[Monotype / Rock] Magcargo (W.I.P)
[OVERVIEW]
+Completely counters/checks Iron Head and Bullet Punch sweepers
+Excellent defence
+Unique type combination provides useful neutrality to Grass and Steel
+The physical moves with Water, Fighting and Steel type, which are supereffective against Rock, all activate Flame Body
+Learns a variety of utility moves such as Will-O-Wisp, Stealth Rocks, Memento, Light Screen, Reflect, Infestation and Clear Smog
+Cores exeptionally well with Cradily.
-Extremely frail to special attacks, even with the boost from Sandstorm
-Has two x4 weaknesses to Water and Ground
-Weak to Stealth Rocks and the non-contact moves Rock Slide/Stone Edge
-Terrible attack stat, making the best rock STAB Ancient Power
-Speed is particularly low, being outsped by nearly all viable pokemon even after Sticky Webs
-Faces competition as a Will-O-Wisp utility pokemon in Solrock and as a Steel stopper from Omastar, though both lack reliable recovery(Morning Sun deacreasing the hp recovered in Sandstorm and very low pp for Solrock) and Flame Body
[SET]
name: Montgolfière (Air Baloon)
move 1: Recover
move 2: Lava Plume
move 3: Infestation/Earth Power
move 4: Will-O-Wisp/Stealth Rock
item: Air Balloon
ability: Flame Body
nature: Bold
evs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Set Details
========
Usage Tips
========
Team Options
========
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Checks and Counters
===================
[OVERVIEW]
+Completely counters/checks Iron Head and Bullet Punch sweepers
+Excellent defence
+Unique type combination provides useful neutrality to Grass and Steel
+The physical moves with Water, Fighting and Steel type, which are supereffective against Rock, all activate Flame Body
+Learns a variety of utility moves such as Will-O-Wisp, Stealth Rocks, Memento, Light Screen, Reflect, Infestation and Clear Smog
+Cores exeptionally well with Cradily.
-Extremely frail to special attacks, even with the boost from Sandstorm
-Has two x4 weaknesses to Water and Ground
-Weak to Stealth Rocks and the non-contact moves Rock Slide/Stone Edge
-Terrible attack stat, making the best rock STAB Ancient Power
-Speed is particularly low, being outsped by nearly all viable pokemon even after Sticky Webs
-Faces competition as a Will-O-Wisp utility pokemon in Solrock and as a Steel stopper from Omastar, though both lack reliable recovery(Morning Sun deacreasing the hp recovered in Sandstorm and very low pp for Solrock) and Flame Body
- Overall, a very niche pokemon that handles a handfull of threats other Rock pokemon have a lot of trouble with, but suffers drastically from extremely poor stats, exept for defence, and two x4 weaknesses to Ground and Water
[SET]
name: Montgolfière (Air Baloon)
move 1: Recover
move 2: Lava Plume
move 3: Infestation/Earth Power
move 4: Will-O-Wisp/Stealth Rock
item: Air Balloon
ability: Flame Body
nature: Bold
evs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
- Recover heals 50% Hp on use and is crucial for any bulky support pokemon that can run it, and here is no exception.
- Lava Plume is prefered over other STAB fire moves here due to its higher chance to burn while still dealing decent damage.
- Infestation serves a variety of purposes. Trapping opponents to die of Burn-Infestation attrition, creating safe swiches by preventing double swiching and breaking Sashes/Balloons, most notably Balloon Heatran wich would otherwise wall this set entirely.
- Earth Power gives you more bang for your buck, making Magcargo more useful in Steel matchups and providing coverage. Be wary though that this set is debilitating when up against Balloon Heatran, So Infestation is generally preferred
- Will-O-Wisp is basically your insurance policy. Even after Flame Body and Lava Plume at the end of the day it is a 30% chance, wich are not good odds. Additionally, you need a way to Burn pokemon capable of popping your Balloon with non-contact moves.
- Stealth Rock gives some extra utility to Magcargo while making the Steel matchup even move advantageous, giving headaches to Skarmory, and if you dont mind the baloon being popped, potential burn on Rapid Spin pokemon.
Set Details
========
- Maximum Hit Points and Defense investments are a given, seeing as Magcargo is a physical wall.
- Flame Body is the only viable ability on a bulky Magcargo as Magma Armor is useless considering it is unlikeley your opponent will select Ice Beam against a Fire type, and Weak Armor hurts much more than it helps.
- Air Balloon is a bit more nuanced then it may seem at first. Not only does it make Magcargo immune to Ground type attacks but you can also force a contact move to break the Balloon, possibly activating Flame Body and debilitating the offensive capabilities of the opposing pokemon.
Usage Tips
========
- Magcargo is less specially bulky than you think. In most situations, you want to swich out Magcargo if its up aigainst a special attacker.
- Magcargo is more physically bulky than you think. In most cases a x2 supereffective non stab move will not OHKO at full Hp
- If you are in a difficult situation, use Magcargo as a martyr. This is basically your only hope against Water setup sweepers or just Water type physical attackers.
- Prediction is key to maximise the usefulness of Flame Body. You want to maximise the amount of contact moves a threat uses on Magcargo to really get the most out of Flame Body
Team Options
========
- Cradily is a given for Rock teams in general, but here cores extremely well with Magcargo. Cradily provides immunity to Water and neutrality to Ground, but here Magcargo's typing shines, resisiting Bug and Ice and being neutral to Steel, three out of Cradily's four weaknesses. While both share a weakness to Fighting type, most physical Fighting type moves make contact and thus activate Flame Body(or can burnt with Will-O-Wisp). You would be hard pressed to find another Rock type that cores this well with Cradily.
- Protect Mega Diancie is going to love being with Magcargo. While Iron Head, and more importantly, Bullet Punch are death sentences to Mega Diancie, Magcargo is engineered to make them regret using those moves. Not only will they do laughable damage, but they risk the possibility of receiving a Burn. Meanwhile, Mega Diancie can be swiched into status users that are tring to take advantage of Magcargo's low speed, sending their status right back at them. Protect is specified as choice scarf iron head sweepers are often used to try and kill Mega Diancie before it gets a chance to mega, so scouting is key.
- Something to handle Earthquake while Cradily is neutral to ground, its more specially defencive leanings makes it easy to kill with one or two Earthquakes. This is bad as when the Magcargo's Balloon pops you are vulnerable to an Earthquake sweep. To prevent this, here are some options: Mega Aggron, Solrock, Lunatone, Aerodactyl, Archeops and possibly Rhyperior
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
- Shell Smash simply is not viable. Magcargo is too slow, even after Weak Armor, and is vastly outclassed by Omastar.
- Dual Screens would require holding light clay, wich would make the Ground weakness unmanagable. Outclassed by Solrock as well.
Checks and Counters
===================
- All special attackers no really, if there is a special attacker on the field, switch out.
- Guts while not only wanting to be burnt, these pokemon are usually of the Fighting type or have some kind of Fighting type move, which is not good.
- Darmanitan/Infernape are both here for the same reason. Cant be burnt, can deal huge amounts of damage to Magcargo.
- Superpower Scizor cannot OHKO Magcargo before Swords Dance, but still are close to fainting. After Swords Dance though, Magcargo will die to Superpower.
- Water Setup Sweepers most dangerously Gyarados, as it can run Substitute, making it harder to kill and swich into. But all of them pose huge threats.
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