by Hippowdon is a Pokémon that I love because of its design and because the truth is that for some reason Hippos have always seemed very cool to me, does it only happen to me? The thing is, it’s strange that it took him so long to do these Strategies, since he’s also very good at Competitive.
We are facing a Pokémon that is good both in Offensive and Defensive, and that is something that is not seen much; but obviously we have quite a few buts… which does not mean that it is a very good Pokémon that you could give a chance to.
And nothing, as always, the introduction is ready, let’s go with the Strategy and Analysis!
? HIPPOWDON STATS
His stats add up to a total of 525 points , so not bad huh? At the moment we started very well, let’s continue with its distribution:
- Health: 108.
- Attack: 112.
- Defense: 118.
- Special Attack: 68.
- Special Defense: 72.
- Speed: 47.
Well, you see, he stands out a lot in the physical section (both defensively and offensively) but the opposite happens with the special section. We are dealing with a Pokémon that resists physical attacks very well (and has good Health on top of that), but on the Special side it is not very covered, so we will have to watch out against special attackers.
Offensively, you can see that he has 112 Attack, which is very good, but his Speed weighs him down quite a bit (he’s very slow); The good thing is that at least it withstands blows well, something that slow Pokémon always appreciate. Also remember that slowness can be a virtue if we use Rare Space .
TYPE: ?️ EARTH
The Ground-Type is a very good Type despite the fact that it has some weaknesses that weigh on it:
- Unaffected by Sandstorm damage.
- It is immune to Electric.
- It is resistant to Poison and Rock.
- It is weak to Grass, Ice and Water.
Sandstorm’s damage is a very good plus, especially given the ability that Hippowdon has, which we will now see; and the immunity to Electric, brutal as always… It’s always nice when faced with a clear Electric attack to take out a Ground and see how the rival pulls his hair out hahaha.
About the weaknesses… Well, if you look closely, they are Guys who tend to be more on the special side in general… And that’s good for us. Although it’s also true that things are a bit weird now, since there are tons of physical attackers: Barraskewda , Darmanitan de Galar and Rillaboom would be good examples. They will hit us hard, but at least on the physical side we hold up well.
HIPPOWDON’S ABILITIES
Well, we are facing a Pokémon with very good abilities, we are not going to fool ourselves. I showed you the two that he has and I will explain them to you by heart.
SAND BLAST
One of my favorite abilities and well known by Tyranitar , like all those related to Climates and Field, which are cool. Sandblast will invoke the weather of Sandstorm for 5 turns, it will deal a little damage (6.25% of total health) each turn to Pokémon that are not Ground, Steel or Rock (so it will not affect us) .
The good thing is that it will also increase the Special Defense of Rock-Type Pokémon by 50%, something that does not affect us but that we can take advantage of with another Pokémon. And let’s not forget Excadrill , who takes advantage of the Sandy Weather which is nice.
SAND POWER
Another skill related to the arena! obvious! Sand Power is his hidden ability and it will basically increase the damage of Ground, Rock, and Steel-Type moves in Sandstorm Weather by 30%, not bad. It will also immunize us from the damage caused by the sand, although in this case we already are.
HIPPOWDON STRATEGY PHYSICAL WALL
We are going to turn our Hippowdon into a brutal physical wall and it will also bring utility and power to our team (whether you want it or not, it puts in a good Earthquake even being defensive):
- IVs : All perfect.
- EVs : All in Defense and Health, the rest in Special Defense.
- Nature : Agitated (+ Defense, – Special Attack).
- Ability : Sand Blast.
- Object : Wreckage, Jagged Hull or Smooth Rock.
We want it to resist physical hits and boy will it do so, the nature is obvious because we don’t care about Special Attack. Sand Blast will come in handy for that extra damage and to support the team (for example if we have an Excadrill) and for Weather control, which never hurts.
Regarding the object to the consumer’s taste:
- Remains : The one that I would catch since the recovery of health is very noticeable. But it is easy to already have another Pokémon with the object occupied, in that case we have the alternatives.
- Jagged Helmet : Very good for a physical defender since on top of that we will damage enemies when they hit us (add the damage of the sand and uf… cloth).
- Soft Rock : So that the weather lasts 8 turns and not 5; That doesn’t seem like such a good idea to me because in this generation it’s super easy to change the climate and in that case it’s not worth it… except with the options that we have above that are very useful.
BEST MOVES
Best moves for this Strategy:
- Earthquake : STAB Ground, Physical, 100 Potency, 100% Accuracy, and deals double damage to Pokémon that are Burrowed (Dig). A brutal STAB move that will hit very well despite being Defense oriented. Earth is effective against Electric, Fire, Steel, Poison, and Rock.
- Rock Trap: Rock, will place a trap on the opponent’s field that will deal damage to Pokémon that enter battle. It will be higher or lower depending on its weakness/resistance to Rock-Type. It’s not for nothing that they are used so much in Singles, they are great to weaken the opposing team and Hippowdon is a very good Pokémon to put it on.
- Relax : We will restore 50% of our total health. A tough Pokemon that can heal itself is always appreciated.
- Swirl : It has negative priority (so we will normally do it last) but it comes in handy since it will allow us to remove our rival Pokémon and combines very well with the extra damage that the Pokémon that enters through the Sand Weather + Rock Trap will receive . Ideal if we smell a threat to remove it and in the process wear down another rival’s Pokémon.
The key is to keep it away, especially from special attackers, since we won’t be able to withstand them very well. For the rest, we have a Pokémon that will incredibly resist physical damage (be careful with its weaknesses even so) and that, in addition to hitting hard with Earthquake, will give us a lot of support:
- The Sand will damage the enemies, but be careful, it will also damage your Pokémon if they are not Ground, Rock or Steel.
- Trampa Rocas is always very noticeable and in singles it comes too well.
- Whirlpool will allow us to annoy the rival quite a bit and force him to eat more sand and rocks. It will also allow us to withdraw Pokémon that are boosted , even with that they will not be able to against us!
- Arena’s weather will allow other Pokémon like Excadrill to come in with a bang to blow it up.
Oh, and in Espacio Raro words are unnecessary… a bad beast.
Brutal or not? I love this pokemon. And because now we can’t put Toxic on it… a pity, but Swirl also seems like a very good option to me.
