BBL PoTW #5 Blastoise

[BadAssKoala]

BBL PoTW #5 Blastoise

So this week I decided to do my favorite pokemon! This is one I'm sure is close to many of our hearts. What does Blastoise bring to the table I'm gen six? Well let's find out!

In Depth Look

Blastoise
Type: Water
Abilities: Torrent, Rain Dish,
Stats: 79/83/100/85/105/78

Mega-Blastoise
Type: Water
Abilities: Mega Launcher
Stats: 79/103/120/135/115/78

Sets

Blastoise is one of OUs best offensive rapid spinners. His bulkiness and offensive presence our impressive, but his typing does limit team building a bit. Let's look at some sets that make the most of this guy.

Utility

Blastoise@ Leftovers
Rain Dish/Torrent
Bold/Relaxed
252 HP, 252 Def, 4 SpD

Rapid Spin
Scald
Roar/Dragon Tail
Foresight/Toxic

The purpose of this set is to support teams by clearing entry hazards from your side of the field. As such, Rapid Spin is the crucial move of the set. Scald's burn chance wears down Ghost-types that try to block Rapid Spin, as well as cripples Pokemon that may try to set up. The burn chance makes physical attackers afraid of Blastoise and allows it to check them while it has most of its HP. Roar weakens potential switch-ins that would threaten Blastoise, such as Roserade and Raikou, by forcing them to take repeated hazard damage. Roar also prevents Blastoise from being setup bait and allows it to check Substitute boosting sweepers, most notably Substitute + Dragon Dance Kingdra. Dragon Tail is an alternative to Roar that hits Wonder Skin Venomoth more accurately and does more damage to switch-ins. However, Dragon Tail can miss and it often cannot break the opponent's Substitutes. Foresight is very useful in allowing Blastoise to Rapid Spin immediately against bulky Ghost-types, such as Cofagrigus and Dusclops, which would take many turns to KO. Toxic may be used to cripple these bulky Ghost-types, as the badly poisoned status condition ruins Pokemon intended to stay in battle many turns.

The Tank

Blastoise@ Blastoisinite
Rain Dish/Torrent => Mega Launcher
Modest
252 HP, 252 SpA, 4 SpD

Rapid Spin/Dragon Pulse
Water Pulse/Hydro Pump
Dark Pulse
Aura Sphere/Ice Beam

So this is the reason why Blastoise is where he's at today. M-Blastoise is a valuable addition to balanced teams. It can be a rapid spinner or a bulky sweeper. Rapid spin is by far the draw of Blastoise but it can be replaced with Dragon Pulse to surprise you opponent. Dragon Pulse hits Dragonite and Garchomp hard with its boost from mega launcher. The next move can either be took by water pulse or hydro pump which really depends on what team your running him on. Water pulse is reliable and hits hard it's best used on a normal team where Blastoise isn't getting rain support. On the other hand Hydro Pump can do massive damage in the rain and i'd recommend it if your running a rain team. Dark pulse is great if your running a rapid spinning Blastoise it can devastate ghost switch ins hoping to block your spin. The next move slot also depends on the team. Aura sphere can be used to wreck many OU staples right now such as Bisharp, Tyranitar, and Crawdaunt. While ice beam can also be used to help Blastoise with the grass and dragons that threaten to wall it.

Rain Tank

Blastoise@ Leftovers
Rain Dish
Bold
252 HP, 252 Def, 4 SpA

Water Spout
Ice Beam
Aura Sphere/Substitute
Toxic/Yawn

This set is great in the rain! Blastoise becomes a major player as a stalling tank under the right circumstances. Due to his staying power and good defense Blastoise hits hard with Water Spout. It'll hit anything that doesn't resist it for massive damage in the rain. Ice Beam is primarily there to keep the grass and dragon types at bay and keep your Blastoise in the fight. Aura sphere brings down many pokemon commonly used in the meta but it can be replaced with substitute to help your Blastoise to stick around. The final moveset is all about stall with this you can either poison your enemies till they succumb to the toxin, or yawn them to sleep and either attack or force them out.

Blastoise As A Team Player

Blastoise is primarily for balanced teams that need a spinner or rain teams. Due to the fact that he's outclassed by Avalug, Tentacreul, and Forretress as a rapid spinner I bet we'll see more use as a tank or late game sweeper this gen. Blastoise loves the rain so slapping him on a rain team as part of a defensive core is a good move, but he could work just as well as a late game sweeper. In the end while Blastoise does limit team building in some situations he is a valuable team mate in many teams.
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Thank you all for reading another analysis! I'd be happy to hear any thoughts you might have down below.
Don't forget to check out the BBL if you haven't already! We have a Mentorship program for those who are new to battling and for the more experienced players we have the gym challenge. We'll be closing this season soon so make sure to keep an eye out for season 1!
As always happy battles. -
-BAK

 

[AnybodyAgrees]

For all you gym challengers out there, my Blastoise is the second set, with Dragon Pulse over Aura Sphere.

 

[Apawn:p]

Wow,
Would I be able to make a bbl discussion

 

[UB-01 Kenobi]

Wow,
Would I be able to make a bbl discussion

The discussions are written and posted only by Gym Leaders, but feel free to post and contribute your own ideas and sets to the ones that come up each week.

 

[Stardust_Trainer]

For all you gym challengers out there, my Blastoise is the second set, with Dragon Pulse over Aura Sphere.

If your a challenger, reading this, he's not kidding. Beware.

On topic though, regarding that set, wouldn't it be better for:

Water Pulse/Hydro Pump
Rapid Spin/ Ice Beam
Dark Pulse
Aura Sphere

Basically isn't Ice Beam far superior to Dragon Pulse, coverage-wise? I know its gets the Mega Launcher boost but its only really going to do something to Dragons. Ice is only really resisted by Water, Steel, Fire and Ice itself. And the last three types that resist it you already have moves for. Not to mention Dragon Pulse is now resisted by Fairies and not having Ice Beam for Togekiss could be disadvantageous?

 

[BadAssKoala]

Outside of Fairy, Steel, and Ice dragon pulse hits hard. Dragons are still used very much in the meta right now, and I doubt we'll see a drop in usage. I only really said Dragon pulse for a quad attacking Blastoise. The M-Blastoise set I run is

Rapid Spin
Water Pulse
Dark Pulse
Ice Beam

Simply for the reasons you stated. I only put aura sphere and Dragon pulse there as options.

 

[UB-01 Kenobi]

I would agree that Ice Beam is better than Dragon Pulse. D-Pulse, with Mega Launcher, hits 127 BP, 154 SE. Water Pulse gets 135 and Hydro Pump gets 165, making them better for neutral hits. Meanwhile Ice Beam hits 360 on Dragonite, Garchomp, Noivern, and Salamence, while Aura Sphere nails Hydreigon. Dragon Pulse really isn't that useful as a coverage move.

 

[BadAssKoala]

I was only putting it there for options. I agree though ice beam is better.

 

[UB-01 Kenobi]

I was only putting it there for options. I agree though ice beam is better.

Oh yeah it's great for hitting opposing Waters and stuff but in general Ice Beam is better and DPulse is more niche and should only be used on specific teams.

 

[AnybodyAgrees]

I put Dragon pulse there because Dragons wall the set otherwise and it's just useful in general having a 127 BP move with great neutral coverage.
BTW anyone who suggests not using Dark Pulse is not using Blastoise correctly. It's a great spinner as it has great bulk and Dark Pulse reliably OHKOs almost every spinblocker.

 

[UB-01 Kenobi]

Yeah Water STAB + Dark Pulse +Rapid Spin are the musts I'd say, but I'd rank the coverage moves Aura Sphere>Ice Beam>Dragon Pulse just because Dark + Fighting gets perfect neutral coverage aside from Fairies which obviously are hit neutrally by Water (except for Azumarill and Whimsicott)

 

[DCM]

Probably one of the best rapid spinners of this generation. My only problem with using him is he's sort of a waste of a mega slot. Right now there's a lot of really viable megas, and although he does wonderfully as a utility pokemon, I'm not quite convinced he's worth my mega slot. Could anyone try to convince me he's better than a defog user who doesn't take up a mega slot?

 

[UB-01 Kenobi]

Probably one of the best rapid spinners of this generation. My only problem with using him is he's sort of a waste of a mega slot. Right now there's a lot of really viable megas, and although he does wonderfully as a utility pokemon, I'm not quite convinced he's worth my mega slot. Could anyone try to convince me he's better than a defog user who doesn't take up a mega slot?

In UU he's a monster in his own right, but in OU he's simple outclassed as a Specially Offensive Mega by Alakazam, CharY, etc. You'd use him if either you desperately need a bulky Water type and a spinner or if Excadri/Mandibuzz/Latias/whatever simply does not work on your team.

 

[DCM]

Probably one of the best rapid spinners of this generation. My only problem with using him is he's sort of a waste of a mega slot. Right now there's a lot of really viable megas, and although he does wonderfully as a utility pokemon, I'm not quite convinced he's worth my mega slot. Could anyone try to convince me he's better than a defog user who doesn't take up a mega slot?

In UU he's a monster in his own right, but in OU he's simple outclassed as a Specially Offensive Mega by Alakazam, CharY, etc. You'd use him if either you desperately need a bulky Water type and a spinner or if Excadri/Mandibuzz/Latias/whatever simply does not work on your team.

I don't know, I'd rather have Medicham or Gardevoir in my mega slot. I just wish he had a better form of recovery and a better health stat, I feel like he'd get more use that way. Although that's getting into theorymonning. Still, a great pokemon if you're willing to build around him.

 

[UB-01 Kenobi]

Trades power for bulk and coverage, his effective-STAB Aura Sphere and Dark Pulse are more powerful than Focus Blast, Shadow Ball, etc so he is better at wall breaking as he is more likely to be able to hit switch-ins hard while MGarde is walled by Specially bulky Steels like Magnezone and AV Metagross while Medicham is easy to revenge kill since it's so frail, not the fastest, and it's best priority is straight 40, no STAB no Technician no Adaptability. Yes they are better offensively but they don't completely outclass MBlastoise like MCharizard Y or whatever (heck MCharY can even run Defog if you just want to give MBlastoise a big middle finger and steal his niche completely xD)

 

[BadAssKoala]

Probably one of the best rapid spinners of this generation. My only problem with using him is he's sort of a waste of a mega slot. Right now there's a lot of really viable megas, and although he does wonderfully as a utility pokemon, I'm not quite convinced he's worth my mega slot. Could anyone try to convince me he's better than a defog user who doesn't take up a mega slot?

There's really no reason to convince you to use him. I use one on a team because I love Blastoise, but at the end of the day m-Blastoise is one of the more mediocre megas. I use mine as a late game special sweeper. With his mega launcher boosts he can hit several prominently used pokemon hard. If you just want a spinner use normal Blastoise. That way it doesn't take your mega slot, and you still have one of the best utility spinners in UU.

 

[DCM]

Probably one of the best rapid spinners of this generation. My only problem with using him is he's sort of a waste of a mega slot. Right now there's a lot of really viable megas, and although he does wonderfully as a utility pokemon, I'm not quite convinced he's worth my mega slot. Could anyone try to convince me he's better than a defog user who doesn't take up a mega slot?

There's really no reason to convince you to use him. I use one on a team because I love Blastoise, but at the end of the day m-Blastoise is one of the more mediocre megas. I use mine as a late game special sweeper. With his mega launcher boosts he can hit several prominently used pokemon hard. If you just want a spinner use normal Blastoise. That way it doesn't take your mega slot, and you still have one of the best utility spinners in UU.

I respect your honesty, man. I dig blastoise on a not meta level myself too.