Long Live the Slowking: 2012 Team Analysis
Hi everyone, I’m Rushan (Firestorm) and am usually more involved with all the little things that support the community rather than actually battling, but I had a lot of fun with the team I put together for the last season and want to share it! I’m sort of lazy when it comes to battling, so like Huy (Huy) talked about in his report, I’d prefer to be executing my own strategy rather than analyzing my opponent’s team and trying to play rock, paper, Scizor. That wasn’t supposed to be a pun but I typed it out by mistake and am going to keep it that way.
The Team
Slowking @ Wacan Berry
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 244 HP / 76 Def / 172 SAtk / 16 SDef
Quiet Nature (+SAtk, -Spd)
– Trick Room
– Surf
– Psychic
– Flamethrower
Star Number 1 of this team. I’ve been a fan of Slowking for over a decade now and even used him in my original Pokémon Gold Version run. His role in Pokémon 2000 may or may not have had something to do with that on my impressionable twelve year old mind. I’m not sure. In any case, Slowking is a defensive monster. I originally got the idea for my team’s Slowking / Gastrodon core by shamelessly ripping off Randy (R Inanimate), and the EVs and Wacan Berry allow him to survive any attack aside from a Ghost Gem Chandelure’s Shadow Ball. Running a Trick Room team, it was tremendously important to me to get off Trick Room, and Slowking helped make sure I did so in every one of them.
Randy had Own Tempo on his Slowking build as he found he didn’t switch often in games and often played against the Japanese who carried Swagger a lot more than those of us in the West. Preparing for the Spring Regionals last year, I decided to go with Regenerator because players here are more likely to use Hitmontop with Sucker Punch and I found switching out to be a much better use of my time. Of course, by the time Nationals rolled around Swaggermania had made its way over the Pacific, but I still think Regenerator is the better way to go. I found more situations I was happy about having Regenerator than I would have Own Tempo.
Flamethrower is mostly for Ferrothorn who can give both Slowking and Gastrodon a very hard time, but it does not OHKO. He needs support from whoever the partner lead is. I personally found it safer to do this than use Fire Blast for an 85% of a OHKO but 15% chance of a miss.
Gastrodon @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Storm Drain
EVs: 132 HP / 92 Def / 220 SAtk / 64 SDef
Quiet Nature (+SAtk, -Spd)
– Protect
– Earth Power
– Ice Beam
– Muddy Water
Star Number 2. Often switching in on Slowking’s Surf as soon as Trick Room was off, Gastrodon was the powerhouse of the team. The EVs (again courtesy of Randy) give him quite a bit of survivability – especially with the Sitrus Berry which I appreciated having over Rindo Berry in most of my matches. As a result, Gastrodon is also my only core Pokémon with Protect as I found it needed it to keep itself safe on turns where I needed to take down a Grass attack user or get Trick Room back up.
Although quite weak without a Storm Drain boost, after it gets a few Gastrodon’s attacks can wreck havoc on anything even if they resist it. For this reason, I had to stick with the less accurate Muddy Water over Surf. The mental games the 85% accuracy plays in your head can be stressful, but the spread damage is definitely worth it over Scald.
Chandelure @ Focus Sash
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef
Quiet Nature (+SAtk, -Spd)
– Trick Room
– Heat Wave
– Shadow Ball
– Energy Ball
Chandelure is a great Pokémon on the back of this team. Although a little faster than I’d like, he provides great support with an additional Trick Room in matches when the first runs out. He also resists the ever threatening Grass attacks sent Gastrodon and Slowking’s way and stays safe from Hydro Pump and Scald when Gastrodon is on the field — not to mention his Heat Wave and Shadow Ball hit like trucks! Chandelure also has a lot of survivability allowing you to get off that extra Trick Room for Gastrodon without much trouble most of the time – and if there is some trouble, that’s what Focus Sash is for. I cannot count the amount of times a battle was won because I got off a second Trick Room with Chandelure.
Hitmontop @ Eject Button
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 164 HP / 252 Atk / 92 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
– Fake Out
– Sucker Punch
– Mach Punch
– Aerial Ace
This is my default lead partner for Slowking. EVed for a good amount of speed so I can get off the Fake Out in most cases, I can usually get a turn one Trick Room with Slowking. If not, I’ve internalized the list of Fake Out users who beat me well enough to act accordingly and make sure they can’t do anything on the first turn either and get a good turn two Trick Room off using Slowking’s bulk.
The Eject Button allows me a free switch to Gastrodon in cases where the opponent hits Hitmontop giving me an additional turn to attack with Gastrodon. If I absolutely have to, I can also use a priority attack with Hitmontop and Surf to get Gastrodon out for Turn 3, although I haven’t had that situation rise up. Eject Button is also helpful for getting in multiple Intimidates.
The moveset is one I’m not super happy with anymore and was done a little hastier than it should have been. Fake Out and Sucker Punch I find to be musts on this team. I was really divided between Close Combat and Mach Punch. Mach Punch just doesn’t pack quite the same punch (that one was intended) without Technician, but I’m usually playing in Trick Room and Hitmontop’s role is getting that Fake Out first which requires him to be quite fast. Aerial Ace was also added back in a more paranoid time where I had fewer options to deal with Grass and probably needs to go.
Kangaskhan @ Chople Berry
Ability: Scrappy
EVs: 248 HP / 234 Atk / 28 SDef
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
– Fake Out
– Return
– Low Kick
– Sucker Punch
Kangaskhan is better at the Fake Out role than Hitmontop, but unfortunately lacks the Intimidate support which I’ve just found to be too great to give up. I take Kangaskhan into battles as my lead partner for Slowking in matches where I see ghosts on Team Preview. He’s also a bit faster than Hitmontop.
Togekiss @ Lum Berry
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SDef / 4 Spd
Calm (+SDef, -Atk)
– Follow Me
– Safeguard
– Air Slash
– Aura Sphere
Togekiss is on the team to deal with status-heavy teams. An Amoonguss can wreck havoc on the team and make it very hard to recover from – much like in 2011 — so Togekiss is on board to help deal with that. As most players like to lead Amoonguss against my team, I usually lead with Togekiss as well – starting out with a Safeguard to keep me safe while Slowking Psychics it and then following up with an Air Slash or Follow Me as Trick Room goes up.
Problems
The team does have some holes but I just didn’t have the time (or drive) to do fill them over the end of the season. Ludicolo is the largest one. He resists or is neutral to just about the entire team and hits everything for super-effective damage. Although definitely possible to play around, he’s a popular Pokémon you shouldn’t have to play around. Politoed with Hidden Power Grass can also be a little problematic.
Nonetheless, the team is quite a bit of fun to play and I really enjoyed getting to know it better and better as the season progressed and I played in multiple VGC and GBU events. If there’s one thing I learned, constant practice goes a long way as you learn what your team is and isn’t capable of. And that’s constant practice! All it takes is a quick look back at my Last Chance Qualifier run to realize I could have made it to the next round and been a Top 16 finisher losing at the hands of Scott’s (Scott) team if I’d just been a little less rusty. Oh and quick shout-out to Cassie (Cassie) for breeding my Pokémon for me. Not something I could have done myself!
If you’d like to see the team in action, you can check out some videos of it in the 2012 Last Chance Qualifier and 2012 Autumn Friendly.
About the Author
Firestorm is one of the co-founders of Nugget Bridge and the Community Manager for eSports Tournament Platform Battlefy. He has been playing Pokémon since 1999, competitively since 2007, and attending tournaments since 2010. He lives in Vancouver, Canada with a degree in Interactive Art & Technology + Communications. You can follow him on Twitter at @rushanshekar.
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