by Today we will talk about Amoonguss , a Pokémon that since its inclusion in the Pokémon Sword and Shield DLC has been rocking in Competitive and, frankly, it’s not something that surprises me because it can’t be more… ugh, you have to see it hahaha.
And it is that Amoonguss is one of those Pokémon that you love or that you hate… you will love it in your team and you will hate it in the rival team; basically. Because we can say many things about Amoonguss both for good and for bad, but what is undeniable is how annoying this bug can be.
But as all these words are left over without evidence, we are going to analyze it in depth in this Strategy so that you can understand why this Pokémon can become so horrible (in a good way). Let’s go there!
? AMOONGUSS STATS
His stats add up to a total of 464 points , so we started a little badly since you know that I like that they at least reach 500. But don’t worry, he has other things that are brutal, let’s see his distribution the same.
- Health: 114.
- Attack: 85.
- Defense: 70.
- Special Attack: 85.
- Special Defense: 80.
- Speed: 30.
A cast that I really don’t like very much, although I also admit that thank goodness it’s like that… because what a bad beast it would be otherwise. He is guilty of having too many points in offensive statistics when in itself it is not what suits him best; since it is a Defensive Pokémon in the purest style of the great Toxapex , Ferrothorn or Corsola de Galar .
This is something that can shock you since defensively it is not crazy either. His health is very good, yes, but his defenses… although we can’t say they’re bad either (the Defense of 70 is a bit true), they are quite scarce given his defensive nature. But nothing, you wait.
As for his Speed, you can see that it is terrible, just as slow as Slowbro de Galar , but that can even be a virtue due to the movement Weird Space ; especially in doubles, which is very common there.
TYPE: ? PLANT ? POISON
The Poison Grass-type has some very good things, but it has some problematic weaknesses:
- He is immune to poison (let’s not forget that Salazzle could poison him ).
- It is immune to Drains.
- It is very resistant to Plant.
- It is resistant to Water, Fighting, Electric and Fairy.
- It is weak to Fire, Psychic, Ice and Flying.
Immunity to poisoning and Draining is very key and we also have some quite interesting resistances (a very good option to stop Fluid Urshifu ); but let’s focus on the part of the weaknesses that is where there is more to say:
- Fire isn’t a good weakness with Cinderace so present in Competitive (hope it doesn’t spread).
- Psychic is also not nice, especially in doubles, which we now have the powerful Vast Force super present.
- Ice is a super common coverage move and let’s not talk about what would happen if we take out a Darmanitan from Galar ; that although it is banned by Smogon and in Showdown, it can still be used in combat on the Nintendo Switch.
- Flying may seem more light, but we have Talonflame back giving it all (which also attacks us with Fire) and also Pokémon like Staraptor .
SKILLS
Let’s see all his skills, both very interesting indeed:
SPORE EFFECT
Very good; With Spore Effect we will have a 30% chance of poisoning, sleeping or paralyzing the rival Pokémon (the effect will be random) as long as it makes a contact movement. Very key, but personally I prefer the following.
REGENERATION
One of my favorite skills and not for nothing… what a blast. Basically we will restore 1/3 of the total health of our Pokémon whenever we return it to its Poké Ball (when we change it we go); It’s great to keep it alive, since when you remove it, it heals for free; brutal for defenders like Amoonguss.
AMOONGUSS SINGLES STRATEGY
We will strengthen its defensive side, since we will look for the Stall:
- IVs: All perfect except Speed at 0 if we want to use Trick Space.
- EVs: 200 in health and the rest equally distributed in Defense and Special Defense.
- Nature: Serene (Increases Special Defense and lowers Attack).
- Ability: Regeneration.
- Object: Black Mud.
Little to say here, we are interested in holding on as long as we can. I’ve preferred a nature that boosts Special Defense as its weaknesses are more dangerous on that side than physical (in general).
As for the object, Black Mud will help us recover a little Health each turn (remember that this only works on Poison-Types) and without spending the Leftovers slot, how strange it would be not to use it on some other Pokémon. And on top of that with Regeneration… well, you can imagine.
BEST MOVES
Best moves for Amoonguss:
- Spore : We will put the target Pokémon to sleep and on top of that it has 100% accuracy; crazy, let’s go.
- Toxic: The quintessential Stall move. We will seriously poison the enemy so that he loses more and more health every turn.
- Giga Drain : STAB Plant, Special, 75 power, 100% accuracy and restore 50% of the damage we do as health. Also remember that Grass is effective against Ground, Water, and Rock.
- Clear Fog : STAB Poison, Special, 50 power, can’t miss (except for protections and stuff) and will also remove all boosts the opponent has put on. Poison is effective against Fairy and Grass.
Now you will begin to understand why I say that this Pokémon is so annoying; but anyway I tell you the Strategy. Spore is obviously brutal, we have all suffered sleep in Pokémon at some point (from 2 to 5 turns without the rival being able to attack, it is said soon) which will allow us to practically nullify a rival’s Pokémon (it will be rare for one to last that long).
If they switch the Pokémon (remember the Sleep Clause, you can only put one of your opponent’s Pokémon to sleep at a time) you’ll be able to keep bugging them with toxic. You also have Gigadrained for the offensive and on top of that we will heal with the movement (plus the Black Mud and Regeneration… cloth). And on top of that, as if that weren’t enough, if the rival comes up with the brilliant idea of trying to kill us by boosting (Sword Dance, Dragon Dance…) we can take it away while attacking with STAB (although it is not a very powerful attack ) with Clear Fog… impressive.
Of course, keep it away from very powerful Pokémon of Types to which it is weak… that damage will be too much for it to take well.
