Pokémon Quaquaval

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Water.png
Fighting.png

Base Stats: 85 HP / 120 Atk / 80 Def / 85 SpA / 75 SpD / 85 Spe (530 Total)
Abilities: Torrent | Moxie
Notable Moves:
- Close Combat
- Aqua Step
- Wave Crash
- Swords Dance
- Roost
- Tera Blast
- U-turn
- Ice Spinner
- Aqua Jet
- Rapid Spin
- Brave Bird
- Low Kick
- Bulk Up
- Taunt
Learned Moves:
Aqua Step @ Evolution
Pound @ Lv. 1
Growl @ Lv. 1
Water Gun @ Lv. 1
Double Hit @ Lv. 1
Work Up @ Lv. 7
Wing Attack @ Lv. 10
Aqua Jet @ Lv. 13
Low Sweep @ Lv. 17
Water Pulse @ Lv. 17
Aqua Cutter @ Lv. 21
Air Slash @ Lv. 27
Focus Energy @ Lv. 32
Mega Kick @ Lv. 38
Acrobatics @ Lv. 43
Liquidation @ Lv. 47
Feather Dance @ Lv. 52
Close Combat @ Lv. 58
Wave Crash @ Lv. 64
Reminder Moves:
Counter
Egg Moves:
Detect, Rapid Spin, Roost, Last Resort
TM Moves:
Swords Dance, Take Down, Hydro Pump, Surf, Hyper Beam, Low Kick, Agility, Swift, Rest, Substitute, Reversal, Protect, Icy Wind, Endure, Sleep Talk, Baton Pass, Encore, Rain Dance, Facade, Taunt, Helping Hand, Brick Break, Hydro Cannon, Air Cutter, Aerial Ace, Bulk Up, Water Pulse, U-turn, Close Combat, Fling, Air Slash, Brave Bird, Giga Impact, Low Sweep, Acrobatics, Water Pledge, Hurricane, Disarming Voice, Misty Terrain, Liquidation, Tera Blast, Ice Spinner, Chilling Water

Aqua Step -
Water.png
-
Physical.png

Power: 80
Accuracy: 100%
PP: 10 (16)
The user toys with the target and attacks it using
light and fluid dance steps. This also boosts the
user’s Speed stat.


Pros:
- Quaquaval has a wide and potent movepool with some interesting offensive, defensive, and supportive options.
- It has excellent boosting potential between Swords Dance, Moxie, and Aqua Step.
- Water / Fighting is a good typing with some offensive and defensive qualities, and it has great STAB options too.
Cons:
- Somewhat mediocre balanced stats leave it relatively easily outsped and hampers the potential of defensive sets.
- Between its STABs, it misses out on some defensive mons like Toxapex, Slowbro, and Amoonguss.
- As an offensive Water-type, it's quite overshadowed by Palafin.

Terastallize Potential:
- As a setup sweeper, Quaquaval is a good user of Terastallizing.
- Offensive SD sets can be very reliant on Tera Electric in order to defeat opposing bulky Water types, but it can also Terastallize into one of its STAB typings to amplify its power.
- Defensive sets should generally only Terastallize as a last resort.

Potential Sets:
Swords Dance
Quaquaval @ Leftovers / Lum Berry
Ability: Moxie
Tera Type: Electric / Water / Fighting
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Aqua Step
- Close Combat
- Tera Blast / Ice Spinner / Wave Crash / Brave Bird

SD Quaquaval can accrue a lot of boosts quickly and overwhelm the opponent. Aqua Step fixes the speed issue, letting Quaquaval become pretty tough to revenge kill after two boosts. Close Combat is your most powerful STAB attack. Tera Blast Electric lets you defeat bulky Water types, like Toxapex and Slowbro, while Ice Spinner is better for bulky Grass or Dragon types (like Amoonguss or Dragonite). If you care to overwhelm the opponent with sheer power, Wave Crash is your best bet, especially if you are running rain. Lastly, Brave Bird gets decent neutral coverage and can also handle those bulky Grass types. The item choice is up to preference mostly. There isn't a lot of status currently so I think Leftovers is probably the best. Life Orb is usable but makes you a lot easier to revenge kill overall. Some more specific items that are probably usable are Weakness Policy and Protective Pads, which could see use as the meta develops.


Defensive
Quaquaval @ Leftovers
Ability: Moxie
Tera Type: Fighting / Steel / Grass
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Roost
- Low Kick
- Rapid Spin
- U-turn

Defensive Quaquaval leverages a pretty solid defensive typing and utility options, despite having less-than-stellar bulk. This lets it pivot in on and check various threats like Chien-Pao, Kingambit, and to a lesser extent Palafin and Baxcalibur. Low Kick is your best STAB for this set in terms of PP and overall damage. Rapid Spin and U-turn are both great for utility, with U-turn being a good way to not be a momentum sink against mons that resist Low Kick. Rocky Helmet is probably usable to punish the contact attackers it checks, but Quaquaval really needs all the survivability it can get. Choice of Tera typing could be Fighting for a bit more power when it counts, or surprising defensive options like Steel, Grass, Fairy or something else being usable. This mon fits well in a defensive core with a specially bulky mon, and works well for one-sided hazard setting with something like Spikes Ting-Lu.


Other Options:
- Swords Dance + Rapid Spin is an option for an offensive spinner, but it comes at the cost of coverage.
- A SD set using Aqua Jet instead of Aqua Step fares better against certain fast revenge killers, but it struggles to run coverage since it prefers Wave Crash for a stronger STAB.
- Quaquaval has the makings of a decent Choice Band user as well, but it seems highly overshadowed by Palafin.

Overall:
Quaquaval is very cool, even though it doesn't stand out much currently. I think it's not likely to be an OU staple, but we could see it shine at some point once the tier settles down more. Being really overshadowed by Palafin currently seems to be what is holding it back, at least right now. In whatever tier it ends up in, it could definitely end up as a staple, versatile threat. What's your take on Quaquaval?
 
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Yeah once palafin-hero gets banned I see Quaquaval becoming really good. Its already really good, but just a bit overshadowed right now. (Also brave bird beats amoongus by the way.)
 
I've been using Quaquaval in OU and it's a good Pokemon. I haven't used Palafin at all so I can't say how much better Palafin is than Quaquaval. The set I use is:

Quaquaval (M) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Moxie
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Aqua Step
- Ice Spinner
- Brave Bird
- Close Combat

I've used Quaquaval holding Life Orb, then Leftovers, and I'm now trying Quaquaval with Assault Vest. The reason I gave Quaquaval Assault Vest is to help it survive against Flutter Mane as I've encountered many players using Flutter Mane.
 
I'm still a big fan of this set for Quaquaval:

Quaquaval @ Expert Belt
Ability: Moxie
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
Tera: Water / Steel / Fairy
- Aqua Step
- Ice Spinner
- Close Combat
- Rapid Spin / Swords Dance / U-turn

...Mainly because it can survive and keep sweeping by razor-margin HP and also because it can set up on some Dragapult:

252 Atk Dragapult Dragon Darts (2 hits) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Quaquaval: 186-222 (59.8 - 71.3%) -- approx. 2HKO
252 Atk Dragapult Sucker Punch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Quaquaval: 43-51 (13.8 - 16.3%) -- possible 7HKO
252 SpA Dragapult Draco Meteor vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Quaquaval: 225-265 (72.3 - 85.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252 Atk Quaquaval Aqua Step vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Dragapult: 78-92 (24.6 - 29%) -- 99.7% chance to 4HKO
252 Atk Expert Belt Quaquaval Ice Spinner vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Dragapult: 250-295 (78.8 - 93%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Note that Leftovers fails to guaranteed 2HKO Pult with Aqua Step into Ice Spinner, while Life Orb doesn't leave you with much HP or many turns after KOing Pult.

Ice Spinner also dents Water Absorb Clodsire quite hard.

I don't think Quaquaval is overshadowed by Palafin: Quaquaval has Rapid Spin (although it's not the best user of it) so it can provide invaluable team support, and Quaquaval checks Chien-Pao better. Probably the biggest thing Palafin has over Quaquaval right now is that it OHKOs Flutter Mane with Jolly Choice Band or Adamant Life Orb Jet Punch.
 
I've been using a Swords Dance set on the ladder recently, and I think Quaquaval is a lot of fun. It's a really powerful late game sweeper that can easily snowball once you've eliminated its counters, but it's mostly outclassed by other sweepers like Palafin and Lokix. It also struggles a bit with 4 moveslot syndrome, as it has to sacrifice swords dance, roost, wave crash, rapid spin, U-turn or any other move from its wide movepool. I don't think it's OU material at the moment, but could be a potent threat in the lower tiers.
 
Henkedew said:
I've been using a Swords Dance set on the ladder recently, and I think Quaquaval is a lot of fun. It's a really powerful late game sweeper that can easily snowball once you've eliminated its counters, but it's mostly outclassed by other sweepers like Palafin and Lokix. It also struggles a bit with 4 moveslot syndrome, as it has to sacrifice swords dance, roost, wave crash, rapid spin, U-turn or any other move from its wide movepool. I don't think it's OU material at the moment, but could be a potent threat in the lower tiers.
Click to expand...

I would think it would probably be way too much UU if I had to guess. Quaval would be good in OU once Palafin-H goes. Could see it anywhere on the subranks from B- to A depending on how easy it is for its teammates to get rid of its checks.
 
I've been going with offensive spin and it is Great Fun

Quaquaval @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Moxie
Tera Type: Ground
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Aqua Step
- Close Combat
- Ice Spinner

Having two moves that give +1 Speed and Moxie means I sometimes switch him in to Spin and whoops he swept the entire enemy team because he outsped and killed the enemy check. Originally had U-Turn but I swapped for Ice Spinner due to an unfortunate incident with a Flying Roaring Moon and because of the buff stacking.
Tera Type is just because , you know, bamboozling electrics, but may change to water for extra Aqua Step oomph.

I would like to know if anyone has any relevant speed tier calcs for him. Like, if Adamant +1 loses any relevant benchmarks, or if Jolly Speed EVs can be slapped into HP. One way or another, Offensive Spinner is an excellent niche, and allows him to have something Palafin can only dream of.
 
I hope finch gets Quaquaval on the list of viable pokemon once Palafin-H goes, hell it should be on there now to be fair since its still very good even if its overshadowed by palafin-H at the moment
 
I have been using this set for quaquaval
Quaquaval @ assault vest
Ability Moxie
Tera type Water
Evs 252 atk/252 spe/4sp def
Nature adamant
Aqua step
Close combat
ICE spin
Brave Bird
I think that assault vest make It bulkier and the adamant nature let It do more damages,the Speed boost remains and in 2 Aqua step you surpass everything
 
Another item people could consider is Metronome, which could brute force a late-game Aqua Step sweep if checks are weakened enough.
 
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Has anyone tried choice scarf? Base 85 speed is a bit slow for a scarfer but it's just enough to outsped the unboosted metagame and in theory it would allow for quaquaval to be a decent late game cleaner in combination with its high power stabs and moxie boosts.
 
to the people who said Quaq would only be good after Palafin banned? What about now? WHAT ABOUT NOW?

*ahem* Quaquaval has a solid niche as offensive spinner that works amazingly with its Moxie Ability, being capable of snowballing and speeding past usual checks, do recommend
 
PShine said:
I've been going with offensive spin and it is Great Fun

Quaquaval @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Moxie
Tera Type: Ground
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Aqua Step
- Close Combat
- Ice Spinner

Having two moves that give +1 Speed and Moxie means I sometimes switch him in to Spin and whoops he swept the entire enemy team because he outsped and killed the enemy check. Originally had U-Turn but I swapped for Ice Spinner due to an unfortunate incident with a Flying Roaring Moon and because of the buff stacking.
Tera Type is just because , you know, bamboozling electrics, but may change to water for extra Aqua Step oomph.

I would like to know if anyone has any relevant speed tier calcs for him. Like, if Adamant +1 loses any relevant benchmarks, or if Jolly Speed EVs can be slapped into HP. One way or another, Offensive Spinner is an excellent niche, and allows him to have something Palafin can only dream of.
Click to expand...

You go from 442 to 403 after a +1, 590 to 538 at +2

At +1 you now lose to:
- Unboosted max speed Dragapult
- Scarf Maushald
- Scarf Goldengho
- Scarf Slither Wing
- Scarf Annihilape
- Scarf Baxcalibur
- Max Speed Barraskuda
- Scarf Rotom-W
- Max Speed Chien-PaoScarf

- Scarf Ceruledge (originally speed tie)

Don't know about +2, since pretty much just scarf Dragapult matters there I think, and it's above 500 isn't listed in the thread. The +0 and +1 will matter the most, and I ignored anything that sets up, as I assume the Pokemon you need to beat will have been switched in
 
Hi! I've been proving a Choice Band set of Quaquaval in tours since the ban of Palafin and want to share some thoughts about it. (I'm not so good at English, so I apologize if I make any mistake)

Quaquaval_icono_HD.png

This is the set:

Quaquaval @ Choice Band
Ability: Moxie
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Aqua Step
- Close Combat
- Aqua Jet / Ice Spinner
- U-turn / Ice Spinner

Is basically an Urshifu-R 2.0 XD However, I think Quaquaval can shine on its own.

Firts of all, 120 base Attack is good, but not great. That's why this Dancing Bird need some help to be a major threat. Second, 85 base Speed is... disappointing, but GF gave him an excellent way to sort this problem: Aqua Step; after only one of this he can reach 441 in speed, for some perspective: after one Aqua Step, Quaquaval will be faster than Dragapult max Speed. The problem with this is that it becomes dependent on that move to function at 100%, so you need to play around that.

Band Quaquaval can work throughout all the battle; you can threat some leads like:
Gilmora

252 Atk Choice Band Quaquaval Aqua Step vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Glimmora: 288-338 (77.8 - 91.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Ciclizar

252 Atk Choice Band Quaquaval Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Cyclizar: 524-618 (152.3 - 179.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Great Tusk and Iron Treads

252 Atk Choice Band Quaquaval Aqua Step vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Great Tusk: 218-260 (50.2 - 59.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252 Atk Choice Band Quaquaval Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Iron Treads: 354-416 (92.1 - 108.3%) -- 50% chance to OHKO

All that calc are in the worst possible scenario.

In the late-game, if his checks and counters are chipped you can snowball with Aqua Step + Moxie and sweep the enemy team. However you will need to play really good to get into that situation. Band Quaquaval's job is to be a wallbreaker that can threat and wear down defensive Pokemons with his STAB's and coverage. For example:
Corviknight
252 Atk Choice Band Quaquaval Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Corviknight: 195-229 (48.7 - 57.2%) -- 44.5% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

Clodsire
252 Atk Choice Band Quaquaval Aqua Step vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Clodsire: 366-432 (78.8 - 93.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Ting-Lu
252 Atk Choice Band Quaquaval Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Ting-Lu: 332-392 (64.5 - 76.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Amoonguss
252 Atk Choice Band Quaquaval Ice Spinner vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Amoonguss: 224-264 (51.9 - 61.2%) -- 95.7% chance to 2HKO after Black Sludge recovery (Only if you run Ice Spinner)

And with his acces to a priority move in Aqua Jet you can revenge kill weakened foes.

Despite all of the above, there are Pokemon that it can't defeat by itself:

Slowbro and Slowking
The best thing you can do against them is run with U-turn

252 Atk Choice Band Quaquaval U-turn vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Slowbro: 146-174 (37 - 44.1%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

252 Atk Choice Band Quaquaval U-turn vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Slowking: 180-214 (45.6 - 54.3%) -- 53.1% chance to 2HKO

They have Regenerator so they can keep switch-in multiple times.

The Pex
If you see this thing in the team preview... RUN!

Dondozo
252 Atk Choice Band Quaquaval Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Dondozo: 181-214 (35.9 - 42.4%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

You can threat it only if is Special Defensive:

252 Atk Choice Band Quaquaval Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Dondozo: 246-291 (48.8 - 57.7%) -- 96.1% chance to 2HKO

About running Ice Spinner, having an Ice-type coverage is always good, but you will lose an important move: or Aqua Jet or U-turn. Both of them have his own utility (revenge kill and pivot, respectively). With Ice Spinner Quaquaval will be able to threaten more enemies like: Amoonguss and Dragon-types like Dragapult and Garchomp.

I think that's all, my apologise for the long thread, I hope you find it useful :sphearical:
 
BolTingBlazie said:
I hope finch gets Quaquaval on the list of viable pokemon once Palafin-H goes, hell it should be on there now to be fair since its still very good even if its overshadowed by palafin-H at the moment
Click to expand...
Yeah between Moxie and its speed boosting offensive moves this dancing duck has the potential to plow through entire teams if not countered quickly.
 
Personally I have been using a moxie set that is a bit bulkier
Quaquaval (M) @ Clear Amulet
Ability: Moxie
EVs: 16 HP / 252 Atk / 37 Def / 39 SpD / 164 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Aqua Step
- Aqua Jet
- Brave Bird
- Close Combat
The 164 Speed makes it so that your speed is 406 after one Aqua Step, allowing you to outspeed most Pokémons, including the powerful priority attacker Chi Yu. This forces them to use a priority move which can lead to you surviving it and taking it out with Close Combat. With less speed you have more EVs to invest in speed.
 
Supreme TTT said:
Personally I have been using a moxie set that is a bit bulkier
Quaquaval (M) @ Clear Amulet
Ability: Moxie
EVs: 16 HP / 252 Atk / 37 Def / 39 SpD / 164 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Aqua Step
- Aqua Jet
- Brave Bird
- Close Combat
The 164 Speed makes it so that your speed is 406 after one Aqua Step, allowing you to outspeed most Pokémons, including the powerful priority attacker Chi Yu. This forces them to use a priority move which can lead to you surviving it and taking it out with Close Combat. With less speed you have more EVs to invest in speed.
Click to expand...
What’s Clear Amulet for? I can’t think of anything viable that uses stat drops apart from like Intimidate Salamence
 
Quaquaval can spiral out of control very quickly late game. It's signature move+Moxie is like a free dragon dance after the first KO. I have also used a Bulk Up+Taunt set and it just destroys most of the stall teams and arguably its biggest counter, Dondozo. It is pretty underwhelming without boosts though but still worth its while.
 
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