Swampert

I'm surprised at the lack of Choice Band Pert. Aqua Tail / Stone Edge / Superpower / Earthquake lalala
Why should one be surprised? It lacks priority, speed and U-turn/Volt Change, not to mention that a misprediction with those subpar STAB moves can easily give your opponent an oppurtunity to set up.

Perhaps it can do quite a some of damage if you 'predict right' however i'd rather don't something that does not have such a high risk/reward factor. Especially if some other choice banders can fullfill the same reward but with less risk involved.
 
Why should one be surprised? It lacks priority, speed and U-turn/Volt Change, not to mention that a misprediction with those subpar STAB moves can easily give your opponent an oppurtunity to set up.

Perhaps it can do quite a some of damage if you 'predict right' however i'd rather don't something that does not have such a high risk/reward factor. Especially if some other choice banders can fullfill the same reward but with less risk involved.
And it makes up for it with bulk, high attack, and actually very good STABs.

Water and Ground as subpar STABs? Really? The misprediction bit can be applied to any choice user, and it's not like Swampert has difficulty switching in in out.
 
So what tier are we predicting Swampert will fall in this generation? OU again?
I wouldn't think so. Not many people are using Swampert because he doesn't seem to have transitioned well into the new metagame. He didn't gain anything noteworthy, either.
 

alphatron

Volt turn in every tier! I'm in despair!
Bumping this thread to attempt to see why Swampert is still worth using. He seems like a decent option against sand offense, but there are better pokemon (torterra).
 
Random note: one random buff that Pert gets is that people will be more likely to run fire as their random hidden power instead of grass.
 
Still one of the best Zapdos counters around. Only thing you have to worry about is Toxic and the random HP Grass.
 
HP Grass? Why would it run HP Grass and not Ice?
In Gen 4, Zapdos sometimes carried HP Grass just for Swampert. With HP Grass, Thunderbolt and Heat Wave, Zapdos got unresisted coverage in OU anyway (apart from when the Lati twins were around, but even HP Ice isn't doing squat to Latias).

In Gen 5 though, there's no reason to use HP Grass that I've seen.
 

DetroitLolcat

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Honestly, I thought Swampert would suck this gen, but it doesn't. It should be a definite OU this gen, albeit a little less common. It does great against Drought teams (can take an Offensive Ninetales Energy Ball and EQ for the KO, SR's to cripple sweepers like Volcarona into KO range, and doesn't suck like Unaware Quagsire. Can even troll like hell with Protect like it did last Gen. Sure, it loses to set-uppers, but so do most tanks. It's not outclassed by other bulky waters at all because it can set up SR and has that great Earthquake STAB. It also counters the ever annoying Tyranitar (not all bulky waters do anymore because of that Sandstorm SDef boost), and I think it can take Jolly Life Orb Doryuuzu in the sand, Ice Beam laugh in Landorus's and Thundurus's face, and Swampert's Thunder Wave immune too.

Bottom line: Swampert surprisingly does not suck.
 
Swampert just got left in the dust. It doesn't do anything well. It might wall Tyranitar yes, but it can't switch into Rando or Dory like it could DP's physical threats. And despite it's STAB moves, it's still an open invite to Nattorei and BW is all about limiting what Nattorei can do to you. Getting walled by the ever increasing Skarmory, giving basically free switch in's to the Latis and you do more harm then you do good. Electric/TWave immunity or not I'd still rather use Slowbro and at least Quagsire can reheal itself.
 
Which is rather obsolete now. So much many more things can Dragon Tail or if you actually wanted to stop a sweep, what are you Roaring..? Rando? Dory? Ranku? Chomp?
 
Honestly, I thought Swampert would suck this gen, but it doesn't. It should be a definite OU this gen, albeit a little less common. It does great against Drought teams (can take an Offensive Ninetales Energy Ball and EQ for the KO, SR's to cripple sweepers like Volcarona into KO range, and doesn't suck like Unaware Quagsire. Can even troll like hell with Protect like it did last Gen. Sure, it loses to set-uppers, but so do most tanks. It's not outclassed by other bulky waters at all because it can set up SR and has that great Earthquake STAB. It also counters the ever annoying Tyranitar (not all bulky waters do anymore because of that Sandstorm SDef boost), and I think it can take Jolly Life Orb Doryuuzu in the sand, Ice Beam laugh in Landorus's and Thundurus's face, and Swampert's Thunder Wave immune too.

Bottom line: Swampert surprisingly does not suck.
While Swampert doesn't suck (ChestoRest Cursepert is absolutely great once you get rid of any grass types and my favourite set I ever ran), you can't say Unaware Quagsire sucks. It checks so many things, and can take hits like a monster.
 
Based on my own theorymoning, Choice Band Swampert should be a pretty good pokemon. Things like Ferrothorn, Jellicent, Reuniclus, Lati@s, even Skarmory if you have Hammer Arm that normally switch in are all Koed in a hit or two or get crippled and can't hurt you back. It's pretty suprising that you can actually OHKO a Latias with Ice Punch. Still has almost as much special bulk as the normal tank.

ChestoRest also seems interesting, but there are too many things that would stop it. You have to some how remove their Grass type, Conkeldurr/Reuniclus, phazer etc. I would expect the other boosting tanks to be better choices.

I haven't tested (well, theorymoned) the Tank set but Lolcat seems to get great results from it. Probably the best initial Thundurus switch around, good lead- that MixTar (EVERYONE USES THE EXACT SAME THING) has really become common and annoying now that Swampert is gone. I would think it takes still to use however, because unlike Slowbro and Quagsire it cannot stay against the common threats when boosted. Excadrill, Blaziken, Terrakion, Landorus etc. should not be countered by Swampert, best case scenario against all of them is that you're heavily crippled and cant do anything for the rest of the game, and you can't switch into any besides Exacdrill. You can't rely on a wall to out-tank everything anymore- even Suicune and Hippowdon can be OHKOed by neutral boosting sweepers. Even having them face the sweepers one on one doesn't end too well.

Bottom line, Slowbro, Quagsire, and Gliscor are better suited to the metagame as walls. Gliscor actually resembles Swampert from 3rd/4th gen in gen 5 quite a bit. Now that Swampert is so rare, however, people will feel fine switching their Skarmory, Lati@s, Ferrothorn etc. in because they think you're a noob, which is why im going to use the Choice Bander when I see it as a good fit in one of my next teams.
 
Swampert's lauded bulk has just become, less bulky, what with the massive power creep of gen V. Without colossal defenses, a good typing becomes nearly irrelevant,and with the huge buffs to Quagsire (and to a lesser degree, Gastrodon), people see little reason to use Pert
 
I used Swampert in my team to wall Tyranitar basically, because while some of my other Pokemon can handle it, they can't handle all variants, especially mixed ones. It somewhat stops Volcarano. Otherwise, I'd use another bulky water honestly. I used Jellicent and Vaporeon on different teams for example.
 
In Gen 4, I had immense success with a Stealth Rock/Roar/STAB/ Mirror Coat on a Max HP/Max Def Swampert. Being able to take a +2 CC off of Lucario, while OHKO'ing Dragon Pulses, Surfs from Suicune, etc. A solid lead, with

Anyone try anything?
 
Which is rather obsolete now. So much many more things can Dragon Tail or if you actually wanted to stop a sweep, what are you Roaring..? Rando? Dory? Ranku? Chomp?
I meant as a way to answer incoming Skarm and Ferro.

It's not like Slowbro and Quagsire can do much better against them besides Yawning which Swampert can also do.
 

alphatron

Volt turn in every tier! I'm in despair!
It does great against Drought teams (can take an Offensive Ninetales Energy Ball and EQ for the KO, SR's to cripple sweepers like Volcarona into KO range, and doesn't suck like Unaware Quagsire.
I don't see how this makes swampert great against sun teams when its switching into a pokemon that nearly everything in the metagame can switch into. Swampert finds himself hard pressed to take even fire attacks from sun pokemon. Against rain, the lack of water immunity you'd get if you used gastrodon hurts pretty badly.

I'll admit he is decent against sand, and he takes down that lead mixtar that always carries fire blast, because every team is sandstorm team...
 
Like everything water, it gets boiling water.

But because all the other ground/waters got water absorb (or a variant), theres pretty much no reason to use swampy (who got god damn damp. and explosion sucks now). Gastrodon + grass resistance/herbivore can cover weather pretty darn well.
 
Like everything water, it gets boiling water.

But because all the other ground/waters got water absorb (or a variant), theres pretty much no reason to use swampy (who got god damn damp. and explosion sucks now). Gastrodon + grass resistance/herbivore can cover weather pretty darn well.
I still wouldn't use boiling water with it though. and even though it didn't really get anything. I think it will stick around for a while. it would be too good in the lower tiers imo.
 

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