[OVERVIEW]
Guzzlord is a solid Pokemon in RU, with its enormous bulk and defensive typing letting it check various common Pokemon like Celebi, Chandelure, Heliolisk, and Raikou. It's pretty good at taking even powerful special attacks, like Sludge Bomb from offensive Roserade and Ice Beam from Nidoqueen and wallbreaker Starmie. Knock Off has great utility, removing Heavy-Duty Boots or Leftovers from Pokemon like Milotic and Gastrodon. Offensive Guzzlord also has Heavy Slam, Earthquake, and Toxic for the Fairy-type, Steel-type, and bulky Pokemon that can take Knock Off. Guzzlord can also run a good RestTalk set that has better longevity and withstands Toxic users such as Raikou and Milotic. However, RestTalk Guzzlord is more passive, notably becoming setup bait for one of the tier's best Pokemon in Nasty Plot Togekiss. Guzzlord is destroyed by common Fighting-types such as Bewear, Heracross, and Lucario. Additionally, despite being Dark-type, it's potentially a liability against Psychic-type setup sweepers like Reuniclus, Cosmic Power Metagross, and Psycho Shift Sigilyph. All can take Knock Off, heal off the damage, and set up. RestTalk Guzzlord does beat Psycho Shift Sigilyph, but Metagross and Reuniclus can take advantage of a sleeping Guzzlord, as it'll need to get lucky with Sleep Talk rolling Dragon Tail to phaze them without taking significant damage.
[SET]
name: Tank
move 1: Knock Off
move 2: Heavy Slam
move 3: Earthquake / Toxic
move 4: Protect
item: Leftovers
ability: Beast Boost
nature: Adamant
evs: 104 Atk / 152 Def / 252 SpD
[SET COMMENTS]
Heavy Slam 2HKOes Fairy-types like Togekiss and Galarian Weezing. Earthquake is Guzzlord's best option against Steel-types like Steelix and Registeel after they've taken Knock Off, and it keeps Lucario from setting up freely. On the other hand, Toxic cripples bulky Pokemon like Milotic, Gastrodon, and Incineroar. Protect scouts against Choice-locked Pokemon like Gardevoir, Flygon, and Pangoro, lets Guzzlord safely heal with Leftovers, and racks up damage if running Toxic. Dragon Tail could be run in the third moveslot to rack up entry hazard damage and soft check setup sweepers like Reuniclus and Nasty Plot Crobat. Earthquake and Toxic can be run together without Heavy Slam on teams adequate against Nasty Plot Togekiss. Because Guzzlord's HP stat is so naturally high, investing EVs in its defenses is far more efficient. 152 Defense EVs let Guzzlord survive Mimikyu's +2 Drain Punch with Stealth Rock, the Special Defense helps with Heliolisk, Nidoqueen, and Life Orb Sigilyph, and the other EVs are thrown into Attack, importantly being more than enough to OHKO Chandelure.
Guzzlord pairs well with entry hazard setters like Roserade, Heavy-Duty Boots Heracross, and Steelix, since Knock Off removes Heavy-Duty Boots from Pokemon like Gastrodon and Noivern. Checks to Fighting-types like Lucario, Bewear, and Heracross are critical; Togekiss and Galarian Weezing check Pangoro and Heracross, Crobat checks Heracross and revenge kills Lucario, Noivern effectively revenge kills all the Fighting-types, and Chandelure and Jellicent check Bewear and Lucario. Haze Milotic can check the setup sweepers that beat Guzzlord, like Psycho Shift Sigilyph, Cosmic Power Metagross, and Reuniclus. Electric-types like Raikou and Xurkitree also cover Sigilyph. Golurk and Chandelure check Reuniclus and Metagross. Nidoqueen, Roserade, and Salazzle take advantage of Galarian Weezing for Guzzlord. Klefki can be handled with Ground-types like Seismitoad and Steelix, or Rapid Spin Starmie. Steel-types like Registeel and Steelix switch into Gardevoir; Steelix is especially good because it also checks Xurkitree well, which can threaten Guzzlord with Dazzling Gleam.
[SET]
name: RestTalk
move 1: Knock Off
move 2: Dragon Tail
move 3: Rest
move 4: Sleep Talk
item: Leftovers
ability: Beast Boost
nature: Adamant
evs: 48 Atk / 208 Def / 252 SpD
Rest helps remedy Guzzlord's lack of recovery and lets it deal with Toxic users like Raikou and Milotic, while Sleep Talk reduces the passiveness of Rest. Guzzlord's extremely high HP stat means that investing EVs in its defenses is more effective. Special Defense investment is prioritized because Guzzlord is good against special attackers like Sigilyph and Nidoqueen that are difficult to check otherwise, but the Defense EVs still make Guzzlord notably more resilient against physical attackers like Crobat and Metagross. The Attack EVs are enough to OHKO Sigilyph and then further optimize the stat slightly. Heavy Slam could be run over Dragon Tail on teams that need to prevent Togekiss from setting up freely.
Spikes and Stealth Rock users like Steelix, Roserade, Registeel, and Golisopod pair well with Guzzlord, since it uses Knock Off to remove Heavy-Duty Boots and Dragon Tail to accrue entry hazard damage. Electric- and Steel-types like Raikou, Stakataka, and Registeel are important to cover Togekiss. Steelix is a particularly notable teammate, because it also checks Xurkitree well, which threatens Guzzlord via Dazzling Gleam. Spikes Klefki and Galarian Weezing are other troublesome Fairy-types. Klefki can be checked by Pokemon like Incineroar and Dhelmise, while Nidoqueen, Roserade, and Chandelure can check Galarian Weezing. Covering Fighting-types is critical for Guzzlord. Togekiss and Galarian Weezing check Heracross and Pangoro, while Crobat switches into only Heracross but revenge kills Lucario. Jellicent and Chandelure cover Lucario, and Jellicent can also soft check Heracross.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Fire Blast is an option over Earthquake that puts more pressure on Steelix and defensive Roserade, and it 2HKOes Heracross. Guzzlord could function as a wallbreaker with Choice Band or Choice Specs that checks Grass- and Electric-types like Dhelmise and Heliolisk. However, as a wallbreaker it competes with Incineroar and Pangoro, which are stronger, get past Water-types more easily, and can take advantage of Umbreon with Swords Dance.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Fighting-types and Fighting-type Coverage**: Lucario, Bewear, Heracross, and Pangoro can switch into and easily destroy Guzzlord. However, Lucario and Heracross dislike Earthquake and Heavy Slam, respectively, and all besides Lucario are crippled by Toxic—Lucario easily takes advantage of these variants. Sharpedo destroys a chipped Guzzlord with Close Combat.
**Knock Off and Toxic**: Knock Off and Toxic heavily cripple non-RestTalk Guzzlord because it lacks recovery outside of Leftovers. Salazzle and Seismitoad cripple Guzzlord with Knock Off and Toxic, and Milotic and Gastrodon cripple it with Toxic.
**Fairy-types and Fairy-type Coverage**: Galarian Weezing and Klefki can take Guzzlord's attacks and threaten it with Fairy-type attacks, though they're 2HKOed by Heavy Slam and Earthquake, respectively. Gardevoir outpaces and OHKOes Guzzlord. Galarian Weezing, Klefki, and Togekiss cannot be phazed by Dragon Tail and wall RestTalk Guzzlord easily. Klefki and Togekiss can even set up Spikes or use Nasty Plot. Xurkitree's Dazzling Gleam OHKOes a slightly chipped Guzzlord.
**Setup Sweepers**: Cloyster and Barbaracle take Guzzlord's attacks and set up Shell Smash; however, they dislike the combination of Toxic and Protect quickly wearing them down, and non-White Herb Barbaracle is left at low health after Earthquake. Guzzlord cannot break through Cosmic Power Metagross due to Defense boosts and Reuniclus due to its bulk, letting them set up. Sigilyph burns Guzzlord with Psycho Shift and Flame Orb, preventing Knock Off from outdamaging Roost, for easy setup. RestTalk Guzzlord counters Sigilyph and can temporarily check the other Psychic-type setup sweepers by phazing them, but it takes significant damage from all of their boosted attacks and cannot phaze them if they're the last Pokemon standing.
**Dragon-types**: Noivern can switch into Guzzlord and thwart it with Draco Meteor, but it dislikes losing Heavy-Duty Boots to Knock Off and being hit by Dragon Tail. Flygon and Tyrantrum can use non-RestTalk Guzzlord to set up Dragon Dance, though Flygon being forced to use Outrage lets Guzzlord's teammates check it.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Yourwelcomethanku, 541847]]
- Quality checked by: [[zizalith, 410251], [GoldCat, 359771]]
- Grammar checked by: [[Adeleine, 517429], [Sulo, 528036]]
Last edited:
