Overview
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Samurott is easily one of the strongest and most effective wallbreakers in the metagame. With amazing coverage as well as extremely high attacking stats, very little can switch into Samurott consistently and safely. It also has a rather large movepool, making it somewhat of an unpredictable and versatile pokemon. This said, Samurott does suffer in only have a base 70 speed, which is rather poor in NU and results in its reliance on Aqua Jet to match up to fast paced offensive teams, but it does have decent bulk to somewhat mitigate this. Despite this, Samurott is still one of the best wallbreakers and sweepers in NU, and has a large large amount of good traits that far outshine its flaws.
All-Out Attacker
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name: All-Out Attacker
move 1: Hydro Pump
move 2: Ice Beam
move 3: Grass Knot
move 4: Taunt / Aqua Jet / Megahorn / Knock Off
ability: Torrent
item: Life Orb
evs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spd
nature: Modest / Rash
Moves
========
Hydro Pump is the strongest STAB move that Samurott has access to, and it is capable of 2HKOing the majority of pokemon that do not resist it. This power is further pushed if Samurott has torrent under its belt. Ice Beam hits grass and dragon types such as Vileplume or Dragalge who otherwise resist its STAB hard. Grass Knot rounds off its coverage, allowing Samurott to beat opposing water types such as Seismitoad or other Samurott, giving it full neutral coverage on the entire tier. The last move is primarily filler, but Samurott most viably can run Taunt or Aqua Jet. The first allows it to easily beat most stall teams alone, while Aqua Jet allows Samurott to bypass its speed issue and not be deadweight against offensive teams. However, Megahorn or Knock Off can be used if you want extra coverage to hit the likes of Jynx and Ludicolo, or to cripple switchins.
Set Details
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Usage Tips
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Team Options
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Swords Dance
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name: Swords Dance
move 1: Waterfall
move 2: Aqua Jet
move 3: Knock Off / Megahorn
move 4: Swords Dance
ability: Torrent
item: Lum Berry / Mystic Water
evs: 120 HP / 252 Atk / 136 Spd
nature: Adamant
Moves
========
Set Details
========
Usage Tips
========
Team Options
========
Other Options
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Checks & Counters
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Samurott is easily one of the strongest and most effective wallbreakers in the metagame. With amazing coverage as well as extremely high attacking stats, very little can switch into Samurott consistently and safely. It also has a rather large movepool, making it somewhat of an unpredictable and versatile pokemon. This said, Samurott does suffer in only have a base 70 speed, which is rather poor in NU and results in its reliance on Aqua Jet to match up to fast paced offensive teams, but it does have decent bulk to somewhat mitigate this. Despite this, Samurott is still one of the best wallbreakers and sweepers in NU, and has a large large amount of good traits that far outshine its flaws.
All-Out Attacker
########
name: All-Out Attacker
move 1: Hydro Pump
move 2: Ice Beam
move 3: Grass Knot
move 4: Taunt / Aqua Jet / Megahorn / Knock Off
ability: Torrent
item: Life Orb
evs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spd
nature: Modest / Rash
Moves
========
Hydro Pump is the strongest STAB move that Samurott has access to, and it is capable of 2HKOing the majority of pokemon that do not resist it. This power is further pushed if Samurott has torrent under its belt. Ice Beam hits grass and dragon types such as Vileplume or Dragalge who otherwise resist its STAB hard. Grass Knot rounds off its coverage, allowing Samurott to beat opposing water types such as Seismitoad or other Samurott, giving it full neutral coverage on the entire tier. The last move is primarily filler, but Samurott most viably can run Taunt or Aqua Jet. The first allows it to easily beat most stall teams alone, while Aqua Jet allows Samurott to bypass its speed issue and not be deadweight against offensive teams. However, Megahorn or Knock Off can be used if you want extra coverage to hit the likes of Jynx and Ludicolo, or to cripple switchins.
Set Details
========
- Life Orb gives Samurott the immediate power needed for this set to more easily get past common walls in the tier.
- Rash / Modest is chosen over a speed boosting nature as it really on jumps few pokemon with Naive / Timid, none of which are super relevant.
- Torrent gives Samurott the opportunity to fire off a STAB Hydro Pump under 30% that easily 2HKO's any pokemon which does not resist it, and can be rewarding to have when under 30%, as it significantly increases Samurott's power
- Max Speed and Max Special Attack are used to hit as hard and as much as possible.
Usage Tips
========
- Extremely powerful with little that can wall it. Bring it in constantly on slower pokemon or pokemon that are unable to kill it in order to grab free hits to wear down the opponent for teammates.
- If equipped with Aqua Jet, Samurott can be brought in on weaker sweepers to help tackle them once they are worn down.
- Samurott forces many switches against offensive and defensive teams alike, so being able to predict switches well is highly effective with Samurott, especially being able to take advantage of amazing coverage options.
Team Options
========
- Sticky Web users such as Kricketune and Leavanny make for great partners, as they are able to set up sticky web to mitigate Samurott's sub-par speed, while Samurott's constant offensive pressure prevents opponents from being able to spin or defog safely without risking a kill.
- Setup sweepers such as Belly Drum Slurpuff and Shift Gear Klinklang work well with Samurott, as it pressures their checks and counters greatly.
- Other hazard users such as Crustle or Rhydon are also incredibly useful paired with this set, as it allows Samurott to pressure opponents even more.
Swords Dance
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name: Swords Dance
move 1: Waterfall
move 2: Aqua Jet
move 3: Knock Off / Megahorn
move 4: Swords Dance
ability: Torrent
item: Lum Berry / Mystic Water
evs: 120 HP / 252 Atk / 136 Spd
nature: Adamant
Moves
========
- Waterfall is the primary STAB move, giving Samurott a reliable and strong attack while also having a nice flinch rate.
- Aqua Jet gives Samurott a strong priority attack, letting it outspeed and kill common revenge killers such as Rotom with a little bit of prior damage.
- Knock Off and Megahorn offer Samurott good coverage. Knock Off helps Samurott cripple switch ins and Knock Off useful items such as Leftovers while covering Grass and Water types that resist Waterfall. Megahorn is stronger than Knock Off and boasts SE on grass types, but is less accurate than Knock Off.
- Swords Dance enables Samurott to sweep, boosting Samurott's attack so that it easily tears teams apart.
Set Details
========
- Has competition from Feraligatr, but access to Knock Off and Megahorn over the inferior Return and Ice Punch sets it apart, giving it better Neutral Coverage than Feraligatr.
- Samurott is assumed to be a special attacker, so its more surprising and often will catch opponents off guard. This element of surprise again differentiates it from its water type brethren.
- Lum Berry helps Samurott set up more easily against pokemon who need to use status to deter its setup such as Probopass, while Mystic Water helps to boost the power of Samurott's primary attacks while not wearing it down as a Life Orb would.
- The EV spread allows Samurott to outspeed max speed Exeggutor, Golurk, as well as other base 55 mons and maximizes Samurott's attack to hit as hard as possible. Adamant is chosen for raw power.
Usage Tips
========
- Swords Dance on a pokemon that cannot really do much to Samurott, particularly if their only attack is resisted or incredibly weak and they must rely on status, which Lum Berry beats.
- Use early game to smash walls for other physical sweepers, setting up a SD and easily punching through most defensive pokemon at +2 or +3. Can also be used early without setup to cripple opponents with Knock Off or revenge kill sweepers with a powerful Aqua Jet.
- Use late game as a cleaning pokemon and a rather effective sweeper, as once it sets up it can fire off powerful priority Aqua Jets and easily sweep a weakened team.
Team Options
========
- Swords Dance Samurott especially appreciates hazards, as they make it significantly more easy to KO opponents, especially with Aqua Jet to clean. As a result, Crustle, Omastar, Accelgor, and other hazard setters make for great partners, helping to wear down opponents for Samurott to sweep.
- Samurott has a difficult time KO'ing fast grass types such as Lilligant, as they easily tank a Aqua Jet and can outspeed to kill Samurott, so fire and flying types such as Typhlosion and Swellow, help to ease this issue, while having amazing offensive synergy with Samurott anyways.
- Samurott has an easy time punching through and wearing down defensive teams, so pairing it with a similar setup sweeper such as SD Gatr, QD Lilligant, or SG Klinklang can overwhelm an opponent and can break down each others checks / counters.
Other Options
########
- Naive / Timid can be used over Rash / Modest on All-Out Attacker if you wish to speed tie other base 70 pokemon such as Ludicolo, Victreebel, and Mightyena, but some KOs are missed.
- Hidden Power [Fire] can be used on All-Out Attacker to bait in and hit Ferroseed, although it generally makes Samurott suffer 4MSS and is inferior to other tools it has. Hidden Power [Electric] on the other hand can be utilized to tackle Mantine, which is also a check to the set.
- Substitute can be used over Aqua Jet / Taunt on All-Out Attacker with Leftovers to ease predictions and avoid status, but this set has much less immediate power. If Leftovers are not used, Samurott is worn down extremely quickly.
- Knock Off can be run over Aqua Jet / Taunt on All-Out Attacker, as it cripples defensive walls such as Ferroseed or Sliggoo, and makes it so that they no longer can wall Samurott.
- Razor Shell or Aqua Tail can be attempted over Waterfall on Swords Dance, as one offers a nice defense dropping rate to cripple switchins and prevent anything from walling Samurott and the other higher power. However, the loss of Accuracy and a Flinch Rate is really difficult, and makes those less reliable options as STAB moves.
- Superpower is an option over Taunt / Aqua Jet / Megahorn on All-Out-Attacker in order to get around Lickilicky and Audino giving it free reign to spam Hydro Pump.
- Dragon Tail can be used over Taunt / Aqua Jet / Megahorn on All-Out-Attacker to rack up hazards damage as well as prevent setup.
- Hidden Power [Grass] can be used over Grass Knot on All-Out Attacker to hit extremely light water types, but typically it will do less damage.
- Encore over Taunt / Aqua Jet / Megahorn on All-Out Attacker could wield Samurott more attacking turns by locking opponents into moves.
Checks & Counters
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- Extremely bulky normal types such as Lickilicky and Audino
- Fast grass types such as Lilligant and Sceptile
- Fast electric types which can tank a Aqua Jet such as Electivire and Rotom
- Overly bulky Eviolite users such as Munchlax and Sliggoo
- Physically bulky water types such as Pelipper and Seismitoad
- Defensive grass types such as Vileplume and Ferroseed
ROTTER>>
Overview
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- Extremely powerful
- Decent bulk
- Amazing neutral coverage
- Strong priority
- Unpredictable moveset
- 70 Speed is not fast for NU, and as a result it is reliant on Aqua Jet to be effective on faster offensive teams
All-Out Attacker
########
name: All-Out Attacker
move 1: Hydro Pump
move 2: Ice Beam
move 3: Grass Knot
move 4: Taunt / Aqua Jet / Megahorn / Knock Off
ability: Torrent
item: Life Orb
evs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spd
nature: Modest / Rash
Moves
========
- Hydro Pump is an incredibly powerful STAB that easily 2HKO's most unresisted pokemon in the tier, especially if it has Torrent
- Ice Beam hits most grass types and gives Samurott incredible neutral coverage on the tier.
- Grass Knot is stronger than HP Grass against many of the tier's common water types, and gives Samurott coverage on the likes of Seismitoad.
- Aqua Jet lets Samurott outpace faster threats and revenge kill frail sweepers when low. Taunt gives Samurott utility as a stallbreaker, preventing hazards and recovery while firing off powerful attacks. Megahorn is a good option to tackle the likes of Jynx and Ludicolo, who can otherwise beat or setup on this set. Finally, Knock Off can be used to easily cripple switch ins, and makes for a good filler that still does decent damage.
Set Details
========
- Life Orb gives Samurott the immediate power needed for this set to more easily get past common walls in the tier.
- Rash / Modest is chosen over a speed boosting nature as it really on jumps few pokemon with Naive / Timid, none of which are super relevant.
- Torrent gives Samurott the opportunity to fire off a STAB Hydro Pump under 30% that easily 2HKO's any pokemon which does not resist it, and can be rewarding to have when under 30%, as it significantly increases Samurott's power
- Max Speed and Max Special Attack are used to hit as hard and as much as possible.
Usage Tips
========
- Extremely powerful with little that can wall it. Bring it in constantly on slower pokemon or pokemon that are unable to kill it in order to grab free hits to wear down the opponent for teammates.
- If equipped with Aqua Jet, Samurott can be brought in on weaker sweepers to help tackle them once they are worn down.
- Samurott forces many switches against offensive and defensive teams alike, so being able to predict switches well is highly effective with Samurott, especially being able to take advantage of amazing coverage options.
Team Options
========
- Sticky Web users such as Kricketune and Leavanny make for great partners, as they are able to set up sticky web to mitigate Samurott's sub-par speed, while Samurott's constant offensive pressure prevents opponents from being able to spin or defog safely without risking a kill.
- Setup sweepers such as Belly Drum Slurpuff and Shift Gear Klinklang work well with Samurott, as it pressures their checks and counters greatly.
- Other hazard users such as Crustle or Rhydon are also incredibly useful paired with this set, as it allows Samurott to pressure opponents even more.
Swords Dance
########
name: Swords Dance
move 1: Waterfall
move 2: Aqua Jet
move 3: Knock Off / Megahorn
move 4: Swords Dance
ability: Torrent
item: Lum Berry / Mystic Water
evs: 120 HP / 252 Atk / 136 Spd
nature: Adamant
Moves
========
- Waterfall is the primary STAB move, giving Samurott a reliable and strong attack while also having a nice flinch rate.
- Aqua Jet gives Samurott a strong priority attack, letting it outspeed and kill common revenge killers such as Rotom with a little bit of prior damage.
- Knock Off and Megahorn offer Samurott good coverage. Knock Off helps Samurott cripple switch ins and Knock Off useful items such as Leftovers while covering Grass and Water types that resist Waterfall. Megahorn is stronger than Knock Off and boasts SE on grass types, but is less accurate than Knock Off.
- Swords Dance enables Samurott to sweep, boosting Samurott's attack so that it easily tears teams apart.
Set Details
========
- Has competition from Feraligatr, but access to Knock Off and Megahorn over the inferior Return and Ice Punch sets it apart, giving it better Neutral Coverage than Feraligatr.
- Samurott is assumed to be a special attacker, so its more surprising and often will catch opponents off guard. This element of surprise again differentiates it from its water type brethren.
- Lum Berry helps Samurott set up more easily against pokemon who need to use status to deter its setup such as Probopass, while Mystic Water helps to boost the power of Samurott's primary attacks while not wearing it down as a Life Orb would.
- The EV spread allows Samurott to outspeed max speed Exeggutor, Golurk, as well as other base 55 mons and maximizes Samurott's attack to hit as hard as possible. Adamant is chosen for raw power.
Usage Tips
========
- Swords Dance on a pokemon that cannot really do much to Samurott, particularly if their only attack is resisted or incredibly weak and they must rely on status, which Lum Berry beats.
- Use early game to smash walls for other physical sweepers, setting up a SD and easily punching through most defensive pokemon at +2 or +3. Can also be used early without setup to cripple opponents with Knock Off or revenge kill sweepers with a powerful Aqua Jet.
- Use late game as a cleaning pokemon and a rather effective sweeper, as once it sets up it can fire off powerful priority Aqua Jets and easily sweep a weakened team.
Team Options
========
- Swords Dance Samurott especially appreciates hazards, as they make it significantly more easy to KO opponents, especially with Aqua Jet to clean. As a result, Crustle, Omastar, Accelgor, and other hazard setters make for great partners, helping to wear down opponents for Samurott to sweep.
- Samurott has a difficult time KO'ing fast grass types such as Lilligant, as they easily tank a Aqua Jet and can outspeed to kill Samurott, so fire and flying types such as Typhlosion and Swellow, help to ease this issue, while having amazing offensive synergy with Samurott anyways.
- Samurott has an easy time punching through and wearing down defensive teams, so pairing it with a similar setup sweeper such as SD Gatr, QD Lilligant, or SG Klinklang can overwhelm an opponent and can break down each others checks / counters.
Other Options
########
- Naive / Timid can be used over Rash / Modest on All-Out Attacker if you wish to speed tie other base 70 pokemon such as Ludicolo, Victreebel, and Mightyena, but some KOs are missed.
- Hidden Power [Fire] can be used on All-Out Attacker to bait in and hit Ferroseed, although it generally makes Samurott suffer 4MSS and is inferior to other tools it has. Hidden Power [Electric] on the other hand can be utilized to tackle Mantine, which is also a check to the set.
- Substitute can be used over Aqua Jet / Taunt on All-Out Attacker with Leftovers to ease predictions and avoid status, but this set has much less immediate power. If Leftovers are not used, Samurott is worn down extremely quickly.
- Knock Off can be run over Aqua Jet / Taunt on All-Out Attacker, as it cripples defensive walls such as Ferroseed or Sliggoo, and makes it so that they no longer can wall Samurott.
- Razor Shell or Aqua Tail can be attempted over Waterfall on Swords Dance, as one offers a nice defense dropping rate to cripple switchins and prevent anything from walling Samurott and the other higher power. However, the loss of Accuracy and a Flinch Rate is really difficult, and makes those less reliable options as STAB moves.
- Superpower is an option over Taunt / Aqua Jet / Megahorn on All-Out-Attacker in order to get around Lickilicky and Audino giving it free reign to spam Hydro Pump.
- Dragon Tail can be used over Taunt / Aqua Jet / Megahorn on All-Out-Attacker to rack up hazards damage as well as prevent setup.
- Hidden Power [Grass] can be used over Grass Knot on All-Out Attacker to hit extremely light water types, but typically it will do less damage.
- Encore over Taunt / Aqua Jet / Megahorn on All-Out Attacker could wield Samurott more attacking turns by locking opponents into moves.
Checks & Counters
########
- Extremely bulky normal types such as Lickilicky and Audino
- Fast grass types such as Lilligant and Sceptile
- Fast electric types which can tank a Aqua Jet such as Electivire and Rotom
- Overly bulky Eviolite users such as Munchlax and Sliggoo
- Physically bulky water types such as Pelipper and Seismitoad
- Defensive grass types such as Vileplume and Ferroseed
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