Other OU Type Analysis Project: Week 3 - Water-type

[trc]

APPROVED BY HAUNTER AND SUBJECT 18

Hey guys, this is OU's Type Analysis Project! The aim of this project is to discuss and evaluate information regarding metagame trends, categorised into 18 weeks for the corresponding 18 types. After 18 weeks are over, we'll look back at the previous week of the upcoming type and compare the Pokemon of that type in terms of how they play in the metagame, what new trends have arisen, and what new sets they're commonly seen running.

Things I'd like people to discuss (and I'd like to see at least one, preferably more of these ideas featured in each post) are:

• What are the most popular Pokemon of this type seen in OU?
• What other Pokemon of this type also claim some sort of viability in OU?
• What Pokemon of this type fill a niche in OU which is sometimes worth considering in a team?
• What sorts of Pokemon does this type collectively threaten?
• What sorts of Pokemon threaten many of the members of this type?
• What sorts of metagame trends have occurred to the many Pokemon in this type?
• What Pokemon of this type are very potent offensive threats?
• What Pokemon of this type are very sturdy defensive threats?
• How do these Pokemon compare to each other in their respective roles?
• How strong do you feel this type is as a whole?

Note that I prefer for emphasis to be put on comparisons, not only between Pokemon but also between the stages of a metagame in which a Pokemon was used. How is it used now? What changed?

Week 2's type is the Fire-type:

(Note that discussion isn't limited to the above Pokemon).

There are a few things I'd really like to be talked about this week. One is the role of bulky Water-types throughout the generations.This is something I'd really like to be talked about because it's interesting to take a look at them from a wider range. In ADV, Swampert, Suicune, and Milotic were typically seen to wall the various physical threats in the metagame. As DPP came along, nothing much changed, but in BW, the need for a bulky Water-type lessened, and while things like Vaporeon, Rotom-W, and bulky Starmie were seen occasionally, Swampert, Milotic, and Suicune were nowhere to be seen. Now in XY Rotom-W is often seen to wall Sand Rush Excadrill, Quagsire is ubiquitous on stall for a plethora of boosting physical attackers thanks to Unaware, Azumarill's brand new typing gives it a unique list of threats it can wall, Slowbro can wall some of the best new Pokemon such as Talonflame, and recently, even some niche bulky Water-types have been rising in popularity, such as Alomomola with Regenrator, Wish, and Mirror Coat, and Mantine with great special bulk, Water Absorb, and the ability to be a nice check to Landorus. Another thing that could be talked about is rain, as it typically involves a lot of Water-types. Comparisons to BW and discussion about the fall or rain stall or good starting points.

 

[Lil YoshiXD]

Despite mantine being able to wall lando i generally don't see it as worth it. Just give vaporeon some special defense and it can do it. Btw it should be mentioned vap is awesome on baton bass.
One water type I love/hate is suicune. If i can get a burn I generally win, if not I lose. Or if I don't get crit on I lose.

As evidenced by the amount of pokes listed above its obvious that water is a really good type. Only weak to relativley uncommon elec and grass.

Rain stall is basically dead
Rain HO is really good vs deosharp, but quite weak to stall.

Good offensive rain pokes: Azumaril, Keldeo, Greninja, Gyarados. Manaphy and the swift swimmers can work if need be.
Defensivley Slowbro, Alomola and Rotom-W can wall quite a bit.

 

[dwarfstar]

Oh hey, I'm actually in time to post something this time around (missed out on glorious Grass).

So, the first thing to note is that while rain took a big hit in the generation shift, it's still very viable as an offensive archetype, since Drizzle-Swim is legal. Politoed and a fast backup rain setter (generally Deoxys-S, although Tornadus and Thundurus both have room for Rain Dance) are both necessities, as is Kabutops; notable special Swift Swimmers include Kingdra, Omastar, and Seismitoad (which is only really used instead of another one because it doesn't have to worry about any Thundurus not carrying HP Grass/Grass Knot, which isn't something most of the Swift Swimmers can boast). The Swift Swimmers (and any other offensive Water-types on the team) pack enough combined firepower to muscle past many of their common checks and counters. While rain stall died at the same time permanent weather did, rain offense will be around for a while. Now gimme back my sun offense, Troll Freak.

Outside of rain, the most notable offensive Water-types are Azumarill, Gyarados, Keldeo, and Greninja (not in that order).

-Azumarill's new Fairy subtyping was a massive buff, allowing it to tank a bunch of attacks it couldn't before and giving it ridiculous STAB coverage; Aqua Jet/Waterfall and Play Rough do neutral damage to almost everything in the OU metagame (the only ones that resist it, as far as I can remember, are Venusaur, Ferrothorn, and Amoonguss), leaving it with a slot free for Knock Off or Belly Drum. I guess you could run Superpower if Ferrothorn is really that much of an issue, but the utility of Knock Off and the sweeping opportunity presented by Belly Drum seem like they're both worth more - I'd recommend just running a Fire-type. Outside of the Choice Band set and the aforementioned Belly Drummer, Azumarill is also one of relatively few Pokemon that actually makes good use of an Assault Vest (seriously, you NEED power and pre-existing bulk for that item to be worth anything, and Azumarill's got both).

-Gyarados' buff came in the form of a very tanky Mega. Mega-Gyarados is a very effective Dragon Dance sweeper; it can smack around Rotom-Wash with a Mold Breaker Earthquake and break all sorts of things with Waterfall. Ice Fang rounds out your coverage on Grass-types, but if you've got something that can handle those, Taunt is an option. Mega-Gyarados is also a pretty interesting Pokemon on stall teams (paging Ajwf ), and the ability to choose when you change your typing allows for some sweet mindgames from a defensive standpoint. Outside of the Mega form, it's still got a niche as a Rest-Talk tank with Dragon Tail and Waterfall.

-Keldeo... is Keldeo. It has to watch out for Fairies (one of its biggest foes is fellow Water-type Azumarill), Mega-Venusaur, Thundurus, and Flying priority now, but other than that, very little has changed. It's still very fast and extremely powerful (despite the Hydro Pump debuff), and the Specs set is just as scary as ever (Hydro Pump + Secret Sword + Scald + Hidden Power Flying). Keldeo loves rain support from Politoed (as does any Water-type, but the power of a rain-boosted Specs Hydro Pump is terrifying), and a Pursuit trapper can take out Lati@s for it. It got some interesting new partners this generation in Aegislash and the buffed Bisharp, both of which can Pursuit-trap for Keldeo and appreciate having Fire-types eliminated, and its old wallbreaking buddy Landorus (released from Ubers at the beginning of the generation).

-Greninja is one of the most interesting new Pokemon we got from sixth-gen (and looks pretty damn cool too). Base 122 Speed allows it to outrun every relevant unboosted threat bar Deoxys-S (well, Mega-Aerodactyl and Mega-Alakazam are borderline relevant), which is pretty sweet, but what really lets Greninja shine is Protean. This free STAB boost on everything in its movepool makes up for its mediocre Special Attack, allowing LO Greninja to pack a serious punch. Speaking of movepools, Greninja was blessed in that department as well - notable moves include Hydro Pump, Dark Pulse, Extrasensory (2HKOs Mega-Venusaur, which would otherwise counter it), Ice Beam, Grass Knot, and U-turn. Hidden Power Fire is a nice option to smack around Ferrothorn if you like. In addition to its ridiculous Speed and nice wallbreaking power (U-turn Greninja is a pain for stall), it's one of very few viable offensive Spikers in the tier.
P.S. For all you newer players out there, never use physical Greninja. It has a grand total of one viable physical move with more than 75 base power and it can't take a hit while it sets up with Power-Up Punch.


Leaving defensive Water-types for someone else to cover. Exam coming up.

Seriously, Game Freak, give us back sun offense.

 

[trc]

One thing I forgot to talk about is Jellicent. Now Jellicent was definitely a popular defensive Water-type in BW, as its unique typing allowed it to wall a plethora of specially-biased threats, most notably the very dangerous Keldeo, which as often forced to run a specialized Hidden Power type just to have some sort of way of muscling through Jellicent. Jellicent had very impressive overall special bulk, especially when invested, had a unique typing that allowed it to function as a spinblocker, had a very impressive supportive movepool with the likes of Will-o-Wisp, Recover, and Taunt, and fit very well into specialised weather stalls such as rain stall and sand stall / balance. Some reasons why it may have fell in viability could possibly be due to the rise of powerful Pokemon such as Aegislash and Bisharp which are very common and are very dangerous to Jellicent, or the fact that weather isn't permanent, lessening its niche on weather teams.

 

[Ajwf]

Speaking strictly defensively:

• What are the most popular Pokemon of this type seen in OU?

Quagsire. Like, apparently everyone and their mother thinks he's the greatest thing to ever happen to stall. He IS really good, just overrated. If you're good at predicting switchins, another water type can do his job with more upside. Suicune is probably an easy second because it can provide a wincon, though I question its ability to perform as a wall when pivoting.

• What other Pokemon of this type also claim some sort of viability in OU?

Slowbro/King: While similar, they hold vastly different roles because of their movepool and slight bulk changes. For Slowking, his access to dragon tail and Power Gem give him excellent niches in phazing special setup sweepers and removing CharizardY respectively. His use of the Assault Vest makes him a powerful special pivot and his Twave phaze set is certainly viable. On the other hand, Slowbro's access to foul play and better physical bulk make him a great check to ZardX as well as many setup sweepers. His use of the assault vest allows him to become an all purpose pivot as opposed to a special wall. I'm not partial to his lefties set because it loses so much on the special side, but it's still usable.

Blastoise-m: So underrated... Just how do you get the best spinner in the game, one with intense bulk and attack? Scald/DPulse/AuraSphere for attacks leave very little that want or can come in. I run a spdef spread that generally avoids a 2hko from Landorus while OHKOing with scald after rocks (or burn, same damage). It's nearly impossible to OHKO blastoise, too. He takes Latios LO dracos and lives with 30% min left, ohkoing back after rocks and lo damage. The ability to spin consistently, be a great partner to chansey and in general force opponents to switch while threatening burns on their switchins is something stall rarely ever has. In fact, his offensive power, much like Heatran's and some other bulky attackers stall users, enables the use of chansey without too much momentum loss.

Gyara-m/normal: Because of how special Gyara-m is because he utalizes both forms, I'll talk about both in the same breath even though they run distinct sets. Gyarados as a normal form is a check to most special attackers that give stall issues, mainly ZardY, Landorus, Keldeo and Greninja, as well as having intimidate for physical sets. Think Gen4 because Dtail Resttalk Gyara is the general Spdef set. Physical Gyarados likes EQ over Dtail to try and take on ZardX, also running resttalk. But when it comes to Mega Gyarados, the options get intense. Taunt Breaker Gyara sporting EQ/Waterfall can hard counter Aegislash, Bisharp, CharizardX and many others. Rest is the only recovery option but whatever. 88 speed outspeeds 44 speed rotom but you can't OHKO the damn thing.

Swampert/Seismitoad: Another underrated attacker, both play similarly to Blastoise-m but in setting instead of spinning. They takes on almost all setters with ease and can beat most of them outside Ferrothorn. Ice Punch/Waterfall/EQ/Rocks gives him a wide range of coverage and makes him a devastating attacker. Swamp has better defenses but some people prefer seismitoad's immunity. Preference, really. I like the defense.

• What Pokemon of this type fill a niche in OU which is sometimes worth considering in a team?

Water type are generally one of the stall mons that MUST have recovery. Responsible as the main tank, they have one of the best offensive types with great neutral coverage and burn moves in scald. Water types do generally serve as a catch-all tank as they are so diverse.

• What sorts of Pokemon does this type collectively threaten?

Talonflame... The existence of any fire types not named Zard or Heatran... Switching offensive physical mons due to scald.

• What sorts of Pokemon threaten many of the members of this type?

Mega Venusaur is the easiest answer, but Thundurus-i, Ferro, CharY also come to mind (although Slowking w/AV can slaughter off ZardY with the analysis spread).

• What sorts of metagame trends have occurred to the many Pokemon in this type?

Well, from Rotom-wash having the typing/usage of an S rank mon due to all the EQ spam to catch Aegi at the beginning to Quagsire being the cornerstone of many stall teams... Water has had quite a few trends. We've seen CroCune rise up after Quagsire, the quick rise (and fall) of Sap Sipper/thick fat azum for ZardY/X respectively a few water absorb mons (gastro/seismetoad) for rain teams. At one point, Infestation gastrodon was a thing to destroy rotom-wash. Right now, I'm not sure stall has any trends other than the amoongquag cores...

• How do these Pokemon compare to each other in their respective roles?

Generally, the water mon is looking to take ZardX or Landorus to some extent.

• How strong do you feel this type is as a whole?

Second or third strongest type defensively, only behind fairy and possibly flying.