Battle Spot Quagsire

[Theorymon]

[SET]
name: Zacian-C Check
move 1: Recover
move 2: Yawn
move 3: Earthquake / Scald
move 4: Toxic / Protect / Scald / Stockpile
item: Rocky Helmet / Leftovers
ability: Unaware
nature: Impish / Bold / Relaxed
evs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD

[SET COMMENTS]

* Despite mediocre stats, Quagsire makes itself very important by checking one of the best Pokemon in the game, Zacian-C! This makes Quagsire a staple both on stall teams and on more balanced and offensive teams that desperately need a Zacian-C check.

* Yawn is highly recommended, as it lets Quagsire pressure special attackers that switch in as long as Stealth Rock is up, and it can stop Necrozma-DM before its Dragon Dances get too out of control.

* Earthquake lets Quagsire usually 3HKO Zacian-C on its own. It also usually 4HKOes defensive Necrozma-DM, though Sunsteel Strike, which ignores Unaware, and Weakness Policy make this a risky tactic.

* Scald is very weak, but it prevents Landorus-T from totally walling Quagsire, and the 30% chance to burn is quite useful. The burn can conflict with Toxic and Yawn, however.

* Quagsire gets access to the rare and useful Toxic, which is great for putting bulky switch-ins to Quagsire on a timer, such as Kyogre.

* Protect can help stall out powerful Dynamax users such as Life Orb Landorus-T that can threaten to break through Quagsire, and it also has great synergy with Yawn and Leftovers.

* Stockpile is an alternate way to protect Quagsire against powerful physical Dynamax users, turning a lot of moves that 2HKO into 3HKOs, such as Life Orb Landorus-T's Max Quake.

* Pairing Blissey or Chansey alongside Quagsire is highly suggested, since most powerful special attackers easily KO it. Blissey in particular does well against Kyogre thanks to Utility Umbrella.

* Although Quagsire is mostly used to check Zacian-C, Water Absorb is a surprise option that makes Quagsire a good Kyogre check instead. The surprise factor at Team Preview is the main value, though, as Gastrodon is a better Kyogre check otherwise. When playing against Quagsire, consider the possibility of Water Absorb at Team Preview if it is paired with a strong secondary Zacian-C check, such as Necrozma-DM.

Items
========

* Rocky Helmet lets Quagsire deal some immediate chip damage when switching into Zacian-C, making it an even better check! It's especially important when using Quagsire on full stall teams, since the extra chip damage can be vital when timer stalling.

* Leftovers works very well with Protect, and it can help Quagsire escape some potential 2HKO cases. It also gives Quagsire some recovery pressure with Yawn, which can be useful on more balanced teams.

[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Theorymon, 29010]]
- Quality checked by: [[Tox, 146], [greilmercenary9, 336524]]
- Grammar checked by: [[Finland, 517429]]

 

[Theorymon]

This is now ready for QC! I thought about actually having a separate Stockpile set, but I decided I won't do that unless there's demand for it.

 

[Tox]

I tried my darndest to find at least one truly insightful thing to add, like Shed Shell or something. But, no, foiled yet again; it's Quagsire.

QC 1/2

 

[greilmercenary9]

After a couple of weekends ago I would feel weird not contributing to Quag lol. But I guess I'm just not as nice as Tox (lol): I do have a few things to add, although I will try to keep from going too far into tactical subtleties.

First, there needs to be some mention about the general pairings of moves and items here. Rocky Helmet absolutely deserves top billing given its usage, but it's also worth explicitly stating that Quagsire on full stall should be running Helmet because the chip in super slow games can be the HP% difference a super stall team needs to win on timer. Zacian's lack of recovery and the efficacy most dedicated stall builds have at keeping their mons at full HP means that a few Helmet chips can either decide the game on their own or force a Zacian player to take more risks as the timer starts to get low. Leftovers tends to improve with the usage of Protect (although Protect has 2x the usage of Leftovers, and for good reason) and also helps Yawn to have somewhat more utility because it can allow Quagsire to keep some sort of pressure while regaining health; this tends to be less useful on fully dedicated stall and more useful on a either more balanced team with a semi-stall mode or a Quagsire that is being used more as an independent Zacian check (such as on somewhat offensive Zacian teams that are trying to not be vulnerable to Ditto). While Protect is fine with either item, I would say that Leftovers Quagsire should definitely be running Protect, as it's one of the major advantages to running the item besides avoiding the 13% 2HKO chance that Adamant Zacian has after Rocks on Helmet Quagsire with Play Rough.

(Protect can also be helpful to scout potential mixed attackers like Yveltal and maybe even help burn through their max without the paired pink blob getting roasted by a physical Max Darkness, but that's delving too far into specific tactics to be mentioned on the analysis.)

Toxic obviously improves the matchup against some slower teams and also can be more useful than Protect for most Helmet Quag since you can't stall turns to get health back. Scald is theoretically helpful to hit Flying types, but it honestly kinda sucks in this meta (the damage on stuff like Zapdos and Ho-Oh is pretty poor); the main use for it is to fish for burns on walled threats. About the only common thing it actually threatens with passable damage is Lando-T. Of course the burn can also clash on targets you wanted to sleep or Toxic so that's something to keep in mind, and IMO it's one of the reasons it's no longer used as a primary option on the main flagship set: there's no sneaking your attacker in on, say, a sleeping NDM if it's burned instead. (You can also mention that EQ more or less 4HKOs defensive NDM, but it's something for in passing since Quagsire having to win that 1v1 is tenuous at best.)

There is one last thing that needs a mention but not a slash or set or anything like that: you need to at least mention Water Absorb Quagsire. Normally a 4.6% usage rate might not merit such a mention, but it does serve the purpose of disguising a good Kyogre check as the Zacian check, although the subterfuge is the main draw as outside of surprise factor Gastrodon (and arguably Seismitoad as well, although like Gastrodon, Quagsire has the big advantage of reliable healing over Seismitoad) basically does the "Shuts Down Kyogre" role better (more resistant to LO Hailstorm, better SpAtk that could be boosted, etc). The other reason it should be mentioned though is that Kyogre players who come up against a Quagsire team that looks suspiciously weak to Kyogre need to respect the possibility, especially if said Quagsire team has a decent secondary Zacian check like NDM.

Once the relatively few salient points in my dissertation above are implemented, consider this QC 2/2. Good work!

 

[Theorymon]

Thanks for the checks everyone, implemented that stuff. This is now ready for a GP check!

 

[Adeleine]

Add/Fix Remove
(AC)/(RC): Add/Remove Comma

Hide

[SET]
name: Zacian-C Check
move 1: Recover
move 2: Yawn
move 3: Earthquake / Scald
move 4: Toxic / Protect / Scald / Stockpile
item: Rocky Helmet / Leftovers
ability: Unaware
nature: Impish / Bold / Relaxed
evs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD

[SET COMMENTS]

* Despite mediocre stats, Quagsire stands out as a very important Pokemon due to makes itself very important by checking one of the best Pokemon in the game, Zacian-C! This makes Quagsire a staple on both on stall teams (RC) and on more balanced and offensive teams that desperately need a Zacian-C check.

* Yawn is highly recommended, as it lets Quagsire pressure special attackers that switch in as long as Stealth Rock is up by teammate, and it can stop Necrozma-DM before its Dragon Dances gets too out of control.

* Earthquake lets Quagsire usually 3HKO Zacian-C on its own. It also usually 4HKOes defensive Necrozma-DM, though Sunsteel Strike, which ignores Unaware, (optional clarif) and Weakness Policy make this a risky tactic.

* Scald is very weak, but it prevents Quagsire from being totally walled by Landorus-T, Landorus-T from totally walling Quagsire, and the 30% chance to burn is quite useful. The burn can conflict with Toxic and Yawn, however.

* Quagsire gets access to the rare and useful Toxic, which is great for putting bulky switch-ins to Quagsire on a timer, such as Kyogre.

* Protect can help stall out powerful Dynamax users such as Life Orb Landorus-T that can threaten to break through Quagisre, Quagsire, and it also has great synergy with Yawn and Leftovers.

* Stockpile is an alternate way to protect Quagsire against powerful physical Dynamax users, turning a lot of 2HKOs moves that 2HKO into 3HKOs, (AC) such as Life Orb Landorus-T's Max Quake.

* Blissey or Chansey are highly suggested teammates, since Quagsire is easily KOed by most powerful Special Attackers. Pairing Blissey or Chansey alongside Quagsire is highly suggested, since most powerful special attackers easily KO it. Blissey in particular does well against Kyogre thanks to Utility Umbrella.

* Although Quagsire is mostly used to check Zacian-C, Water Absorb is a surprise option that makes Quagsire a good Kyogre check instead. The surprise factor at Team Preview is the main value, (AC) though, as Gastrodon is a better Kyogre check otherwise. In team preview, this uncommon option should be considered a possability if Quagsire When playing against Quagsire, consider the possibility of Water Absorb at Team Preview if it is paired with a strong secondary Zacian-C check, such as Necrozma-DM.

Items
========

* Rocky Helmet lets Quagsire deal some immediate chip damage when switching into Zacian-C, making it an even better check! It's especially important when using Quagsire on full stall teams, since the extra chip damage can be vital when timer stalling.

* Leftovers works very well with Protect, and it can help Quagsire edge out escape some potential 2HKO cases. It also gives Quagsire some recovery pressure with Yawn, which can be useful on more balanced teams.

[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Theorymon, 29010]]
- Quality checked by: [[Tox, 146], [greilmercenary9, 336524]]
- Grammar checked by: [[Finland, 517429]]

1/1

 

[Theorymon]

Thanks for the hardwork Finland ! This is now done!