#736 Grubbin

Eckley · (This post was last modified: Oct 5, 2015, 02:26 PM by naitre.)

[Image: politoed_smudge_tag__pokemon__by_nigglez...6ye1tv.png]

Two things. 1) Shiny Politoed is best Politoed. 2) If you don't like Politoed, then I don't like you. Now that we've got that out of the way, Politoed is known for one thing: setting up the rain. With the exception of Kyogre it's the only Pokemon that has the ability Drizzle meaning it's the first Pokemon that comes to mind if you want to run a rain team. Although Politoed doesn't have outstanding stats, having only two weaknesses allow it to take a hit or two and with rain automatically getting set up it can fire of some pretty strong Scalds or Hydro Pumps. Politoed does have a relatively shallow movepool, but nevertheless it has some support options available

Base Stats: 90 HP / 75Attack / 75 Defense / 90 Special Attack / 100 Special Defense / 70 Speed
Type: Water
Weaknesses: Grass (X2), Electric (X2)
Resistances: Steel (X0.5), Fire (X0.5), Water (X0.5), Ice (X0.5)
Immunities: Water (If the Ability is Water Absorb)
Abilities: Water Absorb - When a Pokémon with Water Absorb is hit by a Water-type move, its HP is restored by one quarter of its maximum HP, and the move will have no effect on that Pokémon (if a Pokémon with this Ability already has full HP, the Water-type move will do nothing).
Water Absorb will not activate if the Pokémon is protected from the Water-type move.
If a Pokémon with Water Absorb is holding an Absorb Bulb or Luminous Moss, Water Absorb absorbs the move, so the item's effect is not triggered.

Damp - Damp prevents self-destruction and the use of moves such as Self-Destruct and Explosion. If Self-Destruct or Explosion are selected in battle, the attack will fail and the user will not faint. Also, Damp prevents the Ability Aftermath from doing damage when its user faints.

Drizzle (Hidden Ability) - Drizzle summons rain in battle as soon as a Pokémon with Drizzle enters the battle. Rain lasts for five turn, which can be extended to eight if the Pokemon is holding a Damp Rock.

"All 'rounder"
[Image: politoed.gif]

Politoed @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 68 HP / 188 Def / 108 SpA / 140 SpD / 4 Spe
Modest Nature
- Scald / Hydro Pump
- Icy Wind / Ice Beam
- Helping Hand / Hydro Pump
- Protect

The idea of this set is to have Politoed be a team player. Naturally, the first thing it does is set up the rain which Swift Swimmers can use to outspeed everything and Steel types like Aegislash, Metagross, Ferrothorn etc. have their Fire weakness reduced.
The second thing it does is provide support through Icy Wind (providing you decide to run it over Ice Beam) or give it partner a Helping Hand boost to potentially secure a KO.
Lastly, it has enough bulk to take some pretty big hits such as Max Attack, Adamant Mega Kang's Double Edge (With Sitrus Berry) and Max SpA Modest Thundurus' Thunderbolt (not holding a Life Orb).
The 108 SpA investment allow it to OHKO 252 Attack / 252 Speed Terrakion and most Landorus (not Assault Vest) in the Rain. It also has a 93.8% chance to OHKO 4 HP / 0 SpD Mega Salamence with Ice Beam, but most Mega Salamence's invest to survive Ice Beams from Pokemon like Politoed and Suicune. With only base 90 SpA, it's not going to be OHKOing everything, but it's rain boosted water attacks can be for than enough to either pick up the KO on a weakened foe, or put it into KO range for it's partner to finish up.

Damage Calculations

Defensive

Offensive

Specially Defensive / Scout
[Image: politoed.gif]

Politoed @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Drizzle
EVs: 212 HP / 28 Def / 12 SpA / 212 SpD / 44 Spe
OR;
EVs: 188 HP / 12 Def / 4 SpA / 212 SpD / 92 Spe
Calm Nature
- Scald
- Icy Wind
- Helping Hand
- Protect

After taking a look at the current Top 12 most used Pokemon on Global link, 10 of them are Special Attackers (assuming Mega Salamece is a mixed set). That's why these sets are more specially orientated; to take a lot of hard special attack hits. The idea is to support with speed control, helping hand and maybe snag a burn with scald.
The speed investment on these sets is for scouting purposes. After 1 Icy Wind, Politoed will outspeed non-scarfed Adamant Landorus-T (First set).
The second set sacrifices a little more bulk, but with the 92 speed EVs it allows Politoed to outspeed Adamant 252 Speed Mega Kangaskhan after 1 Icy Wind so you can scout if it's a Jolly or Adamant set.

Damage Calculations

Defensive (First Set)

(Second Set)

Potential Teammates include, but aren't limited to;

Swift Swimmers - specifically Ludicolo and Kingdra. Ludicolo is able to deal with Rotom Wash, and it takes neutral damage from Grass and Electric attacks, both of which are predominantly Special Attacks which Ludicolo can take well, especially if it's an Assault Vest variant
Ferrothorn - With Politoed on the team to set up rain your opponent may be reluctant to bring a fire type to the battle - leaving Ferrothorn with only a Fighting weakness to worry about. It also takes no damage from Electric and Grass type attacks. Zero. Ziltch. Did you even attack it?
(Mega) Gardevoir - One of Gardevoirs biggest opposition is Heatran. Having Politoed there to set up the rain and fire of boosted water attacks can easily cover Gardevoir

Threats include, but aren't limited to;

Strong Thunderbolts from Zapdos and Thundurus. Both are usually able to take an Ice Beam with ease and both outspeed Politoed
Ferrothorn - Politoed will have a bad time against it. It can't touch Ferrothorn unless you run Focus ~~Miss~~ Blast, and even that barely does half. Ferrothorn can also OHKO with Power Whip
Obvioulsy strong hits from Mega Kangaskhan and Mega Salamence are a big issue
Rotom-W - Same as Ferrothorn. Politoed can't really do anything agains Rotom-W and it has Thunderbolts to hit you with
Ludicolo - Hits Politoed with a Giga Drain and then absorbs anything Politoed throws at it

Other Notable Moves

Hypnosis - A 60% to put your opponent to sleep, if you really want to be that guy
Perish Song - All Pokemon who are on the field when this move is used will faint after 3 turns. Used in conjunction with Mega Gengar and / or Gothitelle
Swagger - .....yeah.....
Hidden Power (Grass) - If you have trouble with Gastrodon
Focus Blast - Able to hit things like Ferrothorn, although you're likely to miss and die from a Power Whip
Encore - Useful after an Icy Wind to trap your oppoents into using moves they don't want to such as locking them into Protect

Other Notable Items

Choice Scarf - Self explanatory. Outspeed a lot of Pokemon and fire off a Rain Boosted Scald or Hydro Pump
Eject Button - If the Rainruns out, you can swap in Politoed on a predicted not very effective attack to set the rain, and then switch immediately out
Leftovers - Gradually restore HP throughout the battle. A good alternative to Sitrus if you can get rid of anything that threatens Politoed
Damp Rock - Increase Rain Turns from 5 to 8
Wacan Berry - Halves damage taken from a super-effective Electric type attack
Rock Helmet - If Kang is going to take you down, then it's coming with you...or at least 1/6 of her HP will

Thanks for reading! If you have any sets you'd like to add feel free to PM me, or post a comment. And remember...

Credit to DrawFag159381

RebornFX · Oct 5, 2015, 04:45 PM

Really nice write up! One less popular set from Joaquin Page's report on Nugget Bridge is a choice specs Politoed. It has some pretty nice offensive calcs:

As you can see, it hits like a truck. The main reason it is so effective is because of the fact that people expect it to be a supportive set. The original set had Surf on it, but I'm not a huge fan of being locked in to a move which damages my allies, so I opted for Hydro Pump.

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