Hilomilo
High-low My-low
[OVERVIEW]
Toxicroak is able to carve a niche for itself in UU thanks to Dry Skin, which allows it to use the tier's ever-present bulky Water-types as setup bait. In addition to easily setting up against the likes of Alomomola and Suicune, it can utilize its decent typing to threaten a plethora of common threats, including Stakataka, Togekiss, and Primarina, while finding setup opportunities against big presences such as Amoonguss and Choice-locked Nihilego. Toxicroak also has access to useful coverage options like Sucker Punch and Ice Punch, which it can use to deal with the few Pokemon that don't already succumb to its STAB attacks. The former move can also patch up Toxicroak's vulnerability to several faster Pokemon that may try revenge killing it like Latias, Starmie, and Gengar. Unfortunately, Toxicroak is still often outperformed by similar Fighting-types in Infernape, Cobalion, Terrakion, and Heracross due to its worse Speed, poorer type coverage, and lack of access to a reliable powerful Fighting-type attack. Toxicroak is also quite frail, which alongside its common weaknesses leaves it susceptible to several Pokemon that outspeed it like Mega Aerodactyl, Krookodile, and Hydreigon. Lastly, Toxicroak struggles to break past the tier's common defensive Ground-types, such as Swampert and Hippowdon, which can all tank an attack and OHKO it.
[SET]
name: Swords Dance
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Drain Punch
move 3: Gunk Shot
move 4: Sucker Punch / Ice Punch
item: Life Orb / Poisonium Z / Darkinium Z
ability: Dry Skin
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Swords Dance boosts Toxicroak's Attack to respectable levels, turning it into a formidable threat. Drain Punch is Toxicroak's preferred Fighting-type STAB attack because of its decent damage output and healing capabilities. Gunk Shot nails Fairy-types like Primarina, Mega Altaria, and Sylveon. It is also Toxicroak's best source of damage against most of the Water-types it sets up on, such as Alomomola, Suicune, and Mega Blastoise. When Poisonium Z activates, it becomes a powerful Acid Downpour, capable of OHKOing most neutral targets while patching up Gunk Shot's imperfect accuracy. Sucker Punch OHKOes the fast Psychic-types like Latias and Starmie that will try revenge killing Toxicroak after a boost. When Darkinium Z is activated, Sucker Punch turns into a powerful Black Hole Eclipse that is capable of powering through Pokemon that could otherwise tank a hit or evade Sucker Punch while crippling Toxicroak, most notably Mega Slowbro, Doublade, Bronzong, and Tentacruel, the latter of which can be particularly annoying due to its access to Haze and Liquid Ooze. Ice Punch can provide super effective coverage against Ground-types such as Gligar and Hippowdon. Knock Off can be used in the fourth slot to remove items and pressure a lot of slower Psychic- and Ghost-types, like Bronzong, Doublade, and Chandelure. However, Black Hole Eclipse achieves similar feats while also allowing Toxicroak to still use Sucker Punch.
Set Details
========
Full investment in Attack maximizes Toxicroak's offensive presence with a neutral nature. Full Speed investment with a Jolly nature provides it with crucial Speed advantages over a few common threats, including Mega Altaria, Togekiss, and Chandelure. Dry Skin is mandatory for securing Toxicroak's niche as a Pokemon that can utilize its pseudo-immunity to Water-type attacks to set up on Pokemon like Empoleon and Mega Blastoise. Life Orb puts a respectable amount of power behind all of Toxicroak's attacks, bolstering its sweeping capabilities. Poisonium Z is an option that Toxicroak can use alongside Gunk Shot to guarantee an OHKO on Pokemon such as Volcanion and defensive variants of Rotom-H. It also patches up Gunk Shot's slight accuracy issue. Darkinium Z can also be used in order to break past Pokemon like Jellicent and Doublade while still granting it access to Sucker Punch. It can also be useful for nullifying the use of Trick from Choice Scarf users such as Chandelure and Latias that may try evading Sucker Punch. The lack of power behind Toxicroak's STAB attacks is worth noting, however.
Usage Tips
========
Toxicroak should look to begin sweeping once its defensive checks like Hippowdon and Swampert are removed. Revenge killers that don't fear Sucker Punch, such as Infernape and Choice Scarf Krookodile, should also be removed in order to maximize Toxicroak's chances of cleaning up late-game. When it's ready to set up, it should switch in on Water-types like Alomomola and Choice-locked Primarina because of the pseudo-immunity to their Water-type attacks that Dry Skin will provide. Dry Skin also helps Toxicroak check these Pokemon as well, as it may not be able to set up and sweep upon forcing them out but can still prevent them from fulfilling their roles. If running Poisonium Z, Toxicroak should activate it if it needs to secure a crucial KO without worrying about Gunk Shot's accuracy, such as against Volcanion, or if it wants to power through a defensive Pokemon like Alomomola or Suicune in one hit. If it's being run, Darkinium Z should be activated against threats that can cripple Toxicroak upon tanking a hit or evading Sucker Punch. Said threats include Doublade and Slowbro. Toxicroak should keep Sucker Punch hidden if Pokemon like Nihilego and Latias are on the opposing team, as they would likely think that they can easily revenge kill it if under the impression that it isn't running priority to OHKO them after a boost.
Team Options
========
Toxicroak fits best on bulky offensive teams as a decent late-game cleaner and check to several hindrances to these archetypes, such as Alomomola, Suicune, and Empoleon. Entry hazard support is essential to Toxicroak's success because it can more easily break past foes that have taken residual damage. Swampert and Kommo-o can both reliably set Stealth Rock for Toxicroak, while Klefki is particularly helpful in that it can allow Toxicroak to outrun several faster foes through crippling them with Thunder Wave in addition to providing Spikes support. Toxicroak's inability to break past most Ground-types means that checks to them, such as Mamoswine, Celebi, and Kyurem, often function as useful teammates. Lures to Ground-types, such as Hidden Power Grass Rotom-H and Grass Knot Infernape, are particularly useful because of their ability to remove the likes of Swampert, Hippowdon, and Rhyperior. Pokemon like Hippowdon and Scizor that are capable of taking care of most common revenge killers can aid Toxicroak in reliably dealing with the likes of Hydreigon and Choice Scarf Krookodile. Fire-types like Chandelure, Volcanion, and Infernape can weaken opposing teams while, more importantly, luring in bulky Water-types for Toxicroak to KO quite easily. Other powerful wallbreakers, such as Terrakion, Primarina, and Hydreigon, can punch holes in opposing teams and make it easier for Toxicroak to do its job late-game. Toxicroak appreciates Flying-type checks like Rhyperior and Mega Manectric on its team due to its vulnerability to popular threats in Moltres and Crobat. Pokemon that appreciate checks to bulky Water-types on their teams, such as the aforementioned Fire-types and Cobalion, partner well with Toxicroak thanks to its Dry Skin ability.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Nasty Plot is Toxicroak's most viable alternative because of Toxicroak's good special coverage, access to Vacuum Wave, and decent power. However, such a set faces stiff competition from other Fighting-type Nasty Plot users in Infernape and Lucario due to its worse Speed, lower Special Attack, and slight four-moveslot syndrome. Cross Chop is a powerful Fighting-type attack that Toxicroak can use over Drain Punch in order to more easily break foes. It can also potentially be used with Fightinium Z to more reliably power through Ground-types. Unfortunately, its poor accuracy makes it quite unreliable when it isn't being used as a Z-Move, while the lack of recovery forgoing Drain Punch will be met with can prove troublesome. An Adamant nature can be used to maximize Toxicroak's damage output, though it will lose crucial Speed advantages that it previously had, such as those over Chandelure and Togekiss. Substitute + Bulk Up is a set Toxicroak can use to evade status while gradually boosting its offensive presence, but this gives up valuable moveslots and keeps Toxicroak from quickly becoming very offensively threatening. Stone Edge and Earthquake along with either Rockium Z or Groundium Z can be used to lure in and remove Flying- and Poison-types. However, Toxicroak will often make better use of the moves listed on its main set. Lastly, a mixed set is plausible due to Toxicroak's diverse movepool, but it will be dramatically weaker than any setup set due to Toxicroak's average offenses without boosts.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Faster Pokemon**: Toxicroak's low Speed in tandem with its poor bulk leaves it open to KOs from faster Pokemon that are capable of stomaching a boosted Sucker Punch. Examples include Infernape, which can threaten Toxicroak with Fire-type attacks due to Dry Skin; Hydreigon, which resists Sucker Punch and can almost always OHKO with Draco Meteor; and Krookodile, which can lower Toxicroak's Attack to tank a Sucker Punch even more comfortably while KOing it with Earthquake.
**Flying-types**: The likes of Moltres and Mega Pidgeot can easily tank a boosted Sucker Punch while OHKOing Toxicroak in return with their powerful Flying-type STAB attacks. Crobat is especially annoying, as it can easily come in on Toxicroak's STAB moves, tank a Sucker Punch, and OHKO it with STAB Brave Bird.
**Poison-types**: Poison-types resist both of Toxicroak's STAB moves and often have ways of crippling it. Tentacruel can punish the use of Drain Punch thanks to Liquid Ooze, while Nidoking Speed ties Toxicroak and only fears +2 Black Hole Eclipse. The aforementioned Crobat is also often a particularly troubling opponent.
**Ground-types**: Bulky Ground-types like Hippowdon, Swampert, and Quagsire are capable of tanking at least one hit from Toxicroak and heavily threatening it with STAB Earthquake in return. Krookodile can be particularly burdensome because of its ability to take a Sucker Punch and OHKO Toxicroak in return.
**Psychic-types**: Although they fear Sucker Punch or Black Hole Eclipse, the likes of Latias, Starmie, and Celebi can threaten Toxicroak out with their 4x super effective STAB attacks, especially if its Attack isn't boosted, in which case Sucker Punch won't OHKO them beforehand. Necrozma is especially annoying for Toxicroak to deal with if healthy, as it tanks a boosted Sucker Punch from full HP.
- Written by: [[Hilomilo, 313384]]
- Quality checked by: [[Bouff, 121672], [martha, 384270], [Eyan, 226777]]
- Grammar checked by: [[martha, 384270], [The Dutch Plumberjack, 232216]]
Toxicroak is able to carve a niche for itself in UU thanks to Dry Skin, which allows it to use the tier's ever-present bulky Water-types as setup bait. In addition to easily setting up against the likes of Alomomola and Suicune, it can utilize its decent typing to threaten a plethora of common threats, including Stakataka, Togekiss, and Primarina, while finding setup opportunities against big presences such as Amoonguss and Choice-locked Nihilego. Toxicroak also has access to useful coverage options like Sucker Punch and Ice Punch, which it can use to deal with the few Pokemon that don't already succumb to its STAB attacks. The former move can also patch up Toxicroak's vulnerability to several faster Pokemon that may try revenge killing it like Latias, Starmie, and Gengar. Unfortunately, Toxicroak is still often outperformed by similar Fighting-types in Infernape, Cobalion, Terrakion, and Heracross due to its worse Speed, poorer type coverage, and lack of access to a reliable powerful Fighting-type attack. Toxicroak is also quite frail, which alongside its common weaknesses leaves it susceptible to several Pokemon that outspeed it like Mega Aerodactyl, Krookodile, and Hydreigon. Lastly, Toxicroak struggles to break past the tier's common defensive Ground-types, such as Swampert and Hippowdon, which can all tank an attack and OHKO it.
[SET]
name: Swords Dance
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Drain Punch
move 3: Gunk Shot
move 4: Sucker Punch / Ice Punch
item: Life Orb / Poisonium Z / Darkinium Z
ability: Dry Skin
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Swords Dance boosts Toxicroak's Attack to respectable levels, turning it into a formidable threat. Drain Punch is Toxicroak's preferred Fighting-type STAB attack because of its decent damage output and healing capabilities. Gunk Shot nails Fairy-types like Primarina, Mega Altaria, and Sylveon. It is also Toxicroak's best source of damage against most of the Water-types it sets up on, such as Alomomola, Suicune, and Mega Blastoise. When Poisonium Z activates, it becomes a powerful Acid Downpour, capable of OHKOing most neutral targets while patching up Gunk Shot's imperfect accuracy. Sucker Punch OHKOes the fast Psychic-types like Latias and Starmie that will try revenge killing Toxicroak after a boost. When Darkinium Z is activated, Sucker Punch turns into a powerful Black Hole Eclipse that is capable of powering through Pokemon that could otherwise tank a hit or evade Sucker Punch while crippling Toxicroak, most notably Mega Slowbro, Doublade, Bronzong, and Tentacruel, the latter of which can be particularly annoying due to its access to Haze and Liquid Ooze. Ice Punch can provide super effective coverage against Ground-types such as Gligar and Hippowdon. Knock Off can be used in the fourth slot to remove items and pressure a lot of slower Psychic- and Ghost-types, like Bronzong, Doublade, and Chandelure. However, Black Hole Eclipse achieves similar feats while also allowing Toxicroak to still use Sucker Punch.
Set Details
========
Full investment in Attack maximizes Toxicroak's offensive presence with a neutral nature. Full Speed investment with a Jolly nature provides it with crucial Speed advantages over a few common threats, including Mega Altaria, Togekiss, and Chandelure. Dry Skin is mandatory for securing Toxicroak's niche as a Pokemon that can utilize its pseudo-immunity to Water-type attacks to set up on Pokemon like Empoleon and Mega Blastoise. Life Orb puts a respectable amount of power behind all of Toxicroak's attacks, bolstering its sweeping capabilities. Poisonium Z is an option that Toxicroak can use alongside Gunk Shot to guarantee an OHKO on Pokemon such as Volcanion and defensive variants of Rotom-H. It also patches up Gunk Shot's slight accuracy issue. Darkinium Z can also be used in order to break past Pokemon like Jellicent and Doublade while still granting it access to Sucker Punch. It can also be useful for nullifying the use of Trick from Choice Scarf users such as Chandelure and Latias that may try evading Sucker Punch. The lack of power behind Toxicroak's STAB attacks is worth noting, however.
Usage Tips
========
Toxicroak should look to begin sweeping once its defensive checks like Hippowdon and Swampert are removed. Revenge killers that don't fear Sucker Punch, such as Infernape and Choice Scarf Krookodile, should also be removed in order to maximize Toxicroak's chances of cleaning up late-game. When it's ready to set up, it should switch in on Water-types like Alomomola and Choice-locked Primarina because of the pseudo-immunity to their Water-type attacks that Dry Skin will provide. Dry Skin also helps Toxicroak check these Pokemon as well, as it may not be able to set up and sweep upon forcing them out but can still prevent them from fulfilling their roles. If running Poisonium Z, Toxicroak should activate it if it needs to secure a crucial KO without worrying about Gunk Shot's accuracy, such as against Volcanion, or if it wants to power through a defensive Pokemon like Alomomola or Suicune in one hit. If it's being run, Darkinium Z should be activated against threats that can cripple Toxicroak upon tanking a hit or evading Sucker Punch. Said threats include Doublade and Slowbro. Toxicroak should keep Sucker Punch hidden if Pokemon like Nihilego and Latias are on the opposing team, as they would likely think that they can easily revenge kill it if under the impression that it isn't running priority to OHKO them after a boost.
Team Options
========
Toxicroak fits best on bulky offensive teams as a decent late-game cleaner and check to several hindrances to these archetypes, such as Alomomola, Suicune, and Empoleon. Entry hazard support is essential to Toxicroak's success because it can more easily break past foes that have taken residual damage. Swampert and Kommo-o can both reliably set Stealth Rock for Toxicroak, while Klefki is particularly helpful in that it can allow Toxicroak to outrun several faster foes through crippling them with Thunder Wave in addition to providing Spikes support. Toxicroak's inability to break past most Ground-types means that checks to them, such as Mamoswine, Celebi, and Kyurem, often function as useful teammates. Lures to Ground-types, such as Hidden Power Grass Rotom-H and Grass Knot Infernape, are particularly useful because of their ability to remove the likes of Swampert, Hippowdon, and Rhyperior. Pokemon like Hippowdon and Scizor that are capable of taking care of most common revenge killers can aid Toxicroak in reliably dealing with the likes of Hydreigon and Choice Scarf Krookodile. Fire-types like Chandelure, Volcanion, and Infernape can weaken opposing teams while, more importantly, luring in bulky Water-types for Toxicroak to KO quite easily. Other powerful wallbreakers, such as Terrakion, Primarina, and Hydreigon, can punch holes in opposing teams and make it easier for Toxicroak to do its job late-game. Toxicroak appreciates Flying-type checks like Rhyperior and Mega Manectric on its team due to its vulnerability to popular threats in Moltres and Crobat. Pokemon that appreciate checks to bulky Water-types on their teams, such as the aforementioned Fire-types and Cobalion, partner well with Toxicroak thanks to its Dry Skin ability.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Nasty Plot is Toxicroak's most viable alternative because of Toxicroak's good special coverage, access to Vacuum Wave, and decent power. However, such a set faces stiff competition from other Fighting-type Nasty Plot users in Infernape and Lucario due to its worse Speed, lower Special Attack, and slight four-moveslot syndrome. Cross Chop is a powerful Fighting-type attack that Toxicroak can use over Drain Punch in order to more easily break foes. It can also potentially be used with Fightinium Z to more reliably power through Ground-types. Unfortunately, its poor accuracy makes it quite unreliable when it isn't being used as a Z-Move, while the lack of recovery forgoing Drain Punch will be met with can prove troublesome. An Adamant nature can be used to maximize Toxicroak's damage output, though it will lose crucial Speed advantages that it previously had, such as those over Chandelure and Togekiss. Substitute + Bulk Up is a set Toxicroak can use to evade status while gradually boosting its offensive presence, but this gives up valuable moveslots and keeps Toxicroak from quickly becoming very offensively threatening. Stone Edge and Earthquake along with either Rockium Z or Groundium Z can be used to lure in and remove Flying- and Poison-types. However, Toxicroak will often make better use of the moves listed on its main set. Lastly, a mixed set is plausible due to Toxicroak's diverse movepool, but it will be dramatically weaker than any setup set due to Toxicroak's average offenses without boosts.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Faster Pokemon**: Toxicroak's low Speed in tandem with its poor bulk leaves it open to KOs from faster Pokemon that are capable of stomaching a boosted Sucker Punch. Examples include Infernape, which can threaten Toxicroak with Fire-type attacks due to Dry Skin; Hydreigon, which resists Sucker Punch and can almost always OHKO with Draco Meteor; and Krookodile, which can lower Toxicroak's Attack to tank a Sucker Punch even more comfortably while KOing it with Earthquake.
**Flying-types**: The likes of Moltres and Mega Pidgeot can easily tank a boosted Sucker Punch while OHKOing Toxicroak in return with their powerful Flying-type STAB attacks. Crobat is especially annoying, as it can easily come in on Toxicroak's STAB moves, tank a Sucker Punch, and OHKO it with STAB Brave Bird.
**Poison-types**: Poison-types resist both of Toxicroak's STAB moves and often have ways of crippling it. Tentacruel can punish the use of Drain Punch thanks to Liquid Ooze, while Nidoking Speed ties Toxicroak and only fears +2 Black Hole Eclipse. The aforementioned Crobat is also often a particularly troubling opponent.
**Ground-types**: Bulky Ground-types like Hippowdon, Swampert, and Quagsire are capable of tanking at least one hit from Toxicroak and heavily threatening it with STAB Earthquake in return. Krookodile can be particularly burdensome because of its ability to take a Sucker Punch and OHKO Toxicroak in return.
**Psychic-types**: Although they fear Sucker Punch or Black Hole Eclipse, the likes of Latias, Starmie, and Celebi can threaten Toxicroak out with their 4x super effective STAB attacks, especially if its Attack isn't boosted, in which case Sucker Punch won't OHKO them beforehand. Necrozma is especially annoying for Toxicroak to deal with if healthy, as it tanks a boosted Sucker Punch from full HP.
- Written by: [[Hilomilo, 313384]]
- Quality checked by: [[Bouff, 121672], [martha, 384270], [Eyan, 226777]]
- Grammar checked by: [[martha, 384270], [The Dutch Plumberjack, 232216]]
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