Attack in low tiers for that exact reason. Of course, Gastly gets tiered before Golbat does, so it isn't exactly important, but still.

With regards to Farfetch'd, it's yet to be proven that Golbat is worse than it, and Magneton isn't completely safe from earning that title either. Magneton is screwed for as long as Ground- and Grass-types (including LCs) exist, ESPECIALLY the Rock/Grounds. Farfetch'd is pretty slow and weak, and heavily dependent on Rock-types not being around to put in any work and depending on circumstances could end up outclassed by Doduo. Golbat just has NFE-esque stats without STAB, which means it will be guaranteed to be useful once majority of the FEs are gone so it's up against mons closer to its own power level. Judging Golbat to be the worst by OU merits also doesn't hold water, as Golbat still does have EQ immunity + 4x Grass resistance + Haze + Confuse Ray to theoretically do something nothing else can (just very very poorly), while there are plenty of Pokemon that are 100% outclassed in OU in almost every single aspect like Magneton and Hitmonchan.

 

[Jellicent]

Blastoise is as historically UU as it gets, but it's always been a rarity in standard. Even a mega evolution couldn't push it into the big leagues, though that means Mega Blastoise is fair game for this discussion. Blastoise's biggest problem has always been standing out, so we should try to figure out how it can do just that. So, what unique niches can it fill in past gen OUs? Are there any Pokemon it pairs particularly well with? How do we finally turn this starter into a star?

probably not like that...

 

[Vengeance417]

ORAS OU

Blastoise-Mega @ Blastoisinite
Ability: Rain Dish
EVs: 140 HP / 252 SpA / 116 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Dark Pulse
- Aura Sphere
- Rapid Spin

The main niche Mega Blastoise has as a Rapid Spinner is its ability to blow back spinblockers (despite them not being very numerous in ORAS OU) and common entry hazard setters with Dark Pulse and other coverage moves, respectively. Dark Pulse allows Mega Blastoise to destroy Ghost types such as Gengar and Cofagrigus while also denting bulky Psychics such as Latios, (Mega) Latias, Starmie, and (Mega) Slowbro, Aura Sphere heavily damages Ferrothorn, and Scald hurts Landorus-T, Heatran, and Hippowdon. The speed EVs allow it to outpace defensive Landorus-T before it gets the chance to set up Stealth Rock, but you could run more bulk if you'd like to simply outpace slower threats such as Rotom-W, which only requires 76 Speed EVs. Rain Dish is its pre-mega ability of choice if it happens to go up against Rain teams.​

 

[Bongi]

In gens 1-6 Blastoise biggest problem seems to come from Starmie who always the superior water spinner, thanks to it good speed and equally impressive move pool. However with the gift of a mega evolution, Mega Blastoise gained a boost in both defensive and special attack. However even with the boosts in stats blastoise only real niche over starmie is its mono water type. Since starmie has the psychic types it becomes a easy target to get pursuit trapped, by things such as weavile, bisharp, ttar etc.
however even with these qualms starmie is still generally the better choice, and will only see blastoise shining in lower tiers. :(

 

[ZoroDark]

Bongi is right that Blastoise struggles to set itself apart from other water type spinners across all gens, but BW might be the one generation where it has a chance to rise above the fray.


Blastoise @ Leftovers
Ability: Rain Dish
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Rapid Spin
- Toxic
- Refresh

Even though Tentacruel is usually the best choice as a defensive spinner on rain teams, Blastoise has a couple of things going for it. 79/100/109 base defenses paired with 12.5% recovery each turn make this mon a pain to kill, especially without the nasty Ground weakness that Tentacruel suffers from. This makes Blastoise a much more viable way to counteract the Ground types (Garchomp, Landorus-T and lately Excadrill) that run this tier. Blastoise also has a bunch of really cool options for its 4th moveslot. I think Refresh may be the best one as it tilts the Scald wars that often define Rain vs Rain in your favor. It's also very helpful in allowing Blastoise to spin on Jellicent, which is something that Tentacruel can't always do as easily. If spinning on Jellicent is that important, you can even run Foresight. Finally, Blastoise also has access to Roar and Dragon Tail, which could be a lifesaver against known nuissances to defensive inclined Rain teams such as Reuniclus.

 

[Ortheore]

RBY Blastoise is basically garbage. The only conceivable niche is that it's a bulky water with access to Counter and EQ. EQ is underwhelming because the only thing it's really hitting is Jolteon, which isn't worth it unless you're playing me lol. Counter is... nice I guess? It's actually not a bad physical check, as its typing and decent bulk allows it to threaten GolDon while Counter interferes with Lax and Tauros, creating a 50-50 between something eating a Counter or their Normal taking a HPump. It's too bad it's got like zero offensive potential thanks to its mediocre stats, lack of coverage and inability to spread status, which means Chansey and opposing Waters fear basically nothing from it.

Starmie can't outclass it as a spinner if there's no spin though =P

 

[Jorgen]

GSC 'Toise is kinda cool. It's a spinner that lasts longer than Cloy and doesn't have the Dark weakness that Starmie can suffer from (meaning it's a more reliable Ttar check and not vulnerable to Pursuit). Plus it can phaze if you need it to (especially helpful against Vap), so it's far from outclassed.

Blastoise @ Leftovers
-Surf
-Zap Cannon
-Rapid Spin
-Roar

Zap Cannon is just a funny little move I like to run to surprise Cloysters with damage & other pokes with Paralysis. Toxic is probably a more practical option though. Counter/Mirror Coat are also good moves to use every now and again in that 4th slot.

Haze is an option but pseudo-haze is generally more useful than Haze proper.

Important to note, too, that there's no Rest here. I figure if you're going to use Blastoise, you need to make the most of the unique move combos he offers. Otherwise he's just a more penetrable wall than Suicune or a less reliable spinner than Starmie.

 

[Nix_Hex]

I ran a Hunger Games team in ORAS with Mega Bee (tracker hackers, get it?) And I needed a bulky spinner phazer. Assault Vest Blastoise to the rescue! I don't remember the exact spread I used but it went something like this:

Blastoise @ Assault Vest
Ability: Rain Dish
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature / Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Rapid Spin
- Dragon Tail
- Ice Beam

The only other thing that can remove hazards and phaze while holding an Assault Vest is Smeargle, and hell naw. Scald for Burn, Ice Beam to hit Lando and Garchomp harder. Investing in SpA isn't necessary, not even a guaranteed OHKO on either at 252 lol. Don't use this set.

Edit: Sassy works if you care about more damage from Dragon Tail

 

[Fakes]

Blastoise (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 168 SAtk / 88 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Foresight / Mirror Coat
- Hydro Pump
- Rapid Spin
- Refresh

ADV Blastoise is a generally a much worse Swampert with access to Rapid Spin and some more Speed. Hydro Pump coming from 248 Special Attack will kill even max HP Gengar in two hits and is very, very likely to finish off Skarmory in three, even if it uses Protect every second turn, whereas Gengar needs 328 SpAtk to even have a slight chance to do the same to Blastoise with Thunderbolt.

168 SpA Blastoise Hydro Pump vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Gengar: 173-204 (53.3 - 62.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
168 SpA Blastoise Hydro Pump vs. 252 HP / 252 SpD Skarmory: 135-159 (40.4 - 47.6%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery

Foresight allows Rapid Spin to hit through Ghosts and mighty be useful since Hydro Pump only has a shoddy 64 % chance of hitting twice in a row. Mirror Coat punishes Gengar for using Thunderbolt and can serve as a last resort option against non-Roar/Toxic/HP Suicune. Refresh prevents certain death from status conditions such as Skarmory's Toxic or Gengar's Will-o-Wisp.


Other options include Ice Beam/Icy Wind, Counter, Roar, Haze, Toxic, Rain Dance, Protect and Yawn, with both Haze and Yawn having compatibility issues with Foresight and Refresh. I guess you could drop either of Foresight and Mirror Coat anytime and Refresh too, if you have a Magneton as well. In this case Protect/Rapid Spin/Surf/Toxic with more Defense might be the best bet:

Blastoise (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Torrent
EVs: 252 HP / 220 Def / 36 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Protect
- Rapid Spin
- Surf
- Toxic

362 HP / 320 Def enables it to survive 3 Choice Band Metagross Meteor Mashes or 2 Choice Band Tyranitar Rock Slides.

252+ Atk Choice Band Metagross Meteor Mash vs. 252 HP / 220+ Def Blastoise: 102-120 (28.1 - 33.1%) -- 91.1% chance to 4HKO after Leftovers recovery
252+ Atk Choice Band Tyranitar Rock Slide vs. 252 HP / 220+ Def Blastoise: 153-180 (42.2 - 49.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery


The only other idea that possibly comes to mind is a very poor imitation of VIL's Charizard with less Spd and SpAtk and a far worse typing:

Blastoise (M) @ Petaya Berry / Salac Berry
Trait: Torrent
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk) / Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Hydro Cannon / Toxic / Ice Beam
- Hydro Pump
- Rain Dance / Toxic / Ice Beam
- Substitute

+1 252+ SpA Torrent Blastoise Hydro Cannon vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Blissey in Rain: 523-616 (80.2 - 94.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

 

[Jellicent]

Got a Gen 6 sprite looking not ridiculously huge with some cropping~

Articuno was actually decent in RBY, sans the poor movepool. Then it lost 30 Special Attack in GSC and someone thought up Stealth Rock in DPP. Even as it gained new toys each gen, the climate around it just grew fiercer and it never really kept up. So, how do we save the stereotypically worst original legendary? What partners can help it overcome its weaknesses and thrive in past gen OUs? Are there any valuable niches it can actually fill on a team? How do we make Articuno cool?