Omastar: The Special Relicanth

[X-Act]

Okay, so people have been singing the praises of Relicanth being hugely improved in DP, and Omastar has been largely forgotten in the process. So much, in fact, that this is the very first Omastar discussion thread, at least according to Paperfairy's index.

By the way, Omastar is STILL the non-uber Water-type with the highest Special attack stat in the game, despite having existed since RBY.

Omastar

Type: Rock/Water
Abilities: Swift Swim (Omastar's speed doubles in the rain) or Shell Armor (The opponent's moves cannot critically hit)
Stats:
HP: 70
Atk: 60
Defense: 125
SpAtk: 115
SpDef: 70
Speed: 55

Physical movepool

Bite
Rollout
Rock Blast
Stone Edge
Gyro Ball
Rock Slide
Waterfall
Body Slam (tutor)
Double-edge (tutor)

Mostly consisting of STAB moves, the above list should be largely ignored, due to a below-average attacking stat.

Special movepool

Ancientpower
Brine
Hydro Pump
Ice Beam
Surf
Wring Out
Hidden Power

Again mainly consisting of STAB moves. It's enough, though.

Support

Tickle
Rain Dance
Thief
Rock Polish
Stealth Rock
Swagger
Haze
Spikes
Knock Off
Toxic Spikes
Seismic Toss (tutor)

Rather interesting. It can lay down Spikes, it can Knock Off, it can Stealth Rock, it can Haze. Not bad at all.

As you can see, stat-wise, Omastar is basically a Relicanth with the attacking stats switched. Their speed is the same, they have both good physical defense, and they have both mediocre special defense.

Being a Rock-type, Omastar also benefits from the Special Defense increase under Sandstorm conditions, but this conflicts with Swift Swim. Luckily, you can still up your speed with Rock Polish instead.

Omastar @ Leftovers/Wet Rock
Swift Swim

- Rain Dance
- Surf/Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Ancientpower / Hidden Power Grass/Fighting/Rock

Swift Swim set. Omastar has arguably the most powerful Water attack in the non-uber game, with Rain Dance + Hydro Pump + STAB + 115 base Special Attack. This set is weak in the special defense department, though, so be careful.


Omastar @ Leftovers
Battle Armor

- Rock Polish
- Surf/Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Ancientpower / Hidden Power Grass/Fighting/Rock

Use this in conjunction with a Sandstream Pokemon. Here you first increase your Special Defense via Sandstream, and then your speed via Rock Polish. You don't get a boosted Water move here, though.


Omastar @ Leftovers
Battle Armor

- Spikes
- Knock Off/Haze
- Surf
- filler

Support set, which will probably fail, especially due to being weak to Ground and Fighting, despite that good defense stat. But Omastar has so many good support moves that it seems to be a pity not to use them.

 

[Sir Spanky]

Omastar couples both a great UU tank, and a decent Rain dance cleaner.

Rain Dance/Surf/HP Special/Ice Beam

Surf/Ice Beam/Rest or Knock Off/Spikes or Stealth Rock

imo.

(I was about to mention Gorebyss, thinking it was the forgotten water type with more special attack, but it has 1 less base stat lol)

 

[Mekkah]

Haze and Spikes in the same set was illegal for Omastar in Advance. Both of them were egg moves, but they come from different groups/fathers/whatever. I haven't checked this for DP but it will likely remain so, which is of course rather sad.

And once again, I've got to emphasize how wretched Rock/Water is as a typing. Not able to come in on anything except something like Weezing, Skarmory or a Choice Banded Flying or Normal attack is pretty lame, to say at least. The Special Defense boost from Sand Stream helps, I suppose. Omastar is one of the most threatening UU Special attackers though.

STAB Special Ancientpower is nice, but I doubt he'll get much use out of it. It's only a little more helpful for things like Bug/Flying types or Gyarados/Mantine/Pelipper, about anything else takes more damage from its other moves, especially in Rain Dance.

 

[Misty]

Rock/Water also resists Ice, so there's that.

I probably wouldn't really change Omastar much. The special defense boost is nice, but are you really going to use Omastar in OU?

 

[X-Act]

Omastar will be difficult to use in OU, I guess. It's better and easier to just use Tyranitar and Rhyperior for the special defense Sandstorm boost. If anything, though, Omastar provides a special attacking Rock type, which is hard to find.

 

[Mekkah]

I will take Heatran as my Sandstorm immune Special Attacker any day though, I prefer Steel over Rock as a defensive type even if Rock gets 50% extra Special Defense. Then again it's kinda apples and oranges.