[OVERVIEW]
Houndour's rare Dark typing and high Special Attack make it among the best checks to one of LC's most threatening Pokemon, Abra. It can survive any unboosted attack from Abra thanks to its immunity to Psychic and proper investment and OHKO back with Crunch. These defensive and offensive traits also make Houndour great at forcing another common foe, Gastly, to trade with it using Explosion. Houndour isn't useless otherwise, with it adept at taking on other foes such as Exeggcute and Duskull, as well as being able to threaten an OHKO on every Spikes setter in the tier. It can even KO Porygon with the combination of Crunch into Fire Blast. However, Houdour does have an abhorrent matchup against much of the metagame. It loses badly to common Water-types like Wailmer and fast attackers like Doduo. Diglett is a notably terrible matchup, because while it cannot switch into Fire Blast, it is an extremely common foe that is able to trap, outspeed, and OHKO Houndour.
[SET]
Special Attacker (Houndour) @ Sitrus Berry
Level: 5
Ability: Early Bird
EVs: 36 Def / 200 SpA / 116 SpD / 156 Spe
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 SpA
Modest Nature
- Fire Blast / Overheat
- Crunch
- Hidden Power Grass / Substitute
- Pursuit / Thief
[SET COMMENTS]
Fire Blast serves as a spammable STAB attack, though Overheat is an alternative whose higher damage ranges let Houndour, for example, always OHKO Koffing and Trapinch after one layer of Spikes. Crunch primarily targets Abra as well as Ghost-types such as Duskull and Gastly. Hidden Power Grass is Houndour's strongest attack against Water-types; it doesn't do substantially more damage than Crunch, but its better damage ranges allow Houndour to deal more damage to Wailmer. It also OHKOes Larvitar. Substitute is another alternative, allowing Houndour to take advantage of switches it forces, the opponent sacrificing a slower foe by switching them in, and a slower foe like Snubbull trying to status Houndour. Pursuit allows Houdour to trap foes it beats such as Abra and Duskull, OHKOing them if they switch out. Thief is an alternative that allows Houndour to steal a foe's Sitrus Berry after it has used its own, notably preventing Porygon from healing using Recycle. Houndour's EV spread maximizes its Special Attack and gives it enough Special Defense EVs to always live offensive Abra's Hidden Power Water. The remainder maximizes Houndour's Speed and then dumps the rest into its Defense. Early Bird is chosen as an ability because Houdour's other ability, Flash Fire, could be copied by Porygon's Trace, granting it an immunity to Houndour's most powerful attack.
Houndour is best used as an early- to mid-game progress maker, able to remove foes such as Exeggcute and Duskull, or as a hard answer to Abra. If used in the latter role, Houndour should generally wait until Abra reveals itself, which is usually after a teammate such as Gastly gets a KO. This teammate cannot let Abra set up Calm Mind, because it always OHKOes Houndour with a +1 Hidden Power Water. Houndour can also be used to eliminate Gastly, though typically it trades at best due to Gastly outspeeding Houndour and OHKOing it with Explosion. Even if it isn't running Pursuit, the threat of it and Houndour's high power tend to keep its targets on the field. Houndour's ideal teammates appreciate its ability to eliminate the metagame's Ghost- and Psychic-types, something appreciated by Pokemon such as Gastly, Bagon, and Doduo. Teams that stack multiple Self-Destruct and Explosion users such as Wailmer and Gastly notably appreciate Houndour being able to remove Ghost-types. After eliminating its foe, Houndour will often be revenge killed by Diglett; Porygon can take advantage of this by tracing Diglett's ability and trapping it itself. Trapinch is another trapper Porygon excels at dealing with, though Houndour can OHKO it with Spikes support from a teammate like Pineco or Cacnea. If losing Houndour is too detrimental, it should only be revealed after the Arena Trap users are KOed. Houndour struggles against Water-types; Chinchou and Staryu outspeed and OHKO it, while Wailmer can easily tank any of Houndour's moves and do the same. If faced with them, Houndour is best off weakening them to put them in range of a teammate like Doduo or Elekid.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Houndour can run a mixed SubSalac set with Reversal to act as a sweeper, though it is easily revenge killed by Quick Attack Doduo and bulky foes like Wailmer. An Endure + Salac Berry special attacking set can lure in foes such as Anorith and Diglett that would otherwise easily revenge kill Houndour while also attempting a sweep, though this set struggles at this role for the same reasons as the previous set while being even easier to defensively handle. Will-O-Wisp can be used to cripple targets like Porygon and Cubone, notably providing Houndour's teammates with an easier time setting up and trading blows with these foes. Flash Fire seems like a good option to help Houndour take on opposing Fire-types, though Fire-types besides itself are rare, while the omnipresent Porygon can take advantage of Flash Fire. Protect can let Houndour survive Gastly's Explosion and scout the attacks of Choice Band users like Doduo.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Arena Trap Users**: Diglett and Trapinch can trap and OHKO Houndour, with the former outspeeding it and the latter generally able to tank any of Houndour's moves.
**Water-types**: Staryu and Chinchou outspeed and OHKO Houndour. Wailmer is slower than Houndour but isn't OHKOed by any of its moves, while it can OHKO back.
**Faster Attackers**: Faster physical attackers like Anorith and Doduo can outspeed and OHKO Houndour with little trouble. Others such as Gastly and Elekid can do the same if it has been weakened.
[CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/gangsta-spongebob.535530/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/kaboom.300935/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/reggg.588561/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/aurora.109385/
Houndour's rare Dark typing and high Special Attack make it among the best checks to one of LC's most threatening Pokemon, Abra. It can survive any unboosted attack from Abra thanks to its immunity to Psychic and proper investment and OHKO back with Crunch. These defensive and offensive traits also make Houndour great at forcing another common foe, Gastly, to trade with it using Explosion. Houndour isn't useless otherwise, with it adept at taking on other foes such as Exeggcute and Duskull, as well as being able to threaten an OHKO on every Spikes setter in the tier. It can even KO Porygon with the combination of Crunch into Fire Blast. However, Houdour does have an abhorrent matchup against much of the metagame. It loses badly to common Water-types like Wailmer and fast attackers like Doduo. Diglett is a notably terrible matchup, because while it cannot switch into Fire Blast, it is an extremely common foe that is able to trap, outspeed, and OHKO Houndour.
[SET]
Special Attacker (Houndour) @ Sitrus Berry
Level: 5
Ability: Early Bird
EVs: 36 Def / 200 SpA / 116 SpD / 156 Spe
IVs: 2 Atk / 30 SpA
Modest Nature
- Fire Blast / Overheat
- Crunch
- Hidden Power Grass / Substitute
- Pursuit / Thief
[SET COMMENTS]
Fire Blast serves as a spammable STAB attack, though Overheat is an alternative whose higher damage ranges let Houndour, for example, always OHKO Koffing and Trapinch after one layer of Spikes. Crunch primarily targets Abra as well as Ghost-types such as Duskull and Gastly. Hidden Power Grass is Houndour's strongest attack against Water-types; it doesn't do substantially more damage than Crunch, but its better damage ranges allow Houndour to deal more damage to Wailmer. It also OHKOes Larvitar. Substitute is another alternative, allowing Houndour to take advantage of switches it forces, the opponent sacrificing a slower foe by switching them in, and a slower foe like Snubbull trying to status Houndour. Pursuit allows Houdour to trap foes it beats such as Abra and Duskull, OHKOing them if they switch out. Thief is an alternative that allows Houndour to steal a foe's Sitrus Berry after it has used its own, notably preventing Porygon from healing using Recycle. Houndour's EV spread maximizes its Special Attack and gives it enough Special Defense EVs to always live offensive Abra's Hidden Power Water. The remainder maximizes Houndour's Speed and then dumps the rest into its Defense. Early Bird is chosen as an ability because Houdour's other ability, Flash Fire, could be copied by Porygon's Trace, granting it an immunity to Houndour's most powerful attack.
Houndour is best used as an early- to mid-game progress maker, able to remove foes such as Exeggcute and Duskull, or as a hard answer to Abra. If used in the latter role, Houndour should generally wait until Abra reveals itself, which is usually after a teammate such as Gastly gets a KO. This teammate cannot let Abra set up Calm Mind, because it always OHKOes Houndour with a +1 Hidden Power Water. Houndour can also be used to eliminate Gastly, though typically it trades at best due to Gastly outspeeding Houndour and OHKOing it with Explosion. Even if it isn't running Pursuit, the threat of it and Houndour's high power tend to keep its targets on the field. Houndour's ideal teammates appreciate its ability to eliminate the metagame's Ghost- and Psychic-types, something appreciated by Pokemon such as Gastly, Bagon, and Doduo. Teams that stack multiple Self-Destruct and Explosion users such as Wailmer and Gastly notably appreciate Houndour being able to remove Ghost-types. After eliminating its foe, Houndour will often be revenge killed by Diglett; Porygon can take advantage of this by tracing Diglett's ability and trapping it itself. Trapinch is another trapper Porygon excels at dealing with, though Houndour can OHKO it with Spikes support from a teammate like Pineco or Cacnea. If losing Houndour is too detrimental, it should only be revealed after the Arena Trap users are KOed. Houndour struggles against Water-types; Chinchou and Staryu outspeed and OHKO it, while Wailmer can easily tank any of Houndour's moves and do the same. If faced with them, Houndour is best off weakening them to put them in range of a teammate like Doduo or Elekid.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Houndour can run a mixed SubSalac set with Reversal to act as a sweeper, though it is easily revenge killed by Quick Attack Doduo and bulky foes like Wailmer. An Endure + Salac Berry special attacking set can lure in foes such as Anorith and Diglett that would otherwise easily revenge kill Houndour while also attempting a sweep, though this set struggles at this role for the same reasons as the previous set while being even easier to defensively handle. Will-O-Wisp can be used to cripple targets like Porygon and Cubone, notably providing Houndour's teammates with an easier time setting up and trading blows with these foes. Flash Fire seems like a good option to help Houndour take on opposing Fire-types, though Fire-types besides itself are rare, while the omnipresent Porygon can take advantage of Flash Fire. Protect can let Houndour survive Gastly's Explosion and scout the attacks of Choice Band users like Doduo.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Arena Trap Users**: Diglett and Trapinch can trap and OHKO Houndour, with the former outspeeding it and the latter generally able to tank any of Houndour's moves.
**Water-types**: Staryu and Chinchou outspeed and OHKO Houndour. Wailmer is slower than Houndour but isn't OHKOed by any of its moves, while it can OHKO back.
**Faster Attackers**: Faster physical attackers like Anorith and Doduo can outspeed and OHKO Houndour with little trouble. Others such as Gastly and Elekid can do the same if it has been weakened.
[CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/gangsta-spongebob.535530/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/kaboom.300935/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/reggg.588561/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/aurora.109385/
Last edited:
