Pokémon Toxapex

[Goodstyle]

Toxapex's biggest advantage over Slowbro isn't his bug resistance, his stats, or tspikes. It's the fact that Slowbro is part psychic, making him weak to Dark moves and Ghost moves, that screws him over. Obviously Pex doesn't overshadow him or anything, but Slowbro being pursuit weak, knock off weak, and Ghost weak hurts his walling.

There's also the fact that Toxapex isn't grass weak like Slowbro is, meaning Pex can totally wall Charizard-Y and other things that pack surprise solarbeams... and Slowbro just dies.

 

[Siggu]

Toxapex's biggest advantage over Slowbro isn't his bug resistance, his stats, or tspikes. It's the fact that Slowbro is part psychic, making him weak to Dark moves and Ghost moves, that screws him over. Obviously Pex doesn't overshadow him or anything, but Slowbro being pursuit weak, knock off weak, and Ghost weak hurts his walling.

There's also the fact that Toxapex isn't grass weak like Slowbro is, meaning Pex can totally wall Charizard-Y and other things that pack surprise solarbeams... and Slowbro just dies.

And it's not weak to both halves of VoltTurn :P

 

[Pyukumu-kukuku]

And it's not weak to both halves of VoltTurn :P

Wait, What? Both Toxipex and Slowbro are weak to Volt Switch.

 

[Darvin]

Wait, What? Both Toxipex and Slowbro are weak to Volt Switch.

Slowbro is weak to both U-Turn and Volt Switch, while Toxapex is weak only to one. With Pheromosa and Genesect running around everywhere this is actually pretty significant.

 

[Goodstyle]

And while we're talking about stuff Toxapex has that Slowbro doesn't, Toxapex is immune to toxic and completely walls Scizor, while Slowbro gets crushed by both.

 

[Zé Capáu]

I really don't like Scald on something as passive as Toxapex.
I run

Infestation
Toxic(Spikes, depends on mood)
Recover
Haze

Black Sludge/Binding Band(this one is a gimmick but deals 1/6 damage instead of 1/8)

I mean... I know Scald burns and deals passive damage and all but it is very annoying dealing abmysbal damage on your opponent. Infestation atleast allows you to rack up toxic+trap damage and furthermore doesn't make you Hazard bait :/

Ha! That's it, I was looking for something to prolong the foe's torture just like Infestation Swallot. Now here's the experiment proposal:

Toxapex @ Rocky Helmet / Binding Band / Black Sludge
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Toxic / Topic Spikes
- Protect / Baneful Bunker
- Recover
- Infestation

(...) . Of note, you can wall Mega Charizard Y (something Slowbro wishes it could do) and you're immune to poison. (...)

Say hi!

 

[Mikael]

Say hi!

she is not even that common lol

 

[Pyukumu-kukuku]

Ha! That's it, I was looking for something to prolong the foe's torture just like Infestation Swallot. Now here's the experiment proposal:

Toxapex @ Rocky Helmet / Binding Band / Black Sludge
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Toxic / Topic Spikes
- Baneful Bunker
- Recover
- Infestation

I don't think it's worth it to run baneful bunker with Toxic/Spikes, I doubt you want to apply regular poison over toxic in really any situation. It would be safer to run protect if you want to avoid accidents.

 

[Zé Capáu]

I don't think it's worth it to run baneful bunker with Toxic/Spikes, I doubt you want to apply regular poison over toxic in really any situation. It would be safer to run protect if you want to avoid accidents.

Baneful bunker is just in case of U-Turners like Pherormosa, so they get punished with regular poison upon switching out. However, despite the possibility to get regular poison before badly poison, it may not be the case once Toxic Spikes are set up, leaving the regular poison to those who don't step into Toxic Spikes (Flying-types and Levitate). This can be useful to wear down Talonflame.

edit: just added Protect to the set, for those who may use Toxic instead of Toxic Spikes.

 

[The Haymaker]

And while we're talking about stuff Toxapex has that Slowbro doesn't, Toxapex is immune to toxic and completely walls Scizor, while Slowbro gets crushed by both.

You've got to realize some trade-offs though. Toxapex does little more than sit there due to its lack of offensive presence - it's a wall with access to T-Spikes and that's about it. Slowbro has good SpA and a colorful movepool to use it, and it can even function as a lure at the same time. In the current meta, Toxapex is definitely objectively better, but as the dust clears, I see Toxapex tailing off in usage when people stop using it to blanket check all the hyper offense spam. It's still great, but a huge momentum killer and very linear so it doesn't fit into just any team amazingly.

 

[Goodstyle]

Should Rocky Helmet Toxapex be the standard? Because I feel like it allows for way more possibilities. I once fought against a ddance, substitute Gyarodos with Crunch and Waterfall, and if it wasn't for the combination of Haze and Rocky Helmet, I'd be doing literally nothing to it since it takes 3 hits to break his sub. Most of my damage came from the Gyarodos making contact with me.

I also found myself in a similar situation with Kartana. I would switch into its lifeorb leafblade, and it'd do 45ish % damage. Obviously, I can't do anything but recover over and over again, and thanks to the RH, the Kartana eventually went down as well.

Finally, there was a scenario where I only won, because a belly drummed Azumarill was down to its last 20% of health, and it knocked off my Toxapex, who survived at 6%, and then finished it off with scald. I don't know how black sludge would have been helpful in that sort of situation.

Toxapex already has so little offensive presence, so any bit of damage he can get is welcome. He also has Regenerator too, so getting health back isn't too difficult if you play things right. Fun fact btw: All 3 of those threats I listed above are unlikely to get banned and completely shut down Slowbro... worth thinking about.

 

[Hiddenfreezer]

Should Rocky Helmet Toxapex be the standard? Because I feel like it allows for way more possibilities. I once fought against a ddance, substitute Gyarodos with Crunch and Waterfall, and if it[...]

This is why I run Infestation over Scald (Toxic/Haze is mandatory)
I hate though that Substitute blocks Infestation :/

(Rocky Helmet + Scald or Infestation + Black Sludge, what is better?)

 

[Pyukumu-kukuku]

This is why I run Infestation over Scald (Toxic/Haze is mandatory)
I hate though that Substitute blocks Infestation :/

(Rocky Helmet + Scald or Infestation + Black Sludge, what is better?)

I personally like infest for the trapping but if your not getting off the toxic RH+S is probably a better deterant.

 

[Dragontamer]

Should Rocky Helmet Toxapex be the standard? Because I feel like it allows for way more possibilities. I once fought against a ddance, substitute Gyarodos with Crunch and Waterfall, and if it wasn't for the combination of Haze and Rocky Helmet, I'd be doing literally nothing to it since it takes 3 hits to break his sub. Most of my damage came from the Gyarodos making contact with me.

I also found myself in a similar situation with Kartana. I would switch into its lifeorb leafblade, and it'd do 45ish % damage. Obviously, I can't do anything but recover over and over again, and thanks to the RH, the Kartana eventually went down as well.

That's bad play on behalf of your opponent. Toxapex is a wall, and nothing short of a dedicated wallbreaker is going to bring it down. Haze is extremely useful for stopping setups, but its braindead and kinda obvious.

Toxapex's worst enemy are Choice users: either Choice Band or Choice Specs (or now that Marowak is a thing... Thick Club). You don't throw down a Life Orb Cleaner up against a premier sponge like Toxapex... you need to smash the wall down with Specs Draco Meteor / Psyshock or Choice Banded Brave Birds / Return / Earthquakes / Close Combats.

Rocky Helmet will work against weaker enemies, but I think Rocky Helmet is better on `mon like Rough Skin Bulky Garchomp or Ferrothorn. They get the passive damage in much harder... and the surprise switch in happens more often.

 

[MinerJack036]

This is the moves I have been running on my Toxapex for Battle Spot Singles and at the Battle Tree.

Toxapex @ [item=sitrus_berry]Sitrus Berry[/item]
Ability: [ability=merciless]Merciless[/ability]
EVS: 252 HP / 200 Def / 56 SpD
Impish Nature (+Def, -Spa)
IVs: 0 SpA
- [move=liquidation]Liquidation[/move]
- [move=recover]Recover[/move]
- [move=stockpile]Stockpile[/move]
- [move=toxic_spikes]Toxic Spikes[/move]

Basically what you do here is raise your Defense and Special Defense even higher with [move=stockpile]Stockpile[/move] and use [move=recover]Recover[/move] if your HP gets low. The [item=sitrus_berry]Sitrus Berry[/item] is if your opponent uses a powerful that almost kills you then the [item=sitrus_berry]Sitrus Berry[/item] Sitrus Berry saves you from that a little. [move=toxic_spikes]Toxic Spikes[/move] and [move=liquidation]Liquidation[/move] should be used after using [move=stockpile]Stockpile[/move] so you won't get knocked out in the process, and [move=liquidation]Liquidation[/move] with [ability=merciless]Merciless[/ability] and the foe poisoned by [move=toxic_spikes]Toxic Spikes[/move] lets you get critical hits all the time. Hopefully this was helpful!

 

[onlyheretocomplain]

That set is going to leave you setup bait vs. anything that doesn't mind Toxic Spikes. A +1 Liquidation coming from 162 Attack doesn't really hit that hard.

 

[ehT]

We have established multiple times that Baneful Bunker, Stockpile, Merciless, and really anything short of Scald / Recover / Haze / Toxic or T-Spikes is unviable garbage and shouldn't be used on any serious team. Can we please move on?

 

[INSANE CARZY GUY]

Venoshock is better than merciless

0 SpA Toxapex Venoshock (130 BP) vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Tapu Fini: 134-162 (38.9 - 47%) -- 0.4% chance to 2HKO after toxic damage

0 SpA Toxapex Sludge Bomb vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Tapu Fini on a critical hit: 144-170 (41.8 - 49.4%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

Poison damage is part of the math/what if venoshock got a critical too?

 

[GaRgAnt]

Ability: [ability=merciless]Merciless[/ability]

Why do people still even think merciless is halfway decent

 

[DrPumpkinz]

Why do people still even think merciless is halfway decent

Probably because it's actually an amazing offensive ability... that was wasted on an incredibly defensive Pokemon with access to an amazing defensive ability.

 

[Hiddenfreezer]

So what is the General opinion of Infestation? I mean everyone seems to run Scald/Haze/Recover/Toxic, which by no means is a bad moveset at all, but I really dislike burning a fast Special attacker because burn is so damn irrelevant. Like I rather paralyze/poison Lati@s for example - just talking bout Latias, the nice part is disallowing double switching if you catch it into Infestation

 

[Siggu]

So what is the General opinion of Infestation? I mean everyone seems to run Scald/Haze/Recover/Toxic, which by no means is a bad moveset at all, but I really dislike burning a fast Special attacker because burn is so damn irrelevant. Like I rather paralyze/poison Lati@s for example - just talking bout Latias, the nice part is disallowing double switching if you catch it into Infestation

4MSS.

Technically, Infestation is a pretty good move on something like Toxapex... but you can't really drop anything.

 

[ehT]

There are far more efficient ways to trap things on fat teams, most notably Dugtrio, because why be good when you can literally delete the counter to your entire team, which can actually take on genuine threats to fat teams like Ttar and Tran. Infestation is a waste because -- and this is the problem with most deviations from the main set -- you could be doing something infinitely more useful than awkwardly stalling down something you're probably going to have a switch-in to anyway. It's not really even an epic trole either, since any competent player will bring in something that can out-damage or out-stall you. You're just kind of gimping yourself for no reason.

 

[Morningstar]

Probably because it's actually an amazing offensive ability... that was wasted on an incredibly defensive Pokemon with access to an amazing defensive ability.

A-Muk in Doubles could take the ability in the event Toxapex faints. Ramifications of that a very defensive pokemon was fainted aside, how would the ability be on A-Muk?

 

[ehT]

The trouble then is you're using Muk-A and Toxapex in Doubles...

Anyway Merciless is a trash Ability regardless of what mon it's on, because even if you can make it "work" on, say, a team entirely dedicated to T-Spikes, all that effort you've spent just to get crits would have been much more rewarded, and much more consistently so (most gimmicks like this instantly drop to any well-made defensive team), by just running something more straightforward. The effort to reward ratio is too skewed.