Original analysis written by Nozzle. This analysis, among others, had to be completed and submitted in a hurry for Smogon's new dex. The OP here has been fully changed to reflect QC's version of this, written by Goddess Briyella. Corkscrew has already QC checked this within the LC QC project and his changes have already been implemented, and Goddess Briyella, Corkscrew, and DTC have all QC checked this on the forums, making it QC 3/3.
Overview
########
- Literally the mascot of Smogon
- Defensive Poison type with awesome resistances
- Reliably walls and threatens the offensive capabilities of most physical attackers
- One of the few Pokemon to resist Fairy + Ground coverage
- Only one weakness (Psychic)
- Very slow and is only decently strong offensively
Defensive
########
name: Defensive
move 1: Will-O-Wisp
move 2: Pain Split
move 3: Sludge Bomb / Clear Smog
move 4: Fire Blast / Destiny Bond
ability: Levitate
item: Eviolite
evs: 36 HP / 236 Def / 236 Sp Def
nature: Bold
Moves
========
- Will-O-Wisp is Koffing's key to bringing down physical attackers and is a very important move in its arsenal, if not the most important
- Pain Split is Koffing's only form of recovery but it is one that heals itself while also damaging the opponent
- Sludge Bomb is the obligatory STAB attack that deals decent chunks of damage and has a nice 30% Poison chance
- Clear Smog is an ideal option over Sludge Bomb if you want to tailor Koffing to be able to stop setup sweepers from getting out of control, though this effect will not activate on a Substitute
- Fire Blast is an option primarily for hitting the Steel-types that are immune to Koffing's STAB; it gets a big hit on Honedge and nails Ferroseed especially hard
- Destiny Bond lets Koffing take a foe down with it when it is made to faint by a direct attack, and can be used as a last-ditch attempt to get rid of a troublesome enemy
Set Details
========
- Eviolite with the given EV spread gives Koffing and effective Defense stat of 30, very impressive and tanks physical hits very well
- Apart from maxing out Defense, the remaining EVs contribute Koffing's special bulk so that it can put up with stray neutral special hits more easily
- Less is invested in HP to make Pain Split more effective.
- Levitate rids Koffing of its would-be Ground weakness and comes in very handy, except when facing an opponent with Mold Breaker and Earthquake
Usage Tips
========
- Koffing can switch in comfortably in most cases against Bug-, Fairy-, Ground- and Fighting-type foes, and can force most physical attackers out with the threat of Will-O-Wisp
- Pain Split can be used at lower health against enemies with higher health to damage them while also recovering HP; Koffing's low Speed can come in handy for this move in particular, as it lets the opponent take away some of its health before stealing it back from them with Pain Split
- Clear Smog stops setup cold, though some exceptions are that it will not reset stats if it hits a Substitute or a Steel-type
- Destiny Bond can be used as Koffing's health reaches near-fainting-levels, to make the opponent think twice before delivering a fatal blow, this can be used to make them not attack Koffing and then Pain Split can be used to regain health if they don't finish you off, it's kind of evil lol
- Fire Blast roasts Steel-types and can be used on predicted switch-ins of that type to turn the tide of battle
Team Options
========
- Koffing highly appreciates Wish support, even though it has Pain Split; Lickitung makes a good partner for this purpose in particular, since Koffing can shrug off the Fighting-type attacks aimed at Lickitung, while Wish recovery can be provided to them both
- Scraggy makes an ideal partner that covers Koffing's sole weakness to Psychic, while Koffing tanks the Fighting-type attacks aimed at Scraggy's weakness to them
- Chinchou makes a good partner for dealing with Tentacool, as it walls Koffing's STAB as well as Fire Blast rather easily and can therefore cause issues
- Hazard setters like Dwebble and Ferroseed can be ideal partners, since the switches Koffing can cause can rack up residual damage via hazards quite nicely; Fighting-types switch out to avoid being burned, and Fairy-types switch out due to the overall type disadvantage, for example
- Pure Dark-types such as Zorua or Purrloin love having Koffing as a partner, as it resists all 3 weakness of Dark: Fighting, Bug, and Fairy; other Dark-types such as Vullaby and Pawniard appreciate this as well, but to a lesser degree since their second type neutralizes some of the weak points already
Other Options
########
- Rest+Sleep Talk is another option for recovery and makes Koffing a fantastic wall to most Chlorophyll sweepers as it resists Grass and Poison and won't mind Sleep Powder.
- Explosion is an option for going out with a bang, though this became notably less powerful after DPP; Memento can be used as a suicide option as well, to strip an enemy of their offensive presence almost entirely, and can be used to help a teammate come in and set up afterward
- Toxic Spikes is a new addition to Koffing's movepool and can be used to poison all grounded foes as they enter battle, though opposing Poison-types make them go away effortlessly just by coming in
- Haze is a move that's more reliable for ending setup sweeps than Clear Smog in most cases, but does not deal damage and is blocked by Taunt
- Thunderbolt is an option for hitting Water- and Flying-types hard, and can be useful for getting around Tentacool, but is generally not useful outside of that
- Belch is a surprise can be used with Oran Berry to provide Koffing the most powerful special STAB move available to it, but lack of Eviolite may make this undesirable
- Grudge is an option that allows Koffing to completely drain the PP of a move that knocks it out, and can be used to influence the opponent's move choices (i.e. Misdreavus won't like being without Shadow Ball after it kills Koffing with one)
-Shadow Ball can be used to hit Psychic type and Ghost-type switch-ins such as Elgyem and Gastly.
-Taunt can stop slower walls, such as Hippopotas and Foongus, from using status moves or recovering, but generally Koffing is a bit too slow to utilise this to its full potential.
Checks & Counters
########
**Psychic-types**: Abra especially, but also Slowpoke and a few others can make Koffing take major damage with their STAB attacks. Gothita is especially notable for being able to completely trap and remove Koffing.
**Mold Breaker EQ Users**: Drilbur especially, but also Cranidos, can override Koffing's immunity to Ground provided to it by Levitate, and nail its weakness
**Rock-types**: They wall Koffing's STAB as well as Fire Blast, and some of the more specially inclined ones such as Omanyte don't mind being burned and can set up on Koffing with little risk
**Tentacool**: Tentacool pretty much hard-walls the main set and can dish back decently significant damage with Scald and/or have a free Knock Off against either Koffing or on an incoming teammate as Koffing flees
**Flash Fire Carriers**: Ponyta and other Fire-types can come in on Will-O-Wisp or Fire Blast and get a boost to their Fire attacks, often putting Koffing in a defensively bad position, especially if its Eviolite has been removed via Knock Off.
**RestTalk Pokemon**: Chinchou and Munchlax don't care about burns is they're using Rest and Koffing's attacks do very little to them.
Overview
########
- Literally the mascot of Smogon
- Defensive Poison type with awesome resistances
- Reliably walls and threatens the offensive capabilities of most physical attackers
- One of the few Pokemon to resist Fairy + Ground coverage
- Only one weakness (Psychic)
- Very slow and is only decently strong offensively
Defensive
########
name: Defensive
move 1: Will-O-Wisp
move 2: Pain Split
move 3: Sludge Bomb / Clear Smog
move 4: Fire Blast / Destiny Bond
ability: Levitate
item: Eviolite
evs: 36 HP / 236 Def / 236 Sp Def
nature: Bold
Moves
========
- Will-O-Wisp is Koffing's key to bringing down physical attackers and is a very important move in its arsenal, if not the most important
- Pain Split is Koffing's only form of recovery but it is one that heals itself while also damaging the opponent
- Sludge Bomb is the obligatory STAB attack that deals decent chunks of damage and has a nice 30% Poison chance
- Clear Smog is an ideal option over Sludge Bomb if you want to tailor Koffing to be able to stop setup sweepers from getting out of control, though this effect will not activate on a Substitute
- Fire Blast is an option primarily for hitting the Steel-types that are immune to Koffing's STAB; it gets a big hit on Honedge and nails Ferroseed especially hard
- Destiny Bond lets Koffing take a foe down with it when it is made to faint by a direct attack, and can be used as a last-ditch attempt to get rid of a troublesome enemy
Set Details
========
- Eviolite with the given EV spread gives Koffing and effective Defense stat of 30, very impressive and tanks physical hits very well
- Apart from maxing out Defense, the remaining EVs contribute Koffing's special bulk so that it can put up with stray neutral special hits more easily
- Less is invested in HP to make Pain Split more effective.
- Levitate rids Koffing of its would-be Ground weakness and comes in very handy, except when facing an opponent with Mold Breaker and Earthquake
Usage Tips
========
- Koffing can switch in comfortably in most cases against Bug-, Fairy-, Ground- and Fighting-type foes, and can force most physical attackers out with the threat of Will-O-Wisp
- Pain Split can be used at lower health against enemies with higher health to damage them while also recovering HP; Koffing's low Speed can come in handy for this move in particular, as it lets the opponent take away some of its health before stealing it back from them with Pain Split
- Clear Smog stops setup cold, though some exceptions are that it will not reset stats if it hits a Substitute or a Steel-type
- Destiny Bond can be used as Koffing's health reaches near-fainting-levels, to make the opponent think twice before delivering a fatal blow, this can be used to make them not attack Koffing and then Pain Split can be used to regain health if they don't finish you off, it's kind of evil lol
- Fire Blast roasts Steel-types and can be used on predicted switch-ins of that type to turn the tide of battle
Team Options
========
- Koffing highly appreciates Wish support, even though it has Pain Split; Lickitung makes a good partner for this purpose in particular, since Koffing can shrug off the Fighting-type attacks aimed at Lickitung, while Wish recovery can be provided to them both
- Scraggy makes an ideal partner that covers Koffing's sole weakness to Psychic, while Koffing tanks the Fighting-type attacks aimed at Scraggy's weakness to them
- Chinchou makes a good partner for dealing with Tentacool, as it walls Koffing's STAB as well as Fire Blast rather easily and can therefore cause issues
- Hazard setters like Dwebble and Ferroseed can be ideal partners, since the switches Koffing can cause can rack up residual damage via hazards quite nicely; Fighting-types switch out to avoid being burned, and Fairy-types switch out due to the overall type disadvantage, for example
- Pure Dark-types such as Zorua or Purrloin love having Koffing as a partner, as it resists all 3 weakness of Dark: Fighting, Bug, and Fairy; other Dark-types such as Vullaby and Pawniard appreciate this as well, but to a lesser degree since their second type neutralizes some of the weak points already
Other Options
########
- Rest+Sleep Talk is another option for recovery and makes Koffing a fantastic wall to most Chlorophyll sweepers as it resists Grass and Poison and won't mind Sleep Powder.
- Explosion is an option for going out with a bang, though this became notably less powerful after DPP; Memento can be used as a suicide option as well, to strip an enemy of their offensive presence almost entirely, and can be used to help a teammate come in and set up afterward
- Toxic Spikes is a new addition to Koffing's movepool and can be used to poison all grounded foes as they enter battle, though opposing Poison-types make them go away effortlessly just by coming in
- Haze is a move that's more reliable for ending setup sweeps than Clear Smog in most cases, but does not deal damage and is blocked by Taunt
- Thunderbolt is an option for hitting Water- and Flying-types hard, and can be useful for getting around Tentacool, but is generally not useful outside of that
- Belch is a surprise can be used with Oran Berry to provide Koffing the most powerful special STAB move available to it, but lack of Eviolite may make this undesirable
- Grudge is an option that allows Koffing to completely drain the PP of a move that knocks it out, and can be used to influence the opponent's move choices (i.e. Misdreavus won't like being without Shadow Ball after it kills Koffing with one)
-Shadow Ball can be used to hit Psychic type and Ghost-type switch-ins such as Elgyem and Gastly.
-Taunt can stop slower walls, such as Hippopotas and Foongus, from using status moves or recovering, but generally Koffing is a bit too slow to utilise this to its full potential.
Checks & Counters
########
**Psychic-types**: Abra especially, but also Slowpoke and a few others can make Koffing take major damage with their STAB attacks. Gothita is especially notable for being able to completely trap and remove Koffing.
**Mold Breaker EQ Users**: Drilbur especially, but also Cranidos, can override Koffing's immunity to Ground provided to it by Levitate, and nail its weakness
**Rock-types**: They wall Koffing's STAB as well as Fire Blast, and some of the more specially inclined ones such as Omanyte don't mind being burned and can set up on Koffing with little risk
**Tentacool**: Tentacool pretty much hard-walls the main set and can dish back decently significant damage with Scald and/or have a free Knock Off against either Koffing or on an incoming teammate as Koffing flees
**Flash Fire Carriers**: Ponyta and other Fire-types can come in on Will-O-Wisp or Fire Blast and get a boost to their Fire attacks, often putting Koffing in a defensively bad position, especially if its Eviolite has been removed via Knock Off.
**RestTalk Pokemon**: Chinchou and Munchlax don't care about burns is they're using Rest and Koffing's attacks do very little to them.
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