Like the title says, let's talk offensive status!
People generally will lump Status attacks in as a "stall thing", but I am here to tell you that this is a terrible mindset to have! Offensive team and especially balanced teams can use the extra turns or reduced damage granted by status effects in order to set up, or else to remove a nasty threat.
In this topic, I will be going over some of my own favorite offensive status users, as well as addressing the benefits and shortcomings of each status on an offensive team. I obviously encourage you to discuss them and share your own.
Heatran
Heatran is probably my favorite offensive Status user. Fire Blast and Earth Power discourage both Steel- and Fire-types from switching in, making Heatran an excellent user of both Toxic and Will-O-Wisp. What helps is that its common switch-ins include Bulky Waters, Tyranitar, and Salamence, all of which become pretty terrible when hit with either Toxic or Will-O-Wisp (well Salamence is still a total dick with poison). Both Substitute and Explosion can make this set even more deadly; however there is not enough room for both, and the choice should be made based on what your team needs. Suicune is a perfect pair for this set, as it can stall out pretty much anything while it takes poison damage, and Suicune appreciates having Vaporeon and company out of the way as well.
The big wrench in this set’s plan is Blissey, which easily takes all this set’s attacks, and shrugs off status with Natural Cure. Having a reliable Blissey switch-in is vital here (CM / STalk Suicune makes another appearance); Explosion can also deal with Blissey, but you (obviously) will lose Heatran in the process.
Heracross
Toxic Heracross was a total beast back in the Garchomp days, when Gliscor was often a vital asset to stop Lucario, Garchomp, Salamence, and Heracross itself. Even in today’s metagame, however, Toxic Heracross can be a huge threat. Since few Steel-types can safely switch into its STAB Fighting and Bug attacks, Toxic will frequently hit vital members of your oponent’s team, such as Salamence, Gyarados, Zapdos, and Rotom. What helps further is that many of Heracross’ counters are weak to Stealth Rock, so you will likely rack up Stealth Rock damage in the process; additionally, none of the Natural Cure Pokemon have a habit of switching into Heracross.
Heracross’ STAB Megahorn often encourages Steels to switch in, which is sometimes a pain, but if you use Magnezone alongside this then you can deal with Skarmory. Note that this set works well even with Choice Band or Scarf.
Rotom
Anyone who has used Choice Scarf Rotom can attest to it being a fantastic offensive Pokemon. And with access to three separate status attacks, Rotom has a good answer for pretty much anything you will have to worry about switching into it. Will-O-Wisp is the most common choice, but it is really a double-edged sword: it deals with Tyranitars which love to switch in and trap Rotom, but it also boosts Heatran’s Fire Attacks, and with 130 base attack and Fire Blast that is often a really bad deal for an offensive or even balanced team. So honestly I would only recommend using Will-O-Wisp if you have an excellent Heatran counter such as Snorlax, Suicune, or Blissey.
Thunder Wave is probably the next best option. It deals a huge blow to Heatran, and even though it will not stop Tyranitar from Pursuiting Rotom (unless you get lucky and TTar gets an FP), it makes Tyranitar quite a bit less useful. Thunder Wave is also a nice pair for Trick, since the received speed boost becomes totally irrelevant when your foe’s speed is cut to a quarter of its value anyway. With both Thunder Wave and Trick, Rotom has the potential to incapacitate a good portion of the foe’s team and give your other Pokemon free turns to set up and switch around.
Maximizing the effects of status
Poison:
Be sure you have something bulky to stall out your opponent. This is not a good status to use on a “glass canon” offensive team, since your opponent will simply continue sweeping, or will at least use the turn you wasted to attack your Pokemon. Toxic works best on offensive Pokemon which discourage switch-ins from Steels, Poisons, and Natural Cure Pokemon; however, it is equally important that your Toxic user draws switch-ins from Pokemon that dislike poison. The best targets are things which can heal damage but not status, such as Zapdos and the Bulky Waters, or else bulky sweepers which your team otherwise has trouble dealing with (perhaps Tyranitar or Gyarados).
Burn:
Unfortunately, Heatran is a common switch-in to every single viable Will-O-Wisp user. Unless your team has a really good Heatran switch-in, it is a good idea to scout for it first with another attack, since Will-O-Wisp is generally pretty easy to see coming. Infernape is a great burn user in theory, since it discourages Heatran and all of the common Natural Cure Pokemon from switching in, but Infernape itself is so difficult to get in that it is often not worth it. The Ghosts are generally the best Will-O-Wisp users, since they easily draw in Tyranitar, which becomes pretty pathetic after being burned. If you can pull off burn then that’s great, as a single WoW or Psycho Shift user can cripple entire offensive teams, but the low accuracy and the frequency of Heatran make it a large risk to take on.
Paralysis:
Paralysis is probably more usable in general than any other status, since the speed drop destroys offensive Pokemon and the chance to fully paralyze is a nuisance for anything else. Add to that the fact that the main paralysis move is 100% accurate, and you’ve got some annoying shit going on. As far as uses for offensive teams, paralysis is a huge help when setting up. Sweepers that use substitute are the way to go here, since you can scout for full paralysis and create more switches in general. CM Jirachi is a greate choice here, since once it gets a substitute and a Calm Mind up there are really only a couple pokemon that can stop it (Heatran and Tyranitar) and both of them cannot come in repeatedly, especially if you have paralyzed them. Another standout is Breloom, who can sub continuously to scout for full paralysis, and greatly appreciates that it base 70 speed suddenly became a lot more valuable. The obvious downside of using Thunder Wave is that there are several Pokemon in OU which are immune, and most of the Thunder Wave users cannot do much to Blissey and even Starmie. Celebi is probably the best Thunder Wave user there is, since with Grass Knot and HP Ice there isn’t a Pokemon in OU that can safely switch in besides Blissey, and Blissey is easy enough to dispatch with fighting types or strong physical attackers.
Sleep:
Although it has become increasingly uncommon, sleep is another extremely useful status for offensive teams. There are two main ways that offensive teams can use sleep successfully: First, it can be used on a Pokemon that need time to set up. Probably the best example is Roserade, which can use the extra time to set up Toxic Spikes. Breloom and Gengar can set up Substitute after putting the opponent to sleep, and with 130 in each of their strongest attacking stats, both can tear apart entire teams. Second, extremely offensive teams will often never give a sleeping Pokemon time to wake up; if your entire team is capable of one or two-hit KOing most Pokemon in the game, sleep becomes an essential KO. Still, Sleep moves are generally innacruate, and since most of the Sleep users are frail it is often a huge risk. Considering also that a sleeping Pokemon can wake up in a single turn, sleep is probably the least useful status in the game. The risk is generally very high, the effect is not permanant, and the reward is potentially very low.
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Now that I have shared my thought’s on offensive status use, it is time to share yours! What offensive Pokemon are your favorite status users? How does status help your offensive teams? Which status is easiest for offensive teams to make use of? Discuss!
People generally will lump Status attacks in as a "stall thing", but I am here to tell you that this is a terrible mindset to have! Offensive team and especially balanced teams can use the extra turns or reduced damage granted by status effects in order to set up, or else to remove a nasty threat.
In this topic, I will be going over some of my own favorite offensive status users, as well as addressing the benefits and shortcomings of each status on an offensive team. I obviously encourage you to discuss them and share your own.
Heatran
Heatran is probably my favorite offensive Status user. Fire Blast and Earth Power discourage both Steel- and Fire-types from switching in, making Heatran an excellent user of both Toxic and Will-O-Wisp. What helps is that its common switch-ins include Bulky Waters, Tyranitar, and Salamence, all of which become pretty terrible when hit with either Toxic or Will-O-Wisp (well Salamence is still a total dick with poison). Both Substitute and Explosion can make this set even more deadly; however there is not enough room for both, and the choice should be made based on what your team needs. Suicune is a perfect pair for this set, as it can stall out pretty much anything while it takes poison damage, and Suicune appreciates having Vaporeon and company out of the way as well.
The big wrench in this set’s plan is Blissey, which easily takes all this set’s attacks, and shrugs off status with Natural Cure. Having a reliable Blissey switch-in is vital here (CM / STalk Suicune makes another appearance); Explosion can also deal with Blissey, but you (obviously) will lose Heatran in the process.
Heracross
Toxic Heracross was a total beast back in the Garchomp days, when Gliscor was often a vital asset to stop Lucario, Garchomp, Salamence, and Heracross itself. Even in today’s metagame, however, Toxic Heracross can be a huge threat. Since few Steel-types can safely switch into its STAB Fighting and Bug attacks, Toxic will frequently hit vital members of your oponent’s team, such as Salamence, Gyarados, Zapdos, and Rotom. What helps further is that many of Heracross’ counters are weak to Stealth Rock, so you will likely rack up Stealth Rock damage in the process; additionally, none of the Natural Cure Pokemon have a habit of switching into Heracross.
Heracross’ STAB Megahorn often encourages Steels to switch in, which is sometimes a pain, but if you use Magnezone alongside this then you can deal with Skarmory. Note that this set works well even with Choice Band or Scarf.
Rotom
Anyone who has used Choice Scarf Rotom can attest to it being a fantastic offensive Pokemon. And with access to three separate status attacks, Rotom has a good answer for pretty much anything you will have to worry about switching into it. Will-O-Wisp is the most common choice, but it is really a double-edged sword: it deals with Tyranitars which love to switch in and trap Rotom, but it also boosts Heatran’s Fire Attacks, and with 130 base attack and Fire Blast that is often a really bad deal for an offensive or even balanced team. So honestly I would only recommend using Will-O-Wisp if you have an excellent Heatran counter such as Snorlax, Suicune, or Blissey.
Thunder Wave is probably the next best option. It deals a huge blow to Heatran, and even though it will not stop Tyranitar from Pursuiting Rotom (unless you get lucky and TTar gets an FP), it makes Tyranitar quite a bit less useful. Thunder Wave is also a nice pair for Trick, since the received speed boost becomes totally irrelevant when your foe’s speed is cut to a quarter of its value anyway. With both Thunder Wave and Trick, Rotom has the potential to incapacitate a good portion of the foe’s team and give your other Pokemon free turns to set up and switch around.
Maximizing the effects of status
Poison:
Be sure you have something bulky to stall out your opponent. This is not a good status to use on a “glass canon” offensive team, since your opponent will simply continue sweeping, or will at least use the turn you wasted to attack your Pokemon. Toxic works best on offensive Pokemon which discourage switch-ins from Steels, Poisons, and Natural Cure Pokemon; however, it is equally important that your Toxic user draws switch-ins from Pokemon that dislike poison. The best targets are things which can heal damage but not status, such as Zapdos and the Bulky Waters, or else bulky sweepers which your team otherwise has trouble dealing with (perhaps Tyranitar or Gyarados).
Burn:
Unfortunately, Heatran is a common switch-in to every single viable Will-O-Wisp user. Unless your team has a really good Heatran switch-in, it is a good idea to scout for it first with another attack, since Will-O-Wisp is generally pretty easy to see coming. Infernape is a great burn user in theory, since it discourages Heatran and all of the common Natural Cure Pokemon from switching in, but Infernape itself is so difficult to get in that it is often not worth it. The Ghosts are generally the best Will-O-Wisp users, since they easily draw in Tyranitar, which becomes pretty pathetic after being burned. If you can pull off burn then that’s great, as a single WoW or Psycho Shift user can cripple entire offensive teams, but the low accuracy and the frequency of Heatran make it a large risk to take on.
Paralysis:
Paralysis is probably more usable in general than any other status, since the speed drop destroys offensive Pokemon and the chance to fully paralyze is a nuisance for anything else. Add to that the fact that the main paralysis move is 100% accurate, and you’ve got some annoying shit going on. As far as uses for offensive teams, paralysis is a huge help when setting up. Sweepers that use substitute are the way to go here, since you can scout for full paralysis and create more switches in general. CM Jirachi is a greate choice here, since once it gets a substitute and a Calm Mind up there are really only a couple pokemon that can stop it (Heatran and Tyranitar) and both of them cannot come in repeatedly, especially if you have paralyzed them. Another standout is Breloom, who can sub continuously to scout for full paralysis, and greatly appreciates that it base 70 speed suddenly became a lot more valuable. The obvious downside of using Thunder Wave is that there are several Pokemon in OU which are immune, and most of the Thunder Wave users cannot do much to Blissey and even Starmie. Celebi is probably the best Thunder Wave user there is, since with Grass Knot and HP Ice there isn’t a Pokemon in OU that can safely switch in besides Blissey, and Blissey is easy enough to dispatch with fighting types or strong physical attackers.
Sleep:
Although it has become increasingly uncommon, sleep is another extremely useful status for offensive teams. There are two main ways that offensive teams can use sleep successfully: First, it can be used on a Pokemon that need time to set up. Probably the best example is Roserade, which can use the extra time to set up Toxic Spikes. Breloom and Gengar can set up Substitute after putting the opponent to sleep, and with 130 in each of their strongest attacking stats, both can tear apart entire teams. Second, extremely offensive teams will often never give a sleeping Pokemon time to wake up; if your entire team is capable of one or two-hit KOing most Pokemon in the game, sleep becomes an essential KO. Still, Sleep moves are generally innacruate, and since most of the Sleep users are frail it is often a huge risk. Considering also that a sleeping Pokemon can wake up in a single turn, sleep is probably the least useful status in the game. The risk is generally very high, the effect is not permanant, and the reward is potentially very low.
-----------------------------------------
Now that I have shared my thought’s on offensive status use, it is time to share yours! What offensive Pokemon are your favorite status users? How does status help your offensive teams? Which status is easiest for offensive teams to make use of? Discuss!
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