Copyediting Bulky Dragon Dance (Breaking Swipe) Gouging Fire (QC 2/2) (GP 0/1)

[Dreadfury]

[SET]
Bulky Dragon Dance (Gouging Fire) @ Leftovers
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Poison
EVs: 252 HP / 72 Atk / 104 Def / 16 SpD / 64 Spe
Impish Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Flare Blitz
- Breaking Swipe
- Morning Sun

[SET COMMENTS]
Gouging Fire combines an incredible typing both offensively and defensively, massive mixed bulk alongside reliable recovery, and its powerful STAB Flare Blitz to serve as a uniquely powerful Dragon Dance sweeper that capable of setting up against and ultimately beating a large number of physically bulky threats. Breaking Swipe is the key to this set's success; after having their Attack lowered by Breaking Swipe, Ground-types like Great Tusk lacking Bulk Up and Gliscor can no longer reliably outdamage Gouging Fire's Morning Sun and Leftovers recovery, allowing it to directly set up in front of these threats. Breaking Swipe's 24 PP also gives it a unique advantage at stalling out Dondozo's 16 Curse PP, even after it is called multiple times by Sleep Talk; after a few Attack drops, Dondozo's Waterfall cannot inflict meaningful damage against Gouging Fire even though Gouging Fire will be doing very low damage in return and is thus forced to switch out in order to conserve its valuable Rest and Curse PP, which a +6 Gouging Fire can heavily punish if it predicts correctly. Tera Poison grants Gouging Fire an immunity to Toxic from Gliscor and Clodsire, the former of which is turned into setup fodder after an Attack drop from Breaking Swipe, while granting it a resistance to Fighting-type attacks like Dondozo's Body Press. Tera Ghost is a strong alternative that allows Gouging Fire to safely beat Iron Defense Zamazenta, which is otherwise a shaky matchup even with Tera Poison. Leftovers grants Gouging Fire some much-needed passive healing; however, Covert Cloak is a solid alternative that improves Gouging Fire's matchup against Garganacl while also blocking the secondary effects from Hatterene's Nuzzle and Primarina's Psychic Noise, which can otherwise cripple it. Grassy Seed is a strong option on Grassy Terrain teams; the passive recovery from Grassy Terrain offsets the lack of Leftovers recovery can greatly expand Gouging Fire's setup opportunities against threats to include threats like Roaring Moon. The highly-specific EV spread allows Gouging Fire to reach numerous crucial offensive and defensive benchmarks simultaneously: 72 Attack EVs allow Gouging Fire to 2HKO Clodsire with Flare Blitz, 64 Speed EVs allow Gouging Fire to outspeed Ogerpon-W after a Dragon Dance, and the bulk investment alongside an Impish nature allows Gouging Fire to survive a +2 Tera Water Ogerpon-W's Ivy Cudgel from full HP while surviving two Dark Pulses from Darkrai after Stealth Rock.

Bulky Dragon Dance Gouging Fire functions as a win condition on bulky offense teams, which play into this set's slower-paced nature but are able to maintain enough offensive pressure to open up for its eventual late-game sweep. It also provides valuable defensive utility by virtue of being able to check threats like Volcarona before Terastallizing, Rillaboom, Weavile, and Meowscarada. However, Gouging Fire is extremely vulnerable against entry hazards and necessitates strong entry hazard removal in order to function effectively. Great Tusk provides entry hazard removal thanks to Rapid Spin, which is crucial in allowing Gouging Fire to remain healthy enough to set up against Ground-types, while Hatterene naturally deters entry hazard setup with Magic Bounce. Assault Vest Galarian Slowking is a great teammate for its ability to blanket check most special attackers, most notably Kyurem and Walking Wake, which Gouging Fire cannot reliably set up against, throughout a game; in return, Galarian Slowking greatly appreciates Gouging Fire's ability to pressure Ground-types like Great Tusk and Gliscor and Knock Off users like Rillaboom, Weavile, and Meowscarada. Kingambit is a fantastic option on any offensive team and greatly appreciates Gouging Fire's ability to force Volcarona to Terastallize, force chip damage against Gliscor and Great Tusk, and burn through Dondozo's PP; in return, Gouging Fire appreciates Kingambit's ability to revenge kill fast threats like Deoxys-S, Tera Flying Roaring Moon, and Dragapult with Sucker Punch. Other physical attackers like Roaring Moon and Zamazenta appreciate Gouging Fire's ability to force progress against Dondozo and greatly threaten Heatran for Gouging Fire. Without Tera Ghost, Gouging Fire struggles against Iron Defense Zamazenta; it is both outsped after a Dragon Dance and lacks the immediate power to force massive damage onto Zamazenta. Iron Valiant is a great teammate for its ability to pressure Zamazenta with Moonblast and can punish Iron Defense with Encore; it also handles Bulk Up variants of Great Tusk, which Gouging Fire has a more difficult time setting up against. Earth Power Landorus-T is incredibly problematic for Gouging Fire since it bypasses Breaking Swipe's Attack drops and hits Gouging Fire's lower Special Defense stat. Volcarona's Quiver Dance boosts allow it to handle Earth Power Landorus-T and couples as solid Iron Defense Zamazenta check. Lastly, Rillaboom is a great teammate for Gouging Fire; Gouging Fire greatly appreciates Grassy Terrain support, and Rillaboom itself can immediately threaten Water-types like Alomomola and Tera Water Garganacl and can use U-Turn to pivot Gouging Fire in against Steel-types like Corviknight and Skarmory.

[SET CREDITS]

Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/dreadfury.408271/

Quality Checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/setsusetsuna.548068/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/kd458.633798/

Grammar Checked by:

 

[SetsuSetsuna]

add remove highlight comment

Please tag after implemented so I can give it another look

Dreadfury, post: 10040532, member: 408271

[SET]
Bulky Dragon Dance (Gouging Fire) @ Leftovers
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Poison
EVs: 252 HP / 72 Atk / 104 Def / 16 SpD / 64 Spe
Impish Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Flare Blitz
- Breaking Swipe
- Morning Sun

[SET COMMENTS]
Gouging Fire combines an incredible typing both offensively and defensively, massive mixed bulk alongside reliable recovery, and its powerful STAB Flare Blitz to serve as a uniquely powerful Dragon Dance sweeper that capable of setting up against and ultimately beating a large number of physically bulky threats. Breaking Swipe is the key to this set's success; after having their Attack lowered by Breaking Swipe, Ground-types like Great Tusk lacking Bulk Up and Gliscor can no longer reliably outdamage Gouging Fire's Morning Sun and Leftovers recovery, allowing it to directly set up in front of these threats. Gouging Fire's high PP between Flare Blitz, Breaking Swipe, and Dragon Dance also gives it the unique advantage of being able to PP stall Dondozo's Curse, (Would be good to straight up mention Breaking Swipe's 24 PP against Curse's 16) even after it is called multiple times by Sleep Talk; after a few Attack drops, Dondozo's Waterfall cannot inflict meaningful damage against Gouging Fire even though Gouging Fire will be doing very low damage in return and is thus forced to switch out in order to conserve its valuable Rest and Curse PP, which a +6 Gouging Fire can heavily punish if it predicts correctly. Tera Poison's Toxic immunity allows Gouging Fire to turn Gliscor into setup fodder (Something clearer would be good like, "Tera Poison grants Gouging Fire with an immunity to Gliscor's Toxic, which when combined with Breaking Swipe lowering Gliscor's Attack, turns it into setup fodder". Might be good to also add mentions to Toxapex's and Clodsire's Toxic) while granting it a resistance to Fighting-type attacks like Dondozo's Body Press and Fairy-type attacks like Iron Valiant's Moonblast. (Not sure how relevant this is to mention) The highly-specific EV spread allows Gouging Fire to reach numerous crucial offensive and defensive benchmarks simultaneously: 72 Attack EVs allow Gouging Fire to 2HKO specially defensive Clodsire with Flare Blitz, 64 Speed EVs allow Gouging Fire to outspeed Ogerpon-W after a Dragon Dance, and the bulk investment alongside an Impish nature allows Gouging Fire to survive a +2 Tera Water Ogerpon-W's Ivy Cudgel from full HP while surviving two Dark Pulses from Darkrai after Stealth Rock.

Tera Ghost and Covert Cloak are also alternatives worth mentioning. Tera Ghost grants Gouging Fire with a resistance to Zamazenta's Body Press, while Covert Cloak improves its matchup against Garganacl, and lets it block the side effects of Hatterene's Nuzzle and Primarina's Psychic Noise looking to cripple it. Grassy seed is another alternative on Grassy Terrain teams in which Grassy Terrain's passive reovery upsets the lack of Leftovers.

Bulky Dragon Dance Gouging Fire functions as a win condition on bulky offense teams, which play into this set's slower-paced nature but are able to maintain enough offensive pressure to open up for its eventual late-game sweep. Focus Sash Dragapult is an excellent teammate, as its ability to serve as an emergency check against the vast majority of opposing offensive threats thanks to Thunder Wave and Will-o-Wisp while being far from passive itself thanks to a Dragon STAB move of choice and a boosted Hex allows it to cripple fast threats, hard-hitting threats like Walking Wake, Zamazenta, Kyurem, and opposing Dragapult (This is too much. You are basically listing everything Dragapult can do without much reason, it reads just as "cool options" without anything concrete) while Gouging Fire can use the physical damage reduction from Burn to set up against nearly all physical attackers or the speed reduction from Paralysis to outspeed a bevy of threats it would otherwise be unable to. (Mention examples. In general Sash Dragapult is such a specific Pokemon it would be better to leave this mention all the way down, there are more important partners. I dont think this has to be Sash Pult specifically. Dragapult in general does a great job threatening Kyurem, Zamazenta, etc) Assault Vest Galarian Slowking is a great teammate for its ability to blanket check most special attackers, most notably Kyurem, Walking Wake and Raging Bolt, throughout a game; it can also threaten a significant amount of chip damage between Sludge Bomb's high Poison chance and Future Sight's delayed damage, (Explain why this is relevant for Gouging Fire. Does it have to be Assault Vest?) and in return it greatly appreciates Gouging Fire's ability to pressure Ground-types like Great Tusk and Gliscor that can otherwise hit it extremely hard. Great Tusk provides entry hazard removal thanks to Rapid Spin, which is crucial in allowing Gouging Fire to remain healthy enough to use opposing Great Tusk and Gliscor as setup opportunities without burning through precious Morning Sun PP, (Bit of an overexplanation) and can handle Heatran effectively since Gouging Fire it forced out by the threat of a super effective Earth Power and its own inability to meaningfully damage Heatran. Kingambit is a fantastic option on any offensive team thanks to its ability to revenge kill fast threats like Deoxys-S, +1 Tera Flying Roaring Moon, Walking Wake, and Dragapult with Sucker Punch; (This is secondary. Gouging chipping at Tusk, Dozo, Gliscor is what sells the pair. You could put this as the secondary idea instead of the main one) it greatly appreciates the amount of pressure Gouging Fire puts on checks like Great Tusk and Dondozo, and Air Balloon variants can also serve as an excellent secondary option to set up against Toxic Gliscor should Gouging Fire's bulk be too compromised to continue doing so. Iron Defense Zamazenta is a problematic matchup for this Gouging Fire set; though Gouging Fire can use Tera Poison to more easily survive repeated boosted Body Presses from Zamazenta and can fish for a Flare Blitz burn in desperation, it is both outsped after a Dragon Dance and lacks the immediate power to force massive damage onto Zamazenta. Calm Mind (I dont think you need to specify Calm Mind) Iron Valiant is a great teammate for its ability to pressure Zamazenta with a super effective Moonblast and can threaten any Iron Defense attempts with Encore, though it cannot switch in against Heavy Slam; it also handles Bulk Up variants of Great Tusk and can also serve as a passable Knock Off sponge against Gliscor variants lacking Toxic, since without Leftovers this Gouging Fire set is forced to burn through its precious Morning Sun PP significantly more quickly and leaves it a lot less capable of handling physical Ground-types and Dondozo. (Seems too specific, you dont really switch Valiant into Gliscor like that else you get KOed by repeated EQs)

Mention other partners. Dont restrict yourself to Kingambit as physical attacker, there's also Roaring Moon and Zamazenta both of which can take on Heatran as well.

Gholdengo and Volcarona are special attackers that can take on Zamazenta. They can also annoy Earth Power Landorus-T with Air Balloon and Quiver Dance respectively, which is a big check, as well as Alomomola which threatens Gouging Fire with a Scald burn if terastallized.

Ogerpon-W is another partner that threatens Earth Power Landorus-T, Heatran, and Alomomola.

[SET CREDITS]

Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/dreadfury.408271/

Quality Checked by:

Grammar Checked by:

 

[Dreadfury]

add remove highlight comment

Please tag after implemented so I can give it another look

Dreadfury, post: 10040532, member: 408271

[SET]
Bulky Dragon Dance (Gouging Fire) @ Leftovers
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Poison
EVs: 252 HP / 72 Atk / 104 Def / 16 SpD / 64 Spe
Impish Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Flare Blitz
- Breaking Swipe
- Morning Sun

[SET COMMENTS]
Gouging Fire combines an incredible typing both offensively and defensively, massive mixed bulk alongside reliable recovery, and its powerful STAB Flare Blitz to serve as a uniquely powerful Dragon Dance sweeper that capable of setting up against and ultimately beating a large number of physically bulky threats. Breaking Swipe is the key to this set's success; after having their Attack lowered by Breaking Swipe, Ground-types like Great Tusk lacking Bulk Up and Gliscor can no longer reliably outdamage Gouging Fire's Morning Sun and Leftovers recovery, allowing it to directly set up in front of these threats. Gouging Fire's high PP between Flare Blitz, Breaking Swipe, and Dragon Dance also gives it the unique advantage of being able to PP stall Dondozo's Curse, (Would be good to straight up mention Breaking Swipe's 24 PP against Curse's 16) even after it is called multiple times by Sleep Talk; after a few Attack drops, Dondozo's Waterfall cannot inflict meaningful damage against Gouging Fire even though Gouging Fire will be doing very low damage in return and is thus forced to switch out in order to conserve its valuable Rest and Curse PP, which a +6 Gouging Fire can heavily punish if it predicts correctly. Tera Poison's Toxic immunity allows Gouging Fire to turn Gliscor into setup fodder (Something clearer would be good like, "Tera Poison grants Gouging Fire with an immunity to Gliscor's Toxic, which when combined with Breaking Swipe lowering Gliscor's Attack, turns it into setup fodder". Might be good to also add mentions to Toxapex's and Clodsire's Toxic) while granting it a resistance to Fighting-type attacks like Dondozo's Body Press and Fairy-type attacks like Iron Valiant's Moonblast. (Not sure how relevant this is to mention) The highly-specific EV spread allows Gouging Fire to reach numerous crucial offensive and defensive benchmarks simultaneously: 72 Attack EVs allow Gouging Fire to 2HKO specially defensive Clodsire with Flare Blitz, 64 Speed EVs allow Gouging Fire to outspeed Ogerpon-W after a Dragon Dance, and the bulk investment alongside an Impish nature allows Gouging Fire to survive a +2 Tera Water Ogerpon-W's Ivy Cudgel from full HP while surviving two Dark Pulses from Darkrai after Stealth Rock.

Tera Ghost and Covert Cloak are also alternatives worth mentioning. Tera Ghost grants Gouging Fire with a resistance to Zamazenta's Body Press, while Covert Cloak improves its matchup against Garganacl, and lets it block the side effects of Hatterene's Nuzzle and Primarina's Psychic Noise looking to cripple it. Grassy seed is another alternative on Grassy Terrain teams in which Grassy Terrain's passive reovery upsets the lack of Leftovers.

Bulky Dragon Dance Gouging Fire functions as a win condition on bulky offense teams, which play into this set's slower-paced nature but are able to maintain enough offensive pressure to open up for its eventual late-game sweep. Focus Sash Dragapult is an excellent teammate, as its ability to serve as an emergency check against the vast majority of opposing offensive threats thanks to Thunder Wave and Will-o-Wisp while being far from passive itself thanks to a Dragon STAB move of choice and a boosted Hex allows it to cripple fast threats, hard-hitting threats like Walking Wake, Zamazenta, Kyurem, and opposing Dragapult (This is too much. You are basically listing everything Dragapult can do without much reason, it reads just as "cool options" without anything concrete) while Gouging Fire can use the physical damage reduction from Burn to set up against nearly all physical attackers or the speed reduction from Paralysis to outspeed a bevy of threats it would otherwise be unable to. (Mention examples. In general Sash Dragapult is such a specific Pokemon it would be better to leave this mention all the way down, there are more important partners. I dont think this has to be Sash Pult specifically. Dragapult in general does a great job threatening Kyurem, Zamazenta, etc) Assault Vest Galarian Slowking is a great teammate for its ability to blanket check most special attackers, most notably Kyurem, Walking Wake and Raging Bolt, throughout a game; it can also threaten a significant amount of chip damage between Sludge Bomb's high Poison chance and Future Sight's delayed damage, (Explain why this is relevant for Gouging Fire. Does it have to be Assault Vest?) and in return it greatly appreciates Gouging Fire's ability to pressure Ground-types like Great Tusk and Gliscor that can otherwise hit it extremely hard. Great Tusk provides entry hazard removal thanks to Rapid Spin, which is crucial in allowing Gouging Fire to remain healthy enough to use opposing Great Tusk and Gliscor as setup opportunities without burning through precious Morning Sun PP, (Bit of an overexplanation) and can handle Heatran effectively since Gouging Fire it forced out by the threat of a super effective Earth Power and its own inability to meaningfully damage Heatran. Kingambit is a fantastic option on any offensive team thanks to its ability to revenge kill fast threats like Deoxys-S, +1 Tera Flying Roaring Moon, Walking Wake, and Dragapult with Sucker Punch; (This is secondary. Gouging chipping at Tusk, Dozo, Gliscor is what sells the pair. You could put this as the secondary idea instead of the main one) it greatly appreciates the amount of pressure Gouging Fire puts on checks like Great Tusk and Dondozo, and Air Balloon variants can also serve as an excellent secondary option to set up against Toxic Gliscor should Gouging Fire's bulk be too compromised to continue doing so. Iron Defense Zamazenta is a problematic matchup for this Gouging Fire set; though Gouging Fire can use Tera Poison to more easily survive repeated boosted Body Presses from Zamazenta and can fish for a Flare Blitz burn in desperation, it is both outsped after a Dragon Dance and lacks the immediate power to force massive damage onto Zamazenta. Calm Mind (I dont think you need to specify Calm Mind) Iron Valiant is a great teammate for its ability to pressure Zamazenta with a super effective Moonblast and can threaten any Iron Defense attempts with Encore, though it cannot switch in against Heavy Slam; it also handles Bulk Up variants of Great Tusk and can also serve as a passable Knock Off sponge against Gliscor variants lacking Toxic, since without Leftovers this Gouging Fire set is forced to burn through its precious Morning Sun PP significantly more quickly and leaves it a lot less capable of handling physical Ground-types and Dondozo. (Seems too specific, you dont really switch Valiant into Gliscor like that else you get KOed by repeated EQs)

Mention other partners. Dont restrict yourself to Kingambit as physical attacker, there's also Roaring Moon and Zamazenta both of which can take on Heatran as well.

Gholdengo and Volcarona are special attackers that can take on Zamazenta. They can also annoy Earth Power Landorus-T with Air Balloon and Quiver Dance respectively, which is a big check, as well as Alomomola which threatens Gouging Fire with a Scald burn if terastallized.

Ogerpon-W is another partner that threatens Earth Power Landorus-T, Heatran, and Alomomola.

[SET CREDITS]

Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/dreadfury.408271/

Quality Checked by:

Grammar Checked by:

All implemented, whenever you're ready to take a second look! This was a lot to add so I anticipate needing to cut this down a little long-term, but all of these are very good calls to add.

 

[Dreadfury]

Setsu confirmed that this is 1/2 now. Thank you very much!

 

[kd458]

QC Edits (Comments)
Formatting Edits (Comments)
Remove

QC check, Bulky DD Gouging

[SET]
Bulky Dragon Dance (Gouging Fire) @ Leftovers
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Poison
EVs: 252 HP / 72 Atk / 104 Def / 16 SpD / 64 Spe
Impish Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Flare Blitz
- Breaking Swipe
- Morning Sun

[SET COMMENTS]
Gouging Fire combines an incredible typing both offensively and defensively, massive mixed bulk alongside reliable recovery, and its powerful STAB Flare Blitz to serve as a uniquely powerful Dragon Dance sweeper that capable of setting up against and ultimately beating a large number of physically bulky threats. Breaking Swipe is the key to this set's success; after having their Attack lowered by Breaking Swipe, Ground-types like Great Tusk lacking Bulk Up and Gliscor can no longer reliably outdamage Gouging Fire's Morning Sun and Leftovers recovery, allowing it to directly set up in front of these threats. Breaking Swipe's 24 PP also gives it a unique advantage at stalling out Dondozo's 16 Curse PP, even after it is called multiple times by Sleep Talk; after a few Attack drops, Dondozo's Waterfall cannot inflict meaningful damage against Gouging Fire even though Gouging Fire will be doing very low damage in return and is thus forced to switch out in order to conserve its valuable Rest and Curse PP, which a +6 Gouging Fire can heavily punish if it predicts correctly. Tera Poison grants Gouging Fire an immunity to Toxic from Clodsire, Toxapex, and Gliscor, (I'd drop Pex due to its low OU relevance and swap the order of Clodsire + Gliscor here - since this set has low immediate power it does appreciate being immune to Clod's Toxic, but Gliscor is a much more common answer as Clod is a special wall that can never directly switch into Gouging) the latter of which is turned into setup fodder after an Attack drop from Breaking Swipe, while granting it a resistance to Fighting-type attacks like Dondozo's Body Press. Tera Ghost is a strong alternative by granting it an immunity to Fighting-type attacks like Iron Defense Zamazenta's Body Press. (Would maybe clarify further how this is good, since Tera Poison has already been described as good for Body Press from other attackers like Dozo - it does guarantee an otherwise shaky matchup vs Zama and saves on Morning Sun PP which is nice for sure) Leftovers grants Gouging Fire some much-needed passive healing; however, Covert Cloak is a viable alternative to improve Gouging Fire's matchup against Garganacl while also (Minor change but I'd add something like this to clarify the importance of the Garg MU, as Cloak is primarily for Garg and other benefits are pretty small in comparison) blocking secondary effects from Hatterene's Nuzzle and Primarina's Psychic Noise, which can otherwise cripple it. Grassy Seed is a strong option on Grassy Terrain teams; the passive recovery from Grassy Terrain offsets the lack of Leftovers recovery, and the Defense boost and pseudo-neutrality to Earthquake granted by Grassy Terrain can greatly expand Gouging Fire's setup opportunities, giving it setup opportunities against physical attackers like Dragonite lacking Encore and (One cool thing about Bulky Gouging is that it already does this; unboosted EQ barely doesn't 2HKO and you can just spam Breaking Swipe + Morning Sun to muscle through it) Roaring Moon lacking Taunt. (I'd cut this down to just Roaring Moon since it's a small interaction and RM isn't super likely to want to click Taunt against a Gouging) The highly-specific EV spread allows Gouging Fire to reach numerous crucial offensive and defensive benchmarks simultaneously: 72 Attack EVs allow Gouging Fire to 2HKO specially defensive (SpDef is the only Clodsire set listed) Clodsire with Flare Blitz, 64 Speed EVs allow Gouging Fire to outspeed Ogerpon-W after a Dragon Dance, and the bulk investment alongside an Impish nature allows Gouging Fire to survive a +2 Tera Water Ogerpon-W's Ivy Cudgel from full HP while surviving two Dark Pulses from Darkrai after Stealth Rock.

Bulky Dragon Dance Gouging Fire functions as a win condition on bulky offense teams, which play into this set's slower-paced nature but are able to maintain enough offensive pressure to open up for its eventual late-game sweep. Galarian Slowking is a great teammate; Chilly Reception variants can generate momentum against predicted Ground-type switches and give Gouging Fire safe points of entry, (It's definitely not unusable, but this is a pretty heavy anti-synergy as snow reduces Morning Sun's healing to 25%) while Assault Vest variants are appreciated for their ability to blanket check most special attackers, most notably Kyurem, Walking Wake and Raging Bolt, (AV Gking doesn't really blanket check Bolt, it loses to Booster SpAtk and loses in general if it switches in on a CM) which Gouging Fire cannot reliably set up against, throughout a game. Galarian Slowking threatens a significant amount of chip damage between Sludge Bomb's high Poison chance and Future Sight's delayed damage, (This is kinda just info about Galarian Slowking, particularly the Sludge Bomb Poison part - you could maybe make a point about Future Sight pressure + Gouging forcing out things that can come in on FSight like Kingambit, but that typically would pair better with more immediate power than bulky DD) and in return it greatly appreciates Gouging Fire's ability to pressure Ground-types like Great Tusk and Gliscor that can otherwise hit it extremely hard. (I'd consider reordering this, as I don't see GKing as having really heavy synergy with Gouging so something like Tusk first instead would prob be better) Great Tusk provides entry hazard removal thanks to Rapid Spin, which is crucial in allowing Gouging Fire to remain healthy enough to set up against Ground-types, and can handle Heatran effectively since Gouging Fire it forced out by the threat of a super effective Earth Power and its own inability to meaningfully damage Heatran. (Tusk takes like 60% from even uninvested Magma Storm so can never really switch in safely on Heatran, and if they know it's EQ-less Gouging then Magma is a free click) Kingambit is a fantastic option on any offensive team and greatly appreciates Gouging Fire's ability to force chip damage against (I'd maybe change this phrasing to "weaken" or something if this encompasses Dozo, a prolonged exchange with Dozo doesn't really chip it as you do basically zero damage to it but it weakens it by burning most of its PP) Dondozo, Gliscor, and opposing Great Tusk; in return, Gouging Fire appreciates Kingambit's ability to revenge kill fast threats like Deoxys-S, +1 Tera Flying Roaring Moon, Walking Wake, (Wake is only seen on sun rn and Kingambit can't kill it with Sucker without a good amount of chip) and Dragapult with Sucker Punch. Air Balloon variants of Kingambit can also serve as an excellent secondary option to set up against Toxic Gliscor should Gouging Fire's bulk be too compromised to continue doing so. (I don't know if this is a great synergy - Bulky Goug outspeeds and doesn't get 2HKOd by EQ so its bulk would never be that compromised, it's an okay-ish one-time Ground-type switch-in but bulky DD Goug is kinda designed to beat those mons and if it's being forced out by something like a Tusk or even a Lando-T then Gambit isn't a great switch-in anyway) Other physical attackers like Roaring Moon and Zamazenta greatly threaten Heatran for Gouging Fire and appreciate Gouging Fire's ability to force progress against Dondozo in return. (Good, but I think I'd swap this around as Heatran isn't a massive concern in OU rn while these mons more so appreciate the weakening of walls like Dozo / Gliscor) Iron Defense Zamazenta is a problematic matchup for this Gouging Fire set; though Gouging Fire can use Tera Poison to more easily survive repeated boosted Body Presses from Zamazenta and can fish for a Flare Blitz burn in desperation, it is both outsped after a Dragon Dance and lacks the immediate power to force massive damage onto Zamazenta. Iron Valiant is a great teammate for its ability to pressure Zamazenta with a super effective (dex info) Moonblast and can threaten any punish Iron Defense attempts with Encore, though it cannot switch in against Heavy Slam; (It's worth being careful with listing this matchup as Zama eats a Moonblast and +1 Press into HSlam kills Val, still good to list but ya would maybe even consider removing a mention of HSlam since it isn't typically clicking it on a Goug and if they're HSlam and you Moonblast after switching in on Press you lose your Val anyway) it also handles Bulk Up variants of Great Tusk, which Gouging Fire has a more difficult time setting up against. Earth Power Landorus-T is incredibly problematic for Gouging Fire since it bypasses Breaking Swipe's Attack drops and hits Gouging Fire's lower Special Defense stat, and Alomomola can threaten a Terastallized Gouging Fire with a crippling Scald burn. (This seems like a kinda niche scenario, I don't dislike it but without Goug using Tera / if it's Cloak anyway it gets +6 on and takes nothing from Alo so I wouldn't worry about this MU as much as the Lando-T one) Special attackers like Gholdengo and Volcarona are excellent at handling these threats; Gholdengo's Air Balloon (Would be careful about listing Ghold as a Lando-T check in particular; if its balloon ever gets popped it then has a negative matchup vs Lando-T, and Lando can pivot out on it while breaking its balloon with U-turn) and Volcarona's Quiver Dance boosts allow both of them to handle Earth Power Landorus-T and they can both eliminate Alomomola with their boosted special attacks, and both also couple as solid Zamazenta checks. Lastly, Rillaboom is a great teammate for Gouging Fire; Grassy Terrain allows Gouging Fire to forego Leftovers for Grassy Seed, (Do note that bulky Gouging on GTerrain BO can still run Leftovers) halving the power of Earthquake from threats like Dragonite and Roaring Moon (Could go back and remove this from the first paragraph or reshuffle in some other way since it feels a little like repeated info) and letting Gouging Fire more easily boost alongside them. Rillaboom can immediately threaten Water-types like Alomomola and Tera Water Garganacl and can use U-Turn to pivot Gouging Fire in against Steel-types like Corviknight and Skarmory.

(Bulky Goug is very hazard-weak, so could be worth prioritising hazard removal more by listing Tusk first and maybe adding alternatives like Hatt though that's up to you. Also, what defensive value does Gouging FIre bring to the table? That's a pretty solid part of what makes this set and Gouging in general pretty high value, since it can handle things like Rilla, Weavile + Meow, Tera-less Volc etc.)

[SET CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/dreadfury.408271/
Quality Checked by:

Grammar Checked by:

Really nice work! Very long analysis but I get there's a lot of things to be said about it so I like being thorough, tag me when this is implemented!

 

[Dreadfury]

QC Edits (Comments)
Formatting Edits (Comments)
Remove

QC check, Bulky DD Gouging

[SET]
Bulky Dragon Dance (Gouging Fire) @ Leftovers
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Poison
EVs: 252 HP / 72 Atk / 104 Def / 16 SpD / 64 Spe
Impish Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Flare Blitz
- Breaking Swipe
- Morning Sun

[SET COMMENTS]
Gouging Fire combines an incredible typing both offensively and defensively, massive mixed bulk alongside reliable recovery, and its powerful STAB Flare Blitz to serve as a uniquely powerful Dragon Dance sweeper that capable of setting up against and ultimately beating a large number of physically bulky threats. Breaking Swipe is the key to this set's success; after having their Attack lowered by Breaking Swipe, Ground-types like Great Tusk lacking Bulk Up and Gliscor can no longer reliably outdamage Gouging Fire's Morning Sun and Leftovers recovery, allowing it to directly set up in front of these threats. Breaking Swipe's 24 PP also gives it a unique advantage at stalling out Dondozo's 16 Curse PP, even after it is called multiple times by Sleep Talk; after a few Attack drops, Dondozo's Waterfall cannot inflict meaningful damage against Gouging Fire even though Gouging Fire will be doing very low damage in return and is thus forced to switch out in order to conserve its valuable Rest and Curse PP, which a +6 Gouging Fire can heavily punish if it predicts correctly. Tera Poison grants Gouging Fire an immunity to Toxic from Clodsire, Toxapex, and Gliscor, (I'd drop Pex due to its low OU relevance and swap the order of Clodsire + Gliscor here - since this set has low immediate power it does appreciate being immune to Clod's Toxic, but Gliscor is a much more common answer as Clod is a special wall that can never directly switch into Gouging) the latter of which is turned into setup fodder after an Attack drop from Breaking Swipe, while granting it a resistance to Fighting-type attacks like Dondozo's Body Press. Tera Ghost is a strong alternative by granting it an immunity to Fighting-type attacks like Iron Defense Zamazenta's Body Press. (Would maybe clarify further how this is good, since Tera Poison has already been described as good for Body Press from other attackers like Dozo - it does guarantee an otherwise shaky matchup vs Zama and saves on Morning Sun PP which is nice for sure) Leftovers grants Gouging Fire some much-needed passive healing; however, Covert Cloak is a viable alternative to improve Gouging Fire's matchup against Garganacl while also (Minor change but I'd add something like this to clarify the importance of the Garg MU, as Cloak is primarily for Garg and other benefits are pretty small in comparison) blocking secondary effects from Hatterene's Nuzzle and Primarina's Psychic Noise, which can otherwise cripple it. Grassy Seed is a strong option on Grassy Terrain teams; the passive recovery from Grassy Terrain offsets the lack of Leftovers recovery, and the Defense boost and pseudo-neutrality to Earthquake granted by Grassy Terrain can greatly expand Gouging Fire's setup opportunities, giving it setup opportunities against physical attackers like Dragonite lacking Encore and (One cool thing about Bulky Gouging is that it already does this; unboosted EQ barely doesn't 2HKO and you can just spam Breaking Swipe + Morning Sun to muscle through it) Roaring Moon lacking Taunt. (I'd cut this down to just Roaring Moon since it's a small interaction and RM isn't super likely to want to click Taunt against a Gouging) The highly-specific EV spread allows Gouging Fire to reach numerous crucial offensive and defensive benchmarks simultaneously: 72 Attack EVs allow Gouging Fire to 2HKO specially defensive (SpDef is the only Clodsire set listed) Clodsire with Flare Blitz, 64 Speed EVs allow Gouging Fire to outspeed Ogerpon-W after a Dragon Dance, and the bulk investment alongside an Impish nature allows Gouging Fire to survive a +2 Tera Water Ogerpon-W's Ivy Cudgel from full HP while surviving two Dark Pulses from Darkrai after Stealth Rock.

Bulky Dragon Dance Gouging Fire functions as a win condition on bulky offense teams, which play into this set's slower-paced nature but are able to maintain enough offensive pressure to open up for its eventual late-game sweep. Galarian Slowking is a great teammate; Chilly Reception variants can generate momentum against predicted Ground-type switches and give Gouging Fire safe points of entry, (It's definitely not unusable, but this is a pretty heavy anti-synergy as snow reduces Morning Sun's healing to 25%) while Assault Vest variants are appreciated for their ability to blanket check most special attackers, most notably Kyurem, Walking Wake and Raging Bolt, (AV Gking doesn't really blanket check Bolt, it loses to Booster SpAtk and loses in general if it switches in on a CM) which Gouging Fire cannot reliably set up against, throughout a game. Galarian Slowking threatens a significant amount of chip damage between Sludge Bomb's high Poison chance and Future Sight's delayed damage, (This is kinda just info about Galarian Slowking, particularly the Sludge Bomb Poison part - you could maybe make a point about Future Sight pressure + Gouging forcing out things that can come in on FSight like Kingambit, but that typically would pair better with more immediate power than bulky DD) and in return it greatly appreciates Gouging Fire's ability to pressure Ground-types like Great Tusk and Gliscor that can otherwise hit it extremely hard. (I'd consider reordering this, as I don't see GKing as having really heavy synergy with Gouging so something like Tusk first instead would prob be better) Great Tusk provides entry hazard removal thanks to Rapid Spin, which is crucial in allowing Gouging Fire to remain healthy enough to set up against Ground-types, and can handle Heatran effectively since Gouging Fire it forced out by the threat of a super effective Earth Power and its own inability to meaningfully damage Heatran. (Tusk takes like 60% from even uninvested Magma Storm so can never really switch in safely on Heatran, and if they know it's EQ-less Gouging then Magma is a free click) Kingambit is a fantastic option on any offensive team and greatly appreciates Gouging Fire's ability to force chip damage against (I'd maybe change this phrasing to "weaken" or something if this encompasses Dozo, a prolonged exchange with Dozo doesn't really chip it as you do basically zero damage to it but it weakens it by burning most of its PP) Dondozo, Gliscor, and opposing Great Tusk; in return, Gouging Fire appreciates Kingambit's ability to revenge kill fast threats like Deoxys-S, +1 Tera Flying Roaring Moon, Walking Wake, (Wake is only seen on sun rn and Kingambit can't kill it with Sucker without a good amount of chip) and Dragapult with Sucker Punch. Air Balloon variants of Kingambit can also serve as an excellent secondary option to set up against Toxic Gliscor should Gouging Fire's bulk be too compromised to continue doing so. (I don't know if this is a great synergy - Bulky Goug outspeeds and doesn't get 2HKOd by EQ so its bulk would never be that compromised, it's an okay-ish one-time Ground-type switch-in but bulky DD Goug is kinda designed to beat those mons and if it's being forced out by something like a Tusk or even a Lando-T then Gambit isn't a great switch-in anyway) Other physical attackers like Roaring Moon and Zamazenta greatly threaten Heatran for Gouging Fire and appreciate Gouging Fire's ability to force progress against Dondozo in return. (Good, but I think I'd swap this around as Heatran isn't a massive concern in OU rn while these mons more so appreciate the weakening of walls like Dozo / Gliscor) Iron Defense Zamazenta is a problematic matchup for this Gouging Fire set; though Gouging Fire can use Tera Poison to more easily survive repeated boosted Body Presses from Zamazenta and can fish for a Flare Blitz burn in desperation, it is both outsped after a Dragon Dance and lacks the immediate power to force massive damage onto Zamazenta. Iron Valiant is a great teammate for its ability to pressure Zamazenta with a super effective (dex info) Moonblast and can threaten any punish Iron Defense attempts with Encore, though it cannot switch in against Heavy Slam; (It's worth being careful with listing this matchup as Zama eats a Moonblast and +1 Press into HSlam kills Val, still good to list but ya would maybe even consider removing a mention of HSlam since it isn't typically clicking it on a Goug and if they're HSlam and you Moonblast after switching in on Press you lose your Val anyway) it also handles Bulk Up variants of Great Tusk, which Gouging Fire has a more difficult time setting up against. Earth Power Landorus-T is incredibly problematic for Gouging Fire since it bypasses Breaking Swipe's Attack drops and hits Gouging Fire's lower Special Defense stat, and Alomomola can threaten a Terastallized Gouging Fire with a crippling Scald burn. (This seems like a kinda niche scenario, I don't dislike it but without Goug using Tera / if it's Cloak anyway it gets +6 on and takes nothing from Alo so I wouldn't worry about this MU as much as the Lando-T one) Special attackers like Gholdengo and Volcarona are excellent at handling these threats; Gholdengo's Air Balloon (Would be careful about listing Ghold as a Lando-T check in particular; if its balloon ever gets popped it then has a negative matchup vs Lando-T, and Lando can pivot out on it while breaking its balloon with U-turn) and Volcarona's Quiver Dance boosts allow both of them to handle Earth Power Landorus-T and they can both eliminate Alomomola with their boosted special attacks, and both also couple as solid Zamazenta checks. Lastly, Rillaboom is a great teammate for Gouging Fire; Grassy Terrain allows Gouging Fire to forego Leftovers for Grassy Seed, (Do note that bulky Gouging on GTerrain BO can still run Leftovers) halving the power of Earthquake from threats like Dragonite and Roaring Moon (Could go back and remove this from the first paragraph or reshuffle in some other way since it feels a little like repeated info) and letting Gouging Fire more easily boost alongside them. Rillaboom can immediately threaten Water-types like Alomomola and Tera Water Garganacl and can use U-Turn to pivot Gouging Fire in against Steel-types like Corviknight and Skarmory.

(Bulky Goug is very hazard-weak, so could be worth prioritising hazard removal more by listing Tusk first and maybe adding alternatives like Hatt though that's up to you. Also, what defensive value does Gouging FIre bring to the table? That's a pretty solid part of what makes this set and Gouging in general pretty high value, since it can handle things like Rilla, Weavile + Meow, Tera-less Volc etc.)

[SET CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/dreadfury.408271/
Quality Checked by:

Grammar Checked by:

Really nice work! Very long analysis but I get there's a lot of things to be said about it so I like being thorough, tag me when this is implemented!

Implemented! Ready for a second look; lemme know if I missed anything here as well, since you had a lot of comments and it's not impossible that I missed something here.

 

[kd458]

QC Edits (Comments)
Formatting Edits (Comments)
Remove

QC check, Bulky DD Gouging

[SET]
Bulky Dragon Dance (Gouging Fire) @ Leftovers
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Poison
EVs: 252 HP / 72 Atk / 104 Def / 16 SpD / 64 Spe
Impish Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Flare Blitz
- Breaking Swipe
- Morning Sun

[SET COMMENTS]
Gouging Fire combines an incredible typing both offensively and defensively, massive mixed bulk alongside reliable recovery, and its powerful STAB Flare Blitz to serve as a uniquely powerful Dragon Dance sweeper that capable of setting up against and ultimately beating a large number of physically bulky threats. Breaking Swipe is the key to this set's success; after having their Attack lowered by Breaking Swipe, Ground-types like Great Tusk lacking Bulk Up and Gliscor can no longer reliably outdamage Gouging Fire's Morning Sun and Leftovers recovery, allowing it to directly set up in front of these threats. Breaking Swipe's 24 PP also gives it a unique advantage at stalling out Dondozo's 16 Curse PP, even after it is called multiple times by Sleep Talk; after a few Attack drops, Dondozo's Waterfall cannot inflict meaningful damage against Gouging Fire even though Gouging Fire will be doing very low damage in return and is thus forced to switch out in order to conserve its valuable Rest and Curse PP, which a +6 Gouging Fire can heavily punish if it predicts correctly. Tera Poison grants Gouging Fire an immunity to Toxic from Gliscor and Clodsire, the former of which is turned into setup fodder after an Attack drop from Breaking Swipe, while granting it a resistance to Fighting-type attacks like Dondozo's Body Press. Tera Ghost is a strong alternative that allows Gouging Fire to safely beat Iron Defense Zamazenta, which is otherwise a shaky matchup even with Tera Poison, while saving its limited Morning Sun PP. (Could be worth just cutting it down a little to this to trim it down) Leftovers grants Gouging Fire some much-needed passive healing; however, Covert Cloak is a solid alternative that improves Gouging Fire's matchup against Garganacl while also blocking the secondary effects from Hatterene's Nuzzle and Primarina's Psychic Noise, which can otherwise cripple it. Grassy Seed is a strong option on Grassy Terrain teams; the passive recovery from Grassy Terrain offsets the lack of Leftovers recovery (I think you could cut this down either here or later as it's repeated in the second paragraph, reword accordingly) can greatly expand Gouging Fire's setup opportunities against threats to include threats like Roaring Moon. The highly-specific EV spread allows Gouging Fire to reach numerous crucial offensive and defensive benchmarks simultaneously: 72 Attack EVs allow Gouging Fire to 2HKO Clodsire with Flare Blitz, 64 Speed EVs allow Gouging Fire to outspeed Ogerpon-W after a Dragon Dance, and the bulk investment alongside an Impish nature allows Gouging Fire to survive a +2 Tera Water Ogerpon-W's Ivy Cudgel from full HP while surviving two Dark Pulses from Darkrai after Stealth Rock.

Bulky Dragon Dance Gouging Fire functions as a win condition on bulky offense teams, which play into this set's slower-paced nature but are able to maintain enough offensive pressure to open up for its eventual late-game sweep. It also provides valuable defensive utility by virtue of being able to check threats like Volcarona before Terastallizing, Rillaboom, Weavile, and Meowscarada. However, Gouging Fire is extremely vulnerable against entry hazards and necessitates strong entry hazard removal in order to function effectively. Great Tusk provides entry hazard removal thanks to Rapid Spin, which is crucial in allowing Gouging Fire to remain healthy enough to set up against Ground-types, while Hatterene naturally deters entry hazard setup with Magic Bounce. Assault Vest Galarian Slowking is a great teammate for its ability to blanket check most special attackers, most notably Kyurem and Walking Wake, which Gouging Fire cannot reliably set up against, throughout a game; in return, Galarian Slowking greatly appreciates Gouging Fire's ability to pressure Ground-types like Great Tusk and Gliscor and Knock Off users like Rillaboom, Weavile, and Meowscarada. Kingambit is a fantastic option on any offensive team and greatly appreciates Gouging Fire's ability to force Volcarona to Terastallize, force chip damage against Gliscor and Great Tusk, and burn through Dondozo's PP; in return, Gouging Fire appreciates Kingambit's ability to revenge kill fast threats like Deoxys-S, Tera Flying Roaring Moon, and Dragapult with Sucker Punch. Other physical attackers like Roaring Moon and Zamazenta appreciate Gouging Fire's ability to force progress against Dondozo and greatly threaten Heatran for Gouging Fire. Without Tera Ghost, Gouging Fire struggles against Iron Defense Zamazenta; though Gouging Fire can use Tera Poison to more easily survive repeated boosted Body Presses from Zamazenta and can fish for a Flare Blitz burn in desperation, (Up to you but you could maybe consider removing the previous part of the sentence if you wanted to cut it down a little, as the next part explains it pretty well) it is both outsped after a Dragon Dance and lacks the immediate power to force massive damage onto Zamazenta. Iron Valiant is a great teammate for its ability to pressure Zamazenta with Moonblast and can punish Iron Defense with Encore; it also handles Bulk Up variants of Great Tusk, which Gouging Fire has a more difficult time setting up against. Earth Power Landorus-T is incredibly problematic for Gouging Fire since it bypasses Breaking Swipe's Attack drops and hits Gouging Fire's lower Special Defense stat. Volcarona's Quiver Dance boosts allow it to handle Earth Power Landorus-T and couples as solid Iron Defense Zamazenta check. (Prob worth specifying since AoA Zama typically runs Stone Edge) Lastly, Rillaboom is a great teammate for Gouging Fire; Grassy Terrain provides Gouging Fire with even more passive recovery and allows Gouging Fire to forego Leftovers for Grassy Seed while halving the power of Earthquake from threats like Dragonite and Roaring Moon and letting Gouging Fire more easily boost alongside them. Rillaboom can immediately threaten Water-types like Alomomola and Tera Water Garganacl and can use U-Turn to pivot Gouging Fire in against Steel-types like Corviknight and Skarmory.

[SET CREDITS]
Written by: (Be sure to update this ^^)
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/dreadfury.408271/
Quality Checked by:

Grammar Checked by:

Everything is great, awesome work - stamping this as QC 2/2!

 

[Dreadfury]

QC Edits (Comments)
Formatting Edits (Comments)
Remove

QC check, Bulky DD Gouging

[SET]
Bulky Dragon Dance (Gouging Fire) @ Leftovers
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Poison
EVs: 252 HP / 72 Atk / 104 Def / 16 SpD / 64 Spe
Impish Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Flare Blitz
- Breaking Swipe
- Morning Sun

[SET COMMENTS]
Gouging Fire combines an incredible typing both offensively and defensively, massive mixed bulk alongside reliable recovery, and its powerful STAB Flare Blitz to serve as a uniquely powerful Dragon Dance sweeper that capable of setting up against and ultimately beating a large number of physically bulky threats. Breaking Swipe is the key to this set's success; after having their Attack lowered by Breaking Swipe, Ground-types like Great Tusk lacking Bulk Up and Gliscor can no longer reliably outdamage Gouging Fire's Morning Sun and Leftovers recovery, allowing it to directly set up in front of these threats. Breaking Swipe's 24 PP also gives it a unique advantage at stalling out Dondozo's 16 Curse PP, even after it is called multiple times by Sleep Talk; after a few Attack drops, Dondozo's Waterfall cannot inflict meaningful damage against Gouging Fire even though Gouging Fire will be doing very low damage in return and is thus forced to switch out in order to conserve its valuable Rest and Curse PP, which a +6 Gouging Fire can heavily punish if it predicts correctly. Tera Poison grants Gouging Fire an immunity to Toxic from Gliscor and Clodsire, the former of which is turned into setup fodder after an Attack drop from Breaking Swipe, while granting it a resistance to Fighting-type attacks like Dondozo's Body Press. Tera Ghost is a strong alternative that allows Gouging Fire to safely beat Iron Defense Zamazenta, which is otherwise a shaky matchup even with Tera Poison, while saving its limited Morning Sun PP. (Could be worth just cutting it down a little to this to trim it down) Leftovers grants Gouging Fire some much-needed passive healing; however, Covert Cloak is a solid alternative that improves Gouging Fire's matchup against Garganacl while also blocking the secondary effects from Hatterene's Nuzzle and Primarina's Psychic Noise, which can otherwise cripple it. Grassy Seed is a strong option on Grassy Terrain teams; the passive recovery from Grassy Terrain offsets the lack of Leftovers recovery (I think you could cut this down either here or later as it's repeated in the second paragraph, reword accordingly) can greatly expand Gouging Fire's setup opportunities against threats to include threats like Roaring Moon. The highly-specific EV spread allows Gouging Fire to reach numerous crucial offensive and defensive benchmarks simultaneously: 72 Attack EVs allow Gouging Fire to 2HKO Clodsire with Flare Blitz, 64 Speed EVs allow Gouging Fire to outspeed Ogerpon-W after a Dragon Dance, and the bulk investment alongside an Impish nature allows Gouging Fire to survive a +2 Tera Water Ogerpon-W's Ivy Cudgel from full HP while surviving two Dark Pulses from Darkrai after Stealth Rock.

Bulky Dragon Dance Gouging Fire functions as a win condition on bulky offense teams, which play into this set's slower-paced nature but are able to maintain enough offensive pressure to open up for its eventual late-game sweep. It also provides valuable defensive utility by virtue of being able to check threats like Volcarona before Terastallizing, Rillaboom, Weavile, and Meowscarada. However, Gouging Fire is extremely vulnerable against entry hazards and necessitates strong entry hazard removal in order to function effectively. Great Tusk provides entry hazard removal thanks to Rapid Spin, which is crucial in allowing Gouging Fire to remain healthy enough to set up against Ground-types, while Hatterene naturally deters entry hazard setup with Magic Bounce. Assault Vest Galarian Slowking is a great teammate for its ability to blanket check most special attackers, most notably Kyurem and Walking Wake, which Gouging Fire cannot reliably set up against, throughout a game; in return, Galarian Slowking greatly appreciates Gouging Fire's ability to pressure Ground-types like Great Tusk and Gliscor and Knock Off users like Rillaboom, Weavile, and Meowscarada. Kingambit is a fantastic option on any offensive team and greatly appreciates Gouging Fire's ability to force Volcarona to Terastallize, force chip damage against Gliscor and Great Tusk, and burn through Dondozo's PP; in return, Gouging Fire appreciates Kingambit's ability to revenge kill fast threats like Deoxys-S, Tera Flying Roaring Moon, and Dragapult with Sucker Punch. Other physical attackers like Roaring Moon and Zamazenta appreciate Gouging Fire's ability to force progress against Dondozo and greatly threaten Heatran for Gouging Fire. Without Tera Ghost, Gouging Fire struggles against Iron Defense Zamazenta; though Gouging Fire can use Tera Poison to more easily survive repeated boosted Body Presses from Zamazenta and can fish for a Flare Blitz burn in desperation, (Up to you but you could maybe consider removing the previous part of the sentence if you wanted to cut it down a little, as the next part explains it pretty well) it is both outsped after a Dragon Dance and lacks the immediate power to force massive damage onto Zamazenta. Iron Valiant is a great teammate for its ability to pressure Zamazenta with Moonblast and can punish Iron Defense with Encore; it also handles Bulk Up variants of Great Tusk, which Gouging Fire has a more difficult time setting up against. Earth Power Landorus-T is incredibly problematic for Gouging Fire since it bypasses Breaking Swipe's Attack drops and hits Gouging Fire's lower Special Defense stat. Volcarona's Quiver Dance boosts allow it to handle Earth Power Landorus-T and couples as solid Iron Defense Zamazenta check. (Prob worth specifying since AoA Zama typically runs Stone Edge) Lastly, Rillaboom is a great teammate for Gouging Fire; Grassy Terrain provides Gouging Fire with even more passive recovery and allows Gouging Fire to forego Leftovers for Grassy Seed while halving the power of Earthquake from threats like Dragonite and Roaring Moon and letting Gouging Fire more easily boost alongside them. Rillaboom can immediately threaten Water-types like Alomomola and Tera Water Garganacl and can use U-Turn to pivot Gouging Fire in against Steel-types like Corviknight and Skarmory.

[SET CREDITS]
Written by: (Be sure to update this ^^)
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/dreadfury.408271/
Quality Checked by:

Grammar Checked by:

Everything is great, awesome work - stamping this as QC 2/2!

Implemented! I opted to change the Grassy Terrain mention in the second paragraph instead, since you said I could do either or there.

GP Team ready when you are.

 

[sapphiree]

AMGP - take what ya like
add remove comment

gouging fayah

[SET]
Bulky Dragon Dance (Gouging Fire) @ Leftovers
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Poison
EVs: 252 HP / 72 Atk / 104 Def / 16 SpD / 64 Spe
Impish Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Flare Blitz
- Breaking Swipe
- Morning Sun

[SET COMMENTS]
Gouging Fire combines an incredible typing both offensively and defensively, massive mixed bulk alongside reliable recovery, and its powerful STAB Flare Blitz to serve as a uniquely powerful Dragon Dance setup sweeper that is capable of setting up against and ultimately beating a large number of physically bulky threats (this sentence is large and wordy, therefore i shortened it a little). Breaking Swipe is the key to this set's success; after having their Attack lowered by Breaking Swipe, Ground-types like Great Tusk lacking Bulk Up and Gliscor can no longer reliably outdamage Gouging Fire's Morning Sun and Leftovers recovery, allowing it to directly set up in front of these threats. Breaking Swipe's 24 PP also gives it a unique advantage at stalling out Dondozo's 16 Curse PP, even after it is called multiple times by Sleep Talk; (RSC). (AP) (the sentence is large and wordy) after After a few Attack drops, Dondozo's Waterfall cannot inflict meaningful damage against Gouging Fire, (AC) even though despite Gouging Fire will be doing very low damage in return, (AC) and is thus forced to switch out in order to conserve its valuable Rest and Curse PP, which a +6 Gouging Fire can heavily punish if it predicts correctly. Tera Poison grants Gouging Fire an immunity to Toxic from Gliscor and Clodsire, the former of which is turned into setup fodder after an Attack drop from Breaking Swipe, (RC) while granting it a resistance to Fighting-type attacks like Dondozo's Body Press. Tera Ghost is a strong alternative that allows Gouging Fire to safely beat Iron Defense Zamazenta, which is otherwise a shaky matchup even with Tera Poison. Leftovers grants Gouging Fire some much-needed passive healing; however, Covert Cloak is a solid alternative that improves Gouging Fire's matchup against Garganacl while also blocking the secondary effects from Hatterene's Nuzzle and Primarina's Psychic Noise, which can otherwise cripple it. Grassy Seed is a strong option on Grassy Terrain teams; the passive recovery from Grassy Terrain offsets the lack of Leftovers recovery, (AC) which can greatly expand Gouging Fire's setup opportunities against threats to include threats teammates like Roaring Moon (the message this sentence is trying to convey is a bit confusing, are you including Roaring Moon on your own team or are you finding a setup opportunity against threats like RM? if it is the former: "can greatly expand Gouging Fire's setup opportunities against threats to include threats teammates like Roaring Moon" and if it's the latter: "can greatly expand Gouging Fire's setup opportunities against threats to include threats like Roaring Moon". i'm assuming the former therefore i'm prose-checking accordingly but if it's the latter then feel free to use the second option). The highly-specific EV spread allows Gouging Fire to reach numerous crucial offensive and defensive benchmarks simultaneously: 72 Attack EVs allow Gouging Fire to 2HKO Clodsire with Flare Blitz, 64 Speed EVs allow Gouging Fire to outspeed Ogerpon-W after a Dragon Dance, and the bulk investment alongside an Impish nature allows Gouging Fire to survive a +2 Tera Water Ogerpon-W's Ivy Cudgel from full HP while also surviving two Dark Pulses from Darkrai after Stealth Rock.

Bulky Dragon Dance Gouging Fire functions as a win condition on bulky offense teams, (RC) which that play into this set's slower-paced nature but are able to maintain enough offensive pressure to open up for its eventual late-game sweep. It also provides valuable defensive utility by virtue of it being able to check threats like Volcarona before Terastallizing, Rillaboom, Weavile, and Meowscarada. However, Gouging Fire is extremely vulnerable against to entry hazards and necessitates strong entry hazard removal in order to function effectively. Great Tusk provides entry hazard removal thanks to Rapid Spin, which is crucial in allowing Gouging Fire to remain healthy enough to set up against Ground-types, while Hatterene naturally deters entry hazard setup with Magic Bounce. Assault Vest Galarian Slowking is a great teammate for its ability to blanket check blanket-check most a vast majority of (made this change because the initial sentence was "most x, most notably x" and i felt we could use a better word than "most" in one of the places) special attackers throughout a game (repositioned the last part of this sentence to avoid wordiness), most notably Kyurem and Walking Wake, which Gouging Fire cannot reliably set up against, (RC) throughout a game; (RSC). (AP) in In return, (no need to club it all in one sentence) Galarian Slowking greatly appreciates Gouging Fire's ability to pressure Ground-types like Great Tusk and Gliscor, (AC) and Knock Off users like Rillaboom, Weavile, and Meowscarada. Kingambit is a fantastic option on any offensive team and greatly appreciates Gouging Fire's ability to force Volcarona to Terastallize, force chip damage against Gliscor and Great Tusk, and burn through Dondozo's PP; (RSC). (AP) in In (similar reasoning as above) return, Gouging Fire appreciates Kingambit's ability to revenge kill fast threats like Deoxys-S, Tera Flying Roaring Moon, and Dragapult with Sucker Punch. Other physical attackers like Roaring Moon and Zamazenta appreciate Gouging Fire's ability to force progress against Dondozo and greatly threaten Heatran for Gouging Fire. Without Tera Ghost, Gouging Fire struggles against Iron Defense Zamazenta; it is both outsped after a Dragon Dance and lacks the immediate power to force massive damage onto Zamazenta. Therefore, (AC) (helps indicate a connection between the previous sentence and this one) Iron Valiant is a great teammate for its ability to pressure Zamazenta with Moonblast and can punish Iron Defense with Encore; (RSC) it while also handles handling Bulk Up variants of Great Tusk, which Gouging Fire has a more difficult time setting up against. Earth Power Landorus-T is incredibly problematic for Gouging Fire since it bypasses Breaking Swipe's Attack drops and hits Gouging Fire's lower Special Defense stat. Accordingly, (AC) (establishing connection) Volcarona's Quiver Dance boosts allow it to handle Earth Power Landorus-T and couples as a solid Iron Defense Zamazenta check. Lastly, Rillaboom is a great teammate for Gouging Fire; (RSC) as Gouging Fire greatly appreciates Grassy Terrain support, and Rillaboom itself can immediately threaten Water-types like Alomomola and Tera Water Garganacl and can use while also being able to use (the initial sentence structured as follows: "it can do x and y and z". instead i changed the second "and" to "while" to incorporate the same meaning) U-Turn U-turn to pivot Gouging Fire in against Steel-types like Corviknight and Skarmory.

[SET CREDITS]

Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/dreadfury.408271/

Quality Checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/setsusetsuna.548068/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/kd458.633798/

Grammar Checked by: