[overview]
**Draft Order**: Round 5 onwards
**Price Range**: 12-13 points
**Overview**: Azumarill fits onto teams as a powerful bulky wallbreaker with excellent offensive and defensive typing, able to absorb attacks and fire back with force due to Huge Power, strong STAB options, and priority in Aqua Jet. Although it requires a very calculated game state, Azumarill is the premier Belly Drum sweeper in the meta and forces preparation accordingly. Despite these strengths, Azumarill is not a perfect fit on every roster, as its lack of longevity, low Speed for an offensive Pokemon, and general difficulty to position make it a flawed Pokemon. This combination of weaknesses and the prevalence of other desirable Water- and Fairy-type Pokemon cause Azumarill to be undrafted regularly or taken in the later rounds if it fits a particular roster.
[strategy comments]
Common Roles
========
**Wallbreaker**: Azumarill can use a Choice Band or damage-boosting item to output large amounts of damage and break down opposing walls. These sets can also handle faster or weakened foes with a powerful priority Aqua Jet to become a late-game cleaning threat.
**Bulky Attacker**: Azumarill can leverage its natural bulk and great defensive typing to sponge hits and fire back hard. Often, these sets use a healing item such as Leftovers or Sitrus Berry or make use of an Assault Vest with its strong attacking movepool to increase its longevity and force trades.
**Belly Drum Sweeper**: Azumarill can maximize its damage output and become a potentially game-ending sweeper by using Belly Drum. These sets rely on Sitrus Berry to get a Belly Drum off while retaining HP and can sweep once Aqua Jet cannot be checked by foes or the opposing teams lacks priority options to revenge kill Azumarill. Trailblaze can also be used to outspeed slightly faster Pokemon that could normally check and revenge kill it.
**Sap Sipper Wall**: Azumarill can use Sap Sipper to become a more defensively-oriented team member capable of beating Grass-type foes. These sets are anti-meta, as they check many top threats and can often surprise a foe, trap them with Whirlpool, and beat them one-on-one through a variety of methods such as Perish Song.
Common Moves
========
**Primary STAB Moves**: Liquidation, Play Rough, Aqua Jet
**Setup Moves**: Belly Drum, Trailblaze
**Utility Moves**: Encore, Substitute, Rest, Brick Break, Protect, Whirlpool, Perish Song
**Coverage**: Knock Off, Ice Spinner, Superpower
Niche Moves
========
**Bulldoze**: Bulldoze can be found on attacking and sweeping sets against foes that resist Azumarill's STAB attacks. This move is only against Pokemon that are 4x weak to Ground or resist its STAB combination as STAB attacks are generally more powerful and do not cost an extra moveslot.
**Endure**: Endure can be used to ensure Azumarill survives an attack and activates Custap Berry to dish out an additional powerful attack.
Common Items
========
**Choice Band**: Choice Band is a premier item for Azumarill to let it wallbreak with potency and weaken nearly any foe tremendously. It also makes Azumarill's Aqua Jet into a great late-game cleaning option and win condition.
**Damage-boosting Items**: Similarly to Choice Band, items such as Mystic Water and Expert Belt allow Azumarill to hit higher damage thresholds to tear down opposing walls. These items are used when Azumarill wishes to switch attacks, which can be important given its ability to hit a foe into KO range and then clean up with a priority Aqua Jet.
**Sitrus Berry**: With even HP , a Sitrus Berry, and a dream, Azumarill can use Belly Drum in a favorable field position and then regain HP to facilitate a potential sweep. This item can also have more general applications to help Azumarill avoid being KOed in certain situations and provide it extra longevity.
**Heavy-Duty Boots**: Heavy-Duty Boots provides Azumarill safety from getting chipped down by entry hazards. On average, Heavy-Duty Boots will be more consistent than healing items for promoting its longevity, due to the prevalence of hazard-stacking teams.
**Assault Vest**: Azumarill can take advantage of its combination of strong STAB attacks, priority Aqua Jet, utility attacks like Knock Off, and coverage to effectively use an Assault Vest and gain the bulk to sponge hits from and check some special threats.
Niche Items
========
**Leftovers**: Leftovers provide extra longevity to Azumarill which greatly appreciates passive healing if it is not too threatened by hazards in a given matchup.
**Resistance Berries**: Resistance Berries such as Wacan and Rindo Berry will let Azumarill unexpectedly absorb one super effective attack to trade damage with a foe or gain extra security.
**Lum Berry**: Lum Berry can be effective in preventing a burn that would greatly diminish Azumarill's damage output.
**Rocky Helmet**: Rocky Helmet can be found on bulkier sets to punish contact moves, as Azumarill can capably absorb common contact attacks such as Knock Off and U-turn due to its Fairy typing.
**Custap Berry**: Custap Berry is used on sets in conjunction with Endure to allow Azumarill to ignore its poor Speed and gain an extra chance to attack.
Tera
========
Azumarill is not an ideal primary Tera Captain, as it already has excellent typing, can only set up in very specific scenarios due to its low Speed, and generally is outclassed by other potential Tera Captains. If you make Azumarill a Tera Captain, it often uses STAB Tera types to further enhance its wallbreaking capabilities and the power of its strong Aqua Jet. It can also use defensive Tera types such as Tera Grass, Electric, and Poison to flip type matchups in its favor and ease its ability to use Belly Drum safely.
Draft Strategy
========
Due to its many inherent flaws, Azumarill is a complementary piece that fits on specific teams and requires support. It can provide strong wallbreaking, some coveted typings, and the potential to clean up games and even sweep if facilitated extremely well.
**Reliable Pivots**: As a slow wallbreaker that does not possess extreme bulk or reliable recovery, Azumarill needs reliable pivots to provide it safe entry to be effective. Pokemon such as Zapdos, Tornadus-T, and Cinderace fit this role well and can position Azumarill favorably.
**Special Wallbreakers**: As a strong physical wallbreaker, Azumarill appreciates teammates that can help it weaken walls with special attacks. Additional wallbreaking is particularly essential to allow it to clean up late-game scenarios with Aqua Jet. Pokemon such as Darkrai, Iron Moth, and Latios can perform this role.
**Speed Control**: As Azumarill has very poor Speed for an offensive Pokemon, fast teammates and paralysis spreading are appreciated to force Speed investment on foes and allow Azumarill to attack first, respectively. Some effective speed control options are Sneasler and Weavile for their natural Speed and Galarian Slowking and Uxie to spread paralysis.
**Entry Hazard Removal**: Azumarill can benefit greatly from having entry hazard control, as it appreciates the flexibility to run damage-boosting items and healing items regularly. Entry hazard removal options such as Iron Treads and Terapagos support it well.
**Bulky Teammates**: Although Azumarill possesses solid natural bulk, it lacks the longevity to serve as a long-term check to foes and form a sturdy defensive backbone. Pokemon such as Corviknight and Ting-Lu can work well alongside Azumarill and provide its team with bulk.
Checks and Counters
========
**Physically Bulky Pokemon**: As a relatively one-dimensional physical wallbreaker, some physically bulky Pokemon can very reliably check Azumarill, especially as it lacks coverage. These walls will usually chip Azumarill down with a Rocky Helmet, as it almost exclusively uses contact moves. Physical walls such as Alomomola, Skarmory, and Deoxys-D can all check Azumarill.
**Faster Foes**: With very subpar Speed, Azumarill is easily offensively checked and revenge killed by a wide variety of Pokemon with type advantages. A few of these numerous threats are Meowscarada, Rillaboom, and Zapdos.
**Water-resistant Pokemon**: Pokemon that resist Aqua Jet can usually check Belly Drum variants and revenge kill them. Pokemon such as Kyurem, Rotom-W, and Ogerpon-W are unthreatened by Aqua Jet and are fast enough to easily revenge kill Belly Drum sets with super effective attacks. These checks also force standard Azumarill sets to be far more reliant on prediction to make progress and deal the damage they aim to.
[credits]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/jscurf2.608304/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/techno.527276/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/nyx.564960/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/solarbeam.470115/
**Draft Order**: Round 5 onwards
**Price Range**: 12-13 points
**Overview**: Azumarill fits onto teams as a powerful bulky wallbreaker with excellent offensive and defensive typing, able to absorb attacks and fire back with force due to Huge Power, strong STAB options, and priority in Aqua Jet. Although it requires a very calculated game state, Azumarill is the premier Belly Drum sweeper in the meta and forces preparation accordingly. Despite these strengths, Azumarill is not a perfect fit on every roster, as its lack of longevity, low Speed for an offensive Pokemon, and general difficulty to position make it a flawed Pokemon. This combination of weaknesses and the prevalence of other desirable Water- and Fairy-type Pokemon cause Azumarill to be undrafted regularly or taken in the later rounds if it fits a particular roster.
[strategy comments]
Common Roles
========
**Wallbreaker**: Azumarill can use a Choice Band or damage-boosting item to output large amounts of damage and break down opposing walls. These sets can also handle faster or weakened foes with a powerful priority Aqua Jet to become a late-game cleaning threat.
**Bulky Attacker**: Azumarill can leverage its natural bulk and great defensive typing to sponge hits and fire back hard. Often, these sets use a healing item such as Leftovers or Sitrus Berry or make use of an Assault Vest with its strong attacking movepool to increase its longevity and force trades.
**Belly Drum Sweeper**: Azumarill can maximize its damage output and become a potentially game-ending sweeper by using Belly Drum. These sets rely on Sitrus Berry to get a Belly Drum off while retaining HP and can sweep once Aqua Jet cannot be checked by foes or the opposing teams lacks priority options to revenge kill Azumarill. Trailblaze can also be used to outspeed slightly faster Pokemon that could normally check and revenge kill it.
**Sap Sipper Wall**: Azumarill can use Sap Sipper to become a more defensively-oriented team member capable of beating Grass-type foes. These sets are anti-meta, as they check many top threats and can often surprise a foe, trap them with Whirlpool, and beat them one-on-one through a variety of methods such as Perish Song.
Common Moves
========
**Primary STAB Moves**: Liquidation, Play Rough, Aqua Jet
**Setup Moves**: Belly Drum, Trailblaze
**Utility Moves**: Encore, Substitute, Rest, Brick Break, Protect, Whirlpool, Perish Song
**Coverage**: Knock Off, Ice Spinner, Superpower
Niche Moves
========
**Bulldoze**: Bulldoze can be found on attacking and sweeping sets against foes that resist Azumarill's STAB attacks. This move is only against Pokemon that are 4x weak to Ground or resist its STAB combination as STAB attacks are generally more powerful and do not cost an extra moveslot.
**Endure**: Endure can be used to ensure Azumarill survives an attack and activates Custap Berry to dish out an additional powerful attack.
Common Items
========
**Choice Band**: Choice Band is a premier item for Azumarill to let it wallbreak with potency and weaken nearly any foe tremendously. It also makes Azumarill's Aqua Jet into a great late-game cleaning option and win condition.
**Damage-boosting Items**: Similarly to Choice Band, items such as Mystic Water and Expert Belt allow Azumarill to hit higher damage thresholds to tear down opposing walls. These items are used when Azumarill wishes to switch attacks, which can be important given its ability to hit a foe into KO range and then clean up with a priority Aqua Jet.
**Sitrus Berry**: With even HP , a Sitrus Berry, and a dream, Azumarill can use Belly Drum in a favorable field position and then regain HP to facilitate a potential sweep. This item can also have more general applications to help Azumarill avoid being KOed in certain situations and provide it extra longevity.
**Heavy-Duty Boots**: Heavy-Duty Boots provides Azumarill safety from getting chipped down by entry hazards. On average, Heavy-Duty Boots will be more consistent than healing items for promoting its longevity, due to the prevalence of hazard-stacking teams.
**Assault Vest**: Azumarill can take advantage of its combination of strong STAB attacks, priority Aqua Jet, utility attacks like Knock Off, and coverage to effectively use an Assault Vest and gain the bulk to sponge hits from and check some special threats.
Niche Items
========
**Leftovers**: Leftovers provide extra longevity to Azumarill which greatly appreciates passive healing if it is not too threatened by hazards in a given matchup.
**Resistance Berries**: Resistance Berries such as Wacan and Rindo Berry will let Azumarill unexpectedly absorb one super effective attack to trade damage with a foe or gain extra security.
**Lum Berry**: Lum Berry can be effective in preventing a burn that would greatly diminish Azumarill's damage output.
**Rocky Helmet**: Rocky Helmet can be found on bulkier sets to punish contact moves, as Azumarill can capably absorb common contact attacks such as Knock Off and U-turn due to its Fairy typing.
**Custap Berry**: Custap Berry is used on sets in conjunction with Endure to allow Azumarill to ignore its poor Speed and gain an extra chance to attack.
Tera
========
Azumarill is not an ideal primary Tera Captain, as it already has excellent typing, can only set up in very specific scenarios due to its low Speed, and generally is outclassed by other potential Tera Captains. If you make Azumarill a Tera Captain, it often uses STAB Tera types to further enhance its wallbreaking capabilities and the power of its strong Aqua Jet. It can also use defensive Tera types such as Tera Grass, Electric, and Poison to flip type matchups in its favor and ease its ability to use Belly Drum safely.
Draft Strategy
========
Due to its many inherent flaws, Azumarill is a complementary piece that fits on specific teams and requires support. It can provide strong wallbreaking, some coveted typings, and the potential to clean up games and even sweep if facilitated extremely well.
**Reliable Pivots**: As a slow wallbreaker that does not possess extreme bulk or reliable recovery, Azumarill needs reliable pivots to provide it safe entry to be effective. Pokemon such as Zapdos, Tornadus-T, and Cinderace fit this role well and can position Azumarill favorably.
**Special Wallbreakers**: As a strong physical wallbreaker, Azumarill appreciates teammates that can help it weaken walls with special attacks. Additional wallbreaking is particularly essential to allow it to clean up late-game scenarios with Aqua Jet. Pokemon such as Darkrai, Iron Moth, and Latios can perform this role.
**Speed Control**: As Azumarill has very poor Speed for an offensive Pokemon, fast teammates and paralysis spreading are appreciated to force Speed investment on foes and allow Azumarill to attack first, respectively. Some effective speed control options are Sneasler and Weavile for their natural Speed and Galarian Slowking and Uxie to spread paralysis.
**Entry Hazard Removal**: Azumarill can benefit greatly from having entry hazard control, as it appreciates the flexibility to run damage-boosting items and healing items regularly. Entry hazard removal options such as Iron Treads and Terapagos support it well.
**Bulky Teammates**: Although Azumarill possesses solid natural bulk, it lacks the longevity to serve as a long-term check to foes and form a sturdy defensive backbone. Pokemon such as Corviknight and Ting-Lu can work well alongside Azumarill and provide its team with bulk.
Checks and Counters
========
**Physically Bulky Pokemon**: As a relatively one-dimensional physical wallbreaker, some physically bulky Pokemon can very reliably check Azumarill, especially as it lacks coverage. These walls will usually chip Azumarill down with a Rocky Helmet, as it almost exclusively uses contact moves. Physical walls such as Alomomola, Skarmory, and Deoxys-D can all check Azumarill.
**Faster Foes**: With very subpar Speed, Azumarill is easily offensively checked and revenge killed by a wide variety of Pokemon with type advantages. A few of these numerous threats are Meowscarada, Rillaboom, and Zapdos.
**Water-resistant Pokemon**: Pokemon that resist Aqua Jet can usually check Belly Drum variants and revenge kill them. Pokemon such as Kyurem, Rotom-W, and Ogerpon-W are unthreatened by Aqua Jet and are fast enough to easily revenge kill Belly Drum sets with super effective attacks. These checks also force standard Azumarill sets to be far more reliant on prediction to make progress and deal the damage they aim to.
[credits]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/jscurf2.608304/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/techno.527276/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/nyx.564960/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/solarbeam.470115/
Last edited:
