AZUMARILL STRATEGY IN COMPETITIVE POKÉMON

The second generation brought one of the biggest changes to Competitive Pokémon , the introduction of the Fairy-type. Some first generation Pokémon acquired this type, but there were also Pokémon that became stable of many strategies for Singles and Doubles. Today we bring you one of our newsroom’s favorite Pokémon: Azumarill .

With a friendly design and not very good stats, Azumarill seems like a Pokémon that is more focused on fans than on combat. At least until you look at the number of moves it has, its great combination of types, and its great ability. We are going to see everything necessary to include this mythical Fairy in your teams.

? AZUMARILL STATS

Its statistics add up to 420 points , quite low for a Pokémon in Competitive. Let’s see its distribution:

Health: 100.
Attack: 50.
Defense: 80.
Special Attack: 60.
Special Defense: 80.
Speed: 50.

Defensively Azumarill is a solid Pokémon. Its 100 Health give it good stamina, which together with its two resistances of 100 for Defense and 80 for Special Defense give us a Pokémon with no notable shortcomings. Its offensive side is another story, because with 50 Speed Azumarill is a very slow Pokémon (yes, we can use it for Trick Room ) and also with 50 Attack it doesn’t seem like it could pose a threat, but thanks to its ability this is solved .

TYPE, RESISTANCES AND WEAKNESSES

Azumarill is a Water Fairy Type , just like Primarina or Tapu Fini. Let’s see its resistances and weaknesses:

It is resistant to Fire, Water, Ice, Fighting, Bug and Dark
He is immune to Dragon.
It is weak to Electric, Grass and Poison.

Azumarill has an excellent combination of types, especially defensively, with 6 resistances and an immunity our Blue Fairy will be able to withstand many opponents and be a very safe switch.

But it also only has 3 weaknesses:

Electric : It is a rather uncomfortable weakness, since Electric type attackers tend to be faster and in many cases Special (their worst Defense). Be careful with Pokémon like Tapu-Koko or Kilowattrel .
Plant : Be very careful with this weakness, especially Pokémon like Arboliva or Meowscarada (remember that with its crit it ignores Defense improvements).
Poison : It is a rare type, but some Pokémon like Glimmora or Venusaur can be very uncomfortable.

AZUMARILL ABILITIES

We have 3 possible abilities, 2 of them totally viable and it will depend on what we are looking for:

POWER

The Pokémon doubles its Attack. That 50 Attack is now 100 , which fixes the problem and makes Azumarill a slow sweeper . This is Azumarill’s best ability.

TALLOW

This ability halves Ice and Fire-type damage to the opponent. These are guys that don’t threaten our Azumarill, so it’s his worst ability.

HERBIVORE (HIDDEN ABILITY)

Thanks to Herbivore, our Pokémon will be immune to Plant-type movements, and our Azumarill’s attack will increase. It’s a great ability that gives it a second Immunity, on top of a type it’s weak to. If we are looking for a set with a lot of endurance, this ability is tremendous.

IVS, EVS AND NATURE

The perfect Iv’s and we will use EV’s to increase their damage and PS:

EV’s : 252 in Health, 4 in Health and 252 in Attack. Alternatively we can sacrifice Health points to give it Speed.
Nature : The best option is a Steadfast Nature (+Attack, -Special Attack)

BEST MOVES FOR AZUMARILL

Azumarill has great moves and a couple of tricks that can give us easy wins:

Aqua Jet : Water STAB, Physical, 40 power and 100% accuracy. This is a priority move. This move helps Azumarill to hit before faster Pokemon (which it almost always will). It is very effective damage against Fire, Rock and Ground types. It comes in handy for Pokemon like Skeledirge , Chandelure , or Garganacl .
Sweetheart : Fairy STAB, Physical, 90 and 90% accuracy. 10% chance to lower your opponent’s Attack by 1 stage. It is very effective damage against Dragon, Fighting and Dark types. It’s our best option against the likes of Garchomp , Quaquaval , or Tyranitar .
Hydro Ram : Water STAB, Physical, 85 power and 100% accuracy. Has a 20% chance to lower the target’s Defense by one level. It is an alternative to Aqua Jet with more damage, but will usually hit after.
Drum : Normal, State and 100% Accuracy. The user loses half of their maximum Health in exchange for gaining a +6 to Attack. With this boost our Azumarill will become Thanos, weakening Pokémon without much problem.
Demolition : Fighting, Physical, 75 power and 100% accuracy. This move destroys the effects of Reflect, Light Screen, or Aurora Shroud, making it great against Pokemon like Grimmsnarl . It is also very effective damage against Steel, Ice, Normal, Rock and Dark types. It will come in handy for those Maushold , Kingambit or Lucario .
Frozen Pirouette : Ice, Physical, 80 power and 100% accuracy. This move removes any fields present (such as electric or grass fields), making it very good against Tapu-Koko or Rillaboom. It is also very effective damage against Dragon, Grass, Ground and Flying. Great coverage for Pokemon like Salamence or Togekiss .
Protection : Normal, Status, high priority. The Pokémon prevents all damage or status moves this turn. A must in Doubles VGC.

AZUMARILL STRATEGIES

The use of Azumarill is almost identical in Singles and Doubles:

AZUMARILL SWEEPER WITH DRUM – THE PERCUSSIONIST FAIRY (SINGLES AND DOUBLES)

IVs: Perfect.
EVs: 252 Health, 4 Defense, 252 Attack.
Nature: Firm.
Item: Zidra Berry / Assault Vest.
Skill: Power.
Movements:
- Aqua Jet / Hydro ram.
- carantoña.
- Protection / Demolition.
- Drum / Frozen Pirouette.

Our goal is clear: get Azumarill onto the field when it’s not threatened in order to safely use Drum. After using Drum our Zidra Berry will activate, recovering part of our Health. Once our Blue Fairy is at +6 Attack and with the Power ability, it will be an unstoppable destroyer . Be very careful with the move Taunt, because if it is thrown at us before using Drum we will not be able to use it. And even worse, moves like Clear Mist remove the stat boosts, leaving us losing 50% Health for nothing.

The movement choices are comfortable, although in the tests Acua Jet has been much more decisive, since Azumarill is very slow. Breakthrough is a big surprise, it helps a lot and gives us some coverage for Steel-types. The Frost Tumble option is for the Assault Vest set, a nice surprise to hit Grass-types with.

AZUMARILL TERACRYSTALLIZATION

Fairy Teratype .

Fairy is one of the best types in the game (if not the best). Note that we gain a weakness to Steel. If we already have the drum boost or we need to take down a tough Dragon, with our Carantoña we will hit very hard thanks to the x2 STAB of teracrystallization.

HOW TO DEFEAT AZUMARILL AND COUNTERS

If Azumarill increases its Attack to max it may be too late, but there are always ways to deal with it. Let’s look at some of the best ways:

Mist / Clear Mist : These movements remove all stat mods from the target, removing the +6 that Drum gives us and leaving Azumarill with Health touched. We recommend using Gastrodon with Clear Mist, which also has immunity to Water (and redirects attacks of this type in Doubles).
Taunt : Taunt prevents the target from being able to use status moves, so Azumarill will not be able to use Drum. Grimmsnarl is a great Pokémon for using Taunt, as thanks to its taunting ability it will do so with priority. We can also avoid the opponent’s Rare Space.
Getting Too Much Health Down – Azumarill can only Drum if it is above 50% Health, so a very effective hit before it increases its stats can be key.
Burn it: If we put the Burned state on it, its physical damage is reduced by 50%. If he manages to use Drum it will still hit hard, but we will mitigate a lot of damage. Mimikyu is a great Pokemon for this as it will take a hit from Azumarill every time thanks to its ability.

AZUMARILL STRATEGY IN COMPETITIVE POKÉMON

? AZUMARILL STATS

TYPE, RESISTANCES AND WEAKNESSES