Molk
Godlike Usmash
http://www.smogon.com/bw/pokemon/zangoose/ru
[Overview]
<p>Ever since its introduction in ADV, Zangoose was always outclassed with little to stand out among the plethora of Normal-types available in the lower tiers. It was often thrown aside for bigger and better options such as Swellow and Ursaring. This is no longer true, as Zangoose hit the jackpot when it comes to Dream World abilities. Zangoose's new ability, Toxic Boost, functions a lot like Guts, boosting Zangoose's Attack stat if its afflicted with the poison status. This is a godsend for Zangoose, shooting its already high Attack to astronomical levels after only being in for one turn. Combine this newfound power with Zangoose's above average base 90 Speed and one of the most powerful STAB moves in the game in the form of Facade, and you have a monster on your hands. Sadly, there is one very important attribute holding Zangoose back, and that is its frailty. 73 / 60 / 60 defenses are nothing to write home about, and with no notable resistances to take advantage of, it can be quite hard to switch Zangoose in and activate Toxic Orb. Zangoose is also held back by its own Toxic Orb; while the poison status gives Zangoose enough power to break down a brick wall with its bare hands, it also puts Zangoose on a timer, slowly wearing it down over the course of the match. Nonetheless, Zangoose's incredible power makes it a threat to watch out for, and it would be foolish to underestimate it, despite its frailty.</p>
[SET]
name: Toxic Boost
move 1: Facade
move 2: Close Combat
move 3: Night Slash / Swords Dance
move 4: Quick Attack
item: Toxic Orb
ability: Toxic Boost
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>With Toxic Boost to boost its Attack stat, excellent coverage, priority, and a bone crushingly powerful STAB, Zangoose is a perfect candidate for a physical attacker set. The basic objective of the set is to get in safely and then get a boost from the Toxic Orb to start a sweep. While Facade starts off with only 70 Base Power, its Base Power doubles when Zangoose is afflicted with a status problem, so once Zangoose's Toxic Orb activates, Facade has an effective 140 Base Power. Now add on STAB and you have a massively powerful attack that's capable of 2HKOing anything that doesn't resist it. Close Combat takes care of anything that would happen to resist Zangoose's Facade such as Steelix, Ferroseed, Kabutops, and Aggron, all of which take huge amounts of damage. Night Slash rounds off Zangoose's coverage by giving it a solid option to hit the Ghost-types that are immune to both Close Combat and Facade such as Rotom and Misdreavus, allowing Zangoose to break through these Pokemon with little team support. Lastly, Quick Attack provides Zangoose with a decently powerful priority move, a great emergency weapon against faster Pokemon that might otherwise stop Zangoose's sweep prematurely. Zangoose can also give up Night Slash for Swords Dance to further bolster its Attack stat if it gets a boost in; after a Swords Dance boost, Zangoose is fully capable of cleanly OHKOing Tangrowth with Facade, among other incredible feats.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>Although Zangoose has quite a few alternative options to use on this set, thanks to the immense Base Power of Facade outranking the power of even super effective coverage moves most of the time, they usually aren't needed. If you want a safer way to consistently activate Zangoose's Toxic Orb, Protect is certainly an option, but the vast majority of the time you will miss something about whatever move you replaced, whether it be the power of Facade, the coverage of Close Combat or Night Slash, or the utility of Quick Attack. Like all physical attackers, Zangoose appreciates a teammate that can set up multiple layers of entry hazards to secure some KOs on some really bulky Pokemon such as Tangrowth. Smeargle is excellent at this job, being able to set up every hazard in the game, while also being able to pull its own weight by using Spore to essentially eliminate one Pokemon from the match. If Smeargle doesn't appeal to your tastes, there are plenty of other options for hazard setters such as Crustle, Ferroseed, Uxie, and Omastar. Although Zangoose is a very powerful Pokemon, there is one threat it has significant trouble breaking through: Spiritomb. Therefore, teammates that can readily deal with it are very much appreciated. Aggron, Escavalier, and Klinklang are all good examples of Spiritomb counters, being able to come in on any of its standard attacks bar Will-O-Wisp and either strike back with an incredibly powerful Head Smash or Megahorn or set up a Substitute to avoid status and set up to +6, respectively. Hariyama is also a good way to keep Spiritomb in check, taking almost nothing from its attacks and using the burn from Will-O-Wisp to its advantage with Guts. Zangoose works well with many of the other Normal-types in RU, such as Tauros and Swellow, and thanks to their similar checks and counters, one can come in and either eliminate or weaken the opponent's Normal-type check, giving the second Normal-type a clear opportunity to sweep. Zangoose is especially good at this thanks to its immense power and ability to break through many Rock- and Steel-type Pokemon with Close Combat.</p>
[Other Options]
<p>As a Normal-type, Zangoose has a pretty varied movepool with quite a few options; sadly, there's usually no reason to use any of them due to the sheer power of a Toxic Boosted Facade. Zangoose is capable of using a wide array of special moves such as Fire Blast, Giga Drain, Focus Blast, and Ice Beam, but none of them are worth it in the long run thanks to the power of Facade. Zangoose can potentially use Double Kick over Close Combat to break down Substitutes, but the power drop is very noticeable. The elemental punches can be useful at times for hitting certain Pokemon such as Escavalier and the rare Torterra harder than Facade, but keep in mind that in the majority of cases Facade will do more than enough to the Pokemon in question anyway, making the punches obsolete. Zangoose can choose to use an item other than Toxic Orb such as Life Orb, Choice Band, or Silk Scarf if you think you can predict Toxics well enough to get the boost, but it makes Zangoose pretty unreliable and the extra item boost usually isn't worth it unless Zangoose switches into a random Toxic.</p>
[Checks and Counters]
<p>Because of how hard Zangoose hits with Toxic Boost taken into account, foolproof counters are few and far between, but there are plenty of ways to stop a rampant Zangoose from sweeping your whole team. Spiritomb is your best bet when it comes to countering Zangoose; it's completely immune to Facade and Close Combat, while its secondary Dark-type makes it take little from Night Slash. Spiritomb can then trap Zangoose with Pursuit in return, eliminating it from the match. Fast paced offensive teams can minimize the amount of damage Zangoose can do by taking advantage of its frailty, giving it little to no opportunity to switch in with powerful STAB attacks and crippling status. Outside of Spiritomb, perhaps the best way to stop Zangoose is to wear it down with its own Toxic Orb, playing around Zangoose's coverage moves with various resists as the poison damage chips away at Zangoose's HP until it falls. If all else fails, faster opponents that can take a Quick Attack are able to revenge kill Zangoose quite easily thanks to its frailty and lack of notable resistances. Choice Scarf Rotom-C, Aerodactyl, Sceptile, and Durant are all perfectly capable of pulling this off with their high Speed stats and strong offensive presence.</p>