Pokémon Slowking

[Fancy1]

base stats - 95 hp / 75 atc / 80 def / 100 spa / 110 spdef / 30 spe / total = 490

abilities - oblivious / own tempo / HA regenerator

type - water/psychic

full move set
WIP currently I’ll have it done soon

notable moves
- yawn
- future sight
- surf
- trickroom
- calm mind
- nasty plot
- slack off
- hydro pump
- psychic / psyshock
- chilly reception
- iron defense
- curse
- thunder wave
- earthquake (?)
- chilling water (???)

pros

- bulky water
- some nice boosting moves for wincon on stall teams
- basically the only good hail setter as of right now imo
- good trick room setter thanks to troom + chilly reception + regenerator (basically teleport, I mean in such an offensive metagame you won’t often be undersped)
- future sight does a good job breaking due to a lot of offensive Pokémon with poor spdef
- regen is a goated ability
- probably some more, my brain is failing me rn

cons

- weak to all the strong ghosts floating around the tier (the spooky ban did help but specs pult and other stuff still gonna wreck)
- weak to knock off
- lost scald this gen
- lost t-port (chilly reception basically makes up for it)
- prob more I’ll be editing this as I think of some more

tera potential

tera water seems to be the tera that most benefits slowking imo removes the weakness to all those ghosties and knockers still keeps bulky water (and boosts water stab if you carry one)

(maybe tera dark + tera blast could be decent for stall, I haven't tested yet though)

possible sets (let me know in the comments if there’s a set not on here you think is good)

hail setter / bulky pivot / Trick Room Setter
Slowking @ Icy Rock / HDB / Mental
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 4 spA / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Chilly Reception
- Future Sight
- Yawn / Trick Room
- Surf / Thunder Wave

this is basically the cookie cutter set. the idea is to sponge hits, set up offensive pressure with future sight, and pivot out with chilly reception (if your making hail I highly recommend using king > obamasnow)

heat stall cm wincon
Slowking @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Yawn
- Calm Mind / NP
- Surf
- Slack Off

a goofy little fancy original set. you yawn set up cm heal up and deal some shnice damage with surf you remove the ghosts and knockers and king about start its reign of terror.

heat stall curse wincon
Slowking @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Yawn
- Curse
- Liquidation
- Slack Off

same idea as above but with curse and liquidation. liquidation can beat physical walls with defense drops.

other options

I like the idea of tera dark but it probably struggles in practice. Share your ideas I’m always open to hear em’ :)

ending thoughts

I think slowking will actually be pretty nice this tier it’s gonna struggle with the same stuff it did last tier with knock and strong ghosts but that didn’t stop it from being in ou, but as of right it’s prob gonna be used as a special wall + troom or hail setter. Let me know what you think though! Do you think the king will be in ou or will it drop down in usage since last

 

[Snukio]

The set I've been using is :

Slowking @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 HP / 80 SpA / 176 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
- Future Sight
- Chilly Reception
- Surf
- Slack Off

I pair it with Chi-Yu, Slowking brings him in with Future Sight + Chilling Reception ans Chi-Yu drops ennemy spedef which affects future sight

 

[STEELDRAGON]

Slowking really shines on Hail teams due to its signature move Chilly Reception and very valuable resistances. It still gets eaten alive by Chi-Yu and a lot of the other new Dark Types. Terastylizing it to Water type can help bolster its defensive attributes a lot. It did lose some pretty significant moves this generation but still functions pretty well

 

[Magcargo]

I used Slowking in the early meta w/ Iron Bundle and it felt kinda poop then since it felt like it had losing MUs vs everything like Chi-Yu, Houndstone, Chien-Pao, Flutter Mane, etc. Its best trait back then was luring a lot of this stuff in and using Thunder Wave or going Tera Normal to troll Houndstone.

With most of these Pokemon banned (particularly Chi-Yu) I've been giving Slowking a whirl again and it feels pretty good rn, though def still flawed. Regenerator + slow pivoting move is a very good combination that lets it pivot in vs some key Pokemon like Hatterene and give a free switch to something else like Kingambit w/o losing much health in the progress. You can play it somewhat recklessly vs Pokemon like Rotom-W and still come out of the exchange relatively OK because of Regenerator, which is a big boon over some other slow pivots like Corviknight, which feels like it gets worn down quite fast. What I love about Slowking is that its Attack and speed are worthless so it feels like the perfect Pokemon to absorb burns and Paralyses lol.

Chilly Reception imo is a big upgrade from Teleport for 2 reasons. The first one is that it enables some hail abusers, like Baxcalibur and Chien-Pao by improving their defense in the weather (and giving Bax Ice Body Recovery). I've been using it w/ Glaceon for memes and while I doubt it'll be winning any tournaments, getting 1/8 Recovery per turn + added defense from Chilly Reception goes a long way in making it feel less like a low-tier mon lol. The second, arguably more important reason, is that it can prematurely cancel weather from Pokemon like Torkoal, putting Sun and Rain Teams in arguably losing positions by weakening their strongest abusers.

 

[Venduria]

I used Slowking in the early meta w/ Iron Bundle and it felt kinda poop then since it felt like it had losing MUs vs everything like Chi-Yu, Houndstone, Chien-Pao, Flutter Mane, etc. Its best trait back then was luring a lot of this stuff in and using Thunder Wave or going Tera Normal to troll Houndstone.

With most of these Pokemon banned (particularly Chi-Yu) I've been giving Slowking a whirl again and it feels pretty good rn, though def still flawed. Regenerator + slow pivoting move is a very good combination that lets it pivot in vs some key Pokemon like Hatterene and give a free switch to something else like Kingambit w/o losing much health in the progress. You can play it somewhat recklessly vs Pokemon like Rotom-W and still come out of the exchange relatively OK because of Regenerator, which is a big boon over some other slow pivots like Corviknight, which feels like it gets worn down quite fast. What I love about Slowking is that its Attack and speed are worthless so it feels like the perfect Pokemon to absorb burns and Paralyses lol.

Chilly Reception imo is a big upgrade from Teleport for 2 reasons. The first one is that it enables some hail abusers, like Baxcalibur and Chien-Pao by improving their defense in the weather (and giving Bax Ice Body Recovery). I've been using it w/ Glaceon for memes and while I doubt it'll be winning any tournaments, getting 1/8 Recovery per turn + added defense from Chilly Reception goes a long way in making it feel less like a low-tier mon lol. The second, arguably more important reason, is that it can prematurely cancel weather from Pokemon like Torkoal, putting Sun and Rain Teams in arguably losing positions by weakening their strongest abusers.

Torkoal and Pelliper can't really do much either to you, so it's a nice catch all for weather. Just a bit hard to deal with Sun when it's already up and Scovillain or Sandy Shocks or something is already out.

I think Bax is realistically the best abuser to pair with Slowking like you mentioned. I'm curious if any Slush Rush mons really make an impact because I've never seen them used successfully. I think you're right in that having one or two mons that benefit from Snow paired with Slowking could be a boon, especially since when stuff like Bax or Chien Pao get in safely, something is getting chunked, and HARD too.