Gen 4 Dpp OU Quagsire (WIP)

[johnnyg2]

[OVERVIEW]

Despite its subpar stats, Quagsire's excellent movepool, typing, and ability make it a fantastic defensive Pokemon. As a Water / Ground type with access to recovery and immunity to Water-type moves due to Water Absorb, it is naturally a great check to Gyarados, Tyranitar, Metagross, physical Jirachi, Gliscor, Swampert, Starmie, Choiced locked Kingdra, and Suicune. No other Pokemon offers this kind of versatility; Quagsire is just bulky enough to take on this kind of defensive responsibility and has excellent moves such as Curse, Encore, Counter, and Haze to take advantage of it. With Magnezone and Pursuit trapping support, it is a fantastic wincon with a Curse set, as it can boost to the point its impenetrable physically and its typing shields it against most foes. It can further take advantage of its movepool as a defensive backbone against physical threats and strong Water-types on more balanced teams that can't afford a large defensive framework.

Quagsire unfortunately is uncommon in DPP OU because its flaws necessitate a large support network. Its main flaws are that its stats are just too low to threaten very common checks such as Breloom, Gengar, Rotom-A, Empoleon, and Skarmory and that it doesn't learn Stealth Rock. All of the Pokemon mentioned are already big threats to defensive teams and Quagsire exacerbates this issue. Breloom freely generates momentum on even boosted Quagsire and its only recourse is to hit it on the switch with a weak Ice Punch. Gengar and Rotom-A switch in freely on Quagsire's moves and burn it, Empoleon is one of the only common offensive Water-type Pokemon that can OHKO Quagsire with Grass Knot, and physically defensive Skarmory, especially with Shed Shell to evade trapping, walls even +6 Quagsire and either phazes it or lays entry hazards. Quagsire's inability to set up Stealth Rock as a Ground-type forces other Pokemon to carry it, limiting how many teams it can fit on or forcing Pokemon such as Tyranitar or Skarmory to use up a moveslot to fit Stealth Rock. Quagsire faces competition mainly from Swampert and Hippowdon as Ground-types who both can set up Stealth Rock. Swampert shares Quagsire's typing and lacks Quagsire's Water immunity and recovery, but has much higher stats and fits more widely on aggressive and balanced teams. Hippowdon's better defensive stats, ability to set up sand, and lack of a 4x weakness to Grass lets to fit more widely on defensive teams. As such, Quagsire is the best choice on only a few number of teams

[SET]
name: Curse
move 1: Curse
move 2: Earthquake
move 3: Ice Punch
move 4: Recover
item: Leftovers
ability: Water Absorb
nature: Impish
evs: 252 HP / 252 Def / SpD

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========

Curse

Set Details
========

Usage Tips
========

Team Options
========

[SET]
name: Defensive
move 1: Recover
move 2: Surf / Earthquake
move 3: Encore / Ice Punch
move 4: Toxic / Counter / Haze
item: Leftovers
ability: Water Absorb
nature: Impish
evs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========

Set Details
========

Usage Tips
========

Team Options
========

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

List some options for the Pokemon user that are plausible but not always recommended due to either being not consistent enough or too outclassed by other Pokemon in the metagame.

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

**Insert Counterplay Here**: Describe the counterplay / check / counter.

**Insert Counterplay Here**: Describe the counterplay / check / counter.

[CREDITS]
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[johnnyg2]

I wanted to wait until Froslass was complete in the potential suspect before putting it up, but after quag is done, all ou usable pokes will be updated at least since the modern metagame came about a year or so after Latias’s return to DPP OU (so 2019/2020ish). I will then go through one more time and update some already written analyses. Clefable and Gallade are the big ones I need to redo, but I’m sure there’s others.

it’s been a three year trip down memory lane writing these. When I first learned dpp in 2009/2010ish, I loved reading these over and over again to build teams and see ideas of the best players on paper. It’s probably the main reason I make the analyses so long, much to the chagrin of my gp checkers. I hope that many others will have the same opportunity I had back then to learn the metagame. Even as I fade away, at least y’all won’t have to update these analyses (hopefully!) for a while and the calc will have accurate sets :)