My season 1 team is all put together :) here's the group picture, with flower boy in the back, but here's a quick run-down of the team! (totally didn't forget to add trick room on to my hat)
Tabula the Avalugg is my physical tank of tanks (with Tera-Fighting Body Press of course), Sisyrinchium the Glimmora is my hazards setter, Hat the Hatterene brings Trick Room to the table, Bootea the Polteageist acts as a Tera+Shell Smash sweeper, Magma the Camerupt is my special tank with means to deal with *certain stallers*, and Chapulin the Lokix is my hard hitting (will probably get outsped) bonker :)
Here is the Rental Team if you'd like to try them out!
EXTRA THICC HORSE WINS GAMES - VGC Battle Spot Stream Highlights
I lost part of my soul making this thumbnail
In an effort to actually learn the VGC format (and commit to it this time), I've decided to stream teambuilding and climbing on the my twitch channel (link here). This stream was a little bit of a test, but the battles ended up being pretty awesome! Mostly thanks to Mudsdale and Vanilluxe.
so Pokebank is up, and we’re in Gen VI again… Personally I do not understand those people who would go through Alola, see all these new pokemon, fight with all the beautiful new mechanics, and then collect 64 Battle Points and buy the Kangaskhan mega stone. Like, what are they even doing with themselves.
The directors at Gamefreak slammed into the designers workshop one morning and declared with great bombast: ‘We shall have the apocalypse in Pokemon form!’ The designers looked at one another, each raised a sly eyebrow and then in unison with a voice more demonic than a snoring Primal Groudon they decreed, ‘It shall be done!’ And thus Guzzlord was born.
‘He shall have all the HP…all of it, muhahaha,’ went the first designer, ‘He shall have spikes literally everywhere,’ went the second designer, ‘He shall have terrible defences, just god awful,’ went the third designer who was perched under a bridge waiting for billy goats to pass by, ‘and a typing so bad the fairies will eat him alive,’ and so it was done.
Yes, we need to talk about Guzzlord. This rather beautiful pokemon has been widely swept aside in the competitive scene and it’s not his fault, he’s just two generations too late. With fairies left, right, center and back in 7th gen and with a speed that translates into an awkward waddle, there doesn’t seem to be a lot going for him. However, all is not lost. In the right battle environment, with the right ev spread and the right move-set this beast can become your best friend, rather than your worst liability.
(courtesy of bulbapedia)
The stats speak for themselves: astounding HP, terrible defences, poor speed and half-decent mixed attack. If you want him to tank anything you’ve got to invest in one of the defences; only invest in one and you’ll be killed in the other. At the same time his offences are going to struggle without investment themselves.
Six resistances and an immunity is actually pretty good at first glance; and it can be in the right circumstances. There are some problems though and the big fat elephant in the room is that x4 fairy weakness. How many psychic pokemon carry dazzling gleam? A lot. So there goes your psychic wall. How many fire pokemon carry a fighting move? More than you’d think. How many water pokemon carry an ice move…and on and on. Even the ghosts are fairies in this gen. So how do we use him?
Battle Spot 3v3 environment:
In 6v6 there’s too much that can switch into him and because of his speed, and with no access to priority, all it takes is one super effective move and he’s death fodder. 3v3 is a different story, however. Let’s first get this out there: 3v3 is not just a scaled down version of 6v6. The dynamics are different: team selection is critical as opposed to 6v6 where you just pick a starter; walls are more effective as there is less variety to break them down with; tactics shift when you only have three pokemon to worry about. Under this environment Guzzlord has much more opportunity to make an impact.
Advised set for 3v3:
You can only max out two stats and whatever you leave will make you vulnerable. With some pokemon you can drop a few evs here, dice a few evs over there, but not for Guzzlord. With his terrible defences and only passable offensives; Guzzlord’s an all or nothing kind of guy. But there is a way to have your cake and eat it too:
Guzzlord @ Assault Vest
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 Def / 4 SpD / 252 SpA
Quiet Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Dark Pulse
- Flamethrower
- Dragon Tail
Explanation:
- No point putting any evs into his already massive HP as it’ll make very little difference to his bulk.
- Concentrating on Special Attack over Physical Attack means he’s not rendered useless by a burn, which is a concern for a pokemon who’s designed to sit there and glare at you while you throw the kitchen sink at him.
- Maxing out defence means you can use the Assault vest to patch up his special defence.
-Quiet nature (+Special Attack -Speed) means you can get more damage from Dragon Tail while having very little effect on your already slow speed tier.
- Running Dragon Tail means you aren’t set-up fodder once you use Draco Meteor (which gives you -2 special attack after use).
- Dark Pulse is necessary STAB move (Same Type Attack Bonus) and nothing is immune to it.
-Draco Meteor over Dragon Pulse because Dragon Pulse will not get you the kills you really need (Garchomp, Salamence, most other dragons in fact do not go down to dragon pulse, but will to Draco).
-Flamethrower for coverage as steel resists dragon, and to hit those x4 weaknesses (ferrothorn, scizor, kartana etc).
-Worth noting his ability beast boost is a great ability if you can get a kill (raises your highest stat by one stage excluding hp), though his low speed means your follow up attack opportunities will be somewhat limited.
Strategy
- This set is similar to one sometimes used on Snorlax, but often to poor effect. On Snorlax you have one immunity and no resistances, so when you get hit it will almost always be neutral or super effective (fighting). As a result if you boost both defences (one with assault vest), then you’re missing out on important bulk that Snorlax really needs; as such Snorlax can work much better as a specially defensive tank that avoids physical attacks (or the curse set). Guzzlord, however, has six resistances and one immunity, so boosting both defences can work much better allowing him to wall a greater number of pokemon on both defensive sides than he would with investment on just one side.
- With Draco Meteor and mixed bulk you can take one hit from any non-boosted dragon (except Mega Altaria) and have a decent chance of getting a one hit KO in return:
Vs Garchomp (choice scarf)
Vs Mega Salamence (Special)
Vs Kommo-o (mixed offensive)
In all three of these examples dragon pulse misses the ohko, which is why you need Draco.
- In situations where you have no super effective means you can still cause havoc with dragon tail:
Vs Mega Gyarados
Here you can get Draco Meteor damage and then dragon tail damage if they try to Dragon Dance (which they always do) shedding them of the boosts (if it hits).
- While his speed is bad, it’s worth noting that he underspeeds Aegislash and can ohko him with dark pulse while he’s in blade forme (2hko in shield form) - though steer clear of the annoying toxic stall aegislash who will outspeed and sub-toxic-king’s shield you to death (please stop using that god awful set).
Vs blade-forme Aegislash
- As a final note, look what happens against a Mega Gengar with Dazzling Gleam:
x4 effective Dazzling Gleam off Mega Gengar’s 170 base special attack does 60-70%. This guy has some bulk! Meanwhile Dark Pulse has a 62.5% chance to ohko.
- Obviously if your opponent has a plethora of fairies in their team then don’t bring Guzzlord, but the good thing about 3v3 is you don’t have to bring him if he’s not favourable. Also it’s worth noting that your opponent will most likely bring a fairy if they see him on your team sheet (if they have one), meaning you can use that knowledge and be ready with your fairy counter whether you bring Guzzlord or not.
Conclusion
Guzzlord can one-on-one a lot of prominent Battle Spot pokemon and with six resistances, one immunity and massive invested bulk he can do some decent walling too. Despite this Guzzlord remains a difficult pokemon to use in a meta game riddled with fairies, and should not be used by a novice trainer. In the right circumstance, with the right team predictions, he can fulfil a unique niche; just don’t expect him to be a key for all locks.
