ORTHWORM STRATEGY IN COMPETITIVE POKÉMON

Orthworm is a Pokémon that the more I progressed in the realization of this post (the intro is the last thing I do to give you a kind of summary + impressions) the more I liked it. The truth is that it seems to me an incredible Pokémon for the Competitive.

It is the typical Pokémon that stands out above all for its defensive section, in this case it is a monster in Physical Defense. But in addition to that, it has a combination of Type, Ability and Movements that are incredible… thus giving us the possibility of having a tremendous Support combo for Singles or an Offensive Wall that our partner can heal with Earthquake (you’ll see) in Doubles while both wreak havoc.

I didn’t expect this Worm to be so powerful, so nothing, highly recommended. Let’s go with the analysis in detail and you will see what I mean!

ORTHWORM STATS

His statistics add up to a total of 480 points . Quite close to those 500 that we usually recommend for a competitive Pokémon, although of course what ends up mattering more is how well these points are distributed:

• Health: 70.
• Attack: 85.
• Defense: 145.
• Special Attack: 60.
• Special Defense: 55.
• Speed: 65.

You see that it does not stand out too much in any way except for that colossal Defense of 145 points that is a real outrage. On the physical side we will be super well protected, there is no doubt about that… but it is a shame that Health and Special Defense do not go hand in hand.

As for the rest, there is little to brag about, a decent Attack is its greatest offensive asset (although of course it will not do incredible damage) and a Speed ​​that is too low for the standard game and too high to at least be fast in Trick Room .

TYPE, RESISTANCES AND WEAKNESSES

Orthworm is a Steel Type , a type that stands out for being very good defensively, which you will see right now:

• He is immune to Poison and also to Poisoned’s status ailment.
• It is resistant to Dragon, Fairy, Bug, Steel, Ice, Normal, Psychic, Grass, Rock, and Flying.
• It is weak to Earth, Fire and Fighting.

An immunity (and also to the ailment) and 10 resistances is said soon, it is a real madness and that will allow us to enter the field in an easy way a priori. If our rival has many physical Pokémon on top, let’s not even talk anymore.

Let’s talk about their weaknesses a bit, because the truth is that they are somewhat damn; but come on, it more than makes up for it with so much resistance and immunity:

• Fire : It will not be the most dangerous weakness, but it is a fact that Fire usually has very powerful Pokémon. It will be necessary to watch with some examples like Volcarona, Rotom Heat or I suppose that Charizad although it is not used as much.
• Ground : One of the worst weaknesses you can have for being a very abundant type both in Pokémon and in coverage movements. Luckily there are not many special Pokémon of this type, but an example could be Gastrodon  or Pelarena. In any case, we will lose this weakness with his Geophagia Ability , I will tell you below.
• Fighting : Another type you don’t want to have as it’s one of the most common coverage moves because of its tremendous Type coverage. Pokémon like  Lucario (the special version) will be a great threat and of course be careful with moves like True Wave, which many Pokémon of other Types have as coverage.

The good thing about this is that its weaknesses are precisely of Types where more physical Pokémon abound (Fire a little less), which is a great advantage for us.

ORTHWORM ABILITIES

These are his abilities, we will comment a little on each one and we will tell you which is the best as always:

GEOPHAGY

Geophagy is an incredible ability since it will make us immune to Earth (thus losing a weakness) and on top of that if they attack us with that Type we will recover 25% of our maximum HP. This is also a tremendous combo in Doubles to go with a buddy with Earthquake so that it damages all opponents and on top of that it heals our Orthworm.

We will therefore be left with only 2 weaknesses that tend to be more dangerous on the physical side and we will have a perfect Pokémon to go out on suspicion of an Earth attack.

SAND VEIL (HIDDEN ABILITY)

It is a tremendous ability, but the previous one is more common without a doubt. We will be immune to the damage of Sandstorm (we already are because we are Steel Type), but also the Accuracy  of the movements that they make to us will be reduced by 20% when we are in said weather.

It would help us a lot to withstand the blows a little better, but nothing, better to lose the weakness to Earth and have the possibility of healing ourselves.

IVS, EVS AND NATURE

The Iv’s are perfect as in 99% of the cases. Regarding EV’s and Nature we will do the following:

• EV’s : 252 Health, 252 Defense and 4 Attack.
• Nature : Agitated (+Defense, –Special Attack).

RECOMMENDED ITEM

These are the items I highly recommend for Orthworm:

• Leftovers : As in all defensive Pokémon. Remnants is great as we’ll heal a bit of Health each turn to hold up better.
• Zidra Berry : An interesting alternative since it will restore 1/4 of our maximum HP when our life drops below half. This item will be a great combo with his move “Autonomy”.

Both are good options. If you already have Scraps on another Pokémon, give it the Zidra Berry and you’re good to go.

BEST MOVES FOR ORTHWORM

The moves I recommend the most for Orthworm:

• Heavy Body : STAB Steel, Physical, Variable Power, 100% Accuracy. The heavier our Pokémon is compared to the opponent (Orthworm weighs a lot) the more damage it will cause. Remember that Steel is effective against Fairy, Rock, and Ice for Pokemon like Baxcalibur , Mimikyu  , or Tyranitar .
• Body Iron : Fight, Physical, 80 Power, 100% Accuracy and for the damage it takes into account Defense instead of Attack, so we will deal a tremendous blow given our high Defense. In addition, Fighting has tremendous coverage (Dark, Rock, Ice, Steel, and Normal) so it will be ideal against Pokemon like Kingambit , Meowscarada , or Blissey.
• Earthquake : Ground, Physical, 100 Power, 100% Accuracy and deals double damage to Pokémon that use Burrow (which is not used, but hey, I’ll comment). Tremendous coverage move against Fire, Electric, Rock, Steel and Poison. It will be a good idea to use it against examples of Pokémon such as Glimmora , Torkoal or Ironquills.
• Autonomy : State. We will lose 1/2 of the maximum health, we will leave a substitute on the field and we can change for another Pokémon to take advantage of it. The combo with Baya Zidra is great.
• Rock Trap : We will leave some sharp rocks on the opponent’s field that will damage the Pokémon that enter the field based on their weakness to the Rock Type. One of the best moves for Singles .
• Iron Defense : It will increase our Defense by 2 stadiums, together with Corporal Plank, eye to the damage you can do.

ORTHWORM STRATEGIES

We will leave you here a couple of very interesting Strategies for this Pokémon:

ORTHWORM SUPPORT (SINGLES)

• IVs: Perfect.
• EVs: 252 Defense, 252 Health and 4 Special Defense.
• Nature: Agitated.
• Item: Zidra Berry.
• Skill: Geophagy.
• Movements:
  • Heavy Body.
  • Body Iron.
  • Rock Trap.
  • Autonomy.

With this set we will give tremendous support to our team . The idea is to take it out first, set Rock Trap and then use Autonomy to pass a Substitute to the Pokémon you want (I would take advantage of the typical one that boosts with Sword Dance or Dragon Dance or something like that; a great example would be Salamence ). If all goes well, it’s an amazing start.

In addition, the Zidra Berry will restore 1/4 health, so we will be at 3/4 at the end after using Autonomy, which allows us to do it again and stay alive. The key would be to bring it out when we anticipate a Ground attack so we can heal up Health along the way and foolishly still get a lot of substitutes.

Heavy Body and Body Iron is more to have something offensive in case we have to start distributing cakes. Body Iron will do very good damage, so feel free to use it against Pokemon that are weak to Fighting.

ORTHWORM THE WALL EATER-GROUND OFFENSIVE (DOUBLES)

• IVs: Perfect.
• EVs: 252 Defense, 252 Health and 4 Special Defense.
• Nature: Agitated.
• Item: Leftovers / Choice Ribbon / Life Orb
• Skill: Geophagy.
• Movements:
  • Heavy Body.
  • Body Iron.
  • Earthquake.
  • Protection.

A more offensive set viable for Doubles (it would be viable in Singles too, but in that format I like the Support Strategy better ); for Doubles remember that it is very key to go with a partner who is doing Earthquake in order to heal Health while we also hit the 2 rivals.

We have quite powerful moves (especially Body Plank) with very good coverage, a lot of resistance against physical and preferably a partner who can heal us with Earthquake (Garchomp for example) while doing a lot of damage. Set quite simple but also quite fearful in my opinion.

ORTHWORM TERACRYSTALLIZATION

The truth is that it is not a Pokémon with which I would use the Teracrystallization mechanic, but if I were to do it, I would do the following:

• Fighting Teratype .

Quite profitable in the offensive strategy for Doubles to land some tremendous hits with Body Plank with the STAB acquired from Fighting Type.

• Ghost Teratype .

Teracrystallization of a defensive character since he is a very good type in that sense. Still, Steel is tremendous as a type, I would only use it if it’s 100% necessary and to surprise the opponent.

HOW TO DEFEAT ORTHWORM

Now we will see the opposite, how can we defeat an Orthworm?

• Fight or Fire Specials : On the physical side it is super covered, but for the Special it is not like that. Pokémon that hit him on the special side with these types and are faster than him (something pretty simple) will make him eat ground (although ironically he likes that). Examples of this are the aforementioned Volcarona , Rotom Heat or Lucario Especial.