Beginners

Published on February 25th, 2013 | by Cassie

23

Follow Me and Rage Powder: How Do They Work?

togekiss amoonguss volcarona

Togekiss, Amoonguss, and Volcarona. Why would I group these Pokémon together? They don’t have the same type, abilities or stats — they don’t even look alike! They do, however, have access to a move called Follow Me. Currently you may be wondering what I’m talking about, since Amoonguss and Volcarona don’t have a move called Follow Me in their movepools, but you’re wrong. It’s just disguised under the name Rage Powder so that it seems more Bug-like! Follow Me and Rage Powder are exactly the same, so to speak of only one would be silly. For the rest of the article I will only refer to Follow Me, but understand that I’m discussing both.

What exactly is Follow Me?

According to the in-game definition of Follow Me in Black and White 2, the move does the following: The user draws attention to itself, making all targets take aim only at the user. In other words, any moves that target only one Pokémon would hit the Pokémon that used Follow Me.

Now that you know what this move does, it is important to note that Follow Me has a priority of +3 — the same as Fake Out. That is an important piece of information that I will address later in this article.

The three Pokémon pictured aren’t the only ones with access to Follow Me. You can find the others here and here. The ones I’ll be discussing are considered to be the most common and successful.

Why would I want to use a move like this?

With a Singles mindset, you’d question why you’d ever use a move like this when your opponent doesn’t have anything else to target. While it’s pointless to use in one-on-one battles, it is considered one of the best support moves available in Doubles. Follow Me has the ability to “prop up” Pokémon in a sense. What I mean by this is that Pokémon that need an extra push to be “playable” tend to find Follow Me invaluable.

How do I use it to my advantage?

To use Follow Me effectively and productively, you need to find Pokémon that would love to avoid a turn of damage (which is literally everything). Follow Me’s success is dependent on the synergy between the two Pokémon on the field. If the partner and Follow Me user have an amazing synergy, then you’re likely to see some similarly amazing results! The Pokémon that generally benefit the most from Follow Me are Pokémon with a 4x weakness to a specific type — though Scizor and Volcarona tend to prefer Wide Guard support due to the prevalence of Heat Wave and Rock Slide which will hit both of your Pokémon regardless of Follow Me.

Besides a basic understanding of types, you also need to have at least basic prediction skills. That is, you need to be able to assess your situation to give a best guess as to when the partner of the Follow Me Pokémon is in danger of being targeted with a move that would severely damage and/or OHKO it. Using Follow Me every turn is not going to get you wins, because the HP of the Follow Me Pokémon is not infinite. Deciding when to use it is appropriate to use it is a prediction call that takes practice to get good at, so don’t be frustrated if you don’t get it right away!

The second way to use Follow Me to your advantage is when you know the user won’t take significant damage from the attack. Again, an ability to predict is needed to guess what move your opponent is going to use against you, and even then you may not be right! Follow Me is predictable, so if your opponent knows you have it, make sure you use it sparingly. Players who are good at predicting can use this to knowledge to obliterate you. This leads me to creating synergy between the Follow Me user and partner. It’s best to actually start with a partner, and then decide which Follow Me user would best highlight it. Follow Me users reap the best rewards when they’re bulky, so keep that in mind when you’re making EV spreads!

Now for the Pokémon that abuse Follow Me!

As stated before, there are more than just the three users mentioned below that can abuse Follow Me, but these have proven to be the most popular and effective. Here are some skeleton spreads to start out with!

Togekiss

togekiss
Togekiss (F) @ Sitrus Berry
Trait: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 80 Def / 164 SDef / 12 Speed
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
– Follow Me
– Air Slash
– Thunder Wave / Reflect
– Softboiled / Roost

This Togekiss survives just about everything. Togekiss is an extremely versatile Pokémon and my personal favorite Follow Me Pokémon. Sitrus Berry plus Softboiled or Roost usually succeeds in keeping Togekiss on the field for a while. The choice between Softboiled and Roost is really just between what you have access to. Softboiled is considered better because it doesn’t create a Fighting-type weakness after being used like Roost does, but it’s a 3rd Generation exclusive move. The problem is just getting your hands on one with good IVs! Air Slash serves as a STAB attack, and it’s great for some nice flinch action when paired with Serene Grace. Thunder Wave makes it even more annoying, but depending on the team Reflect may be a better support choice. It just depends on if you want Speed control or better Defense. The EV spread allows you to survive Choice Band Adamant Terrakion’s Rock Slide and Modest Dragon Gem Draco Meteor from Latios. With that kind of defensive prowess you won’t have a problem surviving in most cases. Just remember to choose partners that can take advantage of Togekiss’s resistances with Follow Me. Common sense right? Same goes for the other two Follow Me users listed here as well.

Volcarona

volcarona
Volcarona (F) @ Fire Gem
Trait: Flame Body
EVs: 220 HP / 164 SAtk / 104 SDef / 20 Speed
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
– Rage Powder
– Overheat / Heat Wave
– Bug Buzz
– Protect

This set sits between the popular sweeper Volcarona and a bulkier support Volcarona. Rage Powder is versatile enough for use on both the sweeper and bulky sets, which makes it different from the other two Follow Me users I’ve mentioned. The advantage Volcarona has with Rage Powder is that it’s fast, so it can attract most Fake Outs, and Volcarona is also an offensive threat in addition to Rage Powder support. To top that off, Flame Body is able to burn the Fake Out users 30% of the time, which severely cripples them for the rest of the battle since most Fake Out users are physically based.

Bulkier Volcarona like to use Heat Wave so that they aren’t lowering Special Attack, but the choice between Overheat and Heat Wave just comes down to personal preference. Overheat Fire Gem OHKOs bulky Thundurus and survives a Timid Latios Dragon Gem Draco Meteor. Fire Gem Overheat can be overkill on most opponents, though, so you can always switch to Heat Wave. Bug Buzz is a great coverage for Volcarona, generally 2HKOing most that are weak to it. The 4x Rock-type weakness calls for Protect, especially with all the Rock Slide users out there. Volcarona’s Speed makes it more threatening than the other two Follow Me users here in most cases, but it will usually not be lasting as long as the other two. Volcarona is able to outspeed max Speed base 70s with this spread.

Amoonguss

amoonguss
Amoonguss (F) @ Black Sludge
Trait: Effect Spore / Regenerator
EVs: 236 HP / 204 Def / 68 SDef
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
– Rage Powder
– Giga Drain
– Spore
– Protect

This Amoonguss is probably one of the most popular sets out there. It’s generally preferred for Trick Room teams, since it wreaks havoc on everything in those circumstances and has abysmal Speed. Amoonguss is pretty bulky; this spread is great for tanking Heat Waves and Psyshocks with the ability to recover health with Giga Drain and Black Sludge. Spore is obviously great, and Effect Spore tends to come in handy from time to time for random status shenanigans if you’re redirecting contact attacks like Fake Out though Regenerator adds even more reliable healing if you’re smart with your switches.

Amoonguss and Togekiss rival each other for the best Follow Me user, since both have the bulk and typing necessary for supporting different genres of Pokémon. Amoonguss’s Grass/Poison-typing makes it perfect for pairings with Ghost and Psychic Trick Room setters and especially Porygon2. Its ability to stay alive can make it perfect for your team and an incredible nuisance for your opponent. Unlike some Pokémon, Protect is an asset for Amoonguss. Black Sludge needs turns of Protect in order to restore HP and keep Amoonguss in commission. Its bulkiness makes it a threat to your opponent, especially if they don’t really have an answer for Amoonguss and its Spore spam. Protect is invaluable in these situations because it is likely that Amoonguss could get double targeted. Another thing to keep in mind is that most good predictors will expect a Rage Powder turn one if it is paired with a Trick Room partner. Use this to your advantage and Protect instead!

Test them out!

Now that you have access to some spreads, it’s time to test them out and see if Follow Me or one of these Pokémon work for you. This Pokémon can be an interesting addition that make Pokémon that don’t work without certain support usable. Beware of spread moves, but otherwise good luck in your endeavors!

Credit goes to: Veekun for their list of Follow Me / Rage Powder users and jio for the EV spreads. Photo taken by OmegaDonut, subject of this popular tumblr.


About the Author

is known for being the Pokemon supplier for a lot of Nugget Bridge users, and has just recently proved she can battle as well by making Top Cut in 2012 Nationals. Although she lost to the eventual Champion, she placed 29th overall.



23 Responses to Follow Me and Rage Powder: How Do They Work?

  1. Hurricane says:

    Their pretty good Moves for stalling with bulky Pokemon. Give alot of bulk to Amoonguss and Rage Powder can be really helpful.

  2. Werford says:

    Rage Powder/Follow Me is probably one of my favorite moves, as I alluded to in my article. It’s a great way to help ensure a battle goes according to your plans, rather than an opponent’s.

  3. feathers says:

    i am here to welcome OD into the artist club

  4. TKOWL says:

    Best article image yet

  5. tlyee61 says:

    hi, great article once again cassie! on togekiss, the spread could be optimized, giving togekiss 4 spatk EVs out of defense. 76 gives the same stat point. (137). Also, on volcarona, the spread could be optimized by taking 4 EVs out of special defense and putting them into defense. this gives the same stat in spdef (138) and 1 point higher in defense. 

  6. Chinese Dood says:

    Nice article!
     
    Just to add a bit, another Rage Powder pokemon worth trying out if spore is not a big deal for your team is Eviolite Tangela. A Calm Regenerator Eviolite Tangela with a simple spread of 252/0/4/4/244/4 has slightly worse Sp Def than the Amoonguss EV spread in the article but noticeably better physical defense and a bit higher SpA. Of course it cannot hold another item, does not have spore, is faster than Amoonguss (so Tangels is not as ideal for Trick Room) and is weak to bug, but also resists earthquake. Still worth considering for the right team though.

  7. R Inanimate says:

    A good read. I think one key thing that was missed about Follow Me/Rage Powder is the ability to disrupt certain strategies that involve targetting an ally. For Example, it can redirect away an intercept a Skill Swap that a Cresselia tries to use on its ally Heatran, or a Beat Up directed at an ally Terrakion. Allowing you to put a bit of a stop to these kinds of strategies, as long as your Follow Me user is alive.

  8. Biosci says:

    A good read. I think one key thing that was missed about Follow Me/Rage Powder is the ability to disrupt certain strategies that involve targetting an ally. For Example, it can redirect away an intercept a Skill Swap that a Cresselia tries to use on its ally Heatran, or a Beat Up directed at an ally Terrakion. Allowing you to put a bit of a stop to these kinds of strategies, as long as your Follow Me user is alive.

    Adding onto this, you can also redirect a certain Shuckle’s Guard Split and get a bulky as heck Amoonguss as they try to give bulk to their Chansey. Always feels amazing when I get this to happen.
     
    Great read Cassie, just gotta make sure to double check those EV spreads from Jio……

  9. Lamitie11 says:

    Where’s the Follow Me Furret love

  10. Rage powder and follow me are two of my favorite support moves in the game.  Being able to take hits that were intended for you ally can be so helpful.  It can give you time to set up or even take out a threat on the other team.  It is also a nice trick to have up your sleeve, and can even lead to mind games with your opponent.  After revealing you have it, your opponent will have to keep it in mind until they are able to take it out.

  11. Cassie says:

    Hmm I’ll fix the spreads up in a bit, and I completely forgot about the redirecting moves directed at the ally! Amoonguss is the bane of me, I absolutely hate battling Trick Room ones.

  12. OmegaDonut says:

    Don’t forget to explicitly mention that Fake Out and Follow Me are the same priority, so slow Follow Me users will not block those.  This only got a very brief mention in the Volcarona description.
     
    p.s. thanks for the feedback everyone!  Glad to hear the plushies are a hit.

  13. R Inanimate says:

    The picture reminds me of my Lv2 Endeavor Togekiss TR team that I ran in 4th Gen Battle Tower Doubles, which had a Bronzong and Togekiss as the leads. Well, aside from the fact that I didn’t have to use Follow Me to have the CPU gladly throw themselves at my Togekiss.

  14. Oldman says:

    Just wanted to add that there are a few other users of follow me in xd gale of darkness I use a electabuzz with eviolite and the static ability, although its difficult getting one with useable iv’s and mine certainly isn’t perfect but is useable with the eviolite.

  15. Dreykopff says:

    Man, it’s insane how far good ol’ Clefable has fallen, it’s not even worth to be kicked anymore. :(

  16. Lolnub says:

    Togekiss should have this EVspread:
     
    Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
    EVs: 252 HP / 172 Def / 4 SAtk / 68 SDef / 12 Spd
     
    Same HP, Defense, SpA and Speed, but 2 more points in SpD (which you could also put in another stat if you want). As a general rule when dividing EVs over both defense stats, give the Pokemon a nature which boosts it’s highest (defensive) stat (in this case SpD, so Calm Nature).
     
    Otherwise, great article. Covering the most common Follow Me and Rage Powder abusers. I have only used Rage Powder Volcarona a lot, but I still want to try the other 2. 

  17. Chiron says:

    It took me a little while to get my head around Follow Me / Rage Powder and to actually use them but wow. I can’t even start to think the amount of matches I’ve won thanks to Togekiss using Follow Me. Excellent move when used right. 

  18. joej m says:

    thank you for making those sets :)
    i used to overlook togekiss, thinking it wasn’t worth it.
    it is much better than cresselia in my eyes now. with more power than cresselia, flinching, tailwind/t wave, recovery, AND follow me, that is more than cresselia can pack. it can also get great attacking moves to surprise the foe.
    making a team right now with it! :D

  19. jstinftw says:

    So happy to see Togekiss finally getting some limelight.

    Except now I won’t look like an OG Hipster. xD

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