Steelix's 4th gen analysis
[SET]
name: Physical wall
move 1: Earthquake / Gyro Ball
move 2: Stealth Rock
move 3: Toxic / Stone Edge / Roar
move 4: Explosion
item: Leftovers
ability: Sturdy
nature: Impish / Relaxed
evs: 252 HP / 120 Atk / 136 SpD
ivs: 0 Spd
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>With Steelix's ability to wall many physical threats, it will often find itself causing switches. For this reason, abuse of Stealth Rocks is perfect for such a Pokemon, and will allow Steelix to potentially cause much more secondary damage than primary damage purely by attacking its opposition.</p>
<p>Steelix's Base Attack is only 85, meaning it will not be hurting the opposition outside of super-effective hits. That said, STAB Earthquake provides a means for Steelix to make Pokemon such as Tyranitar and Metagross think twice about switching in to meet it head on. Gyro Ball is also decent option if you are using toxic or roar in the 3rd slot. Otherwise, Flying types and pokemon with Levitate will be free to switch in and start setting up. </p>
<p>Stone Edge provides this set with coverage, but with Steelix's somewhat less than impressive attacking capabilities, Toxic can provide a good option to slowly but surely weaken the opposition. Furthermore, Steelix can hit many of Steel-types that aren't effected by Toxic with STAB Earthquake, which makes it a good option for this set. At the very least, it will cause more switching to occur, allowing you to abuse Stealth Rock more effectively. Roar is also a fine option for this slot as well. Steelix can make a fine pseudo-hazer forcing out Physical attackers who think they can hurt Steelix and the ones that actually can. </p>
<p>Explosion is Steelix's final option, allowing it to usually take out an opposing Pokemon when Steelix is close to fainting. As long as the Pokemon you explode on isn't resistant or immune to the move, Explosion will seriously hurt anything on the receiving end. </p>
<p>The ivs suggested only apply if you are using Gyro Ball as you’ll need the lowest speed you can be at for it to be effective. </p>
[SET]
name: Sleep Talk Steelix
move 1: Earthquake / Gyro Ball
move 2: Toxic / Roar
move 3: Rest
move 4: Sleep Talk
item: Leftovers
ability: Sturdy
nature: Impish / Relaxed
evs: 252 HP / 120 Atk / 136 SpD
ivs: 0 Spd
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Steelix may have an impeccable Defense Stat, but he is set back severely by the lack of an instant recovery move. Rest and Sleep Talk together form a way around that problem.</p>
<p> The first moveslot comes down to user preference.Gyro Ball has a higher base power under some conditions, will allow Steelix to hit Flying-types and those with Levitate. Earthquake, on the other hand, hits for more consistent damage, and allows covers more types.
<p> The second slot is mostly to help Steelix force a switch, either indirectly or directly. Toxic can help you inflict more residual damage, while Roar will pseudo-haze away any Pokemon trying to set up on you.</p>
<p> Stealth Rock isn’t a great option on this set, as it severely limits Steelix while using Sleep Talk.</p>
[SET]
name: Choice Bander
move 1: Earthquake
move 2: Gyro Ball
move 3: Stone Edge
move 4: Explosion
item: Choice Band
ability: Sturdy
nature: Brave / Relaxed
evs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
ivs: 0 Spd
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>This premise behind putting a Choice Band on Steelix is to allow it to make up for its lackluster Attack stat while still possessing quite impressive physical sponging capabilities.</p>
<p>Earthquake is still a Steelix's premier attacking option, providing a solid 150 Base Power with STAB for Steelix to make use of. Gyro Ball is Steelix's secondary STAB move here, and can be used with great success against faster opponents. To maximize the potential of Gyro Ball, you should be using a -Spd nature such as Brave or Relaxed with a Speed IV of 0. Let's face it - Steelix wasn't really going to outspeeding any threats regardless, making lowering its Speed as much as possible preferable. </p>
<p>Stone Edge adds coverage to the set, allowing Steelix to hit incoming fliers such as Salamence and Gyarados harder than they may have bargained for taking into account the unlikelihood of switching into a Choice Banded super effective attack from Steelix. </p>
<p>Explosion is undoubtedly a threat regardless of Choice Band. Again, provided the opponent is not resistant or immune to the move, it can threaten to KO many Pokemon Steelix may otherwise have trouble against. </p>
[Other Options]
<p>The elemental fangs Steelix has gained in Diamond and Pearl can be used quite effectively in many situations. Ice Fang allows Steelix to severely injure unsuspecting Dragon Pokemon such as Salamence, Garchomp and Dragonite. Thunder Fang can allow Steelix to pose an immediate threat to Gyarados. However, it only has a shot of 2HKOing the flying water beast with an investment of 232 Attack EVs, using up EVs that would otherwise be reserved for bulking up Steelix's defenses.</p>
<p>Crunch allows Steelix to hit Gengar, Drifblim, and Mismagius harder, and provides a slight boost in power if it is able to hit a Pokemon super-effective where Earthquake would only hit it neutral.</p>
<p>Rock Slide and Rock Blast provide alternatives to use over Stone Edge, but are generally inferior options. Rock Slide is far less powerful, and albeit being slightly more accurate, its added possibility of flinching provides no real use for a Pokemon as slow as Steelix. Rock Blast can break the Substitutes of several Pokemon, but you will often find that it is too inaccurate to warrant usage in the wake of Steelix's other comparable moves. </p>
<p>Block will allow Steelix to trap a foe that it is in an advantageous position on, but is fairly hard to use effectively due to its low Speed and the foe's ability to switch a disadvantaged Pokemon before the move is used. It can, however, bait a Pokemon to switch in and be forced to eat an Explosion, something which many Pokemon will fear. Beware of users of Protect if you try this method.</p>
<p>Psych Up allows Steelix to copy the stat boosts of a foe, but you won't find it to be very useful in most situations outside of Curse Snorlax or a random Bulk Up user. Don't feel tempted to use it against Pokemon using moves such as Dragon Dance - Steelix will be slower regardless of the copied boosts in most cases, and be forced to waste HP both using Psych Up and then trying to attack using its newly acquired boosts, putting it in a compromising situation that isn't likely to pay off.</p>
[EVs]
<p>When eving Steelix to take hits, always max out its HP first. You'll find that it helps more to maximize HP than EV Steelix's already plentiful Defense. Increasing Steelix's already colossal Defense will only marginally help it. Special Defense EVs allow the damage of Neutral Hidden Power to be lightened and aids Steelix in taking non-STAB Special moves to a degree. Do not focus on this however, as Steelix's Special Defense is by no means its focal point. With any leftover EVs, pump Steelix's Attack so it can pose a more immediate threat. </p>
[Opinion]
<p>Steelix is undoubtedly a physical wall to be reckoned with. Its Defense is only rivaled by Regirock and Shuckle, the former of which he is tied with. Steelix's typing allows it to take advantage of many resistances and one immunity, a noticeable resistance being the quadruple resistance to Rock. Even with its impressive Defense stat, he is also given a few noticeable weaknesses to common moves such as Earthquake, Close Combat and Waterfall. With its somewhat lackluster Attack stat, Steelix won't be hurting many Pokemon outside of super-effective hits, residual damage, and Explosion. Despite these weaknesses, one should not underestimate a well-placed Steelix on a team, as it has the capability of annoying many Pokemon popular in the current metagame. </p>
[Counters]
<p>Obviously, when fighting Steelix, targeting its weaker Special Defense stat is preferable. Pokemon with strong Special Fire or Water attacks can bring Steelix down relatively quickly. Bulky Water Pokemon such as Milotic, Swampert, Suicune and Slowbro can counter Steelix effectively to this end.</p>
<p>Will-O-Wisp can cripple Steelix's already insignificant offensive capabilities as well as creating a source of consistent secondary damage, allowing Pokemon such as Weezing and Dusknoir to pose an immediate threat while Steelix does fairly little damage to them. Furthermore, Dusknoir cannot even be exploded on in a last ditch effort, making it a very effective counter. </p>
<p>If Steelix isn’t packing Stone Edge, Levitators and Special based Flying type pokemon can walk all over him. Flygon gets a particular mention as it takes minimum damage from the Stealth Rocks Steelix has set up, and effectively walls anymove through at him except for Toxic or Ice fang. Gengar, Mismagius, and Drifblim are immune to earthquake and explosion making them decent counters to Steelix’s void of Stone Edge or Gyro Ball. </p>
<p>Bulky Rapid Spinners such as Donphan, Forretress and to a lesser extent Cloyster can remove Steelix's Stealth Rock while Steelix does little damage to them outside of a well-placed Toxic.</p>
<p>Heracross can abuse Steelix's tendency to carry Toxic with guts, and lay down a serious hurting on Steelix with STAB Close Combat. Furthermore, it possesses a handy resistance to Steelix's main form of attacking in Earthquake. </p>
<p> Pokemon that resist or take very little damage from Earthquake can come in on Steelix, and begin to set up entry hazards or various other supporting techniques. Skarmory, Bronzong, Forretress, Jirachi, Hippowdon, Gliscor, Celebi, and Tangrowth come to mind. </p>
[SET]
name: Physical wall
move 1: Earthquake / Gyro Ball
move 2: Stealth Rock
move 3: Toxic / Stone Edge / Roar
move 4: Explosion
item: Leftovers
ability: Sturdy
nature: Impish / Relaxed
evs: 252 HP / 120 Atk / 136 SpD
ivs: 0 Spd
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>With Steelix's ability to wall many physical threats, it will often find itself causing switches. For this reason, abuse of Stealth Rocks is perfect for such a Pokemon, and will allow Steelix to potentially cause much more secondary damage than primary damage purely by attacking its opposition.</p>
<p>Steelix's Base Attack is only 85, meaning it will not be hurting the opposition outside of super-effective hits. That said, STAB Earthquake provides a means for Steelix to make Pokemon such as Tyranitar and Metagross think twice about switching in to meet it head on. Gyro Ball is also decent option if you are using toxic or roar in the 3rd slot. Otherwise, Flying types and pokemon with Levitate will be free to switch in and start setting up. </p>
<p>Stone Edge provides this set with coverage, but with Steelix's somewhat less than impressive attacking capabilities, Toxic can provide a good option to slowly but surely weaken the opposition. Furthermore, Steelix can hit many of Steel-types that aren't effected by Toxic with STAB Earthquake, which makes it a good option for this set. At the very least, it will cause more switching to occur, allowing you to abuse Stealth Rock more effectively. Roar is also a fine option for this slot as well. Steelix can make a fine pseudo-hazer forcing out Physical attackers who think they can hurt Steelix and the ones that actually can. </p>
<p>Explosion is Steelix's final option, allowing it to usually take out an opposing Pokemon when Steelix is close to fainting. As long as the Pokemon you explode on isn't resistant or immune to the move, Explosion will seriously hurt anything on the receiving end. </p>
<p>The ivs suggested only apply if you are using Gyro Ball as you’ll need the lowest speed you can be at for it to be effective. </p>
[SET]
name: Sleep Talk Steelix
move 1: Earthquake / Gyro Ball
move 2: Toxic / Roar
move 3: Rest
move 4: Sleep Talk
item: Leftovers
ability: Sturdy
nature: Impish / Relaxed
evs: 252 HP / 120 Atk / 136 SpD
ivs: 0 Spd
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Steelix may have an impeccable Defense Stat, but he is set back severely by the lack of an instant recovery move. Rest and Sleep Talk together form a way around that problem.</p>
<p> The first moveslot comes down to user preference.Gyro Ball has a higher base power under some conditions, will allow Steelix to hit Flying-types and those with Levitate. Earthquake, on the other hand, hits for more consistent damage, and allows covers more types.
<p> The second slot is mostly to help Steelix force a switch, either indirectly or directly. Toxic can help you inflict more residual damage, while Roar will pseudo-haze away any Pokemon trying to set up on you.</p>
<p> Stealth Rock isn’t a great option on this set, as it severely limits Steelix while using Sleep Talk.</p>
[SET]
name: Choice Bander
move 1: Earthquake
move 2: Gyro Ball
move 3: Stone Edge
move 4: Explosion
item: Choice Band
ability: Sturdy
nature: Brave / Relaxed
evs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
ivs: 0 Spd
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>This premise behind putting a Choice Band on Steelix is to allow it to make up for its lackluster Attack stat while still possessing quite impressive physical sponging capabilities.</p>
<p>Earthquake is still a Steelix's premier attacking option, providing a solid 150 Base Power with STAB for Steelix to make use of. Gyro Ball is Steelix's secondary STAB move here, and can be used with great success against faster opponents. To maximize the potential of Gyro Ball, you should be using a -Spd nature such as Brave or Relaxed with a Speed IV of 0. Let's face it - Steelix wasn't really going to outspeeding any threats regardless, making lowering its Speed as much as possible preferable. </p>
<p>Stone Edge adds coverage to the set, allowing Steelix to hit incoming fliers such as Salamence and Gyarados harder than they may have bargained for taking into account the unlikelihood of switching into a Choice Banded super effective attack from Steelix. </p>
<p>Explosion is undoubtedly a threat regardless of Choice Band. Again, provided the opponent is not resistant or immune to the move, it can threaten to KO many Pokemon Steelix may otherwise have trouble against. </p>
[Other Options]
<p>The elemental fangs Steelix has gained in Diamond and Pearl can be used quite effectively in many situations. Ice Fang allows Steelix to severely injure unsuspecting Dragon Pokemon such as Salamence, Garchomp and Dragonite. Thunder Fang can allow Steelix to pose an immediate threat to Gyarados. However, it only has a shot of 2HKOing the flying water beast with an investment of 232 Attack EVs, using up EVs that would otherwise be reserved for bulking up Steelix's defenses.</p>
<p>Crunch allows Steelix to hit Gengar, Drifblim, and Mismagius harder, and provides a slight boost in power if it is able to hit a Pokemon super-effective where Earthquake would only hit it neutral.</p>
<p>Rock Slide and Rock Blast provide alternatives to use over Stone Edge, but are generally inferior options. Rock Slide is far less powerful, and albeit being slightly more accurate, its added possibility of flinching provides no real use for a Pokemon as slow as Steelix. Rock Blast can break the Substitutes of several Pokemon, but you will often find that it is too inaccurate to warrant usage in the wake of Steelix's other comparable moves. </p>
<p>Block will allow Steelix to trap a foe that it is in an advantageous position on, but is fairly hard to use effectively due to its low Speed and the foe's ability to switch a disadvantaged Pokemon before the move is used. It can, however, bait a Pokemon to switch in and be forced to eat an Explosion, something which many Pokemon will fear. Beware of users of Protect if you try this method.</p>
<p>Psych Up allows Steelix to copy the stat boosts of a foe, but you won't find it to be very useful in most situations outside of Curse Snorlax or a random Bulk Up user. Don't feel tempted to use it against Pokemon using moves such as Dragon Dance - Steelix will be slower regardless of the copied boosts in most cases, and be forced to waste HP both using Psych Up and then trying to attack using its newly acquired boosts, putting it in a compromising situation that isn't likely to pay off.</p>
[EVs]
<p>When eving Steelix to take hits, always max out its HP first. You'll find that it helps more to maximize HP than EV Steelix's already plentiful Defense. Increasing Steelix's already colossal Defense will only marginally help it. Special Defense EVs allow the damage of Neutral Hidden Power to be lightened and aids Steelix in taking non-STAB Special moves to a degree. Do not focus on this however, as Steelix's Special Defense is by no means its focal point. With any leftover EVs, pump Steelix's Attack so it can pose a more immediate threat. </p>
[Opinion]
<p>Steelix is undoubtedly a physical wall to be reckoned with. Its Defense is only rivaled by Regirock and Shuckle, the former of which he is tied with. Steelix's typing allows it to take advantage of many resistances and one immunity, a noticeable resistance being the quadruple resistance to Rock. Even with its impressive Defense stat, he is also given a few noticeable weaknesses to common moves such as Earthquake, Close Combat and Waterfall. With its somewhat lackluster Attack stat, Steelix won't be hurting many Pokemon outside of super-effective hits, residual damage, and Explosion. Despite these weaknesses, one should not underestimate a well-placed Steelix on a team, as it has the capability of annoying many Pokemon popular in the current metagame. </p>
[Counters]
<p>Obviously, when fighting Steelix, targeting its weaker Special Defense stat is preferable. Pokemon with strong Special Fire or Water attacks can bring Steelix down relatively quickly. Bulky Water Pokemon such as Milotic, Swampert, Suicune and Slowbro can counter Steelix effectively to this end.</p>
<p>Will-O-Wisp can cripple Steelix's already insignificant offensive capabilities as well as creating a source of consistent secondary damage, allowing Pokemon such as Weezing and Dusknoir to pose an immediate threat while Steelix does fairly little damage to them. Furthermore, Dusknoir cannot even be exploded on in a last ditch effort, making it a very effective counter. </p>
<p>If Steelix isn’t packing Stone Edge, Levitators and Special based Flying type pokemon can walk all over him. Flygon gets a particular mention as it takes minimum damage from the Stealth Rocks Steelix has set up, and effectively walls anymove through at him except for Toxic or Ice fang. Gengar, Mismagius, and Drifblim are immune to earthquake and explosion making them decent counters to Steelix’s void of Stone Edge or Gyro Ball. </p>
<p>Bulky Rapid Spinners such as Donphan, Forretress and to a lesser extent Cloyster can remove Steelix's Stealth Rock while Steelix does little damage to them outside of a well-placed Toxic.</p>
<p>Heracross can abuse Steelix's tendency to carry Toxic with guts, and lay down a serious hurting on Steelix with STAB Close Combat. Furthermore, it possesses a handy resistance to Steelix's main form of attacking in Earthquake. </p>
<p> Pokemon that resist or take very little damage from Earthquake can come in on Steelix, and begin to set up entry hazards or various other supporting techniques. Skarmory, Bronzong, Forretress, Jirachi, Hippowdon, Gliscor, Celebi, and Tangrowth come to mind. </p>
