Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Torkoal: Because... Fuck Scizor!



Torkoal, with a ridiculously high 140 Base Defense, is basically the only all-purpose switch-in to the universally-hated Scizor. It has the ability to come in on any attack from Scizor, taking pitiful amounts of damage, and threaten it with a special Fire-type attack in the form of STAB Lava Plume. The perk of using Lava Plume over Flamethrower or Fire Blast is the 30% chance to burn incoming Fire-resists such as Salamence, Gyarados, or Kingdra, which all threaten Torkoal's safety.

The set I will be discussing is extremely similar to the "Spin Support" set listed on Smogon with one major adjustment: the replacement of either Rapid Spin or Stealth Rock (depending on your need) with Earthquake, which allows Torkoal to hammer incoming Heatrans for 4x super-effective damage (although it is only unfortunately a 2HKO).

While Explosion OHKOs Gyarados, Kingdra, and Salamence (even after Intimidate), one must be prepared to provide counters to the following Pokemon as well as Heatran. These Pokemon are less of a threat to Torkoal, however, than specially-oriented Water-types such as Vaporeon and Suicune.

The main problem with using Torkoal as a Scizor counter, however, is finding reason to use it over Magnezone. The two main things it has over Magnezone are its ability to tank Scizor's banded Superpower and its ability to either set up Stealth Rocks or, perhaps more importantly, to spin away your opponent's entry hazards.

The following is Torkoal's best set for OU (with Rapid Spin being the preferred option):

Torkoal @ Leftovers:

EVs:
252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Atk
Relaxed Nature
Moveset:
-Rapid Spin/Stealth Rocks
-Lava Plume
-Earthquake
-Explosion

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