Community POTW #18

[GroundTypeGuru]

Is Explosion still viable or did it get nerfed?

Yes and no. It still has 250 base power, which means it jumps to 375 for normal types with STAB, and it's viable there, but it no longer halves defense, which means the pokemon that loved it in previous gens have to consider it carefully.

More or less, it's become a 'I'm going to die so I might as well get damage on them' Kind of thing.

[Haru Glory]

Swalot @ Black Sludge
Ability: Liquid Ooze
Nature: Sassy (+S.Def, -Spd)
EVs: 252 HP/4 Def/252 S.Atk
- Toxic
- Venoshock
- HP Ice
- Shadow Ball

All offensive stuff. Hit, hit, hit.
Swalot can take at least two hits, so make good use of the Toxic+Venoshock combo.
HP Ice and Shadow Ball to counter weaknesses.

[TheAwesomeOne]

It stopped halving defense in 4th Gen wasn't it?

[WeatherEffectRain]

Oh boy, I'm really late to this one. Swalot... Interesting. I'd say UU sets, where he is farely usable.

I really wish it got a better DW ability though. Maybe Poison Touch.

Mixed Tanker. Yes. I chose Tanking.
Ability: Sticky Hold
Item: Life Orb/Black Sludge
EVs: 128 SDef, 128 Def, 124 SAtk, 124 Atk, 4 HP
-Earthquake
-Giga Drain/Sunny Day
-Ice Punch/Ice Beam/Fire Punch
-Shadow Ball/SolarBeam

A farely simple Tanker Set. Two variations, I'll explain later. Earthquake is that move that rocks. Giga Drain to heal from Life Orb, and get healing anyway. Ice Punch or Ice Beam to smack Altaria in the face, use which one dependent on your choice. Shadow Ball is a Ghost-type move that can be usefull. However, you could put Black Sludge and run a SunnyBeamer. Fire Punch gets a useful bonus from it as well, and Earthquake hits super-effective to Fire-types that want to get in your way. Although, Altaria DOES Dominate the SunnyBeamer variant, so be careful.

^The above is probably my best set yet. PLEASE, tell me anything wrong with it.

So thats it from me for now.

[chanseychansey77]

The "Poison Bag" Pokemon? C'mon, Pokedex...

Swalot@Black Sludge
Ability: Sticky Hold
EVs: Max HP and Sp. Atk.
Acid Spray
Ice Beam
Shadow Ball
Hidden Power (Fire)

Something Swalot has that few others do is Acid Spray, a move that cuts the opponents Sp. Def. in half, so it may as well use it. Ice Beam and Shadow Ball for coverage, Sludge Bomb for STAB.

[Grassmaster411]

my swalot focuses on doing the most damage possible before it can be taken out by ground or psychic moves

Moveset:
Explosion
Toxic
Gunk Shot
Gastro acid

toxic to poison, and gunk shot for STAB. gastro acid to get rid of pesky dream world abilitys. explosion to finish things off.

Item: Black slugde

[TrollFreak]

*sigh* might as well post something
Swalot @ Black Sludge
Careful (Sp Def> Sp. Atk)

252 HP/252 Sp.Def/ 4 Atk

Curse
Gunk Shot
Earthquake
Ice Punch

Heres an intersting set. Max Hp and Max Sp.Def gives Swalot plenty of time to set up
and endure some hits as well. Gunk Shot, STAB, eartquake, covers Steel Immunitys.
Ice Punch for ground types. There.

Darkrai the Swalot @ Black Sludge
Modest (Sp. Atk > Atk)

252 HP/ 252 Sp. Atk/ 4 Sp. Def

Yawn
Block
Dream Eater
Nightmare

Well, serebii told us to go nuts, im going nuts. Block prevents switching and yawn is obvious. Then the fun Begins Nightmare first, so they lose HP everyturn. The slowly Dream Eater to death. Mwhwhhwhahaha Creative set, If I say so myself.

Specs @ Choice Specs

Modest (same as above, to lazy to put it here again)

same Ev's as the Darkrai Set

Slude Bomb/ Slude Wave
Ice Beam
Hp Fire
Shadow Ball/ SolarBeam (IF useing sunny day team)

Another set that covers swalots weaknesses. Slude Bomb or Wave, Bomb for better chance of poisoning, Wave for Power, is STAB

Ice Beam for Ground types, Hp Fire for Steels types, Shadow Ball for Psychics
(Works great in the sun, Hp Fire is stronger and solarbeam is now an option )

Banded @ choice band (last set)

Adament (Opposite of Modest)

252 Hp/ 252 Atk/ 4 Sp Def

Gunk Shot
Ice Punch
E-Quake
Explosion

Same as the Curse set, BUT WITH EXPLOSIONS

[Feralninja]

I guess you could run a stockpile set with sludge bomb in the fourth slot, maybe energy ball or somehing for coverage instead of swallow. Uh, black sludge for item.
Ive never actually used swalot. Never liked the design. But my friend does, and he uses it partnered with quagsire. Its a decent wall… but they dont do much. To counter swalot, I use swampert, because I like swampert. Anything with earthquake works though. Or if you still have mons with iron tail, go nuts. Metagross is good. Empoleon with flash cannon gets the job done.
No idea for EVs, but either dump them all into defense and special defense, or pick if you want to be a physical or special wall. Then invest the rest into special attack and hp.
All in all... Not such a great pokemon.

[Dragonite's]

Why does everybody forget giga drain!!!

[TheAwesomeOne]

Cos it sucks.
Giga Drain for Tanking sets, Energy Ball for Attacking sets.

[_Calm|Mind_]

Here's my Reno Swalot.

Swalot @ Float Stone
Ability: Sticky Hold
Nature: Sassy (+SpD, -Spe)
EVs: 252 HP / 40 Atk / 216 SpD
- Swallow
- Rollout
- Body Slam
- Swagger

Float Stone reduces his Grass Knot weak, Swallow because it's just what Reno does, Body Slam and Rollout to take advantage of Reno's voluptuous body, and Swagger because Reno's always gettin' his swagger on.

[stenli]

As a nasty absurd looking Poison-type Pokemon, Swalot is outclassed by Muk and Garbodor. However the Stomach Pokemon still has some niche. Or he wish....

Drain Pwn
Swalot @ Leftovers
Trait: Liquid Ooze
EVs & Nature: Some HP, Def & SpD. Some SpA. +Def -Spe. 0 Spe IV.

- Stockpile.
- Pain Split.
- Acid Spray / Hidden Power lol Psychic.
- Ice Beam.

This set made to wall HP suckers :P (Toxicroak, Conkeldurr, Mienshao, Ferrothorn, Whimsicott, etc). Switch to Swalot while they're using Drain Punch / Leech Seed / Giga Drain. U know the rest...

[WeatherEffectRain]

Why does everybody forget giga drain!!!

I believe my Tanking set had it. Everyone seemed to miss it though...

[SomeoneIGuess]

I wouldn't use Giga Drain. It gets no STAB and is coming off your Swalot's base 73 Special Attack. Pain Split gets you ALOT further. Unless you're Up against a Water/Ground or your opponent's HP is lesser than yours.

[WeatherEffectRain]

Well, Giga Drain is more reliable. By the way, if they Belly Drum or something like that, you end up healing them. Giga Drain... Yeh. More reliable.

I still wanna see something about my set. Its gone under the radar or something.

[Abizzel1]

Swalot would be a pretty good tank if it wasn't plagued by that Earthquake weakness.

Countering Swalot

Pretty much any Psychic can come in and kill it Just watch out for along with most Ghost Pokemon just watch out for Shadow Ball, Steel types ruin it, and most ground types can come in a KO it as well. If you can stay away from them then Swalot can play to it's skills well.

You annoying blob

Acid Spray
Shadow Ball
Explosion/Pain Split
Encore/Ice Beam

Another option to do some damage with Swalot is to use Acid Spray instead of Sludge Bomb, after setting up some entry hazards. Acid Spray lowers the opponents Special Defense by 2 levels, so a Choice Spec, Acid Spray is going to do some serious damage over time. One Acid Spray will generally force the opponent to switch not wanting to take a hit with their SD cut in half, and when they do switch they're new Pokemon will take an Acid Spray as well, eventually they're going to have to just deal with it and duke it out, and if you feel you can win stay in if not, switch forcing them to switch and take more residual damage. Kind of gimmicky, but it can work just make sure you have the team to help. You can add Shadow Ball for back up against ghost and Psychics. Explosion and Pain Split are for extra damage. Explosion kills, Pain Split helps you survive to abuse this strategy even more, I would go with Pain Split. The final move just depends on you, Ice Beam gives you another attack and more coverage, Encore traps that opponent causing another switch and more residual damage.


Last Pokemon of the Week

Why wasn't there a Pre-Evolution Corner for Kadabra and Abra last week.

Kadabra has 120 Special Attack and 105 Speed, combined with Choice Specs./ Life Orb/ Evolite it becomes a threat even in OU, but it's only going to be in UU/NU and down there it's practically Mewtwo.

The same deal with Abra 105 Special Attack and 90 Speed is a huge threat to NU.

[WeatherEffectRain]

Abizzel1, please stop talking about Alakazam. This is the Swalot POTW.

I don't see why people think Garbodor and Muk are better than Swalot. Muk can't use Special attacks because his stat is so weak; Swalot can efficiently become Mixed. Same deal with Garbodor. If Swalot comes off as mixed, he can pummel the others.

[TheAwesomeOne]

Abra is pwned by any priority move, and they aren't commonly used in play.
They will mainly do commonly used Pokémon, not everyones Pre-Evos'

[The Intersect]

wow swalot thats a sword from the old rack.
well i guess its a pretty good staller if you use the right moves.
I think i swallowed something bad!:
for this set you want an impish/bold nature depending on move choice later and leftovers or black sludge.
Stockpile/curse these provide extra bulk and also your choice changes the rest of the set.
Gunk shot/Venoshock. Provides stab and also it depends on if you want physical or special moves on you big mouthed buddy
Toxic. obviously why its a staller and it is the best status move and if you use venoshock over gunk shot for your stab move provides a power boost
Wring out/swallow/(seed bomb 4th gen needed) wring out does a bit of damage to a fresh pokemon in the match swallow provides healing if you use stockpile and seedbomb wipes out ground types meaning you only have to worry about psychic types if you manage to beat the ground types.
EV's. Bold and impish - 252 def, 252 sp def in the attack stat of your choice or hp i know it doesnt do much but every little helps.

Swalot2 - i'm here on holiday
Adamant nature with item @ Muscle band to boost attack a little further or life orb for better effect with hp sacrifice (thanks to TheAwesomeOne and WeatherEffectRain for the obvious better suggestion)
Seed bomb/gunkshot
icepunch/fire punch/ thunder punch/seed bomb
curse
icepunch/fire punch/ thunder punch/bulldoze or earthquake
This set is obviously built to hit hard if you get the chance and MUST use 4th gen for the punch moves and seed bomb
Curse Boosts attack damage and allows a little durability at the same time from the defence boost seedbomb is for the ground types if you willing to give up your STAB attack of gunk shot or a punch move slot. the punch moves boost type coverage and ice with thunder gives a psysical bolt-beam alternative once more bulldoze would lower opponents speed and deal damage while adding small type coverage and earthquake is a stronger alternative without the added effect
Ev's Adamant, 252-attack 252-in either defence stat that depends on which you would prefer and the useless 4 in hp or the opposite defence stat your choice
just thought i would put this up in case no-one else thought of it.

[TheAwesomeOne]

Life Orb over Muscle Band always.