
[OVERVIEW]
Volcanion is an excellent bulky attacker that can dish out massive damage with a STAB combination only resisted by Water- and Dragon-types. Volcanion also possesses defensive utility thanks to its good defenses and unique typing. It fits well on semi-Trick Room teams, which let Volcanion reliably OHKO several dangerous Pokemon like Heatran and Genesect without needing to take a hit beforehand. Diancie can set Trick Room for Volcanion while also beating Kyurem-B. Rillaboom and Zeraora can use Fake Out to allow Volcanion to create Substitutes and easily beat Water-types. In return, Volcanion reliably beats Steel-types for Diancie and Fire-types for Rillaboom. Volcanion can struggle to find attacking opportunities with its awkward Speed tier forcing it to take a hit if it doesn't have speed control, and several Pokemon like Kyurem-B, Tapu Fini, Dragapult, and Urshifu-R can easily switch into Volcanion and threaten it out. It also faces stiff competition as a Water-type from the aforementioned Tapu Fini and Urshifu-R, as well as a Fire-type from Heatran and Incineroar.
[SET]
name: Bulky Attacker
move 1: Steam Eruption
move 2: Heat Wave
move 3: Substitute / Earth Power
move 4: Protect
item: Leftovers / Safety Goggles
ability: Water Absorb
nature: Modest
evs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
[SET COMMENTS]
* Steam Eruption deals large amounts of damage to even neutral targets, and it destroys Fire- and Ground-type Pokemon like Incineroar and Landorus-T. It also can punish switch-ins with its high burn chance.
* Heat Wave is a spread move that hits Grass-types that resist Steam Eruption, like Rillaboom and Amoonguss.
* Volcanion can set up Substitute on Genesect, on Incineroar, and while next to a Fake Out user, and this allows Volcanion to attack freely without fear of attacks like Zygarde's Thousand Arrows. Earth Power is an option over Substitute to hit Volcanion, which would otherwise wall it. If Earth Power is run, Safety Goggles should be Volcanion's item to retain the ability to block Amoonguss's Spore.
* Protect keeps Volcanion safe so a teammate can come in and support it, such as Rillaboom with its Fake Out, while also allowing a teammate to set up ether Trick Room or Tailwind.
* Leftovers restores Volcanion's lost health from Substitute, while Safety Goggles allows it to switch into Amoonguss's Spore and ignore its Rage Powder when not running Substitute.
* Water Absorb lets Volcanion switch into Urshifu-R's Surging Strikes and completely wall it if it's Choice locked.
* EVs can be shifted from HP to Speed to outspeed Zeraora in Tailwind, or Volcanion can utilize a Quiet nature and 0 Speed IVs to be as fast as possible under Trick Room.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Sludge Bomb hits Tapu Fini and Overheat is a stronger Fire-type STAB move that also bypasses Wide Guard, but both have less utility overall than Substitute or Earth Power. Toxic is also an option to wear down Pokemon Volcanion doesn't immediately threaten, like Porygon2, and works well with Rillaboom removing Misty Terrain. However, unlike Substitute and Earth Power, its utility takes a long time to set in. Heavy-Duty Boots is an alternate item to prevent Stealth Rock from rapidly wearing down Volcanion, but it is useless without opposing entry hazards. Shuca Berry can let Volcanion take Ground-type attacks like Landorus's Earth Power and Zygarde's Thousand Arrows, although it's useful in far fewer situations than Leftovers or Safety Goggles.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[dnagerbdager, 531334]]
- Quality checked by: [[emma, 294304], [zeefable, 501951]]
- Grammar checked by: [[Finland, 517429]]
Last edited: