Status in RU

Introduction

Ah, status. One of the most infuriating things in Pokémon (other than Stone Edge missing three times in a row). Whether it is an in-game poison from Weedle or a Scald burn from a Slowking, status is one of the few things commonly used in-game and competitively. Heck, it's even used in the anime quite often. Like all tiers, RU has its fair share of status moves and inducers. Unlike most tiers, the popular method of Toxic Spikes isn't very viable in RU, mostly due to the popularity of Poison-types, Steel-types, and Levitate users. However, Toxic is often used on defensive Pokémon to wear down foes; it is even sometimes used on offensive Pokémon to give walls hell. In this article, we shall explore statuses and their inducers of the rambunctious tier of RU.

Status Conditions

Poison

Like in all tiers, poison is used by a wide array of Pokémon, mainly due to Toxic being one of those TMs everything but Magikarp and few others learn. All of these different Pokémon use poison in different ways. Slowking uses Toxic to end incredibly annoying Slowking vs. Slowking wars that would take forever if both lacked Toxic. Slowking can also Toxic Pokémon that are switching in to put them on a timer. Cryogonal uses Toxic to wear down special walls and physical attackers, such as Uxie, Slowking, Entei, and setup sweepers. Sandslash (which is pretty bad) can use it to cripple spinblockers and Grass- and Water-types that love to switch in on it. Now, as I mentioned before, Toxic Spikes isn't a very good option, but with a lot of support it can be living nightmare for many Pokémon. Bulky walls, such as Qwilfish and Drapion, are able to set them up repeatedly, while Smeargle is able to set them up as a suicide lead.

Burn

Burn is one of the most unique status conditions. It cuts the target's Attack in half while chipping away at its health. Through Scald and Will-O-Wisp, burn has some pretty great distribution. Slowking and Poliwrath are already hard to take out, but an annoying burn from Scald can make it 20 times harder to take them out. Rotom-C and Rotom are able to spread Will-O-Wisp while keeping momentum with Volt Switch and recovering health with Pain Split. Misdreavus and Spiritomb are great spinblockers, and like all great spinblockers they learn Will-O-Wisp, which can shut down arguably the best spinner, Kabutops if it lacks a Lum Berry. Sigilyph spreads burn by holding a Flame Orb and using Psycho Shift to give it to physical attackers. The burn doesn't hurt it due to Magic Guard, and it gets a chance to start setting up Cosmic Power. The last two you see, however, aren't so great. Quagsire is a pretty mediocre Pokémon in this metagame, while Dusknoir seems to be extremely mediocre in all metagames.

Paralysis

Paralysis plays a key role on many teams. Sometimes, sweepers just aren't fast enough (example: Gallade) and they either don't have priority or it's pretty weak (Shadow Sneak). Not unlike most tiers, Thunder Wave is used often, but some Pokemon use Stun Spore, Glare, and even Force Palm to inflict paralysis. Uxie is by far the best user of Thunder Wave, being able to paralyze many Pokemon with its ability to switch in on many attackers courtesy of its bulk and Levitate. Slowking is another great user, with its Water typing granting it a few more resistances than Uxie and allowing it to work well as a pivot with Regenerator. Qwilfish is an awesome physical wall that's able to paralyze many physical attackers and possibly special attackers switching in. Whimsicott is able to paralyze with priority thanks to Prankster, but it can't take attacks too well. Druddigon is an awesome tank that's able to do loads of damage and take hits well, and Glare gives it a good way to inflict status with nothing immune to it bar the rare Limber Pokémon. Hariyama is able to use Force Palm to get an occasional paralysis on its RestTalk set. If you want to be different, you can paralyze things with Munchlax's Body Slam, but side effects include losing all respect and losing all matches. Oh, and there's Ferroseed, which is a bit better than Munchlax, but still it's not that good.

Sleep

Sleep is probably the most dangerous status, bar the occasional freeze. In BW, it became even more deadly due to the new sleep mechanics. Amoonguss is arguably the best user with a 100% accurate Spore, 114 / 70 / 80 defenses, and Regenerator. With base 85 Special Attack, it go on the offensive by barraging the opponent with Giga Drain, Sludge Bomb, and Hidden Power Fire. Lilligant and Jynx both use sleep (Sleep Powder and Lovely Kiss, respectively) to gain important setup opportunities, with Lilligant using Quiver Dance and Jynx setting up a Substitute and Nasty Plot (or Calm Mind). Tangrowth plays like Amoonguss a bit except with a lot more physical bulk, a lot less special bulk, and Sleep Powder instead of Spore, so it really depends if you really need a physical wall; with better offensive stats, it also runs offensive sets better. Smeargle with its infinite movepool hangs on with a Focus Sash, then uses Spore and takes advantage of that sleep time to set up entry hazards or stat boosts to Baton Pass. When used correctly, Smeargle can make the game incredibly frustrating for your opponent. Munchlax actually excels at sleep, but unfortunately it only puts itself to sleep.

Counters to Status

Unfortunately (or fortunately), RU lacks a solid Natural Cure user. The only two viable users are Altaria and Roselia, but both aren't too spectacular. So, this means there is no real absolute counter to status. Sigilyph however makes a pretty good case, since it can't be affected by status after being burned. Poison- and Steel-types are good counters to poison, especially Poison-types since they absorb Toxic Spikes. The only way to Toxic them is through the (not) dreaded Soak Alomomola. Poison is also countered through the other Magic Guard user, Clefable. Good counters to paralysis are Ground-types, though they can be paralyzed by Stun Spore and Glare and hit super effectively by Slowking and Qwilfish, common users of Thunder Wave. Burn is countered by Fire-types, but they can't switch into Scald. Like with poison, Clefable doesn't mind burn unless it's running a wallbreaking set. Sleep is probably the only status countered by one Pokemon, Magmortar, which can come in thanks to Vital Spirit and OHKO all common users, unless it's Smeargle with Focus Sash. Other Vital Spirit Pokemon can come in on sleep moves, but none of them outright counter the status like Magmortar. Finally, if you like to be gimmicky you can use Natu, which can bounce back all status moves, but remember, it doesn't bounce back status caused by secondary effects and is really frail, even if it has an Eviolite.

Conclusion

As you see, status has its fair share of uses in RU just like any tier. So, get out there with your Thunder Wave Uxie, Spore Amoonguss, or even your extremely gimmicky Natu. RU is a diverse and really fun place, no matter how many UU players tell you otherwise. Join the fun!

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