[OVERVIEW]
Omastar is widely regarded as one of the best Pokemon in UU due to its excellent defensive and offensive qualities. Omastar's access to Spikes is incredibly important for virtually every playstyle, and it finds itself to be the easiest Spikes setter to fit on teams due to its great Defense and decent defensive typing in Water / Rock, which gives it useful resistances to Flying- and especially Normal-type moves; these traits also make it one of the best leads in the metagame and a solid check to powerful Pokemon like Scyther, Fearow, and Kangaskhan. Additionally, Omastar's sky-high Special Attack prevents it from being completely passive when running defensive sets, threatening most of the Pokemon it checks with a strong, STAB-boosted Surf, and allows it to become an extremely deadly rain sweeper when paired with Swift Swim that can completely decimate teams once its checks have been taken down. However, while Water / Rock does provide some handy resistances, it also gives Omastar very common weaknesses to Grass-, Electric-, Ground-, and Fighting-type moves, making it more difficult for it to consistently check Pokemon like Choice Band Granbull and Kangaskhan and lessening its effectiveness as a check to Fire-types like Ninetales, since they often run Grass-type coverage. Omastar also suffers from poor special bulk, meaning strong neutral or super effective special attacks will often severely cripple or outright KO it. Omastar's lack of reliable recovery and vulnerability to status don't help it either, since Leftovers can instantly be negated by poison or burn and offensive sets detest being paralyzed due to their reliance on outspeeding foes. Omastar is also extremely slow without Swift Swim, so it often must take a hit before it can do anything.
[SET]
name: Defensive Spikes
move 1: Spikes
move 2: Surf
move 3: Toxic / Ice Beam
move 4: Protect / Hidden Power Grass / Ice Beam
item: Leftovers
ability: Shell Armor
nature: Bold
evs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Set Description
=========
Spikes is an incredibly powerful support tool, since it wears down grounded foes every time they switch in, limiting their opportunities while also making it easier for Omastar's teammates to take down bulkier threats. STAB Surf lets Omastar take down Fire-, Ground-, and Rock-types like Ninetales, Gligar, and Lunatone. Toxic cripples and stacks offensive pressure on most Pokemon that try to switch into Omastar, which gives it more opportunities to set Spikes. Protect helps Omastar rack up Toxic damage, gives it a turn of free Leftovers recovery, and allows it to scout for super effective attacks. Hidden Power Grass is an option to threaten an OHKO on opposing Omastar while also hitting other Water-types like Blastoise, Lanturn, and Quagsire. Another option is Ice Beam to take down Scyther and Altaria, which could become dangerous if not taken care of, and prevent Grass-types like Vileplume from freely switching in.
Maximum HP and Defense EVs with a Bold nature let Omastar take multiple Earthquakes from Kangaskhan lacking Choice Band and use it as setup fodder for Spikes.
Team Options
========
Due to Omastar's lack of reliable recovery, it has to worry about being worn down by Spikes and status, especially poison. Thus, Rapid Spin users like Tentacruel, Blastoise, and Hitmontop are useful teammates. In particular, Tentacruel's resistance to Water, neutrality to Grass-type moves, and immunity to Toxic are very helpful. Moreover, clerics such as Granbull and Vileplume make for great allies. Specifically, Granbull has Intimidate to weaken physical attackers and Thunder Wave to slow down fast Pokemon, and Vileplume has useful resistances to Water, Grass, Electric, and Fighting as well as Sleep Powder to immobilize critical threats. Ghost-types such as Misdreavus and Banette can block Rapid Spin to keep Omastar's Spikes from being removed, making them useful partners. Grass- and Electric-types like Vileplume and Electabuzz are very dangerous to Omastar, so Pokemon that can check them such as Muk, Cradily, and Camerupt are good choices for their defensive synergy. Wish passers such as Hypno and Kangaskhan are very helpful to increase Omastar's longevity, due to its aforementioned lack of reliable recovery. They can also make use of Protect and Toxic to rapidly wear down foes in combination with Omastar's Spikes. Hypno is an especially synergistic teammate due to its resistance to Fighting-type moves and good special bulk. Lastly, strong attackers such as Scyther and Kangaskhan greatly appreciate Spikes support, since it wears down several common checks and counters and makes bulkier threats much easier to take down.
[SET]
name: Offensive Spikes
move 1: Spikes
move 2: Surf
move 3: Ice Beam / Thief
move 4: Hidden Power Grass
item: Leftovers / No Item
ability: Swift Swim
nature: Modest
evs: 252 HP / 12 Def / 28 SpA / 216 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Set Description
=========
Spikes wears down grounded Pokemon when they switch in, limiting foes' opportunities and making bulky Pokemon easier to defeat. Surf is the STAB move of choice due to its higher accuracy and PP over Hydro Pump. Ice Beam takes down Pokemon like Scyther and Altaria as well as Grass-types such as Vileplume, Meganium, and Shiftry. Thief is Omastar's only way of doing anything significant to one of its strongest counters, Tentacruel, taking away its Leftovers and leaving it much more prone to being worn down by Spikes and chip damage. Hidden Power Grass allows Omastar to OHKO opposing Omastar leads and prevents it from being walled by Quagsire.
Maximum HP investment and 12 Defense EVs make Omastar as bulky as possible without sacrificing speed and power. 28 Special Attack EVs with a Modest nature guarantee an OHKO with Hidden Power Grass against opposing Omastar leads, which is a critical matchup to win. 216 Speed EVs let Omastar outspeed uninvested base 80 Speed Pokemon such as Meganium.
Team Options
========
This set is one of the best leads for offensive teams due to its combination of good defenses and high power, which let it win the mirror matchup, prevent it from being passive, and allow it to fire off hard hits to weaken threats for its teammates. Since this set should primarily be used on offensive teams, Pokemon that appreciate Omastar's ability to easily set up Spikes early-game such as Electabuzz, Nidoking, and Scyther are excellent partners, as it turns many 3HKOs into 2HKOs, notably giving Nidoking a chance to win against Walrein after two layers of Spikes. Omastar's team needs Spikes to stay up as long as possible, so Rapid Spin users such as Blastoise, Hitmontop, and especially Tentacruel are very problematic. Electric-types such as Electabuzz and Manectric can threaten Blastoise and Tentacruel for Omastar with their super effective STAB moves; Kangaskhan also makes a very good answer to Tentacruel, since it usually runs Earthquake. Meanwhile, Psychic-types such as Hypno and Lunatone can check Hitmontop, as they can tank Brick Break and Hidden Power Ghost and put it down with Psychic. Spinblockers such as Misdreavus and Banette are also useful partners, but due to their mediocre-at-best bulk, they have to watch out for STAB Hydro Pump from Tentacruel and Hidden Power Ghost from Hitmontop.
[SET]
name: Rain Dance Sweeper
move 1: Rain Dance
move 2: Hydro Pump
move 3: Ice Beam
move 4: Hidden Power Grass / Spikes
item: Mystic Water / Leftovers / Lum Berry
ability: Swift Swim
nature: Modest
evs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Set Description
=========
Rain Dance activates Swift Swim, letting Omastar outpace the entire unboosted metagame, and makes Hydro Pump an incredibly powerful STAB move that can do good damage even to some Pokemon that resist it. Hydro Pump is preferred over Surf on this set due to its significantly higher power, allowing Omastar to grab many KOs more easily at the cost of lower PP and unreliable accuracy. Ice Beam threatens to KO Flying-types like Fearow, Altaria, and Scyther and Grass-types like Vileplume and Meganium. Hidden Power Grass makes Omastar a more consistent sweeper, preventing it from being defenseless against Quagsire and giving it a better matchup against other Water-types like Blastoise. Although using Spikes over Hidden Power Grass can make Omastar a less effective sweeper, it is still an excellent tool to ease sweeping for Omastar's team and can lull the opponent into a false sense of security about its moveset.
Mystic Water raises the power of Hydro Pump and allows Omastar to OHKO Pokemon like Hypno and Cradily under rain if three layers of Spikes have been set up. Instead of opting for the power of Mystic Water, Omastar can use Leftovers to increase its longevity. Lum Berry prevents Omastar from being crippled by poison, burn, and especially paralysis, which ensures that Omastar always outspeeds the entire metagame under rain.
Maximum Special Attack and Speed investment with a Modest nature is chosen to maximize the power of Omastar's attacks and let it outspeed the entire metagame under rain. Omastar can run as low as 96 Speed EVs to invest into defenses, which would let Omastar survive a Hidden Power Grass from Walrein and still allows it to outspeed Scyther and most Electric-types under rain, although this leaves Omastar more vulnerable outside of rain, since Pokemon like Lunatone will be able to outspeed it and hit it with Psychic or Hypnosis, and also means that it will be unable to outrun Electrode under rain, which can threaten to OHKO it with STAB Thunderbolt.
Team Options
========
Despite Omastar's high damage output under rain, it is walled by bulky Water-types such as Tentacruel, Walrein, and Lanturn, so Electric-types like Electabuzz and Manectric and Grass-types like Vileplume make for good teammates. Vileplume is notable in that it has access to Aromatherapy, which helps offset Omastar's vulnerability to status, particularly Thunder Wave. Baton Passing Calm Mind boosts is very helpful for Omastar, making its already powerful attacks even stronger and helping it tank special attacks; therefore, Hypno and Lunatone can be valuable partners. Hypno notably has good special bulk, resists Fighting-type moves, and has access to Wish to alleviate Omastar's lack of reliable recovery, although Wish and Baton Pass cannot be used together. Choice Band Nidoking and other Ground-types with Choice Band also make for good teammates, since the bulky Water-types that can stop Omastar from sweeping will be significantly weakened if they are forced to take a Choice Band-boosted Earthquake. These Ground-types can also serve as pivots for Electric-type attacks aimed at Omastar.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Hidden Power Electric may 3HKO Tentacruel depending on the set Omastar is running and lets it deter Tentacruel without having to worry about Hydro Pump's unreliable accuracy. However, using Hidden Power Electric over Hidden Power Grass leaves Omastar vulnerable to Lanturn and Quagsire. RestTalk improves Omastar's longevity and also prevents it from being worn down by status, but it makes Omastar more passive and leaves it setup fodder for Pokemon like Slowking.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Rapid Spin Users**: Rapid Spin users such as Tentacruel, Blastoise, and Hitmontop are able to remove Spikes from their side of the field and deal with Omastar in their own ways. Tentacruel is a fantastic counter to Omastar in general, since it has great special bulk, resists both Water-type STAB move options and Ice Beam, is neutral to Hidden Power Grass, is immune to Toxic, and can 2HKO Omastar with Hydro Pump or OHKO it with Giga Drain. While Hitmontop is the least effective of the Rapid Spin users and does not resist Omastar's attacks, it can inflict poison to Omastar with Toxic and wear it down with Brick Break.
**Bulky Water-types**: Bulky Water-types like Walrein, Lanturn, and Slowking are 3HKOed at best by Hidden Power Grass and are able to take down Omastar with their STAB moves or through other methods. Walrein can 3HKO it with Surf or inflict it with Toxic. Lanturn can paralyze Omastar with Thunder Wave and has a STAB in Thunderbolt to OHKO Omastar. Slowking can easily tank a Hidden Power Grass before a Calm Mind boost, use Omastar as setup fodder, and OHKO it at +2. If Omastar does not have Hidden Power Grass, Quagsire, although fairly uncommon, can completely wall it and threaten to 3HKO it with Earthquake.
**Grass-types**: Due to Omastar's 4x weakness to Grass, Grass-types such as Vileplume and Meganium pose a massive threat to it; the former also threatens to immobilize Omastar with Sleep Powder. However, these Pokemon are weak to Ice Beam, so they aren't always reliable answers.
**Electric-types**: Electric-types such as Electabuzz, Manectric, and Electrode are all very fast and threaten to OHKO Omastar with their super effective STAB moves, which make them huge problems. However, these Pokemon are all frail and would never want to take a STAB Hydro Pump from Rain Dance Omastar.
**Status Ailments**: Poison and burn will instantly negate Leftovers recovery and quickly wear down Omastar due to its lack of reliable recovery. Rain Dance Omastar strongly detests being paralyzed, since that means that even under rain it will fail to outspeed many threats, most notably Electric-types like Electabuzz.
**Special Walls**: While special walls such as Hypno and Kangaskhan still take a large chunk of damage from a rain- and STAB-boosted Hydro Pump, they are still able to stall out Rain Dance turns and Hydro Pump PP with Wish and Protect. Hypno and Kangaskhan don't fear anything from offensive and defensive Spikes sets apart from Thief and Toxic, and they can inflict Omastar with Toxic of their own to take it down. However, they do not do much to prevent Spikes from being set up.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Oldamar999, 453750]]
- Quality checked by: [[Hogg, 228003], [Plas, 355066]]
- Grammar checked by: [[The Dutch Plumberjack, 232216], [Oglemi, 40358]]
Last edited by a moderator:
