
[OVERVIEW]
Toxapex is one of the best defensive Pokemon in the OU metagame. With its amazing defenses, great defensive typing, wide support movepool, reliable recovery, and Regenerator, Toxapex is both very hard to wear down and able to check common metagame threats such as Cinderace and Magearna. Thanks to these qualities, Toxapex is able to fit on numerous balance and stall teams as a defensive pivot. Its high number of utility options allow Toxapex to wear down and cripple many of the metagame's top threats such as Mandibuzz, Ferrothorn, and Heatran, making it a hard Pokemon to switch into despite being a defensive Pokemon. Toxapex unfortunately has trouble exerting offensive pressure due to its underwhelming offensive stats; therefore, its only ways of making progress will be spreading status such as poison and burn and removing items with Knock Off.
[SET]
name: The Pex
move 1: Scald / Knock Off
move 2: Recover
move 3: Haze
move 4: Knock Off / Toxic / Toxic Spikes / Baneful Bunker
item: Rocky Helmet / Black Sludge
ability: Regenerator
nature: Bold / Impish
evs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
[SET COMMENTS]
Scald allows Toxapex to heavily damage Pokemon such as Landorus-T and Nidoking and potentially burn and cripple foes such as Garchomp and Ferrothorn, while Knock Off allows Toxapex to cripple Heavy-Duty Boots and Leftovers users such as Zapdos, Tornadus-T, and Heatran that may switch into it. Haze prevents Toxapex from being used as setup fodder by Pokemon like Magearna, Calm Mind Clefable, Volcarona, and Suicune. Toxic is great for putting Pokemon such as Slowbro, Tornadus-T, Hydreigon, and Mandibuzz on a timer, allowing Toxapex's offensive teammates to overwhelm them, while Toxic Spikes is an option for wearing down grounded Pokemon like Garchomp, Rillaboom, Spectrier, and Tapu Fini as well as defensive Pokemon like Tyranitar and Tangrowth; unfortunately, it can easily be removed, cannot target vital non-grounded Pokemon like Mandibuzz and Hydreigon, and is often absorbed by Poison-types such as opposing Toxapex and Galarian Slowking, which makes it inconsistent at spreading status. Lastly, Baneful Bunker is great for crippling Pokemon such as Cinderace and Rillaboom attempting to pivot against Toxapex and scouting Choice-locked Pokemon such as Magearna, Choice Scarf Landorus-T, and Tapu Lele, as well as potentially racking up additional Black Sludge recovery. Rocky Helmet allows Toxapex to punish Pokemon such as Cinderace, Rillaboom, and Kartana while also punishing U-turn attempts from Pokemon such as Cinderace, Corviknight, and Dragapult. Black Sludge can be used as an alternative item to gain additional recovery at the end of each turn while also helping Toxapex in Trick scenarios by crippling the Trick user. A Bold nature is generally preferred; however, an Impish can be used if Toxapex uses Knock Off over Scald.
Teammates like Cinderace, Spectrier, and Rillaboom appreciate Toxapex's ability to spread poison and remove Heavy-Duty Boots and Leftovers from Pokemon like Moltres, Mandibuzz, and Hydreigon. Bulky Steel-types such as Heatran and Ferrothorn can be very useful for Toxapex; Heatran hard checks most of the Psychic-types in the tier, as well as being able to potentially trap and remove them with Magma Storm, whereas Ferrothorn covers Toxapex's Psychic- and Electric-type weakness and appreciates Toxapex covering its Fire- and Fighting-type weakness; in return, and run Knock Off to free up a moveslot on Toxapex for another utility option. Dark-types such as Obstagoon, Hydreigon, and Mandibuzz can be very useful, as they can cover Toxapex's Future Sight weakness, making it less prone to being overwhelmed by it. Setup sweepers such as Suicune and Spectrier are very weak to Toxic Spikes, so they appreciate Toxapex's ability to absorb them.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
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Poison Jab allows Toxapex to hit Tapu Fini for consistent damage, which would potentially beat Toxapex with a Calm Mind set otherwise. Shed Shell can be used to prevent being trapped by Magma Storm Heatran, which would otherwise beat Toxapex due to the combination of Magma Storm, Earth Power, and Taunt. Block can be used alongside Spite to both trap PP stall opposing Toxapex, crippling them significantly throughout the course of the game. Toxapex can use an alternative spread of 252 HP / 144 Def / 112 SpD to take hits from Magearna and Tornadus-T much better while avoiding the OHKO from Timid Nidoking's Earth Power. It can use a Relaxed nature in order if it's using both Scald and Knock Off on the same set.
Checks and Counters
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**Psychic-types**: Latios and Tapu Lele can threaten out and overwhelm Toxapex with their STAB moves; however, none of them want to switch into a Toxic, Scald, or Knock Off.
**Electric-types**: Tapu Koko and Zapdos are examples of Pokemon that can threaten to OHKO Toxapex or deal serious damage to it. Zapdos in particular can remove Toxapex's Toxic Spikes; however, both need to be cautious of being heavily crippled by status effects or item removal.
**Ground-types**: Ground-type Pokemon such as Garchomp, Landorus-T, and Nidoking can deal heavy damage against it with their STAB moves; however, all of them can be worn down with Scald, and the former two can be potentially crippled by a burn, which can make them much less effective throughout the course of the game.
**Taunt**: Taunt is very detrimental to Toxapex, as it can be effectively shut down; Taunt users such as Tapu Fini and Heatran can render Toxapex useless and easily take advantage of it by using it as setup fodder in Tapu Fini's case or outright eliminate it through trapping in Heatran's case.
**Future Sight**: Future Sight can be troublesome for Toxapex. Slowbro, Slowking, and Galarian Slowking can open the door for wallbreakers such as Magearna and Cinderace with a Future Sight, as Toxapex will be overwhelmed by the combination of Future Sight damage and their attacks.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Zneon, 487629]]
- Quality checked by: [[ausma, 360720], [Ruft, 295110]]
- Grammar checked by: [[Milak, 262594], [The Dutch Plumberjack, 232216]]
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