Stratos
Banned deucer.
"fuck you, gamefreak"
Overview
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Amoonguss was blessed with the tools it needs to perform its job and nothing more, and can serve as a defensive answer to many of the top threats in Doubles. With solid bulk, Regenerator, a useful Grass / Poison typing, and access to Rage Powder, Amoonguss can ruin Pokemon, such as Rotom-W and Hitmontop, that lack spread moves, and can be an efficient partner for Pokemon that mostly fear single-target moves. Thanks to Spore and its low Speed, Amoonguss is one of the best ways to stop Trick Room and can beat common Water-types not named Ludicolo.
Amoonguss has to pick its battles wisely, as it cannot do anything to Grass-types, which are immune to Spore and Rage Powder, unless it drops Giga Drain for Sludge Bomb, which is usually unwise. Even worse, it is switch-in fodder for the powerful and threatening Fire-types. It can be hard to use Amoonguss properly until these threats are eliminated without throwing away your momentum by the fistful.
Rage Powder
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name: Rage Powder
move 1: Rage Powder
move 2: Spore
move 3: Protect
move 4: Giga Drain
ability: Regenerator
item: Sitrus Berry
EVs: 252 HP / 184 Def / 72 SpD
IVs: 0 Spe
nature: Sassy
Moves
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Rage Powder is basically the only reason to use Amoonguss and is perhaps one of the most clutch moves ever created. It grants Amoonguss's partner significantly more maneuverability, can keep low-HP Pokemon on life support, and dramatically reduces the effectiveness of some of the opponent's Pokemon. Spore is excellent as it can put many major threats to sleep and allows Amoonguss to stop all common Trick Room setters outside of Trevenant and Overcoat Reuniclus. Giga Drain only deals acceptable damage when it's super effective, but is necessary for late-game situations and getting around Taunt. It can be tempting to run Sludge Bomb instead, as Amoonguss is ruined by Grass-types, but most Doubles Grass-types, such as Trevenant, Venusaur, and opposing Amoonguss, are only hit neutrally by Poison-type moves. Protect stalls for turns so Amoonguss's partner can switch and sidesteps Fake Out, which could otherwise stop Rage Powder.
Set Details
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Mental Herb and Black Sludge are both passable items on Amoonguss. However, Taunt is not as common as it once was, as many Trick Room setters are now immune to it, so Mental Herb has also lost its usefulness somewhat. Black Sludge provides Amoonguss with reliable recovery, but Regenerator is usually sufficient in this regard. The best item tends to be Sitrus Berry, as it provides Amoonguss with a burst of vitality when it needs to use Rage Powder twice in a row, which is surprisingly often. Regenerator allows Amoonguss to replenish its health upon switching out and function as an effective pivot, and the given EV spread maximizes Amoonguss's special bulk, seeing as it usually redirects special attacks. The spread allows Amoonguss at full health to always survive a Timid Latios's Life Orb-boosted Psyshock, and Speed is minimized so it can work as well as possible against Trick Room, one of its main niches.
Usage Tips
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One of Amoonguss's greatest perks is that it is almost always successful as a lead against heavy Trick Room: simply Spore the most threatening Pokemon that isn't immune to the move, be it setter or abuser. However, when it's not playing against Trick Room, Amoonguss should just focus on keeping its partner safe. Overall, using Amoonguss is fairly straightforward: use Spore to catch predicted switches or when your partner is Protecting, use Giga Drain on Water-types when your partner's not about to get Hydro Pumped, use Protect against Fake Out so that Rage Powder isn't blocked, and other than that, just spam Rage Powder. However, beware of becoming setup fodder for your opponent's Pokemon in the process—especially for Fire-types.
Team Options
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Amoonguss is setup fodder for Fire-types, so it needs a teammate that can kill their momentum. Garchomp, Zygarde, and Tyranitar are all reliable switch-ins to Heatran, Chandelure, and Mega Charizard Y, and in return, Amoonguss can redirect the Will-O-Wisps that they attract. Amoonguss works especially well with Rock-types such as Tyranitar and Terrakion as well as with Heatran. Amoonguss can redirect the Close Combats, Hydro Pumps, and Focus Blasts that plague these Pokemon as well as threaten certain Ground-types; meanwhile, its partner deals with the Fire-types that Amoonguss is unable to defeat. However, all of these combos must be wary of Muddy Water and Earthquake. Amoonguss also partners well with Trick Room setters, redirecting attacks that would otherwise stop them, and then has a blazing fast Spore to help clean up. However, this often requires having two Pokemon on the field with no offensive presence, which is a disaster, and Amoonguss cannot redirect Spore, a common check to Trick Room. Another option is to pair Amoonguss with Pokemon that use setup moves, such as Belly Drum Azumarill, so that they cannot be crippled during their turn of setup. However, they must be wary of spread moves among other things. In general, any specific pairing with Amoonguss will have its flaws because Amoonguss lacks offensive presence, but teams that want a bulky answer to Rotom-W, rain, and Trick Room could not ask for more.
Other Options
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Amoonguss doesn't have much room for customization as a whole because all of its moves have vital roles in making Amoonguss an effective teammate. However, it does have some interesting ways to beat its usual enemies. Amoonguss can replace Protect with Hidden Power Ground to surprise Heatran that try to set up with Substitute. It will still lose in a one-on-one fight, but it will at least keep Heatran out in the open. Occa Berry can be run so Amoonguss survives Mega Charizard Y's Heat Wave to strike back with Spore. Stun Spore cripples faster Pokemon, whereas Toxic can beat bulkier Pokemon that aim to outlast Amoonguss, though poison is usually ineffective in Doubles. Substitute would be good on Amoonguss, so it could redirect, say, Brave Birds, at the cost of only 25% of its health, but sadly, Amoonguss cannot afford to drop any of its other moves for it. Lastly, Amoonguss can run a few Speed IVs to outspeed and Spore opposing Slowking or Reuniclus before being smacked by Psyshock, but it is bulky enough to survive a Psyshock and this removes its chance to beat said Pokemon under Trick Room.
Checks & Counters
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**Taunt** Amoonguss has no offensive presence; once Taunted by Pokemon such as Thundurus and Gyarados, all it can utilize is a non-threatening Giga Drain.
**Grass-types** Grass-types such as Venusaur and Breloom are immune to Spore and Rage Powder and take very little damage from Giga Drain. Amoonguss cannot do anything to Grass-types, though they cannot do much in return.
**Super Effective Moves** Pokemon that can KO Amoonguss, such as powerful Flying-, Psychic-, Ice-, and Fire-types, can easily force it out or put it out of commission. Specially based Ice- and Fire-types, such as Mega Charizard Y, Heatran, and Mega Abomasnow, are especially good because of their spread STAB options, Blizzard from the latter and Heat Wave from the former two, KOing Amoonguss and damaging the partner it was trying to protect.
**Spread Moves** Though some cannot KO Amoonguss, spread move users—especially those that do not fear Spore—can just ignore it, eliminating the point of using Amoonguss in the first place. Some notable attacks include Landorus-T and Garchomp's Earthquake, Kingdra's Muddy Water, and Tyranitar's Rock Slide.
Usage Tips
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- Leading Amoonguss vs full Trick Room teams will very rarely do you wrong, since even if their setter is lum it can just sleep the closest abuser
- When you're not just using it under TR or to stop TR, Spore is mostly useful just for predicted switches to counters
- Most of the time Amoonguss is out, it should just be spamming Rage Powder while something with more hitting ability does the actual work
- Can switch in on basically anything it resists while partner Protects and go to town with the powder
- Amoonguss is setup fodder for a lot of things, especially Fires—whatever you do, make sure you don't put yourself in a situation where this can bite you in the ass. e.g. amoonguss + scizor on the field at the same time
- If you're using Amoonguss as a setup assistant, it's important to be wary of Fake Out, which can fuck you over completely.
Team Options
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- Garchomp or Zygarde or Tyranitar can clean up whatever mess amoonguss made when it let tran set up a sub or zardy switch in
- Tyranitar is also nice for its weakness to the exclusively non-spread fighting (whereas the dragons share a weakness with amoonguss to blizzard), though beware Breloom
- Amoonguss can redirect the fighting and water attacks aimed at Heatran while Heatran eliminates grasses that cockblock amoonguss
- Amoong can pair well with many TR setters to redirect killing blows and then have a superfast spore. Beware: cannot redirect Spores, often involves having two pokemon with no offense on the field at once
- Other than that, just in general teams that want a bulky answer to Rotom-W, rain, and Trick Room in one slot will love Amoonguss for its incredible longevity and its DGAFing about status
Other Options
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- HP Ground (to beat Tran)
- Occa Berry (to beat zard)
- Stun Spore
- sub (fuck laga)
- Toxic
- not min Spe (to beat offensive reuni / slowking)
Checks and Counters
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- lol idk how many times i have to say this but: fire types
- Special Ice Types damage it a lot and also fuck up rp with blizzard; abomasnow is legit the best because it does all that and ignores RP completely and immune to spore
- other grasses force a stalemate in a 1v1 but also ignore rp making them really good at defying his strategy
- taunt
- mammaryswine
- flying types that actually have invested flying stab (this is surprisingly like, idek, none that weren't already listed) tornadus, pinsir
========
- Leading Amoonguss vs full Trick Room teams will very rarely do you wrong, since even if their setter is lum it can just sleep the closest abuser
- When you're not just using it under TR or to stop TR, Spore is mostly useful just for predicted switches to counters
- Most of the time Amoonguss is out, it should just be spamming Rage Powder while something with more hitting ability does the actual work
- Can switch in on basically anything it resists while partner Protects and go to town with the powder
- Amoonguss is setup fodder for a lot of things, especially Fires—whatever you do, make sure you don't put yourself in a situation where this can bite you in the ass. e.g. amoonguss + scizor on the field at the same time
- If you're using Amoonguss as a setup assistant, it's important to be wary of Fake Out, which can fuck you over completely.
Team Options
========
- Garchomp or Zygarde or Tyranitar can clean up whatever mess amoonguss made when it let tran set up a sub or zardy switch in
- Tyranitar is also nice for its weakness to the exclusively non-spread fighting (whereas the dragons share a weakness with amoonguss to blizzard), though beware Breloom
- Amoonguss can redirect the fighting and water attacks aimed at Heatran while Heatran eliminates grasses that cockblock amoonguss
- Amoong can pair well with many TR setters to redirect killing blows and then have a superfast spore. Beware: cannot redirect Spores, often involves having two pokemon with no offense on the field at once
- Other than that, just in general teams that want a bulky answer to Rotom-W, rain, and Trick Room in one slot will love Amoonguss for its incredible longevity and its DGAFing about status
Other Options
########
- HP Ground (to beat Tran)
- Occa Berry (to beat zard)
- Stun Spore
- sub (fuck laga)
- Toxic
- not min Spe (to beat offensive reuni / slowking)
Checks and Counters
########
- lol idk how many times i have to say this but: fire types
- Special Ice Types damage it a lot and also fuck up rp with blizzard; abomasnow is legit the best because it does all that and ignores RP completely and immune to spore
- other grasses force a stalemate in a 1v1 but also ignore rp making them really good at defying his strategy
- taunt
- mammaryswine
- flying types that actually have invested flying stab (this is surprisingly like, idek, none that weren't already listed) tornadus, pinsir
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