Gen 1 Kabutops (OU) [QC 1/1] [GP 0/2]

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Sceptross

The words were voted out by a landslide
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[OVERVIEW]

Kabutops is a very dangerous Pokemon and among the best Swords Dance users in OU. First of all, its base 115 Attack stat is very respectable, and it sports the best high critical hit rate move in the game—Slash. While this may seem counterproductive for Swords Dance, since in RBY critical hits ignore stat boosts, it means Kabutops can pose an immediate threat without having to raise its Attack. Slash also gives it wallbreaking potential, mostly because critical hits also ignore Reflect. Because Kabutops can switch in on recovery moves such as Rest and Recover and immediately pose a threat, it commonly forces the opponent to switch in a Pokemon that lacks recovery, like Exeggutor or Tauros, to force it out. This means Kabutops will do permanent damage. Its typing grants it a valuable resistance to Normal and Ice. This means it can freely set up against Pokemon such as Cloyster, sometimes against Chansey without Thunderbolt (depending on circumstance, the threat of Thunder Wave may pose a problem) and on any variant of Snorlax not packing Earthquake—or the very rare Thunderbolt.

However, while Kabutops's typing is certainly one of its key assets, it also leaves it with very unfortunate weaknesses to Electric and Ground. This means it can't switch in as much as it would want against Rhydon despite its Surf and good Defense. Also, Kabutops is easy to force out with Thunderbolt users such as Jolteon, Zapdos, Gengar, Starmie, and Lapras—the first four outspeed it, and Lapras easily survives a +2 Hyper Beam. It gets worse: Kabutops can struggle to discourage them from switching in, giving them great momentum. Surf is weak enough against them to almost give a free switch. A Hyper Beam use can be punished by Gengar, while Swords Dance usually gives free entry to Thunderbolt users. Notice how every move besides Slash is fairly easy to punish—and Gengar even ignores that, countering Kabutops outright. Slash is still a great move and helps deter these threats, but again its critical hits ignore Swords Dance boosts. Therefore, if these threats can pressure Kabutops into using Slash often, they reduce its threat ceiling in practice. Also, Hyper Beam's 10.4% miss chance or Kabutops's 15.6% critical hit rate can just ruin its sweep, a likely scenario if Kabutops is expected to KO several Pokemon consecutively.

[SET]
name: Standard
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Slash
move 3: Hyper Beam
move 4: Surf

[SET COMMENTS]
Set Description
=========

This set makes Kabutops a very menacing threat in OU, although the reasons why may not be immediately apparent. While Slash does not benefit from Swords Dance boosts, it comes off of a very high 115 base Attack stat, which allows it to immediately threaten a paralyzed Alakazam or Chansey (and Starmie to a lesser extent), as well as Rest Snorlax. If the former two have full paralysis on a recovering turn, or Kabutops comes in on Rest from the latter, the opponent will be forced to switch them out, most likely to a Pokemon such as Exeggutor or Tauros, forcing them to take permanent damage. Remember that Slash is not a 3HKO on Snorlax, but Snorlax cannot just stall Kabutops with Rest because it is too easy to predict the Rest and use Swords Dance. Once Kabutops is at +2, two Slashes and a Hyper Beam KO Snorlax after Rest before it can attack, forcing Snorlax to switch or risk fainting. Even if Snorlax uses Reflect, it offers little protection because Kabutops has plenty of opportunities to boost to +4. Alternatively, Kabutops can fish for a critical hit with Surf while Snorlax is asleep—a viable strategy considering Kabutops's respectable critical hit rate.

The benefits of Slash don't end here, though. Slash with +2 Hyper Beam is enough to KO Zapdos and Tauros 100% of the time, as well as Exeggutor 95.4% of the time. If Chansey is at 88.6% health, Slash + Hyper Beam becomes a guaranteed KO. At 84.4%, Slash becomes a guaranteed 2HKO too, so a little bit of chip damage comes a long way in breaking through Chansey.

Kabutops also packs a big, big punch as a late-game sweeper. +4 Hyper Beam is a guaranteed KO on Exeggutor and anything more frail than it. With a bit of chip damage, +2 Hyper Beam OHKOes Starmie and Chansey. Kabutops is not very hard to find setup opportunities with, either: any sleeping Pokemon such as Rest Cloyster, Snorlax, or Jolteon (provided it comes in on the latter's Rest turn) will do, with sleep fodder your opponent is trying to sack, a Rhydon switching out fearing Surf, and an untimely full paralysis as other possible setup windows.

Kabutops also distinguishes itself from other setup sweepers because paralysis does not end its usability in the game. While its late-game sweeping abilities are hindered, its respectable Speed means it's still very capable of beating several Pokemon such as Chansey, Snorlax, Cloyster and paralyzed Alakazam, using Swords Dance to reapply the latter's paralysis Speed drop and outspeed it. Paralyzed Kabutops also still does significant damage with Slash to potential switch-ins.

Kabutops's typing plays a key role in the Tauros matchup, and typing is perhaps the main asset it has over Sandslash and Kingler.Kabutops's Rock typing means that Tauros will generally resort to Earthquake to beat it, or the much rarer Thunderbolt. Not only does Earthquake have a mere 2.2% chance to 2HKO, it will also never OHKO a full health Kabutops with a critical hit. Sandslash is always 2HKOed by Tauros's Blizzard and OHKOed if it's a critical hit, while Kingler taking on Tauros is likely to find itself paralyzed by a neutral Body Slam, severely hindering its ability to continue the sweep. Earthquake also comes without a freeze or paralysis chance, which gives Kabutops much better odds at late-game sweeping, and unboosted Kabutops can even beat Tauros one-on-one in some situations, usually winning if Tauros is damaged by Slash beforehand or switches in on it. Kabutops also has the most reliable way of disposing of Rhydon and Golem with Surf, since Kingler's Crabhammer has unreliable accuracy and Sandslash must be at +4 to always OHKO with Earthquake, at the expense of being worse against Gengar.

Lastly, Kabutops also has good synergy with Electric-types such as Zapdos. They can seriously threaten each other's counters, and most players will switch Rhydon in without second thought upon sight of Zapdos, allowing for a double switch to Kabutops and subsequent threat of a setup sweep.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

Body Slam can be used to paralyze switch-ins, potentially paralyzing a Pokemon such as Starmie or Exeggutor and thus facilitating a sweeper like Rhydon, but it is difficult to drop one of the listed moves. Dropping Surf means losing to Rhydon and not being able to damage Gengar at all. Dropping Slash makes Kabutops's job of wallbreaking much harder, with it unable to reliably get past Reflect Snorlax and Chansey or hit switch-ins hard, and dropping Swords Dance or Hyper Beam severely hinders its sweeping capabilities. Blizzard may also seem a good choice, but missing out on the OHKO on Rhydon is very detrimental, and Slash hits Exeggutor and Zapdos harder.

For a completely different approach, a more defensive set using Rest, Slash, Surf and either Reflect or Body Slam could be used. It makes use of Kabutops's key resistances to Normal and Ice, with Slash allowing it to not forfeit momentum. However, Reflect is generally only useful against Earthquake from Tauros and Snorlax, the former having a very high critical hit rate anyway and the latter often forgoing Earthquake for overall more useful moves, giving Reflect fringe utility at best. However, Body Slam is fringe too: it moves Kabutops away from purer defense towards a sort of offensive support role, a less unique role that other Pokemon such as Snorlax and Rhydon fulfill better. They don't need to sacrifice as much of their offensive presence—remember that this Kabutops set drops Swords Dance and Hyper Beam—to be physical walls or lure in and paralyze certain threats.

Checks and Counters
===================

**Gengar**: Gengar is undoubtedly the best Kabutops counter, since it can easily come in on any of Kabutops's moves and threaten it directly with Thunderbolt. It easily takes Kabutops down, even while paralyzed, since Surf is a 5HKO. If Sleep Clause is not in effect and no statused Pokemon can safely switch in, Gengar can also safely go for Hypnosis to punish the switch-in.

**Electric-types**: Zapdos outspeeds Kabutops and has a 61.5% chance to OHKO with Thunderbolt. If Zapdos is paralyzed, it's a check at best though, because Slash and +2 Hyper Beam is a guaranteed KO. Jolteon only has a 2.4% chance to OHKO with Thunderbolt, but its critical hit rate is very high and should be kept in mind. However, if Jolteon is paralyzed or asleep from Rest, it can no longer switch in either, because both Slash + Hyper Beam and +2 Hyper Beam are almost always a KO.

**Starmie**: Starmie is never OHKOed by Slash + Hyper Beam or +2 Hyper Beam, which means it can easily come in and threaten Kabutops with Thunder Wave, Thunderbolt, or to a lesser extent even Surf and Psychic. However, if it's paralyzed, it has to watch out.

**Exeggutor**: While Exeggutor needs Mega Drain to counter Kabutops, since it is almost always KOed by Slash and +2 Hyper Beam. Otherwise, sets without it can come in once and threaten with a status move—or even heavy damage with Psychic.

**Victreebel**: Razor Leaf OHKOes Kabutops, and Kabutops cannot realistically expect to KO Victreebel even if it switches in, since a +2 Hyper Beam only has a 1 in 39 chance to OHKO. Much like Gengar, it can somewhat safely go for Sleep Powder if circumstances allow for it.

**Lapras**: Lapras checks Kabutops in a similar way to Exeggutor, with the notable difference that it can generally switch in twice instead of once, and Thunderbolt is a guaranteed 2HKO that also packs a 10% paralysis chance. It can also use Sing similarly to Gengar.

[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Sceptross, 123746]]
- Quality checked by: [[May, 236353]]
- Grammar checked by: [[Adeleine, 517429], [, ]]
 
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Sceptross

The words were voted out by a landslide
is a Community Contributor
I came back sooner than expected, but I had some time to kill and decided to spend some time doing this, raising awareness to a very underrated Pokemon in the current metagame.

For the past month, I've been in a situation where I was taking several small breaks during the day, which I mostly used laddering RBY games with Kabutops. The period was long enough that I could get a decently high amount of games with it, both on the ladder and against renowned RBYers who would recognize me and challenge me for some games (pinging HML am Maya Chansey roudolf13 Christos21 and definitely more that don't come from the top of my head right now).

I'm confident enough about Kabutops being at least C rank in the current metagame, with a good possibility of actually being B-. Unfortunately, for doing such a bold claim with certainty, I would have to try it in tournaments, something I do not have the real-life situation to be able to do right now (not to mention I still feel sad about the way I was forced to quit on everyone and SPL - and basically anything hobbie related really - around 1 year ago). I encourage people to try it before saying it only works against bad players or that it is inconsistent.

Lastly, a bit of an off-topic and I'm aware this is certainly not the place for this, but unfortunately, this is not a return for me even for non-tournament stuff. As I said, my real life situation does not really allow me to put time and energy into tournaments or staying long periods of time around. However, if you'd like to keep in touch with me, PM me here on Smogon or perhaps more reliably, talk to FriendOfMrGolem120, he'll get you in touch with me.

EDIT: I've been informed the team is trying to do things in a more structured way and that I should have asked for permission before posting this. My apologies, it won't happen again!
 
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Hey, even if I'm not a RBY QC member or a very influential RBYer, i want to give a contribuition in this analysis since Kabutops is one of my favourite Pokemon to use.

You made no mention of a defensive Kabutops set. :(
Even if is a bit unorthodox, a set with Reflect, Rest, Slash, Surf walls the vast majority of the physical attackers of the tier if Reflect is up (it lives 4 Snorlax Earthquakes with Reflect as an example), while Slash + Slash + Surf crit have a decent 70% KO chance versus Rest Lax. It also defeat Tauros on 1x1 if there is no crit involved.
Also, if i'm not wrong, this set have tour wins over the last 2 years.
 

Sceptross

The words were voted out by a landslide
is a Community Contributor
Hey, even if I'm not a RBY QC member or a very influential RBYer, i want to give a contribuition in this analysis since Kabutops is one of my favourite Pokemon to use.

You made no mention of a defensive Kabutops set. :(
Even if is a bit unorthodox, a set with Reflect, Rest, Slash, Surf walls the vast majority of the physical attackers of the tier if Reflect is up (it lives 4 Snorlax Earthquakes with Reflect as an example), while Slash + Slash + Surf crit have a decent 70% KO chance versus Rest Lax. It also defeat Tauros on 1x1 if there is no crit involved.
Also, if i'm not wrong, this set have tour wins over the last 2 years.
I've never seen that set in play. Sounds interesting although the obvious weakness are Tauros crits. Do you mind linking some replays to me of it in use? I kind of want to test it right now too.
 

Plague von Karma

Banned deucer.
Just gonna give a few opinions on this, good to see you back Sceptross!

Some of this will just be grammar stuff, sorry if it's overly pedantic :psynervous:

Overview
It may be worth mentioning a lack of physical STAB is a slight issue.

Kabutops is a very dangerous Pokemon that possesses a myriad of traits that make it the best Swords Dance user in OU.
I wouldn't definitively say Kabutops is the best, though you probably know better. I'd say "among the best", personally.

While this may actually seem detrimental, since in RBY critical hits ignore stat boosts, it means Kabutops can pose an immediate threat without having to raise its attack, as well as giving it wallbreaking potential.
You should note that this ignores Reflect, as I don't think it would click with every newbie. Personally, I think it's one of Slash's best traits in the current metagame. You never explicitly state it outright, only imply, which can make it easy to misinterpret.

This means it can freely set up against Pokemon such as Cloyster, any Chansey without Thunderbolt (although depending on circumstance, the threat of Thunder Wave may pose a problem) and any variant of Snorlax not packing Earthquake (or the very rare Thunderbolt).
It's best to keep the brackets down, GP isn't too fond of them and you can usually implement what you're saying into the main sentence. Here's what I came up with in case you want to use it;
This means it can freely set up against Pokemon such as Cloyster, any Chansey without Thunderbolt—although depending on circumstance, the threat of Thunder Wave may pose a problem—and any variant of Snorlax not packing Earthquake or the very rare Thunderbolt.
— is markdown code for emdashes ( — ), to be clear.

This means it can't switch in as much as it would want against Rhydon (and the opponent can also attempt to play Surf/Hyper Beam mindgames to beat it).
You can probably just put this highlighted bit with a comma.

A Hyper Beam miss can also ruin its sweep and if Kabutops is trying to sweep through several Pokemon, it's realistic to expect it to eventually miss (although it can miss only at a point of no return).
You can likely cut this bit and retain the same meaning, unless I'm missing something?

Lastly, Kabutops has a very high natural speed, which means that if it sets up to +4, the threat of a critical-hit becomes looming.
May as well slot the CH rate here, it's 15.6%.

Set Details
Not much critique here except for one thing. If you use an Electric-type like Zapdos, people just braindead switch Rhydon in, which you can use to pivot to Kabutops. Gives it a nice opportunity to set up Swords Dance and swing for game.

Checks & Counters
Are you sure Lapras shouldn't be included somewhere? It's a soft check at best and will take some hefty damage in the process, but it's there.

**Gengar**: Gengar is undoubtfully the best Kabutops counter, since it can easily come in on any of Kabutops' moves and threaten it outright with Thunderbolt. It doesn't even mind being paralysed against it, since Surf is a 5HKO.
May as well chuck in the fact it forces sleep on the opposing team, since Kabutops is forced out. It'll only really apply if you woke your sack and Gengar happens to still be alive though. Minor, but it's there.

**Victreebel**: Razor Leaf is a OHKO on Kabutops and Kabutops cannot realistically expect to KO Victreebel even if it switches in, since it only has 1 in 39 chances to OHKO with a +2 Hyper Beam.
Same principle here.

--

Again, all of this is really pedantic, but I thought I'd toss in my thoughts. Let me know what you think!
 

Sceptross

The words were voted out by a landslide
is a Community Contributor
From my testing of the Rest set, it does not do as well as the Swords Dance set. It's nice to not care about paralysis, but Swords Dance and Hyper Beam are very much missed. However, it has enough merit that should be included in Other Options, which I did. What do you think Caetano93 ?

It's been some days and I haven't come up with anything else to include in the analysis. Since I'm going to be doing less games from now on and I'm happy with its current state, I'm moving it to the QC stage.
 
From my testing of the Rest set, it does not do as well as the Swords Dance set. It's nice to not care about paralysis, but Swords Dance and Hyper Beam are very much missed. However, it has enough merit that should be included in Other Options, which I did. What do you think Caetano93 ?

It's been some days and I haven't come up with anything else to include in the analysis. Since I'm going to be doing less games from now on and I'm happy with its current state, I'm moving it to the QC stage.
Very good sceptross. The mention is to the point and shows every good and bad aspects of it.
Really impressive work here, bro.
 

pac

pay 5000, gg?
is a Contributor Alumnus
Alright so, while I am not a member of the RBY QC team, I feel like I can give some good feedback. Use as much, or as little. of this as you like.

Overview

This means it can't switch in as much as it would want against Rhydon, and the opponent can also attempt to play Surf/Hyper Beam mindgames to beat it.
I feel like this could be clarified a bit for newer players, as "Surf/Hyper Beam mindgames" could be rephrased to make more sense to those people. Something like "...and the opponent can also attempt to bait Kabutops to use either Surf or Hyper Beam, but then switch to a Pokemon that is not threatened by either, possibly either forcing Kabutops into a disastrous Recharge turn or allowing a free switch-in."

It also distinguishes itself from other set-up sweepers in the sense that it is not severely weakened by paralysis. While its late game sweeping abilities are hindered
This kind of contradicts itself in the sense that the first sentence implies that Kabutops' purpose is to act as a late game sweeper, compared to other set up sweepers such as Pinsir and Kingler, but then goes on to act like its late game sweeping is not that important. Perhaps something like "It also distinguishes itself from other set-up sweepers in the sense that paralysis does not end its usability in the game. While its late game sweeping abilities are hindered ........"

Set Comments
While its late game sweeping abilities are hindered, its naturally high speed means it is still very capable of beating several Pokemon such as Chansey, Snorlax, Cloyster and paralysed Alakazam (with the help of a Swords Dance boost to become faster than it), as well as doing significant damage with Slash to potential switch-ins.
While Kabutops' speed stat isn't bad, calling it "high" overstates it a bit. At a base 80, it is outsped by Jolteon, Tauros, Starmie, Alakazam, Gengar, Zapdos, and Jynx notably. This is especially notable when you take into account that Starmie, Zapdos, and Gengar beat Kabutops in the 1v1, plus Jynx can threaten it with Lovely Kiss. While it is true that Starmie loses if it goes head on, and has taken about 20%, it can both Recover to mitigate this or crit with its (truly) high speed and critical hit rate.

Starmie Thunderbolt vs. Kabutops: 173-204 (53.5 - 63.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+2 Kabutops Hyper Beam vs. Starmie: 263-310 (81.4 - 95.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Zapdos Thunderbolt vs. Kabutops: 302-356 (93.4 - 110.2%) -- 61.5% chance to OHKO
+2 Kabutops Hyper Beam vs. Zapdos: 263-310 (68.6 - 80.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Chansey has a 16.1% chance of succumbing to Slash and Hyper Beam
I really don't think this is worth noting tbh, the chance is simply too low for it to matter in an analysis of a Pokemon. I'm sure it will come into play at certain points, but I think the following sentences describing what happens at 88.6% and 88.4% are much more useful and makes this irrelevant.


Either Overview or in the paragraph with Sandslash discussion


I think that more notes could be made on why you pick Kabutops as a setup sweeper over, say, Kingler. You already covered Sandslash, so that isn't an issue, Pinsir is irrelevant and uncommon enough that it doesn't really matter, and Amnesia users are obvious even to a low level player as to why they're different. Kingler has access to much better coverage through Crabhammer, helping it be less walled by Gengar, as well as simply having more attack in order to not be checked by Starmie. It also has a lower speed to decrease the critical hit rate that stops sweeps, without sacrificing any notable outspeeds. As we know, Kabutops has the advantage of better typing, bulk, and special, but I think it would be important to actually state this in some form.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I hope this helps you in the analysis at all, and that you at least consider these.
 

Adeleine

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(AC): Add Comma

[OVERVIEW]

Kabutops is a very dangerous Pokemon that possesses a myriad of traits that put it and (a bit wordy but also, there are only three traits, and one among these few traits is a typing that makes it weak to eq and tbolt) among the best Swords Dance users in OU. First of all, a very respectable 115 base Attack stat. Secondly, its base 115 Attack stat is very respectable, and it sports the best high critical hit rate move in the game—Slash. While this may seem counterproductive for Swords Dance, since in RBY critical hits ignore stat boosts, it means Kabutops can pose an immediate threat without having to raise its attack, as well as giving Attack. Slash also gives it wallbreaking potential, mostly due to the fact that because critical hits also ignore Reflect. Because of its ability to Kabutops can switch in on recovery moves such as Rest and Recover and immediatly pose a threat from the get-go, it's also common for the opponent to be forced to immediately pose a threat, it commonly forces the opponent to switch in a Pokemon with no access to that lacks recovery, like Exeggutor or Tauros, to force it out, meaning it out. This means Kabutops will do permanent damage. Thirdly, a very good (this seems like a bit of an oversell for a mon weak to eq and tbolt. maybe just "good" or just saying "its typing allows it to resist...") but it's up to you if it's still appropriate, and if it is you can keep it) typing allows it to resist Normal and Ice types. This means it can freely set up against Pokemon such as Cloyster, any sometimes against Chansey without Thunderbolt (although depending on circumstance, the threat of Thunder Wave may pose a problem) and on any variant of Snorlax not packing Earthquake—or the very rare Thunderbolt.

However, not all is crimson roses for Kabutops: while its while Kabutops's typing is certainly one of its key assets, it also leaves it with a very unfortunate weakness to Electric and Ground moves. very unfortunate weaknesses to Electric and Ground. This means it can't switch in as much as it would want against Rhydon, and the opponent can also attempt to bait Kabutops to use either Surf or Hyper Beam, but then switch to a Pokemon that is not threatened by either, possibly either forcing Kabutops into a disastrous Recharge turn or allowing a free switch-in. It also leaves it very vulnerable against Electric types such as Jolteon and Zapdos, as well as water types packing Thunderbolt, like Starmie and Lapras. Mostly relying on normal moves also comes with problems when facing Gengar, since Surf is merely a 5HKO. A Hyper Beam miss can also ruin its sweep and if Kabutops is trying to sweep through several Pokemon, it is realistic for it to eventually miss. Lastly, Kabutops has a very high natural speed, which means that if it sets up to +4, the threat of a 15.6% critical hit rate cutting a sweep short becomes looming. Rhydon despite its Surf and good Defense. Also, Kabutops is easy to force out with Thunderbolt users such as Jolteon, Zapdos, Gengar, Starmie, and Lapras—the first four outspeed it, and Lapras easily survives a +2 Hyper Beam. It gets worse: Kabutops can struggle to discourage them from switching in, giving them great momentum. Surf is weak enough against them to almost give a free switch. A Hyper Beam recharge, Hyper Beam use in Gengar's case, or Swords Dance usually gives free entry too. Notice how every move besides Slash is fairly easy to hard punish—and Gengar even ignores that, countering Kabutops outright. Slash is still a great move and helps deter these threats, but again its critical hits ignore Swords Dance boosts. Therefore, if these threats can pressure Kabutops into using Slash often, they reduce its threat ceiling in practice. Also, Hyper Beam's 10.6% miss chance or Kabutops's 15.6% critical hit rate can just ruin its sweep, which is very feasible if it tries to sweep through several Pokemon and thus has many chances for bad luck. (you brought up a lot of points that were important but i think the cohesion was non-obvious to newer players less familiar with the meta. this is a lot of the same stuff as before, just changed around a bit to highlight the bigger pictures at play. make sure to read it through and fix any mistakes/inaccuracies/misleading things i put in)

[SET]
name: Standard
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Slash
move 3: Hyper Beam
move 4: Surf

[SET COMMENTS]
Set Description
=========

This set gives Kabutops the tools to be makes Kabutops a very menacing threat in OU, although the reasons why may not be immediatly immediately apparent. While Slash does not benefit from Swords Dance boosts, it comes off of a very high 115 base Attack stat, which allows it to pose an immediate threat to a paralysed immediately threaten a paralyzed Alakazam or Chansey (and Starmie to a lesser extent, Starmie), as well as Rest Snorlax. If the former two fully paralyse have full paralysis on a recovering turn, or Kabutops comes in on Rest from the latter, the opponent will be forced to switch them out, most likely to a Pokemon such as Exeggutor or Tauros, withstanding permanent damage for the rest of the game. forcing them to take permanent damage. Remember that Slash is not a 3HKO on Snorlax. However, Snorlax, but Snorlax cannot just stall Kabutops with Rest because it is too easy for Kabutops to predict the Rest and use Swords Dance. Once Kabutops is at +2, two Slashes and a Hyper Beam KO Snorlax after Rest before it can attack, forcing Snorlax to switch or risk fainting. Even if Snorlax uses Reflect, it offers little protection because Kabutops has plenty of opportunities to boost to +4. Alternatively, the Kabutops can fish for a critical hit with Surf as Snorlax rests — a while Snorlax is asleep—a viable strategy considering Kabutops's respectable critical hit rate.

The benefits of Slash don't end here, (AC) though. Slash and +2 Hyper Beam are with +2 Hyper Beam is enough to OHKO Zapdos and Tauros 100% of the time, as well as Exeggutor 95.4% of the time. If Chansey is at 88.6% health, Slash + Hyper Beam becomes a guaranteed KO. At 84.4%, two Slashes become a guaranteed KO Slash becomes a guaranteed 2HKO too, so a little bit of chip damage comes a long way in breaking through Chansey.

Kabutops also packs a big, big punch as a late-game (added hyphen) sweeper. +4 Hyper Beam is a guaranteed KO on Exeggutor and anything more frail than it. With a bit of chip damage, +2 Hyper Beam OHKOes Starmie and Chansey are OHKO'd by +2 Hyper Beam. It is also not a very hard Pokemon to put in a position where it's able to set up a Swords Dance either: any sleeping Pokemon such as Rest Cloyster, Snorlax or Jolteon (provided you come in on the Rest turn for the latter) or the sleep fodder your opponent is trying to sack; a Rhydon switching out fearing Surf or an untimely full paralysis are some of the possibilities for doing it. Chansey. Kabutops is also not very hard to find setup opportunities with, either: any sleeping Pokemon such as Rest Cloyster, Snorlax, or Jolteon (provided it comes in on the latter's Rest turn) will do, with sleep fodder your opponent is trying to sack, a Rhydon switching out fearing Surf, and an untimely full paralysis as other possible setup windows.

It Kabutops also distinguishes itself from other set-up sweepers in the sense that setup sweepers because paralysis does not end its usability in the game. While its late-game (added hyphen) sweeping abilities are hindered, its respectable speed means it is Speed means it's still very capable of beating several Pokemon such as Chansey, Snorlax, Cloyster and paralysed Alakazam (with the help of a Swords Dance boost to become faster than it), as well as doing paralyzed Alakazam, using Swords Dance to reapply the latter's paralysis Speed drop and outspeed it. Paralyzed Kabutops also still does significant damage with Slash to potential switch-ins.

Kabutops's typing also plays a key role in the Tauros matchup, and it typing is perhaps the main asset it has over Sandslash and Kingler. The fact that Kabutops is a Rock type Kabutops's Rock typing means that Tauros will generally resort to Earthquake to beat it (or the much rarer Thunderbolt). it, or the much rarer Thunderbolt. Not only is does Earthquake have a mere 2.2% chance to 2HKO, it will also never OHKO a full health Kabutops if it critical hits. with a critical hit. Sandslash is always 2HKO'd by 2HKOed by Tauros's Blizzard and OHKO'd by OHKOed if it's a critical hit, while Kingler taking on Tauros is likely to find itself paralysed by Body Slam in the process, which severely cripples paralyzed by a neutral Body Slam, severely hindering its ability to continue the sweep. Earthquake also comes without a freeze or paralysis chance, which means that Kabutops has much better odds at late game gives Kabutops much better odds at late-game sweeping, and will even 1v1 Tauros more often than not even unboosted unboosted Kabutops can even beat Tauros one-on-one in some situations, usually winning if Tauros is damaged by Slash beforehand or switches in on it. Kabutops also has in Surf the most reliable way of disposing of Rhydon and Golem with Surf, since Kingler's Crabhammer has unreliable accuracy and Sandslash must be at +4 to always OHKO with Earthquake, (I imagine this was the intention?) at the expense of being worse against Gengar, while Sandslash needs to be at +4 to guarantee the OHKO with Earthquake.

Lastly, Kabutops can also potentially be paired with an Electric type such as Zapdos for good synergy. also has good synergy with Electric-types such as Zapdos. They can seriously threaten each other's counters, (AC) and most players will switch Rhydon in without second thought upon sight of Zapdos, allowing for a double switch to Kabutops and subsequent threat of a set-up setup sweep.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

Body Slam can be used for Kabutops to be able to paralyse the switch-in, to paralyze switch-ins, potentially paralysing paralyzing a Pokemon such as Starmie or Exeggutor and thus making the job of a sweeper like Rhydon easier, facilitating a sweeper like Rhydon, but it is really hard to drop one of its 4 the listed moves. Dropping Surf comes at the expense of means losing to Rhydon and not being able to damage Gengar at all. Dropping Slash means that Kabutops' job at wallbreaking becomes much harder, becoming makes Kabutops's job of wallbreaking much harder, with it unable to reliably get past the Reflect users, as well as damaging Reflect Snorlax and Chansey or hit (I imagine this still works?) switch-ins hard, and dropping Swords Dance or Hyper Beam severely hinder hinders its sweeping capabilities. Blizzard may also seem a good choice, but missing out on the OHKO on Rhydon is very detrimental, and Slash damages hits Exeggutor and Zapdos harder.

On For a completely different approach, a more defensive set using Rest, Slash, Surf and either Reflect or Body Slam could be used, making used. It makes use of Kabutops's key resistances to Normal and Ice, while capitalising on the fact it has Slash with Slash allowing it to not forfeit momentum. However, Reflect is generally only useful against Earthquake from Tauros and Snorlax, the former having a very high critical hit rate anyway and the latter generally forgoing Earthquake in favour of overall more useful moves like Ice Beam, Selfdestruct or Hyper Beam, making it a fringe pick for overall more useful moves,Earthquake, giving Reflect fringe utility at best. On the other hand, as mentioned before, Body Slam has merit in luring in and potentially paralysing key threats, making Kabutops more of a supportive Pokémon. However, it sacrifices a lot of potential agression by being forced to drop Swords Dance and Hyper Beam and its role can be fulfilled by other Pokémon better, such as Snorlax and Rhydon, who do not need to sacrifice as much of its offensive prowess to be able to be a physical wall or to lure and paralyse certain threats. However, Body Slam is fringe too: it moves Kabutops away from purer defense towards a sort of offensive support role, a less unique role that other Pokemon such as Snorlax and Rhydon fulfill better. They don't need to sacrifice as much of their offensive presence—remember that this Kabutops set drops Swords Dance and Hyper Beam—to be physical walls or lure in and paralyze certain threats. (I imagine this still works? change/etc if any parts don't, though)

Checks and Counters
===================

**Gengar**: Gengar is undoubtfully undoubtedly the best Kabutops counter, since it can easily come in on any of Kabutops's moves and threaten it outright directly with Thunderbolt. It doesn't even mind being paralysed against it, easily takes it down, even while paralyzed, since Surf is a 5HKO. If sleep clause Sleep Clause is not in effect and no statused Pokemon can safely switch in, Gengar can also safely go for Hypnosis to punish the switch-in. (I imagine?)

**Electric-types**: (added hyphen) Zapdos outspeeds Kabutops and has a 61.5% chance to OHKO with Thunderbolt. If it's paralysed Zapdos is paralyzed, it's a check at best though, because Slash and +2 Hyper Beam is a guaranteed KO. Jolteon only has a 2.4% chance to OHKO with Thunderbolt, but its critical hit rate is very high and should be kept in mind. However, if Jolteon is paralysed or Resting, paralyzed or asleep from Rest, it can no longer switch in either, because both Slash + Hyper Beam and +2 Hyper Beam are almost always a OHKO.

**Starmie**: Starmie is never OHKO'd OHKOed by Slash + Hyper Beam or +2 Hyper Beam, which means it can easily come in and threaten Kabutops with Thunder Wave, Thunderbolt, or to a lesser extent even Surf and Psychic. However, if it's paralysed, paralyzed, (would "or chipped" be worth adding, bc eventually slash + hbeam ohkoes? up to you) it has to watch out.

**Exeggutor**: While Exeggutor needs Mega Drain to be a counter to Kabutops, since it is almost always KO'd KOed by Slash and +2 Hyper beam, Beam otherwise, sets without (I imagine?) it can come in once and threaten with a status inducing more or even heavy amounts of damage status move—or even heavy damage with Psychic.

**Victreebel**: Razor Leaf is a OHKO on OHKOes Kabutops, (AC) and Kabutops cannot realistically expect to KO Victreebel even if it switches in, since it only has 1 in 39 chances to OHKO with a +2 Hyper Beam only has a 1 in 39 chance to OHKO. Much like Gengar, it can somewhat safely go for Sleep Powder if circumstances allow for it.

**Lapras**: Lapras checks Kabutops in a similar way to Exeggutor, with the notable difference that it can generally switch in twice instead of once safely, and Thunderbolt is a guaranteed 2HKO as well as packing that also packs a 10% paralysis chance. It can also use Sing in similar circumstances to the already mentioned checks and counters. similarly to Gengar.

[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Sceptross, 123746]]
- Quality checked by: [[May, 236353]]
- Grammar checked by: [[Finland, 517429], [, ]]
 
Last edited:

Sabelette

from the river to the sea
is a Site Content Manageris a Community Contributoris a Top Contributoris a Forum Moderator Alumnus
Is this still meant to have an OU set being as it's on the VR (at D+)? If so I'm happy to help finish it up and implement the GP check to move it along, just let me know if it's okay to take over
 

Sabelette

from the river to the sea
is a Site Content Manageris a Community Contributoris a Top Contributoris a Forum Moderator Alumnus
Amaranth gave me permission to implement the GP check and get this finished up so here is the implemented check. Also I have no clue how credits work doing something like this, do I leave as is or add my name as a writer despite contributing very little to the actual body of the analysis?

GP Team this should be GP 1/2 so one more for upload!

[OVERVIEW]

Kabutops is a very dangerous Pokemon and among the best Swords Dance users in OU. First of all, its base 115 Attack stat is very respectable, and it sports the best high critical hit rate move in the game—Slash. While this may seem counterproductive for Swords Dance, since in RBY critical hits ignore stat boosts, it means Kabutops can pose an immediate threat without having to raise its Attack. Slash also gives it wallbreaking potential, mostly because critical hits also ignore Reflect. Because Kabutops can switch in on recovery moves such as Rest and Recover and immediately pose a threat, it commonly forces the opponent to switch in a Pokemon that lacks recovery, like Exeggutor or Tauros, to force it out. This means Kabutops will do permanent damage. Its typing grants it a valuable resistance to Normal and Ice. This means it can freely set up against Pokemon such as Cloyster, sometimes against Chansey without Thunderbolt (depending on circumstance, the threat of Thunder Wave may pose a problem) and on any variant of Snorlax not packing Earthquake—or the very rare Thunderbolt.

However, while Kabutops's typing is certainly one of its key assets, it also leaves it with very unfortunate weaknesses to Electric and Ground. This means it can't switch in as much as it would want against Rhydon despite its Surf and good Defense. Also, Kabutops is easy to force out with Thunderbolt users such as Jolteon, Zapdos, Gengar, Starmie, and Lapras—the first four outspeed it, and Lapras easily survives a +2 Hyper Beam. It gets worse: Kabutops can struggle to discourage them from switching in, giving them great momentum. Surf is weak enough against them to almost give a free switch. A Hyper Beam use can be punished by Gengar, while Swords Dance usually gives free entry to Thunderbolt users. Notice how every move besides Slash is fairly easy to punish—and Gengar even ignores that, countering Kabutops outright. Slash is still a great move and helps deter these threats, but again its critical hits ignore Swords Dance boosts. Therefore, if these threats can pressure Kabutops into using Slash often, they reduce its threat ceiling in practice. Also, Hyper Beam's 10.4% miss chance or Kabutops's 15.6% critical hit rate can just ruin its sweep, a likely scenario if Kabutops is expected to KO several Pokemon consecutively.

[SET]
name: Standard
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Slash
move 3: Hyper Beam
move 4: Surf

[SET COMMENTS]
Set Description
=========

This set makes Kabutops a very menacing threat in OU, although the reasons why may not be immediately apparent. While Slash does not benefit from Swords Dance boosts, it comes off of a very high 115 base Attack stat, which allows it to immediately threaten a paralyzed Alakazam or Chansey (and Starmie to a lesser extent), as well as Rest Snorlax. If the former two have full paralysis on a recovering turn, or Kabutops comes in on Rest from the latter, the opponent will be forced to switch them out, most likely to a Pokemon such as Exeggutor or Tauros, forcing them to take permanent damage. Remember that Slash is not a 3HKO on Snorlax, but Snorlax cannot just stall Kabutops with Rest because it is too easy to predict the Rest and use Swords Dance. Once Kabutops is at +2, two Slashes and a Hyper Beam KO Snorlax after Rest before it can attack, forcing Snorlax to switch or risk fainting. Even if Snorlax uses Reflect, it offers little protection because Kabutops has plenty of opportunities to boost to +4. Alternatively, Kabutops can fish for a critical hit with Surf while Snorlax is asleep—a viable strategy considering Kabutops's respectable critical hit rate.

The benefits of Slash don't end here, though. Slash with +2 Hyper Beam is enough to KO Zapdos and Tauros 100% of the time, as well as Exeggutor 95.4% of the time. If Chansey is at 88.6% health, Slash + Hyper Beam becomes a guaranteed KO. At 84.4%, Slash becomes a guaranteed 2HKO too, so a little bit of chip damage comes a long way in breaking through Chansey.

Kabutops also packs a big, big punch as a late-game sweeper. +4 Hyper Beam is a guaranteed KO on Exeggutor and anything more frail than it. With a bit of chip damage, +2 Hyper Beam OHKOes Starmie and Chansey. Kabutops is not very hard to find setup opportunities with, either: any sleeping Pokemon such as Rest Cloyster, Snorlax, or Jolteon (provided it comes in on the latter's Rest turn) will do, with sleep fodder your opponent is trying to sack, a Rhydon switching out fearing Surf, and an untimely full paralysis as other possible setup windows.

Kabutops also distinguishes itself from other setup sweepers because paralysis does not end its usability in the game. While its late-game sweeping abilities are hindered, its respectable Speed means it's still very capable of beating several Pokemon such as Chansey, Snorlax, Cloyster and paralyzed Alakazam, using Swords Dance to reapply the latter's paralysis Speed drop and outspeed it. Paralyzed Kabutops also still does significant damage with Slash to potential switch-ins.

Kabutops's typing plays a key role in the Tauros matchup, and typing is perhaps the main asset it has over Sandslash and Kingler.Kabutops's Rock typing means that Tauros will generally resort to Earthquake to beat it, or the much rarer Thunderbolt. Not only does Earthquake have a mere 2.2% chance to 2HKO, it will also never OHKO a full health Kabutops with a critical hit. Sandslash is always 2HKOed by Tauros's Blizzard and OHKOed if it's a critical hit, while Kingler taking on Tauros is likely to find itself paralyzed by a neutral Body Slam, severely hindering its ability to continue the sweep. Earthquake also comes without a freeze or paralysis chance, which gives Kabutops much better odds at late-game sweeping, and unboosted Kabutops can even beat Tauros one-on-one in some situations, usually winning if Tauros is damaged by Slash beforehand or switches in on it. Kabutops also has the most reliable way of disposing of Rhydon and Golem with Surf, since Kingler's Crabhammer has unreliable accuracy and Sandslash must be at +4 to always OHKO with Earthquake, at the expense of being worse against Gengar.

Lastly, Kabutops also has good synergy with Electric-types such as Zapdos. They can seriously threaten each other's counters, and most players will switch Rhydon in without second thought upon sight of Zapdos, allowing for a double switch to Kabutops and subsequent threat of a setup sweep.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

Body Slam can be used to paralyze switch-ins, potentially paralyzing a Pokemon such as Starmie or Exeggutor and thus facilitating a sweeper like Rhydon, but it is difficult to drop one of the listed moves. Dropping Surf means losing to Rhydon and not being able to damage Gengar at all. Dropping Slash makes Kabutops's job of wallbreaking much harder, with it unable to reliably get past Reflect Snorlax and Chansey or hit switch-ins hard, and dropping Swords Dance or Hyper Beam severely hinders its sweeping capabilities. Blizzard may also seem a good choice, but missing out on the OHKO on Rhydon is very detrimental, and Slash hits Exeggutor and Zapdos harder.

For a completely different approach, a more defensive set using Rest, Slash, Surf and either Reflect or Body Slam could be used. It makes use of Kabutops's key resistances to Normal and Ice, with Slash allowing it to not forfeit momentum. However, Reflect is generally only useful against Earthquake from Tauros and Snorlax, the former having a very high critical hit rate anyway and the latter often forgoing Earthquake for overall more useful moves, giving Reflect fringe utility at best. However, Body Slam is fringe too: it moves Kabutops away from purer defense towards a sort of offensive support role, a less unique role that other Pokemon such as Snorlax and Rhydon fulfill better. They don't need to sacrifice as much of their offensive presence—remember that this Kabutops set drops Swords Dance and Hyper Beam—to be physical walls or lure in and paralyze certain threats.

Checks and Counters
===================

**Gengar**: Gengar is undoubtedly the best Kabutops counter, since it can easily come in on any of Kabutops's moves and threaten it directly with Thunderbolt. It easily takes Kabutops down, even while paralyzed, since Surf is a 5HKO. If Sleep Clause is not in effect and no statused Pokemon can safely switch in, Gengar can also safely go for Hypnosis to punish the switch-in.

**Electric-types**: Zapdos outspeeds Kabutops and has a 61.5% chance to OHKO with Thunderbolt. If Zapdos is paralyzed, it's a check at best though, because Slash and +2 Hyper Beam is a guaranteed KO. Jolteon only has a 2.4% chance to OHKO with Thunderbolt, but its critical hit rate is very high and should be kept in mind. However, if Jolteon is paralyzed or asleep from Rest, it can no longer switch in either, because both Slash + Hyper Beam and +2 Hyper Beam are almost always a KO.

**Starmie**: Starmie is never OHKOed by Slash + Hyper Beam or +2 Hyper Beam, which means it can easily come in and threaten Kabutops with Thunder Wave, Thunderbolt, or to a lesser extent even Surf and Psychic. However, if it's paralyzed, it has to watch out.

**Exeggutor**: While Exeggutor needs Mega Drain to counter Kabutops, since it is almost always KOed by Slash and +2 Hyper Beam. Otherwise, sets without it can come in once and threaten with a status move—or even heavy damage with Psychic.

**Victreebel**: Razor Leaf OHKOes Kabutops, and Kabutops cannot realistically expect to KO Victreebel even if it switches in, since a +2 Hyper Beam only has a 1 in 39 chance to OHKO. Much like Gengar, it can somewhat safely go for Sleep Powder if circumstances allow for it.

**Lapras**: Lapras checks Kabutops in a similar way to Exeggutor, with the notable difference that it can generally switch in twice instead of once, and Thunderbolt is a guaranteed 2HKO that also packs a 10% paralysis chance. It can also use Sing similarly to Gengar.

[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Sceptross, 123746]]
- Quality checked by: [[May, 236353]]
- Grammar checked by: [[Adeleine, 517429], [, ]]
 

autumn

only i will remain
is a Site Content Manageris a Member of Senior Staffis a Community Contributoris a Tiering Contributoris a Top Contributoris a Social Media Contributor Alumnusis a Top Smogon Media Contributor Alumnusis an Administrator Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnus
C&C Leader
2/2 GP Team done
not sure who's implementing this so if any help is needed lmk
[OVERVIEW]

Kabutops is a very dangerous Pokemon and among the best Swords Dance users in OU. First of all, its base 115 Attack stat is very respectable, and it sports the best high critical hit rate move in the game—Slash. While this may seem counterproductive for Swords Dance, since in RBY critical hits ignore stat boosts, it means Kabutops can pose an immediate threat without having to raise its Attack. Slash also gives it wallbreaking potential, mostly because critical hits also ignore Reflect. Because Kabutops can switch in on recovery moves such as Rest and Recover and immediately pose a threat, it commonly forces the opponent to switch in a check Pokemon that lacks recovery, like Exeggutor or Tauros, to force it out. This means Kabutops will do permanent damage. Its typing grants it a valuable resistance to Normal and Ice. This means it can freely set up against Pokemon such as Cloyster, sometimes against Chansey without Thunderbolt (depending on circumstance, the threat of Thunder Wave may pose a problem) and on any variant of Snorlax not packing Earthquake—or the very rare Thunderbolt.

However, while Kabutops's typing is certainly one of its key assets, it also leaves it with very unfortunate weaknesses to Electric and Ground. This means it can't switch in as much as it would want against Rhydon despite its Surf and good Defense. Also, Kabutops is easy to force out with Thunderbolt users such as Jolteon, Zapdos, Gengar, Starmie, and Lapras—the first four outspeed it, and Lapras easily survives a +2 Hyper Beam. It gets worse: Kabutops can struggle to discourage them from switching in, giving them great momentum. Surf is weak enough against them to almost give a free switch. A Hyper Beam use can be punished by Gengar, while Swords Dance usually gives free entry to Thunderbolt users. Notice how Every move besides Slash is fairly easy to punish—and Gengar even ignores that, countering Kabutops outright. Slash is still a great move and helps deter these threats, but again its critical hits ignore Swords Dance boosts. Therefore, if these threats can pressure Kabutops into using Slash often, they reduce its threat ceiling in practice. Also, Hyper Beam's 10.4% miss chance or Kabutops's 15.6% critical hit rate can just ruin its sweep, a likely scenario if Kabutops is expected to KO several Pokemon consecutively.

[SET]
name: Standard
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Slash
move 3: Hyper Beam
move 4: Surf

[SET COMMENTS]
Set Description
=========

This set makes Kabutops a very menacing threat in OU, although the reasons why may not be immediately apparent. While Slash does not benefit from Swords Dance boosts, it comes off of a very high 115 base Attack stat, which allows it to immediately threaten a paralyzed Alakazam or Chansey (and Starmie to a lesser extent), as well as Rest Snorlax. If the former two have full paralysis on a recovering turn (RC) or Kabutops comes in on Rest from the latter, the opponent will be forced to switch them out, most likely to a Pokemon such as Exeggutor or Tauros, forcing them to take Tauros that takes permanent damage. Remember that Slash is not a 3HKO on Snorlax, but Snorlax cannot just stall Kabutops with Rest because it is too easy to predict the Rest and use Swords Dance. Once Kabutops is at +2, two Slashes and a Hyper Beam KO Snorlax after Rest before it can attack, forcing Snorlax to switch or risk fainting. Even if Snorlax uses Reflect, it offers little protection because Kabutops has plenty of opportunities to boost to +4. Alternatively, Kabutops can fish for a critical hit with Surf while Snorlax is asleep—a viable strategy considering Kabutops's respectable critical hit rate.

The benefits of Slash don't end here, though. Slash with +2 Hyper Beam is enough to KO Zapdos and Tauros 100% of the time, as well as Exeggutor 95.4% of the time. If Chansey is at 88.6% health, Slash + Hyper Beam becomes a guaranteed KO. At 84.4%, Slash becomes a guaranteed 2HKO too, so a little bit of chip damage comes a long way in breaking through Chansey.

Kabutops also packs a big, big punch as a late-game sweeper. +4 Hyper Beam is a guaranteed KO on Exeggutor and anything more frail than it. With a bit of chip damage, +2 Hyper Beam OHKOes Starmie and Chansey. Kabutops is not very hard to find setup opportunities with, either: any sleeping Pokemon such as Rest Cloyster, Snorlax, or Jolteon (provided it comes in on the latter's Rest turn) will do, with do. Sleep fodder your opponent is trying to sack, a Rhydon switching out fearing Surf, and an untimely full paralysis as are other possible setup windows.

Kabutops also distinguishes itself from other setup sweepers because paralysis does not end its usability in the game. While its late-game sweeping abilities are hindered, its respectable Speed means it's still very capable of beating several Pokemon such as Chansey, Snorlax, Cloyster, (AC) and paralyzed Alakazam, using Swords Dance to reapply the latter's paralysis Speed drop and outspeed it. Paralyzed Kabutops also still does significant damage with Slash to potential switch-ins.

Kabutops's typing plays a key role in the Tauros matchup, and typing is perhaps the main asset it has over Sandslash and Kingler. (space) Kabutops's Rock typing means that Tauros will generally resort to Earthquake to beat it, or the much rarer Thunderbolt. Not only does Earthquake have a mere 2.2% chance to 2HKO, it will also never OHKO a full health Kabutops with a critical hit. Sandslash is always 2HKOed by Tauros's Blizzard and OHKOed if it's a critical hit, while Kingler taking on Tauros is likely to find itself paralyzed by a neutral Body Slam, severely hindering its ability to continue the sweep. Earthquake also comes without a freeze or paralysis chance, which gives Kabutops much better odds at late-game sweeping. (period) and Unboosted Kabutops can even beat Tauros one-on-one in some situations, usually winning if Tauros is damaged by Slash beforehand or switches in on it. Kabutops also has the most reliable way of disposing of Rhydon and Golem with Surf, since Kingler's Crabhammer has unreliable accuracy, (AC) and Sandslash must be at +4 to always OHKO with Earthquake, at but this comes the expense of being worse against Gengar. (reworded so its clearer that youre talking about surf because i wasnt 100%)

Lastly, Kabutops also has good synergy with Electric-types such as Zapdos. They can seriously threaten each other's counters, and most players will switch Rhydon in without second thought upon sight of Zapdos, allowing for a double switch to Kabutops and subsequent threat of a setup sweep.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

Body Slam can be used to paralyze switch-ins, potentially paralyzing a Pokemon such as Starmie or Exeggutor and thus facilitating a sweeper like Rhydon, but it is difficult to drop one of the listed moves. Dropping Surf means losing to Rhydon and not being able to damage Gengar at all. Dropping Slash makes Kabutops's job of wallbreaking much harder, with it unable to reliably get past Reflect Snorlax and Chansey or hit switch-ins hard, and dropping Swords Dance or Hyper Beam severely hinders its sweeping capabilities. Blizzard may also seem a good choice, but missing out on the OHKO on Rhydon is very detrimental, and Slash hits Exeggutor and Zapdos harder.

For a completely different approach, a more defensive set using Rest, Slash, Surf, (AC) and either Reflect or Body Slam could be used. It makes use of Kabutops's key resistances to Normal and Ice, with Slash allowing it to not forfeit momentum. However, Reflect is generally only useful against Earthquake from Tauros and Snorlax, the former having a very high critical hit rate anyway and the latter often forgoing Earthquake for overall more useful moves, giving Reflect fringe utility at best. However, Body Slam is fringe too: it moves Kabutops away from purer defense towards a sort of offensive support role, a less unique role that other Pokemon such as Snorlax and Rhydon fulfill better. They don't need to sacrifice as much of their offensive presence—remember that this Kabutops set drops Swords Dance and Hyper Beam—to be physical walls or lure in and paralyze certain threats.

Checks and Counters
===================

**Gengar**: Gengar is undoubtedly the best Kabutops counter, since it can easily come in on any of Kabutops's moves and threaten it directly with Thunderbolt. It easily takes Kabutops down, even while paralyzed, since Surf is a 5HKO. If Sleep Clause is not in effect and no statused Pokemon can safely switch in, Gengar can also safely go for Hypnosis to punish the switch-in.

**Electric-types**: Zapdos outspeeds Kabutops and has a 61.5% chance to OHKO with Thunderbolt. If Zapdos is paralyzed, it's a check at best though, because Slash and +2 Hyper Beam is a guaranteed KO. Jolteon only has a 2.4% chance to OHKO with Thunderbolt, but its critical hit rate is very high and should be kept in mind. However, if Jolteon is paralyzed or asleep from Rest (is there a need to specify from rest vs from any other way?), it can no longer switch in either, because both Slash + Hyper Beam and +2 Hyper Beam are almost always a KO.

**Starmie**: Starmie is never OHKOed by Slash + Hyper Beam or +2 Hyper Beam, which means it can easily come in and threaten Kabutops with Thunder Wave, Thunderbolt, or to a lesser extent even Surf and Psychic. However, if it's paralyzed, it has to watch out.

**Exeggutor**: While Exeggutor needs Mega Drain to counter Kabutops, since it is almost always KOed by Slash and +2 Hyper Beam. Otherwise, sets without it can come in once and threaten with a status move—or even heavy damage with Psychic.

**Victreebel**: Razor Leaf OHKOes Kabutops, and Kabutops cannot realistically expect to KO Victreebel even if it switches in, since a +2 Hyper Beam only has a 1 in 39 chance to OHKO. Much like Gengar, it can somewhat safely go for Sleep Powder if circumstances allow for it.

**Lapras**: Lapras checks Kabutops in a similar way to Exeggutor, with the notable difference that it can generally switch in twice instead of once, and Thunderbolt is a guaranteed 2HKO that also packs a 10% paralysis chance. (keep if necessary but this is just dex info to me) It can also use Sing similarly to Gengar.

[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Sceptross, 123746]]
- Quality checked by: [[May, 236353]]
- Grammar checked by: [[Adeleine, 517429], [, ]]

learnt a lot bout mechanics reading this[/hide][/hide]
 

Sabelette

from the river to the sea
is a Site Content Manageris a Community Contributoris a Top Contributoris a Forum Moderator Alumnus
Hello yes I am implement Amaranth upload ready

[OVERVIEW]
Kabutops is a very dangerous Pokemon and among the best Swords Dance users in OU. First of all, its base 115 Attack stat is very respectable, and it sports the best high critical hit rate move in the game—Slash. While this may seem counterproductive for Swords Dance, since in RBY critical hits ignore stat boosts, it means Kabutops can pose an immediate threat without having to raise its Attack. Slash also gives it wallbreaking potential, mostly because critical hits also ignore Reflect. Because Kabutops can switch in on recovery moves such as Rest and Recover and immediately pose a threat, it commonly forces the opponent to switch in a check that lacks recovery, like Exeggutor or Tauros, to force it out. This means Kabutops will do permanent damage. Its typing grants it a valuable resistance to Normal and Ice. This means it can freely set up against Pokemon such as Cloyster, sometimes against Chansey without Thunderbolt (depending on circumstance, the threat of Thunder Wave may pose a problem) and on any variant of Snorlax not packing Earthquake—or the very rare Thunderbolt.

However, while Kabutops's typing is certainly one of its key assets, it also leaves it with very unfortunate weaknesses to Electric and Ground. This means it can't switch in as much as it would want against Rhydon despite its Surf and good Defense. Also, Kabutops is easy to force out with Thunderbolt users such as Jolteon, Zapdos, Gengar, Starmie, and Lapras—the first four outspeed it, and Lapras easily survives a +2 Hyper Beam. Kabutops can struggle to discourage them from switching in, giving them great momentum. Surf is weak enough against them to almost give a free switch. A Hyper Beam use can be punished by Gengar, while Swords Dance usually gives free entry to Thunderbolt users. Every move besides Slash is fairly easy to punish—and Gengar even ignores that, countering Kabutops outright. Slash is still a great move and helps deter these threats, but again its critical hits ignore Swords Dance boosts. Therefore, if these threats can pressure Kabutops into using Slash often, they reduce its threat ceiling in practice. Also, Hyper Beam's 10.4% miss chance or Kabutops's 15.6% critical hit rate can just ruin its sweep, a likely scenario if Kabutops is expected to KO several Pokemon consecutively.

[SET]
name: Standard
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Slash
move 3: Hyper Beam
move 4: Surf

[SET COMMENTS]
Set Description
=========

This set makes Kabutops a very menacing threat in OU, although the reasons why may not be immediately apparent. While Slash does not benefit from Swords Dance boosts, it comes off of a very high 115 base Attack stat, which allows it to immediately threaten a paralyzed Alakazam or Chansey (and Starmie to a lesser extent), as well as Rest Snorlax. If the former two have full paralysis on a recovering turn or Kabutops comes in on Rest from the latter, the opponent will be forced to switch them out, most likely to a Pokemon such as Exeggutor or Tauros that takes permanent damage. Slash is not a 3HKO on Snorlax, but Snorlax cannot just stall Kabutops with Rest because it is too easy to predict the Rest and use Swords Dance. Once Kabutops is at +2, two Slashes and a Hyper Beam KO Snorlax after Rest before it can attack, forcing Snorlax to switch or risk fainting. Even if Snorlax uses Reflect, it offers little protection because Kabutops has plenty of opportunities to boost to +4. Alternatively, Kabutops can fish for a critical hit with Surf while Snorlax is asleep—a viable strategy considering Kabutops's respectable critical hit rate.

The benefits of Slash don't end here, though. Slash with +2 Hyper Beam is enough to KO Zapdos and Tauros 100% of the time, as well as Exeggutor 95.4% of the time. If Chansey is at 88.6% health, Slash + Hyper Beam becomes a guaranteed KO. At 84.4%, Slash becomes a guaranteed 2HKO too, so a little bit of chip damage comes a long way in breaking through Chansey.

Kabutops also packs a big, big punch as a late-game sweeper. +4 Hyper Beam is a guaranteed KO on Exeggutor and anything more frail than it. With a bit of chip damage, +2 Hyper Beam KOes Starmie and Chansey. Kabutops is not very hard to find setup opportunities with, either: any sleeping Pokemon such as Rest Cloyster, Snorlax, or Jolteon (provided it comes in on the latter's Rest turn) will do. Sleep fodder your opponent is trying to sack, a Rhydon switching out fearing Surf, and an untimely full paralysis are other possible setup windows.

Kabutops also distinguishes itself from other setup sweepers because paralysis does not end its usability in the game. While its late-game sweeping abilities are hindered, its respectable Speed means it's still very capable of beating several Pokemon such as Chansey, Snorlax, Cloyster, and paralyzed Alakazam, using Swords Dance to reapply the latter's paralysis Speed drop and outspeed it. Paralyzed Kabutops also still does significant damage with Slash to potential switch-ins.

Kabutops's typing plays a key role in the Tauros matchup, and typing is perhaps the main asset it has over Sandslash and Kingler. Kabutops's Rock typing means that Tauros will generally resort to Earthquake to beat it, or the much rarer Thunderbolt. Not only does Earthquake have a mere 2.2% chance to 2HKO, it will also never OHKO a full health Kabutops with a critical hit. Sandslash is always 2HKOed by Tauros's Blizzard and OHKOed if it's a critical hit, while Kingler taking on Tauros is likely to find itself paralyzed by a neutral Body Slam, severely hindering its ability to continue the sweep. Earthquake also comes without a freeze or paralysis chance, which gives Kabutops much better odds at late-game sweeping. Unboosted Kabutops can even beat Tauros one-on-one in some situations, usually winning if Tauros is damaged by Slash beforehand or switches in on it. Kabutops also has the most reliable way of disposing of Rhydon and Golem with Surf, since Kingler's Crabhammer has unreliable accuracy, and Sandslash must be at +4 to always OHKO with Earthquake, but this comes the expense of being worse against Gengar.

Lastly, Kabutops also has good synergy with Electric-types such as Zapdos. They can seriously threaten each other's counters, and most players will switch Rhydon in without second thought upon sight of Zapdos, allowing for a double switch to Kabutops and subsequent threat of a setup sweep.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

Body Slam can be used to paralyze switch-ins, potentially paralyzing a Pokemon such as Starmie or Exeggutor and thus facilitating a sweeper like Rhydon, but it is difficult to drop one of the listed moves. Dropping Surf means losing to Rhydon and not being able to damage Gengar at all. Dropping Slash makes Kabutops's job of wallbreaking much harder, with it unable to reliably get past Reflect Snorlax and Chansey or hit switch-ins hard, and dropping Swords Dance or Hyper Beam severely hinders its sweeping capabilities. Blizzard may also seem a good choice, but missing out on the OHKO on Rhydon is very detrimental, and Slash hits Exeggutor and Zapdos harder.

For a completely different approach, a more defensive set using Rest, Slash, Surf, and either Reflect or Body Slam could be used. It makes use of Kabutops's key resistances to Normal and Ice, with Slash allowing it to not forfeit momentum. However, Reflect is generally only useful against Earthquake from Tauros and Snorlax, the former having a very high critical hit rate anyway and the latter often forgoing Earthquake for overall more useful moves, giving Reflect fringe utility at best. However, Body Slam is fringe too: it moves Kabutops away from purer defense towards a sort of offensive support role, a less unique role that other Pokemon such as Snorlax and Rhydon fulfill better. They don't need to sacrifice as much of their offensive presence—remember that this Kabutops set drops Swords Dance and Hyper Beam—to be physical walls or lure in and paralyze certain threats.

Checks and Counters
===================

**Gengar**: Gengar is undoubtedly the best Kabutops counter, since it can easily come in on any of Kabutops's moves and threaten it directly with Thunderbolt. It easily takes Kabutops down, even while paralyzed, since Surf is a 5HKO. If Sleep Clause is not in effect and no statused Pokemon can safely switch in, Gengar can also safely go for Hypnosis to punish the switch-in.

**Electric-types**: Zapdos outspeeds Kabutops and has a 61.5% chance to OHKO with Thunderbolt. If Zapdos is paralyzed, it's a check at best though, because Slash and +2 Hyper Beam is a guaranteed KO. Jolteon only has a 2.4% chance to OHKO with Thunderbolt, but its critical hit rate is very high and should be kept in mind. However, if Jolteon is paralyzed or asleep from Rest, it can no longer switch in either, because both Slash + Hyper Beam and +2 Hyper Beam are almost always a KO.

**Starmie**: Starmie is never OHKOed by Slash + Hyper Beam or +2 Hyper Beam, which means it can easily come in and threaten Kabutops with Thunder Wave, Thunderbolt, or to a lesser extent even Surf and Psychic. However, if it's paralyzed, it has to watch out.

**Exeggutor**: Exeggutor needs Mega Drain to counter Kabutops, since it is almost always KOed by Slash and +2 Hyper Beam. Otherwise, sets without it can come in once and threaten with a status move—or even heavy damage with Psychic.

**Victreebel**: Razor Leaf OHKOes Kabutops, and Kabutops cannot realistically expect to KO Victreebel even if it switches in, since a +2 Hyper Beam only has a 1 in 39 chance to OHKO. Much like Gengar, it can somewhat safely go for Sleep Powder if circumstances allow for it.

**Lapras**: Lapras checks Kabutops in a similar way to Exeggutor, with the notable difference that it can generally switch in twice instead of once, and Thunderbolt is a guaranteed 2HKO. It can also use Sing similarly to Gengar.

[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Sceptross, 123746]]
- Quality checked by: [[May, 236353]]
- Grammar checked by: [[Adeleine, 517429], [autumn, 384270]]
 
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