Topic: How to use Unlikely Pokemon Effectively

[Meowstic Royalty]

There are a LOT of Pokemon you wouldn't expect to land a scratch on the opponent, but every Pokemon can get a unique set that makes it into a full-on powerhouse. This thread is a few tutorials to make seemingly bad Pokemon destructive sweeping machines. If you have your own, share them below!

Scrafty - Dragon Dance / Bulk Up sweeping

- Dragon Dance / Bulk Up
- Ice Punch
- Drain Punch / High Jump Kick
- Crunch

Item - Focus Sash/Life Orb
Ability - Moxie
Nature - Jolly
EVs - 4 HP / 252 ATK / 252 Speed

Now despite Scrafty having more than a high amount of weaknesses, just one Dragon Dance boost will kick it's speed up to a hefty 354 speed. Of course, Bulk Up gives it a defense kick to help resist most Fighting moves (as most bar Aura Sphere and Focus Blast are physical). Drain Punch gives Scrafty some health back, but has less power than High Jump Kick. Of course, if HJK misses it makes Scrafty lose health instead, which hurts. Lots. Having a Focus Sash makes sure (most of the time) that Scrafty will survive a hit, use Dragon Dance and retaliate. Brutally. However, this tactic is ruined by a mere Spike or priority move. That's where the Life Orb takes its place, giving a great boost to the huge power it will already have after the Dragon Dance. It will make it lose 10% of it's health after each attack of course, but having Drain Punch resotres it, being super effective on five types as well.

Emboar - Choice Scarf + Reckless

- Flare Blitz
- Superpower
- Wild Charge
- Head Smash / Earthquake

Item - Choice Scarf
Ability - Reckless
Nature - Jolly
EVs - 4 SpD / 252 ATK / 252 Speed

Now at a glance, Emboar seems to be one of the worst choices for a team. However, with a Choice Scarf and 252 speed EVs, it can become pretty damn insane. The ability Reckless powers up recoil moves, and boy does Emboar get a lot of them. Flare Blitz, Emboar's common STAB choice, gets massive power, a 20% boost thanks to Reckless and some nice type coverage (although it isn't very effective on the most common type, which is a real setback). Superpower, despite not having recoil and getting that nice bonus, gets STAB and is super effective on five types. However, it decreases Attack and Defense by one stage afterwards but let's be honest, the frail defenses would mean it would have fainted by then anyway so the lowered attack wouldn't really matter. Wild Charge gets an edge over Water and Flying, which it is usually weak against, and the final choice of moves, Head Smash or Earthquake, both have unique advantages. Head Smash annihilates Flying types with 150 base power and the Reckless bonus, but Emboar suffers huge recoil in return. Earthquake has less power and doesn't have recoil bonus, but has more accuracy and huge damage on Diggers. Of course, if they bring in a Flying Type then it would be a good time to switch out.

Aron - Sweeping teams like a boss

- Endeavour
- Toxic
- Protect
- Hidden Power Rock

Item - Shell Bell
Ability - Sturdy
Nature - Timid
EVs - 252 SpA / 252 Speed

Ah, Aron. Now before I begin, MAKE SURE ARON IS LEVEL 1. With Aron's abismal speed stat it will basically always go last. Using Sturdy to survive, Aron uses Endeavor to bring the opponent down to 1HP. Then we get struck with a problem. Aron has no priority moves. Problem solved, use a Hippowdon or Tyranitar to bring in a Sandstorm beforehand. Aron is immune to Sandstorm and Toxic, getting advantages over reasons where people using the FEAR strategy have failed in the past. Unless the opponent has a typing that kicks Aron in the goulies, the Sandstorm finishes it off. But wait, can't Sturdy only be used once? How does it sweep? Shut up I'm getting that. See that item, Shell Bell? All of that HP the opponent has ripped away from them helps to restore Aron to full health again. Then Sturdy will activate and take down its next opponent. There's no brakes on the Aron train.

Pangoro - More Dark / Fighting for ya

- Power - Up Punch
- Crunch
- Bulk Up
- Earthquake

Item - Metronome
Ability - Iron Fist
Nature - Jolly
EVs - 4 SpD / 252 ATK / 252 Speed

Now let me explain why Pangoro, despite the less - than - reliable base stats still kicks so much ass. Power - Up Punch doesn't have much power, yet gets a STAB along with a boost from the Iron Fist ability. It is super effective on five types and giving it a Metronome keeps boosting the power each time it is used. After five turns of PUP being used consecutively, it reaches 601 power. Giving it Bulk Up raises Attack and Defense too, giving PUP another kick. It also learns Swords Dance, which is a nice replacement for Bulk Up but doesn't give it a defense boost.

Do you have any strategies to effectively use weak Pokemon? Share them below!

[Mr. Apple]

ahhhh that last one lmao

[Richard and Blaziken]

Aron, like all FEAR users, is hard countered by ghosts

[Meowstic Royalty]

^ Yep, Endeavor doesn't lay a scratch on a ghost type so that kind of stops the Aron train on it's tracks. Too bad it doesn't really have anything to counter them.

[SaRo|Rapidash]

I've got one I'm currently using in doubles, although it would still work in singles:

[Super Size] Gourgeist @ Normal Gem
252 hp / 252 Attack / 4 SpD
Brave/Sassy Nature
-> Trick Room
-> Explosion
-> Destiny Bond
-> Bullet Seed

Okay, turn one use Trick Room, setting it up for the rest of your team. Gourgeist is pretty bulky so you should last one turn. Now, with 0 IVs, EVs and a negative nature he's ridiculously slow, or fast in TR.

Second turn, you can use either Explosion or Destiny bond, whichever is more appropriate. The aim is to die taking them with you. Dying is essential because it lets you bring in a proper TRer without wasting a turn switching regularly, and instead killing there's and getting a switch.